Yes, I Thought That Might Get Your Attention
No, it isn't a typo for "Thundering Guns". Although I have been watching a vlog from Ian McCollum on "Forgotten Weapons" about the Boys Anti-Tank Rifle, and boy! does that weapon make sweet sweet thunder! He confirmed that it's unpleasant to fire because of the sheer concussive force of firing a .55 calibre round. Art!
It's the thunder not the recoil that earned it the name "Charlie The B******" from Australian troops in the Second Unpleasantness.
ANYWAY the only way to have Buns Thundering would be for them to explode, right? Not sure how you'd manage that particular feat as bread products are not known for their spontaneous high-brisance deflagration*. Art?
ANYWAY AGAIN let us get back on topic, which is boring I admit but we do need to occasionally stick with logic, reason and linear story-telling, because you need to know what we're missing. So, the subject is, once again, "Thunder" and I have consulted my faithful "Brewer's Dictionary Of Phrase And Fable" for this, because I forgot to last time.
"THUNDER": 'Used figuratively of any loud noise". Also of any violent denunciation or threat such as "The thunder of the Vatican". A bit hard to represent in visual form since it's a noise. Art!
Well - this creates thunder. That'll have to do.
"THUNDERBOLTS": Traditionally, the god Jupiter was depicted as a man on a throne, holding a selection of thunderbolts in his right hand, with which he was wont to strike errant humanity. Thor was the Norse god of thunder, so if he farted that might count as Thundering Buns. Art!
A very buff Jupiter
"THE THUNDERER": No, nothing to do with Thor and a bout of flatus. This is the sardonic nickname for the British newpaper "The Times", dating back to the middle of the nineteenth century, when it pompously held forth "Yesterday we thundered forth -". Art!
"THE THUNDERING LEGION": Conrad was unfamiliar with this one. It refers to the XIIth Legion of the Roman army, perhaps because their ensign featured a depiction of Jupiter, the chap armed with thunderbolts. Art!
There was a myth about the XIIth Legion saving the Roman army when on campaign, when it endured drought. The Christian soldiers of the XIIth prayed for rain and were obliged with a thunderstorm, which ended the drought and pulverised their opponents with lightning.
"THUNDERING GIANT": This one I recall from the depths of my memory. In the film "The Legend Of Hell House" we hear chapter and verse on how the house is evil, thanks to the behaviour of the owner, one Emeric Belasco. Art!
No, I have no idea why the skull has one eyeball, nor why said ocular unit is bright green. ANYWAY as I was saying, Ol' Belly was a bit of a cad in his day, and we are informed that his nickname was the "Thundering Giant". Well, Roddy MacDowall's character discovers Ol' Belly's perfectly-preserved cadaver in a secret room and SPOILER ALERT! stabs one of his dead legs with a knife, only to reveal that Belly had artificial legs. Art!
Less of a thunderer and more of a farter, you see.
Okay, I think that's enough about Thunder for one Intro, apart from one last parting shot - Art!
He's a barbarian. You can't expect proper spelling.
More Minor MacGuffinery
I do beg your pardon, I don't think I've explained what a 'MacGuffin' is. The word was coined by Alfred Hitchcock, to define an object that helps drive the plot along without any other relevance. My trusty BDOPAF confirms the above and dates it to 1939. Let us now illustrate this item with another MacG from "The Daily Beast". Art!
No, it's not a Scunge Bobbler, nor indeed a Bobbler of any kind. Nor is it a Babbler, Bibbler or Bebbler. You might stretch definitions by calling it a 'Bubbler'. Art!
It's a pump-action spray gun. Now we are all better-informed.
"Mechanus"
No, nothing to do with Meccano. Conrad wrote the name down in my Book Of Notes, which means it's going to be utilised in BOOJUM! whether you like it or not. Art!
It's a planet, home to the Mechanoids, and you see it above defended by an orbital defence grid. It featured in the BBC's premier dramamentary "Doctor Who" during "The Chase", when the TARDIS' crew encounter the unsympathetic and unco-operative Mechanoids. Art!
The Mechs were not overtly hostile, yet insisted on locking up the Doctor's party and a passing pilot, Steven. When the Daleks arrived in typical aggressive and violent style, then the Mechs got hostile. That disk you see in the photograph, and the 'proboscis' in the picture, is a flame-gun of devastating power, quite equal to the task of destroying the Phascist Pepperpots.
Whilst definitely robotic in nature, the Mechs had a talent for artistic architecture, as their city proves. Art!
This is what they got up to when not supervised by their Hom. Sap. creators, which is an improvement over living in the jungles below. For one thing, you don't have to contend with the unpleasant Gubbage Cones. Art!
A motile plant, for your information
"City In The Sky"
Arcology One is managing, barely, a task it was never designed nor intended for: atmospheric transit.
It must be
heat, he told himself. Holding a
conversation with oneself was very calming, if both sides of the conversation
could remain composed. Yes: heat. The heat has permeated Arc One’s hull and
started to warm up our mud and silt deposits, as well as the fecal waste
collectors. Not to mention the
structural components that made up Arc One, and all their decades-worth of
collected organic waste, and any interstitial vermin that remained hidden from
us.
Understanding the horrid reek didn’t dismiss it, however. Strapped into a wicker chair that now boasted
a makeshift crash-cradle, he fidgeted and tutted to himself and checked his Tab
every five seconds. All around him,
clustering at the North End, were thousands of other crew, strapped into crude
wicker frames that had consumed the sphere’s entire stock of the material, all
awaiting the return of gravity now that the sphere’s rotation had stopped.
With a
start, he realised that they had been under way for over ninety minutes. The MEV, gravity and booster rockets had all
conspired to not destroy Arc
One. He checked the Doctor’s Tab notes.
“ - approximately ninety to one hundred minutes
after departure orbit, Arc One will have endured the first and biggest test,
that of physical survival of atmospheric re-entry.”
Hmmm they're not down on the ground yet.
More Transcription Fun!
Conrad has bitten the bullet and subscribed to the Youtube channel "Silicon Curtain", which is created and run by Jonathan Fink. The reason I bit was because Ol' Finky featured an interview with the always excellent-value Professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld. Art!
We've mentioned him in the blog a few times already. He's well worth listening to as he's forgotten more on economics than I will ever know, and he has an engaging manner and amusing aphorisms that illuminate and elevate what could be dessicated into interesting.
The transcript - subject matter the Ruffian economy - covers most of a page of A4 in my fountain-pen scrawl, so it will have to wait for a later date. Perhaps tomorrow.
Birdsweat!
Completely forgot that I put a laundry wash on. Time to go rescue it and peg stuff outside to dry in the wind and sun, which are alternating at present. Typically this bring the world and his wife out walking their woofers, as happened this afternoon whilst I was having a bit of Thinking Time with Edna. I can take it, I've got broad shoulders.
Finally -
That's all, folks!
* "Exploding" in Normal-speak.
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