Illuminati-R-Us

18th September 2014 - 55% of people living in Scotland turn out to be idiots, cowards and cunts.

Arneb wrote:One from yesterday:

50 years ago on September 15, the German book market hardly took notice of the first edition of "Die Gefährten",

Strange how much a simple word like 'the' can change the meaning of something.

It's the difference between "The Fellows" and "Fellows". I guess that happens in a business where thousands of films are produced every year.

The U.S. Congress passed the Bill or Rights 230 years ago today, although ratification took until 1791. Worth remembereing them in these times, it seems.

3rd October 1953: The United Kingdom successfully tests a nuclear weapon to become the world's third nuclear power.

Under the nuclear umbrella provided by a breakaway colony of said United Kingdom, the two parts of Germany reunite, 30 years ago today.

I was in Toledo learning Spanish with a group of Free University of Berlin students mostly convinced that this was a very bad idea and socialism was the better system to live in.

In 1911, there was the Wuchang uprising, which led to the overthrow of the imperial regime, and the establishment of the Republic of China, which still exists in Taiwan.

Arneb wrote:Under the nuclear umbrella provided by a breakaway colony of said United Kingdom, the two parts of Germany reunite, 30 years ago today.

Did I miss another year?

Мастер wrote:

Arneb wrote:Under the nuclear umbrella provided by a breakaway colony of said United Kingdom, the two parts of Germany reunite, 30 years ago today.

Did I miss another year?

Ooops, sorry: 29. Always mixing up the year of the peaceful revolution with re-unification.

1917 – World War I: Dutch dancer Mata Hari is executed by France for espionage.

1929 - 90 years ago today, it was Black Friday (Black Thursday in the US, because of the time zone difference).

502 years ago today, some German chap vandalised a church door.

It wasn't vandalism at all. The curch door served as a message board for the academic community of Wittenberg.

Not bad for an academic dispute, eh?

501 years later, most people in Brandenburg probably believe they are enjoying a day off because it's Halloween.

Not history, but today is the last day Bladerunner is set in the future.

Nice catch! Of the many, many, many great films I never watched, this is the one I regret most.

Some more history: 19 years ago today, Soyuz TM-31 brought the first crew to the ISS. Since that day, humanity has had at least three people in space at all times.

On this day 30 years ago, a wall that had divided East and West Berlin for 28 years was breached.

Мастер wrote:On this day 30 years ago, a wall that had divided East and West Berlin for 28 years was breached.

30th November 1872 - first ever international football match.

Scotland 0 - 0 England

Starting as they mean to go on, Scotland have a perfectly good goal disallowed in dodgy circumstances.

Did you check the video footage?

The Fourth Official examined a number of sketches and artist’s renditions but none were conclusive.

They could at least have drawn along calibrated lines. Is that too much to ask?

On-call in the hospital, they tore me out of bed right the moment I was going to drift into sleep. And what do I think of? Of course, it's the 288th anniversary of the death of Wolfgang Amadé Mozart. Fuck you, Antonio Salieri, fuck you and your little-composer complex.

Also the end of prohibition in 1933.

Arneb wrote:On-call in the hospital, they tore me out of bed right the moment I was going to drift into sleep. And what do I think of? Of course, it's the 288th anniversary of the death of Wolfgang Amadé Mozart. Fuck you, Antonio Salieri, fuck you and your little-composer complex.

I must spring to Salieri's defence - the cinema have not been fair with him.

Mozart made his own luck.

Only 779 years ago - Kiev falls to the Mongols.

Some would say it is at risk again.

Heid the Ba wrote:Some would say it is at risk again.

From Putin?

Putin is completely unscrupulous. But he's not stupid. So far, his extraterritorial excursions have been to areas with historical ties to Russia and with strongly sympathetic populations.

I can find plenty of internet comments, apparently perfectly serious, about how Russian tanks would be rolling down the streets of Paris and London if it weren't for the US. Well, so far, Russia hasn't invaded Belarus. If I were living in Paris, Berlin, Madrid, or London, I wouldn't be too worried under Putin. I wouldn't even be that worried if I were living in Vilnius.

Post-Putin, who knows what will happen.

Thing is, would you rather live in Ukraine, or in Russia? I would say the answer is obvious. Ukraine is a vastly poorer and incredibly corrupt country. If Ukraine weren't such a shithole, there may not have been that much sympathy even in Crimea (which was part of Russia until 1954) to join Russia.

If the Ukrainians run their country better, they won't have much to worry about, at least until Putin is no longer in office.