Wuthering Heights, Gullivers Travels were 7th & 8th grade required readings. TG for later teachers who dipped into Slaughterhouse 5 and such. Worse read of all time, The Great Gatsby. Best assigned College reads, Armed Force as Power, The Art of War (by Jomini, not the fake one by Tzu of the same name) and Stockwell's, In Search of Enemies. Best recent reads, Guns Germs and Steel, 1776, Guns of the South (funny, but lots of good points in it) and of course Joe Steele.
Luke, the article you cite is correct about the Lee Metford bayonet. However the Mk IV Martini Henry and Martini Enfield (same gun but in caliber .303 British instead of caliber .577-450) rifles used the model 1887 bayonet.
My 1887 type 3.
Made by Wilkinson of course.
The Cavalry variant of the MH carbine used no bayonet as the riders also had 1890 cavalry sabers.
The artillery version of the MH carbine had a much longer (25.75" blade) Model 1879 bayonet with a cutlass type hand guard and a saw back. The saw back allowed the blade to also function as a wood cutting saw when needed to clear trees for the artillery or similar purpose. In this country those are very rare and pricey, Atlanta Cutlery sells a $150 reproduction. Real ones pictured here.
There is, after doing live fire comparisons with a half dozen or so competing contemporary designs, no doubt in my mind that the Martini Henry was the best military single shot rifle of the last quarter of the 19th century. A more than adequate caliber combined with a fast to reload and shoot action put it at the top of the heap. The only deficiency I can identify in the design is absolutely horrible sights. Of course in the 19th century this was the rule, not the exception, so good sighting systems on military rifles were something mostly not seen until the 20th century began.
For it to be a war there have to be plans for what to do with the remnants of the country. If Ireland is the target, is the goal to capture the potato fields and flocks of sheep, or is perhaps the goal to capture the Leprechaun's pot of gold? Since Ireland is not known for it's export of precious metals, maybe the war is about the Irish whiskey threatening sales of Russian vodka? Whatever the end goal, this 'War' seems to be markedly inefficient as there is still an Ireland (two actually).
I just realized no one ever saw the finished product on the carbine. Here it is.
I am currently fabricating a slip-on fiber optic front sight to be used with a removable peep sight I have made for the carbine. The adding of both will not alter the carbine from it's original configuration but will IMO greatly increase the capabilities of the gun in twilight or dark woods. Last year the tiny factory front sight proved almost useless in the woods as sundown approached.
A little more clarity emerged today. The concrete slabs were of the pre stressed type with steel cables under tension running through them. An engineer decided the cables needed more tension. The steel hawser of the crane was attached to the cable and more pressure was being applied. When the hawser of the crane suddenly snapped the pressure was well over 30 tons of pull. It all recoiled like a big rubber band. That is why the portion of slab the once tensioned cable was supporting suddenly lost it's support and failure instantly occurred.
I think so. Today rescue efforts halted and the work switched to recovery. The number of confirmed dead rose to six. Five of those dead were still under the slabs of concrete. Police and fire cautioned the death toll may rise once the slabs are removed, the vehicles peeled open and the contents of the vehicles examined more properly.
Well this relationship went past that. He had the appearance his photos said. They met, they shared moments, but he used a fake name and he was married with kids. She has since dumped him, but it was a harsh lesson.
The same thing is happening to tigers. When I was a kid there were about 16 species of tiger sharing the world with us and totaling about a quarter million. Today in the wild there are only 4 tiger species left and the total wild population left is only 5,000. There are another 10,000 or so in captivity.
Terribly sad. Two of Nature's most spectacular animals and quite probably none of our children's children will ever see one.
I have never used Skype on a computer I own. However I am comfortable with both Facebook Messenger and also watts.app.. Both allow free video conversation around the planet. Weirdly I also note that on my cell phone Watts.app and Messenger often work even when I am in a location where my regular phone service doesn't work.
There is a lot to be said for the old Argentina and Algerian military police trick of taking the unwashed or unwanted, putting them bound and gagged on a cargo plane doing a 'training flight', then fly a few hundred miles out to sea at a 1 mile altitude, unload the plane, then come home.
I felt the video was fake anyway because of the lion's behavior after the kill. One behavior trait cats (of all sizes) are not known for is making a kill then just immediately within a few seconds just walking away. Even when not hungry they nuzzle it, get in few more hits if it was an enemy, and often drag it around a bit like a house cat does with a toy mouse. Big cats do the same thing. Also 'lone wolf' lions aren't usually that well fed. So where is the pride? Male lions who have made a kill (tigers and leopards too) usually make a chuffing sound the others in it's group home in on. If someone wanted to make the video more plausible there would been that chuff, and then some lionesses or other males coming to see what had been caught. Not, kill the hunter then immediately walk away.
Herb sleeps. When Ginger is feeling playful he just snores until she pokes him. Then he opens one eye, looks at her, then closes that eye and resumes snoring. So she chases imaginary butterflies instead..
People actually read Don Quixote? Our English teacher warned us it was as dull and boring as an Emily Bronte or S. Fitzgeral novel and reviews I read seemed to agree. I avoided it and went for Heinlein's Friday instead. "He was following me, so I killed him."
And so begins the woman's story. One must love a woman who thinks that way.
Hi Angel. Well absolutely several countries plan to have a presence of some kind on Mars by then. 2070 is not an unreasonable prediction for by when we will set foot there. By 2150 I would expect to see at least one colony there, maybe 2 or 3 under different flags like Antarctica today.. I hear you about the uncertainty of the future and mankind's problems. However I am pretty confident that if 90% of the population isn't extinct, if only 20 or 30% survive the catastrophes, efforts to get off this ball of mud will continue almost unabated. Those serfs living in serf conditions may grow extinct, but I am confident the nobles will see to it they and their own dreams survive with not much degradation of living condition. One can always designate or breed new serfs to do the work..
Ken_19 Blog Comments (3,903)
RE: Books and Reading
Wuthering Heights, Gullivers Travels were 7th & 8th grade required readings. TG for later teachers who dipped into Slaughterhouse 5 and such. Worse read of all time, The Great Gatsby.Best assigned College reads, Armed Force as Power, The Art of War (by Jomini, not the fake one by Tzu of the same name) and Stockwell's, In Search of Enemies.
Best recent reads, Guns Germs and Steel, 1776, Guns of the South (funny, but lots of good points in it) and of course Joe Steele.