So I'm Gonna School Yer
This only works if you have a short "A" in "Peculiar". I also apologise for being horrendously common in using 'Yer' instead of 'You', since we here at BOOJUM! are nothing if not refined <yeah right you Z-grade movie monster addict! - the horrible truth courtesy Mister Hand> poetic lang - has that traitor Mister Hand been at work? BRING ON THE SURGICAL - actually don't bother, I am rather attached to him* <heavy despairing sigh>.
Where were we? O yes. Steely Dan. Conrad only came late to appreciate this South Canadian combo, who were focussed, with awesome determination, on creating a sonic landscape of elemental proportions. Art!
Which one is a Grumpy Young Man? Only you can tell!
Upon hearing them on the airwaves, you may be unaware of the 110% dedication that they put into creating songs, and if you go onto Youtube and search for "Peg" then you will discover what pains they went to.
Which is a bit tangential. What Conrad wants to refer to is a track of theirs called "Bodhisattva" for no other reason than it stuck in his head. Art!
There you go, a cover so appallingly bad that Steely Dan themselves mocked it relentlessly. There are other worse ones o
ANYWAY that track. Conrad, whom we all know to be a curious character - okay okay okay nosy - wondered exactly what it meant. Cue the Brewer's Dictionary Of Phrase And Fable - "One whose essence is enlightenment". More than that, this is a person capable of reaching Nirvana, but whom refrains from doing so in order to help others. What you might call an earth-bound spirit. Looking to help the mortals.
We have moved on from "Tormentor", Conrad's long-form fiction entry for NANOWRIMO, that dealt with the supernatural, but if you recall clearly, our protagonist Louis McMahon had been mentored by a beneficent spirit called Yvonne, who was making amends for her fearfully shallow mortal existence in the entertainment industry (think television more than film, as this is Perfidious Albion not South Canada).
SCCCRRRCCCCHHHH noise as the stylus dances across the record's surface. Excuse me? So Yvonne - imagine a well-sculpted blonde in her early thirties - is the Conrad-equivalent of a Bodhisattva? Art!
DOG BUNS! That's the look I imagined. Conrad now begins to wonder where the Coincidence Hydra and his imagination leave off.
Well, if nothing else it does underline the unadorned fact that today's title is - peculiar.
Motley! Bring me my pipe and slippers, I feel it advisable to do nothing deep or meaningful for the moment. O and bring in the Dragon Fruit. Just in case.
Puns By The Tuns
<taps finger warningly> No, not as in 'Tons', the unit of mass. 'Tuns' as in the barrel. Do keep up! For today we are looking at - Desert Beaver Observatory. Yes, this is another of our series about South Canadian astronomical observatories, because we can, and some of them are either peculiar or interesting or both. Art!
Possibly the site
There are few images online for this site, which is not surprising, as beavers do not build dams in the desert, normally requiring a large body of water in the vicinity. It is also a private institution, unlike most observatories, which are usually offsprings of the state university or similar. The site is at Eloy, which immediately had Conrad thinking of "The Time Machine" because that's how his mind works. Art!
And in the field of minor planets <insert bad "The Expanse" pun here> Desert Beaver discovered 'Sughara'. Art!
I have no idea
CONRAD IS! Very Cross Indeed
As you might well be if you were to try and solve Codeword puzzles that had ridiculously obscure solutions. Really, I should refer several of these to the International Criminal Court. I bet they have a Lexicographical Crime Unit <fantasises briefly about crossword geeks with body armour and machine guns> ANYWAY let us begin.
"ALLOTROPE": YOU WHAT! Are we all suddenly chemists now? <sighs in weary resignation>. Your Humble Scribe recalls this word, because - memory like a skip, remember? - it refers to alternative physical states of the same molecule, and the best example is carbon. Art!
That's the structure of the carbon allotrope diamond. Diamond, terrifically hard stuff you can use to cut glass? Also worn as personal ornamentation. Art!
There you have the carbon allotrop graphite, which is very soft and indeed makes splendid material for pencils.
"PHOENIX": O that's a devious one! 'PH' as the beginning of a word. And 'OE' as the centre, and 'X' as the last. Art!
Inevitably this word has Greek roots, or wings, and 'Phoinix', which meant something about red-feathered birds, and there you get the fire analogy. And if you don't believe me you can go do the research yourself.
"TSAR": A gift of a solution! However, Conrad will choose the Moral High Ground, mostly because there's an Immoral Flood coming quite soon. This word is derived from the ancient Latin "Caesar", because Latin without a "T" confuses the Ruffians. Art!
This picture has automatically gotten Conrad 15 years in a gulag
Finally -
You may skip this section if you like BUT THERE WILL BE CONSEQUENCES O SUCH CONSEQUENCES as we once again pontificate about the 'Special' Military Operation in Ukraine. Art!
Notice the blue arrows in the north, where the Ruffians - whom some are calling 'Orcs' - ran away when they couldn't get into Kiev. RAN AWAY RAN AWAY ARE YOU FEELING SAD TODAY ah yes what subtle satire we resort to here! Also, note that blue arrow north-west of Crimea; that's Ukes pushing down to Kherson in counter-offensives that the Ruffians are finding hard to deal with. In other words, they are having great difficulty merely hanging on to what they've already got. This matters because some Ruffian general, doubtless with a pint or two of vodka lining his innards, loudly declared that they (the Orcs) were going to take the entrie <hic> seesbord of the Yookraniens and reach Trnas - Trnenss - Trnsnstr -
I think it was vodka. If not and this stuff is legal and cheap, do let me know!
* Mister Hand - my right hand! The Kreplach traitor.
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