13ish is fine, but a sharp younger kid might like it earlier.
I have three suggestions for starting points.
As you suggested, Wrath of Khan is a good one to start with. the TOS movies, from two onwards (the first one might confuse as to why these characters coming out of retirement is a big deal), are detached enough from the series that they won't feel like you're missing half the plot if you just watch them on their own. They have enough action to keep a child's attention. The action is modern enough that it doesn't look goofy the way the action from the 60's does.
For my second suggestion, I'll go very much against the grain and suggest maybe the most divisive series as a starting point: Voyager. It is "my Trek" in the sense it's the one that introduced me properly to the series, and I posit it's a good starting point, because its concept inherently reduces the requirement of knowing the lore that was built up on, without discarding it wholesale either. Yes, it's "lesser" in that it's not as good an example of the virtues you would hope the show would demonstrate to the kids, but those virtues are still there. Janeway is not the greatest role model, but in most episodes she's a decent one. Sometimes she does a cheeky little war crime, but what Starfleet captain hasn't?
The Animated Series might also be a good starting point, especially if you want to start him earlier than 13. It's simpler, introduces to the universe, and while it hasn't aged all that well, I think it probably aged better than TOS has visually. Or maybe I just forgave it because I had different expectations of cartoons back then.
pigeonburger
1d ago
Does it really need to be spelled out why the "average school shooting" is not covered? Because the "average school shooting" are gang bangers doing everyday gang banger shit, and not what people actually think about when "school shooting" is invoked.
Is there an opposite to non-central fallacy, where the fallacy is taking a non-central event as central in order to inflate the impression of frequency of the non-central event?
Some of the commentators on TV here outright stated it for at least one of the competitors, that they moved to Georgia to be able to compete in the Olympics.
Makes sense, tbf, these young people have invested the majority of their teens and early adulthood into getting ready for this event. The Olympics are, for sports that don't have popular professional leagues, the only sports competition that give you validation from people who don't follow your sport, and especially for figure skating, the window where you are competitive is short; one or two Winter olympics in the more competitive brackets. Having it ruined due to geopolitical event that you have no control over feels like bullshit, and I don't blame them for trying to find a way around it.
pigeonburger
3d ago
Yeah. I imagine people would say russian roulette (or any unhealthy, high-stakes gambling) is exhilarating, but that doesn't mean a gambler is not being true to themselves if they decide to drop the unhealthy habit.
That said, I can easily understand a steady girlfriend/boyfriend/wife/husband being insecure about the idea that maybe the unhealthiness is not inherent to the hotness, and that the person they see as their soulmate is gonna drop them when they find someone that's both exhilarating to be with AND not destructive.
pigeonburger
4d ago
I think it's just teasing out some emotions out of them. Men, and teens, don't like to share their emotions. Women are the opposite on that. A well-adjusted teen typically won't share much with his mother, but early romantic/sexual experiences are a uniquely vulnerable point for men. It might even serve a societal function, maybe an attentive mother might uncover a psycopathic tendancy if the reaction from her son is unusually muted or violent.
pigeonburger
6d ago
We don't arrest people for being 'likely' to commit a crime.
Sentence, ideally no. Arrest, yes, though the bar is high. Suspect/investigate, all the time.
The same people absolutely believe discrimination occurs in culture/education/training/etc. If I cited an article showing that e.g. childhood participation in private music lessons for orchestral instruments had a race skew (which it does), would they be surprised? I really don't think so. Do they believe that lessons and practice just... don't matter? That's the only way I can think of to justify the notion that a fair meritocratic test of orchestra applicants wouldn't show a similar skew even assuming uniform innate capacity and interest.
The usual justification I hear is something you're brushing briefly against here: interest. What DEI proponents think is that the underrepresented minorities are not taking private music lessons for orchestral instruments because they don't feel welcome or invited in those fields. They feel it's a white or asian thing, not for them. Culturally, it's less of a thing they're likely to be introduced to.
So to steelman the DEI side here (which I must state I disagree with, but it still deserves steelmanning), minority enrollement in these activities requires bootstrapping; get a generation of these under-represented minorities in there or two by putting your thumb on the scale if necessary, hype the fuck out of them, and hopefully the next generation of the under-represented minority will be inspired by the DEI hires, will get on the pipeline early and the minority will not be under-represented anymore and you won't need to put your thumb on the scale.
I don't think it has ever worked, but I think that's the general idea.
*EDIT: To clarify why I don't think it ever works, is because it's extremely conceited. You have to assume that people are dumb and won't notice that your thumb is on the scale, and won't notice that the DEI hires are worse than the meritocratic ones. Which has a tendancy to backfire, if all the pro/famous under-represented minority athletes of a specific sport, or orchestral musicians are noticeably worse, it's likely to reinforce the idea that there is something innate with the group that makes them worse at that activity. Which would be worse than having only a few less-than-representative numbers but at least they perform to the same standard as others, which doesn't damage the "interest gap" potential explanation and won't discourage the people who do have the interest.
pigeonburger
7d ago
I guess I should specify what I mean by trolling here; it's true that outside of the "military intervention" aspect Trump does some trolling too, like the "51st state", calling the Canadian Prime Minister "Governor", etc... I'm guessing he says that because he finds it funny. I find it funny too. And the performative pearl clutching he sees in return is funny too. But the interest is genuine.
pigeonburger
7d ago
The thing is that last year, I saw multiple right wingers say that the Canada stuff and the Greenland stuff was all just trolling, not serious.
I don't recall hearing or saying that; the interest is genuine and has always been genuine. Canada is not serious in the sense that the possibility is and was extremely remote, but if the US sees the opportunity, I think any president, not just Trump, would try to bring Canada in. It'd be a massive legacy setting achievement. Other presidents haven't brought it up, but either Trump has a different idea of what is or isn't realistic, or thinks what you never ask, you never get. Greenland was a strategic interest of US military, one of their "it would be nice-to-have it" things that no one thought was possible. Anyone who told you that Trump wasn't serious about Greenland probably never knew that the US' been trying to buy it since the 19th century. And it turns out probably still isn't possible, but maybe Trump will get some additional concessions for his military bases there, we'll see.
The part that is the trolling has always been the military intervention.
pigeonburger
7d ago
I think the main difference is how would you even argue for or against gay marriage? The difference of opinion on it and topics like it are on a different level than a debate. It is closer to a conflict theory topic than mistake theory. Religious conservatives don't argue against it because they agree that gays should be able to marry but disagree that the government should be the one to do it; they don't think gays should be able to marry, at least not in the same sense as traditional marriages, and usually more broadly.
Housing affordability, healthcare, education, etc... Are more mistake theory. There is a general agreement on both sides that it would be good if housing, education and healthcare were more affordable and higher quality. Both sides have the same goal, but the strategy to get there are at odds, usually some sort of opposition between government intervention vs free enterprise and markets.
pigeonburger
8d ago
Also I think maybe older people have the idea that anime is more high-brow than it is?
I think it's one of these midwit meme distribution. Glug thinks cartoons are low-brow childish entertainment, midwit thinks since it's not aimed at kids it's adult and somewhat sophisticated. Genius knows it's mostly endless rehash of tropes comfortable to its audience.
pigeonburger
9d ago
Yes, and if you take into account empty nesters, it's not that atypical for older people to move from a house sized for a family with 2+ kids to a smaller house, to a condo or an apartment that requires less upkeep work and, as a result of the downsizing you mentionned, frees up money for retirement.
pigeonburger
10d ago
I can understand the collateral for debt argument, but I don't know how common that is, as I am a peasant who avoids debt whenever I can. Maybe somebody else here can fill in the gaps on this one.
If I was in DINK couple, or an irresponsible parent, a reverse mortgage would be very tempting; after all, if I don't have anyone I want to leave my wealth to, what do I care if the bank takes it after I die?
pigeonburger
10d ago
Is the Aging Wheels guy red coded? I mean, he's got the homesteading stuff going on, but I never got that impression. He loves quirky european cars, electric cars, etc...
pigeonburger
10d ago
Coming here from the Quality Contribution thread, I have to concur. America still has a strong positive, but maybe not explicit halo for europeans, at least for working class europeans. My (Spanish) wife and I went to visit New-York in december and my in-laws wanted as souvenirs Statue of Liberty keychains and (more tellingly) american 1$ bills. They have put these bills in their wallets and phone cases as good luck charms. This is despite them also watching the news daily and absorbing all the anti-american signaling. I don't think a country's smallest denomination bill becomes a good luck charm for foreigners without at least unconscious good vibes being associated with it.
pigeonburger
11d ago
As a long time watcher and patreon supporter of his, I'm afraid to watch that video.
It was obvious for years he was chafing at the thought of not being able to discuss politics without risking a large portion of his viewership, but it seems the restraints are gone now.
pigeonburger
13d ago
One of the failure state of it is, but it doesn't have to be. Not every city/state/province/country that has loitering laws, for instance, is a police state. Loitering as a concept is vague enough that the police has to exercise judgement in removing people who are being a nuisance and those who aren't.
But when you run out of social capital, you end up on both sides with abuse (on the police side with abuse of authority and on the other side doing the maximum they can get away with despite going against the spirit of the law).
pigeonburger
13d ago
While it's true that there are already laws on the books against these sorts of things, I think an argument can be made that there needs to be a more focused and vigorous response.
The main answer to this is having vague enough laws and leaving it to the police to enforce it at their discretion, but it requires a lot of social capital and trust to do, which is precisely what you're running out of these days.
pigeonburger
13d ago
Hey, another person getting into Endfield! Enjoying it a lot so far, though I'm still in the honeymoon period, before the gacha system starts putting the squeeze on progression ressources, and before the game settles into a daily grind.
pigeonburger
13d ago
Trump has had… lots of appointees that didn't agree with him much. RFK wasn’t someone I would’ve expected to be on the Trump train.
I think the main consideration he has is for legacy setting, so his best shot is hiring outsider wonks who push for bold reforms. Not sure how Warsh fits there.
pigeonburger
13d ago
Agreed 100%.
But Alex Pretti was an intensive care nurse at a Veteran's hospital with a clean record
He probably did more good for the world in that role than he ever did wrong as a protestor, except to himself. I have no problem calling his death a tragedy, even if I don't think I can blame the officer for taking the shot (though that's from the limited information I do have). Defending ICE's goals and actions does not require celebrating or even attacking the character of Pretti (and Good) except in the specific actions they took before their deaths.
pigeonburger
13d ago
Logistically how do garbage men strike for a year? How are they paying their bills?
Usually they are bankrolled by their union's warchest.
pigeonburger
14d ago
Ok, let's put it this way. The nitty-gritty of use-of-force is mostly irrelevant. Innocents being summarily executed by the state deserves wide social reaction and reevaluation of the politics of those supporting it in a way that "person plays stupid game, wins stupid prize" doesn't. What the OP is doing is pointing that Pretti's shooting matches the second characterization better than the first.
pigeonburger
14d ago
Yes, of course the facts of use of force in a complex dynamic scenario are irrelevant here, that's not the game being played. The left never wants to play that game, you can see it with Rittenhouse, they'll rewrite the entire scenario so that they never have to play that game. The game being played, by the left, is "innocent mother who just confusedly found herself there" or "kind medic" shot by "fascist jackboot thugs". With no control over the media, the right can't chose the game to play, they can't reframe this on "let's just let the professionals do their job and we'll see if it was justified". So in the game we actually are playing, pointing out that Good was actually not accidentally there but willingly interfering, and that Pretti has a history of belligerent behavior towards ICE is fair.
Rarely, but I'm not sure whether it's because kids are not trusted to be on their own or because his schedule is kept full by his parents. Comparing my nephew at any age to myself at that age I certainly had way less structured activities scheduled to keep myself busy. All my free time would basically be either me playing on the computer/watching TV on my own or playing outside unsupervised (or very loosely supervised) with friends. Sometimes I guess I was also being an annoying little brother watching whatever my brother was doing. By contrast, my nephew is driven from sports training to playdates every weekend.
I was born before the 90s, and went on my own walking to and from my elementary school every day, at 6 years old. It was considered a normal thing back then.
I like to think I turned out fine, but I'm conflicted as to how I will want to raise kids if I have them, because my own upbringing goes against both "old" and "new" rules. I was allowed to be on my own and wasn't really "kept busy" by my parents the way kids nowaday are, but also I was an early "screen junkie". My parents had barely any control over the time I would spend on the computer, and I certainly could go on full-day binges.
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