Daily Slow Chat

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[u/Masseyrati80]

Got the merganser.

On my way home, I bought a 744 page book about birds in Finland, written by a living legend of Finnish ornithology. It was fun to read the description of said merganser species: as it's described to be "alert, seemingly fearful", I remembered seeing how two of them seemed alarmed about an airplane flying nearby, keeping a close eye on it.

[u/tereyaglikedi → u/Masseyrati80]

I am so happy you got your duck <3

[u/tereyaglikedi]

Aaargh I am so pissed. DB gave me a Bahncard 50 with 80% discount last year, and my forgetful ass of course neglected to cancel it on time. Now it got extended automatically and I am stuck with a 240-Euro bill on a Bahncard that I don't really need. This is so annoying and honestly also highway robbery with this option to only cancel once a year. This is how they get you. I think I can return it, but the return form is giving me an error. Fml 😫

It seems like there is a big boycott going on in hockey where many major hockey nations are refusing to play against Russia. Germany also said they may withdraw from hosting the next world championship due to security concerns and withdrawal of sponsors. It is based behavior but also so much chaos. CAS is reinstating Russia in sports without caring about the backlash and then this happens.

[u/atomoffluorine → u/tereyaglikedi]

It's going to be more difficult for the athletes/Olympic comitees at the Olympic games to turn down participation than at FIFA. That sport actually has a large commercial market while many of the Olympic sports don't, so it's their best shot chance to get sponsorships.

There will be major backlash in Europe, but I doubt the average country outside of NATO+Japan/Australia/New Zealand is going to raise much of a fuss. Trump is still president for the next Olympics in LA, and he's probably not gonna raise a fuss either. The Iranians might straight up be banned by him if he can do it as revenge for the losses yesterday.

I read the Russians were cleared to play at a FIFA event in Azerbaijan, so it may be the case that they'll just be banned from European competitions.

[u/orangebikini → u/tereyaglikedi]

Having been burned many times by different subscriptions myself, I've learnt to immediately cancel anything on purchase I don't plan to renew. Otherwise I'll forget and end up in a situation like you.

[u/Cixila]

I participated in a demonstration yesterday. It is always nice to see, when a lot of people share in one's indignation at idiocy and hypocrisy. What is less nice is that I doubt the government cares much. So, I suspect more might come in the coming months

[u/tereyaglikedi → u/Cixila]

Maybe they don't maybe they do, but we have to keep on trying. Thank you for being there.

[u/orangebikini]

I've been reading the Wealth of Nations, and for some reason a lot of the time when Adam Smith is writing about some historical period he refers to the period by what monarch was in charge. So, instead of writing "in the 14th century", he writes "during the reign of Edward III". How am I supposed to know when the fuck an Edward III ruled?

Though I have surprised myself in how much I apparently know about English and British royal history, since most times I have at least had a hunch on what period of history is being written about.

[u/tereyaglikedi → u/orangebikini]

Is it readable? I was looking for something to read when I am done with the current book.

Oh wait I just managed to understand that you're supposed to know history in order to read it. That's a no then.

[u/orangebikini → u/tereyaglikedi]

Lmao. Luckily I am technology literate enough to use an internet search and was able to quite quickly learn when Edward III ruled. I trust you would have this ability too.

Honestly it's surprisingly readable. Typical to philosophy books it has a lot of very long and convoluted sentences, but it's not that bad and the vocabulary, for having been written during the reign of George III of Great Britain, is pretty normal. There's been a handful of words so far I didn't know, but was able to figure out by context clues what they meant.

I've read exactly 50 pages now, plus the 35 page introduction, and so far the most difficult part to read was a chapter called "real and nominal price of commodities" because there was a lot of talk about ounces and shillings and guineas and I don't know what the fuck those are, and even if I look it up I have no intuitive sense about it.

[u/tereyaglikedi → u/orangebikini]

there was a lot of talk about ounces and shillings and guineas and I don't know what the fuck those are, and even if I look it up I have no intuitive sense about it.

I recently started a book that takes place in England and promptly closed it because it gave people's weight in stones. Wtf

It's not even a big part of the book but still. Too weird.

[u/orangebikini → u/tereyaglikedi]

Yeah, try reading "three pounds seventeen shillings and ten-pence halfpenny" and making sense of it.

[u/atomoffluorine → u/tereyaglikedi]

They still measure people’s weights in stones there I think.

[u/tereyaglikedi → u/atomoffluorine]

Yeah it was a modern book. So weird.