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Everything posted by JamesHackerMP
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Wow. You just think Lenin's cute, huh?
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btw if I may ask, why is Turkey your least favorite and Russia the most?
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Huh, neat. Thnx!!
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Hmm. I just hate Austria. How many times have you played Austria?
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I just started the second volume (of three) in Lord Norwich's "byzantium" series. It's unfortunately out of print, but he did make a "condensed" version of it (one 350p paperback instead of 1,200pp!) which is fortunately still in print. I read that one first and decided to read the long version to see if it had more details. Man, the byzantines were seriously screwed up. But that makes the books all the more interesting! Here's the condensed version, which is still quite good. https://www.amazon.com/Short-History-Byzantium-Julius-Norwich/dp/0679772693/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1490214769&sr=8-4&keywords=byzantium+norwich Perhaps I should start a Byzantium thread LOL
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My father had that! Who was your favorite/least favorite great power to play when you played Diplomacy?
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Awww.......
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Well Canada is more of what one political scientist called a "crowned republic", in my observation (if you'll excuse me if I overreach). The monarchy in the UK actually wields executive authority (different in nature from actual power as we know). In your commonwealth realm, by contrast, the effective head of state is really not so much the Queen herself, but her supposed "representative" (or viceroy), H.E. the G.G. Since the PM makes the recommendation to the Queen, and the recommendation isn't typically ignored or argued with, and the aforementioned recommended designate is no longer "London's Man" but instead a native Canadian; you effectively have a republican order in imperial dress. But I digress again. And I hope that doesn't offend anyone, by the way. Because 1) your system seems find to me, even if the PM has a little bit more power than he probably should--I'm the sort of person "if it's cool with you it's cool with me" by the way; and 2) Because I think your nominal head of state has put up with a lot of crap for the last 65 years that the average elected official has to do with a very limited term. After all, what American president had to eat lunch with Idi Amin? (I'd love to know what idiot Prime Minister arranged that one and kick him in the balls. What the hell do you think they actually talked about?) And family problems, as covered in the series, of course. She has to put up with so much bull**** that the average president or PM just doesn't. So here's to you, Your Majesty. Happy 65th! Margaret Thatcher one said that those who insist that a politician should be a head of state should spend a little more time with politicians. (Maybe the late Baroness Thatcher would know...) But I think they overreacted about Princess Margaret. They should have let her just marry that dude.
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Mah Jong (the real kind!)
JamesHackerMP replied to JamesHackerMP's topic in Travel, Leisure and Sports
Yeah that's it. The little tiles with the Chinese characters. Kind of like Gin Rummy in a way. -
My father was one of the playtesters of the original ed. of Kingmaker! Yeah I hate playing Austria. No offense to anyone who's from the former Lands Represented in the Imperial Council, or the Lands of the Holy Crown of St. Stephen, but I hate it with a passion. I've never won before, though I've always liked playing England. (though I don't get why Calhamer called it "England" instead of "Britain" or "UK" if he was going to be P.C. enough to say "Austria-Hungary" instead of just "Austria"?!) But I digress. I've actually got no fewer than three boards: the 1985 Avalon Hill ed., the 1999 Hasbro Ed., and the 1961 Games Research ed. Why? I don't know. I must like it even though I have never won. And i've only played in person games like, a few times. Then about a couple dozen online.
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Anyone familiar with the game? (the real kind, see below) I'm not talking about the tile-matching solitaire game, nor the "american version" popular in retirement communities mostly among women, by the way.
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a board game designed by Alan Calhamer in 1959. For most of its life, the US version was published by Avalon Hill Co. of Baltimore, until Hasbro bought them out. Any of you familiar with it? https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/483/diplomacy
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i started a thread about constitutional monarchy and its purpose. Has anybody seen this yet? It is on Netflix. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4786824/ Fantastic IMHO. Very interesting coverage of the great smog incident, in the middle.
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Ohhhhh right! I now remember in that book by Harry Turtledove (alternate history about WWI) there was this Quebecois who was a main character and he said that they don't talk about poo and sex when they swear; they swear about Church-stuff. Interesting. (The guy was like, "f***! Hmmm, just doesn't sound right! lol)
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Rue, that was incredibly insightful. Nice! That is certainly what I was looking for. Objective and analytical, with any criticism certainly constructive, vs. one of the other members' mention of "acting like jerkoffs". Maybe not 100% correct (but then again I could be wrong...not everyone views their own culture accurately because they live inside that particular box) though it was a thoughtful and accurate view in most respects. Americans will talk of the "tyranny of the majority" quite often. A poli sci professor of mine explained to a foreign student once, we were founded not on majority rule but individual liberty (the two do sometimes conflict). Your collectivity vs. individual liberty hit the nail on the head for sure. I think that the government often does influence society and vice-versa. Your mention of the military-like aspect of American society: we're not all about the military, I think. What you're seeing now (patriotism that looks almost like jingoism to some people, though I know you didn't say that, just saying it seems that way sometimes) is the realization that we made a HUGE mistake following Vietnam; not just about going to war in the first place but what we did to the military when they returned to the States. My father has often remarked that any Vietnam vet will tell you, the biggest betrayal of the war came, not from Johnson, not from Nixon, not from our generals in charge of prosecuting that war, but from the American People. My father was actually spit on by a well-dressed, conservative-looking woman at the airport. She shouted "baby burner" as she did it. This was 1971 of course, but that's a taste of exactly how cruel we were to our own people. So, what you're seeing is essentially that we're trying (trying mind you!) not to repeat that mistake and treat our veterans better. This sometimes comes off as a militant-looking stance, but it isn't. We're still not there (we could certainly give our veterans much better treatment via the V.A. and its health system!!!!) but we've realized that, when you don't agree with a war, get pissed off at the politicians---not the vets returning from a war they very well may not have wanted to fight in the first place. We wave the flag a lot but that's more for their benefit than looking badass. But I don't want to get too off-topic about that one. It was however, a good point to raise. ?impact: Trump isn't so much a product of the electoral college (yes, I know Hillary won the popular vote and the "winner" didn't) as the skewed, dysfunction primary system that produced, as Lewis Black put it, two bowls of dogs*** to chose from when we went into the voting booth. More people might have voted for Gary Johnson if he wasn't so....gosh how do I describe him? Plenty of 4-letter words to choose from that I would equally use on the GOP or Democratic nominee. A general election for president is something of a conjuring trick: pick any card, you must always choose between the two cards the magician chose for you. But that's a topic for another thread, I think....
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Could someone please explain the EU to me?
JamesHackerMP replied to JamesHackerMP's topic in The Rest of the World
What the UK could demand at this point, by brexiting, is a kind of reconstruction, something along the lines of what you're talking about; but maybe make it more "democratic" and responsible to the voters.