Conrad Feeling Pretty Smug

- Also Still Somewhat Hacky
Which we won't go into detail about.  Okay, only a little.  I'm definitely not suffering from coronavirus as one of the symptoms is a "dry cough", whereas my slime-lined lungs generate enough phlegm that it sounds as if I'm gargling with glue when I cough.  On the more positive side of this, if Edna hears me attempting to expel my lungs, she comes over to sit on my lap and lick my face, to cheer me up.

"Does I get menshun?"

      Yes, Edna, you did.  Okay!  Why am I feeling pretty smug?  Because I've been annoyed that I couldn't identify a bus poster, since this poster is only on the right-hand side of the bus, and thus I only see it for a second or so as the bus heads downhill past my window.  The bit I saw had "Join Our Congregation", which is completely useless when trying to Google for an answer.
     However, about 10 minutes ago I saw that same bus go by, and I looked to the right-hand part of the poster and saw "NOW TV".  This was the vital clue.  Art?

Thus

     As Your Humble Scribe guessed, this is a satirical look at those South Canadian televangelists who manage to make mounds of money, and who pray.  Those who have faith might want to avoid, or it might be worth watching to see how accurate it is.  I leave the decision to you.
     Right, more of Edna.  If you don't like dogs or Border Terriers, you can move on*.  
     First of all, Your Humble Scribe was feeling sufficiently peckish this morning that he made some toast, rather than settling for a packet of Pom Bears, for breakfast.  This naturally interested certain parties, to wit:

The toast

     

The interested party

     Of course she didn't get any toast.  Not one crumb.  That's how strict I am.
     The weather today was deceptively sunny, so we went out for a toddle in the afternoon, when we bumped into the "Greenfingers" landscaping chap, who also has a Border Terrier he takes with him.

Edna, actively sniffing
(She does this a lot)

     He gathered his dog in his arms, as Madam can be very aggressive with dogs she doesn't know, but she only barked once and otherwise had a good sniff.  Then, on our way back down the other side of Tandle Hill Road, another chap crosses the road to say hello, as he has a 10 year-old Border Terrier.  Edna, of course, fawns on him.  He explained that his dog is on gluten-free dog food (Conrad unaware this was a thing) because she has stomach problems, so I mentioned "Rawesome Pets", who retail only fresh food for dogs, all various bits of animals, offal and stuff like that.
     I wish I'd taken my gloves, though: it was cold out there.
     Motley!  Shall we try that extreme sport of diving into frozen-over ponds and lakes?  Get out the goosefat!

Coatesville High School Scandal
I mentioned this in passing yesterday.  The background page I reserved has vanished, so I'm not sure I can do the story justice.  Aha!  Just found the link again.  Okay, the principal villains are the school's principal, Richard Como; the athletics coach, James Donato; and, for extra spice, their School Board's solicitor, James Ellson.
     Richard was up for 51 felonies, including that of setting up an illegal slush fund to help purchase things he should not have, as well as nepotistically hiring unqualified friends, family and ex-students to work at the school.  Art?

Oozing sincerity, hmmm?

     Without spending a whole day tracking down results, it looks like Ol' Dick got himself some years of prison time, until he was released on appeal.
     As for Ol' Jim -

I wonder what's going through his mind?

     He got hit with 136 felony charges, including siphoning off money to pay for his cars and gambling habit.  Though, since he was a first-time offender and paid back £10,000, he only got a few months in prison
     Ah, that slimey lawyer?  He and his law firm agreed to pay back £300,000 that they had wilfully over-charged the School Board, on the grounds that there was no discussion of the case in the media and no admitting guilt.

Ellison, whistling.

     This character has been investigated for all sorts of shady deals, and the law firm he was working for had to cough up £180,000 in a wrongful dismissal case they supplied legal advice for.
     Fascinating, if rather depressing stuff!

Vicarious Schadenfreude
Sounds like an instrumental track by Future Sound Of London, doesn't it?  Well it isn't.
     What I refer to, of course, are the Comments on the BBC's sports pages.  Rather than being a 'Have Your Say', these usually turn out to be torrents of invective, and here is the case in point.  Art?

Apologies for the synchrony bars

     Yes, 1,478 Comments, in a matter of hours.  I did scroll through umpteen pages of them, rather than the whole thing - it would have taken hours - and they are, by and large, all gloating that Chelsea beat Liverpool.  The infrequent Liverpool fans who turned up claimed that the FA Cup is only a minor trophy (it may be, Conrad has no idea), and they didn't want to win it anyway, and my dad is bigger than your dad.  
     For the record, there was another, separate page about this that they'd opened Comments on, and that had over 600 pages on.  Some people have entirely too much time on their hands. 

Conrad's attitude to the ballfoot game

Finally -
I only need about a hundred words to hit the Compositional Ton, so I think I shall now impress you with both my crossword and natural world skills.  The clue was "Wild kids grow into these (6)" and of course I was thinking about feral children, pscyho children, evil children, children raised without knowledge of interpersonal space - all that sort of stuff.  Of course the answer was - 

"Ibexes"

     The Ibex being a species of wild goat, and the young of goats are called kids.
     Thank you for the modest applause.






*  Though we will know who you are.  O yes.