Serendipity? Coincidence? Aliens Subverting Reality?

Most Odd!
     There was Conrad in the kitchen, giving "Ring For Jeeves"* a thorough perusing, determined to finish it today as he only had 40 pages left, and what does he come across?
     No, not details of the secret invasion plan!  No, not an explanation for why Justin Beiber**!  No, there on Page 162 a mention of "The Hunting Of The Snark" and the lines:

     "So great was his fright

     That his waistcoat turned white"

     I mean to say, what?  Because the last line of that poem is:
     "For the Snark was a Boojum, you see."
     Conrad didn't quite leap as the Earl of Rowcester does in the novel, but his spine did stiffen abruptly.

The implications are terrifying

Divertissiments 
     Yes.  I spent far too much time burbling on Facebook yesterday instead of getting on with the zombie novel and only tackled it at 11 p.m.  Still, the muse was with me and I got nearly a thousand words down.
     I tell you this because FACEBOOK IS THE THIEF OF TIME!  Truly.  Good old procrastination can get to the back of the queue.  Computer games are right up there with Facebook for time-wasting; if Conrad hadn't been busy playing computer games in the 80's and 90's he'd be Lord General Dictator of Everything (although he still will be when the invasion fleet arrives).

I just know that's Zuckerberg underneath the ski-mask

Counting Sheep
     This is recommended as a palliative for those who are unable to fall asleep quickly at night-time, a problem Conrad does not have (unless he's indulged in too much loose-leaf Darjeeling).
     Where on earth did this phrase arise, and why?  My Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (rescued from mouldy obscurity in the Book Nook) does not list it.  Wikipedia mentions Cervantes using goats in "Don Quixote", and another mention of the scene - rather than sheep - in an 1832 book.
     I may research this in a little more depth.  Meanwhile, scientific research recommends imagining a beach or waterfall as being more effective than sheep.  BOOJUM! - helping you get eight hours un-interrupted!

Counting Crows.  Close enough

I Beg Your Pardon?
     The US DARPA (those people who invented the internet) has been giving out grants to comanies to create IT that will self-destruct at the receipt of an electronic command.
     The Beeb reports this under the heading of creating "Mission Impossible" technology:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-26082700

     What!  They have a picture of Rollin Hand, who was the IMF's disguise expert!  Barney Collier was the team's electronics expert.  If anyone had to create a self-destructing electronic kit it would have been Barney!  Yes yes yes never mind the scarey implications of having IT kit that Uncle Sam can kill at a distance of a thousand miles, get the character right Auntie!

Norman Collier.  Close enough.  (Having microphone problems? go see Barney)

Moulds, Spores And Exotic Fungii***
     Previously an interesting and varied array of the three above life-forms could be detected on the ceiling of Conrad's Upstairs Lair.  Allow me to illustrate:

Rather like modern art if you squint a bit

This is due to the enormous volume of sweat that Conrad gives off perhaps you don't need to know that.  Anyway after a wipe and some roller action, here is an update:

Mycologists everywhere are weeping

Edna, Uncharacteristically Idle
     Our ten-week old terrier is difficult to photograph when awake as she bounds about like a Dervish dog wired up to the mains with an I/V of Red Thunder being drip-fed to her****.  Once secured within the Vault, however, and being a bit dozy, photography becomes easier.

Thinking dark thoughts

As thinking dark thoughts is tiring, now having a nap

*  I can now say that the date it is set in is from 1950 -1954.  Conrad- chrono-detective
**  Less useful than the appendix or the nicicitating membrane, purpose - Unknown
***  Yes, a line of Egon's from "Ghostbusters"
****  This is a metaphor, animal-lovers.