Thomas Pynchon - And The Battle Of Inchon!

Let Me Rest Your Anxious Hearts -
Tom was not present at the battle, as he was still in high school.  However, the US Navy was present, very much so, to the tune of 261 vessels, and Tom was in the US Navy in the later Fifties, so Conrad can maintain that there's a linkage.

D-Day writ a bit smaller

     It's even possible that Tom visited Inchon during his career as a matelot, although since the port is never mentioned in his novels, Conrad doubts this.
     Which raises another point.  In "V" we get to experience life on the island of Malta, detailed and accurate, and if Tom had been aboard a US Navy ship that trawled the Med in the later Fifties, would he not have been familiar with the George Cross Island?
     I'll get back to you on that.

"Tatterdemalion"
I've been trying to define this word all week, except it keeps getting pushed out of play by the other nonsense that crops up here on BOOJUM! for which I apologise.

     Okay, there's no entry in "Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable".  When your humble scribe tried to define it via a bit of Google-fu, we got no further forward.
      "A person of ragged appearance" is what it means, yet all I could find was a definition of the "Tatter" bit - "Rags".
     The rest sounds French, but it would take too long to research this whilst actually in the middle of entertaining/educating/illuminating the masses*.

We''re So English
Or, if you like, the polite way to get rid of flies.  Allow me to show you the Yellow Flyswatter at the Mansion, as used this afternoon in the kitchen:

     As you can see, the swatter bit has suffered quite a lot of what might be called "insect attrition".  This is for two reasons: i) the plastic is cheap, flimsy and friable ii) Conrad is horribly strong and also utterly clumsy.
     I suspect that the intention of the manufacturers was not to turn flies into bluey-black pulp, but rather - to get their attention.  One would politely, and Oh-so-Englishly, tap them on the shoulder with the flytapper, and then invite them to move on to pastures new.
     Well, it makes sense to me.

Relativistic Space Travel
When I say "relatavistic" it does not mean having to go on holiday to the Moon with your aunt who never stops talking and your uncle who never stops snoring.  We are instead talking about travel at, or near, the speed of light.
     Peculiar things happen when you get up to this MPH.  You elongate, for one thing, and time passes differently to you as it does to an observer back on stolid Planet Earth, and your mass changes**.
     Allow me, if you will, the single fiction film that today's Most Eminent Documentary Maker***, John Carpenter, made:

Dark Star!  Here we are!

     Allow me to post one of the most interesting song lyrics ever right here:

A million suns shine down

But I see only one

When I think I'm over you

I find I've just begun

The years move faster than the days

There's no warmth in the light

How I miss those desert skies

Your cool touch in the night

CHORUS:

Benson, Arizona, blew warm wind through your hair

My body flies the galaxy, my heart longs to be there

Benson, Arizona, the same stars in the sky

But they seemed so much kinder when we watched them, you and I

Now the years pull us apart

I'm young and now you're old

But you're still in my heart

And the memory won't grow cold

I dream of times and spaces

I left far behind

Where we spent our last few days

Benson's on my mind

     I know what you're thinking - "Jeez, how come the Dolphins did so badly?"  - what?
     I know what you're thinking ABOUT THE BLOG - "Jeez, how come Conrad is posting "drinkin' and cheatin'" country and western lyrics"?
     Wind your neck back in.  When you travel at relatavistic speed, as does the "Dark Star" spaceship, you experience time at a correspondingly slower rate.  Theoretically, you can be gone for 5 years whilst travelling up at Licht One, only to come back to planet Earth and discover that 50 years have gone by.  Herein the link that you may peruse:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTa2vXL7FI8

     Bob Shaw wrote an interesting murder-mystery along these lines, except I can't remember what it was called.  I think the murder weapon was a "valency saw".

A Touch Of Norway
As you may recall, Conrad is about 6% Norwegian, probably detectable in his i) Height and ii) Handsomeness^.  Norway is indeed an awesome country, home to trolls, zombies and fjords.  The people are the very definition of Right On, and here is one of their favourite sweets:

Norwegian Pear Cake!

    This version is also Gluten Free.  Initially it did not look good, having almost marched out of the pan and with decided Burnt Edges.  With a little judicious trimming - hey humans can have plastic surgery why can't a cake? - it appeared as the above, not a bad outcome at all.

Yes Well!
Conrad is fond of the Finns.  They drink to excess, talk as little as possible and live in what is the next best thing to an open-air freezer for nine months of the year. Hence this generous offer:

How very generous!  I would expect nothing less

     Dear refugees - please acclimatise yourself by sitting in the freezer for 6 months, whilst drinking 180% vodka, and allowing mosquitoes to drink most of your blood before you consider this offer^^.


* Otherwise known as creating BOOJUM!
** Not useable as a method of dieting
*** Three Golden Bears, two Oscar nominations, a Hugo award and a Cannes Special Recognition Medal
^ Or lack of it.
^^ My application was in 6 months ago.