Quotulatiousness

March 23, 2021

Why are Pre-War Shipwrecks Disappearing?

Filed under: Asia, Britain, Germany, History, Military, Pacific, USA, WW1, WW2 — Tags: , , , , , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

Calum
Published 22 Aug 2020

Pre-war shipwrecks are disappearing from the seabed. Why? A look at the sad reality of illegal salvaging that is destroying numerous war graves and historical wrecks around the world, told from the site of some of the most famous shipwrecks in the world; Scapa Flow.

The Guardian has done some amazing work in documenting this problem, worth a read if you have the time:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/201…​

00:00​ – Introduction & History of Scapa Flow
01:00​ – Scuttling & Salvaging of the German High Fleet
02:45​ – The Value of Pre-War Steel
03:54​ – The Disappearing Shipwrecks
06:03​ – HMS Royal Oak
10:16​ – Disappearing Wargraves
10:58​ – Outro

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The Beretta PM-12S Submachine Gun

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

Forgotten Weapons
Published 22 Apr 2017

For several decades, the Beretta company’s handguns and submachine guns were nearly all designed by the very talented Tulio Marengoni … but nothing can last forever. After World War 2, Beretta engineer Domenico Salza began working on a new SMG design, one which would be more compact and more controllable that the M38 family. At roughly the same time, Beretta changed its naming convention to avoid looking like it was still marketing old guns; the Model 38/49 become the Model 1. Each new design took the next number, until in 1958 the Model 12 was introduced.

The Model 12 (and this improved Model 12S) has both forward and rear pistol grips, and a bolt which wraps around the barrel well forward of the chamber. This movement of the reciprocating mass forward helps reduce the gun’s tendency to climb, and makes the Model 12 a quite capable design. It is still in common use with a variety of military and police forces today — including being a common sight in the hands of security guards in Italy today.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

Cool Forgotten Weapons merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forg…

If you enjoy Forgotten Weapons, check out its sister channel, InRangeTV! http://www.youtube.com/InRangeTVShow

QotD: Marx was right … but not about the proletariat

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

Karl Marx, damn his rotten soul, was right. Or, more accurately, his followers made him right. The Proletariat never achieved class consciousness on their own. Nor did they do it with the assistance of the Vanguard Party, like Lenin thought. In fact, they only did it — incompletely; they’re in the process of doing it now — with the assistance of a bunch of drooling idiots who can’t even spell “Karl Marx.” I’m speaking, of course, of the Apparat, the managerial class, the iron rice bowl perma-bureaucracy that runs the Imperial Capital.

Those fuckheads achieved class consciousness here in the last 30 years, and now they’re doing what Marx said the Proletariat would – making Revolution, overturning the system, causing the State to wither away as they pursue their own interests against tradition, religion, all enemies foreign and domestic. Theirs is a “Marxism” boiled down to its essence: Nihilistic, suicidal envy.

[…]

Once they achieve class consciousness, the Revolution is inevitable – Marx was right about that, too. There are only so many places in the Apparat, after all, and the number of talented, ambitious people in the Empire — even now, after a century’s worth of mandatory “education” — far exceeds the number of make-work jobs the Apparat, any Apparat, can support. Provided we survive it, it will be some cold comfort, watching the bewilderment in their faces as they’re lined up against the wall. Ever read Darkness at Noon?

Severian, “Skynet Becomes Self-Aware”, Rotten Chestnuts, 2020-12-11.

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