[Leica] Walls that work - or not

[tcharara at mac.com (Tarek Charara)]

The worst walls are the ones that are built in the minds... I can see  
them everyday! They're called fear, discrimination, hate,  
superstition... etc. etc.

All the best from the south of France!

Tarek

-------------------------------------------------
Tarek Charara
<http://www.pix-that-stimulate.com>


Le 5 janv. 10 ? 00:39, Douglas Sharp a ?crit :

> Walls only really work in the minds of the people who build them,  
> and it almost always depends which side of the wall you are on and  
> whether you are being kept in or out.
>
> A bit of wall history:
>
> A significant part of the Maginot line failed completely in WWII  
> because the commander who had the keys to a strategic fort section  
> went on holiday and took them with him. The German army just marched  
> around it.
>
> (Source: Military Blunders - book and BBC 2 documentary series by  
> Geoffrey Regan)
>
> The "Great Wall" of Britain and the Vikings:
>
> Hadrian's Wall (117 km / 73.5 miles long)  was built to defend the  
> northernmost border of the Roman Empire in Britain against marauding  
> tribes from what is now Scotland. Work began around 122 AD and took  
> approximately six years to complete (they obviously didn't need to  
> get planning permission from the local government ;-) ). The wall  
> was finally abandoned around 140 AD.
>
> The settlers who followed found it a wonderful source of ready-made  
> building stone.
>
> Viking raiders first started to attack the English coast in the 8th  
> century, centuries after the Romans had left, the most famous attack  
> being on Lindisfarne Priory in Northumberland.
>
> The raids soon gained a more geopolitical aspect as the Vikings  
> (Norsemen) began to settle in the areas north and a little to the  
> south of the river Humber and as far north as Northumberland and  
> Durham.
>
> There were actually two different groups of Vikings - the Danes  
> (invaded as settlers) and the Norwegians (looting warriors) - and  
> their spheres of influence were more or less geographically  
> separated by the Pennine hills down the backbone of northern England  
> - Norwegians in the West and Danes in the East.
>
> Larger cities and trading communities were built at strategic  
> locations on navigable rivers like the Ouse that flows through York  
> - first a Roman settlement (Eboracum, where Emperor Constantine was  
> crowned) ) then, later, a Viking settlement (Jorvik).
>
> King Alfred won a decisive battle against the Vikings at Edington  
> and made a treaty with the settlers that limited their sphere of  
> influence to Lincolnshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire and the  
> northernmost counties of England (Danelaw).
>
> The last great battle between Britons and Vikings took place at  
> Stamford Bridge (near York) in 1066 (a bad year for Britain, the  
> army was still exhausted from the battle and King Harald lost  
> against the Normans at Hastings after, according to the Bayeux  
> Tapestry, he got an arrow in his eye.
>
> Apparently, one side of my family is descended from early Norse  
> christian settlers - my mother's side has the name Barraclough,  
> originally the locational name "beara cloh", describing the village  
> they originated from - roughly meaning wooded slope or wooded ravine.
>
> Many of the words in the Yorkshire dialect I grew up with are of  
> Viking (Norse) origin, e.g. laik = to play, skep = basket, ginnel =  
> narrow street or snicket (all of which I used as a child) as in "Is  
> yower Martin laikin aht - wirrof darnt ginnel un off ovver to't mill  
> to laik abaht in't skeps."
>
> The enormous baskets piled up outside the textile mills were great  
> for playing hide and seek.
>
> There are hundreds more here: 
> http://www.viking.no/e/england/e-yorkshire_norse.htm
>
> Cheers
> Douglas
>
>
>
>
> On 04.01.2010 23:20, Mark Rabiner wrote:
>>> Spencer wrote:
>>> "Walls never work. The Great Wall didn't work. The Maginot Line  
>>> didn't
>>> either. We are dealing with a global clash of cultures and  
>>> religions. My
>>> opinions only of course. :)"
>>>
>>> Actually some walls work very well. The Great Wall worked to keep  
>>> Mongols
>>> out of China for several hundred years. Hadrian's wall kept what  
>>> is now
>>> England from speaking Norwegian or Celtic. The Israeli wall is  
>>> given credit
>>> for significantly reducing raids on Israel. The Maginot Line would  
>>> have
>>> worked if the guns could have been pointed towards Belgium. The  
>>> only wall
>>> that didn't work in recent years is Wall Street. ;-)
>>> Larry Z
>>>
>>>
>>
>> Forgot the Walls of Jericho and the Berlin wall!
>> Which was so nice when it was no longer there.
>>
>> Mark William Rabiner
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>>
>>
>
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