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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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.
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Notes -
I enjoy YouTube far more than cable tv. There are a lot of great channels out there and I find the best ones are usually in the 2k to 30k subscriber range. Discovery is typically pretty hard and they will randomly show up in various recommendations. New videos typically come out every few weeks or months - not the daily slop from big channels.
Anyone have any recommendations?
I’ll share one. @josh_from_xboxlive.
https://youtube.com/@josh_from_xboxlive?si=j_AwTobz8Jn73lv7
I like it because while he ostensibly talks about film, books, and pop culture, he has some novel takes I have not seen elsewhere.
Highlights include What’s Wrong with Modern Horror, where he takes down this whole concept of “elevated horror” in films.
Writing as a Magical Praxis where he describes a nexus of tarot and storytelling. I knew nothing of tarot and he had an interesting thesis.
Also he has great playlist on “the Homer of the 20th Century” aka George Lucas. Very interesting analysis of Star Wars as a modern myth and the various thematic elements of the series. I have not seen these takes anywhere else.
Anyone else have any recommendations?
Sure, I'll risk LLMs building a profile of me and share a few weirder channels from my subsription list.
A boat in the woods Guy taking the ardurous journey to rebuild a sailboat in the woods of Nova Scotia. I love stuff like this.
AlfieAesthetics Weird british guy who does survival stuff in the woods. Lots of fun videos, but not alot of content, despite the age of the channel.
Andrew Camarata Guy built a castle out of storage containers. Nuff said.
Brainjackt Ambient Stalker shorts. As in, the video game. Swip-swaps between Stalker, Stalker GAMMA, and Stalker 2. Very comfy.
Effective Purpose Basically what I would call a married, Christian HoeMath. Lots of essays on the state of men, dating, marriage, the Christian faith and how they all relate, alongside historical documentation of how we got here. Interesting stuff.
EpicNate So many goddamn bethesda icebergs. Recently started getting into actual historical mysteries with some odd artifacts that definately made me raise a few eyebrows. Most videos are a minimum of an hour long, so if you really want to waste some time...
Gentlemansgazette Indulge in your inner dandy.
Isaac Arthur I like my futurtism optimistic.
Lost Battlefields w Tino Struckmann Guy goes DEEP into some of the more obscure aspects of WW1 and WW2 via actually traveling out to these locations to examine and reseach them. Buckle up, cause you're going to be seeing some wild stuff.
Martijn Doolaard Guy renovating two shepard chaplets in the Italian Alps and doing an increadiable job of it. I am mad, mad jelly of this guy.
Midwest Angelica For when you want Analouge Horror Neon Genesis Evangelion at home.
Nagualero Guy did alot of bushcraft and painting and painting while bushcrafting. A sad channel, as he passed away several years ago unexpectedly.
Sabine Hossenfelder I like interesting science math lady.
Staladus Do you want science fiction with ancient aliens, hard science, and one insanely kickass intro? Boy, do I have the channel for you!
Teravibe Crazy ambient lady. This is one of my favorites, where she blends her typical stuff with some careful IRL filming to make an intro that looks something out of a video game.
The Archive In Between Do you like LLM-derived videos? 1970s retro sci-fi aesthetics? Whacky sci-fi/fantasy world-hopping empires? Boy, do I have the channel for you!
TheNorthwoodsman Old guy in an old cabin in the woods doing cabin things.
Venik Hue Posthuman uploads in magi-tech sci-fi robots amid an apocalyptic earth indulging in whacky shenanigans in-between fridge moments of posthuman horror. You can, indeed, parry a fucking nuke.
And that's all you get. Have fun.
I find Hossenfelder absolutely insufferable. Sure, she sometimes talks about interesting things, but her whole personality seems to have been consumed by a massive persecution complex since long before she quit academia (and, indeed, I reckon her not entirely voluntary departure was the social immune system doing its job). Some of her earlier videos had her explaining why exactly she came to hate her workplace, and it entirely had the energy of the sort of person who would go to all the seminars, eat 60% of the snacks, complain to the organiser that she didn't like them, and then when her turn to organise came around just scream "WHERE IN MY CONTRACT DOES IT SAY I HAVE TO DO THIS" at the head of department. Probably had a story ready about how the seminar snacks are really important for her blood sugar and therefore she should be consulted about the selection too. Now that she moved on, her content flywheel seems to disproportionately rely on peddling malicious gossip and peanut-gallerying.
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