Deadliness, Depravity And Sugar

Mustn't Forget The Sugar
Alongside the deviousness.  Remember Project Orion?  I hope you do, it was only a few hours ago I last posted about it.  Spaceships propelled by controlled nuclear detonations, hmm?  Realistic and achievable, unlike other prospective technologies. The stars in our grasp!
     Well, your grasp.  As my compatriots are already en route in a fleet of invasion starships, Hom. Sap. had better get a hurry up if you want to compete on even a slanted playing field.
     "The stairs in our grasp!" I hear you echo -
     NO!  "The stars", I tell you, stars, not stairs.
     "Ah yes, the stars in our gasp!" I hear you echo-
     NO!  "GRASP", get it right, good lord aloft, have you been drinking?
     "The stars in our grasp!" I hear you echo.  "But - but - but -" I hear you clamour.  "Why has this not been done already?"

To  nick a concept

     Well, three principal reasons.  Firstly, how and where to test any prototypes you develop?  One cannot imagine the nations of the world queuing up for the honour of being irradiated, blinded and blasted.

"Not in MY back yard!"

     Secondly, thanks to Earth's magnetosphere, any residual fallout products from orbital Proj Orion spacecraft will be gradually drawn into the Earth's atmosphere.  Again, I think people would rather jib at having snowflakes made of caesium and strontium descending from the heavens.
     Thirdly, thanks to those interfering politicians, there is a treaty extant 'tween South Canada and the Ruffians that forbids the use of nukes in outer space*.
     Not only that, as with all human inventions, with the possible exception of soap and tripe, there is always the possibility of abuse.  In this case a spaceship of considerable mass travelling at a considerable fraction of the speed of light would be a (literally) world-shattering weapon; you could make planets Go Away.  Now, indeed are we become Death, the shatterer of worlds**.
     Now, that's the end of the Intro, so let - oh, the sweetness?  Yes, we shall come to that.  

The Haul
Conrad occasionally learns odd and interesting things about his fellow workers.  As of Friday, he discovered that Christina was in possession of the following, which she rendered unto me from her locker.  Art?

The evidence

     Lest you be unaware, Angel Meadows was at the heart of the Industrial Revolution of the Nineteenth Century.  The name is a serious misnomer, as the area rather resembled one of the lower circles of hell.  
     "Why the interest, Conrad?" I hear you query.  "Apart from you being nosey and all that."
     Well, my Still Coyly Un-Named Employer's headquarters sits squarely upon what used to be Angel Meadows.  Art?

     Looking it's best in years.  I can give you another vista, from the opposite side of the building.  Art?  Put down your coal!

Less seething slums than traffic tantrums

Now, About That Sweet Stuff
Conrad made a remark to a fellow worker, about not hearing their voice answering telephones, using the word "Dulcet".  Of course, with your humble scribe one words begets a process of wondering where it comes from.
     "Dulcis": Latin for "Sweet".  There is the old phrase "Dulce et decorum est, pro patia mori".  Shall I translate?  O go on then.  "It is sweet and meet to die for your country", where "meet" means "appropriate".  General George Patton had a logical rebuttal for this, stating that you didn't win wars by dying for your country, you won wars by making the other chap cease to live.  Although I left out the swears.
     "Dulcis": One of the planets explored in that dramamentary "Doctor Who", where the sweetness of the planet is spoiled only by the advent of SUDDEN DEATH!

The Dulcis Dominator Disco Dance?

     "Dulcet": said of a speaking voice, and meaning honied in tone.  Although it is often used ironically, I would never do this.
     "Dulcimer": a musical instrument, stringed, one variety of which is played with hammers.

Hammer down

     "Dulce de Leche": a caramel sauce.  Art?

Proof Of Concept
Sophie - not that Sophie, this Sophie - prevailed upon your modest artisan to bake Hello Dolly bars for a bake sale on Friday.  Unfortunately Conrad got a little too involved in watching a film and forgot to take the thing out of the oven.  End result:

     Very overdone at the edges and far too brown overall - the recipe calls for it to be light brown.  When cut the bars should be soft and pliable, rather than possessing the colour and rigidity of teak.
     I enclose this to prove to Sophie that I did make the effort.
     Also, I made it so I'm going to eat it.  At least after cutting off the burnt edges.  I shall let you know how it goes.



*  Booh!
**  A quote from the Bhagavad Ghita that I nicked from Robert Oppenheimer.