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History can be just amazing. It really can. I have always been interested in history, but that almost ended when I was introduced to history in school instead of stories of the events that took place, I was forced to memorizes dates, names and places. All of which was very, very boring and held no interest to me what so ever. Lucky for me, my father collected some paperback books on history and I would read them at home for fun and enjoyment.
Here is a great little story that took place during “The Great War”, also known as World War I. It involves a German airship and a beautiful Norwegian schooner. Now schooners are beautiful craft. And this one was a nice Gaff-Rigged beauty.
The schooner is a classic sailboat, by definition having at least two masts with the main master being longer than the foremast. Or in other words, the rear mast is taller than all the other masts.
A gaff rig employs a spar on the top of the sail and typically other sails can be set in conjunction with that mainsail with the gaff. Often, on the smaller, non tall ship, gaff rigs, there will be a small triangular sail that fits between the main and the mast like a puzzle piece – this is the topsail.
Now, many of the readership could probably care less about these terms. They want to know the latest news about APPs on their iPhone, not some kind of archaic explanation about how the sails are mounted on wooden boats. But, seriously people, these gaff-rigged schooners were beautiful.
A beautiful gaff-rigged schooner showing all her top-sails riding up high. You can see this wonderful ship can really pick up her skirts and trot.
Anyways…
Back during World War I, German has a fleet of lighter than air military craft called zeppelins. And they were used to conduct military operations at that time alongside the biplanes and tri-planes of that period.
Zeppelins were also very interesting.
A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century.
Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874 and developed in detail in 1893. They were patented in Germany in 1895 and in the United States in 1899. After the outstanding success of the Zeppelin design, the word zeppelin came to be commonly used to refer to all rigid airships.
Zeppelins were first flown commercially in 1910 by Deutsche Luftschiffahrts-AG, the world's first airline in revenue service. By mid-1914, DELAG had carried over 10,000 fare-paying passengers on over 1,500 flights. During World War I, the German military made extensive use of Zeppelins as bombers and as scouts, killing over 500 people in bombing raids in Britain.
-Wikipedia
Anyways, I came across this pretty interesting bit of history in an old (now long gone) internet web page. Then rediscovered this event in an article on futility closet. I found it fascinating. I think that maybe you would as well.
The following is a reprint from futilitycloset titled “Sky Pirates”. It has been edited to fit this venue, and all credit to the authors.
Sky Pirates
The only instance during World War I of an airship capturing a
merchant vessel occurred on April 23, 1917, when the German zeppelin L 23 descended on the civilian Norwegian schooner Royal off the Danish coast. At the airship’s approach the crew abandoned the Royal in boats, and the zeppelin made a water landing to capture them.
The ship turned out to be carrying pit-props, a contraband lading,
and Kapitänleutnant Ludwig Bockholt saw her conducted into the Elbe
escorted by two German destroyers. “The capture of the Royal —
actually a schooner of only 688 tons — hardly affected the trade war
against England,” writes historian Douglas H. Robinson, “but Bockholt’s
flamboyant gesture appealed particularly to the men, and tales of the
exploit were told from Tondern to Hage.”
(Douglas H. Robinson, The Zeppelin in Combat, 1962.)
Conclusion
Can you imagine what it must have been like? The skipper and crew are sailing “close hauled” and then the sky darkens and a huge zeppelin descends. There above you are a crew of angry Germans brandishing rifles and lowering ropes from above to land upon your decks. I cannot help but to think that the uniqueness of the moment had a greater impact than any rifle might have held otherwise.
It might make for a nice little scale model diorama, or a scene in some kind of adventure movie. As I keep trying to tell everyone, history need not be dull, stale, and boring. History is alive with stores of experiences and trials.
Do you want more?
I have more posts along these lines in my Happiness Index here…
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
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Most Americans exist within a kind of bubble of isolation. It’s a secure and solid environment that only allows a specific type of information transfer to the citizens. As such Americans are constantly fed a rich and steady diet of propaganda. With is designed to [1] make them feels special and unique, while at the same time, [2] designed to make them fearful of the rest of the world. This propaganda machine is enormous and has completely absorbed just about every news outlet in America from the mainstream to all the outlying fringe sources.
There are so many aspects to this intense degree of control that it would take a couple of lifetimes of writing to even begin to touch the subject matter at hand. Instead, I’m just gonna take bites and chunks out of it as I deem fit. And in this post we are going to blow-up the notion that “America is exceptional because it has a Bill of Rights that includes the Right to bear arms“.
This is yet another fallacy that needs to be revisited. Being exceptional” has nothing to do with what ever “Rights” a government allows you to possess. And the idea that “The Bill of Rights” still exists is laughable. It doesn’t. But most importantly is the idea that ONLY in America can you own and possess guns and firearms. It’s a lie. You can live in numerous other nations and own firearms as well.
It’s just that they aren’t so worried about their government infringing on their ability to own guns. They don’t.
So we never hear about them. There are no news articles about them, and there isn’t billions of federal funds for “studies”, and “Blue Ribbon Panels” looking into the “Gun Control Issue”.
Let’s look at a nation that has more freedoms than what’s present in America. Let’s look at Thailand. The “Land of Smiles”. And let’s look at the ability for local citizens to buy, sell, possess and use guns; firearms, and weapons. Let’s look at what real freedom is like. Shall we?
No Gun Control
One of the things about stable nations is that they tend to let their people own firearms. Those nations that disarm their populace tend to do so for tyrannical reasons (yes, and this includes Australia and the UK). Did I upset you, the reader’s sensibilities, well then… good!
Thailand trusts it’s people. They are permitted to possess firearms.
Consider that in your calculus.
A country that loves pick-up trucks, 7-Eleven convenience stores, and has a special relationship with guns. No, not America. I’m talking about Thailand, a country better known for its beaches, warm weather, and friendly people. Turns out, it also has a thriving gun culture. Shooting is popular and primarily targeted at self-defense training. Guns are easily available, shooting ranges are commonplace, and gun regulations are lax.
Gun Ownership in Thailand
With a population of 67 million people and an estimated 10 million firearms, Thailand doesn’t come close to the number of guns owned in the United States, which has more guns than people.
Still, gun ownership is popular in Thailand.
Gun ownership is legal in Thailand, but the guns themselves are more expensive than in the United States.
In fact, of those 10 million firearms in Thailand only roughly 6 million guns are officially registered, meaning likely over 4 million guns are in illegal possession. Illegal firearms ownership is said to be particularly high in the southern border regions between Thailand and Malaysia, which has seen ongoing separatist insurgency and rebellion over the past ten years.
Gun Licensing & Regulations
In Thailand, the right to private gun ownership is not guaranteed by law. Neither is the right to hunt.
Thai citizens, as well as foreigners with a residency permit, can apply for a firearms license, which is granted if a person’s personal conduct, criminal record, living conditions and income don’t raise red flags during a background check by local authorities. A legitimate reason for a license being granted can be self-defense, property protection, hunting, or sport shooting.
Firearms safety classes are not required, and the license costs only 500-1000 Baht (15-30 USD) depending on the province in which the license is issued.
One license is required per firearm, and unlike US states with instant background checks, that license generally takes two weeks to issue and requires registration of the gun after the purchase no matter if it is a private sale or a gun shop sale.
Citizens are not allowed to carry guns in public unless they hold a carry license, which contrary to everybody’s claims doesn’t seem too difficult to attain, at least judging from newspaper headlines such as “man accidentally shot ex-wife with Uzi in restaurant”. State agencies keep a record of every firearms license and carry license issued as well as a record of every gun and whom it is registered to.
Guns on the Thai Market
Thailand doesn’t have its own small arms industry so gun shops sell mostly American imports. European models are less common because most European countries do not issue export licenses to Thailand due to the on-going separatist insurgency in the southern provinces.
Glock and Sig Sauer pistols available in Thailand have US markings rather than being Austrian or German made.
Used 1911 pistols for sale seem to be military excess.
Prices are typically 2-3 times the US retail price. This premium price is a result of the cost for the export permit in the country of origin, secure international shipping, and import fees into Thailand as well as high margins at the gun stores.
Civilian possession of automatic or semi-automatic rifles is illegal, but gun stores stock them since police and military frequent these stores.
Semi-automatic .22LR carbine are excluded from the ban because there is a loophole that allows semi-automatic small caliber rifles. Interestingly the possession of an air gun requires a firearms permit while airsoft BB guns can be bought anywhere.
The Black Market
There is a black market of military-issue guns that have somehow found their way into civilian hands. Some believe that the Thai government provided guns to the southern provinces to arm the counter-insurgents and “defense volunteers” fighting the separatists. Other illegal guns cross the border into Thailand from surrounding countries.
Thai Police Service Pistols
Police officers are not issued service pistols and have to buy a gun to use on-duty out of pocket. I have seen officers carry a mishmash of Glock 19, Sig Sauer P226, Colt 1911M1 as well as really old revolvers and .22LR pistols (yes, seriously) as their sidearm. I have also seen one police officer with an empty holster (Don’t bring an empty holster to a gun fight!).
If an officer can’t afford a gun when they are fresh on the force, they can apply for a loan from the police union and pay it back in monthly installments. Sig Sauer seems to try to penetrate the Thai law enforcement market in a similar way Glock did in the 90’s and continues to do in the US by offering the P320 at very low cost to police officers directly, bypassing the middlemen. These guns are being sold in Thailand close to US retail price.
Shooting Ranges in Thailand
Shooting ranges can be found all over the country not far from temples and bars, palm trees and beaches. Due to the warm climate, these are all outdoor ranges where paper targets, steel plates and IPSC courses are shot. Human silhouette shooting is permitted, as self-defense is a legitimate reason to own and shoot a gun in Thailand.
At the beaches of Ao Nang and in the mountains of Chiang Mai you can find typical shooting ranges.
There, 30 bullets cost 1700 Baht (45 USD) including the rental gun. Typical guns to select from include the Glock 34, Sig Sauer 226 Elite, 1911, Glock 34 IPSC open tuning, CZ 75 and Makarov or.22lr pistols and revolvers.
Shooting ranges are heavily frequented by tourists, posing with pistols held sideways, with shotguns and an ammunition belt wrapped around their neck, or hamming it up with a big revolver.
Guns are legal in Thailand, but if you plan to bring any inside the country, you must register them properly or expect to suffer legal consequences.
The Thai IPSC shooters were quietly practicing on a stage set up on the other end of the range, protected by thick concrete walls from stray bullets fired by tourists holding a .357 super-magnum, blowing the smoke from the burning oil off the tip of the barrel, pointed to the sky like Dirty Harry, while his friend was taking a picture of this experience of a lifetime on his phone.
Why bring this up…
When someone is trying to disarm you, you have a duty to question their motives.
Most Americans haven’t a clue as to how the rest of the world operates, and they in their ignorance, think that America is “best”. Well, sorry, it is not. Don’t go a knocking the way Thai’s or the Chinese live their lives.
Just remember, when an enormous government wants to disarm you, and your family “for your safety”, you have a duty to question their motives.
Ultimately, I can’t show cause and effect for events that occurred years ago. But here is some history that you can research for yourself. This is what CAN happen when the people are disarmed, regardless of how much time passes before it actually occurs. Ask yourself this: can events like this even happen if the people are armed?
1911, Turkey
Established gun control. From 1915 to 1917, 1.5 million Armenians, were rounded up and exterminated. Search Armenian Genocide.
1929, Soviet Union
Established gun control. In 1937, about 2million dissidents, including 30000 military officers, were rounded up and imprisoned or executed. Search The Great Purges
1935, China
Established gun control in 1935. From 1948 to 1952, 20 million political dissidents were rounded up and exterminated.
1938, Germany
Established gun control. From 1939 to 1945, leaving a populace unable to defend itself against the Gestapo and SS. Hundreds of thousands died as a result.
“The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to allow the subject races to possess arms. History shows that all conquerors who have allowed their subject races to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by so doing. Indeed, I would go so far as to say that the supply of arms to the underdogs is a sine qua non for the overthrow of any sovereignty. So let’s not have any native militia or native police. German troops alone will bear the sole responsibility for the maintenance of law and order throughout the occupied Russian territories, and a system of military strong-points must be evolved to cover the entire occupied country.”
- Adolf Hitler, dinner talk on April 11, 1942, quoted in Hitler’s Table Talk 1941-44: His Private Conversations, Second Edition, Pg. 425-426.
1956, Cambodia
Established gun control in 1956. From 1975 to 1977, 1-2 million ‘educated’ people, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated. SPECIAL NOTE: The law was passed in 1956, but was not used for 20 years. But it WAS used.
1964, Guatemala
Established gun control. From 1964 to 1981, 100,000 Mayan Indians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
1970, Uganda
Established gun control in 1970. From 1971 to 1979, 300,000 Christians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated. The total dead are said to be 2-3 million.
You’ll not
find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you.
When American people talk about China it’s all so very silly. They repeat whatever narrative that the American media has fed to them. Anything outside of that narrative is just discarded and ignored. Conservatives will repeat how evil China is, and Progressives will repeat how repressive it is. And both narratives are lies. For China is many things, but the American two-dimensional narrative, nope! It’s not even close.
One of the more amusing narratives is the changing views on China. If you actually pay attention you can follow the evolution of the narratives and observe just how the American population has been manipulated.
1970s – Eat your vegetables, think of all the starving people in China!
1980s – China is yearning for democracy! But the government imprisons everyone.
1990s – China is just a manufacturer of cheap junk and low priced gadgets.
2000s – China only copies things, they just are unable to innovate.
2010s – China uses slave labor, child labor, and pollutes terribly.
2020s – China is dangerous! We must destroy China; our ENEMY!
Prior to Donald Trump becoming President, China held the status of “Most Favored Trading Partner”. Now four years into the Donald Trump Presidency, they are considered the Number one Enemy of “Freedom, Liberty, Justice and the American Way!”
Depending on what narrative (see above) the ignorant use to describe China, we can determine just how uneducated they are in global technology, trade, and world politics.
It’s actually funny, if it wasn’t so Gosh Darn Sad.
For
many years the United States has regarded itself as, and been, the
world’s technological leader. One can easily make a long and impressive
list of seminal discoveries and inventions coming from America, from the
moon landings to the internet. It was an astonishing performance. The
US maintains a lead, though usually a shrinking one, in many fields.
But:
China has risen explosively, from being clearly a “Third World” country forty years ago to become a very serious and rapidly advancing competitor to America.
Anyone who has seen today’s China (I recently spent two weeks there, traveling muchly) will have been astonished by the ubiquitous construction, the quality of planning, the roads and airports and high-speed rail, the sense of confidence and modernity.
Guangzhou, China. September 2020.
Compare this with America’s rotting and dangerous cities, swarms of homeless people, deteriorating education, antique rail, deindustrialized midlands, loony government, and the military sucking blood from the economy like some vast leech, and America will seem yesterday’s country.
The phrase “national suicide” comes to mind.
Los Angeles, USA. September 2020.
A common response to these observations from thunder-thump patriots is the assertion that the Chinese can’t invent anything, just copy and steal.
What one actually sees is a combination of rapid and successful adoption of foreign technology (see Shanghai maglev below) and, increasingly, cutting edge science and technology. More attention might be in order. A few examples: A few examples from many that might be adduced:
Supposedly the intent was to make the twins resistant to AIDS. It was done using CRISPR-Cas 9, a gene-editing technique invented in the West by Jennifer Dooudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier but quickly mastered by China.
It seemed odd that AIDS resistance would be the goal since the disease is easily avoided. Maybe, I thought, for some technical reason the insertion was particularly easy. But then:
“By accident” indeed. Since the researchers admitted being aware of the neurologic effects of CCR5, the gene in question, the experiment sure looked like a shot at increasing intelligence.
Whether
the insertion in fact had the effect described, I do not know, and the
story maybe or may not be sensationalized. Of interest are, first, that
it was an attempt to engineer intelligence, second, that it involved
inserting a human gene in a (presumably) lower primate, and third, that
the Chinese did it.
“China, Huawei to Launch 5G network in Shanghai Station”
Though
5G is usually presented as an improvement to smartphones, it is far
more, and the Chinese seem poised to jump on it hard. See below.
September 2020. 5G is "old technology" now. Work is in progress for 6G.
“World’s First 5G powered Remote Brain Surgery Performed in China”
It
is interesting that China and South Korea are clear leaders in 5G. The
US, unable to compete seeks to prohibit its European vassals from
dealing with Huawei by threatening sanctions. Germany has refused to
obey. .
Whether Forbes’ overstates the facts can perhaps be argued. That China has come from nowhere to be ahead in a crucial technology ought to be a wake-up call.
That America has to rely on sanctions instead of better technology accentuates the point.
A couple of decades ago, Chinese students in the US often refused to return to a backward and repressive country. It now appears that Asia is where the action is and they want to be part of it.
These things are everywhere. Click the link.Inmost countries roads and rails follow the contour of the land. China likes pillars.
Chinese Mega-Bridges are everywhere.
Digging
subways is expensive and disruptive, cutting highways through cities is
destructive of homes and business, so China goes with sky-trains.
Building these takes about half the land as roadways. The bridges are
built offsite and then erected with a special crane.
“China Develops Infrared Light to Alter Genes of Cancer Cells””
A
team led by Professor Song Yujun from the Nanjing University’s College
of Engineering and Applied Sciences designed an infrared
light-responsive nano-carrier to be used for the CRISPR-Cas9
gene-editing tool, which will have great potential in cancer
therapeutics. The strong penetrability of infrared light enables
scientists to precisely control the gene editing tool in deep human
tissue”
I am
clueless as to the function of IR in this but, as with so very many
stories coming out of China, it does not suggest copycatting.
increasingly, the Chinese seem to following from in front.
“China Breaks Quantum Entanglement Record at Eighteen Qbits”
In a
new record, Pan Jianwei and colleagues at the University of Science and
Technology of China, eastern China’s Anhui Province, demonstrated a
stable 18-qubit state. The previous record of 10 qubits was set by the
same team. The breakthrough was made possible by simultaneously
manipulating the freedom-paths, polarization, and orbital angular
momentum of six photons.
“The speed of quantum computing grows exponentially as the number of qubits in an entangled state increases … the achievement of an 18-qubit entanglement this time has set the world record for largest entanglement state in all physical systems,”
-Wan
(Noah’s ark measured 300 Qbits, but the (barely) antediluvian technology has bee lost.)
Open Date: Dec. 31st, 2002 Total Length: 30 kilometers (19 miles) Highest Speed: 430km/h (267 mi/h) Duration per Single Journey: 8 minutes Frequency: 15-20 minutes Route: Longyang Rd. – Pudong International Airport (PVG
Trains relying on magnetic levitation float on a field of magnetic repulsion, having no contact with rails. This reduces friction and ends wear on wheels and rails. China did not invent the technology but uses it well. Before this train, the trip from downtown to the airport took forty minutes to an hours.
Now, eight minutes.
The technology is German, the idea a century old, but the Chinese decided that they wanted it, and got it. The ability to make a decision and act on it without years of political wrangling and lawsuits gives China a major advantage over other countries.
The
video is long, at 43 minutes, a bit ray-rah, and wanders briefly off
into the history of elevated rail in Chicago but gives a good picture of
the train, the technology at a non-specialist level, and the China in
which it runs.
Rand: Chilling World War III Wargames show US Forces Crushed by Russia and China
“RAND Senior Defense Analyst David Ochmanek discussed the simulations at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) in Washington D.C. last week. “In our games, where we fight China or Russia … blue gets its a** handed to it, not to put too fine a point on it,” he said, during a panel discussion. Blue denotes U.S. forces in the simulations.”
The reasons for this are several and belong in another column. The military’s utterly predictable response is “Send more money” instead of “Maybe we should mind our own business and spend on our economy.”
The point here is that the world is changing in may ways and Washington seems not to have noticed.
Conclusion
The list could be extended at length, to cover numbers of patents awarded, scientific papers published, quantum communications, investment in education and technological research and development, supercomputers and chip design and many other things.
Beijing is clearly bent on Making China Great Again–as why should it not?
Meanwhile America focuses more on transgender bathrooms and whether Bruce Jenner is a girl than on its endless and draining wars.
China sends its brightest to the world’s best technical school while America makes its universities into playpens for the mildly retarded. The country crumbles but spends drunkenly of defective fighter planes it doesn’t need in the first place.
This won’t work a whole lot longer.
Do you want more?
I have more articles on China inside of my China Index here…
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you very much.
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