2088 replies to this topic

[BSLMikeRandall]

Denmark. Um.....what?

https://www.theguard...man-giant-penis

[glenn__davis]

Just some totally random motivation from my nephew.  He's a fitness trainer and someone on his page asked him what sort of advice he would give to those wanting to get fit.  I thought his response was perfect:

 

"Here is my advice.

 

1. Start.

2. Don't quit."

[Mark Carver]

THIS DAY IN HISTORY 1918 March 04

First cases reported in deadly 1918 flu pandemic Just before breakfast on the morning of March 4, Private Albert Gitchell of the U.S. Army reports to the hospital at Fort Riley, Kansas, complaining of the cold-like symptoms of sore throat, fever and headache. Soon after, over 100 of his fellow soldiers had reported similar symptoms, marking what are believed to be the first cases in the historic influenza pandemic of 1918, later known as Spanish flu. The flu would eventually kill 675,000 Americans and an estimated 20 million to 50 million people around the world, proving to be a far deadlier force than even the First World War.

 

The initial outbreak of the disease, reported at Fort Riley in March, was followed by similar outbreaks in army camps and prisons in various regions of the country. The disease soon traveled to Europe with the American soldiers heading to aid the Allies on the battlefields of France. (In March 1918 alone, 84,000 American soldiers headed across the Atlantic; another 118,000 followed them the next month.) Once it arrived on a second continent, the flu showed no signs of abating: 31,000 cases were reported in June in Great Britain. The disease was eventually dubbed the Spanish flu because people erroneously believed Spain was the epicenter of the pandemic.

 

The flu showed no mercy for combatants on either side of the trenches. Over the summer, the first wave of the epidemic hit German forces on the Western Front, where they were waging a final, no-holds-barred offensive that would determine the outcome of the war. It had a significant effect on the already weakening morale of the troops—as German army commander Crown Prince Rupprecht wrote on August 3: poor provisions, heavy losses, and the deepening influenza have deeply depressed the spirits of men in the III Infantry Division. Meanwhile, the flu was spreading fast beyond the borders of Western Europe, due to its exceptionally high rate of virulence and the massive transport of men on land and aboard ship due to the war effort. By the end of the summer, numerous cases had been reported in Russia, North Africa and India; China, Japan, the Philippines and even New Zealand would eventually fall victim as well.

 

https://www.history....-tdih-2021-0304

[CantonJester]

THIS DAY IN HISTORY 1918 March 04

First cases reported in deadly 1918 flu pandemic Just before breakfast on the morning of March 4, Private Albert Gitchell of the U.S. Army reports to the hospital at Fort Riley, Kansas, complaining of the cold-like symptoms of sore throat, fever and headache. Soon after, over 100 of his fellow soldiers had reported similar symptoms, marking what are believed to be the first cases in the historic influenza pandemic of 1918, later known as Spanish flu. The flu would eventually kill 675,000 Americans and an estimated 20 million to 50 million people around the world, proving to be a far deadlier force than even the First World War.

 

The initial outbreak of the disease, reported at Fort Riley in March, was followed by similar outbreaks in army camps and prisons in various regions of the country. The disease soon traveled to Europe with the American soldiers heading to aid the Allies on the battlefields of France. (In March 1918 alone, 84,000 American soldiers headed across the Atlantic; another 118,000 followed them the next month.) Once it arrived on a second continent, the flu showed no signs of abating: 31,000 cases were reported in June in Great Britain. The disease was eventually dubbed the Spanish flu because people erroneously believed Spain was the epicenter of the pandemic.

 

The flu showed no mercy for combatants on either side of the trenches. Over the summer, the first wave of the epidemic hit German forces on the Western Front, where they were waging a final, no-holds-barred offensive that would determine the outcome of the war. It had a significant effect on the already weakening morale of the troops—as German army commander Crown Prince Rupprecht wrote on August 3: poor provisions, heavy losses, and the deepening influenza have deeply depressed the spirits of men in the III Infantry Division. Meanwhile, the flu was spreading fast beyond the borders of Western Europe, due to its exceptionally high rate of virulence and the massive transport of men on land and aboard ship due to the war effort. By the end of the summer, numerous cases had been reported in Russia, North Africa and India; China, Japan, the Philippines and even New Zealand would eventually fall victim as well.

 

https://www.history....-tdih-2021-0304

 

 

It's my understanding it was called the Spanish Flu because of how it was reported (Spain declaring neutrality in WW I was not minimizing the pandemic the way, say a recent president would. 

 

Trump did that because he's a malevolent blowhard, whereas in World War I it was underreported so as to not sap the morale of the respective countries involved in the great war. 

 

eta: the article you linked backs up this assertion:

 

Spain was one of only a few major European countries to remain neutral during World War I. Unlike in the Allied and Central Powers nations, where wartime censors suppressed news of the flu to avoid affecting morale, the Spanish media was free to report on it in gory detail. News of the sickness first made headlines in Madrid in late-May 1918, and coverage only increased after the Spanish King Alfonso XIII came down with a nasty case a week later. Since nations undergoing a media blackout could only read in depth accounts from Spanish news sources, they naturally assumed that the country was the pandemic’s ground zero. The Spanish, meanwhile, believed the virus had spread to them from France, so they took to calling it the “French Flu.”

[Mark Carver]

[The Epic]

Just a random thing. 

 

I'm not a troll. Just...not that type of guy, and don't have that type of energy to deal with people like that. But I have a good amount of respect for -really- good social media trolls. Some are innocuous (Wendy's, for example) and some are generally bad-faith individuals (Portnoy), but it's such a useful skill. 

 

In that realm, Lil Nas X might be the best troll I've ever seen, and the last three days have been an amazing run for him. He's gonna be rich off of two hits forever, just off of his internet presence. 

[BSLJordanKatz]

Just a random thing. 

 

I'm not a troll. Just...not that type of guy, and don't have that type of energy to deal with people like that. But I have a good amount of respect for -really- good social media trolls. Some are innocuous (Wendy's, for example) and some are generally bad-faith individuals (Portnoy), but it's such a useful skill. 

 

In that realm, Lil Nas X might be the best troll I've ever seen, and the last three days have been an amazing run for him. He's gonna be rich off of two hits forever, just off of his internet presence. 

The reaction has been pretty funny, as if he's the first musician people have ever seen try to be edgy to generate publicity 

[The Epic]

The reaction has been pretty funny, as if he's the first musician people have ever seen try to be edgy to generate publicity 

 

It really is hilarious. People could literally just ignore him and he'd be less famous. And nobody can grasp that, and they keep falling for it.

[Mark Carver]

Got a safe deposit box at a private company. The FBI could seize the contents all of the boxes one day on a single warrant... so far.