... which after the signing of the Potsdam Agreement, the ratification of the Warsaw Pact, and its subsequent reformation in 1960 as the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, was a satellite state of the USSR until the 1989 Velvet Revolution.


https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...cd966d25d4.png

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...c00d47aaf5.png

So were we in the former GDR (German Democratic Republic) until 1989, but I would heavily protest to be called "Soviet" because of that... :eek:
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...e6c1c9ba75.jpg

BTW Tatra did also build some spectacular Dakar Trucks and afaik won quite a bit with them...
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...0e5dad7593.jpg

The difference being that while the GDR was subdivided and annexed as spoils of war, The Czech Republic willingly* renounced its autonomy and became subordinate to the USSR by choice, much as several of the American territories did in the 1800s, to gain membership in the United States.


* = the government, not necessarily the people.

I don't think that any of the countries willingly* did do this - I don't think there was much of a real choice. Grown up in the GDR - I think it was more a matter of being an autonomous state (as subordinate of the USSR) or being PART of the USSR - no other option to be had.

* = even the government, not only the people ;-)

As this is the pictures/videos thread and not the "past political events" - something to entertain (but with a connection to the former USSR)

What was name of shop please?

"omg did you get that?"

Lost it.

Hey, at least they used "landscape" framing with the video camera (phone).

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...da66304ca1.jpg

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...5f8bfa1485.jpg

SHELL BLUFF, Ga. – After eight months of assembly, one of the world’s largest cranes is being tested this week at the site of Plant Vogtle’s two new reactors.

“It can rotate 360 degrees, to serve both Unit 3 and Unit 4,” said David Clem, Southern Nuclear’s construction oversight director.

The crane, or “heavy lift derrick,” has a main boom that juts 560 feet into the air and is rigged with 12 miles of steel cable. Operating the machine requires a five-person crew.

Tests involve lifting loads totaling 1,500 tons at 300 feet of reach, Clem said.

The Westinghouse AP1000 reactors being built in Burke County are the first in the U.S. to utilize a design that involves assembling large, prefabricated sections.

At Vogtle, some of those components are assembled in a specialized building a few hundred yards from the “nuclear islands” that will house the reactors and containment vessels.

The heaviest items will be moved along a strengthened “heavy haul road” from their point of assembly to the reactor sites, then lifted into place by the giant crane.

Although the equipment is being tested at 1,500 tons, the components to be lifted will likely top out at about 1,300 tons, Clem said.

The $14 billion project is one of two expansions that were licensed this year by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. A similar expansion is under way at SCANA’s V.C. Summer Nuclear Plant in South Carolina, where an identical crane has been assembled for use in that project.

Unit 3 is scheduled to go online in 2016, and Unit 4 will follow in 2017, according to company officials.

More:
Vogtle, including crane facts

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...e320da1d2f.gif

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...43c976a7fc.gif

It occurs to me that you are only the second East German citizen with whom I've (knowingly) personally communicated, despite having lived in Germany for a short time. Papenburg, on the river Ems.

The first was a young phone phreak named Thorsten who somehow stumbled onto a BBS run on an Amiga 2000 in Florida in the 1980s, run by a (loose) friend of mine. Which now that I think about it is ironic, as the BBS was named Sanctuary of the Krasnians, run by a wannabe communist named Robert Dunn, who was also such a die-hard Cubs fan that the original primary dialup number was 813-625-2827, aka 625-CUBS.


https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...34969bbdd7.png


And yes, he lived with his parents. For real.


Anyway, we all know that I rarely post Youtube music videos, mostly because they still lack a search option for "does not suck."

That having been said:



Yeah.


https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...8ef4d2209c.png

Should you be coming to Germany again - it would be a pleasure if you would be my guest and I can show you some of the beauty of my part of Germany (Erzgebirge (ore mountains = famous winter wonderland, Dresden = THE most beautiful city, at least for me - and so on...)
Do feel invited...!

About that video though... I can't really feel it - to much Boygroup going on...
Here's the real deal... (one of my "lifetime-playlist" songs)

Made me laugh.