View allAll Photos Tagged Stuff
Dec. 28, 2022: This morning's walk at Pepper Tree Playfield included a check on the stuffed animals I've seen in the park since early December. They are still there, including these two found resting on a park bench after last night's rain. 354/365
PC Brian Bishop, Essex Police
"I only wish Bill Bishop was here to hear the commendation."
- Mr Justice Boreham
________________________________________________
Frinton-On-Sea is a small seaside town in North Essex. Very much a backwater, it is the kind of place where you read about stuff happening somewhere else, preferably in The Times or The Daily Telegraph. Nothing ever happens here.
Well, on 22nd August 1984, something did. Two post offices were held up at gunpoint and several thousand pounds was stolen. The cash was hidden on a nearby railway embankment. Essex Police set up a containment, initially covered by unarmed CID officers until they could be relieved by armed officers, two of whom were PC Brian “Bill” Bishop, a firearms instructor with the force, and Sergeant Mervyn Fairweather.
A man with a carrier bag approached. PC Bishop issued the standard challenge “Armed Police – Stop!” Instead the man initially ignored the challenge and then turned, adopted a crouch position and fired twice from a sawn-off shotgun concealed in the bag. PC Bishop was hit in the head and Sergeant Fairweather in the groin. Sergeant Fairweather describes seeing PC Bishop fall and then seeing the suspect apparently begin to reload his weapon. Despite his own injuries, Sergeant Fairweather fired at the suspect from his revolver. It is believed that shot missed, but other officers returned fire too. The suspect was hit, stumbled a few paces and collapsed. However, still being in charge of the weapon he had just used to shoot two police officers, he remained a threat. Sergeant Fairweather crawled to his vehicle to call for an ambulance while his colleagues kept the gunman under armed surveillance. Only two ambulances could attend so Sergeant Fairweather remained on scene, cared for by his colleagues while PC Bishop and the suspect were taken away and until a third ambulance could attend.
PC Bishop died of his injuries five days later. Sergeant Fairweather recovered. He remained on firearms duties for the remainder of his service. However, a piece of shot about the size of a .22 bullet remained in his body.
The suspect, himself paralysed from the waist down (cry me a river), stood trial for the murder of PC Bishop and the attempted murder of Sergeant Fairweather. He was convicted of murder but acquitted of the attempted murder, instead being convicted of the lesser charge of wounding. He was also convicted of a number of robberies across Essex.
The judge, Mr Justice Boreham, imposed the mandatory term of life imprisonment, stating that he would have recommended a minimum term of 20 years but for the fact that the accused was clearly now a much-reduced threat to society. He commended the officers for their bravery. I would also observe that the ambulance crews were pretty brave too. After all, they were called upon to attend an armed incident where shots had been fired and which had not been fully resolved.
The memorial to PC Bishop is found close to where he fell on cliffs overlooking The North Sea in Frinton. It was laid by The Police Memorial Trust, an organisation created by The Late Michael Winner following the murder of WPC Yvonne Fletcher in April 1984.
PC Brian Bishop. R.I.P.
_____________________________
Epilogue. I haven't soiled this piece by naming the perpetrator, who deserves no commemoration. If like me you think that a 20 year minimum term is scant punishment for his actions, especially given that malicious wounding and robbery may each attract life imprisonment in their own rights, then recent changes in the law may reassure you. Today, the murder of a police officer on duty is expected to attract a whole life order, meaning life imprisonment without hope of parole. However that presumption is rebuttable. It was first tested on 27th July 2023 when the murderer of Sergeant Matt Ratana, who was shot while performing the role of custody officer at Croydon Police Station, received a whole life term despite the representations of his legal team. They asserted that their client's autism should be taken into account for his carrying and subsequent use of a concealed and fully loaded revolver from which he discharged four shots. Two hit Sgt Ratana, one missed, and the fourth hit the perpetrator himself as the unarmed arresting officers bravely tackled him. His trial was significantly delayed due to his injuries and by ultimately unsuccessful arguments by his legal team who averred that he was and always would be unfit to be tried at all. Again, cry me a river. We can never know why he was carrying a fully loaded revolver, concealed in a shoulder holster, in the late evening with extra bullets in his pocket, but one assumes it was not for target practice. It may be that the arresting officers saved a life, maybe more than one, that night, and that in a sense Sgt Ratana thereby gave his own.
Sergeant Matt Ratana. RIP
I visited the Parrot Coffee Market on Ditmars Boulevard yesterday. I can never leave that place emptyhanded. I bought a few thing including these jalapeño stuffed olives. The jalapeños have hardly any heat, though. Still, they're tasty.
Parrot Coffee Market
31-12 Ditmars Boulevard
Astoria, NY
Cuddly toys in the caves beneath the Salutation Inn in Nottingham, England. Seen during a 'ghost walk' tour.
Polish platter at the Polish Festival at Our Lady of Czestochowa Church in Houston. It has bigos, stuffed cabbage, pierogi, sausage, and bread.
Portobello stuffed with shrimps and couscous. Used as image for my dinner suggestion at www.menu-tip.nl/?date=2010-04-05
For my collection, this is unusual. I don't normally have things non-jungle cat around. I won this on eBay about a year ago, just as a curiosity...and I just fell in love. (Shhhhh don't tell the lions and tigers though..)
Barley-Stuffed Squash
(recipe inspired by quinoa-stuffed squash)
Ingredients:
2 golden nugget squashes
2 vegetarian sausages (we used Italian)
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup carrots, finely chopped
1/2 cup yellow onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 green onions, chopped
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1/8 teaspoon dried thyme
2 cups cooked barley
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons pepper jack cheese, shredded
Cut the top third off each squash. Remove seeds and discard. Reserve tops. (Here's a trick my mom taught me, if the squashes don't want to stand nicely you can cut a little flat spot on the bottom. Yay mom!) Arrange squashes, cut sides down, in a glass 9"x9" baking dish. Fill each dish with 1-inch of water and microwave on high for 15 minutes. Remove dish and cool. (Note: These instructions were from the original recipe and I found the squash didn't get cooked enough. I think in the future I would do this step in the oven at 350°F for at least 20 minutes and try to get them mostly cooked before stuffing them.)
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Oil and heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add sausage. (Because we were using vegetarian sausage, which doesn't have that crumbly pork sausage texture, I chopped up our sausages in a small food processor.) Sauté until browned (about 5 minutes), stirring frequently. Remove sausage and re-oil pan. Add carrots, onion, garlic, and peas and sauté for 2 minutes. Stir in 1/2 cup of water and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to medium. Cook until carrots are tender (about 6 minutes).
Add sausage and barley back into the pan along with herbs. Toss in 1/2 cup of cheese and stir until incorporated. Stuff each squash with the barley mixture and top each squash with 1 tablespoon of cheese.
Arrange the stuffed squash in the same glass 9"x9" baking dish and place tops in the dish. Bake for 20 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Remove from oven and sprinkle with green onions.
On the stovetop, browned some spicy turkey sausage, then added onion, garlic, celery, then mushrooms and grated zucchini. Added breadcrumbs, basil, parsley, S&P, Pecorino Romano, and a little more olive oil. Stuffed into raw peppers, topped with more Pecorino. Baked in a pan with a little bit of water on the bottom. While peppers cooked (and a dish of fennel roasted), peeled, chopped and cooked tomatoes with basil stems and garlic, finished sauce with butter and even more cheese.
Woah, delicious! How have I never had a stuffed pepper before?
最近姐夫介紹了我這家台灣有趣的設計公司，他們在接案之餘，不忘透過手邊累積或是自我興趣的項目，進行自我品牌系列產品的衍生與開發。
這是該公司最新推出的耳機，我這通勤族，早就習慣上車聽音樂，於是我跟姐夫半好奇與半支持的心態，預購兩副來嘗試看看。
今天如期的收到，我迫不及待的在車上聽了一下，雖然我覺得層次不多，擴張性也稍微不足，但是在尚未破台幣千元 ，似乎已經可為佳作中的佳作，尚請台灣人多支持MIT。
耳機產品可參點 : www.hmm-shop.com/product.php?pid=10
我今天試聽的音樂為 :
1. David Darling & 霧鹿布農族 / Mihumisa(n)g 祝福你 (弦樂與合音)
2. Victor Cheng / 波:折 RICOCHeT (電音)
3. Edie Brickell / Picture Perfect Morning (鄉村、流行)
4. Anne-Sophie Mutter / Recital 2000 (古典)
5. Chris Botti / Italia (管樂與人聲)