We Continue To Talk Of -

Economics

CAUTION!  SINGLE ITEM BLOG!  YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

SIT BACK DOWN!  This is interesting, I tell you - pay close attention or it's the Remote Nuclear Tormentor for you all - Art!

     Earlier we dealt with South Canadian tariffs; this time we're going to look at the Ruffian economy, which - you may be ahead of me here - is not doing very well.  For one thing, their budget deficit now stands at ₽5.4 trillion rubles, or $65 billion dollars in proper money, with another two months of 2026 still to go, so it will probably end up nearer ₽70 trillion or $78 billion.  Even the lower figure is twice what they had projected.  Art!

     This is Professor Derin Gerdes, whose vlog on economic matters "Professor Gerdes Explains" from 7/11/2026 I have annotated, with more additions from myself and 'Jake Broe'.

     Let's get cracking.  The Prof asserted that the Ruffian economy hasn't collapsed yet but, as he put it, is 'cannibalising' itself to keep going, much as their air force and passenger airliners are doing.  This is essential to pay for the war and debt obligations.  'Debt obligations' are the payments that the government must make to pay off the principal and interest on state debt, which amount to 10% of the national debt, and to that you can add 40% for 'defence' spending.  Art!

Ukrainians flipping the bird at Pig Daddy

     As of the First of November, the Kozaky hit 3 Ruffian oil refineries in three days: Kstovo (which supplies petrol and diesel to Barad Duh), Ufa and Novokuibyshevsk (which is hard for most people to pronounce).  These aren't just single strikes going for a CDU; they are hitting anything that will explode, further hampering repair operations.  For any single day these refineries are offline, 90,000 tons of crude cannot be refined, meaning a loss of revenue totalling $90 million dollars per day.

     These strikes have had an immediate effect, causing fuel shortages and loooooong queues at petrol stations in Moscow, which Putinpot hates as it brings the war home to capital orcses.  Art!

     People are being rationed to 13 gallons each, or even 10 in some of the provinces, and spending all night in a Ruffian winter to get fuel is hazardous to one's health.

     The Prof cites Super Steve Rosenberg, Our Man In Mordorvia, who analysed Ruffian print media (which is slightly less censored and directed than broadcast media).  He quoted 'Nevashevistnya' which provided a bit of detail about how the budget is going to fund the war and debt servicing; naturally, social spending is being cut, and by 15%. Art!

Super Steve!

     15% is a whopping big reduction, almost a sixth of the total.  Nor is that all.  Now the State Duma elections are over, domestic retail prices have soared, meaning that the orcs cannot now afford beef or chicken - which has increased in price by 40%.  Helpful government experts have encouraged orcs to switch to pulses or lentils instead.  Conrad encourages them to take up the art of 'bin-dipping'.  Art!

     I'm cheating here, this article is from 2025.  Mind you, it gives an idea how bad things are in the Ruffian agricultural sector, especially as during September 2026 they only sold 41 domestically produced harvesters.  October's numbers are said to be even worse but haven't been officially released yet and if they're this bad, they may never be released.  Dealers selling harvesters and other farm equipment have until 01/01/2027 to repay any loans they took out or risk bankruptcy, or, as is more likely, the state seizing their business.

Let The Grain Take The Train:  quoting 'Stanimir Dobrev' from Twitter, The Prof stated that the 'Ruffian Grain Union' says Ruffian grain exports from all Mordorvia's ports have dropped as of October by 67%, from 7 million tons to 2.4 million tons.  One-quarter of that 7 million tons would have gone from the Black Sea ports and the ports on the Sea Of Azov, totalling 1.75 million tons.  However - O that word again! - all three ports on the SOA, Rostov, Taganrog and Azov are all closed, with their port infrastructure badly damaged and 7,000 jobs at risk.  Art!

     Wheat exports are also down by 68%, from 6 million tons to 2 million tons.  This means - you may be ahead of me here - that the state revenue for grain exports also falls dramatically.

     I shall now go off at a tangent to cover what Jake had on his vlog, which sounds deadly dull yet which is exceedingly insightful: insurance rates.

     SIT BACK DOWN!  

     Pre-2022, insurance rates for Ruffian marine freight ran at between 0.25% and 0.35% of the vessel being insured's overall value.  Then came the war, and Lloyds and other insurance entities declared the Black Sea to be 'Hazardous' and refused to insure any shipping transiting it into Ruffian waters.  To give their reasons:

"The Joint War Committee (JWC)—which includes the Lloyd's Market Association and London insurance market representatives—classified the Black Sea as a high-risk and hazardous commercial shipping environment due to the escalating war between Russia and Ukraine"

     Art!

orcs at sea

     Enter the Ruffian National Compensation Pool, which provides marine and cargo insurance for ships calling at Mordorvia's ports, especially those on the Black Sea, since nobody else is willing to risk it.  Thing is, it only amounts to $360 million, and can thus only cover 50 to 70 ships at any one time, which is waaaaaay below the number of ships needing to use the BS ports.  

     Net result?  Insurance costs have spiked, which is to say gone through the roof.  From 0.25% of a ship's value, they are now at 10%, a forty-fold increase, "heavily depressing the global competitiveness of Ruffian commodities like grain."

     O dearie me.

     The example given in the screenshot Jake showed used a ship valued at $40 million.  Art!

E.g. this

     Having to pay 10% of that added $67 to every ton of grain.  A ton of wheat shipped from the Black Sea ports comes in at around $220 per ton, thus the grain cost increases by 33%.  Unless insurance rates drop to no higher than 2%, Ruffian shipping, especially grain, will not recover.

     We can only hope.

     The Prof also looked at the death benefits being paid to the families of orcs who signed a contract and went off to become sunflower-fodder in Ukraine.  Provincial governments are finding it from difficult to impossible to pay what they used to, and have petitioned Barad Duh to provide financial relief.  Well, with a budget deficit of $65, the Kremlin cannot afford to subsidise the provinces.  Art!

One million rubles is about $12,200 in proper money.  These figures are one reason why orc recruitment has fallen way below their losses ever since December 2025, I think by 5,000 per month in the summer and autumn of 2026; possibly by as many as 30,000 for October as their casualties skyrocket.  At the other end of the recruitment spectrum, sign-on bonuses have also dwindled to a fraction of what they used to be.  In September a contractniki got $55,200; in November they are only getting $9,814, or less than a fifth.

     Ooo-err Matron!

     I shall leave you with the clever and waspish wit of Sarah Paine.  Art!

     Wah wah wah.

Today We Talk Of -

LITHIUM WAFER BATTERY TECHNOLOGY!

Not really.  I haven't used this phrase for years but it was a staple in the blog's early days, when I needed a go-to to convey something innately boring.  Conrad unsure if 'Lithium Wafer Battery Technology' even exists.  Art!

     Well, there you go, they do.  Go me!

     I used that as a title because what the Intro covers today can be horribly dull: economics SIT BACK DOWN! for I shall make it interesting in the way only I can.  Unfortunately I shall also have to drag in the Big Orange Oaf Himself, for he is intimately entwined in the subject, so let's have another terrible photo of him.  Art!

Dead or sleeping?  Only you can tell!

     The thing you have to remember is that Donold is not just stupid, he is very, very stupid, even when his brain wasn't made up of Maris Piper.  Someone in the 'Project 2025' group probably mentioned 'tariffs' to Pig Daddy, and he instantly seized on them as Magic Money Makers, unaware what they actually are.

     'Collins Concise English Dictionary' do your thing!

"Tariff,n: A tax levied by a government on imports or occasionally exports for purposes of protection, support of the balance of payments, or the raising of revenue."  Art!

Saggy baggy bloaty throaty

     DJ Tango tried to argue that his tariffs were being imposed for vital national security reasons, none of which he bothered to explain.  When they were deemed unlawful, the people at Project 2025 informed him - he's much too dense to have known about this - to use the International Emergency Economics Act of 1977 as authorisation instead.  This - 

"grants the U.S. President broad authority to regulate, block, or freeze international commerce, financial transactions, and foreign assets after declaring a national emergency in response to an unusual and extraordinary threat originating largely outside the United States"

     In February of this year the Supreme Court Of The United States, hereafter SCOTUS, declared this use of the IEEPA to be unlawful, as it was imposing a tax - see highlight above - which only Congress has a mandate to levy, and which Droopy would never approach as Congress wouldn't pass it.  Art!

  For background, the South Canadian government collected $194 billion in tariff income in 2025, and $176 billion in 2026 to date, which is an 11% drop thanks to legal challenges and policy changes, which means Trump decreasing tariffs if a particular country can bribe or flatter him.  This amount sounds like a lot, and it's not chump change, but it's still only 4% of the federal revenue, compared to the 54% brought in by income tax.  You'll also notice that Trump never mentions 'Tariff dividends' any more and the last time a journalist asked about them Trump had no idea what he was talking about.

     Here an aside.  There are 270 million adult South Canadians present in the country; if they were to be paid, say, $5,000 each, my Google calculator reckons this would equal $3.6 trillion.  Way to go.  Art!

     ANYWAY, one of the reasons for imposing tariffs is to help the balance of trade, which simply has not happened, as the South Canadian National Debt is now $40 trillion, of which $2 trillion is from 2026 alone.  The average household has been hit by tariffs to the tune of (lower bound) $1,700 per annum to (upper bound) $5,000 p.a.  That's an additional $33 per week and an additional $96 per week to find.  No wonder the Wizard Lizard Gizzard party got an absolute shellacking in the mid terms, hmmm?  Art!

Guess whose brain is being operated on?

     Things are a little bleaker for Cankles Von Yamteats, as the Customs and Border Protection agency has been forced to refund victims of tariffs to the tune of $115 billion in 2026 already.  

     It gets worse for Pumpkinhead.  You see, a class action lawsuit is being brought before the Court of International Trade as of 10/11/2026, on behalf of 330,000 (!) importers who had to pay up under tariffs, who want ALL of 2026's tariffs refunded, a total of $166 billion.  The Department of Justice has until 13/11/2026 to respond, meaning by the time you read this they will have already attempted to glom as much of the remaining revenue as possible.  Art!

    Senator Ron Wyden.  No, there are no other Congressmen with the surname 'Long' otherwise they c

     ANYWAY AGAIN Ron is going to be heading the Senate Finance Committee and has already declared an interest in repealing certain tariff, especially those focussed on Canuckistan.

     Just to clear up tariffs.  If South Canada is importing veebelfetzers from Canuckistan at a cost of $100 per unit, which they then sell for $200 and they get tariffed at 50%, they then get imported at a new cost of $150.  In the tuber-filled landscape that is Fat Caligula's mind, he equates this as $50 of free Magic Money.  In reality the importer is going to hike the price of their end product to make up for the new higher price, and the customer pays $250.

     Here endeth the economics lesson.

O NOES THE PANS ARE BACK!

Art!

     Dog Buns, the wretched things are horribly persistent, aren't they?  I promise I didn't click on any pan-related links, merely took a Snip of this, yet they still dog my footsteps.  Bah!

Here's An Interesting AI Clip

We start off with a Sopwith 'Camel' taking off from a lighter in the North Sea.  Art!

     Er yes, sorry, more zeppelins.  Art!

     The 'lighter' was a flat-bottomed barge with a wooden deck fitted, upon which the Camel sat.  The lighter was towed  into a headwind at high speed, 36 knots or 41 PROUD IMPERIAL miles per hour, allowing the Camel to take off from a very short deck.  Art!

Wheeee!

     This video depicts Flight Lieutenant Stuart Culley as of 11th August 1918, taking off to intercept the Teuton zeppelin L53 over the briny deeps of the North Sea.  Art!

     Culley actually used two Lewis guns, and the zeppelin didn't catch fire until he had stalled and fallen 2,000 PROUD IMPERIAL feet.  One of the crew survived after jumping and using one of the extremely dangerous Teuton parachutes, surviving his fall and being picked up by Teuton warship.  The rest of the crew - you may be ahead of me here - were scragged.

     It was impossible for Culley land on the lighter, so he ditched his Camel next to the destroyer towing it, 'Redoubtable', and was rescued from the water.  His Camel was winched out of the water and given to the Imperial War Museum, where it no longer exists.  At least not at RAF Duxford.

Number Five!

On our list of 20 works on the classical world that you need to read.  Art!

     "From The Gracchi To Nero" by H H Scullard, published 1959.  Daisy, writing the blurb, states that this is the work to read if you want to know how the Roman republic ended and how the foundations for empire were laid.  I had no idea who or where or what 'Gracchi' were, until Daisy informs that they were brothers, plebian tribunes who tried to help poor citizens via land reforms and social programs.  This did not impress the Senate, whom responded with mob violence that killed both of them and thousands of their supporters.  Daisy expressed this as the inevitable result of deep divisions in the Senate.  Grim stuff but probably highly illuminating as well.

I Came Across An Interesting Short Vlog On Youtube

Given the nature of the title, I cannot show the opening few seconds, as they don't edit out the title.  Art!

     From 'Ringer Movies'.  Van says he tried to use body counts and consequences to rate how WSHFWTG cinema characters were.  Art!

The man Van Lathan

     His first entry is 'Death Wish' which I haven't seen and don't intend to.  Van explains that there are 5 in this franchise.  What is Charles Bronson's body count?  Art!

      Wowsers.  That's 25 people per film on average.  You'd think the cops might have an inkling that there's something - odd going on.

Finally -

Dog Buns, typing this Thursday and I want to make a Full English Breakfast Pizza after work tomorrow, but I forgot to get sausages.  Guess it's a quick walk to the offie-shop tomorrow.

Angels (And Demons)

Because You Cannot Have One Without The Other

Also because having only Angels rather limits your Word Count.  For Lo! we are back on the subject of Angels, having covered Guards and Guardians already.  See previous blog for details.  Art!

     There you go, one of M. C. Escher's clever tesselations with interleaved angels and demons.

     ANYWAY back to Angels.

ANGEL VISITS: To quote my 'Brewer's' "Delightful encounters of short duration and rare occurrence".  Much like 'BOOJUM!' just in the real world.  Not a phrase I've ever heard of before.  Art!

THE ANGELS OF MONASTERVIN: Conrad hadn't heard of this lot, who are quite as Demonic as Angelic.  They were 700 Irishmen from the vicinity of Monastervin in Eire, whom went to fight for the Nationalists - the fascist party of Franco in the Spanish Civil Unpleasantess, with the full blessing of the Catholic Church.  Their leader was Eoin O'Duffy, who had formed the fascist Blueshirts in Ireland.  They seem to have had at least the tacit support of the De Valera government, and it would be interesting to see how the government treated them on their return.  I bet nothing like as harshly as those Irishmen who volunteered to serve with the British army in the Second Unpleasantness - which is a whole other story.  Art!

ANGEL OF THE NORTH: Art!

Sculpture with puny humans for scale

     This monster installation is 66 PROUD IMPERIAL feet tall, has a wingspan of 177 feet, and rocks in at 200 PROUD IMPERIAL tons.  It was designed by Anthony Gormley and is intended to convey a sense of the region's industrial past.  If you care to drive past it, you can see it on the A1 at Gateshead, unless you're on the other side of The Pond, in which case you cannot.  Art!

THE ANGELS OF MONS: O boy, where to start with this one.  Mons was the first encounter battle the British Expeditionary Force against the advancing Teuton First Army under Von Kluck - a gift of a name for the old lags amongst the Brits.  The BEF was heavily outnumbered and outgunned but shot the advancing Teuton hordes flat and then had to break contact and retreat or face destruction.  It was a long hard march but it worked.

     Then, a month later, Arthur Machen published what was obviously a FICTIONAL story in the 'London Evening News', crediting 2nd Corps survival thanks to angelic intervention from <ahem> Saint George and a tranche of angels, who wielded longbows and, once again, shot the Prussian hordes flat.

     This then became an urban legend which has never quite died, as people got to hear garbled versions of reality and myth and were unfamiliar with the Old Contemptibles proficiency with the SMLE Mk. IV.  Art!

FALLEN ANGELS: Thank you Art <sounds of Tazer> O stop griping put a bit of Sudocrem on it.  Try harder!

     The definition in 'Brewer's' is of the angels that were thrown out of Heaven, which is a bit harsh for having overdue library books.  Actually there doesn't seem to be a definitive reason for this fall; it has been ascribed variously lust, pride, envy or even to take control of Heaven itself.  I can see God getting a bit ticked off at that last one.  Art!

     This, gentle reader, is a 'Fallen Angel', defined as 'women who have strayed from the path of virtue', which is rather vague and euphemistic.  Conrad thinks this is a lady who has had carnal relations outside of wedlock, which behaviour the Victorians frowned upon, but perhaps she just likes sweet sherry and petit fours too much?  Art!

THE ANGEL OF DEATH: You knew this wasn't going to start well with a grinning Nazi in an SS uniform.  Say hello to Josef Mengele, possibly one of the worst villains the Third Reich ever produced.  I won't go into detail about his 'medical experiments' as they'd make both you and I ill.  He got out of the ruins of Germany and perambulated around South America, not staying in any one country too long lest Interpol or the Israelis caught up with him.  Discovered drowned dead in 1979, and not missed.

Goodness Me!

I'm going to separate this item from the Intro, because it is a complete 180º switch from the - well actually considering the last entry person mentioned not that divergent ah what the heck it's a separate item already.  Art!

     You may remember this obscure television series.  Conrad does, especially when the four nerds play their board game and the 'Demogorgon' is introduced.  Typical Dungeon and Dragons nomenclature, I thought.

     WRONG!

     There is a historical deity known as the Demogorgon, so dreadful that merely speaking it's name aloud brought misfortune and malfeasance.  It took until the 4th century until the writer Lactantius took his life in his hands and wrote 'Demogorgon' and didn't drop down dead.  Art!

     Not that terrifying.

     The poet Milton makes mention of Ol' Gorgy, describing it as 'The dreaded  name of Demogorgon'.  So the name has been out there for a few centuries.  That'll teach me.

Hilarious!

Conrad noticed an unusual title on his Youtube feed last night, and wondered what on earth was going on.  'The Where Eagles Dare Remake' - wait what?

     I watched it and - it's a spoof done on a shoestring with models.  Art!

     Courtesy 'Modelling Misadventures'.  It's just under 7 minutes long so won't take up too much of your time.  Art!

     O dear.  I appear to have stirred up a need to watch the real film again.  "Broadsword calling Danny Boy -"

Okay On With The 'Mock Donold Judas Trump' Show

Blimey, my MSN newsfeed consists almost entirely of articles about DJ Tango, which is a bit much, variety is the spice of life doncha know.  As if I can talk.  Art!

     What horrid little teeth he has; like a rodent's.  Go on, what's the question you clickbait pikers?

     Aha, he refuses to criticise Putinpot or Mordorvia.  Which is perfectly understandable as he's working for both of them; his behaviour makes perfect sense if you filter it through this lens.

"“Well, there's been nobody that's been tougher on Russia than me,” Trump responded, before adding that he has been the toughest person on Putin. “Look at our trade. Look what I've done to them on trade with the sanctions and everything else.”"

     Utter guff.  Donnie Dorko goes out of his way to flatter and pander to Putin - viz. the LIFTING of sanctions and the deal Trump did to buy Ruffian diesel.  Which seems to have quietly died the death as the oil tankers hitherto headed for South Canada are now in the Mediterranean or headed for Brazil.

     The kompromat Putin has on BOOH must be horrendous.  Art!

     Pig Daddy's eyes greatly resembles a pair of shelled oysters.  Sweepstake for when he his head implodes and the mashed potato oozes out?

     

You What? Again

Once again the newsfeed algorithm is throwing up strange articles it thinks are appropriate for Your Humble Scribe to purchase.  Art!

O I see.  Actually no I don't.  What is a 'Disc Backing Pad'?  Why does it need to be 'Quick-Change'?  What is a 'Type S'?  What is '1/4-20 Thread'?

"A disc backing pad is a flat or cushioned accessory that attaches to a power tool—such as an angle grinder, orbital sander, or rotary polisher—to securely hold and support an abrasive, sanding, or polishing disc"

     Ah, it becomes clearer.  So the 'quick change' means being able to swap out sanding discs and the like.  As for 'Type S' - 

"Attachment Mechanism: The Type S system uses a plastic or threaded screw/button backing on the center of the disc that twists onto the pad with a fast half-turn or quarter-turn lock-on and twist-off motion"

    So now we know, and are better informed about the world.

Finally -

That's it!

We Have An Insufficiency Of Guardians

This Is The Obverse Of Our Recent Theme About Guardian Angels 

Which then became a discourse about angels and all things angel-related.  Although I seem to dimly recall one of the novels we read in the fifth year at school was - Art!

     This is the edition we were issued with.  Conrad remembers it being dull and uninteresting with no exotic green-skinned alien princess, a total absence of laser gun-battles and a lack of interstellar starships.  O callow youth!

     ANYWAY that being said, I'm going to be going in for 'Guard' instead, as there's lots of possibilities there.  The word itself comes from the Old French 'garder', meaning 'To protect' and has possible Germanic roots.  Art!

     Let us start with the more mundane.  Here's a British Rail guard, whom is responsible for the overall safety, security and daily operations on a train, seeing that doors are only opened and closed safely, assisting passengers, disseminating information and helping anyone with impairments.  Art!

HOUSEHOLD GUARDS: Going from 1 m.p.h. to 100 in the space of an item.  The 'Household Division' are the British Guards regiments that defend the house of Kingie, namely the cavalry regiments The Life Guards and The Horse Guards - that chap looking as if he's going to kebab a tourist is a cavalryman.  Then there are the infantry regiments: the Coldstream Guards, the Grenadier Guards - both of whom cordially hate each other, the Grenadier's are said to be paid or fed first or last, never second to the Coldstreams; then there are the Scots, Irish and Welsh Guards.  Art!

     These bad boys are from 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, Helmand Province, Afghanistan.  Gasp!  Yes, they perform ceremonial duties at Buck House but are also front line soldiers.  I could fill this whole blog with the history of the Guards Brigade, later the Guards Division, as well as the Guards Armoured Division.  But I will be merciful and abstain.  One last anecdote is that the Guards Division was treated by the Teutons on the Western Front during the First Unpleasantness with considerable respect and deference, as they considered it to be the best British division whether in attack or defence.

     There are some horribly amusing video clips out there of silly tourists nearly getting marched over by Guardsmen going about their business.  Madam! this eight-foot tall man carrying an automatic weapon with a big pointy stick on it is not going to politely step aside so you take a photo.  Art!

SHOUTS LOUDLY IN BRITISH

IRON GUARD: The original Romanian name was 'Garda de Fier' and this was a Fascist movement in - you may be ahead of me here - Romania in the Thirties and early Forties.  It was fuelled and propelled by anti-Semitism and, surprise surprise, nationalism.  They were also avowedly Christian, although of the kind that thinks the First Commandment is optional.  King Carol II detested them and ensured they were kept out of power.  Art!

     Their rise to power and influence is much too long to detail here, so I shall just say that they tried, unsuccessfully, to revolt and seize power in January 1941, whereupon Prime Minister Antonescu used the army to crush them.  Art!

NATIONAL GUARD: Surprise!  There was a French National Guard established after their Revolution in July 1789, which eventually rebelled and had to be put down using brute force by Napoleon.  Art!

     They were a citizen militia, meaning somewhat of a rabble.  Art!

     The South Canadian National Guard, whom are definitely not a rabble.  They are volunteers who train one weekend per month and two weeks over summer.  They have a verrrry broad brief that includes aid during national disasters, of which South Canada has a plethora, civil support and potential service overseas.  A lot of these people have already served in the armed forces and know their chops.  Art!

HOME GUARD: Not to be confused with House Guards.  This organisation was originally dubbed the 'Local Defence Volunteers' as they were - you may be ahead of me here - volunteers whom defended a location close to where they lived.  Brought into existence in the fervid summer of 1940 when This Sceptred Isle feared a Teuton invasion imminently.  Art!

     The most famous Home Guard unit is one that didn't actually exist: the platoon based in Walmington-on-sea, as pictured above.  If you get a chance, do watch it; it encapsulates the spirit of the times.  I would have used 'zeitgeist' but don't think Captain Mainwaring would approve.

     ANYWAY AGAIN the LDV and then Home Guard were mocked for their poverty in equipment, as the regular army had very much first call on military kit.  HOWEVER - O that word again! - a lot of the HG were veterans of the First Unpleasantness with a lot of experience to draw upon.  Art!

     Such as introducing an 18" sword bayonet into the opposition's giblets.

That List Of 20 Works On The Classical World

We are now at Number 6, and a curious title that I've been aware of for some time, and which tickled my curiosity gland.  Art!

Published 1997

     Daisy, the lady compiling this list of books, stated that she became aware of this work when her father was reading it, all of almost thirty years ago.

     Davidson sets out to prove, in an engaging style, that the 'consuming passions' of the Greeks in ancient Athens were, respectively, fish and sex, the latter obtained in brothels.  The Hellenes treated prostitution as a commercial activity, one seeking to make a profit, regulated by local or state bodies and utterly prosaic.  I guess it takes all sorts.

     Look how good I am at not buying this book*.

Cause And Effect

If you have a memory longer than that of a goldfish, you'll recall that Ukraine recently turned a set of Ruffian data centres into ash and clinker.  This instantly cleansed teh Interwebz of Mordorvian bot farms and they've not recovered yet, as they were being used to boost and amplify Ruffian propaganda talking points.

     Art!

     Nigel Farrago, The Nasty Little Man, may now have become The Nasty Little Irrelevant Man, as his robot minions can no longer promote him.  

     Don't worry, he will continue to sincerely and passionately say whatever the FSB pay him to say.

     No, this item isn't Politics - it's gloating.

OH WOW GOOD LORD!

I just happened to look at the BBC News webpage, and what do I espy?  Art!

     I commented on MJH only yesteryon about a song from his novel 'The Centauri Device', which I read as a teenager a good fifty years ago and which I still have a copy of.  You can regard it as 'Anti-space opera' if you like, it still rollicks along at a fair pace with plenty of action and I wonder if any film studio has been bonkers enough to option it?

     ANYWAY ANYWAY I am delighted to see MJH get a prestigious award, hopefully with a lot of money attached to it and I Say Mister Film Studio, Have You Seen This Book?

Shortening The List Of Favourites

A chore I have to carry out every so often as I tend to accumulate lists of Bookmarks or Favourites, which then have to be whittled down.  Art!

O noes more Zeppelins!

     I include this short as it begins with a very little-known aspect of conflict in the First Unpleasantness.  Art!

August 11 1918

     What you see here is a Sopwith Camel taking off from a lighter in the North Sea, an AI version of an event that actually happened.  The idea here was that aircraft on lighters, dozens of miles from shore, could intercept the zepps over the sea, long before they got to within range of land-based aircraft.  Art!

     It worked on this occasion, but it was very much a hit-or-miss affair, relying heavily on sheer chance to manage an interception.

Finally -

I cannot leave you without another ghastly picture of the Flabby Fraudulent Felon.  Art!

     Jovus Drokk, he looks like one of the monsters from 'The Twilight Zone' with less empathy.

*  But my palms are sweating.0