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Ghost of WWII: 1940's meticulously overlaid on modern day

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Re: Ghost of WWII: 1940's meticulously overlaid on modern day

#31

Post by kenver »

palish wrote: post #26
arethuza wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me old and ancient buildings provide the soul of our cities - providing a tangible connection with the many generations of our ancestors. Of course, it helps that I live in a beautiful and old city (though hardly ancient compared to some) - as I write this I can look up at a castle perched on the plug of an extinct volcano, parts nearly a thousand years old, and think that this is really rather a nice place to li…

That's really cool. A city with a castle on a volcano? Which city is that?

I think it's Edinburgh, it's built on an extinct volcano though. It's probably a health and safety requirement.

Re: Ghost of WWII: 1940's meticulously overlaid on modern day

#32

Post by jacquesm »

nostrademons wrote: post #17
brc wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everything in the world has a U-shaped value curve. Most valuable when it is new, at some point it loses value, may even become worthless. Down the track, it will become priceless and irreplaceable. Note 'value' here isn't strictly monetary, it can be cultural as well. Dropping buildings in the midst of the U never gives things the chance to recover and move past fashion. Most buildings discarded are due to the desig…

Much of the Northeast has this flavor. I dunno if you've ever been to the Boston area, but many of the buildings have this same sense of history to them. In the leather district, you've got former tanning factories which became porn studios which became software offices and yuppie lofts. In Maynard, you have old textile mills from the industrial revolution, which became DEC in the 50s and 60s, which became Monster.co…

'Old' in Europe is more like this:

http://pics.ww.com/v/jacques/buildings/dscf1025.jpg.html

or this:

http://pics.ww.com/v/jacques/buildings/dscf1021.jpg.html

The oldest parts of this building date from the 12th century:

http://www.engelmunduskerkvelsenzuid.nl/images/foto_kerk_2.j...

I've actually had an office in the 'carpet factory' in Toronto, which was an industrial revolution age textile mill, amazing building, white pine roof beams that were easily 1 1/2' on a side in the section that we were in.

Fortunately some of those buildings remain, but an enormous number of them got torn down.

Re: Ghost of WWII: 1940's meticulously overlaid on modern day

#33

Post by lkozma »

ugh wrote: post #20
jacquesm wrote: post #18

The Euro-centric view is that Europe is the battlefield of the world, and that Poland is the battlefield of Europe, and during World War II that was more true than ever before or since. The cities of Rotterdam ('the city without a heart') and Dresden still tell a pretty grim tale today if your eyes are open to it, and Warsaw and Poznan have plenty of places where the repair still hasn't caught up with the damage. The…

What Europe can be quite proud of is how not only war was avoided during the last decades but also that war was made less likely over the decades. Suggesting that there could be war between Germany and France would be crazy today but certainly wasn’t always. That’s not just some flimsy anti-war sentiment which can change as new generations take over, that actually has something to do with lasting change initiated by…

That's true, but ultimately what causes wars might have to do with the impulses of people as much as with the "international situation". While institutions can be put in place that seem to make war less likely, people today are not that different from people yesterday.

Re: Ghost of WWII: 1940's meticulously overlaid on modern day

#34

Post by jacquesm »

Vivtek wrote: post #30
jonursenbach wrote: post #3

Kind of depressing that most of the US will never have something as cool as this due to this countries lack of appreciation for dated architecture.

My house, in 1905 and last year: http://big-old-house.blogspot.com/2009/09/then-1905-and-now-...

That's so cool! My house is also from 1905:

http://pics.ww.com/v/jacques/buildings/neatspot/07042007224....

It's a tiny little farmhouse, I spent 2 years rebuilding it.

Re: Ghost of WWII: 1940's meticulously overlaid on modern day

#35

Post by Peryodo »

ugh wrote: post #20
jacquesm wrote: post #18

The Euro-centric view is that Europe is the battlefield of the world, and that Poland is the battlefield of Europe, and during World War II that was more true than ever before or since. The cities of Rotterdam ('the city without a heart') and Dresden still tell a pretty grim tale today if your eyes are open to it, and Warsaw and Poznan have plenty of places where the repair still hasn't caught up with the damage. The…

What Europe can be quite proud of is how not only war was avoided during the last decades but also that war was made less likely over the decades. Suggesting that there could be war between Germany and France would be crazy today but certainly wasn’t always. That’s not just some flimsy anti-war sentiment which can change as new generations take over, that actually has something to do with lasting change initiated by…

'What Europe can be quite proud of is how not only war was avoided during the last decades but also that war was made less likely over the decades.'

Whaaaaaaatt??? Does sound any bell to you the names Yugoslavia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Croatia...?

Re: Ghost of WWII: 1940's meticulously overlaid on modern day

#36

Post by jacquesm »

Peryodo wrote: post #35
ugh wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What Europe can be quite proud of is how not only war was avoided during the last decades but also that war was made less likely over the decades. Suggesting that there could be war between Germany and France would be crazy today but certainly wasn’t always. That’s not just some flimsy anti-war sentiment which can change as new generations take over, that actually has something to do with lasting change initiated by…

'What Europe can be quite proud of is how not only war was avoided during the last decades but also that war was made less likely over the decades.' Whaaaaaaatt??? Does sound any bell to you the names Yugoslavia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Croatia...?

Technically you are right, but most of Europe sees that as the des-integration of Yugoslavia, which would make it a civil war rather than a war between nation states. And I think you meant to write Serbia instead of Yugoslavia.

The other countries getting involved was to stop worse from happening.

From what I know about that war it was basically something that was bound to happen the moment Tito kicked the bucket. He was - like Saddam Hussain in many ways - the person that kept the spring-loaded component parts in an iron grip which some mistook for stability. Once the counter force was gone the various parts flew apart and started a war to try to gain the upper hand.

In Yugoslavia you could say that there never really was stability, only a temporary lack of opportunity to continue the fight.

Re: Ghost of WWII: 1940's meticulously overlaid on modern day

#37

Post by ugh »

Peryodo wrote: post #35
ugh wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What Europe can be quite proud of is how not only war was avoided during the last decades but also that war was made less likely over the decades. Suggesting that there could be war between Germany and France would be crazy today but certainly wasn’t always. That’s not just some flimsy anti-war sentiment which can change as new generations take over, that actually has something to do with lasting change initiated by…

'What Europe can be quite proud of is how not only war was avoided during the last decades but also that war was made less likely over the decades.' Whaaaaaaatt??? Does sound any bell to you the names Yugoslavia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Croatia...?

Oh, yeah, that Balkans thingie. Right. Kinda sucks, for officially more than a century now. The more things change …

I wanted to write “(except for the Balkans)” but ultimately didn’t and probably should have. Just two things: When I say “Europe” I was pretty much talking about western Europe plus a bit of eastern Europe (Poland, Czech Republic, …), also the situation on the Balkans is nowadays unlikely to cause a European or worldwide war (you know, like 100 years ago).

Re: Ghost of WWII: 1940's meticulously overlaid on modern day

#38

Post by [deleted] »

pw_pw_pw wrote: post #19
jacquesm wrote: post #18

The Euro-centric view is that Europe is the battlefield of the world, and that Poland is the battlefield of Europe, and during World War II that was more true than ever before or since. The cities of Rotterdam ('the city without a heart') and Dresden still tell a pretty grim tale today if your eyes are open to it, and Warsaw and Poznan have plenty of places where the repair still hasn't caught up with the damage. The…

This is trailer of animated reconstruction of Warsaw after uprising in 1944: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYmxhnIJ3g4&feature=relat...

[deleted]

Re: Ghost of WWII: 1940's meticulously overlaid on modern day

#39

Post by torpor »

pvg wrote: post #8

http://sergey-larenkov.livejournal.com/ Original source, also lists the locations. There are also places in a number of these cities where limited amounts of the ww2 damage are left un-repaired, as a memorial and a live version of these composites.

I live in Vienna, and am constantly on the lookout for signs of the old wars. Its a very sobering experience to walk down some street and then realize later that was the site of intense street fighting and massacre.

Re: Ghost of WWII: 1940's meticulously overlaid on modern day

#40

Post by torpor »

JacobAldridge wrote: post #2

I don't know any of these locations, so I'm sure these are even more amazing for people familiar only with their current state of being. I particularly appreciated image 15 with the soldiers carrying the Soviet flag underneath the modern German flags.

The pictures of the Heldenplatz (here in Vienna) are particularly sobering, considering that its a very bright and vibrant place these days .. oh, except for the one week a year when the Austrian military put on their big displays there, of course .. that is a bit freaky.
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