Mostly about my backyard chickens. (Boring, I know), but there are a lot of us out here. Mine are only kept as pampered pets. I could eat a neighbor's chicken, but not MINE. There may be a comment on current events only if I get riled up enough. And there will always be a cartoon or a joke to cheer us. I promise to try my very best to respond to comments. Now I have to figure out how this blogger thingy works....
A
Tourist walked into a Chinese curio shop in San Francisco. While
looking around at the exotic merchandise, he noticed a very lifelike,
life-sized, bronze statue of a rat. It had no price tag, but was so
incredibly striking the tourist decided he must have it He took it to
the old shop owner and asked, "How much for the bronze rat ?"
"Ahhh, you have chosen wisely! It is $12 for the rat and $100 for the story," said the wise old Chinaman.
The tourist quickly pulled out twelve dollars. "I'll just take the rat, you can keep the story".
As
he walked down the street carrying his bronze rat, the tourist noticed
that a few real rats had crawled out of the alleys and sewers and had
begun following him down the street. This was a bit disconcerting so he
began walking faster.
A
couple blocks later he looked behind him and saw to his horror the herd
of rats behind him had grown to hundreds, and they began squealing.
Sweating now, the tourist began to trot toward San Francisco Bay.
Again,
after a couple blocks, he looked around only to discover that the rats
now numbered in the MILLIONS, and were squealing and coming
toward him faster and faster.
Terrified, he ran to the edge of the Bay and threw the bronze rat as far as he could into the Bay.
Amazingly, the millions of rats all jumped into the Bay after the bronze rat and were all drowned.
The man walked back to the curio shop in Chinatown.
"Ahhh," said the owner, "You come back for story ?"
"No sir," said the man, "I came back to see if you have a bronze Democrat.
A wonderful old movie sent to me by Pastor Bob! Grab a cuppa, sit back and enjoy this classic educational film from the Norfolk & Western railroad which highlights the construction and operation of the 4-8-4, J-Class locomotives
Lots and lots of good information can be found here:
Cavalry
is heavily celebrated and romanticized in western culture. From the
knights of Europe, to the charging forces of 19th century America, to the war in Afghanistan,
the fascination with the horse as a war animal continues to this day in
popular culture. But farther to the east, the war elephant reigned
supreme on the front lines in some of the greatest battles in ancient
history.
Something of the main battle tank of their day, these
huge beasts were often sent charging towards the enemy's lines, and
unlike horses, spears and common blades had little impact on them when
fighting at full tilt. To increase the survivability and improve the
lethality of these creatures in combat, increasingly elaborate sets of
armor were built for them, with the one above being the most extensive
of its kind still surviving to this day.
The
armor is displayed on a life-size elephant model in the Oriental
Gallery at the Royal Armouries National Museum of Arms and Armour in
Leeds. This specific set of armor was brought to Britain by the wife of
the second lord of Clive, who was the governor of Madras in 1801. It was originally displayed Powis Castle before it was transferred to London Tower in 1949 for conservation. It was acquired by the Royal Armouries in 1962 in lieu of death duties.
Designed with charging in mind, the elephant's head and much of its trunk is extensively covered by the metal armor.
The
highly embellished metal suit, which includes elaborate depictions of
various animals, was designed for an adult Asiatic Elephant in the 16th
century. It emanates from Northern India during the Mughal Empire, and
is made up of 5,840 individual plates weighing some 260 pounds. Part of
the suit is missing, but complete it is estimated that it would be made
up of a total of 8,439 metal plates, and would weigh over 350 pounds.
Regardless, even in its current form it is the Guinness World Record
holder for the largest suit of animal armor.
You can see the two missing panels from this angle, and how the elephant's neck is fully covered.
What's
not displayed, but also part of this armor set, are a pair of long,
crescent shaped tusk swords (also called elephant swords) that would
have been mounted on a war elephant's partially sawn-off tusks. During a
charge they would have slashed and pierced their way through whatever
they came in contact with. Some armies coated these attachments with
poison, making them even more lethal and instilling greater fear among
the opposing army's ranks.
Tusk
swords were used for centuries but just a handful exist today. The left
goes with the armor suit discussed above, the right is another example,
likely from an earlier age.
The
use of war elephants dates back millennia. Their use is mentioned as
far back as the 4th century BC, likely originating in India. From there
the use of elephants as weapons propagated through the centuries and
eventually ranged as far west as the Mediterranean. The tactical
employment of elephants on the battlefield played a major role in the
conquests of Alexander the Great, who was so fearful of their impact in
combat that he eventually commandeered some and employed them in his own
ranks.
Hundreds of years later, the Romans put war elephants to
use en masse during their own campaigns, including the conquest of
Greece. Even as the widespread use of elephants for warfare died off in
Europe in the early middle ages, farther east they remained a staple in
large standing armies. It wasn't until the introduction of gunpowder
that elephants finally began to fade from militaries in Asia, but this
was a slow process. In fact, President Lincoln was offered elephants to use against the Confederates during the Civil War by the King of Siam, which was politely turned down.
What
seems to be the last major use of elephants on the front lines was in
Vietnam in 1885 during the Sino-French War where they were used as
mobile firing platforms more than anything else. But long before then,
cannon fire made the lumbering beasts increasingly vulnerable during
combat, which led to their tactical utility being questioned. As early
as the 1500s, elephants began to disappear from major battles in south
central Asia.
Public Domain
Painting of an elephant in battle, made in Kota, Rajasthan, India circa 1750
Traditionally
speaking, the war elephant was used to charge enemy lines or to counter
an impending enemy charge. They could crash through seemingly
impenetrable walls of infantry, breaking a gaping hole in the enemy's
formation, with the elephant slashing with its augmented tusks,
stampeding over soldiers, and giving archers a near ideal platform to
pick off fighters below.
Above all else, they were major
psychological warfare elements that would instill terror and the feeling
of dream and hopelessness in the enemy. Their thick hides and massive
size made traditional edged weapons nearly useless against them. Their
unfamiliar stench could send enemy cavalry running in fear as well. They
could also work as mobile command and control platforms or even to dump
soldiers right into an ongoing skirmish.
De Agostini Picture Library
War elephants, equipped according to General d'Orgoni's instructions.
Countermeasures
against elephants included targeting their tusks, as cutting them off
could send them running mad. The use of special javelins, fire
(including igniting screaming pigs covered in oil), and eventually
specially built crossbow artillery that would send an iron bolt through
their thick hide were also tactics employed over the centuries to stop
elephant onslaughts. Still, many of these tactics were opportunistic in
nature and adding armor to elephants could help harden them from some
known vulnerabilities.
A major factor that kept war elephants
around so long is that they could be turned into beasts of burden when
not in combat, helping to construct fortifications, bridges, and other
installations, or transporting materiel over long distances. Still, they
will be remembered most for their crushing impact on the battlefield.
One
can only imagine how terrifying it must have been for a soldier to face
down such a huge and heavily armored animal on an ancient battlefield,
many of which may not have ever seen an elephant before. Not to mention
how terrifying the chaos of combat must have been for the elephants
themselves, which are incredibly intelligent and social creatures.
