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PaperclipPerfector  1d ago (text post)   570 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for March 6, 2026

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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This fun map displays the 28 European and Middle Eastern territorial issues that the players are called on to settle in the board game Versailles 1919 (1 2). (The game also includes nine African and Pacific territorial issues that do not fit conveniently on a map, as well as 16 non-territorial issues that cannot be shown on a map at all, for a total of 53 issues.)

This game does not allow the players to dismember Germany, but it does allow them to smother Turkey, Yugoslavia, and Intermarium in their respective cradles.

Nice work!

Though…what’s the deal with the United States box east of Crete?

It is possible for Armenia to become a United States mandate. The box is provided so that a person editing the map can use it as a source for applying the US's map color to Armenia.

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A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently, it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey", originally identified by philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."

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