The Off Topic Topic

[Admiral Yi]

Semi-fun factoid from the Economist article on the relationship between Russia and Ukraine post-USSR: both Gorbachev and Solzenitzn had Ukrainian mothers and Russian fathers.

[Caliga]

I was browsing some old editions of the Armed Forces Journal from the 1930s. I found the "Social News" section most fascinating which seems ... well, for lack of a better description it seems like the stuff people would share on social media now. Travel plans, some personal events, dinners etc.

Yes, this was a common feature of American newspapers in those days and I've used them in my personal genealogy research.  Example of one in which one of my ancestors was mentioned:

W.Q. Blatt, who underwent a serious abdominal operation last Saturday in the Lewistown hospital, is continuing to improve each day and this fact pleases many friends.

Mrs. T.A. Summers, of Lewistown, was a guest at the home of Mr. and Mrs. E.N. Preston and daughter Gertrude, Wednesday afternoon.

Buddy Fields, Charles Glenn and James Guyler, three of Mount Union's little fellows, are quarantined at their respective homes , suffering with the chicken pox.

The above was an excerpt from the social section of the Huntington, PA Daily News, November 15th, 1935.

[Razgovory]

See. Conservatives can wear masks.

The Bob Jones ruling mentioned on the front page concerns a prohibition on interracial dating at an evangelicals university.

[Gaijin de Moscu]

Semi-fun factoid from the Economist article on the relationship between Russia and Ukraine post-USSR: both Gorbachev and Solzenitzn had Ukrainian mothers and Russian fathers.

Pretty typical in our neck of the woods.

It's the opposite for me: Russian mom and Ukrainian dad.

[Josquius]

Old. But I've just seen it. This is an amazing example of Russian criminality/entrepreneurship...

https://www.insider.com/russia-finland-fake-border-conman-charged-migrants-2019-12

A man arrested in Russia is accused of building a fake border with Finland 15 miles from the real one and charging migrants $11,000 to cross it

[Gaijin de Moscu]

Old. But I've just seen it. This is an amazing example of Russian criminality/entrepreneurship...

https://www.insider.com/russia-finland-fake-border-conman-charged-migrants-2019-12

A man arrested in Russia is accused of building a fake border with Finland 15 miles from the real one and charging migrants $11,000 to cross it

Zany 

But very Russian.

[Duque de Bragança]

Old. But I've just seen it. This is an amazing example of Russian criminality/entrepreneurship...

https://www.insider.com/russia-finland-fake-border-conman-charged-migrants-2019-12

A man arrested in Russia is accused of building a fake border with Finland 15 miles from the real one and charging migrants $11,000 to cross it

Zany 

But very Russian.

Link says the perpetrator was "Central Asian" though. Not to mention, old news 2019. So I am a bit disappointed.

[Gaijin de Moscu]

Link says the perpetrator was "Central Asian" though. Not to mention, old news 2019. So I am a bit disappointed.

Argh, I didn't go to the link! Still, can almost visualise this enterprising individual

[Sheilbh]

RIP Ricardo Bofill. As Tim Abrahams of the Architectural Record put it - buildings from another world







(Proposed solution to NIMBYism - if you reject developments that would increase the housing stock in your community, then there is a one in ten random chance that one of these get built there instead? :hmm)

[celedhring]

A friend of mine used to live in the Walden-7 building. I loved crashing his place.

[Iormlund]

The cement plant turned home is my favourite work of his.

[Valmy]

A friend of mine used to live in the Walden-7 building. I loved crashing his place.

Was it a nice place to live in? In this country we all like to look at the homes our famous architects designed but they are usually fairly unpopular to actually live in due to all their eccentricities.

[Sheilbh]

Jesus Christ - the list jokes about "dads" is now targeting my generation and some of these hit way too close to home
https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/what-your-favorite-sad-dad-band-says-about-you

[Valmy]

See. Conservatives can wear masks.

*twitch*

Man that moral panic attitude was everywhere in the 1980s. So glad that shit is not nearly as prevalent these days.

[Josquius]

Jesus Christ - the list jokes about "dads" is now targeting my generation and some of these hit way too close to home
https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/what-your-favorite-sad-dad-band-says-about-you

Quite a strange mix of eras there. Pixies and modest mouse