Possibly Also Upon The Water, Yet Definitely In It
There is a strand of British literature that Conrad is associated with that depicts our island natives enjoying themselves in that element which we have long tamed and set to our own purposes, to wit: water. Before our officers and ratings joined the Royal Navy in the age of sail, how do you think they prepared themselves? Art!
Probably a bit late in our timeline, as this is a late-Victorian novel when the Senior Service was moving from sail to coal for motive power. It's still an hilarious read, quite undated, and features one of the funniest scenes in all literature. Art!
The trio have a tin of pineapple chunks, you see, but no tin opener, so they resort to desperate measures by hitting it with an oar, then a rock, and after considerable bashing they contort it into a shape so frightening they throw it away. As you can see above, the tin appeared to be grinning at them. Art!
Here we have Ratty and Mole, in "The Wind In The Willows" and it's not common to see a rat as a sympathetic protagonist. He is a water rat, which may make a difference. The river is always present in this novel, as a character in itself, where the timid Mole learns about the world beyond his burrow. Art!
Conrad read this eons ago and cannot remember a thing about it, bar the fact that there are boats, boating and - you may be ahead of me here - lots of water. It is quite possibly set in the Lake District, which has water a-plenty. Art!
Also not short of water is Barad-Duh, in Modern-day Mordor. Others who know more about the matter state that Moscow's storm-water management is primitive at best, non-existent at worst, and this picture comes from only a week ago (June 17th), when sudden flooding overwhelmed motorists, who had to abandon their cars and swim for it. Art!
CAUTION! Idiot at work
This is very unwise behaviour, possibly as a result of wrapping oneself around the contents of a vodka bottle, or just innate idiocy coming out in the wash. Doing this swimming or floating in floodwaters is dangerous, as you have absolutely no idea what's lurking beneath the surface, thanks to it having all the transparency of chocolate milkshake. Anything sharp, massive, sharp and massive or coily and constrictive might well end you. "Drowned in 18 inches of water thanks to barbed wire" is not an epitaph for the ages. Art!
Yes, we are back on "The Aeneid" again, this time off the shore of Sicily, where the refugee fleet of Trojans had been given sanctuary and succour by Acestes, a king of that island.
In celebration there was to be a competition between 4 selected Trojan ships, which were to race out to a rock offshore, pass round it and head back to harbour. As is clearly visible from the example above, these ships were both powered by oars and sails. Art!
This chap is the helmsman, whose responsibility it was to steer the ship with the tiller he's leaning upon. Out at sea this poses no great difficulty, but close inshore one has to take into account the shallows, sandbanks, shoals, reefs and rocks, in addition to tides and currents. Art!
Gyas, captain of the 'Chimerae', was not happy with his helmsman, Menoetes, who was keeping well away from the rocky shoreline for fear of gashing a dirty great hole in the hull. This timidity meant the 'Scylla', captained by Cloanthus, got past them and stormed to victory.
This did not go down well with Gyas, who promptly threw Menoetes overboard. You could get away with this sort of thing in 750 BC. Virgil - and the other crews - has a touch of the sadist about him as he describes the helmsman's fall from grace (and ship): "Menoetes was no lightweight and was no longer young. He went straight to the bottom and it was some time before he surfaced."
He clambered onto the rock and was soundly mocked and jeered at by the other crews as they passed him by. Art!
Grandson one hundred times removed of Gyas?
More Of Our (Imminent) Robotic Overlords
Not so long ago we here on the blog did a few long items about killer robots, armed drones and the mouthful "Un-manned Ground Vehicles", which are the future now.
Well, Conrad came across a Tweet on Twitter that showed an array of Ukrainian ground drones, or UGVs, and couldn't resist the urge to explicateify somewhat. Art!
The chassis for these vehicles is one of two types; this one is the exposed road-wheel version, mounting what looks to be a venerable .30 calibre machine gun, a meat-and-potatoes kind of weapon. Art!
Same chassis, different gun. This is the Browning .50 calibre, a weapon about a century old but so effective that it will be in service for ages to come. It fires a big bullet a long way and does a lot of damage when it arrives. Art!
Same chassis, with a 40mm grenade launcher this time. This looks as if the barrel can be raised to drop rounds behind enemy cover, which seriously embarrasses opponents. Art!
Same chassis, with no visible weapons. Conrad thinks this is a mine-laying drone, where the mines are already fused and dropped down the ramp, meaning that they don't blow up thanks to a sharp impact. I could be wrong; if you have any better suggestions please let us know in the Comments. Art!
These are cargo-carrying variants, the buff one being an Estonian model, and the other being the Ukrainian design seen already with a cargo bed added to it.
You wanted the future now? You've got it.
"City In The Sky"
Finally, after a lot of anticipation, Arcology One makes an appearance.
The unpleasant realisation dawned on her
that the convoy’s drivers and riders seemed to be looking at her, even standing
up and pointing at her. What? They assumed she was some American
imperialist come to impound the entire Bight littoral?
‘What are they staring at?’ asked Ace, far
less critical of the Doctor and thus more aware of her environment than the
introverted American.
Kirwin whirled around, expecting to see
Arc One inbound on a terminal ballistic trajectory focussed on her
forehead.
Nope.
Nothing. Clear skies.
She cocked her head back, looking up at
where she guessed the Australians were looking, and was rewarded with the sight
of a small dumbell-shaped object descending slowly under a big square
parachute.
No, strike that, she told herself, picking up her binoculars. That dumbell-thingy is really big, it’s just really far away. And fallling really slowly. With a start that brought goosebumps to her arms, she realised that the object was Arc One, unfamiliar in the atmosphere when she was used to seeing it on monitor screens against the sable background of space. When she dialled in a close-up of the sphere’s outer hull, sooty streaks sould be seen everywhere, but the damn thing was intact.
So far. The Lithoi may intend to amend that.
Running With This One
Conrad is unsure why anyone would want to replicate the gigantic statue of Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial, because it's not going anywhere, nor is it small, easily missed or off the beaten track. Still less so that you'd replicate it in wax. Art!
"The Great War In Europe"
Conrad confesses he's not played a move in this game over the past two days as I've been busy reading three books and doing the next day's blog well in advance, and tomorrow is weekly shop day, further eating into my time. Art!
The South Canadian Army is now turning up on Turn P. Being honest with you, half of the green counters you see should have been on the board the previous turn, another mistake to put down to experience. Conrad is wondering if the Allied lines will have to fall back to avoid being split up and defeated in detail before the South Canadians turn up on the front lines.
Finally -
It was so hot and sweaty today I dug my fan out for the first time in 2024, and very welcome it was, too. Since the window is being left open, I've also turned the Dehumidifier off for the time being.
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