Robot Army

NO!  You Are Wrong

I can tell because that was a deliberate verbal trap, set because I can and also to illustrate how you can never be too sure about what you read or see.  Let us put up what you were expecting.  Art!

     This is, of course - obviously! - an idiot's imagining of what a robot army would look like.  Notice how nice and white the robots are, making them stand out at a distance, and before you cavil that they might be set to work in an Arctic environment, their weapons are also stand-out black, blowing their snowy camouflage.  Plus they are clustered far too close together, meaning an enemy that ranges one of them ranges their whole rank or column.  They're all looking in one direction, meaning th

     ANYWAY that's not what this Intro is about.  Rather, I wanted to look at robot arms, specifically the limb not a set of weaponry, so perhaps the title ought to have been "Arm-y".  So go sue me.  Art!

     This is matey, the "Winter Soldier' for whatever reason, because "It's snow joke fighting him!" or similar, and he has a tragic backstory where his dog died and there were no chocolate Digestives left in the cupboard, etcetera etcetera.

     He is of note only because he has a robot arm, and wouldn't you know, it's his left arm, possibly a deliberate choice given the Sinister emblem upon his shoulder.  Imagine if he'd been Falcon - then he'd definitely be left-wing  <ahem>.  Art!

     This is Tanner, the anti-hero of "Night Zero" out of 2000AD, which was a pretty good story, thanks for asking.  As you can see, he is graced with a mighty meaty muscular metal arm, courtesy of his service in the army.  He lives and works in Night City, a gigantic domed post-apocalyptic city that needs the dome to keep out all the designer viruses and mutant wildlife.  O and that arm?  Is armed.  Art!

Gosh, he looks cross, doesn't he?

     There was a secondary character from "The Authority" who was blessed with a robot arm, one that looked designed upon realistic principles, except I cannot find a picture of same as she was both rather obscure and didn't last very long.  So instead let's put up another obscure character, who went the distance.  Art!

     Readers, meet Toberman.  He was an unfortunate victim of the Cybermen, as detailed in the dramamentary "Tomb Of The Cybermen" (a Doctor Who serial) who jiggled his brains around to render him obedient to them, and who swapped his right arm for a Cyber version, which you can see above.  Art!

     Also just visible here.  And no, I cam not going to go through the whole DVD just to get half-a-second of screenshot.

     All of this is by way of a preamble, because we have a real, gigantic robot arm to impress you with as of right now.  Art!

     It may not be clear, so let me explicate that the arm here mounts a cutting jet composed of sand and water, which is used to cut up derelict ships not fit for use any more.  This arm is one of four that the firm Leviathan have tasked to chop up a ship into scrap steel, which can then be sold on in compact and movable form for recycling.

     "So what?" I hear you ask.  Well, this way avoids the extensive waste materials and contaminants that infest large ships, such as heavy metals or asbestos.  And also because a great deal of the world's ship-breaking is done on beaches out in India and other Asian shorelines, by scads of low-paid manual workers with nil PPE.  Art!

Forget hard hats, these chaps don't even have shoes

     Of course - obviously! - it's dirt cheap, because the workers get paid a pittance and are routinely injured, killed or poisoned.  With the increasing robotic automation of ship wrecking, this trade may have seen the beginning of it's end.  Art!

For All Humanity

Or at least quite a lot of them.  We've featured the CGI of 'HazegrayArt' a few times in the past, as they - man, woman, committee? - continue to explore alternate historical and contemporary rocketry.  This one is for an un-pressurised Lunar Lander.  Art!

    This is the 'Yankee Clipper' Lunar Lander and Command Module en route to the landing site, travelling over the Moon's surface several hundred miles up.  Art!

Separation

Descent

Landing

     I'm sure a few of the more tech savvy amongst you out there will be wondering what four astronauts are going to be doing once they land, as the Lander is unpressurised - there is no fuselage to retain any atmosphere and the Mission Elapsed Time is expected to be around 7 days.  Look on - 

     HGA has added-in the 'Surface Habitat 0605-LLPS-LaRC 2' at upper starboard, a living environment for the now-landed astronauts.

     Outstanding stuff!  Well done HGA!  (good background music, too)

"The War Illustrated"

For those keeping track, we are very nearly at the end of Volume Seven, meaning only 3 more left to cover the rest of the Second Unpleasantness.  Art!

     This is one of TWI's montages, where the captions below inform readers about what they're seeing, alas too tiny to read here, so I'll just have to talk you through them one at a time.  Lucky you.  Art

     This first photograph is somewhere in the landscape of ruins around about Monte Cassino, where a New Zealand lieutenant is keeping a beady eye open for any incautious enemy movement.  Unless he is left-handed he's going to expose himself if he takes a pot at any Teutons.  He and his platoon seem to have settled in this location at least temporarily, as he's not carrying any kit at all, implying it's been left at a central location.

     I say!  Patches of blue sky now visible outside, not what Conrad expected this morning looking out on a world of grey.  Better be quiet, don't want to scare it off.

"City In The Sky"

The Doctor has been harangued by breathless accounts of the 'Death Sats' in orbit, which have played merry hob with the Australian coastal communities.

     ‘How old are you, Terry?’ asked Lenny, in the habitally sly way he had.

     ‘Uh – twenty last month, Len.  Why - you got a prezzie for me?’

     Don smiled, showing the gap in his teeth.

     ‘And you’re fit as a fiddle, ain’t you?’

     Terry began to suspect he was being set up.  He crossed his arms.

     ‘D – Mayor - I’ve donated blood twice this year already.’  He looked at Lenny.  ‘I’ve done my turn in your highway repair-rota, too.’

     Don scraped his mayoral seal off the desktop and into a drawer.

     ‘Terry, Terry, you’ll hurt my feelings.  Right now I’m just being Uncle Don, looking after your best interests.’  He spread his hands wide and tried to look sincere.  ‘I wondered if you’d like to go on a trip with these nice people.’

     Now the younger man looked at the Doctor and Ace with increased interest.

     ‘Oh, right.  Where along to?’

     Both travellers pointed directly upwards.  No further explanation was needed: Terry gaped, blinked, muttered under his breath and nodded with enthusiasm.

     Handy shorthand, that.

Arga Warga Barga Bar Bar Bar

You know what the ancient Greeks were like; expansionist, fractious and convinced of their own cultural superiority.  It is believed they called non-Hellenes 'Barbarians' because they didn't speak Greek, and instead jabbered along in their own miserable languages à la "Bar bar bar".

     Conrad knows how they felt.  Art!

     Your Humble Scribe doesn't recognise any of these names and, because life is short and I have a very large Book Mountain to read, I'm not going to bother looking them up.

Typical

Conrad has mentioned his Subscribing to Periscope Film's Youtube channel, and is going to have to track down a film they posted where they acquired hundreds, if not thousands, of 8mm and 16mm film reels, since it shows what they do with cellulloid film - a perishable and fussy medium that needs to be stored PROPERLY.  Art!

     Nope, it's not a liquorice gateau, this is film stock kept in conditions of high temperature and humidity.  It's now completely useless except as landfill.

     I hope all you hoarders out there with reels of 'Doctor Who' that grandad smuggled home from his studio job at the BBC are looking after them.

Finally -

Being Sober For October hasn't been that much of a strain.  All I have to do now is wait until November 3rd, Friday, when I can guzzle a can or two of Old Speckled Hen.

     Chin Chin!