Quotulatiousness

April 5, 2022

Tower Bridge Fighter Jet Incident | Tales From the Bottle

Filed under: Britain, History, Military — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 02:00

Qxir
Published 26 Nov 2021

This jet pilot decided to stage a protest in the skies of London, but his actions became more well known for an incident that occurred on his journey home.

“The Hawker Hunter Tower Bridge incident occurred on 5 April 1968 when Royal Air Force (RAF) Hawker Hunter pilot Alan Pollock performed unauthorised low flying over several London landmarks and then flew through the span of Tower Bridge on the Thames. His actions were to mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of the RAF and as a demonstration against the Ministry of Defence for not recognising it.

Upon landing he was arrested and later invalided out of the RAF on medical grounds, which avoided a court martial.”

More on Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawker_…

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From the comments:

Qxir
3 weeks ago (edited)
Yes, I know it’s pronounced “Tems” lol

QotD: The “rules” of bad writing

Filed under: Media, Quotations — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 01:00

Another common habit of the bad writer is to use five paragraphs when one paragraph will do the trick. One of the first rules they used to teach children about writing is the rule of women’s swimsuits. Good writing is like a woman’s swimsuit, in that it is big enough to cover the important parts, but small enough to make things interesting. This is a rule that applies to all writing and one bad writers tend to violate. They will belabor a point with unnecessary examples or unnecessary explication.

Bad writers are also prone to logical fallacies and misnomers. There’s really no excuse for this, as there are lists of common logical fallacies and, of course, searchable on-line dictionaries in every language. In casual writing, like blogging or internet commentary, this is tolerable. When it shows up in a professional publication, it suggest the writer and the editor are not good at their jobs. A brilliantly worded comparison between two unrelated things is still a false comparison. It suggests dishonesty on the part of the writer.

Certain words seem to be popular with bad writers. The word “dialectic” has become an acid test for sloppy reasoning and bad writing. The word “elide” is another one that is popular with bad writers for some reason. “Epistemology” is another example, popular with the legacy conservative writers. Bad writers seem to think cool sounding words or complex grammar will make their ideas cleverer. Orwell’s second rule is “Never use a long word where a short one will do.” It’s commonly abused by bad writers.

Finally, another common feature of bad writing is the disconnect between the seriousness of subject and how the writer approaches the subject. Bad writers, like Jonah Goldberg, write about serious topics, using pop culture references and vaudeville jokes. On the other hand, feminists write about petty nonsense as if the fate of the world hinges on their opinion. The tone should always match the subject. Bad writers never respect the subject they are addressing or their reader’s interest in the subject.

The Z Man, “How To Be A Bad Writer”, The Z Blog, 2019-03-03.

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