The Random Image Thread (keeping it PG-13 at the worst)

[dv]

[ukimalefu]

it's a bad photo-chop for a bad joke, but the gaming bucket needs lights.

[Metacell]

One way or another...Mithras shall return!

Zoroastrianism had a huge influence on Judaism/Christianity/Islam as it was the Persian schism against the Dharmic religions of India that ultimately converted the Western pop-worldview from monistic pantheism to dualistic monotheism.

But the Hell I'm going to read all the rest of that small print.

[ukimalefu]

[ukimalefu]

[Pithecanthropus]

Sure, if you use the mercator projection.

[justine]

I remember when they first started talking about this! LOL!

[ukimalefu]

[ukimalefu]

Sure, if you use the merCATor projection.

yup, it's right there

[juice]

Is anyone else curious as to what that person will do for coleslaw?

[ukimalefu]

Is anyone else curious as to what that person will do for coleslaw?

huh?

nothing?

feign interest?

wait for someone to offer some in the odd chance I may want some?

[juice]

Not you, uki. The "coleslaw harlot" so named in the above cat picture.

[TOS]

i used to have a laserdisc, it was fantastic

[justine]

I had a Laserdisc player, too. I really wasn't all that impressed.

[dv]

[maurvir]

I had a Laserdisc player, too. I really wasn't all that impressed.

What made them great is that they were DVDs before DVDs existed. They stored their video as uncompressed PCM, which is why they only stored ~60 minutes per side, which meant no degradation until it left your player. Which, unfortunately, was likely unless you dropped a bundle on a component video input TV or monitor.

Unlike a video cassette, they theoretically would never wear out either. The last play was just as good as the first play. Audio tracking issues weren't a thing because the audio tracks were also digital PCM and synced with the video inherently. Video tracking wasn't a thing because, well, the player was generating a source video signal from the PCM source like a CD player.

Unfortunately, the whole thing was insanely expensive compared to VHS all the way down the line. The players were absurdly expensive, the movies were absurdly expensive (and hard to find in the US), and the component video hardware required to watch them in high fidelity was, get this, also absurdly expensive. Which is why most people had a VHS deck connected to a 19" TV with either component or RF. Fancy folks might use S-video. If you wanted better sound, you got a stereo receiver.

[ukimalefu]

astronauts watching star wars in space (the Last Jedi) that's Poe Dameron on the screen.

[justine]

I had a Laserdisc player, too. I really wasn't all that impressed.

What made them great is that they were DVDs before DVDs existed. They stored their video as uncompressed PCM, which is why they only stored ~60 minutes per side, which meant no degradation until it left your player. Which, unfortunately, was likely unless you dropped a bundle on a component video input TV or monitor.

Unlike a video cassette, they theoretically would never wear out either. The last play was just as good as the first play. Audio tracking issues weren't a thing because the audio tracks were also digital PCM and synced with the video inherently. Video tracking wasn't a thing because, well, the player was generating a source video signal from the PCM source like a CD player.

Unfortunately, the whole thing was insanely expensive compared to VHS all the way down the line. The players were absurdly expensive, the movies were absurdly expensive (and hard to find in the US), and the component video hardware required to watch them in high fidelity was, get this, also absurdly expensive. Which is why most people had a VHS deck connected to a 19" TV with either component or RF. Fancy folks might use S-video. If you wanted better sound, you got a stereo receiver.

I don't remember if i went from Laserdisc to Beta or vise versa, but i really liked Beta better and then was forced to VHS. I remember not liking the big and bulkybess of the LD and the lack of available titles i liked.

[ukimalefu]

[Warin]

I had a Laserdisc player, too. I really wasn't all that impressed.

What made them great is that they were DVDs before DVDs existed. They stored their video as uncompressed PCM, which is why they only stored ~60 minutes per side, which meant no degradation until it left your player. Which, unfortunately, was likely unless you dropped a bundle on a component video input TV or monitor.

Unlike a video cassette, they theoretically would never wear out either. The last play was just as good as the first play. Audio tracking issues weren't a thing because the audio tracks were also digital PCM and synced with the video inherently. Video tracking wasn't a thing because, well, the player was generating a source video signal from the PCM source like a CD player.

Unfortunately, the whole thing was insanely expensive compared to VHS all the way down the line. The players were absurdly expensive, the movies were absurdly expensive (and hard to find in the US), and the component video hardware required to watch them in high fidelity was, get this, also absurdly expensive. Which is why most people had a VHS deck connected to a 19" TV with either component or RF. Fancy folks might use S-video. If you wanted better sound, you got a stereo receiver.

I don't remember if i went from Laserdisc to Beta or vise versa, but i really liked Beta better and then was forced to VHS. I remember not liking the big and bulkybess of the LD and the lack of available titles i liked.

Are you talking about the early 80s? If so, they were discs in a caddy that you had to flip half way, right? Those weren’t actually laser discs. CED discs were actually closer to lp’s. I remember renting the player and discs from the first video store in town, a corner of a large furniture store. The good old days!

[user]

Central Vietnam near Da Nang

holy crap that's great.

[macnuke]

we can't have those.... someone will jump and harm themselves.
i miss the old days when you let stupid be stupid.

but it's a great piece of art with a hell of a view.

[jkahless]

Sure, if you use the mercator projection.

Looks like a winkel tripel to me.

[DEyncourt]

Sure, if you use the mercator projection.

Looks like a winkel tripel to me.

It's a cheat: double use of the east end of Siberia for the tail and for the cat's ear (could have fixed this by mentioning that the outline was for a Manx cat).

The plain omission of how skeletally thin is the middle of this cat by "just" drawing the outline across about 2,100 miles (3,300 km) of the Atlantic between Brazil and western Africa.

And c'mon: not writing "I now believe in the cat earth theory" to rhyme with "flat earth theory"? THAT is a crime, I tell ya.

[sean]

I had a Laserdisc player, too. I really wasn't all that impressed.

Unfortunately, the whole thing was insanely expensive compared to VHS all the way down the line. The players were absurdly expensive, the movies were absurdly expensive (and hard to find in the US)....

Oh, how I miss my laserdisc player! There was, way back in the 90s, a place near my house where you could rent (yes RENT) movies on laserdisc for not much money. I have fond memories of getting up several times during a film to flip or swap the disc.

Here's a neat video that goes over everything you never wanted to know and were smart enough not to ask regarding laserdisc: YouTube

[obvs]

Central Vietnam near Da Nang

holy crap that's great.

That's beautiful.

[justine]

I saw that bridge on the news. Kinda cool.

[maurvir]

Yes, that is a Porsche Cayenne that has been turned into a convertible woody. I'm not that offended, though, as the Cayenne shouldn't exist anyway.

[ukimalefu]

Yes, that is a Porsche Cayenne that has been turned into a convertible woody. I'm not that offended, though, as the Cayenne shouldn't exist anyway.

Not sure if it's a bad photoshop or just a bad vinyl sticker. They're certainly not wooden panels.

[ukimalefu]

not sure how real the wood is, but these panels are really there

[ukimalefu]

[DukeofNuke]

I would definitely drive that to the Smokies.

[TOS]

I would definitely drive that to the Smokies.

try to avoid front-end impacts

[Aaron_R]

this was designed by a person who tried to be in aerospace engineering but as you can see they failed to grasp the concept of airflow

[ukimalefu]

so, allegedly, that's a cake she made

[obvs]

Just give me a knife and let me cut off the cockpit.

[ukimalefu]

[ukimalefu]

[ukimalefu]

[dv]