“We are Forerunners. Guardians of all that exists. The roots of the Galaxy have grown deep under our careful tending. Where there is life, the wisdom of our countless generations has saturated the soil. Our strength is a luminous sun, towards which all intelligence blossoms… And the impervious shelter, beneath which it has prospered.”

Monday morning aerobatics

Monday morning aerobatics

It is axiomatic that weekends never, ever last long enough – as the Great Prophet Murphy might once have phrased it, “the length of the weekend is inversely proportional to the amount of rest you need to recover from the week”. Certainly that was...
Domain Query: Unleashed in the East

Domain Query: Unleashed in the East

Hail, brothers! The Domain Query series is finally back, with an all-new episode, thanks to LRFotS Randale6, who wrote in with a long two-part question. The questions relate to my recent trip to Russia, and everything that I have seen and learned before...
How to take the hobbits past Minas Morgul

How to take the hobbits past Minas Morgul

I realise I am rather stretching the LoTR metaphors to, and probably past, the breaking point, with respect to visiting Russia, but I think it is worth taking some time to sit down and write about what it now takes to visit Mordor. Things have changed dramatically in...
Friday T&A: Always Be Closing Edition

Friday T&A: Always Be Closing Edition

Once again, this instalment of everyone’s favourite series for the site is late, and once again, there has been a complete lack of new content (which shall be addressed today, by various devious ways and means). And once again, yer very ‘eavy, very...
Monday morning whack-a-Nazi

Monday morning whack-a-Nazi

Man, don’t you just love Mondays? (Said literally NO ONE, EVER – unless you live in PommieBastardLande, and it happens to be what they call a “Bank Holiday”, which means you get a day off for essentially no reason.) This particular Monday just...
Sunday Scripture: John the Baptist Prepares the Way

Sunday Scripture: Judah Profaned the Covenant

6 “A son honours his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honour? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. But you say, ‘How have we despised your name?’ 7 By offering...
Thoughts and pictures from Mordor

Thoughts and pictures from Mordor

As I have mentioned a few times, I got back from a two-week trip to Russia and Central Asia recently. It was a fantastic trip, involving stays in Moscow, Dagestan, and Kyrgyzstan, and plenty of walking, driving, and hiking around some of the most amazing natural...
Friday T&A: Rocks on the Road Edition

Friday T&A: Rocks on the Road Edition

It has been another super-busy week, with plenty of travelling – I literally went up and down the length and breadth of (much of) the country in the space of three days, and then across from west to east and back again in the next two. That is rather why posting...
Monday morning apocalypto

Monday morning apocalypto

“Yay, it’s Monday again!!!” – said literally nobody, ever. I certainly am in no mood to say any such thing, because I’ve spent the last several days fighting some sort of weird throat infection that makes swallowing feel like trying to...