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History and your personal life
Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2011 5:36 am
by ilovestrategy
About a week ago when I was making a futile attempt to get my teenage girl out of bed in a timely manner I wondered if this was anything like the Marines trying to get some Japs out of a pillbox on Iwo Jima.
At a fire drill at my work all the kids(I work in the school district) marched out of their classrooms with one kid from each class holding a standard with their classroom number and all I could think about was Scipio at the Battle of Carthage.
Has anyone else ever had thoughts of history come up when experiencing something in your every day lives?
RE: History and your personal life
Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2011 5:58 am
by warspite1
I was seeing a client about a possible financing deal in the Czech Republic a few years back. The client had presented a "fact sheet" about Czech which, at the top, containing useful high level info - a flag of the country, capital city, regions, population, main industries etc etc. I started to flick through this as the client began talking but only got so far as seeing the words Bohemia and Moravia.
From this point - and for a good length of time - I was quite involuntarily in another world, totally oblivious to what the poor client was saying. All that came into my mind was images and thoughts around WWII, the Protectorate of Bohemia-Moravia, Operation Daybreak, Heinrich Himmler, his assasination, Lidice etc etc.
I think I got away with it as fortunately I had a colleague with me who was able to interact with the client whilst I desparately sought to catch up with the conversation....
RE: History and your personal life
Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2011 6:07 am
by warishere
Dealing with auto traffic must have been similar to the axis' ordeal of dealing with the Allies blockade of supply lines during WWII in the pacific and the atlantic. Other than that, nothing can be compared to the hellish reality that is war. If wargames have taught me anything, its the fact that I NEVER want to participate in a war and I would never want anyone to participate in such a brutal act. However, I love studying military history and all the little intricacies of war but I know the odds of surviving such brutality are very slim and in my old and wise years I have learned that nothing I experience in my everyday life can compare to what its like to fight in a real life or death conflict.
RE: History and your personal life
Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2011 11:28 am
by E
Events in my life more resemble a cross between Mad Max and Bob Newhart.
RE: History and your personal life
Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2011 1:23 pm
by SlickWilhelm
ORIGINAL: warspite1
Heinrich Himmler, his assasination, Lidice etc etc.
Um, I think you meant Reinhard Heydrich. Whom, btw, is celebrating his 69th year in hell as I write this.
RE: History and your personal life
Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2011 1:47 pm
by warspite1
ORIGINAL: Slick Wilhelm
ORIGINAL: warspite1
Heinrich Himmler, his assasination, Lidice etc etc.
Um, I think you meant Reinhard Heydrich. Whom, btw, is celebrating his 69th year in hell as I write this.
Warspite1
No Um about it - yes of course I meant to say Heydrich, not Himmler - and I am sure he is in good company there with his old boss for one.
RE: History and your personal life
Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2011 5:46 pm
by Brigz
Every day I'm at work I'm reminded of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia.
RE: History and your personal life
Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2011 6:44 pm
by Andrew Williams
You work at a Butchers?
RE: History and your personal life
Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2011 2:01 am
by Anthropoid
This should be an good thread. I want to hear Terminus link this metaphor to the care and hygiene of his most inferior distal digits.
Me: here lately I've been taking my little Papillon snow shoeing a lot. Sort've reminded me of Napoleon's Winter March [:D]

RE: History and your personal life
Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2011 4:18 am
by JWW
I am reminded of my Army career when I see the UPS "logistics" commercials. Not that there was much history involved in my Army career.
RE: History and your personal life
Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2011 6:28 am
by ilovestrategy
ORIGINAL: Anthropoid
This should be an good thread. I want to hear Terminus link this metaphor to the care and hygiene of his most inferior distal digits.
Me: here lately I've been taking my little Papillon snow shoeing a lot. Sort've reminded me of Napoleon's Winter March [:D]
It does, doesn't it? [:D] Is the dog ok, looks like he's freezing! [X(]
RE: History and your personal life
Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2011 7:06 am
by warspite1
One other part of everyday life that gets me in WWII mode - and yes, I admit, I have got it bad - is number plates!!
They changed the number plate system in the UK a few years back. I won't bore you with the details but one of the consequences was that some number plates begin with the letters KG followed by a couple of numbers. Every time I see one it puts me in mind of the Battle of Britain.....I need therapy [;)]
RE: History and your personal life
Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2011 7:37 am
by cantona2
ORIGINAL: ilovestrategy
About a week ago when I was making a futile attempt to get my teenage girl out of bed in a timely manner I wondered if this was anything like the Marines trying to get some Japs out of a pillbox on Iwo Jima.
At a fire drill at my work all the kids(I work in the school district) marched out of their classrooms with one kid from each class holding a standard with their classroom number and all I could think about was Scipio at the Battle of Carthage.
Has anyone else ever had thoughts of history come up when experiencing something in your every day lives?
All the time as I teach History in school and trying to make the subject as real and tangible as possible for my pupils to understand I make as many examples using their own experiences,eg
Compare Premier League footballers to Roman Gladiators - providing entertainment and the fame they procured
In my own life, I am embarassed to admit its all the time, eg saw the personalised number plate 109 on the car in front of my bike the other day instantly began to wonder is it a Gustaf, an Emil?
And so on
RE: History and your personal life
Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2011 3:48 pm
by Anthropoid
Yeah, she's fine. Just a few weeks from being 1 year old. Paps are not known for their cold weather endurance, and she certainly cannot stay out there for hours or anything. But yeah, she was fine. We go out 2 to 3 times a day for 20 to 40 minutes and she always makes a point of dashing right off up to her ear fluff into it [:D] Quite thankfully she loves that stuff; makes keeping her exercised easier. Need to get some video of her in it so you can see the elation. After snapping about 100 shots of her darting and jumping and playing in the snow, that is the one shot where I managed to catch her during the split second before she starting moving again. The look on her face probably reflects the imminent impulse to bound again [:D]
RE: History and your personal life
Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2011 4:39 pm
by ilovestrategy
Anthropoid that is so cool.
RE: History and your personal life
Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2011 8:53 pm
by hgilmer3
Sometimes at work I want to rail at someone like Mr. Roberts did to the Captain in the movie Mr. Roberts.
How did you ever get command of a ship? I realize in wartime they have to scrape the bottom of the barrel, but where did they ever scrape you up?
RE: History and your personal life
Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2011 10:14 pm
by 06 Maestro
ORIGINAL: hgilmer3
Sometimes at work I want to rail at someone like Mr. Roberts did to the Captain in the movie Mr. Roberts.
How did you ever get command of a ship? I realize in wartime they have to scrape the bottom of the barrel, but where did they ever scrape you up?
[:D]
RE: History and your personal life
Posted: Tue Jan 25, 2011 4:44 am
by ilovestrategy
ORIGINAL: hgilmer3
Sometimes at work I want to rail at someone like Mr. Roberts did to the Captain in the movie Mr. Roberts.
How did you ever get command of a ship? I realize in wartime they have to scrape the bottom of the barrel, but where did they ever scrape you up?
Oh Snap! [:D]