The Wright Brothers were not the first to fly! (April Fools 2021)

[dan_inbox]

Gaël, what would you think of jokes about Bataclan or Charlie Hebdo?

 

[Arjen]

I cannot think of hard and fast rules to judge what is tasteless and what is not. In general, I make up my mind when I see the material. The jokes about Carrero Blanco strayed too far, in my opinion. Jokes about Charlie Hebdo - they made some themselves, drew a wry grin when I saw them.

 

[galgot]

Gaël, what would you think of jokes about Bataclan or Charlie Hebdo?

Very bad taste. Scores of innocents killed for nothing by bastards. Absolutely nothing funny.
But please dan_inbox , try to relativize, although it was an attack too, that admiral death was decades ago during a rule not especially known for great democratic values at the time, he was not a child at heart either compare to the ones that killed him. And his way of dying was quite ... aeronautic , so I have no problems laughing about it now (sorry for the driver and the other officer tho...).
Its very far from laughing about the Bataclan or Charlie Hebdo, or 9/11 and stuff like that. Don't put my laughing in the same "basket" please...

 

[avion ancien]

Since April Fool's Day is over and, presumably, this topic has served its purpose, would not the most appropriate course of action now be for a moderator to delete it in its entirety, before it proceeds down the almost inevitable polarised political road?

 

[Archibald]

Gaël, what would you think of jokes about Bataclan or Charlie Hebdo?

Very bad taste. Scores of innocents killed for nothing by bastards. Absolutely nothing funny.
But please dan_inbox , try to relativize, although it was an attack too, that admiral death was decades ago during a rule not especially known for great democratic values at the time, he was not a child at heart either compare to the ones that killed him. And his way of dying was quite ... aeronautic , so I have no problems laughing about it now (sorry for the driver and the other officer tho...).
Its very far from laughing about the Bataclan or Charlie Hebdo, or 9/11 and stuff like that. Don't put my laughing in the same "basket" please...

Couldn't have said it better. The comparison is all wrong, really.

But ok, let this thread die... (note: there is an IGNORE button which can be very useful, really... it works two ways, I ignore some people but they are FREE to ignore my little insignificant self - I'm no center of the universe by any mean)

I don't want to embarass him by any mean, or taking him "hostage" (I really don't want ) - but as a spanish people Justo Miranda didn't seemed bothered with my lame jokes about the "rocketing admiral"... ok forget that.

 

[Arjen]

To be clear: I completely agree with Dan about the Carrero Blanco matter. I think the jokes about his death were in poor taste. ETA thought the general deserved to die. A bodyguard and driver were also mortally wounded in the attack, the killers didn't care much about others dying. In my opinion, the Franco regime was morally bankrupt, from start to finish. ETA, in the end, was no better - they carried on bombing and killing until 2009.

 

[galgot]

Gaël, what would you think of jokes about Bataclan or Charlie Hebdo?

Very bad taste. Scores of innocents killed for nothing by bastards. Absolutely nothing funny.
But please dan_inbox , try to relativize, although it was an attack too, that admiral death was decades ago during a rule not especially known for great democratic values at the time, he was not a child at heart either compare to the ones that killed him. And his way of dying was quite ... aeronautic , so I have no problems laughing about it now (sorry for the driver and the other officer tho...).
Its very far from laughing about the Bataclan or Charlie Hebdo, or 9/11 and stuff like that. Don't put my laughing in the same "basket" please...

Couldn't have said it better. The comparison is all wrong, really.

But ok, let this thread dies... (note: there is an IGNORE button which can be very useful, really... it works two ways, I ignore some people but they are FREE to ignore my little insignificant self - I'm no center of the universe by any mean)

Exactly. Dan_inbox, if you are really shocked repeatedly by someone's humour just put it on your ignore list.
Or if you feel and are shocked by some jokes or posts that infringe the forum rules , then report to mods and let them handle that according to the forum rules.
I myself can be shocked by certain racists jokes or comments, or posts clearly made repeatedly to derail threads into OT or politics. But not by a francist astronaut admiral joke obviously, maybe a bit "border", but I find pretty funny. Nothing to gives others behaving or morality lessons.
But the level and subjects are different for everyone.

 

[steelpillow]

I agree with Dan up to a point; jokes about a political assassination by terrorists can be offensive. But on the other hand, one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. Celebrating a severe blow to Fascist dictatorship in Spain can be no bad thing; one wonders how many British subjects suffered or lost their lives on his watch throughout his career.
The dividing line is a fine point of political etiquette for us poor secret project geeks. How far can we reasonably go?
I feel that the joke is transient, any offence endures with the post. As I am the OP here and the ensuing discussion is getting out of hand, I have asked if the offending posts can be deleted.

 

[Jemiba]

I fully second dan_inbox here ! Please, keep good style and behaviour !
And if you judge someone, as having been murdered, executed, or assassinated
for good reason, and regard it as absolutely ok, it may not be ok to others, who
can easily feel offended.
Always remember Gandalfs words, spoken in Moria :"Many of those alive deserve
death, but many of the dead deserve life ! Can you give it to them ? Then you shouldn't
be so quick off the mark with a death sentence !"
Just a translation from the German text, the original version may be different, sorry, but
I hope, the intention is clear.

 

[Tzoli]

Staggering discovery! The Wright Brothers were not the first to fly! Hungarian Gniko Jebtsumuoy beat them to it in 1885, by almost twenty years.
Unpublished documents in the British Library collections include a copy of a letter sent to the FAI (Federation Aeronautique Internationale) in 1907, describing Jebtsumoy's achievements. One can only assume that the FAI suppressed it in order to claim European primacy for Santos-Dumont's flight in France.
Gniko Jebtsumuoy was a coachbuilder who tinkered with steam-powered carriages alongside his main trade in the horse-drawn variety. When he came across Henson's idea for an aerial carriage, he was entranced and determined to build one.
A competent engineer, he recognised the need for a light but powerful aero engine and spent the next ten years developing one. The description is vague - the letter-writer was clearly not an engineer himself - but seems to have been a kind of hybrid boiler system with flash steam augmentation.
Next came the aircraft itself. Over the next fifteen years he developed a bat-like design with wings which curved curiously down at the tips. This, he declared, made the machine stable so that the task of the helmsman would be no more arduous than for a steam ship, a task discharged through the insertion of hinges a short disatnce behind the leading edge of the wings, with wires attached to the hinged front sections in such a manner that turning the tiller would tilt them up or down or in opposite directions as required.
His first and only successful flight came on 1 April 1885 when, in front of Count Yammonei Anddron, the Countess and several guests and members of their household, he lifted into the air and flew "twice the length of the village high street, before turning in somewhat unsteady manner with the apparent intention of returning. However the trees alongside the brook stood in his path and he was forced to release the steam valve and bring the machine down somewhat abruptly, breaking the axle so that the machine slid ignominiously on its belly to a standstill."
The steam release caused the engine tubes to overheat and burn out. Anddron, his amusement sated, declined to fund repairs and commanded Jebtsumuoy to confine his work to horse-drawn carriages henceforth.
The letter refers to construction drawings, eyewitness statements and an illustrated clipping from a "most eminent" Hungarian journal, but the BL does not have copies of these. It also refers to copies sent to "that foreigner G.W. who showed such interest" some years earlier. This must have been German-born Gustav Weisskopf, who would later emigrate to America and, as Gustave Whitehead, claim to have flown a mere two years before the Wrights. This is clear because a short note, in a different hand, is attached to the BL copy; "Showed this to Whitehead and he said yes, this was the machine that he improved. Abandoned the front flaps because they blew back once any speed was reached." It is signed Dahnee Bevahuoy.

I know this is a April's Fool joke but where did you got that name? As I'm a Hungarian that is absolutely not a Hungarian name at all

 

[steelpillow]

Hungarian Gniko Jebtsumuoy

Count Yammonei Anddron

Dahnee Bevahuoy.

I know this is a April's Fool joke but where did you got that name? As I'm a Hungarian that is absolutely not a Hungarian name at all

The first and third names need to be read backwards and spaces rearranged. The middle name needs to be read aloud as an English phrase.

I knew the names would look silly in any language, and Chose Hungarian because it is a wonderful country we British should not forget.

 

[Justo Miranda]

Regarding the jokes about Carrero Blanco, April first or not, frankly I find it rather poor form to make fun and rejoice at the assassination of a prime minister by a terrorist organization like ETA, which at the time was allied with Muammar Ghaddafi PLO, PFLP, and and the IRA.
It is not a matter of supporting the Francoists (which I don't), it is a matter of human decency.

Rather disappointing. Especially here.

Prime Minister of a political system that imprisoned me for three months for photocopying a book, when I was an IBM 360 programmer as young as 19. On the day of the attack I was doing military service, there was extreme censorship, we were banned from radio and we thought it was a coup d’etat. The situation became even more dangerous when the soldiers in practice mutiny refused to carry weapons and intervene in any kind of repressive military activity. In the end things calmed down, but we could have ended up like Koreans and Cubans because of Kissinger's stupid politics. On the personal grounds I don't hold any grudges, I actually know some members of Carrero's family and they're very good people.

 

[Archibald]

Talking about personal experiences... that (controversial !) joke about the Admiral - I learned it from my spanish room mates while an ERASMUS student in Malaga, Spain.

I was lucky not being in Madrid because the year was 2004.

Spring 2004 - remember the Atocha bombings that left 191 dead ? El 11 M.

I landed in Spain early February, found my room mates later in the month. We barely knew each others when THIS horror happened. It was an ordinary day - until I found one of the flat mates shaking with rage and horror in front of the TV.
And the carriages blown apart... dear God.
Spain very own 2015 terror attacks. Life froze in horror for the next month. Went to the monster street protests that followed. To the faculty hommages, invariably concluded with applause, the spanish way of ending the ceremony. Unforgetable experience, to say the least. Still got chills typing this... 17 years later.

I have no complacency or patience for hatred violence terrorism fanaticism and populism - so you guess that I'm quite worried with the present direction taken by France and the election next year. Better not talking about it.

Let this thread die and be locked if needed.

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

Enjoyed original joke. Over now!