Anyone who has owned a dog will know that there is something very special about the relationship between a dog and humans. Dogs have the ability to provide the purest form of unconditional friendship and for us complicated humans this closeness is so precious. I mean who would have thought ……
Author: Paul Handover
Resting and Playing
Few people go through their lives without periods of great angst and emotional pain. Many at this very moment will be in the middle of situations that, perhaps, could be described as hopeless. What on earth does that have to do with resting and playing? Because, however grim life may look like just now, a period of rest or play makes things better.
Dogs (and many other warm-blooded animals) are masters of resting and playing. Now, of course, it would be wrong to see these behavioural traits in the same way that we regard resting and playing but nonetheless they are great examples for us. When dogs used to live their lives in packs, within the pack would be an Omega dog, the joker dog, whose role was to keep the pack ‘happy’.
One of the things that is apparent when travelling on the European Continent is how many countries still preserve Sunday as a day of rest. Sadly not England and, it is suspected, nor America. Maybe having a day of rest from whatever stresses and strains are in a life has much to recommend it.
So to with play. And here’s a wonderful example of a group of humans having incredible fun and producing a remarkable result. What’s the point? Who knows. But you can be sure that not one of the participants came away from that stage feeling worse than when they went in.
By Paul Handover
Concorde – the aviation icon, that is.
Health warning. If aircraft and flying don’t give you a buzz then give this post a miss!
There’s a Forum in the UK that is subscribed to mainly by private pilots but also has a decent share of members from all walks of aviation including pro pilots and Air Traffic Controllers. Love of iconic events in flying is often talked about.
Recently there has been a thread about the last flights of the Concorde including links to radio calls between aircraft and London Controllers.
If this doesn’t make you smile, nothing will!
By Paul Handover
Where’s the truth about our economy, Part 2
This may be Part 2 of an unending series! It simply beggars belief that no one in Government (I bundle at least the US and UK Governments together, in this regard) appears to have sufficient trust in their peoples to acknowledge the very significant risk of much worse to come.
Nouriel Roubini (aka Dr Doom) has just published a convicing argument that Mounting Job Losses Will Hurt Consumption, Housing, Banks’ Balance Sheets, Public Finances and Lead to Protectionist Pressures
Here’s just a small extract from the article:
If you include partially employed workers and discouraged workers who left the U.S. labor force, for example, the unemployment rate is already 16.5%
(Not sure if the above link can be accessed if one is not a (free) subscriber to RGE Monitor’s regular updates so the full article is included at the end of this post.)
But it’s the same old, same old. Politicians don’t understand the huge damage that is being done to democracy by an apalling lack of political integrity.
The Moon, 40 years on.
Probably one of the highlights in my life was watching the Apollo 11 flight to the moon and back. I took a week off from my job at ICI in Sydney, rented a TV and hardly slept during the whole event.
For those who shared those feelings of excitement as man reached out beyond his home planet, NASA has some wonderful archives including the Apollo 11 audio in real time.
America and mankind at its best.
By Paul Handover
The English are a funny lot
I refer to the English sense of humour. There seems to be nothing like it from any other part of the world.
The roll call of British comedians is long and glorious but some of the strangest humour (from a non-English perspective) is typified by Monty Python and David Adams, the latter writing The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
From which very funny book comes the following quote,
There is an art to flying, or rather a knack. Its knack lies in learning to throw yourself at the ground and miss. Clearly, it is this second part, the missing, that provides the difficulties.
By Paul Handover
Where’s the truth about our economy?
There are many commentators out there who are doing a great job in challenging the drivel that is being put out by governments. There is Simon Johnson and James Kwak of The Baseline Scenario, two very expert guys albeit with a tendency to be a little too technical for the masses.
And then there is Karl Denninger who Blogs as Market Ticker. He is blunt and brave, clear and courageous. His latest video is typical of the man.
It’s the reason that there are links to both sites on this Blog.
By Paul Handover
Wow!
Even after being a private pilot since 1981, aviation still gives me a huge thrill. How about this, courtesy of the Daily Mail newspaper in England.
By Paul Handover
Is it me?
It’s very fashionable to attack politicians for showing a lack of integrity. Or is it the whole political apparatus? But slowly over the years, as more and more water flows under the bridge, it’s becoming more difficult to come to any other conclusion than that politics is corrupt, dysfunctional (in terms of societal needs) and motivated by the need to gain and maintain power.
Is there any evidence to the contrary? It would be great to see it.
It all seems a very long way from:
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
By Paul Handover
Learning from Dogs 