Watchin' The Detectives

Hi, I'm Mandy, and I'll be your documentarian this post. I believe you've already met Erin; she's my wife, partner, cohort in crime and favorite enabler ❤️ I say enabler because I tend to think of my hobbies in terms of addiction. I've always had a tendency towards going all-in on whatever I was doing… When I started reading about physics (well, insofar as chemistry is applied physics) in seventh grade, I couldn't stop until I'd taught myself both calculus and matrix mechanics so that I could predict the decay behavior of unstable isotopes given nothing more than an atomic symbol and weight. Had I any ability to maintain focus, I might be another Einstein today, but by the time I'd learned all that I was also learning to push my poor Apple ][ past it's breaking point. Instead I turned my attention towards penny stocks, on which my father's bookie… er, broker (same guy, honestly) traded, and turned my lawn care earnings into an Apple //e by inves

"Marco Polo: The Chinese Mystery Revealed" By: Nat Geo, 2004 With Mike Yamashita Runtime: 1 Hour, 10 mins.                                                                                                By Salviati - http://urbanesalonanddayspa.com/15fa8o-marco-polo.org-cheap, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=52252778   I'm going to take a break today from "The History of Weapons" series, just to break it up a bit (and so I can get the rest of the parts written, ha!) So I'm going be taking a look at Nat Geo's "Marco Polo: The Chinese Mystery Revealed." With a run-time of an hour and ten minutes, it covers a lot of ground. Quite literally. It follows Nat Geo photographer Michael Yamashita from the rumored Venice home of Marco Polo, all the way to the walls of the forbidden City, where Marco Polo ingratiated himself to the aristocracy of the day.  Supposedly a first-hand account of the travels of Marco Polo himself, m

 "The History of Weapons"  By: ZDF Studios, Episode 5 *Continued from Ep. 4 Episode 5: Faster Than the Enemy                                                                                                                                              Common Two Person Chariot                                                                           By Álvaro Pérez Vilariño - Flickr: Biga, CC BY-SA 2.0,                                                                                                        https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19814849                                                                  In this episode, the historians look at a crucial battlefield element: speed. Using the chariot, the sling and the revolver, they demonstrate the need for speed in every aspect of warfare.    First up is the chariot. While the origins of the chariot are murky, as they likely started as simple horse drawn carriages, the oldest examples of what we recognize as

Episode 4 of "The History of Weapons" Produced by ZDF Studios *Continued from Episode 3  Episode 4: Weapons for All                                                                                                                         Automatic Kalashnikov, or "AK-47"                                         https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Nemo5576    This episode covers the weapons that were taken up by the average foot soldier pressed into service by a lord, to protect their village or lands and resistance fighters, or what call now with a bit of malice: we now call "insurgents." The crossbow is first on this list. Famously denounced by the Pope as a weapon so devious that he forbade Christians from using them, (unless of course you were using them against Muslims or Pagans) it was originally designed by the ancient Chinese in the 7th century BCE. Used heavily in Emperor Qin's Wars of Unification in what we now know as "China," it m

    "The History of Weapons"       Produced by: ZDF Studios    *Continued from Intro, Ep.1, Ep. 2  Episode 3: Close Combat                                                                                                           Common War Hammer                                             By Samuraiantiqueworld - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0,                                                                     https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=27716648     This episode focuses on up-close and personal hand to hand weapons; namely the Roman gladius (short sword) the warhammer and bayonet.   As discussed in the ranged weapons episode, the primary tool of the Roman soldier was the Pilum; the next phase of attack though, was a steam-rolling by a shield wall with a bunch of sharp pointy bits sticking out. The Roman gladius was meant for one purpose, to thrust. Its deep, finely-honed point could pierce light armor with little effort, and it was narrow and deep enough that a

                                                Photo Credit: leonardo @ https://www.fluentland.com/weapons-vocabulary-word-list-different-types-of-weapons-with-images/                                                                 In this ten part review, I'll be discussing one of the most comprehensive documentary series on the history of weapons that I've ever had the pleasure to watch. (and many times, at that) It's a ten part series, each part about an hour a piece, produced by ZDF Studios. Some of my absolute favorite military historians (Mike Loades, Andrew Lambert & Stephen Bull) take on three separate weapons per episode, and over the course of  the series cover the evolution of weaponry; from the simple pointed stick, all the way up to the most advanced weapon systems of today. They discuss the abject terror created by the weapons and discuss what they could do to a person without glorifying it in the least; a welcome change from weapons/military documentarie

                                  Photo: National Park Service United States, Chaco Canyon Cultural Site The Mystery of Chaco Canyon 1999 Director: Anna Sofaer     Today I will be discussing "The Mystery of Chaco Canyon," in my mind, one of the best documentaries available on this enigmatic site. For those not in the know, Chaco Canyon and Pueblo Bonito (meaning: "Beautiful Village") is one of the most complete and impressive sites built by the "Chacoan" culture of the larger Puebloan peoples that still exists in the U.S. today. Built starting around 850 AD and used until a 50 year drought in the twelfth century drove them away. They closed up the site by walling in the structures, clearly in hopes that they would one day return the site to its former glory. It was a site for ceremony and worship, which drew people from hundreds of miles around as is evident from the timbers used during construction which cannot be found for many days travel in any directi

       Today I am going to review a series from another documentarian that has changed my life and the world: Sir David Attenborough. We're going to look at a few of his lesser know documentaries that have been repackaged for rebroadcasting. The series was put together by using archival footage from earlier series and reworked for a new generation. (and to honor Sir David's 90th Birthday in 2016) It worked exceedingly well, in my opinion. It's a four part series, at about an hour/hour-ten mins per episode, and it touches on some of the more intimate interests of Sir David  himself.  Episode 1: A Blank on the Map   Sir David travels to Papua New Guinea in search of the Biami tribe, which at that point, (1971) were uncontacted. He hires some ten and hundred men to be porters, guides and most importantly: cultural liaisons. They trek through uncharted territory for days, up and down mountains, across rivers (the porters make a suspension bridge with creeping plants in such a w