"All military units have is a formal hierarchy of decision-making, but informal practices always exist in parallel and are complementary. The practice of collective, informal decision-making, in the MJK known as 'Seamen’s Council' and in the Special Air Service (SAS) called 'Chinese parliament,' is well known in most special operations units, but is rarely described and discussed in academic literature. Important decisions in the MJK are generally made collectively, not by its commanders in splendid isolation. This egalitarian way of decision-making is practiced at all levels. The main purpose of the council is operational: Long and thorough discussions before missions create room for creative thinking, initiative, and avoiding group thinking. It seems to make Marinejegers better prepared for uncertainties, strengthens risk analysis, and enhances trust and cohesion within the unit. This unconventional practice works, and can be used, because it is a small unit. The MJK is a unit of less than 200 personnel, which even in a Norwegian context is small."
“Religious people all argue about whether these are really the spirits of the dead,” Kaneta told me. “I don’t get into it, because what matters is that people are seeing them, and in these circumstances, after this disaster, it is perfectly natural. So many died, and all at once. At home, at work, at school — the wave came in and they were gone. The dead had no time to prepare themselves. The people left behind had no time to say goodbye. Those who lost their families, and those who died — they have strong feelings of attachment. The dead are attached to the living, and those who have lost them are attached to the dead. It’s inevitable that there are ghosts.”
"To look at two Formula One cars, aside from the distinctive paint jobs, it would be hard to tell one from the other. Yet these are machines built independently, in secret, by isolated teams working to different principles and ideas. The reality is that each car is incredibly different on a micro level, despite seeming so indistinct at the macro. The same could be said of Rolex’s Submariner and Omega’s Seamaster—two watches that seem so similar on the surface, yet differ in approach so dramatically when seen just a little closer."
"Hauser performing Adagio by Albinoni with the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra at his classical solo concert at the Lisinski Concert Hall in Zagreb, October 2017.
Elisabeth Fuchs, conductor
Pavao Mašić, organ"
A temple to watch-making.
"On one level their first No 1 hit West End Girls was about the seedy glamour of a night out in London, but Tennant also slid in a reference to Edmund Wilson’s To the Finland Station, a history of socialism from the French revolution to Lenin’s arrival in St Petersburg. As if slightly embarrassed by this erudition – the Pet Shop Boys were always militantly pop (modern, glamorous, artificial) as opposed to rock (raw, traditional, authentic) – they never used to print their lyrics on their album sleeves. 'We probably had some ideological point about it that we lost interest in,' says Tennant. 'I wonder if we thought it was rock or something. You see that whole thing went away … because rock lost.' He hoots with laughter."
"The Decline Of Western Civilization is a 1981 American documentary filmed through 1979 and 1980. The movie is about the Los Angeles Punk Rock Scene and was directed by Penelope Spheeris. An intimate look at the Punk Subculture of the 1980s, this Penelope Spheeris Documentary captures more of the ambiance of the time than outstanding examples of the music subculture itself.
"The Los Angeles Punk Music Scene Circa 1980 is the focus of this film. With Alice Bag Band, Black Flag, Catholic Discipline, Circle Jerks, FEAR, Germs, and X."
"The Hobbit, presented as J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, was the first film adaptation of The Hobbit, created by Gene Deitch in 1966. The film was produced by William Snyder and took less than a month to create. The film was approximately 12 minutes long and was only created so Snyder could extend his license for The Lord of the Rings and sell it back to Tolkien and his publishers, which he did for $100,000."
Wadokei Revision: "The first Western mechanical clock/watch was brought into Japan by a missionary in 1551. But the concept of the 'time' in Japan was different from the western one, so it was never used as a time-measurement device."
"A discussion with Hugo Jacomet, author and founder of Parisian Gentleman, on his own personal style and the main differences between British, French and Italian style."
This interview with J.R.R. Tolkien was originally published in The Telegraph magazine on March 22. 1968.
Hat tip to Lucrezia.
Thanks to Mr. Percifield.
"The World Conker Championships originally started by a group of local fishermen after a planned angling match on the near-by river was sunk by bad weather, therefore instead of wasting the afternoon drinking in the local public house, a conker match was arranged and thus the World Championships were born."
"I helped organise and produce this event with Myra Davies and Kevin Ogilvie as part of our job for EXPO 86 in Vancouver. I was surprised to find this on a very old dusty VHS tape, and thought wow, this had to be one of the wildest shows ever, because words couldnt really express it. The video is brief but shows what went on on Britain Day while the Queens band marched nearby and Prince Charles and Dianna were on site. Miners union +
full orchestra, custom made instruments and tanks for the show."
"A nuclear bunker for one."
"Secret State is a 2012 British four-part political thriller, starring Gabriel Byrne, Charles Dance and Gina McKee, and inspired by Chris Mullin's novel A Very British Coup. It delves into the relationship between a democratically elected government, the military and big business."
"A watch designer’s job is to create a relationship between the wearer and their watch. The new Roger Dubuis Excalibur Knights of the Round Table II watch does this is a clever way. By decorating the dial with a culturally significant diorama, the wearer is not only comfortable with an image they have seen many times before, but they are also susceptible to its potential as an emotional trigger. With a single glance, a whole gamut of feeling can be released: Pride, passion, patriotism, for example. The Roger Dubuis Excalibur Knights of the Round Table II picks up where the first Round Table watch left off, moving the design brief in a new direction and elevating the craftsmanship to a new level."
"Many Canadians may not realize that the United States isn't the only country that Canada shares a border with. W5's Kevin Newman takes a tour of Saint-Pierre et Miquelon; a tiny archipelago with a French connection."
Aussi: 'A Tempest in a Teapot’:Canadian Military Planning and the St. Pierre and Miquelon Affair, 1940-1942.
"There's a small stretch of soil north of the Rio Grande river that's still part of the United States, but exists below the Mexican border wall. The Atlantic went inside this no-man’s-land to uncover what life is like in a place that feels like not-quite America, but not-quite Mexico."