20th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall

[Martinus]

Pity you are too young to remember it clearly, it was a great day 

There were a number of them round about that time, it was wonderful watching the Evil Empire lose it's grip throughout Eastern Europe 

Germans were late-comers. We got out of the soviet rule 6 months earlier.

[garbon]

Did you see the clip of Walesa pushing the domino and then accidentally tripping and knocking down a cameraman and some tv equipment? It's hilarious. 

No, I didn't see that. The video screen cut away and followed the falling dominoes. Actually, I believe at first that the screen froze and then cut away.

[Richard Hakluyt]

I've also never been to Munich

Jesus, *I've* been to Munich.  I just kind of assume Euros are well-travelled (moreso than typical Americans) and have been to every major city in their country.  Never would have guessed otherwise, aside from cases of people who are really poor or something.

I'm really not sure which group of people travel more than the other, but the travelling to every major city in their country is certainly not something most Europeans would contemplate. That means I'd have to spend my holidays in places like Birmingham and Nottingham, which would be madness when i can so easily travel to France, Spain, Germany.. 

[Richard Hakluyt]

Pity you are too young to remember it clearly, it was a great day 

There were a number of them round about that time, it was wonderful watching the Evil Empire lose it's grip throughout Eastern Europe 

Germans were late-comers. We got out of the soviet rule 6 months earlier.

Yes, I remember, plus the earlier ructions back in 1980 or so. You Poles didn't make very good commies though, whereas the DDR was a good solid attempt by the Germans 

[Caliga]

I'm really not sure which group of people travel more than the other, but the travelling to every major city in their country is certainly not something most Europeans would contemplate. That means I'd have to spend my holidays in places like Birmingham and Nottingham, which would be madness when i can so easily travel to France, Spain, Germany.. 

I dunno, I just figured you'd been to, say, Birmingham on business or to visit cousins or for a class trip or something.

[Malthus]

What people who did not live through that era fail to realize is the fact that during the Cold War the potential for nuclear war was taken very seriously, and along with it the potential end of the world.

The "threat" posed by a bunch of medieval Islamicist fuckers hiding in caves in Tora Bora or wherever doesn't come even close to the same level of anxiety.

But many people seem to have a fixed amount of worrying capacity; so a bunch of medieval wankers gets elevated to the same degree of threat once possessed by the USSR, the Nazis, or the mass poverty of the interwar period. It's all rather odd.

This is odd indeed. Though I'd make an exception for the Great Depression & the War--that had an impact on people that lived through it far beyond the mere anxiety factor. To the end of her days, my grandmother stored away bits of string and elastic bands, in case the Great Depression came back ...

[Richard Hakluyt]

I went to a crap party in Birmingham in 1975 and haven't been there since 

It is true though that I have been to nearly all the sizable British cities for one reason or another, mainly by accident rather than design.

[Richard Hakluyt]

This is odd indeed. Though I'd make an exception for the Great Depression & the War--that had an impact on people that lived through it far beyond the mere anxiety factor. To the end of her days, my grandmother stored away bits of string and elastic bands, in case the Great Depression came back ...

My grandpa was the same; used to save paper bags to write shopping lists and notes on, kept little heels of soap then welded them together to make a new bar.......and so on. This despite the fact that he got a good job in 1934 and was financially secure from that point on. Of course the 1920s were really bad for him.

[Berkut]

But many people seem to have a fixed amount of worrying capacity; so a bunch of medieval wankers gets elevated to the same degree of threat once possessed by the USSR, the Nazis, or the mass poverty of the interwar period. It's all rather odd.

I don't know, to the average schmuck who looks at all this emotionally, there isn't much difference between the fear that some nameless terrorist is going to blow up your plane and some anmeless Soviet will nuke you into oblivion.

They are both rather ethereal, yet rather frightening possibilities. neither is very likely, but on the other hand, the fear is largely impervious to rational response. Whether I get nuked (and the rest of the country along with me) or whether me and a few hundred of my closest friends get blown up on the way to visit Aunt Marge doesn't really matter, I don't think.

The average person spending any time or energy worrying about either threat is irrational.

[Syt]

I've also never been to Munich

Jesus, *I've* been to Munich.  I just kind of assume Euros are well-travelled (moreso than typical Americans) and have been to every major city in their country.  Never would have guessed otherwise, aside from cases of people who are really poor or something.

I was on welfare most of my time while I grew up, so ...

[Syt]

I went to a crap party in Birmingham in 1975 and haven't been there since 

It is true though that I have been to nearly all the sizable British cities for one reason or another, mainly by accident rather than design.

I have Newcastle on my list.

[Richard Hakluyt]

But many people seem to have a fixed amount of worrying capacity; so a bunch of medieval wankers gets elevated to the same degree of threat once possessed by the USSR, the Nazis, or the mass poverty of the interwar period. It's all rather odd.

I don't know, to the average schmuck who looks at all this emotionally, there isn't much difference between the fear that some nameless terrorist is going to blow up your plane and some anmeless Soviet will nuke you into oblivion.

They are both rather ethereal, yet rather frightening possibilities. neither is very likely, but on the other hand, the fear is largely impervious to rational response. Whether I get nuked (and the rest of the country along with me) or whether me and a few hundred of my closest friends get blown up on the way to visit Aunt Marge doesn't really matter, I don't think.

The average person spending any time or energy worrying about either threat is irrational.

Hmmm........of course it doesn't matter if an individual stops bothering about such things and chooses to ignore them. OTOH we are asked to vote every now and then and en masse have an influence on government policy.

[Richard Hakluyt]

I went to a crap party in Birmingham in 1975 and haven't been there since 

It is true though that I have been to nearly all the sizable British cities for one reason or another, mainly by accident rather than design.

I have Newcastle on my list.

Newcastle is one of the better ones IMO, but I'm biassed as it's the local metropolis for my hometown.

[The Larch]

I just kind of assume Euros are well-travelled (moreso than typical Americans) and have been to every major city in their country.

You'd be wrong. Many of my friends have travelled very little and/or started travelling around very late in life (think mid-late 20s).

[Duque de Bragança]

Pity you are too young to remember it clearly, it was a great day 

There were a number of them round about that time, it was wonderful watching the Evil Empire lose it's grip throughout Eastern Europe 

Germans were late-comers. We got out of the soviet rule 6 months earlier.

Yes, I remember, plus the earlier ructions back in 1980 or so. You Poles didn't make very good commies though, whereas the DDR was a good solid attempt by the Germans 

Stasi > KGB