That's Panama Hats

Yes, Man, I Mean Charlie Chan
What?  Did you think that this post somehow had anything at all to do with the recent revelations about financial skull-duggery in the nation of Panama?  And that Mossad Fonzie law firm (have I got that right?)?  Please, stand back and recall what we here at BOOJUM! stand for:  scurrilous lambasting of those Conrad dislikes, quality puns, the odd article about atomic bom - atomic foofoodillies, tanks, topical Suggested Posts and zombies.  I don't think "How The Wealthy Stay That Way" is part of that remit, do you? It skates too close to Current Affairs.

A stylish and winsome Panama Hat

     Anyway, all this farrago triggered a memory of seeing "Charlie Chan In Panama", Black and White, 1940.  Number 26 in a series of 47, back in the days when studios churned stuff out on a production line the way Ford make cars.  If they made 47 of them then somebody was watching them.

Charlie is restrained by the umpire before his Speed Coffee-Drinking Challenge

     Okay:  Panama.  Notable, in pre-hedge fund days, for the Canal.  Charlie Chan turns up in Panama City to visit an old friend, who promptly gets murdered.  CC then sticks around to help with the investigation, uncovering a plan to attack US warships when they are vulnerable - that is, trammelled within the Canal. 

That's Panama Hats

 If I Recall Correctly (it's been decades) the method is by using hordes of rats infected with bubonic plague.  This scheme, whilst ingenious and colourful, does have flaws.  For one, it is entirely plausible that whacking great US warships have officially on-strength either cats or terriers or both, to deal with vermin.  For another, even if 100% of the crews are infected - which is 100% unlikely - the ships are still there.  Since BP isn't instantly fatal they can sail away; hardly to a romantic sunset yet very probably the nearest West Coast naval dockyard.

"But officer  - one of these people is a cannibal!"

     Also, as an afterthought, if I was an old friend of CC's, he is the very last person I'd want to see as this usually means he's the very last person I see.  Where Charlie goes that tall gaunt chap with the black cloak and scythe always follows*.

O Noes!  Watching Videos
Conrad's usual modus operandi when putting the blog together is to batter away at the keyboard whilst sipping tea, nibbling on Hostess Twinkies or an ice cream, with a recorded television program playing on his laptop.  I think women gloat about this as being "multi-tasking".  
     Not so today!  nor for many days.  The video player for my current program (see below) won't function on my laptop, freezing instantly.
     "O Conrad we feel for you!" I hear you call, and I have to admit you sound almost sympathetic.  Almost.
     So.  Your humble scribe has never, ever been able to simply sit and watch a program on a PC monitor, which is where I am forced to play these recordings.  No, I have to read a book or a magazine, or make notes, or peel vegetables, or all three at once**.

"Seeking Victory On The Western Front" By Albert Palazzo
Leading on from the post above, I am working my way through this interesting, if rather grim, book, making notes on specific points AP makes about the tactics or material of gas warfare in the First Unpleasantness.
     Whilst watching "Person of Interest", and I refer you to the post below***.

I'm giving you this in recompense

     "Gosh, Conrad, how multi-tasking of you, and also, why on earth are you bothering?" I hear you enquire, with a genuine note of puzzlement in your tone.
     I thought you'd never ask!  Because these would be valuable references for my interminably in-the-making hex-and-counter wargame, and also as possible adjuncts to the Square Bashing WW1 ruleset.
     Conrad:  mind never stops working^.

What's That Sinister Tap-Tap-Tapping?
Last night in the Upstairs Lair I was annoyed to have a tap-tap-tap coming from the left hand window, a distraction that hasn't occurred before.  Since it was a dirty night with high winds and lots of rain, I reckoned it had to be a consequence of both elements.
     Now, in all the horror films ever made, the Investingating Idiot always calls out "Hello?"  followed by a tremulous "Who's there?"  They never get a response.  Your humble scribe, knowing this trope full well, walked over to the blinds and pulled them aside, to find -

     - nothing.  Good job too, it would have been really horrifying if I'd found a leak dripping inside and causing that "tap-tap-tap".
     There was silence for a while and then it started up again, so I went back to check and ensure that there really, really, wasn't a leak there, and guess what I found -

BOO^^!

*  Death, for those not given to parsing subtlety
** This is a lie <the truth courtesy Mister Hand>
*** I had it all planned but it's much too long for tonight
^ Though the product may vary in quality
^^ JUM!