As Albert Said ...

If I Were To Say "Struwwelpeter"
Then I fondly imagine you would immediately picture that dreadful Teuton book which was invented to give children Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and which I have been banging on about over the past week or two.
     But no!  I do not refer to that underpinning of Teuton psychology today.  No, today I am referring to another metaphorical Shock-Headed Peter (for thus is "Struwwelpeter" translated), whom, if Art can put down his spoon and bowl of coal -

Albert

     This picture will, of course, irk the living daylights out of any neo-Nazis who - O so mistakenly! - have come to mock the gibbering loon who composes the scrivel that greets your eyes, since Ol Al' is widely regarded as one of the smartest blokes of the twentieth century, and Jewish to boot.
     Here an aside.  The second-smartest bloke of the twentieth century is widely regarded as being Richard Feynman, who was a top bloke by way of being a raconteur, and who was not remotely precious about being a Nobel Prize winner and for inventing nanotechnology, and who was from a Jewish background as well, though he was very definitely secular.  Art?

Richard, trying hard not to look too clever

     Though he had more controllable hair than Ol Al.
     Where were we?
     O yes.  Albert had a quote that pretty much sums up the human condition: "Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity.  And I'm not sure about the former."
     I intend to offer up a proof of the former, for Lo! we are beginning to get to the meat of the matter here, which is called "The Mandela Effect".
                       
                                             One of these
     This is an incredibly obtuse theory that has been cooked up by people who have been drinking Jeyes Household Cleaning Fluid in lieu of water (that's my explanation).  They conflate bad memories of people being certain that they read of Nelson Mandela dying in the Eighties with involuntary transfer between alternative universes.  The theory goes that, in an alternative reality, Ol Nellie did in fact die in the Eighties.  People misremembering "Froot Loops" as being spelled "Fruit Loops" is taken as further evidence, although Your Humble Scribe cannot comment as he's no idea what this hideous concoction is.  Art?

Ah.  Enlightenment beckons.

     This is literally the tip of the iceberg as far as the Mandela Effect goes, because obviously it is the result of aliens/NASA/the Large Hadron Collider mucking about with the past and altering time lines, because Hom. Sap. never make mistakes, mis-remember or get anything wrong, so there -
     This does have real world consequences, however, as several rueful newspaper correspondent and editors have found out to considerable expense, because "Captain Pugwash" -
     And there I believe we've had just about enough Mandela Effect today.  Let us move on!  If you're good I'll fill you in on the Captain tomorrow.
     Motley, would you like a bowl of Kornflakes for breakfast?

"The diet starts tomorrow!"

This Will All Make Sense On Facebook
Honest. Art?

Iron bars.  Just so we're clear.

Conrad Is ANGRY!
Angry angry angry! 
     I know I exist in a state of constant, if muted, annoyance, but Really!  Some things really take the biscuit.  Take the biscuit, dunk it in a cup of tea and scoff it in front of you, to be honest.
     "This is about either the crossword or the codeword, isn't it?" I hear your weary sigh.
     Welllllll yes.   SIT BACK DOWN!  It matters to me, which is enough, because once again, whose blog is it?
     "NADIR" is the word I'm frothing about for the moment.  Art?

Et voila

     This means "The lowest point", and for those of you expecting a <hack spit> about Latin, HA! because the derivation is from "Nazir as-samt" which is Arabic for "Opposite the zenith".
     Still, how many codeword tacklers have the astronomical and/or general literary breadth to define this word?  Not many, I can tell you!
     I think you can see how thoroughly justified I am in venting my Frothing Nitric Ire.  Thanks for listening to my ranting and tanting.

More Of Matania
You remember Ol Fort, I hope.  "Fortunino" as his first name, and he was fortunate indeed to be living in the Allotment of Eden before being commissioned as a war artist.  Art?


     The unglamourous side of war.  Here you see medical orderlies dealing with wounded soldiers and again, this would be late 1914 to late 1915, as evidenced by the lack of Brodie pattern helmets and the rather unsophisticated trench.  The MOs have Red Cross brassards and cap badges, denoting their status as non-combatants, and it may not be apparent but they are unarmed - they carry nothing more deadly than a stretcher.  Conscientious objectors frequently ended up in such roles, and good luck to them; for to get a serious casualty to the Regimental Aid Post, they had to be carried on a stretcher, which meant walking slowly in the open, thus making them a splendid target for any Teuton shell that happened by.  Art?


Exactly like this.

     Enough of our Matania mania.  Art?

Tasmania*

Eusebius
Yes yes yes, another of those words that pop up in the septic tank that is Your Humble Scribe's mind, for no obvious reason.
     Ol Eu, if I can call him that, was a Biblical scholar of some repute and renown, and also a bishop (of Caesarea), way back in the Fourth Century.  Art?

The chap in question

     He seems to have had a mortal fear of scissors.  He wrote lots of involved theological works, and a rather flattering history of Constantine (the first Christian emperor), and his contemporaries thought highly of him.  And now we know more than we did five minutes ago, and you're welcome.
     Now, since Conrad has absolutely no interest in the early history of the Christian church, and knows next to nil about Constantine, why on earth did this name pop up at the front of my brain?  Answers in the Comments, please.

Finally -
I don't know if this is genius or madness, so I shall let you decide for yourselves.  As you ought to know by now, Conrad has been banging on about giant Lego structures, as it's easier to go with a theme once you've selected it.  Art?

You missed a bit -

      This puppy seems to be a single heroic build.  The one at LEGOLAND took three months and 500,000 pieces to create, so I shall nosy around a bit and see if there are any statistics for that above.



*  Sorry, couldn't resist.