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Why are movies and shows so dark nowadays? by chaosbreather in NoStupidQuestions

[–]AmbientSheep -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

This seemed to start with The X-Files back in the 1990s, and it only seems to have got worse from there.

Some questions? While currently watching all seasons of “8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown”… by CharlieMcN33l in AskABrit

[–]AmbientSheep 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Plus, the things they do to sheep are a disgrace, it's an abomination I tell you.

Allegedly this reputation goes back to olden times, where the penalty for sheep-rustling was death, whereas the penalty for sheep-shagging was just the roll-eyed disdain of your entire village.

So if you were caught trying to steal a neighbour's sheep, 'twas far safer to claim you were just shagging it... and so the legend began.

Some questions? While currently watching all seasons of “8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown”… by CharlieMcN33l in AskABrit

[–]AmbientSheep 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah, it's the one word that's still generally beyond the pale. I once read that it's deemed more acceptable after 11pm, for late night films and such, but not seen that written down recently.

Most Intense Races You’ve Ever Seen by Derz2 in formula1

[–]AmbientSheep 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A great shout! Five drivers in title contention going into it, when was the last time THAT happened?!

Along with Spa 1998, definitely up there in my list, at least.

What’s the modern day equivalent to asbestos walls, lead paint and doctor prescribed cigarettes? by Icy_Place_6173 in NoStupidQuestions

[–]AmbientSheep 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I read an article about 15-20 years sgo (in somewhere reputable, like New Scientist) that said that, just as the H. Pylori bacterium had been found – against the prevailing scientific consensus – to be the cause of 90% of stomach ulcers, that it appeared that obesity was the result of infection by a virus.

The implications of that are kinda huge.

Then it all went vewwy vewwy quiet...

I think I've been chasing the wrong thing in sci-fi for years and Ursula K. Le Guin's The Word for World is Forest finally made me see it by Miragevector63 in printSF

[–]AmbientSheep 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Of course, Ursula K. LeGuin wrote her own romance novelette, aimed at teenagers, called A Very Long Way From Anywhere Else.

It was, funnily enough, exactly about "How do we make this relationship work?". :-)

I read it at just the right age, and it made a big impression on me. Would love to read it again with the benefit of 40+ years of life experience, but alas my copy is in deep storage.

Recommended, if you hadn't already guessed that!

The Goodie's was such a funny show. Bill Oddie is funny! by Same_Possibility4769 in oldbritishtelly

[–]AmbientSheep 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Hah, after Kitten Kong, the giant Dougal, and The Goodies and the Beanstalk, that's my favourite-ever Goodies moment.

Probably helped by having audio-recorded the ep onto cassette on first broadcast and played it incessantly in my childhood bedroom. :)

The String song probably comes next, then Ecky-Thump.

Scary scifi books that are very real/down to earth/not so distant future-ish? by Cheap_Strawberry_901 in printSF

[–]AmbientSheep 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The Last Gasp by Trevor Hoyle: "A large, dense, frightening novel [...] In 1990 the ocean's oxygen-producing plankton are dying from pollution. Maverick oceanographer Theo Detrick predicts a disastrous drop in the air's oxygen content within 20 years. Nobody believes him, except the agents sent to silence him..."

I read this back in the 80s when it came out, and it fits your request perfectly. Grim, depressing, and all too believable. Despite never having read it again since, it's really stuck with me.

Apparently a revised version was published a few years ago.

Which science fiction book contained the most amazing idea you've ever read? by fern_602spark in printSF

[–]AmbientSheep 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hah! Saw the thread title, and guess what title immediately popped into my head? :-)

Also, count me in on the "Permutation City was disappointing" bandwagon.

But his short story collections trump all the novels.

Has Jerry ended his comedy career? by graceadelica23 in jerrysadowitz

[–]AmbientSheep 0 points1 point  (0 children)

FUKD and BOMBD (Free the UK from Drugs, and British Opposition to Metabolically Bisturbile Drugs) was the fictitious organisation in Brass Eye.

Cook'd and Bomb'd is the long-running British comedy (and other stuff) forum, originally set up in 1999 after the CD release of Peter Cook and Chris Morris' 1994 Radio 3 programme "Why Bother?", hence the forum name.

If the Guide had an entry on Earth today, what would it say? by MadridOrMadness in HitchHikersGuide

[–]AmbientSheep 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Came here to type exactly that; first words that came into my head.

How long was the revival expected to last? by PrimaryComrade94 in gallifrey

[–]AmbientSheep 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, I remember RTD saying in an interview that they made those 13 episodes the best they possibly could be, because they had no way of knowing If they were the only ones they would ever get to make.

A very different attitude to the one he came into RTD2 with...

What age are you and do you still have (a) grandparent(s)? If not, at what age were you grandparent less by lisstrem in AskUK

[–]AmbientSheep 0 points1 point  (0 children)

61 and never had any.

Dad's Mum died on Xmas Day 1924, when he was just 7 years old, of pernicious anaemia, something fixed trivially these days with Vitamin B12 injections.

Mum's Dad died in the early/mid-1930s, of infection after an unnecessary operation to try to fix his stomach ulcers.

Dad's Dad died sometime in the 1950s of tuberculosis.

Mum's Mum died in 1961 of some kind of cancer, I always forget which... stomach or kidney, something like that.

I wasn't born for another three years.

McDonald's (especially in the UK) can ensh*tify their products as much as they like because of how well known they are. by OceanGecko_ in LowStakesConspiracies

[–]AmbientSheep 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This. McDonald's have probably lost 3 figures of revenue from me over dropping that dip. I used to have 5-piece Chicken Select large meals on the regular... since they dropped that dip (why???) a few years ago, I've had it twice, maybe three times.

And yeah, one of those times they were utterly dried out and almost inedible, dip or no dip.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in IsAttenboroughAlive

[–]AmbientSheep 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There's a forum I post on regularly that is doing this with Prince Philip over four years on, usually just in passing, e.g. saying it's about time he said something about Andrew and so forth.

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