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Rollersnake posted:Avocado looks like it should mean something in Latin by accident, and I've always been disappointed that it very nearly doesn't. The closest is avocabo (I will call away) or avocando (by means of the calling away). Avocabo el avocado abogado.
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Dec 13, 2019 09:58
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Rollersnake posted:Avocado looks like it should mean something in Latin by accident, and I've always been disappointed that it very nearly doesn't. The closest is avocabo (I will call away) or avocando (by means of the calling away). I always liked the name of the Brazilian stray cat adopted by an office for social help; Advogato.
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Dec 13, 2019 10:41
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Samovar posted:I always liked the name of the Brazilian stray cat adopted by an office for social help; Advogato. That's Doctor Leon Advogato to you. (That little security badge! )
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Dec 13, 2019 10:52
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The first colour footage shot in Iceland was filmed by Eva Braun during her visit in 1939 https://youtu.be/wAZdW6YPgxc
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Dec 15, 2019 23:04
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this is cool A 5700 year-old human genome and oral microbiome from chewed birch pitch Birch pitch was used as chewing gum and painkiller from the stone age into early modern times. They've extracted DNA from a piece of birch gum found in southern Denmark, and can say that it was used by a woman with dark skin, dark hair, and blue eyes. She had recently eaten mallard and hazel nuts. They've named the woman Lola. Here's an artist's rendition of how she might have looked (it is unknown how old she was):  Full disclosure: One of my mates is lead author on this. I remember trying to help him get some lovely GIS software to work back when he first started archaeology some 10 years ago lol
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Dec 20, 2019 14:29
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In the 1950s the british were worried that West-Germany would fall and that the soviets would invade Europe from the east. So they came up with project Blue Peacock. They planned to place several nuclear mines in West-Germany, there was only one problem: The cold winter would gently caress up the electronics in the mine. The solution was to stuff each mine with live chickens and leave them with enough food and water to survive for a week. The project was ultimately abandoned because if it got out that Germany was considered expendable in case of an invasion it would be bad optics.
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Dec 21, 2019 23:25
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Alhazred posted:In the 1950s the british were worried that West-Germany would fall and that the soviets would invade Europe from the east. So they came up with project Blue Peacock. They planned to place several nuclear mines in West-Germany, there was only one problem: The cold winter would gently caress up the electronics in the mine. The solution was to stuff each mine with live chickens and leave them with enough food and water to survive for a week. The project was ultimately abandoned because if it got out that Germany was considered expendable in case of an invasion it would be bad optics. That is the old joke: What's a tactical nuclear weapon? One that goes off in Germany.
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Dec 21, 2019 23:29
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Alhazred posted:In the 1950s the british were worried that West-Germany would fall and that the soviets would invade Europe from the east. So they came up with project Blue Peacock. They planned to place several nuclear mines in West-Germany, there was only one problem: The cold winter would gently caress up the electronics in the mine. The solution was to stuff each mine with live chickens and leave them with enough food and water to survive for a week. The project was ultimately abandoned because if it got out that Germany was considered expendable in case of an invasion it would be bad optics. The atomic bawk.
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Dec 23, 2019 01:02
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Alhazred posted:In the 1950s the british were worried that West-Germany would fall and that the soviets would invade Europe from the east. So they came up with project Blue Peacock. They planned to place several nuclear mines in West-Germany, there was only one problem: The cold winter would gently caress up the electronics in the mine. The solution was to stuff each mine with live chickens and leave them with enough food and water to survive for a week. The project was ultimately abandoned because if it got out that Germany was considered expendable in case of an invasion it would be bad optics. Speaking of disposable, one of my high school teachers used to be a colonel in the rapid deployment forces of the Czechoslovak People's Army. He often spoke about how he and his fellow officers knew that in the case of a war they were supposed to be the ones to eat up the nuclear strikes from the west, and to die so the Soviets could advance over their dead bodies. One wonders what would have happened with the Warsaw Pact if a war really kicked off, the Soviets tried to motivate their satellites into fighting the hated Germans, but as far as I know nobody who was supposed to form the military vanguard was buying it, at least within Czechoslovakia.
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Dec 23, 2019 01:10
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steinrokkan posted:Speaking of disposable, one of my high school teachers used to be a colonel in the rapid deployment forces of the Czechoslovak People's Army. He often spoke about how he and his fellow officers knew that in the case of a war they were supposed to be the ones to eat up the nuclear strikes from the west, and to die so the Soviets could advance over their dead bodies. One wonders what would have happened with the Warsaw Pact if a war really kicked off, the Soviets tried to motivate their satellites into fighting the hated Germans, but as far as I know nobody who was supposed to form the military vanguard was buying it, at least within Czechoslovakia. I asked about that in the milhist thread a bit back, because it’s generally accepted that whoever actually started the war it would have been Warsaw Pact forces advancing into NATO countries on the ground. And it’s a lot easier to motivate danes to defend Denmark alongside the americans than it is to motivate poles to invade Denmark alongside the soviets. Apparently the soviets and by consequence the americans had a tiered list of which Pact troops would be most reliable, with DDR at the top and czechoslovaks near or at the bottom.
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Dec 23, 2019 02:39
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Edgar Allen Ho posted:I asked about that in the milhist thread a bit back, because it’s generally accepted that whoever actually started the war it would have been Warsaw Pact forces advancing into NATO countries on the ground. And it’s a lot easier to motivate danes to defend Denmark alongside the americans than it is to motivate poles to invade Denmark alongside the soviets. Apparently the soviets and by consequence the americans had a tiered list of which Pact troops would be most reliable, with DDR at the top and czechoslovaks near or at the bottom. The forces of the Dance Dance Revolution will not be halted! The GDR did have that “zeal of the converted” thing going on. I don’t know how much of that was because of policy and how much was how brutally effective the Stasi were. E:i know DDR is a valid acronym for it, I just always see GDR so my brain read it as, well, Dance Dance Revolution at first.
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Dec 23, 2019 02:43
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Edgar Allen Ho posted:I asked about that in the milhist thread a bit back, because it’s generally accepted that whoever actually started the war it would have been Warsaw Pact forces advancing into NATO countries on the ground. And it’s a lot easier to motivate danes to defend Denmark alongside the americans than it is to motivate poles to invade Denmark alongside the soviets. Apparently the soviets and by consequence the americans had a tiered list of which Pact troops would be most reliable, with DDR at the top and czechoslovaks near or at the bottom. Yes, and even if they had a tiered list, it remains a question how they would actually deal with the disloyal armies in the case of an escalation. It's one thing to identify a weakness, and another to address it.
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Dec 23, 2019 03:04
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Going from memory, the Soviets also were planning to deploy each of the Warsaw Pact nations against the NATO country they hated the most in the hopes of reducing this effect.
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Dec 23, 2019 06:00
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The father of an ex of mine served in the GDR people’s army at the same time my dad served in the western Bundeswehr (both as part of their obligatory military service), and they both told me that at least on a conscript level the two German armies of the mid-80s were basically a never-ending boozefest with no one even remotely capable of performing large-scale warfare against the class enemy. I know, merely anecdotes, but it at least shows that even in the GDR not everybody was overly keen on invading the capitalist neighbour 
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Dec 23, 2019 07:04
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I guess it's hard to give a drat when any war you'd be in is just as likely to be (or go) atomic.
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Dec 23, 2019 07:21
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Meanwhile, Yugoslavia had to develop a defense plan against an invasion by either NATO or the Warsaw Pact.  It probably wasn't really a "defense plan" as much as it was a "letter of formal surrender", but still.
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Dec 23, 2019 07:23
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Nine of Eight posted:Going from memory, the Soviets also were planning to deploy each of the Warsaw Pact nations against the NATO country they hated the most in the hopes of reducing this effect. (please be aware that this might cause issues for countries surrounded by allies, i.e. France, Germany, Italy. We have to hate our one non-allied neighbour, our common arch enemy, the scourge of Europe: Switzerland)
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Dec 23, 2019 08:28
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Trabant posted:Meanwhile, Yugoslavia had to develop a defense plan against an invasion by either NATO or the Warsaw Pact.
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Dec 23, 2019 08:31
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Wipfmetz posted:(please be aware that this might cause issues for countries surrounded by allies, i.e. France, Germany, Italy. We have to hate our one non-allied neighbour, our common arch enemy, the scourge of Europe: Switzerland) Luckily for us, after Brexit there will always be the UK.
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Dec 23, 2019 08:32
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Alhazred posted:When my brother was in the army he became aware of my country's defense plan. It was "remove the roadsigns". Kassad posted:Luckily for us, after Brexit there will always be the UK.
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Dec 23, 2019 08:32
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Edgar Allen Ho posted:I asked about that in the milhist thread a bit back, because it’s generally accepted that whoever actually started the war it would have been Warsaw Pact forces advancing into NATO countries on the ground. And it’s a lot easier to motivate danes to defend Denmark alongside the americans than it is to motivate poles to invade Denmark alongside the soviets. Apparently the soviets and by consequence the americans had a tiered list of which Pact troops would be most reliable, with DDR at the top and czechoslovaks near or at the bottom. The Czechs built a lot of their own gear that was incompatible with Soviet-designed equipment beyond sharing ammunition. I have to imagine at least some part of it was to slight the Soviets and keep them from being able to easily use up stockpiles of spare Czech AK or BTR parts. Examples: The Vz58 rifle uses the same ammunition as the AK47 and looks like one but uses a entirely different internal mechanical system. Likewise the Vz59 machine gun is pretty much a PK machine gun but different. Licensed production BTR-50 tracked APCs got evolved into the OT-62. Instead of purchasing a license for the wheeled BTR series of APCs they designed the OT-64 jointly with Poland. Instead of adopting disposable Russian-made AT rocket launchers like the RPG-18, they built their own RPG-75. Instead of buying Soviet tracked self-propelled artillery they designed the DANA howitzer on a armored 8x8 truck. A lot of this was also exported to other countries like Poland, Cuba and Angola.
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Dec 23, 2019 10:20
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Wipfmetz posted:In pre-GPS-times, that _might_ actually have caused issues? Leaving NATO is another thing
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Dec 23, 2019 10:42
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Milo and POTUS posted:Leaving NATO is another thing Yeah, only Donald the Orange would consider something that dumb, so he's holding it in reserve to one-up Brexit
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Dec 23, 2019 11:17
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Krankenstyle posted:this is cool And just 20-60 miles north the blue eyed dark pigmented hunters of western europe had for a couple of thousand years been shacking up with brown eyed light pigmented eastern hunters migrating down along the atlantic coast.  Some 7000 years later this along with a switch to a grain based diet introduced by expanding middle eastern neolithic farmers proved to be a rich source for a lot of horrible things. History and its chronologically far reaching impact on culture is strange.
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Dec 23, 2019 12:54
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C.M. Kruger posted:The Czechs built a lot of their own gear that was incompatible with Soviet-designed equipment beyond sharing ammunition. I have to imagine at least some part of it was to slight the Soviets and keep them from being able to easily use up stockpiles of spare Czech AK or BTR parts. It was because there already existed established industry and engineering teams specialized in designing and making these things, and those factories often were absolutely economically indispensable for their region, so it was preferred to bolster manufacturing over importing stuff that could be made domestically, it definitely wasn't done to spite the Soviets.
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Dec 23, 2019 13:35
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System Metternich posted:The father of an ex of mine served in the GDR people’s army at the same time my dad served in the western Bundeswehr (both as part of their obligatory military service), and they both told me that at least on a conscript level the two German armies of the mid-80s were basically a never-ending boozefest with no one even remotely capable of performing large-scale warfare against the class enemy. I know, merely anecdotes, but it at least shows that even in the GDR not everybody was overly keen on invading the capitalist neighbour I feel cheated. I did my Bundeswehr service in 84/85  and there was no booze.
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Dec 23, 2019 14:01
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Kassad posted:Luckily for us, after Brexit there will always be the UK. Oceania has always been at war with Eurasia.
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Dec 23, 2019 14:02
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During the Field of the Cloth of Gold, a summit from 7 to 24 June 1520 between King Henry VIII of England and King Francis I of France, the two kings and the various lords and ladies consumed 2200 sheep, 2200 bulls, 26 dozen herons, 700 eels and an unknown number of barrels with mustard.
Alhazred has a new favorite as of 20:56 on Jan 9, 2020 |
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Jan 9, 2020 19:25
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Even eating one barrel seems too much, mustard or no
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Jan 9, 2020 20:31
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There's a story from 1919 when Fyodor Raskolnikov, commander of the Volga-Caspian fleet, brought several barrels of black caviar captured from former Tsarist warehouses back to Moscow. The Kremlin held a function where huge bowls were put out for the guests, but only two thin slices of bread provided to each person. It took months for them to finish off the caviar.
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Jan 9, 2020 20:47
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Sulla Faex posted:Even eating one barrel seems too much, mustard or no
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Jan 9, 2020 21:28
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Sulla Faex posted:Even eating one barrel seems too much, mustard or no It does stave off hunger.
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Jan 9, 2020 21:40
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Krankenstyle posted:Make that thousands. The oldest recorded joke is from 1900 BC: "Something which has never occurred since time immemorial; a young woman did not fart in her husband's lap" Not a fart joke, a queef joke!
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Jan 10, 2020 07:34
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Sulla Faex posted:Even eating one barrel seems too much, mustard or no Oh, you.
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Jan 10, 2020 07:36
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Wipfmetz posted:That sounds easy. Aren't neighbouring nations usually the most hated country? He's sick of the Swiss! https://youtu.be/i2XTuc6i1Uo
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Jan 10, 2020 08:11
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I came across a humorous quote by Gregory of Nyssa, an Orthodox bishop who lived in the 4th century CE and was later beatified. This excerpt is from when he traveled to Constantinople, and captures the fervor with which the different Christian doctrines were hashed out by the common folk, not just the clergy.quote:Everywhere, in humble homes, in the streets, in the marketplace, at street corners, one finds people talking about the most unexpected subjects. If I ask for my bill, the reply is a comment about the virgin birth; if I ask the price of bread, I am told that the Father is greater than the Son; when I ask whether my bath is ready, I am told that the Son was created from nothing.
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Jan 12, 2020 00:36
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of course they were, just like modern political topics are discussed by everyday people not just senators! it's still neat and important to be reminded of that though of course!
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Jan 12, 2020 03:08
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Jan 18, 2020 03:56
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I know this guy must've been mentioned before, but Hegelochus's fuckup reminds me of Ea-nasir, the shadiest trader of all time. EDIT: Dude even has his own fanfiction, some of which is  Somehow I find this the most hilarious aspect of his story.
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Jan 18, 2020 13:25
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Just read a pretty interesting book about the history of poison, and there's some stories in there that belong in this thread sometime when I'm not not phoneposting. For now, have the antimony pill. It relaxes the bowels! Its made out of a poisonous metal! And, because it won't digest, you can keep reusing the same pill! Also makes for a great family heirloom. Get yours today!
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Jan 24, 2020 13:04
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