Sunday, 11 November 2012

Remembrance Sunday

The "Ode of Remembrance" is an ode taken from Laurence Binyon's poem "For the Fallen", which was first published in The Times in September 1914. The poet wrote For the Fallen, which has seven stanzas, while sitting on the cliffs between Pentire Point and The Rumps in north Cornwall, UK. A stone plaque was erected at the spot in 2001 to commemorate the fact. The plaque bears the inscription For the Fallen Composed on these cliffs 1914 However there is also a plaque on the beehive monument on the East Cliff above Portreath in central North Cornwall which cites that as the place where Binyon composed the poem. The poem honoured the World War I British war dead of that time and in particular the British Expeditionary Force, which had by then already had high casualty rates on the developing Western Front. The poem was published when the Battle of the Marne was foremost in people's minds. Over time, the third and fourth stanzas of the poem (although often just the fourth)were claimed as a tribute to all casualties of war, regardless of state. They went with songs to the battle, they were young. Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow. They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted, They fell with their faces to the foe. They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, We will remember them. The line Lest we forget is often added to the end of the ode, which is repeated in response by those listening, especially in Australia. In the United Kingdom and New Zealand, the final line of the ode, "We will remember them", is repeated in response. In Canada, the last stanza of the above extract has become known as the Act of Remembrance, and the final line is also repeated. The second line of the fourth stanza, 'Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn', draws upon Enobarbus' description of Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra: 'Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale'. Today is a day for remembering those who put their lives on the line and those who are currently putting their lives on the line. It is a day for honouring those who have fallen, those who have served and those who are currently serving. It is a day for putting yourself in someone else’s shoes – the wife, the mother, the daughter – and only being able to imagine what they were going through, never fully understanding how it must have felt when their husbands, sons, fathers went away and many did not come back, and for those serving now always hoping nothing bad will happen to those they love most. It is a very emotional day for me, I cannot describe it. I always have a few tears. How does one even begin to understand …….

Saturday, 1 September 2012

The Ultimate Sacrifice

I have not posted for a while.
Work has been somewhat full on but whilst going through my blog roll this morning I came across a post by The Captain.

I have reposted his clip and indeed I was stunned by what I watched.
So thank you Capt!
I have served as my blog friend know for several years.
Those days are behind me now ............ well physically anyway if you get my meaning.

I will salute all member of any armed force anywhere in the world who gives the ultimate sacrifice.
The thing is there scarifice and endeavours these days is tainted by lies, mistruths and politicians using soliders blood for personal gain.

However for the brief 3 minutes of this clip I tip my hat to the Kiwi Infantry.
A most amazing show of respect as only they can.

God Speed !

Wednesday, 8 August 2012

Oooopppsssss Daily Express

On a personal note I have been loving the Olympics.

I am so glad the doom mongers have been so far proven wrong.

The success we have been getting is just superb. Indeed if you look at the medal tally and compare it per capita I believe (hopefully a stato will confirm)that medals per head of population we are winning.

Indeed take the USA out of the pool or invoke the same rules on swimming as in cycling (only 1 competitor per even per country..........yes i know team sprints) and the USA really are not performing at all.

And as for that bastion of all Sporting nations the Aussies ............ WHO ??????

Anyway today many newspapers are banging the drum about our medal success.

Indeed 1 did catch my eye this am and that is the Daily Express........not because it was particularly witty or anything like that but because errrrrrr


Friday, 6 July 2012

Man Cold

Yes I am a little under the weather right now.
But SOMEONE thought it would be funny to send this.



Certain things the way they are .......????

For Example.......The US standard railroad gauge (width between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. Now that is a very odd number. Why was that gauge used? Because that’s the gauge used in England and the first US railroads were built by English engineers.

Why did the English use that gauge? Well, the first railways were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that’s the gauge they used.

Why did they use that gauge? It’s simple, the people who built the tramways used the same jogs and tools that they used for building wagons which used that wheel spacing.

Okay, so why did the wagons have that odd wheel spacing? If they tried to use any other spacing the wheels would break on some of the old, long distance roads in England because that was the spacing of the wheel ruts.

Why were the ruts that wide? The first long distance roads in England (and most of Europe) were built by the Roman Legions and these roads have been used ever since then. And the ruts in the roads? Roman chariots first formed the ruts and everyone else had to match the ruts for fear of destroying their wagon wheels. Since the chariots were made by Imperial Rome, they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing.

Consequently, the United States standard railroad gauge is derived from the specifications of the original Roman war chariot. Yes, bureaucracy lasts forever!

By the way, why was the wheel spacing of the Roman war chariot that width? It was just wide enough to accommodate the back ends of two Roman war horses.

Thus, we have the answer to the original question. Now here is a modern twist to the story…

When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, there are two booster rockets attached to each side of the main fuel tank. These are the solid rocket boosters (SRB) that were made by Thiokol in their factory in Utah.

The engineers who designed the solid rocket boosters might have preferred to make them a bit wider, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The rail line had to run through a tunnel in the mountains. The SRBs had to fit through that tunnel and the tunnel was only slightly wider that the railroad track, which was slightly wider than two horses behinds.

So, the major design factor of what is arguably the world’s most advanced transportation system was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a horse's ass.

Thursday, 21 June 2012

Taxes, Taxation and Morals


Amazing what a wee concert can do for ya eh!

Anyway its all over a certain K2 taxation scheme.

Here is the basic premise of how it operates:

UK earners 'quit' their job
They then sign new employment contracts with offshore companies


A certain David Cameron described it as "very dodgy".


I cant see it.





I now realise I’ve made a terrible error of judgement.—
Jimmy Carr (@jimmycarr) June 21, 2012

Jimmy Carr (@jimmycarr) June 21, 2012


Apologies to everyone.

Jimmy Carr—
Jimmy Carr (@jimmycarr) June 21, 2012



However the whole taxation issue in the UK is a mess.
HMRC has been described as "not fit for purpose".



The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay £1.
The sixth would pay £3.
The seventh would pay £7.
The eighth would pay £12.
The ninth would pay £18.
So, that's what they decided to do.







For those who understand, no explanation is needed.
For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible

Sunday, 20 May 2012

Abdelbaset al Megrahi

Reports from Libya today state the former Libyan intelligence officer convicted of the Lockerbie bombing, Abdelbaset al Megrahi, has died.

East Renfrewshire Council, which is supposed to receive updates about his condition following his early release from prison, has said it has received no official confirmation of his death but it is investigating.

The Foreign Office said it does not know if the reports are accurate, but they are "seeking further information".

A Scottish court in 2001 convicted Megrahi, 60, of the 1988 attack on Pan Am flight 103, but he was freed on compassionate grounds in 2009 because doctors said he was battling prostate cancer and had only three months to live.

He was greeted like a hero by the Gaddafi regime on his return to the country in 2009having served eight years of a 27-year sentence.




He did not fit the stereotype of an international terrorist.










His co-accused was cleared.

A first appeal against his conviction was rejected in March 2002.





I am 1 of the dissenting voices.
I ask you to read this link here. It will take you back to 11 post relating to this subject.
Some of them with praise, some of them critical, some of them questioning of evidence.

Please just have a wee read!

The 1 thing I know today is certain members of the British Government, Scottish Government and both the UK and USA intelligence services tonight are breathing a lot easier. The 1 man who remained, that knew the actual truth has now gone !!!!

Friday, 11 May 2012

Having a Pun Day ???

I changed my iPod's name to Titanic. It's syncing now.
When chemists die, they barium.
Jokes about German sausage are the wurst.
How does Moses make his tea? Hebrews it.
This girl said she recognised me from the vegetarian club, but I'd never met herbivore.
PMS jokes aren't funny. Period.
Why were the Indians here first? They had reservations.
When you get a bladder infection urine trouble.
Broken pencils are pointless.
I tried to catch some fog, but I mist.
I dropped out of communism class because of lousy Marx.
I got a job at a bakery because I kneaded dough.
Haunted French pancakes give me the crepes.
Velcro, what a rip off!
Venison for dinner again? Oh deer!
The earthquake in Washington obviously was the government's fault.
Be kind to your dentist. He has fillings, too.
When a clock is hungry it goes back four seconds.
Marriage is the mourning after the knot before.
Corduroy pillows are making headlines.
Is a book on voyeurism a peeping tome?
Sea captains don't like crew cuts.
A successful diet is the triumph of mind over platter.
A gossip is someone with a great sense of rumour.
Without geometry, life is pointless.
Reading while sunbathing makes you well-red.
Dijon vu - the same mustard as before.
A backwards poet writes inverse.
In democracy your vote counts. In feudalism, your count votes.
He often broke into song because he couldn't find the key.
When I was in the supermarket I saw a man and a woman wrapped in a barcode. I asked "Are you two an item?"
A dog with his leg wrapped in bandages hobbles into a saloon. He sidles up to the bar and announces "I'm lookin' fer the man who shot my paw."
A termite walks into a bar and says "Is the bar tender here?"
Four fonts walk into a bar. The barman says "Hey get out! We don't want your type in here!"

Wednesday, 9 May 2012


So on Sunday just past 06/05/12 the lovely people of France voted and as we all know The current President of the Republic being Nicolas Sarkozy, a position held since 16May 2007, with a result of a loss for him giving the President-Elect to François Hollande, who takes office on 15 May 2012.

Good luck to him but for everyone else I thought it best to provide a few basic facts figures and quotes about this once great Gaullish nation


"France has neither winter nor summer nor morals. Apart from these drawbacks it is a fine country" --Mark Twain

"France has usually been governed by prostitutes" --Mark Twain

"I would rather have a German division in front of me than a French one behind me" --General George S. Patton

"Going to war without France is like going deer hunting without your accordion" --Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld

"We can stand here like the French, or we can do something about it" --Marge Simpson

"As far as I'm concerned, war always means failure" --Jacques Chirac, President of France

"As far as France is concerned, you're right" --Rush Limbaugh

"The only time France wants us to go to war is when the German Army is sitting in Paris sipping coffee" --Regis Philbin



"You know why the French don't want to bomb Saddam Hussein? Because he hates America, he loves mistresses and wears a beret. He is French, people" --Conan O'Brien

"I don't know why people are surprised that France won't help us get Saddam out of Iraq. After all, France wouldn't help us get Hitler out of France either" --Jay Leno.

"The last time the French asked for 'more proof' it came marching into Paris under a German flag" --David Letterman

"Only thing worse than a Frenchman is a Frenchman who lives in Canada" --Ted Nugent.

"War without France would be like... uh ... World War II" --Unknown

"The favourite bumper sticker in Washington D.C. right now is one that says 'First Iraq, then France'" --Tom Brokaw


"It is important to remember that the French have always been there when they needed us" --Alan Kent

"They've taken their own precautions against al-Qaida. To prepare for an attack, each Frenchman is urged to keep duct tape, a white flag, and a three-day supply of mistresses in the house"--Argus Hamilton

"Somebody was telling me about the French Army rifle that was being advertised on eBay the other day. The description was 'Never shot. Dropped once" --Rep. Roy Blunt (MO)


"Do you know how many Frenchmen it takes to defend Paris? It's not known, it's never been tried" --Rep. R. Blount

"Do you know it only took Germany three days to conquer France in WWII? And that's because it was raining" --John Xereas


Its Official


Muller Fruit Corner Greek Yogurt Rhubard ............... absolutely F*****G Rock.

I have no connection to the company at all but should a person of the company wish to send me loads of free ones I will accept and post on the blog everytime I eat 1.

I am soooo cheap its not true.

Excuse the shaky photo but I was still overcome in yogurty pleasure !!!!!!!


Related Posts with Thumbnails