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#280th for 17rd April, 2025 or 3311! (33-Oh-Leven, not Oh-Eleven, OH-Leven)http://loosescrewsed.comJoin us on discord! And check out the merch store! PROMO CODEShttps://discord.gg/3Vfap47ReaSupport us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LooseScrewsEDSquad Update: Victory in LTT 16910were pushing Miola influence really high to trigger control.Maybe it works, but we don't know.Won a war that should have given us access to Harris Hospital, but that didn't happenOther stuff in the day old standing orders. All details in the #standing-orders and/or the #loose-screws-factions channels of the Discord.PowerPlay Update: Cycle 24Niceygy's Power Points - https://elite.niceygy.net/powerpointsCurrent Owned System Stats: StrongholdsSH leaderboard didn't changePatreus is down another place this week! In the official leaderboardsConflict Highlight:Too busy flying the Corsair around…Orders: Reinforce -*NLTT 2969, TamorAcquire - Wolf 10Undermine - Find out more in the LSN-powerplay-hub forum channel.Galnet Update: https://community.elitedangerous.com/(not new) Increased Security Needed in Dhan System- One fully engineered A-rated Kill Warrant Scanner with fast scan and long range modifications.- Imperial Clipper Empire Etiquette paint job- Imperial Cutter Empire Etiquette paint jobDev News: Corsair Update (4.1.0.3)Everything is on SaleThere's an egg now?Discussion:Baromir likes the CorsairPlasma's and Rails
I've been waiting for this one! In Part 1 we learn about the conception, design, prototype of the Bent Wing Bird...and some of its problems. I hope you enjoy it! Images for F4U Corsair Links to other episodes mentionned: OS2U Kingfisher F6F Hellcat - Made to Order Polikarpov Po-2 P-40 Warhawk F9F Panther Devotion Movie Review Connect with me! I love comments! https://www.facebook.com/WorldofWB Twitter (X): @WorldofWarbird Threads: world_of_warbirds_podcast Insta: world_of_warbirds_podcast bpearce29@gmail.com
It's a packed sidewinder as the crew engages the wild speculation drives and talks about the year to come.
Everyone has opinions about the Corsair!
In this episode of Yet Another Value Podcast, host Andrew Walker welcomes back Marc Chalfin of Windward Capital to discuss Turtle Beach. Known for its gaming headsets and peripherals, Turtle Beach is at the center of a compelling capital allocation story. Marc outlines why the company's recent PDP acquisition, aggressive buyback strategy, and positioning ahead of the Nintendo Switch refresh and GTA VI release create a rare opportunity. He also breaks down the company's corporate turnaround, supply chain adjustments, and potential paths to a strategic or private equity exit. If you're following gaming or capital discipline stories, this one's for you.______________________________________________________________________[00:01:29] Marc Chalfin shares an update on Groupon and transitions to Turtle Beach[00:02:23] Introduction to Turtle Beach's business model and market share in gaming peripherals[00:03:58] Market size, product dominance, and recent analyst coverage[00:05:46] Chalfin discusses the history of Turtle Beach, Donerail's involvement, and management changes[00:10:01] Operational struggles from supply chain issues and lack of gaming software[00:11:30] Strategic acquisition of PDP and importance of Nintendo licensing[00:13:03] Financial upside: EBITDA expansion potential, buybacks, and capital structure[00:16:38] Addressing the commoditization concern in gaming hardware[00:18:02] Peer comparisons with Logitech and Corsair[00:20:20] Philosophy on capital allocation and shrinking the share count[00:23:09] Tariff headwinds and Turtle Beach's supply chain response[00:25:28] Catalysts: Nintendo Switch refresh and GTA VI as revenue drivers[00:27:34] Chalfin explains the buyback slowdown and loan covenants[00:29:53] Long-term guidance and thoughts on sustainable revenue growth[00:31:21] Endgame scenario: strategic sale or private equity exit[00:36:28] Risks: liquidity and execution on buybacks[00:40:11] Timing of potential buybacks and views on tender offer strategy[00:43:27] Closing thoughts on alignment with management and capital return strategyLinks:Windward Capital: https://www.windwardmg.com/See our legal disclaimer here: https://www.yetanothervalueblog.com/p/legal-and-disclaimer
#278th for 3rd April, 2025 or 3311! (33-Oh-Leven, not Oh-Eleven, OH-Leven)http://loosescrewsed.comJoin us on discord! And check out the merch store! PROMO CODEShttps://discord.gg/3Vfap47ReaSupport us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LooseScrewsEDSquad Update: War in Miola vs. Prateorian PMC - For control and Harris HospitalWar in Balmus - Binnie Enterprise in jeopardyFFA and LTT 17156 need a shoveBD+49 3937 and Kaupatak are the next Reconquista targets. We're not going to worry about overheating systems All details in the #standing-orders and/or the #loose-screws-factions channels of the Discord.PowerPlay Update: Current Owned System Stats: 12th) Torval - 464 -2611th) Winters - 518 - 4410th) Delaine - 630 - 339th) Kaine - 649 -408th) Patreus - 652 - 337th) Antal - 716 - 496th) (screw)Archer - 757 - 705th) Yon Rui - 834 - 864th) Grom - 1027 - 503rd) A. Lavigny-Duval - 1347 - 1022nd) A. Duval - 1419 - 881st) Mahon - 1449 - 62Find out more in the LSN-powerplay-hub forum channel.Colonization Update: Here's some of what you have achieved with Trailblazers so far:Claims Made: 42,226Systems Colonised: 23,423Starports & Outposts Completed 47,821Surface Installations Completed: 27,227Total Units of Cargo Delivered: 1,505,765,686Most Popular Construction: "Industrial Outpost - Vulcan" with 5970 constructedGalnet Update: https://community.elitedangerous.com/Galnet News | Elite Dangerous Community SiteGutamaya Joins Peers in New Spacecraft Boom (Corsair)Political Flashpoint Sparks Violence in Chi Eridani (Feds vs Imps battle set off, CG)Dev News: ?!Discussion:What do you think the ship after Corsair is going to be? (they've said that the Corsair is the last medium, do think we're going to get another small ship? Or do you think large ships? Maybe Extra large?)The BGS is hilariously, hopelessly broken now, was that intended? Is Vanguard the answer to bring it back in a way that FDEV intended originally? (Credit to Baromir for voicing that earlier)
Keywords: Jeep Talk Show, Easter Jeep Safari 2025, Go Topless Day 2025, Daytona Jeep Beach 2025, Hot Springs Jeep event, Jeep little-known facts, YJL Greg Henderson, Meek Magnet logos, Jeep camping gear, realtruck.com, Jeep community podcast Description: Rev up your Jeep adventure with the Jeep Talk Show!
The crew chat about the Corsair and speculate on the other three ships that are on their way.
So much afoot we've got two: there's the Avro Vulcan howl, the Corsair whistle, Hellcat .50s and tanks with cats, and a cool story about two F-14s that scrambled to blow up an egg salad sandwich. Then there's tales of Tesla owners attacking each other when there were no protesters around, Honda and Nissan moving in and out of the US but not each other, and failure after failure of electric car greenthink when the "free" taxpayer bucks dry up now that reality is back in charge (ie: American mail trucks and Canadian busmaker bankruptcy). More? Re-Soviet Russians doing what Russians do (serious wartime innovation) in their ongoing effort to take over their equally corrupt but less offensive neighbor, an anniversary look back at John Glenn hitting the skies for a quick trip around the planet 60 years ago, and Clutch all over.
So much afoot we've got two: there's the Avro Vulcan howl, the Corsair whistle, Hellcat .50s and tanks with cats, and a cool story about two F-14s that scrambled to blow up an egg salad sandwich. Then there's tales of Tesla owners attacking each other when there were no protesters around, Honda and Nissan moving in and out of the US but not each other, and failure after failure of electric car greenthink when the "free" taxpayer bucks dry up now that reality is back in charge (ie: American mail trucks and Canadian busmaker bankruptcy). More? Re-Soviet Russians doing what Russians do (serious wartime innovation) in their ongoing effort to take over their equally corrupt but less offensive neighbor, an anniversary look back at John Glenn hitting the skies for a quick trip around the planet 60 years ago, and Clutch all over.
We're plagued with an abundance of biowaste in the orange sidewinder with no way to deal with it, for now.
Tony Winters of Rygen Technologies talks about being inspired by customer challenges; why visibility is still a challenge; & investing big in agentic AI. IN THIS EPISODE WE DISCUSS: [04.33] An introduction to Tony, his career journey, and his role at Rygen Technologies. “In college, you learn how to solve these algorithms and problems. And, in supply chain, you really get to implement them.” [06.24] An overview of Rygen Technologies – who they are, what they do, and how they help their customers. “We're hoping to leave our mark on the industry, solve some problems – and have fun doing it!” [08.14] From visibility to technology, the biggest challenges Rygen customers are facing right now. [09.39] Why Rygen is inspired by customer challenges, and their approach to technology and problem-solving. “We crave what the industry wants. They're asking for things, and we crave that knowledge!.. We take the feedback, learn from it, and make it better.” [11.22] Rygen's Corsair transportation management, and why it's not your typical TMS. [12.32] How Rygen are bringing ‘integration platform as a service' to their customers with their X1 technology. “Integrate at the speed of AI.” [13.40] How Rygen's Blackbird Business Intelligence is solving big data challenges for customers. “We have disparate systems, tech stacks for days, legacy systems, big monster enterprise systems, ERPs, WMS's, TMS's... Blackbird is an attempt to forget the bias and have an industry standard.” [15.39] A case study exploring how Rygen helped a major customer to identify and understand their biggest operational problems, and bring together their disparate systems with Corsair, improving processes, boosting visibility, and allowing them to manage their whole supply chain in one place. [18.27] Tony's hot takes from Manifest, and what Rygen is investing in for 2025 and beyond. RESOURCES AND LINKS MENTIONED: Head over to Rygen Technologies' website now to find out more and discover how they could help you too. You can also connect with Rygen and keep up to date with the latest over LinkedIn, X (Twitter), YouTube, and Instagram, or you can connect with Tony on LinkedIn. If you enjoyed this episode and want to hear more of our special episodes filmed live at Manifest, check out 453: Driving Supply Chain Innovation with Reveel and Deposco or 455: Discover Event-Driven Platform Technology, with BlackBerry Radar.
What do we want? Corsair! Why do we want it? Nose puns, mostly.
SUBSCRIBE NOW!!!! on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher & Audible. This week on the Press X to Start Gamer's Digest: DJ & Sean talk about the mysterious new Pokemon multiplayer game, Call Of Duty hinting at a new Tony Hawk game, the Marvel Rivals layoffs at NetEase, Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, the Elden Ring Nightreign demo and more! Gaming News - Time code: 2:56 A new multiplayer Pokemon game focused around battles is allegedly on the way; Mecha Break's Open Beta comes out with a bang and shockingly overpasses Marvel Rivals briefly; COD's new update seems to be hinting at an impending Tony Hawk reveal; Monster Hunter Wilds debuts to positive reviews; PC company Corsair boldly claims that GTA6 will launch on PC in 2026...and then promptly retracts that statement; The Marvel Rivals culling part of bigger budget cuts at NetEase; Microsoft to partner with Ninja Theory to create an AI gameplay generation model; Sony being sued for PS Store prices; Jeff Grub says that a God Of War PS5 Remaster will be revealed in March. What Have We Been Playing - Time code: 40:35 The pirate life is for Sean as he boards Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii DJ finally beat Metaphor: Refantazio, begrudgingly, and then beat the demo for Elden Ring: Nightreign. If you're enjoying the show, please take a moment to rate/review it on whatever service you're using. Every little bit helps! Want to ask a question, ask us at PressX2start.com/Questions Join/Follow Us: Youtube: Press X To Start TV Twitch: pressxtostarttv Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pressx2start Twitter: @PressX2S Instagram: @PressX2Start TikTok: @pressx2start You can find more info about the Press X and who we are at www.PressX2start.com. If you have any questions or just want to tell us how great (or just slightly okay) we're doing or how we can be better, be a friend and reach out and email us at pressxtostartpodcast@gmail.com End music by @MarcoMavy on IG & Twitter Be good to each other, Peace!
Edição de 27 Fevereiro 2025
We've spent a little time in Hawaii and have some early game thoughts. Thank you to Guillotine for providing us with a code ►Please Subscribe www.youtube.com/myxboxandme ►Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/McFixer ► BRAND NEW MXAM DISCORD - https://discord.gg/aQDSbAy8QH ► Twitter: @MCFixer @Kreshnikplays @MattPVideo @PaulDespawn ► Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/McFixer ► Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/Kreshnik ► Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/PaulDespawn 00:00 Intro 03:03 Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii 18:32 Whats in our Box? (Kingdom Come Deliverence 2, Avowed) 41:27 GTA 6 PC Release comment from Corsair 49:03 Assassin's Creed Shadows pre-orders are good 55:41 Marvel Rivals Design team laid off 01:00:50 Rainbow Six Siege X 01:06:24 Guess That Game 01:17:49 Fixers Sack
Trust is the secret ingredient that makes an event more than just a night out. Whether it's a party or a festival, knowing that the people behind it are genuine music devotees changes everything. Mostra Festival has built that trust over time, and for a good reason—they're music nerds through and through. For this week's mix on "Delayed with..." series, one of Mostra's core members steps up to the decks at Barcelona's beloved Laut, debuting a new alias: Corsair, the latest incarnation of Josh Hoppen. This mix is a dispatch from the front lines of ExtraMostra, an international celebration of Mostra's ethos that recently touched down on home turf in Barcelona featuring Josh Hoppen aka Corsair, Muted, and Memory Palace. Corsair brought the raw energy of UK breaks straight to a dancefloor that knew exactly what it wanted. And it's clear from the first beat that Corsair knows how to deliver. The set showcases Hoppen's encyclopedic music knowledge in a natural and unforced way. It's all about tension and release, powered by an ever-evolving array of broken grooves. If you're the type who likes to label things, you'll catch hints of halftime, jungle, drum and bass, dub, techno and even a touch of trance—genres that weave in and out like old friends at a reunion. But Corsair's magic lies in how he blends them into a seamless journey, always keeping the dancefloor on its toes. This mix celebrates bass in all its glorious forms, propelling the crowd into a state of relentless energy. It's the kind of low-end therapy that shakes you to the core—literally. Sharp percussions slice through the air, riding atop liquid synth lines, while the grooves shift and adapt like a chameleon changing colors under the strobe lights. No excess, no pretense—just a set that hits hard and stays with you. Moments like this show why Mostra keeps us coming back. Play it loud. Let Corsair guide you through the heavy basslines and restless rhythms. Well done, Josh. Here's to whatever comes next. Long live Corsair. https://soundcloud.com/joshhoppen https://www.instagram.com/joshhoppen/ https://www.mostra.barcelona Write by @gilleswasserman Follow us on social media: https://soundcloud.com/itsdelayed https://linktr.ee/delayed https://www.delayed.nyc https://www.facebook.com/itsdelayed https://www.instagram.com/_____delayed https://www.youtube.com/@_____delayed Contact us: info@delayed.nyc
In today's Daily Fix:Developers for Chinese Pokémon copycat game, Pocket Monster: Remake, have issued a public apology after losing a lawsuit with Nintendo. And not only that, Nintendo was awarded around $15 million. In other news, Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth has finally hit Steam, where it debuted at number 3. This is a financial turnaround for the game, which has been available on PS5 for a year, and did not live up to sales expectations. And finally, PC parts maker Corsair has clarified its comments about the PC port of Grand Theft Auto 6. Corsair explained that they do not know when the game will come to PC, and previous comments were basically speculation.
Gracias por escuchar este podcast.En este episodio hablo de mi nuevo PC GAMING montado recientemente.os dejo los links de los componentes .PLACA BASE https://amzn.to/3Qa45kQFUENTE https://amzn.to/3Eoeab1PROCESADORhttps://amzn.to/3QewhmkREFRIGERACIONhttps://amzn.to/4hs1L4JCAJA https://amzn.to/3WOqaJuCAPITULO DE APLLELIANOS https://www.youtube.com/live/LeHbvBO8hu0?si=W0CvfPYiN5nED5TiMOYACELLhttps://moyacell.comwallapopdirecciónCalle de Tomás Bretón 18, 28045, Delicias, Madrid, Comunidad de Madridteléfono613445669
Nach so vielen Sonderlocken - Jahresend-Gala, Fantasy Filmfest - gibts jetzt endlich mal wieder eine völlig normale, bodenständige Folge, quasi die (veganen) Schinkennudeln des Podcastens. Wie der Titel ja schon verrät haben wir die neue Rubrik "Was tragen wir?" gleich würdig eingeweiht, als fast antiker Space-Freibeuter weiss man halt, was den Hörern gefällt (die Fotos dazu findet ihr wie gewohnt auf unserem OnlyFans-Account). Auch ansonsten gibt es viel Interessantes auf die Ohren - Tax hat z.B. einen Lauf, was Eier und Schwänze angeht und wird ausgiebig davon berichten und für Christian gehört gepflegtes Feelgood-Zerplatzen von Mitmenschen genauso zu einem gelungenen Abend wie das Podcasten im Negligé. Was auch immer das genau ist. - Skeleton Crew Season 1 - Rings of Power Season 2 - Arcane Season 1+2 - American Primeval Season 1 - Dexter: Original Sins - Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl - Rewatch: Alien Romulus - Beau is Afraid - Long Legs - Redfield - Spontaneous - Hardware: Corsair K70 Mechanical Keyboard - Days Gone (Versuch #3) - Alien: Dark Descent - Severed Steel - Star Wars Outlaws - Stellar Blade [Unsere letterboxd Liste 2025](https://letterboxd.com/ckatzorke/list/geekzone-2025/) [Unsere serializd Liste 2025](https://www.serializd.com/list/Geekzone-2025-266409)
Projet mis en pause par la censure, le nouveau gouvernement s'est dit favorable à une hausse de la taxe de solidarité sur les billets d'avion (TSBA). Quel impact sur le secteur aérien français ? Comment cela va-t-il impacter notre compétitivité face à la concurrence de l'Asie et de l'Amérique du Nord ? Pascal de Izaguirre, PDG de Corsair, la deuxième compagnie long-courrier française, et président de la Fédération Nationale de l'Aviation et de ses Métiers, était l'invité de l'émission Ecorama du 22 janvier 2025, présentée par David Jacquot sur Boursorama.com Hébergé par Audion. Visitez https://www.audion.fm/fr/privacy-policy pour plus d'informations.
January 16, 1944 - From El Toro, California Alexis Smith makes guest appearance. References include the Corsair aircraft with folding wings, Good Humor wagons, silent film actress Theda Bara, and Oscar Levant who names piano pieces on the game show "Informtion Please",
CES 2025 wrap-up show, featuring at least 15% more energy than last week! We've got semi-hot takes on some CES 2025 gear, discussions on Nvidia cards, what's up with AMD, Thermaltake, HDMI and the usual cadre of Security scares. Even DOOM gets in on the act.Timestamps:00:00 Intro01:28 Food with Josh02:54 NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50 Series announcement08:44 AMD's curious lack of Radeon news13:53 Phison's new Gen5 controllers15:26 Thermaltake's new compact cases17:21 Thermaltake DD racing wheel bundle18:50 HYTE has a big new THICC cooler20:22 Corsair has a big new touchscreen accessory21:58 HDMI 2.2 cables are coming25:54 Dell rebrands (and it seems rather familiar somehow)28:40 Some Intel 18A and Arc discussion32:42 (in)Security Corner46:46 Gaming Quick Hits51:53 Josh talks NVIDIA a bit more56:49 Picks of the Week1:05:33 Outro ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
Raja Hadji-Touma, Partner at Corsair Capital and Head of European Buyouts, discusses Corsair's focus on asset-light businesses in financial services, technology, and business services. He explains Corsair's thematic approach to identifying trends and opportunities, emphasizing hands-on value creation, digitization, and scaling businesses through operational and strategic improvements. Insights and Highlights Specialization and Evolution Corsair Capital, originally part of JP Morgan, began as a solution to recapitalize troubled financial institutions after the U.S. Savings and Loan crisis. Over time, the firm shifted focus from capital-intensive businesses to asset-light services and technology within the financial services ecosystem. This evolution allows Corsair to focus on operational efficiency and scalable growth, targeting sectors like insurance distribution, fund administration, and B2B payments. Value Creation and Hands-On Approach Corsair prioritizes active value creation by establishing clear 100-day and long-term strategic plans with management teams. Their approach involves operational improvements, talent development, and technology enhancements. With a focus on institutionalizing businesses, Corsair utilizes operating partners to assess organizational needs, streamline go-to-market strategies, and execute M&A strategies for growth. Market Trends and Opportunities The firm targets fragmented markets, especially within insurance distribution and B2B payments, leveraging consolidation opportunities to scale businesses. Raja highlights the impact of AI and automation as key trends driving efficiency and new investment avenues. Corsair also sees regulatory requirements as growth catalysts, creating demand for compliance-related services and technologies. Sector Focus: Building Platforms in Niche Markets Corsair focuses on mid-sized businesses with EBITDA between $5-20 million, scaling them to $50-70 million through buy-and-build strategies. The firm emphasizes recurring revenue models, high cash flow conversion, and resilience against economic cycles. Their thematic approach allows them to identify promising sectors and proactively source deals, often in bilateral settings. Outlook and Strategic Growth Despite slower deal flow in 2024, Corsair remains optimistic about the next six to nine months as private equity adjusts to market conditions. With strong sector tailwinds, such as digital transformation and regulatory compliance, Corsair continues to back businesses positioned for long-term value creation and consolidation opportunities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jesse Montano is LIVE to breakdown a disappointing Black Friday loss for the Colorado Avalanche as they fell 5-3 to the Dallas Stars.Jesse: https://x.com/jessemontano_ Meghan: https://x.com/megangley Guerilla Sports Gameday content is powered by Landmark Lincoln and the All-New Lincoln Corsair GT: https://www.landmarklincoln.com/new-inventory/index.htm?search=&model=Corsair&year=2024&gvBodyStyle=SUV #NHL #ColoradoAvalanche #GoAvsGo #NHLHighlights #HockeyNews #AvalancheNews #HockeyInterviews #NHLPressConferences #AvalanchePressConferences #NHLPodcasts #AvalanchePodcasts #NHLFeatures #AvalancheFeatures #StanleyCup #nhlplayoffs Stay Connected with Guerilla Sports!
GOBBLE GOBBLE! Jesse Montano is back in-studio to help get you ready for the Colorado Avalanche and the Vegas Golden Knights matchup tonight in Denver Jesse: https://x.com/jessemontano_ Meghan: https://x.com/megangley Guerilla Sports Gameday content is powered by Landmark Lincoln and the All-New Lincoln Corsair GT: https://www.landmarklincoln.com/new-inventory/index.htm?search=&model=Corsair&year=2024&gvBodyStyle=SUV #NHL #ColoradoAvalanche #GoAvsGo #NHLHighlights #HockeyNews #AvalancheNews #HockeyInterviews #NHLPressConferences #AvalanchePressConferences #NHLPodcasts #AvalanchePodcasts #NHLFeatures #AvalancheFeatures #StanleyCup #nhlplayoffs Stay Connected with Guerilla Sports!
Peter Montagna joined me to discuss the pronunciation of his last name; TV tubes; being a fan of monster movies; his goal of being a painter; graduating with a degree in nutrition; working at NYU; seeing SNL shoot a sketch near his job gives him the itch; reads Corsair's makeup book; quits his job; takes a class and then teaches with Burt Roth; corresponding with Dick Smith; not getting the ABC makeup apprenticeship; getting the NBC apprenticeship; working with Kevin Haney and being a floater from 1981 to 1984; being Makeup Department head from 1984 to 1989; turning Eddie Murphy white for the "White Like Me" sketch; turning Billy Crystal & Christopher Guest black for "Negro League Memories" sketch; turning Billy into Sammy Davis, Jr., and Yul Brynner's niece; the blooper with Billy's wig and Martin Short; a typical week; his Saturday 10:30 meeting with Department heads; working with Phil Hartman on Frankenstein; working with Billy Crystal on Princess Bride; working with Don Rickles; on Mr. Saturday Night; the work on Robot Repair causing Phil Hartman to give him a writing credit; working on Quick Change with Bill Murray; working on Cold Case; My Fellow Americans with Dan Aykroyd and James Garner; working with Robin Williams; retiring except to help out Billy Crystal.
The enigmatic trio of Whiskey Under 50 is back for a new whiskey drinking season and to kick it off they head to Nashville Tennessee to take on some distillery tastings. We hit Dickel (Cascade Hollow), Nearest Green, Corsair, Nelson's Green Brier, and Leipers Fork. And wouldn't you know, we bring some bottle's back to share with y'all.
In episode 8, Julie talks to Ignacio Jayanti, CEO of private equity firm Corsair Capital, which spun out of J.P. Morgan Chase in 2006. Before that, Jayanti had been on the investment team of the predecessor Corsair funds and managed the operations of the business for almost a decade. Jayanti covers a lot of ground in this conversation, including how the model of private equity buyouts that took shape from about 2000 to 2021 depended on a growing number of potential PE acquirers for companies and a never-flagging IPO market where PE could cash in on investments. But he thinks that IPOs will remain “subdued” and that sweeping changes in the public markets since the early days of PE have added a lot of volatility and risk to this exit strategy. Private equity firms can no longer count on selling their companies to competitors either. That bit was founded on cheap money and constant deal making, says Jayanti. Money is no longer cheap — and deals have slowed dramatically. In particular, tune in to hear Jayanti's view of all that dry powder — commitments from investors — that has accumulated at private equity firms. That will “reach its end of life… some time over the next three years,” he says. The industry must be watching and trying to forecast what investors will do at that point. They have every right to walk away from unfunded commitments. And if they do the industry will contract dramatically. “I'm just highlighting the fact that there's a very long cycle and rhythm to this market of fundraising and deployment and exiting, which has been very significantly affected to the point where there could be a period of time where the next upturn is actually quite a bit further away in terms of aggregate market size. Ignacio touches on plenty of other topics as well, including a nuanced discussion about due diligence that you may not have heard before and the transformation that secondaries could kick off (in a good way.) Thanks for listening. And let me know what you think, what questions I didn't ask, and when I should have pressed for more. My email is open: jsegal@institutionalinvestor.com.
"LOU" shares what it was like to fly the Greek A-7 Corsair, including his flying training, what the A-7 did well and not so well, flying at very low level, what the cockpit was like and much, much more!Strap in and enjoy https://fighterpilotx.com/https://www.instagram.com/fighter_pilot_x/https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61563276425061Thanks to Lucas from http://www.aviastorm.com/ for setting up the interview https://www.facebook.com/AviaStorm/Pick up some AI merch - https://www.teepublic.com/user/aircrew-interview Help keep the channel going: PATREON - https://www.patreon.com/aircrewinterviewDONATE - http://www.aircrewinterview.tv/donate/Purchase our Aviation Art Book, Volume One - https://amzn.to/3sehpaP Follow us:https://www.aircrewinterview.tv/https://www.instagram.com/aircrew_interviewhttps://www.facebook.com/aircrewinterviewhttps://www.twitter.com/aircrewtvSupport the show
The RCCC live plays are finally here. First, we will be doing a short aquatic adventure on the moon Europa, where a timelord known as the Corsair finds themself already arrived to a marine research station where something mysterious has befallen the crew. Look for the official RCCC D&SD live play next week hosted by Andrew Kornblatt!!! Please support Dugongs & Sea Dragons on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/DugongsAndSeadragons
This week on the podcast we go over our reviews of the Fractal Design Refine Gaming Chair and the Corsair iCUE LINK TITAN 360 RX RGB Liquid CPU Cooler. We also discuss details on the RTX 5090 possibly requiring two 16-pin connectors, Intel Core Ultra 200 new retail boxes, a new product from Logitech, Sony celebrating the PlayStation's 30th anniversary, and much more!
Last time we spoke about the battles for Peleliu and Angaur. Following the amphibious assaults on Peleliu and Anguar, US Marines under General Rupertus intensified their offensive. On September 17, Colonel Hanneken's 7th Marines advanced in Peleliu's southern sector, as the 1st and 5th Marines pushed north, confronting the fortified Umurbrogol Mountains, where Colonel Nakagawa's defenses stalled their progress. Despite reaching key positions by mid-morning, intense Japanese counterattacks continued, causing heavy casualties. On September 18, the 7th Marines, aided by armor, resumed their slow advance, securing the southern part of Peleliu by day's end. Meanwhile, the 1st and 5th Marines faced brutal combat in the central ridges, suffering significant losses. By September 21, the capture of nearby Ulithi Atoll provided a strategic base for future operations. Despite securing important positions, the Marines encountered severe resistance in the Umurbrogol Mountains, leading to high casualties and necessitating reinforcements. By September 23, the Americans secured footholds on Peleliu and Anguar, yet fierce fighting persisted in Nakagawa's fortified positions. This episode is the Japanese Triumph in China Welcome to the Pacific War Podcast Week by Week, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about world war two? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on world war two and much more so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel you can find a few videos all the way from the Opium Wars of the 1800's until the end of the Pacific War in 1945. This week we are picking up back over on Peleliu and Anguar where the Japanese are still providing stiff resistance. On September 23, Colonel Venable's 322nd Regiment had made little progress breaking into the Lake Salome bowl. With their commanding officer severely injured, a change in tactics was imminent. On the morning of September 24, propaganda broadcasts over a public address system were used to try and persuade the remaining Japanese to surrender. However, only two Japanese soldiers surrendered, reporting that over 300 defenders remained in the bowl under Major Goto. This accurate estimate was disregarded by the American command, who believed only about 150 defenders remained. Following this failed attempt, all available artillery bombarded the bowl in preparation for an attack from the north, altering the appearance of the bowl's interior and rims to aid the upcoming assault. Back at Peleliu, after heavy bombardment, Colonel Dark's 321st Regiment resumed its advance north along the coast on September 24, despite continued harassment from Japanese fire from the central ridges. By noon, they had secured the trail-road junction south of Garekoru. Some troops explored the trail to the east, encountering heavy resistance, while Company G advanced rapidly north through Garekoru, reaching the O-4 Line. Behind them, Dark's 3rd Battalion and Colonel Hanneken's 3rd Battalion also pushed northwards. Further east, the 7th Marines pressed against Colonel Nakagawa's main defenses on the Umurbrogol Mountains. By nightfall, having successfully resisted Japanese counterattacks on O-4, General Rupertus' northward drive had proven to be a significant success. He next planned to cut across the island on September 25 through the eastern trail to completely isolate the Japanese forces in the Umurbrogol ridges. At 07:00, Dark's troops began moving eastward, with Company E successfully reaching the edge of East Road against light opposition. They halted in front of Hill B, which dominated the eastern area. However, the 3rd Battalion encountered heavier resistance from pillboxes and emplacements protected by steep walls and sheer cliffs guarding the northern approaches to the Umurbrogol defense system, making little progress. Meanwhile, to the north, a strong tank-infantry patrol advanced about 1,200 yards, killing 30 Japanese and destroying four pillboxes and two large supply dumps before reaching the O-5 Line. The weak resistance encountered by the patrol suggested that remaining Japanese strength was concentrated in the Umurbrogol Pocket. Thus, at 10:30, Rupertus decided to commit the 5th Marines for a drive to the northern tip of Peleliu. Rapidly relieved by the 1st Marines on eastern Peleliu. Orders to move to the western portion of Peleliu found the 5th Marines in static positions on Eastern Peleliu, where the regimental mission had been to prevent enemy counterlandings. The 1st Battalion was deployed in the vicinity of the radio direction finding station near Ngardololok, the 2d Battalion was holding the islands north of the northeastern peninsula, while the 3d Battalion, less one company, occupied defensive positions along Purple Beach. The 1st Marines completed the relief of the 5th shortly after noon and assumed command of the 5th Marines sector at that time. In order to expedite movement of the regiment to the West Road, the battalions moved out on trucks at 1300, with 1/5 in the lead, followed by 3/5 and 2/5. By 1600, the 5th Marines had executed the passage of the lines, and the regiment passed through Phase Line O-4 near Garekoru. As 1/5 continued its advance up the West Road, it encountered erratic resistance from what appeared to be Japanese holdouts. The level terrain was devoid of the dense jungle growth abounding elsewhere on Peleliu and offered ideal conditions for the movement of tanks and LVT flamethrowers accompanying the advance battalion. Aside from occasional Japanese sniper and mortar fire, the advance continued for about 500 yards without interruption to Road Junction 15, where the West and East Roads met. This vital point was defended by a small Japanese force, which had installed itself on a ridge dominating the road forks. Around 1700, as the Marines approached this point, the enemy opened fire, which served only to delay the Marines. When the firefight ended the Japanese had lost 20 killed. The battalion continued its advance for another 100 yards and seized the Japanese radio station, whose towers the forward elements of RCT 321 had spotted on the previous day. Having secured this objective, the battalion established night defenses north of the radio station from the beach to the high ground east of the West Road. Upon reaching Road Junction 15 in the wake of the advance of 1/5, the 3d Battalion pivoted to the southeast and headed down East Road, where it established night defenses on the road and along the western slopes of Hill 80. The latter hill, in itself an isolated terrain feature, owed its importance to its location, for it was the only link separating the Kamilianlul ridges to the south from the Amiangal ridges, which formed the northernmost hill mass on Peleliu. Throughout the evening and night, the forward elements at the radio station were continuously and heavily attacked and bombed but managed to hold against the enemy onslaught. Meanwhile, at Angaur, after a heavy and prolonged artillery bombardment, the 3rd Battalion, 322nd Regiment pushed forward to launch its assault from the north. Finding no route south over the cliffs, they assembled near the northern end of the Milwaukee Railroad for an attack west the following day. At 07:30 on September 26, the infantry launched their assault on Lake Salome, quickly taking control of the eastern rim with minimal resistance. Facing increasing enemy fire, the Americans made their way down the eastern rim to the bowl floor. However, by the end of the day, they were halted by Goto's positions on the northern cliffs and "The Island," a gap between an overgrown coral mound and the eastern rim. To the south, the 2nd Battalion supported the attack by advancing north, capturing the southeast rim and clearing out several enemy cave positions. Back over on Peleliu the Marines had a very rough night full of Japanese infiltrator harassment. In fact our old friend Eugene Sledge wrote about the night of September 25th and what his unit of K Company, 3rd battalion, 5th marines went through. The Japanese who had come across the road in front of me were probably members of what the enemy called a “close-quarter combat unit.” The enemy soldier shot by Sam was not dressed or equipped like their typical infantryman. Rather he wore only tropical khaki shorts, short-sleeved shirt, and tabi footwear (splittoed, rubber-soled canvas shoes). He carried only his bayonet. Why he entered our line where he did may have been pure accident, or he may have had an eye on our mortar. His comrade angled off toward the right near a machine gun on our flank. Mortars and machine guns were favorite targets for infiltrators on the front lines. To the rear, they went after heavy mortars, communications, and artillery. Before Company K moved out, I went down the road to the next company to see what had happened during the night. I learned that those blood-chilling screams had come from the Japanese I had seen run to the right. He had jumped into a foxhole where he met an alert Marine. In the ensuing struggle each had lost his weapon. The desperate Marine had jammed his forefinger into his enemy's eye socket and killed him. Such was the physical horror and brutish reality of war for us. The 1/5 spent the early hours of 26 September in consolidating its positions around the radio station and preparing for continuation of its attack later in the day to the northern tip of Peleliu. Shortly after 0600, 3/5 jumped off for an attack against Hill 80 with Company K on the left and Company I on the right. The attack carried the hill and by 0830 the assault force reached a swamp bordering the east coast of Peleliu. This advance of the 3d Battalion was of major importance because it effectively cut the island in two. Late in the afternoon most of the battalion moved back from Hill 80 to a reserve position near the junction of East and West Roads. The unit's southern flank extended south from the junction along East Road to Hill 80, where Company I was stationed for the night. Between Company I, 5th Marines, and the 2d Battalion, 321st Infantry, at Hill B, lay a gap approximately 1,800 yards long through which only the 321st Infantry's Neal Task Force had passed. In this gap lay 1,500-yard-long Kamilianlul Mountain, held by an unknown number of Japanese and as yet not even reconnoitered by American units. The 5th Marines consolidated their positions and resumed their assault. The 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, ran into stiff opposition from the Amiangal ridges dominating northern Peleliu. The northern portion of the L-shaped hill system consisted of ridges running generally from northeast to southwest for about 1,000 yards; the southern leg extended from northwest to southeast. The southern leg of the ridges was not continuous but broken into four separate hills or knobs, designated from northwest to southeast as Hill 1, Hill 2, Hill 3, and Radar Hill, so named because it had at one time served as an enemy radar installation. These four knobs were to gain ill repute as Hill Row. The entire Amiangal ridge system was held in strength by the Japanese, particularly the portion paralleling the route of advance of 1/5. This part contained some of the most elaborate caves and tunnels on Peleliu. The battalion had barely started out along the West Road when the enemy in and on Hill 1 opened up on the Marines with 37mm and 75mm guns as well as automatic weapons and mortars. This curtain of fire from the Amiangal ridges was reinforced by heavy fire from Ngesebus Island. All forward movement soon halted. Attacking eastward from the West Road, Company B assaulted the second knob, Hill 2, but also encountered opposition. Through sheer determination the company was able to gain a firm foothold on the hill by early afternoon. This accomplishment in effect served to outflank the Japanese on Hill 1, but Japanese resistance on the last mentioned hill continued throughout the day. An attempt by Company C to seize all of Hill 1 during the remaining hours of daylight was unsuccessful, and continuation of the assault had to await the following day. During the bitter fighting in which 1/5 engaged during the night of 25-26 September and for most of the following day, 2/5 remained stationary on the southern flank of the regiment. At 1600 on 26 September, when it had become apparent that 1/5 could make no further progress, 2/5 was ordered to attack. The battalion advanced northward through the left wing of 1/5, carefully bypassing embattled Hill 1. In the course of its advance, the battalion drew heavy fire from Japanese emplacements in the plain, from the ridges on its right, as well as from Ngesebus. Enemy mortars proved especially troublesome. As a result of the heavy fire, Company F lost four of its supporting tanks before it had advanced very far beyond Hill 1. Attempts by the artillery to give all possible support to the battalion were largely ineffectual. "We fired frequent missions throughout the day on these mortars; the reported effect was that the mortars were neutralized while we fired but that they were not destroyed. The enemy apparently withdrew into the caves during the period of our fire." As evening approached, the 5th Marines occupied a jagged front line. The 1st Battalion, though out of contact with the 2d, was tied in with the 3d on the right. The mission of the 3d Battalion was to support either the 1st or 2d Battalion in the event of a major Japanese counterattack. Further progress of the 2d Battalion was impeded by a large antitank ditch, which blocked the approach to the remnants of the Peleliu phosphate plant. The Japanese had converted the reinforced concrete foundation of the otherwise demolished structure into a major defensive installation. Exposed to the enemy fire from Ngesebus Island and plunging fire from caves and defensive positions from the hills, 2/5 found itself in a very unenviable situation. Further south, after some necessary adjustments, Dark's forces assaulted Hill B with two battalions. Initially repelled, Dark then sent a task force led by Captain George Neal to attack from the north. After a complex maneuver north and then south, the Neal Task Force attacked Hill B just as other elements of the 321st fought their way to the top through challenging terrain. The hill eventually fell to the Americans, completing the isolation of the Umurbrogol Pocket. By the end of the day, the island was divided in two places, leaving Nakagawa's determined defenders isolated in two major pockets. On September 27, with the Umurbrogol Pocket now contained, the 5th Marines continued their operations against Amiangal Mountain. At the same time, the 1st Battalion, 321st Regiment advanced north from the Hill B area to close the long gap along East Road up to Hill 80. Dark's infantrymen secured Kamilianlul Mountain with minimal resistance and then moved towards the Marines' road junction. The 2d Battalion was to find progress extremely rough for the remainder of the day. First, the erstwhile phosphate plant, which the Japanese had turned into a blockhouse, had to be secured in an area that bristled with snipers. The problem confronting Colonel Harris was a formidable one. The blockhouse in front of 2/5 could not be taken until the antitank ditch blocking the approaches to it had been seized. This was a job that the infantry could not tackle without armored support. The regimental commander decided to utilize all arms available in reducing these obstacles. First of all, Colonel Harris called naval gunfire and artillery in on Ngesebus and any other targets suspected of harboring artillery or mortar positions. A medium tank, equipped with a bulldozer blade, was pressed into service to level the antitank ditch, and filled it by 0830. A LVT flamethrower then was able to come within effective range of the Japanese fortification. Moments later, when the flame and smoke had cleared, all resistance from this stronghold had ceased and more than 60 dead Japanese remained in the rubble. While this action was in progress, patrols from Company E seized a small, weakly defended ridge abutting the road from the east. The 2d Battalion thereafter resumed its advance northward along the road as well as over the adjacent ridge. Company F, at the head of the column, soon found itself embroiled in some of the most bitter and frustrating action of the entire campaign. Aside from receiving heavy Japanese artillery and mortar fire, the company faced a series of pillboxes and field fortifications on level ground, and layer upon layer of caves in the hillsides. Even though they were not aware of it at the time, the men of the 5th Marines had come upon the most skillfully constructed defenses on Peleliu. The Japanese Army had utilized all of the many natural caves possessing tactical value, adapting them for the emplacement of heavier weapons with great ingenuity. On the other hand, Japanese naval troops had preferred to construct their own caves with the help of the 214th Naval Construction Battalion, composed of men who had been professional miners and tunnel workers in civilian life. Since most of these Navy caves were located near the northern end of Peleliu, they proved a serious obstacle to the advance of the 5th Marines. Eugene Sledge faced these obstacles and saw firsthand the effectiveness of flamethrowers. Here is a passage from him: Burgin's order to us to continue firing into the opening interrupted my musings. We kept up a steady fire into the pillbox to keep the Japanese pinned down while the flamethrower came up, carried by Corporal Womack from Mississippi. He was a brave, good-natured guy and popular with the troops, but he was one of the fiercest-looking Marines I ever saw. He was big and husky with a fiery red beard well powdered with white coral dust. He reminded me of some wild Viking. I was glad we were on the same side. Stooped under the heavy tanks on his back, Womack approached the pillbox with his assistant just out of the line of our fire. When they got about fifteen yards from the target, we ceased firing. The assistant reached up and turned a valve on the flamethrower. Womack then aimed the nozzle at the opening made by the 75mm gun. He pressed the trigger. With a whoooooooosh the flame leaped at the opening. Some muffled screams, then all quiet. Even the stoic Japanese couldn't suppress the agony of death by fire and suffocation. But they were no more likely to surrender to us than we would have been to them had we ever been confronted with the possibility of surrender. In fighting the Japanese, surrender was not one of our options. Sheer courage and heroism in themselves proved inadequate for the task. In the course of the morning of 27 September, Company F seized the two ridges forming the northwestern anchor of the Amiangal system and established observation posts on the crests. But this did not solve the problem of what to do about the Japanese occupying the caves about half way up the hill. Marine casualties mounted steadily, and evacuation of the wounded became more and more difficult. Since the cave openings completely dominated the road leading past the northernmost ridge of Peleliu, the advance of the entire 2d Battalion ground to a halt. The first tank attempting to squeeze through the narrow gap between the hill and the northwestern shore was hit, and the Marines occupying the crest of the hill were powerless to cope with the caves underneath. Although the Americans now controlled the northern shore and blocked further enemy reinforcements, skilled Japanese miners continued their resistance underground. What the Marines did not know was that they were facing the most comprehensive cave system on Peleliu which was the underground home of the Japanese naval construction units who were, luckily for the Marines, better miners than infantrymen. The Japanese Army had utilized all of the many natural caves possessing tactical value, adapting them for the emplacement of heavier weapons with great ingenuity. On the other hand, Japanese naval troops had preferred to construct their own caves with the help of the 214th Naval Construction Battalion, composed of men who had been professional miners and tunnel workers in civilian life. Since most of these Navy caves were located near the northern end of Peleliu, they proved a serious obstacle to the advance of the 5th Marines. In the end, it would take weeks for the Marines to finally quash all resistance on Akarakoro Point, then only by blasting closed all the tunnel entrances, sealing the Japanese defenders inside to their fate. To the south, Harris' 1st Battalion pressed on with their attack on the mountain's southern leg, successfully capturing Hill 1. Meanwhile, the 322nd Regiment resumed its assault on the Lake Salome bowl, fighting to secure the base of the north rim but encountering less resistance in the south as most Japanese defenders had been evacuated towards Romauldo. The following day, despite a successful enemy mortar barrage that initially forced a temporary withdrawal and reorganization, the Americans cleared the entire bowl floor of Japanese troops, isolating Goto's remaining forces in the Romauldo area. This progress enabled the 322nd to launch a final coordinated attack on October 1, with its three battalions trapping the enemy in the Romauldo Pocket, though they were unable to penetrate Goto's final defenses. On September 28 at Peleliu, while Dark's 1st Battalion engaged Japanese infiltrators while mopping up the Kamilianlul Mountain area, Harris' 1st and 2nd Battalions continued their assault on Amiangal and successfully captured Hill 3. This action isolated the remaining Japanese forces at Radar Hill. Meanwhile, the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines executed a successful landing on Ngesebus Island with minimal resistance after a comprehensive artillery, air, and naval bombardment. The curtain on the drama of Ngesebus opened on the morning of September 28, when the massed fire of five artillery battalions from Peleliu, as well as heavy fire from warships and aircraft, blanketed the island. Near the northwestern shore of Peleliu, an impressive gathering of high-ranking officers had assembled to witness the operation. The group included such notables as Admiral Fort, and Generals Julian C. Smith, Geiger, Rupertus, Mueller, Oliver P. Smith, and Bell. The weather was cool and cloudy and interspersed with frequent rain squalls. For the Corsair pilots of VMF-114, air support for the Ngesebus landings represented a very interesting and original assignment. The operation marked the beginning of combat work for the squadron, which had reached Peleliu only two days earlier. At 06:30, the Corsairs hit the airstrip on Ngesebus with 500-pound bombs and strafed the entire island as well as Kongauru to the northeast. "Strafing runs were made just a few feet off the deck and a hail of lead laid all over the island." At 08:40, 20 Corsairs preceded the landing craft and gave the island another heavy strafing. In the course of this attack, Japanese mortar positions were spotted and one especially prominent square blockhouse with an iron door was fired on and neutralized. Whenever aircraft were not directly over the island, the artillery on Peleliu and naval guns offshore gave Ngesebus a heavy going over, starting at 07:00 and concluding at 09:05. Both quick and delay fuzes were used. Observers reported that the island was completely covered with fire. In the course of the preliminary bombardment, naval gunfire ships pounded the northern portion of Ngesebus and continued to fire on that part of the island throughout the landing. The Marines advanced inland, swiftly securing the airstrip and the eastern portion of Ngesebus. One platoon then landed on Kongauru and Murphy islands to secure them against light opposition. However, the attack to the northwest encountered strong resistance from Japanese forces entrenched in caves and dugouts, prompting the deployment of tanks to support the Marine assault. By 5:00 PM, nearly all of Ngesebus was under American control, with only a few hundred yards at the extreme northwestern tip remaining in Japanese hands and some caves on the ridges still needing to be cleared. The 3d Battalion spent a relatively quiet night on Ngesebus. On the morning of 29 September, Companies I and K resumed the attack. Progress was normal until the two companies had nearly reached the northern tip of Ngesebus, when a 75mm gun opened up at point blank range. The Marines quickly destroyed this weapon and went on to overcome the rest of the resistance on the island. At 1500, 29 September, Ngesebus was declared secure. An hour later, 2/321 relieved the Marines and completed mopping up. Having accomplished the mission on the island, 3/5 returned to Peleliu. The battalion had secured the island at a cost of 15 killed and 33 wounded. In return, the Marines killed or captured 470 Japanese. Infantrymen of 2/321 were to account for another hundred of the enemy during the ensuing mop-up. Eugene Sledge wrote this about the final capture of Ngesebus: The next morning, again with the help of tanks and am-tracs, our battalion took most of the remainder of Ngesebus. Our casualties were remarkably low for the number of Japanese we killed.* In midafternoon we learned that an army unit would relieve us shortly and complete the job on the northern end of Ngesebus. Our mortar section halted to await orders and dispersed among some open bushes. In our midst was the wreckage of a Japanese heavy machine gun and the remains of the squad that had been wiped out by Company K. The squad members had been killed in the exact positions to be occupied by such a squad “according to the book.” At first glance the dead gunner appeared about to fire his deadly weapon. He still sat bolt upright in the proper firing position behind the breech of his machine gun. Even in death his eyes stared widely along the gun sights. Despite the vacant look of his dilated pupils, I couldn't believe he was dead. Cold chills ran along my spine. Gooseflesh tickled my back. It seemed as though he was looking through me into all eternity, that at any instant he would raise his hands—which rested in a relaxed manner on his thighs—grip the handles on the breech, and press the thumb trigger. The bright shiny brass slugs in the strip clip appeared as ready as the gunner, anxious to speed out, to kill, and to maim more of the “American devils.” But he would rot, and they would corrode. Neither he nor his ammo could do any more for the emperor. The rest of the 5th Marines continued their operations on September 29, launching a full-scale assault on Radar Hill using flamethrowers, bazookas, and demolition charges, finally capturing the position by the morning of September 30. Following the completion of operations in northern Peleliu, the 5th Marines were relieved by the 321st Regiment. However, as the Army troops took over, the remaining Japanese, who had been hiding underground, reoccupied some positions, requiring two additional days of fighting to fully secure northern Peleliu. Nonetheless, the Japanese presence in Peleliu had now been reduced to Nakagawa's Umurbrogol Pocket, so Peleliu was officially secured. Total losses during this battle so far included 843 killed, 3845 wounded and 356 missing of the 1st Marine Division; 46 killed, 226 wounded and 7 missing from the 321st Regiment; and an estimated 9076 Japanese dead plus 180 prisoners of war. Yet that is all for today with Peleliu and Anguar as we now need to travel to China where the Japanese are still carrying out Operation Ichi-Go in an effort to capture Guilin and Liuzhou. As we last observed, General Yokoyama's 11th Army had taken control of Lingling Airdrome and Quanzhou by September 14. Following this, they reorganized their units in preparation for resuming their offensive in October. Meanwhile, the 34th Division was deployed towards Changning, and the 37th Division moved to capture Shaoyang, which fell by the end of the month. The 23rd Army also made final preparations for their offensive in early September. General Tanaka directed the Kawakami Raiding Unit in a wide flanking maneuver along the Zhukeng-Huaiji road towards Wuzhou, while the 23rd Independent Mixed Brigade embarked on a long march north to Guiping. On September 13, the 22nd Independent Mixed Brigade and the 22nd and 104th Divisions began their main advance towards Wuzhou. However, the Kawakami Raiding Unit successfully captured Wuzhou on September 22 and seized the Danzhuzhen airfield six days later. Each unit then continued its advance westward to Guiping, which fell to the 23rd Brigade on October 11. So far, Tanaka's forces had encountered little to no resistance, but this was about to change. After the war, in discussing the performance of the Chinese divisions supposed to defend Guilin and Liuzhou, the political situation in east China, and the attitudes of the east China commanders, Marshal Hata remarked that in his opinion Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi had kept their forces out of serious fighting in order to conserve them "for the future." At the time, there were rumors that these men were planning a coup against Chiang Kai-Shek. Chinese resistance was light, but with its supply situation improved the 14th Air Force again did its best on the Salween as well as in east China. In all September the force dropped 1897.6 tons of bombs and fired 1281382 rounds of machine-gun ammunition, some of the latter of course at aerial targets. In early September, Japanese fighter reinforcements from the homeland also entered combat. The Japanese were pleased at the performance of the latemodel fighters with one of the air regiments they sent to China. Thanks to the air cover thus supplied, for the first time in the east China campaign they found themselves able to move supplies regularly on the Xiang Jiang, which paralleled their line of advance, and so thought their prospects "brightened." At the beginning of the month, Yokoyama renewed his offensive, with the 58th Division successfully taking Xing'An and the 34th Division capturing Changning. The 37th Division was then deployed to Dao, and the 34th Division was sent to Xing'An in preparation for the final push toward Guilin. On October 20, this attack commenced as Yokoyama directed the 216th Regiment to advance to Lehecun, the 58th Division to assault the area north of Guilin, the 40th Division to move to Gaoshangzhen, the 13th Division to advance to Quanhuicun, and the 3rd Division to push toward Fuchuan. With minimal resistance from the retreating Japanese forces, most of these movements were completed by the end of the month. The 3rd Division pushed further to Pingle, while the 37th Division occupied Gongchengzhen and Yanshan to approach Guilin from the south. On November 3, the 3rd Division captured Lipu and began preparations for the advance towards Liuzhen, encircling Guilin and opening the route to Liuzhen. Meanwhile, on October 22, Tanaka ordered the reinforced 23rd Brigade to continue its advance toward Guigang, with the 104th and 22nd Divisions pushing toward Wuxuan. Their progress, previously unopposed, was now challenged by the Chinese 46th and 64th Armies, which launched daily attacks against Guiping with substantial air support. As a result, the 22nd Division was redirected to counter the Chinese forces, successfully forcing their withdrawal by October 29. Following this victory, the 23rd Brigade captured Guigang on November 3, and the 104th Division seized Wuxuan the following day. This allowed Tanaka's forces to begin a northern pursuit to support Yokoyama's assaults on Guilin and Liuzhen. After the third Anshan strike, General LeMay began implementing reforms within the 20th Bomber Command. These changes included reorganizing the command, enhancing the logistics system, adjusting target priorities, and improving coordination with Pacific operations. As a result, the frequency of missions increased each month, with each mission becoming more substantial and effective. Concurrently, following the successful completion of the newly renamed Isley Field on Saipan, the 73rd Bombardment Wing was redirected to the Marianas instead of the CBI Theater. There, it would join Major-General Haywood Hansell's 21st Bomber Command, tasked with executing high-altitude, daylight precision attacks to cripple Japan's aircraft industry. The XXI Bomber Command arrived on Saipan on October 12, 1944, and from the start General Hansell was beset by a host of serious command problems, the worst of which were continued teething problems with the B-29, tardy delivery of aircraft, aircrews untrained in high altitude formation flying, primitive airfield conditions, lack of an air service command for logistical support, no repair depots, a total absence of target intelligence, stubborn internal resistance to daylight operations by his sole combat wing, subordinates in the XXI Bomber Command who lobbied for his removal, and Hansell's inferiority in rank in dealing with other AAF commanders in the theater. Furthermore, Hansell was soon prohibited from flying combat missions with his command, possibly because of limited knowledge of the atomic bomb or the perception that he knew the existence of Ultra. As plans for a sustained bomber offensive against Honshu progressed, the strategic focus of Operation Matterhorn diminished. The 20th Bomber Command shifted to flying missions in direct support of other Pacific operations, with target priorities moving from coke ovens to the aircraft industry. In preparation for the upcoming invasion of the Philippines, the command was tasked with two closely spaced maximum missions against Okayama in Formosa, totaling 170 sorties, along with very-long-range reconnaissance missions. Yet now we have to travel over to the India-Burma theater. As the advance towards the Chindwin continued and the resilient 33rd Division finally crossed the river in late November, General Katamura was finalizing his plans for a withdrawal to the Mandalay sector, scheduled for December. This decision was driven by the intense pressure the British 36th Division was putting on General Takeda's defensive positions at Pinwe, forcing the defenders to prepare for a final retreat by the end of November. Meanwhile, General Slim was preparing for Operation Capital. He planned to stretch airpower to its limits to move four and two-thirds divisions across the Chindwin, along with two tank brigades. After establishing bridgeheads at Sittang, Mawlaik, and Kalewa, he intended to cross the Chindwin and confront General Kimura's forces between the Chindwin and the Irrawaddy. The 4th Corps, now under the experienced General Messervy, would break out from the Sittang bridgehead, advance east through the mountains, capture Pinlebu, and then approach the Shwebo plain from the north. Simultaneously, General Stopford's 33rd Corps would move from Kalewa, following the Chindwin southeast to Yeu and Monywa. Once the Japanese forces were pushed onto the open plain, Slim planned to exploit his overwhelming advantage in airpower and tanks to decisively defeat them, anticipating that the enemy would fiercely defend Mandalay. The combination of the defeats at Kohima, Imphal, Mogaung and Myitkyina meant that by the autumn of 1944, Kimura's role was reduced to defending southern Burma as the northern flank of their new ‘South-East Asia defense zone'. With few reinforcements or supplies to look forward to, Kimura had grim prospects. On paper he had ten divisions (2nd, 15th, 18th, 31st, 33rd, 49th, 53rd, 54th, 55th, & 56th), though this was really seven, since little remained of the three divisions that had been devastated at Kohima-Imphal. He also had the dubious support of Bose's INA and Aung San's seven-battalion Burma National Army, but the civilian population was increasingly going over to the side of the likely winners. Unexpectedly, Kimura received 30000 fresh troops in the period June–October, but his problem was more commissariat than raw numbers, since he was rapidly running out of supplies. Even those he had (45000 tons of food, 500 lorries and 2000 pack animals) were difficult to get to the front, and Kimura was painfully aware that the situation could only get worse. The South-East Asia zone was slowly being throttled by the Allied naval blockade, all approaches to Rangoon were mined, and in 1944 total Japanese shipping losses amounted to 2.3 million tons. Even those ships that ran the blockade would proceed no farther than Penang in Malaya. Kimura chose to deploy smaller units to delay the British-Indian forces while the main body of the 15th Army retreated across the Irrawaddy River. His strategy was to launch a counterattack once the British crossed the river, aiming to replicate a reverse Imphal by wearing down the British-Indian forces through attrition and then destroying them during their retreat in the May 1945 monsoon. Meanwhile, Admiral Mountbatten was also seeking a victory of his own. On November 8, he ordered an assault on Japanese positions in Arakan, with a deadline set for the end of January. This operation was assigned to General Christison's 15th Corps. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. The fighting on Peleliu and Angaur raged asAmerican forces struggled against resilient Japanese defenses. Significant advances were made, including the isolation of the Umurbrogol Pocket and the capture of Ngesebus Island. Despite heavy casualties, Peleliu was eventually secured, leaving a small pocket of Japanese resistance.
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This week we're back with friend of the show, Tom Brewster of Shut Up and Sit Down! Listen as we turn the corner on three more of the arcs leaders and dig even further into what makes Arcs a unique strategy game. These three leaders really showcase the different styles of Arcs leaders with interesting abilities, obvious applications, and one of them is just kind of bogus. You'll love it! Also stay tuned next week for the imminent announcement of PATREON TOURNAMENT 7. You will not want to miss that. Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com Additional Music and Sounds by Brian Kupillas. https://wanderinglake.bandcamp.com/ To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/
We're here again with a two week catch up - promises that it's not a regular shtick! Our X-Factor team has a short debut and a bit of a bloody shakeup in something that feels both new and oddly reminiscent of the past. Phoenix adds Corsair's problems to her own as the two find their way into the Black Order's mess. Plus a second issue of X-Men as we catch some recurring themes. Aliens!? Or something more. A stellar debut from Hickman and Capullo and a convincing end from Percy and Ohta as the Wolverine family expands into more titles. Plus the depth of character we never knew we needed for Omega Red!! Best Infinity Comic arc? 01:33 News 05:23 Personal News 08:25 Polls and General Questions 18:48 From the Ashes 26:42 Hellverine 31:46 Wolverine Revenge 43:16 X-Factor 1:07:44 Phoenix 1:28:30 X-Men From the Ashes! Rising up out of the end of Krakoa, a new slate of titles takes the mutants in a variety of directions. What will they discover? How will they play off each other? Join us as we find out! Like, subscribe, follow, email, and @ us all over the internet at thexwifepodcast. If you enjoyed the episode, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts and tell your friends!
This is a fun episode talking about all the unique process and mash bills. Everything from cherry smoke to sheep dung smoked. The possibilities are end less. There is a lot of cool stuff out there, let me know some of the weird whiskey you have ran into. Lets get into it, but first a word from our sponsors Badmotivatorbarrels.com/shop/?aff=3 https://www.instagram.com/zsmithwhiskeyandmixology?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw== Patreon.com/the_whiskeyshaman Stauning Danish Rye Whisky, an exceptional alternative to traditional American rye whiskey. Made with Danish rye which hasbeen growing in the tranquil Danish nature for over 2,000 years. Stauning whisky offers a unique flavor profile that's rich, nuanced, and perfectly balanced. Discover a new dimension of rye whisky with Stauning Danish Rye Whisky.Skål! Local Danish rye & barley 100% floor-malted for maximum flavor Direct-fired small copper pot stills (24 of them) Bottled on-site, natural colour, non-chill filtered Flóki Single Malt Sheep Dung Smoked Our Sheep Dung Smoked Reserve is a truly unique smoked malt. Here we apply an old traditional Icelandic smoking style using sheep dung to smoke the barley.For centuries, Icelanders used this smoking method to preserve food and heat houses; to this day it is used for traditional food preparation and Icelandic malt crafting.The result is truly a unique whisky with a complex flavor profile. Sweet smoky notes compliment the intense flavor of the Icelandic barley and a rich, lingering aftertaste that brings you back to the farm you worked on decades ago.Flóki Sheep Dung Smoked Single Malt is handcrafted and produced from 100% locally farmed Icelandic barley, smoked using traditional Icelandic methods and materials. It is a Single barrel whisky aged for 3 years in ex-Flóki Young Malt barrels under the base of mount Hekla.Sheep dung smoked Icelandic single malt is available at the Duty Free Store in Iceland, most local liquor stores in Iceland and through our distributors world wide. Whisky Advocate's Artisan Whiskey of the Year – The whis- key that put us on the map. We use three individually smoked malts (cherrywood from Wisconsin, beechwood from Germany, and peat from Scotland) to craft this deep and complex whiskey. Using 3 distinct smokes provides consistent and balanced smoke from nose to the pallet and throughout the finish. Corsair never uses artificial flavors or colors, achieving superior flavor and color through quality malted barley, innovative distillation and small barrel maturation. Tasting Notes Smoke and notes of cherry pervade the palate, finished by a slight brininess from the mossy peat. Pot distilled then aged in new American charred oak, Triple Smoke has the sweetness of an American whiskey with the rich smoke of an Islay single malt scotch. Adventurous Stills is a craft distillery located in Tempe, Arizona. Founded by Kelly Lattig in 2015, Adventurous Stills handcrafts premium award-winning whiskey & spirits using locally grown grains and traditional distilling practices. Our mission is to craft unique and flavorful spirits that express the adventurous spirit of Arizona.Adventurous Stills is committed to using sustainable processes and delivering an exceptional line of spirits without any compromises. All our whiskey and spirits are 100% natural with all their flavors coming from the grains and the barrels - Never sourced, flavored, or colored! We offer: Bottle sales online, at our distillery & select local establishments Distillery tours & handcrafted cocktails at our Distillery & Tasting Room Membership Program with access to our limited releases Special Services like group events & tours, private barrel/white label program and more Stauningwhiskey.com Flokiwhisky.is Corsairdistilling.com Adventurousstills.com
In which Tommy Lee Edwards draws a damned fine everything; death gods get taken a lot less seriously when their avatars are seagulls; warm and cool colors get in a fight; Domino has no time for this bullshit; Cable and Domino wait 'til the kids are asleep; Sunspot's alibi is too complicated; X-Force forges a pouches path; Engines are nothing but trouble; and Ry'lor the Destroyer puts himself in time out. X-PLAINED: The Norse Pantheon of 2099 X-Force #91-93 One of the best X-covers ever Our favorite Siryn story Jesse Aaronson, penitent chef Sean Cassidy, penitent dad A realistically anticlimactic breakup Cassidy/Rourke history Bring Your Daughter to Crimes Day Napoleon Sanders An epistolary montage The dusty pink word balloons of Tom Waits A missed Manos-portunity The Chaos Engine Halloween Jack Domino's varied musical tastes Ry'lor the Destroyer Kodo the Komodo Bedlam's extremely situational powers Astarte and Electryon Horniness as a superpower The Temple of the Dying Sun Cable & Corsair's (lack of) history Hope, Hope, Hope, Hope, Hope, and Hope NEXT EPISODE: Miles and guest host Devin talk X-Patrol, 1996's X-Force / Doom Patrol mash-up! Want to hire J&MXPtXM producer Matt Hunter to produce your podcast? Email him! Check out the visual companion to this episode on our blog! Find us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify! Jay and Miles X-Plain the X-Men is 100% ad-free and listener supported. If you want to help support the podcast–and unlock more cool stuff–you can do that right here! Buy rad swag at our TeePublic shop!
I don't despise 05 "Corsair" - Total Blue 04 "Torn in Two"- Beachwood Sparks 03 "Ill Times" - Gum x Ambrose Kenny-Smith 02 "Tell Your Friends" - Dr. Dog 01 ?!?
In this week's episode, I rank the movies and streaming shows I saw in the first half of summer 2024. TRANSCRIPT 00:00:00 Introduction, Writing Updates, and Reader Question Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 210 of the Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is July 19th, 2024, and today we are discussing the movies and streaming shows I watched for the first half of summer 2024. Before that, we'll have an update on my current writing projects and then we will go into Question of the Week. So, my current writing projects. I'm pleased to report that the rough draft of Half Orc Paladin is finished at about 81,500 words. Next up, I'm writing a short story called Paladin's Hunt that newsletter subscribers will get for free in ebook form when Half Orc Paladin is out, hopefully in early August. I'm also 23,000 words into Ghosts in the Tombs. I'm not 100% decided what I'm going to write next once Half Orc Paladin is out. I have to make a decision soon obviously, but it's probably going to be either Shield of Conquest or Cloak of Illusion. In audiobook news, the audiobook Wizard-Thief, as narrated by Leanne Woodward, is almost done. It's just got to get through the various approvals at the audiobook sites, so hopefully that should be out in early August. Recording is going to start very soon on Shield of Darkness. So that's where I'm at with my current writing projects. We have a question about the Shield War series from reader EM, who writes in to ask: I was rereading Shield of Darkness and occurred to me that Connmar Pendragon would have had a much easier time finding his way to Owyllain if he had a Corsair Lord or whatever they called themselves back then, who had the Hidden Eye navigating for him. Am I right and this will be revealed in the Shield Wars series? No, Connmar did not have a Corsair or anyone with the Hidden Eye ability navigating for him, and he basically found his way to Owyllain by accident. At that time, there were people living on the Isle of Kordain, but they hadn't really coalesced around the Corsairs of the Isle of Kordain as their national identity yet. I mean the process was underway but hadn't reached the form it would by the time of the Frostborn series. And while some of them had the Hidden Eye ability, they hadn't quite fully understood what it meant yet, and they hadn't lived on the isle long enough for the mutilations from the dwarven engines to fully take hold. We'll reveal more details about that in Shield of Conquest when I write that as my next book or the book after my next book. 00:02:26 Question of the Week Now on to Question of the Week. Question of the Week is designed to inspire enjoyable discussion of interesting topics. This week's question: subscription services such as Kindle Unlimited, Spotify, Netflix, Thrive Market and Xbox Game Pass are an inevitable part of modern life. If you have a subscription service, which one is your favorite? No wrong answers and bear in mind that “subscription services all cost too much and I hit them all with the fiery consuming heat of 1,000 cores of 1,000 suns” is a perfectly acceptable answer as well. Surabhi said: Disney Plus, because Marvel movies are my therapy. Ray says: I only use Bookbub and Google Play. Justin says: I do not use subscription services. I prefer to purchase the books, games, and programs I buy outright rather than rent them. Connectivity can be a problem where I am so being able to read, work, or play without being tethered to the Internet is a good thing. That is something to keep in mind when considering a subscription service. If you have questionable Internet connectivity in your area, that may not be the best choice to sign up for a subscription service that relies on the Internet. Our next comment is from Venus, who says: I can't afford any subscriptions services, although if Barnes and Noble did one for ebooks, I'd consider working something out. I refuse to support Amazon and don't like the fact that apparently books on Kindle Unlimited can't be anywhere else. That is indeed one of the annoying features of the Kindle Unlimited program, which is why only four of my 153 novels are currently on Kindle Unlimited. Barbara says: my husband and daughter subscribe to some streaming services, but I'm not sure which ones. I don't subscribe to any. I don't watch television. I already own the games I play and I purchased my digital books so I don't have to give them back. John says: I think I get by far the most bang for the buck from Amazon Prime, but my favorite subscription service is probably my local weekly seafood delivery service, Sea Forager. Bonnie says: I gave up the ones I had because I don't watch TV anymore and can't afford it. I have Prime, but only really use it for ebooks. If I need background noise, I use local radio. Local radio remains free, so I suppose that is the most cost effective of all the subscription services. Juana says: Kindle seems to have the most content and good price. I looked at the other platforms, too. Becca says: I have Prime and agree it has a ton of benefits. I canceled Netflix because it doesn't work on my TV. Hulu has some great shows (I recommend Crazy Fun Park, an Australian teen show about ghosts and friendships and changes. Surprisingly mature and well-acted). William says: given the sheer quantity of great Star Wars series that Disney produces, theirs is hard to beat. Gary says: Spotify. David says: for value, you can't beat Prime: movies, free shipping, and music. Netflix is very good for original content and Hulu for old stuff. And Joseph says: I also have Prime mostly for the free shipping. Everything else there is just a bonus. I also have Kindle Unlimited. Totally worth it for me as I read daily and read two or three hundred books a year. That is down from 400 to 500 the first couple years of retirement. It is diverse enough that I can always find a good read. For myself, the one I enjoy most is Nintendo Switch Online. I'll pay for a month of Netflix when they have something I want to see and then we'll cancel again after I've seen it. I used to have Xbox Game Pass, but all I ever actually play on the Xbox is Skyrim, Starfield, and the first three Halo games, so there is no point in keeping it. But Nintendo Switch Online lets you get the classic Mario and Zelda games from the NES and Super Nintendo era. Given that Nintendo's attitude towards the legacy properties tends to veer between complete indifference and wrathful litigation depending upon the month, it's good that Nintendo offers a relatively affordable way to get them legally because at my age, sometimes the best way to relax at the end of the night is to just play a few levels of the original Super Mario Brothers. So that's it for Question of the Week this week. 00:06:26 Main Topic: Summer 2024 Movie/TV Show Review And now let's move on to our main topic: 2024 Summer Movie Roundup, Part 1. Summer always has a lot of movies, so I usually split the Summer Movie Roundup post in two halves and this would be Part 1. I was surprised at the number of sports movies I watched this time, since, as I've mentioned before, I don't usually follow professional sports all that closely. That said, while the NFL and the NBA might not have quite the cultural hegemony they had at their peak in the 1990s and early 2000s, they're still hugely central to American culture. I don't think you can really understand the United States without grasping the central role of professional sports in mainstream culture. I expect there's a similar phenomenon with association football clubs in the UK and many European countries. Besides, one of the abilities of good storytelling is to make you interested in a story about a topic you might not otherwise care about, like athletic shoes. So here are the movies and shows I watched in the first half of summer 2024, ranked from worst to best. As always, the rankings are totally subjective and based on nothing but my own opinions and observations. So first up is Madam Webb, which came out in 2024. Oofffff. This wasn't quite the crime against cinema that the Internet thought it was, but it still wasn't great. Sony has the rights to a bunch of Spider-man adjacent characters, and the company is holding those in a death grip and has been trying to make a Spider-man Cinematic Universe happen for some time, with mixed results. The Tom Hardy Venom movies had been pretty good, the others, not so much. The plot of Madam Webb: cynical and jaded EMT Cassandra Webb works with her partner Ben Parker (later in the Uncle Ben of Spider-man fame) and is almost drowned in an accident. While drowned, Cassandra starts developing precognition and clairvoyant powers. She starts seeing visions of three young women who will be murdered by a powerful real estate developer named Ezekiel. Turns out that Ezekiel has Spider-man powers that also include precognition, and he wants to kill the girls before they someday kill him. The scenes where Cassandra wonders if she is going mad, but gradually starts to realize that she can see the future were actually quite good and cleverly laid out since they did in sort of a time loop where she experiences the event before it happens. That said, this movie could have been an interesting concept, but it didn't really work. For one thing, the dialogue was just clunky. Dialogue is a hard, hard art to master, both in movies and writing novels (as I know first-hand). But Madame Webb didn't get there. Many of the dialogue scenes were just wooden. Additionally, the movie felt padded and drawn out, which is interesting because the runtime was under two hours. Ultimately, I think Madam Webb succumbed to the illness of a shared cinematic universe. It felt like the incomplete prologue to a more interesting movie, and not every side character in the Spider-man mythos needs an origin story. The trick to making a shared cinematic universe is that each movie must stand alone on its own, especially in the beginning, and the stories have to be interesting. Madam Webb, alas, couldn't quite manage either. Overall grade: D- Next up is The Acolyte, a streaming series which came out in 2024. There is quite a furor about this show on social media, but you can't believe most of what you see on social media. To be blunt about it, I've come to believe that social media is designed to induce mental illness in as many of its users as possible in order to increase their time spent on the site, which in turn raises ad revenue. Very cynical. But I suspect that's the basic business model of Facebook and YouTube, which is why you see so much rage-filled clickbait on both sites, since that's what drives engagement and increases revenue, but that's a problem beyond the scope of a movie review podcast episode. Back to The Acolyte. I would say that The Acolyte wasn't the crime against cinema that YouTube thought it was but instead an uneven mixture of some strong points and some weaknesses. The plot: former Jedi Osha has left the Order and is working as a mechanic on a trade federation starship. Meanwhile, a woman who looks exactly like her has started murdering Jedi Masters. Osha is arrested for the murders, but her former teacher, Jedi master Sol, quickly figures out that the murderer is in fact Osha's twin sister Mae, who has been presumed dead for the last sixteen years. Osha reluctantly tagged along with Sol to help track down Mae, which means she needs to delve into the dark secrets of her past and discover who trained Mae to be a Jedi killing assassin. The Jedi assume a renegade member of the Order must have trained Mae because the Sith had been extinct for a long, long time. Or have they? This show did have its strong points. The lightsaber fights looked good and were fun to watch. Lee Junge-jae as Sol, Manny Jacinto as Qimir, Charlie Bennett as Yord, and Dafne Keen as Jecki all gave good performances. In particular, they stole episode 5, which was overall the strongest episode of the series. The design of the Sith Lord's helmet (dubbed Darth Teeth or Smilo Ren by the Internet) was good. The nods to the old Expanded Universe, like cortosis ore, were nice. There was enough of a compelling mystery -who is the Sith Lord and what actually happened in the twin's past- that can hook the viewer through to the end of the series. The show also did a good job of showing how complacent and political the Jedi had become, to the point where 100 years later the Jedi High Council would meet with Supreme Chancellor Palpatine every day for thirteen years and completely failed to realize that he was in fact the Sith Master who had been pulling the strings all along. That said, I think the show did have four significant problems. 1: the whole good twin/evil twin thing was kind of lame. Playing identical twins is hard for any actor, and sometimes I had a hard time keeping track of whether Osha or Mae was in a particular scene. I kind of wish the characters had been brother and sister, or at least not identical twins so they had been easier to tell apart. 2: As much as I appreciated the nods to the Expanded Universe, I think it relied too heavily on them and assumed the audience had a high level of Star Wars knowledge, like the weird Force cult where Osha and Mae grew up. In the Expanded Universe, there are all kinds of weird half-baked cults with an incomplete knowledge of the Force that run into serious problems when they encounter an actual Jedi or an actual Sith. One advantage of visual media over novels is that it's much easier to show instead of tell, but I don't think Acolyte explained its premises well. The Mandalorian explained its premises better, gradually exposing the viewer to the Mandalorian's culture as he dealt with the Monster of the Week. Mando gradually learned about the Force and the Jedi, a race of enemy sorcerers, as he tried to save The Child from the Imperial Remnant. By contrast, The Acolyte kind of dropped viewers into the middle of things, didn't bother to explain any ambiguities, and simply assumed they would all understand the references. 3: The problem with the Jedi Order is that its philosophy is essentially stupid. The reason for that is that Jedi philosophy is basically a highly watered-down version of 1970s style Hollywood Buddhism, which is itself a tremendously watered down version of actual Buddhism. The Jedi are basically left with “don't feel fear or anger” and “don't get attached to people” but lack the religious and philosophical underpinnings which would allow those concepts to make sense in actual Buddhism. In real life, eventually we learn that both suppressing anger and fear or allowing it to dominate us is unhealthy. Both anger and fear serve useful functions. Fear warns of danger and anger is a good response when one is forced into circumstances where you have no choice but to fight. Anger and fear make for good servants, but awful masters, but Jedi philosophy completely misses that point. 4th and finally: the show was the wrong genre for the kind of moral relativism it had. Moral relativism worked well in Andor, which was a spy thriller about criminals gradually realizing that they had to fight the Empire and do terrible things while doing it. That worked because Andor was a spy thriller. By contrast, The Acolyte was about Kung Fu space wizards using space magic that literally comes in good and evil flavors. Moral relativism works less well in that kind of setting where there is literally good or evil space magic. So I would say Acolyte was a mixed bag. I admit, if there's a second season, I'll watch it just because I want to see what happens, but given Disney's significant financial woes, that seems unlikely. Overall grade: C- Next up is Unfrosted, which came out in 2024. It is an absurdist comedic retelling of the creation of the Pop Tart breakfast food, told as sort of a parody of corporate biopics like Ford versus Ferrari and Air (which we will talk about later this episode). This movie was silly and kind of dumb, but it knew it was silly and kind of dumb and so leaned into it and therefore worked. Jerry Seinfeld plays Bob Cabana, a high-ranking employee of the Kellogg cereal company, which is locked in a bitter rivalry with the Post cereal company for the breakfast market. One day Cabana uncovers everyone at Post is working on something that will upend the breakfast market, a fruit filled breakfast pastry that can be toasted. Alarmed with this information, the CEO of Kellogg, Edsel Kellogg III (played by Jim Gaffigan as a sort of parody of ‘60s era U.S. business executives), launches a crash effort to match Post's effort. Cabana must recruit a heist style team to build Kellogg's breakfast pastry, including numerous obscure figures from 1960s pop culture. The race is on to build the Pop Tart. Anyway, this was an entertaining movie, but it has no connection to factual accuracy. Also, Bill Burr was hilarious as President Kennedy. Overall grade: B- Next up is The Hit Man, which came out in 2023. It is an amusing cross between a dark comedy and a sort of Hitchcockian thriller. Glenn Powell plays Gary Johnson, a mild mannered and somewhat ineffective philosophy professor. Due to his skill with electronics and microphones, he frequently helps out the police with sting operations. One day, the officer who usually goes in for sting operations gets suspended for beating up some teenagers and having it go viral on viral on YouTube. Gary is drafted at the last minute to go undercover as a hit man and get a suspect to contract his services. Gary does it so well that the Police Department uses him more and more and Gary starts disappearing into his roles as various hit men in a sequence which is quite funny. This works well until Gary meets Madison, a woman who wants him to kill her abusive husband. Gary talks her out of it and starts seeing her, a situation which quickly escalates out of control. It was interesting that the movie went through a sudden genre shift about 1/3 of the way through, from dark comedy to love story, a bit darker than I usually prefer, to be honest, but enjoyable nonetheless if you don't mind the strong language. That said, I watched this right after Madam Webb and the contrast between Webb's clunky and wooden dialogue and the much better written Hitman was night and day. What was interesting was that the movie only cost $8.8 million to make. Given the economic climate, I expect we will see more of this: movies that have to be disciplined about keeping the cost down, as opposed to the enormous 295 million budgets of something like Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Overall grade: B- Next up is Boss Level, which came out in 2021. This movie is best described as Groundhog's Day but as an action movie. Former Special Forces soldier Roy Pulver, played by Frank Grillo, is caught in a time loop that repeats the same day over and over again, which always ends with him getting killed by assassins that have been hired to hunt him down. This happened after he tried to reconnect with his former girlfriend, a scientist working on a secret project overseen by the sinister Colonel Ventor, played by Mel Gibson. For a variety of reasons, let's just say at this point in his career, Gibson is very believable in a villain role. At first, Roy succumbs to despair in the time loop, but then decides to spend the endless day trying to reconnect with his estranged son. Eventually, this causes him to rally and fight back against the loop and he realizes that his ex-girlfriend deliberately put him into the time loop because he was the only person she knew who could stop Colonel Ventor's evil plans for his project, which turns out to be a time machine. I'd say the biggest weakness of the movie is the opening, which is a sort of record scratch “you're probably wondering how I got here” opening I complained about in Episode 203 of this podcast. Also, I think it maybe should have been five to 10 minutes longer. The ending is sort of implied but it would have been far more satisfying to have actually been shown what would happen. But overall, I like this movie. Solid B-level thriller/science fiction stuff. It's interesting to compare this to Groundhog's Day because Groundhog Day had to spend so much time establishing the premise because the plot idea of a time loop wasn't as widely known back then as it is now, whereas nowadays you just say “Groundhog Day loop” and most people will immediately know what you're talking about. Overall Grade: B Next up is Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, which came out in 2024. This wasn't quite as good as Ghostbusters: Afterlife, but I still enjoyed it. In this one, Ian Spengler's daughter, her good-natured boyfriend, and her teenage children have returned to New York City to restart the Ghostbusters business. They were bankrolled by original Ghostbuster Winston Zeddmore, who is now a wealthy businessman funding a variety of ghostbusting projects. When one of Zeddmore's employees stumbles across a dangerous artifact holding a powerful ice ghost, both the new and original Ghostbusters must team up to save the day. I really like how the new Ghostbusters films handle the original characters. The original characters are no longer the main focus but they're now mentoring the new characters and providing advice and support. I like this a lot better than the Disney/Lucasfilm approach of the original character as being sad old losers that the new characters must rebel against and then surpass. It was also great that actor William Atherton returned as government apparatchik Walter Peck. Back in the first movie, Peck was an officious EPA inspector who accidentally released a ghost horde upon New York. In the grand American political tradition of tradition of failing upward, he is now the mayor of New York City and still hopes to disband the Ghostbusters. I think the movie's biggest weakness was that it was too complicated and there were a lot of different characters and moving parts to keep track of. Overall grade: B Next up is Inside Out 2, which came out in 2024. It is a terrifying descent into the nightmarish hellscape that has the mind of the average teenage girl. I am, of course joking (though, if you have teenagers, you know that I'm only mostly joking) but Inside Out 2 is a strong follow up to the first movie. In the first movie, the anthropomorphized representations of emotions (Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust) tried to control themselves inside the mind of young girl Riley. At the start of the second movie, Riley is now 13 and doing pretty well, but then puberty kicks in. Suddenly new emotions arrive in her head: Ennui, Envy, Embarrassment, and Anxiety. Anxiety in particular runs amuck and seizes control of Riley's mind. As Anxiety starts to send Riley spiraling out of control, the other emotions have to rally behind Joy and find a way to save Riley's mind and sense of self. It is both quite funny and poignant. I can see why this movie cleared a billion dollars. As of early July 2024, is the biggest box office movie of the year so far. Overall grade: A Next up is Ford versus Ferrari, which came out in 2019. This is a biopic of the rivalry between Ford Motor Company and Ferrari in the 1960s, which is an interesting bit of history. In the ‘60s, Ford Motor Company, under the leadership of Henry Ford II (founder Henry Ford's grandson), decided it needed a cooler image, much like how Microsoft bought a bunch of indie gaming studios in the 2010s so Xbox would seem cooler. So Ford Motor Company spent years negotiating with Enzo Ferrari to buy Ferrari's company. At the last minute, negotiations collapsed and Ferrari famously went on a rant insulting Ford as an ugly company that made ugly cars and also called Ford II a lesser man compared to his famous grandfather. This was a major public failure and humiliation for Ford Motor Company, and needless to say Ford II took this very, very personally. He threw a ton of resources behind Ford's racing car project with one goal: beat Ferrari at the famous Le Mans 24 hour race. To pull this off, Ford recruited Carroll Shelby (played by Matt Damon), a former racing driver who turned to race car designing because a heart condition no longer let him race. Shelby needed a driver, so he recruited Ken Miles (played by Christian Bale), a talented driver and mechanic with a combative streak and knack for making enemies. Shelby, Miles, and their team set out to build the GT40, Ford's first proper racing car. Since this is all in the historical record, it's not a spoiler to say that they succeeded in the 1966 Le Mans race. Ford Cars finished in first, second, and third positions, locking out Ferrari entirely from the podium. This was a very enjoyable biopic. All the actors disappear into their roles and give strong performances. The racing scenes all look cool. It is also interesting from a historical perspective to see how the Ford executives had a very bad habit of acting like feudal lords who would dictate their will to the consumer rather than what they actually were, which is merchants who needed to give the customer what they wanted. This attitude was one of several reasons the US auto industry hit very hard times in the 1970s. I'd say the only thing wrong with the movie is that it feels too long, though for the life of me I'm not sure what they could have cut. Overall grade: A Next up is The Last Dance, which originally came out in 2020. I originally watched this back during peak COVID, but after watching Air (which I will discuss shortly), I decided to watch this again to refresh my memory. The Last Dance is a documentary about the Chicago Bulls NBA team and the renowned three-peat champion streak back in the 1990s. I have to admit it is an amusing feeling to have lived long enough that things I lived through are now considered history and have prestige Netflix documentaries made about them. The documentary mostly revolves around the career of Michael Jordan, though it includes interviews with many other people involved in the experience of the Bulls championship run, including brief interviews with two ex U.S. Presidents. The documentary got a lot of criticism for focusing too heavily on Jordan and portraying him in a positive light, especially from the other members of the 1990s Bulls team. Interestingly, I thought Jordan did not really come across all that great on the show. He seemed somewhat vindictive and petty and prone to holding on to grudges for decades. He was presented as the sort of man who is afflicted with an all-consuming competitive streak, who is irresistibly compelled to win at everything he does, even if it's a casual golf game between friendly acquaintances. For that matter, professional basketball players in general all tend to be highly competitive type A personalities who like to win and hate to lose. Getting them all to agree on an account of events beyond the objectively observable facts is probably impossible. Despite that, I suspect the simple fact is that the Bulls would not have won their championships without Jordan. There's no denying that Jordan was probably one of the most famous people on Earth in the 1990s. Honestly, no one can stand up to that kind of scrutiny well, especially after a personal tragedy like when Jordan's father was murdered in the mid-1990s. When Jordan talks about how winning requires complete focus and absolute dedication, I'm afraid that he's right. Winning in the competition at a level like the NBA does require 110% focus, even to the detriment of every other aspect of one's life. I've heard athletes say that champions have no balance and Jordan himself seems to be a living example of both the benefits and the extremely high personal costs of that. Amusing anecdote: when I originally watched this documentary in late 2020, I texted my brother that he should check it out because I thought he would enjoy it. His response was something along the line said he had seen when it first came out on ESPN and I really ought to engage with the culture more. Overall grade: A Now for the best movie I saw in the first half of summer 2024 and that would be Air, which came out in 2023 and is related to our sports documentary topics. This is a movie about Michael Jordan and his family negotiating deal with Nike about the Air Jordan shoe. I didn't expect to like this movie very much, but it turns out it is quite excellent. As I mentioned earlier, in full disclosure, I have minimal interest in the NBA and while I could tell you the NBA team of the US state in which I currently reside, I think if pressed, off the top of my head, I could probably tell you the name of maybe five other NBA teams. Additionally, I lived through the 1990s and had no money for all of it, and so at the time I really resented the peer pressure around Air Jordan shoes and other sports apparel, because that stuff was always so expensive. As I mentioned, I had no money. All that aside, that shows Air was a good movie because it made me care about a story involving a topic in which I have no interest and perhaps mildly dislike. Anyway, the movie's plot is set in 1984. Matt Damon (back again) plays Sonny Vaccaro, who was working with Nike's struggling basketball shoe division. At the time, Nike was the biggest maker of running shoes in the US that had only a minimal presence in the basketball shoe market. Vaccaro has the idea of building a shoe brand entirely around an upcoming young NBA rookie named Michael Jordan. At the time, this was an enormous gamble and had never been done before, but needless to say, it paid off for the company in a big, big way. All the actors gave good performances and the dialogue was sharply written, simultaneously conveying the character of the speaker and moving the plot forward. If you want to learn how to write good dialogue, you could do much worse than to watch Air. I recommend this movie, even if like me, you have zero interest in sports apparel. Perhaps that is one of the functions of art, to give you glimpses of worlds into which you would otherwise never visit. Overall grade: A+ So that is it for this week. Thank you for listening to The Pulp Writer Show. I hope you find the show enjoyable and useful. A reminder that you can listen to all the back episodes on https://thepulpwritershow.com. If you enjoyed the podcast, please leave your review on your podcasting platform of choice. Stay safe and stay healthy and see you all next week.
It has been a while since Hardware Asylum was at Computex and the 2024 edition of this global technology show did not disappoint. NVIDIA had their keynote the day before Computex opened followed by an AMD keynote to kick the show off. After that Dennis visited with Gigabyte, Corsair, beQuiet during the first hours of the event.
Amy Knapp is the COO of Corsair Capital, a private equity firm that is focused on buyouts and infrastructure. When we started the podcast, the goal was to share best practices among investment operations professionals, and my conversation with Amy fires on all cylinders. Amy discusses her career path from public accounting to an unexpected opportunity to be a CFO early in her career, eventually becoming the COO. We then cover an array of topics from the operational challenges with having multiple strategies, a deep dive on ESG/DEI, and how to make the shift from being a controller to a strategic CFO/COO. The team at Corsair practices what they preach, so there are some great take-aways. Learn More Follow Capital Allocators at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe to the mailing list Access transcript with Premium Membership
Send us a Text Message.Jason and Travis are joined by June in Germany to talk about Hearthkyn Salvagers and Corsair Voidscarred. JAKTP Discord Link: https://discord.gg/6653HG9XKb JAKTP Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsCGQMlcqFmbwp295Hvaxxg JAKTP Patreon Link: https://www.patreon.com/JustAnotherKillteamPodcastSupport us through our affiliate link for Wargames Atlantic: https://wargamesatlantic.com/?aff=7 Playmates Gaming Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/playmatesgaming Support the Show.
Warhammer Meta Chasers is a weekly competitive Warhammer 40k hype show. We run down some of the biggest and best events coming up this weekend where we discuss Warhammer 40k Factions in attendance and highlight army lists from some of the top ranked players around the globe. We talk about what the meta is, what it will be and how you can stack up against it. The show is hosted by Paul Murphy, Adam Camilleri, and Dustin Henshaw. The show runs LIVE every week on YouTube around 9pm EST every Thursday. We sincerely invite you to join us in chat if you can make it. The show is pushed to the Podcast aggregators soon after! We have an amazing chat community. Check out our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/WarhammerMetaChasers Join us live each and every Thursday on YouTube and join in our awesome chat community. Want to message the show another way? Hit up Paul on twitter @warmaster_tpm or on Instagram @fightswithdice
In this episode we travel back in history to learn the incredible story of how pirates from the Barbary coast embarked on a over 6k mile round trip to enslave over 400 people from Iceland only to bring them to Algiers to be sold into slavery. One man who was captured documented his journey and what he went through. This is his story.(commercial at 12:57)To contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:https://jddavies.com/2017/02/20/the-barbary-corsair-raid-on-iceland-1627/Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-epstein-chronicles--5003294/support.
In 1627, the Barbary corsairs, notorious pirates from North Africa, launched a devastating raid on Iceland. Led by Dutchman Murat Reis, the corsairs raided the coastal settlements of Iceland, plundering villages, capturing inhabitants, and pillaging valuable goods. The raid resulted in the capture and enslavement of around 400 Icelandic residents, causing widespread fear and devastation. Many of the captives were sold into slavery in North Africa, marking a dark chapter in Iceland's history. This event highlighted the vulnerability of isolated communities to piracy and underscored the dangers posed by corsairs in the North Atlantic during the 17th century.In this episode, we hear that harrowing tale. to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:In this episode we travel back in history to learn the incredible story of how pirates from the Barbary coast embarked on a over 6k mile round trip to enslave over 400 people from Iceland only to bring them to Algiers to be sold into slavery. One man who was captured documented his journey and what he went through. This is his story.(commercial at 12:57)To contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:https://jddavies.com/2017/02/20/the-barbary-corsair-raid-on-iceland-1627/
This week we discuss AMD's new 144 Hz requirement for FreeSync certification, the "perfection" of 12GB RAM capacity, Corsair's K65 PLUS keyboard that's actually 75%, Epic gets expensive, mining with Ryzen and more topics (listed below).Recorded March 13, 2024.Timestamps:00:00 Intro02:08 Food with Josh04:54 Mining on Ryzen CPUs is a thing again09:22 Epic doesn't despise ALL fees, as long as they aren't from Apple13:34 DDR5 will soon be available in 12GB DIMMs16:29 Data miners provide mixed reports on NVIDIA Blackwell memory configs18:05 A new version of AIDA64 is here23:22 AMD stops certifying FreeSync displays under 144 Hz28:19 (in)Security Corner40:56 Gaming Quick Hits49:36 Corsair K65 PLUS keyboard review54:43 Fosi Audio LC30 switcher and VU meter review1:00:08 Picks of the Week1:09:57 Outro ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
Josh is traveling again, Kent is back, and we have plenty to discuss. Intel CPU crashes, the RX 7900 GRE, the AT&T outage, Nvidia is the GPU cartel - it's all here in this one show! Here us now, and believe us later. See all the times below for a list of topics - and don't worry, Jeremy did the burger segment.Recorded February 28, 2024.Timestamps:00:00 Intro03:32 Food with Josh via Jeremy05:34 AMD Radeon GRE global launch and RX 7700 XT price drop07:40 Limited OC headroom from GRE a bug, says AMD08:38 Our RX 7900 GRE review - featuring the Sapphire PURE15:02 Intel has a new FET - and wants back in the server room20:53 Corsair launches new dual-chamber cases23:29 That AT&T outage last week28:05 More on the Intel 13th and 14th Gen crashing reports34:59 Herkelman says NVIDIA is a GPU cartel37:05 Security Corner53:41 Gaming Quick Hits1:01:29 Picks of the Week1:10:01 Outro ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★