site banner
PaperclipPerfector  2mo ago (text post)   3445 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for September 26, 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.

3
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

Re: Gundam, what’s special about two arms? Robits are strong, and I’m not even sure which beam weapons have recoil. If one has more than two arms, how many of them have to be used to qualify as a rifle?

I propose that the deciding factor is whether or not there’s a stock (or brace; ATF be damned) behind the grip. But Gundam variants are worse than Pokémon, so I assume there’s plenty of weird models that violate this scheme.

Unrelated, but “declaring the property blighted” has got to be one of the cooler turns of phrase for city bureaucrats. I’m sure they’re thrilled to break that one out.

Robits are strong, and I’m not even sure which beam weapons have recoil.

Mobile suits also use rocket launchers one-handed. The Zaku Marine's is pistol-sized, while the RX-78-2 Gundam's is long-arm-sized and braced against the shoulder.

If one has more than two arms, how many of them have to be used to qualify as a rifle?

A few mobile suits, such as the The-O and the Advanced Hazel, have extra "sub-arms". But these extra arms typically are very short and unsuited for supporting a long weapon in collaboration with the two primary arms.

I propose that the deciding factor is whether or not there’s a stock (or brace; ATF be damned) behind the grip.

Yes, I forgot about this when I made the original comment. Here's one definition.

Long Arm: All kinds of long arms—guns fired either one- or two-handed and with the help of a shoulder stock. This includes: muzzle-loading muskets; muzzle-loading rifles; breech-loading single-shot or double-barreled rifles; bolt-, lever-, or pump-action rifles; semiautomatic rifles; assault rifles; single- or double- barreled shotguns; bolt-, lever-, or pump-action shotguns; semiautomatic shotguns; full-automatic shotguns; submachine guns; belt- or magazine-fed handheld light machine guns; grenade launchers; and gyroc carbines or support weapons. It also applies for any handgun, including a revolver, semiautomatic pistol, or machine pistol, that is fitted with a shoulder stock. All guns capable of full-automatic fire are best used with the Burst-Fire technique in that fire mode.

Pistol: All kinds of handguns—guns fired either one- or two-handed, but without the support of a shoulder stock. This includes muzzle-loading pistols, derringers, revolvers, semiautomatic pistols, stockless sawn-off shotguns (“shot pistols”), flare pistols, and gyroc pistols, as well as machine pistols without stock. The last are best used with the Burst-Fire technique in that fire mode.

But the mobile suits in question use beam "rifles" without any shoulder or waist bracing even when they do deign to use two hands.

“Declaring the property blighted” has got to be one of the cooler turns of phrase for city bureaucrats.

The Supreme Court agrees with you.

Public safety, public health, morality, peace and quiet, law and order—these are some of the more conspicuous examples of the traditional application of the police power to municipal affairs. Yet they merely illustrate the scope of the power, and do not delimit it. Miserable and disreputable housing conditions may do more than spread disease and crime and immorality. They may also suffocate the spirit by reducing the people who live there to the status of cattle. They may indeed make living an almost insufferable burden. They may also be an ugly sore, a blight on the community which robs it of charm, which makes it a place from which men turn. The misery of housing may despoil a community as an open sewer may ruin a river.

We do not sit to determine whether a particular housing project is or is not desirable. The concept of the public welfare is broad and inclusive. The values it represents are spiritual as well as physical, aesthetic as well as monetary. It is within the power of the legislature to determine that the community should be beautiful as well as healthy, spacious as well as clean, well balanced as well as carefully patrolled. In the present case, the Congress and its authorized agencies have made determinations that take into account a wide variety of values. It is not for us to reappraise them. If those who govern the District of Columbia decide that the Nation's Capital should be beautiful as well as sanitary, there is nothing in the Fifth Amendment that stands in the way.

Most rocket launchers in military use are recoilless by virtue of having a big hole in the end of the tube which vents exhaust gas. You could fire an RPG-7 one-handed if you wanted to, though the ergonomics wouldn't be great. You could even do that with the much heavier Carl Gustav.

There are guided missile launchers like the Javelin which do have recoil, but only a minimal amount, mainly from the soft-launch system that gets the missile a few feet away from the user at low velocity before the main rocket motor kicks in.

For a combat vehicle the size of a Gundam, it's a non-issue.

What is this place?

This website is a place for people who want to move past shady thinking and test their ideas in a court of people who don't all share the same biases. Our goal is to optimize for light, not heat; this is a group effort, and all commentators are asked to do their part.

The weekly Culture War threads host the most controversial topics and are the most visible aspect of The Motte. However, many other topics are appropriate here. We encourage people to post anything related to science, politics, or philosophy; if in doubt, post!

Check out The Vault for an archive of old quality posts. You are encouraged to crosspost these elsewhere.


Why are you called The Motte?

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."

On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.


New post guidelines

If you're posting something that isn't related to the culture war, we encourage you to post a thread for it. A submission statement is highly appreciated, but isn't necessary for text posts or links to largely-text posts such as blogs or news articles; if we're unsure of the value of your post, we might remove it until you add a submission statement. A submission statement is required for non-text sources (videos, podcasts, images).

Culture war posts go in the culture war thread; all links must either include a submission statement or significant commentary. Bare links without those will be removed.

If in doubt, please post it!


Rules


Recommended Posts And Communities

Recommended Realtime Chats