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DiscussionMindless Monday, 14 September 2015 (self.badhistory)

AutoModerator[M] が 投稿 - stickied post

Happy (or sad) Monday guys!

Mindless Monday is generally for those instances of bad history that do not deserve their own post, and posting them here does not require an explanation for the bad history. This also includes anything that falls under this month's moratorium. That being said, this thread is free-for-all, and you can discuss politics, your life events, whatever here. Just remember to np link all links to Reddit and don't violate R4, or we human mods will feed you to the AutoModerator.

So, with that said, how was your weekend, everyone?

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[–]taylororo 11ポイント12ポイント  (11子コメント)

IN the past 52 weeks, guess which week had (by far) the most searches for Irish Slaves?

Answer

If you guessed, the same week as the Charleston Church shootings, you win a prize. That prize is disappointment in humanity.

[–]The_Silver_Avenger 8ポイント9ポイント  (10子コメント)

That's pretty depressing.

I do wish that the internet wasn't so STEM-oriented. People would then probably understand these issues better. But while the history knowledge on the site is lacking, the worst offender is the lack of philosophy knowledge.

There's a reason that /r/badphilosophy is the way it is.

[–]taylororo 4ポイント5ポイント  (1子コメント)

I do wish that the internet wasn't so STEM-oriented.

Haha, I dont know if the internets problem is that its too focused on science.

[–]The_Silver_Avenger 3ポイント4ポイント  (0子コメント)

Maybe not. But it's worth noting that reddit did start mainly as a website for programming. I think that it does still show today.

[–]sulendil 4ポイント5ポイント  (1子コメント)

Speaking of /r/badphilosophy, browsing it can be... confusing at times. Maybe that's because I never had Philosophy 101 before, haha.

[–]The_Silver_Avenger 3ポイント4ポイント  (0子コメント)

Yeah, some of the references do fly over my head, or are outside areas I've studied (I have studied a very wide variety of subjects; both STEM and non-STEM). I'm more familiar with ancient philosophers and modern (as in 18th/19th century onwards), but I have studied some from every time period as part of a history course.

Marx tends to crop up very often in the history of the French Revolution, with his quote "Hegel remarks somewhere that all great world-historic facts and personages appear, so to speak, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce." It's from The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte which I've studied; it's worth a read.

Edit: Link to an online version here.

[–]Quouarthe Weather History Slayer 2ポイント3ポイント  (4子コメント)

I don't think the problem lies with the internet per se. Rather, I think it's that society as a whole places a lot of value on STEM over things like history or philosophy. They're seen as impractical, while STEM builds bridges or makes explosions happen. More specifically, there are direct jobs that you can get with a STEM degree - less so with a non-STEM degree, and that means the other fields are less popular.

[–]taylororo 1ポイント2ポイント  (3子コメント)

personally i dont think stem is related to this. I think its just the classic forging of history into a weapon.

[–]Anhistronian 3ポイント4ポイント  (2子コメント)

Oh, I can be moderate here!

It seems like it's a bit of both. There are people who use history as a weapon and don't even bother to learn about it beyond wikipedia because they're too busy shoving engineering textbooks up their ass.

[–]The740Feminists hired Christians to put lead in the Roman water supply 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

too busy shoving engineering textbooks up their ass

That takes "STEM circlejerk" to an entirely new level I wasn't prepared to learn about.

[–]phasv2 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

The best kind of moderate is the radicalized moderate.

[–]DirishTime travel agent for King Edward 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

I do wish that the internet wasn't so STEM-oriented.

Hah, you should have been around at the start of it. There was only science. Then again you did need a science degree just to get some modems to work properly, so maybe not that surprising.

[–]Quouarthe Weather History Slayer 8ポイント9ポイント  (6子コメント)

I've discovered a vast and terrifying conspiracy. It hovers there, just beneath the surface of your realisation, sinking its tendrils into the fabric of your reality. The implications are huge, and it seems unstoppable. I'll share it with you, but you can't scream, can't run, can't be too scared to move.

It starts with /r/Awwducational, where half the posts are submitted by two users - love_the_heat and mrs_holman_7. When posts by one of these two users are removed, they come into modmail and raise hell, using their friends and influence to get their posts reinstated, however inappropriate those posts may be. It's odd, but then I found this lonely comment made by one of them on the other's post, providing solid, irrefutable proof that their sole objective is to reach the front page and get the roughly 1500-2000 karma that a link post can receive depending on the cuteness of the animal picture or fact. They're trying to take over the sub.

But why, I asked myself. Why can cute animals not be democratised? Why do shadowy cabals come in and post their own pictures rather than letting upvotes decide who has the cutest picture? What is their goal?

At first, I thought I'd stumbled on a spam ring, as is so often the case. Unsavoury users will exploit innocent puppies or kittens or ducklings for the sweet, easy karma they provide in subs like /r/aww or /r/awwducational. I dug into their user histories, and found something more troubling. Perhaps they are spammers, but their histories suggest something scarier - karma whores.

love_the_heat is a member of CenturyClub, a sub which I can attest to being a guide for "how to gain karma." Each day, their profile becomes loaded with karma-fied links, each more nefariously popular than the last. "Aha," I thought. "This is one of love_the_heat's alts that they're trying to get built up." That might have been the end of it, were it not for a little more investigation. mrs_holman_7 is active on a very limited number of subs - a suspicious, paranoid mind might say too limited, but am I suspicious or paranoid? Never - most of which are animal fact based, but one of which is not. It's this sub that cracks the case wide open. The sub? /r/GirlsWithHugePussies, a tiny sub with truly disturbing posts that will set even the bravest heart aflutter. It's not the content of the posts that is truly disturbing, however, but rather the submitter. All the posts on /r/GirlsWithHugePussies were submitted by one user - RalphiesBoogers, a mod of /r/Awwducational.

My noir cigar/pipe fell from my mouth when I saw it. The conspiracy goes beyond anything I expected. I expected users gaming my beloved cute animal pictures for karma. I did not expect the mods to be complicit in it.

I am afraid, reader. I fear for the future. I fear what will happen when they know I know that the karma whoring is coming from inside the house. I can only hope that making sure the conspiracy is known will stop it. We must free the cute animal pictures. Mods must stop abusing their positions of power to post whatever they want. We must not let this stand.

If you don't hear from me again, know that a cute red panda fact probably got me, and good luck.

I need a real hobby

[–]sulendil 4ポイント5ポイント  (0子コメント)

Quouar, stop browsing /r/conspiracy too much. They're not healthy to your mind.

and stop exposing the works of the karma kabal. there is no karma kabal, all upvotes are not pushed by alts, and there is no such thing as karma whores. all these are just a bad dream...

[–]Spartacus_the_trollThe burning of the the Library of Alexandria was from an STD. 1ポイント2ポイント  (4子コメント)

Ok, metaconspiracy theory time. Both of the afformentioned users are, in fact, alts of quouar. What's better than karma from one user? Karma from two users. What's better than karma from two users? Karma from three users. What's the best way to get double karma-whoring internet points? Karma whoring by referencing your alts' karma whoring.

I was going to get more elaborate and diabolical but I'm not sure where I'm going with this.

edit: also the creator of /r/girlswithhugpussies mods 160 subreddits. How do you even?

[–]Quouarthe Weather History Slayer 1ポイント2ポイント  (3子コメント)

If it helps, I mod twenty subs. Only two of them require any real effort (/r/badhistory is very well-behaved, regardless of what mod-hatted me says), and the rest mostly just pop up on an "as-needed" basis. It also helps when you're part of a team. One sub can be someone's baby and another team member's "when I have time." It just varies. I can see how someone could mod 160 subs, especially if most of them were tiny.

Also, pfft, I don't need to reference my alts' karma-whoring to get karma. First off, I resent the implication that I even have alts, and second, I'm already karma incarnate. I don't need alts to make myself feel better.

[–]Spartacus_the_trollThe burning of the the Library of Alexandria was from an STD. 0ポイント1ポイント  (2子コメント)

So you're not a maniacal internet supervillain? :(

[–]DefinitelyNotQuouar*shifty eyes* 2ポイント3ポイント  (1子コメント)

I resent the implication that I am.

[–]Spartacus_the_trollThe burning of the the Library of Alexandria was from an STD. 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

No I meant Quouar. You're definitely not Quouar. Silly redditors.

[–]leicemancomethGeorge R.R. Martin is literally Mendelssohn 6ポイント7ポイント  (11子コメント)

So, I went to a Bernie Sanders rally in Atlanta on Friday. I was going to use the #feelthebern h/t, but I felt it wouldn't be appropriate given the Civil War history...

In slightly related campaign news, I found this photo of Theodore Roosevelt at a campaign stop in Ventura County circa 1903 (my home county). He won the county pretty decisively in 1904, but also won most of California except parts of the Central Valley.

By the way, can someone ID the building in the picture? I wonder if it's still around or if it got demolished (because it looks familiar...)

[–]arminius_sawMOD ABOOBS 3ポイント4ポイント  (9子コメント)

oh gods, we're calling them h/ts now? Damn kids keep meddling with the language.

[–]Quouarthe Weather History Slayer 6ポイント7ポイント  (2子コメント)

...what does h/t mean?

[–]arminius_sawMOD ABOOBS 9ポイント10ポイント  (1子コメント)

Hashtag. Context, /u/Quouar, c'mon! Analyze and interpret the text!

[–]Quouarthe Weather History Slayer 5ポイント6ポイント  (0子コメント)

But it's 8 AM and I haven't had breakfast! I can't be expected to be a critical thinker before my munchies are fulfilled!

[–]taylororo 3ポイント4ポイント  (5子コメント)

When I was your age, ht meant "hat tip" on the internet. Ill host an AMA later on my angelfire site for any other question about the early days of cyberspace.

[–]leicemancomethGeorge R.R. Martin is literally Mendelssohn 4ポイント5ポイント  (2子コメント)

DAE friendstar?

[–]taylororo 3ポイント4ポイント  (0子コメント)

friendstar!? I barely know her!

[–]taylororo 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

friendstar!? I barely know her!

[–]arminius_sawMOD ABOOBS 0ポイント1ポイント  (1子コメント)

When the heck was this? I've never heard of "hat tip" and I've been on the internet since 2004ish.

[–]The740Feminists hired Christians to put lead in the Roman water supply 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

You young pups...some of us cut our online teeth on the Prodigy bulletin boards, consarnit!

[–]Yeti_PoetCortes has a THAC0 of 18 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

That's the old Masterson Bank and Loan Building, on Prospect St.

Just kidding I have no idea.

[–]_sekhmet_Lady of Slaughter and She Who Reviews Chairs 7ポイント8ポイント  (5子コメント)

I decided to rearrange my room yesterday so I get more use out of my giant over stuffed reading chair. I love the new arrangement, but I woke up three times last night really confused because I had no idea where I was because the room looked different.

Also, my cat Hector is adjusting well. He's unhappy about me rearranging my room though. I decided to put some of my books and art supplies in those big clear boxes that roll under the beds, and when A noise startled my cat he tried to run under my bed and slammed his face into the box. He's fine, just upset that his hiding spot is gone now.

[–]jaguarlyra 3ポイント4ポイント  (2子コメント)

Poor kitty. Do you have any pictures?

[–]_sekhmet_Lady of Slaughter and She Who Reviews Chairs 5ポイント6ポイント  (1子コメント)

Yes, I do! He's only about a year old, and he's missing a leg. the previous owner shot him, and it completely shattered his back left leg. He's a sweetheart though.

Here he is sleeping on a suitcase:

http://imgur.com/xwklIFf

And watching tv:

http://imgur.com/KNam9iW

http://imgur.com/j9dbVa5

And sleeping/being adorable:

http://imgur.com/EJ0Qz9N

[–]jaguarlyra 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

Aww, what a sweetie. Hug him for me, if you can.

[–]Quouarthe Weather History Slayer 3ポイント4ポイント  (1子コメント)

when I noise startled my cat he tried to run under my bed and slammed his face into the box

I know it's wrong, but this really, really amuses me.

[–]_sekhmet_Lady of Slaughter and She Who Reviews Chairs 4ポイント5ポイント  (0子コメント)

It's okay, I laughed when it happened. I made sure he was okay, and I felt bad for him, but I still laughed.

[–]jay--mac 6ポイント7ポイント  (1子コメント)

I've been in grad school for my history M.A. for about a month now. One of the guys in my cohort is a lost-causer who, totally unsolicited, tried to tell about all of the voluntary black soldiers in the Confederate army. Just can't escape this madness.

[–]taylororo 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

holy snikey. i'd love updates on this guy, i mean as far as sanity allows for. Will grad school disabuse him of his notions? will professors through him out windows? how much will he cause the minority students to drink?

[–]The_Silver_Avenger 4ポイント5ポイント  (16子コメント)

My favourite Crusade is probably the 3rd Crusade, but I do like the oft-forgotten European ones.

Also, a question. What is the most irritating /r/badhistory on reddit or in the outside world?

Saying all of it, whilst technically true, is cheating.

[–]arminius_sawMOD ABOOBS 6ポイント7ポイント  (5子コメント)

I enjoy the Crusade where they made it to Constantinople and went "Fuck it, good enough" and sacked the place. Which I think was the Fourth? I'm probably a bad person but there's something kind of hilarious about it.

[–]The_Silver_Avenger 6ポイント7ポイント  (0子コメント)

Yeah, it was the Fourth.

[–]sulendil 5ポイント6ポイント  (0子コメント)

1204, never forget. -Byzantine Emperor Alexios V Doukas during Siege of Constantinople.

[–]A_Crazy_CanadianEU4 is a Academic Source 3ポイント4ポイント  (0子コメント)

Yes, it makes you a bad person but apparently you like cut price bargains.

[–]TiakoTevinter apologist, shill for Big Lyrium 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

The moral of the Fourth Crusade is that you shouldn't hire an army you won't pay.

[–]DirishTime travel agent for King Edward 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

That would be a piece of bad history that irritates me: all the bad history surrounding the fourth crusade.

[–]alynnidalarThere needs to be cooked is the rice. - /u/badhistory_ss 6ポイント7ポイント  (2子コメント)

For me, at least, there's not a single specific piece of misinformation or area that really bugs me, it's the way people are using it. If people share badhistory just as fun facts, that's annoying but usually harmless. Or if it's Generic Faux Medieval Fantasy novel misconceptions, that's pretty harmless too.

But when people are using badhistory to subtly (or not-so-subtly) advance various bigoted views, that's when it starts irking me. Stuff like downplaying American slavery, or "brown people couldn't build the pyramids", or playing genocide olympics purely for the sake of implying the Nazis weren't that bad, or stuff about how the vote and the draft were supposedly connected (thus implying that's why women didn't historically have the right to vote)... that kind of thing.

I guess if I had to pick a single piece of badhistory that I despise most, though, it's genocide denial... the Holocaust, obviously, but other genocides and mass killings/horrible things that don't qualify as genocide too, like Nanking. Especially when people are denying stuff that is not only still in living memory, but we have photographic and video evidence of. Just infuriating.

[–]The_Silver_Avenger 3ポイント4ポイント  (1子コメント)

Ugh, Holocaust denial is the worst. It doesn't help that I've been to other countries and visited a fair amount of the sites connected with the Holocaust (eg, Wannsee Conference building, Theresienstadt concentration camp, Holocaust museum) as well as studying the Holocaust too.

Funnily enough, I don't believe that I've ever met a holocaust denier in real life.

[–]alynnidalarThere needs to be cooked is the rice. - /u/badhistory_ss 3ポイント4ポイント  (0子コメント)

Hopefully that means there just aren't that many of them, but part of it is probably also that Holocaust deniers know their beliefs aren't widely accepted, so they usually shut up about them unless they're on an anonymous forum like the internet.

[–]Quouarthe Weather History Slayer 4ポイント5ポイント  (5子コメント)

Any time I'm in a good mood, I remember that my step-father honestly and legitimately, expecting me to agree with him said that black people should cheer when they see the Confederate flag because it got them out of slavery earlier. Grumps me right down.

[–]taylororo 4ポイント5ポイント  (4子コメント)

I could understand that viewpoint from a slightly ironic, tongue in cheek stance. But it doesnt seem to the case here. . . . ㅠㅠ

[–]Quouarthe Weather History Slayer 4ポイント5ポイント  (3子コメント)

I've seen him post things to his Facebook from white supremacist sites. I...worry.

[–]taylororo 3ポイント4ポイント  (1子コメント)

would you rather! catch your husband on Ashley Madison or on a white supremacist site?

[–]Quouarthe Weather History Slayer 5ポイント6ポイント  (0子コメント)

Oh, Ashley Madison for sure. Then I know he's stupid, but not dumber than rocks.

[–]taylororo 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

An overlooked form of bad history is selectively leaving out stuff. In the US we forget kinda of skim over how much political violence went into shaping this country. my city, for example, has only has a small plaque about the lynching we had in 1919. It was even funded by locals, instead some dude in Florida or California was moved by the story and payed for its creation installation. I dont even know where it is and I didnt even know about it until long after i left the city. Even big stuff, like the tulsa race riot (which really needs a new name) became foegotten within a few decades. It wasnt until +50 years later that the city started to talk of it again.

on a related but more cheerful note, Ken burns might make a reconstruction documentary. Done right, it could really open up a lot of discussion on one of the most important, violent, and ignored eras of US history.

[–]Felinomancy 4ポイント5ポイント  (1子コメント)

Malaysian here; we are currently experiencing haze thanks to annual forest fires in Indonesia. I'm pissed because, as I said, this happens every year. You'd think someone would figure out how to not set vast tracts of land on fire by now.

I only go out to go to work and buy food (so no arts festival for me). The Outside World looks like a damn Silent Hill now. Wait, who is that guy and why does his head has a pyram-

[–]sulendil 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

Well it is bad. In fact I used to joke around my friend that recently Malaysia has three seasons: wet season, dry season and hazy season.

[–]TheZizekiest 5ポイント6ポイント  (6子コメント)

Encountered some good bad history/bad politics/bad law the on Thursday. Someone was arguing that NZ changing its flag would be a great thing, because we would no longer have to uphold the Treaty of Waitangi as it was signed under the Union Jack and our new flag won't have the union jack on it. A literal quote they literally said was "Now we won't have to give the Maori special treatments and they can just be like the rest of us normal New Zealanders." No shit.

My weekend was fucked though. One of my friends was found guilty of all charges against him, which included conspiracy to manufacture a class a restricted substance with intent to distribute, on Friday. One of my other friends was charged with the same thing but found not guilty. Me and the second friend had a "we aren't going to jail bender."

We spent all of our money, mostly on esspresso 'tinis and silly gins. We also invented a new drink called the Aritrippus, which is two shots of ouzo, one shot of vodka, and a scoop of vanilla ice cream, and the rest of a tall glass filled with coke. You eat the foam, then drop two hits of LSD into the mix and down the rest, which includes the half melted ice cream. Yea, things got debauched.

[–]arminius_sawMOD ABOOBS 4ポイント5ポイント  (0子コメント)

I feel like there's something ironic about a "we aren't going to jail bender." It'd be way more ironic if you got arrested doing something illegal and ended up going to jail anyway, but there's something in the core concept there too.

[–]Level100ProtWarrior 5ポイント6ポイント  (1子コメント)

just beat a rap for illicit drugs

uses illicit drugs to celebrate

[–]TheZizekiest 3ポイント4ポイント  (0子コメント)

Beat a charge for manufacturing and distributing illicit drugs (because he legitimately didn't)

Consumes illicit drugs manufactured and distributed by someone else in order to remind himself that he is still free to experience the world on his own terms

[–]Purgecakes 3ポイント4ポイント  (2子コメント)

Ooh yay racists.

The best 'we can get around the Treaty' thing I ever saw was "Queen Vic didn't sign with 'and her heirs'" therefore the entire thing is void once she died.

Now in any case, Te Tiriti is valid to and only to the extent it is actually in statutes. I don't know why people think the flag is important for other law, because it is a bored PM's vanity project. If he was the sort to do drastic constitutional change he'd have done in 2010. And this National Government has actually had an adequate record on Maori issues, even if it does dislike the poor.

I like Red Peak. The other flags are tacky.

[–]TheZizekiest 3ポイント4ポイント  (0子コメント)

The best one I heard is "Machiavelli said you should disregard any treaty which is no longer useful to you, so the Crown should abandon the treaty." The implication was very much, Te Tiriti helps Maori ad hurts pakeha, so Pakeha as the one's with power should ignore it. Yay for going to high school in Invercargill :D

The other flags are tacky.

The other flags are designed so we pick the one Glorious Leader John likes. Two are almost identical, so will steal each other's voters, and the koru design has little support and John Key keeps pushing a fern in the media, meaning a fern becomes more and more likely to win, which leaves one option.

Don't worry though, the silver fern is the most important New Zealand symbol. Along with the colours white and black. That's why we name the All Blacks in our parliament building now. If someone is receiving a shirt with a silver fern on it it must be government endorsed, because that is what the rest of the world knows us by.

I'd rather just use the tino rangatiratanga flag, but you know, it's much better for the flag to have a fern, a symbol of post colonial New Zealand than anything Maori on it rolls eyes

[–]arminius_sawMOD ABOOBS 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

I like Red Peak.

Ooo, that one is nice. I really enjoy most of the designs the Kiwis have come up with, maybe I'm just a fan of the blue, black, white, and red colour scheme.

[–]ellensaurus 3ポイント4ポイント  (5子コメント)

Just got back home from dropping off my cat at the vet for some dental surgery. Poor baby is getting some of his teeth extracted and I'm worried about him.

In more general news, I started work and classes last week and so far so good! I think I finally know what major I want to pursue after I get this certificate I'm working on and that brings me some relief. How are y'all doing?

[–]Quouarthe Weather History Slayer 3ポイント4ポイント  (4子コメント)

Aw, why does the cat need his teeth removed? :(

[–]ellensaurus 4ポイント5ポイント  (3子コメント)

Infection, unfortunately. It's pretty common in cats and dogs, especially if preventative care isn't given.

[–]Quouarthe Weather History Slayer 3ポイント4ポイント  (2子コメント)

Does this mean I should be attacking my cat with a toothbrush?

[–]ellensaurus 4ポイント5ポイント  (0子コメント)

Lol only if you notice that your cat is having issues eating, has bad breath, or has inflamed gums. Otherwise, unless your vet says anything to you, your cat is probably golden.

[–]jaguarlyra 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

If you do please film it for everyone's enjoyment. lol

[–]arminius_sawMOD ABOOBS 3ポイント4ポイント  (4子コメント)

I need to find a new apartment. Last week the sewage backed up so I woke up to find a literal turd on the floor of the shower, and I've developed such a choking hatred of my roommates that I'm genuinely worried I'm going to get myself in trouble. So I'm starting to look up new places.

Public Relations is interesting.

BUT ANYWAY ON TO THE CANADIAN ELECTION. I've decided I'm going to be the main news-bearer about it despite, or perhaps even because of, the fact that nobody gives a shit.

With the Conservative campaign faltering and the party having fallen to third place in the polls, they've decided to reboot the campaign and brought in a foreign strategist named Lynton Crosby. I'm hoping there are some politics-savvy Australians that can chip in here, but the guy is apparently known as "The Wizard of Oz" for pulling off victories for John Howard, Boris Johnson, and David Cameron. So this could make things interesting.

Apart from that there haven't been any major shockwaves that I know of. The main issue is still the Syrian refugee crisis, but I've kind of lost track of that due to lack of interest.

I imagine that all the leaders are hunkering down to prepare for the upcoming debate this Thursday, which I think /u/_watching might want to check out.

[–]Quouarthe Weather History Slayer 3ポイント4ポイント  (3子コメント)

I hope you find a better apartment soon. How did you end up in such an awful place? What have your roommates been doing?

[–]arminius_sawMOD ABOOBS 1ポイント2ポイント  (2子コメント)

Cheap rent, pretty much. $475/month in a decent central location is pretty hard to find. My roommates are just assholes and I'd rather not get into it - I'm generally trying not to think about it because it takes up way too much mental energy that I need to do other things with.

[–]Quouarthe Weather History Slayer 2ポイント3ポイント  (1子コメント)

That's fair. You know you can always talk if you need to vent. We're your imaginary internet buddies who are here to help. :)

[–]arminius_sawMOD ABOOBS 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

Appreciate it :)

[–]mrscienceguy1STEM overlord of /r/badhistory. 5ポイント6ポイント  (2子コメント)

As someone in /r/australia said, being the PM of Australia is like being the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts.

It's kinda weird really, both the new PM (Turnbull) and Opposition Leader (Shorten) have gone on record as saying they support same sex marriage. It will be interesting to see how Turnbull's cabinet turns out.

[–]Felinomancy 3ポイント4ポイント  (1子コメント)

So who is your Umbridge?

[–]mrscienceguy1STEM overlord of /r/badhistory. 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

If we're going with where this all started then Rudd probably, or even further back with Keating/Hawke.

[–]hussard_de_la_mort"sandwich in my right, .45 in my other hand" 3ポイント4ポイント  (2子コメント)

HUSSARD DE LA MORT'S TRUE HOLLYWOOD STORIES:

So I went to a reenactment on Put in Bay, site of Oliver Hazard Perry's crushing victory of the British (SUCK IT LIMEYS) in 1813. The reenactment was a lot of fun, but a great tragedy occurred Saturday night, when we decided to go out to the bars, because one of my childhood friends is shipping out to armor school at Ft. Benning next week and we wanted to show him a good time.

The first bar we went to had a supply of sombreros and, by means unknown to me, my friend's wife got one for me. I was happily wearing this when we later ran into some US Navy officers (who, for /u/_watching's information, were women) who were doing honor guard things or something. They thought it was cool that we were doing 1812 US Navy stuff, we thought them thinking that was cool, and there were also some shots of Fireball involved.

As a joke, I told one of them that she was out of uniform since she wasn't wearing a cover outside, so I gave her my sombrero. This was a poor decision, as it turns out, since that would be the last time I would posses it. However, I wasn't about to give her my Tam o' Shanter because she might have been a closet Sassenach.

Anyways, the bars closed and we tried to convince them to come back to camp with us because we have beer and fire. This was almost successful until Lt. (jg) Sombrero's friend went off with some other guy she was talking to (who was wearing normal people clothes, talk about missing your opportunities, lady) and Sombrero altered course to pursue, while still wearing my sombrero.

Yes, friends, you read that correctly. A commissioned officer of the United States Navy STOLE MY FUCKING SOMBRERO while in uniform. I will be writing the Secretary of the Navy a very angry letter about this, possibly with the demand that the perpetrator be keelhauled. We are also going to compose a lament for the sombrero, probably to the tune of Cielito Lindo and with the chorus of "Ay yi yi yi, somebody stole my sombrero!"

[–]arminius_sawMOD ABOOBS 3ポイント4ポイント  (1子コメント)

This could be a pretty great leadup to asking her out, y'know. Just sayin'.

[–]hussard_de_la_mort"sandwich in my right, .45 in my other hand" 3ポイント4ポイント  (0子コメント)

Look, the day I take dating advice from a Canadian from someone on BH is the day something extremely improbable happens. Also, I didn't get her number, so sending an angry letter on my nice resume paper is my best bet.

[–]viralmysteriesThe SS didn't even give me a waffle 3ポイント4ポイント  (4子コメント)

Rant about my favorite genre of music incoming.

There is a band. For the sake of avoiding all of your judgment, I'm not going to specify their name or their specific genre, only that they make heavy rock/metal music. They've been a band since 2006, and while I don't really like their early work, they found their sound as time went on and wrote two amazing albums in 2010 and 2013.

Those albums mean a lot to me, and they made said band very successful within the scene. Last year, they released a new single. Said single had all the quality instrumentation and quality lyrics I had come to love. But there was one key difference. The song was radically softer. Like Slayer playing a 30 Seconds to Mars song. I was confused; the band was well known for constantly changing their song, but this was something else. The band was quick to say this was just an experiment, that their new album would sound nothing like it.

Flash forward to a month ago, as the two new singles for the ablum came out. They were as soft, but also, not as good. Instruments were lacking. Lyrics felt shoddy and cliche. But the band went through interview after interview talking about how they had "matured their sound" and "evolved as musicians". I don't see it. I see a band that just changed their sound but don't want to admit that it doesn't sound as good.

The new album came out on Friday. It's okay. Nothing special. I will probably never listen to it again, just cause very little stood out. They lost everything that made them unique. It feels like an obvious cash grab to sell to a bigger audience.

And that brings me to why I care. I care because this is only one of multiple bands I spent the last few years listening to and watching live turning their back on their original fans claiming they had matured as artists, as if writing shitty lyrics with shitty guitar work and bass lines is some how better because it sells better. It's stupid for me to care this much, I know, but I feel like I am being indirectly told that I am immature for liking this music by the people who used to make it.

But yeah. Thanks for listening to me rant.

[–]LuckyRevenantPelin-El Did Nothing Wrong 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

I hope you know, I am racking my brain trying to figure out who this might be. Fortunately for you, I suppose, I can't quite figure out who it might be.

[–]Quouarthe Weather History Slayer 2ポイント3ポイント  (2子コメント)

I think the solution is to only ever listen to Rammstein.

In all seriousness, I kind of understand. I'm a huge Ayreon fan and a big fan of Arjen Lucassen's projects more generally, but Ayreon has always been my favourite. Several years ago, he finished the band's story and said there wouldn't be any more albums and that he'd only look at other projects. Fast forward to a year and a half ago, and a new Ayreon album comes out. I'm super-excited, but when I listen to it, it's just not all there. The instrumentation is fine, but the heart of it, what ought to make it an Ayreon album rather than any of his other projects just isn't there. It isn't bad - and it's definitely no Metallica-goes-acoustic - but it just wasn't there.

I think, though, that it's not necessarily turning their backs on fans, but rather changing. I do think musicians mature in a sense, and do want to do other things. In Lucassen's case, he stated that he didn't want to Ayreon any more, and then when he felt pressured to do it, he didn't do it well. To be honest, I'd rather have a band that does something great for a little bit and then stops rather than a band that keeps trying to do the thing I like, but doing it more and more badly because their heart isn't in it.

I am sorry your band changed, though, and I don't think they're saying you're immature. I think they have changed, though, but that doesn't mean they're judging you for not changing with them.

[–]viralmysteriesThe SS didn't even give me a waffle 1ポイント2ポイント  (1子コメント)

I appreciate that Quouar. However, the main difference is I'm okay with musicians changing; if they acknowledge the change themselves and stay true to their original quality of lyrics and instrumentation. However, the key difference here is that these guys did not say "we aren't going to make any more hard albums". In fact, when they got blowback about the change in heaviness last year, they immediately responded with "don't worry, the next album will be just as heavy as the last one, this was just a one shot thing." Then a year later, they release two singles similar to the first because the first outsold everything they've made in nine years so of course they would switch to that sound, and when people brought up "hey, what happened to the 'if the rest of the album sounds like that we messed up big time'", they just shrugged it off. It just seems really disingenuous on their part. If they want to become a generic radio rock band, they have every right to. I just think it's unfair to your fans who have supported you for years to act like you aren't changing so they preorder your new album before they realize you aren't who you say you are.

[–]Quouarthe Weather History Slayer 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

Ah, you're completely right that that's different and awful. I'm sorry. :(

[–]International_KBAt least three milli-Cromwells worth of oppression 3ポイント4ポイント  (6子コメント)

So I finally unsubscribed from /r/history. The final straw was this disaster: enough concentrated bad history to cause several Great Libraries to spontaneously combust in despair.

And this week I've largely been listening to classy computer game soundtracks.

[Edit: Fixed link. Up yours AutoMod!]

[–]Quouarthe Weather History Slayer 5ポイント6ポイント  (2子コメント)

I loved (by which I mean despised) that thread. I banned more than twenty people in that thread. I get the distinct impression it was only ever posted to troll in the first place.

[–]The740Feminists hired Christians to put lead in the Roman water supply 2ポイント3ポイント  (1子コメント)

It could make for solid flair: "/r/history is literally the Hundred Flowers Campaign"

[–]sulendil 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

I am so gonna stealing that flair, if no one mind, haha.

[–]TurnshroudPANCAKES ARE THE SKIN OF THOR! 3ポイント4ポイント  (0子コメント)

(hey, your link is broken. It should be "np.reddit..."

Also, holy shit O_O

[–]sulendil 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

Anecdote: in my country, we rarely touched about Hitler or Stalin during history classes, and they rarely popped up in our media. Many of my friends and family didn't even know who they are, and certainly didn't know what they actually did during the WWII. So it can be perplexing to them why many in the Western country treated both of them like some sort of evil incarnate. I admit I have the same problem when I first heard of them, it's only by digging a bit deeper that I realised, yeah, both are not nice people at all.

However, most of my friends are familiar with Japanese war crimes in WWII, as it strikes closer to home. Malaysia had been occupied by Japan for 3 years and 8 months during WWII. In fact, there is currently an ongoing local documentary that chronicled that era that I found quite interesting.

[–]sulendil 2ポイント3ポイント  (6子コメント)

This week will sure be an interesting week in my country, and I mean it in a bad way. I just hope nothing bad will be resulted from whatever they want to do in this Wednesday. We had bad exchange rate and very hazy weather to deal with, and there's little need to add another item to that increasing list of bad things in my country.

On another news, I like the concept of Pokemon Go. Legacy of the Void trailer is top notch, just like most of Blizzard's cinematics, although having it releases on the same day as Fallout 4, another highly anticipated AAA title, is quite ambitious.

And KnowYourMeme as possible historical document? I admit I never viewed that site from this perspective before. I kinda curious how future historians will analyse internet memes and its impact on meatspace culture.

[–]alynnidalarThere needs to be cooked is the rice. - /u/badhistory_ss 2ポイント3ポイント  (1子コメント)

Linguists, at least, are already pretty fascinated by digital communication. There's just so much more of the written word today than there ever has been in the past, to begin with, and digital communication (I'm saying that to cover not only the internet, but also texting, email, etc.) has developed in some very distinct ways from spoken English.

There's so many fascinating topics when considering language on the internet, but probably the most interesting to me is the parts of digital communication that only work in a written medium. I mean things like acronyms (LOL, AFK, AFAIK, IIRC, etc.), hashtags, emoji/old-fashioned ASCII smileys, reaction gifs... all that stuff that just doesn't work in spoken language. In a lot of ways these take the place of body language, but they can express things that body language doesn't, too, or at least it can do so a great deal more succinctly. I mean that writing/linking "nope.avi" is a much more efficient way to express that feeling than trying to describe it with words.

Got a little sidetracked there, but my point is that I'm positive historians/anthropologists will follow this trend too, given time. The internet is just such a massive part of culture today, and not just in the English-speaking parts of the world. There's so much data out there, they'd be fools for not analyzing it, and places like KYM that already are trying to study internet culture (after a fashion) are probably going to be pretty important for that.

[–]sulendil 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

So I guess the day when they tried to learn and teach Dogespeak or LOLcatspeak to public is not too far away?

[–]arminius_sawMOD ABOOBS 0ポイント1ポイント  (3子コメント)

What country and what's happening on Wednesday?

[–]sulendil 3ポイント4ポイント  (2子コメント)

Well, this will require some explanation from my front, so bear with me.

Last two weeks ago, Malaysia held an 'illegal' protest against the current PM (Sidenotes: I am still surprised that news actually make it to the front page of Reddit). Well, this Wednesday, also called Malaysia Day as it's the date where Malaysia as a country is formed, there will be some sort of anti-protest protest, except with more racism flavors. Part of the reason of my vagueness comes from the vagueness of that protest itself (Another part is that I am not that conformable talking about it myself). Initial reports from a week ago named the movement as a Malay pride movement, and the same movement painted the previous protest as some sort of Chinese anti-government, anti-Malay protest, and they protests to 'uphold the dignity of the Malays'. They originally planned to held the protest at Bukit Bintang (literally Star Hill in Malay) and Petaling Street, both renowned for being area with high concentration of Chinese business outlets, and Chinese are told not to involved with their movement. No parties claimed to be the official organizer during the initial report. Many Chinese residents were rightfully spooked out by such provocative actions, as a riot with highly racial tunes had just occurred a few months ago, and many businessmen around Petaling Street had decided not to open business during Malaysia Day (up to 95% from the latest report last Sunday).

However as Malaysia Day become closer, things become more confusing. Apparently there are TWO rallies (with similar but different names) during the same day, and the supposed organizer (which is only confirmed last Friday) had changed both the aims, the gathering location and the allowed participants so many times I kind of losing track of them. No helping the facts are the current government's ambient attitude. Although the anti-protest protest is currently illegal in theory, UMNO, the current leading political party in Malaysia, had allowed its members (majority Malay) to join the protest, while continuing to condemn the original anti-government protest at every given chances. I just hope nothing provocative will happen this Wednesday.

[–]arminius_sawMOD ABOOBS 2ポイント3ポイント  (1子コメント)

(Edited my previous post to be less dickish)

Interesting! My knowledge of Asian politics is mostly limited to the sinosphere (i.e. Taiwan, HK, China), so this is all new to me. I knew that anti-Chinese sentiment was on the rise in SE Asia thanks to the PRC's foreign policy, but it's interesting to see the effects of that at the grassroots level. Hopefully things stay calm over there.

[–]sulendil 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

Actually PRC policy had little to do with anti-Chinese sentiment here. It had far longer root during British colonial era and the early formation of Malay nationalism. In fact, Singapore gained its independence in 1965 for similiar reason. After several racial riots involving Malay-Chinese relationship and issues with Malay special rights, Malaysia (dominated by the very same UMNO during that period) voted in parliament to kick the Chinese dominated Singapore out of the union.

[–]TurnshroudPANCAKES ARE THE SKIN OF THOR! 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

Saw this on my facebook yesterday, Thought it was refering to abolitionists at first (which at least would make a little sense for the anti-abortionists even if they're dismissing...ya know...the slaves themselves who wanted out.).

Now I'm just confused. What?

Other than that, I'm just trying to get into a research lab and stuff. Working on grad school projects.

[–]LuckyRevenantPelin-El Did Nothing Wrong 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

Went to a really fun party on Saturday, hosted by one of my oldest friends and his roommates. Met up with my cousin there, because she's apparently best friends with one of his roommates and also is now friends with my friend and that's kind of weird to me, but not in a bad way. It was really good seeing her, as she's one of my favourite people in the world.

Probably as a result of that party, my mind's quieter than it's been in ages. Which is unfortunate, actually, cause when my mind's quiet I don't want to do anything to make it loud again, and I need to edit the latest episode of the podcast I do so it can go up tomorrow.

[–]WorldOneWonAlexander the Great Didn't Real 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

If you have a Wii U, get Mario Maker ASAP. It is brilliant. My only complaint is that you don't have everything unlocked at once. But playing other people's creations is a blast!

[–]IAMA_dragon-AMA 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

I've been reading hilarious conspiracy theories. Well, hilarious so long as you don't think about what they might've mentally been through to come up with them.

[–]probablyaname 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

I'm pretty sure I just got a hundred percent on the first quiz/test of the year but the two individuals on either side of me were sweating bullets so it might be the pride before the fall. Of to Ecological Perspective in Anthropology (which is basically an anthropology of space and place class)!