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5 comments
The war in Ukraine has probably produced somewhere between 80k-160k fatalities according to some recent leaks. That’s the deadliest war in terms of military deaths since the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, I believe. I’m not sure if there’s that many conflicts involving that many combat fatalities since WWII (Vietnam, Korea, Iran-Iraq, Soviet war in Afghanistan (maybe depending on this war’s true death toll)) which is kind of amazing to think about because single battles and campaigns produced more deaths in WW2 and WW1 than the war in Ukraine so far. I guess major powers not fighting each other directly has really dropped the casualty figures.
Is there any completely pointless piece of knowledge you still remember from your schooldays that is permanently etched on your brain but that you have absolutely no use whatsoever for in your daily life? I’m talking things on the level of “The Mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell”.
There are 3 that come to mind for me:
– The Ancient Celts built their houses out of wattle and daub (that’s the first and last time I have ever heard the words “wattle” and “daub” used in a sentence.)
– The first traffic light in Europe was built in Potsdamer Platz in 1924.
– Rubyfruit Jungle was a popular pulp fiction novel in the 80s (and various other pointless 80s pop culture references I got from having to study [Educating Rita](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educating_Rita?wprov=sfla1) at school)
Driving to Bordeaux/San Sebastian for a holiday.
Any recommendations are appreciated.
Something I rarely do is listen to Finnish pop music, but today was an exception. I was listening to the song [Kahdeksanvuotiaana](https://youtu.be/KExIkuQca0k) by Ultra Bra. My favourite. In the song the narrator expresses the grave concern about total nuclear armageddon they felt as a child. They look through maps to find a peaceful island in the Pacific that would be away from the fallout only to learn that it was on those peaceful islands where all the nuclear tests were conducted.
So I started thinking about the tests, and wouldn’t it be cool to see one live? I’m like super anti-nuclear weapon, I don’t like it at all. But to see a massive explosion like that in the horizon, it must bring up such powerful emotions in you. The awe and sense of helplessness I already feel just thinking about these explosions, that’d probably be amplified tenfold.
Though as cool as seeing a test would be, it’d be way cooler if there was no nuclear weapons at all.
I think I should actually post this to the front page, but let me first vent a bit here 😂 Does your country have a central medical registry where doctors can access your data such as recent blood work, medical images, etc? We have this in Turkey, it is so convenient. I can’t get over the fact that in Germany you still have to carry fucking CDs and printed papers with you when you go to the doctor (not to mention that you lose so much time if you don’t have that particular result with you). Also, if you lose something, it’s gone. You have to redo it.
And there is a whole group of people who are vehemently against such a system. I don’t get it.