In other news... (humorous news items)

[pogrmman]

I got 10/10 on the geography, but admittedly, I’ve spent enough time looking at maps that I could probably correctly place most countries on a world map (with the possible exceptions of East Africa and Central Asia).


Re: meatballs
It’s hilarious that there is “no apparent reason” for the announcement. Admittedly, lots of foods that were adopted by one culture have been changed pretty significantly into something else. While I don’t know what Turkish meatballs are like, I’m sure the sweedes have done something special and unique to them.

[Grop]

Humorous news: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-44005284

(I got 9/10, rather proudly, only failing with the baltic states question where I dithered the wrong way between the right answer and the one I chose.)

The one about Bielorussia? I wouldn't call that a baltic state.

[Soupspoon]

Humorous news: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-44005284

(I got 9/10, rather proudly, only failing with the baltic states question where I dithered the wrong way between the right answer and the one I chose.)

The one about Bielorussia? I wouldn't call that a baltic state.

That's how bad I was with that question!

(Real answer: I couldn't think of a better collective term, at that point I was writing. "Eastern European" seemed much too broad, "Warsaw Pact countries" seemed too old, and broad, and quite possibly still a little bit wrong.)


Would you believe I took ages trying to work out which country was missing from the mediteranean, too? I could have kicked myself. With just the one boot!

[Grop]

To be fair, the mediteranean without Italy doesn't look that bad, when compared to Europe without Germany, North America without Canada, or South Korea without North Korea.

[Liri]

I laughed when I noticed Italy. I was looking for Crete being missing before I realized.

[Soupspoon]

or South Korea without North Korea.

I think that one was just taken from a US Military contingency document, projecting various future scenarios and end-games.

[Coyne]

Humorous news: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-44005284

(I got 9/10, rather proudly, only failing with the baltic states question where I dithered the wrong way between the right answer and the one I chose.)

I got the same result for the same reason.

Proved I was a typical American I guess. 8 of 10. I probably blew the same one you guys did, but I added another failure by blowing the Middle East question.

[heuristically_alone]

'My whole life has been a lie': Sweden admits meatballs are Turkish

“Those famous Swedish meatballs you get in Ikea are actually Turkish, admits Swedish government,”

I was wondering who had the power to make such a statement. I suppose the government as a whole.

[rabidmuskrat]

I got 7 out of 10.

[gmalivuk]

↶

Went to fact check this and couldn't find evidence of it actually being true. Still great though.

Mythbusters disproved this.

Mythbusters is to science what CSI:Miami is to forensic entomology.

Perhaps, but you don't need to do a whole lot of science to determine that urine isn't going to stay together long enough to fall to earth. Anyone who's peed outside on a windy day could have told you that from experience.

10/10 on the goegraphy. I was able to correctly identify the other two in the Baltic question, then clicked the right answer, saw the red outline and went: "Oh, THAT's where the empty space was? I didn't notice that." I got gorilla-danced, didn't I?

Yeah, greyscale maps on a white background made it hard to figure out where the space was in a few of them, but identifying the other ones worked. (I was trying to remember whether I had the right small smudge as Jamaica and then I noticed the much more distinctive lack of Cuba.)

[Dauric]

↶

Went to fact check this and couldn't find evidence of it actually being true. Still great though.

Mythbusters disproved this.

Mythbusters is to science what CSI:Miami is to forensic entomology.

Perhaps, but you don't need to do a whole lot of science to determine that urine isn't going to stay together long enough to fall to earth. Anyone who's peed outside on a windy day could have told you that from experience.

Not to mention that the myth where the Mythbusters explored the concept of the "blue ice bomb" they did a practical experiment of a leaking tank in a wind tunnel at jet airliner speeds and temperatures, and the chunk of ice they got had no resemblance whatsoever to the "Spear of Piss" from the satire sketch.

Mythbusters might not be the most thorough with their experimentation or the most accurate with their science, but over their history they've done quite a lot of practical experimentation that is still useful to examine.

[Sableagle]

Perhaps, but you don't need to do a whole lot of science to determine that urine isn't going to stay together long enough to fall to earth. Anyone who's peed outside on a windy day could have told you that from experience.

My knowledge of airflow dynamics is insufficient to fully explain why it is that, no matter how I stand, at least one of my legs is downwind of where I piss.

Best technique: stand diagonally upwind of a tree, fencepost or lamppost, face it, reach out, lean against it, move your feet back and then pee downwards and away from your feet.

That or go inside and use an actual toilet.

Don't choose an electric fence.

[Yablo]

While I don’t know what Turkish meatballs are like, I’m sure the sweedes have done something special and unique to them.

I'd say selling them in a furniture store counts as innovation.

Don't choose an electric fence.

With the popularity of all the ill-advised <Insert Word or Phrase Here> Challenges, this will be a thing soon.

[CorruptUser]

I think it was done to remind everyone that less than 100% of Swedish culture is produce by "pureblood" Swedes. Because tensions are running pretty high in Sweden right now due to immigration.

Stupid question. Is this a propaganda campaign? It is information that is 1) intended to alter public opinion, but it's also 2) (ostensibly) true and 3) done with good intentions. I mean, technically speaking, is everything that is meant to alter public opinion "propaganda"?

[jewish_scientist]

Went to fact check this and couldn't find evidence of it actually being true. Still great though.

Mythbusters disproved this.

Mythbusters is to science what CSI:Miami is to forensic entomology.

It is your ad hominem verses 2 experiments done in a NASA facility and 1 done by skydiving. I know who I am putting my money on.

[Sableagle]

The cameraman is 6 years old and can't go 10 minutes without doing an inward-facing 360° circle around the subject, the presenters are special effects guys whose job is and always has been to polish turds, the scientific method gets no respect at all, they prefer shooting stuff out of air cannons to making precision machinery and taking accurate measurements, the overall effect is not to get kids interested in science and encourage them to question and test assertions but instead to encourage kids to accept anything that's presented with a big enough special effects budget as being hard science AND THEY LIE TO THEIR AUDIENCE.

If you want an example you can see for yourself without too much thinking and prodding, check out the milk carton silencer in a gas-filled room.

"There is no gap between the muzzle and the carton," they say, while the gap between them is visible on-screen.

"No flash can be seen," they say, while the flash is visible on-screen.

THEY LIE.

I don't have "scientist" in my username, so I could be wrong, but last I heard, accurate reporting of experiments and their results was kind of important to science.

They jumped out of a plane? Whooooooo-bloody-hoo.

[CorruptUser]

Mythbusters isnt better or even equal to a university research project, but its better than your buddy Greg. In the absence of a methodical scientific study, mythbusters is good enough.

[ConMan]

You know, I read a comic defending Mythbusters once, but it was from xkcd, so I doubt anyone here has heard of it.

[pkcommando]

Is that the comic with the red button bonus comic at the bottom?

[CorruptUser]

I think you are confusing it with the comic about the discount space security contractors names after the ultra-violent blob that looks like poop. Or maybe the comic about the wizard-scientists that is obviously propaganda written after the fact by the evil dictator with the mind control bugs and the german beast-men and talking cat to try and explain how she is just an innocent yet intelligent girl that by accident ended up in control of Europe. Or maybe the comic about the space-future bureacrat that runs a rehabilitation agency for overly-macho videogame and movie characters. Or maybe the comic about the horrors of life in sexy medieval fantasy settings. Or maybe that comic about the fire-demon girl coming of age in a British school for talented children and her best friend the bisexual robo-messiah. Or the comic about how Scandinavian countries interact with the rest of the world. Or the comic about the kids being devoured by bears. Or the comic about the autistic cyborg girl. Or the comic about the fat guy from Ohio who is stuck in a coma for a decade and is hallucinating about living in a tabletop wargame. Or the comic that used to host it, the stick figure comic about the D&D characters with the worst builds who have to fight a squiggle.

[elasto]

Woman gets tattoo of son's name, tattoo has a typo so she changes her child's name to match the tattoo

Guess it's pragmatic!

[Yablo]

Guess it's pragmatic!

Definitely, and I guess Kelvin isn't such a bad name to have. I mean, it could have been Melvin or Kefin (no offense to any Melvins or Kefins here). It reminds me of how Oprah's name was Orpah, but no one pronounced it correctly.

[Mutex]

Woman gets tattoo of son's name, tattoo has a typo so she changes her child's name to match the tattoo

Guess it's pragmatic!

She called him Kelvin? I see absolutely zero problems with that.

[Soupspoon]

When I saw that, earlier, I thought that maybe the kid needs to get a "Mun" heart-and-scroll tattoo when he gets older, or whatever the Swedish equivalent would be.

[Yablo]

Woman gets tattoo of son's name, tattoo has a typo so she changes her child's name to match the tattoo

Guess it's pragmatic!

She called him Kelvin? I see absolutely zero problems with that.

Yeah, no objection to the name at all, though I do think changing a kid's name when he's 5 is a bit rough. My son will be 3 in a few weeks, and there's already no way he'd go for a name change.

[Mutex]

Woman gets tattoo of son's name, tattoo has a typo so she changes her child's name to match the tattoo

Guess it's pragmatic!

She called him Kelvin? I see absolutely zero problems with that.

Yeah, no objection to the name at all, though I do think changing a kid's name when he's 5 is a bit rough. My son will be 3 in a few weeks, and there's already no way he'd go for a name change.

TBH I was just making a pun.


The Kelvin temperature scale starts at "absolute zero".

[SuicideJunkie]

I think you are confusing it with the comic about ... ... ... .

Hmm.
I scored 50% on that test without looking anything up. I'm curious as to where I fit on the curve.

[Zamfir]

When I saw that, earlier, I thought that maybe the kid needs to get a "Mun" heart-and-scroll tattoo when he gets older, or whatever the Swedish equivalent would be.

That's the true KSP spirit. Now, if he also changes his name to Kerbin.

[Yablo]

Yeah, no objection to the name at all, though I do think changing a kid's name when he's 5 is a bit rough. My son will be 3 in a few weeks, and there's already no way he'd go for a name change.

TBH I was just making a pun.

Yeah. I caught it after I posted. I've put a lot of effort into training myself not to recognize puns, but it rarely works.

[Sableagle]

When I saw that, earlier, I thought that maybe the kid needs to get a "Mun" heart-and-scroll tattoo when he gets older, or whatever the Swedish equivalent would be.

That's the true KSP spirit. Now, if he also changes his name to Kerbin.

Kerbus, Kerbam, Kerbin, Kerbae, Kerbata, Kerber, adjective Kerbal, adverb Kerbally.
He should train as an astronaut.

[Coyne]

Change-of-address scam moved UPS corporate headquarters to tiny Rogers Park apartment, feds say

Federal court papers unsealed last week revealed an astonishing but ultimately bungled scheme to file a change-of-address form claiming that shipping giant United Parcel Service had moved its headquarters from a bustling business park in Atlanta to a tiny garden apartment.

Not only did the change go through, but it also took months for anyone to catch on.

Really? Three months? No one noticed the mail wasn't coming to UPS headquarters for three months? That's really minding the store, folks.

[addams]

OK.
You win.

That's funny.
It takes Trumpian Balls to set up a Company and cash UPS Checks.

Poor Guy.
He forgot about the, It's not What but Who you know."
He forgot to have friends in High Places.

Three months??
That, Dear Posters, is a lot of Mail.

[Yablo]

Proud mom left humiliated after Publix censors her son's 'Summa Cum Laude' graduation cake for profanity.

My mother had no idea what that was! I think me having to explain it to her was the worst part!!

I would have just told her the --- was Morse Code.

... and also ...

Power outage and zombie alert for residents of Lake Worth and Terminus.

There are now far less than seven thousand three hundred and eighty customers involved due to extreme zombie activity. Restoration time uncertain.

I find it interesting that the danger threshold for zombie activity in the Lake Worth, FL area is 7,380. I also find it a little ironic that a town called Terminus is worried about a zombie apocalypse.

[Soupspoon]

Sweden prepares for war, or other disaster. Zombies not explicitly mentioned, but maybe salmon balls are an alternative to headshots?

[Coyne]

...town called Terminus is worried about a zombie apocalypse.

I'm all disappointed now. I was thinking planet Terminus and zombies, you know, Foundation series.

[addams]

Sweden prepares for war, or other disaster. Zombies not explicitly mentioned, but maybe salmon balls are an alternative to headshots?

ummm....I think you may have posted in the Wrong Thread.
That shit's not funny.

That is as Dark and Chilling as a Northern Winter Night.
I kept following links, Sweden spots Fake News; Sweden has Fake Documents submitted; Sweden find Russian Sub in her water.

(crap!)Europe does Not want War!
She knows well, that is a Losers Game.

[Soupspoon]

Sweden prepares for war, or other disaster. Zombies not explicitly mentioned, but maybe salmon balls are an alternative to headshots?

ummm....I think you may have posted in the Wrong Thread.
That shit's not funny.

More linked by theme than by common levity, I'll grant you.

Never mind. Here's a funny one!

edit: No wait this backtracking retraction of stated intent is hilarious!

[Zohar]

Israel won Eurovision and it is shaping up to be a political nightmare, of course. The Eurovision board or whatever hasn't announced the exact location of the competition yet (Jerusalem vs. Tel Aviv is a big deal) because, well, there's an actual process for this. In the meantime the ministry of culture and the ministry of communication are trying to call all the shots.

The Israeli ministry of culture responded to this in such a ridiculously disrespectful manner that I wish I could do justice to it in translation. I'll do my best:

"All of this is bullshit. Everyone knows we'll lead an international event at the highest level and according to the European Broadcasting Union's demands. The <Israeli broadcasting union> needs to stop trying to screw us over. The two ministries will create a leadership team as agreed upon with the prime minister and accepted by the two ministers"

The original article is in Hebrew, here.

[CorruptUser]

But it was held in Jerusalem in prior years...

[Grop]

This is the funniest part about Eurovision: no country wants to host it. Hence all the trolls not really trying to win.