kumimonster: (me wcGreen)
Woke up in Baracoa on March 16 to a lovely breakfast made by our hosts.
It was even better than the ones we'd been getting at the hotel - more selections! (Not much more but hey, they had hot chocolate!).

Trying to get through this so quick summary of parts.
Back to the city center where we got a lecture on the local history from the local historian. He was pretty awesome. He knew a lot about the area and spoke about his attempts to carry his suitcase museum to other more remote areas to share and collect information. He's also got the title of historian of the country or something like that. I'll edit when I get the better details.

So the church we met at is the Catedral Nuestra Señora de la Asunción. The Cruz de la Parra is located here too. It's supposed to be one of the last remaining 29 crosses erected by Columbus in 1492 - or so they say. Now after carbon dating they realized that the wood doesn't seem to come from Spain so who knows what's really the truth? Regardless, the church has gone through some renovations but it is the one of the oldest - remember, Baracoa is also known as the first city of Cuba since this is where Spain is thought to have landed.




Facing the church doors with all his pride is Hatuey - the first rebel of the Americas. He seems to have been a pretty bad ass guy. Unfortunately he was betrayed in the end - isn't that how it always is? - and he got caught by the Spaniards and was burned alive. When he was asked if he wanted to repent, confess and get the chance to go to Heaven, he asked the priest if there Spaniards would be there too. The priest said yes and so he said he'd rather go to Hell.

"Here is the God the Spaniards worship. For these they fight and kill; for these they persecute us and that is why we have to throw them into the sea... They tell us, these tyrants, that they adore a God of peace and equality, and yet they usurp our land and make us their slaves. They speak to us of an immortal soul and of their eternal rewards and punishments, and yet they rob our belongings, seduce our women, violate our daughters. Incapable of matching us in valor, these cowards cover themselves with iron that our weapons cannot break."

He's also known as "The Indian" and Cohiba as well as some other brands use him as their logo. They couldn't have picked better. I started reading up on the guy. I'm surprised there isn't a movie out yet. I guess Columbus makes for better box office figures. And so Hatuey faces off in the town square against the Church and all it stands for. I really, really like everything about it.

We then wandered over to the local gallery where many of us bought pieces of art. I did too. It was a really nice gallery!






-------------------------------------------------------------
The Baracoa visit was one highlight after another. We stopped off at an old hotel owned by a woman from Russia and got the history of that - I was paying less attention here. And that was followed to a visit to the Museo Matachin for our next bit of entertainment.
We got in a bit too late the night before and instead of getting two bands, we only got one. The one that was about to play was pushed back to today and wow, we were all so thrilled not to have missed them! They were my favorite of the entire trip and yet they didn't have any CDs for purchase. Luckily I've already found them on Spotify and Amazon too!

Maravilla Yunquena

Just going to drop the music right here:









The rest of the Videos are at my VIMEO page.
Just watching these over again make me feel really good. I really did like Baracoa and I need to plan a return that lasts a few days longer!


Then on to the next stop and lunch. That goes in the next post.
kumimonster: (lindGlasses)
for all of you that hate reading twitter posts
here's something that might make you hate them just a little bit less...

(don't forget, read from bottom to top)
from-historicaltweets.com/



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kumimonster: (Default)
flying guillotine - lame

bull - bigger than an easy bake oven


Greek Fire: why the byzantines kicked ass.

pyro marines
that just sounds soooo cool!
ancient flame thrower. holy shit. wowowowowoww


shifting to land mines now
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kumimonster: (Default)
torture devices

well right now watching the special on torture
various methods are being tested - unfortunately, not with live humans.

so far:
the rack has been looked at - what actually breaks first?
the next was the tunica molesta - how fast was it ?
the pear... how death would really occur?

burning at the stake. actual causes of death by looking at 3 different variations
1) timber piled high against the pole/victim
2) timber piled at the feet
3) timber piled around the victim

impaling a la vlad: ok. this is actually cool.
how could a stake actually be stuck into someone and yet be able to keep them alive.
right now, it's a matter of not actually perforating the important bits.
gotta push up the rectum, the bowels will be torn (infection would cause death in a couple of days).
then up and forwards towards the sternum which will keep the stake within the body and then finally upwards.
if the taper on the stake remains thin, then it wont block the windpipe and the victim could remain alive - well temporarily. heh.

----
Next up: Death Machines of the Ancient World

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kumimonster: (sdg baldSM)

Jim Mitchell Memorial Held in Antioch


ANTIOCH, Calif. - An estimated 300 people gathered at the Higgins Chapel on Thursday to remember pioneering adult filmmaker Jim Mitchell, who died of an apparent heart attack on July 12 at his ranch near Petaluma. 

Mitchell was laid to rest beside his brother and business partner Art, with whom he founded San Francisco's legendary O'Farrell Theatre in 1969. The Mitchell Brothers went on to produce such adult film classics as Behind the Green Door (starring Ivory Snow girl Marilyn Chambers and porn's first black superstud Johnny Keyes), The Resurrection of Eve and Autobiography of a Flea. The brothers' partnership ended in 1991 when Jim shot Art to death in what he claimed was a confrontation over Art's drug and alcohol abuse. 

Among the Bay Area notables in attendance at the hour-long memorial were former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, ex-District Attorney Terrence Hallinan, Mitchell's trial attorney Michael Kennedy, political operative Jack Davis and former San Francisco Chronicle reporter Warren Hinckle.


 

Porn trailblazers guessed right -- sex became big business

The death of sex impresario Jim Mitchell following an apparent heart attack last week was a major time-capsule moment. In a city that has long fashioned itself as the country's singular feel-good fiefdom of pleasure and personal liberties, Jim and his late brother, Artie Mitchell, earned the honorific of San Francisco's once-and-forever Porn Kings. Assorted mayors and scores of local celebrities had lower profiles than the balding sibs who turned the sexual revolution into a multimedia, decadeslong performance piece.

Now, in a digital age where Eros has become irreversibly virtual on the Internet, Mitchell's death punctuates the end of an era that he long outlived. Today's aspiring versions of the Mitchell Brothers wouldn't dream of investing in urban real estate or relishing public dustups with local politicians. They'd be operating under the radar, selling their Web wares from some garage in Bakersfield or a back bedroom in Fresno.

The Mitchells' inspiration, if you can attach that term to a business built on lap dances and X-rated videos, was essentially theatrical. They were the city's last true vaudevillians. That was apparent in everything from the paradoxical look of their O'Farrell Theatre on the Tenderloin's western fringe (a sleek, well-maintained warren of heterosexuality-for-sale venues adorned outside with a mighty, mock-innocent mural of whales), to their flair for publicity, to their market-savvy sense of the transgressively absurd.


 

Susie Bright's words


kumimonster: (gilles Gants)
i would have liked to have read his new book on the Korean War.

---

Famed journalist Halberstam dies in Menlo Park crash



Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist and author David Halberstam was killed this morning in a three-vehicle crash near the Dumbarton Bridge in Menlo Park, the San Mateo County Coroner's Office reported.

Halberstam won a Pulitzer Prize in 1964 for his reporting for the New York Times in the early days of the Vietnam War.

He later wrote "The Best and the Brightest," about why the country went to war in Vietnam, "The Powers That Be," about the rise of modern media, "The Fifties," about that decade in American life and "The Summer of '49," about the pennant race that year between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, among other books.

According to a spokeswoman with the University of California, Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, Halberstam left Berkeley this morning and was on his way to an interview in the South Bay about a new book he was working on about the Korean War. Halberstam was being driven to the interview by a graduate student at the journalism school.

Halberstam had given a lecture Saturday at an alumni conference at the school, the spokeswoman said.

Halberstam, 73, of New York City, was a passenger in one of the vehicles and was the only fatality, according to Deputy Coroner Michelle Rippy.

The crash was reported shortly after 10:30 a.m. on the westbound Bayfront Expressway at Willow Road, according to Menlo Park police Public Information Officer Nicole Acker.

Menlo Park Fire District units also responded to the crash.

According to Fire District Chief Harold Schapelhouman, emergency units arrived to find Halberstam trapped in the passenger side of a red Toyota Camry and the car's motor compartment on fire.

While the fire was extinguished, emergency crews worked to free Halberstam from the passenger side of the vehicle, which had been caved in about 18 to 24 inches by the impact of the collision, Schapelhouman said.

Halberstam was extricated but had no pulse and was not breathing, according to Schapelhouman. Lifesaving measures were not successful and Halberstam was pronounced dead at the scene, he said.

According to the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism spokeswoman, the male driver of the car in which Halberstam was riding is a student at the journalism school and was taken to Stanford Medical Center. He is believed to be "doing okay," the spokeswoman said.

Two other cars were involved in the crash, Schapelhouman said, the primary one a late-model, green Infiniti. Its driver was taken to Stanford Medical Center, he said. The female driver of the third vehicle, a silver Nissan coupe, was uninjured, according to Schapelhouman.

Police are still looking for witnesses to help in their investigation, Acker said. Anyone with information about the collision are asked to call Menlo Park police at 650-330-6300.

Halberstam is widely known for his coverage of the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights movement and also penned several books on sports. He was born in New York City and in 1964, received the Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on the Vietnam War.

Additional reporting by Don Kazak.


http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/show_story.php?id=4924

San Jose Mercury Story:
http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_5733552
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kumimonster: (roman pearl)
August 4

The bodies of three civil rights workers missing for six weeks have been found buried in a partially constructed dam near Philadelphia, Mississippi.
Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation found the three young men - two white and one black man - about six miles from the town in a wooded area near where they were last seen on the night of 21 June.

They were Michael Schwerner, aged 24, Andrew Goodman, 20, both from New York and James Chaney, 22, from Meridian, Mississippi. All were members of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) dedicated to non-violent direct action against racial discrimination.

As soon as the men were reported missing, the case was made top priority and codenamed Miburn (Mississippi burning). FBI agents headed by Major Case Inspector Joseph Sullivan were sent down to Mississippi to investigate the matter.

After a tip-off they found the mens' burnt-out car two days after their disappearance.

The bodies have been taken to Jackson, Mississippi, for further examination into the cause of death. It is believed all three had been shot and the finger of blame is pointing at the Ku Klux Klan white supremacist group.

Church burned down

The three young men had left the CORE office in Meridian six weeks ago to investigate the destruction of a black congregation church in Longdale, Neshoba County because it was used as the site for a "freedom school".

The school was set up by Mr Schwerner as part of a wider civil rights campaign in Mississippi teaching black children, among other things, black history and the philosophy of the civil rights movement.

The Mount Zion Church was burned down on 16 June by members of the KKK searching for Mr Schwerner.

His wife, Rita, made an emotional statement to newspapers today.

She said: "My husband, Michael Schwerner, did not die in vain. If he and Andrew Goodman had been negroes, the world would have taken little notice of their deaths.

"After all, the slaying of a negro in Mississippi is not news. It is only because my husband and Andrew Goodman were white that the national alarm had been sounded."

Read more... )
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kumimonster: (steenFeatherEyes)
August 1

The Polish Home Army has begun a battle to liberate Warsaw, the first European capital to fall to the Germans nearly five years ago.
At 1700 local time, the code signal "Tempest" was given and there was a wave of explosions and rifle fire throughout the city.

Reports from Poland say the timing of the uprising was chosen for maximum effect as the Germans appeared to be about to withdraw from Warsaw.

The German frontline has been forced to retreat over the past few months in the face of a sustained attack from the Red Army, forcing them out of the Baltic States, Belorussia and western Poland.

Soviet troops are now said to be fighting within 10-12 miles of Praga, the suburb on Warsaw's right bank.

To the north of the city, Soviet troops are advancing north-westward to Warsaw, with the River Vistula on their left flank.

General Tadeusz 'Bor' Komorowski, commander-in-chief of the Home Army, or Armia Krajowa, wanted to take the Germans by surprise and seized his opportunity in late afternoon.

He sent out a rallying call to his troops: "Today I have issued the order you have been waiting for, the order to begin open battle against Poland's age-old enemy, the German invader.

"After nearly five years of uninterrupted and heavy fighting underground, today you will carry your arms in the open in order to free your country again and to render exemplary punishment to the German criminals for the terror and crimes committed on Polish soil."

He has an estimated 40,000 troops, including 4,000 women, but they have only enough arms for about 2,500 - and most of those are rifles and tommy guns.

During the first day's fighting significant areas of the city's left bank have been captured, including the main post office and mint. Gas, electricity and water services have all been returned to Polish hands.

A network of street barricades has been erected blocking the flow of traffic in and out of the city.

Reports speak of a great pall of smoke hanging over the city - though to have been caused by the Germans setting fire to buildings.

Casualty reports suggest 2,000 Poles and 500 Germans may have been killed.
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kumimonster: (eccehomo mirror)
wow
fidel castro pulls a firsty


Cubans await news on Castro's health
AP - 2 hours, 57 minutes ago
HAVANA - Fidel Castro, who has defied the United States for nearly half a century while wielding absolute power over this island 90 miles south of Florida, remained out of sight Tuesday after undergoing intestinal surgery and temporarily turning over power to his brother Raul. The surprise announcement that Castro had been operated on to repair a "sharp intestinal crisis with sustained bleeding" stunned Cubans on the island and in exile, and marked the first time that Castro, two weeks away from 80th birthday, had relinquished power in 47 years of rule.


more:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5233556.stm
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kumimonster: (bluenudeavatar)
one of my fave photographers died on Saturday at the age of 60. i have a collection of books that feature her work as well as others. Mostly with her coverage of Vietnam (she was only 21 when she arrived). A year after getting to Vietnam, she was the only journalist to combat jump. She was also captured by the NVA during the Tet Offensive but talked her way out. She also was able to photograph the NVA in action and got the cover of Life.

She also worked in Northern Ireland, Cypruss, Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, and Libya.


Corpsman Vernon Wike, 2/3rd Marine, applies first aid to a wounded Marine. Battle for Hill 881. 1967


Corpsman Vernon Wike, 2/3rd Marine, tries to detect a heartbeat amidst the deafening noise of the battle. Battle for Hill 881. 1967


Corpsman Vernon Wike, 2/3rd Marine, looks in anguish when he realizes that his buddy is dead. Battle for Hill 881. 196

i have one of her books: "Under Fire: Images from Vietnam"
Published just last year (30th anniversary of the fall of saigon)
it also features my other favorite photographers like Larry Burrows, Henri Huet, and Don McCullin...
and the writings of David Halberstam, Philip Caputo, Neil Sheehan, and Tim O’Brien.

kumimonster: (aaron Light)
staying in this evening
spent enough money online already
airfare n things.

but the shopping doesnt end there.
so i get this lil book thing called The Historian
it's sent out to Phi Alpha Theta members (that honors history group thing)
There are essays and in the back book reviews which also makes a really nice list for shopping.

so then
amazon.com



Endkampf: Soldiers, Civilians, And The Death Of The Third Reich (Hardcover)
by Stephen G. Fritz
Link


The Battle of Salamis : The Naval Encounter That Saved Greece -- and Western Civilization.
by Barry Strauss
Link

ok.
tomorrow a museum attempt

To the Tate Britian
to see Gothic Nightmares: Fuseli, Blake and the Romantic Imagination
going on 15 February - 1 May 2006.
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kumimonster: (lind white)
going on at home

NOVA #3004 BATTLE OF THE X-PLANES
11/03 8pm (1:54:18) (CC) (DVI)
They called it the "Great Fighter War" -- the
world's two aerospace titans battling for the
most lucrative contract in military history. A
trillion dollars and the future of America's
fighter industry are at stake as Boeing and
Lockheed Martin take on the challenge of the
Joint Strike Fighter competition. Filmed over
four years, "Battle of the X-Planes" takes
viewers behind the scenes, from design and
assembly to the test flights. With unprecedented
access from the Department of Defense, the film
marks the first time that filmmakers have ever
been allowed inside a major weapons competition.

AMERICAN EXPERIENCE #1710 VICTORY IN THE PACIFIC
11/07 10pm, 11/09 3am (1:56:19) (CC) (DVI)
"Take no prisoners. Fight to the bitter end."
Those were everyday words to combat troops on
both sides at the end of World War II in the
Pacific. And they led to an unprecedented orgy of
slaughter. In this provocative, thorough
examination of the final months of the war, this
film looks at the escalation of bloodletting from
the vantage point of both the Japanese and the
Americans. As the film will show, most of the
Emperor's inner circle was determined to continue
the war even after losses in the Philippines in
February 1945 cut off Japan's supply lines. And
though he was warned that the country, brought to
its knees by the conflict, might erupt in a
Communist revolution, Emperor Hirohito believed
that one last decisive battle could reverse
Japan's fortunes. The Americans, for their part,
were startled by the intensity and determination
of the Japanese defenders in the South Pacific.
From the U.S. capture of the Mariana Islands,
through the firebombing of Tokyo and the dropping
of the atomic bomb, this program chronicles the
dreadful and unprecedented loss of life and the
decisions made by leaders on both sides that finally ended the war.
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kumimonster: (aaron Light)
Last summer, gunmen took control of a primary school in Beslan, Russia. After a standoff with security forces, more than 300 people, most of them children, lay dead.

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MOSCOW, Sep. 1 -- Divided in grief, the town of Beslan began three days of remembrance Thursday to mark the first anniversary of the school siege that left 331 people dead and a community in ruins.

Stepping through the blackened shell that is now Beslan School No 1, thousands of people carried roses and candles into the gym where more than 1,000 hostages were herded a year ago as the first day of school began. Portraits of the dead, 186 of them children, hung on the blacked red-brick walls, and mourners leaned their heads against the pictures and sobbed and prayed.


the REST (in new window) from the WashingtonPost.
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kumimonster: (Default)
today is the 60th anniversary of the bombing of hiroshima
hmmm
2 more days and nagasaki follows

done shooting here!
rawr!
straight jacket fun!

driving up today was hot as hell
it's like 105

and there was hella traffic on the 80E for some reason
assholes
oh well

back towards sacto now!
well, after i get dressed that is.
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kumimonster: (sdg puimond)
i love this shit


chapter one bits

All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable;
when using our' forces, we must seem inactive;
when we are near, we must make the enemy helieve we are far away;
when far away, we must make him believe we are near.
Hold out baits to entice the enemy.
Feign disorder, and crush him.
If he is secure at all points, be prepared for him.
If he is in superior strength, evade him.
If your opponent is of quick to anger, seek to irritate him.
Pretend to be weak. that he may grow arrogant.
lf he is taking his ease, give him no rest.
If his forces are united, separate them.
Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected.



chapter 3 bits

In the practical art of war, the best thing of all is to take the enemy's country whole and intact;
to shatter and destroy it is not so good.
So, too, it is better to recapture an army entire than to destroy it,
it is better to capture a whole regiment, a entire detachment or a full company than to destroy them.

Hence to fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence;
supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting.

Thus the highest form of leadership is to thwart the enemy's plans;
the next best is to prevent the junction of the enemy's forces;
the next in order is to attack the enemy's army in the field;
and the worst policy of all is to besiege walled cities.

---

Thus we may know that there are five essentials for victory:
(1) He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight.
(2) He will win who knows how to handle both superior and inferior forces.
(3) He will win whose army is animated by the same spirit throughout all its ranks.
(4) He will win who, prepared himself, waits to take the enemy unprepared.
(5) He will win who has military capacity and is not interfered with by the sovereign.

Hence the saying:
If you know the enemy and know yourself,
you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.
If you know yourself but not the enemy,
for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.
If you know neither the enemy nor yourself,
you will succumb in every battle.
kumimonster: (headhold)
june usually respresents the end of the school year
just a couple of weeks and then freedom for the summer
i guess it's not necessarily that way all the time,
especially if you have to take summer sessions

last year on this date i was in Zurich with [livejournal.com profile] emilymarilyn
i was in the middle of my big euro tour of summer 2004.

i've been technically free from school since December.
it's nice to be able to travel without having to transport heavy books around
but then the lack of purpose does hit me once in a while

i have been getting booked for events and shoots and while i'd like to start to begin my career change,
i feel as though waiting isn't necessarily a bad thing as the opportunities i'm receiving now wont be around later.
i might as well continue while the going is good. though i do feel lucky in the sense that i have been able to do this type of work for so many years. ok. some luck mixed with good business sense and skill.

but then once in a while people ask and i dont know what to say.
i'm having fun with my job and i will have to stop sooner or later.
later sounds good to me, but how much later i wonder?

anyways, i got this in the mail the other day
i only opened it today

thought it was a bill.
HAH



Phi Alpha Theta
By its National Council
does hereby certify
that in recognition of
Conspicuous Attainments and Scholarship
in the field of history
Membership is Duly conferred on
KUMI MONSTER
beta lambda chapter
April 05, 2005


PhiAlphaTheta is the honors history group
i stumbled to the meetings once in a while
when i wasn't scheduled to work on the Burdick Military History Project Internship.
ok. it doesnt read kumimonster
but i blured out my legal name cuz some of you are fucking stalkers.
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