Guest Posted July 15, 2019 Report Share Posted July 15, 2019 Been thinking about it, Harry Potter is basically a story about the adventures of the top 1% that secretly controls the world... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WestRider Posted July 15, 2019 Report Share Posted July 15, 2019 43 minutes ago, paxmiles said: Been thinking about it, Harry Potter is basically a story about the adventures of the top 1% that secretly controls the world... There are a bunch of interesting ways to look at it. Another that amuses me, given the way the tone makes it more of a nerd story, is that it's, really, the story of a jock who grows up to be a cop. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WestRider Posted July 16, 2019 Report Share Posted July 16, 2019 I've seen a couple of stories about the Curiosity Rover detecting "mysterious" bursts of methane that fade quickly away. To me, the obvious explanation is that it's Martian frat boys or something running up and farting on it, and then running away. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 19, 2019 Report Share Posted July 19, 2019 In that time travel trope where the people travel back to "fix" the present, how is that different than a suicide pack? I mean, if the you in the present attempts to alter the past so the you that you never existed, isn't that rather similar to attempts to kill yourself? Even if you gather others around a common goal, when is it more than poisoned cool-aid in a suicide cult? The you that you are won't be able to know if it works, you just know the you you are won't exist anymore. Seems a lot like suicide. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duckman Posted July 19, 2019 Report Share Posted July 19, 2019 The difference is that a suicide pact does not have any intent to change the present or the past. The time-travel trope is about making a proactive change which involves sacrifice where you could not say the same about Heaven's Gate or Jonestown. The Branch Davidians are arguable in that maybe you could argue that they are trying to bring attention to specific grievances against the government (although I am not sure that this is really the case, just one possible interpretation). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 19, 2019 Report Share Posted July 19, 2019 37 minutes ago, Duckman said: The difference is that a suicide pact does not have any intent to change the present or the past. The time-travel trope is about making a proactive change which involves sacrifice where you could not say the same about Heaven's Gate or Jonestown. The Branch Davidians are arguable in that maybe you could argue that they are trying to bring attention to specific grievances against the government (although I am not sure that this is really the case, just one possible interpretation). So if the goal is to escape our present reality by erasing ourselves, that's one thing, but escaping the present by killing ourselves is different? In both cases, the cornerstone is that they refuse to live in reality, so much that they would give up their lives. Or is the difference just that the TV show's perspective includes the alternative timeline changing, so we (the audience) know that they died for an actual purpose? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duckman Posted July 19, 2019 Report Share Posted July 19, 2019 Note that this was not the stated goal of either Heaven's Gate or Jonestown, hence my statement. It's also why I called out the Branch Davidians separately... The first two had no intention of changing anything going on in the world. The third *might* have depending on your interpretation and the time travellers certainly do have an intent to change the world if possible. You are comparing the organized act of swallowing a gun to trying to make proactive change in the world. If you want to understand the difference, much as I hate to recommend anything from him, consider reading "Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus" by Orson Scott Card. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WestRider Posted July 19, 2019 Report Share Posted July 19, 2019 I would think that a more apt comparison would be something lika a Soldier who jumps on a grenade to save their Squad, or a Firefighter who goes back into a burning building to rescue someone, despite the low odds of making it back out themselves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duckman Posted July 19, 2019 Report Share Posted July 19, 2019 That's one option but I have seen other examples of time travel which are not so noble. Things where people expect to survive in the new reality or such. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WestRider Posted July 19, 2019 Report Share Posted July 19, 2019 1 hour ago, Duckman said: That's one option but I have seen other examples of time travel which are not so noble. Things where people expect to survive in the new reality or such. I assumed from Pax's starting point that we were just talking situations where the laws of time travel make "survival", as such, highly unlikely. In a more Back to the Future type scenario or something, the possibilities are far broader, yeah. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duckman Posted July 19, 2019 Report Share Posted July 19, 2019 Pastwatch is one such title, "we know the current reality will cease to exist and that is not such a bad thing." It's a proactive attempt to change the present, not just suicide. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 20, 2019 Report Share Posted July 20, 2019 9 hours ago, WestRider said: I assumed from Pax's starting point that we were just talking situations where the laws of time travel make "survival", as such, highly unlikely. In a more Back to the Future type scenario or something, the possibilities are far broader, yeah. It was a random thought, I didn't really have a further point. Was watching The Orville, which features an episode with this trope, where they try to undo a specific event that leads to the disaster that is there present. Was just thinking that for the people that are part of the timeline that they want to replace, those people all get "erased" when they succeed at "fixing" the timeline, making it sort of a suicide pact. Didn't really matter for that show, was just thinking about it because of that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InfestedKerrigan Posted July 24, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 24, 2019 Dolph Lundgren is a f'king badass. Dude got his Masters in Chemical Engineering, while competing and becoming a European Karate Champion. His is the trident that says BMF 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yarbicus Posted July 24, 2019 Report Share Posted July 24, 2019 1 hour ago, InfestedKerrigan said: Dolph Lundgren is a f'king badass. Dude got his Masters in Chemical Engineering, while competing and becoming a European Karate Champion. His is the trident that says BMF Well, he's no Christopher Lee... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InfestedKerrigan Posted July 24, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 24, 2019 1 hour ago, Yarbicus said: Well, he's no Christopher Lee... Whoa there champ! No need to jump to Mr Rogers league. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WestRider Posted July 24, 2019 Report Share Posted July 24, 2019 Brian May is up there, too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InfestedKerrigan Posted July 24, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 24, 2019 21 minutes ago, WestRider said: Brian May is up there, too. Absolutely at Dolph level, no questions asked. I don't know enough about his extended beyond being an Astrophysicist, so I can't argue in favor of the Rogers-Lee Factor. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InfestedKerrigan Posted July 24, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 24, 2019 Ken Jeong is in there, too. Graduated high school at 16, and was a Doctor a decade later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 26, 2019 Report Share Posted July 26, 2019 Can you ferment artificial juice? Like does Sunny D ferment? Or Kool-aid? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 26, 2019 Report Share Posted July 26, 2019 Hmm...guess you can. All sorts of guides online. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WestRider Posted July 26, 2019 Report Share Posted July 26, 2019 2 minutes ago, paxmiles said: Hmm...guess you can. All sorts of guides online. You can ferment pretty much anything with carbohydrates. In the case of artificial juices like these, you're basically fermenting the added sugar, so what you end up with is I believe generally considered a rum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 26, 2019 Report Share Posted July 26, 2019 12 minutes ago, WestRider said: You can ferment pretty much anything with carbohydrates. In the case of artificial juices like these, you're basically fermenting the added sugar, so what you end up with is I believe generally considered a rum. That's what I thought, but I never really considered fermentation on artificial liquids until today. I don't really drink, so alcohol is rarely on my mind. Probably an early thought for people that derive more pleasure from alcohol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Munkie Posted July 26, 2019 Report Share Posted July 26, 2019 1 hour ago, paxmiles said: Probably an early thought for people that derive more pleasure from alcohol. Not an early thought for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VonVilkee Posted July 26, 2019 Report Share Posted July 26, 2019 I go for the stuff from professionals... Doing it myself was and still is a hobby I'm not interested in spending time or money on... I want more plastic army men! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 27, 2019 Report Share Posted July 27, 2019 1 hour ago, VonVilkee said: ... I want more plastic army men! One of the main reasons I never got into drugs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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