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World conker champion found with steel chestnut, cleared of cheating

(www.theguardian.com)
424 points notamy | 1 comments | 15 Oct 24 03:12 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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oblio ◴[15 Oct 24 08:08 UTC] No.41846124[source]▶
The British are living proof of the fact that amazing things[1] can be achieved when the place you live in is extremely boring.

[1] For varied definitions of "amazing", such as "conquer countries 10x your size", "invent 20 sports the entire world plays", etc.

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xg15 ◴[15 Oct 24 08:31 UTC] No.41846308[source]▶
> conquer countries 10x your size

> invent 20 sports the entire world plays

I mean, the two are kind of related, causally...

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oblio ◴[15 Oct 24 08:46 UTC] No.41846411[source]▶
Football wasn't spread (just) through conquest.

The UK never conquered Argentina or Brazil yet if you'd look at football fans in both countries you'd think Argentina or Brazil not only invented football itself, but they also built an entire cult around it :-p

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1. samatman ◴[15 Oct 24 15:55 UTC] No.41849873{3}[source]▶
The UK's relationship to Argentina was not conquest, true. But it was as close to colonial as you can get without stepping over the line.

There's a school called St. Andrews in Buenos Aires. If you know, you know.