BOOJUM! - Perversely Proud Of Prating!

I Was Just Thinking -
I know, I know, it's a dangerous habit that'll get me in trouble some day, but I've gotten into the habit and it's hard to give up.
     So - "A Clockwork Orange", Stanley Kubrick's somewhat controversial meisterwerk from a long time gone.  Regardless of what you may have heard, it was never banned.  No, it's just that Ol' Stan got the purple wim-wams when some numpties mimicked a bit of the films "old ultra-violence", and prevented it from being shown in the UK.  Art?

Mind yer glazzies

     Conrad is unaware if you're aware, but the 'Nadsat' slang that Alex and his 'droogs' come out with is a kind of degraded Russian.  "Droogs" being Russian for "Friends".
     I'm almost certain I've seen the film, and have certainly read the novel, so what I was wondering was, given that the soundtrack features an early model of the synthesizer, could you say that the film was <ahem> "Droogs with Moogs"?

Spaghetti ahoy!
(Moog synth circa 1971)

     Whilst we are on the subject of our Slavic chums, Conrad has noted that the Ruffians seem to have gone from abhorring BOOJUM! to becoming it's biggest fans, and if Art can put down his bath-salts dessert -

     Here you can see the reversal; a couple of months ago the blog didn't have any readers beyond the Bug*, and now they're coming out of the woodwork.  That's the thing about the Ruffians, whether they be oppressed by Tsar or Commissar; they always bounce back over time, which is why Tsar Putin weeps into his borscht of an evening - if he stops oppressing then Hay Pesto! his countrymen start to indulge in Democracy.  It's a tough gig, being Dictator Of All The Russias, because it's a 24/7 job, and you can't have a reliable deputy or successor waiting in the wings, as they might get the urge to have you shuffle off this mortal coil a little earlier than you'd like.

With some, however, it's hard to tell the difference

     I shall not apologise for broaching the subject of Politics, because it's always amusing to prod Dimya in his ego and watch him blench.  Hey, Dimya, guess which one of your bodyguards has been suborned by <Mister Hand redacts information that MI6 and the CIA would be happy about sharing> lethal fork tines, at that.  Hah!

"We Hurl Them From The Glacis"
This will take a bit of explaining, so make sure you've got your pot of tea, comfy slippers  and a Meerschaum pipe to hand.
     Okay, so that above is a line from a jolly old song about the British Grenadiers, and it refers to their weapon of office, the hand-grenade, which has a much longer pedigree than you realised.


     I don't have to point out which is which, do I?  You're not FiveGees.
     Anyway, last night I was watching a Youtube channel about siege warfare of the 16th and 17th centuries, which I thought I'd better cast the glazzies over, seeing as how I'm experimenting with 17th Century wargaming rules.  Art?

A star fort

     The time period is important, because this is when gunpowder artillery had arrived in quantity and quality, rendering the old high curtain-walled castles obsolete.  Instead of a high, thin wall, forts like those above used low, masonry-faced earthen walls, that were a harder target due to the lower profile and, since the walls were angled, shot might well bounce off.  Art!

A cross-section of star fort defences

     You can see an enemy cannon perched upon the glacis, which means things are not looking good for the defenders.  Prior to getting this close, the glacis' slope mean that cannon fire could not hit the main walls, and would instead merely ricochet off the glacis.  This might mean some hapless defender within the walls has a 30 pound lump of iron fall upon his head and turn him into dog food, but better that than the walls be breached.
     As you can tell from that song lyric, if Perfidious Albion's footsoldiers were close enough to hurl hand grenades at the defenders, it was time to surrender.

State of the art for the eighteenth century

     There we go, now we are all better informed.

More Mockery Of The Afflicted
Yes, Conrad levels his jaundiced gaze and poison-pen at the FiveGees (see today's earlier post for a full explanation), because as I mentioned, these bafoons triggered a memory of a short story by John Wyndham.  I cannot remember the title, because it's decades since I read it last; all you need to know is that the central concept was THE WHEEL IS EVIL!
     It was set, as I recollect, in a post-apocalyptic society after the Great Atomic Wars, and a young chap proudly shows his grandad a small cart he's built.

AN ASSEMBLY OF SHEER EVIL!

     Of course, Grandpa then has to explain that his grandson has re-invented THE EVIL WHEEL! and is liable to get strung up by the tribal elders for his heinous crime.  Young sprog was fearfully confused at how thoroughly EVIL the WHEEL was, since he simply say it as a way of moving heavy things more conveniently.  
     I think the upshot is that grandad pretends to be bonkers and had invented THE EVIL WHEEL! in order to protect the sprog, and it doesn't end well for grandad.
     Now, the FiveGees are emulating this mindset, but absent any atomic apocalypse.  Let's hope they never happen across anyone who can design a fission bomb from scratch given sufficient weapons-grade plutonium help them, hmmm?

Conrad, trying hard to look innocent**

Finally -
Okay, I've cooked 200 grams of roasted buckwheat groats, I may see if I can muster the enthusiasm and ingredients to create the filling and dough to create pierozkis (sp?).
     Until then, cheerio!


*  It's a river, pronounced "Bouk"
**  No easy task, given how entirely unsuitable my face is for smiling.