Quotulatiousness

December 27, 2020

Heinz Guderian’s Christmas and the fall of Hong Kong – WW2 – 122 – December 26, 1941

Filed under: Africa, Britain, China, Germany, History, Japan, Military, Russia, USA, WW2 — Tags: , , , , , , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

World War Two
Published 26 Dec 2020

The Japanese offensives and advances in Southeast Asia and the Pacific continue unabated and both Hong Kong and Wake Island fall. British and American leaders begin the Arcadia Conference to decide just how they are going to fight this war together, and there are more changes made in the German High Command on the Eastern Front, even as the Soviets make advances there.

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Director: Astrid Deinhard
Producers: Astrid Deinhard and Spartacus Olsson
Executive Producers: Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson, Bodo Rittenauer
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Research by: Indy Neidell
Edited by: Iryna Dulka
Sound design: Marek Kamiński
Map animations: Eastory (https://www.youtube.com/c/eastory)

Colorizations by:
– Dememorabilia – https://www.instagram.com/dememorabilia/
– Carlos Ortega Pereira, BlauColorizations – https://www.instagram.com/blaucolorizations
– Norman Stewart – https://oldtimesincolor.blogspot.com/

Sources:
– IWM: FE 203
– Battleship by Anand Prahlad from the Noun Project
– Man by Milinda Courey from the Noun Project
– prisoner by Luis Prado from the Noun Project
– bockelsound from freesound.org

Archive by Screenocean/Reuters https://www.screenocean.com.

A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.

Moderna’s Wuhan Coronavirus vaccine was developed nearly a year ago

Filed under: Bureaucracy, Government, Health — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 03:00

Philip Steele explains why Moderna’s vaccine was not made available until very recently, despite having been developed only days after the genetic code for the virus was published:

Few people realize that the Moderna vaccine against COVID-19 — which the FDA has finally declared “highly effective,” and which is now being distributed to Americans — has actually been available for nearly a year.

But the government wouldn’t let you take it.

The vaccine, a triumph of medical science known as mRNA-1273, was designed in a single weekend, just two days after Chinese researchers published the virus’s genetic code on January 11, 2020.

For the entire duration of the pandemic, while hundreds of thousands died and the world economy was decimated by lockdowns, this highly effective vaccine has been available.

But you, and all the people who died, were prohibited by the government from taking it.

There are some who claim that the FDA “saves lives” by putting the brakes on medical innovation with their requirements for years-long, and often decades-long, billion-dollar medical trial procedures.

Missing here is the obvious counterpoint — How many lives did the FDA sacrifice to disease in the meantime?

In the case of COVID-19 we know the answer: more than 300,000 deaths so far in the United States and counting.

Origins of the Lee Enfield Rifle: Lee Metford Updates

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

Forgotten Weapons
Published 20 Sep 2020

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

https://www.floatplane.com/channel/Fo…

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The Lee Metford MkI had scarcely been introduced when it was modified into the MkI* pattern, This was quickly followed by the MkII and MkII*, the Lee Enfield MkI, and Lee Enfield MkI*. In essence, the changes were:

Lee Metford MkI*: Change of sights to traditional barleycorn and V-notch, and removal of the manual safety
Lee Metford MkII: Update to 10-round, double-feed magazine, move sling rearward, modify cleaning rod to clearing rod
Lee Metford MkII*: Addition of safety lever on cocking piece
Lee Enfield MkI: Change from Metford rifling to Enfield rifling
Lee Enfield MkI*: Clearing rod removed

Contact:
Forgotten Weapons
6281 N. Oracle #36270
Tucson, AZ 85740

QotD: Charles Dickens

Filed under: Books, History, Quotations, Religion — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 01:00

… That I was, unparadoxically, also trying to put in the reader’s head, that Dickens has contributed to the demoralization of our world, was on the surface of my essay. In this respect, I was acknowledging this author’s great power. The reduction of hard moral fact, to mushy simper and what we now call “empathy,” was partly his doing. I detect it even in the unpleasant vibrations of BLM rioters, and other agents of our Left.

They “protest” things that, indirectly, they learnt to protest from the kind-hearted Dickens; subjective hysterias about the world being unfair. Of course it is unfair, as it has always been, and to everyone who has been living in it. But unfairness is a whim, compared to sound moral judgements, and the reticence that should accompany them. We cannot make the world “more fair” by rioting. Dickens, incidentally, agrees with me on that.

He was among the writers (and artists generally) who contributed subtly to our post-Christian worldview, based on emotion, not remorseless thought. Who made, say, Christmas about giving presents to little children, rather than centrally about the birth of Christ. That doesn’t mean his works should be suppressed. On the contrary, they should be read and enjoyed, with this thought in mind. He moralizes, but in a way that may actually subvert morality, by substituting “feelings” for the hard truths, which are to die for.

David Warren, “Retractiones”, Essays in Idleness, 2020-07-29.

December 26, 2020

Legends Summarized: The Journey To The West (Part VIII)

Filed under: Books, China, History, Humour, Religion — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

Overly Sarcastic Productions
Published 25 Dec 2020

Journey to the West Kai, episode 5: Fishy Business and Mountaineering Madness!

Danger! Intrigue! Sandy fights a carp! Pigsy gets two makeovers! Monkey reunites with several old frenemies, and Tripitaka gets less screentime than the horse!

(merry christmas)

(Here’s a cheeky little bit of merch: https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/656…)

FIRST EPISODE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61nuX…
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Repost – The market failure of Christmas

Filed under: Economics, Government — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 03:00

Not to encourage miserliness and general miserability at Christmastime, but here’s a realistic take on the deadweight loss of Christmas gift-giving:

Christmas gifts under the tree.
Photo by Kelvin Kay via Wikimedia Commons.

In strict economic terms, the most efficient gift is cold, hard cash, but exchanging equivalent sums of money lacks festive spirit and so people take their chance on the high street. This is where the market fails. Buyers have sub-optimal information about your wants and less incentive than you to maximise utility. They cannot always be sure that you do not already have the gift they have in mind, nor do they know if someone else is planning to give you the same thing. And since the joy is in the giving, they might be more interested in eliciting a fleeting sense of amusement when the present is opened than in providing lasting satisfaction. This is where Billy Bass comes in.

But note the reason for this inefficient spending. Resources are misallocated because one person has to decide what someone else wants without having the knowledge or incentive to spend as carefully as they would if buying for themselves. The market failure of Christmas is therefore an example of what happens when other people spend money on our behalf. The best person to buy things for you is you. Your friends and family might make a decent stab at it. Distant bureaucrats who have never met us — and who are spending other people’s money — perhaps can’t.

So when you open your presents next week and find yourself with another garish tie or an awful bottle of perfume, consider this: If your loved ones don’t know you well enough to make spending choices for you, what chance does the government have?

The Matchbox Car Story

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

Little Car
Published 27 Jan 2020

Matchbox is a popular British toy brand which was introduced by Lesney Products in 1953, and is now owned by Mattel, Inc. The brand was given its name because the original die-cast Matchbox toys were sold in boxes similar to those in which matches were sold. The brand grew to encompass a broad range of toys, including larger scale die-cast models, plastic model kits, and action figures.

During the 1980s, Matchbox began to switch to the more conventional plastic and cardboard “blister packs” that were used by other die-cast toy brands such as Hot Wheels. The box style packaging was re-introduced for the collectors’ market in recent years, particularly with the release of the “35th Anniversary of Superfast” series in 2004.

The script for this video comes from Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matchbo…

If you find issues with the content, I encourage you to update the Wikipedia article, so everyone can benefit from your knowledge.

If you like these video and want to support me from just $1 or 80p a month at https://www.patreon.com/bigcar

#matchboxcars

QotD: British meals – fish, fowl, and vegetables

Filed under: Britain, Food, History, Quotations, WW2 — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 01:00

There are not many methods of cooking birds which are peculiar to Britain. The British regard as inedible many birds – for instance, thrushes, larks, sparrows, curlews, green plovers and various kinds of duck – which are valued in other countries. They are also inclined to despise rabbits, and rabbit-rearing for the table has never been extensively practiced in Britain. On the other hand they will eat young rooks, which are shot in May and baked in pies. They are especially attached to geese and turkeys, which (at normal times) are eaten in immense quantities at Christmas, always roasted whole, with chestnut stuffing in the case of turkeys, and sage and onion stuffing and apple sauce in the case of geese.

Fish in Britain is seldom well cooked. The sea all round Britain yields a variety of excellent fishes, but as a rule they are unimaginatively boiled or fried, and the art of seasoning them in the cooking is not understood. The fish fried in oil to which the British working classes are especially addicted is definitely nasty, and has been an enemy of home cookery, since it can be bought everywhere in the big towns, ready cooked and at low prices. Except for trout, salmon and eels, British people will not eat fresh-water fish. As for vegetables, it must be admitted that, potatoes apart, they seldom get the treatment they deserve. Thanks to the rain-soaked soil, British vegetables are nearly all of excellent flavour, but they are commonly spoiled in the cooking. Cabbage is simply boiled – a method which renders it almost uneatable – while cauliflowers, leeks and marrows are usually smothered in a tasteless white sauce which is probably the “one sauce” scornfully referred to by Voltaire. The British are not great eaters of salads, though they have grown somewhat fonder of raw vegetables during the war years, thanks to the educational campaigns of the Ministry of Food. Except for salads, vegetables are always eaten with the meat, not separately.

George Orwell, “British Cookery”, 1946. (Originally commissioned by the British Council, but refused by them and later published in abbreviated form.)

December 25, 2020

“Swedish Pagans” – Vikings & The Russ – Sabaton History 099 [Official]

Filed under: Europe, History, Media, Religion, Russia — Tags: , , , , , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

Sabaton History
Published 24 Dec 2020

It was a sword-age, a spear-age — an age when fearsome Northmen, savage Vikings, and mysterious pagans from across the sea haunted the shores of northern Europe. The Swedish pagans, believing in the fate of the old Norse gods, traveled south across the Baltic Sea and deep into modern-day Russia. With their sleek longships, they sailed along the big rivers, ever southwards to reach Miklagard. Miklagard — the Great City — that was Constantinople, where the Swedish Pagans sold slaves and goods from the north for silver and coin. Those who made the long hazardous journey and survived the treacherous country were to be rich men.

Support Sabaton History on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/sabatonhistory

Listen to “Swedish Pagans” on the album The Art of War: https://music.sabaton.net/TheArtOfWar

Listen to Sabaton on Spotify: http://smarturl.it/SabatonSpotify
Official Sabaton Merchandise Shop: http://bit.ly/SabatonOfficialShop

Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Written by: Markus Linke and Indy Neidell
Directed by: Astrid Deinhard and Wieke Kapteijns
Produced by: Pär Sundström, Astrid Deinhard and Spartacus Olsson
Creative Producer: Maria Kyhle
Executive Producers: Pär Sundström, Joakim Brodén, Tomas Sunmo, Indy Neidell, Astrid Deinhard, and Spartacus Olsson
Community Manager: Maria Kyhle
Post-Production Director: Wieke Kapteijns
Editor: Karolina Dołęga
Sound Editor: Marek Kamiński
Maps by: Eastory – https://www.youtube.com/c/eastory
Archive: Reuters/Screenocean – https://www.screenocean.com

Sources:
Swedish National Heritage Board
Kulturhistorisk museum
Museum of Cultural History, part of the University of Oslo, Norway
Pictures of Runestone courtesy of: Berig, RJürgen Howald & Bjoertvedt from Wikimedia
AU Library, Campus Emdrup, http://galleri.au.dk/aul/#14891850309…
Longship sketch with a keel courtesy of Cornelis from Wikimedia
Map from 878 courtesy of Hel-hama – from Wikimedia

All music by: Sabaton

An OnLion Entertainment GmbH and Raging Beaver Publishing AB co-Production.

© Raging Beaver Publishing AB, 2019 – all rights reserved.

Bonus QotD: Modern services in church

Filed under: Britain, Cancon, Quotations, Religion, USA — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 03:00

I remember when Christians used to actually believe in Christianity. Those were the days. (Some still do, but their numbers are shrinking.)

Back then, you could still visit an average (Protestant) church and hear a pastor actually teach real doctrine and share authentic insights. You could hear his thoughts on how to live an upright Christian life, or on why bad things might happen to good people, or how Christian marriages might be improved. And you could hear it all supported by actual Bible passages.

After the sermon, you could hear the congregation sing hymns affirming the importance of obedience, humility, faith, courage, or some other Christian virtue. They were something, the old hymns: bold, clear, impactful, sometimes even militant, like “Onward, Christian Soldiers” or “God of Our Fathers, Whose Almighty Hand”, or particularly thoughtful, like “How Great Thou Art”.

Things are different now. Wander into a typical Christian church these days, and, far from hearing a sermon challenging you to live an upright life, you’re more likely to hear an unsuccessful attempt at a Jeff Foxworthy-style stand-up comedy routine, Hallmark-style stories of dubious veracity, and utterly vacuous “praise songs” which all sound like U2 album rejects from 1986. (They even feature the thumping eighth-note bass parts, echo-drenched guitar, and melodramatic vocal performances.)

Oh, and I forgot: At some point, you’re also going to see the pastor dutifully hand the mic over to his overly-assertive, overly-eager, overly-made-up wife (presumably on pain of divorce, or possibly even death), who will then speak loudly and rapturously — all about herself — for the next half hour.

Not all Christian churches are like this, of course. The problem is, too many are. As the years roll by, contemporary Christian churches increasingly abnegate their scripturally-prescribed role as fortified beacons of divine truth, and instead transform themselves into vehicles for a social justice pseudo-gospel completely incompatible with Christian (or Jewish, for that matter) scriptural teachings.

Tal Bachman, “Christians, Come Back”, Steyn Online, 2020-09-03.

Repost – “Fairytale of New York”

Filed under: Media, USA — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 02:00

Time:

“Fairytale of New York,” The Pogues featuring Kirsty MacColl

This song came into being after Elvis Costello bet The Pogues’ lead singer Shane MacGowan that he couldn’t write a decent Christmas duet. The outcome: a call-and-response between a bickering couple that’s just as sweet as it is salty.

Update: Looks like the video I’ve linked to has been taken down, so here’s a more recent version on the “official” Pogues YT channel.

QotD: Christmas movies

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

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse…

At which point, Sylvester the cat looks up from his long fruitless vigil outside the mouse hole in the baseboard and sighs with feeling to the narrator, “You’re not jutht whithlin’ Dickthie, brother.”

“Gift Wrapped” is like every Looney Tune or Merry Melody — a mere six minutes long. But with Christmas movies that’s a good thing. The western and the musical may be dead, but the charmless Xmas movie is now a genre all of its own and doing gangbusters. Do they teach it in film school? In fact, it’s really two genres: there are intentionally charmless Christmas movies like Bad Santa 2, and then the accidentally charmless ones, like that Ben Affleck flick where he’s some heartless yuppie who rents a bluecollar family for the holiday season so he can enjoy the authentic down-home Yule he’s never known. In such pictures, the great American Christmas, once the ne plus ultra of e pluribus unum, appears on celluloid an utterly exhausted seam.

So, besieged by such horrors, I thought I’d retreat to short-form holiday entertainment, or alternatively short-form holiday entertainment within long-form non-holiday fare. Any thirty seconds of “Gift Wrapped”, for example, is more rewarding than all three-and-a-half hours of Bad Santa 5 or whatever it is: six minutes of pure Looney Tunes pleasure in which Sylvester determines to land the only Christmas present he really wants — Tweety. The film opens with Granny slumbering upstairs and the impatient cat sneakily unwrapping his gift. It’s a rubber mouse and he’s not happy about it. “Why couldn’t I get thumthin’ practical?” he complains. “Like a real mouse.”

Mark Steyn, “A Frizzy Christmas”, Steyn Online, 2018-12-15.

December 24, 2020

Straighten Rough Wood with the Roubo Winding Sticks

Filed under: Tools, Woodworking — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 06:00

Rex Krueger
Published 23 Dec 2020

Give your winding sticks a homemade upgrade with this diy Roubo design.

More video and exclusive content: http://www.patreon.com/rexkrueger
Get the plans!: https://www.rexkrueger.com/store/plans-frenchroubo-winding-sticks

*ALL PLANS 50% OFF // ONLY UNTIL THE END OF DECEMBER* (tell your friends!)
http://www.rexkrueger.com/store

Tools From this Build (Affiliate):
Bahco Saw: https://amzn.to/38h9IXZ
Dozuki Saw: https://amzn.to/3anF2a5

Roubo’s book in the definitive English translation (non-affiliate): https://lostartpress.com/collections/…

Projects I Mention in This Video:
Advanced Shooting Board: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbpwD…
Get the plans: https://www.rexkrueger.com/store/adva…

Homemade Rabbet Plane: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1MFA…
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Make a Scrub Plane: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bD4CK…

One-Handed Marking Gauge: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tm7AF…
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Wood Work for Humans Tool List (affiliate):
*Cutting*
Gyokucho Ryoba Saw: https://amzn.to/2Z5Wmda
Dewalt Panel Saw: https://amzn.to/2HJqGmO
Suizan Dozuki Handsaw: https://amzn.to/3abRyXB
(Winner of the affordable dovetail-saw shootout.)
Spear and Jackson Tenon Saw: https://amzn.to/2zykhs6
(Needs tune-up to work well.)
Crown Tenon Saw: https://amzn.to/3l89Dut
(Works out of the box)
Carving Knife: https://amzn.to/2DkbsnM
Narex True Imperial Chisels: https://amzn.to/2EX4xls
(My favorite affordable new chisels.)
Blue-Handled Marples Chisels: https://amzn.to/2tVJARY
(I use these to make the DIY specialty planes, but I also like them for general work.)

*Sharpening*
Honing Guide: https://amzn.to/2TaJEZM
Norton Coarse/Fine Oil Stone: https://amzn.to/36seh2m
Natural Arkansas Fine Oil Stone: https://amzn.to/3irDQmq
Green buffing compound: https://amzn.to/2XuUBE2

*Marking and Measuring*
Stockman Knife: https://amzn.to/2Pp4bWP
(For marking and the built-in awl).
Speed Square: https://amzn.to/3gSi6jK
Stanley Marking Knife: https://amzn.to/2Ewrxo3
(Excellent, inexpensive marking knife.)
Blue Kreg measuring jig: https://amzn.to/2QTnKYd
Round-head Protractor: https://amzn.to/37fJ6oz

*Drilling*
Forstner Bits: https://amzn.to/3jpBgPl
Spade Bits: https://amzn.to/2U5kvML

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Repost – Hey Kids! Did you get your paperwork in on time?

Filed under: Bureaucracy, Humour — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 05:00

If you hurry, you can just get your Santa’s Visit Application in before the deadline tonight!

Saturnalia – Rome’s Awesome Pagan Christmas

Filed under: Europe, History, Religion — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

Invicta
Published 23 Dec 2020

Celebrate an awesome pagan Christmas with the Roman Saturnalia! The first 100 people to go to https://www.blinkist.com/invicta are going to get unlimited access for 1 week to try it out. You’ll also get 25% off if you want the full membership.

In this history documentary we cover a very special Roman Holiday, the Saturnalia. It was a hugely popular winter festival which dominated the ancient world and in many ways created the Christmas that we celebrate today!

We begin the episode with a discussion about the origins of Saturnalia as a harvest festival. In these early years it was celebrated whenever the last of the crops was brought with a special thanks being offered to the God of harvest, Saturn. The Romans did so at the temple of Saturn by offering a procession of bulls and hosting a grand feast. Over the years however the traditions would grow by importing Greek customs, pinning the date to December 17th and extending the holiday to a full week!

We then cover the history of Saturnalia at its full glory by recreating the experience. This begins with the traditional parade and feast on the first day after which all work was banned. The following days were filled with endless parties and feasts. These featured all kinds of familiar staples of Christmas like gift giving, hat wearing, and singing. However there were many more, wilder traditions as well. IO SATURNALIA!!!

We finally conclude with the rise of Christianity and the history of Christmas which coopted this popular pagan holiday. Stay tuned for more How They Did It episodes on the history of daily life in the past.

Bibliography and Suggested Reading:
Daily Life in the Roman City by Gregory Aldrete
Popular Culture in Ancient Rome by Jerry Toner
As the Romans Did by Jo-Ann Shelton
Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic by H. H. Scullard
The Roman Community at Table During the Principate by John Donahue

#Saturnalia
#Rome
#History

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