What do you assign to Orthanc?

[Brinniel]

Snow.

It's so purdy....


...until the wind picks up and decides to blow in your face.

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

It is always nice when a beautiful girl pay notice to you, but you always want it to be for something else than random knowledge. . . . In this case the random knowledge was the name of Swedens national antheme: "Du gamla, du fria"

[Groin Redbeard]

Originally Posted by Rune Son of Bjarne

It is always nice when a beautiful girl pay notice to you, but you always want it to be for something else than random knowledge. . . . In this case the random knowledge was the name of Swedens national antheme: "Du gamla, du fria"

Who cares, the question is did you get the girl!

By the way what does that mean? Is that it "You old, you free?"

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

I assign signing up for your exam on a relatively late (afternoon) term. I mean, I have at least about an hour before preparing to go, now I am here and not sure what to do, I won't revise for it anymore nor make any creative effort, so I am just hanging around, and of course I resorted to going to the Downs... and posting on unimportant things.

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

Originally Posted by Groin Redbeard

Who cares, the question is did you get the girl!

By the way what does that mean? Is that it "You old, you free?"

yep that is the direct translation. . . one could also translate it "Thou ancient, thou free"

The funny thing is that this song was not written about Sweden at all, it was part of Scandinaviasm/Nordism and is about the lovelieness of the north. Only latter was verse added that mention Sweden as such.

Norways national antheme also talk about "Three Brothers" (Denmark, Norway, Sweden), but neither the danish royal antheme or the danish national antheme mentions the other countries.

[Rikae]

The avast virus alert in German. I'm not one of those people who associates that particular language with evil, but that voice is just deliciously demonic.

[Groin Redbeard]

Them is fighting words!

[skip spence]

Originally Posted by Rune Son of Bjarne

The funny thing is that this song was not written about Sweden at all, it was part of Scandinaviasm/Nordism and is about the lovelieness of the north. Only latter was verse added that mention Sweden as such.

Norways national antheme also talk about "Three Brothers" (Denmark, Norway, Sweden), but neither the danish royal antheme or the danish national antheme mentions the other countries.

I believe it was written in the mid 19th century to help strengthen the then quite recent (forced) union between the kingdom of Sweden and Norway. Sweden probably harboured hopes of regaining Finland too at this time, which they just lost to Russia, but before that had been a part of the kingdom for many centuries. Sweden had wrestled Norway from Denmark, their arch-enemies, after a successful field-campain by the newly appointed king, Frenchman Jean Baptiste Bernadotte, who had no Swedish connections apart from leading an invading army against the country only a few years before receiving the crown. This happened in the aftermath of Napoleon's big defeat, which Bernadotte, once favoured by the little big man, was instrumental in achieving with his inside information. In Norway however there was little interest in being the subjects of a French Swedish king; nationalism was stirring and they desired independence but had to wait almost a hundred years to get it. "Du gamla, Du Fria", written as a Scandinavian anthem, later became the unofficial Swedish national anthem, although it never mentions the country in question.

I assign nationalism.

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

Originally Posted by skip spence

I believe it was written in the mid 19th century to help strengthen the then quite recent (forced) union between the kingdom of Sweden and Norway. Sweden probably harboured hopes of regaining Finland too at this time, which they just lost to Russia, but before that had been a part of the kingdom for many centuries. Sweden had wrestled Norway from Denmark, their arch-enemies, after a successful field-campain by the newly appointed king, Frenchman Jean Baptiste Bernadotte, who had no Swedish connections apart from leading an invading army against the country only a few years before receiving the crown. This happened in the aftermath of Napoleon's big defeat, which Bernadotte, once favoured by the little big man, was instrumental in achieving with his inside information. In Norway however there was little interest in being the subjects of a French Swedish king; nationalism was stirring and they desired independence but had to wait almost a hundred years to get it. "Du gamla, Du Fria", written as a Scandinavian anthem, later became the unofficial Swedish national anthem, although it never mentions the country in question.

I assign nationalism.

Wrestled Norway from Denmark. . .Sweden did no such thing. It was demanded by England! Norway declared independency and Denmark got the tiny duchy of Lauenburg (northern Germany) as compensation. Norway elected the danish prince Christian as king, got one of the most democratic constitutions in europe and was then invated by Sweden. . .

Anyways the song is from 1844, by this time the ancient rivalry of the north had been substituted by sense of common history and brotherhood. In the first war of Slesvig (1848-1850) between Denmark and Slesvig-Holsten (supported my Prussia), there where troops from Norway and Sweden in Denmark to defend her.

[skip spence]

Originally Posted by Rune Son of Bjarne

Wrestled Norway from Denmark. . .Sweden did no such thing. It was demanded by England! Norway declared independency and Denmark got the tiny duchy of Lauenburg (northern Germany) as compensation. Norway elected the danish prince Christian as king, got one of the most democratic constitutions in europe and was then invated by Sweden. . .

If I remember correctly one of the conditions Bernadotte put on joining the anti-French coalition was England's support for his plans on Norway, which was given. First Bernadotte commanded the international North Army against Napoleon, but when that war was won, he marched with the Swedish army (which he had spared from most of the fighting up until now) on Denmark. He won a few minor battles and when Copenhagen was threatened the Danes gave up, and lost Norway in the subsequent peace treaties. I don't know if the English were present during the negotiations, they might have been. When Norway refused to accept the "union", they were invaded and defeated by the Swedish army, as you said. Norway got to keep their modern constitution though and was an autonomous region until 1905 when they gained full independence.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Animal shelters.

On one hand, all of the pets I've ever had have been adoptees that needed love, and shelters are full of awesome people who work really hard and don't get nearly enough credit for the amazing work that they do.

On the other hand, I can't take every pet in that I come across and I always feel guilty for not being able to adopt them all.

[Lindale]

The University of the Philippines lost in the cheerdancing competition today. Well, not really lost lost, we just slid from being two-year champions to second runner-up.

We had a tarp, "UP is way beyond the Gold Standard," gold being the color of our rival for the top notch, University of Santo Tomas. When I dropped my attendance card, a UST person picked it up, returned it to me, but gave me a severe sermon about the arrogance of UP, whose tuitions are paid for by them, the taxpayers. He even said something to the effect that they, the Dominicans, are taught good manners while us liberal/free-thinkers have forgotten what sportsmanship is. I was so humiliated, for something that I was not directly at fault. But I did learn a very great lesson in humility.

UST didn't even make it.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

caused by knowing too many people with the same name.

Bad part: thinking my favorite paternal cousin was spontaneously getting married next summer even though it's wildly out of character and really a terrible idea (I was talking to his mom, hence associating the right name with the wrong person).

Good part: the massive flood of relief that came when he responded to my frantic e-mail ("Your mom just said you're getting married. WHAT!? When?! I want details. Spill!") with a lot of laughter.

I thought I was going to have to talk that boy out of some pretty serious stuff.

[Lalaith]

Added responsibilities at work that bring you a small increase in salary, and that you know will be good for your career prospects long-term, but are so time-consuming that you no longer have a life.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Shameless sequels to already trashy movies. Specifically sequels with all new actors for the same characters, because presumably the original actors had too much pride to take part in the new version.

So fun to watch... So terrible... Such awful acting...

Kinda like the mental equivalent of eating a popsicle.

[Lindale]

Dad eating my precious champorado. I kept looking for hours where the big pan full of that gooey brown stuff was, until he asked me what I was looking for, and said he ate the entire pan.

To add insult to the injury, he also said my cooking was way too sweet, and that I used coffee creamer instead of real milk. He shouldn't complain, when I was cooking I asked if anybody wanted some, and he said he didn't want any!

[Formendacil]

I assign seriously contemplating major life changes to Orthanc. On the one hand, I haven't felt this alive in months.... on the other hand, I haven't had this much sheer fear (aka adrenaline) in my blood stream in months...

*panics*

[Thinlómien]

*hugs Form* It'll be fine.

On the same topic, I assign future. (Philosophical eh?) I should start thinking about picking minors (and thus what I want to do in my life) and student exchanges and whatnot, and it's very exciting but also extremely stressful...

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

The progress I made on my BA-project today. While it was nice actually getting my thoughts organized, it also made me realised just how much work i need to do before I can really start the writting process.

[Thinlómien]

I assign deadlines.

I know I need them but it's not nice at all when they coincide.