Effect of The Great War On The English Countryside

In the Thirties there came about the term "Thankful Villages" to describe those towns that lost no men in World War I. This list at HELLFIRE Corner is the most comprehensive identified to date.

There are less then fifty on the list from across the countries. Most contributed every few men to the war effort showing they were rather small but still it indicates that out of hundreds of towns then existing very few saw no loss when the British Empire lost almost one million men.

Form Follows Function In Air Defense Headquarters

These two articles show abandoned Cold War civil and air defense command posts. One in the Former Soviet Union and one in England. It is interesting to see that they are very similar in layout and capabilities.

First on English Russia is Abandoned Military Object which is of an air defense center where data is collected and filtered and defenses coordinated and activated.

Second is on Subterranea Britannica: Cold War and shows a Regional War Room at Cardiff, Wales where the Government would run operations during a nuclear attack. Much of these designs were based on British experience during World War II with building air defense and command posts.

These show how a like these kind of facilities are no matter where they are built or designed.

Firing Rather Then Divorcing Your Spouse

Frank McCourt is the owners of the Los Angeles Dodgers who were last seen losing to the Phillies in the National League Championship. His current wife, Jamie, was the CEO of the team. A few weeks ago it was announced that the two were getting divorced, but it has now come out that he is really firing her for being a poor employee not so much as divorcing her.

According to the Los Angeles Times "Frank McCourt charged his estranged wife with insubordination and inappropriate behavior in a letter firing her as the team's chief executive."

I guess if they were getting divorced he had to fire her but it is an interesting approach none-the-less.

Lefty Bloggers Need To Get Their Stories Straight On Stimulus

At this post Steven Benen is decrying the fact that $40 billion in state aid was cut out of the stimulus so states had to lay people off. In this article there is criticism of the states for using stimulus money to just keep the status quo.

So which is it? Was the stimulus just to keep bureaucrats employed at the cost of the U.S. taxpayer or to actually do something different? Here in AL the legislature used the stimulus money to just balance the budget. That will work out well next year.

The problem the states are facing is due to the collapse in the economy there has been a massive decline in tax revenue of all kinds. The state and local governments were pretty fat and now they have to trim down. That means people are losing their jobs. Maybe when the economy recovers and Americans get private jobs they can go back to subsidizing the government.