Scombroid - Dangerous To You Humans -

But Not, Of Course, To Conrad
Yet another word out of "Gravity's Rainbow" that Conrad had to look up as he'd not encountered the concept before.  The consequence, yes, the concept, no.
     Technically, it's a form of food poisoning, suffered when eating spoiled or rotten fish.  The last time Conrad experienced it was after buying date-expired fish, leaving it in the fridge for four or five days, freezing it, thawing it out three months later and eating it.

Delicious!
Well, actually not, but I hope you get the point.

     Since then, however, nothing.  So, at the Disaster Recovery Centre, Conrad eyed the "Salmon and Soft Cheese" sandwich that had been sitting there all day on a desk opposite, taunting him with it's unclaimed deliciousness.
     Finally at 3 p.m. Conrad descended on the hapless foodstuff, scoffed the lot and suffered not at all.


The Cake
I baked the Halloween Pumpkin Cake again on Thursday, using carrot instead of pumpkin, once again successfully.

Okay, okay, this photo is from the 27th

     I'm having to use a stand-in cake here as I forgot to take any pictures of the contemporary one - it's not many cakes that can say they have a stunt double - although Friday's was a little lighter as I tented it earlier.
     What you may not be able to tell from the picture is how large the cake is - I took a good 20 pieces in to work.  When not a lot had been eaten Conrad got rather huffy and made some not-very-veiled threats that if the cake didn't get eaten, no more would be forthcoming*.  Anna promptly ponied up cash and bought four pieces; if Conrad possessed a conscience he might feel guilty at this, but since he doesn't he shan't.

Jolly Ranchers
I only bought these, presumably American, sweets because they feature in a line spoken in a DJ Shadow song: "She's got eyes as big as Jolly Ranchers -"

No, I don't know what the rancher's got to be jolly about

     And the little rascals themselves:

Rectangular?

     Obviously the lady in question watches entirely too much television ...

"The Carcosa of Epsilon"
I dunno.  The mind can be a funny thing.  There I was, dozing in bed of a Saturday morning, dreaming plans of planetary conquest, and the above line pops into my head.  It sounds like a character in a particularly cheesy episode of "Star Trek"**, someone who gets announced in a loud voice with lots of reverb.
     "Epsilon" is of course one of the letters of the Greek alphabet.  "Carcosa"?  Let me practice a little Google-fu -
     Aaaaand there we have today's coincidence sorted.  It's a city named in Ambrose Bierce's short story "An Inhabitant of Carcosa".
     Who got mentioned at the very start of BOOJUM!?  That's right, Ambrose Bierce, to wit:

DEATH

In other late-breaking news, Ambrose Bierce is 172 years old.  Mr Bierce has successfully cheated the Grim Reaper for over a century now.  Speaking from his New Mexico canyon hideout, he refused to share the secret of immortality with the rest of us, because the rest of us are, in his words "jackasses".  Thank you Ambrose.  I baked this cake for your birthday but you aren't getting it now.

     He's barely known over on this side of the Pond and I'm pretty sure I've never read the story about Carcosa.
     Hang on, I know someone who'll have an opinion about this.  Phil?

"You're a nutter"

     PKD has spoken.  Thanks for clearing that up, Phil.

"Transuniverse Forwarding"
I happened to see an 18-wheeler artic with this logo upon the side whilst riding the bus to work (this is near an industrial park with a big logistics section).

     Conrad admires their commitment and determination, given that Hom. Sap. has only slower-than-light technology and it would take about 10,000 years to get to the nearest star, never mind the rest of this galaxy, let alone the whole universe***!
     
Hmmm.
I did think, upon seeing this Suggested Post, that the Kooks had perhaps managed to get something right for once -

Ah, but read on -

     My hopes were dashed immediately I read the word "mature", as you the reader must realise.  Any man who bangs on about Star Trek, things exploding, weasels and awful black and white sci-fi films from the Fifties, as well as hero-worshipping Gerry Anderson, can in no way be described as "Mature".

Well that's enough for Part 1.  If you are good - or perhaps if you are bad, for I can be fickle like that - there may be a Part 2.



* Shallow and unpleasant, that's just me all over.
** An obscure Sixties TV show
*** It's possible I'm overthinking this.