robotresearcher (u/robotresearcher)

robotresearcher commented on “This telegram must be closely paraphrased before being communicated to anyone” history.stackexchange.com... · Posted by u/azeemba

trhway · 5 hours ago

At the end of 90-s some parts sent to the Russian Mir space station were found and bought at flea market - these parts had been pinched from work and their production ceased during those years of collapse in USSR/Russia.

robotresearcher · 5 hours ago

Oh that’s delightful! I love how contingent these things can be.

robotresearcher commented on When the sun will literally set on what's left of the British Empire oikofuge.com/sun-sets-on-... · Posted by u/bediger4000

ozim · 7 hours ago

Well I did not expect the thread to be that good ... but I am definitely going to get popcorn out to eat while I read all the people telling me that :)

robotresearcher · 5 hours ago

Ha! Yeah, Canadians are quick and eager to describe their independence from the UK, relatively fresh as it is :)

Americans had 200 year dramatic and violent head start and everyone has figured that out by now. The details of Canada’s status are understandably less well known.

robotresearcher commented on When the sun will literally set on what's left of the British Empire oikofuge.com/sun-sets-on-... · Posted by u/bediger4000

tonymet · 7 hours ago

the king can call you to war right?

robotresearcher · 5 hours ago

No, only parliament can declare war. And the King of Canada is a different role than the King of the UK, as explained many times in the thread.

robotresearcher commented on When the sun will literally set on what's left of the British Empire oikofuge.com/sun-sets-on-... · Posted by u/bediger4000

bobsmooth · 7 hours ago

Great, tell ozim that.

robotresearcher · 5 hours ago

So your question was rhetorical. Not totally obvious to me, and I answered it as if it was a normal question.

robotresearcher commented on When the sun will literally set on what's left of the British Empire oikofuge.com/sun-sets-on-... · Posted by u/bediger4000

paulddraper · 6 hours ago

Perhaps so.

Should you care, here’s the link to correct Wikipedia:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Canadian_monarchs

robotresearcher · 5 hours ago

That page correctly describes the different entities that are all called ‘Canada’. It’s not wrong. The one that has its own monarch - the King/Queen of Canada - is the modern one, established in 1984.

Previous to that, the UK’s monarch had dominion over Canada. In 1984 the roles were made distinct.

robotresearcher commented on When the sun will literally set on what's left of the British Empire oikofuge.com/sun-sets-on-... · Posted by u/bediger4000

bobsmooth · 8 hours ago

We do not have the same king. The King of Great Brittan is not the King of Canada, they just happen to be the same person. Is the US also part of the British Empire?

robotresearcher · 7 hours ago

Canada is no longer part of the British Empire. Neither is the US, since the end of the War of Independence. That’s what independence means.

robotresearcher commented on When the sun will literally set on what's left of the British Empire oikofuge.com/sun-sets-on-... · Posted by u/bediger4000

paulddraper · 8 hours ago

Coincidentally, that has been true for a while, through multiple kings/queens of Canada.

robotresearcher · 8 hours ago

Since 1984. One of the facts I learned for the Canadian citizenship exam.

So only Elizabeth and Charles.

robotresearcher commented on “This telegram must be closely paraphrased before being communicated to anyone” history.stackexchange.com... · Posted by u/azeemba

andoma · 10 hours ago

I visited Bletchley Park museum this summer when in London. Can recommend and it's also really easy to get there; just a 50 minute train ride from London Euston station, and 5 minute walk to the museum. Entire family enjoyed the museum (have two teenage kids). There is also the "National Museum of Computing" located next to it which contains the Bombe, Collosus and related equipment. As I understand it most (or all?) of the original hardware was destroyed after the war to avoid leaking any information about the British code breaking skills. Thus, the machines on display are replicas, but should be fully working.

The computer museum also exhibits post-war computers all the way to modern machines. I'd say that museum is more for the geeks while the Bletchley Park museum is definitely worth a visit even if you're not into computers.

robotresearcher · 8 hours ago

A personal Bletchley Park anecdote: my grandfather, an electrical engineer, staffed a radio listening station during the war, and every evening a motorcycle dispatch rider would take the day’s intercepts away to a secret location. It was more than 20 years before my grandfather figured out they went to Bletchley.

In the 1980s the Bletchley museum project put out a call for wartime electrical components so they could build their Colossus replica. My grandfather in the 1950s had made a chain of Christmas tree lights from govt issue tiny light lightbulbs he pinched from work. He painstakingly removed the nail polish he had painted them with 30 years earlier, and sent them to Bletchley. They used his family Christmas lightbulbs in the replica that is still there today.

I had the privilege of touring the museum with him in the 1990s. Also on that day I heard my grandmother’s stories of her time in the British Army during the war. That day was incredibly interesting and moving, and is an important memory for me.