An old Norse legend tells of a mighty gale from the south in England - those too weak to hang on ended up in the North; easily conquered. Don't blame me, it's an old Norse legend!
Brexit, for once some facts.
- Thread starter flecc
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I have a pretty good knowledge of this particular period of history.
If I could say honestly, your understanding of this part of world is superficial.
There is a book written by Graham Greene on this period, The Quiet American, it was pretty close to describing the role of the USA in kicking the French out of Indochina.
The proper Vietnam war happened after 1956 and intensified under JFK. France has left by then, its main presence then was just the embassy in HCMC and a few privately run schools.
Dien Bien Phu was the last attempt to keep Indochina under French control.
Don't try to link the war of independence to the war of re-unification. They were fought for different reasons, on a very different scale and involved very different armies.
The remark I made about Old Norse is in fact true, as far across as Wensleydale there have been cases where visitors from Scandinavian countries have found that they can understand what local farmers are saying to them in their own language and vice versa.
This seems remarkable to the rest of us who usually avoid trouble by agreeing with the farmer and as the locals say "legging it at the first opportunity"
Dialects in Yorkshire change something like every twenty miles or so.
God go with you my son.There will be a collection tin, do make a contribution
Does that mean I can bring Offler the Crocodile statuette, frying pan, sausages and Primus for devotional services?
And for our next performance: The Stealth Omicron
Or maybe it isn't omicron, could be another variant of concern. Or not. Cannot be determined by standard public health PCR testing.
Or maybe it isn't omicron, could be another variant of concern. Or not. Cannot be determined by standard public health PCR testing.
Well don't try and down play the part French played in the hostilities. They were instrumental in them. And, yes, I, ve read quite a bit about Vietnam war(admittedly quite an old take on it now (Ken Burns, book from documentaries) ... But I haven't any bias one way or another. You seem to see anything the French do as admirable and for altruistic reasons. There is a link between the 1945 reoccupation and the later problems. Seeing them in isolation doesn't see the whole picture. It's exactly like separating WW1 and WW2, (one led and had serious effects on other)
You didn't answer the question.
What were French doing in 1945/6 anywhere near Vietnam. Reassumming their roll as masters of "French Indo China" perhaps. The clue is in the name.
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Stats coming out of SA suggesting it is much less severe??? Or are they saying that to open up travel and put us all in same boat. (which we are anyway)
AZ saying they have Omicron vaccine at trials stage.??
You can go where you want with sausages... Must be free range tho.Does that mean I can bring Offler the Crocodile statuette, frying pan, sausages and Primus for devotional services?
Kids won't know what a Primus is... Something out a science fiction film.
I've never been to the Emerald Isle at all, but I hope to someday. I'm sure that like Wales it's picturesque, dramatic, and also features raindrops flying at ear-filling trajectories. I can't recall that old Norse legend about the West of Ireland at the moment
I really don't want to start a long thread on the Vietnam war. Before 1945, Vietnam was divided into 3 regions with different administrations. French ruled the South (Cochinchina) as a colony, the North (Tonkin) as a protectorate nominally under control of the Vietnamese King in the middle (Annam). The relationship of the indigenous people and the French colonists varied with where they lived.
Ho Chi Minh's war of independence with the French took place essentially in the North whereas the war of re-unification with the Americans took place in the South. To understand why the war of re-unification killed and maimed so many, you need to understand the context.
I know them well. But I'd never willingly use one nowadays.
I'd choose petrol or gas. I hate the smell of paraffin. And the standard approach to lighting a Primus requires a second fuel. (I know you can use various forms of solid fuel, or even paper and paraffin.)
If (when) storms increase in severity, I'm starting to wonder what I'd do to survive a couple of weeks without power. I expect I'd keep my phone charged using my ebike battery, to order takeaways from outside the blacked out area, to eat while clad head to toe in duvets. Plus I'd thaw out some frozen beans, and sprout more beans - the taps will still work, if water hasn't frozen in the pipes. Maybe I could fashion a rudimentary generator for lighting, using the ebike motor, powered by tap water pressure...
I'd be concerned that there will be no phone service. Especially after we switch to VOIP-based "landline" service - just waiting to be advised when that is happening - router already being used - just needs phone re-plugged.
I cannot believe that BT and Three/EE/etc. would be able to keep broadband (e.g. fibre) or 3G/4G/5G working that long. Getting a UPS for the router might not help much.
The old, old option of a gas fire isn't always possible. And probably the vast majority of us have no fireplaces.
When the pandemic started off my doomsday prepping mindset, and after I had bought rather a lot of a large variety of beans (they don't electricity or gas to sprout), my thoughts turned to hastily improvised heaters using tin cans - if you have a few sizes which fit inside each other, and make cuts in the rightplaces... plus pop rivet and clay together a flue... all you''d need is rather a lot of small bits of dry wood (and a paving slab base). I haven't needed to enact my tin can fireplace plan yet. There are some very interesting looking small woodburning stoves for camping on Amazon.
Those VOIP landlines are a ripoff - get one for free:
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A few Tesla power packs for the house might be a good idea for the intensely stormy future then? You'd be able to charge your ebike to collect takeout orders, pickups are usually discounted.
When I was working for a large generator company, it was shocking how often radio mast generators ran out of fuel. These days they monitor themselves and report when they need refuelling - at least, that was the plan back then, 24 years ago. I thought that I'd finally got an excuse to order a helicopter to deliver a repacement generator to a radio mast in the outer hebrides one night, when there was no other way by boat and lorry, but my plan was nixxed by the operations department during a late night phone call. "Nice try", he said. Gutting.
I expect diesel generator fuel supply for radio masts is better than it was then, but might not be. Development of those systems was extremely slow.
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