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13.1K posts
@mechanical_4u Stuff should explode in fiction in absolutely outlandish ways like this-- the comically sudden failure of the nozzle, the final blast going in the exact opposite direction from where one would expect 😍
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Why does an engine "explode" if it doesn't receive fuel properly?🤔
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@AlanRMacLeod Real "why did they put their country so close to our military bases" vibe here
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@BamaSaltyMarine have you ever SEEN bat shit I mean it's just ... I mean I can't even
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Of all the poop in the worid, who decided that bat shit
was the craziest?
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Annie Hall dinner joke reference ftw
Adam Johnson@adamjohnsonCHI
NYT editorial board, while ostensibly opposing Trump's attack on Iran, registers only process complaints over "strategy" then says it "welcomes" regime change. The liberal opposition folks, Trump's a crazed war-monger and in such small portions! nytimes.com/2026/03/17/opi…
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@SUBMARINER1941 Shows like Columbo where the murder & murderer are revealed at the outset have been described as howcatchums
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@YatesAndrea @classic_film I wanted to see that anklet again, without that silly staircase in the way
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@classic_film Walter Neff had the bad luck of catching Phyllis Dietrichson at home in Double Indemnity
GIF
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It's Friday the 13th! 😨 Name a movie in which a character encounters bad luck.
In Psycho, Marion Crane was unlucky enough to pick the Bates Motel for what turned out to be a brief overnight stay.
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@classic_film Cary Grant had quite a run of bad luck in "North By Northwest," starting with mistaken identity at lunch! Then airplane, train and auction house problems.
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@OwenKeller950M3 @thecurioustales *every book that has been, will be, or could possibly be written
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@thecurioustales Somewhere in the digits of π is every sequence of information that’s ever been made.
Every picture, every video, every book, every song, and all the nearly-so bits as well. It’s all there.
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How many π digits do we need?
3.1415 ➨ design the finest engines
3.1415926535 ➨ obtain the circumference of the Earth within a fraction of an inch
3.141592653589793238462643383279502884 ➨ measure the radius of the universe to an accuracy equal to the size of a hydrogen atom
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>Dear Kid,
>Be advised that the repeated propulsion of a ball into my client's yard constitutes trespass to land under well-established principles of U.S. property law (see Restatement (Second) of Torts §158). Even an object entering another's property without permission may create liability for unlawful intrusion.
>Additionally, such conduct may qualify as a private nuisance interfering with my client's quiet enjoyment of property (Restatement (Second) of Torts §821D).
>You are hereby directed to immediately cease and desist from causing any ball or similar object to enter my client's property. Continued violations may result in confiscation of the ball and further action pursued through the appropriate guardians and authorities.
>Govern yourself accordingly.
>Sincerely,
>Real Post Folder, ESQ
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@Soaringeagle45 Then there's the one about the patient ordering breakfast but instead of coffee he wants brown dirty water, instead of eggs he wants chunks of pale yellow rubber, etc.-- when the nurse says "we can't serve you that!!" he replies "why not? That's what you gave me yesterday!!"
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A sweet old lady telephoned St. Joseph's Hospital.
She timidly asked, "Is it possible to speak to someone who can tell me how a patient is doing?"
The operator said, "I can, what's the name and room number?"
The old lady in her weak voice said, "Norma Findlay, Room 302."
The operator replied, "Let me place you on hold while I check with her nurse."
After a few minutes the operator returned to the phone and said, "Oh, I have good news, her nurse just told me that Norma is doing very well. Her blood pressure is fine; her blood work just came back as normal and her physician, Dr. Cohen, has scheduled her to be discharged on Tuesday."
The old lady said, "Thank you. That's wonderful! I was so worried! God bless you!"
The operator replied, "You're more than welcome. Is Norma your daughter?"
The old lady said, "No, I'm Norma Findlay in 302. No one tells me shit!!!”
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I guess it's deliberate but the fact that, unlike the "green text" originals, the only present-tense imperative statement is the first one (which makes it unnecessary) bugs me
Sayzryn@Sayzryn
@RealPostFolder Customer support repeating your exact words back to you like an NPC dialogue tree has to be the most infuriating experience on earth
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Le mot "nonchalant" est le participe présent de "nonchaloir": non+chaloir! Or "chaloir" signifie "s'inquiéter de" (il vient du latin "calere", être chaud). On le retrouve dans des tournures vieillies type "peu me chaut" (voilà, je l'ai appris récemment donc vous aussi maintenant)
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@parasociality SPOILER ALERT the light of the nova reached the Earth at the time of a certain manger birth, i.e. the Star of Bethlehem wiped out a whole civilization.
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One of my favorite short stories is Arthur Clarke's The Star.
Premise: Humans find the ruins of an alien civilization whose star went nova. They were advanced enough to know it was coming, but not to stop it or escape. Dedicated their last generations to building a Vault
Wylfċen@wylfcen
Imagine if a Mars-sized planet came for Earth again. We’d see it coming months in advance, but we’d be helpless to stop it - a slow-motion apocalypse, a crescendo of terror. A month before impact, it’s the brightest star in the sky. A week before, it looks as big as the moon. A day before, it looks 20 times larger. An hour before, it fills the sky, a wall of rock that blocks the sun. As it comes closer, things get lighter and then float in the air as the planet’s gravity struggles with Earth’s. Then fire everywhere, oceans of magma, two planets exploded, our blood and bones melting into the Earth. The last survivors are astronauts on the International Space Station. If you’re one of them, you see a blinding flash of light, then your ear drums shatter. You wait in the quiet dark for debris to rocket towards you and kill you, and it does, before you know it. That’s how your life ends: a story no one will hear, a whole universe in you. Everything vanishes, light and life together, as if it never were. Then slowly the Earth re-forms and cools. Ten million years later, it might have life again - but even if thinking beings emerge who puzzle out why there’s two moons in the sky, it’s doubtful they’ll learn anything about us.
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"The Safety Dance" is a 1983 hit by a Canadian new wave band, written after the lead singer was kicked out of a club for pogo dancing. It protests bouncers stopping people from dancing freely. Do you know who they are?
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@fw_naetoblaq You mailed a letter to a travel agency with your travel times, preferred airport etc, -- a week to 10 days later you received a response with times that didn't quite work, so you sent them a letter.... we had to plan trips MONTHS in advance, you have NO IDEA how lucky you are 🙄
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so--- what I'm hearing is a baseless claim that 50% of NYC Jews are so ill-informed and so easily manipulated that they can be tricked into voting for someone whose wife is [accused of being] the enemy of their people ¯\_(🤡)_/¯
Bipolar Cuban Redneck 🇺🇸@BiPolarCuban
Yeah, it's sad, but most folks don't care — they think it won't happen to them. There are 1 million Jewish people in New York, and if my information is correct, over half voted for Zohran! Can you believe that? He manipulated the elections with social media and socialist propaganda, but in the end, he and his wife are 7th-century supporters of the Ali terrorists' playbook. Not surprising, and it's happening in many cities and states across the US! Michigan, Texas, and even Florida are dealing with this craziness. I say wake up, but I think I'd rather see these folks go to sleep!
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@Math_files Not just all Shakespeare-- all books ever written, by all authors, and all books yet to be written, and never before written. This vast set of books is also encoded in the digits of pi and every other irrational #. It is larger than the # of elementary particles in the universe.
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The Infinite Monkey Theorem is a famous idea in probability.
It says that if a monkey randomly presses keys on a typewriter for an infinite amount of time, it will almost surely type any given text—like William Shakespeare’s complete works.
Of course, this doesn’t mean it would happen quickly. The time required would be unimaginably long.
The theorem simply shows that random events, given infinite time, can produce even very complex outcomes.
It’s a playful way to understand the strange power of infinity and probability.
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