Well There's Your Problem | Episode 81: Palace of the Parliament

unfortunately our automatic revisionism detector scrubbed liam from most of this episode
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[@NeilUpfold]

Two more USSR jokes for you: A race was organised around the streets of Moscow between a Ford and a Lada that the Ford easily won. In the following days edition of Pravda the headline read: "Soviet Lada comes second in historic race while capitalist Ford came in next to last" Vlad and Ivan were standing in the bread queue on a cold December morning. After an hours wait, Vlad turned to Ivan and says "Fuck this Ivan, I'm fed up of queueing for hours at a time just for a loaf of bread, I'm going shot Gorbachev" and stomps off in a huff. Half an hour later, Ivan spots Vlad coming back to the bread queue and calls out to Vlad "That was quick Vlad, you've got rid of Gorbachev for us then?" I'm afraid not Ivan, the shoot Gorbachev queue was even longer than this one"

[@LukeCorreia]

in fairness if i was an architect with the sims money cheat i too would spend it making a multibillion dollar building with nobody in it

[@themeatynugget4015]

Holy shit Luke! Based voice actor!

[@herlescraft]

woudn't we all?

[@enurrdtand8046]

You are a truly based individual!

[@RazorSkinned86]

Let's be honest... that building wasn't that big. I mean it was half the size of the Pentagon building for the US military command.

[@PairareSolitaire]

Oh hell fucking yeah, your memes AND your politics are based. Sicl

[@stevenyukabacera160]

Radio Yerevan was asked: "Is it true that half of the members of the Central Committee are idiots?" Radio Yerevan answered: "Rubbish. Half of the central committee are not idiots."

[@ClaudiaNW]

I thought this one came from a Disraeli quip! Where he said "Half the Cabinet are asses" and, when asked to withdraw the remark, said "Mr Speaker, I withdraw. Half the Cabinet are not asses".

[@marxmeesterlijk]

"It's like Jazz, It's about the buildings you don't build" That's it, pack it in. Episode over. You're not going to top that joke. :)

[@Bisquick]

Maybe Adorno was onto something with his anti-jazz-ism beyond submitting to "old man yelling at cloud" energy.

[@ClaudiaNW]

Overall it's a great episode. But it's a shame Liam was erased by a Stalinist purge!

[@einmensch1201]

Sry to disagree. As a german the summary of our election situation was hilarious (edit typo)

[@jazzensemble]

I feel so insulted

[@Dong_Harvey]

@@jazzensemble you shouldn't be here, you are bringing decadence to this immaculate audience

[@gotnothingclever]

I'm sad that the panel wasn't able to hear about Liam's family cat "Nicolae Meowșescu"

[@wojtektaracinski7977]

I thought Alice's joke gonna be one my of my favorites: Three prisoners in the gulag are talking. "What you're for?" - asks the first. "I opposed comrade Radek and called him a counter-revolutionary. And you?" "I supported comrade Radek" They both look at the third prisoner, who sat quietly in the corner the whole time. "And what's your deal? Were you with or against him?" "Shut up both of you" - the prisoner angrily exclaim - "I'm the comrade Radek"

[@wojtektaracinski7977]

Oh, and the favorite Stalin one: It's World War II. After particularly tense discussion with Stalin, Zhukov leaves his cabinet, muttering under his breath "that mustachioed son of a b***tch" Unluckily for him, the guard standing nearby hears it, and he immediately reports it to Stalin. Stalin orders both Zhukov and the guard to be brought before him "So, comrade Zhukov, what did you said?" - Stalin asks "That mustachioed son of a b***tch" - Zhukov responds "And by that you meant...." - Stalin continues "Hitler, of course!" - quickly responds Zhukov Now, Stalin's eyes narrows, as he looks at the guard "And you, comrade... who did *you* had in mind when you heard that?"

[@Asko83]

Three prisoners in a Siberian prison camp ask each other how they ended up there. 1st says "I was always late to work, they declared me a saboteur and sent me here." 2nd says "I was always early to work, they declared me a spy and sent me here." 3rd says "I was always on time to work, so they sent me here for having smuggled a foreign made watch into Soviet Union."

[@ClaudiaNW]

Liam was erased from this episode by a Stalinist purge

[@kanalkucker14]

😂😂

[@cameronmilligan]

Adam "Just Build a Fucking Train" Something teaming up with these three is the perfect combination!

[@SyntheticParanoia]

Amen!

[@r2dezki]

I'm pretty sure Adam grew up listening to these guys..

[@PobortzaPl]

Because: Train good Car bad Horse chaotic neutral

[@grmpEqweer]

@@PobortzaPl That depends on the horse in question.

[@ciarancassidy7566]

@@r2dezki I think he was definitely a fan of donoteat01 before he made videos but unless Hungarians mature fully by the age of 5 it would be hard for him to have grown up listening to them.

[@EvilDMMk3]

My favourite Soviet joke. Yuri Gagarin’s daughter here’s a knock at the door and goes to answer it. Outside is a government officer. “hello little girl, is your father in?“ “No, he is in space. He will be back on Tuesday.“ “Very well, is your mother in?“ “No, she is out shopping. We do not know when she will return.”

[@xmlthegreat]

Didn't get it

[@EvilDMMk3]

@@xmlthegreat Her father is in space, big state funded Cold War era project. They probably know when he’ll be back to the minute. Her mother is out shopping for basic amenities. The state of the Soviet economy means that being able to find say a loaf of bread is a major uncertainty

[@xmlthegreat]

@@EvilDMMk3 ohh okay. I was a bit confused cause it sounded like a "women be shopping" joke and didn't fit the context. I'd say instead of shopping she should say "she's gone out for groceries" that will help idiots like me understand quicker.

[@timedraven117]

@@xmlthegreat I know you got your question answered but I feel a bit more context would help for others who see it. Back in the day, if you wanted basic necessities like meat or toilet paper reliably in Russia, you had to go to a major city important to the communist party, (St. Petersberg, Moscow, Kyiv[Kiev then], Nishy Novgorod, ect). This meant people had to travel by train for up to a 1,000 kilometers to make a basic shopping trip, these trains were called Sausage trains (Or tubes) because of the smell of the meat on them from all the travelling out of towners looking to buy something as basic as sausages. Many in the communist part leadership, being centered in the cities, failed to realize just how dire the situation was for the average member of the Soviet Union. "Fuck you got mine" was also a factor. In the major economic collapse of the 90s, you couldn't even get *basic* necessities reliably anymore, hence all the lines of people and stuff waiting to be the first in for the days shopping or pick up their daily bread. EDIT: So this doesn't totally waste your time Akshay, another Soviet Union joke! A judge emerges from the courtroom laughing hysterically, tears streaming down his eyes. A fellow judge looks over and smiles, "Comrade, whats so funny?" "This man on trial told the greatest joke ever!" The first judge says between gasps of breath and giggles. The second judge, always looking for a good joke grins wider, "Well comrade share share!" "I can't!" Cries the first judge, "I just gave him twenty years for it!"

[@henryfleischer404]

@@timedraven117 Sounds like if their leadership was less centralized, their distribution of basic goods necessities would have been more effective. I'll remember that when I'm creating a new economic system from scratch. Totally going to do that.

[@tfuhl]

Extremely 80s, post-oil-crisis joke: - Where is the modern day capitalist society? - On the edge of a cliff. - What about the modern day communist society? - One big step ahead of them!

[@berryreading4809]

Always loved that one 🤣👍 thanks for reminding me!

[@egirlSkeletor]

"We're all on the spectrum baby" is a summary of this podcast

[@Dominator150395]

As a Romanian fan of both WTYP and Adam Something, I will choose to believe that this episode was recorded specifically for me. Thanks guys, you didn't have to

[@snowman21279]

Saw ur comment on Adams vid

[@industrialborn]

i had the same parasocial feeling actually :)

[@thegrimmarcher202]

Happy to hear I will not be te only one facing the firing squad when the clerico-nationalist revolution comes.

[@Adrot]

Romanian gang

[@cas013500]

I absolutely love how gay all those Soviet/Chinese cooperation posters are. That is the future the reactionaries are afraid of.

[@frrascon]

The Sino-Soviet split is one of the saddest break ups. Just look at how happy they looked as a couple..

[@_allegra]

...and history will call them "fraternal worker comrades"

[@Geosquare8128]

i think its really funny how adam basically made european donoteat and even has a european franklin series that he never uploads

[@nirina_hey]

oh it's geosquare!

[@HamSaladtv]

I legit discovered Adam's channel the se day this video came out! All i could think was that he needed to come on WTYP!!

[@juanjuri6127]

Danubeat01

[@tompain9735]

Does he also have the European equivalent of sounding like a 50 year old teamster shop steward?

[@snigwithasword1284]

Yes! Adam is a breath of fresh air! (Love you too WTYP..!) But ngl I started binging Adam's channel halfway thru this episode. XD

[@lawrencewatts1838]

Aw neat, i've got a palace of the parliament story: My gf is Romanian, and a widespread belief in Ro, as in a lot of eastern Europe, is that if there is a draught in the room you're in you will get sick. No open windows, no open doors; draught makes you sick. Put a pin in that. When you walk around the palace, if you get a guide, they will point out lots of elements of the inside that seem unfinished. Holes in the ceiling, cracks in walls etc. Supposedly, Ceaucescu was so scared of being poisoned that he would have a new suit made every day, then throw it away in the evening. This fear included air conditioning systems, so rather than actual air con, the palace has a system of ventilation throughout the building that can be opened and closed to ventilate different areas. That's what all those "missing" pieces are, they're holes for the air to get through. In other words, the largest, heaviest, most expensive building in Romania is ventilated... by a draught.

[@andreimoga7813]

CURENTU! LEANO INCHIDE GEAMURILE!

[@steemlenn8797]

Nice story! But you know, just because you are paranoid does not mean you aren't targeted. That guy is the proof of point ;)

[@SawedOffLaser]

I too, trust USPS to deliver my [REDACTED].

[@Xxx_EvilSmurf_xxX]

Gifts for your friends?

[@thruthewormhole]

You should add, “so that I can [have a nice time]”

[@THEcamobackpack]

Very good time

[@AllenSJ5]

parody redacted

[@jaysea5939]

Presents and secondary presents!

[@Andreea-kj2sv]

I think one thing that doesn't come across in photos is the truly bonkers scale of the Palace of Parliament. Every time I've had to walk past it, it's like-- ok, you know how you can see a mountain in the distance but no matter how long you walk towards it, it doesn't seem to get closer? When walking past the Palace of Parliament, it feels like you're not making any progress. You walk and walk and walk, and that building is just constantly looming at your shoulder, like you might as well be standing still. I've been inside once, when someone dragged me to some stupid MLM hype show thing. The Palace of Parliament actually rents out rooms, because not only do they have so many of them, but they are all of them bonkers huge. These are not room-sized rooms. They get rented out to people who like, have New Years parties and need a room that fits several hundred guests. The one I was in was the size of a concert hall. The ceilings are SO high, the walls SO far apart, it doesn't feel even like a real building, just tacky landscape. Truly hostile architecture, like it was said in the episode.

[@Dominator150395]

My fiancee went to the University of Medicine in Bucharest, and her class had their graduation party in the Palace of Parliament.

[@Klatchan]

I feel like the Soviet national anthem drop just keeps getting louder and louder each time it's used. As it should.

[@AlanCanon2222]

Alice probably just rips the audio from the episode it was previously used in, on the grounds that the iterated audio compression makes the drop more rigid.

[@GarretRB]

It honestly makes it funnier because it’s almost unrecognizable at first

[@GarretRB]

@Blaire Sovereign thankyou :)

[@joehamlin8265]

Liam had a strong showing given that noone could hear him

[@marinthecreator]

Yeah I was cracking up at his bits and I had no idea no one could hear him

[@grmpEqweer]

"Sometimes the best propaganda is true!" Yup. How you frame the truth is _really_ important, too. You can lie and tell the truth _at the same time_ if you put a little work in.

[@AllenSJ5]

Half-truths make better lies than outright falsehoods.

[@Cynon]

That's how Fox News operates.

[@totemictoad4691]

always put your lie between at least two truths, a nice sandwich helps it go down

[@danielled8665]

@@totemictoad4691 a truth with a false conclusion works really well too; people will usually follow “If, Then” even if everything in the middle is absolutely garbage logic.

[@Fs3i]

@@danielled8665 You can combine that with "Just asking questions", where you ask leading questions till the other side is exhausted. You can combine these strategies. (Questions, half-truths, and jumping)

[@Jablicek]

That safety third at the end. As a former teacher, the way your correspondent speaks of other teachers, parents, and students really speaks to me. On a fundamental level. I salute you.

[@frogalphabet4851]

hungarian guy be like: "oh, it can ALWAYS get worse, believe me"

[@annadess]

pontosan!

[@chasecomfort3940]

Me a month ago: I should play Cities Skylines *One KZbin Algorithm Rabbithole later* The Kulaks had it coming, and should have really all been tied to railroad tracks for peak efficiency.

[@MrTaxiRob]

the solution to the trolley problem is run over the kulaks

[@JackgarPrime]

It's the scaling domino meme in action.

[@scarylion1roar]

Ceauşescu’s helicopter touches down in Maramures, a remote village in the country’s north-western corner. He meets the village elders and talks to them about the latest directives designed to reverse Romania’s declining birthrate. In the flowery language for which the regime was known, he tells them: ‘Elena, the mother of all Romanians, wants your children to be her children. She wants to build the nation with you.’ The villagers listen, and when Ceauşescu finishes he asks if there are any questions. One old man says: ‘We understand you perfectly and we are ready to serve our country, but I have one question: do we go down to Bucharest or will she come up here?’

[@Gerg1n8eR]

"Luxury children's suits... err suites" "Welcome to the Nathan J Robinson mansion." Roz low-key just covered 90% of a man's body in 3rd degree sick burns, and I'm totally here for it; fuck that union buster!

[@craig_k321]

"boy this episode's just gonna be two hours of communism jokes isn't it" *hits like button*

[@LordoftheThings327]

the Liam Show/Shake Hands With Liam bit is probably the hardest I've ever laughed at a podcast, let alone the hardest I've laughed at a podcast in I can't even remember how long Yay for Fckin Liam Baby!!

[@Houseckat]

Yay, Liam! Yay the Liam Show.

[@Hypocrite-ical]

YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY LIAM!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@MrTaxiRob]

I feel like he's been saving that up for a while

[@ewanhogg3068]

He may not have been successful in his WTYP coup, but he's well on his way to ousting Joe Kassabian and making it Liams Led by Donkeys!

[@outistynnanyt5153]

"All Bits and No Reactions makes Liam plan a coup All Bits and No Reactions makes Liam plan a coup All Bits and No Reactions makes Liam plan a coup All Bits and No Reactions makes Liam plan a coup"

[@danielludwig647]

Alice gets to have all the fun. I say we give Liam his own drop button with “Mother Anarchy Loves Her Sons”.

[@Marc-ny6mg]

P L E A S E

[@helloofthebeach]

I fear a Liam with soundboard technology

[@FakeSchrodingersCat]

Well at least we would get to hear how the two sink up.

[@outistynnanyt5153]

I mean i wouldn't complain about frequent "Bella Ciao" drops personally!

[@heffatheanimal2200]

Stated reason Adam is here: to share perspective and knowledge on Romania Real reason Adam is here: to correct Roz's pronunciation :D

[@ClaudiaNW]

I'm not sure he was right about Hoxha!

[@ilicythings]

nice number of likes

[@ker-balkanrider]

It's pronounced "Hodzsa" in Hungarian spelling not "Hoksza" so it's not an x but a j as in job or jab.

[@ClaudiaNW]

@@ker-balkanrider I thought we were talking about the *Albanian* name Hoxha (as in Enver Hoxha). I'm confused.

[@ClaudiaNW]

Sorry if I missed the context!

[@snowmanscz1011]

A spectrum is haunting Europe - the spectrum of communism - Karl Marx

[@grmpEqweer]

It's a rainbow 🌈

[@TheEliera]

Surprising number of Czech people here

[@murciadoxial8056]

Stand Alone Capitalism.

[@hp67c]

I thought my count was wrong, too, but I Czeched and double-Czeched it.@@TheEliera

[@scarylion1roar]

Loser walks into the war room and finds a massive, heavy-looking grey box dominating the table. *Loser:* What is that? *Heinrich Müller:* It's the latest Soviet audio bug. Now, mein Führer, only Stirlitz had access to this room; I told you he might be a spy... *Loser:* [exasperated] Never mind that, why hasn't anybody gotten rid of it? *Müller:* We tried, mein Führer. Nobody can lift the damned thing.

[@Sp4mMe]

What a meteoric rise in KZbin fame for Adam.

[@jacobedward2401]

It's my first time hearing of him... Looks I might be the only one

[@Altoclarinets]

meteors quite famously do not rise

[@itsa_possum]

@@Altoclarinets depends on your frame of reference

[@Altoclarinets]

@@itsa_possum look at mr. walks around upside down to be edgy

[@itsa_possum]

@@Altoclarinets No need for that, the Meteor might be on its way from perihel as earth waddles across its trajectory

[@scarylion1roar]

An outsider arrives in Soroksar and sees that huge statue bases are being assembled. He asks a local: ‘Tell me, whose statues will be placed on these bases?’ ‘Well, the first will have Rakosi, the second Stalin, the third Mindszenty and the fourth Eisenhower.’ ‘Well, this is a very strange selection.’ ‘Yes, but the statues are being erected with public money and the public wish was that, instead of a name, a sentence from the Lord’s Prayer would be written on each base so that if someone didn’t know these people by their faces, they would still recognise who the statues were of.’ ‘But how do you do that?’ ‘Under Rakosi we write: “Our Father, ”; on Stalin: “Which art in heaven”; on Mindszenty: “Hallowed be thy name”; and on Eisenhower: “Thy kingdom come.”

[@scarylion1roar]

What were Vasile Milea’s last words before he committed suicide? ‘Comrades, don’t shoot!’

[@kodiakbricks5821]

Ah, yes, my favorite podcast guest; the Soviet National Anthem

[@scarylion1roar]

Stierlitz wakes up in a prison cell. "Which identity should I use?" he wonders. "Let's see. If a person in black uniform walks in, I must be in Germany so I'll say I'm Standartenführer Stierlitz. If they wear green uniform, I'm in the USSR so I'll admit I'm Colonel Isayev". The door opens and a person in a blue uniform comes in saying, "You really should ease up on vodka, Comrade Tikhonov!"

[@MrJimheeren]

You have some very specific jokes here my friend

[@scarylion1roar]

@@MrJimheeren Tell a joke to a German, and he will not understand it. Tell a joke to an Englishman, and he will understand it, but won't show it. Tell a joke to a Japanese, and he will understand it his own way. Tell a joke to a Russian, and he will tell you that he knows three more versions of that joke that are much better.

[@dylanchouinard6141]

Reject Socialist Neoclassicism. We must create Socialist Gothic

[@scarylion1roar]

Do you know when the foundations of the Romanian economy were laid? As far back as biblical times - Jesus was put on the cross, they asked him to stretch out each hand and knocked a nail in. Then they said, “Please cross your legs. We only have one nail left.”

[@TheScorpionStrike]

Petition to add a "Soviet joke of the week" segment to the podcast.

[@thegrimmarcher202]

Da

[@FlameDarkfire]

Critical support

[@whyamiwhat]

I found the thing about the ballsack: RFE/RL: During the interview, Ceausescu and Auchincloss were seated on a dais. From where you sat, you had a better view of the "Genius of the Carpathians," as he liked to be referred to in the Romanian media. What struck you most about his appearance? Meyer: I just began taking notes, and one of the notes said "balls," and this was not editorial commentary, this was a literal observation. Ceausescu was sitting and I was looking at his testicles, resting on his seat, in his overlarge trousers, and they...they looked, like, as I wrote in my notebook, overripe tomatoes, sort of flattened, squatted there on his feet -- malignant -- them so big; him such a small dictator. (Journo was Michael Meyer)

[@MrTaxiRob]

Claire, you wanna see a picture of a guy with elephantitis of the nuts? It's pretty tasty.

[@Zehn317]

Thanks for powering through, Ghost Liam

[@thisguyducky]

I started getting sad as it felt like you all were ignoring Liam but then I realized, wait they can't fucking hear him.

[@Artemis0713]

Y'know I've only just started the episode, but I already just wanna say that the start with a pronoun check, completely casual and not played for laughs or whatever, is so very pleasant and immediately gives me a good expectation

[@GilTheDragon]

I REALLY want photos of this upsettingly large desk.

[@GigasGMX]

I just want you to know that I guessed “17 architects” as a pie-in-the-sky, surely-that’s-way-too-high number.

[@TimperialBroadcastingAgency]

I guessed seven. I was only off by two orders of magnitude.

[@peterpanda5069]

This place! I went to a show at the art gallery here, which involved a demolition crew pulling down the exhibition space behind me as I left. Still not sure I didn’t experience the most personal Dadaist performance piece ever.

[@grmpEqweer]

You did.

[@MrxstGrssmnstMttckstPhlNelThot]

God how horrible would it be to actually be ignored by three people right in front of you for like 2 hours. Jesus Christ that thought is horrifying.

[@Achillesnic]

As a USPS Carrier, I will deliver anything that delivers Praxis to people

[@AlanCanon2222]

I cannot confirm (or deny) the existence of Praxis.

[@jizburg]

@@AlanCanon2222 praxis may or may not be on its way to you right now.

[@themroc8231]

So I had this communist philosophy teacher in France who had a big scar on his head and beneath a metal plate on his skull I was told. The rumour in college was that he had been part of the delegation of the french Communist party sent to Albania in 1990 to tell the Albanians that their french comrades had their back and basically they should remain communists, but apparently the people at the meeting had some strong feelings about the issue and that ended with him getting his head bashed in.

[@themroc8231]

Just googled his name + Albania (in french) and found out that yeah, he wrote a bunch of pro-Hoxha, anti-Tito articles in the 80´s, recorded an Albanian folk-music compilation in the 70´s, and was the secretary of the Franco-Albanian friendship association at least in 79. So yeah... My old high-school rumor seems more than plausible.

[@Brisarious]

can't wait for next week's episode of "well there's your Liam"

[@MrTaxiRob]

a podcast about Liam...with slides

[@truckfreak4537]

You guys should do the DUST BOWL soon! Climate change, FDR, dust, bowls lots to talk about

[@IcarusTyler]

Oh cool, I visited Bukarest once and checked out the palace! The entire eastern side is flanked by a 8-lane street with (I think) zero ways to cross safely from one side to the other, it is amazing

[@TheCommunistColin]

Not even the most ardent and entrenched MLs I know claim Ceaucescu, if that gives you an idea about the guy. Real piece of work, as I've learned from Adam's video about Dubai and also this video. Another great episode.

[@schneemann1991]

I just binged Adam Something yesterday and really liked his content. This collab makes me like him even more.

[@marinary1326]

Boo, not enough Liam! But also, I ship Soviet Socialist Realist Poster Guy x Chinese Socialist Realist Poster Guy

[@scarylion1roar]

"Are you a good building or a bad building?... Only bad buildings are ugly." -Glinda the Good Witch, probably

[@95Andyyy]

All the "train good, hyperloop bad"-podcasts... UNITE!

[@rkn3045]

1:48:56 they figure out they can't hear Liam. I love the part when Allice talks over Liam mid-joke to comment on the meaty can open. This episode was awesome!

[@opalpersonal]

"i'm the genius of the carpathians, and this is jackass."

[@Yora21]

The perfect guest for the show. With some guests you forget they are even there, but Adam immediately feels like he's always been the fourth guy on the show.

[@MrTaxiRob]

I think it's his experience with having his own show, and being able to use the equipment and account for lag. Plus socialism.

[@25usd94]

Oh my god the aerial photo is the most cursed mounted CPU of all time.

[@joearnold6881]

Just be an ancom, Liam. Then you will be able to stand up to those bullies.

[@sqwarlock]

Me for almost the entire episode: Why is everyone talking over Liam so much? They're never that rude. Me at the end: Oh. My. GOD. That's hilarious.

[@1121494]

Tacoma Narrows Bridge coming up next, so novel and interesting! So much looking forward to it!

[@joearnold6881]

Nah, that was the one right after the previous episode :)

[@FelixMeister]

@@joearnold6881 I missed it? Fuck my life.

[@blackman7437]

Holy shit the madmen actually did it.

[@joearnold6881]

@@FelixMeister no no you did t miss it. It was the one right after the last one. Not this one, though. You know the one before this one? it was the very next one right after that one.

[@FelixMeister]

@@joearnold6881 duh, of course! Yeah, I remember now. It was amazing. A roller coaster ride of emotions from start to finish.

[@frankiethegimp6192]

I met this guy who used to be a geologist in Romania before '89. He had a bunch of stories about the Ceausescu couple such as Elena ordering people to look for diamonds in the Danube Delta and Nicolae seeing a black rock on the side of the road, believing it was coal and requesting large prospection works to be done in the area.

[@michaelkenner3289]

Serious suggestion, Romania should set up some film studios nearby and encourage Hollywood to film their dystopian movies at the People's Palace. Seems like a good way to make some use of such a ridiculous building.

[@ebnertra0004]

I'm pretty sure The Backrooms is set in the Palace

[@plantain.1739]

@@ebnertra0004 You know you joke, but I actually deeply desire this now.

[@deBASHmode]

Just catching up with this one. When Roz quoted the part about Ceausescu’s enormous balls, My first thought was, “He got his vaccine in Trinidad!”

[@CassandraForAGlobalTroy]

There was supposed to be a 30-story building there - now there's a cautionary story there.

[@mirelchirila]

Romania has a lot of problems but democraticly it’s no worse than the USA , we change administrations, protests are free. Not saying it cant get worse but we’re not as bad as Hungary yet.

[@Callaxes]

Emphasis on YET! I always get a bit concerned whenever I see orthodox youth movements recruiting students to help protect the "traditional romanian family"

[@mirelchirila]

@@Callaxes Most romanian youth like youth everywhere isnt interested in stuff like that, maybe the poorest of the poor, like no internet growing up in a village poor. Even the anti gay arguments, a clasic for eastern europe, now start with “everyone can do what they like but…”, theres a inherit undertanding of personal liberty. Super extreme orthodoxy is a old people thing, and you can see it in protests, AUR are the party that whould support that , maybe the social democrats but lighter, and if you search for for AUR protest you can see the demografics. And even then the antivax stuff atracts more people than the othodoxy stuff.

[@alexandergowriluk1687]

Funny you should talk about Eastern European nationalism and then the Prague Spring (sort of a misnomer). A big reason for having freedom of the press was that the government in Prague was historically Czech dominated, which Slovak nationalists, particularly those who fought in the 1944 Uprising (note, Dubček was both). Freedom of the press=freedom to critique the Czech-dominated government, and was a back-door way to get more Slovak representation in government.

[@gonzoengineering4894]

On the remarks about Stalin's theory, here's my experience down that rabbit hole: Reading The Foundations of Leninism; Oh wow he's managed to simplify such a complex body of work into comprehensible bullet points. His understanding must run really deep to boil it down like that Reading everything else: Oh wow, simplified bullet points is really as deep as his understanding goes, huh?

[@Bisquick]

Yeah I was like, man, why is Alice being kind of subtly rude talking over Liam and such, seems out of character...but of course plot twist at the end. Also 1:48:11 , I must mention synchronicity of sorts as the song I was listening to before watching ep was appropriately Cigaro by SOAD.

[@emkultra2349]

found adamsomething a week ago and thought "this guy needs to do a WTYP". This sparks joy

[@MrTaxiRob]

this seems to have happened to quite a few of us WTYP fans

[@BarkyLondon]

Romania is lovely. Lived there for a bit. Talked to some folks who participated in the revolution. Truly some fantastic people.

[@Robert0Pirie]

Oh boy! Adam Something and WTYP! One of my favorite podcast and one of my favorite essayist!

[@youllnevertakemealive2833]

AND IT IS SO EXCITING

[@arthropodqueen]

I heard is voice and went ::o

[@miche1df]

Having been to Palatul Poporului, the only way I can describe it is that it's like going spelunking in the Pentagon. All of this elaborately designed, robustly constructed space and absolutely nobody is there. Decent view of what used to the be the nice part of Bucharest from the balcony, at least.

[@Atomic361]

The crossover I expected so little I didn't even know I needed it

[@h0stI13]

Ceausescu was not picked up by helicopter from the People's House. It wasn't finished at the time. He was picked up from the current building of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, back then it was hosting the "Central Committee". From the balcony of that building he held the speech that got the crowd angry.

[@grahamariss2111]

The thing I remember when I first saw this, driving towards it and thinking that it is not so bad, but then realising the time I was taking to get to it and how much bigger it was getting, it was twice the size in every dimension than my brain conceived it could be. That is shocking thing, it's scale is just so unnecessarily big in every way. This is what happens when you have a president who has "size" issues.

[@eloisemason]

In the Ender's Game episode of the podcast "Hugo, Girl" I got to listen to the hosts research live on air whether the Warsaw Pact was a real world thing or invented for the book and I was living my best Gen-X life.

[@MrTaxiRob]

everyone knows it was a Western geopolitical construct established for the express purpose of discrediting Marxism... duh

[@Daler1213]

Im on pretty far left spectrum of cummunism and Ceaušesku was one of those insane people sadly. Its crazy that under the soviet occupation the labor movement was dismissed with red monarchists favored. Also I think its a bit reductive calling SU as a fascist state. Was it authoritarian and made a ton of shitty descisions? Yes, but calling it fascist dilutes that word and dismisses genuinely socialist things about the system. For instance central asia where I am from has been greatly advanced in development and whatnot. Capitalist restoration has made our region signficantly worse.

[@OrbitalRose_01]

Love to start off the episode with some classic leftist infighting

[@robmoney]

If no one starts singing the Soviet anthem, in whichever language, at the live show when Alice hits that drop, I'll be pissed.

[@solitairetoday]

Romanian here, Adam told about ceausescu that his last speech it was in the Casa Poporului( palace of the people) but it wasn’t there because it wasn’t finished. His last speech it was at the Central Comitee wich it was more in the old center near museum of arts where it was a big plaza where he was keeping his speeches

[@miche1df]

and now it's the site of the potato on a stick statue

[@DeadWhiteButterflies]

I do wish this was the more nuanced lesson on the Soviet Union I got at school instead of the opening sequence to Disney's Anastasia.

[@SuperTastyfish]

that's wild, was just watching adam something's videos and thinking that he'd make a great guest, what an ideological crossover

[@PaulVadineanu]

So like. I'm Romanian, I live in Germany atm. Been a fan of the podcast since its inception, been a fan of Adam's for a couple of months now. And last night I had a few too many glasses of bad whisky and saw this episode as I was going to bed. I literally thought I drunk dreamt you guys together talking about Ceaușescu and the people's palace and woke up thinking, damn, that was a weird one, wish I could go back to my usual surreal dreams about never having finished high-school. But it was real. What timeline is this

[@archierastorguev5166]

'Stalinka' apartment blocks were not built for the 'people', they were built for the elites. The large scale social housing construction began only under Khruschev, those were much less impressive 4-5 storey prefab projects (still a huge improvement in living conditions for most people).

[@pnscrivener1696]

Firing Liam and replacing him with Eastern European labor.

[@bradleywilkinson1097]

The ornamentation is "fractal ornamentation". The more you look at it the more you see. Also, unless I am very mistaken the model showed a heck of a lot more building than they ended up with......

[@SadisticSenpai61]

12:30 So where does "Mao was based when he executed the landlords" end up on that scale? Is that the same as "the Kulaks maybe deserved it"? Cuz that's where I'm at these days.

[@duncanferguson449]

I believe that Liam’s dad has some thoughts on the subject

[@enochbowen471]

@@duncanferguson449 They really need to get Liam's dad on the podcast. The trickle of takes that we get via the grapevine are always fascinating.

[@FredyeahEternal]

As a Civil engineer with a passion for urbanism, public administration and socialism, you have no idea what a godsend this podcast has been, Keep up the good work folks!

[@ramirorybczuk9100]

Quite of a good slogan "Romania: It's nice, though"

[@Santiago111145]

the overhead view at 1:29 kind of looks like a CPU socket on a motherboard. Which for a government center, is pretty "building should look like its purpose".

[@ItzGuerrero]

This is the perfect length for wtyp episodes, if you ask me.

[@SyntheticParanoia]

Yes! WTYP and Adam Something Episode was on my Christmas wish list 😀

[@TuckyAndrei1]

a few clarifications from a romanian: the salaries were pretty big at the time of the revolution because of price controls. the problem was there was nothing to buy. so ceausescu offering the protestors 200 lei was considered a fucking joke by the protesters. also a lot of workers were from the bucharest factories which did stuff like heavy industry, clothing, optical equipment and all that jazz. the miners were involved in the post revolution mineriads when the very democratic moscow-educated president put the miners on trains and brought them to bucharest to disperse student-led protests, because the police wouldn't do it

[@TheBigMagnet]

It occurs to me that the process of getting a car in the Eastern Bloc countries is oddly similar to the one for the Steam Deck. You pay a fee, then you are put on a waiting list, and you wait for years, checking your number on the list to see when you might get yours. The main difference is that at least it appears you don't have to reinstall stolen parts.

[@Leonyithas]

My favorite Soviet Joke from a polish friend: I hear knock on door I ask “who is” “It breadman, I bring bread” I open door Is not breadman Is KGB *such is life*

[@itsmannertime]

Bureaucrat and other bureaucrats come to apartment year after I complain of gas leak. They say it fine. They hauled away on stretcher from gas poisoning saying it fine. I am not flea so whatever I deal with it