Open Mike

[Ale]

of course i could never stop, but one must stop at one point.... very intriguing stuff if not something "to rock historical science". Since i mentioned it must also add other very interesting part, in that "Roman influence or gene" faction/school of historical fiction (but as noted, must include at least a part of truth and proof) Namely, founding narrative of Rascian state is also of two brothers in dispute - older being named Vukan i.e. of wolf origin - leading to war and overthrow with two influences but they are finally reconciled by third brother and the younger becomes first king of Rascia later marries in Venice etc... deviation from Roman story with surely religious additions (since it covers late XII c) but clearly recognizable to Latin one

in all my posts I forgot also important "Celtic element" and surely people that left some trace here and maybe influenced some habits, myths, practices and customs to extent, without question. But never lived in that region close to coast so maybe later with expansion some of their elements - like bload sucking or horns - entered mixture...

now i don't want to post everyday, surely older history (esp. ancient) is neverending dispute to all globally, lots of detective work..... to repeat (last time) what would be the point in practice if i made separate thread on history and intriguing stories, so i used this space (grateful to Hex to giving it to me) although it has no connection with name.... see you later and i do play ocasionally. )

[Ale]

number of grammatical/typing errors is criminal and maybe deserves more apology to readers than political satire i assure all they are unintentional (i keep all my posts as book so i see later what i wrote)... went as far as using Sarmato-English being sure word "primesa" is global ... sometimes i type faster than acceptable for language i don't master.

apropos Celts drinking blood, it is just my theory (from our Roman sources that they were blood suckers) that Scordisci - local Celtic tribe living north - are maybe source of vampire fame (in this region), nothing sure

[Ale]

Problem I see with Sarmatian part - while I don't doubt such minds as Plinius, Ptolemaios and all involved and give it great percentage of truth that they "found us" - is that there were little signs in our medieval history of "powerful or influential" women. And by Sarmatian story - which might not be true at all, just narrative - women had "role in war and tribe" (simply said)..... but then again, many centuries passed since those days, religion, mixing and fact that most of women in court were foreign have some significance In short, Scythians & Sarmatae do have some cultural traits that survived all that. I was very "shocked" to find out words of Scythian ruler to Darius of Persia during war "....graves of our ancestors/fathers..." he said, some phrase used here often much later And not only that, cavalry was important, no bigger cities etc. etc. Historical consensus is that Sarmatians were "Sla(o)venised" before Serb arrival on Balkans, though (if there was arrival at all))

One more time to mention Vukan and our Roman story, it is not 100% certain but his wife was from Latium (Lazio) even more adding to mistery and enigma, very, very cute one... On that, I'm afraid we will never know the full truth about those days as both scientist here and in Italy know that it is "sensitive subject" (due to religious differences) and how many Roman-Italian people and influnce joined Serb initial states then will stay like that, blured/cute story. Later and modern history certainly did not help, but maybe being partly "misterious" is likable part of it

now, let's try to give it a rest...... at least over weekend but generally think it is interesting, so i share

[Ale]

but surely i will not bore people constantly ... there is always something to add, big fan of ancient history. I learnt from Italian TV that Italy is first by "cultural influence" in the world, while i found separately that Greeks are people "who in greatest percent in the world consider their culture superior" (if asked yes or no). No idea if any is true and what are methods and statistical data, but any of my posts is not contest .... Italian comic books were (even more than in their country) popular here, was one of growing on them - but research is objective, I guarantee. But has own conclusions too

i was "noted" about more Scythian related things - not so interesting to readers - in past 2 days and want to round that "important subject" for now... "skitati" is word used in our language (but not only) for "wandering or roaming around", couldn't find exact tie with that people but there might be one. They also liked gold and controlled exports, parallel with out medieval history and how Serb elite looked by Byzantine sources i.e. "figure and shining in gold", they had no navy and our state (although had coast) never had mentionable navy until emperor bought some galleys from Venice in XIV century etc. i'm also more of opinion that Scyths, not Sarmatae, might really be our "lost tribe and ancestors" (but they are related). Enough for now, will post anything only if really interesting... if "we" are not from Asia but in any way more closer to Romans and it's ever definitely proved, it would be great discovery (liked all analogies and possible mutual origins in big percent, can't say no) No reason not to think about all that, there are ancient sources from both Greek and Roman world including tribe name root.

last time on mining in middle ages - actually there was no need for ancient Rome maps when there is great fra Mauro map (our man, like Plinius etc)) of late medieval world one can look at great detail here, special thanks to Clemens/Randowe. Must admit even I - knowing a lot about period and having other sources and first interest in ancient history - forgot/knew little about that source until he posted link, lots of interesting things in time of his life there, but not all:


https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servle ... Cseries_no

i'm really over now

[randowe]

Interesting map. Great that we can investigate a map from the year 1450 so easy today sitting at home

Fosseda oro et argento next to Servia. Servia = Serbia and Argento = silver, but what does fosseda mean? Or are there other letters?

When researching the black sea coast and looking for some latin names i found a pdf file with descrptios and translations of the names on the map.
Recently, when i did the research for my next OG campaign i came across a impressive castle, the Akkerman Fortress at nowaday Bilhorod-Dnistrowskyj near Odessa.
Looking at your map i can find a name inocastro. In the pdf i can find a mocastro and maurocastro mentioned which seems to refer to Akkerman/Bilhorod-Dnistrowskyj.

The pdf mentions "Mines of gold and silver" in "Serbia". "Mines in Serbian territory; probably the deposits of Bor and Majdanpek."

Here is the pdf: http://www.myoldmaps.com/late-medieval- ... ptions.pdf

Akkerman Fortress:

[Ale]

ah, Clemens don't do it to me in this hour

but what does fosseda mean?

i read it like "deposits of gold and silver" maybe fosse da...

i can find a mocastro and maurocastro mentioned which seems to refer to Akkerman/Bilhorod-Dnistrowskyj.

Bilhorod is interesting part, but that is just Slavic word, not related to our capital today... which actally wasn't important to our medieval history at all and mostly in Hungarian posesion... Mauro is Italian for "black" or similar but nothing to do with racial characteristic, for example Vlach-Romanic people were called Mauroulachi and similar... much much later (in different era) Serbs in hills of Dalamtia were called like that too (often wrongly). Nothing else interesting to our medieval history, i'd guess

The pdf mentions "Mines of gold and silver" in "Serbia". "Mines in Serbian territory; probably the deposits of Bor and Majdanpek."

biggest mine in medieval time (and one fra Mauro reffers to) was actually Novo Brdo as he calls ir "Nouvo Monte", Kosovo region then. Biggest Saxon colony and town that grew under Serb rule and in 1455 fell finally, that's why map is interesting as it still had fame in Italian lands, even though mostly troubled by advancing Ottoman-Turkish army... but yes there were other deposits around, including Bor & Majdanpek area since our Roman times... French sources of the time also mention Nouvo Bardo )) (c. 1450) and how important it was for income of rulers, but it played role since start of XIII c.

thanks for asking and adding all more some other day if interesting, must say i don't need other sources exclusively, not so detailed look at pdf. and concentrated a lot on other things recently, find me in 500 BC around Caspian sea

[Ale]

important (to extent) is question of "looks" and in modern world "sensitive"... I already told enough, but for even more clearness more about "colors" ...Ancient sources had no problems with it and often openly talked about "looks" of northern people... but not that - one more time - in Italian lands (and Greek and ours under their influence) it was often question of dressing code (even life habits) as many people had light colors in their outfit, while other with darker/black color domination. Guess generally that black was often related to Serbs, even in Mongol, Turkish and Byzantine sources relating to early XV century extending even to armoured knights (mainly battle of Ankara etc).... some people may looked differently and lots of mixes, but i'm explaining that aspect generally. like "Black George" for Turks, meaning of that dressing/life style origin + fearsome. It is easy subject

truly dislike politics in history - that's why sometimes bash wikipedia too - but it often has some great lines and references.

[Ale]

on that subject i.e. Maurovlachs - which is subject of interpretations as many others ) - just to add what our sources from middle ages "say" (simplified and in short)... for looking at subject it is important to note that sources (like Dušan Codex, best of all) mostly considered Vlachs, hence Mauro-ones too in parallel, not as "inital Serbs" i.e. separate entity in some (unclear) ethnic sense of the time. But it is unlear generally who Royal Scyths (Serbs) mixed with Romans & Greeks (via mother line) considered as Serbs of the time at all, to say it humoristically Back to Maurovlachs or Morlaks i think most readers know that they even inspired H. G. Wells alien race in novels

question of tribe generation (later nation) is interesting at least and how it compromised various element in its base, especially since tribe itself didn't have some "specific nor superior" culture compared to others, but it grew both in size and manpower compared to others who stayed smaller... so all that goes in that field. Maybe indeed more persuasive (or aggressive where royal Scyth story would fit), more mixed, better economy or else, unknown.

I want to keep historical post added (maybe not at similar frequence) but at the same time want to change subject - problem is that I cannot and get back to subjects i know about more see you later, really appreciate Clemens' "interest" )

[Ale]

...or maybe not, apropos HG Wells, after checking his english language wikipedia page (maybe Scots or else))... Is there anything certain in this world? but, if he did use name as inspiration how about theory that Venetian galleys were able to shoot much higher than previously thought, so we (or them) acidentally brought down some alien patrol spaceship in early XIV century, that's why Dante was so upset in fact?

English/Brits - like them or not politically at the age - played important role in XIX c, like giving new life to Plinius map globally and else interesting in historical research.... to my Slavic readers, whole research and interest in ancient subject is based on sources and some ties, nothing against Slavic languages and tribes of course it's Slavic language... after Bulgars and (cute Slavic settlers) taught us to use it Ancient history is misterious, even leading experts on Rome (for example) have doubts about buildings, let alone rest of story...

little humor, from now on i'll try to be scientifically interesting if make any post, but there is decent amount of that already

[Ale]

so... after few days i actually looked at outside source and pdf Clemens linked to (not realted to site I linked to))

at first i thought it's something political - without looking at it - but after going through pages, must just say that mister's (or of more persons, unimportant) translations and geographical locations are just wrong in several instances. Sometimes due to fra Mauro's beautiful handwriting , sometimes due to not perfect Italian translation, sometimes due to problems to locate geographical places, to distinguish between Mauro's cartographical legend and between province, river, city and similar... guess no malicious nor ignorant intent, there are wrong translations even to other countries. I did not find it important to contact mister via mail, but showed it to someone who might once eventually, but doubt... It is not source of "super science" just some site on the net ...in concrete, trouble for mister was (i guess) inability to locate Nuovo Monte/Bardo today - because it doesn't exist anymore. just archeological site and it is not (as he translated) Novi Pazar. I explained that anyway, that's not something very dubious in any histroiography

that to be clear, if there is someone with eventual troubles from history of the era - or even old Rome - I can help mostly with Serbia, in limited way other countries (maybe Italy). Do not speak Italian though! but can do some things with it )

[Ale]

still having fun with fra Mauro map, but will not enter a series of posts about it, on the contrary last one ; Great piece of work - looking also in colored versions - given time of making, and great man lots of material for satire i sometimes write and interesting lines there for use...

however what surprises me is how inaccurate it is, on micro level... on macro level, as it was primarily source for sea navigation, navigators etc, it is great but I can imagine it would have caused lots of trouble for some Venetian traders traveling in caravan by land for example Belgrado is placed so much north-east of Venice, while in reality it is more south-east of it. So Italian traders using it by land go straight north and travel east, finish somewhere who-knows-where northeast and ask "did we reach Belgrado already?" (for example) Surprised that he didn't notice great turning of river Danube south after Austrian lands in those days and things like that, speaking of accuracy... also i'd like to note that cities are not (exclusively) drawn by size or importance - so bigger picture doesn't mean bigger or more important city by automatism - just fra Mauro sometimes didn't waste much space nor ink on more known world. Because if bigger would mean more important, Genoa (or Rome) would look like villages at best, not true even though Mauro was Venetian just small clarification.

nonetheless, interesting one Mauro, and hopefully enjoyable to those not very familiar with it.

[Ale]

after looking around, actually my Venetian galley theory, Serb "Men in black", aliens and all wouldn't be very original as I found articles and interview to our press where Erich von Däniken said he saw aliens on some of the frescoes in our monasteries ...however, that is all a bit too fantastic i'm not against challenging narratives, but in possible not fantastic way. Scyths maybe, aliens hardly

anyway, for change one photo, found right boxes and assorted range of titles, Italian comic books. I have hundreds of them although mostly title from upper right corner, loved humoristic serie popular here. The rest i mostly sold long time ago (i regret now) kept just few tens...

just for people to feel what "Italian cultural influence" looks like ...now what to talk about next.... no idea but maybe something will comeup ;

[Ale]

of course those are not only "cultural influences" from Italian lands, there are many and they are long since our Servius Tullius, as explained before And Venice - without them and Dandoli there would be (maybe) no great dinasty and empire to remember ... But there are no many memebers from those lands around so more about German lands and (long historical) ties and friendship a bit. They exist ever since great cooperation when we lived in Saxony, then Heinrich the Lion wrote some great lines about that friendship, then emperor Barabrossa made official visit... relations were crowned in mid XIII century when our king addressed Saxon colonists with great, legendary words written in chronicles: "In this sinful world there's two kinds of people, my friends: those with big axes and those who dig. You dig." Words still remembered and interpretated till this day...

but now - trying to help professor-doctor Däniken research a bit - the way I see it is as possible is... after downing of alien spaceship (mechanical error is a chance) Serbs and Venetians are involved in that story. They know what happened, but keep it secret to the world (Dante somehow knew about episode). Some aliens escape to hills, but ship and all kind of material and devices end up in Serb & Venetian hands. Serbs take some armor and wepons - later leading to famous "black armor" in sources, obviously of impenetrable alien origin and make empire, not lasting long though - while Venetians take some astro devices and maps - later leading to empire, famous cartography and even renaissance in broader Italian lands... aliens survive in hills, despite all "men in black" expeditions and hunt, and much later accept either Serb, Croat or Italian ethnic identity.

until later...

[Ale]

medieval history is much more complex than some people think and often trying to squeeze some periods, countries and relations in one paragraph is uneasy task and leads to simplified solutions and conclusions... in that sense, relation with Venice is often simplified, wrongly looked at through lense of religion, worth mentioning and researching more. Venetian actions were not supported by Rome, Vatican and papacy in some instances (like 4th crusade), but supported by our rulers (at least indirectly) while some actions/decisions of Rome and Vatican were not supported by Venice, like their cooperation with our emperor (again indirectly, he was Venetian citizen after all and disliked Genova)) Dušan, whome Papal office warned not to expand in some cases...etc. Lots of finesess there and material to understand better. of course, i can do big books about that, go into tiny details, but not the place nor some interest... but in any time anyone is free and welcome to talk about it, give some sources or opinion on anything I wrote. It is helpful like Clemens' example which found some (relatively important for archeology) unintentional errors in work by mister from Texas

doing some hobby style things and research, found this (funny to look at) map by two US and one Spanish academics few years ago, showing "cultural fractinalization i.e. diversity" through world, not to be mixed with ethno-linguistic or racial diversity... Unimportant if absolutely true or not, different research will probably have different results - but why is funny as it places my country in top of countries by that category.... that's why my country with diverse cultural influences is often considered as country with no culture at all this paragraph is just in lighter tone and not so important, just somehow unexpected (or not so) result by 3 professors and share it for fun and is of interest only for Scythology, Romanology & Ufology

unitil better ideas, ave. (...i post all this just to be present sporadically, change of subject or common-continental law differences welcome...))

[Ale]

for people liking more modern analogies there is interesting conclusion - times and many things change but one thing is constant and that is that Italian lands/Italy was and is our most important foreign trading partner since Plinius, empire, middle ages until today. Rome eternal (and one of the rare western countries we had sufficit with in times)

but as i explained, it is not all about money, objectively they helped in many instances, defended our monuments etc. because Servius Tullius did a lot for them and they know it ... i did all this "block" just as it is interesting and I think not so known to many people, often surprised by some details from medieval (or modern) history, but they shouldn't be, hence it is helpful and prevents mistakes in research. other relations are mostly known, but i'll keep my posts historical and fun.... if there are any in future )

[Ale]

actually why not adding more on that subject... so, top five would look like this:

"The top export destinations of Serbia are Germany (deficit), Italy (surplus), Bosnia and Herzegovina (surplus), Russia (deficit) and Romania (surplus)."

numbers are realtively small compared to many in places you sit in, so i changed them with surprlus (sufficit) and deficit in trade instead. Top 5 states buying stuff from us i.e. the most "friendly" markets. Philosophical question of the moment is can one consider them most important/friendly relations overall... there is something for anybody's taste there and certainly indicative list.

But importance of one country to another is not two-way relation as trade numbers/percents aren't either, nor people are aware of trade relations when they think about world. never was strictly mercantile person myself either, but decided to post this as it is interesting and include countries of importance or "emotional affection" in heads, so not far from truth. (mama Italy))

now as subject is diverse as is, feel free to say anything interesting from your PoV, without my country included in that post..... if not, doesn't matter as i'm mostly done

[Ale]

important question in many heads is probably "what are they buying from you?" i'll help:

1. Germany - cheap labor & scientific/philosophical books mostly

2. Italy - of course, glam silver and gold

3. Bosnia - our flags (partly) & petroleum to burn our flags (other part)

4. Russia - mostly rocks labeled as "apples" in papers & military equipment

5. Romania - woolen hats and vests & barbed wire (for eventual future use)



...just for fun, don't mind un-pc humor if any, but i'm mostly not doing much of satirical stuff anyway ...

[Ale]

spent few days diving deep in those sites and relations (locally & globally) so i know more about world now and i know what you did last summer recommend that to all not familiar.

regarding 5th place of export pals, Romania is deservedly on that spot but must add that numbers are similar and close for Montenegro, Bulgaria and Hungary and will probably fluctuate on that spot (Romania my fav))... when it comes to so called "Anglo-Saxon world" - one cannot go without mentioning it - it is interesting that we have surplus in trade with both UK & US (very small in US case) but anual trade numbers are as small as monthly budget of bigger football club, although bigger trade numbers than countries like Greece or Ukraine for example )

other bigger or more famous countries close to top 10 are France, Austria, Turkey and Poland... as conclusion - mama Italy, for example, is 10x bigger in population but their exports are roughly 30x bigger than ours. Lots to work on there to level it on 10x bigger export numbers ...not sure with trends and population age but lets imagine as possible.... thoughts welcome

[HexCode]

Redirected to:

viewtopic.php?f=95&t=503#p8518

AND

viewtopic.php?f=95&t=503#p8583

[HexCode]

An excerpt from the LA Times:

Some books are so venerated, so sacralized, they are almost forbidding to the touch. But — as I have now, belatedly, discovered — there’s no substitute for finally sitting down and reading the 1947 novel “The Plague” (La Peste) by Albert Camus. Its relevance lashes you across the face. In a commercial port in Algeria, a disease appears, as if from nowhere. It begins inconspicuously, with the appearance of a few disoriented rats, then works its way virulently through the human population, aided by indifference, hypocrisy, laziness. Shops close, streets empty. But the infection picks up steam, spreading according to a geometric progression, producing a steeply rising “death graph”. En masse, the city is quarantined, but inside its walls there is a shortage of medical staff and lifesaving equipment and, yes, a controversy over whether masks are useless.

Well...

[Radoye]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ci739orj7hk

[HexCode]

When dinosaurs roamed the earth...

... the most important reason was not to discourage potential forum members / visitors who are used to reading friendly / less sharp comments.

Well, these forums can now boast 100 registered users / members; a milestone of sorts ! As per Occam's Razor, the explanation is to be found in the text quoted above, right ?

As for "visitors", I am reminded of certain females who don't go to parties being afraid of what they might hear or see...

[Parabellum]

When dinosaurs roamed the earth...

... the most important reason was not to discourage potential forum members / visitors who are used to reading friendly / less sharp comments.

Well, these forums can now boast 100 registered users / members; a milestone of sorts ! As per Occam's Razor, the explanation is to be found in the text quoted above, right ?

As for "visitors", I am reminded of certain females who don't go to parties being afraid of what they might hear or see...

Yes, 100 members are very enjoyable. At the same time, however, the number of those who actively participate in the forum does not increase exponentially, but rather declines.
Well, there have also been less friendly or harsh comments (it is in the eye of the beholder, reader) that have caused more sensitive members to withdraw here. The ratio of 1:100 is acceptable, but if one person was a very active part of the forum, then not. But I will not comment on this further.

[HexCode]

... the number of those who actively participate in the forum does not increase exponentially, but rather declines.

These forums are relatively "young" (i.e., something like 6 months old). Let's give them some time to "prove" themselves (or not). In any case, it takes deep and lasting interest in a wargame title for one to keep on posting about it over the longer haul. You see, there are just too too many distractions out there (including, what else, other computer games)...

Most importantly, I would like to congratulate the "Red Administrators" for something they didn't let (?) happen so far. Namely, I see no roving "Moderator" behaving like he owns the entire place and pursuing personal vendettas...

But I will not comment on this further.

Same here...

[Ale]

i don't know, nor honestly i think about it, even back on JP before moving it was obvious to me that some concepts (like CCs) are not so interesting anymore, i'd go eventually with some review subforum (but it would be empty i reckon). second, i've seen some info on "retro games sites" how they have unusually high number of visits so i decided to put some content here and at least visit own thread about gaming sometimes, any content better than no content... plus someone might see other game he/she/it likes mentioned. But generally I can do without posting anything here in life as well

when it comes to second part, well i guess Luis (for his time he put into it) and those most concerned must decide about direct things on game they tweak and forum life/existance, i'm here for the numbers and some content (anything non gaming related is over for me i'd delete even own "open mike" posts if i am to care that much)... some people use itche's, indiedb's, jolt's and i don't even know what's there. whatever happens good luck and thanks Luis for some options, from moderate game user

[lvjtn]

idk what's happening in other users' life now, i can only tell you how my activity changed: first of all, i'm fine, i have a job, no relatives are infected, none of my loved ones have died, BUT my mood is very depressed, as if i were imprisoned and the key of my cell were thrown away

and i also spend much more time to encourage my 70y parents, i help them to cope with issues watching streaming services, reading ebooks, or just chatting them as much as i can. time to time i open the forum and i check the admin tasks, i also backup the backups of our server, but that's all, i'm not motivated to play or work on the repository. i tried, but it is not as funny as it always was

i can imagine, it's not only me who will be more active and productive when the lockdowns end

see you soon

[HexCode]

This is "Steel & Lace" territory, right ? Ok, then...

Elsewhere in THESE OG forums:

{Web venue X} was the hangout for the 'liberal' Europeans where this banner would be perfectly fine. At the same time, {Web venue Y} was dominated by more 'religious' and 'conservative' Americans who would never allow a banner like this to be used.

Hmmm...

The US Air Cavalry commander played by Robert Duvall in Francis Ford Coppola’s Vietnam war epic Apocalypse Now! declared:

I love the smell of napalm in the morning

Somewhere on this earth, an unknown young man declared:

I love the scent of her naked body in the morning

Question:

Under what circumstances would the US Air Cavalry commander and the unknown young man switch declarations ?

[Ale]

...already had small exchange of words some time ago with Randowe (in one of his threads IIRC) and Bombast about all sort of historical correctness - or lack of it rather - in many games which tend to be historical and not fantasy. So, having sometimes very able eye to catch some details most wouldn't I'll add here something regarding the subject... wasn't sure where to put it, but this is thread for all subjects, isn't it.... partly explains why i'm, even if title is good in gaming sense, amused by the subject and like to catch details at all. two examples from some wargames (tried only one and it is decent as game, farirly said) Unity of command and Strategic Mind blitzkrieg, both by east-European devs so close enough to be noticed. First is strategic map of Europe from game 1, amusing part is Zagreb as one of most important cities to be on it and ingame Second is from game 2 and caption from one of animated scenes prior to German involvement in Spanish civil war hence before start of World war - however devs put a map of Europe behind anime Goering and only Yugoslovakia is already in 1941 borders i.e. Serbia made tiny to non-existant without even font of size of others

take it as a light subject if look at this, it is funny hopefully.... to come back to fra Mauro of Venice and all, maps sometimes could say a lot about world view however all devs, from east west, or Papua New Guinea, my fiendly advice in XXI century is to try to minimalize national pride and mistakes if selling (what otherwise can be solid product in fact) some historical games to the world.

[Ale]

namely did some new historical digs - totally unrelated to XX c - recently and it shows so it inspires to look at things from some critical angle... however i i'm not going to go into series of posts about anything again like before seriously or comically, plus i demonstrated more than once that old history is my interest.

anyway, since i mentioned Göring i just want to add for historical perspective and all young Croats, Ukrainians, Estonians or whatabout and because it is not known, but the man himself was guest in Belgrade among other places many times prior to war, as were figures like Goebbels for example who talked positively about life of German minority here. It is not to make those figures look better, but just informatively as German politicians and figures in both ww1 and ww2 were often pure pragmatists and reacted as situation unfolded, created allies for own situation control.

as for others it is just fun and some less known info, like me once talking briefly to some Latvian - and to be honest i knew almost nothing about Latvian history - and making him "proud that i knew" when i mentioned one of their culture figures once been a volunteer in Serbia in 1876 (came with Russians then) so why not knowing even Scytho-theory )

... if there is another post by me would be only if something is funny or interesting and about older history, but generally i'm not doing much

[HexCode]

Elsewhere in THIS S&L forum:

But there is nothing better than playing PG/OG against human opponents in PBEM.

That "other" Web venue is now defunct. To this effect, all posts re: H2H play have been swallowed up by the unforgiving, virtual black hole...

Quality H2H play doesn't just happen. It requires technical and advanced gameplay proficiency. It also presupposes communicativeness and aesthetic preference congruence. Last but not least, it requires players to voluntarily adhere to many, many agreed upon "house rules" the purpose of which is to render scenario challenges truly unique.

[HexCode]

I believe that the "Red Administrators" (esp. Csaba) deserve a couple of rounds of applause for being so straightforwardly transparent when it comes to the forums' evolving financial situation. Comparisons anyone ? Oh well...

By the way, can some... shy person donate anonymously ?

[Ale]

today about masks.... do not understand why some people dislike them, but (after some pause again) i like to wear them. Lived through many unique times and events - very few percent of planet population ever experienced - ameboid country, beating NATO in war and so... But never in my life until march I've entered bank, post office nor supermarket masked. Now i wear it again and use the chance for a bit of ritual when enter such places, slowly taking it out, looking around other customers, puting it on and so on.... being bald, with Sarmatian eyes and around 100 kg (which is not so rare today) guess those responsible for looking at doors would expect to hear only "all on the ground". i have some special ones, got it from people working with dangerous substances, with breathing filter in front and net-like structure, call them Hannibal model, not the one from ancient world

while this is hardly unique planetary, no trouble for me... if it is about changing them and buying them, i could understand that but i have 3 and they are for long term use as explained ;

didn't have many corona posts and this will be my last one unless something spectacular happens - i look at many foreign TVs sometimes and saw that "EU list" of countries with allowed access was mentioned yesterday on at least 5 languages i don't even understand... Well, that's just list from some office while in reality travel is not so free i.e. citizens from my banana are not allowed into Germany although on list (first in jail) in Greece for example only via Turkey and isle Lesbos and so on and on, so not true as news look like... to make Americans feel better if any around )) do not dramatize news as much and numbers are probably as fake as one could expect for many places (including many EU countries with many more dead but surprisingly few cases)

sometimes i train my satire skills so i post

[lvjtn]

By the way, can some... shy person donate anonymously ?

sorry, i missed that

now we use the paypal donation, and afaik you can set any nickname for your personal account what is visible when you transfer money, at least the paypal never asked me to send a photo of my id card, and in the past i used the "levi athan" fake name. otoh, whe have gdpr and other "anti-terrorism" financial restrictions now. so i guess russian, american, chinese, etc. secret agencies do know each og supporters

***

my current personal shock is seeing how easily the far-left social justice warriors are becoming the new mainstreaim. and maybe we laugh at l'oreal banning its own "whitening" creams (or renaming them to "brightening"), but this is so expected, so well documented (even on our forums here and on jp's), that i'm pretty sure, i'll be listed as a serious racist in the near future because of favoring white wine, unless the companies start to relabel their products to "pale gold", "summer grass", etc. asap and laugh less and less

***

and wear a mask, yes! stay safe!

[Ale]

"game of numbers" was always a thing in Europe (as a whole) as you know naturally ... that's why we are specific to Americans but also uncomparable due to them being "young" country. As you know, it goes back to antiquity, numbers, crimes, competition among states and national comparation... nothing new there, so no need to waste words just as intro/prologue..... when it comes to east Asia it's more cultural/behavior thing (like Japan i mentioned few times) but also nothing new for me to discover.

so, to get back to numbers and why are they suspicious (for what's matter, personally not that much to me) in some places - it's not so much competition in corona case, more about "image" i.e. Greece depends very much on tourism hence "must be safe" (in long term not saying that they need money now), Bulgaria has "image" problems so it must be safe nominally and so on, as i said not crucial... I compared our numbers with ones from Denmark and taken them as more likely-similar in number of cases, without bias Unimportant - unless some have mutated virus with much greater death rate ...i often use Greece as good "punch bag" but that is only due to some sources from middle ages and we teasing each other (when even some papal Italians were more fair and helpful)) but generally we are pals and again, my examples not important globally for this case ;

regardless of this case i like to look at numbers and - using own logic, which could be true or not - try to notice something "irregular" there, but strangely enough was never "maths guy" nor so much into science of this kind, liking history or social ones more. as i mentioned it already i'm not impressed with state of that comparation ability, as i generally rate today youth more technically and socially able but generally less "deep" in some things... corona no corona, closed schools, less reading, generally not some thing

[HexCode]

@ Csaba

I'm glad to see you're safe and well. I hope this is also the case with your parents.

Thanks for the explanations re: anonymous donations to these OG forums. Rest assured that, when the time comes, mighty anonymous... reinforcements will be arriving on the scene ! Some of us relate to these OG forums in markedly different ways from those prevalent in yesteryear's Web venue(s).

When it comes to civilizational "fads" re: "oppressed people of color and all kinds of other minorities", well, you may not get much mileage out of paying a lot of attention to western media whether on the "right" or the "left". Instead, just ignore the ever present and obvious agendas of say, Al Jazeera and RT (Russia Today) and focus on the actual arguments per se being advanced. In fact, the "case" of CGTN (China Global Television Network) is even more interesting...

Bottom line, my man, there's something quite deterministic (in a... Spenglerian sense) about the Euroamerican Expanse's sociopolitical and sociocultural "fads" of the day...

P.S. I've just been promoted to "Corporal". Way for me to go...

[lvjtn]

I hope this is also the case with your parents.

yes, thanks Bülent! we are very lucky in hungary so far, i hope you and your loved ones are fine too

regarding the decline of the "euroamerican" culture. it's a thing reading the analyses about it and a completely different experience seeing them to become a reality

during the recent months i collected a few hundreds ebooks and i read a lot, it was so relaxing to forget the oppression olympics for a while

[Ale]

just for fun and historical interest... guess it's maybe more interesting for American and generally non-European readers (if unknown) but since great plague of mid XIV century "started" (as one outbreak, first source was Mongol lands and moved from Crimea of course) from the Balkans and comes in same time of our empire and greatest country size in history...

...no details, just plastic and short examples of some Greek (i.e. Byzantine) sources mentioning few times how "Serbs are helped by plague" while in other sources (including ours what left, but also Byzantine, Italian observers etc.) one can find examples of opposite sentiment/conclusion i.e. "Serb sieges lifted and army camps moved because of plague" saying it in sense of previous post because it's fun as nobody wasn't sure what's going on. naturally, niether we nor Greeks (Byzantines) didn't spread it intentionally, so yes, "precious" armies retreated in case of nearby/inside outbreak sometimes and our emperor himself spent some time in isolation on Greek mount Atos during worst outbreak, but generally it wasn't decisive political factor as Byzant weakened for some time while money, silver and mercenaries strengthened us ... it must have been real drama wish i was there to see

with this paralel i'll finish subject mostly - as expected i again showed passion for med history, for some reason i think my stories could be interesting.... and i had nothing better to spent 5 minutes on

[HexCode]

Elsewhere in THIS S&L forum:

... but i probably belong to some medieval forum and not one of "panzers/modern history" type

Last time I checked, these forums were entitled "Open General Forums"... In my opinion, the adjective "open" would not ordinarily invite specialization of any type. As for "panzers/modern history", well, other Web venues (some of them currently defunct) may have explicitly invited the quoted specialization; good for them !

[Ale]

well i said i'll post only in case of "something spectacular".... so how about "storming the parliament by protesters" because of corona issues. that what "we are doing" out of boredom during night

forget about Greeks and Americans, foreign people do not understand but challenge of Serbia is not "corona related" but dnager of becoming banana state like Turkey, Hungary Belarus or gulf nations etc. And that's deeper than global virus... to ones who watched my link in sport thread (dealing with Cologne fans rightfully in that case) i'll just add that banana practice of ununiformed police thughs picking and beating people on streets is something that shouldn't be practice in civilized country, imo. One can also mistake them for thugs of some El Presidente's close relative criminal thugs and use force in self defence but forget it... and am officially out of subject

[Ale]

not interested to talk subjects Csaba or Hex like - left, right, workers etc. - so i try to concentrate on some daily topics, if anything at all (no more history here))

i just want to say to Italians - yeah, you were the ones to kill 1/3 of population of Europe in XIV century ....... namely, i mostly watch English language news and Italian the most, so i react to news that Italy banned us from travel together with Papua New Guinea and Montenegro - Montenegro very dangerous indeed, huge numbers there

somehow "migrant crisis" thing repeats itself maybe as expected - then Arabs and Afgans were "flying" to attack Europe from Serbia, now it is corona "a Serb virus aimed to attack Europe" satirically said. Must say never fell into some present "anti-Brit" histeria myself and some of their reports (like BBC) often much more critical to some views and way they report. Ready to say that maybe Britain is still "most friendly" western Europe nation to us, agree or not ;

this is serious global issue - really hope that its not about prejudices, "friens or foes" etc. and based on realistic numbers. While I expected it from Greece Italians somehow disappointed me.... mama?

[Ale]

normally, for those who don't understand, we and Italians are great pals... i won't think bad about Ana (Dandolo) because of some issues in last 700 years, she is still remembered as "cleanest queen ever". We were bad kids - schimatics known in history of the time for being cursed and anathematized by both Pope and Patriarch (in Istanbul) periodically ... if you decide to transfer "Ferrari" factory to Hungary I'll understand - they are in need...

we are just frustrated because Greeks stopped us at Thermpylae while building medieval empire and they playing "rough" on us since then, so sometimes we wrongly mistake Romans for Greeks due to similar temples and so.....

so if you are Italian memeber, welcome around ) politics and prejudices are sometimes dirty things, you'll agree ;

[HexCode]

... that a few Spartans and Thespians (not Greeks but, rather, Hellenes) put up a good fight against the Persians (not... Iranians ) at Thermopylae narrows. However, the Persians did advance further south after all...

Mind you, contemporary Greek-speaking inhabitants of Cyprus do refer to themselves as... "Hellenes". Go figure... On the other hand, contemporary Turkish-speaking inhabitants of Cyprus refer to themselves as "Turks" and not... "Ottomans".

Labels ? Very important when it comes to marketing and advertising theory and practice.

[Ale]

every 3-4 days i check that WHO list of number of cases by country... go, go, go only some 50 places before we reach the top ...seriously, i already talked about some numerical doubts, we and Americans are not guilty for being always honest

it would be fun list if some are not dying and if didn't gain political dimension after Greek forced us into Thermopylae (i.e. buthubs) after great victory wonder how winter will look like so far we are the ones getting butt - slapped but generally results were indicative and interesting, hope you get well

[Ale]

https://youtu.be/HdNn5TZu6R8

"Earthquake?!"

"No captain - Serb tourists."

.... my last "Thermoplylae joke", hopefully fun/appropriate globally. As said Greeks are our pals, they (and Albanians if not known globally)) are indigenous tribes on Balkans, we are just migrants with quasi-empire building idea.... get well all in need.

[Ale]

one more thing... philosophically speaking.

viruses, economy and all political issues are important, but somehow I'd like to give a few words about "subjective perception of offense"... IDK people are different, so I don't know what is exactly that prevents me to be much offended by various posts, flags, words of foreign politicians or other tribal members.... strange thing - maybe paradoxal - is presence of some arrogance in a way that would be maybe more appropriate for someone from reacher or bigger nation. I do think our history is one of the greates (medieval is my interest for example) nobody can offend me I however never offend others, just pals like Italians and Greeks

think about it if you wish, i don't have answer... can only recommend some "arrogance" to all to prevent much bad feelings and offenses. It's either that arrogance or some natural "bravery" (i'll joke even German, for example) or maybe - growing with Italian humoristic comic books with a lot of political and historical satire (there was a character that ridiculed Caesar, Leonidas till newer figures)

so Greeks and Italians - my impression, both being those pretending to have "-culture" prefix - Greeks are more "proud and touchy" in that sense, so careful with jokes to them, face to face but not generalising, in both their tribes (old) there are examples of "touchy, untouchy and untoucahble" ... hope my advice can help someone be "arrogant" ))

[HexCode]

That "other" Web venue has recently bit the dust. We're talking "formal" Internet death here, right ? Well, there's definitely some life after virtual death. The other day, a Google search came up with a link which, quite expectedly, pointed to an... obituaries Web page. Nevertheless, the entire topic was still accessible in cached format; hence, a case can be made for the potential usefulness of virtual zombie existence...

[Ale]

here's a joke about Greek "corona tests" - you get a paper with question "Do you have coronavirus?" answers a) and b) are "no"

last one and last on subject for a while.... btw, i knew some "mad Greeks" back in 90s studying here, colorful folks, but a lot has changed. btw 2, Jp's in early days was fun, don't care about other views

[Ale]

so i change TV channels - and run into this map in second I spent on some French speaking station gonna explode... last one

"red states" due to "health risks", something about students and universities not corona... alright, alright you all made a point already, all my clean flowers ... but now this is really getting ridiculous. Is there any sane man on planet to believe these maps and numbers. Going to bath now world is comical, but honesty is for suckers and percents and number of cases and deaths per 100000 unimportant... i'll give it a break obviously it upset me ....

[Ale]

https://youtu.be/nM2lrGkKoo8

important addition for all readers to understand my "flowers reference" .... No need to understand French to get a joke, we are simply "bad kids of Europe" - fairly said some guilt is on us since silly move to Saxony and further, till today. I expect only stick, i wrote some things before "red lists" existed

imagine some (fantasy indeed in very far future) scene of some "EU table" in which every meeting starts with kicking out Serb representatives from it laugh about it, reasons for crying are always there

[Ale]

so i'd like to finish this "touristic season" and whole story - i insisted on myself - with one interesting analisys from one person from touristic agencies, mostly about Greece and us.

first, let's presume whole thing with all countries wasn't political at all and fast slip from "green in july" by office to "red" by most countries was statistical and objective... with respect to victims in Italy and Spain above all, being here non-stop I didn't have impression of some catastrophic situation but maybe responsible are "hiding sick and dead people"........ total numbers might be 10 times bigger, but not only here

however, mentioned tourism analisys have two levels in short a) we are steadily overtaken by "richer" (by average pay, indeed) tourists from Bulgaria and Romania for example in traditional places where our turists go (non-isles and north) b) Greece supposedly plans to raise prices of accomodation in some cases in coming seasons making it less attractive for most of our tourists which could choose even Egypt rather (but there are other risks there)) ....true or not on both levels, it's interesting and important as correction to my opinion that Greek decission was political, following some bigger countries, but it might be also due to fall of importance of our market to them, something for us to think about especially about a) part... anyway, when health crisis ends - nobody knows when considering some numbers in some countries - and whatever future touristic and GDP trends are, hope we maintain decent relations with Greece, sorry if I was harsh with some jokes and evaluations i'm not politician, nor I planned to visit your country