The Words That Make One Cross

You Know - Crosswords
If you are a regular reader, then you know Your Humble Scribe is a truly horrible person - Mister Hand!  Get out of here and stop interfering! - is a bit of a fiend when it comes to crosswords, and he generally gets in at least one and frequently two such Cryptics on a daily basis.
     Well, back in August I got a whole book of crosswords as a present for my birthday, presented by Abby with the cautionary words "You're a hard person to buy presents for".  Art?

The very same

      This morning, after cheating the day of an hour, I discovered that I'd not got any crosswords or codewords remaining to be done, so I cracked open the above.  My worries were twofold: 1) the fibretipped pens I use would bleed through the paper and blot the crossword on the opposite side; and 2) They'd be too easy.  Art?

     Well, it turns out neither worry had any basis.  The ink  won't show unless I dig trenches with my pen nib, and it took me a good 30 minutes to solve that first crossword; I had forgotten that you need to get used to the mindset of the compilers, which will take some time.
     And a hard person to buy presents for?  Not at all!  Socks and underpants gratefully received, thank you very much.  Which might be bordering on too much information ...
     Motley?  If you help prune the roses you can have some fruit cake.  Deal?

Did I mention they were giant mutant monster roses?  How forgetful of me!

No Pressure
This one will take a bit of background, so you may want to go get a cup of tea and a biscuit.
     Okay, I refer you to artillery and big guns in general.  When these things are fired, you get recoil, which was first successfully dealt with in the French 1895 75 m.m. field gun, using hydraulics to buffer the gun's movement.  Art?

Behold!

     With guns firing high-velocity rounds, the recoil gets even more severe, as you have gasses propelling the gun backwards at higher speeds.  This means lots of hydraulic buffers and adding in mass to soak up the energy, and also muzzle brakes, which vent some of those escaping gases to the sides, reducing the recoil.  Art?

Sic

Sic also

     

     Then we come to Listy's work of wonder, "Forgotten Tanks and Guns -", which explores the history of a muzzle brake invented by a Mssr. Galliot, who was French.  He appears to have ended up in Perfidious Albion after the fall of France in 1940, and his aim in life was to invent a muzzle brake that would, indeed, brake the recoil of a gun.  Art?

As fitted 

     Listy's blog itself has a close-up of the muzzle brake in question.  Art?

Sick

     I think we can all agree this is an impressive piece of engineering.  I don't know if it was cast or machined, but you can see just how elaborate it was.  In fact it was so elaborate that various branches of the War Department wanted nothing to do with it, and, besides, It Wasn't Invented Here, Or At Least Not By One Of Us.
     The crunch question is did it work?  Yes.  All those elaborate baffles and fluting reduced the recoil of what it was attached to by just over 80%:  wave flags and banners and break out the confetti.
     Ah, but.  The backblast was so enormous that it would have killed any crew-members by rupturing their lungs (and eardrums) and may not have been very good for their eyes, either: put away flags and banners and hoover up the confetti.

http://overlord-wot.blogspot.com/2014_11_16_archive.html

Add caption

     That's the link to Listy's blog article that includes this impressive white elephant.
     I did think of titling this item "Braking Bad" but that would, once again, involve Conrad yelling abusively that NO this was NOT a spelling mistake and one can get tired of endless repetition.
To The Logical Limit
And then some.  I am currently watching Season Two of "The Expanse" and, because I am an utter anorak about end credits, I did notice a rather peculiar inclusion.  Art?

Ignore the white-haired git in the background

     This is one of those disclaimers about how everything depicted within this episode is fictional, no relation to any actual person, blah blah blah -

     O RLY?

     What thought processes were at work within the suits who insisted that this disclaimer be put up?  Presumably they misread the title and think "The Expense" is about a dubious middle-management drone who abuses his company's credit card - I mean, really!
     The series is set 200 years into the future, and - the series is set 200 years into the future.  I know this is the same fact twice, I just felt I had to really get the point across.
     Even with healthy eating, an excercise regimen and good genes, nobody around today is going to be around a couple of centuries in the future.
     Truly, the thought processes of idiots can be hard to fathom.

Earth 200 years hence

Finally -
Conrad is feeling a sly sense of triumph at having stolen an hour from the day*.   Of course, this now means that I shall be leaving for work in the dark, and arriving home in the dark, but I'm a big boy now and shan't be scared.**     It also definitely marks the arrival of Autumn here in the Allotment of Eden, as the weather outside is bright and sunny, yet with a definite nip in the air, meaning that scarves and gloves will soon be donned.
     "What does this have to do with anything, O Aged Scrivener?" I hear you ask, and, pausing only to point out that a scrivener makes out legal documents (and BOOJUM! is pretty much the polar opposite of anything legal) I shall explain.
     One of the responsibilities of walking a dog involves the use of small plastic bags, and to properly utilise these receptacles, one cannot continue to wear gloves - at which point I think the limits of Too Much Information have been reached.  Art?

Art changes the subject

     Cheerio!



*  Tee hee!
**  Much! <the unpleasant truth courtesy Mister Hand>