The Old Poisoner's (Theoretical) Handbook

I Have To Add "Theoretical"
 - because otherwise the next knock at my door might well be the police not the postman.
     I should like to lambast that otherwise touchstone of verbal virtuosity, "Elementary", because they took liberties with the properties of the poison Hemlock, in the episode "Hemlock".  I shall not reveal who died, because I care so deeply about you my readers.  Briefly put, The Victim took a sip of a mocha latte*, coughed a few times, collapsed and died within seconds.  According to the autopsy, The Victim had been poisoned by hemlock, administered as a liquid to the volume of a few drops.

The entitled sulky man-child himself.  And, by contrast, Doctor Watson

     NO!  I will not have this!  This is no mere caviling because Conrad is very much aware of how hemlock works.  If I can quote from last year:

" "Devil's Porridge" is the delightfully descriptive Irish name for Conium Maculatum, which you might know better as "Hemlock".  This delightful stuff tended to be drunk as an beverage, making it a killer smoothie, and it acted as a paralytic, doing in the central nervous system, gradually shutting your functions down until it reached the lungs, at which point the next thing you saw was either Saint Peter or a group of chaps with pitchforks.  The most famous victim of hemlock was the Greek philosopher Socrates.  He actually gave a running commentary to witnesses about how the poison was affecting him."

     As you can see from this, poisoning by hemlock requires the ingestion of a considerable amount, a quantum level beyond a few drops.  Nor is it near-instantaneous, which would be the case with a nerve or cyanide agent.  Socrates had enough time to give a running commentary.  Nor is that all; there is no cure for hemlock poisoning, yet the victim can be medically supported until it's all metabolised and will thus recover.
     Bah!

Hemlock as a copyright-free version of Sherlock
(It's complicated)

Full Steam Ahead!
I mentioned Liberation Day earlier today, about Bulgaria celebrating it's freedom from Ottoman domination.  I also mentioned Stan's mentioning that, whilst the mighty British Empire built railways wherever it went, the Turks kept Bulgaria poor and under-developed, and most certainly without railways.

No railways.  Very picturesque however

     I did jest that, if Bulgaria had consented to become part of the mighty British Empire, we'd have built the railways for them.
     This is not as far-fetched as you may think.  If we revisit the penultimate days of the First Unpleasantness, Bulgaria negotiated an armistice with the Allies, principally Britain and France, and quite the war on 30th September 1918.
     "What?" I hear you question.  "Bulgaria?  Fighting the British?"

Salonika:  less high-intensity than the Western Front
(But with lots more exotic diseases)

     Well, yes, actually.  The Salonika Front is one of the lesser-known fronts of the First Unpleasantness, where the British (we get around) with the French, Greeks, Serbians and Czechs (who also got around) fought primarily the Bulgarians, also the Germans, Austro-Hungarians and (O! the irony) the Turks.  From Turkey.

Turkey at Salonika (honest)

     So, if Bulgaria had taken the long view, they might have petitioned to join the mighty British Empire in 1918.
     Of course, that means they would have been able to travel freely and gain employment within the British Isles - cue gibbering Daily Mail headlines  "A tidal wave of feckless foreign benefit-hoovers are going to overwhelm us!!!"  SHRIEK SHRIEK PANIC PANIC!!!
     - which nonsense has a curiously familiar ring to it ...

Balloon Versus Dam
Earlier today I posted pictures of the aftermath at the Oroville Dam, which are both spectacular and frightening in their depiction of Mother Nature having a bit of a tantrum.  Would you mind if I added another?  No?  Thank you - Art?

Repair work underway

     This shows the indefatigable and indomitable South Canadians pitching in to remove millions of tons of spoil before repairing the spillway.  A big job.
     In stark contrast, may I present you with this:

Yes, it's a balloon -

     - and not a baby Rover unit**.  I put this up because Mother Nature - you know how women are - can be surprisingly fickle.  This balloon has graced that front garden for weeks, and hasn't even deflated, let alone been punctured.  I see it every time I take the Wunderhund for a walk.




*  It could have been a frappe.
**  "The Prisoner" reference there.