Posts Tagged ‘reference’

Save The Earth By Being More Environmentally Conscious

Tuesday, December 28th, 2010

Admit it, you contributed to the current state of our environment. By current state, we mean dilapidated and abused to the core without guilt.

If you would say no, think of the paper that you decided not to recycle, the cigarette butts you throw on the streets and the amount of energy you have used up in your lifetime.

It is unlikely that you have lived the life of a caveman, in total respect for Earth, surviving off animal remains and raw vegetables. Although you have contributed to Earth’s slow death, you can begin doing your part to repair the destruction man has inflicted.

The simplest thing to begin with is saving electricity by unplugging your appliances when you’re not using them. Believe it or not, when appliances are left plugged in they remain in a standby mode and continue to consume electricity. Unplugging will save energy for the earth and save money for you.

Another thing to do is stop using those plastic straws. Did you ever wonder what happened to them once you had finished with them? They certainly are being put in anyone else’s drink. They go straight into the trash.

Perhaps the most effective method of going green is to live by the three Rs – reuse, reduce and recycle. Repurpose things like water bottles and newspaper, cut back on energy consumption by leaving fewer lights on and recycle items like paper and plastic. The thee Rs may be pass but they remain relevant and effective.

If you run an office, you can certainly recycle any paper products that are not needed anymore. Setting up a workplace policy will make this an effective measure.

There are still a lot of ways on how you can help Mother Nature heal and most of them are quite easy, actually. The trick here is to feel the effects of the climate change, the need for cleaner water and the responsibility to contribute to change.

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Frank Bourne Hero of Rorkes Drift

Tuesday, December 28th, 2010

The Battle of Rorkes Drift is without doubt one of the most famous battles during the background within the British army. It was around this little mission station along the border of Zululand and Natal where a few thousand Zulu warriors attacked a garrison of no more than 140 British soldiers. The soldiers fought for their lives through the night and by morning, the Zulu warriors had retired back to Zululand. The top award for gallantry while in the British Army is the Victoria Cross and the action at Rorkes Drift saw twelve VCs awarded, greater than in any other single action in the past.

The fight was portrayed in the Stanley Baker movie “Zulu” and one of several leading characters who acted heroically at Rorkes Drift, in the end didn’t get a Victoria Cross. Colour Sergeant Frank Bourne was instead awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal that is ranked 2nd behind the Victoria Cross. In addition, Bourne was also offered a commission but he declined. Being the eighth son in their household, there was no money available and this was a time when wealth was used to buy commissions for officers within the British Army.

Of course, Bourne became a career soldier and a good one as well. Immediately following South Africa, he was posted to India and Burma before finally earning his commission 11 years on from the Battle of Rorkes Drift. He finally retired from the British Army in 1907. Only 7 years later, The First World War broke out and Bourne re-enlisted in the army. By the conclusion of the Great War in 1918, he had risen to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel and was made an OBE. Bourne left the military again, this time around forever.

Because of the actor who played the part of Bourne in the film Zulu, the majority of people presumed Frank Bourne to have been middle aged during the time of the Battle of Rorkes Drift however in truth he was merely 24 years old.

After the finish of The First World War, Bourne lived in retirement in Beckenham, South London and he was the last survivor of the battle to pass away at the age of 91 on 8th May 1945, the very day World War II in Europe came to an end.

Even though he didn’t receive the Victoria Cross, CSM Frank Bourne was one of the most famous men who saw action at Rorkes Drift.

The Famous Farewell Address

Monday, December 27th, 2010

George Washington Farewell Address is much discussed piece by George Washington. Everybody knows that George Washington is the 1st president of United States of America. He is really a wonderful patriot of America. He is affectionately referred to as as The father of United States of America’. First he served America as a General of continental army. He played an active role in fighting with England to attain independence. After America got freedom from the clutches of England he became the initial president of the new country. He served the nation two terms. He is a fantastic general, a excellent president. He is also very close to the persons of America.

The speech was initial appeared in a magazine referred to as American Every day Advertiser September, 1796. The date is nineteenth. The magazine belonged to David Claypool. That means more than two centuries ago the speech was made public. Later George Washington Farewell Address is printed in a Boston Paper called The Chronicle. The Chronicle is co owned by Isaac Larkin and Thomas Adams

The paper was pro Republican Party. The draft of the speech was first prepared with the support of James Madison in the year 1792. It was planned as a farewell address by Washington after his first term of presidency

As Washington’s retirement did not happen then, the draft was put aside. It really is said that Washington gave the draft to Alexander Hamilton for revision. Everybody knows that George Washington is the 1st president of United States of America.

Washington expressed his desire to retire from active political life. By the time he served America for forty five years. George Washington Farewell Address praises the federal system of governing America. It gives excellent significance to unity. It is not in favor of party system. Washington was quite much positive that party system will lead to corruption. It drives residence the importance of moral values and religion. George Washington Farewell Address gives valuable advice on economic policies also. It says that taxes need to be convenient and pleasant. It adds that state debt must be limited. Washington isn’t really especially encouraging in forming lengthy standing friendship with foreign countries. He never encouraged making military all powerful. People of America read and attempt to follow various suggestions given by George Washington even as on today. They feel that his words have ever lasting appeal.

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Why Public Records Are Not Free Online

Thursday, December 16th, 2010

You’ve probably heard the phrase “public records,” but do you know what it means? Generally speaking public records are those records that the public can access without restriction (mostly). The disclosure is because the records were made open voluntarily, or because some government transactions or archives require this to be the case. Most of these records have personal or even private information within.

Government agencies at all levels, from local through state and even federal, keep public records. All of these records are supposed to be free because they were disclosed for the purposes of public access.

To access public records, you go to the proper government agency. Then you simply put in a request for the record that you want, and wait for the response. The public record, if found, will be given or sent to you. You may be asked to pay a nominal fee for technical expenses.

Why do some online search sides charge you for access to these documents, then, if they are supposed to be free? There are several reasons.

One reason a site may ask you to pay is that they themselves purchased the documents from government agencies.

On some other sites, the document is free but the search service isn’t. It costs a good bit of money to maintain a huge, complex database for you to search.

People who need quick access to records but can’t pay should not be worried. You can also get online access to these records for free. Try to find the right sites to use by going to a search engine and searching for “public record access free sites.”

Some of these will be private websites that allow free searching, though often the database is smaller than are those that charge. You can also find websites that have links to government websites that allow online searching for records.

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The Activities of the Special Operations Executive

Tuesday, December 14th, 2010

Although it was officially established in July 1940, the SOE (Special Operations Executive) had been created in 1938 with the combination of 3 current, top secret sections just after Germany annexed Austria. Churchill’s Secret Army was directed to “Set Europe Ablaze”.

SOE operatives were directed to various Nazi occupied countries to simultaneously cause destruction behind German lines and in addition start to locate local resistance groups they would likely work with once the occasion for invasion came. Theatres of Operation involved France, Belgium, Poland, Germany, Yugoslavia, Greece, Hungary, Albania, Czechoslovakia, Norway, Denmark, Romania, Abyssinia and the Far East.

As operatives operated deep in Nazi held territory and they were recruited from an assortment of social class and background. The key criteria was that the probable agent had exhaustive understanding of the land they would operate in and in a position to pass as a local of that country. For that reason, those with dual nationality were highly desirable.

The renowned plane used by the SOE in France was the Westland Lysander. It was a small aircraft which caused it to be a whole lot more tricky to watch and was robust enough to land on makeshift landing strips. It was used to ferry operatives to and from the United Kingdom together with collecting those who needed to be interviewed in London. Pilots who had been shot down were also frequently brought back to the United Kingdom by Lysander.

Amid the SOE group were also female agents and around 30% of the female operatives delivered into France from Section F, did not survive. The types of operations in each region were wide ranging. For example, in Poland, there was limited need to stir up the local population as there was already common hatred of the Nazis. This was in comparison to areas such as Vichy France where some locals worked with with the Germans and the probability of SOE operatives being betrayed was considerably increased.

For the period of World War II, the SOE had utilised about 13,000 people who directly helped or provided somewhere in the region of 1 million operatives.

The Special Operations Executive played a significant role during World War II primarily in Europe but in other parts of the world too.

Understanding The Meaning Of “Power Of Attorney”

Monday, December 6th, 2010

When you have given somebody the legal power to carry out your affairs on your behalf, you have provided them with the power of attorney. You who wants somebody else to be able to manage your affairs is called the “principal” while he who is given powers to act on your behalf becomes the “agent” or “attorney.” The terminology is better explained below as we start to dive into this topic.

One does not have to have a law degree to be able to receive the power of attorney. Anybody that you consider the most trustworthy person you know can be your agent. Choose wisely because this person should be trusted to act in the best interest of all involved and not take any type of sides one way or the other.

The principal decides how much power he wants to give to his attorney at any time. This means that the attorney can either have full general power to do anything in your name or only some limited power. Deciding how much power to give them is an important step, so choose wisely.

Deciding to give somebody the power of attorney does not mean that they have taken all the power from you but simply means that you have somewhat delegated out your responsibilities to somebody you can trust in case you cannot be able to do them yourself. This can be good and bad depending on each individual case.

The general power of attorney gives the agent all the freedom to carry out any of your affairs while the limited one will only allow them liberty to do only that which you have specified in the document.

There is also a durable power of attorney as well which is the opposite of the ordinary power of attorney. The ordinary power of attorney expires if something should render you unable to decide on your own affairs what should and should not be done.

The durable power of attorney however remains capable of exercising your powers even when you are rendered incapable of handling your own affairs by an illness, injury or in case of death.

If you have a large amount of affairs to be handled then a power of attorney always comes in handy in making sure that only good decisions that are in your best interest are made for your affairs. If you are rendered ill or injured the power of attorney will make sure that nobody takes advantage of your affairs leaving your loved ones to suffer out in the cold.

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The Catastrophe of Exercise Tiger

Thursday, December 2nd, 2010

Throughout the build up to the Allied invasion in Normandy in 1944, a terrific deal of preparation and organizing was required. Data was consistently being gained by a network of spies whilst materials and equipment were being brought to England. These would be vital all through and following what was and still is the largest invasion force ever assembled.

Organisation and exercises was a necessary aspect of the plans. Rangers who were to attack Point du Hoc became proficient by climbing cliffs and soldiers staged practice beach landings. A big component of the planning of secrecy and the locals of the UK were required to play their part. In Devon, an area called Slapton Sands was identified as a superb practice area due to the parallels with the Utah landing beach in Normandy.

Exercises for the landings started in late 1943 with the main invasion scheduled for June 1944. Over 3,000 residents were relocated from the local area around Slapton Sands. Many exercises were organised and one of the biggest was Operation Tiger involving roughly 30,000 men (approximately 33 % of the present strength of the British Army) were to be involved.

Exercise Tiger occurred in late April 1944. The first practice landings were made without any complications but in the course of the exercise scheduled for the early hours of 28th April 1944, disaster hit. German E-Boats on patrol from Cherbourg intercepted a convoy of 8 LST (Landing ships). They fired torpedoes at the LSTs and desperate men leaped into the icy waters to get away the sinking ships. Many hadn’t been instructed how to put on their life preservers and perished.

In addition to the E-Boat attacks, more men died on the beaches themselves. The use of live ammunition had been authorised and in addition to the fatalities in the sea, there were further casualties by friendly fire as they strayed into the wrong sections of the beaches.

Overall in excess of 900 men were killed during Exercise Tiger and it was nearly forty years before the facts were made public. Ironically, only nearly 200 men died on Utah Beach during the real landings in Normandy on 6th June 1944. Today, a Sherman Tank is on display at Slapton Sands as a memorial to the men who died throughout Exercise Tiger.

The landings on 6th June 1944 at Normandy were carried out by the greatest invasion fleet the world had seen. Exercise Tiger had been part of the preparations for the invasion.

categories: normandy,military,d day,france,people,society,culture,europe,uk,history,reference,other,war

Battle of Britain – The Few Who Saved Britain

Thursday, December 2nd, 2010

The summer months of 1940 saw World War II reach the English skies as the Royal Air Force heroically fought off the endless attacks of Hitler’s Luftwaffe. After a phase known as the ‘Phoney War’, Hitler had ordered his forces to invade several other European countries and they met minimal resistance in Belgium, Holland or France.

Operation Dynamo had seen approximately 300,000 men of the BEF brought to safety by a flotilla of ships making the journey between England to Dunkirk over a number of days. So now Hitler had his sights on England. The white cliffs of Dover were clearly visible as the German High Command peered past the English Channel from Calais.

Nonetheless, unless the skies of England were under German command, Hitler couldn’t authorise Operation Sealion – the invasion of United Kingdom. With America being reluctant to participate in the war at this stage and her Allies overcome, Britain would need to face the Germans all alone.

Could Britain hold out until the summer was over when the weather would thwart the Germans from crossing the Channel? British hopes was in the hands of the brave pilots of the Royal Air Force, “The Few” as Churchill later referred to them. It wasn’t merely British airmen in the RAF, the Commonwealth was represented with pilots from an array of colonial outposts like as South Africa and Rhodesia as well as Poles and even a couple of Americans.

Hitler sent the Luftwaffe over to hammer UK into submission however crucially, their fighter escorts only had the fuel for only a few minutes combat before they would have to go back leaving the bombers unprotected. For the first time, the Luftwaffe came up against firm resistance and there was to be no repeat of their speedy victories on the Continent. Britain’s airfields in the south east were suffering a beating until one night in August 1940, a German bomber got lost and dumped its bombs over London before heading home. In retaliation, the RAF launched an air raid on Berlin.

Hitler was furious and instructed his aircraft to attack London and not the RAF airfields. This was a decisive turning point as it gave the RAF some much needed relief. The Luftwaffe failed to achieve the upper hand at any point and in mid September, Hitler indefinitely postponed Operation Sealion. The risk of attack was gone and Churchill spoke of the contribution of Fighter Command in a widely known speech “Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few”.

The number one fighter ace was Sgt Frantisek from the Czech Republic with a total of seventeen kills. He piloted a Hawker Hurricane which was the real workhorse of Fighter Command although almost everyone remembers the legendary Spitfire. Sgt Frantisek was killed in action in October 1940.

The Battle of Britain was the first occasion the Germans had sustained a military defeat during World War II.

Defeating Nazi Germany in the Battle of Britain meant that Britain and her Allies could carry on fighting World War II with Nazi Germany.

categories: world war II,britain,battle of britain,aircraft,military,war,reference,society,culture,history,humanities

The Martini Henry Rifle That Rescued The Soldiers At Rorkes Drift

Thursday, December 2nd, 2010

The Battle of Rorkes Drift is without doubt one of the most renowned actions during the history of the British Army. On 22 January 1879, only hours after the Zulu victory at Isandlwana, around 4,000 Zulu warriors attack the mission station at Rorkes Drift located across the Buffalo River in Natal.

With less than 140 men defending Rorkes Drift, you would be forgiven for guessing the soldiers had little prospect of survival, particularly taking into consideration what happened to their colleagues at Isandlwana. Nonetheless, together with in addition to being very courageous soldiers, the defenders of Rorkes Drift had a rifle that would give them an advantage over the Zulus. The weapon in question was the Martini Henry rifle.

This .45 calibre rifle was very effective at inflicting bad wounds and when fired at a range of less than 200 yards, a round could very well easily pass through a body injuring the person behind too. The Martini Henry was a single shot, breech loading rifle and provided the British an important advantage over the Zulus who were just armed with short stabbing spears (iklaws).

Even though the Martini Henry was at fault partly for the defeat at Isandlwana, if looked after, it had been an excellent rifle. To single the rifle out as the cause for the defeat at Isandlwana is harsh as there were a lot of other factors that contributed to the defeat.

At Rorkes Drift, the Martini Henry was vital for the British. As a store, there was clearly sufficient ammunition in addition to extra rifles plus the defensive area was considerably smaller and thus was less of a challenge to defend in comparison to the position at Isandlwana. Brought to the British Army in 1871, the Martini Henry could quite possibly fire up to ten rounds per minute in the hands of the experienced soldier. The rifle offered a highly effective range of around 500m which resulted in providing the British could see the Zulus, they could begin killing them before they were near enough for hand to hand fighting.

Despite the tremendous odds at Rorkes Drift, the British only lost close to 10% of their strength while at the same time, the British buried roughly four hundred Zulus and it was viewed a comparable number would’ve later died of their wounds. The soldiers had beaten back the Zulu attack and were thankful to the Martini Henry rifle.

The most well known battle of the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879 is certainly Rorkes Drift. The British defenders were able to fight off the Zulu warriors using the iconic Henry Martini rifile.

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The Xmas Truce of 1914

Thursday, December 2nd, 2010

On the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, many assumed it would be finished by Xmas. Devoted teenage men were eager to enlist in the army as soon as possible as they presumed they would miss out on the action. Suffice to say, history has confirmed that their positive outlook was misdirected as the war would not end till 1918. The German progress was halted at the First Battle of Marne and the drive for the sea developed as the Allies and Germans both dug in. It was the commencement of the trench warfare of the Western Front.

The outcome was lines of trenches running from the North Sea to Switzerland along a 440 mile front. The battle lines moved very little as a war of attrition broke out. Initial trenches weren’t well constructed and were liable to collapse. Even by trench warfare standards, 1914 was pretty lousy. As winter neared, the infantry on the front line realised that the war would not be all over by Xmas after all.

The Western Front ran through Belgium and France with infantry from France, Belgium and United Kingdom guarding a mixture of sectors. In some places, the German trenches were no greater than 30 yards away. Being in such close proximity allowed the soldiers to call to their opponents or even hold up signs. On the German belt buckles was the inscription “Gott Mitt Uns” (God is with us). The British reply was “We’ve got mittens too”. Some of the shouting matches were a bit more black humour. A volley of shots would draw the response “Missed” or “Right a bit”.

Nonetheless, it was these exchanges that laid the foundations of a few extraordinary moments across the Western Front on 24th December 1914. The Germans celebrate Christmas on the 24th as opposed to UK and France who celebrate on the 25th). The weather had improved and on the 24th, the voices from the German trenches were completely different. They began singing carols and set Christmas Trees on their trenches. Troops began calling to each other and inevitably, some embarked into no mans land where they spoke and swapped cigarettes, food and souvenirs. Stories of the truce may differ greatly as there were actually quite a few truces up and down the lines. They were predominantly in the sectors manned by the British as the Germans were occupying Belgium and French land so the Christmas spirit was less in evidence amongst these troops.

The Xmas Truce of 1914 was not official but as many as 100,000 men were believed to have been involved. As well as fraternisation, the chance was also taken to recover and bury the dead. One of the most famous parts of the truce was the football match between the British and Germans. There are a number of inconsistant accounts concerning the game with a number of finals scores. This would suggest there were various games at different places.

The duration the truce lasted also varied but generally, it was over on Xmas Day. By and large, the war resumed by mutual arrangement. In one case, on the morning of the 26th December 1914, Captain Stockwell of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers fired into the air and stood above the parapet. His opposite number in the German trench also stood up, they saluted and stepped down. Captain Stockwell heard the German fire a couple of shots into the air and World War I resumed. Never the less, the Xmas Truce was very much against the wishes of British commanders and in the following years, artillery barrages were ordered for Xmas Eve.

In 2008, a plaque to the Christmas Ceasefire on the Western Front was unveiled at the village on Frelinghen and was the 1st memorial to the incidents of Christmas 1914. The legacy the truce left behind is substantial with a variety of books being written and it was also the inspiration for a number of songs.

During the First World War, fighting on the Western Front was horrific yet despite this, British and German soldiers still found time to be human for a short time in December 1914.

categories: western front,history,culture,society,people,military,reference,britain,germany,football,soccer,christmas,xmas