The World Is Enough

Sorry To Disagree With 007
I say today's title because the world just being there is a bit of a bonus, what with Cuadrilla and their attempts to destroy it/drill for oil/make the Treasury happy (delete where applicable) , over in Little Plumpton.  Yesterday I warned you most sternly what might happen if Man Continues To Meddle With What He Ought Not To, and if The Doctor warns against a thing, pay attention!

Now with built-in Second Opinion

     We shall also see how this goes, since I am now typing these words of wonder whilst also having "Nowhere Boys" play in the background: I know 0% about it, so it's a bit of a gamble.  This dual-purposing tends to slow me down, even if it makes things a little more interesting.  
     Before we begin, allow me to post today's picture of Edna Wunderhund on her excursion into the sunny (yet chilly) environs of Tandle Hill Road.  This is to assuage any concerns Wonder Wifey may have about her not getting enough exercise or fresh air.  Edna, that is, not WW.  Art?

The scamp, scampering

     Back to the theme of Meddling With Things Etcetera.  Recall, if you will, that hokey old classic "Crack in the World", which was made in the more innocent days before 'crack' meant only an association with the dawn or breaking windows -
     - no, Edna, you cannot climb onto my lap and displace the eeeeevil laptop!
     - or a top-flight military unit.  
     Where was I?
     Oh that's right.  Yes, CITW is another of those ill-advised efforts of Hom. Sap. to get something for nothing by drilling down into the earth, so they can leech off all that wonderful FREE energy <the Treasury at this point is clutching itself with ill-concealed glee>.
     Sound familiar?

Cuadrilla's secret plans revealed!

     The only minor, inconsequential, barely-there difference is that CITW uses a thermonuclear warhead to do it's energy-hijacking, whereas Cuadrilla are using high-pressure fluids - FOR THE MOMENT!
     And on that note, let us see how many shots from the custard-cannon the motley can take before breaking down and weeping like a little girl!

You Must Be Potty
Or batty.  Or even Battye.  That being the surname of an inventive Captain in the army of Perfidious Albion during the First Unpleasantness -
     Here another aside, but a topical one.  You recall that yesterday your humble scribe was going on about how the trench-bound Teutons used to communicate with their erstwhile opponents, and in good English to boot?  What do we find on Page 88 of the history of "The Fiftieth Division"?  The division, consisting of chaps from the North-East, was greeted by a sign put up by a sporty Teuton, reading "Buck up, Newcastle United!"

Newcastle from the air

          Back to Mr. Battye.  He invented a cheap and nasty variety of hand grenade, colloquially known as the "Battye Bomb".  Art?

Light fuse and hurl

     This was during 1915, well before the development of safer and more effective hand grenades, since you needed to light the BB with a match - not generally an easy task in a wet and muddy trench.
     So now you know.  BOOJUM! - educating you one fact at a time.*

I see the clock is ticking - as they usually do, the evil little things - and we're not nearly at the end of this post.  Damn you, "Nowhere Boys" -

     - no, Edna, you still cannot usurp the wicked laptop from my lap!  Nor can you lick your way to a change of mind!

Finally -
I have now got a copy of "Gray Lensman", the fourth in the 'Lensman' series by E.E. "I'm a Doctor and don't you forget it Conny" Smith, with a somewhat abstract Chris Foss cover illustration that Art will demonstrate -

???

     Quite what this may be is open to question: if you have any suggestions please leave them in the Comments section.  It is also a lot less swaggering than the original cover illustration, which again, if we nudge Art awake -

Self-explanatory, nicht war?

     Dig those groovy jodhpurs.  I guess the future has no discernible fashion sense.  Oh, one other thing of note in the series is how everyone smokes like a chimney, with nary a concern over their health prospects.  Of course, their cigarettes might be made from nicotine-free gene-bejiggered tobacco, although nobody comes out and says this -

And on that note we have reached the word count total, so I shall bid you adieu -



*  Regardless of whether you want it or not