Let Us Conduct A Thought Experiment
Conrad is blatantly cribbing from an internet educational resource on physics, which looks into the phenomenon of what you and I might call 'Free Fall' and which physicists, being the pseuds they are, would call 'the acceleration of gravity'. This is a very, very particular value, that of - and I apologise for using the Metric system - an acceleration of 9.8 metres per second per second. They use a 1,000 kilogram baby elephant and a 1 kilogram rat (they say 'mouse' but can only really mean 'rat') as an example. Art!
They then, in a scene you would only credit to Atilla The Hun or Quentin Tarantino, hurl them from the roof of a building in order to demonstrate that, despite one being a thousand times heavier than the other, they both fall at the same velocity.
At least until the ground intervenes. Conrad is surprised the RSPCA or the South Canadian equivalent hasn't been around to have a quiet word with them. So, no, despite you thinking that the elephant will fall one thousand times faster than the rat, they both hit the same constant of 9.8 m/m and then the pavement. Art!
Of course - obviously! - this has only the very vaguest connection with what I really wanted to talk about, which is the Ruffian economy. Various pundits are claiming that the Ruffians can sustain their Special Idiotic Operation for perhaps two to three years longer, to which Conrad responds with 'Pshaw!' and a dismissive sneer.
"Why is this so, O though tugger of moustaches?" I hear you quibble. Actually I tweak more than tug, trying to get the ends to come to a neat point, which is pretty difficult without moustache wax a
ANYWAY although not an economist, I know enough to see a currency undergoing serious turmoil and depreciation when it happens. Art!
Okay, this snapshot was taken earlier this morning (3rd August as I've no idea what date this will actually be published) at about 09:30. Art!
This is from early evening, say about 18:00 on 03/08/2023*. As you can see, the ruble has dropped almost half a ruble in value in a single day. This, ladies and gentlemen and those unsure, is an economy in free fall. Hence today's title.
What makes this slide significant is that the Ruffian Central Bank intervened in July when the exchange rate was ₽92 to the dollar, bringing it down to ₽89. A few weeks later and the exchange rate is worse than ever, which puts the Central Bank in a dilemma: fund the budget deficit or prop up the ruble?
There will be some who shout Hurrah! and throw ticker tape at this news, because they claim it means that Ruffia will increase output of goods and services. Except they don't export goods or services; they export oil, gas, coal, and wood, which are now a drug on the market. They used to export military equipment, but thanks to their dreadful performance in Ukraine, this market has slumped, too. Art!
" - and this, son, is the very latest T-90M, hot off the production line.**"
What this depreciation will definitely do is lower living standards, which are at rock-bottom already outside the metropoli, and create inflation.
But don't worry, Ruffians, it's all part of Putin's 4D game of chess! Which, to be honest, looks like a 2D game of draughts with 31 pieces missing.
Just A Tee Hee Moment
As you may have guessed from our citric commentary here, we are not over-fond of Citizen Trump, but we gratefully acknowledge that he's able to generate content whilst not being a real politician, thus not breaking our charter terms. Which we'd break anyway if it got us more traffic. Art!
Ah, what a wag that Dave is! He's a South Canadian vlogger and podcaster, who by South Canadian standards is quite a lefty, which by This Sceptred Isle standards makes him either a Liberal or a moderate Tory THESE TERMS FOR COMPARATIVE PURPOSES ONLY AND DO NOT REFLECT ANY REAL WORLD POLITICS. THANK YOU.
Dave was going to analyse just where this meme about '561 years in prison' came from, but this was superceded by the news that Darth Marmalade - nice suit, dude! - is due to appear in court at 21:00 our time to be arrested and arraigned.
Thankfully I laid in extra popcorn.
"The War Illustrated"
Let us pick up the reins again, after having only covered the cover of Issue 175, which featured a young Yugoslavian partisan and a portrait of Tito. It's interesting to note that post-War Yugoslavia remained a Communist dictatorship, yet it also remained neutral and definitely aloof from the Sinisters. Art!
"City In The Sky"
This is rather apt - I am currently watching the Starry Trex episode "For The World Is Hollow And I Have Touched The Sky" with one eye, and Doctor McCoy is getting all smoochy with the exotic humanoid female - hey, you can't let J. Tiberius Kirk get all the girls! They are aboard what is effectively an arcology, except it's a generation ship 10,000 years old. Warranty probably expired, then.
‘Don’t you have robots to do that?’ asked
Ace. ‘Or tractors?’
Nat laughed briefly, before looking back at
the other woman.
‘Seriously?
Wow, you really are out of touch.
We use physical labour. It keeps
people exercised, doesn’t require complicated machinery and consumes a minimum
of resources.’
They continued walking and Ace wondered
what the Doctor was up to. Getting into
mischief, probably, and expecting her to figure out how this giant
space-station functioned whilst he got to act
cool and dangerous. She winced
when witnessing other space-station crew walking on the “roof” above her,
expecting them to drop off like falling leaves with every passing second –
Nat took pity on her charge, who was
obviously completely unused to the novel architecture of the sphere.
‘Where do you two come from? According to Yuri, you appeared out of thin
air, materialised like magic. I know
we’ve been Upstairs for decades, but you can’t tell me they’ve developed that
technology Downstairs.’
Ace felt a bit like a deer in the
headlights. She shiftily looked around
to make sure no-one else could hear before plunging into an explanation.
‘Er – we come from – well, I come
from the past. Nineteen
eighty-five. The Doctor comes from the
future, year eight hundred-gazillion or something. And our way of getting about looks like a
police box, except it isn’t.’
I doubt you're going to convince anyone, Ace.
CONRAD WANTS!
I'm not sure what the story is behind this toy, and there was no accreditation or description as it was on a Twitter post with the Tweeter just kind of gloating about it. Art!
You'll note that the aircraft are out of scale, which doesn't seem to have deterred the two lads from enjoying themselves. All they need now is a Sinister missile cruiser to engage in cat-and-mouse games with. I'll do a little digging about this monster.
Finally -
Since the trains appear to be having another day of industrial action on Saturday, I may venture forth into Gomorrah-on-the-Irwell to see what delights Travelling Man and Forbidden Planet hold, and perhaps even visit the Aviva 'event space'
* Please note the correct use of date format.
** Dad did have his fingers crossed whilst saying this.
No comments:
Post a Comment