But more probably not, because we here at BOOJUM! are wilfully obscure and tangential and delight in being misleading, because looking at your baffled faces is hilarious. Art!
This is the 'Doge Meme' that I recall from ages ago, in fact 1913, it was so long ago. Well, not really, it was 2013, but it feels like 1913. The dog here is a Shiba Inu, and as you can see a load of mangled text was added in as a 'Stream of consciousness' internal monologue. Conrad not sure if abstract thought like this is a true representation of the canine mind, as all Edna thinks about is food, walkies and Who Is That Trespassing On My Road Outside? Art!
There is a modern sub-text here, which concerns a network of dedicated destroyers of disinformation who go by the name 'NAFO' (North Atlantic Fella Organisation). These chaps and chapesses fight Ruffian lies on teh Interwebz (Destroyers of Odious Guff Everywhere?), and wouldn't you know it, their mascot is a Shiba. Art!
The online orcs and trolls are both baffled and angered by this de-centralised network, claiming loudly that it's funded by the CIA and NATO and the SBU and the Elders Of Zion and Opus Dei and any other organisation they can shoehorn into their Grand Over-Arching Conspiracy Theory Of Everything.
ANYWAY you might also be confusing or conflating today's 'Doge' with Elong Tusk's 'Department Of Government Efficiency', usually abbreviated as 'DOGE'. This is an organisation that Kaptain Ketamine has formed to get rid of any organisation that might oversee or audit his businesses. It works on 'The Stalin Principle': it is better to execute one hundred innocent people in order to guarantee that the single guilty person gets scragged, rather than risk them getting away along with the ninety-nine innocents. Art!
So far his DOGE sounds like a manglement tale from Reddit, with people being fired, their belated importance suddenly recognised ("Hey nobody's checking out our nuclear warheads for safety!") and then attempts being made to re-hire them. Conrad only hopes he has enough popcorn to stay the course. Art!
Behold a Doge! No, this is not an acronym, you are looking at one of the heads of Venetian power in a position that endured for 1,100 years. The title of 'Doge' comes from a corruption of the word 'Dux' or 'Duke', and - unlike Elong - it was an elective position with a very, very protracted selection process. Got to sort out the wheat from the chav, one supposes.
The position came into being toward the end of the seventh century AD, and delivered awesome power to the man elected to the title. None of that PC nonsense about equal opportunities for women! There were effective limits placed on the position, and much stricter controls on elections, from 1268 onwards. Art!
 |
| "45" |
This is the 45th Doge, Reniero Zeno, whose rule was to end in a watershed, because after that date a series of new rules and regulations associated with his powers came into force. Mind that, although a ruler for life - something Captain Cholesterol wants so, so dearly - there were proscriptions on owning lands outside Venice, nor could they conduct diplomacy without oversight, and the rules prevented any kind of hereditary status on family members.
The post-1268 election process for a Doge was horribly complicated, which was intended to minimise the amount of influence the more powerful Venetian families possessed and were able to exert. Art!
 |
| Doge's palace inside and out |
It reads like a reduction recipe: Thirty members from the Venetian Grand Council of 400 members were chosen by lot, in order to select nine members, whose task was then to forty-one members, who then had to choose twelve, whom in turn chose twenty-five, who then were reduced to nine, whom in turn chose forty-five, who then chose eleven - are you still with us? - whom then chose forty-one members (an off number to avoid ties) who then elected the Doge.
I know, I know, it makes the South Canadian Electoral College process look like a model of efficient practicality. It worked, though, because the Doge's position only ended in 1797, when the city-state was conquered by Napoleon's troops as they Special-Military-Operationed Italy.
There you have it: the Doge, a position of great authority and power still trammelled by political safeguards and emendations. This Intro is pretty much only scratching the scratches on the surface as you cannot compress 1,100 years of history into 800 words. Though we try.
The Definition Of Bathos
From the splendour and pomp of medieval maritime trading states, to Conrad baking a cake. Art!
This is Date And Pecan Loaf, which recipe called for walnuts. We have pecans to spare, so I used them. A small cake, which only used 4 ounces of sugar, and if I cut it thinly, there ought to be 10 slices from it. It did drive me to venture into Babylon Lite this morning, to stock up on more loose-leaf Darjeeling and dried dates, as the cake above finished off what I had left in the cupboard.
"The War Illustrated Edition 205 April 27th 1945"
This, lest ye be unaware, is the last edition in Volume 8. The war in Europe might consume a couple more editions, yet surely no more than that, so one wonders what the rest of Volume 9 and 10 are going to contain? The Far East, I don't doubt. One to keep an eye on. Art!
I doubt you can make out the chap sitting low in the turret of this Daimler armoured car, so I shall break it to you: it's Prime Minister Winston Churchill, getting a worms-eye view of the devastated Teuton town of Xanten as he travelled to the Rhine crossing. Note that this a/c has managed to 'acquire' a pair of Vickers K guns on the turret mount, which are not pointed forward as there aren't any enemy nearby. If there were the OC of this vehicle, and his OC, and his OC, wouldn't have let the PM anywhere near it. Winnie, on the other hand, would have been exhilarated if anyone shot at him.
Thanks But Not Right Now
If you keep up with these things AND YOU SHOULD, Conrad is still watching Season 3 of "Invincible", Season 1 of "Fallout", the second season of "Lost" on DVD, Season 2 of "Missing: The Other Side" on Netflix and only this morning added to the DVD Hill with "Yes Minister" on DVD. Thus it was with interest that I noted this side-bar article. Art!
This is a live-action adaptation of another computer game that I've not played: 'Halo'. Your Humble Scribe knows naught of either game or television series, and things might have to stay that way until the books, comics and DVDs diminish in number. It's not clear from this picture, nor the article, which is written by a pundit who's not seen it either - hardly well-informed journalism, hmmm? - as to what the series is about. One can make a fair stab at Future War. Will they have drones? I ask, just to be awkward.
Finally -
I shall put up a picture of today's non-edible Haul. Art!
Okay, okay, okay, yes I have bought another book - but I've also finished "Live Fight Survive" by Shaun Pinner, so that will be going onto the Dead Pile, and I'm also 1/3 of the way through 'Wolf Hall' so there's that.
Remember, keep watching the skis.
No comments:
Post a Comment