AGreatDivorce

Cloudberg - Masks, Smoke, and Mirrors: The untold story of EgyptAir flight 804

As an extra bonus: another non-ACOUP upload, this time sticking to accessible deep dives of niche, academic subjects rather than silly video game horror stories: I am narrating one of the posts of aviation writer, Admiral Cloudberg.
For those unfamiliar, Admiral Cloudberg (aka Kyra Dempsey) writes essays covering the technical, logistical, and systemic reasons for specific aviation disasters. Her writing, like Bret’s, is highly accessible despite tackling a very technical subject with useful images, photos, maps, and diagrams as visual aids to assist in understanding the material. She condenses large amounts of information into informative and engaging narratives to explain what went wrong in and what, if anything, could be learned from these incidents.
For this post, I will be narrating her coverage of the crash of EgyptAir flight 804 and the strange journey the investigation into the crash took. This will be something of an abnormal example of Dempsey’s style, but, given the amount of research she undertook on a truly unique case and the work in making those findings accessible and comprehensible, I felt this the ideal place to start for those unfamiliar with her work.
A note: Kyra cites frequently through this essay from her large bibliography of sources. As I usually do, I originally intended to include these citation references in my narration. On editing, however, I found them to make the narration difficult to follow and decided it would simply be easier for interested researchers to look at Kyra’s essay directly for citations. Since I assume no one is rewinding my audio to jot down reference notes when they could just look at the source! So if you are interested in deeper reading, see below.
Anyone wishing to engage with Kyra, check out these links:
Original post for this recording - https://admiralcloudberg.medium.com/masks-smoke-and-mirrors-the-untold-story-of-egyptair-flight-804-42c788fcac2dKyra’s blog, Admiral Cloudberg - https://admiralcloudberg.medium.com/Kyra’s Twitter - https://x.com/KyraCloudyKyra’s Bluesky - https://bsky.app/profile/kyracloudy.bsky.socialKyra’s Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/Admiral_CloudbergNarrations on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0QwqosVQjvXWKovUxdSGpQ
 
And if you wish to support me, please like, share, and subscribe!
 
0:00 – Masks, Smoke, and Mirrors3:03 - Foreword5:20 - Part 1: Flight 804 is Missing30:07 - Part 2: Cold Case43:10 - Part 3: Explosive Evidence1:33:40 - Part 4: Inferno2:25:49 - Part 5: I Ask Forgiveness from God2:38:24 - Part 6: A Legacy to Be Written2:52:53 - Credits

ACOUP - The Marian Reforms Weren’t a Thing

As something of a supplement to his examination of the dilectus, Bret takes a look at the supposed theory of “Marian Reforms,” the (erroneous) idea that Gaius Marius was directly and intentionally responsible for a package of sweeping changes to the Roman army in the 2nd century BC. Bret examines what changes have been attributed to Marius as “reforms” and then looks at the historical reality of when and how they came about.
 
Also, just to make sure no one feels they need to rush off to Wikipedia… the article on the “Marian Reforms” that Bret specifically cites for its erroneous information has since been edited. You can even find this article linked there, now!
 
Anyone wishing to engage with Bret, check out these links:
 
Original post for this recording - https://acoup.blog/2023/06/30/collections-the-marian-reforms-werent-a-thing/
Dr. Devereaux’s blog, A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry - https://acoup.blog
Dr. Devereaux’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/BretDevereaux
Dr. Devereaux’s Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/user?u=20122096
Narrations on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0QwqosVQjvXWKovUxdSGpQ
 
And if you wish to support me, please like, share, and subscribe!
 
0:00 – The Marian Reforms Weren’t a Thing
8:13 - The So-Called Marian Reforms
17:10 - Equipment Reforms
31:07 - Recruit and Organization
53:31 - Cohorts and Tactics
1:02:39 - The Reforms That Weren’t
1:08:24 - Credits

ACOUP - How To Raise a Roman Army: The Dilectus

Here, Bret covers how the Roman Republic raised its army: the process called the “dilectus”. He discusses the three phases of the dilectus (census, arming, and mobilization) and how the Roman’s kept track of the logistics of the system, as well as how successful it was.
 
Anyone wishing to engage with Bret, check out these links:
 
Original post for this recording - https://acoup.blog/2023/06/16/collections-how-to-raise-a-roman-army-the-dilectus/
Dr. Devereaux’s blog, A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry - https://acoup.blog
Dr. Devereaux’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/BretDevereaux
Dr. Devereaux’s Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/user?u=20122096
Narrations on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0QwqosVQjvXWKovUxdSGpQ
 
And if you wish to support me, please like, share, and subscribe!
 
0:00 – The Dilectus
4:05 - Timing the Dilectus
12:50 - Phase I: Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?
31:32 - Phase II: Unit Divisions
43:30 - Phase III: Mobilization
47:28 - Observations on the System
57:30 - Credits

ACOUP - Roman Roads

In this post, Bret provides a brief overview of Rome’s road system, through the lens of the question, “Was the Roman road system unique and, if so, how?” He examines this by first looking at what sort of road systems preceded Rome’s, and then examines the construction, expanse, and purpose of Rome’s specific system.
 
Anyone wishing to engage with Bret, check out these links:
 
Original post for this recording - https://acoup.blog/2023/06/02/collections-roman-roads/
Dr. Devereaux’s blog, A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry - https://acoup.blog
Dr. Devereaux’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/BretDevereaux
Dr. Devereaux’s Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/user?u=20122096
Narrations on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0QwqosVQjvXWKovUxdSGpQ
 
And if you wish to support me, please like, share, and subscribe!
 
0:00 – Roman Roads
4:07 - Imperial Roadways
14:59 - Roman Roads
23:59 - The Roman Road System
41:29 - Impact
52:59 - Credits

ACOUP - On the Reign of Cleopatra

In this post, Bret examines Cleopatra. Both who she was and what sort of ruler she was. He starts by discussing how pop culture (and historical sources) often treat Cleopatra and what they tend to view as important about her. Then he turns to what we can see from our sources of Cleopatra’s life and legacy.
 
Anyone wishing to engage with Bret, check out these links:
 
Original post for this recording - https://acoup.blog/2023/05/26/collections-on-the-reign-of-cleopatra/
Dr. Devereaux’s blog, A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry - https://acoup.blog
Dr. Devereaux’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/BretDevereaux
Dr. Devereaux’s Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/user?u=20122096
Narrations on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0QwqosVQjvXWKovUxdSGpQ
 
And if you wish to support me, please like, share, and subscribe!
 
0:00 - On the Reign of Cleopatra
10:53 - Racing Cleopatra
33:35 - Towards Assessing Cleopatra
47:30 - Cleopatra and Egypt
1:08:35 - Cleopatra’s Rule in Egypt
1:17:42 - The Ambitions of Cleopatra
1:39:39 - A Verdict on Cleopatra
1:48:43 - Credits

ACOUP - Why Roman Egypt Was Such a Strange Province

Continuing the run of Bret’s Roman one-offs, this article provides a very quick and dirty analysis of Roman Egypt. More specifically, it examines in what ways Egypt was different from other Roman provinces. It also examines why Egypt was important both to Rome as a polity and to the study of Roman history.
 
Anyone wishing to engage with Bret, check out these links:
 
Original post for this recording - https://acoup.blog/2022/12/02/collections-why-roman-egypt-was-such-a-strange-province/
Dr. Devereaux’s blog, A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry - https://acoup.blog
Dr. Devereaux’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/BretDevereaux
Dr. Devereaux’s Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/user?u=20122096
Narrations on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0QwqosVQjvXWKovUxdSGpQ
 
And if you wish to support me, please like, share, and subscribe!
 
0:00 – Why Roman Egypt Was Such a Strange Province
4:34 - What Makes Roman Egypt So Valuable To Historians?
17:48 - The Romans Made Egypt Unusual
30:36 - But Egypt Was Already Unusual
45:00 - Conclusion
47:02 - Credits

Creepypasta Reading - Blood Whistle

Because I have been out of practice for so long, I decided to do something completely silly and low-stakes to help me warm back up: a reading of a personal favorite, absolutely absurd creepypasta. Blood Whistle.
For those who aren’t familiar: “creepypasta” is a horror genre consisting of internet-shared stories of purported legends or tall tales. Essentially, they are the internet version of campfire stories. Not meant to be serious and, often, bad in ways that are delightfully entertaining.
A well-known subgenre of creepypastas is the “haunted game cartridge” story, where the narrator tells of an encounter with a cursed, haunted, or otherwise nefarious video game cartridge, always with the game in question corrupted to be a malefic version of itself.
Blood Whistle is a completely standard example of the subgenre. By that I mean: its writing is overwrought and melodramatic, it assumes emotional investment from the reader that it does not earn, and it is poorly constructed in ways that are extremely funny. It is enormously entertaining to me, so I decided to do a reading of it as a return to narrations. Also to get back my vocal practice by reading something that begs for overly dramatized performance.
Content warning: as a haunted-game creepypasta, Blood Whistle has a lot of purple prose gore and viscera. Like many of its kind, it childishly delights in excessive blood, suicidal ideation, and overly traumatic imagery and sentiment. If you are squeamish, sit this one out. Check out the Rome posts instead, and don’t worry. I will be back with more ACOUP before 2026... if I can just get this bootleg copy of Majora’s Mask that I found at a yard sale to work....
Source of the text for the reading: https://lostepisodecreepypasta.fandom.com/wiki/Blood_Whistle_(Super_Mario_Bros_3_Creepypasta)
 
Video for the background is from World of Longplays, played by Spazbo4, available here: https://longplays.org/infusions/longplays/longplays.php?cat_id=15&longplay_id=767
 

ACOUP - Why No Roman Industrial Revolution?

In another ACOUP Senate post, Bret looks at the question of, if it was such a successful economy, Rome did not produce an industrial revolution. To answer this, he explores both the nature of Rome’s economy and the circumstances that led to the industrial revolution.
 
Anyone wishing to engage with Bret, check out these links:
 
Original post for this recording - https://acoup.blog/2022/08/26/collections-why-no-roman-industrial-revolution/
Dr. Devereaux’s blog, A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry - https://acoup.blog
Dr. Devereaux’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/BretDevereaux
Dr. Devereaux’s Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/user?u=20122096
Narrations on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0QwqosVQjvXWKovUxdSGpQ
 
And if you wish to support me, please like, share, and subscribe!
 
0:00 - Why No Roman Industrial Revolution?
1:29 - The Question
10:23 - The Industrial Revolution
33:33 - Why Not in Rome?
36:42 - The Nature of the Roman Economy
50:51 - Credits

ACOUP - The Roman Dictatorship: How Did It Work? Did It Work?

In this ACOUP Senate post, Bret provides an overview of the Roman dictator. How did the position of dictator work and what did that word even mean to the Romans using it? Particularly, Bret examines how what “dictator” meant changed from its older, much more stable use in the early republic, to its much more destructive, lawless use at the end of the republic.
 
Anyone wishing to engage with Bret, check out these links:
 
Original post for this recording - https://acoup.blog/2022/03/18/collections-the-roman-dictatorship-how-did-it-work-did-it-work/
Dr. Devereaux’s blog, A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry - https://acoup.blog
Dr. Devereaux’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/BretDevereaux
Dr. Devereaux’s Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/user?u=20122096
Narrations on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0QwqosVQjvXWKovUxdSGpQ
 
And if you wish to support me, please like, share, and subscribe!
 
0:00 - The Roman Dictatorship
1:50 - Two Institutions
9:47 - How Did the Customary Dictatorship Work?
26:13 - Did the Customary Dictatorship Work?
31:04 - How Did the Irregular Dictatorship Work?
42:32 - Did the Irregular Dictatorship Work?
54:44 - Credits

ACOUP - Rome: Decline and Fall? Part III: Things

To close out his analysis of the transition from the Roman imperial era to the Middle Ages, Bret takes a closer look at “things”: the trends and evidences of economy and demography and what they tell us about how real people were impacted. Not just elites but the normal, workaday people who made up the majority of the humans who lived in this period.
 
Anyone wishing to engage with Bret, check out these links:
 
Original post for this recording - https://acoup.blog/2022/02/11/collections-rome-decline-and-fall-part-iii-things/
Dr. Devereaux’s blog, A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry - https://acoup.blog
Dr. Devereaux’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/BretDevereaux
Dr. Devereaux’s Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/user?u=20122096
Narrations on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0QwqosVQjvXWKovUxdSGpQ
 
And if you wish to support me, please like, share, and subscribe!
 
0:00 - Things
4:00 - The Revenge of the Archaeologists
14:52 - Demographics
21:21 - Graph
25:00 - End of Graph
29:13 - Living Standards
41:50 - From High Equilibrium to Low Equilibrium
1:03:17 - What Happened?
1:16:02 - Conclusions
1:29:40 - Credits