Today I Learned #3: There's a wiki for everything!

[hobbsyoyo]

Trench warfare is alive and well in Libya:

Construction on an enormous trench across Libya, dug by Russian-backed mercenaries Wagner, is raising fears that foreign fighters will not withdraw from the country by Saturday, as a UN-brokered peace deal insists.
US officials are also concerned over the long-term goals of the Kremlin ally in the war-torn state. One intelligence official notes that the trench is a sign that Wagner, which, the official said, has its largest global presence in Libya, is "settling in for the long haul."
The trench, which extends dozens of kilometers south from the populated coastal areas around Sirte towards the Wagner-controlled stronghold of al-Jufra, can be seen on satellite imagery and is bolstered by a series of elaborate fortifications.
The trench and fortifications appear designed to impede or stop a land attack on LNA controlled areas in the east, running through the populated coastal areas of Libya that have seen the most clashes since the 2011 fall of the regime of Moammar Gadhafi.
The GNA have posted images of excavators and trucks creating the ditch and berm that runs alongside it and said that work appeared ongoing as recently as this month.
The trench, the US intelligence official said, is another reason "we see no intent or movement by either Turkish or Russian forces to abide by the UN-brokered agreement. This has the potential to derail an already fragile peace process and ceasefire. It will be a really difficult year ahead."
Open-source monitoring says it has mapped a series of more than 30 defensive positions dug into the desert and hillsides that stretch for about 70 kilometres.
Satellite imagery from Maxar, seems to show both the trench stretching along a main road, and the fortifications dug, also by Wagner mercenaries and their contractors.
​

It is also a feature of the civil war in Ukraine.

 

[Josu]

TIL that Aristocats, Dumbo and Peter Pan were moved to adult category in Disney+ due to racist stereotypes

 

[Birdjaguar]

they need to make a movie about this guy

Thomas Cochrane - the Sea Wolf

The guy fought the French, Spanish, Portuguese, and their S American colonies helping to free Chile, Peru and Brazil. He even ended up in Greece fighting the Turks.

He is just another warmonger and probably worse than Bush or Obama or Hillary.

 

[GinandTonic]

Or the liberator of three nations and the kicker in the ribs of a dictator. Matter of perspective.

Also, per Star Trek, his descendant invents the warp drive. For what that could be worth.

 

[Birdjaguar]

That Cochran video was excellent and as the inspiration for both Hornblower and Aubrey, his story would make a great movie or TV series.

 

[GinandTonic]

That Cochran video was excellent and as the inspiration for both Hornblower and Aubrey, his story would make a great movie or TV series.

The thing is the books, moves and TV series had to leave out all the good stuff because it was too implausible.

 

[Takhisis]

TIL that Aristocats, Dumbo and Peter Pan were moved to adult category in Disney+ due to racist stereotypes

Disney's doing its best to insult me even after I've decided to stop watching anything they broadcast already.

The thing is the books, moves and TV series had to leave out all the good stuff because it was too implausible.

These days somebody like Garibaldi would be treated as a mercenary terrorist, but back then there were a lot of liberators going around.
But you really did get people who fought in/visited Qing China, Tokugawa Japan, Arabia and the few remaining unconquered American tribes of the time in their 10-, 20-year-long adventurous youth back then

 

[GinandTonic]

These days somebody like Garibaldi would be treated as a mercenary terrorist, but back then there were a lot of liberators going around.
But you really did get people who fought in/visited Qing China, Tokugawa Japan, Arabia and the few remaining unconquered American tribes of the time in their 10-, 20-year-long adventurous youth back then

Yeah what Flashman was trying to parody was beyond parody.

As for Cochrane - To liberate a nation from absolute monarchy only to be denied your pay, and forced to steal their national treasury to pay your men once is unfortunate. Twice looks like carelessness. The third time (even if a little different) it seems you're making a habit of it.

 

[Berzerker]

He is just another warmonger and probably worse than Bush or Obama or Hillary.

Why?

 

[r16]

ah yeah , the British Liberator , Bringer of Democracy and so on . "Honour" was ascribed to military service only when Nationalism started to happen , admirals and stuff were like also outright pirates because Prize money was a thing and it is not that am Turkish and he fought against Ottomans but how about he had vast connections to make admiral but not enough of them to be kept in London as a peer and what not because he had grown intolerable ?

 

[Josu]

Disney's doing its best to insult me even after I've decided to stop watching anything they broadcast already.

Someone told me that the issue is there is a chinesse cat that plays piano with sticks and in the spanish version sings "con aloz y camalon" (kind a joke with chinesse people being unable to pronounce the R)

 

[Valka D'Ur]

You can easily find out what google thinks it knows about you

I am amazed how wrong it is. It has my sex wrong and my age is underestimated by a large margin. It has got my interests and job pretty right though. It thinks I am really into skateboarding though, not sure where that came from.

Some of mine is spot-on, and some of it is just bizarre.

55-64 years old
Female
Action & Adventure Films
Autos & Vehicles
Bars, Clubs & Nightlife
Basketball
Blues
Bollywood & South Asian Film
Books & Literature
Business News
Celebrities & Entertainment News
Classical Music
Comics & Animation
Company Size: Small Employer (1-249 Employees)
Computer & Video Games
Computers & Electronics
Cooking & Recipes
Country Music
Cycling
Dance & Electronic Music
Dogs
Drama Films
Extreme Sports
Film & TV Production
Flowers
Folk & Traditional Music
Food & Grocery Retailers
Gourmet & Specialty Foods
Greeting Cards
Home Improvement
Homeownership Status: Homeowners
Horror Films
Household Income: Upper Middle
Indie & Alternative Music
Jazz
Job Industry: Healthcare Industry
Latin American Music
Local News
Mass Merchants & Department Stores
Metal (Music)
Movie & TV Streaming
Movie Reference
Movies
Music & Audio
News
Online Video
Outdoors
Parental Status: Not A Parent
Parenting
Performing Arts
Pet Food & Pet Care Supplies
Pets
Politics
Pop Music
Rap & Hip-Hop
Restaurants
Rock Music
Romance Films
Science Fiction & Fantasy Films
Shopping
Social Networks
Sports
Travel & Transportation
TV Comedies
TV Documentary & Nonfiction
TV Dramas
TV Family-Oriented Shows
TV Networks & Stations
TV Sci-Fi & Fantasy Shows
Visual Art & Design
Winter Sports
World Music
World News

So this is what Google thinks I'm interested in or what my life is like. Anyone notice one particularly glaring omission, and can anyone spot the ones that would absolutely not be accurate? (some of you should, as I've been pretty open over the years about what I'm interested in)

 

[Arakhor]

Well, I don't see any RenFaire stuff, for a start.

 

[Samson]

Dogs, not cats?

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Well, I don't see any RenFaire stuff, for a start.

The Society for Creative Anachronism is nothing like RenFaire. For one thing, the SCA is world-wide, and RenFaire is American.

For another thing, RenFaire is a commercial entertainment thing, while the SCA is a nonprofit educational organization and is more like a way of life. I still have most of my stuff (from costumes and feast gear to calligraphy and sewing supplies, cookbooks, and songbooks) from 25 years ago. I would still be comfortable answering to my SCA name even though I've been inactive since 1998 (A.S. LII). It's as much a part of me as my mundane name.

I went inactive before there was a significant SCA presence online, so I was never really part of that.

So... good guess, but not correct. The omission on the list is a really basic thing that every OT regular should know about me.

Dogs, not cats?

And... BINGO! @Samson, you are the winner!

Cats don't appear on that list, even though at one time over the past 16 years I belonged to about half a dozen cat-specific websites that included one cat "social media" site that Aimee recommended to me, one cat-specific forum, and of course the Cheezburger site, where lolcat pics vastly outnumber the rest by a wide margin. About 99.9% of the pet-related Google searches I've done have been cat-related. The only times I looked up dog-related things were about pugs (looking for pug pictures to use in a lolpic project) and Yorkshire terriers (my housekeeping helper adopted two puppies).

The only reason I can figure why dogs would be on the list might be that silly conversation some of us had on the Dune forum I ran way back when. We got into a discussion of the pug dog in the 1984 David Lynch Dune movie, and next thing we knew, pug dog breeding and kennel ads popped up in the AdSense ads on the forum. Since the ads we saw were triggered by key words in the posts and thread titles, Google thought we were all into breeding purebred pugs.

 

[Samson]

The Society for Creative Anachronism is nothing like RenFaire. For one thing, the SCA is world-wide, and RenFaire is American.

For another thing, RenFaire is a commercial entertainment thing, while the SCA is a nonprofit educational organization and is more like a way of life. I still have most of my stuff (from costumes and feast gear to calligraphy and sewing supplies, cookbooks, and songbooks) from 25 years ago. I would still be comfortable answering to my SCA name even though I've been inactive since 1998 (A.S. LII). It's as much a part of me as my mundane name.

I went inactive before there was a significant SCA presence online, so I was never really part of that.

So... good guess, but not correct. The omission on the list is a really basic thing that every OT regular should know about me.


And... BINGO! @Samson, you are the winner!

Cats don't appear on that list, even though at one time over the past 16 years I belonged to about half a dozen cat-specific websites that included one cat "social media" site that Aimee recommended to me, one cat-specific forum, and of course the Cheezburger site, where lolcat pics vastly outnumber the rest by a wide margin. About 99.9% of the pet-related Google searches I've done have been cat-related. The only times I looked up dog-related things were about pugs (looking for pug pictures to use in a lolpic project) and Yorkshire terriers (my housekeeping helper adopted two puppies).

The only reason I can figure why dogs would be on the list might be that silly conversation some of us had on the Dune forum I ran way back when. We got into a discussion of the pug dog in the 1984 David Lynch Dune movie, and next thing we knew, pug dog breeding and kennel ads popped up in the AdSense ads on the forum. Since the ads we saw were triggered by key words in the posts and thread titles, Google thought we were all into breeding purebred pugs.

I always assumed the SCA was more like the UK Dark Ages Society. I guess your opsec is good if google does not know about such sore elements of your life.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I always assumed the SCA was more like the UK Dark Ages Society. I guess your opsec is good if google does not know about such sore elements of your life.

Hm, that looks interesting. The SCA covers the years 600-1600 AD, so it looks like the Dark Ages Society is very similar, but covers a shorter time period. The costumes the guys are wearing in the photos are like the ones worn by many SCA folk, but it looks like the weapons rules and fire safety are different in the DAS.

Actual sharp weapons like swords and spears are only allowed at ceremonial occasions, and aren't allowed in SCA combat. The weapons are made of rattan, because rattan tends to become mushier the more it's used, rather than breaking into sharp splinters that could injure people. And while sitting around a fire is nice, it's not allowed indoors (again, safety first). Outdoor bardic circles around a fire are common in the SCA, though.

My own persona is based in the late 10th century, so going by the website you linked even I'm a century too late for that.

 

[Samson]

Hm, that looks interesting. The SCA covers the years 600-1600 AD, so it looks like the Dark Ages Society is very similar, but covers a shorter time period. The costumes the guys are wearing in the photos are like the ones worn by many SCA folk, but it looks like the weapons rules and fire safety are different in the DAS.

Actual sharp weapons like swords and spears are only allowed at ceremonial occasions, and aren't allowed in SCA combat. The weapons are made of rattan, because rattan tends to become mushier the more it's used, rather than breaking into sharp splinters that could injure people. And while sitting around a fire is nice, it's not allowed indoors (again, safety first). Outdoor bardic circles around a fire are common in the SCA, though.

My own persona is based in the late 10th century, so going by the website you linked even I'm a century too late for that.

I have seen the DAS preform, and while I am sure the weapons are not sharp, they are big lumps of metal and they look like they are trying to hit each other with them. I bet they get some injuries.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I have seen the DAS preform, and while I am sure the weapons are not sharp, they are big lumps of metal and they look like they are trying to hit each other with them. I bet they get some injuries.

No doubt. Rattan weapons and metal armor (SCA heavy fighters are mandated to have armor that meets strict safety requirements) aren't proof against injuries. Combatants are expected to behave honorably in battle, and if they're hit in such a way that they wouldn't be able to use that limb (arm or leg) if in a combat with real weapons, they're expected to either not use that arm and/or drop to one (or both) knees.

One night after an Arts & Sciences meeting at a friend's house, a couple of the guys decided to have a paper airplane contest applying the An Tir Rules of Combat (we were part of the Kingdom of An Tir at the time). I got to referee the match, since I'm horrible at throwing anything.

The contest took place in the back alley, and the paper airplanes were made from a batch of old Girl Guide posters our friend didn't want anymore. Things went well enough for awhile... until they started losing the use of one arm... one leg... the other arm... the other leg... kneeling on the ground, they asked if they could please scoot closer together, because trying to throw paper airplanes at each other with their teeth wasn't working too well while they were about 8 feet apart and had no chance of actually hitting anything.

That was one of the funniest things I've ever seen to this day.

 

[Takhisis]

I just stopped reading the list after I saw that Valka D'Ur's preferences did not include cats.