Yes, It Rhymes
More than that, it refers to a television series I am re-watching again, after getting the collected DVD bounty for a Christmas many years ago. Conrad refers, of course - obviously! - to "The Outer Limits", that seminal sci-fi series from said era, which I watched through to completion. Which was so many, many years ago I cannot remember any details from said viewing. Art!
This series, even if nearly sixty years old, can be very unsettling and way back in the day it must have been extremely scary. Think of it as the South Canadian version of Quatermass and you'll not go far wrong.
ANYWAY what Your Humble Scribe wanted to concentrate upon were the end credits, which feature a music score and photographic shots of astronomical phenomenae. None of which I recognise, which is no surprise given their age and the practical limits of astronomical photography at the time. No matter what the subject of the episode, we always get these astronomical pictures, as if they want to beat us over the head with scientific rationality as a persuader. Art!
I think this is a photograph of two galaxies in collision, but can stand to be corrected. Art!
I think these are either globular clusters or planetary nebulae, but don't quote me on that as I'm merely an alien invading interloper, not an astronomer.
O and what's this? An aspiring astronomer who grew up with TOL and whom has classified all the end-title images, with explanations and back-up pictures? Do lead on, Mister MacDuff. Art!
The Sombrero Galaxy
Here you see the galaxy edge-on, with a touch of colour that's not present in TOL. For your information, this galaxy is heading away from Hom. Sap. at the leisurely speed of 2.2 million miles per hour, which means by the time you've finished reading this it's 0.5 million miles further away. You might need a special Uber app to cope with this.
So! There we have it. The penalty of raising the issue of TOL at this time of night, of course - obviously! - is that it's going to redound during my sleep tonight, wherein evil aliens will be overthrowing Hom. Sap. endlessly*. O well, into each life a little rain must fall, and all the more if living near Gomorrah-in-the-Irwell.
Allow Me To Release My Frothing Nitric Ire!
For Lo! is it not time to hold forth about Codewords? Yes. Yes it is, in case there was any doubt. If you don't want to see an old man frothing at the mouth then it's time to move on. For the rest of you -
"RONDO": Yes yes yes, as in Blue Rondo A La Turk, one of the more unusual dining options out there as it concerns a band, whom one would consider rather unpalatable. Okay, what does the Collins Concise say? "A piece of music in which a refrain is repeated between episodes; often constitutes the form of the last movement of a sonata or concerto." There. Glad we got that sorted out. Art!
Google result.
"ZYGOTIC": Moderate groan from Conrad, who is pretty sure we've had this before, either as a single stand-alone word or as a previous Codeword solution. Probably defined as a result from "ZYGOTE" if I had to guess, which is a term used in biology. What does the CC say? "The cell resulting from the union of an ovum and spermatoozoan". Yes. Well.
No, no, I leave all the calculation and analysis to you.
"VELUM": At first Conrad thought this was a mis-spelling of VELLUM which is, as you know, animal skin treated in order to become long-lasting medium of record. But No! It is, in reality <hack spit> "Any of various membranous structures".
Have a South Canadian atomic tank instead.
Really! Conrad is both annoyed and offended, and is going to go at the Remote Nuclear Detonator with a hammer in each hand.
Let's Whip Up A Little Retribution
Back to "Tormentor", where Luma had been undergoing an interrogation 'helping police with their enquiries" which, of course, some chavvy ignoramusii have managed to completely misinterpret.
Do we still have to warn you that what follows is not the warm fuzzy nonsense usually associated with BOOJUM! and is a lot darker?
The interview ran down after that, the more aggressive
detective asking few questions, but those in a loud and insistent way. Finally they completed the interview and
released him just before lunch, to make his own way home on the bus.
When Louis walked past the alleyway entrance, careful
to keep to the other side of Baytree Avenue, he noticed several sprays of
flowers piled up in front of the yellow police tape cordon. Not feeling brave enough to go over and look
at the notes attached, and certainly not under the eye of a policeman on
sentry, he continued down Kensington Avenue.
White paint had been thrown over his front window, and
“PERVO” spray-painted in black across the front door.
A knot of teenaged boys in tracksuits hung around the
bottom of his front garden, grinning at each other.
Louis felt fed-up rather than annoyed. Things could hardly get worse.
‘Did you see who did that?’ he asked.
‘Nah, mate, didn’t see anything,’ said one, whilst his
friends sniggered.
‘Stupid and
blind, eh?’ riposted Louis.
‘What? What’d
you say?’ asked another, aggressively, cocking his head to one side.
‘Deaf, too,’ added Louis.
‘You dissing me, pervo?’ asked the cocky one, moving
forward. Louis spotted a bulge in the
teen’s tracksuit pocket that looked to be of similar dimensions to a can of
spray paint.
‘Don’t forget, the real killer will be looking to
shift the blame onto someone else,’ said Louis.
‘Whose idea was it to spray my house?
Don’t worry, lads, I’ll be sure to tell the police all about you so you
can contribute DNA samples too.’
The chav's day is about to get much, much worse, just as Luma's gets correspondingly better. You know, I like Luma as a protagonist; he's hit absolute rock bottom and doesn't care what comes next. A man to be wary of!
Vile Victorian Viands
For Lo! we are back on the subject of adulterated and poisoned food during the reign of Queen Vic, where greedy, selfish purveyors of provender poisoned their customers in order to increase profit margins. The poisons used are so outside our experience today that it's hard to realise what was perpetrated on the buying public. For example -
Lead Chromate
When used in sweets (!) this gave them a deep yellow colour, whilst also being a deadly poison. What the heck Jane Kaczmarek! Or, if you wanted your confectionery to have a brilliant red colouring, you used vermillion, also known as red sulphureted mercury - mercury, one of the most toxic heavy metals there is. As for green sweets, why they would have been coloured with copper acetate - another heavy metal poison. Art!
Perfectly delicious!
Finally -
Your Humble Scribe is slightly disappointed that he's done the weekly wash and used the Brand New Tumble-Drier, which has not tidied up his laundry, folded it and brought it to his bedroom door with a deferential knock. Well, there's always next week.
* Objected to as it's my intent to take over and I don't want any Johnny-come-lately interlopers messing things up.
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