Dam Nation

If You Have Been Reading The Blog For A While
Then you should remember that Conrad HATES ALL MUSICALS.  This has nothing to do with what follows, I just wanted to get it out of the way.
     If you have, indeed, been reading the blog for a while, then you will be aware that we occasionally look at dams, usually focusing on when they have collapsed in spectacular fashion.  The Oroville and Whaley Bridge dams were a case where remedial action prevented anything major from happening.  Art?

With puny humans for scale

     So it was with some interest that Your Humble Scribe noticed a long article on the BBC's website about dams.  They mentioned a couple we've looked at previously, the Vaiont Dam in northern Italy and the Malpasset Dam in France, and - surprise! - mention the Banqiao Dam collapse in China, which happened in 1975.  Art?

The aftermath

     Displaying Sinister-levels of paranoia and fear, the Populous Dictatorship didn't admit the event happened until 2005, and then appears to have lied about the death toll, which has been estimated to be well over 200,000.  They blamed "natural causes" when in fact poor quality control and shoddy construction were the culprits.  It's mentioned, across a couple of paragraphs, in "The Three Body Problem"
     That is the thing about dams; if you try to build them on the cheap then you may well find your short-termism coming back to bite your nethers at an unpredictable point in the future, because dam failures are unforgiving and extremely rapid.  Note that the Populous Dictatorship's standards for building dams from the Fifties to the Seventies were what one might generously call "crap", and there might well be more Banqiaos out there a-waiting to happen.

Hmmmmmmm.

     I think we shall come back to that Beeb article, it has legs.
     Motley, shall we go for a nice relaxing paddle?  No, not in the reservoir, at the swimming pool.

How Very Annoying
The washing machine is still up the spout, so Conrad has been reduced to hand-washing some vital bits of laundry.  Art?

Yes, you may well look sheepish, matey.

      The central control panel is shot, and the engineer didn't have a spare because it's a rare version, though he did replace the door lock in case that was an issue.  It wasn't.  This is the second time the control panel's gone <annoyed face> so we're probably going to be looking for a new machine in the near future.

     There will now be a pause as I go to see how stuff is getting on in the tumble-drier.

     No, Edna, I am NOT going to chase you and your squeaky ball!
     Where were we? O yes

How Very Appropriate

Yesteryon I was banging on about how I had run desperately short of loose-leaf Darjeeling, to the extent that I'd only enough left for a couple of pots, and thus a journey to Sainsbury's had to be made, and people hadn't panic-bought it all.  So hooray.

     Today, what is the screensaver?

     Initially it didn't have any of the explanatory script up, but Conrad recognises a tea plantation when he sees one.  This one is at Munnar, in the south of India, and there are guided tours of the plantations there.  When I take over the world, all the tea workers will get a free pass, as long as I continue to get my loose-leaf Darjeeling.

How Very Reminiscent
If you have been reading BOOJUM! over the past few weeks then you will have read me going on about Doctor Robert Citino, who is an acknowledged expert on the Teutons in the Second Unpleasantness.  To state that this chap knows his onions is akin to saying that Everest is a pretty big hill.
     Okay, where am I going with this?  Youtube.  I've watched one presentation on there that he did on the Wehrmacht in 1942, and then came across a second one, "Fighting A Lost War: The German Army in 1943".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SdO-btKuds&t=2231s

     That's the link, if you're interested.  Art?

The doctor is in.

     Hang on, I thought to myself.  I've seen this one before - I remember it because he only has 2 Powerpoint slides for the whole hour-long talk.  He doesn't need them as he puts his thesis across so well in explaining exactly why the Teutons did fight so hard for so long.  The reasons are too many and complicated to list here in detail, so I recommend you go listen to Ol' Bob hold forth.

CAUTION!  May also include Dad jokes

Whither The Weather
And it's gone and done it again.  After a beautiful sunny morning without any gale-force winds, as there were yesterday, the clouds have rolled back in and we have a lovely, restful dull grey sky.  Conrad confidently expects it to begin raining soon.  Which is good for the flowers.

Summer in Gomorrah-in-the-Irwell

     Shelli, she of the cello, asked on Facebook yesterday if we were going to have a summer or not, which - of course! - has immediately put the mockers on our having any sunshine from now until September.  Thanks, Shelli; just remember, it's good for the flowers.
     Bah!

Finally - 
The rest of the family are due back from holiday tonight, which means my stint as a dog-sitter is nearly up, and Edna will be getting spoiled by multiple humans again, which is what she considers the barest possible minimum interaction with her, the little diva.  Her attitude today has been sulky and despondent, because I won't chase her around the house to try and take her ball from her.  Neither am I fit to lie upon, because - see the previous reason.  I can guarantee she will be in transports of delight tonight, so the Downtrodden Despondent Dog look doesn't impress me, madam.  Art?

     The little scamp is currently lying at my feet and whining, so I shall take her aside and feed her now.

And with that philanthropic gesture, we are done!