Yes Yes Yes
It's Latin, sue me if you don't like it and yes, I can quite justifiably turn around in my own length and change opinions three times in the same sentence, because once again, whose blog is it?
It translates as "Go with me" and is used of a book that is carried about the person to be instantly called upon in a critical situation. I believe that waggish aristo Lord Peter Wimsey has a spoof version of same to his credit, titled "The Murderer's Vade Mecum". Art!
Far sharper than he looks
Let us abruptly switch tracks and dive into the history of nineteenth-century Europe, in the period when Prussia was becoming both head of the Teuton kingdoms and exhibiting martial ardour. Then, to this heady mix we add the kingdom of Denmark, which ruled the Duchies of Schleswig, Holstein and Lauenberg. Art!
The population of Schleswig was mostly Danish, whilst the Duchies of Holstein and Lauenberg (the tiny red "La" in the map above) were mostly German.
You can probably guess where this is going, can't you? The Danes successfully put down a revolt by the German-minority duchies and put Prussia's nose considerably out of joint. Arbitration stated that the Duchies needed to be independent yet owe fealty to the Danish crown. As you can imagine, this did not sit well with the Prussians, nor the Austrians either, as they were still part of the German confederation. Plus, the British and Ruffians had put intense diplomatic pressure on the Teutons, realising that Denmark controlled the strategic Baltic waterways.
Quite a mess, isn't it? Art!
This bewhiskered barnacle is Lord Palmerston, the British Prime Minister during the crises of the Second Schleswig Unpleasantness; and he'd been Foreign Secretary during the crisis that led up to the First Schleswig Unpleasantness. So he knew the political, military and geographical background quite well.
He is the source of a witty aphorism about the Schleswig-Holstein problem. "Only three men know the solution to the problem of Schleswig-Holstein. One (Prince Albert) had died, another (a Danish aristocrat) had gone mad, and the third (myself) had forgotten it." Here to the meat of the matter, matey; if he'd but had a diplomatic vade mecum then it would have been a matter of minutes to solve the crisis without bloodshed. For want of a notebook ...
The Danes were crushed by the Prussians and Austrians in 1864, and lost all three Duchies <sad face>. They may not have had the last laugh, more a protracted snigger. Art!
After the end of the First Unpleasantness, the Danes petitioned that they be allowed to hold a plebiscite in Schleswig, which the Teutons unhappily agreed to; they were probably worried that if they said "No" the Allies would simply hand the whole Duchy over to the Danes.
You can see from above that the Danish-speaking areas of the Duchy enthusiastically voted to join Denmark, which happened in 1920 <happier face>.
Conrad is sure you're puzzling over why we've had a close look at Scandinavian history and geography, and the solution lies in a couple of pictures we have to put up. Art!
Wonder Wifey picked it up for 50p at a car boot sale. It's a hand-stitched "Klokkestrenge" or bell-pull and heaven knows what the story is behind it ending up in Oldham. Your Humble Scribe recognised 'Slesvig' and hypothesised that it might be Danish, because it's a variant spelling of the Teuton "Schleswig". And what do you know ...
Now we all know more than we did five minutes ago, and you're welcome.
Motley, break out that barrel of Tuborg*!
Bunker Olders
With apologies to Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark. Your Humble Scribe is currently going through a box of comic trade paperbacks that have sat, unopened, for possibly years. Let me illustrate one such for you. Art!
This goes back to 2014. I bought it because I liked the artwork, which seems quite impressionistic, if that's the right word.
However.
Let me point out the relevant part, which I did not notice upon purchase. Art!
I've read and re-read it and can kind of make sense, broadly, of what happened in Volume 1. Conrad even asked if Travelling Man could keep an eye out for Volume 1.
Crickets. It was years ago, I don't doubt they've long forgotten me.
Just a couple of days ago, out of idle curiosity, I did a quick search to find that there were four volumes in total and that the last was published so long ago (2015) that the series either came to a conclusion or was killed by lack of sales.
<Wallet squeaks in anguish>
Judge Dead
Nothing to do with "2000AD" or Old Stonyface himself, and the punchline only comes at the end.
Okay, bring up the cityscape of San Antonio. Art!
As you may discern from the map, there are plenty of waterways in the city, and even in Texas there are occasional torrential downpours outside the city but still in it's catchment area. This can and does result in flooding, which blocks roads and inconveniences people unless they drive a DUKW. Art!
The cars above are risking it, because if there is more than a few inches of water being borne by a current, they will get swept away immediately. The City Fathers eventually got fed up with the costs of rescuing people, recovering cars, and burying the drowned. So they put up flood barrier gates, which would block roads off when they were flooded. There were strict bans on trying to skirt round them or moving them back into the open position, and if rescue teams had to come after you, then you would pay their expenses.
Our Quora respondent then stated that a Federal Judge had deliberately opened these barriers whilst there was a flood, drove round them, got swept away and drowned.
They billed his estate for every last cent it cost to retrieve his lifeless carcase.
There was no name given for this judge, nor a date, so it's hard to tell if this story is true or not. But the floods and the barriers are. Art!
CAUTION! Turn back
O My Goodness
We haven't yet seen any box office figures for "Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning" yet, or at least none have been released on Box Office Mojo yet. It came out on Monday, and by wild coincidence another film's takings dropped precipitously on that same day. Art!
Really? $703 per theatre? At an average cinema ticket price of $10.45, that is as many as 67 people per theatre. Or, if you like, about 22 people per screening. The upside of that is that there'd be no problem about people in front of you spoiling your view.
I shall coyly avoid putting up a picture.
"City In The Sky"
The Doctor and Ace have descended into the bowels of Tottenham Court Road Tube station, since there is evidence, due to vandalism, that people have been here recently, in an otherwise-deserted capital.
The internal security gates might have
been a problem – they were interleaved metal doors that completely blocked the
entrance – if those same persons here before them hadn’t crowbarred a pair
open. The escalators beyond looked
immaculate, and hi-tec, and were completely static. Even the hologram adverts on the walls were
dull and still. The only light came from
emergency overhead lamps, making the tiled walls sparkle without really
providing much illumination.
Clattering down the still escalators, with
the Timelord still trilling away, they heard sounds of surprise and alarm
ahead, where an island of light sat squarely in the tunnel. They pressed on.
Tipping his hat politely, the Doctor tried
to sound reassuring.
‘Hello there, no need to worry, we’re not
anyone official.’
Echoes rang up and down the tunnel.
‘Well b****y shut up and stop shouting
then!’ hissed a voice.
Close up to the light, Ace could see it
came from a large, portable lamp connected to a set of batteries. Bits of camping gear lay scattered about, a
lit camping stove boiled a pot of what smelled like ministrone, and three
people regarded them warily. One was an
old woman, a pensioner with grey hair and suspicious eyes. Curled up under a sleeping-bag lay a young
woman, her drawn features equally suspicious.
Sat up and looking at both of them with dislike was a heavy-set man with
lots of stubble. A long steel bar lay
across his knees.
I have censored the bad language as we are still impeccably SFW.
Happy Birthday!
I didn't realise, until seeing a BBC byeline, that today marks the 'Operational Birthday' of the James Webb Space Telescope. It had been launched months before, but required to be very carefully jockeyed into cis-lunar space and then painstakingly slowly deployed, because there was no way to fix anything that got broken. The Beeb has put up a photograph published today of the Rho Ophiuchi nebulae. Art!
To give you a sense of scale, this whole image is about 3,000,000,000 miles across and is 400 light years from Earth. It is noted as being a 'stellar nursery' where young stars are being brought into existence.
Finally -
Blimey, I've wittered on a bit here, better wrap it up and go watch Jake on Youtube. Chin chin!
* Dangerously strong Danish lager.
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