Border Farce

Little of excitement at the shrunken boat-show trolling by Southampton, tho' there is this part of successive governments' failed attempts to have any impact on illegal migration by sea. It's armoured ~ bizarre given dummies like that here won't be. 

If you wanted to monitor the situation then a drone would surely suffice... but that wouldn't be nearly as much fun, would it? I'd ask how much it cost, but that would  be too embarrassing: suffice it to say the fleet of cutters and jet-skis taken together feature a budget of £200 million.

As Liberace used to say of his jewellery: 'I hope you like it, because you paid for it'.

Monomania #1

Let's carry over what we've learned from the part-built cat, as regards a sheet of laminated foam and bag of kebab-skewers. I've always thought that the cat was the most practical in operational terms in that it could stand on its own two feet... quite literally. Here though is a pattern for a single sheet that offsets the advantage when it comes to building a monoski.

What I've done is to cut the 1200 x 600mm in half, a portion of which goes toward the deck. The remainder is divided in half again between the keel seen here that will support the ski itself, and a pair of outriggers. Although I've cut these substantially on a diagonal, I have still left the forward end of each outrigger with a 5mm inset so that for one thing it is not unduly sharp, and for another so that it is easier to bind it to the deck as we shall see at a later stage.

I made a mistake by not running a squirt of adhesive between the underside of the keel and that of the deck, but we shall be able to rectify that prior adding a filet to the other side by easing it over to enable adhesive to be applied from underneath.

And anyway kids, what else would you want to do with a Sunday afternoon?

25mm foam sheets are available but not so commonly as the 20mm here.

Sunday Sermon: Alien Philosophy

A Republican has been making electromagnetic waves in the US this week with her suggestion that aliens may be fallen angels, or in a word: evil. Which is interesting, because the notion of evil in the West (especially Europe) has fallen from favour. It is one of those things like ghosts that are considered real by most people, who are nonetheless not prepared to give it any form of credence in public.

But here's the thing. Documentaries about the Pentyrch UFO incident often include an expert witness since deceased whose exhaustive investigations came eventually to an end... because he felt there was a decidedly sinister connection with a source that was not necessarily human.

Not overly far from here too is the case of Zigmund Adamski, a miner whose death was the most confusing the coroner had come across: which was more easily explained in the circs by him having fallen victim to an alien autopsy prior being left on top of a slag heap in Todmorden with no clue as to how he might have got there.

Now call me Mr Picky, but it doesn't look like there are consent forms being signed prior these abductions, of which there appear to be legion worldwide. And what these creatures do to cows is considered bad taste even in north-west England.

It gets worse, as professors of philosophy like Sam Ruhmkorff suggest the existence of aliens is incompatible with a belief in an over-arching God of any sort. He goes on to point out, cheerily, that if aliens do exist then statistically some will be our moral superiors whereas some will be evil beyond what we could possibly imagine: worse for instance than the Ford Edsel.

This sits well with alternative encounters where aliens communicate kindly thoughts with just a gaze; as I do so often, although it frightens small children.

On balance though it is best to simply keep calm and carry on, as I plan to with an omelette.