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flatdawgs

Certifiably Surly
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Posts posted by flatdawgs

  1. 16 minutes ago, Ghost of LL said:

    I don't think that's at all accurate w/r/t the French.  I'll let one of our more knowledgeable posters speak about the experience in Louisiana, but in Quebec the French were pretty libertine when it came to mixing with the local indigineous population.  That's probably to be expected because the male-female ratio of French people was way out of wack.  It was largely a fur-trading colony; there weren't just a whole lot of mademoiselles.

    You're not incorrect re France's earlier colonies, particularly in North America (and on the frontier, the British were more relaxed about it as well, both often using intermarriage as means to effect trading relationships). The French in Indochina tended also to be somewhat more tolerant. However, the French Caribbean colonies were quite harsh on the matter, as was French Africa (even more so after the first world war). There is a fairly obvious reason as to why the difference. Metropolitan France, on the other hand, was much more open to those actually in France; this dated back to the Revolution. 

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  2. 23 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

    Also, in case anyone hasn't noticed, miscegnation produces some remarkably attractive humans, so I say let's get on with it.

    Brasil. Enough said.

    (The French and British generally took a much dimmer view of such practices in their colonies than the Portuguese and Spanish did, hence the, um, fairly attractive populations of several of our neighbors to the south.)

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  3. 2 hours ago, TreatyOak said:

    I personally don’t care about the political discussion here either way. As a history lover, I was responding to the posters who are trying to negate his achievements, which were extraordinary for their day, and kicked off a golden age of exploration, because of today’s conventional wisdom.

    The Portuguese had already reached and rounded the Cape of Good Hope and entered the Indian Ocean by then. I'm pretty sure Henry the Navigator kicked off the golden age of exploration, staring out at the vast ocean from Sagres.

    25 minutes ago, 956 Worldwide said:

    It’s debatable when the Europeans would have sailed to the Americas again if Columbus didn’t.  

    Cabral reached Brazil in 1500; it would be hard for me to believe that the only reason he did so was due to Columbus' voyage a few years before. Hell, da Gama completed his India voyage in 1498; regardless of Columbus, Portugal would have kept exploring - they had been for a half-century prior, quite lucratively - and due to that almost assuredly the Spanish (and likely the English) crown would have been obliged to do the same.

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  4. 2 hours ago, Chopper said:

    In every other functioning democracy in the world, the ruling party would seek to compromise instead of demanding the opposition rollover, and stomping hteir churlish little feet until they do so. 

    In every other functioning democracy in the world, the government would have fallen.

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  5. My avatar is not confirmed as caretaker president. 

    Seriously, at one point Rajoelina was considered as a young leader who could clean up the country's endemic corruption and myriad other problems. Only about a third of the population has access to electricity. The country has mineral and O&G resources, particularly in the south, but as in many other places these are exploited by Western multinationals and the Chinese,  and any returns are skimmed off the top. It is sad as it is a beautiful place with the kindest people.

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  6. One of the reasons Japan and West Germany (and the rest of occupied Western Europe) became staunch allies after WWII - and stepped back from their generational resentments - was that the USA poured billions of dollars over quite a few years into rebuilding them and reintegrating their economies into the Western economic structure. Has anyone heard of any honest plans for that in Gaza, Trump Gaza Beach Resorts aside? Because if it doesn't happen, ain't nothing ever gonna change there. "Hey, we're not shooting at you any longer, enjoy the rubble!" It needs to be the West as well to build any sort of trust; middle eastern petrodollars are fine but if we want them to think there might be a better future, there needs to be hope that they can join that better future. 

    (and oh yeah, the West Bank is still a thing)

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  7. 4 hours ago, Vegas64 said:

    I'm with you.

    and LOL at Europe. Europe is having it's own governing meltdowns (Germany, Italy, France, and even EU proper with Ursula all facing some sort of government issues and crisis) and their economy, even having like 1.5 or even 2x the population of the U.S, does a poor job of building and growing businesses and creating value and wealth comparitively. 

    So yea we suck and are not living up to our own hype but let's not romanticize Europe as some north star to aspire to.

    That's certainly an American way to look at things. OTOH, one of the things I thoroughly enjoy every time I'm back in Europe is that isn't the be-all and end-all of life; quite the contrary. In all the time I've spent in Europe (almost every country; southeastern Portugal now my base when I'm over there), I have never once had a single person ask me how much I made or what giant corporations my US city is home to. I spent a good portion of last winter in Scandinavia and I think most people would consider their quality of life higher than that of the vast majority of the US.

    While you're not incorrect about political turmoil in some of the larger European countries, they are still facing what would be considered fairly normal political stresses. It's countries like Hungary and Türkiye, with some of the former Eastern Bloc nations thrown in, where you find similar issues to here. Not saying it's not necessarily coming,  but at least for now in several countries the center-right and center-left parties refuse to form coalitions with the far right. 

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  8. On 10/2/2025 at 5:40 PM, Scheiss Meister said:

    It is tough, but please do it as soon as possible and to the extent that makes them comfortable.  I am the executor of my dad's estate, and every day I deal with questions that he could have easily answered for me, many that I anticipated before his death, but it was too tough for me to ask them.  He would have gladly discussed everything with me, and I think that it would have made him feel better, but I was too afraid to ask.

    You have the chance now; you won't after they pass.  They want to make their passing as easy on you as they can.  Help them do that.

    This. All of this. My Mom knew the end was coming for two years but steadfastly refused to do any preparation whatsoever, including a will or naming an executor, or telling anyone about anything she had/where it was. As her oldest and her caretaker I had the inestimable joy of becoming the estate's administrator and sorting all that out. It took nearly 5 years before the estate was finally closed - and that with a very good estate attorney. The last best gift your parents can give you is to help make your life a little bit easier in the midst of grieving their loss. Talking with them now - as hard a subject as it is - will ease the burden while ensuring their wishes are followed. 

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  9. Q for the Surly law dogs (IANAL, although my brother and ex were both attorneys and then judges so I got doused in it frequently lol) - do you think that law schools like UT will continue to seek ABA accreditation regardless of this? It seems many states including my own (WA) require all applicants to the bar to be graduates of an ABA-accredited law school, and in the current climate I don't see them changing that to accommodate other states who apparently for political reasons are removing the ABA accreditation requirement.

  10. Just now, Chewbacca said:
    On 9/30/2025 at 8:26 PM, flatdawgs said:
    Switched over from GE to Nexus this time and it took 9 damn months to get the interview (despite 10 years of GE). OTOH, they kept GE active so it didn't matter too much, and you keep your KTN.

    Why bother with Nexus if you already have GE?

    Because I live near the Canadian border and cross it frequently (and fly in/out of Canada overseas occasionally), and with it I get the same bennies on the Canadian side as I do on the US.

  11. 3 minutes ago, miguelito said:

    In case you missed it.

     

     

    And he said it the next night... and then again on the PA system at Husky Stadium Saturday before the Ohio State game (the students went crazy; Julio and Woo were cracking up).

    Hey, why not this year?

  12. 5 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

    In Poland, a Russian GRU agent was detained on charges of preparing terrorist attacks in Poland, Lithuania and Germany using drones and tin cans that, instead of containing corn, were "filled with powerful explosive material," Gazeta Wyborcza reported.

    According to the publication, one of the planned attacks was to take place at a cemetery in Łódź, Poland.

    Wait - Agent Vatnik was about to blow up a cemetery? Well, I guess that's one way to run up an impressive body count....

  13. 19 minutes ago, Captainant said:

    he IS melting down, apparently terrified of getting the Charlie Kirk treatment

    https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/pete-hegseth-manic-assassination-charlie-kirk-b2836404.html

    Pete Hegseth is reportedly “crawling out of his skin” in fear of being assassinated in the wake of the shooting death of Charlie Kirk.

    The U.S. Secretary of War has been described by his staff as “manic,” frequently erupting into furious rants.

    Two of the former Fox News host’s staffers told The Daily Mail that their boss’s behaviour had worsened after Kirk was killed earlier this month in Utah.

    Now, Hegseth has become “obsessed” with his own security.

    According to the Mail, the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division (CID) has removed agents from their posts to safeguard Hegseth’s homes in Minnesota, Tennessee, and Washington, D.C.

     

     

    poor widdle victim, always getting tweated unfairly

    There's a fun German word for this: teppichfresser. It even has some historical connotations. 

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