Post a controversial opinion

weather should be abolished

st patrick's day is a garbage holiday

uncontroversial

Space. Or, specifically, certain Americans' glurgey reverence for NASA, astronauts, the space program, the fucking Shuttle.

People who are otherwise level-headed, liberal-minded, skeptical, cynical, irreligious, and snarky can nevertheless have this weird Nerd Glaze come over their eyes when the topic comes up. They laud Humankind's Glorious Quest To Explore The Skies... And Beyond! If you express doubts about the cost-to-benefit ratio of manned space flight you get lectures about spinoffs like trampolines and Tang and, crap, I forgot the third one.

Everybody comes to DC and the first thing they want to see is the goddamn Air and Space Museum, which to me just seems tired and dated, reeking of my 1970s childhood and that brown/orange palette and wide ties and the Cold War. The whole of space culture gets this noble, uplifting Trekkie overlay. But the real impetus was always Beating the Russkies, with all the jingoism that entailed USA! USA! We are #1! It was never about universal brotherhood.

News flash: They call it "space" because there's pretty much nothing there.

Seems to me like the cost/benefit of space exploration/colonization makes a lot of sense since the potential benefit might mean the continued survival of our species.

Can we do it without the gloopy sentimentality? Or, at least, can I still roll my eyes when normal people get all fluttery over That Time They Met Alan Bean (or whoever)?

oh yeah if anything we should only approach it w/ hardnosed cynicism

the cost/benefit of space exploration/colonization makes a lot of sense since the potential benefit might mean the continued survival of our species mineral rights.

the cost/benefit of space exploration/colonization makes a lot of sense since the potential benefit might mean watching c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate

imo having large, society scale projects to rally around, even if they have no specific tangible benefit, is known to be a boon as far as morale goes and outside of the obvious monetary expenditure (which is not small) space exploration has historically fit that bill

the number of technological advances from the development of equipment for getting to and staying in space, along with insights into human physiology, is pretty huge as well

some examples: https://spinoff.nasa.gov/Spinoff2008/tech_benefits.html

space itself and astronomy as science and as a hobby is totally unassailable. manned spaceflight is not, but i still like it.

*pushes YMP out the airlock*

tempted to point to each of those tech benefits like elaine in seinfeld and say "roswell" "roswell" "roswell" "roswell" …

mmm tang

lol

Jeff... come to my neighborhood and we'll go to the bar with tangermeister shots

Jaegermeister is delicious and a top-tier shot

first part yes, i guess the second part is objectively false

Jaegermeister is delicious and a top-tier shot

― Rachel Luther Queen (DJP), Thursday, March 16, 2017 2:27 PM (nine minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this opinion wins the thread for me

you (yes you) are a terrible driver

you (yes you) become insufferable when drunk

first part yes, i guess the second part is objectively false

counter-argument: no it's not

DJP otm and it's also very good with Tang
:)

I would try all these Tangermeister shots

people shooting expensive liquor is horrible (not controversial)

most mixed shot drinks are a waste of time and energy when there are single liquor shots that are delicious

xp just figured "top-tier" implied price point somehow

i don't even do Jaeger in shots, i like to sip it over ice

flashback to an early 20s birthday when friends were buying me tequila shots and didn't buy Patron (or a more expensive tequila) until they were feeling drunk and generous was rude

expensive first while I can enjoy it, please

i don't even do hard liquor anymore.

Fireball shots are hipster lameness = my contribution

these days I'm content nursing a St Bernardus ABT 12 and talking shit about these kids today and their Dan Fogelberg

but yeah shooting liquor is generally dumb and I've actually grabbed a whiskey shot someone ordered for me and poured it into a sipping glass

"top-tier" != "top shelf"

"top-tier" = "the best"

the only shots I can generally do = tequila (and I'm way worse at it than I was in my 20s, hate the stuff now), Jager (see tequila note), and Fireball.

shooting anything else = my mouth wants to die in a fire

remember power hours? lord the thought of doing those nowadays too

tequila shots are boring

either all you taste are salt and lime OR you'd be better served sipping the tequila and savoring its flavor

obv the equation changes if you are doing body shots off of someone you find hot, then tequila shots are awesome

my favorite liquor:

http://www.tulumba.com/tulimg/144243_500.jpg

so good

thanks for explication DJP, in that case i agree unreservedly

some of my friends once had a disastrous weekend where they decided to do a centurion with craft beer; things ended... poorly

omg

shots are fine when you want to get drunk fairly quickly

The performative hooting/fist pumping / glass slamming etc that goes along with shooting liquor in America is totally dud

that reminds me of before I knew anything about beer, being at a friend's house and knowing a new friend of mine who I was crushing on was coming over, so I was drinking faster than usual to calm my nerves. I was drinking Dogfish head and didn't realize you aren't meant to drink 4-5 of them in an hour.

wound up throwing up in the host's sink.

if you hoot at any point while doing a shot, you are either a gigantic poser or an owl

glass-slamming is mandatory, tho

xp: oh no

Performative hooting and fist pumping is what the rest of us expect from Americans though.

has ilx ever polled hard liquors?

i don't like doing shots cos I no longer can tell how they're going to affect me like I used to. some nights it doesn't even matter how much I ate

back in my 20s I was all about the Tanqueray 10 or Bombay Sapphire and tonic.

Fig Arak looks v nice but possibly hard to come by in Hull

I mean, I don't do that many shots anymore but Jaeger = yes plz, I'll take one

best way to drink is to say cheers or l'chaim or whatever the preferred nomenclature feels most mature + appropriate to you. i feel like the hooting is a consequence of a) general feeling of juvenility around drinking, and b) not being sure what else to say that isn't just an awkward toast or whatever. simple one word affirmations are best.

Jaegermeister is delicious and a top-tier shot

ilu

i only do shots at sabbath/festive meals pretty much. i barely drink beer anymore during the week :(