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Images that make you laugh

thebeave said:
Maybe I'm missing something, but is there some sort of backstory or deeper meaning behind the bundled up Bernie meme? Its a sort of mildly amusing picture, that you see once, chuckle and forget but for some reason its become this huge thing.
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This is how societies have always been. A chaotic* churn of ideas, phrases, and images, which occasionally throws up something that just strikes a chord with the vast majority of people who are exposed to it. In modern times, the Internet allows that society to be huge, and allows those successful memes** to suddenly become ubiquitous.

Any idea that crosses the threshold of R=1*** will suddenly be everywhere. When the R value is far greater than 1, it can seem like it's pushing everything else aside.

Ideas are infectious. The Internet makes for a vast pool of hosts. If you want to understand why Bernie is everywhere right now, the answers lie in epidemiology.





*In the mathematical sense
**In the genetic sense
***R being the mean number of people who a person passes the idea on to, once they have seen or heard it.
 
Atheos said:
It almost hurts to know I'm geeky enough to have gotten it immediately.
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Yeah....didn't even blink.

It's like being in high school again, explaining 'what in fucking hell 2001: Space Odyssey was about?' to a class and two teachers, the day after it was televised. "No, the rushing-air sound effects didn't fail, there's no sound in vacuum."
 
I had to look it up to get the reference. While I was a fan of the original series, I watched very little television as I got older and started working. I've seen some of the episodes of TNG. Never seen any of the other Trek series, never seen BG or B5. I've only started watching more tv since i've retired but still watch very few series programs. I mostly watch movies and news (which is usually on as background noise).
 
ZiprHead said:
View attachment 31625

Waiting for fudgement day.

And who the fuck is Gad?
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Gad is the angel that helps fudge your score, obviously.
"Gadzooks!" St. Peter says. "You were not good enough for Heaven!"
"You called?" Gad says.
"Yeah, check the math on this penitent, Gad. He's just short of the minimum for Paradise."
"Oh, sure. Wink, wink."
"For the bilionth time, Gad, we do not SAY wink, wink."
 
ZiprHead said:
I had to look it up to get the reference. While I was a fan of the original series, I watched very little television as I got older and started working. I've seen some of the episodes of TNG. Never seen any of the other Trek series, never seen BG or B5. I've only started watching more tv since i've retired but still watch very few series programs. I mostly watch movies and news (which is usually on as background noise).
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Loved the original series. Watched it so much I could often guess the episode within 10 seconds. TNG was good. The first season they were trying to figure stuff out, and really got better the second season I think. Deep Space 9 was great. Had re-watched it in the early 2000's which added a new slant to the story. It takes place on a station next to a planet just getting its freedom from an occupying force, where the former freedom fighters were labeled 'terrorists' by the former conquerors, and anyone who 'collaborated' with the occupying government was viewed by the people as the worst of criminals. Watching that during the height of the Iraq occupation certainly gave it a new context. Voyager is the only Trek series I didn't watch all of. It had some great characters, but the writers didn't seem to know what to do with it.

I loved Babylon 5, great series. That one they had a 5 year story arc planned out before it even began. Went in a few directions that were not expected, some very cool stuff. The 5th season might be a little weak because they were going to be cancelled so tried to wrap things up in the 4th season in case they didn't get the 5th.

Battlestar Galactica... Liked the original as a kid. Can see now that a lot of the stories were ripping off the bible. The remake was excellent for the first two seasons. I'd say you can skip the rest of it.
 
Keith&Co. said:
marc said:
Battlestar Galactica... Liked the original as a kid. Can see now that a lot of the stories were ripping off the bible.
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Bible? You didn't catch the Mormon references?
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Didn't read the book of Mormon until long after watching Battlestar Galactica. The bible parallels are pretty obvious. What are the Mormon references?
 
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