Wednesday Night Open Thread


I’ve been playing around with a new streaming device. I got an Android TV device, the Mi Box.

I wrote about it over at my little blog.

If you want to read about it, here’s the link. If not, here’s the bottom line: It’s a good little device, but the limited number of apps means it won’t be my top choice.

But what about you? What’s on your mind? Got something you’d like to share? It’s Wednesday Night Open Thread.

Who wants to start?

Icebreaker: If Aliens Landed on Earth Tomorrow and Offered to Take You Home With Them, Would You Go?

Previously: “The 25 most popular icebreaker questions based on four years of data

76 Fun Icebreaker Questions

Currently: The Only List of Icebreaker Questions You’ll Ever Need (Not all of which will be used, since some are either/or questions, which are boring.)

Your mission: answer the question in the comments with a good story.

If you don’t have a good story, you are encouraged to make one up.

If aliens landed on earth tomorrow and offered to take you home with them, would you go?

Heavens, no.

Because I – like Roddy McDowall – know that “People Are Alike All Over“.

Random Thoughts: Kidnapping Kids and Fathers

The snowspeeder is the best vehicle from Star Wars. #DontAtAtMe

I don’t get Charlie Kirk. He’s like a left-winger wished upon a star that the straw man he was arguing with would become a real boy.

Part of what makes the Resistance so silly is they treat Trump like he’s Hitler when, as villains go, he’s more like Team Rocket.

Just for the heck of it, I decided to check out the Spotify top 50 for the heck of it to get with today’s youths. Meh. It wasn’t like it was bad, it just all sounded kind of the same to me.
It’s funny the two that stood out — both as “this is kind of irritating, I think I’ll skip” and “that’s kind of good” — were both Kanye West.

One other change from listening to more modern music instead of ads for erectile dysfunction medication I got ads for herpes medication.

I’m guessing a lot of political hate is projection. If you thought someone was so hateful they’d celebrate someone they disagreed with dying of cancer, then maybe you’d feel justified celebrating that person dying of cancer.

I can’t follow politics anymore. It’s gotten too weird and dumb, like the second half of the second season of Twin Peaks.

I just can’t tell what’s a real outrage and what’s partisan nonsense anymore. Like, is the separating children from their parents thing as bad as the tax cut, because I saw grown men weep over the death of our nation because of the latter.

One good thing about Trump’s America is I feel much less of a need to even feign interest in soccer.

I’ve always thought of soccer like Pong. I can understand people lining up to play Pong when it was the only video game, but I don’t get people playing it now when there are much better options.
And the clock counts up. Have you not seen how all other sports have the clock count down and that is much much better? So primitive.

Marriage as it stands in law is kind of taken from the Bible… just a weirdly mutated version. It started out following the Christian concept, then there were changes to divorce and the genders involved, but the Christian prohibition of polygamy has been kept for some reason.
Interestingly, a lot of the same statements by Jesus Christians use to oppose gay marriage are also the basis for opposing polygamy, but I don’t see Christians get in trouble for opposing the latter as it remains a popular religious view.

Government can’t ever be fully secular as law will always be based on some principles which inevitably will be somewhat religious in nature. E.g. central to American law is equality, which makes no sense unless you believe in something similar to the Christian concept of a soul.
That said, we should strive for a secular government and leave religious debate to the private sector, but at the same time there are going to be at least some religious principles baked into the very nature of law.

Got Fortnite for the Switch since it’s free, but I don’t really get that game. The kids seem to like it, though.
I kind of liked PBGU when I played that a little bit on the iOS version. Takes a lot of patience, though.

Oh no. Elon Musk is making fun of socialists. Who is he going to make fun of next? Racists?

Since America landed on the moon first it owns the moon and since then every country has had to pay us a million dollars for using the tides.

I’m getting kind of tired of hearing women talk about masculinity because what do they know about that? I’m also tired of hearing men talk about it as it’s just a weird thing to talk about. Just be a good dad who protects his family and puts them above himself.

So do you want open borders or kidnapping children? As apparently those are the only two choices now.

I think a lot of people look at fathers as this sort of optional parent, though it’s kind of like eyeballs are optional but kids are at a big disadvantage without them.

I don’t get yelling “God is great!” and randomly attacking people. Seems more like something you should yell when handing out free candy.

This is just like Nazi Germany when people were trying to sneak kids into Nazi Germany but Hitler was all like, “Stay outta here!” and then bragged about how he was smart and a billionaire.
To be honest, I don’t read any history books that don’t deal with the making of Star Wars.

I’m one of those horrible globalists who likes immigration. In my perfect world, everyone who wants to be an American would get to be one. I just want some basic controls to make sure no bad people are getting in like pedophiles or socialists.

This world is too crazy. I’m running away and joining Space Force.

My dog is so old I feel like I’m disrespecting my elders when I correct her.

I watched Thor: Ragnarok with my kids and my 5yo cried when the hammer was destroyed.
“Will it ever come back, daddy?”
He’s just a sensitive little boy who wants to see bad guys smashed with a hammer.

Funny to see how many people hate Laura Bush. That’s like hate splash damage.

So when you put your toddler in a box with bars, it’s a “play pen,” but when the government does it and the bars are metal and its sealed and locked on all sides and suspended from the ceiling by a chain, suddenly it’s a “cage.”

Comparing absolutely everything to the Nazis is the exact sort of thing a Nazi would do.