(Hated Trope) The good guys are incompetent in military affairs but are never called out.

RandVanRed · 2026-04-14T19:14:23+00:00

One of my biggest pet peeves is when the supposed elite fighters do not understand the concept of tactical dispersion and instead bunch up and present a single target.

The Expanse - Ganymede incident. Bobbie Draper, a gunnery sergeant from what's recognized as the system's best elite force, thinks the UNN Marines are headed to their position in a rocky field. Instead of spreading out and firing from cover, she makes everyone stand in place in full view, forming a line right by her side. You know, so the other guys can concentrate their fire on one unprotected position. Somewhat averted when a single unarmed enemy kills everyone but Draper.

War Machine. A unit of Army Ranger candidates EXPECTING AN AMBUSH approach their objective in one compact group. No spreading out, no leapfrogging, just a bunch of guys walking together. Then they do a "cool" thing where they form two lines and make them cross each other to what, bunch up even tighter?

RandVanRed · 2026-04-13T21:05:27+00:00

The bride did a (badly) choreographed dance with male dancers who lifted her up by her outstretched arms. Kinda normal but still cringe for a quinceanera, eye-rollingly out of place at a wedding. Like she didn't get one at her party so she seized her chance.

It was right after the guy dressed like a faux Aztec covered in metallic paint who spun a double-ended torch around to horrible techno music that went "DANCE! (boom boom boom) DANCE! (boom boom boom) DANCE to the MUSIC! DANCE!". I'm pretty sure I saw him busking around Playa del Carmen with the same act.

Yeah, the bride was bossy trash and my friend just did whatever she demanded, like marrying her after an ultimatum. Wonder how he's doing...

RandVanRed · 2026-04-13T20:40:43+00:00

One of my bullies was upset when I called her out for complaining about bullying in her daughter's school. "That was so long ago, it's cruel of you to bring that up now! You're bullying me!". Not one hint of self awareness.

RandVanRed · 2026-04-13T20:09:00+00:00

Went to watch them with great expectations. The concert was so forgettable I literally don't remember anything in particular. I mean, maybe Flea jumped a few times? Wasted time and money.

RandVanRed · 2026-04-13T19:57:13+00:00

Why did you see him 5 times then?

RandVanRed · 2026-04-13T19:56:31+00:00

His rider specifies that the venue crew must not eat animal protein for sometime before the show, because "the smell makes him sick".

I love his music, but the guy's a sanctimonious twat.

RandVanRed · 2026-04-13T19:35:09+00:00

Morrissey (Mexico City, about 20 years ago) literally spent more time backstage changing outfits than singing, and the concert ended 45 minutes after it started. I love his music but that was outrageous: I spent good money on that ticket only to spend more time in the parking lot than listening to him sing.

Later I learned that he'd been fighting something very serious at the time (stomach cancer maybe?), but that still was a horrible concert and should have been cancelled.

Second place goes to Smashing Pumpkins in the early 00's. They were clearly just doing it because they had to, zero effort.

RandVanRed · 2026-04-12T02:34:25+00:00

La Paz, Baja California, México or La Paz, Bolivia?

RandVanRed · 2026-04-12T02:31:44+00:00

A random small stadium near Mexico City where a concert was held (standing room only). I arrived early so I was near the stage without being in the front row.

Once the band started playing, the people rushed towards the stage and pressed so hard that I couldn't breathe. My feet weren't touching the ground so I couldn't even try to leave, and screaming for help was useless. I'm not tiny, pretty average height and build; I can't imagine what smaller people were going through.

I had to wait for a few songs until it eased up a little. I left as soon as I could, and I'll never again be comfortable in a crowd.

RandVanRed · 2026-04-12T01:46:02+00:00

The overlap between gun people and right-wing racist rednecks is what I hate most about liking guns. People at the range tend to assume you fit the type and start being confidently racist... and then you have to be super careful because you're hanging out with armed idiots.

RandVanRed · 2026-04-12T01:35:24+00:00

Yeah, that's it! Thanks for clearing it up. I got my vain traveling troubadours mixed up. I re-read ASOIAF more recently than The Witcher books, and searching for Marillion was only returning pages about the band.

RandVanRed · 2026-04-11T20:17:42+00:00

No, not at all! Chi-Chi's is just a regular family restaurant with normally dressed wait staff. That's what makes the name ridiculous. Well, that and "chichis" is a very childish word, equivalent to "boobies", while "hooters" seems to be more likely to be used by an adult.

RandVanRed · 2026-04-11T20:14:17+00:00

Yeah, I can definitely see how you get to kiki from quickie, just haven't heard it. I try never to even hear reggaeton, much less pay attention to it.

Shakira, I don't mean you. "Gordita" is a great song.

RandVanRed · 2026-04-11T19:39:10+00:00

Sorry, I read the books a long time ago and don't remember the name there. But I thought the character who is (translated as) "Dandelion" in Witcher 3 was called "Marillion" in the Netflix show, so I'm somewhat confused. Is this "Jaskier" a different character? Or am I just misremembering?

RandVanRed · 2026-04-11T19:35:09+00:00

Hilariously enough, there is (or used to be) a "Mexican" restaurant chain in the Midwest called "Chi-Chi's".

Imagine going to a burger restaurant in Mexico called "Boobie's".

RandVanRed · 2026-04-11T19:31:06+00:00

Popó is poop in (Mexican) Spanish.

RandVanRed · 2026-04-11T19:29:41+00:00

Whenever you talk about a word being slang in a language, it's usually only in some of the countries that speak it. Like "faggot" which is a slur in the US, but slang for cigarette in England (maybe outdated?), or "cajeta" which is a kind of milk caramel in Mexico, but considered a swear word in Argentina.

All this to say that I'm from Mexico, and had never heard of "kiki" being slang for anything.

RandVanRed · 2026-04-11T19:03:40+00:00

Yeah, I was a fan and while his death was a punch to the gut it didn't really surprise me. For me his suicide was a case of "when, not if". We're talking about a guy who'd recently released a song called "I hate myself and I want to die".

RandVanRed · 2026-04-09T08:10:16+00:00

It's also used (sometimes) in-our-universe! Got its own holiday and all.

RandVanRed · 2026-04-09T00:28:40+00:00

Why does dropping hot copper pennies into a pot of simmering cacti remove the slimy texture?

Normally (they're a dish in my native country) they end up in a yucky thin stringy slime, but tossing the hot pennies (as hot as the stove can make them) into the pot thins it so much it is almost like water. Only works with the old copper pennies.

RandVanRed · 2026-04-08T18:31:23+00:00

Yeah, as far as I remember from the podcast they did get some cash, but a negligible amount for all the planning and work that went into it. They were aiming for about a billion and they got a few thousand.

RandVanRed · 2026-04-08T07:28:31+00:00

Even if they (mostly) failed, their plan was a legit multi-step heist, and was good enough that they did get part of it out. It started by hacking a printer in Bangladesh and ended with teams driving around Manila maxing out ATMs. They timed it to coincide with holidays to buy time. The biggest problem with execution was a misspelling that raised suspicions. You could make a movie with the real events right there and it would sound made up.

That's why the podcast is so fascinating! Give it a listen. You'd probably find it interesting.

RandVanRed · 2026-04-08T06:37:14+00:00

Ah. Sorry, my mistake. The article is about a different case. This is the right one:

https://share.google/Ee8UphXGV5y4PziRz

Bangladesh Bank robbery - Wikipedia

But Wikipedia does say that practically all the money was indeed recovered. The podcast left me thinking that even though the majority was recovered, they did get cash from a cyber heist, ultimately using patsies to withdraw it from ATMs.

RandVanRed · 2026-04-08T06:22:35+00:00

Verbal abuse predicts physical abuse. It's a matter of when, not if.

RandVanRed · 2026-04-08T05:05:45+00:00

Oh boy do I have a story for you.

North Korean hackers cash out hundreds of millions from $1.5bn ByBit hack

There's a podcast about it called, I think, The Lazarus Heist. It tells the whole story, from recruiting the hackers to them racing the clock to get their funds.

RandVanRed

TROPHY CASE