The Off Topic Topic

[The Brain]

My dad once showed me the Shellback certificate he got.  It was pretty neat.

Shellback? Did he meet Max Martin too?

[celedhring]

In today's "maps, I love maps!": castles/fortresses in Spain, by epoch.



Red shades are prehistoric/Roman age. Yellow shades are medieval muslim/christian sites. Blue and Green are Modern/Late Modern.

[The Larch]

Cool, can you link to the website in which it can be browsed? I'm assuming it's also including ruins.

[celedhring]

It does include ruins, you can zoom and mouse over each site to see the conservation state.

https://www.elconfidencial.com/cultura/2021-10-13/castillos-conservacion-arquitectura-especial-datos_3303733/

It's a subscription site, but you can do the "stop loading before the subscription pop-up appears" trick to browse it.

[The Larch]

I'm going to get nitpicky, as it doesn't show a few of the most prominent "Castros" in Pontevedra, while going absolutely gung-ho about them in Northern Coruña. 

[Syt]

Over the last week or so there was an Austria-wide poster campaign:



"With a disability you're NOT needed." There were additional ones. "Hiring older staff is NOT worth it." "Without school degree you will NOT get far." No context given.

This has caused quite some backlash, especially from groups advocating for people with disabilities.

Due to the backlash the originators have come clean sooner than planned. It's the Billa supermarket chain (part of Rewe), and the plan was to replace the posters after two weeks with the opposites. ("With a disability you ARE needed." etc.)

In hindsight it would probably have gone better if they had started with phase 2.

[crazy canuck]

I've crossed both the equator and arctic circle and didn't get nothing to mark the occasion.

The fine print says you need to sail across.  Cheating by flying does not count.

[grumbler]

I've crossed both the equator and arctic circle and didn't get nothing to mark the occasion.

Don't worry.  If you didn't get the initiation, you can get initiated the next time you cross on a ship that follows the tradition.

It's not crossing the line that makes you a Shellback or Bluenose, it is passing the initiation ceremony.

[Barrister]

I've crossed both the equator and arctic circle and didn't get nothing to mark the occasion.

The fine print says you need to sail across.  Cheating by flying does not count.

I mostly just wanted to humblebrag.

[Jacob]

Plenty of commercial flights from Canada to Europe and Asia cross the Arctic circle, I'm pretty sure.

[Barrister]

Plenty of commercial flights from Canada to Europe and Asia cross the Arctic circle, I'm pretty sure.

Sure.  I've mentioned that Whitehorse - Anchorage - Frankfurt direct flight I took a couple of times.  It basically takes you right across the north pole.  It was cool flying north from Anchorage, going over the north slope and the arctic ocean, then entering europe coming over scandinavia (I slept so only saw Denmark).


But anyways - when I said I was north of the arctic circle I was referring to the one time I had circuit court in Old Crow, Yukon, which is north of the arctic circle.  It was in early December so while there was still a tiny bit of sunlight, I don't think it lasted much more than an hour.

[Jacob]

That's so cool

... and cold too, I bet.

[The Brain]

I took the train across the Arctic Circle.

[Barrister]

That's so cool

... and cold too, I bet.

From what I remember it wasn't too bad.

Now the time I spent 3 days in Arviat, Nunavut (which is on the western shore of Hudson Bay, though south of the circle) in January - THAT was cold.

I took the train across the Arctic Circle.

Neat!  Is there any story to go along with that?

[The Brain]

That's so cool

... and cold too, I bet.

From what I remember it wasn't too bad.

Now the time I spent 3 days in Arviat, Nunavut (which is on the western shore of Hudson Bay, though south of the circle) in January - THAT was cold.

I took the train across the Arctic Circle.

Neat!  Is there any story to go along with that?

I've only been north of the Arctic Circle once, school trip in the early 90s. A week of trekking in the mountains west of Kiruna. It was pretty cool. You rarely see true wilderness in Europe.

I actually have an Arctic Circle anecdote from that trip. When I was sitting on the train I thought "hey we should be pretty close to the Arctic Circle by now" and looked out the window. At that moment the Arctic Circle sign passed by. I was like "yeah I'm pretty good".