The Off Topic Topic

[Razgovory]

A statue of a pagan god built by non-pagans.

[Admiral Yi]

What would a statue as non-endorsement look like?

A sexy devil.  Or two.

[DGuller]

In my days, "protection money" meant something else. 

[celedhring]

commemorative statues are weird because they are often seen as a public endorsement of the person.

What would a statue as non-endorsement look like?

There are examples, the one of an anarchist bomber (Santiago Salvador) at La Sagrada Familia comes to mind. The point of the statue being that it is the Devil who's giving him the bomb, but I don't think that kind of portraiture is the intention of the Estonian group.   

[Syt]

[Eddie Teach]

Also, both like hanging out with twinks.

[Duque de Bragança]

Nice one! Original, too.

[Sheilbh]

Weirdly fond of this Twitter bot which scans the sky of Berlin and tweets out what colour it is (almost always grey) on the Dulux paint chart:
https://twitter.com/colorofberlin

[Syt]

Disappointed it's not called Der Himmel Über Berlin (The Sky Abover Berlin), which is the German title of Wings of Desire.

[FunkMonk]

Von Ungern-Sternberg also wished to establish a Buddhist theocracy in Mongolia, which had been invaded by China in 1919, and in Transylvania, which became a part of Romania in late 1918.

Von Ungren-Sternberg wanted to unite Russia and Mongolia into a single state and to restore the Qing Dynasty to the Chinese throne, recreating the state of Genghis Khan.

This guy sounded like he was on an achievement run in EU 4.

[Tamas]

Von Ungern-Sternberg also wished to establish a Buddhist theocracy in Mongolia, which had been invaded by China in 1919, and in Transylvania, which became a part of Romania in late 1918.

Von Ungren-Sternberg wanted to unite Russia and Mongolia into a single state and to restore the Qing Dynasty to the Chinese throne, recreating the state of Genghis Khan.

This guy sounded like he was on an achievement run in EU 4.

[Syt]

There's a book about von Ungern-Sternberg that I recall being discussed on this very forum: https://www.amazon.com/Bloody-White-Baron-James-Palmer/dp/0465022073

[Josephus]

WTF Pornhub, where did all my "tattooed midgets give JOI" vids go?

[Syt]

WTF Pornhub, where did all my "tattooed midgets give JOI" vids go?

https://www.theverge.com/2020/12/14/22173858/pornhub-videos-removed-user-uploaded-visa-mastercard-verified

Pornhub is removing all videos uploaded to its site by unverified users, millions of videos in total, as part of a crackdown on user-uploaded content after two major payment processors suspended service. The decision, first reported by Motherboard, stems from a New York Times report that found the site was hosting videos of people who are underage and videos showing children being assaulted.

The site announced last Tuesday that it would begin limiting uploads to verified users only. Uploads now have to come from official content partners or members of Pornhub's "Model Program," which requires age verification to sign up. Motherboard reports that all previously uploaded videos are now being pulled "pending verification and review" beginning in 2021.

"This means every piece of Pornhub content is from verified uploaders, a requirement that platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat and Twitter have yet to institute," Pornhub wrote in a blog post this morning.

Pornhub appears to have wiped out more than 8.8 million videos as of this writing. Motherboard said the site boasted 13.5 million videos on Sunday night; it has 4.7 million as of Monday morning. While the site hosts professional videos, its main function operates much like YouTube — allowing users to upload videos of their own and make money off of ad revenue. These videos represented the bulk of Pornhub's content.

Following the Times' report last week, Visa and Mastercard said they would investigate whether the site was hosting illegal content. On Thursday, both companies cut off service, preventing customers from making purchases on Pornhub through two of the most popular payment methods available. The suspension of service could pose a significant problem for Pornhub, which also sells videos, and for the sex workers who use the platform's sales as a source of income.

I saw articles about amateur content creators who are struggling because their subscribers can't pay them any more with Visa/Mastercard pulling support.

[Grey Fox]

If you get paid for producing content, you are not an amateur.