NO! That's Not A Spelling Mistake
You ought to realise by now that the English language does what Conrad commands it to do, with the grammar and punctuation laid out all proper. So, referring back to the phrase 'Taking great pains', which is not in my 'Brewer's' and so which I need to define myself; this means taking a great deal of care and paying close attention to a set of circumstances in order to achieve an outcome. Art!
No, I'm not sure what it is, either, except it's not a mournful man in glasses sitting on a rock, which seemed to be the default 'Taking great pains'. Should I go into the definition of 'Pain'? No, I can't be bothered.
Ambling in a tangential manner toward our destination, I can see you frothing with righteous indignation about whanging on about a certain Paine, because there is a a famous person of this name. Art!
Paining
Ah yes Ol' Tom, who was writing before females got the vote and messed everything up, about the rights of us men, beggar the ladies.
ANYWAY Paine was birthed here in the glorious Sceptred Isle, but threw his treacherous lot in with the South Canadian rebellious ingrates, writing lots of scurrilous political screeds that upset the natives, such as the above, and others justifying the French Revolution. What a shame he gavotted off this mortal coil in 1809, before he could witness the White House being burned down and creating a song.
ANYWAY AGAIN back to more Paine. Art!
Sarah Paine, that is, whom we have mentioned in the past, often in connection with her analyses of Mordorvia, where she studied as a student, the poor dear. Her description of how to make borshcht in order to avoid starving in Moscow is a model of catering survivability.
ANYWAY ANYWAY on this lecture she focuses not on Asia or Ruffia but Perfidious Albion, and how we have learned, over the centuries, on how to always come out on top in any internecine tussle.
How is it done? O I thought you'd never ask!
Firstly, Great*Britain had to coin the term and concept of 'Grand Strategy', which came into being during the Napoleonic Unpleasantness. Art!
The red border indicates France and her vassals, and as you can see this includes most of Continental Europe, bar Portugal and Turkey. Ruffia didn't know whether to be hostile to Nappy or not, until he invaded them. No nonsense about 'Special Military Operations' back in 1812, it was straight-out war.
ANYWAY AGAIN AGAIN how did This Sceptred Isle deal with a whole continent arrayed against them? Sarah filleted out their response: Art!
Nappy being the elephant. Keeping the grocers** as a going concern means you can continue to fund your own military forces and those of your allies. art!
'Don't let the elephant forage' was Sarah's elegant way of explaining it. By long tradition, the Royal Navy applies a blockade of enemy marine trade and chokes it off, forcing the Continental powers to look to their neighbours or allies for trade. However - ah that word again! - doing this is a tad tricky when the trade is in oil or rubber, which are not abundant in Europe. Art!
As per Sarah's focus, Great Britain would identify a Continental power that hated, loathed and despised the elephant, and then pay them to become an ally and take the fight to the pachyderm. It used to be called 'Breaking windows with guineas'. Art!
Because, especially in the age of sail, it was cheaper, quicker and much more efficient for Great Britain to use marine resources to strike in a location distant from the enemy's home, than it was for the furrin footsloggers to tramp 3,000 miles to get there. Art!
That's the British fighting the French in Portugal, but I could equally as well have put Libya in 1941. Art!
Perfidious Albion broke this rule in the First Unpleasantness and suffered a colossal butcher's bill for it. This is because the main military power of a Continental nation is it's army, which tends to be huge, as compared to that of Great Britain, which is both her navy and her ability to generate wealth. During the Second Unpleasantness the British army faced the majority of the Wehrmacht only up until the fall of France in 1940, and then only years later as part of an alliance. Art!
Because by late war the Continental power will be at least partly exhausted, as with the fighting in Europe post D-Day. Art!
I shall call a pause here, as Sarah is going to work on second-order effects and I want to keep a little in reserve.
More Drubbing Of The 'Daily Sluggard'
Or the 'Daily Express' if we're being formal. Once again they are trying the clickbait approach to increase traffic, the utter bounders. I bet they pass the port to the right, cads that they are. Art!
What's wrong with this picture? Well, for one thing, they haven't bothered to give the title of the 'Masterpiece' series. Normally Your Humble Scribe would pay close attention to the thumbnail and identify what the series is, except the Daily Sluggard has really goosed it this time, and put up a thumbnail from -
Band of Brothers.
Bah!
More Of Mister Mackie
Angus the Arty, that is, the sci-fi artist whom we have already covered a few times. Art!
Another cityscape, this time at night. Conrad has had a quick peruse and cannot find any hidden buildings from present-day London, or any other contemporary city for that matter. I had a more thorough scan and can't find any kind of hidden Easter eggs, only a speculation as to what Ol' Ang used as artistic inspiration: an old-fashioned cash-register, a pelican, a space-heater, a toaster, a battle-axe and a spare tyre. Brownie points if you can spot what I'm talking about.
Conrad unsure if this was ever a magazine or book cover. I'm sure my skip-like memory would trip if they had ever been so presented.
Time For Your Daily Dose Of Don!
Let's hear it for the man most in need of a rocket-powered espresso enema than any other person on the planet. Art!
(I think they have to use quotes otherwise his lawyers come leaping out of the woodwork).
You can see why New Yorkers loathe and despise him. 'The City That Never Sleeps' isn't big on idle dozy sluggards. Besides which, Rael may come and cover him with graffiti.
"The Great War" Annotating Continues
Yes indeedy. Conrad has gone over the first two episodes, scribbling notes in his inimitable and unreadable longhand, taking occasional photos and wondering how long it would take to do the whole collection of 6 disks. Art!
Featuring the Sour-puss Soldier again! He gets around.
Well, the first 14 disks contain 2 episodes, and it's taken me about 3 hours to do that first DVD, so annotating the whole lot would take me 68 hours working and gallons of coffee and tonic water. To what end? Why, to be better informed, Vulnavia, to be better informed. There is the not infinitesmal risk that you may all get the benefit of my annotating in the near future. I bet you can hardly wait.
Finally -
Going out with a Biercism.
"Idiot, n: A member of a large and powerful tribe whose influence in human affairs has always been dominant and controlling. The Idiot's activity is not confined to any special field of thought or action, but 'pervades and regulates the whole'. He has the last word in everything; his decision is unappealable. He sets the fashions of opinion and taste, dictates the limitations of speech and circumscribes conduct with a deadline."
Nowadays The Idiot comes in both genders.
* Take that, Lavrov!
** Take that, Nappy!
