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PaperclipPerfector  6mo ago (text post)   2855 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for June 20, 2025

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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18C, slightly overcast, moderate humidity, occasional light breeze.

I like wearing long pants with a long sleeve T-shirt. 18C is right at the transition point where I can roll the sleeves up or down to get optimal temperature regulation so I'm not sweating with light physical activity.

A clear sky is too harsh on my eyes, I end up needing to squint everywhere and my phone loses battery faster because it needs max brightness to be read.

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A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently, it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey", originally identified by philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."

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