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Reposted by David Fedman

David Fedman @dfeds.bsky.social · 9h

So much gold to be mined from the diary of Harada Ryōji 原田良次, a maintenance tech in a Chiba-based aerial interception unit tasked with defending Tokyo's skies

His entries are scribbled in the margins of a book 👇 - in part due to paper shortages, in part to keep record on the sly

A few stand-outs:

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Reposted by David Fedman

The Octopus Gallery @octopusgallery.bsky.social · 11h

Good news for sewists: the paper pattern company feared lost to bankruptcy has been saved as an independent company.

craftindustryalliance.org/sewing-patte...

Sewing Patterns Rise from DGA Bankruptcy Ashes - Craft Industry Alliance

The “Big 4” sewing patterns are saved. Simplicity, McCall’s, Vogue & Butterick get new life under Rubelmann Capital.

craftindustryalliance.org

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David Fedman @dfeds.bsky.social · 9h

June 20: "Lately, the soldiers' letters home are obviously disingenuous. They only write things like, "Morale is high, working diligently in military service." All of this is a fabrication. Soldiers now cannot write a single true thing."

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David Fedman @dfeds.bsky.social · 9h

June 26: "A photo taken in front of my aircraft covered with shoot-down marks was ready today. ...I wrote "I'm this healthy..." I'm sending false reassurance to the people in my hometown. Not having bathed in ages, this filthy bearded face will be my last photograph in this world."

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David Fedman @dfeds.bsky.social · 9h

July 15: "Even in my long military service, I've never seen a soldier die shouting "Long live the Emperor" before the enemy as people claim. Rather, in that instant, they cast off being a soldier and die having returned to being unmistakably ordinary, naked human beings."

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David Fedman @dfeds.bsky.social · 9h

July 27: "Our military's air control capability is now completely gone....The complete annihilation of regional cities is now near. The enemy aircraft that attacked the base today scattered leaflets that read, "We won't let you eat this autumn's sweet potatoes."

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David Fedman @dfeds.bsky.social · 9h

August 10, 45:

"Since Hiroshima, the solo intrusion of B-29s is under especially strict vigilance, and our unit has been scrambling aircraft for twelve hours straight to maintain constant alert over Tokyo. Major General Yokoyama told me, "Tokyo is the next target for an atomic bomb attack"

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David Fedman @dfeds.bsky.social · 9h

So much gold to be mined from the diary of Harada Ryōji 原田良次, a maintenance tech in a Chiba-based aerial interception unit tasked with defending Tokyo's skies

His entries are scribbled in the margins of a book 👇 - in part due to paper shortages, in part to keep record on the sly

A few stand-outs:

1 4 11

Reposted by David Fedman

Nick Kodama 🌲👻 @nickkodama.bsky.social · 1d

what lol

Emily @suika.bsky.social · 1d

According to Gearoid Reidy, Kishida is a "center-left figure"??

Expect to read a lot about Nippon Kaigi, a conservative advocacy group of which she is a member that some like to portray as a sinister secret organization pulling the strings of Japanese power. But it counts hundreds of lawmakers, including center-left figures such as former leader Fumio Kishida, among its ranks.

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Reposted by David Fedman

G. Willow Wilson @gwillow.me · 2d

I'm going to keep saying "this is fascism" until this platform inevitably bans the word fascism, and then I'm going to leave

Molly Jong-Fast @mollyjongfast.bsky.social · 2d

CHICAGO (AP) — Storming an apartment complex by helicopter as families slept. Deploying chemical agents near a public school. Handcuffing a Chicago City Council member at a hospital.

apnews.com/article/chic...

Using helicopters and chemical agents, immigration agents become increasingly aggressive in Chicago

Activists, residents and elected leaders say increasingly combative tactics used by federal immigration agents are sparking violence and fueling neighborhood tensions in the nation’s third-largest cit...

apnews.com

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David Fedman @dfeds.bsky.social · 3d

The B-29s were typically equipped with the AN/APQ-13 radar. This radar included an H2X radar and a Q-13 range finding computer.

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David Fedman @dfeds.bsky.social · 3d

by July 45 Japan's interception rates are well near zero so would make sense that steering clear of anti-aircraft fire would be the principal consideration here. what's not clear to me is how this maps onto targeting of small prefectural capitals with considerably few anti-air battalions

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David Fedman @dfeds.bsky.social · 3d

According to Okuzumi Yoshishige (who produced the graph), the gradual shift was likely the result of balancing two conflicting operational demands: the need to obtain clear radar images for accurate targeting, and the need to avoid Japanese ground-based anti-aircraft fire

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Reposted by David Fedman

David Fedman @dfeds.bsky.social · 4d

a graph of changes in the bombing altitude of the major B-29 operations against Japan, starting with high-altitude raids on the Nakajima aircraft plant and ending with 16th and final four-city fire raid on Aug. 14

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David Fedman @dfeds.bsky.social · 4d

a graph of changes in the bombing altitude of the major B-29 operations against Japan, starting with high-altitude raids on the Nakajima aircraft plant and ending with 16th and final four-city fire raid on Aug. 14

2 4 18

Reposted by David Fedman