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Damn and blast!

I have no better suggestions than those already put forward, so I'm simply going to extend my commisserations and hope on your behalf that the damage is temporary, or, at worst, like that of my old laptop; affecting functionality, not files.

Thank you, Sir B. I am hopeful, if not exactly optimistic and certainly not confident, that it is just a functionality issue. After a fashion, the thing does still turn on and off when I want it to. I just can’t see anything, obviously. Underneath it all I think everything probably still works.

But if it does come to it that I’ve lost some stuff, not the end of the world. I know what I’m doing, and a chance to revise some stuff won’t go unappreciated. The biggest potential loss is actually the basis for an entire new AAR which I had half a mind to debut in the spring. But again, the artist in me knows to meet all this with equanimity.

***

In the meantime, the in-world crisis continues. The next pointless but short scene-setting intervention will probably be up later on, and then some actual action.
 
Well when it happened to me, I just abandoned all my old stories never to be seen again!

...

Except Lancaster, which I replayed and then replayed again. In that singular case the loss was helpful, because the game kept getting more insane the more I redid it.
 
Well when it happened to me, I just abandoned all my old stories never to be seen again!

Yes maybe a sign from the universe. Still got all the game notes and screenshots so something can still be done if I ever fancy it.

Except Lancaster, which I replayed and then replayed again. In that singular case the loss was helpful, because the game kept getting more insane the more I redid it.

If this were based on a game that went further than 1935, what I’d be tempted to do here would be to enact my contingency plan for if things ever get too silly:

In the meeting room of the Sociallst Campaign Group, Mr Benn awoke with a start…
 
This was all part of my plan to Americanize the AAR
 
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The Transatlantic Missile Crisis: The European View, Dec 20 1964
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"LESSONS FROM THE CRISIS"

THE EUROPEAN VIEW
MONDAY DECEMBER 20 1964




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LYON, Monday, Dec. 20 (Le Monde)—Eurosyn Chairman Maurice Faure has today spoken publicly in regard to the crisis in Cuba, pledging “concrete support” to the Syndicate’s Caribbean allies in the event of an expansion of the American operation in Cuba. M. Faure’s statement follows a conference in Lyon this weekend between the defence secretaries of the syndicate nations.

In his statement M. Faure also made reference to the call from British foreign minister Bob Boothby for Eurosyn to work towards de-escalation. Boothby, who made his comments in the British parliament on Friday afternoon, spoke of the “urgency of demonstrating, with deeds as well as words, the Syndicalist commitment to peace”.

M. Faure said that he would do “everything in his power” to ensure a peaceful resolution to the conflict, and spoke in explicit terms about the threat of nuclear war:

“Only two months ago, the European Syndicate stood shoulder to shoulder with its brothers in the Soviet Union to take the first step towards a future free from the terrible threat posed to our civilisation by nuclear weaponry.

“At this time of crisis, for the good of mankind and the cause of global peace, we call upon our brothers in Moscow and in Washington to resist the temptation to succumb to irrational impulses, and to commit to resolving this conflict by means which are proportionate and just.”

Sources in Lyon have indicated that M. Faure has been in contact with Soviet deputy premier Kosygin to discuss the Cuban situation over the weekend. It has not been disclosed what the outcome of the discussions was, nor whether M. Faure has had any similar contact with Washington.

This morning, German Chancellor Erich Ollenhauer briefed the Reichstag on the latest reports of Soviet military activity along the Prussian border. Sources in Berlin have disclosed that the Chancellor reassured parliament that he will “not be drawn into rash confrontations”.

Fighting in Cuba has been ongoing since Thursday morning, when an invasion force of Cuban exiles backed by the United States government landed on the island at the Bay of Pigs. Tensions remain high worldwide following threats by the Castro regime to secure its position “by any means necessary”, which may indicate the use of tactical nuclear weapons.

Reports from Cuba so far are conflicted over the preparedness of nuclear weapons on the island. While the more powerful missiles can only be launched from Moscow, an unknown number of smaller weapons are able to be operated by the regime in Havana.

President Kennedy has made no public statement since the invasion on Thursday morning. A source published by the New York Times on Friday insisted that the decision to invade was a “necessary, calculated risk”, playing down fears of imminent nuclear war.



 
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Wait, isn't Poland in their original 1920 borders? How would the Soviets be massing on the Prussian border?
 
Wait, isn't Poland in their original 1920 borders? How would the Soviets be massing on the Prussian border?

Friendly Baltic governments.
 
Thank you Chairman Faure for that marginally less pointless statement. I doubt anyone really expected Eurosyn not to back the Soviets, but at least you cleared that up.

I remain mildly surprised the nukes haven't started flying. The Soviet tactical ones were not complex things, a nuclear warhead nailed to the top of the standard Soviet short ranged missile. They were 'ready to launch' the moment they were taken off the ship and doctrine demanded their use, both on the landing zone and a few at Guantanamo Bay (just in case). And fly they would because the Soviet had mostly convinced themselves that 'tactical' nukes didn't count and wouldn't provoke a massive US nuclear response, maybe at worst nuking Cuba but nothing important.
 
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I remain mildly surprised the nukes haven't started flying.

I suppose the honest to god answer is that, beneath the thin veneer of plausibility, this remains very much a work of fiction. Leave all you think you know at the door, etc etc.

The other thing to bear in mind is that the history of nuclear weapon deployment is different here, so even tho development has been pretty similar no one has ever actually used anything bigger than a “tactical” warhead in a combat situation (US in Korea). So there’s a much lower threshold of what is “shocking”.
 
I suppose the honest to god answer is that, beneath the thin veneer of plausibility, this remains very much a work of fiction. Leave all you think you know at the door, etc etc.
That is an entirely reasonable answer.

This is more a matter of personal taste issue, but if going that way I think I prefer it when historical figures pop up in different jobs not their historic ones. Tony Benn as the CBC news reader a few updates back was, I thought, a nice example of that. Having historic figures make their historic speeches word-for-word, despite all the policies and thoughts and doctrines around them being different, is a bit discombobulating for the reader when the contradictions become apparent.

I can well understand that having someone different make a new speech, even if very similar and full of 'echoes' of the historic one, is a chunk more work, but I think it might lead to a better and more cohesive work at the end. But as I said at the start, others readers may differ in their views and like the more explicit parallels of reusing historic speeches, I wouldn't pretend to be making a literary critic's judgment on this (or any other) subject. :)
 
That is an entirely reasonable answer.

This is more a matter of personal taste issue, but if going that way I think I prefer it when historical figures pop up in different jobs not their historic ones. Tony Benn as the CBC news reader a few updates back was, I thought, a nice example of that. Having historic figures make their historic speeches word-for-word, despite all the policies and thoughts and doctrines around them being different, is a bit discombobulating for the reader when the contradictions become apparent.

I can well understand that having someone different make a new speech, even if very similar and full of 'echoes' of the historic one, is a chunk more work, but I think it might lead to a better and more cohesive work at the end. But as I said at the start, others readers may differ in their views and like the more explicit parallels of reusing historic speeches, I wouldn't pretend to be making a literary critic's judgment on this (or any other) subject. :)

I will be entirely honest, I didn’t recognise that the Kennedy speech was OTL. So that’s a mea culpa as it passed me by completely. I give KH pretty much full editorial freedom, so I just read it, saw that it fit and ran with it.

Sometimes I do quite like reusing stuff either as an ironic contrast (our bastard Warsaw Agreement I think is quite a nice, though unintended, example of this) but yes generally on my side I don’t lift much unless it’s to adapt for new circumstances.

I’m glad you enjoy Benn at the CBC, by the way. I don’t know whether you ever went back and read any of the first few updates, but he has a starring role early on moderating a tv debate about Ramsay MacDonald between Roy Jenkins and Denis Healey.
 
DB is too nice to his critics.

Simply won’t do.
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I give KH pretty much full editorial freedom, so I just read it, saw that it fit and ran with it.
This explains a great deal.

Sometimes I do quite like reusing stuff either as an ironic contrast (our bastard Warsaw Agreement I think is quite a nice, though unintended, example of this) but yes generally on my side I don’t lift much unless it’s to adapt for new circumstances.
This is entirely the correct policy.
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I’m glad you enjoy Benn at the CBC, by the way. I don’t know whether you ever went back and read any of the first few updates, but he has a starring role early on moderating a tv debate about Ramsay MacDonald between Roy Jenkins and Denis Healey.
To borrow frome Dr Watson, "My constitution has not got over the recent events yet. I cannot afford to throw any extra strain upon it.” Perhaps in the new year I will feel strong enough to face such wonderful horrors.
 
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To borrow frome Dr Watson, "My constitution has not got over the recent events yet. I cannot afford to throw any extra strain upon it.” Perhaps in the new year I will feel strong enough to face such wonderful horrors.

You will be extra pleased to know that it plays out over two whole updates. :p

If nothing else you can appreciate the efforts I went to photoshopping Benn, Jenkins and Healey onto one panel. Although looking back briefly I remember that @stnylan had to pick me up on neglecting to include Benn’s pipe in the first instalment. :D
 
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But if it does come to it that I’ve lost some stuff, not the end of the world. I know what I’m doing, and a chance to revise some stuff won’t go unappreciated. The biggest potential loss is actually the basis for an entire new AAR which I had half a mind to debut in the spring. But again, the artist in me knows to meet all this with equanimity.

My condolences, Densley. I know what it's like to put in a great deal of effort into a project only to have it scuppered by mechanical machinations. I can only hope that things turn out for the best, or that at the very least this minor mishap won't dampen your zeal for your new project, whatever it may entail.

DB is too nice to his critics.

Simply won’t do.
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Incidentally, Vidal uttering "once again words fail Norman Mailer" after the aforementioned punched him in the jaw is admitedly one of my all-time favourite Goreisms.

To borrow frome Dr Watson, "My constitution has not got over the recent events yet. I cannot afford to throw any extra strain upon it.” Perhaps in the new year I will feel strong enough to face such wonderful horrors.

You haven't lived until you have witnessed the wondeful horror of Wedgie's head photoshopped onto Dimbleby's body.
 
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First of all: my god, he lives!

Second of all: how wonderful to see you again.

My condolences, Densley. I know what it's like to put in a great deal of effort into a project only to have it scuppered by mechanical machinations.

Thank you. Hopefully the problem is just with the screen not working and the HD itself is fine. The real bugger is running into the combination holiday-season-tier-3-extravaganza and not being able to book an appointment with a technician owing to reduced services.

I can only hope that things turn out for the best, or that at the very least this minor mishap won't dampen your zeal for your new project, whatever it may entail.

Think La Chinoise but with the Angry Brigade, add in a splash of Sunday Bloody Sunday, and picture it all against the backdrop of a Britain run by Tony Crosland trying to deal with a rogue white settler state in East Africa.

This will get you some of the way towards picturing what has potentially been lost. I leave it to the audience to decide how great a tragedy this would be.

Incidentally, Vidal uttering "once again words fail Norman Mailer" after the aforementioned punched him in the jaw is admitedly one of my all-time favourite Goreisms.

KH has promised some Vidal very soon, and I for one am incredibly excited to read him putting Kennedy under the knife. Or the chainsaw…

You haven't lived until you have witnessed the wondeful horror of Wedgie's head photoshopped onto Dimbleby's body.

Ah, what good old days they were!
 
Think La Chinoise but with the Angry Brigade, add in a splash of Sunday Bloody Sunday, and picture it all against the backdrop of a Britain run by Tony Crosland trying to deal with a rogue white settler state in East Africa.

This will get you some of the way towards picturing what has potentially been lost. I leave it to the audience to decide how great a tragedy this would be.

You had me at Tony Crosland.

KH has promised some Vidal very soon, and I for one am incredibly excited to read him putting Kennedy under the knife.

One's thoughts immediately turn to Myra Breckinridge.
 
You had me at Tony Crosland.

Yes I thought I might. He will, god willing, be making an eventual appearance in Echoes vol. 2.

One's thoughts immediately turn to Myra Breckinridge.

Magnificent.

I leave it to KH to decide whether he is bold enough to give the people what they truly desire.
 
Seeing as the thread has gone up over the weekend, I’ll also do my civic duty and point people towards the Year-Ender AwAARds, for which voting is ongoing now until the end of January. Take a look at your leisure and do get ballots in!

Next round of Cuba stuff will – I think – be up from @99KingHigh over the next few days or so.
 
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