#SOURCE: NY Times articles

[thatsrightice]

They’re inaccurate, trust me I know. But the medals the aviators in Top Gun wear are cool and have meanings and map out a person’s military career.

Many caught my eye, but one in particular had me thinking, the Humanitarian Service Medal. In my research I found a table of approved operations for the HSM award put together by the government. That means he would have had to participate in and assist in one of the operations on the list. On the list I searched for one that caught my eye from the late 70s to early 80s, prior to Top Gun where Iceman and the others are seen wearing them, and one stood out.

Hurricane Iwa Relief 1982 (Hawai’i, US)

Hurricane Iwa was one of if not the worst hurricane Hawai’i had experienced up to that point in terms of damage. It also happened to be the “first hurricane to hit Hawaii in 23 years” according to The New York Times.

It was the final storm of hurricane season, occurring just before Thanksgiving on November 25, 1982 with winds of up to 110 mph. There were widespread power outages across several of the islands and very few structures had flashlights or candles, let alone backup generators.

Ignoring the timeline of their careers in terms of specific years because it doesn't make sense to begin with, I'm picturing Iceman, Cougar, Goose, and Slider at the Academy or Flight School having just seen the news of the hurricane on the TV in a common space. Ice is in total shock because he and many others he grew up with all believed the islands couldn't be touched by hurricanes. There certainly hadn't been any hurricanes while he'd lived there and there hadn’t been any ever longer before then. Hawai'i was the one place that felt like home and Ice was watching his home be destroyed by Hurricane Iwa.

He decided right then and there that he had to do something, and because all of staff liked him he was able to get the day before Thanksgiving off. But his friends knew that Hawai’i was important to him, maybe not aware of just how important but they knew it was the only place he talked about fondly, the only place he’d share memories and stories from with a smile.

He never asked for them to come with him and miss their own Thanksgivings but they had hearts of gold. Nick volunteered first, his caring soul had seemingly infinite amount of kindness and compassion for helping others. Bill and Tom were close, like brothers, so of course Bill was going to go with. And Ron shared a bond with Tom, knowing how important it was to have a stable home.

And so they all flew out to the west coast and caught a ride to the island on a seaplane Tom’s friend typically used to fly around tourists but was now using to bring much needed supplies to those who need it. It now made sense why Tom had experience flying seaplanes. They met up with some of his old friends and helped out where they could, reuniting people who had been separated from their loved ones, delivering supplies, etc.

They couldn’t fix everything in those couple of days, the residents would be clearing debris for months following, but Tom would never forget all that they had done for him that week. And despite the devastating nature of the event, that Thanksgiving would go down as one of Tom’s favorites, surrounded by friends and friends he considered closer than family.

[rickybaby]

[ot3]

If you don't know this already, please try and internalize it: the idea that people join the US military primarily because they are young people at a disadvantage in life coerced into believing it is the most accessible path to upward mobility is not true.

if you're parroting this talking point, you are doing propaganda for the US military and you just need to stop saying it. here's an article from the Military Times that breaks the finding of various studies like this one from 2020 and this one from 2018 that analyze motivations for joining the military and popular conceptions of motivations for joining the military. Here's a pretty important excerpt:

Further, they hypothesized that some of this possible misconception about poorer Americans joining the military was a geographical issue. While the Defense Department tracks the zip codes of recruits ― and historically, many of them come from more rural areas in the southeast ― it doesn’t track their incomes or their parents’ incomes, which leads to assumptions that the poorer their communities, the poorer the recruits. [...] Using Bureau of Labor Statistics data from 1997 to 2008, they found that the services have recruited primarily from the middle class, America’s largest socio-economic demographic. “We show that recent recruits tend to have higher than average socioeconomic background: they disproportionally come from the middle of the family income, family wealth, and cognitive skill distributions, with both tails under-represented,” they found.

Here's from the army times:

Surveyed troops said these were the top five reasons for staying in the Army. The percentages indicate how many troops felt the factors were “extremely important” to them:

- Opportunity to serve my country — 53.5% - How well my retirement pay or benefits will meet my future needs — 45.1% - Opportunities to lead or train soldiers — 43.5% - My sense of purpose — 38.1% -How well my pay or benefits meet my present needs — 37%

Also mentioned in other sources but here from the NY times in 2020 as well, army enlistment is becoming increasingly skewed towards being the children of people who have previously served.

The main predictors are not based on class or race. Army data show service spread mostly evenly through middle-class and “downscale” groups. Youth unemployment turns out not to be the prime factor.

'Joining the army to lift yourself out of poverty' is not the reality for military service, it is the narrative used by the military in it's marketing and recruitment. if you go around repeating it i hope for your sake you're at least on their payroll! if you're going to bootlick don't do it for free!

[reasonsforhope]

Given the misinformation that's been going around and will be going around, thought this might be helpful to some people

For a lot of reasons, I'm very good at this/at searching, to the point where I have worked as a professional fact-checker for two different publishers. So, here goes:

My Article Fact-Checking Protocol

Thorough Version

Read the full article. Keep an eye out for emotionally loaded words, and all-or-nothing language

Keep an eye out or anything that sounds too good to be true, and in contrast, anything that sounds so awful it must be true

Run the website/source through the amazing Media Bias/Fact Check. They'll tell you about a publication's bias and history of accuracy

Go to the website's home page and read through the headlines. Look at what topics they cover/prioritize, sensationalist headlines, and whether they're framing anything in a way that feels odd/off to you

Do a search related to the topic. This can be keywords, a question, or even just copy-paste the article title (Recommended: use DuckDuckGo so the results don't change based on what Google thinks they can sell you)

If multiple highly credible sources that say the same thing pop up, and there's no major societal biases that might affect the coverage of the topic in those sources (e.g. anything related to the Israel-Palestine conflict/Palestinian genocide, no matter which side), then I'm done!

If there are major societal biases, or I can't get a consensus of sufficiently credible sources, then I do some combination of:

(1) search the topic again + the words "controversy" and/or "fake"

(2) search the opposite of the topic, or do some sort of other filtered search

(3) look up a sufficiently credible news outlet with the opposite point of view of my source, and see what they have to say

(4) if it's a big enough topic, start by looking up 2 of the top national papers and 1 major paper for your region (I usually do the ones in the US, because that's where I am In the US: the LA Times, the Washington Post, and the NY Times)

Adjust "news" to "relevant type of source, e.g. tech, environmental" as relevant for all of the above options

If no red flags come up, and it's a topic I understand enough to smell huge bullshit,

Then I'm usually done!

If there are red flags, or I actually need a certain amount of detail/understanding, then it gets more complicated, but that would be a whole other thing to break down and such

or

tl;dr

Quick Version

Read the full article. Keep an eye out for emotionally loaded words, and all-or-nothing language

Keep an eye out or anything that sounds too good to be true, and in contrast, anything that sounds so awful it must be true.

If I don't know the website:

Run the website/source through the amazing Media Bias/Fact Check. They'll tell you about a publication's bias and history of accuracy

If I trust the source, but something else pinged my radar:

Do a quick web search to verify anything that sounds suspicious or too good/bad to be true (Recommended: use DuckDuckGo)

[soracities]

where do you find articles or personal essays to read? and also do you have any favorite sources for news? i want to read more but i’m having a difficult time finding sources 🤍

I've answered this just recently but here's a more complete list for essays from places I visit most often (favourites are marked **)

LitHub**

Electric Literature**

Guernica Magazine**

Hazlitt**

Longreads**

Pangyrus

The Dial**

Bloodknife**

Aeon **

The Marginalian**

Asymptote Journal

N+1

Nautilus**

Quanta Magazine**

The Believer

Ordinary Plots**

The Point Magazine

The Baffler

Paris Review (Redux newsletter is good for things usu behind the paywall)

The New Yorker

The Artifice

The Collector

The Rumpus

Catapult

Tin House Archives (the online section is no longer running but past publications are still available)

Additionally, highly recommend switching to Mozilla Firefox and trying the "Pocket" feature on their homepage: it collects links to articles across the web on topics that are either trending or based on the Pocket suggestions you usually click on. I'm on private browser 99% of the time but there's still 2 or 3 articles at least that I'm always interested in and I love it!

Some other places I read things: Poets&Writers, Atlas Obscura, The Guardian, The Independent, New Scientist, Al Jazeera, The Atlantic, BBC, National Geographic, Wired, NY Times, GQ, NPR, The Irish Times / Independent, etc., I don't have favourite news sources as a rule since I usually read 2 or 3 articles on the same topic from different places depending on what it is (I don't like relying on single sources). But on the whole this covers most of what cross my orbit unless I'm looking for something specifically 💗

[contemplatingoutlander]

A Letter to Rupert Murdoch Upon His Retirement

[Note. Read past the first line--which is meant as sarcasm.]

Dear Mr. Murdoch: I wanted to write to you to thank you for the impact you and yours have had on my life. I once lived peacefully in a neighborhood of people from varied backgrounds. Back then, I never knew nor cared what people’s political affiliations were. In fact, even when dating, asking someone to label themselves D or R would have seemed nonsensical. Thanks to you, half of that neighborhood no longer speaks to the other half. Prior to 2016, I used to attend a family reunion picnic in Pennsylvania, never caring if some of the people were particularly religious. Well, I would like to thank you for your hand in radicalizing and reinforcing perplexing beliefs in about half of the reunion participants. Now the reunions are barely attended and the family has divided into a feud. I want to thank you for the cousins and friends who defriended me, online and in person, when they fell victim to the dark rhetoric you peddle. Convinced now that their lives are under threats from trans criminals and vicious migrants, they are completely unaware of how they’re economic interested are being robbed by a different source. Thank you so much for your enduring spirit of divisiveness. I hope the money you enjoyed while alive was worth all you stole from society. Mostly, may the hatred, division, suspicious, distrust, judgement and malignancy you leashed on us be returned to you a thousand fold….and may your nursing care be delivered with the same love for humanity you left behind. --GWE, NY, commenting on a NY Times article: Rupert Murdoch to Retire From Fox and News Corporation Boards

[edited]

[vavuska]

Elon Musk is threatening a Brazilian Supreme Court justice after the court issued a summons to him which threatens the suspension of Twitter if he does not comply within 24 hours.

To combat disinformation, Brazil gave a Supreme Court justice sweeping powers to order social networks to take down content he believed threatened democracy. Here's how the experiment led to a ban on X, the social network owned by Elon Musk.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/31/world/americas/brazil-x-ban-free-speech.html?smid=threads-nytimes

Elon Musk claims this is a censorship, because previously he was ordered to ban and close a lot of far-rights account that spread fake news and hate online by that same judge. As protest, Musk closed X offices in Brazil - which means people losing their job or their income.

When free speech is interpreted as anything which matches the law (and viceversa). Under Elon Musk's Leadership, Twitter has approved 83% of censorship requests by authoritarian governments globally. The social network has restricted and withdrawn content critical of the ruling parties in Turkey and India, among other countries, including during electoral campaigns.

Since Musk assumed control in October 2022, the platform has received a total of 971 government requests, a significant increase compared to the 338 received between October 2021 and April 2022.

Prior to Musk's takeover, Twitter had agreed to 50 per cent of such requests, as indicated in their last transparency report. However, no transparency reports have been published since October 2022, making it challenging to assess the current situation. Nevertheless, data from the technology information portal Rest of World suggests that the compliance rate has risen to 83 per cent following Musk's leadership, which again contribute to detect what Elon Musk REALLY think about free-speech: this right is granted only if comply to what oppressive governments and far-right politician approves. Discrimination and criminal behavior are allowed and protected under Musk's Leadership, because targets minorities, immigrants and political oppositors. Musk is a conservative and apply censorship, he isn't the victim of a 'woke' complot lead against him. Musk is receiving the payment for his unlawful action.

Source: El Pais English

As far I can understand, without having many clues here, this order of summon says that Elon Musk refused to appoint a legal rapresentative for X Brasil. For some typology of corporates Brazil require a % of residents in management or a legal rapresentative, with power to vote and deliberate in meetings, to operate online in the country. Yeah. Law apparently seems to be applied to everyone except him.

Summons with translation.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/28/technology/brazil-x-ban-elon-musk.html

Edit: A legal rapresentative is more a managerial position than what do you think of. Yes, it could be an attorney or a lawyer too, but still isn't simply the guy who defend the corporate's interests in court. In Brazil you need a % of residents in management position to operate. This was a problem issued also with WhatsApp and Telegram.

Edit 2 - 31th August 2024: I was curious about the consequences of Musk's decision to close X's offices in Brazil for his employees. Have they been fired? Suspended with or without salary? I didn't find anything. However, I found this article that adds some informations, like Musk declaring he did this to "protect his staff". However, his legal rapresentative is impossible to be found.

Edit 3 - 31th August 2024: Another article of NY Times that analyzes the matter.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/18/world/americas/elon-musk-x-brazil.html

Update - 31th August 2024: Brazil has turned off Twitter. Musk’s genius is again on glorious display in losing the 7th most populous country in the world. Oh well. At least the Cybertruck is doing awesome.

Another Update - 31th August 2024: Musk is freaking out right now. He knows if he gets blocked in Brazil it is just a matter of time before other countries follow suit.

However, someone forgot to tell Musk that you get fined for using VPNs to access Twitter in Brazil before he posted this.

Also seems that for a tech genius Musk isn't very smart though, doesn't he know using a VPN will worth the same with apps as it does with a browser?

However, The Brazilian Supreme Court has moderated its first rule. First, even the VPN apps were targeted and should be banned from App store and Google Store to prevent people getting access to Twitter exclusively. Now, the Court realized that banning VPNs is too extreme, so they will only apply a 50k (about $8,900) fine for those caught accessing the platform.

Basically, you don't get fined for using VPNs, that would be too 1984. You might get fined if they FIND OUT that you're accessing X via VPNs, and this is exactly the kind of thing VPNs are designed to prevent.

Just a reminder, you can always access better platform than X, even on your phone. No app is needed.

VPNs are great tools to use worldwide to get around authoritarian and abusive government surveillance and blocking. Zero to do with Musk. And they can only catch you if you aren't savvy.

In a perfect world you shouldn't need to download any VPNs to access innocent contents, because democratic countries will never block a platform that gives informations and entertainment to people. In a perfect world you won't be stuck with platforms that are not free from disinformation and neo-nazi posts.

3rd Update - 31th August 2024:

Musk owns more of SpaceX than Zuck owns of Meta or Bezos owns of Amazon, fwiw. For all intents and purposes, Musk is Twitter, SpaceX, Neuralink and X.

I'm gonna add some technicalities here:

In Brazil there is something called "Corporate Personality" that protects the shareholders patrimony from the company's debts.

But... If you hide behind legal shenanigans in a fraudulent manner, "corporate personality" is bypassed and thus the court moves into your personal patrimony.

Elon is, personally and fraudulently, removing X office from Brazil so they don't obey Brazilian laws.

So the judges target him on his other shares: SpaceX and Starlink.

[ofmdrecaps]

11/19-20/2024 Daily OFMD Recap

TLDR; Rhys Darby; Taika Waititi; David Fane; Samba Schutte; Megan Vertelle; Lindsey Cantrell; Damien Gerard; Dominic Burgess; Hugo Pierre Martin; ShopStands Black Friday Sale; Articles; Fan Spotlight: OFMD means Frames hosted by Ram & Tsutsuya!; Love Notes; Daily Darby/Today's Taika Gifs.

Hey crew! I wanted to add a bit more but I'm already late and we've got a couple things coming down to the wire! If you wanna get in on the Auntie's Tiny Boats raffle being hosted by @ofmd-buys-boats's raffles you can until 23:59 Thursday 21st November 2024 (GMT) (WHICH IS TONIGHT)! That's not far away! Be sure to submit your entries!

= Rhys Darby =

The gigs just won't stop! Next up is Christchurch AoNZ! Christchurch Tickets

Source: Rhys' Instagram Stories

Rhys is also going to be at The Bell House, Brooklyn NY on Feb 22, and Feb 23! Get tickets at TheBellHouseNY.com

Source: Instagram

Australia Dates are also up! Get tickets at his website! PW: ROBOT for priority.

Rhys is going to be at the London on the 22nd for The Republic of Pirates with Vico, Con, Nathan, and Kristian!

Source: Rhys Darby's Bsky

And if there wasn't enough going on with Rhys:

Also, Final Fantasy XIV won a Clio for Best use of Influencer and Talent -- and by that they obviously mean Rhys!

Source: We Are Royale Instagram

== Taika Waititi ==

Taika is super excited about the Moana 2 Maori screening, he's sending out a PSA that you can help sponsor one to help others experience the wonderful Maori language!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Taika Waititi (@taikawaititi)

Wanna sponsor a screening of Moana 2 in Maori?

Visit watewamedia.nz

Source: Taika Waititi's Instagram

= David Fane =

Just a quick promo video with David Fane and the rest of the Moana 2 crew!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Walt Disney Animation Studios (@disneyanimation)

Source: DisneyAnimation Instagram

= Samba Schutte =

Samba and Damien's new game Call of Duty Black Ops 6 is up for Best Action Game at TheGameAwards! If you've played and would like to give it some love, you can vote for the game amongst others at TheGameAwards.com. (Note: You do need to sign up for an account to vote).

There are still hand signed pictures of Roach available at ShopStands! Get some cool merch and support charities here!

Samba also sent a little reminder to keep that scurvy away with an immoderate use of citrus!

Source: Samba's Instagram

= Megan Vertelle =

One of our fabulous set decorators -- Megan Vertelle was kind enough to help support the @ofmd-buys-boats charity raffle and send us some BTS for Zheng's ship as well!

Source: Megan Vertelle's Instagram

= Lindsey Cantrell =

Our dear Lindsey, who CREATED the tiny boats that are being raffled off in @ofmd-buys-boats's raffle is reminding you that entries end at 23:59 Thursday 21st November 2024 (GMT)! That's not far away! Be sure to submit your entries!

Source: Lindsey Cantrells Instagram Stories

= Damien Gerard =

Our dear Father Teach could use a pick me up, if you have a bsky account and a few spare minutes, would you be so kind as to send him some love? Quotes-- music, photos, anything that brings you joy <3

Source: Damien's Bsky

= Dominic Burgess =

The countdown is on! Our wonderful Jeffrey Fettering will be adding his talents to the new Skeleton Crew show!

Source: Dominic's Bsky

= Hugo Pierre Martin =

Our favorite valet from s1, Hugo Pierre Martin is calling out for some art submissions for his spotify series! "The next season of the audioseries will be called "The Seventh Son." The series will have icons for every episode and I'd like it to be some variation on this ancient symbol: The Oroboros. It can be: - A snake biting its own tail - A dragon biting its own tail - A blue Bunny dragon biting its own tail" Interesting in submitting something/checking out the submissions? Check out his Instagram!

Source: HPM's Instagram

== Stands Black Friday Sale ==

There's still OFMD merch available at shopstands! If you were thinking of picking some of these up this is a great time -- and it's for a good cause!

Source: ShopStands

== Articles ==

More articles about our favorite show, and our Captain talking about his new tour! Thanks so much to @adoptourcrew fand @ofmooshd for keeping us appraised!

Source: Moosh on Twitter

Source: Adopt Our Crew Twitter

== Fan Spotlight ==

= Our Flag Means Frames - Moonlight Scene =

There's a new frames project hosted by Ram and @tsutsuya on Bsky! Here is the link to the full thread. The deadline will be the 31st of Janurary 2025! -- and you can sign up here! It looks like they've already shared so many frames that there are just some hand frames left so get in while you can!

Contact info:

Email: youwearfineframeswell@gmail.com

@tsutsuya.bsky.social

@panodtortur.bsky.social

Source: Ram's Bsky

== Love Notes ==

Hey lovelies! There are two things in this issue that are time sensitive and I'm running late as it is so I'm gonna make this short today! You're halfway through the work week if you work weekdays-- you are almost there crew! You can make it! <3 Sending some love notes from others for today <3

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by The New Happy® (@newhappyco)

Source: NewHappyCo Instagram

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by The New Happy® (@newhappyco)

Source: New Happy Co Instagram

== Daily Darby / Today's Taika ==

I just have to re-share this look they give each other today. Today's gif courtesy of the lovely @captain-flint!

[focsle]

have you written anything about tattoos? is that relevant? don't know how your niche lines up with generic "sailor" tradition, but wikipedia simply says on knuckle tats that deckhands may get "HOLD / FAST" as a charm to support their grip on rigging, and i thought that was kind of cute.

I haven't written anything myself, mostly cos if you throw a stick out in the internet you'll find any number of articles about the symbolism of sailor tattoos, like hold fast and pigs and roosters and swallows and all that!

In my narrow window (the middle decades of the 19th century), I don't see tattoos mentioned all too often, compared to late 19th and throughout the 20th century where they became more common. For instance, this register of seaman's protection certificates (which are admittedly limited in the scope of things, since they're only from a few specific ports) from 1796-1871 rarely list tattoos as distinguishing marks, beyond the odd mention of being marked with an inked anchor, eagle, or letters here or there. Here's a neat jstor article (if you have any more of your 100 free monthly articles to read with a google account) that goes into late 18th-early 19th c tattoos that has some tables and visuals. The research was also done using seaman's protection certificates, with the following stat:

"The SPC-A records start in 1796 and include tattooed men born as early as 1746. There were 979 tattooed men out of a total of 9,772 men whose records survive from 1796 through 1818.26 These men were marked with a total of about 2,354 separate designs."

So, not a large number, but also 10% isn't insignificant. The protection certificates while a reliable source, also only describe the man in one specific moment. I'm sure a few of those men who just have their moles and scars and crooked fingers listed eventually picked up a tattoo or two in their time. Most journal keepers perhaps didn't think it important to mention who had tattoos or what of, though the typical motifs of anchors, nautical stars, girls, religious & patriotic imagery, etc. were certainly a part of the visual language at this point. Whaler William Abbe who sailed in the 1850s, devoted considerable attention to describing the physical appearance of some of his shipmates. In one instance, he wrote about the tattoos of one 'Johnny Come Lately' or 'Jack Marlinspike' (Real name, John Hewes of Buffalo NY)

'from beneath this cap his face looms out - while beneath supporting his comical head is a bare neck and breast — hairy + brown —the upper timbers to a stout hull of a boat that boast a pair of arms all covered with India ink tattooings — the figure of American Liberty — Christ on the cross — an American Tar holding a star spangled banner in one hand + a coil of rope in the other — a fancy girl — + anchors, rings, crosses, knots, stars all over his wrists + hands — the memorials of different ports he has visited — for Jack has been in all kinds of vessels from a man of war to a blubber hunter — + has consequently been to many ports.'

From the logbook of another whaler who sailed in the early 1840s, James Moore Ritchie, he had a page of his drawings with prices included. This potentially may have been a tattoo flash sheet for his shipmates:

American whalers also noted the tattoos of indigenous people who had signed on to whaling vessels, particularly in the South Pacific. William B. Whitecar, whaling in the 1850s wrote: "Several New Zealanders in the respective crews of these vessels attracted my attention from the tattooing on their bodies" making mention of "figures on their face and breast".

I'm too sleepy to have a conclusion lol. Tattoos! They existed! Though perhaps not as ubiquitously as the pop culture sailor designs would imply, at least prior to the late 19th c.

[hooked-on-elvis]

The Green Scrapbook 📗

Why is Elvis a legend? Simple answer: HARD, HARD WORK... on and off stage.

That's the most interesting thing I've learned about Elvis lately.

This fanzine was out… it is called "Elvis Answers Back!", printed by Sound Publishing Corp in 1956 (view photo 8 and video 1 further on). In its pages, Elvis answer questions about his career and personal life in that genuine way we love so much about his interviews. There's very interesting answers in those pages (I'll share more in this blog in a while) but this one got me in awe. What we're about to read Elvis did in the 50s, while he was in the peak of his success as a young artist, specifically in the year of 1956, it's a demonstration of his courage, down-to-earth spirit, and a passionate level of dedication to his craft that few artists, or normal people for that matter, have.

Some of the pictures printed in the Elvis Answers Back! magazine: August 18, 1956. Elvis at the Knickerbocker Hotel, Hollywood, CA. Photograph by Ed Braslaff.

The magazine article is in topics. This one is entitled "THE GREEN SCRAPBOOK", and here's what Elvis had to say about this "rumor":

"Yes, it’s true that I keep me a scrapbook of a lot of the stuff that’s printed about me. But you know something? I don’t save the articles or stories that tell nice things about me. My scrapbook only has stuff in it that isn’t very friendly. I’ll tell you why this is. "When I first started out, my momma wanted to save all the programs and pictures and things that everyone put in the papers and magazines. I wasn’t much interested in doing this, because I was so busy singing and working and learning that I just didn’t want to take the time to sit down every so often in the middle of something and start cutting out pictures and things. Momma bought her a big green scrapbook, though, and asked me to send her stuff whenever I got the chance. For the first year or so, I didn’t send her a thing, and the scrapbook was empty, except for a couple of clippings she got out of the Memphis papers.

Some of the pictures printed in the Elvis Answers Back! magazine: (1) June 30, 1956 in Richmond, VA. Elvis drinking water after having a bowl of chili, sitting at the Jefferson Hotel lunch counter; (2) Elvis at the RCA's Studio One in NY, for a recording session on July 2, 1956, when he recorded "Hound Dog" and "Don't Be Cruel." Both photographs by Alfred Wertheimer.

"Then one day I saw this article about me not being a very good singer. I cut that out and send it to momma and she wrote back and told me I didn’t want to fill my scrapbook with things like that. But I wrote back and told her, 'Momma, anyone can fill a scrapbook with good things. But what good does it do? I’d like to know the things people don’t particularly like and study them and try to make myself better if I can.' "So that’s how The Green Scrapbook got started. I’ve got a lot of pages filled, and a lot of them are still empty, but I’ll tell you this. Every time I go home to Memphis, I take down that scrapbook and study it. I know most of the things in it by heart, and I’m always going to do my best to improve whenever and wherever I can." — Elvis Presley, 1956 interview.

Cover of Elvis Answers Back! magazine, published on August 28, 1956 | Source: elvis100percent.com

SEE THE CONTENT IN THE PAGES OF THAT 1956 ELVIS MAGAZINE (this is an US limited edition reproduction of the 1956 original magazine):

Thanks "Collecting King Elvis Interviews and Memobilia" Youtube channel for sharing this gem.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

UPDATE

I just crossed an interview of Elvis for the Hy Gardner Show ("Hy Gardner Calling") on July 1, 1956 (right after Elvis' performance on the Steve Allen Show). Hy Gardner asked Elvis if he reads the reviews on his concerts and he answers it with "Not if I can help it". Then Gardner goes on in the same matter and asks him further, "Do you keep a scrapbook at all?" -- Elvis' answer to this: "Only of the good stuff." -- We can figure, although Elvis had the Green Scrapbook probably since 1954, considering he said 'When I first started out, my momma wanted to save all the programs and pictures (...)', it was around mid 1956 that Elvis consciously decided to face his detractors more often and make a good use of their critics to help him improving his act. Fascinating. It's fascinating for a young man as talented, handsome and successful as he was, to pause the rush of excitement going on within himself just so he could think things through. Elvis was enjoying a tremendous amount of success already, so it would be more convenient to just have fun and let it happen while it lasted. 1956 was THE year when everything he ever dreamed about was happening at once in his life and he couldn't be more excited and thrilling with the attention he was getting from all over, yet that young man had the maturity to understand he had to keep working hard so he truly could have something worth sharing with the world, something better to offer to the people who seemed be starving for more of him. Fascinating.

WATCH THE FULL HY GARDNER INTERVIEW WITH ELVIS (July 1, 1956):

[eugenedebs1920]

When we look back at dictatorships, whether in fascist regimes, communist states, autocratic rule, and totalitarianism, ect. the philosophy’s don’t have all that much in common. One thing they do have in common is a “great leader” or an “emperor”, and more so nowadays a “strongman” who lords over the population with ”an iron fist”, a fancy way of saying they oppress thier people.

Let’s look at WWII. What did Germany’s leader (I heard we weren’t supposed to use the H word but you know who I’m referring to) and the emperor of Japan share in similarities? Not much, if anything at all. After Pearl Harbor America declared war with Japan and as a result of the treaty between Japan and Germany, Germany declared war with America (DUMB!!). What did germanys leader and the emperor of Japan have in common? Did they share any common ground other than the leader was almighty and the subjects were expendable? No. What they had in common is their oppressive rule and the fact that the free countries condemned their style of governance. So whether you have any similarities or not, as an oppressive regime, your only allies are other oppressive regimes. The idiom, your enemies, enemy, is your friend.

Fast forward to now and we don’t have the same style of fascism and dictatorships, in the more developed countries, as back then. Hence it’s not the same kind of harsh oppressive system. More of a soft autocracy. Orban in Hungary and Erdogan in Turkey are a prime example of the “soft autocracy”. Russia is an authoritarian state. Their sham government is a front for the pleasing of the world but, Putin rules Russia as a dictator.

The last thing these authoritarians want is their people to get any wild ideas of individual freedom and liberty. We did screw Russia over good after WWII, and I promise they didn’t forget, but beyond that, they want any democracy to fail. They don’t want their people to see that it is possible to have a thriving free nation. Who is the most power, wealthiest, freest nation on the planet? The United States of America.

China, Russia, Turkey, Hungary, North Korea, they would LOVE to see us destroy ourselves. All that they can do without invoking a military conflict, they will to undermine us, make us seem as if our system of government is feeble, flawed, corrupted, they will, and are. They want to rule over their citizens with fear and divisiveness. Making the population too scared to rise up against them.

This is why, in particular, Russia has been caught meddling in elections all throughout Europe and here in America. It is also why it’s so troubling that Republicans, and Trump in particular, are so keen on people such as Orban and not willing to help a democracy like Ukraine. Trump and Putin being “friends” is not a good thing. Trump is the easiest person to manipulate! All you have to do is complement him or offer him money and he’ll do whatever you want. Orban is an authoritarian! Why is he going and having private meetings with Trump directly after he met with Putin. This isn’t a Sherlock Holmes mystery here! It’s pretty damn easy to see!

Long story shorter than it could be. Russia will be putting out all kinds of misinformation and deepfakes, false stories and made up articles. Check the source! Despite what Trump says, because he only says it due to them being critical of him and covering him appropriately, the established sources, your NBC’s, CBS, ABC, CNN, Washington Post, NY Times, ect. these are credible sources. Are they corporate money making organizations? Yes. Does the press situation in this country need an overhaul? Yes. But these aren’t fake news (I had to laugh while typing that because that’s LITERALLY what Trump calls them) their flawed news but they aren’t social media deepfake, made up, complete fabrications to throw our democracy into turmoil. They will tell you the story as it is happening. The first step in autocratic rule is to limit information to what suits your narrative. Thats why Trump calls them fake. I can’t believe I’m sticking up for the media so much right now but , for reals!…

Check your sources. Know that their is forces that want to see us fail. Want us to be angry and rioting and questioning if democracy works. It does. Trump is a Russian asset, that’s why all this nonsense is amplified the way it is. In 248 years, 60 presidential elections, only the three involving Trump has this whole fraud, stolen election, noncitizen voting bullsh*t ever came up. Just Trump being a traitor. Don’t let the country’s most notorious conman con ya.

[workingclasshistory]

On this day, 30 April 1923, radical Jewish actor Al Lewis, best known for portraying grandpa Munster in the popular 1960s sitcom The Munsters was born in Brooklyn, NY. His mother was an immigrant garment worker who took him on May Day protests in New York City as a child. By the time of the great depression, he was a convinced socialist involved in supporting tenants and the unemployed. He told a journalist: “During the Depression, people were getting evicted, ten a day. We used to come along and break the lock and put the furniture back in again… We would storm the Home Relief Centres, that or this person didn't get a cheque for $8 or something, and get hit on the head [by police.]” He stayed true to his beliefs until his death in 2006. More information, sources and map: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/10257/al-lewis-born https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=617948930378326&set=a.602588028581083&type=3

[not-goldy]

The funniest thing is watching people cling to articles with no real credible sources that Jikook spent no time together in Japan and stayed in seperate hotels and ate alone. LMAO then left to go to another town and spend no time together. Disptach literally said Jikook were going together to shoot a documentary TOGETHER. We know that is not the real reason, but there is no way in hell they are gonna set Jikook up in different hotels, just for them to meet up to film whatever it is they need to film. How fucking dumb are you people? Insecure jikookers, antis and tkk are all losing their fucking minds and making up scenarios at this point to explain away Jikook's gayness. Acting like while JK is filming a performance for a show, that Jimin can't sight see. Clinging to articles with no real confirmation, making up scenarios about it being only for work. Laughable to think they would not be at the same hotel. They are fucking bandmates what would be the big fucking deal. They have always stayed at the same hotel. So suddenly since they travel together alone, its different? Don't make me laugh. Of course they stayed in the same fucking place. What a bunch of braindead desperate idiots you are. NEWSFLASH. JIKOOK ARE QUEER and their company is gonna protect them. They literally gave them a show so they could spend some ALONE time together before enlisting and they are.

Just say you're on the edge of jumping cause. in the last few months back back you been hit with.

Letter (featuring JK with romantic lyrics)

NY/CT/Silver Day (just the two of them)

JK's Jimin lives (focused only on JM not your fav)

The Bed live between Jikook & Jk begging him over.

Tokyo (alone trip)

Sapporo (alone trip)

Jeju (Vminkook trip)

Busan Chuseok (ALONE whale drawing together/boating)

Jk watching all of Jimin's content, singing all of Jimin's songs. Not watching your fav.

JK alone White Day spoiling Jimin's songs 4 hours, when he could have been with your fav while Jm was out of town.

Jikook's Tokyo trip being called "Real Love" and they coincidentally returned there TOGETHER during the anniversary month of GCF Tokyo.

Jk's brother posting a pic of what looks like Jimin's hand during family game night and got y'all so insecure y'all wrote a whole desperate wattpad about matching floors/walls with Tae's wall picture and Jk's brothers floors & that TK must have eat together at JK's brother house, only for Tae to actually be standing at a golf course posing and the golf course gave a shout out to Tae.

And the Granddaddy of all. JIKOOK ENLISTING TOGETHER CAUSE THEY DON'T WANT TO BE WITHOUT EACHOTHER. When your fav could have enlisted with Jk, like you dumbasses believed for years.

Taennie pictures, Taennie videos. Taennie in Jeju. Taennie in NY together. Taennie in Paris together holding hands. Tae in Jennie's bed. Taennie wearing matching Jewelry and couple shirts. Jennie slapping y'all with pictures shutting down cosplayer theories.

I mean, at this point, go ahead and jump bitch. Leave, don't come back. There is nothing for you here. Your ship is not nor has it ever been real. You are staying to troll & for attention cause you're all pathetic lifeless losers. You know you have nothing left. You are here to prove Jikook is not real, so we can sit in the same miserable sunken boat as you, but we never will. PERIOD. You are all on your own.

AND THAT'S ON PERIODT

Come what may, they never stop loving eachother

No matter my opinion, your opinion, their opinion.

They are the cause of eachother's euphoria 💜

NOTHING CAN ERASE THAT

NOT A THEORY

NOT FAKE NEWS

NOT MS.

[sgiandubh]

Cut the (Ghenea) crap

I have been anticipating since at least last Friday the very recent rumor overdrive about S and Mrs. Mădălina Ghenea, Romanian Horizontal Extraordinaire and I howled like a pack of hyenas in the dull silence of my flat.

Of all the rumors featuring S and divers representatives of the International Fitness Harem, this one stroke me as the most ridiculous ever. Downright scraping the bottom of the barrel, here, to be honest.

Now, as all of you know, I happen to be Romanian and if anything, you should at least grant me the benefit of a flawless knowledge of the terrain, so to speak. And as far as erotically ambitious Romanian chicks go, let's just say I am a sweet summer child, compared to this one.

Mădălina hails from Slatina, a small town in Oltenia, one of the most fascinating parts of the Romanian Southwest (I have a good quarter pint of Oltenian blood myself, so I think I know what the hell I am talking about: quick-witted, ambitious people, with a devastating, sarcastic sense of humor). She comes from virtually nothing: a working-class family of former farmers drawn to the nearest town by the quick and demented industrialization of the country during the Sixties, which is to say, the Lumpenproletariat our German friends can immediately relate to. But when you spend your childhood in the dull and poor anonymity of a non-descript block of flats (matchbox upon matchbox upon matchbox - think of it as a dignified favela of sorts), the only thing you want to do is to get the damn out of there, at all costs. Which, I have to say, she brilliantly and ruthlessly managed to, almost in record time. Granted, she is beautiful (to me, she is very cliché, but for any foreign male she is a Wanton Goddess of Sex, I suppose) and she does have the street smarts to safely get her through any urban jungle of this planet, too.

You can peruse her war credentials here, for a quick overview of the character, if you really, really, really need to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C4%83d%C4%83lina_Diana_Ghenea.

I will just add (and you will have to trust me on this one), a couple of things:

Cynically speaking, she could be a decently plausible beard for S. After all, she did beard for di Caprio (an info I just corroborated over the phone with a friend who is a cinema & TV journalist, back home). Problem is, a woman like this is way over budget. I am afraid The Boy doesn't qualify, bless his heart: too meh for her eclectic, but high-end tastes (local cardboard millionaires, Bulgarian tennis players of the light mafioso type, Philipp Plein, Italian TV beaux and yup, Gerard Butler - but it did not end amicably, enough said). You have to understand that woman saw it all and she won't settle for a pap walk in the pishing drizzle of GLA, or even NY. This one knows perfectly well diamonds are a girl's best friend. And if you doubt me, maybe you won't doubt her, when she declared three days ago for the Daily Fail something along these lines:

[source, LOL: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-12681539/EDEN-CONFIDENTIAL-Sexiest-woman-world-Madalina-Ghenea-yearns-real-man-stealing-hearts-Leonardo-DiCaprio-Gerard-Butler-Michael-Fassbender.html]

Read my lips: not going to happen. Not in a million years, not even for the sake of the fucking Narrative. Not even on a desert island. Never. Nuh-oh. No way.

At any rate, if God knows what sick plot twist happens, you'll learn it here first, probably: the Romanian gossip press would put to shame poor Deux Moi, with its needlessly chatty, exuberant, salaciously detailed style.

So I will say again here what I did say in a comment to an Anon who brought it up first @bat-cat-reader's :

TERMINAȚI CU TÂMPENIILE. Which is simply translated as CUT THE CRAP.

Of course.

[houseofbrat]

Well, well, well...

Ever since barkjack tweeted about Andrew & the FBI, I did a search for all the news articles about the FBI allegedly "pausing" their investigation about Andrew.

Irish Star (on MSN)

GB News (on MSN)

The Express Tribune

Business Times

Metro (UK)

Sahara Reporters

Daily Mail (UK)

Somehow they are all quoting an EXCLUSIVE to The Mirror.

A source close to the case told the Mirror: “The agents and attorneys who have, for years, worked diligently looking into Andrew’s friendship with Epstein are beyond frustrated. “They’re angry that the probe has been parked. “But the truth be told, no new leads have been discovered for quite some time, and until new evidence is presented that can move the case forward, it has been shelved.” Last night, one of those abused by now dead Epstein when she was a teenager labelled the move, a “systematic cover-up”. The 36-year-old, awarded compensation from the Wall Street financier’s victim’s fund, said: “All of us who have continued to fight for justice knew this day would one day come. “From the very beginning, we have been denied our voices, brushed under the carpet and told to be quiet. The government always says that no one is above the law, but we all know that is untrue. For the past three decades, we have been party to a systematic cover-up, and this is now the final part of that.” [...] “We simply don’t have the resources to keep every case running at full capacity, and right now, it’s the Diddy case consuming the lion’s share of investigative efforts.” Despite the huge public interest in Andrew’s connection to Epstein, the Southern District of New York (SDNY) is not expected to officially announce the investigation’s status per protocol. However, a second source confirmed that the investigation into Duke, 64, has been put on hold for the foreseeable future. “Right now, resources are going elsewhere,” he stated. “The officers and agencies have compiled much of their findings on Prince Andrew from the years of investigations, but the matter remains at an impasse.”

Interesting how this is NOT being reprinted in American outlets.

Not even New York outlets are reprinting this. Not the NY Daily News. Not the NY Post. Not even the "paper of record," aka The New York Times is publishing any version of this. This kind of article is straight-up Page Six's alley, but they haven't done anything with this info.

Interesting how conveniently this EXCLUSIVE was published just a couple of days before Charles left for Australia. It's giving me flashbacks to 2019 when Andrew did the Newsnight interview while Charles was in New Zealand.

Seems more likely this article is now floating around because Andrew wants to head off any royal changes that would affect him when Charles returns from Down Under. Does Andrew really think this EXCLUSIVE is going to change anything?

[boreal-sea]

Oh my god, I can't even post an article about how Hamas is bad without people in the Fediverse going "UMMMM but Gazans are experiencing a genocide right now, didn't u know??? Also this is the NY Times, they're bad, so this article is bad!"

I then cited three more sources including AP News, all with articles from before Oct 7th, that all talk about Palestinian discontent with Hamas.

People really don't want to acknowledge Hamas is bad, do they?