The English still know how to observe Armistice Day

I was very moved to read of the Armistice Day service at Westminster Abbey in England today - particularly because both of my grandfathers fought in World War I. The Daily Mail reports:

Only one man, in this repository of kings and legends, is so revered that none may tread upon his grave.

And yesterday, on the anniversary of his funeral here in Westminster Abbey, he was the focal point as the Queen and the entire nation paid a formal farewell to the generation who fought the Great War.

In recent months, we have lost our last three witnesses of the First World War - Bill Stone, 108, of the Royal Navy, Henry Allingham, 113, founder member of the Royal Air Force and, finally, Harry Patch, 111, the last Tommy, the last man to know what it was really like to 'go over the top'.




It had always been agreed that, following the death of the last veteran, there should be a formal ceremony to mark the passing of all the men and women who fought that war.

Armistice Day - the day when the guns finally fell silent - was the obvious occasion.

The families of this gallant trio were all invited, of course. Bill Stone's daughter had the honour of reading a lesson. But this was an occasion to commemorate all those involved.

And no one epitomises the sacrifice of that generation more eloquently than the occupant of the Grave of the Unknown Warrior.

It was at his black marble tombstone, flanked by two holders of the Victoria Cross, that the Queen laid her wreath yesterday.




All over Britain, millions were observing the 11am two-minute silence. At the Abbey, not a cough, not even a distant police siren, disturbed the thoughts of the Monarch, Government and Opposition leaders, the diplomatic corps and 2,000 people with some link to the Great War generation.

. . .

In his address, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, spoke of the 'brilliant glow of the Edwardian autumn which...gave way to the cruellest winter conceivable'.

The Great War, he said, had caused so many to rethink their entire religious outlook and yet the survivors had been able to carry on with 'courage and a kind of faith.'

He concluded: 'The generation that has passed walked forward with vision and bravery and held together the bonds of our society, our continent, our Commonwealth through a terrible century.

'May we learn the lessons they learned; and God save us from learning them in the way they had to.'

A huge, old-style wreath was carried the length of the Abbey by Lance Corporal Johnson Beharry VC of the Princess of Wales's Regiment and Trooper Mark Donaldson VC of the Australian SAS - the latest recruit to the most exclusive club in the world.

He won his VC in Afghanistan last year after drawing heavy Taliban fire on to himself in order to save his wounded comrades and then running back into the firestorm to retrieve a wounded interpreter.

These two impossibly brave young men helped the Queen to lower the wreath on to the Grave of the Unknown Warrior.

This must have been an evocative moment for her, too. It was here that she had laid her own bouquet on her wedding day in 1947 - just as her mother had done at her own wedding in 1923.

Hanging overhead was 'the Padre's Flag', the very same Union Flag which lay over the coffin at that state funeral on Armistice Day, 1920.




Throughout the war, this flag flew above the trenches, served as an altar cloth or was draped over countless departing coffins by Army chaplain David Railton.

After the funeral of the Unknown Warrior, Mr Railton donated it to the Abbey where it has remained ever since.

There's much more at the link, including more photographs.

God bless the British. They still know how to combine 'pomp and circumstance' with real reverence for their dead. May they never forget them, and always honor them thus!

(By the way, if you'd like to know more about the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior and how his body was selected, see my post for Armistice Day last year. It's quite a story.)

Peter

The end of the war to end all wars

On November 11th, 1918, forever after commemorated as Armistice Day and/or Remembrance Day (except in the US, where some lunatic politicians decided to amalgamate it with the commemoration of veterans, and thus lose its unique and historic character), the First World War came to an end.

The killing was over - and there'd been plenty of it . . . almost ten million battlefield deaths, almost seven million civilian deaths, and over twenty-one million battlefield wounded. Astonishingly, sickeningly, the killing didn't stop even on that last day of the war. Unfeeling, uncaring commanders sent their men to die up to the very last moment, not bothering to consider that attacks were no longer necessary.

The BBC made an excellent documentary on the events of that last day of World War I, which has been posted to YouTube. For those who'd like to take the time to recall the experiences and achievements of their relatives all those decades ago, here it is, in five parts.

For myself, I'll be thinking of my maternal grandfather today. He and his wife lived with us when I was a baby, although both died before I was of schoolgoing age. I remember my grandfather mostly because of his uncontrollable coughing . . . the fruit of a German gas attack on the British trenches during World War I. He never fully recovered from the injuries he sustained.

May he, and the other forgotten veterans of that war, rest in peace.

Peter

Lumberjack FAIL!

You know what's going to happen the minute the video starts . . . but you just can't help watching. It's like a slow-motion train wreck right in front of your eyes!

And she sounds so bitter about it, too. Lady, why didn't you think to call in some help before it was too late?

Peter

Doofus Of The Day #288

Today's Doofus is from California.

The California Highway Patrol says a man stole a car to make a court appearance on a previous auto theft charge.

Patrol investigator Chris Linehan says he arrested Samuel Botchvaroff on Tuesday as he sat inside a stolen 2000 Range Rover at the Vallejo courthouse. The 24-year-old Botchvaroff had just left his arraignment on auto theft charges stemming from an Oct. 31 arrest.

Linehan said the Range Rover's LoJack system helped him locate the vehicle, which had been stolen from Oakland earlier Tuesday morning.

Authorities say Botchvaroff told officers his car had been impounded, and he had no other way to get to his arraignment.

Hmm. Perhaps someone should tell Mr. Botchvaroff (the first syllable of whose name is a fitting description of his success as a thief, methinks) that taxis, public transport, and hitch-hiking are all viable alternatives. If worst comes to worst, simply present yourself at the nearest police station and tell them where you're supposed to be. I'm sure the nice policemen will find a way to get you there!

Peter

Happy Birthday, Marines!

The US Marine Corps was founded on November 10th, 1775. It's celebrated that day as its birthday ever since.

Here's a video clip of the 2009 birthday greetings by the Commandant and Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps.

And, to carry on with the sense of history contained in the Birthday Message, here's a 1941 recording of the Marines Hymn being sung (without accompaniment) by then-Corporal Jack D. Kirkbride. (This would, of course, have been prior to Pearl Harbor. I understand Corporal Kirkbride survived World War II, despite service in some of the most hazardous Pacific campaigns.)

A fitting birthday salute, I'd say. Congratulations, Marines, and Semper Fi!

Peter

A life-long Democrat pillories the health care shibboleth

Camille Paglia has another great article in Salon. Despite being a life-long Democrat and supporter of President Obama, she's intellectually honest enough to know when politicians are selling us a bill of (fake) goods - and not afraid to say so. Here's an excerpt:

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi scored a giant gain for feminism last weekend. In shoving her controversy-plagued healthcare reform bill to victory by a paper-thin margin, she conclusively demonstrated that a woman can be just as gritty, ruthless and arm-twisting in pursuing her agenda as anyone in the long line of fabled male speakers before her. Even a basic feminist shibboleth like abortion rights became just another card for Pelosi to deal and swap.

It was a stunningly impressive recovery for someone who seemed to be coming apart at the seams last summer, when a sputtering, rattled Pelosi struggled to deal with the nationwide insurgency of town hall protesters -- reputable, concerned citizens whom she outrageously tried to tar as Nazis. Whether or not her bill survives in the Senate is immaterial: Pelosi's hard-won, trench-warfare win sets a new standard for U.S. women politicians and is certainly well beyond anything the posturing but ineffectual Hillary Clinton has ever achieved.

As for the actual content of the House healthcare bill, horrors! Where to begin? That there are serious deficiencies and injustices in the U.S. healthcare system has been obvious for decades. To bring the poor and vulnerable into the fold has been a high ideal and an urgent goal for most Democrats. But this rigid, intrusive and grotesquely expensive bill is a nightmare. Holy Hygeia, why can't my fellow Democrats see that the creation of another huge, inefficient federal bureaucracy would slow and disrupt the delivery of basic healthcare and subject us all to a labyrinthine mass of incompetent, unaccountable petty dictators? Massively expanding the number of healthcare consumers without making due provision for the production of more healthcare providers means that we're hurtling toward a staggering logjam of de facto rationing. Steel yourself for the deafening screams from the careerist professional class of limousine liberals when they get stranded for hours in the jammed, jostling anterooms of doctors' offices. They'll probably try to hire Caribbean nannies as ringers to do the waiting for them.

A second issue souring me on this bill is its failure to include the most common-sense clause to increase competition and drive down prices: portability of health insurance across state lines. What covert business interests is the Democratic leadership protecting by stopping consumers from shopping for policies nationwide? Finally, no healthcare bill is worth the paper it's printed on when the authors ostentatiously exempt themselves from its rules. The solipsistic members of Congress want us peons to be ground up in the communal machine, while they themselves gambol on in the flowering meadow of their own lavish federal health plan. Hypocrites!

And why are we even considering so gargantuan a social experiment when the nation is struggling to emerge from a severe recession? It's as if liberals are starry-eyed dreamers lacking the elementary ability to project or predict the chaotic and destabilizing practical consequences of their utopian fantasies. Republicans, on the other hand, have basically sat on their asses about healthcare reform for the past 20 years and have shown little interest in crafting legislative solutions to social inequities. The usual GOP floater about private medical savings accounts is a crock -- something that, given the astronomical costs of major medical crises, would be utterly unworkable for families of even average household income.

International models of socialized medicine have been developed for nations and populations that are usually vastly smaller than our own. There are positives and negatives in their system as in ours. So what's the point of this trade? The plight of the uninsured (whose number is far less than claimed) should be directly addressed without co-opting and destroying the entire U.S. medical infrastructure. Limited, targeted reforms can ban gouging and unfair practices and can streamline communications now wastefully encumbered by red tape. But insurance companies and the pharmaceutical industry are not the sole cause of mounting healthcare costs, and constantly demonizing them is a demagogic evasion.

How dare anyone claim humane aims for this bill anyhow when its funding is based on a slashing of Medicare by over $400 billion? The brutal abandonment of the elderly here is unconscionable. One would have expected a Democratic proposal to include an expansion of Medicare, certainly not its gutting. The passive acquiescence of liberal commentators to this vandalism simply demonstrates how partisan ideology ultimately desensitizes the mind.

There's more at the link. Highly recommended reading. Now, if we can just get our Senators to read it as well, before they vote on the bill . . .

*Sigh*

Peter

Gasoline tanker rescue FAIL!

Hint: remember that when using steel chains to right a capsized steel vehicle, sparks may result. If said vehicle is a gasoline tanker, this may lead to . . . er . . . interesting times for the recovery crew.

Told you so, didn't I?



Peter

This is AMAZING!

How cool is this discovery?

The remains of a mighty Persian army said to have drowned in the sands of the western Egyptian desert 2,500 years ago might have been finally located, solving one of archaeology's biggest outstanding mysteries, according to Italian researchers.

Bronze weapons, a silver bracelet, an earring and hundreds of human bones found in the vast desolate wilderness of the Sahara desert have raised hopes of finally finding the lost army of Persian King Cambyses II. The 50,000 warriors were said to be buried by a cataclysmic sandstorm in 525 B.C.




"We have found the first archaeological evidence of a story reported by the Greek historian Herodotus," Dario Del Bufalo, a member of the expedition from the University of Lecce, told Discovery News.

According to Herodotus (484-425 B.C.), Cambyses, the son of Cyrus the Great, sent 50,000 soldiers from Thebes to attack the Oasis of Siwa and destroy the oracle at the Temple of Amun after the priests there refused to legitimize his claim to Egypt.

After walking for seven days in the desert, the army got to an "oasis," which historians believe was El-Kharga. After they left, they were never seen again.

"A wind arose from the south, strong and deadly, bringing with it vast columns of whirling sand, which entirely covered up the troops and caused them wholly to disappear," wrote Herodotus.

. . .

Twin brothers Angelo and Alfredo Castiglioni are already famous for their discovery 20 years ago of the ancient Egyptian "city of gold" Berenike Panchrysos.

Presented recently at the archaeological film festival of Rovereto, the discovery is the result of 13 years of research and five expeditions to the desert.

"It all started in 1996, during an expedition aimed at investigating the presence of iron meteorites near Bahrin, one small oasis not far from Siwa," Alfredo Castiglioni, director of the Eastern Desert Research Center (CeRDO)in Varese, told Discovery News.

While working in the area, the researchers noticed a half-buried pot and some human remains. Then the brothers spotted something really intriguing -- what could have been a natural shelter.

It was a rock about 35 meters (114.8 feet) long, 1.8 meters (5.9 feet) in height and 3 meters (9.8 feet) deep. Such natural formations occur in the desert, but this large rock was the only one in a large area.

"Its size and shape made it the perfect refuge in a sandstorm," Castiglioni said.

Right there, the metal detector of Egyptian geologist Aly Barakat of Cairo University located relics of ancient warfare: a bronze dagger and several arrow tips.




"We are talking of small items, but they are extremely important as they are the first Achaemenid objects, thus dating to Cambyses' time, which have emerged from the desert sands in a location quite close to Siwa," Castiglioni said.

About a quarter mile from the natural shelter, the Castiglioni team found a silver bracelet, an earring and few spheres which were likely part of a necklace.

"An analysis of the earring, based on photographs, indicate that it certainly dates to the Achaemenid period. Both the earring and the spheres appear to be made of silver. Indeed a very similar earring, dating to the fifth century B.C., has been found in a dig in Turkey," Andrea Cagnetti, a leading expert of ancient jewelry, told Discovery News.

. . .

At the end of their expedition, the team decided to investigate Bedouin stories about thousands of white bones that would have emerged decades ago during particular wind conditions in a nearby area.

Indeed, they found a mass grave with hundreds of bleached bones and skulls.




"We learned that the remains had been exposed by tomb robbers and that a beautiful sword which was found among the bones was sold to American tourists," Castiglioni said.

Among the bones, a number of Persian arrow heads and a horse bit, identical to one appearing in a depiction of an ancient Persian horse, emerged.

"In the desolate wilderness of the desert, we have found the most precise location where the tragedy occurred," Del Bufalo said.

The team communicated their finding to the Geological Survey of Egypt and gave the recovered objects to the Egyptian authorities.

"We never heard back. I'm sure that the lost army is buried somewhere around the area we surveyed, perhaps under five meters (16.4 feet) of sand."

There's more at the link, along with a photographic slide-show. The video clip below is absorbing, too.

This fascinates me! To think that human remains could last that long, in one of the most barren, inhospitable areas on the planet . . . that's amazing! I wonder whether they'll find the main body of Cambyses' lost army, still buried beneath the sand?

Peter

Larry hits one out of the park

My friend Larry Correia published an article on his blog about the Democratic Party's socialized health care plan. In my not-so-humble opinion, Larry's hit this one right out of the park - a brilliant analysis. Here's an excerpt.

Pelosi doesn’t care that a bunch of democrats will lose their jobs, because she is in it to win it. If this passes, then America will be changed, and it will be almost impossible to change it back. Pelosi is a Marxist, and Marxists are patient. The blue dog democrats are expendable. All that matters to her is to shift the country further left. Nancy would love for them to vote for this, then lose their seats, because her work will have been done, and it is hard to untighten the noose when you’re already swinging from the gallows.

This bill isn’t about insuring the sick, lazy, poor, stupid, or your Cousin Pooky. This bill is about twisting America into a socialist country. If all it was about was forcing insurance companies to be more competitive or to take people with pre-existing conditions, they could do that with a five page bill. This thing is now 1,900 pages.

Think about that for a second. 1,900 pages. Take four reams of paper and stack them on top of each other. The bill from August was 800 pages shorter, and none of our congressmen had read that one either. Just what kind of bullshit is going to be crammed into this one?

Unemployment is officially around 10%, and most of us realize that stat is understated. Yet somehow our government’s top priority is pushing a bill that everyone knows will increase unemployment and raise taxes. Obama has now spent more money than anyone else, ever, combined, in one eighth of the time, and his next big idea is a bill that creates another hundred federal bureaucracies. The American people’s priorities might be jobs and prosperity, but Obama’s is priority is total Marxist control.

“Silly, Correia. Obama’s not a Marxist. Enough of your terrible right wing hate speech.”

Oh, my apologies. However could I think that a guy who has hired a bunch of self-proclaimed communists, and who surrounds himself with union thugs, and who’s mentors were Marxists, and who hung out with socialists in college, and who has fostered unprecedented power grabs in record time, and who’s employees seem to quote a lot of Mao, and who has never pushed one single thing that Karl Marx himself would disapprove of, could possibly not be as pure as the driven snow!

After the stimulus bills, the government controls or directly oversees about thirty percent of our economy. With healthcare they’ll gain another 18%. That means that the government will be controlling about half of our nation’s economy. So, wait a second… will all those people who told me I was crazy for calling Obama a Marxist last year finally admit that I was right when the government controls HALF of the business in America? No? So, when then? 70%? Is he still a moderate when the government controls 99% of the free market? I won’t know, because I’ll probably be in a ‘reeducation’ camp by then. Net neutrality, don’t you know.

Great stuff! There's more at the link. Go read the whole thing, and please circulate the link to your friends - and ask them to join you in pounding your Senators to encourage them to bury this monstrosity!

As for me, any candidate for election who solemnly swears to make his first and highest priority the immediate, total repeal of any and all Obama-era legislation that increases Government's control of any aspect of American life . . . that person's got my vote, irrespective of party.

To hell with socialism in any form!

Peter

Would you believe that babies cry in different accents?

I'm amazed at a recent report.

Newborn babies cry with regional 'accents' copied from their mothers, researchers have shown.

An astonishing new study found that the screams of a five-day-old French baby have a distinct Gallic twang, while German babies have a Teutonic quality to their yells.

The discovery suggests that babies are eavesdropping on their parent's conversations while still in the womb and are picking up their accents.

. . .

Dr Kathleen Wermke of the University of Wurzburg, Germany and colleagues studied the patterns of baby cries in the first five days of life.

Newborn babies tend to have simple cries that rise and then fall. But as the days and weeks pass, their cries become more sophisticated - varying in pitch and length.

The scientists digitally recorded the cries of 30 French and 30 German hungry babies and used computer software to analyse the results.

The French baby cries tended to start low and then rise in pitch, the researchers reported in the journal Current Biology. In contrast, the German baby cries tended to start high and then drop in pitch.

Dr Wermke said the patterns mirrored the intonation of French and German speakers.

'French is a very distinctive with respect to intonation,' she said.

'If you listen to French speakers you can hear a rise in pitch in words and phrases. In German speakers there is a fall.'

She believes that babies are listening to their mother's voice in the last three months of pregnancy - and copying the patterns of speech when they cry.

. . .

The German research is challenging long held views about how babies learn to speak. Most linguists believe that the building blocks of language appear around the third month, when babies begin babbling and making distinctive sounds.

But Dr Wermke's team believes the seeds to language are found in the cries of newborn babies.

'We think that language development starts with crying,' she said.

There's more at the link.

It may be unduly simple of me, but I find that astonishing. To think that babies, straight out of the womb, eyes barely open, are imitating the accents they've heard around them for the past three months, even though they can't understand a word!

Truly, sometimes the mind boggles . . .

Peter

A quick update

Before I get into tonight's posts, a quick update on myself. My health went somewhat downhill over the weekend: I began to run a fever on Saturday, and felt very low by Sunday evening. I went to my doctor this morning (he'd issued strict instructions that if anything at all happened, I was to get to his surgery ASAP, never mind making an appointment). He reckons I've probably picked up a bit of the flu that's wandering around. (I've been inoculated against the seasonal flu, but not against the piggy variety.) He reckons it's not worth testing to see which I've got, because the labs are overwhelmed and only testing those actually admitted to hospital. He's put me on Tamiflu, plus an antibiotic to prevent any infection settling into last month's surgical scars or related areas. I'll be taking it easy for the next few days. No rehab exercises until I've gotten rid of the fever, no gallivanting around (not that there was too much of that going on anyway!).

I've heard (and read) a number of horror stories in recent weeks about those who've undergone open-heart surgery suffering from severe clinical depression in the weeks and months following their operations. That would explain why the nurses at the rehab sessions are constantly wanting to know about my 'mental state', and asking about such things as depression. Y'know, for the life of me, I can't think of anything to be depressed about! Sure, I'm hurting quite a lot still, and moving rather slowly, and I'll be limited for several months yet: but I'm alive! There's a lot to be said for that . . . and last October 5th, there were times when I wasn't so sure that would be an ongoing state of affairs! I'll live with the limitations, thank you, and work hard to make them a thing of the past. Depressed? Fuhgettabahtit! I've got too much living to do to be depressed!

I'm still hoping to be fit enough to visit Oleg in early December - it's far too long since I last saw him, and he can take pretty pictures of the newly-installed zipper in my chest. Otherwise, I'm still annoyed that I couldn't attend Blogorado last weekend. I'd been looking forward to it for months, only to have my heart attack derail plans. Oh, well, there's always next time - and it looks like those who attended this inaugural event set a pretty high standard for us to beat next year! Congratulations to Farmgirl (and, of course, FarmDad and FarmMom) for organizing what looks like a very successful occasion.

(However, I can't get out of my mind the impossible mental image of Ambulance Driver giving a lap-dance to AEPilotJim. Some things are just too ghastly to contemplate! And no, don't you dare post photographs, Farmgirl!)



Peter

Yay! Internet access restored!

My Internet access has finally been restored, so I'll be able to post as usual tonight. More later.

Peter

Internet service down

I apologize for the lack of blog posts yesterday and today. My DNS Internet service went down, and after much to-ing and fro-ing with AT&T Tech Support, it appears that it won't be up again until Monday. They're going to have to dig something out of the ground to fix it.

I'm stealing bandwidth from a nearby wireless network to post this brief update. I'll hopefully be able to post a full complement of articles for tomorrow, by driving to a wi-fi hot-spot. Service should be back to normal by tomorrow night, and my Internet access restored to normal by Monday night.

Thanks to all who've kept checking in. More posts will follow as I can make them.

Peter

This must violate all sorts of open container laws!

I'm obliged to an anonymous reader for sending me the link to this video report.

It seems the citizens of Dayton, Ohio, had much to celebrate make them cautious back in June this year. According to a news report at the time:

Traffic lanes on the I-70, I-75 interchange are now clear of a lot of beer.

Earlier a semitruck carrying a load of beer, heading northbound on I-75 to westbound I-70, struck the wall and caused debris to fall on vehicles on I-70 and I-75, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol. The ramp, now open, was closed for cleanup.




The semitruck driver and two other drivers were transported to Miami Valley Hospital.




"It's believed the semi lost its load," state trooper Steven Ilo said. The semitruck was left partially hanging over the overpass and emergency crews are working to rescue it and clear any debris. Authorities are unclear on the cause of the accident.

A passerby posted this video of the accident to YouTube. If one concedes that Bud Light is, in fact, beer (rather than a profoundly inferior liquid that would be better poured back into the horse), I guess I can understand his concerns!

Peter

Light blogging tonight

I'm very sore tonight, and my body just doesn't want to co-operate with my mind. Not surprising, really: I'm only just getting into the therapy/recovery process, and it's one month to the day since my heart attack, so I guess my body's entitled to go on strike now and then!

I'll post one video clip above, then head for bed. More blogging tomorrow night.

Peter

How not to ride the Oaks Fire Trail!

The Oaks Fire Trail is a well-known mountain bike trail in New South Wales, Australia. It's been ridden at breakneck speed for many years, and bikers seem to enjoy trying to film their efforts to cover the ground.

Due to the rough terrain, said efforts are seldom fully successful, as this video shows . . .

Oops!



Peter

A very interesting report from World War I

The Federation of American Scientists has just released a very interesting report written in 1926, examining how and why photographs of military activity were censored or prohibited from publication during World War I. The entire report, titled 'The Military Censorship of Pictures: Photographs that came under the ban during the World War – and why', by Lt. Col. Kendall Banning of the U.S. Army Signal Reserve Corps, is available online as an Adobe Acrobat document. It's over 15 megabytes in size, so downloading it over anything less than a high-speed connection is painfully slow, but it's well worth the effort if you're interested in military history.

Here are a few of the previously unpublished photographs contained in the report. I've limited myself to selecting six of them, but there are many more. Click each picture for a larger view.

Flight training accident at Kelly Field, San Antonio, TX, 1918

Bodies of US casualties awaiting burial in No Mans Land, Centigny, France, May 1918

Accidental explosion of artillery observation balloon at Fort Sill, OK, April 2nd, 1918

Grave of Lt. Quentin Roosevelt, son of former President Theodore Roosevelt.
He was shot down and killed during an aerial combat near Chamery, France,
on July 14th, 1918. German forces buried him with full military honors.

New Zealand troops pass through the Panama Canal en route to France, 1918.
The fact that they used the Canal for faster transit to the battle zone
was a closely-guarded military secret, for fear of German retaliation.

US troops pose in a captured German canteen in the St. Mihiel sector, France, 1918.

Very interesting photographs, with plenty more reproduced in the full report. Highly recommended reading.

Peter

Doofus Of The Day #287

Today's title goes to an unidentified division of the Italian police force.

An Italian motorcyclist is appealing after he lost his licence when speed cameras clocked him at an impossible 383 mph.

Paolo Turina, 26 - who also copped a £200 fine [just over US $330] - claims the speed camera was clearly so defective the charge should never have been brought.




"If I could go that fast I'd enter my bike in the MotoGP world championships. Valentino Rossi would not stand a chance. What did they think they were clocking - a jet fighter?" asked Mr Turina, of Cernusco Lombardone.

"If the court rules the fine will stand then I'm going to send it to the Guinness Book of Records - after all if the court says its true then I should get the credit for this remarkable feat."

Police claim the camera was working perfectly but said they suspected bungling staff botched the charge paperwork.

The appeal court has not yet made a decision on the case.

One hopes the court will show some sense and dismiss the charge - and one hopes the police will better calibrate their camera next time! As it is, all they're doing is dispensing bragging rights!



Peter

A fitting tribute to a forgotten leader

I'm delighted to read that a statue of the late Air Chief Marshal Sir Keith Park has been temporarily installed in London's Trafalgar Square, pending a permanent memorial to be unveiled in Waterloo Place, London, next year. The Daily Mail reports:

It was August 1940. The greatest threat to these shores in modern times was about to be unleashed.

There were plenty of men determined to resist - Winston Churchill, the prime minister, for one, and Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding, whose squadrons of fighter planes and brave pilots would have to meet the menace.

But they delegated the day-by-day and hour-by-hour running of the Battle of Britain in its most vital sector - in the South-East of England and London - to a tall and lean, quiet and calm officer of New Zealand origins, Air Vice-Marshal Keith Park.




In the coming weeks it was he who pitched his Spitfires and Hurricanes in against impossible odds, spreading his thin resources, disguising his weaknesses, going on the offensive when he could until the enemy was beaten off.

Yesterday, this unassuming hero received the public recognition he deserves as a statue of him was unveiled on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square. The 15ft glass-fibre statue, which will stay there for six months, is a fitting memorial to the man whose crucial role has been too often overlooked.

London Mayor Boris Johnson unveiled the statue and praised the efforts of campaigners who have fought to have the memorial installed.

A permanent bronze statue of Park will be erected in Waterloo Place in London on the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain on September 15 next year.

. . .

Park was the architect of the victory. 'If any one man won the Battle of Britain,' said Lord Tedder, later Marshal of the Royal Air Force, 'Park did. I do not believe it is realised what one man, with his leadership, his calm judgment and his skill, did to save, not only this country, but the world.'

There's more at the link.

Air Chief Marshal Park and his superior at Fighter Command, Air Chief Marshal Dowding, were sidelined after the Battle of Britain. They'd offended too many other influential officers and politicians with their insistence on running the Battle 'their way', and refusing to change tactics to meet the desires of others. In hindsight, they were undoubtedly correct to do so. As the leading British fighter ace, Johnnie Johnson, later said of Park, “He was the only man who could have lost the war in a day or even an afternoon”.

Park went on to command the air defense of Malta in 1942, and finished World War II as Allied Air Commander, South-East Asia (ironically replacing his great Battle of Britain rival Leigh-Mallory in that position, the latter having been killed in 1944 in an air crash while flying out to take up the post).

Such a memorial to so great a leader is long overdue.

Peter

Musical wine-glasses!

This video shows an expert playing some pretty complex music on wine-glasses.

Amazing virtuosity! I'd love to be able to do that.

Peter

Link between 'junk food' and depression?

I'm interested to note that there may be a link between a diet of 'junk food' and depression. According to the Daily Mail:

Those who regularly eat high-fat foods, processed meals, desserts and sweets are almost 60 per cent more likely to suffer depression than those who choose fruit, vegetables and fish.

Researchers claim their study is the first to investigate the link between overall diet and mental health, rather than the effects of individual foods.

Dr Eric Brunner, one of the researchers from University College London, said: 'There seem to be various aspects of lifestyle such as taking exercise which also matter, but it appears that diet is playing an independent role.'

. . .

The researchers found that those with the highest consumption of processed food were 58 per cent more likely to be depressed five years later than those eating the least amount.

The researchers suggest several reasons for the protective effect of a healthy diet.

They believe that high levels of antioxidants in fruits and vegetables protect against depression, as does the folate found in broccoli, cabbage, spinach, lentils and chickpeas.

Eating more fish may be protective due to high levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids, it is claimed.

However, it is possible the effect comes from a 'whole food' diet that has many nutrients from different types of food rather than one single nutrient.

Dr Brunner, a reader in epidemiology at UCL, said the reverse was also important, that poor eating habits put more of a strain on the body.

He said: 'If your diet is high in foods that make blood sugar levels go up and down like a yo-yo, then it's not good for your blood vessels and is bound to have an effect on the brain.'

There's more at the link.

I find this particularly interesting in the light of the number of US schoolchildren who are on prescribed drugs (e.g. Ritalin) for ADD and other mental problems. I'm willing to bet a large number of them are on junk-food-rich diets. How much do those diets have to do with their ADD and other problems? That might make for a very fertile field for research . . . but then, of course, it wouldn't be politically correct to investigate that, would it?

*Sigh*

Peter

Would you pay to go on this thing?

I've been reading about the new cruise liner, 'Oasis Of the Seas', scheduled to go into service later this year. The statistics are staggering. According to the Daily Mail:

Taller than Nelson's Column, longer than four football pitches - the Oasis Of The Seas, now preparing for her maiden voyage, is the world's largest cruise ship.

It has every imaginable facility, from basketball courts to a wedding chapel, not to mention a spa offering Botox treatment.

0.43 miles is the length of the onboard running track. It's found in the Spa and Fitness Centre, alongside kickboxing classes, tooth-whitening treatments and 24-carat gold facials.

3 years is how long the boss of STX Europe shipyard in Turku, Finland was given to build this mammoth ship. His brief was very particular: a ship large enough for 8,000 passengers and crew, complete with a landscaped park, whopping theatres, casinos and ice rinks, even an onboard hospital. All to be completed in 1,095 days.

6 weeks is how long it took to carve each of the 18 wooden animals on the fairground carousel to include zebras, giraffes and even lions as well as

7 is the number of 'districts' the ship is split into. In the middle is Central Park, a 350ft-long grassy spot with plants, trees and bamboo. The Boardwalk houses a carousel, carnival games and even a fake tattoo parlour. There's also the Royal Promenade, or shopping street; a Pool and Sport Zone; an Entertainment Place and a Youth Zone.

17.9 feet is the depth of the swimming pool in the AquaTheatre. It was built with a 750-seater arena, two surf machines and fountains. Suspended above it are two climbing walls, diving towers and even a trapeze.




32 inches is the size of the screen of the smallest television set onboard. In fact, every cabin (both staff and passenger's) has a highdefinition set that you can use not only to watch films and programmes - but to book spa treatments and on-shore excursions.

22.6 knots is Oasis Of The Sea's cruising speed - not easy given that she often has to change course rapidly and, on occasion, perform the maritime equivalent of a handbrake turn.

50 tonnes of ice are produced onboard every day by special ice machines for 37 bars and more than 20 cafes and restaurants.

208 feet is the width of the ship - wider than the wingspan of a Boeing 747.

72 different types of sweets are for sale at the onboard sweetshop, Candy Beach, enough to keep even the most sweet-toothed passenger happy.

300 is the number of workers given a sneak preview and short ride on the Oasis Of The Seas last week after putting the finishing touches to the onboard luxuries.

82 feet is the length of the zip wire course suspended over nine decks of the ship. It runs through the Pool and Sports Zone, which also houses four swimming pools (complete with water-spouting sea creatures), two 43-foot-high rock climbing walls and even a beach-themed nightclub.

93 different plant varieties are to be found on the ship. There is even an onboard nature guide for botanically inclined passengers.

37 bars, 50 tons of ice: incredible facts about the leviathan of luxury

130 square feet of real gold leaf gilding were used to make the decadent carousel on the Boardwalk.

131 is the number of feet above sea level of the four Jacuzzis, suspended high above the ocean on either side of the ship.

150 miles of pipework run through the ship - and that's not even counting the 3,300 miles of electrical cabling and 100,000 lighting points that all have to be rigged up.

460 slot machines are found in the casino - where better to blow all that holiday cash burning a hole in your pocket?




1,187 feet is the ship's length from bow to stern. That's one and a half times the length of Tower Bridge - 800ft - or equivalent to four football pitches. At 240ft, the ship is taller than Nelson's Column.

6,360 is the maximum number of passengers that can fit onboard at any one time - that's more people than can fit in the Royal Albert Hall,which has a comparatively meagre 5,544 seats.

7,500 is the horsepower of each of the four bow thrusters that manoeuvre the ship. Each of them has ten times the horsepower of Jenson Button's Formula 1 racing car.

8,000 man years of labour were painstakingly ploughed into building this ship - which is more like a mini country than a boat. But with the combined effort of 3,200 hard-grafting shipyard workers, it only took three years to complete - amazingly on schedule.

10,000 is the square footage of the onboard shops. From Italian jewellers and organic T-shirt companies, to computer game shops and designer boutiques. Oh, and some duty-free, of course.

50,000 pieces of cutlery are kept in the hotel's main dining room, Opus. No doubt, they're all needed - after all, there are more than 500 tables, which can seat 3,056 guests at any one time, so there's plenty of call for the 550 dining room staff too.

60,000 is the number of napkins that guests are expected to use on every voyage.

75,000 is the number of telephone calls that Royal Caribbean Cruises are inundated with every day - from people interested in booking a trip.

600,000 litres of paint were used to decorate the ship. After all, there were 2,706 guest staterooms (that's bedrooms to you and me) to paint, not to mention the shops, bars, swimming pools and entertainment spots.

1,700,000 is the number of hours it took to complete the design and engineering plans alone. And that's before you even think about building the thing.

2,350,000 litres of water will be used by passengers and crew, every day of sailing. It is stored in 31 huge tanks.

There's more at the link. (All pictures courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.)

Those statistics are all very impressive, to be sure . . . but they still add up to a mammoth vessel accommodating over 6,000 passengers, in which one's sure to be lost in the 'herd' rather than treated like an individual. Even the lifeboats hold 370 persons apiece! Why should I pay to have such treatment foisted upon me? I'd rather spend my money somewhere I can be given more individual attention, and not made to come and go with the masses. If this is where cruising is going to, I'm definitely out of that mode of leisure travel!

Peter

Yep - in Massachusetts, the law is certainly an ass!

Jay G. highlights an unbelievable situation in a blog post today.

Beverly man pleads guilty to molesting child

SALEM — A Beverly man has been sentenced to up to 3½ years in prison after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting a Peabody boy numerous times when he was between the ages of 6 and 8.

Prosecutors called the actions of 31-year-old Shawn Finnegan "despicable, horrific and unimaginable" in Salem Superior Court on Monday.

Got that? "Up to" 3½ years. This man destroyed a child's life and will most likely not even serve two years in prison for it. This is how the state of Massachusetts handles dangerous criminals - slap 'em on the wrist, wag your finger, and let 'em out the revolving door. Here's the kicker. If I were to pick up a 12 round magazine manufactured in 1995 at a gun show, I would serve a five year prison term. Think about that for a second.

Here's how MA views crimes:

* Own a "banned" high capacity magazine: Five years in jail.
* Molest a young child: Three and a half years in jail.

Is this not the most f***ed-up thing you have ever heard?

Yes, it most certainly is! Who the hell wrote the penalties for child molestation into Massachusetts law? I'd like to tar and feather the idiot, run him out of town on a rail, then hire someone to rewrite every clause, section and paragraph of the relevant statutes!





Peter

How to get rid of a drinking habit - NOT!!!

A forklift driver in a Russian liquor warehouse had a really, really bad day last week. The video says it all.

That was five million rubles' worth of liquor, right there - about US $171,000. Amazingly, despite being trapped under the liquorslide, neither forklift truck driver was seriously injured. They were pulled out by their fellow workers.

Dedicated dipsomaniacs may now commence crying . . .

Peter

Doofus Of The Day #286

Our hapless Doofus today is from China.

A naked man who climbed out of a window and hid on the ledge to escape his lover's furious husband has been caught on camera.

Love cheat Sun Meng has been given the cold shoulder by his community after pictures of him cowering naked on an air conditioner were posted online by a furious husband.




The terrified 25-year-old fled from the balcony window when he was caught in bed with the man's wife at the married couple's flat in Chengdu, central China.

Photographs of the angry showdown, taken by a startled neighbour, were uploaded to a local community website.

They show Sun perched on the first floor ledge while his lover is confronted by her un-named husband inside.

"My family is ashamed and none of my own neighbours will talk to me any more," said Sun.

"I know what I did was wrong but I was afraid he would kill me.

"People are even laughing at how I look naked - but I have to point out it was a very cold day," he added.

There's more at the link.

Err . . . yes, quite! Cold air does, indeed, have a shrinking effect - as does publicity, in this case, I dare say!



Peter

Anyone for (a whole lot of) tiramisu?

That's because a team of French chefs have whipped up the largest tiramisu in the world.

Weighing in at 1,075.92 kilograms (2,367 pounds) the giant tiramisu -- which means "Pick me up," or "Send me to heaven" in Italian -- was officially logged as a new Guiness World Record, according to an AFP reporter.

A dozen pastry chefs worked through the night on the dessert, with an ice rink set up specially at the fair in Villeurbanne near Lyon to keep it chilled.

A judge measures the world-record-breaking tiramisu

The giant recipe used up 300 kilos of mascarpone, 60 kilos of cream, 192 of sugar, 180 of boudoir biscuits, 4.8 of cocoa powder and 12 kilos of chocolate.

Chefs also cracked in 72 kilos of egg yolks and 108 of whites -- the equivalent of 4,000 eggs -- as well as 120 litres of water, 9.12 of coffee and 18 litres of marsala wine.

There's more at the link.

I really like tiramisu . . . and after reading that, I'm really hungry!

Peter

Were the Nazca Lines a plea for divine assistance?

An article in the Daily Mail postulates that by cutting down native vegetation to make room for agriculture, the Nazca culture eventually destroyed itself by making its environment untenable.

... the Nazca cleared areas of forest to make way for their own agriculture over the course of many generations.

In doing so, the huarango tree, which once covered what is now a desert area, was gradually replaced by crops such as cotton and maize. They examined plant remains found in the Ica Valley to understand what happened.

But the tree was crucial to the desert's fragile ecosystem as it enhanced soil fertility and moisture and helped to hold the Nazca's narrow, vulnerable irrigation channels in place, the researchers said. Its deep roots held the soil together and protected against erosion.

The Nazca eventually cut down so many trees that they reached a tipping point at which the arid ecosystem was irreversibly damaged with the removal of this natural defence system.

An El Nino-style flood then occurred, but its impact would have been far less devastating had the forests which protected the delicate desert ecology still been there, they said.




Dr David Beresford-Jones, of the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research at Cambridge University, said: 'These were very particular forests. The huarango is a remarkable nitrogen-fixing tree and it was an important source of food, forage, timber and fuel for the local people.

'It is the ecological 'keystone' species in this desert zone, enhancing soil fertility and moisture, ameliorating desert extremes in the microclimate beneath its canopy and underpinning the floodplain with one of the deepest root systems of any tree known.

'In time, gradual woodland clearance crossed an ecological threshold - sharply defined in such desert environments - exposing the landscape to the region's extraordinary desert winds and the effects of El Nino floods.'

Without huarango cover, Nasca irrigation systems were obliterated by flooding rivers when El Nino struck, meaning the area became unworkable for agriculture.

Evidence shows in the generations that followed infant mortality rose, average adult life expectancy fell, crops failed and drought hit the region.

There's more at the link.

The whole story makes one wonder about the Nazca Lines, which have long fascinated scientists and archaeologists. Who or what were the Nazca addressing with these weird drawings? Were they, perhaps, a plea for help to whatever deity or deities the Nazca worshiped, asking for the return of abundant water and food?

Peter

Another one that got taken away

At the beginning of last month I put up a video clip of a sealion 'stealing' a fish right off the line of a fisherman. It seems that isn't all that unusual an occurrence in northern waters . . . and orcas sometimes get into the act as well! Here's a killer whale taking advantage of an angler's strike to get a quick meal.

(Language alert: the fisherman didn't appreciate being robbed!)

Hmmm . . . on balance, I'd be grateful the orca didn't swallow the whole fish, along with my hook, and then take my rod, tackle, and perhaps even my boat - not to mention me! - along with it when next it dived deep!



Peter

The latest on The High Road

Regular readers will recall that I've written several times in the past about the theft of The High Road, a firearms forum, from Oleg Volk, its rightful owner. (There are six links there.)

Oleg Volk has posted an update on his LiveJournal about the case. Briefly, oral depositions have been taken, and further depositions are required. As soon as they've been completed, a date for trial will be set, probably sometime in the New Year. (I had posted more details, but I've taken them down so as not to interfere with the legal process.)

I've supported Oleg since the beginning on this matter, as have almost the entire firearms community who are aware of the facts of the matter. Here's hoping for a speedy resolution in his favor.

Peter

Around the world to win a bet!

It's not quite 'Around The World In 80 Days', but it's close enough! According to the Daily Mail:

A grandfather has survived Taliban attacks, floods and an earthquake, to win a bet by driving around the world in his MG Midget.

Roy Locock, 62, set off in his 1977 Midget, affectionately called Bridget, to travel 39,000 miles, travelling through 27 countries in just 16 months.

He decided to attempt the challenge, after his neighbour, Alan Lines, said he thought the trip 'couldn't be done'.

Within 12 weeks he took to the road with a boot full of spare parts and two sports bags holding his clothes in the passenger seat.




He completed the drive despite being caught up in an earthquake in Panama and a Taliban attack in Quetta, Pakistan.

Mr Locock said: 'I woke up one morning and the hotel was shaking.

'There was mortar fire outside, followed by small arms fire.

'The Taliban were firing on the army garrison next door.'

Despite those close encounters, the retired radio engineer said the only time he feared for his safety was during the worst floods in 30 years in the Northern Territories, Australia.

His trip took him through Western Europe to Iran, Pakistan and India before taking the boat Down Under via Thailand.

After a tour of Australia Mr Locock took another boat to Argentina from where he rode along the pan-American highway all the way to Canada before heading home.




He finally arrived back at his local MG Car Club to a sheepish welcome from his doubting neighbour.

Mr Lines said: 'It’s a fantastic achievement, and I’m delighted to be proven wrong.

'To be honest, I thought he’d get half way round the world and give up.'

Now that he is back the grandfather-of-two said his first priority was to catch up with his family.

For more information about his trip visit www.bridgetthemidget.co.uk.

There's more at the link, and much more information, including a diary of the trip, at Mr. Locock's Web site. Highly recommended reading.

Nice to see that the spirit of adventure is still alive and well!

Peter

Remembering one man's sacrifice

We forget all too easily that those who protect and serve - our police - are also vulnerable to the forces of evil they battle on our behalf. Sometimes, they lose the fight.

Fifty-nine years ago today, Officer Leslie W. Coffelt lost his fight for life, but even in dying, probably helped to save the life of a US President. Wikipedia reports:

In the 1940s, Puerto Rican nationalists were increasingly angered by what they viewed as great injustices towards Puerto Rico.

. . .

Griselio Torresola came from a family that believed in the Puerto Rican independence cause, while Oscar Collazo had been participating in the movement since childhood. They met in New York City and became good friends. On October 28, 1950, they received the news that the Jayuya Uprising, led by the nationalist Blanca Canales in Puerto Rico, had failed. Torresola's sister had been wounded and his brother Elio was arrested. Collazo and Torresola then decided to assassinate President Truman with the intention of bringing world attention to the independence cause of Puerto Rico.

. . .

During the presidency of Harry Truman, the White House was found to have serious structural faults and was completely gutted and renovated. While the White House was undergoing renovation, the President resided at Blair House.

[On November 1st, 1950] Torresola walked up Pennsylvania Avenue from the west side while his partner, Oscar Collazo, walked up to Capital police officer Donald Birdzell on the steps of the Blair house. Approaching Birdzell from behind, Collazo pulled out a Walther P38 handgun, pointed it at the officer's back, and pulled the trigger; but nothing happened. After pounding on his pistol and fumbling around with it, Collazo managed to fire the weapon just as Birdzell was turning to face him, striking the officer in his right knee. Nearby, Secret Service Agent Floyd Boring and White House Police officer Joseph Davidson heard the shot and opened fire on Collazo with their service revolvers. Collazo returned fire, but soon found himself outgunned as the wounded Birdzell managed to draw his weapon and join the shootout. Soon after, Collazo was struck by two .38 caliber rounds in the head and right arm, while other officers rushed to join the fight.

Meanwhile, Torresola approached a guard booth at the west corner of the Blair-Lee House, and noted an officer, Private Leslie Coffelt, sitting inside. Torresola, in a double handed Weaver Stance, quickly pivoted from left to right around the opening of the booth. Coffelt was taken completely by surprise, as tourists often stopped at the box to ask for information. Torresola fired four shots from his 9 mm German Luger semi-automatic pistol at close range at Coffelt. Three of the shots struck Coffelt in the chest and abdomen, and the fourth went through his policeman's tunic. Coffelt slumped down in his chair, mortally wounded.

Torresola then turned his attention to plainclothes White House policeman Joseph Downs. Downs, who had just paused to chat with Coffelt, proceeded down the walkway to the basement door at the west end of the Blair-Lee house when he heard shots being fired. Downs noticed Torresola, but was shot once in the hip before he could draw his weapon. Downs turned back towards the house, and was shot twice more by Torresola, once in the back and once in the neck. Downs staggered to the basement door, opened it, slid in, and then slammed the door behind him, denying Torresola entry into the Blair House.

Torresola then turned his attention to the shoot-out between his partner, Collazo, and several other law enforcement officers. Torresola noted wounded policeman Donald Birdzell aiming at Collazo from the south side of Pennsylvania Avenue. Torresola aimed and shot Birdzell in the left knee from a distance of approximately 40 feet. Now shot in both knees, Birdzell was no longer able to stand and flopped over. He would later recover. But soon after, the severely wounded Collazo was hit in the chest by a ricochet shot from Davidson and was incapacitated, too.

Torresola realized he was out of ammunition. He stood to the immediate left of the Blair House steps while he reloaded. At the same time, President Truman, who had been taking a nap in his second-floor bedroom, awoke to the sound of gunfire outside. President Truman went to his bedroom window, opened it, and looked outside. From where he stood reloading, Torresola was thirty-one feet away from that window. It is unknown whether either man saw the other.

At the same time, the mortally-wounded Coffelt staggered out of his guard booth, leaned against it, and aimed his revolver at Torresola, who was approximately 30 feet away. Coffelt fired, hitting Torresola two inches above the ear on a slight upward angle, killing him instantly. Coffelt was taken to hospital but died some four hours later.

The gunfight involving Torresola lasted approximately 20 seconds, while the gunfight with Collazo lasted approximately 38.5 seconds.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is the measure of a hero. Mortally wounded, Officer Coffelt nevertheless forced himself to rejoin the fight and disable his attacker before succumbing to his wounds. His heroism was officially recognized by his burial in Arlington National Cemetery.




The Secret Service, who took over the task of Presidential protection soon after the assassination attempt, commemorated Officer Coffelt's heroism, and that of his colleagues, at a ceremony in Washington DC this morning. It included the fastening of a floral shield to the fence around Blair House, next to this plaque permanently mounted there, forever honoring Officer Coffelt's sacrifice.




Let us remember him with gratitude, and - for those so inclined, of whom I'm one - pray for his soul.

Peter