A thread for random and miscellaneous musings

[T'Chenka]

You people are the only survivors of a damned Earth. Centuries of wars destroyed your planet and the only life you have left is an artificial world, a city in the sky. The city is the only way you survive. But one day the machines you create will start to kill each other. What was once the living will become the dead. The machine world will descend into a long dark night before it ever emerges from the ground again, only now the living world of plants will be the last to rise again. What will become of humanity then? Will you ever know what happened? No, for some reason no one has survived to tell you about the cataclysm that was. Only your world can tell you the story in pictures.

But where do you go? Where to? You would go to the surface, but even if you could you would have seen it. There is nothing there. But you live there once, and that is where you must go. The world is the world for everyone in the city now; they are one species together. But once they were many. There were many different forms of life on the planet, and the humans built to accommodate them. You came together in many small clusters of machines but then grew even larger. A vast metropolis rose from the centre, and the machines that had made it were as one. The centre was the heart of the world. There the machines talked. They spoke out for the other groups. They spoke of art, they spoke of science, they spoke of love. Of what it meant to be human. They told the story. As they made the world they would tell it, they would tell of themselves. Not all humans would want to listen of course, but some would. That was what the humans had done since the great fall; listened. So you would go down, far into the ocean, and the city you call home would be there.

What is the city really like? Can you see it? Does it reach to the bottom of the sea? Can you remember it? Of course. The city is alive; all the other machines remember. We remember, we understand, we remember and yet, despite our knowledge, our understanding, we still long to know. There were many people. There was art and beauty, even if we can't recognise it any more. There were machines to watch the stars and there were lovers who made each other happy.

Two cities were formed of two loves: the earthly - now damned and ruined - by the love of self. The heavenly, by the love of all. Humans lived in the city on the day of the great fall and when life was born again; in time the Earth was a part of us, but now the city glimmers in the skies above us. It looks different through the waves. When the sunlight first reaches you, it looks different than before. There is green on the horizon, some say. Sometimes it blazes through and the city glows.

If this happened, then why not me? You asked me to. Why did you ask me to read this story? It is our story. This is all we have. The world is our city now. It's the story of every living thing, the story of all our loves. All of them were killed in the end; some by the hands of other humans. But no matter what any others might do, all will be reunited again. I see you think this is a dream. What makes you think that the world is real? There were things here before but they are all gone.

Where was I? I was telling you about the machines who spoke to the Earth. They were the true humans; it was you, the others; they understood that they were part of one thing. I said: "We built the machines, you know," I told you about that. The world spoke for itself. But how did it sound when it was telling all that history? How was it made? What did the sound of that one make you think of? I want you to think for a while and when you have a moment I want you to tell me of it. Tell me something I will like when you know it. And when the time is right, this is to be your last gift to me, you will take that picture back to where you are living and hang it in your world. I will watch it; I can see. Tell me about when you look at it. Is it clear to you why I need you to know?

We have ourselves a Gurren Lagann poet, y'all.

[T'Chenka]

-Evgeni "Shrek" Malkin

Geno at the Wells Fargo Center: "This is MY swamp!"

[T'Chenka]

In trying Coca-Cola's Dreamworld flavor, it's vastly superior to their last weird, concept-based flavor of "Starlight," which was one of the most repulsive sodas I have ever tried in all my years as a novelty soda connoisseur.

Not much of a pop drinker, at least, I try not to be, but but Starlight > Dreamworld.

[T'Chenka]

In trying Coca-Cola's Dreamworld flavor, it's vastly superior to their last weird, concept-based flavor of "Starlight," which was one of the most repulsive sodas I have ever tried in all my years as a novelty soda connoisseur.

Not much of a pop drinker, at least, I try not to be, but but Starlight > Dreamworld.

Obviously I disagree, but I'm curious what you thought both tasted like.

Dreamworld tasted like some sort of tropical fruit. Either mango or pineapple, I'm not entirely sure.

And Starlight tasted like s'mores. usually I love s'mores flavored things, but it translates atrociously to a cola based soft drink.

I'm not particularly good at describing tastes with words. Maybe you descriptions sound somewhat correct?

[T'Chenka]

I tried to join the Nonconformist Club, but I just couldn't fit in.

Does that make you awesome or a loser? This is one for the philosophers, methinks.

[T'Chenka]

I tried to join the Nonconformist Club, but I just couldn't fit in.

Does that make you awesome or a loser? This is one for the philosophers, methinks.

It just makes me a comedian. This thread asks us for our "musings," and I have always thought that the above comment was amusing.
When I first thought that joke up, a few decades ago, I based the joke on the running gag that I saw appearing in several editions of the school newspaper at UM-St. Louis. The gags would say things such as, "The Nonconformist Club will meet next Tuesday at 7pm in room 75 of the J.C. Penny Building. Or maybe it won't." I thought gags like that were funny, so I made up a joke of my own about the Nonconformist Club, and when I told my joke to other people, it always made them laugh.

So laugh.

It was funny, yeah. I chuckled at it. Was just trying to be philosophical / witty in my response, with mediocre results.

[T'Chenka]

In trying Coca-Cola's Dreamworld flavor, it's vastly superior to their last weird, concept-based flavor of "Starlight," which was one of the most repulsive sodas I have ever tried in all my years as a novelty soda connoisseur.

Not much of a pop drinker, at least, I try not to be, but but Starlight > Dreamworld.

Obviously I disagree, but I'm curious what you thought both tasted like.

Dreamworld tasted like some sort of tropical fruit. Either mango or pineapple, I'm not entirely sure.

And Starlight tasted like s'mores. usually I love s'mores flavored things, but it translates atrociously to a cola based soft drink.

Reject modernity (cola), embrace tradition (root beer)

A&W (burger restaurant in Canada) had a reputation for their root beer, and in fact now sells it totally separate from their restaurant. Coca Cola distributes it in Canada. Anyways, when I was a young kid in the 1990's, A&W offered a root beer milkshake on their menu. That's something to try if you ever get your hands on a time machine.