The Weird, Random, and Interesting things that Fit Nowhere Else Thread

[Amentep]

I've seen references to the negative effect of smoking going back into the 30s in popular culture.  I'm not sure whether the continuing popularity of smoking was a really effective conspiracy or a really great marketing campaign.

[Gromnir]

I've seen references to the negative effect of smoking going back into the 30s in popular culture.  I'm not sure whether the continuing popularity of smoking was a really effective conspiracy or a really great marketing campaign.

am not talking o' the same thing.  anybody who inhales any kinda smoke will suspect that there is something harmful happening.  in spite o' movie star ads, we bet that many folks knew smoking were bad for endurance n' such.  even so, folks were successful kept in the dark for many decades that the tobacco industry were aware o' a link between smoking and disease of heart and lung as well as various cancers. 

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Amentep]

My memory, and I'll confess I can't remember the movie I was watching so there's no point continuing it further as I have no proof, is that there are some reference going back into the 30s about cigarette's being a cause for death not just part of an unhealthy lifestyle.  The first study was in the 1912s - I think - that linked cancer and cigarettes.  This is not to indicate the conspiracy to downplay or hide the dangers wasn't there and wasn't long, but I don't think its a case of everybody suddenly having an eye opening either, just most people.

[Gromnir]

again, is not that cigarettes were unhealthy, but that tobacco KNEW the truth.  sure, there were doctors complaining o' dangers o' cigarettes going back to prohibition era and before, but all the while, tobacco were showing studies that marginalized or refuted such findings and all the while, the tobacco industry were very much aware o' the dangers and the health ramifications o' prolonged cigarette usage.  again, the conspiracy is when you is active hiding knowledge.  is what tobacco knew and hid that were the conspiracy.

 

is any number o' similar situations.  dangers o' asbestos were argued for many years.  the reason why the us navy and various insulation producers got hit with enormous punitive damages is 'cause those folks weren't just aware o' the possibility o' asbestos hazards, but even after they genuine Knew with a high degree o' certainty that asbestos were crippling and killing folks, they went ahead with business as usual, and took steps to Hide their knowledge.

 

*shrug*

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Raithe]

Hey. We're English. We use tea as metaphors.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZwvrxVavnQ

[Raithe]

For the completely random...  And idle moments of creativity:

 

Draw your own Nebula

[Gfted1]

A Mysterious Sonic Boom Caused Tremors in New Jersey.

[Raithe]

MSN - Japan introduces negative interest rate to boost economy

 

 

...

The Bank of Japan on Friday introduced a negative interest policy for the first time, seeking to shore up a stumbling recovery in the world's third-largest economy.

 

The surprise move rattled stock market investors, with the Nikkei 225 index swinging between gains and losses after the announcement. By midafternoon it was up 2.6 percent. The Japanese yen slid, with the U.S. dollar rising to about 120.40 yen from about 118.50 earlier in the day.

 

The central bank said it is imposing a 0.1 percent fee on some new commercial bank deposits with the BOJ, effectively a negative interest rate. It hopes that will encourage commercial banks to lend more, rather than keeping cash at the BOJ, and stimulate investment and growth.

...

[JadedWolf]

'Japanese Schindler' Who Saved 6,000 Lives During World War II Finally Gets A Movie

 

Steven Spielberg's 1993 film "Schindler's List" told the story of German businessman Oskar Schindler, whose determination to stand up for what was right saved approximately 1,100 Jews from the Nazis. 

Twenty-three years later, another hero who saved lives during the Holocaust is being commemorated with a feature-length film. 

 

Chiune Sugihara was a Japanese diplomat who was stationed at a consulate in Kaunas, Lithuania during the early days of World War II. Between July 31 and August 28, 1940, Sugihara and his wife spent long nights writing and issuing more than 2,000 visas for Jewish refugees desperate to flee the Nazis and build new lives in Japan -- even though his actions defied the Japanese government's orders.

[Elerond]

Wayan Sumardana, the Indonesian welder that made bionic arm out of junk

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=ocgOnI5bx5Y

 

[Raithe]

Reddit - I set up my raspberry pi to automatically tweet...

 

 

I pay for 150mbps down and 10mbps up. The raspberry pi runs a series of speedtests every hour and stores the data. Whenever the downspeed is below 50mbps the Pi uses a twitter API to send an automatic tweet to Comcast listing the speeds.

 

I know some people might say I should not be complaining about 50mpbs down, but when they advertise 150 and I get 10-30 I am unsatisfied. I am aware that the Pi that I have is limited to ~100mbps on its Ethernet port (but seems to top out at 90) so when I get 90 I assume it is also higher and possibly up to 150.

 

Comcast has noticed and every time I tweet they will reply asking for my account number and address...usually hours after the speeds have returned to normal values. I have chosen not to provide them my account or address because I do not want to singled out as a customer; all their customers deserve the speeds they advertise, not just the ones who are able to call them out on their BS.

 

The Pi also runs a website server local to our network where with a graphing library I can see the speeds over different periods of time.

 

EDIT: A lot of folks have pointed out that the results are possibly skewed by our own network usage. We do not torrent in our house; we use the network to mainly stream TV services and play PC and Xbone live games. I set the speedtest and graph portion of this up (without the tweeting part) earlier last year when the service was so constatly bad that Netflix wouldn't go above 480p and I would have >500ms latencies in CSGO. I service was constantly below 10mbps down. I only added the Twitter portion of it recently and yes, admittedly the service has been better.

 

Plenty of the drops were during hours when we were not home or everyone was asleep, and I am able to download steam games or stream Netflix at 1080p and still have the speedtest registers its near its maximum of ~90mbps down, so when we gets speeds on the order of 10mpbs down and we are not heavily using the internet we know the problem is not on our end.

[JadedWolf]

During WW2, a Japanese-American outfit fought at the European front

 

 

It was a steep price for any combat team to pay, but the rescue was only one of the unit’s objectives: As a Japanese-American outfit, the 442nd’s men were also determined to prove they were as loyal to their country as any other soldiers in the U.S. Army. “We’re fighting two wars,” said 24-year-old Lieutenant Sakai Takahashi. “One for American democracy and one against the prejudice toward us in America.”

The 442nd saved the 211 remaining men of the Lost Battalion, who had held out on the hilltop for six days. The Japanese American combat team had done its job and now all who remained alive and unwounded—weary, exhausted, and pushed almost beyond humanity—needed a rest. General Dahlquist, however, had other ideas. When he received word that the mission had been accomplished, he ordered the 442nd to move on and take the next hill. The unit would remain in combat for nine more days. [...] When the 442nd Regimental Combat Team was finally relieved, it had lost more than half its strength. One company of 186 men that had begun the fight to rescue the Lost Battalion had 17 left. Another company of 185 was down to 8.

At two o’clock on the afternoon of November 12, Dahlquist ordered the 442nd to assemble for a ceremony to honor their accomplishments. When he saw how few men had massed in formation, he confronted the executive officer, Lieutenant Colonel Virgil Miller: “You disobeyed my orders. I told you to have the whole regiment.”

 

“General,” Miller replied, “this is the regiment. The rest are either dead or in the hospital.”

 

That night Dahlquist wrote to his wife, complaining that it was so cold during the ceremony that his “fingers had turned numb from pinning so many medals on the men.

 

[Raithe]

Okay, this one amused me some..

 

Tor - Back to the Future / Star Wars mashup

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Raithe]

MSN - Woman Walks into her own funeral to surprise of husband who paid to have her killed

 

 

 

Noela Rukundo sat in a car outside her home, watching as the last few mourners filed out. They were leaving a funeral — her funeral.

Finally, she spotted the man she’d been waiting for. She stepped out of her car, and her husband put his hands on his head in horror.

"Is it my eyes?" she recalled him saying. "Is it a ghost?"

"Surprise! I’m still alive!" she replied.

Far from being elated, the man looked terrified. Five days ago, he had ordered a team of hit men to kill Rukundo, his partner of 10 years. And they did — well, they told him they did. They even got him to pay an extra few thousand dollars for carrying out the crime.

 

Now here was his wife, standing before him. In an interview with the BBC Thursday, Rukundo recalled how he touched her shoulder to find it unnervingly solid. He jumped. Then he started screaming.

"I’m sorry for everything," he wailed.

But it was far too late for apologies; Rukundo called the police. The husband, Balenga Kalala, ultimately pleaded guilty and was sentenced to nine years in prison for incitement to murder, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (the ABC).

 

The happy ending — or, as happy as can be expected to a saga in which a man tries to have his wife killed — was made possible by three unusually principled hitmen, a helpful pastor and one incredibly gutsy woman: Rukundo herself.

Here is how she pulled it off.

 

Rukundo’s ordeal began almost exactly a year ago, when she flew from her home in Melbourne with her husband, Kalala, to attend a funeral in her native Burundi. Her stepmother had died and the service left her saddened and stressed. She retreated to her hotel room in Bujumbura, the capital, early in the evening; despondent after the events of the day, she lay down in bed. Then her husband called.

"He told me to go outside for fresh air," she told the BBC.

But the minute Rukundo stepped out of her hotel, a man charged forward, pointing a gun right at her.

"Don’t scream," she recalled him saying. "If you start screaming, I will shoot you. They’re going to catch me, but you? You will already be dead."

Rukundo, terrified, did as she was told. She was ushered into a car and blindfolded so she couldn’t see where she was being taken. After 30 or 40 minutes, the car came to a stop, and Rukundo was pushed into a building and tied to a chair.

She could hear male voices, she told the ABC. One asked her, "You woman, what did you do for this man to pay us to kill you?"

"What are you talking about?" Rukundo demanded.

"Balenga sent us to kill you."

They were lying. She told them so. And they laughed.

"You’re a fool," they told her.

There was the sound of a dial tone, and a male voice coming through a speakerphone. It was her husband’s voice.

"Kill her," he said.

And Rukundo fainted.

 

Rukundo had met her husband 11 years earlier, right after she arrived in Australia from Burundi, according to the BBC. He was a recent refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and they had the same social worker at the resettlement agency that helped them get on their feet. Since Kalala already knew English, their social worker often recruited him to translate for Rukundo, who spoke Swahili.

 

They fell in love, moved in together in the Melbourne suburb of Kings Park, and had three children (Rukundo also had five kids from a previous relationship). She learned more about her husband’s past — he had fled a rebel army that had ransacked his village, killing his wife and young son. She also learned more about his character.

"I knew he was a violent man," Rukundo told the BBC. "But I didn’t believe he can kill me."

But, it appeared, he could.

Rukundo came to in the strange building somewhere near Bujumbura. The kidnappers were still there, she told the ABC.

They weren’t going to kill her, the men then explained — they didn’t believe in killing women, and they knew her brother. But they would keep her husband’s money and tell him that she was dead.

 

After two days, they set her free on the side of a road, but not before giving her a mobile phone, recordings of their phone conversations with Kalala, and receipts for the $7,000 in Australian dollars they allegedly received in payment, according to Australia’s The Age.

"We just want you to go back, to tell other stupid women like you what happened," Rukundo said she was told before the gang members drove away.

Shaken, but alive and doggedly determined, Rukundo began plotting her next move. She sought help from the Kenyan and Belgian embassies to return to Australia, according to The Age. Then she called the pastor of her church in Melbourne, she told the BBC, and explained to him what had happened.

Without alerting Kalala, the pastor helped her get back home to her neighborhood near Melbourne.

 

Meanwhile, her husband had told everyone she had died in a tragic accident and the entire community mourned her at her funeral at the family home.

On the night of Feb. 22, 2015, just as the widower Kalala waved goodbye to neighbors who had come to comfort him, Rukundo approached him, the very man whose voice she’d heard over the phone five days earlier, ordering that she be killed.

"I felt like somebody who had risen again," she told the BBC.

Though Kalala initially denied all involvement, Rukundo got him to confess to the crime during a phone conversation that was secretly recorded by police, according to The Age.

 

"Sometimes Devil can come into someone, to do something, but after they do it they start thinking, ‘Why I did that thing?’ later," he said, as he begged her to forgive him.

Kalala eventually pleaded guilty to the scheme. He was sentenced to nine years in prison by a judge in Melbourne.

"Had Ms Rukundo’s kidnappers completed the job, eight children would have lost their mother," Chief Justice Marilyn Warren said, according to the ABC.

"It was premeditated and motivated by unfounded jealousy, anger and a desire to punish Ms. Rukundo."

Rukundo said that Kalala tried to kill her because he thought she was going to leave him for another man — an accusation she denies.

But her trials are not yet over. Rukundo told the ABC she’s gotten backlash from Melbourne’s Congolese community for reporting Kalala to the police.

Someone left threatening messages for her, and she returned home one day to find her back door broken.

 

She now has eight children to raise alone, and has asked the Department of Human Services to help her find a new place to live.

And lying in bed at night, Kalala’s voice still comes to her: "Kill her, kill her," she told the BBC. "Every night, I see what was happening in those two days with the kidnappers."

Despite all that, "I will stand up like a strong woman," she said. "My situation, my past life? That is gone. I’m starting a new life now."

[Raithe]

I saw this and thought it deserved to be shared around:

 

 

"Gomez and Morticia Addams actually have a very loving and extremely healthy relationship, both in the old TV show and in the more recent movies. They were also one of the first television couples to be shown to have an active (albeit offscreen) sex life. Their frank attitude towards sexuality was shocking in its’ time, but their relationship and their family dynamic is actually more functional and more…dare I say it…sane than most families portrayed on TV.

 

The comedy in the show came from the family’s “odd” lifestyle, rather than from infighting and petty bickering, or worse, as was common on other shows of the time, thinly veiled references to spousal abuse. They didn’t make fun of each other or act like their children were creatures from another world. Were they strange and outside of social norms? Yes. Were they united in creating a loving home and being good, supportive parents? Absolutely.

 

These two support and adore their children, care for an aging mother and an estranged brother, put family before everything, and they love each other, wholly, fiercely, without reserve. They are every bit as much in love after at least a decade of marriage as they were the day they met.

 

This is the family we should all strive to be.

Edited February 8, 2016 by Raithe

[Gromnir]

 

I saw this and thought it deserved to be shared around:

 

 

"Gomez and Morticia Addams actually have a very loving and extremely healthy relationship, both in the old TV show and in the more recent movies. They were also one of the first television couples to be shown to have an active (albeit offscreen) sex life. Their frank attitude towards sexuality was shocking in its’ time, but their relationship and their family dynamic is actually more functional and more…dare I say it…sane than most families portrayed on TV.

 

The comedy in the show came from the family’s “odd” lifestyle, rather than from infighting and petty bickering, or worse, as was common on other shows of the time, thinly veiled references to spousal abuse. They didn’t make fun of each other or act like their children were creatures from another world. Were they strange and outside of social norms? Yes. Were they united in creating a loving home and being good, supportive parents? Absolutely.

 

These two support and adore their children, care for an aging mother and an estranged brother, put family before everything, and they love each other, wholly, fiercely, without reserve. They are every bit as much in love after at least a decade of marriage as they were the day they met.

 

This is the family we should all strive to be.

 

in a non-fantastic show, such elements would remove folks too far from the realm o' the plausible.  unbelievable were hardly a damning criticism o' the adams family.  am thinking it is obvious why removing family drama from any tv drama would be crippling, though am understanding the seeming irony.  

 

that being said, we has suggested more than once that if all children in the world were raised by loving and supportive parents, all o' humanity's social problems would disappear in a generation.  more than anything else, the world needs more o' gomez and morticia.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Raithe]

Well, it doesn't quite fit in the funny things thread...

 

[Raithe]

io9 - A producer is tweeting descriptions of women from movie scripts

 

 

Ross Putnam is a film producer with a few credits under his belt, and now he’s started a Twitter feed where he just tweets the initial descriptions of female main characters in the movie scripts he’s reading. It’s endlessly fascinating, and kind of garbage.

 

According to Putnam’s Twitter bio, “These are intros for female leads in actual scripts I read.” The only change he makes is that he changes all the names to Jane. Taken one at a time, these descriptions are kind of funny, like descriptions from old 1940s pulp novels.

 

But when you read 20 of these in a row, it starts to feel kind of creepy and weird. Especially when you take in the part about “female leads.” In other words, these are the main characters (or female main characters, at least) in movies that people are trying to get made, and the writer of that movie only thinks of these characters in terms like “leggy” or “sexy.” Urk.

Edited February 10, 2016 by Raithe

[Leferd]

 

io9 - A producer is tweeting descriptions of women from movie scripts

 

 

Ross Putnam is a film producer with a few credits under his belt, and now he’s started a Twitter feed where he just tweets the initial descriptions of female main characters in the movie scripts he’s reading. It’s endlessly fascinating, and kind of garbage.

 

According to Putnam’s Twitter bio, “These are intros for female leads in actual scripts I read.” The only change he makes is that he changes all the names to Jane. Taken one at a time, these descriptions are kind of funny, like descriptions from old 1940s pulp novels.

 

But when you read 20 of these in a row, it starts to feel kind of creepy and weird. Especially when you take in the part about “female leads.” In other words, these are the main characters (or female main characters, at least) in movies that people are trying to get made, and the writer of that movie only thinks of these characters in terms like “leggy” or “sexy.” Urk.

Jane's pretty hot.

[Volourn]

Oh please. I am not surpised he doesn't include examples of male leads who ar eprobably described as physically attractive or whatever a lot of time too (not counting Jack Black joints ). EPIC FAIL. Just another sexist piece of crap who sees women as weak, pathetic, and frail.

 

For starters, I seriously doubt ANY leading man would be described to be as ugly and boring me. That wouldn't sell. R00fles!

Edited February 10, 2016 by Volourn

[Amentep]

Oh please. I am not surpised he doesn't include examples of male leads who ar eprobably described as physically attractive or whatever a lot of time too (not counting Jack Black joints ). EPIC FAIL. Just another sexist piece of crap who sees women as weak, pathetic, and frail.

 

For starters, I seriously doubt ANY leading man would be described to be as ugly and boring me. That wouldn't sell. R00fles!

 

Well you could make an argument that the script would tell you if the person is physically attractive or not and ultimately the writer isn't the casting agent, so being overly descriptive of physical attributes is pointless.

[ShadySands]

 

Is it sad that my first thought was that the Sonoran desert has two rainy seasons?

[Hurlshort]

whip smart, elegant, and ambitious is hardly sexist.  The only one that is sad is "model pretty but life has taken its toll" but it's probably not a comedy.   

[Volourn]

"Well you could make an argument that the script would tell you if the person is physically attractive or not and ultimately the writer isn't the casting agent, so being overly descriptive of physical attributes is pointless."

 

Depends on how much power/infleunce the writer has on the movie. Physical attributes do matter in both  fiction and reality.

[Amentep]

whip smart, elegant, and ambitious is hardly sexist.  The only one that is sad is "model pretty but life has taken its toll" but it's probably not a comedy.  

 

I think the "elegant" would be the objection (if there is one) as it could be an unnecessary physical description (potentially).  If the script needs the character to be elegant, it could be shown in the script in other ways.  But its certainly a mild introduction.

 

"Well you could make an argument that the script would tell you if the person is physically attractive or not and ultimately the writer isn't the casting agent, so being overly descriptive of physical attributes is pointless."

 

Depends on how much power/infleunce the writer has on the movie. Physical attributes do matter in both  fiction and reality.

 

Sure if the writer is the director is the producer you could argue that he'd have control over casting.  But you could also argue that if you have control over the casting, you already know who you want so what's the point of describing them instead of just asking for a particular actor or actress?

 

I should also say that one of the biggest flaws of this is it presents these characters without context so its hard to understand whether if there is a contextual reason for the physical description. For example sexy woman introduced in the shower, if its a sex comedy it may be important to establish that context when the character is introduced to the reader (ie the producer).  But again if you need the woman to be attractive within the narrative context, you can establish that through the script without hamstringing the production by being overly physically descriptive.

 

EDIT: Typed "acting" for "asking"

Edited February 11, 2016 by Amentep