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PaperclipPerfector  3d ago (text post)   2027 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for August 7, 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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Who's the female equivalent of Ryan Gosling? Feel free to interpret the question however you wish, but please post your rationale.

Scarlet Johansson maybe? Roughly same age, A-listers, filmography that is broadly appealing, some higher-brow stuff but not too much so, Oscar nominated but never won, partially famous for being broadly attractive to the opposite sex.

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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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