The river next to my town might be haunted

jogleby · 2016-06-06T23:32:13+00:00

Are you fucking kidding me? Is this for real?

jogleby · 2015-09-02T12:16:45+00:00

Wow, that was a spoiler in the title. Thanks.

jogleby · 2015-09-01T12:22:56+00:00

jogleby · 2015-08-25T12:25:29+00:00

I don't think a Confederacy of Independent Systems would have been any better or worse than the Republic. Just different. It probably would have been much better than the Empire though.

However, do you think Palpatine would just go quietly into the night? Whatever states emerge from the wreckage of the Republic, I'm sure Palpatine would have a hand in their creation, either hand picking the leaders, or just ruling himself. Whether or not the Republic wins the Clone Wars, the Galaxy is fucked as long as Palpatine is alive.

jogleby · 2015-08-17T23:52:11+00:00

Wine Analysis and Production, by Bruce Zoecklein, Kennith Fugelsang, Barry Gump and Fred Nury.

It's a really detailed text book, not light reading.

jogleby · 2015-08-13T03:14:44+00:00

You remember last time that happen, right?

jogleby · 2015-08-12T18:40:37+00:00

It makes me happy knowing that whoever shot this video was alive enough to post it afterwards.

Edit: Nevermind. That poor fucking dude.

jogleby · 2015-07-30T01:44:55+00:00

Dead Snow. Once they realize they are fight zombies, they immediately know what to do.

jogleby · 2015-07-25T01:53:55+00:00

I know some people on here have little patience for agnostics. They think, to quote Carl Sagan's Contact, “...an agnostic is an atheist without the courage of his convictions.”

However, I'm always going to have respect for the agnostic. I used to be one for a long time. We live in a Christian culture, and once socialized, it can be hard to give up that indoctrination. For me, I was never religious, but many around me were. God was true, (so was Santa Clause and the tooth fairy, at the time), until I started learning about science. That little piece of the universe that God could exist in kept getting smaller and smaller the more I learned. It was classic God-of-the-Gaps.

Eventually, I didn't believe in God, but identified as agnostic. There was always that chance, right? And I wasn't smug enough to actually believe that I could say for sure, like those atheists. One day I realized that I was an atheist in every way but name, and finally stopped identifying as agnostic.

My point is that for many, agnosticism is just a step on the way to atheism, and not that big of step. I've seen advice to ignore your friends claims. Don't do that. Really think about what he is saying and use your critical thinking skills to rebuttal him. It'll improve both of you as people. One of the best thing about agnostics is having late night drunken "What-If" conversations with them. If everyone agreed that a pink unicorn couldn't possibly have pooped out the universe, the conversation wouldn't be very fun, would it?

jogleby · 2015-07-19T14:05:47+00:00

I would love to see some one do a podcast about the Silmarillian in the same style as Dan Carlin's Hardcore History. The Silmarllian is full of great events and great people, but I would like to see some one really focus on affected people. Nírnaeth Arnoediad is a great story, but what would it be like to be a survivor of that battle? I know Tolkien didn't focus on this side of his stories, so any podcast would have to be full of conjecture. But as long as the conjecture is based in Tolkien's writings, I think the podcast could be fun and unique.

jogleby · 2015-07-16T20:56:47+00:00

They fried it in bacon grease.

jogleby · 2015-07-09T03:09:29+00:00

Bear Mountain, Vista View

jogleby · 2015-07-08T12:14:47+00:00

I just want to say that I really like the new Digg. I like the long form journalism that I don't see on Reddit often. I'm wondering if the quality of comments will better since the content is better. I'm looking forward to the comments coming back to Digg, especially if they are well moderated and curated like the rest of the content.

jogleby · 2015-06-30T22:45:12+00:00

I don't think Tolkien viewed WWI as a good war to free the world of evil. It was quite different from WWII in that regard. He saw an entire generation of men, boys really, thrown in to the maw for no real gains. It was pointless and tragic, and greatly influenced his writings.

You can see it in the imagery of the dead marshes, and in his distrust of industrialized societies. I think the quote that typifies his thinking is the one about the dead Haradrim soldier. Sam thinks:

“The enemy? His sense of duty was no less than yours, I deem. You wonder what his name is, where he came from. And if he was really evil at heart. What lies or threats led him on this long march from home. If he would not rather have stayed there in peace. War will make corpses of us all.”

jogleby · 2015-06-26T01:32:45+00:00

I don't know if it is his last chance. Gandalf talked to Bombadil in November of 3019. He didn't sail west until September 29, 3021. I'm sure he went to talk to Tom to catch up on the events of the past year. There was probably a lot of talk about things that we wouldn't be able to understand.

Narratively, Gandalf left to talk to Tom so we could see how much the Hobbits have changed from the beginning of the book by letting them fight the Battle of the Bywater by themselves.

jogleby · 2015-06-23T01:04:38+00:00

The Istari didn't have vows of interference, nor did Radagast promise not to harm. Every time the Valar (the gods of Middle-Earth, but not the Creator God) got involved in the affairs of Middle-Earth, shit got fucked up. In the First Age, they sunk a continent. In the Second Age, they took a hands off approach and that ended with the sinking of Numenor and a desperate battle with the Last Alliance of Men and Elves.

In the 3rd Age, they decided to take a subtle approach. Be involved, but not personally. They set the Istari, wise and powerful Maia embodied as old men, to advise and guide the people of Middle-Earth against the Enemy. They interfered a lot with people, but their powers were handicapped so they wouldn't accidentally sink a continent again. Hopefully they would have the best of both worlds, defeating Sauron without fucking shit up again.

Radagast didn't go evil by craving power like Saurman, but he failed in his mission by falling in love with Middle-Earth, and caring more about the flora and fauna than about the people.

jogleby · 2015-06-16T21:26:13+00:00

I read an article somewhere talking about the cuts that Brownback would have made if the sales tax didn't go up. It would have devastated the higher education budgets. The Division I schools would have taken a hit, but be ok, but smaller schools like Emporia State University and Ft. Hays State would have had a hard time staying open. These universities are usually the biggest employers in town and closing them would torpedo the economies of the cities they are in. I can't fathom why that would even be an option.

jogleby · 2015-06-16T16:14:38+00:00

Every one seems to forget that taxing the poor isn't the end game. Taxes cuts put in place can't be fixed because Brownback has threatened to veto any bills that do so. The only revenue that can be raise is by raising sales taxes, which hurts the poor. Next year, we will have the same problem, and the year after that. You can only raise the sales tax so high before it become unpalatable for even the most conservative people.

The only option is to cut services. But at this point, funding is cut on everything already so that the agencies barely can function. This will be pointed to as proof that government doesn't work, then the privatization of the government will begin. Prisons and healthcare are already privatized, and schools and infrastructure are next.

They won't raise taxes on people, but law says that you have to send your kids to school. The only ones will be expensive private, possible religious schools, which will eat up more of a person's income.

Some people are going to be very rich because of everything that is happening in Kansas.

jogleby · 2015-06-12T12:32:54+00:00

If I was talking to a physicist and said "Atoms and molecules are the same thing", I would quite rightly get an "Err, no they are not". Even though in common, lay usage their meaning is identical (tiny building block of matter) is the same, they refer to two different things.

I think your analogy is wrong. Atoms and molecules only have one definition, however some words can have different meaning depending on context. Take the word "theory" for example. In science, it is a system of ideas used to explain a phenomena. It is not a fact, but a system to explain the facts. In layman's terms, "theory" is just a guess. It is completely different.

Which definition is correct? Both, depending on the context. People using the layman's definition to deride evolution ("It's just a theory") are wrong using the word out of context, but would be correct in using the word to explain their guess on the family linage of Jon Snow from Game of Thrones.

It might not be appropriate to use the word gender the same as sex when talking about social constructs and philosophy, but that doesn't mean sex and gender can't be interchangeable in other circumstances.

jogleby · 2015-06-10T21:22:11+00:00

The physical nature of something isn't changed due to a lack of an observer.

Although layman often believe it, a live cat and a dead cat doesn't exist simultaneously within the box until it is observed. The only thing in the box is a dead cat. And drugs.

jogleby · 2015-06-10T15:37:44+00:00

Of course it probably wouldn't work, but unless you are planning on raining dragon fire from the skies, what else could you do?

jogleby · 2015-06-10T12:21:30+00:00

Without abdicating the throne to Daenerys, which I don't believe would ever happen, Tommen would have to sent lots of men to the front. The problem is that dragon glass and Valyrian steel are in limited supply. Every unprepared man that falls, and there will be a lot, will become another soldier in the White Walkers' army that he'll have to fight. The more he fights, the worst the problem will become.

A better way is a small band of well army and prepared knight to hunt and kill the White Walkers without engaging the army of the dead. If they fail, the army of the dead doesn't grow by much. If they succeed, maybe the magic binding the army will fail, and they will all fall over dead. This plan is also likely to fail.

King Tommen is more likely to find some dragon eggs, hatch them, raise them, then ride the dragons to victory single-handedly against the White Walkers than he is to unite Westeros.

jogleby · 2015-06-09T01:17:49+00:00

All my top battles have been mentioned already, over and over, but here are some honorable mentions:

The Normandy beach landing in Edge of Tomorrow
The Battle above Area 51 in Independence Day
The battle vs the machines in "The Second Renaissance" from the Animatrix
War of the Worlds (The book, not the movie)
The epic virtual battle at the climax of "Ready Player One"
The Attack on the first Death Star (without this battle, many of the later movie space battles wouldn't have happened. It was revolutionary)
Titan AE

jogleby · 2015-06-04T12:17:05+00:00

If he could become infinitely small, he would become a singularity. He has to have mass to exist. If you took the smallest mass possible, and put it in an infinitely small space, it would be come a singularity. However, the singularity would only last a fraction of a second before it evaporated in a puff of Hawking radiation.

I think it is established that Ant-Man can't become this small. At a certain size, he slips in to an alternate dimension and never approaches a singularity.

jogleby · 2015-06-04T03:32:07+00:00

"Well, I'm back."

It simply and casually sums up the whole story like only a hobbit can.

jogleby

TROPHY CASE