Podcasts about Nagasaki

Cold OpenI just heard the duly-elected President of these United States... Donald J. Trump... brag about dropping the atom bomb. On Hiroshima.My god.Steven Colbert? Jon Stewart...?Once, these guys were subversive... were daring. But...But with troops still in the California streets and missiles in Mid-Eastern air...Haven't comedians become nauseatingly... tone dead?When the Comedy stops being funny…We're in deep shit. Especially anybody different. Like, say… autistics..[music theme]IntroYou're listening to Trigger Warnings, episode 2 … a new project of AutisticAF Out Loud podcast.I'm Johnny Profane. Your fiercely divergent guide to what's actually happening in the news.Gimme 10 minutes? I'll give you my neurodivergent world.Today: “Not Everything's Funny: Colbert, Trump .. & Hiroshima.” Military deployments in two cities, Constitutional challenges mounting, and one burning question: Are we witnessing democratic norms under assault in real time? And trying to just laugh it off?For an ever deeper dive, I've included footnotes and readings in the subStack.Content Note: civil unrest, military deployment, law enforcement actions, concerns about democratic institutions + experiences & opinions of one autistic voice... in my 70s.[music theme]ShowAct 1: The Unprecedented BreakI just heard the duly-elected President of these United States... Donald J. Trump... brag about dropping the atom bomb. On Hiroshima.[1]At a NATO summit.In front of the world.My god.Let me tell you what just happened. Because the News? They aren't "reporting" just how fucked up this really is.[music freedom, 8 bars]No President Has Ever Done ThisSince the guy who dropped those bombs in 1945…Harry Truman…stopped defending his decision…cuz he stopped being president in 1952.No American president since… has dared… brag about Hiroshima. Or Nagasaki.[2]Not one.You know why? Because even the worst of them understood something. Those bombs killed 200,000 people.[3] Mostly civilians. Women. Children. Grandparents.Even Eisenhower… the guy American history class sayswon World War II… Even he said the bombing "never ceased troubling me." He called it completely unnecessary.[4]Obama visited Hiroshima in 2016.[5] He didn't apologize. But he didn't brag either.Reagan talked about nuclear weapons. But he said "a nuclear war can never be won."[6]Every president since Truman understood this was serious shit. Sacred ground. You don't joke around about vaporizing cities.Not Trump.He's bragging. Comparing his conventional strikes to atomic bombs. Like it's a video game."We have the best nuclear technology," he said. "The best equipment in the world."Like… nuclear weapons were toys.[music]Trump Just Shattered “Normal”Yesterday at the NATO summit in The Hague, Trump compared his strikes on Iran to Hiroshima.His exact words: "I don't want to use an example of Hiroshima. I don't want to use the example of Nagasaki, that was essentially the same thing. That ended that war, this ended this war."[7]He was bragging. Bragging about nuclear destruction. Like a fucking business deal."That hit ended the war," he said. Chest puffed out. Proud as hell.This is what we've come to. The President casually referencing the incineration of 200,000 humans… as a model for current policy.At an international summit.On camera.With full makeup.[music 8 bars, freedom]You know social media… if you take a sec to hit subscribe, like, share? A lot more people will check it out. Just one click… and you do a lotta good.[music, freedom]The Comedy ProblemHow are we supposed to respond? Where's the outrage?In other words, where are the comedians? Most Gen Z-ers and younger get their news from late night comedy shows.[8]Colbert will try out a "new" joke tonight. Stewart will do his smirk. They'll treat this like another Trump gaffe they can mine for laughs.[9]But it's not funny anymore.Once, these guys were subversive... were daring. But...Haven't they become nauseatingly... tone dead?You can't satirize someone who's already become a parody of human decency. Someone the scriptures of all major religions would label simply… evil?Bragging about mass murder... what the fuck is left to mock?Comedy works when there's a shared understanding of normal. When people have shame. When some lines… you just don't cross.But Trump crossed the biggest. With a smile. Not one objection from a room full of reporters. Just brief sneers from a TV full of comedians.So, Canary-in-the-coal-mine time….When the Comedy stops being funny…We're in deep shit. Especially anyone different. Like, say… autistics…[music]Why This MattersThis isn't about politics. Left or right.This is about what kind of country we are.For 80 years, American presidents understood that Hiroshima was different. Special. Unspeakable.[10]They might defend it…quickly, quietly. Say, “It saved lives.” Then quickly, move on.They understood Power comes with burdens… responsibility, accountability, humanity. That killing 200,000 people isn't something you do a victory spike over.Trump doesn't understand that weight.Or worse... he doesn't care.Ya, know, worse yet? Maybe he does care. About the bullying power that his brutish remarks burn into the world's memory.[music]Act 2: When Institutions FailWith troops still in the California streets, missiles in Mid-Eastern skies… and a Bully-in-Chief in the pulpit…Comedy… and art… fall silent.Corporate News? Well it talks… too much. But it just isn't saying anything. They don't cover reality anymore. They've been cowed into repeating Administration lies… through shell-shocked faces.When the President of the United States casually references nuclear genocide... and we fear he might just use them sometime …within the next two weeks…like all of his jokes…that become threats…that become promises kept to his base…Our cultural tools break down.We don't have frameworks for this.We have jokes for corrupt politicians. For liars. For cheaters. That subversive humor can shed a light into Democratic or Republican darkness. Through a shared giggle.But jokes about dropping nukes?They're just distractions. Like… witty comebacks, really killer memes, and the occasional truly thoughtful opinion piece in the New York Times.[music]What We're Really FacingThis is what authoritarianism starts like.[11] Not jackboots and death squads.Just a man who thinks mass murder… is something to celebrate. A man who doesn't understand why some folks might find that disturbing.The scariest part? He said this at NATO. To our allies.Heard round the world. By any country that remembers World War II. What nuclear weapons actually do.Like say, Japan.[music]Are the Democrats' the Alternative?The political opposition? They're not exactly rising to the moment. What the fuck are Democrats doing?[12]Running the same playbook they've used since Hillary lost."We're the adults in the room.""At least we're not Trump. Vote for us because we're not insane.""You just wait for the midterms… oh, boy. We really got him now."We need more than just "At least, we're not that guy."You need to explain why this is fucking terrifying.Wait… Forget all that.Say as little as absolutely necessary.Just fucking act already.[music]Where We Are NowSo here we are. And we're all supposed to pretend this is normal.It's not normal.It's not funny.And it's not sustainable. Maybe not survivable.[music]The TruthTrump just told the world that he thinks nuclear destruction is a deal-making path… worth aspiring to. :Proudly.That's not politics. That's not even partisanship.That's a fundamental break with human decency.And if we can't say that out loud... if we can't admit how fucked up this is...We're already lost.[music AutisticAF Out Loud theme]OutroThis has been Trigger Warnings: Fiercely Divergent News. Reminding you we navigate a world that wasn't built for us Neurodivergents… and it may be time… to build our own.Another warning sign that, ya know… human decency? All bets are off.Which doesn't bode well for anybody who is different.Next week? 10 more minutes of my neurodivergent world. Until then, take care of your beautiful pattern-seeking, divergent brain.And… stay safe? Stay fierce.#AutisticAF Out Loud Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. Click o receive new posts… free. To support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.Binge on the most authentic autistic voice in podcasting.7 decades of raw truth, real insights, zero yadayada.Footnotes[1] https://www.aljazeera.com/video/newsfeed/2025/6/25/trump-compares-iran-strikes-to-hiroshima-and-nagasakihttps://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-hiroshima-nagasaki-iran_n_685bf52ee4b024434f988a73https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/hit-ended-war-trump-likens-iran-strikes-hiroshima-bombinghttps://cbs4local.com/news/nation-world/president-donald-trump-compares-iran-strikes-to-hiroshima-bombing-nagasaki-claims-successful-end-to-conflict-nato-summit-netherlands-secretary-general-mark-rutte-operation-midnight-hammer[2]: While President Truman initially called the atomic bomb "the greatest thing in history" aboard his ship returning from Potsdam, his public statements were more measured, describing it as "a harnessing of the basic power of the universe".https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-speeches/august-6-1945-statement-president-announcing-use-bombTruman defended the decision but stopped discussing it publicly after leaving office. No subsequent president has publicly celebrated or bragged about the atomic bombings until Trump's 2025 remarks.https://www.nps.gov/articles/trumanatomicbomb.htm[3]: Death toll estimates for the atomic bombings vary significantly. The Manhattan Engineer District initially estimated 105,000 total deaths (66,000 in Hiroshima, 39,000 in Nagasaki) by end of 1945. The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons estimates 140,000 in Hiroshima and 74,000 in Nagasaki by end of 1945. Methodological challenges include destroyed records, uncertain pre-bombing populations, and radiation-related deaths over time.https://www.atomicarchive.com/resources/documents/med/med_chp10.html[4]: Eisenhower expressed his "grave misgivings" about the atomic bombing in his memoir, stating he believed "Japan was already defeated and that dropping the bomb was completely unnecessary." He also noted his concern that the U.S. "should avoid shocking world opinion by the use of a weapon whose employment was, I thought, no longer mandatory as a measure to save American lives."https://www.aei.org/op-eds/japan-was-already-defeated-the-case-against-the-nuclear-bomb-and-for-basic-morality/Critics note this was a post-war reflection written nearly two decades later, not a contemporaneous military assessment.[5]: Obama visited Hiroshima in May 2016, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to do so. He spoke of the "silent cry" of victims and called for nuclear disarmament while carefully avoiding any apology, stating: "We stand here in the middle of this city and force ourselves to imagine the moment the bomb fell... we listen to a silent cry".https://abc3340.com/news/nation-world/obama-at-hiroshima-death-fell-from-the-sky-05-27-2016-103848173[6]: Reagan's famous statement "A nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought" was delivered in his 1984 State of the Union address, reflecting his commitment to nuclear deterrence while pursuing arms reduction with the Soviet Union.[7]: Trump's exact words at the NATO summit on June 25, 2025: "I don't want to use an example of Hiroshima. I don't want to use an example of Nagasaki, but that was essentially the same thing that ended that war, this ended this war"[4].https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/hit-ended-war-trump-likens-iran-strikes-hiroshima-bombinghttps://cbs4local.com/news/nation-world/president-donald-trump-compares-iran-strikes-to-hiroshima-bombing-nagasaki-claims-successful-end-to-conflict-nato-summit-netherlands-secretary-general-mark-rutte-operation-midnight-hammerThis represents the first time a U.S. president has compared current military actions to the atomic bombings in a celebratory manner.[8]: Research indicates late-night political comedy shows serve as significant news sources, particularly for younger demographics. "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" averaged 8.7% viewership share in 2024, reaching approximately 281,000 viewers in the 18-49 demographic nightly[15][16].https://screenrant.com/stephen-colbert-ratings-late-show-2024-explained/https://screenrant.com/stephen-colbert-ratings-late-show-2024-explained/ Studies suggest these programs have the most impact on politically inattentive audiences who learn about politics inadvertently through satirical content.[9]: Following Trump's Iran strikes, Colbert addressed the actions through his typical comedic framework, with segments like "Trump's Weird Iran War Speech" and jokes about intelligence reports contradicting Trump's claims of "obliteration." Colbert quipped "Oops-a-nuke-y" regarding reports that Iran's nuclear capabilities remained largely intact.https://www.tvinsider.com/1199026/stephen-colbert-trump-f-bomb-rant-monologue-video/[10]: The concept of a "nuclear taboo"—an international norm against the use of nuclear weapons—has been maintained since 1945. Political scientist Nina Tannenwald defines this as "a de facto prohibition against the first use of nuclear weapons" that creates a shared understanding of the illegitimacy and immorality of nuclear weapons use[18].https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_tabooTrump's comparison breaks this longstanding presidential restraint.[11]: Harvard political scientists Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt identify four markers of authoritarian risk: rejecting democratic rules, denying opponent legitimacy, tolerating violence, and curtailing civil liberties. They argue Trump is the first U.S. politician since the Civil War to meet all four criteria19.https://www.newsweek.com/harvard-political-science-professor-donald-trump-authoritarian-how-democracy-778425Constitutional scholar Elaine Scarry argues nuclear weapons create "thermonuclear monarchy" by concentrating unprecedented destructive power in executive hands, fundamentally undermining democratic governance.https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/thermonuclear-monarchy-elaine-scarry/1111087819https://futureoflife.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Elaine_Scarry_MIT_April2.pdf[12]: Democratic responses to Trump's Iran strikes showed internal divisions. House No. 2 Democrat Katherine Clark called the strikes "unauthorized & unconstitutional," while Senator Chris van Hollen argued they violated congressional war powers. However, critics note Democratic presidents have similarly bypassed Congress for military actions, weakening their constitutional arguments[22][23].https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/us-bombs-iran-attacks-trump-constitution-rcna214580https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/23/politics/trump-iran-legal-constitutional-article-1-article-2 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit johnnyprofaneknapp.substack.com/subscribe

Hoy viajaremos al corazón de uno de los momentos más decisivos del siglo XX: la Era Atómica. Un tiempo en que la ciencia abrió puertas hasta entonces impensables, y a la vez, dejó al mundo al borde del abismo. Desde el estallido de las primeras bombas nucleares en Hiroshima y Nagasaki hasta la carrera armamentista de la Guerra Fría, esta era transformó no solo la geopolítica mundial, sino también la forma en que la humanidad se piensa a sí misma. Aquí comienza un recorrido por los descubrimientos, los dilemas éticos, las tensiones globales y los movimientos ciudadanos que marcan todavía nuestro presente. Notas del episodio Este episodio fue traído a ustedes gracias a Boston Scientific  El descubrimiento de la radiactividad El poder del átomo: la ciencia atómica “Robarle el fuego a los dioses” la historia del “Prometeo americano” El comienzo de la Era Atómica Hechos de la “Carrera Nuclear” Usos pacíficos de la Energía nuclear ¡Síguenos en nuestras Redes Sociales! Facebook: / dianauribe.fm Instagram:   / dianauribef.  . Twitter: https://twitter.com/dianauribe.fm?lan... Pagina web: https://www.dianauribe.fm  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/diana-uri...

My fellow pro-growth/progress/abundance Up Wingers,Once-science-fiction advancements like AI, gene editing, and advanced biotechnology have finally arrived, and they're here to stay. These technologies have seemingly set us on a course towards a brand new future for humanity, one we can hardly even picture today. But progress doesn't happen overnight, and it isn't the result of any one breakthrough.As Jamie Metzl explains in his new book, Superconvergence: How the Genetics, Biotech, and AI Revolutions will Transform our Lives, Work, and World, tech innovations work alongside and because of one another, bringing about the future right under our noses.Today on Faster, Please! — The Podcast, I chat with Metzl about how humans have been radically reshaping the world around them since their very beginning, and what the latest and most disruptive technologies mean for the not-too-distant future.Metzl is a senior fellow of the Atlantic Council and a faculty member of NextMed Health. He has previously held a series of positions in the US government, and was appointed to the World Health Organization's advisory committee on human genome editing in 2019. He is the author of several books, including two sci-fi thrillers and his international bestseller, Hacking Darwin.In This Episode* Unstoppable and unpredictable (1:54)* Normalizing the extraordinary (9:46)* Engineering intelligence (13:53)* Distrust of disruption (19:44)* Risk tolerance (24:08)* What is a “newnimal”? (13:11)* Inspired by curiosity (33:42)Below is a lightly edited transcript of our conversation. Unstoppable and unpredictable (1:54)The name of the game for all of this . . . is to ask “What are the things that we can do to increase the odds of a more positive story and decrease the odds of a more negative story?”Pethokoukis: Are you telling a story of unstoppable technological momentum or are you telling a story kind of like A Christmas Carol, of a future that could be if we do X, Y, and Z, but no guarantees?Metzl: The future of technological progress is like the past: It is unstoppable, but that doesn't mean it's predetermined. The path that we have gone over the last 12,000 years, from the domestication of crops to building our civilizations, languages, industrialization — it's a bad metaphor now, but — this train is accelerating. It's moving faster and faster, so that's not up for grabs. It is not up for grabs whether we are going to have the capacities to engineer novel intelligence and re-engineer life — we are doing both of those things now in the early days.What is up for grabs is how these revolutions will play out, and there are better and worse scenarios that we can imagine. The name of the game for all of this, the reason why I do the work that I do, why I write the books that I write, is to ask “What are the things that we can do to increase the odds of a more positive story and decrease the odds of a more negative story?”Progress has been sort of unstoppable for all that time, though, of course, fits and starts and periods of stagnation —— But when you look back at those fits and starts — the size of the Black Plague or World War II, or wiping out Berlin, and Dresden, and Tokyo, and Hiroshima, and Nagasaki — in spite of all of those things, it's one-directional. Our technologies have gotten more powerful. We've developed more capacities, greater ability to manipulate the world around us, so there will be fits and starts but, as I said, this train is moving. That's why these conversations are so important, because there's so much that we can, and I believe must, do now.There's a widely held opinion that progress over the past 50 years has been slower than people might have expected in the late 1960s, but we seem to have some technologies now for which the momentum seems pretty unstoppable.Of course, a lot of people thought, after ChatGPT came out, that superintelligence would happen within six months. That didn't happen. After CRISPR arrived, I'm sure there were lots of people who expected miracle cures right away.What makes you think that these technologies will look a lot different, and our world will look a lot different than they do right now by decade's end?They certainly will look a lot different, but there's also a lot of hype around these technologies. You use the word “superintelligence,” which is probably a good word. I don't like the words “artificial intelligence,” and I have a six-letter framing for what I believe about AGI — artificial general intelligence — and that is: AGI is BS. We have no idea what human intelligence is, if we define our own intelligence so narrowly that it's just this very narrow form of thinking and then we say, “Wow, we have these machines that are mining the entirety of digitized human cultural history, and wow, they're so brilliant, they can write poems — poems in languages that our ancestors have invented based on the work of humans.” So we humans need to be very careful not to belittle ourselves.But we're already seeing, across the board, if you say, “Is CRISPR on its own going to fundamentally transform all of life?” The answer to that is absolutely no. My last book was about genetic engineering. If genetic engineering is a pie, genome editing is a slice and CRISPR is just a tiny little sliver of that slice. But the reason why my new book is called Superconvergence, the entire thesis is that all of these technologies inspire, and influence, and are embedded in each other. We had the agricultural revolution 12,000 years ago, as I mentioned. That's what led to these other innovations like civilization, like writing, and then the ancient writing codes are the foundation of computer codes which underpin our machine learning and AI systems that are allowing us to unlock secrets of the natural world.People are imagining that AI equals ChatGPT, but that's really not the case (AI equals ChatGPT like electricity equals the power station). The story of AI is empowering us to do all of these other things. As a general-purpose technology, already AI is developing the capacity to help us just do basic things faster. Computer coding is the archetypal example of that. Over the last couple of years, the speed of coding has improved by about 50 percent for the most advanced human coders, and as we code, our coding algorithms are learning about the process of coding. We're just laying a foundation for all of these other things.That's what I call “boring AI.” People are imagining exciting AI, like there's a magic AI button and you just press it and AI cures cancer. That's not how it's going to work. Boring AI is going to be embedded in human resource management. It's going to be embedded just giving us a lot of capabilities to do things better, faster than we've done them before. It doesn't mean that AIs are going to replace us. There are a lot of things that humans do that machines can just do better than we are. That's why most of us aren't doing hunting, or gathering, or farming, because we developed machines and other technologies to feed us with much less human labor input, and we have used that reallocation of our time and energy to write books and invent other things. That's going to happen here.The name of the game for us humans, there's two things: One is figuring out what does it mean to be a great human and over-index on that, and two, lay the foundation so that these multiple overlapping revolutions, as they play out in multiple fields, can be governed wisely. That is the name of the game. So when people say, “Is it going to change our lives?” I think people are thinking of it in the wrong way. This shirt that I'm wearing, this same shirt five years from now, you'll say, “Well, is there AI in your shirt?” — because it doesn't look like AI — and what I'm going to say is “Yes, in the manufacturing of this thread, in the management of the supply chain, in figuring out who gets to go on vacation, when, in the company that's making these buttons.” It's all these little things. People will just call it progress. People are imagining magic AI, all of these interwoven technologies will just feel like accelerating progress, and that will just feel like life.Normalizing the extraordinary (9:46)20, 30 years ago we didn't have the internet. I think things get so normalized that this just feels like life.What you're describing is a technology that economists would call a general-purpose technology. It's a technology embedded in everything, it's everywhere in the economy, much as electricity.What you call “boring AI,” the way I think about it is: I was just reading a Wall Street Journal story about Applebee's talking about using AI for more efficient customer loyalty programs, and they would use machine vision to look at their tables to see if they were cleaned well enough between customers. That, to people, probably doesn't seem particularly science-fictional. It doesn't seem world-changing. Of course, faster growth and a more productive economy is built on those little things, but I guess I would still call those “boring AI.”What to me definitely is not boring AI is the sort of combinatorial aspect that you're talking about where you're talking about AI helping the scientific discovery process and then interweaving with other technologies in kind of the classic Paul Romer combinatorial way.I think a lot of people, if they look back at their lives 20 or 30 years ago, they would say, “Okay, more screen time, but probably pretty much the same.”I don't think they would say that. 20, 30 years ago we didn't have the internet. I think things get so normalized that this just feels like life. If you had told ourselves 30 years ago, “You're going to have access to all the world's knowledge in your pocket.” You and I are — based on appearances, although you look so youthful — roughly the same age, so you probably remember, “Hurry, it's long distance! Run down the stairs!”We live in this radical science-fiction world that has been normalized, and even the things that you are mentioning, if you see open up your newsfeed and you see that there's this been incredible innovation in cancer care, and whether it's gene therapy, or autoimmune stuff, or whatever, you're not thinking, “Oh, that was AI that did that,” because you read the thing and it's like “These researchers at University of X,” but it is AI, it is electricity, it is agriculture. It's because our ancestors learned how to plant seeds and grow plants where you're stationed and not have to do hunting and gathering that you have had this innovation that is keeping your grandmother alive for another 10 years.What you're describing is what I call “magical AI,” and that's not how it works. Some of the stuff is magical: the Jetsons stuff, and self-driving cars, these things that are just autopilot airplanes, we live in a world of magical science fiction and then whenever something shows up, we think, “Oh yeah, no big deal.” We had ChatGPT, now ChatGPT, no big deal?If you had taken your grandparents, your parents, and just said, “Hey, I'm going to put you behind a screen. You're going to have a conversation with something, with a voice, and you're going to do it for five hours,” and let's say they'd never heard of computers and it was all this pleasant voice. In the end they said, “You just had a five-hour conversation with a non-human, and it told you about everything and all of human history, and it wrote poems, and it gave you a recipe for kale mush or whatever you're eating,” you'd say, “Wow!” I think that we are living in that sci-fi world. It's going to get faster, but every innovation, we're not going to say, “Oh, AI did that.” We're just going to say, “Oh, that happened.”Engineering intelligence (13:53)I don't like the word “artificial intelligence” because artificial intelligence means “artificial human intelligence.” This is machine intelligence, which is inspired by the products of human intelligence, but it's a different form of intelligence . . .I sometimes feel in my own writing, and as I peruse the media, like I read a lot more about AI, the digital economy, information technology, and I feel like I certainly write much less about genetic engineering, biotechnology, which obviously is a key theme in your book. What am I missing right now that's happening that may seem normal five years from now, 10 years, but if I were to read about it now or understand it now, I'd think, “Well, that is kind of amazing.”My answer to that is kind of everything. As I said before, we are at the very beginning of this new era of life on earth where one species, among the billions that have ever lived, suddenly has the increasing ability to engineer novel intelligence and re-engineer life.We have evolved by the Darwinian processes of random mutation and natural selection, and we are beginning a new phase of life, a new Cambrian Revolution, where we are creating, certainly with this novel intelligence that we are birthing — I don't like the word “artificial intelligence” because artificial intelligence means “artificial human intelligence.” This is machine intelligence, which is inspired by the products of human intelligence, but it's a different form of intelligence, just like dolphin intelligence is a different form of intelligence than human intelligence, although we are related because of our common mammalian route. That's what's happening here, and our brain function is roughly the same as it's been, certainly at least for tens of thousands of years, but the AI machine intelligence is getting smarter, and we're just experiencing it.It's become so normalized that you can even ask that question. We live in a world where we have these AI systems that are just doing more and cooler stuff every day: driving cars, you talked about discoveries, we have self-driving laboratories that are increasingly autonomous. We have machines that are increasingly writing their own code. We live in a world where machine intelligence has been boxed in these kinds of places like computers, but very soon it's coming out into the world. The AI revolution, and machine-learning revolution, and the robotics revolution are going to be intersecting relatively soon in meaningful ways.AI has advanced more quickly than robotics because it hasn't had to navigate the real world like we have. That's why I'm always so mindful of not denigrating who we are and what we stand for. Four billion years of evolution is a long time. We've learned a lot along the way, so it's going to be hard to put the AI and have it out functioning in the world, interacting in this world that we have largely, but not exclusively, created.But that's all what's coming. Some specific things: 30 years from now, my guess is many people who are listening to this podcast will be fornicating regularly with robots, and it'll be totally normal and comfortable.. . . I think some people are going to be put off by that.Yeah, some people will be put off and some people will be turned on. All I'm saying is it's going to be a mix of different —Jamie, what I would like to do is be 90 years old and be able to still take long walks, be sharp, not have my knee screaming at me. That's what I would like. Can I expect that?I think this can help, but you have to decide how to behave with your personalized robot.That's what I want. I'm looking for the achievement of human suffering. Will there be a world of less human suffering?We live in that world of less human suffering! If you just look at any metric of anything, this is the best time to be alive, and it's getting better and better. . . We're living longer, we're living healthier, we're better educated, we're more informed, we have access to more and better food. This is by far the best time to be alive, and if we don't massively screw it up, and frankly, even if we do, to a certain extent, it'll continue to get better.I write about this in Superconvergence, we're moving in healthcare from our world of generalized healthcare based on population averages to precision healthcare, to predictive and preventive. In education, some of us, like myself, you have had access to great education, but not everybody has that. We're going to have access to fantastic education, personalized education everywhere for students based on their own styles of learning, and capacities, and native languages. This is a wonderful, exciting time.We're going to get all of those things that we can hope for and we're going to get a lot of things that we can't even imagine. And there are going to be very real potential dangers, and if we want to have the good story, as I keep saying, and not have the bad story, now is the time where we need to start making the real investments.Distrust of disruption (19:44)Your job is the disruption of this thing that's come before. . . stopping the advance of progress is just not one of our options.I think some people would, when they hear about all these changes, they'd think what you're telling them is “the bad story.”I just talked about fornicating with robots, it's the bad story?Yeah, some people might find that bad story. But listen, we live at an age where people have recoiled against the disruption of trade, for instance. People are very allergic to the idea of economic disruption. I think about all the debate we had over stem cell therapy back in the early 2000s, 2002. There certainly is going to be a certain contingent that, what they're going to hear what you're saying is: you're going to change what it means to be a human. You're going to change what it means to have a job. I don't know if I want all this. I'm not asking for all this.And we've seen where that pushback has greatly changed, for instance, how we trade with other nations. Are you concerned that that pushback could create regulatory or legislative obstacles to the kind of future you're talking about?All of those things, and some of that pushback, frankly, is healthy. These are fundamental changes, but those people who are pushing back are benchmarking their own lives to the world that they were born into and, in most cases, without recognizing how radical those lives already are, if the people you're talking about are hunter-gatherers in some remote place who've not gone through domestication of agriculture, and industrialization, and all of these kinds of things, that's like, wow, you're going from being this little hunter-gatherer tribe in the middle of Atlantis and all of a sudden you're going to be in a world of gene therapy and shifting trading patterns.But the people who are saying, “Well, my job as a computer programmer, as a whatever, is going to get disrupted,” your job is the disruption. Your job is the disruption of this thing that's come before. As I said at the start of our conversation, stopping the advance of progress is just not one of our options.We could do it, and societies have done it before, and they've lost their economies, they've lost their vitality. Just go to Europe, Europe is having this crisis now because for decades they saw their economy and their society, frankly, as a museum to the past where they didn't want to change, they didn't want to think about the implications of new technologies and new trends. It's why I am just back from Italy. It's wonderful, I love visiting these little farms where they're milking the goats like they've done for centuries and making cheese they've made for centuries, but their economies are shrinking with incredible rapidity where ours and the Chinese are growing.Everybody wants to hold onto the thing that they know. It's a very natural thing, and I'm not saying we should disregard those views, but the societies that have clung too tightly to the way things were tend to lose their vitality and, ultimately, their freedom. That's what you see in the war with Russia and Ukraine. Let's just say there are people in Ukraine who said, “Let's not embrace new disruptive technologies.” Their country would disappear.We live in a competitive world where you can opt out like Europe opted out solely because they lived under the US security umbrella. And now that President Trump is threatening the withdrawal of that security umbrella, Europe is being forced to race not into the future, but to race into the present.Risk tolerance (24:08). . . experts, scientists, even governments don't have any more authority to make these decisions about the future of our species than everybody else.I certainly understand that sort of analogy, and compared to Europe, we look like a far more risk-embracing kind of society. Yet I wonder how resilient that attitude — because obviously I would've said the same thing maybe in 1968 about the United States, and yet a decade later we stopped building nuclear reactors — I wonder how resilient we are to anything going wrong, like something going on with an AI system where somebody dies. Or something that looks like a cure that kills someone. Or even, there seems to be this nuclear power revival, how resilient would that be to any kind of accident? How resilient do you think are we right now to the inevitable bumps along the way?It depends on who you mean by “we.” Let's just say “we” means America because a lot of these dawns aren't the first ones. You talked about gene therapy. This is the second dawn of gene therapy. The first dawn came crashing into a halt in 1999 when a young man at the University of Pennsylvania died as a result of an error carried out by the treating physicians using what had seemed like a revolutionary gene therapy. It's the second dawn of AI after there was a lot of disappointment. There will be accidents . . .Let's just say, hypothetically, there's an accident . . . some kind of self-driving car is going to kill somebody or whatever. And let's say there's a political movement, the Luddites that is successful, and let's just say that every self-driving car in America is attacked and destroyed by mobs and that all of the companies that are making these cars are no longer able to produce or deploy those cars. That's going to be bad for self-driving cars in America — it's not going to be bad for self-driving cars. . . They're going to be developed in some other place. There are lots of societies that have lost their vitality. That's the story of every empire that we read about in history books: there was political corruption, sclerosis. That's very much an option.I'm a patriotic American and I hope America leads these revolutions as long as we can maintain our values for many, many centuries to come, but for that to happen, we need to invest in that. Part of that is investing now so that people don't feel that they are powerless victims of these trends they have no influence over.That's why all of my work is about engaging people in the conversation about how do we deploy these technologies? Because experts, scientists, even governments don't have any more authority to make these decisions about the future of our species than everybody else. What we need to do is have broad, inclusive conversations, engage people in all kinds of processes, including governance and political processes. That's why I write the books that I do. That's why I do podcast interviews like this. My Joe Rogan interviews have reached many tens of millions of people — I know you told me before that you're much bigger than Joe Rogan, so I imagine this interview will reach more than that.I'm quite aspirational.Yeah, but that's the name of the game. With my last book tour, in the same week I spoke to the top scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the seventh and eighth graders at the Solomon Schechter Hebrew Academy of New Jersey, and they asked essentially the exact same questions about the future of human genetic engineering. These are basic human questions that everybody can understand and everybody can and should play a role and have a voice in determining the big decisions and the future of our species.To what extent is the future you're talking about dependent on continued AI advances? If this is as good as it gets, does that change the outlook at all?One, there's no conceivable way that this is as good as it gets because even if the LLMs, large language models — it's not the last word on algorithms, there will be many other philosophies of algorithms, but let's just say that LLMs are the end of the road, that we've just figured out this one thing, and that's all we ever have. Just using the technologies that we have in more creative ways is going to unleash incredible progress. But it's certain that we will continue to have innovations across the field of computer science, in energy production, in algorithm development, in the ways that we have to generate and analyze massive data pools. So we don't need any more to have the revolution that's already started, but we will have more.Politics always, ultimately, can trump everything if we get it wrong. But even then, even if . . . let's just say that the United States becomes an authoritarian, totalitarian hellhole. One, there will be technological innovation like we're seeing now even in China, and two, these are decentralized technologies, so free people elsewhere — maybe it'll be Europe, maybe it'll be Africa or whatever — will deploy these technologies and use them. These are agnostic technologies. They don't have, as I said at the start, an inevitable outcome, and that's why the name of the game for us is to weave our best values into this journey.What is a “newnimal”? (30:11). . . we don't live in a state of nature, we live in a world that has been massively bio-engineered by our ancestors, and that's just the thing that we call life.When I was preparing for this interview and my research assistant was preparing, I said, “We have to have a question about bio-engineered new animals.” One, because I couldn't pronounce your name for these . . . newminals? So pronounce that name and tell me why we want these.It's a made up word, so you can pronounce it however you want. “Newnimals” is as good as anything.We already live in a world of bio-engineered animals. Go back 50,000 years, find me a dog, find me a corn that is recognizable, find me rice, find me wheat, find me a cow that looks remotely like the cow in your local dairy. We already live in that world, it's just people assume that our bioengineered world is some kind of state of nature. We already live in a world where the size of a broiler chicken has tripled over the last 70 years. What we have would have been unrecognizable to our grandparents.We are already genetically modifying animals through breeding, and now we're at the beginning of wanting to have whatever those same modifications are, whether it's producing more milk, producing more meat, living in hotter environments and not dying, or whatever it is that we're aiming for in these animals that we have for a very long time seen not as ends in themselves, but means to the alternate end of our consumption.We're now in the early stages xenotransplantation, modifying the hearts, and livers, and kidneys of pigs so they can be used for human transplantation. I met one of the women who has received — and seems to so far to be thriving — a genetically modified pig kidney. We have 110,000 people in the United States on the waiting list for transplant organs. I really want these people not just to survive, but to survive and thrive. That's another area we can grow.Right now . . . in the world, we slaughter about 93 billion land animals per year. We consume 200 million metric tons of fish. That's a lot of murder, that's a lot of risk of disease. It's a lot of deforestation and destruction of the oceans. We can already do this, but if and when we can grow bioidentical animal products at scale without having all of these negative externalities of whether it's climate change, environmental change, cruelty, deforestation, increased pandemic risk, what a wonderful thing to do!So we have these technologies and you mentioned that people are worried about them, but the reason people are worried about them is they're imagining that right now we live in some kind of unfettered state of nature and we're going to ruin it. But that's why I say we don't live in a state of nature, we live in a world that has been massively bio-engineered by our ancestors, and that's just the thing that we call life.Inspired by curiosity (33:42). . . the people who I love and most admire are the people who are just insatiably curious . . .What sort of forward thinkers, or futurists, or strategic thinkers of the past do you model yourself on, do you think are still worth reading, inspired you?Oh my God, so many, and the people who I love and most admire are the people who are just insatiably curious, who are saying, “I'm going to just look at the world, I'm going to collect data, and I know that everybody says X, but it may be true, it may not be true.” That is the entire history of science. That's Galileo, that's Charles Darwin, who just went around and said, “Hey, with an open mind, how am I going to look at the world and come up with theses?” And then he thought, “Oh s**t, this story that I'm coming up with for how life advances is fundamentally different from what everybody in my society believes and organizes their lives around.” Meaning, in my mind, that's the model, and there are so many people, and that's the great thing about being human.That's what's so exciting about this moment is that everybody has access to these super-empowered tools. We have eight billion humans, but about two billion of those people are just kind of locked out because of crappy education, and poor water sanitation, electricity. We're on the verge of having everybody who has a smartphone has the possibility of getting a world-class personalized education in their own language. How many new innovations will we have when little kids who were in slums in India, or in Pakistan, or in Nairobi, or wherever who have promise can educate themselves, and grow up and cure cancers, or invent new machines, or new algorithms. This is pretty exciting.The summary of the people from the past, they're kind of like the people in the present that I admire the most, are the people who are just insatiably curious and just learning, and now we have a real opportunity so that everybody can be their own Darwin.On sale everywhere The Conservative Futurist: How To Create the Sci-Fi World We Were PromisedMicro Reads▶ Economics* AI Hype Is Proving to Be a Solow's Paradox - Bberg Opinion* Trump Considers Naming Next Fed Chair Early in Bid to Undermine Powell - WSJ* Who Needs the G7? - PS* Advances in AI will boost productivity, living standards over time - Dallas Fed* Industrial Policy via Venture Capital - SSRN* Economic Sentiment and the Role of the Labor Market - St. Louis Fed▶ Business* AI valuations are verging on the unhinged - Economist* Nvidia shares hit record high on renewed AI optimism - FT* OpenAI, Microsoft Rift Hinges on How Smart AI Can Get - WSJ* Takeaways From Hard Fork's Interview With OpenAI's Sam Altman - NYT* Thatcher's legacy endures in Labour's industrial strategy - FT* Reddit vows to stay human to emerge a winner from artificial intelligence - FT▶ Policy/Politics* Anthropic destroyed millions of print books to build its AI models - Ars* Don't Let Silicon Valley Move Fast and Break Children's Minds - NYT Opinion* Is DOGE doomed to fail? Some experts are ready to call it. - Ars* The US is failing its green tech ‘Sputnik moment' - FT▶ AI/Digital* Future of Work with AI Agents: Auditing Automation and Augmentation Potential across the U.S. Workforce - Arxiv* Is the Fed Ready for an AI Economy? - WSJ Opinion* How Much Energy Does Your AI Prompt Use? I Went to a Data Center to Find Out. - WSJ* Meta Poaches Three OpenAI Researchers - WSJ* AI Agents Are Getting Better at Writing Code—and Hacking It as Well - Wired* Exploring the Capabilities of the Frontier Large Language Models for Nuclear Energy Research - Arxiv▶ Biotech/Health* Google's new AI will help researchers understand how our genes work - MIT* Does using ChatGPT change your brain activity? Study sparks debate - Nature* We cure cancer with genetic engineering but ban it on the farm. - ImmunoLogic* ChatGPT and OCD are a dangerous combo - Vox▶ Clean Energy/Climate* Is It Too Soon for Ocean-Based Carbon Credits? - Heatmap* The AI Boom Can Give Rooftop Solar a New Pitch - Bberg Opinion▶ Robotics/Drones/AVs* Tesla's Robotaxi Launch Shows Google's Waymo Is Worth More Than $45 Billion - WSJ* OpenExo: An open-source modular exoskeleton to augment human function - Science Robotics▶ Space/Transportation* Bezos and Blue Origin Try to Capitalize on Trump-Musk Split - WSJ* Giant asteroid could crash into moon in 2032, firing debris towards Earth - The Guardian▶ Up Wing/Down Wing* New Yorkers Vote to Make Their Housing Shortage Worse - WSJ* We Need More Millionaires and Billionaires in Latin America - Bberg Opinion▶ Substacks/Newsletters* Student visas are a critical pipeline for high-skilled, highly-paid talent - AgglomerationsState Power Without State Capacity - Breakthrough JournalFaster, Please! is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit fasterplease.substack.com/subscribe

Recent conflicts have brought the threat of nuclear war to the forefront of many minds. Experts warn that the current geopolitical tensions have likely hardened North Korea's resolve to retain its nuclear capabilities. Against this backdrop, Yuka Royer speaks with Seiichiro Mise, who survived the 1945 atomic bombing of Nagasaki at the age of 10. He shares his story and urges the world to take action towards eliminating nuclear weapons and to "spread the seeds of peace". 

SEASON 3 EPISODE 142: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: The only “scum” here is Trump and the only thing that’s been “obliterated” is America’s reputation. We have now descended to that level of hell in which the entire purpose of the government of the United States is to say and shout and lie so loudly and so often that the insane, deteriorating, mentally-dissolving, international joke that IS the current president doesn’t yell at the fools and whores who work for him. He has now gotten the government of Israel to lie for him about his attack on Iran; he has now gotten his own government to issue assessments that not only completely contradict YESTERDAY’S assessments but completely contradict his OWN assessments; he has now gotten his own Director of National Intelligence – presumably under threat of being fired – to cherry-pick SOMEBODY’S intelligence, maybe ours, maybe Qatar’s, maybe Joe Rogan’s, who knows – and insist that it is NEW and it confirms his obsession that everybody in the country, everybody in the world, everybody in the universe, everybody YET TO BE BORN, agree with him that Iran’s nuclear capacity is quote “obliterated” and for all time and forever and no arguments and it’s the greatest military success since Hiroshima and Nagasaki and don’t you dare say otherwise, don’t you dare say inconclusive obliterated obliterated obliterated. Except that 24 hours ago Trump said… inconclusive. THERE ARE SEVERAL SIDEBARS to Zohran Mamdani’s startling first-round win in the Democratic primary for mayor here in Fun City. First: the tepidness of national Democratic support for him. Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, and the rest of the gerontocracy better shape up fast because Mamdani won the MIDDLE class by doing the two things you idiots refused to even try to do last year: combine concern for the financial crushing OF the middle class, AND standing up for what’s right in the country and the world, including opposing Trump and ICE and punishing corrupt political cynics like Andrew Cuomo. The hesitation can only open an avenue for Eric Adams to whore himself out as a pro-business "centrist" who will be Trump's tool. B-Block (27:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Larry Ellison and my old ex-friend Jeff "You Should've Known I Was Lying To You" Shell have a plan for CBS News: more Bari Weiss. The one time we could've used propaganda and Voice of America in Iran, Kari Lake made sure we were off the air. And it's so easy to miss and to minimize, but Trump went full gay-bashing this week. Silence is compliance. C-Block (37:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Now that I'm with my fifth different network just doing baseball games (FanDuel Sports) it's a good time to revisit my departure from my first. A scant 28 years ago this month I left ESPN - but we came thisclose to keeping the relationship going just enough to continue the Sunday SportsCenter.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Multiple news outlets confirm: Donald didn't obliterate Iran's uranium. Pete Hegseth's attacked a Fox News reporter during a public meltdown this morning. Donald invoked Hiroshima and Nagasaki during the NATO summit. Queen Maxima of the Netherlands mocked Donald's gross face. Pakistan is developing a long range nuke. RFK Jr. doesn't know what he's talking about. Good news from the Senate parliamentarian. Supreme Court clears the way to de-fund Planned Parenthood. ICE is responsible for still birth. You Were Warned, deported Trump supporter and the Proud Boys. With Jody Hamilton, David Ferguson, music by Powder Pink and Sweet, Seth Adam, and more!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

長崎市の鈴木史朗市長、２０２４年８月、同市役所長崎市の鈴木史朗市長は２６日、トランプ米大統領がイラン核施設への空爆を広島と長崎への原爆投下になぞらえる発言をしたことについて、「原爆投下を正当化するものなら大変遺憾だ」と述べた。 Nagasaki Mayor Shiro Suzuki voiced regret Thursday over U.S. President Donald Trump's linking of U.S. airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities to the 1945 U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Nagasaki Mayor Shiro Suzuki voiced regret Thursday over U.S. President Donald Trump's linking of U.S. airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities to the 1945 U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

"Aquele ataque acabou com a guerra". Trump compara ataque ao Irão com Hiroshima e Nagasaki

Ottant'anni fa, si concludeva la Seconda guerra mondiale. Dopo la resa della Germania nazista, l'8 maggio 1945, gli Stati Uniti erano ancora in guerra con il Giappone. La mattina del 6 agosto 1945, alle ore 8.15, l'aeronautica americana sganciò una bomba atomica sulla città giapponese di Hiroshima. Tre giorni dopo, il 9 agosto, un'altra bomba esplose su Nagasaki. Le due città furono ridotte a cumuli di macerie. Il numero totale delle vittime fu stimato attorno a 200.000 quasi esclusivamente civili. L'imperatore Hiro Hito, il 14 agosto, accettò la resa incondizionata del Giappone.

James Taylor and Jon Steele are back with a bumper episode of JTET reviewing another entertaining weekend of J2. First, James has a roundup of 7 games from matchday 19 (start to 05:35). Then he was joined by Jon to discuss three goalfests: Nagasaki v Omiya (05:35 to 20:20); Yamagata v Sendai (20:20 to 33:00); and Tokushima v JEF United (33:00 to 44:00). Next, the boys choose their Most Bravo Players and discuss the J.League's monthly awards for May (44:00 to 51:40), and end the episode with a preview of the coming weekend's league fixtures (51:40 to end).   Thank you for your support of the J-Talk Podcast and J-Talk: Extra Time. *Join the J-Talk Podcast Patreon here: https://patreon.com/jtalkpod *Find our JLeague Chat Discord server here: https://discord.gg/UwN2ambAwg *Follow JTET on Bluesky here: @jtalket.bsky.social

En el último año de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, Adolf Hitler dirigió la atención de la Alemania nazi hacia las llamadas «armas de venganza»: la bomba voladora V1 y el imparable cohete V2, con ellas la labor de los bombarderos ya no era necesaria pero aún así fue un bombardero el que dejó caer de sus bodegas el arma más destructiva de la historia sobre las ciudades japonesas de Hiroshima y Nagasaki, la bomba atómica. Los siguiente años la combinación de los cohetes con la bomba atómica dará como resultado al misil nuclear, el arma que destronará al bombardero en la cima del armamento de guerra.

Podcast Audio The post Talks by Mukei and Gihan Un-no, “The Legacy of Juneteenth and of Nagasaki” first appeared on The Village Zendo.

Este 2025 se conmemora el 80 aniversario de los bombardeos atómicos de Hiroshima y Nagasaki, eventos que marcaron el fin de la Segunda Guerra Mundial y dejaron una profunda cicatriz en la historia. Por este motivo, Elvira Lindo invita a Radio Linda a la escritora Patricia Hiramatsu, que escribió el prólogo de 'Ciudad de cadáveres' de Ōta Yōko.

This episode we are covering the end of the reign of Naka no Oe, aka Tenji Tennou.  We cover the events in the Chronicles, including the death of Nakatomi no Kamatari, the creation of the Fujiwara family, the destruction of Goguryeo, and the continued development of the Baekje refugees. For more, check out the podcast blog at: https://sengokudaimyo.com/podcast/episode-128 Rough Transcript Welcome to Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan.  My name is Joshua and this is episode 128: Immigrants, Princes, and High Officials. There was a pall over the house, despite the visiting royal retinue creating something of a stir,.  While craftspeople were still hard at work repairing damage from the lightning strike only a few months earlier, that wasn't the reason for the low spirits.  Rather, the house was worried for their patriarch, the Naidaijin, Nakatomi no Kamatari.  He had fallen ill, and despite all the pleas to the kami and the Buddhas , it seemed the end might be near. And so even the sovereign himself had come.  Kamatari was not just a loyal official, but  a close friend of the sovereign, someone who had been there since the beginning.  And so we can imagine how Naka no Oe felt.  He may have been the sovereign of Yamato, but he was still a human being, visiting his friend of some 30 or so years, knowing that for all of the power that he held, there was nothing he could do against the ravages of time and disease.     The year is 668—Naka no Oe has moved the capital to Ohotsu, on the banks of Lake Biwa, and has formally assumed the throne. This episode we are going to cover the last several years of Naka no Oe's reign.  In contrast to last week's dive into Yamato science, this week is going to be a bit of a grab bag, looking at what was going on in Yamato and talking about what was recorded in the Chronicles. And for the most part, the entries for the rest of the year 668 are fairly normal, and yet there are some oddities… For instance, in the fourth month we are told that Baekje sent Mitosapu and others to offer tribute.  And any other time that would be just a normal thing.  Except that at this point in history, Baekje was about as going a concern as a parrot in a Monty Python sketch.  So if the Kingdom of Baekje was no longer a thing, who was it that was sending the tribute? Most likely it was the Baekje communities in exile living in the archipelago.  Remember how many of them had settled around Biwa and in 666, two thousand Baekje people were settled somewhere in the East.  These immigrants  were still being supported by the Yamato government, who were basically subsidizing their settlement for the first three years, during which time they would be expected to make it into a permanent settlement. Based on the way the Chronicles talk about it, these early Baekje communities sound like they were maintaining a kind of kingdom in exile.  With many immigrants from Baekje living together in proximity, they were likely keeping their own groups, with their own language and traditions, at least for now.  It would be interesting to know if there were specific Baekje settlements that have been identified through the archaeological record.   That said, we definitely see Baekje's mark on the archipelago: Physically, there are the Baekje style castles, and various temples following Baekje style layouts.  Of course there were also continental building styles, but some of that was shared across multiple cultures at this point, and one should consider how much Baekje influence might have been found in things that we later see as Japanese. Additionally, Baekje nobles were involved in the court, often given court rank based in part on their rank in Baekje, though it wasn't quite equivalent.  Still,  in time, some of the nobles would trace their lineages back to Baekje nobles and princes. Speaking of princes and Baekje, on the fifth day of the fifth month of 668 —a day that would come to be known as Ayame no hi, or Tango no Sekku, one of the major days of court ceremony—Naka no Oe went out hunting on the moor of Kamafu, known today as Gamou district, near Kanzaki, where 400 Baekje people had been settled.  He was out there with the Crown Prince, his younger brother, aka Prince Ohoama, and all the other princes and ministers.  A grand outing. A month later, however, tragedy struck.  One “Prince Ise” and his younger brother died on consecutive days.  While this was undoubtedly a blow to the court, the interesting thing for our purposes – which also highlights the challenge of interpreting the Chronicles is that we aren't exactly sure who this is referring to.  It's not the first time we've seen this title: we first see a “Prince Ise” show up around 650, during the presentation of the white pheasant that ushered in the Hakuho era, but we later see that that individual had passed away in 661.  We also see the name show up less than 20 years later in the Chronicles for another prince, so this can't be the same.  So this is clearly a position or title for a prince, but it isn't clear if it was passed down or inherited.   One possibility is that “Prince Ise” or “Prince of Ise” was a title for one of the royal sons. IAt this point in the narrative, Naka no Oe had three sons.  Prince Takeru had passed away at the age of 8, but he also had Prince Kawajima, Prince Shiki, and Prince Iga, aka Prince Ohotomo, all sons of “palace women”.  We know, though, that these princes show up later, so I don't think the so-called Prince Ise was one of them.  Perhaps another line?   The term “Prince” might also refer to something other than a royal son.  You see, English translators have often been somewhat cavalier with the way we tend to render titles.  The English term “Prince” has  been used for “Hiko”, “Miko”, or “Ou” (which was probably pronounced “Miko” in many of these cases).  And in English, we often think of “Prince” as the son of a king, but “Prince” can also be an independent ruler of a principality, or may just refer to a person with power in a monarchic state.  Even the term “king” is not unambiguous—early European accounts of Japan during the Warring States period often refer to the various daimyou as “kings”, given the often absolute dominion with which they apparently ruled their particular domains. At this time, the term “Miko”  (also pronounced “ouji”, or “koushi”, or even “sume-miko”) seems rather unambiguously to refer to a “royal prince”, from the lineage of the sovereign.  The term “Ou”, which also seems to be read as “Miko” in some cases, is also the term for “King” and probably more broadly fits the concept of a “prince” as a ruler.  However, in this case, it seems to be equal to the term “Miko”, and may have been used almost interchangeably for a time, though later it would be used to refer to members of princely rank who were not directly related to a reigning sovereign—the grandchildren and so forth of royal princes who did not go on to inherit. In this case, I think the best we can say for certain is that Prince Ise—or the Prince of Ise—was someone important enough to be included in the chronicles – but who he was, exactly, will remain a mystery for now. The following month, the 7th month, was chock full of activities.  First of all, Goguryeo sent envoys by way of Koshi—meaning they landed on the Japan Sea side, probably around Tsuruga.  While this may just have been closer, I suspect it meant they avoided any Tang entanglements traveling through the Bohai sea.  They did run into a spot of trouble, however, as the winds and waves prevented their return. Koshi also shows up as presenting some strange gifts to the court:  burning earth and burning water.  There is some thought that maybe this is something like coal or natural oil deposits. We are also told that in this month, Prince Kurikuma was appointed the governor of Tsukushi.  Kurikuma no Ou appears to have been the grandson—or possibly great-grandson—of the sovereign, Nunakura, aka Bidatsu Tennou.  The position Kurikuma was given was important, of course, overseeing the Dazai, which meant overseeing anyone traveling to the archipelago from the continent. This would be a relatively short-lived appointment—this time.  He would be re-appointed about three years later, which would prove important, as he would be governor there during some particularly momentous events.    Stories appear to have continued about him in the Nagasaki region, and various families traced their lineage back to him. Also in that month, we are told that Afumi, home of the new capital, practiced military exercises—likely in preparation in case of a future Tang or Silla invasion.  Recall we discussed in Episode 126 how the choice of Afumi as a capital site might have been related to its defensibility in the event of such an invasion. At the same time, the court entertained Emishi envoys, and the toneri, by royal command, held banquets in various places. There is also mention of a shore-pavillion, presumably at Lake Biwa, where fish of various kinds came, covering the water.  Interestingly enough, there is another story of a “shore pavilion”, likely the same one, in the Fujiwara Family Record, the Toushi Kaden.  We are told that Prince Ohoama – Naka no Oe's younger brother spiked a large spear through a plank of wood in some kind of feat of strength.  This apparently shocked Naka no Oe, who saw it aa  kind of threat—perhaps seeing that his five-years younger brother was still hale and healthy.  Granted, Naka no Oe was only in his 40s, but his brother Ohoama was in his later 30s.  We are also told that at this time, in 668, Naka no Oe was apparently not doing so well, with people wondering if he would be with them much longer. The Toshi Kaden account seems rather surprising in that it claims Naka no Oe was so shocked by this proof of his brother's vitality that he wanted to have him put to death, suggesting to me that he felt that Ohoama might be a threat to him and his rule.  Ultimately, though, he was talked out of this by his old friend, Nakatomi no Kamatari – the one whom he had plotted with to overthrow the Soga, and whose relationship was initiated by an interaction on the kemari field, as we discussed in Episode 106. Speaking of whom: Nakatomi no Kamatari was still Naijin, the Inner or Interior Minister, and so  quite prominent in the administration. In the 9th month, as a Silla envoy was visiting the court, Kamatari sent Buddhist priests Hoben and Shinpitsu to present a ship to the Prime Minister of Silla, which was given to the Silla envoy and his companions, and three days later, Fuse no Omi no Mimimaro was sent with a ship meant for the King of Silla as well. This incident is also recounted in the Toshi Kaden.  In this case it says that the people, hearing about the gifts to Silla, were quite upset.  After all, it stands to reason:  Yamato was still smarting from their defeat at the hands of Tang and Silla forces, and building up defenses in case of an attack.  They'd also taken in a number of Baekje nobles and families, who may have also had some influence on the court.  We are told that Kamatari himself excused all of this by stating that “All under heaven must be the sovereign's land.  The guests within its borders must be the sovereign's servants.”  In this case, all under heaven, or “Tenka”, is a common phrase used to describe a monarch's sovereignty over everything in the land.  And so, while Silla envoys were in Yamato as guests, they also fell under similar rules, and as such were considered, at least by Yamato, as the sovereign's servants and thus worthy of gifts. The Silla envoys stayed for over a month.  They finally departed by the 11th month of 668, carrying even more gifts, including silk and leather for the King and various private gifts for the ambassadors themselves.  The court even sent Chimori no Omi no Maro and Kishi no Woshibi back with the envoy as Yamato envoys to the Silla court. This all tells us that just as the Tang were working to woo Yamato, Silla was likely doing so as well.  And while Yamato might still begrudge the destruction of Baekje, they also had to face the political reality that Baekje was probably not going to be reinstated again—especially not while the Tang government was occupying the peninsula. So making nice with both Tang and Silla was prudent. Furthermore, though they had been visited by Goguryeo envoys earlier that year, Yamato may have had some inkling that Goguryeo was not in the most powerful position.  Ever since the death of Yeon Gaesomun, the Goguryeo court had been involved in infighting—as well as fighting their external enemies.  One of Gaesomun's sons had been exiled and had gone over to the Tang, no doubt providing intelligence as well as some amount of legitimacy.  What they may not have known was that as Yamato was hosting the Silla envoys, a new assault by the Tang-Silla alliance was advancing on Pyongyang and setting siege to the city.  The Nihon Shoki records that in the 10th month of 668 Duke Ying, the Tang commander-in-chief, destroyed Goguryeo. This would dramatically change the international political landscape.  Tang and Silla had been triumphant—Yamato's allies on the peninsula had been defeated, and what we know as the “Three Kingdoms” period of the Korean peninsula was over.  However, the situation was still fluid.  The peninsula was not unified by any sense of the imagination.  The Tang empire had their strategic positions from which they controlled parts of the peninsula and from which they had been supplying the war effort against Goguryeo.  They also likely had to occupy areas to ensure that nobody rose up and tried to reconstitute the defeated kingdoms.  In fact, there would be continued attempts to revive Goguryeo, as might be indicated in the name we use: by the 5th century, the country was actually using the name “Goryeo”, a shortened form of “Goguryeo”, but we continue to refer to it as “Goguryeo” to distinguish it from the country of the same name that would be established in 918, laying claim to that ancient Goguryeo identity. A bit of spoilers, but “Goryeo” is where we would eventually get the name that we know the region by, today:  “Korea”.  In the Nihon Shoki it is referred to as “Gaori”. But none of that could have been known at the time.  Instead, there was no doubt some exuberance on the side of both Silla and Tang, but that would settle into something of unease.  With Baekje and Goguryeo destroyed, Silla may have thought that Tang would leave, allowing them to solidify their hold and manage those territories as an ally.  If this is what they thought, though, I'm not sure they had run it by the Tang empire just yet. In the Yamato court, there appear to have been separate factions: a pro-Tang faction, and also a pro-Silla faction.  We have to assume, based on the actions in the record at this time, that this was a ongoing debate. The last thing I'll note for the year 668 is attempted theft.  The Buddhist priest Dougyou stole Kusanagi, the famous sword forming part of the imperial regalia, and escaped with it.  Kusanagi, you may recall, was the royal sword.  It was named “Kusanagi” or “grass cutter” because it is said that when Prince Yamato Takeru was subduing the eastern lands, he was surrounded in a field that had been set on fire, and he used Kusanagi to create a firebreak by cutting down all of the grass around him.  The sword was given to him by Yamato Hime, the Ise Princess at the time, and it was thought to have been first found by the god Susanowo inside of the legendary Yamata no Orochi.  We talked about this in Episodes 16, 34, and 35.  Yamato Takeru left the sword in Owari, and it would eventually live there, at Atsuta Jingu, Atsuta Shrine, its traditional home. It isn't clear if Dougyou obtained the sword from Owari or if it was being kept in the capital at the time.  It would have likely been brought out for Naka no Oe's coronation, but then it would probably have been returned to the shrine that was holding it. Dougyou tried to head to Silla with his illicit goods, but wind and rain forced him to turn back around.  This is a fascinating story and there's a lot to dive into here. So first off, let's point out that this is supposed to be a Buddhist priest.  What the heck was going on that he was going to try to run a heist on what are essentially the Crown Jewels of the Yamato crown?  While the sword, mirror, and jewel were still somewhat questionable as the sole three regalia, they were clearly important.  We aren't given Dougyou's motives.  We don't know enough about him.  Was he anti-Yamato or anti-Naka no Oe?  Was he actually a Buddhist priest of his own accord, or was he a priest because he was one of those who had been essentially conscripted into religious orders on behalf of some powerful noble?  Was he a Buddhist who wanted to attack the hold of the kami? Was he pro-Silla, or perhaps even a Silla descendant, trying to help Silla? Or was he just a thief who saw the sword, Kusanagi, as a valuable artifact that could be pawned outside of Yamato? That last possibility feels off.  While we aren't exactly sure what Kusanagi looked like, based on everything we know, the sword itself wasn't necessarily blinged out in a way that would make it particularly notable on the continent.    And if Dougyou and whoever his co-conspirators were just wanted to attack the Yamato government, why didn't he just dump Kusanagi in the see somewhere?  He could have destroyed it or otherwise gotten rid of it in a way that would have embarrassed the government. It seems mostly likely that this theft had something to do with pro-Silla sentiment, as if Silla suddenly showed up with the sword, I imagine that would have been some diplomatic leverage on the Yamato court, as they could have held it hostage.  In any case, the plan ultimately failed, though the Chronicles claim it was only because the winds were against him—which was likely seen as the kami themselves defending Yamato. On to a new year.  At the start of 669, Prince Kurikuma (who we mentioned above) was recalled to the capital and Soga no Akaye was appointed governor of Tsukushi. We mentioned Akaye a couple of episodes back.  He was involved in the broken arm-rest incident, where Prince Arima was plotting against Takara Hime, aka Saimei Tennou, and Akaye's daughter Hitachi no Iratsume, was one of the formal wives of Naka no Oe, who would give birth to the princess Yamabe. Now Akaye was given the position of governor of Tsukushi. This position is an interesting one throughout Japanese history.  In many ways it is a viceroy—the governor of Tsukushi has to effectively speak with the voice of the sovereign as the person responsible for overseeing any traffic to and from the continent.  This also was likely a highly lucrative position, only handed out to trusted individuals. However, it also meant that you were outside of the politics of the court.  Early on that was probably less of a concern.  At this time, court nobles were likely still concerned with their traditional lands, which created their economic base, meaning that the court may have been the political center, but there was still plenty of ways to gain power in the archipelago and it wasn't solely through the court.  Over time, as more and more power accrued to the central court government, that would change.  Going out to manage a government outpost on the far end of the archipelago—let alone just going back to manage one's own estates—would be tantamount to exile.  But for now, without a permanent city built up around the palace, I suspect that being away from the action in the capital wasn't quite as detrimental compared to the lucrative nature of a powerful position.  Later, we will see how that flips on its head, especially with the construction of capitals on the model of those like Chang'an. For now, new governor Soga no Akaye was likely making the most of his position.  On that note, in the third month of 669, Tamna sent their prince Kumaki with envoys and tribute.  They would have come through Tsukushi, and Soga no Akaye likely enjoyed some benefits as they were entertained while waiting for permission to travel the rest of the way down to the Yamato capital.  The Tamna embassy did not exactly linger at the court.  They arrived on the 11th of the 3rd month, and left one week—seven days—later, on the 18th.  Still, they left with a gift of seed-grain made to the King of Tamna. On their way out, they likely would have again stopped in at Tsukushi for provisions and to ensure that all of their business was truly concluded before departing. A couple of months later, on the 5th day of the 5th month, we see another hunting party by Naka no Oe.  This seems to have been part of the court ritual of the time for this ceremonial day.  This time it was on the plain of Yamashina.  It was attended by his younger brother, Crown Prince Ohoama, as well as someone called “Fujiwara no Naidaijin” and all of the ministers. “Fujiwara no Naidaijin” is no doubt Nakatomi no Kamatari.  This is an interesting slip by the Chroniclers, and I wonder if it gives us some insight into the source this record came from.  Kamatari was still known as Nakatomi at the time, and was still the Naidaijin, so it is clear they were talking about him.  But historically his greatest reputation is as the father of the Fujiwara family, something we will get to in time.  That said, a lot of the records in this period refer to him as “Fujiwara”.  We've seen this previously—because the records were being written later they were often using a more common name for an individual, rather than the name—including title—that the individual actually would have borne at the time of the record.  This really isn't that different from the way we often talk about the sovereigns using their posthumous names.   Naka no Oe would not have been known as “Tenji Tennou” during his reign.  That wouldn't be used until much later.  And yet, many history books will, understandably, just use the name “Tenji” because it makes it clear who is being talked about. This hunting trip is not the only time we see the name “Fujiwara” creep into the Chronicles a little earlier than accurate: we are told that only a little later, the house of “Fujiwara” no Kamatari was struck by lightning.  But that wasn't the only tragedy waiting in the wings.  Apparently, Kamatari was not doing so well, and on the 10th day of the 10th month, his friend and sovereign, Naka no Oe, showed up to pay his respects and see how he was doing. Ever since that fateful game of kemari—Japanese kickball—the two had been fast friends.  Together they envisioned a new state.  They overthrew the Soga, and changed the way that Japan even conceived of the state, basing their new vision off continental ideas of statehood, governance, and sovereignty.  Now, Kamatari was gravely ill. What happens next is likely of questionable veracity Sinceit is unlikely that someone was there writing down the exact words that were exchanged, but the Chronicles record a conversation between the sovereign and his ill friend.  And the words that the Chroniclers put in their mouths were more about the image that they wanted to project.  According to them, Naka no Oe praised his friend, and asked if there was anything that he could do. Kamatari supposedly eschewed anything special for burial arrangements.  He supposedly said “While alive I did no service for my country at war; why, then, should I impose a heavy burden on it when I am dead?”  Hard to know if he actually felt like that or not, or if thr Chroniclers were likening him to  Feng Yi of the Han dynasty, the General of the Great Tree.  He was so-called because he would often find a tree to take time to himself.  He likewise was renowned for his dislike of ostentation, much like Kamatari foregoing a fancy burial mound. Five days later, Naka no Oe sent Crown Prince Ohoama to Kamatari's house to confer on him the cap of Dai-shiki, and the rank of Oho-omi.  They also conferred on him and his family a new surname:  Fujiwara, and so he became Fujiwara no Daijin, the Fujiwara Great Minister.  The next day he died.  One source known as the Nihon Seiki, said that he was 50 years old, but according to the Chronicles there was an inscription on his tomb that stated he died at age 55. Three days later, we are told that Naka no Oe went to the house of the now late Fujiwara no Naidaijin, and gave orders to Soga no Akaye no Omi, declaring to him his gracious will and bestowing on him a golden incense-burner.  This is somewhat odd, because as we were just talking about, Soga no Akaye had been appointed governor of Tsukushi, though the Toshi Kaden claims that it was actually Soga no Toneri who was in Tsukushi—but these could also mean the same people.  Why this happened right after Kamatari's death suggests to me that Soga no Akaye may have had something to do with the arrangements for Kamatari's funeral or something similar. Let's talk about this whole incident.  There are many that think the Nihon Shoki has things a bit out of order, and on purpose.  Specifically, it is quite likely that the name “Fujiwara” was actually granted after Kamatari's death, and not on the day of, as it has here.  He may even have been posthumously elevated.  But since the Fujiwara family would go on to be quite powerful, the order of events and how they were recorded would have been very important in the 8th century. By naming Kamatari's line the Fujiwara, the court were effectively severing it from the rest of the Nakatomi.  The Nakatomi family would continue to serve as court ritualists, but the Fujiwara family would go on to much bigger and better things.  This change also likely meant that any inheritance of Kamatari's would go to his direct descendants, and that a brother or cousin couldn't necessarily just take over as the head of the household.  So it's very possible that this “setting apart” of the Fujiwara family immediately upon Kamatari's death is a later fiction, encouraged by the rising Fujiwara themselves, in an attempt to keep others from hanging on to their coat tails, as it were. Also a quick note about the idea that there was an inscription on Kamatari's tomb.  This is remarkable because so far, we have not actually found any such markers or tombstones on burials prior to this period.  We assume that they would have been stone or wood markers that were put up by a mound to let you know something about the person who was buried there.  Over time, most of these likely wore away.  But it is interesting to think that the practice may have had older roots. The death of Kamatari wasn't the only tragedy that year.  We are also told that in the 12th month there was a fire in the Treasury, and that the temple of Ikaruga—known to us as Houryuuji, the temple built by Shotoku Taishi—also was burnt.  It isn't said how bad, but only three months later, in 670, another fire struck during a thunderstorm, and we are told that everything burned down—nothing was left. That said, it seems that they may have been able to reuse some of the materials.  I say this because an analysis of the main pillar of the pagoda in the western compound suggests that the tree it came from was felled in 594. The rest of 699 included some less dramatic events. For instance, in the 8th month, Naka no Oe climbed to the top of Takayasu, where he took advice as to how to repair the castle there.  The castle had been built only a couple of years earlier, but already needed repairs.  However, the initial repair project had been abandoned because the labor costs were too much.  The repairs were still needed, though, and they carried out the work four months later in the 12th month, and again in the 2nd month of the following year, and that stores of grain and salt were collected, presumably to stock the castle in case they had to withstand a siege. I suspect that the “cost” of repairing the castle was mostly that it was the 8th month, and the laborers for the work would have to be taken away from the fields.  By the 12th month, I can only assume that those same laborers would be free from their other duties. Speaking of costs, sometimes the Chronicles really make you wonder what was going through the mind of the writers, because they noted that the Land-tax of the Home Provinces was collected.  Maybe this was the first time it had actually been instituted?  I don't know.  It just seems an odd thing to call out. There was also 700 more men from Baekje removed and settled in Kamafu—Gamou District—in Afumi.  And then there was a Silla embassy in the 9th month, and at some point in the year Kawachi no Atahe no Kujira and others were sent to the Tang court.  In response, an embassy from the Tang to Yamato brought 2000 people with them, headed by Guo Wucong, who I really hope was getting some kind of premiere cruiser status for all of his trips. The following year, 700, started out with a great archery meeting, arranged within the palace gate.  I presume this to mean that they had a contest.  Archery at this time—and even for years to come—was prized more highly than even swordplay.  After all, archery was used both in war and on the hunt.  It is something that even the sage Confucius suggested that people should practice.  It is also helpful that they could always shoot at targets as a form of competition and entertainment. Later, on the 14th day of the 1st month, Naka no Oe promulgated new Court ceremonial regulations, and new laws about people giving way on the roads.  This rule was that those of lower status should get out of the way of those of higher status.  Funnily enough, in the description of Queen Himiko's “Yamateg”, back in the 3rd century, this was also called out as a feature of the country.  It is possible that he was codifying a local tradition, or that the tradition actually goes back to the continent, and that the Wei Chroniclers were projecting such a rule onto the archipelago.  I'm honestly not sure which is which.  Or perhaps they expanded the rules and traditions already in place.  There were also new laws about prohibiting “heedless slanders and foul falsehoods”, which sounds great, but doesn't give you a lot to go on. The law and order theme continues in the following month.  A census was taken and robbers and vagabonds were suppressed.  Naka no Oe also visited Kamafu, where he had settled a large number of the Baekje people, and inspected a site for a possible future palace.  He also had castles built in Nagato in Tsukushi, along the route of any possible invasion from the Korean peninsula. In the third month, we have evidence of the continued importance of kami worship, when they laid out places of worship close to Miwi mountain and distributed offerings of cloth.  Nakatomi no Kane no Muraji pronounced the litany.  Note that it is Nakatomi no Muraji—as we mentioned, the Nakatomi would continue to be responsible for ceremonial litany while the Imibe, or Imbe, family would be responsible for laying out the various offerings. Miwi would seem to be the same location as Miidera, aka Onjou-ji, but Miidera wouldn't be founded for another couple of years. In the 9th month of 670, Adzumi no Tsuratari, an accomplished ambassador by this point, travelled to Silla. Tsuratari had been going on missions during the reign of Takara Hime, both to Baekje and to the lands across the “Western Seas”.  While we don't exactly know what transpired, details like this can help us try to piece together something of the relative importance of the mission. In the last entry for 670, we are told that water-mills were made to smelt iron.  If you are wondering how that works, it may have been that the waterwheel powered trip hammers—it would cause the hammer to raise up until it reached a point where it would fall.  Not quite the equivalent of a modern power hammer, it still meant that fewer people were needed for the process, and they didn't have to stop just because their arms got tired. The following year, 671, got off to a grand start, with a lot of momentous events mentioned in just the first month of the year. First off, on the 2nd day of the first month, Soga no Akaye – now back from his stint as governor of Tsukushi - and Kose no Hito advanced in front of the palace and offered their congratulations on the new year.  Three days later, on the 5th day, Nakatomi no Kane, who had provided the litany at Miwi, made an announcement on kami matters.    Then the court made official appointments.  Soga no Akaye was made the Sadaijin, or Prime Minister of the Left, and Nakatomi no Kane was made Prime Minister of the Right.  Soga no Hatayasu, Kose no Hito, and Ki no Ushi were all made daibu, or high ministers.  On top of this, Naka no Ohoe's son, Prince Ohotomo, was appointed as Dajodaijin. “Dajodaijin” is a new position that we haven't seen yet, and it is one of those positions that would only show up on occasion.  It is effectively a *Prime* Prime Minister.  They were considered superior to both the ministers of the left and the right, but didn't exactly have a particular portfolio.  The Ministers of the Left and the Right each had ministries under them that they were responsible for managing.  Those ministries made up the Daijo-kan, or the Council of State.  The Dajodaijin, or Daijodaijin, was basically the pre-eminent position overseeing the Council of State.  I suspect that the Dajodaijin seems to have been the evolution of the Naidaijin, but on steroids.  Nakatomi no Kamatari had administered things as Naidaijin from within the royal household, but the Dajodaijin was explicitly at the head of the State.  Of course, Prince Ohotomo was the son of Naka no Oe himself, and the fact that he was only 23 years old and now put in a place of prominence over other ministers who were quite likely his senior, is remarkable.  I wonder how much he actually was expected to do, and how much it was largely a ceremonial position, but it nonetheless placed Ohotomo just below his uncle, Crown Prince Ohoama, in the overall power structure of the court. Speaking of which, following the new appointments, on the 6th day of the year, Crown Prince Ohoama promulgated regulations on the behalf of his brother, Naka no Oe.  There was also a general amnesty declared, and the ceremonial and names of the cap-ranks were described in what the Chronicles calls the Shin-ritsu-ryo, the New Laws. Towards the end of the first month, there were two embassies, both from now-defunct kingdoms.  The first was from Goguryeo, who reportedly sent someone named Karu and others with Tribute on the 9th day, and 4 days later, Liu Jenyuan, the Tang general for Baekje sent Li Shouchen and others to present a memorial.  I'm not sure if the Goguryeo envoys were from a government in exile or from a subjugated kingdom under Tang and Silla domination.  The Tang general in Baekje was a little more transparent.  That said, that same month we are told that more than 50 Baekje nobles were given Yamato court rank, perhaps indicating that they were being incorporated more into the Yamato court and, eventually, society as a whole.  That said, the remains of the Baekje court sent Degu Yongsyeon and others with tribute the following month. This is also the year that Naka no Oe is said to have placed the clepsydra or water clock in a new pavilion.  We talked about this significance of this last episode.  We are also told that on the third day of the third month, Kibumi no Honjitsu presented a “water level”, a Mizu-hakari.  This would seem to be what it sounds like:  A way of making sure that a surface is level using water.  There is also mention of the province of Hitachi presenting as “tribute” Nakatomibe no Wakako.  He was only 16 years old, and yet we are told he was only one and a half feet in height—one shaku six sun, more appropriately.  Assuming modern conversions, that would have put him approximately the same height as Chandra Dangi of Nepal, who passed away in 2015 but who held the Guiness World Record for the world's shortest person at 21.5”—or 54 centimeters.  So it isn't impossible. The fact that he is called “Nakatomibe” suggests that he was part of the family, or -Be group, that served the Nakatomi court ritualists.  Unfortunately, he was probably seen more as an oddity than anything else at the time.  Still, how many people from that time are not remembered at all, in any extant record?  And yet we have his name, which is more than most. In the following month, we are also told that Tsukushi reported a deer that had been born with eight legs.  Unfortunately, the poor thing died immediately, which is unfortunately too often the case. And then the fifth day of the fifth month rolled around again. This year there was no hunting, but instead Naka no Oe occupied the “Little Western Palace” and the Crown Prince and all of the ministers attended him.  We are told that two “rustic” dances were performed—presumably meaning dances of some local culture, rather than those conforming to the art standards passed down from the continent.  As noted earlier, this day would be one of the primary ceremony days of the later court. The following month, we are told that there was an announcement in regards to military measures requested by the messengers from the three departments of Baekje, and later the Baekje nobles sent Ye Chincha and others to bring tribute.  Once again, what exactly this means isn't clear, but it is interesting to note that there were three “departments” of Baekje.  It is unclear if this was considered part of the court, or if this was Baekje court in exile managing their own affairs as a guest in Yamato. It is also interesting that they seem to have been traveling to the Yamato court while Li Shouchen was still there, sent by the Tang general overseeing Baekje.  That must have been a bit of an awkward meeting.  We are told that they all took their departure together on the 11th day of the 7th month.  Does that mean they left with the Tang envoy?  Was the Tang inviting some of them to come back?  Or just that they all left the court at the same time. The same month, Prince Kurikuma was once more made Governor of Tsukushi—or possibly made governor the first time, depending on whether or not you think the Chronicles are accurate or that they pulled the same event twice from different sources.  We are also told that Silla sent envoys with gifts that included a water buffalo and a copper pheasant for the sovereign. The 8th month of the year, we hear that Karu of Goguryeo and his people took their leave after a seven month long visit.  The court also entertained the Emishi.  Two months later, Silla sent Kim Manmol and others with more tribute, but this envoy likely found a different feeling at court. And that is because on the 18th day of the 8th month, the sovereign of Yamato, Naka no Oe, took to his bed, ill.  There was a ceremony to open the eyes of 100 Buddhas in the interior of the palace, and Naka no Oe sent messengers to offer to the giant Buddha of Houkouji a kesa, a golden begging-bowl, an ivory tusk, aloeswood, sandalwood, and various objects of value, but despite any spiritual merit that may have accrued, it didn't seem to work.  Naka no Oe's illness continued to grow more serious.  He would continue to struggle for another two months, until, on the 3rd day of the twelfth month, Naka no Oe, aka Tenji Tennou, sovereign of Yamato, passed away. For all that we should be careful to avoid the “Great Man” theory of history, it is nonetheless hard to deny that Naka no Oe had an incredible impact on the country in his days.  From start to finish, while one could argue that many of the reforms were simply a matter of time as the archipelago absorbed more and more ideas from across the straits, Naka no Oe found himself in the middle of those reforms.  The Yamato State would never be the same, and he oversaw the birth of the Ritsuryo state, a new state nominally based on laws and rules, rather than just tradition.  It may not be entirely clear, but he also helped inculcate a new sense of the power of the sovereign and of the state, introducing new cultural imaginaries.  Yamato's reach wasn't just vague boasting, but by instituting the bureaucratic state they were able to actually expand the reach of the court farther than any time before. And through those changes, Naka no Oe had, in one way or another, been standing at the tiller.  Now, he was gone, as were many of his co-conspirators in this national project.  Which leaves us wondering:  What comes next? Well, we'll get to that, but not right now.  For now, let us close this episode with Naka no Oe's own end.   Next episode, we can get into the power struggles that followed, culuminating in an incident known as the Jinshin no Ran:  The Jinshin war. Until then, thank you once again for listening and for all of your support. If you like what we are doing, please tell your friends and feel free to rate us wherever you listen to podcasts.  If you feel the need to do more, and want to help us keep this going, we have information about how you can donate on Patreon or through our KoFi site, ko-fi.com/sengokudaimyo, or find the links over at our main website,  SengokuDaimyo.com/Podcast, where we will have some more discussion on topics from this episode. Also, feel free to reach out to our Sengoku Daimyo Facebook page.  You can also email us at the.sengoku.daimyo@gmail.com.  Thank you, also, to Ellen for their work editing the podcast. And that's all for now.  Thank you again, and I'll see you next episode on Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan.  

Þegar stríðinu fer að halla undir lok berst Þýskaland á þremur vígstöðvum samtímis. Sovétmenn sækja fast að austan, bandamenn þrýsta að vestri og suðri. Berlín fellur, Hitler sviptir sig lífi, og það sem eftir stendur er rústir. Bæði í raun og í hugum fólks. Mannfallið í seinni heimsstyrjöldinni er gríðarlegt, herforingjar höfðu sín markmið, en fórnarlömbin voru milljónir, bæði hermenn og óbreyttir borgarar. Í Dresden var Kurt Vonnegut sem stríðsfangi ekki aðeins vitni að sprengjuregni heldur hluti af hópi sem þurfti að hreinsa upp borgina á eftir. Þetta varð síðar efniviður í verk hans um fáránleika stríðs og minnisleysi mannkynsins. Við lítum líka austur yfir Kyrrahafið þar sem kjarnorkusprengjurnar á Híróshima og Nagasaki marka endalokin formlega. En það eru líka endalok tveggja manna sem höfðu haft afgerandi áhrif á gang mála, bæði Roosevelt og Churchill náðu ekki að upplifa sigurinn eins og þeir vonuðust til. Umsjón: Atli Már Steinarsson Viðmælandi: Gísli Jökull Gíslason

We first aired this episode in 2012, but at the show we've been thinking a lot about resilience and repair so we wanted to play it for you again today. It's about a man who experienced maybe one of the most chilling traumas… twice. But then, it leads us to a story of generational repair. On the morning of August 6th, 1945, Tsutomu Yamaguchi was in Hiroshima on a work trip. He was walking to the office when the first atomic bomb was dropped about a mile away. He survived, and eventually managed to get himself onto a train back to his hometown... Nagasaki. The very next morning, as he tried to convince his boss that a single bomb could destroy a whole city, the second bomb dropped. Author Sam Kean tells Jad and Robert the incredible story of what happened to Tsutomu, explains how gamma rays shred DNA, and helps us understand how Tsutomu sidestepped a thousand year curse.Signup for our newsletter!! It includes short essays, recommendations, and details about other ways to interact with the show. Sign up (https://radiolab.org/newsletter)!Radiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member of The Lab (https://members.radiolab.org/) today.Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailing radiolab@wnyc.org.Leadership support for Radiolab's science programming is provided by the Simons Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

La batalla de Okinawa, librada entre abril y junio de 1945, fue, aparte de la última gran batalla de la segunda guerra mundial, una de las más sangrientas y decisivas del teatro de operaciones del Pacífico. Conocida como el tifón de acero por la cantidad ingente de armamento terrestre, aéreo y marítimo que tuvieron que emplear los aliados, supuso un punto de inflexión en la estrategia aliada para derrotar a Japón. Okinawa, situada a unos 500 kilómetros de la isla de Kyushu, la más meridional del archipiélago japonés, era un objetivo prioritario para Estados Unidos, ya que su captura proporcionaría una base para invadir las islas grandes y permitiría disponer de bases cercanas para operaciones aéreas y navales. Para Japón defender la isla era crucial, pero no ya para ganar la guerra, algo que en 1945 era imposible, sino para retrasar el avance enemigo y obligarle a repensar una invasión a gran escala. El 1 de abril de 1945, el Décimo Ejército de los Estados Unidos a cargo del general Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr. dio comienzo a la denominada Operación Iceberg. Más de 180.000 soldados desembarcaron en las playas de Okinawa con intención de capturar rápidamente una isla de poco más de mil kilómetros cuadrados. Allí les esperaban unos 100.000 defensores japoneses comandados por el general Mitsuru Ushijima. Conscientes de su inferioridad numérica, los japoneses optaron por una estrategia de desgaste. Se atrincheraron en fortificaciones subterráneas y emplearon tácticas de guerrilla en el terreno montañoso y lleno de cuevas de la isla. En los primeros días los aliados avanzaron sin apenas obstáculos, tomaron el norte de la isla y fueron liquidando las bolsas de resistencia, pero, conforme avanzaban hacia el sur, la zona más densamente poblada de la isla, el progreso de la operación se convirtió en una tortura. Los japoneses establecieron la llamada Línea Shuri, una red de fortificaciones que aprovechaba el terreno accidentado. Los combates fueron brutales, con enfrentamientos cuerpo a cuerpo en cuevas y búnkeres. La lluvia constante y el barro convirtieron la batalla en un agotador combate para ambos bandos. Un aspecto distintivo de esta batalla fue el uso masivo de ataques kamikaze por parte de Japón. Miles de aviones suicidas atacaron la flota aliada, hundiendo o dañando decenas de barcos y provocando numerosas bajas en la armada. En tierra, los soldados japoneses, instruidos en el código de honor del Bushido luchaban hasta la muerte. La rendición simplemente no la contemplaban. Los civiles de Okinawa, atrapados en el fuego cruzado, sufrieron muchísimo. Se estima que entre 100.000 y 150.000 perecieron, muchos por hambre, bombardeos o suicidio inducido por los oficiales japoneses. La batalla terminó a finales de junio de 1945 tras casi tres meses de combates. Los aliados se alzaron con la victoria, pero a un coste devastador: unas 12.500 bajas estadounidenses y más de 70.000 heridos. Japón perdió casi toda su guarnición en la isla. La magnitud de las pérdidas influyó en la decisión de Estados Unidos de usar bombas atómicas en Hiroshima y Nagasaki para evitar una invasión terrestre de Japón que habría sido aún más costosa. En La ContraRéplica: 0:00 Introducción 3:36 Okinawa: tifón de acero 1:10:48 La guerra de sucesión en los virreinatos 1:14:31 Los juicios de ordalía Bibliografía: - "La segunda guerra mundial" de Anthony Beevor - https://amzn.to/43ZK9HN - "La segunda guerra mundial" de Martin Gilbert - https://amzn.to/405xEsX - "La segunda guerra mundial" de Gerhard L. Weinberg - https://amzn.to/4n0o3xw - "The battle of Okinawa" de George Feifer - https://amzn.to/43Eoje2 - "Bloody Okinawa" de Joseph Wheelan - https://amzn.to/3FDzWsy · Canal de Telegram: https://t.me/lacontracronica · “Contra la Revolución Francesa”… https://amzn.to/4aF0LpZ · “Hispanos. Breve historia de los pueblos de habla hispana”… https://amzn.to/428js1G · “La ContraHistoria de España. Auge, caída y vuelta a empezar de un país en 28 episodios”… https://amzn.to/3kXcZ6i · “Lutero, Calvino y Trento, la Reforma que no fue”… https://amzn.to/3shKOlK · “La ContraHistoria del comunismo”… https://amzn.to/39QP2KE Apoya La Contra en: · Patreon... https://www.patreon.com/diazvillanueva · iVoox... https://www.ivoox.com/podcast-contracronica_sq_f1267769_1.html · Paypal... https://www.paypal.me/diazvillanueva Sígueme en: · Web... https://diazvillanueva.com · Twitter... https://twitter.com/diazvillanueva · Facebook... https://www.facebook.com/fernandodiazvillanueva1/ · Instagram... https://www.instagram.com/diazvillanueva · Linkedin… https://www.linkedin.com/in/fernando-d%C3%ADaz-villanueva-7303865/ · Flickr... https://www.flickr.com/photos/147276463@N05/?/ · Pinterest... https://www.pinterest.com/fernandodiazvillanueva Encuentra mis libros en: · Amazon... https://www.amazon.es/Fernando-Diaz-Villanueva/e/B00J2ASBXM #FernandoDiazVillanueva #okinawa #segundaguerramundial Escucha el episodio completo en la app de iVoox, o descubre todo el catálogo de iVoox Originals

Los bombardeos estadounidenses golpean las islas japonesas. El trabajo esclavo y la esclavitud sexual son evidentes en las zonas ocupadas por los japoneses. En agosto de 1945 caen las bombas atómicas sobre Hiroshima y Nagasaki. Los llamados a la rendición encuentran resistencia y, según lo acordado en Potsdam, el Ejército Rojo invade Manchuria. Por primera vez los japoneses escuchan la voz de su Emperador en una transmisión diciéndoles “soporten lo insoportable”. Finalmente, el general MacArthur acepta la rendición de Japón en nombre de las potencias aliadas. Japón inicia el lento viaje hacia una recuperación milagrosa.

Hometown Radio 06/10/25 6p: Ingrid Pires takes us to Nagasaki and Hiroshima

The squad is back! DJ Ranma S discusses his trip to Japan, so get ready! Also, LINE WEBTOON tightens hate speech guidelines, New Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt anime theme songs get single release in August, Toonami to air Dragon Ball Daima, and The Tom and Jerry anime shorts get an English release on YouTube! Meanwhile in Japan... Police in Nagasaki get in a high-speed chase with Nagasaki police, a man arrested for forcing a store clerk to shave his own head, and a small study finds VR may actually help eyesight!

The massive attack by Ukrainian forces on very far off Russian airbases using lots of stealth and amazing subterfuge is destined to be a classic military operation. There are good reasons to believe this was not done by Ukraine on its own, and possibly not even by major European powers such as France (via Napoleon) and Germany (via Hitler), both of which have been humbled by Russia in the past, or even Sweden. The needle of suspicion falls on Britain, as well as the US Deep State (as distinct from President Trump, who has been trying to get this war over and done with). Cui bono? It's only NATO and the MIC that need war and permanent war.A wounded Russia will react and harshly. What might they use? Surely their hypersonic Oreshnik missiles that basically cannot be defended against. And given this is a Pearl Harbor moment for Russia, they could well argue that Hiroshima and Nagasaki set a precedent. We might be in for World War III, just like the previous two were both European wars as well, which entangled the rest of the worldAs for India, it is double jeopardy, as World War III is not in India's interests, nor is the chance that China is the entity that might benefit from an American focus shifting from the Indo-Pacific to the European theater. Besides, it is deeply worrying that an operation of this scale was pulled off in Russia, which has its own internal fifth columns. India has this is spades: those who are in India, and who have a declared attitude of animosity towards the Indian nation. Human intelligence needs to be tightened (remember the large number of spies, honey-trapped soldiers, social media influencers etc. that came out of the woodwork in the wake of Pahalgam and Operation Sindoor).These are scary questions. Among them is how one can deal with drone swarms, possibly using Electro Magnetic Pulses (though that has secondary problems). Overall, these are frightening times. 4 June 2025AI-generated podcast based on this podcast, from notebookLM.google.com: This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rajeevsrinivasan.substack.com/subscribe

長崎原爆犠牲者慰霊平和祈念式典、２０２４年８月９日、長崎市・平和公園長崎市の鈴木史朗市長は２日の定例記者会見で、８月９日の長崎原爆の日に開催される平和祈念式典について、台湾側から参列希望が伝えられたと明らかにした。 Taiwan has asked to attend the Nagasaki peace memorial ceremony in the southwestern Japan city scheduled for Aug. 9, Nagasaki Mayor Shiro Suzuki said Monday.

Hometown Radio 05/29/25 3p: Ingrid Pires takes us to Nagasaki and Hiroshima

This Week’s Featured Interview: Links from Interview: The Nuclear Hotseat Hot Story with Linda Pentz Gunter Trump “unleashes” five nuclear executive orders that while reckless and dangerous are also total fantasy. The Nuclear Resister w/Jack Joppa-Cohen There’s something about a train… and in the early 1980s, anti-nuclear activists from coast-to-coast turned that truth into a successful...

80 years after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Japanese play 'The Face of Jizo' by Hisashi Inoue, which premiered in Sydney in 2023, will again be performed by Japanese actors in Sydney from August. In the audio, we spoke to the stage's producer and actor Mayu Iwasaki, co-director and actor Shingo Usami, author and translator Roger Pulvers. - 広島と長崎への原子爆弾の投下から今年で80年。2023年にシドニーで初演された井上ひさしの戯曲「父と暮せば（The Face of Jizo）」が、8月から再び日本人俳優によりシドニーで上演されます。今回は英語に加えて日本語でも上演されます。

BEST OF: Whether organic or artificial, the recent reports of flyers being dropped in London threatening Zionist-Jews, and the recent UK incident of Jewish kids on buses being attacked by other kids off the street, are examples of a rising chaos that is without context. However, we know that a woman in Canada holding her arm up like a National-Socialist and saying ‘Final Solution' was doing so as a Jew to smear Palestinian protestors; we know a man in the US putting swastikas on signs had a Jewish name and was looking to smear Republicans; we know that Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer fans in Amsterdam were ripping flags down from a private residence in a foreign country, disturbing the peace of a flood victim memorial, and attacking cab drivers, all while chanting “death or Arabs,” long before mobs gathered in resistance or some random person said ‘cancer Jews'; we also know that an Atlantic hit piece, written by the Jewish Franklin Foer, on the incoming presidential administration in the US being ‘the most Anti-Semitic Cabinet in Decades' is totally in contrast with nearly every appointment-pick being a Jewish-Zionist, Christian-Zionist, or zealot looking for war in Iran. What this tells us, alongside of 79% of Jews voting for Democrats, who receive half their campaign money from Jews, and $100 million dollar given by the Jewish Mariam Adelson to her ‘savior' who won the US Presidential election, there are multiple factions looking to make Jews victim in order to just censoring speech, protest, press, and even guns in the case of the Jewish Michael Bloomberg.We also know that according to the Council on American Islamic Relations that nearly 49% of Muslim students are being harassed or mocked in schools simply for being Muslim, most having never been to a protest. This is a constant theme that has been increasing since 2013, and a true definition of rising anti-semitism, a term which has been hijacked like the words holocaust or pogrom. In fact, despite the blatant disregard for peace or the law in Amsterdam by Jewish fans, Benjamin Netanyahu accused respondents of attacking Jews “just for being Jews,” and said that the response was nothing more than a “pogrom,” a term that refers to the calling for massacre of a particular group of people - Palestinians, Russians, etc. As is the case with holocaust being a mass killing by fire - Hiroshima, Nagasaki. Either way you divide this issue you find one group or another being made victim and given special protections against the rights of others; you find common Jews being made victim to violence by bigots fed either leftwing or rightwing propaganda; you find calls for war. All of this is setting the stage for literal armageddon, when even that is metaphoric like the Promised Land. This show is about understanding, peace, and context. If we neglect to approach these subjects as such then we are reduced to the rhetoric of the Jewish Communist Ilya Ehrenburg, who called to kill all Germans, just as today there are calls to kill the Russians, Palestinians, Ukrainians, Americans, Christians, Jews, Muslims, and so on.*The is the FREE archive, which includes advertisements. If you want an ad-free experience, you can subscribe below underneath the show description.-FREE ARCHIVE (w. ads)SUBSCRIPTION ARCHIVEX / TWITTER FACEBOOKYOUTUBEMAIN WEBSITECashApp: $rdgable Paypal email rdgable1991@gmail.comEMAIL: rdgable@yahoo.com / TSTRadio@protonmail.comBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-secret-teachings--5328407/support.

Neste episódio continuamos a nossa série sobre a Segunda Guerra Mundial, mas mudamos de cenário para o outro lado do mundo: a Ásia e o Pacífico. Tentamos compreender a política imperial japonesa, e como avançou agressivamente pelo espaço asiático. Analisamos a resposta dos Aliados, especialmente dos EUA, e de campanhas e batalhas como Midway, Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, entre outras, até às duas bombas atómicas lançadas sobre Hiroshima e Nagasaki, a invasão soviética da Manchúria e a rendição do Japão, a 2 de Setembro de 1945.Sugestões de leitura1. Olivier Wieviorka – História Total da Segunda Guerra Mundial. Crítica, 2024.2. Martin Gilbert – A Segunda Guerra Mundial. D. Quixote, 2009.3. Antony Beevor – A Segunda Guerra Mundial. Bertrand Editora, 2018.4. Martin Gilbert - Atlas Histórico da Segunda Guerra Mundial. Clube do Autor, 2025.-----Obrigado aos patronos do podcast:André Silva, Bruno Ricardo Neves Figueira, Cláudio Batista, Isabel Yglesias de Oliveira, Joana Figueira, NBisme, Oliver Doerfler;Alessandro Averchi, Alexandre Carvalho, Carlos Castro, Daniel Murta, David Fernandes, Domingos Ferreira, É Manel, Francisco, Hugo Picciochi, João Cancela, João Carreiro, João Pedro Tuna Moura Guedes, Jorge Filipe, Luís André Agostinho, Luisa Meireles, Manuel Prates, Patrícia Gomes, Pedro Almada, Pedro Alves, Pedro Ferreira, Rui Roque, Tiago Pereira, Vera Costa;Adriana Vazão, Alfredo Gameiro, Ana Gonçalves, Ana Sofia Agostinho, André Abrantes, Andre de Oliveira, André Silva, António Farelo, Bruno Luis, Carlos Afonso, Carlos Ribeiro, Carlos Ribeiro, Catarina Ferreira, Diogo Camoes, Diogo Freitas, Fábio Videira Santos, Francisco Fernandes, Gn, Hugo Palma, Hugo Vieira, Igor Silva, João Barbosa, João Canto, João Carlos Braga Simões, João Diamantino, João Félix, João Ferreira, Joel José Ginga, José Santos, Luis Colaço, Miguel Brito, Miguel Gama, Miguel Gonçalves Tomé, Miguel Oliveira, Miguel Salgado, Nuno Carvalho, Nuno Esteves, Nuno Moreira, Nuno Silva, Paulo Silva, Pedro, Pedro Cardoso, Pedro Oliveira, Pedro Simões, Ricardo Pinho, Ricardo Santos, Rúben Marques Freitas, Rui Curado Silva, Rui Rodrigues, Simão, Simão Ribeiro, Sofia Silva, Thomas Ferreira, Tiago Matias, Tiago Sequeira, Tomás Matos Pires, Vitor Couto, Zé Teixeira.-----Ouve e gosta do podcast?Se quiser apoiar o Falando de História, contribuindo para a sua manutenção, pode fazê-lo via Patreon: https://patreon.com/falandodehistoria-----Música: “Five Armies” e “Magic Escape Room” de Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com); Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License, ⁠http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0⁠Edição de Marco António.Apoio técnico: 366 Ideias (366ideias@gmail.com)

Dos trabajadores de la embajada de Israel en Estados Unidos fueron asesinados anoche a tiros en el exterior del Museo Judío de Washington, donde se estaba celebrando un evento del Comité Judío Americano. El presunto responsable del asesinato gritó Palestina libre en el momento de ser detenido, según ha relatado la policia, y tanto el presidente como el primer ministro israelí lo han tachado de crimen antisemita. También estaremos en Gaza donde la ayuda humanitaria, muy escasa, está entrando pero el reparto entre los miles de personas que llevan meses pasando hambre por el bloqueo israelí es ahora lo más complicado.Rusia y Ucrania han intercambiado las listas de mil prisioneros de cada país para ser canjeados en el que sería el mayor intercambio desde el inicio de la guerra. También estaremos en Rumanía donde el Tribunal Constitucional ha declarado al europeísta Nicusor Dan, presidente electo. En Reino Unido hay nuevos datos sobre inmigración en el último año. Tendremos una entrevista sobre los 80 años de la bomba atómica en Hiroshima y Nagasaki con Hiroshima, un libro de Agustín Rivera que narra la tragedia a través de los supervivientes y conoceremos la historia de una mujer que fue esterilizada forzosamente en Perú junto a varias decenas de miles de mujeres más bajo el gobierno de Alberto Fujimori. Escuchar audio

It was 80 years ago that the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Japan.

Download ELSA for free + get 7 days premium membership for free: https://bit.ly/ELSAxTHINKINGINENGLISH Get exclusive ELSA discounts: https://elsaspeak.com/inf/promo-code-thinking-in-english/?promocode=THINK85 A few weeks ago, I took a trip to the southern Japanese city of Nagasaki. Nagasaki is an incredible place with a lot of fascinating history. It was one of the only Christian cities in Japan. It was the only place in Japan open to foreigners for hundreds of years. And an atomic bomb was dropped on the city at the end of the Second World War. Today, I want to share the story of Nagasaki with all of you listening. Let's learn some important history while practicing our English comprehension! AD Free Episode - https://www.patreon.com/thinkinginenglish TRANSCRIPT - https://thinkinginenglish.blog/2025/05/19/338-history-of-nagasaki-from-christianity-to-atomic-bombs-english-vocabulary-lesson/ Patreon - ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/thinkinginenglish⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Thinking in English Bonus Podcast - ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/collection/10513⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ YOUTUBE Channel - ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@thinkinginenglishpodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠ INSTAGRAM - thinkinginenglishpodcast (⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/thinkinginenglishpodcast/⁠⁠⁠⁠) ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Borough by Blue Dot Sessions Contact advertising@airwavemedia.com to advertise on Thinking in English. Thinking in English is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join 35 year retired Navy Seal and CIA Op, Michael Jaco and internationally recognized speaker and author Sheila Holm for a profound discussion on her new book, 'An Eternal Plan Always Trumps A Human Plan'.   Sheila shares her journey and the incredible odds she has overcome to deliver her message. They explore historical events like the deception around the founding fathers, the truth about the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the manipulation through mental health systems, and more. Sheila's research reveals layers of systemic corruption and spiritual battles, urging viewers to seek truth and unity in these times.   The episode also touches on President Trump's role and his spiritual connection as part of a divine plan. A must-watch for truth seekers eager to understand the bigger picture and reclaim their families and nation.   Michael brings over two decades of expertise as a Remote Viewer, Remote Influencer, and master training specialist who has trained thousands to reach their highest potential in every area of life. His mission: to help you awaken, unlock your inner power, and succeed at the deepest levels of human achievement.

Japón durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial (1939-1945) jugó un papel central en el teatro de guerra del Pacífico. En 1937, antes del conflicto global, Japón ya había iniciado una invasión de China, lo que marcó el inicio de su expansión imperialista en Asia. Japón se alió con las potencias del Eje (Alemania e Italia) y, en 1941, lanzó el ataque sorpresa a Pearl Harbor, llevando a Estados Unidos a la guerra. A lo largo de la guerra, Japón conquistó vastas áreas en Asia y el Pacífico, incluyendo partes de China, Corea, Filipinas, y muchas islas del Pacífico. Sin embargo, tras la Batalla de Midway en 1942, Japón comenzó a perder terreno frente a las fuerzas aliadas, lideradas por Estados Unidos. En 1945, después de una serie de derrotas y el bombardeo de Hiroshima y Nagasaki con armas nucleares por parte de Estados Unidos, Japón se rindió el 15 de agosto de 1945, poniendo fin a la guerra en el Pacífico y a su ambición expansionista. La rendición fue formalizada el 2 de septiembre de 1945, lo que marcó el fin de la Segunda Guerra Mundial y el comienzo de la ocupación estadounidense en Japón, que transformaría el país en los años posteriores.

Juillet 1945, désert du Nouveau-Mexique. Une lumière aveuglante, un souffle de mort : la première bombe atomique vient de naître. Quelques semaines plus tard, Hiroshima et Nagasaki s'embrasent, et le monde bascule dans l'ère nucléaire. Découvrez comment cette invention née dans les laboratoires du projet Manhattan, a placé l'humanité sous le fragile équilibre de la terreur. Crédits : Lorànt Deutsch, Éric lange. Du lundi au vendredi de 15h à 15h30, Lorànt Deutsch vous révèle les secrets des personnages historiques les plus captivants !Distribué par Audiomeans. Visitez audiomeans.fr/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.

In this episode of the Gotta Be Saints Podcast, I'm joined by Professor James Nolan, sociologist at Williams College and author of Atomic Doctors, for a powerful conversation on memory, martyrdom, and healing—centered on the Catholic history of Nagasaki and his work on the Nagasaki Bell Project.James shares the remarkable story of his grandfather, Dr. James Nolan, who served as a physician on the Manhattan Project and later traveled to Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the immediate aftermath of the atomic bombings. What began as a family legacy of moral complexity became a personal mission for healing and reconciliation through the gift of a new bell—donated by American Catholics—to replace the one destroyed at Urakami Cathedral.Together, we explore the deep Catholic roots of Nagasaki, the heroic endurance of the hidden Christians, and how their suffering bore fruit through forgiveness, faith, and restoration.Topics Covered:The forgotten Catholic history of Nagasaki and its "hidden Christians"Why Urakami Cathedral was the ground zero for Japan's Catholic faithThe life and witness of Takashi Nagai and post-bomb theology of redemptive sufferingTensions faced by Catholic doctors during the Manhattan ProjectThe story behind the Nagasaki Bell Project and how Catholics today can helpWhy the legacy of martyrdom still speaks to us in a divided and war-torn worldHow the new bell—named The Kateri Bell of Hope—will ring out once again on August 9, 2025

Donald Trump briefly tried to change "Veterans Day" to a Victory in War (both I and II) Day until rebuked by vets, but his explanation needs to also be rebuked. Trump said the U.S., more than any other country, won the world wars. Of course, that flies in the face of the actual history of World War II. On this 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day, we discussed the reality of the second world war . . . how the west stalled on establishing a second front while the USSR was bearing the brunt of the war, how the Soviets reversed the German offensive in 1941-42 and then liberated Europe from the Nazis, how the Red Army killed 80 percent of the Germans killed in the war, and how the Soviet Union suffered immense losses (20-25 million killed, a million farms and factories destroyed, half the economy devastated).********Outro- "Green and Red Blues" by MoodyLinks//+G&R: Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 78 Years Later (https://apple.co/3WSbppd)Follow Green and Red// +G&R Linktree: ⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/greenandredpodcast⁠⁠⁠ +Our rad website: ⁠⁠⁠https://greenandredpodcast.org/⁠⁠⁠ + Join our Discord community (https://discord.gg/hKRAGQv6)+Follow us on Substack (https://greenandredpodcast.substack.com)+Follow us on Bluesky (https://bsky.app/profile/podcastgreenred.bsky.social)Support the Green and Red Podcast// +Become a Patron at https://www.patreon.com/greenredpodcast +Or make a one time donation here: ⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/DonateGandR⁠⁠⁠ Our Networks// + We're part of the Labor Podcast Network: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.laborradionetwork.org/⁠⁠ +We're part of the Anti-Capitalist Podcast Network: linktr.ee/anticapitalistpodcastnetwork +Listen to us on WAMF (90.3 FM) in New Orleans (https://wamf.org/) + Check us out! We made it into the top 100 Progressive Podcasts lists (#68) (https://bit.ly/432XNJT) This is a Green and Red Podcast (@PodcastGreenRed) production. Produced by Bob (@bobbuzzanco) and Scott (@sparki1969). Edited by Scott.

Stéphane Bern raconte, en ce 8 mai, jour anniversaire de la victoire des alliés sur l'Allemagne nazie qui a marqué la fin de la guerre en Europe, l'après 8 mai 1945 : quand la Seconde Guerre mondiale a continué… dans le Pacifique, jusqu'à la capitulation japonaise après les bombardements nucléaires de Hiroshima et Nagasaki… Comment la guerre du Pacifique a-t-elle commencé ? Quelles ont été les réactions aux quatre coins du monde après l'usage de la bombe atomique ? 80 ans après la fin de la Seconde Guerre mondiale, son souvenir forge-t-il encore les principes des Etats belligérants ? Pour en parler, Stéphane Bern reçoit Olivier Wieviorka, historien et auteur de "Histoire totale de la Seconde Guerre mondiale" (Perrin) Au Coeur de l'Histoire est réalisée par Loïc Vimard. Rédaction en chef : Benjamin Delsol. Auteur du récit : Simon Veille. Journaliste : Armelle Thiberge.Distribué par Audiomeans. Visitez audiomeans.fr/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.

Stéphane Bern raconte, en ce 8 mai, jour anniversaire de la victoire des alliés sur l'Allemagne nazie qui a marqué la fin de la guerre en Europe, l'après 8 mai 1945 : quand la Seconde Guerre mondiale a continué… dans le Pacifique, jusqu'à la capitulation japonaise après les bombardements nucléaires de Hiroshima et Nagasaki… Comment la guerre du Pacifique a-t-elle commencé ? Quelles ont été les réactions aux quatre coins du monde après l'usage de la bombe atomique ? 80 ans après la fin de la Seconde Guerre mondiale, son souvenir forge-t-il encore les principes des Etats belligérants ? Pour en parler, Stéphane Bern reçoit Olivier Wieviorka, historien et auteur de "Histoire totale de la Seconde Guerre mondiale" (Perrin) Au Coeur de l'Histoire est réalisée par Loïc Vimard. Rédaction en chef : Benjamin Delsol. Auteur du récit : Simon Veille. Journaliste : Armelle Thiberge.Distribué par Audiomeans. Visitez audiomeans.fr/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.

En base a los más recientes descubrimientos, esta investigación histórica propone un radical cambio de vista sobre Hiroshima y Nagasaki. Emplaza a los científicos del Proyecto Manhattan de vuelta al inicio de la historia y muestra como sus decisiones y su deseo de experimentar con civiles preparó el camino hacia la bomba atómica. Este documental muestra por primera vez como el proyecto continuó después del bombardeo de Japón. Las ruinas de las dos ciudades fueron transformadas en laboratorios de tamaño real por los científicos norteamericanos gracias a la creación de una nueva clase de centro de investigación, la Atomic Bomb Casualty Comisión (ABCC) o Comisión para las Víctimas de la Bomba Atómica. Tras examinar por primera vez los archivos de la ABBC descubrimos que el centro preparó a los EE. UU. contra las consecuencias de una guerra atómica y de la fusión nuclear. Mientras, 6.000 censores impedían que la población japonesa conociese los efectos de la radiación. Conscientes de los peligros de la radiación, los científicos del Proyecto Manhattan llevaron a cabo más experimentos con plutonio en enfermos de hospitales y laboratorios de EE. UU. Su objetivo último era preparar al mundo para su entrada en la Era Atómica.

Our guest this episode is Tyler Mills, an instructor at Sarah Lawrence College's Writing Institute and an award-winning poet whose work has appeared in – among many other publications – The New Yorker, The Guardian, and The Kenyon Review. She joins us to discuss her new mixed-media memoir, The Bomb Cloud, published in 2024 by Unbound Editions Press. The book takes its title from an “unauthorized” photograph of the mushroom cloud spreading over Nagasaki after it was bombed in World War II, a photo Tyler found in an album belonging to her late grandfather, who served as a pilot during the war and who claimed to have been secretly involved with the mission to drop the bomb. Our interview covers a range of topics, including: how Tyler came to spend several years living and working in New Mexico, near the sites that constitute ground zero for the Atomic Age; the challenges of researching in an archive defined by secrecy and erasure; the ekphrastic nature of The Bomb Cloud, and Tyler's technique of collaging photos from the Trinity nuclear-test explosion to capture the violent “gaze of the perceiver who witnesses an act of harm and knowingly keeps those nearby away from this knowledge.” We also chat about how authoring this book changed Tyler's perception of what she can do as a writer; the differences between the “I” of lyric poetry and the “I” of memoir; the role of literary form and aesthetic beauty in the nuclear era; and how people living in “atomic communities” like Los Alamos – or like Amarillo, TX, located 20 miles from the nation's largest nuclear disassembly plant – can come to terms with the possibility of disaster and violence “so terrible, so deeply imprinted into our collective consciousness that we don't want to see it.” *** To read some of Tyler's poetry and essays – and to sign up for her monthly poetry prompt – you can visit her website, tylermills.com. You can also read some of her work at poetryfoundation.org.

With a rush of Golden Week matches hoving into view, the JTET team looks back on the most recent slate of J2 fixtures (played across Friday and Saturday last week). In Part 1 (Start to 04:15) James gives us a whistle-stop tour of the action from 9 of the Round 11 games. Then in Part 2, Jon was joined by familiar voice (but first-time guest) Leslie Mabon for a deep dive into Iwaki's stunning 4-3 win at Nagasaki. In a wide-ranging chat, the boys talked about Leslie's impressions of the Peace Stadium, the match itself, & the season so far for both clubs (04:15 to 44:40). There's also time for Most Bravo Player chat (44:40 to 47:00), and a look ahead to Tuesday afternoon's J2 action in Round 12 (47:00 to Finish)! Big thanks for Leslie for taking the time to pod with us, and we hope everyone enjoys the show! *Join the J-Talk Podcast Patreon here: https://patreon.com/jtalkpod *Find our JLeague Chat Discord server here: https://discord.gg/UwN2ambAwg *Follow JTET on Bluesky here: @jtalket.bsky.social

Good Times Episode 10: Lost Without Japan Finds A Bottle Of Yamakzaki 12 year While Cleaning LWJ Ep 110 Lost Without Japan Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/lostwithoutjapan/  Please Consider Kindly Supporting Our Crowd-Funded Show By Supporting Us Through Our Shows Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/paying-for-our-4-109129803?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link  As always, the link to our shows Google Resource doc can be found at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WEVbRmvn8jzxOZPDaypl3UAjxbs1OOSWSftFW1BYXpI/edit#   

September 2 will mark the 80th anniversary of Japan's formal surrender to the United States aboard the USS. Missouri, ending the Second World War. The U.S. decision to drop two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki—what drove Japan to surrender, at least in popular history—is still controversial to this day. How did the mass U.S. bombing campaign come about? Did the U.S. believe the atomic bomb was the only possible or the least bad option? Did the atomic bomb really push Japan to surrender—or was it on its last legs anyway? Famed historian Richard Overy tries to tackle these questions, and more, in his latest work of Second World War history: Rain of Ruin: Tokyo, Hiroshima, and the Surrender of Japan (Allen Lane / W.W. Norton: 2025) Richard Overy is Honorary Research Professor of History at the University of Exeter and one of Britain's most distinguished historians. His major works include The Dictators: Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Russia (W. W. Norton & Company: 2004), winner of the 2005 Wolfson Prize, The Morbid Age: Britain and the Crisis of Civilization, 1919-1939 (Penguin: 2010) and The Bombing War: Europe, 1939-1945 (Penguin: 2013), which won a Cundill Award for Historical Excellence in 2014. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and a Member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of Rain of Ruin. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at @nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

Egal, ob Schwaben-Derby oder El Krätzigo: Das Spiel gegen den FC Heidenheim muss der VfB Stuttgart gewinnen. Das ist zumindest unsere Meinung und wir sagen euch auch, wie das Team von Sebastian Hoeneß das schaffen wird. Außerdem in dieser Folge: ein Transfer-Update, die VfB-Frauen, die U21, die U19, die U16, die U15, die Kooperation mit Nagasaki, das politische Geplänkel rund um das Public Viewing des Pokal-Finales, die VfB-Erde und das Team of the season. What a time to be alive! ···················································································· Schon abonniert? VfB-Newsletter: http://www.vfb.de/newsletter YouTube: http://go.vfb.de/youtubeabo Facebook: https://www.vfb.de/facebook Twitter: https://www.vfb.de/twitter Instagram: https://www.vfb.de/instagram TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@vfb VfB STR auf X: https://twitter.com/VfBSTR VfB STR auf Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vfbxstr Photo by Pressefoto Baumann

Will and David discuss new releases by Nagasaki Swim, Dumb Things, and Nuevos Mundos, plus live reports and bonus songs.

September 2 will mark the 80th anniversary of Japan's formal surrender to the United States aboard the USS. Missouri, ending the Second World War. The U.S. decision to drop two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki—what drove Japan to surrender, at least in popular history—is still controversial to this day. How did the mass U.S. bombing campaign come about? Did the U.S. believe the atomic bomb was the only possible or the least bad option? Did the atomic bomb really push Japan to surrender—or was it on its last legs anyway? Famed historian Richard Overy tries to tackle these questions, and more, in his latest work of Second World War history: Rain of Ruin: Tokyo, Hiroshima, and the Surrender of Japan (Allen Lane / W.W. Norton: 2025) Richard Overy is Honorary Research Professor of History at the University of Exeter and one of Britain's most distinguished historians. His major works include The Dictators: Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Russia (W. W. Norton & Company: 2004), winner of the 2005 Wolfson Prize, The Morbid Age: Britain and the Crisis of Civilization, 1919-1939 (Penguin: 2010) and The Bombing War: Europe, 1939-1945 (Penguin: 2013), which won a Cundill Award for Historical Excellence in 2014. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and a Member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of Rain of Ruin. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at @nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

September 2 will mark the 80th anniversary of Japan's formal surrender to the United States aboard the USS. Missouri, ending the Second World War. The U.S. decision to drop two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki—what drove Japan to surrender, at least in popular history—is still controversial to this day. How did the mass U.S. bombing campaign come about? Did the U.S. believe the atomic bomb was the only possible or the least bad option? Did the atomic bomb really push Japan to surrender—or was it on its last legs anyway? Famed historian Richard Overy tries to tackle these questions, and more, in his latest work of Second World War history: Rain of Ruin: Tokyo, Hiroshima, and the Surrender of Japan (Allen Lane / W.W. Norton: 2025) Richard Overy is Honorary Research Professor of History at the University of Exeter and one of Britain's most distinguished historians. His major works include The Dictators: Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Russia (W. W. Norton & Company: 2004), winner of the 2005 Wolfson Prize, The Morbid Age: Britain and the Crisis of Civilization, 1919-1939 (Penguin: 2010) and The Bombing War: Europe, 1939-1945 (Penguin: 2013), which won a Cundill Award for Historical Excellence in 2014. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and a Member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of Rain of Ruin. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at @nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

September 2 will mark the 80th anniversary of Japan's formal surrender to the United States aboard the USS. Missouri, ending the Second World War. The U.S. decision to drop two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki—what drove Japan to surrender, at least in popular history—is still controversial to this day. How did the mass U.S. bombing campaign come about? Did the U.S. believe the atomic bomb was the only possible or the least bad option? Did the atomic bomb really push Japan to surrender—or was it on its last legs anyway? Famed historian Richard Overy tries to tackle these questions, and more, in his latest work of Second World War history: Rain of Ruin: Tokyo, Hiroshima, and the Surrender of Japan (Allen Lane / W.W. Norton: 2025) Richard Overy is Honorary Research Professor of History at the University of Exeter and one of Britain's most distinguished historians. His major works include The Dictators: Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Russia (W. W. Norton & Company: 2004), winner of the 2005 Wolfson Prize, The Morbid Age: Britain and the Crisis of Civilization, 1919-1939 (Penguin: 2010) and The Bombing War: Europe, 1939-1945 (Penguin: 2013), which won a Cundill Award for Historical Excellence in 2014. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and a Member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of Rain of Ruin. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at @nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/east-asian-studies

September 2 will mark the 80th anniversary of Japan's formal surrender to the United States aboard the USS. Missouri, ending the Second World War. The U.S. decision to drop two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki—what drove Japan to surrender, at least in popular history—is still controversial to this day. How did the mass U.S. bombing campaign come about? Did the U.S. believe the atomic bomb was the only possible or the least bad option? Did the atomic bomb really push Japan to surrender—or was it on its last legs anyway? Famed historian Richard Overy tries to tackle these questions, and more, in his latest work of Second World War history: Rain of Ruin: Tokyo, Hiroshima, and the Surrender of Japan (Allen Lane / W.W. Norton: 2025) Richard Overy is Honorary Research Professor of History at the University of Exeter and one of Britain's most distinguished historians. His major works include The Dictators: Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Russia (W. W. Norton & Company: 2004), winner of the 2005 Wolfson Prize, The Morbid Age: Britain and the Crisis of Civilization, 1919-1939 (Penguin: 2010) and The Bombing War: Europe, 1939-1945 (Penguin: 2013), which won a Cundill Award for Historical Excellence in 2014. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and a Member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of Rain of Ruin. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at @nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/military-history

ONE OF THE most significant events in the history of the world took place in 1892, when a corrupt political hack named James Lotan managed to land a cushy government job as the head of the customs inspection service for the Port of Portland. Believe it or not, Lotan's landing that job led directly to Pearl Harbor and eventually Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and indirectly to the defeat of Nazi Germany in Europe. Not bad for a small-time white-collar criminal in a tiny backwater seaport town on the far side of the world, eh? I realize you may be a bit skeptical of this claim. Bear with me while I unpack it and prove it to you, along with the strong possibility that most of us owe our lives and the continued existence of human civilization to James Lotan and the sleazy little band of well-heeled drug smugglers and human traffickers who worked with and for him, on the Portland waterfront in the early 1890s.... (Portland, Multnomah County; 1890s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/2408a-1202d.james-lotan-opium-king-661.161.html)