A Plant You Can't Eat, A Wolf That Won't Bite

Okay, I Cheated A Bit There
There should be an "E" at the end of "Wolf".  I am referring, of course, to Gene Wolfe, whom you ought to remember from his entry in my list - you DID read it, didn't you? - of 51 sci-fi books that you simply have to read before you take the great glass elevator.  Actually his entry is science fantasy ("The Book Of The New Sun"), which is the polar opposite of his chosen field, engineering.  Art?

Gene being appropriately genial

     For many years, Ol' Gee was the editor of "Plant Engineering", a journal for planet engineers and mechanics.  If Art can put down his bowl of coal for a minute -

A example

     Rather a contrast, I'm sure you agree.  Gene's engineering claim to fame is that he contributed to the design of the machinery that makes Pringles.  Yes, those horribly more-ish crispoid thingies.  Not everyone can cruise through the aisles in a supermarket and bask in the knowledge that you helped put a considerable amount of product on the shelves, but Gene could.  I wonder if he got a discount on them?

Cannot find a picture of a Pringles-making machine, so here's a Siberian tiger instead

     I say, motley, would you like a packet of crisps*?

I'm Sure How I Got Here
Yesteryon I put up a screen-capture that explained why people get the impression someone or something is stalking around their house in the dark; basically, temperature-related changes in structural components.
     I also mentioned "The Haunted Lab".  Here's the explanation.  Mister Vic Tandy was in said lab, and kept thinking he saw Something in the periphery of his vision.  Every time he turned to look - it wasn't there.  He also noticed that he had the cold chills, and felt horribly uneasy.
     Wooooo!
     Enter the sword.  Art?

Like one of these

     Vic fenced, and had brought his sword into the lab to clean it up, which he did by securing it in a vice, which is only sensible, as swords tend to be quite sharp and stabby.
     Having left the sword alone for a while, Vic then noticed it was oscillating, when originally it had been quite static.
     Instead of calling for a priest and holy water, Vic postulated that infrasound (sounds too low-frequency for human hearing to detect) might be present in the lab, and that the sword was vibrating after picking up the energy.  Surprise surprise, he was entirely correct and the phenomenon was generated by a new extractor fan.  The standing wave created by the lab's dimensions was strongest at his desk, where he'd seen the 'ghost'.
     It turns out that sound at the 19 Hertz frequency triggers a range of physiological symptoms in Hom. Sap. that mimic those of a ghostly experience, and also affect the eyeball and vision, without the sufferer realising the culprit is infrasound.

Some sadists casually plotting to hit folks with infrasound

     The blatantly irresponsible magazine "Engineering Jobs" breaks down the machinery needed to replicate the kit above, and then encourages it's readers to create their very own haunted house.  Anyone trying this would be well advised to have legal counsel to hand.

"Black House" By King And Straub
Well, I've now finished this magnum opus, all of it's 815 pages.  The central protagonist is one Jack Sawyer, an adult version of the hero in the authors previous collaboration "The Talisman".  It's not essential to read the earlier work, though it would have fleshed out the background if I had.  Art?

An ironic cover, one might say

     We do eventually end up at the Black House, and a very unpleasant place it is, too.  Conrad is also minded of Hugh Everett III (dad of Eel's Mister E) and his now widely-accepted concept of "Many Worlds" - Art?

You tell 'em, Hugh

     None of the characters in BH mention this, even though at least five of them are intellectuals pretending to be dull and brutish bikers.  Come on, chaps, Conrad is no intellectual ball of fire and yet even he made the connection.
     It has a kind of happy ending.  No spoilers here, except to say that a particularly wicked character gets what they deserve.  Heh!

A Report Back On "Ask A Korean!"s K-Pop List
I picked up Number 49 on the list, "Clazziquai Project" and searched for them on Spotify, and Lo! there they were, so I created a short playlist, and played a couple of their songs, just to establish a baseline, see if they were immediately acceptable or not.
     Well, lightweight pop, is how I would classify them.  I think they're singing in Korean, which would be logical, since they are from Korea.

A trio of rascals

     They bear more listening to.  As a matter of fact, I picked up on the "Editor's Choices" under the "Jazz" heading and the music of Tom Misch and Yussuf Dayes over on Spotify, and "What Kinda Music", which spelling hints that they might be South Canadian.  It's a really good track, more akin to DJ Shadow's "Endtroducing" that what I'd classify as Jazz.b  But what do I know.  And we ought not to be bound by boundaries.

Finally -
I am having a blast reading "The German Way Of War", by Prof Cinitro, if I can be that casual in talking about him.  This work begins in the late Seventeenth Century and the Great Elector, Frederick William, where the Prof begins to analyse how the state of Brandenburg became a major player, well beyond it's standing in terms of size, population and income.

My edition

     Also, sledges. TGE was pretty canny at waging war in winter, and he used lots of sledges to keep his forces both mobile and attacking, which is something Napoleon should have paid more attention to.


     And with that, we are done!


*  Incorrectly known as "chips" in South Canada