How I Memorize

I enjoy memorizing Scripture, and since I’ve been asked this a few times, I thought it would be useful to share on here.

My memorization system is built around doing certain activities at certain periods of time. The most basic thing is that I memorize two chapters per week. Now, if a chapter is very long (like Mark 14), I’ll spend the full week on it. On the other hand, if it’s short, I may do three in one week (like 1 Peter 3-5). I determine “long” and “short” chapters by how many verses it’ll be per day.

Six Month Plan

I maintain a six month plan of what I’ll be memorizing, at a granularity of what chapters I’ll memorize each week.

Monthly

Each month, I read through the New Testament. This takes about 30 minutes per day, and is a daily tasks (see below).

Weekly

Each week, I recite everything that I have memorized. I also read through everything I have memorized to keep it “fresh”; this is spaced so that I read a passage about midway between recitations of that passage. Both of these are daily tasks (see below).

I also have a weekly goal of memorizing two chapters. Again, it may rarely be one or three chapters depending on length, but I stick to 2. I decide to increase/decrease based on what the number of verses will be per day; I try to keep it between 6 and 18. It usually falls around 10.

Daily Tasks

First, I memorize a certain number of verses depending on what my chapters are. I memorize that passage one verse at a time, with and then building on that. So I say verse 1 over and over, then 2, the vv1-2 twice, then 3, then vv1-3 twice, etc. Once I have the entire passage, I recite it every 30 minutes for two hours. After that, I recite it every hour on the hour. So, with memorizing it by 6am (my goal), I’ll recite at 6, 6:30, 7, 7:30, 8, 9, 10, 11, noon, etc.; until I go to bed.

I also use www.memverse.com to help with memorization. Their website can tell you more, but basically it quizzes me periodically on what I have memorized, and I grade how well I remembered. Based on the grade, it increases or decreases the frequency of quizzing. It’s great at catching little mistake that creep in without you realizing it. I do a review each evening.

Additionally, each day, I recite whatever book or section I’m memorizing out of. I recite up to that day’s memorization, and then read the rest.

I also read a New Testament passage as part of my Reading the Bible in a Year plan. When I’m in the Old Testament, I supplement with a Read the New Testament in One Month (RNTOM) reading.

I also recite one section of what I have memorized. When I first started, that was one book at a time. As I’ve memorized more, I’ve shifted to doing one section based on the RNTOM sections, so about 1/30th per day. I then grade myself based on how I did, and note any sections I need to pay attention to in the memorized book reading.

I also read either one section that I have memorized, or the “Next book” I’ll do. This is when I review sections I had trouble with.

I also do the RNTOM unless I’m already doing so with my Reading in a Year plan.

Example

Here’s the breakdown of my daily tasks for this week. My weekly goal is to memorize 1 John 4-5.

Week of November 30 - December 6

Day	Daily Memorization	Memorization Book Reading	Daily Bible Reading	Recitation Practice	Memorized Book Reading	New Testament Reading *
Sunday Nov. 30	1 John 4:1-6	1 John	1 Corinthians 9-11	Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7)	1 Peter (future memorization)	Revelation 12-22
Monday Dec. 1	1 John 4:7-12	1 John	1 Corinthians 12-14	1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus	Mark 1-9	Luke 1-5
Tuesday Dec. 2	1 John 4:13-18	1 John	1 Corinthians 15-16	Ephesians, Philippians	Mark 10-16	Luke 6-11
Wednesday Dec. 3	1 John 4:19 - 5:3	1 John	2 Corinthians 1-4	Hebrews	1 & 2 Timothy, Titus	Luke 12-18
Thursday Dec. 4	1 John 5:4-9	1 John	2 Corinthians 5-6	Mark 1-9	Ephesians, Philippians	Luke 19-24
Friday Dec. 5	1 John 5:10-15	1 John	2 Corinthians 9-13	Mark 10-16	Hebrews	Acts 1-7
Saturday Dec. 6	1 John 5:16-21	1 John	Galatians 1-4	Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7)	2 Peter (future memorization)	Acts 8-14

Daily tasks to memorize 1 John 4-5, practice what I have already memorized, and prepare for future memorization.

* To read the New Testament in one month, and if Daily Bible Reading is not from New Testament

How Long Does it Take?

I keep track of this and have 30 weeks worth to look back on.

The Daily Memorization & Memverse practice takes around an hour (but spread out in about 30-40 second chunks, plus a larger one at first when I memorize, and another large one when I review on Memverse.

The Memorization Book Reading takes between 30 minutes (mainly reading) to an hour (mainly reciting).

The Daily Bible Reading takes about 15 minutes (plus another 15 for notes I take).

The Recitation Practice takes right at 30 minutes.

The Reading/Review takes about 30 minutes.

This adds up to about 3-3.5 hours per day, and averages to about 24 hours per week.

It’s time well spent.

Dispatches from the Front – November 29, 1914

29. November 2014 · Write a comment · Categories: Geopolitics · Tags: Geopolitics, history, wwi, wwi in real time

<– Part 17 – November 22, 1914 | Part 18 – November 29, 1914 | Part 19 – December 6, 1914 –>

On November 23, the German sub U-18 followed a supply trailer into Scapa Flow, the home base for the British fleet. Fortunately for the British, the fleet was elsewhere, so the sub was not able to sink the British vessels in port. On her way out, the sub’s periscope was spotted by a British guard vessel, who rammed it, disabling the periscope and destroying her depth-maintaining equipment. After undulating up and down in the water, and striking the sea floor at one point, the sub was scuttled. One sailor died, and the remaining 22 were captured by the British.

German U-boats at Kiel in 1914. U-18 is the second from the right in the second row

The German XXV Reserve Corps, stuck in a pocket at Lodz, has reportedly broken out of the pocket on November 26, bringing 12,000 Russian prisoners with them – the prisoners themselves hauling nearly 70 captured artillery pieces. Rumors from the Russian high command November 29 report a general withdrawal from Lodz. It would appear the fighting over the city is ended.

Reports of a surprise attack by Germans upon the Russian Black Sea Fleet have arrived. Apparently sailing through a thick fog, the German warships Goeben and Breslau, perpetrators of the shelling of Sevastopol, site of a Russian Imperial Naval Base, appeared out of the fog and opened fire on the entire Russian fleet, scoring several hits on the flagship before sailing on.

Dispatches from the Front – November 22, 1914

23. November 2014 · Write a comment · Categories: Geopolitics · Tags: Geopolitics, history, wwi, wwi in real time

<– Part 16 – November 15, 1914 | Part 17 – November 22, 1914 | Part 18 – November 29, 1914 –>

The Eastern Front, highlighting the battle of Lodz

The Austro-Hungarian army reached the Kolubara river in Serbia on November 16 and began its assault of the Serbian forces. After several days of fighting, and establishing several beachheads, the Serbian army was pushed back and, due to a failure by the Austrian commander to pursue, they did so in an orderly retreat.

In the Caucasus, the Russian forces under Bergmann halted their offensive. As they were recoiling by Turkish counter-attacks, reinforcements on the night of 16-17 November strengthened the Russian line and pushed the Ottomans back in several places. Fighting continued for 2 more days. The Russian Caucasus Army has suffered severe casualties – 40,000 of their 100,000-man force, compared to just 14,000 of the Turks 118,000.

At Khenifra, French reinforcements arrived November 17 and relieved the besieged garrison, forcing the Zaian tribal forces to flee.

A rainstorm slowed the British assault of Basra on November 19, but after maneuvering artillery into place, the British opened fire on the mud fort, causing its collapse. The Turkish forces retreated, and the Brits entered Basra November 21.

Fighting also came to an end at Ypres, on the Western Front, on November 22, after a reshuffling of Allied troops and reinforcements. The German attacks had essentially ceased on the 17th, and several divisions were sent east to halt the Russians.

At Lodz, chaotic fighting between the German and Russian forces has been further complicated by severe winter conditions. A series of pockets, breakouts, salients, and frontal assaults have been affected by slowed supply lines and attempts merely to survive the freezing temperatures. It appears the Germans may have the upper hand at this point, although conflicting reports about German prisoners captured make it difficult to ascertain with any certainty.

An Overview of Western Music, Part 2

21. November 2014 · 1 comment · Categories: Glissandi · Tags: music

(For the first part of this look at the break between “classical” and “popular” music, go here: Part 1)

Renaissance Music (~1400-1600)

The increase of Polyphony – multiple voices/parts moving separately from one another – opened up a wide range of choices to the composers of the era. No longer were they restricted to a melody with unobtrusive and mild harmonization; now they could begin weaving multiple musical threads together. And while the melodic and harmonic simplicities of Medieval music required some rhythmic complexity, the music of the Renaissance was able to have smoother, more flowing music that was offset by the more diversity allowed elsewhere. This included larger instrumental requirements, so larger ensembles began forming. However, there still existed (at least in the early part of the period) a heavier reliance on modal, rather than tonal, structures. As time progressed, however, the increasing usage of the circle of fifth progressions led naturally to the tonal cadences we’re used to today.

Baroque Music (~1600-1750)

No discussion of the Baroque period would be complete without mention of the Florentine Camerata. This group of thinkers met in Florence to discuss the arts, and are responsible for many changes that occurred. One more significant is their revival of Greek theater, which manifested as opera. One more familiar member was Vincenzo Galilei, father of the famous Galileo Galilei.

As music evolved in this period, a heavy emphasis was put on idomatic writing – that is, the idea that certain styles of music were more fitting for some instruments than others. Additionally, the evolution of tonal writing, built on cadences, meant that music of this time put a heavier focus on harmonic writing, rather than polyphonic (though this was often blurred in canons, fugues, and so on). This meant that, while Renaissance music essentially saw each voice as equally important, the music of the Baroque relegated some voices to supporting the main line. This also meant that very unlike instruments were mixed in an ensemble, allowing for greater contrasts in pieces of music.

Classical Music (1750-~1820)

The date of transition between Baroque and Classical music is chosen because this is the year of Bach’s death. There’s an old joke in musicology circles: Bach died at the end of July, 1750. Letters went throughout western civilization calling all the composers to a great conference, where they agreed that, since Bach had died, it was time to start the Classical period. An agenda was handed out with the changes to be made in composition style.

In many ways, Classical music could be seen as a reaction against the complications and ornateness of the Baroque period (in fact, that’s what Baroque means, a definition applied some time after) and a yearning to return the the aesthetics of the “classical” period of history (~5th century BC). Classical music is marked by cleaner textures, simpler parts, and an overall “lighter” feel. It is also much more monophonic – a melodic line over harmony. A contrast could be made between the “elegance” of the classical and the “magnificence” of the Baroque.

That said, there was still more growth in the contrasts that could be made. Orchestras grew more in size; the harpsichord (an instrument that sounds by plucking a string with a feather quill; ergo, not very dynamically variable) was replaced by the fortepiano (today shortened to “piano”, but named after the dynamic contrasts it allowed (literally, the “loudsoft”). Additionally, instrumental music became much more dominant over choral, and it is around this time that the symphony was developed.

Romantic Period (~1800-~1900)

Yes, there is an overlap. The seeds of the Romantic period began growing quite a while before blooming. It, too, can be seen as a reaction against the cleanliness and rationality of the Classical period. It is marked by a growing fascination with the supernatural, with the greatness of nature, with the unknown, with superstition. It was also influenced by the Industrial Revolution and the rise of nationalism (the Revolutions of 1848 happened in the midst of this period). Music became more elaborate – not necessarily in any one way, but generally more complicated: longer pieces, requiring more skilled musicians, and taking much longer to write. For example, Mozart, a Classical composer, wrote his opera “The Marriage of Figaro” was written in the first part of 1786, and has 12 main roles, 16-20 instruments, and lasts around 3 hours. By contrast, Wagner, a Romantic composer, wrote his operatic cycle (four full operas telling a single story) “The Ring of the Nibelung” over a period of 24 years, and has 34 main roles, plus a men’s choir and a small women’s choir, 92 instruments plus 6-8 unique instruments per opera (including 18 tuned blacksmithing anvils), and lasts approximately 15 hours (meaning each opera, on average, is nearly 1/3 again as long as Mozart’s).

The Ring cycle also serves to show another significant change in muic from this time period – as it progresses (and, due to its long composition time that reflects the progress of music as a whole), the concept of tonality, key structure, and so on breaks down – it becomes a shifting series of chords and harmonies, at some times appearing nearly atonal (lacking a clearly defined key). The composer is free to transition the melody, harmony, structure at will, without adhering to the confines of traditional harmonic and melodic progressions. This led to the next great evolution in music, which we’ll look at next week.

Dispatches from the Front – November 15, 1914

15. November 2014 · Write a comment · Categories: Geopolitics · Tags: Geopolitics, history, wwi, wwi in real time

<– Part 15 – November 8, 1914 | Part 16 – November 15, 1914 | Part 17 – November 22, 1914 –>

Cruise of the Emden, 1914. The battle of the Cocos took place in the bottom center of this map.

HMS Sydney

Luck ran out for the SMS Emden on November 9. Having achieved notoriety raiding Allied shipping & facilities in the Pacific, she attempted to destroy the Australian communications station on Direction Island in the Cocos Islands, but not before a distress call was sent. A nearby convoy of RAN ships escorting a convoy dispatches the HMAS Sydney to investigate. Sydney came under fire at a farther range than was expected, but here superior guns forced Emden to beach herself, after which the collier Buresk was attacked and scuttled. Emden refused to take down her battle flag, so several rounds were put into her hull. After investigating the station, Sydney returned the next day, having suffered 20 casualties. Emden lost 200, and a further 160 have been taken prisoner. The Pacific is now free of any Central Power naval presence.

SMS Emden

On November 11, the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet V declared jihad on the Allies, while several actions were taken against the Ottoman Empire. Marching from Fao, British troops were attacked in their camp, repulsed the attack, and right now 8,000 British soldiers are assaulting defensive Turkish positions manned by 4,500 Turks. In South Arabia, following the mutual declarations of war, a British force landed at Cheikh Said on November 10, protected by the armored cruiser HMS Duke of Edinburgh, and assaulted (with help from the sailors) the Turkish fortifications in the area, which were destroyed by British engineers the following day. They then reboarded the ships and sailed north, as an inland assault was deemed too risky.

The Russian Army, preparing for an assault into Silesia, was surprised November 11, when the German Ninth Army, aware of the impending attack, was transported by rail to the Russian flank. A single Russian corps was on the Western side of the Vistula and was completely routed, 12,000 captured. A 31-mile gap has formed between the Russian First and Second armies, while a third is moving to the area. The right flank of 500,000 Russians is crumbling before half as many Germans.

Fighting between Germany and Russia on the Eastern Front.

The troubles in French Morocco continued November 13, when the commander of the French garrison as recently-captured Khenifra, Lt-Col Rene Laverdure, disobeyed orders and decided to attack the Berber Zaian Confederation. Although he was initially successful, on the march back his rearguard was overpowered and destroyed, and his force of 1,200 suffered 800 casualties, including Laverdure himself, who was killed in battle. The remainder of the garrison has returned to Khenifra only because the tribesman halted their pursuit to loot the corpses, but the severely-undermanned garrison is now under assault.

The fighting at Ypres continues, with German assaults having minimal success in some areas, and losing ground in others, as corps-sized assaults continue on each side. Hundreds of thousands of Europe’s young men have died so far. Temperatures have dropped below freezing, and frostbite is setting in within the water-filled trenches. In some areas, the front lines are only 100-yards apart, taking a toll psychological, as men drift off to sleep and are picked off by snipers.

The Bermann offensive by the Russian Caucasus Army has come under intense counter-attacks by the Turks and have been pushed back to lines from one week ago. Russian reinforcements arrived earlier today.

In German East Africa, the hunt for the SMS Konigsberg continues in the Rufiji Delta, as she has been camouflaged and successful shooting down airplanes searching for her. It is unlikely that she will be found for many months.

The Armor of God

14. November 2014 · Write a comment · Categories: God · Tags: Evangelism, God

Ephesians 6:10-20

I was struck today while looking at this passage at lunch that it tells a narrative on evangelism. The passage opens with a reminder that equip oneself with the armor of God, so that you will be able to resist Satan’s attacks as we wage warfare against the devil and his demons.

The Belt of Truth

“How will I know what to say? What’s the right thing to do? Why should anyone listen to me? Is what I’m saying really true and worth it?”

What good is any discussion, thinking, learning, or relationship without truth? It’s fundamental to holding things together in a coherent fashion. Rejecting truth leads to moral anarchy; rejecting truth leads to “might makes right”; rejecting truth leads to people doing whatever they want in the moment. Without truth holding you together, you will not be an effective evangelist, Christian, follower of God, or anything. You will reject God’s truth and replace it with your own.

Instead, be confident in the truth of God. It will hold all that we do together, and by relying on the truth expressed in his Word, we can settle any difference – either by pointing to the Scripture that addresses it, or dismissing the things that Just Don’t Matter.

The Breastplate of Righteousness

“How much does my lifestyle matter? If I start acting ‘Christian’, won’t I look weird? Shouldn’t I try to blend in more? Does this little sin in my life really matter?”

The Christian isn’t told to wear a suit of armor, or a coat of mail, but just a breastplate. A breastplate is only effective in the front – if one turns one’s back on the enemy, there’s no protection. Righteousness is only effective when we’re facing the enemy, marching towards him, and obeying Jesus’s call to “go into all the world.” And indeed, when a Christian looks no different in life than anyone else, why should anyone listen to him or her? If the gospel is a personal relationship with God, shouldn’t that relationship change your life? If your life is not marked by the righteousness of God, in a real way that stands out from the crowd – again, how effective can you possible be? You’re no different!

As Shoes for your feet, the Readiness Given by the Gospel of Peace

“But how will I know when I’m ready to evangelize? I don’t know enough – what if they point out something in the bible I don’t have an answer for? I’m not educated enough – surely evangelism is for learned men – preachers and so forth. I just don’t really feel like I’m ready or far enough along in my own faith yet.”

Rubbish. The only readiness we need is the Gospel of Peace – the knowledge that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, our Lord; that “he was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come to judge the living and the dead.” “And by faith in his name, you will be saved!”

If you’re a baptized believer – and that’s really the only kind – you’re ready.

The Helmet of Salvation

“Is it really worth it? The unusual life. Rejecting temptation. Leaving behind my old life. What’s the point?”

Keep your eyes on Christ. He has promised us salvation, and we know that “he who promised is faithful.” Why should we resist temptation? How? By remembering the salvation we have in Christ – that’s a motivator when we find ourselves struggling: not out of fear that we’ll lose it (“fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love”), but out of deep, abiding appreciation and love for Christ and what he has already done for, and promised to, us – “we love, because he first loved us.” That’s our motivator to resist temptation and to “reassure our heart before him, for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. If our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God.” Christ died for us; we didn’t die for ourselves. The promise of Salvation is motivation.

The Shield of Faith

“I’m still worried about the onslaughts of Satan. How can I resist temptation? I yielded to it already – am I lost now?”

Like the Helmet of Salvation, we resist Satan’s attacks by remember who, and whose, we are. We’re the apex of God’s creation. We’re faithful servants of the king of Creation. And we are Children of the Living God. Why on earth would we mock those things for a silly temptation?

The Sword of the Spirit – the Word of God

“Okay, fine. How do I fight back and smite these heretics? What do I use to do it – Crusades? Bombings? Fisticuffs? My superior intellect? Hermeneutics? Apologetics? Logic? Science? Ignorance? The voting booth? Money?”

The only offensive weapon we have – isn’t really up to us to use. It’s God himself, in the Spirit. It’s God’s Word. Even Christ, in his temptation in the wilderness, only used God’s word to fight Satan – that should be encouraging to us, since we have the same tool. This is why it’s so critical to spend time in God’s word – not just because it’s Truth that guides us, but because it’s the only weapon we have. Of course, the caveat is found in the beginning of the passage. While many Christians have lived dishonorably by beating enemies over the head with warped and twisted Scriptures, Paul reminds us that we’re not at war with people – not with non-believers, not with opponents of Christianity, not with atheists, not with heretics, not with blasphemers, not with “straying brethren”, not with those who have different doctrines/beliefs/creeds/teachings than our own – not with any human on earth. We wrestle against “the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” So, in our dealings with other humans, remember Paul’s words to Timothy in his Second Letter: we have a spirit of “Power, Love, and Self-Control” – one marked by confidence, yes, but also love for those we address, and not marked by flashes of anger. And we must remember that “the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome, but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, and correcting his opponents with gentleness.”

Conclusion

As we wage war against Satan, our lives are marked by the Truth of God’s word, which focuses and guides us. As believers in Christ, we’re already equipped from the second of salvation to evangelize. And so we go forth into the world to make disciples, with lives marked with righteous and holy living. When we come under attack, we remember Christ and the salvation we have through him, and we remember that our Daddy is the Creator and Ruler of All That Is. And when we fight back, we let God do the real fighting for us – with his word, we trust his Spirit in us to do what needs to be done.

Amazon Web Services, Part 2

13. November 2014 · Write a comment · Categories: Gadgets · Tags: Technology, Technology Thursday

I didn’t want this to sound like an ad for AWS, but I’ve been very happy with it and do want to share my experiences.

EC2

EC2 – Elastic Compute Cloud – is the main “server” part of Amazon Web Services. This is the module where you spin up servers, select the hardward you want it run on, the operating system (or variants), and assign virtual harddrives and other storage. It’s a lot of fun to work with. The documentation is fantastic, and includes several walkthroughs – “How to set up a linux server”, “How to set up a LAMP server”, “How to install WordPress”, etc. In fact, you’re reading this on the realworld application of those walkthroughs.

These servers don’t automatically have persistent data, so when they’re shutdown, it’s gone. See below…

My only complain has to do with regions. AWS servers are located in regions, based on their datacenters, and essentially you can only have one server running in the free tier (yes, technically it’s by usage hours and storage etc., but it’s calculated based on one server month). In the online management portal, you can only see one region at a time. SO, when I spun up a server in one region, then shifted to another a few weeks later, I forgot I already had one going. I couldn’t see it anywhere – there’s no true MASTER view, only a master view PER REGION. This means that when I surpassed my free tier usage, I couldn’t figure out how to stop accumulating charges hourly. Finally I figured it out, but it would be SO helpful if they had a master view. For what it’s worth, they comped me a month’s worth of usage.

S3

S3 is the storage you get. The free tiers gives you 30gb – not bad at all. That’s persistent storage, so just in case my server goes out, I store important stuf here. I also symlink stuff that needs to stay in a certain place on the server, so I can spin up & down without a problem. I just load the persistent storage virtual HDD, and symlink back over.

Elastic IP’s

Elastic IPs are GREAT, and the free tier lets you have one. Basically, the real IP address (and also the URL) of a server is created when the EC2 instance if created. SO if you terminate one, and start another, the IP address changes. This is not good for keeping the DNS update. With elastic IPs, you have one that’s permanent and assigned to you, and you point it at the server you want. SO the DNS has your permanent elastic IP, and you control what server that elastic IP points to.

Email

Haven’t had any luck getting a SMTP server set up. I’m not sure if it has to do with Amazon’s anti-spam measures (a free server could get bad), but when I have time I’m going to spin up a new instance and see what happens. I applied to Amazon for them to relax restrictions re: mail, but I’m not sure if that applies to this server, or future ones, or even if that’s EC2 related at all (they do offer mass emailing services for money)

All-in-all, I’ve been very happy with Amazon Web Services. My only real complaint is the lack of a global overview in EC2.

On Blogging

12. November 2014 · Write a comment · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: Blogging, Whatever Wednesday

So I’ve already run into what I imagine is obvious to people who have been writing for a while – it is hard to consistently sit down and write on a schedule. I had planned to launch this on the 5th (of October), and postponed a week so I could regroup and start again.

And then another week. And another… [and another]

I’m sure that it’ll get somewhat easier as time progresses, but in the meantime I’m laboring.

When I get an idea for a post, I drop it into my “article” backlog in project management software I use for other jobs. I include any thoughts or directions I may need later to help me remember what I’m talking about. Then, each week, I drag the scribbled note stories into my “Next Week’s Articles” sprint and flesh them out 7 days before posting.

I’m already seeing some issues I may have: my group of articles for ‘God’ is currently stocked at least with enough ideas for the next 2 months; for “Glissandi” I have the next two weeks. Maybe I’ll change “Music Mondays” to “Media Mondays” and talk about movies/tv shows. We’ll see.

In the meantime, I’ll keep scheduling time to sit and type. In the end, I think that’s the only way to do it. And maybe start slower – just a few per week, and not every day.

Dispatches from the Front – November 8, 1914

08. November 2014 · Write a comment · Categories: Geopolitics · Tags: Geopolitics, history, wwi, wwi in real time

<– Part 14 – November 1, 1914 | Part 15 – November 8, 1914 | Part 16 – November 15, 1914 –>

Frontlines near Ypres

French counterattack towards Messines on November 2, before fighting died down in the immediate area.

The Battles of La Bassee, Armentiers, and Messines all fizzled out November 2 inconclusively as each side directed its focus towards Ypres. German attacks were blunted, and French counter-attacks merely regained land recently loss. The United Kingdom, in an attempt to starve the Germans of goods, has declared the entire North Sea a military area, creating a de facto blockade.

The following day, Montenegro declared war on the Ottoman Empire (following Russia, who did the same the day after its invasion). In East Africa, the German colonial troops ambushed a British and Indian force near Mt Kilimanjaro. Nearby Tanga, defended by the Germans, was assaulted by a British force eight times its size. Despite a series of miscommunication by the Germans, and aided by a swarm of angry bees, the British were forces to withdraw two days later.

November 5 saw France and England officially declare war on the Ottomans, while the Turks suffered another setback as Bergmann, Russian commander of the Caucasus Army, reached his objectives but continued his assault. In Serbia, the Austrians have launched an attack towards the Kolubara River and Cer Mountain.

German marines in the frontline trenches at Tsingtao

Askaris (German colonials) skirmishing, possibly near Tanga

Britain, fearful of attacks upon its Persian Gulf oil facilities, landed forces near the fortress of Fao to capture the Ottoman coast, on November 6. The infantry was forces to dig in and await artillery. Two days later, the artillery breached the fortress walls and the infantry charged in and overwhelmed the defenders in hand to hand fighting. 300 Ottomans were taken captive, and the British are landing the remained of the troops at the captured port.

In the Pacific, the German city of Tsingtao in China was captured by Allied and Japanese troops on November 7. Under blockade since the end of August, it had been under siege for the last week.

World War I in Real Time

08. November 2014 · Write a comment · Categories: Geopolitics · Tags: history, wwi, wwi in real time

I think it’ll be fun to write newspaper-like articles, looking back 100 years to the day and remembering the events of World War 1. It does occur that this will be an ongoing, 5-year project -> approximately 260 posts, if I do it weekly. But I do think it will be fun. SO next Saturday I’ll start blogging World War I.

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