Ah The Life Of A Blog Content Creator!
I had to check where we were in terms of how far ahead we are in content creation. So, I am typing this out on Wednesday evening, with Thursday's blog already done. Therefore this one will be going out on Friday, provided Europe survives until then, which seems a fifty-fifty proposition as of now.
ANYWAY I was sitting and wondering what to do as an Intro. There was one of my Saved To Watch Later vlogs. Art!
This is - did I bore you with the details at Bovington Tank Museum? which I have still not finished with, let me tell you - a South Canadian M3 'Lee' tank. The video describes how designing, tooling-up for and producing a turret that could cope with a 75 mm gun would have taken a couple of years, so instead the M3 Lee had it's most powerful gun in a sponson to one side. This is a production and engineering detail Conrad was not aware of. I also note that they used a picture of an M3 Canal Defence Light instead of a generic M3. Art!
The CDL had an incredibly powerful light element inside the turret, which was lensed through that vertical gap, in order to -
Erm, not sure what. Illuminate? They were only used a handful of times in Europe late in the war.
ANYWAY AGAIN there's not enough detail there to sustain a whole Intro. What might be next? Art!
I don't expect you to know him, but this is Sir Eric Geddes, a man who helped the Allotment Of Eden win the First Unpleasantness. The trouble is, his experience and ability was all in the field of logistics, the worthy-yet-dull field of military supply that sends people to sleep. In order to manage an Intro about him, I would need to add in background to half the volume. It will come, don't worry, just not tomorrow. Art!
Yesssss! The problem here is that I've not finished watching Episode 5, even if I do have a few illos of the serial so far, so we - that being the Production Team 'We' of me, Steve, Oscar and Art - need to continue watching to get more background. I just had to confirm that Mook The Moron had already been mentioned, and she had. I have to say that this serial's background story is one of the most unique I've seen in decades. Art!
Well, we've had tanks, tracks and Thais. What else might we negotiate in an Intro?
Hmmm well nothing particularly inspiring comes to mind, so we'll just go with more not-so-gentle shoeing of the Ruffian economy. Art!
That, apparently, is supposed to be '75 million dollars' and is yet more proof that AI cannot take over the world as it can't even manage a simple text prompt. Skynet my hairy white posterior.
ANYWAY I plucked this number, not from my hairy white posterior thin air, but from Youtuber 'William Spaniel', whom was paraphrasing and analysing a 'New York Times' article that was itself reporting on a CIA analysis of Mordorvia's economy. Which id not looking good. The single aspect that William seized upon was the CIA estimate of how much damage Ukraine's 'kinetic sanctions' are having upon Ruffian oil refineries. Art!
The bingo card
Lest ye be unaware, since January 2025 Ukraine has been relentlessly attacking Ruffian oil refineries with drones. Before that date they had intermittently targeted them, but come 2025 they had the numbers, range and payload in HE to reallllly go after the refineries. What does that translate to in the bottom line?
$75 million in lost revenue per day.
Thus, over the course of 2025, the Ruffian economy missed out on $27 billion. Not rubles, dollars, the ruble now being a form of toilet-paper - allegedly the orcs are printing ₽3 trillion rubles per week in an attempt to deliberately create hyper-inflation or some such shizzle. According to Will, that $27 billion represents 13.7% of the federal Ruffian budget, or one-seventh. This budget black hole is one reason why Ruffian taxes have been hiked as of 1/1/2026, including a VAT increase from 20% to 22%, with the tax threshold being dropped from businesses making ₽50 million rubles per annum to those making ₽10 million per annum. As one orc complained on Telegram, these tax hikes are why Avito market shops are selling up and closing down - they cannot afford to keep paying for the Tsar's war. Art!
The orc in question
Here a bit of train of thought. Today is one of those grim grey days that requires one to have the lights on all day long, and it is a long day on the Stupid Schedule - 07:45 to 16:45 grrrrr bah. Still, one day closer to payday. Which has also been a long time coming as we got paid a week early before Christmas.
Small update: I had to move the black bin onto the street for collection tomorrow and it's horrid outside, miserably wet and cold and cannot now feel the ends of my fingers.
Conrad Is ANGRY!
Not just at the weather and long working day, also at the wretched Codeword compilers, and believe me I've kept track of their offences. The Remote Nuclear Tormentor has been getting in overtime. Art!
The RMT
Let me detail their offences.
AXIOMS: I bet this has a Greek root. Time for the 'Collins Concise English Dictionary'. 'A generally accepted proposition or principle, sanctioned by experience.' I was right about the Greek, too - originally 'Axioun'. Art!
EPONYM: You bet this one's Greek, too. It means, primarily, a place name that was given from the name of a real or fictional person. Art!Axioms as per AI Art Generator
It seemed fitting
BUSBY: Conrad got this one because of his keen knowledge of military history, but you young snappers of whip out there would be somewhat out of luck. It's a peculiar type of military hat, a tall fur one with a bag hanging off the right hand side. Art!
Another distant memory bobbed to the fervid waters of Conrad's mind, about British Telecom and a mascot of theirs from decades ago. Art!
Not quite the same spelling, but close enough and it's pronounced the same, so suck it and see.
More Gentle Shoeing!
Okay, not so gentle. Art!
Look at his tiny hands*!
The Big Orange Oaf Himself hits a new low? Colour me surprised. Watch this space, because Donnie Dorko is going to get progressively worse. Dementia says 'Hold my beer!'. The meat of his meandering was being an utter bigot about Somalis, which is rich as he doesn't know where Somalia is.
Also - Art!
He nearly walks off the red carpet and is weaving all over the place, thanks to not having Melania to keep him straight. He weaves as much when he walks as when he talks. Gosh I will miss the senile content creator when he keels over and I predict a world shortage of champagne when that happens.
Ha! Fiction Reading Shortage Resolved
Abebooks came through for me SO YOUTUBE CAN STOP PIMPING THEM after making my order earlier this week, both books I bought came at the same time. Art!
I guess reading all nine books in 'The Descent' series will have to wait a couple of weeks not. Just thinking back, it must be about nine years since I started reading them, meaning I've forgotten a lot about the finer details.
Finally -
Let us round things off with another Biercism.
"Giraffe,n: An animal that loves to bathe it's fevered brow in the midst of dizzy altitudes, and supplies it's own pinnacle for the occasion, whence it overlooks you like a step-ladder.'
* Calling them 'tiny' sends him apoplectic with rage. TINY HANDS TINY HANDS!
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