Forgive My Schtick - It's Philip K. Dick!

I've Banged On About PKD Often Enough -
 - that I shouldn't have to explain about him at length again.  American science-fiction author, active from the Fifties until his death in 1982. You will know him from that epochal film "Blade Runner", perhaps from "Screamers", definitely from "Minority Report", "Total Recall", "Impostor" and "A Scanner Darkly" - which last is hilarious in a very dark way.
     Apparently he saw the rushes for "Blade Runner" before he died and asked Mr. Scott "How did you get in my head?"
     I'm not sure what the answer was*.  

"Aliens, Conrad, Aliens.  You should know that by now."

The Neighbours
I don't know.  They definitely moved in, and there's no "For Sale" sign on the property any longer, it's just that -
      - they're completely silent.  You don't hear them moving about, closing doors, talking, playing music or watching television.

Our neighbours: an artists impression

     I'm pretty certain that the shielding used when I was experimenting with the gamma-ray laser was effective, as there isn't a zone of total devastation extending in all directions for 25 miles as a radius.  Still, there may have been a leak ...

No! Twitter - No Biscuit For You
Again with the dubious adverts that sneak themselves in amongst the tweets as if they were assimilated copies of the real ones before an hideous tentacular Thing suddenly leaps out at you -
     - okay, perhaps I have been watching "The Thing" too many times.  You get the underlying sense, I hope

Certified Nut Case?

      Conrad is not a CNC machinist - that's "Computer Numerically Controlled" - and has never been one.  Nor does he stay awake at night dreaming of the richly rewarding work and lifestyle of the CNC machinist**.  Frankly, putting a clumsy, large and ungainly individual such as Conrad in charge of delicate and expensive machinery is a very bad idea, up there with giving a pyromaniac a flamethrower and a pat on the back.
     So where and why did this Tweet pop up in my feed?

"Inherent Vice" - The Film
Ah, now, see, all my checking about dates and times was wasted - the film opens with a caption "Gordita Beach 1970".

One of these men is a stoner P.I.

     I like it, and it scores 6.9 at IMDB, so it rates pretty highly, too.  Probably not going to do terrific box office, sadly.  And it did strike me that the three central themes are those ones that a certain sector of the public disapprove of - namely sex, drugs and rock and roll.  Although probably in the order drugs, rock and roll and sex.
     Good soundtrack, too, sounds very Doors.  Only about half way through, so I can confirm that it follows the novel very closely.

What Is This I See Before Me?
Old man memory failure meant I forgot to get English breakfast tea yesterday, and as mentioned it would probably take at least 30 minutes to drive to Morrisons to get it.  The Co-Op in Royton is closer but they don't stock it.  I have to consider Edna, you see.
     Yet, wait, Victoria!  What is this?

Yeah, tea, obviously.

     Having drunk a pot of it I can tell you it's not Darjeeling, nor Earl Grey, nor Lapsang Souchong or Russian Caravan.  It might have been Assam, as there were no identifying marks or labels.
     Right!  It's going to be EBT.  I have decided.

Eggs
What you might call an embarrassment of riches.   

27 of them

     And the free-range ones were reduced, which probably means something in terms of dates and consumption, nonsense like that.  Time for Conrad to get working on scrambled eggs and omelettes, I suppose.
     Oh, and that daft concept "egg bound"?  Nonsense.  I've eaten ten hard-boiled eggs one after the other***, without any hardship.

What A Difference A Day Makes!
You may remember Conrad whining pathetically yesterday because he got wet when walking the dog.

24 hours later

     Thus today. Plus you can tell it's a nice day at the weekend because of this:

Cars.  Lot of 'em

    Yesterday there were 3.

The "Tsar Bomba"
Your nuclear education continues, dear reader.  This, the largest warhead ever detonated,  had a yield of 50 Megatonnes.  One is convinced that it was only built and detonated so that the Soviet Union - always a sucker for gigantophilia - could cock a snook at the Americans and gloat about how "  - their's was bigger -".  It had no practical useage since it was multiple times more powerful than any target demanded, and only the one was ever built.

"Tsar Bomba" casing

     It was dropped with a gigantic parachute to retard it's speed, as the specially-modified bomber that carried it had to get out of the blast zone - and still got knocked a kilometre downwards by the blast, even at a distance of 28 miles from the detonation.
     Ah, yes, the Cold War.  What fun years those were!



  * Nor that it would be SFW
** Hey, it might really be true.
*** Against the clock, too.

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