Meddle

We'll Get To The Gods In A Moment

Whilst I have been whanging on about the gods and goddesses of Olympus fiddling and interfering with the affairs of mortal man, one of the most obvious examples of having a meddle completely passed me by.  Art!

     Yes, the album "Meddle" by Pink Floyd, which, horrifyingly, is over 50 years old.  It contains 2 tracks of theirs that still stand the test of time and which are some of my favourite rock performances.  I recall one music critic saying that this album was where the band learned to use the mixing desk as a fifth instrument, and it's a quantum level above their previous work.  Art!

     From the video that accompanies "One Of These Days", which you cannot really call a 'song' as there's only one line in it, which is the sinisterly-processed "One of these days I'm going to cut you into little pieces".  Gosh, sounds as if it's foreshadowing our favourite Trojans and Latins and th

     ANYWAY the other corking track is, of course - obviously! - "Echoes", which does have lyrics to it.  These were seemingly re-jigged from their original concept, which saw two planets colliding in space, in order to get away from the 'Space Rock' label lazy critics had dubbed them with.  Art!

     This is them playing live at Pompeii, which thus segues nicely into "The Aenid" by that there Roman poet Virgil.

     When last we left them, Aeneas and a fleet of Arcadian allies were returning by ship to the Trojan encampment, now under siege by the Rutulians, led by Turnus.  This amphibious reinforcement was unlooked for by the besiegers, and they now had a dilemma - how many men could they spare from the assault in order to challenge the seaborne newcomers?  Art!

The shield of Aeneas

     Aeneas, being an old and experienced soldier, signals to the camp by reflecting the sun off his shield.  This puts new heart into the defenders.

     I shall gloss over a lot of the ensuing fighting, because much of it is hard to follow: Virgil details Matey slaying Batey and in turn being slain by Fatey, none of whom are identified as being of one side or another.  It's a bit like watching a ballfoot game played by naked chaps - you've no idea who is whose side and who isn't.  Well, I suppose for modesty's sake they could wear briefs.  Sorry.  Too much involvement with naked Greek warriors.  Art!

     Okay, so Aeneas has come ashore amidst the general chaos of battle, and you can bet your bottom sisterce that he's going to try and chop Turnus in half from the head down.

     Enter Juno, the inveterate meddler.  In the picture above you see her emissary, Iris, passing on critical information to Turnus, encouraging him to go to war against the Trojans.

     Juno seems very apprehensive about a potential combat between Aeneas and Turnus, so she conjures up a shadowy shady doppelganger of Aeneas, constructed out of clouds.  This she uses to bait Turnus, away from the battle and down to the shoreline, where the shade dashes aboard and seems to hide aboard a ship.  Turnus swallows this hook, line and clinker, dashing aboard the ship to indulge in a little dog-food creation, whereupon Juno causes the ship to launch and speed out to sea.  The doppelganger vanishes into the clouds it is made of.  Art!

O use your imagination

     Turnus is thus saved from being cut into eighths, much to his disgust, as he really felt like getting a ruck on with Aeneas.  Don't worry, pal, you won't be denied that pleasure forever.  

     ANYWAY, since their king and captain has been removed from the chain of command, Mezentius takes over as leader of the Rutulians.  Talk about a poison chalice! 

Grain, Again

Yesteryon we went on and on, about the dangers of grain and how it can cause pain.  When contained in a hundred-foot tall silo.

     So, poking around inside a grain silo is dirty and dangerous.  Not only because of the risks of getting swallowed up by the ravenous grain (that's me being Virgilian and poetic), but also because of things like fumigation fumes and potential inhalation of mould spores.  Art!

     This is 'Grain Weevil', a prize-winning student design entry intended to do what Hom. Sap. is currently at risk doing, inside a grain silo.  As you can see, it travels on a pair of augers, the action of which breaks up the surface of the grain and levels it out.  This means that the deceptive and treacherous 'bridge' of crusted grain is immediately removed.  Art!

     Notice the first and most important entry here - Farmer Giles doesn't have to put his skin at risk in the dirty interior of a grain silo.

     Well done those students, I hope you make money out of it!

The 'Sunk Cost' Fallacy

You may not be aware of the formally-stated nature of this analysis, so I shall state it here.  This is when a party refuses to give up on a task, project or investment, thanks to the time, money, effort, manpower or truffle-skins that have been expended to date, even when it would be logical to give up.  Art!

     Sorry.  PKD once wrote a short story where the only thing that could not be replicated by replication machinery was the skin of a truffle, which then became, pro tem, currency.

     ANYWAY I was minded of this mental gymnastic, not because of the Olympics, but rather because of vlogger 'Jake Broe's tally sheet which he puts up at the beginning of his vlogs.  Art!

Dated 07/08/2024

Dated 07/06/2024

     You can do the maths here pretty easily.  Modern-day Mordor is losing 35,000 orcs per month, their highest casualty rate of the entire Special Idiotic Operation.  They are - or were - grinding forward sloooooowly in what some are laughably calling an 'advance' -

     And then Ukraine invaded Ruffia.  Neither Putinpot nor his generals expected this and The Little Tsar looked utterly miserable in the last broadcast he was on.  Art!

     This, gentle reader, is the face of a man undergoing a revelation about the Sunk Cost Fallacy (or his piles are acting up).  He doesn't look a happy bunny, does he?  Art!

     That's Shoigu at second left.  Another three of his protegé generals were arrested this week so it's only a matter of time before the Fun-Sized Foot Fiddler gets round to him, and he'd make a perfect scapegoat for this invasion.

     It would be bad taste to celebrate this with popcorn or a snifter of gin, so let us just hoist a cup of loose-leaf Darjeeling.

     

Speculative Scribing

Quite why this occurred to me I cannot explain, except that the ways of my mind can be a bit tortuous and contorted.  Art!

     Behold! the beauty of a fountain pen.  A few months ago I started using one again, for no very good reason other than I enjoy writing and they are nice and weighty compared to fibre-tip pens.

     Thus to last night, and the thought - can you write with fruit juice in a fountain pen instead of ink?

     This intrigues me, so I may try at the weekend with one of my cheaper models, as I suspect the high sugar content would lead to clogging in the flow.  It would also need to be a very intense colour.

     Keep watching this space!

Shortly To Get Dosed Up With An -

 - alkaloid atropine-derived anticholinergic muscarinic inhibitor.

     The proprietary name is "Tropicamide" and it's used in the eye drops opticians and optometrists and nurses use.

     This is where things come full circle, because in Greek mythology 'Atropos' was one of the three Fates.  Art!

Finally -

I shall now sustain scoffing my spicy stew.  Luckily there is sour cream a-plenty.