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        | John Byrne 
   Grumpy Old Guy
 
 Joined: 11 May 2005
 Posts: 135206
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          In 1984, there were major celebrations to mark the 40th anniversary of D Day. At assembly in school we discussed why they were marking the 40th and not the 50th.
           | Posted: 09 June 2024 at 12:19am | IP Logged | 1 | post reply |  
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 |  ••• That’s some weird math you’ve got there. 
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        | Matt Reed Byrne Robotics Security
 
   Robotmod
 
 Joined: 16 April 2004
 Posts: 36424
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          Agreed. That doesn’t track. ‘84 was the 40th anniversary. ‘94 was the 50th of D-Day.
           | Posted: 09 June 2024 at 6:42am | IP Logged | 2 | post reply |  
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 In ‘84 fifty years previous would have been when Nazi Germany established their first concentration camps in 1934. 
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        | Houston Mitchell Byrne Robotics Member
 
  
 Joined: 03 May 2004
 Location: United States
 Posts: 227
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          I think he's saying something to the effect of "At assembly in school we discussed why they were marking the 40th instead of waiting for the 50th." Not that they should have called the 40th the 50th.
           | Posted: 09 June 2024 at 8:35am | IP Logged | 3 | post reply |  
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        | James Woodcock Byrne Robotics Member
 
  
 Joined: 21 September 2007
 Location: United Kingdom
 Posts: 8213
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          The EU has just held elections with results showing a large swing to the
           | Posted: 10 June 2024 at 5:16am | IP Logged | 4 | post reply |  
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 |  right.
 In the UK, we have a PM who left the commemorations early, & has
 admitted that was always his plan to do so. Because he just doesn’t seem
 capable of understanding the importance of these things. Our polls are
 showing a move to the further right by those that were right leaning.
 
 I worry. I really do.
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        | Dave Kopperman Byrne Robotics Member
 
  
 Joined: 27 December 2004
 Location: United States
 Posts: 3797
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          The EU's rightward shift is in line with my view that the 21st century is a bad digital remix of the 20th.  It's all the same stuff, mostly in the same order, but instead of Holst and Stravinsky setting the tone for this next section we've got Skrillex and Sia.
           | Posted: 10 June 2024 at 1:47pm | IP Logged | 5 | post reply |  
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 Edited by Dave Kopperman on 10 June 2024 at 3:01pm
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        | John Byrne 
   Grumpy Old Guy
 
 Joined: 11 May 2005
 Posts: 135206
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          Those who do not learn from the mistakes of history…..
           | Posted: 10 June 2024 at 2:16pm | IP Logged | 6 | post reply |  
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 |  As we have seen here in the US there will always be those who embrace the worst ideas, even after they have been shown as total failures. The Nazis and the Confederacy, for instance.  It comes, I think, from the same part of our brains that send people flocking to conspiracy theories. A need to feel “cool” and apart from the sheep all around. 
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        | Dave Kopperman Byrne Robotics Member
 
  
 Joined: 27 December 2004
 Location: United States
 Posts: 3797
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           | Posted: 10 June 2024 at 3:16pm | IP Logged | 7 | post reply |  
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| JB wrote: 
 
    
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       | Those who do not learn from the mistakes of history….. |  |  |  
 Idea for a stupid short story: social media becomes an emergent AI, and with its twin functions of treating all input as remix fodder and to maintain maximum engagement, it manipulates users to unwittingly participate in a global reenactment of the greatest historical hits.  All the shit hits all the fans at once. | 
       
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        | John Byrne 
   Grumpy Old Guy
 
 Joined: 11 May 2005
 Posts: 135206
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          One of the characters Roger Stern and I introduced in LOST GENERATION was a villain called Rumor. His power was that anyone who heard his voice was compelled to believe anything he said—and to repeat it!
           | Posted: 10 June 2024 at 3:40pm | IP Logged | 8 | post reply |  
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 |  Sounds a lot like the internet, tho I cannot certainly say that was my inspiration. 
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        | Dave Kopperman Byrne Robotics Member
 
  
 Joined: 27 December 2004
 Location: United States
 Posts: 3797
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          Anytime an idea like that has turned up in fiction, they've always been intended to serve as a warning.  It's totally fascinating that Silicon Valley is developing tools pellmell without any of the absolutely necessary ethical guardrails in place first.
           | Posted: 10 June 2024 at 3:51pm | IP Logged | 9 | post reply |  
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        | Peter Martin Byrne Robotics Member
 
  
 Joined: 17 March 2008
 Location: Canada
 Posts: 16240
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           | Posted: 10 June 2024 at 7:58pm | IP Logged | 10 | post reply |  
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| QUOTE: 
 
    
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       | Agreed. That doesn’t track. ‘84 was the 40th anniversary. ‘94 was the 50th of D-Day. 
 In ‘84 fifty years previous would have been when Nazi Germany established their first concentration camps in 1934. |  |  | 
 84 was the 40th anniversary. Yes. That was the point of my story. It would have helped if I'd added: "and not waiting" 
 Normally a big celebration is for the 50th. There hadn't been notably large celebrations for the 30th, or 35th, for example. The teacher was asking why they were making such a point of celebrating 40 years instead of waiting to do 50 years in 1994. 
 Edited by Peter Martin on 10 June 2024 at 8:13pm
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        | Jim Burdo Byrne Robotics Member
 
  
 Joined: 19 April 2020
 Location: United States
 Posts: 374
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          If you're going to politicize the D-Day anniversary, keep in mind that the majority of those soldiers would have been called "far-right" by the people claiming fascism is on the rise. Even in his own time, Churchill was on the right, now he's derided as a racist and a bigot, and his statues are vandalized.
           | Posted: 13 June 2024 at 10:57am | IP Logged | 11 | post reply |  
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