"When did we decide women should shave their legs?"

That's the title of an article in Australia's 'Daily Life'.  Here's an excerpt.

Before the First World War, virtually no woman in the West shaved her legs. And yet by 1964, 98 per cent of them under the age of 44 did so. What happened in between?

Advertising happened, that's what.

Christina Hope researched the evolution for her 1982 paper titled 'Caucasian Female Body Hair and American Culture'. Through surveying ads in old issues of Harper's Bazaar and McCall's magazines, she could track how women were progressively browbeaten into going hairless via an extreme marketing assault.

At the turn of the century, women – and men, presumably – didn't particularly care about body hair as long sleeves and floor-grazing skirts concealed most of the body.

According to Hope, things began to change in 1915. As sheer sleeves and Greek- and Roman-style dresses came into fashion, ads in Harper's Bazaar started to target underarm hair, informing American womanhood of a problem it had but didn't know existed until now. "The Woman of Fashion Says the underarm must be as smooth as the face," read a typical pitch. "Summer Dress and Modern Dancing combine to make necessary the removal of objectionable hair," said another.

Beauty writers jumped onboard, too, ushering in a vogue for body hair removal. Cue, a whole new outlet of female hang-ups for advertisers to exploit!

There's more at the link, including many advertisements illustrating the point.

I must admit, I've never been bothered at the thought (or the reality) of body hair on women.  Of course, I come from a continent where shaving legs and arms was a luxury reserved for the wealthy few, and women in rural (and particularly tribal) environments would have laughed at the thought.  I'm informed by Miss D. that this is also the case in large parts of Alaska.  She's quipped before, "Ah, Alaskan women - skin like porcelain, legs like Chewbacca!"  It always makes me grin - but in so cold a climate, I find it perfectly understandable.

Peter

Here's one to send warbird enthusiasts into ecstasies

This is a bit like the Holy Grail legend as far as warbird enthusiasts are concerned.

Ken Scholz bought N5416V in 1973. How much was it flown? Good question. I have no photos of it running or in the air. It was stored outside for several years, then moved inside his hangar where it sat - rarely touched. Ken, regarded as a nice and approachable man, passed away in 2004 and then his wife Marlene in 2012. The P-51 along with an extra Packard-Rolls Merlin are up for auction.

To participate, you will need a $25,000 deposit. The winner will have to be approved by the courts and have final money ready by June 9 2015. How much? That depends on the bidding war that might erupt trying to acquire a piece of history. Bidding is online June 2-4 2015.

There's more at the link.  Details of the auction (if you're interested) may be found here.

Here's a video of the plane in its present condition.

She'll need a lot of restoration, but to find an unrestored P-51D Mustang today in any shape or form is just about impossible.  I expect a huge amount of interest from the warbird community.  I wonder if Murphy's Law is counting his pennies already?

Peter

I think they're missing the point

Yet again, we've seen fighter jets dispatched to 'escort' aircraft to US airports after threats were made against them.  Yet again, we've heard travelers and others remark how "comforting" the presence of those aircraft is to them.

They clearly don't understand that those fighters are there for one reason and one reason only . . . to shoot down the aircraft if it has, indeed, been hijacked or otherwise turned into a danger to cities and installations on the ground.  The fighters can't possibly intervene in a hijacking inside the cabin, and can't stop whatever's on board from manifesting itself.  Their only function is to stop that aircraft threatening anything or anyone else.  That's what their missiles and cannon will do in the last resort.

If I were on board one of those airliners, I wouldn't find the presence of fighters "reassuring" or "comforting".  I'd find it bloody terrifying!




Peter

Murphy was a bicyclist . . .

The following video clip shows a bicyclist in London who zoomed through a red light and went headlong into the side of a bus.  Fortunately, he wasn't seriously hurt. Watch it in full-screen mode for best effect.

The photographer initially thought that the cyclist had deliberately run the light.  However, after he posted the video on YouTube, the cyclist commented:

"It was me.  Thought I'd just get the lights, hence the speed.  Realised it wasn't happening, squeezed the front brake.  Cable snapped.  Not enough time to lose speed on back wheel in the wet.  Not fun."

That's a very worthwhile reminder that we may do everything right, but still be caught short due to a mechanical failure or someone else's mistake.  In the cyclist's case, his brakes let him down.  Another friend of Miss D.'s and mine had a very narrow escape on an Interstate highway just a few days ago, when a driver being pursued by the police cut in front of him and wrecked.  He just missed him, but at the cost of flat-spotted tires and burned-out brakes, costing him four figures to repair.  He wasn't happy about that, to put it mildly!

Driving defensively means accepting that whatever can go wrong, sooner or later will go wrong.  The better we drive, the lower the chance that Murphy will kill us.  I'm grateful for the reminder - and that it came cheaply, without anyone getting hurt or killed in this case.

Peter

Gay marriage and the Catholic Church's loss of moral authority

I'm sure many readers have noted the overwhelming vote in favor of 'gay marriage' in Ireland last weekend.  Yahoo! News reported that the result had 'unnerved' the Catholic Church in that country.

The once-dominant Catholic Church in Ireland was trying to come to terms Sunday with an overwhelming vote in favour of gay marriage, saying it needed a "new language" to connect to people.

As jubilant "Yes" supporters nursed their hangovers after partying late into the night following Saturday's referendum result, the faithful attended mass to hear their priests reflect on the new social landscape in Ireland.

"The Church has to find a new language which will be understood and heard by people," Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin, a senior Irish cleric, told reporters after mass at the city's St Mary's Pro-Cathedral.

"We have to see how is it that the Church's teaching on marriage and family is not being received even within its own flock."

He added: "There's a growing gap between Irish young people and the Church and there's a growing gap between the culture of Ireland that's developing and the Church."

There's more at the link.

It's reported that Italy may be the next domino to fall.  Both countries were staunchly Catholic in their society, culture, and social policies for centuries.  What's happened to produce such a rapid change?

Some commentators have blamed external factors.  For example, Tim Stanley says of the Irish referendum:

First, foreigners spent a lot of money to get this passed. Both sides have accused each other of relying on outside cash, but nothing could really match the scale of that poured into a Yes vote. Second, the Irish were told that saying No might damage their economy. Third, almost the entire Irish political establishment rallied around the gay marriage issue: it enjoyed the backing of politicians in Fine Gael, Labour and Fianna Fail. Finally, the press was biased. One election-eve study found that Irish papers had carried three times more Yes articles than No articles.

However, he goes on to admit:

It used to be that Irishness was defined by affection for the Catholic Church and resistance to European liberal trends. So stubborn was this identity that the country took longer than the rest of Western Europe to embrace secularism. But the paedophile revelations of the 1990s rightly rocked faith in the Church as an institution, while a series of recent scandals shook faith in its actual theology. The latter set of outrages were, frankly, distortions of the facts. It was wrongly claimed that a woman had been allowed to die because Catholic doctors would not give her a life saving abortion (no such thing even exists). It was falsely charged that a Catholic children's home had dumped the bodies of hundreds of unwanted babies into a septic tank. Never mind that both stories crumbled under scrutiny – the popularity of them spoke to a growing sense that everything wrong with Ireland was due to the imported tyranny of Catholicism. Shake off the last remnants of traditional religious authority, it was reasoned, and Ireland could finally join the 21st century. Au revoir, Father Ted.

To emphasise, the Yes vote was undoubtedly a reflection of growing tolerance towards gays and lesbians. But it was also a politically trendy, media backed, well financed howl of rage against Catholicism. How the Church survives this turn, is not clear. It'll require a lot of hard work and prayers.

There's more at the link.

Mr. Stanley is quite right that some of the accusations leveled against the Catholic Church were based on false premises and were overblown by a rampantly speculative (and secular) media.  However, he ignores the reality that far too many people (including a great many who still consider themselves Catholic, whether or not they're active in the Church) have seen for themselves the utter and complete lack of sincerity in the institutional Church in response to the clergy pedophilia scandals in recent decades.

I've written extensively about my own experience of the issue (see the list of 'Articles on the Catholic clergy sex abuse scandal and related issues' in the sidebar).  To me, the ultimate test of the Catholic Church's attitude to this problem is based on their actions.  Remember the old proverb, 'Actions speak louder than words'?  Well, the Church's words may have been regretful, but its actions have said something else entirely.  While the authorities have dumped every priest even suspected of pedophilia (sometimes based on flimsy evidence), almost all the bishops, administrators, etc. who:

• allowed the problem to arise;
• did nothing to resolve it in its earliest stages;
• and covered it up for years;

have never been disciplined.  Large numbers of them have retired to enjoy their pensions;  many others are still in office, their careers unaffected by their errors.  Furthermore, the measures they've put in place to prevent such problems in future are almost entirely window-dressing.  They'll have no practical effect.  They can have no practical effect, because the institution that has (nominally) implemented them will resist reforming itself by might and main.  I saw that resistance at first hand.  It destroyed a large part of my life, and has left a gaping hole in my soul to this day.

I find myself with a new and deeper understanding of Mary Magdalene as she went to the Tomb on the morning of Easter Sunday (John 20:11-13).

But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping, and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the tomb.  And she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.  Then they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?”

She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.”

That's the way I feel about the Church in which I was raised.  Its prelates and administrators have taken it away, and I do not know where they have laid it.  All I know is, the institution I served for many years, and in which I had faith, is no longer there . . . and it's a cold, lonely place without it.

I think many Catholic and formerly Catholic voters feel the same way.  I think that's why so many of them finally lost patience with their former spiritual home, and voted in favor of gay marriage.  I don't think it's because they believe the latter is necessarily morally right.  I think it was a protest vote.  The problem is, the Church will probably refuse to recognize that reality, and do what it should have done years - decades! - ago.  Too many of its leaders are clinging to their positions of power.  They won't give them up, because that would mean sacrificing their worldly status and privileges.

They're more in love with the institution of the Church than they are with the person of Christ - and that leaves the rest of us out in the cold.

You have no idea how it saddens me to have to say that last sentence . . . but I believe it's true.

May Almighty God have mercy on all of us.  We're surely going to need it.

Peter

Clever!

I had to laugh at this report in the Telegraph.

Handyman Thomas McCormack was puzzled when Paddy his pet followed him on his train to work one morning.

The four-year-old labrador-collie cross had trotted after him to the local station before boarding the same carriage and leaping onto a seat beside him.

Mr McCormack, 34, could not understand how he had got out of the fenced-in garden where he had been left him for the day.

He had also been wondering how it was that Paddy had started waiting for him to return from work - sitting outside his front door.

The mystery was solved when neighbours told him they had seen the dog bounding on the trampoline to get over the fence just after Mr McCormack left in the morning.

There's more at the link.

Here's the guilty party.

That's a dog with a brain, all right!




Peter

"His taint is now a non-skid surface" . . .

. . . according to Paul at Hawsepiper.  Go read the whole thing for a good laugh!

Peter

A very touching advertisement

An Argentine advertising agency produced this video for an organ donation organization.  Have your Kleenex handy if you're a dog-lover.

I'd call that a pretty good effort.

Peter

Remembering the "Little Ships"

Seventy-five years ago this week, Operation Dynamo got under way - the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk in France.  Its survival meant that Britain could continue the war against Nazi Germany, standing alone until the USA entered the war in December 1941.

Evacuation was initially thought so difficult as to be practically impossible, because there were no major ports along the coast at or near Dunkirk.  Ships could not get close enough to load the troops directly.  However, a massive appeal was launched to all boat-owners along the English coast for any suitable craft to be brought to Dover.  Some, whose owners could not be traced in time, were simply commandeered.  Several hundred of the so-called "Little Ships" eventually made the crossing to Dunkirk.  There they ferried soldiers from the beaches and makeshift jetties (some formed by driving Army trucks into the waves until they stalled, then pushing them further out by means of other trucks shoving from behind, until a line of trucks half a mile long extended into the sea).  Some of the small craft even tackled the relatively long voyage back to England under their own power, because there weren't enough larger rescue ships to take aboard their 'cargo' of rescued soldiers.

In total, about 220 warships and large vessels and about 700 of the "little ships" were involved in the evacuation.  Six British and three French destroyers were sunk, along with another nine larger vessels plus about 200 of the small boats;  many more were damaged.  However, their sacrifice helped to achieve the rescue of 192,226 British and 139,000 French soldiers – a total of 331,226 in all.  The British troops were re-equipped to form the core of Britain's army.  Some French soldiers chose to be repatriated to France after the Armistice, but many others stayed on in England to form the core of the Free French forces.

Last week about 50 small craft sailed from Ramsgate in England to Dunkirk to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the evacuation.  Among them were a number of the original "Little Ships" that have been preserved to this day.

The last surviving veterans of the evacuation are telling their stories for possibly the last time, as the next commemoration will only be held in five years time.  It's doubtful whether many of them - or any of them - will be either alive, or healthy enough to attend again.

I can remember my mother describing the emotion in England as the tens of thousands of rescued soldiers were ferried to their bases aboard trains and buses.  She told me of how she wept to see them so bedraggled and exhausted, and joined other young women in providing sandwiches and cups of tea to sustain them on their long journey.  She and others listened to Winston Churchill's address to the House of Commons and the nation at the conclusion of the evacuation, and took fresh heart from it.  (She met my father shortly thereafter, and married him in early 1942.)

Dark days indeed . . . but the darkness turned to dawn, and five years later the full light of victory brought freedom for Europe.  Let's not forget what our parents and grandparents went through to bring that about, this Memorial Day weekend.

Peter

Robert de Niro lays it on the line

Robert de Niro recently gave the graduation address at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.  He congratulated the graduates . . . then immediately told them "You're f****d" (and yes, he used that word).  He went on to describe the challenges that lay ahead for them, and told them what their lives would be like.  It's a remarkable testimony from one of our era's foremost actors, and the most clear and concise description I've yet heard of an acting life.

If you, or anyone you love or know, has ambitions in that line, this is really worth listening to.  It's sometimes very funny, but also very thought-provoking.

Nice to hear someone telling the plain, unvarnished truth with no sugar-coating.

Peter

A very courageous confession

Ken White, one of the lawyers who contributes over at Popehat, has put up a remarkable article in which he discusses his battle with severe depression, including recent voluntary treatment in a specialized hospital.  Here's an excerpt.

I'm still here. That's a consequence of the grace, and love, and generosity, and decency of others, and my own ridiculously good luck. I'm here, I feel good — not just okay, but good — and I'm very happy to still be here. Not only that, I feel hope. If you haven't been depressed, that may seem like just a little thing, but it's not. I don't feel the hope that I'll never have a low point of anxiety and depression again. It's going to happen again; that's the deal. No: I feel hope that when it happens again, I have the tools to face it.

Every time I write about depression, I feel like I'm having the naked-at-school dream, exposed and poised for incoming ridicule. No matter how often I say that depression is nothing to be ashamed of, and how sincerely I believe it in my head, my gut tells me otherwise. But every time I write about depression, I get emails from people thanking me for talking openly about the subject and for describing what it's like. And, as I said, I'm only here because of the decency of others. I owe back. I owe back more than I can possibly repay. A little squeamishness doesn't weigh much in the balance.

So here we are. I'm Ken, and though I live an outwardly "normal," high-functioning and successful life, I suffer from grave anxiety and depression, and last year it got bad enough that I was hospitalized "voluntarily" for it. Maybe you suffer, or maybe you love somebody who suffers, or maybe you want to understand depression and anxiety more so you can support people who suffer. I want to share some things I've learned in the course of a harrowing experience, in hope that it might help someone, even a little.

There's much more at the link.

As a pastor I've worked with people suffering from depression, and once suffered a temporary, short-term bout of it myself during a particularly difficult period in my life.  It's no fun at all, even from my limited experience, and I've seen how utterly debilitating it can be to those who suffer from more severe forms of it.  Fortunately, treatments have been developed that are light years ahead of those available to our parents and ancestors.

I think Mr. White is to be applauded for his willingness to share so openly about what is a really serious problem, one that affects far more people than most of us realize.  If you also suffer from depression, or know someone who does, or would like to know more about it, I strongly recommend clicking over and reading what he has to say.  It's long, but well worth your time.

Peter

The Battle of Berlin, 70 years later

This year is the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II in 1945.  The climactic European battle of that war was the Soviet fight to take Berlin, capital of Nazi Germany, in April and May of that year.

The Big Picture, a publication of the Boston Globe, has provided a fascinating series of photographs of scenes from the battle, juxtaposed with the same location photographed from almost the same position 70 years later.  The contrast between utter destruction and modern prosperity is jarring.  Here's just one of them to whet your appetite.  Click the image for a larger view.

There are many more images at the link.  They make fascinating viewing.

It's humbling to think of those who survived all that, then went on to rebuild their countries and establish the prosperity that we take for granted today.

Peter

A very fitting recognition of a hero, 75 years later

I was touched to read about one aspect of the Royal Air Force's commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain.

An RAF Typhoon fighter has been repainted in the Second World War colours of a Battle of Britain hero to mark the 75th anniversary of the crucial clash.

The Eurofighter jet which is usually coloured a drab grey has instead been painted with the camouflage and 249 Squadron identification number of the only Fighter Command pilot awarded a Victoria Cross during the battle.  (It's shown below alongside a WW2 vintage Hurricane fighter of the RAF's Battle of Britain Memorial Flight. Click the image for a larger view.)

Flt Lt James Brindley Nicolson won Britain’s highest award for battlefield bravery for attacking and shooting down a German fighter even though his own cockpit was on fire.

The repainted Typhoon will fly alongside a WWII Spitfire at air shows across the UK this summer.

There's more at the link.

That's a fine paint job, and one that I think F/Lt. Nicholson would have appreciated.  Unfortunately he was killed near the end of the war, in 1945, in the crash of a B-24 Liberator bomber in the Bay of Bengal.  My late father would have recognized it, too.  He started the war as the equivalent of a Lance-Corporal in the RAF, and was commissioned as an engineer officer shortly after the Battle.  That color scheme would have been very much a part of his life at the time.

May F/Lt. Nicholson, and all those who died in the Battle of Britain, rest in peace.

Peter

A "spectacularly honest" job advertisement

The Telegraph reports:

Budding chefs who don’t mind working in a kitchen the size of a closet for “s—t” money can look no further.

A restaurateur has posted a brutally honest job advert seeking a colleague who is “fast, progressive, and not a total p----k” to work alongside him in his new American diner in Glasgow.

Justin Valmassoi, a Michigan-born businessman pulls no punches, warning potential applicants not to waste his time if they think a “good sandwich is a tuna mayo like your gran makes” and stressing that he did not want to receive any CVs filled with anodyne, generic statements.

“If you have one that says you're a "hard-working team player that can also function well alone" and that you "value customer service and punctuality" I will stab myself in the face with a pencil and nobody will get a job,” he writes.

There's more at the link.

The advertisement may be found here.  The following is a short excerpt.

I have no problem working seven days a week, but on the off-chance I break my foot or get third-degree steam burns on my face I need someone who can work unsupervised and still make quality food. It's a breakfast/brunch/lunch place to start, but there are no eggs benedicts. Go on, wrap your head around that and then continue reading. I'll wait.

. . .

I don't care if you're super outgoing or actually mute. I don't care if you've got tattoos. I don't care if you only work in kitchens to get away from your horrible significant other. I don't care about anything other than that you're fast enough not to be in the weeds constantly and you want to be part of something genuine and good. This is a mom-and-pop type restaurant. You can learn a lot. You can have a good degree of freedom. What you cannot do is be a pain in my balls because my life savings is on the line and I have to work with my wife all day so I don't have time for any primadonna bullsh*t.

. . .

If you think I sound like an obnoxious d*ckhead, congratulations. You are observant and will go far in life. Don't let it discourage you, though. I'm only a d*ckhead for the first three years you know me. After that I'm a total sweetheart.

Again, more at the link.

Y'know, on the basis of that advertisement, I'd go and eat there if I lived in the area, just to say "thanks for the laughs" with my wallet!

Peter

Gangs and the threat they pose

Following the publicity generated by the motorcycle gang clash in Waco, Texas last weekend, Survival Blog has put up a three-part article on gangs that contains some useful information.  Follow these links:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

The articles don't go into much detail, but provide a good overview.  For more information, see:

FBI Gang Information Page

National Gang Center

There are many other resources on the Web, not all of which are as good as others.  A quick Internet search will reveal many more links.

I ran into a lot of gangs and gang members during my work as a prison chaplain.  Gangs are probably in your area.  There are few where they aren't.  Forewarned is forearmed.

Peter

Fred gets his wookie on

The indomitable Fred Reed responds to recent news that Army ROTC candidates were forced to march in high heels as part of sexual-assault awareness events.  Here's an excerpt.

Dear General,

I see that on your watch the Army is turning into a transvestite marching corps in high heels, a Ziegfeld cross-gendered or bisected gay-bath sexual zoo vacuuming up every sort of erotic loony, not to mention becoming a home for unwed mothers and prostitution rings. I commend you. I have always wanted to be defended by a freak show.

. . .

What I figure, General, is you ought to set an example for the troops by wearing panties and a bra (if you don’t already wear panties: I give you credit for miitary foresight.) A good officer--we had some--doesn't order his men to do anything he himself wouldn't do. Walk a Mile in Her Skivvies, General. (Actually, when I was a hard-charging young Gyrene, we spent a lot of time trying to get into women's skivvies. Now it’s going to be mandatory?)

. . .

Now, General, I speak only for myself as a Marine who carried a rifle in Viet Nam, but others may agree with me. (A “rifle” is one of those awful long thingies (no, not those long thingies) that make boomy noises and stinky smoke and put stains on your cocktail dress that just ruin it.) Outside of Da Nang we used to lie behind sandbags at night with mortars coming in (a “mortar” is one of those gun thingies with a tube—no, a different kind of tube, General—that shoots--never mind) hoping a hit wouldn’t spray a buddy’s guts around. To a man we were thinking, why couldn’t we have a leader like a Pentagon general to give us cute little heels instead of these uncomfy old boots?

There's more at the link.

"Fred Reed".  "Political correctness".  Two phrases not normally encountered in close proximity . . . or in high heels!




Peter

That's a tough gun sight!

Last year I put up half a dozen posts concerning the upgrading and refurbishing of AR-15 rifles.  In #6 of that series I talked about sights, including red dot sights.  I mentioned that the most 'value-for-money' optic in the Aimpoint series was at that time its Patrol Rifle Optic, or PRO, shown below.

Now comes proof of the PRO's toughness under extreme conditions.

Paul Riddell ... lost his Minnesota home to a fire one night this past February.

. . .

Aside from all his family’s other possessions, he lost three firearms in the blaze. But, he reports his Aimpoint PRO mounted on a Spikes lower/BCM-EAG lightweight upper frankenrifle somehow survived the fire. That’s it in the inset photo of his rifle above, red dot glowing defiantly. Aimpoint found out about it and already swapped it for a brand new optic and with a plan to display the survivor in its museum.

“Here’s a picture of my AR after it was recovered from my house fire after being exposed to the elements for over a month in late February to mid March,” said Riddell. “The rifle was at the core of the fire.”

He said the rifle sat in the water and ice leftover from the firefighters, exposed to the outside in sub zero Wisconsin winter. Weeks later, Riddell was allowed to look through the wreckage after the fire investigation was complete. He found his melted pile of a rifle covered in ice, rust, ash and mud in the debris. The polymer rifle case it was stored in had fused to sections of the rifle, as well. He pried open the eyepiece cover on the PRO and turned the knob. And, it lit up.

“Had I been willing to trust firing the gun,” said Riddell, ” I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if it held zero.”

There's more at the link, including a picture of the damaged rifle and sight.

Kudos to Aimpoint for replacing the fire-damaged sight with a new one - but they'll get their money's worth out of it as an example to potential customers of how tough their products are.  Makes me glad I recently bought a PRO to put on my 'fighting rifle'.

Peter

I need your help with a book cover, please

I've had some feedback from readers who don't like the cover of my latest book, 'Forge A New Blade'.  I've taken a look at their criticisms, and I can see their point.  The overall theme fits that of previous covers in the Maxwell series, but doesn't necessarily fit with the first volume of the Laredo War trilogy, 'War To The Knife', the cover of which which showed a battle in space.

I'm therefore looking at alternatives.  Here's the existing cover image, plus one I may use to replace it.  The latter also fits the plot of 'Forge A New Blade' in that it shows three cargo vessels in formation, which would correspond to the three converted merchantmen serving as Armed Merchant Cruisers in the book.

Here's where you come in, readers.  Looking at the two images, which do you prefer?  In particular, if you've already read the book, which fits it better?  Please leave your opinion in Comments.

(This is one of the real advantages of independent publishing. If a cover - or any other element - doesn't work, one can change it very quickly in response to feedback. Mainstream publishers don't have that luxury.)

Thanks very much for your help.

Peter

I'd never have thought of doing that!

El Capitan brings us these images of an RV that had an argument with a tree - and lost.

The owner decided to make the best of it . . . and converted it into, of all things, a flatbed truck!

There are more images at the link.

El Capitan is annoyed because he can't afford to go out to Utah, buy it, and drive it back.  Personally, I wouldn't have thought an RV frame/chassis/suspension could stand the stresses that a typical flatbed load would exert, but what do I know?

Peter

Wish I'd been in the passenger seat

It seems Lamborghini's Aventador SV recently tackled the Nurburgring as part of development testing for its P Zero Corsa tires.  As Autoblog describes it:

Lambo unveiled its latest Superveloce in Geneva just a couple of months ago, boasting an upgraded version of its free-revving V12, unburdened by 110 pounds of excess weight and fitted with enhanced equipment. The result of all these improvements is 740 horsepower, 509 pound-feet of torque, a 2.8-second 0-62 time, a top speed of 217 miles per hour and a Nordschleife lap time of 6:59.73. No turborchargers, no hybrid assist, no type certification or regulatory loopholes. Just an old-fashioned twelve-cylinder supercar doing what it does best, and trouncing just about everything else in the process.

There's more at the link.

Here's a video of the lap.  I highly recommend watching it in full-screen mode to get a better idea of the speed, particularly over the last long straight stretch (which goes by so fast you forget it's a couple of miles long).

Just listen to that V12 roar!  Music . . .

Peter

To Tweet or not to Tweet? That is the question . . .

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The ads and trackers of outrageous Facebook
Or dive into a raging sea of Tweeters,
And by partaking, join them?

(With apologies to William Shakespeare!)

I don't want to go on Facebook.  I've written many times before about how that company's cynical disregard for its users' privacy and security makes it beyond the pale in my book.  However, I come across several articles each day that I like, or which intrigue me, but about which I don't have time to write on this blog.  I also come across books that strike a chord, or YouTube video clips that interest me, or articles on other blogs that catch my eye.  (I used to address the latter in regular "Around The Blogs" articles, but again, those take a lot of time to prepare;  and when I'm working to a book deadline, it's hard to keep them up.)

I'm trying to decide whether to open a Twitter account, where I can provide links to things like that.  Would you be interested in following it?  Is this something you'd find useful or valuable?  Or would I simply be lost in the background noise?  I'd be grateful for your feedback.  Please let me know in Comments what you think.

Thanks in advance.

Peter

The war on cash

I'm sure readers have been aware of the growing number of calls from statist economists and financiers to do away with cash altogether.  In recent weeks, they include the following:

• Citigroup's Gold "Expert" Demands A Cash Ban
• Largest Bank In America Joins War On Cash
• How to end boom and bust: make cash illegal
• Leading German Keynesian Economist Calls For Cash Ban
• Why Central Banks HATE Cash and Will Begin to Tax It Shortly

The real reason for the onslaught on cash, of course, is the desire by politicians and financiers to exert greater control over their citizens subjects.  Without cash, we can be forced to use our money as they see fit, or - if we don't - they'll confiscate it, tax it, devalue it, or do anything else they please.  With our money reduced to binary ones and zeroes in a computer system, it'll no longer be "our" money at all - it'll be theirs.  The "shadow economy", almost always run on a cash and/or barter basis, will take a heavy hit and be wiped out in many cases, forcing those currently making a living (no matter how precarious) outside the formal economy to be drawn into the latter, or starve.  It's not about the money - it's about control.  It always is.

The last article I cited above provides some very interesting reading to explain why cash is so unpopular with financiers.  Here's an excerpt.

Cash is a MAJOR problem for the Central Banks.

The reason for this concerns the actual structure of the financial system. As I’ve outlined previously, that structure is as follows:

1. The total currency (actual cash in the form of bills and coins) in the US financial system is a little over $1.36 trillion.
2. When you include digital money sitting in short-term accounts and long-term accounts then you’re talking about roughly $10 trillion in “money” in the financial system.
3. In contrast, the money in the US stock market (equity shares in publicly traded companies) is over $20 trillion in size.
4. The US bond market  (money that has been lent to corporations, municipal Governments, State Governments, and the Federal Government) is almost twice this at $38 trillion.
5. Total Credit Market Instruments (mortgages, collateralized debt obligations, junk bonds, commercial paper and other digitally-based “money” that is based on debt) is even larger - $58.7 trillion.
6. Unregulated over the counter derivatives traded between the big banks and corporations is north of $220 trillion.

When looking over these data points, the first thing that jumps out at the viewer is that the vast bulk of “money” in the system is in the form of digital loans or credit (non-physical debt).

Put another way, actual physical money or cash (as in bills or coins you can hold in your hand) comprises less than 1% of the “money” in the financial system.

As far as the Central Banks are concerned, this is a good thing because if investors/depositors were ever to try and convert even a small portion of this “wealth” into actual physical bills, the system would implode (there simply is not enough actual cash).

. . .

In this scenario, when the 2008 Crisis hit, one of the biggest problems for the Central Banks was to stop investors from fleeing digital wealth for the comfort of physical cash. Indeed, the actual “thing” that almost caused the financial system to collapse was when depositors attempted to pull $500 billion out of money market funds ... When all of this happened, the global Central Banks realized that their worst nightmare could in fact become a reality: that if a significant percentage of investors/ depositors ever tried to convert their “wealth” into cash (particularly physical cash) the whole system would implode.

There's more at the link.  You really should click over and read the whole thing.  It makes the situation very clear.

(BTW:  That $1.36 trillion figure for 'total currency in the US financial system' isn't altogether correct.  AFAIK, that's the amount of US currency estimated to be in circulation worldwide.  A great deal of that is squirreled away under mattresses or in hidden 'stashes' by citizens of other countries whose currencies aren't particularly stable, or accumulated by criminals who can't put it in banks for fear that it'll be confiscated.  This is why you see regular news reports (such as this one) of huge amounts of cash being confiscated from criminal gangs.  I'd guess the amount of cash actually circulating inside the borders of the USA is a lot less than $1.36 trillion . . . but no-one knows for sure.)

I hope we can stop the politicians and banksters from outlawing cash, although I'm not sure whether we'll be successful in the longer term.  Until then, I think it's an excellent idea to keep at least one month's expenditure handy in the form of cash;  two months, if you can afford it.  I also recommend stocking up on assets you'll find useful in a "cash crunch", when cash or credit facilities may not be available to buy what you need and you'll have to revert to barter (i.e. swapping what you have for what you need).  Ammunition and firearms are almost always valuable barter items (and can help to defend what you don't want to barter!).  So are tools, hardware supplies, liquor (particularly in the form of readily-tradeable miniatures), essential necessities such as feminine hygiene items, soap, etc., and other goods.  Gold and silver?  I'm not so sure.  I can't use them for my everyday needs, and it's almost impossible to be sure whether they're real or counterfeit.  I might hold some gold and silver as a store of value, but not primarily as a means of exchange.  YMMV, of course.

Peter

Snerk!

It may be somewhat insensitive, but this image at The Lonely Libertarian's place still made me laugh.

Peter

A musical blast from the past

Just because I feel like it, here's Don McLean singing his classic "American Pie" at the Glastonbury Festival in England during 2011.

It seems impossible that I can remember when it was first released - in 1971!!!  That was 44 years ago!  I'm not that old . . . or am I???

Peter

Dipsy-doodling down the runway

This video was shot earlier this month from a hillside overlooking the runway of the airport on Madeira, a Portuguese island in the Atlantic Ocean.  Looks like the crosswinds there are extra special . . .

That's when pilots earn their pay, and then some!

Peter

So much for armored steel . . .

The US Navy's experimental electromagnetic railgun is well known by now.  There's a new round for it known as the Hyper Velocity Projectile.  You can read about it here, and see it being tested in the second half of the video clip below.  It's guided, and zips along at 5,600 mph (or over 8,200 feet per second - almost three times as fast as a typical M16 rifle round).

Here's a photograph of the damage done to a steel plate by the Hyper Velocity Projectile (one of which is being held by the man on the left) during testing.

Makes it look a bit fragile, doesn't it?




Peter

That gets it said

Regular readers will remember I've said for years that neither the Republican nor the Democratic parties are to be trusted.  Both are self-centered organizations prepared to do whatever is necessary to promote their own agendas rather than what the United States really needs.

Blue put it in a nutshell today with this image.

Word. Thanks, Blue.




Peter

"Forge a New Blade" is published!

My latest book, "Forge a New Blade", Book 2 of the Laredo War trilogy, is now available at Amazon.com in e-book format.

A print edition will be available later this week - I'll post a link as soon as it's released.

This one has been a lot of fun to write.  I enjoy the Laredo plot arc, and I had a lot of fun making this book work across hundreds of light years and well over a year in time.  It was a big challenge to get the timeline straight, so that events in one place affecting one set of characters were 'balanced' with those at another place, affecting other characters.  I also enjoyed linking the Steve Maxwell series with this trilogy, having the character arcs of my two protagonists intersect in ways that will affect both their futures.  (Look for Maxwell Book 5 in August, and Laredo Book 3 in November, both of which will build on this volume.)

Thanks to everyone for your support this year.  To those of you who are bloggers or on social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) I'd be very grateful if you'd please pass the word about this new release.  I'm a lone operator, without the marketing resources of a major press to help me, so I'm totally dependent on the support of my friends and fans.  Thank you very much in advance!

Peter

Patently absurd!

The Telegraph has a very interesting photo-essay about strange, weird and fascinating patent applications during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  Here are a few of them.

First, from 1900, a patent application for a rocking bath tub.  It was designed to splash water against the occupant without spilling any, presumably for health reasons.

From 1910, a device for washing women's breasts.  Don't ask me . . .

In 1882 this pest trap was patented.  It seems the bait was placed on a spring-loaded lever.  When the pest (mouse, rat, whatever) disturbed the lever, the gun fired.  No word about how much damage it did to the room in which it was placed, or the nerves of those nearby . . .

And finally, a 'hat saluting device' patented in 1896.  It seems it was designed to tip one's hat without the use of hands.

There are many more at the link.  Entertaining reading.

Peter

South African mercenaries at it again?

I mentioned last week that South African mercenaries had shown the way in driving Boko Haram out of much of its territory in Nigeria.  Now come rumors (so far unsubstantiated, as far as I know, but from sources that I consider reliable) that South African mercenaries may be active in East Africa as well, preparing to take on Al Shabaab in Somalia.  They've been in the area before, with generally good results.  Now, if rumor be true, they may be back - in a much bigger way.

African peacekeeping troops have done a pretty good job of pacifying the major cities and transport routes in that country, but they haven't been able to pin down and destroy Al Shabaab's main armed forces, which are acting in the classic guerrilla warfare tradition.  Back in the 1980's, the South African Defense Force was probably the world's premier counter-guerrilla-warfare organization, with training and experience to beat anyone else.  Its former soldiers know Africa (and Africans) really, really well.  I think they'd be a perfect fit to deal with Al Shabaab, having just given concrete evidence of their abilities against Boko Haram.

Keep an eye on the Horn of Africa.  If the rumors are true, I think things are about to get very interesting around that part of the world (although Al Shabaab will probably use a different description).

Peter

A great aviation history resource

Aviation Week will celebrate its centenary next year.  In preparation, the magazine has set up two special Web sites.  One is headlined 'A Century of Aviation Week', and links to historic articles, advertisements and other entries over the years.  The second is a blog, 'From The Archives', providing links to Adobe Acrobat (.PDF) copies of historic documents, articles, etc. from the magazine.  Both are well worth bookmarking.

To illustrate how useful they are, I've just been reading an overview of the Boeing 737 after fifty years in production.  Here's the initial 737-100 model, built for launch customer Lufthansa.  Click the image for a much larger view.

As the overview points out:

To see how incredibly conservative [early] growth estimates were here’s a snapshot of key differences between the 737-100 (as outlined in 1965, two years before its roll out) and the 737-900ER of today. Engine thrust has grown from 14,000 lbs. to 28,400 lbs., max take-off weight has grown from 83,300 lbs. to 187,700 lbs., range has extended from less than 1,000 nm. to more than 3,235 nm., while wing span has been extended from 87-feet to 117 feet 5 inches with winglets. Overall length has meawhile grown from 92 feet 4 inches to 138 feet 2 inches.

There's more at the link.  There's also a .PDF copy of a 1965 article reviewing Boeing's early plans for the 737, and its decision to begin planning a second, larger model even before the first model rolled off the production line.  I find it particularly interesting because I rode aboard that second model, the 737-200, in South Africa from the early 1970's onwards, including one flight through the worst thunderstorm it's ever been my misfortune to encounter in the air.  Coming in to land at Jan Smuts International Airport near Johannesburg, we were buffeted, bounced and bashed in all directions.  When the pilot finally managed to slam the plane down on a hail-covered, semi-flooded runway and we slowed down amid sheets of spray, everyone aboard burst into loud applause.  We were truly grateful to be alive - and very grateful to Boeing for building such a strong plane!

(Incredibly, some of those early 737-200 aircraft first sold to South African Airways are still flying in southern Africa, including one that made headlines in 2007 when an engine fell off!  Must have been through too many of those thunderstorms . . . )

Peter

More about untrustworthy padlocks

Last weekend I put up a post titled 'It seems most locks aren't as secure as I thought'.  One of the links it contained was to an article describing how Master Lock combination padlocks could be 'decoded' in a very short time, using a very simple method.

The author has now developed an automated machine to apply his technique.  It can undo any Master Lock combination padlock in a couple of seconds.  Here's the machine in operation.

Let's hope no burglars ever manage to develop a portable version of that thing . . .




Peter

Working my butt off . . .

I'm trying hard to keep to my self-imposed deadline of having 'Forge A New Blade', Volume 2 of the Laredo War trilogy, published next Monday, May 18th.

It's going to be tight - I lost a week due to ill-health - but I think I can have the e-book ready for Monday, which will be three months to the day since my previous book came out.  The print edition will probably take a couple of days longer, as there are more formatting issues involved, but I'm hoping to have it out by Wednesday or Thursday.

Thanks for your patience and encouragement to keep hard at it.  This will be my second book launch of the year, with two more expected (God willing) by November.  This one's also fun because it's a 'crossover' book - Steve Maxwell, whom we left about to take command of a communications vessel at the end of 'Stand Against The Storm', published in February this year, makes two appearances and contributes quite a lot to the development of the story.  If this works, and you like it, I hope to do similar, shorter series in future, where the character arcs can intersect and help develop both series.

Keep your fingers crossed for sales success with this one!  I'm deliberately keeping the price at my present $3.99 level, rather than increase it to $4.99 or more as Amazon's model has recommended.  I think it's more important to make it more accessible to more people.  Whether or not that continues depends on the state of the market (and my pocketbook), but I don't want my books to become too expensive to be easily affordable.  Thanks to your support, so far, I've been able to do that.

Peter

Fun adventures with food

I grew up with Marmite, a British-origin yeast spread that's very similar to what the Australians call Vegemite.  It's very familiar to me, and I still enjoy it very much;  but judging by Miss D.'s reaction when I invited her to taste it, that's by no means a universal reaction.

According to the Telegraph:

Chris Broad has been teaching in Japan since 2012.

. . .

Broad asked four friends to try the British spread and filmed their reactions, which ranged from confusion to utter repulsion.

There's more at the link.  Here's the video of how they reacted.

As an unabashed Marmite fan, I'm both amused at their reaction, and glad that there'll be more of the stuff for me!




Peter

Feminism ruins 'Mad Max' remake

Many of us, yours truly included, saw the original 'Mad Max' movie back in the 1970's.  It was iconic, and with its sequels began a new wave of guy-movie dystopian epics that endured for a long time.  Here's one of the original trailers.

I've been interested to follow reports about the 'remake' of Mad Max that's scheduled for release tomorrow.  (You can watch a recent trailer here.)  Unfortunately, I've already heard enough to make me decide that I won't bother watching it.  Aaron Clarey has argued the case against it very well over at Return Of Kings.  Here's an excerpt.

If you were like me, the explosions, fire tornadoes, even the symphonic score surrounding “Fury Road’s” first trailer made your attendance a foregone conclusion. It looked like a straight-up guy flick. No ******* around.  Perhaps even a little, hidden acknowledgement from the director that when the **** hits the fan, it will be men like Jack Donovan Mad Max who will be in charge.

But then my spidey senses started noticing a couple things.

Charlize Theron kept showing up a lot in the trailers, while Tom Hardy (Mad Max) seemed to have cameo appearances. Charlize Theron sure talked a lot during the trailers, while I don’t think I’ve heard one line from Tom Hardy. And finally, Charlize Theron’s character barked orders to Mad Max.

Nobody barks orders to Mad Max.

Sure enough, what I suspected (but desperately wanted NOT to be true) was confirmed with two articles in the past week. One, Eve Ensler, author of “The Vagina Monologues” was consulted by the director to consult the female actresses in Fury Road about what it’s like being sex slaves. Her presumed expertise in this area was based on work she claimed to have done in the Congo. Work I investigated and deemed “fishy” in a recent podcast (around the 1hr 6 min mark).

Two, of all the outdated, obsolete, Baby Boomer leftist rags, TIME MAGAZINE just comes outright and says it.

“Here’s a surprise: Tom Hardy, a.k.a. Mad Max, isn’t the star of Mad Max: Fury Road. Charlize Theron is. An even bigger surprise? Vagina Monologues author Eve Ensler consulted on what turns out to be a very feminist film….Theron, not Hardy, leads the charge; she also does the majority of the fighting.”

. . .

The truth is I’m angry about the extent [to which] Hollywood and the director of Fury Road went to trick me and other men into seeing this movie. Everything VISUALLY looks amazing. It looks like that action guy flick we’ve desperately been waiting for where it is one man with principles, standing against many with none.

But let us be clear. This is the vehicle by which they are guaranteed to force a lecture on feminism down your throat. This is the Trojan Horse feminists and Hollywood leftists will use to (vainly) insist on the trope women are equal to men in all things, including physique, strength, and logic. And this is the subterfuge they will use to blur the lines between masculinity and femininity, further ruining women for men, and men for women.

There's more at the link.

You know all those portrayals of dystopian post-disaster reality that the movies portray?  I have news for the movies.  I've been in such realities.  I've seen them.  I've smelled them.  I've lived them in more than one African nation plagued by war, or famine, or other disaster.  I know what dystopia means . . . and what it does not mean, ever, is any kind of female physical ascendancy.  It simply doesn't happen.  Women don't have the strength to endure against men who want to take anything and everything they have.  I've seen it time and again.  I've stopped (the hard way) men trying to do that to women . . . and it was never enough, because when you turned your back, there were always more desperate men with nothing to lose (and nothing to care about) who were prepared to renew the attack.

Any movie that tries to portray a woman kicking male ass and taking male names under such circumstances will get nothing more from me than scorn, derision and contempt.  It ain't gonna happen, people, not in a thousand years.  If you don't like reality, I'm sorry, but that's your problem, not mine.  I've been around the block too many times to be in any doubt about the real world.  It's a cold, ugly, hard place when the chips are down.

No.  Mad Max: Fury Road is off my list of movies to see.  I don't like watching propaganda, and I won't watch lies.




Peter

The ambulance ride from Hell

I served as a part-time volunteer with St. John Ambulance back in South Africa many years ago.  It was a fascinating time, seeing the streets from the perspective of EMS and the seedier side of life from many angles.  I was never a paramedic or EMT in the US sense;  merely a concerned citizen who volunteered first to be trained, then to serve, without compensation.  I don't know whether such services even exist in the USA, but this was half a world away and more than a generation ago.

Be that as it may, I can recall a few fairly hairy rides as the driver tried to get to hospital as quickly as possible, leaving the (qualified) emergency medical technician and his volunteer assistant (that would be me) to try to keep the patient alive and/or on the stretcher while he did so.  I caught one baby halfway through a ride like that . . . we went round a corner on what felt like two wheels, Momma said "EEEK!" and whoops, there came Junior, straight down the chute!  Fortunately, I was able to stop the baby from hitting the floor.  We had a (rather shaky) laugh about it when we got to the hospital.  At the time . . . not so much.

In that light, I found this article at Jalopnik fascinating.  It describes an ambulance covering a 15-minute road trip in just six minutes.  Looking at the speed, I don't think the medics in the back had a hope in hell of doing anything useful during that time!

I see that my buddy Ambulance Driver has already commented on his blog about the video.  I'll have to have a beer or three with him next time we meet, and exchange stories of hell-rides we have known.  (I'm betting he's had a lot more than I have!)

Peter

The care and feeding of special snowflakes

Courtesy of a link at Instapundit, I was led to this article on 'highly sensitive' people.  Here's an excerpt.

Most days, I’d rather I was less of an emotionally raw person. I would be so much less exhausted at the end of the day if I weren’t so heavily internalizing devastating headlines, or concerns over my friends’ problems, or hurt over wounds I wish I’d have moved on from already. But if I weren’t this way, would I be such an empathetic friend? Would I be as perceptive? Would I even have the same talents? Would I love as hard as I do and would I still be as good at trusting my gut? The other side of feeling emotional pain so strongly is that in happy moments, I feel joy just as intensely. Would I lose my capacity to bask so fully in the good times if I had the ability to trade away the bad? Being sensitive is as much a part of my personal make-up as my shoe size, and it surely had a hand in shaping my who I am. It doesn’t make me better or worse than other people, it’s simply what it is, and considering what life might be had I not been born with this trait is pointless. Like any other trait or aspect of my life, I can decide to either celebrate or work around it – or, as I do now, decide to employ a little of both.

There's more at the link.  If you're that interested, you can take a quick online test to determine whether you're 'highly sensitive'.  (I suspect most readers of this blog, and its author, don't qualify.)

One's at a loss where to begin.  A more self-absorbed, "me-me-me" approach to life is hard to imagine.  I can just imagine how my drill sergeant would have responded if I'd tried to tell him, during military basic training, that I was 'highly sensitive'.  He'd have highly sensitized my backside with his favorite boot - so hard it would have been more tenderized than sensitized!  Heck, it'd probably have needed surgery to remove his foot!

Hmm . . . highly sensitive bloggers.  Who among my friends might qualify?

• Larry Correia, a.k.a. the 'International Lord of Hate'?
• Lawdog, your typically sensitive, compassionate, gentle, understanding, African-raised Texas deputy sheriff?
• Old NFO, raised in that temple to sensitivity and tolerance, the US Navy flightline during the  post-Vietnam era?

Perhaps not . . .




Peter

Doofus Of The Day #834

Today's award goes to three messy-eater thieves in New York.

Police in Livingston County N.Y. report they were able to find three men who allegedly burglarized a restaurant in Mt. Morris Sunday morning because they left a trail of macaroni salad they were apparently eating during their escape into the woods.

But unlike the children’s fairy tale the pasta, mayonnaise and vegetable combo remained on the ground and led to their quick arrest.

These three stooges were very sloppy as they left a trail of the salad along with pieces of other stolen items including a cash register, loose change, surveillance equipment and a glove, the Livingston County Sheriff's Office reports.

Officers who arrived at Build A Burger & Ice Cream at 6:30 a.m. quickly spotted the debris at the Greenway Trail, a nature walk that leads to a wooded area behind the eatery. The officers followed the path of evidence which eventually led to the arrest of the three suspects by Sunday afternoon, police said.

There's more at the link.

Their criminal 'salad days', perhaps?

Peter