Sunday - January 04, 2009

For Peiper…

How ‘judgemental’ of you Peiper. Don’t you know that Gypsies are a vital part of the economy?

But every night all the men would come around and lay their money down

Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves

Amazing. Even Cher had to tell the truth about Gypsies.

   Saturday - January 03, 2009

The law of unintended consequences

Ever notice that every time the Government (whether local, State, or Federal) tries to solve a problem it just creates more problems?

Okay, so it’s Terry Pratchett. I still think it’s applicable.

Another interesting fact: this quote is in the footnotes of Soul Music. I’m sure Grumpy will appreciate this post.

[22] Rats had featured largely in the history of Ankh-Morpork. Shortly before the Patrician came to power there was a terrible plague of rats. The city council countered it by offering twenty pence for every rat tail. This did, for a week or two, reduce the number of rats –

Okay, we have the Government response to a problem. Now...on to the unintended consequence…

– and then people were suddenly queuing up with tails, the city treasury was being drained, and no-one seemed to be doing much work. And there still seemed to be a lot of rats around. Lord Vetinari had listened carefully while the problem was explained, and had solved the thing with one memorable phrase which said a lot about him, about the folly of bounty offers, and about the natural instinct of Ankh-Morporkians in any situation involving money: “Tax the rat farms.”

What the Government subsidizes, it gets more of!

THE GREAT ENGLISH SELL OUT.  THE WHOLE DARN COUNTRY. AND THE ENGLISH DON’T LIKE IT.

The views of all local comrades will be ignored unless they follow the ‘equality and diversity guidelines’ from the central planning committee. All comrades are entitled to give their opinion but the central planning committee reserves the right to override all public opinion and common sense.

John, London, UK, 3/1/2009 10:04

That BMEWS readers, is one of many like letters to the editor on the issue of Europe’s and the UK’s public cancer.
Gypsies/ Travelers. A blight in human form.

They can set up camp pretty much anywhere and they do. And it’s hell removing them. 
However, the govt. here is insisting that local councils find more camp sites for people who basically are nomadic. But never mind that for now.

This problem is faced by this country mostly due to one man.  The former Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott.  Of course, he isn’t alone but was a prime mover.
He is old fashioned leftist labour, (except for his lifestyle) and Tony Blair needed him to swing the left wing of his party to gain power.  That’s badly put perhaps and if he’s around I think Lyndon can explain it better.

Prescott had as his goal, his life’s desire, his answer to problems, STICK IT TO THE MIDDLE CLASS AND THE WEALTHY.  Make em hurt.
He was a very rough and tumble bruiser who really shined when using strong arm methods against political rallies of opposing political viewpoint. He was the bruiser that broke things up. 
You would not want to meet him on a dark night alone.  Come to think about it, maybe not even in daylight.  He’s been known to deck people.

One of his goals (and his legislation if I can use that term) is in effect now. It was his idea that the south where he perceived ALL the rich and middle class lived should get a taste of lower income housing in their neighborhoods, and so councils have been given a schedule that has to be met and extra housing built.  That is simplistic put that way but I know of no other way to state the case.

To give American a taste of Prescott, here’s one of his quotes.  He is btw, known for mangled sentences.

The objectives remain the same and indeed that has been made clear by the Prime Minister in a speech yesterday that the objectives are clear and the one about the removal of the Taliban is not something we have as a clear objective to implement but it is possible a consequence that will flow from the Taliban clearly giving protection to Bin Laden and the UN resolution made it absolutely clear that anyone that finds them in that position declares themselves an enemy and that clearly is a matter for these objectives.

GYPSIES AND TRAVELERS (difference?) ARE A RACIAL GROUP

By Paul Bracchi
Last updated at 10:43 AM on 03rd January 2009
Daily Mail

This idyllic corner of England is where council chiefs want to put a new gipsy camp.

Historic: The Old Mill, at Stotfold in Bedfordshire which was restored after it was destroyed by a fire in 1992. A gipsy camp has been earmarked for land bordering the old buildings

‘Housing crisis’ in the gipsy community

Six towns and villages have been earmarked for the camps - Stotfold (four pitches), Pulloxhill (eight), Greenfield (one), Arlesey (four), Upper Caldecote (five).

It would be difficult to imagine a policy which has caused so much anxiety and anger for local people. Much of that anger, understandably, is directed at the council.

‘Racism’ aside, you have only to visit the authority’s own website to understand the reason.

The council says it is trying to dispel some of the myths about gipsies and travellers. Information is one thing, propaganda another.

Anyone, apart from travellers themselves, could be in little doubt into which category the council’s ‘research’ falls.

Do gipsies and travellers work or pay taxes, asks one rhetorical question? Of course they do - ‘VAT is also paid on everything they buy’.

Presumably, the camp at Crays Hill in Essex is the exception that proves the rule, then.

A recent report, commissioned by the local council in Essex, found that people on the site were claiming almost £250,000 a year in dole money.

In other words, they were being funded by the taxpayer by an average of about £7,650 per plot annually.

Nevertheless, many of the Crays Hill fraternity owned expensive cars and vans.

But back to those other ‘myths’. Living in a caravan is not just ‘a lifestyle choice’ for many gipsies, insists Mid-Bedfordshire council, ‘but part of their social and cultural heritage’.

No mention of the fact that many of the gipsies at Cottenham in Cambridgeshire also have palatial second homes back in Ireland.

Then there is this gem. ‘Media reports and images are often inaccurate and discriminatory. In particular there is no evidence of higher crimes rates among gipsies and travellers.’

No doubt Gary Alderson and his team were unaware of the police raid on a gipsy camp near Market Harborough, Leicestershire, last year during which £1 million cash was found buried underground, stashed in cupboards and stuffed inside cuddly toys. Almost £5,000 was also discovered in a dishwasher.

The fortune came from illegally altering the mileometers on highmileage cars - bought at auction for next to nothing - and selling stolen caravans.

In fact, evidence contradicting the claims by Mid-Bedfordshire District Council - the kind which cannot be dismissed as ‘inaccurate and discriminatory’ - is to be found much closer to home.

At a site, in fact, run by the council itself in the village of Potton.

‘Betrayed’

In 2002, a couple living 200 yards from the Potton camp took the authority to court after enduring a decade of lawless and anti-social behaviour at the hands of travellers who raced cars, dumped and burned vehicles, set rubbish alight and threatened residents.

The judge ruled that the council had not done enough to tackle the ‘nuisance’ which had blighted the lives of the couple. They were later awarded up to £30,000.

Little, it seems, has changed. In November, detectives arrested two men at Potton following an armed robbery at a supermarket.

Meanwhile, life-saving equipment stolen from local fire stations was discovered near the camp. The police helicopter now flies over the site day and night.

Is it any surprise that the people of Mid-Bedfordshire felt betrayed by the council long before those letters accusing them of racism started landing on their doormats?

One comment was not sent back to the council on one of its questionnaires, but is worth repeating nonetheless.

‘Many of these so-called travellers seem to think it is perfectly OK for them to cause mayhem in area, to go burgling, thieving, breaking into vehicles, causing all kinds of trouble including defecating in the doorways of firms and so on, and getting away with it.’

Guess who was speaking? It was Jack Straw, the former Home Secretary, in 1999 - shortly before the amendment to the race laws.

His comments were aimed at travellers like those at Potton, not Romanies.

So it seems its all right for a Home Secretary to make such observations, but not those people whose lives will be most seriously affected by the new traveller sites.

‘It is insulting to be branded a racist,’ said Brian Collier, 66, who is also chairman of Stotfold Council.

‘I trained as a teacher in London and the first school I worked in was in Chiswick where most of the children were non-white.

‘I have worked in schools in which there have been members of ethnic communities almost all my career.

‘I have served on the town council for 20 years and I have been in the Liberal Party since I was 23.

‘I come from a Lancastrian Methodist background and I am not a racist in any way. I have also lived in Stotfold for 28 years and I can tell you it is not a place that would attract any support for the BNP.

‘Our town council simply expressed the concerns of the people it represents. They have a genuine concern about crime.

‘They see what has happened at the Potton site and are fearful the same thing could happen here. Local people, the police, the courts, and Mid-Bedfordshire District Council are all well aware of the long history of serious criminality at this site.

‘The proposed site in Stotfold backs onto a planned nature reserve and is not far from the local Scout and Guide hut.

‘At the moment the proposal is for four pitches in Stotfold. It would mean around eight caravans - but the entire site actually comprises 44 acres so there is concern that as time goes by it will get bigger.’

Back at Huckleberry Cottage, the same sentiments are echoed by Frances and Gordon Huckle.

‘I love the town and want it to retain its charm,’ explains Mr Huckle. ‘My ancestors lived in this house in the 1880s and it is a very pleasant place to live.

‘Many families move here from London to enjoy a bit of peace and quiet, and we don’t want that to be ruined.’

In Britain 2009, it seems, and in Bedfordshire in particular, voicing such sentiments, quite simply, makes you a racist.

MORE GYPSIES

Due to the length of the article, I have done a lot of editing. For the entire story in proper form, see the link.

Honourable way Britain dealt with Irish terrorism.  Israel needs to do the same? This guy thinks so

British lesson about terrorism
By Peter Oborne
Daily Mail

Defenders of the Israeli government have spent the past week claiming that Britain would behave just as ruthlessly if it came under attack from, say, a neighbouring territory in the same way that Israel has been targeted by militants in Gaza.

This analogy is utterly false. As we all know, Britain was attacked over a period of 30 years by the IRA, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of innocent people and the near annihilation of the Cabinet.

But ministers never ordered the bombing of the Falls Road in Belfast, the town of Dundalk or any of the other Republican strongholds. The one exception, when indiscriminate deaths resulted during the events of Bloody Sunday in 1969, has been the subject of a public inquiry. On the contrary, the British reaction to terrorist attacks on our own soil has focused on sensible policing and the opening up of lines of communication with the enemy. The eventual outcome was a peaceful end to a terrible conflict.

Israel has a great deal to learn from the honourable way Britain dealt with Irish terrorism.

OBORNE

Well this was short sweet and to the point. I also think he’s nuts.  Brits finally talked to who? Or is that whom?
Murderous thugs who wantonly killed and maimed with bombs thrown into public places?  Killing ppl who did no more then question tactics of murder?
I’m a bit thick on this subject.  Hamas has a goal. It’s Jew killing, period.  Only my opinion but I really believe that if Israel caved in on everything Hamas says it wants, that still would not be enough. 

Would like to hear from Brits on the subject.  Lyndon? Chris? Anyone else?

The reason you can not tell me anything new is because I already know all there is to know.

Ran into one of those types right here in our own house just today.  And not one but TWO! Two, in the same place on the same day. I guess they come in pairs now.

This is another (not unexpected) TROLL RANT and once again although the Trolls are different then the ones I ranted about a couple of months ago,
they are from the same health care agency.  This has less to do with national health then just plain MoonBat STUPID!
And oh golly gee whiz ... is this pair dumb!

WHAT’S ANOTHER TROLL OR TWO AMONG FRIENDS?
-or-

I KNOW IT ALL ALREADY.  THERE’S NOTHING MORE FOR ME TO LEARN.

January 3rd 2009

About a month or so ago I did a post about people known professionally as Care Givers. I wasn’t writing about the profession itself but about two in particular who I referred to as, “Trolls.”

In our particular case, these ppl come from an agency that supplies trained (not necessarily all well schooled) folks who attend to the disabled.
They also help a family like ours, where someone is old and bedridden.  My wife can’t do it all on her own, and her mother requires diaper changes up to four times a day.  These people also will bathe the patient and generally see to comfort where they are able.  Their reason for being is to help folks in my wife’s situation, and make it a little easier for her to cope with the physical side of things. 

Well, that’s the theory anyway and mostly it works.  Mostly.
As all things in life without getting overly philosophical about it, there are exceptions.
Those exceptions are known as ‘Trolls’ to me although you might have other applications that are more descriptive and to the point and maybe less personal.

Steady readers may also recall I ended that rant with the words Stay Tuned.  And why not as there’s always more.  How can there not be when we’re dealing with people and especially those of extreme ignorance.  While I do like the sound of the word troll, Stupid Idiots and Morons are closer to the facts.
How else may I describe people who see just one way, and refuse point blank to even consider there might be another way, or that someone else might have a better way of doing the same thing?

I have some explaining to do.  Some of this is gross and some may want to quit reading at this point.  It’s my self appointed job to keep on going, so I have to read it.

My wife’s 93 year old mother is bed bound and incontinent.  Her diet is not a big one and her appetite even less.  A lot of words to say she really doesn’t eat that much.  Most of what she does consume is soft or liquid.  But oh boy, do her bowels move.  And often as not, it might be liquid.  So let your imagination run away with this and you will have it nailed.

She is enclosed in not one but two diapers. There is also a pad under her, and I think they might be called crib sheets in the US. This pad however is used on top of the sheet, is disposable and can absorb a lot of water thereby protecting sheets and mattress.  In our case, one pad can normally be used up to four days, due to double wrapping.  That is, the wearing of two diapers. 

There is a certain skill in removing one diaper that’s soiled and leaving the second in place and retaining the crib sheet. (pad) They are very costly. 

I have said there is a skill to removing the diaper and keeping the pad clean.  And there is because my wife does it in the morning.  All on her own with no help and I really don’t understand how she does it.  I don’t understand how women cope with a lot of things that most men (I do include myself) would choose to ignore and would not cope with as well.  If at all.  You couldn’t pay me enough to change anyone’s diaper.  But wait, this isn’t me or my abilities or lack of them.  It’s about dumb Trolls who work as “care givers.” Back to the subject matter.

The first diaper change is done by the wife around 8:30 to 9 in the morning.
That means if there is anything in that diaper it’s been going on through the night and she, my wife, has quite a lot to clean up in the morning sometimes.  Sometimes there isn’t anything there to clean up.  But not too often.

Her mother offers no help and becomes quite rigid or else simply dead weight. She has a difficult time hearing and when she does hear you, it is often doubtful that she understands what it is you are asking of her.  So that morning change is pretty hard to do and it gets done because it has to. 

THE TROLL FOLLIES.

This all brings me to today’s episode of the Troll Follies.  The care crew of two were due at 10:30, and were on time.  That isn’t always easy given emergencies and traffic and the fact that the agency will often send one CG to a far distant part of town and then bring her all the way back to this end.  They give them 5 minutes between calls which is silly to start with as it can often take a half hour to get between one call and another.
And this is funny.  They are not considered late until a full half hour passes beyond when they’re due.

So, our two TROLLS arrived on time and proceeded to do their job.  Oh hang on a minute. I can’t resist describing one of them. Not that it’s her fault poor lady. And it’s way off topic here I know.  One of them is very hard to look at when your speaking to her, (mostly you’re listening anyway as she doesn’t shut up long enough to hear what you’re saying) because you don’t know where to look when listening to her.
You see, she ‘s permanently cross-eyed.  No wait.  One eye is crossed all by itself and she appears to be looking …. ? At herself ?  Don’t know. It’s kind of distracting not knowing where to look when listening to her so I usually follow the sound best as I can.  May as well mention the other TROLL.  I’m convinced the thing sitting on her head is a wig and not her own hair.  It does not matter really except that it usually looks askew like a hat that isn’t worn straight.  She’s an older woman of 50 but hard for me to tell.  Wife says no, she’s younger. ? She has a pudgy face and nose but it’s the hair that stands out.  It’s skewed darn it. My eyes are fixed on this tilted wig (I am sure it is) and my fear grows that if I stare too long I too will become cross-eyed.

And she’s the one who already knows all things.  All mysteries are revealed to her and she no longer has anything new to learn. In her tiny world, there isn’t anything new since the Titanic. But I digress. 

After a few minutes the one with the one crossed eye comes out of the room the MIL resides in and veers in my direction saying the pad needed changing.  But it didn’t need it two hours before so the question became, how was my wife able to do it all alone without getting crap on it, and two trained Care Givers could not?  Could my wife be doing something a bit different?

Once the CGs had finished and were about to leave I brought up the subject of pad changes and asked if it couldn’t be done in a way so as to save it from becoming useless.  I started to say that my wife .......  and at that point the Troll of the crossed eye who will now be known as Troll #1, starts to shriek.  But we can’t reuse a dirty bed pad, it’s also against regulations and we can’t leave a dirty pad on the bed. We can’t leave a dirty pad … yadda,yadda.
Now readers, please keep reading that last line oh maybe 10 times because that’s exactly what Troll #1 is doing.  It’s like she was chanting and as I tried to tell her I wasn’t asking that, she kept right on in a fairly high pitched voice saying they couldn’t blah, blah.  She hadn’t heard anything I said.  So there I am in the hall with these two and I’m saying, can I say something?  Would you please listen? You aren’t paying any attention to what I’m trying to say.  But she kept on and on and finally I managed to say, I didn’t ask that they reuse a dirty pad at all.  I am asking if it can’t be done another way.  That’s when Troll #2 who’d been listening asked, “Are you saying we’re doing our job wrong?” And you could see in that bug eyed pudgy face that she’d just love a confrontation. To which I replied no.  “I am trying to say that there can be two ways of doing the same thing.” “ But your friend here won’t let me get a word in. My wife says she’s found a better way.” To which Troll 2 said, “Then you’re saying we don’t know our job.”

Since my wife can’t handle this task four times a day, we can’t tell anyone to screw themselves and buzz off.

Back comes Troll #1 with the mantra, “ but we can’t leave a dirty pad” …blah, blah.
And she starts all over again.  I wanted to tell her to shut the BLANK up.  The ‘F’ word did come to mind but I didn’t use it. 

So one troll wasn’t listening to the same conversation, and the other troll already knew all there was to know and needed no further knowledge on the subject. 

The solution found after this exchange of “ideas” was to simply buy a cheaper bed pad as suggested by Troll #2.

That was her solution, as opposed to leaning something different.

Stay Tuned

   Friday - January 02, 2009

Not Everything Is In Recession

News From Fwance: Car Burnings Up 30%

[late breaking update] The French press reported that the Interior Ministry released a final “verified” count of 1,147 vehicles burned in France over New Year’s Eve. The number is up 30.64% from last year’s total, 878.

[early version of story] REUTERS - At least 445 cars were torched over the night of New Year’s Eve in France, a 20 percent rise on last year, but there were relatively few clashes with police, the Interior Ministry and police said on Thursday.

Car burnings are regular occurrences in France but the registering the New Year’s Eve total has become something of a tradition since they achieved symbolic status in the violent rioting that shook many of the country’s poor suburbs in 2005.

With riots in Athens heightening worries that the economic crisis might spark a resurgence of the violence seen in the run-down “banlieues” then, 35,000 police were mobilised on New Year’s Eve, some 7,000 more than last year.

Officials were also on guard against possible attacks after five sticks of dynamite were left in a Paris department store just before Christmas by a so-far unidentified group demanding a withdrawal of French troops from Afghanistan.

An Interior Ministry official said that as of 6:00 a.m. (0500 GMT), 445 car burnings had been registered, against 372 at the same time a year before and police had made 288 arrests, compared with 259 on Dec. 31, 2007.

“There were few ‘contacts’ with police, gendarmes and fire services but an increase in the number of burnings for which we don’t have an explanation at the moment,” the official said.

There were around 50 burnings in the eastern city of Strasbourg, where police made 17 arrests, including four people caught while setting fire to cars.

In the southern city of Toulouse, 12 cars were burned in areas at the edge of the city limits, while in Nantes, around 10 cars were torched although police in the western city said New Year’s Eve had been “pretty calm”.

I have no idea if this means that there are more “disaffected youths” in the country, or that the lower price of gas has made this hobby easier for more folks to enjoy. But if I was a fwench car insurance company, I’d write all my policies in Germany.


Time seems to think car burning there is now a “new tradition” practiced as “a regular form of expression for disenfranchised suburban youths” along with a bit of insurance scamming. And besides, this isn’t such a big deal; over 40,000 cars per year get the match up. Merde!

Interesting article for the gun fans among us…

New technique lifts fingerprints from cleaned guns - gizmag.com

Wiping the gun clean has long been considered best practice for villains but may soon become a quaint custom as researchers have developed a way to ‘visualise fingerprints’ even after the print itself has been removed by measuring the corrosion of the surface by deposits from the fingerprints. The technique can enhance – after firing– a fingerprint that has been deposited on a small calibre metal cartridge case before it is fired. The technique promises the ability to reopen many cases and solve cold cases around the world because the “underlying print never disappears” according to the scientists.

The Forensic Research Centre at the University of Leicester (UK) develops new ways of taking evidence from a crime scene http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_scene . Already world-leading in such areas as using X-Rays or electrically charging metal surfaces for fingerprint enhancement , they have now developed an entirely new way of detecting fingerprints – great fodder for Crime Scene Investigation fans … and one that could realistically result in thousands of cold cases being reopened around the world.

Forensic scientists at the University of Leicester, working with Northamptonshire Police, have announced a major breakthrough in crime detection which could lead to hundreds of cold cases being reopened.

Dr John Bond, Honorary Fellow at the University of Leicester and Scientific Support Manager at Northamptonshire Police said: “For the first time we can get prints from people who handled a cartridge before it was fired.”

“Wiping it down, washing it in hot soapy water makes no difference - and the heat of the shot helps the process we use.

“The procedure works by applying an electric charge to a metal - say a gun or bullet - which has been coated in a fine conducting powder, similar to that used in photocopiers.

“Even if the fingerprint has been washed off, it leaves a slight corrosion on the metal and this attracts the powder when the charge is applied, so showing up a residual fingerprint.

“The technique works on everything from bullet casings to machine guns. Even if heat vaporises normal clues, police will be able to prove who handled a particular gun.”

A bit more at the link. Stumbled across this as it was posted at FreeRepublic and wanted to share this interesting article with the BMEWS gun fans. 

A TEN MILLION DOLLAR CAR FOUND COLLECTING DUST IN A LOCKED GARAGE. OH MAN! WHAT A CAR!

I have never been an auto mechanic or mechanically inclined.  But I have always been car crazy.  I love the older ones especially.  Like the 37 CORD.
I’m gonna stop here because if I start naming all the cars I am mad for, the list might get too long to read.

I once bought two cars at once because I couldn’t make my mind up between two different makes. I see em as mobile sculptures. Some are works of art too.
You may not agree but I think the 62, 63 and 64 T-Birds are classics. I had a 62 and a 64. Not at the same time though.  Hey, once upon a distant past I was young, single, not too smart about money and let me tell you, credit was sooooooooo eeeeeasssssssssssssy to get in So. Calif. and especially for cars.
Another time folks.
Would I do that again today if the wife’d let me?
YOU BETCHA!  CARS,CAMERAS,COMPUTERS!  Oh yeah ... BOOKS!  Tons of books.

The eccentric uncle who left a garage in his will… containing a $10 MILLION Bugatti supercar

By Chris Brooke
Last updated at 11:44 PM on 01st January 2009

When eccentric doctor and compulsive hoarder Harold Carr died at the age of 89, his relatives faced a daunting task to sort through his possessions.

His home was packed with piles of medical machinery, 1,500 beer steins, thousands of receipts and even a World War Two spy drone.

But all the effort became worth it when they opened the door of his garage - and struck gold.

Inside they found a 1937 Bugatti Type 57S Atalante, one of only 17 ever made.

The historic automobile with only 26,284 miles on the clock still has 99 per cent of its original parts.

It will be sold in Paris next month and is strongly tipped to surpass the £4.7million world record for a car at auction.

Auctioneers have put a reserve price of £3million on a two-seater described as one of the ‘ultimate road-going sports cars from the golden era of the 1930s’.

And despite the credit crunch it could fetch anything up to £6million.

Fifteen of the 17 Type 57S Atalantes still exist. This particular model was originally owned by Earl Howe, a leading figure in the early days of British motor sport.

It has a 3.3-litre, eightcylinder engine, four- speed manual gearbox, can reach 60mph in ten seconds and has a top speed of 130mph.

Dr Carr, an orthopaedic surgeon who served as an army doctor during World War Two and also became a keen flier, bought the vehicle in 1955 for £895 - the equivalent of £15,500 today.

He drove it for a few years before leaving it in the garage near his home at Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne. The last tax disc expired in December 1960.

He never married and eight relatives are to share the proceeds of his estate.

A nephew, who wishes to remain anonymous, said: ‘We knew he had some cars, but we had no idea what they were.

‘It was a bit of local folklore that he had a Bugatti, but no one knew for sure. It’s worth so much because he hasn’t used it for 50 years. It was one of the original supercars.

‘When it was built it could reach 130mph at a time when other cars could only do 50mph. Of course we are delighted and we’re going to make sure the money is shared out among the family. It’s a wonderful thing to leave.’

He described his uncle as ‘a very eccentric old gent’, adding: ‘I suppose you could call him a mad doctor. People who saw him in the street thought he was a tramp. He would wear two pairs of trousers at the same time.

(BMEWS, GO TO THE LINK BELOW TO SEE ENLARGEMENT OF THIS FOR EASY READ. FASCINATING STUFF.)

‘All the children would laugh at him in the street when he tinkered with his cars because he wore a piece of rubber tube round his head to stop the oil getting in his hair. But he was always such a generous man.’

In his later years Dr Carr suffered from a form of obsessive compulsive disorder and hoarded everything in the house he refused to leave.

Files were piled 6ft high at his detached home, including even receipts for pencils bought in the 1950s.

‘Since he died, it has taken me 18 months to get where I am today,’ said the nephew.  ‘There was an awful lot to sort out with his house.’

A classic Aston Martin was found in another garage and sold for ‘tens of thousands’, but an E-type Jaguar was in such a poor state that it had to be scrapped.

Over the years Dr Carr resisted many offers to buy the Bugatti.

When his property was cleared dozens of notes from would-be buyers were found inside.

‘People must have known because he got letters from all over the country,’ his nephew said.

‘He got notes pushed through his door. People travelled from all over to try and convince him to sell the car.’

James Knight, international head of the Bonhams motoring department, said Dr Carr’s Bugatti was ‘one of the last great barn discoveries’.

He added: ‘I have known of this Bugatti for a number of years and, like a select group of others, hadn’t dared divulge its whereabouts to anyone. It offers a truly rewarding project to the new owner - who will join a select list of distinguished owners - to play such an integral part in bringing this wonderful motor car back to life.’

The current auction record of £4.7million was paid in 1987 in London for another Bugatti, a 1931 Royale.

BUGATTI

Icicle sculpture created by cars.  Nature at work and looking pretty.

I’m usually a bit earlier.  It’s almost 4pm here and it’s been a nice day if you weren’t cursing your puter software.  In this case my Kodak EasyShare.
Hmmm. All depends on what you mean by ... all together now ...  Easy Share huh?  And I have the new improved upgrade version.  Yeah.  When it locks up my computer, it’s stays locked longer then it did before.
Then I get that message that tells me the program isn’t responding.  Well Duh!  I know that.

Oh right the posting here. You don’t need to be bored with that other stuff.  That’s what Drew is for if I can find where he’s hiding. lol

Just thought this was different enough and nice enough to start my new year posting.  Not to worry though.  Things are still nasty out there and I’ll get to it all real soon.

This icicle sculpture might look magical but there is a natural explanation for it.

By Stephen Adams
Last Updated: 12:56PM GMT 02 Jan 2009

It has been created by cars splashing through a puddle and shooting water on to the branches of a tree.

As the water ran off it created scores of icicles and has formed an ice sculpture.

The 10 foot-high icicles were created on the outskirts of Skelmersdale in Lancashire.

They are a beautiful reminder of just how cold the start to the year has been.

Temperatures dropped as low as 25F (-4C) in northern England on the night of New Year’s Eve, while they struggled to top 41F (5C) in parts on New Year’s Day.

The weather is set to remain cold for the next few days, according to the Met Office. Snow and sleet are forecast to fall across swathes of Britain on Sunday and Monday.

Much of the cold weather Britain has had in recent days is due to fronts which have originated in Russia, where temperatures have been bitterly cold.

In Oymyakon, in Siberia, temperatures plunged to -90F (-68C) at the beginning of December.

ICE

   Thursday - January 01, 2009

Better get some untaxed income…

Welcome to the Obama economy!

There’ll never be another Ron Moody!

Great minds thinking alike

Heck, this even reads like I wrote it. This one gets the Seal of Approval.

Go read. You will enjoy! Bloody Vikings.

Ok, had I written it, there would have been 11 entries, not 10. Just so I could include the venerable and still awesome to this day .45-70. It being the only 130 plus years old military round designed to eliminate enemies and their organic 4x4s (ie horses) out to about half a mile, that has been and still is chambered for rifles, carbines, machine guns, revolvers, single shot hunting pistols, and derringers. DERRINGERS! And there is just about nothing walking on earth that a factory-wimp-loaded .45-70 can’t drill a 3/4” diameter hole through, from one end to the other. For the 6 remaining critters that are exceptions to the “just about nothing” list, the .45-70 can be hand loaded to amazingly pachydermalethal levels. Almost all the .45-70s being made today are stubby little no-weight lever action cowboy guns. Combine the amazing inertia of a cartridge that throws a bullet roughly twice the weight of most other bullets with a flyweight little rifle, and you have recoil generator that is really a testosterone level field test kit. It doesn’t take a manly man to pull the trigger once, but it takes a manly man to pull that trigger for the 3rd, 4th, and 5th time. Not that there would ever really be need to do that in a hunting situation. 

Playing by the rules

I will be doing a bit more gun posting this year. Artsy gun porn when I find it, range reports when I can make them, updates on all the dumb laws and bills when I learn about them. It won’t be a daily thing, but I hope to drop at least one per week. We’ll see.

I’m going through the pistol permit application here in NJ right now, and it is both easier and harder than I figured. But once I get it, I have to figure out what to buy. I’ve decided to approach it as if I’ve never done this before, just for fun. I got the forms and filled them all out honestly. I already asked the state cop who did my paperwork all the naive questions. I found out he processes about 90 applications a year, which isn’t very many since his area covers about 9 small towns around here. He shares the duty with another officer, so my guess is less than 200 people a year go through this. I’m also guessing the population of all those little towns might total 10-15,000 people. But the permits don’t expire in NJ (though you do get only 90 days to buy something), so over the years the numbers add up.

When I finally did meet with him - it took almost a month to match our schedules - he said mine was his 3rd session that day. I put on my special I-live-under-a-rock face and asked the young fellow if he’s seen a surge in applications since early November? “Are you kidding? I’ve done more of these in the past 2 months than in the whole year before that. People think this new guy is going to outlaw all the guns. I don’t think it’s gonna happen ... well, not in his first term at least; he’s gonna be too busy with other stuff.” I said that I’d been thinking about it for some years, but that was my motivating factor as well.

So we’ll see how it goes. I’ve made my appointment for digital fingerprinting next week. After that it’s just a matter of waiting for the reports to come back from the FBI and the state background check folks. Then I have to figure out what to purchase. Right now I have to go pick up another little $2 money order, because I can get more than one pistol purchase card on this background check iteration. If I wait another week, or more, then I’ll have to pay another $18 for another background investigation. At least I can get a 90 day extension for free; buying 2 guns inside 90 days is a bit more cash than I can budget. Thinking the officer’s statement about the 2nd investigation through, I gather this means my fingerprints will be staying in the system. I’m not thrilled with that, even if they go in some other “non-criminal” file. Just so long as my face doesn’t appear in some CSI episode as they use their magic cop-puter to do a multi-point match on a set of fingerprints in 3 seconds against a database of 70 million records.

I’m sort of leaning towards a very small pistol right now. Something small and light and not too expensive. Perhaps that Bersa Thunder, or the little Ruger or Kel-tech .380s that are almost the same. If I buy a 2nd one, it will likely be a .22 for practice. Something for semi-serious target work. I have to do my research there; my knowledge of .22 pistols is about 25 years out of date. I gather a Colt Woodsman doesn’t cost $75 anymore ... hell, it ain’t even made anymore I think. So maybe a Ruger Mk I? Heck, they’re up to Mk III on that model. I’ve got to do some research! Good thing I’ve got 3-5 months to do that before the permit comes through [/sarcasm].

   Wednesday - December 31, 2008

THIS IS MY FINAL POST FOR THE OLD YEAR …. HOPE TO SEE YOU ALL BACK NEXT YEAR

SINCERELY WISH EVERYONE A MOST HAPPY AND HEALTHY NEW YEAR.

It’s been fun and rewarding and maddening but always insightful and thought provoking.

Many thanks to all those who’ve remained throughout this past year, and welcome to any new folks on the scene. 

The election was a sad affair for us in ‘08 and because misery loves company so much, I’m really happy all you other folks were here to share the angst.

You’re a terrific bunch of people, no kidding. 

Fireworks will be starting in about an hour but unlike last year when it was very cold, this week has been FROZEN. The frost has frost and I for one will wrap up in an extra blanket and curl up with HTML Made Easy.  HAHA. ROTFLMAO!

Cheers again and again thanks to all at BMEWS.  Have a SAFE NIGHT ppl.  And oh yeah ....

STAY TUNED.

The last Nazi E-boat, which took part in an infamous raid during the Second World War.

Always fascinated by things of this nature and of course anything to do with history never fails to capture my interest.

I hadn’t studied much with regard to these boats. Shame on me.  Some interesting technology. I hadn’t ever read about the raid this article refers to.  Seems to be a whole lot I don’t know. 

BTW ... what makes this raid “infamous” is beyond me.  It was war time, it did the job it was design for, there wasn’t any war crime involved. So why infamous?

I’ll wait for Drew to send me the book.

Nazi E-boat saved by military enthusiast
The last Nazi E-boat, which took part in an infamous raid during the Second World War, has been saved by a British military enthusiast.
Last Updated: 3:11PM GMT 31 Dec 2008

Schnellboot-130, once the fastest vessel in the world, helped attack an Allied convoy off Slapton Sands, in Devon, in a battle in which nearly 1,000 Allied soldiers were killed.

On the night of April 27, 1944, the boat was one of nine German vessels patrolling the English Channel when they stumbled upon Operation Tiger, which was the rehearsal for the D-Day landings.

The convoy launched a raid and killed 946 Allied soldiers. Allied chiefs initially covered up the loss, keen to avoid the enemy becoming aware of what it had achieved or getting wind of any planned invasion of Europe.

After the war the Schnellboot was seized by the British and used to land spies behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War but was then left in a dockyard and eventually began to disintegrate.

Enthusiast Kevin Wheatcroft has now come to the rescue of the vessel.

Mr Wheatcroft, whose family owns the Donington Grand Prix museum, in Leicestershire, paid just £1 for the hulk but will now spend around £3 million restoring it.

He recently acquired the salvage rights on three sunken Schnellboots off the Danish coast and plans to bring up original parts to help the restoration.

The project will take up to five years after which it is hoped the vessel will become a floating museum and visitor attraction.

Mr Wheatcroft said: “I’ve always been fascinated with Schnellboots and she is one of the most famous.

“The intention is to return her to her original state and into a moving museum.”

He added: “Over the years I have collected a lot of parts including engines, gun platforms, a complete radio and bridge equipment.

“I have acquired salvage rights on three Schnellboot wrecks off the Danish coast. They were sunk after the war in 1948 and 1949, so are not war graves.

“I hope to be able to get an armoured bridge, torpedo tubes and mine racks from the sunken ships.

S-130 was recently lifted from the water and a building will now be put up around her while the work is carried out a few miles along the coast from Slapton Sands.

The Schnellboots were small, fast and effective – and had been devised as a result of the Versailles restrictions set at the close of the First World War.

With the Germans banned from building large warships they embarked on an ingenious naval development programme, resulting in the Schnellboots.

The allies called them E-boats – the “E” standing for enemy.

They were propelled by three powerful Mercedes diesel engines and could travel at 55 knots, faster than any other naval vessel.

The boats had a wedge on the stern that prevented the bow from rising as it accelerated so the guns fired more accurately. That technology is today used on US destroyers.

Wyn Davies, a naval architect and maritime historian, said: “She is the last survivor of a hugely important class of warship that gave our coastal forces quite a headache.

“They introduced several new features, the most useful of which was the use of diesel engines to power them.

“This ended the need for stocking inflammable petrol on board.

“These craft formed the basis for post war development of similar vessels for most Nato navies.”

E-BOAT

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Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

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