The Cracked Thread

Thanks, it makes more sense now. I interpreted his argument a bit differently, though. It seemed to me that his major focus was on the size and effectiveness of the fundraising companies, not how much money is donated by individuals. I think he was saying that, ideally, charities would act much more like profit businesses and produce a product/service, with the majority of the income being spent on R&D or supplies(or whatever else is needed to fix a given problem), as opposed to going back into investors' pockets. I'm not sure how that's a short-term solution. The people working for a charity (or business) aren't the ones giving money to it. They're giving their time and talent, bringing income to the charity. Paying those employees isn't "profit as motivation" any more than working for EA or somesuch. People want to earn a living wage, and it's very difficult to do that while doing good for the world, as the video showed.

Another thing I believe we're not in agreement about: How informed/knowledgeable/active should a person be in any cause they wish to support? From what you're saying, I think you feel that they should be very informed&/selective. When they choose to give money, they're essentially saying "Here's an issue and some money. I want this money to go help solve this issue." On the other hand, I think it's okay to be much more passive. People are more willing to spend money if they get something tangible out of it, so I would say "Here's some money for this game/activity/food/etc", and the charity would say, "Thanks, we'll take some of that money and help solve this issue." The apathetic people get something out of it that doesn't require lots of effort, so you get more people donating.

I guess it comes down to one's opinion of human nature. I don't think we're intrinsicly altruistic, so trying to get any large amount of people to contribute requires passive yet tangible/measurable contributions. We'll never get everyone to donate large amounts of time and mental effort to figuring out where to donate money/time/help. The people who are willing to do that are also the people more likely to choose to work for a charity instead of just donating money/etc, so they get to do the legwork of choosing reputable charities, and any that are set up to confuse the issue will suffer from a lack of workers. Hopefully. It's not a perfect set-up, to be sure.

5 Reasons Conspiracy Theories Are Destroying the World

Aaand my response, because I can't seem to find it after posting, so I can only assume there is a conspiracy to hide the truth.

As most sterotypes are, though you don't expect them to provide the full picture. Tumblr is a microcosm of the easily-offended, bed-wetting nerd culture — sure. But roughly half is /b/tards constantly mocking and chastising the errant half. I think Tumblr checks itself to a degree.

Mostly I take anything Cracked says about "The Youth" will a grain of salt. I disagree with an earlier poster who stated that the staff writers are mostly gen-Y. They're Gen-X. That's what makes Cracked so insufferable to read sometimes, because it's all self-projection. They were jaded early on, by the S&L crisis and the Reagan recession. (Great rant here.) They got used to putting on ties and showing up to thankless jobs. And the result is, those Gen-X'ers grew up to be middle managers and writers, and became scornful of millennials and hipsters and anyone who thinks happiness is a worthwhile pursuit. These are some scary guys. And it's such a weird feeling to be looked down on by the nintendo generation. Baby boomers I'm used to, and those guys even have some good points, but getting lectured at by Cracked on the evils of drugs, casual sex and hippies can put me in a bad mood for days.

edited 18th Jul '14 1:10:08 PM by johnnyfog

YES! Go A has no idea of our ultimate plans for him...

The secret to conspiracies is easy: TIME TRAVELERS. It's all time travelers.

Even global warming. They've finally mastered creating dinosaurs in the future, but it's too cold for them to survive, so time travelers have been sent to the past to heat up the world so we can finally have our dinosaurs.

Don't panic, in two more decades the time travelers from the future wanting mastadons will show up and begin THEIR plan to cool the earth for their ice age replica. (also to bring down glaciers to finally stop the menace of Canada once and for all)

Oh Wong, you're so silly.

The heavy-handed preachyness is bad, but kind of amusing when it doesn't work.

For instance I put down "family", "trying new things", "good food" and guess what I was doing yesterday in my free time? I spent an hour on the phone to my family and was out for a walk checking out places I've never seen before for the rest of it.

So Wong is wrong, even without me pointing out that work is an unfair compromise on our time we all have to make.

6 Ways Movies Get Space Wrong (by Astronaut Chris Hadfield)

I don't even know what he's blathering about. He doesn't 'believe' in anything, he even wrote an article testifying to that fact.

edited 18th Jul '14 1:13:11 PM by johnnyfog

I remember reading an article by one if the editors , it was about how many modern methods of selling media are becoming obsolete, such as how neilsen ratings only count views for when an episode premiers, and they suggested the only solution to this was to abandon our new ways of distributing content and do just that , watch out favorite tv show episodes when they first premier, even tho that solves nothing

edited 21st Jul '14 4:20:15 AM by Xopher001

I have an incredibly erratic job schedule. How am I supposed to watch stuff when it premiers when I have no idea if I'm going to be working or not?

Yeah, the Nielsen ratings are good, to a point, but they need to count people who record it and watch it later. Maybe figure out a way with the cable companies to find out how many people are watching what.

What they really did to do is include views from Netflix, Hulu, etc.

Though I suppose if the point is to inform advertisers, than ad-free services shouldn't be included.

edited 21st Jul '14 8:14:04 AM by storyyeller

8 things I learned as an American governor in occupied Iraq

Huh. Well, that was pretty inspiring. If this is indeed true, I'd vote this guy as god-emperor of the galaxy.

edited 21st Jul '14 12:03:10 PM by Kayeka

Just looked in on the 60-Second Guide via the link (have it up) and the list, yeah... doesn't quite work with me, either.

I'm Disabled, so I don't have most of my day devoted to work, but I am poor, so I can't afford to change the world... My goals and life-philosophy are humble and simple. I want to be loving, I want to have fun, I want to create beautiful things. I wind up doing these things every day (unless I'm really down with depression, often I try to even then).

Yesterday, I did some housecleaning - a loving act for my significant other who works a physically-demanding job he hates. Act of love. Same with dinner, which also was a creative act because I kind of cobbled stuff in the kitchen together for it. I read things online and read some comics. Fun. I also thought about an in-progress writing project that's in my head a lot yesterday. While I didn't do any actual writing on it, I had just spent all of last week figuring out a first chapter and writing it, and, of course, writing doesn't happen without my thinking about it and mulling over plot-points. (Otherwise, it has a high potential to *bad* writing). I want to think that my creative work might change the world in some positive way. I don't know, but hey, I *try* toward it every day.

I'm someone Wong might think of as a complete slug (or feel sorry for, because of my life-circumstances), but, you know what? Some of us don't feel an overreaching need to be the single hero to end war. Some of us just want to paint things, dabble at writing, play videogames and keep our kitchens clean.

Wow, the way you put it makes Wong sound like a big jerk. I envy you. Your content . Anyways, Wong needs some sort of creative control

To be fair, I think he was addressing that specific kind of person who has big ambitions but doesn't actually do anything but bitch and post whines and macroes online.

I think the game is different if life has kicked you in the teeth hard enough to kill any lofty ambitions, leaving you holding onto simple things and learning to have a certain peace with them.

One of my goals, if I were to put it out to the full five or six listed would be the major core "manage my mental illness." When you have that, that's sort of what you need to focus on, along with those simple things that help you do it (Fun, being creative as I said). It's not really contentment, it's just knowing my place in the world and knowing what I really need to do to keep together.

I've actually liked a lot of Wong's articles but... sometimes he misses. I've found, of late, that I really like a lot of John Cheese's stuff. He writes about struggling with finances and growing up in a dysfunctional family and generally dealing with a life of struggle the way it really is, rather than blaming people for not being able to get out of it easily. He's "arrived" - but he's one of those rare people who hasn't forgotten.

Yet, from what I remember reading, both seem to be annoyed at people who *actually have things pretty okay* who whine a lot on the Internet.

I think I whine a lot, but I also find a lot of contentment where I can, too.

edited 23rd Jul '14 2:08:24 PM by Shadsie

The 5 Most Sadistic Game Over Scenes in Video Game History.

It's a Wonderful Failure at its finest. the Number One entry also provides that trope's page quote.

edited 1st Aug '14 4:07:59 PM by Lightblade

man,those little things they add always make me lose it.

edited 1st Aug '14 4:27:55 PM by alekos23

Cracked's descent into crotchety old men continues

edited 1st Aug '14 4:30:58 PM by SonOfSharknado

I'm going to go stand on their lawn and blast out some rock n roll right now. That'll show 'em.

damned whippersnappers.

The article on sadistic game overs was pretty funny. It's also probably one of the few places you will ever see anyone mention Batman: Dark Tomorrow.

edited 1st Aug '14 8:15:07 PM by BearyScary

Um, most of those things would only be known by someone who is already watching the movie, so they couldn't use those things to "trick" you into seeing it.

edited 3rd Aug '14 6:19:34 PM by VeryMelon

Besides, I haven't seen it, so they obviously didn't trick me.

I do think it's rather ballsy to do a major movie about a 5 year old comic series that noone's ever heard of. But I guess Marvel figures they have the money to push new I Ps, rather than just rely on all the moneyspinners from the 60s.

edited 1st Aug '14 9:16:18 PM by storyyeller

How is this one of those "crotchety old men" articles? I mean, the points are all valid interpretations of viewer psychology and risk minimisation. (I blame the non-indicative title, though. Cracked really needs to quit it with the "false advertising".)

It is odd how the author is taking pragmatic choices in the making of that film and trying to spin them as negative traits. And the Raiders of the Lost Ark comparison is really grasping at straws. Apparently the Indiana Jones franchise has exclusive rights to scenes where characters retrieve artifacts from ancient temples.

I don't get why so many people think Indiana Jones is unique or even originated anything. It was a modernization of the adventure serials from the 30s which used those type of scenes all the time. It just had a way bigger budget and access to 80s special effects.