19th Century
A Bear’s Diary – Part 30
September 3rd, 1811. I have been too much occupied to keep up my diary for several months. We have all been toiling on the improvement of the Bear Inn, which had fallen into some disrepair [more…]
History
19th Century
A Bear’s Diary – Part 29
June 9th, 1811. At sea once more, we discovered that two of our crew had deserted, preferring the fleshpots of New York to their homeland and what will certainly be a more than generous reward [more…]
20th Century
Is Your Watch Killing You?
In 1902 an inventor called William J. Hammer left France for America. With him he carried a curious souvenir from 2 friends of his which would later result in the deaths of many, many young [more…]
20th Century
Emmet Dalton and the raid on Mountjoy Prison
This is a story about one of the rebels against British rule over Ireland and about one incident in that rebellion in the early 20th century. Emmet Dalton was born in the United States in [more…]
America
My top ten telly things I have seen
Clearly this is subjective, personal and non scientific, it doesn’t take into account viewing figures although I suspect many are up there and of course many will have taken place before news went truly global [more…]
Engineering
The new bus for London – the original Routemaster
London’s tram network was equally loved and hated by its users and those inconvenienced by it. On the one hand, it was a reliable method of getting about however tracks were expensive to lay and [more…]
Book Review
Book Review: “The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise” by Dario Fernandez-Morera
From “El Cid” courtesy of Cinemagraphe.com “The Messenger of Allah … said:… I would like to fight in the way of Allah.… I would be killed, then I would be brought to life, then I [more…]
Uncategorized
Uncategorized
Saving A Civilisation – the Tenth Century Crisis and Some Lessons for Today
This article was inspired by a fellow commenter becoming despondent and stating that Western civilisation is finished, no longer possessing the mettle to survive. It’s not a view I share because we have been here [more…]