ATLAS Poor Yorick

No!  That Is Not A Typo!

Because Conrad DOES NOT MAKE TYPOS.  For one thing, I have a sound grasp of English grammar and spelling, and also a spellchecker, even if it is a dodgy American English version of a proper one.  Nor can one customise it, so it still picks up 'Yesteryon' as being incorrect, when in f

     ANYWAY I will admit I've resorted to the Barf Of Avon and that line from "Hammerlet" or similar.  Art!

     Say hello to one of the enormous professional optical telescopes that NASA uses to - borrowing a phrase from UNIT - Protect The Planet.  Yes, it's an optical telescope.  No, it doesn't double as a Laser Battle-Station, we're not talking about that kind of protection.  Art!

Skulldling

     Back to Yozz.  What is the salient thing you notice about him in the above photo?  I hope you chose "Dead" as the response, because he most certainly is.  Long dead, too, by the looks of him.  Not having ever seen 'Hammerlet' and with no intention of ever doing so - I may allow Shakespeare to continue to be inflicted upon people when I take over as there is a strong streak of sadist running through me - I cannot fathom why Hammerlet is stooging around a graveyard, nor how, exactly, he got his hands on Yorick's skull.  The family mi

     ANYWAY the thing about Yorick is that he is deader than Jeffrey Jones' career.  Being expired before your expiry date is not a fate I presume any of us want.

     Enter NASA's project ATLAS, where they have rather strained the full version to come up with an acronym: Asteroid Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert System.  Art!

     "Near Earth Objects" ought to clue you in about this initiative.  It's a network of very large optical telescopes that ceaselessly scour the skies for NEOs, because these objects have none of the grace and sheer niceness of Keanu Reeves.  The danger is when they move from being 'Near' to 'Upon' since anything hitting from orbit is going to be moving at quite a clip (sorry for this astronomical jargon).

     Obviously the bigger the object the more damage it will cause when and where it impacts, though the corollary of that is that the bigger the object the easier it is to spot.

     Time is the most critical element here.  With sufficient advance warning threatened areas can be evacuated, shelters prepared, food and water stocked, or if sufficient lead time exists, a robot probe can be sent to nudge the NEO off-course.  Art!

     This is 2024 PT5, which the ATLAS network discovered only recently in 2024.  You won't be able to see it transit the heavens, as it is only 36 feet wide and is non-reflective.  The ATLAS network detected it and tracked it's trajectory, which will be slightly modified by Earth's gravity, but only slightly.  Nor will it get closer than 500,000 miles.

     You can see where Yozzy comes in here, can't you?  With ALTAS being vigilant watching the heavens, there's a lot less chance we go the same way as Hammerlet's mate.  Art!

     Also, fear not, because I've run the numbers on 2024 PT5, just in case.  Because it's so small, it will break up miles above this planet's surface, and there may be craters as small as that above caused by falling fragments.  A bad hair day if they fall on you, but everyone and everything else will be fine.

A Reminder

In our jaunt across the world of Judge Dredd in the 22nd century, I neglected to add a note that the map-creators placed at the top of the page.  Art!

     This reminds me of a commentary made on a map of Middle Earth, where one question posed was 'Why isn't there more trade across Middle Earth?' and the sober answer was that ME was a dangerous place to go travelling in.  Just so is the Earth of JD, with bands of mutants and refugee criminals standing in for orcs.

UK It

As you may be aware, Disney, via it's Lucasfilm operation, recently released "The Acolyte" on it's streaming platform, and it was roundly condemned as being steaming, not streaming.  Conrad is going to take other people's word for this as he has too many demands on his time to bother with flaming dumpster-fire televisual garbage. Ryan Kinel, of the Youtube blog 'Ryan Kinel Outpost', was positively gleeful at lathering invective upon the series, all the more so as it's losses are big enough to merit a second season being cancelled.  Art!

     RK is a hoot to watch as he's always furiously kinetic and rarely posts a vlog more than 5 minutes long.  This one looks at how TA was an even bigger loser than people realised, putting a financial stake right through it's heart.

     You see, TA was shot partly in Wales.  Wales, being part of the UK, means that studios can get tax breaks when filming here.  Conversely, it also means that they have to (eventually) post publicly-available tax records about their budgets and expenses.  Ooopsie.  Art!

Les Squareheadland, the director

     I believe LS is on record as saying that TA cost "One hundred and eighty million", which is her being coy.  Those tax documents that Ryan is displaying are the UK budget details, where the film did indeed cost 180 million, except in British Pounds Sterling.

     Thus actual expenditure comes to $230 million.  Ooopsie.  A stake made out of silver?  That's $28,750,000 per episode.  Or, if you will, $69,690 dollars per minute.

     Filming in the UK: a double-edged sword.

"The War Illustrated Edition 195 December 8th 1944"

It had been a horribly wet autumn in Europe, which made all the conflict and destruction going on even less pleasant than usual.  Art!

    In the top photo you can see British Royal Navy matelots parading along the Champs Elysées, as part of a parade mounted in Pars on Armistice Day (11th November).  At bottom you can see Winnie - he didn't mind the nickname - and General De Gaulle having a stroll, with Deggy probably thinking dark thoughts about not being the centre of attention, as he was like that.  Art!

     Whilst the Guards Armoured Division was battling on through France and the Low Countries, they still had regiments serving as footsloggers, and here you see Grenadier Guards in the Italian Apennine mountains, where the land looks waterlogged  and muddy.  Just what you don't want to encounter as a foot patrol.  Note the use of walking sticks for steep terrain.


O Delicious Schadenfreude!

Conrad is not fond of that odious sack of excrement in human shape going by the appellation 'Alex Jones', who lost both cases brought against him for defamation.  To the tune of $1 billion.  He has, of course - obviously!- wriggled like a worm on a hook to try and keep that money in his hot, sweaty hands and avoid relinquishing it.

     Well, the time has come to pay the piper.  Art!

     It's a bit early for 'Ho Ho Ho!' but I don't care.  Also <points and laughs>.  I hope he ends up living in a cardboard box under a bridge.  With rats*.

Finally -

It's Degsy's birthday on Sunday, but it's being officially moved to Friday in order that Darling Daughter and Quiet Tom come to visit also, so I have laid in a carton of alcohol-free beer, because one of them is going to have to drive.

     Chin chin!

*  Doubtless the ASPCA will be on the case with all speed.