The unimportant news thread

[greg]

An article I saw today says that thousands of girls born in the US have been named Khaleesi, after the Game of Thrones character. Their parents just found out that they named their daughter after a genocidal maniac!

Oooops.

Somehow I don't think people would care anymore. Female empowerment and all being the thing nowadays.

[Jo498]

An article I saw today says that thousands of girls born in the US have been named Khaleesi, after the Game of Thrones character. Their parents just found out that they named their daughter after a genocidal maniac!

There was fun being made of that naming already years ago, mainly because in the books/show it isn't a name at all, it's a title ("Queen").

[Ghost of Baron Scarpia]

There was fun being made of that naming already years ago, mainly because in the books/show it isn't a name at all, it's a title ("Queen").

I think anyone fanatical enough to name their kid after a Game of Thrones character is aware that "Khaleesi" is a title.

[Jo498]

I am not so sure. I read the books before the show started and I only watched a few seasons. And Khaleesi is used far more frequently in the show to adress her that I think some people thought that it was Danaerys Targaryen's name. I doubt that anyone who read the books would think of naming someone "Khaleesi". But it is different if a character is always called by that word.

[Ken B]

I think anyone fanatical enough to name their kid after a Game of Thrones character is aware that "Khaleesi" is a title.

You might think that anyone fanatical enough to go to church would know Christ is a title. But you would be wrong.

In any event, we are talking difference between naming your kid Göring and naming him Reichmarshal. 

[Ghost of Baron Scarpia]

I am not so sure. I read the books before the show started and I only watched a few seasons. And Khaleesi is used far more frequently in the show to adress her that I think some people thought that it was Danaerys Targaryen's name. I doubt that anyone who read the books would think of naming someone "Khaleesi". But it is different if a character is always called by that word.

It seems pretty obvious that it is a title in the TV show, they go on and on about her husband the Khal, how he is stronger than the other Khals, how she leads the Khalisar, how she became the Khaleesi when she married the Khal, etc.

I don't think there is anything dumb about naming a person after a literary figure (or a foreign word, for that matter) and it is not unprecedented for a honorific to be adapted as a name. Raj is a common Indian name and can also mean king or ruler. It is just unfortunate that people chose the name before her character took a dark turn and became a genocidal maniac.

Anyway, I read the first volume or two of the series of books, and I initially liked the TV show better. But as the TV show has outrun the books it is clear that the plotting has become more incoherent. I read somewhere the Martin said the TV show would need 5 more seasons to end properly. Clearly he's lost it. 

[Ghost of Baron Scarpia]

I assume people are also naming their kids after the dragons...

[Ken B]

I assume people are also naming their kids after the dragons...

Pick an item from the Sears catalog and someone has named a kid after it.

I am only partly joking. I once taught a kid named Pajama; the name was literally selected from a Sears advertisement.

[greg]

Nicholas Cage got divorced after a 4 day marriage and his ex-wife now wants spousal support money

https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/nicolas-cage-spousal-support-split-estranged-wife-annulment-divorce



HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Don't get married, dudes...

[Ghost of Baron Scarpia]

Nicholas Cage got divorced after a 4 day marriage and his ex-wife now wants spousal support money

https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/nicolas-cage-spousal-support-split-estranged-wife-annulment-divorce



HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Don't get married while blind drunk in Vegas, dudes...

Corrected.

What she wants and what she gets are two different things. It varies by state to state, but I think a typical rule is you are entitled to half the wealth accumulated during the marriage. How much money does Nicolas Cage make in four days?

[greg]

Corrected.

What she wants and what she gets are two different things. It varies by state to state, but I think a typical rule is you are entitled to half the wealth accumulated during the marriage. How much money does Nicolas Cage make in four days?

Maybe so, but part of my point is to show how ridiculous some people are. (well, many  )

Like, what a great incentive to get married when you know there's people out there who are so hungry for your money that they want whatever they can get after just 4 days. 

[Karl Henning]

I am not so sure. I read the books before the show started and I only watched a few seasons. And Khaleesi is used far more frequently in the show to adress her that I think some people thought that it was Danaerys Targaryen's name. I doubt that anyone who read the books would think of naming someone "Khaleesi". But it is different if a character is always called by that word.

Well, just as long as George R.R.Martin receives royalties....

[Ken B]

Well, just as long as George R.R.Martin receives royalties....

It's the folks who named their kid Harvey Weinstein that I feel sorry for.

[drogulus]

     Lawyers for Noah's Ark theme park are suing its insurance company for rain damage

     Our thoughts, prayers, lawyers, guns and money are with you.

[Ghost of Baron Scarpia]

A study shows that Americans aged 18-35 have net worth 35% lower than Americans in the same age group in 1996.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/05/31/millennials-have-an-average-net-worth-thats-significantly-less-than-previous-generations/?utm_term=.a429135ebe94

Evidence of civilization collapse, so appropriate for the unimportant news thread.

[greg]

A study shows that Americans aged 18-35 have net worth 35% lower than Americans in the same age group in 1996.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/05/31/millennials-have-an-average-net-worth-thats-significantly-less-than-previous-generations/?utm_term=.a429135ebe94

Evidence of civilization collapse, so appropriate for the unimportant news thread.

They need to pull themselves up by the bootstraps and stop buying iPhones!

/sarcasm

I can't read the article, but I'm going to guess less high paying jobs per person?...

[Florestan]

Pope Francis in the 2nd of his 3-day visit in Romania.

https://www.euronews.com/2019/05/31/pope-francis-arrives-in-bucharest-for-three-day-visit-to-orthodox-romania

Romania was the first Orthodox country ever that a Pope visited (St. John Paul II in 1999) --- a historical feature I am proud of --- and now Pope Francis is friendly, even enthusiastically, received, at all levels: President Klaus Johannis (Lutheran, ethnically German*), the Orthodox Patriarch Daniel and the whole Romanian people irrespective of their ethnicity and confession, all welcome Pope Francis wholeheartedly --- and this I am also proud of. After last Sunday's EU elections, which showed Romanians to be among the staunchest pro-EU countries of the union, this visit shows Romanians to be among the staunchest ecumenical nations in Europe, certainly THE most ecumenical Orthodox nation.



*this alone should give pause for thought to anyone who thinks Romanians are a backwater nation

[Ghost of Baron Scarpia]

They need to pull themselves up by the bootstraps and stop buying iPhones!

/sarcasm

I can't read the article, but I'm going to guess less high paying jobs per person?...

...and dramatically higher cost of education, health care, student load debt, etc...

The crux of it is that in the U.S. economy, for a typical corporation, a much smaller fraction of revenue goes to wage or salary earners, a much greater fraction goes to investors. It has changed U.S. culture in fundamental ways.

[drogulus]

Pope Francis in the 2nd of his 3-day visit in Romania.

https://www.euronews.com/2019/05/31/pope-francis-arrives-in-bucharest-for-three-day-visit-to-orthodox-romania

Romania was the first Orthodox country ever that a Pope visited (St. John Paul II in 1999) --- a historical feature I am proud of --- and now Pope Francis is friendly, even enthusiastically, received, at all levels: President Klaus Johannis (Lutheran, ethnically German*), the Orthodox Patriarch Daniel and the whole Romanian people irrespective of their ethnicity and confession, all welcome Pope Francis wholeheartedly --- and this I am also proud of. After last Sunday's EU elections, which showed Romanians to be among the staunchest pro-EU countries of the union, this visit shows Romanians to be among the staunchest ecumenical nations in Europe, certainly THE most ecumenical Orthodox nation.



*this alone should give pause for thought to anyone who thinks Romanians are a backwater nation

     In some countries you belong to a religion if you were raised in one, which may only amount to a baptism. Also, atheists are terrible at glomming together. There doesn't seem to be a hole to fill, so we aren't eager to fill it. Where atheism is common people don't go around being atheists with each other.

[Ken B]

     In some countries you belong to a religion if you were raised in one, which may only amount to a baptism. Also, atheists are terrible at glomming together. There doesn't seem to be a hole to fill, so we aren't eager to fill it. Where atheism is common people don't go around being atheists with each other.

I find atheist conferences and dinners and "evenings with" where you listen to people parade arguments you ready agree with distasteful. Especially the ones where people swoon over James Randi. They look like revival meetings