Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[leethefish]

Thewy TID, three-way chop for second, including Scotty and RUHolding.

Thewy took £6,000 as "winner", & three others, including Ryan, chopped 2nd, taking £3,900 each.

The Thewy run-good is back.

Oioiiiiiiiiii, congrats Julian, and Ryan.

[Tonji]

Bobby1 was there, too, jammy sod, & today he goes to the Book Depository & Grassy Knoll, doing his JFK Tour thing. Can anyone think of ANY 2 word expression, ever, more synonymous with a single event than “grassy knoll”? If anyone ever says “grassy knoll”, we all think of one thing, & one thing only. Don’t think I’ve ever seen the expression in any other context.

This set me a googling

The Man Who Named the Grassy Knoll

http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/gk_name.htm

[tikay]

Bobby1 was there, too, jammy sod, & today he goes to the Book Depository & Grassy Knoll, doing his JFK Tour thing. Can anyone think of ANY 2 word expression, ever, more synonymous with a single event than “grassy knoll”? If anyone ever says “grassy knoll”, we all think of one thing, & one thing only. Don’t think I’ve ever seen the expression in any other context.

This set me a googling

The Man Who Named the Grassy Knoll

http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/gk_name.htm

Crikey, nice find Tonji.

I really ought to do this stuff on my Diary, as it fits better there, rather than derailing a punting thread, but......

Love that link, & I've always been fixated by how "grassy knoll" became so generic. (Beware incoming reminiscence....)

JFK was assassinated in 1963. He was iconic - handsome, with a beautiful & very fashion-conscious wife, & to young men of an impressionable age - that'd be me, as I was 16 at the time - he was God. (Later, not so much, of course).

I had only just learned to read, & it was like a new toy to me, I read EVERYTHING I could lay my hands on. I was deemed to be a "backward" kid, but I was not really, I just could not read or write, or barely talk, as I had a dreadful stammer, but deep inside, I was as bright or normal as any other kid. So, I devoured all the JFK stuff, it was the first ever major news story I had been able to rerad, & then, a year or so later, the Warren Commission delivered their famous report, & I obtained a copy, & eagerly read it from cover to cover. I still have it, too, as well as dozens of books about that dreadful day, all sorts of stuff about Lee Harvey Oswald, as well as loads of the usual nonsense conspiracy theories, Jack Ruby, da de da.

In a way, it was my introduction to conspiracy theories, I'd never seen them before. Now I work for an Online Cardroom, so I hear & see them daily, lol.  

Apologies for the derail, but I wanted to put those photos up, as they have a special meaning in my life.    

If Tighty or someone were really clever, they'd move this JFK & grassy knoll stuff to my diary, but it's all a bit beyond me.

[tikay]

I visited the book depository place a few years ago. Such a weird experience, everyone walking slowly round it in complete silence. Like being in a vaccuum. Still no idea if he did it though.

Yes, I can imagine.

I visted the Pacific War Memorial in Hawaii a while back, that same "eerie silence" pervaded the place, just people paying their respects.

I never could quite get my head round the fact that over 80% of the visitors to the Pacific War Memorial, & the various Pearl Harbor Memorials, were Japanese. In a way, I thought that was rather nice, & very poignant.

Click to see full-size image.

[tikay]

Ahh, thanks, to whoever moved that. It did not really belong on a punting thread!

[kinboshi]

I visited the book depository place a few years ago. Such a weird experience, everyone walking slowly round it in complete silence. Like being in a vaccuum. Still no idea if he did it though.

Yes, I can imagine.

I visted the Pacific War Memorial in Hawaii a while back, that same "eerie silence" pervaded the place, just people paying their respects.

I never could quite get my head round the fact that over 80% of the visitors to the Pacific War Memorial, & the various Pearl Harbor Memorials, were Japanese. In a way, I thought that was rather nice, & very poignant.

Click to see full-size image.

The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum is similar with the 'eerie silence'.  Quite a sobering tour, and for some reason I couldn't help but feel 'guilty' as I walked round it - as the Japanese will see a white person in Japan and assume they're American. Of course, I have nothing to feel guilty for as I was born about 30 years after it happened, but it's a weird feeling.

The website needs some work, but shows a lot of what's in the museum: http://www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/virtual/VirtualMuseum_e/visit_e/vist_fr_e.html

[tikay]

Yes, you've nailed it there exactly, Dan.

I could not help but wonder if those Japanese visitors to the War Memorial felt some kind of guilt, & yet that is a ridiculous thought, because we surely can't have guilt because of our nationality, or forebears, can we?

Anyway, I am so glad I visited it, for those of us who were not alive during WW2, it is a salutory reminder, & reality check. Oh my, how lucky we are in today's world.

PS - Crikey, what a picture that is. I read the story of the actual bombing raid, "Enola Gay" was the nick for the 'plane, & they had scrawled "Little Boy" on the actual bomb casing.

When the 'planes returned to base, all the personnel cheered & clapped, & they had a right party that night to celebrate. Meanwhile, x thousand miles away, the slow deaths from radiation, or horrific burns, were beginning.....

Yup, it had to be done, da de da, but it seemed somewhat odd to glorify it.   

[kinboshi]

for those of us who were not alive during WW2

CALL.

[TightEnd]

Have you ever done a tour of the Northern France/Belgium trenches/war memorials/graveyards tikay?

Much the same feeling, an eerie calm no matter how many people there

Unbelievably poignant.

[kinboshi]

Yes, you've nailed it there exactly, Dan.

I could not help but wonder if those Japanese visitors to the War Memorial felt some kind of guilt, & yet that is a ridiculous thought, because we surely can't have guilt because of our nationality, or forebears, can we?

Anyway, I am so glad I visited it, for those of us who were not alive during WW2, it is a salutory reminder, & reality check. Oh my, how lucky we are in today's world.

A lot of us are lucky, but there are still many wars going on across the world and people still killing and dying in ridiculous conflicts so that a few people can have more power and wealth.

[tikay]

for those of us who were not alive during WW2

CALL.

Raise. I missed it. Just.

[tikay]

Have you ever done a tour of the Northern France/Belgium trenches/war memorials/graveyards tikay?

Much the same feeling, an eerie calm no matter how many people there

Unbelievably poignant.

No, never. I'm not sure I could face it, to be honest.

[Tal]

Have you ever done a tour of the Northern France/Belgium trenches/war memorials/graveyards tikay?

Much the same feeling, an eerie calm no matter how many people there

Unbelievably poignant.

No, never. I'm not sure I could face it, to be honest.

I was fortunate enough to win a competition when I was 16 in a local paper and the prize - owing to the release of Saving Private Ryan, was to go to see the Normandy beaches.

Completely took my breath away. We speak of how precious life is and you stand in the midst of thousands and thousands of white crosses (and the odd star of David).

[Karabiner]

Same eerie atmosphere at the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem with people only speaking in hushed tones if at all. I was glad that I visited but was actually relieved when my visit was over, it was a very powerful experience.

[Mohican]

I got taken to Belsen concentration camp when I was 13. Very quiet and eerie.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bergen-Belsen_concentration_camp