The Origin of Countries Names – A

A country’s name can elicit incredible pride and patriotism in its inhabitants. The origins of those names can be varied and interesting. In this series we will explore the meaning behind the name of every country in the world. From Afghanistan. To Zimbabwe.

 

Afghanistan

 

We start our journey in Afghanistan which is one of the stans in Central Asia. The suffix stan can be traced back to Persian and means place of. Whereas the Afghan portion of the name relates back to ethnic pashtuns. Therefore together the Afghanistan means place or land of the pashtuns.

 

Albania

 

The name Albania likely refers back to the latinised name for the Albani who were an Illyrian tribe conquered by the Romans at the turn of the first millenia. Over time this developed while maintaining the same starting word structure. Historians noted cities like Albanopolis and Albanon around the 10th century AD. Modern day Albanians have refered to themselves as Shqipëri or Shqipëria since at least as early as the 17th century. This translates as Land of the Eagles and Children of the Eagles. Eagles are synomymous with Albania and relate back to an old folk talk in which a youth rescues a baby eagle from a snake. The eagle features heavily in Albanian culture and most obviously in their flag.

 

Algeria

Over to Africa now for the North African nation of Algeria. The name Algeria is taken from the nations capital of Algiers which has played several important roles in history as a phoenecian port, a carthaginian city before being claimed by the Roman empire, an Ottoman nation during the Islamic expansion through Africa and finally as a major hub for the French empire in Africa.

The base form of Alger is a French interpretation of the Arabic name Al Jazair which translates to The Islands. The islands refers to four islands that used to exist prior to 1525 before their became part of the mainland. The name Al Jazair is a shortened version of Algeria’s medieval name which was  Jaza’ir Bani Mazghana or in English, The islands of the sons of Mazhana. The Mazhana was another name for the Sanhaja people, who would have lived in the area during the medieval age.

 

Andorra

 

The Name Andorra is of unknown origin, although there a few theories. The small european nation played a role in the punic wars standing against the Carthaginians. The greeks called the people who lived in the area, the Andosins. Another theory suggests that during the period of muslim iberia, it was named al-durra, arabic for the forrest. Other theories suggest it comes from the Navvaro word of andurrial, which means land covered with bushes.

 

A widely rejected folk story claims that King Charlemagn named the region Andorra in reference to the Cannanite valley of Endor discussed in the bible.

 

Angola

 

Angola was named by the portuguese during their occupation of the African region during the 16th century. The name is derived from the name of the king of Ndongo, which was the name of the region before colonosation. The kings were refered to as ngola’s of Ndongo.

 

Antigua and Barbuda

 

The word Antigua is Spanish for ancient. It was named by Christopher colombus as Santa Maria la Antigua, after a church in Seville, Spain. The island of Antigua is named Wadadli by those that live there and is a word from the indigenous Arawak peoples vocabulary. The word Barbuda is Spanish for bearded.

 

Argentina

 

Argentina is a South American nation and therefore it’d be safe to assume that Argentina comes from the Spanish language or the Portuguese language. However that’s not the case as the word actually comes from Italian. The word Argentina in Italian means made of silver. This is likely a reference to the Venetian and Genoese myth of there being mountains of silver.

 

Armenia

 

Armenia is known natively as Hayastan and will be one of the first of several stan nations that you’ll see on this list. The prefix stan is a Persian which means place of. The name Haya can be traced back to the 5th century in several great works of literature from the middle east. The name Haya comes from the name Hayk, who is viewed as the patriarch of the Aremnian people and also the great -great grandson of Noah from the story of the flood. Thus the term Hayastan means the place of hayks people. Now what about the exoynm Armenia? Quite similarly the name can be traced back to another of Noahs decescendants. Aram is a member of Noah and Hayks ancestral line. The ancient greeks refered to the nation as Armenia, the nation of the Aramites.

 

Australia

 

The ancient greeks referred to a hypothetical continent in the southern hemisphere known as Terra Australis or ‘The Southern Land’. When explorers landed on the continent in the 17th century, it was naturally refered to as Terra Australis. The name New Holand was used in the following century until in 1824 the name was changed to Australia due to it being more agreeable to the ear based on the suggestions of explorer Matthew Flinders.

 

Austria

 

The Name Austria is a latinised translation that comes from the German language name for the country Ostereich, which means the Eastern Realm or the Eastern Mark. The country was named as such because it was the Frankish kingdoms Eastern defences against the Avar invasion from the east. Charlemagne also supposedly refered to the nation as Avar Mark.

 

Azerbaijan

 

Azerbaijan like most other nations in the middle east has a name that dates back to ancient times. Azerbaijan can be traced back to a persian governor of the archeminidian empire who controlled the region under Alexander the greats rule. The governor Atropates took his name from the greak phrase atropatan which means ‘protected by the holy fire’ or ‘The Land of the holy fire’

 

Thanks very much for watching! This series has been posted simultaneously on my main channel Tidus_Mino and my secondary channel Mino Productions. From June all non gaming videos will only be posted on Mino Productions, so if this is your thing, please do go and subscribe over there! The next episode will be posted next Sunday as we look at all the B’s! Until next time, bye!

The History of the Harry Potter Video Game Franchise!

The Harry Potter franchise is easily one of the defining pieces of media to come out of the last 2 decades. Bringing in an estimated $25,000,000,000 since the release of the first book in 1997 via a multiitude of avenues including films, books, video games and even theme parks! It’s safe to say that nobody will be forgetting the boy who lived in a hurry. However when it comes to video games the series has never really made much of a mark. There have been 16 official game releases bearing the Harry Potter name (at least 16 that i’m going to count as official) and none of them really have been AAA releases or even releases of notable quality. So let’s take a look back at the history of Harry Potter Video games.

4 Years after the release of the Phillophers stone or Sorcerers stone for my American viewers, the first Harry Potter game hit shelves. 1 word can easily be used to sum up this title, and that’s average. The game was clearly rushed to release on the same day as the films release, and it was not ready. The game while serviceable, lacked much of the polish, the magic and the thrill that it’s movie counterpart had had. Similarly a year later the Chamber of Secrets released alongside the film and similarly the year development cycle was not enough as a servicable middle of the road game was released.

 

The year after saw something new from Harry Potter. Something different and exciting. A good game at last! Harry Potter Quidditch world cup is a game that I remember fondly and actually did buy again recently and can confirm, for a 16 year old game… it holds up! The first spin off title didn’t really actually feature Harry Potter all that much and I feel that in a way that was a strength. It didn’t tie itself to the expected tropes of the films and could exist independently as a game that focused on mechanics.

 

We then came back for 5 years of mediocrity. As The Prisoner of Azkiban, The Goblet of Fire, The Order of the Phoenix and the half blood prince all released alongside their movie counterparts and non of which scored above a 50% or a 5/10 on major reviewers. I think i’ve covered why these games weren’t good. They were rushed, relatively low effort imitations of the films and offered very little to build upon the magic of the books or films.

 

In 2010 fans were thrown a bone as another good game was released. Sandwhiching the final film inspired game, was Harry Potter Lego. A tried and tested series from other IPs that translated brilliantly to the world of Harry Potter for children and adults alike. The games were playful and fun, they captured the childlike wonder and playfullness of the first books and while they failed to build into the more adult action series that later books and films did, this didn’t stop them being brilliant.

 

Two Deathly hallows games released around this time. Neither was very good. This left a hole to be filled however, as the books were long finished and now the films had also come to their conclusion. The natural progression was for the fandom of Harry Potter to live on in video games (as well as spin off films and stage shows) However this was not to be as instead in the 5 years following the end of the film series, 3 relatively poor motion controller games released in Harry Potter for Kinnect, Book o Spells and Book of Potions. While they were a neat idea, they weren’t really anything to write home about. And that was it for non mobile titles. We’ve yet to see another.

 

2016’s Fantastic Beasts: Cases from the Wizarding World was something a bit different being a mobile title that sat outside the Harry Potter story ark. The game saw the player portray a ministry member inspecting magical creatures for the Ministry of Magic. The game was okay, as far as mobile games go at least. It offered something a bit different but there was little substance to be had and players soon got tired.

 

2 years later and yet another mobile game graced our screens. However this time the community was 7 years out for a good piece of Harry Potter Media and were starving for something to sink their teeth into. Hype was abundant for Harry Potter Hogwarts Mystery. People were sorely disappointed. The game was nothing more than a waiting simulator designed to rip money from your wallet with malicious microtransactions. One example was a scene early in the game in which the player is choked by a devils snare which depletes all of their in game energy. They are then forced to either wait 30 minutes for the energy to rebuild to continue or pay real money to carry on right away. The game itself wasn’t terrible, there was a plot there to be followed, it featured many characters we are familiar with and allowed for the players actions to change the world around them… however most of this was essentially behind paywall unless you were willing to play the game at a snail’s pace, waiting for energy to build up, which many were not. Overall the game did not go down well. It was not what the fans wanted and it really felt like a final nail in the coffin for Harry Potter Video Games. It was to date the most recent official game release.

 

So where do we stand now? Well, i’ll talk to you about 3 games. One that’s coming soon, one that is likely coming in the near future and one the fans have wanted for a long time and I hope that we get one day.

 

First up is Niantic of Pokemon Go fames new title, Harry Potter Wizard Unite. Drawing heavily from Pokemon GO, it’s another Augmented reality game that incorporates real world locations and movement into the gameplay. While there’s no real story available, the game does allow some choice and customization as players select their hogwarts house and adult profession before they set off around the world taking down criminals and capturing mythical creatures that have escaped. While the game isn’t exactly what many die-hard fans are looking for in terms of imersion and world building… it does serve a purpose. It’s a very casual game that will allow players to connect with the world on their morning commute or while walking the dog. The game will release sometime in 2019 and i’d be lieing if I said I wasn’t a bit excited.

 

In 2018 a leaked trailer released for a harry potter game that brought the internet to a frenzy. The game thought to be titled Harry Potter Magic Awakened is everything Harry Potter video game fans have wanted since 2001. An incredibly detailed, free to explore hogwarts, hogsmeade and diagon alley all make appearances in the trailer. So do large mythical creatues, a full character creation screen, magic classes, magical combat and so much more. Magic Awakened is the game we want, it’s the game we deserve after sitting through so many poor movie tie ins. The game is rumoured to be set in the victorian age, so will sit completely outside the lore of the Harry Potter films as well as the Fantastic Beast spin offs. Which will allow the game its own identity. Supposedly it will allow for the player to create a character that attends the school, chose their house and explore using their own free will. I’m hoping for something similar to a magical Bully. In Fablesque gameplay, you can make good or evil choices that will lead you down a path of light or dark and affect story and gameplay as a result. The two studios rumoured to be developing the title are either British developer Rocksteady of Batman Arkham series fame or Avalanche Software, an American studio owned by Warner Bro’s and used to make Disney tie ins in the past. However the game is yet to be officially announced… and I just hope that this isn’t a cancelled project that never sees the light of day.

 

Finally i’ll briefly talk about a game that me and my friends talked about on the school yard back in the early 2000’s and I still have never given up hope for. That’s a Harry Potter themed MMORPG. The world lends itself so well to the genre. A game in which players join hogwarts houses or potentially Durmstrang, Ilvermony or any of the other magical schools. They spend a few hours playing through hogwarts, competing in inter-house events and learning the game before they graduate and go out into the world to complete quests, working for the ministry or some other magical agency. While at this point I have pretty much given up on this ever being a thing, as we currently sit 8 years since the release of the final film, but I can always hope.

 

So what do you think? Do you have fond memories of any of the games i’ve talked about? What are your hopes for Harry Potter in terms of video games? Please Subscribe and comment down below, i’d love to know!  If you’d like to support me on Patreon then please visit Bit.ly/TMYTPatreon – My first 3 supporters will unlock a special perk by being able to select a theme for an upcoming Cities, Prison Architecht or Planet Coaster or perhaps a history video for a game or series that you want to see. Thanks for watching and i’ll be back soon with another video!

Aha! 10 Fascinating Facts – Ancient History

Semi-sticking to the Game of Thrones feeling, instead of looking at fake history, in this episode of aha we are taking a look at 10 fascinating facts from ancient history!

 

1 – TIL in ancient Egypt, under the decree of Ptolemy II, all ships visiting the city were obliged to surrender their books to the library of Alexandria and be copied. The original would be kept in the library and the copy given back to the owner.

 

2 – We like to think as revolts and human rights as relatively new inventions, but that’s not the case. Back in the Roman period, the low ranking commoners also known as Plebs would stage a large scale walk-out known as Secessio Plebis, or the withdrawal of the commoners. The upper clases would be left to fend for themselves and in the 5 recorded instances of this happening, the plebs always got their way.

 

3 – There are so many hilarious tales regarding Greek Philospher Diogenes as he was known to be of sharp wit and even sharper tongue. One Instance when Diogenes noticed a prostitute’s son throwing rocks at a crowd, he said, “Careful, son. Don’t hit your father.”

 

4 – The Ancient egyptian calendar featured 12 30 month days followed by 5 days of celebration to bring that number upto 365 days in a year. I vote that we return to this calendar.

 

5 – in 1963, a man who was renevating his home, tore down a wall and discovered an enormous and complex underground tunnel system beneath it. He had inadvetedly rediscovered the ancient underground city of Derinkuyu in Turkey, a city from the 8th or 7th century BCE

 

6 – In the ancient world it was common to keep a cat on a ship to help deal with the mice and rats that would try to feast on the sailors food stores. This helped the cat spread around the world, especially during the age of exploration.

 

7 – In the month proceeding the original ancient olympics, leaders would agree to avoid conflict to allow for safe travel accross Greece for those that wished to attend the games.

 

8 – The highest paid athletes of all time was the Ancient Roman charioteer Gaius Appuleius Diocles. His winnings totaled 35,863,120 sesterces, over 15 billion in US dollars when adjusted for inflation.

 

9 – in 458 BC Aeschylus, an ancient Greek tragedian, was killed by a tortoise dropped by an eagle that had mistaken his bald head for a rock suitable for shattering the shell of the reptile… talk about unlucky!

 

10 – the first Emperor of China’s tomb, which is most well known for the terracotta soldiers outside it, has not yet been explored. Ancient historians wrote that the tomb contains rivers of mercury mechanically operated to flow like real rivers; modern tests have reported mercury levels in the soil over 100 times what occurs naturally

 

Thanks for watching! If you’d like to be support me, then you can head on over to my Patreon and help out! I’d eventually love to do this fulltime and every little helps! See you next time! Bye!

Aha! 10 Fascinating Facts – Game of Thrones

Thrones fever is in the air as we are halfway through the final series! I’ve decided to theme this episode of Aha! With some unique and fascinating Game of Thrones facts. Unfortunately as you can probably tell by my voice i’m sick again, but time waits for no man, so the show must go on!

 

1 The show was almost cancelled! An original pilot was written, filmed and edited for the series. It was a disaster. The pilot just didn’t work, the focus was wrong and it didn’t have the thrones feel that the show we know now has. The plug was almost pulled before a HBO exec argued that there was something there. The pilot was mostly re-shot and became the pilot for season 1.

 

2 Keeping with the original pilot. George RR Martin was a guest at Khal Drogo and Danaery’s wedding. However this was not the Danaery’s we know, as in the unaired pilot she was instead played by Tamzin Merchant. The scene was re-shot and sadly George RR Martin never made another cameo.

 

3 Sophie Turner who plays Sansa Stark, adopted her direwolf lady (real name Zunnie) The actor states that her parents would never let her have a dog growing up, but they all fell in love with the Northern Inuit dog during filming.

 

4 Some sections of Game of Thrones pilot was filmed in a castle used during Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Three seasons later when Danaerys is recieving a torrent of abuse from the Meereenese, a warrior shouts ‘Your mother was a hamster’ ‘Go and boil your bottoms, sons of a silly person’ and ‘I blow my nose at you’ all in low Valyrian.

 

5 The show drastically ages up the characters in the show in comparison to the book. Most likely to help lessen the viewer anguish and the legality of filming such adult themes with children. The character of Danaery’s went from 13 to 16, Joffrey went from 11 to 16, Bran from 7 to 10, and Arya from 9 to 11. This is also true of the adults with Tyrion being only 24 in the books, but in his early 30’s in the show. Strangely Theon Greyjoy is the old character to go the other way, being around 19 in the books and 16 in the show.

 

6 Bran Stark Actor Isaac Hemstead wright attended University after he turned 18 to study neuroscience. Upon arriving in his dorm room to meet his housemates, they imediately scheduled a meeting to discuss living with the Thrones actor. Unfortunately Isaac was not able to really commit to the University experience as he was hounded for autographs nonstop and had to essentially baricade himself in his room, and drop out after only a month. Now that the series is over he’s going to try again this September to study neuroscience while still balancing his acting career.

 

7 Both Dothraki and High Valyrian are fleshed out languages that the actors had to learn. The shows creators hired David J. Peterson, a skilled language creator responsible for many languages including Orcish in Warcraft and Shiväisith in Thor. You can even take a course on High Valyrian via he duolingo app!

 

8 Jon Snow actor Kit Harrington auditioned for the role with a black eye. The Night before filming Kit found himself after a night out with a date getting some late night mcdonalds. While seated a drunk patron was shouting abuse towards his date. Kit shouted back which led to a confrontation. Unfortunately for Kit, he didn’t know how big his opponent was and found himself in his one words ‘battered’. He does credit the black eye with potentially landing him the role though. So silver linings and all that.

 

9 The Targyarens are noted as having violet eyes. Initially Danaerys and Viserys’s actors both wore violet contact lenses, before creators Benioff and Weiss asked the pair to remove them as they felt is lessened their ability to portray emotion.

 

10 The runner up actor for the character of Jon Snow was Iwan Rheon. Most famous for his role on Misfits at the time. Since then he went on to play Ramsay Bolton in Game of Thrones, a role I would argue that he was perfect for. Try and imagine how different the scenes would be if Iwan had been selected over Kit Harrington!

 

Thanks for watching! If you’d like to be a lanister that always repays their debts, then you can head on over to my Patreon and help support me in making more videos! I’d eventually love to do this fulltime and every little helps! See you next time! Bye!

Aha! 10 Fascinating Facts – Geography!

 

Welcome to Episode 10 of Aha 10 Fascinating Facts. This episode will be focused around geography!. I hope you enjoy and please do comment down below and subscribe to the channel.

 

1 The continents shift and grind each other constantly. The speed they do this at is minute. The continents move roughly at the same rate as the speed in which your fingernails grow.

 

2 The distance between Russia and the USA is only 2.4 miles. The diomede islands lie between Alaska and Russia.With big diomedes being A Russiand Island and diomedes an American island. During the winter period it is sometimes possible to walk between the two due to the water freezing in the Bering straight.

 

3 Mount Everest, the world’s tallest mountain, can fit inside the Marianas Trench, the deepest part of the ocean.

 

4 Nauru is the only nation that has no official capital.

 

5 Los Angeles full name is El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río Porciúncula” (in English, “town of our lady the Queen of Angels of the River Porciúncula”).

 

6 Instanbul is the only city situation over two continents. Europe and Asia.

 

7 . RENO, NEVADA, IS WEST OF LOS ANGELES.

Even though it is in Nevada and nearly 300 miles from the ocean, Reno is roughly 86 miles farther west than the coastal city Los Angeles.

 

8 AUSTRALIA MAY BE SURROUNDED BY WATER, BUT IT DOESN’T HAVE THE WORLD’S LONGEST COASTLINE.

Being completely surrounded by water, you would have thought Australia would easily have the honor of being the country with the longest coastline. However, that title goes to Canada. Canada has 152,100 miles of coastline, in comparison to just 16,000 miles for Australia.

 

9  Russia is so large that it spreads over 11 different time zones. When one side of Russia has a morning breakfast at 7 am; the other side enjoys evening snacks at 6 pm.

 

10 the driest place on earth is McMurdo dry Valleys in Antarctica where it hasn’t rained for 2 million years. Only anaerobic bacteria are able to survive in the extreme conditions. Scientists also consider the area terrestrially closest to Mars on earth.

Aha! 10 Fascinating Facts – Episode 10 – Geography!

Welcome to Episode 10 of Aha 10 Fascinating Facts. This episode will be focused around geography!. I hope you enjoy and please do comment down below and subscribe to the channel.

 

1 The continents shift and grind each other constantly. The speed they do this at is minute. The continents move roughly at the same rate as the speed in which your fingernails grow.

 

2 The distance between Russia and the USA is only 2.4 miles. The diomede islands lie between Alaska and Russia.With big diomedes being A Russiand Island and diomedes an American island. During the winter period it is sometimes possible to walk between the two due to the water freezing in the Bering straight.

 

3 Mount Everest, the world’s tallest mountain, can fit inside the Marianas Trench, the deepest part of the ocean.

 

4 Nauru is the only nation that has no official capital.

 

5 Los Angeles full name is El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río Porciúncula” (in English, “town of our lady the Queen of Angels of the River Porciúncula”).

 

6 Instanbul is the only city situation over two continents. Europe and Asia.

 

7 . RENO, NEVADA, IS WEST OF LOS ANGELES.

Even though it is in Nevada and nearly 300 miles from the ocean, Reno is roughly 86 miles farther west than the coastal city Los Angeles.

 

8 AUSTRALIA MAY BE SURROUNDED BY WATER, BUT IT DOESN’T HAVE THE WORLD’S LONGEST COASTLINE.

Being completely surrounded by water, you would have thought Australia would easily have the honor of being the country with the longest coastline. However, that title goes to Canada. Canada has 152,100 miles of coastline, in comparison to just 16,000 miles for Australia.

 

9  Russia is so large that it spreads over 11 different time zones. When one side of Russia has a morning breakfast at 7 am; the other side enjoys evening snacks at 6 pm.

10 the driest place on earth is McMurdo dry Valleys in Antarctica where it hasn’t rained for 2 million years. Only anaerobic bacteria are able to survive in the extreme conditions. Scientists also consider the area terrestrially closest to Mars on earth.

Aha! 10 Fascinating Facts – Episode 9 – Science!

 

Welcome to Episode 9 of Aha 10 Fascinating Facts, and the first episode to be themed. Each episode will featured 10 facts around a singular theme, starting with Science. I hope you enjoy and please do comment down below and subscirbe to the channel.

 

1 the Himba tribe in Namibia has no word for the color blue. In research, when shown 11 green squares and 1 blue, they couldn’t pick out which was different. The research suggests that without a way of identifying the color as different, it’s harder for our eyes to notice it.

 

2 The “Flynn Effect” shows the average IQ is rising steadily with each generation. IQ tests are continually made harder to keep the average at 100. Today’s children that take tests from past decades are averaging significantly higher than 100

 

3 Probiotics can evolve inside the body and have the potential to become less effective and sometimes even harmful.

 

Researchers studying a strain of E. coli which had been sold in Europe as an anti-diarrheal probiotic, found that the bacteria’s DNA changed after living in mice’s intestines for a few weeks and caused distress

 

4 As temperatures continue to rise due to global warming, an estimated 1 billion people are likely to be opened upto the risks of new diseases like dengue fever that currently are restricted to hotter climates.

 

5 A Woman with ‘mutant’ gene who feels no pain and heals without scarring was recently discovered by scientists. She reported numerous burns and cuts without pain, often smelling her burning flesh before noticing any injury, as published in the British Journal of Anaesthesia, and could open door to new treatments.

 

6 Doing just 10 min to 1 hour of leisure time physical activity such as dancing, walking, or gardening each week is associated with an 18 percent lower risk of death. All exercise, even the smallest, easiest amount, can have lasting benefits.

 

7 Scientists studied a “super-smeller” who claimed to smell Parkinson’s disease. In a test, she smelled patients clothes and flagged just one false positive – who turned out to be undiagnosed. The study identified subtle volatile compounds that may make it easier for machines to diagnose Parkinson’s.

 

8 In 2010, OxyContin was reformulated to deter misuse of the drug. As a result, opioid mortality declined. But heroin mortality increased, as OxyContin abusers switched to heroin. There was no reduction in combined heroin/opioid mortality: each prevented opioid death was replaced with a heroin death.

 

9 The success of an environmental charge on plastic bags in supermarkets. Before the introduction of the bag charge, 48% of shoppers in England used single-use plastic bags, while less than a year after the charge introduction, their share decreased to 17%
10 Risks for autism and depression are higher if one’s mother was in hospital with an infection during pregnancy. This is shown by a major Swedish observational study of nearly 1.8 million children. The increase in risk was 79 percent for autism and 24 percent for depression.

The Berlin Airlift & The Candy Bomber

Following the end of the second world war, the German capital of Berlin was divided into allied controlled regions, with the British, the Americans and the French dividing West Berlin between them and the Soviets controlling East Berlin. As time progressed relations between the east and west began to deteoriate as the cold war got into full swing. In the 1960’s the Soviets cut off access to east berlin via the construction of a large wall dividing the capital with a non mans zone police by the military. The wall came up overnight on 13th August 1961  and left thousands cut off from friends and family for decades. However tensions had been building before that and this wasn’t the first conflict between east and west Berlin. On 24th June 1948, the Berlin Blockage began. This blockade was caused by the Soviets who blocked the western allies trade route access, meaning the west were unable to send goods to their people by rail, road or canal. The soviets demanded that the west remove the newly introduced deutsche mark, in favour of the eastern deutsch mark which was known as the Ostmark.

 

The Berlin blockage was one of the very first crises of the cold war. Rail, Road and Canal routes into the city were blocked and this left only one solution. Air. A coaltion of airforces incuding the US Air Fairce, Britains Royal Air Force, The French Air Fiorce, The Canadian Air Force, The Royal Australian Air Force, the Royal New Zealand Air Force and the South African Air Force combined to drop care packages to the people of Berlin. These packages contained everything they would need to survive. Food and Fuel. The soviets did not intervene or attempt to shoot down any of the allied plans for fear of causing war between both sides. The day the soviets began the blockade, west Germany had enough food to feed their population for 36 days and enough coal to last them 45 days. It was clear that the allies would need to act fast.

 

US commander General Clay approached the British air force commander Sir Brian Robertson to begin an airlift, only to find out that the British had already set one up and were airlifting aid to British troops stuck inside Berlin. The Royal Air Force had already been dropping a sizeable chunk of goods before the joint expedition but those numbers would have to increase drastically. The US calculated that to support the city with a daily ration of 1,990 kilocalories it’d need to deliver daily supplies of 646 tons of flour and wheat, 125 tons of cereal, 64 tons of fat, 109 tons of meat and fish, 180 tons of dehydrated potatoes, 180 tons of sugar, 11 tons of coffee, 19 tons of powdered milk, 5 tons of whole milk for children, 3 tons of fresh yeast for baking, 144 tons of dehydrated vegetables, 38 tons of salt and 10 tons of cheese. In all, 1,534 tons were required each day to sustain the over two million people of Berlin. Also for heat and power, 3,475 tons of coal, diesel and petrol were also required daily. Due to the postwar shrinkage of the militaries, both sides scrambled to get enough aircraft to deliver the massive number of goods needed by the people of Berlin.

On 25 June 1948 General Clay gave the order to launch Operation Vittles, the name the airlift was known by. The following day 32 C-47s lifted off for Berlin hauling 80 tons of cargo, including milk, flour, and medicine. The first British aircraft flew on 28 June. At that time, the airlift was expected to last three weeks, it would last almost a year.

 

Hundreds of planes were arriving in Berlin from neighbouring airports. The US flights would come in from Rhein-Main Air base and Wisebaden, while the British airports flew in from Hamburg. This caused a logistical nightmare to avoid crashes and a complex system was created known as the block system was put in place. It involved three 8 hour shifts of C-54’s flying into Berlin followed by a shift of C-47’s. The airstrip was scheduled to see a plane take off every four minutes and planes were expected to fly 1,000 feet higher than the flight in front.

 

The airlift started off slow, delivering only 90 tonnes a day during its first week, but this would rise tenfold to 1,000 tonnes by the second week. 6 weeks into the operation, a new commander from the US camp would be sent in to take over the airlift. Major General William H Tunner was embarassed by the inadequacy of the setup of the airlift and began making major changes. This became known as Black Friday and Tunner noted that it was from this date that the airlift became a success.

 

By the end of August 1948, a month after Tunners Black Friday changes, the airlift saw more than 1,500 flights a day and 4,500 tonnes of cargo delivered, which was enough to keep west Berlin supplied. By January of the following year this improved to 5,000 tonnes a day. The allies had refused to bow to the Soviets demands and were keeping their people alive at all costs.

 

One of the most notable stories to come from the Berlin Airlift is that of the Candy Bomber.

A US Air Force pilot named Gail Halvorsen decided to use his off time from work to fly into Berlin and try to make movies using his hand held camera. On the 17th July 1948 he arrived at Berlin airport and was greeted by a large group of children. They were curious about the aircraft and Gail took the time to answer all of their questions. He gave the children two packs of his Wrigleys Doublemint gum and was so moved by the childrends generosity and graittude as they divided the gum into the smallest pieces they could to provide everyone a piece, that he promised he’d return to drop off more. Before take off one of the children asked him how they would know it was him. He replied that he’d wiggle his wings.

 

The next day on his approach to Berlin, he wiggled the aircraft and dropped some chocolate bars attached to a handkerchief parachute to the children waiting below. Each day the crowd of awaiting children grew larger and larger. The US Air Force base began recieving stacks of thank you mail addressed to “Uncle Wiggly Wings”, “The Chocolate Uncle” and “The Chocolate Flier”.

Halvorsens commanding officer was upset when the story appeared in the newspaper, but when Major General Tunner heard about it, he approved of the gesture and immediately expanded it into “Operation Little Vittles”. Other pilots joined in and began to drop their own care packages to the children of Berlin, and when news reached the US shores, children all over the country sent in their own candy to help out. Soon, major candy manufacturers joined in the effort and over twenty three tons of candy were dropped on Berlin.

 

Things carried on this way until the 15th of April 1949 when the Soviet news agency Tass announced a willingness for the end of the blockade. The four powers immediately began negotiations and by 1 minute to midnight on 12th of May 1949 the blockade was lifted. The first truck carrying supplies entered the city seconds later and the first cargo train arrived at 5:32am. The airlift didn’t stop as it was essential for the city to build up a comfortable surplus, should something similar happen again in the future. By the end of the airlift on the 30th of September 1949, a total of 2,326,406 tonnes of goods have been delivered by the airlift. 101 fatalities were recorded as a result of the operation, including 40 Brits and 31 Americans, mostly as a result of non flying accidents. One Australian air force member was killed in an aircraft crash as well as seventeen Americans and eight Brits that also lost their lives in crashes.

 

The cost of the airlift split between the US, the UK and Germany was estimated to have been between $224 million and $500 million, which equates to $2.6 billion and $5.27 billion adjusted for inflation. However the saviour of two million lives as well as an early defeat for the soviets in the cold war was well worth the cost to the taxpayer.

 

Thanks for watching the video, I hope you enjoyed this little slice of history. Again it’s something a bit different to the content most of you are here for, but it’s something I enjoy making and will make more of. If you want to support me then please do subscribe to the channel and ring the bell to be notified when I go live. If you want to support me financially then i’ve setup a Patreon. I have grand plans for the channel with the eventually goal of doing this full time and increasing the quality of my videos, but both of those things cost money. I’ll see you next time bye!  

Aha! 10 Fascinating Facts – Episode 8

1 physicist Nikola Tesla once paid an overdue hotel bill with a box containing a working model of his ‘death beam‘, warning employees never to open it because of the danger. They hid the box & when it was discovered years later & opened, found to contain old (harmless) electrial parts.

 

2 Paul McCartney, as a vegetarian and animal rights activist, only agreed to appear on The Simpsons if Lisa’s decision to become a vegetarian in that episode was made permanent. He is literally the only reason Lisa is still a vegetarian.

 

3 Communist leader Stalins grandaughter is an alternative, buddhist that runs an antique store in Portland Oregon.

 

4 the Queen logo, called the Queen crest, was designed by Freddie Mercury himself, who held a degree in graphic design. The logo combines the zodiac signs of the four band members.

 

5 ‘kangaroo words’, that is, a word that contains a synonym inside it, i.e MAscuLinE, BLOssOM, cHickEN or hoNOuraBLE.

 

6 The bezel on a dive watch only turns counterclockwise so that if the bezel is bumped accidentally during a dive it will only move in one direction, subtracting time from the dive and prompting the diver to surface early rather than staying under for too long.

 

7 John Scott, a pro hockey player who got voted by the people (as a joke) to be the captain of the All Star team. The NHL didn’t want him to play, so he got sent to the Minor Leagues. There wasn’t a rule against a minor leaguer playing in it though, so he played, scored twice and won MVP.

 

8 before Paris was liberated from the Nazis, Hitler ordered military governor Dietrich von Choltitzthe to demolish the Eiffel Tower and other major landmarks. He refused this direct order, and surrendered to the Allies instead, saving the tower.

 

9 When babies are born in Thailand, it is common for people to say the baby is ugly. There is a superstition that attractive babies will be taken by evil spirits. It is impolite to say positive things about the baby.
10 bees dance to each other in the hive to tell each other where to find good pollen. The angle of the dance is the angle relative to the sun, the tempo of dance is the distance, the duration of dance is the quality of the pollen, and the dancer hands out free samples to whoever’s watching!

What we know about the Final Fantasy 7 Remake?

Final Fantasy 7 is consistently in the conversation for the best game of all time alongside Zelda’s Ocarina of Time and Metal Gear Solid. All 3 games are more than 2 decades old now and look quite dated in comparison to the games of today. Both Link and Solid Snakes adventures have been followed up in subsequent titles but as the Final Fantasy series features a new cast of characters in each game, Cloud and friends tale seems to be forever relegated to the block graphics of the late 90’s. That is until the FF7 remake hits shelves. Something most Final Fantasy fans are eagerly awaiting.

 

So what do we know about the FF7 remake? Well… not all that much really. Square Enix has kept its cards close to it’s chest when it comes to this project. The game was revealed to fans back in 2015 at E3 and everything revealed since then has come in drips and drabs. A reveal trailer was dropped in 2015 alongside the initial reveal, a further trailer featuring gameplay came ast PSX 2015 and since then all we’ve had is a number of screenshots.

 

4 of the original key staff members from Final Fantasy 7 have returned to work on the remake. Original character designer Tetsuya Nomura returned as both director and main character designer, original director Yoshinori Kitase acted as producer, Kazushige Nojima returned to write the script, and composer Nobuo Uematsu is also involved.

 

The new Final Fantasy 7 is a remake and not just a remaster. So what does that mean exactly? Well the game will likely not be a carbon copy with new graphics but instead it’ll be a retelling of the classic 1997 story but with some changes to accomodate the appetites of a modern audience. Additional content is to be expected as well as some adjustments to the original character designs. The biggest change is likely to come from changes to the combat. For those of us that adore the old school turn based combat of the original then it’s likely to be bad news. The combat is very likely to be more action focused and in a similar vein to Final Fantasy 15, whose engine the remake is also using. The story is likely to recieve a bit of an update as well due to the expansion of the FF7 lore in subsequent spin off titles and animated films.

 

The game will be episodic. Square Enix decided to release the game in three seperate parts so as to not cut any content from the original game. While the specifics have not been announced there are 2 different methods that Square Enix could use for this. Telltales episodic style has shown huge success with titles such as the walking dead or with dontnod entertainments life is strange. These games were included under 1 price tag and would unlock for the player every couple of months. Square Enix previously attempted this style of game with the Hitman reboot, but they abandoned this model for the sequel which could be telling in their decision for the FF7 remake. The other potential style could be the one they went with for Final Fantasy 13, which saw 3 seperate games released in different years and required a full price purchase for each one.

The final and most disappointing thing is that we have no idea when this game will release. After an announcement in 2015, it was expected that the game will be dropped by 2018, however initial leaked conversations between producer Yoshinori Kitase and development lead Naoki Hamaguchi have suggested that it could be as late as 2023 before we finally get our hands on the FF7 remake. The conversation stated that the aim was to have the game released before the 35th anniversary of the company.  Another reason for the delay is that it’s been confirmed that the game will be a PS4 exclusive… at least first. Given that the current gen is reaching the end of its life cycle, it might be that the FF7 remake will hold out until next gen.

 

But could we be getting it earlier…? Maybe. Square Enix recently released their latest financial projections, which revealed that they are expecting a big increase in revenue for the 3rd and 4th quarters of the 2019 financial year. This would be between October and December 2019. With nothing currently announced to release between this period… could it be FF7? Only time will tell.