The man from the Clapham Omnibus

I volunteered as a zombie but somewhat expanded the role . I think it went well however !  

Adam valiantly munches through 2lb of meat 1 lb of fries and bread in 30 minutes and isnt sick afterwards . He " failed the 666 Flyers Challenge but maintained his dignity and didnt vomit during or afterwards . He made me proud ! Jon Hinch .

I asked a boy scout if I could film him as I bought some popcorn from his stall outside Wal Mart in Oak Harbor Washington . His dad saw me coming but it was for a good cause !

That was the fun now here is a brief tour of the town

Adam and me traveled to Vancouver B.C. to see the Seattle Sounders F.C. play the Vancouver Whitecaps . We met the bus at the aptly named Northgate in North  Seattle . It was an excellent though intense experience .! We stated on a keg of their own brew before 10 AM and the party began !  There were a good selection of folks including two great kids who had wonderfully been brought up to be polite and respectful generally but to also be passionate about their team even to the point of swearing in the right company - I kid you not ! . There was a British EX-pat family just near us at the back of the bus and they as well as everyone else were really welcoming .  The community atmosphere was perfect - everybody shared what they had - including beer spirits and Razberitas - ( Courtesey of Razzle ) . All the ECS trip Virgins inc me and Adam took it in turns to go to Tom at the front of the bus , introduce ourselves - Name our fav. player and sing a song . ...

I hold some unusual views which I am often forced to defend . I do sometimes change my opinions after being shown that I am in error . I am pleased to do so as I am pretty pessimistic about the direction of the world and being proved wrong gives me more hope for the future of my ( our )  planet . I am also a little miffed at how often people use tricks not logic in an attempt to justify their own arguments or attack others positions . It is as if they believe that by wining an argument in the mind of most observers by tricks really does prove its actual worth .  Democracy somehow trumps facts in their minds . This is a fair summary of those tricks and what they are called .

Bloody Sunday Where Mutual Hostility Exploded Into Massacre   Bloody Sunday was a tragedy for the bereaved and the wounded, and a catastrophe for the people of Northern Ireland. What came to be known as Bloody Sunday was a demonstration in Londonderry in Northern Ireland on Sunday, January 30, 1972, by Catholic supporters of civil rights that turned violent when British paratroopers opened fire, killing 13 and injuring 14 others (one of the injured later died). Bloody Sunday caused an upsurge in support for the IRA which advocated violence against the United Kingdom to force it to withdraw from Northern Ireland. The incident remained a source of controversy for decades, with competing accounts of the events. In June 2010 the Saville Report, the final pronouncement of a government inquiry initiated by British Prime Minister Tony Blair in 1998, concluded that none of the victims had posed any immediate threat to the soldiers and that their shooting was therefore ...

After more than twenty years I was finally persuaded by " Ginge" to drive what is now my Centurion Tank ! Here is a video of the controls . Here is me describing unscripted the external features of the Centurion Here is a bit more / All vids taken at the Conflict History and Remembrance Museum on the Isle of Wight

This war started following Pakistan's infiltration of forces into disputed Kashmir to precipitate an insurgency against rule by India . India retaliated by launching a full-scale military attack . The seventeen-day war ended with over 6,000 dead between both sides and also witnessed the largest tank battle since World War II. The Pakistani Army had both a numerical advantage in tanks, as well as better equipment overall. Pakistani armour consisted mainly of American Patton tanks . The bulk of India's tank fleet were older M4 Shermans . Thankfully India also fielded some Centurions . In actual combat the Centurion battle tank, with its 105 mm gun and heavy armour, proved superior to the overly complex Pattons and their exaggerated reputations proved unfounded . The hostilities between the two countries ended a following diplomatic intervention by the Soviet Union and USA and the subsequent issuance of the Tashkent Declaration . ...

Centurion A.V.R.E. on the streets of Northern Ireland 1972 During the “ Troubles” in Northern Ireland ( or the north of Ireland to some of our readers ) The IRA ( Irish Republican Army ) had a significant grip on their own Catholic communities and the Protestants were becoming increasingly restive, expressing strong resentment against the ‘No Go’ areas that the “ terrorists” had set up in Belfast and in Londonderry . The Baracades had to come down ! On 31 July 1972 Operation Motorman commenced to reoccupy those ‘No Go’ areas . A total of 21,000 troops were concentrated in the Province and the intention was announced beforehand, as a result there was very little resistance from the PIRA ( Provisional ). The operation was one of the biggest undertaken by the British Amy since the invasion of Suez in 1956. Its aim was to re-establish the Army in all the hard Republican areas, particularly the Creggan and Bogside in Londonderry and the Andersonstown, Ballymurphy and the Markets ...

"This is going to come as a shock to many... but here in the U.S.A we live in a federal, constitutional, limited republic... not a democracy... where the people as individuals... not society... hold ALL rights and powers which may exist , (some of which are delegated to the government) and which may only be restricted in very limited ways, as specifically enumerated in our constitution. Neither the government, nor society, have any legitimate rights or powers which are not del egated by individuals, nor are they or those rights superior to individuals and individual rights. They are derived from the rights of individuals, thus they can only be equal to the rights of individuals. So, if you start saying  " the government allows us ...... " or "the government can't allow" or "society can't allow", or even "we can't allow", as regards another individuals exercise of their rights... You're almost automatically w...

“ We will never surrender !” France fell to the German Blitzkrieg in May 1940 . The retreating British Army ended up being rescued from the beaches of Dunkirk by a flotilla of little ships leaving behind much of their equipment . A German invasion was expected ! Winston Churchill the British prime minister made his famous “ we will fight them on the beaches – we will never surrender ! “ speech and the Battle of Britain was on ! The UK desperately needed submachineguns . The Government ordered well made expensive Thompsons from the still neutral United States but there was never enough available . In order to rapidly equip a sufficient fighting force to counter the threat of invasion , the Royal Small Arms Factory , Enfield ( North London ) was commissioned to produce an alternative quickly and in large numbers . Whats in a name S.T.En. There Major R. V. Shepherd OBE and Mr. Harold John Turpin came up with the Design which became...

Candidate for the worlds first Assault rifle    John Moses Browning was a genius — which is kinda like saying water is wet or snow is cold. It’s so blindingly self-evident, it really doesn’t need to be said. The operating mechanisms of his designs were revolutionary in their time, and continue to be used in modern firearm design today. Some of his masterworks continue unchanged (like the 1911 handgun), and others live on in the derivative designs of others. The Browning Automatic Rifle is one of those quintessential Browning designs that not only proved to be indispensable to soldiers in its day, but whose operating components would go on to form the basis for the main battle rifles still in use by some European countries in the 21st century. With World War I in full swing, the need for a lightweight, man-portable machine gun was becoming more and more critical.  Machine guns were considered to be in the same category as a mortar crew or artillery battery, ...

Bonnie and Clyde and the BAR ! Clyde Barrow, holding a Browning automatic rifle. BAR's could fire a twenty-shot magazine loaded with armor-piercing ammunition in under three seconds. During the depression of the 1930's in the USA criminals were looked at in a different way by many of the people who had been victimized and impoverished by the rich bankers and the emerging powerful corporations. Many people saw them as people driven to the edge that were only taking back what was stolen from them and striking back at a society and Government that let the Depression cause so much harm to so many . Two of the most famous criminals of that time were Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow . They were known to be quite skilled with their weapons, and unlike most criminals, they practiced with them and maintained them . Sadly they are considered to be responsible for the deaths of at least Nine law enforcement officers and five civilians during...

M1 Carbine A “carbine” is historically a short light musket or rifle intended for use by mounted soldiers . During the Second World War, the American GI was armed with the M1 Garand Rifle the big brother of the M1 Carbine . This heavy self loading rifle was described by General George S. Patton as :- " The greatest battle implement ever devised " He also praised the M1 Carbine . From a letter to his wife Beatrice penned whilst on ship heading to take part in the Torch Landings in Vichy French North Africa :- “ The new carbine is a lovely little thing and very accurate “ The M1 carbine was one of America’s most popular and widely produced military rifles , serving the country from World War II through Vietnam. Not counting the M16, more M1 Carbines (and variants) were made than any other American long gun in history. Depending upon which vet you talk to, this neat little .30-caliber repeater was either the best or the worst arm he ever carr...

As everybody who knows me is aware I am pretty passionate about the victims of war , particularly those ordinary decent people who are called upon to take to arms when one group of people end up fighting another for a cause often nothing whatsoever to do with most of the individual people who end up doing the fighting .    " Theirs not to reason why theirs but to do or die " as I believe Tennyson put it ! As I have become older and possibly wiser  I have become less motivated by personal wealth and aggrandizement and more motivated into what would give meaning to my life - what can I do for others - how would things be different and better because of my own existence .  "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." John F. Kennedy   As a minor student of history I came to realize how lucky my generation was in relation to others of the past and how the curse of war absolutely dominates the historical narrative thr...