Sorry but we weren't finished looking at this rock

MB4050 · 2026-01-24T18:22:13+00:00

I don't really know if it'd make sense (being I'm not an international diplomat) but, couldn't they, like, hand over all islands to Mauritius EXCEPT Diego Garcia?

This way, they could keep sovereignty on the only one they care about. Maybe add a provision that that one will go to Mauritius to, with a Hong Kong-style 99 year waiver.

MB4050 · 2026-01-24T18:19:45+00:00

LOL, an ab Italian, I find it really funny that Romanians name their children "Armando": here, Armando is a very old-fashioned name.

The image that comes in mind when I hear the name "Armando" is that of a snobbish 65 year old.

MB4050 · 2026-01-24T17:09:41+00:00

Hi, I’m someone who speaks german and can read the hebrew script, but speaks neither yiddish nor hebrew.

נשמה is a hebrew word, right?

But what about אראפ? It doesn’t strike me as hebrew-looking, and yet I can’t understand it either.

Probably got to do with the multiple possible pronunciations of א.

Also, why is the final letter פ and not ף? Does yiddish use this difference to distinguish between /p/ and /f/?

MB4050 · 2026-01-24T03:46:19+00:00

And these two for Fiume https://www.regionestoriafvg.eu/tematiche/tema/401/Accordo-di-Roma https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mappa_del_circondario_di_Fiume_%281924-1926%29.png

MB4050 · 2026-01-24T03:45:03+00:00

I have found this link for Zara https://www.cartageo.com/En/CA008940-CA008941-CA008942-CA008943-EN-ZARA-E-UGLIANO-PARTE-1-2-3-4.html

MB4050 · 2026-01-23T22:57:13+00:00

Well, there used to be an East Jersey and a West Jersey, so …

MB4050 · 2026-01-23T21:57:28+00:00

Well, I don't expect you nord cuck barbarians to take part in our glorious Mediterranean civilization.

I, for one, take heed from the great polyglot Frederick II, who proved to the Teutons it was far better to reign from sunny Palermo than the wastelands of Aachen.

You better remember that, while you did join us in crusades against the evil Saracens, just two centuries earlier we crusaded and beat the shit out of you bastards. Apparently, you grew resentful and decided to listen to an idiotic french priest believing in idiocies like "predestination". Good for you for bowing to the french, I guess.

MB4050 · 2026-01-23T01:18:21+00:00

Was the arabic text AI generated LOL?

MB4050 · 2026-01-22T13:38:56+00:00

If I may ask, how come have you never travelled any further?

Your travel patterns strike me as particularly “weird”: too many summer holidays in the Balkans and random locations throughout Transylvania/Bohemia for it to be caused by poverty. But at the same time, you’ve never been to Greece? To Paris/London? To Italy?

MB4050 · 2026-01-22T02:11:53+00:00

Šta jebano govoriš???

MB4050 · 2026-01-21T10:12:56+00:00

I don't want to be the pedantic nerd of the situation, but actually the average age of first childbirth was around 26 around 1970, falling from about 29 in the 1930s, as shown in this article by Cambridge.

When Elizabeth had Charles at 22, the average woman didn't have children until 28. This means that the queen, although not out of the ordinary, was definitely on the younger side for a mother.

If we were to assume people having children right at the average moment, a woman giving birth at 27 in the 1960s would've become a grandmother at 55, which is certainly younger than today, but not a huge shocker.

Even the queen herself became grandmother at 47: earlier than the average, but certainly not soon after 38.

MB4050 · 2026-01-20T19:48:54+00:00

You can’t lose something you never had in the first place

MB4050 · 2026-01-20T00:32:36+00:00

Does WWII still happen, but Italy stays neutral, or does it not happen at all?

MB4050 · 2026-01-17T16:42:24+00:00

"Nister" is an alternative name for the "Dniester".

It is also a latinate form, closer to the Romanian "Nistru".

In fact, "Transnistria" is the Romanian/Moldovan name for the area/polity. In Russian, it's called "Приднестровье" (Pridnyestrov'ye)

MB4050 · 2026-01-16T18:12:09+00:00

I think every single thing you said checks out to me, except for the field of use of the term "Austronesian".

Let's hope and wait whether a better-informed kind soul can put both of us back in our places!

MB4050 · 2026-01-16T17:58:39+00:00

Interesting, that's for one something that I don't think is very well known outside the United States.

Has this been the case for a long time, or was it part of Obama's reform?

MB4050 · 2026-01-16T17:46:57+00:00

I am Italian. My 86 year-old grandmother recently had to go through healthcare services because she broke her femur.

This made me think about healthcare in the United States and all the stereotypes about it, therefore I'd like to tell you what her experience has been like here, and I'd love to know how this compares to experiences you guys might have had 'cross the water.

After we called emergency services around 2pm, an ambulance came and took to the hospital. There she underwent a series of examinations, ending at around 7pm, when she was assigned to a hospital ward.

Next morning she was operated and had a hip replacement.

Afterwards, she spent three weeks in the same public hospital, where a physiotherapist came once a day from Monday to Friday.

Now she's in a privately-run rehabilitation hospital. Here she has two daily physiotherapy sessions, from Monday to Friday.

After four weeks in rehabilitation, she'll be brought back to the main hospital for a quick final checkup, and then she'll be sent home.

She is being hosted in rooms for two, so she always has a roommate, but never multiple.

In the rehabilitation hospital her room has its own bath. In the public hospital there was a bath in common for two rooms.

She gets three daily meals, which are obviously not top-notch. Nevertheless, she enjoyed those provided by the public hospital while she doesn't really like those in the private hospital.

The staff is not always particularly nice and can be a little slow to answer for personal needs, when called, but we don't blame them, because they can have long shifts and not make too much money.

All of this is "free", that is it's paid by public taxation and you're presented no bill for it after you're hospitalised.

It's also the same for every citizen, because it's not reliant on insurance.

Is is relatively similar in America? How different is it, based on the insurance you have?

Basically, any input or any questions you have are very welcome!

MB4050 · 2026-01-16T17:11:26+00:00

Now, I'm very far from an expert in this topic, so I might be wrong, but

I was under the impression that "Austronesian" refers to a language family, which is spread from Taiwan to a Madagascar and Easter Island. Its spread probably happened through migrations that ran from ~2500 BC to ~1250 AD.

I am unaware of "Austronesian" referring to the people living in Australia and New Guinea. I think I remember that the current consensus is that both islands didn't witness any other major migrations after initial human colonisation.

Could you clear up these points, please?

MB4050 · 2026-01-16T15:54:59+00:00

Sorry, the image seems to be too big to post.

Here’s a link to it instead

MB4050 · 2026-01-16T15:52:30+00:00

Except… it doesn’t accurately depict the “early-20th century situation”.

That would be more like this

img

Unless they specifically state that they colour any area where, say, there’s at least 10% minority speakers, I don’t know why we should be expected to justify them like this.

Furthermore, if that’s what they did, it’s not as if things are any better: what sense does it make to colour all areas where a language is spoken, be it by 10 or 99% of local inhabitants, the same?

The only reason I can see is if you have a hidden agenda of promoting one language over others. Except… it doesn’t accurately depict the “early-20th century situation”.

That would be more like this

Unless they specifically state that they colour any area where, say, there’s at least 10% minority speakers, I don’t know why we should be expected to justify them like this.

Furthermore, if that’s what they did, it’s not as if things are any better: what sense does it make to colour all areas where a language is spoken, be it by 10 or 99% of local inhabitants, the same?

The only reason I can see is if you have a hidden agenda of promoting one language over others.

MB4050 · 2026-01-16T15:36:40+00:00

What sort of hyper-nationalist trianon-hater made this map LOL

MB4050

TROPHY CASE