Tempus fugit..

Fifteen days from now, I will be 61 years old and still not as wise as maybe I should be. SIXTY ONE, dammit.. wah!!

I had a bucket list but can’t remember where I put the bucket. I am so crippled up at times, getting to the front door is an excursion in itself. I am more tolerant than I used to be, but nobody gets to see me so I can show them. The only fun in getting old is that I can get away with behaving oddly, but I am too self-conscious to do that.

Nine days from now is the real high spot. I will know if I have been awarded MVP status again by Microsoft. It used to be fun because we were sent a gift, not always a really useful item, but a gift nonetheless, and I have kept most of them. However, it is the award that counts most. It is good to be recognised as having a useful purpose in life, especially an old stooge like me.. :-)

Two days from now, it will be Christmas day, a day for kids everywhere, but kids are not just for Christmas. Remember that, and also remember what Christmas is all about. Love is what you do for somebody throughout the years, not what you buy them at Christmas.

Wherever you are, whoever you are, there is a festival around this time of year. Try to make the most of it even if you feel like dirt. You will get more out of it if you think about others before yourself.

The end of the world never came..

December 21, 2012 was, allegedly the last day of the Mayan calendar. We were told that the end of the world was nigh, but the end of Dec 21, 20120 heralded in a new era called Dec 22, 2012.

As always, a fair few high profile stars came to their end this year. Also twenty kids aged between 6 and 7 in the Sandy Hook school, Newtown, Connecticut. The NRA saw it as collateral damage. I will never understand the views of the NRA and its members. They all need psychological assistance in my opinion.

The Bushmaster AR-15 became the most famous semi-auto rifle because it was the weapon of choice for two mass shooters and a nutcase who took out two firemen in Rochester, NY.

The USA is about to step off the ‘fiscal cliff’. Pardon me for thinking that the USA had been sliding into inequity for some while. Obama tries to do his best for ALL US citizens, while Republicans do what they can to stop him.

Corruption in high places is nothing new. Four city mayors across Canada could be worse. There are eleven major cities! Banking in Europe has been found to be every bit as corrupt as it is in the USA. Surprise surprise. This is what happens when you entrust others with your money. They call it ‘human nature’.

Why isn’t corruption higher in Canada? Is it because nobody has long enough to escape before winter sets in? There is corruption in Canada, but at a lower level except for Montreal. That city has its own code.

The Middle East still has problems, Syria in particular. The Russians worry about who might replace Assad. So does everybody else, but is that a reason to stand by and do nothing to help the people? The Arab Spring has produced mixed results in other countries, mainly bad mixed in with very bad.

The West still hasn’t caught on that it is dictatorships which keep the countries unified. It may not suit us, but many less people die. The other side is that the people live very poorly whatever they try to achieve. It is not easy to see an answer, and never has been.

The London Olympics was a huge success, and despite claims by the US that security there would be a joke, it wasn’t. In the end, all they could say was “Who is Ray Davies?”.

Queen Elizabeth did a great job of standing on a boat in less than perfect conditions for hours, watching the largest British flotilla since the Armada slowly drift by. What a star that lady is. For his efforts, the Duke ended up in hospital. The man is ninety years old. I would not have done what he did, nor could I have done it.

Piers Morgan, having upset the Brits for a long time, has now upset the wannabe Wild Bills of the USA. That’s almost half of the population, and he may be looking for safe passage to Argentina fairly soon. If I had any advice for him, I would suggest that he does not start calling the Falklands by Argentina’s preferred name.

Documents relating the Falklands War have been released recently, and we find out that Her Majesty’s Government had grave doubts about whether Britain could re-take them from Argentina. While Reagan openly told the world that US involvement would only go as far as letting the Brits use Ascension Island, there were secret talks suggesting greater involvement by the US. I am pleased that there wasn’t. Americans can be insufferable as it is. Fortunately, and with few resources left, the Brits scared the Argentinian force enough that they finally surrendered.  Yay for the Brits.

On a happy note, a South Korean entertainer known as Psy has broken YouTube records by being the most watched video ever, surpassing the one billion mark. There have been many parodies made around the world, but this is the original, the one and only Psy..

Amazing stuff

It’s almost time to close down on 2012. Now you know how to make an entrance into 2013, Psy style..

Michael Jackson 1958 - 2009

His personal life was a mess, but he was the ultimate showman. He wrote his own songs, and developed a dance style which every young kid wanted to emulate. Young kids today are still trying to emulate him.  His pop videos were in a class of their own, and many pop stars owe their success to the ground rules set by him.
His ‘Thriller’ album of 1983 was the biggest selling album of all time, and was part of the 750 million albums sold in his name. The accompanying video defined ‘pop’ videos and was a major factor in the initial success of MTV.
Unfortunately, like many stars, he became a victim of medication abuse, partly brought on by use of prescription drugs used to overcome the pain from injuries sustained while perfecting his craft.
His behaviour was a little weird, but what can we expect from somebody who never had the experience of being a regular kid. Accusations of child abuse and generally poor health in the last years of his life drove him to be a recluse. Since 2007, he was trying to rebuild his career. As I type this, the cause of death is not known. The world will have to wait for toxicology reports.  
Rest In Peace, Michael. It is most likely the first you have ever known..

Oh, the irony..

Barack Obama faces some huge challenges as he takes office as the most powerful man in the world. Despite the statement made by the outgoing President, the USA has lost a not inconsiderable amount of credibility around the world, financially and morally.

My hope is that all citizens of the USA will pull behind Obama. There is no way that he can live up to expectations unless they all pull their weight. No one person could cure the nations ills alone.

He has put together a team of varying political persuasion, all of whom have experience of the situations which have lead the country to its present state. His choice of Hillary Clinton for the position of ‘Secretary of State’ has to be good. She is well known, well respected, and she is really very smart.

I wish Barack Obama and his team all of the best as they clear the minefield which was George W Bush..

Something to consider while out Christmas shopping..

If you have never experienced the
danger of war or the solitude of
imprisonment, the agony of torture
and hunger, you are much ahead of
the 500 million people who live in
this world.

Phantom Hope..

It is said that the world is warming up. As it does, animals like the Polar Bear will disappear because their habitat will no longer exist. It is difficult to imagine a world without the North and South polar icecap. One can't help but feel that something cataclysmic would happen along the path to total meltdown, something really BIG. If you think about it, the rising ocean levels swamping what are now coastal low lying areas is bad enough.

You may think that you are sitting pretty if you live on high ground, but you would soon lose that smug grin. Where do you think all of the people in coastal cities like Montreal, New York and London England are going to be displaced?

Who, exactly is going to pay for the removal of infrastructure away from the areas which will be hit hard? How and when will it be moved?

As the oceans rise, so does the level of water in estuaries, and what is attached to all estuaries? Yes, you guessed right. The small river not too far away from you is also going to rise. Today's fields, farms, golf courses, business parks and domestic housing areas are going to be lakes.

Wild animals, their habitat fast receding, will come into conflict with the escaping hordes from the large coastal cities, whose only interests will be getting someplace to live, be it on a high ground farmers field, or vast tracts of previously forested land, all of the trees about to be cut down to allow for space and building materials.

Fishing fleets will have nowhere to bring back catches unless they fix wheels to the fish processing plants and centres, so no more Sole Meuniere at your favourite restaurant, or cod and chips out of the paper while watching the waves gently roll up the beach.

Meanwhile, up on the high ground, you can't go out in the sun for longer than fifteen minutes unless you smother yourself in sunblock with a rating of '2000', which is probably just as well because there are marauding bands of displaced city dwellers looking to take what you have got, and I don't just mean the sunblock. Better to lock yourself in at night and maybe daytime too.

Living on what is left of the surface will be no cakewalk. Ecosystems contained under glass shields are still very much in the trial stages. Billions of dollars are being poured into space research, but space is a long way from here, and from pictures sent back of our sister planet Mars, unless we are in the market for red rocks and dust, there is not much hope coming out of the research at all.

In the meantime, billions of dollars are being spent on the war to decide whose god will ultimately save us. Salvation is in our own hands, yet we do not seem to have the mind set to realize it

I woke up this morning, still holding what I see a the glimmer of hope that life will improve, but as days pass, the glimmer is like the expectation of watching a forest burn in the belief that, when the flames are extinguished, it will immediately transform into the lush green that it was just before fire took a hold.

All Points Of The Compass..

North

Polar Bears are still in trouble as their world melts away. It is known that when the top predator disappears, the rest of the food chain goes West too.

The warmer temperatures have resulted in faster thawing, and some places have been in danger of washing away. In response to this, a whole town was evacuated South until their hometown conditions improved. The people were flown out in military Hercules transport planes and anything else that would fly. Two days later, the threat had subsided and the people are being flown back. The whole operation must have cost a great deal, emergency bedding and food supplies having been appropriated in the temporary housing. However, the Hercules transports will not be used for the trip back. They can only be used in emergencies, and getting these displaced people back is not considered an emergency.

So what the hell is it?

East

Some Quebecois seem intent on driving a wedge between their province and adjoining Canada. There has been tension between Quebec and Canada for a while, and now it has hit the Ottawa buses. The extremists say that bus drivers should be perfectly bi-lingual. When asked if they ever talk to bus drivers, they all say 'no'. So does it make any difference if they can speak French, or English for that matter? As long as they know the route, stopping where they should and drive safely, who cares?

Further East, the Maritimes have flooding problems too but they are used to living under indifferent conditions. The most important item on the agenda is keeping the gains from mineral rights to themselves.

West

Highway 401 is being extended from Windsor, Ontario to the US border. It will take five years to complete, and will be the biggest road project Ontario has ever seen, as it involves tunnelling. The way gas prices are rising, it will be interesting to see who uses the completed section five years hence.

The oil producers in Alberta screwed up recently as a large flight of ducks landed on a toxic lake, quickly succumbing the to effects of waste from extracting oil from the oil sands. Apparently, the oil companies forgot to set up devices that would normally scare birds away. What has surprised people, I think, is the speed at which perfectly healthy ducks died. The oil sands industry has come under scrutiny re the effects on the environment lately, and I have a feeling that scrutiny will become a whole lot more intense now.

South

The people south of me are in all kinds of trouble. The country is in recession, the incumbent President is on his way out, but his legacy will live on for years. The pretenders to the 'crown' are slugging it out among themselves now, but one has to feel sorry for the one who gets elected. The worst is that whatever happens to the south will have huge repercussions in Canada.

Canadians have a tough enough time working together when everything is looking like a well oiled machine.

And Beyond..

Don't expect sympathy from me. Now is not a good time..

Israel Is So Desperate For Housing..

.. that eleven hundred new homes are going to be built in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem. The country absolutely can't do without them, and it is just unfortunate that the move will annoy the Palestinians and all of the other countries involved in getting a peace deal together. The housing situation is so desperate that the decision to build can't be reversed, a decision taken back in 1999.

Hello? That decision was made in 1999!! That's eight to nine years as the crow flies, and now you pick this time to start construction as other nations are trying to establish peace for you people that may just last?

Pardon me for thinking that you are not looking for peace at all. While we all sympathize with what happened to your people over the ages, there are limits, ya know. How about working with others who are taking the time and trouble to overcome the problems of the Middle East?  

If The Singer Had Been British..

.. would some of the most famous songs have ever made it to vinyl?

Viva Great Yarmouth - Elvis

The Night The Lights Went Out in Rutland - Vicki Lawrence

West Hartlepool (be sure to wear some wellies on your feet) - Scott MacKenzie

I left My Heart In Bognor Regis - Tony Bennett

Midnight Train To Devon - Gladys Knight and the Pips

Twenty Four Hours to Scunthorpe - Gene Pitney

Wakefield Prison Blues - Johnny Cash

Hotel Dorset - The Eagles

Blackburn, Blackburn - Frank Sinatra

It's All Too Easy To Scoff..

Omar Osama Bin Laden wants to be a Peace Envoy between Al Qaeda and the West. He maintains that his father, the notorious Osama Bin Laden, wants a truce. To bring some publicity to his cause, he has decided to ride across North Africa on horseback, accompanied by his British born wife. To the right is a picture of the two of them doing a sterling job within sight of the Giza pyramids.

OK. Somebody needs to take up the position of Peace Envoy, so why not young Omar? And Daddy Bin Laden must be really sick of being in hiding all of this time. Lets face it, he can't even book into a cheap motel for a night without the chance of being captured and then put through the fun questioning technique of 'water boarding'.

Now some of you will think that anything is too good for the guy, BUT the alternative is a constant state of urban war somewhere.

The 'no way, not until hell freezes over' has to come to an end at some point in time or none of us will ever be safe again. The postulating by both sides has to stop.

Instead of voting 'no way', let us all be sensible about everything and try to work out a plan whereby all people get a chance to live and work without the threat of being blown to pieces. We can all start by looking into what the other side thinks, and then educate the people who have it all wrong about us. We can also quit provoking each other because, quite frankly, it is getting us all nothing except a fast track to the local cemetery.

How about it, people?   

Cruel Irony..

Bobby Fischer died on Thursday, January 17, at his home in Reykjavik, Iceland. He was 64 years old.

Bobby Fischer was a bright kind of guy. By the age of 14, he was US Chess Champion and he brought the World Chess Championship title to the US during 1972 after beating Boris Spassky in one of the more peaceful Cold War face offs.

He was also an outspoken critic of his native country to the point where he denounced his US citizenship, becoming a citizen of Iceland instead. When the US administration talked of the 'Axis of Evil', he talked of the 'Allies of Evil', those being the countries which fully supported the present troubles in the Middle East. Was he wrong in what he said? Well, if you look at some facts, you may find yourself agreeing with him.

Allegedly, Bush and his playmates had a plan in the making to invade Iraq BEFORE the events of September 11, 2001. Bearing in mind that it is hardly de rigueur to invade a sovereign country with no pretext, it must have been seen as the biggest stroke of luck that the Twin Tower attack took place. If ever there was a reason to wage war on a country, this had to be it. Of course, Iraq and Saddam Hussein were not responsible for September 11, but hey, who cares! Bush and Co didn't like the guy anyway.

So Bush commands the US military to charge into Iraq, using 'Shock an Awe' tactics. This is similar to Hitler's Blitzkrieg except that the only shock and awe about it all is the way in which Iraqi civilians and US/Allied military personnel were and still are dying like flies.

Having brought down Saddam Hussein and his evil government, it became clearly obvious to all that Bush and Co had no follow up strategy in Iraq other than to instruct Hallliburton, a company in which some members of the US administration may or may not have a vested interest, to safeguard and maintain oil supplies out of Iraq.

What of finding the real culprits behind September 11? We were told that the Al Qaeda leader was hanging out in Afghanistan, but the US needed soldiers for the Iraq invasion so, Canada and one or two other countries were left holding the Afghan baby. It must be noted that in past years, the Canadian military has been a non-aggressive peace keeping force. The change in function has not impressed Canadians a whole bunch.

The Middle East crisis predates anything that ever happened to the Twin Towers. The biggest problem was the way the state of Israel was created. Many Jews had migrated to Palestine because of persecution by the people of other nations. After World War II, the major Western powers elected to form a Jewish state but shuffled the responsibility onto the United Nations who gotten it all wrong by allocating more land to the new state than would be left for the Arabs whose homeland Palestine was.

Needless to say, the United Nations forced the plan through with the promise of aid and full military backing from the US, Britain and France. And here lies the overriding problem. In order that we can preserve our economic interests abroad, we feel that it is our duty to enforce our ways on people who neither understand or want them. One has to note that any country lacking in resources wanted by the West, or that doesn't pose a threat by the spreading of communism, is left completely alone.

The US is not alone in acts of International vandalism. Britain has left messes behind it after pulling out of territory previously governed as part of the British Empire. Pakistan is a good case in point, where the British supported one faction until such time as they were ready to pull out. At this point, they changed allegiances. leaving Pakistan in political turmoil, a state from which the country has never really fully recovered.

We have seen the same after the fall of the Soviet Union, none more so than in the former state of Yugoslavia which completely fell apart, former hostilities between Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia rising like the blast from Krakatoa.

Until we stop forcing our ways onto others, there will always be problems.

It is said that Bobby Fischer had his fair share of idiosyncrasies, and it is true that his chosen lifestyle was somewhat reclusive, but he was a man who had his eyes open, and he looked beyond the 'national' emotion that seems to grab some.

The West is looking for ways to bring peace to the Middle East, but Bush and Co will not be the ones to do it, especially as they are trying their level best to get the world and his dog to turn on Iran. Why Iran? Well, busting Iraq apart did no good at all, Iran is close by and it would be relatively easy to move troops there.

Here is a quote from somebody famous...

"No problem can be solved from the same consciousness that created it".

The author of the quote was none other than the great problem solver himself, Albert Einstein.

Good Morning, Good Morning..

Americans still have some time to wait before they can dump their leader. Fortunately, the incumbent guy can't re-apply. However, they will need to pick the next President with care if they ever want respect from the world community again.

Open the box with care. There are no FREE gifts.

Benazir Bhutto 1953 - 2007..

Charismatic, educated, and the first woman to hold high office in an Islamic country, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan had huge popular support on her return to Pakistan. She put herself among her public, knowing only too well that she would be a target.

Embroiled in a financial scandal during her last term as Prime Minister, and with a none too clean record of Human Rights during that term, she was nevertheless an upholder of democracy in Pakistan, and seen as a stabilizing influence by leaders in the 'West'.

Search For The Truth..

In a small Southern town there was a "Nativity Scene" that showed great skill and talent had gone into creating it. One small feature bothered me. The three wise men were wearing firemen's helmets. Totally unable to come up with a reason or explanation, I left.

At a "Quick Stop" on the edge of town, I asked the lady behind the counter about the helmets. She exploded into a rage, yelling at me, "You damn Yankees never do read the Bible!" I assured her that I did, but simply couldn't recall anything about firemen in the Bible. She jerked her Bible from behind the counter and ruffled through some pages, and finally jabbed her finger at a passage. Sticking it in my face she said

"See, it says right here, 'The three wise man came from afar.'"

How to make Christmas Cookies..

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup Whisky
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups dried fruit
• 2 cups flour
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 1 Tbsp salt
• 1 cup nuts
• 1 lemon
• 1 bottle of Malt Whisky

How to bake the cookies

First you taste the whisky to make sure of its quality

Get out your mixer

Just to be on the safe side, check the whisky again, pour a cup and drink it

Start the mixer and beat the butter until foamy

Add the sugar slowly

Still wondering about the whisky? Hell, try it again, we wanna be sure, don’t we?

Murn off the tixer , mixer I mean

Break the eggs and throw them in the tixer, no no, mixer!!

Then its time for those dumb fruit, toss them in

Any of them get stuck use a screwdriver

Hold it, time to check the whisky, not convinced yet

Now throw in the nuts (make sure no family members get in)

Hey, check whatever else is still lying around and happily throw it in

Ha! Time again for a whiskey check

Grease up the stove and turn it around 380 degrees

Finish the whisky, go to bed, good night

In the morning head for the grocery store and by some cookies

Why I Shouldn't Like You..

As an English Brit, I was brought up with many concepts of others, some of which dated back centuries. Let me tell you now that I do NOT discriminate at all. What I was taught, and what I have learned are two very different animals.

'Never trust the Welsh' came from a diary written by Bishop Gerault of Monmouth, who toured Wales recruiting for the Holy Wars way back in history. He had little good to say about them other than they were savages who could fight well.

The truth is that Welsh people are an ok bunch, and fiercely proud of being Welsh. I have never had a problem with them, so why the continued discrimination?

Scots came in for the same kind of bad press, the Romans having built a wall to stop the savages from roaming south. It didn't stop the English enlisting the help of Lowland Scots in the defeat and massacre of the Highland Scots at Culloden Moor, 1746.

Scotland has produced more than its fair share of very smart people, writers, inventors etc, and one has to admire anybody who can write and invent or have enough imagination in a country as wet and grey as Scotland can be. Like the Welsh, they are fiercely proud of their nation and rightly so. The Scots I know personally are great people, so why the continued discrimination?

Not all Scots and Welsh people are amenable to the English, and they have good reason in my opinion. I took the time to find out for myself what these people were really like, because I couldn't understand the inbuilt dislike that so many English showed. After all, I had a Welsh mother and Scottish grandfather, and they were ok..

Nations across the sea also had honourable mentions.

The French had been traditional enemies for centuries, despite the fact that England owed more to the Normans than anybody else. But the Normans weren't really Gallic at all. They were actually Norsemen who had taken up living in North France. The worst is that the French eat frogs, snails and cheese which smells like old socks, and didn't have proper toilets for the longest time.

Well, hello!! How much worse can frogs, snails and 'old sock' cheese be when compared to Black Pudding and well matured Stilton cheese? Proper toilets didn't see the light of day for a while in England either unless one was 'bloody well off'!! It was a trip out to the end of the back yard in all weather for most Brits, and what was concealed in many a 'backhouse' could not be considered a proper toilet regardless of how far one's imagination stretched.

Germans were and still are a dour bunch who eat Sauerkraut and weird sausages with a very tough skin. They strut around like they own the place and start wars.

Whoa up. That's the Queens family heritage you are talking about. They weren't always called the Windsor's, ya know!! The Brits have strutted every continent on the face of the planet in a style which indicated to natives that they now owned the place. Brits may not have started every war, but they made sure that they had top billing in as many as they could. And anybody who has sampled a great British pickled onion will know the true meaning of sour.

The Spanish eat greasy food, ugly fish and everything tastes of garlic.

This is what comes of the sister of King Philip II of Spain annoying Henry VIII, and the unwillingness of the Spanish to hand over Aztec and Inca gold on demand to the pet pirates employed by Elizabeth I of England. Regarding greasy food, the Brits are champions coming in at first place with the Great British fry up and 'fish and chips', over which one smothers 'red' or 'brown' sauce (tomato ketchup and/or spiced sauce).

Italians can't control their emotions and spend their leisure time picking pockets and offering 'protection' to small business.

Were it not for 'Italians', we would still be living in caves, washing in cold water, and would have no idea what to do with ice cream and a Cadbury Flake. Italy is just brimming with culture, and they have a flair for life that wet and dreary Brits couldn't muster if their lives depended upon it. What is more, Sicilians are not Italian, and it is a brave, 'wannabe dead' Brit who pushes the point. We are just plain jealous. 

As for the rest of you, you must have been too far away or just plain boring to even deserve a mention, but I have heard of fairly gross behaviour by a good many of you. Well, at least we have something in common, and when we finally meet, there will be much to talk over.

Black Pudding? You can use any farmyard animal blood almost, and what you do is add filler like meat, fat, barley, whatever with the blood and you cook it until it is in a state where it can congeal when cooled. Nice, eh!! Want some?

Public Roads?

'Public' roads were not 'invented' for the public. They were not painstakingly funded and constructed by governments such that you or I could easily transport our chickens to market, or make it easier for us to paddle in the sea for a week.

The picture to the right is of a Roman road in Britain. It is now locally known as Blackstone Edge. The Romans would not have quarried the stone or laid any of it, but they would most certainly have overseen construction. They would not have used slave labour either. That would have been far too dangerous. The Romans left Britain around AD 43, and this road is a tribute to their knowledge and ability. You have to wonder how they cajoled the locals into doing this work.

For the public good? Maybe so, but it also enabled them to move troops around quickly if some of the population ever became restless. Unfortunately for the Romans, roads were not enough, resourceful Brits removing the cobbles to use as building materials for small domiciles, hence the lack of Roman roads remaining. They did the same to Hadrian's Wall, it being more important to keep warm in winter than stop marauding bands of Scots as the Romans had endeavoured to do.

The technology was not completely lost, and the Brits re-introduced cobbles later in their history. Cobbles, as pretty as they look are not ideal for road construction, being difficult to walk over in anything but dry conditions for humans and horses.

The breakthrough for transporting heavy stuff and men came with canals. The Industrial Revolution made possible chattels of war made from iron and steel, and the only way these things were ever going to be transported around the land was by using man made rivers, better known as canals. Yes, I know that commercial goods were the main loads carried, but make no mistake here. The primary use would have been to move military stuff.

Canals would have lasted longer had it not been for the adaptation of horse drawn, wooden railroads, to iron rails and the iron horse. However, both means of transport had a major drawback: the incline. Canals needed 'slow to operate' locks to get over obstacles, and railroads were dogged with iron to iron contact between wheel and rail, not good in wet or icy conditions, requiring the construction of cuttings and tunnels in a bid to get over the lack of climbing ability.

The invention of rubber tires, the steam/internal combustion engine and tarmac changed everything. They gave governments what they needed most, a reliable and easy way to move the military around while convincing the people to build them in the belief that it was for all good reasons like moving produce from one place to another.

Germany is a prime example of this. Hitler commissioned the 'Autobahn' system primarily to facilitate the movement of the military. Constructed in the 1930's, much of the system was so well laid down that it didn't need repairing for decades. This is in stark contrast to highways built in Britain during the 1960's and since, which have required constant repairs, sometimes only weeks after opening.

In fairness, roads in Europe and North America have been used more for commercial good than anything else, and we can be excused for forgetting the original purpose. So, what do you make of the picture below? It is a highway in a country where private vehicle ownership is virtually non-existent, where the movement of commercial goods is virtually non-existent by virtue of the fact that most of the people can't afford anything.

Remove the two vehicles and the cyclist, and what you are looking at here is a temporary airstrip or a road designed for moving either very large vehicles or masses of smaller ones packed with 'military'.

This is a highway near Pyongyang, North Korea. Imagine spending so much on a road which the public do not use. What were they thinking? Maybe something along the same lines as the Romans, almost 2000 years ago?

Geswanouth Slahoot..

Lament for Confederation

How long have I known you, Oh Canada? A hundred years? Yes, a hundred years. And many, many seelanum more. And today, when you celebrate your hundred years, Oh Canada, I am sad for all the Indian people throughout the land.

For I have known you when your forests were mine; when they gave me my meat and my clothing. I have known you in your streams and rivers where your fish flashed and danced in the sun, where the waters said 'come, come and eat of my abundance.' I have known you in the freedom of the winds. And my spirit, like the winds, once roamed your good lands.

But in the long hundred years since the white man came, I have seen my freedom disappear like the salmon going mysteriously out to sea. The white man's strange customs, which I could not understand, pressed down upon me until I could no longer breathe.

When I fought to protect my land and my home, I was called a savage. When I neither understood nor welcomed his way of life, I was called lazy. When I tried to rule my people, I was stripped of my authority.

My nation was ignored in your history textbooks - they were little more important in the history of Canada than the buffalo that ranged the plains. I was ridiculed in your plays and motion pictures, and when I drank your fire-water, I got drunk - very, very drunk. And I forgot.

Oh Canada, how can I celebrate with you this Centenary, this hundred years? Shall I thank you for the reserves that are left to me of my beautiful forests? For the canned fish of my rivers? For the loss of my pride and authority, even among my own people? For the lack of my will to fight back? No! I must forget what's past and gone.

Oh God in heaven! Give me back the courage of the olden chiefs. Let me wrestle with my surroundings. Let me again, as in the days of old, dominate my environment. Let me humbly accept this new culture and through it rise up and go on.

Oh God! Like the thunderbird of old I shall rise again out of the sea; I shall grab the instruments of the white man's success - his education, his skills - and with these new tools I shall build my race into the proudest segment of your society.

Before I follow the great chiefs who have gone before us, Oh Canada, I shall see these things come to pass. I shall see our young braves and our chiefs sitting in the houses of law and government, ruling and being ruled by the knowledge and freedoms of our great land.

So shall we shatter the barriers of our isolation. So shall the next hundred years be the greatest in the proud history of our tribes and nations.

Chief Dan George

Born July 24, 1899

Died September 23, 1981

If you have ever watched the movie 'The Outlaw Josey Wales' you will have seen him in steal the show from the main character, but he did it with such grace and style.. take a look..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPFP_XazE5U&feature=related

It Has Been Done Before..

First flown in 1929, the British airship R101 crashed in bad weather over France on the morning of October 5th 1930, killing 54 people. At the time, it was the largest aircraft in the world at 777 feet. Its sister ship, R100, was decommissioned a year later.

The lift gas was Hydrogen, lighter than air but a little volatile to say the least.

The hangar where these two airships were built still stands at Cardington, England.

Did aviators learn from this disaster? No, they did not. The Hindenburg, 808 feet in length and only shorter than the SS Titanic by 78 feet, was started in 1931, but due to financial problems was halted and not resumed until 1935. May 3rd1937 saw the Hindenburg burst into flames, 36 people losing their lives. It too was filled with Hydrogen, but only because Germany was not allowed Helium by the United States, the only source at the time. It remains today the largest aircraft to ever fly.

It was at this point where it appeared to dawn on the world at large that maybe airships were not the way to travel. Aviators did learn this time, but the dream stayed alive.

No piece on airships would be complete without mention of the Goodyear Blimp. There have actually been 300 made since the very first in 1911. The current fleet are roughly 192 feet long, and are used as advertising and photography platforms. They are Helium filled and there has only been one crash, I think.

So, have airships finally found their vocation? Is the dream of a large luxurious airship gone forever? No, it hasn't.

The picture below is an artist impression of the next generation 'lighter than air' aircraft. The general idea is that it will enable 250 people to drift around in consummate luxury, much like R101 and Hindenburg attempted to do years ago. The questions are these. Even though the airship will be Helium filled, would you really want to drift around in an airship larger than most International airport buildings? Would you feel safe watching this thing pass over your house? This is Thunderbird 2 on steroids, a floating 'Canary Wharf'...

A Non-lethal Weapon?

Sixteen deaths in Canada, and one hundred and fifty deaths in the US alone, would suggest that the Taser is anything but non-lethal as claimed. Rules applying to the use of handguns do not apply to the Taser, other than there being some restrictions on how and where they can be carried. Most US states permit the sale of these weapons to the general public.

These weapons have the stopping power of a .357 Magnum. They fire two barbs which remain connected to the weapon by wires. The essence is that the weapon delivers a fifty thousand volt charge over a five second period via the wires and barbs.

The general public have a choice of the gun style as shown in the picture above, or a version which looks more like a flashlight, and in a choice of colors to match ones favorite outfit.


Make no mistake. Despite the claims of the manufacturer, these weapons can kill or be a major factor in the ensuing death of anybody unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end.