Questions you want answered.

Grenn wrote:

What is an edgelord? I thought it was a really intense and/or angry kid with goth leanings (like Sasuke) but I could be very wrong and I'd like to avoid a potential slur situation.

my understand is: someone (or something) that is provocative and extreme for the sake of provocation itself in order to generate a reaction, usually with a gothy/gritty/punky connotation.

Grenn wrote:

What is an edgelord? I thought it was a really intense and/or angry kid with goth leanings (like Sasuke) but I could be very wrong and I'd like to avoid a potential slur situation.

An edgelord is someone who thinks being a jerk is cool and funny. They make dark, offensive, and extreme statements about controversial subjects for the reactions they get, not out of sincere beliefs.
The definition you're thinking of is certainly the stereotype for edgy characters. An edgelord is more like someone that uses an edgy character like that as their role model, think of people who are really into Deadpool, especially early Deadpool.

thrawn82 wrote:
Grenn wrote:

What is an edgelord? I thought it was a really intense and/or angry kid with goth leanings (like Sasuke) but I could be very wrong and I'd like to avoid a potential slur situation.

my understand is: someone (or something) that is provocative and extreme for the sake of provocation itself in order to generate a reaction, usually with a gothy/gritty/punky connotation.

A troll that posts horrible offensive or inciteful garbage to provoke reactions for amusement and then retreats behind "free speech" or "just a joke" as a defense. The name comes from the idea of going up to the line of criminality or real world consequences, but not over it.

Gotcha. I need another word for Sasuke.

And yes. The Hot Takes thread led to this question.

Yep. They are deliberately "edgy", but their definition of "edgy" is often simply being an asshole to other people. Think Gavin McInnes or Richard Spencer or, especially, James O'Keefe. Al Sharpton at times has filled this role on the left.

But most commonly it's not someone this famous, just some idiot inspired by them.

MaxShrek wrote:

How did Don Knots keep his glasses on as a human in the movie The incredible Mr. Limpet?

Easy. Those are called "pince nez", a French term for glasses attached by a nose clip. Often seen with a safety chain so they won't fall too far if they dislodge. Poirot had a pair, too. The term in French literally means something like "pinch nose" lol. There's a spring mechanism that pins them on your nose. Not really meant for all-day use, just for reading and detecting clues and the like.

Poirot vs Holmes. Get the BBC started on this ASAP.

If there isn't an Epic Rap Battle of that there should be.

RawkGWJ wrote:

Poirot vs Holmes. Get the BBC started on this ASAP.

Oddly enough, the first time I encountered the word was in a Sherlock Holmes short story.

Interesting the spectrum of views on "edgelord". To me it's a lot more benign - not necessarily an evil troll, just somebody affecting a darkly nihilistic persona in order to sound impressive/brooding/rebellious etc. Often a teenager trying to sound world-weary and mature.

To me the edgelord is the kid wearing a black fedora indoors and posting "organized religion has turned everyone into sheep" in the comments of a picture of someone's Christmas decorations.

From a games point of view I see edgelords as characters like Reaper from Overwatch and Shadow the Hedgehog.

fenomas wrote:

To me the edgelord is the kid wearing a black fedora indoors and posting "organized religion has turned everyone into sheep" in the comments of a picture of someone's Christmas decorations.

The two sets intersect. I just tried to cite some more famous ones. Here's a shot of James O'Keefe literally thinking he's "undercover" as a pimp in a failed sting of ACORN, which nonetheless ruined them before the truth of what O'Keefe had done got out. A true edgelord scumbag, his lies took down a 40 year old voter registration organization which had committed no crimes.

IMAGE(https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT7GIWE7rHz-KLzUr3uSH95rgxvbCH5z7xHhw&usqp=CAU)

In a very real sense, the tactics of the Edgelord are Trumpian, and will be part of Trump's gift to American politics for years to come. But hopefully not for decades...

fenomas wrote:

To me the edgelord is the kid wearing a black fedora indoors and posting "organized religion has turned everyone into sheep" in the comments of a picture of someone's Christmas decorations.

I think it's because 4chan has leaked into national politics.

Being political:

Spoiler:

There's a generational thing, maybe, of some teenagers who were edgy by trolling but never grew out of it got a bit older and turned into Gamergate and then into the broader culture. The fedora-wearing, for example, was partially driven by a men's fashion movement in the '00s and partially by the pickup-artist/manosphere crowd. There were a lot of young men in particular who were coming to terms with masculinity in an environment where a bunch of the former rites of passage were difficult or impossible. That lead them to find ways to express themselves through things like reviving 20th-century fashion trends like men's hats (healthy) and trying to pick up women (not healthy, and also unpleasant for other people).

I'd roughly chart the change in 'edgelord' as happening along-side the appearance of the incel movement. Once the incel movement started killing people, it's kind of hard to pretend that their brand of edgy was innocent fun. The Something Awful / 4chan feud was another sign (SA being one of the original internet bastions of edgy, but they rejected Gamergate when that started), the 4chan / 8chan split was darker.

And now there's 8kun. There is always somewhere lower to go...

Not trying to argue this, but as a point of interest (I'm surprised to find) "edgelord" is listed in various dictionaries and similar.

Grenn wrote:

What is an edgelord?

Someone who takes their own hot takes seriously. We just went over this in the Hot Takes thread

Robear wrote:
MaxShrek wrote:

How did Don Knots keep his glasses on as a human in the movie The incredible Mr. Limpet?

Easy. Those are called "pince nez", a French term for glasses attached by a nose clip. Often seen with a safety chain so they won't fall too far if they dislodge. Poirot had a pair, too. The term in French literally means something like "pinch nose" lol. There's a spring mechanism that pins them on your nose. Not really meant for all-day use, just for reading and detecting clues and the like.

That's interesting. It must have been annoying, he's always wearing them when he's a human.

Robear wrote:
MaxShrek wrote:

How did Don Knots keep his glasses on as a human in the movie The incredible Mr. Limpet?

Easy. Those are called "pince nez", a French term for glasses attached by a nose clip. Often seen with a safety chain so they won't fall too far if they dislodge. Poirot had a pair, too. The term in French literally means something like "pinch nose" lol. There's a spring mechanism that pins them on your nose. Not really meant for all-day use, just for reading and detecting clues and the like.

Everyone in Agatha Christie's books wears pince-nez, not just Poirot.

Those long metal things on the side of roads and highways to keep cars from sliding off a hill or into a tree.. do you call them guide rails or guard rails?

MaxShrek wrote:

Those long metal things on the side of roads and highways to keep cars from sliding off a hill or into a tree.. do you call them guide rails or guard rails?

They're called guard rails (guardrails) or check rails. However, as I understand it, guard rails are a type of guide rail which is a general term for rails on any type of track or conveyor.

Guard rails. If the rails are guiding you, you should probably get back on the road.

Guard rails ++

Interesting. I hear both often, but a DOT twitter post said "guide," so I brought it to the Goodjer hive mind.

Wikipedia wrote:

According to the US Federal Highway Administration, "The terms guardrail and guiderail are synonymous, and are used in different regions around the country."[4] Guide rail and guard rail are intended to steer and "guide" vehicles back onto the road. Since guard rails are designed to keep vehicles safe, and were not designed to guard vehicles from going off the roadway, one could argue that the most technically correct name when referring to road-side rails is guide rail. According to Cornell University’s Local Roads Program, “Quick Bites” (January 2003), titled Guide Rails: Introduction,[5] “The purpose of guide rail is to protect vehicle occupants from roadside hazards, like drop-offs or fixed objects.”

I did not know this, but I'm an uncivil engineer type.

The purpose is to guard you from roadside hazards that would be particularly catastrophic by guiding you back onto the roadway. I personally use guard rails. Now I'm curious where it breaks down regionally.

(I am a civil engineer type, and I'd reference a design manual for you but they're all in my office and it seems Wikipedia has us covered)

I'm going to set up a family game zoom for tonight. What's the best game? I'm mostly asking which of the many Jackbox Party Packs are best, but I would also accept other recommendations. General priorities are: easy for 6-8 people to play remotely; more a preference for trivia type stuff; phone based interface for individual players seems easiest. Thoughts?

So guide and guard rails are like the wonder of hoagies, grinders, and sub sandwiches.

It’s my experience that all of the Jackbox releases are great. That said, there’s usually one game in the bunch that stands out from the others. I think the question you should really be asking is, What are the standout games from each collection?

One that seems to connect with everybody whom I’ve played it with is called Tee K.O. It’s best with four or more players. The way it works is: First everyone gets a timed period to come up with as many “catch phrases” as possible. Things like sh*t happens, have a nice day, etc. I try to go as absurd as possible. I’ve been known to enter catch phrases such as diaper face, or PUNCH ME!!!
Next everyone has a limited amount of time to draw 2 doodles. Then everyone will be given two of the doodles and several of the phrases done by other players. You try to put together a funny combination of doodle and phrase which then gets put on a tee shirt. At the end everyone votes on the best shirt.
It’s a riot.

I've seen vehicles careen into guardrails a few times, and even when the support posts fail, the rail holds together, sort of like a rope, and the car literally slides along it until it hits the end and runs off into safer terrain. It's a bit like one of those juggler's toys that has a top spinning on a string on the end of two sticks. Very weird to see it in real time.

RawkGWJ wrote:

It’s my experience that all of the Jackbox releases are great. That said, there’s usually one game in the bunch that stands out from the others. I think the question you should really be asking is, What are the standout games from each collection?

Tee K.O. seems to be pretty solid with everyone (I've gone so far as to get one of the t-shirts we made actually printed). It's got both art and writing in ways that people who are only good at being funny with one or the other can participate. Plus the timer is for how many phrases you put in rather than limiting you to one phrase, making it a bit less stressful.

Quiplash is pretty solid, which is why they keep making it.

Blather 'Round in 7 turned out to to be really chill, because the collaborative nature means everyone can feel like they're participating. Great for people who feel intimidated by the need to feel funny. Max 6 players, though.

For trivia, they keep making Trivia Murder Party but it's Saw-theming is not exactly family-friendly and how it goes over depends on your group of friends.

The most bang for your buck is Party Pack 3, which has Quiplash 2, Trivia Murder Party, Guesspionage (also trivia), Tee K.O., and Fakin' It (which is a social deception game that's hard to stream). 4 out of 5 solid options. If you really want trivia specifically, Party Pack 5 has You Don't Know Jack: Full Stream.

If you're specifically wanting trivia, the main trivia games that fit your criteria are the Trivia Murder Party series, the Fibbage series, and You Don't Know Jack: Full Stream (Party Pack 5). With an honorable mention for Blather 'Round.