Not Sure How It Happened -
I keep having to say that about coming across interesting websites and Youtube channels, don't I? It seems to be a phenomenon of finding a rabbit-hole at the bottom of another rabbit-hole, except it's actually a wormhole, and not the kind of hole left by worms, rather - Art!
This kind
So I stumbled across a Youtube vlog in the sidebars whilst looking at a case of Entitled Bottomhole Boss - you'll get to hear about that later - and it was titled "An Astronomer Ranks Fictional Spacehips".
Come on, how could Your Humble Scribe resist a vlog like that? Right, I couldn't. The chap doing the rating is one Michael Seigel, who is actually an astrophysicist from Pennsylvania, if that makes a difference. Art!
Somewhat tellingly, he doesn't bother to call himself "Doctor" on Youtube, so no ego issues there. Okay, the thing is that he has dozens of vlogs on his channel, none of which are short, all of which Conrad is going to have to watch - just no other option, sorry.
ANYWAY, about these fictional spaceships, which are from various film and television franchises. Dr S has a five-band classification system:
1) Please Abduct Me
2) Enjoy The Ride
3) Not Great, Not Terrible
4) Fails At Max Q (that being the moment of greatest thrust delivered from a rocket engine at take-off)
5) Blows Up On The Launchpad
He has a proviso, namely "The Rule Of Cool". Wherein you, the viewer, see an element or item that isn't realistic or possible but you are willing to overlook it BECAUSE IT'S SO DOG BUNS AWESOME!
Having laid out such a preamble, Conrad cannot fail to continue with the random list of spaceships suggested by Dr S's Twitter audience. First up is the "Sulaco" from "Aliens". Art!
Conestoga-class light assault cruiser
As he points out, this does not look like anything but a weapon, none of your namby-pamby streamlining here. It's clearly incapable of transit in an atmosphere, which is why it has landing-craft, and would appear to have been built in space. He deducts points because the propulsion system and methodology isn't detailed, which Conrad thinks is a bit harsh, so it ends up as Not Great Not Terrible.
Another one? O go on then. After a short comfort break.
Next one up is the 'Narada' from "Starry Trek". Art!
Dr. S hated this one, points out the stupidity of designing a starship apparently based on a squid. He aptly points out that, if you're at the end of one of those big spiky bits, and you need to get to another big spiky bit, you have to tramp all the way around a very long perimeter. What's the utility of having all those big spiky bits? Why not have just a couple of big spikes? Why, if it's a mining ship, is it armed to the teeth? If it's a warship why does hit have a mining capability?
Blow Up On Launch Pad! and deservedly so.
We'll leave it at that for the present as too much of a good thing and all that.
Conrad Vindicated!
Even more than usual. Yesteryon we led in one blog about the drones being used in Ukraine. What did the BBC come up with after we had blazed a trail? Art!
The Ruffians are using theirs as a cheap substitute for cruise and ballistic missiles, because their stocks of same are running low. Not only that, as Suchomimus points out, they're scoring a lot of own-goals with SAM systems that fail in mid-flight and don't intercept anything except Mother Russia; he speculated that they're getting old stuff out of storage that hasn't been maintained and is quite probably right. Art!
Ruffian S-600 SAM
What the Ruffians ought to be doing with their Iranian drones is seeking out HIMARS, so of course - obviously! - they're using them to attack Ukrainian cities and the civilians within. SMH.
The Science Of Lego Sculptures
We have covered Lego sculptures in the past, mostly to ooh and ahhh at their elaborate constructions and How It's Done, usually coming up with a total brick count to round stuff off. Art!
You may now ooh with awe
This is one of the creations of Bright Bricks, a Lego construction company run by the UK's only licenced Lego professional. Building a large, complex structure in Lego requires considerable planning, done with a computer program called Solid Edge, which Bright Bricks can run because - licenced professional. So to end up with this - Art!
They work out a steel armature that will ensure the completed model is secure and stable; the last thing you want is your 500,000 piece sculpture falling over and smashing apart. Art!
That's the internal steel 'skeleton' ensuring Ziggy wont' fall over; done as a CAD it means the plotters and planners take only a couple of days to work it out instead of weeks. This is all novel to Conrad, and I suspect to you too, gentle reader.
"The Sea Of Sand"
Sorbusa is explaining the history of his despoiled Homeworld, and how matter-transmission technology was used as a last, desperate measure.
Sorbusa spread his huge hands at mention of the word "rocket", indicating incomprehension. At an encouraging gesture from the Doctor, he continued.
The very acme of astronomical research revealed a number of distant worlds within a sphere fifty light years across that could support life, four hundred and twenty three in all. Without any physical means of transport, the trans-mat Infiltration Complexes were sent out, using gravity-lenses at the mid-point of the beam. A gravity-lens -
"I know, I know. You use the space-time distortion of a stellar mass within a few radians of your beam to re-focus it at the mid-point. Ingenious!" beamed the Doctor, glad to have his own hypothesis confirmed.
"Your scientific knowledge is formidable, Thedoctor," admitted Sorbusa. "Exactly so. Only nineteen Infiltration Complexes could be sent this way."
"None of which were successful."
"Not really, no. Our Infiltration Complex on Target Nine did manage to send some biological samples back before being destroyed, presumably by the native population. The Complex on Target Eleven functioned for a week before being destroyed by vulcanism, and found no life on that world. The complex on Target Fourteen arrived on an ice-field and collapsed under the polar ice-cap."
Blimey, not blessed with good luck, were they?
Righto, back with my Kimchi and chicken thighs and it doesn't matter how long I take to type this up as salad doesn't grow any colder.
Let's Have A Sensible Quora Question
Because there are quite a few, once you Pass the Ruffian trolls who try to prove that the world is square, water is dry and Peter The Average is winning.
Yes, because it produced vast quantities of munitions in both Unpleasantnesses and was free from the threat of Teuton invasion and attack. As for the First Unpleasantness, the US got very angry indeed with Britain's policy of boarding ships to search for cargoes they considered contraband, which the South Canadians saw as a breach of international treaties about the free movement of trade. The British just shrugged and continued. The South Canadians didn't push it too far; you don't want to mess around with the world's largest and best-equipped navy when maritime trade is so important to you. Art!
Some of the Royal Navy
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