February 07, 2002
My hols coming up.
This may be the last post you will get from me until some time after the 24th February, as I am going skiing for the first time in CENSORED years and the second time in my life. Truth to tell, I am not leaving for a few days but, as always seems to happen, I have a whole horrible pile of things to clear first. I am reluctantly convinced that the only way to ensure this is done is to refrain from even turning on the computer. Though I might a tiny bit, just to see.While I'm gone, Eric Olsen (get some independence man! learn to sew your own buttons!) and his wife Dawn (and don't you sew them for him, it'll do him good to learn) have e-mailed to say that they will open a site called http://tres_producers.blogspot on February 12th. This will deal with the meaning of life. If you know it, e-mail them at ericolsen@compuserve.com stating age, gender and zip code/country. Remain anonymous if you so choose.
Google Yourself. James (Reuben) Haney
has some thoughts on self-googlification. He is an anarcho-capitalist American transport-geek who appears to speak Danish, and have lived in Belfast. You know, just an ordinary joe. In answer to your question, James, the day to day changes in self-googling only come in the high-number entries from about 15 onwards. When I do it the first five or so results are always the same defunct personal websites for which I have long forgotten the passwords. And yes, there is a time lag of several days before new entries appear. I had 1,100 entries last time I tried. For a long time it was an inglorious 3, then it suddenly shot up. I've never looked to see what strange things lie in the realms you reach by pressing "Next" fifty times. Even I am not quite that self-obsessed.
Like a red rag to a bull, telling you guys not to write in about Hessians. A Mr Bolt Throw, who may also be called Dan Truly, writes "i can only assume that one of my proud brethren has come forward to claim heir to the modern usage of this term...but 'hessians' nowadays are of course us dumbasses who, defying all societal pressure (not to mention any sense of musical taste), absolutely love METAL." In a searing testimony, Mr Throw goes on to bravely admit to anti-social behaviours such as professional employment and receding hair, but he's doing his best to live it down.
From a rather different lifestyle perspective, Capt. J M Heinrich writes, regarding military toasts, "Depends on the unit tradition but generally at memorial mess dinners (11 Nov period), the final toast is "Fallen Comrades". The only required toast is the loyal toast 'The Queen', all others are optional and depend on the circumstances, members, guests, etc. Absent friends are the SOBs who managed to avoid the dinner because the wife was washing her hair so he couldn't ...
2. The hessian you buy for your needlework probably originates in 6' wide rolls held in the back room. It is generally sold to the military where it is used to cover windshield, screen latrines, windbreaks, etc. Also sandbags. Glad you like it."
"Glad you like it." With what better sentiment can I bid you all adieu? Hmm. Well, I could submit, "Keep your powder dry and don't shoot 'til you see the whites of their eyes." Whichever you prefer, goodbye until the 25th.
Deborah Orr Bust!
Peter Briffa's stroppy new blog "Public Interest" says that she writes for the Independent, not the Guardian as I said earlier. No doubt her sword is widely for sale. "Stroppy" is praise, by the way.
"Genocide is happening right now"
says a deaf activist. In fact what this man is talking about - and I know it's a jolt to go straight from talking about anti-semitism which really has killed millions to this - is deaf people being cured of deafness by cochlear implants. Only you mustn't call it "cured." That is the view of the world described in a link which I found in The Occasional, via Media Minded.Pipped at the post! I have, half-written in the bowels of my computer, an article about this very subject. I must be the only hearing person on earth to regularly scroll through the BBC's Ceefax pages to reach the "See Hear" section aimed at deaf viewers. For foreign readers, Ceefax is a primitive form of text information service that you can get on British TV. For British readers, go to BBC2 and then it's usually to be found at about page 640. The service is maddeningly slow, but if you can bear the wait you get to read some interesting, mad letters. And some sane ones.
The use of the word "genocide" is not that extreme or unusual among deaf activists. As with many subsidy-driven cultures there is an insatiable need to be hard-done-by that infects otherwise reasonable people. I will not call this a ghetto mentality, since the actual ghetto looked out towards the world with real hope and justifiable fear, as well as inwards to seek the meaning of suffering. The aim of the subsidy-activist is to have every privilege and still be the victim.
For all that, I can see the sadness. If the numbers of deaf people drop too far a unique culture will become unviable. People's bodies are their own: if they want to stay deaf, that's their right. And, although this is harder to say, it would be intolerable for the government to force people to have an implant operation on their children.
More examples of the new antisemitism in Europe
can be found at Instapundit, which cites the same Ha'aretz survey as I did below.
An old tune from the New Statesman
On the advice of a reader I burrowed into the New Statesman's files to find a story by Denis Sewell dated January 14 this year and titillatingly headed (what high minded scorn the NS would have for the Sun, were it to use such tactics to get readers!) "A Kosher Conspiracy." I read the first few lines, which bemoan poor Guardian columnist Deborah Orr's sufferings when people call her an anti-semite for criticising Israel. For a moment I did consider paying £2* to read the rest, before a great weariness with the troubles of Guardian columnists and the deep concern and sympathy felt for Guardian columnists by New Statesman columnists overcame me.Ha'aretz will show you the cover of said issue of the New Statesman and tell you all about it, and they don't charge you a penny. Rabbi David Goldberg will, writing in the Guardian himself, also tell you something about the Sewell article, and his telling is also free, and a good thing too because I wouldn't pay a lot myself to be advised thus: "To equate a modern Islamic political response to the state of Israel with the church's theological animadversions against the Jewish people, as the chief rabbi did, is, at the very least, dangerously ahistorical."
At the words 'modern Islamic political response to the state of Israel', I could not help thinking of the way that suicide bombers have bound up their genitals for some purpose connected to the promised virgins. For once I say this not to mock but to observe that history does provide some illustrations of that sort of mentality.
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*I tell a lie, not £2 but $2. The New Statesman charges in dollars? These Americans, they get everywhere. Let me know if ever it changes to Euros.
February 06, 2002
The absolute last on Hessians.
John Costello sneaks in through probably having written this before I closed the correspondence! He says, regarding the Hessian hirelings in 1812,"Of those taken prisoner, about 1/3rd refused repatriation and stayed in the US. They had been used as farm hands and miners well away from the fighting and were viewed as ideal sons in law by the farmers .... English POWs were not viewed as ideal sons in law. The opinion of the farmers was that you could not get a decent day's work out of them (and in general this prejudice was common to Americans for several generations.)Alex Bensky was obviously, clearly too late for my deadline. If he had not been you would have been able to read that:
The Hessians settled primarily in the region from New York to Pennsylvania, and German remained the second most commom language spoken in the US until WWI (the anthropologist Theodor Kroeber, a second generation American born in New York City, only learned English when he went to school.)"
"I figure it's a tie. Whenever I go to London (Ontario) I pass by the site of the Battle of the Thames, where Tecumseh died and we administered a drubbing to you chaps. I also count Korea as a tie.Cool letter. Pity he was too late to get it in. (NB further stuff on Hessians really, truly, may be read but will not be posted.)That means that including the Gulf War we're W-7, L-1, T-2, and I think that means we're still at the top of the standings ("tables" to you). And we're 1-0-1 in wars with Great Britain. Don't take it personally; you just picked on the wrong people."
Well, I didn't put him on the links page because I agreed with him.
Emmanuel Goldstein posts back on the Great Iain Murray Controversy, out of which Mr Murray himself has understandably faded away. Emmanuel, it's all much simpler than you appear to think.1. The kidnappers said that they were going to treat Pearl as (they thought) the Camp X-ray prisoners were being treated. I believe it because they said so, not because of some geopolitical theory. Of course they are also enemies of America on more general grounds. So what? What will motivate their hands to give or withold water, to strike or not to strike the bound man in front of them is "an eye for an eye." The idea of turning the tables is common to all mankind. I'd worry about that even if that particular e-mail turned out to be a hoax.
2. Much of the coverage of the shackles, goggles etc. made out falsely that that stuff was on permanently.
3. The idea that there might one day be equivalent revenge on American prisoners was obvious. I read criticisms of Camp X-ray from your side of the fence that made exactly that point. I think even Colin Powell made it. It is one of the many factors that make it the duty of a reporter to be honest.
4. The idea that reporters might be kidnapped is also fairly obvious. It happens regularly. Intelligent self-interest should have led them to think of this.
5. Finally, Pakistanis can read the Mirror via the internet just as I can read Dawn magazine. It's not that primitive a country. And if the Mirror is not influential there, the BBC certainly is. There is nothing unlikely about the BBC taking its tone from the Mirror, the reporters all know each other.
A disease of our times
. The Telegraph reports an investigation into a claim that a child was "culled" from a doctor's list because the parents refused the controversial MMR jab. Personally I think the balance of probabilities is in favour of the MMR jab, and my children have had it. But the attempt to project state power into people's very bodies scares me as much as measles.
Glood, buts and Blooglesearch
Andrew Ian Dodge of Dodgeblog has, like me, come out of the closet as a serial self-googlesearcher. (And how do you think I found that one, huh? Um, actually he e-mailed me.) But if you want to see another stupid killer decision of the safety-freaks, scroll down to where it says that anyone American who has been in the UK during the Foot & Mouth epidemic is forbidden FOREVER from giving blood again. Foot & Mouth has in literally one or two cases mildly indisposed humans for whole days at a time. It is not even usually fatal for cows and sheep. Future generations will look back on our reaction to it with something of the scornful awe we reserve for the Children's Crusade.CORRECTION (THE NUMBER OF THESE I ISSUE IS GETTING EMBARRASSING!) Steven Den Beste (link below) points out: "It's not Foot-and-mouth that they're concerned about. It's BSE, Mad Cow disease that they're worried about, and that is a legitimate concern. vCJD might be passed by blood-to-blood contact and it is fatal."
A quick check of Dodgeblog confirms my error. Blame it on my smouldering anger at the whole Foot & Mouth thing which has obviously preyed on my mind to the extent that I see the words where they are not. Actually I still think the restriction on blood donation is disproportionate, but not remotely as disproportionate. There has been no epidemic of Mad Cow disease as yet. Pray God there never will be as, it is a horrible way to go. But if you ban blood from anyone who has visited a country where there have been (I think) tens or at the most hundreds of fatalities from a blood-transmittable disease then pretty soon you will have scarcely any donors left.
February 05, 2002
A cri de coeur
from Brian Micklethwait over at Samizdata. With commendable honesty he admits he half-mourns the passing of the days when he was a big fish in a small pond - the internet went and expanded the pond. I think I'll pop over there and comment directly in a minute. You can also read, if you must, Perry de Havilland and Steven Den Beste obsessing over the merits of various aeroplanes. Dear boys, so sweet, but I get enough of this at home.
Before I close this correspondence,
(It's funny what prompts the most mail. "Western drag", petards, payment for blogging, and now this. Are all my readers as pedantic and poor as I am?) I had another note from Robert L Martin who recalled... hey, let him tell it:"I was in London in 1965 and while there I went to the changing of the Guard. During the ceremony, the band ( I don't recall which regiment) played the marches of all of the U.S. armed forces (Anchors Aweigh, Marines' Hymn, etc.). At the time, I was living in Heidelberg, Germany where my father was stationed with the U.S. Army. The pipes, drums and military band of one of the highland regiments (again, can't place which one) visited U.S. Army Europe headquarters and played at evening retreat, including the Star Spangled Banner and God Save the Queen. I don't know if Mr. Kidd would view these performances the same way as performing the SSB, but it seems to me that if he feels degraded, it has been 40 years in the making. Perhaps he would be soothed by a tradition I became acquainted with while serving in the U.S. Air Force. USAF developed a "dining out" tradition for unit officers. These evening meal events were openly, notoriously, and shamelessly copied from the RAF after exposure to that service during W.W.II. Should a British officer have been present during one of our dining outs, we had no trouble toasting the Queen's health. The penultimate toast, was, however, reserved for the President."Oh, all right, I'll reopen the correspondence long enough to ask what was the final toast, "Absent Friends"?
ADDED LATER: It was usually "To those who did not return."
More on "hirelings and slaves."
Reader John Costello observed that all Americans think that they won the war of 1812, which I must say speaks well for their education as I doubt if most Britons have even heard of it, and then went on to say "of course they don't know about To Anacreon in Heaven either." Which stumped me. Thanks to the miracle of the internet, though, I now know that he was referring to the original song which provided the tune for the Star Spangled Banner.Jim Bennett was one of several correspondents who made the point that the hirelings and slaves were in fact the mercenaries generically if inaccurately referred to as Hessians. He goes on to say,
"But the interesting point about the Hessians was why they needed to be used in the first place, which is that very few English were volunteering to fight Americans.Indeed so. Confound their knavish tricks! Which takes me rather neatly to an e-mail from Robert L Martin, who also took up the point about bombastic lyrics, pointing out that there are "some references to Scotland in a later verse of God Save the Queen that are best left unsung.""In general, civil wars (which is what the War of Independence was) generate a lot of hard feelings, as well as bombastic song lyrics. Maryland's still-official state song, Maryland My Maryland, starts out "The tyrant's heel is on thy shore". The tyrant in question is Abraham Lincoln. And Maryland was a Union state, at least in theory. The War of 1812 was so heated because it was sort of a rematch from the War of Independence. Many of the Canadians were descenants of Loyalist refugees from 1783.
"As for the IRA issue, personally I think Blair *should* have asked for some quid pro quos in the form of action against the IRA. However, Washington and Whitehall are still locked into the Peace Process, and tolerance of Sinn Fein is seen as part of that comittment. However, it doesn't help anybody's case to rant as Kidd does. It would help to concentrate on providing good documentation to counter the IRA's claims. A very small group of pro-IRA (and pro-Continuity, etc.) adherents propagandize very effectively in the US, because no other story is really heard.
What comment is there to make about this story?
BBC News | MIDDLE EAST | Defendants killed in Palestinian courtI can however observe that, if you click the "Question of betrayal" link to the right of the main story you will find that the BBC, although it cannot bring itself to call terrorists terrorists has no trouble in describing as "betrayal" any action taken by a Palestinian Arab which helps Israeli security. They say themselves that these "collaborators" were not paid very much but do not consider for a moment that perhaps some of them contacted the Israelis for reasons other than money.
Googlewhack!
Doesn't this sound fun? Just what I needed in life, a new way to spend time on the internet.Talking of Google, prepare for A Disclosure. Sobbing Confession. Heartrending Personal Testimony. Whatever. I google-search my own name nearly every day. And I love it. It sends adrenaline zooming through my veins, fills me with vim, zest, zip and other monosyllables containing letters that score high in Scrabble. Yeah! Google self-abuse gives me the strength to stand up to Life's little vagaries, hit them on the head and steal their mobile phones.
I also find cool websites. Only cool sites mention me, did you know that?
But I want you to know that I am not addicted. I could give it up any time I liked.
A sewing bit! A real sewing bit!
It was hopeless trying to hold off the maddened hordes of history freaks. I fought bravely but their sheer numbers and fanaticism overwhelmed me. Angie Schultz wrote:My dear woman, you simply cannot open up a rusty can of 1812 Brand Fine Worms and just airily wander off, leaving the mess there, stinking up the place. (It attracts Canadians, for one thing.) Oh, but I suppose *you* have a maid. [In my dreams. NS] "We'll leave aside Mr. Kidd's dubious knowledge of history (what's he a lecturer in, I want to know) and instead go on to something I have a better grasp on, namely the Star Spangled Banner. The "hirelings and slaves" bit was not meant as a reference to British soldiers, but rather to the foreign mercenaries and other troops that the British deployed in North America. ("Other troops" would include conscripts, which I very dimly remember were some sort of tribute or treaty fulfillment from one of the German principalities. Hessians, in particular, are remembered for being there, but I don't know if they were there of their own free will or not.) I can't remember whether these were actually used in the War of 1812, but it was a very bitter issue in the days leading up to the Revolution. The fact that the king would use foreign troops against Englishmen (for so many still felt themselves) was what sent many fence-sitters over the edge.[I hadn't heard it was played at the changing of the guard, though it may have been, but it's popped right out of my head what exactly was the big occasion with the Queen there (and visibly moved) when it was played. The point was that it was some semi-state bash where a foreign anthem had never been played before. It seems to have been a separate concert, that involved the band of the Coldstream Guards playing in New York, which so excised Mr Kidd. ]"Nevertheless, it's true that that whole third verse is a bit ripe, and it wouldn't bother me if it was officially chucked out. Besides, it's in an entirely different tone from the rest of the poem, and detracts from it.
"I hadn't heard about the event Kidd is so exercised about---reading about it on your blog I assumed he meant the playing of the SSB at the changing of the guard.
"I hang out in some of the seedier dives of Usenet. Think of it as the bitter old war correspondents' bar, a room full of flinty eyes and hearts to match, and the devil take the tender of soul. After the above event, many of the posters wrote of watching this on TV and melting into puddles of warm jello, openly sobbing into their keyboards. Don't think this "nadir" went unappreciated."
Actually I too recall that I had a tear in my eye from just reading about it. I will try to quote from some other letters but I've just remembered that I have to put in our rusty old C-reg Volkswagen Passat in to the garage in order to stop the exhaust trying to lift the whole car off the ground like a rocket. And you people think I have a maid. Sob. (That sob was not a deeply moved sob, it was a deeply envious of people with maids sob.)
Oh, that sewing bit. Did you know that sacking-like scratchy large-weave fabric with vaguely hairy fibres, the stuff they put on display screens and trendy flower arrangements, is called Hessian? You do now.
February 04, 2002
Two takedowns.
Orrin Judd makes life tough for Senatorial turncoats, and James Morrow does the same for Arafat. Still, don't anyone say that Arafat and chums aren't environmentally friendly - they do recycle Nazi propaganda after all.
Q: Am I anglospherical? A: No, I went on a diet after Christmas.
This Right Now! magazine piece by Timothy Kidd reminds me of a few things I'd rather forget.In general, I don't care for the tone of the article. Kidd describes the playing by the band of the Coldstream Guards of the American National Anthem as a "degradation." Perhaps he's lived a sheltered life, but so have I, and yet I can gird myself to think of quite a few things more degrading than this rather touching display of solidarity that took place a month to the day after the WTC attack.
As for what might be the correct response for a patriotic Briton to make when reaching the offending words, "hirelings and slaves", I suggest singing them lustily with many a merry quip about the coming reign of the EU. Americans! As Blogland Royalist-in-Chief, I officially forgive you for trying to invade Canada, claiming you won the War of 1812 (restrain yourselves from comment, this week I am too busy for historical research), not checking the identity of the Little Belt before firing, and for all other crimes and misdemeanors committed before the birth of any person now living. The purpose of the study of history is to make such things live again for a while, but the time arrives for the book to be put down and the news turned on instead.
Aye, but there's the rub. Mr Kidd had some painful reminders about more actions quite recent enough to be still called news, actions by people and groups for whom I have had great sympathy since September 11:
A few years ago, a visiting Sinn Fein/IRA delegation was feted by Mayor Rudy Giuliani at a fund-raising gala, and entertained by the band of the New York Police Department. On a visit to the New York Times, Irish terrorist leaders were greeted by a standing ovation from the editorial board. I myself have seen the New York Fire Brigade marching up Fifth Avenue under a banner with an IRA slogan, and being cheered by the crowd along the whole route.
Q: What would Elvis say if he were alive today? A: "It's awful dark in here. Uh, where's the door?"
Sorry. Just slipped out. Dawson has recovered enough for a wee small post or two, although he still thinks he saw the popular musician mentioned above. I won't steal his clicks by giving you all the great links he provides, but the "little people" question in the 20 Questions post is poignant and interesting. Poignant because of the many replies that refer to childhood memories only dredged up with great effort, interesting because it is obviously one of those phenomena that are actually quite common yet remain unknown because those who experience it don't talk about it.
February 03, 2002
Off with his head!
Michael Lonie dares to dispute that HRH is descended from Boadicea."I hate to rain on anyone's parade, but isn't she of German ancestry? If I recall correctly..."Hey, c'mon! 'If I recall correctly' indeed! Are you trying to convince me that you have all this erudite stuff just in your head and nary a reference book in sight? :-)
"...she is from the Welf family from Hanover on Great-great-grandmama's side and the house of Saxe-Coburg ("stud farm to Europe")on Great-great-grandpapa's side. Perhaps she is descended from Ariovistus, the German king Caesar thumped, or Hermann, who destroyed three legions of the Roman army at the Battle of the Teutoburgerwald in 9AD. Those would give her warrior forebears just as well as the great Briton. Even if you trace back through the immensly convoluted tree to those Scots and French types who sat on the English throne, there is still a break at William the Bastard. Although I suppose you could come back with something about Jasper Tudor..."
Actually I take it all back. Maybe you can do all this stuff without reference books. There are people who can, as I just proved to myself by, in the best tradition of clueless contestants in Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, phoning a friend. Two friends actually, married to each other, and, spurring each other on to ever-ascending heights of antiquarian cool, they came up unrehearsed with miles of learned speculation, much of which I missed through not being able to type at supersonic speed. They said, yes, the Queen is a Hanoverian. But the Hanoverians get their claim to the throne via the Stuarts, and they get their claim via the Tudors. (They agreed with Mr Lonie on the Jasper angle. Actually I know a great drinking song called Oh, Sir Jasper, Do Not Touch Me, but you don't want to hear about that.) And Elizabeth II is Heir to the Tudors unless you count any surviving descendants of Henrietta Maria, youngest daughter of Charles the First. Only you don't count them firstly because an elder daughter of James I takes precedence over youngest daughter of Charles I any day, and secondly all such descendants probably died out in WWI anyway. Anyway, if she's a Tudor then she's surely descended from some Late Roman senator who is in turn descended from an early Roman senator. Then you mustn't forget her separate claim via Royal House of Essex, i.e. Alfred the Great and Co. They must have miscegenated with the Britons a bit. So, pushing my luck, yes, Elizabeth II is probably descended from Boadicea.
Then they spoilt it all by saying that Boadicea's family were all probably wiped out by the Romans. But never mind, everybody is descended from everybody anyway.
Zooom! The stealth blogger strikes
. I am really not meant to be doing this today, but I have sneaked upstairs for a quick internet fix. And what do we have in the in-tray? Aha! Nice words about the French, as promised, from Midwest Conservative Journal.