583 - Erica Has It Coming, A Sip With Consequences, Mr. Red's Weird, I've Heard of Sheds Lifting Cars, and "The Star Wars Technician Fallacy"

[9:21 AM] 

I sometimes dream of games

This weekend it was promisingly titled "The Amazon!" with 80s-looking Red Sonja clone image on the box.

For some reason, I couldn't quit the damned thing. I really wanted to because all it consisted of was something like an interactive story following some woman in an office in her daily routine with clickable options like "Sip Coffee"

And the plot mainly concerned her complaining about someone named "Erica" being a total bitch and how “The Amazon!” would kick her ass if came down to it.

(feeble conscious Mr. Silver voice in background)

"Can we dream something else please?  Or wake up?  Honestly it's like listening to the women complaining at Jammenkatzer.  Anything?  Action scene?  No?  (sigh)"  

[9:57 AM]  Mr. Yellow: 

Everyone knows Erica is a bitch

[9:58 AM] 

Well, that's true...

Someone really should kick her ass

[2:58 PM] 

Pretty sure that the newbie in front of me in conversation with his agent referred to something as "kind of a double-edged straw"

[3:10 PM]  Mr. Brown: 

That is one sharp straw

[3:15 PM] 

"Well, that's kind of a double-holed straw, ma'am."

[10:44 AM]  Mr. Red: 

Dang you Mr. Silver!!!
Now I keep thinking about writing

[10:45 AM] 

You're doomed

[10:45 AM]  Mr. Red: 

Yes but, that is a good kind of doomed
is there a good kind?

[10:46 AM] 

Depends on how far back you use the word "doom' I think.

Would you prefer I refer to your "weird"?

[10:49 AM]  Mr. Red: 

Well we already know that
It wouldn't be the first time.

[10:49 AM] 

"Weird" in terms of one's fate or doom

It's a really old concept, I believe.

[10:51 AM]  Mr. Red: 

Well, that's weird...

[10:52 AM] 

Noun

Before the 12th century

Middle English wird, werd, going back to Old English wyrd, going back to Germanic *wurdi- "fate, chance" (whence Old Saxon wurđ "fate," Old High German wurt, Old Norse urðr), derivative from the base of *werþan- "to come about, happen, become"

The vast majority have no idea it can be used as a noun ;)

I need to stick that back in a roleplaying system

[10:56 AM]  Mr. Red: 

Yeah, I never knew that

I could almost see that in a role playing game.
An old man explaining things and by the way he uses language, he's telling the group which way to go is the safe way.
But they choose the dangerous way because it sounds exciting using our translations of the words. However with his translations, he's saying, you all going to die if you go that way.

[11:03 AM] 

LOL

Sort of like "Nice" used to mean "accurate"

Awful used to fill one with awe

[11:04 AM]  Mr. Red: 

Awful makes sense

[11:04 AM] 

Incredible means your claims are not believable

[8:12 AM]  Mr. Blue: 

a bunch of our trees snapped off from all the snow. one landed on our shed, which is good because if the shed wasn't there it would've landed on the house

[8:12 AM]  Mr. Brown: 

I can hear the scene unfolding

House cowering in fear

SCREAMS

The shed yells NOOOOOOOOOOO!

Jumps in front of the tree

[8:13 AM]  Mr. Blue: 

The shed actually has minimal damage... sounded like a bomb went off

[8:13 AM]  Mr. Brown: 

Yeah, it’s the man!

I GOT THIS

Action music rolls

[8:14 AM] 

In times of crisis, the mother shed can experience a surge of super-shedian strength

Fortunately it adopted your house

[8:15 AM]  Mr. Blue: 

Our neighbor up the road has a long driveway lined with trees... fairly young, like maybe 10 feet high... they all snapped

[8:15 AM]  Mr. Brown: 

These young trees today. They are too supple

[2:08 PM]  Mr. Blue: 

I've been watching old unsolved mysteries episodes

I like the UFO stuff the best

although I'm even more skeptical now than when i watched it as a kid it's still interesting, even if it wasn't aliens

Some of the "rational explanations" are more irrational than just "aliens"

Like the one in England where 15 US military personnel all saw the same lights and crafts and each eyewitness account is very similar.. and the official explanation was that it was a lighthouse through trees and maybe some fog messing with them?

[2:14 PM] 

Yyyyyeah

That would be an official military "write something down that isn't aliens" excuse

"It was helicopter lights!  But we don't know whose helicopter or how they managed to come down in the trees in the dark without crashing."

"And how our guys, including the helicopter pilots, didn't recognize it was a helicopter"

[2:18 PM]  Mr. Blue: 

A lot of the "it had weird writing on it" sounds to me like Cyrillic

Even though some of the eyewitnesses claim they "looked at pictures of Russian" and it wasn't the same. There's different fonts and it might've even been upside down

i think a lot of it was spy stuff

Kecksburg in particular

They tracked that craft as coming over the arctic and down through Canada first,

making sharp turns unlike a natural phenomenon or balloon

The government would want to lie about Russian spy stuff just as much as aliens

[2:29 PM] 

I prefer a logical observation for these technological-seeming mysteries.

Not understanding symbols? Easy

Not understanding materials? Yup

Weird objects falling out of the sky in odd places? Natch

but...

Where is the tech?

[2:30 PM]  Mr. Blue: 

Right

If it was space traveling aliens we'd be further ahead, particularly in space travel, than we are now

In energy/power too

[2:30 PM] 

I mean...granted we and "they" do all this experimenting.  Lets say it results in a bonkers titanic "Phoenix Lights" effect.  

Yet no one ever reveals a tech a decade or more later that does what happened.

“Oh, it was a secret Air Force/Russian experiment that was classified.”

“One that was perfectly silent, the size of a football field, and could perform those maneuvers?”

“Yeah!”

“Cool!  Where's the Air Force/Russian super-big vehicles, the super-maneuverable vehicles, and the vehicles that make no sound?  Its been 20 years...those all sound really useful for military and civilian use and any of the three should be absolutely everywhere now.”

“Classified.”

[2:33 PM]  Mr. Blue: 

The place where most of these sightings and crashes occurred - the US - isn't much more technologically advanced than any other country.  It's probably not even the most technologically advanced country

And why does every craft look different?

Are we being visited by dozens of different groups?

And why can they travel from other star systems but end up crashing when they get here?

[2:44 PM] 

All good questions. 

My theory is they may not actually be that much more advanced than us

Intellectually, I mean

Based on some behavior, some of these visitors might be stupider than us.

I think they buy their equipment and don't necessarily know it any better than most people know their own cars

[2:50 PM]  Mr. Blue: 

maybe they're tourists on intergalactic rental segways

[2:50 PM] 

Yup, that too

Assuming aliens are more advanced than us is related to the “Star Wars Technician" fallacy

(my own observation)

Sci Fi characters - including aliens and even earth scientists - are regularly depicted using and repairing equipment they would logically have never learned to use.

[2:51 PM]  Mr. Blue: 

Bones on Star Trek is kinda dumb about some stuff

All he has to do is wave some pocket device over someone to fix them

[2:51 PM] 

(Typical Sci Fi technical issue)

"The hyperdrive is damaged...we need a McGuffin, Qui Gon."

"Good work, Obi Wan.  Say, when did you have any time to learn hyperdrive mechanics?  You're a warrior priest diplomat."

"Uh...no idea, really."

(Realistic Sci Fi issue... Ship manages to land) "Anyone have AAA?"

[2:53 PM]  Mr. Blue: 

heh

[3:01 PM] 

The only characters qualified to do any of the work in any of the movies were the astromechs.

General Princess Leia... Spent her whole life to Empire Strikes Back as a noble, then politician, then activist "face".  And there she is, tools in hand with no manual, working to repair systems on a completely customized piece of junk from an alien planet like she'd know anything about it.  When did she learn this? 

I suspect Star Wars tech is AI intelligent and just fixes itself while living bodies poke around. Then it pretends they did something so they feel good about themselves.

"Try it now!" 

[3:24 PM]  Mr. Blue: 

heh

[3:24 PM] 

"Give me that thingy.  (pokes)  Try it now!"

Hard science, Star Wars ain't

I ever discuss the Han Solo suicide stunt?

[3:25 PM]  Mr. Blue: 

no

[3:30 PM] 

He basically killed everyone on the Millennium Falcon by detaching from the Star Destroyer in ESB

(floating in space in an asteroid field)

"Hey!  We could go to Cloud City!"

"How far is that?"

"Well...we'll run out of fuel in a week, but if we didn't, we'd be able to get there in...say...825 years."

[3:32 PM]  Mr. Blue:

Hehe