Ascreaming

No!  Nothing To Do With The Beginning Of "Gravity's Rainbow"
Thomas Pynchon's mammoth novel concerning the fag end of the Second Unpleasantness does, admittedly, begin with "A screaming comes across the sky" as a V2 descends on helpless London -
     No, I am being more generic about people emptying their lungs in an exhalation of fear.  This is prompted by two things: a BBC sidebar title about why we scream, and - obviously! - good old Struwwelpeter.
     We'll come back to the Beeb article.  Art?

Hmmm.  Okay, I'll let that one pass.

     Conrad vaguely recalls seeing the first of this franchise and wasn't over-impressed.  For one thing, it seems to take place in an alternative South Canada where nobody owns any guns -
     But I digress.  Struwwelpeter!  That collection of tales from 1844, written by a man who was obviously a combination of sadist and psychopath.  Let us see - what tale of terror shall we concentrate on today?
     Ah, I think "The Story of Augustus, who would not have any soup".  Meet Augustus, who is, frankly, a bit of a pudgy lad.  Art?

The stages of Soup-Refusal

     One wonders what on earth was in the soups he refused to eat, as he immediately begins to waste away, and on the fourth day -

Dead!

     Did he have some kind of weird metabolism that caused death by starvation within four days?  Because it's generally accepted that you can survive for weeks without food as long as you have water.  Not  only that, just look at the state of him!  Did he not notice he was wasting away?  Unless - one of the effects of Soup-Refusal Starvation is to impair both the intellect and vision?
     Now, going over what I've written, you must admit this is not a merry tale and depicting someone starving to death is not really regarded as funny in the community.
     There, that explains today's title.
     Motley, would you like some Vichysoisse?

Definitely to do with soup.  You can't deny it.

Without Ken Tout
Whom you ought to know as the author of "Tank!", which is widely regarded as a classic account of tank combat during the Second Unpleasantness, and which Your Humble Scribe is determined to have.
     Except not just yet.  The reason being price; Conrad went onto Abebooks and did a bit of searching, and the cheapest option is £38 pounds for a ratty paperback.

This edition

     So I shall keep searching, and possibly cross my fingers that a new edition gets released.  I know, I know, this is kind of minute tremor in Batavia, a plate fell off a shelf kind of stuff; I just like to keep you informed.

Speaking Of Lego -
I know we weren't, I just like to keep you mentally on your toes.  If an we had been talking about Lego, then I would have gone into detail about item on the BBC's website, about a repurposed textiles mill.  Art?

Dean Clough Mills

     It's a complex of buildings rather than simply a single large one, and it covers 22 acres.  Once upon a time it was the biggest carpet factory in the world, until it fell on hard times; the site is now home to multiple businesses and art galleries.
      This is where a couple of Lego geeks come in.  They got approval to model the whole site in Lego, with a total cost for the bricks of £10,000.  Art?

With puny human for scale

     It was calculated that they'd need 1,000,000 pieces to complete the whole enormous project, and here's an overview of the completed thing.  Art?

With puny human head in background for scale

     The whole thing is so large it's difficult to get a picture that accurately depicts the scale.  It is now on display as a permanent exhibition fixture in one of the site's art galleries, should you ever be in West Yorkshire and feel the need to satisfy a Lego craving.

Carry On Screaming
No!  Not that entry into the horror canon for the "Carry On" franchise, although Your Humble Scribe does have a soft spot for it.  No, I mean going back to the Intro thread about screaming, since the BBC now has a reality show <hack spit> where you get to keep your £5,000 prize money - if you can avoid screaming.  Of course you can take it for granted that Conrad hates reality television programs and won't be watching this one, although the premise is interesting.    Art?

     One presumes that contestants have signed a waiver, otherwise their surviving relatives might sue for millions if they die from fright, or are left with PTSD.  Conrad is a big fat coward who would never dream of actively putting himself in harm's way, certainly not if it involved having tarantulas crawl over him, and certainly not for £5,000.  Make it £5,000,000 and I'd pause to consider.
     This BBC article then triggers another one, about why people scream.  They interview various psychologists, film and theatre folks and doctors.  The sudden start that people experience when presented with a frightening stimulus -

Like this

      - are apparently to put distance between you and It, allowing you a little more time to classify the threat.  Screaming presages your movement into an adrenaline-fuelled stance to either classify what scares you as too bad to fight -

So you flee

     - and flee quickly, or heck You Can Take It and you dive right into it.

Ha!  Take that, Termy!

     This, of course, is the flight-or-fight response hard-wired into Hom. Sap. and which has meant you we are still around as a species and not remnants in the stomach of a sabre-tooth tiger.  In fact, where are the sabre-tooth tigers now?  Hmmmmm?

An srtist's impression, for obvious reasons.

     And with that - we are done!