November 30th

[LAHomedog]

When you go to someone's public profile in a forum it seem to always say that their birthday is November 30. (Which is an amusing coincidence for me since it is my older sister's birthday.)

My question is why? Does anybody know the significance of that date? Is Laurel's birthday? The day the site was launched?

Inquiring minds want to know

 

[NotWise]

When you go to someone's public profile in a forum it seem to always say that their birthday is November 30. (Which is an amusing coincidence for me since it is my older sister's birthday.)

My question is why? Does anybody know the significance of that date? Is Laurel's birthday? The day the site was launched?

Inquiring minds want to know

Maybe it's just what comes up when they haven't set their birth date. Mine (for instance) shouldn't say Nov. 30 because I set the date.

I have no clue what the significance is.

 

[Panty Wrangler]

I've got it! It's the date Pink Floyd released The Wall in 1979.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I've got it! It's the date Pink Floyd released The Wall in 1979.

Michael Jackson released Thriller in 1982.

It's Billy Idol's birthday, 1955. He, like me, is getting a bit long in the tooth.

For you history buffs, it was the start of the Finnish-Soviet war in 1939. Bonus points if you can say, without looking it up, who won that one.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Michael Jackson released Thriller in 1982.

It's Billy Idol's birthday, 1955. He, like me, is getting a bit long in the tooth.

For you history buffs, it was the start of the Finnish-Soviet war in 1939. Bonus points if you can say, without looking it up, who won that one.

The Finns.

EB looks it up. Dang, wrong!

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Computers are funny in that they all have certain default dates to fill in fields that aren't mandatory when the rest of the information is saved.

If I remember correctly, which I probably don't, all IBM PC's default date was March 30, 1969 for just about every date unless the user reset the date when the machine forgot.

That's why on most systems date fields are mandatory.

 

[gunhilltrain]

The Finns.

EB looks it up. Dang, wrong!

The Finns did very well for a while, because the Russians weren't really prepared for a winter war. (They must have learned a lesson, because they were very prepared for cold weather fighting against the Germans later.) Then the Soviets regrouped, and they crushed the much smaller Finnish army in 1940.

 

[lovecraft68]

Its Lit's default date, why that date? No idea, but its always been that.

 

[ElectricBlue]

The Finns did very well for a while, because the Russians weren't really prepared for a winter war. (They must have learned a lesson, because they were very prepared for cold weather fighting against the Germans later.) Then the Soviets regrouped, and they crushed the much smaller Finnish army in 1940.

Yes, I knew the Soviets were a bit embarrassed by it all, but they paid attention, especially to the cold.

I vaguely recall the Finns were the first to use flaming petrol in bottles, which later became known as the Molotov Cocktail, but I could be ass about face on that one, too.

 

[litfan10]

I would look eight months earlier to see what causes such widespread copulation.

What goes on hormonally in April?

All those Easter bunnies hopping around serving as inspiration?

 

[gunhilltrain]

Yes, I knew the Soviets were a bit embarrassed by it all, but they paid attention, especially to the cold.

I vaguely recall the Finns were the first to use flaming petrol in bottles, which later became known as the Molotov Cocktail, but I could be ass about face on that one, too.

The Finns definitely coined the name, a derogatory reference to the Soviet foreign minister Molotov. I used to think that the Russians first used them and thus the name, but that wasn't it. The Spanish Nationalists under Franco apparently invented the concept earlier to use against tanks. The name lives on, but I suspect that few people now know who Molotov was.

 

[DCO_65]

The Soviets regrouped, and they crushed the much smaller Finnish army in 1940.

Stalin executed 81 generals before the German invasion during the Great Purge. Luckily Georgy Zhukov wasn't one of them. Commanding an Army in the Far East his forces defeated the Japanese at Khalkhin Gol in 1939 and was appointed as chief of the Red Army's General Staff in 1941 after the Winter War.

When Germany invaded the Soviet Union Zhukov was involved in organizing the defense of Leningrad, Moscow, and Stalingrad. Then he commanded an Army Group that drove the German Army back from the Volga to the Spree. Finland was in a no-win position, coerced into supporting Germany they were defeated in the Continuation War.

A truly interesting figure from the time was Lauri Allan Törni, a Finn who served in the Finnish Army, the Waffen-SS, and the US Army Special Forces. He escaped from prisons in Finland and Germany, and was decorated by Finnish President Risto Ryti, Adolph Hitler, and President John F. Kennedy.