This Might Take A Bit Of Explaining
Especially to those familiar with British slang and invective. Let me consult my "Brewer's" - annnnnnd nothing. Alright, then, let's try my "Collins". Ah! Result. "A coarse or dissipated woman or girl". Not a compliment, as you can understand. There is also the variant "To slag off", which means to criticise, in a slanderous fashion. Just to be completist about this, and because it's also on the same dictionary page, Your Humble Scribe also looked up "Slander", which is to " - defame in transient form as by word or gesture". Just not in print, because that's libel. Art!
It would take me hours to track down a slander case in the UK, because they nearly all involve print, either via a newspaper or on social media, so you can have the two darlings above.
ANYWAY back to slag. The formal definition of this is: "The fused material formed during the smelting or refinement of metals," and, to a lesser extent, "A mixture of shale, clay, coal dust, etcetera, produced during coal mining". Neither of these by-products are wanted, needed or liked, the poor things, and they are dumped well away from the production plant or mine. Art!
This is a locomotive on a spur line at the legendary Bethlehem Steel Works in Pennsylvania, a location as far from 'Sylvan' as you can get, and much, much closer to Hades than Bethlehem. The caption dates this as 1994, which is why the video quality is quite low, and the loco is a 'PBNE Switcher'. Philadelphia, Bethlehem and New England, before you ask, and here's a rather higher-quality picture of one. Art!
The one at BSP is pushing a trio of 'slag cars' from the mill to the dump site, which - Art!
- resembles quite closely the picturesque landscapes of Mordor. The three slag cars are shunted into position and the switcher retires to a safe distance, as what follows is impressive to watch, providing you're not too close. Art!
Only slightly less lifeless than the Moon. The slag cars themselves seem to be banged-up and grubby, because one didn't need to worry about aesthetics back in the Nineties. Having being railed into position, the crane visible behind then tips the pots over, one car at a time. Art!
A Mount Doom moment indeed. Art!
No, night did not suddenly fall; the video camera has cut in the contrast because the slag is so incandescent. This, gentle reader, is molten metal so hot that it flows like water, all the way down the hillside. Art!
The crane behind the slag pots keeps drawing back it's weighted load and giving them a good old bashing, because things haven't finished yet. Art!
This object is the fire-brick lining of the slag pot, which insulates the walls of the pot from the slag, otherwise they would heat up, too, and weaken and collapse. You don't want tons of molten metal spilling unpredictably across your plant floor, do you? It might affect the bottom line. O and the workers, too. Art!
This is one of the slagging staff attending to controls on a slag car, and you can judge the size and volume of a slag pot behind him. These things are not at all dainty. Art!
Second car's pots get tipped and out comes another fire-brick lining, which the slagging crew know means all the slag has been emptied. Once the dump is over, those cars will go back to the plant and the pots will have another lining of fire-bricks installed, after any excess slag not dumped gets chiselled away with jackhammers.
Only after many hours have expired will the tipped slag be cool enough to be approached without bursting into flames, which brings us to today's title and the end of this Intro. I hope you had fun.
Speaking Of Hot Things Being Hot
I did threaten/promise/inform <delete where applicable> that I'd update you on the Foreman Grill and how well it performed. The first test-drive results are in and it's a winner. Art!
Closed and open. What you can't see is the fold-down flap at the back that, once unfolded, elevates the rear and so causes any fluids released by the cooking process to drip into the drip tray. Art!
Successfully done! What you can't see are any leaked greases or oils, because this Foreman's drip-tray clips into place, unlike the old one, so it doesn't leak. A small design feature that Conrad likes. Cleaning congealed fat off the glass top-protector is not a fun gig. Your Modest Artisan bought a pack of remaindered sausages that are going to get the test process, perhaps even tonight. The thrills never stop, hmmm?
"The War Illustrated Edition 198 19th January 1945"
Kindly remember that, thanks to censorship and OPSEC (a modern term our protagonists at the time would have called "Keeping mum") the pictures we see here are about a fortnight old. Art!
You may be able to tell by virtue of the kilts and bagpipes that this is the 51st Highland Division, making a return to Saint Valery in liberated France.
Why so? Because in 1940, when the French were conducting a fighting retreat west, away from their Teuton invaders, the 51st HD was part of their forces. They ended up on the outskirts of the small French port of St. Valery, where 10,000 of the division were forced to surrender. Art!
The division was reconstituted back home in This Sceptred Isle, and these are the soldiers you see paying their respects.
There is a persistent rumour that a handful of Scottish soldiers escaped captivity by pretending to be Ruffians, by virtue of speaking Gaelic, which must have utterly baffled the Teutons, as Glaswegians merely speaking English can baffle their fellow countrymen at the best of times.
"Fear The Walking Dead" Plot Hole
I don't care if this causes or creates SPOILERS because this season came out nine years ago, so you've had time to prepare.
What Conrad noticed is that nobody refers to any kind of news media whilst things are beginning to go south. There is a single clip about The Cops shooting someone, and that's it. Art!
Perhaps social media didn't have the reach and cachet it now has, but again, nobody bothers to use Facebook or Twitter or Quora to either communicate or keep up with events. Nobody bothers with radios nor even mobile phones. It's an information desert!
Also, there seem to be significantly less guns around than one would expect in South Canada; our protagonists have to raid a neighbour's house in order to come up with a single shotgun. One woman comes across a suicide who shot themselves with a handgun, and completely ignores the handgun. Although she did venture into Zombie Territory completely un-armed, so generating Dramatic Tension, and a lack of Disbelief Suspension.
Of course, I could be over-thinking this .....
Conrad Begs To Differ
Which is Polite British for "You are a colossal liar whom deserves to go bald and get quinsy throat', just so we're clear. Art!
We have proven this to be utter nonsense on several occasions, but allow me to put up the photographs as used on Twitter. Art!
Let me ask you a loaded question: who has all the Choco-Pies?
Hint: 'Dark' does not imply 'Dark chocolate'.
Finally -
Better go test-drive that FG again. Sa-ti fi benie!
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