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Author Topic: miscellaneous musings  (Read 532276 times)

LTK

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #3150 on: 11 Jun 2021, 13:10 »

Maybe if dogs lived as long as humans they'd probably also turn all white.
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Morituri

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #3151 on: 28 Jun 2021, 23:32 »

Heard today without a trace of irony:

"Life is too short to worry about whether you're bringing about the end of the world."

Dude has a problem with safety protocols.  Now all of a sudden I have a problem with dude.
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Gyrre

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #3152 on: 29 Jun 2021, 01:18 »

Not sure if this goes in this thread or DISCUSS. But, I've got to wonder why people keep falling for the same trick of kids (usually 12 or under) being coached to say some political agenda. And just becauase they're kids, grown-ass adults fall hook line and sinker for the theatrics.
[This isn't about Greta Thundberg.]

Just came across some news anchor sap falling for it from a pair of kids who couldn't be more than 8, selling their guardian's speil on banning certain foods from schools.

[Sorry if this doesn't make sense. I'm super tired and trying to get back to sleep for at least an hour.]
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zmeiat_joro

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #3153 on: 09 Jul 2021, 15:53 »

Oh it makes perfect sense if your occupiers try their best to crush your spirit of resistance. And I am so much tired that I will not say anything more until 3 pm UTC tomorrow, because I'm tired.
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LeeC

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #3154 on: 25 Oct 2021, 11:04 »

I would love to see a movie or show where a non-feral werewolf unintentionally finds themself at a furry convention and is thoroughly confused.
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Tova

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #3155 on: 07 Nov 2021, 13:40 »

Every now and again, I see a headline along the lines of this.

He predicted the dark side of the Internet 30 years ago. Why did no one listen?

And the answer is always the same. It's because there are lots of people out there predicting lots of things, and most of it is BS.

There's a reason there are jokes like, "Economists Have Predicted Nine Out Of The Last Five Recessions."
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Tova

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #3156 on: 09 Nov 2021, 04:12 »

The Wendy Rogers tweet, "Big Bird is a communist," is peak Poe's Law.
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Yet the lies of Melkor, the mighty and the accursed, Morgoth Bauglir, the Power of Terror and of Hate, sowed in the hearts of Elves and Men are a seed that does not die and cannot be destroyed; and ever and anon it sprouts anew, and will bear dark fruit even unto the latest days. (Silmarillion 255)

Morituri

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #3157 on: 09 Nov 2021, 08:50 »

If they're just now getting that, they haven't been paying attention.  Big Bird's been a communist by their standards since the 1980s.

Who isn't a communist on that show? 
   Oscar the grouch, for sure.  The Cookie monster.  The Count.  Maybe Bert.  I mean, Khalashnikov Bert definitely, but ordinary mainstream Bert too.  Anybody else? 

And I'm guessing somehow it's the Democrats' fault in their little universe?  Like Mattel's changes to Potatohead and the Seuss people deciding to take some books out of print? 
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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #3158 on: 11 Nov 2021, 14:46 »

Since "communist", to the sort of people who declare Big Bird to be one, simply means "something I don't like", who isn't one outside their little niche? I was in the Young Pioneers while I was at school in Shanghai, so I am definitely a "recovering communist"...
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LeeC

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #3159 on: 13 Nov 2021, 05:50 »

Honestly it sounds like they're trying to make McCarthyism happen again, but its incredibly dumb (not that the first time wasn't dumb either, its just a new low).
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Grognard

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #3160 on: 13 Nov 2021, 15:36 »

I used to work with someone who grew up in East Germany and was very proud of it.  She also holds a much higher security clearance than I.  *meh*

I have determined that we have TOO MUCH SH!T.  Now I need to figure out how to convince the Wife that we need to declutter/downsize.

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Tova

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #3161 on: 15 Nov 2021, 16:21 »

Conservatives: Angry about Sesame Street since 1969  :grumpypuss:
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Yet the lies of Melkor, the mighty and the accursed, Morgoth Bauglir, the Power of Terror and of Hate, sowed in the hearts of Elves and Men are a seed that does not die and cannot be destroyed; and ever and anon it sprouts anew, and will bear dark fruit even unto the latest days. (Silmarillion 255)

Grognard

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #3162 on: 15 Nov 2021, 19:50 »

Please see descriptor: happily loving Sesame Street & especially Oscar the Grouch since ....19sumthin'
But I really, really miss Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood.
My parents: both absolute hyper Conservatives, loved Sesame Street.
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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #3163 on: 26 Nov 2021, 12:12 »

I cannot remember having had a naked-in-public dream since the pandemic started.

I wonder if their psychological slot has been taken over by the forgot-my-mask dreams. They feel similar emotionally.

Anybody else?
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Tova

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #3164 on: 26 Nov 2021, 16:26 »

I have a lot of forgot-my-X dreams, but not once I have had a forgot-my-mask dream.
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Yet the lies of Melkor, the mighty and the accursed, Morgoth Bauglir, the Power of Terror and of Hate, sowed in the hearts of Elves and Men are a seed that does not die and cannot be destroyed; and ever and anon it sprouts anew, and will bear dark fruit even unto the latest days. (Silmarillion 255)

Morituri

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #3165 on: 26 Nov 2021, 18:59 »

I mostly have "still living in a world where masks are not relevant" dreams.
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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #3166 on: 27 Nov 2021, 01:06 »

That's 100% of mine.
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Yet the lies of Melkor, the mighty and the accursed, Morgoth Bauglir, the Power of Terror and of Hate, sowed in the hearts of Elves and Men are a seed that does not die and cannot be destroyed; and ever and anon it sprouts anew, and will bear dark fruit even unto the latest days. (Silmarillion 255)

LeeC

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #3167 on: 03 Dec 2021, 07:41 »

5 things about the Trojan War that most movies and media leave out and show that they never read the Iliad or Odyssey.

1) It was not a siege. The concept of a siege didn't exist yet. The Greeks stayed along the shore in camps with their boats.

2) It wasn't just the Trojans versus the Greeks (Achaeans). Troy had many allies that showed up for the war that they numbered just as many warriors as the Greeks (Achaeans). In fact the entire 2nd chapter of the Iliad is about listing all of them. Its probably the most boring chapter. They typically had a huge encampment outside the city walls since the city could not quarter all of them.

3) Achilles isn't even the best fighter/character/person of the Greek (Achaeans) forces. Diomedes is probably the best since he killed just as many dudes, stabbed two gods (without consequences), went on stealth missions out of boredom, and survived the war and became King of Argos and colonized bits of Italy. Achilles is just the most "tragic" hero and so he gets the most fanfare.

4) It takes place not long after Jason of Jason and the Argonauts became king. His kingdom makes regular trips to the Greeks (Achaeans) to trade and keep the war going by offering supplies in exchange for war trophies and spoils (captured horses, armor, weapons, chariots, etc). There are also several literal sons of Hercules fighting in the war too. So the War takes place one generation after Hercules.

5) Helen didn't even want to go with Paris (Alexandros), she was hypnotized by Aphrodite and wanted to return to Menelaus but Aphrodite threatened to make the rest of her life a living hell if she did. Paris (Alexandros) left his nymph wife, Oenone, for Helen. Which makes one wonder why he was so tempted by Aphrodite's offer for the golden apple as it was described to be a loving marriage. I think he was just being an idiot.
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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #3168 on: 03 Dec 2021, 12:38 »

6) Ilium was another name for Troy, and the -ad suffix means "related to" or "concerned with", so the Iliad is "concerned with Troy", or a "Troy Story", if you will.
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hedgie

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #3169 on: 14 Dec 2021, 16:20 »

Most console-based things on Linux/UNIX were designed as part of a hazing ritual.
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Morituri

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #3170 on: 16 Dec 2021, 16:57 »

I think of how astoundingly unlikely the Great Silence seems - how could there be intelligent life here, on this one world, "way out on the unfashionable end of the west spiral arm" as one of our writers put it, and nowhere else?  And yet, as we look around us, millions of light years in every direction, we see no evidence at all that anyone else exists now or ever has. 

The Copernican principle has been stood on its head.  Not only are we special, we are so damn special that apparently there is nothing like us in all the rest of the universe.  We are at the very center of the universe, evidently, because there is nowhere else where anyone or anything can even see it. And that way lies madness, but still, there is the Great Silence and how else can we understand it?!

I don't think we're completely alone...  the universe is too big for that.  Physics allowed us to happen somehow, and the same physics are acting on squillions of other worlds.  But at this point I'm pretty sure that intelligent life has to occur less than once per twenty galaxies.  I don't know why we're so unlikely, but I'm able to accept that we must be.  It's the only theory that matches available data.

But some of the other theories provide food for thought.  There are a few in particular that say Aliens are well aware of us, possibly even present in this solar system, and monitoring our activities.  The question then becomes, "Are We Being Watched?"

But my mind takes this question a different direction than most.  If we are being watched, then what are our ratings like, and who handles our ad revenues?  Do we get a lot of likes?  Or is the audience disengaged and just putting us on for background noise? Are we providing important illustrations of timeless universal principles common to all species?  Or are we the 'Florida Man' of the galaxy, just doing one astonishingly stupid thing after another and somehow surviving?  Or maybe it's like pay-per-view and the audience is placing bets on how long we'll last.

That last one, anyway, would explain why they might be watching us but not making contact.  If they're booking bets about how long it takes new species to self-destruct, then they've got to prevent would-be cheaters from coming down here and rigging the odds.
« Last Edit: 16 Dec 2021, 17:05 by Morituri »
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cesium133

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #3171 on: 16 Dec 2021, 17:13 »

Well, we don’t necessarily know that we’re alone in the galaxy. We’ve just not seen any signs that we can interpret as coming from an intelligent species. Does an intelligent/advanced species have to communicate via radio? And if they do, will it be at an intensity that we would be able to detect? At this point we can barely detect that there are planets in other solar systems, let alone planets with life. For that matter, despite all the thought experiments about aliens watching our TV, would they be able to detect us? Our TV stations don’t broadcast at that strong of an intensity. An alien species watching from another solar system may deduce that there is life here, due to the oxygen in the atmosphere (or they might not… do they have different chemistry?) but they’re unlikely to see anything from that far away that suggests intelligent life.
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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #3173 on: 17 Dec 2021, 13:23 »

The greater the information density of a modulation system, the more it looks like white noise. They could be communicating by radio and we'd just never know it.
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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #3174 on: 17 Dec 2021, 14:29 »

That's why the Fermi Paradox is nonsense -- we have only broadcast in easily decipherable codecs for a century, if that and we have now stopped. And the strength is nothing, it has not even went further than the Oort cloud.
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Morituri

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #3175 on: 17 Dec 2021, 15:02 »

I can't agree there.  I think that humanity is going to be doing things that will be tremendously obvious to anybody with a telescope, probably within the next thousand years.  Indeed, we might be doing things like that right now if the Library of Alexandria hadn't burned.  And if there are thousands of other species out there, wouldn't about half of them be a thousand years ahead of us?  Within a million years, we'll be spread across half the galaxy, and if there were thousands of other species out there, wouldn't nearly half of them be a million years ahead of us?  We're not looking for some flickering cosmic speck that's barely mastered radio.  That stage is an eyeblink in history broad enough to be encompassing the evolution of species. 

When Fermi said 'where is everybody?' he wasn't talking about spotting some tiny speck across the width of half a galaxy; he was asking why they aren't yet living on every worthwhile rock in every direction. Because if just one with what we'd call a 'normal' urge to spread out had appeared, anywhere in the galaxy, just a few million years ago, we'd be looking at quadrillions of their descendants living on worlds and planetoids in this solar system.  We wouldn't be debating their existence, we'd be too busy trying to stay out from under their feet.
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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #3176 on: 17 Dec 2021, 16:14 »

Why would they necessarily be obvious, even if they're light-years ahead of us? If they've moved past radio, then they may be using technology that we simply can't detect. And if they are still using electromagnetic radiation to communicate, they're likely doing it using laser beams, not broadcasts. Even if you've got a Dyson sphere's worth of energy, it still doesn't make sense to be wasteful with that energy by blasting it out in every direction.

Also, this assumes that the direction of a civilization is always advancing forward. How many societies, when they realize how difficult and expensive it is to travel interstellar (especially since, unless Einstein turns out to be wrong, you can't go faster than the speed of light), and simply decide not to do it? That seems to be the path our society is on, ever since the end of the Apollo Program, anyway.

And why would they be in every rock in our solar system? Most of them aren't particularly worthwhile.

Basically, the evidence tells us there probably isn't some galaxy-spanning empire like in sci-fi. And physics tells us such an empire probably doesn't make sense anyway. The distances are just too great, and, unless our understanding of physics is completely wrong (which, who knows, it could be), no advanced technology will ever overcome that. But the evidence doesn't say anything one way or the other about whether there is intelligent life in the universe.
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Morituri

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #3177 on: 17 Dec 2021, 17:31 »

We're not part of some pan-african empire, even though our ancestors came from Africa.  Likewise I wouldn't expect our aliens having spread out to be all part of the same empire.  In fact if they'd had time to spread through the whole galaxy they'd have diverged into dozens, or hundreds, of different species while doing so. 

And as for "living on every rock", what I meant was living in the habitats and settlements they could make out of the materials in those rocks.

If there were aliens who arose before us, in fact, it would be unlikely that we'd even exist because they'd likely have come here before we even evolved, harvested our asteroid belt and Oort cloud for raw materials, and encircled the sun with infrastructure.
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sitnspin

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #3178 on: 17 Dec 2021, 19:32 »

This idea that galactic colonisation is inevitable is a huge presumption. Given the seemingly insurmountable problem of the universal speed limit, the time and energy requirements for interstellar travel make reaching even the nearest star exceedingly difficult. There's literally zero reason to suppose any other species has solved this.
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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #3179 on: 20 Dec 2021, 08:07 »

Is a "Hot Pocket" just a calzone?

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You see, there are still faint glimmers of civilization left in this barbaric slaughterhouse that was once known as humanity. Indeed that's what we provide in our own modest, humble, insignificant... oh, fuck it. - M. Gustave

Morituri

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #3180 on: 20 Dec 2021, 10:08 »

Is a calzone just a rolled-up pizza?

As I see it if solar system colonization is viable, then galactic colonization is inevitable.  Solar systems fade into one another around the outer edges and swap items all the time.  So if you get people who live out between planets, then sooner or later they are people who live between stars.  As generations pass, ordinary operations like mining the next rock or building the next habitat, bring them into contact with different solar systems than the one their ancestors started in.  At some settlement out in the Oort cloud, a one meter per second difference in vector takes you out of the Sun's orbit entirely.  So even if nobody breaks lightspeed, and even if nobody ever launches a colony ship, and even if nobody ever sets out on a multi-lightyear journey, a few thousand years sees their descendants at neighboring stars.

For that matter if they want to make the trip in a single lifespan,why bother with breaking physics for FTL travel?  Life extension is far more achievable, doesn't cost stupid amounts of energy, and is something people want even if they don't intend to travel interstellar distances.

So anyhow... yeah, I think it will have to happen the 'slow' way, but that's not even in the slightest a reason why galactic colonization won't happen.
« Last Edit: 20 Dec 2021, 13:32 by Morituri »
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hedgie

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #3181 on: 20 Dec 2021, 10:31 »

For that matter if they want to make the trip in a single lifespan,why bother with breaking physics for FTL travel?

What fun would interstellar travel be if you're *not* breaking the law?
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LeeC

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #3182 on: 20 Dec 2021, 11:04 »

Is a calzone just a rolled-up pizza?


Kind of, but minus the sauce. Although most people tend to dip it into sauce (usually marinara).
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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #3183 on: 20 Dec 2021, 11:04 »

I think you are both vastly underestimating the distances involved and vastly overestimating how long any civilisation can/will last.
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@syleegrrl

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #3184 on: 20 Dec 2021, 11:55 »

Quote
Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space.
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Morituri

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #3185 on: 20 Dec 2021, 13:29 »

Has our civilization lasted since Homo Erectus?  I would tend to say we've gone through scores of civilizations on the way.  That hasn't prevented us from spreading across the planet.  Anticipating that descendants will get out there and do things doesn't mean I think our *current* civilization is going to last - nor any civilization that comes after ours, really.  It just means I think that as our civilizations come and go we'll keep surviving.
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sitnspin

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #3186 on: 20 Dec 2021, 19:06 »

The stutter step of human social, cultural, and technological development is punctuated by massive social upheaval and disastrous supply chain collapses. But we've always been within the relative safety of the planet. No matter what has happened, we still be surrounded by air, water and food. A similar collapse in space would have much more dire results.

I'm not saying galactic colonisation is impossible, I'm saying that the sheet scope of the barriers to it makes it far from inevitable.
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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #3187 on: 21 Dec 2021, 23:12 »

I want to propose a new term, Memey-Mcmemeface, to describe the proposition of an idea, not because it is considered a good idea, and not even because it is considered a funny idea, but because the entire idea of proposing the idea as a serious idea is considered hilarious.

I was trying to come up with a term for the entire phenomenon of declaring Die Hard to be a Christmas film.
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Yet the lies of Melkor, the mighty and the accursed, Morgoth Bauglir, the Power of Terror and of Hate, sowed in the hearts of Elves and Men are a seed that does not die and cannot be destroyed; and ever and anon it sprouts anew, and will bear dark fruit even unto the latest days. (Silmarillion 255)

LTK

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #3188 on: 22 Dec 2021, 01:15 »

I think the same kind of people who declare a hot dog a sandwich, declare Die Hard a Christmas film.
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I just got the image of a midwife and a woman giving birth swinging towards each other on a trapeze - when they meet, the midwife pulls the baby out. The knife juggler is standing on the floor and cuts the umbilical cord with a a knifethrow.

Grognard

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #3189 on: 22 Dec 2021, 18:21 »

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sitnspin

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #3190 on: 22 Dec 2021, 19:03 »

The new Hawkeye series is way more of a Christmas movie than Die Hard ever was.
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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #3191 on: 22 Dec 2021, 20:33 »

Basically, the definition of "Christmas movie" is now "the movie that I like to watch every Christmas."

Which, you know, I'm down with, as long as we all understand what you mean by the phrase.
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Yet the lies of Melkor, the mighty and the accursed, Morgoth Bauglir, the Power of Terror and of Hate, sowed in the hearts of Elves and Men are a seed that does not die and cannot be destroyed; and ever and anon it sprouts anew, and will bear dark fruit even unto the latest days. (Silmarillion 255)

Grognard

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #3192 on: 22 Dec 2021, 21:03 »

Considering I just finished, like 90 seconds ago, the Hawkeye series ... I'll agree it's a Christmas series.  But not one I'll watch every year.
DieHard is my Christmas Eve regular.  Goes with with wrapping presents and drinking the special eggnog.  :)
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sitnspin

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #3193 on: 23 Dec 2021, 00:44 »

To be fair, I don't celebrate Christmas, so I have no skin in the game, but to me, as an outsider, it seems that  simply taking place during the end of December isn't enough, a Christmas movie needs to have Christmas as one of its central themes or plot points, which Die Hard does not. 
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@syleegrrl

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #3194 on: 23 Dec 2021, 14:14 »

So, about a week ago, I turned on a Christmas radio station. Trying to get in the holiday mood, and getting away from the covid reports on my regular station. And today, through about the fourth cover of White Christmas, I got to wonder: how many of these people have actual seen a Christmas like they're singing about? Just like the ones I used to know? How long ago is that, really? Irving Berlin write that in 1940. And it was nostalgic then. But what would an updated version of this song look like?
Musings, of the miscellaneous kind; of course the nostalgic is the point.
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cesium133

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #3195 on: 23 Dec 2021, 14:21 »

A bit of trivia: the whole White Christmas thing was started by Charles Dickens, who was nostalgic for the Christmases of his youth, during the Little Ice Age of the late 1700s/early 1800s, when it regularly got cold enough in London for it to snow.
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Morituri

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #3196 on: 11 Jan 2022, 08:05 »

Okay, here's an oddly articulate and well-educated cartoon rabbit with a comical overbite and a talent for violence, channeling the thoughts I make a habit of not expressing in public.


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cesium133

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #3197 on: 27 Jan 2022, 17:08 »

Note to self: if you find yourself reaching for an N95 mask while cooking, you probably overdid the hot peppers in the dish.
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hedgie

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #3198 on: 07 Feb 2022, 19:58 »

Background: I just had to endure a long series of questions that I found quite irritating, from people who can understand tone when it suits them to do so. With each successive question, My tone was sharper, and the answers more monosyllabic.

Any sufficiently advanced level of cluelessness is indistinguishable from malice.
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Akima

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #3199 on: 10 Feb 2022, 16:18 »

The problem is that society demands that one attribute to cluelessness what is indistinguishable from malice.
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"I would rather have questions that can't be answered, than answers that can't be questioned." Richard Feynman
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