site banner
PaperclipPerfector  2d ago (text post)   1320 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for May 15, 2026

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.

1
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

I've been watching documentaries about synthesizers and learned about Eric Persing, who has an extremely American face, in my opinion as an outsider. Can anyone beat him in Americanness?

Mitt Romney seems very American to my eyes, although that might just be the whole manicured politician get-up.

Apparently he is German. I do not think this invalidates him being American in any way though lol.

Is he? Thought he was an army brat from Ramstein AFB.

Oh that would make sense - I just googled and saw born in Germany and the irony/appropriateness took me.

German heritage is a pretty good pick for generic American at this point so it would have made sense.

Don’t know about that but very few people could beat him in sound and sample design back in the day. There was a very noticeable drop in the quality of new sounds and sample rom contents after he left Roland. D-50, JDs, JVs and the early expansion cards were brilliant and iconic in all sorts of popular music. Anything for the next 15+ years was solidly meh at best and total garbage at worst even though being technologically far more capable.

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