Dispatches from the Middle Circle

This poster, produced by the United States Office of War Information (OWI) during the Second World War (1939-1945), makes a direct link between the Revolutionary War and the fight against the Axis powers (Germany, Italy, and Japan). In this image, a column of American GIs marches past a ragged line of Continental Army soldiers at Valley Forge, over whom General George Washington’s Headquarters Flag (now in the collection of the Museum of the American Revolution) waves. This stirring image encouraged Americans of the 1940s to see themselves as the latest of many generations who had struggled and sacrificed in the name of Liberty. Artist Bernard Perlin (1918-2014), the son of Russian Jewish immigrants, used American soldiers as models for the painting from which this poster was produced. A larger version of the poster hung in Union Station in Washington, DC, during the Second World War.

After almost a decade on this site, I found another Tumblr user in the wild. I stopped to tie my shoe with rainbow laces this morning outside the silversmith at Colonial Williamsburg, and I heard it.

“I like your shoelaces.”

Oh. Oh no.

I responded the only way I could. “Thanks.” And then I reluctantly added, “I stole them from the president…and if that makes sense to you, I’m very sorry.”

The poor man, in full Colonial dress, stared at me for a long moment. And then burst into laughter. And said, “I haven’t thought about that in YEARS and this has never happened to me before.”

Yeah. Me neither. Not until today.

This is chat gpt trash prompted to “sound Japanese” and it’s based off of racist old movie dialogue. There’s zero correlation here to Japanese grammar and how Japanese translates into English or how a native speaker of Japan uses English. It’s slop. It’s racist ai slop rehashing Western exceptionalism, fantasizing about a Japanese person being in awe of how great the USA is. It’s depressing that people fell for this. I know it feels good to think that other people like us, and sometimes they do, but this only works if you assume Japanese people have extremely limited experience and worldview. It’s mortifying.

tech news today is that Mullvad VPN has gone mask-off about being the major funding source for the Swedish Orebro party, who are racist nationalists. unfortunately all discussion of this is occurring on fucking Mastodon instances i can barely load

if you are a mullvad customer (as i am) and want to get out, here is guidance from this guy

Dirty Pair: The Movie Project Eden

1986

Opening Animation: Koji Morimoto

Directed by Köichi Mashimo

Written by Hiroyuki Hoshiyama

Based on Dirty Pair by Haruka Takachiho

Produced by Hironori Nakagawa,