What It Is To Be Gloved ...

No That Isn't A Typo!
You should know by now that we here at BOOJUM! avoid three things above all else*: Religion, Politics and Current Affairs.  Far too divisive.
     Well, yesterday Conrad took a look at the Manchester Evening New's website, because it's the local news, and I'd not been on it for a while.
    Well well well.  "Schadenfreude" is what they call it - a malicious enjoyment of other people's misfortune, and to judge by the number and intensity of comments posted about an article on Manchester United and their manager, Louis Van Gaal, I had mined the motherlode of all Schadenfreude.

Conrad, gleefully and worryingly excited about all that Schadey stuff.

      People were commenting. O were they Commenting!  It seems that people who post on sports Comment pages combine all three taboo subjects rolled into one, melded together with vinegar, lemon juice and battery acid.  Mr LVG was their target and they hate the man - excuse me - HATE the man with an all-consuming passion. If they could box his ears - or any part of his body within reach - they would, hence that crack about being "Gloved". Nobody has yet made a death threat, for obvious reasons and also because that would prevent them from venting their spleen.  LVG is so bad, apparently, that he makes the loathed and detested David Moyes look charismatic and successful.
     Conrad is not canny in the ways of football still, yet sports Commentators - he now knows lots about!
     Typically the story has vanished but - obviously! - yet another has taken it's place.  So, if you want to see frothing rage in written form, here it is:

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/manchester-united-van-gaal-risks-10907561

     Conrad would like to point out that he doesn't have a dog in this fight, he doesn't support any football team.  He just likes the Schadenfreude.

Kelly's Heroes
OR
How The Yugoslavian Army Never Threw Anything Away And Seduced Hollywood
I have mentioned this film once or twice recently and would recommend it as an action film with a touch of satire about it, not to mention quite some comedy.  No women, however, so take that as you will.
     "Conrad?" I hear you say - and none of that sotto voce criticism tacked on at the end - "What do you mean about the Yugoslavian Army? Because it doesn't exist any more."
     Quite true.  It still existed in 1970, when this film was made, which supports my point.  The producers were able to lay their hands on all kinds of Second Unpleasantness vintage equipment simply not available anywhere else.

Tanks!

Half-tracks**!

American half-tracks disguised as German ones!

Trucks!

Tiger Tanks!
(Sorta)

     Note that the "German" half tracks only appear in the background for a few seconds, yet some thoughtful artificer bothered to give them the characteristic bullet-trap sides of the real Sdkfz 251.
     Oh, yes, the Tiger tanks.  Not original ones, sadly (see "Fury" for a real one), they were mocked-up from handy Russian T34s.  You can tell if you know tanks - the turret sits too far forward and the road wheels are complicated enough.  A quantum level ahead of other films that took contemporary American tanks, painted them grey and stuck a swastika on them.

Oh Dearie Me - And On Payday, Too
Over the years Conrad has been a very good customer of the Naval & Military Press.  So much so that, five years ago after redundancy when I could not afford to buy books online***, they continued to send out their bimonthly catalogue.  O bittersweet pleasure!  If there are any Manchester United fans still reading, they've probably pointing, laughing and muttering "Schadenfreude" at that.

     So here is the latest edition.  You can tell that Conrad is old and sad when he admits that his pulses quicken over the prospect of perusing it, marking out the books he's already got and the ones he wants, in different colours.
     Hey, at least it keeps me from going out and vandalising bus stops!

"Punctilious"
You may have seen this word used from time to time.  It means "Painstaking attention to detail", a characteristic of this blog^.  Where does it come from?  Less easy to trace.  Conrad would have guessed Latin, except the etymology seems to stem from Italian, "puntiglio", and from there to French "Pointille" and thus to our English derivation.
     Oh, this gives me the chance to -

American half-tracks disguised as German ones!
Also a display of someone being punctilious.

* Unless we can wring a cheap laugh from them
** Note this one has a 105 mm howtizer mounted.  Unusual.
*** A condition almost as painful to your humble scribe as being unable to breathe.
^  YES IT IS!