Apprehension flickered in his eyes. “The oxygen is escaping faster than it is coming in. I am sorry to put it so bluntly, but unless we can repair the damage there will soon be no oxygen left in the ship.”“How soon?” I said.“Three minutes.”Janet’s face paled, and I didn’t feel too good myself. Angus MacVicar, … Continue reading Angus MacVicar & W.E. Johns: Scottish Spaceflight In The 1950s
Rainbow Rays
The COVID-19 lockdown, in my part of the world, has produced an outpouring of children’s rainbow art—often stuck up in people’s windows, but sometimes sketched on the pavements, too. I’ve been struck by the generally good command of spectral colours on display, with red on the outside and an appropriate progression towards violet on the … Continue reading Rainbow Rays
Fantastic Plastic Space Station V: Part Two
In my first post for this build, I described assembling the resin parts of the kit. As a little addendum to that process, I added some little rectangles of styrene sheet to the kit. These were to reproduce the appearance of structures that are readily visible in the film, but not included in the kit. … Continue reading Fantastic Plastic Space Station V: Part Two
Isolated
ˈaɪsəleɪtɪd Isolated: placed or standing apart or alone; detached or separate from other things or persons; unconnected with anything else; solitary To protect others, you must stay at home if you or someone you live with has symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19). This is called self-isolation. UK National Health Service, Self-Isolation Advice (2020) During the Current … Continue reading Isolated
Lock-down Walks: Dundee Law
Dundee Law (NO 391313, 174m) 5.1 kilometres 183 metres of ascent Another day, another park on the way to another Dundee hill. My starting point this time was the southwest corner of the steeply sloping Dudhope Park, on my way to the Dundee Law. Dudhope gets its name from the old word hope, meaning “valley”. … Continue reading Lock-down Walks: Dundee Law
Latin Plurals: Nouns Ending In -um
DESIDERATA Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Those are the opening lines of Desiderata, by Max Ehrmann, originally written in 1927. The text has a rather complicated history of publication, and … Continue reading Latin Plurals: Nouns Ending In -um
Poul Anderson: A Midsummer Tempest
Valeria whirled. Her finger stabbed at Rupert. “You talked about Hamlet and Macbeth—as if they were both real,” she cried. “Contemporaries, even. You said you’d met Oberon and … Titania … yourself. Well, did Romeo and Juliet ever live? King Lear? Falstaff? Othello? You mentioned cannon in Hamlet’s time. How about, by God, how about a University … Continue reading Poul Anderson: A Midsummer Tempest
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Fantastic Plastic Space Station V: Part One
After all the scratch building and revision work on my Apollo Recovery SH-3D Sea King, I decided I wanted to build something straight out of the box. With hindsight, this perhaps wasn’t the best choice from my stash—it’s not exactly a quick and easy build. It’s is a resin and steel photo-etch kit from Fantastic … Continue reading Fantastic Plastic Space Station V: Part One
Lock-down Walks: Balgay Hill
Balgay Hill (NO 377308, 146m) 2.8 kilometres84 metres of ascent Well, needs must when the Devil drives. The current UK coronavirus lockdown imposes paradoxical advice on the Oikofuge when it comes to walking outdoors—apparently I’m to “stay local”, but take my “normal exercise”, so long as it lasts “no more than an hour”. Given that … Continue reading Lock-down Walks: Balgay Hill
Does The Sun Set On The British Empire?
In short, taking every thing into consideration, the British empire in power and strength may be stated as the greatest that ever existed on earth, as it far surpasses them all in knowledge, moral character, and worth. On her dominions the sun never sets. Before his evening rays leave the spires of Quebec, his morning … Continue reading Does The Sun Set On The British Empire?