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John Byrne
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Grumpy Old Guy

Joined: 11 May 2005
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Posted: 09 June 2024 at 12:19am | IP Logged | 1 post reply

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.

•••

That’s some weird math you’ve got there.

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Matt Reed
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Robotmod

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Posted: 09 June 2024 at 6:42am | IP Logged | 2 post reply

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.

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Houston Mitchell
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Posted: 09 June 2024 at 8:35am | IP Logged | 3 post reply

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.
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James Woodcock
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Posted: 10 June 2024 at 5:16am | IP Logged | 4 post reply

The EU has just held elections with results showing a large swing to the
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
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Posted: 10 June 2024 at 1:47pm | IP Logged | 5 post reply

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.

Edited by Dave Kopperman on 10 June 2024 at 3:01pm
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John Byrne
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Posted: 10 June 2024 at 2:16pm | IP Logged | 6 post reply

Those who do not learn from the mistakes of history…..

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
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Posted: 10 June 2024 at 3:16pm | IP Logged | 7 post reply

 JB wrote:
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
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Grumpy Old Guy

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Posted: 10 June 2024 at 3:40pm | IP Logged | 8 post reply

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!

Sounds a lot like the internet, tho I cannot certainly say that was my inspiration.

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Dave Kopperman
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Posted: 10 June 2024 at 3:51pm | IP Logged | 9 post reply

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.
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Peter Martin
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Posted: 10 June 2024 at 7:58pm | IP Logged | 10 post reply


 QUOTE:
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
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Posted: 13 June 2024 at 10:57am | IP Logged | 11 post reply

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.
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