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#1602084
Google suggests that today would have been the 325th birthday of John Harrison, inventor of the marine chronometer.

Dava Sobel's book "Longitude" describes the story and is a easy (and good) read.

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By cockney steve
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1602125
ISTR there was a TV documentary /play of this very name and subject- matter. May have seen some of it at a friend's house....one of the very, very few times when I have thought TV ownership may have some benefit.
:idea: It may be on you tube.

Edit....beaten by the demon cake -consumer. :D
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By Paul_Sengupta
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1602132
cockney steve wrote:one of the very, very few times when I have thought TV ownership may have some benefit.


Last night I watched the following, copied from another thread:

2100: Battlefield Britain: Battle of Britain, Peter and Dan Snow, repeat 0135
2200: Bomber Boys, McGregor brothers again!
2330: The Lancaster, Britain's Flying Past, John Sergeant

The night before, I watched:

2000: The Dambusters' Great Escape: Secret History (Tirpitz)
2100: Guy Martin: Last flight of the Vulcan bomber

The Guy Martin one has my aeroplane in the background... :D

All quite decent in their own way. There are many great documentaries around. Last night I also watched the David Attenborough programme on cross breeding of bears and bees.
#1602135
Paul_Sengupta wrote:.....
Last night I also watched the David Attenborough programme on cross breeding of bears and bees.


I missed that. The mind boggles on if the bear or the bee is the male or the female. :?: at least if the bee is the male he won’t need a step ladder to reach. :D

Rapid thread drift. I like bears, and this was taken the day after visiting the location of the sinking of the Tirpitz. Before someone says anything no part of me or the bear have been photoshopped or moved relatively to each other in any way.
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By cockney steve
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1602318
@GolfHotel said

Before someone says anything no part of me or the bear have been photoshopped or moved relatively to each other in any way.


Taxidermy at it's finest? :wink:

@Paul_Sengupta ....Well, that works out ~ £20 a pop, for Licence, Naa....I'll still stick with the computer, smug in the knowledge the knobbers are wasting resources sending threats every month because I don't have a TV licence. When I get really bored/ annoyed, I'll issue a small claims plaint for harassment.stack is about 6" high now, don't bother opening them any more and I gave the last bully-boy short shrift. He never returned with his search- warrant. :D ...bloody parasites.
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#1602354
cockney steve wrote:@GolfHotel said

blah blah blah


Taxidermy at it's finest? :wink:

more blah blah

.


I will have you know I have never been stuffed!
But I have been very close to real live wild Polar Bears (and Grizzlies, and Black Bears, and Spirit Bears)

This one is actually alive. :D and there is nothing between us other than a few vertical feet of air.
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#1602927
Harrison's story was one of many "unsung hero" stories I found in my teens, before the days of the internet - when there were these funny buildings called "library", and who had subscriptions to weird old publications (like the Fortean Times), ,had microfiche readers, catalog card drawers longer than yer arm etc, and evil demons who tried to extract money for some temporal discrepancies in the lending agreement.

So nice to see Harrison is still being talked about though!
If I understood his character,he'd be happy that his work is appreciated, not academically - but practically.