Fullerene

Not so different actually. Bill Hickman was the driver in Love Bug even if you don't see him and the guy driving the car that Steve McQueen is chasing.in Bullitt. He was also involved in French Connection and the Seven Ups.

If you are want to visit Alcatraz - you need to book now! I was in San Francisco recently and the next available ticket was a month later. Also - don't ask a taxi driver to take you along the route used in the car chase from Bullitt. They cheated!

Mini road trip in America? Need to get my head around that. Some Americans would say "mini road trip" describes Land's End to John O Groats

Yeah. .. but he probably had to go and buy himself a new door!

I have been to the United States loads of times and my work means I typically go at least once a year. I will always remember the story of that guy from Aberdeen who was visiting Houston. He was in a taxi with some work colleagues and suddenly he decided he did not want to be with them. He got out of the taxi, went to a house nearby and banged on the door. The owner thinking it might be a burglar, shot him through his own door - and the Scottish guy was killed. I accept this might be unusual but it only has to happen to you once and that's it. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/scot-is-shot-dead-when-mistaken-for-prowler-1405505.html

Yeah. They took one look at something like this and said "Hey that will scare the shit out of anyone"

Any chance "The Charge of the Light Brigade" can be blamed on one piper playing a bum note?

Not everybody loves the pipes. Were there not instances of enemy soldiers who couldn't cover their ears and hold a gun at the same time?

Guns is probably the number one reason I would not like to live in America. Centuries ago, America started off with lots of frontier country involved which meant there were lots of dangerous people about and not enough policemen and soldiers to provide protection. If you wanted to live in a log cabin miles from anyone, nobody was going to protect you but you. Back then it made sense but why that mindset still exists now - I have no idea but it does. I am also astonished that anyone is entitled to have their own private arsenal that goes way beyond protecting themselves from a bear or something.

Some people would argue that the Civil War and the confederacy was about the Southern States being able to make their own decisions instead of being bossed about by the North. That in itself sounds fair enough. The thing is that the only decision they really cared about was the issue of slavery. All the other issues would not have led to war. The same people would argue that the Confederate flag is simply about identity and saying "Hey, I am from one of the old confederate states." However, there is also a certain stigma to this - so the only people likely to do so are those like the nutjobs in Charlotteville. By the way, the Confederate flag is "a Saltire" as is the flag of Alabama - as opposed to the flag of Scotland which is "The Saltire" (as is the flag of Tenerife and that of the Russian Navy, which like Scotland are the flag of St. Andrew)

During the Presidential elections, commentators started talking about how suitable and qualified Ronald Reagan was to President compared to Trump. I never thought I would ever hear such praise of Reagan. Now - Presidents George H Bush and George W Bush have spoken out against racism - and maybe people will start talking about what a decent guy George W is. What is the world coming to? I worry that in twenty years time - people will be saying "This guy is awful - I wish we could get Trump back." Hopefully it will never come to that.

I think the ska approach would work where halfway through they up the tempo, quick knees up and stop taking themselves too seriously.

Totally botched things up with Hitler - thought the Nazi-Soviet Pact was great - and was supplying arms to the Nazis up until the day they attacked the USSR. He also decimated the armed forces - killing anyone he could not trust - virtually all of them. Collectivization was disastrous and killed millions with famine. Great guy - eh. The Russians seem to think so. https://themoscowtimes.com/news/stalins-popularity-in-russia-reaches-16-year-high-57152

If anyone thinks I am going to try and get past these bouncers to go drinking in that pub - they can forget it. I think I will just go elsewhere.

The Russians were terrified by Operation Able Archer back in 1983 but if Kim Jong Un gets a little bit paranoid about all this - he has his uncle and half brother to keep him thinking straight. Oh hang on - he had them both killed.

For the Koreans - Yes. I think it was all a case of "The Russians are getting restless. They want a bit of Japan and not just the Kurile Islands" "They're not getting any of Japan. Give 'em somewhere else." "Okay where is this bit?" "Who cares - just give it to them. No - hang on. Cut in two and they can have half and we'll keep the other half. Don't see why they should get the lot." Of course, all of this was agreed to without anybody bothering to ask the Koreans themselves - but that is power politics for you and not that different from carving up Africa. .. and the Koreans were in no way responsible for World War 2 kicking off in the first place.

Okay. I stand corrected. Queen's Park was established in 1867 as the oldest association football team in Scotland - and probably not by Jefferson Davis but I can't be sure. Oh, and Alan Pinkerton of ("Pinkerton Detective Agency" fame) who was very helpful to Lincoln (as opposed to Lee) in the Civil War was originally from the Gorbals (which is not a million miles from Queen's Park by the way) - just so nobody accuses me of going off-thread.

In 1867, did you say? The same year that Queen's Park became the first professional football team in Scotland. Maybe just a coincidence but maybe awkward if it is not.

If I recall correctly, Lincoln asked him to take command of Northern forces before he decided to join the Southern cause. Once he had gone to the south, they confiscated his house and turned his garden into Arlington cemetery. Some of the state flags in the South are still modeled on the confederacy and the people see the Civil War as more than a fight about slavery. They would also point out that several famous Americans from an early time - such as Thomas Jefferson - were slave owners but don't seem to get criticized for it. I am not saying I agree with them - just pointing out where they are coming from. I went to South Carolina a few years back. At the time of the civil war, the slave population in the state was 400,000 and the non-slave population was only 300,000. I can see how freeing all the slaves might have changed things a bit.

How would you like to be the driver of that car? They can't even be bothered to clear the snow off the windscreen. No pressure eh!

Not sure what you mean by that. I know plenty of people who didn't cry when Thatcher died. Imagine explaining the popularity of "Hooray, the witch is dead" to the North Koreans!

I'm not - but he did have issues. Rather a lot actually. I am sure his mother loved him - at least before he had her shot.

Surprisingly on-thread remark actually! Some people in North Korea when to prison for not crying enough when Kim Jong Il died. Imagine if Thatcher had insisted on that. Al least half of Scotland would be behind bars now.

Stalin was just paranoid full stop - and dangerous to know. I have read numerous books where somebody met him and suddenly their live was in danger. For example, some specialist might talk to him about the mating habits of butterflies and he would decide it went against communist ideology and therefore the specialist had to be shot.

Both sides are to blame and I totally agree that the Soviet system was pretty much shit everywhere. I was simply pointing out the USA was not entirely innocent in this matter. On reflection, at the end of the war, the Soviets were still "allies" even if the Americans no longer trusted them. If the Soviets wanted to sent a million soldiers from Manchuria over to Japan "to get their photograph in front of Mount Fuji" then what would the Americans do about it. They hardly wanted to start the next war when they had only just finished the last one. So I guess appeasement was the easiest option and unfortunately Korea was located in the wrong place.