I'm Warning You -
My finger is poised POISED I TELL YOU over the Remote Nuclear Detonator. No, today's title is not a typographical error, it is in fact a frighteningly subtle yet hilarious pun*, a play on "Et al" which is Latin for "And others".
All will become clear in a minute. Art!
This is a 'Star fort' in the Netherlands, and a model of seventeenth century fortification. Those pointy bits allow a crossfire to be brought to bear on any attackers, who would also need fascines or pontoons to get across the moats. The glacis is sloped, rather than upright, so cannon fire is more likely to ricochet off, and having depth means it would soak up a lot of punishment before being breached. Contrast this with the castles of a hundred years previously and you can see what a difference gunpowder artillery made to defences.
ANYWAY Your Humble Scribe was pondering whilst walking Edna, and the word "LUNETTE" popped into his head, as words are wont to do. "Ah," I said to myself - aloud as there was nobody else to frighten - "This must be a variant of the 'Demi-Lune' type of fortification." Art!
Two demi-lunes
WRONG! Art?
Et voila
"A semi-circular panel containing a window, mural or sculpture" it says in my Collins Concise. So, not a baby lune. O well, at least we are better educated than we were five minutes ago. Of course things did not end there, as I began to ponder on other words that ended in "-ETTE" so have at it -
"BARBETTE": Hmmmm nothing in the old CC, so teh Interwebz must serve. This is a term used of naval warships, and refers to the turrets used to make guns traversable. Art!
As you can see in the lower picture, having a second turret with a higher barbette means you can still traverse in all directions without being obstructed by the forward turret.
"CASSETTE": Ah, this is reminiscent of days long gone by. The word, as in BARBETTE, comes from the French, and means "Little box" <cheers briefly that it's not derived from either Greek or Latin hack spit>. Waaaay back in the day they were used to record and play music but have been obsolete for a good thirty years. Art!
They were also used as a recording and playing medium for video tapes, again long gone. Why, Conrad had hundreds of them at one time, and then had to buy them again on DVD when video tape recorders stopped being made. Art!
"BASINETTE": Conrad was under the impression that this was a kind of helmet, but no. It's a variety of French pram. Art!
"GILLETTE": Ah yes, the essential male grooming product, which Your Humble Hirsute Scribe used on his bristles this very morning. Art!
The name comes from the inventor himself, King Camp Gillette, whose surname - you may be ahead of me here - is of French origin. It was his design of a cheap disposable razor blade in 1901 that spelled the doom of the straight razor, unless you were a slashing maniac in which case tradition won out. What really made the company skyrocket to success was the South Canadian government's insistence that all doughboys enlisted into the army from 1917 onward provide their own shaving kit.
I do have more -ETTE but we'll temper justice with mercy and stop for the moment.
"Missing: The Other Side"
Yes yes yes, another Sork drama. Not only that, I plan to walk down to the Co-Op in Lesser Sodom and buy beansprouts, since I need them for that Korean Fried Rice recipe. Silly Conrad managed to lose the shopping li
ANYWAY this one is about Wook, who is a silver-tongued charmer whose intent in life is to diddle criminals out of their ill-gotten gains and return them to whoever was ripped off. Art!
That's Wook in the suit
At an early point he gets hit by a car and is hospitalised with concussion. Later on, he stumbles into a hill village which is populated by the spirits of those who have died but whose bodies have never been found. Normally the living cannot see them - however Wook can, as well as the splendidly grumpy Mister Jang (in the white shirt above). They both work to find the bodies and notify the police, at which point their spirit vanishes from the village. It doesn't hurt that they have several extremely hot able actresses in the cast. I'm up to Episode 11 out of 12.
TLDR: Imagine "The Sixth Sense" done as a police procedural.
"The Sea Of Sand"
The Doctor is being interrogated by the bullying tyrant Lord Excellency Sur on the bio-vores homeworld.
The transmission from cell to castle was disconcertingly rapid. One second the Doctor was thinking, trying to extrapolate a society and civilisation that had evolved on the desert world of Delta Pavonis, then next he was in a corridor, facing four armed guards.
"Most disruptive," he scolded them. "I was having profound thoughts, you know."
Discreetly, betraying a nervousness that the Doctor doubted was due to him, his guards escorted him up and along corridors, reaching a part of the castle that had tapestries on the walls. Subtle geometric patterns graced what had to be woven glass fabrics, hanging in great draperies reaching from floor to ceiling. The floor had inlaid clusters of minerals, of which the Doctor recognised haemetite and chalcedony.
This whole part of the castle constituted a display of mineral and manpower wealth designed as status symbols. The Doctor felt sure that Lord Excellency Sur felt himself to be of overweening importance.
The design of the inner citadel certainly confirmed that impression. The Doctor, as a prisoner, had to walk in a deep trench cut into the floor. This room-long gap was designed with alien size in mind, and the Time Lord vanished into it completely. His guards remained at floor level, looking down at him anxiously lest he manage to disappear completely under their eyes. Hurried gestures sent him along the trench, feet settling softly on an organic blanket that he didn't want to look too closely at.
Hmmm I guess that Auditor came back with a "Yes" for Sur.
James Webb Versus Hydrogen
There may be people out there who haven't seen the Hubble photograph of "The Pillars Of Creation", which is an absolutely iconic photograph. The Pillars are formations of hydrogen gas and dust, which obscured the internal details of these light-years long phenomena.
Enter the James Webb telescope, which has the ability to 'see' in the infra-red wavelengths that means the obstructive effect vanishes. Thus - Art!
Bear in mind this nebula is 6,500 light years distant. Picture quality not bad, hmmmm? The Beeb's article has a handy contrast between the two telescopes. Art!
Hubbly-jubbly J-dog
Finally -
This is what I shall be attempting to make, possibly later on today or tomorrow. Art!
What makes it 'Korean'? The sesame oil, for one thing, and the bean sprouts that the Co-Op hopefully vends for another. I must remember that the recipe is for FOUR people and only use half the amounts. Plus since I got roasted sesame seeds I might as well garnish with them a little. That remaining spinach? Possibly.
Chin chin!
* It is in my head which is what matters.
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