What have you learned today?

Gordon_4

The Big Engine
Legacy
Apr 3, 2020
6,045
5,345
118
Australia
We try, we try. But a USB's content could be sent over the internet (or spend time on a reason not to). A burner phone still breaks the isolation (of "having to find a phone"), and heck, you don't even need a burner phone, just grab a passerby's. And we do have some interesting creepypasta and movies exploiting the new digital fields that I've mentionned (haunted videogame bugs, haunted video calls, online content remanence, etc), such as the brilliant Pon. But it's more contrieved, because it's less contrieved. I mean, the plot and its "rules" are more difficult to establish, because universal interconnection makes it harder to justify how a ghost would be contained in a plot-friendly space or device. A VHS can be a mysterious aladdin lamp. An internet ghost would instantly go full Ultron, or require a counter-intuitive plot device to keep it as a local unit. This all-or-nothingness makes it more difficult to vary stories.

One thing I love about ghost movies is how any (new and old) support can get haunted. Name an object, a new device, whatever, and wham, there's a what-if-it-was-haunted story. But in the age of dematerialization, there's a convergence towards "what if the network was haunted". We lose the specific poetry and mystery of older artefacts.
The sort of information worth stealing isn’t usually held on devices that are connected to the internet. Some of them aren’t even digital records at all. You can still have that kind of thrilling espionage tension if you write it correctly.
 

Baffle

Elite Member
Oct 22, 2016
3,459
2,746
118
Watched a tutorial on how to make a collared shirt. Somewhat aghast at how little I can buy one for tbh. Good tutorial though.
 
  • Like
Reactions: gorfias

XsjadoBlayde

~it ends here~
Apr 29, 2020
3,216
3,354
118
It's honestly somewhat comforting to learn Rob Schneider's beliefs, politics and critical thinking are just as awful as his comedy.

 

Thaluikhain

Elite Member
Legacy
Jan 16, 2010
18,578
3,536
118

Xprimentyl

Made you look...
Legacy
Aug 13, 2011
6,209
4,482
118
Plano, TX
Country
United States
Gender
Male
So there's this thing in Korean pop songs where the lyrics frequently include what sounds like the N-word. For example, in the chorus of this

Except they're not saying the N-word. They're saying niga (니가), which in Korean is just an informal way of saying "you"
Yet another reason to hate Korean pop music: annoying, obnoxious, and now we can add bigoted to the list. :LOL:
 

Chimpzy

Simian Abomination
Legacy
Escapist +
Apr 3, 2020
12,189
8,435
118
Bit of a PSA, but did you know you can get Gold Points on the Nintendo eshop for your physical Switch games? Cuz I didn't.

Anyway, works like this:
- Slam that game cartridge into your Switch
- Highlight the game on the home menu
- Press the + button, then select My Nintendo Rewards Program
- Select Earn Points

It only awards 1% in Gold Points of the price of that game on the eshop, as opposed to 5% if you'd bought it digitally. So a full price game gets you $0.60 worth of points. Also, the game needs to have been released in the past year. And it of course only works once. It ain't much, but, you know, take what you can get.
 
  • Like
Reactions: XsjadoBlaydette

Xprimentyl

Made you look...
Legacy
Aug 13, 2011
6,209
4,482
118
Plano, TX
Country
United States
Gender
Male
Musician/singer/songwriter Burt Bacharach died a couple of days ago, and while I was familiar with the name and a few of his songs, I had NO idea just how prolific he actually was. The tributes I watched taught me he wrote a TON of very popular and well-known songs for a TON of very popular and well-known artists spanning well over half a century. I won't even attempt to list them all, but he wrote for artists like Diana Ross, Luther Vandross, Patti LaBelle, the theme for "Arthur", hell, a shit-ton of music I grew up around all while thinking Burt Bacharach was little more than a lounge singer/pianist. My gf and I were watching the tributes, and damn-near every song they mentioned, we replied in unison: "he wrote THAT?!?" My eyes are open and I'm truly amazed; the respect and recognition I have for this man just shot through the roof. Too bad it took his passing to make me realize.
 

The Rogue Wolf

Stealthy Carnivore
Legacy
Nov 25, 2007
16,302
8,779
118
Stalking the Digital Tundra
Gender
✅
The original VW Beetle was huge in Mexico, earning the name "Vocho" ("Volkswagen" + "bicho", or bug), forming the largest city-based taxi service ever, and being the car that generations of Mexicans learned to drive in. Mexico was the last country to commercially produce the original Beetle, and there's still a big community of restoration enthusiasts keeping theirs going.
 
  • Like
Reactions: gorfias

EvilRoy

The face I make when I see unguarded pie.
Legacy
Jan 9, 2011
1,840
537
118

Ok that’s cool, but still not even remotely comforting.
Really? I find the implication that the chief partner of my company might be slightly stupider than my boss - maybe even me - to be a relief. It's not that I can't follow the big brain decisions of the company runners, it's that they're dumber than us.

Also, it adds scientific backing for my standard response to the question "Roy, why don't you try for the vacant associate seat?" "Because I'm not stupid, and this study clearly supports that."
 
  • Like
Reactions: gorfias

Dalisclock

Making lemons combustible again
Legacy
Escapist +
Feb 9, 2008
11,228
7,007
118
A Barrel In the Marketplace
Country
Eagleland
Gender
Male
The statue of Liberty is based on the Roman Goddess Liberty/Freedom


There were plans to build a similar statue at the mouth of the Suez Canal in Egypt, Progress, but Egypt apparently found it too expensive, so the design was recycled for Liberty.


On a related note, the statue on top of the US capitol dome is also called Freedom, because of course she is. Though unlike liberty, she's based off Athena/Minerva and thus a war goddess, which feels very fitting for the United States.


That's right, we have a goddess of liberty standing in New York Harbor and a goddess of war standing atop the capitol dome.
 
Last edited: