Patriot Realm

For Christmas in 1942 my Mum and Dad gave me a book by Noel Monks. That book changed my life. 

For over 100 years prior to WW1, America had pursued a policy of neutrality and isolation. This policy prevailed until 1917 when President Woodrow Wilson persuaded Congress to allow US forces to fight alongside Britain and France in the interests of preserving democracy and world peace. America did not enter a formal alliance but fought alongside the Allies.

The UK has seen many waves of invaders and colonisers – Neanderthals, Celts, Romans, Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Danes, Norsemen, Normans and more recently Indians and Pakistanis. Only Irish, Welsh and Scottish inhabitants have had the strength to get special recognition today.

No human race evolved in Australia - several races walked, paddled, sailed or flew here over the past 60,000 years. Some displaced earlier arrivals, others mixed with locals. Some left rock art distinctly different from that of later arrivals and some destroyed or hid evidence of earlier tribes. Some were cannibals, some brought domesticated animals with them and all hunted native animals, sometimes to extinction. None can claim moral superiority.

Since China unleashed its Batflu all those months ago, we have witnessed the transformation of our lives and our societies at a pace that is alarming. 2 weeks to flatten the curve has morphed into a roller coaster ride and a nauseating merry go round in the political circus that now rules our lives.

For a circus it is, and we are being controlled by the Ringmaster who increasingly yells " Roll up! Roll up! Roll up your sleeves!"

We are being locked up, locked down, whipped into submission through fear and MSM propaganda. 

The concept of Mother’s Day as we know it in Australia began in the United States in the days of the Civil War by two ladies who were Peace advocates and suffragettes. They started a campaign to care for wounded soldiers from both sides by creating Mother’s Day Work Clubs to improve public health.

They made a Mother’s Day proclamation in 1870 and called on mothers of all nationalities to join together and promote the amicable settlement of international disputes. The movement did not succeed. The lady’s name was Anna Jarvis but she persisted with the idea of setting aside a special day to honour all mothers because a mother is "the person who has done more for you than anyone in the world".

I remember the days before computers changed our lives. When I was a lad, I first trained as a civil engineer in the late 1950s to early 1960s. There were no electronic calculators, and all calculations were performed either manually, by trigonometric tables, or by using a slide rule.

We used to analyse the stresses and bending moments in structural elements using advanced mathematics based upon first principles, knowledge of which has long faded from my aged brain. The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a classic two-pinned arch design which we studied. If you drive past both abutments, you will see the huge supporting pins which take the entire load of the bridge.