grandhotelabyss

Comment Threads

• guthrie commented on A bright and shiny hell
  Well that's where it gets confusing for the rest of us, because you clearly and definitively stated "Just wondering in general why European history doesn't have more mercenaries in it - during any era." as if you had actually read something on the matter. Alyctes - yes, for instance England had a lot of Burgundian gunners, and Scotland imported a number of French artillery experts at various times in the late 15th century onwards. Not to mention crossbowmen of various nationalities used by France....
• Heteromeles commented on A bright and shiny hell
  I get the impression that, at least until recently, large Swiss families sent some of the latterborn to the monasteries, because there was no land for them to work or craft for them to do. My suspicion is that the lads that were, erm, unsuitable for monastery life might have been recruited into the pike regiments and such....
• Sasquatch commented on A bright and shiny hell
  Re, Federalization of the (US) National Guard and the "Little Rock 9" is something that still gets a bit of commemorative coverage in the local media (Print) around here (NW Arkansas), IIRC, Eisenhower told Federalized the (Arkansas) National Guard, who had been actively blocking the (Black) students from entering the school under a state call up, and told them to go back to their armories until further notice, while deploying the (Federal) 101st Airborne. School never really did take place that year, except for the black students. Basically the whole cohort lost an academic year. Meanwhile, US culture, I see...
• Sasquatch commented on A bright and shiny hell
  Actually, the formerly "Middle Class" workers have no clue as to what happened to their jobs, and they really don't want to hears some(probably commie leftist) college boy 'splain about it. It is all the fault of those brown people stealing their good jobs, the word of Brother Rush, etc. who keep vewy vewy quiet about the financial aspects of the whole problem. Again, see point #1....
• Ioan commented on A bright and shiny hell
  A question, what do the Brits here think of this article: http://www.businessinsider.com/generation-rent-londoners-spend-40-of-income-on-rent-says-ifs-2017-10 I'm particularly intrigued about Chart 1, which to paraphrase the article, argues that " A new IFS report found the rent-to-income ratio in Britain excluding London has fallen by 3% — from 31% to 28% — in the last twenty years, but climbed by 3% — from 37% to 40% — in London over the same period. It seems that ignoring London, the median percentage of income spent on rent among private renters is now lower than it was in the 1990s, and it's close to the 2000's....