Large Fierce Mammal

The Relic ZR77224 automatic watch. Click the picture for a larger view.

Everyone has struggled with finding the “right” gift for someone, and my purpose here today isn’t to help you with that. Instead, it’s to define what the “right” gift actually means.

On my last birthday, Mrs. LFM gifted me with a Relic ZR77224 automatic wind watch that appeals to my sensibilities on a number of levels. Let’s examine.

Superficially, the way its works are exposed to view behind glass ports so that its components visibly flail and pulsate like living things is appreciated by the rather large part of my brain that I dedicate to the thrills of meticulous craftsmanship. On top of that, the Steampunk part of my brain loves this too.

Most importantly though, because it rewinds with every slight movement I make, its vitality and very reason to exist is continually energized by the singular fact that it is on my arm. In this way, it’s a metaphor for the way I feel about she who gave it to me.

One of the many problems afflicting the world is the blind acceptance of the legitimacy of what have come to be called “non-governmental organizations” or “NGO’s”. Where once were organizations we all recognized and understood – the Red Cross/Crescent, the Salvation Army, to name but a few – we now have a plethora of organizations, some of which are fronted by people who view the suffering of other living things as a business opportunity, and form lucrative business enterprises permitting them to make a living from it. In this time of world conflict, while the smoke and mirrors types are busy demonizing arms dealers and defense contractors as war profiteers, the victim advocate who would be unemployed without a victim to advocate for is granted virtual sainthood. Some deserve it. Some don’t. (more…)

In a world full of bad, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that there’s a lot of good, and a whole lot more that exists at varying points in between. Today I discovered a good thing that’s been around long enough to make me wonder how it stayed off my radar for so long.

Today’s good thing is Scottish singer, songwriter, and musician Paolo Nutini. Born in Paisley in the west Central lowlands, both his parents are Scottish, but his father is of Italian descent, and hence his name.

If your brow is furrowed by the fact that tomorrow it’s back to the salt mines with your ass, maybe taking a moment to enjoy this toe tapper might help. Here’s Paolo Nutini and the Vipers performing Pencil Full of Lead. Clicking the song title will bring up the lyrics in case you want to sing along.

“An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.”

~ Robert A. Heinlein, Beyond This Horizon, 1942 ~

If you follow me here, then you know I regularly encounter subject matter that’s too big for one article to hold. Well, I’m at it again.

Normally I like to introduce a subject before getting to my point, but today I’m just going to let my starter quotation from Robert Heinlein do that for me. From there, I’m posting a title from the 2004 documentary mini-series Weapons That Made Britain. Presented by that Master of ancient and antique weaponry, Michael Loades. I give you The Sword. (more…)

Quite a while ago I mastered singing the song titled The Green Fields of France. It’s been recorded by many, but my favourite arrangement is this one by The Fureys. Not only do I enjoy the arrangement and the voice of the man singing it, but there’s one line in particular that always held a note of authenticity for me that others do not.

There’s a line in most versions of this song that goes,

“I see by your gravestone you were only nineteen, when you joined the dead heroes in 1915 ….”

Not this one. Instead, it goes,

“I see by your gravestone you were only nineteen, when you joined the Great Fallen in 1915 ….”

I will not stand for trivializing the sacrifices made by those who fought and often died or worse so I can sit hear speaking the truth as I see it, and to my mind the title of “Hero” is thrown around entirely too easily these days. There are times and situations in history that few of us can even imagine, and those times raise the bar on who gets to wear the “Hero” badge. Some of those we recognize today are Heroes. That having been said, the fact that countless others simply did their duty without ever once meeting that moment of truth demanding of heroism doesn’t make their actions any less worthy of celebration, commendation, and the sincerest of thanks for doing everything they did.

Peace, n. In international affairs, a period of cheating between two periods of fighting.

~ Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary

As a student of military history I have long been aware of the German shenanigans with respect to Poland that finally dragged British Prime Minister Nevil Chamberlain kicking and screaming into a declaration of war in September of 1939. Even more so now because I bear the honour of being Polish by Marriage.

This article will present some historic film footage and recordings of a radio broadcast, all to set the stage for the big sell out that allowed Nazi forces to overwhelm Poland while no one stood with her in her hour of need.

First on the menu is a documentary detailing the German invasion of Poland that started World War 2. (more…)

“I will not stand for trivializing the sacrifices made by those who fought and often died or worse so I can sit hear speaking the truth as I see it, and to my mind the title of “Hero” is thrown around entirely too easily these days. There are times and situations in history that few of us can even imagine, and those times raise the bar on who gets to wear the “Hero” badge. Some of those we recognize today are Heroes. That having been said, the fact that countless others simply did their duty without ever once meeting that moment of truth demanding of heroism doesn’t make their actions any less worthy of celebration, commendation, and the sincerest of thanks for doing everything they did.” ~ Lest We Forget — A Parting Shot

I was born in 1957 and most of what matters to me in life was shaped by growing up surrounded by people who lived through, and/or served in some capacity during, World War 2. Of the next door neighbours, one couple consisted of a British engineer who had flown bombers for the RAF, and his Canadian wife. She had been a military nurse who met her husband in England while tending to his wounds in hospital after his bomber was shot up. Those two taught me how to fish and I spent many happy enthralled hours in their company.

On the other end of the block was another couple, the husband of which had served in the Royal Canadian Army, finishing out his service as a small arms instructor to the end of the war. A founding member of the Lunenburg Rod & Gun Club to which I still belong, he taught me to shoot, and I am privileged to own the service pistol he carried during his time in uniform.

In adulthood, I either am, or have been, honoured to know a Lancaster pilot, a US Navy F4U Corsair pilot who served both in World War 2 and the Korean War, two men who went ashore on D-Day, and another who landed with an armored unit the following day. Along the way, I’ve also spent some enjoyable hours with a Spitfire Mk.IX pilot and a week getting to know a retired RCAF Sabre pilot while we were attending the same course and practicing our drinking and limerick recitals in the evenings. No bombast or chest beating. Just ordinary people who did extraordinary things. Things we all need to be eternally and unforgettingly grateful for.

My father was the oldest of seven offspring born to Clement and Almeta Whynacht in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, in the period just prior to, and during, the Great Depression. When The Great War had broken out in 1914, his father was working as a crewman on a salt banker which effectively excluded him from service with the Canadian Expeditionary Force, as it did others such as farmers whose family or occupational situation made their service in that role more important than a military one. After all – the country’s got to eat. Not only that, but the production and export of salt cod was a vital component in the economy of Atlantic Canada in those days. By the time World War 2 rolled around, my father was 10 years old, and his father was too old for military service, as well as being the sole bread winner for a family totalling nine souls.

Frank Zinck somewhere in England. Click the picture to enlarge.

On my mother’s side there have been a lot of wartime connections. We have her father, Frank Zinck of Chester, Nova Scotia, who by all appearances never missed a good fight. He enlisted with the CEF on 22 August 1915, served in Europe until the war ended and later re-enlisted in the army in 1939 by conveniently forgetting his true age. Surprisingly, the army remembered and sent him home, but not before he went through refresher training and made it to England. For more on him, take a look at my 1 November 2010 article titled The Sword and the Snowflake – Chapter the First.

Buster in happier times. Click the picture to enlarge.

Also on my mother’s side was her oldest brother who I only know by his family nickname – Buster. Buster did fight in World War 2 where he was seriously injured when the vehicle he was driving went off the road and burned with him trapped inside. He had all his hair burned off with major burns to his upper body, and was shipped home after a lengthy stay in an English military hospital. The Buster that returned was a moody, chain smoking, hard drinking, and barely recognizable shell of the handsome, fun loving, skirt chaser who left. Most of his hair had grown back, but was darker and coarser than before. (more…)

Click the picture for a larger view.

In 1983 I started a security consulting company called Whynacht Security & Survival. In 1984 I moved to a house on Lincoln Street in Lunenburg, and the picture on the left shows me thanking the gang that helped me move. That same year, I expanded the company’s services to include alarm monitoring and emergency dispatching for the Lunenburg and Mahone Bay fire departments.

Then, out of the blue, through a convoluted network of people who knew people who were aware of my skills and knowledge in the fields of electronics and communications, I was suddenly offered a management job with the telephone utility that served the Yukon and Northwest Territories. Good money working in an exotic and demanding environment. (more…)

When you have a woman such as I have, the sentiments expressed in Latin dance are never far from your mind. While Mrs. LFM works her magic on some pictures I need for The Sword and the Snowflake – Chapter the Fourth, I’ll entertain you with a few video clips. The titles may offer clues, but I’m only going to identify the movies these dances are from, not the actors. If the scenes don’t compel you to find and watch these films, nothing I say will help. (more…)

Click the picture for a larger view.

I was a kid with interests in all areas of science and, by the time I was 8 years old, had a well equipped chemistry lab set up in the basement of the house I grew up in. I had a flair for showmanship and was often asked by my teachers to put on demonstrations of scientific principles and experiments in front of the class. I developed a keen interest in aviation and space travel, following every space flight back in the day. Long before the advent of model rocketry as we know it today, I designed and launched projectiles and tested rocket motors powered by propellants of my own manufacture, leading to a few events that today would be chargeable under several pieces of anti-terror legislation. (more…)