links

Non Random Random links on stuff of interest clustered by subject or theme or obscure relationships to other links, or not.

This page will eventually be sorted into categories and subjects and cross referenced 4 or 5 different ways as well as too long to read. it is merely an embryo. how did you get here? Thanks for visiting.

More airplane links...

great page w thoughtful and well organized discussion of the best fighters of wwII

here is a list of the 10 worst airplanes of wwII. I think it should include more large production models.

very enlightening documentaries on design & production hurdles building the b-24 Liberator and the M-4 Sherman Tank may be found on youtube somewhere.

pirates of all stripes

Charming recap of important pirates in need of stylistic editing. Omits Hawkins.

Pirates in Virginia and elsewhere, with lots of sources

Hawkins. even IF I were related I am uneducated on the details of the disputes with Admiral Wynter

Sir Francis Drake. There are drakes in the family. don't know any.

Admiral William Wynter, not a sea dog, not a pirate, not the first to think of fire ships. just The Queen's Man. Looking into the relationship. Unlikely at best.

Little. Jones. Enough Said here. please be patient until we can honor him properly.

Henry Morgan and family

piracy and privateering in the Elizabethan new world

intro to Little known stories of privateers in the American Revolution

pirates, slavery, and naval power

like striking gold on the first turn of the shovel. Insight into the operations and politics around the Africa squadron. politically Undermined, underfunded, undermanned, and outnumbered. then, forgotten. Their triumphs could not be trumpeted too loudly because they were not impactful at the time, our spiritual brothers. Traffickers in human cargo and pirates are very distinct categories - consider the objection raised as to any mixing of the terms in past or present characterizations. It is unlikely that divisions resulting from this deployment contributed to the escalating rancor leading to the american civil war probably explaining why it has never been explored.

a starting point for learning about pirate interdiction and the U.S. navy, mentioned else where

one way to approach the reality of the transatlantic slave trade is through genetic studies. this could get really interesting. more here, but only the abstract and the pdf is $47.

https://www.slavevoyages.org/ consolidating records of the transatlantic slave trade

links from internetpirate.com

great essay looking back on the coup of 2012 though it was written well before that, don't get confused .

the original Dark Alliance article by gary webb

proving that those who laugh last do not always laugh loudest: early, widely ignored reporting on echelon.

Current Events links and too much commentary

There is and has been a lot of violence in the world. It is a common hope of a great many people to see large scale chaos conflict and disruption end, in addition to living happier safer lives. I pray I am inspired to make an entirely superfluous comment here: My kind of Pirates are 100% non-violent. The origins of my journey lie more in the story of 12 year old kids and their parents being turned into Pirates for downloading music on napster. IN fact, as that situation developed, I became quite thoroughly outraged at the behavior of the large media and entertainment companies as they endeavored to preserve their outdated business models. It appeared to me that they were quite willing to sacrifice democracy itself to win their case in congress and in the court of public opinion, which they essentially produce except when it goes Awry.

if I haven't mentioned it elsewhere, it was this, and a conjunction of other events in my life, including writing the poem "falling" that set me on my course.

That said, I personally find it necessary to continue sharing about actual goings on past and present when I think it might be important and relevant.

Ukraine

Reporting on the conflict in Ukraine is riddled with propaganda and falsehoods.

This is terribly unfortunate and contributes unnecessarily to the danger.

please do not interpret information shared here about the conflict as implying in any way endorsement or approval or acceptance of Russian actions. Implications are not addressed so don't try to assign any. attempting big-picture-ism not what-about-ism.

I found it appropriate (to point out on my facebook page) that the $40 billion aid package to ukraine is equivalent to roughly 25% of their GDP or 6-7 times their current defense budget.

I also posted there about how romantic portrayals of cossacks drew my interest and were very much a part of my interest in languages literature costumes music and culture of the entire um, broader region. I learned about the dark side of cossack history along the way as well. I do think that ukrainian nationalism based on a cossack mythology is a dog that should not be allowed out of the kennel, whether it will hunt or not.

on twitter I described the conflict as a slimy hairball, now is not the time to elaborate, but I think I might soon. I definitely neglected to mention that unfortunately the description does not relieve me of my perceived personal duty to share my opinion somewhere (because of my interest, education & experience in the area), or excuse any professional diplomats or leaders, (advised to tread cautiously/handle with care.)

It is not my sense that the interests of the united states are being served very well by the current administration. It appears to me that the personal business interests & prejudices of President Biden and his family are taking our country down a very deep rabbit hole, disturbingly similar to the one explored by Donald Trump & Co. I cannot overstate how much it troubles me to be approaching that sort of conclusion. I might be less concerned If eyes were not so universally averted from obvious warning signs, or the media chorus was not so harmonious.

JAN 6

I may eventually develop a timeline (or link to a good one) of post jan 6. events (without comment) just for posterity. For now I assess we remain mid-ocean, available propulsion and seaworthiness not reassuring.