Europa And The Pirate Twins

Another Of Thomas Morgan Dolby Robertson's Finer Moments
Conrad is not entirely sure what it's actually about, except it sounds great, which is what really matters.  From that sterling debut album "The Golden Age Of Wireless".  If we can provoke Art with a cattle-prod - 

Tom being all boffin-y

     Okay, that's a decent introduction to what I really wanted to talk about, which is where you have to ditch the pirates, as there are none lurking in the depths of the solar system.  At least, none that we know about.
     No!  This is nothing to do with "U.F.O." - we'll get to that later - but rather the present day and NASA's venture into more exploration of the solar system.  You can never know too much about your own back yard, after all, especially when it's several light hours across.
     So.  Europa.  Art?


     This is one of Jupiter's moons, known to have an icy surface crust and a liquid ocean about 150 miles deep beneath that surface - made up of water, or H2O.  Whilst water is plentiful on Earth - and note how I resist making any jokes about the British summer - an ocean like this is rare indeed, and immediately became the subject of scientific speculation, since water is one of the givens for the development of life.  The speculation goes that Jupiter's gravity is interacting with Europa's rocky core, producing enough heat to keep the ocean liquid, possibly even creating hydro-thermal vents on the ocean floor.  Art?

A terrestrial vent

     Such miniature hot zones on Earth are oases of life at the bottom of the abyssal depths, so the speculation thus runs: if here on Earth, why not on Europa?
     This is what NASA's "Europa Clipper" mission is going to try to answer.  The mission recently got Green status, and anticipates launching in about six years.

The Clipper over Europa

     This is fascinating stuff.  So, in about ten years time, we shall potentially discover if we're alone, or whether we have some near neighbours.  The possibility of life developing independently, at two completely different and discrete environments, in a single solar system, will have a lot to say about how we view the universe out there.  Because we now know that extra-solar worlds are gloriously abundant. 
     Wow.  Deep thoughts!

Speaking Of Which -
After putting in a seriously intense burst of reading, I have now finished "The Killing Star", by Pellegrino and Zebrowski.  Interestingly enough, I believe this was written before the first extra-solar planets were discovered, though I doubt whether either author would change anything in the text due to that.
     A couple of things struck me about this work - don't worry, no spoilers here - as it referred to a couple of scientists of the novel's past.  One was Richard Tuna, who is the unequivocal Good Guy wearing a White Hat if not a Halo.

Close enough

     Richard is clearly a polymath, who begins as a paleoarchaeologist, and then becomes an anti-matter rocketry designer, before going back to Paleo.
     Then there is Lesley Wells, who not only pinches Richard's idea, but has him prosecuted for having it in the first place.  She also has an Arthur C. Clarke view about Hom. Sap. revealing itself to alien civilisations*.  Not saying that she's a Black Hat, quite, if we're sticking with Western terminology, yet she is most definitely a Dark Grey one.
     This has all the hallmarks of an academic dispute, carried over into fiction, with a couple of pseudonyms used.  I may be wrong here; so, are these characters based on any real life persons?  Enquiring minds want to know!
        
                                                 Do I need to point it out?

Back To TANK
Kind of.  I have been listening to James Holland and Al Murray's very entertaining podcast "We Have Ways Of Making You Talk", which is all about the Second Unpleasantness.  James is the cold, cruel professional (or would be if he didn't laugh and say "Amazing!" so much) and Al is the keen, earnest amateur (who comes across as a lot more hesitant in real life than when playing a part).  Art?

The rascally crew, a dubious two -

     The podcast I was listening to was recorded at Bovvie**, and they were being conducted around by one of the senior curators, David Willie, who specifically pointed out the hideously terrifying Churchill Crocodile.  Art?

Crocodile and trailer

     This was a British flame-throwing tank I have mentioned before on BOOJUM! and James explained that the fuel was an amalgam of rubber and petrol; the rubber dissolved in the petrol and created what was an early form of napalm, in that it would stick to whatever it hit.  Ol' Jim also mentioned that it was common practice for Crocodile crews to "pretend" a practice brew, and torch a nearby tree or house or squad of land-travelling sharks, at which the opposing Teuton soldiery would promptly surrender, and who can blame them.  By reputation, the Teuton soldiery hated, HATED, HATED the Crocodile above any other Allied weapon, and, again, who can blame them.

This or surrender: which would you choose?

     Well, I was going to go on about the DD tank as Jim and Al do so, except I don't have enough space left to do it justice.  Al does come out with a corker though, wondering how large a canvas screen you'd need to float a Tiger tank in a DD canvas cage.  Probably about the size of a football pitch, one suspects.

Finally -
Good lord aloft, today has been hot!  I will spare a second for those of my work colleagues who were stranded today on the Seventeenth Floor of the Dark Tower in Gomorrah-on-the-Irwell, slaving away on e-mails and phone calls.  Not that it would have been hot, as the Dark Tower's air-conditioning is very effective; it's just that from that perspective they can see all the way to the horizon, un-obscured by clouds*** as per normal.  Yet were unable to enjoy a single erg of all that sunshine.

Not quite, Art, not quite.

     Poor them.



*  Booh!  Hiss!
**  Bovington Tank Museum.  HOW COULD YOU NOT KNOW!  HOW! HOW!!
***  Pink Floyd reference for you there