Épisodes

  • Redux - Egypt's 18th Dynasty

    Redux - Egypt's 18th Dynasty
    Nov 30 2025

    Found myself thinking about how 200 years is seen as a limit for how long countries remain viable, and remembered that Egypt's 18th Dynasty lasted just about that long - most were noticeably shorter. It ended quickly after the boy-king Tutankhamen died young without an heir. Maybe a notice for what it takes for such a thing to end.

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    24 min
  • Redux - The Plague Bearers

    Redux - The Plague Bearers
    Nov 30 2025

    Something about November just makes it difficult to get episodes done. So re-doing, here, a Thanksgiving episode, in its way, from a few years back.

    This is the second Redux with it - last time was two years ago.

    I thought I had written about this elsewhere, but this appears to be the closest I had done: https://crisis.generationalize.com/2014/06/plague.html

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osarseph - A possible second view of Exodus involving a priest who became the leader of a band of lepers, who managed to ally with the Hyksos to take over Egypt for a short time.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akhenaten - Pharaoh of Egypt who temporarily replaced the polytheistic Egyptian religion with a monotheism based around Aten, the "sun disc." Father of Tutankhamen, whom you may have heard of.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Hymn_to_the_Aten -Written by Akhenaten, it bears some resemblance to Psalm 104, indicating at least some cross pollination between Jewish and Egyptian holy writ.

    https://thefounding.net/pilgrims-identified-israelites/ - a short essay built around Bradford

    http://www.gutenberg.org/files/24950/24950-h/24950-h.htm Project Gutenberg version of the History of Plymouth Colony

    They called Dutch a strange and uncouth language, which raises the possibility that their attitudes towards "savage" natives might have been similar in Holland…

    For no obvious reason, perhaps worth noting that this is contemporaneous with Hamlet, first performed around 1602. (Yes I know he's a Dane, not Dutch.)

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayflower

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plymouth_Colony

    http://mayflowerhistory.com/clothing/

    https://www.plimoth.org/learn/just-kids/homework-help/what-wear

    You can find me on Bluesky @generationalize.bsky.social and occasionally blogging at http://crisis.generationalize.com
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    13 min
  • Summer of Trinity - Epilogue

    Summer of Trinity - Epilogue
    Oct 31 2025

    A few final thoughts on the Summer of Trinity.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan_Project

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Iwo_Jima

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Okinawa

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_B._McVay_III

    Walter Griffith, the commander of USS Bullhead, who had departed the ship just before its final voyage that summer, also committed suicide, two years before McVay - and with more definite connection to the loss of his men.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_T._Griffith

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Downfall - the plan to invade Japan in November 1945.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1945_World_Series

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_World_Series

    As recorded, my reason for why Little Boy and Fat Man were dropped sounds like I agree with that - at least, it sounds like that more than I intended. Really, though, my view is more of an acknowledgement of the inevitability of the war machine which built those weapons. The decision to use them, in my view, was less about particular reasons and more about why they were made: To win the war. Whether they were needed to win the war was irrelevant by the end, and trying to assess the "need" to drop them is missing that important point.

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    11 min
  • Redux - Lost Boys and Golden Girls

    Redux - Lost Boys and Golden Girls
    Oct 29 2025
    While this was originally posted in the fall of 2019, for the third year in a row I'm reduxing it. It is, again, an appropriate meditaion for this quiet time of year, as the football games are starting to pass us by even if their music is still in the air. The warmth of the summer is still around, sometimes, but mostly it's cooling down, and it's a time for comfort food and old memories and people not seen in a long time. And, certainly, thoughts of mortality , of the time gone and the time left. "Never let a night like tonight go to waste." ==================================================== Considering whether Gen X views of life, death, and immortality were shaped by two mid-80s films: Highlander (1986) and The Lost Boys (1987) Yes yes yes, I said Steward Copeland at about 9:12 and realized just moments ago that I completely meant Douglas Coupland, who wrote Generation X: Tales For an Accelerated Culture in 1991 https://www.coupland.com/books/generation-x-tales-for-an-accelerated-culture And my point there is that in 1987 the Lost Boys was certainly depicting Gen X characters with Gen X actors, but nobody called them Gen X at the time. Interview with the Vampire was published in 1976 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interview_with_the_Vampire Its sequel, The Vampire Lestat, was 1985 The Mystery of Dracula's Castle - a scooby doo mystery in all but name, with inspiration from Christopher Lee's Dracula over and over. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068985/ The Hunger https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085701/ The Lost Boys - straight to the tagline https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093437/taglines Highlander https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091203/ Cocoon https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088933/ Siskel and Ebert - Lost Boys starts at 9:44 - https://siskelebert.org/?p=2948 Highlander is the first one here, about 1:30 - they both disliked it rather a lot https://siskelebert.org/?p=1496 First chapter of The Golden Bough - Frazer calls the King a "murderer" rather than a "killer" so I'll randomly note that A) in the 1536 battler in Highlander, the Macleods are fighting the Frasers and B) "Matador" is literally "killer" in Spanish The Spirit of Christmas, which spawned South Park, references Highlander's repeated line "There Can Be Only One" https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0122264/ When talking about Reactives and the Awakening, probably worth looking at this previous entry on my blog https://crisis.generationalize.com/2014/01/reactiveness.html Unrelated but it's a photo series called Lost Boys - millennials back at home after college or high school or whatever they decided they could do. https://www.businessinsider.com/liz-calvi-lost-boys-photo-project-2014-9#calvi-started-with-her-good-group-of-guy-friends-but-eventually-branched-out-to-look-for-more-subjects-in-town-nolan-pictured-here-is-currently-studying-graphics-in-college-and-he-lives-with-his-parents-for-the-summer-2 Here's the archive she set up https://seulementdanslereve.tumblr.com/archive And her home page https://www.lizcalvi.com/commissions "Vampire of the Mists" (1991) was a few years later, so probably influenced by Anne Rice and The Lost Boys and everything. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire_of_the_Mists Wikipedia sayeth that Peter Pan first appeared in a novel in 1902, while the play first appeared in 1904. He's very much of the Nomad archetype. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Pan Completely unrelated, except insofar as Aiken Drum (the character) is much like Peter Pan and has other Nomad / Reactive archetype indicators https://manycolored.fandom.com/wiki/Many-Colored_Wiki Pogonip club house http://deepbluemoon.com/misc/pogonip/ Other locations - the interiors were on a set at Warner Brothers https://www.visitcalifornia.com/attraction/lost-boys-santa-cruz-tour Gregory Widen, screenwriter for Highlander. Born in 1958, he's a late Boomer. He also wrote Backdraft. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0927074/ Russel Mulcahy - his director credits here include the music videos - which included Video Killed the Radio Star by Buggles, which unfortunately I can't find, so here are some others. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0611683 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Uxc9eFcZyM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iyv905Q2omU Max has mission style outdoor lamps - not too common at the time. (Although it was becoming popular again) https://casetext.com/case/l-jg-stickley-inc-v-canal-dover-furn Grandpas house is here (interiors were a set at Warner Bros.) - a very 1900s house http://www.mobileranger.com/santacruz/pogonip-the-cowell-family-polo-and-a-poltergeist/ CSUN Queen show, 1989 - there will be another episode one day about why this matters….but I didn't even have a chance to get into, here, how I and Angela and 150 of our closest friends did a field show with two songs from Highlander, plus Bohemian Rhapsody https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjkHl0paHbM
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    18 min
  • Summer of Trinity - Week Ending September 2, 1945

    Summer of Trinity - Week Ending September 2, 1945
    Sep 29 2025

    Sunday, August 26,1945 - 41 Days After Trinity

    Huaiyin–Huai'an Campaign

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warlord_Era

    Monday, August 27,1945 - 42 Days After Trinity

    https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2006/february/destroyers-tokyo-bay

    Tuesday, August 28,1945 - 43 Days After Trinity

    U.S. occupation of Japan begins.

    https://www.kirtland.af.mil/News/Photos/igphoto/2000119766/

    Wednesday, August 29,1945 - 44 Days After Trinity

    https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/photograph-records/64-57-01

    https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/photograph-records/64-57-02

    https://thenewswheel.com/the-west-wing-wheels-harry-s-truman/

    Thursday, August 30,1945 - 45 Days After Trinity

    https://spectator.org/macarthur-lands-at-atsugi-airfield-august-30-1945/

    https://www.johnjgobbell.com/2020/11/03/surrender-at-tokyo-bay-by-john-gobbell/

    Friday, August 31,1945 - 46 Days After Trinity

    Supreme Allied Command

    https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/uss-west-virginia-japan-surrender

    September 1945

    Saturday, September 1,1945 - 47 Days After Trinity

    United Nations charter

    Sunday, September 2,1945 - 48 Days After Trinity

    ""We are gathered here, representatives of the major warring powers, to conclude a solemn agreement whereby peace may be restored…It is my earnest hope, indeed the hope of all mankind, that from this solemn occasion a better world shall emerge out of the blood and carnage from the past, a world founded upon faith and understanding, a world dedicated to the dignity of man and the fulfillment of his most cherished wish for freedom, tolerance and justice."

    General Douglas MacArthur
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    16 min
  • Summer of Trinity - Week Ending August 25, 1945

    Summer of Trinity - Week Ending August 25, 1945
    Aug 30 2025
    This is Summer of Trinity - a daily description of events in the summer of 1945, This episode has daily events for the week ending Saturday August 25, 1945. I've endeavored to have new episodes out every Monday, the same day (80 years later) as the last day of the weeks described in each. This week is the latest one yet, going out Saturday instead. My initial thought was that "it wasn't a very interesting week" but quickly realized how interesting it really was. The Daghlian criticality incident, happening so soon after all three of the first atomic detonations, so often is treated as simply an industrial accident, but it's right in the middle of this very busy month. Ho Chi Minh is consolidating his authority over Vietnam, in direct response to the power vacuum caused by Japan's surrender, and at breakneck speed. The Chinese Civil War has resumed, the Soviet Union continues to pursue a war that is barely two weeks old, colonial powers are returning to their former areas of power - yet before this, I'd hardly realized how much was happening in there. I daresay one could put together an intensive college-level semester course on "The End of World War II, August 15-September 2," and spend a week on each day, looking at all of the machinery of war, diplomacy, science, and politics being upended in that time, and how it affected the next century. That may be the reason that it's rarely covered: So much is happening that a manageable storyline can't be concocted that ties it all together. And because of that, every single day of it needs intensive research to discuss intelligently. Which is the real answer to how it ended up short. In any case, here is the next episode. Since the surrender ceremony is on Sunday, I'm currently planning on including that in the next episode (so 8 days instead of 7, ending on Sunday instead of Saturday). Sunday, August 19,1945 - 34 Days After Trinity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Yongjiazhen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anhui https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_assault_on_Maoka Monday, August 20,1945 - 35 Days After Trinity When I was younger, I remember references to "quisling" as a traitor. It stopped being used, though, and it now takes some research to remember who he was and why he, so quickly, became that noun of choice. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vidkun_Quisling U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union Harriman informs Truman of the gift of "A framed photograph of a portrait of Stalin" presumably a response to the picture received three weeks earlier. https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/node/349075 Tuesday, August 21,1945 - 36 Days After Trinity Daghlian Criticality accident (Demon Core) - he would die 25 days later, in mid September https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Daghlian https://members.tripod.com/~Arnold_Dion/Daghlian/accident.html An estimate of radiation doses for Hiroshima survivors. Reading through other stories, though - specifically the New Yorker's Hiroshima - it's clear that many people received lethal doses without being signficantly injured otherwise. https://www.hiroshimapeacemedia.jp/?p=146517 This notes that the 100% lethal doses is 400 rem - one-tenth or even one percent of what Daghlian received. https://www.cdc.gov/radiation-emergencies/causes/radiation-thermometer.html Wednesday, August 22,1945 - 37 Days After Trinity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proposed_Soviet_invasion_of_Hokkaido Thursday, August 23,1945 - 38 Days After Trinity Battle of Shumshu ends - Soviet victory over Japan, but Soviets had more casualties. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Shumshu Friday, August 24,1945 - 39 Days After Trinity https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/b/bullhead-i.html https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/our-collections/photography/us-navy-ships/alphabetical-listing/b/uss-bullhead--ss-332-0.html The Matsue incident - a group of young Japanese riot in opposition to the end of the war. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matsue_incident Saturday, August 25,1945 - 40 Days After Trinity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdication_of_Bảo_Đại https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_invasion_of_South_Sakhalin https://www.nytimes.com/1945/08/25/archives/submarine-bullhead-lost-java-sea-patrol-her-last.html Summer of Trinity is a part of Mapping History here on The Latest Generation.
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    11 min
  • Summer of Trinity - Week Ending August 18, 1945

    Summer of Trinity - Week Ending August 18, 1945
    Aug 21 2025

    This is Summer of Trinity - a daily description of events in the summer of 1945. This episode has daily events for the week ending Saturday August 18, 1945.

    Sunday, August 12,1945 - 27 Days After Trinity

    3 days after Nagasaki, 6 days after Hiroshima

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smyth_Report

    Dr. Bine notes the unexpected arrival of the ending of the war.

    https://www.dearfolksies.com/august-12-1945-75-years-ago-in-a-ww2-m-a-s-h-unit/

    Monday, August 13,1945 - 28 Days After Trinity, 1 week after Hiroshima

    https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/loss-of-uss-indianapolis-ca-35/investigation-and-court-martial/court-of-inquiry.html

    https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/loss-of-uss-indianapolis-ca-35/investigation-and-court-martial/court-of-inquiry-findings.html

    https://www.ussindianapolis.com/captain-mcvay

    Tuesday, August 14,1945 - 29 Days After Trinity

    Final pumpkin bomb sortie: 6 aircraft.

    Kyūjō incident

    The east coast of the United States is about 14 hours behind Japan, so while the surrender occurred in Japan on the 15th, the victory celebrations began in the US on the 14th.

    V-J Day in Times Square

    Wednesday, August 15,1945 - 30 Days After Trinity

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrender_of_Japan

    Thursday, August 16,1945 - 31 Days After Trinity

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Revolution

    Friday, August 17,1945 - 32 Days After Trinity

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puyi

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evacuation_of_Manchukuo

    Saturday, August 18,1945 - 33 Days After Trinity

    https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/30966890/anthony-james-marchione
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    13 min
  • Summer of Trinity - Week Ending August 11, 1945

    Summer of Trinity - Week Ending August 11, 1945
    Aug 15 2025
    This is Summer of Trinity - a daily description of events in the summer of 1945, touching points around the world but centered (as that summer was) on the Trinity nuclear test. This episode has daily events for the week ending Saturday August 11, 1945. Sunday, August 5,1945 - 20 Days After Trinity Pictures of the survivors of the USS Indianapolis https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/loss-of-uss-indianapolis-ca-35/album-of-survivors.html https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/99227503/robert-lee-shipman https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/148385896/frederick-elliott-harrison Monday, August 6,1945 - 21 Days After Trinity Pacific Theater Tinian 2:45AM - The squadron of bombers departs for a six-hour flight to Japan. Hiroshima Lombok Strait, near Bali https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_Navy_losses_in_World_War_II European Theater https://www.dearfolksies.com/august-6-1945-75-years-ago-in-a-ww2-m-a-s-h-unit/ Coincidentally (I presume) this letter includes a "So it goes" He uses that idiom a few times in his letters, but this is the first time since 1943, and this is the only time he uses it just as is - other times he has a conjunction at the start (e.g. "But so it goes.") https://www.dearfolksies.com/?s=%22so+it+goes%22&id=11367 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slaughterhouse-Five (The bombing of Dresden that inspires parts of the novel was mid-February 1945.) Aboard the USS Augusta, Atlantic Ocean) Washington, District of Columbia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiram_Johnson https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/archives/la-me-hiram-johnson-19450807-story.html Los Angeles 2:30PM https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Bong He was 24 years old. Tuesday, August 7,1945 - 22 Days After Trinity Next day, Hiroshima, Alone, seeking parents, finds A broken jizo https://www.scalar.oberlincollegelibrary.org/shikoku/shikoku-gors-angry-jizo-illustrations?path=the-angry-jizo A creative commons picture of a Jizo statue: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jizo_statue_at_Zōjō-ji.jpg https://mythopedia.com/topics/jizo Flower Robotics Inc. (robot: Posy) - the robot that shows up for a minute in the film Lost in Translation - comes up because it looks a bit like a Jizo. The description I found indicates it's supposed to be a young child - like a 3-year-old at a wedding who carries a bouquet for the bride - but nothing about the Jizo similarity, so probably just an impression. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nio Wednesday, August 8,1945 - 23 Days After Trinity It is three months since the surrender of Germany. Thursday, August 9,1945 - 24 Days After Trinity, 3 days after Hiroshima https://atomicphotographers.com/photographers/charles-levy/ Los Alamos Washington, District of Columbia San Francisco, California Pacific Theater https://twitter.com/wellerstein/status/1159799358650499072 Friday, August 10,1945 - 25 Days After Trinity Moscow, USSR August 10 heated discussion on surrender terms. https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB162/68.pdf Washington DC https://catalog.archives.gov/id/6874336 Saturday, August 11,1945 - 26 Days After Trinity Motoko Sakama sees a newspaper headline saying that her father, the Mayor of Hiroshima, is one of those who had been killed by the atomic bombing on Monday. She realizes that other members of her family, including her daughter, may have died as well. https://www.nytimes.com/1945/08/12/archives/eisenhower-flies-to-moscow-fete-lead-soviet-forces-against-japanese.html
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    19 min