There's a bit of what seems to be disinformation going around about whether NPP and ToonMe are Kremlin-sourced data harvesters.

 

Snopes.com has looked into this, and the answer appears to be, no actually. So for now, at any rate, our sites seem to be safe.

www.snopes.com/news/2022/05/11/new-profile-pic-app/

 

Aside from all that, any preferences with these?

The Beaten Generation

 

During the course of 2015 I recommissioned my 21st birthday present from my father – a Micro Seiki MB-14ST that I brought over to the UK from my mom’s place in South Africa. I’ve also been slowly bringing over my collection of vinyl albums, meticulously selected and acquired, and lovingly cared for between the early-70’s and the late-80’s. They’ve also been stashed away at my mom’s place, protected from the elements in plastic sleeves and stored in bespoke cases holding about 50 albums apiece. Over the course of the past few months I’ve been playing some of the gems in my collection, and it’s been very rewarding to reconnect with my past. Both the good and the “interesting”.

 

On one of our trips to Europe in the late-80’s my future wife and I made our regular pilgrimage to the music stores, including WOM (World of Music) in Germany. It was here (in which city, I don’t recall) that I bought the LP "Viva Umkhonto!" a compilation of punk and hardcore music that featured previously unreleased material by European and US bands. The record was released in April 1987 as a collaborative effort by two independent labels, namely Mordam Records (USA) and De Konkurrent (Holland), both of whom were strong backers of the struggle against Apartheid. According to a statement on the back of the sleeve, “All money raised by this record goes to Umkhonto We Sizwe”. So this was a benefit album for the military wing of the ANC (African National Congress).

 

For context, allow me to turn to Wikipedia:

 

“Umkhonto We Sizwe (abbreviated as MK, Zulu for "Spear of the Nation") was the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC), co-founded by Nelson Mandela in the wake of the Sharpeville massacre. Its founding represented the conviction in the face of the massacre that the ANC could no longer limit itself to nonviolent protest; its mission was to fight against the South African government. After warning the South African government in June 1961 of its intent to resist further acts of terror if the government did not take steps toward constitutional reform and increase political rights, MK launched its first attacks against government installations on 16 December 1961. It was subsequently classified as a terrorist organisation by the South African government and the United States, and banned”.

 

The album itself was definitely banned in South Africa and so possessing it was illegal. I took it into the country through Jan Smuts Airport (subsequently known as “Johannesburg International” and now, “O.R. Tambo International”) on my return from my trip to Europe and kept it safely tucked away in the belly of the beast in South Africa's capital city, Pretoria.

 

On the tenth anniversary of the Soweto uprising, the Nationalist regime declared State of Emergency in June 1986. It forbade any action that could undermine the Apartheid state, nationwide. Also forbidden were any kind of “subversive statements”, defined as statements that promoted unlawful strikes, boycotts or civil disobedience, attacked military conscription, promoted disinvestment or sanctions, or that “aggravated feelings of racial hostility”. The penalty for engaging in these actions was a maximum of ten years imprisonment. Ouch - I definitely did not want to be caught with this album!

 

Of the people detained under these draconian regulations (circa-8,000 in the first couple of months) no names were published with the exception of those released at the discretion of the South African Police. Throughout the State of Emergency, newspapers had to engage in self-censorship, at the risk of being closed down by the government, and many used to print disclaimers alongside their articles that read” “This report has been restricted to comply with the Emergency Regulations”. Some newspapers and magazines were not able to appear, and no news came out of the black townships, except through the state’s Bureau of Information. At the time I stuck stickers on the front of my television screen and computer monitor that read “SABC News is Biased” just to remind myself to be vigilant about government disinformation.

 

The music on the compilation album is okay, but it’s the packaging and presentation that I really enjoyed as a snapshot of the times, and as an interesting piece of social history. Along with the record were included a poster and a booklet filled with newspaper clippings and ANC propaganda about the armed struggle against Apartheid. It also highlights companies that were breaking economic sanctions by continuing to do business with South Africa. The “Throw Well – Throw Shell” slogan is parody of oil the giant’s official marketing tag-line at the time, namely “Go Well – Go Shell”. I have uploaded a scan of this booklet to my DropBox.

 

I’m not going to comment on the accuracy or veracity of the information in the booklet, but in those turbulent times – under a state of emergency, with broad media censorship and where owning certain music could earn you a jail sentence – it was thrilling to see what people abroad were thinking and to read material that was not towing the official National Party line. With the benefit of hindsight, it’s fascinating to see how right Matt Johnson was back in 1989 (The The – “Mind Bomb”). Although he wasn’t talking about South Africa, per se, when he sang that we were the “beaten generation, reared on a diet of prejudice and misinformation”, he pretty much hit the nail on the head. Prejudice and misinformation were weapons in the arsenal on both sides of the struggle in South Africa. I was one of the few pale South Africans to have the privilege of being exposed to both sides of that deformed coin.

 

The The - "The Beat(en) Generation" - YouTube Video Clip

 

When you cast your eyes upon the skylines

Of this once proud nation

Can you sense the fear and the hatred

Growing in the hearts of its population

And our youth, oh youth, are being seduced

By the greedy hands of politics and half truths

 

The beaten generation, the beaten generation

Reared on a diet of prejudice and mis-information

The beaten generation, the beaten generation

Open your eyes, open your imagination

 

We're being sedated by the gasoline fumes

And hypnotized by the satellites

Into believing what is good and what is right

You may be worshiping the temples of mammon

Or lost in the prisons of religion

But can you still walk back to happiness

When you've nowhere left to run?

 

The beaten generation, the beaten generation

Reared on a diet of prejudice and mis-information

The beaten generation, the beaten generation

Open your eyes, open your imagination

 

And if they send in the special police

To deliver us from liberty and keep us from peace

Then won't the words sit ill upon their tongues

When they tell us justice is being done

And that freedom lives in the barrels of a warm gun

 

The beaten generation, the beaten generation

Reared on a diet of prejudice and mis-information

The beaten generation, the beaten generation

Open your eyes, open your imagination

 

If you'd like to take a listen to "Viva Umkhonto!" I've found a ripped copy of the LP available for download here.

 

Also take a look at my Blogger posting.

 

Cheers, 2016 ©

 

Andromeda became one of the leading young voices on women’s issues in Candirenggo village after joining the Peace Village initiative in 2018. Together with her friends, they run a social media account (The Lokal Projects: www.instagram.com/thelokalprojects/) to promote gender equality and counter disinformation online. Andro also designed a class on aromatherapy candle making during the COVID-19 pandemic to support the mental well-being of women and youth in the community.

 

“After participating in Peace Village activities, I have become very engaged in championing women’s rights and equality, and I have realized that I am a feminist.”

 

Increasing youth participation at the village level is Andro’s priority to ensure that continuous voices from the youth are heard and that diverse and engaged youth groups bring refreshment and regeneration.

 

The ‘Peace Village’ concept was co-conceived by UN Women and Wahid Foundation in 2017. To become a Peace Village, community members in the village agree to a set of commitments designed to prevent violence, promote tolerance, and advance social cohesion. Recognizing economic empowerment as a foundation for change, the Peace Village initiative promotes women's voice and agency, increases women’s access to economic opportunities, and builds their capacity to resolve communal conflict.

 

Read more stories here: pvstorybook.un-guyub.id/

Photo: UN Women/Satu Bumi Jaya

 

Grover Furr is a hobby historian with zero credibility who worships Joseph Stalin and denies that his hero ever committed a single crime.

 

rationalwiki.org/wiki/Stalin_apologetics#Grover_Furr

 

It was interesting to discover that the excellent Holocaust Controversies blog (which devotes itself to deconstructing and debunking the false claims of holocaust deniers) has also taken apart Furr's false claims about the Katyń massacre.

 

You'd have to be staggeringly ignorant, gullible and foolish to believe that the mass murder of 22000 Polish nationals by the Soviet NKVD in 1940 was actually carried out by the Nazis - as Furr suggests - but being staggeringly ignorant, gullible and foolish is a pre-requisite for joining the tankie cult, so it's not surprising that some people do believe it.

 

However, in a very long blog post - titled "Debunking Grover Furr's Katyń Screed" - the HC folks demonstrate conclusively that Furr's claims about Katyń are completely bogus, as well as demonstrating that Furr is an incompetent researcher and a highly dishonest one.

 

holocaustcontroversies.blogspot.com/2023/02/debunking-gro...

 

As deniers of Hitler's crimes and deniers of Stalin's crimes both have the same kind of conspiratorial mindset, this should also not be a surprise to anyone. But it's great that the Holocaust Controversies blog went to the trouble of going through Furr's entire book about Katyń with their usual meticulous attention to detail, in order to demolish it point by point.

 

Quick summary....

 

- Furr pretends that the evidence implicating the NKVD which he mentions is all fake, and that all the other evidence (which he fails to mention) doesn't exist.

 

- He focuses on a few apparent anomalies in one of the hundreds of books and other studies about the Katyń massacre and pretends that this somehow disproves the whole thing.

 

- He also misrepresents the "discoveries" in the title, as well as making a lot of wrong assumptions based on his predetermined conclusion that the NKVD couldn't possibly be responsible.

 

The HC folks also posted their debunking in the r/DebateCommunism subreddit to see what kind of response they'd get. Not surprisingly, the post was quickly removed by the moderators (after one or two replies that were predictably lame and didn't include a single counter-argument)....

 

www.reddit.com/r/DebateCommunism/comments/11387dy/grover_...

Sérdeilis spennandi dagskrá þar sem fléttast saman hljóðverk eftir hljóð - og myndlistarmanninn Joe Banks og margvísleg kvikmyndaljóð sem varpað verður á vegg Mengis. VIð sögu koma meðal annars Schubert og T.S. Eliot, Dolce og Gabbana, mexíkósk ljóðskáld og seigfljótandi hljóð utan úr geimnum. Að baki hlustunarpartýinu stendur enski hljóð og myndlistarmaðurinn Joe Banks sem hefur starfað undir nafninu Disinformation frá árinu 1995 og skapað hljóðverk, hljóðinnsetningar og vídeóverk. Hann hefur gefið út rómaðar plötur á vegum útgáfufyrirtækisins Ash International (systurútgáfu Touch Records), Iris Light og Adaadat Records og haldið fjölda einkasýninga. Í Mengi býður hann upp á verk sem byggja á upptökum stuttbylgjuútvarpa af segulstormum sem myndast vegna kórónugoss eða kórónuskvettu en svo nefnist það þegar gríðarstórar gasbólur springa út frá kórónu sólar.

 

PoetryFilm var stofnað af sýningastjóranum og listamanninum Zata Banks árið 2002. PoetryFilm Paradox er klukkustunda löng dagskrá með stuttmyndum sem eiga það sammerkt að rannsaka og velta fyrir sér margvíslegum birtingarmyndum ástarinnar, erótík, rómantík og væntumþykju. Myndirnar eru þrettán talsins - þar á meðal er stuttmynd eftir Kate Jessop þar sem við sögu koma hjartnæm bréfaskipti hönnuðanna Domenico Dolce og Stefano Gabbana, kvikmyndafantasía Bruno Teixidor sem byggir á ljóði eftir mexíkóska rithöfundinn og þýðandann Tomas Segovia, táknmálsmynd eftir Brooke Griffin sem byggir á ljóðum Raymond Luczak, kvikmynd Stuart Pound sem byggir á ljóðasöngnum “Die Nebensonnen” úr Vetrarferð Franz Schuberts og Wilhelm Müller, myndræn túlkun Martin Pickles og Mikey Georgeson á ljóði T.S. Eliot “Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, stuttmyndin “Fucking Him” eftir listamennina C. O. Moed & Adrian Garcia Gomez, og “447: Intellect - N” eftir Jane Glennie.

 

Mengi, Reykjavik, 10 March 2016

2,000 ISK - starts at 9pm sharp

Viðburðurinn hefst klukkan 21

Miðaverð 2000 krónur

 

Mengi, Óðinsgata 2

Reykjavik 101

Iceland

 

The Disinformation Listening Party focusses on shortwave radio recordings of so-called “Type II” (slow-drift) noise storms - interstellar shock-waves produced by coronal mass ejections from the surface of the sun.

 

rorschachaudio.com/2016/02/12/kvikmyndaljod-upplysingafol...

[Guy Klucevsek . Disinformation Polka]

  

Conspiracy-based disinformation. The truth is that for the first time in its history, Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children has had to reassign some of tis beds to adults.

Europe, the Final Frontier.

 

These are the voyages of the Flying-Brick ‘Gnome’. Its continuing mission: to explore our world, to seek out my kids and to hug them, to boldly go where no gnome has gone before...

 

Chapter 1. We are where we are.

 

My mission: a Blog-a-day.

 

If you've come here to escape the viral madness, then you will be sorely disappointed. This virus has invaded every part of our lives and thus also insinuated itself into every part of this story.

 

We, in France, are once again in lockdown.

 

Once again I will attempt to post something every day, be it a photo, some words of wisdom, or a combination of the two. I'll try, but will probably fail on the wisdom bit...

 

Last time, now far into the distant past, I posted each day a photo of some random flower, insect, garden scene. After calls from you all to be silent, to desist, to shuffle off, and the occasional "Aarrgggghhhh!" I've decided to change my approach.

 

This is to be the story of our last trip in the Gnome, an adventure full of the complete gamut of emotions, of highs and of the deepest of lows.

 

Our voyage there and back again...

  

We are were we are, and we are here...

  

A distant fog submerges Montauban. A fog that stifles, that engulfs. It is a fog of facts and of fake news, a fog of information and of disinformation, a fog of danger with no safe place. At its heart is Covid. How do we calculate our route through all of this thick soup of fact and fiction?

 

There is no simple solution, there is no path to take that will be one hundred percent safe. All we do has risk and consequences, but how do we balance that against survival, against love, against a normal life, against living long enough to sup another glass of wine?

 

There is no more a 'normal' life. Thankfully there remain several sups of wine...

 

And so these were the questions we asked of ourselves whilst planning our odyssey into the plague.

 

Do we go or do we stay? How do we get there? How do we get back? How do we calculate the risks when the risks are constantly changing? How do we protect those that we are holden to shelter from harm? How many bottles of wine do we take?

 

When we originally planned this trip, this adventure, this odyssey, there was no doubt. It had been many months since seeing our close family in the UK. Too many months due to this pestilence. All we had to do was go there, visit each house which were each self isolating, share our love, then bugger off back to France.

 

Simple.

 

And yet, simple was the last thing that it turned out to be; simple it was not. Nothing went according to plan. This was a voyage into chaos, an adventure full of unforeseen risk and was fraught from the very start.

 

This is our story...

 

Tomorrow: Chapter 2, the surprising sequel to Chapter 1...

Exciting isn't it?

The Beaten Generation

 

During the course of 2015 I recommissioned my 21st birthday present from my father – a Micro Seiki MB-14ST that I brought over to the UK from my mom’s place in South Africa. I’ve also been slowly bringing over my collection of vinyl albums, meticulously selected and acquired, and lovingly cared for between the early-70’s and the late-80’s. They’ve also been stashed away at my mom’s place, protected from the elements in plastic sleeves and stored in bespoke cases holding about 50 albums apiece. Over the course of the past few months I’ve been playing some of the gems in my collection, and it’s been very rewarding to reconnect with my past. Both the good and the “interesting”.

 

On one of our trips to Europe in the late-80’s my future wife and I made our regular pilgrimage to the music stores, including WOM (World of Music) in Germany. It was here (in which city, I don’t recall) that I bought the LP "Viva Umkhonto!" a compilation of punk and hardcore music that featured previously unreleased material by European and US bands. The record was released in April 1987 as a collaborative effort by two independent labels, namely Mordam Records (USA) and De Konkurrent (Holland), both of whom were strong backers of the struggle against Apartheid. According to a statement on the back of the sleeve, “All money raised by this record goes to Umkhonto We Sizwe”. So this was a benefit album for the military wing of the ANC (African National Congress).

 

For context, allow me to turn to Wikipedia:

 

“Umkhonto We Sizwe (abbreviated as MK, Zulu for "Spear of the Nation") was the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC), co-founded by Nelson Mandela in the wake of the Sharpeville massacre. Its founding represented the conviction in the face of the massacre that the ANC could no longer limit itself to nonviolent protest; its mission was to fight against the South African government. After warning the South African government in June 1961 of its intent to resist further acts of terror if the government did not take steps toward constitutional reform and increase political rights, MK launched its first attacks against government installations on 16 December 1961. It was subsequently classified as a terrorist organisation by the South African government and the United States, and banned”.

 

The album itself was definitely banned in South Africa and so possessing it was illegal. I took it into the country through Jan Smuts Airport (subsequently known as “Johannesburg International” and now, “O.R. Tambo International”) on my return from my trip to Europe and kept it safely tucked away in the belly of the beast in South Africa's capital city, Pretoria.

 

On the tenth anniversary of the Soweto uprising, the Nationalist regime declared State of Emergency in June 1986. It forbade any action that could undermine the Apartheid state, nationwide. Also forbidden were any kind of “subversive statements”, defined as statements that promoted unlawful strikes, boycotts or civil disobedience, attacked military conscription, promoted disinvestment or sanctions, or that “aggravated feelings of racial hostility”. The penalty for engaging in these actions was a maximum of ten years imprisonment. Ouch - I definitely did not want to be caught with this album!

 

Of the people detained under these draconian regulations (circa-8,000 in the first couple of months) no names were published with the exception of those released at the discretion of the South African Police. Throughout the State of Emergency, newspapers had to engage in self-censorship, at the risk of being closed down by the government, and many used to print disclaimers alongside their articles that read” “This report has been restricted to comply with the Emergency Regulations”. Some newspapers and magazines were not able to appear, and no news came out of the black townships, except through the state’s Bureau of Information. At the time I stuck stickers on the front of my television screen and computer monitor that read “SABC News is Biased” just to remind myself to be vigilant about government disinformation.

 

The music on the compilation album is okay, but it’s the packaging and presentation that I really enjoyed as a snapshot of the times, and as an interesting piece of social history. Along with the record were included a poster and a booklet filled with newspaper clippings and ANC propaganda about the armed struggle against Apartheid. It also highlights companies that were breaking economic sanctions by continuing to do business with South Africa. The “Throw Well – Throw Shell” slogan is parody of oil the giant’s official marketing tag-line at the time, namely “Go Well – Go Shell”. I have uploaded a scan of this booklet to my DropBox.

 

I’m not going to comment on the accuracy or veracity of the information in the booklet, but in those turbulent times – under a state of emergency, with broad media censorship and where owning certain music could earn you a jail sentence – it was thrilling to see what people abroad were thinking and to read material that was not towing the official National Party line. With the benefit of hindsight, it’s fascinating to see how right Matt Johnson was back in 1989 (The The – “Mind Bomb”). Although he wasn’t talking about South Africa, per se, when he sang that we were the “beaten generation, reared on a diet of prejudice and misinformation”, he pretty much hit the nail on the head. Prejudice and misinformation were weapons in the arsenal on both sides of the struggle in South Africa. I was one of the few pale South Africans to have the privilege of being exposed to both sides of that deformed coin.

 

The The - "The Beat(en) Generation" - YouTube Video Clip

 

When you cast your eyes upon the skylines

Of this once proud nation

Can you sense the fear and the hatred

Growing in the hearts of its population

And our youth, oh youth, are being seduced

By the greedy hands of politics and half truths

 

The beaten generation, the beaten generation

Reared on a diet of prejudice and mis-information

The beaten generation, the beaten generation

Open your eyes, open your imagination

 

We're being sedated by the gasoline fumes

And hypnotized by the satellites

Into believing what is good and what is right

You may be worshiping the temples of mammon

Or lost in the prisons of religion

But can you still walk back to happiness

When you've nowhere left to run?

 

The beaten generation, the beaten generation

Reared on a diet of prejudice and mis-information

The beaten generation, the beaten generation

Open your eyes, open your imagination

 

And if they send in the special police

To deliver us from liberty and keep us from peace

Then won't the words sit ill upon their tongues

When they tell us justice is being done

And that freedom lives in the barrels of a warm gun

 

The beaten generation, the beaten generation

Reared on a diet of prejudice and mis-information

The beaten generation, the beaten generation

Open your eyes, open your imagination

 

If you'd like to take a listen to "Viva Umkhonto!" I've found a ripped copy of the LP available for download here.

 

Also take a look at my Blogger posting.

 

Cheers, 2016 ©

 

CV19 looking over everyones shoulder, never knowing when can we get out again,

society crumbling amid a fog of misinformation, disinformation, and just plain stupidity. Welcome to "the New Old normal", just read some history and cheer up!!

Revelation 10:11 “And they said to me, ‘You must prophesy again concerning many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.’”

 

Road to Revelation:

 

“Tyrannical Australia’s Draconian ‘Misinformation’ Bill Threatens To Usher In Unprecedented Era Of Illiberal Double Standards, Warns Victorian Bar”

 

ussanews.com/2023/07/31/australias-draconian-misinformati...

 

The United Nations: “Misinformation, disinformation & hate speech threaten peace & security, disproportionately affecting those who are already vulnerable.

 

iVerify is our automated fact-checking tool that can help identify false information & prevent its spread.”

 

twitter.com/UNDP/status/1670461374151946240?s=20

 

“Russia and China Sent Large Naval Patrol Near Alaska”

 

www.wsj.com/articles/russia-and-china-sent-large-naval-pa...

 

“Australian DishBrain team wins $600,000 grant to merge AI with human brain cells”

 

www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/jul/21/australian-dis...

 

There's so much information and disinformation online and in print it's difficult to tell them apart. Fundamentally, people believe what they want to believe. I believe the ancient history of Orkney is Norse related and its modern history is Scottish related. On page five in my book: Irvines in Victoria BC — since 1851 we read:

 

“Prince Henry Sinclair

To examine the historical issues which impact directly upon the Irvine family members, we must go back to the 14th century. At that time, Orkney was under the control of King Haakon VI, who also just happened to be the king of Sweden, as well. When King Haakon took as his wife Princess Margaretta, daughter of the King of Denmark, in 1362. to better his chances of gaining charge over Orkney. Prince Henry Sinclair made certain he attended the wedding.”

 

King Haakon invested, on August 2, 1379. "the most perfect of knights. Sir Henry Sinclair,” as Earl of Orkney. I believe — and historical records confirm — this is when Orkney's modern history began under Scottish rule.

 

At age thirty-three, the Earl of Orkney did not fall short of the “perfect knight” stamp put upon him. Henry was in a position which demanded the maximum skills in public relations: as Earl he had to be faithful to the King of Norway, and as Baron of Roslin he had to remain loyal to the King, Robert of Scotland.

 

Henry, in 1380, had constructed at Kirkwall. Mainland Island, a castle, to protect himself, his wife, and three children; also, as a headquarters to administer the business of running the island group as a progressive and profitable undertaking. Henry had the massive stone structure put at the water's edge as he knew full well that it would be by boat that he would have to cover the vast area of his domain.

 

So there you have it. Modern Orkney is Scottish. This is not to say Orcadians and their culture went gently into the night. Au contraire, to this day (from my personal knowledge) many Orcadians prefer to be referred to with this moniker. As one Orcadian stated to me: “Aye, there's nay good South.”.

 

Reference cited: Pohl, F. Julius. Prince Henry Sinclair, Earl of Orkney. Crown Publishing, New York, 1974

 

N.B. Amazon(dot)com has Pohl’s book on sale for $176.00USD

The promotional caption reads in part:

“It is one of the anomalies of human history that despite our passion for knowledge, we are still in doubt as to who actually ‘discovered’ the North American continent. According to author/historian Fredrick J. Pohl, the glory should go to none other than Prince Henry Sinclair, Earl of Orkney, who set off on a voyage of discovery for “a very great country” and dropped anchor in Guysborough Harbour, Nova Scotia, on June 2, 1398 almost a century before Columbus’s and Cabot’s Historic voyages.”

I went for a walk a week or so ago in the Chicago neighborhood known as Ukrainian Village, thanks to all the immigrants from Ukraine who started moving there a century ago. Ukrainian immigration into the neighborhood continued well into the second half of the 20th century, and there are still enough first- and second-generation Ukrainian-Americans to give the neighborhood a strong Ukrainian flavor, even in the face of more recent waves of gentrification. There are still Ukrainian churches, with congregations of Ukrainians who speak the Ukrainian language in Ukrainian services. They fly the flag of Ukraine outside St. Volodymyr Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral, next to the flag of the United States.

 

Just to be clear, St. Volodymyr wasn't named after Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

 

I haven't said much lately about current events. So here is my (long) statement.

 

Russia was still in the middle of Putin's pre-war sabre rattling as we were heading south on our way to New Orleans a month or so ago, and at one point on the drive I asked Robin whether she thought Putin was really going to stir up this hornets nest. She was a hundred percent sure he was, and that he'd do it as soon as the Olympics wound down in Beijing.

 

I was more doubtful. My feeling was that Putin's survival has always depended on a projection of power, but that he'd been smart enough to know that projection only lasts until you throw the first punch. He's an ex-KGB guy who lives and breathes disinformation and psychological warfare. He's the guy who threatens big things and keeps the world cowed with subtle reminders that Russia still has nuclear-tipped warheads hidden in the taiga. He likes to say tough things while staring intensely at his adversaries across a table, creating the image of unstoppable force, and he'll push that image right to the limits of actual strength. The projection of power has gotten him a lot over the years, keeping Russia in a position on the world stage I personally thought it had no business holding and could never back up. Putin's glare was enough to perpetuate the myth of Russian superpowers long after any reality of it had faded.

 

But I thought Putin was too smart to project so far as an actual, physical invasion of Ukraine. Sure, I knew he wanted to invade Ukraine -- that's just one piece he needs to recreate the Russian Empire as it was the day the Bolsheviks shot Nicholas and Alexandra in a basement -- but more than that, I felt like he wanted the world to feel the threat. He wanted that threat to keep us unsure and off-balance, squabbling amongst ourselves about some looming thing that would never actually happen. Because what would an actual invasion get him? I know a lot of people have talked for a long time about Russian military might, but I've long felt that talk was more out of habit than anything. Oversold hype left over from Cold War propaganda that wasn't really even true back then. I told my son seven or eight years ago when the Army was getting ready to ship him over to sit on one side of a line in South Korea that Putin was a paper tiger. I knew -- and I figured Putin knew -- that taking and keeping Ukraine would not be easy or cheap, and the cost for the Russian people and for him personally would be far greater than any benefit any of them might gain. I've been saying since, oh, about 2003 that when your nation has built its entire identity on a projection of military infallibility, the last thing you want to do is actually invade somebody, especially somebody with the will to maintain a long insurgency. Putin had to know that. He was positively giddy watching 20 years of American adventurism in Afghanistan and Iraq, and I'm sure he had Afghan memories of his own. At the very least, he should have read a few books about the Crimean War. He knew better than to replay that old song. I said that Putin wouldn't invade.

 

Well, we see now a month later how that question was answered. Putin evidently bought too much of his own product. Robin said he'd invade the day after the Olympics ended, and that's exactly what he did. He's pushed too far, and now here we all are, in the middle of it.

 

So the question, then, is what do we do about it?

 

Well, first off, I think we pay attention to what's actually happened, because as it turns out, my paper tiger theory isn't far off from reality. As happens with a lot of tough guys, Putin's projections haven't squared with reality. His army -- supposedly a superpower's army -- turns out to be made up of poorly trained and poorly outfitted conscripts who were never nearly as committed to this whole "Rebuild the Empire" thing as Vladmir had hoped. Meanwhile, they've faced a Ukrainian resistance which, though much weaker, is buoyed by the fact that they're fighting for their homeland, their sovereignty, their freedom, their families, and in many cases their entire lives. Vlad's forces have failed in even the most basic goals. They haven't taken Kiev (or Kyiv, or however we're spelling it now), they've struggled to take the Black Sea ports, they've been held off and pushed back more often than they've struggled forward. This isn't to say they've lost -- far from it, in fact. But it hasn't been the cake walk they or the rest of the world thought it would be. They've shown what's behind the curtain. We've seen their weakness. So we need to not look away from that. We need to hang tough. I think it's been right to let the Ukrainians fight this war on their own, considering how well they're pulling it off. I say we give them all the guns and planes and missile launchers they need to keep it going, at the same time we flood them with food and clothing and whatever else they need.

 

But what if they fall? What if, after pulling back from Kyiv and dicking around a table for a while offering false hopes of make-believe peace, Putin regroups and sweeps west across Ukraine like he meant to in the first place?

 

At heart, I want to be a pacifist. War is rarely, if ever, a good idea, and I don't think the United States has been a part of any "good" or "justified" or "necessary" wars in my lifetime. Maybe the First Gulf War. There's an argument to be made there, when one guy decided to randomly take over a neighbor's country. And maybe the first two weeks in Afghanistan, before we lost the thread and decided to make that war about a bunch of vague things that had nothing to do with Osama bin Laden. But other than that? It's all been a waste. I'm the type of person who will do everything I can to avoid initiating a conflict. But if somebody brings a conflict to me? If they force their way to my door, walk into my territory, and try to bluster me into submission? Well, then screw that. It's on.

 

This take, of course, leads many to think about all those nuclear-tipped warheads hidden in the taiga. Because European War in the 21st century isn't like it was when tsarist Russia went tripping over itself into Crimea in the 1850s. Giants are stomping over the battlefield now, and all-out war has potential consequences that could end civilization.

 

But my answer to that is that if you let a tough guy have whatever he wants just because he has a few nukes, then all you're going to do is convince other tough guys that they need to get nukes. Meanwhile, once Putin sees that a few nuclear threats is all it takes to get the world to back down, he'll demand more and more and more. He'll threaten NATO out of Poland and the Baltics and Scandinavia. He'll roll right up to Berlin. And then Paris and London. "What," he'll say, "the United States wants to elect this person President? I don't think so." He'll make demand on top of demand on top of demand, and even then, at some point, those bombs will go off. You'll never appease him enough to keep them in the taiga, and I don't want to play Neville Chamberlain in this drama. We can't let the shape of the world be decided by whichever nuclear power has the most irrational leader. We need to stand tough. Let Putin bluster and glare. We need to hold firm.

 

And so, as I saw written on a sign hanging on a fence in Ukrainian Village, слава україні. Glory to Ukraine.

“Pulsing sub-bass audio suggests associations with the most primal anthropomorphic element in music - the rhythms of the human heart, with foetal and infant hypnagogic sense memories, with seismic activity, the rumble of thunder (Jimi Hendrix claimed that his earliest childhood memory was of a thunderstorm) and even with war. Disinformation's National Grid is a sub-bass installation sourced either from the ambient VLF field radiated by electricity pylons and mains circuits, or directly from the output cables of mains transformers. National Grid offers live physical evidence of environmental electromagnetic pollution, a demonstration of the intrinsic musical properties of alternating current, beat-frequency effects, the architectural acoustics of its own exhibition space, a formula for the realisation and suppression of Futurist sound art, a cathartic response to the pressures of urban life, a monolithic soundtrack for the genius of electrification and for the bitter conflicts between government and organised labour for control over the nation's electrical infrastructure.” - Disinformation “Stargate” + “National Grid” LP - Ash International, Ash 3.2, copyright © 1996

 

“London was the capital of the electricity of the mind” - Geoffrey Grigson © 1957

 

Disobey, Holloway, London, 10 Oct 1996

Royal College of Art, Kensington, 5 Dec 1996

Museum of Installation, Deptford, July 1997

South London Gallery, Camberwell, 15 Aug 1998

Nuclear Warfare Command Centre, Anstruther, 25 Sept 1998

Lux Cinema, Hoxton, 9 Dec 1998

Volksbühne, Berlin, 27 June 1999

ZKM, Karlsruhe, 16 July 1999

Arctic Corsair, Hull, Oct 1999

Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, Jan to March 2000

Sonic Boom, Hayward Gallery, 2 June 2000

The Dom, Moscow, 26 Sept 2000

Fabrica, Brighton, Nov to Dec 2001

The Royal Institution, Mayfair, 22 May 2004

Corsica Studios, Elephant & Castle, 19 Nov 2004 *

The Guardian Science Writers Xmas Party, 13 Dec 2004 *

Hull Art Lab (Humber Street, Kingston-upon-Hull) 4 Feb 2005 *

Cargo Nightclub, Hoxton, 17 Feb 2005 *

The Foundry, Hoxton, Oct 2005

Westbourne Studios, Notting Hill, 18 Sept 2006 *

The Junction, Cambridge, 27 April 2007 *

Centre for Life, Newcastle, 5 March 2008 *

Gus Fisher Gallery, Auckland, NZ, Aug 2009

When the Dust Settles, Dalston Bunker, Oct 2010

Living Rooms, Auckland, NZ, April 2011

Frequency Festival, Lincoln, Oct 2011

Usurp Gallery, Harrow, 8 Nov 2011

GV Art, Marylebone, Nov to Dec 2013

Inspace, Edinburgh, 29 Nov 2013

Le Bon Accueil, Rennes, Oct to Nov 2014

The Auricle, Christchurch, NZ, Feb 2015

The Morgue, Chelsea College of Arts, 16 March 2017

Assembly of Disturbance, Shoreditch, 7 Oct 2017

Gallery 46, Whitechapel, 15 Feb 2018

Kino Siska, Ljubljana, 21 March 2018

CMK, Koper, 22 March 2018

Caponier Tunnel, Newhaven Fort, 22 Sept 2018

Listening Arts Channel (on-line) 19 March 2021

Antithesis, Schemata Art, Elephant & Castle, March 2022

Ealing Extranormal Volume 22, 16 Dec 2023

Farsight Collective, St. Giles, 11 + 12 Oct 2024

LungA Skólinn, Seyðisfjörður, 23-25 May 2025

LCB Depot, Leicester, Sept 2025

Wave Farm (WGXC 90.7FM, Acra, NY) 10 Oct 2025

 

* Disinformation + Strange Attractor

 

soundcloud.com/erratum_musical/disinformation-national-gr... -

[listen with headphones or good quality hi-fi loudspeakers]

I would like to be able to write extensively about the form and style of this old fortress, but there isn't enough known about if for me to be able to do so! It needs a team of what Billy Connolly would call 'learned men in anoraks' to spend a few summers excavating it! I will make a few observations as we go, but most of what I can write about, is the story of the people that lived here.

 

From this angle, we can see all of the area that the castle once covered - a roughly oblong platform measuring 175 feet from east to west by 118 feet from north to south. The far left (south-west) corner contains the highest remaining tower. The prominent tree stands on the long north side of the enclosure, which appears to have been defended by a ditch. I imagine that stone for the castle was quarried from all around the platform, so as to leave ditches and vertical faces. There were clearly buildings of significant size extending along the north edge, to the north-east corner. The line of the east facing wall appears to be visible and there must almost certainly have been a gatehouse here, probably with a drawbridge crossing the east side ditch.

 

Unfortunately, not only is most of the design of Waughton difficult to determine, the history and genealogy of the occupants is hard to unravel too. This is surprising, due to the proximity of East Lothian to the capital and the relative importance of the castle and the families that owned it. The records of confirmations of land grants to landed families in Scotland go back many centuries, but I have found it a tangled web of conflicting stories with regard to Waughton. I have put several days of work into what follows and while I certainly don't guarantee there are no errors, this may be the most comprehensive history of the owners of Waughton Castle ever put together!

 

The earliest 'fact' we know about the castle is that there was a 'Hall of Walchtoun’ here in 1395. But who were its 14th century owners?

 

There is a fair amount of 'chatter' on the interwebs surrounding the death of James, 2nd Earl of Douglas at the Battle of Otterburn, which took place in August 1388. For example, let me quote Mr. Andrew Spratt:

 

In 1384 William 1st Earl of Douglas died and was succeeded as 2nd Earl by his legitimate son James. Who in 1388 was assassinated at the battle of Otterburn by his own armour bearer Bickerton of Luffness. Though the real mastermind behind the murder was probably Archibald "the Grim" since he seized the title 3rd Earl of Douglas, despite the claim to the Earldom by James's illegitimate half brother George the "Red" Douglas. Also Bickerton was himself murdered outside Luffness before he could be arrested and questioned. Then his assassin Ramsay of Waughton castle mysteriously disappeared leaving no loose ends to link James's murder back to Archibald, who as Earl of Douglas seized the remaining lands in Liddesdale originally held by his cousin William the 1st Earl.

 

Nigel Tranter wrote an excellent novel called 'Lords of Misrule', and what Mr Spratt has written as 'history', is clearly taken directly from Tranter's novel. There is no pre-Tranter record I have been able to discover that states or even suggests the possibility, that Douglas was assassinated at Otterburn, and records of the battle go right back to Jean Froissart's Chronicles, who claims to have interviewed veterans from both sides of the battle. The histories I have looked at simply state that Douglas was killed fighting in the confusion of a battle that was fought at night.

 

The point of all this is to try to clear up who was NOT 'of Waughton' in the 14th century. Wonderful though the internet is a spreading information in the 21st century, it is equally good and spreading disinformation! So as far as my research has been able to discover, there was no Ramsay of Waughton living in the 'hall of Waughton' at that time.

“Leave no one behind!” Let’s build a one-world governmental system. Let’s build the Matrix—the Beast System. Everyone will be digitally connected to the spinner’s WEB, can you feel the venom? Everyone will have a digital ID. Everyone will be controlled by a social credit score system. CBDCs: digital currencies, digital thin air. Everyone will receive a free welfare check. Everyone will be a global citizen of the new world order. Hey, we’re already halfway there! All hail the United Nations! All hail Caesar!

 

The Book of Daniel prophesied the rise and fall of previous world empires, and those prophecies came true. They rose, they fell. The Book of Daniel also prophesies about a future empire (Beast). This empire will be ruled by a Beast called the Antichrist (666). Shocker: the kingdom of the Beast will be ruled by a Beast. The Book of Revelation prophesies that no one will be able to buy or sell without the Mark of the Beast. Microchip biometric tattoo anyone!?! Take the Mark, be reborn (recreated) in the Image of the Beast, and become a trans-human (666).

 

While cleaning out my bookmarks, I found a dozen articles from the United Nations. I threw them together, and 98% of what’s written below is quoted verbatim. Sustainable development: building the foundation of the new world order one piece at a time. If you care to take a glimpse, if you dare:

 

By 2030 a new kind of capitalism (stakeholder capitalism/neo-fascism) will take root. A new economy will be established that will address the needs of all stakeholders (banks, corporations, billionaires, and governments). This new breed of new capitalism will be enabled thanks to a new way of assessing the performance of companies based on a valuation of their overall impact (social credit score system). Indeed, this new way of assessing business performance will be based on standardized, comprehensive and simple impact-valuation metrics. These enhance the usual financial statements with other dimensions like society, human rights and the environment, leading to a ‘total impact’ rating that is used by management and investors alike. ‘Total impact’ is a simple way of assessing how much a sector or a business contributes to social coherence, citizens’ wellbeing, environmental protection and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Impact valuation expresses what matters in monetary terms, allowing the full range of stakeholders to agree what ‘good’ looks like—in the economy and in society. Governments, stock markets and businesses will fully embrace the new order that has given rise to a thriving new type of public-private partnership (neo-fascism). We will transition to a more eco-friendly economic system that requires collective action by multiple stakeholders across borders.

 

The new model of circular (dialectic [problem, reaction, solution] uroboros) economy is meant to allow the planet to breathe, while leaving no one behind. A Circular Economy (CE) is an economic model that focuses on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. By decoupling economic growth from resource use, setting global standards in product sustainability, keeping resource use within planetary boundaries and promoting the re-use of materials, a circular economy may be the only sustainable economic model for the future. The global financial sector plays a pivotal role in scaling up finance for pollution-free and circular solutions, by funding innovative businesses that prioritize circular design, resource efficiency and waste reduction. Financial institutions can also leverage their influence to drive policy changes and industry standards that favour circularity. It is evident that ‘business as usual’ will not help us to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Systems-based approaches along with a strong commitment to deep rooted transformations and actions are vital to the reduction of humanity’s footprint in our planet. Our resources are finite and the principles and practices of the circular economy will be catalytic in creating goods, processes and ecosystems that are restorative and regenerative by design. An Inclusive Green Economy (IGE) is a pathway towards achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In its simplest expression, such an economy is low carbon, efficient and clean in production, but also inclusive in consumption and outcomes, based on sharing, circularity, collaboration, solidarity, resilience, opportunity, and interdependence. (A circular [green/sustainable] economy is an economy of degrowth.)

 

With more and more governments exploring the potential of CBDCs, there is a greater need to engage with various aspects of this emerging topic, including design, especially given its potential to foster financial inclusion. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has a long history of promoting technological and digital financial innovations that help advance financial inclusion and the SDGs more broadly. Its teams have worked with various countries on digital finance and infrastructure innovations, enabling underserved business segments, such as MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises), to access more sophisticated financial services or on enabling micro-savers to become micro-investors in green infrastructure projects, or on harnessing the developments in Distributed Ledger Technologies to advance innovative financial instruments for private capital mobilization for nature. Given UNDP’s expertise and leadership in this space, UNDP’s involvement in this discussion will help better support member states as they navigate this changing landscape. Partnership (public-private partnership) is at the heart of everything UNDP does. We offer a nearly universal presence across the world. We are determined to mobilize the means to implement the 2030 Agenda through a revitalized Global Partnership for Sustainable Development, with a focus on the poorest and most vulnerable. We support countries and communities as they work to eradicate poverty, implement the Paris Agreement on climate change and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

 

The importance of legal identity is an integral part of Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). SDG Target 16.9, which aims to ‘provide legal identity for all, including birth registration,’ underscores the widespread significance of civil registration in societies globally. Acknowledging the developing potential and significance of digital legal ID, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has taken the initiative to draft a model governance framework. This blueprint is designed to aid the swift establishment of digital legal ID systems globally. At its core, this framework is intended to outline a normative model of the laws, policies and institutional arrangements that can help ensure the governance of digital legal ID systems is inclusive. It is informed by UNDP’s governance and digital strategies, which emphasize a rights-based and whole-of-society approach. The framework, for instance, recognizes the importance of civil society’s role in accountability, recourse and oversight. It also builds on long-standing experience and lessons from within the UN System on legal identity and the whole legal identity management ecosystem, which is based on civil registration. It is a critical enabler of digital transformation and is helping to accelerate the Sustainable Development Goals. Governments, donors, the private sector and civil society alike have an opportunity to shape it. This campaign is in collaboration with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Centre for Digital Public Infrastructure, Co-Develop, the Digital Public Goods Alliance, and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and is supported by GovStack, the Inter-American Development Bank, and UNICEF. This ambitious campaign heralds a new chapter in the global momentum around digital public infrastructure (DPI)—an underlying network of components such as digital payments, ID, and data exchange systems, which is a critical accelerator of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

 

Following the G20 Leaders Declaration in 2023, Digital Public Infrastructure is a key breakthrough that gives the momentum needed to change course and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, across all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Accelerating progress toward the SDGs requires inclusive digital transformation. Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) can maximize the opportunities for digitalization to support the SDGs and reduce the risks that digital technologies may bring. DPI is safe, accessible, affordable, green, financed, and future ready. In partnership with the UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Technology and under the leadership of the UN Secretary-General, the Universal Safeguards initiative which also includes the 2030 Safeguards Action Hub will be launched at the 78th UNGA, leading into the Summit of the Future in 2024 and beyond. This campaign seeks to strengthen DPI partnerships (public-private partnerships) with the private sector and community-based organizations across 100 countries to integrate intermediaries into local digital ecosystems and facilitate greater scale services for inclusion, especially for women, as well as strengthen efforts to ensure universal digital connectivity.

 

The digital divide is further exacerbating these challenges—for example, 2.6 billion people, or around one-third of the world’s population, still lack internet access. But this is not just about access. The ‘usage gap’, the population living within the footprint of mobile internet coverage but not using this potentially game-changing connectivity, is now eight times larger than the total number of those without coverage. Limited digital skills, unaffordable data and devices, concerns of safety and security, and a lack of relevant content and services hinder people from participating in our increasingly digital societies and economies.

 

A new social contract needs to emerge that rebalances deep inequalities that are prevalent across societies. We must implement (universal socialism) Universal Basic Income (UBI). The alternative to not having UBI is the rising likelihood of social unrest, conflict, unmanageable mass migration, and the proliferation of extremist groups that capitalize and ferment on social disappointment. It is against this background that we seriously need to consider implementing a well-designed UBI, so shocks may hit, but they won’t destroy. Moving to such a system would need to ensure that the incentives to have a job remain intact. That is relatively simple to do: A UBI should be sufficient, to sustain a person at a modest minimum, leaving sufficient incentives to work, save, and invest. Lest the naysayers think this is a theory from the left, the idea of tax competition has been touched upon, for years on end, by the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development.

 

Today, more people than ever live in a country other than the one in which they were born. For statistical purposes, the United Nations defines an international migrant as any person who has changed his or her country of residence. This includes all migrants, regardless of their legal status, or the nature, or motive of their movement. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development recognizes the positive contribution of migrants to inclusive growth and sustainable development. The Agenda’s core principle is to ‘leave no one behind,’ which includes migrants. Many of the Agenda’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) contain targets and indicators which are relevant to migrants or migration. SDG target 10.7 calls on countries to ‘facilitate orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people, including through the implementation of planned and well-managed migration policies.’ Under the United Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, refugees and migrants have the same universal human rights and fundamental freedoms. It acknowledges the positive contribution of migrants to sustainable and inclusive development, and commits to protecting the safety, dignity and human rights and fundamental freedoms of all migrants, regardless of their migratory status.

 

Global citizenship is the umbrella term for social, political, environmental, and economic actions of globally minded individuals and communities on a worldwide scale. The term can refer to the belief that individuals are members of multiple, diverse, local and non-local networks rather than single actors affecting isolated societies. Promoting global citizenship in sustainable development will allow individuals to embrace their social(ist) responsibility to act for the benefit of all societies (collectivism), not just their own. The concept of global citizenship is embedded in the Sustainable Development Goals though SDG 4: Insuring Inclusive and Quality Education for All and Promote Life Long Learning, which includes global citizenship as one of its targets. By 2030, the international community has agreed to ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including global citizenship. Universities have a responsibility to promote global citizenship by teaching their students that they are members of a large global community and can use their skills and education to contribute to that community.

 

Job 15:31 “If they are foolish enough to trust in evil, then evil will be their reward.”

 

Proverbs 1:32 “For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them.”

 

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

 

1 John 5:12 “Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”

 

Now, an advertisement from the United Nations: Disinformation can be dangerous. With the advance of technology, digital media is increasingly being used to spread misinformation. The UN has been monitoring how mis- and disinformation and hate speech can attack health, security, stability as well as progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. (Those who control information, control society. Those who manipulate information, manipulate society. Those who control the narrative, control the masses.)

 

They are slowly implementing the new world order one sustainable development goal at a time.

 

The Beaten Generation

 

During the course of 2015 I recommissioned my 21st birthday present from my father – a Micro Seiki MB-14ST that I brought over to the UK from my mom’s place in South Africa. I’ve also been slowly bringing over my collection of vinyl albums, meticulously selected and acquired, and lovingly cared for between the early-70’s and the late-80’s. They’ve also been stashed away at my mom’s place, protected from the elements in plastic sleeves and stored in bespoke cases holding about 50 albums apiece. Over the course of the past few months I’ve been playing some of the gems in my collection, and it’s been very rewarding to reconnect with my past. Both the good and the “interesting”.

 

On one of our trips to Europe in the late-80’s my future wife and I made our regular pilgrimage to the music stores, including WOM (World of Music) in Germany. It was here (in which city, I don’t recall) that I bought the LP "Viva Umkhonto!" a compilation of punk and hardcore music that featured previously unreleased material by European and US bands. The record was released in April 1987 as a collaborative effort by two independent labels, namely Mordam Records (USA) and De Konkurrent (Holland), both of whom were strong backers of the struggle against Apartheid. According to a statement on the back of the sleeve, “All money raised by this record goes to Umkhonto We Sizwe”. So this was a benefit album for the military wing of the ANC (African National Congress).

 

For context, allow me to turn to Wikipedia:

 

“Umkhonto We Sizwe (abbreviated as MK, Zulu for "Spear of the Nation") was the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC), co-founded by Nelson Mandela in the wake of the Sharpeville massacre. Its founding represented the conviction in the face of the massacre that the ANC could no longer limit itself to nonviolent protest; its mission was to fight against the South African government. After warning the South African government in June 1961 of its intent to resist further acts of terror if the government did not take steps toward constitutional reform and increase political rights, MK launched its first attacks against government installations on 16 December 1961. It was subsequently classified as a terrorist organisation by the South African government and the United States, and banned”.

 

The album itself was definitely banned in South Africa and so possessing it was illegal. I took it into the country through Jan Smuts Airport (subsequently known as “Johannesburg International” and now, “O.R. Tambo International”) on my return from my trip to Europe and kept it safely tucked away in the belly of the beast in South Africa's capital city, Pretoria.

 

On the tenth anniversary of the Soweto uprising, the Nationalist regime declared State of Emergency in June 1986. It forbade any action that could undermine the Apartheid state, nationwide. Also forbidden were any kind of “subversive statements”, defined as statements that promoted unlawful strikes, boycotts or civil disobedience, attacked military conscription, promoted disinvestment or sanctions, or that “aggravated feelings of racial hostility”. The penalty for engaging in these actions was a maximum of ten years imprisonment. Ouch - I definitely did not want to be caught with this album!

 

Of the people detained under these draconian regulations (circa-8,000 in the first couple of months) no names were published with the exception of those released at the discretion of the South African Police. Throughout the State of Emergency, newspapers had to engage in self-censorship, at the risk of being closed down by the government, and many used to print disclaimers alongside their articles that read” “This report has been restricted to comply with the Emergency Regulations”. Some newspapers and magazines were not able to appear, and no news came out of the black townships, except through the state’s Bureau of Information. At the time I stuck stickers on the front of my television screen and computer monitor that read “SABC News is Biased” just to remind myself to be vigilant about government disinformation.

 

The music on the compilation album is okay, but it’s the packaging and presentation that I really enjoyed as a snapshot of the times, and as an interesting piece of social history. Along with the record were included a poster and a booklet filled with newspaper clippings and ANC propaganda about the armed struggle against Apartheid. It also highlights companies that were breaking economic sanctions by continuing to do business with South Africa. The “Throw Well – Throw Shell” slogan is parody of oil the giant’s official marketing tag-line at the time, namely “Go Well – Go Shell”. I have uploaded a scan of this booklet to my DropBox.

 

I’m not going to comment on the accuracy or veracity of the information in the booklet, but in those turbulent times – under a state of emergency, with broad media censorship and where owning certain music could earn you a jail sentence – it was thrilling to see what people abroad were thinking and to read material that was not towing the official National Party line. With the benefit of hindsight, it’s fascinating to see how right Matt Johnson was back in 1989 (The The – “Mind Bomb”). Although he wasn’t talking about South Africa, per se, when he sang that we were the “beaten generation, reared on a diet of prejudice and misinformation”, he pretty much hit the nail on the head. Prejudice and misinformation were weapons in the arsenal on both sides of the struggle in South Africa. I was one of the few pale South Africans to have the privilege of being exposed to both sides of that deformed coin.

 

The The - "The Beat(en) Generation" - YouTube Video Clip

 

When you cast your eyes upon the skylines

Of this once proud nation

Can you sense the fear and the hatred

Growing in the hearts of its population

And our youth, oh youth, are being seduced

By the greedy hands of politics and half truths

 

The beaten generation, the beaten generation

Reared on a diet of prejudice and mis-information

The beaten generation, the beaten generation

Open your eyes, open your imagination

 

We're being sedated by the gasoline fumes

And hypnotized by the satellites

Into believing what is good and what is right

You may be worshiping the temples of mammon

Or lost in the prisons of religion

But can you still walk back to happiness

When you've nowhere left to run?

 

The beaten generation, the beaten generation

Reared on a diet of prejudice and mis-information

The beaten generation, the beaten generation

Open your eyes, open your imagination

 

And if they send in the special police

To deliver us from liberty and keep us from peace

Then won't the words sit ill upon their tongues

When they tell us justice is being done

And that freedom lives in the barrels of a warm gun

 

The beaten generation, the beaten generation

Reared on a diet of prejudice and mis-information

The beaten generation, the beaten generation

Open your eyes, open your imagination

 

If you'd like to take a listen to "Viva Umkhonto!" I've found a ripped copy of the LP available for download here.

 

Also take a look at my Blogger posting.

 

Cheers, 2016 ©

 

Oren Segal and Oni Blair

 

As part of Stephen Mills’ Light / The Holocaust & Humanity Project, Ballet Austin hosted a panel discussion on Wednesday, March 8, 2023, at the LBJ Presidential Library.

 

National leaders including Oren Segal, vice president of the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism, Oni Blair, executive director of ACLU Texas, and award-winning choreographer Stephen Mills, Ballet Austin’s Sarah & Ernest Butler Family Fund Artistic Director and creator of Light / The Holocaust & Humanity Project, discussed antisemitism and the role of disinformation and propaganda in dividing communities. Mark Updegrove, president and CEO of the LBJ Foundation, moderated the discussion.

 

LBJ Library photo by Jay Godwin

03/08/23

Hamina. Finland. May 2009

 

The Sturmgeschütz III (StuG III) assault gun was Germany's most produced armoured fighting vehicle during World War II. It was built on the chassis of the proven Panzer III tank. Initially intended as a mobile, armoured light gun for infantry support, the StuG was continually modified and was widely employed as a tank destroyer.

   

Development

 

The Sturmgeschütz III originated from German experiences in World War I when it was discovered that during the offensives on the western front the infantry lacked the means to effectively engage fortifications. The artillery of the time was heavy and not mobile enough to keep up with the advancing infantry to destroy bunkers, pillboxes, and other minor obstacles with direct-fire. Although the problem was well-known in the German army, it was General Erich von Manstein who is considered the father of the Sturmartillerie. This is because the initial proposal was from (then) Colonel Erich von Manstein and submitted to General Ludwig Beck in 1935, suggesting that Sturmartillerie ("assault artillery") units should be used in a direct-fire support role for infantry divisions. On June 15, 1936, Daimler-Benz AG received an order to develop an armoured infantry support vehicle capable of mounting a 75 mm (2.95 in) artillery piece. The gun was to have a limited traverse of a minimum of 25° and be mounted in an enclosed superstructure that provided overhead protection for the crew. The height of the vehicle was not to exceed that of the average man.

 

Daimler-Benz AG used the chassis and running gear of its recently designed Pz.Kpfw. III medium tank as a basis for the new vehicle. Prototype manufacture was passed over to Alkett, which produced five examples in 1937 of the experimental 0-series StuG based upon the Pz.Kpfw. III Ausf. B. These prototypes featured a mild steel superstructure and Krupp’s short-barreled 75 mm StuK 37 L/24 cannon. This model was known as the Sturmgeschütz Ausführung A.

  

StuG III, Ausf. AWhile the StuG III was considered self-propelled artillery it was not initially clear which arm of the Wehrmacht would handle the new weapon. The Panzer arm, who was the natural user of tracked fighting vehicles, had no resources to spare for the formation of StuG units, and neither did the Infantry branch. It was therefore agreed, after a discussion, it would best be employed by becoming a part of the artillery arm.

 

The StuGs were organised into battalions (later renamed "brigades" for disinformation purposes) and followed their own specific doctrine. Infantry support using direct-fire was its intended role, and later there was also a strong emphasis on destroying enemy armour whenever encountered.

  

StuG III, Ausf. G, September 1944As the StuG III was designed to fill an infantry close support combat role, early models were fitted with a low-velocity 75 mm StuK 37 L/24 gun to destroy soft-skin targets and fortifications. After the Germans encountered the Soviet KV-1 and T-34 tanks, the StuG III was equipped with a high-velocity 75 mm StuK 40 L/43 main gun (Spring 1942) and later – the 75 mm StuK 40 L/48 (Autumn 1942) anti-tank gun. These versions were known as the Sturmgeschütz 40 Ausführung F, Ausf. F/8 and Ausf. G.

 

When the StuG IV entered production in late 1943, early 1944, the "III" was added to the name to separate them from the Panzer IV-based assault guns. All previous and following models were thereafter known as Sturmgeschütz III.

 

Beginning with the StuG III Ausf. E a 7.92 mm MG34 was mounted on the hull for added anti-infantry protection while some StuG III Ausf. G models were equipped with an additional coaxial 7.92 mm MG34.

 

The vehicles of the Sturmgeschütz series were cheaper and faster to build than contemporary German tanks; at 82,500 RM, a StuG III Ausf G was cheaper than a Panzer III Ausf. M which cost 103,163 RM to build. By the end of the war, 10,619 StuG III and StuH 42 had been built.[1] This was due to the omission of the turret, which greatly simplified manufacture and allowed the chassis to carry a larger gun than it could otherwise.

  

Operational history

 

Stug III in Sofia, BulgariaOverall, Sturmgeschütz series assault guns proved very successful and served on all fronts as assault guns and tank destroyers. Although Tigers and Panthers have earned a greater notoriety, assault guns collectively destroyed more tanks. Because of their low silhouette, StuG IIIs were easy to camouflage and a difficult target. Sturmgeschütz crews were considered to be the elite of the artillery units. Sturmgeschütz units held a very impressive record of tank kills – some 20,000 enemy tanks by the spring of 1944.[2] As of April 10 1945, there were 1,053 StuG IIIs and 277 StuH 42s in service. Approximately 9,500 StuG IIIs of various types were produced until March 1945 by Alkett and a small number by MIAG.

 

In terms of the resources expended in their construction, the StuG assault guns were extremely cost-effective compared to the heavier German tanks, though in the anti-tank role, it was best used defensively, as the lack of a turret would be a severe disadvantage out in the open. As the German military situation deteriorated later in the war, more and more StuG guns were constructed in comparison to tanks, in an effort to replace losses and bolster defences against the encroaching Allied forces.

 

In 1944 the Finnish Army received 59 StuG III Ausf. Gs from Germany (30 Stu 40 Ausf.G and 29 StuG III Ausf. G) and used them against the Soviet Union. These destroyed at least 87 enemy tanks for a loss of only 8 StuGs[2] (some of these were destroyed by their crews when they abandoned the vehicle to prevent capture). After the war, they were the main combat vehicles of the Finnish Army until the early 1960s. These StuGs gained the nickname "Sturmi" which can be found in some plastic kit models.

 

StuG IIIs were also exported to other nations like Bulgaria, Hungary, Italy, Romania, and Spain.

 

Many German Sturmgeschütz IIIs were captured by Yugoslav Partisans and after the war they were used by the Yugoslav Peoples Army until the 1950s.

 

After the Second World War, the Soviet Union donated some of their captured German vehicles to Syria, which continued to use them at least until the Six Days War (1967).

 

Wikipedia

 

Sturmgeschütz III (StuG III) (Штурмгешутц III (Штуг III)— средняя по массе немецкая самоходно-артиллерийская установка класса штурмовых орудий времён Второй мировой войны на базе танка Pz Kpfw III. Серийно выпускалась в различных модификациях с 1940 по 1945 год и стала самым массовым по численности представителем бронетехники вермахта (выпущено 8636 самоходок с 75-мм орудиями).

  

StuG III — компоновка боевого подразделения и размещение в нем экипажаПолное официальное название машины — Gepanzerte Selbstfahrlafette fur Sturmgeschütz 7,5 cm Kanone. По ведомственному рубрикатору министерства вооружений нацистской Германии самоходка обозначалась как Sd Kfz 142. StuG III также обозначается как StuG 40, в советской литературе эту машину именовали как Артштурм. StuG III активно использовались на всех фронтах Второй мировой войны и в целом получили хорошие отзывы немецкого командования: к началу 1944 на счету StuG III было около 20,000 танков противника Захваченные Красной Армией StuG III переделывались в самоходки СУ-76И, вооружённые той же пушкой Ф-34, что и у танка Т-34.

   

[править] История

В 1935 Эрих фон Манштейн в письме к генералу Беку описал идею машин «штурмовой артиллерии», главной задачей которых должна была бы быть непосредственная поддержка атакующих подразделений пехоты. После проработки подробных запросов, 15 июня 1936 г. фирма «Даймлер-Бенц АГ» получила заказ на проектирование бронированных машин поддержки пехоты, вооруженных 75 мм пушкой, со свободой движения ствола в горизонтальной плоскости по крайней мере в 25°. Машина должна была быть полностью бронирована, тем самым защищая экипаж от прямого огня неприятеля, а полная высота транспортного средства не должна была превышать высоту типичного солдата. Для разработки новой самоходки «Даймлер-Бенц» решил использовать шасси нового среднего танка Панцеркампфваген III . Первые пять прототипов были произведены в 1937 г. на шасси Панцеркампфваген III Аусф. Б. Они были вооружены короткоствольной 75 мм пушкой Штурмканоне 37 Л/24 (со стволом в 24 калибра) с низкой начальной скоростью снаряда. После столкновения в России с танками Т-34 было решено переоборудовать ШТУГ III длинноствольной пушкой, пригодной для поражения брони советских танков. С весны 1942 г. стали использовать пушки 75 мм Штурмканоне 40 Л/43, а осенью этого года ещё более длинноствольные версии этой пушки — Л/48. Более поздние модели ШТУГа III также были оснащены пулеметом Мг34 калибром 7,92 мм, установленным перед командирским люком (так как другого способа установки пулемета не имелось). Все машины из серии Штурмгешутс были дешевле в производстве, чем танки на тех же шасси. ШТУГ III стоил 82,5 тысяч марок, в то время как Панцеркампфваген III стоил более 103 тысяч марок. По сравнению с этим, например, буксируемый вариант той же 75 мм пушки, используемой в Штуге, стоил 12 тыс. марок. До конца войны было произведено свыше 10500 экземпляров в разных модификациях.

  

The headline in weekend’s WSJ is painfully misleading. Worse still, it's in an ad paid for with federally supervised dollars (contributed by the cattle industry and overseen by the USDA so as to not be used to affect public policy or stifle competition).

 

There is no mention of methane in the source PNAS article in the footnotes, or on the QR-coded Beef Checkoff site. It’s like they want to ignore the most potent GHG, methane, altogether. 🐄💨

 

25% of U.S. methane comes from cattle. As a GHG, it is ~25x more harmful in the near term than CO2.

 

They also ignore land use and deforestation. Cattle has been the cause of 90% of the deforestation in the Amazon for the past 40 years.

 

Saying it's only 0.36% globally is pretty misleading, as headlines go. The UN estimates cattle to be 9.4% of GHG globally (14.5% livestock * 65% cattle = 9.4%).

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!

  

Some background:

The Bell XP-68A owed its existence to the manufacturer’s rather disappointing outcome of its first jet fighter design, the XP-59A Airacomet. The Airacomet was a twin jet-engined fighter aircraft, designed and built during World War II after Major General Henry H. "Hap" Arnold became aware of the United Kingdom's jet program when he attended a demonstration of the Gloster E.28/39 in April 1941. He requested, and was given, the plans for the aircraft's powerplant, the Power Jets W.1, which he took back to the U.S. He also arranged for an example of the engine, the Whittle W.1X turbojet, to be flown to the U.S., along with drawings for the more powerful W.2B/23 engine and a small team of Power Jets engineers. On 4 September 1941, he offered the U.S. company General Electric a contract to produce an American version of the engine, which subsequently became the General Electric I-A. On the following day, he approached Lawrence Dale Bell, head of Bell Aircraft Corporation, to build a fighter to utilize it. As a disinformation tactic, the USAAF gave the project the designation "P-59A", to suggest it was a development of the unrelated, canceled Bell XP-59 fighter project. The P-59A was the first design fighter to have its turbojet engine and air inlet nacelles integrated within the main fuselage. The jet aircraft’s design was finalized on 9 January 1942 and the first prototype flew in October of the same year.

 

The following 13 service test YP-59As had a more powerful engine than their predecessor, the General Electric J31, but the improvement in performance was negligible, with top speed increased by only 5 mph and a slight reduction in the time they could be used before an overhaul was needed. One of these aircraft, the third YP-59A, was supplied to the Royal Air Force, in exchange for the first production Gloster Meteor I for evaluation and flight-offs with domestic alternatives.

British pilots found that the YP-59A compared very unfavorably with the jets that they were already flying. The United States Army Air Forces were not impressed by its performance either and cancelled the contract when fewer than half of the originally ordered aircraft had been produced. No P-59s entered combat, but the type paved the way for the next design generation of U.S. turbojet-powered aircraft and helped to develop appropriate maintenance structures and procedures.

 

In the meantime, a new, more powerful jet engine had been developed in Great Britain, the Halford H-1, which became later better known as the De Havilland Goblin. It was another centrifugal compressor design, but it produced almost twice as much thrust as the XP-59A’s J31 engines. Impressed by the British Gloster Meteor during the USAAF tests at Muroc Dry Lake - performance-wise as well as by the aircraft’s simplicity and ruggedness - Bell reacted promptly and proposed an alternative fighter with wing-mounted engine nacelles, since the XP-59A’s layout had proven to be aerodynamically sub-optimal and unsuited for the installation of H-1 engines. In order to save development time and because the aircraft was rather regarded as a proof-of-concept demonstrator instead of a true fighter prototype, the new aircraft was structurally based on Bell’s current piston-engine P-63 “Kingcobra”. The proposal was accepted and, in order to maintain secrecy, the new jet aircraft inherited once more a designation of a recently cancelled project, this time from the Vultee XP-68 “Tornado” fighter. Similar to the Airacomet two years before, just a simple “A” suffix was added.

 

Bell’s development contract covered only three XP-68A aircraft. The H-1 units were directly imported from Great Britain in secrecy, suspended in the bomb bays of B-24 Liberator bombers. A pair of these engines was mounted in mid-wing nacelles, very similar to the Gloster Meteor’s arrangement. The tailplane was given a 5° dihedral to move it out of the engine exhaust. In order to bear the new engines and their power, the wing main spars were strengthened and the main landing gear wells were moved towards the aircraft’s centerline, effectively narrowing track width. The landing gear wells now occupied the space of the former radiator ducts for the P-63’s omitted Allison V-1710 liquid-cooled V12 engine. Its former compartment behind the cockpit was used for a new fuel tank and test equipment. Having lost the propeller and its long drive shaft, the nose section was also redesigned: the front fuselage became deeper and the additional space there was used for another fuel tank in front of the cockpit and a bigger weapon bay. Different armament arrangements were envisioned, one of each was to be tested on the three prototypes: one machine would be armed with six 0.5” machine guns, another with four 20mm Hispano M2 cannon, and the third with two 37mm M10 cannon and two 0.5” machine guns. Provisions for a ventral hardpoint for a single drop tank or a 1.000 lb (550 kg) bomb were made, but this was never fitted on any of the prototypes. Additional hardpoints under the outer wings for smaller bombs or unguided missiles followed the same fate.

 

The three XP-68As were built at Bell’s Atlanta plant in the course of early 1944 and semi-officially christened “Airagator”. After their clandestine transfer to Muroc Dry Lake for flight tests and evaluations, the machines were quickly nicknamed “Barrelcobra” by the test staff – not only because of the characteristic shape of the engine nacelles, but also due to the sheer weight of the machines and their resulting sluggish handling on the ground and in the air. “Cadillac” was another nickname, due to the very soft acceleration through the new jet engines and the lack of vibrations that were typical for piston-engine- and propeller-driven aircraft.

 

Due to the structural reinforcements and modifications, the XP-68A had become a heavy aircraft with an empty weight of 4 tons and a MTOW of almost 8 tons – the same as the big P-47 Thunderbolt piston fighter, while the P-63 had an MTOW of only 10,700 lb (4,900 kg). The result was, among other flaws, a very long take-off distance, especially in the hot desert climate of the Mojave Desert (which precluded any external ordnance) and an inherent unwillingness to change direction, its turning radius was immense. More than once the brakes overheated during landing, so that extra water cooling for the main landing gear was retrofitted.

Once in the air, the aircraft proved to be quite fast – as long as it was flying in a straight line, though. Only the roll characteristics were acceptable, but flying the XP-68A remained hazardous, esp. after the loss of one of the H-1s engines: This resulted in heavily asymmetrical propulsion, making the XP-68A hard to control at all and prone to spin in level flight.

 

After trials and direct comparison, the XP-68A turned out not to be as fast and, even worse, much less agile than the Meteor Mk III (the RAF’s then current, operational fighter version), which even had weaker Derwent engines. The operational range was insufficient, too, esp. in regard of the planned Pacific theatre of operations, and the high overall weight precluded any considerable external load like drop tanks.

However, compared with the XP-59A, the XP-68A was a considerable step forward, but it had become quickly clear that the XP-68A and its outfit-a-propeller-design-with jet-engines approach did not bear the potential for any service fighter development: it was already outdated when the prototypes were starting their test program. No further XP-68A was ordered or built, and the three prototypes fulfilled their test and evaluation program until May 1945. During these tests, the first prototype was lost on the ground due to an engine fire. After the program’s completion, the two remaining machines were handed over to the US Navy and used for research at the NATC Patuxent River Test Centre, where they were operated until 1949 and finally scrapped.

  

General characteristics.

Crew: 1

Length: 33 ft 9 in (10.36 m)

Wingspan: 38 ft 4 in (11.7 m)

Height: 13 ft (3.96 m)

Wing area: 248 sq ft (23 m²)

Empty weight: 8,799 lb (3,995 kg)

Loaded weight: 15,138 lb (6,873 kg)

Max. take-off weight: 17,246 lb (7,830 kg)

 

Powerplant:

2× Halford H-1 (De Havilland Goblin) turbojets, rated at 3,500 lbf (15.6 kN) each

 

Performance:

Maximum speed: 559 mph (900 km/h)

Range: 500 mi (444 nmi, 805 km)

Service ceiling: 37,565 ft (11,450 m)

Rate of climb: 3.930 ft/min (20 m/s)

Wing loading: 44.9 lb/ft² (218.97 kg/m²)

Thrust/weight: 0.45

Time to altitude: 5.0 min to 30,000 ft (9,145 m)

 

Armament:

4× Hispano M2 20 mm cannon with 150 rounds

One ventral hardpoint for a single drop tank or a 1.000 lb (550 kg) bomb

6× 60 lb (30 kg) rockets or 2× 500 lb (227 kg) bombs under the outer wings

  

The kit and its assembly:

This whiffy Kingcobra conversion was spawned by a post by fellow user nighthunter in January 2019 at whatifmodelers.com about a potential jet-powered variant. In found the idea charming, since the XP-59 had turned out to be a dud and the Gloster Meteor had been tested by the USAAF. Why not combine both into a fictional, late WWII Bell prototype?

The basic idea was simple: take a P-63 and add a Meteor’s engine nacelles, while keeping the Kingcobra’s original proportions. This sounds pretty easy but was more challenging than the first look at the outcome might suggest.

 

The donor kits are a vintage Airfix 1:72 Gloster Meteor Mk.III, since it has the proper, small nacelles, and an Eastern Express P-63 Kingcobra. The latter looked promising, since this kit comes with very good surface and cockpit details (even with a clear dashboard) as well as parts for several P-63 variants, including the A, C and even the exotic “pinball” manned target version. However, anything comes at a price, and the kit’s low price point is compensated by soft plastic (which turned out to be hard to sand), some flash and mediocre fit of any of the major components like fuselage halves, the wings or the clear parts. It feels a lot like a typical short-run kit. Nevertheless, I feel inclined to build another one in a more conventional fashion some day.

 

Work started with the H-1 nacelles, which had to be cut out from the Meteor wings. Since they come OOB only with a well-visible vertical plate and a main wing spar dummy in the air intake, I added some fine mesh to the plate – normally, you can see directly onto the engine behind the wing spar. Another issue was the fact that the Meteor’s wings are much thicker and deeper than the P-63s, so that lots of PSR work was necessary.

 

Simply cutting the P-63 OOB wings up and inserting the Meteor nacelles was also not possible: the P-63 has a very wide main landing gear, due to the ventral radiators and oil coolers, which were originally buried in the wing roots and under the piston engine. The only solution: move the complete landing gear (including the wells) inward, so that the nacelles could be placed as close as possible to the fuselage in a mid-span position. Furthermore, the - now useless - radiator openings had to disappear, resulting in a major redesign of the wing root sections. All of this became a major surgery task, followed by similarly messy work on the outer wings during the integration of the Meteor nacelles. LOTS of PSR, even though the outcome looks surprisingly plausible and balanced.

 

Work on the fuselage started in parallel. It was built mainly OOB, using the optional ventral fin for a P-63C. The exhaust stubs as well as the dorsal carburetor intake had to disappear (the latter made easy thanks to suitable optional parts for the manned target version). Since the P-63 had a conventional low stabilizer arrangement (unlike the Meteor with its cruciform tail), I gave them a slight dihedral to move them out of the engine efflux, a trick Sukhoi engineers did on the Su-11 prototype with afterburner engines in 1947, too.

 

Furthermore, the whole nose ahead of the cockpit was heavily re-designed, because I wanted the “new” aircraft to lose its propeller heritage and the P-63’s round and rather pointed nose. Somewhat inspired by the P-59 and the P-80, I omitted the propeller parts altogether and re-sculpted the nose with 2C putty, creating a deeper shape with a tall, oval diameter, so that the lower fuselage line was horizontally extended forward. In a profile view the aircraft now looks much more massive and P-80esque. The front landing gear was retained, just its side walls were extended downwards with the help of 0.5mm styrene sheet material, so that the original stance could be kept. Lots of lead in the nose ensured that the model would properly stand on its three wheels.

 

Once the rhinoplasty was done I drilled four holes into the nose and used hollow steel needles as gun barrels, with a look reminiscent of the Douglas A-20G.

Adding the (perfectly) clear parts of the canopy as a final assembly step also turned out to be a major fight against the elements.

  

Painting and markings:

With an USAAF WWII prototype in mind, there were only two options: either an NMF machine, or a camouflage in Olive Drab and Neutral Grey. I went for the latter and used Tamiya XF-62 for the upper surfaces and Humbrol 156 (Dark Camouflage Grey) underneath. The kit received a light black ink wash and some post shading in order to emphasize panels. A little dry-brushing with silver around the leading edges and the cockpit was done, too.

 

The cockpit interior became chromate green (I used Humbrol 150, Forest Green) while the landing gear wells were painted with zinc chromate yellow (Humbrol 81). The landing gear itself was painted in aluminum (Humbrol 56).

Markings/decals became minimal, puzzled together from various sources – only some “Stars and Bars” insignia and the serial number.

  

Somehow this conversion ended up looking a lot like the contemporary Soviet Sukhoi Su-9 and -11 (Samolyet K and LK) jet fighter prototype – unintentionally, though. But I am happy with the outcome – the P-63 ancestry is there, and the Meteor engines are recognizable, too. But everything blends into each other well, the whole affair looks very balanced and believable. This is IMHO furthermore emphasized by the simple paint scheme. A jet-powered Kingcobra? Why not…?

21-Feb-2020: 1. The crow

 

7-Mar-2020: 2. The last forever woman

Short film.

 

21-Mar-2020: 3. Mission: Impossible - Fallout

I quickly lost track of the plot (in which everyone tricks each other all the fucking time), but I was really only watching the movie for the Pulpit Rock scene anyway. :B I'VE BEEN THERE!

 

22-Mar-2020: 4. The odyssey (a.k.a. L'odyssée)

 

27-Mar-2020: 5. The Wolf of Wall Street

Jordan: "… I also gamble like a degenerate, I drink like a fish, I fuck hookers maybe 5-6 times a week. I have three different federal agencies looking to indict me. Oh yeah, and I love drugs. Yup, on a daily basis I consume enough drugs to sedate Manhattan, Long Island, and Queens for a month. I take Quaaludes 10-15 times a day for my 'back pain', Adderall to stay focused, Xanax to take the edge off, pot to mellow me out, cocaine to wake me back up again, and morphine, well, because it's awesome. But of all the drugs under God's blue heaven, there is one that is my absolute favorite. See, enough of this shit will make you invincible. Able to conquer the world and eviscerate your enemies." *snorts coke* "And I'm not talking about this... I'm talking about this." *holds up $100*

 

Jordan: "People say shit... I mean like, you married your cousin or some stupid shit. No?"

Donnie: "Yeah, my wife, yeah. My wife is my cousin or whatever, but it's not, like, what you think."

Jordan: "Is she, like, a first cousin, or is she…?"

Donnie: "Her… her father is the brother of my mom. Like, we grew up together, and she grew up hot, you know, she fucking grew up hot. And all my friends are trying to fuck her, you know, and I'm not gonna let one of these assholes fuck my cousin. So I used the cousin thing, as, like, an in with her. I'm not, like, gonna let someone else fuck my cousin, you know? If anyone's gonna fuck my cousin, it's gonna be me. Out of respect, you know."

 

28-Mar-2020: 6. Contagion

Apparently this became hugely popular because of corona... :B But I had actually eyed the DVD in a sales bin years earlier. *mumble* becausejudelaw. *mumble* In other news, I spent the entire movie assuming that Matt Damon was Mark Wahlberg. o_O

 

3-Apr-2020: 7. Bridesmaids

The food poisoning in the bridal gown shop was one of the funniest scenes. And convos such as:

 

Teenage customer in jewelry shop: "You're weird."

Annie: "I'm not weird. OK?"

Customer: "Yes, you are."

Annie: "No, I'm not! And you started it."

Customer: "No, you started it! Did you forget to take your Xanax this morning?"

Annie: "Oh, I feel bad for your parents."

Customer: "I feel bad for your face."

Annie: "OK... Well, call me when your boobs come in."

Customer: "You call me when yours come in."

Annie: "What do you have, four boyfriends?"

Customer: "Exactly."

Annie: "OK... Yeah, have fun having a baby at your prom."

Customer: "You look like an old mop."

Annie: "You know, you're not as popular as you think you are."

Customer: "I am very popular."

Annie: "Oh, I'm sure you are... very... popular." *mimics fellatio*

Customer: "Well, you're an old, single loser who's never going to have any friends."

Annie: "YOU'RE A LITTLE CUNT!"

Entire shop: *turns and stares*

 

Lillian: "You have managed to ruin every event in my wedding, thank you very much!"

Annie: "OK, well, thank YOU very much! It's all her fault, it is not mine! And you would know that if you got your beautiful-haired head out of your asshole. In fact, out of HER asshole, which I'm sure is perfectly bleached!"

Lillian: "You know what? It is! And you know how I know? Because I went to the fucking salon with her, and I got my asshole bleached, too! AND I LOVE MY NEW ASSHOLE!"

 

(And the love interest ate the cake after the raccoons had been at it so now he may have rabies and he kisses the heroine and infects her too)

 

4-Apr-2020: 8. Angus, thongs and perfect snogging

 

6-Apr-2020: 9. The emperor's new groove

 

10-Apr-2020: 10. Aniara

Lifehack: When you barf up your booze, barf in a plastic crate so that you can dip your glass into it and re-use the booze

 

11-Apr-2020: 11. Mortal engines

 

16-Apr-2020: 12. Coco

 

17-Apr-2020: 13. Fantastic beasts: The crimes of Grindelwald

 

25-Apr-2020: 14. Abortion: Stories women tell

Fave! Docu. A fucking IUD costs $800 in the US?! Mine cost €110, insertion included... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. And one of the abortions in the docu cost $525. AFAIK, it would be about €20 here. I wish I'd had one. Then I would namedrop it constantly and be shamefree, to support people getting abortions and to annoy anti-abortionists. WELL, I suppose the next best thing I can do is get one of those "ABORTION SENDS BABIES TO GOD FASTER" shirts. :D

 

26-Apr-2020: 15. Outside the bubble: On the road with Alexandra Pelosi

Docu.

 

27-Apr-2020: 16. Alternate endings: Six new ways to die in America

Fave! Docu. The 6 ways described are memorial reefs, living wakes, green burials, space burials, medical aid in dying (YES PLEASE), and celebrations of life.

 

30-Apr-2020: 17. Still Alice

 

1-May-2020: 18. Stuart: A life backwards

 

2-May-2020: 19. You don't know Jack

Biopic about Dr. Jack Kevorkian, who helped people euthanize themselves. :)

 

Jack: "It's emotionalism. You know, when heart transplants first started... there was the same prevalent feeling, I mean, even among doctors... that it was wrong, it was contrary to God's will, contrary to nature. Isn't it ghoulish to rip a person's chest open and take out a heart? Or a bypass operation? Ether is the same thing. You have ether, been around for centuries, it wasn't used. Not till 1846. It was discovered in 1543... and before that, everybody was being operated on while they were awake. Surgeons were cutting them open while they were awake. ... And you know why it was banned? Because of religious dogma. Because of the foolish notion... that there's a God Almighty who wills us to suffer."

 

3-May-2020: 20. The number on great-grandpa's arm

Short docu.

 

4-May-2020: 21. What happened on September 11

Short docu. FTR, the kid who says "The world I'm growing up in is more dangerous than the one my parents grew up in!!!!111!!!!!1" is wrong, and the risk of being killed by terrorists is negligible. *throws steven pinker books at you*

 

5-May-2020: 22. Share

 

6-May-2020: 23. Dirty war

WELL, corona >>>>>>>>>>>>>> nukes!

 

9-May-2020: 24. And then we danced

 

22-May-2020: 25. The Golden Glove (a.k.a. Der Goldene Handschuh)

Black German comedy :B or... something... o_O Its Swedish title translates (simply and aptly) to "The vile Herr Honka". And it's hilarious that the main actor looks like some kind of model IRL. xD

 

23-May-2020: 26. Linas kvällsbok (a.k.a. Bitter sweetheart)

 

24-May-2020: 27. Mid90s

Scored by Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross! "The start of things" is a beautiful piece. ^_^

 

25-May-2020: 28. Precious

 

26-May-2020: 29. John Wick

When mob boy murders ur puppy and u go apeshit and slaughter 77 people in ur quest for revenge. I approve of this. :D Also, the music is cool, and this John Wick pitch meeting is hilarious. xD

 

27-May-2020: 30. Hard candy

MY NERVES o_O

(The take-home message is that you have to tie your pedos up real good)

 

28-May-2020: 31. Intermission

 

29-May-2020: 32. Justice League

 

30-May-2020: 33. I went down

 

8-Jun-2020: 34. Togo

Fave! D'x Charismatic doggos and exceptional cinematography! I half expected it to be some 100% vanilla Disney shit trying and failing to be "The call of the wild". :p Various fun facts:

 

- The canine actor is a descendant of the real Togo, 14 generations on or something!

- And he's named Diesel… So is my coworker's dog. :B *rrrrrreeeeeeach*

- The movie is set in Alaska, but was apparently filmed in Alberta – only the most beautiful place on earth. ^_^

- I watched the movie because of Michael McElhatton, who plays some Norwegian guy named Jafet Lindeberg, whose dad was from Norrbotten, Sweden… And… my dad is from Norrbotten too! :O It's a rather small and sparsely populated region... JUST SAYIN'! *brainsplode*

 

Bonus points because the fur clothes looked fake. :D

 

10-Jun-2020: 35. The siege of Jadotville

 

14-Jun-2020: 36. The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks

 

21-Jun-2020: 37. Inside Llewyn Davis

 

28-Jun-2020: 38. Dallas Buyers Club

 

5-Jul-2020: 39. The strange history of don't ask, don't tell

Fave! Docu.

 

12-Jul-2020: 40. Chocolat (2016)

 

25-Jul-2020: 41. Brexit: The uncivil war

 

9-Aug-2020: 42. A hidden life

Based on a true story. I watched it over 2 evenings, as it was long. But it turned out that the day I started watching it was the anniversary of the hero's execution! :O

 

2-Sep-2020: 43. Sex and the city: The movie

I had just finished watching the TV show in its entirety for the first time. FTR, Samantha is my fave character. xD

 

5-Sep-2020: 44. Sex and the city 2

 

11-Sep-2020: 45. After truth: Disinformation and the cost of fake news

Fave! Docu.

 

Journalist Kara Swisher: "White men – younger – run Silicon Valley. If you don't ever feel unsafe in your life, you do not understand lack of safety. You do not build that in. I had someone at Twitter talk to me about… They'd gotten attacked online. First time it happened. And they were like 'Oh, that was pretty bad.' And I'm like 'Welcome to the world of women. Welcome to the world of people of colour. Welcome to the world of marginalized people.' This is what it's like every day. If you could think of a really awful thing that could happen with your product, you need to figure out ways that it doesn't have as much damage. They have not spent enough time doing that."

 

Mark Zuckerberg: "The principles that we have on what we remove from the service are… If it's going to result in in harm – real physical harm – or if you're attacking individuals, then that content shouldn't be on the platform. But then there is broad debate, and –"

Kara Swisher: "OK… 'Sandy Hook didn't happen' is not a debate. It is false. You can't just take that down?"

Zuckerberg: "I agree that it is false. But overall, I mean, let's take this a little closer to home, right. So, I'm Jewish, and there's a set of people who deny that the Holocaust happened, right? I find that deeply offensive. But I don't believe that our platform should take that down, because I think that there are things that different people get wrong. Either… I don't think that they're intentionally getting it wrong, but I think that they –"

Swisher: "In the case of the Holocaust deniers, they might be, but go ahead."

Zuckerberg: "Um –"

Swisher, post-interview: "'Holocaust deniers don't mean to lie.' And I was like, 'But they do.' So that, to me, was sort of like, 'Oh, you're not even sophisticated enough to understand that they mean to lie, that's the whole point.' If someone who is running the biggest communication system in the history of the world – someone who cannot be fired, someone who has complete control over that system – does not understand what he just said, it's… It really struck me as… It was a big uh-oh moment for me. The implication that they aren't malevolent. He knows they're malevolent. Come on. You can take them off. Like, it's OK. He's gonna get flak for it, but he gets paid the big bucks, right?"

 

PS. I don't think I'd ever heard the real Zuckerberg speak before, but listening to the voiceover in the docu, I pretty much recognized his way of speaking… from "The social network" movie. :B

 

12-Sep-2020: 46. Handsome devil

It was like a mashup between "Dead Poets' Society", "Fucking Åmål", and "Bend it like Beckham".

 

4-Oct-2020: 47. De kallar oss mods (a.k.a. They call us misfits)

Ancient Swedish docu.

 

28-Oct-2020: 48. Joker

 

31-Oct-2020: 49. Spin the bottle

Fave!

 

20-Nov-2020: 50. Brassed off

Whew. That was some intense coal-hugging. o_O

It was a bit like "The full monty", but with a brass band instead of a strip group.

And a bit like "Blow dry", which was also a Yorkshire movie about a competition in an obscure discipline.

And a bit like "Gentleman Jack", in that the heroes thought coal pits were the best shit ever. :B

Er. I'll stahp now.

But anyway:

 

Gloria: "Do you want to come up for a coffee?"

Andy: "I don't drink coffee."

Gloria: "I haven't got any."

 

Someone: "Coal is history, Miss Mullins."

Ratexla: "He's right, you know." *sips tea* ^_^

 

4-Dec-2020: 51. Blackout

 

11-Dec-2020: 52. The Darkling

 

24-Dec-2020: 53. Borat subsequent moviefilm

Fave! xD

 

27-Dec-2020: 54. The Christmas stallion

I facepalmed repeatedly

 

31-Dec-2020: 55. The actors

 

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

Vegan FAQ! :)

 

The Web Site the Meat Industry Doesn't Want You to See.

 

Please watch Earthlings.

The Beaten Generation

 

During the course of 2015 I recommissioned my 21st birthday present from my father – a Micro Seiki MB-14ST that I brought over to the UK from my mom’s place in South Africa. I’ve also been slowly bringing over my collection of vinyl albums, meticulously selected and acquired, and lovingly cared for between the early-70’s and the late-80’s. They’ve also been stashed away at my mom’s place, protected from the elements in plastic sleeves and stored in bespoke cases holding about 50 albums apiece. Over the course of the past few months I’ve been playing some of the gems in my collection, and it’s been very rewarding to reconnect with my past. Both the good and the “interesting”.

 

On one of our trips to Europe in the late-80’s my future wife and I made our regular pilgrimage to the music stores, including WOM (World of Music) in Germany. It was here (in which city, I don’t recall) that I bought the LP "Viva Umkhonto!" a compilation of punk and hardcore music that featured previously unreleased material by European and US bands. The record was released in April 1987 as a collaborative effort by two independent labels, namely Mordam Records (USA) and De Konkurrent (Holland), both of whom were strong backers of the struggle against Apartheid. According to a statement on the back of the sleeve, “All money raised by this record goes to Umkhonto We Sizwe”. So this was a benefit album for the military wing of the ANC (African National Congress).

 

For context, allow me to turn to Wikipedia:

 

“Umkhonto We Sizwe (abbreviated as MK, Zulu for "Spear of the Nation") was the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC), co-founded by Nelson Mandela in the wake of the Sharpeville massacre. Its founding represented the conviction in the face of the massacre that the ANC could no longer limit itself to nonviolent protest; its mission was to fight against the South African government. After warning the South African government in June 1961 of its intent to resist further acts of terror if the government did not take steps toward constitutional reform and increase political rights, MK launched its first attacks against government installations on 16 December 1961. It was subsequently classified as a terrorist organisation by the South African government and the United States, and banned”.

 

The album itself was definitely banned in South Africa and so possessing it was illegal. I took it into the country through Jan Smuts Airport (subsequently known as “Johannesburg International” and now, “O.R. Tambo International”) on my return from my trip to Europe and kept it safely tucked away in the belly of the beast in South Africa's capital city, Pretoria.

 

On the tenth anniversary of the Soweto uprising, the Nationalist regime declared State of Emergency in June 1986. It forbade any action that could undermine the Apartheid state, nationwide. Also forbidden were any kind of “subversive statements”, defined as statements that promoted unlawful strikes, boycotts or civil disobedience, attacked military conscription, promoted disinvestment or sanctions, or that “aggravated feelings of racial hostility”. The penalty for engaging in these actions was a maximum of ten years imprisonment. Ouch - I definitely did not want to be caught with this album!

 

Of the people detained under these draconian regulations (circa-8,000 in the first couple of months) no names were published with the exception of those released at the discretion of the South African Police. Throughout the State of Emergency, newspapers had to engage in self-censorship, at the risk of being closed down by the government, and many used to print disclaimers alongside their articles that read” “This report has been restricted to comply with the Emergency Regulations”. Some newspapers and magazines were not able to appear, and no news came out of the black townships, except through the state’s Bureau of Information. At the time I stuck stickers on the front of my television screen and computer monitor that read “SABC News is Biased” just to remind myself to be vigilant about government disinformation.

 

The music on the compilation album is okay, but it’s the packaging and presentation that I really enjoyed as a snapshot of the times, and as an interesting piece of social history. Along with the record were included a poster and a booklet filled with newspaper clippings and ANC propaganda about the armed struggle against Apartheid. It also highlights companies that were breaking economic sanctions by continuing to do business with South Africa. The “Throw Well – Throw Shell” slogan is parody of oil the giant’s official marketing tag-line at the time, namely “Go Well – Go Shell”. I have uploaded a scan of this booklet to my DropBox.

 

I’m not going to comment on the accuracy or veracity of the information in the booklet, but in those turbulent times – under a state of emergency, with broad media censorship and where owning certain music could earn you a jail sentence – it was thrilling to see what people abroad were thinking and to read material that was not towing the official National Party line. With the benefit of hindsight, it’s fascinating to see how right Matt Johnson was back in 1989 (The The – “Mind Bomb”). Although he wasn’t talking about South Africa, per se, when he sang that we were the “beaten generation, reared on a diet of prejudice and misinformation”, he pretty much hit the nail on the head. Prejudice and misinformation were weapons in the arsenal on both sides of the struggle in South Africa. I was one of the few pale South Africans to have the privilege of being exposed to both sides of that deformed coin.

 

The The - "The Beat(en) Generation" - YouTube Video Clip

 

When you cast your eyes upon the skylines

Of this once proud nation

Can you sense the fear and the hatred

Growing in the hearts of its population

And our youth, oh youth, are being seduced

By the greedy hands of politics and half truths

 

The beaten generation, the beaten generation

Reared on a diet of prejudice and mis-information

The beaten generation, the beaten generation

Open your eyes, open your imagination

 

We're being sedated by the gasoline fumes

And hypnotized by the satellites

Into believing what is good and what is right

You may be worshiping the temples of mammon

Or lost in the prisons of religion

But can you still walk back to happiness

When you've nowhere left to run?

 

The beaten generation, the beaten generation

Reared on a diet of prejudice and mis-information

The beaten generation, the beaten generation

Open your eyes, open your imagination

 

And if they send in the special police

To deliver us from liberty and keep us from peace

Then won't the words sit ill upon their tongues

When they tell us justice is being done

And that freedom lives in the barrels of a warm gun

 

The beaten generation, the beaten generation

Reared on a diet of prejudice and mis-information

The beaten generation, the beaten generation

Open your eyes, open your imagination

 

If you'd like to take a listen to "Viva Umkhonto!" I've found a ripped copy of the LP available for download here.

 

Also take a look at my Blogger posting.

 

Cheers, 2016 ©

 

This so-called "pothole" is actually an aura cavity, a concept described in detail at the photo in my comment below.

 

When I posted the other photo I was inundated with protests that I was lying, that there is no such thing as an aura cavity, and that this is indeed a pothole. Flickr informed me that my Flickr account had been flagged for promoting disinformation, but that sad development was quickly resolved.

 

Finally I got fed up with these attacks on my credibility and decided to offer proof to the many doubters. The photo above is proof that this is an aura cavity because aura fluid is only found in aura cavities. Everybody knows that (or should know it).

 

The depth of the fluid was 10.467 inches (28.586 cm), which I measured with my Aura Fluid Depth Gauge. The gauge had been re-calibrated at great expense only two weeks earlier. The depth suggests that an aura event took place here within the previous 71 days.

 

Now I can bask in the glory of knowing that I made fools of those who doubted me. Revenge is sweet.

  

I lied: the calibration took place three weeks earlier.

 

Andromeda became one of the leading young voices on women’s issues in Candirenggo village after joining the Peace Village initiative in 2018. Together with her friends, they run a social media account (The Lokal Projects: www.instagram.com/thelokalprojects/) to promote gender equality and counter disinformation online. Andro also designed a class on aromatherapy candle making during the COVID-19 pandemic to support the mental well-being of women and youth in the community.

 

“After participating in Peace Village activities, I have become very engaged in championing women’s rights and equality, and I have realized that I am a feminist.”

 

Increasing youth participation at the village level is Andro’s priority to ensure that continuous voices from the youth are heard and that diverse and engaged youth groups bring refreshment and regeneration.

 

The ‘Peace Village’ concept was co-conceived by UN Women and Wahid Foundation in 2017. To become a Peace Village, community members in the village agree to a set of commitments designed to prevent violence, promote tolerance, and advance social cohesion. Recognizing economic empowerment as a foundation for change, the Peace Village initiative promotes women's voice and agency, increases women’s access to economic opportunities, and builds their capacity to resolve communal conflict.

 

Read more stories here: pvstorybook.un-guyub.id/

Photo: UN Women/Satu Bumi Jaya

 

www.yahoo.com/news/taiwan-ex-president-china-nuclear-1045...

 

Taiwan’s Ex-President On China, Nuclear Power And ‘The Most Stupid Policy In The World’

 

Former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou, interviewed on Nov. 23 in Taipei, said he wears this T-shirt, with the logo "Nuclear can help," because he believes nuclear plants can meet Taiwan's power needs with technology that's better for the environment.

 

TAIPEI, Taiwan ― Like much of the world, Ma Ying-jeou believes Taiwan is part of China, destined to eventually, someday, reunify with the mainland.

 

As president of the self-governing island from 2008 to 2016, he pushed for more trade to integrate the two economies. In 2015, Ma held a historic summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, becoming the first Taiwanese leader to meet his Beijing counterpart since the Chinese Civil War ended in 1949.

 

Ma’s successor, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, takes a different view. Her Democratic Progressive Party believes Taiwan should remain a de facto sovereign nation. While China has grown more authoritarian under Xi, Taiwan ranks alongside countries like Iceland and Estonia for transparency and democratic openness, far ahead of the United States. And though Tsai has stopped short of triggering potential war by declaring independence or formally disavowing the country’s official title of “Republic of China,” her administration has hewn closely to the U.S. as the global superpower increasingly jockeys with Beijing for military and economic supremacy in Asia.

 

You might think then that Ma’s approach to his country’s energy problems would be to make Taiwan more dependent on China while Tsai would seek a system capable of withstanding whatever blockade or amphibious invasion the People’s Liberation Army might attempt.

 

You’d be wrong. Among the biggest policy differences between the Chinese nationalist Kuomintang and the Democratic Progressive Party is on what Taiwan’s two biggest parties want to do with the country’s four nuclear power plants.

 

An ardent supporter of atomic energy, Ma tried to complete construction on Taiwan’s fourth and most advanced nuclear power station to date, though he ultimately caved during an election year to anti-nuclear protesters’ demand to pause work on the plant.

 

Longmen Nuclear Power Plant, shown on Nov. 23, in New Taipei City, Taiwan. The plant has never opened.

 

After taking office in 2017, the Tsai administration went in the opposite direction, passing a law mandating the phaseout of all nuclear energy by 2025. The government aims to generate most of the highly industrialized republic’s electricity from fossil fuels, particularly natural gas and coal. Tsai had promised that wind and solar would help make up for the zero-carbon generation lost when the nuclear reactors shut down. But those renewables today generate a tiny sliver of Taiwan’s power, almost certainly putting even the government’s revised-down goals out of reach.

 

The debate over nuclear energy mirrors those in South Korea and Japan, but there’s an extra element at play here: Taiwan’s precarious statehood. Unlike those two East Asian neighbors, who represent themselves at the United Nations and can count on the U.S. military to defend them, most of the world recognizes China’s claim to Taiwan. And Washington remains committed, at least on paper, to its policy of “strategic ambiguity” as to whether and how it would fight to defend an island whose government it works with but does not formally recognize.

 

Despite all the punditry drawing parallels with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it’s impossible to definitively predict how a Chinese takeover of Taiwan might pan out.

 

But some things are certain. Taiwan has only a week’s worth of natural gas in storage, and a blockade like the one that followed a controversial visit last summer by then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would send gas barges scrambling away from Taiwanese ports. Coal similarly requires steady imports to the island. Same with oil. And while China can’t darken the sun or halt the wind, Taiwan has limited space and resources for solar panels, turbines and batteries, and their supply chains also overwhelmingly run through the mainland.

 

By contrast, nuclear reactors can pump out steady carbon-free electricity for two years or more without needing fresh uranium fuel.

 

I interviewed Ma toward the end of a two-week trip to Taiwan in November, during which I spoke with executives, activists and academics about what could happen if the government successfully ends atomic energy production in the next two years.

 

Professor Tsung-Kuang Yeh, a nuclear scientist at the National Tsing Hua University, has become an outspoken advocate of saving Taiwan's nuclear reactors since the current government's shutdown policy went into effect.

 

Among them was Tsung-kuang Yeh, a prominent nuclear engineer and professor at the National Tsing Hua University. He asked if I would be interested in meeting one-on-one with former President Ma to speak about this issue. On Nov. 23, two days before my return flight to New York, I drove with Yeh to the office in a glassy Taipei tower where Ma’s foundation is headquartered.

 

Ma’s assistant served boba milk tea and, after a few minutes, Ma strode into the conference room with a big grin as he pointed two index fingers at his chest. His blue T-shirt featured polar bears and the English words “Nuclear can help.”

 

We spoke for more than an hour. His staff had been hesitant about me asking about anything other than nuclear energy, but Ma answered every question, touching on his party’s authoritarian past, growing tensions with Beijing and why he doesn’t think Taiwan should be compared to Hong Kong.

 

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

 

I want to start with a question about what Taiwan is. Many of my readers in the U.S. might not have a full understanding of Taiwan’s status in the world, its statehood. There’s a book I read before coming here that compared Taiwan to Israel, the “Israel of the East,” a small country with powerful friends in the West, a world-class technology sector and military prowess.

 

But a comparison I have thought about a lot during my time here, and one that’s very close to my heart, is with Puerto Rico, an archipelago whose sovereignty is controlled by a nearby superpower and whose party politics revolve around questions of status. Where do you feel Taiwan falls between those two places? Are those similarities correct?

 

Usually the world sees Taiwan as a small country facing a big enemy. As you know, we had a civil war with the communists in the late 1940s. Eventually we lost the mainland and moved to Taiwan. In the last almost 70 years, we’ve built an economy which is unparalleled in many ways. Particularly in high technology. A lot of countries actually depend on the supply of [semiconductor] chips from Taiwan. In addition to that, we also showed the world that we’re able to build Taiwan and feed 23 million people and educate them. This is something we’re proud of. But, of course, we have encountered many difficulties: Our relationship with the mainland, our energy problems and a lot of others.

 

No matter what the problems and how difficult they are, I think we have accomplished a lot in the last 70 years, ever since we came here in 1949. We’re proud of our accomplishments, but we also understand the difficulties we’ve had.

 

Another country Taiwan is frequently compared to these days is Ukraine. Do you see that as a fair analogy?

 

Not quite, because Ukraine is connected with the Soviets by land. We’re separated from the Chinese mainland by the Taiwan Strait. It’s more than 100 nautical miles. On the one hand, this is part of our defense. On the other hand, in case we had military difficulties, we have no place to go. That is why wisdom is very important in dealing with a strong neighbor. We speak the same language. We have relatives over there. So we hope we can avoid a war. We have to make all the necessary preparations for war. But we have to try to avoid it and try to seek peace.

 

This is actually the essence of my administration from 2008 to 2016. Before that, we had very little contact with the mainland. When I became president, I tried to establish a relationship never before seen in this part of the world. We concluded 23 agreements with the mainland, covering almost all walks of life. Eventually I had an opportunity to meet with their leader, Mr. Xi Jinping, in Singapore, and we agreed we should solve our differences through peaceful means. I told him, ‘Listen, we’re building a great bridge of peace across the Taiwan Strait. As long as we follow the traffic rules, either side could use it.’ This is what I accomplished as president.

 

Unfortunately, after I stepped down, everything changed. Just giving you an example: An important newsmagazine, The Economist, in their editorial in 2015, they said the meeting between Taiwan and mainland Chinese leaders is the biggest concession the mainland Chinese made regarding the status of Taiwan.

 

That was 2015. Six years later, in 2021, the same magazine had as its cover story: Taiwan, the most dangerous place on Earth. What happened in the six years? Well, the change of government. The policy of the current government made us face this difficult situation.

 

Can you explain what the 1992 consensus is and what it means today?

 

The ’92 consensus is the consensus that binds the two sides together. Mainland China says there’s one China ― they’re that one China. We say the same. Both of us believe in the one-China principle but differ on its interpretation. So the ’92 consensus means one China, respective interpretations.

 

Of course, the current government in Taiwan does not accept that. They have an even more difficult situation with the mainland than we did in those years. The ’92 consensus is the very important common political basis for our relationship.

 

How would you summarize your interpretation of the ’92 consensus?

 

This concerns the respective constitution of the two sides. In our constitution, it says that currently China has two parts: Taiwan and the mainland. The mainland’s says the ’92 consensus is the compass of our relationship. Both sides attach a lot of importance to that concept, because either side of the Taiwan Strait maintains that there is only one China, and Taiwan is part of that China, though we differ on the interpretation.

 

You can see a comparison in the two Germanys before 1972. As you know, in 1972, the two sides of Germany reached an agreement. In English it’s called the [Basic Treaty]. In German, it’s Grundvertrag. That’s how they define each other. That agreement was able to maintain peaceful relations between the two sides in Germany, and eventually they were reunified in 1990.

 

We don’t know if we’ll be reunited with the mainland or not. But at least the existence of the ’92 consensus gives the two sides a reason to treat the other side peacefully.

 

Going off that ― and I only just learned this while I was here ― but the U.S. once proposed that Taiwan and China should have two separate seats at the U.N. At the time, Taiwanese leader Chiang Kai-shek said he didn’t want that and that reunification with the mainland would eventually happen. In hindsight, was that the right decision?

 

Reunification is still very far from us because we need to do a lot of things before we can do that. The most important thing is to maintain a peaceful relationship, otherwise nothing can be done. What I did from 2008 to 2016 was to build that basis of relationship. People asked me: Why didn’t you sign a peace treaty with the mainland? I said, I have signed 22 peace treaties. All these agreements, without peace, cannot be accomplished.

 

So, only one seat at the U.N. was still the appropriate pathway, you think?

 

We haven’t reached that point yet. The mainland would never allow Taiwan to become independent.

 

On the other hand, they want to incorporate Taiwan now. Obviously right now the people of Taiwan do not accept that either. It’s important for the two sides to at least maintain the kind of relationship I helped establish from 2008 to 2016, what I called a peaceful development relationship. Whether we can go from there to reunification is something else that takes time. But at least we have to make the relationship peaceful.

 

You were born in Hong Kong. Obviously the crackdown there since 2019 has changed a lot of people’s views about the reality of “one country, two systems.” Has what we’ve seen in the Special Administrative Region changed your view of what is possible with the mainland?

 

Hong Kong shouldn’t be a good example for Taiwan because Hong Kong used to be a British colony. Taiwan isn’t any other country’s colony.

 

In Hong Kong, before they were part of the mainland, they had freedom and rule of law, but they didn’t have democracy. This is very different from Taiwan. We have all three of these things in Taiwan.

 

You have called Taiwan under President Tsai an “illiberal democracy.” Can you explain that?

 

This idea is from Fareed Zakaria, who used to be a writer for Foreign Affairs, in a book called ”The Future of Freedom.” If a leader who was popularly elected but, once inaugurated, starts to end his own term or to criticize or squeeze the opposition party, then the country is no longer a liberal democracy. It becomes an illiberal democracy. I’m afraid Taiwan is going through that process.

 

You’re probably not aware, but about three years ago one of our TV news stations was shut down by the government.

 

Which one?

 

Chung T’ien Television. It was in 2020. [Taiwanese regulators declined to renew the pro-China station’s broadcast license over its alleged repeated airing of what the government called disinformation.]This is really incredible. No free or democratic country ever did that.

 

In December 2020, one of the professors in National Taiwan University was taken by the police to the police station and interrogated for about two to three hours because he criticized the government’s cultural policy. For me, this is unthinkable. It doesn’t sound like a democratic country. There are quite a few examples, which I assemble here. This is what Fareed Zakaria believes are symptoms of illiberal democracy.

 

ormer President Ma Ying-jeou said it takes time for people to understand the importance of nuclear energy. "Fortunately, in the last couple of years, the situation is getting much clearer and clearer, that the world cannot survive without nuclear power."

 

Taiwan has consistently scored above my own country, the United States, on rankings like the Freedom House, the Economist Intelligence Unit, the Bertelsmann Transformation Index and the Varieties of Democracy’s Liberal Democracy Index. In fact, three out of those four saw an increase in Taiwan’s ranking in the years since you left office. The fourth, BTI, stayed constant. So, what do you think that those scores are missing?

 

In the last couple of years, many people in the United States have considered that American democracy is also in crisis. Your people say this is no longer the United States of America, it’s the Divided States of America.

 

Again, do you think these rankings I listed are ignoring the incidents you’ve highlighted of illiberalism?

 

That’s right. When people have power, sometimes they abuse it. But they have to understand it takes many people’s efforts to have democracy. So they have to be very careful in using their power.

 

You held this historic meeting with Xi Jinping. What do you think is the biggest misconception people in the West have of the Chinese leader?

 

China, everybody knows, it’s a dictatorship. In dealing with mainland China, we certainly have to be careful. But we also have to be fully cognizant that there should be only one China, although we do have different conceptions of what that one China is. On that basis, the two sides can talk to each other and even make some progress on the relationship. The issue of reunification is not an easy one, and it takes many years to accomplish.

 

I’m sure you have read the book by Grant Addison, ”Destined for War.” He studied 12 or 16 cases of European countries to show that war is inevitable. I told him that in China, we had a history of 4,600 years, and 70% of the time China was unified. The other 30% it was divided. From unification to division, or from division to unification, it always took war.

 

We, as the offsprings of those ancient people, should be smarter than they are. We should learn how to solve disputes in a peaceful way. This is what I told Mr. Xi Jinping in Singapore, face to face. I told him that, where we sit with “one China, respective interpretations,” we will not interpret that as “two Chinas,” “one China, one Taiwan” or “Taiwan independence.” We do this not to please you. Rather, this is just not tolerated in our constitution. We have to find another way to accommodate each other’s differences in a peaceful way. I’m confident we can do this.

 

I want to switch to energy now. Nuclear power once provided more than half the electricity in Taiwan. Now it’s down to about 10%, and the government plans to phase it out completely by 2025. What do you see as the biggest motivator for the “nuclear-free homeland” policy we’re seeing implemented now?

 

If I understand correctly, the nuclear-free homeland idea came up when President Tsai Ing-wen was chairwoman of the DPP. So, 11 years ago. At the time, what happened in Fukushima [the 2011 disaster at the nuclear plant in Japan] really scared everyone. The DPP from the very beginning was opposed to nuclear power.

 

For a country like Taiwan, nuclear power is so important. We started using it about 40 years ago, and we’ve had a relatively good system. I don’t know if you have seen the report by the International Atomic Energy Agency [on countries’ “unit capacity factor,” a measure of how efficiently nuclear plant operators are running reactors]. There are 31 countries in the world that have nuclear power. We have actually been among the top five in the world for quite a while. That means we have actually outperformed at our plants at roughly 90%. This is something we’re proud of.

 

I met with President Tsai six years ago, after she was first elected. We had a meeting about the transition. I said, “You’ve got to understand, you plan to amass 20% of energy to renewables, but this is not possible.” Bloomberg Intelligence predicted Taiwan can do only about 9%. My economic minister said no more than 10%. But Tsai wants to have 20% by 2025. I think that’s not possible.

 

Her response was shocking. She said, “My energy expert told me it is possible.”

 

That’s convenient.

 

What happened next is, a year later, we had nationwide blackouts in 2017. So far we’ve had five of these big blackouts, precisely because we do have an electricity problem.

 

It was in 2014, when you were still president, that the fourth plant was mothballed. I imagine you intended that to be temporary?

 

The decision was made by me. The reason being, at the time, there was a big difference between the two parties. I thought, maybe we should make that decision sometime later. I thought, this is the right decision, at least to avoid the imminent clash between the two political parties.

 

We believe that after a while we may be able to do it again. But it takes time.

 

When you say “clash between the two parties,” do you mean you were concerned it would take an electoral toll on your party if you did not postpone the power plant?

 

Yes. There was a very acute clash between the two parties. At the time, people thought nuclear power was really dangerous. They didn’t understand we’ve done very, very well ever since we’ve had nuclear power.

 

So you were hoping that, in the two years, the KMT would be reelected and you could help educate people in the interim?

 

Yes. It takes time for people to understand how important nuclear power is. Fortunately, in the last couple of years, the situation is getting much clearer and clearer, that the world cannot survive without nuclear power. That’s the reason I wear this T-shirt.

 

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi had a similar message at the U.N. climate summit in Egypt just last week.

 

Earlier this week, I was on Lanyu, where a past KMT government decided to store low-level radioactive waste. Once the indigenous Tao people discovered what was going on at the facility, which I actually just visited yesterday, they protested, and it helped to fuel the anti-nuclear movement. What do you think that the government could have done differently back then? Was it a mistake to put the waste on Lanyu in the first place?

 

When we did it, it was more than 30 years ago. After 30 years, people there and elsewhere understand it’s not as risky as people thought. This is very important. People there certainly now hope the waste will stay so they continue to get the subsidies. We’re looking for other places in order to deposit the nuclear waste. But people understand it’s not as dangerous as they thought.

 

One of the arguments I’ve been hearing a lot from anti-nuclear people is that there’s not any room to store the waste. It makes me wonder if there’s enough room, then, for all the renewables you need to replace nuclear power. Do you think that there is enough room to keep what spent fuel you have and continue to produce nuclear energy?

 

The current government’s policy to develop renewable energy to replace nuclear power is, I think, the most stupid policy in the world. No country has done that. Why? Because nuclear power is considered green energy already.

 

We should use renewable energy to replace coal or natural gas. But not nuclear.

 

What do you think of the current government plan to become more dependent on liquefied natural gas? I know they’re building a new import terminal in Taoyuan County. What are your biggest concerns with that plan?

 

Just recently, when our president talked to the Nobel Prize-winning chemist Dr. Lee Yuan-tseh, the Nobel winner asked the president: “If you do this, what will happen in 2025?” Her answer was really shocking. She said, “Well, my term ends in 2024, so anything after that, I don’t know. I won’t be responsible.”

 

This is their problem: I don’t know whether they are fully aware. In Taiwan, we should develop renewable energy for sure. Actually, I was the person who pushed for the enactment of the 2009 Renewable Energy Development Act. But Taiwan’s natural conditions are not really that good for either solar or wind. Nuclear power is still very important to Taiwan. The percentage of nuclear should be at least 20% [of the national energy mix]. Renewables can hardly reach 20%. Maybe they can do 15%. I hope we can be able to have more nuclear energy that can better serve our country.

 

Taiwan is an economy that cannot just be stopped even temporarily without electricity.

 

The DPP was founded the same year as the Chernobyl disaster, so I’ve heard the argument that this has always been part of the party’s founding mythology. I’ve also heard the argument that the DPP perceives nuclear power as a partisan issue, something that the KMT pursued and which you must be against if you’re against the KMT.

 

In a way, it’s become the ideology of the DPP. They believed that this was a bad thing for Taiwan from the very beginning. But they fail to find out what else we can do if we lack the conditions to develop renewable energy. Certainly we’d be happy if we could develop as much renewable energy as the DPP thought they could. But it’s not the case.

 

When people say they’re afraid of earthquakes or afraid of Fukushima, what do you say? Like Japan, Taiwan sits within the seismic Ring of Fire. Is there something fundamentally different about Taiwan’s nuclear power plants that makes a situation like Fukushima unlikely here?

 

If you knew Fukushima, you’d understand there’s no single person who died out of contamination of radioactivity. Not a single one. This is also true in Taiwan. We have had nuclear power for more than 40 years. There’s no single person who’s died from radioactivity. But there are a few people who just don’t like the truth. There’s even some DPP politicians who keep finding some geological fault regarding the location of the nuclear power plant. I think it’s just very stupid.

 

Are you aware that nuclear power plant No. 4 was under their supervision and, because of the budgetary problems, Ms. Tsai actually increased their subsidy in order to make it work?

 

The DPP itself probably had an anti-nuclear ideology. But after so many years, people should understand this is really a myth. I don’t know why they still stick to it.

 

What about the hunger strike protest at the time, which had garnered a lot of attention?

 

You’re talking about the DPP politician? Lin Yi-hsiung?

 

Yes.

 

You have to understand, Mr. Lin has been deified. He’s been treated like a god. Whatever he says, people have to follow. That makes it even more difficult to solve the problem.

 

But I’m sure after so many years people are starting to understand nuclear power is no longer something very dangerous.

 

In hindsight, is there a way you wish you could have responded to those protests at the time? Could you have prevented him from being deified?

 

The reason why I mothballed the nuclear power plant was precisely because I wanted to avoid the forthcoming clash between the people. On the fourth nuclear power plant, we still had some work to do, so we could wait for a while. But after so many years, after so many debates, I think people now understand nuclear power isn’t that bad. If we really want to move Taiwan ahead, we have to use it.

 

I imagine nuclear power will be part of the KMT’s platform in two years.

 

Of course.

 

What would you say to a regular voter to persuade them? How prominent do you imagine the energy issues being in that campaign two years from now?

 

It’s now a little easier than before to convince people that we need nuclear power because renewables, as we said, do not come so easily. They have their own problems, too. We have to have an economy with multiple energies: renewables, coal, natural gas. They all should have their respective place in the energy picture. To get rid of nuclear power isn’t very feasible or smart. It has a lot to do with, as I said, ideology.

 

But if you look at what happened more than 10 years ago, even the current president asked the nuclear plant supervisor to work harder to achieve our target and offered to give more money to complete the construction. This is so political that it makes people think, “Don’t trust those politicians.”

 

Will the deployment of small modular reactors change perceptions and make it easier to build new nuclear reactors again?

 

I believe so, but it takes some time for the training and to help people understand SMRs. Our American friends may be able to help us with this. Then we wouldn’t have to build a big nuclear plant, which is not so welcome by the people living nearby.

 

We have several science parks, which are very important in our computer and other industries. For things like that, having the small reactors would make nuclear more marketable.

 

Some big manufacturers in Taiwan are looking at building small modular reactors abroad, maybe in the Philippines, with hopes that someday, if policy changes in Taiwan, they can bring the technology home. Are you concerned that that demonstrates a loss of economic competitiveness for Taiwan, especially as its neighbors, such as Japan, South Korea and China, embrace nuclear energy?

 

The general trend of the world is quite clear. If you look at what happened in South Korea and Japan, they have their own independent energy systems. Taiwan is the same.

 

Look at what happened in Germany. Germany was the country that led the fight against nuclear power after the Fukushima incident. They were supposed to phase out all of the nuclear power plants by the end of this year. But they’ll have some delays now to make sure they get through the winter. The Ukraine war makes it very clear that energy becomes a weapon. Germany learned that lesson. And this is even with a coalition government where the Green Party plays an important role, I think even the economic minister is a Green.

 

That’s right. Robert Habeck.

 

They have gone so far as to phase out later instead of sooner. This is something not so easy. Everybody learned something in the process.

 

I want to ask one more question related to Ukraine. Right now, as you said, Russia is waging war against Ukraine through what the Financial Times recently referred to as a “blackout blitz.” That’s both in terms of just bombing electrical infrastructure and limiting how much natural gas is flowing to Ukraine’s allies. Are you worried that increased reliance on natural gas could be used as a weapon against Taiwan?

 

Of course!

 

What do you say to people who say, “If war comes, we don’t want there to be a nuclear power plant that could be bombed”?

 

People in Taiwan have so far appreciated the lessons Ukraine has taught us, particularly concerning liquefied natural gas. As you know, under the DPP’s energy blueprint, LNG will occupy 50% of the energy mix. We import all the LNG from Middle East countries. We produce nothing.

 

That could become a very important weakness of our national security. Mainland China doesn’t even have to fire a shot. They could just announce: “Stop exporting LNG to Taiwan” and suddenly we cannot cook! It’s not a question of the military but of our households. It’s very important that we know we have to become a multi-energy country. Coal has to be reduced as much as possible. Natural gas, you cannot really let 50% of your energy supply depend on LNG.

 

You have had a very blunt attitude about what a military conflict would be like with China. The phrase you have used is: “The first fight would be the last.” I think all Taiwanese agree that war must be absolutely avoided. Do you really think defense is pointless? What role does energy play in deterrence?

 

Generally people in Taiwan now do not appreciate the problem of energy’s place in our national security. Maybe it’ll take a little while for them to understand. But we have to keep in mind that we can’t let energy like natural gas occupy 50% of the picture. We import 100% from abroad. That could kill us. Sooner or later, people will have to understand nuclear power is much more dependable than fossil fuels.

 

Is nuclear power a better deterrent than F-16s?

 

Look at what happened in Germany. When Germany said it wanted to phase out all the nuclear power plants by 2022, they seemed so confident it would happen. But it changed. And, I’m sure you know, the price of electricity in Germany is five times that of Taiwan.

 

If we depend so much on fossil fuel, we certainly will have the same problem. The price of electricity will go up 30%, maybe even 45%. What happened in the world over the past couple of years gradually made people appreciate that the role of nuclear energy is very different than what they thought before.

 

I’d like to end on a lighter note. What do you think is Taiwan’s greatest cultural export? Is there one thing you love particularly ― one food dish, one piece of music or art or a movie from Taiwan that you think the rest of the world should enjoy?

 

Ever since we started our relations with the mainland, the popular songs of the two sides have become an important part of life. One of our singers, Deng Lijun, actually occupied the minds of many, many mainland Chinese.

 

Nowadays, there’s another mainland Chinese singer, Hong Qi, a young man who wrote about a love affair in Xinjiang in a remote area. It’s been sung by several billion people. It’s really incredible. The cultural bonds of the two sides make it a very important element of our relationship.

 

When Taiwanese songs became very popular on the mainland, the name of the singer was Deng, like [the former Chinese leader responsible for reopening the country to global trade] Deng Xiaoping. They called the lady “small Deng” and him “Big Deng.” That’s the sort of thing that binds us together. We should continue to do that.

 

What is one phrase in Mandarin that you wish Americans knew?

 

I was told that on an occasion when mainland philosophers and educators met from different cultures, just like you asked, everyone was asked to pick just one sentence. Eventually the one that got the approval of almost everyone in Chinese was: 己所不欲，勿施於人。

 

“If you don’t want something, don’t force someone to do it.”

 

It’s something everyone believes is important. It’s from Confucius, someone who existed more than 2,500 years ago.

 

And yet relevant today still.

 

They give us many, many good lessons, even in areas of ecology. Mencius was also a disciple of Confucius and says you should not use fish nets that are so small that you cannot let all other species of fish go, that that will actually kill the fish.

 

When I studied the law of the sea at Harvard University, I understood that in the year 1990, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution that forbade the use of drift nets. You know what a drift net is? It’s a very big net that grabs almost everything, even seabirds. So they said no North Pacific countries should allow the fishing boats to use that. I looked at that and said, God, we had this 2,600 years ago. In the time of the Zhou dynasty, every fisherman, if he caught a small fish, he’d have to give it back to the sea. At the time, people were ecologically so advanced.

 

It feels like we’re relearning a lot now.

 

When I was the mayor of Taipei City, we were supposed to have a ceremony for Confucius every year on his birthday. I’d repeat that story and say, “Don’t believe that ancient people are stupid.” They are not. They have ideas that we do not have in our society about nature. This is something that shows how important and how great Chinese culture is.

“Pulsing sub-bass audio suggests associations with the most primal anthropomorphic element in music -- the rhythms of the human heart, with foetal and infant hypnagogic sense memories, with seismic activity, the rumble of thunder (Jimi Hendrix claimed that his earliest childhood memory was of a thunderstorm) and even with war. Disinformation's National Grid is a sub-bass installation sourced either from the ambient VLF field radiated by electricity pylons and mains circuits, or directly from the output cables of mains transformers. National Grid offers live physical evidence of environmental electromagnetic pollution, a demonstration of the intrinsic musical properties of alternating current, beat-frequency effects, the architectural acoustics of its own exhibition space, a formula for the realisation and suppression of Futurist sound art, a cathartic response to the pressures of urban life, a monolithic soundtrack for the genius of electrification and for the bitter conflicts between government and organised labour for control over the nation's electrical infrastructure.” - Disinformation “Stargate” + “National Grid” LP - Ash International, Ash 3.2, copyright © 1996

 

“London was the capital of the electricity of the mind” - Geoffrey Grigson © 1957

 

Disobey, Holloway, London, 10 Oct 1996

Royal College of Art, Kensington, 5 Dec 1996

Museum of Installation, Deptford, July 1997

South London Gallery, Camberwell, 15 Aug 1998

Nuclear Warfare Command Centre, Anstruther, 25 Sept 1998

Lux Cinema, Hoxton, 9 Dec 1998

Volksbühne, Berlin, 27 June 1999

ZKM, Karlsruhe, 16 July 1999

Arctic Corsair, Hull, Oct 1999

Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, Jan to March 2000

Sonic Boom, Hayward Gallery, 2 June 2000

The Dom, Moscow, 26 Sept 2000

Fabrica, Brighton, Nov to Dec 2001

The Royal Institution, Mayfair, 22 May 2004

Corsica Studios, Elephant & Castle, 19 Nov 2004 *

The Guardian Science Writers Xmas Party, 13 Dec 2004 *

Hull Art Lab (Humber Street, Kingston-upon-Hull) 4 Feb 2005 *

Cargo Nightclub, Hoxton, 17 Feb 2005 *

The Foundry, Hoxton, Oct 2005

Westbourne Studios, Notting Hill, 18 Sept 2006 *

The Junction, Cambridge, 27 April 2007 *

Centre for Life, Newcastle, 5 March 2008 *

Gus Fisher Gallery, Auckland, NZ, Aug 2009

When the Dust Settles, Dalston Bunker, Oct 2010

Living Rooms, Auckland, NZ, April 2011

Frequency Festival, Lincoln, Oct 2011

Usurp Gallery, Harrow, 8 Nov 2011

GV Art, Marylebone, Nov to Dec 2013

Inspace, Edinburgh, 29 Nov 2013

Le Bon Accueil, Rennes, Oct to Nov 2014

The Auricle, Christchurch, NZ, Feb 2015

The Morgue, Chelsea College of Arts, 16 March 2017

Assembly of Disturbance, Shoreditch, 7 Oct 2017

Gallery 46, Whitechapel, 15 Feb 2018

Kino Siska, Ljubljana, 21 March 2018

CMK, Koper, 22 March 2018

Caponier Tunnel, Newhaven Fort, 22 Sept 2018

Listening Arts Channel (on-line) 19 March 2021

Antithesis, Schemata Art, Elephant & Castle, March 2022

Ealing Extranormal Volume 22, 16 Dec 2023

Farsight Collective, St. Giles, 11 + 12 Oct 2024

LungA Skólinn, Seyðisfjörður, 23-25 May 2025

LCB Depot, Leicester, Sept 2025

Wave Farm (WGXC 90.7FM, Acra, NY) 10 Oct 2025

 

* Disinformation + Strange Attractor

 

soundcloud.com/erratum_musical/disinformation-national-gr... - [listen with headphones or good quality hi-fi loudspeakers]

 

The Beaten Generation

 

During the course of 2015 I recommissioned my 21st birthday present from my father – a Micro Seiki MB-14ST that I brought over to the UK from my mom’s place in South Africa. I’ve also been slowly bringing over my collection of vinyl albums, meticulously selected and acquired, and lovingly cared for between the early-70’s and the late-80’s. They’ve also been stashed away at my mom’s place, protected from the elements in plastic sleeves and stored in bespoke cases holding about 50 albums apiece. Over the course of the past few months I’ve been playing some of the gems in my collection, and it’s been very rewarding to reconnect with my past. Both the good and the “interesting”.

 

On one of our trips to Europe in the late-80’s my future wife and I made our regular pilgrimage to the music stores, including WOM (World of Music) in Germany. It was here (in which city, I don’t recall) that I bought the LP "Viva Umkhonto!" a compilation of punk and hardcore music that featured previously unreleased material by European and US bands. The record was released in April 1987 as a collaborative effort by two independent labels, namely Mordam Records (USA) and De Konkurrent (Holland), both of whom were strong backers of the struggle against Apartheid. According to a statement on the back of the sleeve, “All money raised by this record goes to Umkhonto We Sizwe”. So this was a benefit album for the military wing of the ANC (African National Congress).

 

For context, allow me to turn to Wikipedia:

 

“Umkhonto We Sizwe (abbreviated as MK, Zulu for "Spear of the Nation") was the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC), co-founded by Nelson Mandela in the wake of the Sharpeville massacre. Its founding represented the conviction in the face of the massacre that the ANC could no longer limit itself to nonviolent protest; its mission was to fight against the South African government. After warning the South African government in June 1961 of its intent to resist further acts of terror if the government did not take steps toward constitutional reform and increase political rights, MK launched its first attacks against government installations on 16 December 1961. It was subsequently classified as a terrorist organisation by the South African government and the United States, and banned”.

 

The album itself was definitely banned in South Africa and so possessing it was illegal. I took it into the country through Jan Smuts Airport (subsequently known as “Johannesburg International” and now, “O.R. Tambo International”) on my return from my trip to Europe and kept it safely tucked away in the belly of the beast in South Africa's capital city, Pretoria.

 

On the tenth anniversary of the Soweto uprising, the Nationalist regime declared State of Emergency in June 1986. It forbade any action that could undermine the Apartheid state, nationwide. Also forbidden were any kind of “subversive statements”, defined as statements that promoted unlawful strikes, boycotts or civil disobedience, attacked military conscription, promoted disinvestment or sanctions, or that “aggravated feelings of racial hostility”. The penalty for engaging in these actions was a maximum of ten years imprisonment. Ouch - I definitely did not want to be caught with this album!

 

Of the people detained under these draconian regulations (circa-8,000 in the first couple of months) no names were published with the exception of those released at the discretion of the South African Police. Throughout the State of Emergency, newspapers had to engage in self-censorship, at the risk of being closed down by the government, and many used to print disclaimers alongside their articles that read” “This report has been restricted to comply with the Emergency Regulations”. Some newspapers and magazines were not able to appear, and no news came out of the black townships, except through the state’s Bureau of Information. At the time I stuck stickers on the front of my television screen and computer monitor that read “SABC News is Biased” just to remind myself to be vigilant about government disinformation.

 

The music on the compilation album is okay, but it’s the packaging and presentation that I really enjoyed as a snapshot of the times, and as an interesting piece of social history. Along with the record were included a poster and a booklet filled with newspaper clippings and ANC propaganda about the armed struggle against Apartheid. It also highlights companies that were breaking economic sanctions by continuing to do business with South Africa. The “Throw Well – Throw Shell” slogan is parody of oil the giant’s official marketing tag-line at the time, namely “Go Well – Go Shell”. I have uploaded a scan of this booklet to my DropBox.

 

I’m not going to comment on the accuracy or veracity of the information in the booklet, but in those turbulent times – under a state of emergency, with broad media censorship and where owning certain music could earn you a jail sentence – it was thrilling to see what people abroad were thinking and to read material that was not towing the official National Party line. With the benefit of hindsight, it’s fascinating to see how right Matt Johnson was back in 1989 (The The – “Mind Bomb”). Although he wasn’t talking about South Africa, per se, when he sang that we were the “beaten generation, reared on a diet of prejudice and misinformation”, he pretty much hit the nail on the head. Prejudice and misinformation were weapons in the arsenal on both sides of the struggle in South Africa. I was one of the few pale South Africans to have the privilege of being exposed to both sides of that deformed coin.

 

The The - "The Beat(en) Generation" - YouTube Video Clip

 

When you cast your eyes upon the skylines

Of this once proud nation

Can you sense the fear and the hatred

Growing in the hearts of its population

And our youth, oh youth, are being seduced

By the greedy hands of politics and half truths

 

The beaten generation, the beaten generation

Reared on a diet of prejudice and mis-information

The beaten generation, the beaten generation

Open your eyes, open your imagination

 

We're being sedated by the gasoline fumes

And hypnotized by the satellites

Into believing what is good and what is right

You may be worshiping the temples of mammon

Or lost in the prisons of religion

But can you still walk back to happiness

When you've nowhere left to run?

 

The beaten generation, the beaten generation

Reared on a diet of prejudice and mis-information

The beaten generation, the beaten generation

Open your eyes, open your imagination

 

And if they send in the special police

To deliver us from liberty and keep us from peace

Then won't the words sit ill upon their tongues

When they tell us justice is being done

And that freedom lives in the barrels of a warm gun

 

The beaten generation, the beaten generation

Reared on a diet of prejudice and mis-information

The beaten generation, the beaten generation

Open your eyes, open your imagination

 

If you'd like to take a listen to "Viva Umkhonto!" I've found a ripped copy of the LP available for download here.

 

Also take a look at my Blogger posting.

 

Cheers, 2016 ©

 

Fot.: Sebastian Indra

Electromagnetic Sound Art - “National Grid” by Disinformation

 

Commissioned and exhibited by Fabrica Gallery, Nov 2001

 

Raw video by Barry Hale - video processing by Joe Banks

 

“National Grid” audio by Joe Banks - first published 1996

 

NB: poor audio compression

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gO_AP2LlN6E

 

“Pulsing sub-bass audio suggests associations with the most primal anthropomorphic element in music -- the rhythms of the human heart, with foetal and infant hypnagogic sense memories, with seismic activity, the rumble of thunder (Jimi Hendrix claimed that his earliest childhood memory was of a thunderstorm) and even with war. Disinformation's National Grid is a sub-bass installation sourced either from the ambient VLF field radiated by electricity pylons and mains circuits, or directly from the output cables of mains transformers. National Grid offers live physical evidence of environmental electromagnetic pollution, a demonstration of the intrinsic musical properties of alternating current, beat-frequency effects, the architectural acoustics of its own exhibition space, a formula for the realisation and suppression of Futurist sound art, a cathartic response to the pressures of urban life, a monolithic soundtrack for the genius of electrification and for the bitter conflicts between government and organised labour for control over the nation's electrical infrastructure.” - Disinformation “Stargate” + “National Grid” LP - Ash International, Ash 3.2, copyright © 1996

 

Disobey, Holloway, London, 10 Oct 1996

Royal College of Art, Kensington, 5 Dec 1996

Museum of Installation, Deptford, July 1997

South London Gallery, Camberwell, 15 Aug 1998

Nuclear Warfare Command Centre, Anstruther, 25 Sept 1998

Lux Cinema, Hoxton, 9 Dec 1998

Volksbühne, Berlin, 27 June 1999

ZKM, Karlsruhe, 16 July 1999

Arctic Corsair, Hull, Oct 1999

Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, Jan to March 2000

Sonic Boom, Hayward Gallery, 2 June 2000

The Dom, Moscow, 26 Sept 2000

Fabrica, Brighton, Nov to Dec 2001

The Royal Institution, Mayfair, 22 May 2004

Corsica Studios, Elephant & Castle, 19 Nov 2004 *

The Guardian Science Writers Xmas Party, 13 Dec 2004 *

Hull Art Lab (Humber Street, Kingston-upon-Hull) 4 Feb 2005 *

Cargo Nightclub, Hoxton, 17 Feb 2005 *

The Foundry, Hoxton, Oct 2005

Westbourne Studios, Notting Hill, 18 Sept 2006 *

The Junction, Cambridge, 27 April 2007 *

Centre for Life, Newcastle, 5 March 2008 *

Gus Fisher Gallery, Auckland, NZ, Aug 2009

When the Dust Settles, Dalston Bunker, Oct 2010

Living Rooms, Auckland, NZ, April 2011

Frequency Festival, Lincoln, Oct 2011

Usurp Gallery, Harrow, 8 Nov 2011

GV Art, Marylebone, Nov to Dec 2013

Inspace, Edinburgh, 29 Nov 2013

Le Bon Accueil, Rennes, Oct to Nov 2014

The Auricle, Christchurch, NZ, Feb 2015

The Morgue, Chelsea College of Arts, 16 March 2017

Assembly of Disturbance, Shoreditch, 7 Oct 2017

Gallery 46, Whitechapel, 15 Feb 2018

Kino Siska, Ljubljana, 21 March 2018

CMK, Koper, 22 March 2018

Caponier Tunnel, Newhaven Fort, 22 Sept 2018

Listening Arts Channel (on-line) 19 March 2021

Antithesis, Schemata Art, Elephant & Castle, March 2022

Ealing Extranormal Volume 22, 16 Dec 2023

Farsight Collective, St. Giles, 11 + 12 Oct 2024

LungA Skólinn, Seyðisfjörður, 23-25 May 2025

LCB Depot, Leicester, Sept 2025

Wave Farm (WGXC 90.7FM, Acra, NY) 10 Oct 2025

 

* Disinformation + Strange Attractor

Original promotional graphic for the “National Grid” performance by Disinformation, staged at the Royal College of Art, London, 5 Dec 1996. This second ever presentation of “National Grid” was performed live by sound artist Joe Banks, and organised for the RCA by Jon Wozencroft. “National Grid” was performed using a VLF converted shortwave radio, to intercept and to make audible the ambient electromagnetic waves, which are generated by live mains electricity, and which surround us, normally undetected, in the environment. The fundamental resonant frequency of mains alternating current is standardised at 50Hz, however, in performance, the output signals from the radio were tuned to different musical frequencies using the upper and lower sideband filter (effectively a kind of electronic pitch-shifter or ring-modulator) on the radio. Later versions of “National Grid” used live outputs from mains electrical transformers as the source of the 50Hz signal.

 

The first “National Grid” performance at club Disobey, 10 Oct 1996, received publicity in The Evening Standard newspaper, and in the MTV music magazine “Blah Blah Blah” (the documentation will be posted here in due course).

 

This graphic also appears on page 25 of “Noisegate” magazine, issue 5, published 1996. The magazine also features a review of a sound installation by Christina Kubisch at the Sonambiente Festival, Berlin, in 1996 (which seems to have featured amplified street sounds and construction site noise), and features an advertisement for a performance by Christina Kubisch, scheduled for the following year, to be held at the Goethe Institut in London. Nearly a decade later, Christina Kubisch presented her “Electrical Walks”, in collaboration with the Goethe Institut and South London Gallery - the latter having published a recording of “National Grid” on their “Sound Factory” CD in 1998. For more information about the earlier project please follow this link -

 

www.flickr.com/disinfo/31910925141/

Fot.: Sebastian Indra

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!

  

Some background:

The Bell XP-68A owed its existence to the manufacturer’s rather disappointing outcome of its first jet fighter design, the XP-59A Airacomet. The Airacomet was a twin jet-engined fighter aircraft, designed and built during World War II after Major General Henry H. "Hap" Arnold became aware of the United Kingdom's jet program when he attended a demonstration of the Gloster E.28/39 in April 1941. He requested, and was given, the plans for the aircraft's powerplant, the Power Jets W.1, which he took back to the U.S. He also arranged for an example of the engine, the Whittle W.1X turbojet, to be flown to the U.S., along with drawings for the more powerful W.2B/23 engine and a small team of Power Jets engineers. On 4 September 1941, he offered the U.S. company General Electric a contract to produce an American version of the engine, which subsequently became the General Electric I-A. On the following day, he approached Lawrence Dale Bell, head of Bell Aircraft Corporation, to build a fighter to utilize it. As a disinformation tactic, the USAAF gave the project the designation "P-59A", to suggest it was a development of the unrelated, canceled Bell XP-59 fighter project. The P-59A was the first design fighter to have its turbojet engine and air inlet nacelles integrated within the main fuselage. The jet aircraft’s design was finalized on 9 January 1942 and the first prototype flew in October of the same year.

 

The following 13 service test YP-59As had a more powerful engine than their predecessor, the General Electric J31, but the improvement in performance was negligible, with top speed increased by only 5 mph and a slight reduction in the time they could be used before an overhaul was needed. One of these aircraft, the third YP-59A, was supplied to the Royal Air Force, in exchange for the first production Gloster Meteor I for evaluation and flight-offs with domestic alternatives.

British pilots found that the YP-59A compared very unfavorably with the jets that they were already flying. The United States Army Air Forces were not impressed by its performance either and cancelled the contract when fewer than half of the originally ordered aircraft had been produced. No P-59s entered combat, but the type paved the way for the next design generation of U.S. turbojet-powered aircraft and helped to develop appropriate maintenance structures and procedures.

 

In the meantime, a new, more powerful jet engine had been developed in Great Britain, the Halford H-1, which became later better known as the De Havilland Goblin. It was another centrifugal compressor design, but it produced almost twice as much thrust as the XP-59A’s J31 engines. Impressed by the British Gloster Meteor during the USAAF tests at Muroc Dry Lake - performance-wise as well as by the aircraft’s simplicity and ruggedness - Bell reacted promptly and proposed an alternative fighter with wing-mounted engine nacelles, since the XP-59A’s layout had proven to be aerodynamically sub-optimal and unsuited for the installation of H-1 engines. In order to save development time and because the aircraft was rather regarded as a proof-of-concept demonstrator instead of a true fighter prototype, the new aircraft was structurally based on Bell’s current piston-engine P-63 “Kingcobra”. The proposal was accepted and, in order to maintain secrecy, the new jet aircraft inherited once more a designation of a recently cancelled project, this time from the Vultee XP-68 “Tornado” fighter. Similar to the Airacomet two years before, just a simple “A” suffix was added.

 

Bell’s development contract covered only three XP-68A aircraft. The H-1 units were directly imported from Great Britain in secrecy, suspended in the bomb bays of B-24 Liberator bombers. A pair of these engines was mounted in mid-wing nacelles, very similar to the Gloster Meteor’s arrangement. The tailplane was given a 5° dihedral to move it out of the engine exhaust. In order to bear the new engines and their power, the wing main spars were strengthened and the main landing gear wells were moved towards the aircraft’s centerline, effectively narrowing track width. The landing gear wells now occupied the space of the former radiator ducts for the P-63’s omitted Allison V-1710 liquid-cooled V12 engine. Its former compartment behind the cockpit was used for a new fuel tank and test equipment. Having lost the propeller and its long drive shaft, the nose section was also redesigned: the front fuselage became deeper and the additional space there was used for another fuel tank in front of the cockpit and a bigger weapon bay. Different armament arrangements were envisioned, one of each was to be tested on the three prototypes: one machine would be armed with six 0.5” machine guns, another with four 20mm Hispano M2 cannon, and the third with two 37mm M10 cannon and two 0.5” machine guns. Provisions for a ventral hardpoint for a single drop tank or a 1.000 lb (550 kg) bomb were made, but this was never fitted on any of the prototypes. Additional hardpoints under the outer wings for smaller bombs or unguided missiles followed the same fate.

 

The three XP-68As were built at Bell’s Atlanta plant in the course of early 1944 and semi-officially christened “Airagator”. After their clandestine transfer to Muroc Dry Lake for flight tests and evaluations, the machines were quickly nicknamed “Barrelcobra” by the test staff – not only because of the characteristic shape of the engine nacelles, but also due to the sheer weight of the machines and their resulting sluggish handling on the ground and in the air. “Cadillac” was another nickname, due to the very soft acceleration through the new jet engines and the lack of vibrations that were typical for piston-engine- and propeller-driven aircraft.

 

Due to the structural reinforcements and modifications, the XP-68A had become a heavy aircraft with an empty weight of 4 tons and a MTOW of almost 8 tons – the same as the big P-47 Thunderbolt piston fighter, while the P-63 had an MTOW of only 10,700 lb (4,900 kg). The result was, among other flaws, a very long take-off distance, especially in the hot desert climate of the Mojave Desert (which precluded any external ordnance) and an inherent unwillingness to change direction, its turning radius was immense. More than once the brakes overheated during landing, so that extra water cooling for the main landing gear was retrofitted.

Once in the air, the aircraft proved to be quite fast – as long as it was flying in a straight line, though. Only the roll characteristics were acceptable, but flying the XP-68A remained hazardous, esp. after the loss of one of the H-1s engines: This resulted in heavily asymmetrical propulsion, making the XP-68A hard to control at all and prone to spin in level flight.

 

After trials and direct comparison, the XP-68A turned out not to be as fast and, even worse, much less agile than the Meteor Mk III (the RAF’s then current, operational fighter version), which even had weaker Derwent engines. The operational range was insufficient, too, esp. in regard of the planned Pacific theatre of operations, and the high overall weight precluded any considerable external load like drop tanks.

However, compared with the XP-59A, the XP-68A was a considerable step forward, but it had become quickly clear that the XP-68A and its outfit-a-propeller-design-with jet-engines approach did not bear the potential for any service fighter development: it was already outdated when the prototypes were starting their test program. No further XP-68A was ordered or built, and the three prototypes fulfilled their test and evaluation program until May 1945. During these tests, the first prototype was lost on the ground due to an engine fire. After the program’s completion, the two remaining machines were handed over to the US Navy and used for research at the NATC Patuxent River Test Centre, where they were operated until 1949 and finally scrapped.

  

General characteristics.

Crew: 1

Length: 33 ft 9 in (10.36 m)

Wingspan: 38 ft 4 in (11.7 m)

Height: 13 ft (3.96 m)

Wing area: 248 sq ft (23 m²)

Empty weight: 8,799 lb (3,995 kg)

Loaded weight: 15,138 lb (6,873 kg)

Max. take-off weight: 17,246 lb (7,830 kg)

 

Powerplant:

2× Halford H-1 (De Havilland Goblin) turbojets, rated at 3,500 lbf (15.6 kN) each

 

Performance:

Maximum speed: 559 mph (900 km/h)

Range: 500 mi (444 nmi, 805 km)

Service ceiling: 37,565 ft (11,450 m)

Rate of climb: 3.930 ft/min (20 m/s)

Wing loading: 44.9 lb/ft² (218.97 kg/m²)

Thrust/weight: 0.45

Time to altitude: 5.0 min to 30,000 ft (9,145 m)

 

Armament:

4× Hispano M2 20 mm cannon with 150 rounds

One ventral hardpoint for a single drop tank or a 1.000 lb (550 kg) bomb

6× 60 lb (30 kg) rockets or 2× 500 lb (227 kg) bombs under the outer wings

  

The kit and its assembly:

This whiffy Kingcobra conversion was spawned by a post by fellow user nighthunter in January 2019 at whatifmodelers.com about a potential jet-powered variant. In found the idea charming, since the XP-59 had turned out to be a dud and the Gloster Meteor had been tested by the USAAF. Why not combine both into a fictional, late WWII Bell prototype?

The basic idea was simple: take a P-63 and add a Meteor’s engine nacelles, while keeping the Kingcobra’s original proportions. This sounds pretty easy but was more challenging than the first look at the outcome might suggest.

 

The donor kits are a vintage Airfix 1:72 Gloster Meteor Mk.III, since it has the proper, small nacelles, and an Eastern Express P-63 Kingcobra. The latter looked promising, since this kit comes with very good surface and cockpit details (even with a clear dashboard) as well as parts for several P-63 variants, including the A, C and even the exotic “pinball” manned target version. However, anything comes at a price, and the kit’s low price point is compensated by soft plastic (which turned out to be hard to sand), some flash and mediocre fit of any of the major components like fuselage halves, the wings or the clear parts. It feels a lot like a typical short-run kit. Nevertheless, I feel inclined to build another one in a more conventional fashion some day.

 

Work started with the H-1 nacelles, which had to be cut out from the Meteor wings. Since they come OOB only with a well-visible vertical plate and a main wing spar dummy in the air intake, I added some fine mesh to the plate – normally, you can see directly onto the engine behind the wing spar. Another issue was the fact that the Meteor’s wings are much thicker and deeper than the P-63s, so that lots of PSR work was necessary.

 

Simply cutting the P-63 OOB wings up and inserting the Meteor nacelles was also not possible: the P-63 has a very wide main landing gear, due to the ventral radiators and oil coolers, which were originally buried in the wing roots and under the piston engine. The only solution: move the complete landing gear (including the wells) inward, so that the nacelles could be placed as close as possible to the fuselage in a mid-span position. Furthermore, the - now useless - radiator openings had to disappear, resulting in a major redesign of the wing root sections. All of this became a major surgery task, followed by similarly messy work on the outer wings during the integration of the Meteor nacelles. LOTS of PSR, even though the outcome looks surprisingly plausible and balanced.

 

Work on the fuselage started in parallel. It was built mainly OOB, using the optional ventral fin for a P-63C. The exhaust stubs as well as the dorsal carburetor intake had to disappear (the latter made easy thanks to suitable optional parts for the manned target version). Since the P-63 had a conventional low stabilizer arrangement (unlike the Meteor with its cruciform tail), I gave them a slight dihedral to move them out of the engine efflux, a trick Sukhoi engineers did on the Su-11 prototype with afterburner engines in 1947, too.

 

Furthermore, the whole nose ahead of the cockpit was heavily re-designed, because I wanted the “new” aircraft to lose its propeller heritage and the P-63’s round and rather pointed nose. Somewhat inspired by the P-59 and the P-80, I omitted the propeller parts altogether and re-sculpted the nose with 2C putty, creating a deeper shape with a tall, oval diameter, so that the lower fuselage line was horizontally extended forward. In a profile view the aircraft now looks much more massive and P-80esque. The front landing gear was retained, just its side walls were extended downwards with the help of 0.5mm styrene sheet material, so that the original stance could be kept. Lots of lead in the nose ensured that the model would properly stand on its three wheels.

 

Once the rhinoplasty was done I drilled four holes into the nose and used hollow steel needles as gun barrels, with a look reminiscent of the Douglas A-20G.

Adding the (perfectly) clear parts of the canopy as a final assembly step also turned out to be a major fight against the elements.

  

Painting and markings:

With an USAAF WWII prototype in mind, there were only two options: either an NMF machine, or a camouflage in Olive Drab and Neutral Grey. I went for the latter and used Tamiya XF-62 for the upper surfaces and Humbrol 156 (Dark Camouflage Grey) underneath. The kit received a light black ink wash and some post shading in order to emphasize panels. A little dry-brushing with silver around the leading edges and the cockpit was done, too.

 

The cockpit interior became chromate green (I used Humbrol 150, Forest Green) while the landing gear wells were painted with zinc chromate yellow (Humbrol 81). The landing gear itself was painted in aluminum (Humbrol 56).

Markings/decals became minimal, puzzled together from various sources – only some “Stars and Bars” insignia and the serial number.

  

Somehow this conversion ended up looking a lot like the contemporary Soviet Sukhoi Su-9 and -11 (Samolyet K and LK) jet fighter prototype – unintentionally, though. But I am happy with the outcome – the P-63 ancestry is there, and the Meteor engines are recognizable, too. But everything blends into each other well, the whole affair looks very balanced and believable. This is IMHO furthermore emphasized by the simple paint scheme. A jet-powered Kingcobra? Why not…?

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!

  

Some background:

The Bell XP-68A owed its existence to the manufacturer’s rather disappointing outcome of its first jet fighter design, the XP-59A Airacomet. The Airacomet was a twin jet-engined fighter aircraft, designed and built during World War II after Major General Henry H. "Hap" Arnold became aware of the United Kingdom's jet program when he attended a demonstration of the Gloster E.28/39 in April 1941. He requested, and was given, the plans for the aircraft's powerplant, the Power Jets W.1, which he took back to the U.S. He also arranged for an example of the engine, the Whittle W.1X turbojet, to be flown to the U.S., along with drawings for the more powerful W.2B/23 engine and a small team of Power Jets engineers. On 4 September 1941, he offered the U.S. company General Electric a contract to produce an American version of the engine, which subsequently became the General Electric I-A. On the following day, he approached Lawrence Dale Bell, head of Bell Aircraft Corporation, to build a fighter to utilize it. As a disinformation tactic, the USAAF gave the project the designation "P-59A", to suggest it was a development of the unrelated, canceled Bell XP-59 fighter project. The P-59A was the first design fighter to have its turbojet engine and air inlet nacelles integrated within the main fuselage. The jet aircraft’s design was finalized on 9 January 1942 and the first prototype flew in October of the same year.

 

The following 13 service test YP-59As had a more powerful engine than their predecessor, the General Electric J31, but the improvement in performance was negligible, with top speed increased by only 5 mph and a slight reduction in the time they could be used before an overhaul was needed. One of these aircraft, the third YP-59A, was supplied to the Royal Air Force, in exchange for the first production Gloster Meteor I for evaluation and flight-offs with domestic alternatives.

British pilots found that the YP-59A compared very unfavorably with the jets that they were already flying. The United States Army Air Forces were not impressed by its performance either and cancelled the contract when fewer than half of the originally ordered aircraft had been produced. No P-59s entered combat, but the type paved the way for the next design generation of U.S. turbojet-powered aircraft and helped to develop appropriate maintenance structures and procedures.

 

In the meantime, a new, more powerful jet engine had been developed in Great Britain, the Halford H-1, which became later better known as the De Havilland Goblin. It was another centrifugal compressor design, but it produced almost twice as much thrust as the XP-59A’s J31 engines. Impressed by the British Gloster Meteor during the USAAF tests at Muroc Dry Lake - performance-wise as well as by the aircraft’s simplicity and ruggedness - Bell reacted promptly and proposed an alternative fighter with wing-mounted engine nacelles, since the XP-59A’s layout had proven to be aerodynamically sub-optimal and unsuited for the installation of H-1 engines. In order to save development time and because the aircraft was rather regarded as a proof-of-concept demonstrator instead of a true fighter prototype, the new aircraft was structurally based on Bell’s current piston-engine P-63 “Kingcobra”. The proposal was accepted and, in order to maintain secrecy, the new jet aircraft inherited once more a designation of a recently cancelled project, this time from the Vultee XP-68 “Tornado” fighter. Similar to the Airacomet two years before, just a simple “A” suffix was added.

 

Bell’s development contract covered only three XP-68A aircraft. The H-1 units were directly imported from Great Britain in secrecy, suspended in the bomb bays of B-24 Liberator bombers. A pair of these engines was mounted in mid-wing nacelles, very similar to the Gloster Meteor’s arrangement. The tailplane was given a 5° dihedral to move it out of the engine exhaust. In order to bear the new engines and their power, the wing main spars were strengthened and the main landing gear wells were moved towards the aircraft’s centerline, effectively narrowing track width. The landing gear wells now occupied the space of the former radiator ducts for the P-63’s omitted Allison V-1710 liquid-cooled V12 engine. Its former compartment behind the cockpit was used for a new fuel tank and test equipment. Having lost the propeller and its long drive shaft, the nose section was also redesigned: the front fuselage became deeper and the additional space there was used for another fuel tank in front of the cockpit and a bigger weapon bay. Different armament arrangements were envisioned, one of each was to be tested on the three prototypes: one machine would be armed with six 0.5” machine guns, another with four 20mm Hispano M2 cannon, and the third with two 37mm M10 cannon and two 0.5” machine guns. Provisions for a ventral hardpoint for a single drop tank or a 1.000 lb (550 kg) bomb were made, but this was never fitted on any of the prototypes. Additional hardpoints under the outer wings for smaller bombs or unguided missiles followed the same fate.

 

The three XP-68As were built at Bell’s Atlanta plant in the course of early 1944 and semi-officially christened “Airagator”. After their clandestine transfer to Muroc Dry Lake for flight tests and evaluations, the machines were quickly nicknamed “Barrelcobra” by the test staff – not only because of the characteristic shape of the engine nacelles, but also due to the sheer weight of the machines and their resulting sluggish handling on the ground and in the air. “Cadillac” was another nickname, due to the very soft acceleration through the new jet engines and the lack of vibrations that were typical for piston-engine- and propeller-driven aircraft.

 

Due to the structural reinforcements and modifications, the XP-68A had become a heavy aircraft with an empty weight of 4 tons and a MTOW of almost 8 tons – the same as the big P-47 Thunderbolt piston fighter, while the P-63 had an MTOW of only 10,700 lb (4,900 kg). The result was, among other flaws, a very long take-off distance, especially in the hot desert climate of the Mojave Desert (which precluded any external ordnance) and an inherent unwillingness to change direction, its turning radius was immense. More than once the brakes overheated during landing, so that extra water cooling for the main landing gear was retrofitted.

Once in the air, the aircraft proved to be quite fast – as long as it was flying in a straight line, though. Only the roll characteristics were acceptable, but flying the XP-68A remained hazardous, esp. after the loss of one of the H-1s engines: This resulted in heavily asymmetrical propulsion, making the XP-68A hard to control at all and prone to spin in level flight.

 

After trials and direct comparison, the XP-68A turned out not to be as fast and, even worse, much less agile than the Meteor Mk III (the RAF’s then current, operational fighter version), which even had weaker Derwent engines. The operational range was insufficient, too, esp. in regard of the planned Pacific theatre of operations, and the high overall weight precluded any considerable external load like drop tanks.

However, compared with the XP-59A, the XP-68A was a considerable step forward, but it had become quickly clear that the XP-68A and its outfit-a-propeller-design-with jet-engines approach did not bear the potential for any service fighter development: it was already outdated when the prototypes were starting their test program. No further XP-68A was ordered or built, and the three prototypes fulfilled their test and evaluation program until May 1945. During these tests, the first prototype was lost on the ground due to an engine fire. After the program’s completion, the two remaining machines were handed over to the US Navy and used for research at the NATC Patuxent River Test Centre, where they were operated until 1949 and finally scrapped.

  

General characteristics.

Crew: 1

Length: 33 ft 9 in (10.36 m)

Wingspan: 38 ft 4 in (11.7 m)

Height: 13 ft (3.96 m)

Wing area: 248 sq ft (23 m²)

Empty weight: 8,799 lb (3,995 kg)

Loaded weight: 15,138 lb (6,873 kg)

Max. take-off weight: 17,246 lb (7,830 kg)

 

Powerplant:

2× Halford H-1 (De Havilland Goblin) turbojets, rated at 3,500 lbf (15.6 kN) each

 

Performance:

Maximum speed: 559 mph (900 km/h)

Range: 500 mi (444 nmi, 805 km)

Service ceiling: 37,565 ft (11,450 m)

Rate of climb: 3.930 ft/min (20 m/s)

Wing loading: 44.9 lb/ft² (218.97 kg/m²)

Thrust/weight: 0.45

Time to altitude: 5.0 min to 30,000 ft (9,145 m)

 

Armament:

4× Hispano M2 20 mm cannon with 150 rounds

One ventral hardpoint for a single drop tank or a 1.000 lb (550 kg) bomb

6× 60 lb (30 kg) rockets or 2× 500 lb (227 kg) bombs under the outer wings

  

The kit and its assembly:

This whiffy Kingcobra conversion was spawned by a post by fellow user nighthunter in January 2019 at whatifmodelers.com about a potential jet-powered variant. In found the idea charming, since the XP-59 had turned out to be a dud and the Gloster Meteor had been tested by the USAAF. Why not combine both into a fictional, late WWII Bell prototype?

The basic idea was simple: take a P-63 and add a Meteor’s engine nacelles, while keeping the Kingcobra’s original proportions. This sounds pretty easy but was more challenging than the first look at the outcome might suggest.

 

The donor kits are a vintage Airfix 1:72 Gloster Meteor Mk.III, since it has the proper, small nacelles, and an Eastern Express P-63 Kingcobra. The latter looked promising, since this kit comes with very good surface and cockpit details (even with a clear dashboard) as well as parts for several P-63 variants, including the A, C and even the exotic “pinball” manned target version. However, anything comes at a price, and the kit’s low price point is compensated by soft plastic (which turned out to be hard to sand), some flash and mediocre fit of any of the major components like fuselage halves, the wings or the clear parts. It feels a lot like a typical short-run kit. Nevertheless, I feel inclined to build another one in a more conventional fashion some day.

 

Work started with the H-1 nacelles, which had to be cut out from the Meteor wings. Since they come OOB only with a well-visible vertical plate and a main wing spar dummy in the air intake, I added some fine mesh to the plate – normally, you can see directly onto the engine behind the wing spar. Another issue was the fact that the Meteor’s wings are much thicker and deeper than the P-63s, so that lots of PSR work was necessary.

 

Simply cutting the P-63 OOB wings up and inserting the Meteor nacelles was also not possible: the P-63 has a very wide main landing gear, due to the ventral radiators and oil coolers, which were originally buried in the wing roots and under the piston engine. The only solution: move the complete landing gear (including the wells) inward, so that the nacelles could be placed as close as possible to the fuselage in a mid-span position. Furthermore, the - now useless - radiator openings had to disappear, resulting in a major redesign of the wing root sections. All of this became a major surgery task, followed by similarly messy work on the outer wings during the integration of the Meteor nacelles. LOTS of PSR, even though the outcome looks surprisingly plausible and balanced.

 

Work on the fuselage started in parallel. It was built mainly OOB, using the optional ventral fin for a P-63C. The exhaust stubs as well as the dorsal carburetor intake had to disappear (the latter made easy thanks to suitable optional parts for the manned target version). Since the P-63 had a conventional low stabilizer arrangement (unlike the Meteor with its cruciform tail), I gave them a slight dihedral to move them out of the engine efflux, a trick Sukhoi engineers did on the Su-11 prototype with afterburner engines in 1947, too.

 

Furthermore, the whole nose ahead of the cockpit was heavily re-designed, because I wanted the “new” aircraft to lose its propeller heritage and the P-63’s round and rather pointed nose. Somewhat inspired by the P-59 and the P-80, I omitted the propeller parts altogether and re-sculpted the nose with 2C putty, creating a deeper shape with a tall, oval diameter, so that the lower fuselage line was horizontally extended forward. In a profile view the aircraft now looks much more massive and P-80esque. The front landing gear was retained, just its side walls were extended downwards with the help of 0.5mm styrene sheet material, so that the original stance could be kept. Lots of lead in the nose ensured that the model would properly stand on its three wheels.

 

Once the rhinoplasty was done I drilled four holes into the nose and used hollow steel needles as gun barrels, with a look reminiscent of the Douglas A-20G.

Adding the (perfectly) clear parts of the canopy as a final assembly step also turned out to be a major fight against the elements.

  

Painting and markings:

With an USAAF WWII prototype in mind, there were only two options: either an NMF machine, or a camouflage in Olive Drab and Neutral Grey. I went for the latter and used Tamiya XF-62 for the upper surfaces and Humbrol 156 (Dark Camouflage Grey) underneath. The kit received a light black ink wash and some post shading in order to emphasize panels. A little dry-brushing with silver around the leading edges and the cockpit was done, too.

 

The cockpit interior became chromate green (I used Humbrol 150, Forest Green) while the landing gear wells were painted with zinc chromate yellow (Humbrol 81). The landing gear itself was painted in aluminum (Humbrol 56).

Markings/decals became minimal, puzzled together from various sources – only some “Stars and Bars” insignia and the serial number.

  

Somehow this conversion ended up looking a lot like the contemporary Soviet Sukhoi Su-9 and -11 (Samolyet K and LK) jet fighter prototype – unintentionally, though. But I am happy with the outcome – the P-63 ancestry is there, and the Meteor engines are recognizable, too. But everything blends into each other well, the whole affair looks very balanced and believable. This is IMHO furthermore emphasized by the simple paint scheme. A jet-powered Kingcobra? Why not…?

“Fossils fascinate me – they’re like time capsules; if only one could unwind this spiral it would probably play back to us a picture of all the landscapes it’s ever seen” – J.G. Ballard, Prisoner of the Coral Deep, 1964

 

“Ammonite” video artwork by Disinformation

21 May to 16 July 2023

 

Outernet Arts, Now Building

Tottenham Court Road

London WC2H 8LH

 

Feature in Clot Magazine – tinyurl.com/y2t8czmk

 

www.outernetarts.com/channel

 

NB: short extract, silent, MP4 H.264 (heavily compressed video) - original artworks copyright © 2009

From left to right: Lisa Guernsey, Deputy Director, Education Policy Program, New America, Director, Learning Technologies Project, New America;

 

Aleksander Dardeli, Senior Vice President, IREX;

 

An-Me Chung, Senior Fellow, Mozilla Foundation;

 

Alan Page, Government teacher, Oklahoma City Public Schools

Involved with Generation Citizen;

 

Patricia Hunt, Government teacher, Arlington County Public Schools, Involved with the News Literacy Project

Parola Tank Museum, Finland.

 

The Sturmgeschütz III (StuG III) assault gun was Germany's most produced armoured fighting vehicle during World War II. It was built on the chassis of the proven Panzer III tank. Initially intended as a mobile, armoured light gun for infantry support, the StuG was continually modified and was widely employed as a tank destroyer.

   

Development

 

The Sturmgeschütz III originated from German experiences in World War I when it was discovered that during the offensives on the western front the infantry lacked the means to effectively engage fortifications. The artillery of the time was heavy and not mobile enough to keep up with the advancing infantry to destroy bunkers, pillboxes, and other minor obstacles with direct-fire. Although the problem was well-known in the German army, it was General Erich von Manstein who is considered the father of the Sturmartillerie. This is because the initial proposal was from (then) Colonel Erich von Manstein and submitted to General Ludwig Beck in 1935, suggesting that Sturmartillerie ("assault artillery") units should be used in a direct-fire support role for infantry divisions. On June 15, 1936, Daimler-Benz AG received an order to develop an armoured infantry support vehicle capable of mounting a 75 mm (2.95 in) artillery piece. The gun was to have a limited traverse of a minimum of 25° and be mounted in an enclosed superstructure that provided overhead protection for the crew. The height of the vehicle was not to exceed that of the average man.

 

Daimler-Benz AG used the chassis and running gear of its recently designed Pz.Kpfw. III medium tank as a basis for the new vehicle. Prototype manufacture was passed over to Alkett, which produced five examples in 1937 of the experimental 0-series StuG based upon the Pz.Kpfw. III Ausf. B. These prototypes featured a mild steel superstructure and Krupp’s short-barreled 75 mm StuK 37 L/24 cannon. This model was known as the Sturmgeschütz Ausführung A.

  

StuG III, Ausf. AWhile the StuG III was considered self-propelled artillery it was not initially clear which arm of the Wehrmacht would handle the new weapon. The Panzer arm, who was the natural user of tracked fighting vehicles, had no resources to spare for the formation of StuG units, and neither did the Infantry branch. It was therefore agreed, after a discussion, it would best be employed by becoming a part of the artillery arm.

 

The StuGs were organised into battalions (later renamed "brigades" for disinformation purposes) and followed their own specific doctrine. Infantry support using direct-fire was its intended role, and later there was also a strong emphasis on destroying enemy armour whenever encountered.

  

StuG III, Ausf. G, September 1944As the StuG III was designed to fill an infantry close support combat role, early models were fitted with a low-velocity 75 mm StuK 37 L/24 gun to destroy soft-skin targets and fortifications. After the Germans encountered the Soviet KV-1 and T-34 tanks, the StuG III was equipped with a high-velocity 75 mm StuK 40 L/43 main gun (Spring 1942) and later – the 75 mm StuK 40 L/48 (Autumn 1942) anti-tank gun. These versions were known as the Sturmgeschütz 40 Ausführung F, Ausf. F/8 and Ausf. G.

 

When the StuG IV entered production in late 1943, early 1944, the "III" was added to the name to separate them from the Panzer IV-based assault guns. All previous and following models were thereafter known as Sturmgeschütz III.

 

Beginning with the StuG III Ausf. E a 7.92 mm MG34 was mounted on the hull for added anti-infantry protection while some StuG III Ausf. G models were equipped with an additional coaxial 7.92 mm MG34.

 

The vehicles of the Sturmgeschütz series were cheaper and faster to build than contemporary German tanks; at 82,500 RM, a StuG III Ausf G was cheaper than a Panzer III Ausf. M which cost 103,163 RM to build. By the end of the war, 10,619 StuG III and StuH 42 had been built.[1] This was due to the omission of the turret, which greatly simplified manufacture and allowed the chassis to carry a larger gun than it could otherwise.

  

Operational history

 

Stug III in Sofia, BulgariaOverall, Sturmgeschütz series assault guns proved very successful and served on all fronts as assault guns and tank destroyers. Although Tigers and Panthers have earned a greater notoriety, assault guns collectively destroyed more tanks. Because of their low silhouette, StuG IIIs were easy to camouflage and a difficult target. Sturmgeschütz crews were considered to be the elite of the artillery units. Sturmgeschütz units held a very impressive record of tank kills – some 20,000 enemy tanks by the spring of 1944.[2] As of April 10 1945, there were 1,053 StuG IIIs and 277 StuH 42s in service. Approximately 9,500 StuG IIIs of various types were produced until March 1945 by Alkett and a small number by MIAG.

 

In terms of the resources expended in their construction, the StuG assault guns were extremely cost-effective compared to the heavier German tanks, though in the anti-tank role, it was best used defensively, as the lack of a turret would be a severe disadvantage out in the open. As the German military situation deteriorated later in the war, more and more StuG guns were constructed in comparison to tanks, in an effort to replace losses and bolster defences against the encroaching Allied forces.

 

In 1944 the Finnish Army received 59 StuG III Ausf. Gs from Germany (30 Stu 40 Ausf.G and 29 StuG III Ausf. G) and used them against the Soviet Union. These destroyed at least 87 enemy tanks for a loss of only 8 StuGs[2] (some of these were destroyed by their crews when they abandoned the vehicle to prevent capture). After the war, they were the main combat vehicles of the Finnish Army until the early 1960s. These StuGs gained the nickname "Sturmi" which can be found in some plastic kit models.

 

StuG IIIs were also exported to other nations like Bulgaria, Hungary, Italy, Romania, and Spain.

 

Many German Sturmgeschütz IIIs were captured by Yugoslav Partisans and after the war they were used by the Yugoslav Peoples Army until the 1950s.

 

After the Second World War, the Soviet Union donated some of their captured German vehicles to Syria, which continued to use them at least until the Six Days War (1967).

 

Wikipedia

 

Sturmgeschütz III (StuG III) (Штурмгешутц III (Штуг III)— средняя по массе немецкая самоходно-артиллерийская установка класса штурмовых орудий времён Второй мировой войны на базе танка Pz Kpfw III. Серийно выпускалась в различных модификациях с 1940 по 1945 год и стала самым массовым по численности представителем бронетехники вермахта (выпущено 8636 самоходок с 75-мм орудиями).

  

StuG III — компоновка боевого подразделения и размещение в нем экипажаПолное официальное название машины — Gepanzerte Selbstfahrlafette fur Sturmgeschütz 7,5 cm Kanone. По ведомственному рубрикатору министерства вооружений нацистской Германии самоходка обозначалась как Sd Kfz 142. StuG III также обозначается как StuG 40, в советской литературе эту машину именовали как Артштурм. StuG III активно использовались на всех фронтах Второй мировой войны и в целом получили хорошие отзывы немецкого командования: к началу 1944 на счету StuG III было около 20,000 танков противника Захваченные Красной Армией StuG III переделывались в самоходки СУ-76И, вооружённые той же пушкой Ф-34, что и у танка Т-34.

   

[править] История

В 1935 Эрих фон Манштейн в письме к генералу Беку описал идею машин «штурмовой артиллерии», главной задачей которых должна была бы быть непосредственная поддержка атакующих подразделений пехоты. После проработки подробных запросов, 15 июня 1936 г. фирма «Даймлер-Бенц АГ» получила заказ на проектирование бронированных машин поддержки пехоты, вооруженных 75 мм пушкой, со свободой движения ствола в горизонтальной плоскости по крайней мере в 25°. Машина должна была быть полностью бронирована, тем самым защищая экипаж от прямого огня неприятеля, а полная высота транспортного средства не должна была превышать высоту типичного солдата. Для разработки новой самоходки «Даймлер-Бенц» решил использовать шасси нового среднего танка Панцеркампфваген III . Первые пять прототипов были произведены в 1937 г. на шасси Панцеркампфваген III Аусф. Б. Они были вооружены короткоствольной 75 мм пушкой Штурмканоне 37 Л/24 (со стволом в 24 калибра) с низкой начальной скоростью снаряда. После столкновения в России с танками Т-34 было решено переоборудовать ШТУГ III длинноствольной пушкой, пригодной для поражения брони советских танков. С весны 1942 г. стали использовать пушки 75 мм Штурмканоне 40 Л/43, а осенью этого года ещё более длинноствольные версии этой пушки — Л/48. Более поздние модели ШТУГа III также были оснащены пулеметом Мг34 калибром 7,92 мм, установленным перед командирским люком (так как другого способа установки пулемета не имелось). Все машины из серии Штурмгешутс были дешевле в производстве, чем танки на тех же шасси. ШТУГ III стоил 82,5 тысяч марок, в то время как Панцеркампфваген III стоил более 103 тысяч марок. По сравнению с этим, например, буксируемый вариант той же 75 мм пушки, используемой в Штуге, стоил 12 тыс. марок. До конца войны было произведено свыше 10500 экземпляров в разных модификациях.

 

© Angela M. Lobefaro

All Rights Reserved

 

© RIPRODUZIONE RISERVATA

 

www.worldlingo.com/ma/enwiki/en/Postliterate_society

  

Analfabeta di ritorno

 

Si definisce analfabeta di ritorno chi, pur avendo imparato a leggere e scrivere, per poca o nulla pratica ha dimenticato ciò che ha appreso nel passato.

 

Planned Obsolescence

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_obsolescence

 

A New Kind of Enemy Needs a New Response.

 

Hawks are hovering over my country!

 

My country has been slighted.

 

A slight it could have done little to protect itself from. For ten years, no country in the world has escaped the ignominy of seeing its hapless citizens being mowed down.

 

A slight it finds itself at a loss on how to deal with. No country in the world has found an appropriate response to such a slight in the last ten years.

_______________________________________________________

A mood of anger and retribution!

The people are seething with anger! Just about coming to terms with India's new power in the world order built on the two decades of economic growth and half a century of Democracy, they are demanding India flex that power.

 

We have seen the US in hot pursuit.

 

Peace has not returned to the world but its soldiers are dying in an almost Vietnam kind of situation.

 

Its president had to admit his unpreparedness to tackle the enemy of this scale and this invisibility.

 

And of course he has the distinction of being the most ridiculed Presidents of the USA ever.

 

In the meanwhile this hot pursuit has pushed some more gullible young men with dreams of martyrdom against the big bad enemy of their religion, into the waiting clutches of the Generals of this hidden enemy.

 

But the people demand a hot pursuit nevertheless. Even if we know that that only helps swell the ranks of the enemy!

 

To fight the Satan, we do his bidding!

_______________________________________________________

The Enemy Beckons us to Strike at him and Increase his Numbers!

The world today is like a rat infested home. A housewife knows that you do not get rid of the rats by spraying bullets. Rats will just wait in their lairs and then strike when the lights are off and everyone is asleep. In the meanwhile they would be swelling their ranks by procreating.

 

This rat like enemy today is using these strikes to evoke a righteous and forceful reaction from us.

 

This reaction alienates its kind from the world and swells its armies, but it does not kill him!

______________________________________________________

The Enemy is Taking from us Our Morale!

The fact that we are now worried that he can strike anywhere. In trains. In temples. In office buildings. In nightclubs. In parliaments. In markets. In five star hotels. Seems like it is by design. A sample of all kinds of locations that cover all strata of the society.

_________________________________________________________

The Enemy Makes us Headless and Directionless!

Till yesterday, the guerilla aimed at decapacitating its massively larger enemy by assassinating its leaders.

 

Ask Indian Peace Keeping Force that operated against the LTTE in Sri Lanka. The LTTE snipers would take out the leader of our troops and then run down the confused troops. This kept happenig till our troops learnt to protect their leaders by making them wear uniforms similar to theirs and by keeping them in the midst of the formation rather than at the head of it.

 

Today's enemy is far savvier! He kills our leadership not our leaders.

 

Can you see the pattern?

 

The democratically elected President of the most powerful nation in the world, today looking like a shadow of his former self. A country that elected him less than four years ago, laughing and jeering at him.

 

Aren't our leaders facing the same fate today?

 

This enemy's snipers are not its riflemen but its propagandists!

 

I wonder how many derogatory SMSs, blogs and emails floating around today, seen as public sentiment by our television, are generated by the propaganda modules of the enemy!

 

The pattern is clear. The motive is very clear. We know who gains when leaders get eliminated. Do we still doubt who the culprit is?

_______________________________________________________

May be the enemy won't succeed. May be we can get better leaders?

Most dangerously, SMS, blogs and emails are now asking for the Army to move in and take over the country. Such fine soldiers, who have this image of impeccable honesty, should be able to protect our country and govern it better.

 

The messages are not only inviting or wishing for military rule but also provoking the men in uniform.

 

Look, how the politicians insult the soldiers! Look they can't even treat the mothers, a powerful word in India, of the slain soldiers properly! The TV channels then promptly get mothers of martyrs on television and speak against the politician.

 

The news channels show with glee the shameful incident of the father of a slain army officer throwing out the chief minister of his state from his house. The chief minister had come to offer condolences. One can pardon the act of the aggrieved father, but one can not extol this as a virtue of behavior. His son was a role model, not this act of the father.

 

Our TV channels go on regardless. They represent people's mood. People want change? Or do they? Or does someone else stoke the flames and guides the fire in a direction of their choice? Are the TV channels unwittingly playing in the hands of the enemy's information machine?

___________________________________________________

The Enemy Brings us Down from the High Ground!

Physical higher ground in conventional warfare gives disproportionate advantage to its occupant. We have had that moral higher ground due to our resilient democracy and human rights.

 

How much would be enough for some power-hungry or emotional (or both) General to roll his tanks and take over the country?

 

Our neighbors envy our democracy. They lose faith of their biggest ally, the US, because we have it, they don't.

 

There is a concept of force-equaliser in warfare. Do their propaganda modules aim for that? Would any enemy not?

 

Citizens of my country; media of my country; leaders of my country; security forces of my country - beware of this new enemy. Beware of his new warfare. A warfare with same objecives - kill leaders, bring down morale, equalise numbers, equalise ground - the weapons are different - the way of 'Kautilya' - disinformation.

 

____________________________________________

So what do we do now?

First of all what we do not do.

 

Let us not counter this warfare with missiles and tanks.

 

Let us not fall for the timer bombs of disinformation, aimed at 'assassinating' our leaders.

 

Let us not divide ourselves. Politicians versus citizens. Army vs police. Agencies blaming each other for lapses. Communities of people suspecting each other. The enemy has struck all of us - but in a way that divides us.

 

Let us not do what the enemy wants us to do!

Let us not let the hawks take over our skies!

______________________________________

(Watch out for "What we Should Do Other than Pray")

View On Black

It's come to my attention that this image is being used by a few right-wing websites that are throwing around disinformation as fact. I took this photo for aesthetic reasons, and not to make any political or non-artistic statements. These websites have the right to use my images based upon my choice of copyright, but please do not associate me or my beliefs with any organization due to their usage of my images.

Marcel Mac Duchamp, from the Irish branch of the family, seen here with the complete back-issues of 'The Village Voice' 1955 to 1986, arrived in Manhattan in 1986, pre-internet, pre-mobiles, pre-influencers, pre-trigger warnings.

 

However did we communicate with each other?

 

We read, we researched, we evaluated and we demonstrated.

We even tried to make art about what was happening.

 

We Acted-Up.

 

We supported each other, through life, demonstrating, and death.

 

In the late 1980s, New York City's Village Voice addressed HIV conspiracy theories and AIDS-related fears, particularly those circulating in the gay and African-American communities. While the Village Voice worked to counteract misinformation, another NYC gay paper, the New York Native, became a prominent source for promoting HIV conspiracy theories. The broader historical context includes government inaction, early scientific uncertainty, and disinformation campaigns, which all fueled distrust.

 

The Village Voice's coverage and stance:

 

•Active opposition to misinformation: The Village Voice and its writers like Richard Goldstein often confronted the misinformation head-on. A key aspect of their coverage was refuting dangerous rumors about how HIV could be transmitted and documenting the personal toll of the crisis.

 

•Political and social commentary: The paper used political and social commentary to critique the inadequate and homophobic response of the Reagan administration and explore the crisis from the perspective of the gay community. For many, the government's initial apathy and slow reaction to the growing epidemic contributed to deep-seated distrust.

 

•Amplifying activism: The Village Voice also covered the crucial work of activist groups like ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power), which was founded in New York in 1987. ACT UP's militant actions often targeted the government and pharmaceutical companies for their slow response and high drug prices.

 

Contrasting coverage in the New York Native:

 

While the Village Voice focused on activist and social issues, another NYC gay paper, the New York Native, took a different and destructive path.

 

•Promoting dangerous theories: In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Native shifted away from reporting on community issues to prominently featuring the fringe ideas of AIDS denialist Peter Duesberg.

 

•Denialist content: Duesberg's theories, which claimed that recreational drugs and not HIV caused AIDS, were featured extensively in the Native, spreading baseless information that undermined public health efforts.

 

•Negative impact: By publicizing these harmful conspiracies, the New York Native contributed to confusion and suspicion within the gay community, potentially leading some people to avoid necessary medical treatment.

  

Key HIV conspiracy theories in NYC

  

The conspiracies circulating in late 1980s New York had several major components:

 

•Government-engineered virus: One of the most persistent theories was that the virus was created by the U.S. government, possibly the CIA, to wipe out gay men and African-Americans. A 1990 New York Times/CBS poll found that a significant number of Black New Yorkers believed this was true or might be true, reflecting a long history of medical racism and exploitation.

 

•Contaminated hepatitis-B vaccine: Some theories claimed the government intentionally injected gay men with HIV during hepatitis-B experiments conducted in NYC, San Francisco, and Los Angeles in the 1970s.

 

•KGB disinformation: The KGB actively engaged in a disinformation campaign during the Cold War to promote the false claim that the U.S. military created HIV at Fort Detrick as a biological weapon. This propaganda was intentionally spread through sympathetic international news outlets and later found its way into local publications, particularly those serving the affected communities.

 

The air was still rife with conspiracy, and Fauci was the enemy, though this would change radically when he, influenced by Act-Up, became our champion.

  

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Duesberg

 

and

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Native

 

Vera Jourová, Vice-President for Values and Transparency, European Commission speaking in the The Clear and Present Danger of Disinformation session at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2023 in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, 17 January. Congress Centre - Spotlight. Copyright: World Economic Forum/Faruk Pinjo

Andromeda (on the swing in the picture) became one of the leading young voices on women’s issues in Candirenggo village after joining the Peace Village initiative in 2018. Together with her friends, they run a social media account (The Lokal Projects: www.instagram.com/thelokalprojects/) to promote gender equality and counter disinformation online. Andro also designed a class on aromatherapy candle making during the COVID-19 pandemic to support the mental well-being of women and youth in the community.

 

“After participating in Peace Village activities, I have become very engaged in championing women’s rights and equality, and I have realized that I am a feminist.”

 

Increasing youth participation at the village level is Andro’s priority to ensure that continuous voices from the youth are heard and that diverse and engaged youth groups bring refreshment and regeneration.

 

The ‘Peace Village’ concept was co-conceived by UN Women and Wahid Foundation in 2017. To become a Peace Village, community members in the village agree to a set of commitments designed to prevent violence, promote tolerance, and advance social cohesion. Recognizing economic empowerment as a foundation for change, the Peace Village initiative promotes women's voice and agency, increases women’s access to economic opportunities, and builds their capacity to resolve communal conflict.

 

Read more stories here: pvstorybook.un-guyub.id/

Photo: UN Women/Satu Bumi Jaya

 

There's a bit of what seems to be disinformation going around about whether NPP and ToonMe are Kremlin-sourced data harvesters.

 

Snopes.com has looked into this, and the answer appears to be, no actually. So for now, at any rate, our sites seem to be safe.

www.snopes.com/news/2022/05/11/new-profile-pic-app/

 

Aside from all that, any preferences with these?

Bárcena Mayor. Cantabria

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls3zBL2jPoc&feature=PlayList&...

 

Whether long range weapon or suicide bomber

Wicked mind is a weapon of mass destruction

Whether you're soar away sun or BBC 1

Disinformation is a weapon of mass destruction

You could a Caucasian or a poor Asian

Racism is a weapon of mass destruction

Whether inflation or globalization

Fear is a weapon of mass destruction

 

Whether Halliburton or Enron or anyone

Greed is a weapon of mass destruction

We need to find courage, overcome

Inaction is a weapon of mass destruction

 

The Science Fiction author Jeff Noon wrote in The Independent, describing a Disinformation sound and light exhibit entitled “The Origin of Painting” [1], observing how “people are fascinated by this work”, which brings “a shudder, a sudden recognition of death, as if we have seen or heard our own ghost” [2].

 

“The Origin of Painting” installations gave exhibition visitors the opportunity to 'photograph', and then to step back from and physically touch their own disembodied and slowly-fading shadows (cast onto the glowing surface of a huge phosphorescent painting).

 

Footage from “The Origin of Painting” exhibit [3] was then reversed, played backwards and used as the basis for a Disinformation video artwork entitled “Anti-Matter”, which is offered as “a portrait of an artist consumed by his own shadow”. The “Anti-Matter” video shows a subject walk towards, and then, on touching their own shadow, disappear, annihilated by an explosive flash of light and sound...

 

Full description - cable-depot.com/disinformation

 

[1] “The Origin of Painting” - originally exhibited as “Artificial Lightning”, at the Hayward Gallery, London, April 2000

[2] Jeff Noon “A Symphony…”, The Independent, 1 May 2000

[3] Filmed live at Fabrica Gallery, Brighton, November 2001

 

www.independent.co.uk/incoming/a-symphony-of-the-sounds-t...

Vera Jourová, Vice-President for Values and Transparency, European Commission speaking in the The Clear and Present Danger of Disinformation session at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2023 in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, 17 January. Congress Centre - Spotlight. Copyright: World Economic Forum/Faruk Pinjo

☣ ☣

 

-->> Controversy struck in the early 1980s on a majour part of a fib infiltrated by tOkKa as part of the "Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers Restaurant Disinformation" act ..enacted uponce the retrieval from congress by digressing 3 steps backwards on a ladder head first into a ceiling fan by Kids Meal designers. The lead to massive change in strategy and marketing of Wendy's Kids' Meal boxes .. the whole concept was that the designers thought that it was actually the 1880s ..so they were took towards the distant future to show children what Wendy's Restaurants might look like in the future !!

Thus was born what tOkKa has dubbed the 'Bolly Box' .. cuz honestly he as no flippin' clue which date it really originates from. But when ya fold it out and make it a box it resembles a whimsical Wendy's restaurant !!

  

Wait.. am i allowed to say 'Whimsical' .. hmm that sounds dirty.. no wait..

 

i can use that .. yeh 'WHIMSICAL' ~~**

 

~ t

Disinformation – “The Rapture” - live video + sound installation

 

Exhibition dates - 7 June to 31 July 2022

NB: visits by appointment only

Contact - info@cable-depot.com

 

Cable Depot

Off Warspite Road

Woolwich

London SE18 5NX

 

“Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm, for love is as strong as death, and jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which burn with a vehement flame” – “The Song of Solomon” – chapter 8, verse 6

 

Full text - cable-depot.com/disinformation

 

“The Rapture montage conjures imagery of the flaming aura that resembles portrayals of the Buddhist deity Batō Kannon - a (male) manifestation of (or attendant to) the (female) “goddess of mercy and compassion” Kannon, aka Guanyin - the Taoist deity Mǎ Wáng, the Buddhist deity Acala, the Vedic fire god Agni... The Rapture also resembles the Prophet and angels, depicted with burning halos, in the epic Mirâj Namêh (the Night Journey) of the Persian poet Mir Haydar, illustrated by Mâlik Bakshî.”

 

“Drawing attention to the near homonym by which fire (Nār) and light (Nur) “are audio-visually very similar”, the Iranian art historians Somayeh Ramezanmahi and Hasan Bolkhari Ghehi state in their discourse on 'The Manifestation of Fire and Light in the Icons of Mir-Heidar’s Miraj Nameh'”:

 

“Fire and heat remind always of immortal memories saved in human being’s mind, they have become to a brilliant phenomenon for the exploitation of many ideas, feelings, and thoughts of human. Fire has not only a personal, individual, and internal aspect, but also agential, comprehensive, and general characteristics. It exists in human’s heart, and heaven, blazes from inside, manifested in form of love, and burns inside human… Among all phenomena, fire is indeed the only one that is involved to this extent in the life, thoughts, believes, vision, and feelings of people”.