Category: History

The Jaguar XK120 Motor Car

You’ll never feel this way about a modern car!

A few weeks ago I attended a 70th Birthday celebration for a cousin.

70! Hey this chap has been riding bicycles at competition level, and running marathons for many years, so the surprise party was very upbeat, with two bands keeping everybody dancing. Everything from the Shadows to Roy Orbison.

It was a lovely day so I took my old XK120 Roadster, mainly because another cousin was going along, and he had helped rebuild this car 30 years previously. Actually we arrived together. The XK was running beautifully, but my cousin’s Mercedes had burst a water pipe, and the car park was flooded with coloured radiator water. We laughed that it was the new car that had broken down.

Read more about the XK120

Patrice Ayme, 9/11 anniversary thought

This is not comfortable reading.

Patrice published a Post on his Blog last September 11th.  Not being an American it felt wrong to echo that publication by linking to the Post on the 11th as well.  No logic, just the way it felt!

But it is so deeply interesting, that not to highlight the Post would be wrong.  This Blog, after all, is about integrity.  In that process, if the truth is uncomfortable, so be it.  And if others think that Patrice doesn’t speak truthfully then they must speak otherwise.  You see, integrity is really the pursuit of truth.

Patrice’s subject title is: Why France Is Bad: Profits Define Goodness.

Read an extract from Patrice’s Post

Lehman – 1 year on.

Exactly a year ago, Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy.

I shall avoid the temptation of pontificating on the subject as many, many others, far better qualified, will be doing so!Leyman

But two published articles seem to me to be worth visiting, one from October of 2008 from The Economist, and one from The New York Times.

Lastly, a personal comment from friend Dan that shows powerfully how the last year has affected him.

Read more of this Post

The International Space Station

Almost taken for granted by so many of us.

Thanks to Dan for passing me the link to a fascinating graphic that was recently published in USA Today showing the

As seen by STS 128
As seen by STS 128

time-line of the International Space Station.  It has been orbiting above our heads for over a decade!  Do click on the link because you will be surprised, unless you work for NASA, how large and complex the ISS now is.

It’s an interesting to consider what has happened since the launch of the first module, Zanya, on the 20th November, 1998.  Bill Clinton was then President of the USA; Tony Blair had been British Prime Minister since May, 1997.  How times change!

But steadily a group of Nations has worked together to keep this project going and now the end of this magnificent enterprise is within sight.  As the NASA web site summarises:

The International Space Station is a partnership of the US, Russian, European, Japanese, and Canadian Space Agencies. The station has been continuously human occupied since Nov 2, 2000. Orbiting 16 times per day at 17,500 miles per hour 250 miles above the ground, it passes over 90% of the world’s surface. When complete in 2010, it will weigh over 800,000 pounds and have a crew of 6 conducting research and preparing the way for future exploration to the moon and beyond.

By Paul Handover

Planet Earth, just a reminder.

This is a beautiful planet and it’s the only one we have.

Yes, I know it’s not original but these pictures still have a haunting beauty about them.

Just look at our world

Hurricane Jimena from space

The International Space Station passed directly overhead the storm.

Here’s what a hurricane looks like from 300 miles above. It has to be described as beautiful.

Here’s what a hurricane looks like from 30 feet away.  It has to be described as ugly.

Main street, San Carlos, Mexico
Main street, San Carlos, Mexico

Wednesday, 9th – still no mains water or public sewerage services.

By Paul Handover

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UK Postcode TDCU 1ZZ

Where the capital city is called Edinburgh of the Seven Seas

My great buddy of 30 years, Dan, Californian born and bred, recently emailed me saying that he had spent a fascinating hour reading the website of Tristan da Cunha.  Most British people will have some odd recollection about this very remote community living in the South Atlantic because the islands are part of the United Kingdom. TDCU 1ZZ is, in fact, the UK postcode for Tristan da Cunha.

The settlement on Tristan
The settlement on Tristan

This is not a place which has a habit of making main-stream news! Indeed, one could not imagine a more distant part of the planet. Well you won’t imagine a more distant place. Tristan da Cunha is the most remotely inhabited archipelago on Planet Earth. Indeed, only one island, Tristan, is inhabited and, according to the website there are just 264 British citizens there today.

Earlier it was mentioned that most British will have some vague recollection of Tristan.  More likely, that will be those British who were born before, say, 1950.

Why?

Continue reading “UK Postcode TDCU 1ZZ” →

Precision engineering

Technology is so much more than bits and bytes.

Recently had the opportunity to visit a factory belonging to Horst Engineering in the nearby town of Guaymas (pronounced whymas), Sonora, Mexico.  The factor manager is an American, Andy Law, who, with his lovely wife, livesHorst 2 across the road.

It is simply ages since I have seen a precision engineering factory at work.  Not only was I impressed but it took me on a long trip down memory lane, with a couple of strands: engineering tools and the British defence industry.

But before the reminisces, a word about the calibre of the young Mexicans working for Andy.  Unlike so many of the locals who one comes across, these bright, young men and women are committed, self-motivated, multi-lingual (Sp/Eng) citizens. It was a treat to observe them and hear Andy speak so highly of them.  Mexico sorely needs up-coming generations of highly capable people.

Continue reading “Precision engineering” →

Patrice Ayme and truth

Intelligence at the core of humanism

A while ago a comment on Baseline Scenario jumped off the screen at me.  I was intrigued because the author of this comment used words with power and insightfulness.  That author was Patrice Ayme.  It’s a nom de plume. [NB. Not it isn’t, see comments below] The sub-heading at the top of this Post is from his Blog.  Here’s an extract from the About section of that Blog.

This is a site that tries to find out what is really happening, and what is not, what is right and what is wrong, on many important questions, and in all sorts of ways. In other words thinking is applied relentlessly, the way evolution made it, as the ultimate instrument of domination of anything in sight (be it domination of oneself, of one’s own ideas and emotions, or domination of the universe). Thinking evolved to predict effectively and ambitiously, not to cower in a corner, modest and dazed. Prometheus’ punishment was a regrettable misunderstanding: we did not steal fire from someone, we created our mastery of fire, and fire made us what we are, as we wished. Mastering fire was not a sin, the Greco-Romans were wrong on that one. Fire was part of what we have evolved to be; masters of the universe, for better or worse.

Read more about Patrice

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