MachineGenes

@ohhanxiety It's 'Hope'.

SO FAR NO ONE HAS FOUND THE WORD IN THE BOX

@McKiki18 @StuartHumphryes The British introduced khaki camouflage during the Boer War, and had already deployed it at the beginning of WWI. The French Army initially had a tradition of their uniforms always being composed of blue, white and red, which became a handicap.

@StuartHumphryes Camouflage is a French word. Actually the gov asked artists during WWI to design cloth for camouflage.

Not a re-enactment; not a movie scene, this is WWI war-photography at its most immediate. I've cleaned-up this remarkable auctochrome by Stéphane Pessat, taken 110 years ago on Saturday 24th July 1915. It depicts French soldiers from the 98th battalion at an artillery observation post in the trenches at Les Loges, near Conchy les Pots, France. It is original colour, not colourised.

@elonmusk Think of an F-35 pilot as a fox hunter on a horse, riding with hounds (the drones). As hounds in a fox hunt, drones do most of the fighting, but the F-35 provides C2 oversight for complex combat, using a human pilot teamed with AI. Not obsolete, merely retasked.

@elonmusk In the era of machine-intelligent EW, the era of the ‘tethered’ drone (remotely piloted) will soon end. The answer is not fully-autonomous drones (for a number of reasons) but partially-autonomous drones flying into combat with a human handler nearby for when EW gets hard.

Future wars are all about drones & hypersonic missiles. Fighter jets piloted by humans will be destroyed very quickly.

@minna_alander In English, please? The website’s dual language mode doesn’t seem to work, and this article is too important for my schoolboy-era German…

Check out my latest article: Fabulous end to a complicated week... linkedin.com/pulse/fabulous… via @LinkedIn

@CultureExploreX @culturaltutor It’s worth noting that Champollion’s breakthrough was itself dependent on an insight of the British physicist Thomas Young, who first realised that the cartouche in hieroglyphics contained names of pharaohs and other relevant people. Champollion never gave Young credit for this.

The Rosetta stone itself has a fascinating history. It was not originally discovered intact. The artifact was found broken and in several pieces by French soldiers in 1799 during Napoleon's campaign in Egypt. After the British defeated the French in Egypt, the stone was handed over to British forces under the terms of the Treaty of Alexandria in 1801. It has since been housed in the British Museum.

The Rosetta Stone was discovered exactly 225 years ago today — inside the wall of an old fortress that was being demolished. This is the strange story of the stone that brought Ancient Egypt back to life...

@thinkingwest The obvious omission was the Duke of Marlborough, who along with Frederick the Great were peer- comparable to Napoleon himself. Another obvious one is Oliver Cromwell and his New Model Army.

You become who you admire. Napoleon encouraged his officers to study the greatest military commanders of all time for this very reason. Heres his list: 1. Alexander the Great 2. Julius Caesar 3. Hannibal Barca 4. Turenne 5. Frederick the Great 6. Gustavus Adolphus 7. Eugene of Savoy Who’d he leave off?

@culturaltutor English Interregnum (Commonwealth of England + Protectorate) had a national flag before 1660. Predates Union Jack+ Netherlands.

Before that flags had only really been common at sea and in war, in both cases for identification. Thus many modern flags originate in military banners or naval ensigns. Both the Union Jack and the US flag were ensigns before becoming national flags.

Why are so many flags red, white, and blue? It all started 452 years ago in the Netherlands...

@culturaltutor I’m afraid this is false. The flags of the Interregnum of England (the English republic) included red, white and blue national flags (denoting England + Scotland). Some variants also included Ireland. These were formal national flags and they ended at the Restoration in 1660.

In any case, the world's first red, white, and blue flag was adopted in 1660 by the Dutch Republic. It originated in the Prince's Flag (featuring orange rather than red) which had been created in 1572 — while the Netherlands was fighting for independence from Habsburg Spain.

@mpwarwick Actually HMAS Sydney, like the Australian Imperial Force, did regard itself as ‘British’ in WWII. The modern use of the word ‘British’— being restricted to the United Kingdom— is technically an anachronism when applied to WWI and WWII forces.

Dreadnought to Vanguard - the 59 'Big Gun' British Battleships and Battle Cruisers - 1906 to 1946. (Including HMAS Australia, technically not British of course!)

@newmodelapathy @CalumDouglas1 Because Churchill’s claim to fame rests on far more than his fondness for turreted fighters. Agreed Chamberlain deserved far more credit than he got re rearmament— a point Churchill made at Chamberlain’s death. But Churchill on the back benches was the gadfly pushing rearmament.

@CalumDouglas1 And one of those visionaries was the much derided Chamberlain,whereas Churchill was one who favoured the twin engined turreted models. Yet it's Churchill whom posterity lauds.

If you ever think that Hitler could never have invaded England and defeated the RAF, actually reading the Air Ministry files from the early to mid 30s will wipe the smile off your face. A small handful of visionaries saved us from imbecility so profound you will be better placed

@vcdgf555 Or simply JAUKCUS? Rhymes with caucus…

Ask your doctor if CANJAUKUS is right for you.

@jpwarchaeology Bottom line: actually try wielding a foil or sabre on a spiral staircase, either by itself or with a shield. And you'll see for yourself the difference imposed by the spiral. Given that knifework is closely related to rapierwork, this remains true even for tight spirals!

@jpwarchaeology For example, once projectile weapons (crossbows and then muskets) became widely available and had improved sufficiently, most people might be expected to widen the staircases to enable them to be brought to bear, even if this reduces the effectiveness of the spiral for swordsmen.

In June 2022 I stood in the Mortimer Tower at Ludlow Castle for less than 5 minutes & overheard 6 different people relaying the myth that it turned clockwise to advantage right-handed defenders. I suspect that whatever I write, that story may never die... …iskeleheritage.triskelepublishing.com/mediaeval-myth…