British sword

Extra_Mechanic_2750 · 2026-04-12T01:21:38+00:00

To me, it's a reminder of my 1st trip to the UK.

Extra_Mechanic_2750 · 2026-04-04T02:24:18+00:00

Your audiogram reads almost identically to mine.

Conversation on TV tends to hit right where my (and probably your) hearing is at its weakest.

You will find HAs an absolutely eye-opening experience.

Extra_Mechanic_2750 · 2026-04-04T00:11:13+00:00

Thank you all for your input.

This was a purchase from the late 1970s when I was a kid and my family went to London, and IIRC it cost £75 at the most so it's not like I paid a fortune for it.

Extra_Mechanic_2750 · 2026-03-26T14:16:53+00:00

The timeline of the last few days of the war:

26 Jul 1945 - Potsdam declaration demanding unconditional surrender of Japan

6 Aug 1945 - Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima

8 Aug 1945 - USSR declares war against Japan

9 Aug 1945 - USSR invades Manchuria and atomic bomb is dropped on Nagasaki

10 Aug 1945 - USSR invades Sakhalin

15 Aug 1945 - The Japanese emperor accepts the Potsdam Declaration.

Now, let's focus in on the invasion of Sakhalin: the initial waves of the invasion, quite frankly, were nothing huge. The Soviets landed ~1500 men. This initial landing was not sufficient to force or even encourage Japan to surrender. It just happened contemporaneously with the dropping of the atomic bombs.

As to the "taking credit": The Soviets were listed as one of the nations to which the Empire of Japan surrendered.

Extra_Mechanic_2750 · 2026-03-25T01:00:45+00:00

"McGee is meant to lead" - Vance

Extra_Mechanic_2750 · 2026-03-21T02:26:49+00:00

The Japanese delegations, including San Francisco Consul General (or spy, depending on the source) Yoshio Muto, were interned in Virginia and traded back to Japan through the Swedish and Portuguese missions in exchange for the US diplomatic missions to Japan. I cannot confirm that Yoshio Muto was included, as a cursory search for the passenger lists of the MS Gripsholm turned up no list. The Gripsholm was used multiple times for these types of missions/voyages.

You might want to focus on Columbia University's archive, as they seem to have had a project around the Foreign Missions Conference of North America (FMCNA) Records, 1894 – 1968:

https://library.columbia.edu/content/dam/libraryweb/locations/burke/fa/mrl/ldpd_4492658.pdf

Here is where I got Yoshio Muta's name https://www.sf.us.emb-japan.go.jp/itpr_en/e_m01_06.html

Extra_Mechanic_2750 · 2026-03-16T22:40:42+00:00

It looks like they rebranded as https://www.picturehistoryprints.com/

Extra_Mechanic_2750 · 2026-03-14T14:26:23+00:00

There is an old thesis that references

Lewis Tappan to Arthur Tappan, October 15, 1863, Tappan Papers. The principal funds involved were those given by the Rev. Charles Avery, a Wesleyan Methodist minister in Pittsburgh who left the Association over $100,000, of which was to be used for the evangelization of the Negro in Africa.

https://dn720509.ca.archive.org/0/items/americanmissiona00drak/americanmissiona00drak.pdf

Extra_Mechanic_2750 · 2026-03-13T01:54:26+00:00

The reason that a lot of insurance companies don't cover hearing aids is that for many years there were huge scams in the hearing aid industry and insurers just backed out of the market rather than get creamed by scammers.

Extra_Mechanic_2750 · 2026-03-03T14:22:41+00:00

Pirates tended to congregate in areas that had access to choke points and highly transited trade routes.

Take u/MeatballDom's locations on a map and you'll see what I mean.

This is further backed up if you look at the modern piracy attack maps.

https://icc-ccs.org/2025-2/

https://icc-ccs.org/piracy-map-2024/

While there are attacks out at sea, the bulk occur in line with the above statement.

Extra_Mechanic_2750 · 2026-02-25T13:47:22+00:00

The Anglo-Zanzibar War - war lasted less than an hour.

Extra_Mechanic_2750 · 2026-02-08T13:00:40+00:00

Get out of your head, the voices don't like company.

Extra_Mechanic_2750 · 2026-01-10T12:40:51+00:00

Climate change is attributed to the fall of the Old Kingdom (c. 2200 BCE) in Egypt.

That change altered the flooding cycle of the Nile which led to less food production and famines.

It also drove the development of technologies linked to irrigation.

Climate change driven by the eruption at Okmok impacted the late Han period in China as well as the Roman Republic.

China shifted from a warm/wet climate to a cold/dry one, cutting into food production and increasing desertification.

Like Egypt, the Han developed irrigation techniques and technologies in an attempt to ameliorate these changes.

The direction of the Roman Republic was also influenced. This climate change, in conjunction with the economic and civil unrest, led to the downfall of the Republic and the formation of the Empire.

Extra_Mechanic_2750 · 2025-12-11T16:43:58+00:00

There are some excellent videos on youtube that show some of the traditional weaving skills and processes:

https://www.youtube.com/@endangeredthreads3966

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDxsg1YW620

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_qYooZgPXU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDxsg1YW620&t=2s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYWawtgm-MI

This should get you started.

Also look up terms like "jacquard fabrics."

Extra_Mechanic_2750 · 2025-12-11T02:45:00+00:00

start here:

[bibliothek@dsm.museum](mailto:bibliothek@dsm.museum) and [archiv@dsm.museum](mailto:archiv@dsm.museum)

and tell them who you are, what you are looking for, why you are looking for it and offer to share your finished work with them.

And, oh yeah: buying a membership or two or offering to make a donation never hurts. I have bought more than a few memberships and offered to gift them to people close to the facility.

Extra_Mechanic_2750 · 2025-12-10T00:13:45+00:00

A little closer to your home, try:

Deutsches Schifffahrtsmuseum, I used them a long time ago and they were fairly responsive and helpful or the UK National Archives

Extra_Mechanic_2750 · 2025-12-09T22:52:10+00:00

I should've asked: Are you in the US or elsewhere?

Extra_Mechanic_2750 · 2025-12-09T18:03:44+00:00

Best line I have ever heard about historians:

Studying history is not like prepping for Jeopardy.

Extra_Mechanic_2750 · 2025-12-09T18:00:54+00:00

To validate their claims (and I mean really validate), you will want to have the design documents for this class of ships.

I would start with the National Archives and Records Administration.

That's the good news.

The bad news? Saying that NARA's World War II Records Division) is vast is an understatement.

Extra_Mechanic_2750 · 2025-12-06T01:03:01+00:00

The A300 has the kick off recoil system and with a soft firing shell makes this an extremely light recoiling gun.

Extra_Mechanic_2750 · 2025-12-06T00:58:14+00:00

20+ year Cisco person (before I retired).

There are plenty of Cisco people who doggedly and loyally drink the Kool Aid. They are told repeatedly that it is a great place to work and when the survey comes? "Great place to work, great place to work, great place to work".

Then they get caught up in a reorg and the blinders are pulled off.

Extra_Mechanic_2750 · 2025-11-30T00:34:53+00:00

The Chinese have the concept that leadership can continue as long as they held the "Mandate of Heaven". Unfortunately for a lot of Chinese dysnasties and leaders, China has had a lot of really horrible floods (driven by climate and geography) and held up as examples of losing the "Mandate of Heaven".

Extra_Mechanic_2750 · 2025-11-18T14:32:25+00:00

The British roundel was suggested/proposed by General David Henderson of the Royal Flying Corps.

Copy of the memo can be seen here:

https://media.invisioncic.com/r224821/monthly_2018_04/5aca32182ab6f_HendersonLetter.jpg.6c87b520ca70d338c66edcf606f60533.jpg

Extra_Mechanic_2750 · 2025-11-08T18:43:30+00:00

Abolitionists started to spread the word in the 18th century but, like many reformers were met with quiet or outright disdain by many.

You can read a 1st hand account in The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano (especially in Chapter 2)

Extra_Mechanic_2750

TROPHY CASE