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PaperclipPerfector  1d ago (text post)   1104 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for May 22, 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.

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This isn't fun but it's fun related:

Did Google find a new way to hinder users of alternative (ad free) apps for viewing YT videos? What's new right now is that none of the channels display any videos. You can still enter and view videos from search results and playlists or direct video URLs, but the main channel content is gone from listing in Newpipe and Freetube.

NewPipe still works for me on Android.

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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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