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May 10, 2008
Very very funny Time Travel short story...
Especially if you have ever edited a page of the Wikipedia.
Story is by Desmond Warzel
International Association of Time Travelers: Members' Forum Subforum: Europe � Twentieth Century � Second World War
Page 263
11/15/2104
At 14:52:28, FreedomFighter69 wrote:
Reporting my first temporal excursion since joining IATT: have just returned from 1936 Berlin, having taken the place of one of Leni Riefenstahl's cameramen and assassinated Adolf Hitler during the opening of the Olympic Games. Let a free world rejoice!
At 14:57:44, SilverFox316 wrote:
Back from 1936 Berlin; incapacitated FreedomFighter69 before he could pull his little stunt. Freedomfighter69, as you are a new member, please read IATT Bulletin 1147 regarding the killing of Hitler before your next excursion. Failure to do so may result in your expulsion per Bylaw 223.
At 18:06:59, BigChill wrote:
Take it easy on the kid, SilverFox316; everybody kills Hitler on their first trip. I did. It always gets fixed within a few minutes, what's the harm?
At 18:33:10, SilverFox316 wrote:
Easy for you to say, BigChill, since to my recollection you've never volunteered to go back and fix it. You think I've got nothing better to do?
11/16/2104
At 10:15:44, JudgeDoom wrote:
Good news! I just left a French battlefield in October 1916, where I shot dead a young Bavarian Army messenger named Adolf Hitler! Not bad for my first time, no? Sic semper tyrannis!
At 10:22:53, SilverFox316 wrote:
Back from 1916 France I come, having at the last possible second prevented Hitler's early demise at the hands of JudgeDoom and, incredibly, restrained myself from shooting JudgeDoom and sparing us all years of correcting his misguided antics. READ BULLETIN 1147, PEOPLE!
At 15:41:18, BarracksRoomLawyer wrote:
Point of order: issues related to Hitler's service in the Bavarian Army ought to go in the World War I forum.
11/21/2104
At 02:21:30, SneakyPete wrote:
Vienna, 1907: after numerous attempts, have infiltrated the Academy of Fine Arts and facilitated Adolf Hitler's admission to that institution. Goodbye, Hitler the dictator; hello, Hitler the modestly successful landscape artist! Brought back a few of his paintings as well, any buyers?
At 02:29:17, SilverFox316 wrote:
All right; that's it. Having just returned from 1907 Vienna where I secured the expulsion of Hitler from the Academy by means of an elaborate prank involving the Prefect, a goat, and a substantial quantity of olive oil, I now turn my attention to our newer brethren, who, despite rules to the contrary, seem to have no intention of reading Bulletin 1147 (nor its Addendum, Alternate Means of Subverting the Hitlerian Destiny, and here I'm looking at you, SneakyPete). Permit me to sum it up and save you the trouble: no Hitler means no Third Reich, no World War II, no rocketry programs, no electronics, no computers, no time travel. Get the picture?
At 02:29:49, SilverFox316 wrote:
PS to SneakyPete: your Hitler paintings aren't worth anything, schmuck, since you probably brought them directly here from 1907, which means the paint's still fresh. Freaking n00b.
At 07:55:03, BarracksRoomLawyer wrote:
Amen, SilverFox316. Although, point of order, issues relating to early 1900s Vienna should really go in that forum, not here. This has been a recurring problem on this forum.
11/26/2104
At 18:26:18, Jason440953 wrote:
SilverFox316, you seem to know a lot about the rules; what are your thoughts on traveling to, say, Braunau, Austria, in 1875 and killing Alois Hitler before he has a chance to father Adolf? Mind you, I'm asking out of curiosity alone, since I already went and did it.
At 18:42:55, SilverFox316 wrote:
Jason440953, see Bylaw 7, which states that all IATT rulings regarding historical persons apply to ancestors as well. I post this for the benefit of others, as I already made this clear to young Jason in person as I was dragging him back from 1875 by his hair. Got that? No ancestors. (Though if anyone were to go back to, say, Moline, Illinois, in, say, 2080 or so, and intercede to prevent Jason440953's conception, I could be persuaded to look the other way.)
At 21:19:17, BarracksRoomLawyer wrote:
Point of order: discussions of nineteenth–century Austria and twenty–first–century Illinois should be confined to their respective forums.
12/01/2104
At 15:56:41, AsianAvenger wrote:
FreedomFighter69, JudgeDoom, SneakyPete, Jason440953, you're nothing but a pack of racists. Let the light of righteousness shine upon your squalid little viper's nest!
At 16:40:17, BigTom44 wrote:
Well, here we frickin' go.
At 16:58:42, FreedomFighter69 wrote:
Racist? For killing Hitler? WTF?
At 17:12:52, SaucyAussie wrote:
AsianAvenger, you're not rehashing that whole Nagasaki issue again, are you? We just got everyone calmed down from last time.
At 17:22:37, LadyJustice wrote:
I'm with SaucyAussie. AsianAvenger, you're making even less sense than usual. What gives?
At 18:56:09, AsianAvenger wrote:
What gives is everyone's repeated insistence on a course of action which, even if successful, would only save a few million Europeans. It would be no more trouble to travel to Fuyuanshui, China, in 1814 and kill Hong Xiuquan, thus preventing the Taiping Rebellion of the mid–nineteenth century and saving fifty million lives in the process. But, hey, what are fifty million yellow devils more or less, right, guys? We've got Poles and Frenchmen to worry about.
At 19:01:38, LadyJustice wrote:
Well, what's stopping you from killing him, AsianAvenger?
At 19:11:43, AsianAvenger wrote:
Only to have SilverFox316 undo my work? What's the point?
At 19:59:23, SilverFox316 wrote:
Actually, it seems like a pretty good idea to me, AsianAvenger. No complications that I can see.
At 20:07:25, Big Chill wrote:
Go for it, man.
At 20:11:31, AsianAvenger wrote:
Very well. I shall return in mere moments, the savior of millions!
At 20:14:17, LadyJustice wrote:
Just checked the timeline; congrats on your success, AsianAvenger!
12/02/2104
At 10:52:53, LadyJustice wrote:
AsianAvenger?
At 11:41:40, SilverFox316 wrote:
AsianAvenger, we need your report, buddy.
At 17:15:32, SilverFox316 wrote:
Okay, apparently AsianAvenger was descended from Hong Xiuquan. Any volunteers to go back and stop him from negating his own existence?
12/10/2104
At 09:14:44, SilverFox316 wrote:
Anyone?
At 09:47:13, BarracksRoomLawyer wrote:
Point of order: this discussion belongs in the Qing Dynasty forum. We're adults; can we keep sight of what's important around here?
Posted by rakhier at 04:52 PM | Comments (0)
May 08, 2008
Austrialian Army Suggested Reading List
An interesting selection of books, and the reasoning behind them is well worth reading.
(see extended entry for some initial selections...)
Forward into Battle: Fighting Tactics from Waterloo to the Near Future
Paddy Griffiths. A highly readable work, this book delves into the interaction between small-unit tactics and the evolving impact of firepower to create ‘the empty battlefield’. From Wellington to the Arab–Israeli War, Griffiths explores the importance of combat morale and battle stress on the soldier—and thus the conduct of close
combat—challenging long-held myths about revolutions in military affairs and the importance of technology over human factors.
Starship Troopers
Robert A Heinlein - Heinlein graduated from the US Naval Academy in 1928 and continued his involvement with the military right through the Second World War. His awardwinning book explores profound territory—what makes a citizen and what is the military’s responsibility to the state that supports it? A simple tale of a young man joining up and going to war against an alien race, ‘the Bugs’, hides layers of deep and complex moral and political philosophy, the core of which is the notion that social responsibility requires individual sacrifice.
Fight Club
Chuck Palahniuk - This book, which inspired the film of the same name, poses interesting questions about small-group dynamics, the nature of self-identity, the role of violence in the masculine imagination, and the dangers and benefits of loyalty and leadership. Intensely psychological, with barbs against consumerism and massmovements,
this book has many parallels with the way soldiers are inculcated
into the military.
Ender’s Game
Orson Scott Card - Ender Wiggin is six years old when he is taken from his family and sent to Battle School, where he is taught the art and science of war. Ender’s advantage is his creativity, and he rises to command all of the Earth’s military, but at the expense of his physical and mental health. The book investigates the use of simulation and networked forces to select leaders and manage combat, and has a sub-text about the burden of leadership and the importance in commanders of both compassion and ruthlessness.
Fear Drive My Feet
Peter Ryan - This classic Australian memoir of the Second World War has lost none of its power and emotion since its first publication in 1959. Ryan spent much of 1942 and 1943 patrolling forward of friendly lines in Japanese controlled territory around Lae in New Guinea. Often working only in the company of a handful of indigenous police and porters and under arduous and dangerous conditions, Ryan maintained
his coolness and resourcefulness as he kept watch on the Japanese. Fear Drive My Feet highlights the enduring soldierly virtues of courage, initiative and resilience to which every Australian soldier should aspire.
(There are many more...)
Posted by rakhier at 09:50 PM | Comments (0)
May 06, 2008
Tibet - Ruled by China
While I realize this is an unpopular opinion, I think a careful look at Tibet's historical record shows that, on balance, the people of Tibet have benefited from being forced to be part of China. Tibet prior to the Chinese take-over in 1949 was a remarkably backward country with upwards on 30% of the adult male population living in monasteries (and contributing nothing economically to the country) and upwards of 10% of the population living as heriditory slaves of the various monasteries (because the monks did no work). Tibet had no education system (other than Buddhist teachings), they had no doctors (other than shaman), they had no industry, no roads, no telephones and this was the situation of the country in 1949!
Does their terrible backwardness justify the invasion by Mao's Communist Army? From a utilitarian perspective, I believe it does. Over the last 58 years, the Tibetan people have gained on every standard of economic and personal well-being. They are living longer, they are richer, they are (by virtue of being part of China) much more a part of the world instead of living in the isolated mountain island kingdom that Tibet once was.
Now, clearly, the Tibetan people did not ask China to conquer them and they did not ask to have their way of life radically transformed. During the "cultural revolution" a great deal of priceless ancient objects and buildings were destroyed, both in Tibet and in the rest of China. Many Tibetans fled their country (and there is a small community here in Palo Alto). Their lives were transformed but was it for the worse? I submit that a significant percentage of the population of Tibet that is alive today outside of Tibet would be dead if the Chinese had never invaded, due to the poor quality of health care and high incidence of childhood diseases and the complete unlikelihood of meaningful change occurring "naturally" in Tibet (i.e. without the Chinese invasion).
What are the odds that the Dali Lama, a man with no education other than a complete immersion in Tibetan Buddhism, would have proposed any of the changes that in fact occurred? Now days he talks about what Tibet would be like if the Chinese gave up control and let him back in the country. He talks about democracy, and good government, human rights, the need for Tibet to be transformed. All these things he learned about after he fled Tibet in 1957.
Could the Chinese treat Tibet differently? Of course. Could they be nicer? Surely. We all know the Chinese government is ham-fisted, rather closed ideologically, and somewhat paranoid. However, China is a great power in the world today (meaning that no other power really has any influence over their government's decisions). It is not going to give up control of Tibet due to street protests in Lhasa nor will it be swayed by disruptions to the (remarkably egotistical) Olympic Torch runs China is holding around the world.
The Chinese government will be (in my opinion) increasingly amenable to carefully thought out moral arguments about letting the people choose (in every part of China) how they want to live their private lives. Religion is making a slow comeback in China and over the next 50 years I strongly suspect that China will allow the people in Tibet the freedom to follow more of Tibetan Buddhism than they allowed over the previous 50 years. I also strongly suspect that street protests will not accomplish anything. I don't think Tibet will be free of Chinese control in my lifetime and as a consequence, I think the Tibetan people, both in Tibet and outside it, would be well advised to follow a policy of careful, reasoned discourse with the Chinese government. The Chinese believe in reason and in virtue, but the Tibetans will have to think long and hard about exactly what arguments they are going to make for greater autonomy because history (in the sense of who has done the most good for the most Tibetans) is not on their side
Posted by rakhier at 12:30 PM | Comments (0)