Early Risers.

[Hroth]

If Britain had not remained in the war after the retreat from Europe in 1940, and the Japanese had not provoked the USA into action, Hitler would have had free rein to prosecute his war against the Jews and Communists to the most utter and bloody extreme.

 

Setting humanitarian scruples aside, if Britain had withdrawn in 1940, it is entirely possible that without the losses of the Battle of Britain, the Battle of the Atlantic and the bombing campaign over German occupied Europe, the UK would have reached 1945 in a far stronger position than in 1939 and Germany would have flogged both the USSR and itself to a bloody stalemate in Siberia. The war against Japan would have been completely different too, with the US  able to throw its whole strength across the Pacific and Britain able to defend its Far Eastern colonies more effectively, due to not wasting effort fighting Germany.

 

With the Germans and the USSR in a mutual death grip, it may have been possible to roll back the occupation of Europe in a less bloody way in the late 40s, fomenting uprisings in occupies countries against a weakened German garrison, worried about being sent East for Final Pushes.

 

Who knows?

 

But it didn't happen that way.

 

(And when I posted this, ER threw another 504...)

 

 

Edited September 3 by Hroth
504 update...

[Erichill16]

Been into work today I can confirm Baz was in Barnsley today, umpiring a game at Higham.

He looked very much the part, his partner not so much. 

[monkeysarefun]

3 hours ago, PupCam said:

 

It maybe a slightly foolish prank but it highlights quite nicely the technical enormity of the far-ranging autonomous car ambition.     So, on this occasion a car stopped for a few seconds in the road (it could have done so to avoid a child or a cat running out or a host of other occurrences), so what?  

 

Personally, as someone with a bit of a technical background, the concept of autonomous vehicles seamlessly integrating  with ALL other road users ALL of the time seems a long way off although of course AI will be a major contributor to their evolution.   Lets face it after something like 140 years of road users in the modern sense, the humans haven't got the hang of it yet.    As someone who still uses the roads for pleasure (albeit only on 2 wheels)  as well as a means to get from A to B I just wonder if there will be a drive (no pun intended) to ousting  human drivers from some or ultimately all roads?  

 

 

.

 

There's multiple videos on youtube  from various US cities  of them causing gridlock due to  getting in a traffic jam and having no idea how to undo it,since they cant communicate and work together like human drivers might "oi, you back up a bit  then I can get my rear end into  that  driveway there and then this bloke can squeeze past..." and so on.  Apparently, they just sit there beeping their horns at each other.

 

That poses a much greater risk of  holding  up  mums on the way to hospital than a bloke with a stop sign t-shirt. 

 

 

 

 

 

[PupCam]

1 hour ago, Hroth said:

 It seems that the indexing of the ER thread is well and truely bolloxed!

 

That is of course a technical and, it would appear, completely correct assessment.

 

I'll go and clear my cookies so that will help ...... I'll start on the chocolate chip ones.

 

[Hroth]

2 minutes ago, PupCam said:

 

That is of course a technical and, it would appear, completely correct assessment.

 

I'll go and clear my cookies so that will help ...... I'll start on the chocolate chip ones.

 

 

Have you seen that TV ad where a bloke is going to thoughtfully sample a choc-chip cookie and the rest of the family dive in and steal them off him?

 

Thieving, greedy bustards!!!

 

[polybear]

5 hours ago, DaveF said:

 

I've just cleaned some bird mess off the bedroom window.  I often wonder how the birds manage to get it on the glass as the eaves overhang the window by 15".  

 
617 Sqdn.

4 hours ago, PupCam said:

I think I'm correct is saying that our GP has NEVER done Covid jabs.  Certainly all of mine have been done elsewhere.

Bear has a flu jab booked for October- with Boots, a few hundred yards away from the Docs; I can scam that one as a freebie - but a woo flu would cost me 😕

 

4 hours ago, BSW01 said:

Although I was often asked to make the roll ups, because I was better at it than they were! 

 
Doesn’t that make you their Supplier?  Over to you, Sgt. Jamie….

[TheQ]

I've left my beer upstairs, I need it.

 

Beer got...

 

Several attempts to transfer accounts from me to another at the MRC have failed mostly because my phone refused to accept SMS messages so I couldn't get a code to enter...

So I give up, go downstairs plug the phone into the charger even though it's at 97%. And...

All the missing codes suddenly appear...

I'll try again tomorrow..

 

Just checked house of strong ladies, parcel I want hasn't been dispatched from local depot.

Meanwhile van arrives outside and delivers.... 25miles in a few seconds that's fast!!!

Edited September 3 by TheQ

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. The sun is shining but it's still feeling muggy and I feel drowsy as a result so I'll soon be going upstairs for some eyelid inspection.

[Hroth]

3 minutes ago, TheQ said:

I've left my beer upstairs, I need it.

 

Beer got...

 

Several attempts to transfer accounts from me to another at the MRC have failed mostly because my phone refused to accept SMS messages so I couldn't get a code to enter...

So I give up, go downstairs plug the phone into the charger even though it's at 97%. And...

All the missing codes suddenly appear...

I'll try again tomorrow..

 

 

I've found that my phone sometimes goes into "sticking its fingers in its ears and not listening to SMS messages mode".  If it does that, I find it best to reboot the phone, whereupon the messages miraculously appear!

 

Sometimes it does it quickly enough so the SMS code is still valid...

 

[Tony_S]

22 minutes ago, PupCam said:

I'll go and clear my cookies so that will help ..

I find clearing the cached files and images helps. I don’t think the “system” copes well while checking to see whether or not something is cached. I’ve given up cookies of the edible variety. 

[BoD]

I'd clear my cookies but I can't remember the password I used to sign up way back when.  To change your password you of course need to know your password.

[Tony_S]

4 minutes ago, BoD said:

I'd clear my cookies but I can't remember the password I used to sign up way back when.  To change your password you of course need to know your password.

Is there a “forgot password “ option? You don’t usually need to know the password but Imsuppose you do need to know the  email address you used!

[BoD]

Well I was right - wall to wall sunshine but thankfully they didn't dilate my pupils. They did shine bright lights in my eyes and had a good look round through various lenses and other things but apparently most checking is done by a scan now. I had one last time (when I think about it,  I don't think they dilated my pupils then either)  and another scan today for comparison. 

 

In less good news one eye continues to deteriorate so we have decided to move onto more  direct intervention rather than just drops to try and slow this deterioration down.  As others with glaucoma know,  deterioration is inevitable and any damage caused irreversible so it is just a mater of slowing it down for as long as possible.

[Ozexpatriate]

5 hours ago, rockershovel said:

Don't forget that black troops were not used in combat in the US Army during WW2. Any coloured troops encountered would have been second or third echelon service troops of some sort. 

This was mostly the case but is not entirely accurate.

 

The 92nd Infantry served in Italy, and the Tuskegee Airmen served (mostly) in the Mediterranean theatre.

[BoD]

10 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Is there a “forgot password “ option? You don’t usually need to know the password but Imsuppose you do need to know the  email address you used!

 

There isn't. The page only has ...

 

 

 

This is is one of the very few passwords I haven't changed on a regular basis- I didn't think it a great security risk. 

Besides, if someone hacked in as me you would quickly notice - posts would suddenly become a lot more sensible.

[Grizz]

9 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Neither, it’s the Special Special List for all those who challenge, disagree with, or even ridicule “The Wisdom Of The Bear” .

 

I’m on it, you’re on it, Puppers is on it - amongst many others. We’re in excellent company.

 

There’s also rumours that PB has a very secret list called das Todesstraferegister des Bären reserved for those who dare suggest that cheap frozen curly fries on a cheap frozen pizza is utterly unhealthy garbage.

 

Now, I wonder who could be on that list…

…erm chaps / chapesses …..unfortunately these days my memory is like a half sucked toffee…not what it once was…..

 

with that in mind, I would be most grateful if anyone might be able to remember if I’m on the list, special list, special secret special list…..or any other kind of ER based list. 

 

Many thanks in advance for your kind help with this matter.

 

ATB Grizz

 

PS….Mrs Grizz must have stealthed up and glanced over my shoulder as I was typing the above, as she helpfully chirped up .. “You will ALWAYS be on some sort of SPECIAL LIST, somewhere cupcake”…….   ……. 😶(speachless)
 

…… …….        😶(still speachless)……..      🤨….RIGHTY HO…..I see…..THAT is how it is going to be is it?!?!?!?!

 

Note to self…..might be time to review the ingredients for the early morning Mokka. …..

 

Now depending how that turns out…THAT could definitely get me on some sort of list…

[Ozexpatriate]

4 hours ago, rockershovel said:

I don't believe that the US cared greatly, exactly what post-WW2 Europe looked like.

The Marshall Plan.

 

3 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

One can make the case that Great Britain's was a Pyrrhic victory and that it was among the most significant losers from the war - immediate financial exhaustion and rapid loss of Empire. Some argue that this was a US war aim.

A US war aim???? That must have been why FDR decided on the "Germany first" strategy in December of 1941 and lost (abandoned?) most of the US Army deployed in the Pacific in the Philippines and then sent barely enough Marines to fight the Japanese in the Solomon Islands.

 

Much changes at Potsdam. Britain's "heroic" wartime leader is sacked and sent home in the middle of the conference. FDR is already dead - so that partnership was gone. The balance of power shifted. It is nonsense to suggest that a weakened Britain was the "US war aim". It is relevant that at the end of the war Britain was weak - it was demonstrably unable to defend the empire (Singapore etc). It was about to lose India. The Palestinian Mandate was a disaster. In terms of realpolitik, Britain was about to be second fiddle on the world stage - but a weak Britain was never the wartime policy of the US.

 

US foreign policy from 1942 to 1945 was to defeat Germany then Japan. Which they did. After that it was a different game.

[rockershovel]

19 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

The Marshall Plan.

 

A US war aim???? That must have been why FDR decided on the "Germany first" strategy in December of 1941 and lost (abandoned?) most of the US Army deployed in the Pacific in the Philippines and then sent barely enough Marines to fight the Japanese in the Solomon Islands.

 

Much changes at Potsdam. Britain's "heroic" wartime leader is sacked and sent home in the middle of the conference. FDR is already dead - so that partnership was gone. The balance of power shifted. It is nonsense to suggest that a weakened Britain was the "US war aim". It is relevant that at the end of the war Britain was weak - it was demonstrably unable to defend the empire (Singapore etc). It was about to lose India. The Palestinian Mandate was a disaster. In terms of realpolitik, Britain was about to be second fiddle on the world stage - but a weak Britain was never the wartime policy of the US.

 

US foreign policy from 1942 to 1945 was to defeat Germany then Japan. Which they did. After that it was a different game.

Yes, but no. 

 

The US absolutely did not care about where the borders were. They certainly didn't care about Soviet influence in the Baltic. The "Stop Lines" were guided by "how can we end this conflict ASAP while achieving unconditional German surrender". 

 

What they DIDNT want (once the Morgenthau plan was sidelined and the hard-line anti-Soviet faction were silenced by Patton's sudden death) was an impoverished, chaotic Europe heading for a re-run of the events of 1917-33. 

 

Hence the Marshall Plan

 

 

 

 

 

[PhilJ W]

1 hour ago, BoD said:

Well I was right - wall to wall sunshine but thankfully they didn't dilate my pupils. They did shine bright lights in my eyes and had a good look round through various lenses and other things but apparently most checking is done by a scan now. I had one last time (when I think about it,  I don't think they dilated my pupils then either)  and another scan today for comparison. 

 

In less good news one eye continues to deteriorate so we have decided to move onto more  direct intervention rather than just drops to try and slow this deterioration down.  As others with glaucoma know,  deterioration is inevitable and any damage caused irreversible so it is just a mater of slowing it down for as long as possible.

My sister has glaucoma but apparently it's progress has been slowed down almost to a halt which means that instead of renewing her driving licence every year its now every three years.

[DaveF]

I decided to go out this morning as it was sunny though I definitely needed a fleece.  Photos of things powered by diesel and electricity have been taken and some placed in my thread on here.  The field I take photos from was easier today as someone, probably the council, has mown the paths so it is possible to walk round it more easily, the plants get ever bigger.

 

As I went out relatively early I was back home for coffee and an ice bun which was an old fashioned treat from today's grocery delivery - they don't always come when I order them, especially if the order is picked and packed early.

 

After lunch I went to the surgery and had my PSA blood test, it was due at 13.30, by 13.26 I was back outside on my way to the car.  The surgery has expanded again, taking over more rooms in the building so there is now a separate waiting room for those with nurse appointments and four nurses consulting rooms.  When you sign in on the screen on arriving for an appointment a disembodied voice tells you which waiting room to go to.  There is even music provided by an Alexa speaker under one of the chairs.  The wire is sort of coiled out of the way.  I may get the results tomorrow,  Thursday at the latest.  They will let me know if there is a problem, if I don't hear than all is well.

 

I visited Lidl and managed to find a few bits and pieces before coming home and doing a few more odds and ends.

 

David

[45156]

Afternoon All,

 

I have my NHS hearing test next week - so I went to the GP this morning to check if my ears had any wax build up and if they needed hoovered - luckily it was neither, though I also have a blocked eustachian tube in my left ear which is causing deafness so I may need to postpone the hearing test anyway as I don't want to over correct.  In any event, my private hearing aids are working OK but I want a spare pair and I am entitled to NHS ones.

 

Other than that, all posts have been read with interest.

 

Back tomorrow (hopefully)

 

Regards to All

Stewart

 

 

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, BoD said:

There isn't. The page only has ...

Sign out. When you sign back in , don’t, and use the forgot your password option. However I haven’t been hacked through my account on RMweb or World of Railways so far.  
 

[Compound2632]

1 hour ago, Ozexpatriate said:

The Marshall Plan.

 

A US war aim???? That must have been why FDR decided on the "Germany first" strategy in December of 1941 and lost (abandoned?) most of the US Army deployed in the Pacific in the Philippines and then sent barely enough Marines to fight the Japanese in the Solomon Islands.

 

Much changes at Potsdam. Britain's "heroic" wartime leader is sacked and sent home in the middle of the conference. FDR is already dead - so that partnership was gone. The balance of power shifted. It is nonsense to suggest that a weakened Britain was the "US war aim". It is relevant that at the end of the war Britain was weak - it was demonstrably unable to defend the empire (Singapore etc). It was about to lose India. The Palestinian Mandate was a disaster. In terms of realpolitik, Britain was about to be second fiddle on the world stage - but a weak Britain was never the wartime policy of the US.

 

US foreign policy from 1942 to 1945 was to defeat Germany then Japan. Which they did. After that it was a different game.

 

That's one interpretation, but from my reading, historians differ amongst themselves.

 

Remember that from its very inception, the United States had as its object the break-up of the British Empire! The special relationship was chiefly between Winston and his mother.

[Coombe Barton]

...At last the roses are in. This is Lady of Shalott with Summer Song and Sceptr’d Isle behind. ...

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2024/09/03/postcards-from-home-2024-14/

 

Edited September 3 by Coombe Barton

[rockershovel]

17 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

That's one interpretation, but from my reading, historians differ amongst themselves.

 

Remember that from its very inception, the United States had as its object the break-up of the British Empire! The special relationship was chiefly between Winston and his mother.

Preservation or restoration of the British Empire was certainly not an American war aim, which is well documented. 

 

Extension of US influence into areas of past conflict of interest (such as the oilfields of the ME, specifically Iraq and Iran at that time) was certainly an American aim, but that already existed. 

 

America would learn that dismantling the European empires really wasn't that simple. Korea wasn't brought to any satisfactory conclusion, and they would become increasingly involved in Viet Nam by financing the French defeat and eventually, taking it upon themselves 

 

 

Edited September 3 by rockershovel