Unusually, I did a search on Blogger to see if I'd used that title already, and I had - twice. Once last year and once earlier this year, so that "(Redux)" is there to provide deniability. Incidentally, it's not a word to be found in my "Collins Concise Dictionary" so <shudder> I had to look it up on teh Interwebz. It means 'Revived, or brought back to life'. which is great, because now I can add in a click-baity picture that's not a bridge. Art!
You cannot deny that this series featured a whole lot of people who, er, 'revived'. Conrad rather lost patience with it a couple of seasons in, so it may crop up on my list of things to watch when I retire, along with "Th
ANYWAY I wanted to continue with the theme of 'Bridge', because there's lots of material on this in my CCD and 'Brewer's', which takes the heavy lifting out of deciding what to write for an Intro. I am trying to get this done quick smart, because 'Prune60' has put up a thread on Bluesky about the Ruffian's National Wealth Fund, and her threads are always long. So - Art!
'Pons Asinorum', which is Latin <spit hack> 'Bridge of asses', in a metaphorical sense. The phrase refers to a geometrical proposition by that creator of fun and frolics, Euclid, to wit: "The angles opposite the two equal sides of an equilateral triangle are equal". Apparently scholars who were idiots, or asses, were unable to grasp this concept, which to my mind makes it more of a dam than a bridge.
'Pontefract Cakes' which resemble a cake in no way known to man. They are, in fact, a confectionary made from liquorice, with a castle stamped into them. Art!
They originate from the town of Pontefract, which lies in the exotic, alien and dangerous lands of Yorkshire. The town's name is derived, once again, from Latin, 'Pontus Fractus' or 'Broken Bridge'. Art!
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| The modern, notably whole, bridge at Bubworth |
'Bridge Of Gold' Conrad is neither a metallurgist not an architect, but building a bridge out of gold seems to be a solid lose-lose proposition. Not only would it be stolen out of existence from it's opening, the malleability and ductile strength of the yellow metal make it an extremely poor choice for a bridge. Art!
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| AI Art Generator proves it's no architect, either |
As you may guess, there is a less concrete interpretation. In the legends of the Teutons, when harvests were good to excellent, it was because the spirit of Charlemagne had crossed the Rhine at Bingen, via a golden bridge, and had blessed all their crops. Curious, Conrad looked up the bridge at Bingen, and I have to say I was a little disappointed that it consists of stone, not the yellow metal. Art!
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| Tranquil, picturesque and not at all golden |
'Bridge of Jehennam' which is a new one to me. Aha! Also known as 'Al-Sirat', from Muslim theology, it is the bridge that passes over Hell, and which is no wider than the edge of a sword. and you have to cross over it if you want to get into Paradise. Pretty spiffy construction skills needed to build a bridge that narrow. Art!
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| Oooops! |
'Bridge of Sighs' You might be forgiven for thinking that this was going to be the architectural wonder from Venice, but NO! for that bridge isn't unique. According to my 'Brewer's', there was a passageway between the Tombs prison in New York and the criminal court, which was also given this name, for reasons so obvious I shouldn't need to explain. The 'Tombs' prison had also rejoiced in the splendid name of the 'Manhattan House of Detention for Men'. Which kind of implies there was one for women, too.
'Bridge Roll' another new one to Your Humble Scribe. Described as a small, soft roll made of bread, which was perhaps named thanks to being eaten at games of bridge, where the players no doubt cocked their little finger and drank tea out of Delft china cups. Art!
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| Least exciting picture of the day |
That's part of the entries in my 'Brewer's' for the moment, and we've not even touched those in my CCD. I bet you can hardly wait.
"The War Illustrated Edition 209 22nd June 1945"
There. I bet you take it for granted how I've included the edition number and date, which were omitted from the original items generated by the single Volume I used to have. You see what lengths I go to in order to inform and elucidate? Art!
You may be aware of Benghazi in Libya of more recent conflicts. In the terse description given above, they rather omit that the Western Desert Force, as it was known from 1940 onwards, had given Mussolini's forces an absolute shoeing. They had been chased from 60 miles inside the Egyptian border, all the way to the port of Benghazi. Art!
This news was verrrry welcome back in Perfidious Albion, where it provided a bit of positive gloss on what had been a pretty bad year up until then. Obviously it wasn't defeating the Teutons, but it was a first step.
Window-Diving Season Approaches In Barad-Dur
More waffle about bridges in this item. Don't worry, we'll keep this one succinct. Art!
You may have already seen this footage, which event was mounted by the Ukes on the birthday of Prigozhin, the chap who fluffed his coup attempt in 2023.
What's wrong with this picture? Stop and think a moment. Did the Ukrainians mount one of their own cameras on the underside of this bridge, in broad daylight and out in the open?
Nope. What you're seeing here is a hacked Ruffian security camera, the word 'security' being stretched to it's elastic limit. The blame game is already being played in Moscow, with the security service, the FSB, blaming the Army for everything that went wrong as a military failure, whilst the Army is castigating the FSB for a colossal failure in security. The spectacle of both entities throwing each other under the bus is not new, but the scale and venom here is.
Bring along your wheelie-bin of popcorn and watch this space.
Bring On The Busters Of Myths!
Nothing to do with Jamie or Alex, this is back to Mister Snow and his '10 Myths Of The First World War'. Art!
In fact the 'Lions led by donkeys' line has a much older origin, being taken from a play "Dialogue In Hell Between Machiavelli And Montesque" from 1864, and had been used to describe the French in the Franco-Prussian Unpleasantness of 1870.
In the British army, incompetent and stupid commanders did not last long; they were 'Stellenbosched', that is to say, promoted sideways into sinecures where they caused the minimum amount of mischief.
One of the biggest problems the British had with their generals was their lack of experience, very much so at the beginning of the conflict. The biggest peacetime formation commanded by a British general was an Army Corps - all of two divisions with attached troops, which was part of peacetime exercises. The French and Teuton armies' generals were used to commanding and controlling forces that were multiple tens of times larger than the humble British Expeditionary Force. Experience earned in wartime is liable to be a bloody business.
Hmmm. I haven't actually watched Dan's video clip, just held forth on my own account. Perhaps - maybe - possibly - I ought to watch it?
Finally -
Once again Blogger's algorithm has gone bananas, meaning flattering yet implausibly high totals of traffic for the blog, which is a trauma and a torment, I tell you. Art!
Things seem to re-set once a new month begins, so this farrago may get resolved in July, or - those cannot possibly be true and accurate figures, can they?
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