If I Were To Call You A 'Rotta'

You May Think I Was Channelling The Spirit Of Biggles Or Bertie Wooster

Not a bit of it!  Though it does give me an 'in' to depict either one of those two.  Art!

     That's the AI Art Generator's version of "Biggles and Bertie Wooster" so   don't ask me what it's contorted little electronic mind was thinking, on th

     ANYWAY I mention those two fictional heroes - you know, I don't think I've ever read any background of Bertie in the Great War, although he was surely of an age to serve in it, and being a pilot would be right up h

     ANYWAY AGAIN I mention those two fictional heroes because neither of them used curse words, in fact nothing stronger than 'You rotter!' when in real life Biggles, an officer in the Rifle Brigade before joining the Royal Flying Corps, would very likely have used rather fruity language at times.

     My usual reversion here is to consult my 'Collins Concise Dictionary', which stated: "A person adjudged insolvent by a court, his or her property being administered for the benefit of creditors" to which I would add "or business".  

     Where does it come from?  Why, the Old French "banqueroute", itself derived from "bancarotta", the Old Italian derived from "Bank" and "Rotta" which means "Broken".  So what word does this end in?

     BANKRUPT.

     Ta da!  Art!

     I've put this here as a placeholder, and yes, I might have used this yesterday when the Intro was about 'Tank' except I'd have to explain why it wasn't spelled correctly and that would have involved a warren of rabbit holes.

     ANYWAY AGAIN AGAIN I was looking up info about bankruptcies, and South Canada has a whole raft of different versions, ranging from Chapter 7, which seems to be for individual, up to Chapter 11, which is for businesses.  There's even a Chapter 15, which covers cross-border debtors and creditors.  I mention this in passing, as the subject matter here concerns bankruptcies in Modern-day Mordor.  

     As shown above, the military aviation company "TANTK Im G M Beriev" may be going bankrupt soon, as an example of this status at work.  A Ruffian institute called the "Arbitration Institute Soyuzmash" has confirmed that TANTK has a presumably verrrry large debt owing to another entity called "OOO PTC Vector", coyly withholding details about how large.  Art!

     TANTK used to make the A-50 'Mainstay' AEW & C aircraft, of which the Ruffian may have as many as 3 left, or as little as none.  Once again, investigative journalists are not encouraged to determine the exact number.  

     'PS01' on Twitter revealed that the total 2023 revenue for TANTK was ₽13.4 billion, with ₽527 million in profit (about $5 million), so this utterly dismal news is solely due to the financial strictures of 2024, and an interest rate of 21% on any loans the company took out to finance the business. 

     "Ah, but the Kremlin might help prop up such a prestigious company!" I hear you quibble.

     They might, except this isn't an isolated example.  "The Moscow Times" - which reports from safety outside Mordor - warned that Ruffian, not Western, experts warned about a wave of corporate bankruptcies arriving in 2025.  In 2023 10% of Ruffian manufacturing companies were paying out over 66% of their pre-tax profits in interest; that figure has now doubled to 20% in 2024.  And those were pre-tax profits, before the government takes a big chunk out of them.  Put simply, if these companies default, the Kremlin has nothing to bail them out with.  Art!

Doleful coal

     The coal industry used to be a consistent earner for Modern-day Mordor.  Not any more!  In 2024 they managed to make a loss of ₽80 billion, which is $823 million in money that's not toilet roll.  They have suffered under sanctions and falling exports, so if they cannot increase their revenue stream those losses may accumulate and force a decision about bankruptcy

       It continues to get worse.  Yes, it most certainly can, Vulnavia!  800 shopping malls face insolvency (another euphemism for 'bankruptcy'), along with road construction companies.  New loans were down by half in November and December, because businesses cannot afford to pay back loans at 21% interest.

     Keep watching this space and bring on the buckets of popcorn!

 A Tad Concerning

Conrad spotted a byline on the BBC's New webpage, the font of all that's fit to be writ, and idly noted that motorists might be inconvenienced.  Art!

     Well who cares if a bunch of petrolheads with nothing but rubber and steel between the ears get put out by either diversions or roadworks?

     Then I spotted the same picture with a different title and suddenly matters were of concern to Conrad.  Art!

     The Snake Pass, you see, is the shortest route from The Mansion to Richard's domicile in Storrs, on the outskirts of Sheffield.  Otherwise it's a long dogs-leg of motorway traffic.

     'Picturesque' may be true.  If you're the driver you can't view the vistas because you're too busy keeping an eye on the road, which in parts does twist and turn like a snake, frequently has roadworks, running water, landslides and sheep roaming loose along the verges.  Art!

     Conrad was fortunate the first time he travelled to Storrs, as the snows had ceased and Glossop Council had sent snow-ploughs along the route, clearing it yet leaving towering drifts alongside the tarmac.

     Erosion and landslips are quoted in the article, and I can confirm that the council are facing an uphill struggle to maintain the route.  

"There's one place on Snake, at Alport, where you can see that half the road has gone," said Cupit.

Traffic lights have therefore been installed so that cars can still use one of the lanes."

     

     Snake Past?

Another Ooops Moment

Yes, another incident from that annoying collection of mechanical mishaps, which I have managed to detail a little, beyond the nil information provided.  Art!

     Okay, this unit is from 'Leibherr', whom we've encountered before, as being a Teuton heavy-engineering company.  Whatever this thing is, it weighs many, many tons, or you'd not need a pair of heavy-duty cranes to lift it.  The identifying factor is that 'Leibherr LHM 320", which Conrad's aged yet still percipient eyes noticed.  Art!

    So, what's being lifted and lofted is the base unit of a Leibherr crane unit, absent the jibs and booms.  You're welcome.  Art!

     Suddenly one of the slings gives way.  This is a hazard encountered when you use two different cranes to lift a mutually-slung cargo, because if they don't lift perfectly in synch slippage of a few inches can cause this -  Art!

     Looks a bit bent to Conrad.  I think the killing joke here is that these were a brace of Liebherr cranes doing the lifting.  Ooops oooops.

STOP PRESS!

Late-breaking news from Interpol HQ in France, possible sighting of the Motley in Uzbekistan.  Art!

     Wellllll it may be the Motley.  Conrad is unsure what on earth else it might be.

Our Journey With Bernie

Continues!  Our progress with the first series of FPG trading cards has been a bit spotty once we hit the #60+ numbered cards, where several have simply been unobtainable.  Let us scope out what might be next.  Ah - #71 "Stegosaurus" Art!

     Calling this 'Macabre' is a real stretch.  I mean, Ol' Steggy was a veggy, that being a herbivore that dined on plants, not other dinoes.

The Swordfish And The Albacore

Don't Worry, This Isn't Going To Be A Treatise On Fish

Except maybe the tin variety.  We'll get to that later.

     No, today's Intro is inspired by a crack I made on Twitter about how an Ukrainian ultra-light aircraft was able to fly through Ruffian air defences to target, unscathed.  For your information, here's one that got scathed.  Art!

Yes, I inverted it

     There's a bit of background to this strike; it concerned a static target that had been ranged to the inch, which had been carefully analysed in advance, and which was very probably aided by either decoys or diversions, which are all aspects of planning an operation that go back over 80 years.  Art!

By Charles David Cobb.  Probably my favourite aircraft painting.

     This event took place on 11/11/1940, at Taranto, where most of the heavy units of the Regia Nautica, the Italian Navy, were harboured.  The Regia N believed in a 'fleet in being' concept which meant always hovering, never actually mounting operations, rather to the disgust of the Royal Navy, who bloodthirstily longed for a ship-on-ship engagement.  Art!

If the mountain won't come to Mohammed -

     Just as a bomb-armed drone strike on an oil refinery is a novelty now, so too was the concept of attacking a fleet at harbour with torpedo bombers.  The Regia N were not idiots; there were 190 anti-aircraft guns of up to 4" calibre with another similar number of machine guns, all positioned to defend the harbour.  There were also hundreds of anti-aircraft weapons on the naval warships themselves.  Not only that, there were torpedo nets in position to protect the battleships, and static balloons to deter low-level attacks.

     However - that word again! - to every problem there is a solution.  The wiser heads in the Royal N got together with their Fleet Air Arm compatriots and worked out a plan.  The strike would utilise Swordfish aircraft, fitted with extra fuel tanks, flying off Royal N aircraft carriers.  This would allow them to get dangerously close to the port of Taranto, all the more so because the port (like Italy generally) didn't possess radar that could have given advanced warning.  Art!

     In order to illuminate the targets, several Swordfish would be dropping flares along the shoreline, then proceed to bomb the inner harbour, fuel tanks and anything that looked expensive.  This ensured the Italian defensive fire was diverted elsewhere when the real attack took place.  Conrad had the impression that it was Albacores that had done the flare-dropping, except no, so my title puns about "Alba Cor!" went out of the window.  In total, eleven torpedoes or 'tin fish' were launched from very low level as the Regia N expended 13,000 rounds of ammunition to try and down the aircraft from Perfidious Albion.

     As you may realise, one of the methods to overcome the fixed defences, primarily the torpedo nets, was to make the Royal N tin-fish run a lot shallower than normal, meaning they went over the top of the nets instead of being stopped by them.  What you might call an 'Ooops' moment.

     Two of the 'Stringbags' were shot down, one pilot and air-gunner being killed, but the Regia N paid an appalling price for these, having the 'Duilio', 'Littorio' and 'Cavour' battleships all put out of action, the first two for 6 months.  The 'Cavour' never went back into service.  The very next day every Italian ship that could raise steam sortied out of Taranto, which had become very unsafe and could no longer be reliably defended.  Reminds me of another more recent harbour .....  Art!

     Fair does for the Italians, they buried the two dead British aircrew with full military honours, showing a level of respect that is rare now and rarer then.

     Suddenly, warships in harbours around the world were now vulnerable to crippling attacks from aircraft, torpedoes and bombs that cost a fraction of the capital needed to build a battleship, and a fraction of the time.  

     That was 85 years ago.  You can substitute 'Oil infrastructure', 'Ruffia' and 'drones' and be as up to date as you like.

Lost At Lost At Sea

You may be able to do better than Conrad here, although I doubt it.  Yes, this is from that irritating video compilation that doesn't list where or when the incidents it films take place.  Art!

     Make what you can of that.  I've tried Googling those number on the lower part of the hull, to no avail, and it's impossible to make out what that name is, bar that it may be in Roman lettering.  Or maybe not.  Art!

     There are people talking unintelligibly, with loud wind overlaying what they're saying, and one of them might be saying 'Salaam', meaning 'Hello' or 'This vessel was bound for or from Dar Es Salaam'.  Take your pick.

     I've also Googled any number of variations of "ship sinks with: construction plant; excavators; dump trucks; X168; all of the above and none" and haven't come up with a single hit.

     All that aside, there is a story here.  Obviously - of course!- the transport sank, in relatively shallow water or there'd be nothing to see.  Which implies that it may be close to shore, or grounded on a sandbank.  Saltwater is pretty corrosive stuff, so if they don't salvage that plant soon, it won't be fit for purpose.

     Conrad hopes you're all as baffled as he was.

"Tariff"

By now you ought to be aware that Conrad is interested in the source and origin of words, which all too often turn out to have a Latin or Greek root <spit hack>.  This one, mind, is different, according to my "Collins Concise Dictionary".

     "A tax levied by a government on imports or occasionally exports"

     It comes from the Italian - dangerously close to Latin, I know - 'Tariffa', which in turn is derived from the Arabic 'Tar'ifa', meaning 'To Inform'.

      So now we know.  Art!

I will let you guess

Poor Beggars

Australia: the land where every species of animal and insect is trying to kill you, is normally known for being hot and dry.  Not at present.  Art!

     Now they have to worry about sharks and crocodiles getting danger close to them in the turbid floodwaters, not to mention box jellyfish.  O, and spiny sea urchins.  Can you tell I've been watching 'Lost' recently?  The spiny sea urchins are practically extras on that serial.  I don't think anyone's come a cropper from insect life yet, no problems with funnel-web spiders so far.  Wild boar and polar bears only.  The Ockers might have to put up with wild boar but they don't have to worry about polar bears.  Art!

"Wild Swans"

We are at 400 pages in so far, late 1966, and Chang is now describing the throes of the 'Cultural Revolution', which Conrad vaguely remembers as a thing at the time and later.  Briefly put, it was Emperor Mao seeking to extend his power over the country, the Party, the people and everything.  But, rather like The Mysterons, he had to destroy first, in order to recreate everything in his own image.  Thus you had the cult of personality, the Red Guards and generally smashing things up.  Art!

     It was absolutely disastrous for China and her people, especially coming after Mao's stupid policies that created an artificial famine, which he got into a snit about, as other people had warned what would happen.  See what happens when there's nothing to restrict dictators?

Finally -

The Pork and Olive Loaf turned out fine, apart from me not taking a picture of it, so I shall go and remedy that right now.

     Laterz!

Okay Sunday

Just So We're Clear

Your Humble Scribe is keeping his foot count, as per Fitbit, down, in order to avoid having the gory wounds in his right big toe from oozing excessively.  Sorry if you can't unsee that image.  Thus I drove into Lesser Sodom this afternoon, and since February and March are going to be 'Dry' months, one thing missing from the shopping basket was alcohol.

     That just about brings us up to speed on matters domestic.  Now, let me prod Art into semi-sentience with this lazy-tong skewer set -

A real thing, by the way.

     - and continue with the links for this weeks retrospective.

2024

BOOJUM!: A Mass Of Candles

2023

BOOJUM!: The Tautology Of Time

2022

BOOJUM!: What A Load Of Bollards

2021

BOOJUM!: The Magnificent Severn

2020

BOOJUM!: Broadening One's Horizons

2019

BOOJUM!: On Top Of It

2018

BOOJUM!: JON SNOW

2017

BOOJUM!: You Asked For It -

2016

BOOJUM!: WARNING: Lunch Picture Enclosed

2015

BOOJUM!: What A (Larte)Guy!

2014

BOOJUM!: Helios, Hermes And Holy Cr@p My Bodum!

If I Were To Say "Tank"

You Would Be Perfectly Entitled To Think I Meant One Of These -

Art!

     Normally, you'd be correct, and this presenter for the IWM, John Delaney, makes a series of really good points.  So good, in fact, that we'll probably come back to them in the near future.  I bet you can hardly wait.

     ANYWAY you'd be wrong!  Wrongity-wrong-WRONG.  Because where else does one find tanks?

     Yes.  On a tanker.  Art!

     This, for your information, is an 'AFRAMax' tanker, so-named after the 'Average Freight Rate Assessment' invented by Shell in 1956.  They are typically capable of carrying between 80 to 120 thousand tons of oil as cargo, which was pretty big beer back in 1956 but is rated rather petite in today's classes of Suezmax or Very Large Crude Carriers.
     All fascinating stuff I'm sure, yet why am I regaling you with it?  O I thought you'd never ask!

     More of misery in Modern-day Mordor, I'm afraid.  You see, there are now circa 280 Ruffian tankers now on the sanctioned list, carrying over two-fifths of Ruffia's unrefined crude, which mostly goes to India and China, who buy it on the cheap, refine it and then sell the much more profitable refined fuels.  Sneaky, hmmm? Art!

     This is the marque of the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, an Indian business, who now have 0 orders for Ruffian crude in March, and whom see the trade from March onwards being far less in volume than December or January.  In fact, Indian refineries are now seeking alternatives to Modern-day Mordor's oil from South Canada, the Middle East and Africa.

     Why the trouble?  In a word, sanctions.  Those pesky petroleum punishments are now being meted out and it's affecting Ruffian exports of crude to India, as seen above, and also China.  The extra administration, red tape, cost and general delays are causing up to three week halts in Ruffian crude being off-loaded at Chinese ports like Yantai or Tianjin.  The Shandong Port Group - Art!

Shandong tanker tank ding-dong?

     - has imposed a ban on Ruffian crude that will cut the oil received from 1.7 Million Barrels Per Day (hereafter BPD) down to 700,000 BPD, a cut of over 60%.  That means a drop in revenue to match, kind of an 'Ouch' moment.

     That's not the worst of it, either.  O Noes, big nose.  You see, there are costs associated with chartering a tanker in order to transport your oil overseas; these things don't run on love and pixie-dust.  To hire an AFRAMax tanker in order to make the run from Ruffian ports in their Far East costs an average of $35,000 per day, meaning an average run of two weeks to China and back again costs about $1,000,000.  This price has now jumped thanks to there being few non-sanctioned tankers and their owners being able to gouge the orcs. This cost has now apparently tripled to about $3 million, or over $100,000 per day.  Ruffia Mother Ruffia is now in a real bind, because neither China nor India want to risk secondary sanctions by allowing sanctioned tankers to dock, BUT the cost of hiring a 'clean' tanker rather than one of their rusting 'Shadow Fleet' is going to make profit margins wafer thin, if not run at a loss.  Art!

     Before you ask, that's a 'Suezmax' tanker, cargo capacity from 120.000 tons to 200,000 tons, and they are defined as the largest ships that can transit the Suez Canal when fully laden.  Just so we're clear.

     A little more statistical information.  India has, up to now, imported 36% of it's crude oil from Ruffia, meaning 64% is sourced from other countries, which figure is only going to increase as they diversify their imports.  China used to import 20% of it's crude from Ruffia, past tense, because with the cuts made by SPG - not to be confused with an SPV - that will come down to 8%, a big reduction.  Once again, China will probably seek to diversify it's imports, leaving the Puffy-Phaced Petrol Pimp both out of luck and pocket.  You might even say that the Ruffian petrol economy has - er - 'tanked'.

     How exquisitely sad.  Art!

Any excuse to get the futurologist's work up on the blog
Yes, they mis-spelled 'PURSUIT'

Tanks for listening to this old man's ramblings.  I'm now off to watch that John Delaney lecture about the Sherman.  Tread lightly!

Whilst On The Subject

I tried a sample text on the AI Art Generator that I use, under the 'Cyberpunk' skin, and with the text prompt "Amphibious tank with sponsons made of spaghetti meatballs" and it came up with this - Art!

     You'll note that there aren't any sponsons or spaghetti, although the latter might be stored inside.

     So much for the threat of AI.  3/10.  Must try harder.

"The War Illustrated Edition 202 March 16 1945"

We only mentioned the Sherman in passing so I am allowed to have this item in here.  Yesteryon's item had a useful map, showing the Allies poised to cross the Teuton border into Western Germany all along the Rhine.  Conrad is going to annoy the Ruffians by ignoring them, tee hee!  Eat it, Dimya.  Art!

     It was the editor's decision to stick this photo selection on their side, not Conrad juggling with the camera function.  In the top picture British troops as part of Crerar's First Canadian Army are advancing into Germany towards Cleves.  This wood appears to have been fought over, which is bad news as forests are awful to wage modern war within.  The battle is long over, as the photographer is standing upright out in the open and the advancing troops aren't taking cover or even unslinging their weapons.

   At port below a Teuton sniper is 'winkled out' of a position, most likely by the tank blowing it up around his ears.  The crew would be quite happy to do so as this is a German town inside Germany, getting some of the 'Coventry treatment'.

     The central lower picture claims to be soldiers taking cover in a roadside ditch.  But the photographer didn't cravenly conceal himself?  Conrad suspects staged or posed.

     The final noticeboard warning was well-merited, as the Teutons would booby-trap everything possible to cause delays and casualties.  Allied troops were warned not to pick up anything until or unless the sappers had given the okay.

Quickly, Get The Popcorn!

It seems that the Orange Land Whale didn't really understand what a 'tariff' is, which is no great surprise as anything bigger than '10' or with more than one syllable is a mystery to him.  To him, a 'Tariff' was 'Economic magic word that make me look bigly good and help groceries'.

     Sadly, not.  Art!

     Donold Judas Trump's ego won't allow him to admit he lied during his campaign about lowering grocery prices, nor that there will now be a trade war with Canada and Mexico.  I mean, pushing the Canadians so hard they do something bad?  That takes real effort and determination.  Watch him double-double down with more lies about just how EEEEVVILLLL the Canuckistanians are.

     Fortunately I bought two packs of popcorn.  May need more later on this afternoon, though.

Finally -

My 'Toad in the Hole' was not a roaring success, but still edible and it used up six sausages before they went off.  On the same page in my "1,000 Recipe Book" there's one for 'Pork & Olive Loaf' which looks interesting enough to try.  Laterz!

Penguin Post

Okay, Let's Start With What We're NOT Talking About Here

But which can allow us to put up a clickbaity picture or two, as we are wont to do.  Firstly, we are not talking about "Peg-Leg's Flying Penguins" which was a real thing I recall reading at the time, and if Art will put down his anthracite-sandwich -

Art by Joe Colquohoun

     Thanks to "British Comics Archive" for proving that I am not raving, or at least not this time.  Then again, we're not talking about the armed penguin as depicted on "Forgotten Weapons" Ian 'Gun Jesus' McCollum.  Art!

Period-accurate SLR-armed penguin

     Nor are we on about that hilarious 'Pingu' spoof, which was a mash-up of the original claymation and "The Thing".  Art!

     No, I am on about a metaphorical penguin, going by the name "The Penguin", from "The Blues Brothers" film.  If you don't understand what I'm talking about THE EXIT DOOR IS THAT WAY!  Art?

     Real name Sister Mary Stigmata, who's pretty handy with a ruler, and who won't tolerate disrespect from anyone, certainly not a pair of ex-orphans who are career criminals-cum-musicians.  The reason she's here - so glad you asked - is because of her line:

• Sister Mary Stigmata: No, no! I will not take your filthy stolen money!

     Thus triggering the rest of the film.

     Now, we already mentioned John Carpenter's terrifying documentary "The Thing", so recall that in "Prince Of Darkness" he enlists the concept of 'Anti-God'.  What would you say about an  'Anti-Penguin', who absolutely would take filthy stolen money?

     That's where this Intro begins, because we have the torrid tale from a Youtube Reddit post that features at least four Anti-Penguins.  

     Put-Upon-Poster, hereafter PUP, lived alone with her mother until Stepdad came along when she was 14, along with Precious Stepsister, whom we'll dub Preccy.  Bottomhole Mother, hereafter Bottom, immediately dropped PUP like a hot coal and blatantly favoured Preccy.  Stupid Hostile Ignorant Toxic Stepdad, whom we'll call Stupes, basically ignored PUP.  Art!

     When Preccy was 18 Bottom gave her a load of heirloom jewellery from PUP's grandma, whom she was very close to, loudly declaring that Preccy was the oldest grand-daughter and so deserved this gift.  Predictably PUP saw several shades of scarlet at this blatant abuse and favouritism and moved out of this horrid household the instant she turned 18.  She went No Contact with Preccy, Bottom and Stupes and was happy that way.

     Things went along this way for several years, until Bottom reconnected and met up with PUP.  During one of their subsequent conversations, PUP mentioned the heirloom jewellery, and Bottom instantly got defensive and anxious.  Red Flag Number One!  Art?

     As you might expect, PUP wondered about this response, and reached out to an aunt later on to see what might be going on.  Most Valuable Player Aunt was curious, too, and wondered if the heirlooms might have been mentioned in a will.  Which might explain Bottom's odd response.

     When PUP raised the issue of heirlooms again, Bottom immediately got defensive and said that the issue was all in the past, PUP ought to let it go and - biggest lie going - the jewellery wasn't worth much anyway.  PUP stuck to her guns and retained a lawyer, who found that there was a will, and that Bottom had collected everything mentioned in it WHEN IT SHOULD HAVE GONE TO PUP.  Thus illegally stealing the stuff.

     Ooops.  Another red flag.  

     Then, in a collective Zoom call after PUP mentioned legal action, Stupes, living down to his name, admitted that Emma and her fiancé had sold the heirlooms for $300,000, which had financed their purchase of a big house and two hi-spec Audis.  Art!

     

This, times two

     Emma and fiancé offered to pay the money back at $1,000 per month, which PUP's lawyer instantly shot down.  Settling out of court, so Bottom avoided jail time, Emma and fiancé were forced to sell their cars and house to pony up the $300,000.  The fiancé, who was only in the relationship for the cold hard cash, then promptly bailed on Emma.  There is no further update after that, so I will fill in the gaps: PUP goes No Contact again with the Horrid Household, Emma has to move back in with Stupes and Bottom and hates having to do so, Stupes blames Bottom for everything and they divorce, Bottom dies a lonely cat lady in a smelly apartment.

     Don't you just love a happy ending?

Getting The Boot

Except in a good way.  I've mentioned my newly-arrived 'Shower Boot', which is designed to keep wounds, plasters, bandages or casts free from that dangerous Di-Hydrogen Monoxide stuff, and since my phone is at last charging properly, I can provide proof.  Art!

     Essentially it's a foot-shaped plastic bag, with a rubber diaphragm that fit's air-tight over one's foot, and is considerably better than having to gaffer-tape plastic bags over one's taloned toes and shin.  Those cuts are from me having to cut the plastic bags off with a scissor whilst not wearing my glasses.

"The War Illustrated Edition 202 16th March 1945"

Remember, gentle reader, that the photos in this edition will date from two weeks previously, or even longer, so as not to pass on any useful information to the Teutons.  Art!

     Actually I doubt any censor in the Third Reich would pass this map, since it shows how parlous their situation had become, with the Sinisters closing in from the East and the Allies from the West, and by this point the Allies now included an entire French army, who were thirsting for vengeance.  And an angry Frenchman in a Sherman tank is quite something to reckon with.  Art!

     One area the Allies utterly outclassed the Teutons in was medical care.  First aid, casualty evacuation, hospitals, nursing, repatriation, all of these were immeasurably better than that offered to the hapless enemy stubble-hoppers.  Note also that the Allies had anti-biotic medicines that the Teutons could only dream about.  Stuff like this doesn't only save lives, it also props up morale.

See?  It's Not Just Conrad

Art!

     Yes yes yes, 'RBC Ukraine' is firmly in the pro-Ukraine camp, but the article goes on to cite statistics about the Ruffian refineries that have been absolutely pulverised by Ukrainian drone attacks.  It appears that the blitzed refinery at Kstovo alone may have suffered up to $200 million dollars-worth of damage, by four drones that collectively cost perhaps $200,000 each.

     I plan to go over more misery in Modern-day Mordor in a separate Intro, so I'll just leave you with this.  Art!

You'll need a bigger marshmallow

     No, it's not supposed to look like that.  Yes, it is bad for global warming, at least until the fire brigade manage to extinguish it.  If they haven't run out of foam.

Finally - 

Conrad has half a dozen sausages that he needs to consume before they go off, so I plan on making 'Toad In The Hole' after discovering that my "1,000 Recipe Cookbook" has a recipe.  The couple of internet recipes I have already checked caution NOT to open the oven door whilst it cooks, or the batter will sink lower than the 'Moskva'.

     Good taste?  What's that?