Steve Jackson Games - Site Navigation
Home General Info Follow Us Search Illuminator Store Forums What's New Other Games Ogre GURPS Munchkin Our Games: Home

Go Back   Steve Jackson Games Forums > Roleplaying > Roleplaying in General

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 09-20-2019, 12:52 PM   #2101
Flyndaran
Untagged
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon
Default Re: Real-Life Weirdness

How would you go about proving something doesn't exist? How do you prove a conspiracy doesn't exist either?

It reminds me of what 3 year old I gave as an excuse for why my bed was wet. King Kong. My parents would ask more and more questions for which I had a quick answer for why he was never seen or left any other proof.
__________________
Beware, poor communication skills. No offense intended. If offended, it just means that I failed my writing skill check.
Flyndaran is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-20-2019, 11:20 PM   #2102
Johnny1A.2
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Default Re: Real-Life Weirdness

OK, this is/was weird, or at least unusual, and might be useful for a period game or a time travel game.

Once upon a time, meaning 1961, the Goodyear company developed a new material for their tires, called Neothane. It had several useful properties, but a couple of nasty weaknesses, including bad performance under heavy sudden braking.

But the interestingly weird aspect of it was that it was translucent, and could be used to make brightly glowing tires in various colors.

Glowing Tires
__________________
HMS Overflow-For conversations off topic here.
Johnny1A.2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-21-2019, 04:46 AM   #2103
Anders
 
Anders's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Gothenburg, Sweden
Default Re: Real-Life Weirdness

Navy confirms leaked UFO videos are real.

ALIENS!

(It's not aliens)
__________________
“When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love ...” Marcus Aurelius
Anders is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-22-2019, 03:10 PM   #2104
ak_aramis
 
ak_aramis's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Alsea, OR
Default Re: Real-Life Weirdness

Quote:
Originally Posted by Anders View Post
It's never aliens... except when it is.

It's interesting how the term has shifted. When I was a kid, (1970s), ne had to preface with "space" for it to be understood not to be just foreigners. By the time I was in college (90s), the "person from another nation" was only understood as humans if prefaced with "legal" or "illegal"....

Due to the popularization of UFO as a term for space alien ships... the USN term Sky quotes is "unidentified aerial phenomena" ...

We might not be changing the spellings of the words, but we sure as hell are changing the common connotations, and in some cases, primary denotations of words... And that's a real life weirdness all its own.
ak_aramis is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-23-2019, 05:06 AM   #2105
Luke Bunyip
 
Luke Bunyip's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: The Kingdom of Insignificance
Default Re: Real-Life Weirdness

Quote:
Originally Posted by ak_aramis View Post
It's never aliens... except when it is.

It's interesting how the term has shifted.

<snip>

We might not be changing the spellings of the words, but we sure as hell are changing the common connotations, and in some cases, primary denotations of words... And that's a real life weirdness all its own.
IIRC, psychologists were originally called alienists. To wit, the word comes from the French aliéniste, from aliéné, for insane.
__________________
It's all very well to be told to act my age, but I've never been this old before...
Luke Bunyip is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-23-2019, 08:09 AM   #2106
Flyndaran
Untagged
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon
Default Re: Real-Life Weirdness

There's a TV show, The Alienist, about such early psychologists set in the 19th century. I haven't seen it, but that's where I learned the term.
__________________
Beware, poor communication skills. No offense intended. If offended, it just means that I failed my writing skill check.
Flyndaran is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-23-2019, 09:51 AM   #2107
Varyon
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Default Re: Real-Life Weirdness

Quote:
Originally Posted by Luke Bunyip View Post
IIRC, psychologists were originally called alienists. To wit, the word comes from the French aliéniste, from aliéné, for insane.
Does that mean, to a certain extent, that alien conspiracy theories are quite literally insane conspiracy theories? That seems so terrifyingly appropriate I suspect time travelers may be involved.
__________________
GURPS Overhaul
Varyon is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-24-2019, 09:42 AM   #2108
Michele
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Udine, Italy
Default Re: Real-Life Weirdness

Quote:
Originally Posted by Varyon View Post
Does that mean, to a certain extent, that alien conspiracy theories are quite literally insane conspiracy theories? That seems so terrifyingly appropriate I suspect time travelers may be involved.
No. It means that people claiming that they come from other planets are insane.
(Sorry, couldn't resist).
__________________
Michele Armellini
GURPS Locations: St. George's Cathedral
Michele is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-24-2019, 10:32 AM   #2109
jason taylor
 
jason taylor's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Portland, Oregon
Default Re: Real-Life Weirdness

Quote:
Originally Posted by Flyndaran View Post
How would you go about proving something doesn't exist? How do you prove a conspiracy doesn't exist either?

It reminds me of what 3 year old I gave as an excuse for why my bed was wet. King Kong. My parents would ask more and more questions for which I had a quick answer for why he was never seen or left any other proof.
You could subject it to the rules of legal procedure. "Mr. Meyer do you eat gentile babies for Passover" "The perscribed Passover meal is set in the Torah and has nothing to do with gentile babies"

"Mr. Meyer do Jews control the banking industry", "Do I look like I control the banking industry".

Of course That's What They Want You To Think answers everything.
__________________
"The navy could probably win a war without coffee but would prefer not to try"-Samuel Eliot Morrison
jason taylor is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-24-2019, 04:32 PM   #2110
Anaraxes
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Default Re: Real-Life Weirdness

Quote:
Originally Posted by jason taylor View Post
You could subject it to the rules of legal procedure...
"Mr. Meyer do Jews control the banking industry", "Do I look like I control the banking industry".
I'm not a lawyer, but I'm not sure witnesses are allowed to answer a question with a question. At the very least, it's non-responsive and the question will just get asked again, maybe with instructions from the judge to just answer "yes or no". (That is, if the lawyer is really trying to get a yes or no answer; they might just be trying to make Meyer look evasive, in which case they already succeeded.)

A better response would probably be something like "I couldn't say, since I know less than half the people in control of banks, and frankly I wouldn't say that even they completely control their own companies. Even CEOs answer to a lot of other people, from shareholders to regulators. Of the CEOs I do know, there are only a few that are Jewish anyway."
Anaraxes is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
blueberry muffin, fermi paradox

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Fnords are Off
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 03:40 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.