History, Politics And Current Affairs

That’s two and a bit out of the six main cooking skills/areas in my very humble view - grilling, stewing or making a sauce, and one aspect of egg cooking, which is one of them. The others are roasting, frying/sauteeing and baking. Barbecue and stir-frying are great arrows to have in one’s quiver, bu...

I taught myself to cook and barbecue, and used to do it a lot when there were more people to cook for than two; largest I've done have been ones of 300-400 people plus whole pigs and multiple briskets for fairly large agricultural shows. All by hand/sans processors and gadgets and all solo, with a t...

The Maxim here is a shorthand trade name for a modern 25.4mm/1” autocannon. It is the next step up from a heavy machine gun for reaching out, touching somebody and making a difference in their life from up to 5000 yards away, or otherwise making permanent career changes at 360rpm.

US Defence Procurement 1975 US Army Procurement 1975 Budget: $24,423,415,736.84 Spending: $24,390,392,350 Small Arms: $565,515,350 462,993 M16 battle rifles x $250 ($115,748,250) 196,924 M17 Colt Commando carbines x $200 ($39,384,800) 102,684 M1911 pistols x $100 ($10,268,400) 144,723 M78 SMGs x $1...

How the US Army Ends Up Operating the Harrier (1975) From a discussion elsewhere: "The Stallion/Jolly Green Giant role came down to the precise definition of what was an Army mission and what was an Air Force one; the important word within that definition was 'combat zone'. The Army was to oper...

US Budget 1975 GDP: $3,282,717,168,931 Defense: $334,837,151,230.96 (10.2%) Medicare and Health: $98,481,515,067.93 (3%) Social Security: 32,827,171,689.31 (1%) Education: $32,827,171,689.31 (1%) Veterans Affairs: $32,827,171,689.31 (1%) Space: $32,827,171,689.31 (1%) Energy: $32,827,171,689.31 (1%...

Looking ahead to 1976: - The NYC Olympics will be rather larger than those of Montreal in scope, scale and significance, with a couple of breakout demonstration sports and plentiful new Olympic heroes - Whilst the British Isles will have a nicely warm summer, it won’t be quite as hot as at points in...

The gun armaments on the British and American carriers reflected their configuration in 1960/61 (someone really needs to do some detailed updated orbats ;) ). The last 5" guns on Midway were removed in 1977 in OTL, although many of the original 18 had been whittled down before then. For the Bri...

More than alright, Bernard. As it happens, I have 'covered' the Seamew, but not in a piece yet published anywhere. The idea of a second-class ASW aircraft for 1950/51 amid the Korean War rearmament and preparation for a much larger war is naturally intriguing, and my next Korean War article (partly ...

Hmmm... A few questions so I can get the carriers fixed in my head properly. The 8 carriers that start with Midway are fairly similar to the Midway class IOTL? The 8 that start with United States are similar to our late 50's Forrestal class? The 16 that start with Enterprise are similar to our CVN ...

Some general reflections on the world situation as of 1975 and beyond looking ahead: - Economic rebound and real growth has continued across the West. The US leads the way in GDP/capita, followed by New Zealand, Britain, Denmark, Australia, New Avalon, Germany, Israel, Switzerland and Sweden - Ameri...

Where Are The Carriers (USN 1975) Fleet Carriers Midway: Seventh Fleet, Asiatic Fleet (Subic Bay) Franklin D. Roosevelt: Pacific Reserve Fleet, Bremerton Coral Sea: First Fleet, Pacific Fleet (Pearl Harbor) Iwo Jima: Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Boston Okinawa: Training Carrier, Pacific Fleet Guadalcana...

December 2 - Motorcycle regiments? There's something going on here that I don't get.... December 4 - I WANT TO KNOW WHAT THE RESULT OF THE DUELS WERE!!! December 7 - Why do I sense a redemption commercial somewhere? Also, every time I'm reminded that Elvis has a jet biplane, it makes my day a littl...

I'll have to add more a little later, but for now, I give you, the United States of America: 1972 USA: 360,254,578 (vs 203,392,031) 643 Electoral College Votes (322 for a Majority) New York: 35,245,149 (56 votes) California: 32,063,598 (50 votes) Texas: 20,764,392 (34 votes) Pennsylvania: 20,556,983...

December 1975 Notes - Morse probably deserved a few medals in his time. The broader note on December 1st is that the age of the serial killer is ending before it really hit its peak historically, with advancements in forensics, investigation, computerisation of records and an equivalent to the impa...

December 1975 December 1: Detective Inspector Endeavour Morse of the Oxford City Police is hailed for exceptional valour in the rescue of a kidnapped girl and the apprehension of a would-be ‘serial killer’, leading to serious discussion of his nomination for what would be an unprecedented second Ge...

Well done and well sung sir.

That is a function of Australian television programming in the 80s and 90s, when I watched it as a child and youth. In the bulk of the next two decades, there were only two channels when I lived in the bush. In the 80s and 90s, and particularly the 80s, we seemed to get more British content than Ame...

In all my years, I’ve never seen an episode of Magnum or any other Tom Selleck television programmes.

The Vatican delivery system is either one of their Phantoms from the Papal Flight or a specially configured tower for launching what is effectively a nuclear AAM.