The Off Topic Topic

[Barrister]

I've been following the NXIVM story for a while and still just don't understand it. I can normally get that a cult has some sort of beliefs or other that reinforce the leaders' power but this one is, from what I understand, a pyramid-selling scheme with the leaders acting like cult leaders which I just find kind of crazy that it had that power. I don't understand.

I was listening to a podcast on it.  Not all cults are religious - this one was more self-help focused.  Several people even to this day swear that NXIVM helped them at least initially.

[Sheilbh]

I've been following the NXIVM story for a while and still just don't understand it. I can normally get that a cult has some sort of beliefs or other that reinforce the leaders' power but this one is, from what I understand, a pyramid-selling scheme with the leaders acting like cult leaders which I just find kind of crazy that it had that power. I don't understand.

I was listening to a podcast on it.  Not all cults are religious - this one was more self-help focused.  Several people even to this day swear that NXIVM helped them at least initially.

Yeah - maybe a bit like Scientology at the start. I just can't work out what they were selling - what the con was. Like what type of self-help, how it helped etc.

What's the podcast?

[Barrister]

I've been following the NXIVM story for a while and still just don't understand it. I can normally get that a cult has some sort of beliefs or other that reinforce the leaders' power but this one is, from what I understand, a pyramid-selling scheme with the leaders acting like cult leaders which I just find kind of crazy that it had that power. I don't understand.

I was listening to a podcast on it.  Not all cults are religious - this one was more self-help focused.  Several people even to this day swear that NXIVM helped them at least initially.

Yeah - maybe a bit like Scientology at the start. I just can't work out what they were selling - what the con was. Like what type of self-help, how it helped etc.

What's the podcast?

Quillette podcast, which is kind of hit-or-miss for me, but this one was interesting.

The interviewee specifically mentioned that NXIVM outright borrowed/stole several elements from Scientology.

[Sheilbh]

I'm sure this is mostly bollocks, but fun map:

[Syt]

Even Wiki is dubious about the Austria claim.

The claims of the Stiftskeller's age are based on the writings of English scholar Alcuin of York, who served Emperor Charlemagne and Bishop Arno of Salzburg. In his Carmina anthology, issued in 803, the monastery's cellar and its beer are possibly praised in a poem.[1][dubious – discuss] The former guesthouse of the Benedictine monks was also mentioned by the Monk of Salzburg in the 14th century.[citation needed]

Based on these and other claims, the Stiftskulinarium is perhaps the oldest existing restaurant in the world, and likely the oldest in Europe.[citation needed] Christopher Columbus, Johann Georg Faust, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart are said to have been served at the restaurant.[citation needed]

[Grey Fox]

What's the Turkish one? Don't understand the pictrogram.

[Syt]

What's the Turkish one? Don't understand the pictrogram.

Hamami?

Probably a steam bath/spa.

EDIT: It is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%87emberlita%C5%9F_Hamam%C4%B1

[Grey Fox]

Thank you.

[Eddie Teach]

Not really equivalent to an aqueduct then.

[Syt]

Not really equivalent to an aqueduct then.

Aqueduct? 

If you mean the pictogram:



Then it seems like a stylized version of this room which is in many pictures all over the web when you search for this place:







Is no one here bothering to do some basic Google searching any more FFS? Bunch of lazy bastards. Fuck you.

[Eddie Teach]

I'm referring to the hammam being an aqueduct replacement in civ.

[Syt]

Oh, ok.

[grumbler]

Not really equivalent to an aqueduct then.

Aqueduct? 

If you mean the pictogram:



Then it seems like a stylized version of this room which is in many pictures all over the web when you search for this place:

(snip)

Is no one here bothering to do some basic Google searching any more FFS? Bunch of lazy bastards. Fuck you.

Only on Languish is everyone a bunch of lazy bastards because they don't know what a place is when, if you know what it is, you can find a gazillion pictures of it through a google search. 

[Syt]

I didn't know what it was, either, so I googled it.

[Valmy]

So did Sean's Bar in Ireland ever have to shut down early due to Viking raids?