Today...

[obfuscator]

I'd recognize Mao, but only because his picture seems to pop up on the internet. I never studied Chinese communism much in school.

[Ginger_Warrior]

Western societies tend to bias their teaching of history.* When I studied history at GCSE level, we did a module on medicine through time. Acupuncture, which forms such a key principle to Chinese medicine, was reserved to a chapter called "Alternative medicine". It was the last chapter in the book. When we studied WW2, almost all of our focus was directed towards the European campaigns, the only other focus being the Battle of the Atlantic. We made no attempt to study the Pacific campaigns by the US, or the context that lead to Japan attacking Pearl Harbor.

 

You won't be surprised to learn that the few times I've studied the American War of Independence, it hasn't been taught as a 'glorious triumph of a colonial power's democractic right to independent autonomy', as I imagine it's presented in most American schools, it's been more like a few people pissed off about high sugar taxes.

 

It doesn't surprise me, therefore, that an article written in Dutch highlights ignorance towards a Chinese dictator, even if he is one of the most important historical figures of all time.

 

* = I'm not saying other societies don't either; Chinese interpretations of history are completely laughable. It's just we like to accuse them of state-sponsored indoctrination, rather than recognise that our own teaching of the subject is less-than-totally accurate

[champion]

You won't be surprised to learn that the few times I've studied the American War of Independence, it hasn't been taught as a 'glorious triumph of a colonial power's democractic right to independent autonomy', as I imagine it's presented in most American schools

It wasn't taught like that at all at my school, at least during my AP US History course. They taught it pretty much how you described it being taught. If anything, the teacher seemed to be on Britain's "side" during that whole unit. Could've been different when we were taught at a younger age, but most all of that level of history teaching is more or less meaningless in the long run.

[Tim]

I got invited to a party hosted by minors. About 300 people are invited and I only know about 20 of them. Apparently I have left a really good impression on one of the hosts.

Now I am at a dilemma, to go, or not to go. I would meet boatloads of new people, interesting, different people. Most people are artists of some kind. They have also hired a live band.

Then again, as it is a minor party, there is most likely going to be trouble. And as I said I don't know most of the people and if there is so much of those people I tend to keep myself at only the people I know at some quiet spot.

my advice is don't be that older person who goes to pre-teen parties. looks seedy as all hell.

[Giordano]

AP

That's why. College has no problem teaching world history instead of Euro-centric history. High schools do because it's shorter and easier to teach, and benefits national image.

 

I'll ignore that comment about history being meaningless, though. :wink:

[decebal]

You won't be surprised to learn that the few times I've studied the American War of Independence, it hasn't been taught as a 'glorious triumph of a colonial power's democractic right to independent autonomy', as I imagine it's presented in most American schools

It wasn't taught like that at all at my school, at least during my AP US History course. They taught it pretty much how you described it being taught. If anything, the teacher seemed to be on Britain's "side" during that whole unit. Could've been different when we were taught at a younger age, but most all of that level of history teaching is more or less meaningless in the long run.

Kind of reminds me of the mandatory Canadian History course you have to take in Ontario. I've heard enough heroic stories coming from the Second Battle of Ypres, Sommes, and Passchendaele from that course. Then when we got to WWII, all we really talked about were The Battle of Britain, Dunkirk, and Canada on D-Day (+ our sweep through Holland). Nothing about Germany's Blitzkrieg Offensive that absolutely demolished the Polish and French (all we really got told was that Germany had a secret pact with Russia regarding Poland), nothing about operation Barbarossa, Stalingrad, or anything related to the Eastern Front, while the only things mentioned in the Pacific Theatre were the conflicts Canada was in (almost none) and what we did at home to Japanese families.

 

It kinds of saddens me that mandatory history was taught like a propaganda tool rather than lessons from the past.

[obfuscator]

Yet this is elementary school we're talking about (if I remember the course correctly). There isn't always enough time to go into great detail. I also took several history classes in high school that were quite fairly taught.

[decebal]

Yet this is elementary school we're talking about (if I remember the course correctly). There isn't always enough time to go into great detail. I also took several history classes in high school that were quite fairly taught.

That was Grade 10 History I was talking about.

[champion]

AP

That's why. College has no problem teaching world history instead of Euro-centric history. High schools do because it's shorter and easier to teach, and benefits national image.

 

I'll ignore that comment about history being meaningless, though. :wink:

Oh I didn't mean the history itself, I just meant the way it's delivered in elementary school and the like. I don't think kids (myself included) really take much out of history classes when we're like 10 years old.

[TTanT]

This is why I'm glad I only took AP history courses in High School. Sure it murdered my GPA, but I also got a less biased viewpoint from it.

 

Although we never learned anything about recent history because our world history teacher was incompetent and never made it past WWII (she spent a full week on Holocaust camps when we were already nearly a month behind).

[Kaida23]

@decebal, at least you got to learn about stuff that happened within the previous 100 years. My Canadian history course in High School ended with our involvement in the second Boer War. Apparently Canadians did absolutely nothing of note after 1900. :wall:

[Randox]

The one that really stands out in my mind as missing from history is that Russia is I think the only country to ever successfully defeat a Blitzkrieg (by throwing more than one million troops into the defending line, and tens of thousands of artillery units and tanks and planes).

 

And I second Tim. I'm not sure exactly how old you are, but as a general rule of thumb, if your legal and they're minors, that's just not cool. Minors are supposed to be trying to get into the older parties, not the other way around :lol:

[obfuscator]

Yet this is elementary school we're talking about (if I remember the course correctly). There isn't always enough time to go into great detail. I also took several history classes in high school that were quite fairly taught.

That was Grade 10 History I was talking about.

 

Oh okay, I assumed it was the grade 8 one. I don't even remember my grade 10 history...

[Randox]

Was looking at Sim City 5. The rage against Origin is pretty fierce around the net apparently. Not a huge fan for privacy concern reasons, though it seems to do some things better than steam. Anyway, it seems that the next Sim City will either be always on to play, or at least require an active connection to start, and people are flipping the proverbial table over it. I've also run into some interesting arguments between the pirates and the boycotters. By and large, the pirates don't seem to have a lot of support, but I do enjoy the points from both sides about how this kind of DRM drives people to piracy because they actually end up with a better game that costs less.

 

Not really looking for a discussion (unless someone can tell me why people start frothing at the mouth whenever Origin is mentioned), but it's interesting to observe.

 

You also run across stuff like this (http://www.techdirt....l-with-it.shtml), which always makes for a good read if nothing else.

 

I love it for being such a fantastically complex issue that defies our knowledge of economics, because it is a completely new situation (the access, the non existent production cost, the free labour supplied by pirates and the internet in general, etc. is beyond our experience previous to this point in history). Logically, it must also call for an entirely new approach, and mostly I just love reading peoples theories because you end up with some really interesting proposed solutions and theories and it's just really cool.

 

I think the most interesting things will be seen in maybe a couple decades when the executives are replaced by people from the pirating generation itself. People who understand the issue in a different way will have different approaches to deal with it.

[RpgGamer]

My high school just got evacuated because two "suspicious devices" aka bombs went off, and on Facebook I'm seeing they just found a 3rd. No one is seriously injured so far, I guess some teachers got treated for some minor medical stuff. There are police, firefighters, medics, and media everywhere.

 

Pretty scary shit, the worst part is that allegedly the bottles that were used had metal in them so shrapnel could have flown. Obviously no one knows all the details for sure though.

 

Dang.

 

Draino+Aluminum+Barium+pressure. Fun household explosive. But you didn't hear it from me haha

 

I got invited to a party hosted by minors. About 300 people are invited and I only know about 20 of them. Apparently I have left a really good impression on one of the hosts.

Now I am at a dilemma, to go, or not to go. I would meet boatloads of new people, interesting, different people. Most people are artists of some kind. They have also hired a live band.

Then again, as it is a minor party, there is most likely going to be trouble. And as I said I don't know most of the people and if there is so much of those people I tend to keep myself at only the people I know at some quiet spot.

 

When looking back, you'll remember the nights where you snuck out and undermined the law, not the night's you sat around in a quiet place. You better go to that party. Sounds sick. (besides, being of the older crowd makes you sort of a celebrity appearance, it's good fun)

 

Western societies tend to bias their teaching of history.* When I studied history at GCSE level, we did a module on medicine through time. Acupuncture, which forms such a key principle to Chinese medicine, was reserved to a chapter called "Alternative medicine". It was the last chapter in the book. When we studied WW2, almost all of our focus was directed towards the European campaigns, the only other focus being the Battle of the Atlantic. We made no attempt to study the Pacific campaigns by the US, or the context that lead to Japan attacking Pearl Harbor.

 

You won't be surprised to learn that the few times I've studied the American War of Independence, it hasn't been taught as a 'glorious triumph of a colonial power's democractic right to independent autonomy', as I imagine it's presented in most American schools, it's been more like a few people pissed off about high sugar taxes.

 

It doesn't surprise me, therefore, that an article written in Dutch highlights ignorance towards a Chinese dictator, even if he is one of the most important historical figures of all time.

 

* = I'm not saying other societies don't either; Chinese interpretations of history are completely laughable. It's just we like to accuse them of state-sponsored indoctrination, rather than recognise that our own teaching of the subject is less-than-totally accurate

 

former US honors history here. We primarily focus on the Pacific campaign, and especially the Pearl Harbor attack. A lot of politics involved in the US goverment and propagation of the draft. Still taught loads about the general European front though, including the breaking of the Versailles treaty, the communication sabotage from the Germans, invention of radar, The Russian revolution, The battle of Leningrad, and so on and so forth.

 

Granted, the American Revolution was painted to be "[bleep] the Brits, they taxed and massacred our people so we started a war and kicked ass. MURRICA".

[decebal]

The one that really stands out in my mind as missing from history is that Russia is I think the only country to ever successfully defeat a Blitzkrieg (by throwing more than one million troops into the defending line, and tens of thousands of artillery units and tanks and planes).

Don't forget the overstretched German supply line and a winter that was so cold that the Germans had to halt their offensive. Let's face it, the Russians didn't get a full Blitzkrieg, that would've been impossible because of their size :P .

 

On topic, it's still snowing. Not sure if I should be pleased anymore.

 

P.S. I find parties hosted by people younger than me awkward as hell. Then again, they never had live bands.

[Randox]

We are having one of our cold days >.> -14, with -24 windchill. Just looking out the window makes you feel cold.

 

 

Found the actual numbers for Kursk (and remembered the name)

The battle of Kursk. I've always liked this narritive, though it's either counting every single person involved or exaggerating the man count. Armour and plane counts are accurate. It might also be counting the Russian reserve that was ready to go full Rambo if the Germans did the impossible and actually got through the defensive front. Germans didn't even get close.

 

 

The Battle of Kursk was Germany's ill-fated blitzkrieg against the USSR in 1943, the Third Reich's Hail Mary play following the epic ass-kicking they had just suffered at Stalingrad.

 

How serious were they about the Battle of Kursk? Look what they brought:

 

Almost 800,000 men. About 3,000 tanks. More than 2,000 planes. Nearly 10,000 cannons and mortars.

It would be one of the largest attack forces ever assembled in human history. What could possibly stop it? How about the single most powerful defense force ever assembled? The Soviets caught wind of the force the Nazis were massing, and reinforced the region with this:

Nearly 2,000,000 men. More than 5,000 tanks. More than 25,000 big guns and nearly 3,000 aircraft.

The Soviet defensive line alone was more than 150 miles long, and 95 miles deep. They dug 3,000 miles of trenches, and planted a million landmines. Once it was show time in July 1943, you had the best the Germans had versus the best the Soviets had in the largest toe-to-toe battle in human history.

 

The losses were around a combined 6,000 tanks, 5,000 aircraft, and more than on million soldiers. About 80% of the casualties were Russian.

 

Its a very neat battle to study, and also the definition of why you don't invade Russia.

[Crocefisso]

^ I think the Grand Armée's 1812 invasion is the perfect summary of why not to invade Russia. Sure, the casualties weren't the same, but the role the weather played in the 19th century was far more decisive.

[Guest Rob]

.

[Estonian dude]

Perks of living in a small nation between Russia and Western Europe - objective history classes. We study about everything. American Independence, from both sides of view, French Revolution from every side, Napoleonic Wars, WWI and WWII and yeah... Practically you name it, we have gone through it. Spanish Civil War, Sino-Japanese War, Russian-Japanese War of 1905, Chinese Civil War...

Well, we do have history since grades 5th to 12th aswell though.

 

And it turns out I can't go to that party after all... Next morning is the regional Estonian (language, for all you silly people who don't presume that a small and ridiculously succesful country could have its own language) olympiade and I have a good chance of getting to nationals, so I have to be in top shape.

BTW the age difference wouldn't have been so bad, the 3 guys who were hosting the party all got 17 and I am 18. And I have noticed that feeling of being an authority, SOOOO GOOD.

[Randox]

Darn winter making it less obvious which scale I use. That would be -24C, which is actually about as cold as we ever go on the 'feels like' scale. I think we are in the coldes part of the season, at least here, right now. It seems to me it's the tail and of Jan and then at least the first half of Feb when we get the cold weather, with maybe even a couple days hitting -30 on the windchill scale. I'm very glad that we only reach these temperatures as windchill.

 

@Saq, that's not so bad. When you said minor, I was thinking 14-16 (here that would be grades 9-11) which is the usual mix for that age range (here minor specifically means 16 and under). The grade 12's either party with the 11's, or try to get in on the university action.

[Sbrideau]

Yeah, definitely is cold here too. I usually like snow winters more than cold winters (yeah it's usually one or the other, we get much less snow on colder winters, but more snow when it's not as cold a winter as this year's). Somehow my car didn't have much trouble starting at -26 (-38 with windchill) so I guess I just have to clean the poles on the battery. All in Celsius.

[Distracted]

Yup, pretty freaking cold here too. The window in my car is frozen shut. Last I saw, it was -8°C, which is just incredibly frikkin' cold by Belgian standards. I don't remember it ever going under -5°.

 

On the subject of that test they did, you have to understand it was a multiple choice test, there were only 4 choices and you could easily eliminate most answers by just looking at the picture and seeing hints (like the picture of Netanyahu that had an Israeli flag behind it, and at least 2 answers that just couldn't match the picture). For World War 2, there were 5 dates I think, of which 3 in the 20th and 2 in the 19th century, and apparently still that many people actually situated it in the 19th century. The test wasn't in-depth at all, nor do I feel it was a reflection of our history lessons. I've done the whole thing, and there were some questions that were a tad more difficult, but I managed to fill in most of it without issue.

 

The whole point of the test wasn't to test how well people know their history, it's to measure the level of general knowledge of, and I can't stress this part enough, the people who will in 5 years be teaching our children. This'll thus become a vicious circle, where 20 years from now scores would be even worse. You need that kind of general knowledge (the test covered many things superficially, from politics to important historical events to basic geography) to be able to make sense of the world around you. If you don't know what socialism or liberalism stand for, which was also covered, how can you possibly vote (and in a country with obligatory voting, that is kind of a big deal.)

 

I just had a marathon rehearsal with my friends, and it sounded awesome, even if I do say so myself. We played 2 songs for a friend and he was really impressed. Just another confidence boost before the big gig. I won't be able to post here tomorrow, since I'll be out of the house all day preparing for the big gig and celebrating my birthday.

 

Edit: 20 guests? What happened?

[Kaida23]

Last I saw, it was -8°C, which is just incredibly frikkin' cold by Belgian standards. I don't remember it ever going under -5°.

That's it, I'm moving to Belgium.

[decebal]

Some neighbour that lives a block away offered to clean my driveway using his tractor.

 

Can't complain.