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reality-detective · 2 months

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Questions To Ask Ourselves:

1. What is an Egyptian pyramid doing on a US dollar bill?

2. Why did 56 countries sign a treaty not to take risks and enter Antarctica?

3. Why do planes never fly over Antarctica?

4. How did NASA "lose" the photos of the moon landing, one of the most important moments for humanity?

5. If Neil Armstrong was the first to walk on the moon, who held the camera?

6. Why haven't we gone back to the moon?

7. If monkeys evolved into humans, why are there still monkeys?

8. Why does 95% of our DNA exist as "junk"? Who decided it was actually "garbage"?

9. How were huge, symmetrical, detailed, sacred, and geometrically regular structures such as cathedrals and parliamentary buildings created by people who lived in log cabins, rode horse-drawn carriages, and had no machines or lasers?

10. How is it that similar pre-Columbian architecture is found all over the world?

11. Why are there images in ancient Egyptian art that resemble "spaceships"?

12. Why were remains and images of giant people found? And why do different ancient scriptures from various cultures, including the Bible, talk about giants?

13. Why are there images of mushrooms in ancient Christian art? And why does the Pope dress up like a giant Amanita muscaria mushroom?

14. Why do ancient Egyptian artworks show jaws, and is it a coincidence that the pineal gland resembles jaws?

15. Why are there descriptions of dragons all over the world and in different cultures, thousands of years apart, and also mentioned in the Bible?

16. Why is there so much blatant satanic symbolism in the music and entertainment industry?

17. Why do most video games revolve around killing?

18. How is it possible that movies and cartoons like The Simpsons can predict certain cultural events so accurately?

19. How do forest fires melt cars but leave trees intact?

20. What is the national debt? If there is a borrower, there must also be a lender: who is it?

21. How is it that the so-called "national debt" has increased despite tax increases? Where does the taxpayer's money go?

22. Why is alcohol and tobacco poisoning considered "normal" and referred to simply as "drinking" and "smoking"?

23. Why are alcohol and tobacco shown in almost all shows and movies?

24. How do news presenters around the world and on various channels say and repeat the same script word for word?

25. If we are more progressive and informed than ever before, why do we have the highest rates of obesity, cancer, and heart disease, not to mention depression?

Questions you should have already been asking yourself and there are many more you should be asking. 🤔

#pay attention #educate yourselves #educate yourself #knowledge is power #reeducate yourself #reeducate yourselves #think about it #think for yourselves #think for yourself #do your homework #do your own research #do some research #ask yourself questions #question everything #ask questions #fitfo

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fatehbaz · 5 months

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The link between warfare and technological innovation has been well documented [...]. World War II was a particularly intense crucible of technological change, and the repurposing of military technologies and industries in the forging of a new post-war consumer [economy] is crucial [...]. Processes of technological bricolage turned the machines of war onto the natural world as global powers competed to cement their economic and imperial hegemony. In Great Britain’s post-war “groundnut scheme” in its East African territories (1946–51), this collision of nature, military hardware, and technical expertise was part of efforts to both produce more fats for the British diet and to demonstrate to the world (most importantly the United States) that, through a newly energized science-led developmentalism, British colonialism still had a “progressive” role to play in the postwar world.

The aim was to produce millions of tons of peanuts across Tanganyika using the latest methods of advanced scientific agriculture. The environmental conditions in the north, where the scheme was to begin, were known to be especially trying, not least the dry climate [...]. But faith in the power of mechanized agriculture was such that any natural limits were thought to be readily surmountable.

The groundnut scheme was to be, as its Director put it in an interview with the Tanganyika Standard, a “war” with nature, and an “economic Battle of Alamein” waged over some three million acres by an army of colonial technicians -- many recruited from military ranks -- and local laborers, for many of whom the scheme represented their first entry into the wage labor market.

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But it wasn’t just the rhetoric of war that was repurposed.

Lancaster bombers were kitted out to survey and discover “new country” in East Africa for agricultural development. [...] [T]ractors and bulldozers from military surplus stores in Egypt proved unable to tackle the hard ground and tough vegetation, so the planners turned to a novel solution: repurposing surplus Sherman M4A2 tanks. The Vickers-Armstrong factory in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne set about rearranging key elements of the tanks’ construction [...]. The tractors, christened “Shervicks” for their hybrid origins, were [...] thought to be particularly suited to large-scale earth-moving and to the kind of heavy duty “bush clearing” that was required in Tanganyika.

Officials sought to dismiss concerns that large-scale bush clearing would have wider environmental consequences, using the well-worn colonial trope that any observed changes in local climate or erosion patterns were due to the “primitive” agricultural practices of the locals, not to the earth-moving practices of the colonists.

Albert Walter, who had directed meteorology in East Africa since the 1920s, had been appointed as an advisor to the scheme and warned the other technical advisers of the low rainfall levels. [...] As the plants continued to wilt in the sun, Walter’s dense network of rain gauges made for an ideal field laboratory [...].

The stakes were high. As John Rosa of the Colonial Development Corporation put it in a letter: “Our standing as an Imperial power in Africa is to a substantial extent bound up with the future of this scheme. To abandon it would be a humiliating blow to our prestige everywhere.”

The only option left was to try and bend the weather itself to the scheme’s will, by seeding the clouds for rain. The scheme was nonetheless abandoned by the British government before charcoal burners could be lined up to seed clouds upwind of the growing area. But the experiments carried on under the aegis of the local colonial government and its meteorologists.

“Balloon bombs” (photographic film canisters tethered to weather balloons) and a repurposed Royal Navy flare gun were used to target individual clouds when the burners proved imprecise. [...] The rainmaking experiments lived on too, as a reference point for those who, to this day, seek to engineer the skies.

The scheme itself has survived as a cautionary tale of governmental hubris, but it is instructive too as a case study of how technologies of war have been turned against other foes.

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All images, captions, and text by: Martin Mahony. “The Enemy is Nature: Military Machines and Technological Bricolage in Britain’s ‘Great Agricultural Experiment.’“ Environment and Society Portal, Arcadia no. 11. Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society. Spring 2021. [Bold emphasis and some paragraph breaks/contractions added by me.]

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fearthefluff · 1 year

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Fantasy Romance Recommendations Pt.2

This is list number 2 and it will be focusing on Urban Fantasy and Contemporary romance with fantasy elements. For more traditional Fantasy recs, check list 1! Maybe it will help someone somewhere. XD ***Some of the books listed here are not Romance novels officially but all have romance and have HFN or HEA endings Urban Fantasy Romance (Paranormal Romance)

Hidden Legacy Series by Ilona Andrews 2 Trilogies Nevada Baylor is a Truthseeker; she is able to tell when people lie. When her family's detective agency is tasked with apprehending a powerful fire wielding psychopath, it puts them on the path of collision with the powerful magical elite who rules Houston. Guildcodex Series by Annette Marie 4 Series. Spellbound, Demonized, Unveiled and Wraped. When feisty redhead Tori landed a job at a sketchy pub, she had no idea she'd just joined a magic guild. And the three guys she drenched with a margarita during her first shift? Yeah, they were mages. She's about to get a crash course in the world of magic and mythics. Mercernary Librarians Trilogy by Kit Rocha Meet the Mercenary Librarians: a trio of information brokers who join forces with a squad of elite super-soldiers to use their knowledge to help the hopeless in a dystopian post-apocalyptic United States ruled by a corporate autocracy. Psy-Changeling Series by Nalini Singh A world shared by Changeling, a race of animal shifters , the Psy, a race of powerful psychic who live without emotions and Humans. Tension between the 3 races are rising. The Firebrand Series by Helen Harper Emma, an aspiring detective, is placed with the Supernatural Squad in London. Soon she is brutally murdered by an unknown assailant, wakes up twelve hours later in the morgue – and is very much alive. Contemporary Romance with Fantasy Elements The Dead Romantic by Ashley Poston Florence Day is the ghostwriter for one of the most prolific romance authors in the industry, and she has a problem... she no longer believes in love. Then her new editor shows up at her front door as a ghost. Romance is most certainly dead... but so is her new editor, and his unfinished business will have her second-guessing everything she’s ever known about love stories. The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna A warm and uplifting novel about an isolated witch whose opportunity to embrace a quirky new family--and a new love--changes the course of her life. A Stitch in Time by Kelley Armstrong Thorne Manor has always been haunted...and it has always haunted Bronwyn Dale. As a young girl, Bronwyn could pass through a time slip in her great-aunt’s house, where she visited William Thorne, a boy her own age, born two centuries earlier.

#Fantasy Romance Recommendations Pt.2 #fantasy romance #fantasy #romance #fantasy books #urban fantasy #paranormal romance #ilona andrews #annette marie #kit rocha #nalini singh #helen harper #ashley poston #sangu mandanna #kelley armstrong

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lilac-multifandom-multishipper · 6 months

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I swear to god Billie Joe Armstrong is timeless and maybe also immortal

let’s hope immortal for the sake of the music industry and the world

#billie joe armstrong #green day #american idiot

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poetryincostume · 8 months

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Hey, what kind of costuming do you do? I'm obsessed with the corsets you've posted, they honestly look immaculate and I love the period inspiration. are you a historical costumer?

Hello!

Thank you so much, I'm so glad you like them! I've been wanting to make a ribbon corset for years, so finally making two has been very pleasing.

I broadly call myself a cosplayer as much as I call myself anything. I have a lot of feelings about the various labels people use and the forms of gatekeeping and snobbery that come from each. Really costume, in whatever form you may approach it, is an art form.

I have been working as a professional costumier in the UK film industry (tho not right now, thank you US studios for your greed) for the last 13 years. I’ve only been making for myself since 2017. I approach all of my projects the same way I approach my work - and have been so lucky to observe incredible designers working: I always end up falling into research holes and drag in historicsim, art, pop culture, and all sorts into my projects. But at the heart of it all, for me, is exploring character and narrative. Painting and sculpting characters out of fabric.

This is largely why I refer to my personal work as cosplay for ease: because I'm making characters or using character, theme or story as a leaping off point. See my little star warsy inspired jacket, and The Madwoman. The Saddest Girl In The World works as a standalone piece in this vein, but is also part of a bigger, whole costume that I started uuhhhhh a year ago. I want everything I make to stand on its own and express something.

Left to right: - Numa, Star Wars Rebels - I closely referenced the French Resistance in my research and making, but this is a true and true 'accurate' cosplay. - Olivier Mira Armstrong, Fullmetal Alchmist - also an 'accurate' cosplay, but I did deep research in historical tailoring, Japanese tailoring, and World War II military tailoring and created the entire costume using historical techniques. I won two competitions with this costume! - Princess Zelda, Breath of the Wild - an example of me building from the skin out. This is an accurately historical turn-of-the-century combination set made using historical handkerchief and insertion techniques and entirely handsewn. However I infused it with character and story by constructing the main body of the combinations of triangles, and piecing it together with three point needlework (more triangles), for a total Triforce infusion. There is a full set of similarly triforcey companion undergarments.

It's all fake and in space; it's all poetry. I'm playing. With costume. So I guess I'm a cosplayer, but when you're playing the limit is your imagination.

#ask and answer #bigsnorp #about xena #i don't think this is helpful. TLDR yes there is historicism bleeding through all of my work no i don't exclusively class myself as a #historical costumer. I'm just here to explore what i love intellectually and materially #and i don't expect anyone else to be doing things the way tht I do things bc where is the fun in that #can I just call myself an artist? it is art I like to think I’m making art #david zaslav personally owes me 200+ hours of overtime #absolutely delighted by the reaction to my ribbon corsets 🖤🖤🖤🖤#I just really love costume #so very very much

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beardedmrbean · 17 days

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Sorry, the long puzzles things is meant to show how the Templars influence history while the assassins desperately try to stop them

Oh yes I know about Ford Antisemitism, ac acknowledge that in the long video I sent

As Ford sent a certain item to Agent “H” to kick off WW2

Ugh, okay which king I have to strangle in hell that decided that Jews were only good at doing “dirty” jobs like money?

I sure hope that antisemitism don’t come back like virus because people wanted to treat a geopolitical conflict like it a fucking kids cartoon

Oh btw, yes their fully grown adults, but Candace and Kanye antisemitism? Welll

It’s heavily because how my community views the world

Yes I’m 24, but allow me to explain

You see black Americans, since the fucking womb, that white people are the root of all our problems. Like years ago I learn that Africans sold Africans to Europeans

But if my reactions to the horrific connections the Dahomey is to the black American diaspora

Imagine the mentally hell older blacks may have

But about Kanye because someone pointed out a line in Micheal Jackson song. Given how a lot of powerful people in the music industry often screwed over artists happen to be Jewish so I think Kanye projecting that a lot.

No infantilizing him and sorry for the pain he caused

But the reason why I say I’m a zoomer Huey, i acknowledge that yes black Americans been fucked over…but we also have a lot of self destructive habits

Also look how black activists say Asians are white adjacent or how magical negeroes thought the fuck up “joke” saying upset white people are the most dangerous animal on the planet

Candace and Kanye bigotry…isn’t surprising when a huge chunk of the black community have the “Jews ran the world!” mindset but changed the Jews part to “ white people”

Yeah tomorrow anon but people acting shocked about their bigotry…sure if you turn a blind eye to the unhinged dog until the rabies comes out

Shit that kinda racist, but if people switch “white people” to “Jews” in the racist af but Society approved statements black activists got

You would think it’s a black edition of Mein Kampf

Sorry, the long puzzles things is meant to show how the Templars influence history while the assassins desperately try to stop them

no need to apologize I try to give some time to the things folks send, even most of the silly stuff.

Oh yes I know about Ford Antisemitism, ac acknowledge that in the long video I sent As Ford sent a certain item to Agent “H” to kick off WW2

Ya he was pretty bad, not uncommon at that time either, Louis Armstrong had a Jewish Lithuanian couple that lived next to him as a kid taught him some of their song, he found an affinity with 'these white people that got treated like us black people' always war a Star of David in their honor, if you have a little time to spend reading about it, it's a good story.

Ugh, okay which king I have to strangle in hell that decided that Jews were only good at doing “dirty” jobs like money?

That would be the Pope, Christians couldn't extract usury from other Christians so Jews did the loans since they could do them.

They were excluded from lots of jobs, that's why we wound up with so many of them in the arts and sciences and also entertainment.

Stayed in their own communities because not only community, but kosher is easier that way too, among other things.

I sure hope that antisemitism don’t come back like virus because people wanted to treat a geopolitical conflict like it a fucking kids cartoon

Feels like we're getting there, sadly, I hope I'm doing enough to stop it.

Oh btw, yes their fully grown adults, but Candace and Kanye antisemitism? Welll It’s heavily because how my community views the world Yes I’m 24, but allow me to explain

all ears

You see black Americans, since the fucking womb, that white people are the root of all our problems. Like years ago I learn that Africans sold Africans to Europeans But if my reactions to the horrific connections the Dahomey is to the black American diaspora Imagine the mentally hell older blacks may have

Best part of that movie was forcing people to confront that at last.

But back to my community…the problem is that my community have extremely bigoted views that is normalized. Like i remember someone saying that black activists (and many blacks in general) views white people the same way Nazis viewed the Jews But about Kanye because someone pointed out a line in Micheal Jackson song. Given how a lot of powerful people in the music industry often screwed over artists happen to be Jewish so I think Kanye projecting that a lot. No infantilizing him and sorry for the pain he caused

Look up ice cube's "no vaseline" dis track aimed at Eazy-E (E would be shredding his old mates lyrically if he hadn't got AIDS) I don't remember the exact line but you can tell cube isn't fond of the Hebrews even though he'd be dead on the street if not for the one that helped make him and the rest of them famous, also kind of homophobic and honestly saying I hope you get prison raped dry is not something anyone should say.

But the reason why I say I’m a zoomer Huey, i acknowledge that yes black Americans been fucked over…but we also have a lot of self destructive habits Also look how black activists say Asians are white adjacent or how magical negeroes thought the fuck up “joke” saying upset white people are the most dangerous animal on the planet

Go back to Louis Armstrong and what he'd said about that couple, now look at where the two groups are currently,

MLK was a Zionist and the Jewish community for the most part joined in with the black community for civil rights marches and protests and all that.

I don't know how Politico can actually determine his motive for doing it, but still the point here is that even in 1995 there were clubs that had a no blacks no Jews on the door, still are some too.

I always like people that say shit like this, guy doesn't care who you love and the only colour he cares about at the club is $$$green$$$

But that's beside the point, 1995 even if you could pay the $100,000 fee there were clubs all over the world you couldn't get into if you were black or Jewish, really should be more solidarity there I'd think.

Candace and Kanye bigotry…isn’t surprising when a huge chunk of the black community have the “Jews ran the world!” mindset but changed the Jews part to “ white people”

nick cannon ( I think) stepped in it a while back too, cost him his tv gig

Yeah tomorrow anon but people acting shocked about their bigotry…sure if you turn a blind eye to the unhinged dog until the rabies comes out Shit that kinda racist, but if people switch “white people” to “Jews” in the racist af but Society approved statements black activists got

@inverted-race is fun, dead but the race swapped posts are still there and good fun

You would think it’s a black edition of Mein Kampf

They made a feminist one and it got peer reviewed and published in a academic journal, team that did that one did several and I think all but four were published, so why not.

Gonna have to wait on that other one till tomorrow, it's time to start shutting my brain off I'd like to get some final fantasy VI time in, still need to order a controller so I can do the other games I have that I really want to play but I keep forgetting to get a controller.

#zoomer huey anon

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usafphantom2 · 6 months

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NASA postpones X-59 flight tests to 2024

Fernando Valduga By Fernando Valduga 10/20/2023 - 10:01am in Technology

NASA postponed the first flight of the X-59 low-noise supersonic demonstrator to 2024, after a series of subsystem problems found during verification tests at Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California, later this summer, proved more difficult to solve than expected.

"We want to fly as early as possible, but we want to fly safely," says the agency, which - together with Lockheed Martin - has solved a variety of problems of abandonment and redundancy of security systems in various subsystems.

First reported in August, the problems are related to the flight control computer and the hydraulic system and were found during structural coupling tests in Palmdale. The coupling tests were designed to evaluate the interaction between the fuselage and the flight control system, and to ensure the absence of any aeroelastic and aeroservoelastic instabilities.

Developed by Lockheed for NASA's Quiet Supersonic Technology (QueSST) program, the X-59 almost 30 meters long was originally supposed to fly in 2021. However, the latest system-related delays add to a series of delays that included workforce hiring issues, the pandemic and technical challenges related to cabling and the integration of final systems. Until recently, the agency still expected to make the first flight of the X-59 by the end of the year, with a transition soon after to NASA's neighboring Armstrong Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Base for subsequent expansion of the envelope.

Commenting on the delay, NASA states: “This unique experimental aircraft requires unique and complex engineering, and its team encountered several technical challenges last year. The X-59 is currently in the process of integrated testing, which must be completed to help ensure safe and successful flights. NASA plans to release a more specific schedule for the first flight when the flight readiness review is completed, after integrated tests."

The X-59 is designed to collect community response data on the public acceptability of reduced sonic rons. The data will be used by U.S. and international authorities to determine whether a growth standard can be established that allows the release of the current ban on civilian supersonic flights over land, which has been in force since the 1970s.

However, to achieve low-intensity sonic sonic roning at the projected speed of the X-59 of Mach 1.4, the aircraft is configured with a well-sloping hang glider and swinging extended nose section that represents more than one third of the length of the vehicle. Specifically designed with rigidity for high-speed testing, rather than resistance for payload capacity, the long and slender format therefore presents significant aeroelastic challenges.

Source: Aviation Week

Tags: Lockheed MartinNASAQueSST - Quiet Supersonic TechnologyTechnologysupersonic flightX-59

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Fernando Valduga

Aviation photographer and pilot since 1992, has participated in several events and air operations, such as Cruzex, AirVenture, Dayton Airshow and FIDAE. He has work published in specialized aviation magazines in Brazil and abroad. Uses Canon equipment during his photographic work in the world of aviation.

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thetruearchmagos · 4 months

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You asked me a bit ago about my naval plans in my WIP, and the truth is I don't have much, so can I ask for your help in creating some? What sort of shenanigans could a semi-modern navy (think cruisers, battleships, a very few capital class battleships, submarines) get into with officially neutral ports, trade ships, and passenger ships?

I'm thinking most of the naval stuff will involve not the warring major nations, but them fighting over supplies and shipments from other nations. Help me friend!

Well, well, well! Now that is quite the conundrum you've got there, and certainly filled with opportunities for some very interesting scenarios. I'm going to search in my head for some IRL examples of interesting non-total-war uses of naval power in the period, and you can tell me if anything helps!

Here, I've compiled a short list of some interesting naval-related incidents in world history, mostly from the approximate era relevant to Mortal Sparks. I hope they might give some inspiration!

The Tangiers and Agadir Crises: Sea Power, Short Of War

These two incidents, taking place in 1905 and 1911 respectively, were among the defining incidents in European great power politics in the lead up to WW1, and are sometimes touted as possible alternative inciting incidents for what would become the Great War. Both principally concerned the political status of Morocco, but would become stages on which France and Germany would test the influence of themselves and their respective alliances against one another. The naval aspect of the affair was most obviously shown in the second crisis, which saw a German gunboat dispatched to Morocco as a sign of their willingness to back their position with force, soon followed by the gunboat's replacement with a cruiser.

While France, Germany, and the UK would end both crises at the negotiating table, Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm II in particular would feel particularly slighted at having come out on the losing end twice. Meanwhile, France and the UK would solidify their burgeoning entente with the signing of further naval treaties specifying either ally's role in the event of a full war with Germany.

South American Naval Arms Race: Ships For Sale?

This is less an example of great powers competing through the naval domain, and more an example of the shenanigans that great naval powers can be involved in even if they themselves have no intention of firing a shot in anger. Taking the form of a three way competition between Brazil, Chile, and Argentina from the late 19th century and into the 20th, it would see these countries massively expanding their respective navies. However, as none of the three regional powers possessed the industry and infrastructure to construct modern warships themselves, their fleets would be made up of dozens of ships built and designed by foreign, predominantly British, shipyards. The whole crisis would be considerably exacerbated by the creation of HMS Dreadnought, which single handedly rendered all existing battleships practically obsolete and spurred on demand for existing capital ships to be replaced rapidly across the board. In fact, Brazil's own exceptionally ambitious reaction to the affair would lead to it acquiring its own first dreadnoughts, of the Minas Geraes class, before Germany, France, Russia, or Japan would, built by the British companies Armstrong and Vickers, and in many ways superior to the first existing British and American dreadnoughts.

It's also notable that, despite the UK's own yards supplying the ships that manifested this crisis, the British government would repeatedly attempt to defuse tensions in order to preserve its valuable trade relations with the region. Interestingly enough, when WW1 did break out, many of these ordered dreadnoughts would still be under construction in their British yards, and either by seizure or purchase be acquired by the Royal Navy, alongside, interestingly enough, battleships under order for the Ottoman Empire.

Anglo-German Ocean Liner Race: Battles With Bling

An edge example, but I thought it'd be an interesting one since you did mention passenger ships! While the Anglo-German Naval Arms Race gets a lot of attention with its contributions to WW1, a similar competition in the sphere of commercial success and national prestige was playing out between the shipping lines and yards of the two great powers of the early 20th century. Size and luxury substituted firepower and protection when it came to key design features, but speed was of equal importance to both. If I were to make a larger point with this example, it would be that states which can raise and support large navies with the relevant infrastructure, technology, and skilled labour often have sizeable civilian maritime sectors as well. The usage of ocean liners as troop transports, on the other hand, shows how civilian assets in peacetime can be mustered for wartime service.

Beware, Arch deserts from his commitment to sticking to a specific era in the content below. Read at your own risk.

The Altmark Incident: Neutrality Not Withstanding

A touch past the scope of the designated era, and close to being an 'actual' war scenario of the sort I'm supposed to be avoiding, but it's honestly such a fascinating incident that I couldn't not include it. The crisis takes place during the so-called 'Phoney War', a period usually defined as spanning between invasions of Poland and of France and the Low Countries. A crucial point in the events of the crisis, and what ultimately made me decide to include it in this list, was the fact that Norway itself was still a neutral nation at this point, with ties to both Germany and the Western Allies.

The inciting event of the whole incident surrounds the German auxiliary vessel Altmark. Sailing back to Germany from the Atlantic down the coast of Norway, she carried three hundred POWs taken from British shipping by the 'pocket battleship' Graf Spee on her convoy raids. After the latter's destruction, she'd fled British and French naval forces, and at this stage relied on the neutrality of Norway and its territorial waters to safeguard herself and her cargo. A series of events I lack the ability to summarise would occur between the auxiliary and Norwegian authorities, which resulted in Altmark being allowed passage through a specially protected zone of Norwegian waters around Bergen to avoid an international incident.

The British government, finding about the matter via its embassy in Oslo, had other ideas. A force consisting of a light cruiser and five destroyers was immediately dispatched to intercept Altmark. The flotilla would make contact with the auxiliary while she was still under neutral Norwegian escort. The British would make increasingly brazen attempts to isolate Altmark as the collection of ships approached Germany, and when she finally ran out of space to manouevre the German vessel entered a fjord and ran aground on its ice, trapped. The British commander on the scene requested that their POWs be released, his Norwegian counterpart stated that he would refuse any British boarding attempt with force if he had to, and after seeking permission from the Admiralty HMS Cossack stormed into the fjord and, just avoiding a last ditch ramming attempt by the Altmark, boarded the auxiliary and freed the prisoners.

The sheer political fallout from the whole affair was immense. Norway, of course, protested the brazen breach of neutrality that had just taken place, while the UK criticised Norway for allowing a ship carrying POWs to pass through its waters. The applicability of any of these events to your worldbuilding is something I can't predict, but at least it might give you an example of the shit storms that can come about even with neutral states.

The S-363 Incident: Whiskey On The Rocks

If you thought the last example was a strange one, you ain't seen nothing yet! This affair, often referred to as the "Whisky On The Rocks" Incident, is probably one of the most personally fascinating Cold War events I can think of, and with some slight tweaking could fit in with any time period.

The incident centers on the Soviet diesel electric submarine S-363, of a type referred to under NATO terminology as the 'Whiskey' class. Whilst conducting a surveillance mission on a major Swedish naval exercise, the submarine ran aground in Swedish territorial waters. An unarmed Swedish officer was sent to board the boat and question her captain, who blamed serious failures in navigational equipment as reasons why his submarine had traversed numerous fjords and islands to come aground so close to the major Swedish naval base of Karlskrona.

The Soviet captain was removed from the boat for interrogation in the presence of Soviet officials, while Swedish authorities searched the submarine. In the meantime, a sizeable Soviet naval task force was assembled and put to sea in the Baltic, approaching Swedish waters. Using radiological equipment, traces of uranium were found in the boat's torpedo tubes, suggesting the presence of nuclear torpedoes aboard S-363.

A storm swept over the region, leading the grounded submarine to send out a distress signal. Soon afterwards, two unknown vessels were detected entering Sweden's territorial waters from the last known point of the Soviet flotilla, heading straight towards Karlskrona, and the crisis reached its height of tension. Swedish aircraft were armed and ready to strike, and coastal batteries were put on full alert. Finally, it would be revealed that the two vessels were actually a pair of German merchant ships.

The crisis would end ten days later with the return of the submarine to Soviet authorities, but marks one of the most tense periods of the Cold War, a 'conflict' which on the whole saw little open fighting between the major powers involved in it.

#writeblr #worldbuilding #writeblr stuff #guess which eras of history I'm most familiar with!#the answer will not surprise you #sorry but I hope you can find some of this useful in your Worldbuilding!#on the one hand it feels like I'm not doing much beyond summarising some interesting bits of naval history #but at the same time learning about these events is how I've developed my 'instincts' when it comes to creating events in the 12 Worlds #if you'd like more help developing something yourself I'd be happy to help!

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aliypop · 6 months

Text

Santa Bring My Baby Back To Me: Chapter 4

Word Count: 2,209

Writers Note: Tis the season well near it, so I decided to get a head start. Also finally let me introduce you to Cecelia's parents! Finally.

Warning: None so far except for language and historic language

Pairing: OC x Elvis

Plot: Christmas is around the corner at the Valmos mansion where there's love and a bit of arguing and the Presleys are here can Elvis and Cecelia spread the holiday cheer?

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3

Taglist: If you wanna be tagged let me know!

@darkmoviesquotespizza

@sissylittlefeather

@richardslady121

@thegettingbyp2

@presleyenterprise

@sissylittlefeather

@dkayfixates

@rjmartin11

@thetaoofzoe

Nashville, Tennessee, December 24th,1957

Paradise Record's Official Christmas Party was the highlight of the music world, with the biggest names of the entertainment industry all under one roof. It was an achievement of Denise Camila Valmos. Who she hoped to one day pass off to her daughter. "Midge... the food." Denise sighed, watching her team finish the final touches of decorating the studio. "You need any help?" Alfonso asked as Denise shot him a glare. It was the age-all question that every man tended to ask, knowing when a woman needed help with something. Cheryl, Midge's wife, was outside directing where all the trees should go. The sharp cold of the wind felt like tiny razor blades cutting into her face. The things she did for Midge,

"You know I think it's gonna snow tonight..."

"Don't say that." Ruby shook her head,

"Why not?"

"When you say the S word... Denise gets touchy." Eleanor chuckled,

"It feels like it's gonna Snow..." Cecelia said. Her rollers were in her hair still as she was bringing in and setting more decorations.

"CECELIA SHANEL VALMOS!"

"I said it felt... not that it would..." Fluffing out the bows her mother made for each chair,

"Denise, if you hated snow, why'd you move to Nashville..." Alfonso questioned, "Don't say the music."

"Don't start with me..." Denise hissed at him.

Midge had been watching the two bicker as Cecelia and her aunts were still decorating.

"So Cece, how's the movies going?" Ruby asked as Cecelia humed a tune, putting the flowers in a vase.

"They're great." she shrugged, "I mean, the latest is with MGM, and it's about this girl. She's a princess, and she falls in love with this rockin' guy, who she thinks is a prince, but really he's a lounge singer." Cecelia giggled, thinking of who would play the love interest.

"Who's the fella you get to kiss," Ruby asked.

"Well... They're banking on Elvis." both her aunts watched her swoon when she said his name. She was all dimples and smiles,

"Honey, it's 57. I doubt if they get Elvis..." Ruby sighed,

"Well, if they don't, I at least get to kiss him and make love-" Cecelia caught herself as both her aunts glanced at her.

"Nel, you didn't..." Eleanor gasped as if she'd die and tell God,

"I did... I have a few times, but don't tell my mother!" Cecelia blushed hard,

"What about saving yourself for marriage?"

"Have you seen Elvis Aaron Presley..." Cecelia smirked, "And his blue eyes and his lips an-"

"Cecelia, go dressed."

"Yes, Mother," she responded as she went to change for the party, fanning herself from her thoughts.

"E, you got this," Rosa said, walking him into the now super crowded and star-studded studio lobby. Things like this always made him wonder how a boy from Tupelo made his way in places like this. In one corner of the room was BB King, who was talking to Ella Fitzgerald, and in the other corner was Little Richard, who found his way straight to the piano,

"Rosa, I...I don't think I got this." he sighed,

"Your parents are having a great time over there, and-" she felt Elvis try to leave the building as she pulled him back in,

"Those are legends in there. There's Louis Armstrong talkin to Dean Martin!" He could feel his stomach flip in knots.

"Okay, and you're Elvis the Pelvis, who can sing the panties off anyone's girl." Rosa shrugged, pushing him into the crowd. Rosa might have been trouble, but she was good trouble.

"Have you seen Elvis?" Scotty asked as Rosa held his hand,

"Nope... But, hey, isn't that Johnny Cash!" she waved him down, swooning after him.

"Wonderful Party again, Denise." Cab Calloway said as he kissed her on the hand. Alfonso had a jealous look on his face watching the woman he loved, no hated, no loved, be charmed by his competition. "It's always nice to see you again, Cab." Denise blushed a little. Her French red satin tule-trained mermaid gown was a snug fit on her body, and it only made Alfonso want to pull her in close and kiss her til the cows came home.

"Nessa, you look bellissima." Dean was kissing up her Opera glove to the skin of her shoulder.

"Oh, Dean." Denise blushed at the Italian lover, " They'll think we're in love." she joked as Alfonso got even more red in the face.

"Vernon..." Alfonso sat next to him,

"My advice... tell her how ya feel or damn it, suffer to that."

"Hey Rich..."

"Yeah, Cece?"

"Have you seen Elvis by chance?"

"Nope, been woop baba loo-ing honey." he winked at her and kept playing,

"Thanks..." she sighed, picking up the hem of her off-white dress, holding onto her white fur shaw. Cecelia had hoped the poor thing didn't get so nervous that he backed out of coming and left her to suffer a night of celebrities who'd ask her the same old questions,

"So tell me, Mr. Presley, what makes you good enough for our niece," Ruby said as she cornered the young man, Eleanor on the other side, with a glass of champagne.

"Well... A- aside from being Elvis, I-I'm an honest man I try to be." another thing he hated was interviews. He could talk til his face turned blue if you asked him to tell you a story, but an interview heck no, he could barely bear it.

"What about all those other girls you've had..." Eleanor asked,

"I love, love, but I love..." His eyes caught the prettiest sight he'd ever seen. A cream-colored gown, a white fur shawl, a garnet necklace hanging perfectly between her breasts, her white opera gloves up to nearly her shoulders, and her dark brown hair curled into the style of the infamous poodle.

"You love who..."

"Cece..." He had the face of a man who'd just seen an angel. Cecelia was now talking to Dean Martin, and by talking gawking at him like a little schoolgirl, the two had been discussing Jazz, knowing that Cecelia had the idea of doing at least one album to please her parent's pallet. "I like to think you rollers are crooners, especially that Elvis guy." Dean smirked a little, "I mean, without us Crooners, there's no Rollers."

"I'd simply agree." Cecelia smiled, "And Elvis, he's such a crooner, charming, sensitive, sweet, and..."

"He's comin this way, kid."

"Sensational..." black hair with a slightly curled cowlick and those piercing blue eyes like Superman, she was in love as she saw him walk her way with his tuxedo on and his bowtie, a look he didn't too much admire, but for Cecelia, he'd do anything.

"You look..."

"You go first," Elvis said,

"No, you," Cecelia took his hand,

"Well, you look like a dream." He kissed her hand,

"You look like my forever." Cecelia blushed at the kiss, "Have you met Dean?" she gestured as he laughed at the two lovebirds.

"Nice to meet you, sir."

"Please call me Dean," he winked, "Ya know Frankie was supposed to be here, but he got busy." Cecelia gasped at the mention of his name, and Elvis found it quite cute.

"Well, if it ain't Cece and E."

"Johnny!" the two both greeted Johnny Cash, who had a cigarette in his mouth and a slice of cake on a plate.

"What'cha two getting up two."

"Well-"

"YOU CAN'T EVER JUST APOLOGIZE HUH, ALFONSO!"

"SAYS THE ONE WHO'S GOT EVERY MAN KISSIN UP ON HER!"

"MAYBE I WOULDN'T IF YOU HAD PAID ATTENTION TO ME! LOVED ME EVEN!"

The room fell silent. All eyes were on them. Cecelia took a deep breath. Elvis grabbed her by the hand, trying to calm her down. Until Midge walked over,

"You two need to do something..."

"Why us..." Cecelia whispered,

"Well, those are your parents, and Presley's a voice of a generation. Good luck." Cecelia looked around for anything that could be a distraction until she saw the grand piano,

"Follow my lead..." Cecelia grabbed his hand,

"Godspeed Cece..." Midge smiled,

"Maybe we should just tell everyone the truth..." Denise sighed,

"The truth about-"

Heaven, I'm in heaven

And my heart beats so that I can hardly speak

And I seem to find the happiness I seek

When we're out together dancing cheek-to-cheek

Cecelia sang as she sat on the grand piano. Elvis looked up at her like he'd sometimes look at a cheeseburger. Or his beloved sandwich,

Oh, I love to climb a mountain

And reach the highest peak

But it doesn't thrill me half as much

As dancing cheek to cheek

Elvis winked at Cecelia as they both continued the song. From the corner of her eye, she could see the guests dancing with each other, couples in love, some even humming the song. But the couple she wanted wasn't dancing, they weren't found until she heard.

Now Mama dance with me

I want my arms about you

That charm about you

Will carry me through

Standing beside her and Elvis were Alfonso and Denise, who were dueting their hit single from back in the 30s. They had looked so in love, like there was only room in the universe for them. When the song had finished, Alfonso and Denise embraced in passionate kisses. The two locked eyes as he got on his knees, took her hand, and said,

"Denise, I know... I ain't been the best husband or daddy, but I've been one hell of a manager, " he chuckled as Denise blushed, "But that's not what I wanna ask."

"What are you asking me, Alfonso." Denise.

"Will you be my Sapphire and set my soul on fire, marry me again?" he asked.

"Yes..." Denise blushed as she kissed her husband. There were cheers and claps and singing. It was a romantic affair, but Cecelia needed air. She needed to have a break from it all. Sitting outside, Cecelia had begun to tear up. She thought about how happy her parents seemed. And how happy Gladys and Vernon were dancing along to the singing, all the happy couples that could be together publicly in love.

"This stair taken..."

"N...No." Cecelia turned her head away from Elvis. Taking off his suit jacket, he put it around her shoulders as he kissed her cheek.

"Angel, are you cryin'?"

"I'm fine.."

"Are you sure-" he felt her body press into his chest as he held her. She was going to sob. In which he'd kiss her cheek and listen to her. After all, she'd been there when he needed a good sob.

"I-I-I wish we could hold hands, kiss how we want to, love how we want to outside those walls outside from our homes, I-" she sniffled, looking into his eyes,

"I wish the world knew how much I love you."

"I don't..."

"Whys that..." There was a deep sadness in her eyes as he said that. Elvis had her smaller hands in his as he kissed them, then he had his hands on her cheeks,

"Because the world already knows, and she's the most beautiful world I did ever see." he leaned in to kiss her soft lips. Her skin was cold, but the kiss between them was passionate, sweet, and simple. It said everything the other was trying to say. Suddenly, from the air, snow flurries were falling into their hair. And lashes, and on the ground as he picked her up, their lips never detaching from one another. Her arms were around his neck as he was holding her bridal style.

"Well, shit, finally..." Johnny said, watching the two.

Later that night, Elvis was in the guest room fiddling with a box he had with him. He knew the next day was Christmas, and it had to be perfect. After all, it wasn't every day a man found the woman of his dreams at 22 years old. Pacing, he'd been practicing his words until he heard.

"OH, ALFONSO, YES!"

Walking down the creaking floor, Elvis heard the fireplace crackle to a low fire as the lights from the Christmas tree. Illuminating the large living room like an annoying leg lamp, presents were under the tree, and a plate of half-eaten sugar cookies and a glass of milk beside it, sitting there with her legs crossed in her nightgown eating cookies.

"Cecelia..."

"Hmmm?" she looked back at Elvis. Over the fireplace was a picture of her and her parents and more awards, but he only had his eyes on one award, his sweet, beautiful girlfriend with crumbs on her lips that he could taste with his tongue, "Elvis..." her hands pulling at his hair, the two would break for air as they'd find other places to kiss and bite and lick,

"What's gotten into ya, sugar..."

"Love." He smirked, that smile on his face as he got up from being on top of her. Elvis took her by the hand as he beckoned her with his finger to follow.

"Where are we going..."

"To unwrap you like a bow."

"What if Santa finds out..."

"What he won't know won't kill him, mama." he kissed her neck again as she shivered,

"Then I suppose you can have this gift early."

#oc #fanfiction #new stuff #new #romance #new series #elvis presley #elvis fanfiction #elvis x oc #elvis the pelvis #50s elvis #poc oc x elvis #cecelia valmos #christmas fic #Spotify

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porterdavis · 8 months

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The thoroughbred industry is about to lose me. It assuredly won't miss me but I think I'll be one of the last people out the door, and it will miss the tens of thousands ahead of me.

I've been watching the World Championships of athletics from Bucharest the last few days as well as horse racing in the US and Canada. It occurs to me that if there were even one death of an athlete in track and field there would be an uproar and immediate investigations.

Today two horses broke down and had to be euthanised in full view of the 50,000 fans at Saratoga. The biggest TV audience of the year for the track went to commercial and upon return was treated to hummina-hummina from the talking heads. There is never an honest discussion of why this is happening.

Thoroughbred racehorses are among the best cared-for and cosseted animals on the planet. Rubbed, bathed, fed, exercised on a regular basis, And then they get to do what they love to do -- race against each other. Watch any herd of horses in the wild for ten minutes and you'll be treated to a spontaneous race as two or more sprint across the field.

Unfortunately, there's too much money involved in purses these days, and horse breeding has moved from prizing soundness to seeking speed. The goal has evolved from breeding durable horses that can compete for years to brilliant speedsters that can capture the imagination and enough money in 10 or so races that they can be retired to the breeding shed after just one or two years of racing.

Thoroughbreds' legs are smaller than a human's, yet support repeated impact of a 1200-lb animal at 30 MPH. It's a miracle there aren't more catastrophic injuries. Add in racing surfaces that are difficult and expensive to maintain and the problems are magnified.

The problems get worse. As the saying goes, horses eat every day, so the pressure to keep them racing and hopefully paying their way is great. The inevitable muscle sprains, sore feet, gastric issues, and a panoply of other ailments are medicated and masked so as to keep the horse racing. This is an entirely separate issue from the 'juicing' of horses, which is sadly also a huge factor. Lance Armstrong could make his own decisions. Horses can't.

The ultimate answer is to eliminate all medication while in training. If a horse needs medical intervention, remove him from competition until he is sound and healthy. Horses in training should get only oats, hay, and water. (OK, carrots and peppermints are alright).

One thing is certain. Racing can't continue down this path.

#thoroughbred racing

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dnickels · 5 months

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Julian Fellowes writing steelworkers is a hilarious idea to start with, but I've been trying to put my finger on what feels slightly 'off' about the storyline. Putting aside the usual amount of Fellowesian nonsense, at least some of the dissonance is in how the demands are phrased. 'Bourgeois' isn't quite the word here but "I just want to spend more time with my family" is calibrated to be palatable to a certain audience, and that is not an audience of basement dynamite IWW radicals. It may be that that was deliberate in-universe, because its the argument that would reach known wife guy and superdad George Russell, but it serves to defang the movement. Frankly, when the titans of industry were waxing hysterical about the blood-dimmed tide loosed upon the world over a few dollars' wage increase, they weren't wrong! A strong, organized workforce that can advocate for workplace democracy is the end of their world entirely. It is radical! It's revolutionary! These weren't guys who wanted a few concessions (pwease Mr. Carnegie, more rails around the molten steel vats) they were dreaming about fundamentally changing the course of history. "The working class and the employing class have nothing in common. There can be no peace so long as hunger and want are found among millions of working people, and the few, who make up the employing class, have all the good things of life," as contemporaries very famously declared. The triumph of the union is the end of Newport cottages. As history it's nonsensical but it's a Fellowes joint, we're letting him have that, but as television making he's missing a powerful engine of conflict.

I had a thought "Fellowes writes the steelworkers like a guy who's never had a reason to be mad at his boss", which on the one hand feels true, and yet we have seen him write about workers trapped in untenable positions-- its just that the best examples are all lady's maids. It's very funny to me that that rough and ready, heavily armed steelworkers are somehow less furious and threatening than O'Brien, who attempted to harm and almost killed her employer through an act of workplace sabotage! He must on some level understand the rage and desperation of her position. He understands the total power an employer can have-- Agnes was obviously in the right morally when she moved to correct Armstrong's behavior and make her understand the consequences would be severe, but for whatever reason Racist Armstrong makes a much more heartfelt case for the precarity of her life than the steelworkers who have presumably seen guys die on the shop floor. We know Fellowes is aware of how dangerous work in the trades is at this time, multiple comments have been made about workers dying building the Brooklyn Bridge. You think that might come up in the strike storyline but they're oddly separate.

I don't particularly want to watch his netflix soccer show again, but I feel like I'm pulling on a vital thread when I think about how flat the team dynamics fell on that show and how the steelworker's union feels very two-dimensional here. For whatever reason (and I am putting my already shredded credibility on the line here to say so) Julian Fellowes has an extraordinary insight into the (historical) lives of women and gay men, but seems uncomfortable or even shy when asked to write about male camaraderie (see: the war season of DA with extremely very little war in it). The only male characters I can think of who are 1. of a similar age 2. in equivalent positions of power 3. not related to each other in his work are Church and Bannister, who are waging Butler War from across the street. I don't know what explicit conclusion I would draw here, but its fascinating to me to watch him fumble through this storyline at this moment of renewed labor militancy, reconfiguration of interpersonal workplace norms, unconstrained power of the individual capitalist, and male loneliness. It's not like I think this 74 year old relic (it's not because he's old, its because he believes in philosophies that lost most of their adherents on the first day of the Somme) has his finger on the pulse, but DA clearly spoke to people. Will Gilded Age push the same buttons?

(the only theme more common in Fellowes' writing than sad trapped debutantes is Powerful Benevolent Rich Dad but that one seems self-explanatory (Dr. Freud to the lobby please) in a way we'll quietly ignore for the sake of everyone's dignity)

#longpost #tga

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kickerofelves · 1 year

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Glen Lockett, the in-house producer and engineer for legendary punk label SST Records who was better known as Spot, has died, former SST co-owner Joe Carducci announced. Spot had been on oxygen after his fibrosis impaired his lung function in late 2021, and, three months ago, he was placed in a hospital following a stroke, Carducci revealed in a Facebook post. Lockett died earlier today (March 4) at a healthcare facility in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. He was 72.

As the longtime in-house producer for SST Records, Spot helmed the boards for essentially the crux of ’80s American punk rock. He produced more than 100 records, many of which are bonafide classics in the punk and hardcore world and have gone on to influence artists outside of the genre. Highlights from his body of work range from numerous Black Flag staples like Damaged, My War, and Jealous Again to Minutemen’s The Punch Line, What Makes a Man Start Fires?, and Buzz or Howl Under the Influence of Heat. Spot also produced Descendents’ Milo Goes to College, Hüsker Dü’s Zen Arcade, Misfits’ Earth A.D. / Wolfs Blood, and Saint Vitus’ self-titled debut, along with additional records for those bands and others.

Born Glen Lockett in Los Angeles in 1951, Spot was raised by his Native American mother and African American father, the latter of whom was a Tuskegee Airman who flew British Spitfires. He grew up listening to post-bebop jazz, surf rock, Motown, and whatever music he could find on the AM radio. After learning to play guitar at age 12, Spot tried his hand at clarinet and even auditioned for Captain Beefheart. It wasn’t until years later, when he offered to help with a recording studio build, that he learned about the ins and outs of studio recording.

Before he became an integral part of the SST sound, Spot was a musician, not a producer. While waiting tables at a vegan restaurant, he met Greg Ginn, the future co-founder of Black Flag and SST Records, and the two started jamming together in his band. After witnessing a Black Flag show gone awry, Spot decided he wanted to work the board on their next record, a decision that would result in a lot of “head butting” and, eventually, 1980’s Jealous Again. The rest was history.

“[SPOT] spelled his name in all caps with a dot in the middle of the O,” Carducci wrote on Facebook. “He started in Hermosa Beach playing and recording jazz and he took the primacy of live jazz playing into recording bands against prevailing attempts to soften or industrialize a back-to-basics arts movement in sound. When approaching the mixing board SPOT would assume an Elvis-like stance and then gesturing toward all the knobs he would say in a Louis Armstrong-like voice, ‘This is going to be gelatinous!’”

In addition to his work as a producer and engineer, Spot was also a published photographer and freelance writer. He wrote record reviews for the Los Angeles weekly newspaper Easy Reader. During shows, Spot would carry his camera around to document punk bands, fans, and the burgeoning counterculture scene, and he began photographing Los Angeles skateboarding circles as well. In 2014, he released Sounds of Two Eyes Opening, a collection of his photography work from that era.

“First and foremost, I’m a musician and everything else I’ve ever done has been based on that,” Spot told Vice in 2014. “It’s really the basis of all language and if you’re serious about the experience of music, you learn to keep both sides of your brain open and rely upon instinct rather than premeditation. Y’know, using improvisation and gut feelings as frameworks for rhythm and composition. In photography, the viewfinder should not be a limitation—it’s merely one part of a larger vision.”

Several artists have shared tributes in Spot’s honor after learning of his death. “good people, we just lost my old buddy spotski, a terrible blow,” tweeted Mike Watt. “he recorded the minutemen’s first stuff, I go way back w/this man. brother matt took this shot six years ago when spotski came to visit our pedro town... man, this is a terrible blow. I love you spotski forever.”

“SPOT always encouraged free expression and experimentation, even as those recordings were made as expeditiously as possible,” Hüsker Dü’s Bob Mould wrote on Twitter. Mould added that the producer “was a wonderful soul who loved making music, documenting the scene, and unconditionally supporting all the projects that bear his name.”

#Glenn Michael Lockett #Glenn Spot Lockett #Spot #SPʘT #Husker Du #Minutemen #Black Flag #Descendents #Misfits #Saint Vitus #SST

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gotankgo · 1 year

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«SPOT - "Glen M. Lockett" (1951-2023)

(photograph: Photobill/Bill Daniel,

SPOT at Third Coast Studio, Austin Texas;

March 14 1982 - Big Boys "Fun Fun Fun" session.)»

Spot produced the last two Big Boys records, the first one by Poison 13, and the Dicks masterpiece, Kill From the Heart. He also produced major works from the Meat Puppets, Black Flag, the Misfits, Hüsker Dü, the Minutemen and many more

«SPOT didn't dwell alot on his personal history but I believe he was born in Los Angeles, grew up in the Crenshaw neighborhood, moved to Hermosa Beach in the mid-70s, moved to his favorite Black Flag tour stop, Austin Texas, in the mid-80s and then to Sheboygan to be near his favorite Celtic music scenes in Milwaukee and Chicago. His father was Claybourne Lockett who was a Tuskegee Airman who flew British Spitfires and Spot told me once his mother was Native American and from New Orleans. His older sister has advanced dementia.

SPOT was a musician and writer and photographer who spelled his name in all caps with a dot in the middle of the O. His principal sideline was as a record producer-engineer and an architect of the natural approach to recording a band in the punk era. He started in Hermosa Beach playing and recording jazz and he took the primacy of live jazz playing into recording bands against prevailing attempts to soften or industrialize a back-to-basics arts movement in sound. When approaching the mixing board SPOT would assume an Elvis-like stance and then gesturing toward all the knobs he would say in a Louis Armstrong-like voice, "This is going to be gelatinous!" His recorded work as player and producer is listed at discogs.com.

I'll be going through his writing with an eye toward publishing a collection including his writings on jazz for the Hermosa Beach free weekly. He spent recent years writing the novel, Decline and Fall of Alternative Civilization, and producing a radio-like dramatization of it which is online. Last year he posted new SPOT music at his bandcamp page. In recent weeks I read off lists of the names of his well-wishers to him and SPOT nodded at the mentions of his friends from around the country and the world.

- Joe Carducci»

#spot #r.i.p.

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souryogurt64 · 2 years

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fuck billie joe armstrongs shitty kid for tweeting there was gonna be a MCR reunion and ruining it for so many of us. yeah people had their theories or whatever but its the place of fans to figure that out from clues and have fun with the mystery of it and hope. its not the place of billie joe armstrongs rich bully spoiled brat to tweet that out and snicker about spoiling it for his 15 year old fans because his daddy told him.

it was something very very small and insignificant but it just showed how little they understood what being in a band is about and how little respect they had for the magic/story/creativity aspect. and how all they cared about was abusing every iota of clout for “tea.”

like its so small and pointless and not many people saw the tweet or paid attention to it but it gets my blood pressure going. the attitude of it makes me so mad. they thought it was so funny to use their privilege and connections to spoil an artistic endeavor a massive and much more respected rock band was planning for nearly a decade.

like the entire breakup of the band, their last song, gerards comic, the new concept album, the branding, so much work into this story about a fallen saint rising from the ashes because that creative aspect and fictional world and story is so important to kids in their target demographic that need something to escape into and believe in. and swmrs didnt give a shit at all. so many other people in the industry and other nepotism probably knew and kept their fucking mouths shut because NOBODY behaved as egregiously as swmrs did. to be honest, swmrs were probably not intelligent enough to comprehend the concept they were going for in the first place because the best they can come up with is fucking april in houston.

and thats why mcr is so successful, because they have that magic and are so committed to the bit and the art. so many people have worked on this for so many years. and instead of learning from that they ruined the big surprise for a bunch of kids and tee-hee about how “i know something you dont!!! my rich daddy told me!!!! my daddys rich so i can piss all over art!!! ha ha!! i can ruin christmas for a bunch of 15 year old girls because im a big big man in a rock band!!!” just because they could. ALSO fuck cole becker personally for rolling his eyes at mcr and saying it makes him cringe and you can outgrow something like that. GROW UP.

and im sure theyd roll their eyes if someone told them the tweet wasnt cool because “its just a joke bro its no big deal dude!!! it was just a joke bro!!” like using your fanbase to bully joeys teenage ex was “just a joke bro!! its just twitter tea!!! its a tweet its not a big deal!!” with time ive come to realize swmrs made their bed and were already lying in it before anything ever happened because of that attitude. theyll whine and cry about the literal teenage Carolinas Ultimate Netflix Tweet that ruined joeys life and career forever like she even mattered. gerard is friends with jimmy fucking urine and pete wentz is who he is and brendon urie is he who is and matty healy is who he is and machine gun kelly is who he is they will have careers forever because they understand the bare minimum of artistic integrity.

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