Ye olden days

I came across this fragment whilst looking for something else. Wonderful tales. I seem to get diverted this way quite often but, who cares, my time is my own.

TODAY'S GUEST BLOG
How things used to be

The End

Cancer wins again.

Damn. This guy was just such a fighter. If you didn't know of him, read back.

Definitions

This is just what is needed - once we all get these straight in our head, the whole concept of blogging becomes very simple.

Freedom to work

Most people make decisions about their life and work based on what is generally considered “right” and “good.” This is living from the outside in: letting others people’s expectations rule your life. You do what you do because that’s what you have been told to do. It’s a good recipe for frustration and stress. Living from the inside out means finding your own innermost values and basing all choices on those. That’s the best way to increase your happiness with whatever you do for a living.

Read more about this theory. Fine if one has the power to determine whether one can actually choose between 'outside' or 'inside'. This assumes one has actually managed to get up that triangle.

I had a boss whose theory was that work was not something that could ever be enjoyed. It we did enjoy what we were doing, it was not work.

Time saver

I find it easier to compose complicated stuff off-line on my w.p. programme. Some of these do not allow copy & paste and I use TinyURL. This chops great long URL down into easily managed shortURL.

This is just a demo. You can get a button that goes on your links toolbar and that makes it ever easier

Enter a long URL to make tiny:

Deletions

I've removed a couple of entries. I had an e-mail from a reader who questioned their presence. I've deleted them. No big deal to me.

I cannot guarantee that I will not cause him/her to again comment at some date in the future. I blog what I find interesting. If it is not totally my own work, it comes from the Main Stream Media (MSM) or from other blogs that are open to all who have Internet access. I am fully aware of the sort of material that would justifiably offend an adult with the widest of open minds. As a crime investigator, I have seen and dealt with very hard pornographic material and think I can readily identify that which should not appear here. Rewind - I blog what I find interesting. Harmful matters do not interest me.

I had to run the deletion decision a few times. I do not wish to add, even in the most peripheral way - to those who are demanding controls on what we do and say in our blogs and on the Net in general. In the end, it came down to the fact that my correspondent had asked a calm question in a reasoned manner. No hectoring. No insults under the cover of comment. I recognise that I do have a limitation on my social skills and one result of this is that I attach little weight to the care and respect for others that was normal before we entered the Valley of Death that is Political Correctness. This can manifest itself as if it were a lack of self-respect. I am aware that there are a very very limited few whose criticism would ever cause me the slightest concern; this awareness means that I do try and tread carefully and lightly but, in the end, I decide what I do, say and think.

No more Mr Nice Guy

I am known for my lack of concern regarding my social skills ability.

Hence, I like this

Excuse you?
By Mr Angry on People
I have resolved (not in a new years way, that is for those of you with low motivation), to stop saying ‘excuse me’ to people I do not hear or understand.
I have realised that pretty much without fail, any lack of comprehension on my part is due entirely to the communicator. It is them, not me.
Their errors can be numerous, whether they be mumbling, whispering, talking to fast, or simply not paying me enough attention. Yet, when this happens, our first reaction is to say, “Excuse me?” in a “I’m sorry but I have useless ears, what was that again” way. When in reality, what you are actually saying is, “OK numbnuts, let’s try this again, except this time I want eye-contact, volume and a decent attempt at enunciation, OK?”
Honesty is a valued personal trait in society, apparently, so why do we insist on these false apologies? I want to see some harsh truth out there on the streets.
It is the same when someone bumps into you in the street, before you know it you are looking at them apologetically, and saying, “Excuse me”. And not in a cool sarcastic way. I mean in an “Oh my god, I can’t believe I got in your way there, what a twat I am” way.
This apologising for things that are not your fault is a debilitating English disease that I have now resolved to leave in my past forever. It has been removed from my genetic make-up. If we look at yesterday alone, then where there would previously have been at least four “Excuse me”’s, instead I used two “speak ups”, one “Christ, stop mumbling!” and one, “Look where you’re going wideload!”.
And do you know what? Without fail they all said, “Excuse me”.
I feel better for it. I suggest you do the same.

There is the door Mr B.Liar

Quote::
"On the part of the military, they need to accept that in a volunteer armed force, conflict and casualty may be part of what they are called upon to face."

Blair - I've no doubt you've been on this website and I hope you're reading this. I sit here typing this in tears of anger, frustration and despair.Having never served, HOW FCUKING DARE YOU make a comment like that. The finest, brightest, strongest, bravest young men and women in this country signed on the dotted line in selfless service of their country and you BETRAYED them by sending them into unsound conflict without adequate support.YOU have made the decision to send young soldiers into a HELL from which some have never returned....And if you think I'm being unreasonble, consider for a second my friends and comrades who will never again see the light of day. Consider the parents who leave their brave young son's bedroom just as he left it in the false hope that he might one day come home to them. Consider the children who, whilst you were no doubt enjoying a family christmas, wept and sobbed because daddy wasn't there to open his presents - Because you murdered him in your political pandering.May your dreams be haunted for the rest of your days by the youth and laughter which you've so smugly poured away.Blair. You fcuking cnut.

That is a entry on a military Forum. It comes from someone known as a balanced and reasonable poster. Comments on this are all favourable.

It just emphasises how totally out of touch the man, appointed as Prime Minister, is with the (military) man in the street. He who used to claim to be a man of the people - hey - I'm - It's just I'm one of you hey yeah has totally lost it. He should go. As soon as possible. His successor is immaterial - Old Nick the Devil himself would be a better choice.

Voice from the past

I've had much enjoyment from reading the advice given by that old guy Sun Tzu. Maybe because it reflects events that have happened to me. His comments at the Guest Blog have some weight.

TODAY'S GUEST BLOG
Soldier's version of Confucious He Say

Just sometimes ............

Just sometimes, satire is the best way to make one's point. Here a GP enters the world of NHS management .......

TODAY'S GUEST BLOG
Row, row, row your boat

Learn if you can

I had a small problem from a guy, firstly 'anonymous' and later 'Joe', who tried to contact me through the comment facility. He chose not to take up my suggestion he contact me by e-mail when I deleted his comment without publishing it.

This comes from someone else who has had the same sort of problem. I find it kind of a neat solution to the situation. I'll save it in case I need to use it again.

Regarding one post to which one particularly irrelevant comment was appended, I responded to Rod ‘Breaker’ McCoy that while I appreciated his comments to previous posts, I do not allow people to use the courtesy I allow to make comments on my website for the purposes of advertising their services. I also contended that comments should be relevant to
the content of the post rather than discuss other, unrelated issues. To this, Mr. McCoy responded the following:

I object to your attitude. You dont (sic) anwer (sic) questions. Your site is organized to discuss only your opinions. You
are arrogant and afraid to hear other better informed opinions.
You are the enemy of people who seem to have the same cause.
However, you are weak and spiteful towards people who want to do more than whine.
You only want to publicize your own drivel and keep others from getting ahead or stating their views.
I consider you as bad as a leftist or a muslim (sic) imperialist.,
(sic) only to you the objective is to vent only!
Do not contact me again !
(sic)

Smith responds:
You should give up caffeine and use the money you
save to purchase a spell checker. Beyond this, I suppose that I should recommend that you find a good counselor.

Baden-Powell he say Be Prepared

Apparently this thing flew into London Heathrow the other day.

The modified 747 is the so-called 'National Airborne Operations Center' (NAOC) — informally known as the 'Doomsday Plane' because it is designed to serve as the Pentagon's backup headquarters in case of a catastrophic attack on the United States. The NAOC on alert 24 hours a day, seven days a week — although there are four identical planes that rotate duty, and also serve as backup to Air Force One. When President Bush's plane blew some tires while in Vietnam recently, the NAOC flew in to drop off the spare set that it routinely carries for itself. Unlike Air Force One, the NAOC can refuel in midair and is designed and supplied with engine oil, and food and water for the crew to be able to stay aloft for days. Its full crew includes intelligence analysts, communications specialists, maintenance troops, and even its own security force. It constantly monitors all major U.S. commands and the location of nuclear forces, keeps an eye on potentially hostile military troops, gathers intelligence data, and monitors the whereabouts of every U.S. government official in the line of succession. The NAOC also carries with it at all times about a dozen of the most relevant war plans in case senior officers need them at hand.

I have italicised the bit “can refuel in mid-air”. Nothing wonderful about that John you may well say. Yes but it is meant to “ serve as the Pentagon's backup headquarters in case of a catastrophic attack on the United States”. Catastrophic is the word to note. So, just where will the tankers get the fuel from? Oh – plenty in store suitably dispersed about the USA. The same lucky dispersal applies to the tankers. Still, at least there is some arrangement. Just wonder what we here in UK have. I would like to think we have no equivalent and that B.Liar and those who have done so much to jeopardise and downgrade our defences were well involved at the heart of any catastrophe. Maybe we could bribe a rogue RN officer to set any up as a target any airborne Number 10 with the nice new Trident resources.

Cannot resist

I know I was to have a day off but this innovative piece of road signing by our American cuzzins just had to get wider notice.

Obviously, cell phones in cars are not just a UK problem.

Leave of absence

Sorry folks - day off today.

My brain hurts.

Hello officer

Lots of criticism here in UK about the police. They cannot be found or seen, they ignore serious crime and over-prosecute minor offences, they .... well, the list goes on and on.

No one goes into the police for an easy life. There is a challenge and they have a desire to make life better for others. Much of the libel and slander has a foundation but it because of the system and not due to the personalities.

Read the Guest Blog to get some idea of how a policeman's mind works. See if policework is a job for you.

TODAY'S GUEST BLOG
Read about it

We should have known

I've mentioned previously (I can't be bothered to track-back where as the actual post is immaterial here) how surprised I had been at the apparent lack of knowledge regarding the Arab mind shown in the pre-Iraq War planning. UK certainly had a vast reserve of men with tremendous knowledge and experience in the mores of the Muslim mind. I met many in Government service during my Middle Eastern adventures who were more Arab than the Arabs. There may be mention that such matters were considered but the current misunderstandings suggest otherwise. (To me)

One of the greatest Arabists we had was T.E. Lawrence. He demonstrated how it was possible to get fiercely independent tribes to work together with a common aim. The scene in the film of Lawrence of Arabia where the man at the well was shot because he was off his tribal area was not an invention to add drama. That is what tribalism was all about and still haunts what we are trying to do in Iraq. The tribe is their life blood. "How many relatives do you have in Baghdad?" "Oh, about a thousand" was an exchange recently recounted in a blog. Lawrence also experienced the way in which the lack of an after-hostilities plan demolished all the good he had done.

So, for all those of you who will be planning for Iran, here is a short treatise in his own words about how to get along with the men from the Middle East. Even if you are just an onlooker, his 27 Commandments might spark your interest in further study of very complex matters.