Pressure-Cooking People

Not Literally!
Dog Buns, what kind of a monster do you think I am?
     Although, doing so would render them deliciously tender, and you wouldn't have any problem with bones, as they wo -
     Er - but we're not talking about cannibalism today.  Or any other day!  No to cannibalism, despite Jonathan Swift.

These are animal bones, officer, honestly.

     What we are talking about is the world of Judge Dredd, since you need to be up to speed on this for the television series when it arrives.  Conrad presumes they will have either a text crawl or a voice-over to explain the background - but you won't need it, because - BOOJUM!

The "brains", if that's what you can call them, behind the blog

     Okay, Mega-City One: 400 million total population, crammed into the eastern seaboard of South Canada.  97% unemployment.  In an uneasy stand-off with the Sov-Bloc mega-cities (Ruffians having reverted to type).  Colonies on the Moon and in other star systems.  Policed by 65,000 Judges.  EVERY CITIZEN A POTENTIAL CRIMINAL.

The Big Meg

     Under these kind of living conditions - which is where the 'Pressure-cooker' analogy comes in - any person is capable of snapping and going "Futsie", slang for "Future shock", resulting in an explosion of violent rage.  Atypically, the Judges do not blow these people into very small pieces, since Futsie is a recognised mental abberation.
     Okay!  Imagine all the different ways you can break the law nowadays, then add a whole lot of new ones thanks to the future, like powered-flying suit robbery.

He speaks the truth

     It's also easy to break the law without realising it.  DO YOU HAVE A LICENCE FOR THAT HAMSTER!  And the Judges can apply laws retroactively, meaning you might have gotten away with having a bad perm 17 years ago, yet be found guilty of "Possessing hair likely to endanger the eyesight of the citizenry" today.
     Mega-City One: fascinating to read about but an undeniably crap place to live.
     No, officer, I explained before, those are beef bones for - er - for making soup!  Soup, that's it.  Made with chunks of beef, not bloke.
     Quick, motley, change the subject by putting on your Fatman costume and diving off the roof -

Getting Wired
As mentioned in an earlier post (which is code for "I can't remember which one and can't be bothered looking for it) I stated that there was mileage in examining some of the precursors, if not prototypes, of TANK.
     Oh, the "Wired" bit?  Because some quite - ah - eccentric contraptions were invented to overcome the extensive use of barbed wire on the battlefields of the First Unpleasantness.  Like this one - Art?

Behold and wonder!

     This beast is the Breton-Pretot Machine, and you might be forgiven for thinking it's an art installation of some variety.  That outsize comb is for cutting barbed wire, and the nearly-hidden circular saw is for cutting the posts that held up the wire.  It worked, after a fashion, although the crew were entirely exposed to their Teuton foes, who might look ill upon people trying to uproot their precious wire.  Fortunately for said crews, it never saw action, because - but that is a story for another day.
     Er - no, officer, I wasn't burying anything, I was - I was - er - digging up potatoes!  Yes, digging up the potatoes.

Show that wire NO MERCY!

"Misericorde"
I say, memory old chap, what on earth do you mean by chucking this word to the front of my mind?
     Well, since it's here - 
     It does indeed have to do with misery, as a misericorde is a variety of dagger, which that dotard Art can illustrate, when he puts down his plate of coal ...

Full of woe

     The word derives from the Latin for "Act of mercy", a la "Misericordia", since the dagger was used to put seriously injured knights out of their - er - misery.  It was long and thin enough to be able to pierce between plates of armour, or the eyeholes in a helmet.
     Hey, if I fall over and break something, the last thing I want to see is any of you with a glint in your eye and a knife in your hand, okay?  Medicine has advanced quite a bit since the Middle Ages.

Finally -
There is nothing quite as scary as a clown out of context.  No child who saw that clown doll in "Poltergeist" will ever feel safe in the dark again, ditto "It" - both iterations - and "Killer Klowns From Outer Space".  You want more proof?  Okay.  Art?

Ghastly

     Don't blame me if you need to sleep with the light on tonight.