A Bit Of A Milestone

Please Note The "Mile" In Milestone
None of that horrid metric nonsense here, not if I can help it.  Imperial all the way!  We didn't build an empire with centimetres and mobile phones, all it took was railways and the Gatling gun (probably a snifter of gin, too).

A lovely Victorian gin palace, wot made our country great.

     Which, of course, has a vanishingly remote connection to the rest of the Intro. Not quite none, today.
     I speak, of course, of the blog's traffic figures, which have hit rather a milestone in terms of traffic.  Hey, it may only be numbers to you, to me they are the centre of my pathetic hollow lifestyle.  Art?

Never mind the pretty spikes, look at the numbers!

     Or was it hollow pathetic?  Regardless, back in November we - the editorial staff here at BOOJUM! - were looking at a total of 40,000 visits over the space of 3 1/2 years.  Five months later we are suddenly at over 100K.  I think I'm allowed to used "K" as a substitute for "thousand" here.  Something has gone badly right, and I'm rather reluctant to investigate.
     Okay, after milestones and bells and whistles, I think we can move on.  Let the motley commence!

Lewis Milestone
Whom you might know better as the Oscar-winning director of "All Quiet On The Western Front", about the German army in the First Unpleasantness, directed by a naturalised American of Russian descent, which is quite the international package.  Art?

A pose I can only approve of

     He also directed "Halls Of Montezuma", which is another war film in my collection.  Not seen it for a while, may dig it out this weekend.
          Enough of milestones, especially since I'm typing this at work and the latest server iteration has blocked the stats from loading.  Just when I wanted to wallow in glory!


Between The Cradle And The Airstrip
Further to that prescient dream of mine, I did a little more thinking about aircraft configuration.  Not simply the alteration of lifting surfaces but the whole airframe.  Currently an aircraft has to travel from terminus to the T2 runway departure point - that's the exciting bit where the floor comes up hard against your feet - and it repeats this process on landing.
     This is clearly inefficient!  Because what you need is a vehicle designed to carry the airframe to the runway and loft it into the air; thus two separate instrumentalities.
     There is a precedent here, if you care to know, as imagined by that prophet of the future, Sir Gerry Anderson.  Namely - Zero X
     - there goes that Giffgaff bus poster again, the piker -
     Zero X.  Art?

Plenty of detail for you

     This is the beast belting off the tarmac at Glenn Field's dedicated 2 mile runway.
     The main spacecraft, you see, is composed of the body, the Martian Excursion Vehicle, nosecone and two sets of lifting bodies.  This assemblage uses the lifting bodies to taxi out to the runway and take off.  Once at effective cruising height these independent flying wings detach and return to Glenn Field.

Thus

     The mains spacecraft then makes it's way to Mars, where it is free to encounter both Mysterons and Martian Rock Snakes, both highly hazardous to health.  Let's hope NASA takes note, eh?

     I've decided - it was definitely hollow pathetic.

Allow Me To Entertain You
Of course, "Entertain" may mean entirely different things to you and I.  Conrad would probably succumb to the throes of boredom if he had to attend a football match, and you might gnaw the shackles off with your teeth if forced to sit and judge continuity errors for a film that lasts two and a half hours.

Right up my street, mind.

     Bear up!  It could be worse.  Yes it could, the robots haven't risen in revolt yet.
     Now, back to entertainment, a la Tom and Russell, by quoting back last week but one's Pub Quiz - I was absent ill last week (I may have mentioned this already once or twice).  So, without further ado, which is usually the cue for a long verbal detour yet not in this case, Voila!

Q19)  What is the anatomical name for the thigh-bone?
Q21)  Diana Ross, Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard formed which group?
Q4)  How many seconds in 1/4 hour?  Reply fast!  No calculators!  The clock is ticking!
Q13)  The Road to Hell is paved with what?  (Hint: not asbestos)
Q17)  What day follows Shrove Tuesday?  ("Wednesday" is not good enough)

     There you have it.  Answers tomorrow, if you're lucky and I'm feeling generous, and remember as well.
Oh my, we're at count already.  Just goes to show what a creative head of steam can do.