Some thoughts

Also seen at Transterrestrial Musings , this timeline of sci-fi movies: Passing Back to the Future part 2 6 years ago made me feel old, being 5 years away from Children of Men makes me feel even older!  

Via yesterday's Podcast of the Lotus Eaters : The linked episode is particularly amusing, especially the part on Tory councillor Tiger Patel. As much as the Conservatives under Boris Johnson have been a letdown, the results in England have put a smile on my face. I've long thought that Labour replacing the Liberal Party in the 1920s was a mistake that caused most of the current ruination of Britain, it was their policies in the postwar era that started the long term decline of British industry, and their nationalisations in the '60s and 70's that finished it off. Blair's reforms have proved to cause further damage, especially their devolution policies that have led to the current situation in Scotland, while since losing power in 2010 they have lurched further and further to the hard left and embraced full-on identity politics. At this point, I would glad to see them eliminated as a viable force, and replaced by the  Conservatives splitting back into Whigs and Tori...

 ( source )

Having lived in Japan for two years I have a bit of a soft spot for the Japanese Navy, despite them being on the wrong side in WW2. Their ships were often very well designed and their crews brave and highly trained. Having said that, occasionally their designers went a bit batsh*t crazy, case in point today's image of a proposed 'Super hyper dreadnaught': ( source ) Yes, that's the biggest battleship built in reality, the Yamato, providing a sense of scale. Here's a 4 view plan with some stats: Half a million tons? Go know how they expected to get 42 knits out of this behemoth, especially given this design was proposed in 1912 - when a typical Dreadnaught wouldn't even make 20! Def one to make you ask 'what were they smoking?'