Sonic Experimentation

You Know Conrad
Fond of his music, and utterly unshiftable in his opinions about what is Good, and what is Sewage For The Ears.  Unlike his daily life, he is quite willing to break out of his routine and listen to new stuff.
     And so we come to Rush.  Conrad has been aware of them in the same way the Moon sits in the sky; there, just not acknowledged much.  Art?

Rush

     I bring the band up as their drummer, Neil Peart, has just died, and people whose musical opinion I respect held him in some respect, citing the record "2112" as worthy of praise, too.  I'm sure I've heard some Rush tracks previously, although none come to mind.  Anyway, I am now playing "2112" via Spotify Premium <hack spit>, and it's not bad.  Art?

The platter in question

     Although Your Humble Scribe cannot play any instrument that does not rely on Sheer Brute Force, he can appreciate that this is technically accomplished stuff.  Good enough to play again.
     Incidentally, on the Wiki page that references "2112" there is mention that the band credit the only slightly-controversial author Ayn Rand, as the lyrical content of the title track is somewhat similar to one of her novels. This was pounced upon by music critics, including one Brian Miles of the N.M.E., whom in his review of the album accused the band of being Nazis.  Surprise surprise, Your Humble Scribe remembers reading this very same review an awfully long time ago, and wasn't terribly convinced at the time; creating a typhoon in a thimble.

No pictures of Brian Miles exist, so here's some chalk instead.

     The first reason this accusation is inherently improbably is that Rush are all British Americans, who are the politest and friendliest people on the planet: their soldiers are known to say "Sorry!" when offing bad guys*.

Proof!  Canuckistanian proof!

     Second reason is that singer and bassist and keyboard player (he gets about a bit, hmmmm?)  Geddy Lee is Jewish, the son of Jewish Poles who somehow - and the statistics here must be incredible - survived being in half a dozen concentration camps, before liberation, reuniting and then emigrating to Canada.  Ol' Geds was reportedly not very pleased with Miles' criticism, so he probably said "O foo".  Canuckistanian, you see.  Polite to the bones.
     Now, I remember mentioning to Gavin, my muso boss from ages ago, that someone else's vocal style reminded me of Ol' Ged's falsetto.  If only I could remember whom.
     Okay, motley, let's air-guitar until our arms ache!

The N.M.E. nowadays: an ad-riddled rag
(somewhere, Geddy Lee is laughing)

A Challenge!
I love a challenge**.  Er - sometimes I like a challenge.  Okay, if it's not too challenging then I love a challenge.
     As you ought to know by now, Conrad is a bookworm.  I always have an enormous pile of books to read, because I continue to buy more and more of them as I finish others.  You can pretty much define everything I buy as being in one of three genres: military history (by far the biggest tranche); murder mysteries; science fiction.  
     So when a Space Opera member on Facebook posted the following I was immediately interested.  Art?

Why 51?  No, I don't know either.

     The still image they use there is from "2001: A Space Odyssey" in case you were wondering, or even if you weren't.  
     What's the first book on the list?  I have that covered.  Art!

     Yes, I have read it.  A very long time ago, and I recall being irritated that the protagonist is only ever described as "the Time Traveller" rather than Steve or William or Tarquin.  The only bit I remember is when things move to the incredibly far future, where the Sun has expanded and the only sign of life is some horrid squiddy thing dying on a beach.  Something like that, anyway***.
     Rest assured, brethren, that we will return to this topic, O Yes Indeed.  Conrad does so like to find a source of material that makes Creative Heavy Lifting a little easier.

Entertaining if a little shallow
(Nor is there any orbiting)

Thank You, Brain
Aaaaaaand yet again Conrad's brain throws up a random word out of nowhere, today's being "Bythnia".
     At least it's a real word that refers to a real place.  Heavens only knows what I'll do when Brain begins throwing up sheer gibberish.
     Okay, so Bithynia refers to a region from ancient history, on the shores of what we now call Turkey, but which was Asia Minor back in the day.  Art?

On the shores of the Black Sea

     It was an independent kingdom for several centuries, before becoming part of the Roman Empire, and then in the 7th Century transitioning into part of the Byzantine Empire, and then the Ottoman Empire.
     All very interesting and historical, I'm sure.  Except, what on earth made it pop up in my mind without any kind of provocation?  Answers in the Comments, please.

As it is today

Finally -
I did threaten to revisit the Stennis Space Centre earlier this week, and true to my word here we are again.  
     I may have heard about this place, but hadn't ever seen it, until doing a little digging for the item I did about the SLS, and my initial reaction was Wowsers!  If Art will -

Defined architectually as "Freakin' enormous"

     It's designed to test NASA rocket engines and you can judge it's sheer size from the tiny little white van just to port of centre.  Let me see if I can find any pictures with puny humans for scale <Googles>

Puny humans to starboard

     I wonder if you can see this puppy from space?  If so, I wouldn't be surprised.  How on earth did they construct an artefact so enormous?  I feel another article coming on.


*  Okay, I exaggerate, but only a little.
**  All lies!  Fatty is a creature of utter routine <the ghastly truth courtesy Mister Hand>
*** It may have been an octopus.