Grrrrrr8

Badger said:

BIG_ONE said:

Badger said:

Once, when almost every home had a gun of some sort

when/where was this ?

17th century britian and most rural homes would have a gun of some sort,

[snip]

I think you'd have trouble backing up that claim unless you restrict
"rural homes" to those at or above some level of class / wealth.

At the less fortunate end of society, as evidenced by records of what
possessions remained to be handed to surviving relatives, there were
plenty of adults who at the time of their death had little other than
the clothes they wore, basic cutlery and a wooden plate and jug.

Look at the weapons used by rebels in e.g. 1745 and 1798. Many of the
peasants carried farm implements or crudely made pikes.

--
Joe * If I cannot be free I'll be cheap

Badger said:

Once, when almost every home had a gun of some sort

when/where was this ?

BIG_ONE said:

dave said:

BIG_ONE said:

Badger <[email hidden]> wrote:

>Once, when almost every home had a gun of some sort

when/where was this ?

Well all our houses.. all our relatives houses and all the neighbours.

that's in australia ... right ?

Yuh. Although its nothing like as true where I were a lad.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Not to mention every house in sweden among other places.

yes they do have some strange ways over there, but specifically i was
enquiring about the uk

I doubt its ever been true in the UK. However once upon a time every
house (near enough) had a longbow. A lethal enough weopon

dave said:

I doubt its ever been true in the UK. However once upon a time every
house (near enough) had a longbow. A lethal enough weopon

Wasn't there a legal requirement to practice one's archery at the
weekend at some point? If it wasn't required it was certainly
encouraged, with targets on village greens a permanent fixture.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

On Sun, 10 Jul 2005 09:31:49 +1000 someone who may be dave
<[email hidden]> wrote this:-

Quoted message said:

HMS Warspite was famous for picking of german tanks with one round of
her 14 inch guns. Roughly a ton of explosives falling out of the sky
will leave a very large hole where the wing mirror used to be. 🙂

I suspect that the incident you are referring to was the firing upon
a concentration of German tanks, who made the mistake of
concentrating 20 land miles from the sea. She did something similar
at Salerno.

Having found the range I imagine they would have adopted salvo
firing. This involved firing half the guns, say the left hand ones,
while the other (right hand) guns were being loaded. This would mean
groups of four shells arriving every 15 seconds, each weighing about
a ton [1]. As the fire was coming from a ship this could be
continued for as long as necessary. The only counter for the Germans
would be to run away from where the shells were landing.

The twin 15" gun turrets fitted to HMS Warspite were the culmination
of several decades of development and represented the pinnacle of
this form of engineering. The turrets that followed them were never
as reliable.

[1] assuming all four turrets were in use, not the case at Normandy
as the Royal Marines who operated one turret had been landed.

--
David Hansen, Edinburgh | PGP email preferred-key number F566DA0E
I will always explain revoked keys, unless the UK government
prevents me by using the RIP Act 2000.

Peter Clinch said:

dave said:

I doubt its ever been true in the UK. However once upon a time every
house (near enough) had a longbow. A lethal enough weopon

Wasn't there a legal requirement to practice one's archery at the
weekend at some point? If it wasn't required it was certainly
encouraged, with targets on village greens a permanent fixture.

Pete.

yeah but I wasnt actually going to mention it.

The firearm has one major advantage over a bow. The major cited
advantage of firearm laws has been a reduction in gun suicides.. the
longbow being a dificult way to commit suicide.

Of course I have never been totally convinced that people dont just find
another way to kill themselfs. Havnt noticed a drop in suicides
generally. I even suspect the car of occasionally being the vehicle
(ROTFL) of choice. 🙂

But it seems to be a subject not really open to rational debate. So
perbaps we should leave it.

Peter Clinch said:

Wasn't there a legal requirement to practice one's archery at the
weekend at some point? If it wasn't required it was certainly
encouraged, with targets on village greens a permanent fixture.

The definitive research on the subject was done a couple of
years ago by Clive Feather.

http://groups.google.co.uk/group/alt.folklore.urban/msg/54c80df5369bed64

It was required in the reign of Henry VIII, but the law may have been
repealed in 1863, and was certainly repealed in 1960.

--
Alan J. Wylie http://www.wylie.me.uk/
"Perfection [in design] is achieved not when there is nothing left to add,
but rather when there is nothing left to take away."
-- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

dave said:

BIG_ONE said:

Badger said:

Once, when almost every home had a gun of some sort

when/where was this ?

Well all our houses.. all our relatives houses and all the neighbours.

that's in australia ... right ?

Quoted message said:

Not to mention every house in sweden among other places.

yes they do have some strange ways over there, but specifically i was
enquiring about the uk

Badger said:

"Only three things are certain: death, taxes and stupid gun laws."

i thought it was headwinds, hills and punctures

in message <[email hidden]>, Alan J. Wylie

(') said:

Peter Clinch said:

Wasn't there a legal requirement to practice one's archery at the
weekend at some point? If it wasn't required it was certainly
encouraged, with targets on village greens a permanent fixture.

The definitive research on the subject was done a couple of
years ago by Clive Feather.

http://groups.google.co.uk/group/alt.folklore.urban/msg/54c80df5369bed64

Quoted message said:

It was required in the reign of Henry VIII, but the law may have been
repealed in 1863, and was certainly repealed in 1960.

In England and (probably) Wales.

The practice of archery was also required by law in Scotland; I suspect
it is no longer required, but this article does not address the
question. Whatever, I have a longbow and occasionally practice with it,
so I'm probably OK.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

to err is human, to lisp divine
;; attributed to Kim Philby, oddly enough.

dave said:

However once upon a time every
house (near enough) had a longbow. A lethal enough weopon

now replaced by the car

Simon Brooke <[email hidden]> wrote in news:95vdq2-0l8.ln1
@gododdin.internal.jasmine.org.uk:

Quoted message said:

Whatever, I have a longbow and occasionally practice with it,
so I'm probably OK.

Archery is something I'd love to take up again. I used to do it in my early
teens but it kind of dropped by the wayside. I think once I'd managed to
get a group of three arrows into the target so that each was touching each
other in a small triangle I decided it was best to go out on a high note
(even though it was a fluke). Unfortunately the only bows you see over here
are silly ones with pulleys for shooting roos etc.(no, not Roos, you're
safe 🙂

Graeme

Simon Brooke said:

in message <[email hidden]>, David Hansen

(') said:

On Thu, 07 Jul 2005 21:32:33 +0100 someone who may be Jon Senior
<jon_AT_restlesslemon_DOT_co_DOT_uk> wrote this:-

Quoted message said:

The great irony of course having just occurred in London. Should make
them nice and twitchy up here.

Of course events in London didn't involve bombs on bicycles. It's
difficult to see how a bicycle bomber could cause many deaths on the
Forth Road Bridge

A small thermite charge placed on one of the main cables in the middle of
the span? Easily made from readily available materials and would fit
into Jon's basket.

Paranoia is reaching epic proportions. The risk from terrorism is tiny,
especially cyclist terrorism. There is a vastly greater risk of being
mowed down by a car than being blown up by a terrorist.

--
UK Radical Campaigns
www.zing.icom43.net
Democracy is a way of controlling and exploiting people without them
even realising it.

"David Hansen" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

...20 land miles...

A "land mile" is more correctly known as a "statute mile".

--
MatSav

in message <[email hidden]>, Graeme

(') said:

Simon Brooke <[email hidden]> wrote in news:95vdq2-0l8.ln1
@gododdin.internal.jasmine.org.uk:

Quoted message said:

Whatever, I have a longbow and occasionally practice with it,
so I'm probably OK.

Archery is something I'd love to take up again. I used to do it in my
early teens but it kind of dropped by the wayside. I think once I'd
managed to get a group of three arrows into the target so that each was
touching each other in a small triangle I decided it was best to go out
on a high note (even though it was a fluke). Unfortunately the only
bows you see over here are silly ones with pulleys for shooting roos
etc.(no, not Roos, you're safe 🙂

<URL:http://www.jasmine.org.uk/dogfood/story/article_17.html>

No silly pulleys.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

For office use only. Please do not write or type below this line.

"Simon Brooke" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

<URL:http://www.jasmine.org.uk/dogfood/story/article_17.html>

No silly pulleys.

They would be silly because they are better?

dave said:

The firearm has one major advantage over a bow. The major cited
advantage of firearm laws has been a reduction in gun suicides..
the longbow being a dificult way to commit suicide.

Of course I have never been totally convinced that people dont
just find another way to kill themselfs

Which somehow reminds me of a surreal passage from Woody Allen's
"Without Feathers":

"A man awakens to find his parrot has been made Secretary of
Agriculture. He is consumed with jealousy and shoots himself, but
unfortunately the gun is the type with a little flag that pops out with
the word 'Bang' on it. The flag pokes his eye out, and he lives - a
chastened human being who, for the first time, enjoys the simple
pleasures of life, like farming or sitting on an air hose."

--
Dave...

Simon Brooke <[email hidden]> wrote in news:tk2fq2-oga.ln1
@gododdin.internal.jasmine.org.uk:

Quoted message said:

<URL:http://www.jasmine.org.uk/dogfood/story/article_17.html>

Very impressive. I must admit the though of making one myself had crossed
my mind on several occasions but everything else (like real life) gets in
the way.

Graeme

P.S. So *that's* what you look like (well the bit we can see)