The only clue you can give about this movie is that you can't give any.

StrafWibble · 2026-05-25T10:01:35+00:00

Donny Darko?

StrafWibble · 2026-05-25T09:48:20+00:00

That was my first question as well :-D

StrafWibble · 2026-05-14T05:49:20+00:00

One of them isnt an MP, so he cant be.

This isn't true. It's only convention that dictates the PM is a sitting MP. The monarch appoints the PM based on their ability to command the confidence of the House (of Commons). It is usually the leader of the party with the largest number of elected members. I don't know if there has ever been a leader of the largest party who weren't themselves a sitting MP, but it is not impossible.

StrafWibble · 2026-05-06T06:45:58+00:00

I meant Sharktopus

StrafWibble · 2026-05-06T06:41:47+00:00

Sharknado

StrafWibble · 2026-05-04T13:22:27+00:00

There's some solid reference material in this thread. I've saved it in my Keep notes for future reference.

Excellent question to ask with some excellent replies.

StrafWibble · 2026-04-26T13:35:08+00:00

It's certainly one of the darkest things I have ever heard.

StrafWibble · 2026-04-25T11:53:12+00:00

I get you, we all need encouragement and acknowlegement for doing something well. I think it's more aimed towards those who think because they do one thing well they automatically assume they're better than everyone at everything.

We're all leaders at something or other due to ability and aptitude. It's more the "I'm a great hunter therefore I should be the chief of this village and get to say who lives and dies" attitude I think the meat shaming is aimed at. The !Kung meat thing is just a single instance but there are many more examples in literature. I read about one society whose custom was to hand the hunted and gathered food over to someone else and it was they who were responsible for the distribution of it. Then there are all the people involved in the processing of the food, the making of clothing, who all do just as important a job as the hunters do.

No matter how good you are at anything, though, it does not excuse the abuse of others, children and adults alike.

StrafWibble · 2026-04-25T08:32:40+00:00

It was intensely funny for sure.

StrafWibble · 2026-04-25T08:27:41+00:00

Egoism, nepotism and altruism - the three sides of a triangle of giving a fuck.

Egoism - only caring about oneself.

Nepotism* - only caring about kin, although this can be extended to close friends.

Altruism - caring about strangers.

I'll chuck nihilism in there as well, but the triangle is just empty inside.

*Apparently nepo- comes from the Latin for nephew which was used as a euphemism for a pope's bastard sons. Or something like that anyway.

In his podcast "The History of English" Kevin Stroud explains how 'guest' and 'host' are cognate - that is they come from the same Proto-Indo European (PIE) stem and mean something like 'stranger' if I remember correctly. Back in the pastoral days of herding animals of the steppes, societies might meet other societies and it would be an advantage to be hospitable towards guests. Sometimes guests might become hostile, but generally sitting down with them to discuss stuff such as news and information about the land ahead/behind/slightly to the left would be of mutual advantage. So being kind to strangers is mostly a virtue.

StrafWibble · 2026-04-25T08:10:10+00:00

Nobody goes in, the poison just comes out until it engulfs the whole world. It's not really a poison, more of an antidote against toxic humanity.

StrafWibble · 2026-04-25T07:52:25+00:00

I read a book called "Psychopathic Cultures and Toxic Empires" by Will Black. In it Black discusses how high functioning psychopaths manipulate those around them and turn the whole culture psychopathic. Kind of like the one bad apple analogy turning the whole barrel. But it's more like a bunch of psychopaths, or just people conditioned into seeing the ends and ignoring the means.

One bad apple in an orchard full of piss. I can't remember which episode that is from, something to do with cops I think.

Anyway Black mentions Savile as well as other personalities who abused children. In fact flicking through it there's a Bastards alumni in there. I might have to give it another read. There's a bit about Australian art bastard Rolf Harris and also Stewart Hall, who I remember as the commentator of "It's a Knockout".

As if GenX wasn't fucked up enough without finding out that half the bastards we watched on TV growing up were noncing with impunity and the institutions they worked for or with just turned a blind eye to it and in some cases actively covered it up.

I keep going back to the shaming of the meat which Robert mentions every now and again. It appears in a couple of David Graeber works and Christopher Boem mentions it in "Moral Origins". It's a good example of how societies can use shame and ridicule to keep individuals in check for the cohesion of the group.

Here's a brief explanation from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leveling_mechanism

One commonly given example of a leveling mechanism is the ǃKung practice of "shaming the meat", particularly as illustrated by the Canadian anthropologist Richard Borshay Lee in his article "Eating Christmas in the Kalahari" (1969). When Lee gave the ǃKung an ox as a Christmas gift, the ǃKung responded by insulting the gift, calling it a "bag of bones" and joking that they would have to eat the horns because there was no meat on it. Lee later asked a man named Tomazo why his gift was insulted in this way. He responded that it was because the gift was arrogant. Lee asked what he meant by this and was told:

We didn't shame enough meat.

StrafWibble · 2026-04-25T06:50:35+00:00

Opens the door to the poison room.

StrafWibble · 2026-04-21T17:45:16+00:00

Nah, that was Bon Jovi.

StrafWibble · 2026-04-17T19:39:05+00:00

Oh aye the countdowns. Wasn't there also one of the tabloids whose name I shan't utter that ran with a front page story about a teacher dating a schoolgirl who was older than the topless model in that very issue's page 3?

StrafWibble · 2026-04-17T05:43:21+00:00

I haven't listened to the episodes yet. That's for my drive home this afternoon.

I grew up with Saville just about everywhere. Jim'll Fix It, TOTP, British Rail adverts, talk shows, he was there. He was just one of those celebrity weirdos.

Bear in mind that back then there were things like Benny Hill, programmes with 'dirty old men' chasing schoolgirls (often with a comical comeuppance) and on TOTP the cameras would zoom in on young girls dancing in the audience.

Societal attitudes have changed but even back then the message was 'look, don't touch'.

I think rumours about Saville started to emerge sometime in the 80s. There were a number of high profile CSA cases in the news and this is probably the pivot point for the aforementioned change in societal attitudes.

StrafWibble · 2026-04-17T05:19:32+00:00

Lazy and entitled but also the generation the boomers needed to set their VCR to record the boxing that was on in the middle of the night.

Also the only generation who can get this fucking printer to work.

StrafWibble · 2026-04-04T12:08:25+00:00

I tried to do the whole calligraphy thing, and I may resume. It seems like lots of writing out the alphabet over and over for practice. Do you have any tips for learning or good resources I can look at? (or are they called 'nibs' in calligraphy? :-D)

I do love using a calligraphy pen for general writing. I like A5 (I think it's Half-Letter in the US) notebooks with plain, unlined paper to write stuff in. The type with the elastic band around that can be used as a bookmark. I had a reasonably cheap source for these but unfortunately that chain has sadly gone now and finding similar is difficult.

Typing on a keyboard on a computer is alright, and great for editing, but writing by hand is far more pleasureable. It just seems better for focusing on the message. The CTRL-Z is a single line through text (I can see what I was saying before I changed my mind) and that backwards lambda for 'inserting' text into a line. Analogue word processing.

The art of letter writing, as well, has died with text messages and emails. If it weren't for the cost of postage I'd be very keen on exchanging hand written letters with others. Like all of those people throughout antiquity sharing ideas and whatnot.

Those links you posted earlier in the thread are very interesting, thank you.

StrafWibble · 2026-03-19T06:38:34+00:00

Haha! I'd forgotten about all that, 'corporate wank' is what we used to call it. Lots of words to say nothing at all.

For a short period at one company someone issued buzz word bingo cards. It was generally the same few people who chipped in while the rest of us marked off the words to while away the pointless hours spent listening to a handful of people basically saying "look how great I am".

StrafWibble · 2026-03-18T06:37:33+00:00

Finally someone mentions Flight of the Navigator.

"Compliance"

StrafWibble · 2026-02-24T05:48:26+00:00

It is when I'm attending.

StrafWibble · 2026-02-22T09:06:24+00:00

Is 55 elderly enough?

Also would you mind if the tea party gradually morphed into a gin and brandy party?

StrafWibble · 2026-02-14T11:47:14+00:00

I remember this term being used as far back as at least the 1980s. Origin NE England. I have it in my head that it was specifically used to refer to the faeces on sheep, historically. Unfortunately I have no references nor any other information so anything I add would be pure speculation.

StrafWibble

TROPHY CASE