In a day when beauty and celebrity mixed with a jot of education are confused with substance there is the curious person of Boston born William Billings (1746-1800). Billings was uneducated and blue collar; his profession was that of tanner. It was a foul smelling profession and the stench clung to clothing and person. Billings [...]
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Filed under: Politics & economics
Rossa writes on some interesting interconnections: When writing my recent posts I certainly didn’t expect to come across a connection between Alpacas, the Tornado steam train, the Midland Grand Hotel, a red telephone box and the village of Saltaire. It just goes to prove that all things are inter-connected. So what is the connection? The [...]
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Filed under: Leisure, travel & sport
Rossa: Keeping things ticking over for James, we begin with… Carrying on with the nautical theme I was told this joke today by my Dad. To set the scene, the Canadians and American meet “at sea”. Canadians: Please adjust your course 15º degrees South to avoid collision Americans: Please adjust your course 15º degrees North [...]
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Filed under: Diversions, Leisure, travel & sport
There’ve been how many thousand words blogged on the matter and still it has most people’s heads shaking – how could the one on the left get it so wrong and the one on the right sell his soul for power? There seem, to me, certain possibilities: 1. Dave is just incompetent, hadn’t costed the [...]
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Filed under: Politics & economics
Having been away downloading a few gigs of files today, the net fallout from that episode is a clean install and update [good], loss of my book in Word form and loss of Word altogether [can be done for now on rtf] and much small configuration still to do, e.g. keyboard and sound settings etc, [...]
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Filed under: Blogging
This morning, about 7 a.m., I was hit by two things – firstly, something took over my computer and in particular, my network settings and changed them. It then refused permission for me to go back in and reset them. The only option was a clean install and this has now taken a bit over [...]
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Notes 1. The down side of three masts on 31 feet is hobbyhorsing but if the lines are fair and there is buoyancy graduated into bow and stern, with weight tending amidships, it should reduce it. With masts more upright in my pencil sketch on paper, it’s still a lifting rig.
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Filed under: Leisure, travel & sport, Technology & ideas
This time last year, I was a Tory and went to the Manchester Conference. This year I have no party because I do not wish to be part of a hijacking which has seen the rate of powers conceded to Brussels greater than under Labour and which has seen so many broken promises. However, Isuppose [...]
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Filed under: Politics & economics
Berlusconi might be a snake but he tells a fair joke: # A Jew hides a fellow Jew in his basement at the time of the concentration camps and charges him 3,000 euro a day. The Jew paid up because he had the money but do you think he should tell him that Hitler has [...]
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Filed under: Diversions
Thanks, Dearieme:
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Filed under: Politics & economics
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JD writes of abandonment: Seafront property available on the Costa del Sol. Yet another casualty of the property boom/bust- unwanted unloved abandoned _________________________ JD‘s profile and a list of his posts can be found in the left sidebar at this site.
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Filed under: Diversions, JD, Leisure, travel & sport
Possibly as a result of recent food posts here, my Russian friend has kindly sent a clip from over there on salmon fishing. Even if you can’t understand a word of it – and I was struggling myself in many places – it doesn’t really need words to get the general idea. It also shows [...]
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Filed under: Society & human issues
There are pitfalls and traps all over the place in doing research, not least because certain areas of investigation have had red herrings and barriers strewn in their path. Finding texts which are not biased [or not exceptionally biased] is half the work.
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Filed under: Blogging, Politics & economics
JD continues his series of musical vignettes: Arvo Pärt: De Profundis The Hilliard Ensemble David James counter tenor John Potter tenor Paul Hillier baritone David Bevan bass Christopher Bowers-Broadbent organ Albert Bowen percussion _________________________ All JD‘s posts can be found here in the left sidebar.
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Filed under: JD
1. Which French duke was claimed to be behind the military campaign against the English that Joan of Arc was said to have led? 2. The United States was originally which British company, in a manner of speaking? 3. Which club was Ben Franklin supposedly an attendee of, having the motto: “Fais ce que tu [...]
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The stories of your toilet experiences can only really be shared so many times. [Lord T]
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Rossa writes of when family is a bit out of the ordinary: I am very fortunate to be part of a widespread family that has had more than its fair share of pioneers. To say it couldn’t happen today is not completely true, but these ancestors and members of my family went to places very [...]
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Filed under: Society & human issues
From Dearieme’s first offering here to my cheeky offering at the end, please bear with these four different versions of the blues this evening:
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Filed under: Politics & economics
Mine’s far more flaky than this. There are two aspects to eggs which seem close to truisms – firstly, as you know, that everyone’s taste is just that bit different, such as in music and what I find so absolutely scrumptious might not be your idea of perfect. The second is that, with eggs, just [...]
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Filed under: Leisure, travel & sport, Society & human issues
Topsail Gaff rigged Ketch ‘Wutuku’. She was built in 1986 in Lemon Tree Passage, NSW, Australia. She is 17.4 metres long with a beam of 5.7 metres and draws 1.68 metres. Constructed of Oregon on Spotted Gum.
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Filed under: Diversions, Leisure, travel & sport
Andrew Duffin bemoaned the lack of yachts and women, of late, on these pages . Andrew – your wish is my command:
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Filed under: Diversions, Leisure, travel & sport
Let me change the names and cut out the dead wood from this tale from Downunder which has parallels in our situation here: The voice on the [bank line told a teenage boy: “The computer in front of me says I can loan you 60 grand. So how much of that do you want?” He [...]
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Filed under: Politics & economics
Interesting that google news ran a letter to the Guardian editor as a news item in itself. Interesting the choice of topic: The Irish government has got it wrong again, but the clue to why is not in the “dozy government” line. It is hidden in your quote that “the elite directing the Irish economy [...]
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Filed under: Politics & economics
Rossa‘s pick-me-up for the new day: I’m not a fan of commercial breakfast cereals as even the ones like Special K that you are supposed to use on a diet are laden with sugar and salt. And they don’t really fill you up which is why a lot of people reach for a snack mid [...]
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Filed under: Politics & economics
JD‘s prescription: My name is JD and I am a Singaholic. There I’ve said it. I am not ashamed of it but sometimes I just can’t help myself. You know how it is, a few relaxing drinks in convivial company and I have the urge to sing a song. This is typically how it happens: [...]
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Filed under: Diversions, JD, Society & human issues
When Jessica Watson did her trailblazing stunt of zipping around the world in an excellent boat, the Sparkman Stevens 34, whilst two others were in the wings, waiting to set off and when the Laura Dekker saga began with the Dutch court taking her into custody, there was quite something going.
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Filed under: Leisure, travel & sport
Clinton, Hubble, Gulf War, Diana, Dolly the sheep, the web starts up big time, Kissinger’s Rwanda, Chechen wars, Kosovo, Balkan wars, World Trade Centre bombing, Al Qaeda, Hong Kong, Chris Patten, Nelson Mandela, Monicagate, Starr Report, Newt Gingrich, Rabin, Arafat and that photo, Aung San Suu Kyi.
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Filed under: Society & human issues
This the second on LVT and related issues by Mark Wadsworth, the first being Houses of the Holy. My own interim comment on land, to which Mark responded, among others, was called Land. OK, let’s go back to the drawing board and try and agree a few principles for the best, or at least the [...]
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Filed under: Politics & economics, Society & human issues
This article follows on from Herve Falciani. There’s an immediate issue which arises from the theft of 80 000 client account details from HSBC by Herve Falciani and whether he sold the information for money or was motivated by altruism is hardly relevant to the discussion. What’s so wrong with placing money in foreign accounts [...]
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Filed under: Politics & economics
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