Australia’s Owen sub-machine gun is one of the little-known weapons stories of the Second World War. But the more we look at this story, the more we are amazed by its details. It was produced solely in Australia, and used solely by the Australian military. It was probably the best sub-machine gun of its era, and stayed in use until the Vietnam War.
Director: Kon Ichikawa
The year is 1945, and the setting is the (just barely) Japanese-occupied Philippines. Japan has been losing the war and its army has been reduced by lack of supplies and manpower. As things go from bad to worse, discipline breaks down too, and the army begins to resemble a gang of convicts more than a fighting force. Soon it becomes a brutish fight for survival.
A young man from Australia writes that he feels a general malaise and depression, and finds it difficult to get motivated. I offer some blunt talk to put things in perspective. I also provide some specific guidance on how he can break out of his old patterns.
A reader wants to know how reliable his intuition is. Should he rely on it, or should he instead fall back on his powers of rational analysis and deliberation? It’s a great question.
I’ve been thinking about this for some time, and have decided that the arguments in favor of it are far more compelling than those against it. These are the reasons.
Yes, I’m aware that it’s not yet Sunday. But so what? Why wait a day? Here are some recommendations.
A follower on Twitter says that he’s having some problems focusing on his studies. He wants to know how he can get more motivated, and keep his motivation.
In May of this year, a bill was introduced in the US Congress called the “Countering Information Warfare Act (CIWA) of 2016.” It is currently pending in the Committee on Foreign Relations. The premise behind the bill is, in essence, that Russia and China are devoting huge sums of money on “propaganda” and “disinformation” which has the net effect of smearing US policies around the world.
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An interesting fable is found in one of the published lectures of the late historian J.B. Bury. Some investigation into its lineage shows that it is of very old date, and has appeared in various literary sources. One was Boccaccio’s Decameron; another was the medieval chronicle Gesta Romanorum; and yet another was from Lessing’s drama Nathan der Weise. In most essentials, the stories agree with each other, and I will reproduce it here.
Quintus Curtius 
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