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mysterious-cuchulainn-x · 1 year ago

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Nine (?) People You Want to Know Better

Thanks @lykegenia for the tag!

Last Song: If singing to myself counts, it was either Stan Rogers' "Free in the Harbour" or David Rovics' "Saint Patrick's Battalion." Listening only, either something by the Great Big Sea—a great, although now retired, Newfoundland folk-rock band—or the song "Phoenix" (no, not that one) that someone made a Lord El-Melloi II's Case Files AMV for.

Currently Watching: Waiting for the next episodes of Unlimited Blade Works Abridged and Fate/Apocrabridged (both arguably better than their source material) and slowly working my way through Star Trek: Enterprise.

Currently Reading: Depending on my physical location, either The Dawn Watch, a personal and global biography of seaman-novelist Joseph Conrad, or The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, a lightly fantastical mystery set in late nineteenth-century London. The novel that still hangs around in my head a good deal is Amor Towles' A Gentleman in Moscow, about a Russian nobleman sentenced to house arrest in a Moscow hotel's attic, and one of the most enveloping pieces of writing I've encountered.

Current Obsession: I bounce back and forth between a few, but at the moment I'm mostly preoccupied by Dragon Age: Origins and the Fate series—mainly the original visual novel, Fate/stay night, and the mobile game, which at least offers ample opportunities to practice rewriting interesting concepts. Fate/Zero did Diarmuid Ua Duibhne unspeakably dirty and I have an ongoing WIP (plus several more fic concepts) dedicated to correcting that, while my BioWare brain time is frequently devoted to making sense of their lackadaisical worldbuilding—sometimes within the bounds of canon, and sometimes by assaulting canon head-on—often at the cost of actually (re)writing the fic that's all theoretically about writing.

Tagging: @swtorpadawan @the-raven-of-highever @trekking-through-life @starknstarwars @ftmshepard if anyone wants to join in on this!

#tag gane

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rockislandadultreads · 1 year ago

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Libby Spotlight: Romance eBook Picks for Hispanic Heritage Month

A Ballad of Love and Glory by Reyna Grande

A forgotten war. An unforgettable romance.

The year is 1846. After the controversial annexation of Texas, the US Army marches south to provoke war with México over the disputed Río Grande boundary.

Ximena Salomé is a gifted Mexican healer who dreams of building a family with the man she loves on the coveted land she calls home. But when Texas Rangers storm her ranch and shoot her husband dead, her dreams are burned to ashes. Vowing to honor her husband’s memory and defend her country, Ximena uses her healing skills as an army nurse on the frontlines of the ravaging war.

Meanwhile, John Riley, an Irish immigrant in the Yankee army desperate to help his family escape the famine devastating his homeland, is sickened by the unjust war and the unspeakable atrocities against his countrymen by nativist officers. In a bold act of defiance, he swims across the Río Grande and joins the Mexican Army—a desertion punishable by execution. He forms the St. Patrick’s Battalion, a band of Irish soldiers willing to fight to the death for México’s freedom.

When Ximena and John meet, a dangerous attraction blooms between them. As the war intensifies, so does their passion. Swept up by forces with the power to change history, they fight not only for the fate of a nation but for their future together.

History is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera

When Griffin's first love and ex-boyfriend, Theo, dies in a drowning accident, his universe implodes. Even though Theo had moved to California for college and started seeing Jackson, Griffin never doubted Theo would come back to him when the time was right. But now, the future he's been imagining for himself has gone far off course.

To make things worse, the only person who truly understands his heartache is Jackson. But no matter how much they open up to each other, Griffin's downward spiral continues. He's losing himself in his obsessive compulsions and destructive choices, and the secrets he's been keeping are tearing him apart.

If Griffin is ever to rebuild his future, he must first confront his history, every last heartbreaking piece in the puzzle of his life.

Island Affair by Priscilla Oliveras

Sought-after social media influencer Sara Vance, in recovery from an eating disorder, is coming into her own, with a potential career expansion on the horizon. Despite the good news, her successful siblings (and their perfect spouses) have a way of making her feel like the odd one out. So, when her unreliable boyfriend is a no-show for a Florida family vacation, Sara recruits Luis Navarro—a firefighter paramedic and dive captain willing to play the part of her smitten fiancé . . .

Luis’s big Cuban familia has been in Key West for generations, and his quiet strength feeds off the island’s laidback style. Though guarded after a deep betrayal, he’ll always help someone in need—especially a spunky beauty with a surprising knowledge of Spanish curse words. Soon, he and Sara have memorized their “how we met” story and are immersed in family dinners, bike tours, private snorkeling trips . . . sharing secrets, and slow, melting kisses. But when it’s time for Sara to return home, will their fake relationship fade like the stunning sunset . . . or blossom into something beautiful?

This is the first volume of the "Keys to Love" series.

Island Beneath the Sea by Isabel Allende

Born a slave on the island of Saint-Domingue, Zarité - known as Tété - is the daughter of an African mother she never knew and one of the white sailors who brought her into bondage. Though her childhood is one of brutality and fear, Tété finds solace in the traditional rhythms of African drums and in the voodoo loas she discovers through her fellow slaves.

When twenty-year-old Toulouse Valmorain arrives on the island in 1770, it’s with powdered wigs in his baggage and dreams of financial success in his mind. But running his father’s plantation, Saint-Lazare, is neither glamorous nor easy. It will be eight years before he brings home a bride - but marriage, too, proves more difficult than he imagined. And Valmorain remains dependent on the services of his teenaged slave.

Spanning four decades, Island Beneath the Sea is the moving story of the intertwined lives of Tété and Valmorain, and of one woman’s determination to find love amid loss, to offer humanity though her own has been battered, and to forge her own identity in the cruellest of circumstances.

#hispanic heritage month #romance #fiction #ebooks #libby app #reading recommendations #reading recs #book recommendations #book recs #library books #tbr #tbr pile #to read #booklr #book tumblr #book blog #library blog #readers advisory

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historyherstory · 2 years ago

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CHAPTER NINE

Basic self defense note. If someone ever grabs your wrist or forearm, twist your arm in the direction of the outside of their fist (towards the pinky). The grip is weakest there & can be broken more easily (vs if you try to twist in direction of their thumb/index finger part of the hold, which is the strongest). In context of this story, Ron absolutely could have stopped it (hand to hand was a part of paratrooper combat training) but on the flip side, if you think of the 101st as a conventionally trained fighting force, the resistance were very much “by hook or crook”. Anything goes, as long as it keeps you alive. Fighting wasn’t the intent though, so it’s just a blip in a scene. Thought I’d make a note on it all the same.

Goldbrick, both a noun & a verb! As a noun it’s something that looks valuable but in fact, isn’t. Hence the name - gold brick. You think it’s a brick of gold but it’s just a brick with maybe a little gold plating on the outside so the value is inconsequential. The verb (”to goldbrick” or if you were “goldbricking”) is to invent a task to avoid something you should be doing. Basically, a slacker or a shirker.

I’ve only ever seen Bill Guarnere use this word (Ambrose uses it in Band of Brothers, I believe, but it’s in relation to Bill talking about Johnny). Johnny Martin gets described as a goldbricker (but Bill is also emphatic to note that is not true when it comes to fighting: he was no slacker there). He was just great at getting out of doing things, apparently. In comparison to some of the other Easy Co men who seem to have been very social (or if not as social/universally liked, such as Skip or Luz, at least still well known/have their own circle of friends) Martin gets described (again, by Guarnere) as a bit of a loner. Although take that with a grain of salt because Bill and Johnny also seem to have hung out. They got tattoos together between the period when they returned from Normandy & their deployment to Holland.

Although arguably Bill Guarnere seems like one of those aggressively social Italian Americans where you realize it’s easier to just go along with it and give him what he wants because otherwise you’ll never have a moment of peace. (See: his being instrumental to easy co. reunions post-war.) I adore him. I also adore Johnny. Writing them both in this chapter made me smile.

The mentions of Culoville are about as accurate as I can manage. Easy overnighted there (as shown in the HBO show, they’re in Sainte Marie du Mont eating, but Dick Winters narrates that they left for Culoville within a few hours). If you want to find Culoville on a map? Good luck. (I tried.) It’s apparently too small to even really register as a hamlet so it doesn’t really show up marked on any of the 1940s maps. It’s just south of Sainte Marie du Mont on the D913 (if you wanted to get an approximation on google maps). Brucheville is not a fictional place but naming it here is a construct of my imagination. It’s foreshadowed a little in an earlier chapter where D company are posted alongside an intersection to intercept any Germans coming down the road. The actual version of that apparently was late at night (potentially early morning on June 7th) so I wrote Dog company having served in that function 2x - once leading into Sainte Marie du Mont (where we saw Ron briefly interact with Nix and Dick) and now here as the 506th 2nd battalion leaves the town. In reality, Ron Speirs’ biography (Fierce Valor) only mentions it once so it was more likely they were just posted there in the evening & stayed in position for hours. This is where the incident with the drunk sergeant from Dog pulling a gun on Speirs (& Speirs shooting him in an act that is largely identified as self defense, though the sergeant died in the process) happened.

As noted above, the road to Brucheville may not be where it happened. They were stationed on one of the roads that intersected with D913. Brucheville is about due east of Sainte Marie du Mont and there’s a few ways to get from that area to the D913 so I chose that for this story’s purpose.

Captain Hester back by name - Clarence Hester is one of the (many) officers that started in Easy & was promoted to fill positions elsewhere in the 506th. By the time Normandy came around, Hester was 2nd Battalion S3 (operations officer). He would later be promoted to commanding officer of 1st battalion. Not particularly relevant to the story as far as I’m aware of (...yet?) but it’s one of those interesting facts so sharing all the same.

#writing references #hbo band of brothers #band of brothers #band of brothers fanfic #Johnny Martin #Bill Guarnere #sos help i'm opening reference tabs faster than I'm closing them #my computer wants me to close like 10 of them

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amuseoffyre · 4 years ago

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Because I will never shut up about this man, let me introduce you to the Chevalier de Saint-Georges.

born Joseph Bologne in Guadeloupe to plantation owner Joseph Bologne and his Senegalese slave Nanon (Anne), Saint-George’s father took Nanon and her son to Paris and set up house with them there when Saint-Georges was a child

Saint-Georges received the best of educations that his father could provide, including the best of fencing instructors and music. At 13, he enrolled in Académie royale polytechnique des armes et de ‘l’équitation.

by his teens, Saint-Georges was acknowledged as one of the best fencers in the country and gave at least one racist fencer master an absolute drubbing. His dad was so proud of him that he bought him the equivalent of a car :) (Horse and buggy)

at 21, he was named Gendarme du roi (officer of the king’s bodyguard) and a chevalier.

from here to the revolution, his life was wild.

He became famous as a virtuoso composer and violinist and was even offered the role as conductor of the Paris Opera, but his name was dropped from consideration after racist singers said they wouldn’t perform for someone of his ethnicity.

However, that’s when Marie-Antoinette went “well, if they don’t want him, I’ll have him!” and installed him as part of her band. No, really. They had musical salons and he would play violin and she would play whatever-the-piano-thing-of-fashion-was.

He was hot. A contemporary wrote that “he loved and was loved” by the women of the court.

Aside from the fencing and music, he was also a keen sportsman and could ice skate and box with the best of them.

There was also speculation that he was a spy for France in the years leading up to the revolution. He spent a lot of time in England and was given ready access to the Prince of Wales’s court as a novelty, which gave him a lot of access to a lot of powerful people.

He was also a staunch and active abolitionist to the point that the slave-owning aristocrats in London tried to have him assassinated. It was meant to look like a botched robbery, but the assassins underestimated the fastest fencer in France and all four of them got their arses kicked and Saint-Geoges dusted himself off and went on his way to perform in a concert.

He was leader of the first all-black French battalion in the French army, which included the man who would end up as General Dumas, the father of Alexandre Dumas. The legion was named after Saint-Georges when he distinguished himself in combat.

When the revolution came, he - the son of a slave and a man who had been derided and belittled for his heritage for his entire life - chose the side of the revolution.

In conclusion, he was a fascinating, talented and complex man at the forefront of French royal life for 30-odd years, and I have yet to see any Marie-Antoinette based films/shows that actually even have him in the background.

#chevalier de saint-georges #black history

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theculturedmarxist · 3 years ago

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U.S. Military Intelligence Official Refutes 'Russian Atrocities' Claims

Russian soldiers left the town Bucha in Ukraine on March 30. Two days later the Ukrainian Gestapo like SBU and men of the fascist Azov battalion moved in to find and remove 'traitors'. On April 2/3 video was published that showed freshly killed men laying on the streets of Bucha. Several of them had white arm bands signaling to Russian forces to see them as friendlies.

The 'west' and Ukrainian officials immediately called those dead the result of 'Russian atrocities'.

I had called it a provocation:

The Bucha 'Russian' atrocities propaganda onslaught may have worked well in the 'west' but it lacks evidence that Russia had anything to do with it.The former Indian ambassador M.K. Bhadrakumar calls it an outright fake: ...

And a fake it was.

Thankfully there are still some sane U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency officials and William Arkin is talking with them:

Last Wednesday, Bucha Mayor Anatolii Fedoruk said that 320 people had been killed in the town of 37,000. ... "It is ugly," a senior official with the Defense Intelligence Agency tells Newsweek. "But we forget that two peer competitors fought over Bucha for 36 days, and that the town was occupied, that Russian convoys and positions inside the town were attacked by the Ukrainians and vice versa, that ground combat was intense, that the town itself was literally fought over." ... "I am not for a second excusing Russia's war crimes, nor forgetting that Russia invaded the country," says the DIA official. "But the number of actual deaths is hardly genocide. If Russia had that objective or was intentionally killing civilians, we'd see a lot more than less than .01 percent in places like Bucha."

320 of 37,000 is not .01 percent. But we do not know how many of those dead were Russian or Ukrainian soldiers. Some of the dead were so called 'civilian defenders' which were supposedly local civilians to whom the government had handed guns to 'fight the Russians'. During a war a 'civilian' with a government issued gun shooting at enemy soldiers is a combatant, not a civilian.

The DIA official continues:

"Have the Russians been indiscriminate? Absolutely. But it shouldn't too surprising. It's part and parcel of the Russian way of war, lining up their artillery guns and letting loose," the DIA official says. "But here in particular, in Bucha and the other towns around it—Irpin and Hostomel—there was intense ground fighting that involved almost 20 battalion tactical groups."

I doubt that there is really intentional 'indiscriminate' Russian artillery fire. The Russians have held back quite a lot and paid in blood for it.

One should also note that the often shown mass graves in Bucha were not from recent actions but had been dug on March 10 after heavy fighting when Russian soldiers tried to enter the town:

Maxar Technologies, which collects and publishes satellite imagery of Ukraine, said the first signs of excavation for a mass grave at the Church of St. Andrew and Pyervozvannoho All Saints were seen on March 10."More recent coverage on March 31st shows the grave site with an approximately 45-foot-long trench in the southwestern section of the area near the church," Maxar said.

The DIA official clearly says the civilian casualties in Ukraine, which are quite low, get overplayed and that attributing them solely to Russia is wrong:

On Monday, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said it had recorded 1,793 deaths and 2,439 injuries to civilians in all of Ukraine since the war began on February 24. U.S. intelligence believes that the true number is some five times greater, as previously reported by Newsweek."It's bad," the DIA official says. "And I don't want to say it's not too bad. But I can't help but stress that beyond the clamor, we are not seeing the war clearly. Where there has been intense ground fighting and a standoff between Ukrainian and Russian forces, the destruction is almost total. But in terms of actual damage in Kyiv or other cities outside the battle zone, and with regard to the number of civilian casualties overall, the evidence contradicts the dominant narrative." ... The official says that it is dangerous to attribute one or even several graves and scenes of civilian disaster to Russian barbarism rather than just being realistic about the depredations of war.The official also worries that attributing the destructiveness only to Russian conduct, rather than to war itself, creates future dangers."If we blame all the damage on Putin, as if he commanded it and that it is due solely to Russian war crimes, we are going to walk away from Ukraine with some illusion in our heads that modern warfare can be fought more cleanly, that the Ukraine war is an anomaly solely created by Russia's behavior. This war is just demonstrating how destructive any war on this scale would be."

One should avoid to wage war whenever possible but it also important to end wars as quickly as possible:

"Maybe it's heartless to urge that we look at Ukraine with precision, without human emotion," says the DIA official."But for those who think tens of thousands have died and Russia is intentionally killing civilians and pursuing genocide, I say that's even more of an argument to find a diplomatic solution to cease fighting. But nothing is going to happen in the coming days or weeks to change the reality on the battlefield. That's why stopping the fighting should be our highest priority."

Unfortunately ending the war is not a priority for the U.S. nor the EU. Their leaders are drunk on the idea that the Ukraine defeated Russia around Kiev. They seem to believe that the Ukraine can defeat Russia everywhere.

But the retreat from Kiev was ordered because the deceptive move towards it had fulfilled its purpose of keeping a large number of Ukrainian soldiers in place around Kiev while the Russian army opened the land corridor to Crimea.

The Ukraine has no chance to defeat the Russian army no matter how many old tanks or airplanes the U.S. and EU countries move to it.

Sending more weapons only prolongs the war and inevitably creates more military and civilian casualties on both sides.

#bucha incident #bucha #ukraine conflict #propaganda #defense intelligence agency

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engelspolitics · 3 years ago

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Boxer Rebellion

https://www.grunge.com/240379/the-tragic-true-story-of-the-boxer-rebellion/

Boxer Rebellion (Yihetuan Movement) was an anti-Western patriotic peasant uprising that was later supported by the Qing government à eventually led to the disintegration of China's last dynasty

· Distrust for Westerners as imperialist powers sought greater influence in China

· Modernising attempts like railroads was seen as imperialist imposition

· Droughts were attributed to the gods’ wrath in response to the harm that was being inflicted on China's land; railroads hurt the "dragon's vein" and mining in the mountains had let out "the precious breath," which now tarnished the harmony between nature and man

o Violence across China by 1900; Boxer rebellion led to Boxer Protocol, which ironically expanded presence and power of imperialists

Since 1840s, the British, Americans, French, Dutch, German, Japanese, and Spanish started to take control of parts of the Chinese Empire through various treaties.

· Relations between foreigners and Chinese were increasingly strained

· Foreign missionaries were source of agitation due to to day to day involvement in the Empire

o Things kicked off with Juye Incident in 1897 à two German missionaries were murdered in the middle of the night at a missionary residence

o Kaiser Wilhelm then occupied Jiaozhou Bay; in turn Russian, British, Japanese, and French occupations of various regions in the Chinese Empire

Yihetuan, or Boxers, arose out of a Chinese secret whose name translates to "The Righteous and Harmonious Fists;" engaged in martial arts with the belief that it would make them invulnerable

name "Boxers" was given to the group by English-speaking missionaries as this was the only word they had for martial artists.

· Initially Yihetuan were against the Qing dynasty; however in 1898 anti-foreign conservatives gained control of the Chinese government and convinced the Yihetuan to join the Qing in opposition against the foreigners.

· Yihetuan also supported by Empress Dowager Cixi, who returned the Hundred Days of Reform of her son and had conservative officials institute a coup to put her in power

o In 1900 she had the Imperial Court legalise civilian militias and she publicly spoke against foreigners and in support of Yihetuan

o However the Imperial Court was divided; some saw Yihetuan as mere rioters, others were against or in favour of them

§ Some politicians in time executed for anti-Yihetuan sentiments; Xu Jingcheng and five others sent a petition urging to diplomacy to the Parliament, for which Cixi decided the ministers should be put to death

In response to the Yihetuan Movement the imperialist foreign powers banded together to create the Eight-Nation Alliance and dispatched their troops to subdue the uprising.

· In June 1900, 2,000 marines under the command of British Admiral Edward Seymour were dispatched toward Beijing; however the Yihetuan pushed back and the mission failed with 350 casualties

Seymour's defeat raised status of the Boxers in addition and strengthened the determination of the Imperial Court in their resistance to imperialism

· Cixi ordered all foreigners, incl. diplomats, to leave Beijing under escort by the Chinese army.

· On same day German minister was killed in the streets after he murdered a Chinese boy; in response to the minister's death, foreign officials declared that they remained in Beijing until the troops of the Eight-Nation Alliance arrived in Beijing

· Cixi was furious and made an official declaration of war + allowed Yihetuan to run rampant

· Chinese Christians and foreigners in Beijing fled to the Legation Quarter, which the Yihetuan unsuccessfully tried to infiltrate

o During the siege against the Legation Quarter, the Yihetuan and Chinese army’s attempts at burning out the Christians led to firespreading into the buildings of the Hanlin Yuan Academy net door; a university comprised of a series of courtyards and buildings, which also included a library that housed "the quintessence of Chinese scholarship ... the oldest and richest library in the world."

o Legation tried to extinguish the fire but still almost everything was destroyed; as there were no records of what was inside so unsure what was lost

From 1899 to 1901, the Yihetuan Movement killed as many as 100,000 people, mostly in the summer of 1900 when violence spiked

· Level of violence depended on how sympathetic local authorities were toward Yihetuan

· Many unaffiliated citizens also caught in the violence

· Chinese women said to have committed suicide to escape capture and rape by foreigners, spurring on the Yihetuan and other Chinese to remove the foreigners

Many of the Chinese Christians who died during the Yihetuan Movement became known as the Martyr Saints of China when they were canonized by the Catholic Church.

· Many fled for their lives or hid in the home of their local priest; e.g. Father Mitrophan Tsi-Chung, who was burned alive when Yihetuan caught him and others

· Father Mitrophan was the first Orthodox Chinese priest to be martyred and was canonised in 1902 by the Orthodox Church and by the Catholic Church in 2000, which China condemned

Eight-Nation Alliance to reached Beijing mid-August and soon broke through the walls; entered Beijing and the forbidden city with 20.000 troops

· Since the United States already had Manila as a main army base, the U.S. was able to quickly dispatch multiple battalions for the various attacks

· Upon lifting the siege, the Eight-Nation Alliance looted and killed in Beijing as much as the Yihetuan had been doing

Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxi fled the city; as they were gone, remaining top Qing officials signed the Boxer Protocol in September 1901

· The Boxer Protocol stated that the government had to pay 450,000,000 taels of silver as war reparations + execution ten high-ranking leaders who had supported the Yihetuan

· Russian forces occupied Manchuria, an act that led to the Russo-Japanese War in 1904

Although Empress Dowager Cixi returned to Beijing in 1901 with the intention of modernizing China and making social reforms, it was too little, too late; Qing Dynasty had been severely weakened by the Imperial government's defeat, and in 10 years, it was overthrown.

#china #20th century

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brookstonalmanac · 4 years ago

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Events 3.4

AD 51 – Nero, later to become Roman emperor, is given the title princeps iuventutis (head of the youth). 306 – Martyrdom of Saint Adrian of Nicomedia. 852 – Croatian Knez Trpimir I issues a statute, a document with the first known written mention of the Croats name in Croatian sources. 938 – Translation of the relics of martyr Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia, Prince of the Czechs. 1152 – Frederick I Barbarossa is elected King of Germany. 1238 – The Battle of the Sit River is fought in the northern part of the present-day Yaroslavl Oblast of Russia between the Mongol hordes of Batu Khan and the Russians under Yuri II of Vladimir-Suzdal during the Mongol invasion of Rus'. 1351 – Ramathibodi becomes King of Siam. 1386 – Władysław II Jagiełło (Jogaila) is crowned King of Poland. 1461 – Wars of the Roses in England: Lancastrian King Henry VI is deposed by his House of York cousin, who then becomes King Edward IV. 1493 – Explorer Christopher Columbus arrives back in Lisbon, Portugal, aboard his ship Niña from his voyage to what are now The Bahamas and other islands in the Caribbean. 1519 – Hernán Cortés arrives in Mexico in search of the Aztec civilization and its wealth. 1628 – The Massachusetts Bay Colony is granted a Royal charter. 1665 – English King Charles II declares war on the Netherlands marking the start of the Second Anglo-Dutch War. 1675 – John Flamsteed is appointed the first Astronomer Royal of England. 1681 – Charles II grants a land charter to William Penn for the area that will later become Pennsylvania. 1776 – American Revolutionary War: The Continental Army fortifies Dorchester Heights with cannon, leading the British troops to abandon the Siege of Boston. 1789 – In New York City, the first Congress of the United States meets, putting the United States Constitution into effect. 1790 – France is divided into 83 départements, cutting across the former provinces in an attempt to dislodge regional loyalties based on ownership of land by the nobility. 1791 – The Constitutional Act of 1791 is introduced by the British House of Commons in London which envisages the separation of Canada into Lower Canada (Quebec) and Upper Canada (Ontario). 1791 – Vermont is admitted to the United States as the fourteenth state. 1794 – The 11th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is passed by the U.S. Congress. 1797 – John Adams is inaugurated as the 2nd President of the United States of America, becoming the first President to begin his presidency on March 4. 1804 – Castle Hill Rebellion: Irish convicts rebel against British colonial authority in the Colony of New South Wales. 1813 – Cyril VI of Constantinople is elected Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. 1814 – Americans defeat British forces at the Battle of Longwoods between London, Ontario and Thamesville, near present-day Wardsville, Ontario. 1837 – The city of Chicago is incorporated. 1848 – Carlo Alberto di Savoia signs the Statuto Albertino that will later represent the first constitution of the Regno d'Italia. 1849 – President-elect of the United States Zachary Taylor and Vice President-elect Millard Fillmore did not take their respective oaths of office (they did so the following day), leading to the erroneous theory that outgoing President pro tempore of the United States Senate David Rice Atchison had assumed the role of acting president for one day. 1861 – The first national flag of the Confederate States of America (the "Stars and Bars") is adopted. 1865 – The third and final national flag of the Confederate States of America is adopted by the Confederate Congress. 1882 – Britain's first electric trams run in east London. 1890 – The longest bridge in Great Britain, the Forth Bridge in Scotland, measuring 8,094 feet (2,467 m) long, is opened by the Duke of Rothesay, later King Edward VII. 1899 – Cyclone Mahina sweeps in north of Cooktown, Queensland, with a 12 metres (39 ft) wave that reaches up to 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) inland, killing over 300. 1908 – The Collinwood school fire, Collinwood near Cleveland, Ohio, kills 174 people. 1909 – U.S. President William Taft used what became known as a Saxbe fix, a mechanism to avoid the restriction of the U.S. Constitution's Ineligibility Clause, to appoint Philander C. Knox as U.S. Secretary of State. 1913 – First Balkan War: The Greek army engages the Turks at Bizani, resulting in victory two days later. 1913 – The United States Department of Labor is formed. 1917 – Jeannette Rankin of Montana becomes the first female member of the United States House of Representatives. 1933 – Franklin D. Roosevelt becomes the 32nd President of the United States. He was the last president to be inaugurated on March 4. 1933 – Frances Perkins becomes United States Secretary of Labor, the first female member of the United States Cabinet. 1933 – The Parliament of Austria is suspended because of a quibble over procedure – Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss initiates an authoritarian rule by decree. 1941 – World War II: The United Kingdom launches Operation Claymore on the Lofoten Islands; the first large scale British Commando raid. 1943 – World War II: The Battle of the Bismarck Sea in the south-west Pacific comes to an end. 1943 – World War II: The Battle of Fardykambos, one of the first major battles between the Greek Resistance and the occupying Royal Italian Army, begins. It ends on 6 March with the surrender of an entire Italian battalion and the liberation of the town of Grevena. 1944 – World War II: After the success of Big Week, the USAAF begins a daylight bombing campaign of Berlin. 1957 – The S&P 500 stock market index is introduced, replacing the S&P 90. 1960 – The French freighter La Coubre explodes in Havana, Cuba, killing 100. 1962 – A Caledonian Airways Douglas DC-7 crashes shortly after takeoff from Cameroon, killing 111 – the worst crash of a DC-7. 1966 – A Canadian Pacific Air Lines DC-8-43 explodes on landing at Tokyo International Airport, killing 64 people. 1966 – In an interview in the London Evening Standard, The Beatles' John Lennon declares that the band is "more popular than Jesus now". 1970 – French submarine Eurydice explodes underwater, resulting in the loss of the entire 57-man crew. 1976 – The Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention is formally dissolved in Northern Ireland resulting in direct rule of Northern Ireland from London by the British parliament. 1977 – The 1977 Vrancea earthquake in eastern and southern Europe kills more than 1,500, mostly in Bucharest, Romania. 1980 – Nationalist leader Robert Mugabe wins a sweeping election victory to become Zimbabwe's first black prime minister. 1985 – The Food and Drug Administration approves a blood test for HIV infection, used since then for screening all blood donations in the United States. 1986 – The Soviet Vega 1 begins returning images of Halley's Comet and the first images of its nucleus. 1996 – A derailed train in Weyauwega, Wisconsin (USA) causes the emergency evacuation of 2,300 people for 16 days. 1998 – Gay rights: Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services, Inc.: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that federal laws banning on-the-job sexual harassment also apply when both parties are the same sex. 1999 – Mizan Zainal Abidin of Terengganu is crowned as Sultan of Terengganu (Malaysia) 2001 – BBC bombing: A massive car bomb explodes in front of the BBC Television Centre in London, seriously injuring one person; the attack was attributed to the Real IRA. 2002 – Afghanistan: Seven American Special Operations Forces soldiers and 200 Al-Qaeda Fighters are killed as American forces attempt to infiltrate the Shah-i-Kot Valley on a low-flying helicopter reconnaissance mission. 2009 – The International Criminal Court (ICC) issues an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. Al-Bashir is the first sitting head of state to be indicted by the ICC since its establishment in 2002. 2012 – A series of explosions is reported at a munitions dump in Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of the Congo, killing at least 250 people. 2015 – At least 34 miners die in a suspected gas explosion at the Zasyadko coal mine in the rebel-held Donetsk region of Ukraine. 2018 – Former MI6 spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter are poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent in Salisbury, England, causing a diplomatic uproar that results in mass-expulsions of diplomats from all countries involved. 2020 – Former Daredevil Nik Wallenda is the first person to walk over the Masaya Volcano in Nicaragua. 2021 – According to some QAnon supporters, former US President Donald Trump will be inaugurated, putting guards at the capitol on high alert, out of fear of another attack on the US capitol.

#Events

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punkrockhistory · 5 years ago

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Guitarist Chris Smith of the punk band Battalion of Saints jumps and screams during a concert in Los Angeles. Photo by @alisonbraunphoto #punk #punks #punkrock #punksnotdead #staypunk #hardcorepunk #chrissmith #battalionofsaints #history #punkhistory #historyofpunk https://www.instagram.com/p/B6r4qlSI1Lx/?igshid=n0bou6y33aay

#punk #punks #punkrock #punksnotdead #staypunk #hardcorepunk #chrissmith #battalionofsaints #history #punkhistory #historyofpunk

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savage-kult-of-gorthaur · 5 months ago

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SONIC MERCHANT IN SLOW DEATH HARDCORE -- LIVE & RIPPING IN L.A.

PIC INFO: Spotlight on the late, great Chris Smith, former guitarist of San Diego-based hardcore punk band BATTALION OF SAINTS (he later joined NY punk band KRAUT), performing live at the Vex in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, CA, on July 30, 1983. 📸: Alison Braun.

Source: www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1554546268591645.

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99vul · 5 years ago

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The San Patricio’s (Saint Patrick’s) battalion was predominantly formed of Irish emigres who fought for Mexico in the Mexican-American War. Led by John Riley, they were often defectors from the US Army, who were determined to fight for Mexico after witnessing the death of fellow Catholics at then hands of the largely Anglo-Saxon Protestant Americans. So it was that although Ireland remained under British rule, the Harp of Erin flew freely across the Rio Grande.

The San Patricio’s acquitted themselves well in the war, impressing both their Mexican comrades and American enemies with their skill and courage in battle. At the Battle of Churubusco, the San Patricio’s were the only Mexican battalion with ammunition to fight - which they did, and well, despite numerous Mexican attempts to raise the white flag. The Irishmen shot down any Mexican trying to surrender.

The San Patricio’s were eventually overpowered by the vastly more numerous Americans, and 50 of them were hanged for desertion after the battle, which remains the largest military execution in US military history. The battalion disappeared and has since been largely forgotten, but Mexico and Ireland still celebrate the San Patricio’s every year on Saint Patrick’s Day, as a sign of respect to those who came to Mexico’s aid in her hour of need.

We are the San Patricios A brave and gallant band There’ll be no white flag flying Within this green command; We are the San Patricios We have but one demand To see the Yankees safely home Across the Rio Grande

But when at Churubusco We fell to Yankee hands No court of justice did we have In the land of Uncle Sam; As traitors and deserters all We would be shot or hanged Far from the green, green shamrock shore Across the Rio Grande

We’ve disappeared from history Like footprints in the sand But our song is in the tumbleweed And our blood is in this land; But, if in the desert moonlight You see a ghostly band We’re the men who died for freedom Across the Rio Grande

We are the San Patricios A brave and gallant band

#history

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shiftyskip · 7 years ago

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Ronald “Ron” Speirs

The Real Ronald Speirs

Ronald Charles Speirs was born April 20, 1920 in Edinburg, Scotland to Robert and Martha Speirs. Hitler was also born on April 20, a few years earlier. Speirs knew this fact and he liked to joke about it later in life. His father was a Scottish Engineer. Speirs and his family moved to the United States during the Great Depression. According to Ancestry, he had an older sister Dorothy and an older brother Robert.

He grew up in Boston, attended high school there, took drill during school and Citizens Military Training Camps during the summers. He graduated in 1938. Not much is known about his childhood.

He was originally drafted but was given two months to finish extension courses. He was on active duty at Camp Shelby, Mississippi. He volunteered for the Airborne. Speirs was one of the original Toccoa men under Sobel.

When Easy traveled to England, Speirs traveled to Winchester to set up a camp for another Infantry division. There he met a British widow serving with the British Army’s Auxiliary Territorial Service division. They were married and had a son, Robert, soon after.

The woman’s husband had been presumed dead after disappearance. He was actually being held as a POW. He showed up towards the end of the war. It was eventually decided that she and Speirs would split up and she would return to her former husband. During the HBO, Speirs is seen rummaging through loot to send back to his wife and son. This seems to be accurate, according to other veterans. Speirs kept contact with his son throughout his life. His son would eventually become a major in the Royal Green Jackets Regiment. Speirs would visit his son and his three grandchildren in England later on in life.

Speirs jumped into Normandy with D Company on D-Day. His company would serve heavy losses. Speirs was injured in the face and knee by a grenade. He was taken back to England to recover from his injuries before returning to his unit before they jumped into Holland.

In Holland, Speirs was the Intelligence officer for Colonel Robert Strayer and his battalion. One night, Speirs had the Neder Rhine by himself to locate where the enemy was. He was spotted and the Germans opened fire on him. He dove into the water but had been struck by a bullet in his butt (what would become known as the million-dollar wound). He swam back to shore and was later found, wounded and too exhausted to move from the shore. He brought back critical information and was given the Silver Star for his mission.

He was sent to recover once again and later rejoined Easy in France before Battle of the Bulge. He wrote a letter to Stephen Ambrose about his experience in Bastogne. “There had been an attack through the trees before we arrived and they caught a number of Germans. The bodies were frozen, so there was no stench. I turned one over, an artillery forward observer, and found an excellent pair of binoculars around his neck.......We had one firefight where a platoon sergeant was killed next to me.....He fell into my arms, but was dead. There was nothing I could do for him.” In another letter to Winters, Speirs writes: “He fell in my arms without a word, probably feeling nothing. Those are the guys I think about 50 years later- why them and not me?”

In Foy, Easy company was under the command of Captain Dike Dike was considered to be similar to Sobel, but not as tough. He had reportedly “scurried off like a scared rabbit” after the blasts that took Guarnere and Toye started. Dike was the man to be leading the assault across an open field to face the Germans. Winters went through all of his instructions once more and Easy moved out under a covering fire that left them covered in heavy smoke.

Their attack was soon dissolving into chaos. Dike froze behind haystacks and was refusing to lead. Winters, aware of the risk of putting Dike in charge, had decided to watch their assault. Speirs was next to him for an unknown reason, watching this all go to chaos. Winters, angrily grabbed his gun, and declared “I’m going!” to seize control of Easy once more. He had barely moved when he whirled around and instead told Speirs to “take over that company and relieve Dike and take that attack on in.”

Winters had not prepared to pick Speirs, he just happened to be at the right place at the right time. Winters later recalled he was glad it was Speirs, who he respected as a combat leader. Winters had heard the rumors of Speirs and his killer instincts but Dike needed to be removed.

Speirs raced off to aid Easy Company. He reached the haystack, shouted at Dike, and took command of Easy. Speirs then raced across open area to locate Easy’s other flank and reorganize them. Germans opened fire on him as he crossed there lines. Once he arranged the company, he raced back through the German lines.

Regarding his personality, many rumors flew about Speirs and his violence. Winters regarded him as a killer, Malarkey didn’t like him much because of how violent he could get, and he soon developed a nickname “Killer”.

Most of the Easy Vets respected him as a combat leader. Many of the men feared Speirs. Although he was respected, it is said some men didn’t like his strict rules and discipline He was dedicated to doing the right thing and was often fearless in the heat of battle. Speirs wrote in a letter to Winters in 1992 that he didn’t expect to survive the war, so that might have fueled his actions as well.

The stories of Speirs’ and his violent streak toward his own men. It was rumored he shot a sergeant because he was drunk. While Speirs did not deny shooting the man, Winters later wrote that the shooting went beyond being drunk. The sergeant had ignored a command from Speirs to halt twice. The men were under heavy fire near Saint Côme-du-Mont. Orders were to halt due an artillery attack planned on the city where German were. The men were to follow up the artillery attack. When the sergeant didn’t stop, he was risking the lives of the men. Speirs took out his gun and shot the man. Some veterans told that the sergeant had even threatened Speirs with his gun drawn.The man died the the next day in battle so no official report could be carried out.

One of the most famous stories following his name, there was the incident of Speirs and the POWs on D-Day. There were no eyewitnesses that would confirm the story. Many stories like this have been recorded but it is not sure if Speirs was a part of these numbers for certain.

After the battle of Foy, “Sparky” Speirs remained in command of Easy until the end of the war. He was the longest commanding officer of Easy. One of the memories from Winters was of Speirs in Berchtesgaden, taking one of Hitler’s staff cars with the bullet-proof windows for a joy ride.

When the war ended, Speirs continued to serve with the Airborne, just not the 101st. He was placed with 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team during his service in Korea. He commanded a rifle company during a jump in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea.

After the Korean War ended, Speirs served at Fort Bragg, North Carolina as a military secretary for the 18th Airborne Corps Commander Major General Joseph Cleland.

In 1956, Speirs learned Russian in California before being assigned to Potsdam, East Germany to work as a liaison officer with the Soviet Army. He later became the US governor of Spandau Prison in Berlin in 1958. Spandau held many Nazi war criminals, including Rudolf Hess, Hitler’s deputy. Hess and Speirs would meet almost daily, seemingly gaining a respect for each other. Not much was said about his duties in the Korean War, with the Soviets, or in Spandau. Speirs would never talk much about these experiences.

In 1962, Speirs was a training officer in Laos, Southeast Asia, with a government mission with the Royal Lao Army. Finally, Speirs worked in the Pentagon as a plans officer until he retired with the rank of lieutenant colonel in 1964.

Around 1984, Speirs met a lady named Eloise. She had recently been widowed and her three children lived far away from her home California. She met Speirs at a singles square dance and in November 1987, they were married. Her son, Marv, did not know Speirs well at first but grew to love his step-father after the couple started spending more time in Montana, where he lived. Marv’s brother and sister had children, along with six children with his wife, leaving Speirs to become a grandfather and great-grandfather eventually. His grandchildren would take him on walks, attack him with hugs, and he would do whatever they wanted.

His family did not know the details of his long military career and he would blame it on his failing memory. It was said that while his later actions blurred together, World War 2 would forever last in his mind.

Speirs traveled to the premiere of Band of Brothers in France with his wife in 2001. Speirs wasn’t planning on going but his wife told him she was going with or without him, and he chose to go. When reading about how his actions would be displayed in the show and if he was worried, Speirs replied, “I’m eighty-one years old, what can they do to me now?”

This photo was the first time Winters and Speirs had seen each other in fifty-five years.

After the event, Speirs started opening up more about his wartime experiences. He even met his granddaughter’s husband, a cadet at West Point who had taken an interest in Speirs. Within their one hour talk, Speirs opened up more about his experiences than he ever had. Perhaps it was to share the experience with someone who was just starting a military career, we may not know why he shared so much but Speirs was able to recall a lot more than his memory knew he had.

Sadly, even legends come to an end. Speirs last years were rough and he struggled with health issues. He was not officially diagnosed but it is believed he died of Alzheimer’s. His last months were painful to everyone and the family was on call 24/7 to care for him.

Speirs died April 11, 2007. He was almost eighty-seven years old.

#profiles #ronald speirs #speirs #ron speirs #band of brothers #Real Life Band of Brothers #real band of brothers

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artistdinzel · 3 years ago

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BIOGRAPHY bi·og·ra·phy... JONATHAN UPSHUR "DiNZeL", DiNZeL EMPIRE (STUDIO(S)) ALUMNI AND VETERAN MEMBER - ALL-STAR, SCOUT, CELEBRITY, PRODUCER, MUSICIAN EXCELLENT HEALTH! DiNZeL ORIGINAL RECIPES... (English) Hamburger, Relish, Mustard, Bun, Macaroni :-) (Hebrew) המבורגר, ריליש, חרדל, לחמנייה, מקרו��י :-) (German) Englischer Hamburger, Relish, Senf, Brötchen, Makkaroni :-) (Spanish) Hamburguesa, Relish, Mostaza, Bollo, Macarrones :-) (Italian) Hamburger inglese, condimento, senape, panino, maccheroni :-) (Chinese) 英式漢堡包，調味汁，芥末，小圓麵包，通心粉 :-) (Latin) Hamburger Anglicus, Sapor, Sinapis, Bun, Macaroni :-) ... DiNZeLs PLEASE SHARE @_DiNZeL 123 abc Hebrew Spanish English French German Italian Chinese... EMPIRE ARCADE CIRCUS CINEMA MUSEUM DiNZeL CHANNEL DiNZeL's "DANCE MUSIC" https://youtu.be/6PLN7HoXc7I @dinzel_ post :-) save ... CONNECTIONS, NEWS, PAPERS, MAGAZINES, ALBUMS, TELEVISION, RADIO, IMAGES, FILMS, VIDEOS, YEARBOOK STORIES, PHOTOGRAPHY, LINKS... THE COLLEGE OF NEW JERSEY 1993 (WORKED IN TELEVISION STUDIO) NORTH BRUNSWICK TOWNSHIP HIGH SCHOOL 1983 10TH GRADE, 12TH GRADE (RAIDERS MARCHING, CONCERT BAND (ON RADIO (MGQ??? NEW BRUNSWICK, CONNECTICUT STADIUM TRIP) ALL NIGHT ROLLER SKATING (SOUTH BRUNSWICK) MARK TWAIN IS239 1980 7TH GRADE, 9TH GRADE (YEARBOOK PHOTOGRAPHER) ICE SKATING WITH LECIA (CONEY ISLAND) PS 200 (PLAYED BELLS ON STAGE AT GRADUATION) 2ND GRADE, 6TH GRADE MARYLAND ELEMENTARY SCHOOL GRADES KINDERGARTEN, 1ST GRADE CAVALLERO JHS (CAST: INDIAN BOY, ANNIE GET YOUR ???) BOY SCOUTS TROOP 35 (BENSONHURST, BROOKLYN, BEAR MOUNTAINS, JAMBOREE, DELAWARE "ROARING" RAPIDS, RAFT) YMCA CAMP MARYLAND CAMP LANOAH CAMP SHANADOAH CUB SCOUTS (NEW YORK CITY, MARYLAND) MARINE CORPS (PARRIS ISLAND 1986, 1987, 3RD BATTALION (BASIC TRAINING, PCP) ... CONCERTS: RUSH BLACK SABBATH JUDAS PRIEST ARMORED SAINT, WASP LAMORE'S AC\DC MADISON SQUARE GARDEN MEADOWLANDS AREA ... WANNA BET? (TELEVISION SHOW (EPISODES) 2, 3) ... MOVIES: BUGSY MALONE, PINK FLOYD THE WALL, HAIRSPRAY, MOVIE CITY FIVE, HEAVY METAL, LITTLE DARLINGS, BLUE LAGOON, SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER, WARRIORS, FAME, WALKING TALL... ... TELEVISION: BLONDIE (MTV LAUNCH), KID'S ARE PEOPLE TOO, BANANA SPLITS, LAND OF THE LOST, STAR TREK, CHARLIE'S ANGELS ... :-)

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