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# ? Nov 11, 2015 08:12 |
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# ? May 28, 2024 15:12 |
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probably already removed from wikipedia
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# ? Nov 11, 2015 12:36 |
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Cumslut1895 posted:probably already removed from wikipedia The Dutch had been blocking the river Schelde since 1585, denying Spanish controlled harbours in present day Belgium trade (and boosting trade for their own harbours). Spain ceded the southern Netherlands to Austria, who started demanding that the Schelde be opened again. The Holy Roman Emperor (Joseph II) had the backing of the British on this and Joseph figured that the Dutch wouldn't want to piss off the British as the former just lost to the latter in the 4th Anglo-Dutch war. So in 1784 he send some ships down the Schelde. To Joseph's surprise the Dutch weren't bluffing and send a ship to intercept his ships. The Dutch fired one warning shot (which hit the poor kettle) and the Austrian ships promptly surrendered. Both sides geared up for war, but before anything serious happened the French mediated and a treaty was signed: Some territories were exchanged and the Dutch would continue blocking the Schelde, but had to pay Austria 9,5 million guilder. My history book mentioned that the Austrians occupied fort Lillo and broke some dikes which caused many people to drown. But I'm having trouble finding other sources for that. I guess if it happened they were considered collateral damage.
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# ? Nov 11, 2015 13:29 |
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In the 1690s Scotland attempted to get in on the colonialism business by trying to make a land route across Panama. This involved a huge chunk of Scotland's national wealth, because very few international backers were keen on the project, so the Scottish public contributed a lot of the funds in small donations. The plan was a complete failure, bankrupted large chunks of Scotland (it took away roughly 25% of Scotland's net wealth iirc) and was a significant factor in the country forming a union with England a few years later.
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# ? Nov 11, 2015 14:43 |
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Hitler did nothing wrong.
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# ? Nov 11, 2015 15:06 |
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Well Hitler did kill himself, which is a good thing. But he caused Germany to lose the war, so yes, he did do some things wrong.
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# ? Nov 11, 2015 15:55 |
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Red Bones posted:In the 1690s Scotland attempted to get in on the colonialism business by trying to make a land route across Panama. This involved a huge chunk of Scotland's national wealth, because very few international backers were keen on the project, so the Scottish public contributed a lot of the funds in small donations. The plan was a complete failure, bankrupted large chunks of Scotland (it took away roughly 25% of Scotland's net wealth iirc) and was a significant factor in the country forming a union with England a few years later. I once made an effort post about that in the old pictures thread of D&D. Fascinating stuff. Regarding other relatively unknown colonial ventures:
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# ? Nov 11, 2015 16:16 |
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Red Bones posted:In the 1690s Scotland attempted to get in on the colonialism business by trying to make a land route across Panama. This involved a huge chunk of Scotland's national wealth, because very few international backers were keen on the project, so the Scottish public contributed a lot of the funds in small donations. The plan was a complete failure, bankrupted large chunks of Scotland (it took away roughly 25% of Scotland's net wealth iirc) and was a significant factor in the country forming a union with England a few years later. The Pan-American highway from the northern coast of Alaska to Tierra del Fuego isn't actually a continuous piece of road, it has a 60 mile section missing because there are still no land connections through the Darien Gap.
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# ? Nov 11, 2015 17:38 |
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System Metternich posted:What is today Venezuela belonged for a while to a German banking family, the Welsers. Instead of properly governing the country, their agents only concerned themselves with looking for the fabled city of El Dorado instead, leading to Emperor Charles V. revoking their licence in 1546 after 16 years of Welser "rule". Maybe I'll be doing an effortpost about that next, because it's a pretty fascinating story.
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# ? Nov 11, 2015 18:30 |
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Red Bones posted:In the 1690s Scotland attempted to get in on the colonialism business by trying to make a land route across Panama. This involved a huge chunk of Scotland's national wealth, because very few international backers were keen on the project, so the Scottish public contributed a lot of the funds in small donations. The plan was a complete failure, bankrupted large chunks of Scotland (it took away roughly 25% of Scotland's net wealth iirc) and was a significant factor in the country forming a union with England a few years later. Scotland was sort of already in the colonialism business since most of the settlers that colonized northern-Ireland were Scottish. BrigadierSensible posted:Melbourne was originally going to be called Batmania, after John Batman. Batman is a city in south-eastern Turkey (or northern Kurdistan depending on who you ask). There is also a village in Iran called Batman.
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# ? Nov 11, 2015 18:40 |
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Batman, son of Suparman, jailed in Singapore
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# ? Nov 11, 2015 19:06 |
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During the Imperial War Conference in the First World War, Canada briefly tried to gain control of Maine and Alaska because we didn't understand the idea that we were trying to seize enemy territory.
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# ? Nov 11, 2015 19:13 |
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cash crab posted:
Can...you provide a bit more detail
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# ? Nov 11, 2015 19:54 |
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# ? Nov 11, 2015 20:07 |
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# ? Nov 11, 2015 20:17 |
That is a hilariously small kill count, even against birds with that much ammuntion just wasted.
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# ? Nov 11, 2015 20:39 |
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Inca/Andean people used a proto-freeze drying method to preserve potatoes. Also, "jerky" is one of the few Quechua root words in English.
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# ? Nov 11, 2015 21:06 |
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SeanBeansShako posted:That is a hilariously small kill count, even against birds with that much ammuntion just wasted.
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# ? Nov 11, 2015 21:08 |
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The Colosseum was inhabited during the Middle Ages. The word "nepotism" comes from the practices of Popes naming nephews (nepos in latin) as cardinals. The practice was so well-established that the Cardinal Nephew was an official position for a century. There is a fragmentary trial document from Renaissance Italy. It is a testimony of the household assassin of an Archbishop and his abbot son, concerning a murder of a peasant that they allegedly ordered. This is an utterly unremarkable case for the era. BravestOfTheLamps has a new favorite as of 23:08 on Nov 11, 2015 |
# ? Nov 11, 2015 23:04 |
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BravestOfTheLamps posted:The Colosseum was inhabited during the Middle Ages. Not only inhabited, but like many ancient structures it was used as a fortress by important families. There are relief panels from the outside bearing the marks of musket balls etc., and it was also used as a manufactory. Along the theme of Ancient Rome, until the fascist period the Tiber would flood every now and again, filling the forum and low areas with silt. Because this built up after the decline of the western empire, many monuments are significantly better preserved at 20 feet above the present (and ancient) ground level. Some arches have been really knocked about by the axle bosses of early medieval carts.
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# ? Nov 11, 2015 23:22 |
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Gille de Rais, a notable companion of Joan of Arc, was a child murdering serial killer.
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# ? Nov 12, 2015 01:50 |
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BravestOfTheLamps posted:The Colosseum was inhabited during the Middle Ages. Also those "nephews" were mostly the various popes' bastard sons
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# ? Nov 12, 2015 02:00 |
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Nebakenezzer posted:Can...you provide a bit more detail Yes. During the conference, Robert Borden and an another representative (whose name escapes me now) vacillated between discussions. Borden's ultimate goals were to support the British Empire, and, inexplicably, gain territory and fame for the United States (possibly to increase trade). While Borden was out, his representative suggested taking over Maine and reversing the Alaskan border dispute before he was taken aside and informed that the purpose of this meeting was to distribute enemy territory, not take over the US or gain control over other Dominion islands. If you'd like to read more, transcripts from the War Conference are available but they are very boring.
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# ? Nov 12, 2015 06:21 |
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Medieval Medic posted:Gille de Rais, a notable companion of Joan of Arc, was a child murdering serial killer. Isn't the contemporary idea about this that basically everything brought up against him was completely false because the guy who prosecuted him stood to gain all titles to his land?
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# ? Nov 12, 2015 06:33 |
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Tsaedje posted:Also those "nephews" were mostly the various popes' bastard sons Nah, Cesare Borgia was really an exception. Paul III created three grandsons as cardinals, and somebody who might have been his son. Speaking of Paul III's grandsons: Ranuccio Farnese, prior of San Giovanni del Venice, in the habit of a Knight of Malta. Yes, even 12-year olds got monasteries (and codpieces). - The House of Medici produced four popes, the most for a single lineage. BravestOfTheLamps has a new favorite as of 07:42 on Nov 12, 2015 |
# ? Nov 12, 2015 06:56 |
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Vindolanda posted:Not only inhabited, but like many ancient structures it was used as a fortress by important families. There are relief panels from the outside bearing the marks of musket balls etc., and it was also used as a manufactory. Not just that but it is exceedingly likely that medieval Bologna looked preeeetttyyy close to this back in the day: Maybe not as many but there were unquestionably scores of them and it's because they're good vantage points and projectile platforms and Italians do everything as a family including fight with other families.
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# ? Nov 12, 2015 07:25 |
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Frostwerks posted:Not just that but it is exceedingly likely that medieval Bologna looked preeeetttyyy close to this back in the day: Well, it also had a lot to do with "mine is bigger than yours" trying to outdo the Jones stuff.
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# ? Nov 12, 2015 10:17 |
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I can see why they didn't put THAT city in Assassin's Creed 2.
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# ? Nov 12, 2015 10:50 |
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Samovar posted:I can see why they didn't put THAT city in Assassin's Creed 2. They did. One of the smaller cities you visit has a whole set of towers. Not quite as numerous as in the picture but every major noble house in the city had one. [edit] It was San Gimignano.
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# ? Nov 12, 2015 12:15 |
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Frostwerks posted:Not just that but it is exceedingly likely that medieval Bologna looked preeeetttyyy close to this back in the day: Imagine their calves!
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# ? Nov 12, 2015 12:51 |
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Something I always found neat was William Beaumont and his handyman Alexis St. Martin. In 1822, St. Martin, a french/canadian fur trapper is shot in the abdomen in an accident on Mackinac Island in Michigan. William Beaumont is a US Army surgeon stationed in Green Bay. Beaumont treats St. Martin for his injuries but doesn't expect him to live. St. Martin lives but he has a hole in his stomach, literally. Beaumont hires Martin to be his handyman and conducts tests on him. He took foods and stuck them through St. Martin's stomach hole to learn about digestion as well as removing stomach acid and testing it outside the body. This went on for about 10 years with St. Martin hating life and running away and then returning eventually. He finally making it away for good and Beaumont tried until his death to get him to return. Mark Twain had his railings at his house in Hartford CT unusually low so he would feel taller. He also used a balcony off his office when unwanted visitors came by to avoid lying/deceit. He would go on to the balcony while his housekeeper would meet the guest and inform them that Mr. Clements was not available as he had just stepped out.
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# ? Nov 12, 2015 14:40 |
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BravestOfTheLamps posted:There is a fragmentary trial document from Renaissance Italy. It is a testimony of the household assassin of an Archbishop and his abbot son, concerning a murder of a peasant that they allegedly ordered. This is an utterly unremarkable case for the era. That does actually seem pretty weird because why would an archbishop and an abbot conspire to murder a peasant? RC and Moon Pie posted:President John Tyler (1790-1862), a man who held the office from 1841-45, has two living grandsons. I think until a couple of years ago there were still a few Confederate widows about - women who had, while very young, married old men for their pensions. Assuming the soldiers were born in 1845, living until 1930-ish doesn't impossible (age 85), and if the wives were born about 1910 they'd be 105 now. I'm being pretty generous with those figures but iirc that's roughly how the sums worked out.
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# ? Nov 12, 2015 14:59 |
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Trin Tragula posted:Napoleon Bonaparte's Imperial Guard regularly went into battle while singing a jolly little song about onions. This is awesome and I never knew (or bother to look, to be fair) the origin of the term "grognard." Thank you!
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# ? Nov 12, 2015 18:18 |
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EX250 Type R posted:Mark Twain had his railings at his house in Hartford CT unusually low so he would feel taller. He also used a balcony off his office when unwanted visitors came by to avoid lying/deceit. He would go on to the balcony while his housekeeper would meet the guest and inform them that Mr. Clements was not available as he had just stepped out. He also would sleep with his head at the foot of his bed because he had a very nice headboard and thought it was a waste to not look at it as he was going to sleep The house is very cool to go through, growing up in CT we visited it for school field trips a bunch.
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# ? Nov 13, 2015 01:42 |
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Nostalgia4Butts posted:He also would sleep with his head at the foot of his bed because he had a very nice headboard and thought it was a waste to not look at it as he was going to sleep So he was a Connecticut Yankee
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# ? Nov 13, 2015 01:56 |
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Wiki front page had some interesting tidbits today: In 2004 a Sperm whale being carried to Autopsy in Tainan spontaneously exploded due to gas buildup, showering sightseers with bits of whale. Harris's List of Covent Garden Ladies is "An exact Description of the most celebrated Ladies of pleasure who frequent COVENT GARDEN and other Parts of the Metropolis". IOW, a directory of London's 18th century prostitutes, complete with waxing lyrical about their anatomy and notable skills. Jaguars! has a new favorite as of 02:41 on Nov 13, 2015 |
# ? Nov 13, 2015 02:39 |
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BravestOfTheLamps posted:The Colosseum was inhabited during the Middle Ages. Nepos actually means grandson.
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# ? Nov 13, 2015 02:53 |
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syscall girl posted:So he was a Connecticut Yankee Nope, born in Missouri and moved to CT
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# ? Nov 13, 2015 03:00 |
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House Louse posted:That does actually seem pretty weird because why would an archbishop and an abbot conspire to murder a peasant? 1949 Life magazine has an article on the 68 Civil War veterans still alive. By 1953 they were down to five.
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# ? Nov 13, 2015 03:01 |
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# ? May 28, 2024 15:12 |
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Can you imagine seeing everything from Lincoln's assassination to the rise of industrialization to both World Wars and the Great Depression in-between and then the very dawn of the atomic age and the earliest parts of the space race? You would have been born in a time when nobility and monarchy were still things and the military still did cavalry charges and people owned slaves and most people were agricultural and by the time you died you'd have bombs capable of erasing entire cities from the map while there's electricity and cars everywhere and people are just starting to think of flying to the moon. It gets better, though. Two of the people that were involved in the assassination of Franz Ferdinand at the start of World War I both lived until nearly the end of the Cold War. One lived until 1990. 1896 - 1980: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cvjetko_Popovi%C4%87 1897 - 1990: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaso_%C4%8Cubrilovi%C4%87 Can you imagine how much change these two lived through? They would have even seen the early internet!
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# ? Nov 13, 2015 04:00 |