We Have A Theme For This Intro!
What do the Space Shuttle and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle have in common?
CHALLENGER!
You can't deny it. Well, you can if you're delusional.
ACD, you see, invented another character who is less well-known than his consulting detective, yet who has gone on to cast a long shadow in the world of entertainment. Art!
Conrad is unsure if this film can be broadcast ever again, given the level of animal cruelty brazenly on display, as they used real reptiles with bits glued on to stand in for dinosaurs. At one point a duelling pair of dinos fall over the edge of the Lost World's plateau, and - I'm not convinced they didn't just simply push said beasties over the edge. Art!
You could get away with this in 1960
There have been umpteen other film and television adaptations, which I won't go into or the Intro will consist of nothing but, so allow me to try and pinpoint our hero - Professor Doctor George Edward Challenger, which is how come we get today's title. Art!
The Prof Doc is quite the temperamental opposite of Ol' Sherly, being aggressive, vain and hot-tempered and not suffering fools at all. Glad we're not acquaintances!
The Space Shuttle 'Challenger' brought back unpleasant memories. This, you will recall, was the one that disintegrated after launch, killing all the crew as this kind of accident typically does. There is a famous image which we'll get to, after one with the shuttle in rather better nick. Art!
One of the investigative panel brought in to study and discover the reason for the explosion was Richard Feynman, a South Canadian scientist we have mentioned in the past and who could fill a whole series of blogs himself. He demonstrated with a C-clamp what had caused a cascade of failures that led to this -
Moving right along, there is also that interesting hydrographic feature over in the Pacific Ocean, known as the 'Challenger Deep', which is what you'd call a bit of an understatement when you know the details. Art!
Pretttty far down, I think you'll acknowledge. It is, in fact, the deepest part of the oceans across the whole globe, being the bottomest part of the Mariana Trench, itself quite deep as these things go. Art!
Why is it called the "Challenger Deep"? The second part is, I hope, obvious. The "Challenger" bit has nothing to do with the peppery Prof Doc, and everything to do with HIS BRITTANIC MAJESTY'S ROYAL NAVY thank you very much. You see, it was a Senior Service vessel called "Challenger II" that made the record-breaking discovery of how deep the Deep was. Art!
To date 27 people have been to the bottom of the Challenger Deep, which is more than have walked on the Moon, thanks to the Deep being on our doorstep as 'twere, yet not that many given that there are 9 billion of
There is, as you may be aware, an AFV called "Challenger" as mentioned on the blog occasionally, an interim design created in 1944. Art!
With puny humans for scale
This beast mounted a 17 pounder gun in a large, boxy turret, and was intended to see off the heavy Teuton tanks, which it was quite able to do, the 17 pdr being a real brammer. Trouble was, they'd elongated the hull to be able to accommodate the turret, but didn't increase the width accordingly, which made it unwieldly and difficult to handle. Prof. John Buckley, who is considerably more charming that Prof. Doc Challenger, is convinced the Challenger turret was taken from the TOG-2 one and he may have a point there. Only 200 were made as the Sherman Firefly, which also mounted the 17 pdr, was a better all-round tank that could be waterproofed for wading or crossing river obstacles. Art!
Boxy but quite foxy
The Lukewarm Equations
For most of February, my Traffic stats have been wildly, atmospherically high, which is flattering and entirely inaccurate, as this has happened before. Today, it being the 29th of February since we are in a Leap Year, the traffic counter on Blogger seems to have a Hard Sense Reset. Art!
Whether this will last as we step boldly into March remains to be seen! I'll let you know.
Meanwhile, In Schadenfreude-land
I am told that Letitia James, the New York Attorney General, passes by a building called '40 Wall Street' daily. She has her eye upon it because it belongs to DJ Trump, whom has only 25 days to post either a bond or the entire $454 million judgement against him. She posts daily about how much he owes with the added interest, so she must be using the website "Donald Trump's Debt Live Tracker" as am I. Art!
"City In The Sky"
Things are coming to a head. A giant crocodilian head, that is.
The giant antediluvian creature moved slowly into the heart of New
Eucla, dragging it’s limbs and a wrack of seaweed along for the ride, sounding
a muted bellow.
The Lithoi, not used to free water in any significant amounts and hence
not very aware of marine fauna and certainly not aware of megafauna, panicked
when the Dilly showed up on their flying eye’s scanner. A blast of superheated steam and a sonic boom
came as they abruptly fired at the huge crocodile, which leaped backwards as
it’s scales crisped and burnt.
The Doctor dragged Billy backwards, knowing what would probably come
next and wanting to get away from the havoc.
They were only just in time; with a screeching hiss the blinded Dilly
launched itself at the source of it’s torment and clamped it’s mighty jaws
around the flying eye, being roasted from the inside as it did, collapsing in a
torrent of sparks and shattered plastic.
The tail lashed once, twice, shattering buildings on either side of the
road and then all that could be heard was the pattering of rain.
Mike, Billy and the Doctor were the survivors, and Mike looked seriously scalded. He stared in amazement and disbelief at the corpse of the Dilly and the smashed Lithoi craft.
‘Did – you didn’t plan that, did you?’ he asked.
‘No. Happy coincidence.’
Billy looked at the smashed, waterlogged, burnt or windowless buildings
all around and shook his head.
‘Now what,’ he muttered.
‘Hopefully our uninvited guests will get the message, pack up and go
home,’ beamed the Doctor.
Ah, what a card! Eternal optimist, he is.
A Little Musical Critique
We've not had one of these for months and months, much to the relief of the entire musical community, as literalism and pedantic hair-splitting are two of their least favouritest things in all the world.
Your Humble Scribe was wondering last week exactly what "Cicatrix" was, and if you could eat it, or whether it was a mythical creature composed of the body of a cockerel with the head of a cockerel, and the tail of a cockerel. Just not put together in sequence.
Well, no. Not at all. A "Cicatrix" is the scar left when a wound heals and I blame The Mars Volta for their song "Cicatrix ESP".
Only bonkers mathcore prog metal can save us now!
Finally -
Last day of sober February as I'm typing this up on Thursday 29th, looking forward to a snifter of gin tomorrow after work!
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