If I Were To Say "Doolittle"

I Know What You'd Be Thinking

And you'd be WRONG!

     Because your minds are predictable and run in easily-guessable guidelines is why, and not because I've still got the DARPA Telepathy Helmet, it was only a temporary loan even if they didn't know I'd loaned it from them a

     ANYWAY you were thinking of Doctor Dolittle, weren't you?  Hugh Lofting's finest creation and still popular today via the medium of film.  Art?

     The Eddie Murphy iteration was successful enough to spur a sequel.  Conrad not sure that Ol' Ed can really come across as a veterinarian because that's the equivalent of earning a medical degree with bells and whistles on.  Whilst mentioning 'success' we must also admit the odd celluloid failure.  Art!

     Yes, the infamous musical.  Conrad was dragged, gagged and bound, to see it on release.  There was a floating island, a giant sea-snail and - a seal wrapped up in a blanket wearing a bonnet?  I think.  It's been a long time.

     There was also a cartoon series, which bore the merest smidgeon of the novels core matter.  Art!

     Now, let's have a look at an authentic contemporary illustration of the good doctor, and his intimate menagerie.  I seem to recall that the pig is named Jub-Jub.  Art!

     

     ANYWAY of course none of that is anything to do with the Intro, it's just there to up the word count a bit.  Instead let us jump back in time to 1940, when the Teutons were dishing it out to battered Britain via air attack.  Herr Schickelgruber had given strict instructions that The Modern Babylon London was not to be bombed, because he was, frankly, a bit of a control freak and wanted that decision to be his and his alone.

     Oooops.

     Some Teuton bombers got rather lost and bombed London.  What can you say, it was dark and people were shooting at them.  Art!

     To the RAF and Bomber Command, this was the enemy trailing their coat and an immediate reprisal raid was made on Berlin on 25th August 1940.  Given the relatively small bombers available, the distance and lack of practice, very little damage was done.

     Except to Herr Schickelgruber's ego, and probably to the morale of Berliners, too.  The Teuton dictator, enraged to the point of chewing his carpets*, ordered that British towns and cities and especially Greater Gomorrah London be bombed.  It was a major shift in the Luftwaffe's strategic aim and helped them lose the Battle of Britain.
     ANYWAY none of that is to do with "Doolittle", which the sharper-eyed amongst you will have spotted as having a different spelling from the good doctor, and with good reason.  Art!

World's most highly-decorated model-maker?

     This is General James Doolittle, an aviator who lived, breathed, drank and exhaled flying from every pore of his skin.  Four months after the Nipponese attack on Pearl Harbour, Doolittle proposed a strike on mainland Japan with a bomber force <5 thousand words redacted**>.  In all they dropped a mere 84 bombs on Japan, which was tellingly described in that film "Pearl Harbour" as "Yeah, a pinprick - but a pinprick straight to the heart!".  The real effect was a terrific boost for South Canadian morale and a sinking feeling in the Nipponese populace, whilst their high command was forced to juggle forces around to protect the home islands.  The message that came across was NOWHERE IS SAFE.  Art!

You don't often see an aerial traffic-jam on a ship

     What is all this leading up to?  You can probably guess.  The Ukrainians have, apparently, modified an old Soviet-era 'reconnaissance drone' to become a 'full-of- high-explosive-kamikaze-software' drone and threw three of them at airbases far inside Ruffia.  Three of the Ruffians small fleet of strategic nuclear bombers are now hors de combat, and given that these things are ancient, it's entirely possible they no longer have the spare parts to fix even relatively minor damage.  The airfields that were hit have been evacuated; although one was dual military/civilian use, so you can bet a bottle of beans that frightened Ruffian civvies will have seen the drone arriving.  The Ruffians next awkward question is: what else is in range?  How do we defend ourselves?  Can we defend ourselves?  "Yeah, a pinprick - but a pinprick straight to the heart!"
     Watch this space.  Art!

The drone in question.  A bit of a beast!

     Wow.  I pontificated at length there!  Next -

Lord Peter's Crossword

I do beg your pardon!  I completely forgot to give you the solution to yesteryon's clue (if you can call it that).  It is BEZOAR.  Art!

     It's not present in my Collin's Concise, but - Yes! it is in my edition of Brewers.  According to them it's a gall stone from the stomach of a goat, set in jewellery and thought to protect against poison, which makes sense as the clue involved dining with the Borgias.  Interestingly enough the word has roots in Persian (hooray!) as 'Badzahr' which is composed of 'Bad' meaning 'against' and 'Zahr' meaning 'Poison'.

     Conrad would not recommend putting it to any kind of test.

"The Sea Of Sand"

Our British fugitives, having escaped from the Forward Supply Depot, now hear a vehicle approaching, with not a little trepidation.

‘It must be Italian – those horrid black glass things don’t make a noise,’ said Sarah.  ‘And they’ll be coming down the riverbed from the north – there’s a way to get into it from there.’

          Ten minutes later the British survivors encountered the sole Sahariana to survive battle with the aliens, and the four Italian soldiers manning the vehicle.  Lieutenant Llewllyn, brandishing a grimy handkerchief tied to a stick, stood in front of the Bedford, Sarah at his side.

          ‘I hope this works!’ he muttered from the side of his mouth, trying to look indifferent to danger, or at the very least sternly resolute.

          ‘It will!’ declared Sarah.  ‘Because I will make it work!’ 

In lieu of the Doctor she put herself in his shoes. What would he do? Prevent the humans from fighting amongst each other, firstly.

          Tenente Dominione jumped down from the passenger’s seat and strode across the dry wadi floor, looking drawn and tired and incongruously young.  He was covered by the driver, pointing a sub-machine gun at the Bedford.

          ‘Miss Smith.  Lieutenant Lewlin,’ he said, sounding every bit as tired as he looked.  ‘You can consider yourselves my prisoners.’

          Sarah translated for the lieutenant, before snapping back a reply.

          ‘Don’t be ridiculous, Tenente!  “Prisoners”?  We need each other’s help to fight back against these alien monsters, not to turn on each other.’

     Stout gel!  You tell 'em, Sarah.

Here's Another Sub-Culture You Never Knew Existed

Conrad is, again, unsure exactly how he got this far down a Youtube rabbit hole, but he ended up on a channel dealing with "RC Model Warships" where the "RC" stands for either "Radio-controlled" or "Remote Controlled".  I don't need to explain the 'Model Warships' bit, do I?  Art!

     This is the Soviet warship "Marat", named after a hero of the French Revolution, because Bolsheviks, don't you know.  Beneath that serene and innocent decking - Art!

     The end result is as follows.  Art!

     Blurred due to motion.  Conrad was worried since it sat rather low in the water and there were other RC ships sailing around the tank, creating large wakes.

(1) Zvezda 1/350 Soviet Battleship Marat | RC Conversion - YouTube

     Therein the link if you want to see more.

Finally -

What a delightful day!  I should have taken a photo when I walked Edna.  Yes, it is freezing, but bright and sunny and with the grass crisped like crunchy icing-sugar treats.  It seems too cold for snow, which is just fine, the frost is enough decoration for me.  Besides which, if it snows the world and his wife head for Tandle Hill Park to go sledging.  Art!

     And with that, Vulnavia, we are most certainly done.

*  Possibly

**  We may come back to cover this in detail