Quotulatiousness

February 8, 2019

Smashing China to Pieces, the Background | Between 2 Wars | 1925 Part 1 of 2

Filed under: Britain, China, History, Japan, Military — Tags: , , , , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

TimeGhost History
Published on 7 Feb 2019

The 19th century throws all kinds of terror and misfortune on China, which not long before was the most powerful nation in the world. While many other Western, Asian and even American nations seek to gain influence in China through politics, wars and trade, China itself tries to hold on to its glory days.

Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TimeGhostHistory

Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Directed by: Spartacus Olsson
Written by: Spartacus Olsson
Produced by: Astrid Deinhard
Executive Producers: Bodo Rittenauer, Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson
Creative Producer: Joram Appel
Edited by: Wieke Kapteijns
Research by: Spartacus Olsson

Thumbnail depicts Ataturk colorised by Olga Shirnina aka Klimbim.

Colorized Pictures by Olga Shirnina and Norman Stewart

Olga’s pictures: https://klimbim2014.wordpress.com
Norman’s pictures https://oldtimesincolor.blogspot.com/

Video Archive by Screenocean/Reuters http://www.screenocean.com

A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH

From the comments:

TimeGhost History
1 day ago (edited)

Hey all!

After we decided to do Between Two Wars episodes on China in the 20’s, we quickly discovered that the historical context is necessary if you want to understand modern China. Therefore, we present to you a pre-war introduction of China. The end of the mighty empires is an exciting part of history that is often overlooked. That’s no longer the case.

Cheers,
Joram

Equality comes to the US Army’s fitness standards

Filed under: Military, USA — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 03:00

NBC News reported on the new US Army non-gendered fitness testing standards:

The Army is developing a new, more grueling and complex fitness exam that adds dead lifts, power throws and other exercises designed to make soldiers more fit and ready for combat. “I am prepared to be utterly embarrassed,” Sampson said on a recent morning, two days before he was to take the test.

Commanders have complained in recent years that the soldiers they get out of basic training aren’t fit enough. Nearly half of the commanders surveyed last year said new troops coming into their units could not meet the physical demands of combat. Officials also say about 12 percent of soldiers at any one time cannot deploy because of injuries.

In addition, there has long been a sense among many senior officials that the existing fitness test does not adequately measure the physical attributes needed for the battlefield, said Gen. Stephen Townsend, head of U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command.

The new test, “may be harder, but it is necessary,” Townsend said.

Reaching the new fitness levels will be challenging. Unlike the old fitness test, which graded soldiers differently based on age and gender, the new one will be far more physically demanding and will not adjust the passing scores for older or female soldiers.

This may be a case of a change that — on the surface — is all about equality, but will almost certainly work to reduce the number of women and older soldiers qualified for front-line combat duty. Which will not sit well with the non-military commentariat who will only see the drop in female participation and not necessarily the egalitarian reasons why.

This isn’t what we normally think of as an increase in justice and righteousness in society but it is indeed so – the US Army is to bias its fitness standards against women. It is going to do this by insisting that men and women be able to meet exactly the same standards. Obviously enough, in logic, demanding equal standards is not bias but that’s not the way that gender works in the current world. That fewer women pursue the top jobs and thus fewer get them is taken to be bias rather than that fewer so pursue. That there are fewer female engineers is apparently bias while the personal choices that lead to more female nurses is not.

[…]

We’re a sexually dimorphic species, the male and female physiques differ. Of course, there are women who can pass high and strict fitness tests. But there are fewer of them than men at any particular standard. Which is why the older tests were gendered. Women had to meet a good standard for women, men for men.

So, now think of this from the viewpoint of the Army. Great societal pressure to open up all jobs to all and any gender. It might even be that’s righteous too. But that did mean that the tests for women concerning lifting and hauling had to be different. Otherwise there simply wouldn’t be enough women who could pass them to get to anything like equality.

History Summarized: The Portuguese Empire

Filed under: Americas, Europe, History, Humour, India — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 02:00

Overly Sarcastic Productions
Published on 9 Nov 2018

Play World of Warships for free: http://bit.ly/2zyT191. New players will receive 1 MILLION free credits, the historical premium ship HMS Campbeltown and more by using my code PLAYWARSHIPS2018

What happens when you spend a few decades casually getting really good at seafaring, only to find that there’s suddenly a whole new world that’s only accessible to societies with exceptional sailing prowess? — You get fabulously rich, that’s what. Watch along and learn all about the surprising success of Portugal!

PATREON: http://www.patreon.com/OSP

From the comments:

BenficaHaze 1904
1 month ago
Portugal didn’t follow Spain. Portugal started the discoveries 60-70 years before Spain

Pietro SF
1 month ago
The video already starts badly by suggesting Portugal only entered the Discoveries as a response to the Spaniards, when in reality the Portuguese pioneered the Age of Discovery, starting it half a century before Columbus’ Voyage.

Daniel Ghan
1 month ago
Nice video, but 2 significant errors:
1) Columbus didn’t motivate Portugal’s exploration as the video implies; rather, it was the other way around. The Portuguese began searching for a way to India around Africa after the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Columbus, who was Italian, asked the Portuguese king to finance his expedition but was refused, and only then went to Spain.
2) Magellan (Magalhães) was Portuguese but his expedition was sponsored by Spain and he had a Spanish crew. So the expedition would not have returned to Lisbon.

Metriximor
1 month ago
Alright, Portuguese here, just wanna say overall you did a great job but I wanna clear a few misconceptions.

Portugal didn’t just spring up into action because of Columbus, in fact, he even asked the Portuguese Crown for funding before he asked the Spanish Crown. Portuguese discoveries began in 1418 with Madeira, 1427 we found Açores, then in 1434 Gil Eanes goes around Cape Bojador, 1472 we found Newfoundland, but most importantly, in 1487 Bartolomeu Dias goes around the Cape of Storms, and looking out at the huge possibilities of his accomplishment he declares it to be the Cape of Good Hope.

This was all before Columbus even thought of sailing the Atlantic(1488) or contacting the Spanish(1489), so saying Portugal just began exploring because of him is downplaying it a lot.

Otherwise, fantastic work, love your channel and content keep it up 😀
PORTUGAL CARALHO

QotD: Sex toys and sexbots

Filed under: Britain, Health, Quotations — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 01:00

The global market in these abominations is currently valued at more than £12 billion, and that’s not counting the monstrous regiment of aforementioned sex dolls, the ‘high end’ of which began in Japan in the 1980s. Also coming soon will be sex robots, beginning with a robot ‘Fellatio Café’ in Paddington, due to open later this year. Even though I describe myself as a feminist, I can’t wait to mock the self-appointed spokeswomen for my gender slamming this set-up after years of bigging up broads bringing themselves off using battery-operated devices. As the rather rabid David Mills, an atheist activist and admirer of sex dolls, ranted to Vanity Fair: ‘Women have enjoyed sex toys for 50 years, probably 5,000 years, if the truth be known, but men are still stigmatised! We have to correct that! I want to be the Rosa Parks of sex dolls! Men are not going to sit in the back of the bus any more!’

Indeed, you could argue that a blowjob from a humanoid sexbot is far more indicative of a healthy desire to be connected to humanity than a quick once-over with a gilded pebble or a faceless phallus. But that won’t stop the lady columnists from penning predictable screeds about the woeful immaturity of men, and their willingness to risk having their tackle snagged in a faulty man-trap rather than ‘commit’ to a living, breathing female.

So can I (for once) put my head above the parapet and say that I totally get the appeal of sexbots in the current climate? Sex is, generally, a rather basic thing. Yet somewhere along the line some women have adopted the notion that it should be akin to a trip to Disneyland on gossamer wings for a playdate with Barbie and her pet unicorn. Some women seem to think sex should be about communicating, sharing, scented candles, two-hour massages, three-hour role play, kissing, cuddling and then… that other thing, if you must… whereas men generally tend to believe that sex is about having sex, the rotters. So can you blame them for wanting to keep it short and simple with a sexbot? And if it’s OK for women to pleasure themselves with friends electric, why not men?

Julie Burchill, “The other sexual double-standard: Why is self-love for women so cool and feminist? For men it’s seen as sad and sleazy”, The Spectator, 2017-03-23.

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