Gorth

Because I like the sound of Spanish... not that I understand a word without translated lyrics

Isn't history more than just reciting past events? Part of the excitement I get from studying history is trying to discover causes. Sometimes by reading other peoples interpretations, sometimes by jumping to my own conclusions E.g. the Holocaust happened, but what caused it? The simpleminded answer would be "The Nazis". But that is just closing ones eyes and ignoring the parts of history that lead to that point. Few things happens in isolation. The better you understand the underlying causes and effects, they better you can work towards avoiding repeats of such events in the future. Even if trying to get an overview of all the threads of history that lead to it, results in your browser crashing from 4096 opened tabs.

Psssst Trump! This is how it's done.... https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53233386

I know I usually put my Rammstein posts in the metal thread.... But I don't think this is really "metal" As is often the case with Rammstein, their lyrics have multiple meanings and interpretations. Lyrics translated We stick together We endure one another We hold onto one another No one holds us back We stay faithful to you We firmly hold onto that And obey the rules If you leave rules to us* And the shark, that has tears And they run from the face But the shark lives in water So no one can see the tears We keep our speed We keep our word If one can’t keep up Then we immediately stop We keep our eyes open We hold each other by the arm Six hearts that burn The fire keeps you warm And the shark, that has tears And they run from the face But the shark lives in water So no one can see the tears In the deep it is lonely And so many a tear is shed And it so happens that the water In the oceans is salty You can think of us Whatever you want We get compensation We never keep still And the shark, that has tears And they run from the face But the shark lives in water So no one can see the tears In the deep it is lonely And so many a tear is shed And it so happens that the water In the oceans is salty And the shark, that has tears And they run from the face But the shark lives in water So no one can see the tears Translation © Affenknecht.com

@BruceVC I agree that the whole statue thing is indeed an odd thing, because any single person is likely to be many things to many people. One mans villain is another mans hero and vice versa. Which is also why old things sometimes gets torn down to make room for new things (that's my inner anarchist speaking). What does people remember Churchill for? As you sort of hinted at, it depends on who you are. Would a 50%+ approval rate among all people being exposed to the actions of some figure justify a statue? A threshold of 25% if they are all locals (i.e. live in the UK)? And so on. There is no easy answer. I'm sure the Romans tore down a number of statues too when previous historical leaders fell out of favour with the current rulers. Maybe the Brits see him representing something they like to remember. Living in Australia, i think I can say he is more than anything associated with failed WWI campaigns, Gallipoli and tens of thousands of dead Aussies and Kiwis. To the people in India, I'm sure he is perceived in a different way to both the UK and the people down here. Was General Lee (US civil war) a particular bad and evil person? No idea. Did his exploits on the battlefield warrant a statue? Probably. But... his side lost and the climate has changed. As said above, sometimes what was once considered great falls out of favour. As long as history books keeps the deeds of people for posterity, does the world really need statues anyway? Other than to make pigeons happy that is. Edit: Another way of looking at is, the values of society keeps changing. Some day, a the values people attribute to the positive and the negative parts of a historical person changes enough to change the net sum?

I was thinking mostly of computer games. For table top games, I think the biggest time sink my younger brother and i played was a game called "Flat Top". For something more "fast" paced (not trying to be funny) we played Wooden Ships and Iron men. From Avalon Hill iirc.

But Churchill was racist. Yes, he bolstered UK morale during WWII, but he wasn't necessarily a good person. Quoting CNN: "He said that he hated people with "slit eyes and pig tails." To him, people from India were "the beastliest people in the world next to the Germans." He admitted that he "did not really think that black people were as capable or as efficient as white people." Not exactly a humanitarian role model

Playing War in Russia these days... as the Soviet Union taking on Nazi Germany, full campaign 1941-1945 I love the game, even if the interface shows its age. Bring your own dos-box to run it It's originally made by Gary Grigsby, a name that some old wargamers might recognize. The current owner of the game after SSI's demise is Matrix Games, who offers it as a free download from their website (i.e. fully legit). For those who prefer the Pacific War, that game is also there for free. Warning, if WIR was big, PW is humongous, not byte wise, but in scope and time investment. Edit: Link for any fellow wargamers out there who might be curious/interested https://www.matrixgames.com/game/war-in-russia-matrix-edition

Since embedding works again...

Back to your regular Rammstein... A song with lyrics that are mostly old song titles stitched together to form a song

For Australia, it's a blessing. The Morrison government is hopelessly inept, so the more the states decide to shoulder the responsibility of decision making, the better for all Australians. The governing Liberal Party, not to be confused with the American use of the word 'liberal', is very much a social conservative and fiscally.... owned by the local mining and fossil fuel industry and wont do anything without the blessings and encouragement of their masters, regardless of how ridiculous and irresponsible those decisions are.

The Scott Morrison government (the federal government) is doing what it's really best at doing, i.e. nothing. Unlike the bushfires, this crisis is being handled by the state governments and each state decides its own policy on the subject. The state premiers convene regularly (video conferencing) to discuss the state of the nation and where we're at.

@BruceVC Victoria and Melbourne to be further isolated (from the rest of Australia). From the BBC: "South Australia and Queensland have cancelled plans to open their state borders to all Australians as an outbreak in Victoria gathers pace. Victoria has recorded double-digit increases in infections each day for two weeks, including 64 in the past 24 hours. The cases - concentrated in several areas of Melbourne - have become Australia's biggest concern in almost three months. Fears are growing that the outbreak could spread to other states, all of which have far fewer or no infections. In announcements today, South Australia cancelled plans to fully reopen its borders on 20 July, while Queensland said it would open on 10 July but not to Victorians. Though her state remains open, New South Wales Gladys Berejiklian told locals today: "Do not allow anyone from a hotspot in Melbourne or from greater Melbourne to come into your home - you have the right to say no." Australia has had more than 7,500 cases in total and 104 deaths."

Censorship kracking down on Kanadians! Were you by any chance trying to post an embedded video? Looks like that function has issues recently.

Hmmm Testing. Looks like embedding videos is no longer allowed. So, here is another Rammstein without preview picture. Rather aptly named 'Zeig Dich' (show yourself) A song about the depravities and sexual abuse done by the church and the great lengths it goes to, to cover it up. Now it works for me too. Seems like the powers that be likes Rammstein too

English is the platypus of European languages

Ok, I'll leave out Dead Space then... it does have some "impressive" locations Genuinely beautiful games... Guild Wars 2 was already mentioned. A hidden little gem of a game would be Trine (and 2 and 3). Besides being visually beautiful (imho) it is also a fun coop game for up to 3 players.

The summary is bloody milennials (the tl;dr; version) https://www.heraldsun.com.au/coronavirus/new-saliva-test-fasttracked-to-coronavirus-hotspot-suburbs/news-story/f7e706de36bbf5c7b47cec1b5de77e7e Then you can always start digging into why they think rules are for everyone except *me*

It was a bit hard not to laugh at the delivery of that last part I mostly remember fireworks from New Years in Sydney Harbour and Guy Fawkes day in Wellington Australia is almost doing good on the covid19 front these days except those bastards in Melbourne. Can't build that wall on QLD's southern border fast enough! Edit: Don't ask why, it's probably a British thing celebrating a terrorist trying to blow up the parliament.

I would like to stress the point, that he's not talking about the moderator team Sorry to hear Fionavar. I know cats aren't always as close to people as other four legged friends, but I do I remember growing up with what can best be described as just about managing to make themselves an indespensable part of the family before fate decided it wasn't to be, After the third time, my parents decided it was too much heartbreak for us kids. I hope you and the rest of the pack will cope

Hooking up with a pair of young ladies tonight at one of their places for some take away food and an evening of video gaming and rum tasting... probably more of the latter Edit: Jackbox games amongst others, is quite fun when you can get a few people together (2-3 other will join us online). As for the rums... Kraken, Ratu (from Fiji), Bundaburg... a few others

Modern, spoken English is a bit like "simplified English". Seveal old place names have the ces part silent. Like e.g. Leicester. Worcester & Gloucester. (lester, woster and gloster) Edit: There were some quite funny youtube videos a few years ago where non-English speakers were trying to pronounce Leicester (after they won the English Premiere League) Edit2: And you're by far not the only one... an American trying to pronounce English names (Worcester is about the minute mark)

A bit late to the party, but there are some decent free to play MMO's out there which might fit the bill. Both Guild Wars 2 and Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic are perfectly playable as single player, 3D rpgs. I know, the latter isn't really "fantasy", more like space opera. But still, you got knights in shiny armour prancing around, fighting with swords. (and the former has a slight steam punk influence too, I mean, nowhere in Tolkiens books did your armies form up around gun batteries, protecting the mega laser while it's charging up to shoot a baddie)

Bad Hollywood producers couldn't make up that stuff. Edit: correcting myself, if could be a filler episode of X-Files