"Tobit, from NewVenture Games. This is from Kakassia, in Russian central Asia. I never heard of Kakassia either. Credit to David McCord for noticing and putting out this game. It's not like he was sitting at the table listening to the rules in Kakassian or Russian.
 
 

That is a moose. Not to be confused with the French word mousse, which means foam, froth, also moss. But Swedish people would not call the animal a moose. They call it älg. People in Europe, including the United Kingdom, refer to moose as some variation of elk. So what's going on?
 
 

The The Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 happens late in this 45-minute video. Welcome to the confusing, shifting world of Europe. The Battle of Solferino in 1859 sticks in my mind because the suffering of the wounded inspired a businessman from neutral Switzerland to start the Red Cross. The revolutions of 1848 - multiple countries - are something to look into another day.

What else happened in 1867? Ontario, Quebec, and the old maritime provinces in British North America became Canada ("confederation"). U.S.A. bought Alaska from Russia, ending the North America part of the Russian Empire. Prince Mutsuhito took over as the Emperor Meiji of Japan, with the society-changing Meiji Restoration starting in 1868.

Do you remember the slick Winnipeg cat burglar? He stole the treasured Star of Empress Sisi.
 
 

Do you know anything at all about the war between Austria-Hungary and Serbia? The first 33 minutes are about this (the Battle of Tannenberg is unrelated). I remind you that the assassination of Austrian Grand Duke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo by a Serbian assassin set off the mousetrap leading to the Great War.
 
 

I was never full of anticipation for any of the Star Wars films. Even as a kid I recognised that Star Wars was made with a combination of mysterious magic pixie dust and production muscle. The science and technology were questionable. I understood that this delicate situation would be difficult to reproduce. As a result I always had tempered expectations for subsequent Star Wars films.

There was one production I was looking forward to, and that was a documentary about the making of The Empire Strikes Back. I remember buying a two-litre of sody pop and a big bag of potato chips - not a normal thing for me to do - in preparation for watching it on television. This had more Star Wars, but also a different view, including the tricks used to make the production work, including blue screen, as well as stop-motion animation. Back in those days, also at that age, special effects were interesting. "That film had neat special effects".