Sunk Tank Punk Prank

When I Say "Punk"

I mean it in the sense that Judge Dredd (or Dirty Harry Callaghan) would use it, which now gives me an excuse to bring in a picture of Old Stoneyface himself.  Art!

     That's one of the Mek-Judges, which were introduced without proper testing, and it did not end well.  Contemporary ones are a lot safer and predictable.  I'm glad I could put your mind to rest on that matter.

     ANYWAY what I wanted to look at in this Intro

     Sorry, here an aside.  Just listening to Youtube in the background, where Jake Broe put up a Q & A session.  Inevitably he got asked about being a Nuclear Missile Operations Officer and directed the query to a Youtube channel called "Airman Visions" where he did a sixteen-minute presentation on that very topic.  Art!

     It transpires that before he did his stint with the Big Bang Bombs, he spent six years in South Korea, teaching English.  He confirmed what I suspected, that Korean is not easy to speak but he did clarify that it's easy to read.  The Korean alphabet was created in the fifteenth century to form a language different from Chinese, which had been used up to that point.

     ANYWAY - back to the Intro.  I read a headline on the BBC website that rather stumped me:

Damage to sunken WW2 tank in Studland Bay probed by police

     What?  A sunken tank?  

     Well yes.  You may be aware of the famous Duplex Drive Sherman tanks that were used (successfully) by Perfidious Albion on D-Day (not successfully at all by the South Canadians).  Art!

     As a proof of concept, the Duplex Drive with it's propellors and canvas screen was tested on the then-obsolete Valentine tank.  For one thing, it was a lot smaller than the Sherman, weighing only 16 tons instead of 30.  Art!

     There was a test going on in Studland Bay in early 1944, with Valentine DD tanks when disaster struck and six of them sank, killing six crewmen.  The problem with DD tanks is that they are very vulnerable in a sea state if it gets even slightly choppy, since they have limited freeboard (i.e. how much clearance there is between the top of the waves and the top of the canvas screen).
     The sunken tanks are considered a heritage site and are regularly visited by local diving clubs, their locations marked by buoys placed by English Heritage.  Art!

     Conrad, of course - obviously! - recognised them as Valentines immediately, because his tank-recognition skills are excellent.

     But - what on earth has been going on there?  One tank is described as having been damaged in late September, with the turret being completely detached and the hull also being damaged.

     Now, it is possible that the hull has become corroded and weakened after nearly 80 years sitting in saltwater, so that damage could be inflicted should one wish to do so.  But who would?  And why?  Not to mention how? because swinging a sledgehammer underwater is a lot harder than it is in the open air.

     Then, too, that turret must weigh a couple of tons on it's own, whether it's fragile or not.  How the dickens could anyone shift it?  And why?  Art!

All at sea

     All rather a mystery.  The police are investigating and Conrad's sense of nosiness is hopeful they'll come up with an answer to the submarine vandals.

     Motley! We're going to do a re-enactment of this.  Get into that inflatable kayak and paddle.

And Back To The Theme Of "Empty Spaces"

I have skipped a couple that looked rather dull.  Maybe I'll come back and re-post them when I hit the end of this article.  Maybe not.  I can be fickle that way.  Heh.

Art!

Courtesy Raj Padai

     This is the Bandra Worli Sea Link Bridge in Mumbai, India.  Bleak, if atmospheric thanks to being in monochrome.  And indeed empty, not a person or vehicle visible.  No birds, no planes, and although the bridge lamps are on, none of the buildings in the distance have any lights visible.  Conrad wonders what time of day this was taken?  It reminds me of a horror site's title page, except I can't remember which one it is.

"The Sea Of Sand"

The Doctor has been returned to his cramped oubliette with his co-prisoner, Sorbusa.

The Doctor and Sorbusa were both struck by the same idea simultaneously.  They turned to each other, Sorbusa gesturing for silence and the Doctor reaching for a blank page in his 750 page diary.  

     "Could the aristocrats use hibernation to extend their rule?" scribbled the Doctor.  Sorbusa nodded in agreement.  He picked up the pencil, which he found awkward in his massive hand.

     "The aristocrats may hibernate to prolong their lives."

     The Doctor whistled at the sudden insight this gave him.

     "How long does your species live, Sorbusa?  I see.  Approximately two hundred years."

     What perfect sense it would make!  A way to extend their reign over millennia; hibernate for ten years, emerge for one, then back into hibernation again, extending their lifespan over thousands of years.  Select a small number of hibernating bio-vores to serve as Warriors, Technicians and so on.  Use the remaining population to keep the planet alive, barely, with the constant threat of death to keep them in line.  Increase the percentage of hibernating bio-vores to eighty per cent, to allow the rulers to keep their subjects in obedient servitude.

     I suspect the Doctor is plotting to end the aristocrats and their perpetual dictatorship.  Trust him!

I've Not Finished With Either You Or Lord Peter's Dog Buns! Crossword

We are nearing the end of the Across clues and solutions.  So nearly half-way done.  Here's the 'clue': "Seven out of twelve this number makes complete; As the sun journeys on from seat to seat (9)"

     The solution?  THIRTYONE

     I didn't get it either, until I checked and yes, this is one of Ol' Dots clues that was so obscure she provided a note.  Seven months out of twelve have thirty-one days.

     Bah!

Thank you, Art.

     Hmmmmm the skies are beginning to look rather grey after a very sunny morning.  Hopefully the heavens will hold off until Edna gets Second Walkies.

"Okean Elzy"

Conrad has no idea what this is, nor whether you can eat it or drink it.  I found it scribbled in my notebook inside a set of quotation marks.  Let me just check Google -

Ah.  Now we know

     A Ukrainian rock band.  I wasn't expecting that.  Of course - obviously! - I shall now have to go check them out on Youtube and hear what they sound like, because only in doing that can we tweak the hairs on Peter The Average's bottom.

Finally -

It definitely looks like rain.  O well.  You might think "O it's chucking it down, nobody else will be stupid enough to be walking their dog in a vertical bath" but no, that's when the world and his wife take woofer walking.

     ANYWAY what I wanted to finish with was an interesting question on Quora, one that came in two parts.  

Why did Churchill misshandle two major military opperations on the Balkans during both of the World Wars (Gallipoli during WWI and the Dodecanese during WWII)? Didn't he know the geography of the Balkans that well or are there some other reason?

Gallipoli

     One reason was the failure to practice an opposed landing.  The Royal Navy had drawn up meticulous timetables of how to deploy men into ships and boats, but their planning stopped the instant anyone got out of a boat.  This proved to be a disastrous error.  They didn't know that there was a strong off-shore current that pushed the ANZACs to land in completely the wrong area.  They were also unlucky in that Colonel Ataturk, an extremely astute commander, happened to be (for the Turks) in the right place at the right time.

     All this was rather out of Churchill's hands, to be honest.  When the campaign ended with a fantastically-effective evacuation, he did the decent thing, took the blame and resigned his political position.  You won't see many politicos doing that today.