The Off Topic Topic

[Liep]

You could just always call the reigning monarch King, regardless of sex. A nurse isn't called a doctor, even if he's male.

I like this idea.

[DGuller]

When I was growing up in Soviet Union, I couldn't understand why some countries still allowed their kings to live.

[Camerus]

What about their prosperous farmers?

[Savonarola]

I was reading an article on The Freedmen's Bureau and came across a reference to The Dunning School.  I had known that the views that Reconstruction had been no more than mob rule and corruption; African Americans were incapable of self government; segregation was necessary; and that the Klan was a heroic group which restored the natural order to the South; were widely held by the population (and depicted by the popular culture of the day.)  I didn't realize that's what was taught in the universities as well.  According to the article the school wasn't even criticized until 1935 (by W.E.B. Dubois) and remained influential until 1948.

The Freedmen's Bureau was officially called The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands.  The "Refugees" that it referred to were pro-Union southerners who were chased off their lands.  The "Abandoned Lands" were the plantations confiscated by the military.  Unfortunately President Andrew Johnson restored those "Abandoned" properties to their owners; (rather than upholding Sherman's order to give the Freedmen 40 acres and a mule) but at least that eventually gave Faulkner something to write about.

[The Brain]

In these modern times, royalty is just silly.

In these modern times it at least doesn't produce clinically retarded heads of state.

Kim Jong Un?

Simple, yes, retarded, no.

[grumbler]

Simple, yes, retarded, no.

A simple yes would have sufficed.

[Savonarola]

Barack Obama's official portrait for the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery was released today:



I realized that I've been hitting the mid-60s albums a little hard of late when my first thought was "That would make a kick-ass psychedelic album cover."  (Either "Baraxis:  Bold as Love"; or "His Democratic Majesty's Request."

Edit:  The way the plants seem to be grabbing at his feet reminds me a little of the right side of Botticelli's "Primavera" (Flora and Zephyr abducting Chloris.)  I say we burn it as a secular vanity. 

[Duque de Bragança]

In all my life I've never heard about a current King of Denmark, and I've often heard that the reigning Queen is Margrethe II.

Yeah same for me. I think this is the first I've ever heard of it out here in the diaspora.

The argument goes, through marriage a princess can become a queen so so should a prince be able to become a king. In these modern times a Queen should be able to rule/reign over a King.

The other way around.
Actually, both King and Queen can be Consort King or Queen, or titled alternatively as Prince Consort. 

[Malthus]

Barack Obama's official portrait for the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery was released today:

I realized that I've been hitting the mid-60s albums a little hard of late when my first thought was "That would make a kick-ass psychedelic album cover."  (Either "Baraxis:  Bold as Love"; or "His Democratic Majesty's Request."

Edit:  The way the plants seem to be grabbing at his feet reminds me a little of the right side of Botticelli's "Primavera" (Flora and Zephyr abducting Chloris.)  I say we burn it as a secular vanity. 

I actually like it a lot!

The hyper-realism of the portrait combined with the mild surrealism of the wall of plants makes for a very interesting picture.

My main complaint is that the business suit he's wearing appears to be painted somewhat flat - the artist should have brought out the highlights more. It contrasts too much with the face and hands.

[Admiral Yi]

Not a fan of the painting.

[Barrister]

I'm not sure what I think of that pic.

[garbon]

This reminds me, we should have an art thread.

[Malthus]

I much prefer his portrait to hers.

[garbon]

I like her dress and the overall style but I can't help but feel that the artist portrayed a black woman who is not Michelle. The likeness is...limited.

[Josquius]

I like her dress and the overall style but I can't help but feel that the artist portrayed a black woman who is not Michelle. The likeness is...limited.

Ya'll look alike.