The Off Topic Topic

[celedhring]

Last night, a ski station in the Pyrinees registered the lowest temperature ever recorded in Spain: -34.1 ºC.

[Syt]

[Josquius]

https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/06/john-dillermand-denmark-launches-childrens-tv-show-man-giant-penis

The link says it all....

[Liep]

https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/06/john-dillermand-denmark-launches-childrens-tv-show-man-giant-penis

The link says it all....

John Dillermand is such a great name.

[PDH]

Last night, a ski station in the Pyrinees registered the lowest temperature ever recorded in Spain: -34.1 ºC.

I used to have to work, moving freight on a flatbed truck, in -40....
...
...
...
Man, I am a moron.

[Razgovory]

I've been listening to a pod cast on the French Revolution, the one that Berkut recommend back in 2014.  Never really payed much attention to pod casts, but I didn't know anything about the French Revolution.  I can see why the French became so anti-clerical.  The wealth of bishops was obscene.  They deserved what ever they got.

[ulmont]

I've been listening to a pod cast on the French Revolution, the one that Berkut recommend back in 2014.  Never really payed much attention to pod casts, but I didn't know anything about the French Revolution.  I can see why the French became so anti-clerical.  The wealth of bishops was obscene.  They deserved what ever they got.

But if the French had been somewhat less anti-clerical, they might have been able to successfully transition to either a constitutional monarchy or a constitutional republic.

[Josquius]

I'm sure most of you have heard the myth that during the Irish Potato Famine the Ottoman Sultan was told not to send aid unless he embarrassed the queen but he ignored it and smuggled food in anyway.
As ridiculous as the story is it continues to be believed- there was quite an incident some years ago with an Irish politician embarrassing themselves over it. Claiming Drogheda's coat of arms has an Islamic moon symbol to thank the Turks...rather than the historically well recorded existence of the coat of arms dating back to King John.
Here is what I found to be a really good write up examining where this story come from, the story of the story I found quite interesting in itself even if the myth is a nonsense.

https://mikedashhistory.com/2014/12/29/queen-victorias-5-the-strange-tale-of-turkish-aid-to-ireland-during-the-great-famine/

[Syt]

The pronunciation of Antifa.

Has it always been Antifa in the US? It just seems weird, since Anti-[whatever] is generally pronounced differently.

(Not that it matters, but it's Antifa in German, which is in line with how "anti-" is usually pronounced.)

[The Brain]

Isn't there an artist called Queen Antifa?

[celedhring]

The pronunciation of Antifa.

Has it always been Antifa in the US? It just seems weird, since Anti-[whatever] is generally pronounced differently.

(Not that it matters, but it's Antifa in German, which is in line with how "anti-" is usually pronounced.)

Over here we pronounce it the same as yanks. Even though "Anti-" is pronounced as you say, "antifa" is so short that it gets treated as its own word instead of as a composite, and Spanish leans towards stressing the penultimate syllable of words. Hence, Antifa.

[Josquius]

I wonder how much idiocy is to blame and how much a conscious effort to take it away from its hard to argue against meaning of anti fascist, and to something foreign instead.

[Sheilbh]

So Brits are obsessed with being house owners and with their houses' market values, but the houses themselves are crappy?

Truly it is a land of contrasts

[garbon]

I wonder how much idiocy is to blame and how much a conscious effort to take it away from its hard to argue against meaning of anti fascist, and to something foreign instead.

I can see that it says the term first appeared in 1946, but I honestly can't recall hearing 'antifa' before the last 5 years.

[Tamas]

Although overall Britain is awesome, I have developed this theory that being an island in pre-commercial flight they were not as physically exposed to ideas criss-crossing via people moving around as the continent, and that has resulted in... idiosyncrasies. Like the faucets.


Building-wise, I once read a long blog post by a Hungarian construction worker who worked a lot in both countries. It was a very detailed analysis of differences which I have nearly all forgotten, but the point of it was that the outside structure and longevity of British homes are superior to Hungarian ones, but the insides are substandard compared to Hungary.