BOOJUM!: If I Were To Say "Seedy You"

You Might Well Object

Let me refer to the volume that always sits next to my chair, the "Collins Concise Dictionary", where it defines "Seedy" as: 'Shabby in appearance' <laughs knowingly>. Or it might be of a plant, in which case we'll ignore it, boring.

ANYWAY here I am, hammering away on the keyboard, making up for lost time, because today and yesteryon - I'm typing this Sunday evening - I was over the border in Yorkshire, partaking in Richard's annual 'Crisis Point' wargaming event. Quiet besides it taking up most of the day, it's an hour and a quarter to Dungworth - yes, really - and back home, so I've spent five hours just driving this weekend. Art!

Any Second Unpleasantness buffs out there will instantly shout "Me262!".

WRONG!

This is the Czechoslovakian Avia S92 Turbina. You can tell by the Czechoslovakian tail roundel. Art!

You see, the factory for making the Me262 was in Czechoslovakia, so the newly-liberated Czechs (I'm abbreviating it so there) began to make these jet fighters themselves, essentially hand-building them and taking 7,000 man hours to do so.

ANYWAY enough of fascinating aviation history from yesteryear, because I'm going to regale you with a load of annotations I made from a couple of Joe Blogs vlogs about Ruffian oil production, Ukrainian drone strikes and the price of eggs. Art!

What you see before you is a Crude Distillation Unit, or CDU, pronounced - and there you have today's title.

Nine Ruffian refineries have now been successfully hit, two of which have now halted production entirely. What may give Peter The Average pause for thought is that Ukraine plans to produce at least 150,000 drones per month in 2024, with the EU also pledging to provide <drum roll cymbal clash> another 1,000,000. Latvia is heading a tranche of nine other countries to achieve this. This Sceptred Isle - feared and detested by the Ruffians who deem us to be the "Main Dastards"- is going to be supplying £325 million in development funds and 10,000 drones, too. Art!

That's Kuibyshev refinery, where CDU 5 was damaged, and because that linked with CDU4, they have both shut down. That's 1.34% of Ruffia's total refining capacity gone.

Ruffian spokesmen, exhibiting classic whistling in the dark behaviour, have claimed that the refining forecast for 2024 is 'unchanged' from 2023's total of 5.5 million barrels per day. Conrad says that's very odd, as prior to the Special Idiotic Operation, the daily total was 10 million B.P.D. Art!

This map is already out of date, as the Ukes have hit the Nizhnekamsk refinery in Tatarstan, at 1,200 kilometres distance, using light aircraft retro-fitted as drones. Unlike Kuibyshev, this is a major plant, the 3rd largest in Ruffia, and if the damaged CDU goes offline will cost them $15 million per day. Art!

This shoddy piece of shizzle is the Ruffian dam outside the city of Orsk, which has suffered a major breach, as you can see. Going by what BOOJUM! already knows of dam failures, the sides will continue to be eroded. The authorities are saying the floods may not bottom out until April 20th, by which time there may well be no dam left.

Why is this significant? O I thought you'd never ask! Because the Orsk refinery has been closed down completely, meaning a loss of $14 million per diem, $420 per mensem and $5 billion per annum. Art!

Chipmunk Cheeks looks sad

If there is another 15% cut in refined products thanks to the Ukrainian drone strikes, that goes on top of the 15% cut Ruffia had already made, so they are down to 72.25% of their pre-war production levels. Over a quarter of total production lost amounting to at least $50 billion.

As Budanov the Stoney-Faced Blighter is wont to say, "It will get worse". Imagine if only 10% of those three million drones are long-range refinery-busters, and only one per cent of those get through to strike successfully - that's 3,000 drone strikes.

Talking Of Wasting Assets

That ever-reliable source of blog content, DJ Tango, is probably seething with rage and venom at the continued slide of his 'meme-stock' DJT on the stock market, because it has now sunk to - Art!

Tee hee! So, his GIGO* shares have lost half their value since the IPO (Initial Public Offering) was made, and they continue to slide. The fatuous bafune is now suing people involved in the merger of the two companies that now constitute Trump Media and Technology Group, because he has to blame anyone but himself for coming a right purler.

Bring on the dancing horses and the buckets of popcorn!

Progress Report

Just to let you know that Conrad is up to page 142 of "The Stand", so over 10% in and only about 1,290 remaining. I'm now on "Book 1: Captain Trips" and I bet Chapter 12 was one that got cut out in the abridged version, as it might flesh out the character Frannie, yet it certainly doesn't advance the plot. If I re-read this in future I'll definitely leave that chapter well alone. Art!

Frannie is preggers!

"City In The Sky"

The Doctor is attempting to get his audience to think as outside the box as it's outside to get.

‘That’s the kind of comment I want to hear – “how?”, not “it’s impossible”.’

‘This is preposterous!’ huffed Emilia. ‘Arcology One is a fragile habitat, not a custom-built spaceship!’

The cold look she received made her quail a little. For a small and inoffensive man, the strange visitor could certainly manage to be imposing when he chose to –

‘Madam, you are talking to a man who routinely reverses the polarity of neutron flux.’

‘Neutrons don’t have polarity,’ said a puzzled Liam Schottsky.

‘Exactly!’ crowed the Doctor. ‘Believe me, refitting the sphere won’t be easy, but it can be done.’

‘Refit with what?’ asked Christos. By now he felt semi-persuaded that this remarkable stranger could manage to get the Branson Mansion down on terra firma if he claimed to be able.

‘Glad you asked. Emilia?’

The descendent of the sphere’s original founder looked flustered.

‘Do you mean mine for metals on the Moon? That would take years!’

A patronising smile, a purse of the lips and the Doctor shook his head. He glanced at Ace, who wondered herself what building materials might be lying around.

I mean, this is outer space, it’s not like construction kit is simply lying around waiting to be – oh! Hang on, hang on – I see! This lot don’t realise because it’s been part of their background for sixty years.

‘The Prof means those two incomplete space habitats, the Indian and South American ones that never got completed before the Big Crash.’

Bravo Ace, well done that gel!

More Mysterious Mechanical MacGuffins!

I really need to get onto my "The Daily Beast" account and stop it from being automatically renewed, which the pikers managed last year, taking me by surprise. Whilst I still have access, I can baffle and bewilder you with another collection of tat, this time from an entity calling itself "Ali Express". Art!

Well, let's examine and see what they are. Art!

What the Dog Buns! is this, because the explanation clears nothing up. A bar code reader - what bar codes from where and for whom? Art!

I think I see the utility in this one - you can pop it inside your helmet to communicate with other people and leave your hands free, although you do of course - obviously! - risk death and dismemberment if you go making comms whilst on a desperately unstable platform whilst sitting atop five gallons of petrol itching to explode. Art!