The Off Topic Topic

[celedhring]

The first anniversary of the independence referendum has been quite feisty. A large separatist march (180k according to local police) to commemorate the event ended in front of the Catalan parliament where they asked the Catalan government to go forward and implement independence or quit. The Catalan president and the speaker of the parliament where expected to address the crowd but they decided not to after seeing the crowd's hostility. After the march officially ended, a group of several hundred have tried to storm the parliament (literally) and clashed against the police. They are still at it while I'm writing this.

There are also clashes in a centric street where protestors have surrounded a police station of the Spanish police.

[celedhring]

Heh, the protestors ultimately overwhelmed the police cordon around the parliament, and the police retreated inside the building. The protestors where trying to get the main door opened when Gandalf and Eomer the riot police rode in and relieved the siege.

[Valmy]

The Horn of Helm Hammerhand shall sound in Barcelona one last time?

What was their plan once they broke in? Was the parliament in session?

[Josquius]

Today I learned my new favourite German word. It sounds much like the English word schmooze.
Schmoozen I think is the spelling.
Apparently in German German it means to cuddle.
In Austrian German it means to snog.

[Valmy]

That must create confusion in Austro-German relations.

[Admiral Yi]

Today I learned my new favourite German word. It sounds much like the English word schmooze.
Schmoozen I think is the spelling.
Apparently in German German it means to cuddle.
In Austrian German it means to snog.

Pretty sure schmooze is Yiddish, which explains the similarity.

[Malthus]

Today I learned my new favourite German word. It sounds much like the English word schmooze.
Schmoozen I think is the spelling.
Apparently in German German it means to cuddle.
In Austrian German it means to snog.

Pretty sure schmooze is Yiddish, which explains the similarity.

Yup, Yiddish.

From Webster:

Schmooze (also spelled shmooze) is one of a small, but significant, number of words borrowed from Yiddish that have become relatively common parts of the English language. ... It was the Hebrew shěmu'ōth ("news, rumor") that provided Yiddish with the noun shmues ("talk") and the verb shmuesn ("to talk or chat").

[celedhring]

The Horn of Helm Hammerhand shall sound in Barcelona one last time?

What was their plan once they broke in? Was the parliament in session?

No, but they wanted to prevent tomorrow's session from taking place. Tomorrow the Catalan parliament has to suspend from their offices the MPs currently awaiting trial from last year's UDI.

[celedhring]

Now they are seemingly trying to curry Valmy's favor and the protestors are erecting baricades. 

For some reason though, they are doing it in one of the most stupidly BROAD streets in the whole city.

[celedhring]

The Catalan government seems cornered by its own radicals, and after yesterday's events it apparently has decided to go out in a blaze.

The president has today threatened to declare independence (yawn) if the separatist leaders awaiting trial are not absolved of any wrongdoing, and given the Spanish government a 30-day deadline to negotiate a binding independence referendum - which Madrid has already rejected ("no need to wait for a month").

God, I'm tired.

[Tonitrus]

The Catalan government seems cornered by its own radicals, and after yesterday's events it apparently has decided to go out in a blaze.

The president has today threatened to declare independence (yawn) if the separatist leaders awaiting trial are not absolved of any wrongdoing, and given the Spanish government a 30-day deadline to negotiate a binding independence referendum - which Madrid has already rejected ("no need to wait for a month").

God, I'm tired.

Let me get this straight...

- Separatist leaders declare victory in independence referendum.
- Government puts them in jail.
- New separatists leaders come to power, threaten to declare independence if original separatist leaders are not released and government allows another referendum.

I sense some kind of cyclical force at work here.

[derspiess]

Teh Russians.

[Valmy]

Teh Russians.

You think so? I am sure they are not opposed to creating whatever trouble they can in the EU.

[HVC]

Separatists don't always need outside forces to be dumb.

[Valmy]

God, I'm tired.

Yes...but will the separatists ever tire of it?