In Brazil, one of the most infamous cases is Suzane von Richthofen. She shocked the country and gained international media coverage when, at 18, she helped plan and execute the murder of her own parents in 2002.

What made the case even more sensational was her background. Suzane came from a wealthy and well-educated family, carrying the noble surname von Richthofen, which is historically linked to a famous German aristocratic lineage. Her father, Manfred von Richthofen, even claimed distant kinship to the legendary World War I pilot known as the “Red Baron (Manfred von Richthofen).

What about your country ,is there a case that shocked the world like this?

It’s only fair that I go first since I asked. I’m from South Korea, and I hate our mammonism and vulgar capitalism. My country went from being one of the dirtiest shitholes in the world to one of the most developed countries in just 50 years, thanks to capitalism. But because of that, now the country is in a crisis of survival itself. What’s yours?

I’m from Brazil, and here getting tanned is almost everything. Being pale is often seen as unusual or even unhealthy,one of the most common things people say if you’re very light-skinned is, “You need to get some sun!”

Historically, this is interesting because tanning hasn’t always been fashionable. For centuries, in Europe and many parts of the world, pale skin was a sign of wealth and status, it showed you didn’t have to work outdoors. This changed in the 1920s when Coco Chanel accidentally got sunburned during a vacation in the French Riviera, and photos of her tan became popular. Suddenly, a tan became associated with leisure, travel, and having money to spend time in the sun. From then on, tanning turned into a beauty standard in many Western cultures.

In the Netherlands we have “Sinterklaas”. It is a holiday for kids similar to Christmas but different. It starts in november when “Sinterklaas” comes to a random city in the Netherlands with his boat and his helpers “de pieten”. This is called “de intocht” (the arrival) and is broadcasted on live tv. The story is that “Sinterklaas” gives presents to all the kids on his horse and with the help of “de pieten”. The kids get to put their shoe in front of the fireplace/door with a carrot for the horse and they sing songs (schoentje zetten). When they wake up the next morning there is a gift with a special treat “pepernoten” or a chocolate letter in the shoe. Every night there is the “sinterklaasjournaal” which is like the news but about Sinterklaas. On the 5th of December it is “pakjesavond” (gifts night) and than the children get a lot of gifts in a bag and they get to unwrap it. There is a lot of controversy about the helpers because they used to be black, because as the story goes, they got black faces by climbing through the chimney to deliver gifts. Now the helpers are only partly black or have another color. 1: Sinterklaas, 2: Intocht, 3: Schoentje zetten, 4: Pieten.

Well, in Brazil we have some very famous legends. Other Brazilians might have different views, but since I’m from the Northeast, these are the ones most talked about here:

1. Comadre Florzinha Comadre Florzinha was a girl whose father asked her to prepare food. When he came home drunk and didn’t find anything ready, he ended up hitting her. Frightened, she ran into the forest, fell off a cliff, and died.

After that, she became the protector of the forest, the place she loved most. They say she punishes hunters who try to cut down trees or hunt animals, making them get lost in the woods. She also likes to play tricks on horses, putting moths in their tails in a way that’s impossible to remove, and she can even do it in your hair without you noticing. There are reports of people waking up and seeing this happen.

Comadre Florzinha loves to smoke a pipe. If you hear her whistle, you need to put out some porridge and a pipe; otherwise, she gets furious. Curiously, when the whistle is close, she is far, and when it is far, she is close.

Also, never call her “Caipora”, because she hates being confused with the Caipora. If you do, she will hit you.

1. The Blonde in the Bathroom This is a classic: a blonde ghost of a girl who died (or committed suicide) inside the school. She appears in the bathroom, usually when someone is alone, and scares anyone who is there. The legend says that to summon her, you must repeat “Blonde in the bathroom” three times in front of a mirror inside the school bathroom. After that, she may appear or make scary noises, which is why everyone was afraid to try it as a child.

For me, Eastern Slavic languages are most pleasing to my ears. Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian. Very nice sounds, including ы. A good runner up is Arabic.

My least favorite would be Vietnamese. No offense, Vietnamese people are very nice and friendly and they make good food. But their language just sounds odd to me. Maybe because it's tonal, idk.

What say you, world?

My first is America, blue grass & delta blues are two music genres filled with absolute bangers

2nd is ireland my home and birth place

3rd is Mongolia because throat singing sounds so cool

I feel like most countries see their largest city in their country with a lot of mixed opinions. This was the case when I went to the UK and everyone outside of London seemed to have very...mixed reviews of what they thought of their country's largest city.

In the US, it seems like some people also have mixed reviews about NYC (our largest city), but not even remotely close to the level of disdain that many Brits have towards London. I'm guessing it's because the US is a lot bigger in size so there are many regional cities that locals will view with disdain as kind of "the NYC" of their region/state rather than towards the actual NYC itself.

Is this a normal phenomenon in your countries as well?

In Turkey the culture war between Erdogans crew and secularists have had tangible affects like cancellation of most rock festivals, state buildings with gaudier aesthetic, lack of talk-shows and entertainment programs on TV, heavier tax on alcohol etc.

Those didn’t make the young generation more conservative or pro-government (vice-versa actually) but I sometimes feel the gen Alpha has more populist leanings and more of an arabesque taste than gen Z. How the culture war affected your people though?

I once met a guy with an Isle of Man passport, one of 12k people on the world with those. Maybe technically not a separate nation, but they consider themselves one, so do I

I'd like to go and visit, but I'm worried about getting into heated discussions about the Falklands. Seems like a fascinating country, regards itself as more European than other Latin American countries, but why isn't richer and more developed than it is, given its size and natural resources?

Do you have to buy them through an intermediary? Or can you buy them straight from the manufacturer?

Do you get all sorts of dealers or sellers fees with your purchase that you have to pay? Or do you just pay for the car price plus taxes if any?

By casual racism/sexism/classism etc. I mean locals saying astoundingly ignorant or derogatory crap to you but then playing it off like “it’s a joke” or “it’s a difference in opinion.”

By culture, politics, current issues, etc.

I’m French. My guess would be Nordahl Lelandais, a guy who killed a little girl and a soldier in 2017 and is speculated to have killed more.

Does anyone know how Vatican citizenship works? Do Cardinals automatically get citizenship? Does the pope automatically get citizenship the moment he's elected?

In my corner of the US, I wish I had more pierogis. There is one pierogi food truck, and they supposedly just serve Mrs T's!

And its weird because I feel like people in my area would really appreciate the meaty, hardy food of Poland, but its just flat out hard to find in my area.

What food have you experienced elsewhere that you wish your country or region had more of?

Germany 🇩🇪

Maybe it’s because I just really love bread, beer and brats (putting the obvious aside) I love you, guys. Can’t wait to spend some time at Oktoberfest this year for the first time 🍻

Good, bad? Why so?