Overnight Open Thread (6-17-2015)

Regional Gothic

What is it? Well here is Know Your Meme's description:

Regional Gothic is a Tumblr-based literary genre which applies facets of the traditional Southern Gothic genre to other distinct geographical regions. Posts in the genre often are written in the second person, in the format of a bulleted list that details several dark, depressing, moody or creepy aspects of the regional lifestyle.

And here Moe Lane introduces the concept and offers some Jersey Shore Regional Gothic:

• Your friend from college staggers out of the bar with you at 2 AM. The smell of salt and baked asphalt flow over you both as you try to figure out which way to stagger back to her parents' house.  In the yellow-light alleyway you see four people standing around something on the ground.  Your friend interrupts your staring. "Don't worry," she says. "You're fine as long as you're with me."
• The drawbridge is up. One of the tourists tells her friend that it's so the boats can go out. Her friend looks at the pier, where all the boats are still tied up; and then she looks down at the channel and points at the darker blotch there.  Time to start walking away, before you have to pretend that you didn't hear the splashes.
• Did you know that most of the houses on this block don't have heating? That's because they're vacation homes for tourists. No, they don't have running water, either.  I told you: vacation homes.

Yes there's Minnesota Gothic:

• it is snowing. it has always been snowing.
• a small colony of sheds has popped up overnight on the ice-covered lake. "what are they doing out there?" you ask your mother. "waiting," she says. beneath the ice, fish glide half-frozen through a maze of glinting hooks.
• you are in the twin cities. everyone around you insists they are different, they are unmistakably different - they can always be told apart. on the bus, watching the buildings roll by, you are certain you know what city you are in. when you get off the bus, it is not the same city.

And Southern California Gothic:

• It is summer. The sun is shining. It is winter. The sun is shining. You aren't certain, upon reflection, when the last time was that the sun was not shining.
• The palm trees aren't from here. The jacarandas aren't from here. The people aren't from here. Nothing really lives here. Nothing really stays.
• There's another earthquake on another day, shaking the office and sending supplies tumbling, and when you ask your coworkers about it they stare at you blankly. "What earthquake?" they ask, and you realize they can't feel them anymore.

And even some Canadian Gothic:

• You have never seen the Tim Hortons' employees outside their restaurant. You didn't apply for a job there when you turned sixteen, but they called you all the same. Twice.
• There's that boy you went to school with, Samuel, he was once so rude that they - you do not know any boy named Samuel.

A Logic Puzzle For You

Yes it's solvable. Hint: The fact that three clues are needed tells you that with two clues the possibilities are still ambiguous.

Two former college roommates, both logicians, meet at a conference after many years without contact. While catching up, the two eventually get around to discussing their children. The first logician asks the second how many children he has, and what their ages are. The second replies that he has 3 children, but (ever the logician) he will only reveal clues about their ages. The first logician must deduce for himself the ages of the second's children.

"First," says the logician, "the product of my children's ages is 36."

"Second, the sum of their ages is the same as our apartment number in college."

"Third, my oldest child has red hair."

Upon hearing the third clue, the first logician replies at once with the ages of his friend's children. What are they? How do you know?

Breaking: The US Government is Replacing Alexander Hamilton With a Woman on the $10 Bill

The Treasury Department is preparing to announce that they are putting a woman on the $10 bill, as a source has confirmed what appears to be a premature tweet.

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew will announce Thursday that the Bureau of Engraving and Printing will put a woman on the bill as soon as 2020.

Well there had been talk of putting a woman on the $20 for a few months now. Now I respect a lot of things about Andrew Jackson but honestly among all the figures on currency currently he would also be my first choice to be retired. But then the list of women proposed to appear on the $20 (now $10) bill has been rather....lame. Of the bunch Harriet Tubman is the most worthy - far more than Eleanor Roosevelt.

Why Do Feminists Cook Up Stories About 'Misogyny' When They Lose Debates?

And from the comments an answer:

Why Do Feminists Cook Up Stories About Misogyny When They Lose Debates?

Because feminism, in its current incarnation, rests massively on a presumption of male chivalry.

A strong, independent, woman doesn't need to be "paid as much as a man". If she's unhappy with her pay, she'll go out and find another employer who'll pay her what she's worth.

A strong, independent, woman doesn't care what some idiot on the internet says about her. She knows her own worth as a human being and can judge the world and what people say accordingly.

A strong, independent, woman doesn't need to have her sexuality mired in victimhood. She owns her sexuality and, if she makes mistakes, owns those as well.

Modern feminism, in contrast, relies almost entirely on the notion of women as children, without intellectual or moral agency. If something makes them unhappy, Daddy (or his surrogate) has got to come and make a woman's boo-boos all better.

RIP Iowa Straw Poll

It's only real purpose was to fill the coffers of the Iowa Republican Party and give the press something to talk about.

Frisky: Elizabeth Warren Gets Mansplained By JP Morgan CEO

Or as I would title it: Man Who Actually Knows Something About Banking Questions the Depth of Knowledge of a Faux Indian Academic Senator Who's Never Worked in the Private Sector.

You may also know it as rape-questioning.

The Die Hard Easter Egg in Jeb Bush's Web Site Code

Predator: Dark Ages

This is a 27 minute fan-made film about a predator visit to Earth during the Crusades. And it's good. In fact it's better than a lot of the dreck that Hollywood puts out. Flesh it out to 100 minutes, put some money into more effects, a recognizable star and you'll have yourself a bankable movie. Instead we'll probably just get remakes of Encino Man and Quicksilver.

Which leads to the question: How Many Of The Highest-Grossing Movies Made Since 1990 Are Truly Original i.e. Aren't Sequels, Remakes, or Adaptions of Popular Books?

Answer: Fewer and fewer every decade.

Of the 100 highest grossers in the 1990s, 42 are Original; for the 2000s, 27; midway through the 2010s, six. Really, the only original, super-successful movies being made now are animated, and even they're dipping into sequels.

How Cornelius Vanderbilt Got Rich

He may have been a baron but he was no robber. His main business weapons were working hard and giving people better service at a cheaper price. During the civil war he donated his best steam ship to the US military and then later tried to heal the wounds of the war by posting Jefferson Davis' $100,000 bond and founding Vanderbilt University in Nashville.

20 'Seinfeld' Cultural References Explained for Younger Viewers

You kids may not realize this but back in the day the Seinfeld was a big deal - and he was funny, funny I tell you. And he could say anything he wanted about anybody because he was a comedian.

Japan's Newest Trend: Katana Women

I want to believe.

I also want to remind you that katanas are sharp - really sharp - and there's nothing more embarrassing to a katana owner than spilling blood due to a 'solo sword accident'.  And yes I still have a scar. :-(

The Group knows your sins but doesn't really care so long as your interests don't conflict with its.

Tonight's post brought to you by 1989:

Notice: Posted by implicit permission of AceCorp LLC. Now waiting for the Connecticut Overlords to render their decisions.

Answer to the logic puzzle above for the desperate non-solvers can be found here.

posted by Maetenloch at 10:48 PM

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