Not Quite A Palindrome
But getting there. NO! It is nothing to do with 'Monty Python' or the roving raconteur Michael Palin. Go look it up, Conrad is feeling lazy today. A word or phrase that reads the same forwards as backwards, like the phrase 'A man, a plan. a canal, Panama' which was used as an impressive quote in 'The Mark Of Mandragora', which I have the trade paperback of.
UPDATE: it's now a genuine palindrome as I have removed the 'f' from 'Of' and replaced it with an apostrohe. Art!
ANYWAY today's Intro is going to be around the theme of 'Dog', because there's oodles of entries in my 'Brewer's' on that very subject. Let us begin by showing a bear. Art!
That, gentle reader, is a Finnish bear in Lapland.
ANYWAY AGAIN the Laplander's nickname for the bear is - you may be completely clueless about this - "The dog of God', which has 'the strength of ten men and the wit of twelve'. Definitely not Ruffian with that latter attribute sorry again! to all our many Ruffian readers, including you Mister FSB Man <wags finger and tuts>. Art!
We've already covered this, as 'Dog Rose'; this is what comes up when searching for 'dog briar'. Art!
This is 'Dog Cabbage', in the sense of being inferior or having little or no nutritive value, formally known as 'Theligonum cynocrambe'. It's a Mediterranean herb rather than a foodstuff, but locals eat them and use it in medicine. Where the comparison to a cabbage comes in is anyone's guess. Art!
'Brewer's' then claims there is such a thing as a 'Dog leek', which Googling failed to track down, so I wonder if they're not just making shizzle up. All Conrad could find were strict remonstrances about allowing your dog to eat leeks, which can kill it, no joke. Any member of the onion family is toxic to dogs, which is why Conrad is quick to pick up any diced onion that falls to the floor. Edna, like all dogs, has an eat-now-worry-later attitude towards anything that falls on the floor. Art!
This leafy vegetable is 'Dog's Mercury' a.k.a. 'Mercurialis Perennis', which stinks and is poisonous to most animals, dogs included. Allow me to poach a little text from the 'Woodlands Trust'.
The name dog’s mercury has nothing to do with the pet – the plant is toxic to many animals, including dogs. It actually refers to it looking similar to, but ‘lesser than’ plants in the mercury family.
See 'Dog Cabbage'. Art!
Another speculative plant - 'Dog Parsley', which I cannot find an entry for. Lots of advice on how good curly parsley is for your pooch, BUT not flat-leaf parsley. Furanocoumarins, you see. Now we are all better educated than we were five minutes ago. You're welcome. Art!
No, Art, that is not a 'Dog Walker'. Go lie down for a bit. We will carry on absent your talents, such as they are. Moving on from the vegetable kingdom - Art!
DOG AND PONY SHOW: A South Canadian derogatory term for an official event, frequently political in nature, as new policies - or old policies dressed as new - are rolled out and presented to the adoring/appreciative/deeply skeptical <delete where applicable> public. The reference is to a travelling vaudeville show, where dogs and ponies were both the star turns and far more wholesome than a clutch of politicians. Art!
Proof the AI takeover is not going according to plan
DOG DAYS: Your Humble Scribe has used this phrase without knowing, exactly, what it means. 'Hot weather days', something of a rarity here in the Pond Of Eden where December has been more like Wetember.
The saying comes from the Romans, whom associated Sirius, the Dog Star, with the hottest part of the year, in July and August, theorising that the Dog Star's heat was added to that of the Sun.
DOGCART: 'A light one-horse trap' states Brewer's, popular during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, originally intended for the carriage of a sportsman's hounds. Art!
Also, a little later in time, used by the Belgian army to haul machine guns around.
Cheaper to feed than a brace of horses, one supposes.
That's enough of dogs for one Intro. Don't fret, there's lots more entries in Brewer's. I bet you can hardly wait.
I Miss Temu
If you recall, Conrad used to have a subscription to 'The Daily Beast', which had the added bonus of not merely South Canadian tabloid tat, but bonkers adverts from Temu, featuring mysterious items of dubious practicality. Like the tool for replacing divots on golf courses. The news feed I now have can be used instead of Temu as, once again, they try to click-bait people into looking at their Mystery Artefacts. Art!
From One Mystery Item To Another
Art!
Another iteration from 'Tank Encyclopedia' with the problem that it's from ages ago and the link isn't present on my news feed any longer. I tried typing in the title and it didn't bring up anything specific either, only describing Teuton panzers of the Second Unpleasantness, and the 'global' above tends to refute that time period. The other problem is that the Teutons of pre- and during Second Unpleasantness were constitutionally incapable of 'stripping-down' anything, given that they were prone to over-engineer everything. Art!
Perhaps we shall never know. On the other hand, it may turn up in the news feed.
So Much Win!
Another Ukrainian I follow on Twitter <raises both middle fingers to Elong Tusk>, Kyrylo Shevchenko, recently posted an example of how Ruffians are having to cope with the costs of four years of war. What is described as 'Ass Sausage' is now being sold in stores. Art!
This is processed meat that used to be thrown away, as not being edible or attractive. Now it's being packaged and sold in supermarkets as a cheap substitute for real meat or costlier cuts. Conrad contends the remaindered stuff in the chillers at Morrisons looks a lot better. Jonathan Swift's biting satire 'A Modest Proposal' comes to mind. No, I'm not going to explain, go read it.
So Much More Win!
Who would have predicted that slapping insane tariffs on Canadian products and threatening the Canuckistanians with invasion would ever come back and bite the South Canadians in the bottom? Not Donnie Dorko - a new nickname I created all by myself and you're welcome - who has now caused a collapse in the British Americans visiting his nation, stripping billions of tourist dollars from the economy. Art!
Donold, hard at shirk
Anything that has a 'Made In Canada' stamp, banner or label is being purchased by choice over South Canadian imports. While US/Canada relations will improve once Donold is either dead or out of office, this shift in trade may remain in force. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
By the way, my Dad used to use that 'closed my eyes' argument to pretend he wasn't sleeping.
Finally -
I have just started reading 'John Dies At The End' and recall a couple of things from the film. May have to dig it out and rewatch it as gin and old age have rendered most of it as forgotten. Although there was that cool motorcycle helmet. Art!
Still chucking it down outside. Do I earn 1,000 Brownie Points by taking Edna for a dog walk?
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