Normally you see these marks around - well, you're probably way ahead of me here - quotations. For example, David Niven's autobiographical work "Bring On The Empty Horses" - more QM's there, eagle-eyed reader - comes from a quote by director Michael Curtiz, who was Hungarian and who wrestled the English language into contortions it probably didn't know it could manage. Whilst directing a scene which required riderless horses to run around, he is quoted as saying "Bring on the empty horses".
There.
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| They don't make 'em like him any more. |
Quotation marks are also used to imply that a word or concept or object is not what it claims to be, as in 'Conrad, blogger and self-styled "Journalist" ' if you will.
"Can you get to the point? If there is one," I hear you complain. Only pausing to point out more QMs, I shall indeed explicate.
Hayabusa! That is the space probe that JAXA (Japan's space agency) sent to the asteroid Ryugu, and which sent back pictures that look as if it was squatting over a pile of rocks. Art?
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| An ancient pile of rocks, I'll have you know! |
These photographs came back from the Rover units that were deployed to the surface back in September, as they hopped about on the asteroid's boulder-strewn surface. This bouldery nature had the mission scientists a tad worried, as they didn't want any rovers coming to harm on hitting a dirty great chunk of rock as they landed. Art?
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| To bouldery go where no man - |
Now, another instrument package has been dropped to the surface of Ryugu, acronym MASCOT, which is rather larger than the petite rovers and which contains all sorts of sneaky-peeky gadgets and devices, the better to sense the asteroid with. Art?
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| An artist's impression of the little tinker |
The thing is, the Beeb's website insists on calling the Hayabusa probe that deployed these electronic scamps the "mothership", which is a curious selection in your modest artisan's mind. It can definitely be defined as a mothership, having carried these instrument packages all the way from sunny southern Japan, on a three and a half year journey. So it isn't as if it left Earth last week and had little to do. Art?
| No, Art! Wrong type of Rover! |
I do apologise, it's his new diet.* Well, I think that's quite enough about robotic probes exploring the Solar System, let's move on to more (literally) down to Earth matters.
Now, time to dangle the motley from the weathercock on the church spire in a strait-jacket and wrapped in bright shiny steel cable - in a thunderstorm!
Some Things Have Reverted
You may remember Conrad eyeing his blog stats with a curious and wary eye a couple of weeks ago, because whilst the numbers were there, the handy-dandy Blogger global map that shows which country is watching you was completely blank.
This led to a smidgeon of apprehension. Were the traffic figures a fever dream fiction, hallucinated by your humble scribe due to a lack of Darjeeling? Or, had the world and his wife forsworn the freshest slanderous scrivel on the planet?
It seems that a reboot or two, or the hamsters sobering up, was all it needed for the green gallimaufrey to return. There you have it, as of old: Perfidious Albion and South Canada the main audience, with a probably somewhat bemused Ruffian presence, too. Probably here to practice their English vocab.
Finally -
Because we need a short article to complete today's blog to count, and because you can never have too many tanks, and because Cars Are Wicked, I think we'll end today by showcasing a bit of AFV versus Car action. Art?
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| Yes, we did meant "Action". No, we did not mean "Auction" |
Here is a mighty Centurion Mk. IX plouging into and upon some hapless car and those thoughtful tankies have taken the side plates off, so you can see the Horstmann suspension system. The car? I've no idea what it is, nor do I care.** Art!
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| Ha! That's what happens when you don't pay your Road Tax. Be warned |
Here we have the even mightier Chieftain, side plates removed again, although they've left the thermal sleeve on the barrel, and I don't see the Barr & Stroud laser rangefinder about. Once again - the car? Who cares! Art?
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| Way to go don't you know |
Notice I said "AFV" for "Armoured Fighting Vehicle", as that above is not a tank, despite having tracks. It is the FV432, an armoured personnel carrier or 'battle taxi', which the infantry of Perfidious Albion could ride within to the fighting. You can just see the driver's head to port, since he sits on a seat that can be raised especially so he can get fresh air and a nice view. Oh, and there's a car. Getting crushed. It's blue.***
And there we have it for today. I went on rather at the end, it was only supposed to be a picture with a couple of lines of text. O well.
Chin chin!
* Expended nuclear fuel rods. Delicious, nutritious and doing BNFL a favour.
** Cars, you see, being Wicked.
*** As you would be, were a 12 ton steel box driving over you.
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