Barnes Wallis - Apparently too Difficult to spell

[RLWP]

[Astro32]

I've read some great stories about the Submarine Spitfire and the Gossamer Meteor.

[Pascal]

4 hours ago, RLWP said:

I must remember that this is an international website, and my English sense of humour may not always get understood

 

 

Wait, WHAT ? There's English humour ???

 

 

But seriously,

 

Of course we (THE) Belgians know history a lot better. In 2014 there was the Miss Belgium pageant show, during the interview with one of the candidates the following question was asked :

 

"How long ago did the First World War start ?"

 

The girl answered : "10 years ago !"

 

[Alain Gadbois]

To be honest, to many if not most, history is just another school subject that is forgotten as soon as the final exam has passed.

Here (Quebec, Canada), some history teachers suggested to remove the study of antiquity and the middle ages as being of little interest and difficult for today's students.

Happily there was much uproar, but that is still the plan as of today.

I think we are underestimating kids, and their interest can be raised on any subject.

I talk about everything I find important to my kids and it's great when they pickup on one subject and start learning and liking it (Pink Floyd!).

By the way, did you know the guards at the Nuremberg trials were ex SS soldiers?

 

Alain

[mozart]

On 3/30/2021 at 11:38 PM, Alain Gadbois said:

To be honest, to many if not most, history is just another school subject that is forgotten as soon as the final exam has passed.

Here (Quebec, Canada), some history teachers suggested to remove the study of antiquity and the middle ages as being of little interest and difficult for today's students.

Happily there was much uproar, but that is still the plan as of today.

I think we are underestimating kids, and their interest can be raised on any subject.

I talk about everything I find important to my kids and it's great when they pickup on one subject and start learning and liking it (Pink Floyd!).

By the way, did you know the guards at the Nuremberg trials were ex SS soldiers?

 

Alain

I didn’t know there was a Middle Ages in Canada? 

[PhilB]

On 3/30/2021 at 11:38 PM, Alain Gadbois said:

By the way, did you know the guards at the Nuremberg trials were ex SS soldiers?

 

Yes, an interesting thing I didn't realise.

 

[Pascal]

On 3/31/2021 at 12:38 AM, Alain Gadbois said:

...

By the way, did you know the guards at the Nuremberg trials were ex SS soldiers?

 

Alain

 

That is not true, or at least it's not entirely true. The guards were US Military Police, aided by former soldiers from the Baltic states like Latvia and Estonia. It is true that these soldiers served in Waffen SS units, but it is widely recognised that they were not involved in the atrocities committed by regular SS units. These men guarded US facilities, the Palace of Justice, etc. , but not the german prisoners.

[quang]

On 3/30/2021 at 4:19 PM, MARU5137 said:

 

The subjects now are SO much more different. 

No pride in one's countries' History or famous figures in both Literature and or sciences. C'est La Vie !

And don’t even ask them about the Mahabharata 

[mozart]

3 hours ago, quang said:

And don’t even ask them about the Mahabharata 

Nor the Ramayana!

[RLWP]

1 minute ago, mozart said:

Nor the Ramayana!

 

Or any other spicy foods

[Alain Gadbois]

6 hours ago, PhilB said:

Yes, an interesting thing I didn't realise.

 

Thanks for the link, that is the source of this fascinating and surprising bit of history of my comment above. I must say I have read a lot about WWII, but was not expecting this story.

 

6 hours ago, Pascal said:

 

That is not true, or at least it's not entirely true. The guards were US Military Police, aided by former soldiers from the Baltic states like Latvia and Estonia. It is true that these soldiers served in Waffen SS units, but it is widely recognised that they were not involved in the atrocities committed by regular SS units. These men guarded US facilities, the Palace of Justice, etc. , but not the german prisoners.

Thanks for the details, I was mentioning this in my post simply to make a point that there is still a lot that can surprise us in a period that we know quite a bit about. Pretty certain most do not know or could imagine of this bit of history. Still those guys were lucky not to be handed back to the USSR and to be given an opportunity by the victors.

 

6 hours ago, mozart said:

I didn’t know there was a Middle Ages in Canada? 

Max, the Vikings were here (Newfoundland and Labrador) from 1000 to 1430, so Canada is officially part of the middle ages!

 

Alain

[mozart]

Ah those pesky Vikings get everywhere raping and pillaging!  Who'd a thought it!  Did they get as far as BC? 

[RLWP]

26 minutes ago, mozart said:

Ah those pesky Vikings get everywhere raping and pillaging!  Who'd a thought it!  Did they get as far as BC? 

 

Genetically speaking, yes

 

Richard

[Smokeyforgothispassword]

Being an old fart, I get annoyed with the current vernacular, words like woke, calling someone a Karen and things like that (and don’t get me started on saying that an aircraft is “stealth” it only costs you a y to be grammatically correct and say stealthy 

 

Anyhow, I also get annoyed when my fellow old farts attack today’s youth for things like not knowing every detail about a war that happened 70 years ago. They have far more pressing issues to be concerned about, like paying enough tax to care for me in my dotage!

 

The world today is very different, when I entered the workforce unless you murdered the boss or shagged his wife you had a job for life, you only left to go to a better job. These days it’s rare that a young person will get that opportunity, short term contracts are all the rage, experience isn’t valued, and very few employers offer any semblance of loyalty. 
 

I’d hate to be starting out in this day and age, so I can forgive a young person not being able to spell the name of Winstone Churchill, or Rooseveld, or even Adult Hitler, those aren’t skills that will get them the next contract.

Edited April 1, 2021 by Smokeyforgothispassword
Old fart spelling error

[RLWP]