OFFICIAL FIRE TIM LESTER THREAD

Do you guys know of any good podcasts, or audio lecture series, on WWII? It is a fascinating topic, and I love learning about it.

I was listening to these for awhile: https://worldwariipodcast.net/

They are done by an amateur historian who puts a ton into this passion project of his. It is a little overwhelming with its granularity, though. He is at 457 episodes and counting, probably close to 350 hours of content, and he has only gotten to 1942, or so!
 
It's been scientifically shown that all humans alive today are related to a common ancestor going back relatively few generations.
I've heard something like this before. My first thought was, what if that person died before having kids?

I've gotten to be big into genealogies. I guess that's what old people do. I've done a lot of research into my family and am now digging into my wife's (AKA my 11th cousin twice removed) side of the family. I was able to trace both of our families back to Germany and on from there. Also found out that my 4th great-grandfather and her 3rd great-grandfather settled in the same township and farmed adjacent plots of land.

My 2nd great grandfather changed the spelling of his last name so it didn't look like a German name when he came to the US. Thank god he did. Helluva last name to spell.

My maternal Grandfather never told his wife or kids about his time in the war. I got a trial subscription to every site I could find to come up with anything I could find. Was able to find a lot of basic stuff, but still haven't found anything other than where/when he was stationed in different places.

Maybe the "best" thing I've found is how my 3rd great uncle that was killed when he was 11 years old. He and his siblings were jumping in a haystack and he landed on a pitchfork.
 
Funny thing you mention that. This is one of my interest areas and I've done a lot of reading in the subject.

It's been scientifically shown that all humans alive today are related to a common ancestor going back relatively few generations. The oldest common ancestor to everyone living today was alive between 1400 BC and 55 AD.

If you want some really interesting shit, google "human genetic isopoint." That's the point in time when any two family trees on earth...no matter how distant...come back to the same two individuals. It's way more recent than you'd think.

For your example, it's been estimated that 20 generations back in the Americas and Europe we are all related. One thing that's been proven robustly is that there's no such thing as racial purity anywhere in the world. Of course I'm speaking genetically and scientifically, not culturally.

Here's a great article for easy reading that doesn't go all the way in the weeds...

https://www.scientificamerican.com/...-more-closely-related-than-we-commonly-think/

Well said (in bold).

I think the guy on the video is conflating any common ancestors, which of course is thousands of generations of regression to the fourth power and likely to bring at least everyone from the Eurasian land mass within the range of at least one common ancestor, and all living homo sapiens have a single common ancestor. Hell, millions of modern homo sapiens still have neanderthal DNA. Of course, the same would be true in natives of the Western Hemisphere, although less diverse due to a much smaller population, fewer ethnicities and cultural isolation from other cultures within a few hundred miles.

The oldest age of the singular ancestor is about 150,000 years (given 15-20K year margin of error). She had good genes. Seventy percent of homo sapiens and a higher percent of neanderthals disappeared in the last human mass extinction (70,000 years ago).

Let's give ourselves a hand. Our ancestors were the toughest, smartest and most adaptable critters in our species.​
 
Last edited:
If you are into historical fiction, especially imaginative historical fiction with weird characters and exploration of technology, I really like Neal Stephenson. Stephenson does Sci Fi, but he is definitely not hemmed in by genres. He likes to blend the ideas of technology, religion, finance, and human interactions, whether looking forward with Sci Fi, or looking backward with some really wild historical fiction.

His 1999 novel Cryptonomicon is an exploration of WWII code-breaking unfolding in parallel to present day (or at least present 1990s) ideas of crypto-currency and its role in future society. Historical characters that make brief appearances include Yamamoto, MacArthur, Goring, Donitz, Churchill, Turing, Reagan (as a young actor during WWII), and a German character modeled after Rudolf Schauffler.

A weird book with lots of historical tidbits tucked into it, as well as a prescient look at the future of cryptocurrency about 20 years before crypto took off. Not to be read as an historical text, much heavier on the "fiction" than the "historical." But very fun.

As an aside, Stephenson is an Ames High grad, though he moved around throughout his life (his dad was an electrical engineering Prof, first at Illinois, and then ISU). You never know how well you get to know someone via digital communication, but he seems like an author that would be right up the alley of @MelroseHawkins and @PCHawk .

Neal Stephenson is one of my favorite authors

Started with Snow Crash way back then
 
Natural selection has helped with that more than any other factor. The only other factor being luck.
I almost said that. Since almost every culture has a flood story I think our ancestors might have had the good fortune to live in high ground or far away from water.
 
Neal Stephenson is one of my favorite authors

Started with Snow Crash way back then

It is amazing how much of his forward-looking stuff plays out much as he projects. Have you read the newest one, Termination Shock? It is a look at how earth is going to have to confront climate change, and how messy things are going to get. Lots of geoengineering, geoterrorism, geopolitical chicanery via AI deepfakes, and a lot of other stuff that feels very of the moment. The part about Indian Sikhs and Chinese battling with sticks and rocks over the Line of Actual Control might be my favorite.

I have read the Baroque Cycle trilogy in its entirety at least twice, but I often pick one of the books up and open to a random spot and read for a bit. Such an interesting and ambitious endeavor.
 
Newt Gingrich is a great alternative history writer. Although I am a political fan of Newt's I'd never read anything non-political. Astounded that his alternative history novels would be so fascinating. Then I remembered he was a history professor before politics.

His book on Pearl Harbor assumes the Japanese came back and hit the oil farms, I think the dry docks and shelled Hawaiin cities.

The best is the 3 volume set that assumes Lee wins at Gettysburg, the Army of the Potomac is destroyed and Lee captures Baltimore. I won't spoil the ending, but it is a good one.
 
It is amazing how much of his forward-looking stuff plays out much as he projects. Have you read the newest one, Termination Shock? It is a look at how earth is going to have to confront climate change, and how messy things are going to get. Lots of geoengineering, geoterrorism, geopolitical chicanery via AI deepfakes, and a lot of other stuff that feels very of the moment. The part about Indian Sikhs and Chinese battling with sticks and rocks over the Line of Actual Control might be my favorite.

I have read the Baroque Cycle trilogy in its entirety at least twice, but I often pick one of the books up and open to a random spot and read for a bit. Such an interesting and ambitious endeavor.
You fight with the weapons that you have. Somewhere in my basement there's a picture of a German soldier stabbed dead by the screw on the end of a mannequin's leg at Stalingrad.
 
It is amazing how much of his forward-looking stuff plays out much as he projects. Have you read the newest one, Termination Shock? It is a look at how earth is going to have to confront climate change, and how messy things are going to get. Lots of geoengineering, geoterrorism, geopolitical chicanery via AI deepfakes, and a lot of other stuff that feels very of the moment. The part about Indian Sikhs and Chinese battling with sticks and rocks over the Line of Actual Control might be my favorite.

I have read the Baroque Cycle trilogy in its entirety at least twice, but I often pick one of the books up and open to a random spot and read for a bit. Such an interesting and ambitious endeavor.

Gonna put a hold on Termination Shock

Gonna have to reread The Baroque Cycle now

:cool:
 
You know, I think this Lester guy might work out, and we should give him a chance.

How great would it be if Iowa Football actually allowed some access to their spring practices to, you know, promote their program? All of this secrecy hasn't been very effective in keeping opponents in the dark regarding our offensive game plans, so maybe throw the fans a bone?
 
You know, I think this Lester guy might work out, and we should give him a chance.

How great would it be if Iowa Football actually allowed some access to their spring practices to, you know, promote their program? All of this secrecy hasn't been very effective in keeping opponents in the dark regarding our offensive game plans, so maybe throw the fans a bone?
The world has changed. KF needs to allow more public access and embrace more opportunities to expose Iowans to the team. Maybe a couple of days before the spring "open scrimmage", they could bus up to DSM and go through a scrimmage of some sort.

That would sell out and generate a ton of local media of the Hawkeyes. Iowa really needs better stories out in the football talking world.
 
It's been a few days since someone posted on here, so here's some insider info I've recently learned.

Tim Lester has refused to discuss how he will implement the tunnel screen in the Iowa offense this year. C'mon Tim, learn the game!

When asked about AIRBHG, I'm told he responded "I will not be intimidated!" Such disrespect.

One of the more interesting developments, I'm told is, Tim Lestor has replaced the playbook with a Magic 8-ball, making critical play decisions based on its responses like "Outlook not so good" or "try again".

Fire Tim Lester
 
The stench that has permeated Iowa City bince this guy got hired is undeniable. The Women's basketball team lost a few games. The men won't make the tournament. The wrestling program went to pure crap. The offense hasn't scored yet. This guy is a bad luck charm, let's get him out of town.
 

Latest posts

Top