The Off Topic Topic

[Admiral Yi]

Is this the first professional male athlete to come out?  I remember we used to speculate about which sport would be first.  Albeit after he had left the game.

[Sheilbh]

You should visit Moscow.

In all honesty I'd absolutely love to visit Moscow (and much else in Russia) but definitely off the cards for the foreseeable.

[Valmy]

Yeah it was my dream to visit both Turkey and Russia.

Fat chance of either happening in my lifetime the way things are looking.

[Sheilbh]

Oh I think Turkey's fine. I've been many times - admittedly only to Istanbul but it's fantastic. One of the best cities in the world - very fun, wonderful food, lots to see and pretty friendly for a massive city.

[Valmy]

Oh I think Turkey's fine. I've been many times - admittedly only to Istanbul but it's fantastic. One of the best cities in the world - very fun, wonderful food, lots to see and pretty friendly for a massive city.

I am sure I have mentioned this before, but I have a lot of friends who are Gulenists. You wouldn't think just association would be a problem but when my parents visited Turkey pre-pandemic they ran into tons of problems because of it. I think I will wait out for the current regime to go away.

[Josquius]

Yes Istanbul is great.
And basically nobody visits the byzantine city walls so I could go full tomb raider on them myself. Only slight issue a homeless guy living in a guard post.

Zero concern with visiting Turkey overall beyond there. It remains a very common sun and sea tourist destination.

[Legbiter]

A new eurption has just started here. This time a portion of the fissure opened up inside the defensive berms around Grindavík. 









Otherwise this one seems quite a bit more sluggish, the lava fountains are significantly lower for instances.

[mongers]

A new eurption has just started here. This time a portion of the fissure opened up inside the defensive berms around Grindavík. 


...snip...

Otherwise this one seems quite a bit more sluggish, the lava fountains are significantly lower for instances.

 

I'm surprised trump isn't also trying to takeover Iceland, what with you guys continually making new real estate.   

[crazy canuck]

Buy land, they aren't making it anymore.

Legbiter: "Look again. Actually don't."

[Syt]

Buy land, they aren't making it anymore.

Legbiter: "Look again. Actually don't."

[Josquius]

I've started watching Wheel of Time and noticed Lieutenant being said properly (British).
A theory struck me.
Star Trek is to blame for most people saying it wrong (American) these days.

On a similar note, stumbled on this today You cannot see attachments on this board.

[HVC]

Tea is dumb. First off you don't eat tea, you drink it. Secondly what did you do before tea was introduced? Just not eat an evening meal. Besides, I'd think you hate the term.  Pretentious northern Brits trying to sound like fancy rich southerns with their new tea fad a few centuries ago and it spread to the common people. 

[mongers]

Tea is dumb. First off you don't eat tea, you drink it. Secondly what did you do before tea was introduced? Just not eat an evening meal. Besides, I'd think you hate the term.  Pretentious northern Brits trying to sound like fancy rich southerns with their new tea fad a few centuries ago and it spread to the common people. 

Tea was the thing that helped drive the North's industrial might, the early 1800s agricultural slump drove lots of people into the growing northern towns, there they had to adopt a poorer diet based on cheap bread and a lot of now much cheaper tea which was fortified with large amounts of sugar.

IIRC something like 30% of an 1800s northern industrial worker's calorific intake came from this very sweet tea, hence no surprise 'tea' was named as the main meal time.

[Josquius]

Tea is dumb. First off you don't eat tea, you drink it. Secondly what did you do before tea was introduced? Just not eat an evening meal. Besides, I'd think you hate the term.  Pretentious northern Brits trying to sound like fancy rich southerns with their new tea fad a few centuries ago and it spread to the common people. 

It's more the opposite. Dinner was originally midday and posh people moved it later.

Though what tea was called before tea is a thought. I guess supper? But that ultimately comes from French so what before then and why the switch. Hmm.

[Grey Fox]

How do you refer to the act of drinking tea?

France french push diner to replace supper because they pushed déjeuner to replace it with coffee and croissant. Eventually, they added petit déjeuner.

It did not make it to Québec. It's déjeuner-diner-souper here.