Yep, the same.
1 Like
I could go off you 
Nah, too much hair and missing the ring in his nose.
Britney still scrubs up well.
About bloody time too!
Great 
Gammon Gandhi?
- One of the first battles Gandhi fought after coming to South Africa was over the separate entrances for whites and blacks at the Durban post office. Gandhi objected that Indians were âclassed with the natives of South Africa,â who he called the kaffirs, and demanded a separate entrance for Indians.
âWe felt the indignity too much and ⌠petitioned the authorities to do away with the invidious distinction, and they have now provided three separate entrances for natives, Asiatics and Europeans.â
-
In a petition letter in 1895, Gandhi also expressed concern that a lower legal standing for Indians would result in degenerating âso much so that from their civilised habits, they would be degraded to the habits of the aboriginal Natives, and a generation hence, between the progeny of the Indians and the Natives, there will be very little difference in habits, and customs and thought.â
-
In an open letter to the Natal Parliament in 1893, Gandhi wrote:
âI venture to point out that both the English and the Indians spring from a common stock, called the Indo-Aryan. ⌠A general belief seems to prevail in the Colony that the Indians are little better, if at all, than savages or the Natives of Africa. Even the children are taught to believe in that manner, with the result that the Indian is being dragged down to the position of a raw Kaffir.â
-
At a speech in Mumbai in 1896, Gandhi said that the Europeans in Natal wished âto degrade us to the level of the raw kaffir whose occupation is hunting, and whose sole ambition is to collect a certain number of cattle to buy a wife with, and then, pass his life in indolence and nakedness.â
-
Protesting the decision of Johannesburg municipal authorities to allow Africans to live alongside Indians, Gandhi wrote in 1904 that the council âmust withdraw the Kaffirs from the Location. About this mixing of the Kaffirs with the Indians, I must confess I feel most strongly. I think it is very unfair to the Indian population and it is an undue tax on even the proverbial patience of my countrymen.â
-
In response to the White Leagueâs agitation against Indian immigration and the proposed importation of Chinese labour, Gandhi wrote in 1903: âWe believe also that the white race in South Africa should be the predominating race.â
-
Gandhi wrote in 1908 about his prison experience: âWe were marched off to a prison intended for Kaffirs. There, our garments were stamped with the letter âNâ, which meant that we were being classed with the Natives. We were all prepared for hardships, but not quite for this experience. We could understand not being classed with the whites, but to be placed on the same level with the Natives seemed too much to put up with.â
-
In 1939, Gandhi justified his counsel to the Indian community in South Africa against forming a non-European front: âI have no doubt about the soundness of my advice. However much one may sympathise with the Bantus, Indians cannot make common cause with them.â
1 Like
Just finished reading this âŚ
which gives an interesting insight to the divisions in SA
1 Like
I was aware that Stanislav Petrov may have single-handedly saved the world from nuclear Armageddon in 1983.
But Iâve just learnt that during the Cuban missile crisis the Americans corralled a Russian sub in the area and attempted to force it to the surface using âpracticeâ depth charges. Among the things the Americans didnât know were a) that the submariners had lost all radio contact so werenât aware that World War III hadnât kicked off and that they werenât being depth-charged for real, b) that the sub was in a lot of trouble because of very limited battery power, raging internal temperature and crew collapsing from CO2 poisoning and c) that it was equipped with a nuclear-tipped torpedo which would have caused enough damage if launched to have escalated the whole conflict potentially to the point of global nuclear exchange. Launching the torpedo required unanimous agreement of the three senior officers (the captain, the political officer and Vasili Arkhipov, the commander of the whole submarine detachment, who happened to be on board). The captain and political officer were convinced they were at war and voted to launch the nuke. Despite the pressures Arkhipov voted against. Weâre all still here.
VB
3 Likes
Around 75 or 76 where I was working my manager used to tell the story of how he was in the navy during the Cuban missile crisis. He was in a nuke sub and over those few scary days they went hot and cold at least 4 times. They would get a coded message and get it confirmed and go hot and ready to launch. Then with in a few minutes they would get another to go cold. Blokes were crapping themselves and one fella tried to open one of the hatches and get away. He had to be sedated.
And he (Vasili Arkhipov) was on K-19 when the reactor failed.
Quite an interesting and eventful career.
2 Likes
Luckily, things have improved since thenâŚ
1 Like
I know what those individual flags mean but have no idea what the hoist means
Thanks,
The Navy have always had their own signals 
I know o about flags but Wikipedia has an article on them. It identifies the top two as A and D but doesnât seem to list the other two (or did I miss something ?).
Under the âmultiple flagsâ section towards the bottom it says the signal AD means âI am abandoning my vessel which has suffered a nuclear accident and is a possible source of radiation dangerâ. Seemed appropriate given the posts above âŚ
VB
The other 2 flags are numbers.
The two flag signals can be hilarious especially the medical section.
I once sailed a small yacht into Dover without a VHF radio transmitter.
We had come prepared and under the Admiralty Pilot there are local harbour signals.
Permission to Enter is X over Y and permission to leave is Y over X (or it may be the other way round it was 30 years ago!)
Somebody was keeping a good look out as the big Halmatic Harbour Masterâs launch came out to meet us and escorted us to a mooring.
They said that it had been 20 years since they had seen any one use that signal and were absolutely delighted to be able to enter it into the logâŚ
For some reason I have always been a bit nerdy about flags and flag etiquette* but it paid of on that occasion.
*It still pisses me off when people refer to the Union Flag as a Union Jack. 
4 Likes
Just noticed that I am âVictorian Dadâ 
who did that then?
3 Likes