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John Roberts

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Mao's Last Dancer

by Li Cunxin

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May 28, 2026 01:27AM

John’s Quotes

“As far as he was concerned, the whole religion thing was a racket for overeducated men who didn’t want to do real work.”
― Min Jin Lee, Pachinko

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“In the air corps, 35,946 personnel died in nonbattle situations, the vast majority of them in accidental crashes.*1 Even in combat, airmen appear to have been more likely to die from accidents than combat itself. A report issued by the AAF surgeon general suggests that in the Fifteenth Air Force, between November 1, 1943, and May 25, 1945, 70 percent of men listed as killed in action died in operational aircraft accidents, not as a result of enemy action.”
― Laura Hillenbrand, Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

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“In World War II, 35,933 AAF planes were lost in combat and accidents. The surprise of the attrition rate is that only a fraction of the ill-fated planes were lost in combat. In 1943 in the Pacific Ocean Areas theater in which Phil’s crew served, for every plane lost in combat, some six planes were lost in accidents. Over time, combat took a greater toll, but combat losses never overtook noncombat losses.”
― Laura Hillenbrand, Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

4 likes

“Never mess with someone who has more spare time than you do[.]”
― Fredrik Backman, My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry

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“the Dutch West Indies Company, or WIC, plied the Atlantic. In order to control trade on the important Hudson River, WIC built a settlement called New Amsterdam on an island at the river’s mouth. The colony was threatened by Indians and repeatedly attacked by the British, who eventually captured it in 1664. The British changed its name to New York. The remains of the wall built by WIC to defend its colony against Indians and British are today paved over by the world’s most famous street – Wall Street.”
― Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

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