If I Were To Say "Mosaic" ...

You'd Probably Expect A Decorative Tiled Array 

Unless you're Jewish, in which case you're probably ahead of the curve at this point.  For Lo! this Intro has to do with both Codeword solutions and yet another attack of the Coincidence Hydra, which seems to have been fasting of late.  Okay, we need a suitable clickbaity picture, so let me just turn on the electric pitchfork and gently rouse Art from his slumbers -

     You see, Art, you can do it whilst still spasming.  Well done!

     Okay, let us now prove that either the Codeword compilers have a sense of irony, or they got bitten by the Coincidence Hydra, too.  Art!

     Yes yes yes, I know this is bordering on Religion, which we are careful to avoid, but <thinks> the Jews have been around for millenia, so we can call this Historical!  Okay, this is a pretty sneaky solution, because how many words have three "O"s and end in an "X"?  And then we have -

     Three "O"s, an "X" and a "Y".  Hmmmm pondered Your Humble Scribe.  Okay, where does the word 'Orthodox' come from?  It has a feel of Greek about it.  And indeed that's where the word comes from: "Ortho" from the Greek for "Correct" and "Doxa" for "Thought".  

     We've thus established the background, and my Collins Concise informs me that Orthodox Jews follow a very traditional lifestyle with strict observation of the Mosaic law.  Note the capitalisation, because (yes yes yes I cheated in the title, sue me if you want) this word is derived from 'Moses', and the mosaic, absent capitalisation, is ultimately derived from the Greek 'Mousa', meaning 'Muses'.  You know, those femmes of variable number who inspire artists.  Art!

     

CAUTION!  May not be 100% waterproof

     Well, no doubt having offended someone, I shall now go and sort out my laundry.  Truly my rock and roll lifestyle knows no boundaries.

Rock Folly

Ha!  No, nothing to do with that television series from the Seventies, rather a sly pun on the subject of - lighthouses.  Yes I say, Hastings Ismay.  I am still ploughing through "Seashaken Houses" by Tom Nancollas, and jolly interesting it is, too.  He has by now visited three of these sites, and mentions in passing "Kilwarlin", which is also known as "South Rock Lighhouse".  That's the only mention it gets, with a condemnatory description of it not being in the right place and being eventually abandoned, replaced by a lightship*.  Art!

     It's not easy to find out much about Kilwarlin/South Rock.  It's light first shone in 1797, and it continued in service for 80 years, which seems a long time for an inappropriately-placed lighthouse.  The lantern, which used to stand atop the structure seen above, was stolen in 1977 (by whom for what purpose?), lending the whole thing a rather hangdog air.  I have another photograph of it from a distance, which if Art -

     Clearly, it is sitting on a whole lot of rock at what appears to be low tide.  The lightship was positioned two miles east of this position, a certain amount of which distance would have to be for safety reasons.  That's about all I can determine about this rather enigmatic structure, as teh Interwebz are deficient in content.  Conrad suspects another lighthouse book might have to be bought**.

Ginger

No!  Nothing to do with 'Ginger' Hebblethwaite, that youthful protege of Captain James Bigglesworth, introduced to us the reading public in "Biggles And The Black Peril" if I recall correctly.  Art!

     The 'Black Peril' of the title consists of hostile foreign seaplanes, painted black for camouflage at night, which were to commence a campaign of sabotage around the coastlines of This Sceptred Isle.  Neither they nor their country of origin are named, except it's the Ruffians/Sinisters.  Yes, Dimya, you were the bad guys even back in the Thirties, when

     ANYWAY that's nothing to do with Ginger, the plant from which we derive the spice, the crystallised chunks, the chunks in syrup and the pickled pink version used in sushi <damn my mouth is watering>.  Art!

The ugliness of the rhizome

     You have to admit it looks ugly; like a potato that got stuck in the ugly washing machine on full cycle.  So, given it's looks, whose bright idea was it to try eating it in the first place?  "I know, I'll just dig up this utterly unremarkable plant, then I'll chop the roots off, then I'll scrape the skin off and eat it!"

     Hmmm no.  The person who did this would eventually encounter something like Calotropis and die on the spot.

     So - once again - which enterprising person discovered ginger?  I think we should be told!

"Bring me ten plates of this for starters!" ordered Conrad.

     Sadly Yo! Sushi in the Gomorrah-on-the-Irwell Arndale has permanently closed down thanks to Covid, so Your Hungry Scribe can no longer slake his un-natural greed for the above <sad face>.

Venus And Mars

No!  Nothing to do with the Wings record.  Good lord aloft, you should know us better than that by now; when does BOOJUM! ever do the normal, sensible or expected thing, when it can do the odd, perverse or tangential?  That time back in 2017 doesn't count, it was the gin speaking and as

     ANYWAY what I refer to is NASA's announcement that they plan two missions to Venus in the near future, which comes to those interested in Venus as a pleasant alternative to the usual priority of Mars.  We have seen a lot of recent activity on the Martian surface, so perhaps NASA felt a bit churlish in not paying more attention to the Big V.  Art!

An artist's impression.  I really shouldn't have to state that.

     FYI, don't forget that Venus is one of the more extreme and unpleasant planets in the Solar System, with an atmosphere that consists of corrosive acid, and a temperature at ground zero that will melt lead and also any puny human technology not specially protected.  It will also crush puny humans to pulp, given that atmospheric pressure is over 1,000 pounds per square inch.  It will be interesting to see how NASA proposes to investigate this hellish place.

And with that we are done!

     

*  Completely different subject that we're not going into right now.

**  Wallet squeaks in terror!