Category: History

Muslim demographics – an update.

A calm and rational destruction of the Dangerous Demographics YouTube video

On the 20th August, a Post was published on Learning from Dogs called Doing nothing!  It was largely an emotional response to the video on YouTube that has been watched by over ten millions and claims that Europe and North America are close to becoming dominated by Muslims.  The unspoken implication being that this would be ‘dangerous’ for those present societies.  The YouTube film was clearly made with a racist agenda in mind.

The vision of this Blog is to support the notion that integrity is not only a noble inspiration but on a day-to-day basis truthdelivers better outcomes for you and me. Integrity is being true to one’s beliefs, or as defined in the free dictionary, “Steadfast adherence to a strict moral or ethical code“.  Morals and ethics rely on understanding the truth, as best we can, of the world around us.  Thus it is enormous pleasure to find the BBC presenting a statistical rebuttal to the YouTube video.

Please watch it.

The web address is ….. see below

UPDATE NOTE: For some reason the BBC have removed that video.  However, the material that debunks the YouTube video may be seen here, and here.

And when you have seen it, if you know of anyone who has emailed you the link to the YouTube video, please email them the link to the truth spoken by the BBC.

As the English philosopher Edmund Burke said,

‘The only thing necessary for the triumph [of evil] is for good men to do nothing.’

By Paul Handover

Senator Edward Kennedy, a big loss for all of us.

Veteran US Senator, Edward Kennedy, dies at the age of 77.

Senator Kennedy had been battling a brain tumour for a long time; his death makes this a very sad day.

The BBC has a good tribute to him.

James Kwak of Baseline Scenario makes his tribute personal, and all the better for it.

I have nothing new or insightful to add, but it feels wrong to go back to blogging without paying respects to Ted Kennedy. When I was younger and perhaps more idealistic, I used to carry around a copy of his speech at the 1980 Democratic National Convention. He was a man who cared about the poor, the unemployed, and the sick, even as their cause became less and less fashionable over the past four decades. He believed that justice went beyond formalistic legal rights and extended to economic and social conditions as well. The Senate needs another person like him, but sadly will not find one.

Senator Edward Kennedy.
Senator Edward Kennedy.

By Paul Handover

Doing nothing!

Freedom and justice needs active participation.

Let me start with an extract from the Henrik Hudson School District Library Media Centre:

Perpetrators, collaborators, bystanders, victims: we can be clear about three of these categories. The bystander, however, is the fulcrum. If there are enough notable exceptions, then protest reaches a critical mass. We don’t usually think of history as being shaped by silence, but, as English philosopher Edmund Burke said, ‘The only thing necessary for the triumph [of evil] is for good men to do nothing.’ (My source for this is here.)

So what has prompted this Post?

Continue reading “Doing nothing!” →

Storytelling

Something almost as old as mankind itself

We have returned from being in Tucson for a few days and while there we spent many hours one day at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.  But this is no dusty place with fossilised remains behind glass cabinets.  No, the Desert

A Bobcat at the Desert Museum
A Bobcat at the Desert Museum

Museum is an honest attempt to give visitors an insight into the complex and beautiful world of a desert. As the Musuem’s web site puts it,

The mission of the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is to inspire people to live in harmony with the natural world by fostering love, appreciation, and understanding of the Sonoran Desert.

That particular evening the programme mentioned an hour’s storytelling by the Native American Gerard Tsonakwa.

Tsonakwa is a member of the Abenaki tribe who live in the Algonquin area of Ontario, Canada.   Originally an active participant in Native American politics and a published author as well, Tsonakwa showed that evening the power and mystery of storytelling.

It’s only in recent times, relatively speaking, that books have been widely available (the book as we know it today dates from the fifteenth century) and in the last hundred years the art of passing information to others through storytelling has practically disappeared.

But listening to Gerard Tsonakwa speak to a packed auditorium in the Warden Oasis Theatre at the Desert Museum was compelling, to say the least.  Compelling because sitting in a group listening to an ‘elder’ tell the secrets of life and the universe seemed to resonate with very deep memories of long time ago.

By Paul Handover

Technology and electronics, a personal muse.

The amazing development of electronics over 50 years.

The calendar reliably informs me that this is my 65th year.  My brain, of course, lags somewhat in accepting this!

My step-father during my early teenage years worked for Elliott Brothers (the link goes to an interesting history of the firm that started in 1804) in Borehamwood, just north of London.  He encouraged me to fiddle with ‘steam’ radios and

Frederick and sa Elliot

try and understand how these basic circuits worked.  It was then a small step to deciding to become a radio amateur, popularly known as a radio ham!  In those days it was a case of some pretty intensive studying to pass a Theory exam as well as being able to pass an exam in sending and receiving Morse code.

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Avro Vulcan – another wow of an aircraft!

Avro Vulcan Cold War Bomber XH558 takes to the skies again.

That was almost two years ago and, at the time, it wasn’t sure how the funds would keep coming in to enable this amazing aircraft to remain in the air.

Photobucket
Vulcan XH558, by Steve LeVien

Remarkably, the money was found and this great, historic aircraft flies on.

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The lessons in Chrysler?

Chrysler, investing, entrepreneurism and common sense.

Many, many years ago I went on a course on starting your own business.  It was held in London and caught my eye because just a few months previously I had resigned my sales job with IBM UK Ltd and commenced a journey of being self-employed, in the sense of being responsible for my own income. A 31-year journey that has provided so many riches in a non-financial sense.

Since we are talking about an event so long ago, it is not surprising that few memories are intact about that single day in a smart hotel in the centre of London.

BUT, one thing has stayed with me, and served me well.

Never get involved in a business where you don’t really know the marketplace.

So a recent article in the New York Times (Saturday, 8th August) about Cerebus, the private capital investment company that purchased Chrysler two years ago wasn’t short on lessons for us more down-to-earth guys.  Here’s a extract from the interview that Louise Story with the NYT (cool surname, by the way, for a journalist!) did with Steve Feinberg, co-founder of Cerebus, in his smart office on Park Avenue.

Continue reading “The lessons in Chrysler?” →

Little treasures – a peek into English rural life

Bob Derham has been a close friend of mine for too many years.  We first met in Cyprus when it was my Winter base for cruising the Med. and have kept in touch ever since.  He will be embarrassed by me describing him as one of life’s gentlemen.  It’s great to have Bob’s occasional Post but when you read this, his first, you will get an excellent idea of how this person views the world.  By the way, here is a picture of Bob’s office! (And more details for aviation buffs!) PH.

Airbus A319
Airbus A319

A chance to pause awhile and reflect.

We are lucky enough to live in a special part of England in the county of Hampshire, in a part called the New Forest which used to be the hunting ground of William the Conqueror. Our village is called Woodgreen, and as part of the forest, Cows, Ponies, and Pigs are free to roam, kept within the forest confines by cattle grids. Our house is one of several which are thatched and surround the common, in the middle of which is a cricket pitch.

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Innovation and Invention

Mankind has a huge potential.

Just recently we recognised the 100th anniversary of the flight across the English Channel by Louis Bleriot.  His aircraft looked like this:

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The End of a Wall Street era.

Michael Lewis, author of Liar’s Poker, writes about what went wrong for Wall Street.

As with all great events, and what is going on in the world just now is certainly a Great Event, artists, poets and writers always capture the essence of change.

In December of 2008, Lewis wrote a wonderful essay for Conde Naste Portfolio.  Read and be impressed.

By Paul Handover