latvia epitome of incomprehensibility This is one of those places in Europe I don't think about a lot. But I looked up an unfamiliar last name to check whether I'd spelled it right (I have to enter these names into a database for the artisans club) and, lo and behold, it's a Latvian name, shared with a dead Latvian politician. Entering names in an Excel sheet is not the most exciting thing in life, so I get my entertainment when I can. I have fond memories of geography games with my brother, too. But I'd forgotten the capital city of Latvia was Riga. 190915 ... e_o_i It's one of the countries that was created after WW1 (new countries in Europe happened a lot then, as empires broke up and borders were changed). WW2 seemed to be pretty devastating there. Okay, so you know how Poland got split up and "shared" between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union? And after the war taken by the Soviet Union until it collapsed in 1991? (If the USSR hadn't joined the Allies things would've probably been a lot worse, but Stalin wasn't exactly nice and he liked to take over places.) Well, a similar thing happened to Latvia after having a dictator of its own since 1934: taken over by the USSR in 1939-1940, the Nazis in 1941, and the USSR again in 1944. And, like Poland, it stayed part of the USSR until it ended. These days it seems to be doing pretty well. Still, if you want to be a country, I'd advise you not to be stuck between two large and aggressive ones. Gah, history is depressing and it's also not what I'm supposed to be doing. I need to get this @#$%^& Excel sheet done (I am a cartoon, I swear in symbols). 190915 what's it to you? who go blather from