Illuminati-R-Us

I miss Schumi. Dec. was already 4 years since the accident.
I hope Mick turns out more like Michael than Ralf.

That would be nice, yes. But first, I hope Seb gives Lewis a good run for his money after years of losing.

That would be nice. He'll have to keep the wheel banging to a minimum.

January 4th, 1948 - Burma gains independence from Britain. Lucky bastards!

January 25th, 1759 - birth of Robert Burns, "national poet of Scotland", basis for shortbread caricatures, dressing up and poncy dinners.

I like haggis so will be scoffing some tonight, not a fan of Burn's Suppers though.

I like haggis, but cannot abide all of the Burn's Supper pish.

Indeed. I have been at one Burn's supper in the last ten years and it managed to be only marginally awful.

Good ol' Frankie.

26th January is Republic Day in India, one of the several days in the year when they celebrate us fucking off and leaving them alone.

January 27, 1945: The Red Army liberates the few thousand survivors of the Auschwitz concentration camp. The reports of the atroicities there are met with incredulity in the West, until the British see Bergen-Belsen and the Americans Dachau in April.

January 29th, 1746: The Prince at Bannockburn. Lord George Murray and the Highland chiefs at Falkirk sent a letter to the Prince, requesting him to retire to the Highlands as the army through sickness and desertion was not fit to meet the Duke of Cumberland. To this course the Prince most reluctantly agreed.

Heid the Ba wrote:26th January is Republic Day in India, one of the several days in the year when they celebrate us fucking off and leaving them alone.

30th January is Martyr's Day in India, marking the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi on this date in 1948.

85 years ago, Reichspräsident Paul von Hindenburg made Adolf Hitler Chancellor.

In a free, fair, equal and secret general election in November, 1932, Germans had given Hitler's party, the NSDAP, a plurality of seats in the Reichstag. Hitler's ascendance became possible when another far-right party, the Deutschnationale Volkspartei (DNVP) agreed to form a coalition government under Hitler.

Don't anyone tell me that we have to respect each, any and every head of a freely elected government because it's the will of the people. Voters can make terrible decisions.

Yes, yes they can.

And they do. With monotonous regularity.

Arneb wrote:85 years ago, Reichspräsident Paul von Hindenburg made Adolf Hitler Chancellor.

In a free, fair, equal and secret general election in November, 1932, Germans had given Hitler's party, the NSDAP, a plurality of seats in the Reichstag. Hitler's ascendance became possible when another far-right party, the Deutschnationale Volkspartei (DNVP) agreed to form a coalition government under Hitler.

Don't anyone tell me that we have to respect each, any and every head of a freely elected government because it's the will of the people. Voters can make terrible decisions.

Stolen, or used with permission. I don't care which but this is going on Facebook in about 10 minutes.

ETA: https://www.facebook.com/lance.clarke.3 ... 0864104083

January 31st, 1788: death of HRH Prince Charles Edward Stuart

January 1st, 1968: Beginning of the Tet offensive.

February 2nd, 1709: Alexander Selkirk (fae Fife, ken?) is rescued after spending 4 years and 4 months alone on an island in the Pacific, providing the inspiration for Robinson Crusoe.

February 2, 1943 - 75 years ago - saw the capitulation of the 6th German Army at Stalingrad, USSR. The army's commander, General Paulus, ordered his officers not to commit suicide and instead share their subordinates' fate of becoming Soviet POWs. He gave himself up on Jan 31. The death toll of this battle is hard to imagine. Axis powers (Germany, Italy, Romania, Hungary) are thought to have about three quarter million men, while the Soviet Union lost 1.1 million. 110,000 Axis were captured during the Battle of Stalingrad, about 6,000 of them eventually returned. Paulus was one of them, living in the GDR after his release.

Verdun, Ypers and the Alsace summits eventually became symbols of the rapprochment of the warring parties, eventually even of Franco-German friendship. The fields of Stalingrad remain gashing wounds in the remembrance of all nations involved. There have been no gestures of reconciliation over these graves.

My father, who was six at the time, remembers he heard the news in the streets of Lauenburg. He ran up the stairs to their flat, gushing the news to his mother, who was busy peeling potatos. "Now we've lost the war", she said calmly. He remenbers this moment, 75 years later...

Lance wrote:

Arneb wrote:85 years ago, Reichspräsident Paul von Hindenburg made Adolf Hitler Chancellor.

In a free, fair, equal and secret general election in November, 1932, Germans had given Hitler's party, the NSDAP, a plurality of seats in the Reichstag. Hitler's ascendance became possible when another far-right party, the Deutschnationale Volkspartei (DNVP) agreed to form a coalition government under Hitler.

Don't anyone tell me that we have to respect each, any and every head of a freely elected government because it's the will of the people. Voters can make terrible decisions.

Stolen, or used with permission. I don't care which but this is going on Facebook in about 10 minutes.

ETA: https://www.facebook.com/lance.clarke.3 ... 0864104083

Oh dear. Does that mean I'll get hated on Facebook without even being there?

Lianachan wrote:February 2nd, 1709: Alexander Selkirk (fae Fife, ken?) is rescued after spending 4 years and 4 months alone on an island in the Pacific, providing the inspiration for Robinson Crusoe.

I drive through his birthplace of Lower Largo on a regular basis.

Cool, I thought you might do.

4th February, birthday of Rosa parks.