Fantastic Free Fireworks Forever

Though There Is A Downside -

 - they may kill you.

     When I say "fireworks" I don't mean those crude explosive weapons you Hom. Sap. use to variously celebrate festival events, I mean something more along the lines of this.  Art?

I know, I know, I'm a terrible person for using this

     For yes, I am casting my bloodshot rolling eye upon the latest eruptions taking place in Hawaii.

     "Is this not skirting dangerously close to Current Affairs?" I hear you question.

     Well, yes and no.  True, there is a volcanic event taking place in Hawaii at present, but it's not unique because this sort of thing is endemic in the area.  Believe me, volcanic activity in Hawaii didn't just happen as of a few weeks, or months, or years, or decades ago. O no!  Mauna Kea, part of the island of Hawaii itself and a volcano to boot, has been around for, oh, say a million years.



     It's dormant now, so you can regard it as a sleeping beast that may wake up at any moment and bellow for it's dinner, or not, for a few millenia.  It WILL happen at some stage, though, rest assured.

Mauna Kea, with snowcap

     The thing is, this titanic activity is occurring in the very bosom of the Pacific Ocean: you do know that "Pacific" is Latin for "Peaceful" don't you?   Well whoever is responsible for the name needs their eyes and ears checked, BECAUSE OF THE VOLCANOES.  Art?

The Ring Of Fire

     Apologies if this sounds like a chapter in 'Lord of the Rings', but what you're seeing above is the edges of various tectonic plates and the vulcanism that occurs where they overlap or subduct - i.e. push each other up or down.  That word 'forever' in the title is accurate, as this process is never going to stop.  The other thing is that, given geological timescales and the human lifespan, living on the fertile soils of a volcano and crossing your fingers (and toes) that "It'll never happen to me" is quite a winning strategy.

 

     When it goes wrong, though ...

... it goes WRONG



      Now, time to send the motley aloft in a hot-air balloon and shoot at it with arrows!*

I Don't Think So

Even, "I Don't Think So, Matey!"

     "What is the silly old bafoon rambling on about now?" I hear you quibble.  "The failure of the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram to accurately place white holes in cosmogony? Where does the Lapp go when you stand up?  Was Picard or Kirk the better captain?"

The Diagram



 

     None of the above.  I am annoyed at the BBC and their attitude of casual competence concealing catastrophic clumsiness, to wit - Art?

Conrad not sure who this witless girning fool is, but he is not impressed

     "We can guess your age based on your music taste" - I know this is being redundant, but I want you to get the full picture. 

     NO YOU WON'T!  because I have no intention of taking your test.  The first question began by asking questions about songs and artists whom I would never listen to, and in fact would rather have my ears filled with molten thallium than listen to. 

"Swan Song" By Robert McCammon

I dust this volume off every few years to read as it's an enjoyable potboiler combination of horror, the supernatural, post-apocalyptic survival and the titular character Swan.  Art?

Kept small because it's quite disturbing (Accurate, though)

     It's also very long, clocking in at 956 pages, which simple fact offendeth some people, who think that any book two inches thick is a blasphemy against - against - trees?**

Finally –
I have accidentally mucked up the format of the whole of today’s blog – I think by hitting the Back Browser button rather than the Remove Last Change icon – and from experience it is all too easy to transform the entire page into overlaid incoherent babbling***, which means desperately trying to rejig and remodel.  Which usually takes ages.

     And I was doing so well, too.  O well, why not have a photograph of the Honey And Walnut Cake that I baked last night and forgot to take a picture of until there was almost none left – Art?

 

*  The balloon, not the motley.  Just so we're clear.

**  I'll get back to you on that.

*** DO NOT REPLY WITH ‘HOW DO WE TELL THE DIFFERENCE!!!’