How To Brain Your Dragon

No!  Nothing To Do With That Wretched Film
I say "wretched" as I have seen the trailers and do not like the look of it, not one bit, which by default makes it wretched.  There is no room for discussion.
     Nor do I mean that rather nifty tracked towing vehicle as used by the army of Perfidious Albion prior to and into the first bit of the Second Unpleasantness.  Art?

No scales, but what it tows does breathe fire

     Nor do I mean - hang it, let's not bother harping on about what this post's not about, and concentrate on what it is about.
     Well, obviously it's about SpaceX's launch of the Dragon 2 crew and cargo capsule, which, if Art will put down his plate of coal for a moment -

The schematics

     The Dragon 2 has successfully docked with the International Space Station, remotely, since they only have a test dummy instead of live astronauts in the crew compartment.  If the undocking and landing goes successfully, then they will send up live Hom. Sap. later this year.  The Dragon has a streamlined nosecone for aerodynamic efficiency, which opens up to reveal the docking mechanism - very cool and rather Gerry Anderson, except in real life.  Art?

One can almost imagine Ed Bishop stepping out of it ...

     As I said, all done remotely, with no human hands-on, which is pretty impressive and where we get today's title from.
     Now to see if the motley's unicycle can outrun a steamroller! (through an acre of wet concrete six inches deep).*

The Westland Wapiti
I know this sounds like an Allotment Of Eden variant of the Yeti or a British Bigfoot, although it is neither.  Sad to say, it is yet another of those items that pop up in Your Humble Scribe's mind on a daily basis for no good reason.  Though I did go on about the Westland Whirlwind a few weeks ago.
     Anyway, the Wapiti was an aircraft.  Art?

No it isn't levitating! - that's a still of it taking off.  

     It was a general purpose workhorse for the RAF, going into service with the brylcreem boys in 1928, to replace the by-then aging DH9.  As with the DH9, it was a twin-man open-cockpit biplane, armed with a couple of machine guns and able to carry a 1/4 ton of ordnance.  Typically the Air Ministry wanted a high degree of commonality with the DH9 as the RAF had oodles of spare parts for that plane knocking around.  Pen-pushing civvy cheapskates!

Flown a lot by the Indian Air Force

     The Wapiti saw most use as a "Policeman In The Sky" during the heyday of the mighty and awesome British Empire, where recalcitrant tribesmen would be treated to a dose of high explosive to show them the error of their ways.  It was also the first aircraft to fly over Mount Everest, presumably with the crew using oxygen at that height.
     There is a bit more to tell about this aircraft, which I will leave until tomorrow.  
     Oh - that name? - for some bizarre reason, Westland named it after a species of elk native to British America and South Canada, because <thinks> that's what naturally springs to mind when you see a two seater biplane.

                           Wapiti repeaty.

"The Umbrella Academy"
The television series, not the comic books, which I suspect Darling Daughter took away with her when she moved out, the rascal.
     Well!  I just watched the last two episodes, and O my, to say that things have gone badly wrong is such an understatement you might as well call the Atlantic Ocean a bit of water.  You see PLOT SPOILERS DUMPED HERE WITHOUT WARNING HAVE BEEN REDACTED COURTESY OF MISTER HAND AND YOU ARE WELCOME all together.  Who knew!
     Although, here an aside, I do recall reading about a pulp-era story where entire armies were destroyed by <thinks> a violin being played and the sound refracted through a tube and baffle, the whole affair being borne aloft.**

Hmmmm.

     What I wanted to point out is me being clever.  Vanya is the lead violinist in the St. Pluvium orchestra, right? - although they use the term "First Chair" for muso geeks, one suspects.  Conrad, being of a curious and suspicious mind, went and looked up "Pluvium", which happens to be Latin - DAMN YOU DEAD LANGUAGE STAY DEAD! - for, get this:"Rain".
     What do you keep rain off with?
     Why, an umbrella.
     Bing!

This is Vanya.  She's sound.

     Now, how long do we have to wait until Season Two?  Doubtless another year <sighs heavily> 

"Now, 007, I'd Like This Back UNDAMAGED!"
Or so you can hear that irascible old technical wizard, Q, belabouring his particular bete noir.  You know James, no respecter of property.
     I come to this item via Forgotten Weapons, that very interesting Youtube channel featuring Ian McCollum (or "Gun Jesus" if we are being disrespectful).  Art?

Told you it was very 007

     This is a briefcase carrying a fully-fuctional Heckler and Koch sub-machine gun, which can be fired from within the briefcase.  No need to unlock it and take the thing out: O no!  You can be tootling alongside your principal (you being their bodyguard), when the Bad Guys put in an appearance.  Of course they ignore you as a minor minion who doesn't even rate a bullet-proof vest, merely a briefcase, at which point -

 - someone gets a very unpleasant surprise.

    As Ian demonstrated, to fire it you level it against your upper body and pull the trigger, which he did, and he blasted the cardboard innards out of a target on the range.  Speaking of range, it doesn't have a lot, although in the kind of engagement we're talking about, that wouldn't be an issue as you'd be perforating the Bad Guys at pretty much point blank.

     I think that just about wraps it up for today.  All that remains is to say the jigsaw is being assembled slowly but steadily.  I knew you'd want to know that.  What Ho!




*  Don't worry, motleys love a challenge.
**  Possibly even in a Westland Wapiti.  Well, it might happen.