HomePosts tagged 'independence day'

Boffin Bollocks!

May 13, 2015April 25, 2015 fasab Current Events, Humour, Rants across the border, aircraft, amusing, Apollo missions, Australia, ball lightning, benign, big fan, boffin bollocks, break through, captivated, carefully studying, Chief Scientist, clever, colleague, conquering all in its path, continually wage war, culinary delicacy, Current Events, dedicated, deep space, direction, E.T., Ellen Stofan, entertained, Fast Radio Bursts, first contact with alien life, fools, FRBs, funny, galaxy, H G, headline, headline grabbers, hell bent, Humor, Humour, idiots, independence day, intelligent life, intense bursts, John M Grunsfeld, life out there, make a name for themselves, Mars, Martians, Mexicans, microwave oven, morons, movies, Ms Stofan, nasa, non-scientific guess, Orson, Parkes Observatory, pass us by, peryton-a, perytons, planet, planet full of people, pronouncements, puzzled, radio signals, radio waves, real, real Martians, rogue signals, scientist, scientists, Shock Warning Aliens Are Coming, shoes, signals, solar system, somewhere else in the galaxy, sound bite, space boots, Space Exploration, star trek, Stargate, supernova, tangible results, telescope, telescopes, television coverage, the icy crusts of Jupiter's moons Ganymede and Europa, the internal water within Saturn's moon Enceladus, theories, Thoughts, TV sci-fi series, War Of The Worlds, warp speed, We know how to look, We know where to look, Wells, wormhole

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

I would love to have been a scientist.

Not a real one, I’m not clever enough or dedicated enough for that. Rather, I would have loved to have been one of those idiots who try to make a name for themselves off pronouncements on things about which they know absolutely nothing.

I saw another one of their headline grabbers (that I like to call “boffin bollocks”) recently. The headline went something like “Shock Warning Aliens Are Coming.” And it wasn’t about more Mexicans making their way north across the US border.

It was from NASA’s Chief Scientist, Ellen Stofan, and claimed that first contact with alien life will happen “very soon” – very soon being not tomorrow, but within the next decade or two.

“We know where to look,” she confirmed.

Yes, “UP” would be my non-scientific guess at the best direction.

“We know how to look,” she added.

Again I am forced to agree. Personally I’d use a telescope, and a great big one, but that’s only me!

Ms Stofan was ably backed up by a colleague, John M. Grunsfeld, who came out with good sound bite words and phrases like “solar system”, “galaxy”, “the icy crusts of Jupiter’s moons Ganymede and Europa” (my favorite I think) and “the internal water within Saturn’s moon Enceladus”.

Mars and the Martians also got mentioned, but only with suggestions that life may have at one time been present on the planet. H. G. and Orson Wells had beaten them to visits by the ‘real’ Martians many, many years ago.

More scientists, this time at the Parkes Observatory in Australia, have been carefully studying peryton-a type of radio signals similar to Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) which are known to come from somewhere else in the galaxy.

For years, they had been puzzled by these brief but intense bursts of radio waves that in some ways appeared to be coming from deep space. There have been dozens of reported perytons, some dating back to the 1990s, and theories about the signals’ origin included ball lightning, aircraft, and components of the telescopes themselves.

Then this year they made a break through. They discovered the source of the rogue signals. They were coming from – no, not somewhere deep in the galaxy – but instead from the microwave oven in the next room.

In what has to be the understatement of the year, Emily Petroff of Australia’s Swinburne University of Technology admitted, “It was quite surprising that it ended up being microwaves.” I bet it was!

I must add that I’m a big fan of space exploration, always have been, since I was a kid and was captivated by the television coverage of the Apollo missions. My only regret is that it all takes so very long that I will have gone ‘supernova’ before we see any tangible results of that exploration. There’s never a handy wormhole around when you need one, is there!

I am also a big fan of TV sci-fi series like the Star Treks, the Stargates and so forth, and of movies from ‘War of the Worlds’, thru ‘E.T.’ to ‘Independence Day’ and beyond. But I also have the wit to realize I’m being entertained and these things are not real.

So is there life out there?

I wouldn’t rule the idea out for a second. But what I would rule out is that intelligent life is ever going to be found within our Solar System, maybe not even within our Galaxy. But it could be out there somewhere.

The question we should be asking is, assuming it is benign and not hell bent on conquering all in its path, or maybe viewing us as a culinary delicacy, would that intelligent life really want anything to do with a planet full of people who, for almost their entire existence, seem to want nothing better than to continually wage war on each other?

I think having observed us for a while they would probably pass us by without calling in to say hello.

If I were in their shoes – or space boots – that’s what I would do – and at warp speed too!

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Significant Number Factoid Friday – Today The Number Had To Be 1776

July 4, 2014 fasab Factoids, Numbers 1776, Adam Smith, Adam Weishaupt, America, American colonies, American Continental Army, American Continental Navy, American Continentals, American friends, American gunboats, American navy, American Patriots, American Patriots Royal Navy, American Revolution, American Revolutionary War, American Southwest, American submersible craft Turtle, americans, an independent nation, Andrew Doria, Arctic, Assembly of New Hampshire, Austria, Bahamas, battle, Battle of Harlem Heights, Battle of Long Island, Battle of Pell's Point, Battle of the Rice Boats, Battle of Trenton, Battle of White Plains, Bavaria, Benedict Arnold, Benjamin Franklin, bigamy, bird tail, Boston, Bowling Green, Brigadier General Benedict Arnold, British, British Admiral Richard Howe's flagship HMS Eagle, British authority, British control, British fleet, British parliament, British Royal Navy, Brooklyn, California, Captain James Cook, Chatterton Hill, Cherokee, Cherokee Nation, cock tail, Col. Johann Rall, Committee of Five, common sense, Continental Army, Continental Congress, Continental Congress delegates, Continental Union Flag, crossed the Delaware River, Crown Prince Paul, customer, declaration of independence, Delaware General Assembly, Doncaster, Dorchester Heights, Duchess of Kingston, Dutch flag, education, Edward Gibbon, England, enlistment of free blacks, Entertainment, espionage, facts, fatal, Father Francisco Palou, first Europeans, first governor, first state constitution, first US fraternity, Fort Orange, Fort Washington, France, Francisco Atanasio Domínguez, Francisco Silvestre Vélez de Escalante, French support, Gen George Washington, George III of Great Britain, George Mason, George Washington, Gregorian calendar, Guadeloupe, Haffner, Halifax Resolves, hanged, happy Fourth of July, Hessian mercenaries, Hessian troops, HMS Resolution, horse races, hurricane, Illuminati, independence day, independence from British rule, Ingolstadt, interrogation torture, invading spaceships, Jersey bank, Johannes de Graaff, Juan Bautista de Anza, Julian calendar, King George III, Kips Bay, Lake Champlain, leap year, Lee Resolution, Liberty Bell, Lieutenant General Wilhelm von Knyphausen, loyalist leaders, Lt Jose Joaquin Moraga, Manhattan, Marines, Marquis de Lafayette, Massachusetts, McKonkey's Ferry, MDCCLXXVI, Mission Dolores, Mission San Francisco de Asis, Monterey Presidio, Moore's Creek bridge, Mozart, Nassau, Nathan Hale, new york, New York City, New York Harbor, Norfolk, North Carolina, number, number factoid, numbers, Pacific Ocean, pamphlet, Patriot cannons, Patriot forces, patriot victory, peace conference, Phi Beta Kappa, Philadelphia, Plymouth, Presidio of San Francisco, Province of Georgia, published, rebels, renounce allegiance to King George III of Great Britain, Rhode Island, Richard Caswell, Richard Henry Lee, Roman numerals, Royal Colony of North Carolina, Royal Navy, Russia, Salzburg, San Francisco, Santa Fe, Savannah River, Scottish economist, Scottish North Carolina Loyalists, Second Continental Congress, Serenade No. 7, Significant Number Factoid Friday, significant numbers, Sir Guy Carleton, Sophie Marie Dorothea, South Carolina, Spaniards, spy, St Leger, State of North Carolina, Staten Island, successful assault, The American Crisis, The Bronx, The Crisis, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, the Rockies, the Sierras, The Wealth of Nations, the world's first submarine attack, These are the times that try men's souls, third voyage, thirteen colonies, Thomas Paine, time bomb, Trenton, United States Declared Independence, Valcour Island, Virginia, Virginia Convention of Delegates, Virginia Declaration of Rights, vote for independence, Washington, Washington's troops, Württemberg, William & Mary College, William Howe, Wilmington

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

Hello everyone.

And a very happy Fourth of July to everyone, particularly my American friends.

Independence Day again, and no sign of invading spaceships so I’m assuming its safe to do another number factoid.

And what else could it be today other than 1776, the year America became an independent nation.

Here we go.

Enjoy

And where else to start but with….

American Revolutionary War

On January 1^st, 1776 Gen George Washington hoisted the Continental Union Flag. The same day the town of Norfolk, Virginia, was destroyed by the combined actions of the British Royal Navy and occupying Patriot forces.
On Jan 5^th the Assembly of New Hampshire adopts its 1st state constitution.
On January 10^th Thomas Paine published his pamphlet Common Sense “written by an Englishman” in Philadelphia arguing for independence from British rule in what were then the Thirteen Colonies.

On Jan 16^th the Continental Congress approves enlistment of free blacks.
On February 27^th Scottish North Carolina Loyalists charge across Moore’s Creek bridge near Wilmington to attack what they mistakenly believed to be a small force of rebels. Several loyalist leaders are killed in the ensuing battle. The patriot victory virtually ended all British authority in the province.
On March 2^nd and 3^rd the American Continental Navy and Marines made a successful assault on Nassau, Bahamas, and in the Battle of the Rice Boats, American Patriots resisted the Royal Navy on the Savannah River effectively ending British control over the Province of Georgia.
On March 4^th American Patriots capture Dorchester Heights thereby dominating the port of Boston, Massachusetts. Threatened by the Patriot cannons on Dorchester Heights, the British evacuate Boston on March 17^th.
On April 12^th the Royal Colony of North Carolina produced the Halifax Resolves making it the first British colony officially to authorize its Continental Congress delegates to vote for independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain.
On May 4^th Rhode Island became the first American colony to renounce allegiance to King George III of Great Britain.
On June 7^th Richard Henry Lee of Virginia proposed to the Second Continental Congress (meeting in Philadelphia) that “these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states.”
On June 11^th the Continental Congress appointed a Committee of Five to draft a Declaration of Independence.

On June 12^th the Virginia Declaration of Rights by George Mason was adopted by the Virginia Convention of Delegates and three days later on June 15^th the Delaware General Assembly voted to suspend government under the British Crown.
On July 2^nd the final (despite minor revisions) U.S. Declaration of Independence was written. The Continental Congress passed the Lee Resolution.
And as we all know, on July 4^th the United States Declared Independence: The Continental Congress ratified the declaration by the United States of its independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain.
On July 8^th the Liberty Bell rang in Philadelphia for the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence and the following day an angry mob in New York City toppled the equestrian statue of George III of Great Britain in Bowling Green.

On August 2^nd most of the American colonies ratify the Declaration of Independence.
On August 15^th the first Hessian troops land on Staten Island to join British forces.
On August 27^th in the Battle of Long Island, Washington’s troops were routed in Brooklyn by British under William Howe.
On September 1^st the Cherokee Nation was invaded by 6,000 patriot troops from Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina begins. The troops destroyed thirty-six Cherokee towns.
On September 7^th saw the world’s first submarine attack when the American submersible craft Turtle attempted to attach a time bomb to the hull of British Admiral Richard Howe’s flagship HMS Eagle in New York Harbor.
On September 11^th an abortive peace conference took place between British and Americans on Staten Island.
On September 15^th British troops landed on Manhattan at Kips Bay.
On September 16^th in the Battle of Harlem Heights, the Continental Army under Washington are victorious against the British on Manhattan.
On September 22^nd the British hanged spy Nathan Hale in New York City for espionage.
The following month, on October 11^th on Lake Champlain near Valcour Island, a British fleet led by Sir Guy Carleton defeated 15 American gunboats commanded by Brigadier General Benedict Arnold. Although nearly all of Arnold’s ships are destroyed, the two day-long battle gave Patriot forces enough time to prepare defenses of New York City.
On October 18^th in the Battle of Pell’s Point, forces of the American Continental Army resisted a British and Hessian force in The Bronx, whilst on October 28 in the Battle of White Plains, British forces attacked and captured Chatterton Hill from the Americans.
On October 26^th Benjamin Franklin departed from America for France on a mission to seek French support for the American Revolution.

The last day of that month, October 31^st saw King George III make his first speech before British Parliament since the Declaration of Independence that summer, in which in perhaps the understatement of the year, told the British Parliament that all was not going well for Britain in the war with the United States.
On November 16^th Hessian mercenaries under Lieutenant General Wilhelm von Knyphausen captured Fort Washington from the American Continentals. The captain of the American navy ship Andrew Doria fired a salute to the Dutch flag on Fort Orange and Johannes de Graaff answers with eleven gun shots.
On December 7^th the Marquis de Lafayette attempted to enter the American military as a major general.
And on December 21^st the Royal Colony of North Carolina reorganizes into the State of North Carolina after adopting its own constitution. Richard Caswell becomes the first governor of the newly formed state.
On December 23^rd Thomas Paine, living with Washington’s troops, began publishing The American Crisis, containing the stirring phrase, “These are the times that try men’s souls.”
At Christmas 1776, Gen. George Washington ordered the first issue of The Crisis to be read to his troops on Christmas Eve, then at 6 p.m. all 2600 of them march to McKonkey’s Ferry, crossed the Delaware River and land on the Jersey bank at 3 a.m.
And finally December 26^th saw the Battle of Trenton, in which Washington’s troops surprised and defeated the 1500 Hessian troops under the command of Col. Johann Rall outside Trenton, taking 948 prisoners while suffering only 5 wounded.

In other things and other places in 1776

The year 1776 was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and a leap year starting on Friday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar.
In Roman Numerals 1776 is written as MDCCLXXVI.
On January 2^nd Austria ended interrogation torture
On February 17^th Edward Gibbon published the first volume of his famous work, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

On March 9^th Scottish economist Adam Smith published The Wealth of Nations in London.
On March 28^th Juan Bautista de Anza found the site for the Presidio of San Francisco.
On April 15^th the Duchess of Kingston was found guilty of bigamy.
On May 1^st Adam Weishaupt founded the Illuminati in Ingolstadt, Bavaria.
On June 17^th Lt. Jose Joaquin Moraga leads a band of colonists from Monterey Presidio, landing on June 29^th and constructing the Mission Dolores of the new Presidio of San Francisco.
On July 12^th Captain James Cook sets off from Plymouth, England, in HMS Resolution on his third voyage, to the Pacific Ocean and Arctic, which would turn out to be fatal.

On July 21^st Mozart’s Serenade No. 7 (the “Haffner”) is first performed in Salzburg, Austria.
On July 29^th Francisco Silvestre Vélez de Escalante, Francisco Atanasio Domínguez, and eight other Spaniards set out from Santa Fe on an eighteen-hundred mile trek through the American Southwest. They were the first Europeans to explore the vast region between the Rockies and the Sierras.
On September 6^th a hurricane hit Guadeloupe, killing more than 6000 people.
On September 24^th the first of the now very famous St Leger horse races were held at Doncaster, England.
On October 7^th Crown Prince Paul of Russia married Sophie Marie Dorothea of Württemberg.
On October 9^th Father Francisco Palou founded the Mission San Francisco de Asis in what is now San Francisco, California.
On October 18^th in a New York bar decorated with a bird tail, a customer orders “cock tail”.
On December 5^th the first US fraternity, Phi Beta Kappa (William & Mary College), is formed.

The Standard Practice for Conditioning and Testing Textiles is Active Standard ASTM D1776
The Standard Specification for Eye Protective Devices for Paintball Sports is Active Standard ASTM F1776.
MTE M-1776 is a Surge Protective Device
P1776 is the code for solenoid stuck in low/reverse which is a fairly common problem and can be prevented most of the time by keeping the fluid clean.
The 1776 Premier Program offers a venue for highly-committed, elite players to receive professional, year-round coaching and to seek competition at the highest levels of US Youth Soccer.

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It’s July 4th, You Know What Day That Is?

July 4, 2013July 4, 2013 fasab comedy, Current Events, Factoids, Humour, Politics, Puns, War American colonists, American national bird, American settlers, americans, amusing, ants, atlantic, bad jokes, bald beagle, battle, Battle of Bonkers Hill, battle of Bunker Hill, Boston Flea Party, Boston Tea Party, British, cartoonist, cattle feed, chopping mall, colonies, colonists, Comedy, Continental Army, country, cracked, cracked me up, curly-haired dog, Current Events, dance, Declaration of Independence signed, dessert, dry skin, Ducklaration of Independence, education, Entertainment, feathers, fodder, funny, General Washington, George Washington, hatchet, history, Humor, Humour, inalienable rights, Indepen-dance, Independence, independence day, infantry, joke, jokes, july 4th, King George, Lafayette, Laughayette, Liber-Tea, liberty, Liberty Bell, Misc, Miscellaneous, Monti jello, Monticello, Mount Vernon, Mt. Vermin, patriot, play on words, politics, pun, pun day, puns, Punsylvanians, revo-lotion, revolting, Revolution, Revolutionary War, sense of humor, silly jokes, Snoopy, Stamp Act, stupid jokes, tea, Thomas Jefferson, tree, Virginia, Washington's home, webbed feet, word play, word plays, Yankee Doodle, Yankee doodler, Yankee Poodle

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

Yes, you got it, it’s Pun Day.

And because Pun Day this year happens to fall on July 4th, here’s a special Independence word play edition.

Enjoy this festive edition!

What happened as a result of the Stamp Act?

The Americans licked the British!

Why did the British cross the Atlantic?

To get to the other tide!

What would you get if you crossed a patriot with a small curly-haired dog?

A Yankee Poodle Dandy!

Did you hear the one about the Liberty Bell?

Yeah, it cracked me up!

What would Americans get if they crossed George Washington with cattle feed?

The fodder of their Country!

Where did George Washington buy his hatchet?

At the chopping mall!

What was General Washington’s favorite tree?

The infantry!

What kind of tea did the American colonists thirst for?

Liber-Tea!

Which colonists told the most jokes?

Punsylvanians!

What did a patriot put on his dry skin?

Revo-lotion!

What dance was very popular in 1776?

Indepen-dance!

Which one of Washington’s officers had the best sense of humor?

Laughayette!

lafayette — Marquis de La Fayette served as a major-general in the Continental Army under George Washington and was a leader of the Garde nationale during the French Revolution.

What was Thomas Jefferson’s favourite dessert?

Monti jello!

Thomas_Jefferson's_Monticello_Estate — Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello Estate

What did King George think of the American colonists?

He thought they were revolting!

Why were the early American settlers like ants?

Because they lived in colonies.

What has feathers, webbed feet, and certain inalienable rights?

The Ducklaration of Independence!

What would you get if you crossed the American national bird with Snoopy?

A bald beagle!

What was the craziest battle of the Revolutionary War?

The Battle of Bonkers Hill.

Where was the Declaration of Independence signed?

On the bottom!

Did you hear about the cartoonist in the Continental Army?

He was a Yankee doodler!

What protest by a group of dogs occurred in 1773?

The Boston Flea Party!

What would you get if you crossed Washington’s home with nasty insects?

Mt. Vermin!

Which son of old Virginia wrote the Declaration of Independence?

I think it was Thomas Jeffer’s son.

Thomas Jefferson’s words and hopes. How far have the present leaders of America strayed from those lofty and laudable goals?

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Happy 4th of July – My, How Things Have Changed!

July 4, 2012September 26, 2012 fasab Inspirational, Legal, Rants, Uncategorized, Unusual americans, british rule, crooked politicians, Current Events, declaration of independence, events, fourth of July, great nation, greedy, historic document, independence day, integrity, july 4th, life liberty and the pursuit of happiness, Misc, Miscellaneous, Musings, Opinion, People, Personal Writing, politics, Random, stupid politicians, stupidity, Thoughts

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

A very happy 4^th of July to one and all.

Today is the anniversary of the day in 1776 when Americans became Americans upon declaring their Independence from British rule. I’m sure everybody knows that. If you are an American you will no doubt have studied the Declaration Of Independence at school.

This document provided a sound foundation upon which to build a new and a great nation. And a great nation is what America became, the richest and most powerful in the world, attracting people from all other countries because of the freedoms it upheld and the opportunities it provided for personal advancement, financial and otherwise.

For a while, at least.

What has happened over the past few decades has regrettably left the original Declaration and the aspirations of those who drafted it, in tatters. Successive power hungry, short-sighted and greedy politicians, with no integrity whatsoever, have been allowed to ride rough-shod over the principles set out in this great historic document. Today its words have come to mean little or nothing to those who are in positions of power and influence.

For example, all men are far from equal when it comes to how they are treated by government. Those who are rich and those who have crooked politicians in their pockets are treated a lot differently than the ordinary people.

Our unalienable Rights, among them Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness are being steadily curtailed in the hallowed name of security but actually because the government continues to appease, and fears to upset, the minorities from whence the security threat comes.

Such a list could turn into a long one, however those examples will suffice for the moment.

But the Declaration also says that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, which means YOU!

And although it is seldom referred to or even noticed nowadays, there is a further paragraph that states:

That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Sadly we are getting uncomfortably closer and closer to that stage.

But happy Independence Day anyhow!