Isn't Shchi Lovely

To Which The Answer Can Be Both "Yes" And "No"
For here we are not talking about "She" - the lady in question, you might say - and whom can be best represented by a lady of distinction.  Art?

Erm - not quite what I was after ...

     <sigh> I do apologise, dear readers - Art's pash for Mara Corday overcomes what I hoped to put up here.  
     If none of this makes sense, don't worry - you're in good company!
     Okay - Shchi is Russian, pronounced by most of you out there as "She", although the genuine Ruffian pronunciation of the diphthong is rather more subtle.  It is, or was, a staple part of the peasantry's cuisine in that region, it being Cabbage Soup.  A staple of the Ruffian diet, being of necessity to begin with and then later of choice - you know, being all trendily vegan and shizzle.*  Let us prod Art into consciousness -

The dish in question -

     So there

Art!  Not THAT kind of dish -

     Sorry about that.  So, there you have today's title.  Ruffian Cabbage Soup, and don't knock it, for this is what raised and propelled many a million muzhik,** whom in large enough numbers can see off any foreign invader.
     Right!  Time to give the motley a plate of sliced cooked fungi, which may or may not be toxic toadstools in disguise ...
     Quickly!  Put two pairs of shoes over your socks - this way you can move over hard surfaces without making a noise and attracting the zombies -

Conrad Is Angry!
I know, I know, "Frothing Nitric Ire" is pretty much my default condition.  You know The Infected in "28 Days Later"?  That's me on a good day.
     Anyway, Facebook and Twitter have both been banging on for a couple of weeks about "The REAL Reason Dragon's Den Got Cancelled!" in different breathless ways and with different photographs.  Art?

     The thing is, I didn't care about Dragon's Den one whit when it was on, and I'm not going to suddenly change my opinion now that it's dead.  I understand that you went forth in front of a panel of chuntering suits with your nuclear-powered mousetrap, to be variously quizzed and/or lambasted. 
     I DON'T CARE THAT IT'S BEEN CANCELLED!  DON'T CARE DON'T CARE DON'T CARE!
Operation Library Is GO!
I am taking my time in re-ordering part of my inordinately large library of military history books, partly because there's a heck of a lot of them to re-order, and partly because I have to climb up a ladder, hoisting myself up with one hand whilst the other clutches a small array of books.  I do have the back layer arranged.  Art?

The storey so far ...

     There's still a few hundred paperback to go, but we're getting there. 

More Of The Coincidence Hydra -
Yesterday I winced in muted terror as the hydra sank it's fangs into my tender posterior.  You remember, don't you?  I'd been banging on about the Boeing X20, a Sixties spaceship, when some of my compatriots mentioned Sixties spaceships.
     Well, I just had to mention NASA in the body of the article, didn't I?
     And what promptly crops up on the Beeb's website?  Art?

This.  THIS!

     It's a load of chuntering suits - no, only kidding, it's a load of female scientists explaining which films or television programs they liked and you get the usual stuff trotted out - Star Trek: The Soppy Pansy Politically-Correct All The Way Through Generation, The Martian, Star Wars etcetera.
     What's more interesting is the things they don't like.  "Red Planet" comes in for a bit of flak.  No!  Not the cheesy Fifities one, the $80 million flop starring - starring - er - I'll get back to you on that.  Art?

Oh, that's who it stars.  I see.

     The other film that irks them a lot, understandably so, is "Armageddon", because it's Loud, Silly, Overdoes Orange Filter, Has Too Much Slow-Motion Walking Towards The Camera and fails to kill Ben Affleck when it had the chance.  Art?

Also, this

     It also has possibly the most ludicrous line in a sci-fi film since "The neutrinos are mutating!" (which itself causes physicists to fall from their chairs laughing):

"He's got space dementia!"

    
      That's why they taped him to the chair, you see.  I've sat through this film once, when sober, and the only way I do that again is if you taped me to my chair as Rockhound above.  I know some of you are still human - no, wait, that was "The Thing" wasn't it?  - no, I know some of you watched the damn thing because it cleared over half a billion $$$.
     Now, watch the Coincidence Hydra come home to roost and there'll be an article in this month's 'Empire' about a sequel.
   




*   This may be irony.  Or not.
**  Ruffian for "Peasant"