Early Risers.

[PhilJ W]

One of the best fighters of WW2 was the P-51D Mustang. The earlier versions with the Alison engine were not that great but the fitting of the (Packard) Merlin engine transformed the performance.

[PhilJ W]

5 minutes ago, Ian Abel said:

BIN day... almost messed that up!

Early morning "confusion" over what the date was when checking the calendar and I omitted the Recycle BIN. Fortunately, it's the only BIN serviced later in the day, often not before noon, so I recovered from my transgression and got it "out there".

 

Yesterday more faffing with the report from hell, finally got the beast to submit to my expertise, just some additional "work" needed once the reviews decide what else they can throw into it!!

 

Today, Mrs off for a lake-side walk and lunch with a friend and later we're off to the theatre to see "MJ The Musical". great reviews for the singing and dancing...

 

12c and sunny at BIN time, 26c the high later.

 

Tally ho.

Bin day here as well this morning. I was out front when they came to collect the recycling. The bin man told me that Tetrapack containers which I had put into the plastics should go in with the paper and cardboard.

[DaveF]

My day so far...

 

Church was fine with some nice coffee and shortbread biscuits after.  I went in to town and found the barbers was closed - what a surprise.  He is closed today, open tomorrow, closed Saturday and Monday, open Tuesday.  The rain had eased so I did a bit of shopping including finding a DVD in a charity shop about Luzern and ther Vierwaldstättersee.  It apparently includes footage of the paddle steamers and a ride up the Rigi on the rack railway.  It was only 50p and might be better than watching the news.  In fact I won't watch much news now until sometime in July.

 

The rest of the day has been spent scanning more photos, this time between about 1890 and 1952.  For the first time I've found a photo of my maternal great grandfather's first wife who died around 1904 and is my "real" great grandmother i.e. my grandmother's mother.  The lady I knew as my great grandmother was the second wife and was only a few years older then my grandmother.  I also found a lot of photos of me as a baby and of Mum and Dad's friends at the time, I vaguely remember some of them from when I was 4 or 5, they must all be dead now.

 

I am coming across a very small number of photos of things with wheels and others in buildings with levers associated with thing which have wheels and run on steel.

 

It has now stopped raining but it is very wet.  There won't be any gardening for a few days.

 

David

[TheQ]

Afternoon Awl, 

Epson printer connected up to neighbours laptop, all the securing sticky tapes removed , ink cartridges installed.

Start downloading software.... 

1 hour later. It's loaded, her web contract is just for 1Mb!!!

 

We go to her friends to disassemble the sofa...

But it's not a sofa...

It's a very old, very broken, electric recliner.. . I didn't bring spanners luckily the owner did have some, but imperial not metric ... And there's some Allen head bolts in there, I'll take them off on Saturday.

Eventually got the thing apart, it didn't help someone has been in there before, and graunched some screws. I could see at least three electrical faults, broken wires at the controller, cable crushed in the mechanics, and the fuse is missing.

I've rescued the electricals, swmbo has cut out the good cloth which is currently in the washing machine.. I'll burn the woodwork, then see what's useful from the metalwork.

Got back finished installing printer, printed test documents from her files and a test picture. I was most impressed with that picture.

 

Left her house with a bottle of Talisker.. I shall test that later.

Ben left with a doggy chew which he is currently destroying.

 

 

 

[polybear]

1 hour ago, jjb1970 said:

The Japanese army was savage and barbarous but it was militarily extremely effective in 1941-42, it declined as losses took their toll later. There's a reason the Chinese still have an issue with Japan, and it isn't just grudge bearing (though no doubt there is some of that). Their behaviour in China disgusted German observers who were hardly models for ethical conduct in that era. Oddly, Japanese observers had similar thoughts about the German Army in the USSR. Similarly in the conquered territories of SE Asia the Japanese showed savage brutality.

 

I recall a TV Documentary that reported many in Japan have no idea just what utter 'sterds the were during WW2 etc. - there's precious little mention of it in any Japanese history books etc. and to all intents it's as though they've airbrushed it out of their history.

[polybear]

Bear's Rant of the Day:

 

"Offenders on probation have faced 800 charges for murder or manslaughter between 2016 and 2022, and more than 1,000 charges for rape or sexual assault.

There were eight convictions for murder or manslaughter every month, on average, and six for rape or sexual assault between 2015 and 2021."

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjmmjxldlg0o

 

Probation?  Pah.

(Other words are available........)

[jamie92208]

3 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

 

I'm not sure how well the Kokoda Track campaign is known outside of Australia, but it was *#$& brutal.  The Japanese were advancing across New Guinea and all our troops were in the Middle East busily  being Desert Rats, , the only available ones back here to defend Australia were some companies of militia, what the UK would  call territorials.

 

The fighting was basically jungle guerrilla style, similar to what was later seen in Vietnam.

 

Often the Australian troops would come upon fellow soldiers who had been tied to trees and used for bayonet practice. There were booby traps and hand to hand fighting on the edge of mountainous drops. The Australians were often cut off without supplies as the Japanese cut off the lines behind them, Dakotas flew missions in at tree top height dropping supplies into jungle clearings hacked out with machetes. 

 

No prisoners were taken on either side.

 

War correspondent Damien Parer made a film about it, which won him an Oscar. This is some footage.

 

 

I had never heard about the Kokda trail till we visited Oz in 2019. I found a book about Kokda and the part played by a settler in the area who helped build the trail and IIRC a jungle airstrip. I think he settled in NSW after independence.  Very interesting book.  

 

Jamie

[Erichill16]

6 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

The ultimate 'it shouldn't have but it did' aircraft of WW2 was probably the Swordfish. It was pretty much obsolete when new and certainly so in WW2. While it's use in it's intended roles was limited it gave outstanding service as an ASW aircraft where it was ideal for small and basic escort carriers. Despite being woefully obsolete by most measures it was the right aircraft for convoy defence where it made a critical contribution to victory. 

And it was still in service in 1945 while it’s ‘replacement’ the Fairey Albecore was retired in 1943.

[big jim]

But if a shock earlier, took the Skoda superb in for the tracking as it had chewed through a pair of rear tyres while my wife was away in Devon so she had to have 2 new fitted while she was there, she was planning on using it to go to Scotland tomorrow for the week so I booked it in to be done, after he’d finished he entered the number plate in the computer and said ‘did you know your mot ran out a month ago?’ Which I didn’t, I’d checked it a few weeks back on the dvla site and was convinced it was due in October

 

anyway they managed to get it in for an MOT at another branch, drive over to Stoke to get it done but unfortunately it’s failed on emissions (and another couple of little easily fixable bits) so it’s just as well she didn’t set off for Glasgow in it, she will have to use her own car which isn’t as good on fuel as the Skoda, as for the Skoda I’m going to list it on eBay for spares or repair for as I’ve been contemplating getting rid anyway now I don’t have to travel to and from Birmingham for work so now’s the time to get shut, had good use out of it, 2 years pretty much trouble free, currently has about 230k miles on the clock so it’s certainly been a good workhorse 

 

[Coombe Barton]

Aiming for Railex on Saturday

[Erichill16]

18 minutes ago, Coombe Barton said:

Aiming for Railex on Saturday

May your aim be true!

[iL Dottore]

The behaviour of the Imperial Japanese Army and the SS had origins in three common factors: militaristic ultranationalism (deriving from a sense of grievance on how the country had  been treated);  a belief that what they were doing served a higher purpose - to be achieved no matter the cost; and (critically) they had the concept that certain people were less than human - whether by reason of religion, ethnicity or (in the case of the Japanese) for not following a code of martial conduct .

 

And whilst not excusing what they did, it shouldn't be forgotten that these young men - who would have turned out totally unremarkable under any other regime - paid an incredibly high price for their devotion to their cause and their fanaticism. Casualty rates were appalling and they were as equally disposable for their regimes as their opponents and victims.

 

As has been observed many times by others, far too frequently the most despicable and horrendous acts have been committed by totally unremarkable individuals "just doing a job"

 

Never underestimate the destructive power of ideology.

[polybear]

Bear here.....

 

Another day out n' about at the Warehouse - I was also trusted with the broom this afternoon so I could give the place a sweep up - I quite enjoy doing that; my very first ever job was sweeping up at the local Greengrocer on a Friday afternoon where Momma Bear worked, along with burning the rubbish - I think I was still at primary school at the time and IIRC I got paid the princely sum of £1-50.  After a few years I did a Saturday afternoon as well, for three quid (which included the Friday).

 

When I came back from Malta I "accidentally" smuggled a rather nice cake with me for the team at the warehouse; we had some each yesterday & today and somehow another wedge managed to fall into Bear's sarnie box just before I came home - which came in rather handy come tea time.  Result.

 

Whilst on the subject of Malta.......

 

Numerous Churches had ancient craftsmanship like this:

 

 

 

 

.....only for some modern-day Bozo to add modern craftsmanship (Huh?) like this......

 

 

 

And finally......

 

Strawberry Panna Cotta anyone?

 

 

It was soooooo good I just happened to go there the following night for another one - the Pizza's were equally good as well 😁  In my defence I did go for an entire week's hols and only had chips once - honest 😇

 

BG

[Ian Abel]

4 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Bin day here as well this morning. I was out front when they came to collect the recycling. The bin man told me that Tetrapack containers which I had put into the plastics should go in with the paper and cardboard.

Fortunately (and has been verified to some extent by local reporters) we don't have to separate our, it's separated at the recycling station.

 

Mixed comments on that happening, but I tend to believe the local reporters who checked...

[Coombe Barton]

34 minutes ago, Erichill16 said:

53 minutes ago, Coombe Barton said:

Aiming for Railex on Saturday

May your aim be true!

Looking at the website for directions this year they hide them well and make them quite complex

[tigerburnie]

Pleased to announce I have lost 8 kilo's in 6 weeks, very careless I know, but type 2 diabetes has to be banished, I have enough going on as it is. Cancer scan due, polyp removal surgery in stomach(just an overnight stay) and they tell me my cataracts are gubbed as well, all to be done in the next month one wonders what else I can do without. Oh and there's a follow up on the prostate after most of that was removed as well, I need a holiday, certainly the wife does, she is following me everywhere in case I collapse again. We went fishing last week with me in the middle of the river and her on the river bank, not too sure what she might have done had a I collapsed though, even at my now much lighter weight( I need to lose 3 more kilos to be back to where I was 20 years ago). But mustn't grumble.

Edited May 23 by tigerburnie

[Sidecar Racer]

4 hours ago, polybear said:

 

I recall a TV Documentary that reported many in Japan have no idea just what utter 'sterds the were during WW2 etc. - there's precious little mention of it in any Japanese history books etc. and to all intents it's as though they've airbrushed it out of their history.

 

 I think many countries tend to do that while still saying how the people that they were

in conflict with were the problem and doing exactly what they were .

 

The modern take is every accusation is a confession .

[Winslow Boy]

6 hours ago, DaveF said:

I've got irises in my garden too.  It is still very wet.

 

 

 

 

David

 

Iris retinculata I think?

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

The weather has been very much like yesterday, rain, rain, rain, it just hasn’t stopped all day, it’s just not been as heavy, nevertheless, you’d still get wet if you ere out in it. 

 

Anyway, shopping has been shopped and the fridge and cupboards are now groaning under the weight of it all, but at least we won’t starve! 

 

Charlie didn’t call round today, he was out with some friends, so this afternoon after dinner, Sheila and I were a bit decadent and we did something we don’t usually do, we sat and watched some recorded TV. This is very unusual for us, as the TV doesn’t usually get switched on until after 6 o’clock in the evening! The exception to this is when Ava is round on a Saturday and we sit and watch a film, usually late in the afternoon. 

[BSW01]

Goodnight all 

[Andy Hayter]

1 hour ago, Sidecar Racer said:

 

 I think many countries tend to do that while still saying how the people that they were

in conflict with were the problem and doing exactly what they were .

 

The modern take is every accusation is a confession .

 

And the creation of much of the British Empire follows that model.  To be fair, French, German and Italian too.  

 

Edit to add: and there are a lot of other countries to add to that list.

Edited May 23 by Andy Hayter

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[jjb1970]

6 hours ago, polybear said:

 

I recall a TV Documentary that reported many in Japan have no idea just what utter 'sterds the were during WW2 etc. - there's precious little mention of it in any Japanese history books etc. and to all intents it's as though they've airbrushed it out of their history.

 

I think that's why there is so much ill feeling towards Japan. When reported in our media it's  generally portrayed as Chinese grudge bearing but if anything emotions on the subject run deeper and stronger in the Republic of Korea and you don't have to poke very far below the surface to find similar attitudes in other countries. A recurring theme for why these feelings are still widely felt is the post war attitude of Japan and the failure to even properly acknowledge the past. 

 

Find it rather sad, as Japan is a wonderful country, one of the few I would gladly move to live in if offered an opportunity. Most Japanese I know (but certainly not all) are genuinely oblivious as to why these emotions are still raw. A recurring argument in Japan is it is all just politicking and grounded in contemporary issues. I think it'd be naive to deny there is a lot in that (no Korean politician is likely to lose votes by having a go at Japan) but the reason it is a useful political lever is that it taps into genuine emotion and collective memory.

 

I think that's the essential difference between Japan and Germany. I know there's a perspective that German apologies and guilt are normally qualified by making clear someone else did it and we didn't know, but Germany did demonstrate a sense of shame and guilt at their actions in the national socialist era which wasn't really replicated in Japan. However,  I am not too judgemental as I  think many (most) countries don't like to face their own past. 

[jjb1970]

1 hour ago, Andy Hayter said:

 

And the creation of much of the British Empire follows that model.  To be fair, French, German and Italian too.  

 

Edit to add: and there are a lot of other countries to add to that list.

 

As the historian AJP Taylor put it, people apply a generosity of interpretation to the actions of their own countries which is seldom extended to others.

[jjb1970]

4 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

The behaviour of the Imperial Japanese Army and the SS had origins in three common factors: militaristic ultranationalism (deriving from a sense of grievance on how the country had  been treated);  a belief that what they were doing served a higher purpose - to be achieved no matter the cost; and (critically) they had the concept that certain people were less than human - whether by reason of religion, ethnicity or (in the case of the Japanese) for not following a code of martial conduct .

 

And whilst not excusing what they did, it shouldn't be forgotten that these young men - who would have turned out totally unremarkable under any other regime - paid an incredibly high price for their devotion to their cause and their fanaticism. Casualty rates were appalling and they were as equally disposable for their regimes as their opponents and victims.

 

As has been observed many times by others, far too frequently the most despicable and horrendous acts have been committed by totally unremarkable individuals "just doing a job"

 

Never underestimate the destructive power of ideology.

 

A recurring theme in human behaviour is that it is much easier for people to commit heinous acts if they believe they are doing it in a noble cause for the greater good, a necessary evil to make a better world. 

 

Not just ancient history,  there are plenty of examples around us of horrible acts which are cloaked in high sounding rhetoric. I think the difference between all of us and the likes of the men of the einsatzgruppen is much smaller than we'd like to think. Create the right circumstance and environment and history indicates it's pretty straightforward to get people to do the 'right' thing (by which of course I mean participate in evil).

 

It opens the debate over the meaning of evil. Most of the most evil leaders of history appear to have been motivated by a genuine desire to create a better world. We look at Adolf, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot etc as being unspeakably bad people yet all of them were convinced that what they were doing was necessary to make a better world. It's why I say 'be careful what you wish for' when people call for conviction politicians. Self serving opportunists are not very edifying but the true believers can be worse.