PYF Historical Fun Fact: (USER LOSETH POSTYNG PRIVILYGES FOR FOUR AND TWENTY HOURS)

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RickVoid: Oct 21, 2010

canyoneer posted:

Cleopatra lived closer in time to the moon landings than she did to the building of the pyramids at Giza

This is my favorite fact. The Pyramids at Giza were more ancient and unknowable to her than she is to us.

# ¿ Nov 5, 2015 07:21

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RickVoid: Oct 21, 2010

Trin Tragula posted:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wizard_of_New_Zealand

I'm moderately certain I probably don't like his politics (but I find NZ/Aussie politics to be totally different from US politics, so who knows), but he sure as poo poo sounds like a fun guy.

quote:

On 8 September 2003 the Wizard's large wooden house was destroyed by a fire, which Christchurch police treated as arson. The Wizard, his partner and two boarders were lucky to escape with their lives and the Wizard's extensive book and video collections were destroyed. The Wizardmobile, constructed from the front halves of two VW Beetles, was also attacked and damaged.

...
Harry?
When did you leave Chicago?

quote:

After the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake the Wizard planned to retire and leave Christchurch for good saying the town he loved had gone and that it was the end of an era. He will be going with his mother to Oamaru, but not before wading through knee-deep water to help rescue Resthome manager Sue Milligan's dog "Molly".

quote:

"Molly"

Aesop Poprock posted:

This guy apparently thinks "women cause wars with their shopping habits and governments are more stable with monarchies" which sounds less whimsical and more weirdly courtly MRA but I guess magic is different in NZ

There, I knew I was going to have an issue with his politics.

# ¿ Nov 7, 2015 02:40

RickVoid: Oct 21, 2010

System Metternich posted:

The legend would also require the Drevlians to be dumber than a sack of bricks. “What's that, our ambassadors to Lady Olga whose husband we've killed brutally never returned? Oh, must've been a coincidence. Why does she wish to host our best and brightest now? She's just a swell person, obviously. Oh, those thousands of people never returned as well? Too strange. And now this lady who's shown nothing but goodwill towards us wants a couple of birds per household, birds which are known to fly back, and she's massing troops around our villages? Looks quite normal to me!“

It seems more like a case of: Drevlians send messengers saying something along the lines of "We killed your husband, but we'll spare you and your son if you marry our boy", so she kills the messengers. Then she sends some messengers of her own back saying "I'm totally aroused by this! We're throwing an awesome party to celebrate, please send cool important people to party with us. Oh, and your messengers stayed here to celebrate with us". They show up, and she burns them all alive. She then sends another message along the lines of "Oh man, that party was awesome, but before I remarry I want to have a kickass funeral for my dead ex-husband. Send as many people as you can for the ceremony", and since all they had heard back at this point was totally all about how awesome they were, they went ahead and sent their people, at which point she engaged in mass slaughter. At this point she's completely neutered them as an actual threat, but she's still pissed so she sends her army to sack them. After she easily wins, the people are more than happy to give her a bunch of birds to get her to stop loving killing them, and we know how well that worked out.

All she really had to do to make this work was not let anyone escape any of the initial purges, so that the only messages King Mal was getting were along the lines of "I totally want your D, but I need you to do this first". He'd hardly be the first ruler to think with the wrong head.

# ¿ Dec 9, 2015 13:04

RickVoid: Oct 21, 2010

XMNN posted:

I read a really cool wikipedia article about a WW2 battle with Americans, Germans, Austrians, Frenchmen and others fighting against loyalist Nazis in the last days of the war in Europe. I'm just amazed no one has made it into a film, it almost sounds made up.

Schloss Itter

It's May 1945 and the poo poo is really hitting the fan in what's left of the Reich. Itter Castle is a medieval fortress in Austria which is being used as a prison camp by the SS, holding high value French prisoners, including sports stars and former prime ministers, as well as some prisoners sent from nearby Dachau to perform menial tasks.

On the 2nd of May the last commander of Dachau. Eduard Weiter, who has fled to the castle to escape American troops advancing from the Rhine, dies in mysterious circumstances, possibly murdered by the castle's SS guards for abandoning his post. The next day an imprisoned Yugoslavian resistance fighter, Zvonimir Čučković (lol), walks out the front gate on an errand for the castle's commander and doesn't come back. Instead he keeps walking through the forest until he meets up with some American soldiers who he asks to help liberate the castle. They agree and the following morning, the 4th of May, they send a large force to attempt a rescue. It encounters heavy German artillery fire and stops before being instructed to turn back because it is entering the zone covered by the neighbouring division, although a few jeeps continue on to the castle.

American tankers arriving in Innsbruck, the nearest city, on the 3rd of May

In the afternoon the castle's commander deserts, shortly followed by the SS guards. The prisoners, not realising that Čučković has gone looking for assistance, send a Czech cook named Andreas Krobot to the nearest town to ask for help. The town has recently been occupied by the Wehrmacht who have since abandoned it, and a wandering SS unit has now taken over. Krobot manages to meet up with Major Josef Gangl of the Wehrmacht, who realising which way the wind is blowing has thrown his lot in with the local Austrian resistance along with some of his men. Gangl then manages to contact Captain Jack Lee, an American tank commander in another nearby town, who immediately volunteers to help rescue the prisoners, performing a quick reconnaissance in Gangl's car before taking a handful of tanks and men, including 10 Germans, towards the castle.

Captain Jack Lee (right), approximately two months before the battle for Castle Itter

Most of the tanks are forced to turn back because the tiny alpine bridges weren't really designed to handle half a dozen of them crossing but eventually Lee's tank and the infantry make it to the castle, defeating another roving band of SS on the way. They organise the defence of the castle, the prisoners volunteering to assist, and fight off probing attacks from the SS throughout the night. In the morning more than a 100 SS soldiers begin an assault to try and retake the castle, managing to knock out the tank with an 88 and very nearly defeating the much smaller international force.

Before the assault there is limited telephone contact with the resistance and the American divisional HQ is aware that the defenders are in trouble but don't know the exact strength or positions of the attackers. So, doing what any sane person would do, French tennis star Jean Borotra leaps the castle walls and runs all the way to town through the woods filled with SS to find them and update them on the situation. A relief force is dispatched to the castle, which he joins, and the SS are defeated with most of them taken prisoner.

Gangl was killed during the battle whilst trying to protect former prime minister Renaud but has a street named after him in the nearby town. Captain Lee received the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions defending the castle.

Here's another more in depth article.

I, love commas.

That's awesome.

# ¿ Dec 10, 2015 03:44

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