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I've told this before, but when i was in uni in the US i innocently told the POW buckle wearing, three knives carrying, chud that the French were easily the best soldiers I had trained or fought beside. He had never served, whereas i did 8 years active duty in a foreign NATO army. Guy went absolutely nuts, screamed at me about no surrender frogs being better than US troops and never spoke to me again for two years. This would have been around 2013
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Jan 11, 2021 10:41
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French soldiers get regular real-life practice, what with fighting constant low-level colonial conflicts in Francophone Africa like the 1960s never happened. French really are the most American country in Europe, no wonder they hate each others guts, hah.
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Jan 11, 2021 10:47
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Sulla Faex posted:I thought the idea of the french being bad at war ("cheese eating surrender monkeys") was more or less a joke made up by the simpsons, and intended to be recognised as stupid? As in, only someone as stupid as homer would actually know so little as to believe that - it's not homer displaying an uncharacteristic historical/world knowledge and just accidentally not being right, it is understood to be wrong (or maybe just stupid? i guess this is the subtlety), and only someone like homer could say it. And then the simpsons and american broadcasting in general is just so prevalent that almost everywhere has since been introduced to the idea -- but usually generally only as a joke, specifically in the context of "this is something americans believe", because homer simpson is seen as kind of the archetypal american It was actually Groundskeeper Willie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZUKEVU-TwM Who is quite Scottish
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Jan 11, 2021 11:03
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Ah but the French and the Scots had the Auld Alliance for a long time, Catholics against the Protestant English.
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Jan 11, 2021 11:05
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FreudianSlippers posted:It was actually Groundskeeper Willie oh jeez. apologies and disregard
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Jan 11, 2021 12:31
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FreudianSlippers posted:It was actually Groundskeeper Willie What's wrong with eating cheese?
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Jan 11, 2021 14:00
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Gargamel Gibson posted:What's wrong with eating cheese? Monkeys get massive explosive diarrhea when they eat cheese.
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Jan 11, 2021 14:03
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Sulla Faex posted:I thought the idea of the french being bad at war ("cheese eating surrender monkeys") was more or less a joke made up by the simpsons, and intended to be recognised as stupid? As in, only someone as stupid as homer would actually know so little as to believe that - it's not homer displaying an uncharacteristic historical/world knowledge and just accidentally not being right, it is understood to be wrong (or maybe just stupid? i guess this is the subtlety), and only someone like homer could say it. And then the simpsons and american broadcasting in general is just so prevalent that almost everywhere has since been introduced to the idea -- but usually generally only as a joke, specifically in the context of "this is something americans believe", because homer simpson is seen as kind of the archetypal american It got revived in earnest bc of France not joining Bush’s war, mostly
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Jan 11, 2021 14:44
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Molentik posted:Monkeys get massive explosive diarrhea when they eat cheese. This strikes me as a lesson someone learned the hard way.
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Jan 11, 2021 15:06
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RC and Moon Pie posted:In some places in America, if the sheriff is incapacitated or removed from the post, the coroner becomes sheriff. My stupid original hometown has had three sheriffs get into legal trouble and be removed in the past 30 years. In my area as a kid we had no cops. We had Highway Patrol and the Sherriff. If the Sheriff wasn't available, it would go to the Highway patrol. The Sheriff had no deputies. If there was no Highway patrol (who had no jurisdiction off the highway, obviously) it would go to the Game Warden. You didn't mess with the Game Warden. He carried a rifle, a sidearm, a backup sidearm, and a drop piece. He could smell you from 30 miles away. He was silent. He could run a mile in full gear faster than teenagers training for track. He did three tours in Vietnam because he liked the first one so much he had to do it again. His favorite thing was sneaking into VC camps and taking ears. The fear of Tom coming to get you was enough to convince you to not commit a crime. You'd pray for Scotty, the Sherriff, to get you first. Tom was like the boogie man. He was a ghost. You could be 20 miles out on a dirt road and he'd be standing behind you. No engine sounds. Nothing. He'd just appear. Nice guy though. I liked him. Just don't try to take one more walleye than your limit out of the water. He'd somehow magically be right there. The dude was psychic and mildly psychotic. I miss the guy. He's retired now, but it was cool having John Wick as one's Game Warden.
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Jan 11, 2021 15:26
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mostlygray posted:In my area as a kid we had no cops. We had Highway Patrol and the Sherriff. If the Sheriff wasn't available, it would go to the Highway patrol. The Sheriff had no deputies. If there was no Highway patrol (who had no jurisdiction off the highway, obviously) it would go to the Game Warden. If you can find it, you might like Tom Franklin's "Poachers". https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000OI0EEK
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Jan 11, 2021 16:49
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After the battle of Waterloo the bones of the fallen soldiers was dug up, shipped to England, crushed and used as fertilizer.
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Jan 11, 2021 19:54
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I think this page has been linked before, it definitely seems quite familiar, but for more details on napoleonic battlefield cleanup: https://shannonselin.com/2016/07/napoleonic-battlefield-cleanup/
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Jan 12, 2021 09:26
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The idea that you should bury dead soldiers instead of looting them only really started during WWI.
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Jan 12, 2021 11:25
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Alhazred posted:The idea that you should bury dead soldiers instead of looting them only really started during WWI. There were so god drat many of them.
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Jan 12, 2021 11:35
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3D Megadoodoo posted:There were so god drat many of them. And not a lot had anything worth looting, I wager.
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Jan 12, 2021 11:56
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Sulla Faex posted:I think this page has been linked before, it definitely seems quite familiar, but for more details on napoleonic battlefield cleanup: This was really interesting and morbid in equal measure, thank you.
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Jan 12, 2021 11:57
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3D Megadoodoo posted:There were so god drat many of them. They are still identifying them.
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Jan 12, 2021 15:16
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barbecue at the folks posted:This was really interesting and morbid in equal measure, thank you. The first quote in there really got to me. "It's a train wreck but you can't look away" seems like one of those universal human truths. Usually it's like "haha, that 13th century schoolkid made doodles just like me, some things never change!" or the Pompeii graffiti that would be right at home in a modern bathroom stall. This one seems just as universal, but it is hideously grim and morbid. "The ground between the wood and the Russian batteries, about a quarter of a mile, was a sheet of naked human bodies, which friends and foes had during the night mutually stripped, although numbers of these bodies still retained consciousness of their situation. It was a sight that the eye loathed, but from which it could not remove." Sometimes, it's really cool when a piece history puts your mind right there when it happened. Sometimes, you really wish it hadn't. 
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Jan 13, 2021 06:14
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WITCHCRAFT posted:The first quote in there really got to me. "It's a train wreck but you can't look away" seems like one of those universal human truths. Usually it's like "haha, that 13th century schoolkid made doodles just like me, some things never change!" or the Pompeii graffiti that would be right at home in a modern bathroom stall. This one seems just as universal, but it is hideously grim and morbid. There's a line about that already in Plato's Republic: The Republic, Book 4 posted:The story is, that Leontius, the son of Aglaion, coming up one day from the Piraeus, under the north wall on the outside, observed some dead bodies lying on the ground at the place of execution. He felt a desire to see them, and also a dread and abhorrence of them; for a time he struggled and covered his eyes, but at length the desire got the better of him; and forcing them open, he ran up to the dead bodies, saying, Look, ye wretches, take your fill of the fair sight! Some things really transcend history.
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Jan 13, 2021 09:50
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Which reminds me, in case some people don't know it, A Woman In Berlin (Eine Frau in Berlin) is a good read and deals a lot with how people react/adjust to extraordinarily deplorable conditions -- it's an anonymously published book about the first month of the Soviet occupation of Berlin based on the author's personal diary during the time, and how she and other civilians/women survived and reacted. It's really well written and well worth reading, the author was a journalist even before the war and her identity was revealed after only her death (she demanded continued anonymity during her lifetime due to the harsh backlash received by this book and her later anonymous autobiography) Warning that it goes into some very heavy topics and events, dealing with gang rapes (including her own) and a lot of death. Basically it's a first hand account from a woman who survived the fall of Berlin and then the transition towards a more organised Soviet occupation, as well as what she experiences and sees of the city around her From the wikipedia page on the author: quote:Hans Magnus Enzensberger, who published the 2003 German edition, wrote about the book's reception in the postwar years: e: this was definitely not a 'post your favourite historical fun fact' post but i still highly recommend the book Sulla Faex has a new favorite as of 10:45 on Jan 13, 2021 |
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Jan 13, 2021 10:31
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Sulla Faex posted:I think this page has been linked before, it definitely seems quite familiar, but for more details on napoleonic battlefield cleanup: A british paper in 1822 posted:Bones for fertilizer
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Jan 14, 2021 23:33
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Came across a very long baptismal record the other day, which is always interesting to me. Whenever the priest felt like writing stuff down, there's got to be good stuff there, so I usually save those in a big ol' text file. Oh also, this is in Denmark, so we're talking lutheran protestantism. Anyway: It was from the 1730s, but the girl was born in the 1720s. It said that "due to the midwife's thoughtless act, the child was baptized in beer instead of water". It went on to specify, that when this had become public (no idea when), the bishop had declared that the girl should be re-baptized once she had reached an age where she "by teaching could know what the baptisim is, and explain the apostle's creed". Thus, the 9 year old girl was re-baptized, and indeed given a more fancy version of her original name (her request?). I shared this with other genealogists, and a former priest told me that by contemporary law, the priest and the bishop should have lost their jobs, if not been excommunicated. The various baptist denominations that practiced adult baptism were strictly illegal in Denmark at the time. It was sufficient for a baptism to have been made in the name of the trinity etc, whether the sacrament was done with beer or water. In fact, beer would probably be safer, as it had been boiled.
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Jan 22, 2021 21:07
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Carthag Tuek posted:Came across a very long baptismal record the other day, which is always interesting to me. Whenever the priest felt like writing stuff down, there's got to be good stuff there, so I usually save those in a big ol' text file. Oh also, this is in Denmark, so we're talking lutheran protestantism. Anyway: Wow, that's basically anabaptism right there
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Jan 22, 2021 21:12
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I got halfway through that and could smell the heresy, and it didn’t smell like beer.
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Jan 22, 2021 21:15
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bony tony posted:Wow, that's basically anabaptism right there yeah pretty much it's like they were so offended by the lack of propriety that they had to condemn themselves to hell lol
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Jan 22, 2021 21:27
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just looked up the former priest i talked with, he published a bunch of papers on baptism when studying theology, and later, actual books. he probably knows what he's talking about lol
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Jan 22, 2021 21:49
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Interesting story in Vice about the discovery of a neon sign in LA. It turns out there is (very likely) a racist story, not behind the sign itself but the original owner. Less touched upon, but mentioned is the role of race now. The new owner is a white man opening a Nashville hot chicken restaurant, though the origin of Nashville hot chicken is Black and Black businessmen get fewer opportunities. That said, the white guy with the restaurant seems to be taking a pretty good approach. The sign is clearly historical, so it will stay. He's considering balancing that with a mural of Nat King Cole, who had upset this neighborhood by wanting to move in.
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Jan 30, 2021 21:30
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WITCHCRAFT posted:The first quote in there really got to me. "It's a train wreck but you can't look away" seems like one of those universal human truths. Usually it's like "haha, that 13th century schoolkid made doodles just like me, some things never change!" or the Pompeii graffiti that would be right at home in a modern bathroom stall. This one seems just as universal, but it is hideously grim and morbid. We usually think of it as a bad thing, but I wonder if morbid fascination with death and especially violent death comes at least in part from a basic impulse to identify threats. Supposedly even crows will gather around and show a fascination with dead crows, and animal researchers theorize that they do this in order to observe how the other crow died and learn to avoid it.
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Jan 31, 2021 09:25
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Sucrose posted:upposedly even crows will gather around and show a fascination with dead crows, and animal researchers theorize that they do this in order to observe how the other crow died and learn to avoid it.
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Jan 31, 2021 11:29
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PMush Perfect posted:Don't elephants do the same thing? Yeah the fat fucks love ogling dead crows.
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Jan 31, 2021 11:36
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Carthag Tuek posted:It was sufficient for a baptism to have been made in the name of the trinity etc, whether the sacrament was done with beer or water. In fact, beer would probably be safer, as it had been boiled. In Norway we had something called "emergency baptism" which was done if it was uncertain weather or not the newborn would survive. When you performed an emergency baptism any form of liquid you could get your hands on was acceptable, even spit. One of my grand uncles was emergency baptized and he never forgave his parents for it (that branch of my family was deeply atheist).
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Jan 31, 2021 12:31
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Alhazred posted:In Norway we had something called "emergency baptism" which was done if it was uncertain weather or not the newborn would survive. When you performed an emergency baptism any form of liquid you could get your hands on was acceptable, even spit. One of my grand uncles was emergency baptized and he never forgave his parents for it (that branch of my family was deeply atheist).
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Jan 31, 2021 12:34
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PMush Perfect posted:I’m confused. Why was he upset with his parents for doing something harmless to him that he doesn’t even remember? Is it just the idea of being spit on as a baby? Because babies cover themselves in much grosser things. I was actually misremembering it. His father was atheist and his mother was christian. When my grand uncle was born it was touch and go for a moment and his mother, without his father consent, decided to give my grand uncle an emergency baptism which his father resented her for. It was that it was religious, not the liquid being used that was the issue.
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Jan 31, 2021 12:59
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Some atheists are more zealous about their religious opinions than most believers
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Jan 31, 2021 13:17
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I doubt this was the case for the above story, but one reason to be angry at your parents getting you baptized without your consent is because, at least here in NL, that means you get entered into church records. There's a whole national system of church records, it's such a big deal that even catholic and protestant churches work together on this, and it's even linked to national government records (there's a checkbox in there that says whether you're ok with your registered address and contact details being shared with the national church records system). Some churches use this information to look you up later. For instance, if you move to a new town and you got that checkbox checked in the government records, or the church finds out in some other way, they'll start bothering you and send people your way to try and get you to join their local chapter. Another thing is that this database is used to see how many members each church has. The amount of government support for religious organisations are based on this membership number, so if you don't like what your church is doing (e.g. spreading hate against gays), it's better to not be in that database. Now, it's possible to get you removed from these records. That government checkbox is easiest: just go to your local town office and they'll change it on your request. But getting removed from church records entirely is a rather different process. As I understand it, for protestant churches it's generally not too hard. Mail the specific church you got registered with and ask to be removed, and after some attempts to convince you to stay in they'll do so. Worst comes to worst you might have to mail their regional church cooperation committee. But for catholic churches it can be quite a bit harder. Their way of dealing with member records is tied with their belief that it is impossible to get "unbaptized", so once in, always in. It's still possible, but I've seen stories on the internet of people having to mail several church-related organisations repeatedly to be removed from their records, in some cases even threatening with legal action citing privacy protection laws. The baptism itself is whatever, but the result of churches following you around and bothering you and using your record to get extra government support is a whole nother can of worms.
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Jan 31, 2021 13:49
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I just realized that the only time I've been to the CHURCH LORD'S BUREAU (this probably isn't the English term they use but it's a direct translation) as a private person was when I needed an official certificate (basically "yeah this guy is alive") for my driver's license. Thinking back I probably should've been able to get one from the magistrate but maybe it was cheaper or something?
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Jan 31, 2021 14:02
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This is more or less what happened in Norway. In 1998 the church decided to digitize their records, but instead of copying the church books they copied the national government records and removed the people they assumed was not christian. Because they removed immigrants and children of immigrants this led to the king (who has head of the norwegian church) was removed from the church records (his grandparents were immigrants from Denmark). This also meant that I became a member of the norwegian church even though I was never baptized and my parents had had themselves and my siblings removed from the church books before 1998.
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Jan 31, 2021 14:03
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Conscripted into the lord's army
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Jan 31, 2021 14:26
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Alhazred posted:This is more or less what happened in Norway. In 1998 the church decided to digitize their records, but instead of copying the church books they copied the national government records and removed the people they assumed was not christian. Because they removed immigrants and children of immigrants this led to the king (who has head of the norwegian church) was removed from the church records (his grandparents were immigrants from Denmark). They also asked other religious organisations for permission to check their records aganst the church archives to avoid claiming people that were members other places. some said yes, some said no, and some of the ones who said no proceeded to make a huge fuss that some of thieir members showed up in the church records. 
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Jan 31, 2021 14:41
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