The Off Topic Topic

[Syt]

I quite like the old one

But I love mid-century in general.

I didn't hate it. But stepping inside (which I did once, in 2007 or so? - since then the passport office is in a different building in town) was like stepping into a 1980s time capsule. If you look at the official buildings in Deutschland '83, you get an idea of what I mean.

[Syt]

My funniest embassy moment was during my first months in Vienna, working a student job. We were in a side office of the company in an old apartment building. We walked up the stairs to the 5th floor and I looked at the door signs and it went something like this:
- Huber
- Adler
- Embassy of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan
- Schneider
...

[Sheilbh]

Reminds me of the North Korean Embassy in London which is in a semi in Hammersmith:

[Syt]

From my current office I can look into the windows of the Syrian embassy across the street. They share the building with a consultancy firm and an IT firm, I think, and probably other parties.

Vienna has a ton of embassies and adjunct locations for a city its size thanks to the UN, IAEA, OPEC, OSCE ...

[Duque de Bragança]

As a concierge summer job, I remember delivering mail to the embassy of Nepal in Paris. Part of the building, the neighborhood was not really an embassy or consulate neighborhood but had a few.

[The Minsky Moment]

Something that I find interesting (others may not), the only Sumerian origin modern English word: abyss

Dictionaries say Greek (aboussos)

[Richard Hakluyt]

Heard on the BBC this morning a gent saying that Britain "needs a national beaver strategy" so that "beavers can be rolled out all across England". 

Must be connected to the "eat out to help out" strategy 

Yes, please.

It will have a beneficial effect for the mental health of the nation 

[Sheilbh]

Something that I find interesting (others may not), the only Sumerian origin modern English word: abyss

Dictionaries say Greek (aboussos)

David Abulafia out there weaving his tissue of lies

Edit: Apparently there's a belief the Greek may come from Abzu the Sumerian word for the fathomless deep/primordial ocean.

[Malthus]

Something that I find interesting (others may not), the only Sumerian origin modern English word: abyss

Dictionaries say Greek (aboussos)

Interestingly, there are some words that came to English through Akkadian loan words found in Hebrew via the Bible, like "Babel" (from bab-ileu, or gate of god), but allegedly none made it into English via Hebrew from Sumerian.

There were some Sumerian loan words in Hebrew, but none made it into English.

[Duque de Bragança]

Something that I find interesting (others may not), the only Sumerian origin modern English word: abyss

Dictionaries say Greek (aboussos)

David Abulafia out there weaving his tissue of lies

Edit: Apparently there's a belief the Greek may come from Abzu the Sumerian word for the fathomless deep/primordial ocean.

Probably Greek, since the Latin abyssus has a y, so abyssos not aboussos in latinised Greek.

[The Brain]

Something that I find interesting (others may not), the only Sumerian origin modern English word: abyss

Dictionaries say Greek (aboussos)

Interestingly, there are some words that came to English through Akkadian loan words found in Hebrew via the Bible, like "Babel" (from bab-ileu, or gate of god), but allegedly none made it into English via Hebrew from Sumerian.

There were some Sumerian loan words in Hebrew, but none made it into English.

Gotta be some loan words Sumer. Amorite?

[Syt]

The minister president of North-Rhine-Westphalia and candidates for regional elections (all from the Christian conservative party CDU):

[Tonitrus]

Soon we can rid ourselves of the tie...that most ridiculous of fashion accessories.

[jimmy olsen]

Vietnamese embassy in Seoul was in a trailer. Though I think the staff lived in some nice old buildings on the property.

[Razgovory]

My new cats caught a mouse.