Building Blocks

I Know What You're Thinking
No, this Intro is not going to be about Lego, even though it's been a splendid source of inspiration to date, and we will be coming back to it.
     Okay, what was there before Lego?  I thought you'd never ask!
     Well, before Lego means before the kind of plastic they are made of (acronitrile butadiene styrene), and as a consequence construction kits used hard rubber.  Art?

An example

     The hard rubber had enough flexibility to allow bricks to fit together.  Hay Pesto! You get Minibrix, which was around for about 40 years, though Your Humble Scribe never saw any of it in his youth, presumably because Lego had arrived from 1963 onwards.

Modern or Tudor house construction sets

     There you go.  
     Anyway, this is a bit of a diversion, because I came across a completely different construction kit whilst I was scoping around for something completely obscure, that I've completely forgotten about.  Enter Bayko!
     Unlike Minibrix I did actually see a set of Bayko being used once, and it seemed very fiddly and hard to use.  Art?

Bayko in action

     As you can see from the above, you used a set of rods that established a frame for the Bakelite bricks, which slotted together.  You could thus build - houses.  And only houses.  Perhaps calling it a "Building Set" is a little misleading: "Architectural Construction Kit" is closer to the truth.  Art?


     It's not that big a house, actually, they're just very small children.  Anyway, you could create buildings, and indeed some very impressive buildings, but nothing else.  Art, show us some impressive Bayko buildings!

An airport in Bayko

     "Bay-" because these bricks are made of Bakelite, the first commercially produced plastic.  So.  Again, rather outclassed and then made redundant by Lego.  
     There you go, a brief outline of a couple of forgotten construction toys from last century, and you're welcome.  This is interesting stuff, we may revisit.
     Motley, bring me my pipe and slippers, that I may indulge myself whilst doing the crossword.

Knives Out
No!  Nothing to do with that film out at the moment, I was just teasing you, and to see if you were paying attention.  YOU ARE PAYING ATTENTION AREN'T YOU?! 
     What I really meant was the "Skean Dhu" (properly "Sgain Dubh"), which is Gaelic for "Black Knife".  Art?

One of them

     The "Black" in the title refers to a sense of hidden or covert status, as the SD was small enough to hide about one's person, were one's person to be up to skulldiggery*.  It was used as a general-purpose tool for cutting up and eating foods, hacking up fabrics and opposing those practicing skulldiggery.  If worn as part of traditional Highland dress, it is placed in the stocking, with only the handle showing.  Art?

The dirk beneath the skirt
(so to speak)

        I include it in BOOJUM! because, again, it's one of those words or phrases that just popped up in my head.  And you're welcome.

This Will All Make Sense On Facebook -
Honestly.
                 

     Those there are Ham Hocks.  Got that?  Okay, let's move on.

From The Ridiculous To The Ambitious
Or, "Blimey, what was the editor thinking?".  For Lo!  We are back to the Beeb's offered opinions about what incredibly long reads you need to feel guilty about not reading**.

9. A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth (1,504 pages)

     Nah.  From the precis, about finding a prospective bridegroom in Fifties India.  Sounds like chick-lit to me, and apparently it has 4 family trees that you need to study and make notes about in order to make sense of the whole thing.  Conrad's verdict:  handy substitute for firewood when the Robot Revolution is over.

He's a boy, he's alive, he'll do

10. In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust (3,031 pages)

     Frankly I think they're reaching here, because this "novel" comes in 13 volumes.  If that's the case, why not include "A Dance To The Music Of Time", which has umpteen volumes <checks on Google> twelve volumes?  Or all "The Expanse" novels published before "Persepolis Rising"?

<yawns>

     Anyway, it sounds unspeakably dull.  Who is going to commit to reading over a million words on introspective misery?  I guarantee that there are no tanks, atom bombs nor zombies present within it's pages, so the entertainment value will tend towards zero.  Conrad's verdict: makes an impromptu television stand.

You need one of these, mate.

     I suspect it will be one of those books that people put on their bookshelves to impress visitors at parties, and which they have no intention of ever reading.
     That's the Beeb's 10 Long Novels.  Conrad could come up with a list of some long novel's he's read, O yes indeed, and if you're not good he may deliver same to you, at length***.

The Arsenal Of Democracy
I've just been listening to Jim on "WHWOMYT", discussing the Battle of Midway with South Canadian scholar and author Craig Symonds.  Conrad is pretty sketchy on the South Canadian's Pacific campaigns, but one thing CS mentioned did have quite some resonance.  At Midway the South Canadians could only muster 3 aircraft carriers - the essential vessel in the Second Unpleasantness - one of which was only partly repaired from damage suffered in a previous engagement.  This is June 1942.
     For the invasion of Saipan in June 1944, asserts CS, the South Canadians bring 24 aircraft carriers to the game.  Art?

So many Essex class CVs!

     This is an example of South Canada's industrial might at work, and also a reason it's very, very unwise to pick a fight with that nation.  We may come back to this.

Finally -
Grrrrr!  It's been a lovely sunny day all day long, and yet neither Edna nor myself can go out as we are expecting a returned parcel at some point.  Maybe not even today.  It's going to come by courier, which means any time at all <sighs>.  Might risk a quick trot after 18:00.



*  Like skullduggery but worse
**  You dirty curs, I hope you're ashamed of yourselves!
***  Tweaks moustache ends and cackles