@obssessedNikki@PulpCovers The original versions of all the #JamesBond novels are available for free download from the Canadian Project Gutenberg site as they are out of copyright there. 🇨🇦
September 28, 2008: SpaceX's Falcon 1 rocket reaches orbit for the first time.
September 28, 2026: SpaceX's Starship rocket reaches orbit for the first time.
He saw the grenade land between the two men directing the mortar fire, and he did not hesitate. Private First Class John New threw himself onto it, and on this very date, the 25th of September 1944, he died on the coral of Peleliu so that two other Marines would live.
New was with the 7th Marines on Peleliu, the savage coral island whose landing I told you about back on the 15th, now ten days into the grinding, waterless nightmare of clearing the ridges cave by cave. On the 25th he was at an observation post on a cliff, where two Marines were directing mortar fire down onto Japanese positions, calling the rounds onto the enemy emplacements below.
A Japanese soldier emerged from a cave in the cliff directly beneath them and hurled a grenade up into the post, right among the men. There was no time to do anything but what New did. He instantly understood the danger to the two observers and flung himself onto the grenade, covering it with his own body and taking the entire blast to shield them. He was killed. The two men he threw himself in front of survived, unhurt, and went on directing their fire.
It was the same choice Lewis Bausell and Charles Roan had made on the same island days earlier, the choice that recurs again and again in the story of Peleliu and of the whole Pacific war, a young Marine trading his one life in a fraction of a second so that the men beside him would go home. Peleliu produced an extraordinary number of these acts, a measure of how close and how brutal the fighting was, men packed together in tight positions among the rocks where a single grenade could kill several at once, and where the only way to save the others was to smother it with your body.
John New's Medal of Honor records that instant on the cliff on the 25th, the grenade in the post, the two observers in mortal danger, and the private who did not think twice. He was one of many on that terrible island, and the island itself would go on grinding for another two months, but his was the purest kind of sacrifice, made in a heartbeat, on this day.
Today's Dave's Car ID Service salutes the Goodwood Revival, the 2026 edition of which should be wrapping up in a few hours.
Since I've been doing this car ID thing, one of the more common replies I get is "when did people stop dressing like that?" Or "why can't we be dapper anymore?"
Well, the fact of the matter is that people CAN still be dapper, even at a loud car racing event. And the Goodwood Revival proves it.
In fact, being well attired is semi-mandatory there. Not in the bouncers-at-the-gate sense. But show up in jorts and a Tommy Bahama shirt, or any sort of non-pre 1967 period correct clothing, you will be the subject of withering glares of disdain and disapproval. For you are a vibe-ruining turd in the punchbowl.
That sort of peer pressure ensures that Goodwood is classy and dapper af. It's not all tweed and Ascot millinery, old timey blue collar workwear is welcome too. That was my shtick when I had the privilege to attend in 2024; late 1930 garage overalls accessorized with a vintage painted tie and flat cap; Mrs B in an Amelia Earhart flying cap & jhodpurs ensemble. So complete was my commitment to the bit that I shaved my 4" beard, saving only a William Powell style pencil mustache.
Anyhow it was among the most fun I've ever had at a car event, even if was besotted by rain. And my encounter with the "Mexican food" of West Sussex. And a lot of that is due to the fact they know how to keep it classy.
Like this classy dame and her poodle, color coordinated with a 1959 Chrysler 300E.
As I sign off, I want to give DCIDS enthusiasts a little inside dope. I've been a bit disappointed that engagement on my car ID threads has dropped precipitously, and what I've learned (through Grok prompts) is that the very format of my ID threads is likely to blame: i.e., a long chain of quote tweets of reader requests.
That's basically how I've been doing this since 2019 or so, but Grok has basically confirmed that this is a kind of posting behavior that the reworked amplification algorithm really dislikes, and dislike more with every new QT in the thread.
I sorta get it in theory, but I like to think of my car ID stuff as a positive community service that I really, really like performing. But the upshot is that lower amplification => less non-follower engagement => fewer and fewer car ID requests from a smaller and more insular group of followers.
I fear the resultant lack of fresh car mystery oxygen will eventually force me to stop DCIDS here and/or take it elsewhere. I'd rather not, though. So I'm asking those of you who like these threads for a favor: please RT or QT or at least share my ID threads so the algo doesn't choke it into a small insular oblivion.
Trust me, this has nothing to do with ad rev share. 99% of my engagement comes from snarky non-weekend shitpoasting, which is completely unaffected by this issue. And honestly I don't even need the money, I actually have a pretty decent day job. But at the end of the day the car IDs are my own mental palate cleanser, a sort of enjoyable penance I love to perform. They are the main, if not the only, reason I remain here.
And so if you feel the same way, you can help this thing keep going by letting people outside the DCIDS bubble know about it, at least until the Almighty Algorithm has a change of heart.
Thanks again for your support, and until next time Happy Motoring.
Do people prefer traditional architecture? Betteridge's Laws of Headlines doesn't apply: The answer is yes. I offered one explanation for the proliferation of architecture that people hate in The Blank Slate: In the 20th century, elites came to believe that the human sense of beauty was socially constructed, and could be re-engineered at will by modernist artists, and designers. https://t.co/3YFlVuSe9X
Good morning all & OTD, thinking of our American sisters & brothers, all that they lost on this horrible day, yet also the heroism of & the grit that was displayed by so many. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13)
Following the Chianti DOCG’s approval of an official rosé category, Piccini 1882 president Mario Piccini explains why the region chose now to make the move. https://t.co/fKFwh6jh2C