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Last time we spoke about General Zhukov's arrival to the Nomohan incident. The Kwantung Army's inexperienced 23rd Division, under General Komatsubara, suffered heavy losses in failed offensives, including Colonel Yamagata's assault and the annihilation of Lieutenant Colonel Azuma's detachment, resulting in around 500 Japanese casualties. Tensions within the Japanese command intensified as Kwantung defied Tokyo's restraint, issuing aggressive orders like 1488 and launching a June 27 air raid on Soviet bases, destroying dozens of aircraft and securing temporary air superiority. This provoked Moscow's fury and rebukes from Emperor Hirohito. On June 1, Georgy Zhukov, a rising Red Army tactician and tank expert, was summoned from Minsk. Arriving June 5, he assessed the 57th Corps as inadequate, relieved Commander Feklenko, and took charge of the redesignated 1st Army Group. Reinforcements included mechanized brigades, tanks, and aircraft. Japanese intelligence misread Soviet supply convoys as retreats, underestimating Zhukov's 12,500 troops against their 15,000. By July, both sides poised for a massive clash, fueled by miscalculations and gekokujo defiance.   #190 Zhukov Unleashes Tanks at Nomohan Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. At 4:00 a.m. on July 1, 15,000 heavily laden Japanese troops began marching to their final assembly and jump-off points. The sun rose at 4:00 a.m. and set at 9:00 p.m. that day, but the Japanese advance went undetected by Soviet/MPR commanders, partly because the June 27 air raid had temporarily cleared Soviet reconnaissance from the skies. On the night of July 1, Komatsubara launched the first phase. The 23rd Division, with the Yasuoka Detachment, converged on Fui Heights, east of the Halha River, about eleven miles north of its confluence with the Holsten. The term "heights" is misleading here; a Japanese infantry colonel described Fui as a "raised pancake" roughly one to one-and-a-half miles across, about thirty to forty feet higher than the surrounding terrain. For reasons not fully explained, the small Soviet force stationed on the heights was withdrawn during the day on July 1, and that night Fui Heights was occupied by Komatsubara's forces almost unopposed. This caused little stir at Zhukov's headquarters. Komatsubara bided his time on July 2.   On the night of July 2–3, the Japanese achieved a brilliant tactical success. A battalion of the 71st Infantry Regiment silently crossed the Halha River on a moonless night and landed unopposed on the west bank opposite Fui Heights. Recent rains had swollen the river to 100–150 yards wide and six feet deep, making crossing difficult for men, horses, or vehicles. Combat engineers swiftly laid a pontoon bridge, completing it by 6:30 a.m. on July 3. The main body of Komatsubara's 71st and 72nd Infantry Regiments (23rd Division) and the 26th Regiment (7th Division) began a slow, arduous crossing. The pontoon bridge, less than eight feet wide, was a bottleneck, allowing only one truck at a time. The attackers could not cross with armored vehicles, but they did bring across their regimental artillery, 18 x 37-mm antitank guns, 12 x 75-mm mountain guns, 8 x 75-mm field guns, and 4 x 120-mm howitzers, disassembled, packed on pack animals, and reassembled on the west bank. The crossing took the entire day, and the Japanese were fortunate to go without interception. The Halha crossing was commanded personally by General Komatsubara and was supported by a small Kwantung Army contingent, including General Yano (deputy chief of staff), Colonel Hattori, and Major Tsuji from the Operations Section. Despite the big air raid having alerted Zhukov, the initial Japanese moves from July 1–3 achieved complete tactical surprise, aided by Tsuji's bold plan. The first indication of the major offensive came when General Yasuoka's tanks attacked predawn on July 3. Yasuoka suspected Soviet troops south of him attempting to retreat across the Halha to the west bank, and he ordered his tanks to attack immediately, with infantry not yet in position. The night's low clouds, no moon, and low visibility—along with a passing thunderstorm lighting the sky—made the scene dramatic. Seventy Japanese tanks roared forward, supported by infantry and artillery, and the Soviet 149th Infantry Regiment found itself overwhelmed. Zhukov, hearing of Yasuoka's assault but unaware that Komatsubara had crossed the Halha, ordered his armor to move northeast to Bain Tsagan to confront the initiative. There, Soviet armor clashed with Japanese forces in a chaotic, largely uncoordinated engagement. The Soviet counterattacks, supported by heavy artillery, halted much of the Japanese momentum, and by late afternoon Japanese infantry had to dig in west of the Halha. The crossing had been accomplished without Soviet reconnaissance detecting it in time, but Zhukov's counterattacks, the limits of Japanese armored mobility across the pontoon, and the heat and exhaustion of the troops constrained the Japanese effort. By the afternoon of July 3, Zhukov's forces were pressing hard, and the Japanese momentum began to stall. Yasuoka's tanks, supported by a lack of infantry and the fatigue and losses suffered by the infantry, could not close the gap to link with Komatsubara's forces. The Type 89 tanks, designed for infantry support, were ill-suited to penetrating Soviet armor, especially when faced with BT-5/BT-7 tanks and strong anti-tank guns. The Type 95 light tanks were faster but lightly armored, and suffered heavily from Soviet fire and air attacks. Infantry on the western bank struggled to catch up with tanks, shot through by Soviet artillery and armor, while the 64th Regiment could not keep pace with the tanks due to the infantry's lack of motorized transport. By late afternoon, Yasuoka's advance stalled far short of the river junction and the Soviet bridge. The infantry dug in to withstand Soviet bombardment, and the Japanese tank regiments withdrew to their jump-off points by nightfall. The Japanese suffered heavy losses in tanks, though some were recovered and repaired; by July 9, KwAHQ decided to withdraw its two tank regiments from the theater. Armor would play no further role in the Nomonhan conflict. The Soviets, by contrast, sustained heavier tank losses but began to replenish with new models. The July offensive, for Kwantung Army, proved a failure. Part of the failure stemmed from a difficult blend of terrain and logistics. Unusually heavy rains in late June had transformed the dirt roads between Hailar and Nomonhan into a mud-filled quagmire. Japanese truck transport, already limited, was so hampered by these conditions that combat effectiveness suffered significantly. Colonel Yamagata's 64th Infantry Regiment, proceeding on foot, could not keep pace with or support General Yasuoka's tanks on July 3–4. Komatsubara's infantry on the west bank of the Halha ran short of ammunition, food, and water. As in the May 28 battle, the main cause of the Kwantung Army's July offensive failure was wholly inadequate military intelligence. Once again, the enemy's strength had been seriously underestimated. Moreover, a troubling realization was dawning at KwAHQ and in the field: the intelligence error was not merely quantitative but qualitative. The Soviets were not only more numerous but also far more potent than anticipated. The attacking Japanese forces initially held a slight numerical edge and enjoyed tactical surprise, but the Red Army fought tenaciously, and the weight of Soviet firepower proved decisive. Japan, hampered by a relative lack of raw materials and industrial capacity, could not match the great powers in the quantitative production of military materiel. Consequently, Japanese military leaders traditionally emphasized the spiritual superiority of Japan's armed forces in doctrine and training, often underestimating the importance of material factors, including firepower. This was especially true of the army that had carried the tactic of the massed bayonet charge into World War II. This "spiritual" combat doctrine arose from necessity; admitting material superiority would have implied defeat. Japan's earlier victories in the Sino-Japanese War, Russo-Japanese War, the Manchurian incident, and the China War, along with legendary medieval victories over the Mongol hordes, seemed to confirm the transcendent importance of fighting spirit. Only within such a doctrine could the Imperial Japanese Army muster inner strength and confidence to face formidable enemies. This was especially evident against Soviet Russia, whose vast geography, population, and resources loomed large. Yet what of its spirit? The Japanese military dismissed Bolshevism as a base, materialist philosophy utterly lacking spiritual power. Consequently, the Red Army was presumed to have low morale and weak fighting effectiveness. Stalin's purges only reinforced this belief. Kwantung Army's recent experiences at Nomonhan undermined this outlook. Among ordinary soldiers and officers alike, from the 23rd Division Staff to KwAHQ—grim questions formed: Had Soviet materiel and firepower proven superior to Japanese fighting spirit? If not, did the enemy possess a fighting spirit comparable to their own? To some in Kwantung Army, these questions were grotesque and almost unthinkable. To others, the implications were too painful to face. Perhaps May and July's combat results were an aberration caused by the 23rd Division's inexperience. Nevertheless, a belief took hold at KwAHQ that this situation required radical rectification. Zhukov's 1st Army Headquarters, evaluating recent events, was not immune to self-criticism and concern for the future. The enemy's success in transporting nearly 10,000 men across the Halha without detection—despite heightened Soviet alert after the June 27 air raid—revealed a level of carelessness and lack of foresight at Zhukov's level. Zhukov, however, did not fully capitalize on Komatsubara's precarious position on July 4–5. Conversely, Zhukov and his troops reacted calmly in the crisis's early hours. Although surprised and outnumbered, Zhukov immediately recognized that "our trump cards were the armored detachments, and we decided to use them immediately." He acted decisively, and the rapid deployment of armor proved pivotal. Some criticized the uncoordinated and clumsy Soviet assault on Komatsubara's infantry on July 3, but the Japanese were only a few hours' march from the river junction and the Soviet bridge. By hurling tanks at Komatsubara's advance with insufficient infantry support, Mikhail Yakovlev (11th Tank Brigade) and A. L. Lesovoi (7th Mechanized Brigade) incurred heavy losses. Nonetheless, they halted the Japanese southward advance, forcing Komatsubara onto the defensive, from which he never regained momentum. Zhukov did not flinch from heavy casualties to achieve his objectives. He later told General Dwight D. Eisenhower that if the enemy faced a minefield, their infantry attacked as if it did not exist, treating personnel mine losses as equal to those that would have occurred if the Germans defended the area with strong troops rather than minefields. Zhukov admitted losing 120 tanks and armored cars that day—a high price, but necessary to avert defeat. Years later, Zhukov defended his Nomonhan tactics, arguing he knew his armor would suffer heavy losses, but that was the only way to prevent the Japanese from seizing the bridge at the river confluence. Had Komatsubara's forces advanced unchecked for another two or three hours, they might have fought through to the Soviet bridge and linked with the Yasuoka detachment, endangering Zhukov's forces. Zhukov credited Yakovlev, Lesovoi, and their men with stabilizing the crisis through timely and self-sacrificing counterattacks. The armored car battalion of the 8th MPR Cavalry Division also distinguished itself in this action. Zhukov and his tankmen learned valuable lessons in those two days of brutal combat. A key takeaway was the successful use of large tank formations as an independent primary attack force, contrary to then-orthodox doctrine, which saw armor mainly as infantry support and favored integrating armor into every infantry regiment rather than maintaining large, autonomous armored units. The German blitzkrieg demonstrations in Poland and Western Europe soon followed, but, until then, few major armies had absorbed the tank-warfare theories championed by Basil Liddell-Hart and Charles de Gaulle. The Soviet high command's leading proponent of large-scale tank warfare had been Marshal Mikhail Tukhachevsky. His execution in 1937 erased those ideas, and the Red Army subsequently disbanded armored divisions and dispersed tanks among infantry, misapplying battlefield lessons from the Spanish Civil War. Yet Zhukov was learning a different lesson on a different battlefield. The open terrain of eastern Mongolia favored tanks, and Zhukov was a rapid learner. The Russians also learned mundane, but crucial, lessons: Japanese infantry bravely clambering onto their vehicles taught Soviet tank crews to lock hatch lids from the inside. The BT-5 and BT-7 tanks were easily set aflame by primitive hand-thrown firebombs, and rear deck ventilation grills and exhaust manifolds were vulnerable and required shielding. Broadly, the battle suggested to future Red Army commander Zhukov that tank and motorized troops, coordinated with air power and mobile artillery, could decisively conduct rapid operations. Zhukov was not the first to envision combining mobile firepower with air and artillery, but he had rare opportunities to apply this formula in crucial tests. The July offensive confirmed to the Soviets that the Nomonhan incident was far from a border skirmish; it signaled intent for further aggression. Moscow's leadership, informed by Richard Sorge's Tokyo network, perceived Japan's renewed effort to draw Germany into an anti-Soviet alliance as a dangerous possibility. Stalin and Vyacheslav Molotov began indicating to Joachim von Ribbentrop and Adolf Hitler that Berlin's stance on the Soviet–Japanese conflict would influence Soviet-German rapprochement considerations. Meanwhile, Moscow decided to reinforce Zhukov. Tens of thousands of troops and machines were ordered to Mongolia, with imports from European Russia. Foreign diplomats traveling the Trans-Siberian Railway reported eastbound trains jammed with personnel and matériel. The buildup faced a major bottleneck at Borzya, the easternmost railhead in the MPR, about 400 miles from the Halha. To prevent a logistics choke, a massive truck transport operation was needed. Thousands of trucks, half-tracks, gun-towing tractors, and other vehicles were organized into a continuous eight-hundred-mile, five-day shuttle run. The Trans-Baikal Military District, under General Shtern, supervised the effort. East of the Halha, many Japanese officers still refused to accept a failure verdict for the July offensive. General Komatsubara did not return to Hailar, instead establishing a temporary divisional HQ at Kanchuerhmiao, where his staff grappled with overcoming Soviet firepower. They concluded that night combat—long a staple of Japanese infantry tactics—could offset Soviet advantages. On July 7 at 9:30 p.m., a thirty-minute Japanese artillery barrage preceded a nighttime assault by elements of the 64th and 72nd Regiments. The Soviet 149th Infantry Regiment and supporting Mongolian cavalry were surprised and forced to fall back toward the Halha before counterattacking. Reinforcements arrived on both sides, and in brutal close-quarters combat the Japanese gained a partial local advantage, but were eventually pushed back; Major I. M. Remizov of the 149th Regiment was killed and later posthumously named a Hero of the Soviet Union. Since late May, Soviet engineers had built at least seven bridges across the Halha and Holsten Rivers to support operations. By July 7–8, Japanese demolition teams destroyed two Soviet bridges. Komatsubara believed that destroying bridges could disrupt Soviet operations east of the Halha and help secure the border. Night attacks continued from July 8 to July 12 against the Soviet perimeter, with Japanese assaults constricting Zhukov's bridgehead while Soviet artillery and counterattacks relentlessly pressed. Casualties mounted on both sides. The Japanese suffered heavy losses but gained some positions; Soviet artillery, supported by motorized infantry and armor, gradually pushed back the attackers. The biggest problem for Japan remained Soviet artillery superiority and the lack of a commensurate counter-battery capability. Japanese infantry had to withdraw to higher ground at night to avoid daytime exposure to artillery and tanks. On the nights of July 11–12, Yamagata's 64th Regiment and elements of Colonel Sakai Mikio's 72nd Regiment attempted a major assault on the Soviet bridgehead. Despite taking heavy casualties, the Japanese managed to push defenders back to the river on occasion, but Soviet counterattacks, supported by tiresome artillery and armor, prevented a decisive breakthrough. Brigade Commander Yakovlev of the 11th Armored, who led several counterattacks, was killed and later honored as a Hero of the Soviet Union; his gun stands today as a monument at the battlefield. The July 11–12 action marked the high-water mark of the Kwantung Army's attempt to expel Soviet/MPR forces east of the Halha. Komatsubara eventually suspended the costly night attacks; by that night, the 64th Regiment had suffered roughly 80–90 killed and about three times that number wounded. The decision proved controversial, with some arguing that he had not realized how close his forces had come to seizing the bridge. Others argued that broader strategic considerations justified the pause. Throughout the Nomonhan fighting, Soviet artillery superiority, both quantitative and qualitative, became painfully evident. The Soviet guns exacted heavy tolls and repeatedly forced Japanese infantry to withdraw from exposed positions. The Japanese artillery, in contrast, could not match the Red Army's scale. By July 25, Kwantung Army ended its artillery attack, a humiliating setback. Tokyo and Hsinking recognized the futility of achieving a decisive military victory at Nomonhan and shifted toward seeking a diplomatic settlement, even if concessions to the Soviet Union and the MPR were necessary. Kwantung Army, however, opposed negotiations, fearing it would echo the "Changkufeng debacle" and be read by enemies as weakness. Tsuji lamented that Kwantung Army's insistence on framing the second phase as a tie—despite heavy Soviet losses, revealed a reluctance to concede any territory. Differences in outlook and policy between AGS and Kwantung Army—and the central army's inability to impose its will on Manchukuo's field forces—became clear. The military establishment buzzed with stories of gekokujo (the superiority of the superior) within Kwantung Army and its relations with the General Staff. To enforce compliance, AGS ordered General Isogai to Tokyo for briefings, and KwAHQ's leadership occasionally distanced itself from AGS. On July 20, Isogai arrived at General Staff Headquarters and was presented with "Essentials for Settlement of the Nomonhan Incident," a formal document outlining a step-by-step plan for Kwantung Army to maintain its defensive position east of the Halha while diplomatic negotiations proceeded. If negotiations failed, Kwantung Army would withdraw to the boundary claimed by the Soviet Union by winter. Isogai, the most restrained member of the Kwantung Army circle, argued against accepting the Essentials, insisting on preserving Kwantung Army's honor and rejecting a unilateral east-bank withdrawal. A tense exchange followed, but General Nakajima ended the dispute by noting that international boundaries cannot be determined by the army alone. Isogai pledged to report the General Staff's views to his commander and take the Essentials back to KwAHQ for study. Technically, the General Staff's Essentials were not orders; in practice, however, they were treated as such. Kwantung Army tended to view them as suggestions and retained discretion in implementation. AGS hoped the Essentials would mollify Kwantung Army's wounded pride. The August 4 decision to create a 6 Army within Kwantung Army, led by General Ogisu Rippei, further complicated the command structure. Komatsubara's 23rd Division and nearby units were attached to the 6 Army, which also took responsibility for defending west-central Manchukuo, including the Nomonhan area. The 6 Army existed largely on paper, essentially a small headquarters to insulate KwAHQ from battlefield realities. AGS sought a more accountable layer of command between KwAHQ and the combat zone, but General Ueda and KwAHQ resented the move and offered little cooperation. In the final weeks before the last battles, General Ogisu and his small staff had limited influence on Nomonhan. Meanwhile, the European crisis over German demands on Poland intensified, moving into a configuration highly favorable to the Soviet Union. By the first week of August, it became evident in the Kremlin that both Anglo-French powers and the Germans were vying to secure an alliance with Moscow. Stalin knew now that he would likely have a free hand in the coming war in the West. At the same time, Richard Sorge, the Soviet master spy in Tokyo, correctly reported that Japan's top political and military leaders sought to prevent the escalation of the Nomonhan incident into an all-out war. These developments gave the cautious Soviet dictator the confidence to commit the Red Army to large-scale combat operations in eastern Mongolia. In early August, Stalin ordered preparations for a major offensive to clear the Nomonhan area of the "Japanese samurai who had violated the territory of the friendly Outer Mongolian people." The buildup of Zhukov's 1st Army Group accelerated still further. Its July strength was augmented by the 57th and 82nd Infantry Divisions, the 6th Tank Brigade, the 212th Airborne Brigade, numerous smaller infantry, armor, and artillery units, and two Mongolian cavalry divisions. Soviet air power in the area was also greatly strengthened. When this buildup was completed by mid-August, Zhukov commanded an infantry force equivalent to four divisions, supported by two cavalry divisions, 216 artillery pieces, 498 armored vehicles, and 581 aircraft. To bring in the supplies necessary for this force to launch an offensive, General Shtern's Trans-Baikal Military District Headquarters amassed a fleet of more than 4,200 vehicles, which trucked in about 55,000 tons of materiel from the distant railway depot at Borzya. The Japanese intelligence network in Outer Mongolia was weak, a problem that went unremedied throughout the Nomonhan incident. This deficiency, coupled with the curtailment of Kwantung Army's transborder air operations, helps explain why the Japanese remained ignorant of the scope of Zhukov's buildup. They were aware that some reinforcements were flowing eastward across the Trans-Siberian Railway toward the MPR but had no idea of the volume. Then, at the end of July, Kwantung Army Intelligence intercepted part of a Soviet telegraph transmission indicating that preparations were under way for some offensive operation in the middle of August. This caused a stir at KwAHQ. Generals Ueda and Yano suspected that the enemy planned to strike across the Halha River. Ueda's initial reaction was to reinforce the 23rd Division at Nomonhan with the rest of the highly regarded 7th Division. However, the 7th Division was Kwantung Army's sole strategic reserve, and the Operations Section was reluctant to commit it to extreme western Manchukuo, fearing mobilization of Soviet forces in the Maritime Province and a possible attack in the east near Changkufeng. The Kwantung Army commander again ignored his own better judgment and accepted the Operations Section's recommendation. The main strength of the 7th Division remained at its base near Tsitsihar, but another infantry regiment, the 28th, was dispatched to the Nomonhan area, as was an infantry battalion from the Mukden Garrison. Earlier, in mid-July, Kwantung Army had sent Komatsubara 1,160 individual replacements to make up for casualties from earlier fighting. All these reinforcements combined, however, did little more than replace losses: as of July 25, 1,400 killed (including 200 officers) and 3,000 wounded. Kwantung Army directed Komatsubara to dig in, construct fortifications, and adopt a defensive posture. Colonel Numazaki, who commanded the 23rd Division's Engineer Regiment, was unhappy with the defensive line he was ordered to fortify and urged a slight pullback to more easily defensible terrain. Komatsubara, however, refused to retreat from ground his men had bled to take. He and his line officers still nourished hope of a revenge offensive. As a result, the Japanese defensive positions proved to be as weak as Numazaki feared. As Zhukov's 1st Army Group prepared to strike, the effective Japanese strength at Nomonhan was less than 1.5 divisions. Major Tsuji and his colleagues in the Operations Section had little confidence in Kwantung Army's own Intelligence Section, which is part of the reason why Tsuji frequently conducted his own reconnaissance missions. Up to this time it was gospel in the Japanese army that the maximum range for large-scale infantry operations was 125–175 miles from a railway; anything beyond 200 miles from a railway was considered logistically impossible. Since Kwantung Army had only 800 trucks available in all of Manchukuo in 1939, the massive Soviet logistical effort involving more than 4,200 trucks was almost unimaginable to the Japanese. Consequently, the Operations Staff believed it had made the correct defensive deployments if a Soviet attack were to occur, which it doubted. If the enemy did strike at Nomonhan, it was believed that it could not marshal enough strength in that remote region to threaten the reinforced 23rd Division. Furthermore, the 7th Division, based at Tsitsihar on a major rail line, could be transported to any trouble spot on the eastern or western frontier in a few days. KwAHQ advised Komatsubara to maintain a defensive posture and prepare to meet a possible enemy attack around August 14 or 15. At this time, Kwantung Army also maintained a secret organization codenamed Unit 731, officially the Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department of the Kwantung Army. Unit 731 specialized in biological and chemical warfare, with main facilities and laboratories in Harbin, including a notorious prison-laboratory complex. During the early August lull at Nomonhan, a detachment from Unit 731 infected the Halha River with bacteria of an acute cholera-like strain. There are no reports in Soviet or Japanese accounts that this attempted biological warfare had any effect. In the war's final days, Unit 731 was disbanded, Harbin facilities demolished, and most personnel fled to Japan—but not before they gassed the surviving 150 human subjects and burned their corpses. The unit's commander, Lieutenant General Ishii Shiro, kept his men secret and threatened retaliation against informers. Ishii and his senior colleagues escaped prosecution at the Tokyo War Crimes Trials by trading the results of their experiments to U.S. authorities in exchange for immunity. The Japanese 6th Army exerted some half-hearted effort to construct defensive fortifications, but scarcity of building materials, wood had to be trucked in from far away—helped explain the lack of enthusiasm. More importantly, Japanese doctrine despised static defense and favored offense, so Kwantung Army waited to see how events would unfold. West of the Halha, Zhukov accelerated preparations. Due to tight perimeter security, few Japanese deserters, and a near-absence of civilian presence, Soviet intelligence found it hard to glean depth on Japanese defensive positions. Combat intelligence could only reveal the frontline disposition and closest mortar and artillery emplacements. Aerial reconnaissance showed photographs, but Japanese camouflage and mock-ups limited their usefulness. The new commander of the 149th Mechanized Infantry Regiment personally directed infiltration and intelligence gathering, penetrating Japanese lines on several nights and returning crucial data: Komatsubara's northern and southern flanks were held by Manchukuoan cavalry, and mobile reserves were lacking. With this information, Zhukov crafted a plan of attack. The main Japanese strength was concentrated a few miles east of the Halha, on both banks of the Holsten River. Their infantry lacked mobility and armor, and their flanks were weak. Zhukov decided to split the 1st Army Group into three strike forces: the central force would deliver a frontal assault to pin the main Japanese strength, while the northern and southern forces, carrying the bulk of the armor, would turn the Japanese flanks and drive the enemy into a pocket to be destroyed by the three-pronged effort. The plan depended on tactical surprise and overwhelming force at the points of attack. The offensive was to begin in the latter part of August, pending final approval from Moscow. To ensure tactical surprise, Zhukov and his staff devised an elaborate program of concealment and deception, disinformation. Units and materiel arriving at Tamsag Bulak toward the Halha were moved only at night with lights out. Noting that the Japanese were tapping telephone lines and intercepting radio messages, 1st Army Headquarters sent a series of false messages in an easily decipherable code about defensive preparations and autumn-winter campaigning. Thousands of leaflets titled "What the Infantryman Should Know about Defense" were distributed among troops. About two weeks before the attack, the Soviets brought in sound equipment to simulate tank and aircraft engines and heavy construction noises, staging long, loud performances nightly. At first, the Japanese mistook the sounds for large-scale enemy activity and fired toward the sounds. After a few nights, they realized it was only sound effects, and tried to ignore the "serenade." On the eve of the attack, the actual concentration and staging sounds went largely unnoticed by the Japanese. On August 7–8, Zhukov conducted minor attacks to expand the Halha bridgehead to a depth of two to three miles. These attacks, contained relatively easily by Komatsubara's troops, reinforced Kwantung Army's false sense of confidence. The Japanese military attaché in Moscow misread Soviet press coverage. In early August, the attaché advised that unlike the Changkufeng incident a year earlier, Soviet press was largely ignoring the conflict, implying low morale and a favorable prognosis for the Red Army. Kwantung Army leaders seized on this as confirmation to refrain from any display of restraint or doubt, misplaced confidence. There were, however, portents of danger. Three weeks before the Soviet attack, Colonel Isomura Takesuki, head of Kwantung Army's Intelligence Section, warned of the vulnerability of the 23rd Division's flanks. Tsuji and colleagues dismissed this, and General Kasahara Yukio of AGS also went unheeded. The "desk jockey" General Staff officers commanded little respect at KwAHQ. Around August 10, General Hata Yuzaburo, Komatsubara's successor as chief of the Special Services Agency at Harbin, warned that enemy strength in the Mongolian salient was very great and seriously underestimated at KwAHQ. Yet no decisive action followed before Zhukov's attack. Kwantung Army's inaction and unpreparedness prior to the Soviet offensive appear to reflect faulty intelligence compounded by hubris. But a more nuanced explanation suggests a fatalistic wishful thinking rooted in the Japanese military culture—the belief that their spiritual strength would prevail, leading them to assume enemy strength was not as great as reported, or that victory was inevitable regardless of resources. Meanwhile, in the rational West, the Nazi war machine faced the Polish frontier as Adolf Hitler pressed Stalin for a nonaggression pact. The German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact would neutralize the threat of a two-front war for Germany and clear the way for Hitler's invasion of Poland. If the pact was a green light, it signaled in both directions: it would also neutralize the German threat to Russia and clear the way for Zhukov's offensive at Nomonhan. On August 18–19, Hitler pressed Stalin to receive Ribbentrop in Moscow to seal the pact. Thus, reassured in the West, Stalin dared to act boldly against Japan. Zhukov supervised final preparations for his attack. Zhukov held back forward deployments until the last minute. By August 18, he had only four infantry regiments, a machine gun brigade, and Mongolian cavalry east of the Halha. Operational security was extremely tight: a week before the attack, Soviet radio traffic in the area virtually ceased. Only Zhukov and a few key officers worked on the plan, aided by a single typist. Line officers and service chiefs received information on a need-to-know basis. The date for the attack was shared with unit commanders one to four days in advance, depending on seniority. Noncommissioned officers and ordinary soldiers learned of the offensive one day in advance and received specific orders three hours before the attack.   Heavy rain grounded Japanese aerial reconnaissance from August 17 to midday on the 19th, but on August 19 Captain Oizumi Seisho in a Japanese scout plane observed the massing of Soviet forces near the west bank of the Halha. Enemy armor and troops were advancing toward the river in dispersed formations, with no new bridges but pontoon stocks spotted near the river. Oizumi sent a warning to a frontline unit and rushed back to report. The air group dispatched additional recon planes and discovered that the Japanese garrison on Fui Heights, near the northern end of Komatsubara's line, was being encircled by Soviet armor and mechanized infantry—observed by alarmed Japanese officers on and near the heights. These late discoveries on August 19 were not reported to KwAHQ and had no effect on the 6th Army and the 23rd Division's alertness on the eve of the storm. As is common in militaries, a fatal gap persisted between those gathering intelligence and those in a position to act on it. On the night of August 19–20, under cover of darkness, the bulk of the Soviet 1st Army Group crossed the Halha into the expanded Soviet enclave on the east bank.  I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. By August, European diplomacy left Moscow confident in a foothold against Germany and Britain, while Sorge's intelligence indicated Japan aimed to avoid a full-blown war. Stalin ordered a major offensive to clear Nomonhan, fueling Zhukov's buildup in eastern Mongolia. Kwantung Army, hampered by limited logistics, weak intelligence, and defensive posture, faced mounting pressure. 

Our guest today is the choreographer Sonia Sabri – dance changed her life, and now she uses it to change others. Sonia grew up in Wolverhampton, UK, in a traditional Indian family. Unusually her parents supported her dancing: her dad hoped she might conquer Bollywood, but instead, she devoted herself to kathak, which helped her withstand disapproval and bullying. Alongside her international career, her teaching reinforces the power of sharing dance – building not just steps, but self-belief. Our conversation touches on mental health and domestic abuse – Sonia has helped students change their lives in ways she would never have predicted. Sonia Sabri MBE is a multi-award-winning dance artist, choreographer and movement director and Artistic Director of Sonia Sabri Company (SSC). One of the world's leading Kathak dance artists, her work explores both the classical roots of Kathak and contemporary approaches, reflecting Western and Eastern cultures. In 2022, she was associate choreographer for Wondrous Stories, launching Birmingham Festival Commonwealth Games, and for the Opening Ceremony. SSC is an Associate Artist at Birmingham Hippodrome and Sonia is Creative Resident at Curve. Sonia Sabri Company https://ssco.org.uk/Why Dance Matters is a dance podcast featuring inspiring conversations with extraordinary people from the world of dance and beyond. Hosted by David Jays, editor of Dance Gazette, this podcast explores how dance shapes lives and why it matters to us all. Brought to you by the RAD, which inspires the world to dance, these insightful stories will surprise and delight. Tune in and discover more on our website. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With a cast of over 800, and a budget equivalent to £3 million, James Shirley's extravagant masque ‘The Triumph of Peace' was performed on 3rd February, 1634. Unusually, it was such a popular show that, despite the enormous cost of staging it, King Charles I and Queen Henrietta Maria requested that it be repeated. Though replete with all the arse-kissing allegorical tableaux that typified these celebrations of the monarchy - and requisite set designs by Inigo Jones - this spectacular was also markedly different from its predecessors in that it was especially designed to appease Henrietta, who had been slurred by polemicist William Prynne.    In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly come to terms with the ‘17th century immersive theatre' experience; explain why legendary playwright Ben Jonson WASN'T involved in this one; and reveal how a masque was once responsible for the destruction of Shakespeare's Globe…  Further Reading: • ‘Masque and music at the Stuart court' (Royal Museums Greenwich): https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/masque-music-stuart-court • ‘Inigo Jones designs for masque costumes' (The British Library): https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/inigo-jones-designs-for-masque-costumes •  ‘The History of the British Masque' (Heidi Kobara, 2013): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G22UED2yJ_Q Love the show? Support us!  Join 

fWotD Episode 3189: History of the Jews in Dęblin and Irena during World War II Welcome to featured Wiki of the Day, your daily dose of knowledge from Wikipedia's finest articles.The featured article for Tuesday, 27 January 2026, is History of the Jews in Dęblin and Irena during World War II.Thousands of Jews lived in the towns of Dęblin and Irena in central Poland before World War II; Irena was the site of the Polish Air Force Academy from 1927. In September 1939, the town was captured during the German invasion of Poland and the persecution of Jews began with drafts into forced labor and the establishment of a Judenrat ("Jewish Council"). A ghetto was established in Irena in November 1940. It initially consisted of six streets and was an open ghetto (the Jews were not allowed to leave without permission, but non-Jews could enter). Many ghetto inhabitants worked on labor projects for Dęblin Fortress (a German Army base), the railway, and the Luftwaffe. Beginning in May 1941, Jews were sent to labor camps around Dęblin from the Opole and Warsaw ghettos. Conditions in the ghetto worsened in late 1941 due to increased German restrictions on ghetto inhabitants and epidemics of typhus and dysentery.The first deportation was on 6 May 1942 and took around 2,500 Jews to Sobibór extermination camp. A week later, two thousand Jews arrived from Slovakia and hundreds more from nearby ghettos that had been liquidated. In October that same year, the Irena ghetto was liquidated; about 2,500 Jews were deported to Treblinka extermination camp while some 1,400 Jews were retained as inmates of forced-labor camps in the town. Unusually, the labor camp operated by the Luftwaffe—employing, at its peak, about a thousand Jews—was allowed to exist until 22 July 1944, less than a week before the area was captured by the Red Army. One of the last Jewish labor camps in the Lublin District, it enabled hundreds of Jews to survive the Holocaust. Some survivors who returned home were met with hostility, and several were murdered; all left by 1947.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:08 UTC on Tuesday, 27 January 2026.For the full current version of the article, see History of the Jews in Dęblin and Irena during World War II on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm standard Matthew.

ECONOMIC SLOWDOWN INDICATORS AND SECRECY AT THE WHITE HOUSE Colleague Jim McTague, Former Washington Editor of Barron's. Jim McTague observes unusually light traffic and retail activity in Washington, D.C. and Lancaster, signaling a potential economic slowdown. He notes blocked views of White House construction and predicts a recession driven by rising state taxes and the depletion of pandemic-era stimulus funds for local governments. NUMBER 161835

Good morning. Over New Year, two elite Premier League clubs decided being in the top six wasn't good enough, and they needed a new manager. One of them, Chelsea, has appointed the man currently in charge of Strasbourg, Liam Rosenior. Rosenior becomes one of only two Black managers among the 20 Premier League clubs—making him one of just 12 Black individuals to hold a managerial position in the Premier League since Ruud Gullit's appointment in 1996. 43 per cent of Premier League players are black. Yet a contrasting 97 per cent of their exec and non-exec leaders are white. Rosenior's demeanour taking up the role has been gracious. Unusually, he gave a press conference at the club he's left, thanking them for the opportunity and expressing his affection for the team. He has a history of writing a column for a national newspaper and raising issues of race and justice. Wayne Rooney's among those who've lauded his coaching style. I have a friend who, when he married a white woman, had to wait six years before he was welcomed in her parents' home. But I've never heard him utter a word of reproach or introduce race as a reason for any denial of opportunities elsewhere. By contrast I have another black friend who's repeatedly been subject to projections about her volatility, unreliability and lack of organisation, whereas I've always found her meticulously well prepared and even-tempered. We've often spoken about whether making a formal complaint would be wise or counterproductive. Last week the Australian cricketer Usman Khawaja, announcing his retirement, looked back over his 88-test career. He said, ‘I had to work harder than everyone else, score more runs than the rest, and make sure I didn't give them any excuse not to pick me.' Like my two friends, Liam Rosenior and Usman Khawaja have had to choose when to fight and call out, and when to put their head down and trust their own ability and the goodness of the system they're in. Jesus did both. He certainly preached humble faithfulness and self-denying sacrifice. But if that's all he'd said, he'd never have been crucified. He was crucified because he told the political and religious leaders of his time they were wrong about truth, about justice, and about God, and because he proclaimed and modelled a society where everyone belonged with one another and with him. For him, social change was about setting an outstanding example, but also taking the risk of directly and unflinchingly highlighting where that ideal was being blocked or subtly subverted. Two thousand years later, nothing much has changed.

Singapore shares inched higher today on a mixed day for Asian equities. The Straits Times Index was up 0.36% at 4,527.94 points at 2.38pm Singapore time, with a value turnover of S$669.01M seen in the broader market. In terms of counters to watch, we have Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust, after its manager announced yesterday that its subsidiary – Festival Walk – will sell Festival Walk Tower at nearly HK$2 billion (S$328.1 million) to an unrelated third party. Elsewhere, from how the US Federal Reserve lowered interest rates by 25 basis points as expected, but with more dissenters this time around, to Grab Vietnam’s partnership with Charge+ to accelerate the development of a nationwide EV charging network in the country – more international and corporate headlines remained in focus. On Market View, Money Matters’ finance presenter Chua Tian Tian dived into the details with David Chow, Director, Azure Capital.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Unusually heavy monsoon rains have hit Myanmar's central Dry Zone for the past two years, causing crop-damaging floods that have been made worse by deforestation and effects of the post-coup civil war. This episode commemorates World Soil Day on December 5.

Discover why there is an unusually strong buyer's market in real estate. Are you on track for financial freedom...or not? Financial freedom is a combination of money, compounding and time (my McT Formula). How well you invest can make the biggest difference to your financial freedom and lifestyle. If you invested well for the long-term, what a difference it would make because the difference between investing $100k and earning 5 percent or 10 percent on your money over 30 years, is the difference between it growing to $432,194 or $1,744,940, an increase of over $1.3 million dollars. Your compounding rate, and how well you invest, matters!  INVESTING IS WHAT THE BE WEALTHY & SMART VIP EXPERIENCE IS ALL ABOUT - Invest in digital assets and stock ETFs for potential high compounding rates - Receive an Asset Allocation model with ticker symbols and what % to invest -Monthly LIVE investment webinars with Linda 10 months per year, with Q & A -Private VIP Facebook group with daily community interaction -Weekly investment commentary -Extra educational wealth classes available -Pay once, have lifetime access! NO recurring fees. -US and foreign investors are welcome -No minimum $ amount to invest -Tech Team available for digital assets (for hire per hour) For a limited time, enjoy a 50% savings on my private investing group, the Be Wealthy & Smart VIP Experience. Pay once and enjoy lifetime access without any recurring fees. Enter "SAVE50" to save 50% here: http://tinyurl.com/InvestingVIP Or set up a complimentary conversation to answer your questions about the Be Wealthy & Smart VIP Experience. Request an appointment to talk with Linda here: https://tinyurl.com/TalkWithLinda (yes, you talk to Linda!). SUBSCRIBE TO BE WEALTHY & SMART Click Here to Subscribe Via iTunes Click Here to Subscribe Via Stitcher on an Android Device Click Here to Subscribe Via RSS Feed LINDA'S WEALTH BOOKS 1. Get my book, "3 Steps to Quantum Wealth: The Wealth Heiress' Guide to Financial Freedom by Investing in Cryptocurrencies". 2. Get my book, "You're Already a Wealth Heiress, Now Think and Act Like One: 6 Practical Steps to Make It a Reality Now!" Men love it too! After all, you are Wealth Heirs. :) International buyers (if you live outside of the US) get my book here. WANT MORE FROM LINDA? Check out her programs. Join her on Instagram. WEALTH LIBRARY OF PODCASTS Listen to the full wealth library of podcasts from the beginning.  SPECIAL DEALS #Ad Apply for a Gemini credit card and get FREE XRP back (or any crypto you choose) when you use the card. Charge $3000 in first 90 days and earn $200 in crypto rewards when you use this link to apply and are approved: https://tinyurl.com/geminixrp This is a credit card, NOT a debit card. There are great rewards. Set your choice to EARN FREE XRP! #Ad Protect yourself online with a Virtual Private Network (VPN). Get 3 MONTHS FREE when you sign up for a NORD VPN plan here.  #Ad To safely and securely store crypto, I recommend using a Tangem wallet. Get a 10% discount when you purchase here. #Ad If you are looking to simplify your crypto tax reporting, use Koinly. It is highly recommended and so easy for tax reporting. You can save $20, click here. Be Wealthy & Smart,™ is a personal finance show with self-made millionaire Linda P. Jones, America's Wealth Mentor.™ Learn simple steps that make a big difference to your financial freedom.  (This post contains affiliate links. If you click on a link and make a purchase, I may receive a commission. There is no additional cost to you.)

For most of human history, economic growth was, well, pretty bleak. But around the Enlightenment, things started clicking. This year's Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences went to a trio of researchers whose work focuses on how technological progress led to this sustained economic growth. Today we hear from one of them, Joel Mokyr, about his work on European economic history. Related episodes: Why are some nations richer? (2024 Economics Nobel) A conversation with Nobel laureate Claudia Goldin (2023 Economics Nobel) When Luddites attack (Update) (Featuring Joel Mokyr) For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.  Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Laura and Max discuss the government shutdown battle and the absence of House members. This story was featured in The Readback, our weekend digest featuring the best of Punchbowl News this week. Want more in-depth daily coverage from Congress? Subscribe to our free Punchbowl News AM newsletter at punchbowl.news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

HEADLINE: Jurassic Sponge Reefs, Floating Wood, and the Triassic Glider Sharovipteryx BOOK TITLE: Other Lands, a journey through Earth's Extinct Worlds GUEST AUTHOR NAME: Thomas Halliday 200-WORD SUMMARY: This excerpt details events in the Jurassic and Triassic periods. The Jurassic (155 million years ago) was a time of recovery for marine reptiles like ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs, following the Triassic-Jurassic extinction, likely caused by runaway climate change. Europe was a tropical archipelago at this time. The largest biological structure ever known was a 7,000 km long reef composed of glass sponges (silicon sponges) in the fringes of the Tethys Ocean. This reef provided a diverse ecosystem, supporting ammonites, fish, and marine reptiles. Unusually, wood floated for much longer than it does today because wood-boring shipworms had not yet evolved. Evidence shows fallen logs floating across oceans and adorned with filter-feeding organisms like sea lilies. Moving to the Triassic (225 million years ago), the focus is Madigan in Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia. This lake ecosystem provides a rare, well-preserved record of a terrestrial environment, notable for its extraordinary insect diversity, including most known Triassic families of beetles. A unique vertebrate found here is Sharovipteryx, a lizard-like gliding reptile that used a triangular membrane stretched between its exceptionally long hind legs to glide.

Babs and Fran from Over/Underrated podcast return to Flixwatcher to review Bab's choice Full Metal Jacket. Full Metal Jacket (1987) is Stanley Kubrick's ‘war is hell' film based on the semi-autobiographical novel The Short-Timers by U.S Marine Gustav Hasford. It stars Matthew Modine as Private James T. "Joker" Davis, Vincent D'Onofrio as Private Leonard "Gomer Pyle” Lawrence and R. Lee Ermey as Gunnery Sergeant L. Hartman. Unusually for a Vietnam War film Full Metal Jacket primarily focuses on the gruelling eight-week drill training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island. During the boot camp, Leonard is relentlessly tormented by Gunnery Sergeant, who nicknames him "Gomer Pyle” and bullies him over his weight. Joker at first is inclined to help Leonard but pulls back after a jelly doughnut incident incites punishment for the whole platoon. The second half sees Joker as a sergeant based in Da Nang as a reporter, finally seeing some action. Full Metal Jacket is a classic anti-war film, it central theme is about the abuse of young men by the military and the abuse turning them into killing machines that kill other men as well as women and children. Recommendability scores for Full Metal Jacket were mixed, like the film itself, the first half is stronger than the second half. It's near two hour runtime gave for lower repeat viewing and engagement scores and Full Metal Jacket scores 2.92 overall. [supsystic-tables id=408]     Thanks to the Episode # 394 crew of with Amon Warmann and Cheyenne Bart-Stewart You can find their website here ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ And at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Please make sure you give them some love   For more info on Full Metal Jacket can visit Elvis ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Full Metal Jacket IMDB⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠page here ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Full Metal Jacket Rotten Tomatoes⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ page here. If you enjoyed this episode of Flixwatcher Podcast you probably know other people who will like it too! Please share it with your friends and family, review us, and join us across ALL of the Social Media links below. More about Dumplin Plug! Subscribe, Share and Review us on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Although shutdowns aren't usually market-moving events this time could be different, Investors are already wary about a slowing labor market and the risk of stagflation as well as elevated stock valuations, More on the Thursday October 16th Retirement & Wealth Strategies for Your Future seminar at the Palo Alto Elks Lodge with EP Wealth Advisors CFP Chad Burton and CFP CFA Ryan Ignacio

Although shutdowns aren't usually market-moving events this time could be different, Investors are already wary about a slowing labor market and the risk of stagflation as well as elevated stock valuations, More on the Thursday October 16th Retirement & Wealth Strategies for Your Future seminar at the Palo Alto Elks Lodge with EP Wealth Advisors CFP Chad Burton and CFP CFA Ryan IgnacioSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Another mind bending podcast.  We begin with a general conversation about the terrible event yesterday where a political commentator was gunned down. I mentioned how we've spoken in the past to people on the flipside including Martin Luther King, Bobby Kennedy, JFK and others who have been killed for their political views.  Unusually, there's a voice that can be heard saying something when I mentioned Robert Kennedy (Bob? Bobby?) that seems to be correcting me. Be that as it may, we begin by speaking to Luana about the "Ohoponopono prayer" (I'm sorry, please forgive me, thank you, I love you) that our friend Office K introduced me to recently - and the data that shows that there's a positive effect with people who've used it.  I asked Luana Anders, our moderator on the flipside to give us some guidance or explanation about the prayer and why it might be effective. Then Luana wanted to talk about the UAP conference given in Washington DC yesterday.. I don't know if Jennifer had seen it, but I did - and so we got into a discussion about "aliens" and "alien aircraft" from the perspective of FIVE - the head librarian of Akashic libraries (in this region he once told us.) FIVE has appeared in a number of session I've recorded - with other people, 5 appears in the book DIVINE COUNCILS IN THE AFTERLIFE, also on the podcast if one looks up the word "Five" - he uses the number as there's no gender associated with it.  So people won't be confused about 5 being a god or goddess, or librarian. Another term which has no gender attached to it. Five has often been funny and deeply profound, and is the same in this podcast.  Five talks about how aliens are interdimensional, but also how they cannot appear on the planet without "permission" or "being allowed to do so for benevolent reasons."   Five protested that my use of the word "Benevolent" was too strong a word, as it seemed he was saying "they cannot do harm." Prince weighs in at the end to talk about how music is frequency and from the heart. As usual - mind bending conversation about mind bending stuff. I am aware of the high pitched hum in the recording, but did not hear it while recording and tried to tune it out without harming the quality of voices. So apologies for those who are hearing it. Thanks for tuning in!

Geoff and Marie's Good Life: Part 3Busy WeekCan a retired couple's plan for sharing hubby work?Based on posts by Only In My Mind, in 15 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels.List of main characters.Geoff:   retired materials scientist. Mid-sixties. 5 foot 10 inch, ex amateur rugby player, still swims, runs and walks to keep fit. More than adequately equipped to satisfy his wife.Marie:   retired modern languages lecturer. Same age as her husband, Geoff. 5 foot 2 inch voluptuous build, with D cup tits and proportionate bum and hips. Shoulder length brown hair, brown eyes and olive skin inherited from her French grandmother.Angie:   possibly retired mathematician (may still be involved in intelligence gathering, she won't discuss her work). Early sixties. 5 foot 10 inch, slender athletic build. Firm B cup tits, brown hair and famously dirty mind.Mike:   research biochemist. Mid-fifties. 6 foot 1 inch, also rugby player. Good looking for his age.After they had left I wandered into the living room and started scrolling through the TV guide. Marie eventually joined me. I acknowledged her, but didn't speak. I got a feeling that any comment, at all, from me would be dissected, analyzed and found wanting."Say something then," she snapped."Okay," I replied. "Which would you rather watch, The News or House Of Games?""You know what I meant," she almost snarled."Do you know?" I responded. "I don't think that I do. I was willing to join a trial of a brand new drug, that I only need because you have this insane idea that my cock is the sexual equivalent of a charitable food bank: But do I get any thanks? Do I fuck! I just get attitude."I asked Mike out for a drink to get his opinion on vitamins and supplements to help a man in his sixties have better sex. He offered the trial place. You and Angie were both too drunk to talk sense to on the way home and we spent the rest of the time until you left this morning playing sex games with your mate or asleep."So, if my little Mediterranean princess isn't happy, the answer is simple. You ring Angie and tell her this weekend was a one-off and will never happen again. I will ring Craig and tell him I won't need his fucking drug after all, and the girls will have to find their own source of cock: Because you're having a tantrum."Now, I'm off to the pub. At least people will talk to me in a civil tone of voice there. Good job we made the bed in the spare room. I assume that's where I'll be sleeping for the foreseeable future. Enjoy the rest of your evening."And I left.I spent a couple of hours at the pub, though I only had two pints. I wasn't there to get hammered, just to calm down. The problem Marie and I have is reflected in our fields of study. She is about language; she can translate complex emotions by choosing the right words so that the true meanings are transferred between folks with no common tongue. I admire that. But sometimes she thinks that words can tell you everything.I am a scientist; I don't trust just words to tell me what I need to know; people have their own agendas: They use words to aggrandize themselves or for mischief, profit or power. I need data; evidence.Marie's concerns about new drugs were valid in part, but had been blown up by half-truths and downright lies on the internet. I had gone to a biochemist who actually understood the science and was familiar with the data and I asked for his advice. How did that work out for me? I was sat on my own in the pub while my wife was at home hating me.I looked at my watch. Half past eight. Honestly, I couldn't face another pint so I strolled home. I took out my key and opened the door; at least she hadn't changed the locks. I resisted the temptation to call out, "Hi, honey. I'm home." Probably too soon for that. I settled for, "It's only me."No reply, but there was a light on in the living room so I looked in. Marie was kneeling on the floor in the center of the room, hands in her lap, facing the door. When I moved forwards to see what was going on, she bent her head as if in prayer. What the fuck?"I'm sorry," she said quietly, straightening up. "I'm not going to ask you to spank me the way you did Angie yesterday, that was a game. This is too serious."She looked angry, but at herself. "I have spent decades of my life campaigning for women's right to control their own bodies and reproductive choices. But the first time I am confronted by you, a man, making a similar choice, I abuse you. If nothing else, that was total hypocrisy. Again, I'm so sorry."You have been nothing but supportive of my wish to make my friends happy, even though you've had your own concerns. I know the thought of having other women in your bed must have intrigued you, but you've always been more worried about damaging our marriage and resisted all the way."I am genuinely worried that this drug may damage you somehow but, if you give your word that you have considered the risks, I will leave the decision with you. Can you accept my apology?"I held out my hand and helped her to her feet. "Thank you. That was the most sincere apology I've ever heard. Of course, I accept. But why did you decide to make it like that? On your knees?"She thought before she replied. "When we were playing submissive spanky games with Angie, I didn't; engage with it the way she did, but I did feel different. I had chosen to give control to you because I trust you and I was; content."I was a bitch to you this afternoon, when you didn't deserve it so I decided to show you how much I regretted it. I decided to kneel in front of you to show the same respect today. I trust you. I should have trusted your decision. I needed you to see, as well as hear the words, how sorry I am."She looked carefully at me. "Tomorrow morning we either do or do not make those telephone calls. I've forfeited the right to choose," she said. "Do you want me to call Angie?"Honestly, I wasn't sure. Was this just the first of many arguments that we could avoid by just ditching the whole dumb idea? She looked stricken when I didn't respond straight away, but she said nothing as I weighed up the risks. I was balancing my marriage, my wife's happiness and my health against unknown outcomes. Even Angie admitted that her super-brain couldn't predict what would happen if we went ahead.I took a deep breath. "Fuck it! Let's just do it. I love you and if I get to fuck four, five or even all six of your friends to make you happy, I'd be insane not to. You must understand, though. If my enthusiasm for having sex with your friends starts to make you doubt my love for you, you have to tell me and we have to stop."In return, if I think that you are becoming emotionally over-attached to one or more of the women you are fucking. We stop. Are we agreed?"She stepped up and put her arms around me. "Agreed. Now, do you want to come upstairs and let me give you a more; intimate apology? I seem to remember that you were rejected twice this morning. That doesn't seem fair. As you aren't going to be in the spare bed tonight after all, I could practice those oral sex techniques that Angie showed me on you."As we made our way upstairs I told Marie that I needed the bathroom before we did anything else and Marie asked if I had ever considered 'water-sports'. For a confused moment I puzzled over why we were suddenly discussing paddle-boarding as a prelude to sex. Then I got the reference."Where the fuck did that come from?" I asked, stunned. After all, she'd never seen anything dirtier than Game Of Thrones until last month."You showed me how to access porn safely on the internet and I've found sites that describe and show people using piss in sex games," she replied airily. "If you have a bladder full of beer and you want to try, then I'm willing to submit as part of my atonement.""But do you find that arousing?" I asked.She was silent while she thought carefully. "I didn't at the time, but now I wonder if I might like to try one day. Maybe not now, unless you want to.""No. Not today." I said, "This gorgeous brunette with big boobs has promised me a blow-job to remember. Let's revisit this conversation another day."In the bathroom I unloaded my two pints of craft beer down the toilet bowl, rather than over my wife, then, after giving little (not that little) Geoffrey a good shake and a wash, I went to the bedroom, to find Marie sitting naked on our bed. She gestured for me to go to her and it seemed rude not to, so I did.She smiled at me as she started to unbuckle my belt. "Do you enjoy it when your wife wants only to submit and to pleasure you?""To be honest," I replied. "It's pretty much freaking me out." She looked at me quizzically. "Well," I said, a bit defensively, "It's not something I'm used to, I don't understand the boundaries and I know it isn't a role that particularly turns you on."By now she had my trousers unfastened and had them and my underwear around my ankles. I stepped out and pulled my polo shirt off. We were both naked and little Geoff was getting bigger."I understand," she said. "Games later; sex now." She started by licking my shaft from base to tip.Now, Marie has never shied away from sucking my cock, and I had never had anyone better to use as a comparison, until Angie the previous morning. Angie has always been hugely competitive so, when it came to oral sex, she had to be the best; and she was; she was Olympic standard. Fortunately she was also a generous friend who gave my wife a master-class (mistress-class?) only twenty four hours ago.Marie was a quick learner. Rather than going straight down on me, as I would have been delighted with previously, now she tormented me; licking along my length; vacuuming my balls into her mouth and molding them with her tongue. Eventually, when I was about to burst with exquisite frustration, she took me in her mouth and massaged my bulb with her tongue. Then she, literally, swallowed me. Her nose was pressed up against my belly and my balls were on her chin. Where the fuck my cock was, I truly could not imagine. But it felt fucking amazing.It felt good but, on the other hand, it sounded awful; all I could hear was her choking and gagging as she worked me back and forth into her throat but I couldn't pull away: she wouldn't let go of me. At last she slackened her hold on my hips and I pulled out of her mouth. Covered in pints of drool.She looked up at me, almost shyly, as if seeking approval. I wasn't going to make her ask. "That was fucking amazing. Now I want to taste you."Some people think that this is such a cliché: Woman sucks man, man sucks woman, then they fuck. If I had put my cock into Marie at that moment, I would have come before I was halfway in. So not only was I giving my wife pleasure, and I love going down on her anyway, but I was giving myself a moment to recover in order to extend our love-making.Normally I would have laid between her thighs to kiss her cunt, but we seemed to be pushing boundaries of late, so I got her to roll onto her belly with her bum raised. If you have never gone down on your woman like this, do it at least once if only for the view. My view was spectacular. My wife's glorious round ass with her truly adorable vulva peeking between her cheeks. It gave me an almost spiritual joy to behold.I started with her labia, acknowledging her clit but not over-stimulating it, and then moving to her anus. We've never really played bottom games before, but Marie's fascination tonight with; unconventional sex prompted me to experiment. Tonight I truly focused my oral attention on that little sphincter though my hands were permanently up to mischief elsewhere. Once I was satisfied she was happy with my efforts, I straightened up and rubbed my cock at her front door."About fucking time," she gasped. "I was going to start without you.""Oh, be quiet you randy old tart," I replied cheerfully as I slid completely into her. "If you're just going to complain, I won't do this."So saying I pushed my index finger, already well lubricated courtesy of Marie's cunt, into her tight little bum hole.She squealed with a mixture of horror and delight as my digit slipped easily into that place where the sun truly don't shine. At this point I was wishing that her hair was long enough for a pony tail for me to pull on, not just because that seemed to be a common trope in anal sex porn, but because I only had one hand left to pull her onto my cock and, honestly, I thought using the finger up her ass to do it seemed; crude.On the up side though, because we weren't actually 'doggy-style', I was fucking my wife down into the pillow so I consoled myself by just putting my spare hand on her bum, more to support me than anything else.So there we were, Marie with her head on the pillow and her ass in the air, me kneeling behind her with my cock in her cunt and my finger in her bum, both of us naked, horny, and loving every minute of this. No kids to burst in on us mid-fuck, no fear of pregnancy and no need to give a shit what the neighbors would think. We were putting the 'sex' into 'sexagenarian'.I started moving my cock in and out in my favorite long strokes. I think I'd read that the vagina is most sensitive near its entrance so I wanted to get the widest part of my cock stimulating her there as much as possible. Then I'd push my entire length in so she would feel full. I tried to move my finger in and out of her anus at the same time. I did my best, but it was like trying to rub your belly while you're patting your head. Still, Marie seemed to appreciate the effort. She was so wet with arousal that there seemed hardly any friction between us but her vaginal muscles were gripping me like an internal fist. She grunted as she pushed back against me as well as she could. We lasted longer than I expected but eventually we both got there."Oh, fuck;” She gasped, "I'm so; So close; Just touch me; There; Oh, yes; Just; Like; Ah!"Her orgasm was so intense and she gripped me so hard that I came too within less than a minute. I hadn't realized that vaginal and anal muscles seem to be on the same circuit. But when Marie's cunt muscles gripped my cock, her sphincter clamped onto my finger too. I managed to extract the offending digit from his naughty place and collapsed on the bed next to my wife, both of us trying to catch our breath."You dirty old bugger," she said. "What made you decide to do that now?""I'm not altogether sure," I replied truthfully. "But it's occurred to me a couple of times this weekend that I've kissed that little opening while I've been pleasuring both you and Angie, but I've never really done more than that. And I wanted to do it with you. Tonight seemed like the right time.""Mmm," she responded. "Well, just so you know, it's okay to keep that in your repertoire."I made a quick trip to the bathroom to wash hands and cock then climbed into bed to spoon my drowsy wife. As she dozed off, while I played with her boobs I started to think about what having sex with different women would mean to me. I mean, come on, different libidos, different erogenous zones, potentially different 'no-go' areas and, more interestingly different kinks. Marie had a well-intentioned idea, but muggins here had to deliver. And I wanted to do it properly so I slowly and surely drew my plans.TuesdayWe slept in a little that morning so we only had time for a quick missionary fuck to greet the day. Then we used the bathroom and went down to breakfast together. Over tea and toast we chatted about plans for the day. Now UK readers of a certain age will understand, but for everyone else, you might need to know this. British garden centers are often a weekly destination of choice for retirees. Yes they sell plants, and Brits are inveterate gardeners, but they also sell seasonal goods, artisan produce and have great coffee shops. Today though, I offered an alternative to our usual haunt."I think that we should go to a naughty shop." I suggested."Because?" Prompted Marie."Well, last night, after shagging you into unconsciousness, I was thinking about your, our, plan." I paused. "So far we have proved that you can cope seeing me screw another woman, and you can take pleasure with another woman yourself, and we've prepped the beds for lots of sex but;” I hesitated again."Go on," she urged me gently. "Let me see where you're going with this.""It's just that I barely know most of your friends, apart from Angie, and the reality is that we aren't even going on a date before I fuck them. I've no idea what turns them on or anything. Talk about going in unprepared. So I thought, we'd need lube and stuff, so why not a few toys too, to lighten the mood?"She sat back, "Oh, shit! Now I understand why you've not been nearly as excited as I expected. I've been so caught up in this fantasy of my friends all having the same great sex as me," she looked embarrassed. "But I did just what Angie said. She said we were discussing you the same way that the men we despised talk about women. But instead of tits and cunts, just as a cock with a man attached!"She burst into tears. "I'm supposed to be your wife," she sobbed. "I'm supposed to cherish you. But no, I'm just so excited about pimping you out to my friends that I forgot all about your feelings and fears. Fuck! What a bitch I am. Why do you even stay with me?"She ran from the room, tears streaming down her face. Maybe I should have gone after her, but she knew where I was when she was ready. Obviously, being British I made a cup of tea for myself and got one ready for Marie for when she emerged. After I'd finished my drink and eaten my Hobnob biscuit I went past our bedroom on the way to the loo and I could hear her speaking softly on her phone, her voice still breaking with emotion.On the way back downstairs I tapped on the door and looked in. She glanced up through tear stained eyes. I asked her if she wanted me to make her a cuppa. She nodded and told me that she'd be down shortly, after she'd been to the bathroom.She looked a little better when she came down. I shouted to her that I'd got her drink in the living room and she joined me there.She sighed. "We can't keep on like this, can we? I ruined our day yesterday, I've sobbed my heart out this morning for treating you like a whore and tomorrow you're going to join a drug trial: When all you actually wanted was to make love to your wife again."I said; nothing. She needed to work through this herself. Platitudes wouldn't help. Eventually she looked at me. "Geoff, tell me honestly, do you want to sleep with my friends?"I sat forward in my seat. "You have offered me most men's fantasy. A nearly open marriage where I am allowed to have sex with multiple women, and I don't have to think about you with other men. But I worry about the cost. What if this isn't a fantasy but a nightmare? What if it splits us up? What if you can't face living with me anymore after you've seen my cock in all of your friends? Where will we live? How do we explain to our family why we aren't together anymore? I keep trying to introduce reality into this fantasy, but I'm just not convinced that you 'get it' yet." And, yes, I did the air quotes."I suggested the rules, not you, I thought about the need for erection supplements, I bought the bedding. I've been thinking about stuff like sex toys, lube, boundaries for fuck's sake! I need you on the same page or this is a disaster waiting to happen."She sipped her tea. "You've thought about this, haven't you? What do you think could go wrong?""Okay, fair enough," I replied. "Imagine this. One of your fri

Unusually dry summer conditions on Canada's Atlantic coast have prompted two provinces to take the unprecedented step of banning hiking, camping, and even walking in the woods in a bid to prevent forest fires. Learn about other alarming measures being floated in the name of climate change—from ticks that can trigger a meat allergy to proposals for calculating the carbon footprint of every medical procedure to determine its “importance.”Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-highwire-with-del-bigtree--3620606/support.

In Chapter 17 of Dog Days, Kit returns to Barnaby's room to find Thomas Walsingham waiting for him.Unusually, Walsingham is surprisingly helpful.Although he does have certain ideas about cleanliness...Three Ravens is an English Myth and Folklore podcast hosted by award-winning writers Martin Vaux and Eleanor Conlon.Released on Mondays, each weekly episode focuses on one of England's 39 historic counties, exploring the history, folklore and traditions of the area, from ghosts and mermaids to mythical monsters, half-forgotten heroes, bloody legends, and much, much more. Then, and most importantly, the pair take turns to tell a new version of an ancient story from that county - all before discussing what that tale might mean, where it might have come from, and the truths it reveals about England's hidden past...Bonus Episodes are released on Thursdays plus Local Legends episodes on Saturdays - interviews with acclaimed authors, folklorists, podcasters and historians with unique perspectives on that week's county.With a range of exclusive content on Patreon, too, including audio ghost tours, the Three Ravens Newsletter, and monthly Three Ravens Film Club episodes about folk horror films from across the decades, why not join us around the campfire and listen in?Learn more at www.threeravenspodcast.com, join our Patreon at www.patreon.com/threeravenspodcast, and find links to our social media channels here: https://linktr.ee/threeravenspodcastThree Ravens is a myth and folklore podcast hosted by Eleanor Conlon and Martin Vaux.In each Monday episode we explore a historic county, digging into heritage, folklore and traditions, then we tell a new version of a legend from that county. Bonus Episodes are released on Thursdays and Saturdays.Visit our website Join our Patreon Social media channels and sponsors Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Given Mr Young's insane amount of releases in recent years, I suspect this maybe one fans have skipped. You shouldn't. In a banner year for live performances from Young (Glastonbury etc), this attendant studio album is one of the most ramshackle he's ever made, but its full of idiosyncrasy and Young in the now. Unusually specific personal lyrics, churning garage rockers and several gentle ballads, that show he has lost none of his ability to craft melodies and songs as pretty as Helpless or Harvest Moon.

On the Tuesday episode of the North Shore Drive podcast, Post-Gazette sports columnist Jason Mackey and insider Ray Fittipaldo react to the first full week of Steelers training camp. Why does coach Mike Tomlin seem more upbeat that usual? And what does it signal for his plans as he welcomes new veterans including Aaron Rodgers, Jalen Ramsey, Jonnu Smith and DK Metcalf to his lineup this coming season? Our duo tackles those questions, then ponders some positional flexibility. How much could we see TE Darnell Washington lining up at tackles after he dominated backs-on-backers drills over the weekend? Could he apply pressure to names like Broderick Jones and Troy Fautanu? And could Mark Robinson make the team at fullback with the linebacker room loaded with talent including Patrick Queen, Payton Wilson and Carson Bruener?

The National Transportation Safety Board has launched an investigation into the fatal plane crash in Pacific Grove. And, California is having a much cooler summer than expected this year.

Unusual Encounter on Alpine WaySetting and ConditionsIn the late afternoon of early September 2008, along Alpine Way at Mount Kosciuszko, light snow covered the terrain, creating a wintry atmosphere.The IncidentWhile driving on the road, a mob of kangaroos suddenly burst from the bush and crossed in front of the vehicle. They appeared to be fleeing from something deeper within the trees.The Mysterious CreaturePursuing the kangaroos was a robust creature, standing approximately five feet tall and moving on two legs. Its appearance was neither entirely animal nor completely human, but existed somewhere in between. The creature had no apparent neck and pale, distinctive eyes. Unusually, hair was only visible from its head down to its shoulders, while the rest of its body was covered in light creamy grey skin.For more comprehensive information, reports and history of the Yowie, visit our Website at www.yowiehunters.comSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/yowiehunters-witness-reports. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Often, some days feel longer or shorter than others, but today, July 22nd, is actually literally shorter than others.Why is that?Shane Bergin, Physicist & Assistant Professor in Science Education at UCD, joins Seán to discuss.

#OZWATCH: UNUSUALLY CHILL WINTER FOR DSLLAS AND HIS AVIARY. JEREMY ZAKIS, NEW SOUTH WALES. #FRIENDSOFHISTORYDEBATINGSOCIETY 1963

Join Eric, @CSIBillCrane, @TimAndrewsHere, @Autopritts, @JaredYamamoto, Greg, and George LIVE on 95.5 WSB from 3pm-7pm as they chat about Putin's demeanor, killer bees, the slurping era, and so much more! *New episodes of our sister shows: The Popcast with Tim Andrews and The Nightcap with Jared Yamamoto are available as well!

David Mathis | Did Jesus endure the cross for his joy or despite it? The answer takes us to the heart of Jesus's unusually human joy, and ours.

Over the past few days, Canada and the US stopped talking about trade, and started talking about trade again. Unusually, this was not a unilateral retreat by the US—Canada surrendered its digital services tax. Markets, quite rightly, are ignoring all of this. US President Trump cut taxes on US consumers of UK cars—from today the tax goes to 10%.

EASY LISTENING DEP'T.: Please visit, read, and support INDIGNITY! https://www.indignity.net/

PREVIEW ITALY: Colleague Lorenzo Fiori reports an unusually blazing heat wave covers the Italian peninsula as the tourist season surges, sometimes recklessly. More. 1660 MILAN

#Londinium90AD: Gaius & Germanicus discuss unusually assumptive "No Kings" gatherings across sunny cities. Michael Vlahos. Friends of History Debating Society. @Michalis_Vlahos 1861 Zouaves depart NYC for Washington

fWotD Episode 2963: The Combat: Woman Pleading for the Vanquished Welcome to Featured Wiki of the Day, your daily dose of knowledge from Wikipedia's finest articles.The featured article for Sunday, 15 June 2025, is The Combat: Woman Pleading for the Vanquished.The Combat: Woman Pleading for the Vanquished is a large oil painting on canvas by English artist William Etty, first exhibited in 1825 and now in the National Gallery of Scotland. Inspired by the Elgin Marbles and intended by the artist to provide a moral lesson on "the beauty of mercy", it shows a near-nude warrior whose sword has broken, forced to his knees in front of another near-nude soldier who prepares to inflict a killing blow. A woman, also near-nude, clutches the victorious warrior to beg him for mercy. Unusually for a history painting of the period, The Combat does not depict a scene from history, literature or religion and is not based on an existing artwork, but is instead a scene from the artist's own imagination.When it was shown at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition of 1825, it attracted near-universal praise from critics for its technical excellence, its fusion of the styles of different schools of painting, and its subject matter. Nevertheless, it failed to find a buyer at the Summer Exhibition, and was instead bought by fellow artist John Martin. The painting proved too large for Martin's house, and in 1831 he sold it on to the Royal Scottish Academy. It was transferred in 1910 to the National Gallery of Scotland, where it remains.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:30 UTC on Sunday, 15 June 2025.For the full current version of the article, see The Combat: Woman Pleading for the Vanquished on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm standard Salli.

On Sunday, April 7th, 2024 there was a fatal road traffic crash in Churchtown, a suburb in south dublin. It happened early in the morning when a pensioner driving an old red van hit a tree.Unusually, the name of the dead man was not released though The Irish Times was able to report, through confidential information received at the time, that the dead man had been due in court the following day.He had been charged with more than 100 counts of sex abuse offences involving young boys dating back to the 1980s and 90s. His five victims were ready to give evidence but his death denied them any hope of justice.He wasn't named at the time for legal reasons. But we are naming him now, thanks to the bravery of his victims, who since his death just over a year ago have met and given each other support.Neville Kearns lived in suburban Dublin and won the trust of the young teenagers who became his victim.One, who we are calling Chris, came in to studio to tell his story.Irish Times reporter Orla Ryan has talked to three of the men and explains why they chose to name him now and what it means to them.Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What random thing do you have an unusually strong opinion about?

Whilst out along the Kent side of the Thames Estuary on Saturday, aiming to capture the sound of skylarks and reeds, we met a walker with a very friendly border terrier. She told us there was talk of a nightingale not too far away at RSPB's Northward Hill Nature Reserve. We aren't strictly speaking wildlife recordists, the Lento box is designed like a wide angle camera to capture panoramic landscape sounds, but we thought it might be worth a visit to the reserve to see if we might be able to find it. Unusually for us public transport devotees, we were able to travel on to Northward Hill easily thanks to a magnificent Lento supporter. He'd driven us and the Lento box out from Brockley station in South East London to explore another corner of the Hoo Peninsula, and was keen to visit the reserve. We didn't feel hugely confident about actually hearing a nightingale. They are the kinds of birds you don't expect to find on demand. We rolled into the reserve's car park and quickly headed down into the woodland. We descended a rough flight of bare earth steps under the dark shadows of dense tree canopy, surrounded by glorious birdsong. All the usual suspects of course, familiar if you regularly listen to Lento - chif chaf, blackbirds, black caps, jackdaws, robins, various others plus trusty wood pigeons.  After turning right and proceeding further into the woods over a few hundred yards our ears pricked up. I found myself saying "and there it is" before I had even properly heard it. We continued for a few steps and, fortunately, there it was again, this time much more clearly, and without doubt a nightingale only about thirty yards away! Up on the tripod went the Lento box. I turned it to face the sound of the nightingale, and pressed record, bathed in the rich tapestry of spring woodland birds, coming from all around us.  Here's what the box captured. It's only twenty minutes. The passage of time is from around 5pm on 24th May. There are some people vaguely audible and a horse (louder) somewhere to left of scene. A road must pass the reserve too because some level of vehicle noise is distantly audible, but not so much as to spoil the overall effect. We capture whole landscapes from one fixed position, so what you hear is the nightingale just as we heard it from standing on the path and facing into the reserve. Wildlife recordists find ways to post their microphones very close to their subjects and as such we are all used to hearing nightingales proportionately far louder than anything else. In reality though these are not birds that like being approached, so few people can ever actually hear in-person, the bird singing as loudly as they do in specially focused recordings.  With a pair of headphones though this episode provides a realistic woodland soundscape with a nightingale almost dead centre of scene. You should be able quite easily to hear it between the other birds which are spread out to the left and to the right of scene. Listen out for a wonderfully special coincidence that happens a few times where a distant cuckoo comes into earshot too. It is pretty well dead centre, behind the nightingale.  There must be a farm nearby because several cockerels crow towards the end. The whole scene is in fact very busy, and whether a connection or not, I note how the nightingale seems to become more active when the chif chaf is in full voice. Coincidence, or not? This bonus episode is shared with big thanks to our trusty supporter and to the dog walker we met. 

https://www.amazon.com/Against-Tide-H-Bedford-Jones-ebook/dp/B0DZHSFHDAgainst the Tide is a true story that captures the fear and hardships faced by African Americans during a disturbing time in American history the post-Reconstruction period that led to the introduction of Jim Crow laws.Through hard work and determination, Hansford C. Bayton would rise from humble beginnings to become the captain and owner of five excursion and mail delivery steamboats that plied the Rappahannock River during the late 1800s and early 1900s. Unusually for an African American, he would acquire wealth and the respect of both blacks and whites. Nevertheless, his boats were burned one by one. But with each malicious burning, and with lynching on the rise, he would build again.This book illuminates a time in American history when the surge of progress made by freedmen was sharply curtailed through the enactment of segregation laws and the activities of the Ku Klux Klan. As a result Hansford C. Bayton died poor, but his story is one of dignified courage and determination when faced with overwhelming odds. Truly, he was a man who swam against the tide.---

Corn and soy complex Initial 2025/26 corn and soybean projections present headscratchers for consumption Higher YOY consumption for 2025/26 in corn for feed, exports, and soybean oil for biofuel and food Wheat New crop 2025/26 wheat stocks projected to reach a six-year high Many questions on wheat supply: Perhaps too optimistic out of the gate? Global wheat production reaches a record, while stocks remain flat Sugar 2024/25 deliveries for food use lowered by how much? Initial 2025/26 beet production forecast for beet and cane Missed our 2025 Spring Market Seminar in April? IQ Premier-level subscribers may now watch presentation videos here! Not an IQ platform subscriber? Contact us to learn more! Our next webinar Economy Update Webinar: Economic Growth, Employment, Inflation, & Global Trade Wed., May 21, 11am PT / 2pm ET Look for your invite or sign up now on mckeany-flavell.com Host/Expert: Kevin Combs, Vice President – Global Sweeteners Specialist Expert: Nicole Thomas, Vice President – Information Services Expert: Eric Thornton, Senior Commodity Advisor

Sports reporter Khari Thompson joins WBUR's Morning Edition to break down the quirky — but high-stakes — situation for the Patriots in the NFL draft.

Opening Bible Verse: 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 A charism is a gift from the Holy Spirit given for the common good or for the service of others.  3 Signs of your Charism: 1. An unmistakable inner peace, energy and joy when using the gifts. 2. Unusually effective and successful results in what you're trying to accomplish. 3. Other people's direct or indirect recognition of the gift's presence. This is the self-directed course I plan to take to learn more about my own charism: Catherine of Siena Institute If you live in the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania and would like help decluttering your home, I offer in-person decluttering. This is a 5 hour appointment and I donate all items to local thrift stores. Cost $300. Please email me at: tightshipmama@gmail.com   For hourly coaching via Zoom (decluttering, budgeting, meal planning), you can see my calendar and book a session here: Virtual Coaching Schedule   Join the private Facebook community here: Facebook Group   Prefer to receive a weekly email with the monthly freebie like a group rosary, group declutter, or budget Q&As?  Join my mailing list here: Weekly Newsletter   Do you like to watch a podcast? Check out my YouTube channel here:  YouTube    For any other inquiries or guest appearances, please email me at: tightshipmama@gmail.com  

READ FULL SHOWNOTES ON Chat10Looks3.com Unusually for Crabb she has become unscratchably addicted to an old reality TV show, whereas Sales is sticking to the current crop of new releases including The White Lotus and With Love, Meghan Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

AN 8.81 Mindfulness and situational awareness are a foundation for developing higher spiritual qualities leading to liberation. AN 8.82 Venerable Puṇṇiya asks the Buddha why he sometimes feels like teaching and other times doesn't. AN 8.83 The root of all things, and other factors that apply to all things. AN 8.84 The Buddha teaches how to be a success as a master thief. Unusually, this discourse has no “spiritual” counterpart, so it sounds like the Buddha just giving a lesson in thievery! AN 8.85 Different titles for the Buddha. AN 8.86 When the householders of Icchānaṅgala make a racket in the monastery, the Buddha asks his attendant Nāgita what is going on. The Buddha speaks strongly of his dislike for material gains, and his love of seclusion. AN 8.87 Eight reasons the Saṅgha may overturn the bowl against a lay follower. AN 8.88 Eight reasons the lay followers may declare no confidence or confidence regarding a mendicant. AN 8.89 Eight reasons the lay followers may enjoin an act of reconciliation on a mendicant, or relax said act. AN 8.90 Eight things a mendicant charged with aggravated misconduct must observe.

Let's talk about Social Security and an unusually honest Republican....

“The Nose” may be Nikolai Gogol’s most famous short story. It’s a surrealist — and self-consciously, self-awarely surrealist — story about a man whose nose disappears from his face and reappears in another man’s biscuits. And other places. There’s a moment toward the end of Susanne Fusso’s translation when the narrator says, “The strangest and most incomprehensible thing of all — is that writers can choose such plots.” Well, yes. Nikolai Gogol was a 19th-century Russian/Ukrainian novelist and playwright. One of his best-known plays, The Inspector, opens this week at the Yale Repertory Theatre in New Haven. And that short story, “The Nose,” might well be intertwined with the mythology of our little public radio show. This hour, a look at the writer Nikolai Gogol. GUESTS: Susanne Fusso: Professor of Russian, East European, and Eurasian studies at Wesleyan University and the author of a number of books, including Designing Dead Souls: An Anatomy of Disorder in Gogol and a recent translation, The Nose and Other Stories by Nikolai Gogol Yura Kordonsky: The adaptor and director of the Yale Repertory Theatre’s production of The Inspector Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In today's episode, Jane and Fi delve into whether it's acceptable to make use of someone else's Ring doorbell, the gynaecology of a hen, and Jane's robot companion, Craig. Additionally, Fi speaks with Lindsey Burrow, widow of rugby league legend Rob Burrow, about her heartfelt memoir 'Take Care'. The next book club pick has been announced! 'Eight Months on Ghazzah Street' is by Hilary Mantel. If you want to contact the show to ask a question and get involved in the conversation then please email us: janeandfi@times.radio Follow us on Instagram! @janeandfi Assistant Producer: Hannah Quinn Podcast Producer: Eve Salusbury Executive Producer: Rosie Cutler Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dental modification was common across ancient societies, but perhaps none were more avid practitioners than the Maya. They filed their teeth flat or pointy, polished and drilled them, and crafted decorative inlays of jade and pyrite. Unusually, Maya of all social classes, ages, and professions engaged in dental modification. What did it mean to them? Ancient Maya Teeth: Dental Modification, Cosmology, and Social Identity in Mesoamerica (University of Texas Press, 2024) by Dr. Vera Tiesler is the most comprehensive study of Maya dental modification ever published, based on thousands of teeth recovered from 130 sites spanning three millennia. Esteemed archaeologist Dr. Tiesler sifts the evidence, much of it gathered with her own hands and illustrated here with more than a hundred photographs. Exploring the underlying theory and practice of dental modification, Tiesler raises key questions. How did modifications vary across the individual's lifespan? What tools were used? How did the Maya deal with pain—and malpractice? How did they keep their dentitions healthy, functioning, and beautiful? What were the relationships among gender, social identity, and particular dental-modification choices? Addressing these and other issues, Ancient Maya Teeth reveals how dental-modification customs shifted over the centuries, indexing other significant developments in Mayan cultural history. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose new book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. 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

Dental modification was common across ancient societies, but perhaps none were more avid practitioners than the Maya. They filed their teeth flat or pointy, polished and drilled them, and crafted decorative inlays of jade and pyrite. Unusually, Maya of all social classes, ages, and professions engaged in dental modification. What did it mean to them? Ancient Maya Teeth: Dental Modification, Cosmology, and Social Identity in Mesoamerica (University of Texas Press, 2024) by Dr. Vera Tiesler is the most comprehensive study of Maya dental modification ever published, based on thousands of teeth recovered from 130 sites spanning three millennia. Esteemed archaeologist Dr. Tiesler sifts the evidence, much of it gathered with her own hands and illustrated here with more than a hundred photographs. Exploring the underlying theory and practice of dental modification, Tiesler raises key questions. How did modifications vary across the individual's lifespan? What tools were used? How did the Maya deal with pain—and malpractice? How did they keep their dentitions healthy, functioning, and beautiful? What were the relationships among gender, social identity, and particular dental-modification choices? Addressing these and other issues, Ancient Maya Teeth reveals how dental-modification customs shifted over the centuries, indexing other significant developments in Mayan cultural history. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose new book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/latin-american-studies

Beekeeping Today Podcast Shorts brings you a quick dive into the latest buzz in beekeeping. In this first special episode, we welcome Dr. Humberto Boncristiani of Inside The Hive TV to discuss the alarming commercial colony losses reported this season. With beekeepers across the country facing unexpected die-offs, Humberto shares insights from his investigations, his conversations with industry experts like Blake Shook, and what beekeepers should watch for as the situation unfolds. Is this Colony Collapse Disorder all over again? What role might weather, pathogens, and management practices play? Humberto unpacks the factors contributing to these losses and offers a critical reminder: in times of crisis, beekeepers must seek reliable information, avoid knee-jerk reactions, and keep collecting data. Tune in for a timely and candid discussion about what's happening in the field, the challenges of understanding large-scale colony losses, and how beekeepers can stay informed. Links & Resources: Watch Inside The Hive TV on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@InsideTheHiveTV Subscribe to Humberto's Newsletter: https://www.insidethehive.tv/newsletters/inside-the-hive-tv-newsletter Brought to you by Betterbee – your partners in better beekeeping.   Copyright © 2025 by Growing Planet Media, LLC     ______________ Betterbee is the presenting sponsor of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Betterbee's mission is to support every beekeeper with excellent customer service, continued education and quality equipment. From their colorful and informative catalog to their support of beekeeper educational activities, including this podcast series, Betterbee truly is Beekeepers Serving Beekeepers. See for yourself at www.betterbee.com This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global offers a variety of standard and custom patties. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode!  Thanks to Bee Smart Designs as a sponsor of this podcast! Bee Smart Designs is the creator of innovative, modular and interchangeable hive systems made in the USA using recycled and American sourced materials. Bee Smart Designs - Simply better beekeeping for the modern beekeeper. Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about their line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com Thanks for Northern Bee Books for their support. Northern Bee Books is the publisher of bee books available worldwide from their website or from Amazon and bookstores everywhere. They are also the publishers of The Beekeepers Quarterly and Natural Bee Husbandry. _______________ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com Thank you for listening!  Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Faraday by BeGun; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; A Fresh New Start by Pete Morse; Wedding Day by Boomer; Christmas Avenue by Immersive Music; Red Jack Blues by Daniel Hart; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott. Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC Copyright © 2025 by Growing Planet Media, LLC

After her SciFri internship 20 years ago, Flora went on to become a beloved science journalist, video producer, and podcaster. Now she's back! Also, several different fires are causing extreme damage in the Los Angeles area. Strong Santa Ana winds are one factor behind their rapid spread.Science Friday Now Has Two Hosts: Meet Flora Lichtman!Big news! Science Friday now has two hosts—Ira Flatow, the program's founder, and veteran science journalist Flora Lichtman. Going forward, you'll hear both of them regularly on the air and on our podcast. Flora joins Ira to introduce herself and talk about her background, from her start as an intern at Science Friday 20 years ago to her role as a video producer, then a writer for Bill Nye, and as creator of the podcast “Every Little Thing.”Los Angeles Wildfires Burn For Days, Stoked By Santa Ana WindsThis week, the Los Angeles area has been battered by at least five separate wildfires. Tens of thousands of acres have burned, and thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes. Fire experts had warned on January 2 that conditions were ideal for wildfires in parts of Southern California. One factor that has helped these fires spread rapidly? Unusually strong Santa Ana winds.On the other side of the country, Winter Storm Blair has caused freezing temperatures and up to a foot of snow across the Midwest and up into the East Coast, putting more than 60 million people under weather alerts.Joining Ira Flatow to discuss these and other top stories of the week is Umair Irfan, science correspondent at Vox, based in Washington, D.C.Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.