"Most Of You Don't Know What's Going On Round Here -"
"But I'm damn sure some of you do!"
Yes, I'm afraid Conrad is quoting from "The Thing" again, specifically the scene when Blair goes berserk and destroys Outpost 31's radio equipment deliberately to ensure they cannot communicate with the outside world. Art!
Yes, of course he has a gun. This is a South Canadian base and they are, naturally, armed to the teeth. In fact they have a fl
ANYWAY what I wanted to assert was that most of you out there won't recognise where that title comes from. I do because I have the CD. Art!
A bit of a guilty pleasure. Okay, okay, a lot of a guilty pleasure. No, Scooter have absolutely no street cred, being a Teuton techno band out to make commercial music and earn lots of Euros, which is fair enough. This was album number thirteen, so they were doing sufficiently alright that you lot were making them successful. They are still around, and whether this is good or bad is up to you. At least they are conquering the world via music not military might. Art!
Let us look to first principles: where does the name 'Scooter' originate? As with much of our modern vocabulary, South Canada, where the root 'Scoot' was taken to mean 'To make rapid movement'. The device itself has a longer history than you might imagine, tracing ancestry to the original 'Velocipede' of 1817. Art!
Grandaddy
A century later children in Europe and South Canada were annoying adults, pedestrians and domestic animals with kick scooters, so-called because one needed to firmly kick against Planet Earth to move them along. They were not particularly sophisticated, all conforming to a common pattern of a two-wheeled platform steered by a vertically-mounted handlebar. Art!
Posh version with stand
Then, in the Nineties, along came a new design that folded down to a small, easily portable compact package, and suddenly kick scooters were cool again, even amongst adults who should have known better. Art!
Ingenious, you gotta admit
Now there is an even more advanced model that sports an electric motor, enabling frightening speeds of up to 19 or even 20 miles per hour to be reached, and which idiots still insist riding on the pavements. Art!
For reasons unknown, these are not allowed on any Bee Network buses, and there is a warning note posted on the driver's door. Conrad himself has seen a large child carrying one of these being refused access to the bus, despite insisting it was broken.
Aha! It's because their batteries have spontaneously combusted whilst on public transport. Now we know. Art!
Possibly also not allowed on public transport
A Scooter not known for mobility or transport capacity.
Then there is the motor scooter, a lightweight motorised two-wheeled vehicle that packs a small engine, rather than the snarling monster to be found on motorbikes. Art!
Which brings us to the real reason I am posting this Intro. You see, over on Twitter, a Ruffian has posted a video clip of their travels behind their front lines in Ukraine, driving a Chinese golf buggy. It's rather depressing for Modern-day Mordor, because their route is punctuated every fifty yards with a destroyed vehicle. En route they come across this - Art!
"Second army in the world. Yeah, right. One helmet between the two of them."
That's my cruel and cutting comment, as Liked by 99 people so far. This pair of orcs have patently stolen it from an Ukrainian and didn't even bother to give it a quick once-over in olive drab. One of them ought to be looking out for drones, but it's possible that any Ukrainian drone operators seeing this will fall off their seat laughing and move on to bigger and better targets. Don't get any ideas about taking it back home when your term is up, chaps, since the FSB or your own officers will confiscate it. Rank hath it's privileges, you don't. Art!
No, it's not Photoshopped. It's a French paratrooper Vespa, armed with a 75 mm recoilless rifle and six shells. The idea was to be able to transport the heavy gun and ammunition and quickly, to where it was needed, whereupon the crew would dismount it and cause trouble.
Timely Tableware
Last week Your Humble Scribe opened the cupboard and a cup fell from the top shelf directly onto my cherished "Cup Of Tea Coffee" mug and cracked it down one side. Sadly, we had to put it down. Conrad briefly mourned the loss of what was effectively a bucket with a handle.
Until today and my Father's Day present - Art!
 |
| With punier mugs for scale |
It holds about 900 mils or 30 fluid ounces in proper measurements, and I test drank it this evening. One needs a strong wrist to hold it properly when fully-loaded.
Thank you Darling Daughter!
More Starry Ships!
Thank you to the Galleries section of the "Interstellar Research Centre", and let's have the next iteration. Art!
Isometric view bow Isometric view stern Alternative forward arrangement
I can't find any information about this ship, as it seems to have been replaced by the Mark 2 version. My guess is that, once again, this is a fusion-powered spaceship, with the fuel present in the cylindrical containers. The Science payload seems to be the small, finned unit depicted as being the first bow section. Art!
The large elliptical 'fins' might well be radiators to get rid of excess heat, and pay attention to the distance between the payload and the engines, implying that there may be harmful radiation or neutron flux emitted as a consequence of the engine design. Which would also explain the two circular 'shields' in place.
All a bit conjectural, I'm afraid, but do let me know in the Comments if you can do better. I'll wait.
"City In The Sky"
Ace and Captain Kirwin are being brought up to speed on the Doctor's plans, to their mutual horror.
‘Hello, I’m Alex. From Arcology One. The Doctor asked Terry and me to bring a
collection of transport out along the Eyre for when Arc One lands.’ He stopped.
‘Except we’re not entirely sure where the Arc is going to land, and we
daren’t get too close to the Lithoi.’
Ace snorted.
‘The Lithoi are currently staying
put. Their missile platform got nuked by
the Doctor, and the captain and I destroyed their last flying eye.’
Terry and Alex exchanged looks. So.
That mysterious explosion in the desert hinterland had been the Lithoi, except it had been the Lithoi getting a right
slapping, not dealing it out.
Realising that the Timelord had been in
more recent contact than she had, Ace quizzed the pair. Their answers were not reassuring.
‘He said he was going to decoy the Lithoi,
distract them from Arc One,’ finished Alex.
Both Ace and Kirwin looked appalled.
‘He only gets into trouble without me!’
exclaimed the young woman.
‘I’m supposed to stop him getting into
harms way!’ exclaimed the older woman.
‘Did he say what he was going to do?’
Alex shrugged.
‘No, Ace.
He said sabotage, no details.’
Kirwin was more practical.
Ooops. Solo sabotage it is, then.
"Rage" By Bob Woodward
Conrad has just started this work, which takes a look at the Trump presidency in it's approach to the Covid crisis of 2020, from January to July of that year. Art!
I don't need to tell you which is Bob, do I?
The work is the result of hundreds of interviews with the White House staff at that time, and 17 interviews with Donald Judas Trump himself. Not only that, Bob got his hands on 25 letters sent between DJ Tango and The Only Fat Man In North Korea. We shall see what transpires within these covers. Art!
I just thought I'd add this in here, you know, to keep Pumpkinhead grounded in reality. Dropping $11 in 5 days is not good. You don't need an economics qualification to know that. The share price may rebound as this stock is pretttty temperamental. There is talk of floating another stock issue to try and gouge more money out of the cult members, which sounds fine and dandy until the existing stockholders realise this will dilute the stock value and drive it down. Sounds like a win-win! Not for the Farting Felon, for Conrad.
Bring on the popcorn!
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