Elemental's Excitingly Excellent Random Banter: No.CLXXVII (177)

[AtlanteanTroll]

>_>
<_<

I'm...not that big a fan. Not that I dislike them! They're just...ok. Not good enough for me to like them>

You are one of the few people in the middleground I know.

ION, anyone here speaky da french? I want what I have of this letter to be checked by someone...

Spoiler

Show

J’allais écrire vous plus tôt, mais mon portefeuille été vole en le métro. Parce que du délai, tu auras reçu probablement temps j’aurai retourné.

À part de mon portefeuille ayant été vole, ma vacance est grandiose. Ma voyage a France était longue, mais agréable. N’était pas un délai en la vol et n’y pas une correspondance. Las vols sans escale et très génial. Je ne vole pas première classe, mais je vole

Mon touristiques favorites pour l’instant vieilli le Catacombes de Paris et le Musée du Louvre. Je désiré que j’aie eu plus de temps, je regarderais plus l’art vague.

[Amiel]

I'm kinda-sorta with you there. Fragile Things is great, Smoke and Mirrors is apparently even better.

I really need to buy Fragile Things and also Smoke and Mirrors (on your recommendation); I've only been able to peruse having borrowed them from the library.

I actually enjoyed Anansi Boys more than American Gods. But to each his own, as they say.

I've enjoyed Anansi Boys a lot more than I've ever had American Gods. It's a lot less scattered.

But Sandman wins.

This is truth.

I liked Cheshire Fry. His voice makes me happy.

More people should talk in the way he does.

[Eruantion]

You are one of the few people in the middleground I know.

ION, anyone here speaky da french? I want what I have of this letter to be checked by someone...

Spoiler

Show

J’allais écrire vous plus tôt, mais mon portefeuille été vole en le métro. Parce que du délai, tu auras reçu probablement temps j’aurai retourné.

À part de mon portefeuille ayant été vole, ma vacance est grandiose. Ma voyage a France était longue, mais agréable. N’était pas un délai en la vol et n’y pas une correspondance. Las vols sans escale et très génial. Je ne vole pas première classe, mais je vole

Mon touristiques favorites pour l’instant vieilli le Catacombes de Paris et le Musée du Louvre. Je désiré que j’aie eu plus de temps, je regarderais plus l’art vague.

Based on my four years of French, I'd say you're pretty good. I'm not fluent, mind you, but everything checks out for me. I'm sure there's someone better who can confirm, if you need them to.

[AtlanteanTroll]

Based on my four years of French, I'd say you're pretty good. I'm not fluent, mind you, but everything checks out for me. I'm sure there's someone better who can confirm, if you need them to.

Hey! This is for French 4!! Also, I'm pretty damn horrible at French, so I'll take your word on it. I'm just proud I didn't actually use a translator like some of the other people in my class.

[Qwertystop]

I took actual photos of this, and am turning them in for my Surreality digital photo assignment. I'll post the actual pictures once I have a chance to blur the face.

[LaZodiac]

wut. I asked a question, I didn't make a statement.

Well, I mean, I agree with you. I to am making that statement you said.

[Thufir]

And now I've got "always look on the bright side of life" stuck in my head.

Thanks a lot, guys.

Oh well, off to watch Life of Brian.

Oh man, I just realised, when me, Tasroth, Hazyshade and Serps were playing Monty Python Fluxx earlier, we never got the singing card!
I am slightly lesadface about that.

No, DP was right. I meant the band. I plan on listening to Don't Stop Believin' and Separate Ways on loop all night long.

Wait.
Wait.
...
Are you telling me Journey have more than one song?

[AtlanteanTroll]

Wait.
Wait.
...
Are you telling me Journey have more than one song?

Quiet you!

There are three "genres" of music I enjoy more than any other. Punk, cheesy 80s arena rock, and Disney/Sound of Music-esque stuff. And then the occasional dance-y/techno stuff.

*smothers himself between Genesis, The Offspring, and the Marry Poppins soundtrack simultaneously*

[enderlord99]

I just sent someone a funny P.M. If they could repost it in this thread later, and give me credit, that would be awesome.

I'd post it myself, but it has to do with their signature and/or avatar, so...

[Feytalist]

Wait.
Wait.
...
Are you telling me Journey have more than one song?

Ja.

There's also Wheel in the Sky, which is my personal favourite. We played it before every rugby game back in university.

In totally related news, Journey is awesome.

[Amiel]

In totally related news, Journey is awesome.

I've never been exposed to Journey's music; have I been deprived?

Spoiler

Show

[CurlyKitGirl]

You are one of the few people in the middleground I know.

Hey! I quite like them, some of their songs are pretty good, but otherwise, well, I have better hair metal bands to listen to.
And Queen.

ION, anyone here speaky da french? I want what I have of this letter to be checked by someone...

You called? Unspoiling the letter, bolded is me.

J’allais écrire vous plus tôt, mais mon portefeuille [You mean 'portfolio/wallet' yes? Because if you want 'laptop' it's either 'laptop' or 'ordinateur portatif' (French language laws)] été vole [You'll want an accent egu on vole for it to agree en ['sur' is 'on', and you travel 'sur le metro (no I can't do accents)] le métro. Parce que du délai, tu auras [What? 'You will have' what? Best bet is to say 'tu l'auras' - let me know when you have [received] IT'] reçu probablement temps [this sounds clunky. You probably want 'quelque temps' - sometime] j’aurai retourné. [Overall this translates to 'Because of the delay you will receive probably time I have returned' which is obviously not what you want. Last sentence should be 'quelque temps apres j'ai retourne OR j'aurais retourne. It depends EXACTLY what/where you mean by 'I would have returned'. Personally I prefer 'j'ai retourne' because it just means 'I've returned' and can mean both tenses I mentioned here.]

À part de mon portefeuille ayant été vole [accent egu missing], ma vacance est grandiose [so you're still on holiday writing to someone?]. Ma voyage a [accent grave missing here] France était longue, mais agréable. N’était pas un délai en [do you really mean 'in/on the flies'? I suspect you mean 'durant' - during la vol [flight or theft? I suspect you mean 'flight'. et n’y pas une correspondance. Las vols sans escale et très génial ['the non-stop flights are very nice'? You sure about that? . Je ne vole pas première classe, mais je vole [I suspect this sentence is incomplete. 'I do not fly first class, but I fly'? Well yeah. Much of this paragraph was about you flying. Either delete the whole senetence, finish it off, or reinsert your non-first class seat information elsewhere.

Mon touristiques favorites pour l’instant vieilli [this means aged', do you perhaps mean 'vielle'? le Catacombes de Paris et le Musée du Louvre. Je désiré que j’aie eu plus de temps, je regarderais plus l’art vague. [No accent on the final 'e' in 'desire' is fine, at the moment you have 'I would have desired more time'. In fact, if you mean I would have LIKED more time' say 'Je prefere(with accent) etc.' or perhaps 'J'aimerais' etc. - 'I wish I had more time' which also uses the . . . imperfect conditional or something.

Overall, not bad. Need more work on the accents otherwise you just need to double-check some of your verb choices and always remember to put in your direct or indirect pronouns - they are very important for French.
Similarly, there are a few times when your verb and tense choices haven't been as au fait as they could have been.
I would recommend keeping and making your own grammar book; my whole class did that for A Level French (I believe this would be 11th and 12th grade for you) and it's really helped me remember the grammar.

Well.
Now I spent my last half hour before my exams correcting your homework rather than remembering my manuscript stemma - off to my last exam! See you guys about 1pm GMT!

Or not. Stupid database fixing thing. I'll post this as soon as I get back from my trashing then.

I'm BAAAAAACK!

I AM NOW OFFICIALLY A GRADUATE OF OXFORD UNIVERSITY (MINUS THE RESULTS)!!!
Boo.
Yah.
And the exam was surprisingly easy all things considered. Well, it made me happy because it allowed me to complain about things I did not like with regards to certain translations and things.
LOOK I DO NOT CARE ABOUT SPECIFICS THIS TIME AROUND I. AM. DONE.

*goes to eat her celebratory food and maybe go to the bar this evening for drinking*

[Elemental]

Congratulations!

*fireworks*
*********

Those are the worst fireworks ever...
Let's try these ones...

Spoiler

Show

I chose those ones because they didn't blind me.

Anyway... Firework troubles aside...
Congratulations!
You've graduated from a University older than half the countries on the planet*!

*Rough guess, but not too inaccurate.

[CurlyKitGirl]

Congratulations!

*fireworks*
*********

Those are the worst fireworks ever...
Let's try these ones...

Spoiler

Show

I chose those ones because they didn't blind me.

*boogies under the fireworks*
Because none of my friends trashed me, and only one was able to come see me as I came out my last exam.

Anyway... Firework troubles aside...
Congratulations!
You've graduated from a University older than half the countries on the planet*!

*Rough guess, but not too inaccurate.

Yup. For better or for worse, I have finished all of my exams, and now all that remains is to get my results. So graduated in all but name.

There's evidence that teaching in Oxford dates back to around 1096. It's a slightly contentious issue, that is better explained here, but the oldest colleges of the university date to around the 1250s.
Either way, yeah. Pretty old.

Now to do some more partying!

[Teddy]

I AM NOW OFFICIALLY A GRADUATE OF OXFORD UNIVERSITY (MINUS THE RESULTS)!!!
Boo.
Yah.
And the exam was surprisingly easy all things considered. Well, it made me happy because it allowed me to complain about things I did not like with regards to certain translations and things.
LOOK I DO NOT CARE ABOUT SPECIFICS THIS TIME AROUND I. AM. DONE.

*goes to eat her celebratory food and maybe go to the bar this evening for drinking*

Congratulations!

Now, forgive my curiosity, but what will you do now (apart from drinking)? More specifically, what are your long term plans, or non-short term plans, or even short term plans if you're dead-set on maintaining a leverage? Your world must be more or less diametrically opposed to mine in terms of how our education present it to us, and vice versa, so it's kind of a mystery beyond my horison.

You've graduated from a University older than half the countries on the planet*!

*Rough guess, but not too inaccurate.

I think you're aiming way too low with that number. In fact, I'd go as far as saying that no more than 20% of the countries of today have been autonomous for such a long period of time, and that's a lot of error margin added to the 10% I'm more prone to believe in.

[Elemental]

There's evidence that teaching in Oxford dates back to around 1096. It's a slightly contentious issue, that is better explained here, but the oldest colleges of the university date to around the 1250s.
Either way, yeah. Pretty old.

Now to do some more partying!

Huh... And here I was thinking it dated to the 1400s. I must be getting my prestigious universities mixed up again.
And I did. I got it confused with the University of Uppsala.
Though I do remember the story about the King banning English students from attending the University of Paris.
Also, it's fun looking at the list of world's oldest continually operating universities and counting the number that were founded by countries that no longer exist.

And you have fun with your partying and remember to stay up late and sleep in late if you can.

I think you're aiming way too low with that number. In fact, I'd go as far as saying that no more than 20% of the countries of today have been autonomous for such a long period of time, and that's a lot of error margin added to the 10% I'm more prone to believe in.

I was trying to be conservative in my guessing. But you're right.
You only need to look at a map of Africa to know that none of those countries have been around for a long time, except with the possible exception of Morocco, but I doubt that because I think there was a sultanate in that region at the time.

[CurlyKitGirl]

Congratulations!

Now, forgive my curiosity, but what will you do now (apart from drinking)? More specifically, what are your long term plans, or non-short term plans, or even short term plans if you're dead-set on maintaining a leverage? Your world must be more or less diametrically opposed to mine in terms of how our education present it to us, and vice versa, so it's kind of a mystery beyond my horizon.

Thank you!
Shortest term plans: tonight will involve drinking. Probably on my own like a sad sack because all my friends are revising or elsewhere. And drinking, eating nice food, and maybe going out to a dessert parlour for dinner over the weekend.
Short term plans: maybe go to Newcastle to meet two birthday people. Stil dithering. Can't remember if it clashes with my Jubilee mini-meetup.
Apply to several more universities.
Go to Londinium for a Jubilee mini-meetup.
Hang out with friends, commiserate with them, celebrate with them, act as a talking stress relief type person.

Summer-length term plans: find a job down home, or tutoring online, or even an internship of some sort to earn more money for the postgraduate work.
Oh. And the UK Summer Meetup. And I may be going to Mathematics Friend's house beforehand.

CONTINGENCY PLAN: If I don't get accepted to any postgrad course, take a year out, start reapplying in September/October to more places. Try and work my arse off over the year doing anything I can in a county where jobs are rapidly going down the drain.

Aside from that I'm not really sure exactly what you mean. I know I'm going to get a least an MA in something Medieval based. And eventually I do want a PhD, but that costs lots of money so I'm going to need some funding.
I'll have to speak with people at Careers about it. And see if I can finangle [university where I do my MA] into letting me teach undergraduates Old English or do some marking or work as a research assistant or something.

I think you're aiming way too low with that number. In fact, I'd go as far as saying that no more than 20% of the countries of today have been autonomous for such a long period of time, and that's a lot of error margin added to the 10% I'm more prone to believe in.

It depends on how you'd constitute a country. Technically England has been around since c. 900 AD, but has undergone an invasion that won, two civil wars (one of which we undid) and amalgamated it with several other countries, although it still exists as both England, part of the UK and so on.

Huh... And here I was thinking it dated to the 1400s. I must be getting my prestigious universities mixed up again.
And I did. I got it confused with the University of Uppsala.
Though I do remember the story about the King banning English students from attending the University of Paris.
Also, it's fun looking at the list of world's oldest continually operating universities and counting the number that were founded by countries that no longer exist.

How did you do that?
And technically; Oxford is the sixth(ish) oldest continuously university in the world, maybe fifth if you say the University of Paris no longer exists because it's 13 separate universities now. But it is the oldest continuously running university in the English speaking world.

And you have fun with your partying and remember to stay up late and sleep in late if you can.

Oh, Elemental my dear, I'm always up late and often (trying to) sleep in late. Also, I was tempted to call you Elly or Ella, but decided not to on account of you probably not wanting to be called those names.

I was trying to be conservative in my guessing. But you're right.
You only need to look at a map of Africa to know that none of those countries have been around for a long time, except with the possible exception of Morocco, but I doubt that because I think there was a sultanate in that region at the time.

Again it depends. It was a kingdom from about the C7th until it became a protectorate in the early C20th, but then rebecame a kingdom about forty odd years later. Source.
I suppose you could say 'continuously running as an independent governing body, but in that case it wouldn't be because of the protectorate status back in the 1910s.
God, politics is confusing.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

Well, if you're not including protectorates, you have weird things where Canada became independent and a country in 1867, but it wasn't until 1982 that the Constitution Act patriated the British North America Act, and renamed it the Canada Act, because before our constitution could only be changed through the British.

We didn't even control our own foreign policy until after WWI.

So, where did we gain actual independence?

[LaZodiac]

Congratulations Curly! It's always nice to succed at things like this

[Archonic Energy]

Thank you!
Shortest term plans: tonight will involve drinking. Probably on my own like a sad sack because all my friends are revising or elsewhere. And drinking, eating nice food, and maybe going out to a dessert parlour for dinner over the weekend.
Short term plans: maybe go to Newcastle to meet two birthday people. Stil dithering. Can't remember if it clashes with my Jubilee mini-meetup.
Apply to several more universities.
Go to Londinium for a Jubilee mini-meetup.
Hang out with friends, commiserate with them, celebrate with them, act as a talking stress relief type person.

Summer-length term plans: find a job down home, or tutoring online, or even an internship of some sort to earn more money for the postgraduate work.
Oh. And the UK Summer Meetup. And I may be going to Mathematics Friend's house beforehand.

Go London!

memo: need to discuss meeting points... if we are there for the jubliee it's going to be manic.

also need to find portable games and stuff.

[CurlyKitGirl]

Well, if you're not including protectorates, you have weird things where Canada became independent and a country in 1867, but it wasn't until 1982 that the Constitution Act patriated the British North America Act, and renamed it the Canada Act, because before our constitution could only be changed through the British.

We didn't even control our own foreign policy until after WWI.

So, where did we gain actual independence?

Wait, what?
So you were a country, but the British owned it until 1982 when it was allowed to be owned and governed by Canadia and Canadians without any outside influence?
That about right yes?

Congratulations Curly! It's always nice to succeed at things like this

Well, I haven't had my results yet, so I'm still living in suspension, but all the hard things are done. Just got to wait now.

EDIT:

Go London!

memo: need to discuss meeting points... if we are there for the jubliee it's going to be manic.

also need to find portable games and stuff.

It's next weekend (well, the Mon/Tue after that no?), so we'd best hurry. To the UK Meetup thread!
Given Cassie Lassie it'd probably be London Paddington I think.

[Elemental]

It depends on how you'd constitute a country. Technically England has been around since c. 900 AD, but has undergone an invasion that won, two civil wars (one of which we undid) and amalgamated it with several other countries, although it still exists as both England, part of the UK and so on.

It does indeed depend upon how one decides as to what counts as a country. An independent sovereign state usually works, but that has issues that make it difficult to work out which is truly an independent sovereign state and how long it's actually been around for.
Case in point of England.
One could argue that after the Norman Conquest it ceased to be an independent sovereign state and was instead subject to the authority of the Duke of Normandy. On the other hand, William's stated goal was to gain the throne of England which had been promised to him, thus making Normandy subject to the King of England.
However, in truth, he was King of England and Duke of Normandy, which makes it even more complicated.
So, the question is... Did it, or did it not, cease to be an independent country at that point? In my opinion, it can't be said for sure.

How did you do that?
And technically; Oxford is the sixth(ish) oldest continuously university in the world, maybe fifth if you say the University of Paris no longer exists because it's 13 separate universities now. But it is the oldest continuously running university in the English speaking world.

How I got it confused with the University of Uppsala? That is a good question.
The answer is, I was reading a book about the scientific history of various chemical elements, and the book references the University of Uppsala and Oxford.
Somehow, I managed to get them confused in the five months since I read that book.
And the list I read must have been wrong, because it counts Oxford as third after Bologna and Paris. Which is why one should never rely on Internet sources.

Oh, Elemental my dear, I'm always up late and often (trying to) sleep in late. Also, I was tempted to call you Elly or Ella, but decided not to on account of you probably not wanting to be called those names.

Standard abbreviation is Ele. Funny thing is, I hate people abbreviating my name in real life (It's only two syllables for goodness sake! Stop being lazy! Needless to say, few people got away with it.), yet don't have a problem with people using a diminutive of my Internet name.
And anyway, you have an excuse to spend most of tomorrow in bed tomorrow if you want, so I say: Do it!
Unless you have stuff to do.

Again it depends. It was a kingdom from about the C7th until it became a protectorate in the early C20th, but then rebecame a kingdom about forty odd years later. Source.
I suppose you could say 'continuously running as an independent governing body, but in that case it wouldn't be because of the protectorate status back in the 1910s.
God, politics is confusing.

Which is the real reason we don't discuss it.
And anyway, besides my historical inaccuracy concerning Morocco (Which I'm sure was a sultanate at one point), I completely forgot about Ethiopia. Which has been around forever.
Also, there was a Sultanate in there. They just changed their name.
Damn interchangeable terminology...

Well, if you're not including protectorates, you have weird things where Canada became independent and a country in 1867, but it wasn't until 1982 that the Constitution Act patriated the British North America Act, and renamed it the Canada Act, because before our constitution could only be changed through the British.

We didn't even control our own foreign policy until after WWI.

So, where did we gain actual independence?

That's a good question...
I think we in Australia had our own foreign policy from independence in 1901, but we usually did what the British said until World War II...

That's right. We passed the Statute of Westminster Adoption Act in 1942 to formally clarify our independence. And then covered all the other bases with the Australia Act in 1986.

Wow... It can take a long time to sort out legal technicalities.

And this is why I'm not pursuing a career in law.

[Mercenary Pen]

EDIT:


It's next weekend (well, the Mon/Tue after that no?), so we'd best hurry. To the UK Meetup thread!
Given Cassie Lassie it'd probably be London Paddington I think.

Imagines Cassie turning up with label attached: "Please look after this embodiment of Chaos"

[CurlyKitGirl]

It does indeed depend upon how one decides as to what counts as a country. An independent sovereign state usually works, but that has issues that make it difficult to work out which is truly an independent sovereign state and how long it's actually been around for.
Case in point of England.
One could argue that after the Norman Conquest it ceased to be an independent sovereign state and was instead subject to the authority of the Duke of Normandy. On the other hand, William's stated goal was to gain the throne of England which had been promised to him, thus making Normandy subject to the King of England.
However, in truth, he was King of England and Duke of Normandy, which makes it even more complicated.
So, the question is... Did it, or did it not, cease to be an independent country at that point? In my opinion, it can't be said for sure.

Well, it gets a little worse because Henry V was King of England and France, but over time we lost our French territories back to the rulers of France.
But I think England/Britain is still considered a monarchy or constitutional monarchy or something, so the Duke of Normandy and the other French duchy title were subordinate to the Kingship, and became a part of England. Maybe?
I should know this considering I did Medieval History for A Level.
Although extremely technically England was subordinate to France and was meant to pay homage to the King of France, but never did.

How I got it confused with the University of Uppsala? That is a good question.
The answer is, I was reading a book about the scientific history of various chemical elements, and the book references the University of Uppsala and Oxford.
Somehow, I managed to get them confused in the five months since I read that book.
And the list I read must have been wrong, because it counts Oxford as third after Bologna and Paris. Which is why one should never rely on Internet sources.

But Uppsala's in . . . Sweden? Finland? Pretty damn sure it's Sweden.
As for the list, some of the oldest continuously running universities are actually Muslim/mosque schools that offered degrees.
Source.

Standard abbreviation is Ele. Funny thing is, I hate people abbreviating my name in real life (It's only two syllables for goodness sake! Stop being lazy! Needless to say, few people got away with it.), yet don't have a problem with people using a diminutive of my Internet name.
And anyway, you have an excuse to spend most of tomorrow in bed tomorrow if you want, so I say: Do it!
Unless you have stuff to do.

'kay. And don't worry about the name thing, people insist on forgetting how to pronounce my name, and think it's a nickname as it is. It is not.
As far as spending most of today in bed tomorrow goes, I could, but . . . I have cleaners. They come to empty bins and rumour is there's a surprise inspection going by the House Matron tomorrow too.
And I honestly don't have anything to do tomorrow except hang out on the internet, go trash a friend or two and . . . that's about it really.
My life is so empty.

Which is the real reason we don't discuss it.
And anyway, besides my historical inaccuracy concerning Morocco (Which I'm sure was a sultanate at one point), I completely forgot about Ethiopia. Which has been around forever.
Also, there was a Sultanate in there. They just changed their name.
Damn interchangeable terminology...

Or Egypt? Pretty famous for being a very old country with a very well-established history dating back a good five thousand years. At least until the Greeks came and kind of made it theirs (okay, Macedonians), and then the ROmans, and then maybe some Sultanates/Caliphs. And then . . . yeah.

That's a good question...
I think we in Australia had our own foreign policy from independence in 1901, but we usually did what the British said until World War II...

That's right. We passed the Statute of Westminster Adoption Act in 1942 to formally clarify our independence. And then covered all the other bases with the Australia Act in 1986.

Wow... It can take a long time to sort out legal technicalities.

And this is why I'm not pursuing a career in law.

That and you actually have to know things, like names and dates and laws and when they apply/do not apply and so on.

Imagines Cassie turning up with label attached: "Please look after this embodiment of Chaos"

Cassie will do this.
And if she doesn't I will bring a safety pin, a pen and some paper to do this to her.

[Thufir]

I AM NOW OFFICIALLY A GRADUATE OF OXFORD UNIVERSITY (MINUS THE RESULTS)!!!

Hell: Yeah.
Congratulations. I'm sure your results will be good.

Shortest term plans: tonight will involve drinking. Probably on my own like a sad sack because all my friends are revising or elsewhere.

Aw. That's a shame. But I suppose there's always time for more celebratory drinks once they're finished as well. But I'll raise a glass or bottle of something to you from Newcastle-ish some time this evening if I remember.

Short term plans: maybe go to Newcastle to meet two birthday people. Stil dithering. Can't remember if it clashes with my Jubilee mini-meetup.

Don't think so, since my birthday itself is the wednesday prior and my party is on the saturday, whereas Jubilee mini-meeting is then on the monday and tuesday. And of course Serpy Darling's birthday already happened.

Imagines Cassie turning up with label attached: "Please look after this embodiment of Chaos"

Cassie as Paddington Bear?
OMG mental image is so adorable.

[Elemental]

Well, it gets a little worse because Henry V was King of England and France, but over time we lost our French territories back to the rulers of France.
But I think England/Britain is still considered a monarchy or constitutional monarchy or something, so the Duke of Normandy and the other French duchy title were subordinate to the Kingship, and became a part of England. Maybe?
I should know this considering I did Medieval History for A Level.
Although extremely technically England was subordinate to France and was meant to pay homage to the King of France, but never did.

Well... The Duchy of Normandy was always part of France, so the Duke was always technically subservient to the King of France. And throughout most of history, the Duke of Normandy was the King of England. (as well as other places)
Most of the English claim to the throne of France comes from the fact that they wanted it, they could afford it, and hey, they had control of Aquitaine at one point. And that meant they owned more land in France than the King.

But Uppsala's in . . . Sweden? Finland? Pretty damn sure it's Sweden.
As for the list, some of the oldest continuously running universities are actually Muslim/mosque schools that offered degrees.
Source.

Sweden. And it featured prominently in the book I read because of all the elements discovered in Sweden.
And I'll concede the point concerning oldest continuously running universities. After all... the Western tradition of operating universities was stolen from academies operated by the Muslims in Spain. (unfortunately, all closed due to the obvious historical events)

'kay. And don't worry about the name thing, people insist on forgetting how to pronounce my name, and think it's a nickname as it is. It is not.
As far as spending most of today in bed tomorrow goes, I could, but . . . I have cleaners. They come to empty bins and rumour is there's a surprise inspection going by the House Matron tomorrow too.
And I honestly don't have anything to do tomorrow except hang out on the internet, go trash a friend or two and . . . that's about it really.
My life is so empty.

It probably only feels empty because you no longer have the spectre of academic work hovering over you night and day. My suggestion is you take a walk and admire architecture or look at flowers and ornamental shrubbery.

Or Egypt? Pretty famous for being a very old country with a very well-established history dating back a good five thousand years. At least until the Greeks came and kind of made it theirs (okay, Macedonians), and then the ROmans, and then maybe some Sultanates/Caliphs. And then . . . yeah.

Actually... Egypt doesn't have continuity as a state. Modern day Egypt is less than one hundred years old, at most.
Before that, it was the British, then the Ottomans, and so forth.
Long history doesn't mean continuity.
Ethiopia on the other hand has been independent for the past thousand years (or thereabouts) except for a brief period involving the Second World War.

That and you actually have to know things, like names and dates and laws and when they apply/do not apply and so on.

That, and I have no patience with the current state of our government.

[HalfTangible]

I want to write a sorta-short, sorta-long story that uses a previously established formula so that I can focus on the setting the story takes place in and the characters in the story instead of a surprising plot.

Google has failed me for the first time in a LOOOOONG time. Where can I find a literary formula?

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

I want to write a sorta-short, sorta-long story that uses a previously established formula so that I can focus on the setting the story takes place in and the characters in the story instead of a surprising plot.

Google has failed me for the first time in a LOOOOONG time. Where can I find a literary formula?

Pick a book you liked the plot of. Steal the basic outline of that plot. For example, the first Harry Potter book. "Boy and his new friends must brave xyz challenges to beat The Big Bad (who isn't who they thought he was) to the Object of Power."

[DraPrime]

I AM NOW OFFICIALLY A GRADUATE OF OXFORD UNIVERSITY (MINUS THE RESULTS)!!!
Boo.
Yah.
And the exam was surprisingly easy all things considered. Well, it made me happy because it allowed me to complain about things I did not like with regards to certain translations and things.
LOOK I DO NOT CARE ABOUT SPECIFICS THIS TIME AROUND I. AM. DONE.

*goes to eat her celebratory food and maybe go to the bar this evening for drinking*

Congratulations! I raise my glass to you.

Spoiler

Show

Thank you!
Shortest term plans: tonight will involve drinking. Probably on my own like a sad sack because all my friends are revising or elsewhere. And drinking, eating nice food, and maybe going out to a dessert parlour for dinner over the weekend.
Short term plans: maybe go to Newcastle to meet two birthday people. Stil dithering. Can't remember if it clashes with my Jubilee mini-meetup.
Apply to several more universities.
Go to Londinium for a Jubilee mini-meetup.
Hang out with friends, commiserate with them, celebrate with them, act as a talking stress relief type person.

Summer-length term plans: find a job down home, or tutoring online, or even an internship of some sort to earn more money for the postgraduate work.
Oh. And the UK Summer Meetup. And I may be going to Mathematics Friend's house beforehand.

CONTINGENCY PLAN: If I don't get accepted to any postgrad course, take a year out, start reapplying in September/October to more places. Try and work my arse off over the year doing anything I can in a county where jobs are rapidly going down the drain.

Aside from that I'm not really sure exactly what you mean. I know I'm going to get a least an MA in something Medieval based. And eventually I do want a PhD, but that costs lots of money so I'm going to need some funding.
I'll have to speak with people at Careers about it. And see if I can finangle [university where I do my MA] into letting me teach undergraduates Old English or do some marking or work as a research assistant or something.

Apply to universities in Boston! They're good, but more importantly you can hang out with American playgrounders then!

Alright, well that is a bit unpractical. Still, I wish you luck wherever it is you go Curly! You've got a lot of great things ahead of you!

Actually... Egypt doesn't have continuity as a state. Modern day Egypt is less than one hundred years old, at most.
Before that, it was the British, then the Ottomans, and so forth.
Long history doesn't mean continuity.
Ethiopia on the other hand has been independent for the past thousand years (or thereabouts) except for a brief period involving the Second World War.

Indeed, and it's all been downhill since the Ptolemaioi stopped ruling. Bring them back I tell you!

[Mercenary Pen]

Cassie will do this.
And if she doesn't I will bring a safety pin, a pen and some paper to do this to her.

Cassie as Paddington Bear?
OMG mental image is so adorable.

Well, the rest of us expect photos- because I won't be able to get down there- with work on Mondays and everything...