Quotulatiousness

March 26, 2020

The Boxer Rebellion l HISTORY OF CHINA

Filed under: Britain, China, France, Germany, History, Japan, Military, Religion, Russia — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 02:00

IT’S HISTORY
Published 26 Aug 2015

The Boxer Rebellion was one of China’s biggest uprisings against the unwanted European, US-American and Japanese imperialism. Distrust and tensions marked all contacts with foreigners. Secret societies were formed to propagate against the enemy. The Yihequan, also known as Boxers, quickly rose to one of the biggest organisations in Northern China. Masters of close combat, they mainly targeted converted Chinese Christians and attacks increased wildly in the 1880s. From 1900 Empress Dowager Cixi was less and less opposed to the Rebellion, as she hoped to fight back foreign influence. Shortly after, even the Chinese Army started helping the rebels and foreigners were fought, killed or driven out. Consequently, an alliance of the imperial powers sent in 50,000 soldiers to end the massacre. Tough reprisals and treaties followed. Learn all about the Boxer Rebellion on IT’S HISTORY.

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» SOURCES
Videos: British Pathé (https://www.youtube.com/user/britishp…)
Pictures: mainly Picture Alliance
Content:
Harrington, Peter: Peking 1900: The Boxer Rebellion, Osprey Campaign
Bodin, Lynn: The Boxer Rebellion, Men-at-Arms
http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/…
http://www.chinafolio.com/chinas-last…

» ABOUT US
IT’S HISTORY is a ride through history – Join us discovering the world’s most important eras in IN TIME, BIOGRAPHIES of the GREATEST MINDS and the most important INVENTIONS.

» HOW CAN I SUPPORT YOUR CHANNEL?
You can support us by sharing our videos with your friends and spreading the word about our work.

» CAN I EMBED YOUR VIDEOS ON MY WEBSITE?
Of course, you can embed our videos on your website. We are happy if you show our channel to your friends, fellow students, classmates, professors, teachers or neighbors. Or just share our videos on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit etc. Subscribe to our channel and like our videos with a thumbs up.

» CAN I SHOW YOUR VIDEOS IN CLASS?
Of course! Tell your teachers or professors about our channel and our videos. We’re happy if we can contribute with our videos.

» CREDITS
Presented by: Indy Neidell
Script by: Dan Hungerford
Directed by: Daniel Czepelczauer
Director of Photography: Markus Kretzschmar
Music: Markus Kretzschmar
Sound Design: Bojan Novic
Editing: Markus Kretzschmar

A Mediakraft Networks original channel
Based on a concept by Florian Wittig and Daniel Czepelczauer
Executive Producers: Astrid Deinhard-Olsson, Spartacus Olsson
Head of Production: Michael Wendt
Producer: Daniel Czepelczauer
Social Media Manager: Laura Pagan

Contains material licensed from British Pathé
All rights reserved – © Mediakraft Networks GmbH, 2015

March 22, 2020

Culling the Nazi Wolfpacks – Submarines, Spies, China, and Africa – WW2 – 082 – March 21 1941

Filed under: Britain, China, Germany, Greece, History, Italy, Japan, Military, WW2 — Tags: , , , , , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

World War Two
Published 21 Mar 2020

While two more Kriegsmarine U-boat aces go down, the moving parts of the war are getting more complex leaving the intelligence services scrambling to separate fact from fiction — they don’t always get it right.

Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TimeGhostHistory
Or join The TimeGhost Army directly at: https://timeghost.tv

Follow WW2 day by day on Instagram @World_war_two_realtime https://www.instagram.com/world_war_t…
Between 2 Wars: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list…
Source list: http://bit.ly/WW2sources

Written and Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Produced and Directed by: Spartacus Olsson and Astrid Deinhard
Executive Producers: Bodo Rittenauer, Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson
Creative Producer: Joram Appel
Post-Production Director: Wieke Kapteijns
Research by: Indy Neidell
Edited by: Iryna Dulka
Map animations: Eastory (https://www.youtube.com/c/eastory)

Colorizations by:
– Olga Shirnina a.k.a. Klimbim – https://klimbim2014.wordpress.com/
– Dememorabilia – https://www.instagram.com/dememorabilia/
– Julius Jääskeläinen – https://www.facebook.com/JJcolorization/

Sources:
– Bundesarchiv

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

A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.

From the comments:

World War Two
2 days ago
Indy is at the studio in Bavaria at the moment, shooting new episodes up to May 2020. We don’t know what impact the virus has on our production beyond that, but for now we seem to be fine. That is, thanks to your support! Most of our other (personal) sources of income has fallen away now – we are not able to pay everyone a fair wage just yet. In fact, most of the budget goes into licensing, equipment, editors, researchers and travel. If you can, please consider to support us on www.patreon.com/timeghosthistory or https://timeghost.tv so we can continue to make these series! Thank you all for your support and appreciation! Take care and be safe!
Cheers, Joram

March 18, 2020

What is really driving the Wuhan Coronavirus panic

Filed under: China, Europe, Health, Media, Politics, USA — Tags: , , , , , — Nicholas @ 05:00

… besides the wall-to-wall hysteria in the mainstream media, I mean. Severian discusses the insights of “perverted old cokehead” Sigmund Freud on anxiety and its effects, then segues to our current, shared, plight:

Photographic portrait of Sigmund Freud, signed by the sitter (“Prof. Sigmund Freud”) by Max Halberstadt (c. 1921)
Wikimedia Commons

Everyone who has thought about it for five minutes knows that something’s not right. […] As y’all have noted, actual hard information on the coronavirus is hard to come by. Is it fully air-transmissible? What are the infection rates? Hell, what are the death totals? And speaking of the death totals, even if you trust China’s figures (which no reasonable person can possibly do), they seem … low. Like, really low. I actually trust Italy’s government to deliver some vague approximation of the truth, and even there, where they’re in full-blown freakout mode, it seems to kill off old folks with compromised immune systems and lung problems at a fractionally higher rate than your garden-variety flu.

So, you know … it’s the flu. Not great by any means, and more infectious (possibly) than some other flus in our recent past, but for all that just the flu. The ongoing sky-is-falling global freakout has next to nothing to do with the actual bug. We live in a deeply anxious age, and that anxiety has to discharge somehow. It’s global hysteria — classic hysteria, Freudian hysteria, an excess of stress that must be discharged by “converting” it into behavior.

The people who are freaking out about it aren’t worried about dying from it. No, really, they’re not. Nor should they be — no reasonably healthy person under age 70 has any reason to be worried about that. Instead, what they’re worried about is powerlessness. We’ve all long suspected that we’re ruled by idiots and grifters. We’ve all long sensed that our “leaders” hold us in deep contempt. And we’ve long known that none of our problems are worth anything to the global pirate capitalist class. The only reason those bastards care if we all drop dead from the plague is that they can’t sell enough iCrap to each other to keep the company stock price up.

We know this. But we can’t say it, and we can’t act on it, because doing so goes against our self-image. Our media, our education system, our “culture” (such as it is) has spent the last half-century telling us what special and unique snowflakes we all are, even as it’s forcing us into ever-greater conformity. We’ve broken all the taboos, transgressed all the boundaries, liberated all the oppressed. If there ever were to be such a thing as “social justice,” then truly we’ve achieved it, here in this best of all possible worlds where you can lose your job for not addressing your co-worker as a wingless golden-skinned dragonkin and 6’2″ dudes with beards down to their collarbones can go wee-wee in the little girls’ room …

… and yet. And yet. And yet feminists (just to stick with a theme), despite running everything for the last 30 years, still can’t get that lousy 25 cent raise. Seven out of every five college girls are sexually assaulted the minute they step on campus, despite boys being as rare as sasquatches on most campuses (and despite the ever-growing clamor for free college for everyone). You’re free to — hell, you’re practically required to — make up your own pronouns, but you’re not allowed to ask just how a degree in “gender studies” could be worth even one dollar in student loan debt, let alone one hundred thousand dollars. We keep agitating for change, keep voting for it, keep tweeting about it … and nothing happens.

That profound sense of powerlessness is exactly, and I do mean exactly, what screwed up Anna O. She hated her father for not allowing her any personal agency. In her heart of hearts she wanted him dead. And yet she knew herself to be a loving daughter, so that overwhelming sense of relief — indeed, of joy — she felt when he kicked the bucket sent her around the bend.

When You Run Out of Stuff to Hoard – Rationing 1940 – On the Homefront 001

Filed under: Britain, China, Europe, Food, Germany, History, India, Japan, WW2 — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

World War Two
Published 17 Mar 2020

In this first episode of On the Homefront, Anna tells you about division of labour, food production and rationing in the early years of the war.

Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TimeGhostHistory
Or join The TimeGhost Army directly at: https://timeghost.tv

Follow WW2 day by day on Instagram @World_war_two_realtime https://www.instagram.com/world_war_t…
Between 2 Wars: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list…
Source list: http://bit.ly/WW2sources

Hosted by: Anna Deinhard
Written by: Spartacus Olsson
Produced and Directed by: Spartacus Olsson and Astrid Deinhard
Executive Producers: Bodo Rittenauer, Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson
Creative Producer: Joram Appel
Post-Production Director: Wieke Kapteijns
Research by: Spartacus Olsson
Edited by: Mikołaj Cackowski
Map animations: Eastory (https://www.youtube.com/c/eastory)

Sources:
IWM A 1699, A 7812, A 19891, D 6773, A 11856, A 11857, D 10565, D 9366, D 15530, D 10465, D 20087, D 20079, D 7958, D 2373, D 14667, D 7966
Taking blood pressure (SC 191775), National Museum of Health and Medicine https://www.flickr.com/photos/medical…
Picture of Elsie Widdowson and Robert McCance with their staff, courtesy of British Nutrition Foundation
Pie Chart by Ates Evren Aydinel from the Noun Project
Pie Diagram Half by Trevor Dsouza from the Noun Project
Farm by Symbolon from the Noun Project
Meat by chiccabubble from the Noun Project
Fish by Vectors Market from the Noun Project
butter by Nick Bluth from the Noun Project
potatoes by Vectors Point from the Noun Project
Vegetable by Eucalyp from the Noun Project
Poop by Jordan Díaz Andrés from the Noun Project
shelf by Zach Bogart from the Noun Project
Tea box by Tomas Knopp from the Noun Project
Jam by Vichanon Chaimsuk from the Noun Project
Biscuits by John Burraco from the Noun Project
Cheese by Erin Agnoli from the Noun Project
eggs by Oleksandr Panasovskyi from the Noun Project
butter by Imogen Oh from the Noun Project
can by Anniken & Andreas from the Noun Project

Soundtracks from the Epidemic Sound:
Gavin Luke – “Seasons of Change”
Johan Hynynen – “Dark Beginning”
Anthony Earls – “The Songs We Sing”
Fabien Tell – “Last Point of Safe Return”
Reynard Seidel – “Deflection”
Farell Wooten – “Blunt Object”
Johannes Bornlof – “The Inspector 4”
Howard Harper-Barnes – “Prescient”
Howard Harper-Barnes – “London”
Philip Ayers – “Under the Dome”

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

A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.

From the comments:

World War Two
57 minutes ago (edited)
This is the first episode of On the Homefront. For those of you who haven’t watched our trailer or have seen the Between Two Wars episode on the Home Revolution, let me introduce you to Anna. She will be telling us all about the homefronts and the people on them in these monthly sub-series. Now, we know that this episode might seem to be playing on the Corona related hoarding that is going on, but this was already produced before any of that made the news. In any case, as many of you are sitting in your own homefronts, I hope this episode offers some relief and perspective. If you like it, do make sure to Join the TimeGhost Army to keep us running! You can do so at https://timeghost.tv or patreon.com/timeghosthistory
Cheers, Joram

March 4, 2020

Resistance in China – Myth or Reality? – WW2 – War Against Humanity 009

Filed under: China, History, Japan, Military, WW2 — Tags: , , , , , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

World War Two
Published 3 Mar 2020

The war in China already started in 1931 when Japan invaded Manchuria. Early resistance was small and was met by heavy Japanese retaliations. But throughout the 30’s, the movement started to grow.

Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TimeGhostHistory
Or join The TimeGhost Army directly at: https://timeghost.tv

Follow WW2 day by day on Instagram @World_war_two_realtime https://www.instagram.com/world_war_t…
Join our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/D6D2aYN.
Between 2 Wars: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list…
Source list: http://bit.ly/WW2sources

Hosted by: Spartacus Olsson
Written by: Francis van Berkel
Produced and Directed by: Spartacus Olsson and Astrid Deinhard
Executive Producers: Bodo Rittenauer, Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson
Creative Producer: Joram Appel
Post-Production Director: Wieke Kapteijns
Research by: Francis van Berkel
Edited by: Mikołaj Cackowski
Map animations: Eastory (https://www.youtube.com/c/eastory)

Colorizations by:
Norman Stewart – https://oldtimesincolor.blogspot.com/

Sources:
Library of Congress
Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe
Chinese anti-Japanese posters, courtesy of pictoright
SHANGHAI, CHINA-1921

Soundtracks from the Epidemic Sound:
Johan Hynynen – “Dark Beginning”
Yi Nantiro – “Watchmen”
Yi Nantiro – “A Single Grain of Rice”
Reynard Seidel – “Deflection”
Fabien Tell – “Last Point of Safe Return”
Andreas Jamsheree – “Guilty Shadows 4”
Rannar Sillard – “Split Decision”

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

A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.

March 2, 2020

Downfall of the Superpower China – Ming and Qing Dynasty l HISTORY OF CHINA

Filed under: China, Economics, History — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 02:00

IT’S HISTORY
Published 17 Aug 2015

With the dynasties of the Ming and the Qing came social security and flourishing international trade. The White Lotus Movement advocated progressive thinking in the time of the conservative Ming dynasty. In 1616 the Qing dynasty came to power. Also known as the Manchu dynasty, the Qing refused to open their borders to limitless trade which led to frustrated European merchants. This caused hostility and mistrust of the “barbaric Chinese”. Shortly thereafter China’s economy lost its race against European Colonialism and would lose military influence after gunpowder reached Europe. All about the fall of the former Chinese superpower in this episode on IT’S HISTORY!

» SOURCES
Videos: British Pathé (https://www.youtube.com/user/britishp…)
Pictures: mainly Picture Alliance
Content:
Twitchett, Denis and Loewe, Michael. The Cambridge History of China. Cambridge University Press.
Wilkinson, Endymion, Chinese History: A New Manual. Harvard University, Asia Center
Loewe, Michael; Shaughnessy, Edward L. The Cambridge History of Ancient China. Cambridge University Press
John M. Roberts A Short History of the World. Oxford University Press
Xu, Pingfang The Formation of Chinese Civilization: An Archaeological Perspective. Yale University Press.
Fairbank, J. K.; Goldman, M. China: A New History. Harvard University Press. ”

» ABOUT US
IT’S HISTORY is a ride through history – Join us discovering the world’s most important eras in IN TIME, BIOGRAPHIES of the GREATEST MINDS and the most important INVENTIONS.

» HOW CAN I SUPPORT YOUR CHANNEL?
You can support us by sharing our videos with your friends and spreading the word about our work.

» CAN I EMBED YOUR VIDEOS ON MY WEBSITE?
Of course, you can embed our videos on your website. We are happy if you show our channel to your friends, fellow students, classmates, professors, teachers or neighbors. Or just share our videos on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit etc. Subscribe to our channel and like our videos with a thumbs up.

» CAN I SHOW YOUR VIDEOS IN CLASS?
Of course! Tell your teachers or professors about our channel and our videos. We’re happy if we can contribute with our videos.

» CREDITS
Presented by: Guy Kiddey
Script by: Guy Kiddey
Directed by: Daniel Czepelczauer
Director of Photography: Markus Kretzschmar
Music: Markus Kretzschmar
Sound Design: Bojan Novic
Editing: Markus Kretzschmar

A Mediakraft Networks original channel
Based on a concept by Florian Wittig and Daniel Czepelczauer
Executive Producers: Astrid Deinhard-Olsson, Spartacus Olsson
Head of Production: Michael Wendt
Producer: Daniel Czepelczauer
Social Media Manager: Laura Pagan and Florian Wittig

Contains material licensed from British Pathé
All rights reserved – © Mediakraft Networks GmbH, 2015

February 24, 2020

Canadian-American relations (and Canadian foreign relations in general) in the 21st century

Filed under: Cancon, China, Government, USA — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 05:00

Ted Campbell looks at the undisputable fact that Canada barely matters in Washington DC, and that this has been true since the end of the first Bush administration. He discusses a recent Globe and Mail article by David Mulroney which examines the need for the Canadian government to formally rethink “Canada’s role in the world” in that light:

Justin Trudeau meets with President Donald Trump at the White House, 13 February, 2017.
Photo from the Office of the President of the United States via Wikimedia Commons.

Mr Mulroney sees two major problems that confront Canada fifty years after A Foreign Policy for Canadians was published:

  • First, he says, “Canada is again dealing with a threat to our autonomy from a major power, but this time, it comes not from the United States, but from the new world that was coming into being 50 years ago. The threat is now China, which is using its economic power to influence and silence us, is undermining our national security, and is challenging the rules-based international system that the review itself championed;” and
  • Second, “we again need to face up to the consequences of our diminished status, but this time much closer to home. Fifty years on, the problem isn’t that the United States wants to dominate us, but that it has largely forgotten us. While it is tempting to blame this on the chaos of the Trump era, the painful reality is that the relationship has been in decline for some time, something that was manifestly evident in the cool detachment that marked Barack Obama’s management of relations with Canada.”

I think that second is, actually, more serious than the first. I believe we can wrap our collective mind around the fact that China doesn’t like us, that it regards us as an irritant and that it is using us as a whipping boy to send a message to its other, more important, trading partners. What has been harder to grasp is that Ameria no longer cares. It isn’t just Donald Trump, it was even just Barack Obama. George W Bush didn’t care either. Despite the great debates in Canada, it seems clear that President Bush never even asked for our help in either Afghanistan or Iraq, the “pressure” to do something to stand with the USA was entirely self-generated within Canada’s own foreign affairs and defence establishments. Bush, Chaney, Rumsfeld and Myers (the latter was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 2001 to 2005) were, possibly, grateful for the help on the ground, when they noticed it at all, but quite uninterested in Canada’s views on any of the issues concerned. Nor did Bill Clinton care about our views on or our actions in e.g. the Balkans. We, as a country, and our leaders, Jean Chrétien, Paul Martin, Stephen Harper and Justin Trudeau, did not and do not count for anything in Washington. Neither Chrystia Freeland nor Erin O’Toole nor any other Canadian prime minister, Conservative or Liberal, will fare any better. The last time Canada mattered was when Brian Mulroney and George H W Bush renegotiated the Canada-US Free Trade deal, making it into NAFTA, over a quarter-century ago. And the end of the halcyon days of Canada-US relations came a full decade before that, in the Mulroney-Reagan years. That can only change if Canada makes itself matter.

[…]

We, Canadians, must accept ~ and millions will not want to accept this ~ that, as Mr Mulroney says, “International influence … [and that includes influence where it counts most, with the USA] … is enabled by a strong economy, robust national infrastructure and institutions, and the willingness to invest in national defence and security.” One of the impacts of Pierre Trudeau’s policies was to divert spending from National Defence to social spending. That was immensely popular with many, actually with most Canadians … something for (a perceived) nothing always is. None of Brian Mulroney, Paul Martin or Stephen Harper, all of whom, it seemed to me, wanted to reverse course and act responsibly were able to change what Pierre Trudeau had put in place. The political price was suicide. But it has been fifty years and Canada is at risk of being totally irrelevant in an increasingly complex and dangerous world.

David Mulroney’s second challenge ~ recovering “the confident elaboration of national identity,” is, I suspect, much more difficult, especially given the “post-national state” quasi-intellectual rubbish that Justin Trudeau says was part of “his father’s vision.” It’s lunacy, of course, but it’s the sort of lunacy that appealed to many in the 1960s and appeals, again, a half-century later.

While I don’t disagree with Mr. Campbell’s analysis (and that of David Mulroney), I think getting our domestic house in order is the top priority, and the current Trudeau government does not appear to be doing much constructive on that sheaf of issues. With the very rule of law threatened at home, there’s little to no point in casting our eyes across the 49th parallel or overseas: we need to address the breakdown of internal governance first.

February 23, 2020

China’s government and the coronavirus epidemic

Filed under: Bureaucracy, China, Government, Health, Media — Tags: , , , , , , , — Nicholas @ 05:00

In Quillette, Aaron Sarin shows how the Chinese government has systematically failed to respond adequately to the epidemic which broke out late in 2019in Wuhan and risks “losing the Mandate of Heaven”:

As of this writing, the epidemic’s death toll is still rising, and many of these deaths can ultimately be traced to the paranoid rigidity of the Xi Jinping administration. By late December 2019, doctors in Wuhan were already sounding the alarm over cases of what appeared to them to be SARS. Instead of listening to their warnings, the authorities summoned eight of these doctors for a dressing-down. They were warned of the punishments they could face for “rumour-mongering.” News of their detention was broadcast to tens of millions: a clear message to anyone else who might have been thinking about discussing viruses in public.

The Party’s leaders actually knew enough to be worried by this point — they alerted the World Health Organisation on December 31st — and yet still they hid the truth from the public. This neurotic obsession with secrecy has certainly cost lives. If the medical community had been informed of the outbreak back in December, hospitals could have stockpiled the necessary supplies. But now there are drastic shortages, and patients are dying in hallways and waiting rooms.

Even the critics of authoritarian dictatorship will usually agree that the system beats democracy for sheer efficiency, but the coronavirus debacle has turned that old wisdom on its head. Where we might have expected cold and methodical governance, we have found dithering bureaucrats, unable to take a step in any direction, paralysed by what Xu Zhangrun calls “systemic impotence.” Weeks went by and citizens swarmed in and out of Wuhan, picking up the virus and transporting it to the far corners of the country. Local government officials stayed quiet, wary of the heavy hand of Xi Jinping. On January 23rd, a citywide quarantine was finally announced, but eight long hours passed before it was enacted — time enough for a million or more to flee the city.

The Wuhan lockdown was repeated in other parts of the country (most recently the southern megacity of Guangzhou), and some observers praised the speed with which new hospitals were constructed from scratch. These very visible displays of its power aside, the Party has moved far too slowly at every stage of the crisis. Diagnostic testing required samples to be sent all the way to a laboratory in Beijing, and this delayed the distribution of testing kits to many of the hospitals in Wuhan. Even when testing kits were available, patients still found themselves trapped in a Kafka-esque web of bureaucracy. According to Reuters, the tests have been refused to people who fail to make it through a complex reporting system involving hospital authorities, district authorities, city health authorities, and disease control officials.

None of this should come as a surprise. The cliché about the efficiency of authoritarian systems was always, on closer analysis, something of a low-resolution image. In the old days of the Soviet Union, speedy industrial growth obscured the reality of a fragile system largely devoid of autonomous decision making. During the 1920s, the Communist Party’s state planning committee Gosplan was established with the impressive-sounding mission of creating a series of five-year plans to govern the economy. But over the next 70 years, the vast majority of these plans were radically revised and rewritten, or more frequently ignored altogether in favour of Joseph Stalin’s arbitrary dictates. Indeed, Gosplan actively tried to avoid making decisions at all, because committee members knew Stalin would have them shot and replaced if their ideas produced unwelcome results. In the end, fear saps the efficiency of all authoritarian regimes, and the Chinese Communist Party is no exception.

Li Wenliang has emerged as the most vivid symbol of the Party’s latest failure. Li was one of the Wuhan doctors disgraced for discussing the coronavirus on social media. A few days after his police warning, he contracted the virus himself, and on February 6th he died. It was during the period of Li’s short illness that the Party apparently realised its error and decided to absolve the doctors, but still the central government would accept no blame for the tragedy. Instead, the Supreme Court (which is controlled by the CCP) scolded the local government in Wuhan — an unusual move, no doubt designed to create a scapegoat for surging public anger. The truth is that the city’s officials had been faced with an impossible job. They obediently followed orders, and now they will be punished for it.

February 9, 2020

The lightbulb conspiracy again

Filed under: Business, China, Economics, Environment, Government — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 05:00

I’ve banged on a few times over the years about lightbulbs, specifically about our government’s passionate desire for us to abandon the tried-and-tested (and cheap) incandescent bulbs to move first to (ultra-expensive, dim, and potentially dangerous) compact fluorescent bulbs and now to (cheaper, but still not living up to longevity promises) LED bulbs instead. Tim Worstall explains how governments were persuaded to enforce this crony capitalist plot over the years (he’s discussing the European market, but Canadian regulators were doing exactly the same thing):

We all recall when we used to use incandescent light bulbs. Simple, cheap, the result of a century’s worth of fiddling with the basic technology to make it around and about right for the use to which it was put.

A spiral compact fluorescent bulb (CFL).
Image by Sun Ladder via Wikimedia Commons.

Then they were banned. Sure, there was that energy and thus planet saving argument but that was always very weak indeed. It was an excuse, not the actual reason itself. The reason was that the big three manufacturers, Phillips, Osram and GE, had invested heavily in the next generation of technology, compact fluorescents. These cost not pennies per bulb but pounds. Rather better profit margins that is. Oh, and also, not subject to that crippling competition from China.

So, we get the EU ban on incandescents, driven entirely by the manufacturers. There’s a lot of the Baptist and Bootlegger in here given the environmentalist support for it.

The problem with the technology being the use of mercury in those bulbs.

An aside, I made my living for a number of years selling weird metals that are added to that mercury. I do actually know quite a bit about the nuts and bolts here. I’m also out of the business and have been for a decade and more. So it’s knowledge driving this, not knife sharpening.

Mercury’s not good stuff to have floating around. So, what happens next? Yep, a decade or a bit more after the incandescents were banned so now they’re coming for the CFLs.

The mercury issue was not as well publicized here in Canada as it was in Australia, for example:

How many of them have looked up the Environment Department’s website to find what its bureaucrats falsely describe as the “simple and straightforward” precautions to take against poisoning should one of these lamps smash:

  • Open nearby windows and doors to allow the room to ventilate for 15 minutes before cleaning up the broken lamp. Do not leave on any air conditioning or heating equipment which could recirculate mercury vapours back into the room.
  • Do not use a vacuum cleaner or broom on hard surfaces because this can spread the contents of the lamp and contaminate the cleaner. Instead scoop up broken material (e.g. using stiff paper or cardboard), if possible into a glass container which can be sealed with a metal lid.
  • Use disposable rubber gloves rather than bare hands.
  • Use a disposable brush to carefully sweep up the pieces.
  • Use sticky tape and/or a damp cloth to wipe up any remaining glass fragments and/or powders.
  • On carpets or fabrics, carefully remove as much glass and/or powdered material using a scoop and sticky tape; if vacuuming of the surface is needed to remove residual material, ensure that the vacuum bag is discarded or the canister is wiped thoroughly clean.
  • Dispose of cleanup equipment (i.e. gloves, brush, damp paper) and sealed containers containing pieces of the broken lamp in your outside rubbish bin – never in your recycling bin.
  • While not all of the recommended cleanup and disposal equipment described above may be available (particularly a suitably sealed glass container), it is important to emphasise that the transfer of the broken CFL and clean-up materials to an outside rubbish bin (preferably sealed) as soon as possible is the most effective way of reducing potential contamination of the indoor environment.

February 8, 2020

ESR on the Wuhan coronavirus

Filed under: China, Government, Health, Media — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 05:00

He’s backing away from his — to me unfathomable — earlier belief in the accuracy of official Chinese government statistics:

My willingness to believe the official line didn’t stem from any credulity about what the Chinese government would do if it believed the truth wouldn’t serve. As Communists they are lying evil scum pretty much by definition, and denial would have been politically attractive for as long as they thought they could nip the pandemic in the bud. I thought their incentives had flipped and they would now be honest as a way of assisting their own countermeasures and seeking international help.

My first clue that I was wrong about that came from a friend who is plugged into the diaspora Chinese community. According to him, there is terrifying video being sent from Chinese clans to the overseas branches they planted in the West to prepare a soft landing in case they have to bail out of China. Video of streets littered with corpses. And of living victims exhibiting symptoms like St. Vitus’s Dance (aka Sydenham’s chorea), which means the virus is attacking central nervous systems.

My second clue was the Tencent leak. […] the takeaway is that there is now reason to believe that as of Feb 1st the actual coronavirus toll looked like this: confirmed cases 154023, suspected cases 79808, cured 269, deaths 24589.

Compare that with the Johns Hopkins tracker numbers for today, a week later: Confirmed cases 31207, cured 1733, deaths 638. Allowing for the Tencent leak being roughly one doubling period earlier, the official statistics have been lowballing the confirmed case number by a factor of about 8 and the deaths by a factor of about 80. And then inflating cures by a factor of about 12.

Even given what I’d heard about the video, I might have remained skeptical about the leak numbers if someone (don’t remember who or where) hadn’t pointed out that the ratio between reported cases and deaths has been suspiciously constant in the official Chinese statistics. In uncooked statistics one would expect more noise in that ratio, if only because of reporting problems.

So my present judgment, subject to change on further evidence, is that the Tencent-leak numbers are the PRC’s actual statistics. And that has a lot of grim implications.

February 7, 2020

Did WW2 Start in 1937? – The Rape of China | BETWEEN 2 WARS I 1937 Part 1 of 2

Filed under: China, History, Japan, Military — Tags: , , , , , — Nicholas @ 06:00

TimeGhost History
Published 6 Feb 2020

1937 marks the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War. And whether or not this is the “actual” starting point of World War Two, it definitely was a devastating conflict which led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands and the displacement of millions.

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

Subscribe to our World War Two series: https://www.youtube.com/c/worldwartwo…

Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Written by: Francis van Berkel
Directed by: Spartacus Olsson and Astrid Deinhard
Executive Producers: Bodo Rittenauer, Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson
Creative Producer: Joram Appel
Post-Production Director: Wieke Kapteijns
Research by: Francis van Berkel
Edited by: Daniel Weiss
Sound design: Marek Kaminski
Research and Writing Assistance: Rune Vaever Hartvig

Sources:
Photo of Shanghai 1932. from 2013 Adrienne Livesey, Elaine Ryder and Irene Brien

Colorizations by Daniel Weiss

Soundtracks from Epidemic Sound:
– “The Beast” – Dream Cave
– “Split Decision” – Rannar Sillard
– “March Of The Brave 10” – Rannar Sillard – Test
– “Disciples of Sun Tzu” – Christian Andersen
– “The Inspector 4” – Johannes Bornlöf
– “Death And Glory 1” – Johannes Bornlöf
– “Magnificent March 3” – Johannes Bornlöf
– “Trapped in a Maze” – Philip Ayers
– “Last Man Standing 3” – Johannes Bornlöf
– “Not Safe Yet” – Gunnar Johnsen
– “Under the Dome” – Philip Ayers
– “First Responders” – Skrya
– “The Charleston 3” – Håkan Eriksson

A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.

From the comments:

TimeGhost History
1 day ago (edited)
Okay, so we’re not actually telling you unequivocally that World War Two started in 1937. Technically things only got global when the European powers became involved with the backing of their colonies (and in Britain’s case, the Commonwealth). What we are trying to tell you here is that how you periodize or define a historical event depends on whose perspective you are writing from. The people of Eastern Asia experienced World War Two as the progressive escalation from 1937 (or even 1931), to 1941, to 1945. In the same way the German invasion of Poland in September 1939 marks for many in Europe the outbreak of war, the Marco Polo Bridge Incident in July 1937 marks for many in Eastern Asia the start of the very same event. Let us know what you think of this in the comments. Does it make you think differently about the war?
Cheers, Francis.

January 21, 2020

The Korean War – THE COLD WAR Turns Hot!

Filed under: Asia, China, History, Military, Russia, USA — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 06:00

IT’S HISTORY
Published 23 May 2015

Not so long after World War 2, the Cold War had its first very hot conflict. After the separation of Korea into a communist north and a pro-western south, the stage was set for war. A war that escalated quickly and brought new innovations to the front that were only in a testing phase a few years earlier. The conflict cooled down into an armistice and created the DMZ that we still know today.

» SOURCES
Videos: British Pathé (https://www.youtube.com/user/britishp…)
Pictures: mainly Picture Alliance
Content:
Mulholland, Andrew: The Korean War: History in an Hour, William Collins, 2013
Malkasian, Carter: The Korean War, Osprey Publishing, 2014
Hastings, Max: The Korean War, Pan, 1987

» ABOUT US
IT’S HISTORY is a ride through history – Join us discovering the world’s most important eras in IN TIME, BIOGRAPHIES of the GREATEST MINDS and the most important INVENTIONS.

» HOW CAN I SUPPORT YOUR CHANNEL?
You can support us by sharing our videos with your friends and spreading the word about our work.

» CAN I EMBED YOUR VIDEOS ON MY WEBSITE?
Of course, you can embed our videos on your website. We are happy if you show our channel to your friends, fellow students, classmates, professors, teachers or neighbors. Or just share our videos on Twitter, Reddit etc. Subscribe to our channel and like our videos with a thumbs up.

» CAN I SHOW YOUR VIDEOS IN CLASS?
Of course! Tell your teachers or professors about our channel and our videos. We’re happy if we can contribute with our videos.

» CREDITS
Presented by: Indy Neidell
Based on the script by: Daniel Hungerford
Directed By: Daniel Czepelczauer
Director of Photography: Markus Kretzschmar
Music: Markus Kretzschmar and Daniel Czepelczauer
Sound Design: Bojan Novic
Editing: Franz Jänich

A Mediakraft Networks original channel
Based on a concept by Florian Wittig and Daniel Czepelczauer
Executive Producers: Astrid Deinhard-Olsson, Spartacus Olsson
Producer: Daniel Czepelczauer
Social Media Manager: Florian Wittig and Laura Pagan

Contains material licensed from British Pathé
All rights reserved – © Mediakraft Networks GmbH, 2015

January 19, 2020

Mao Against Everyone – China at War and Civil War – WW2 – 073 – January 18, 1941

Filed under: Britain, China, France, History, Italy, Military, WW2 — Tags: , , , , , , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

World War Two
Published 18 Jan 2020

The Chinese Communists and Nationalists clash while they’re also both facing Japanese armies in the North. And although the Communists are not the obvious victor this week, the battle has bigger ramifications. Other action takes place in Cambodia and the Mediterranean.

Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TimeGhostHistory
Or join The TimeGhost Army directly at: https://timeghost.tv

Follow WW2 day by day on Instagram @World_war_two_realtime https://www.instagram.com/world_war_t…
Join our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/D6D2aYN.
Between 2 Wars: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list…
Source list: http://bit.ly/WW2sources

Written and Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Produced and Directed by: Spartacus Olsson and Astrid Deinhard
Executive Producers: Bodo Rittenauer, Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson
Creative Producer: Joram Appel
Post-Production Director: Wieke Kapteijns
Research by: Indy Neidell
Edited by: Mikołaj Cackowski
Map animations: Eastory (https://www.youtube.com/c/eastory)

Colorizations by:
– Dememorabilia – https://www.instagram.com/dememorabilia/
– Julius Jääskeläinen – https://www.facebook.com/JJcolorization/

Sources:
Imperial War Museum (E872; E 6600)
Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe

Soundtracks from Epidemic Sound:
Phoenix Tail – “At the Front”
Johannes Bornlof – “Death And Glory 2”
Johannes Bornlof – “Last Man Standing 3”
Yi Nantiro – “Watchman”
Johan Hynynen – “Dark Beginning”
Reynard Seidel – “Deflection”
Bonnie Grace – “Imperious”

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

A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.

January 12, 2020

Fighting Far Away From Home – Allied Advance in Africa – WW2 – 072 – January 11 1941

Filed under: Africa, Britain, China, Europe, Greece, History, Italy, Military, WW2 — Tags: , , , , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

World War Two
Published 11 Jan 2020

Action in Albania. Action in North-Africa. Action in East-Africa. Action in China and action on the Mediterranean. It looks like every belligerent party is amping up its efforts to get a foothold wherever they are. And if your enemy is gaining ground? You just throw more material and men at them.

Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TimeGhostHistory
Or join The TimeGhost Army directly at: https://timeghost.tv

Follow WW2 day by day on Instagram @World_war_two_realtime https://www.instagram.com/world_war_t…
Join our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/D6D2aYN.
Between 2 Wars: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list…
Source list: http://bit.ly/WW2sources

Written and Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Produced and Directed by: Spartacus Olsson and Astrid Deinhard
Executive Producers: Bodo Rittenauer, Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson
Creative Producer: Joram Appel
Post-Production Director: Wieke Kapteijns
Research by: Indy Neidell
Edited by: Daniel Weiss
Map animations: Eastory (https://www.youtube.com/c/eastory)

Colorizations by:
– Dememorabilia – https://www.instagram.com/dememorabilia/
– Julius Jääskeläinen – https://www.facebook.com/JJcolorization/

Sources:
IWM (A 4161), (E 872), (A 4162), (A 9793), (A 13509).
Division Coat of Arms by Noclador
oil barrel by BomSymbols from the Noun Project
can by Anniken & Andreas from the Noun Project

Soundtracks from Epidemic Sound:
– “Arriving in Ancient Rome” – Kikoru
– “Easy Target” – Rannar Sillard
– “Split Decision” – Rannar Sillard
– “Road To Tibet 5” – Rannar Sillard
– “Death And Glory 1” – Johannes Bornlöf
– “The Inspector 4” – Johannes Bornlöf
– “Not Safe Yet” – Gunnar Johnsen

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

A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.

From the comments:

World War Two
3 days ago (edited)
It looks like all fronts are heating up this week. And that the German reaction to the British offensive in North-Africa and the Greek progress in Albania is to move more German troops southward. This week already shows how that potentially threatens Britains position in the Mediterranean. Well, just like the British and Germans, we hope to increase our manpower in 1941. Do your part and expand our community of loyal supporters and history buffs by joining the TimeGhost Army on https://www.patreon.com/timeghosthistory and https://timeghost.tv. The war effort needs you!
Cheers, Joram

January 5, 2020

It’s 1941 – A World at War – WW2 – 071 – January 4 1941

Filed under: Africa, Britain, China, Europe, Germany, Greece, History, Italy, Japan, Military, WW2 — Tags: , , , , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

World War Two
Published 4 Jan 2020

1941 begins with action in North-Africa and China, but Indy also takes a moment to assess the current stakes and stakeholders in the East-Asian theatre. What is sure, is that 1941 will be an eventful year!

Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TimeGhostHistory
Or join The TimeGhost Army directly at: https://timeghost.tv

Follow WW2 day by day on Instagram @World_war_two_realtime https://www.instagram.com/world_war_t…
Join our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/D6D2aYN.
Between 2 Wars: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list…
Source list: http://bit.ly/WW2sources

Written and Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Produced and Directed by: Spartacus Olsson and Astrid Deinhard
Executive Producers: Bodo Rittenauer, Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson
Creative Producer: Joram Appel
Post-Production Director: Wieke Kapteijns
Research by: Indy Neidell
Edited by: Iryna Dulka
Map animations: Eastory (https://www.youtube.com/c/eastory)

Colorizations by:
– Adrien Fillon – https://www.instagram.com/adrien.colo…
– Julius Jääskeläinen – https://www.facebook.com/JJcolorization/

Sources:
– IWM: MH 2718, C 1850, E2294, E 18542, E 378, E 443, E 3721E, E 1573
– Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-783-0104-09 / Moosmüller / CC-BY-SA 3.0
– Prison by FORMGUT. from the Noun Project
– Artillery by Creative Mania from the Noun Project

Soundtracks from Epidemic Sound:
– “Easy Target” – Rannar Sillard
– “The Inspector 4” – Johannes Bornlöf
– “Magnificent March 3” – Johannes Bornlöf
– “March Of The Brave 10” – Rannar Sillard
– “March Of The Brave 9” – Rannar Sillard
– “Deviation In Time” – Johannes Bornlof
– “Disciples of Sun Tzu” – Christian Andersen
– “Last Point of Safe Return” – Fabien Tell

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

A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.

From the comments:

World War Two
2 days ago (edited)
Happy New Year to you all!! We hope you all had a great turn of the decade. We certainly have! Here’s a casual, spoiler-free statement: 1941 will be an interesting year. We are all very grateful for those who found us at the very start with the Invasion of Poland, during the Phoney War, the early fighting Northern and Western Europe and the more recent conflicts in Greece and North-Africa. Those of you who joined the TimeGhost Army and support us financially on patreon.com/timeghosthistory or Timeghost.tv deserve extra praise – as we would not have made 1941 without you! And we have BIG plans for the coming year, so please consider supporting us as well! Make history with us and join the TimeGhost Army!!

Here’s to a great 2020 and ‘interesting’ 1941.
Cheers, Joram

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