The University of Liege present in Nature-magazine the discovery of 3 Earth-like planets.

A newspaper here jokes about the fact it has to be the result of Belgian research as the starsystem is called Trappist-1

Let's claim this system for the future expansion of Belgium!

As in the Trappist monks who make strong fizzy bear, such as Chimey? (at ~11% it's around my ideal beer strength).

As in the Trappist monks who make strong fizzy bear, such as Chimey? (at ~11% it's around my ideal beer strength).

Yup! Exactly!

Big fans of Belgian beer in my household.

I have a household now.

House Bartha.

Hm. Need own heraldry.

Ever read EU stuff(or Lords of the Sith) about Ryloth? These are mean planets. Maybe habitable though, which is very cool.

Proxima is a good piece of scifi that details the kind of nonsense that would come with living on a planet like these.

Then again if you lived there you'd probably be completely disoriented by a sun that rose, set and moved across the sky.

The University of Liege present in Nature-magazine the discovery of 3 Earth-like planets.

A newspaper here jokes about the fact it has to be the result of Belgian research as the starsystem is called Trappist-1

Let's claim this system for the future expansion of Belgium!

Lol I tought hyping Belgium was my job! Well done Cununculus!

There is a RPG called "Space 1989" wich is a victorian aera science fiction setting in wich the UK and Belgium have colonised Mars and Venus. Probably the only rpg that let's you play a Belgian. Of course they get most of it wrong by stating our first offworld capitol is named New-Amesterdam. It should have been Nouveaux Bruxelles! (Back then all offical stuff was in French.)

They haven't been named yet have they? I say we name them after mythological figures from Flanders:

Names like "Wodan", "Brabo", "Antigoon" and "Kludde". (well maybe not Kludde )

Pray the planets have trees to support the booming clog industry.

Pray the planets have trees to support the booming clog industry.

Sorry dude/gall, clogs are a Dutch thing.

Wasn't Belgium originally partially a part of Holland though? It only became a country after 1815 didnt it?

I thought prior to the battle of waterloo the land we now call 'Belgium' was either French in the South or Dutch in the North.

Is that right or am i totally mis-remembering by school boy history

Wasn't Belgium originally partially a part of Holland though? It only became a country after 1815 didnt it?

I thought prior to the battle of waterloo the land we now call 'Belgium' was either French in the South or Dutch in the North.

Is that right or am i totally mis-remembering by school boy history

When The Netherlands (Aka Holland) became independent from Spain (I skip the transition from Burgundian to Spanish rule here) after the so-called Eighty Years War, Belgium continued as the Spanish and later Austrian Netherlands (again skipping some major history). There was a brief attempt at independence with the founding of The United States of Belgium in the late 18th century, to which the Austrian Empire sadly didn't agree. Eventually, Belgium became annexed by the French Republic. The Netherlands followed after being annexed by the, in the meantime, French Empire of Napoleon. During French occupation there was a second attempt at indepence for Belgium (de Boerenkrijg), which was defeated by the French.

Belgium and The Netherlands were briefly put together as one Kingdom for a period of 15 years after the battle of Waterloo and subsequent Vienna convention. In 1830 there was a third bid for Belgian indepence, this time a succesful one. After 9 years of negotiating, interupted by short military campaigns,the current border between both countries was established in 1839.

Between Dutch Independence and French annexation The Netherlands (Aka; Holland) and Belgium were not part under the same rule for roughly 200 years.

And the Dutch only ruled for 15.

Cool, i thought there was something to do with waterloo in it but i had no idea of the detail.

And what actually started the 3d attempt (an cununculus will probably correct me on this were needed) was a showing of the opera La Muette de Portici wich inflamed the mood of the audience to such an extent anti-dutch riots broke out.

Yes- our strife for independance was triggered by an opera ! And you tought "The King In Yellow" was danerous.

It's true what they say about us: "Surealism isn't an art movement, it's a way of life."

I won't! The opera was the trigger which fired off the Belgian declaration of independence

I won't! The opera was the trigger which fired off the Belgian declaration of independence

Wich is kinda mental when you think about it.

Remember kids: When somebody tells you movies/tv/ RPG/games will mess with your head, you can tell them it's opera they should be afraid of!

Speaking of Belgian independance: Belgium wanting to remain a monarchy for some reason and we practically had to run an add in the papers with "King wanted".

And the dutch king's son* tried to apply! The balls of that guy! We just got seperated from Holland and now we would be back under a Dutch king? A hell no! apparently even his dad wasn't happy about it

Eventually we settled on Leopold of Saxecoburg and all was well.

Then his son Leopold II found out about the Congo and ho boy...

* forgot names and to lazy to look them up.

Speaking of Belgian independance: Belgium wanting to remain a monarchy for some reason and we practically had to run an add in the papers with "King wanted".

And the dutch king's son* tried to apply! The balls of that guy! We just got seperated from Holland and now we would be back under a Dutch king? A hell no! apparently even his dad wasn't happy about it

Eventually we settled on Leopold of Saxecoburg and all was well.

Then his son Leopold II found out about the Congo and ho boy...

* forgot names and to lazy to look them up.

His heir was named Willem (one in a long line of Willems)

To add insult to injury this future Dutch King Willem II was engaged to a British Princess. Who broke off the engagement to marry Leopold I.....

Edited: Congo? Oh dear..., colonial behavior? Eeehm.....

*Whistles an innocent tune while slowly walking away*

Let's not talk about the Congo.

The real life Imperial era has it's fair share of black days.

"Holland" has never been our name of the country voluntarily, only under the rule of a thumb of the brother of Napoleon was the country whilst occupied, called the Kingdom of Holland.

Most if not all the other provinces in The Netherlands can't stand the nickname and most English speakers and other foreigners do not even realise there is this animosity within our country because of this...

Just something for you Non-Nederlanders to realize.

Let's not talk about the Congo.

The real life Imperial era has it's fair share of black days.

Let's not talk about the Congo.

The real life Imperial era has it's fair share of black days.

True indeed

I wonder what will happen when we (one day) go to outer space and find inhabited planets...

Let's not talk about the Congo.

The real life Imperial era has it's fair share of black days.

True indeed

I wonder what will happen when we (one day) go to outer space and find inhabited planets...

Or what if someone from outer space finds us first and accidentally reads the colonial era Wikipedia pages?

Let's not talk about the Congo.

The real life Imperial era has it's fair share of black days.

True indeed

I wonder what will happen when we (one day) go to outer space and find inhabited planets...

Or what if someone from outer space finds us first and accidentally reads the colonial era Wikipedia pages?

Sometimes I wonder if what's holding back first contact is the aliens having watched earth broadcasts, saw all the alien invasion movies and figured they wouldn't get a warm welcome here...

Hey, at least you can point to Albert, and say you got better...

Yep he was a good un. And once WWI got underway allied propaganda all but transformed him into a Saintly warrior king similar to King Arthur. And he died under mysterious circumstances, so we have our own assassination conspiracy theories- One is of adolf Hitler having him assassinated...