For Lo! We Are Back On Liths Again
SIT BACK DOWN! This is so a fascinating and compelling topic and it's the Remote Nuclear Tormentor for anyone trying to leave. Art!
This, lest ye be unaware, is the Battle of Plataea, the culminating battle of the second Persian invasion of Greece. You'd think they got the message after the first one, but no. Pride goeth before a fall and all that, because the Persians got a right shoeing here, more formally: they were defeated. A rumour went around the Greeks that the Persian general, Mardonius, had left enormous riches in his tent and so everyone went searching, only to be unsuccessful. Art!
The oracle
Polycrates the Theban, rather cannily, went to consult the Oracle at Delphi, whose advice, ambiguous as ever, was 'Leave no stone unturned' and Hay Pesto! Polycrates was suddenly a rich man.
So, that's the origin of today's title, and you're welcome. Art!
I know what you're thinking. Yes, the 'K' in 'Kneale' is silent.
O you mean how can a tape be made of stone, a material not known to be malleable enough to use in a recorder? Well, the explanation in this unsettling ghost story is that the natural environment can, under the right (or wrong!) circumstances, record events and 'replay' them at a later date. In TST, a group of scientists researching a new tape-recording medium are moved to their new research studio, an old Victorian mansion. The mansion has been renovated, all bar one room which is said to be haunted -
Conrad won't spoil the story for you, just to say that it's one of Kneale's best-regarded stories. Art!
'Enshrined In Stone' is a reference to the memorials to the dead of this battalion, which are detailed in a Roll Of Honour in this work. The blurb states
this new imprint combines both volumes covering the story of the 1st Battalion (43rd) Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry through the run up to the Normandy landings of June 1944 and its aftermath, the prolonged campaign in Northern France and North West Europe 1944-1945
Sadly for Your Humble Scribe - Art!
That's the actor Richard Todd, who was at the battle of Pegasus Bridge in real life, and who exclaims in his film role "Up the Ox and Bucks!" as a battle-cry. Art!
Poster-art straight out of 'Raiders Of The Lost Ark', completely intentionally may I add, because you flatter success to succeed. The title is describing Joan, the successful but lonely romance author, who gets caught up in a complicated scheme to retrieve a treasure - namely, an emerald, and thus the 'Stone' of the title. That's the love interest, Jack, holding onto the vine.
The director is the now-very accomplished Robert Zemeckis, whom the studio were wary of employing because his previous two films had tanked at the box office. He had the last laugh here, as the film grossed $85 million worldwide on a $10 million budget. Those are 1984 dollars we're talking here; still a $32 million profit. Art!
Yes, that's a Char B1, the French tank we covered earlier this week as a display at BOVINGTON TANK MUSEUM. What does this have to do with 'Stone'? O I I thought you'd never ask. Art!
Stonne. Close enough.
The Battle of Stonne rather scotches those jokes about French valour. The Teutons, advancing south from their successful crossing of the river at Sedan (thus breaching French lines) had to take Stonne to be able to move on. Thus began an epic battle over a small French town that changed hands 17 (!) times over three days, before the Teutons successfully took and held it. Art!
That's Pierre Bilotte, whose Char B1 knocked out 13 Teuton panzers before having to retreat. 'French rifle, never fired, dropped once' begins to look a bit sick.
I was going to continue further with the 'Stone' theme by covering 'Gardens Of Stone' except that I've never seen it and the synopsis makes it sound dull dull dull. Art!
No Further Of 'Greenland'?
You may or may not be enjoying my critical review of 'Greenland', in which we have reached the 1 hour 15 minute mark. So, about another 45 minutes to go. We last left John, Allison and Nathan under bombardment of the very smallest fragments of comet Clarke, which are still bombarding planet Earth after 24 hours. Art!
If you cannot resolve the small print, it's asking for me to pay in order view the film, which hasn't come up as an option before - usually it's 'Continue Viewing'. So, I can continue reviewing but cannot get pictures to put up as illos, unless I resort to teh Interwebz. We shall see!
Conrad Is Smacked Of Gob
Art!
Well well, it looks like the Flabby Fraudster has finally taken the plunge, but for reasons of petty temper tantrums, not ideology.
From leaks amongst attendees, it would seem that the Alaska meeting was nothing like the 'close to a deal' event that Donold lied about. It was, apparently, a very bad-tempered shouting match that finished early without any agreements or resolutions. BOOH may have dimly realised that he'd accommodated an international war criminal, literally laid out the red carpet for him, made a big effort - all for naught.
I would suggest the cancellation of the Budapest meeting is what irked Mister Zeppelin-Ego even more, after Putinpot had flattered his way into No Tomahawks.
A summit with Putin in August failed to yield any tangible results, and Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with Moscow.
That's Solovyov, archetypal RT host and Putinpot-promoting pimple. It'll be interesting to see how he reacts to DJ Tango's rolling out the sanctions. Hot tip: not happy.
Not A Tank At The Tank Museum
Anti-tank guns are a rarity at BOVINGTON TANK MUSEUM, you'd be better off attending the Royal Artillery Museum if those are your interest. However, they do have a spectacular example of a Teuton anti-tank gun. Art!
The odd angle is to try and get the whole barrel in shot, as it's so excessively long. This is a Pak 43/41, a bit of a chimera. It was cobbled together from the L/71 barrel, and since they didn't have a bespoke carriage they used one from the 105 mm howitzer and used the wheels from the 150 mm howitzer. Despite this somewhat improvised nature, it was a very powerful and effective weapon.
HOWEVER! - an inevitable interjection - the bigger the gun, the bigger the muzzle blast, which gives the position away. Then, too, to conceal and protect the weapon it needs to be dug in, which in the case of the Pak43/41 amounts to several tons of earth. The thing is so whackingly large that the crew cannot possibly move it around to shift positions to face new threats and would need a prime mover. Art!
Here's One Conrad Can Get Behind
Art!
No, it's not an oil refinery in Mordorvia being hit by drones; it's a chemical plant in Bryansk, and it's being plastered by Storm Shadow missiles. It makes - or made - explosives, gunpowder and propellants as used by the orcses armed forces. What's significant about this strike is that it came only hours after the South Canadians transferred approval of missile strikes from Pete 'Braindeath' Hegseth, the Secretary of State for War, to SACEUR, the South Canadian theatre command in Europe. The Stormzy uses South Canadian targeting software, so if they objected to Ruffian targets being hit, there was no way to use them. Art!
Hegseth sporting his Russian flag tie. As Secretary of War he makes one hell of an alcoholic wife-beater. Solovoyev was joking that he'll be attending the next May 9th Victory Parade and he may have a point.
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