Flying

Yes, We Are Back On This Theme Again

Because I feel like it, and because my opinion is what matters here.  To make things easier for myself I am simply going through the entries for this word in my Brewer's and if you don't like it THE EXIT DOOR IS THAT WAY.

"Fly In The Ointment": A small matter that causes big problems, which is from Ecclesiastes in case you knew not, and here's the quote: "Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour."  Art!

A moot question indeed

     No, this is nothing whatsoever to do with flies or ointments.  Sue me.

     "Crush A Fly On A Wheel":  This one needs a bit of background.  In olden days they didn't bother with rehabilitating criminals, they tortured and killed them, which saves on long-term expenses I suppose.  One method was to break a person by beating them, after having tied them to a horizontal wheel, and by "Break" I mean just that; they would be beaten until their limbs broke.  Art!

Spectator sport for ghouls

     To go to this extreme in order to crush a fly is obviously completely over the top and the expression thus means "Excessive".  Though you might as well just use "Excessive" as otherwise you're going to have to go through a history of punishment.

"To Fly A Kite": One meaning of this is a variety of bank fraud, where a criminal - probably not in danger of being wheel-broken - juggles money via cheques in order to create a false positive balance.  Contemporarily, it means to test public opinion in order to see if a particular measure or action will be tolerated, approved or hated.  Art!

"Fly-by-night":  A criminal - is there a common theme here? - who defrauds creditors by absconding in the night.  Conrad would get around this activity by having creditors doing eight-hour shifts on surveillance.

"Flying Bishop": An Anglican bishop appointed to minister in another diocese to those who do not support the ordination of women.  A new one to Conrad.  Their formal title is "Provincial Episcopal Visitors" - 'Episcopal' meaning anything to do with bishops.  Art!

A Bishop.  Honest*.

"The Flying Duchess":  Another novel phrase.  This refers to the Duchess of Bedford, Mary Du Caurroy Russell, who had been honoured for her hospital work during the First Unpleasantness.  Peacetime must have bored her, as she took up flying as an interest, making record-breaking long-distance flights to India and South Africa in 1929 and 1930 respectively.  She was killed when her Gypsy Moth plane crashed into the sea off Great Yarmouth in 1937, at age 71.  Art!

ART!

     I Dog Buns! knew it.  Move over Mara Corday, Art's got a new crush.  Just let me prod him with this red-hot pitchfork -

A flighty bird

"The Flying Dutchman": No, not Anthony Fokker.  This is a legendary ship whose captain allegedly defied the Almighty - never a good career move - and was therefore condemned to eternally wander the oceans, bringing bad luck and outright disaster to all whom encountered him (or her if we mean the ship).  It is supposed to lurk in the waters off the Cape Of Good Hope.  Art!

Anthony Fokker

"The Flying Finn": No!  Nothing to do with "Sharknado"  **.  Originally the nickname bestowed upon Finnish Olympic athlete Paavo Nurmi, who won nine gold medals at the 1924 Olympics, a feat that makes Conrad feel tired just reading about it.  Subsequently it was also applied to Hannu Mikkola as World Rally Champion in 1983.  Art!

A Finn, flying

     Before we leave this Intro, I believe Gary Brooker would like to make an announcement.  Go Gaz!

Say Hello!

To the Palawan Stink Badger.  Art!

     I bet you never knew this animal existed, and nor did I until yesterday.  Conrad cannot recall what he was looking for to discover this beast so we'll just put it down to fate.  These creatures live on the island of Palawan, resemble a badger and emit a mightily noxious stink when they feel threatened.  Actually they are more closely related to the skunk than the badger.

CAUTION! Not suitable as a domestic pet

"The Sea Of Sand"

I bet you thought you'd escaped this one, didn't you?  Counting chickens and all that.  The alien Sorbusa and the Doctor now share a cramped prison cell.

"Oh, yes, I see.  No way in or out.  And the floor must be a trans-mat platform itself, to allow the guards to remove us again?"

     Sorbusa merely grunted in reply.  The Doctor felt a pang of sympathy for the alien.  Revived after five millenia asleep, hoping to be received as a hero, and actually under a probable death sentence.  He laughed ironically.

     "Sorry, not very appropriate, was it?" he explained.  "It's just that I never expected to be underneath a castle in a dungeon."

     Sorbusa clarified their situation.  This cell wasn't underneath the castle, it was hundreds of kilometres away, buried thirty metres under the deep desert.  If they improbably escaped from their prison, they would still die.

     "Thorough planners, your aristocrats," commented the Doctor.  "Except it's bad policy to have more than one prisoner per cell.  It encourages dissent and information-sharing."

     The bio-vore twisted and peered around the cell.

     "Perhaps there is monitoring equipment built into the structure of the cell.  More likely, we prisoners exceed the capacity of the available cells."  The trunk-like torso swivelled to allow Sorbusa to look directly at the Doctor.  "We are stuck here, thedoctor.  Since you are the first alien ever to set foot on Homeworld, perhaps you can inform me about your world."

     The way to dusty death, mayhaps.

More Of That Sweet Sweet Malicious Compliance

Original Poster worked at a hot-foil printing company, working on two machines as did his fellow workers.  They would come in early to prep their machinery, and stay after work to clean them up.  Art!

     The owner decided he was going to retire soon, and in readiness sold half the business to a larger company, who decided, in best manglement style, that everyone had to clock in and out, and to increase production targets.  Trouble was, as tends to be the case with manglement, they bought the cheapest, shoddiest time-card clock imaginable, which would misprint and overlay and omit entries.

     The new boss then forbids anyone from doing overtime; everyone has to clock in at 08:00 and out at 17:00, NO EXCEPTIONS.  MalCom ensued.

     By the time 3 months passed orders were stuck in a huge backlog that necessitated workers coming in at weekends at double-pay to clear orders

     By the time the 4th month elapsed the new boss was losing so much money he decided to cut the workforce and ban overtime.  OP was one of those laid off.  

     A month later the company folded, because the remaining workers quit thanks to having to do twice as much work thanks to having only half the staff.  Also, they were so far behind on orders that customers dropped them.

     From thriving business to bust in five months.  

Surprise!  Workers are not robots!

"The War Illustrated"

Time for a new issue, this one being Issue 165, dated 15th October 1943.  At this point it was clear that the Axis had lost the initiative and were losing.  Art!

     These are Canadian troops, don't let the bagpipes fool you.  They are ashore in mainland Italy, and seem to be a source of puzzlement to the young lady watching them, as she has undoubtedly never heard bagpipes in her life.

* A 25-pounder gun on a Valentine tank chassis.

**  They are up to "Sharknado 7" so SOME of you are certainly guilty