Biker, Happy Joan of Arc Day!

  • Hey Guest, Early bird pricing on the Summer Moot (29th July - 10th August) available until April 6th, we'd love you to come. PLEASE CLICK HERE to early bird price and get more information.

Goatboy

Full Member
Jan 31, 2005
14,956
17
Scotland
I know you Scots won't like it but the Russian gal has still got you beat.

Interesting that they thouht of germs, how very hygenic. was it the last time they did biological decontamination?

Yes, we just rely on the airing qualities of the kilt you see! That and a good whisky rubdown from a redheaded Scots lass.
 

Goatboy

Full Member
Jan 31, 2005
14,956
17
Scotland
Pa! Happy Benjamin Bonneville Day!
(Nope it ain't about motorbikes!)
Pd_photo_benjamin_bonneville.jpg

On this day in 1832 Benjamin Bonneville leads the first wagon train across the Rocky Mountains by using Wyoming's South Pass.
Benjamin Louis Eulalie de Bonneville (April 14, 1796 – June 12, 1878) was a French-born officer in the United States Army, fur trapper, and explorer in the American West. He is noted for his expeditions to the Oregon Country and the Great Basin, and in particular for blazing portions of the Oregon Trail.
During his lifetime, Bonneville was made famous by an account of his explorations in the west written by Washington Irving.
Benjamin was born in or near Paris, France, the son of the French publisher Nicolas Bonneville and his wife Marguerite Brazier. When he was seven, his family moved to the United States in 1803; their passage was paid by Thomas Paine. Paine had lodged with the Bonnevilles in France and was godfather to Benjamin and his two brothers, Louis and Thomas. In his will, Paine left the bulk of his estate to Marguerite who had cared for him until he died in 1809. The inheritance included one hundred acres (40.5 ha) of his New Rochelle, New York farm where they had been living, so she could maintain and educate her sons.

In 1813 the young Bonneville received an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. He graduated after only two years, receiving a commission as brevet second lieutenant of light artillery. In his early career, he served at posts in New England, Mississippi, and at Fort Smith in the Arkansas Territory.
In 1824, he was transferred to Fort Gibson in the Indian Territory and promoted to Captain. While traveling to France, he was a guest of General Lafayette. After returning from France, he was transferred in 1828 to Jefferson Barracks in Missouri.
While in Missouri, Bonneville was inspired by the writing of Hall J. Kelley, as well as editorials in the St. Louis Enquirer (edited at the time by Thomas Hart Benton) to join in the exploration of the American West. Bonneville met with Kelley, who was impressed by him and appointed him to lead one of the expeditions to the Oregon Country; it was scheduled to leave in early 1832. The lack of volunteers for the expedition forced the delay and eventual cancellation of the expedition, leaving Bonneville unrequited in his ambitions.
To pursue his desire to explore the west, he petitioned General Alexander Macomb for a leave of absence from the military, arguing that he would be able to perform valuable reconnaissance among the Native Americans in the Oregon Country, which at the time was under a precarious joint occupation of the U.S. and Britain. It was largely controlled by the Hudson's Bay Company. Macomb granted his request, a 26-month leave running from August 1831 to October 1833, and instructed him to gather all information that might be useful to the government. In particular, he was to pose as a fur trader and find out the natural history of the region, its climates, soils, geography, topography, mineral production, geology, and the character of the local tribes. Expenses for his exploration were paid by private donors, including Astorian Alfred Seton and possibly John Jacob Astor.
Bonneville married and had a daughter with his wife. After they both died, he did not remarry until after retiring from the military in 1866, when he settled in Fort Smith, Arkansas. There he married Sue Neis.
Aaron packs his wagon for the MOOT! - But fails to leave enough room for sausages!
 

Biker

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
They really were a breed apart those explorers. Thanks for today's history lesson son.

Packing for the Moot starts next week, but why would I need to pack sausages when Mesquite's offered to get them from his local butchers? Sitting here with my mouth watering at the prospect of lashings of gravy and mash with them. I think that will be one of the highlights of the Moot for me. Can't wait! (how sad is that?!)
 

Goatboy

Full Member
Jan 31, 2005
14,956
17
Scotland
They really were a breed apart those explorers. Thanks for today's history lesson son.

Packing for the Moot starts next week, but why would I need to pack sausages when Mesquite's offered to get them from his local butchers? Sitting here with my mouth watering at the prospect of lashings of gravy and mash with them. I think that will be one of the highlights of the Moot for me. Can't wait! (how sad is that?!)
Don't they have nice saucisses in France where you are Pa to keep you going, or is it a good old British banger you want?
 

Biker

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
The sausages here are... different. Probably a LOT healthier than the UK variety as they're often made from real meat rather than the pig's ears and ar$eholes. I have some in the freezer already, but.... there's something about the homemade sausages made by a local and trusted butcher in the UK that stands head an shoulders on the stuff I can get locally. The UK butchers make them using ingredients that break from the routine and they turn out to be very complimentary to the flavour. Here in rural Normandy if you consider just putting mixed herbs in the saucisses you risk being burned at the stake in the town square for heresy.

They're rather traditional over here, at least where I am, so much so it's actually a fault. The locals often won't accept an alternate way of doing something, even if the new method is shown to be better they won't budge from the old ways- "Parce que nous avons toujours fait comme ça."
 

Goatboy

Full Member
Jan 31, 2005
14,956
17
Scotland
Biker! Happy Surrey Iron Railway Day!
Surrey_Iron_Railway_watercolou  r.jpg

Morning Pa! Well call the Fat Controller (though he's not allowed to be called that anymore) and tell his that his ancestors probable got a job today in history as in 1803 - The Surrey Iron Railway, arguably the world's first public railway, opens in south London.
The Surrey Iron Railway (SIR) was a horse-drawn plateway that linked Wandsworth and Croydon via Mitcham, all then in Surrey but now suburbs of south London, in England. It was established by Act of Parliament in 1801, and opened partly in 1802 and partly in 1803. It was a toll railway on which carriers used horse traction. The chief goods transported were coal, building materials, lime,manure, corn and seeds.
The Croydon, Merstham and Godstone Railway was built as an extension of the railway but by a separate company. It opened in 1805 and closed in 1838.
The Surrey Iron Railway was commercially successful only briefly, until shortly after the opening of the canal between Croydon and London in 1809. It closed in 1846.

By the end of the eighteenth century, a number of short plateways, such as those to the Caldon Low quarries and the Little Eaton Gangway, had been built. Their purpose was to convey a mineral to a nearby canal for onward transport.
The original plan for a transport connection between Wandsworth, on the River Thames, and the industries of the Wandle Valley had been a canal scheme, put forward in 1799, but doubts about the availability of water led to the adoption of a plateway. This was the world's first railway authorised by Parliament independently of a canal, and the first railway company, though it was not the first public railway.
It received the Royal Assent on 21 May 1801, and work commenced immediately with William Jessop as engineer, George Leather as resident engineer, and joint contractor with Benjamin Outram. The line started at a wharf at on the Thames at Wandsworth, and ascended gently through Tooting and Mitcham to Pitlake Mead in Croydon. There was a branch from near the site of the Mitcham Junction to oil-cake mills at Hackbridge, and a number of spurs to mills and works.
The initial share capital was £50,000 to which a further £10,000 was added in 1805-6. The final cost, including the dock at Wandsworth, was between £54,700 and £60,000. The main traffic was coal, building materials, lime, manure, corn and seeds. Horses were the motive power, and passengers were never contemplated.
The railway was only briefly successful financially. It lost much traffic after the Croydon Canal opened in 1809, though the full effect was not felt until the canal acquired a rail link to the two railways in 1811. Later it suffered from the closure of the underground stone quarries at Merstham in the 1820s. It covered its costs, but was unable to update its technology or to keep the track in good repair. It closed on 31 August 1846.

It was a public toll railway, providing a track for independent goods hauliers to use their own horses and wagons. The company did not operate its own trains. Sometimes it leased out the track and the dock, and sometimes it collected tolls and kept the line in repair itself.
It was double-track plateway with a spacing of about five feet between the centres of the stone blocks. The gauge was recorded as 4ft 2in,[SUP] [/SUP]the same as on the Croydon Merstham and Godstone Railway.
The rails were of the Outram pattern 3 feet 2 inches long, 4 inches on the tread except for 5 or 6 inches at the ends where they were half an inch thicker.
The nine-mile route followed the shallow valley of the River Wandle, then heavily industrialised with numerous factories and mills, from the River Thames at Wandsworth southwards to Croydon, at what is now Reeves Corner. A short branch ran from Mitcham to Hackbridge. The railway was extended by a separate company as the Croydon, Merstham and Godstone Railway through Purley and Coulsdon to quarries near Merstham, opened in 1805 and closed in 1838.

The advent of faster and more powerful steam locomotives spelled the end for horse-drawn railways. In 1823, William James, a shareholder in the railway, tried to persuade George Stephenson to supply a locomotive. Stephenson realised that the cast-iron plateway could not support the weight of a locomotive and declined.
In 1844 the proprietors sold the railway to the L&SWR, which sold it to the London and Brighton Railway so that the L&BR could use the trackbed to extend from Croydon to Earlsfield and then join the L&SWR line into Nine Elms and eventually Waterloo. However, the sale did not proceed, and on 3 August 1846 the Surrey Iron Railway obtained an Act of Parliament authorising its closure, which took place on 31 August 1846. Part of the route was used for part of the West Croydon to Wimbledon Line, part of the LB&SCR from 1856, and some of the route is in use by London Tramlink: routes 3 & 4 between Waddon Park & Waddon Marsh, and route 3 at Mitcham.
Surrey_Iron_Railway_poster.jpg


[video=youtube;Uhi515Pcvis]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uhi515Pcvis[/video]
 

Goatboy

Full Member
Jan 31, 2005
14,956
17
Scotland
The sausages here are... different. Probably a LOT healthier than the UK variety as they're often made from real meat rather than the pig's ears and ar$eholes. I have some in the freezer already, but.... there's something about the homemade sausages made by a local and trusted butcher in the UK that stands head an shoulders on the stuff I can get locally. The UK butchers make them using ingredients that break from the routine and they turn out to be very complimentary to the flavour. Here in rural Normandy if you consider just putting mixed herbs in the saucisses you risk being burned at the stake in the town square for heresy.

They're rather traditional over here, at least where I am, so much so it's actually a fault. The locals often won't accept an alternate way of doing something, even if the new method is shown to be better they won't budge from the old ways- "Parce que nous avons toujours fait comme ça."

Must admit to being a sausage nut too and it's a kind of a sad reflection on us that the British sausage industry was revamped by a South African butcher who was appalled by what he found here in the 80's when he moved here. He thought that UK saudsages would be the best but found them very poor. So started off his business and soon the other butchers and supermarkets followed suit.

Brother Bob and I got some snorkers from Wholefoods yesterday and they're arguably the best snorkers outside an artisan butcher. We had the spicey Italian ones for tea with an arrabbiata sauce and linguini. Lovely, then pork ones for breakfast. The have a really nice taste and testure with a good crumb to them.

I quite like French sausages though some can be a bit "lumpy". And I know what you mean about hot traditional the French can be. (Why we have so many troubles with their EU farming policy.)

Well not many sleeps 'till you get over to Blighty and get some British beef inside you (Ooer misses!), I'm sure that Uncle Kelly and the others will feed you up!.

Take care Pa.
 

Goatboy

Full Member
Jan 31, 2005
14,956
17
Scotland

Biker! Happy Przewalski’s horse Day!
640px-Takhi_Hustai.jpg

Well Pa I don't know if you are getting these as you may be MOOT bound (you will be bound after all those sausages) but I'll carry on anyway. So be happy and following on from yesterdays horse drawn choo-choo's we're staying in an equine meme as today in 2013 - the first Przewalski’s horse (whose wild populations were believed extinct in 1969) is born via artificial insemination at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute as part of a worldwide effort to rebuild the wild herds.
Przewalski's horse or Dzungarian horse, is a rare and endangered subspecies of wild horse (Equus ferus) native to the steppes of central Asia, specifically Mongolia. At one time extinct in the wild (in Mongolia, the last wild Przewalski's horses had been seen in 1969), it has been reintroduced to its native habitat in Mongolia at the Khustain Nuruu National Park, Takhin Tal Nature Reserve, and Khomiin Tal. The taxonomic position is still debated, and some taxonomists treat Przewalski's horse as a species, Equus przewalskii.
Common names for this equine include Asian wild horse, Przewalski's wild horse, Mongolian wild horse, and takhi. Historical but obsolete names include true tarpan and Mongolian tarpan. The horse is named after the Russian geographer and explorer Nikolai Przhevalsky.
Most "wild" horses today, such as the American Mustang or the Australian Brumby, are actually feral horses descended from domesticated animals that escaped and adapted to life in the wild. In contrast, Przewalski's horse has never been domesticated and remains a truly wild animal today. Przewalski's horse is one of three known subspecies of Equus ferus, the others being the domesticated horse Equus ferus caballus, and the extinct tarpan Equus ferus ferus. The Przewalski's horse is considered the only remaining truly wild horse in the world. There are still a number of other wild equines, including three species of zebra and various subspecies of the African wild bottom, onager (including the Mongolian wild bottom), and kiang.
Many believe that the Przewalski horse is the closest relative to the domestic horse. Although there have been many debates on whether the Przewalski horse has a direct linkage to the domesticated horse. Studies of the DNA diversity within the Przewalski horses have been done to see how successful their reintroduction into the wild may be. Studies have shown through multidimensional scaling (MDS) analyses that tight grouping of within most horse breeds, close grouping between related breeds, and far less grouping between mixed breeds. The Przewalski horse and the domesticated horse showed a close relationship through pairwise genetic distance and Multidimensional scaling analyses showing that the Przewalski horse is very closely related to the domesticated horse.
The Przewalski's horse was described in 1881 by L. S. Poliakov. The taxonomic position of Przewalski's horse has always been problematic and no consensus exists whether it is a full species (Equus przewalskii), a subspecies of the wild horse (Equus ferus przewalskii), or even a sub-population of the horse (Equus ferus). Studies using DNA have been inconclusive, in part due to crossing domestic horses into the Przewalski's horse as well as the limited genetic variation present in the founder population of the Przewalski's horse. A 2009 molecular study using ancient DNA recovered from archaeological finds like bones and teeth places the Przewalski's horse in the middle of the domesticated horses, but 2011 mitochondrial DNA analysis suggests that the Przewalski and the modern domestic horse diverged some 160,000 years ago. An analysis based on whole genome sequencing and calibration with DNA from old horse bones gave a divergence date of 38–72 thousand years ago. The karyotype of the domestic horse differs from that of Przewalski’s horse by an extra chromosome pair either because of the fission of domestic horse chromosome 5 in Przewalski’s horse or fusion of Przewalski’s horse chromosomes 23 and 24 in the domestic horse. In comparison, the chromosomal differences between domestic horses and zebras include numerous translocations, fusions, and inversions. Przewalski’s horse is known to have the highest diploid chromosome number among all equine species. Przewalski’s horse can interbreed with the domestic horse and produce fertile offspring (65 chromosomes).
All Przewalski horses in the world are descended from nine of the 13 (two of which were hybrids, one being from a wild horse stallion and domestic mare and the other from a wild stallion and a tarpan mare) horses in captivity in 1945. These thirteen horses were mostly descended from approximately 15 captured around 1900. A cooperative venture between the Zoological Society of London and Mongolian scientists has resulted in successful reintroduction of these horses from zoos into their natural habitat in Mongolia; and as of 2011 there is an estimated free-ranging population of over 300 in the wild. From a population of 31 horses in captivity in 1945, the total number of these horses by the early 1990s was over 1,500.

Przewalski's horse is stockily built in comparison to domesticated horses, with shorter legs. Typical height is about 12–14 hands (48–56 inches, 122–142 cm), length is about 2.1 m (6 ft 11 in). They weigh around 300 kilograms (660 lb). The coat is generally dun in colour with pangaré features, varying from dark brown around the mane (which stands erect) to pale brown on the flanks and yellowish-white on the belly and around the muzzle. The legs of Przewalski's horse are often faintly striped, also typical of primitive markings. The tail is about 90 cm (35.43 in) long, with a longer dock and shorter hair than seen in domesticated horses.
The hooves of the Przewalski's horse are longer in the back and have significantly thicker sole horn than feral horses. This is beneficial as it improves the performance of the hooves.
The Przewalski's horse has 66 chromosomes, compared to 64 in all other horse species.
In the 15th century, Johann Schiltberger recorded one of the first European sightings of the horses in the journal of his trip to Mongolia as a prisoner of the Mongol Khan. The horse is named after the Russian colonel Nikolai Przhevalsky (1839–1888) (the name is of Polish origin and "Przewalski" is the Polish spelling). He was the explorer and naturalist who first described the horse in 1881, after having gone on an expedition to find it, based on rumors of its existence. Many of these horses were captured around 1900 by Carl Hagenbeck and placed in zoos.

The native population declined in the 20th century due to a combination of factors, with the wild population in Mongolia dying out in the 1960s. The last herd was sighted in 1967 and the last individual horse in 1969. Expeditions after this failed to locate any horses, and the species had been designated "extinct in the wild" for over 30 years.
After 1945 only two captive populations in zoos remained, in Munich and in Prague. The most valuable group, in Askania Nova, Ukraine, was shot by German soldiers during World War II occupation, and the group in the United States had died out. Competition with livestock, hunting, capture of foals for zoological collections, military activities, and harsh winters recorded in 1945, 1948 and 1956 are considered to be the main causes of the decline in the Przewalski's horse population. By the end of the 1950s, only 12 individual Przewalski's horses were left in the world.
[video=youtube;CS8ZfVTE4SM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CS8ZfVTE4SM[/video]
 

crosslandkelly

A somewhat settled
Jun 9, 2009
26,305
2,245
67
North West London
I've eaten horse meat in France, but would draw the line at Przewalski's horse, way to rare. :rolleyes:
Sorry you won't be at the moot this year aunty, I'll keep an eye on pa for you, and try to ration his sausage intake.
 

Biker

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
I've eaten horse meat in France, but would draw the line at Przewalski's horse, way to rare. :rolleyes:
Sorry you won't be at the moot this year aunty, I'll keep an eye on pa for you, and try to ration his sausage intake.

You just try it! Men have died horribly for lesser crimes than stepping between me and sozzies!

I have yet to try horse meat... I think. I may have had it a while ago though, can't honestly remember. Been to bed since then.
 

Mesquite

It is what it is.
Mar 5, 2008
27,883
2,936
62
~Hemel Hempstead~
I've eaten horse meat in France, but would draw the line at Przewalski's horse, way to rare. :rolleyes:
Sorry you won't be at the moot this year aunty, I'll keep an eye on pa for you, and try to ration his sausage intake.

You just try it! Men have died horribly for lesser crimes than stepping between me and sozzies!

To be honest it'd an easy time for me if I were to cook sausages every night for Aaron... he'd just get to miss out on the other meals I'm planning to serve, things like spag bol, lasagne, cottage pie, Thai red or green curry (not decided which yet) chilli, hamburger stew to name but a few ;)
 

Biker

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
To be honest it'd an easy time for me if I were to cook sausages every night for Aaron... he'd just get to miss out on the other meals I'm planning to serve, things like spag bol, lasagne, cottage pie, Thai red or green curry (not decided which yet) chilli, hamburger stew to name but a few ;)

Hmmmmm OK, I'll have the sozzies for breakfast and lunch then. Cunning swerve there eh? And TOUCH DOWN!!! (the crowd goes wild!)
 

Biker

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
You're cooking them then :p

What! There was me thinking you'd bring them to my tent at a respectable hour of the morning, none of this up with the dawn lark you and John enjoy. Brown sauce please, 'tween two slices of lightly toasted bread and with real butter. Not that axle grease margarine shyte! Thanks, treasure (big hugs).

Why do I know I shall be getting a broadside of Mint Imperials instead?
 

BCUK Shop

We have a a number of knives, T-Shirts and other items for sale.

SHOP HERE