Kojak Nyaloka!

I Know, It Sounds Almost Unspeakable -
"Redolent" is the word that Howard Philips Lovecraft would have used.  "Redolent of eldritch terror - ", with the 'o' over-pronounced for poetic emphasis, " - the Kojak Nyaloka oozed between dimensions, seeking to overthrow the puny world of Man."
     Or some shizzle like that.
     Actually, any of you out there who are fluent in Magyar, which is what Hungarians call Hungarian, would have recognised this as meaning "Kojak lollipop", rather than any of the Elder Gods.  Sorry*!

Ol' Howie himself (plus friends)

     Yes, for your humble scribe has been looking at the Wikipedia entry for the television series "Kojak", which was brought to mind by a snatch of the theme tune that popped into my head for no good reason.  Bit of an industrial no-go zone, my head, you never know what's going to crop up there.

A tough cop in a tough town

     For those of you too young to remember, "Kojak" was a police drama series set in New York City and was cock of the hill between 1973 and 1978.  The opening credits - annoyingly! - featured a montage of selected moments from the forthcoming episode.  it was staggeringly popular in South Canada and worldwide - to this day the Israeli police dub the flashing light atop a police-car a "Kojak" (as it is round and smooth).  I remember reading a rather crude parody in the "Harold Hedd" A3 sized comic I bought back in the Nineties, so it has a bit of resonance.
     There you go, amazing what a two second burst of remembered music will bring to light.

Now, About Those Foofoodillies -
Carrying on where we left off earlier, I do believe I was about to wonder about the actual design of the Nork nuke that they let off on 3rd September 2017.
     Okay, despite what the Sulky Fat Lad has been gloating about, the (estimated) yield of circa 100 kilotons is not that impressive for a fusion device.  So, it's instead possible that the Norks let off a boosted fission device.
     "We hesitate to ask further, Conrad, where - you're going to bleat on about this anyway, aren't you?" I hear your despairing mutter.  "Damn.  And "X Factor" was about to start."

Close enough

     Pausing only to chastise you on your execrable choice of televisual entertainment, I shall indeed bleat further.
    A boosted fission bomb uses an injection of deuterium or tritium into the critical mass of uranium or plutonium, used in the original fission design, and the resulting increase in neutron flux greatly increases the explosive yield.  The fission device can thus either use the same amount of fissile material** and get a much bigger explosion, or scale back on the fissile material and yet get the same explosive yield.
     Of course, I could be overthinking this a bit ...

A Bit Of Sweetness And Dim
As the venue was rather dark with the lights down, your honest witness cannot use the word 'light' with veracity.
     This is the reason why Wednesday didn't have a proper post on the blog.  I went straight from work, via a Macdonalds for my tea,  to the Ape and Apple pub in the very centre of Gommorah-on-the-Irwell.  This, you see, is where the 'Comedy Balloon' is held on a Wednesday evening.
     Before you ask, NO! it has nothing to do with nitrous oxide abuse.  This venue is where aspiring comedians with no experience in front of a microphone can get up and embarrass themselves, and either get it out of their system or decide that they will continue.  It is also where established comedians come to try out new material, to see what works and what doesn't.  Can we have a shot to establish the milieu? Art!

     I met Darling Daughter there, as Wonder Wifey had pestered persuaded her into attending.  Let us have a picture of this talented and attractive young lady.  No you can't have her phone number, she's spoken for.  Art?

I bought her that pint

     And here she is again, helping to stand in for the absent Trish.

     She's in the middle.  It's not that great a photo, because I was a long way from the stage.
     Anyway, when comic Tom King came on stage, he did manage to work in a homage to H P Lovecraft, the only comic I have ever heard to do so, and this is where we came in -



*  This word is a lie <the horrid truth courtesy Mister Hand>
**  I get tired of using "either plutonium or uranium" and to these you could add "thorium"