Tim and Wendy's Adventures (and Non).

Sunday, November 12, 2023

There Was This Guy Walked Into A Bar

Saturday, November 11, 2023

Lest We Forget.

My dad is on the farthest right of this photo taken in NYC at Leon's and Eddie's Bar. Thanks to my sister Pat for sending it to me.

I think I would have had a heart attack before I got to the second sentence. Tim

"The most dangerous job in WWII:

This is an area of much myth making but there has been some official research into this.

The RAF conducted a study into life expectancy during the war so that they could set the tour of duty to even out the chances of survival. They found that Coastal Command had the lowest, followed by Fighter Command, then Bomber Command. However within these there was wide variation. medium bombers operating by day, even with fighter cover were far more dangerous than night bombers. The most dangerous job in the RAF though was found to be in Coastal Command in the Torpedo Bomber squadrons operating off Norway and in the Mediterranean. For about a year not a single crew survived a tour of duty from the Beaufort squadrons as a combination of operating at long range over sea, in daylight at low level and against very heavily defended targets saw very heavy loss rates. Interestingly the Fleet Air Arm operating out of Malta at the same period, suffered light losses as their radar equipped Albacores attacking at night often sank the ships before the defenders knew they were under attack."

https://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=181160

"The pilot aimed and dropped the bombs or torpedoes. The torpedoes had to be dropped at low speed, about 160 mph, at a height of about seventy feet, and at a range of about 750 yards from the target, to achieve the likelihood of a hit against any target moving at speed. The course at the Torpedo Training Unit in Scotland taught pilots to drop torpedoes at small and slow (often stationary) targets, from a range of 1,500 yards; a situation not rectified until the Spring of 1942. To obtain a hit, the pilot had to fly in the face of heavy light flak from the ship, or escorts, with a high degree of determination, discipline, courage, and hope. In the light of these facts, it is not surprising that a study undertaken in November 1942 revealed that flying a torpedo-bomber was the most dangerous role in the R.A.F. at that period. A tour was intended to last for three hundred hours operational flying, but only 17.5% of pilots survived one tour."

https://www.britishmilitaryhistory.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/124/2023/02/Beaufort-L9809-GALE-V3_3.pdf

Below is an email I sent to my sister Pat:

That's amazing. ... once a month I go to the old Carousel Motel, now Best Western, for a get-together of the CFPL Old Timers where I worked over 50 years ago. Strangely, and I don't know how the subject came up, but I was describing how my dad flew Bristol Beau fighters during the war and how he used to, in the middle of the night, gloss over the sea with the waves hitting the bottom of the plane and how he was a member of the Goldfish club when he was shot down in the Med. Dad told me about how some of the airmen would fly out and drop their torpedo's anywhere, just to return to the base. Then the Brits decided to end that practice by putting a camera in the plane that was triggered upon the release of the bomb. Big trouble for the crew if there was no ship in the picture!

Of Moose And Men

Friday, November 10, 2023

Fake News Or Real?

Thursday, November 9, 2023

Okay One More "Then and Now"

Orange - The Fruit, The Town And The Colour

I asked the ChatGPT Robot a couple questions about Oranges:

Why is there a town named Orangeville in Ontario? Oranges never have grown there.

ChatGPT

The origin of the name "Orangeville" in Ontario, Canada, does not have anything to do with the fruit orange. The town was actually named after William III of Orange, who was King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 1689 until his death in 1702. William III was a Protestant king, and the town was named in honor of the Dutch House of Orange, which played a significant role in the Glorious Revolution of 1688.

The Glorious Revolution was a pivotal event in English history when King James II of England was overthrown, and William III and his wife Mary II ascended to the throne, leading to the establishment of constitutional monarchy in England.

Therefore, Orangeville was named after a historical and political event, not the fruit orange. The name serves as a commemoration of the historical significance of William III and the House of Orange.

Why did they name the citrus fruit "Orange"?

ChatGPT

The name "orange" for the citrus fruit has an interesting linguistic history. The word "orange" itself has roots in several languages. In Old French, the fruit was called "pomme d'orenge," which means "apple of orange." The Old French word "orenge" came from Old Provençal "auranja," which came from Arabic "nāranj," and ultimately from Sanskrit "nāraṅga."

The sweet orange, Citrus × sinensis, is believed to have originated in Southeast Asia, and its cultivation spread to various parts of the world over centuries. As the fruit spread to different regions, its name underwent changes in different languages and cultures.

The color orange is also named after the fruit. Before the introduction of the orange to Europe, the color was referred to as "geoluhread" in Old English, which means "yellow-red." When the fruit became widely known, the color orange adopted its name from the fruit itself, replacing the earlier term.

So, the citrus fruit was named "orange" based on a combination of its historical linguistic evolution through various languages and cultures, ultimately deriving from Sanskrit and Arabic roots.