Kyle In Style

No, No, Not This Kyle, That Kyle

Several years ago Your Humble Scribe used to enjoy watching vlogger Kyle Hill present "Because Science", where he would use scientific method, mathematics and scribbled overlays to tackle serious matters such as 'What would happen if you fell into a river of lava?'  As Conrad recalls, you would skitter about like a blob of oil on a hot skillet, not dying immediately but rather roasting away over a few seconds.  Art!

I shouldn't have to say this but DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME

     Then, suddenly, Kyle was gone.  I think the channel had come under new ownership and he didn't get on with his new bosses, so goodbye BS.

     Surprise!  Conrad was checking out Youtube for whatever reason ('Mutant speaking watermelons') and he came across a familiar name - Kyle Hill.  Art!

     Well well what the very dickens, here's Kyle where he's been all along, not doing too shabbily for himself with that number of subscribers, and in this video he was investigating what seems to be an oxymoron.  Surely one of water's chief properties is being bouyant?

     Sewage plants would have you think otherwise.  Art!

     As Kyle explained, sewage is treated by microbial action, in huge tanks that are continually agitated by air being blown through them.  This allows stuff to circulate instead of clumping in a layer on the bottom.  The supposed danger is that aerated water will not support a human body in the same was as a static body of water will, and YOU WILL SINK AND DROWN.  Art!

Kyle demonstrates.  Thank you, Kyle.

     HOWEVER - and you knew that was coming or this would have been a very short Intro - those warning signs are erring on the side of caution, because hey this is South Canada and they all love to litigate at the hint of headgear being dropped.  The actual difference in bouyancy in aerated water is about 2%, and the uplift from the air bubbles counteracts this diminution.  Don't take my word from it, people have demonstrated this in real life.  Art!

     This is a tank full of clean water, not sewage.  This chap may be daring, he's neither daft nor disgusting.
     The final nail of logic in this myth is Adam Savage; Kyle (name-dropper!) rang him up and confirmed that Mythbusters had tried this and found the air bubbles countered the decrease in bouyancy.

     The downside of all this, of course - obviously! - is that I now have another drain on my time.

     And I can only follow this Intro with another item about -

"On The  Water"

Ha!  Do you see wh - O you do.  Yes, another picture from the BBC's themed photography competition.  Art!

Courtesy Amer Latif

     This is, as per photographer Amer, an example of surface tension at play, with the safety-pin not being dense enough, and with enough surface area, to avoid breaking the water's surface.  It's a pretty cool image, though one wonders how long it took to get the pin just right and not sink to the bottom immediately.  Amer probably a very patient man.

Back To "The War Illustrated"

Because I can, before you ask.  Once again, whose blog is it?  And who had better sit and play nice for fear of my starship invasion force?  Art!

     From the top, we have the always impeccable ex-Guardsman Field Marshal Alexander sitting next to Air Marshal Coningham.  Beneath them is a picture of French citizens coming out to greet their liberators, more interested in live Allies than a rather dead Teuton.  To starboard are more locals greeting the Allies, and a British soldier who looks spectacularly ready to accept any gifts of wine, flowers and kisses that may come his way.

     The bottom two photos show the difference between the residential districts of Tunis to port, and the harbour to starboard.  Residences untouched, harbour blasted flat by bombing.  This is what you call precision bombing HINT HINT.

PoWs

     The end in North Africa.  This is a collection of mostly Italian prisoners, and though there are a lot of fed-up and dejected faces, you can pick out one or two who look quite happy.  Probably hoping they get sent to Canada not Scotland.  What was nicknamed 'Tunisgrad' permanently removed a quarter of a million Axis soldiers from their armies and rendered the north Mediterranean littoral vulnerable to invasion.

     

"Young Death: Boyhood Of A Superfiend"

Conrad has been reading old copies of "Judge Dredd: The Megazine" because "Reclaiming History" is heavy going.  One strip I've enjoyed is the macabre one in the title, which is shot through with very dark humour, making it just my cup of tea.  Art!

Artist Pete Doherty, writer Brian Skuter

     For your information, Judge Death comes from an alternative reality where life itself is seen as a crime, so he and his three companions - Fire, Fear and Mortis - killed everyone.  He makes the jump to the Big Meg thanks to technology probably acquired by explorers who got to Deathworld and never left.  The story above explains how he came to be, from his very evil young self to the supervillain we all fear and hate.  Art!

"The Sea Of Sand"

Still setting the scene BE PATIENT THE DOCTOR WILL ARRIVE - ha! do you see - O you do.  

The closer the truck and car came, the less happy he felt.  The car appeared to be painted in a camouflage scheme, meaning it belonged to the Italian Army.  The big Fiat truck behind it was definitely a military vehicle, since two soldiers sat in the back.

The car swung in behind the row of tents and came to a halt.  The driver jumped out and opened the passenger side door for an officer, who stepped out and looked around.  The truck pulled up behind the car, engine revving, until the officer waved a hand at the driver.  Once again a silence fell.

Feeling an unpleasant lump in his stomach, Roger stood and left his tent.

‘Hello?  Can I help?’ he asked the officer, who looked startled for a moment, before recovering his poise. 

‘Tenente Cabrillo,’ said the officer, giving Roger a smart salute as he strode over. 

‘Ah,’ said Roger, mentally translating “Tenente” into “Lieutenant”.  ‘Roger Llewellyn, of the Templeman-Bartolomei expedition.  What can I do for you, Tenente?’

The two soldiers had jumped down from the truck and were looking at Roger with curiosity.  Roger was deciding to try out his poor Italian when the officer spoke again.

‘This is rather embarassing, Signor Llewellyn, but I am afraid you are my prisoner,’ said the officer, with a sad smile, unholstering his pistol.

O I bet Roger never saw that happening.  Nor you either.  I told you, go look up 20/06/1940.

Finally -

So much for BOOJUM! Reviews Films.  Doing that would probably put us into 1,500 word territory and you can have too much of a good thing.  You can have too much of a bad thing, too, it's just usually the total amounts involved are very different.  Conrad could probably manage three full-size pizzas before deciding he was a bit full, whereas a single chunk of pineapple would give him the billy crims and purple wim-wams combined.

     And we are now at the Adjusted Compositional Ton, so ta-ta.