Random News Stories

[Suu]

They said thinking of human lives like that is monstrous but at least he is admitting it which most of his army comrads wouldn't.

Spend more time around lower military ranks. This shit is par for the course.

[Nibor the Priest]

How would the rest of us be able to see her, or is he imagining us too? Has he gone total brain-in-a-vat?

(EDIT: this was about Musk pretending Grimes wasn't real, I seem to have fucked up replying/quoting, or imagined I have)

further ETA: Would this make her divorcing him his psyche rebelling against itself, like the bit in Red Dwarf where they play the Better Than Life total immersion game and Rimmer ends up getting them all buried in sand and eaten by ants because he can't imagine a world in which anyone likes him

[Cain]

He added, "Her interests are all the same as his and her music is very technologically oriented," explaining that they "both made a similar nerdy joke about a scary AI theory of the future."

They met because they bonded over Roko's Basilisk, aka rationalists inventing Pascal's Wager, but making it Evil and Shitty.

David Gerard (of Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain) specifically is responsible since he saved the receipts. He fully admits and embraces fault here.

[Scribbly]

UK Government decriminalises slavery.

If you come to the UK illegally:

➡️ You can't claim asylum

➡️ You can't benefit from our modern slavery protections

➡️ You can't make spurious human rights claims

➡️ You can't stay

[QuestionsTheSoil]

https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-politics-and-policy/tennessee-lieutenant-governor-79-comments-young-gay-mans-racy-instagra-rcna74182 Tale as old as tiiiiiiiiime 

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-politics-and-policy/tennessee-lieutenant-governor-79-comments-young-gay-mans-racy-instagra-rcna74182 Tale as old as tiiiiiiiiime

Why did Lt. Gov. Randy McNally go to J.C. Penney?

He heard mens' underpants were half off. 

[Brother Mythos]

Today, May 4th, is Star Wars Day

There are many media outlets carrying this story. However, I found this article from University of Florida News, entitled "How our shared need for belonging made May the 4th a sacred Star Wars holiday" to be a bit more interesting than most of the coverage.

Here's the link:   https://news.ufl.edu/2023/05/may-the-4th/


P.S.   As yesterday, May 3rd according to the Gregorian calendar, was Discoflux, no doubt everyone is in the process of recovering from their celebration.

[chaotic neutral observer]

Today, May 4th, is Star Wars Day

There are many media outlets carrying this story. However, I found this article from University of Florida News, entitled "How our shared need for belonging made May the 4th a sacred Star Wars holiday" to be a bit more interesting than most of the coverage.

Here's the link:   https://news.ufl.edu/2023/05/may-the-4th/

Largely free of original or significant content, the above article is what one might expect from someone tasked with producing a filler article with a positive spin on the University of Florida.

Pop-psychology clumsily glued to pop-culture does not make for interesting reading.

[Cramulus]

sacred??

sheesh, its an overgrown pop-culture entertainment brand

[Cain]

On the other hand,the way Star Wards nerds argue....

[Doktor Howl]

On the other hand,the way Star Wards nerds argue....

What?  Like Dr Who nerds and Star Trek nerds?

"GIVE US MORE CONTENT."

"YOU'VE ROONT THE FRANCHISE FOREVAH!"

[Cain]

That and how the slightest deviation from a randomly agreed upon canon in a series with some of the loosest claims to sci-fi in any bit of media, is treated as high treason.

And while Trekkies and Who nerds can also get bad, I don't run into them in anywhere near the numbers of Star Wars fans in the wild. They're like the Jehovah's Witnesses of bad fandoms, knocking on doors to give you their terrible takes.

[chaotic neutral observer]

That and how the slightest deviation from a randomly agreed upon canon in a series with some of the loosest claims to sci-fi in any bit of media, is treated as high treason.

Sci-fi aside, I would hesitate to qualify Star Wars even as space opera, since I associate that term with a modicum of realism in politics and military strategy.

Star Wars is space fantasy.

[Scribbly]

I don't really care about this but I feel like I ought to throw it out there.

Local council elections in the UK are in and the Tories have taken a pasting.



One thing that I do think is interesting at a first glance here is that Labour is not nearly so clearly the victor as they are crowing about. Yes, they got the largest number of seats... but it's not that far ahead of the Lib Dems and the Greens more than doubled their holding.

My suspicion is that the Lib Dems are benefiting from the hard core of Tory voters who want to express their dissatisfaction but will never vote Labour, and the Greens are benefiting from the hard core of Left voters who will never vote Starmer.

It's always difficult to predict what will happen at the next GE from local council results but I think the Lib Dem gains give particular reason for pause here. Most people don't take local elections seriously because the stakes are perceived as lower (which is ironic as they often have a bigger impact on their lives in material terms than their MP). Lib Dems have a reputation for being good in local government (which... eh) and then rarely being able to translate that into strong parliamentary showings because people just don't take them seriously as a party of potential government (which is good; they don't deserve that).

When people are faced with the choice that 'matters' I think there's every chance they swing back to the Tories. Memories are short and Sunak still has time to craft his pitch. I still ultimately think that a Labour government (possibly a Labour led coalition) is the most likely outcome, but particularly if Starmer continues to fail to inspire and the pitch from both parties is "Things are shit, they're going to get more shit, and that's good actually" people may well decide to just stick with the devil they know.

[Cain]

That and how the slightest deviation from a randomly agreed upon canon in a series with some of the loosest claims to sci-fi in any bit of media, is treated as high treason.

Sci-fi aside, I would hesitate to qualify Star Wars even as space opera, since I associate that term with a modicum of realism in politics and military strategy.

Star Wars is space fantasy.

Strong agreement. One of the aforementioned fans tried to argue with me (I don't know why, I wasn't talking about it) about how a certain manouvere in one of the films or TV shows was impossible because [insert tedious pedantry here]. Look, your entire setting has been in a state of technological stasis for over a thousand years, somehow, go away and leave me alone.

Bless them, they tried with Andor (and it was good, don't get me wrong), but the whole setting is silly and camp, just roll with it.