Men's Epee results…

@aequitas:

http://www.opposingviews.com/i/society/map-most-commonly-spoken-languages-each-state-after-english-and-spanish

Found this article and thought it’s interesting?

Much of it seems right on track but some it seems doubtful.  Japanese isn’t Hawai’i’s?  Vietnamese for Texas?  Maybe it’s right, it’s just not what I would have expected.

@aequitas:

What is Tagalog of kind of language?

A language found primarily in the Philipines.

I am not sure Napoleon was ever really himself after the Russian campaign. What he expected after his victory at Borodino and what really turned out was very different. Expecting the Russians to surrender only having them chase him all the way back to France may have put some doubt in his mind. Maybe that doubt is what affected his decisions at a place like Waterloo. I know in sports that if you loose your confidence it can be hard to get back. I imagine the same could be said about war generals. Just a thought. Enjoyed the post.

Merry Christmas players! And many more to come.

GG

@dezrtfish:

Just curious, is that the day they tell her secret?

you don’t want to know.

Oh, as far as the Chinese zodiac, I’m a pig. (or boar)

still here, though i am finding it difficult to get to a computer and check up on the site.

I think most of the backing came due to two facts:
(1) the USSR needed reforms, that was obvious.
Still, they probably wanted a long term leader that could be influenced => a younger one, after the two short reigns of Andropov and what-was-his-name… Probably, the influentials wanted some change, but surely not that much that it would threaten their power-base, one of the reasons for the coup that failed due to Jelzins help for Gorbachev.
(2) The general secretary and all the other positions he fills made him the most powerful man in the USSR. Probably, whoever put Gorbachev into place, underestimated him. Pretty much the same underestimation that Hitler faced when he was appointed Chancellor, but luckily Gorbachev used that to reform positively, and i consider the new freedom of information, the right to ask wether the party is right and that the crucial reform.

So, I don’t think that there was “real” backing, i believe Gorbachev was kind of a compromise candidate, kind of a makeshift. Of course, once he was into power, you ccouldn’t remove instantly, that would have meant that the party made a mistake (which was not “allowed” before Gorbachev). And he was clever enough to stay into power, and use his popularity at the beginning (which soon, after the economy started to collapse openly, was reduced to more or less nothing) to enforece the reforms.