A Lethal Fractal

I Take It You Are Familiar With Fractals?
That is, images based upon comparatively simple mathematics, which generate incredibly complex pictures, where typically the edge of an image reveals more such images, which leads to an infinitely regressing series of images that approach infinity -

This kind of shizzle

     This kind of thing seems to be approaching that hippy standby, Paisley pattern.  And also a rabbit hole of infinite depth, which I would be careful approaching if I were you, since it would be rather difficult to get out of.
     Where were we? O yes - SCP.  "Secure, Contain, Protect," which is an almost-entirely fictional resource that details many hundreds of bizarre entities that threaten life on Earth - excuse me - Life On Earth, the details of which are permanently redacted from You, The Public, as they are far too strange to either know or understand.

Notice how "Protect" is the last quoted?

     Anyway, there is an entry on the database there with the title "SCP-001", which is also blocked, meaning you (or I) cannot get in, except we can, on - excuse me - On Pain Of Death.  Presumably SCP 001 is so frightening that to merely see it is to experience sudden death, because it is one of those things that man is - excuse me - Man Is Not Meant To Know (excuse me for being gender-focussed but these memes take a while to change).
     Anyway, the people at SCP know that humans are inquisitive little monkeys, and being told "No you can't" is merely to tempt one to do whatever you ought not to.  So, they have booby-trapped the SCP-001 webpage with a "Merrit-Edwinson" lethal fractal.  You see it, you die, from a myocardial infarction.  There!
     I bet they think they're being oh-so-clever.  They are, but don't get cocky, as this kind of Dreadful Warning has a long literary history.  Well, a history, anyway.  Art?

William Gibson got there first

     WG invented an horrid programming artefact called "Black Ice", which is used by ruthless governments to defend their nasty secrets; if a hacker comes across it whilst prowling where they should not be, then IT KILLS THEM DEADLY.  To be Gully Foyle about it.
     There was also another entry by David Langford, called "Flaubert's Parrot" if I remember correctly <checks> nope, it's called "BLIT" and again features images that are sufficiently complex and affective to cause brain death in anyone who sees them. 

Cover your eyes or youse dies!

     Then we have the recently discovered novel "Infinite Jest", which features a film which turns it's viewers into permanently vegetative couch potatoes.  No more details as I've covered this recently  AND YOU SHOULD HAVE READ ABOUT IT ALREADY.
     Motley, would you like to look through this pair of binoculars?



The Turin Cloud
Which would have happened if not for the intervention of the Artificieri Esercito.  Or, if you like, the Italian Army's bomb disposal experts.  Art?


     The reason for these chaps being gainfully employed on the streets -or, rather, under the streets - of Turin, is because 70 years ago the Brylcreem Boys paid a visit to the city and dropped many bombs upon it, one of which did not detonate.  It lay underground for all those decades until discovered by accident, at which point thousands of residents were evacuated, for these things can still go pop.  Bad RAF!  Naughty RAF!  Who was created on April Fool's Day 1918?
     Joking aside, these ancient munitions are potentially very dangerous, as their explosive content can degrade into desperately unstable by-products that can be set off by a sneeze.


Beware of Brits bearing bombs

     Fortunately for all concerned, especially the Artificieri Esercito, the thing was safely defused.  Conrad presumes it was then trucked - gently - to a remote site and blown up, as this is the normal process.


All Hail Henri!
Henri Becquerel, that is.  Yes, this is another word that popped into my head at 05:50 this morning, although I do have an inkling why, as Ol' Hen was the first person to discover radioactivity.  You know, from stuff like uranium, like what they put in bombs (is there a theme here?) in 1896.  A long time ago, yes indeed.
     Ol' Hen didn't actually get the chance to become Old, as, thanks to his constant and unprotected handling of all sorts of nasty radioactive stuff, he died, very probably due to radioactivity.  Art?


Ol' Hen looking a bit hangdog

     Which might be an example of getting what you wish for, in a very bad way, and will teach people not to carry around glowing chunks of rock in their pants pockets. 
     Science has immortalised Hen by using the "Becquerel" as a unit of radioactive measurement, where you get one neutron decaying per second, which seems like a very, very small unit of measurement.

This Will Make Sense On Facebook, Honest
Everyone likes dinosaurs, right?  Even the flying ones, yeah?  Personally Conrad thinks the flying ones look horribly naked in the reconstructions, though perhaps that's just him.  
     Anyway, have some pterodactyls.  Art?
                   
                                                    Go put some feathers on!


Damning With Faint Praise
Conrad noticed that Mark Kermode (big fan of The Comsat Angels, but we already knew that, didn't we gentle readers?) has reviewed the "Charlie's Angels" reboot, and the sidebar title is "It's better than anyone had any right to expect".
     Hmmm.

How To Strangle Voles The Mark Kermode Way!

     Sorry, Mark, but you're not selling it very well.  Not selling it at all, in fact.  We will come round to this subject again, because Your Humble Scribe shall be doing a few film reviews the BOOJUM! way, and CA is on the target list.

A right bunch of Charlies
(Sorry, couldn't resist)

     And we are done!