Bungi Bill

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Posts by Bungi Bill

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  32

  'Tactical Contact' - UK Police

  by LoveUniHateExams in

  1. social
  2. current

  take a look at this, fellow forum members .... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5d7eoodv3e .

  f**king brilliant xd.

  thoughts?.

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  Bungi Bill

  Sad to say, but this is the only language that that element understands!
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  19

  The Worst Year to be Alive? Answer: Most likely to be 536 CE

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was a witness, since the early 1950's, to the relentless claims of the wt society (then synonymous with jws) that this was the worst of times to be alive.

  if i had been more questioning and less accepting, i would never have become a shill for these apologists pf the murderous yhwh and his accomplice jesus,.

  so how interesting to see today an opinion in science journal that:- .

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  Bungi Bill

  Hi again, FTS.

  This evening (Australian Eastern Standard Time), I have had opportunity to look at those links you posted. I do miss having access to History Channel, which I used to watch with great interest during the years I worked as a Fly-In / Fly-Out worker (and where the camp had a Satellite TV system, which included History Channel).

  One thing I notice in these discussions is that a number of the innovations talked about actually predated the American Civil War.

  For example, the Minie bullet was used by the British Army in the Crimean War (1853-1856), and also during the Indian Mutiny (1857). During those wars, the British standard infantry weapon was the model 1851 rifled musket ( 24 guage, or .577 inch calibre), which fired the Minie bullet and which was already well blooded by the time the Civil War broke out. The Prussian Army went one better than that, introducing the Dreyse needle rifle in 1841. This was a bolt action, breech loading rifle that got its name from the firing pin, which resembled a needle. The Dreyse rifle played a decisive role in the Prussian victories over Denmark in 1864, and Austria in 1866. As to the use of observation balloons, the French easily beat everybody else with those. They used hydrogen-filled observation balloons as early as 1794, when these played a role in the defeat of the Dutch - Austrian armies at Mauberge.

  Photography, also, was used to effect in the Crimean War, when correspondents of The Times brought home to the British public both the horrors of war and the incompetence of its army commanders. That war, too, saw extensive use of military railways, which saved the British army from starvation. (These were built by civilian contractors, which is the main reason the railway system was successful!).

  Another feature of the Crimean War was the extensive use of earthworks, which again predated the Civil War by almost ten years.

  Of the other Civil War innovations, these were either not used extensively (e.g. repeating rifles), and/or were of very limited success. An example of the latter is the so-called "torpedo" that the first submarine used. This was what today would be called a "Pole Charge" - a quantity of explosive on the end of a piece of timber, whose length is presumably long enough that the person detonating the device is not endangered. Except in the case of the Confederate submarine that sank a Federal warship with one of these devices, that length was not long enough - and it, too went down with its target!

  Similarly, too, with the iron-hulled warship. It was many decades after the Civil War before these became commonplace. (Most British warships of the 1880s were still wooden-hulled, with both sails and steam propulsion).

  While you share the point of view of some historians who consider the American Civil War to be the first Modern War, I have my doubts!
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  19

  The Worst Year to be Alive? Answer: Most likely to be 536 CE

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was a witness, since the early 1950's, to the relentless claims of the wt society (then synonymous with jws) that this was the worst of times to be alive.

  if i had been more questioning and less accepting, i would never have become a shill for these apologists pf the murderous yhwh and his accomplice jesus,.

  so how interesting to see today an opinion in science journal that:- .

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  2. 
  3. 
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  Bungi Bill

  Hi FTS.

  When it comes to technology, Western Civilisation's supremacy has only come about in recent times. For sure!

  I didn't think, though, that I was changing the conversation in any way when I mentioned war between industrialised countries. My understanding has always been that the definition of "Industrialised Warfare" is "an all out armed conflict between two or more countries whose economies are industrialised ":

  - with an "Industrialised Economy" being one that is based largely on manufacturing, rather than on agriculture.

  what does industrialisation really mean?

  Usually understood to mean "the process by which an economy progresses from one based on agriculture to one based on manufacturing."

  However, I am happy to be corrected!

  what is progress?

  Bloody good point!
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  19

  The Worst Year to be Alive? Answer: Most likely to be 536 CE

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was a witness, since the early 1950's, to the relentless claims of the wt society (then synonymous with jws) that this was the worst of times to be alive.

  if i had been more questioning and less accepting, i would never have become a shill for these apologists pf the murderous yhwh and his accomplice jesus,.

  so how interesting to see today an opinion in science journal that:- .

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
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  Bungi Bill

  Hi FTS,

  I could readily understand the American Civil War being a turning-point in warfare.

  However, World War One was he first time in which modern industrialised countries went to war with one another.

  Although the North had some industry, the USA of 1861 was still largely an agricultural country. (That all changed rapidly during the following decades, of course. For example, by 1890, the USA was producing more steel than anybody else).

  Likewise during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. While Prussian technology largely won the day at the decisive Battle of Sedan, Germany's industrialisation took place after its unification. (e.g. regarding Bismarck's famous "Blut und Eisen" speech, many commentators have remarked that it should have been more accurately rendered "Coal and Iron"!).

  Even during the South African War of 1899-1902, the two Boer republics were agricultural countries, even bordering on frontier societies (albeit financed by the gold mines of the Witwatersrand).

  By 1914, though, at least three of the belligerents - Britain, France and Germany - were industrial countries. To that extent, WWI was the first time industrialised countries fought each other in all out warfare (rather than by selling their weapons to another party to fight on their behalf!)
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  19

  The Worst Year to be Alive? Answer: Most likely to be 536 CE

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was a witness, since the early 1950's, to the relentless claims of the wt society (then synonymous with jws) that this was the worst of times to be alive.

  if i had been more questioning and less accepting, i would never have become a shill for these apologists pf the murderous yhwh and his accomplice jesus,.

  so how interesting to see today an opinion in science journal that:- .

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
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  Bungi Bill

  FTS

  We could get into considerable debate on this one, in which firearms buffs (such as myself) would be in their element!

  Between the American Civil War and the outbreak of WWI, weapons technology took a quantum leap. During the Civil War, the standard weapon on both sides was still the muzzle-loading percussion rifle (although the Confederacy entered the conflict armed with the even older flintlock muskets). Machine guns were not used in the Civil War. Gatling developed his hand-cranked gun during that war, but it never saw service until afterwards. Even then, the world's first truly automatic machine gun was still 20 years away (Hiram Maxim's invention). The problem with the Gatling, Gardner, Nordenfelt, Mitrailluese and other hand cranked weapons was that in the heat of battle, the operator often panicked and started cranking the weapon too quickly. This resulted in its jamming. Another issue was the propellant used in the cartridges - still the charcoal / sulphur / saltpetre blend of gunpowder. That added to the jamming issues, and obscured the battle field in a great fog of gunsmoke. This same problem delayed the world's armies from adopting magazine fed rifles until the 1890s, when smokeless powders were developed.

  Artillery, also, took quantum leaps during the latter part of the 19th Century, thanks to the arms race initiated by the German manufacturer, Krupp.

  Likewise for naval development. Naval warfare was revolutionised in 1906 by the launching of HMS Dreadnought, which rendered all other battle ships obsolete. That set going a massive arms race - principally between Germany and Britain - which was in full swing by 1914.

  Add to the list aircraft (invented 1903), poison gas, submarines, torpedoes and mines (both of which changed the balance of naval warfare), depth charges, sonar, sound-ranging equipment, tanks, armoured cars etc, and you come up with a lot of things never used previously in an all out conflict between major powers. It is true that a number of these weapons (but by no means all) had been experimented with previously in small scale Colonial wars. However, in those days before Satellite TV and the like, it would have been a case of "out of site, out of mind". World War One brought home the horrors of a modern, industrialised war to the heartland of Europe.
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  19

  The Worst Year to be Alive? Answer: Most likely to be 536 CE

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was a witness, since the early 1950's, to the relentless claims of the wt society (then synonymous with jws) that this was the worst of times to be alive.

  if i had been more questioning and less accepting, i would never have become a shill for these apologists pf the murderous yhwh and his accomplice jesus,.

  so how interesting to see today an opinion in science journal that:- .

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
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  Bungi Bill

  One thing W. Schnell probably got right in his infamous 30 Years a Watchtower Slave was the opinion that Rutherford & Co took advantage of the upheaval in Europe that followed WWI.

  That allowed them to get away with making a big issue of 1914. Persons who had just lived through the first industrialised war in history, and seen the collapse of no fewer than four great empires, were easy enough to convince that the year 1914 was indeed something special.
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  19

  The Worst Year to be Alive? Answer: Most likely to be 536 CE

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was a witness, since the early 1950's, to the relentless claims of the wt society (then synonymous with jws) that this was the worst of times to be alive.

  if i had been more questioning and less accepting, i would never have become a shill for these apologists pf the murderous yhwh and his accomplice jesus,.

  so how interesting to see today an opinion in science journal that:- .

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
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  Bungi Bill

  Very interesting - thanks for posting.
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  26

  Brexit Rollercoaster Grinding to a Halt

  by The Fall Guy in

  1. social
  2. current

  uk prime minister could be out of her job within hours.

  .

  regardless, another referendum on stay/leave looks very likely - now that people can see what the real consequences of a divorce from the eu would be..

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  Bungi Bill

  Coming from a country that was adversely affected by Britain's entry into the European Community, I find this whole matter more than a little ironic. I well recall Britain's decade-long battle to gain entry - contrasted now with the stampede to separate itself from Europe.

  Yeh, orright, I know it used to be called the EEC, whereas it is now the EU. But still, I cannot but comment on the bloody irony of it all!
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  102

  The Biggest Issue Is Not Guns—It Is Mental Health!

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  crazy people shoot up places and kill people.

  take away guns and they will find knives, poison, bombs , etc.. seriously, there are a lot of mentally unhealthy people!

  they need professional long term help..

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  Bungi Bill

  I read somewhere that people who suffer from mental health problems are statistically more likely to be the victims of violent crime than the perpetrators.

  When it comes to mass shootings, I am not so sure. In nearly all the ones I am familiar with (which are all too many, sad to say!), the perpetrator did have serious mental health issues. Allow somebody with mental health problems easy access to firearms and you are asking for trouble.
  
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  68

  The paranormal.

  by Lost in the fog in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i know that a lot of the people on here have turned their backs on the idea of a deity deciding that god does not exist.

  but what about the unseen spirit world generally such as poltergeists, jinns, voodoo, etc.

  if you have become agnostic, atheist, or just don't care since leaving, do you think that there are spirits out there or have you decided that is also hokum?

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  Bungi Bill

  If you include in the "paranormal" such things as Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs), Ball Lightning and the Min-Min lights of Outback Australia, then perhaps the paranormal is not necessarily "magic".

  Similarly, the fact that such phenomena defy the currently understood laws of physics does not necessarily prove that these are bull$h#t, either.

  Several years ago, while attending a seminar on lightning protection, I had opportunity to ask a university lecturer what exactly ball lightning was. His answer, an "unexplained phenomenon that has been puzzling researchers for centuries." Furthermore, until about 100 years ago, all reportings of ball lightning were treated as mere bull$h#t. Then, however, somebody managed to capture ball lightning on a movie camera. After that, researchers had to treat this phenomenon seriously. Some characteristics of ball lightning are uncanny. For example, its ability to come through a closed door without causing any damage has been observed repeatedly (although the one and only example of ball lightning that I observed caused widespread destruction in an adjacent electricity substation, after missing our house by less than 100 metres).

  While many UFO sightings have been either inconclusive or disproven , you do have instances such as the Kaikoura sightings in New Zealand during the time period December 1978 - February 1979. Night after night, the Air New Zealand Wellington - Christchurch cargo flight observed these unidentified objects. Then a TV crew from Australia's Channel 10 accompanied one Wellington to Christchurch flight. Not only did both the TV crew (including veteran TV reporter Quentin Fogarty) and the aircraft's flight crew see this UFO following their aircraft, but it was also recorded on 16 mm movie film . Further, while that was going on, this object (described by Quentin Fogarty as "looking like a flying saucer") was being simultaneously sighted on no less than three different sets of radar: that on board the Argosy aircraft itself, plus the Air Traffic Control radar at both Wellington and Christchurch airports.

  In cases like this, those who would have you believe that two different groups of eye witnesses were hallucinating at the same time while the movie camera was having a hissy fit, and three different sets of radar just happened to be choosing this same moment to throw a wobbly are themselves stretching credibility to the limit!

  It would be rash to categorize all unexplainable phenomena as "magic." It would be just as wrong to write it all off as "bull$h#t, too.