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    • Brian Wolfe

      An Apology - of sorts

      By Brian Wolfe

      I often describe myself as slightly paranoid, which then seems to make others think I have some sort of philological issues.  I don’t believe I am being “watched” for example.  That would, in my opinion, suggest that I hold some degree of celebrity in my mind; this would also, if it were the case, indicate that I think that I am somehow a fellow of above average interest to others.  I must admit that if I were any less interesting people would fall asleep during a hand shake with me. Perhaps wha
      • 0 comments
      • 6,270 views

    MEMORIES OF WORLD WAR TWO - PART 11

    There have been some delays in finishing this Blog. The extension to our Photographic Competition took longer then we had expected. However - here are the final two parts to this section of my life - the younger part ! THE END BEGINS............... I covered in earlier chapters the damage to life and property created by the German V1 and V2 rockets - looking at the map which shows detonations I am amazed that any of us survived. However, after the D-Day landings in 1944 the Ger
    Mervyn Mitton

    Mervyn Mitton

    0

    Ghost of Collecting Past - A Christmas Carol?

    Ghost of Collecting Past – A Christmas Carol? In case you were expecting a story based on a Dickensian Novel I fear that I must disappoint you straight away. This becomes self-evident within the first sentence, yet somehow I was not dissuaded. The alarm clock/radio went off well before dawn as usual but today my ears were assaulted by a Christmas carol butchered by one of the new generation of so-called talented artists. Silent Night was never meant to be converted and offered up in Rap form
    Brian Wolfe

    Brian Wolfe

    4

    Because I Say So

    Because I Say So. We hear a lot about provenance here on the forum and more so on television in conjunction with antiques shows. Provenance, being the history of an object proving its authenticity, its pedigree so-to speak. So often we see photos alongside medals that we are told belonged to the subject in the photo but is “because I say so” really provenance? It would, of course, be impolite to suggest that a fellow member who was claiming, in this case the photo and medals belonged togeth
    Brian Wolfe

    Brian Wolfe

    5

    16 November 2011

    Added a few more pieces to the collection today... three medals to the PMR collection which I've already posted and one more veteran's medal (80 Years VDV) which I have yet to post. Two of the three PMR entries are Black Sea Cossack awards, one of which is quite rare in it's configuration. Have a look... Congratulations to all the Photo Contest winners. I really enjoyed all the submissions I saw, both winning and non-winning... nice work! Was somewhat disappointed that no Soviet or Soviet bloc
    Greg Collins

    Greg Collins

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    Some Things You Just Don't Change.

    I was born in a place in the Northern part of Ontario that no longer exists as a name place, Fort William. No, it was not razed to the ground during the French and Indian Wars, I'm not THAT old. Fort William was amalgamated with its sister city, Port Athur, to become the City of Thunder Bay.You will find this city on the map at the north western tip of Lake Superior. I grew up in a small town in south western Ontario and presently live in an even small in Central Ontario. I would not mind one
    Brian Wolfe

    Brian Wolfe

    1

    If at first you don't succeed..was it really worth the effort?

    Hello Everyone, This morning I attempted to launch my blog "News From the Home Office" and somehow after a good deal of work I hit the entry function and it was lost. This ticked me off to no end and I must say I took it out on a couple of my good friends and some bidders on eBay. I still have my friends and two new items for my collection, too bad I was angry as they really cost me, but so be it, let the low bidders hang their heads in shame. The title I have chosen works on a couple of l
    Brian Wolfe

    Brian Wolfe

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    2 November 2011

    A reprieve from the cold for a few days... temps soared into the 60's and, as I am off, got alot of work done around the house today. More tomorrow prior to returning to the grind on Friday (yes, I am on shift this weekend). This evening I got a chance to scan some DDR documents for the MfS (Stasi) sports organization, Dynamo and will couple these scans with their badges and add to my DDR collection tomorrow at some point. Two of the documents contain actual signatures (not stamps) of Erich Miel
    Greg Collins

    Greg Collins

    1

    29 October 2011

    I have just submitted what may be my final entry into the contest and, as I poured over the work of the last couple of days, I can really see the "commercial" in the Commercial Art/Photography degree... overworked, clean, "just so". The artwork I do is basically the same. It's all good, and I'm glad I know how to do it, but there are times I wish that my art was more relaxed, "free-er" and with more expression. Seems I'm a good technician but I wonder about "artist"... but, hey, I am what I am (
    Greg Collins

    Greg Collins

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    28 October 2011

    Off this weekend after two hellish days which culminated in very nearly a fight (yes, the physical kind) between myself and another supervisor in front of both officers and offenders- not good. I believe I may have some anger management issues; of course, it could be that I've come to the realization that I do, indeed, have an expiration date and no longer wish to waste the time I have left on bull sh*t, regardless from whom it may come. Oh well, three days to cool off. Put a few new entries i
    Greg Collins

    Greg Collins

    2

    MEMORIES OF WORLD WAR 2 - 10 - PART 2

    There has been some problems with the software - I have deleted photos that wouldn't show and will post them all in this section. Re-reading the last section I may have given the impression that we all walked around like shaking jellyfish - this would not be correct. The whole business of the War - from my point of view as a small boy growing-up, was quite surreal. I had no memories of times before these - so, strange as it may seem - these were part of my life. I think it would be
    Mervyn Mitton

    Mervyn Mitton

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    Various 'Bugs' in the system

    I have been working with IPB to fix the following issues which have recently come to light: Signatures not aligning properly within posts with images. I have rebuilt the skin and all is now fixed. Blog images not showing in blog posts. This is still work in progress. The following error was appearing if an URL was posted in a post or message relating to the gallery: Fatal error: Call to undefined method skin_gallery_global_23::bbCode() in /home/macmedal/public_html/admin/applications_addon/i
    Nick

    Nick

    0

    MEMORIES OF WORLD WAR 2 - PART 10

    .COMMENTS How the World has changed from these early days of WW2. Blitzkreig in 1940 - V1 Rockets in 1944 and V2 Rockets in late 1944 . Today we are so used to modern remote controlled weaponry - Tomahawk Cruise Missiles can fly hundreds of miles and land within a few metres of their targets The point I am making is that we had suffered 4 1/2 years of intensive bombing - damage that was quite unbelievable - and deaths by the tens of thousands. This was followed from June 1944 by th
    Mervyn Mitton

    Mervyn Mitton

    0

    Getting ready to travel

    Some of you may remember my situation with my Mom. Due to health reasons I moved her from Austin, Texas to West Richland, Washington on May 28th. She has a house now with my daughter living with her as a primary care giver. We had not been able to finalize the sale of her house in Austin so that has been hanging over us for the last 4 months. Well-Saturday (10/22) I fly to Austin to close on the house on the 26th and THEN, get to have my RAV 4 back! Of course, I then have a week or so to drive
    speagle

    speagle

    1

    20 October 2011

    Well, I'm sitting here bemoaning the fact that my vacation has come to an end; at 0545 tomorrow I will return to the title "Sergeant" and attend morning muster at the "joint". I have enjoyed being called "Mr. Collins" and/or "Greg" these past eleven days. Did run into an ex-convict while shopping locally, but for the life of me I cannot remember her name. I guess when you deal with 1200+ on more or less a daily basis this is bound to happen. Wished her well; hope I don't have occasion to "welcom
    Greg Collins

    Greg Collins

    0

    14 October 2011

    Still on vacation :-)!!! Got a few things done today around the house (it's been quite wet lately which has severely inhibited outside work). Also (dammit, dammit) went out and bought a new cell phone to replace the one I LOST within a 20 yard area- inside the house- I absolutely can not find the damned thing. I HATE getting old and senile :-( ! Can't see anymore; can't hear anymore and wet weather really settles on my joints. CRAP! OK, I'm ranting again... On the up side, I found a new dvd I h
    Greg Collins

    Greg Collins

    0

    Cell Phone trouble

    Tuesday I thought I was going to buy a Finnish Liberty Cross 3rd Class 1918 , a real scarce award Ok , since I didn´t want to raise the price before the last day I stayed cool and planned to give my bid on the way to Finland where I was going on a business trip tuesday-thursday . Yep , the cell phone died in the wrong moment and then I was on the plane , no connection and so on........ It went for 180 Euros wich was way too low ..... Lessons learned ? If you want it - Buy it , bid ea
    christerd

    christerd

    4

    MEMORIES OF WORLD WAR 2 - PART 9

    COMMENTS. I haven't really thought what I'm going to write about today. I think we have started to get towards the last two years of the War - and that was not the quiet time that we might have expected. I will probably cover it in two parts. I have enjoyed writing this - even if it is a little time consuming. I intend continuing until I was 12 and we left to live in Australia. I will cover the trip and stop when we arrive in Melbourne. I have said before - and will probably cont
    Mervyn Mitton

    Mervyn Mitton

    4

    10 October 2011

    Finally, at long last, thought it would never come... I'm on vacation! Yep, 11 days of paid unemployment. Began with, what else, some photos to update a gallery- the DDR gallery to be precise. Came up with an idea of "ganging" series medals, much as I did with a few of the Hungarian medals a little while ago. A bit easier on the photographer (me) and, I feel, more interesting than if you had to look at a separate image for each. Take a look. Thinking of knocking the Stasi shield collection down
    Greg Collins

    Greg Collins

    3

    A Couple of Badges

    I've been trying to sort and photograph my badges and it's a big job. Actually, it's more the fact that I keep getting sidetracked that makes it so time-consuming. A quick browse through the forums here - well there's an hour gone. Or, I'll grab Harry's photo album, maybe just to move it or put it back on the shelf, and I flick through again - another hour..... So, here's a couple of random pieces to show you in the meantime. These, I am quite obviously going to be unable to group with any othe
    Tracy

    Tracy

    5

    MEMORIES OF WORLD WAR 2 - Part 8

    COMMENT I was pleased to see a couple of friends have made comments - I was getting rather discouraged. There is no way of knowing if anyone is actually reading any of this - or, if any visitors are getting through. I intend at the end of today's post to show a number of wartime pictures. I was lucky enough to buy a bound volume of Picture Post - the main weekly magazine which showed the public pictures of what was happening. This covers part of 1940 - but, I have been promised the
    Mervyn Mitton

    Mervyn Mitton

    3

    6 October 2011

    Another 2 days off is coming to an end as I have to work the weekend this week- the schedule we work gives us every other weekend off. But if I can make it through the weekend, I have the next eleven days off!!! Woopie! The benefits of having to keep your vacation time accrued within established limits. Too much time on the books. Nothing much happening here... have had more photo opportunity regarding the galleries I'm maintaining. I've added quite a bit to the Bulgarian gallery (have a look)
    Greg Collins

    Greg Collins

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