Eagles, Dragons And Choppers

Though Not How You Imagined Them
You might also care to throw in a Small Domesticated Wolf, if we're going to have the full menagerie.
     For Lo!  Conrad is now the official full-time dogsitter at The Mansion, at least until everyone else returns from holiday on May 4th.  This is not an especially onerous duty, though it is a full-time one, as Edna (the SDW in question) likes to keep you in direct line of sight most of the time.  Art?

Very direct.

     If Your Humble Scribe's lap is not already occupied by the Loathsome Laptop itself, then Edna avails herself of the Human-Shaped Cushion.  Currently she's sleeping in somewhat of a sulk as the Loathsome Laptop takes pride of place on my lap.
     Given that the weather is unpredictable with frequent showers at present, we have already been for one walk this morning whilst it was at least dry.  What with the fallen cherry blossoms, it was also picturesque.  Art?

Edna, in <ahem> - in the pink.

     Conrad wonders, idly, how they are coping back at the Dark Tower without me.  To go back and be asked "Were you gone?" would be a bit of a blow to the ego.
     Right!  Time to have the motley play whack-a-mole, where one of the 'moles' is actually filled with tri-nitro-toluene!

"Where Eagles Dare" By Alistair Maclean
 I'm sure you're all familiar with the film of the same name, which is a corking Boy's Own adventure romp, not to be taken too seriously.
     Here an aside, there is an "W.E.D." drinking game that you ought to avoid, unless you have a constitution made of equal parts granite and cast iron.  Not for the faint-hearted!

The results of about 20 minutes viewing.

     Okay, that's one part of today's title explained.  The thing is, in the IMDB list of Goofs for the film, they accurately pick on the Allies' selection of Crete as a meeting place for officers from the West and Russia.  Given that the film (and book) take place in the first half of 1944, Crete was still very much in Teuton hands at that date.

Explosions!  Gun battles!  Dirndl skirts!

     The thing is, the film script repeats this because it's in the novel.  One presumes that Ol' Al actually meant Cyprus, which was very firmly in the hands of Perfidious Albion, and that the film scriptwriters didn't know any better.
     Another Goof that the anoraks fall over themselves to point out is the helicopter as used by the Teutons to fly in and out of Schloss Adler.  Art?
                     

     This is a modern Sixties-era Bell helicopter from South Canada.  So the sweaty-palmed anoraks are quite correct.  However, this one is being used because the relevant Teuton helicopter was produced in very small numbers, no more than 20, and none survived intact for long after the Second Unpleasantness.  Art?

The Foch-Achgelis "Drachen"

     As you can see, it's a whacking big thing that would never have fitted into the castle grounds thanks to it's considerable width*, and it was a dodgy proposition to fly in the first place, meaning it would be horribly unsafe to go to the cost and bother of building a working replica.  Hence the compact, reliable and soundly safe modern version used instead.
     Oh, and as you may have guessed, "Drachen" means "Dragon".  Not sure why it got that name, since it lacks scales and a fiery breath.

Frying Dragon.  Close enough.

The 2004 Tsunami
Being a bit of a ghoul, Your Humble Scribe sat down to watch a program called "Seconds From Disaster" last night, which detailed the events of 15 years ago, when a tsunami hit the coastal regions of the lands around the Indian Ocean.  It was one of the worst disasters of modern times, with 230,000 dead across 14 countries.  The program explained why a tsunami wave can be so devastating.  Art?

The region affected

     The initial cause was an immense submarine earthquake which hit 9.0, one of the biggest ever recorded.  This displaced equally immense amounts of water, which moved outwards from the epicentre.
     When a normal ocean wave hits the shore, it expends it's energy comparatively quickly, because it's only backed up by, at most, a few hundred metres of water behind it.
     When a tsunami wave hits, it is backed up by over a hundred miles of water behind it, which is why it penetrates so far inland to such depth and with such energy.  The documentary showed scenes of people 2 miles inland from the coast being ravaged by waters that rose several yards high, powerful enough to carry ships inland, derail trains and sweep cars along like cardboard boxes.

Immediately after and 10 years after

     Just as much damage is done when the waters retreat, taking vast amounts of debris with them.
     The bad news doesn't end there:  with any tsunami you can get a second or third or fourth wave, which can be even bigger than the original and thus do even more damage.
     It was grim yet interesting stuff.  One particular warning sign of imminent tsunami wave arrival is when the shoreline waters abruptly recede for hundreds of yards, at which point you ought to be either running for your life or getting to the top of high buildings.  Most emphatically not strolling out to collect your free fish harvest ...

Don't risk it!

     Wow, that was amazingly grim, wasn't it?  Bring on something light and frothy to divert us!  <thinks> PEDIGREE PIG BR - no, that won't do.  LITHIUM WAFER BATT - no, not that either.

Ah - Art!

I put this up previously but didn't explain it

     No, it's not a giant towing a ship.  This is a diver working on the production of "Raise the Titanic", which for a film about an metal instrumentality was an organic turkey.  He is towing a scale replica of the "Titanic", which cost over £3,000,000, because back in those days when you made a turkey, you didn't skimp on the budgets.


*  Made up of Whirly Blades Of Death, too.