Posts by Jessica Gonzalez

I guess Gravity is a pretty thin movie, but it really wins you over with the visuals and the editing. Out of the recent space flicks, it's probably the best one about life on the Moon. The book is also great. Honestly, those two works aren't even in the same league.

I don't want to downplay what makes a film truly great in this day and age, especially when people just sit there comparing them based on which one is more entertaining or whatever. By today's standards, I guess Odyssey might seem a bit slow to most folks. But if you're willing to dig a little deeper, there's so much more substance to find. I mean, I have to say, a masterpiece crafted by Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke probably carries a bit more weight than something written by the Nolan brothers.

I guess 2001: A Space Odyssey feels so much better when you actually understand the context, which seems to be a struggle for people these days. It was filmed before the moon landing, and there was a book being written alongside it as a parallel. If you watch the movie and read the book while keeping that era in mind, it’s incomparable to something like Interstellar. They aren't even in the same category; I wonder if they're even playing the same sport.

restlesssurfer97 said:MJ wasn't even a fan of him. Isaiah.

I watched six episodes last night. He was wearing glasses while being questioned about gambling. I suppose gambling is just his hobby. 🤣

Matthew Young35 said:Don't forget, we were essentially under a form of quarantine ourselves (though, let's be honest, it was mostly just an excuse to relax).
Without those restrictions, that 0.1% or 0.2% could easily have translated into five to ten thousand deaths. And that's assuming the percentage is accurate. Think about it: in just a few months, that would represent nearly half the number of people lost during our last major war.

I think that’s a pretty flawed argument, and I don't mean to be harsh. In the US, we actually see more deaths every single year than the total number of casualties from the war. Comparing the two just doesn't seem to make sense, neither in terms of the numbers nor the context. Plus, the demographics are so different—it feels a bit off to compare young adults lost to violence with elderly people reaching their nineties.

I guess all this hysteria started because the initial infection and death counts were incredibly naive and inaccurate. It led people to believe the mortality rate was somewhere between 10% and 20%, which might actually be off by two orders of magnitude—like, a hundred times higher. I think the problem is that the WHO, national task forces, and a public hungry for instant answers assumed we could track health data and diagnoses for 7.5 billion people in real time. From day one, those dates and numbers have been pretty much useless. I know that might frustrate or scare some people, but I don't think science or technology can truly pinpoint how many people carry the virus, when they caught it, or how the spread will evolve. What we’ve seen is just the tip of the iceberg. Maybe the reason why places like Italy or other large countries saw higher death tolls is closer to chaos theory than a strict cause-and-effect relationship that quarantine is supposed to break. The virus won't hit everyone the same way because there are endless variables—differences in population movement, age structures, habits, social interactions, climate, genetics, and so on. It's a million different factors. If some guy on TV thinks he can cram the entire world into a single curve or coefficient and then acts surprised when nature doesn't follow his rules, well, that's just an illusion. If we were that easy to wipe out, we wouldn't be here. Life fights to survive in ways that are much more complex than simple math.

It looks like this new black apocalypse is going to leave absolutely nothing standing. 🙏

The summers are definitely nicer, and I think I could agree with Frank 100% on that. 👍

Anyway, I’d definitely recommend checking out "In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great." If you can't find it on any torrent sites, I might try to upload it somewhere myself.

The moment we've all been waiting for, everyone:

I'm with Tina on this one; I honestly thought IKEA was just some big thing like General Eisenhower. 🤣

I guess Martin Höllwarth had such a massive nose that he’d probably end up drifting into Canadian airspace during any given tour.

Kyle Campbell4 said:The empire lasted roughly 150 years, which isn't a short run considering its massive scale. Given its sheer enormity, it was bound to fracture eventually. And let’s call them what they were: barbarians. They turned out that way because life on the steppes was brutal and everyone lived in absolute poverty. They were ruthless toward one another, showing no mercy. Later, once they encountered and integrated with the cultures of China, India, and other ancient kingdoms, they softened up a bit. But that initial wave led by Temujin was pure, unadulterated brutality. When Temujin went to avenge his father, who had been poisoned by a rival tribe, he wiped that entire group off the face of the earth. The whole tribe was slaughtered as if they had never existed. While campaigning through China, they were even known to use catapults to hurl plague-infected corpses 🤣 into enemy territory; there were very few psychotic lunatics like that in all of history.

Back in Genghis's day, they didn't actually have a single city; they were essentially one giant mobile unit on the move. Soldiers, horses, women, kids, the elderly—everyone lived in caravans. The idea of staying in one place was totally foreign and honestly seemed repulsive to them. They couldn't wrap their heads around why people in China lived in buildings with walls and roofs, because they were always worried the ceiling might cave in on them. Their first city, Karakorum, was built by Ögedei Khan, who put up this massive silver tree in the center that they had scavenged parts for all across Eurasia. It was kind of like a medieval version of Brasília, since they planned the city on an empty field and hired architects and craftsmen from all over Asia. That silver tree was actually designed by a goldsmith from Paris! They were even pretty tolerant toward different religions back then, allowing Christians and Muslims to practice as long as they stayed obedient and paid their taxes (though, I guess, they didn't really have much of a choice...).

Under Ögedei and his successors, Karakorum became a major site for world politics. Möngke Khan had the palace enlarged, and the great stupa temple completed. They had the Parisian goldsmith, Guillaume Bouchier, design the Silver Tree of Karakorum for the city center. A large tree sculpted of silver and other precious metals rose up from the middle of the courtyard and loomed over the palace, with the branches of the tree extended into the building. Silver fruit hung from the limbs and it had four golden serpents braided around the trunk, while within the top of the tree was placed a trumpet angel, all as automata performing for the emperor's pleasure. When the khan wanted to summon the drinks for his guests, the mechanical angel raised the trumpet to his lips and sounded the horn, whereupon the mouths of the serpents began to gush out a fountain of alcoholic beverages into the large silver basin arranged at the base of the tree.

That part of the world was way ahead of America or Europe before the plague hit. They had bigger cities, larger wars, and more advanced military and civilian tech. Like I mentioned before, the Song Dynasty was comparable to modern states in many ways. Even after the plague, Chinese sailors were building wooden ships 430 feet long that could reach the coast of Africa. Central Asia was also one of the wealthiest regions in the world, filled with huge cities along the Silk Road. The Mongols just turned them all into dust, and those regions haven't really recovered to this day. What used to be the world's main transit route is now just a flight path that takes a few hours in a jet...

I guess Andreas Goldberger just isn't my type, he has a bit of an unpleasant look about him!

urbanhawk17 said:He jumped 97 meters, not 73.

I suppose I agree, it was one of the greatest tragedies in sports.

I might be looking at a different scoreboard, so those could just be points. Either way, it looks like he earned almost half the points compared to his first jump.

I remember being at the Olympic venue in Lake Placid when one of the most heartbreaking moments in modern sports history went down—that legendary collapse by Masahiko Harada during the team ski jumping event back in '94. The Japanese squad was basically the absolute dream team of that era, featuring legends like Okabe, Harada, Kasai, and Nishikata. They had dominated every single round and held a massive lead heading into the final jump. Harada only needed to hit about 90 meters to lock in the gold for his country, especially since his first jump was sitting around 119 meters. Instead, he barely managed 73... I honestly felt a tear in my eye standing there near the landing zone while some younger American athletes were training nearby. Most of my coworkers who were there didn't have any clue about the heavy history that had unfolded on that hill. Honestly, compared to what Harada went through, even a massive upset like Brazil's loss in the '50 World Cup feels small; that choke was truly cosmic.

Luckily, things turned around in '98 when the Dream Team finally secured that gold, along with a win from Funaki in the individual event. They just missed out on a perfect hat-trick of gold medals by a single point.

Locking this thread

Matthew Young35 said:Everything seems to be moving at such a frantic pace lately that even charisma feels like it has a shorter shelf life. For instance, I can't quite wrap my head around that old gag—you know, the one where someone draws caricatures all over town? Or even that recent bit where he just popped out of a tin of Pringles. He’s definitely past his prime.

I suppose during his absolute peak, Zlatko Sudac was like a master at slipping through defensive walls, almost like a teleporter. You could maybe call him the Ronaldinho of modern playmakers. 🙏

It’s funny how they framed his story, almost like he was some kid from a refugee camp arriving in the States with nothing but a couple of bucks in his pocket. That commentator keeps talking about how he rose up from oppression and poverty, even though his family is probably doing better than most American players, especially in the NBA. I guess it just makes for a great narrative. 🙏

Kyle Campbell4 said:It appears I am certainly not alone in my lifelong admiration for the Japanese in ski jumping. As a young boy, I would religiously tune in to the New Year's 4 Trampoline, the Olympics, and absolutely any broadcast that featured jumping events. My allegiance was always firmly with the Japanese team. I fell in love with their technique; their school of jumping is unparalleled. The wide stance of the skis combined with a body lean so extreme it almost aligns perfectly with the equipment creates a breathtaking sight. Watching them glide through the air is mesmerizing. In those few seconds of flight, you truly feel immortal, soaring through the sky like a bird.

Regarding the discussion on military commanders, my personal favorite has always been Alexander the Great. He possessed a stern countenance and the mind of a true visionary. It is a tragedy that he could not have achieved even greater feats had he not been cut down by illness.
However, if we are being strictly realistic, the greatest commander in human history was Tughril. He engineered a combat machine that was nothing short of fascinating. It took him twenty years of relentless effort to conquer and unify the various tribes, but once they began their expansion, they essentially flattened everything in their path. They operated with an unprecedented level of terror and brutality. To kill 40 million people in an era defined by swords, spears, and bows is a staggering concept. If you were to hand that Golden Horde modern firearms, there likely wouldn't be a single non-Mongol left alive, lol. There is something profoundly intense about the legend of how they terrified the Persians, utilizing psychological warfare to systematically dismantle them. They would lay siege to a city and, while doing so, construct pyramids out of human skulls. You find yourself fighting while paralyzed by sheer dread because you have never encountered such psychotic lunatics in your life.

It’s true though, you really seem to know your stuff. From what I understand about his history, Genghis Khan's life was incredibly tough; he was basically an outcast abandoned in the wilderness, barely surviving. He even ended up as a slave at one point. Even so, he rose to lead his tribe, unified the Mongols, and conquered what felt like the entire world for those clans at the time. But since they were mostly focused on conquest rather than building lasting civilizations, his successors pretty quickly squandered the reputation that he and his sons worked so hard to build.

urbanhawk17 said:The coronavirus actually showed up in the States as early as December 27th.

http://hr.n1info.com/Svijet/a506089/...g-otkrica.html

It probably surfaced even earlier, too. I guess I read some accounts online—though you have to take the internet with a grain of salt—suggesting people in places like Colorado or Utah might have noticed unusual pneumonia cases late last year, but maybe they didn't want to make a big deal out of it during peak ski season. Either way, I suppose official dates for when a virus first hits a country can often be pushed back by several weeks.