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Quote: DJTeddyBearAnd while I and not campaigning for the job, I have said that I am unsure I'd be a good choice.
That makes you the perfect choice. Also the fact that you do stay out of flame wars.
Quote:However, I would accept the task if assigned to me, and, unlike Nareed, I would tend to use the power sparingly - preferring to err on the side of 'providing benefit of doubt'.
Here's the thing, when I'm a mod or admin and a flame war about something that affects me or I'm interested in erupts, I use my super powers to win the flame war and grind the opposition to dust. That's wrong for a mod or admin to do.
So not getting into fights is a big plus, as you wouldn't try to win them.
In my defense, the last time I did something like that was in an SF board where some idiots were "proving" the Moon landing was fake <roll eyes>. They didn't even seem to know there were several Moon landings, not just one <sigh>
Quote: NareedThey didn't even seem to know there were several Moon landings, not just one <sigh>
Well, really, if they were going to go to the trouble of building such an elaborate set, it'd be a shame to only use it once...;-)
Quote: rdw4potusWell, really, if they were going to go to the trouble of building such an elaborate set, it'd be a shame to only use it once...;-)
As conspiracies go, that's one of the most outlandish. I mean, how many people were involved in each Apollo mission? How many scientists in how many countries analyzed Moon rock and soil samples? Let alone there are millions of photographs and hours upon hours of video of astronauts on the Moon.
But we're hijacking the thread.
Once I sat next to a guy on a plane who was blabbering to me about how the moon landing was faked. His main argument was that the moon lander was never tested on earth. To that I mentioned that the gravity on earth is much stronger than on the moon, and the lander would have horribly crashed on earth. He didn't respond to that point, but at least it shut him up.
With all the conspiracy theorists on this site there must be someone to take the other side on this one.
All I intend to say is this: "Three people can keep a secret if two of them are dead."
Quote: NareedLet alone there are millions of photographs and hours upon hours of video of astronauts on the Moon.
The same could be said of middle earth.
Ditto. But, Nareed, you can fix it. Here's how:Quote: NareedWizard, I wish you'd split from the second post rather than the first.
Edit your first post in this thread. Copy everything except the moon stuff. Re-post it in the other thread. Then come back here and delete that stuff. (Yeah, I realize you could save a step, but this way eliminates the possibility of a screw-up.)
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I've never heard the ladder argument, but I've heard a lot about the flag that looks like it's waving in the breeze.
I've also heard that the movie Capricorn One was a pseudo documentary showing how easy it would have been to fake the moon landing.
Quote: DJTeddyBearDitto. But, Nareed, you can fix it. Here's how:
I don't like doing that. what's done should remain done. When I edit posts, except to correct typos, I add a note saying so.
Quote:I've also heard that the movie Capricorn One was a pseudo documentary showing how easy it would have been to fake the moon landing.
That's one of the worst movies ever made. As far as suspension of disbelief goes, it is the worst. There's no way in hell you can launch people to Mars on an Apollo Saturn V, even if you don't want them to get there alive.
It's not a pseudo documentary, but the use of existing hardware mkaes it look a little like one. It's just regular Hollywood, er, parsimony and determination to be "topical." Even terrible movies like Species 2 bothered to make a Mars craft (albeit an idiotic one).
BTW the most realistic space travel movies are 2001 and 2010, and that's about the only thing they've got going for them <sigh>
I didn't say I believed any of it. I just said I had heard the Capricorn One / pseudo documentary argument.
Quote: DJTeddyBearI didn't say I believed any of it. I just said I had heard the Capricorn One / pseudo documentary argument.
I didn't think you did. I merely pointed out why others might. And criticizing Hollywood for scientific/technological illiteracy, which is always a lot of fun.
The Russians had all the technology to prove it wrong, but we have never heard a peep out of them.
End of argument.
And if the Russians did say something, the response would have been, "Don't believe everything you read in Pravda."
Hmmm....
Isn't that the same thing as, "Don't believe everything you read on the internet?"
(FYI: I love playing Devil's advocate...)
Quote: DJTeddyBearYou're relying on Russian technology to discredit a conspiracy theory?
And if the Russians did say something, the response would have been, "Don't believe everything you read in Pravda."
Hmmm....
Isn't that the same thing as, "Don't believe everything you read on the internet?"
(FYI: I love playing Devil's advocate...)
Hmm maybe, but they did not say ONE word. I stand by my view.
Everything on the internet is fact. Although some facts are just made up on the spot. 70% of all people know that!
Quote: KeyserI've found that conspiracy theorists -like the "lunar landings were faked crowd"- tend to make fantastic system inventors for negative expectation games and perpetual motion devices.
I can't say I'm surprised. A betting system or a perpetual motion machine fit neatly into conspiracy theories themselves. The system "they" don't want you to know about, or the energy source "they" don't want to release. It's a natural fit. I suppose they also can come up with fake AIDS and cancer cures. there are already conspiracy theories about the diseases anyway.
Quote: MoscaI remember reading Worlds in Collision when I was 12, and thinking to myself about how it made such perfect sense... and the next year wondering how I could be so gullible, when we learned planetary mechanics in earth sciences.
I read it at summer camp when I was 14. I thought ti made sense, too, until I started talking about it with other people. Then I burst out laughing at the absurdity.
I don't remember it very well. Did venus colllide with the Earth, or just kiss it, or just passed close?
Quote:What drives people to ignore the real intricacies of science, and accept the outlandish proposals of quacks?
What makes you think most people know there are intricancies of science to begin with?
Notice how there are no stars showing in the background? And how can Osama survive without a space suit? And the birth certificate the astronaut is holding is an obvious forgery.
Quote: PaulEWogJust look at this photo I uncovered:
Thanks. You just volunteered yourself as my Photoshop helper.
Quote: WizardThanks. You just volunteered yourself as my Photoshop helper.
Your joking? he didnt even photoshop a space suit on him. How are we to believe he is able to breathe. If he were actually on the moon in that picture he would of been killed by the horrible vacuum of space and not in a house in pakistan...... Oh see what we have discovered here? This is evidence that didnt really kill him, quick print it off and throw it in the sea!
Quote: thecesspitI think I've mentioned it in other threads on gambling systems but there's a definite similarity between True Believers of various weird psuedo sciences and there combative approaches to "critics" and those proposing various Gambling Systems as always working with the right sort of belief and skill (and how simulation will never work etc etc)
As I have said many times, "The more ridiculous a belief is, the more tenaciously it tends to be held." toxicdrums.com even quotes me saying that, although I think I heard it somewhere before.
Quote: NareedWhen I edit posts, except to correct typos, .....
but the use of existing hardware mkaes it look a little like one. <sigh>
Missed one. Again. ;)
Quote: rxwineOkay, what's the most conspiracy sounding thing that actually turned out to be true. (it's an opinion question, of course)
People often see other people in their office or workplace stealing teaspoons, but they say nothing because they're also stealing spoons themselves.
I can't prove anyone's seen any teaspoons being stolen, but every office I ever worked at had spoons missing.
Quote: DJTeddyBearDon't people know they can get all the teaspoons they want at the dessert station at any buffet?
Not everyone lives in Vegas :P
I recall when airlines served meals with metal cuttlery. My mom always stole the teaspoons.
Quote: rxwineOkay, what's the most conspiracy sounding thing that actually turned out to be true.
"The world is round".
Although there are still some unanswered questions about that one.
Buffets are not unique to casinos or Vegas.Quote: NareedNot everyone lives in Vegas :PQuote: DJTeddyBearDon't people know they can get all the teaspoons they want at the dessert station at any buffet?
But now that I'm thinking about it....
A few years back, we were at the buffet at Foxwoods, and my brother asked for a teaspoon for his coffee. The waitress looked left, then right, then produced a teaspoon wrapped in a napkin from her pocket.
Naturally, while laughing, we had to ask her what that was all about.
Seems people steal them, so they are not allowed to put them out until people ask. But they are supposed to go all the way back to the waitress station to get a spoon. She said 'screw that....'
Our response was, "It's a friggin' casino, and they are worried about a 39¢ spoon?" Yeah, we know it was probably more like a $2 spoon, but still.
Ding, ding, ding!Quote: kp"The world is round".Quote: rxwineOkay, what's the most conspiracy sounding thing that actually turned out to be true.
I think we have a winner.
At least, it's gonna be hard to top that!
Quote: DJTeddyBearBuffets are not unique to casinos or Vegas.
Teaspoons at the dessert station seem to be.
I tried a breakfast buffet at the Holiday Inn in Queretaro, and all the cuttlery was brought to the table by the waitress. At the Holiday Inn Express in Morelia they had everything but teaspoons at the crappy, I mean complimentary, breakfast buffet. Lest you think that's exclusive to Holiday Inn, I saw similar practices at the Howard Johnson's and Santa Rosa suites in Monterrety.
Quote:Our response was, "It's a friggin' casino, and they are worried about a 39¢ spoon?" Yeah, we know it was probably more like a $2 spoon, but still.
Four years ago we bought a cuttlery set for six for the office. There are six of everything left, except teaspoons. Only one survives from that set. So based on that, Foxwoods isn't worried about one spoon, but about twenty or thirty thousand teaspoons per year.
So either my conspiracy theory is correct, or teaspoons have been crossbred with socks :P
Quote: WizardThanks. You just volunteered yourself as my Photoshop helper.
I'd be happy to, but I'm under contract with Donald Trump and the contract prohibits me from working for anyone else.
BTW, does anyone have an opinion on which of these sound better? "Mr. Obama was initially denied entry to Harvard" or "Mr. Obama was not initially approved for Harvard"?
"Mr. Obama was initially denied entry to Harvard" sounds like what a rational person would say.Quote: PaulEWogBTW, does anyone have an opinion on which of these sound better? "Mr. Obama was initially denied entry to Harvard" or "Mr. Obama was not initially approved for Harvard"?
"Mr. Obama was not initially approved for Harvard" is what a Spin Doctor would say.
"Harvard rejected Obama" is what the press would say.
Quote: DJTeddyBearDing, ding, ding!
I think we have a winner.
At least, it's gonna be hard to top that!
We have to go bigger then. The universe doesn't revolve around Earth.
Quote:"Mr. Obama was initially denied entry to Harvard" sounds like what a rational person would say.
"Mr. Obama was not initially approved for Harvard" is what a Spin Doctor would say.
"Harvard rejected Obama" is what the press would say.
And not qualified to run this country is what a businessman would say.
Quote: kp"The world is round".
Although there are still some unanswered questions about that one.
Pythagoras postulated that the earth was spherical 600 years before Christ. Aristotle deduced it around 330 BC. Eratothsenes first calculated the circumference about 240 BC.
Myth of the flat Earth
Quote: KeyserAnd not qualified to run this country is what a businessman would say.
That's okay, there's plenty of businessmen who aren't qualified to run a business that do so anyways.
Capricorn One was either a profitable movie or it was not.
The audience members generally enjoyed it or they did not.
Ain't nobody believed it was true.
Quote: thecesspitThat's okay, there's plenty of businessmen who aren't qualified to run a business that do so anyways.
And do it very poorly.
Sure, nobody believed that it was a true account of anything, but there are those people that reject the moon landing that point to Capricorn One as an example of how easy it would have been to fake it.Quote: FleaStiffI can't figure out what you people are talking about in this thread.
Capricorn One was either a profitable movie or it was not.
The audience members generally enjoyed it or they did not.
Ain't nobody believed it was true.
That's why I said "pseudo" documentary.
Quote: DJTeddyBearSure, nobody believed that it was a true account of anything, but there are those people that reject the moon landing that point to Capricorn One as an example of how easy it would have been to fake it.
Using Capricorn One's methods, though, all NASA had to do was use a Gemini launch system and say they were going to the Moon. Even Futurama got that right:
Leela: We'll deliver the box
Fry: Can't we just dump it in the sewer?
Bender: nah, too much work. let's burn it and say we dumped it in the sewer.
But then Futurama is the exception that probes the Hollywood science illiteracy rule.
Where was I? Oh, yes, no need to develop an expensive Apollo system, no need to have an Apollo 1 fire on the launchpad, no need to blow up Apollo 13's oxygen tank and place Tom Hanks in so much danger.