A Polish Puzzle

I Was Tempted To Use An Alternate Title -
"The Mystery Erection", before deciding that no, this would attract entirely the wrong sort of audience, because we here at BOOJUM! really do cherish our SFW status.  Yes, we did once display a naked female bottom, except it was on a statue which makes it art, not erotica.
     Now, this afternoon I walked into Royton, because you cannot rely on the buses being on time on Sundays (or any day with a "Y" in it), which allowed me to capture a particular item in photographic form.  Art?

It does have a certain pole-ness about it, don't you think?

      This thing went up in Royton a few weeks ago, hence the "erection" part of the alternative title, and it is kind of Pole-ish in nature.
     The question is, what on earth is it and what does it do?  There's no visible signage explaining that it's the property of the National Mental-Eavesdropping Board, or anyone whomsoever.  

Conrad is - suspicious

Let me know in the Comments.  SFW only, please.

Conrad Shoots Himself In The Behind

Not actually - it's a metaphor, and I couldn't have shot myself in the foot for reasons that will become obvious.
     After taking the above photo, off I waltzed to the Co-Op to get loose leaf tea and a proper sliced brown loaf, because I'm not keen on that Genius stuff.
     Here an aside.  When I went to the Co-Op yesterday, my main intent was to get a copy of Saturday's M.E.N. because they have extra-specially enlarged puzzle pages in that edition.  Sadly it was not to be - all sold out, and at the papershop, too.  So, today I ventured to buy the 'Oldham Times', to see what that had inside.  Art?

Puzzles, yes, but only one page

     Better than nothing.  Oho, and what's this?  A "Battleships" problem puzzle - yes please!  And of course I solved it in short order.  You want proof, you've got it.

     This is the sort of logic puzzle that I had to stop doing a couple of years ago, because being the sad obsessive that I am, I'd just carry on until the small hours of the morning.  There was a logic grid that -
     - anyway, we're getting off-topic.*
     I got to the bus-stop and set to activating the First Bus mticket I had purchased in advance on my mobile, only to find that the display was so dark as to be unreadable.  That's sunlight for you.  I couldn't navigate to the bus ticket I'd bought, and even if I had, the driver would never have been able to see it.
     So, it was a walk home for Conrad, too.  Which is why I didn't shoot my foot.
     The phone went into my bag still live after photographing the Mystery Er - the Puzzle Pole, and it must have jiggled around in such a manner that the display options were activated.  Once indoors it was an easy matter to rejig it.

Your humble scribe, being inept.

     Ned Ludd?  Who's he?

The End Of The World (Again)
Back to that second list of Post-Apocalyptic fiction which I came across on Youtube.  The poster did not speak English as his first language, and his titles could have done with some finesse.  Anyway, here is the second list:

1. "The Swarm" by Frank Schatzing.  Not heard of this one before, with an interesting premise behind a wave of natural disasters which strike from the ocean; a different take on peril from the deep as seen in "The Kraken Wakes".  Given the amount of sea settings, I doubt it will ever make it to the big screen.

Unfortunately, this one did get made.

1.      Just testing.  "War of the Flies" which I didn't bother to note the author of, and I think should have been "Lord of the Flies", because I couldn't find any such title.  We had to read it for English O Level, which was reason enough for me to not like it.
2. "I Am Legend" by Richard Matheson.  Well now, I've read the comic book, and seen both films, of which the first is by far the better, and now I don't need to read the book, do I?
3. "War With The Newts" by Karel Kapek.  This is a science-fiction satire, about an undersea race (Newts) being discovered, enslaved and then rebelling.  Not read it, but it's seems a promising work.



A Newt

5. "Day of the Triffids" by <stands up and salutes> John Wyndham.  Plants with a hive mind threaten the scattered human survivors of a global catastrophe.  One of the grand-daddies of the genre, and far from the 'cosy catastrophe' that Brian Aldiss condemned it as (possibly just feeling a bit liverish on the day)
6. On the Beach - and
7. The Road

         - we covered 6 & 7 last time.  Sorry about the numbers being out of kilter, that's the automatic formatting for you.


*  Occupational hazard.