Formatting endnotes in a completed manuscript is a Dante-like test designed to drive the writer to the brink of madness.

"It's Real!" A melodramatic advertisement for "Rasputin, the Black Monk", a lost silent film. This movie was released on October 5, 1917... In other words, only *ten months* after Rasputin's assassination (and only about a month before the Bolshevik Revolution)!

U.S. Marines training at Montford Point Camp--later Camp Gilbert H. Johnson--in Jacksonville, North Carolina. 1940s. The camp was renamed in 1974, after Sergeant Major Gilbert Hubert Johnson, one of the (possibly THE?) first African Americans in the Marine Corps.

The armies of Timur on the move! As depicted in one 144 painting. There's so much variety here. Not just in terms of dress but in of skin color too. Timur's empire was multiethnic and transnational, encompassing modern Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, parts of India and Turkey too.

A German observation balloon during Operation Barbarossa. 9 September, 1941. This balloon was in Gomel, Belarus, one month into what would be a three-year occupation.

Not quite "horse artillery": Elephants in British India, hauling cannons. As a kid, I was always fascinated by elephants in warfare. Maybe thanks to Lord of the Rings? Anyways, I love this depiction. Illustration from 1909.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUfP... A fascinating--terrifying--video on the damage Youtube AI vids do. In short: AI channels put out factually incorrect slop, and AI tools absorb and regurgitate that slop. Google's AI, ChatGPT--they're all getting their sources from AI Youtube vids!! Careful, folks!

How AI Slop is Altering World War II History

YouTube video by TJ3 History

youtube.com

The Odd Couple: Kaiser Wilhelm II and future prime minister Winston Churchill, 1906. At this time, Churchill was a Member of Parliament serving Oldham. And Kaiser Wilhelm was... well, the Kaiser. They're observing military maneuvers near Breslau (now Wrocław, Poland).

Greek soldiers pulling artillery to the front, 1941. Greece proved to be a worthy adversary to Italy in 1940-1. It not only beat back Italy's invasion but promptly reinvaded it across the Albanian border. Sadly, Germany's entrance would end Greece's ascendance.

And now for a different kind of war... "Two Scuffling Boys", by Italian artist Giulio del Torre. 1927. The scene is so... intense, right? And what's the story of the card game? Was one of the boys cheating the other, or was this just a regular adolescent burst of energy?

Alternative Cowboys: a member of Britain's Mounted Yeomanry, most likely in South Africa during the Boer War. As you can see by the background, this flat environment was ostensibly *perfect* for mounted troops, but the war would highlight certain limits to the cavalry's capabilities.

"Tough on Turkey" Puck Magazine's depiction England, Russia, and the Ottoman Empire (Turkey). 22 April 1885.

Remainders of War: Dutch refugees disembark at Essex, 1945. The Second World War made an estimated 65 million refugees in Europe *alone*.

It's June 18, which means it's the anniversary of Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr's death on Okinawa. It also means there are a million posts on Reddit/FB/Twitter that use the WRONG picture for him ;_; (Second pic shows both of them. Buckner is on the left, Shepherd is in the center)

This is already an iconic picture.

Plotters of the 428 Battery, at the Coastal Defence Artillery Headquarters in Dover. December 1942. They were part of the Auxiliary Territorial Service, the women's branch of Britain's Army during WW2. They comprised clerks, inspectors, radar, anti-aircraft... the works!

On the Lookout (The White Wall), by Giovanni Fattori (1872). This scene depicts Italian soldiers on the lookout sometime during the Risorgimento--the unification of Italy. It really captures the soldierly life: monotonously dull for long periods of time, but often quite tense.

So... is academic dishonesty via plagiarism dead now, and replaced by academic dishonesty via AI? Was this basically a case of "killing the super-rats by bringing in super-cats"?

Respite in Desolation. Marine Major Lemuel Shepherd (note the two stars on his helmet) surveys a map on Okinawa, probably just after the conclusion of that battle. June 1945.

A pair of B-24 Liberators over Normandy on the day of the invasion. 6 June 1944. I always love photos that help to capture the scale of the Normandy landings. All those massive ships look like tiny toys! In total, D-Day involved more than *7,000* Allied vessels.

'Tis a good day to relax, have some tea, and rewatch Saving Private Ryan.

Snow problem? A German lancer and his horse move through a snowdrift. Poland, 18 February 1915. Note the fashionable pickelhaube, of course.

"It's Real!" A melodramatic advertisement for "Rasputin, the Black Monk", a lost silent film. This movie was released on October 5, 1917... In other words, only *ten months* after Rasputin's assassination (and only about a month before the Bolshevik Revolution)!

Ready for action! Douglas Devastators (torpedo bombers) on the USS Enterprise, early 1942.

Sea-weary sailors on shore leave, snazzily stitched up in Seoul. 1945! (Yeah, this is one of my favorites) Photograph by Don O'Brien (www.flickr.com/people/51096...)

2/2 Who's a handsome fellow. Photobombing Giovanna Garzoni.

"The Gamblers," by Dutch painter Hendrick ter Brugghen, 1623. Great helmets and breastplates!

Hole Sweet Hole: Men of the Border Regiment rest in their dugouts during a lull in the fighting. The Somme, August 1916.

"Britain's War Babies", 1943. London children play a Blitz-inspired game. Two kids hide beneath an upturned armchair while one of them--the "Warden"--inspects their air raid shelter. Who needs Nintendo??

A dramatic 19th century depiction of Caesar crossing the Rubicon. Note that Caesar is holding a globe--wonder what *that* could possibly mean... Also, Caesar has not one, but *two* grim reaper-like characters beside him, wielding scythes and wearing ghost-blanket outfits.