March 2018
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“Only the good die young, all the evil seem to live forever” are lyrics from an Iron Maiden song. For many years—I thought this to be a true statement, as I saw so many evil men living long lives. However, luckily, I was wrong in that assumption. Sometimes, a good man does live a long…
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Who doesn’t know this classic Michael Jackson song? I have heard the song thousands of time and never gave the lyrics a second thought. It was not like it was controversial or anything, after all it was written by squeaky clean Michael Jackson, right?? But there is a darker side to the song, although not…
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Before you start thinking that this will be a blog about Punk bands like the Sex Pistols singing about WWII, you’d be wrong. In fact, it has nothing to do with Punk music but more about Jazz. I am referring to Punk as a rebellion against the establishment. During WWII there were 2 groups very…
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There are no monsters under my bed who want to hurt me or do me harm There are no monsters under my bed, but I wish there were for I know they aren’t real. There are no monsters under my bed, but there are monsters everywhere else. The monsters can be a stranger, a teacher,…
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On this day 44 years ago, at Tenerife-North Airport (formerly Los Rodeos), two Boeing 747’s – one KLM, the other Pan Am – crashed on a foggy runway. 583 people were killed in what remains the biggest air disaster in history. Neither of the planed were supposed to be there, they had both been diverted…
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World War II saw rapid technological innovation in response to the needs of the various combatants. Many different weapons systems evolved as a result, but also data processing equipment. Machines such as this US Navy ‘Bombe’ (picture above)were used to assist cryptologists in deciphering German Enigma-machine encrypted secret messages during World War II. 1945. Following are…
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Easter nowadays has little to do with the religious meaning of the holiday. Now it only serves the god of commerce, it is all about large chocolate Easter eggs, self indulgence of food and drink. Don’t get me wrong I do enjoy it but I do find it a pity that the true meaning has…
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The Dutch are known for their love of bicycles. For most Dutch people it is the first choice of means of transport. Needless to say, the bicycle played an important role in World War II. There is a long-running joke about the Germans giving back Dutch bikes. The origin came from the German occupiers demanding…
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At the moment there is a lot of talk how social media is used to distribute propaganda, but the widespread of propaganda is nothing new. The ‘social media’ during WWII was the radio. About 18 months after the Germans invaded the Netherlands they started broadcasting German language course programs. During World War II radio listening…
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When I heard the title of the movie “Changeling” I thought Clint Eastwood deviated from his usual genres of Westerns and gritty dramas, and thought he was going to direct a Sci-fi movie but I could not have been further from the truth. Although the story sounded so incredible it was true. It is like…
History of Sorts 
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