Tag: History

An army marches on its stomach – and its arsenals

  According to Task & Purpose, “Russia is hammering Ukraine with up to 60,000 artillery shells and rockets every day“. The Russians are using indiscriminate and overwhelming artillery strikes to grind Ukrainian defenders down, underscoring how the Russian military’s approach to firepower prizes volume over accuracy. The war in eastern Ukraine has been described as… Continue reading An army marches on its stomach – and its arsenals

For musical firearms enthusiasts with a lot of money

  It may be heretical of me to say so, but I’ve never particularly liked Elvis Presley’s songs.  They just don’t appeal to me.  Nevertheless, he’s probably among the top five iconic American singers of the past century, and looks set fair to remain at that pinnacle long after I’m dead. It seems he was… Continue reading For musical firearms enthusiasts with a lot of money

Expensive wheels indeed!

  I had to smile at this report. Million-dollar cars are nothing new nowadays. Whether we’re talking about state-of-the-art supercars or classic Ferraris and Aston Martins, paying seven-figure sums for automobiles is not as ridiculous as it used to be. But did you know that vintage agricultural equipment can also cost a fortune? You might… Continue reading Expensive wheels indeed!

An Afghan general describes the collapse of his country

  LtGen Haibatullah Alizai describes the last days in Kabul as Afghanistan’s government collapsed.  It’s a long article, but well worth reading as an example of how fast and how completely a collapse can occur.  Here are a few excerpts describing some of the actions and decisions during the debacle. To many, the two-decade effort… Continue reading An Afghan general describes the collapse of his country

Saturday Snippet: Equity, equality and inequality – what’s changed?

  We hear a lot of discussion today about “equity” of outcomes, equality and inequality, and so on.  Much of it is very ill-informed;  a great deal of it is nothing more than political propaganda, with the speaker spouting dogma and theory from his or her perspective but not basing it in historical or current… Continue reading Saturday Snippet: Equity, equality and inequality – what’s changed?

The most historically accurate movie sword fight?

  In discussion with a group of friends, the question came up:  “What is the best, most realistic, historically accurate sword fight in the movies?”  We weren’t interested in made-for-the-camera montages that have little or nothing to do with accurate depictions of real fighting (although we all laughed at the comic duel in Zorro, The… Continue reading The most historically accurate movie sword fight?

A survivor of the Gangland War tells us what it was like

  City Journal has published an article titled “Confessions of a Loan Shark:  One of the last survivors of Boston’s Gangland War of the 1960s opens up about his notorious past“.  It reminded me of a number of hardline convicts I met during my service as a prison chaplain.  I’ll cite an excerpt from the… Continue reading A survivor of the Gangland War tells us what it was like

Saturday Snippet: The Ballad of Boh Da Thone

  It’s been a while since we’ve enjoyed Rudyard Kipling’s verse.  Here’s one of my favorites:  “The Ballad of Boh Da Thone”, set on the frontier between India and Burma during the bandit years of the 19th century.  If you’d like some background information and an explanation of some of the more obscure words, the… Continue reading Saturday Snippet: The Ballad of Boh Da Thone

Saturday Snippet: The early days of World War II at sea

  At the start of World War II, the Royal Navy began a massive expansion that would multiply its numbers of ships and seamen many times over.  A large part of this was calling up reservists of the Royal Naval Reserve (RNR – drawn from professional seamen of the Merchant Navy and fishing fleets) and… Continue reading Saturday Snippet: The early days of World War II at sea