The Plot Thickens, Mister Dickens

Literally.
Some of you may remember Your Humble Scribe going on about the adventure of reading "Martin Chuzzlewit" a couple of months ago, as written by Charles Dickens.  It's a loooong read, and rather slow with it.
     Well, Conrad is now picking up "Nicholas Nickleby" by the same author, which comes in at 940 pages.  Art?

Thus

     That page count isn't just the novel, as it has a couple of introductions from other authors, and Dickens' own introduction, and Notes to explain bits of language, and a couple of appendices.*  It measures exactly 1 1/2 inches in thickness (hence today's title), so I have the feeling I'll be entertaining you with commentary for some while yet.
     There you go, one of the shortest Intros ever.  I have to go out shortly for a haircut, so I can't ramble on at length as per normal.
     Ah - no, motley, back into that swimming-pool full of custard and angry piranhas!

Schadenfreude, Writ Large
This is hilarious stuff, indeed.  Let me introduce both Devin Stone and schadenfreude - you should well know Conrad and his "Malicious enjoyment of other people's misfortune" by now.  Devin is the chap behind the "Legal Eagle" Youtube channel, being an attourney of long-standing.  Art?

Hence "StoneD," if you forget the space.

     Ol' Dev has cast his legal eye over William Singer, his The Key Foundation and a big old mess of Bribery and Corruption that also involves the University of Southern California.

Bad USC!

      Devin himself is an alumni of the University of California and Los Angeles, so he cannot resist a little petty gloating and - there's that word schadenfreude again -

<there will now be a long pause as I go to get my snowy locks trimmed>

 - here you see a bit more gloating, which Devin freely admits will create certain trouble in the Comments, but which is SO worth it.

     This is actually very relevant, since the bribery and corruption concerns parents getting their children into prestigious colleges and universities by fraud.  Not only fraudulent entry, but also claiming tax relief on bribes by pretending they were charitable donations.  The whole thing began to unravel when another criminal, a financial scammer, blew the whistle on William Singer in hopes of a lighter sentence.
     There are many culprits, a complexity that Devin skirts by dubbing them all "Aunt Becky", as - there are twists within twists here - one of the alleged perpetrators played the part of an Aunt Becky on "Full House".  Art?

Lori Somebody (Who's Going To Jail)

     This seems to be an especially vapid and unfunny South Canadian sitcom, which Conrad does not feel the poorer for never having watched, although you can bet the re-runs are going to have sky-high viewing figures as the rubber-necking trainwreck brigade turn up.

     The whole thing leaves a very bad taste in the mouth, and those found guilty are looking at potentially looooong prison terms.

And how!

     One gets the feeling that Devin will be watching this unfold with a bucket of popcorn and a six-pack of beer, snorting with amusement yet not forgetting to make notes on a sheet of A4.

     Next!
You Dirty Bird, This Word's Absurd!
Conrad feels that part of the appeal of BOOJUM! across the globe, and perhaps especially in South Canada, is his effulgent language, which does use words not commonly found in conversation or outside books written by pseuds.**     Thus we arrive at Cryptic Crosswords, where it's difficult enough to solve the damn word puzzle without the compilers or publishers getting it wrongity-wrong-wrong.
     WRONG!
     Being all Legal Eagle, let us display Exhibit One:

Eh - squint a bit, gentle readers

     I've outlined the relevant clue:"Only just obtained freedom (12)".  You can see the answer third line over, which is "NARROW ESCAPE".  You might also note that this is (6,6) and that I only got it because I'm so Dog Buns clever at Cryptic Crosswords.       But soft, what light from yonder window shines?  A motion-activated spotlight atop an infra-red triggered machine-gun, matey - 
     But wait!  For there is more fulminating about words, this time in the Codeword from last Friday.  As you may recall, the compilers have been stretching the envelope of acceptable behaviour when it comes to their selection of words.  My second exhibit, your honour, are the following words:  PYRRHIC; AGAMA; LARYNXES; FAJITAS.
     I ask you!  If I wasn't clued-up on Classical and Ancient literature, why, I might have gone for MYRRHIC and been led dreadfully astray.

A mass of Myrrh.  Not very prepossessing, is it?

     Now, as you know, BOOJUM! has a policy of educating you, the public, at no expense.  I shall assuage (that effulgent language again!) your thirst for knowledge and my own seething rage by explaining what the above are.  In reverse order, just because.
FAJITA: a small parcel of food made by wrapping various types of grilled meat (with some veg as Wonder Wifey insists) in a tortilla.  Art?

Life is sweeter - with a fajita

AGAMA: There are two definitions for this.  One - it is a variety of Hindu scripture, and Two - a variety of lizard.  You can tell this is obscure as it doesn't feature at all in my Collins Concise Dictionary.  Art?

Dinner time at the Agama household

LARYNXES: The plural of Larynx.  A bit of gristle and muscle that contains the vocal cords in you us humans.  Art?

There it is.

PYRRHIC: As in the usual phrase "A Pyrrhic victory".  The word is derived from the Greek ruler and soldier Pyrrhus, about whom a lot could be written, and may be at a later date, as I don't want to hit 1,500 words tonight because it's already 18:30 and Your Humble Scribe is hungry.  Art?

Stony-faced rascal.  I bet he could teach Buster Keaton a thing or two.

Time for tea, gentle readers, Pip pip!


*  I've read one already.  Aren't I a swine?
**  I could be fooling myself.  You may only be here to snigger and point at the wierdo.