this post was submitted on 26 Sep 2026
825 points (99.2% liked)

Not The Onion

22608 readers
1282 users here now

Welcome

We're not The Onion! Not affiliated with them in any way! Not operated by them in any way! All the news here is real!

The Rules

Posts must be:

  1. Links to news stories from...
  2. ...credible sources, with...
  3. ...their original headlines, that...
  4. ...would make people who see the headline think, “That has got to be a story from The Onion, America’s Finest News Source.”

Please also avoid duplicates.

Comments and post content must abide by the server rules for Lemmy.world and generally abstain from trollish, bigoted, ableist, or otherwise disruptive behavior that makes this community less fun for everyone.

And that’s basically it!

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
 

As an update to the story, this was confirmed by Gabe himself: https://www.dexerto.com/entertainment/gabe-newell-responds-to-fan-asking-about-bizarre-valve-throat-singing-story-3412684/

A fan then went straight to the source, emailing Newell to ask whether the story was real. In a reply shared online, sent from Newell’s Valve address, he provided more detail.

“Yeah, I had chatted with Paul Pena about it after I tried learning on my own,” he wrote. “I am entirely self taught and it shows.”

He added that he worked on the sygyt and kargyraa styles “and got to the point where I was really… annoying.”

Newell says he still hasn’t given it up entirely. “Every once in a while, I’ll pick it back up,” he wrote, adding that it takes a couple of weeks to condition his throat.

Pena was an American blues musician who taught himself Tuvan throat singing, later becoming the subject of the Oscar-nominated documentary Genghis Blues.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] anarchy79@lemmy.world 55 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

Mongolian throat singing is amazing.

You know, where I live, they have these guys coming out with leaf blowers in late April, making a racket in my neighborhood, and they just move street by street like a roving gang of crazed leaf blowers, and getting rid of all the crap that was accumulated under the snow when it thaws.

Every year, if I'm home at that time, I bring my big speakers to the window, open it wide, and blast Mongolian throat singing for them.

It mixes with the sound of leaf blowers extremely well. Whenever one of them starts wondering what the hell is going on and removes their hearing protection, I instantly mute it, and as soon as they put them back on I start blasting again.

It's a spring ritual for me.

AUUUUUUuuuuUuUUUUUuUuUuuuuurrrrrRrRrRRRRRRrrrRrrRrrRrrrrrarrrrRrRR-iaaaaaaaAAAaaaAaaaaAawwawRrrRRrRrrrRrrrrrrrrreyooooOoOOooOooOOOoOo

[–] wurstgulasch3000@feddit.org 6 points 5 days ago (1 children)

That's too funny, I hope this is real. But even if it's not, pretty funny

[–] anarchy79@lemmy.world 2 points 5 days ago

I got video.

[–] Historical_General@lemmy.world 16 points 6 days ago

That's hilarious. It was a niche viral trend online, but this guy really ran with it lol

[–] flop_leash_973@lemmy.world 11 points 5 days ago

I dream about being the kind of rich that allows me the mental space to get hyper fixated on stuff like that.

[–] Aditya_K9999@lemmy.today 9 points 6 days ago

Hahahahaha We don't call him Gaben, Jesus of gaming for no reason... He's freaking multi-talented pal and also real down to earth

[–] DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 10 points 6 days ago (4 children)
[–] Psythik@lemmy.world 10 points 6 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

Personally I'm a fan of The HU. It's a more modern take on throat singing.

[–] Event_Horizon@lemmy.world 2 points 5 days ago

I was able to see them live a couple of years ago, they were great!

[–] SlurpingPus@lemmy.world 7 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Good example, but from what I can hear, it doesn't much showcase an important feature of throat singing: emitting two notes at the same time. That comes in properly only at the very end.

P.S. Here's a good demonstration of various styles of throat singing.

[–] HereIAm@lemmy.world 3 points 6 days ago

This one was my first exposure that I can remember: https://youtu.be/VTCJ5hedcVA

Buy this concert one is my absolute favorite to put on repeat: https://youtu.be/i0djHJBAP3U

Hm, they're getting to the age where I should probably download them before they succumb to link rot.

[–] anarchy79@lemmy.world 3 points 6 days ago

This my favorite tune.

Love how his mother sits off camera, with equal measures pride and silent condemnation over his less-than-absolute-perfection performance.

[–] bloviate@lemmus.org 2 points 5 days ago
[–] UninvestedCuriosity@lemmy.world 190 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (4 children)

Other billionaires setting up cults and trying to bring a new age to techno fascism.

Gabe's colleagues: " sometimes he sings in his office and it's a little annoying and distracting."

Other billionaires response: buy media companies and government lobby, manipulate the narratives. Make a mockery of the legal system while hiding behind corporate entity.

Gabe: "yeah I asked a trusted colleague for honest feedback and feel a little bad about that.".

It's really not hard to not piss everyone in the world off or high effort.

[–] dan1101@lemmy.world 44 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I hope there is a good succession plan for Valve, because losing them would be tragic for PC gaming.

[–] adjectivenoun@lemmy.world 13 points 6 days ago

I hope it ends up like one of those nature reserves with a 1,000 year lease and a charter that specifies how content creators and gamers can be treated.

[–] vivalapivo@lemmy.today 12 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Can we please transfer wealth from Elon Musk and Peter Thiel to Linus Torwalds and Richard Stallman. Unless, of course, you all want to distribute it all back

[–] SlurpingPus@lemmy.world 15 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

I don't think this guy needs a lot of money:

(Although there's a second desk in another corner, littered with hardware and a 3D printer.)

[–] Scrollone@feddit.it 1 points 6 days ago (2 children)

I'm not that sure about a guy who eats his own toe jam in public...

[–] Nalivai@lemmy.world 7 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I'll take it over a guy who throws nazi salutes. I mean, the real answer is that nobody should have so much money, it can't do any good to anyone. But if the only controversy we can find about him is that he did that one gross thing to his foot that one time 20 years ago, I'll take it, oh how much I'll take it

[–] Scrollone@feddit.it 0 points 5 days ago

I agree with you, extremely rich people are horrible for the world; but I feel that Stallman is just a disgusting person all around. He's also misogynist and I bet that if he was rich, he would totally act like Musk. He just doesn't have the money to do so.

[–] vivalapivo@lemmy.today 4 points 6 days ago

Re-watched it. Still more appealing than Elon musk

[–] Fredthefishlord@lemmy.blahaj.zone 9 points 6 days ago (3 children)

Still a ridiculously and insanely wasteful person who's significantly greedy.

[–] glitchdx@lemmy.world 19 points 6 days ago (2 children)

he's not diddling kids or sexually harrassing his employees, as far as we know. It's a low bar but I'll take it.

[–] Fredthefishlord@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 points 6 days ago (2 children)

You set your bars too low.

[–] raze2012@lemmy.world 5 points 5 days ago

Only way I stay sane in an age of insanity.

[–] glitchdx@lemmy.world 6 points 6 days ago

you're not wrong.

He's not diddling kids: he's just giving them gambling addictions!

[–] Medic8eme@piefed.ca 2 points 6 days ago

Another shit stain billionaire that the gamer dudes fantasize about being.

[–] raze2012@lemmy.world 1 points 5 days ago

How we describing "significantly" here?

[–] kibblebits@quokk.au 138 points 1 week ago (35 children)

Remember when valve made games?

[–] nullspace@lemmy.world 4 points 6 days ago

Half-Life: Alyx is 6 years old. CS2 is only 3 years old. They're still publishing games, just not HL3.

load more comments (34 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›