The Off Topic Topic

[Admiral Yi]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0p53gL6CvCU

Rob Reiner thinks there were more than one JFK assassin.

[HVC]

Archie Bunker was right all along.

[crazy canuck]

Andy was an old guy on 60 minutes that would make random musings.

From wiki:

"In the segment, Rooney typically offered satire on a trivial everyday issue, such as the cost of groceries, annoying relatives, or faulty Christmas presents. Rooney's appearances on "A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney" often included whimsical lists, such as types of milk,[18] bottled water brands,[19] car brands,[20] and sports mascots. "

My favourite of his bits was when he went on a tirade about shampoo companies.  He had a great delivery.

I met and talked with him one time when we were both at Washington National Airport waiting for a plane.  His entire demeanor and voice were completely different from his appearance on 60 Minutes.  Very pleasant and not at all cranky.

First of all 

Second, that does not surprise me at all 

[grumbler]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0p53gL6CvCU

Rob Reiner thinks there were more than one JFK assassin.

Another vast coverup conspiracy that, contrary to all known human behavior, was never leaked.

The best explanation I have heard is that it was actually a Secret Service agent in the car behind Kennedy's car that accidently discharged his AR-15 (loaded with hollow-point bullets) and inflicted the head wound.  All the CIA stuff is hooey - they'd never have been able to get to all of the people who would have had to cover it up (including the Secret Service itself), but the Secret Service could do so.

[grumbler]

A couple of interesting facts about The Game (Michigan-Ohio State) this Saturday.  The winner will almost certainly win the Big Ten and go to the CFP, but the winner will also take the lead in overall winning percentage (currently OSU by the narrowest of margins).  Michigan already has the most wins of any American football team at any level (1,000, or fittingly M in Roman Numerals) and is going for 1,001 (MI, the abbreviation for Michigan).

If Michigan wins the Big Ten, it will also be a big "fuck you" to the Big Ten commissioner, who has worked hard to stop Michigan from winning the conference. So, that would be a nice bonus for Michigan fans.

[DGuller]

I don't subscribe to any conspiracy theories regarding JFK assassination, but the official explanation seems like a one in a million series of shots.  The weapon was a bolt action rifle firing rounds powerful enough to enter and exit a Texas governor 10 times.  I imagine that after firing and cycling such a rifle, you would have to find the target again in your telescopic sights, which might take a moment or two for someone who hasn't shot at US presidents before.  However, this rookie managed to land not one, but two shots, in the head and neck area of a non-stationary target, with a second and fourth shot respectively.  And then at the end of it all another rookie with no skin in the game decides to just go and shoot the assassin while he's surrounded by all sorts of armed guys, because why not?

[Sheilbh]

The best explanation I have heard is that it was actually a Secret Service agent in the car behind Kennedy's car that accidently discharged his AR-15 (loaded with hollow-point bullets) and inflicted the head wound.  All the CIA stuff is hooey - they'd never have been able to get to all of the people who would have had to cover it up (including the Secret Service itself), but the Secret Service could do so.

I'd not heard of it until recently but reading the Secret Service fuck-up theory seemed prety plausible when I read it - and also has a useful institutional explanation for any "cover ups" in a way that I think conspiracy rarely does.

Edit: That is, I very rarely believe in active cover-ups of conspiracies that are all planned. I'm very comfortable believing people try to cover up fuck ups/protect institutions. And I can't imagine anything worse for the Secret Service institutionally than that they accidentally killed a President.

The thing with the JFK assasination that always gets me is also just the sheer weirdness of Oswald's story.

[Josquius]

Pretty cool, view your location on a (geological) historic map of earth and what dinosaurs were chilling nearby.

https://dinosaurpictures.org/ancient-earth#35

[Syt]

Turns out Vienna was under water most of the time.

[Grey Fox]

Always fascinate me how all the giant lakes of North America are so young.

[Tamas]

I have started watching an old Hungarian series where they walked the longest tourist/hiking route marked through Hungary. It was filmed in 1979 about half a year before I was born. Beside nature stuff I find it fascinating/melancholic to see the sort of peasant village lifestyle I was old enough to get a glimpse of already in retreat.

Anyways, they started in NE Hungary and it was interesting to see geologists explain the evidence of the pre-historic ocean/sea which was there, and in fact at one point showing the clear evidence of an old under-ocean nuclear ridge where they said where the Eurasian and African crusts collided. Now its a steep but not high stone wall in the middle of a forest, long dormant.

[crazy canuck]

You have to love the Kelsey brothers


https://www.google.ca/search?q=kelsy+brothers+at+end+of+monday+night+game&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-ca&client=safari#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:5114a441,vid:v_s8wJ3gxKY,st:0

[Habbaku]

I don't subscribe to any conspiracy theories regarding JFK assassination, but the official explanation seems like a one in a million series of shots.  The weapon was a bolt action rifle firing rounds powerful enough to enter and exit a Texas governor 10 times.  I imagine that after firing and cycling such a rifle, you would have to find the target again in your telescopic sights, which might take a moment or two for someone who hasn't shot at US presidents before.  However, this rookie managed to land not one, but two shots, in the head and neck area of a non-stationary target, with a second and fourth shot respectively.  And then at the end of it all another rookie with no skin in the game decides to just go and shoot the assassin while he's surrounded by all sorts of armed guys, because why not?

Oswald wasn't a rookie, though.

https://www.rrauction.com/auctions/lot-detail/345171706200220-lee-harvey-oswalds-us-marine-corps-rifle-score-book-warren-commission-exhibit-no-239

[DGuller]

I don't subscribe to any conspiracy theories regarding JFK assassination, but the official explanation seems like a one in a million series of shots.  The weapon was a bolt action rifle firing rounds powerful enough to enter and exit a Texas governor 10 times.  I imagine that after firing and cycling such a rifle, you would have to find the target again in your telescopic sights, which might take a moment or two for someone who hasn't shot at US presidents before.  However, this rookie managed to land not one, but two shots, in the head and neck area of a non-stationary target, with a second and fourth shot respectively.  And then at the end of it all another rookie with no skin in the game decides to just go and shoot the assassin while he's surrounded by all sorts of armed guys, because why not?

Oswald wasn't a rookie, though.

https://www.rrauction.com/auctions/lot-detail/345171706200220-lee-harvey-oswalds-us-marine-corps-rifle-score-book-warren-commission-exhibit-no-239

I didn't mean to say that Oswald was a rookie at shooting, but he was a rookie at assassinations.  To fire four shots in rapid progression in such a high pressure situation, with that impressive accuracy, at the very least seems not easy.

[Admiral Yi]

I didn't mean to say that Oswald was a rookie at shooting, but he was a rookie at assassinations.  To fire four shots in rapid progression in such a high pressure situation, with that impressive accuracy, at the very least seems not easy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghmY6HmR4fs

CBS recreates the shot.