I wonder if other foods might get butterflied away in the process. An example would be Nashville Hot Chicken. It was supposedly created in the 1920s as a revenge dish for a cheating womanizer, then started to be sold to the public in the 30s, but didn't become Nashville's signature dish until 2008-2009ish when the mayor of Nashville, who was a regular customer, decided to start a Hot Chicken festival, basically signal boosting the dish. I figure it might be butterflied because the dish was created in the black community, and the conditions to create the dish might have changed if earlier pushes for civil rights changed thing up for Nashville's black community. Or at least change the man's life that he never met the girl who would feed him a spiced-up fried chicken as revenge for his late night womanizing. Then again, his normal career was a pig farmer, with selling hot chicken being a side business as I understand it.
On flipside, we might be seeing earlier introduction of modern Asian cuisine, not just Taiwanese/Chinese. Korean and Japanese food might be making global pushes. Perhaps term ramen will be defined by the noodle soups served in shops, not the cheap instant noodle packages. And KFC will stand for Korean Fried Chicken, not Kentucky.
Spam originated in 1937 to get more money out of badly-selling pork shoulders and owes its ongoing life to WW2. By the time 1937 comes around a second time Taiwan will not only have to have long established its own canned meat production at scale but pork slaughter and cutting processes brought back from the future would have made shoulder sales less problematic.
So Spam would not be invented. A Spam-like product of Chinese origin would already have ursurped that position.
I guess the world war would spread it around the world again.
Why would there be a "spam like product" when spam is a product that Taiwan is already familiar enough with to have homegrown recipes for? Taiwanese who have a hankering for spam could just go make their own spam, it probably woundn't be hard and it's not like they are respecting IPs.
Hi guys new poster and I gonna say I love this tl and I hope I could contribute it somehow in omakes, and I'm gonna ask op and any people here who has more historical knowledge here about what happened to the Osage murders now in this tl if it was butterflies away, I only know this due to this movie.
And since the movie is released in 2023, it wouldn't be here but I hope that the US in this tl has enough information from Taiwan about it to prevent, since the capone family are now "legit" in the liquor business and no prohibition...
And also will this movie be in downtime theaters for Americans to see? Especially the writer, Nella Larsen, who may or may not written her novel that got turn in this adaption and I hope she would at least see her works (who may or may not yet written yet like Tolkien) in the screens.
Oh and how can I forget professor Marston and his wives who created wonderwoman, especially if they saw the movies both about their lives and about the character itself, and of course Stan Lee himself and Steve ditko who are teens now into I thinks?
Alo what would the downtimers think of the cyberpunk genre like the matrix, Johnny mnenomotic, bladerunner, video drove and robocop?
And I hope they also see this series since it was it 2020, plus the south Africans and especially the white ones and more importantly the brits would have introspection here since it's a British novel and production from their lost history and I personally love this series.....
And last but not least, what do you guys think of what happened future stars like Hedy Lamarr, Josephine baker and Bruce Lee (also is Lee born now in this tl and if so how old?) now in this tl? I like to think they would be super famous in this China now than in otl especially for Lamarr that she might become scientist with here invention with the piano guy that helped her. And don't forget Nikola tesla, what happens to him ittl, Scott Fitzgerald of the great Gatsby fame who I hope he and his wife saw the movie version starring Leo decaprio and of course any rand with her life story in movies starring Helen Mirren (who might not be born or is a kid at this time) and especially Randy's objectivism being satirized in game like bioshock (added question, what do you guys think the American would react and their hot takes on bioshock infinite, especially since it criticizes manifest destiny and white man's burden theory for them?), and really lastly what happened to Albert Einstein, Oppenheimer and Picasso themselves in their respective lives? Especially Picasso in Spain since it now goes into civil war again like the lost history?
And also what happened to the passengers of the now butterflies titanic sinking and how did they cope with it? Must be traumatic for them before the great war ittl...
Hopefully you guys especially op would have the time to answer these questions, thanks....
Why would there be a "spam like product" when spam is a product that Taiwan is already familiar enough with to have homegrown recipes for? Taiwanese who have a hankering for spam could just go make their own spam, it probably woundn't be hard and it's not like they are respecting IPs.
Because in the rest of the world the brand is NOT known. You have no guarantee that it's the taiwanese licence holder of the Spam brand (and now de-facto owners of it) are the ones that will lead the expansion into the new markets and any competitor has no reason to not establish their own brand first.
Hi guys new poster and I gonna say I love this tl and I hope I could contribute it somehow in omakes, and I'm gonna ask op and any people here who has more historical knowledge here about what happened to the Osage murders now in this tl if it was butterflies away, I only know this due to this movie.
And since the movie is released in 2023, it wouldn't be here but I hope that the US in this tl has enough information from Taiwan about it to prevent, since the capone family are now "legit" in the liquor business and no prohibition...
And also will this movie be in downtime theaters for Americans to see? Especially the writer, Nella Larsen, who may or may not written her novel that got turn in this adaption and I hope she would at least see her works (who may or may not yet written yet like Tolkien) in the screens.
Oh and how can I forget professor Marston and his wives who created wonderwoman, especially if they saw the movies both about their lives and about the character itself, and of course Stan Lee himself and Steve ditko who are teens now into I thinks?
Alo what would the downtimers think of the cyberpunk genre like the matrix, Johnny mnenomotic, bladerunner, video drove and robocop?
And I hope they also see this series since it was it 2020, plus the south Africans and especially the white ones and more importantly the brits would have introspection here since it's a British novel and production from their lost history and I personally love this series.....
And last but not least, what do you guys think of what happened future stars like Hedy Lamarr, Josephine baker and Bruce Lee (also is Lee born now in this tl and if so how old?) now in this tl? I like to think they would be super famous in this China now than in otl especially for Lamarr that she might become scientist with here invention with the piano guy that helped her. And don't forget Nikola tesla, what happens to him ittl, Scott Fitzgerald of the great Gatsby fame who I hope he and his wife saw the movie version starring Leo decaprio and of course any rand with her life story in movies starring Helen Mirren (who might not be born or is a kid at this time) and especially Randy's objectivism being satirized in game like bioshock (added question, what do you guys think the American would react and their hot takes on bioshock infinite, especially since it criticizes manifest destiny and white man's burden theory for them?), and really lastly what happened to Albert Einstein, Oppenheimer and Picasso themselves in their respective lives? Especially Picasso in Spain since it now goes into civil war again like the lost history?
And also what happened to the passengers of the now butterflies titanic sinking and how did they cope with it? Must be traumatic for them before the great war ittl...
Hopefully you guys especially op would have the time to answer these questions, thanks....
1. The Osage murders were butterflied away due to a combination of Bureau of Investigation having forewarning, with Director Bielaski taking a special in preventing the murders despite Teddy Roosevelt's apathy.
2. Unfortunately, Passing will not be in theaters, as it released a year after the island was sent back in time.
3. Stan Lee himself showed up in a recent chapter, where watching the MCU movies inspired him to get into the genre.
4. Marston, like many others, probably learned of his work, which would affect his life's path. In his case, the re-evaluation of the polygraph is likely to push him towards writing.
His own stances are likely to contribute to an earlier instance of second and third wave feminism. His stances on rehabilitative justice is likely to lead to an earlier prison reform movement as well.
5. Cyberpunk is basically a cautionary genre about modern technology and how humanity interacts with it. The socialists would see it as an example of the endgame of capitalism, while the capitalists would see it as something to avoid.
6. Noughts and Crosses would fit in with the ever-present alternate history genre, which is part of the mainstream on account of the time traveling island.
Like many examples of alternate history, such as Churchill's Twenty Years' Difference, the genre is known for its social commentary.
7. As for the rest… Oppenheimer teaches at Cal Tech, Einstein teaches in Switzerland, F. Scott Fitzgerald does know about his book's success in the Lost History, Ayn Rand is seen as a hypocrite (and people make memes about how Galt's Gulch would be overrun by trash-eating bears), Picasso is one of the Spanish representatives to the Socialist Internationale, the Lost History means Tesla gets the last laugh over Edison, Hedy Lamarr and Josephine Baker are both actresses (and Baker is part of the growing Civil Rights movement), while Bruce Lee won't be born for another few years.
Why would there be a "spam like product" when spam is a product that Taiwan is already familiar enough with to have homegrown recipes for? Taiwanese who have a hankering for spam could just go make their own spam, it probably woundn't be hard and it's not like they are respecting IPs.
Because in the rest of the world the brand is NOT known. You have no guarantee that it's the taiwanese licence holder of the Spam brand (and now de-facto owners of it) are the ones that will lead the expansion into the new markets and any competitor has no reason to not establish their own brand first.
As in, brand-name Spam that spread through China during the Revolution, the rest of China's allies who weren't Muslim as part of food aid and trade, and the rest of the world that isn't Muslim during the Great War.
Basically, they didn't really bother to change the labels, it's compact, easy to cook, and it's pretty good at maintaining its freshness without refrigeration.
Heck, food scientists even managed to develop a chicken variation, for the Hindu and Muslim markets. And of course, there are regional flavors, such as Tocino-flavored Spam from the Philippines.
If you want to get technical, the word "Spam" is basically associated with canned compacted meat as a whole, kind of like how "Google" is associated with search engines.
1. The Osage murders were butterflied away due to a combination of Bureau of Investigation having forewarning, with Director Bielaski taking a special in preventing the murders despite Teddy Roosevelt's apathy.
2. Unfortunately, Passing will not be in theaters, as it released a year after the island was sent back in time.
3. Stan Lee himself showed up in a recent chapter, where watching the MCU movies inspired him to get into the genre.
4. Marston, like many others, probably learned of his work, which would affect his life's path. In his case, the re-evaluation of the polygraph is likely to push him towards writing.
His own stances are likely to contribute to an earlier instance of second and third wave feminism. His stances on rehabilitative justice is likely to lead to an earlier prison reform movement as well.
5. Cyberpunk is basically a cautionary genre about modern technology and how humanity interacts with it. The socialists would see it as an example of the endgame of capitalism, while the capitalists would see it as something to avoid.
6. Noughts and Crosses would fit in with the ever-present alternate history genre, which is part of the mainstream on account of the time traveling island.
Like many examples of alternate history, such as Churchill's Twenty Years' Difference, the genre is known for its social commentary.
7. As for the rest… Oppenheimer teaches at Cal Tech, Einstein teaches in Switzerland, F. Scott Fitzgerald does know about his book's success in the Lost History, Ayn Rand is seen as a hypocrite (and people make memes about how Galt's Gulch would be overrun by trash-eating bears), Picasso is one of the Spanish representatives to the Socialist Internationale, the Lost History means Tesla gets the last laugh over Edison, Hedy Lamarr and Josephine Baker are both actresses (and Baker is part of the growing Civil Rights movement), while Bruce Lee won't be born for another few years.
Awesome man and thanks a lot for replying for my questions, but I think you missed some spots here, from the titanic passengers who now might learned about the cruise ship sinking, from the top fat cats at white star, to the common people who might learned about the sinking from Google, (hell they might learned about it through the movie titanic if they saw it in the theaters and maybe try to sue white star for the insufficient life boats, and subpar materials in making the cruise ship, the kids and the romantics would definitely love Jack and rose's story)...
To the games bioshock and bioshock infinite and the satire it might bring to the now changed 1930s America....
And I might add a few from Julie Child and her now fame in the tv cooking business (hell she might learned of lost history's Gordon ramsay and his style of presentation), coco chanel and her now changed life (what happens to her now she and the rest of France and the world now learned of her now possible nazi affiliations on the lost history?) And lastly Anne frank, Vladimir Nabokov, Issac Clarke and Robert heinlein, how would they now that these guys are now famous like Tolkien, with their works are now adapted in movies, especially kid Anne frank, who her parents might learned of her fame from her diaries and death? And also I almost forgot musicals like Chicago might be in theaters now hopefully and American's reaction to it especially the chick who wrote the play version (or Hollywood now might try to adapt the movie a star is born especially seeing the latest 2018 version), what happens to young Elvis, Marilyn monroe, jimi hendrix, James Dean, Clint Eastwood, John Wayne and Sidney poitier, (hope Sidney and especially John Wayne might try to create maybe even together a western inspired by lost history's spaghetti westerns, red dead redemption and Tarantino movies like Django and the hateful eight )...
And hopefully Lovecraft, tolkein the other writers who I listed above might learned and played videogames especially violent ones like gta v, mk 11 to 9, red dead 1 and 2 with undead rising, resident evil 2 remake and fromsolfware games (I like to imagine that Lovecraft is playing souls borne games especially bloodbornes for writing material or watching movies like get out, us, a quiet place, birdbox, the purge, movie adaptations of his works, ex machina and midsomar)....
that's all I can say man and thanks for the reply and I hope you don't get bored writing this story, since I like it and getting my isot fix while the California in 1850s and Yankee marine in the ARW isots are not yet updating their threads.....
Rio De Janeiro, Rio De Janeiro State, Brazil, 20 February 1937
(Rio De Janeiro, Brazil)
"Mail for you," Ana da Silva told her husband as he walked in. "Another flier from the Knights."
"I thought I told them to stop mailing them to us," Henrique sighed, before looking at the symbol. "Multiple times."
"I think they're mailing them to everyone. Maybe one day, they'll be smart enough to mail one to somebody who isn't Catholic."
"The day that Hell freezes over, Ana. Where the Hell do they get these, anyways? This is the third one this week!"
"Print shop?" Her husband shrugged. "These fliers are cheap to print, so I guess they just send it to everyone."
"I get that," he figured, before pulling out his lighter. "So, who's the rich idiot who's paying for this?"
Ford Motor Company, Dearborn, Michigan, United States of America, 1 March 1937
(Ford Dearborn Plant)
As far as business went… Well, it was still going?
Henry Ford knew that it would never compare to his alternate self's success, but he'd managed to maintain at least some market share for himself in the Americas.
Even if those Dodge bastards sold out to the Chinese.
He'd never forgive them for what they did. The Model T had been the quintessential American car until those damned traitors put an American emblem on a Chinese vehicle. How the Hell was he supposed to compete with a hundred years of technology?
The short answer was that he couldn't.
Dodge (and by extension, the Asiatics) had taken the American motor industry by storm. Sales for the Model T had practically dried up overnight, and he'd needed to scrape every dollar he could to get the Model F pickup truck onto the market and carve out a niche for himself.
And that was before the socialists started getting into government. Unleaded gas he could understand, but they were practically kneecapping car infrastructure in favor of bicycles, buses, and trains. He'd built his fair share of buses, but they paled in comparison to the Model T's former success.
That was how he ended up here, as just one of the manufacturers in an industry he'd once dominated. All because that fucking island had to get sent back through an act of God.
His phone rang, breaking his stupor.
"Call for you, Mr. Ford. It's from a… Mr. Welch? Says he only wants to talk to you."
"Send it through," he answered, before the line connected. "Robert. Good to hear from you."
"Likewise, Henry. My men will be dropping off the 'parts' for you in a few hours. How soon can they get to where they're needed?"
Ford knew what the candy magnate meant. "Parts" meant money, and 'get them to where they're needed' meant laundering them through his businesses so they could fund the Knights. It was a bold plan, but it was worth the risk.
"Within a few hours," Ford promised, "Now, this isn't just a social call, is it?"
"Hardly. Bilbo's asking for more money."
"Bilbo's always asking for more money. You tell that hick bastard that he's going to have to fundraise from other people. That's what Talmadge does, and you don't see him complaining!"
"Talmadge has Georgia under his thumb. Bilbo doesn't, and Harrison's been turning the planters against him, ever since he founded the True Patriots."
"No wonder he keeps asking me to cut him a check," Ford muttered. "Fine. But you tell him to start pressing his base for donations, or find some other way to keep him funded."
"Of course," said the chocolatier. "I have to go to a meeting. Take care, Henry."
"You too, Robert," Ford finished, before putting the phone down.
At least something's going right for once.
Counterintelligence Service Headquarters, Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire, 10 April 1937
(Headquarters of the Counterintelligence Service)
Looking back, they couldn't call it the Okhrana. Not after all that Diterikhs had done all those years ago.
Director Sergey Votsekhovsky knew that, and he was happy to have had minimal, if any, part in that madness. He'd been in the Army, but a post all the way in Chita kept him away from the machinations of Saint Petersburg and Moscow.
At least it had, until the Counterintelligence Service was formed. General Wrangel needed men he could trust, and he fit the bill. Of course, said bill was basically, "Competent and not a Diterikhs supporter," but Votsekhovsky managed to be both.
His career after that had been… interesting, to say the least. Spying on his fellow soldiers was a loathsome task, but something had to be done, lest DIterikhs and Denikin finish running the nation into the ground. Suspects were investigated, the guilty were purged, and he was promoted to Deputy Director under Bulak-Balachowicz for his accomplishments.
That was all years and a world war ago. These days, he had a single focus on his mind:
The Black Hundreds.
Votsekhovsky thought they'd been purged completely after Diterikhs' fall. It was a fair assessment, if he was being honest, seeing that he'd personally overseen the investigation and prosecutions. Last he'd heard about the originals, they were either dead in a ditch or rotting in a jail cell for treason during the Great War.
Which means they are likely a "copycat," a self-proclaimed successor. Though it is likely that they have the same ideology as the originals.
Names, though. I need names.
The reports he'd received were… troubling, to say the least. While the original Black Hundreds would march through Odessa, this new organization seemed to be more-secretive. Marches would still occur, but the members would wear masks and disperse behind closed doors.
There were sympathizers, though. Those who may or may not be members, but they would speak highly of the Black Hundreds that they might as well be.
They probably are members, though. I would be more surprised if they were not.
So Votsekhovsky looked through the files his men had given him, and eventually he'd settled on a name.
Boris Lvovich Brasov. The Tsar's former spokesman, he is currently a known media personality. A former Lieutenant during the Great War, he is a known antisemite and Diterikhs apologist.
His continued survival can be attributed to his civilian status when DIterikhs' supporters were purged from the military.
The Georgia governor is yet another defection to the newly-founded "True Patriot Party of the United States of America," or "True Patriots or short." The governor made this statement today in Atlanta, following the Brandeis Court's ruling in Hu v. Oregon that anti-miscegenation laws violated the Equal Protection, RIght to Privacy, and Due Process clauses of the Constitution.
Citing "Irreparable ideological agreements with Washington," the Governor of Georgia announced that he was "left with no other option but to join the True Patriots."
Talmadge is another in a line of conservative-leaning politicians who has left to join Senator Theodore G. Bilbo's new political party that he has founded this year. Other notable politicians include Senator Bilbo himself, as well as former Farmer-Labor Representative Ernest Lundeen of Minnesota, and Representative James Eastland of Mississippi
NBC Nightly News, 5 May 1937
REAGAN: Good evening and welcome to NBC Nightly News. I am your host, Ronald Reagan. Our top story tonight is the foiling of an "Operation Black Cat" by the Bureau of Investigation.
REAGAN: This afternoon, Bureau Director Eliot Ness announced an impromptu press conference at the Department of Justice.
(Screen cuts to a playback of Ness' press conference)
NESS: Today, I am pleased to announce that Bureau of Intelligence agents have foiled a plot by the Knights of the Golden Circle to seize several islands in the Caribbean Federation.This plan, referred to internally as "Operation Black Cat," involved the accumulation of funds, weapons, and manpower that would be transported from Miami to Guantanamo, after which the members of the KGC would be deployed to their staging areas throughout the Antilles.
NESS: While much information is still classified, we have apprehended several suspects involved in the process. As per Bureau policy, we will not be releasing names at this time.
(Camera cuts back to Reagan)
REAGAN: "Operation Black Cat" is just one of what are several suspected plots by the terrorist organization. The most prominent of which, as our viewers may recall, was the attempted kidnapping of Senator Smedley Butler in early 1935. In response to this development, Senator Butler, as Vice Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, released a statement.
(Camera cuts to Butler at the Capitol Building)
BUTLER: It is no surprise that this organization would stoop so low as to attempt an outright coup to build a white supremacist Mecca in the Caribbean. These men are authoritarians, would-be dictators who would have been little better than petty kings without titles. And while my colleagues in the True Patriots of America might hold them up as heroes, make no mistake that these men would be no better than the very tyrants our nation rebelled against.
(Camera cuts back to Reagan)
REAGAN: So far, the KGC have not released a statement either confirming or denying their involvement in Operation Black Cat.
"The RISE of Technocratic Socialist Economics," by Kim Mun-Hee, Popular Science June 1925
It has been five years since France began using its Réseau International de Simulation Économique (Internationale Economic Simulation Network). What does it have to show for it?
Well, for starters, one could look at the average 4.1% GDP growth per quarter. One could argue that such metrics are irrelevant in a socialist economy, it is a good metric for comparing the amount of goods and services produced. Furthermore, this is a full percentage point above its economic growth before its implementation.
Then there is the issue of food waste. Since the implementation of RISE, food waste has dropped a staggering 25% across the board. Since RISE's implementation, economic planners have been able to implement a "Just-Enough-In-Time" inventory system while minimizing the risk of supply shocks and mitigating shortages through early detection functions.
In short, RISE allows producers and manufacturers to maximize logistical productivity while minimizing waste. Food that would otherwise be wasted is reallocated by RISE towards the National Stockpile Program, which prepares, preserves, stores, and later distributes the otherwise-wasted food products for the government's Baseline Nutritional Program and aid.
Then there is the issue of quality of life. While the French socialist is far from the fabled "Fully-Automated Luxury Gay Space Capitalism," as online leftist circles like to call it, the rise of automation in machinery and optimization in logistics has led to a higher job satisfaction and lower stress levels during work hours.
Given these advantages of RISE, it is no surprise that the system is being expanded throughout Western Europe, with the German, Italian, Iberian, Irish, and British governments taking steps towards integration. French advisors have noted that this will be a multi-year process, but have also expressed optimism at their fellow socialists' interest in the technocratic network.
Elysee has announced that RISE will also be expanding its network to Africa. As part of the French Republic, West Africa is the primary source for much of the Republic's raw materials, and the lack of optimization in Africa has been a major bottleneck in RISE's efficiency calculations.
Of course, this is all in the future. Right now, RISE is revolutionizing industry and logistics, and it might very well be the future of socialist economics. The human worker may not be fully-removed from the economic equations, but RISE has greatly eased their burdens over the last half-decade.
Cape Town, Republic of South Africa, 9 July 1937
(Cape Town, South Africa)
It had taken half a decade, putting down an insurrection of armed racists, and the actual construction process, but it was done.
Finally, Thembo Makola could sit back and enjoy the fruits of his labor. Of course, said fruits of his labor were spreadsheets, but he would take a bit of boredom over the constant worry that some Holdout would take potshots at the construction crews.
They didn't, for the most part, and the ones that did were quickly killed by counter-snipers and suicide drones, but the paranoia was always there.
It turns out work is slower when there's the constant fear of somebody shooting you with a sniper rifle.
That was all in the past, though. Even then, work had picked up as the Holdouts' resistance died down. Unsurprisingly, the fear of getting shot at by a racist with a sniper rifle died down when the racists with sniper rifles died out or were deported.
And now? Now, he could deal with more pressing matters, like making the trains run on time.
That wasn't a hyperbole. As an employee of the Ministry of Transportation, his literal job was making sure the trains ran on time, and he'd taken to it well.
It wasn't like we had much of a choice. Most people here can't afford their own car, so trains were our only option until the roads were paved.
Even then, I'll still take a train over a car. I mean, if I'm going to spend eight hours making them run on time, the least I can get is not having to drive myself home every night.
Nouakchott, Mauritania, French Republic, 12 August 1937
(Nouakchott, French Mauritania)
"When they said that we would fight to free people from their chains," Corporal Antoine Reval thought aloud, "I didn't think we would literally be freeing people from their chains."
"There's only so much that education, socialism, and having the Caliph discredit an interpretation that being a good slave will get you into Heaven," Sergeant Henri Alain muttered, before handing him a rifle. "Sometimes, you have to solve your problems with violence."
It made enough sense to Antoine. Sure, a socialist state meant that escaped slaves would have a life after slavery where their needs would be met. And yes, educating people showed them that a life outside of slavery was not only possible, but that slavery was not the natural order of things.
And it goes without saying that having a Caliph calling bullshit on them using Islam to justify it sure helped a lot.
But at the end of the day, most slaves stayed slaves because it was almost impossible to escape to safety when you, your slaver, and your enslaved family were in the middle of nowhere. In a desert.
That was where men like him and Henri came in.
If the anti-slavery laws would not be enforced out in the desert, then soldiers like them would go into the desert and free those slaves in person.
Via helicopter.
With guns.
Which was exactly what they intended to do, once they walked into the hangar.
"Ready to go?" Sergeant Ismail Babana asked the two men, "Helicopter's ready when you are."
"Team should be prepped and ready in thirty, Ismail," Alain promised, "Once they're loaded, Operation John Brown is a go."
Ishigaki Military Base, Ishigaki, Taiwan, Republic of China, 30 September 1937
(Ishigaki Harbor)
Basic training had been something. It wasn't necessarily hard, per se, but Chen Lin was a two-way player who trained to be the best hitter and pitcher he could be.
Still, it was different. More shooting and getting tear-gassed, and less pitching.
Similar amount of cardio, though.
That was all in the past two months, though. As of now, he was a Private First Class in the Republic of China Marine Corps.
Sure, that might be because he'd been a National Flower Class Scout when he was a kid, but he'd made it through basic training, and he was damned proud of it.
"So," Lin asked his family, "How do I look?"
"Like your father, when I met him," his mother recalled. "But taller."
"And not as handsome," the man himself added. "So no tank for you."
"Baba, I'm working in the motor pool," Lin promised, "Just like you used to."
"I thought you were a tanker," his sister Morgan recalled. "Or was it logistics?"
"All of the above," Lin's old man sighed, "And trainer, too, because we were that hard-up for manpower."
'Welcome to the future, old man."
"Nervous?"
"Yeah. No turning back, going to college, then serving as an officer, is there?" His father shook his head. "But yeah, I think I'm ready. You?"
"First time you two'll be away from home," Michael said, turning so he could see both of his uniformed children. "Plus, I don't like the idea of you two being in harm's way."
"Conscripts can't be deployed into warzones unless they volunteer," Morgan pointed out. "We'll be fine."
"Yeah, I know," the old man relented. "You two are my kids, so I know you'll be brave and damned good at whatever it is you do."
"You know I'm here too," the twins' mother chimed in. "Right?"
"...Right. Sorry, dear. Let me rephrase that: You two are our kids, so I know you'll be brave, damned good at whatever it is you do, and smart enough not to ram a barge into the coast because we ran out of landing craft."
Aleksandrovsk, Yekaterinoslav Governorate, 31 October 1937
(Outskirts of Aleksandrovsk)
Mykhailo Kurylenko was a simple administrator, whose main concern for the last decade or so had been maximizing crop yields. He'd gotten quite good at it, if the sharp rise in his metrics was anything to go by. Or to put it another way, "Crop yields going up" was good, and "Infant mortality going down," was even better.
Of course, "Our convoys keep getting shot up by bandits," had thrown a wrench into things, but that was hardly the most-pressing concern right now.
Because fifteen minutes ago, a group of armed men started opening fire on the local commune. They didn't even say anything; just drove up in a few trucks and started shooting everyone.
He didn't know who they were or what they wanted, and if he was being honest, he didn't fucking care. These were armed men who wanted nothing more than to kill him, his comrades, and the burn their commune to the ground.
Scratch that. They had killed his comrades, and he'd be damned if they did the same to him.
"Reloading!" he shouted, before replacing the magazine on his rifle. He still knew how to shoot from his Army days, but that had been over a decade ago. "Not as easy as shooting unarmed convoys, now is it, assholes?!"
From the way those men were hiding behind the pickup trucks, Mykhailo was fairly certain that the answer was a resounding "No."
"Get down!" Danylo shouted, before reloading his own rifle. "Who the fuck are these guys?"
"No idea! How many are left? A dozen?"
"Probably!" Danylo fired off a shot. "A dozen minus one! See that building over there?""
"The radio tower? You mean the one across a hundred meters of open ground with no cover in sight?"
"Do you have any better ideas?" Which, if Mykhailo was being honest, he probably didn't. Right now, the options were flanking or waiting for the mass of armed men to move in. "Well I do. See that fire extinguisher on that cart over there?"
"Yeah!" It was kind of hard not to, when it was a bright red canister next to a dead attacker. "What about it?"
"Think you can hit it?," Danylo asked him? One shot and a white explosion later answered for him. "Thanks."
"Hey, what about the rest of us?"
"Keep them distracted!"
Well, not like we can do anything else. This is not what I had planned for today.
I'm an accountant, for pity's sake! I joined this commune to get away from this shit!
Not that it mattered much. These men were firing at them, so he kept firing back with the other members of his makeshift militia. That was all he could do, when moving would almost-certainly get him killed.
At least until the shooting died down on the other side a few minutes later. A quick peek up, and it was clear that Danylo had managed to flank them.
"They're dead, right?!"
"Yeah!" he shouted to the men and women next to him, "Cease fire!"
All that was left was to collect the wounded, the dead, and the equally-large number of dead on the attackers' side. Some were busy searching the bodies of the latter to see if there was anything they could use.
"Got something," one of the militia shouted, before running over to him. "These guys seem to be carrying some sort of medallion, Mykhailo. You ever seen anything like this?"
"Can't say I have." But just to be sure, he took a closer look. "The fuck is a 'Black Hundred?'"
The Elder Scrolls: Beyond Launches on Steam, insidegaming.com, 11 November 1937
(Early Alpha Render of Imperial City)
Today, the Skyrim and Beyond modding project announced the full release of its ambitious project. Based on the lost history's Beyond Skyrim mod for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, the project is based on an open-source version of the Skyrim base game, modified to include all the provinces of Tamriel.
This ambitious project originally started as a passion project following a renewed interest in the Elder Scrolls in the late 1920s. Fans of the fantasy genre, both Downtimer and Uptimer, first began the project as a worldbuilding project on a fan Discord server, but the rebirth of the fandom throughout the decade soon led to the formation of a game mod that quickly grew in scope.
"Being able to use the Creation Engine and the Creation Kit made this all possible," said Project Lead Fidel Arroyo, "That way, all of us new fans didn't have to build our own engine. That ease of use is something that has allowed us to quickly grow the modding scene until we decided to switch to a standalone release."
"The business of it all was the hardest part," he continued, "Going from a fan project to an official studio- Well, I guess we're a studio in all but name, was a headache. We're basically a co-op, so we had to find a way to work out who got paid and what for their efforts. I won't bore you with the details, but we have a whole charter written out that we have to agree to."
Despite a development structure that Arroyo half-jokingly admits is "held together with duct tape and chicken wire," the results speak for themselves. Beyond lets players travel through the entirety of Tamriel, from the mysterious Black Marshes to the deserts of Hammerfell in a way that makes you almost forget that it's based on a modified version of a decades-old game engine from the future.
When interviewed during the development process, team members would joke that they "wanted to do more than just releasing another Version of Skyrim." According to the Uptimer team members, it is an old joke referring to the number of platforms and re-releases of Skyrim on seemingly every platform imaginable to man.
The new locations, characters, voices, mechanics, and improved graphics made sure that Beyond is more than just an upgraded re-release. It is an ambitious experience by fans-turned-professionals who wanted it to be so much more.
"Who's Running in 1940," pbs.com, 20 December 1937
(The Capitol Building, Undergoing Renovations)
While it is too early to say what the national environment is (and some would say this is speculation), it is worth knowing who will succeed President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the White House.
There is the elephant (or should we say, "Donkey") in the room, that is Vice President Henry Wallace. A noted progressive, the Iowan is almost-certainly the frontrunner for the Democratic ticket. However, Senator Huey Long (D-LA) has announced his interest in running, while the conservative wing has floated Governor William H. Murray (D-OK) as a candidate to "Rein in Washington."
In an interesting dynamic, both Wallace and Long are backed by the regional branches of the Progressive Democrats, while the Conservative Democrats have rallied around the Oklahoman governor. Given the rivalry between the two progressives and recent gains by the conservative wing, it is likely the 1940 Primary will be hotly-contested.
The Republican frontrunners are similarly from their progressive and conservative wings, with progressive Senator Smedley D. Butler (R-PA) on the left. Butler, a known ally of the Roosevelt Administration's more-progressive policies, was nearly kidnapped by the Knights of the Golden Circle terrorist group less than two years ago, and he has proposed a hardline stance against his would-be kidnappers.
In contrast is Representative Robert Taft (R-OH), the Chair of the House Conservative Caucus. Taft, the son of the former Vice President during President Theodore Roosevelt's first two terms, has been called by many as "Charles Curtis Without The Baggage," for his isolationist foreign policy platform.
The Socialist Party has announced a "Coalition Campaign" with the Farmer-Labor Party, after the two's surprising success in the 1936 election. The left-wing alliance has agreed on a shared alliance of candidates, with names such as Governor Floyd B. Olson (FL-MN), Mayor Fiorello La Guardia (S-NY), Representative Norman Thomas (S-NY), Senator Elmer Benson (FL-MN), and Governor Upton Sinclair (S-CA) being floated.
The Socialist-Farmer-Labor Coalition has agreed to cooperate on a joint platform that will champion "Workers' Rights in Urban America, Farmer's Rights in Rural America, and the Common Man in All of America."
The fourth potential candidacy is the newly-founded "True Patriots of the United States of America," or "TPUSA" for short. Despite jokes about their name, the party has gained several notable members across the nation, including Senator Theodore G. Bilbo (TP-MS), Representative Ernest Lundeen (TP-MN), Representative James Eastland (TP-MS), and Governor Eugene Talmadge (TP-GA). While Bilbo, Talmadge, and Eastland are all known for leaving the Democratic Party after the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1932, Lundeen's membership added a firm anti-Asian foreign policy plank to the True Patriot platform.
In addition, other prominent members rumored to be interested in the 1940 ticket include the Christian leader Gerald L. K. Smith, and former President of the Chamber of Commerce Robert Welch Jr. Smith is noted for his vocal opposition to the Protestant "Tester" movement, while Welch has spent much of his newfound wealth on several political campaigns.
Of course, these are just the "Big Four" parties that are set to dominate the 1940 election. Smaller parties, such as the Union Nationale in Quebec and the African Return Party also intend to field candidates.
The Union Nationale is a Quebecois separatist party that has rejected the "Northern Realignment" under which Canadian parties allied themselves with their American counterparts, while the African Return Party advocates for the emigration of African Americans to West Africa.
The 1940 Presidential Election is three years away, but the big names have already thrown their hats in the ring, and they are expected to make their moves in the coming year before the Midterms.
Do we have equipment numbers (number of ships, jets, tanks, rifles etc) or types? It's been over 25ish years and I doubt the Taiwanese/Chinese are still using 40 year old Pattons or destroyers. Should we make a list?
Do we have equipment numbers (number of ships, jets, tanks, rifles etc) or types? It's been over 25ish years and I doubt the Taiwanese/Chinese are still using 40 year old Pattons or destroyers. Should we make a list?
I'll get to it eventually, but we're looking at upgraded versions of the Apache, Leopard, and that new multirole fighter that I think I discussed earlier.
Ships are likely to be upgraded versions of modern vessels, since the Zumwalt class kinda was underwhelming. Block upgrades for systems with enhanced electronic warfare suites.
New China is basically the America stand-in for this setting, so I'm usually going with "Large, and enough" for simplicity's sake (and because I honestly don't know how big is "enough").
So yeah, if you guys want to discuss and contribute, you're all more than welcome to.
The one thing I'm a stickler for is that everyone has AR-pattern rifles. Even the Russians.
Meaning little to no ak platforms?, man that's if it did, cuz that's venerable, timeless and rugged platform that stood the test of time, in the same vein as the m1911....
Meaning little to no ak platforms?, man that's if it did, cuz that's venerable, timeless and rugged platform that stood the test of time, in the same vein as the m1911....
Great news from Europe's socialist bloc; however, I hope the governments employing RISE are conscious of the fact that artificial intelligence is made possible by human intelligence, with the flaws of the latter often becoming the flaws of the former - if you program an AI to pursue GDP increase and that's it, such an AI is going to become even worse than the worst robber baron, for example, and no AI can, as of yet, include parameters such as the beauty of one's surroundings, or the quality of one's social life, into its values.
A modified AK that can accept 5.56 ammo (or even AR magazines, maybe other parts too if there are any that that makes any coherent sense for) would be an interesting concept though.
A modified AK that can accept 5.56 ammo (or even AR magazines, maybe other parts too if there are any that that makes any coherent sense for) would be an interesting concept though.
I think that's what the Polish Beryl rifle does. AK-style rifle that fired 5.56.
I'll be honest, convergent design is kinda an issue for in-story assault rifle design, though bullpups are still being developed by third party manufacturers as a possible replacement for the T91.
Great news from Europe's socialist bloc; however, I hope the governments employing RISE are conscious of the fact that artificial intelligence is made possible by human intelligence, with the flaws of the latter often becoming the flaws of the former - if you program an AI to pursue GDP increase and that's it, such an AI is going to become even worse than the worst robber baron, for example, and no AI can, as of yet, include parameters such as the beauty of one's surroundings, or the quality of one's social life, into its values.
In all likelihood, they do, if for no other reason than the Internationale not wanting people to think that socialism is only for "Godless, Soulless Machines."
The idea around RISE is that it can basically min-max the economy to the benefit of humanity. Since this program is based around the Chilean Cybersyn program, the main purpose for RISE is managing logistics, running simulations, and providing recommendations for policy/decisions.
If RISE were to make a policy or economic recommendation (say, using child labor), the people providing oversight can say no and not do that.
Which, if I'm being honest, kinda fits in with the humanistic mindset a lot of the Internationale embodies.
A modified AK that can accept 5.56 ammo (or even AR magazines, maybe other parts too if there are any that that makes any coherent sense for) would be an interesting concept though.
I honestly don't see much reason why to develop an AK platform for Chinese/Taiwanese use. Taiwan already has AR Platform weapons in use and the industrial base to make and maintain them. Considering the massive economic and military overhaul it has to go through, it is best to use platforms that work well instead of reinventing the wheel.
More to the point, that kind of thing also counts as training data, if the people running the AI are any good; which suggestions get accepted or rejected provides information to the model about which suggestions are acceptable.
Applying just-in-time logistics to the food supply is mildly concerning, though; that seems like it'd make for a very delicate balance, which could dangerously collapse if anything unexpected happened.
Btw do you still have link for the one about project 'RISE' that French try to do ? It been a while and There are a guy who write quest with socialist government, so I just want to share that guy with this idea here
I honestly don't see much reason why to develop an AK platform for Chinese/Taiwanese use. Taiwan already has AR Platform weapons in use and the industrial base to make and maintain them. Considering the massive economic and military overhaul it has to go through, it is best to use platforms that work well instead of reinventing the wheel.
The only reason to develop an AK platform is to have a cheaper platform under your own control not encumbered by licences. The reason against it is that the AR basic platform already is licence-free in its basic form (not withstanding unique changes to it made after the event) and that it doesn't require re-development from the ground up.
