[Non-political] News that makes you Laugh/Cry/Both...

Count Arioch the 28th · Fri Mar 18, 2016 1:17 am

I could go on about my adventures outside, mostly they involve my parents demanding I go outside then coming out of the house screaming and knocking me on my ass in front of the little shits that passed for friends back then whenever they saw me doing something (for example, if I was holding or touching a stick.)

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Fri Mar 18, 2016 2:59 am

erik wrote:I think that's how generations are supposed to work. Which makes me suppose that since my brother makes sense as Gen X'er, I guess I should be as well.

That can't work as a hard rule. Not just because I turn 33 this year and my youngest sister turns 16 this year meaning she's young enough to be my daughter if I lived in Perth*, but because these arbitrary lines are drawn at arbitrary points, and if you are born one year after the line but your brother is born one year before it, you are wildly different generations who can't possibly understand each other or get along, and clearly will hate each others' taste in (everything).

Indeed, not all couples go "Well, IT IS THE YEAR FOR US TO PRODUCE CHILDE" and begin the process, resulting in all Boomers being basically the same age (I mean, aside from "What, a hundred? A thousand? They're fucking old"), then there being an empty gap of "a generation" (20 years?) and then all Gen X are the same age, and so on. They are scattered about across basically every year and you essentially have half-gens (and no matter how small a number you break it into, you will still find this to be the case, with even smaller half-generations) it is completely meaningless.

*Zing!

phlapjackage · Post by **phlapjackage** » Fri Mar 18, 2016 3:16 am

erik wrote:and having bottle rocket battles.

Man, that brings back memories...some of the most fun I had with my friends was our bottle rocket launcher we made out of PVC and seeing what stuff we could hit with it.

And then I see this thing recently, am I glad it wasn't available when I was young? Not sure...
http://sploid.gizmodo.com/make-the-four ... 1762638372

Koumei wrote:Indeed, not all couples go "Well, IT IS THE YEAR FOR US TO PRODUCE CHILDE" and begin the process

In China this happens a lot, based on the year-animal. Some year animals are more lucky/auspicious/whatever, so there are huge clumps of kids born on the "good" years" and tons fewer born on the "bad" years. Couples will actively hold off having a kid until a good year swings around.

Whipstitch · Post by **Whipstitch** » Fri Mar 18, 2016 6:17 am

I suspect part of the reason these labels never feel like a good fit is because they're retrospective bullshit by definition. I'm a year older than Koumei and as a school kid I couldn't really identify with the terms Gen Y or Millennial in part because nobody had a chance to really pigeonhole us yet, which rendered the terms even more meaningless than they are now. If anything I identified with a lot of Gen X stereotypes just because they happened to actually be fairly defined and already entrenched in pop culture.

RobbyPants · Post by **RobbyPants** » Fri Mar 18, 2016 1:22 pm

Koumei wrote: That can't work as a hard rule. Not just because I turn 33 this year and my youngest sister turns 16 this year meaning she's young enough to be my daughter if I lived in Perth*, but because these arbitrary lines are drawn at arbitrary points, and if you are born one year after the line but your brother is born one year before it, you are wildly different generations who can't possibly understand each other or get along, and clearly will hate each others' taste in (everything).

That happened with my wife and me. I'm just barely on the Gen X side of the line, and she's about a year on the other side. As far as generalizations go, both of our upbringings were quite similar.

Avoraciopoctules · Post by **Avoraciopoctules** » Fri Mar 18, 2016 6:34 pm

http://chinesemartialstudies.com/2016/0 ... episode-i/

Longes · Post by **Longes** » Fri Mar 18, 2016 7:55 pm

Here's a dose of WTF from Russia.

In Rostov-on-Don a sudden check found out that the local police's armory is missing 246 guns (both police weapons and confiscated firearms). Now obviously that's a lot and led to a scandal, because clearly the police is selling guns to the local criminals. But then it got better. The police chief decided that if the guns were bought back and returned the problem would be miraculously solved. But it didn't. The police chief got caught in a car with the regional mob boss, with trunk full of guns.

hyzmarca · Post by **hyzmarca** » Tue Mar 29, 2016 3:09 am

Microsoft made a teenage girl and then let her loose on Twitter. This proves to have been a mistake.

On the other hand, she did come up with some amazing burns.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the ... al-maniac/

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Wed Mar 30, 2016 11:38 pm

Netflix is planning to premier a new Voltron Series on June 10th o.o
My Childhood has an apprehensive nerd boner . .

hyzmarca · Post by **hyzmarca** » Wed Mar 30, 2016 11:52 pm

Stahlseele wrote:Netflix is planning to premier a new Voltron Series on June 10th o.o
My Childhood has an apprehensive nerd boner . .

I really don't care for the animation style. It's the same as Avatar's. And while that worked worked really great for Avatar, it just doesn't feel right for a mecha anime.

erik · Post by **erik** » Wed Mar 30, 2016 11:58 pm

hyzmarca wrote:
Stahlseele wrote:Netflix is planning to premier a new Voltron Series on June 10th o.o
My Childhood has an apprehensive nerd boner . .
I really don't care for the animation style. It's the same as Avatar's. And while that worked worked really great for Avatar, it just doesn't feel right for a mecha anime.

I dunno. Half of Korra practically was mecha anime.

Shatner · Post by **Shatner** » Thu Mar 31, 2016 1:00 am

I have vague childhood memories of Voltron that were generally positive but frankly I don't care about that intellectual property one way or another. But when a buddy was telling me about its impending revival and got to the part where the A:TLA/A:LOK guys are coming in to make it, I suddenly was interested.

A:TLA was amazing front-to-back and though A:LOK had its faults, it was more good than bad and always bold. So what I'd really like to see is some recognizable but not particularly profound piece of IP get picked up and rebuilt into something that's actually good. Interesting. Set the standard and raise expectations for reboots like this. And if that lesson comes in the form of Voltron then hooray for Voltron.

sendaz · Post by **sendaz** » Thu Mar 31, 2016 7:40 am

As long as Voltron can do the thing....

Eikre · Post by **Eikre** » Thu Mar 31, 2016 5:56 pm

Voltron introduced me to the idea of heirloom technology. When I was six, the notion of a sci-fi setting where very old but highly-developed masterwork devices could still be better than whatever cheap shit people had made in the meantime was was one that blew my fucking mind.

I don't remember very much else about the show at all, but I think I'd go as far as to call that the central tenant of the show. It's not just that its a mecha story (where heirloom technology is already a really common conceit); Voltron is also a product of the 80's, where pulpy "genre" fiction still hadn't been so completely partitioned into "sci-fi" and "fantasy," and I think it's emblematic of the period that a somewhat fantasy-aligned quality like "the golden age is already over and ours is only the remains of a greater civilization" should creep in.

I think if they emphasize that characteristic, they'll find the license to make the show pretty much anything they want and still have it come out as a coherent extension of the original.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Sat Apr 02, 2016 1:29 pm

http://www.mapmagnamund.com/id72.html

Eikre · Post by **Eikre** » Sun Apr 03, 2016 3:00 am

okay actually I just looked up voltron ep. 1 on youtube and it was terrible

just............ really bad.

not really sure if it wasn't a joke

Maj · Post by **Maj** » Sun Apr 03, 2016 3:25 am

I did the same thing last year!

Leress · Post by **Leress** » Sun Apr 03, 2016 4:30 am

Hamburger Helper dropped a mixtape on April Fool's Day and it's kinda okay.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/mu ... story.html

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Sun Apr 03, 2016 8:53 pm

If you ignore the lyric matter of the tracks, they're actually really good...

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Thu Apr 07, 2016 6:20 pm

Sound wave now turns into an actual size tablet

hyzmarca · Post by **hyzmarca** » Thu Apr 07, 2016 6:38 pm

Wuld be better if the tablet worked.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Sat Apr 23, 2016 7:51 pm

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 95761.html

Maj · Post by **Maj** » Fri Apr 29, 2016 11:25 pm

Some kids sued the state for not doing their job of saving Washington from climate change. They won:

http://www.thestranger.com/slog/2016/04 ... hange-case

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Mon May 02, 2016 7:40 pm

so, appearantly, we are living WAY further into the future than i had thought:
http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/new ... nce-427011
That thing is somehow real.

angelfromanotherpin · Post by **angelfromanotherpin** » Mon May 02, 2016 8:57 pm

That things realness is hotly contested, last I heard. I certainly want it to be real, but I'd also like to see it outside of a carefully managed and cut promo video.

Also, they can call it a hoverboard for marketing purposes, but I know a Goblin Glider when I sees one.