A thread for random and miscellaneous musings

[Crumpets]

It's kind of odd how many fewer conspiracy theories there are about the attempted assassination of Reagan than the Kennedy assassination. Like, the idea that a communist former marine could kill the President single-handedly is seen as a huge lift for some people, but some rando trying to impress Jodie Foster just walking up to the President and shooting him after 18 years of added security measures and everyone's like "yep, I can see it."

[Crumpets]

Flipping through Netflix crime/mystery shows, I was reminded that one of my neighbors growing up has the same full name as a famous "mysteriously vanished" person. And apart from being about 6 years older, is otherwise very similar in appearance. Even though I'd definitely never do it and it would be super unethical, I've always wondered what would happen if I just called the authorities like, "found them!" and how far it would go.

[Crumpets]

Snip

Realistically wouldn't keep the same name if in hiding though, right?

Maybe, but in this case the most common theory is that it was a kidnapping and not a voluntary disappearance. No doubt it would fall apart quick, though.

[Crumpets]

Someone should make a movie that's an 80s slasher-style horror, but where all the kills are done in the style of "oddly satisfying" videos. So many possibilities!

[Crumpets]

For most of my life, I've felt like there's been a sort of "hard break" in history of stuff before my own personal memories and stuff after. For example, as someone born in 1993, events like the fall of the Berlin Wall, Tienanmen, and the Gulf War long felt like very abstract and distant events while 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq feel like still-relevant current events.

However, as I've gotten older, I feel like this wall between past and present is getting weaker and weaker. I've especially noticed this in the last year going through all my grandma's old pictures after she passed away. I see pictures of her in the 80s looking basically the same as she did in my earliest memories of her in the 90s. And this in turn has had the unexpected effect of making me feel like things that happened before I was born were really no different than things that happened afterwards more broadly.

Another example is TV shows. Even though they aired before my time, I still think of shows like Cheers and the Cosby Show as being basically "contemporary," since I watched re-runs on TV as a kid and the world in those shows wasn't really noticeably different from the world around me. And even though I can look at more recent shows like The Office or Vampire Diaries and start to notice the things like tech and fashion that have changed in the last 15-20 years, older shows like The Jeffersons or Mary Tyler Moore now also just feel like they fit into that same category - "shows from before the present moment."

I was prompted to make this post after watching this video below. The Kennedy assassination has always been way before my time. But as of last year, the present is as far removed from my birth as my birth was from the Kennedy assassination. And looking at this particular video, I'm seeing people and realizing how much they look like people I know, just wearing different clothes. It's a strange moment of seeing people at this historic event as not being relics, but as being basically the same as people I see in news reports from 9/11 or Hurricane Katrina.

[Crumpets]

Probably not the first person to make this observation, but have you ever thought about all of the mirrored aspects of the Jesus story in Frankenstein?

- Jesus was conceived by a woman with a divine spark while the Creature was conceived by a man with a secular/galvanic spark.
- Jesus's wounds are specifically called out as a sign of his divinity while the Creature's wounds are specifically called out as a sign of his monstrosity.
- After his resurrection, the empty tomb of Jesus was found by two adult women who were childhood friends. After the Creature's resurrection, his empty uh... rebirthing laboratory is found by two adult men who were childhood friends.
- Jesus gives a blind man the gift of sight while a blind man gives the Creature the gift of speech.

Any others?

[Crumpets]

Is the Japanese spelling of "Balto" Baruto? Because if so, they should call the Iditarod the "Baruto Run" instead.