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Gentleman, I believe we can agree that this is a victory. 1304170330 The problem is that it will just turn it r/nosleep. But yeah, go for gold. 1353763204 Well, according to some Christian apologists, the fact that places described in the bible exist prove its reliability. So obviously, Hercules is real, too. I'm hoping by extension this means Xena is real. 1336314173 Don't know if this is what you are looking for, but The Skeptics Guide to the Universe podcast had an episode about a month or so ago where they talked about the scientific\\logic flaws in this movie for a good 15-20 minutes. 1348860314 I respect what you're saying completely. I just don't think and process things the same way. 1341285952 You're asking this of the History Channel when Fox News is still widely available and watched? 1323714877 I don't know that it's parachuters, but it's much better than your blimp theory. You were the one coming across as the douchey expert. With that being said, I hope your Sunday is wonderful. 1349015976 Thanks.\n\nI wouldn't say it's done damage so much as possibly given him electromagnetic sensitivity (super powers :p) 1350598393 Let me tell you something right here, there is not a spec of truth in "Ask Reddit" the ridiculousness of the bull shit they pass off as truth is laughable. And the morons in that sub gobble it up, if you call bull shit you are going to have a bad time. I could go on for pages on the BS they pull off as real, but what is the point? 1354421686 >Your argument kinda fails on be because I do think we should take measures to control the human population.\n\nIncluding euthanizing people if they live in poor conditions? Better get started then. 1271498582 I worry that it might be construed as libel or slander, though.\n\nI'm not very educated on the legal aspects of all of this, do you happen to know what the legal limits of such a "picketing" act would be? 1292032509 Not at all. Reality either behaves in some way or it doesn't. Our politics, beliefs, and opinions do not change it in any way. If you have questions surrounding the science of AGW, then raise them, and if they can't be properly addressed, you have reason to be doubt the theory. If you don't have any such questions, then you are basing your world view around your political beliefs rather than empirical evidence. \n\nEDIT: I wasn't going to include information specifically about global warming, because I was trying to make a point about not letting politics influence how you validate claims. However, two minutes of searching lead me to [this thread](http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/h8hks/how_solid_is_the_scientific_backing_for/), which has a pretty good top comment. 1331234310 Ask your brother to take one sip of tap water. No problem, right? Now tell him to chug 3 gallons of it in under 15 minutes so he can enjoy a case of hyper-hydration. O NOES, WATER IS TEH POISON!1! TEH GOVERNMENT IS POISONING US!1!! 1298304825 I'm not super certain that they were *definitely* imitating another culture, but it seems that they very well may have been indeed.\n\nJust playing devil's advocate, btw.\n\nAdditionally, if these are indeed homo sapien sapiens that used skull binding techniques on themselves and if this skull binding was an attempt at imitating (presumably very advanced) ETs, I'm not super certain that these very advanced ETs even *left* anything other than some possible artifacts behind. I'm not certain any actual specimens would indeed be eventually unearthed.\n\nAnd if they *were*, I doubt TPTB would not have immediately sequestered the data and kept it from the public. They tend to do that kind of thing often, unfortunately.\n\nLots of conditions here, but I think the ultimate point is that this archeological finding is indeed very interesting. 1355780381 Can you really place a cost on the magic of being able to see your aura?\n\nSpeak not to me of the worldly evil of money! 1343099064 Be careful. Some de-programmers forcibly abduct and use the same psychological tactics as cults to bring cultists back to the larger culture. They can be even more violent than the cults themselves.\n\nPeople don't end up believing in cults because the message makes sense to them, they end up in cults because of the psychological and emotional environment they provide. Your friend of a friend probably fell into a cult because of some emotional lack. I mention this because it's useless to try to reason someone out of a cult, but you can perhaps identify what they get out of it and work from that angle. 1353085508 http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mdc9ufGK2g1r6fzhxo1_1280.jpg 1353088523 as a somwut cirrus prostant I abject! 1283972379 If the hippies over at Wikipedia said it than it must be true 1326242427 >the presenters' gambit was clear enough: Can anyone really prove the earth isn't sitting still? That's tougher than it sounds: Even though astrophysicists tell us that every body in the universe is in motion, it will always appear that the thing you're on is standing still relative to everything else.\n\nGeocentrism is actually a valid frame of reference, just not a very useful one when describing anything further away than Earth's orbit. And if your evidence is that while we're on Earth, everything seems to move around us, then you could make a similar argument for anywhere else being the center of the universe. If I'm standing on Mars, then it seems like everything moves around Mars. 1300305149 A lot. That's why it would be an interesting, but still fun, project. 1337886509 "Marble" is "marmur" in Polish. It's only a few letters off so your brain just guessed and got the right word. Most words in different languages are based on common roots (such as Latin or Greek). 1353893502 Well homeopathic medicine works, so I can see why they do this. [](/troll) 1305544885 I was going to post that this wasn't one of the best TED talks I had seen, but then I realized which subreddit it was posted in.\n\nIt was brilliant to connect this with UFOs. Bravo.\n 1347425624 If you see one you will know what I mean. 1347517312 He will be missed :( 1329604625 Kinda. I mean if you've ever looked though a pair of binoculars backwards exactly like that. Everything's just far away and stretched. "Zoomed out" I guess would describe it. 1354852007 One thing the article didn't mention is that several places have been caught shortening the amber light at intersections with red light cameras, and this probably also has an impact. 1343193843 no and that's the problem. The more I think about it the more the fuzz just turns into Carson Daly. I think TRL was on at 7, then this show then Beavis and Butthead (or equivalent adult programming). However, the possibilities I changed the channel are endless. But that doesn't negate the fact I watched this show for at least a year. I've even scoured tv show lists from the 90's and can't find anything remotely resembling what I think I remember. 1328987712 >You claim that my MP3 player interferes with airplane electronics? Show me.\n\nI worked as an electromagnetic compatibility engineer, so I have seen many examples of these interferences. To provide an example, I tested a pump used to create vacuum that holds on prosthetic limbs. During initial testing, we learned that it was susceptible to a common cell phone frequency, that would result in lack of pumping and, by extension, the prosthetic would fall off. \n\nA much more common and easy to grasp EMC issue is static discharge. That stuff is a bitch...\n\nBut make no mistake, RF interference is very real. \n\nThey don't disallow electronics because they KNOW they will cause issues. They disallow them because they KNOW there is a POTENTIAL to cause issues. 1335213558 Am I the only one that noticed several spots where the camera was paused and restarted? This has "FAKED" written all over it. 1314964073 I think compulsory vaccination is out of line when it comes to vaccines that have not been tested long term or are being used in new combinations such as the MMR vaccine linked above.\n\nIt turned out that the chicken pox and MMR vaccines, on their own, were perfectly safe and effective, but when used in conjunction with each other caused seizures in 1 out of 2,300 shots. \n\nSo now the CDC says "hey guys, you might want to separate those two shots..." but that comes as little consolation to the parents of kids who ended up with seizures.\n\nThe BIG problem I have are the folks who go "Jenny McCarthy is bullshit" when they don't take the time to do the research and see that there are, in fact, problems with quite a few vaccinations.\n\nAre thy all bad? No. But they aren't all good either. 1330065921 Pennsylvania has a possible UFO crash in Kecksburg, about 30 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. Never made it out there myself.\n\nAlso Gettysburg is supposedly haunted as hell.\n\nThe town I live in supposedly has a Blue Lady as well at the Old Lonsinger House.\n\nMy friend used to be a night watchman at the abandoned Dixmont Mental hospital. The place was shut down but they had to patrol it to keep kids or vagrants from roaming around. He told me sometimes in the guard house he could hear people walking around upstairs while he was the only one there.\n\nOh man, I remember reading this a while ago. Congelier Mansion, 1129 Ridge Avenue:\nhttp://pittsburgh.about.com/od/history/a/congelier_house.htm\n\n"When officials entered the house to investigate, they found a decomposed female body strapped to the bed and five headless young women in basement graves. "Dr. Brunrichter had been experimenting with severed heads," wrote Winer and Osborn. "Apparently he had been able to keep some alive for short periods after decapitation." Dr. Brunrichter, meanwhile, had disappeared, and the house once again stood vacant. " 1331922866 I agree, even if true 135 million is not that much on a cellular level.\nRemember we have 100 BILLION bacteria in a liner centimeter of our intestine. [per Tyson](http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/qccer/i_am_neil_degrasse_tyson_ask_me_anything/c3wguoh) 1346005333 This has always been one of my favourite Futurama clips! ...Except for the professor's disturbingly revealing thong, that is. 1276917480 Given that a number of long-practising, high-level Tibetan Buddhist monks have willingly involved themselves in a long-running and careful investigation of the neurophysiology of meditation with extremely interesting results, I have no issue whatsoever with the idea that 'mystical' practice can deliver real psychological and physiological benefits. \n\nHowever, since the scientists in question have been able to measure and learn about these responses, and since the Buddhists monks themselves have been happy to participate, I take issue with the idea that the scientific standpoint won't provide similar benefits.\n\nAbout the only advantage to be had in practicing with a non-scientific, "I believe" approach would be the placebo effect. And there, of course, you win, because the placebo effect remains one of the great mysteries of science today. (Go ahead. Google up 'top ten mysteries of science'.) \n\nIs it worth practicing without science in order to obtain that effect? I have no idea. Nor can I ever test for myself, since I'm aware of the placebo effect, and any practice I undertake will be coloured by that knowledge.\n\nFor what it's worth, I practice zazen, kyudo and iaido. 1321135489 You literally JUST did. The whole idea is ridiculous, and I promise I'm not "one of the secret people" 1342124065 Is a fictional character invented by trolls on something awful. The point of the joke is to see how many fools they can get to believe in it. 1344551531 Here is why "The Secret" has so many success stories:\n\nThe secret tells you to constantly tell the universe what you want and it will be given to you. For some reason people don't understand that if you stay reminded of a goal and focused on it, your (read: you're) more likely to make the little step necessary to make it happen. It's not magic. If you were to say "I want to lose weight, universe" every hour, you're not going to cheat on your diet...you're focused on weight loss. 1291724132 indeed. i don't really challenge them to be honest. It just makes their beliefs stronger. I think they need to stumble accross the truth themselves. for the record they believe conspiracy theories, not creationism. 1350477232 From what I understand they are a bunch of disconnected groups. Each group might be heavily organized within itself, but there is no real hierarchy between them. 1344006022 Elaborate on how you think I was being a condescending asshole, please. I don't see it, and I don't think most others would, either. Simple disagreement, or elaborating on different perspectives (e.g., what qualifies as "oppressive")\n\nAnd no, I don't think my jokingly noting your misspelling of heroin would fall into that category.\n\n(Also, don't think I didn't catch your little switch, from "some women want to be raped" to "it's called a rape fantasy for a reason." Those 2 sentences mean different things. Among other problems in your line of argumentation... It's funny how hot you're getting about all of this, when I wasn't really defending the religious mandate to wear a burqa in the first place.) 1324975473 If only it works..? 1310504679 Fellow intellectuals, Cell phone radiation is vitamin C(pr)! 1293028627 > Whether something is homeopathic or not is not related to the dilution but to the fact that Samuel Hahnemann decided (with no evidence whatsoever) that an element or compound that caused a particular symptom could be used to cure that symptom - "like cures like".\n\nRight, but as far as I'm aware, there is no homeopathic claim that zinc *causes* cold symptoms. So it isn't, in the traditional sense, a homeopathic remedy. It is merely a mildly diluted medicinal. Which doesn't actually work even at full strength. I didn't really make that clear, though, so I can understand how you would think I was focusing on the dilution. 1325739379 To be fair, that is a very biased representation:\n\n> blackhat \n\nSays who?\n\n> to generate illegitimate affiliate sales\n\nWhich law is being broken?\n\n> without the user being aware of it\n\nJust as the user is normally unaware of the fact that they received a first-party cookie 1321051944 I think there's a direct correlation between gullibility and supporting Ron Paul. The man is a *loon.* \n\nA racist loon, at that.\n\nNot saying all his supporters are conspiracy nuts armed with spray bottles, but they definitely don't do their research. 1326790831 A wonderful set of examples if I ever happen to come across someone who thinks that crop circles are evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence and that humans couldn't possibly create such things.... Though I've never come across such a person. 1346977310 yeah, you guys might like /r/collapse 1347997675 I don't get why this guy tried to cram "the left" into this conversation as much as humanly possible. Yes, unfortunately, the left seems to be more susceptible to ridiculous new age woo, but lets no forget the right has no problem at all believing in story books with talking snakes and deity blood sacrifices, upon which they try to legislate.\n\nThe leftist Democrat brain image was hideously petty and had nothing to do with what would otherwise be really good points.\n\nWith the anti-leftist nonsense, there also was a sense (as always with anti-leftist nonsense) of anti-intellectualism. His idea that if someone can sit him down and explain something to him like a child, it must he true, but if they find it necessary to use big words, then they must he bullshitting doesn't really float with me. 1327340712 refined sugar = regular sugar = HFCS = fructose + glucose\n\ncomplex carbs = chains of glucose\n\nmain difference is fructose 1343515128 Do you think it could have been sleep paralysis? 1336082990 Thanks, that was very useful. 1328220369 Since you both missed it and we're correcting anyway: its*. :P 1352943084 > I only meant that to apply to licensed doctors\n\nOk, fair enough. That wasn't obvious to me.\n\n> "This drug has been shown to significantly reduce pain" isn't a lie, it is the truth.\n\nIf it's homeopathic, then it's not doing anything. The thought of taking it is doing something. "This treatment sometimes causes your brain to command endorphins (or whatever) to be released by your body which can reduce your pain." Water isn't really a drug that can do that on its own. 1326095296 If P, then A or B, as his first line states. His second line is basically P, therefore ***probably*** A. \n\nWhere exactly in "As it stands there is absolutely no historical evidence for the figure Jesus of Nazareth, son of Joseph, thus there is no reason to suggest he ever existed." do you see a declaration that Jesus absolutely did not exist? 1306435430 One of your family members might have seen you having an obvious sex dream and decided to mess with you. How likely is it that someone you just fucked would hide their number when calling you back if she had a good time? 1331417733 Maybe you shouldn't butt into people's parenting decisions. It's their child, their family. I can tell you that I wouldn't want someone around that started sticking their nose into how I decide to raise my children. 1309823564 I thought OP was full of shit, but the facts check out.\n\n[Speed of light](http://www.google.com/search?q=what+is+the+speed+of+light): 299 792 458 m / s\n\n[FCC.gov conversion of decimal latitude to degrees](http://transition.fcc.gov/mb/audio/bickel/DDDMMSS-decimal.html): 29.9792458° = 29° 58' 45.285"\n\n[Latitude of Great Pyramid](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pyramid_of_Giza): 29°58′45.03″N\n\nDifference: 29° 58' 45.285" - 29° 58' 45.03" = 0° 0' 0.255" (0.26 latitude seconds)\n\n0.26 latitude seconds to surface-of-earth meters: ([1 second of latitude = 30.86 meters](http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_surface_distance_of_latitude_seconds)) = 8 meters\n\nConclusion: The speed of light, when measured as a decimal geographical latitude, is 8 meters away from the decimal geographical latitude of the Great Pyramid of Giza.\n\nThat's astonishing. 1354380597 1) Actually, confirmed by French Intelligence.\n\n2) Granted he doesn't directly cite a source regarding the dialysis. The intention of this link was to show that OBL was clearly very ill in 02.\n\n3)\n>The recording was dismissed by the Bush administration yesterday as sick propaganda possibly designed to mask the fact the al-Qa'eda leader was already dead.\n\nUh, kind of a big deal. The Bush Administration changed their story regarding whether or not OBL was dead or alive.\n\n4) You got me, I thought that article had a line in it that doesn't appear to be there.\n\n5) Why do you believe Other U.S. officials over Musharraf?\n\n6)\n>GUPTA: You can look [at pictures from a December 2001 video] and notice that he has what some doctors refer to as sort of a frosting over of his features -- his sort of grayness of beard, his paleness of skin, very gaunt sort of features. A lot of times people associate this with chronic illness. Doctors can certainly look at that and determine some clinical features.\n>But even more than that, it's sometimes possible to differentiate the specific type of disease or illness that he may be suffering from. The sort of frosting of the appearance is something that people a lot of times associate with chronic kidney failure, renal failure, certainly someone who is requiring dialysis would have that.\n>He's also not moving his arms. I looked at this tape all the way through its entire length. He never moved his left arm at all. The reason that might be important is because people who have had a stroke -- and certainly people are at increased risk of stroke if they also have kidney failure -- he may have had a stroke and therefore is not moving his left side. And in the rest of the videotape, he does move his right side a little bit more than he does his left. So those are some of the things that are sort of "of note" here in this more recent videotape. \n\n7) Why do you think Karzai is a 'guy who doesn't really know?' Who is a guy who really knows?\n\n8) Granted he has no evidence, but it is worth noting that initially in 02, you've got US Officials going around saying OBL is probably dead.\n\n9) Perhaps you could explain to me why you think this is a joke.\n\nExplain to me how anything that is going on now can actually be verified as anything more than a rumor. It was just as much in the US's interest to change the story from 'OBL is probably dead' to 'Bin Laden is still alive' to justify their actions in Afghanistan and Pakistan as it was for the leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan to claim he's dead, so you can't just disqualify one and not disqualify the other. 1304393289 Sometimes I like to shoot dogs and watch them turn on their owner. It's not like I'm going down there trying to explain a dog what it is experiencing. 1350922075 1964: If the government is covering up the truth about the Gulf of Tonkin, they're doing a better job at it than they do at anything else.\n\n2005: oops... 1323309227 On a related note, I give Mr . Dunning about $4/mo through PayPal and would encourage others to do the same.\n\nHopefully, given sufficient funding he could produce regular TV-style episodes. His inFact podcasts are too short and sparsely released, IMO.\n\nThere needs to be a good, solid, entertaining skeptic TV series in this world.\n\nToo much woo and bullshit and noise. Not enough facts and information. 1339858035 I didn't "immediately" label him a sexist apologizer. I did it after reading his opinions on sexism.\n\nI won't have a meta debate where being "objective" equals agreeing with Thunderfoot and you.\n\nOh, Watson *wants* it to be a big problem? Now who's subjective and labelling people? 1341593483 At the time, I'd imagine if you see the whole issue on every blog website there is, you'd think it had already gone viral. It did. Yes, Dawkins introduction made it bigger than it already was, but it was already big. Much of the discussions about elevatorgate are not about Dawkins' comment, but about what Dawkin was arguing which was already the course of discussion. It's not like Dawkin showed up and completely invented the opposing argument to Rebecca, he was simply relaying what was already been said against her in his usual literary fashion. 1351112360 >All of science is wrong.\n\nThis is of course a false statement. Virtually nothing is actually changing when the 'ghost explanation' is true. You are giving an example of naturalistic thought process that is just incorrect. As If I am challenging the whole of science! Of course not. 1325657084 I would just like to say you have WAY too much time on your hands....... 1323021745 http://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/ntp/htdocs/Chem_Background/ExSumPDF/Fluorosilicates.pdf\nhttp://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jctb.5010190402/pdf\n\nThis is what they'll likely bring up related to heavy metals, if they think to do any homework at all: http://www.waterloowatch.com/Index_files/Fluorosilicates%20Increase%20Blood%20Lead%20Levels.pdf\n\n 1307200691 Borrow one, film it and report back. Until then case closed. 1334296928 Do the experiment. You have hypothesis right now, no facts. You need to do a controlled experiment and prove that it works. After that, if it is reproducible, you can introduce the results as fact in a discussion about its merits. 1328193718 Wow, look at a calendar. October has 5 Sa, Su, and Mo all the time. Last time it happened was 2005, and the next time it will happen is 2016. Also, any given year is always going to have at least one month with 5 Sa, Su, and Mo. \n\nI've had to debunk this twice on facebook, but I never expected it from YOU reddit! Least of all /r/skeptic! FOR SHAME! 1319222143 Similar to how a kid who needs surgery is denied by the parents due to religious beliefs and thus the kid dies. It's harmful to the child, thus it is abuse.\n\nSimilar to how a kid is punched in the eye several times, it harms his health, and so does not giving them medicine proven to work. 1319650748 Can someone please provide me with the definitive universally agreed upon list of rights? 1337954957 It is up to the 476 people you tell it to to check it for themselves. Your Facebook feed is not a reputable news source that has an obligation to provide reliable information or fact check. \n\nThe thing is, people can't fact check every single thing they hear or say. You check out the things that you would have some reason to doubt. People who haven't been exposed to skepticism just have very different standard for what sounds credulous. She probably heard it or read it somewhere else, and thought it sounded believable. 1330869938 The first point is worded in such a way that it's actually a good thing, though I know they will misconstrue it to teach things that aren't science at all.\n\nThe second one is fucking terrifying. They *oppose* teaching things which challenge fixed beliefs? Well, that's it kids. No reason to come to school, they outlawed learning. Go home and play XBOX or something. 1340795102 what a beautiful but profoundly lonely concept. 1355315311 Yeah I can still hear it too, though thankfully CRTs are mostly gone now. Different subject, though. 1315960997 i never planned on haha i dont like films like that, i prefer family films and chick flicks haha 1341137440 I hope you're not implying that downvotes are simply because your opinion dissents. According to the reddiquette\n\n>Vote. The up and down arrows are your tools to make reddit what you want it to be. If you think something contributes to conversation, upvote it. If you think it shouldn't be on reddit, or if it is off-topic on a particular community, downvote it.\n\nYour downvotes may be because others deem that your comments do not contribute to the conversation. It's a bit presumptive to accuse [/r/skeptic](/r/skeptic) of downvoting you just because you dissent. Why they aren't considered as contributing is another topic entirely but I would at least consider that before throwing blatant accusations out there. 1328212258 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seasonal_flows_on_warm_Martian_slopes\n\nAlso, what other liquid would be present at such temperatures? 1348803874 What exactly did I state that is so misinformed? Seriously, you really want to continue down this path? You have clearly shown that you are not concerned with evidence, that you have made up your mind about what is taking place, with no evidence, and you have figured out what I believe, again, with no evidence. You are not a skeptic at all, as you are showing your obvious prejudice by continuing to promote a baseless argument and then trying to insult me, as if that would make me curl up into a hole and leave your ridiculous assumptions alone. And BTW, throwing insults pretty much shows everyone else that you have no argument left, so thanks for being so overt about your inability to prove your point. 1314722318 Also aren't manufactured cds with data on them stamped? I thought only burnable disks had ink. 1304635501 I think the most perplexing thing in there is the intereview footage of the astronaut saying that crash sites were found and bodies were recovered. I bet any money that's taken out of context and he's talking about other astronauts. 1340648480 yea same here i didnt see anything either 1349136474 Evidence??? 1333512484 Whatever their next project is, I hope it's better than their stint on Discovery channel. I've only seen season 1 as that's all Netflix has to offer on them, but they certainly weren't nearly in-depth enough with their investigations, didn't capture much evidence, used flashlights and normal camera mode when they clearly had night-vision cameras available.... The generic "Discovery channel southwestern country music" soundtrack didn't help either.\n\nI mean, it isn't *terrible*. You could certainly do **far** worse as far as paranormal shows go (Paranormal State, Dead Files). Honestly, like 'em or not, I think Ghost Adventures has the format right for paranormal investigation television shows. **Only** cameras are the ones the three investigators are carrying and some static cameras they've set up; no external camera crew or fancy "cinematic" camera angles or fake interlacing lines that serve no purpose but to make the whole thing look fake (see: Paranormal State, Dead Files). A bit less "mess around, see place" at the beginning and a bit more "show the damn investigation and evidence", and you've got a perfect format.\n\nSorry, think I got a bit off topic there. Also, considering the show seems to have been canceled, I wonder if they're going to continue showing their investigations through some other medium? 1324414244 This actually doesn't happen. Monsanto has actually cleaned up farms at their own cost when accidental contamination was reported to them. The typical person that Monsanto sues is someone who knowingly bought seed and then pretended like it was accidental contamination. These suits are hard to win, and Monsanto has to prove it. There's a lot of misinformation out there. Just doing a google search will lead you down a rabbit hole of misinformation. 1331366036 I figure it's outside the mainstream, controversial, & unknown to science constitutes paranormal. ...or is it more extra-normal? 1354679416 Maybe humans have actually invented time travel and have been visiting us for tourism in the future, in circuler disk shaped objects. 1342351000 Wait, what? Elaborate on how homeopathy can be helpful, please. 1325478134 Haha, I can agree with that. \n\nYour posts always remind me of why I've upvoted you so many times. 1342896455 wow... imagine how awful it must feel, whether it is being done by aliens or fate knowing that the Universe is out to get you... 1279676131 > I don't see the reasoning of your last line and think you are missing or mistaking somethin, yes:)\n\nWhat I am missing is why the OP would think these are the same objects, when they show up in wildly different locations in the different photos.\n\n> It seems reasonable to metro induce that the opposite was true;\n\nI don't know what those words mean.\n\n> the differences make the actuality of the anomalies more likely.\n\nIn that the actuality is something mundane like radiation specks on the CCD, yes the differences make the actuality of that anomaly more likely. 1343180828 She is trying to leave. Hence why she fades out. Why is no one trying to explain away that? 1288330750 Rabbits have long been known to detect the supernatural. 1344058022 Since this is a skeptic forum, I feel I have to tell you that the first part of your title is an example of confirmation bias. Your statement is not supported by the facts. For example, [the Flynn effect](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynn_effect). 1323040729 Deepak Chopra: Does it bother you that the more people learn about you, the more they think you are shit? 1317865802 Debunkers are like trollface, avoid and don't feed. Skeptics we like. Skeptics have open minds, think critically and make for excellent conversations. 1298666573 anger management... 1328470800 He has a point there. About the sign. After going through a certain task or action repeatedly, I think the mind takes up all accounts of surroundings, sounds, and time of day. I have had dreams where my alarm clock was included when it went off. Like "Hey, stop that bomb before it makes a loud noise!!" Then I here my alarm, which in my dream is the bomb. 1352479921 Yes to each his or her own :p Just wanted to point that out :) 1352894724 >I'll admit, I'm of the perspective that JFK's assasination may have been related to his desire to end the Federal Reserve.\n\nWhy? Who was behind it, specifically? You need specifics. You can't say "government conspiracy" - if the govt. can't keep Iran-Contra a secret, I seriously doubt that can keep presidential assassinations a secret. \n\n 1312517780 I'll try this as well thanks for the imput 1346107995 I'm not getting the hypocrisy you're seeing. 1315493972 As funny as that thought is.... Jim Carrey influences a lot of people. People are influenced by pop culture. 1306954687 Fair deuce. I *did* misinterpret what you meant. In the other thread, your phrasing made it sound to me that you advocated its misuse. 1326235087 Original image before NASA photoshopped it: http://i.imgur.com/5gLtl.jpg 1286681552 Then there is something about that space, wether it's darker there or maybe something happened there in the past. Start with making your house a safe zone and cleaning up and we will go from there. =] 1333573691 No longer is it simply ignorant to claim this link exists. No longer is it glib. It's now maliciously deceitful and recklessly dishonest, and it is high time that the False Prophets of Autism, to put it bluntly, STFU and GTFO. \n\nTheir words are venom, toxic and dangerous to our survival as a species. As for me, the kid gloves came off a while ago. I'm a father, my kid is number one, and I'm severing friendships with people who still insist to keep their eyes shut to this reality. The time for reasonable discussion has passed. 1314362318 I don't like how chiropractic is on there. It has been show to help back and neck pain. There are some dumbasses who claim it can cure asthma and allergies, but they are just a vocal minority. Most practicioners don't even suggest using it as a sole treatment anymore, but instead recommend using it as suplimental treatment.\n\n\n*sorry about any mistakes, it's late and I'm on my phone. 1325828903 Using the same see-saw technique, lift a block perpendicularly between two pillars until it is above them. Spin it to parallel. Lower. 1331581078 I'm thinking that it may have been the sun reflecting off of floating particles maybe. Almost the same as ghost orbs seen in snapshots. Still, it is intriguing. 1326426681 I admit, not the greatest of websites. But, when you have to fight against bullshit, you may not have time to design the greatest website ever. The point was to show there are scientists who will tour and debunk homeopathy, bad science and pseudo-science. A few years ago, in my freethought/skeptic group in college, depending on reputation, we would have these types of speakers. 1299419980 How far is this from Aberdeen? There has always been a lot of reports in that area due to Aberdeen Proving Ground. Whether it's UFOs seeing what they're up to, or some sort of experimental shit I have no idea. I lived in Cecil and could hear explosions from Aberdeen there. 1290085330 Seems the page is [broken](http://www.imgur.com/yetRt.jpg) 1325449186 hey, us /r/circlejerk readers have standards! 1324952979 Fuck 'em. 1280851951 I think that what you're saying makes sense but is worded in a bad way. \n\n"The atheist crowd" is a general term that doesn't mean anything other than the particular group of people who don't believe in god. Why are you trying to portray them in a negative light? Why are you even bringing them up? This isn't a discussion about religion.\n\nWhat I took from the rest of your comment was that you believe that a higher power might be able to influence DNA.\n\nIs it not possible that advanced extraterrestrials genetically engineered new species in Earth's past? 1333758693 Same with Alex Chiu's [immortality rings](http://www.alexchiu.com/). 1330038637 >Kumburgaz\n\n 1345502756 its just cute 1350528460 Right, I did bring him up. I think about him about as often as I run into an Al Gore follower I guess. \n\nAh the good 'ole post limiter now that I have racked up all these blue arrows! Dont agree with the mob? How about you dont get to post quite as much. So flawed. 1354466991 Abortion supporter? You are pro-abortion?\n\nThat's going a lot farther than the usual "pro-choice" position. You actively support aborting fetuses, the more the better? 1313906014 That's assuming it was a physical object in the way we understand them. I don't have any idea what this was. I'm cool with a solid 'I don't know'. 1351698475 Pretty much. There's something of a grey area between elective surgery, which is not emergent, and true emergency surgery. For example, malignant tumor excision is pretty time-critical, but at the same time, scheduled in advance. Some people call these "semi-elective," but it is not really important here.\n\nMy point is quite like yours, an elective surgery does not mean it is cosmetic or unnecessary. 1346103960 Well there you have it! Let's shut this reddit down people! 1277490796 And there is no...real purchasing place ? 1287654744 The Watson apologists seem to have missed the point. Dawkins never said other women had it worse so shut up. What he did was compare suffering (Muslima) to non-suffering (Watson). \n\nIf women don't feel safe just being in lifts with men, then isn't the issue *what we're telling our girls about men?* \n\nWhy are we telling men that they must adjust their behaviour to cater to irrational fears rather than raising girls to be aware that (1) most molestations happen from people you *know well* and (2) most men won't assault you? Why are we raising girls with fear when no benefit will accrue from it?\n\nThe feminists who have turned this into a gender battle just look ridiculous at this point. You're allowed to approach people you like respectfully; and even ask them out for for coffee. What you're not allowed to do is use force and harass after you've been told no. Since this guy did none of these things, no harm no fowl. Watson's persecution exists in her own head predicated on a delusion about men. 1310024883 And you know this how, exactly? 1332720129 A good site about the problems with colloidal silver is [here](http://www.rosemaryjacobs.com/).\n 1310440104 > They are their own self fulfilling ~~prophecy~~ market.\n\nFTFY 1290295491 Bottled water, too big to fail... 1296242303 Down with pseudoscience, though. 1287417279 no, there is a photoshopped girl above the trunk of the car, not just a face. took me a second to see it. 1350594085 There is a regulation that essentially limits any medical claims that you can make for items regulated as foodstuffs. This is seriously upsetting those who peddle supplements and complementary medicines. 1321767143 > Oh my god, what was that? I'm so *startled*! 1350165876 didn't mythbusters do this test? Why yes, [they did](http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/mythbusters/episode/episode-tab-06.html) in 2005, in the "Jet Pack" episode. 1329975748 It's still the same way, on the other side of the food court. (I'm reasonably sure - it's been a couple of months since I've been there, at least.) 1326760507 I had to DVR it and I'm about halfway through. It is seemingly really well done. No [corny guest appearances](http://troll.me/images/ancient-aliens-guy/ancient-aliens-guy.jpg), just factual, still-unsolved cases with living witnesses and corroborating government documentation. \n\nKean did it right in her book and in this program. A+++ would watch again. 1314326539 The Fresno video is probably gray aliens on their way to an abduction. They have been described as wearing capes sometimes. Too bad the video is of such poor quality. \n\nThe Yosemite one is fake.\n 1334433548 I saw a documentary about this no less than three hours ago. 1340050312 The bottle fell in another dimension. This is a true GITM. 1339126220 Close - Dawkins tried on the helmet and wrote about it (he didn't experience anything transcendental), but the experiment was done by a dude named Michael Persinger. [link](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_helmet) 1287338173 Thank's but so it's a "freeze" blimp ? ;) It don't move for more than 20 minutes (i'm sure of that, it's not an "optical" effect), and i had see blimp but never a "triangle" blimp, and never so wide...and when i come back i will see it again...if it was a blimp...\n\nBut jut a qustion mrhappyoz...Do you work for the french Gouvernement ? ;) 1330637221 Wait, skeptics here are doubting the death of Osama? Since when did they turn into conspiracy theorists? 1304375254 It makes sense because it's supposed to make sense. NASA's answer is crafted that way. It has to be believable.\n\nRead my reply to the other guy. But if you want to skip it, I can sum it up: I believe that people aren't willing to believe that they're being categorically lied to about aliens and UFO's. NASA lies. 1350305448 I can't blame you for believing it. If the only source you have is reddit, it's really hard to get accurate information. 1330737319 The one in the picture is ripe, I was referring to the overripe ones in the grocery store that are completely black and mushy. Only good for baking. 1346599132 My mom, who is a very honest person, swears she and her grandparents and her younger siblings drove though the end of a rainbow when she was a child. She said the entire inside of the car turned gold. Then when then drove out everything was normal. She said it was beautiful. 1343596510 Beautiful hypocrisy, claiming that I have attempted character assassination and then go on to say that I must be some sort of "religious conservative" to bring /r/politics in to the discussion -- and that I have an inferiority complex.\n\nEither way, I said I'll gladly take my leave because I don't like /r/atheism and its tendencies to circlejerk and blame religion as the source for all the problems they can semi-reasonably point a finger at. Like your original post. Sure, it's easy to say that religion causes a lack of innovation, which causes a decrease of education, which increases poverty, etc. But like most issues concerning a country it is never just one cause.\n\nYou also misinterpreted what I said about atheists from /r/atheism coming here because they feel like they're superior. That is to say that they feel like they're too good to circlejerk in /r/atheism and have to do it in other subreddits where it's not wanted. /r/skeptic in this case. A decent amount of subs here are atheists and agnostic. If I got angry from ideas that come from skepticism I probably would not be here.\n\nAlso, I bring up /r/politics and /r/atheism up because that's nearly all you ever post to, at least in the past 8 months. Which might be why you felt like it was appropriate to circlejerk here as well. In truth, I'm not religious not am I conservative, I just don't like having to listen to spew from an unverified image made by a poster with intentions of making a point rather than analyzing the words from the image, like what usually happens.\n\nSometimes an image makes rounds on the internet, someone sees it, posts to /r/skeptic, and then the collective group of subscribers here break it down in order to figure out how much "truth" there is to the image, graph, article, etc. But that's not what you came here to do. You came here, to make a post with an straight-faced title of: "Islam is actually the major reason why people are protesting embassies violently, but people are reluctant to admit it." and then proceed to argue the point throughout the post.\n\nAnd probably the worst thing is that you do the same sort of "logic'd" arguing that places like /r/magicskyfairy and /r/bravetheism make fun of /r/atheism for. -- The comment I'm replying to is full of "logic'd"\n\nEither way, I'm too tired to keep arguing with people over the internet, gonna go back to discussing lore in /r/Darksouls and stay there. 1347787585 Yet there it is. As mentioned, it doesn't make sense to assume the even more unlikely. We have seen that humans can build stuff, and have done so for many years. That's what we have to work with, untill at least some evidence ties aliens with the pyramids or other similar monuments. There's not any, aside from a few hieroglyphs that **might** or might not look like a depiction of advanced technology not availible at that time. \n\n\nPersonally I think that the pyramids was built over a far greater period than the suggested 20 years and that an astonishing number of people worked on it almost without cease. But, for now we can only guess. 1327365734 Poor decision? Who knows. I know I've asked a woman to do something, looked in a her eyes and realized... oh crap... that sounded way creepier than I intended. Sometimes I back out of it, sometimes I don't.\n\nIt's a matter of if you talk long enough, eventually you're going to put your foot in your mouth. 1351115266 Didn't they find that the rats that saccharine was tested on were actually genetically predisposed to cancer?\n\nSweet & Low still tastes like plastic ass, and Aspartame turns to formaldehyde in your liver. 1265425219 hoax 1332120344 Wow, the people on that thread are being huge assholes. Seriously, she invited people to a thing, and then people went through and downvoted all her comments, including the ones defending herself and the festival after being called out unfairly.\n\n>As mafoo said, your wellness festival shouldn't lie to people about what is healthy. You're effectively telling people \n\nShe's not telling anyone anything. It's not her festival.\n\n>but this is a festival that essentially celebrates and promotes ignorance and fear of science.\n\nThat's just inflammatory, regardless of the follow up caveats in subsequent posts. Following the "church" example quoted elsewhere, someone puts out an invitation to a Sunday Baptist church, and you're going to go and say that it's an evil religion that hates gays and not expect her to want to talk about all the good stuff involved, and then tell her she's taking things personally?\n\nThis is straight up trolling douchebaggery. You and the other posters on there should be ashamed of yourselves for going out of your way on R/BROOKLYN to mock this girl's simple invitation. She didn't come into r/skeptic, she didn't ask for opinions on the contents of the event. She put up a fucking event notice on a local subreddit. If you REALLY want to be an asshole, just downvote it. You don't need to go through goading her into comments and karma bombing the whole fucking post. Christ people like you make me angry. Live and let live, assholes.\n\nI'll take your downvotes gladly. Bring it on. 1298656160 Would suggest anybody interested in the topic watch that episode. 1303246301 It is funny, it seems like a pretty nothing idea, and it didn't really impress anyone much either.\n\nHowever, while erecting your own Stonehenge in your backyard might not serve any particular purpose, it is strangely inspiring to see a simple idea carried further, in spite of people thinking that you are probably wasting your time, until it makes something that ends up being pretty impressive. 1331574255 The towers didn't collapse at free fal speed. [That has been debunked](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLShZOvxVe4). 1333646300 That's nothing. I've had a magician get a card that I had written on myself into my shirt pocket without me noticing. 1326491154 I find it funny that one of the top comments mentions that these are the pleiadians. What evidence do they have to go off of? It could be [these guys](http://southparkstudios.mtvnimages.com/shared/characters/non-human/marklars.jpg) for all we know. 1346626283 I would hate to be the person that sponsored the first hour :|\n\nProblems with their ISP, apparently. 1316830818 That PDF file you referenced actually concludes that the government officials operated by the book and weren't under any undue influence from Searle. It's kind of strange that you would include that here.\n\nThose other sites are wrong. And there's no doubt that they're wrong because this is a matter of public record. The Public Board Of Inquiry did have concerns about the Searle tests, but what they said was that further study was needed. \n\nArthur Hays did convened a panel exactly as he was supposed to, and that panel went over some new Japanese research which showed Aspartame not to cause cancer. If it can be said that he "overruled" the Public Board Of Inquiry, it's only in the sense that any decision to proceed with caution can be "overruled" when new evidence and proper procedure allow for it.\n\nThere was no "internal FDA team" advising Hayes not to approve Aspartame. Had the Public Board Of Inquiry had the Japanese data at the time, they would have approved Aspartame earlier. Hayes decision was supported by the previous Public Board Of Inquiry, and Hayes didn't face widespread internal disagreement from FDA scientists on the issue as suggested. 1330196206 Where's the truth? :S 1343937495 http://i.imgur.com/q2p46.jpg 1351571850 I appreciate the differentiation between homeopathy and Chinese herbal supplementation. I don't think I understood the difference, so I appreciate it. As for my friend, she claims that the supplement helped her, but it's probably some kind of placebo effect. She bought it at an alternative pharmacy, so I was skeptical. 1317402945 It could be a big [RC paper plane](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWMC27GVtzE). Though it looks very big, and imagine the amount of fireworks needed for this. \n\n 1316205526 They think I am an asshole just for saying *anything*, usually. Though I don't believe a non-committal shrug communicates quite enough skepticism for me. I am getting tired of being the "argumentative know it all" though. \n\nI swear I don't try to come across that way but I suppose when you try to "teach" adults things they get pretty insulted. Well, I don't - but these people do. : / 1276046362 I don't think you could call CSI scientifically accurate. 1298884921 I lol'ed. I read it in cockney. 1350307081 Too me, the "face" looks like a young man, possibly in mid to late teens, with some sort of hat on. I never saw a hand until pointed out, and now it cannot be unseen. Thanks for all the interest! 1337984305 The investigations were not well formed or concluded. More information [here](http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4179). The book, titled [The Scole Experiment: Scientific Evidence For Life After Death](http://www.amazon.com/The-Scole-Experiment-Scientific-Evidence/dp/0749921056) is poorly titled as well, as there is *no scientific evidence for life after death*. There's plenty of anecdote, eyewitness testimony, and subjective claims, but no evidence. 1352318694 My town had flouridated water. I didnt' suffer any health effects. I'm in my 40s now and the only health problems I've had are sports related injuries. And I didn't have any cavities until after I graduated college. 1326721420 Well, he isn't dead. His eyes are still glowing, and there are air bubbles coming out of his nose. Maybe he stays warm by breathing fire into the water around him? 1317668866 I have a special interest in this subreddit. I think this is an important and interesting topic. I'd hate to see it become just a clone of /nosleep or something. I think there's a shit-ton of potential here. 1326567021 Real science is always presented by a guy in a lab coat. 1323766883 There's a facility at the geographic south pole, and people live there year-round.\nhttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Geographic_Southpole.jpg\n\nAnd NOAA actually has a web-cam at the North Pole\n\nhttp://www.arctic.noaa.gov/gallery_np.html 1279408822 Don't fight it, join us! 1344476954 True, and I wouldn't argue if that were the case. It doesn't look like the museum will be making any money off of this, or if it does it will be minimal. 1318562995 bugger! 1308561893 Ah gotcha. Thought you were tossing everything into the same hat. Well with that all cleared up I say farewell sir and have a pleasant tomorrow 1298492840 There are so many possibilities, all we can really do is prepare for the worst and hope for the best. 1332976812 I hold no particular opinion on climate change; I'm not qualified to. Though it is doubtless the Earth has been warming in the recent past, I don't know enough about ice core samples and carbon sequestering in H2O to form an educated opinion. Examining the evidence though, it sure seems like there is a definite correlation between CO2 and global temperature increase.\n\nThat being said, the confirmation of bias (excuse the pun) is worrying. When you're dealing with such supposed massive/global problems, I would like a higher standard of impartiality than any other problem. To be honest, I could give a flying fuck if someone has a bias during an examination of data gathered during a test of general relativity. If it's found right or wrong by further studies, that's what it is. We don't tend to take one study as gospel. Forgive my possible naivete, but from my limited experience it seems like any paper published that agrees with the mainstream view in climate science is welcomed with praise, and any opposing data is dismissed.\n\nEdit: I want to make it clear that I'm not denying anthropogenic climate change here, I'm simply questioning methodologies and biases based upon the Yale study published and the general demographics of scientists. It's an interesting issue to me. 1310551708 Fuck prison morgue; I’d be more than happy to spare you the wait. 1354943161 What do you mean by floor markings? 1343068391 [Woo](http://www.yellmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/john-woo-picture.jpg) and [Sedona](http://xboxoz360.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/sedona-raceway-track-layout-oxcgn.jpg) 1319620887 **ofthe5thkind** has a great scientific grasp of the facts.\n\nThe problem starts where some people just refuse to accept facts using "god of the gaps" thinking. It usually starts with "well you cant prove this or that" or "we don't know everything". The facts are that it is possible to get to another star but it would be prohibitively expensive in terms of fuel and length. I for one do not want to get on a ship where I would never see the destination.\n\nSomeone will then say 'well maybe the technology isn't invented yet" the problem with this statement is that you still have to stay within the physical laws of the universe. The "tribesman from the middle of nowhere to explain an aeroplane" didn't have the physics background to explain why the plane flys, modern man and science can and do, and we extrapolate all the time on the future of flight, these same laws and rules apply here and across the universe.\n\nIt boils down to this, where ever we went on earth or the solar system we have left our presence known. Parachutes, landing pads, discarded tools. On earth I defy anyone to go to a past plane crash site and not find something left behind, I have done it and at sites where the military has "scoured" the site to leave nothing behind. That is a joke, when a plane crashes you find crap all over the place for years.\n\nTake any claimed UFO crash site and there isn't anything left - not a speck of paint.\n\nSome try to say that in the late 40s something crashed out west, every one and their mother came out of the woodwork 40 years later and said they handled the debris, and not a single one of them took and hid any of it. Not a bolt or a nut or fleck of paint of this amazing once in a lifetime encounter after seeing truckloads of debris go through all those hands, and 40 years of searching debris fields.\n\nIt comes down to one conclusion, they haven't been here and we aint going there.\n\nSend a radio signal. 1345061832 I worked in the area so I know there aren't any tall buildings around there to obstruct your view too much. From his point of view it probably just caught his eye as he was walking down the block because it's so easy to see the sky without all the damn skyscrapers. Even if it's fake, it's pretty damn weird. 1345479034 This much largely all jives with my own views, but what about when one isn't writing for an "outside" audience (the example I used elsewhere was PZ Myers blog, which is popular but rife with insulting language)? I get the impression that perhaps you think as much still "reflects poorly on the community" or some such?\n\nAlso, one element I rarely see discussed is how we are supposed to 'measure dickishness' and determine when this DBAD philosophy is supposed to kick-in. That is, I can't imagine that we are supposed to refrain from saying *anything* that some listener might find offensive (after all, anti-vaxxers don't like it when I remind them that their beliefs lead to the deaths of infants). Any thoughts on this element? 1353374596 My favorite line from the FAQ:\n\nQ: Why are Sasquatch allowed to gather Tree Octopuses if the octopuses are endangered?\n\nA: No one allows a Sasquatch to do anything; they just do it.\n\nSasquatch have been gathering Tree Octopuses since before Humans settled in their habitats. They form a symbiotic relationship. We value our limbs and don't question this. 1296753547 Most early pilgrims brough a christian preacher, and the common cold(used here as general term for various diseases that the pilgrims brought and are immune to). the preacher preached, they usually did not believe him. 60% of the natives die due to the common cold. Most of the survivers convert. Of course pilgrims also died due to local diseases that are alien to them, but the pilgrims are just a few dozen, compared to thousands of natives.\n\nbottom line: first contacts cause conflicts and deaths, but in the process both gain immunity towards each other. (as long as there is any survivor) 1308693876 Ha! Well it is a good thing we are having this discussion in r/UFOs and not r/aliens. \n\nBut seriously I haven't said anything about aliens and spacecraft, you have. And well those documents actually do as well. As well as the US documents that have been released, also discuss aliens and spacecraft. But I think that is just speculation. \n\nI don't believe you have done the reading you say you have funkybunch because you sound very I'll informed. I don't think you have even watched the videos or links I have posted because your replies are nonsensical. I think you have already formed your opinion and not interested in looking at the scientific studies that have been made on the available information. If you had read even a tenth of the more than 50,000 pages of reports by military officers around the world trained in identifying aerial phenomena of unidentified flying objects that they believed were unexplainable, then I think you would express your opinion in a different way. It is many of these military officers who use terms like aliens and spacecraft, not me. I have never seen a UFO. I am fascinated by the secrecy around these reports, and the US governments unwillingness to open them up to the public. If they are not hiding anything then tell us what they know. If it is all military black projects then just open up the cases from before 1970. \n\nYou are not interested in being enlightened. You have made up your mind and disparage those who are interested in looking at the evidence that is there. Such closed mindedness is the hallmark of the bigot, the ignoramus, and the fool. 1350566698 Something I wonder about so-called "psychics," do they really believe they are psychic, or do they actually know better and just stick with the facade no matter what? For this ad, are they looking for people that know how to bullshit some middle-aged women on anti-depressants, or are they genuinely looking for people that are "psychic" because they actually believe this crap? 1318639694 "Why?"\n\n"Cuz I hates her." \n\nWell then... case closed. 1344596335 > Science is all about proving the other fucker in the lab next door wrong \n\nThats some good motivation 1279752661 Thenx for the eksplenation. 1323888383 \n>NIST SAID SO\n\nAll I quoted was a well-known fact about the integrity of steel. That's the only thing I used that source for. If it makes you feel better to put every mistake they've ever made in my mouth - no one's perfect - then you feel free; whatever helps you sleep at night.\n\nThe rest of this rant isn't even coherent enough to respond to. Have a nice day!\n 1319062530 Hey! Phil Plait will be there!\nhttp://www.skepticsofoz.org/content/phil-plait\n"Plait grew up in the Washington, D.C. area. He received his Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of Virginia in 1994 with a thesis on SN 1987A, which he studied with the Supernova Intensive Study (SINS). He first worked with the COBE satellite and then with the STIS on the Hubble Space Telescope for five years. He currently resides in Boulder, Colorado[3] and writes full time, but often hosts special events and serves as an adviser and commentator in several capacities, including events focusing on skepticism." 1329584963 Interesting. I think that planet is supposed to be a gas giant though, right? That would be tough for life as we know it to find a stable environment in which to grow. That only applies to life as we know it, however. 1344658169 He used sources which confirm the official "toll" has dropped by millions which warrants further investigation beyond the Holohoax inquisition.\n\nWhy are you trying to warp the point so far? \n\nHitler was pro-white, but that doesn't mean whites are immune to judgement for wrongdoings. Such as treason or reporting locations of german troop stations to the red army/allies. \n\nDid the USA "Exterminate" Julius and Ethel Rosenberg for being Jews? Or were the executed as Communist traitors? \n\nMaybe you're just refusing to use your brain. 1356342498 I'm in chiropractic med school right now. I am going to one of the more evidence based schools out there. We learn just as much as any medical, dental, podiatry, etc school. Chiropractic care is safe and very effective. The key word in some other comments is musculoskeletal. There really isn't any proof, for or against, chiro care helping very many issues outside of muscle and skeleton problems. But if you want relief from tension headaches, back pain, etc, the best option is a chiropractor. There are a lot of other things we do as well, but for the person new to chiropractic, I feel that answer should be okay. 1312223322 And some people have seen things that have no explanation that fits with in our known version of how the universe works. Not all scientific knowledge ha been discovered yet, and if you think it has, I'm sorry, but just take a look in a history book. You'll find people saying the same thing on all sorts of topics. 1345006061 Seriously. It is. 1304425870 Why would they hide [The Truth?](http://media.gtanet.com/images/283_gtasa_the_truth.jpg) 1344644485 Yeah, I checked back to the dates in the linked images and these posts don't appear on there.\n\nEdit: Looks like there are from this page: https://www.facebook.com/OccupyWallSt1 (which had the text "This page no longer has anything to do wig the Occupy Movement" on the google search result but I didn't see that text on the page itself (perhaps recently removed). 1339191344 The reason things changed, I suspect, is not because of the general /r/skeptic community, but from readers of her blog who came to this thread and changed things.\n\nI'm not trying to paint this whole subreddit with the same brush, there are many people who have different opinions, but it is sad that many of the people who are on /r/skeptic feel the need to be so anti-feminist, and be so quick to abuse someone like Watson along gender lines.\n\nI'm sure that you and I would agree on far more things than we disagree on, as it is with most of the people on this subreddit, and likely even the general Reddit community. That doesn't mean that when I see the utter crap that I often see on any threads about Watson or feminism in general that I'm not going to call out the male-centric ego-bullshit that is so pervasive in our society at large.\n\nI see gender issues as a major problem in the world, and it's something that I want to see fixed. You're right that this isn't going to come about through name calling and non-constructive criticism. It's important to keep in mind that the way you are seeing Watson in regards to gender issues, is how atheists and skeptics are perceived by the majority of the population. You have a cognitive bias, as do I and everybody else, that when you see someone espousing something you disagree with you are more likely to notice them when they are having a shit day and a bit of a whinge than when they're making well reasoned arguments in support of their cause.\n\nI apologise if got a bit rambling towards the end there. 1325117374 Before we continue is it your claim that there *are* scientific studies which back up the claims of the parents and teachers? 1282158268 Autism is caused by Fox News 1333421529 An interesting response to a perfectly reasonable argument.\n\nYou posted this, right? Did you expect everybody to agree with you on a public forum? When somebody politely expresses a different view you you respond with insults.\n\nI wouldn't be bothering if I didn't think it important. 1350484708 It's a fad. If the people that purchase these things weren't buying them, they'd surely move on to some other fiction. 1293720474 502 post went thru, 504 try once more. 1308928982 Yes, it's a form of condescension, and it has no good use in discussion.\n 1308242711 > Ultimately, i don't see that science is any less radical a banner for atheists to adopt than social justice.\n\nThe difference is that science is empirical. What LGBT rights are and how they are to be understood and implemented are not. \n\nThe social issues simply are not clear cut. One can see this when debating atheists who are pro-life. 1346594878 yes it has. And I've done it many times to different people. I have been doing psychic research for about 30 years, I even coach others to do OBE too. I also do verification research into people's past lives. 1331700825 This you tube suggestion was also fun "[Mary Loves Dick!](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3x_JUHDYZ0&NR=1)" 1318354182 The active ingredient in that Homeopathic sleeping pill is Caffeine. 1310130902 True. I hope by then, we're a more enlightened bunch and instead practice preserving the liberties and free will of others rather than trampling on it. 1345746467 Because it's there. 1344264557 That's the same ghost as in this photo (sorry, I don't know how to hyperlink) which was shown to be taken using an android app. http://imgur.com/a4PrQ . The ghost is on the far right side of the photo. And the Reddit title of the photo link I provided is "*First post* A good friend took this picture a month ago in Ammon Park, ID Is it photoshopped?" if you're interested in app, it should be discussed in the comments of that post. 1356409259 I'd assumed that most stage mics these days were digital and encrypted, but a quick Google suggests they're largely still analogue. 1327591562 Wait, is he prepared to offer One Million dollars if we can explain to him how a blade of grass grows? 1312248018 There are many 9/11 "conspiracies" that need further investigation. I don't believe all of them, but the whitewash that was the official investigation doesn't settle the matter at all. We will never know the full truth. 1276693429 Hold up on the meteor explanation for one second. My SO and I were fishing at Cocoa Beach a few years back and watched a very slow-moving green sphere go from above/behind left of us (beachside) out over the ocean until it disappeared over the horizon (oceanside.) I've posted about it here and reported it to mufon so can I ask if you're 100% sure on the meteor explanation? What we saw was definitely not a meteor as it moved too slow and did not burn up but was a bright, pulsating (not quite neon), green sphere. 1354068370 Alternatively, you could have been experiencing a vivid psychotic break, or 'waking dream.' 1335537123 "We're not really arguing, I'm disagreeing with your assertions."\n\nNow you are arguing about if we are arguing? What is this a Monty Python routine?\n\nThere is something wrong with you - you have a compulsion to argue about everything. You can not let anything go. It claws at you and won't let you alone. I bet you will respond to this - you can't not - you have no control over yourself. 1329036816 First, you make a false claim that since Shermer himself believes it, it can't be as absurd as conspiracy theories. Its an absurd claim because legislation brought an end to child labor. That's like arguing that the free market brought us the drug war. There might be some element of truth to it (corporations that sell guns to police officers benefit from it), but it's still kind of specious.\n\nSecond, as I already said, legislation ended child labor. If capitalism ended child labor, then why is there still so much child labor in places where the market isn't regulated?\n\nMy basic point is that his claim, that the free market brought an end to child labor, is silly. It is a claim that might be defensible in the narrow sense but is as valid in the broader sense as bigfoots and government conspiracies. Someone might have interesting evidence that bogfoots exist, but extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Since legislation brought an end to child labor, it would take some extraordinary evidence to make it even worth looking into that the free market really did it. 1310618448 What I don't get is why she didn't give up her quest after the negative health effects of not eating came about. There is certain amount of pain and problems before death. 1335470392 But don't you see? Other people will say they don't want to be offended, so to them the golden rule means not to offend. To you, it does not.\n\nMy understanding of the golden rule is it's meant to be a guideline for everyone, and not just a personalized philosophy. If the latter is the case, I guess you're still making sense. 1299454561 It's a good idea and all but I doubt the majority of people have the initial investment. People are losing their houses right now not trying to improve them. \n 1304287096 An indication of the numbers is right there in the statement.\n\n> But this happens so rarely, experts cannot be sure whether they are caused by the vaccine or not.\n\naka Statistically negligible. 1314372600 There are no paranormal things, that's kind of the joke. 1348450533 Technically, research has shown that the *more* a person pays for a placebo, the greater its potential for the placebo effect. 1319311371 Oh, Aliens fail Occam's Razor, but 1940s Nazi technology capable of stopping in mid-flight and reaching speeds of 6000mph in a moment has been around all this time? Mind you, before the digital watch had been invented. No way. Plus, the very governments you claim are doing this are the very people that have been trying to figure it out, as now declassified FOIA act documents clearly reveal. 1298826696 I didn't say "male privilege." That's definitely real, and largely ignored by the MRM. I said "dominant gender roles," which one might rephrase as "the gender narrative." Let's pick a few of the easier-to-explain ones from [the list the OP references](http://www.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/uwekw/facts_and_statistics_detailing_male_oppression/) to show how they're caused by the underlying assumptions that society makes about each gender.\n\n>Men comprise 95% of workplace deaths.\n\nBecause men tend to work more dangerous jobs, because employers see women as too fragile and incapable of handling the dangerous jobs and see men as more resistant to such injuries.\n\n>Men commit suicide at over triple the rate that women do.\n\nBecause men are seen as stoic and unemotional, their mental health needs are not met. This is the direct foil to the idea that women are hysterical and constant emotional wrecks.\n\n>Parental rights. Men have virtually none.\n\nBecause women are seen as having a single role -- parenting -- that overrides everything else and makes them inherently better at it than men.\n\n>On some airlines, men were banned from sitting next to kids on airplanes, simply because they were men. Why? Because men are pedophiles, obviously. This ban remains on some airlines, such as Air New Zealand.\n\nAgain, an outgrowth of gender stereotypes of men (as almost purely sexually-motivated beings) and women (as nurturing individuals incapable of harming a child) alike.\n\n>Selective service. Enough said\n\nAgain, men are big and tough and can take the rigors of combat/military training, women are seen as too fragile, unreliable, and distracting to function in a combat situation. 1345142722 Woah. 1337399686 Do they eventually pass on?- Yes. I believe so. I know that after some realize where they are and what happened, they disappear. others say they need to go home one last time to see their family. So yes I do think they Cross over/pass on. \n\nI dont know where they go, or what happens after they go, but I do know they havent come back to complain :D\n\nLongest? I met a guy here in the hospital who said he died in 1996. And Shaun hung around for at least 6 months. but ive seen everything from minuets/hours/days. 1333906243 I've never heard of "cack-handed" but I kind of love it. 1310892561 >colloidal silver is not a homeopathic remedy, since it is something other than water..\n\ntrue\n\n>It is actually used in the russian part of the international space station.\n\nTrue, but it should be highlighted that this is to disinfect the water and has no bearing on its use as a cure for x, y & z. 1320910031 /me regrets living in the UK 1345016056 This is good stuff. I can't wait to lock myself up and open my bags of rice that I have stored for some collapse scenario, and then go 5D! 1287440608 In a strange twist, Weird Al has a tongue-in-cheek reply (which was impressively sung all in a single breath):\n\n>Now you may find it inconceivable or at the very least a bit unlikely\nthat the relative position of the planets and the stars could have\na special deep significance or meaning that exclusively applies to only you, but let me give you my assurance that these forecasts and predictions are all based on solid, scientific, documented evidence, so you would have to be some kind of moron not to realize that every single one of them is absolutely true. 1353531766 Anyone see the study mentioned in the comments?\n\nhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18204390.1\n\n>Objective: To investigate associations between chiropractic visits and vertebrobasilar artery (VBA) stroke and to contrast this with primary care physician (PCP) visits and VBA stroke.\n\n>Results: There were 818 VBA strokes hospitalized in a population of more than 100 million person-years. In those aged <45 years, cases were about three times more likely to see a chiropractor or a PCP before their stroke than controls. Results were similar in the case control and case crossover analyses. There was no increased association between chiropractic visits and VBA stroke in those older than 45 years. Positive associations were found between PCP visits and VBA stroke in all age groups. Practitioner visits billed for headache and neck complaints were highly associated with subsequent VBA stroke.\n\n> Conclusion: VBA stroke is a very rare event in the population. The increased risks of VBA stroke associated with chiropractic and PCP visits is likely due to patients with headache and neck pain from VBA dissection seeking care before their stroke. We found no evidence of excess risk of VBA stroke associated chiropractic care compared to primary care. 1337180318 I very much like fruits and vegetables, but I am allergic to almost all of them across the board. Sometimes I will eat them anyway and just deal with the reaction. \n \nWhen I tell people this, they inevitably think that I just don't like fruits and vegetables and make some clever remark about it. In all actuality, it really, really sucks. \n \nThis is what I have, if you're interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_allergy_syndrome \n \nI could accept that my peanut allergy is an perhaps an intolerance and not a true allergy. 1273773448 So you can tell that you're dealing with a Sikh. 1306533090 yeah, i got excited when i saw that sentence and then bummed when i realized thats all the article was. 1317725767 What is with all these UFO posts, i am getting confused? Should i be preparing to welcome our alien overlords or not. 1303666131 >We are now in the process of trying to understand how one deals with a Sirian or works alongside an Arcturian.\n\n*(yawns, closes link)* 1331328481 Looking forward to the day when people come to the realization that the willfully misinformed opinions of tertiary stars, on almost any serious topic is mostly worthless. 1256862483 >Some of the feats of engineering that the great pyramids have are just too amazing to have come from people that only had little copper chisels and stones as their tools\n\nI hear this claim quite a bit. Please be specific, so that we can talk about it and try to learn about it. What are the feats of engineering that serve as evidence that 3200 B.C. humans in Egypt couldn't have been responsible for them? 1343692433 yea right, a huge object like that over a huge city and there is one single video of it which shows absolutely no detail.... truly believable. 1291572904 oh well 1355269066 I don't understand why people don't just say 'I like shopping at farmer's markets because it tastes great and I like supporting small businesses' and have to launch into the woo. I work for a fairly liberal company and there's a lot of this bullshit around, it bugs me. :( 1323521173 Yeah it's this whole idea that the Bigfoot is just a demon that attempts to persuade people that there is no god (just evolution) even if a creature isn't found, it's still the idea. Pretty interesting I guess.\n\nThe Jersey Devil! Awesome! That's equally fascinating. I'm from London so no sasquatch here sadly. Damn it! 1278621880 Thaaats a statue; a really ugly statue. 1347423018 No, but you can't hate on the opposite side either. Some people do tie ETs and UFOs together, and that's just as fine as what you do. All I mean is that in many cases where people are very dismissive of something spectacular, they are implying that they are some sort of authority. Reality check: its a youtube video. Why are we trying to filter things for everyone. Let the shitty UFO videos get downvoted to oblivion. When did this become /r/ufoconnoisseurs? 1316232116 They can't get it down to the second.\n 1331790814 Guess you're not in Kansas anymore... 1335725473 This link has committed adultery. 1295804212 You are correct, but since we're suspending reality enough for ghosts to exist I figured I wouldn't bring that part up. 1298321273 I think you misunderstood, I agree with you 100%. My thesis is promoting socialism at some level. In theory though, pure libertarian style capitalism rewards good behavior, because you give money to people for people helping you. This has the flaw of helping people who helped other people disproportional, and possibly a few others; however, EVEN ASSUMING THIS WAS TRUE, the argument would be flawed, because, just like punishments, there is a diminishing returns on rewards in how much it influences behavior. 1341209885 You understand natural selection...advertisements like this are simply a way to weed out those members of the herd without the ability to successfully survive- like a saber tooth tiger or a cave bear would have a few millennia ago. If you look at this and say 'That doesn't seem right...' it's like not getting eaten. 1343307029 Okay, I see what your original question was about.\n\nBy the way, do you off-hand know of a source for the "double CO2 in concentration, the temperature of the system will rise by about 1 degree" claim? I'd like to read that. I'm not questioning it's validity, but I need to see how that was arrived at before I can try to reason about why we might see more warming than that.\n\nAs a possible example of why, if that number comes from a basic thermodynamic "black box" calculation, then there's a pretty big non-feedback answer: increasing greenhouse gas will warm lower atmosphere and cool upper atmosphere (in the absence of convection, but even with convection you'll see some of this effect happening, it's just blunted). So the total energy gain actually gets concentrated in the lower atmosphere, and there's an additional energy balance shift from the upper to the lower.\n\n(Also, preferably a source that's not from a climate denier blog or something. Sorry to have to make this disclaimer, but I'm so fucking sick of Watts' dishonest shit right now... I guess as long as its a reasonable post, lacking in polemic shit, I could handle it...) 1261069059 Actually, a phone cable without that little plastic nubbin (?) that locks it into place *will* still function, but it will be especially prone to slip out of jacks. There's a possibility. 1327250768 More study you say? Well, take a look at this:\n\n\n[Now it's two studies.](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12559724?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_SingleItemSupl.Pubmed_Discovery_RA&linkpos=2&log$=relatedarticles&logdbfrom=pubmed)\n[Now it's three.](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16098653?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_SingleItemSupl.Pubmed_Discovery_RA&linkpos=1&log$=relatedarticles&logdbfrom=pubmed)\n[And now it's four.](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15823361?dopt=Abstract)\n\n[In light of McCain wanting to ban vitamin supplements](http://www.anh-usa.org/new_site/?p=2307), I thought this may be important to remind people of. The doses that are commonly recommended are close to homeopathic. [The WHO recommends 45 milligrams per day.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_c#Government_recommended_intakes) The dose the men were given in this study was 2000 milligrams per day.\n\n[And now it's five!](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2735625/) [And now six!](http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/118571233/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0) These studies were done in humans by the way.\n\nSo, what do you say?\n\nEdit: Link six doesn't seem to work, but now it should:\nhttp://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/118571233/abstract 1277914185 Why they have to destroy what semblance of a positive message they have with UFOs, crop circles, conspiracy theories, free energy, etc., I don't know. I guess it's ultimately easier and safer to invoke myth than do actual research. 1316064175 Authentic? Well, I don't think he's an intentional fraud, regarding his videos at least. He may be *wrong*, but I don't have reason yet to think he's intentionally faking something.\n\n>The only good thing he did was bringing Ex military officials to talk on the subject.\n\nFor sure, he's done some great work bringing these people forward.\n\n>That aside, i don't see anything that adds credibility to him. If you have proof, please post it.\n\nI haven't seen anything either way. Some of his claims are fantastic, and he's not backed many of them up with evidence that I'd consider significant yet. I'd love to attend one of his attempts to communicate.. if his videos are to be believed, he's had some success in getting *something* to respond to him.\n\n>Why would a proponent of UFOs try to bring the subject knowledge to the public attention for a price when people are not interested in the subject even if offered for free of charge?\n\nSorry, what are you referring to specifically?\n\n 1332442824 Just use a red pen to cure it. 1323351108 "Fake" here means "inaccurate/untrue". 1301781516 He said evolutionists were becoming like theologians, particularly evolutionary psychologists, not scientists in general. 1290156521 There were literally *thousands* of upvotes for the shitty comments.\n\nThe fact that a shitty comment isn't immediately downvoted into oblivion is enough support for me. If my group X friends started making shitty comments, and even only a couple people supported them but nobody really opposed them, I'm still going to classify group X friends as the shitty group. 1325082529 I did have a pretty fucked up childhood so that could contribute to something. Shit I'm at work I don't even want to think about that right now. 1330241177 Not shocked to learn of governments covering up ufos... especially Nazi ufos... 1281071623 So what's your counter-argument here exactly? \n\n>if there are humans from the future coming here they would be in addition to ET or natural phenomenon\n\nMaybe there are. \n\nI think your response boils down to this:\n\n>I seriously doubt it. 1316969217 I am only interested in the historicity, not a religious debate.\n\nIf Wikipedia is an infallible source, the answer to your question must be [here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammed). 1335455827 I've been tricked before by the whole 'doesn't seem to be moving' thing because it's actually coming straight towards me. But I'm going to assume a local from the area would see that if it were the case. I see planes @ Lambert (StL) lining up in the sky all the time & they have very tell-tale lights flashing, so.. not sure. \nAt any rate, always nice to see ufo vids from Chi-town! 1297922636 New to skeptics... what is "woo"? 1308072680 That must be it. Thanks for figuring this out. 1324530547 You may be interested in reading some of the books by dolores cannon - perhaps "the three waves of volunteers and the new earth" or "the convoluted universe" series. She does past life regressions and weaves the stories into books. Obviously if you think the concepts are BS then no need to go any further. Still she is able to get many consistent stories from lots of different people. \n\nThe general theme is that this world is going to go through a huge transition and lots of souls have chosen to come here and assist in various ways. Some of the ways are as aliens who are acting as witnesses and also helping balance earth energy, other ways are to incarnate on earth and actually be "feet on the ground".\n\nIf you feel a connection then you may have had a sleep paralysis experience which would be typical of "alien" concept.\n\nAlso the idea of "aliens" may be misleading. It has been suggested that in some cases it may be a future version of yourself in a ship, making passive (because they cannot be active) types of responses. Or they may other members of your soul family acting as your support system. \n\nIn any case, big changes are to happen within the next decade. Things are appearing to speed up in some regards. Will be interesting to see what the future brings. 1345265510 The prior story about the auto accident makes the UFO story seem prosaic by comparison. We're like newborn babes in a universe of mystery. Thanks for the link 1355901983 You mean the sorts of phenomena that have kind of "mundane" explanations, right? Like subconsciously picking up on signals from other people, half-perceiving something then later remembering it.\n\nI love that sort of thing, and I sometimes use like "energy" or "sense", but always as a metaphor. It bothers me when people take that ethereal perception that is so enjoyable and insist that it represents something testable and real.\n\nLike I need 7 actual but invisible chakras spinning around my body... 1241243089 What's really fucked up is that people are diagnosed with these types of diseases by doctors practicing "western medicine". Somehow their diagnostic methods are sufficient yet they turn themselves over to snake oil salesman for alternative treatments. \n\nEdit: typo 1317916237 I also like to think they wanted to keep Ben Franklin from running due to his craziness. :) 1344559046 Proving something in science relies on the reproducability of the result. For example, testing the stealth capability of the F-117 no doubt involved many flybys past many different radar systems to verify it was consistently difficult to detect. How, exactly, is one supposed to reproduce a one-off "close encounter" radar anecdote? It's not evidence, it's arm-waving.\n\nAs for the dragon, that's from chapter 10 of Carl Sagan's *The Demon-Haunted World*. It serves as a hypothetical example of a non-falsifiable claim, where every proposed test of the claim is deflected with excuses as to how each test is unfair or does not apply. As Sagan said in that chapter, "Claims that cannot be tested, assertions immune to disproof are veridically worthless, whatever value they may have in inspiring us or in exciting our sense of wonder." Hence Neil's advice to swipe some gadget the next time one finds oneself aboard a UFO. And what did you do? You immediately came up with a handy excuse for the next yokel who claims to have been abducted; 'their technology kept me from taking anything!' 1312344331 have your family see this... Its a live representation of the planets.\n\nhttp://www.solarsystemscope.com 1337508597 I saw a different promo today for the show. I was home and just happened to have the Dr. Oz show on in the background, as the show comes on right before the noon news where I live.\n\nIt was a promo for a show on "alternative medicine" very similar to the one linked to. There was a quick flash of Dr. Novella's face (apparently in mid breath, which seemed like a cheap shot) and then Dr. Oz going "Why are you afraid of alternative medicine?!" in a rather condescending tone. It also had some rather ominous music.\n\nI'm scared this will be a hack editing job in which Dr. Novella is made to look like "the bad guy". 1303529728 I'm head off to work at this time i will try to answer question on my phone. \n\nyeah i blew off most of the orbs as dust, however a lot of the times i would take pictures and you could see the dust from the flash yet nothing would turn up on the film. Also, i've had this camera for over 4 years and taken thousands of pictures and never caught anything like orbs or mist until we did these investigations.\n\nWe heard several noises, from growls to shouting and screaming (although those could have been people), lots of experiences with temperature drops and cold chills. I'll try to upload the EVPs today.\n\nThanks i love progressive rock! :)\n 1345040150 No, you're right, and I agree totally when it's done safely and legally. I actually thought about this thread last night.\n\nIt was dark our, and my family and I were waiting in the left-turn lane at a light at a busy intersection. A cyclist was on the sidewalk on the opposing-traffic side of the street, facing the same direction we were.\n\nOur left-turn light turned green, and I started to go, and make my left onto the busy street. I noticed, as I turned, that that cyclist had started riding through the intersection, despite the "don't walk" sign, and no green light for straight-bound traffic (he wasn't turning with me)...and he had to slow down to avoid running into me. Sure, I wasn't going very fast, but his move was illegal, unsafe, and unwise. That's all I meant.\n\nCheers.\n 1349034849 The thing is that it's never done that before. And I still got on the highway at the same place I always do!\n\nI just can't explain it at all. 1335547384 I'll go with Photoshop. 1329197334 DUUUUUUDE! The comparison to Londo was fantastic! Almost had a spittake. 1299823089 Come ghost hunting with me!!!!\nI'm doing lots of research but thanks for your input :)\nShould I have posted this here? 1344642627 That was about as useful as any top 10 list on a blog. 1322315326 Other thing... are salutes returned when not wearing hats? The whole thing comes from medieval knight wearing a helmet and lifting the visor, so a lot of places do not salute without a hat. 1349912083 See, I think vaccines should be mandatory unless you've got a *very* good reason. 1300736866 Food grown with entirely sustainable practices will occasionally have blemishes from pests -- such fruit typically isn't supermarket-worthy, though it would taste the same as unblemished varieties.\n\nAlso, some synthetic fertilizers are designed to make the plant and/or fruit grow as large as possible -- which typically harms the flavor.\n\nAlso, seriously, downvotes for speaking the truth? 1302800722 But let's say factory farms can raise more cows per acre than organic farms, a reasonable assumption. This also means that they have more food in one location when they go to ship it, and can probably use more efficient shipping methods. Is this enough to make up for the difference in corn vs. grass fed? I have absolutely no idea. It's never as simple as just saying organic is better than factory, or factory is better than organic. Both have pros and cons, and you need to look at the whole system if you want to make a strong judgement. 1311724128 I didn't read the middle 50% of your post so\n\nI've made no claims, as I've said all I've been talking about skeptic philosophy with people.\n\nI also made it clear in my other post that I'm semi-trolling. So you don't have to say I have assbergers if you don't mean it, I mean what if I have a little sister who has that and she looks at my screen and sees that? How do you think that'd make her feel?\n\n 1348533409 Where is this happening?\n\nPerhaps over at the skepchic site, where they'd unfortunately be likely to attract such trolls, but here at /r/skeptic I haven't seen it. 1345506602 My issue with pareidolia is that it's such an easy blanket explanation for any photographs or items that have a possible human image in them. Not saying it isn't a valid phenomenon, but it's just too easy to go "Oh that, that's not a face, that's just pareidolia". Which is essentially saying "Yeah, I see the face, but I refuse to believe that I see the face". 1327680747 [This may help not sure though.](http://www.trueghosttales.com/paranormal/white-figure-and-the-black-mist/) 1348001946 I'm glad I'm not the only one who's confused by this. It's not that I don't think alien life doesn't exist. I can definitely see intelligent life being out there (based on the size of the universe I'd say it's almost guaranteed). It's just that the incomprehensibly massive distances between us and other potential life-bearing planets combined with the inability to travel faster than light render the chances of said intelligent life ever running into us to be incredibly small. \n\nAdditionally, some have proposed the possibility that there may be a very short maximum time span (say, several thousand years) in which most sufficiently advanced civilizations would be at the appropriate technological level (before they collapse, etc). At the very least, the timespan of an individual species' survival would be a limiting factor. That makes the chances of two civilizations both in the butter zone crossing paths even more teeny tiny.\n\nThat said, I don't think SETI should disappear. I just think it's overly optimistic... 1306712663 My parents are creationists. They urge me to take colloidal silver for everything from sore throats to stomachaches. My dad thinks that the reason I have trouble sleeping is because my ex-husband put a curse on me. They are big believers in chiropractic care. Oh, and they think the End Times are here. 1335672387 [http://transcience.org.uk/](http://transcience.org.uk/) covers the gamut of popular woo, including health. 1318347965 These people don't understand what skepticism is; it's rejection of a hypothesis *unless presented with satisfactory evidence.* There is *more* than enough evidence for the holocaust and moon landing, for example - choosing to disbelieve *despite* evidence doesn't make one a skeptic, merely a ReTard. 1318615274 Thanks for settling that. Be weird if we click the link tomorrow and the words have changed. Cue eery music. 1349553308 I agree that many are genuinely suffering--I just don't think there's any evidence to suggest that it's environmentally de novo. If you'd like, I will pull [this article](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17137865) for you when I am at work tomorrow and can access journals. It is a meta-analysis, which examines all the studies on a topic over a course of time, takes into accounts the different results, and pieces together conclusions based on methodological differences (not just strengths and weaknesses). In the conclusion of this meta-analysis (which are incredibly in depth), they state "We conclude that persons with MCS do react to chemical challenges; however, these responses occur when they can discern differences between active and sham substances, suggesting that the mechanism of action is not specific to the chemical itself and might be related to expectations and prior beliefs."\n\nWhat this means is that they show their reaction when they are able to determine what is placebo and what is not--not that they are reacting to any specific chemical trigger.\n\nIt sounds like you know someone or a few people who suffer, and I don't mean to impugn their misery, or them themselves, but I really want to caution you against taking anectdotal evidence, and evidence to which you are close in proximity, to heart. I think I know the point you're making, but I don't see evidence to support it. The evidence I see is either entirely inconclusive, or suggests that there is a significant psychological component. \n\nRegarding enzyme function, you can see go/no-go situations, but given that this seems to be a "sensitivity" issue, you would expect a range of seriousness of symptoms. You would also expect to see a grouping of chemicals, rather than "some people are sensitive to x, others to y," with no discernible pattern. You are probably correct in the polarized sampling bias in media coverage.\n\nThe one study that suggested something, was one that I criticized (it was the fMRI study). It implicated an olfactoric dysfunction. Perhaps their nocioception is somehow skewed? This would imply the effects are not toxic, but rather that they are sensitized towards some sort of olfactoric neuropathy. If this is the case, I would have expected there to be similar cases going much much farther back.\n\nIf it were an odor hypersensitivity, then it would be clearly legitimate (and perhaps suggest a route of treatment), but the etiology (cause of a pathology, or disease) would be entirely different than what is being suggested (in terms of the culprit). This explanation, if it were borne out, would demonstrate the worth of pursuing research (I'm never for ignoring anything, no matter how dull, and this is an interesting phenomenon), and would also demonstrate the danger of jumping to conclusions, or speculating without evidence.\n\nIf you do ever come across an article on MCS (or anything else) in a journal somewhere, and can't access it, send me a message and I'll be happy to pull it for you.\n\nIn any case, it really has been nice chatting with you. I think you are definitely right about the media, by the way.\n 1316494545 Yeah... I think he's the "follower" of some new age motivational speaker... he confuses me. 1265394221 Well if this piddly paper is enough to convince her of the existence of a pervasive quantum magic field, then surely she also believes in UFOs, bigfoot, unicorns, Jesus, dragons, ancient aliens, Allah, miracles, saints, faith healing, homeopathy, Reiki, past lives, hauntings, and demonic possession too, right? Every one of the above has *at least* as much evidence as is presented for said quantum magic field. Draw up a list of ridiculous stuff that people believe and go through it item by item.\n\nMy fundamental problem with "the supernatural" is that it's a big hodge-podge of shitty evidence and it can't *all* be true, so if your bar of evidence required is low enough to include a belief in reincarnation, it also has to be low enough to include a whole host of other things. That is, of course, assuming your beliefs are based on evidence. I don't care if you want to believe in magic, but don't waste everyone else's time by pretending that you believe in magic because of good evidence for it. How better to force someone to admit this than to confront them with equally worthy evidence for a wide range of bullshit? 1334677777 [Fixed link](http://www.heel.ca/pdf/studies/Euphorbium%20comp.%20antiviral.pdf) for the first article, and [a review article]( http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/o/cochrane/clsysrev/articles/rel0003/CD001957/frame.html) covering the second link (might have to reload a few times). Your [knol page](http://knol.google.com/k/dr-nancy-malik-bhms/scientific-research-in-homeopathy/pocy7w49ru14/2#) has other related links of course. 1294327944 I'm really getting sick of all these big pharma shills on reddit. For centuries homeopathy has been the basis of understanding cures for almost anything. India and China have known this for a very long time. Even marijuana has been considered a wonder drug, but who is pushing against it? Big pharma.\n\nGo find out how much pfizer, glaxxo smithkline, and merck paid last year in lawsuits and fines, then talk, or just go take your fucking nyquil and go to sleep. 1271887075 Cat for the second, tired eyes for the first. Or, ghost. 1329102703 I could have sworn Saturdays seem active. Interesting stuff! 1333548388 Don't know why you think I'm pissed off, I posted this as a lark at 3am this morning not expecting it to garner any attention. You accuse me of have a knee-jerk reaction to everyone who disagrees with me and I do not feel like this is true. I read Silver_alerts response and he is an expert in the field and it was a good and considered response and what I was looking for until he started making an ad hominem attack about be acting superior which was not the intention of the post at all.\nHeck on first glance at this picture I almost bought it hook line an sinker. \n\nI'm the first to admit I know nothing compared to someone who is an expert in the field. Heck it is why I started this thread to get opinion of a doctor or physician what the likely-hood of someone intentionally doing this to themselves and surviving is, or how easy it would be to create the illusion to do so.\n 1334438014 ... still an unusual place to put a cell phone in comparison to a kitchen counter or on her desk? 1329806089 > While Governments and Secret Services of the word acknowledge them it wasn't something that really got to the masses\n\nNot the most respected pair of peer-reviewers available ! But hey! I would trust Joe to [microwave my gerbils](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn4fq3ZfWG4) any day. 1313293588 How can peace be found between Iran and Israel? 1344984173 Einstein lived in a time when nuclear weapons were actually used. If you read accounts from that area, many people thought such technology was the beginning of the end.\n\nCompare this with current times. Sure we have lots of nuclear weapons but they are an abstraction, we don't see them, we don't use them and the last time people really cared was in the 80s when they thought Regan might do something stupid and Russia was still an issue. 1302238084 Anecdotally I've heard that with herbal supplements they contain inconsistent quantities, adulterants, and depending on species may not even contain the herb they claim to be because they harvested other similar looking species or they are too difficult to grow commercially and thus how did they harvest enough.\n\nGranting that some herbs do what they claim I don't understand how proof of efficacy and quality control help anyone but the little guy.\nI want to get what I'm paying for and I want reasonable assurances that they work. 1298050901 I saw that post. He stated his opinion on the probability of intelligent life in the universe, but did not say that it was related to this supposed evidence. 1301293725 You just blasted my bears in the wood belief to smithereens 1307218267 Alison Kruse sees UFOs everywhere. She needs to take that night-vision to another locale other than an airport flight path. 1298865363 > Lying for Jesus.\n\nEvangelism summarized in three words. 1344621251 JesusCrap's idea. 1354887870 I don't know of any good detailed explanations, but it's basically a mixture of suggestion and being sure you're in a specific biomechanical posture that gives the desired effect. 1303344366 >Something else to keep in mind: Whitley Strieber was a psychological/supernatural horror author before Communion. I'm skeptical of Strieber for the same reasons why I'm skeptical of L.R. Hubbard, a sci-fi author who went on to found a religion based on ancient alien stories.\n\n\nMy feelings exactly. 1337996148 Kind of a pointless study. Most people don't buy organic food because they think it will taste better, they buy it because they think it is healthier. People think things taste better when they have good connotations associated with it, this is a no brainer. 1302732771 Most of that was due to not being in control of my thoughts and what I was typing but yeah, it looks pretty awful haha. 1336878669 "The fuck is this?" - my thoughts exactly.\n\nThis video could honestly be anything. Maybe the explanation is in the Wikileaks insurance file? hahahahahahahahaha 1295224816 And this has to do with what exactly about UFOs? 1351303601 Is she the kind of "physiotherapist" that does happy endings? 1344326329 Can you point me to them? I always wondered what they were, but I could find nothing.\n\nEdit: Nevermind. Wiki has a small write-up about it. 1300755486 Wow I listen to SGU all the time, and never knew that about Rebecca. ~~Thanks for this info. Sounds like she's a drama queen...~~\n\nEdit: Yes it was unfair of me to call her a drama queen. I apologize. Not one of my better moments. 1327385672 The matter was addressed in an episode of the Syfy television series, Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files, where in a stunt driver was able to recreate - through careful planning - the maneuver of driving under a fence that was secured only along the top. 1326546177 If she's not into homeopathy as you say, then it should be rather straightforward. "Mom, the stuff you bought doesn't work. It's not your fault; it shouldn't have been sold in the first place. This is why it doesn't work yadda yadda." 1317021729 Cash? No! Banks don't just put your million in a drawer for you to come finger when ever you want. However, if you are serious. I think you could contact the JREF and they will have the bank send you a document. You may have to pay the bank a small fee. So are you going to make the call? http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/contact-the-jref/12-contacts/18-jref-postal-address.html 1329334901 Would recommend you read Thomas Malthus. 1289490807 Hmmm. I think that one of the greatest challenges to skepticism and science advocacy in the information age is the wealth of "proven studies" that are "published" by quacks. The average lay person sees such studies and goes "Oh ok science. So it works." They don't even realize what makes or breaks a proper scientific study.\n\nI wish I knew how to solve this problem. 1337140832 I'm giving up. I read something today that facts that contradict peoples beliefs just make them believe their stupid ideas even more. If people want to fill their head with this shit, what's the point in fighting it? 1279151800 Thank fuck for that; I was concerned I wouldn't be able to watch the All Blacks destroy France in the World Cup final... 1318923947 i don't know how true this is, but apparently because "area 51" was so speculated upon and popular and "ufo" sightings were so numerous, the government moved the airplane research to nevada. \n\ni thought immediately on seeing that, that those were airplane lights. why would ufo's have lights anyways? this video is showing a new military plane that can hover and fly silently.\n\nit's not the first time that the government develops something, doesn't tell the people, there's wind of it, and people say our technology isn't capable of doing it. 1301408256 You know and trust your mother and sister. They had a profoundly affecting experience, and they want you to share (and at a certain level, validate) what they felt. Because you know they are genuinely telling you what they experienced, this is over-riding your rational scepticism, and you believe them.\n\nThe point is though, that what they experienced was an illusion. 1308492607 Anti-aspartame people make a big deal about how it breaks down into methanol. Did you see what was used to extract stevia? Methanol.\n\nStevia is banned in Europe and Singapore because there's insuffiecient toxicologal evidence for its safety, according to health agencies there.\n\nBut sure, it's probably not unsafe, but only by a definition that goes for aspartame as well, only to a much larger degree because there are so many studies. 1312577462 The thing is that we are a very small minority in this world; and, living in a world of astrology, homeopathy, healing magnets, fairies, gods and magic is not that much fun - at least it is not for me.\n\nIt is refreshing to have a place where people *understand* you, where they look at text like that, and, like you, want to scream.\n\nWe do need to laugh at them from time to time, as a way to prove "hey, I'm not the crazy one". As proof that there is still some hope in this world. Otherwise... would it be worth living?\n\nWe live everyday in a world where there never can be a "long debate about MSG safety". We can't bear that for too long... Now, I'm not saying /r/skeptic should be all like this. I tend to hide most posts like this - I usually hide a post just because it has homeopathy in the title, as we all know it's bullshit and there's nothing new to see there. Still... if you can't make a post like this here, where can you make it? 1307193285 I did, no reply. I even paid 1.99 to find out whose number it was, and found out it was a woman named Loyda, in Los Angeles. I have texted and called the number numerous times. No avail. 1332043205 Is it Kirlian photography? 1343093741 It does when your eyes do. 1356746622 how often is private/home school not an option? At least for the vast majority of cases they are options. 1349743562 I took a gander at the abstract, looks like I cannot view the paper, and I think I would be happier with a larger sample size. I would also be interested to know what they consider a significant enhancement. This isn't magic here, we are well aware that emotion affects performance, and that smells can produce strong emotional responses. It would be interesting to see what the smell of pencil shavings, or a wood fire would do to performance. 1352807178 There are actually some legitimate nutritionists. They are licensed nutritionists. Those are nutritionists that have licensing from their state govt to call themselves a licensed nutritionist. There is also the CNS credential. In order to call yourself a CNS, you have to go through a certification process through the American College of Nutrition/Certification Board for Nutritional Specialists. See: http://www.nutritioncertification.net/certified-nutritionist http://www.quackwatch.com/04ConsumerEducation/nutritionist.html\n 1322018935 Right, because an "investigation that actually follows national standards" (not sure what that entails, exactly) ,conducted by the government, would surely mollify any and all Truthers. 1355138423 This was news in August you know. 1320873103 never play with an ouija board. ever. 1344582077 Ok, he told me one story while doing remote viewing - which he vowed never to do again. He was involved in intelligent stuff (pinch of salt..)\nin a nutshell you meditate, leave your body and visit special secure sites as designated by a diagram on a piece of paper given to you by your mentor. They aren't given any other information. \n\nHe was at a military installation, which apparently he did quite frequently, normally there is no contact whatsoever with anything he's viewing - it's supposed to be impossible. He saw two people, they were able to see him (again - this is supposed to be impossible while remote viewing). \nOne of them pointed up at him and fired a 'thing' at him instantly freezing him - he panicked and tried to return to his body but found himself unable to move. He heard the other guy say "it's ok - let him go, he's a sleeper". \nhe then found himself able to return to his body.\n 1354043021 Oh, BriDun lights up my life in so many ways. Skepticism, education, humor, invitations to his hot tub, and the occasional original musical number? Yep. 1339857228 Ohhhh okay! I shoulda took more time to read and reply last night, was in a hurry sorry bout that. And ya for real, when evidence comes in ill make sure to post it in this sub reddit 1340384867 Maybe not. Is it just me, or does this look like a pile of empty boxes? 1349447157 I've certainly heard weirder ideas. I'd believe it. But the ufological community needs to provide a bit more in the way of evidence than a certain History Channel program. 1327363659 exploding chinese lanterns? the fun starts at :55. what could these things be? 1288204721 ah yes, enneagrams, thank you. i was trying to remember that one.\n\n 1355374950 Displaying complete and utter dominance as a deterrence is one of the oldest tricks in the book. \n\nWhy would they not want to show all the other big powers that they are light years ahead if there were? If I'm standing in a room with a few other guys and I have a club, sure I have an advantage but if I'm holding a machine gun they are completely under my control.\n\nMakes no sense to hide a massive technological advantage. 1349783772 ~D; 1348427803 hahaha\n 1304932127 Nothing! God made the to test our strength, duh! 1277715939 I'm with the school on this.\n\nThe same parent who whines about how expensive an epi is will sue the school if something bad happened in the extra 30 seconds it would take to get the pen out of the desk. 1276869862 This belongs on r/zombies\n\nI'm an avid redditor on r/zombies and I'm sure this would belong there perfectly, but unless this has to do with zombies made by ghosts or aliens, it doesn't belong here ;) 1341418542 It isn't a ufo once you know what it is. You do know now what it was (don't you?). 1253990043 My user name is a relic, I no longer support government. Although I would still argue that 1-10% of politicians want to help, and maybe 1/10 of those actually know how to help. 1350867538 I love how the cover of the relevant scientific journal looks like the cover of Cosmo, complete with a Playmate.\n\nDoes it have a centerfold? 1338223327 After doing some light research on this, the only people who seem to support gluten intolerance caused by anything but Coeliac's disease are people trying to sell a book about how to live gluten free. If, statistically speaking, you can only sell a book to between 200,000 and 2,000,000 people, I guess you have to find some way to inflate that number if you really want to make a profit.\n\nI would not be surprised if eating really excessive amounts of gluten could contribute to existing digestive conditions, such as irritable bowel and acid reflux, but both of those conditions are resolved completely with balanced diets, medication and/or stress reduction. \n\nThe *dummies* book on Gluten sensitivity actually implies that you can develop Coeliac disease through exposure to gluten, ala Diabetes. Except gluten sensitivity is a genetic disorder. You're either predisposed to it, or you're not. Early exposure may determine whether or not it develops, but eating six pieces of toast and a bowl of rice for breakfast every morning when you're 30 isn't going to suddenly make your stomach start attacking Gluten.\n\n 1329081882 In that case every single subreddit is a circlejerk because they all seek the same thing/think the same way. 1305153241 Having said that though, it is possible to start the tutorial again at any time (the link should have been emailed to you in the welcome email and available in your account page). The tutorial is really just designed to get you straight in to adding rebuttals without fearing the process. I think it is probably easier to add rebuttals when it is clear what the claim is and what the rebuttal page is - while this tutorial is of course manufactured (and a little bit silly), so that confuses things unfortunately. 1339184315 Nope. It was a sphere, and I could see it clearly. Matte black with an almost invisible pattern etched into it like a screen door, or like a dodgeball. If it had been image burn it wouldn't have gone out of sight behind the trees. Look at a lightbulb, look away and blink repeatedly. The black dot has no dimension or texture, moves with the motion of your eyes, and takes more than 10 seconds to disappear. It was nothing like that, And it was only about 30 feet up. It freaked me out, but for all I know it could just be a military drone blimp that the public hasn't seen yet. Like a tiny ISIS but spherical. 1352941051 I'm sorry, but I don't quite grasp how this is a great article.\n\n>First, Learn to Avoid Confirmation Bias\n\n[...]\n\n>Your First Line of Defense: Search Google, Snopes, and Other Popular Web Sites\n\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8ofWFx525s\n\nHonestly, they should have shown how to to filter-down information with negative keywords and word matching. One of the biggest issues with finding relevant information is the shear scope of it. Most (even intelligent) people are overwhelmed by the volume of information that can exist out there. \n\n>The Big Guns: Search Public Journals and Contact Science Advocates\n\nWith no mention of pros/cons of open journals, reputable journals, mention of the fastest ways to look. Really, this should have been coupled with the bit about Wikipedia, and told people to just to go straight to the references section to get a good idea.\n\n>Extra Credit: Visit Your Local Library and Consult Librarians and Reference Materials\n\n? Not sure how this is reputable. \n\n---\n\nUnless I missed it, they really should have drilled down on the looking for what people have to gain, their credentials, their other works, whether they're just a "contribute" or an actual expert, etc. \n\nFor example, David McRaney (an expert cited by LifeHacker) of http://youarenotsosmart.com/, \n\n>David McRaney is a journalist who loves psychology, technology and the Internet.\n\n>Before going to college, he tried waiting tables, working construction, selling leather coats, building and installing electrical control panels, and owning pet stores.\n\n>As a journalist, McRaney cut his teeth covering Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast and in the Pine Belt for several newspapers. Since then he has been a beat reporter, an editor, a photographer and everything in between.\n\n>He is now employed as director of new media for a broadcast television company where he also produced a television show focusing on the music of the Deep South.\n\n>He is married to Amanda McRaney, and they live in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.\n\nwarrants some skepticism on his authority other than his obvious enthusiasm. Not saying you should write him off, but that bio certainly makes me incredulous. 1340226154 Well, so far they've been healthy debates. I respect him to much to let it go further than that. It's not really that I want to prove atheism to him, because I don't believe I could ever succeed at that. I just want him to understand my position and explain to him why I'll never be "coming around". And I want to do it in a way that is convincing enough to get the point across short from saying, "Quit bothering me about this".\n\n> If you're trying to learn about what he believes in and compare it to your own beliefs, however, carry forth and be honest.\n\nThis is exactly what I'd like to do, while making him understand that I'm not going to change as I stated before. I'm sure my wording in how I express my feelings doesn't come across the way I want it to. I don't try to convince him of anything, only show him what I think and why. If I somehow implied that he wouldn't have solid ideas on his faith, I didn't meant to. He has great conviction and in his mind he **knows** what he believes is real. There's no changing his beliefs and I wouldn't try. I only want to state my beliefs in a more poignant manner. 1303158856 Chopra mentioned his "worldview" many times...and how it differs from the scientist Richard Dawkins...\n\nguess what his new book that he's pushing is called? "War of the Worldviews: Science Vs. Spirituality" 1322704564 It was a great whim! I've taken the liberty of submitting it to /r/bestof.\n\nI'm not surprised you got tired - from the rest of the thread there have been a number of people who've 'given up' on conversations with him/her, although not many who have presented such detailed information as yourself! 1347842927 Too bad it didnt happen once.. 1349377825 There are definitely correlations between movements/gestures/expressions and emotional states, but they are not absolute. This means that things will not always mean the same thing from one moment to the next, and individual people will vary from one to the other. You can identify trends, but those are useless on an individual basis because you can't know in advance how much that person's mannerisms align with the trend. I would say that such observations are perfectly scientific, but using them to make predictions is overreaching. 1338397374 This wins my vote for worst submission to reddit. 1288390179 i'll tell you this, your bed is full of good energy, no bad spirits will be able to hurt you if your in your bed :D 1337160068 Furthermore, many people die during surgeries or suffer from side effects. "healthy" is subjective. 1336350098 Ha! thats nothing. 3 in 7 fear ME! 1336080018 Okay, here you go you composite of diarrhea and vomit.\n\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnszlJC8iGs\n\nSame day as other footage, but an hour later. Yes, this phenomena continued for two hours. 1350763683 I stopped using deodorant a year or so ago, except for when I really sweat hard. It was a little gross for a week or so, but my body quickly adapted. If you're in good health, there shouldn't be too many places for bacteria to accumulate. 1301474769 >But the claims by the religious happen to be inside the realm of science\n\nDo you mind elaborating? I am honestly curious as to how they fall within the realm of science. In particular, how an all-powerful god (which i believe is at the root of theistic religion), may exist or not exist falls within scientific reasoning. 1296176644 This reminds me of my great grandmother whom I was very close with. She always gave me pennies or something whenever I went to her house. And after she passed my mother and I began to find pennies in the house. Also a few months ago just as I was getting to sleep I heard someone say my name (my parents were fast asleep by now) and I recognized the voice and it was my great grandmothers. 1341802717 This sounds good in theory. However, in practice, most people less educated in a subject do not seem to follow this. Look at any discussion on the efficacy of prayer, evils of synthetic foods, or corruption in politics. Evidence alone works on people with sound and rational minds. Not everyone has one. You argue to convince people around you, not necessarily your opponent. 1346599152 I know it surprised me when I figured out I like Doctor Thunder better than Dr. Pepper.\n\nAs to your bond splitting speculation..interesting. I would like to add: the scientists in the Atlantic study, if pressed, would add a "....probably" on the end of everything they have *ever* published; we don't know *exactly* how the Human Body does anything. HFCS could be the cause of male pattern baldness; Raw Cane Sugar could extend your lifespan by 1 day per tablespoon consumed. or vice versa. 1344872036 It differentiates from religious humanists, who think, if I understand correctly, that most religions are outmoded, so they decided to make their own. (I'm fuzzy on the details).\n\nHowever, Wikipedia tells me that "Humanism" refers to the Humanist "life view" or whatever which is basically the same as secular humanism. So you are probably correct about its redundancy. 1315121546 > Does anyone see any hope, or are we going to be drowned in homeopathy, copper bracelets, iridology, and ancient aliens?\n\nI've kicked around these thoughts for a while. I think we are running into some cultural blockades. The crowds who bump around with the bracelets, homoeopathy and what not tend to live in a positive culture of 'Yes.' Skeptics tend to run in a negative culture of 'WTF!!? -No!"\n\nSo the question is, do the benefits of living in a positive, affirming 'Yes' oriented culture outweigh the benefits of living in a negative 'No' debunking culture? Unless, you are praying your kids to death, I suspect that the costs of a $60 bracelet, or the occasional homoeopathic cold remedy is so minor that they would rather live in a magical world.\n\n<Devil's Advocate> So what if someone really believes in ghosts? Or ancient alien ancestors? The negative impact on their daily lives is negligible to non-existent. And on the plus side, they are culturally seen as quirky, fun and interesting. </Devil's Advocate>\n\nI think for reason and logic to win out, we have to find a way as a skeptic culture to come across as more positive and fun. I know this though may grate against many of you, but this is essentially an advertising point and we are losing the advertising war.\n\nPerhaps, instead of telling people all of the time what doesn't work, we start offering more positive solutions as to what really does work! We need to find a way to come across as more positive.\n\nIt's a tough nut to crack, but I think we need to rethink our public image and how we come across to people. 1335101490 I would agree. And boy, that's one big matzoh ball. 1240763412 Wow amazing story. Did it sound like your brother's voice? I think I've heard my dad call out "son" to me. 1335961426 Pretend the book is a notepad, hold a pen and have some stuff scribbled on the back. By the end of the 90 you should be expert. 1331064171 Wish i could understand your technical description. I am a VFX illiterate and have no idea what you just said. But it sounds pretty cool. Are you talking about the video from this article? 1331817109 "Lie detectors" are useful if the subject believes lie detectors work. [Watch this.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=rN7pkFNEg5c#t=96s) 1322945054 > Humans are used in experiments testing the effects of new medicine.\n\nNot against their will they're not. You can't get the consent of an animal so the moral implications of experimenting on them is analogous to experimenting on people without their consent. The difference is that we outright refuse to experiment on people in that manner but we are willing to do so on animals because we do not value their lives as much as those of our own species. 1343175686 I guess that's a good way to put it. It's a real shame though, isn't it? 1293958840 Which sf book was this? 1327816231 No way you could tell what he wrote by the sound. It was either pre-arranged and completely fake or the mentalist found out somehow. 1280249729 True. Perhaps he should change it to "bloodletting." Sounds sexier anyway. 1329162329 Awkward.. 1310808097 Why the hell would you want to drink if you knew you couldn't get drunk? 1326314366 This isn't really a paranormal story, this is a classic case of two gullible people falling for an obvious ploy. 1340403975 I was worried that a comic post might be harbinger of the circle jerking end too this subreddit, but was pleasantly surprised.\n\nVery informative and non confrontational explanation of some great points about evolution! 1308699743 Huh. How odd. I wonder what affects the colour. 1343981138 What you said is like a twelve year old school yard bully finding out that he's not as bad as he thinks he is after getting his ass kicked. How is that a depressing thought?\n\nHow is an ignorant, marauding species finding out that they are nothing but genetically-engineered gold-slaves a "depressing thought"? It's a depressing thought from the point of view of the ignorant, marauding gold-slave, sure, but looked at from any *other* perspective besides that particularly ignorant and self-centered one, it's not really a depressing thought at all.\n\nFrom *everybody else's* perspective? from the perspective of *everyone else* in the "school yard" that's gotten bullied by the 12 year old idiot moron? it's actually an awesome and wonderful thing to see this piece of shit bully find out that they are, in reality, nothing but a slave.\n\nNothing depressing about it. 1307305398 They were out hunting for stupids. You answered correctly. 1308106794 Maybe, but for me it was getting up at 6 fucking am. On weekends i got up at 10-11am and felt so much better. 1287526089 Cheer up. The man was an arrogant bully, couldn't have happened to a nicer person.\n\nAll things considered his death will save a great deal of lives, just as long as people find out that Jobs could have died because he entertained the charlatans, perhaps other people won't? 1317987351 If they gonna go there, I got a shovel to beat them and a rope to drag their kids to the doctor to get them vaccinated. But I bet that's oppression instead of means to protect my offspring to spread my genes. 1340920942 Holy fuck dude, I kind of wish I didn't read this and left it for tomorrow. Fucking chills down my spine when I read the part about the darkness staying with her. 1355465648 So I guess you don't read any fiction or watch any movies not based on solid fact. 1326822588 I'm glad you're skeptical of my skepticism, seriously, it's good stuff. \n\nIt might be that what I wrote was a combination of 1 and 2, my sample size is probably too low, I do not know many vegans.\n\nOn the other hand I'm not sure if Storm is based on a stereotype, if someone does not apply critical thinking to one area, why should he or she apply it in another one? Storm is both ignorant and arrogant, but yeah, her qualities have been exaggerated for the needs of this brilliant video. 1302623068 The fact that it happened the day after.... 1346743996 I'd love the extra content occasionally but kinda agree with Steve in that it shouldn't detract from your strong skeptical message. Stay on-topic! You have a large celebrity factor with no backlash but I would say that too much opinion and personality could lead you down a slightly destructive route. 1346220427 Not to mention the sightings span across a plethora of different climates with little to no difference from description to description. Anyone who really believes the have seen or heard a Bigfoot either probably got freaked out by coyotes howling or saw a bear. I don't mean to go against the point of this subreddit, but Bigfoot is a load of bullshit, and the only reason he hasn't been denounced is because people are sheep and other people are making money off of them by bullshitting their way through investigations. 1349166590 wasn't this the anon prank? 1306193831 Organic doesn't mean pesticide free, it means synthetic pesticide free. The word synthetic conjures up lots of negative thoughts, but the truth is pesticides are made to be as safe and effective as possible. The pesticides used in organic agriculture are natural pesticides. There is nothing inherently safe about a pesticide being made by mother nature. Now what i'm about to say is just anecdotal since for the life of me I can't remember where I found it, but natural pesticides are just as carcinogenic as synthetic, sometimes even more. Also natural pesticides aren't as effective per volume which means they have to use a much larger amount.\n\nSo what it comes down to is in some cases organic food could have a larger amount of more dangerous chemicals associated with them. I'm not saying this is always true, but there is nothing inherently more safe about natural than synthetic. 1349315583 I know i'm a few days late on this one, but have you been getting enough sleep lately? If not, you could be having [hypnagogic hallucinations](http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-hypnagogic-hallucinations.htm). 1342744025 I'm actually having a problem about that right now. I have a friend who is seriously into woo. He goes to a chiropractor, and occasionally travels to the mid-west, from California, to go see this other chiropractor who gives him shit like essence of cucumber. \n\nHe now thinks that he's allergic to almost all food. He refuses to eat wheat, corn, beef, sugar, tomatoes, and pretty much everything else because he chiropractor is telling him he's allergic. The chiropractor even gave him the subjective allergy test. I asked why he didn't go to an actual trained allergist, and he didn't really have an answer. \n\nHe refuses to eat tomatoes because they belong in the nightshade family and I almost yelled at him for the stupidity of that reasoning. 1255811939 If these are alien spaceships, the one light spawning more lights may be a carrier ship, having other ships docked on it possibly refueling whatever fuel they use, charging their magnetic field or something else. 1288543621 I disagree with Dave Silverman and I agree with Seth Kurtenbach. \n\nI don't understand why Silverman is trying to exclude skeptics who are not atheists? and if you are trying to get more people into skepticism attacking people on their religion is probably not a good idea. Show them the science and rationality and let them decide later on their faith. \n\nAlso in my personal opinion based on my experiences the majority of people at /r/atheists are not very skeptical at all. i don't have hard numbers for that so take it for it is, my opinion. \n\njust fyi i'm a christian and a skeptic. 1323627743 Aliens are coming i know because i can feel the earth frequencies changing and we are in the age of Aquarius but you must have an open mind to understand this as it goes against everything you know to be true. When they come to us they will bring free energy and show us how to life in peace and get rid of the jews.\n\n\n\n sarcasm 1350634679 LOL this is why I stopped reading Huffington YEARS ago. For those of you that don't know, this clown writing this is not a medical doctor. He's a podiatric doctor. This is not to say all podiatrists are bad or don't know their stuff. Many of them do and many of them are bright, but considering that you can get into podiatry school with AVERAGE science GPA is 2.9 to 3.1 (depending on the school), you will get a bunch of bad apples. And added to this that this clown got his degree in the 1980's, makes it a lot worse. 1319734122 I'm going to be as respectful as possible here: You've missed the point. By wanting to be part of a community that does not make rape jokes and inherently devalue women for their gender, I am not asking to be catered to because of my gender. I'm asking for basic human decency from other people, I'm asking them to not be stupid pricks just because they think it's fun. I find that intensely insulting. 1325686923 here is an update with a link to pictures of the "star"....\n\n[star of bethlehem now visible](http://www.einterface.net/gamini/Star-of-Bethlehem.html).\n\n 1232736894 This dude is lying. 1326089797 Source? Blood tests are not very accurate, and a diet change is often used as a diagnostic tool. 1336958276 I found it while browsing the 4chan /x/ board. 1330071273 Given the vast distances between worlds, it's ridiculous to think that radio waves would be used for long-distance communication. Also, it was amusing to see him say "UFO" in reference to an alien spaceship, and "UFO people" to mean "people who think aliens are visiting us." Generally this is a good indicator that the person on your screen has spent little time researching the subject. \n\nZero evidence is presented to prove that we have not (and are not) being visited. He makes vague, fleeting references to crop circles and the ancient aliens theory, and moves on. Zero effort is made to examine ANY of the evidence (that is publicly available) suggesting an ET presence and ET contact. \n\nMore armchair skeptics smugly reassuring each other. Shallow videos like these are to skepticism what blurry cellphone videos are to the UFO community. \n\nEDIT: And sadly, for both sides, videos of such caliber are the norm. 1356320593 Critique noted. This is my personal blog, rather than being intended to be a resource, but since I am sharing it for public consumption it would behoove me in the future to make it more share-able.\n\nI thought I was in that middle ground, but surely there is room for improvement. 1295312518 The original article was linked to and the top-level comment linked to this link that debunks it. We don't need it re-posted. 1319834570 I am not sure why you've associated Ron Paul with 9/11 Truth considering he's said that he doesn't believe there was a government conspiracy.\n\nAlso, neocon? Really? As if only truther retards say neocon? 1247667162 Why wouldn't you see a commercial for a very successfully selling product (please note, I am not saying the product is successful in doing what it claims, but that it sells very well). 1325674752 > that's funny but why not send binary code of math equations, the universal language they say. And also special pleading.\n\nIndeed, why not. I agree. Maybe they do, and this is how it manifests itself. Again, this is speculative. I was simply indirectly commenting upon what has been reported in our skies. 1315300138 Yeah, I saw that and it seems like a good idea--whatever you do to aid him will decrease the chances that he suddenly becomes hostile.\n\nThanks! I appreciate that. Sometimes I wish I were still living in blissful ignorance, but in the end its our duties to use our knowledge to aid and protect everyone around us from these evil entities. 1323807172 Search it on Google "haunted history of palacete Los morou\n 1350488785 Damn, I'm from Edinburgh and would have seen a load of that stuff, but I'm away at Uni just now :(\n\nMind you, the flight path for Edinburgh Airport goes pretty much across the whole city so there are always lights in the sky, and you can see all the way across to Fife where there's wind turbines with lights on the top etc. 1287627622 I totally understand the frustration as well. I have tons of stories of personal paranormal experience, but even my own husband tries to shut me down when I begin to tell the stories because he sees it as a sign of stupidity and a need for attention.\nVery frustrating. I think it's ignorant to claim there's nothing out there we don't understand. 1350668513 That is what she implied. She implied that only creeps wait until a women is alone in a small confined room to proposition her, and she said she felt sexuality. What is she creeped out by if she did not fear sexual assault? Her statements clearly express that she felt like a potential victim of sexual assault and that only creeps would ask a women for coffee. It also implies that men who ask women out on a pseudo-date are potential rapists, or at the very least they will potentially sexually assault her.\n\nShe is spreading an irrational fear of men via these inane propaganda tactics. She should have no reason to fear being asked for coffee by *anyone*. 1310046140 [monolith](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2uuRG9l1JA) 1351086722 You're reminded of (1+sqrt(5))/2 every time you use sqrt(2)? 1347367567 Was about to repost this, deleted, and came here to upboat. Why the down votes? 1317909637 Last year I used the Secret to learn Spanish, and now I'm fluent! 1304222750 Patent/Copyright law is soooo convoluted, probably intentionally. &#3232;\\_&#3232;\n 1329326167 I couldn't stop reading it...it was so...mind meltingly...well...I don't know...I just don't know...\n\n* * shakes head * * 1290551930 So basically, it's a piece of wood in a bowl of water? 1356978821 that's* 1336787897 that's* 1342327458 that's* 1344569573 that's* 1345601845 that's* 1348105081 that's* 1354690199 "There's nothing "less bad" about it." - Maybe I misunderstood this, I took it as a claim that None of the pesticides where a lesser evil than standard ones, but some are proven to be worse?\n\n\n\n\nThe article: \n"Ultimately, the organic products were much less effective than the novel and conventional pesticides at killing the aphids and they have a potentially higher environmental impact" - I think is worth noticing. That said, that was an interesting read, but it says "can", "may" and "potentially" - so there are pointers towards the impact, but the jury is still out on this one. \nAnd this is only based on soybeans. There are many, many other products where we simply know nothing. \n\nStill, it is well worth keeping in mind, so thanks for showing me this one. \n\n\nEdit: [Report here](http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0011250) with an interesting qoute: \n\n"Conclusions/Significance\nThese data bring into caution the widely held assumption that organic pesticides are more environmentally benign than synthetic ones. All pesticides must be evaluated using an empirically-based risk assessment, because generalizations based on chemical origin do not hold true in all cases." 1346956913 What a bunch of fucking horse shit. A BIBLE? \n\nSeriously what the fuck... 1328105285 Yep. Because the itching and swelling is a histamine reaction. Once the bite swells up you need to reverse the body's reaction. I see no purpose for any heat at the bite - you need cold to reduce the inflammation. 1338425382 i am very happy to read how calmly you handled the situation because i lot of people who dont understand the paranormal would of thought this lady was something evil, but sometimes spirits just want to hang around a bit longer or just say hi 1345496607 Perhaps it is time to tear down old philosophies, then, and create a new pragmatic one under a new title. Such philosophies do exist, but the disdain for philosophical studies and criticism has kept them out of mainstream understanding (though we hold most of their truths as common sense). 1345150963 epidurals don't actually get rid of the pressure-type pain that women have during childbirth. also, evolution is a bitch, it rarely finds the 'best' way of doing anything, it just takes whatever works. 1334872487 Source? His explanations always seem logical however I wouldn't put it past him. His goal after all is a good show/entertainment. 1343191186 Yes, people can only have opinions or excel is one limited field. Like Linus Paulings for example. \n\n"William Sanford "Bill" Nye (born November 27, 1955),[2] popularly known as Bill Nye the Science Guy, is an American science educator, comedian, television host, actor, mechanical engineer, and scientist. He is best known as the host of the Disney and PBS Kids children's science show Bill Nye the Science Guy (1993–1998) and for his many subsequent appearances in popular media as a science educator."— Wiki\n\nBill Nye has lots of TV experience and handles himself well with the unexperienced. I'm sure his experience as a comedian comes in handy when explaining alien sitings but really, is he an expert? I don't think so. 1324879236 Actually,calling a coyote-with-mange a chupacabra has been debunked. These poor, sick creatures bear no resemblance to the original chupacabra reports/descriptions. 1332241264 Does anyone have a good link to any research done that proves homeopathy is all placebo effect? I'm not questioning that it is bunk; I just want a link to send my woowoo friends who believe this stuff. I have one friend who swears it works for him, and my eyes just glaze over and I have to change the subject every time he tries to get me to try it. I want to point him to a study since common sense isn't working.\n\nIt seems like it could be easily be proven to be all placebo by swapping out 'homeopathic' solutions with distilled water in a study. Same effect seen = full placebo. Has this ever been done? Seems like science could easily put this to bed... 1346789173 This seems all the more reason to contact an employment protection office. It seems like it may be that his boss hires people on probation pressures them to join the church and fires them if they don't. That can't be legal even with the probation period. 1339100714 Do multiverse models and conclusions necessarily have anything to do with Quantum physics? 1350564254 Beat it out of him 1288670975 The pod delusion is a great uk based podcast. don't forget to listen to SGUs 5 x 5 for 5 minute hits of skepticism! 1308507506 They're probably right. The climate and Earth is most likely highly resilient over time. Climate was once much hotter during periods, just as it was once much colder. The question is not how will the biosphere survive climate change, but how well will human beings? 1330412128 Not at all. Apparently in Saudi Arabia the psychic profession is self-correcting. Open your mouth, say something stupid, get excecuted. Talk about quality control... 1270327935 Evolution works in entirely predictable ways. 1329605592 The post says that one of the crew members aboard the plane, Ronald Claridge, was also a painter. He painted that picture so you could get a visualization of what they saw. 1333304748 This is so staged. 1217629873 One of the worst examples of poor science/medical reporting I've seen was on something similar years (a decade at least) ago. I had recently read of an ongoing clinical study (no results at the time) investigating the use of two infrared lasers at 90° angles designed to use constructive interference at the site of internal tumors to heat the tissue for increased blood flow... etc. Still in the early stages of study is the important part.\n\nThen just a few months after this study made a bit of news I see our local TV health reporter interviewing a chiropractor demonstrating his method of using infrared lasers to treat such things as carpal tunnel syndrome. This "doctor" opened an expensive Seagull brand case which contained a device that looked like a cross between an old fashioned 2 D-cell flashlight and a prop light saber handle. His infrared "laser" projected a visible red circle that he would wave over the patient's wrists followed by a neck "adjustment". Of course his patient claimed to feel better afterwards.\n\nThat was it. That was the extent of the report. No citations of actual clinical results or studies. Nothing. 1312321928 >but you can't make the claim that safety is good since many people don't like them\n\nThat's an attempt at trolling right? 1311811605 Hardly an impartial, objective audience/sample - unless for Fox news. 1305187256 There's a really good summary of what exactly Homeopathy is, and why it's a problem, in Dawkin's "Enemies of Reason pt 2" video - \n\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gt6W7eJ_E0A&feature=related\n 1321196199 Thank you. In the future, an upvote will suffice. Watch as I demonstrate on your comment. 1321156360 In the top picture it is clearly not an object moving, it is the camera moving. 1302742407 Here let me have a try with you. To think that you can sum up what would have to be Universal realms (because heaven and hell would not only apply to humans), in terms of religious heaven and fiery hell, that's insane. Nobody could gleam anything from being there if they exists for a few moments. 1355873698 Well said, my man. I cannot stand people that jump to conclusions so quickly. It really reveals their blindness of bias. 1345240160 Sometimes I feel amazed how many strange occurrences have happened and we still are no where close to explain them. I wish the human race would advance forward just 100 years... when we have better knowledge of our brains, space-time, the universe and may have some answers for these events. 1326437058 Right.\n\n[Everything in your world is clear cut, isn't it?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multivitamin#Scientific_assessment) 1279992129 >Supernature does not exist, there is only our natural world and universe.\n\n>There is no nature/supernature duality, creating such is a false dichotomy. \n\nThis is an admirable attitude. So many people don't realize how silly the very concept of "supernatural" is. I wish you the best of luck is spreading this idea.\n\nThat said, I think you have a lot to learn about how to show scientific evidence for something. 1349016776 Based on how advanced any species would need to be to reach us I pretty much immediately discount any crop circles as a human hoax 1351849548 Thank you for writing this. Before more recent times, we knew almost nothing about Autism and the lack of diagnosis obviously would account for the "increase". The sad truth is that before the eighties people with mental disabilities (of any kind) weren't put in school, they were put in community homes, hospitals, mental wards or sometimes just hidden away at home. We know so much more about mental diseases and disorders so fucking duh there will be an increase in diagnosis as we continue to do research! I know that the issue stems from concern for ones children, but now I have to worry about the safety of my own child because of someone else's decision, not mine. This more than anything is what scares me. 1334516421 >All they're doing is ruining it for everyone else.\n\nI agree. It's frustrating, because the 95% of sightings that aren't anything extraordinary eclipse the 5% that are really of unknown origin. And since people love to generalize, they ALL end up looking like hoaxes. And I think that is exactly why it's done. Intentional obfuscation.\n\nNobody believed this was real anyway. It was poorly done. A lot of people saw that UFO as it happened, and no crappy hoax will take that experience away. 1238869956 I don't know anything about woo, but I'd be happy to bitch about my in-laws anytime. 1292510704 Hey man, after a little bit of noodling, I managed to get decent screen shots illustrating the vector directions of each ufo.\n\nThe top img is the one at :48, the second, is the one at 1:18\nhttp://imgur.com/a/P3Q4j\n\nThe images poorly show you which light the "thing" is, but if you match up the path of movement with the video you can see it pretty easily.\n\n**EDIT:** Why is this being downvoted? I don't care about the karma but for fuck's sake I posted this so people can see. 1340916075 Wouldn't a government agent be in charge of inspecting the product? I imagine it would be like in the food industry: you have to meet minimal quality control requirements to sell food.\n\nThis directive establishes two requirements:\n\n* To prove the product's efficiency: This is done only once, as long as you use the same variety of plant.\n\n* To assure the product's quality: this is true for any type of product. This is done to avoid dying when eating something or killing your children with toxic toys. If someone sells something as medicine, I'd expect minimal assurances with regards to it's quality so I don't die as a consumer.\n 1298041579 We need a confirmation... from the demon. 1318291145 Thanks for replying! Good point about mental being much more than we presently conceive. Perhaps the next great breakthrough in quantum physics is waiting on a breakthrough in our understanding of consciousness. 1342392383 Not to say its probable or anything, but I loved the beginning of Battle Los Angeles in how the humans saw a meteor cluster appear that was coming for the earth but appeared to be slowing down, all of which landed in the oceans just outside major cities.\n\nIt certainly presents one possible scenario for alien invasions. 1336932804 I should point out that I'm not the creator of this. I saw in on /r/funny and thought /r/skeptic might find it amusing, or interested that people are peddling such nonsense. Whilst I'm not the Facebook poster, I am inclined to agree with it.\n\nArguments along the line of 'you're an asshole for pointing out they're wrong' are in the same vein as those who shout down people who expose psychics. Sorry, if you spout stuff in a public medium which is demonstrably wrong, expect to be corrected.\n\nMaybe the guy in the Facebook post could have been more subtle, or more concise, but I still think he was in the right.\n\nEdit: Spelling and clarity. 1330886014 The moon. I another day it would have been a full moon. I thought it looked cool with the clouds, and the streetlamp as well. 1340006986 So what's with all the Chiropractor hate? I get that this particular one appears to be a bit nutty but there are good ones out there. I finally got completely off pain meds for my back after years of daily pill poping. The 2 surgeries didn't do shit but 15minutes a week with my chiro for a couple months and i can finally stand up straight and lift more than 20lbs without hurting for a week. 1337613475 When l was about 8 or 9 l had a dream l was on some random farm in some random farmhouse looking out a window. lt was daytime but a storm was rolling in fast. Out of nowhere a tornado comes from left to right into my field of view and everything stops when it reaches the center of the window, then l wake up. Later on the following morning I go to the table for breakfast. l see the morning paper and decide to flip through it. After a few pages, what do l see? The last frame of my tornado dream is the center picture for a story about a tornado that tore up some town in some farm town l can't recall. Strangely l remember feeling a little dumb-founded, but not terribly surprised that it happened. l think that was because my childhood was filled with a whole lot of small occurrences like that. 1342909479 Good point, it does mineralize with bone. However, I don't know that the mechanism for teeth is the same as for long bones. [Is it not the direct bathing of teeth in fluoride that causes most of the re-mineralization?](http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=13391451) As in the purpose of toothpaste containing sodium fluoride and advice not to swallow? 1295581429 yea and i'll never forget those dreams either... Has anyone here ever entertained the thought that time is not linear? In other words, is our perception of time just an illusion? 1317790036 Ah! Disregard previous question lol 1319504508 I see dozens of comments here which repeat the claim that acupuncture has an effect greater than placebo, or equal to Tylenol, etc etc. I have to step in and point out that these claims are not supported by the evidence. The studies quoted above and below are primarily studies conducted in China, where the methodology was, frankly, terrible, and the study authors were strongly biased in favor of "proving" an effect. The well-done studies of acupuncture have never shown an effect other than a very mild placebo - certainly not as good an effect as you get with an over-the-counter pain reliever. 1282746414 What if I consider health and well being secondary to technological advancement or freedom of choice? You maximizing things that are not primary in my decision tree does me no good. 1332041082 "Expert says object could be alien ship" \n---\nThat's a good one. 1269381571 Your welcome. 1330869814 how about anything in the news, especially if your media streams were loaded with others asking? 1354916891 I've been doing tarot readings for 12+ years. I've had some people that go absolutely crazy, following every bit of advice I give them to the tee, and seemingly happier for it. I've also had people who took it as just fun and games... it's important to get someone who can read you. Not everyone who reads cards can read cards for everyone... that'd be my biggest piece of advice! 1327888848 no need to be a cunt about it 1341364855 Time slip maybe? Sounds like a great story for the mysterious universe guys. 1344611854 You ARE aware that you don't need to physically melt steel in order to structurally weaken it SIGNIFICANTLY, right? I'm assuming not... 1290668747 You are a solipsist now? 1328450748 Since /UFOs/ isn't particularly active, I believe the algorithm puts it closer to the top because otherwise it would have no real chance of being seen by any of the subscribers. 1221225555 And all the links be dammed. Broken are they like the souls they leave behind in their wake. 1310492601 As somebody who also wants to believe, I'm disheartened that we can't be a little more skeptical/honest about most UFOs. But I guess that just gets you downvotes around here. *sigh* 1350183447 I've learned something today.\n\nIt still makes me thump the desk and swear, though. Why on Earth would anyone think they should be allowed to practice medicine without having an M.D.? 1343409626 cool story :D 1326431678 Yes. This is not a junk science location. This is harsh UFO reality here. There's a r/fringe type sub for crystals and what the hell who knows. This is a serious location for those of us that are interested in fact. Not fiction. And we have mods that will nuke weirdoes. Sometimes postings make it through that shouldn't. That's the nature of Reddit. Challenge accepted. But we are not afraid to sift though the internet noise to eventually find something worthy of an x-post to r/askscience. And you can take that to the bank. Well.... Eventually. 1310785097 Technically 9/11 was the result of US government policy not action but had the government behaved otherwise, Al Qaeda would not have had cause to attach the US. Some things would have been difficult, such as a change of attitude towards Israel but other things such as the ramping down of US troops on Saudi soil would not have been. Funnily enough these were the two main issues that were seen to be triggers. 1290673217 No, its possible, meaning it's a possibility. Saying it's probable is to say that it is the cause that holds more weight than any other theory out there. Plus, if it WAS sleep paralysis, wouldn't he be paralysed for the event, since that is the main symptom? Reread the post, he immediately sits up after it happens. 1332298578 I don't mean to sound insensitive but when I hear the aliens took semen samples it made me wonder if they all had that 'morning after' piss? 1351603678 I remember being told by the male doctor while i was in labour i had a low pain threshold. If i hadnt been strapped to the bed with various machines i would have got up out of bed and shoved a bowling ball up his ass and see who had the lower pain threshold then. As i typed this i had a awful feeling that somewhere on the internet someone probably has willingly attempted bowling ball up ass ... but im not googling it to find out 1334856210 Right on! Ottawa! They'll be right at home in my podcast list next to [TVO](http://www.youtube.com/tvochannel). :D\n\nThanks for the heads up. 1339863784 yea, I agree and share the same concerns. The strategy may be shortsighted, but the goal is always higher yield and lower cost. 1325617536 I like the music idea, but I think I can improve on it. Record yourself saying anything. Now put that on your iPod or MP3 player. Lodge the MP3 firmly up your ass, and play the song on loop. You are now talking out of your ass. 1355193811 is this your first time? what was your health on that day? a bit dizzy? ect ect 1342000448 Perhaps it does both? Encouraging your nightmares to feed off them is a decent way to get sustenance! Convenient, I believe. 1314272539 Fake upvotes mate. Shits rigged.\n\n Plus, that poor Canadian was on to something, they don't raid your shit multiple time if your a crackpot. 1342553633 Because of the science behind what we know about space travel. It is possible that Aliens are here. Though, from what we know about space travel, the chances are not going to be that high.\n\n\n 1356317359 >"Even if he was born on the Moon, it doesn't matter. His mother was a citizen when he was born, this makes him a natural-born citizen."\n\nThis is my answer now whenever someone brings this up. If they push the matter any further, you refuse to talk about anything other than the fact that the entire conspiracy is fueled by racism. 1337360239 >a few creepy things happened.\n\nYou mention that, and no details thereto? *Requesting!* 1336341848 "The bag ostensibly contains a live healthy little pig, but actually contains a cat (not particularly prized as a source of meat)" 1327787230 Haven't you heard? The vaccines are chock full of high levels of mercury, specifically designed to increase the cancer rate amongst the populace. 1288945989 Jeebus 1354775697 "5 x 10 x 17 x 5 x 10 x 17...you know when something is doubled..."\n\nYou didn't double those numbers. You squared them. 1302140995 two guesses, either mercury, or a small rock really close to the lens 1309556108 > but that's not the manufacturers fault\n\nBut it is their intention. "Mycocide Nails Fungus" 1274987005 I hadn't seen that video, it was really interesting. Thanks!\n\nI certainly think it's true that a lot of people would rather rather not know how most tricks work, especially when the answer is really simple or "ugly" (as Penn put it). But there is definitely a problem when people begin to think that they aren't just tricks like with Derren or with these people who claim psychic powers. I guess I think it's better to make sure people understand that they are just tricks than to preserve that bit of wonder. 1346429689 Global Warming - not that it doesn't exist, but that we can do anything meaningful to reverse it in the time we have. I'm a technological optimist, my stance is that if saving energy is cost efficient and effective then why not. If it hinders societal, technological or economic progress to any great degree then I'm oppose to it. We need to advance science as fast as we can and as soon as we can so we can find permanent solutions to these problems, and especially of the ones nature can put forth (super volcanoes, asteroids, solar flares). 1305181673 i.e., what comes to mind when one hears "addictive foods" without having seen Dr. Oz's Confundery of Truthy-Truth Flimsidy-Flam-False Mash-Uppery. 1326846158 Are you willing to link to any of the patents described, or any published peer-reviewed manuscripts describing the results you mentioned?\n\nYou sound like you are far more knowledgeable in the field than me, but until there's publicly available, peer-reviewed evidence, or at the very least a reasonable mechanism, this is still going to be considered woo. \n\nFor example, Rossi's E-cat is almost certainly b.s, and not very convincing b.s at that. 1341333436 Hahahahhahahaha I know these guys personally.. Internet is a small world.\n\nComedy troupe from Edmonton Alberta that my older brother managed for the better part of a decade. Pretty funny guys, quality sketch troupe. Would highly recommend checking out the rest of their stuff, if you can still find it on the internet\n\nBy the way, the accent he's putting on is supposed to be from rural Cape Breton (part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada) 1344794620 He comes up with a lot of crazy crap about hockey, too.\n 1326549752 You mean the one that looks like someone screaming? 1343996685 Pertussis is a horrible fucking disease. I had it when I was 19 (it seems that the vaccine only lasts a couple of years). 1303137885 Well, when one is dead they HAVE no quality of life. When your cancer is spreading, weakening bones till they break and shutting down organs... yeah, not many good days either.\n\nPeople with all kinds of lifestyles and diets succumb to untreated cancer- of there were natural, lifestyle based treatments more effective than nuking them, we'd use them first and talk about chemo second. 1328475255 I didn't, but will delete if anyone else did. ?? 1238271467 Maybe I should do the same thing with Jesus' god status. I mean the vatican says stuff about him and they are pretty serious, right? 1304530545 A perfect example of what I was talking about. 1342660961 A perfect example of what I was talking about. 1342696927 Hm? Of chiropractic treatments? Science based medicine that focuses on best practices is the broad stroke replacement. The point is, most studies show chiropractic is as best as good as, and may actually be more harmful than doing nothing. \n\nSo, I guess taking a nap on the couch may even be a better course of action. 1349642831 This was one of the big ones that I never was able to find any info on. I think the fact that there were pictures was a rumor or a hopeful request on behalf of the media. 1329893182 They also respond to disasters of different sizes. I was caught by the western South Dakota-Nebraska border in the worst storm of my life (and my house has been hit by a small tornado), in which I thought we were going to die. After the unrelenting winds and hail stopped (we were in a van). The water started rising because there were hills around us, it was the beginnings of a flash flood. We decide to get out of there before it gets worse. Interestingly, in nowhere South Dakota, the National Guard even just 20 minutes after the storm was out and had a portable bridge to get over a flooded section of highway and out of danger.\n\nNot to mention that this was near the start of Sturgis (coincidence), so many bikes were trashed. 1344083157 Hey, their spelling, not mine. What's with the anger? 1315775928 It's well known Jobs had a rare form of pancreatic cancer that is very treatable. Your stats are for the wrong cancer. 1317921502 I use neck manipulation if a person is young, in fair to good shape, has a good cardiovascular health history, a clear family history for stroke/aneurysm/atherosclerosis, no signs of acute distress in the maximal foraminal compression test position, absense of the 5 Ds and other warning signs. But that is only if they have a motion fixation and only if they are presenting for neck pain or headache.\n\nHonestly I go back and forth on whether the profession is salvagable. There is just so much baggage in the name and so many problems within the profession. \n\nSomedays it seems like it would be easier/better to let the DPTs/Physiotherapists take over our roles. And then you have a day where a patient who comes to you after being treated only 3-4 times and cries because they had been to everyone from pain management to PT and they felt like you were the last hope before surgery and they are 80-90% improved. \n\nThose days make you feel good and happy with your profession.\n\nMore likely than not the profession will bloom or die within the next 30 years. If it continues to stay alternative and outside the standard healthcare realm it will die (to much is being pulled into the big practice/hospital based groups for chiros to continue to function independently). There are groups like the West-Hartford Group trying to move the profession forward and there are schools starting residencies in Orthopedics, Neurology, Family practice with medical programs so there is hope for the profession to evolve. 1342744233 Now compare U.S. Hospital birth outcomes to other first world countries, the results are even more depressing. The. U.S. Is more in the range of a third world country, all while being far and away the most expensive place on earth to have a hospital birth. Another interesting fact: we give 4 times as many c-sections as anyone else, this is to speed up the process to increase profitability. Nice, huh? 1260327496 There's no such thing as *alternative* therapy. If it works, it's just therapy! 1288801047 I noticed that too and wondered how many earthquakes really occurred in Egypt back in the days... why not make the entire thing out of fucking titanium or some other metal that can't even be produced without advanced technology?\n\nInteresting and kinda amusing "documentary" but pretty far fetched and I'm pretty sure if one was to fact-check the claims that are being made throughout the video one would find discrepancies all over the place... but I honestly couldn't be bothered to do that myself and was instead hoping for someone to point me to a debunking or something :P\n\nBut I agree, interesting crazy shit :) 1332887532 Shucks, if you threw bigfoot in there you would have a tri-fecta 1273558200 Admitted to be a fake by the poster of the vid:\n\n"This "UFO" was launched Feb. 14 2011 from my back yard. It consisted of garbage bags full of helium with flares suspended below (with steel wire for obvious reasons, and a few other details have been left out). This launch consisted of five flares with model rocket fuse to delay ignition so they only illuminate once they were several thousand feet up. I know a lot of people are upset about this being a "hoax" or whatever you want to call it. Bottom line is, it is what it is, and it looked awesome!! I am not trying to debunk real UFO's, I tend to lean more towards them existing than not, either extraterrestrial or not. I know there are a lot of people who spend some serious time and devotion researching and looking into sightings.\nThis is one of the reasons I came forward, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgYTaptEgZw) I didn't want people wasting there serious time and effort on a "snipe hunt". Fun as it would have been to sit back and watch, I decided to "let the cat out of the bag" out of simple respect. I'd like to think that is something still worth having these days.\nSome people have had good fun with it (http://cryptoworld.co.uk), some still have no idea, and others have acted flat out childish in their response, (as can be seen in the comments of the video, and the phone calls and emails I have been receiving)\nFor those who still refuse to believe it was me, please refer to video response ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufbSi-... which not only shows the ignition of a third flare, along with smoke, but it is of the "UFO" that started this whole situation in the first place, on 1-26-2011. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4X8AzsOZbkg and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hb1EGs..."\n\n 1298422721 It's from Hellraiser 2, actually! ;-) 1323536344 Hot baths and a healthy diet obviously won't cure cancer. Wtf 1333730038 What? WHAT? I had sleep paralysis, I had an "out of body experience" when I smoked some strong weed after taking antibiotics, that was a totally explainable phenomena - my brain remembered the surroundings and played them back from the 3rd person, just like in the game. I had sleep paralysis during class - I couldn't move, but I heard and felt everything, but in more deep cases SP causes hallucinations. As much as I believe in UFOs and some of their weird properties you have no right to say that sleep paralysis means that the person was abducted. I don't believe in "bed abductions". \n\nJust a little secret: I spent an hour writing you a private message, because I saw past myself in you. I wanted to believe that I'm not just a machine made by self evolving, that there would be some kind of afterlife, some channel in the fabrique of space-time, but now it is gone. There is nothing else. Just your brain (It is you) that when you die ends your being. Deal with it. I'm really sorry, but I'm going through an emotional trauma and I can't pass any opinions that stand out of the more rational side of UFO evalutation.\n\nIf you want to talk more on the subject, hit me up. And again, sorry. 1340252481 Imgur cache: http://imgur.com/HVaWi 1275438592 I think your replacement of "alternative medicine" with "homeopathic remedies" from the original joke somehow alters the tenor of it, making it seem like you're somehow in favor of homeopathy. Hence the downvotes. 1310426795 First thing I thought of after watching that video (re: the media treating medical stuff):\n\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMvMb90hem8 1323997056 I'm not sure there's any conclusive evidence to say the just rBGH is a reason to cut out dairy. I think there are others, though. The Harvard Healthy Plate has some good information on dairy: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/calcium-full-story/index.html\n\nThere are other good reasons to go vegan. Sustainability and animals are important to me. I've seen a lot of people lead healthier lives after going vegan, too (myself included). 1343067625 If you let someone other than the suspects do the investigating, perhaps your scenario would not be so inevitable. 1320964880 A bit later for that but I'll definitely be documenting everything that occurs (regardless of my decision to argue or not) and bringing it to him in addition to the assigned notes for the chapter. 1302833136 You can buy raw eggs, raw beef, raw chicken, but the government prevents us from purchasing raw milk.\n\nEating raw eggs is not recommended either, but the government doesn't prevent us from purchasing them and we consume at our own risk. 1328303539 Comp line. Lack of perspective change. Weird movement and a bad "fade" into the clouds. We see several layers of cloud throughout the video, yet not once in it's ascent does it become obscured by a defined cloud edge. There's also the fact that the clouds are in sharper focus than the object. Which is odd considering its closer to the viewer than the clouds. 1341421178 I noticed that some people are religious out of necessity and some are religious out of ignorance. Any time I see someone who is religious because their reality is so bleak that they need an invisible man in the sky to speak to or a light at the end of the tunnel I let them be. Because this professor is obviously very intelligent, he's probably not religious because of ignorance and perhaps he uses religion as a coping mechanism for something. Then again, he could be ignorant when it comes to religion and very intelligent when it comes to physics.\n\nMaybe you should question him on why he's still religious? 1347240066 I find it a bit hypocritical that you would accept the OP's statement of losing respect for someone who puts faith in one type of nonsense without evidence, then chastise him/her for saying he/she loses respect for someone who puts faith in *another* type of nonsense without evidence. If one is justifiable, so is the other. 1285388546 Sounds like "nigga foot" lol 1353097271 >But then I put my foot on it and it disappeared and I thought it was strange. Then I looked around and there were lots of others.\n\nHas "alien probing" written all over it. The guy wants attention. 1328021677 Of course the amateurs, flailing about with no clear idea of what they're doing aren't exhibiting a "hyper-inflated ego" when they suddenly claim to have stumbled across an entire branch of medicine that everyone completely failed to notice? 1321552123 "I've never had to retract a single thing!"\nGuess he'll have to retract that statement now. 1344620046 I don't "believe in" anything, I believe a claim based on evidence.\n\nThe phrase "believe in" suggests faith and I need no faith when I have evidence. 1309670144 I heard it makes you sit around all day, but who can believe that? And that it lets your mother burn. 1302819773 I was specifically talking about veganism which bans all animal products, not vegetarianism which generally allows for eggs and cheese. I suspect it may be possible to keep a balanced diet when going vegetarian, but it didn't work out for me, so that part is anecdotal. For me it just wasn't worth the effort to try an keep a balanced diet on a vegetarian basis as some meat does a good fast job of curing what ales me. 1346294358 Cannabis is relaxing, and makes people 'feel better'. Maybe cannabis users are getting better because they are less stressed and suffering from lower pain levels. It also improves appetite, so it's also possible that users are eating more and obtaining more necessary nutrients for their body to repair itself. \n\nTL;DR : Maybe it's not the chemicals that work the 'magic', it's the 'feels good man' part that improves people's overall health? 1342121749 I get comments on my blog all the time by people who obviously have not read what I wrote. It makes great material for my podcast. \n\nBut it's really strange that so many people just assume stuff about what I said without bothering to confirm it. They write lengthy comments about this kind of stuff too, and I find it really interesting that they're willing to take all that time and effort, but the extra effort to look over what I actually wrote to make sure they've got their facts straight is just too much for them. 1335898263 Yes it is, so is walking or any other form of exercise. 1310014967 I agree Lon. Nearly total gobbledigook. It always amazes me that all the supposed civilizations that are interacting with us are ONLY 1000's or 100's of years ahead of us in Technology/Worldliness - when it is very easily possible that some species, if they exist, could be millions if not billions of years advanced. Indeed, the folks that seem to make up this stuff need a better imagination when it comes to time. 1262210198 That is very true 1327444516 In the context of parallel realities, precognitive dreams can be situations where you tap into a probable future. There is never any "guaranteed future" just probabilities. Stuff like this is really for the purpose of having an expanded view of life. But science discounts it because people cannot predict the future on demand. Anyway, enjoy the synchronicity and be open for more. :) 1328641190 Totally agree with this. 1319164146 my welcome? 1330881019 Well...it was years ago, and all I can remember is that it was hosted by a bookstore. I'll look around and get back to you.\n\nAlso, the guy who gave the tour was actually from an aristocratic family that had been in Savannah for generations. He had an amazing voice, and gave tours occasionally for fun and for love of his city. I sadly cannot promise that you will be able to recreate such an experience. I was really lucky.\n\nEdit: But then again, Savannah is an amazing place exactly because of the quirky and fascinating people who inhabit it. If you explore a bit, you are bound to find cool people and fun to be had. 1353278778 The mainstream media generally tends to go with whatever makes for a better story because that is what brings in the most viewers and readers and makes them the most money. There is no deliberate push for skepticism, unless skepticism is what sells. Mainstream news sources are businesses after all.\n\nAlso, I don't think that an article from a weird, funny and bizarre section can be considered a push. 1352332419 As someone who, in their misguided youth, once ate an entire bottle of homeopathic sleeping pills---I gotta agree with this article! 1297281885 I thought I made that quote... 1305314714 > I was into ufos for years (from childhood to college) but after taking a realistic and critical look at my views I changed my mind.\n\nWow. Seriously? So you took a "realistic and critical look" at what you were doing and said what? "You know what? This ufo and ET business is all bullshit. I was into it because I was a kid and it was fun kid stuff to do. But now I'm all grown up and now I know that stuff was just all hocus pocus b.s. baloney. All about as real as Santa Clause."\n\nThat?\n\n> I'm not feeling the continual meta-analysis of our discussion.\n\nFair enough. You don't have to respond to the above question then.\n\n> I understand my methods are imperfect.\n\nFair enough. Mine aren't either, to be sure. No one's are. 1343630371 What town in Minnesota?\nI only ask cause I grew up in the St. Cloud area. 1336047978 A lot of the main topics have already been suggested, so to expand things a bit further, I'll propose that skeptics should also get to understand:\n\n1) **the concept of [scientism](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientism)**. It's often used as a meaningless insult by people pushing stupid ideas, but it is actually an important and valid concept that we should be aware of. Essentially, it describes a position which views science as the only method for collecting knowledge, and/or an attempt to apply the scientific method to areas outside of its domain. Often I find this mistake is committed by people with a cursory knowledge of the scientific method and often no philosophical education.\n\n2) **the anti-psychology movement.** Although currently not as troublesome as the anti-vax or creationist movements, I find this fairly recent trend quite troubling. The popularised version of it comes through outdated writers like Thomas Szasz, and the scientology attacks, but I don't find these areas too problematic (because Szasz's concerns have all been addressed, and everyone recognises the scientologists to be nuts). However, it disturbs me that often when talking with people, even in places like /r/skeptic, there will be common mentions of how "adhd is overdiagnosed" or "big pharma is trying to medicalise normal behaviors" or the more general comments of "psychology isn't a science" (which tends to allow people to reject psychological results). 1336962991 The feeling is similar to, assuming you've experienced it, having a word on the tip of your tongue. Like you have the shape of the word you want to say, the general idea and "feeling" of it, the fact that it starts with a "puh" sound, but no matter how hard you try to recall it, the word just slips away further out of reach.\n\nDeja vu is like that, except instead of a word it'll be a place, sight, situation, or particular experience. You have a feeling that you know you've experienced this particular moment before but no matter how hard you try to remember where or how you've been in this situation before, it just slips away. \n\nOtherwise it's also similar to trying to remember a dream, but I didn't want to use that as an example because it sounds even more abstract and confusing than the forgotten word analogy. But seriously, the feeling of deja vu is so similar to trying to remember a dream that it's difficult to tell them apart, and many people will swear up and down that they experienced a particular situation in a dream they had. 1315816790 It sounds like a huge undertaking, and like getting authors on board is definitely the way to do it.\n\nIs there something you could suggest authors add to their website that could be crawled or searched? Well, that would probably lead to spam or something...maybe an API for submitting them where we can write plugins for blogging tools that will submit them when a rebuttal is posted? 1341025978 Haha! I love how they think that atheists only believe in things that are physical. What the fuck kind of "logic" is that? Numbers are not a physical thing, and yet atheists believe in them exactly because they are logical and testable. Even a strict materialist would still believe in abstract concepts. Language, Government, Social science. The difference is that all of these concepts are testable in one fashion or another. Whenever I am trying to explain logical fallacy to someone, I will just send them to Answers In Genesis from now on. The site is chock full of them. 1275938352 [The night time is the right time!](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtFDD5AXGWM) 1338957827 It's not even sitting on the landscape. It's an internal reflection of a rear antenna caused by the optical properties of the fisheye lens. \n\nedit: I swear half the subscribers of this subreddit eat lead for breakfast and aimlessly upvote anything and everything UFO/Alien/2012 1293731472 >There's no need for the hair to disappear in an aquatic theory, while it does need to disappear if we are to become runners.\n\nThat's interesting. But there are plenty of mammals that run fast and for long distances which are covered in hair. Do we humans produce more heat than most other mammals? 1278601232 Yeah I guess it all gets kinda blurry when it gets to hot button political issues. 1347425829 From what I've seen, the only reason why any of the fad diets ever work, is because people cut back without realizing it. When someone decides they aren't going to eat any carbs, they start not eating all the snack foods they normally would have, and are less likely to eat fast food, since most of it comes on a bun.\n\nReally, its all about take in fewer calories, burn more, not much else really matters. 1353357072 Hmm going from wikipedia on March 13, 1997 there were lights and people saw a solid structure connecting them. There have been lights since but these have been dismissed as flares. 1331065029 *Did he just say "making fuck"?* 1303350310 Instead of trying to de-bunk her, which will only cause her to want to prove what she believes and keep flooding you with more 'woo' just say thank you for her concern but you're too busy/poor/etc.\n\nThis is assuming that you're trying to stop her from dragging you into woo rather than just wanting to prove her wrong. 1295458062 Part 3 of that ep (where they rip on Uri Geller) is some of the funniest stuff I've seen in a long time. 1287340008 Are you Tyler Durden? 1345617362 Citations please. I ask seriously as I heard that it also works on animals. But I've only heard and you seem to know your stuff so lnks plz k thx. 1345677749 >The notion is that "critical" or "scientific" thinking is a cultural construction specific to the West, and the knowledge it produces is not inherently more "right" than other ways of thinking\n\nScience is merely the method we use for finding what actually works (to oversimplify). And what actually works is, in my mind, more "right" that what does not work. 1304690331 Report it to MUFON. Very cool!\n 1347743792 In the actual case files on this case the police officers who answered the emergency call checked the house for evidence of alcohol and found none, and noted in their reports that none of the residents appeared to be intoxicated or smelled of alcohol. 1330762975 >One thought suggests that when amber is worn on the skin, the skin’s warmth releases miniscule amounts of healing oils from amber which are then absorbed through the skin into the bloodstream.\n\nThis could easily be tested, but like so many other bits of centuries old wonder knowledge we can just trust the Egyptians or whoever...\n\n>The other theory is based on scientific findings which have shown that amber is electromagnetically alive and produces significant amounts of organic, purely natural energy.\n\nThis can't be tested due to the extreme level of crazy. To soften the crazy they added the words "theory" and "scientific", but no actual theories or experimental results... 1257864609 Because any positive attention to the subject by any administration is good. The thinking is that the time has come for disclosure and if you followed the debate you'd find that many within the administration are ready. The time might just be right, whereas during Carter's or Clinton's admin. it was shot down. Either way, to make the effort is most definitely *not* a bad thing. 1232059706 Wow. I'm not sure which to be more scared by, the fact that this video was labeled as "shocking" or the fact that someone thought this was a "ghost video demon at the front door". 1346127314 Here's an update. So apparently this things i caught on the pictures might not be lens flares, dust motes and so on . Someone from New Jersey posted this photo, taken on the 29th of Sept. http://goo.gl/6yFpL . They look identical to what i caught on my pictures. You can see the discussions we had about the pictures on SunsFlare's Facebook page : https://www.facebook.com/sunsflare/posts/158339984305945?ref=notif&notif_t=share_reply\n\nStill think they are lens flares/camera errors ? 1349352680 >Any natural remedy that has been proven to have a benneficial effect through comprehensive studies and control groups can then be used to make medicine.\n\nThat is an oversimplification. See my post at the base of the thread. 1347996992 Even a blind mouse finds cheese every once in a while. 1312327576 Thanks for the clarification 1346890008 I really like where you went with this 1329818467 I respectfully disagree that the MRM is "built" around such strawman tactics. Sure, I have seen such tactics deployed there, but I've also seen a lot of sound sociological data to back up claims. A good example that comes up frequently is data on the incidence of domestic violence, used to counter the myth that men are always the aggressors and women always the victims.\n\nThey may not be a model skeptical organization, but neither are they total demagogues.\n\nTo come at this from a different angle, you've no doubt heard from feminist organizations that women make 77 cents for every dollar that men make. This statistic implies that a woman earns less for the doing same work performed by a man, when the actual causes of the discrepancy boil down almost completely to career choice and family leave. Does espousing this misleading figure discredit feminism? Most people, myself included, would say no, in no small part because despite the exaggeration, there is a real problem they're trying to draw attention to. 1345308444 >Yikes. It's her third kid, and yet the idea of taking her baby to an actual pediatrician to see if there is anything wrong never occurred to her?\n\nWant to go fishing. Apply for a license.\n\nWant to raise three kids without knowledge? Go the fuck ahead. Have at it. 1305476282 I'm not discounting the possibility that it could be something else... but could it be light from the sun reflecting off a satellite? 1337203037 It's been a few years since I've been there. Last I heard, which I admit that I've not been keeping up on WHS news like I used to, was they wanted to fully finish a few floors for "hotel" rooms to rent out, but leaving the floors with the most activity reported on them alone. 1344397985 British kids watched some weird stuff back in the day.\n 1259290369 1. This post is about the investigation. Please don't post stuff talking about conspiracy\n\n2. Herk, why are you on r/skeptic? Your arguments are all ad-hominim. Debate factually please 1356542471 This is correct. If your mom said that she didn't need to get homeowners insurance because she was using prayer to prevent natural disasters then that would not prove that prayer is harmful. It would just prove that your mom is an idiot. 1311006816 Probably someone calling asking him to support Romney. I can't wait for this election to be over so those fucking phone calls stop. 1349908312 For what it is worth, research on enlightenment ala TM:\n\n.\n\n\nResearch on the physiological correlates of pure consciousness found during TM practice: \n\n[Breath suspension during the transcendental meditation technique] (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7045911)\n\n\n[Pure consciousness: distinct phenomenological and physiological correlates of "consciousness itself"](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10512549)\n\n\n[Autonomic patterns during respiratory suspensions: possible markers of Transcendental Consciousness](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9009807)\n\n\n[Autonomic and EEG patterns during eyes-closed rest and transcendental meditation (TM) practice: the basis for a neural model of TM practice.](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10487785)\n\n\n[A self-referential default brain state: patterns of coherence, power, and eLORETA sources during eyes-closed rest and Transcendental Meditation practice](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19862565)\n\nResearch on the physiological correlates of the stabilization of pure consciousness outside of meditation in long-term TM meditators: \n\n[Psychological and physiological characteristics of a proposed object-referral/self-referral continuum of self-awareness]\n(http://www.totalbrain.ch/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/eeg-of-enlightenment.pdf)\n\n\n[Patterns of EEG coherence, power, and contingent negative variation characterize the integration of transcendental and waking states.](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12406612)\n\n\n[Abstract for the 2007 Conference of the American Psychological Association \nBrain Integration Scale: Corroborating Language-based Instruments of Post-conventional Development](http://www.tm.org/american-psychological-association)\n\nResearch on the physiological correlates of the stabilization of pure consciousness outside of meditation in non-meditators: \n\n\n[Higher psycho-physiological refinement in world-class Norwegian athletes: brain measures of performance capacity](http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1600-0838.2009.01007.x/full)\n\n[Moral development, executive functioning, peak experiences and brain patterns in professional and amateur classical musicians: Interpreted in light of a Unified Theory of Performance](http://drfredtravis.com/downloads/Musician_preprint.pdf)\n\n[POLICING AND SPIRITUALITY: THEIR IMPACT ON BRAIN INTEGRATION AND CONSCIOUSNESS](http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/jsmithspaper.pdf)\n\n[Higher mind-brain development in successful leaders: testing a unified theory of performance.](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22193866)\n\n\n 1348022781 Little bit of a repost. 1345011188 I think chiropractic care has SOME positive and valuable aspects. No, it wont cure cancer, but pinched nerve and stopping curvature of the spine, I think its got that as a plus. 1335059670 Partly, yes. Also, though, I'm asking if the light around your shadows was bright "as if a strong light from behind you" or if the light around your shadows was weak "as if a weak light from your flashlight" 1335177358 Read some forum posts. The thing seems legit. Heating the venom does destroy it, and the thread I read said any heat will work. One guy even said he'd used his zippo by heating the case up and holding the to the bite. You just have to be careful not to burn yourself.\n\nThe Therapik is just a safer, more accurate, way to apply the heat, apparently. 1338384126 I will always continue to believe in love, even if the skeptics want to call me foolish. 1224232700 "Homeopathic remedies take longer than the quick-fix...but in the long run, there's nothing bad in there for them."\n\nDo these people really not consider the idea that the reason they may take longer is because they don't actually work and the body is simply fighting off whatever disease with its own natural antibodies? 1295165525 I would lean more towards man made craft, but it didn't look right, and I often look at the planes, we have a military display team that flies over the city all the time. 1321990555 While you are entitled to think that, it does not help me in anyway. Thanks anyway though. 1354756186 http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Main_Page\n\nis a good place to start 1340033573 If you watched the videos what was the conclusion of wim's blood work according to the doctors towards the end?\n\n 1350233884 I got flicked in the balls once and ended up in the fetal position crying before I knew it.\n\nI've been kicked and slapped in the balls and simply hunched over. I imagine it has more to do with how and where exactly you're hit. 1330002264 fascinating! i'll have to give this a try. thanks! while we're on the topic, did you get this information on the internet? 1345576551 It would have to be from a parallel universe or alternate reality. Nothing can live in the higher dimensions. 1308040934 Reading through most of the thread it seems to me that you came here with preconceived notion and was frustrated when you didn't get the answer you wanted. Discussion seems to go along the lines of 'we are not dismissive of the effect', 'only is not used in derogatory meaning, just to describe the lack of actual physical effects along the mental effects' and you seem to answer with variations of 'no no no, people are dissing, not you specifically but people'.\nHopefully the plethora of explanations about the differences of dismissing the placebo effect and realizing its actual useful points; not misusing it for nefarious ends or from misunderstanding the effects; understanding that 'only' means there are no other help you understand our viewpoint. 1328535610 I picked up this used copy of a book titled "Encyclopedia of Signs, Omens, and Superstitions" by *Zolar*. I have no idea how credible this Zolar guy is (back of the book calls him the dean of American astrology, and he has no Wikipedia entry), however if half of the superstitions in this book are even somewhat true, we are doing amazingly well.\n\nHere are a few I just picked at random:\n\n* a European tradition holds that a child suffering from respiratory illness should be carried through a gasworks plant or a place where gas is actually manufactured. A cure will be forthcoming.\n\n* An alternative treatment for Gallstones is to boil sheep's dung in new milk until dissolved and drink it each day. This is said to be a sure cure.\n\n* Tradition holds that cholera can be detected by throwing a piece of raw meat up in the air. If it turns black then the disease is present.\n\n* Should a baby's naval refuse to heal, a plowshare buried while five Lord's Prayers are recited over it will bring about a healing. 1326485667 Damn it, I need to find the payroll paperwork for that I haven't been getting my checks. 1304552852 >Good science needs no consensus because the majority holds the truth back. \n\nSo you don't believe in evolution, then? TROLOLOLOLOL\n\nTo everyone else: look at ayellowbunny's karma score (and how few of his posts haven't been deleted). Don't feed the troll (I keep teasing him because he's stalking me). 1326826793 They maintain a searchable database of ALL research on meditation, regardless of quality. 1347819252 I'm totally in the same boat. Was extremely into spirituality all my life until roughly 5 or 6 years ago and am now atheist. It was a difficult process, and now when I see the same arguments I used to make throughout the New Age culture, I just wince. 1281364754 Still? WTF? We have cell phones that explode already, why don't we have ones that do cancer? 1323744912 >As a concept, I think libertarian economics is a fantastic idea but I doubt it would ever work on a large scale, similar to a true communist society could not work on a large scale. I have no problem with paying taxes as long as those taxes go toward services and not used improperly (bailing out banks come to mind).\n\nThe problem is that there is the arrogance and greedy self righteous thought Penn was talking about. It's fine to say *you* would pay taxes, but the whole issue is about using violent force to make *others* pay taxes against their will. Are you really smart enough to know with absolute certainty what everyone wants? Or do you admit you are a selfish person who has no problem making people do things against their wills to satisfy your own wants? 1313545426 Excellent idea. 1343005821 My daughter had the HPV vaccine and had no issues. Sorry I don't have a scary story to contribute. 1316108574 I was thinking this too, but could you elaborate? :) 1319120177 No that I disagree with you, but some of the ex gay practitioners probably have doctorates of theology or some such unrelated field. No way to stop them ಠ_ಠ 1338518692 So... everywhere? 1311963380 film that shit 1319821480 My French isn't even close to a passable level, but I'm going to guess it's the one that says "naturallement", the *Phytalgic*. 1329762255 That'll be thirty dollars, please. 1289925594 If a tall blonde sexy woman pops out im calling Adama 1296675291 Propaganda. Are you *still* expecting your government to tell you the truth? 1320517506 > Craniosacral therapy\n\nPerhaps if we make it sound medical people will think it's evidence-backed?\n\nSickening. 1346936794 yeah just a random group of helicopters flying in a circle continuously for an hour , seems routine to me 1330142939 Here is an interesting point on epistemology - why the huge difference between the position of AGW deniers and Big Bang deniers ( I believe the top subreddit on that is http://www.reddit.com/r/plasmacosmology ) - there are actually far more actual researches in the relevant field that have their skepticism on the second theory but you do not see the mountain of imbeciles and conspiratards which seems to be attracted to AGW denial also jumping on that theory - so why is that? 1356094255 North American English is best English! 1320316012 Ugh. It must have been the wifi again. Take some homeopathic pills maybe it will boost your signal 1344956477 This makes me wish I had an identical twin so that we could prank bus loads of people! 1331371827 Quantum...thingies! 1331238235 Yeah I was wondering why his vomit showed up as a white blob also. However, the white blob gets slightly smaller between when it initially forms and the man stands back up.\n\nDo we know that the cameras don't use any infrared light to record? I feel like I've seen security cameras that use infrared to augment normal visible light for better recording in low-light situations. \n\n The white blob getting smaller could be the vomit cooling around the edges maybe. 1341975012 Haven't people learned yet that people named McCarthy are not to be trusted? 1329429212 Right. Even the bible has math. 1327888617 I'm going to take "extra-dimensional being" and pretend you said extraterrestrial being, because what a being from another dimension would be, to me, seems to be outside of what we qualify as life and also I don't know why they would fly in aircraft unless they were 3rd dimensional like us.\n\nRegarding videos like this, at best they're evidence of UFO phenomenon or unconventional aircraft, and that is at absolute best. There isn't any evidence anywhere of any sort that UFO phenomenon is in anyway connected to extraterrestrial intelligence.\n\nEven the truest of believers can't point to any, they just think it *can't be anything else*, and it's typically a very early question I ask when discussing UFOs with them - having been, I guess you could say, a UFO hunter myself for a long time. 1302629259 I'd be interested to see if someone could dig up the port records to find out if a cruise ship that fits your analysis was in the port that night. 1332823305 Woah! Hey we have a farm and we once just found the head of a new born calf in the field. The strange thing was that the mother was never found and at the time my uncle had not been aware any heifers in the fields had been pregnant. 1326275978 Almost anything that adds to the volume inside the digestive tract and that does not get absorbed will stimulate digestive mobility - however the ideal way to do that would be with fiber-rich vegetables/fruits and grains. 1324800970 That's kind of depressing really. 1298886082 Anybody here have that post from the guy who ate a dozen bran muffins? 1330012779 Or buy deodorant so you don't smell like a hospital all the time. 1301453851 I had no idea heat stroke was good for back problems. I've enjoyed both at one time or another, but I never thought of combining the maladies.\n\nActually, what they are calling hyperthermia is something quite different from the medical term. They are using a mysterious high-frequency energy (sound? infrared?) that causes the body to generate some natural anti-inflammatory agents, if I got it all right. I would judge it as a good placebo at best. They do have a pretty patient in the video, though.\n 1286681248 Wait really?\n\nThere are plenty of ways eating meat is contentious at every scale. I'm not saying we shouldn't eat meat, but a pragmatist could wonder on the scene and be like "Woooah! Our meat industry has an enormous ecological footprint. We gotta get that shit under control." and a philosopher could stumble on the scene and be like "Woaaaah! Haven't you guys ever heard of the *hard* problem -- you literally can't know what those animals are experiencing! This might be seriously unethical."\n\nThat said -- the meat industry would be the contentious issue, but I think by the properties of bottom-up systems, my point still applies. 1353305717 Maybe these are the Lake Eerie orbs? :P 1346979697 As a beekeeper, I can attest to the fact that honey straight from the apiary does indeed taste much better than the crap you get at a store. (note: anecdotal) But all the shit about the supposed health benefits it has is crap. I'm bombarded by it all the time in the beekeeping community. It's impossible to escape the BS. There's always someone who thinks literally every thing that bees make (honey, pollen, propolis, wax, bee venom, *yes* I said **motherfucking bee venom**) has health benefits. You'd think bees have some kind of magical properties by listening to my fellow beekeepers.\n\nThe sad thing is, you don't really need to invent pseudoscientific bullshit for this. Fresh honey really does taste so much better than storebought honey. and there are economic and environmental reasons to support local beekeepers. No need for snake oil bullshit. It's kind of the same with organic foods too, I've noticed. I don't buy into the hype, but I have noticed that organic things do taste better. That could just be me, though. 1343298002 What do you mean if we put a band aid on the problem? Vaccinactions are one of the miracles of modern medical science. Polio is almost eradicated,small pox only exists in labs. \n\nIn refernce to the pertusis vax lets look at known side effects. According to the [cdc](http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vac-gen/side-effects.htm#dtap) I see no death here. The moderate side effects(1 in 14,000) lists seizures. Now lets compare to the harm of getting pertussis according to the [CDC](http://www.cdc.gov/pertussis/about/complications.html) \n\n* 1 in 5 get pneumonia (lung infection)\n* 1 in 100 will have convulsions (violent, uncontrolled shaking)\n* Half will have apnea (slowed or stopped breathing)\n* 1 in 300 will have encephalopathy (disease of the brain)\n* 1 in 100 will die\n\nSo a 1 in 14000 chance of seizure or a 1 in 100 chance (if one gets the disease) of death. It sounds like a no brainer to me. 1319254504 It would seem that the people who are seeing this stuff need to now point a decent telescope at it, one with a camera. *Something* is obviously happening, but without seeing it closer it's difficult to say what. Interesting stuff for sure. 1310533868 Unless parents submit a letter saying they are against vaccines on religious grounds. \n\nhttp://www.nvic.org/Vaccine-Laws/state-vaccine-requirements.aspx\n\nWest Virginia and Mississippi are the only two states who only allow medical exemptions, every other state allows at least religious and often philosophical exemptions. Non-vaccinating parents will lie on exemption forms, claiming religious beliefs for not vaccinating. Most of the time they're not challenged and if they are they coach each other on what to say to sound sincere.\n\nNY does have the ability to challenge whether someone's belief is sincerely held, some other states it was ruled that is an invasion of privacy. However, you can see [here](http://www.counsel.nysed.gov/Decisions/volume48/d15845.htm) how little is needed before a judge to achieve this. 1329660960 Plane contrails with the setting sun behind them. 1310331343 what's*\n\npeople's*\n\n&#3232;\\_&#3232; 1346221347 I didn't read said article, mind pointing me in the correct direction? 1341360720 The only way that official disclosure will happen is if the actual aliens allow it to occur, I believe that if they have contact with our leaders, they are the actual bosses and nothing will happen until they want it to.\n\nIf you study abduction stories, you'll learn that these beings are probably human in appearance, which to me explains ancient stories of angels coming down and communicating with humans, "greys" are probably another species created by these beings to do their "dirty work".\n\nRead, **don't watch** "fire in the sky", Travis Walton had direct contact with these "human" aliens. 1340712540 it's some sort of misguided and incorrect pedantic mindset 1330014741 In my city we have a lot of orange trees. They used to have people pick the oranges in set them in crates beside the tree for anyone to take(they no longer do this though). In general there is plenty of fruit availible to the homeless and they know where it is(according to the Fallen Fruit group which picks public fruit, and originally thought the homeless would be interested but found out they weren't)\n\nHomeless people need hot meals, coffee, socks, soap. 1351384368 I can look at the Drake Equation (we have only begun to fill in the unknown terms) and say there is almost certainly life elsewhere in the universe. But it is a huge leap between saying life probably exists to suggesting intelligent aliens are popping by for incognito visits.\n\nI am not saying it's completely impossible, (although we still can't even say that FTL travel is even theoretically possible) but if I see something strange in the sky, I would only suggest ET when all of the more probable explanations (Terrestrial aircraft, weather, astronomical phenomenon, hoaxes) have been completely ruled out.\n 1346512608 >I think everyone here ... has a healthy amount of skepticism.\n\nHeheh heh heh. So adorable. 1342707965 Add this schmuck to the long and growing list of closeted hypocrites in the anti gay movement. 1352480850 Proponents of ghosts, psychics, feng shui, chakras, 'auras', and meaningless generic energy all claim that their beliefs are supernatural, should we ignore those posts as well?\n\nedit: spelling 1269632853 Rebecca didn't actually didn't say anything about sexual assault. That was her white knights PZ and Phil. 1309961243 The core reason of my asking deals with the energy moving through your body. When we're stressed, fatigued, etc; the quantity and quality of the energy moving through our bodies is lessened and it has an effect on how we perceive the universe and our surroundings.\n\nConsider a dream... when you have good energy flowing into your energy double/astral body in the dream state, dreams are more vivid and you tend to become lucid and self-aware of the dream rather quickly. When energy fades; the dream starts to collapse and crumble.\n\nI think the same applies to our waking state (the collective dream we're all sharing IMO). It may have been a slight glitch in your energy level that impaired your ability to interpret the energy coming from that person.\n\nI see two scenarios from this...\n\n* Either this person themselves had a glitch/oddity in their energy/consciousness and this event would then be perceivable to other people who would have been present.\n\n* The glitch is more subjective; had another person been in the car with you, they wouldn't have seen anything odd occur. This would mean your energy level dropped to a low level or there was some energetic distortion in your decoding process as your eyes collected the information.\n\nIf it happens again, try to document the event with as much detail as possible; what happened prior, what you were expecting in the future and how your body felt; sensations before, during and after. 1346626185 I find when I don't get it, it's usually a meme or a quote from some movie or episode of something I didn't watch because I shun pop culture. YMMV 1291083221 You can do it with a sewing needle instead of wood, and be even more impressive. 1351285074 >Read this comment of mine on this same page: \n\nYeah, I saw it. Same ol' stuff we've heard a dozen times. Nice story, where's the evidence? \n\n>this is my (and many others) opinion and with each book I read\n\nYou read a book, well, good for you. You're welcome to your opinions, you're not welcome to your own facts.\n\n> with each place I visit, I am more convinced that those sites are not made by primitive men, they are made by very advanced technological civilization...\n\nNo one is moved by what you're convinced of, my friend. If you can prove it, welcome to history. Until then, it's just fantasy. 1356806494 As I have foamed at the mouth about here a few times before -- actually, there is an enormous obstacle to science concluding anything like this. No matter what we discover or observe in our universe, science has two options: naturalistic explanation, or to not render an explanation. In the face of a seemingly supernatural phenomenon, science is simply forbidden to conclude supernaturalism. Instead, any good scientist will say, "This is a weird phenomenon, we don't understand it, but we'll keep studying it until we do." Even if we heard some booming voice say, "Hello, I am God," science is duty-bound to say, "How do we verify this? How do we investigate the nature of this voice? Could it arise from something naturalistic?" Supernaturalism is not a conclusion that science can make, only "we don't know yet". 1248263552 He designed it for any woman that has sex outside of marriage. Or that has sex for any reason other than procreation. Damn sluts. 1327680921 Well...to me it looks like a lense flare of the light in the picture...same triangular shape... 1288251418 Interesting ethical dilemma.\n\nYour friend says she's feeling better. Even if it is just the placebo effect... do you want to take that away from her?\n\nAlso, alternative medicine isn't *all* bunk and hokum - some of it can be effective. Sometimes natural treatments which work end up being branded "alternative" because they're not able to be patented and sold by big pharma.\n\nThat said, it's definitely worthwhile finding out what this doctor has prescribed for your friend. At least make sure it's not actively harmful: even if it's not helping beyond the placebo effect, you don't want it to make your friend worse. 1310389292 One does not win (or even debate) an argument on *facts* by injecting *hypotheticals.*\n\nWe *aren't* talking about a doctor recommending homeopathy. We're talking about a doctor who gives sound medical advice and peppers it with bible phrases.\n\nI'm done. You suck at this. 1288021538 [Check out around 3:10](http://www.ted.com/talks/wade_davis_on_endangered_cultures.html) At 4:16 he briefly addresses some of the argument for a single language. Anyway, it's one of my favorite TED talks and I thought it relevant to your discussion, hope you enjoy.\n\nI think the end of diversity in human languages would be a great shame.\n\nA quote from the 17:30ish mark, "Do we want to live in a monochromatic world of monotony or do we want to embrace a polychromatic world of diversity?"\n\nEdit: Quote 1300083801 fascinating interview... a little nutty at times though 1292393846 I was expecting a southern state and then find out it's mine... Fuck. 1339462524 I'd like to mod because I am neo. Also, I like cookies. 1326437382 IIRC, they found an abandoned camp...I think they found the campers quite a distance away. 1329053509 A study comparing that with cutting nails, please? 1351105571 Regardless of if the facts are possibly inflated, I think it is important to realize that people who aren't exactly "wealthy" by U.S. standards are much richer than (almost) entire countries around the world. 1320282999 You need to check the records... The NCDC 144 station Climate Reference Network provides that the result for July is 2 degrees lower than the previous record. The US Climate Reference Network is a group of properly cited, automated, stations with the newest and most accurate monitoring equipment. There is a reason this program was funded..To provide an answer to the several prostituted temperature records from NOAA, GISS, BEST et al.\nWhen you have no need to claim that additional degrees should be added to the measured value. 1344556314 Anthropogenic global warming is happening. I also consider myself skeptical, but I believe in many things most skeptics would not. The vast amounts of information available to us is largely outside the range of our senses. AGM is happening. There are some specifics to quibble over as in any field of science, but it's pretty much a sure thing. 1343453701 A Germanic language. 1319255695 It's reasonable to think that there probably are aliens. It would be dissonant if someone was certain that they exist. 1328333023 Could be LEDs affixed to an RC toy too. Point is, you can't tell anything from such a poorly shot and truncated video. 1298480891 King of the Woo! It sounds a bit like saying "Area 51 is the largest potential alien landing site." 1340846054 Most speakers won't be able to reproduce 18Hz though. They fall off around 30-20Hz, and that's with expensive high quality speakers.\n\nThere's no point to making speakers that can produce 18Hz tones because humans don't hear that. It just vibrates the air (and surroundings) at that frequency. 1287347458 What a load of shit 1341601514 What a load of shit 1354017769 > ...that problem can hurt, or even kill, innocent bystanders.\n\nI can't think of a situation where an innocent bystander dies because a 3rd party believes in nonsense. Care to elaborate? 1334004662 Yeah they do!!.... 200 years later, and said accounts are sketchy, but still... 1306445852 Yes, some retards still like to get out of their cave at [/r/climateskeptics](/r/climateskeptics) and troll around other places with the main message "it is all a conspiracy of the climate scientists" ... see below some examples :) 1325254927 My uncle - trained physician, now does acupuncture and swears by it. Do I believe in Chi and energy waves and all that...no, but it does seem possible that acupuncture could cause some kind of endorphin system stimulation. But I could be totally wrong. 1306978012 I don't like the idea of this. It's like forcing a cat to eat vegan cat food (pushing personal values onto pets). The person said, "It takes longer to work than praziquantel but doesn't have any of the potential side effects associated with praziquantel." How could someone make their cat suffer with tape worms for a long time? My cat couldn't sleep last night from his worms and I was very distraught :(... I can't imagine someone just letting it go and fester for that long. 1312871591 Ah, I see. So it's kind of like how politicians only acknowledge error when it's in their favor. \nEdit: Well... I guess it's more like Fox News knowingly broadcasting erroneous information that bolsters their position and *never ever* making an error that would support a liberal view. 1295351415 That is a legitimate criticism. I agree that it is absolutely foolish to ask the alleged criminals to prosecute themselves.\n 1320910362 I have to agree with it probably being an intense case of sleep paralysis...The other night I was staying at my friends small cabin and I woke up to the sound of someone opening the screen door and walking in, then walking into the bathroom and closing the door. I Just thought it was my friend at first, but then I heard him snoring. I heard movement in the bathroom and i was scared shitless and had no idea who or what it could be. I wanted to look but I honestly could not move for the life of me. Once I heard it walk back out I turned to my friend and was trying to scream at him and I couldn't. I am 19 and haven't felt this scared since I was little. I somehow close my eyes and open them and then get out of bed and wake my friend up and we look outside and see an alien at the door walking back towards us. I then wake up again, realizing the room had been different than it was during the first hallucination. This is how I rationalized that I was just having sleep paralysis. The fact that it was the normal room the first time, then it changed. If I hadn't made that realization I may have had a heart attack. 1326478964 >naturopathyworks.com\n\ntotal BS. 1337133381 interesting footage\n\nwhat could they possibly want with the moon (that they don't know yet) 1319460135 No because there is a world of difference between "human beings can't predict the future" and "you're not able to predict the future". 1347121796 Surprisingly, none of my typically slacktivist friends said anything about it. 1333280081 Just to play devil's advocate:\n\nIsn't it also true that chemotherapy is bad for the human body? But we still use it as a treatment against cancer. The poison is in the dose. The silver you use against bacterial infection may be a big dose to the bacteria, but it may be one that your body can handle.\n\nWasn't able to read the whole article, so I may be missing some information on this. Just commenting that many treatments against disease aren't necessarily harm-free. 1344430820 I read where that the guy who "discovered" it has actually made similar dubious claims before. 1300079563 [16 side effects of measles](http://www.articlealley.com/article_50731_17.html) 1304879940 The comments are ridiculous. The ones that bug me the most are when commenters plead for the guy to locate the family of the man he believes is in one of the bottles. Thankfully he could not locate family.\n\nCould you imagine being contacted by some stranger who tells you that they have your loved ones spirit in a bottle? It would rip open old wounds and be incredibly disrespectful to the family.\n\nWhenever called on his bullshit he reverts to the defense that it is no more ridiculous than believing in Jesus. He states he is not religious and seems to have a derogatory view of Christianity. It is sad that he can not see his own belief system for what it is. \n\nI wonder how much it cost to have those spirits put into the bottles for him. 1267675752 Well 'not so bad' doesn't really account for it being the second most popular show on Siffy(wrasling is #1). And now they're [canceling Eureka](http://www.toplessrobot.com/2011/08/syfy_cancels_another_sci-fi_series_1.php) and ordering [a show about haunted high schools](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/syfy-orders-haunted-high-school-249864). 1321312356 Lol hahaha yeah, that's I think ribald frustration with such cases. 1328329096 Idk about that. I've lived in that part of town for years. I moved out a bit ago but still hang out in that area in town. Never did I hear, or seen anything paranormal in town. So last night we were surprised and and confused.. I spent all night thinking about it.. worth giving a shot. But doubt I would waste my time like that 1344786827 Valid points, yet Kevin Ryan is also critiquing elements of the investigational methods themselves in a valid way, and it was this aspect of his presentation that interested me not the engineering components. Even if you disregard the engineering elements of the video, there is enough factual information there about how the previous investigations were conducted for his presentation to be valuable in getting this point across. The real science has yet to be presented by both sides or challenged by both sides in the context you suggest, and my point is that I am encouraging this to happen, and that it cannot happen without there first being a proper investigation where the necessary data is made available to both sides. [Here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YW6mJOqRDI4) is another video where real engineers are asking for that professionally sanctioned format of presentation based on a new and more valid investigation.\n\nedit: I am not endorsing all elements of either video. For lack of better material to try to make my point, I am giving you examples of critiques of the previous investigations and proof that the engineering community is far from having had the opportunity to properly present and challenge their sides. The present video shows that there are credible members (not all presented, but some) of the engineering community who agree with this, not just a chemist. 1316263719 By *we* do you mean humans or are you referring to the Earth. I ask because humans haven't existed for billions of years. 1318821945 You missed my point. You can achieve the same goal (keeping anti-vax people away from susceptible family members) without alienating a friend. You're propagating a false dichotomy where either you be an asshole and protect your child or you be nice and endanger your child. To the contrary, you can explain it civilly as a friend and still protect your child from the non-vaccinated family.\n\nBeing an asshole about it not only pushes them away as a friend, but it also is a poor representation of us skeptics. It will just confirm in their minds that they made the right choice if everyone they disagree with is an asshole about it.\n\nI'll put it this way: we all probably know people who are dangerous, distracted drivers. Being a bad driver is endangering other people (and their children). Does that mean you deride and stop being friends with anyone you know who checks their phone while driving? No, instead, you can just explain to them that you choose to not let your child ride with that person because of the dangerous choices they make. \n\n**TL;DR - Keep your friend by being civil and still protect your child from people making dangerous decisions** 1344467325 Because they thought they looked cool? Gift to the gods? 1304983323 is one full and the other used? or are they both EXACTLY the same with the indents and scratches on the actual deodorant 1354475854 What if we're aliens that just forgot we were aliens =0\nEdit: no dickishness meant 1336120485 Wait a minute. can't op state somewhere that it's just a novelty app and does not actually clean chakras? I am not an attorney nor do I play one on tv. 1342631633 This is the practice of wrapping everything into your conspiracy. 1348522279 I really don't think she'd be the person to give lots of money, but I just really wanted to figure out more about these people.\n\nI'm really tempted to request his IRS earnings both out of curiosity for the process (obtaining others tax records.) I was just pretty surprised that I wasn't able to find much information given how popular he is, and how many enemies he has as well. 1336587218 WTF is that at 05:00 ? 1287326881 I understand what you are saying. The difference between being skeptical and being willing to consider anything that one comes into contact with lies in what skepticism is and how certain things can be weeded out ahead of time, usually by way of Bayesian statistics. There are different schools of thought in this area but, for myself, I do not tend to spend much time considering that which depends on faulty logic, conspiracy, false appeals to science or to be considered scientific, and outright improbability. \n\nSo, while it may seem as though I am being close-minded, it is quite the opposite. I have spent time considering what many truthers and 9/11 conspiracies claim and have concluded that it is highly improbable that little, if anything claimed bears any truth from a psychological, physical, logical, political, or tactical standpoint. That is why I say it is not worth the time and energy to debate. However, you may find others in this subreddit who disagree with me. \n\nEdit: wording 1333994074 Cool recollection. I never see anything like that where I'm from. I know Austin is a large city, but is there a lot of light pollution? Just curious. 1297806331 That's fucking awesome. 1280032578 This is good skepticism and I hope it will be upvoted to the top. 1340200606 ?\n\nThe only arguing I did was to explain why it's moot... 1354300144 The hi-res version is available as a PDF, which can be easily converted to other formats without any loss of quality. But it's also a great format for printing, which is probably why they chose PDF in the first place. 1335373432 Round/saucer shaped UFOs make sense if you believe they fly in our atmosphere due to the coanda effect--Actually, the saucer shape is the ideal shape for it, there are even mowers that uses a weak form of this effect to hover\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coand%C4%83_effect\n\nhttp://www.google.com/search?q=coanda+mower&sugexp=chrome,mod=14&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#q=hover+lawn+mower&hl=en&prmd=imvns&source=univ&tbm=shop&tbo=u&sa=X&ei=oIJYUJzbMvGN0QGLmYCACg&ved=0CDgQsxg&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&fp=4a2e3ab76ff57b8a&biw=1163&bih=624\n\nJust remember, what it takes to fly is more or equal force downwards as the (object mass*acceleration of gravity), which is what a wing does, a wing creates downward vortexes that travel down the edge of the wing and off the tip pushing air "downwards" in a continuous stream to keep the plane in the air. The coanda effect could do the same thing while hovering in one spot much like a helicopter does only way more effectively. 1347979376 I get so tired of that crap. The sources are cited right there at the bottom of the article. If you've got a problem with them, you can find "alternate" sources. 1317932264 It is, however, more than a tad ironic that James Randi himself seems to have become a victim (or an accomplice) to a deception in his personal life. Randi's long-time companion, Jose Luis Alvarez, was arrested in early Sept. 2011 for identity thief (Franceschina and Burstein, 2011). This news story carries the additional irony that a master of fraud detection has himself been deceived (my personal condolences and my recognition that any person can be deceived). However, in this case, the man posing as Jose Luis Alvarez had, with Randi's help and advocacy, once pretended to be a "medium" in Australia as a media stunt and test of the "new age" community there. Randi and "Alvarez" got significant media coverage for this hoax.\n\nThe old adage that people teach what they themselves need to learn seems to have special meaning here.\n\nTracey Brown: Science Educator or Big Pharma PR Agent?\n\nMost people probably have not heard of Tracey Brown, the director of Sense About Science (also known as SAS), a British organization that has campaigned against homeopathic medicine and in favor of GMOs in foods.\n\nPrior to Ms. Brown's involvement at Sense About Science, she was a senior analyst in the "Risk Analysis Unit" of the leading British public relations company, Regester Larkin, a company known to represent Big Pharma, Big Oil and Big Multinationals. However, Ms. Brown does not list her former employment at Regester Larkin at the SAS website. To her credit, however, she does not hide the fact that more than one-third of the money that SAS raised between 2004 and 2009 was derived from the pharmaceutical industry.\n\nMs. Brown's bio at the SAS website also does not mention her former connection to "Living Marxism," which began in 1988 as the journal of the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP), and later became the glossy LM Magazine. The demise of LM was linked to its denial of one of the atrocities for which Bosnian Serb military leader Ratko Mladic is currently awaiting trial at the International Criminal Court. In the mid-1990s the respected British TV news organization ITN scored a major scoop when it filmed a secret concentration camp operated by Mladic's forces. LM claimed that this footage was fabricated. Concerned about its reputation with the numerous news organizations to which it had sold the footage, ITN took LM to court, and won. The fine and costs imposed on LM led to its bankruptcy. A year or so later, this far left group reemerged as a libertarian organization with a strong anti-regulation and anti-environmental bent, and an aggressively pro-GM (genetic modification) stance (Goldsmith, 2010).\n\n 1317747366 It always makes me wonder how these people think life has survived on Earth for billions of years with no means of regulating its own body chemistry. 1322660137 If digitally zoom in to any small dot in any digital footage, it will look like it has a defined shape... when actually its just the colour interpolation of the digital capture algorithm used by the device / software.\n\nLOL at "cloaked UFO" 1262550561 No fat chicks. 1346546173 That was a very calm, reasonable response and you should be commended for it. Now I feel bad for being a bit aggressive, so sorry about that. :)\n\n 1332322928 His name is Bob. Does that solve the mystery for you? :) 1345867074 This is disgusting. \n\nEDIT: This is criminal 1296692971 Sounds like your colleague is conducting an experiment to see how many cappuccinos you will buy her. 1319126469 i get a new liver every 5 months???? to the liquor cabinet, STAT! 1342121920 For the last time, that is a frame capture I did from YOUR SITE of a video YOU POSTED. 1315519093 The Hartman is a memetic creature, the more you know theoretically the worse off you are. 1350391603 From here: http://www.metaphor.it/sites/default/file/newsletter/6uwehr50ty.html\n\nApparently, the notes about the meeting held on March 31st, 2009 where CHANGED after the quake and all the "scientists" were made to sign the changed version. Why? What did they try to cover up?\n\nAgain, the risk maps have absolutely nothing to do with all this. I would be extremely surprised if, once reading the documents, the judge was really saying "they are guilty because they failed to predict the quake". And if that's the case, I'm willing to bet with you that they'll very easily win the appeal. 1351160410 I agree, it is to an extent. I think it would have been more touching if he had done it in a less creepy way. 1348775475 For example, see /r/conspiracy 1354878716 What is "positive energy though?", what form does the energy take as it ignites the paper? Not heat? \n\nSorry if you've already discussed it here, I haven't read much of the conversation. 1350174162 Except Delwiche's study found no real difference on aroma perception and Hummel's study found that taste was unaffected except for a minor change in sourness.\n\nI'm not arguing against an effect, just pointing out these studies didn't say what you seem to think. 1301469174 I used to work at a health food store too :P. Actually, it was through working at a health food store that I came to realize how much pseudo-science there is in the natural health industry. I usually kept my mouth shut though. I would politely give my opinion if someone asked or if a co-worker brought up the subject. I'd never sign any of the anti-"Big Pharma" petitions my boss would bring to work. 1327429542 I hear ya... Reminds me of the Resistance 3 viral thing with the grim being caught on a motion sensor camera on some deer farm or some shit. Some news stations even fell for that and reported the story. 1321344772 I caught it as a kid in the 90s. Worst sickness ever. 1342776382 What. Is. Happening. 1302372886 That makes two of us. Peer reviewed and published. 1353225266 holy shit, i remember seeing that back in the day. 1343937377 ...............................and? 1355021690 That ending was adorable. "This country is in big trouble and it's all because of people like you". "Sorry." 1319766182 Yup. Exactly. It's a massive fleet. If there were 9 lanterns, it wouldn't be a massive fleet of lanterns. But, since there are so many lanterns, it's a massive fleet of lanterns. The OP video is far from a massive fleet of light-emitting-objects(regardless of what they are). 1314757024 I think it does. Anecdotal, but I've been mugged twice, and whilst it pissed me off, and knocked my confidence for a couple of months, it didn't leave long term damage. Sexual aspects *do* make stuff a whole lot worse. 1340534525 Ha, I haven't watched it in a few years. The marketers probably thought they would sell more DVDs if they added 'science'. Which was probably true. 1334950354 Actually, if you read the rules in /r/nosleep , you would notice that it's not fiction. 1345520040 I thought this was in the news like a year ago? 1327597240 looks legit 1330018382 Glad you asked. I'm wondering what the paranormal link here is... 1330344032 Well if it has any effect it is still an effect...I guess I should stay on topic 1313439591 Wow... that's.... holy shit. 1321399641 I'm not sure how to explain it, tbh. English is not my first language, so I struggle a bit with abstract concepts, but I'll give it a shot. As I've said, I consider it more of an unexplained dynamic than anything to do with energies. But then again, since everything is energy, in a way it does. I don't doubt that what I'm rambling on about can be explained by science, it's just that I myself haven't come across the scientific material to explain it all. If you're better informed, I'd be glad to hear your input.\n\n The reason I use the words "spirit" and the like are mostly because I don't know what other words to use to describe the concept. To summarize it briefly, it's about the effect that focus, intention and... *willpower* I guess would be a better word, has on physical movement. This is entirely based on my own experience, but in 9 years of practicing traditional martial arts, I've come to believe that there is a good deal more to movement than pure form. Beyond the kinetic chain in the muscles. I've seen and experienced numerous techniques where intention and focus would *seem* to have a palpable effect. *Mind over matter* as it were, to use an old cliché.\n\n I'm convinced that it's essentially biomechanical; I just don't understand how it works as of yet. 1269624323 Well, we could start with the part where he quote mined http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/08/060823093156.htm and specifically left out the part where they noted that the behavior he was demonizing is beneficial.\n\nAdditionally, I checked through his NIH links, mostly located in the hilariously FUD-worthy section labeled 'toxic anti-nutrients' - and doesn't really provide much more of the overall context of the articles, just grabs some of the worst case info from them and adds it. The most interesting one there is the http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16129731 study, which I'll admit offers some interesting information, but I'd like to see more verification.\n\nHis gluten paragraph is amazing, considering how much he goes into the effects of an allergen on those allergic to it. I wonder about the effects of beef allergy, and if he'd devote a huge article to it's damaging effects as well. The only part of gluten he even talked about was that anti-gliadin IgA shows up in the stool of non-celiac sufferers, but fails to then go on to show any actual damaging effects of gluten to back it up.\n\nAs you mentioned in another comment here, I don't disagree that any diet that consists of 'eat less, move more' as a basic philosophy is going to lead to weight loss, but the problem is in the villification of various entities that forms the basis of paleo dieting. 1345841608 Sure thing. Just after she disprove Penn and Teller do real magic. 1320206245 I'll give him this much: he didn't claim to cure diseases with it, and his disclaimer at the bottom was very clear on that. \nOtherwise, sounds like the "Power of Positive Thinking" upgraded for the 21st century. Crap, but relatively benign crap :-). 1350468930 I used the default mosaic filter in photoshop. I additionally created a second layer with a fill of 0% and a black stroke to highlight the post of interest. Despite my filter use, that's the only thing that was altered with this screen cap. I'm flattered that my censorship rivals that of generators though, thanks.\n\nIf you'd like authentication please contact an admin and I can give them a direct link to verify. 1338845420 Doubt it. Most elevator shafts have gaps on the sides. Air pressure would've only built up as she neared the bottom, but I doubt (based on things like mythbusters) that it would've been enough to slow the elevator's descent by much.\n\nIt was probably one helluva ride. 1332537967 Give me back my shoe, dammit! 1346461238 These aren't hoaxes. Even if they are human-made, they are a display of incredible technology, sophistication, and planning beyond my comprehension. 1312228587 The background music drowns the voices and it is very irritating. 1342547677 Crystals do lots of thing for you. Watches and monitors, no need to look for magic in already awesome things. 1283523882 tell them we have germs and to surrender before a flesh eatting bacteria destroyes them ;) 1344548216 Damn, I thought it was going to have real tips, like taking a short break from studing every thirty mintues or so. Oh well. 1311824840 Come on guys, posting stuff about Fox's standards of evidence is like making fun of the kid who eats his boogers. 1291617168 I want to know the next doomsday prediction. 1336858206 > Tell me, if you would, who this enemy is that the US is oh so obligingly protecting him from?\n\nThe many fellow Muslims who have suffered at the hands of his organisation. Why would the US want to avoid these people taking some posthumous revenge? Because it would unnecessarily incite retaliation against these people.\n\n> You're really full of shit. One moment he's a terrible guy, next moment you're praising faux respect for him.\n\nNo, I'm responding to *your* claim that the US was being spiteful in it's treatment of his body. I simply pointed out that your accusations of spite were unfounded.\n> And let me just nip this one in the bud too: he had more balls than any redditor, and influenced people on a scale that gives redditors wet dreams.\n\nHe's been hiding for years. He could have become a martyr, as he had encouraged so many others to do, by dying in battle or even by simply continuing as the public face of his organisation. Instead he hid away while others took over the duty he claimed was so holy and just. 1304390314 So, at first I thought this was sorted based on healthy vs unhealthy foods, but then I see prunes and nuts on the "acidic" side, so now I'm really confused. 1339658496 > Myth: Margarine is 1 molecule away from plastic\n\nWhat the hell is this even supposed to mean? Even if it was a statement that made sense, water is only one *atom* away from hydrogen peroxide. I'd encourage anyone who readily believes this myth to drink a gallon of each to compare how differently they affect the body. 1278575478 My bad, a quick glance made it appear like you were replying to me. 1296163546 I'm not trying to insult you but is a physicist as qualified as an engineer when it comes to this argument? \n\nI'm only referring to building 7 when it comes to the collapse. It just seems strange that the building would fall almost symmetrically. How likely is that? (not a rhetorical question) 1349576561 You people?\n\nWhat does the middle east have to do with this article? 1331506585 Agreed, that's why I asked for more qualitative evidence (first hand accounts from reputable witnesses with much to loose) vs. quantitative. Occam's Razor is going to take the simple explanation for those every time. 1346713649 could the HPV vaccine creator sue for slander? 1316008093 Coloradan here\n\nThe road from springs to salida is fucking scary. People up there drive like maniacs as well, the highway follows the arkansas river through a steep canyon for a majority of the trip between canyon city and salida, its right next to the [royal gorge](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Gorge). I know forsure i keep my eyes on the road at all times if i go through there, because it's easy to get distracted by the beauty and it's definetley easy to run off the road into the river. 1317761022 Also: \n\nI swear this kid used to make game design videos. \n\nEither that or this guy ripped off that kid's style completely. 1319792806 The second response takes issue with the editorial's title. Could you post the title? 1318869020 He has finally had to slightly change his tune in recent years. He now says he is a 'mystifier' and does not claim nor deny that he has "powers".\n\n(From http://www.heise.de/tp/artikel/27/27217/1.html)\n\n"I said to this German magazine, so what I did say, that I changed my character, to the best of my recollection, and I no longer say that I do supernatural things. I doesn´t mean that I don´t have powers. It means that I don´t say "it’s supernatural", I say "I´m a mystifier!" That´s what I said. And the skeptics turned it around and said, "Uri Geller said he’s a magician!" I never said that. And I will never say that. Even Criss Angel asked me in an interview on his show. "Are you a magician?" I said "No, what do you want? I’m a mystifier." "But can you bend a spoon if I put a spoon on the table?" "Yes, I can bend a spoon with a trick, but that doesn´t mean that I don´t have powers. People want to hear and write what they want to hear, not what I say. " 1343227851 Yep. I was a hardcore skeptic on both fronts up until a few years ago. Then, I saw my first (and only) 'ghost'. I'm still waiting to see god... 1356558752 also, notice how everything happened in frame? As for orbs they can always be debunked as bugs and dust. 1324938679 Watch this thread fill up with comments like;\n\n"I agree but one time I saw...(fill in blank) and it must have been intelligently controlled because...(fill in blank)"\n\nUFO believers are just as devote as any religious zealots. 1256053194 I was raised as a vegan, so I am quite familiar with vegan and vegetarian food. That said, raw-foodists are weird even by vegan standards. 1352144429 This seems highly relevant. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vYRyqMw9yE&sns=em 1352619786 Apparently so. Quite a nice thought, really. :) 1347117581 oh awesome, can't wait to watch these. should probably get some blood pressure meds first.... does anyone know if they cause autism or anything? 1350485740 I'm curious about point 1. Any growing plant is a carbon sink, so why do you say that organic farmland is different than any other in terms of carbon production/sequestration? 1333164886 What the hell are you talking about? 1314729272 What the hell are you talking about? 1332899321 Hmm I'll have to look into this, my recollection was that contemplating death tends to reinforce existing beliefs; theists tend to increase their belief in god, whereas atheists tend to increase their disbelief. I'll see if I can do some digging. 1350965948 They sell these at my school. They wouldn't be too bad if they cost 80% less, but there's no use in paying $25 (or however much they cost) for a cool-looking bracelet that was cranked out of a sweatshop for 80 cents. 1298506055 He is saying that mentally challenged people have teleporting abilities... and you're just going to take his word for that? 1326673311 *Whoa.* 1283957772 >The page goes on about Stevia being banned, but Rebaudioside A, an extract of Stevia (of which the Truvia being railed against is an example) is available as a food sweetener. The unprocessed leaves are available as a dietary supplement, but with the dearth of regulation in the supplement industry, that isn't saying much. It seems reasonable to me that the refined active ingredient would be approved more quickly than the unrefined natural product, with its impurities and non-standardized ingredients. My feeling is that that's a more likely explanation than conspiracy.\n\nYes, what appears at first glance to be a conspiracy is really just the natural result of a system built around patentable additives. The FDA really is geared towards approving synthesized singular additives, and the food industry isn't interested in making an extract of stevia, because there's no money in developing an additive that can't be patented. 1277047958 Loud noises have been known to exacerbate symptoms Empaths experience. (Imagine the worst headache of your life, multiply it by 5...then listen to fireworks.) 1246661752 [eww](http://i1.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/175/889/oh%20god.png) 1326583550 I was mostly making a reference to how popular the iPhone is despite the fact that most other phones on the market are superior.\n\nessentially, "no common sense" as to why people are sticking with Jesus Phones. 1291083941 Wow, for a second I thought the world had lost another band to woo... 1312041747 THIS is a charity we should be raising money for on /r/atheism... 1323702639 Haha good point. Sometimes they have gems of feel-good stories, and my other subscriptions are generally a bit heavier so it's good to have something a bit fluffy to read occasionally. I'm not really into lolcats, so it seemed like a reasonable compromise. 1341887162 yup, I was napping and felt myself sit up, when I looked down I was still sleeping and I panicked. I layed back down where I saw myself and continued dreaming. could have been only dreaming, but it was vivid as day. so freaky! 1353883477 Sounds like you just came across one stupid person, or possibly it was a war of pedantics and you guys just misunderstood each other.\n\nWay to denounce an entire subreddit because of it. 1317138696 I agree with the bit about attitude, however, these aren't dead horses. New subscribers are always riding these horses in and it applies moreso to the real world, where this kind of shit is always happening. The general knowledge of society at large is not on par with you. There are plenty of people being born every day, including yesterday, and they will need to be caught up. 1335453442 Maybe so, depending on the problem, but they are still figuring out which specialist and seeing to it that more than the symptom is addressed. 1335362578 Did they use one of [these](http://www.technovelgy.com/graphics/content07/backpack-laser-ghost-trap.jpg)? 1319288964 I said "WTF?!" out loud to almost all the things on their list. 1326744909 Everyone except conspiracists agree that the Jerusalem video is a hoax. Even [MUFON](http://ufobriefcase.net/2011/03/29/mufon-dismisses-jerusalem-ufo-as-a-hoax/) agrees. There are so many signs of video manipulation, it's simply pathetic to claim it's real.\n\nAnd as for the spirals, it's [not exactly rocket science](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zx8i5EfmYU4) either.\n\nEdit: Downvotes? Looks like I hit a nerve.. 1302294328 Everything is linked together imho.\n\nIt's like saying " a video explaining math" ?? in /r/carpentry .. dafuq\n\n:) \n\nJust try and stay objective and open-minded.\nSince I don't know what to believe, i just take it all in for now :) 1337767164 I find it funny how so many people who preach "tolerance" and "understanding" can so easily dismiss people as "ignorant", just for having a differing opinion. Hypocrisy at its finest. Now, let the down votes begin! 1314403487 It might have been that one that you put up your nose and permanently kills your ability to smell. Yeah they pulled that one. 1306956810 Alright. Fair enough. 1305317693 He lost me by summerising the patent and inserting information into said summary that was not in the actual patent. 1291609922 I've always been on the fence about orbs myself. Some seem genuine when seen without flash in a night vision filmed setting but like the other poster says, these are likely dust/bugs. Try taking some pics without the flash and see what you get? 1349919469 I know this was discussed in detail on one of the science podcasts I listen to (SGU? Radiolab?) I vaguely recall that the overall story is true, but that there was some crucial detail that was being left out of almost every news story that covered it. Something about the second boyfriend maybe? I also remember a similar new story about a transgender woman that had an immaculate conception so maybe I'm mixing that in?\n\nDoes anyone else know what popular skeptic/science source covered this? 1350836175 Excellent points. 1313565338 Any chance you'll tell us more? 1331695957 Saw this on the Internet today. Creeped me out. Idk what kind of animal has his eye size but it's definitely not one we've discovered. 1350107198 I have suspicions but no, I don't believe any one thing in particular. I prefer knowing to believing. ;) 1327467421 Forgive my ignorance, but working in a lab, at a coal mine... are you certain you aren't being exposed to any potentially toxic gasses? Carbon monoxide detectors are working and such? 1337304998 just at work, so I can't really look into your links (I will after, though.)\n\nBut, c'mon, you know that's a logical fallacy - by pulling the "that's just a youtube video" when there's a lot of great, factual stuff on youtube. (specifically, it's not just some youtube video, it's a collection of professionals in the industry who cite straightforward scientific principles to back their claim. As for the free-fall thing, more info can be found at http://ae911truth.org/en/evidence.html under the powerpoint presentation - I don't know if the link is still there, it's been awhile - but when I have more time I will look for it.) 1350320171 The problem is that even many scientists struggle to read the scientific papers of another scientist. That slows scientific progress if new discoveries and ideas are made harder to parse than need be. 1334271958 Yea that's exactly what I am....a fucking nutcase. 1349215363 what would you expect drawing conclusions like that on the Internet? Its like saying theres a large film industry in America so the moon landing was fake. Unsubstantiated claims irritate me. With the evidence presented I doubt anyone of us could make an educated hypothesis. I come to this subreddit to explore the UFO phenomenon and read some intelligent feedback and grow tired of skeptics like you without anything to add besides 'it's CGI". So sorry if I'm not 'civil' enough for you, i apologize if i hurt your feelings. And one more thing, don't assume I'm young, makes you look like a dick. 1331962687 Here is my attempt to clean it up.\nhttp://soundcloud.com/jesushrchrist/reddit-happy-birthday-evp/s-dezFn 1339972963 Go ahead and delete your xfiles audio right now. 1355287723 > Interesting question: what do you all think it would take for this group to finally admit to no link?\n\nMagic, or a major marginalization of the anti-vaxxer movement. Pseudo-scientific beliefs are unsinkable rubber ducks, which can often be disproved, but then they'll just pop up with a new tactic and it will probably end up being some new disease or condition once the autism "connection" has been absolutely debunked. 1265313676 Thank you. Exemplary models are only as useful as they are taken within an argument. The only perfect comparison to a tooth is another tooth. 1351447282 Certainly something to be aware of if one was considering this.\n\nStill though, a death does not show that the theory is wrong... Of course in this case the onus is on those claiming that the theory is correct, to show that it is. 1310179170 Looks like the Jacobs photo is possibly a black bear with mange. [see link](http://bigfootskeptic.blogspot.com/2008/06/jacobs-bear-photos-continued.html) 1330144992 Or a guy who just got off his motorcycle. Can't see the motorcycle, because the girls head is in the way. AND, the guy in the background is obviously facing the other direction. But then again, people want to believe so much that they neglect the obvious. I'd love to see "aliens" proven as fact for my own personal reasons, but it doesn't mean I'm going to freak out every time my neighbor shows up at my door dressed up in his astronaut gear!.... God I wish he'd stop doing that.... 1306716668 Our ignorance is growing remarkably fine grained. While the number of things we don't know grows bigger, the importance and usefulness of our new discoveries grows smaller, especially in the fields that form the real "foundation". So you can say "look at all this stuff we don't know" in a lot of cases, a lot of it seems to be little more then fine tuning of the big things we already learned more then anything.\n\nI could be wrong of course, that is the nature of the "unknown". But, if we have physics and mathematics pretty well mapped out, it puts some pretty clear limiting factors on what can be done in other fields that study higher order phenomenon. 1348703800 Yes, but in the process of scientific inquiry, personal experience is practically useless. Yet, as individuals it is the the most convincing form of evidence. 1335062746 This is false. Only one booster is needed. After that, immunization is permanent. 1327892152 You are Phillip K dick\n\nhttp://www.cracked.com/article_19106_5-ways-philip-k-dicks-insanity-changed-world-movies.html 1326515584 Paragraphs.. do you USE them? I guess not. 1330634494 As far as character goes I think that it does matter if a man/woman has an affair while in a government office. Just my opinion. 1355640986 Alright, I'll remember just to lurk here. For fucks sake, you are nit picky for someone reading a forum about bloody ghosts. 1352771878 Why must you hurt me with such facts? 1292210093 Good, so demonstrate where tax money is going directly to private schools.\n\nThe whole point of a voucher system is that it's indirect. You get a choice where to spend your education money. No different than college, really.\n\nJust because you and I don't agree with what is being taught at a handfull of schools doesn't change that fact. \n\nThe voucher system is more democratic than funneling all kids through the failing public school system. I find it just as offensive that my tax money supports that institution as well.\n\nI'd prefer a nation of independent schools that competed for voucher-money over the broken top-down, facts-only, system we have today.\n\nChristian fundamentalism is receding anyway. I know that may be hard to believe but the fact that those wheels are so squeaky lately means that the mainstream is winning the long fight. \n\nThey had a great last gasp with taking over the GOP but you only have to look at this year's primary to see how shoddy shape they've gotten themselves into. Even if Romney wins, it will be more because the economy still sucks than anything else.\n\nYou can't fight the internet, tv, radio, etc forever. Sooner or later Carrie gets out of the attic and kills her mother. 1340637988 What, you mean Bruce didn't say "Yippee ki yay mister falcon" in Die Hard? 1330019616 The storm itself could also have contributed to the 'perfect storm' situation for this to occur. The charged nature of the surrounding air/space may have worked in your favor to amplify the resonance/tuning between your two minds. Just an idea. 1347121890 I didn't dismiss HRSA. I am saying that if you don't even know of these things, you're unqualified to offer an opinion in a forum of sceptics. 1314418905 Most of the time I think these are utter crap. The cupboard opens so you can't see in it and something flies out. This was totally different. You can rewind the video and watch individual objects the whole time from being stationary to when they are moved. I am not saying this is an actual poltergeist, but if it was faked then it was done very well. 1331990922 i am human, the top and best of everything...there are no colors i can't see. sounds i can't hear...i am the pinnacle of creation. 1298267572 Very true. They're just as capable of lying as humans. If they tell you they can't lie, they're lying XD 1339525727 It would take energy to breed the flies, so its probably not quite as efficient as they claim. 1301618286 Unnecessary. 1326312611 I can't be the only one here who read "rofling" in the title. 1343162752 One the size of a sound stage? 1279693989 Sounds like your sister is experiencing a [manic](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mania#Signs_and_symptoms) or [hypomanic](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypomania#Symptomatic_recognition) episode 1297032408 It works. You lose the weight of the blood that leaks out. 1310256762 Well, there is the theory that *nothing* exists in any kind of physical, 3-dimensional form, and that what we experience as "the universe" or "the real world", might only be a holographic projection of information on a 2-dimensional skin.\n\nAnd this isn't some "what if the Matrix was real" stoner idea, but [a^1](http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/10/holometer-universe-resolution/) [real^2](http://www.technewsworld.com/story/72804.html) [theory^3](http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2011/07/are-we-living-in-a-holographic-universe-this-may-be-the-greatest-revolution-of-the-21st-century.html). Put simply: "the description of a volume of space can be thought of as encoded on a boundary to the region—preferably a light-like boundary like a gravitational horizon" from [wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holographic_principle).\n\nLast I heard it was looking doubtful, if not completely disproven, but there you go: the real world could be a hallucination. 1324996825 Nope. I didn't create 'em, I just think there might be a little somethin' to 'em since they tend to go off whenever the computer program does.\n\nI think they measure fluctuations in environmental energy picked up by the various sensors in the phone. GPS, WiFi, 3G, etc. I don't know off the top of my head. 1318005244 If that were true it would be possible to develop and apply scientific theory (formulate a hypothesis and confirm or disprove it through controlled experiments). This simply does not exist for the supernatural. \n\nCertainly there are things that science cannot explain; that is nothing new. However, with every new discovery we reduce the "God of the Gaps" a little bit more. Someday, there will simply be no room for the supernatural to fit. 1325918847 Your cells do get replaced at different rates for different parts of your body.\n\nThe rest is bull though, at least on that level. You should choose what you eat carefully; but for different reasons. 1342120002 Um yeah you dont really seem to understand the concept properly. Also there is no racism against white people. White people are treated well and there is no prejudice against them. Its a pretty simple thing to understand. 1351217956 >Implying that "asking someone out" is a form of sexual harassment is utter bullshit and that nonsense should be dismissed.\n\nIt doesn't seem like she was implying it was harassment, just that the guy should have known she wouldn't have accepted his proposition. 1351113905 Birds gone wild. More blog spam garbage.... 1263496088 You are right, of course, but it's only slightly less bad for you than table sugar. It's best to just use moderation when consuming either HFCS and sucrose. Table sugar should not be considered a healthy alternative to HFCS.\n\nEdit: I'd also like to add that HFCS is sweeter than sucrose so manufacturers actually use less of it than they would use sucrose so it's hard to truly say which you are consuming less of in practice. 1354298518 "In Western philosophy, skepticism is usually considered in, if not simply identified with, its Cartesian form: an attack on the very idea of empirical knowledge."\n\nSounds like the opposite of skepticism to me. 1300877024 I'm sure someday people will care about your boring semantics game... 1306319117 PROTIP:\n\nUnion scale, decent show on decent network doing my job: $725/10 plus pension (plus $600/10 for my boom guy, plus $600/10 for my utility)\n\nGoing rate, Storage Wars and its ilk: $425/12, no pension (one man band)\n\nYou may be pissed off at the proliferation of reality television, but you'd be hard-pressed to make the argument that it is responsible for the material destruction of your livelihood.\n\nI, on the other hand, wouldn't be. 1344193157 I agree. I like the cases, but the team drives me up the wall. They put so much emphasis on the lead guy being a former FBI agent. So what? Does that mean he's a expert on the paranormal? And the experiments are just absurd. Half the time I'm just shaking my head wondering what they are doing. 1335819806 When I was on oxycodone and morphine at the hospital I could do the same thing. I had just had back surgery and so it hurt to move an people had to be very gentle around me. Anyway my family was visiting me one day and my grandma was standing at the end of my bed holding my baby nephew. I was propped up with pillows but very sleepy so I shut my eyes momentarily but it was as if I didn't shut them at all. With them closed I saw my grandma putting my nephew at the foot of my bed which of course she wouldn't have done. But it felt so damn real until I opened my eyes and she was still standing there as before. My medication also gave me lucid dreams within lucid dreams. I had consistent false awakenings through each night of sleep it was the most bizarre experience in my life but I suppose it wouldn't be considered a glitch since it was brought on by medication. 1342039396 Devil advocate for the poor, uninformed American midwest truther. China and Russia each have their version of a HAARP. Why do they blame Obama first? This is clearly about the iPad legal dispute or Syria. 1331051054 Not to mention the 'celebrities' who are trying to cultivate a nice-guy image by supporting her campaign to give money to fraudsers. 1339276768 looks like you stumped /r/ufos \n\nMy only thought was that it was probably not an SR-71 Blackbird as you would have heard a sonic boom if it was indeed traveling faster than sound as you describe. 1337215931 > we nd that endorsement of a laissez-faire\nconception of free-market economics predicts rejection of climate science (r ' :80 between\nlatent constructs).\n\nLol. Colour me unsurprised. This is why Penn and Teller, despite being decent skeptics most of the time, are vehement AGW deniers. Libertarians can't bring themselves to believe in problems that require collective action to deal with. 1355656629 The Chi Power sets things aflame. 1337182677 I think you may have misunderstood, since I completely agree. 1323836751 This is the argument I hear from a Reiki practitioner I know: Even if Reiki works strictly via Placebo effect, that doesn't make it valueless. She claims that it is perfectly moral to study and sell a placebo as "treatment". Obviously Pfizer agrees with her. 1254374449 make sense to me....i want to say its sort of a really strong feeling in your chest?...yes? I dunno, thats how I think I would feel when its "full"...but overall I get what you mean. 1351734606 yeah, seems like it wold be demonic (or at least form what i can tell its most likely not human) or something else. you would need to have faith to use a bible/cross/etc but assuming you do i suggest you carry one with you. otherwise you can try going to a church (most religions i would have a way of dealing with this i would guess) 1325276185 I've been to the creation museum, it's sad. The worst part is that it's not even considered odd or weird to A LOT of people from Cincinnati. 1291315305 Like saying men can be nice, but it's in spite of their maleness. Disconcerting. 1310815850 crap, if the history channel was this interesting I'd actually watch it. It is way worse than this. 1314128079 Watch the top left corner for the white dots 1311175865 Thank you for the translation! That means i'm not just seeing those red lights blinking in and out at the end, right?!? :P 1296334587 why'd you make a throwaway account, what's the point of this obvious fake if not for karma? boredom? 1334134951 I think it might be because he doesn't do any of the stereotypical gay things. Most homosexuals on TV and in movies are portrayed in a certain way, even the ones who are super flamboyant are still a effeminate, so when you come across someone who you don't know is gay who doesn't give off any of the subtle hints you are use to, it throws you. 1349815810 I disagree. Personal anecdotes to not indicate sound reasoning. I dont blame the woman for making a post hoc judgment on homeopathy, but it in no way make her reasoning valid. I realize that my experiences may not represent factual occurrences or provide me with enough evidence to make a rational judgment. That is why we have the scientific method. to test these claims. And my point was not to address the woman's claims it was to address your statements.\n\nSay for instance I have a sore on my leg, but after whacking my hand with a hammer the sore goes away. Does that mean the hammer treated the sore? No, and it is irrational for me to think so. just because something happens after something else does not mean that the first thing was the cause. Belief does not enter into it. Believing something to be true does not make it so. 1277670874 You don't think I know that? I was 15 at the time and kind of dumb. 1353545823 I believe it was posted here for us to criticize, not as an example of proper skepticism. 1356028855 I am stared at constantly.\n\nI have cats.\n\nIt gets a little awkward in the bathroom. 1345315381 Certainly, but if it were mainstream enough to the in Nature or the New York Times, it wouldn't be such an eye-catching thing, would it? 1327472944 Sounds like Dr. Novella acquitted himself as well as possible on the show. But can we, fundamentally, fight irrationality with rationality? Or is telling the truth simply not enough? 1303871558 That is besides the point. Geez. betterth has already explained what's wrong with your request. But still, [THIS](http://www.skepdic.com/natpathy.html). I could re-word that, but why bother. 1279955985 I guess actually I was more active in the MCS one. I get confused. 1317070586 That has been tested and has evidence, though. Try rubbing avocado paste on your unmentionables. 1317920098 In many ways it's dressed-up hypnosis. 1328421277 its certainly beneficial as as exercise routine, i always feel completely awesome after a 40 minute practice. the union between breathing practices and the various postures has actual, real world benefits for your mind and body; it isnt just a bunch of hocus pocus. 1347818527 that's exactly my problem. Why is there a pre-set filter? I have no problem with posts being skimmed off the new tab, but frankly we don't get enough posts for this to really be a problem. "wading" through 3-4 posts per day is not that tough...\n\nWhy doesn't the moderator team spend more time finding cool sightings and promoting discussion? Why do they need to hold our hands for us, especially in a subject rife with half-truths and misleading information? Why do they know "better" than us? What earns them that qualification? 1328114017 1. I said well more than 2000 calories a day. Most days were between 2500-3000.\n\n2. I have just recently stopped counting calories in the last few weeks. Only kept track because it's part of tracking macros. \n\n3. At least the first 3 studies cited in your link are old and based on a tiny number of subjects. \n\nWhile a calorie is a calorie outside of the human body, we do have different ways of metabolizing the various macro-nutrients we ingest.\n \nEven beyond that, your initial point was that people doing paleo or keto aren't losing weight because of eating healthier foods, only less calories, [because they are more easily satiated by the foods they eat](http://www.nutritionandmetabolism.com/content/7/1/85. What you are overlooking is that they are probably more easily satiated because those foods are more healthy (containing what the body is looking for). Therefore they are possibly losing weight from eating more nutrient dense/healthy foods that prevent them from over eating (more calories). So really, it's kind of both more healthy/less calories. 1349307193 Did you [file a report?](http://www.nwlink.com/~ufocntr/) 1325206710 to be honest, the premise is taking a small group of 5 and driving around meeting scientists in the case of creationism or in the 7/7 bombing the meet people who where actually there. \n\nsome parts are lighthearted and the is some debate going on and some people change do there mind i.e in the 7/7 episode.\n\ni wouldn't watch if you thinking there will be Richard dawkins level of questioning. and an episode i would recommend starting on is the 7/7 one watch that and take it from there also the creationism one may make you quite stressed which it did for me.....this was my face throughout >: ( 1350478766 If you can't remember the illness, how do you know that acupuncture had a chance to heal him? Is there some medical research on this case? \n\nWe have to be very skeptical on "miracle" cures. If you want to know why, just watch late night TV infomercials. 1335183207 I have heard from chefs that in terms of quality and flavour, more than about £20 ($30) on wine is effectively a waste. But that being said, there are wine experts who can identify wines fairly specifically, but that's not to say that they are all that much better. 1340265537 My sisters room was always colder then the rest of the house. We figured it was just poor insulation or something. Turned out it was because there was a blockage in the pipes. 1356931935 >He genuinely believes in the times of yore being full of wizards and dragons.\n\nYeah, I once went on a date with a guy who believed that kinda shit, then he went on to talk about how he has invisible fairies living in his garden and the proof that they are there and are blessing him is that his irises bloom 2 weeks before his neighbors' irises. Ummm, or maybe it's because the neighbors' irises are planted on the east side of the house and only get light up until mid-day while his own irises are planted on the south side where they get full sun.\n\nSo glad all the crazy fell out of his mouth on the first date. There was obviously no second date. 1345819182 looking at the olympics, it appears that middle eastern and east asians dominate powerlifting. 1345170946 Many buddhists do not believe in reincarnation. You are mistaken to believe this. Buddhism is more a philosophy than religion for many of its followers. The Buddha said he was only a man, nothing more, and was not to be worshipped. 1337090909 Now you're just throwing out guesses. 1334817220 Yes, thank you for your previous response. I checked out the wiki too. It's a pretty bizarre conspiracy theory, if you ask me. Well, more bizarre than your average conspiracy theory. 1327971454 Yeah, he probably took 4 marijuanas and like, hallucinated and stuff right? 1356115741 It didn't used to be this way, but newer chiros are moving towards PT based care because their whole "spinal adjustments can save the world" deal is laughed at in medicine. It also depends on where they did their schooling. Some places are quicker than others getting away from their past beliefs.\n\nChiros have a magnificent lobby in congress and get what they want, when they want it. That's why they are considered primary care givers (you can go to them without a referral), they can do x-rays, and they can even write a few prescriptions related to orthopaedics. 1291170680 FYI, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-fructose_corn_syrup#Production 1298320675 >What I mean by unbiased is that they are willing to look at alternatives and not in a fixed school of thought.\n\nThis [ten minute video of Richard Feynman explaining the scientific approach](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYPapE-3FRw) addresses this directly. Check it out, when you have time.\n\n>when I mentioned 'Almost all books .. written by religious background people' I was referring to the books you find at like a Barnes and Noble in the Religious Studies area.\n\nSeriously, check the History section at Barnes & Noble. Or just start with the [Wikipedia entry on Ancient Judea](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_ancient_Israel_and_Judah), and go from there, since it's heavily sourced. 1343930779 Quick point, because hobofats pointed out flaws in a lot of your points already, but even though we don't have ice cores going back more than a few hundred thousand years (yes, hundreds of thousands, not merely thousands. I went to the National Ice Core storage facility in Golden Colorado, talked to the climatologists there as part of a geology class), but we can also get a reasonable estimate of paleoclimate using paleontology, going back hundreds of MILLIONS of years.\n\nI'm a geology major with a focus in Paleo, and this is actually a very common thing to do. It's possible to do using Leaves and paleoecology, it's possible to do using foraminifera and the ratios of O18 to O16 incorporated into their bodies, and it's possible to do with several other marine organisms as well. \n\nSo in reality, we have accurate temperature data going back hundreds of millions of years. \n\nAnd when you say that earth is 4.5 billion years old, keep in mind that the majority of that period is the Hadean and the Archean periods, where the earth was still forming, and was basically a volcanic wasteland. Climate data from those periods would have absolutely no relation with climate today. So really we are only looking at 2.5 billion years, and the hundreds of millions of years worth of climate data is a pretty decent percentage of that time. 1292266210 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNG1Aqrux-Y\n\nThis video shows missile launches and failures side by side with the norway spiral. 1293820568 > From a PRA (probable risk assessment) perspective, the chance for core damage is something between 1E-6 and 1E-7/reactor year.\n\nWhich, incidentally, also makes any core damage accident an incredibly strong evidence that PRA is flawed and/or irrelevant to real world.\n\nPRA, essentially, evaluates a few long winded scenarios (which are huge conjunctions), and obtains a low probability, as long conjunctions are unlikely. The resulting small number, mathematically, represents low probability that any one of the specific guesses at a chain leading to an accident is correct, multiplied by probability of incident which remains unknown. The number is then presented as low probability of the accident itself. 1355530429 Doesn't matter. I still have no idea what he means.\n\n 1342595526 Craigslist. 1344132384 don't be a [child](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhCjjmGEw-Q). Do some actual research before you talk out of your ass next time please. That should sum it up for you since you probably wont actually read any [documentation](http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ufos/) 1330825036 I'm pretty sure I could make that up. Quite easily. Perhaps even sell it to people despite showing that it's made up. 1298171198 Pointing out drugs that have been recalled proves nothing about testing and safety requirements. There could be a list of "Drugs blocked due to safety concerns" and it could be 100x longer. That's like saying that because Firestone has to recall some tires, the entire quality control regulation system is obsolete and ineffective. Additionally, there has been a *huge* increase in prescription drug use across the board, as well as a similar increase in the variety of drugs on the market. It's only natural that the amount of drugs being recalled would increase with it. What we want to see is a decrease of drugs being recalled *relative* to the increase in drugs entering the market.\n\nWhile there is certainly a problem with big pharma pushing through drugs that may not be proven completely safe, to suggest that the technology and our knowledge of medicine used to determine safety and efficacy of a drug hasn't progressed since the 1960s is absurd. 1341966131 > A few of them died because they have undergone this instead of seeking more urgent medical treatment.\n\nThat *is* a problem in lots of quackery and pseudoscience - that they claim they alone hold the answer and that you become *unclean* and thus unsaveable if you follow scientific medicine.\n\nBut you are right, the site is biased. What it does is trying to be a counterbalance to all those "natural cancer survivor" anecdotes and testimonials of "how homeopathy healed my diabetes" - because those people are usually only the lucky ones on the normal distribution. And when do you hear the testimonials of the less fortunate...? 1329056092 >Do people need to be forced to pay for these services?\n\nYou don't know anything economics, psychology or sociology do you? 1304773886 no video ever will. So the question becomes what proof do people actually need? 1298925730 I would guess that your windows aren't so great or they were not installed properly. Have the nights been especially windy lately? A swift breeze could get the blanket swaying, another one could push it over the bedpost.\n\nWow, I just read your whole story. You have clearly experienced something for which you can't find an explanation. However, the fear you are experiencing can cause you to jump to wrong conclusions. I hope, in this case, it's just the wind.\n\nRegardless of your diagnosed mental health, it's important to hold on to it. Treat odd occurrences as you would a criminal on trial: innocent until proven guilty. Otherwise, you could find yourself in constant anxiety.\n\nPeople deal with these events in different ways. Your aunt is a good example of this. Religion labels these phenomena, says that they are evil and gives people tools to overpower the evil. Personally, I think it's on you to deal with your own fear. Christianity is more like a coping mechanism. If you need religion to do it, okay. However, I don't think there's much accuracy in modern Christianity's view of the paranormal. Further, affirming faith in Jesus' cleansing blood and his promised afterlife is a bit of a sacrifice to mental health, if you ask me.\n\nIf you want some less biased information about spiritual realms, look to the Native American tradition. The themes of trees and lights lead me to believe there is an "Indian" involved. This is mere speculation.\n\nUltimately, again, it's up to you to deal with reality and anything in it causing you fear. Luckily, you are capable of overcoming fear yourself and that seems to be "its" only power over you.\n\nAnother thing... I don't really subscribe to any common psychical theories, but could you perhaps be empathic? According to some theories, empathic mediums send/receive emotions to/from others. I have no reason to believe this is a real ability, but it would explain some of your feelings, especially in relation to your friend (who has also seen a Dr.?). [Wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empath_%28disambiguation%29) 1327921564 Both ways can be correct, for reasons including the ones you stated. I think that's why I was vague in my description. \n\nI, myself, am a person of ease way before I'm a person of appearance, so... I desire my TP to drape over the outward-facing side of the roll. 1346821974 I saw the Min-Min lights in QLD a few years back. Turns out, the light is just a Locomotive head light which can be seen for hundreds of ks. 1343186310 Right in the face! But it would totally be cool because it's just WATER! 1344441846 The shadow apparently cast on the air is the first thing I noticed, too. My best guess is that it's not really a shadow, but an artifact of the long exposure time. eco\\_was\\_taken is correct, the exposure time was 1 second (according to the embedded EXIF data). The flash also fired. This is a pretty common formula for digital "ghost photos." Obviously the girl was there, and the person writing just didn't notice. I suspect the father who claimed it was a younger version of the dead mother was messing with the writer. 1276720585 Well that sounds plausible, except there was no sign at all of a third craft after the light flashed. I observed the two planes for ~20 seconds or less after this as they moved out of sight behind trees. The majority of the sky was open to me, and if that third light source had been a plane moving south in my direction, I did not see it or hear it. All three objects were elevated at perhaps a 45 degree angle in the sky from my position. 1305399373 >we die, and for the first time the effect of homeopathy will be proven\n\nAirtight logic right there. No disputing it. \n\nHere's my problem with the "skeptical" attitude towards homeopathy. If people want to use homeopathic remedies, that is *their choice*. \n\nMy aunt was a new age-y, tea leaf diving, crystal toting lesbian. When she got colon cancer, she opted for homeopathic treatment. When she died, she died treating her disease in the way she had chosen. \n\nThe ethical question of certain "remedies" being marketed in misleading ways is valid, but the same is true of pharmaceutical medications, SSRIs (anti-depressants) for example, which recent studies have shown are profoundly ineffective. 1310159898 Looks delicious. 1247963354 Oh, I absolutely agree that they need to be taught about different religions, and view points to help them in the world. Especially since I live in Utah. I can't send them into the wild without knowing what the locals think. And even though we have lower numbers of nonchristan religions here, I teach them about those as well. I try to approach it more like history than spirituality though. 1338249774 http://i.imgur.com/Pq0Gh.jpg 1312333347 You posted some studies that sorta kinda talk about similar things. Please show the study that examines men setting paper on fire with their hands. 1349016608 This is exactly why I hate Occam's Razor: The phony intellectual's trendy argument of the year. And go easy on the "grave"'s and the "thoroughly"'s. I know you think they make you sound smart, but "fasle" doesn't.\n\nAnyways, back to Occam's Razor and Penn & Teller. That fat, lumbering, loudmouthed shitdick forgot a few things:\n\n1. Recoil\n2. Marksmanship\n3. Difficulties of the bolt action\n4. Resetting your whole stance, grip, body (therefore having to reset your aim with over two dozen axises) between each shot\n5. Using a small diameter telescopic scope, which when combined with a bolt action makes it very difficult to track targets, especially behind cover.\n6. The fact that it is an old fashioned telescopic scope, which means that if your eye is not *dead center*, the reticule will be off to the side, making you miss entirely. This is very hard to pull off when leaning halfway out a window and pulling off repeat shots while tracking.\n7. The odd angle being shot from\n8. Even if he was a psychopath intending to kill the president, he'd be nervous as hell.\n9. The time it takes for your eyes to refocus to the scope between each shot.\n10. It's Penn & Teller.\n\nIf you were to apply Occam's Razor at all, you'd see that it's simpler and more self-satisfying to watch a video of a couple douchebags that lie for a living than going to a shooting range and learning for yourself. Let me guess, you're the sort of guy who's impressed when Keith Olbermann uses foppy language in his phony rage monologues right? 1241175047 He did so bad saving lives, though, no? That's what saving lives does, increases the population. 1324179021 > Wearing clothes?\n\nA long time ago, an old friend of mine (who is ancient now if he's still alive; haven't seen him in years) told me of a mission trip he went on and they went to a tropical culture which never invented clothes. It was about 75-85 year round, the bugs weren't bad, they never invented clothing. Well, once they saw the idea of clothes, they started making their own, some of which were extremely fantastically decorated. They made tops that were just sleeves, for example, leaving the torso uncovered, because they had no sense of modesty as we do about women's breasts. But while clothes were fun and exciting, it was agreed that people were coming to church in their finery to show off how fancy their clothes were, and that wasn't the right attitude for going to church. SO, they banned clothes from church: at church, you go naked, because that's proper and decent. You wear your showoff clothes anywhere you like, but at church everybody does things the conservative traditional way and is naked.\n\nSO: where I live, where it's cold much of the year (and I tolerate it less as I get older), and a blazing sun on my pasty skin much of the rest, wearing clothes is not at all an indoctrinated thing I don't notice: it's necessary. But there are people whose world - and view of it - is different.\n 1329960882 I dont think she thinks the trees are scary :/ 1342487302 if alternative medicine worked, would it not simply be called 'medicine' ? 1318606489 > Art. 11. **As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity, of Mussulmen; and, as the said States never entered into any war, or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties, that no pretext arising from religious opinions, shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.**\n\nI love that Article 11 is the _only_ article completely in bold. 1314394625 My great grandfather's apparition walked like...on top of me as I was lying down watching a movie. He seemed to just be saying hi. 1355345405 Big pharma would find a way to make money on energy healing. 1329811062 Not likely they would EVER eavesdrop on anything like Glenn Beck. 1285461816 I guess a lot of them really want to help patients, so they encourage them to excercise, do some sport, etc. Obesity is pretty widespread, causes skeletal problems, their "back massage" might help that. Also, I think it's just recently, that some shady ones started treating *everything* through risky back massages. 1304341845 And that the Governor was aware of this, and still claimed to have seen a single large craft. Again, you're giving first-hand eyewitnesses far too little credit here. 1349635366 One thing that the skeptics forget, is that it is in true skeptical form to doubt the 911 official story. That is what a skeptic does, challenge the popular notion, whatever that may be. Another is that both camps, truthers and skeptics alike, believe the other to be blind to the facts. Skeptics have the ability to own their argument to the exclusion of all others. Truthers are no different. Both are blinded by their own over arching belief. 1316199241 To reiterate: As I *originally perceived* your comment (having issue with "Your personal definition has no bearing on the reality of what it all is.") it made sense to use such language, such that the main point was glossed over by the use of "rude language". \n\nFurthermore, just because someone isn't actively fondling your balls while making an argument does not make them rude, or a jerk. A more likely scenario is that they see the poster they are replying to as stupid or inferior and thus are less likely to respond in a manner that would be reserved to those of equal or greater intellectual standing. \n\nDoes that make that behavior "right"? Probably not. To the person making that comment the behavior is likely "justified" though. \n\nTL;DR: Was his comment rude? Yes, it was harsher than it needed to be. I would have responded in an almost identical fashion to someone who posted something to ignorant though, (and judging by the disparity between the votes on the two posts, I am likely not the only one) so I suppose I am biased in that remark. 1319472211 Yeah, I'm pretty much arguing over semantics and I am subscribing a particular definition, which would be "UFO" as defined in Project Bluebook. Which to paraphrase states that for a UFO to be considered such there **must** be enough data to rule out **all** known prosaic explanations. If it *could* be something we know about, then that is what it is, case closed. This is a strict criteria which nullifies most UFO sightings and gets rid of misidentified objects. Still, you are right about "UFO's" association with Aliens, which invites ridicule, so I'd be up for UAP or AAP to combat that association. These terms are not nearly as loaded, and my attempts to limit the term UFO to Project Bluebook's definition is futile at best. 1312977116 Summary of his arguments:\n\nFirstly, some of the trees filmed being knocked over by a-bomb testing were planted in neat rows. Therefore, nukes don't exist.\n\nSecondly, "atomic bomb" blasts look slightly different depending on what angle they're viewed from, and much of the footage was crudely edited, therefore nukes don't exist.\n\nThirdly, the cameras they used to film these were well-secured, sheltered and probably zoomed in a long, long ways. Therefore, nukes don't exist.\n\nFinally, governments lie about other countries having weapons of mass destruction. Incidentally, all of these are lies because, as we've already proven three times, nukes don't exist. Incidentally, all the damage that has been attributed to these non-existent weapons was actually done by dynamite, because I can't tell the difference and neither can you. This paragraph counts as another reason nukes don't exist because I wear size 36 pants. 1317150175 > Now you're just being testy for whatever reason ... if you can't appreciate someone getting sick of someone else shit\n\nNo, I say what I mean and mean what I say. I didn't realize my comments were getting your panties all in a bunch.\n\n> I'm sure it's not for science.\n\nMaybe my moderator status in r/UAP is for science, then? Maybe you think I sit on YouTube all day searching for the newest UFO videos.\n\n> Don't chastise me with your false shit man. Just makes you look like a little bitch, it really does.\n\nlol Your contribution to this thread offers no logical, analytical approach to explaining the video. Instead you vomit up some *possible* explanation then get all defensive when someone disagrees with you and starts a discussion? And *I'm* the 'little bitch'? okaaay, "man". 1339533618 This. Check out Mel's Hole on Wikipedia for a famous example of the insanity that was his show (now hosted by George Noory who seems to be a little better). 1346105272 "Technically", they can? According to what? That last panel just ruins the entire message. 1324331612 Can you say proof again, only a little louder, and with MLA standard citations after? 1334853670 Guys, the CIA killed Kennedy to escalate Vietnam and fake the moon landings. \n\nThe moon landings were faked so everyone would be watching their TV the day the Roswell aliens came back to pick up their wrecked ship at Area 51. \n\nThey took the aliens and their advanced energy technologies. Without this technology the U.S. needed more energy. \n\nThis is why they planned in the 1980's to invade Iraq in 2003. The way to do this? 9/11: an inside government job. \n\nThis invasion allows the U.S. to get oil, lay down chemtrails while people are busy out protesting, and then elect a secret Muslim president. \n\nThis secret Muslim (born in Kenya) will now help to start with a New World Order using FEMA (an organization George Bush made very incompetent looking [intentionality of course so no one would suspect them] thanks to the secret weather control machine disaster that was hurricane Katrina).\n\nWhen the NWO comes it will mark the beginning of the end times in 2012. \n\nNow, if you'll excuse me, I need to go buy some colloidal silver from Alex Jones. 1285361347 Uhh, why not? Radios *receive* signal, they can't cause anything. 1335242394 GREAT BOOK! 1331772237 I'd say so. Here he is Unplugged on UFOs.\n\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqyNh0k0dtU 1355862801 >This is the reason behind the cover-up.\n\nConsider that the reasons for non-disclosure may be a lot more complicated than that. There are likely additional aspects of ET involvement that you aren't aware of. Gross simplification of the issue isn't helping things IMO. It's premature to assume you know what this is all about. 1332016883 That's fair. I'm only talking about the reason why the US would allow an attack on their own people. It isn't a great reference but I was just pointing out how that kind of logic could exist.\n\nAnd it's not even mediocre, it's just a bad movie. 1315772239 Saying 1 in 92 suddenly makes it seem a lot less like an impossibly unlikely coincidence.\n\nAnedoctal - I was at a raffle last night and my 3 pub quiz team members *all* won chocolate separately, but I (who had bought twice as many tickets!) won nothing.\n\nNothing, can you imagine it?! It must have been a plot! ;-) 1331154456 Deriding cupping based on a Wikipedia article and a preconceived idea about alternative medicine is not skepticism. It is just circlejerking. 1316668231 This. \n\nMonsanto knowingly lets it's GM seed disperse freely, thus landing on local farmer's lands and cross polonizing. \n\nMonsanto then sues local farmers for possessing patented GMO seeds. \n\nWhether Monsanto wins or loses the lawsuit is irrelevant. Their goal is for these local farmers to rack up so much legal debt fighting off Monsanto that they can no longer afford to maintain their farms. 1325614473 google Seraphim 1340996498 Unfortunately there is no concrete way to say "It isn't an orb, it's something else" without coming off as a complete douchebag, but in my opinion, I have to say these all resemble dust motes, pollen, and the odd bug.\n\nI do not "believe" in orbs, because short of a baseball-sized floating light hovering in front of me and stating "I am the ghost of the man who was killed on this trail," I don't find any supernatural evidence for their existence. Nine times out of ten an orb may simply be a flare of light off of a dust spec or pollen pod.\n\nEven if you have a "nice camera" and got a shot of a bug or pollen in another photo that is obviously a bug or pollen, you can't discount these things in all future shots. Even the nicest camera is going to have photos where you can't recognize a human being in the picture due to various bits of interference. 1348250139 And how much recent valid research is there showing that salt intake is bad for healthy people? 1326750964 It's my understanding that the ufos are dismissed because they are not detected on radar in many instances. Also, there was an eye witness who did work for military intelligence that was camping with his wife who saw the same strange light that night and he reported it to his superiors who told him to not talk about it. 1350145900 I've had déjà vu like this a lot. It wasn't until that moment when I realized that I could change it. 1355148149 Kind of poorly researched. The anti-freeze tomato never made it past the first round of testing. It didn't work and was never released for sale. \n\nAlso I think it would have been better if the author avoided using the scary "toxic chemicals" so often thrown around by Anti-GMO advocates and pointed out that Organic farmers spray their corn with Bt to gain the same properties as the modified corn. 1338825251 To say that it must not be a problem because there are no regulations to prevent it is *denying the antedecent* - this argument is invalid.\n\nThe CDC estimates that there were [over 2,000 cases of hospitalization due to foodborne E.coli infections in 2011](http://www.cdc.gov/foodborneburden/2011-foodborne-estimates.html). Since August, there have been at least two large recalls of [2.5 million lbs](http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Fsis_Recalls/PHA_XL_Foods/index.asp) and [38,200 lbs](http://www.fsis.usda.gov/News_&_Events/Recall_055_2012_Release/index.asp) of beef and beef products due to E.coli contamination. 1355827824 No, it's not a false analogy, it's a *direct* analogy, because it said almost the same thing verbatim, except I changed the term "eat animals" to "rape women". Also, notice that the phrase was not "is immoral" but "causes pain". Are you saying that claim is inaccurate? 1328164375 I've reached a point where I just let a lot of things go. If I like hanging around a group of people, and a couple of them have a bit of the woo, I just keep my mouth shut and let them do their thing. I don't know how people are trapped into this mindset, but at the end of the day they're just trying to make their way to some type of answers in a complicated and complex world like the rest of us. As far as dating goes, I can't date someone who believes in the woo. 1340269473 Creepy. Listening to this right now. Never been to r/paranormal before. Just dawned on me to try it. 1341200284 I think this is only used for hypochondriacs, as giving a patient a placebo when there's a real treatment available would be unethical 1278078225 it just annoys me when they come in and discover there's a ghost but do nothing about it! it's just so hard to find a show that ISN'T pulling your leg. Quite sad if you think about it. 1339446498 Listen I'm sorry I was being an ass, and I shouldn't have responded to you that way. Don't let my being an ass turn you away from the /r/skeptic community. These guys are much more patient than I am. Can I get a second chance? Let's start from scratch. \n\nIn my *not* professional understanding of the situation, WTC 7 fell without all the massive internal fires because of a simple reason:\n\nBeing **so** close to ground zero, it suffered *massive* structural damage when the towers fell. When a large part of the structure (including many load-bearing columns within it) were compromised by falling debris and rubble that emanated from WTC 1/2 falling, it was only a matter of time before it fell. \n\nI could be *highly* mistaken, and I would appreciate someone correcting me if I'm wrong, but I am under the impression that once they got everyone out of WTC 7 the building was determined to be unsalvageable and was demolished. \n\nAgain, I haven't put thought into this in a long time, so I could be wrong about the second part. But the first part I'm pretty sure is the case. Again, it's been a while. \n\nSorry I was an ass. :-/ 1345561602 I wish there were some way I could help. Surely you don't enjoy this kind of thing, this professional trolling. :-( I want you to know that I care about you, and I believe you have the courage to choose between what is right and what is easy. My heart goes out to you, whoever you are. 1303277943 Holy crap that video was great. I never really considered that the reason religious belief, as opposed to belief in other things (e.g. Elvis being alive), has been so protected from criticism is because of man's history of persecuting people over religion. I guess it's another one of those really obvious connections that you just don't draw until it's laid out for you. 1344611796 I agree... This is exactly the kind of thing you hope for. You should have stood your ground and kept your cameras and recorders going. Control your fear.... 1340903562 I believe the Vonnegut book that references the Tralfamadorians is "Slaughterhouse Five".\n\n*"Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time..."* 1326846114 That may indeed be true, and that is a reasonable *hypothesis*; but (a) it sounds suspiciously like the "irreducible complexity" of Intelligent Design and other false foibles of sophisticated mathematical models and (b) it goes against (what i perceive to be) the nearly universal trend in the sciences toward greater predictive power through mathematization. So, i would submit that additional evidence is called for on those (albeit rather philosophical) grounds, *even if* one can demonstrate that the vast majority of mathematical economic models inept. 1334685603 Did they do some rounding up? 13% is more ironic 1342375395 Muhammad was a yeti! 1278960068 The only good these fake psychic tricks can be used for is the reader's bank account. Creating false hope in people will just lead them down the path of magical thinking, until the day they die of cancer because they didn't need treatment, just postive thoughts and woo. 1321830970 I think I was about 25 before I really stopped worrying about the thing-at-the-bottom-of-the-stairs getting me after I turned the lights off.\n\nAssuming other people experience this same transition, I'm kind of curious to find a median age at which people stop pretending that they aren't worried about the thing-at-the-bottom-of-the-stairs and start genuinely not worrying about it. 1335065482 That is kind of weird. Whatever it was, I wish there were better photos. 1350746026 [OMG](http://i.imgur.com/8qYSr.png) 1303056396 it says it contains phenylanalnine 1305148353 I don't get it... 1318346402 Yeah, certainly I can ignore them, good point. I was thinking more along the lines of unproven scientific statements aimed at the general public, who are far too dumb to make that sort of assessment. 1304020968 I'm not going to watch it, in my short lifetime I've watched probably over a million of these videos "that make some good points that the main stream media hasn't addressed". None of them make good points, ever. \n\nSo you need to tell us what claims it makes if you want us to address them. 1355195149 I am truly staggered that any outwardly-normal person could even consider this realistic 1341163710 Came in to mention this. "Hauntings" have been linked to carbon monoxide, radon and possibly formaldehyde. People start hallucinating as a result of these. Fix the problems and the hauntings usually go away. 1351840214 Not everyone who sings in church has a good voice. I dated a girl in high school that sang in church all the time but she couldn't carry a tune in a bucket. 1329838861 Protip: Media companies will take ad money from just about anybody. If the ad is bullshit, the ad's owners get in trouble, if anyone, not the networks that air it.\n\nFYI: The Science Channel is owned by the same people who gave Oprah her own channel, and loaded it with Dr. Phil reruns. 1300721594 That weave pattern would easily add several hours to the creation time for those who still think humans made it. 1311690015 Its reddit, where owning a cat is is recommended. 1344720817 Those are great photos, but who's to say they aren't man-made? It's too difficult to tell. Here is the [Wikipedia article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McMinnville_UFO_photographs) on its debunking as a hoax:\n\n"In the 1980s two UFO skeptics, Philip Klass and Robert Sheaffer, would argue that the photos were faked, and that the entire event was a hoax. Their primary argument was that shadows on a garage in the left-hand side of the photos proved that the photos were taken in the morning rather than in the early evening, as the Trents had claimed. Klass and Sheaffer argued that since the Trents had apparently lied about the time the photos were taken, their entire story was thus suspect. They believed that the Trents had suspended the "UFO" from power lines visible at the top of the photos; and that the object may have been the detached rear-view mirror of a vehicle. When Sheaffer sent his studies on the case to William Hartmann, Hartmann withdrew the positive assessment of the case he had sent to the Condon Committee. However, Dr. Maccabee offered a rebuttal to the Klass-Sheaffer theory by arguing that cloud conditions in the McMinnville area on the evening of the sighting could have caused the shadows, and that a close analysis of the UFO indicated that it was not suspended from the power lines and was in fact located some distance above the Trent's farm; thus, in his opinion, the Klass-Sheaffer theory was flawed." 1344002405 Could have been caused by vaccines, or not; either way, neither of you know for sure, so I think it's kinda weird that you would try convincing someone that they're wrong about their own health when you have no definitive proof either way...\n\nCould it be that you're not skeptical enough when it comes to vaccines? 1327241161 From the article: "Why did the Pentagon not solve the case at the time? Perhaps in the welter of paperwork the clue we found so significant went unseen by anyone who could fully grasp its import and who had time to devote to the case. Naturally, everything is much clearer in hindsight."\n\nI would guess this plus not really caring as they had bigger fish to fry during the Cold War era. Maybe add in a little over zealous CW-era secrecy to the mix. 1331668590 Well yes, but that presupposes that it is actually we the consumers who want the cars. What if we've been told that cars are the only way, and that we must replace that car every year to boot? Perhaps the proper answer to moving people isn't cars at all, it is automated rapid transport that never has lethal accidents, doesn't pollute, is nearly noiseless and is powered by renewable energy. ;) \n\nBottom line here being of course - it is not nearly enough to "understand economics" (and I'm giving everyone a huge pass on that one, because I would submit that virtually nobody understands every aspect of that particular game) - to claim that capitalism is the only way requires you to have encyclopedic knowledge of societal forces, human psychology, human genetics and so on and so forth. \n\nIt is not enough to know how to fix the engine. 1296575448 There is nothing similar between denying scientific fact and enacting laws to promote use of a language that would have likely receded without such laws.\n\nPlease keep your Quebec-bashing out of /r/skeptic, thanks! 1355075787 Disclosure Project and The Hunt for Zero Point 1308885857 >Ok, I have a serious problem with the "unintentional support" because it makes it someone's fault that they're unconsciously doing something wrong and gives you a tool to blame them for the wrongdoing.\n\n*People* aren't to blame, their opinions, beliefs, and actions are. If a building foreman unintentionally promotes unsafe work practices on his building site, don't you think it's reasonable to try to educate him *as well as* the people who intentionally create unsafe workplaces?\n\nThe main problem is that nobody wants to accept that they're hurting people by just going about their lives, but unfortunately unless these people start understanding and accepting the role that privilege plays in their lives, they will be hurting people. \n\n>When someone says "can we not levy accusations of how unnamed skeptics are harassing women and actually evaluate the anecdotes on their merits," I have trouble seeing that as sexist.\n\nThere's nothing inherently problematic with that approach, but the problem arises in how it is actually done in practice. That is, it usually involves explaining away the problem as a result of privilege blindness. For example, in the 'elevatorgate' case, people made comments like, "Maybe he was actually just asking you back for coffee!" or "He asked you for coffee, you said no, and nothing bad happened - where's the problem?!". As I'm sure you agree, those statements are just as bad as the example you give of the guy blaming the situation on the woman's clothing. 1348025538 >Since Climate Sensitivity is most likely around 3C,\n\nIt is true that 3C is the *central estimate* of most climate scientists. When you say "around 3C" I assume that you mean "give or take a degree. The range of uncertainty is still pretty large.\n\n>however it is NOT true to claim the global output is currently declining.\n\nYep, you are correct. Global output is climbing. Why I said "by reducing our output" I wasn't talking about everyone on the planet. Obviously, the developing countries are not reducing output. Europe, in general, is, as is the US.\n\nIF there is something to worry about, if the positive feedbacks from albedo and water vapor combine to more than triple the effects of CO2 alone, I suggest you start working on changing the behavior of the countries that have decide to ignore your warnings and continue to increase their emissions.\n\n 1356200121 Was this the historic Roswell, GA tour? I feel like I've seen the same thing. 1341169636 The SGU cut the ground, and I don't think that there will be another that rises so quickly to that position. \n\nAnd little Steve Novella is a powerful resource, both for getting interviewees on specific topics from his colleagues at Yale, and working on or near the front lines of at least one field of science heavily affected by the woo industry, and so being able to discuss some issues first hand himself.\n\nRebecca is also key, though. Perry was a bit wooey when it came to climate change, which offended me greatly, but he was great for the dynamic. I feel his loss when I listen to the show still.\n\nI wish he could have seen the [birds vs monkeys scene in Rio](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fhQ5rkcY7A).\n\nHaving said that, spreading the word about other good skeptical podcasts:\n\nI personally find that Dunning's politics leak a bit into his skepticism.\n\nAs does Mark Crislip's, but when Mark does it he doesn't suggest that it's a correct or even good politics. Therefore I recommend Quackcast as supplementary listening.\n\nHumour is very sensitive to cultural background, so YMMV, but I currently find "Skeptics with a K" the best listening. 1346192605 what if he forgot his password? 1338608051 IAMAs are better posted to /r/IAMA so that they get a bigger audience. Just post the time and day you plan on doing it to the /r/UFOs subreddit so people can have their questions ready. 1339747136 Interesting. Never really looked into studied benefits. My main point was that it was at least plausible based on the fact that it physically holds a body part in a different location. 1344027509 The way this article was written kills me. Id rather rip my eyes out of my head than read this. 1308016486 I have had ghostly experience when I was back home overseas and I have had a UFO experience also. And it was most unusual experience ever. I remember it because I couldn't sleep properly that whole night. I woke up at one point but not opening my eyes i could hear movement in my room. My room is relatively small and I didn't have any pets during that time. At that moment I remember telling myself not to open my eyes. A lot of the other stuff is hazy but I also remember when they left. I heard loud and I mean ringing loud mechanical noises for like a several minutes. Get this also, we have an air force base close by and for the next two months I could hear planes and helicopters flying around every night and evening. It's only happened once and during that period. Otherwise, it would only be like once a month when you would hear a plane fly by at night. 1339505927 > Doesn't fit with any truly unexplained UFO movements that I'm aware of. \n\nAny videos of these "truly unexplained UFO movements"? 1346846909 It's the season pandemic. 1264139724 Yes. Notice in the first video, there is a piece of paper at the right hand side of the frame that is blowing in some sort of breeze. 1343572656 In the south, in my experience (moving from il/wi to Nc) it is WAY more widespread.\n\nBack home you can avoid the crazies pretty easily. Not down here. 1340581899 -233 points, 73 readers in the subreddit\n\nWow 1322345608 i don't think it's disinformation so much as a grant. While in the end it serves the same end in that it misleads the public, its main purpose seems to be focused on the act of seeking, thus giving the general public what they want, whereas a disinformation campaign would actively deny the existence of extraterrestrial life. I'm aware that SETI is used as evidence against visitors, but I think that its disinformation potential is intrinsic to its existence, not how it is portrayed. A small distinction, I know, but I hold that the project is well-intentioned, just too limited in scope due to technological/physical limitations- if that makes any sense. 1323234688 Any ideas what it could be? More information about the sighting would be handy. We see three clips. The red lights on the "left" side are blinking", by standards the light on the left wing of the aircraft is red, but they shouldn't be blinking. Anyway we see some strong aberrations probably from looking through the window, but they don't explain the blinking. Probably the blinking is from the stroboscopic light on the bottom of the craft. The objects don't show any unusual movement. 95% airplanes. 1340244184 Chemotherapy has all sorts of torturous effects on the body. Skin pigmentation changes is actually one of the many ways chemo can affect the skin. 1344452996 And yet, and yet...he died from it... 1318043882 Oh we do, once this started happening we started telling her about his adventures in Boy Scouts 1318981602 When you want something bad enough, your intuition can help guide you to exactly what you want. I'd imagine you meant 15-20FT huh? But that's awesome, I've only been given the chance to see 3 UFO's, but they were way up in the sky and were flying so fast that they disappeared before I could even blink. 1340404861 trolls isn't unheard of, although she's doing it for personal gain, it seems, so it's baiting. 1351126191 Freaking upvote for the Legend of Grimrock! Hell yeah! 1336664980 I'm hoping for the best for you as well! If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. I've been recording EVP for quite a while. I'm certainly no expert, but I do have some experience. 1350509655 especially because to put a key on to a keychain, you usually lose a nail and theres blood everywhere 1337190047 Tulip bulbs to credit default swaps, you could have given up a long time ago. 1301231104 When them not having that medical procedure can effect other people then I am all for it. We saw a comeback of polio in California because too many dipshits didn't get vaccinated to I support this and even more drastic measures. \n 1322258960 That's kind of what I meant. How can you prove fraud when most of the time homeopathic remedies have an insignificant amount of whatever substance they're supposed to have in them? Nobody could prove you're being fraudulent, right?\n\nMan, I should get a bullshit homeopathic degree and sell bottled water to people for exorbitatn prices, easy way to make a living. 1283807032 It would appear John Anderson decided later in life to go back and reclaim that pizza from his former self. He must have had really good memory or planned this for a long time to remember exactly what this pizza was and when to swipe it from himself. 1356916950 Plenty of time to read if you're not raptured. 1356311397 Science can fall into 4 different categories:\n\n1. Reproducible\n\n2. Predict but can't control- example would be an eclipse\n\n3. Can't predict, can't control but can catch "random" events and record data if we have equipment in the vicinity and at the ready- example would be earthquakes\n\n4. Activity that involves sentient beings- such as car accidents. We can't set up cameras everywhere to catch car accidents (that would be very inefficient), the best we can do is arrive after the fact, take witness testimony, measure skid marks, etc to arrive at what happened.\n\nYou can't expect to come at the UFO phenomenon using 1 or 2. The best we can hope for is to get lucky with number 3 (which has happened with the more reliable UFO cases in history involving photographic evidence and testimony). And, of course, UFOlogists do number 4 all of the time. 1312461437 Ironically, he'll be a wish'n' he was anointed with oil...when they rape in the ass... Wahh aha aha haha 1320267169 Read The Moral Landscape. He denies that he is attempting to come up with a science of morality. The subtitle "How Science Can Determine Values" is just there to sell books. \n\nIf you disagree, then simply link me to the experiment that demonstrates that valuing well-being (or having a distaste for suffering) is the best moral value to adopt. Harris can't do that, and that's why he waxes philosophical in the Moral Landscape, regurgitating the same arguments for utilitarianism that had been rejected centuries ago. \n\nScience can *inform* our morality, in that once we've decided what we should value, and what moral system we wish to adopt, we can use science or logic to figure out what are the best methods for achieving these goals, but science can never tackle the questions of morality (i.e. what we should value). Importantly, this is how morality has been done practically since the beginning of time (with "science" in early times being something closer to empiricism and experience), in that no moral system has denied the validity of using science to help answer moral dilemmas. \n\nAnd fuck I wish people would stop citing Sam Harris. There is a reason why his book got slammed by both ethicists and scientists. If Harris had really demonstrated that science can answer questions of morality, then he would have revolutionised the entire field of ethics, and would be a hero in the field. Instead, when the ethicists managed to stop laughing for long enough, his book was met with solid and damning criticism. Even first year philosophy students could see the gaping holes in his theories. 1340075878 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man) 1340918856 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man) 1341335556 All of your links are to this same blog. You are blogspamming for ad revenue on your personal blog. Did you read the new rules? \n\nhttp://www.reddit.com/r/Paranormal/comments/q4spv/new_community_guidelines/ 1331240123 All of your links are to this same blog. You are blogspamming for ad revenue on your personal blog. Did you read the new rules? \n\nhttp://www.reddit.com/r/Paranormal/comments/q4spv/new_community_guidelines/ 1331269109 it wasn't healed, the tooth was just filled with layers of butter sediment... 1351469942 Oh jeez I recognized the thumbnail because my mom buys that garbage. 1334163409 The table has errors.\n\nFor example, in the last point it says that omnivores have sharp claws, which is not true for all species (e.g. pigs).\n\nEDIT: I googled the source, and apparently some people criticise the author for being biased and not being qualified in this field: http://www.andersaaberg.dk/blog/2011/false-science-the-comparative-anatomy-of-eating-by-dr-milton-r-mills/ 1353112535 I actually have one of the symbols online that I posed for another website. I will try to find it and put it in as an =EDIT=\n\nThankyou\n\n=EDIT= Missed the first part. Sorry this was re-posted from /r/paranormal so I think someone asked that there too. No it wasn't a dream or daydream, I could see everything perfectly as it was meant to be, just normal but with a meteorite crashing down outside.\n\nFeel free to ask more, I'm happy as it gets me to think about it and remember, plus it is so interesting and exciting that I may find answers. 1339565880 Elmer Fudd. 1348611885 This made me think of the TED Talk that was posted recently about [why eye witnesses get it wrong.](http://www.ted.com/talks/scott_fraser_the_problem_with_eyewitness_testimony.html) One of the examples Mr. Fraser uses is the WTC towers collapsing on 9/11. The example is that most people have a false memory that they witnessed the second tower collapse on TV about an hour after watching the first one collapse on TV. The memory is false because no news organization aired the collapse of the second tower until almost 24 hours later. What's interesting is that our brains fabricated a believable memory to fill in the "missing" information of the second tower collapsing. \n\nI can see similarities with this experiment, at least to some degree. These people are asked to write down their belief. What they write is altered without them knowing and they are asked to read aloud what they wrote. If the subjects don't recognize the error, their brains build false memories to support what they wrote (because they know they wrote what they're reading). Apparently, this means you can (at least temporarily) defend opposite positions of morality as if you actually held those beliefs. \n\nEDIT: Not sure why I'm downvoted for info from a TED talk. Anyway, here's a [Psychology Today article](http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/hidden-motives/201203/unreliable-memory) to corroborate what I stated about how we store memories. 1348165606 i believe you kels 1348610687 Think eBay is cheapest for this equipment? Might as well try it. 1347049894 "What's the harm in communing with eldritch powers beyond mortal ken?" 1349513081 I decided to take a walk down to the still active morgue. I'll be posting it ASAP. Nothing notable. Just fucking creepy. 1319772296 That doesn't change the fact that for you personally, the belief is essentially unfalsifiable. You are never going to be given that huge list of planets with favourable conditions. You're never even ever going to find out what kind of conditions are necessary to favour the formation of life. There is no possible evidence that can be given to you that will falsify your belief.\n\nYou're in exactly the same camp as I am here. Our belief in alien life is not evidence based, and it's not falsifiable. We believe in alien life in essentially the same way that other people believe in God. 1290623711 I tend to be the same way. It's not something I think about very often. I don't do multiples. For me I try to center the crack under my arches. It's almost like I can "feel" when I've done it right and if I don't do it evenly across both feet they feel unbalanced.\n\nIt's nothing I feel COMPELLED to do. And just like you if I'm thinking about something else or walking with someone I don't even think about it. Honestly I'm pretty sure it's just my brain being bored and needing to play a game. 1332182761 In my research I found many examples of women claiming birth was nothing compared to gallstones. \n\nI'm sure I can think of many things that would be worse than childbirth. 3rd degree burns over large portions of your body, for one thing. But wait, I'm just an ignorant man, I can't possibly know anything about the pain of childbirth. 1329943746 What about the two hour gap? The cameras did not turn on until two hours later than the initial flash. Why would he be laying there for two hours and all the sudden come to at the exact same moment the cameras started working again? 1341955640 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-Letter_Christian 1307564502 >Raxlen had been accused of telling a woman dying of Lou Gehrig's disease that she had chronic Lyme disease, an illness that might not even exist.\n\n>Lyme disease is real. The bacterial infection, chiefly transmitted by deer ticks, can cause rashes, swollen joints and inflamed nerves, and usually is curable with a round of antibiotics.\n\nWait, what? Does it exist or doesn't it? The journalist doesn't seem to have a very good grasp of how to use words to express ideas clearly.\n\nThere is a big difference between misdiagnosing something as Lyme disease, and Lyme disease not existing at all.\n\nThe article starts off rather hyperbolic it seems.\n\n**Addendum**\n\nAh I think I see that the difference is between *chronic* Lyme disease, and Lyme disease. With chroic Lyme disease being something that has very poor evidence in support of its existence.\n\n**Addendum**\n\nHave read the article, worth reading. Quack doctors and others diagnosing people with *chronic* Lyme disease, and keeping them on antibiotics for long periods of time, costing them lots of money and also helping to evolve resistant bacteria that goes on to cause further problems. Also many of these quack doctors have been disciplined or even have criminal records related to misdiagnosing people with chronic Lyme disease. 1292038700 Only in /r paranormal is this kind of explanation immediately accepted and lauded lol\n\nenergy eddies obscuring my keys on the table? Uh, this is not a real phenomenon. that example is related more likely to the limits of attentional focus. 1337224319 Damn, you just professor'd the hell out of that. 1341880969 Pilebsa used to hang out, with me and others, in the rational response squad's video chatroom at stickam.com. Several times he went into rants about "no **woman** has ever been there for me like my dog..." Yup, he's done some pretty douchey anti-woman whining, the kind of crap that gets tears in misosynist reddit circlejerks these days. Just saying, it wouldn't surprise me if this is true. 1325219496 Nope. Still there. Head east down Dudley until it becomes too narrow for a vehicle. Keep walking and you'll find them. 1347376313 Is this still happening? If so Id love to know what the future has for me - relationship, work etc 1354071892 Don't let the trolls get to you. :-) 1355314903 Chlorine really doesn't need to be in drinking water in areas with good home filtration systems. 1338771051 I cannot express how tedious it is to have to explain again and again how the scientific use of the word "theory" is *not* the same as its general use counterpart.\n\nIn order for something to reach the level of a scientific "theory," it must have undergone such review and have been bolstered by enough evidence that for all intents and purposes it very much *is* a fact. \n\nGo test the theory of gravity by jumping off a bridge. Or how about the theory of cells. Sure, we can observe them with a microscope, but it's still "just a theory," eh? How about the *theory* of plate tectonics? I could go on and on. The point is that a theory is a fact. **Theory is the pinnacle of scientific certainty.** That's as far as it gets - it's as close as scientists will ever come to saying "This is the way it is and there's about a zero percent chance of us being wrong about it." Whether or not you have taken it upon yourself to do enough research to agree with them is unimportant. \n\n> Secondly, scientists who do not back evolution are not necessarily acting out of a religious faith. Assuming that says more about yourself than the scientists.\n\nWhere exactly does the word "faith" appear in the comment you replied to? Or were you referring to another comment in which I used it as a *direct response* to someone else who had used it first in a context unrelated to religion? I haven't mentioned religion *once* in this discussion. Perhaps your proactive defense suggests more about *your* thinking than the thing I didn't say says about mine. 1336767434 If there were convincing arguments for the existence of a god or gods, there wouldn't be atheists. 1303094941 But to be fair we are just one of many random possibilities.\n\nAs for what I think he's implying with "humanity" he's still wrong. Man kinds knowledge and morality did evolve. We no-longer condone a number of things people did in the biblical past, morality evolved and slowly spread across the population. As to did knowledge. In fact knowledge is a very good example of this. Countless great ideas have been lost through them not becoming widespread.\n\nFor example, the romans had steam power. So Why did it take till 1500 years after the fall of the roman empire for steam power to become widespread? Because of the propagation of knowledge is exactly the same as the spreading of genetic information. The fall of the roman empire caused the great network of knowledge they had nurtured to be splintered in to warring factions.\n\nHumanity has been needlessly delayed by the lack of free knowledge since the dawn of time, now that international academic groups exist and the internet is helping spread knowledge it's getting better. And becoming very hard to deny natural selections impact beyond genetics and it's application to every day life.\n\nWould europe have come to the aid of libya 500 year ago? Of course not, there was no such thing as human rights, governments and monarchies were too busy trying to keep their own people and neighbouring countries in line. And even if a people did sympathise with them, communication systems would not facilitate a quick enough reaction.\n\nThe pope and any fundamentalist group are living in a world that is simply out of touch with reality. They're trying to describe the modern world with a vocabulary that is over 2000 years old. 1303680669 You're so clever. Is this like the elitist left wing area? 1315671725 Considering I had little better to do than lurk, the future is promising! \n\nThanks for the insight... I've always felt I may be closed-off from the possibility of experiencing metaphysical events, but I wonder if things could slowly be opening up. I've remembered a couple other instances I will likely end up posting... 1346439938 >There's also a hell of a lot of data supporting natural sources of CO2 from various sources other than man.\n\nSure, but they *don't explain the current multidecadal trend.*\n\n>If you are indeed old enough to remember the 1970s then you will also recall that global cooling was all the rage back then.\n\nThere were more papers in the 1970s predicting global warming than global cooling. Global cooling was mostly a media phenomenon.\n\nhttp://www.skepticalscience.com/ice-age-predictions-in-1970s-intermediate.htm\n\n>Further, you're taking out of context a scientific concept (greenhouse effect) discovered in the 19th century and implying that we suddenly had a full understanding of the climate back then, \n\nI never implied such a thing. However, it is true that global warming was first theorized in the beginning of the 20th century. Since then we've had confirmation that man-made global warming is indeed a reality.\n\nhttp://www.skepticalscience.com/its-not-us-intermediate.htm\n\nThe rest of your post is just more talking points from denialist website, citing scientists that aren't experts in the field, or whose work (as in the case of Christy) has been shown numerous times to be inadequate.\n\nhttp://www.skepticalscience.com/skeptic_John_Christy.htm\n\nYou're not looking at this rationally. You are simply trying to find validation for your opinion, i.e. that man-made climate change isn't real. I also find it funny that after admitting there was warming, you're still bringing up Climategate (which is about the warming not really being there...). Using out-of-context Climategate e-mails instantly kills any credibility you might have on the issue, and as such I'm not really interested in continuing this discussion with someone who will cite such sources.\n\n**Edit**:\n>I won't downvote you as I assume you did me because I think your points are valid.\n\nI didn't downvote you, though I have to say you're not really adding to the conversation by repeating the oft-debunked talking points from the climate change denial machine. 1342327377 Doesn't seem to be a problem in California. 1340602182 The top of the WSF disappears from the frame because 1) the shuttle is moving forward, and/or 2) the camera is zooming in. If this were an "ice particle," and either 1 and/or 2 is happening, the "ice particle" would increase in size. Which it is not.\n\nAlso, any change in the space shuttle's x or y direction would be apparent in the arm (as the arm is attached to the shuttle) relative to the WSF. Which does not happen. The shuttle is not rolling, it could possibly be moving forward and downwards.\n 1321651562 >I don't understand the value of your analogy. Even if you're trying to say the diagnostic criteria for mental disorders is an inventory of symptoms, that's fine.\n\nThat's what a disorder is; an inventory of symptoms.\n\n>But when comparing them to something like vomiting, you would be comparing the observability, and in that capacity the analogy just doesn't hold. No matter how you cut it, behavioral anomalies will always be more nebulous than the evacuation of someone's stomach out of their face.\n\nHow are they more nebulous? They are just as observable. 1348293682 Well, I suppose you could intellectually masturbate about UFOs or you could do it over a myriad of other topics. We're in r/ufos, so that's what's done here. It's not like interesting discussion and speculation cost you anything. Some see this as an interesting puzzle. 1297591701 There's [this](http://www.amazon.com/The-Little-Blue-Reasoning-Book/dp/1897393601/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335750443&sr=1-6), The Little Blue Reasoning Book - no religion involved. \n\nAlso [this](http://www.amazon.com/Nonsense-A-Handbook-Logical-Fallacies/dp/0966190858), Nonsense: A Book of Logical Fallacies. Also no religion involved. \n\n[The Fallacy Detective](http://www.amazon.com/The-Fallacy-Detective-Thirty-Eight-Recognize/dp/0974531537/ref=pd_sim_b_4) actually found a link to it on a Christian website, so you've got an in there. \n\n 1335750696 Sorry your glitch turned out to not be so glitchy! 1336007054 I found it pretty telling when they green-lit "Sarah Palin's Alaska" for The **Learning** Channel. 1293708601 I have known a couple religious leaders, mainstream christianity that studied NLP and used it in counseling sessions with people. I knew what to look for, and found it disgusting that a "man of the cloth" would use such a technique, whether it worked or not. 1328437010 Videos like this one that show these objects up in the sky for minutes make me wonder: is there anyone, in all these cases, who has a telescope and has used it + a camera to snap a shot? These "bright objects" in the sky videos are always so vague because of the limitations of your average camcorder. I mean, something like [this](http://obamapacman.com/2010/08/iphone-4-telescope-perfect-for-star-watching-moon-shot/). 1342320960 or the aliens are trolling 1344860500 Surely you will deliver? 1345267978 >It can only measure statistically\n\nUntrue. Only the social side of psychology deals with statistical trends (social, personality, etc), the rest makes claims through experimental manipulation. \n\n>and ethics stops us from being able to perform a lot of experiments that would shed light on the human mind.\n\nPartly true. Some experiments are impossible because of ethics, but the vast majority are not. Also, keep in mind that psychology is not the study of the *human* mind - there is no emphasis on humans in psychological research. 1345686261 The point though is that wing chun teaches you techniques that will get your face broken in. It doesn't teach you how to fight like say.... Boxing does. Which teaches speed and reflexes and how to not get your assistance kicked. 1343548106 Got the same exact answer from a chinese "tongue diagnosis" specialist on FB when I snarkily asked where I could read up on the research behind it. Well, first they said, "I don't follow science, but..." and then talked about how Chinese medicine is empirical and scientific. 1341151353 One interview that immediately comes to mind is the [Major Donald Keyhoe interview by Mike Wallace during the 1950's](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxkdCciZMhk). Keyhoe was a board member on [NICAP](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Investigations_Committee_On_Aerial_Phenomena), as was [Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roscoe_H._Hillenkoetter), Director of the CIA. \n\nIt's not exactly an interview, but [General Samford's 1952 press conference](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcRtkA1Rmvw) in response to the public's concern for the purported 'flying discs' over Washington DC is also very interesting. In it, he clearly says these objects are not ours and we have "no idea what they are." The earlier historic evidence tends to be much less altered by mass media and pop culture (ie: little green men & X-Files theme music).\n\n> what exactly are we here to promote? \n\nI think we're here to (hopfully) weed through the bad information, the misinformation and put the subject on some solid ground through skeptical and scientific approaches, when possible. \n\n> Is this forum like, "Hey, here's some well documented and credible UFO cases for people to see" or is it like, "OK, we've all subscribed to r/UFOs because we believe there's a shred of truth to this phenomenon. We've seen some cases, and would welcome more, but let's take it to the next step and start talk about what this means for us."\n\nI would say it's a combination of both. 1312224458 Is it weird that I can do this on command at any time? 1353846050 Great responses! Thanks a lot. These are the kinds of insights I was hoping you'd share. Wish I could write a more thorough response but I'm in the midst of grading papers and shouldn't even be on reddit at the moment... 1349836193 That's true, but I'd happily eat right and stay fit in order to experience another 15-20 years on the planet. 1241827623 that is what I was thinking too. also explains the weird stare down if you did say something like 'hey kiddo'. 1332688065 You don't know if they had a shitty day or week, if someone they know died recently, or what. Saying they shouldn't be working customer service because you saw them cry sounds like a cop out to justify shitty and unacceptable human behavior.\n\nSave that for the people who deserve it, like lawyers.\n\nedit: missing words and what not 1348067207 i will post again my results later 1349741443 i will post again my results later 1349741462 I've had a handful of these. It's often annoying however, that they're often more abstract, although I have had a couple that were almost perfect visual matches for things I've later seen. Usually very insignificant events. One was my cousin being asked to be in a play. When it happened I kept thinking 'I know I've seen this before.' Like deja vu but worse. I eventually remembered a vivid dream I'd had about 2 months before where literally the exact same thing had happened at a theater that as far as I could remember exactly the same as what I was looking at. Only other one was a party I went to right after a bad breakup. When I had the dream I had assumed it was just a randomly generated scene, but nope, actually ended up there later. It was weird even the way the lime green cups were arranged on the table triggered some weird memory of the dream.\n\nI've had a few more, but they were really abstract and while indicative, not necessarily predictive (although much more vivid and memorable). 1342807096 >Since when did the skeptic community become the academic/scientific apologist community?\n\nSince never.\n\n>When science gets something wrong it's ok to point it out.\n\nSure it is. That is the process that has produced AGW theory, which has so far withstood pretty much everything that's been thrown at it, probably because it's very likely to be correct.\n\n>You don't have to toe the line on every issue.\n\nNo one's asking you to. However, the evidence supporting AGW theory is numerous and compelling, and the evidence against it is practically non-existent. Therefore, AGW theory (like Evolution) is very probably true.\n\n>The argument is not over "anthropogenic global warming" it is over catastrophic anthropogenic global warming \n\n"Catastrophic" anthropogenic global warming is a made-up expression that was created by deniers in order to treat this as an emotional issue rather than a scientific one. The word "catastrophic" is both vague and scary, which fits with the climate change denier's goal of making the opposite side look like emotionally-driven alarmists. It may work with those who aren't aware of the actual science, but it won't work with me. Sorry.\n\nIf you disagree, then please provide a precise definition of what "catastrophic" means, and how that definition was achieved.\n\n>Quite simply, there is not anything close to certainty that human contributions to CO2 in the atmosphere will have a major effect on the Earth's climate.\n\nAh, but we don't *need* certainty. If there was even a 50/50 chance that it was correct, given its potential effect it would be foolish not to act.\n\n>There are way too many assumptions being thrown around \n\nNot really. The science is supported by multiple lines of evidence, which suggest a climate sensitivity between 2 and 4.5C, with a likeliest value of 3C. While this may or may not be "catastrophic" (no denier so far has been able to explain to me what "catastrophic" precisely means in this context), but there are various studies that suggest it won't be *good* (including studies from the Pentagon, that nest of eco-terrorists!).\n\nIn any case, I've talked with enough deniers to know that, when caught in their pseudo-science, they'll gladly go from "it's not warming" to "it's warming but it's not us" to "it's warming, it's us but it won't be bad" only to return to "it's not warming".\n\n>Furthermore there is evidence that the Earth's climate is currently in a particularly warm interglacial phase and is due for a return to ice age very soon\n\nNot "evidence", but rather a hypothesis.\n\n>if increased CO2 in the atmosphere helps stave off such catastrophic changes then we will all be grateful for it\n\nWait a minute. Either AGW theory is wrong, and the increase will be minor, or it is right, and the warming will be strong enough to correspond to the decrease in temperature caused by a return to a glacial period (not an "Ice Age", as you incorrectly note, since we are already inside an Ice Age). It can't be both, you'll have to choose what your position actually is - but thanks for demonstrating I was correct about how deniers' arguments aren't consistent with each other.\n\n>I encourage you to apply [1] Feynman's scientific attitude \n\nI am well aware of Feynmann's cargo cult science concept, however it doesn't apply to Climate Science, and Feynmann himself never cited climate science as an example of cargo cult science.\n\nI think you and other deniers who constantly cite Feynmann should be ashamed of tarnishing the memory of a great scientist by suggesting he'd be on your side of this debate (since your side is incapable of producing evidence that AGW is wrong).\n\n>to the claims of those who wish to make wild, unsubstantiated scientific claims in an attempt to tax all economic output, everywhere.\n\nNo one wants to tax all economic output everywhere. That goes beyond a strawman fallacy, right into conspiracy theory. Maybe that's why the subreddit doesn't fall for your pseudoscientific arguments. Sorry.\n\nEdit: there *is* something one could be skeptical about, is that there is a conspiracy to spread disinformation by multinational oil companies. There is evidence of fossil fuel companies financing climate change denial "enablers" (think tanks, blogs, scientists), however this doesn't necessarily mean there's an actual conspiracy to spread lies in order to protect corporate interests; it *could* conceivably just be the product of stupidity rather than malice (and I believe that in many cases it is).\n\nThat's where one could draw a skeptical line, because there is little actual evidence of this (as with most conspiracy theories). The science itself, however, is pretty solid. It's going to take more than vague accusations and oft-debunked arguments to make a serious dent in it. 1342826297 Maybe scientists (reviewers I mean) are now thinking its time to troll the peer-reviewed journals, because the publishers are becoming increasingly greedy. 1327761145 Suppose two swallows carried your soul together? 1351689882 Good introduction point, thank you! 1341659857 Similarly, the decline in piracy worldwide causes global warming.\n\nCorrelation does not equal causation. Learn it, live it, love it! 1353431902 Until it's well demonstrated, it's not worth worrying about. As it is, it's conjecture based on a kooky version of biology. For instance, the blood type diet's claim is that type A is a recent adaptation to agrarian life, but type A is actually the oldest blood type.\n\nThere are a lot of debunking articles from other food obsessives, but here's one that's [actually based on science.](http://www.skepdic.com/bloodtypediet.html) 1325217038 Set ups. 1352135734 No children, just my wife and I. I'll come back once I get the new handle on and let you know if it happens again. Probably won't be replacing it for a month or two though. 1332961772 As much as I love Derren Brown, I'm forever skeptical about hypnotism. I do believe, to some small degree, in the power of suggestion. But, not the kind where you can walk up to somebody, snap your fingers and force them into a state of altered consciousness. I feel it's much more likely that the people are faking it, but for some reason not willing to admit it.\n 1304080935 And, of course, in order to maintain the collective at peak efficiency, frequent and regular injections of nanoprobes are indispensable. 1344803048 Why are you posting a private video?\n\n 1336922380 A real doctor? Seriously, your GP can help. 1306036161 The very fact that you identify as a conspiracy theorist makes you an idiot.\n\n>I am calling for reasoned discourse. I am calling for respectful argument. I am calling for rationality, and empathy.\n\nIn case you hadn't noticed, that's what being a skeptic is about. REASONED DISCOURSE. Skeptics don't argue in any other fashion.\n\nAlso, [this](http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110504080730.htm) might be of interest to you 1304978164 Exactly which facts are being ignored? The fact that there is practically zero chance of there being a single molecule of the original ingredient at 30C or 200C (homeopathies most potent cure). Or maybe it's the fact that in double-blind trials there is no significant difference between a homeopathic remedy and a placebo. If you expect anecdotes to be accepted as fact, then I think you're approaching the topic all wrong because placebos are a powerful thing. \n\nI'm not claiming that a person who honestly believes something will work, won't feel any relief. I'm claiming that I could take a dropper of pure distilled H2O, tell someone that it was a remedy for whatever their ailment is, and have the same statistical chance at seeing improvement as you would see with the homeopathic remedy. \n\nI also do not see the relevance of your referencing Rudolf Steiner. Nowhere do I see his stance on homeopathy listed, nor do I understand how a philosopher who championed antrhoposophy and spiritual science has any bearing on a discussion of the scientific merits of homeopathy. There's a reason natural sciences have made progress in the past century, while spiritual science is just as laughable as it ever was. \n\nYour original question was why do Redditors in general harbor such antipathy for homeopathy. People are being scammed, by water in a bottle, for 8-10 bucks a pop. There are real provably working treatments out there that are sitting on the same shelf, but either public ignorance or marketing is keeping these snake oil salesmen in business. It pisses me off, that in this age where information is literally seconds away this Victorian age mysticism is still profitable. I suppose it's not that surprising, seeing that Bronze age myths are still going strong too. 1300729466 Being afraid of the dark basement and being afraid of the dark forest probably stem from the same instinctual behavior. It doesn't matter how well you know your basement, if you can't see what is in it, you can't prove what isn't in it. 1332195623 What were the details of your accident? I mean - did you land on one side and roll, for example? If so - which side did you land on, etc? 1292956865 This one is a goldmine:\n\nhttp://forums.randi.org/local_links.php?catid=18\n\nAlso good:\n\nhttp://www.911myths.com/\nhttp://www.debunking911.com/\nhttp://www.ae911truth.info/tiki-index.php\nhttp://sites.google.com/site/911guide/home\n\nA Redditor called jcm267 has been putting together a list like the one you mentioned. He's really put some effort into this: http://www.reddit.com/r/conspiratard/comments/dc9tk/about_911/ 1286932606 It's called a planchette. 1334853845 >And no, they don't do moral codes. \n\nAre you joking? Take [hedonism](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedonism) and completely throw out empathy, and you will have a psychopath. Talk to a psychopath if the opportunity presents itself...discuss morality/etc. with them and you'll quickly see that they do have a moral framework...it's just that their moral framework doesn't place any value on your well-being.\n\n>The ability to distinguish right from wrong is, I hope we can agree, a prerequisite for any moral code (be it objective or subjective). \n\n>>##Psychopaths know right from wrong but don’t care\n\n>>[...] We presented psychopaths with moral dilemmas, contrasting their judgments with age- and sex-matched (i) healthy subjects and (ii) non-psychopathic, delinquents. Subjects in each group judged cases of personal harms (i.e. requiring physical contact) as less permissible than impersonal harms, even though both types of harms led to utilitarian gains. Importantly, however, psychopaths’ pattern of judgments on different dilemmas was the same as those of the other subjects. These results force a rejection of the strong hypothesis that emotional processes are causally necessary for judgments of moral dilemmas, suggesting instead that psychopaths understand the distinction between right and wrong, but do not care about such knowledge, or the consequences that ensue from their morally inappropriate behavior. [...]\n\nhttp://scan.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2010/01/06/scan.nsp051.full\n\n>. Psychopaths either a) do not have this ability or b) do not care, and therefore do not follow the moral code.\n\nB, actually...but that doesn't mean they don't have a moral code...it just means they don't have YOUR moral code. \n\nSeriously, this is ridiculous. You start off by saying "everyone does X, therefore they have Y", I show that not everyone does X. Your argument now seems to be that, because they don't do X, they don't have Y.\n\n>Also, you're still confusing "pointless" with "pointless murder."\n\nThen define your terms because CLEARLY I'm too fucking stupid to get it.\n\n"Pointless" and "pointless murder" are not scientific terms. If you want to coin your own terms with your own special meanings, fine, but include your brand new meanings of those terms instead of acting like a smug prick because I couldn't read your fucking mind.\n\n\n>That, in fact, was entirely my argument. Without anything that is infallible or godlike in any way, it is possible to achieve some sort of values that is at least loosely universal among humanity\n\nAnd that's an irrelevant point. Objective morality needs to be independent of humans opinion in order for it to be objective. it doesn't matter if ALL humans everywhere hold the same opinion...that still doesn't transmogrify the opinion into fact. Furthermore, those values are not universal. It's a secondary point, but one you seem to be stuck on.\n\n>Someone else on this thread (too lazy to actually find/quote it properly, or to see if you've responded to this, so forgive me and/or feel free to slap me for not looking it up) said it best: math does not stop working just because humans are not here. \n\nhttp://www.reddit.com/r/skeptic/comments/vxicb/it_seems_like_some_of_you_actually_believe_in/c58jzmc\n\nMath exists independently of humanity...morality doesn't.\n\n>Any other sentient, social animal would likely evolve similar social constraints on behavior.\n\nThat's another huge assumption.\n\nEvolution is ambivalent to death...except when death interferes with reproduction. A society which has no problem brutally murdering the elderly could survive as the elderly are beyond the age of reproduction. \n\n>Again, I do not in any way advocate moral absolutism, and I seriously doubt anyone on this subreddit does either. But things like that do seem to be as objective as we can get.\n\n"As objective as we get" doesn't mean "objective". \n\n>Also, just because rape happens does not mean it is "good."\n\n...and my point was that, just because something is encouraged via evolution (and rape certainly is encouraged in this way), it doesn't make it "good". \n\n>There are enough differences between the scenarios of "rape" and "pointless murder" for me to say that the analogy fails.\n\n\nYou said (way back when):\n\n>>A society that abhors pointless murder (Edit for clarification again, because ambiguity: which, to the best of my knowledge, is all of them societies), on the other hand, will be less likely to wipe itself out. This is an example of something that is not a force or entity in any way, merely a fact of nature. \n\n\nYour argument is basically that something which works against the survival of a species becomes an objective "bad". I used rape as an example because it works towards the survival of the species (by that same logic making it "good") but it's pretty universally viewed as "bad". The analogy works, assuming that was your fucking argument. However, seeing that you seem to have your own weird ass definitions for common words that you pull out of your ass, I may be wrong. To you, perhaps "wipe itself out" really means "eats lots of ice cream and masturbates to bollywood films". I really have no idea at this point, but I do know I'm getting tired of this argument.\n\n>So, I'll make it simple: according to your philosophy of morality, Hitler thought he was doing the right thing. Does anybody else have any moral right or obligation to stop him? (Note: I'm not talking about your personal feelings. I'm talking about what moral relativism says about the issue)\n\nMoral relativism doesn't say you should do X or Y...moral relativism says there's not such thing as an objective right and wrong to moral questions. You can't really demand a moral judgment from something that explicitly denies the validity of moral judgment.\n\nThis is like asking what atheism has to say about praying to god on sundays vs. saturdays. \n\n\nI personally say he's an asshole. If I had the power and inclination to do it, and thought I wouldn't be punished for it (i.e. I had popular support), I'd kill Hitler if I were given the choice. But this has not fucking bearing on the existence of objective morality. I feel like you're only asking this question in the hopes that I'll respond with something along the lines of "what Hitler did wasn't inherently wrong" so you can scream "AHA see! Clearly you too are an evil person and we need objective morality to avoid more Hitlers!!!". That's the ONLY way I see this applying to this conversation.\n\n>But they are relative.\n\nAnd relative is subjective. \n\nThe end. 1341270857 What a verbose, watertight argument. \n\nIt's a valid point. Some sightings have not been explained, and therefore by definition they are "UFOs". This does not mean it was aliens. It's equivalent to a theist saying "God did it" when we can't fully explain abiogenesis. \n\nYou obviously don't want to discuss this. It's plain you believe we are/have been visited by alien lifeforms based on only anecdotal evidence and you are closed to any kind of skepticism of it. Not sure what the point of this thread was. 1332247913 >For the placebo effect to take place people need to believe that it does\n\nFalse.\n\nhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/dec/22/placebo-effect-patients-sham-drug 1329314591 Just saying it's happened a lot in previous encounters with new civilizations on our own planet. 1337062427 Personally I have many different types of dreams; some are more like premonitions, some are almost "other dimensions" where things and people are different, some are a conglomeration of things I have recently seen/read/watched/thought about, and some are exploring dreamland. Use your intuition about your dreams, and regardless do not be fearful as we are powerful manifesters. 1345673744 Darren brown did something like this, I'm too lazy to track it down right now though. 1301811664 Ok, you've established a possible motive. That's a good first step. Now, step two: do the research. Find some citations to back up your assertions, and be ready to defend the credibility of those citations.\n\nThis is what sets /r/skeptic apart from /r/conspiracy. 1309026944 What? 1294045631 What? 1348375746 What? 1322560506 What? 1351040304 Makes sense if the meaning of "hardcore debunking" in your reply is "politically influenced denials" which Hynek admits that they were during Project Blue Book. 1314129534 **Breaking news:** Sickening grocery store cover up! Grocery store manager claims his fresh produce doesn't cause miscarriages. 1351830425 Nikola Tesla was the greatest engineer to ever live. Later in his life he spent all of his time on a project that based on simple equations could not have worked, the whole "power by air" thing. He tried to sell his home country a weapon that he hadn't built and never successfully built. 1341638134 Well, we have evidence in the form of declassified documents that the US generals during WWII, with the approval/request of FDR to figure out a way to force Japan into a confrontation by making life in the Pacific incredibly difficult for them. Whether or not they knew of the impending attack on Pearl Harbor is one question, but what's not in question is that they deliberately instigated an attack to provide the pretense for war.\n\nNot saying what they did was even unnecessary, I happen to agree with the idea in a general sense. But between the Northwoods documents and the documents describing this WWII strategy, we *know* from the historical record that governments are willing to engineer tragedies and outrages so that they can then use them to forward an agenda. 1276701400 It gets stranger than that...if they are as advanced as we think, it's possible that they could blend into our culture. I hate to come out and say it, but reptilian like camouflage. \n\nI don't necessarily believe it, but it's definitely not out of the realm of possibility. At this point, reality is turning out to be much stranger than fiction.. 1344636097 OP will surely deliver. 1335685499 OP will surely deliver. 1355005582 ::full throated applause and apple sauce::\n\nhear here. 1248934157 Send it to me and I'll put it into Adobe Audition. I might be able to help you out. \n\nEdit: PM me and we'll go from there. 1325138864 It'd be a great platform to show graphs and pictures and whatnot. Visual representations and explanations is always a plus. So far, it's just a Skeptoid podcast in front of a camera, like you said. Maybe he's just waiting to get more funding. 1264943388 I don't know why you were expecting anything else. Whole Foods is Wegman's for yuppies. Practically everything in there is touting some form of pseudoscience. They even sell Deepak Chopra's books. 1349189396 Nice try, but when I used it it was a continuation of an element from a previous comment, not a really petty, try-hard quoting from someone's post history. 1309191528 I saw a bright light falling fast last night, it wasn't a shooting star because it was in the earths atmosphere. It fell straight and separated into 2 an disappeared. 1353851078 Oh brother. I don't know if I should want to hear this or not. Waiting for the link in anticipation.\n\nWhat's 11 AM in Universal Standard Time? 1315578485 I'm picking up what you're putting down. 1355463370 I agree that's where the evidence is...I just disagree with the way the public is being educated about it...from both sides 1329968950 Nope. It's in the attic, which is very tiny and has no windows. 1354350944 > if it has been found that exposure to high levels of fluoride in water can lower IQ scores, isn't that cause for some concern?\n\nIt's [essentially irrelevant](http://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/anti-fluoride-propaganda-as-news/).\n\n> it seems like the root of the issue is involuntary medication\n\nI don't know which mechanism is more cost-effective, but the "involuntary medication" business is a contrived issue and should not bear upon public policy. Fluoride occurs naturally in (almost?) all water supplies, at varying levels; the debate is over whether to artificially optimize it at around .7ppm. Moreover, it's a nutrient, not a medication; it's effect is preventative, not curative (at least as far as fluoridation goes). Or just check the [legal precedent](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_fluoridation_in_the_United_States#Court_cases). 1345395287 There is nothing I can say in a comment that would convince you.\n\nLets just say the evidence exists its up to you to find it. No one who really knows cares about convincing you. You like every other member of your race believe everyone cares what you think.\n\nWhy would I waste my time trying to convince you. What would that achieve? In my opinion if you are too stupid to realize that all evidence aside its a mathematical certainty of advanced traveling alien life then you don't deserve to know.\n\nFurthermore anyone who truly knows a shard of what is going on realizes most people could not handle what they find.\n\nLike I said the information is out there, but you cant un-see it.\n\n 1332452217 Wheres FSM? 1275284240 good detective work right there. sherlock holmes and batman would be proud.\n\n^(...i'm overselling it, aren't i.) 1355701498 For what it's worth, I can verify this - I saw the show and they did it multiple times. Ended up being loose fencing that flipped when driven into. 1327116697 She'd probably be an easy convert.\n\n\nOne of us... one of us... 1307806505 > that is the conclusion of the Sokal Hoax\n\nNo, it's not. It doesn't even begin to establish that. A single incident, with a single journal that apparently wasn't even practising academic peer review? How can that say anything about postmodernism as a whole?\n\nPlus there's the reductio provided by the other incident: if you think the Sokal affair shows postmodernism to be bullshit (it doesn't), you'll also have to think the Bogdanov affair shows theoretical physics is bullshit (it's not). Or, explain why the two incidents are different in character to the degree that one exposes an entire field to be fraudulent, while the other doesn't. 1315344916 You can spout whatever opinion you like. If people want to believe it that's their problem. If you wish to pretend you're some authority in something, that's everyone's problem. 1351367656 The scandals like Rosiglitazone nearly always effect the US. What he says has happened in the US, in this decade. Is it actually true that the FDA receives all data and papers from studies on humans? I don't think that's true, it certainly wasn't true for the drug Ben cites in the article. 1348344779 Oh really? Societies have collapsed in the past?!?!?\n\nThanks so much for educating me instead of posting a rudely condescending comment. 1347614333 Also science opposes the use of common sense (idol of the tribe and all) 1338750602 [Rebecca Watson did it once for a fundraiser](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsBQqUvwkek) 1345203971 Skeptception... 1344972667 But, it's written by people with titles. Unlike unscientific conspiracy theorists who dropped out of kindergarten, like Webster Tarpley or Leonard Horowitz, and proceed to make up fake titles. So they're right, unlike the conspiracy theorists. These real scientists (unlike fake scientists, like the chiropractors of naturalnews) hate vitamins and alternative medicine. 1267874368 Lets bomb it. 1313396773 How about "Rational Event Horizon"? 1322422996 PCP is my guess, but I don't rule out much these days. 1338267761 Sorry folks...but it appears as if The Falcon didnt crash here after all. 1346370041 You sick bastard. 1297867043 I can honestly say CoQ10 works for what I was told to take it for. I have a broken penis, a toilet seat fell on it when I was younger and damaged the tissue about halfway down my penis. So yes sometimes it will "bend" when faced with tight circumstances. However now at age 41 I have a painful hard lump inside my penis. Hard-ons are severely painful. I went to the Urologist and he said until he could see me for SHOTS INTO MY PENIS I should take CoQ10. It does help with the lump size and my penis does not hurt as much. However I currently have a right angle facing up when I get a hard on. Lots of fun there. 1345592678 That bowl is what interested me the most. How do you explain Sumerian writing on an artifact from South America? Damn! 1332052951 The point is. These "mysteries" of good health have been known by people for a long time. We've known that shoes caused these problems and I've practiced barefoot my whole life 28 years. Now if this is really solving so many chronic problems, why isn't it commonly known that people with joint pain should walk barefoot every day (great for brain and overall health too) but they all know what pill to take for joint pain because the experts told them.\n\nI mean. If disposable razor companies started educating their targets on how to make their razors last MONTHS longer each by running them backwards on your arm 10 times... their profits would fall. So any legislation that censures someone from telling people that trick i say NO GO! \n\nPlease don't let your fear let you decided what I have access to. If you don't believe in herbs DONT USE THEM for gods sake just go see your experts. But if you engage yourself enough in the knowledge of food and food medicines some day I hope the option is still open to you and websites will still be allowed to "make those unproven claims". 1298078212 So there was one paranormal event in Britain this past year? 1286182276 There is good historical evidence that our DNA was manipulated by "gods". The Sumerian civilisation are quite forthcoming about their story of creation. 1296487017 I believe that it increases activity, but that is based purely on anecdotal evidence. 1326844776 Yes... the first comment on that site hits the nail right in the head and confirms op's theory. The song is about someone dear passing away.\n\nOn a related note... My dad passed away this past February 21st in the morning and the first verse of the song says just that. It made my eyes water up. ='( 1345140688 "The attendees, who had paid up to $10,000 to participate in the retreat, had fasted for 36 hours during a vision quest exercise before the next day's sweat lodge. During this vision quest, participants were left alone in the Arizona desert with a sleeping bag, although Ray offered them Peruvian ponchos for an additional $250." \n \nObjections by the Native American community included "charging for the ceremony (seen as extremely inappropriate)". \n \n[Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Arthur_Ray) \n \nMy sister and her husband went to Sedona a couple years back. They paid some guy to take them on a spirit walk. I can only imagine the things he probably talked about... "And over here we have a giant underground concentration of quartz, which is a healing mineral with significant spiritual properties. For example, it causes lucid dreaming, enhanced clarity, and helps your mind to resonate at higher frequencies which leads to an elevation in consciousness, bringing you more in tune with the quantum nature of the spirit world." 1327928572 I think you're onto something 1302402729 1. This is what I want to do. Address the cause, not the symptom. The problem is that she never admits to fault or being wrong about anything, ever, and she never reassesses her views in light of new information. I'd have to teach her to do this, and people over the age of 50 are usually so fixed in the way they've thought for decades that they can't learn an entirely new mindset.\n\n2. Well, aside from my concern of all the money she's wasted on it, this would be good enough. But sadly, as long as she believes that homeopathy is actually an effective alternative, I can't see it happening... I've tried to explain this danger to her, but I don't know how at this point. I think she's had some very negative experiences with doctors and medicine in the past that have driven her away from them entirely through stupid generalisation. Plus, she seems to think she's fine with the endless array of supplements she takes - which, to their credit, contain actual ingredients. 1295446040 Saying "Nonsense" is hostile? That's just silly. You're arguing just to argue, and what you're saying is nonsense. Hence, the word nonsense. 1351113572 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derren_Brown#Neuro-linguistic_programming\n\n>Several authors have claimed that Brown uses neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) in his act which "consists of a range of magical 'tricks', misdirection and, most intriguing, setting up audiences to provide the response that he wishes them to provide by using subtle subliminal cues in his conversation with them."[39] In response to the accusation that he unfairly claims to be using NLP whenever he performs, Brown writes "The truth is I have never mentioned it outside of my book". Brown does have an off-stage curiosity about the system, and discusses it in the larger context of hypnotism and suggestion.[19][40] In his book "Tricks of the Mind" he mentions that he attended an NLP course with Richard Bandler, co-creator of NLP and mentor of Paul McKenna, but suggests that the rigid systems of body language interpretation employed by NLP are not as reliable as its practitioners imply. He also mentions the NLP concept of eye accessing cues as a technique of "limited use" in his book "Pure Effect".[41] The language patterns which he uses to suggest behaviours are very similar in style to those used by Richard Bandler and by the hypnotist from whom Bandler learned his skill, Milton H. Erickson. Brown also mentions in his book 'Tricks of the Mind' that NLP students were given a certificate after a four-day course, certifying them to practice NLP as a therapist. A year after Brown attended the class, he received a number of letters saying that he would receive another certificate, not for passing a test (as he discontinued practising NLP following the course), but for keeping in touch. After ignoring their request, he later received the new certificate for NLP in his mailbox, unsolicited.[42]\n\nBrown doesn't use NLP, and in "Tricks of the Mind" he goes into detail as to why it doesn't work (mostly by discussing all the studies which have been done on the topic that have disproved the practice). 1328446800 [WhatsTheHarm.net](http://whatstheharm.net/) has some good anecdotes. The [naturopathy](http://whatstheharm.net/naturopathy.html) section has a few cancer cases with 'alternative medicine' uses. 1279305348 I have done this.\n\n[Full story](http://igl00.com/385). 1309952218 Smacks of intellectual snobbery.\n\nI would think that, if UFOs are extraterrestrial aliens and they possess the technology for interstellar travel, they would be smart enough to keep their presence largely hidden from us. They certainly wouldn't want to contact us- our species is one that keeps thousands of nuclear weapons pointed at *itself*. Why would anybody want to have contact with a bunch of violent loonies like us? 1293995479 Yea. Not really feeling the music. Listening to the same loop for 7 minutes is annoying as hell. 1340772279 Are they hiring then? Ripping people off seems to be foundation of most jobs these days. 1314668241 That. Is a weird looking thing with weird physical properties. 1298129376 The History Channel is just embarrassingly bad. Here's my take on the worst of the worst: \nhttp://kooztop5.blogspot.com/2011/09/top-5-worst-shows-on-history-channel.html 1315370072 If you think scientific skepticism is just dogmatic rejection, I suspect you have a basic misunderstanding of what we do. Regarding your attitude towards science, it honestly hurts my head. You seem to think theories are useless and presumptuous - that we should "get rid" of them - but they are required to formulate, test, and falsify hypotheses. The models we create are rarely assumed to be fully accurate; they are a way to tie together information.\n\nI encounter this attitude from philosophers often, and it is simply infuriating. (Never from philosophers of science, fortunately, but that doesn't surprise me - they actually understand the basis of the scientific method and the difference between it and a religious framework.) \n\nIt's just as frustrating as the dismissive attitude many scientists have against philosophy, and makes you look like just as much as a dumbass. 1322172879 I read it as:\n\n* 50% of the real accupuncture group had a 50% reduction in pain\n* 30% of the no treatment group had a 50% reduction in pain\n* 43% of the fake accupuncture group had a 50% reduction in pain\n\nWe are measuring what percent of each group had a 50% reduction in pain not what percent reduction in pain each group had. A subtle difference. 1347335059 This is just how any politician gets out of any political storm. Anyone can argue their way out of anything if they're brilliant enough and don't get the fallacies they're committing pointed out to them. Since this isn't something that's going to be debated (I mean, I don't even know what the controversy is about, but I know how this stuff works generally), he can say whatever and enough people will believe him enough for this not to be an issue.\n\n:)) 1320829114 Do Canadians know that in America we have a channel called MTV (Music Television) that hasn't played music videos for years and instead churns out one shit reality show after another?\n\nWe also have TLC (The Learning Channel) which is good if you want to watch incompetent parents try to raise 8 children or see the way a dysfunctional family runs a multi-million dollar business making and selling gaudy motorcycles. \n\n\n 1295909106 I found something that it probably it called The Derren Brown Lecture.avi 1352742129 This really isn't true. I've just spent the better part of two days researching this and the reports you've read are wrong. Probably reported as such due to his company, standing and stockholders. 1318001638 Usually go to skeptoid. \n\nBut to answer your question, there is no FAQ because nobody has taken the time to do it. By all means vanillarain. 1340064825 > There is absolutely no way to ascertain whether a god actually exists simply from looking at human brain structure\n\nYou just postulated something, a 'god' (no idea what that is, can you define what that thing is supposed to be?). Of course you can provide empirical evidence for your (not much of a) claim?\n\nAnd if you're hinting an enumerable but very large number of equivalent possibilities, are you not afraid that Occam will cut you? 1311090139 Intelligence is not directly related to morality.\n\nDo you think murderous dictators are stupid? Or are their genocides moral? That is the false dichotomy you assert.\n\n"conspiracy theory" is just a way the masses label something they wish to discredit for simplicities sake, so that their lives aren't interrupted by inconvenient assertions. \n\nThere is a big difference between believing that reptilian overlords from a far away galaxy are in control of a secret world government, compared to understanding how the IMF helps in facilitating debt interchanges between the global central banks which lead to the structural impoverishment of certain areas.. trade wars which lead to control and death of citizens the world over..\n\nPeople that believe in either of the above circumstances believe basically the same thing, except one realizes it is a human structure with a purpose, and another thinks it's magic..\n\nThere is a global central bank(imf) and currency([sdr](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Drawing_Rights)).\n\nIs believing that these institutions might be controlled for the benefit of the few over the many a conspiracy theory? 1303860313 Sorry, used to. As in a long time ago. Like the seventies. It was popular with us winos. 1290123185 I am sure most of the people that frequent this subreddit do enough due diligence to read through the whole article at least before making any conclusions; an article, which I seem to recall, said that the scientists that made the discovery are skeptical about the findings, and want the scientific community to check their work and make sure everything looks correct. Even have fermi (woot, Chicago represent!) re-run the experiment and see what results they can get. 1316753501 Now I KNOW you're a parody account. Awesome dude, keep it up. You had me going for awhile! 1347314751 Nonsense. It's clearly Gene Simmons. 1321138343 But... by not doing that, he got you to look it up, and learn about it. \n\nThink about it... 1313876285 I get it. So basically I can say whatever I want about other people online so long as I stick a smiley face at the end. I must remember that. 1328344184 I have a question. \n\nHow does one enter adulthood with such tiny areola's?\n\nI swear, the moment I hit puberty I grew these pepperoni rings around my nips, and I was never fat/overweight. \n\nWhat I'm trying to say is: I'm jealous of your nips. 1311039706 there was this one show i cant remember the name it was called. but it had to do with dead celebrity's.the host went to places where elvis presley stayed buddy holly. For buddy Holly he went to the crash site of his plane. But what i remember the most from the show was that they did a seance for one celebrity and he had connected to a ghost. and he let the ghost take over him and talk to the group of people. At first the ghost had trouble talking but got used to it. it freaked me the fuck out. It sucks that its not played anymore. anyone know what im talkin bout? 1346654420 Same here. Since I was a kid, I would always find myself in settings that I knew I'd 'dreamed' before. I never had one of myself in college though, which led me to believe that I would die sometime between high school and college. Luckily, this was not the case, although I've only experienced this once throughout my freshman year. 1344230677 http://bigfootevidence.blogspot.com/2012/09/enhanced-images-of-alleged-campertent.html\n\nalready confirmed a hoax. 1349122462 [I lol'ed](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UctjqoMdbY&feature=player_detailpage#t=244s) 1318114001 I got this:\n\n**U**nderwater **F**loating **O**bject...\n\namiright? 1312617743 I have no idea what I'm looking at or what I'm supposed to be seeing.... 1340904283 I tried googling "alternative neutering" but nothing good came out. 1317914034 And my point is why would they contact the whole planet if they do not know if we are worthy enough? Maybe they wanted to introduce some randomness and were already under the constrains of stealth so they chose the wrong sample of human beings. Now we are just unlucky. 1341061924 Before sim-cards - A lot of early cell phones (and many still do) actually had a small secret battery that wasn't removable. \n\nIt's how all your numbers were saved even when you pulled the battery out.\n\nLikely it somehow was enough to pick up a phone call - and it either ran out of juice about the time you put the other battery in - or, more likely, the act of putting the other battery in shorted/jumped it and reset the call.\n\n 1326579430 Parents who want to blame vaccinations just don't want to blame themselves. If it's not vaccinations then it must be their fault that their child is Autistic, and that's hard for some people to handle, so they look to other places to lay the blame. 1285037107 What you're doing is arguing with yourself through hypothetical scenarios. You're trying to rationalise the behaviour of a phenonenon you know nothing about, and as such, your line of enquiry is simply untennable.\n\nYour scenario is baseless, as you know nothing about the subject.\n\nIf you read up about it, you'll learn there's more to it than you previously thought, but you won't read up about it because your opinions stand in the way of your enquiry, which means you're not a skeptic, you're a debunker holding onto a previously constructed belief. 1332244801 Nope... 1347702385 Do you see any value in neck manipulation of any kind? If so, what? (I'm thinking of [these kinds of reservations](http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/neck-manipulation-risk-vs-benefit/).)\n\nSeparately, do you think that the profession itself is salvageable, or will the techniques used by evidence-based chiropractors simply become an optional part of more general training, leaving chiropractic *per se* completely in the alt med culture? (Or do you see the current split being sustained indefinitely?) 1342742603 Hey, if Witches have figured out a way to part fools with their money, then good for them. 1296230977 >>For example, that Osama bin Laden has been killed is not a terribly fantastic or extraordinary claim.\n\n>First of all, this capture has been a decade in the making. Consider: those 20-somethings shown celebrating were still in grade school back on 9-11-2001; American policy has been dominated by this guy (and his cohorts) for their entire conscious lives.\n\nWhat do either of those two things have to do with what you were replying to? Neither of those things change the fact that the killing of a man by Navy SEALs, using firearms at close range, is not an unreasonable scenario to occur.\n\n>for nearly 10 years the accepted answer was either "he can't be caught" or "he's already dead". \n\nThese are claims made by armchair analysts. None of us really know what has been going on behind the scenes. Because most people accepted these "explanations" doesn't give them any more merit.\n\nRegarding your comparison to Saddam, he was discovered and trapped in a hole in the ground, and did not resist capture. If you are willing to accept that his demeanor at the time of his discovery and Osama's were different enough to warrant different levels of force, than it also stands to reason that the two encounters would have different outcomes.\n 1304698857 So, where are the shaky, out of focus pictures they took of their prisoner of war? 1356852379 The kind that comes with a decoder ring. 1316958843 You will forgive me if I am, well... skeptical.\n\nWho is 'they'? How did they 'find' this to be true? Why do you think that your own personal anecdote is evidence? it is a single instance, and you are hardly impartial.\n\nDon't get me wrong, I *want* it to be true, but this is /r/skeptic ;) 1327540912 I found this story suspicious for different reasons than you. Mainly, in fact by seeming inconsistencies between the photo and the story. Maybe I'm wrong, but the child in the photo looks too big to be three months old, and the earth pit they're in doesn't look like the situation described in the text:\n\n> when the rescuers reached the ruins of a young woman’s house, they saw her dead body through the cracks.\n\nWhat cracks exactly? This pair look like they've been buried. I don't think this is a rock-solid objection, but for better (skepticism) or worse, it raised an eyebrow with me.\n\nIn any event, our suspicions proved correct, as TaxandSpendDinosaur points out. And in his source, the image and description match.\n\nSome interesting questions I'd like to see answered about this story is who put the text and image together, and why? Did they create the text, or take it from somewhere else? Given certain "red flags" in the text, this looks like it could have been adapted from a miracle-anecdote of the sort that one's vaguely protestant mother likes to forward to one's email. And if so, by whom and for what purpose? Pious fraud, a prank maybe?\n\nPersonally, it's at this point in the story of a fake that things get really interesting to me. 1315935925 http://www.google.com/search?q=radio+speakers+computer 1339279042 There's no depth perception. I'm not a smart ass, I'm just correct.\n\nedit: not to mention, the complete lack of definition the eye has. 1325479460 Oh man, thank you for posting this.\n\nI watched this a while back and then mentioned the "finger chemicals" bullshit to someone later on. They didn't believe me and I couldn't find the video again. Saving it this time. 1351011447 >What you're wrong about is, that truly free market and anarchy can be a better system than certain forms of government.\n\nFree market anarchy is worse than communism, fascism/corporate fascism, or dictatorships? No, it's not. That's why Somalia is doing better than it was under its dictatorship. 1313616258 In high school my now-husband and I made money on the bus by charging $2 for Tarot readings. We were open about it being bullshit, though. They were paying for the entertainment. He would wear my pink scarf around his head as a fake turban and everything.\n\nBut every once and a while, when I see woo making massive profit, I get the terrible recurring thought that we could make good money that way. I just know I couldn't sleep at night ripping people off like that. 1313260495 So Doctor's Data still has no defense for the actual accusations made by Stephen Barrett. When your only defense is to attack the accuser and not the points made by the accuser you are wrong. 1280929596 Well the French were one of the few nations to take it seriously and produced the Cometa report for general audiences, so there is some merit to that. 1356016692 tl;dw 1348186365 Hard to smurfing disagree with such a well-spoken mothersmurfer. 1310481839 It can be rough. 1326827661 It's interesting that most people (in general) think like this. I consider myself a skeptic but frequently an unsupported correlation will pop into my head when one even precedes another. The trick is to logically evaluate every conclusion you come to and rule out logical fallacies (like post hoc ergo propter hoc in this case). 1294901801 Here you go: [Chris Mohr's AE 9/11 Respectful rebuttal](http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD53B1326B705253D). 1350553172 Never gonna happen. 1260209302 >results like these are what experimentalists dream of: clear, statistically solid patterns that are essentially impossible to arrive at by chance, and that admit only one plausible (but originally unexpected) model to explain them\n\nThat, to me, pretty much rules out tampering, unless everyone thinks that the obvious explanation is that someone capable of perpetrating this kind of fraud would be utterly oblivious to this fact. 1351402352 There are university programs for occultism and esotericism at universities in the UK, France, Holland, Sweden and (iirc) Italy. Some of those have underpaid research positions, and a few are even in English! ;-) 1355092286 So a pdf is enough to make a believer out of you? And you still call yourself a skeptic? 1329331369 >You're terminology is very volatile and hate filled. \n\nHuh? Where are you coming up with that? Did the italics scare you? Bizarre interpretation. He is factually addressing your comment, nothing more. Isn't that the point of r/skeptic, to stick to the facts?\n\nI can understand everyone's skepticism about this topic. Regarding the downvotes that dopp got from you guys... I am dissapoint. That's lame behavior. Being skeptical doesn't mean you just debunk and insult for the win.\n\nI would venture to say that this subject is a lot more complicated than you might think before actually studying it to any serious degree. 1331932769 good one. 1268396460 When did he say you had told him this story?\n\nIs it possible you told him something when you came home from the "working interview"? 1327278533 I love how it's just swaying. As if it's hanging from some sort of string...but no! 1293558907 Agreed. Couldn't have said it better. 1310485653 Usually if it's homeopathic it'll say it right on the box. 1349190537 Get that blue button ready .. \n\nPyramids, in general, have (among other uses) the purpose of using/focussing the earth's "natural energy", which might be stronger in some area's.\n\nImagine the energey spiralling upwards around the center of the pyramids, much in the same way that you see water go down the drain... from broad to narrow.\n\nTha Gaza pyramids are so big because they allow people to be inside at precise spots in order to use this spiralling energy, for mediation/channeling purposes and even physical healing.\n\nNow, keep in mind you've asked our opinion :\n\nThey were built by the RA-society, who was visiting Earth at that time (= +-9000BC). These people are just souls like you and me, except they are a bit higher up the ladder already (see re-incarnation, concept of ascension).\n\nSo they built the pyramids using methods unknown to us in terms of materialization and dematerialization.\n\nThey abandoned their project when they saw that it's pointless with us humans.. in this particular context we wouldn't have any of the teaching and used the pyramids as royal buildings and so on.\n\nDon't take my word for this... get a small pyramid with the right dimensions and place it under an aching bodypart for 15 minutes or so..\n\nYou'll see\n\nNamaste 1356879050 Yep. Now they'll be back to running stories about 'the worst landlord in Australia' every week. 1303044098 Upvote purely for the title. 1328481184 Well it's not fair when you know what you're talking about! 1309745880 Well yes, it's certainly a huge problem because they're conducting very legitimate and rigorous studies and simply hide ones that fail so we see good methodology, good design, and strong results far above anything used to justify alt med modalities.\n\nHowever, the huge problem is that quacks could point to Goldacre's book and say "see, Big Pharma is lying to you and they're no better than the alternative medicine practitioners they have their shills go after" and then administer something toxic or useless to the patient. 1348360505 I had my headphones on so the whispering kind of made me feel violated. 1337454892 I heard about this guy that got hit by lightning after he got a flu shot. Coincidence right? Well get this, he had a twin brother that didn't get the shot and guess what, no lightning. Mind. Blown. 1347672221 I think the clue is in the domain name. 1339317674 WOT.com is not concerned with the content. They are screening for viruses and sites that try to hijack your computer. If that website is safe, then it should receive a higher rating. 1347684772 Until I read the alt-text and before noticing which subreddit this was posted to, I thought this maybe was a critique of the indie gaming scene. It's early in the morning. Things fit much better now.\n\nEdit: I predict whiners to whine about the supposed ratio of ink-to-blank being unrealistic for homeopathy. 1320046271 ironically, the "[/r/athiesm](/r/athiesm) is a circlejerk" circlejerk has taken over so much so that it bleeds into other subreddits 1330879813 SOP for a lot of subjects. \n\nif it does not fit it must be wrong, for w/e reason. 1349203994 One of the few times I've been happy to watch Kevin O'Leary. 1330643807 It's not impossible. 1338522844 To be fair it says on their sidebar: \n\n>A subreddit for really great, insightful articles, reddiquette, reading before voting and the hope to generate intelligent discussion on the topics of these articles.\n\nThey want articles, this is not one. Also I'm certainly not against links like this for entertainment, but it's clear that nobody on this site is going to defend them or agree with them. Preaching to a choir does not really stimulate discussion, which they also want. 1337877038 At least those will relieve your nicotine withdrawal symptoms. 1329280152 > This subreddit is pathetic. Certain individuals on this subreddit fail to live up to their own skeptic credentials...\n\n> I earnestly searched for empirical evidence of something and was unable to. I came here because I figured you guys would be well aware of the empirical data for such a widely held belief which I was unable to locate. Instead you just downvote me.\n\n> Apparently this isn't r/skeptic, it's [1] /r/scientistcirclejerk.\n\nWell that wasn't hard at all, was it... 1336054763 The point of doing that is to piss of Redditors that wander into our subreddit. Out in the wild Redditors make all sorts of sexist and racist comments, but as soon as someone insults white men it's suddenly not funny anymore. We find this hilarious.\n\nIt's all just a big joke, really. What, do you hate jokes? 1326689599 Here are some more links to go along with **gazillion**. From Science Based Medicine blog there is Chiropractic and Stroke: An evaluation of one paper(\\(http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/chiropractic-and-stroke-evaluation-of-one-paper/\\)) by Mark Crislip.\n\nAnother article came up from QuackWatch by Stephen Barrett, M.D. entitled - [Chiropractic's Dirty Secret:\nNeck Manipulation and Strokes](http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/chirostroke.html)\n\n>Do you really think all major insurance companies and corporations would include chiropractic in their plans if it didn't work and save them money?\n\nThe fact that an insurance company will pay for chiropractic care does not make it safe or effective. Many insurance companies cover acupuncture too. What's his take on this. \n\nI find it odd that he didn't list the sources for the opiate and Tylenol deaths. And how many of those deaths were accidental vs. suicide vs. other. Automobiles and medications have both helped a lot of people lead better lives. Cars help people earn a living and support themselves, medications can help a person lead a better life, anti-depressants for example or antivirals for HIV patients.\nBut he would be hard pressed to tell me that more people die from medications in one year than they do from car accidents. I don't see him extolling the evils of cars. Medical doctors will tell the patient of possible complications, almost to a ludicrous point. Chiropractors rarely if at all will tell a patient that what they are doing may cause serious harm. \n\nI understand his frustration from being criticized, my father was a chiropractor, but honestly, they bring the criticism on themselves. From odd and poorly explained "medical devices" and their resistance to integration with proven medical practices to their extreme views on medications and vaccines, they bring it all on themselves. 1315171356 >if you know the format of panorama is each week the is a new episode and **that episode is done by one main person and a supporting team(camera etc) so each week the is a different person doing a different story in which they have researched and found out. so your grievance is more toward her and her story not the bbc.**\n\nIt does not reflect on the BBC as a whole if a single show that is basically the opinion of a single person goes to air. 1350481396 In essence the claim is that those who claim to commune with an all-powerful invisible friend, have better mental health.\n\nSeems legit.\n 1346088586 For what it's worth, like a lot of people, I don't know enough about the science behind AGW.\nI DO know that we are STILL in an Ice Age and have been for over 2.5 million years. We live in an fairly warm interglacial period between very cold episodes, does anyone wish to start a new glacial episode? Do you want kilometre thick ice over N. America, Europe and Asia?\n\nSo let's get the science right and look at ALL aspects before we go off half-cocked, as the German and Indian academics did when they dumped tons of iron filings into the Antarctic Ocean to try to create an algal bloom to soak up CO2. Luckily they underestimated by a long way. 1269799826 And the lack of control allows the largest corporation to crush or annex competition, thus *reducing* the number of competing companies in a given field. 1313558008 haha no, you didn't offend me, but I appreciate it. I just try to avoid putting all UFO believers into a single category considering their wide ranges of beliefs and experiences. \n\nThat said, I completely agree with you in that lately, a lot of bullshit videos are trying to be passed as sightings of real significance. At best, they're inconclusive. Even in this clear, non-shaky, high-res video it's extremely tough to see what the object actually is and whether or not it's even suspended in the air. 1289237285 Again: Nobody said RW was sexually harassed in that elevator, including RW. \n 1351119627 It sure scarred me for life. 1318506454 No, I agree not from our government. I tend to think disclosure could come from anywhere and it could be more incremental. \n\nUnlike you I don't have a great deal of faith in the scientific community considering how readily they put on blinkers when it comes to Psi research. I mean there are plenty of things they should be doing and yet the paradigm remains locked in 18th century post enlightenment. At risk of kicking at a dead horse - it's about the money, like the climatologist who quit recently. \n\nLast month, I saw a bunch of UFOs flying across the sky in broad daylight. As hard as I try to id them, I have no idea what they were: 15-20 dark shapes I couldn't identify - it was weird. And yet I risk being labeled crazy for talking about it. Anything that changes that mentality is a good thing - that doesn't mean I trust a single word they say, its a process. To me government and science are exactly the same thing. Science is getting sanitized. 1288921684 I agree with him about his point that you cannot determine an individual’s mental health simply by comparing them against a flawed definition of what is ‘normal’. The idea that ‘healthy’ and ‘normal’ are the same thing when it comes to mental health brings up issues of semantics, I think. And he is certainly not the first person to raise this kind of issue.\n\n“It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.” — Jiddu Krishnamurti\n\nThough I agree with this sentiment, the takeaway is not that anyone who is labeled mentally ill is is actually mentally fit. A ‘sick society’ may label someone ill when they *are* in fact ill (by objective measurements). So too, a fit individual may be labeled sick by this societal measuring stick. The takeaway, for me, is simply that empirically measuring the mental fitness of every individual (an economically infeasible task, at least at this point in time I should think) may be distinct from what institutions deem ‘normal’. 1322507014 What's your point? 1335976163 All I stated was that believing the official story and assuming there is a government conspiracy are two different things. Do you disagree with that premise?\n\nAnd wait, I didn't post the link, I simply made the aforementioned comment. \n\nAnd I am arguing with you because you seem to be trying to contort what I said into "the government did it" \n\nEdit:\nand now that I understand it better, I rescind the bit about being deliberately insulting. If you thought I posted the link and kept saying "I don't know" it would be totally fair to call me out on that. 1314724256 Ok, I'll read it all later when I get home. \n\nBut please consider this. Yes, there are a shitload of quacks. Yes, even I can harm you by trying chiropracticing your neck. If you hear one talking about energies and chakras, run away.\n300 and odd accounts isn't THAT much, the guy I'm talking about has over 300 patients per week. We would know and hear about him hurting someone. \n\nI'll guess you're American, and I'd bet there are more fraud chiropractics than population of Croatia. Your country is huge, you have waaaay more stupid and naive people than we do (we don't have creationists, for example) and even I could go around saying I'm a healer. I understand your skepticism, but you are skeptic, not "100%sure" about all this, right? \n\nMe? I've got lots of personal experience, and I'd recommend this guy to you and I would sign to take any responsibility.\n\nI hope none of you will ever need one, and if you will need them, consult physiotherapists before. \n\nJust like you shouldn't trust everything, you shouldn't be so stubborn and diss everything without any consideration it could be legit. 1329466627 It won't benefit your health, but religious groups such as Pentecostals make their sheep fast for days before attending a revival. Helps people have visions, speak in tongues and empty their wallets.\n\nI personally watched a man named Tod Bentley rob people for 3 days. I used to work at a convention center and after the first day people couldn't pay for parking because they gave everything to Tod. People signed over their cars and houses to the guy. He instructed everyone to fast before and while attending. 1304057439 a placebo is not a remedy. The placebo-effect is a phenomenon that must be accounted for while testing for efficacy. But it isn't something you should be using to treat people. 1309287889 South Park did a great job summing up most paranormal shows. \n\nEdit: [Video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zi7vjSw6KAE&feature=youtube_gdata_player) 1336226255 But that's wrong.\n\n[The first page I found on google](http://sayiamgreen.com/blog/2010/01/the-real-truth-behind-5-energy-myths/), there's plenty of results so if that isn't convincing enough feel free to search yourself. 1338543449 You're correct in that sodium ethylmercurithiosalicylate, or more commonly known as [thimerosal](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiomersal) is not mercury. Rather than inorganic mercury, which can't pass the blood-brain barrier, [ethylmercury can](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethylmercury). This happens to be what thiomersal is metabolized or degraded to in the human body. Thiomersal is not necessary for the vaccine to work, it is simply used as a preservative and continues to be used even though it's being "phased out".\n\nThis being the skeptic board on Reddit, it frustrates me to see such knee-jerk reactions from people who simply believe they are "in the know" about mercury and autism, a subject which remains controversial exactly because it is **unproven to either direction**.\n\nIt's a fact that mercury is one of the most toxic elements known to man, but that in its natural states it's fairly stable and harmless. Vaporize or methylate it though, and you've got an entirely different beast in your hands. While mercury alone can't be linked as a direct cause of autism, it's clear that mercury *always* has a damaging effect on the organic systems it comes to contact with. It's the degree of damage, speed of recovery and interactions with other complex systems that remain under question.\n\nNext time Big Pharma comes spewing propaganda your way, maybe you should take also their message with a grain of salt and look at evidence from both angles. This is how you may find the connections that are masked by your first reactions which may be driven more by emotion than rationality.\n\nThis is neither a pro-vaccine nor an anti-vaccine statement, this is a statement and a plea against preaching of partial knowledge.\n\nYou call yourselves skeptics, now how about you start acting like skeptics?\n 1256407855 Came here to say this. Also the guy is full of himself, and talks about subjects which he has no expertise in, acting as of he does. Look up him taking about evolution, and how "humans are no longer evolving" and "australia evolved faster" or some such nonsense. Pharyngula and others have written about him more than a few times. Don't get me wrong, I use to like him, but the fame has gone to his head. 1310222643 Humans as we know us would not exist if it wasn't for meat. The high protein & easy calories allowed caveman brains to grow bigger. The cooking of meat made even easier calories & protein, and also forced primitive mankind to sit around fires together, where the basics of conversational language are believed to have formed.\n\nThe chart is chock full of pseudo-science & cherry-picking. Humans are omnivores, and have been for as long as we've been humans. 1353132617 I second this. As cool as it looks it has been proven as a hoax. 1345155651 Because I called you out on your mischaracterization? That's cool. Have a good one. 1287770802 That video, though VERY well done. Is also quite fake-looking. In the slow motion part, he reveals himself accidentally. Watch the dots and watch the horizon, they don't shake together. His mistake was filming shaky footage and trying to motion track the dots in there, which unfortunately failed. he should have filmed it on a steadicam and then added shaking in post-production. \n\nI'm willing to forgive one kind of fake video by a user, but he has two that are noticeably fake to a trained eye. 1331838040 Reminds me of a church sign I see every day in my town. One week it said "How should we think of ourselves?" as in, let us tell you. 1309480400 The 100000 ton figure was from a quick googling, and may be wrong. As far as I understand it, steel is an excellent conductor of heat and as such even though the temperature of the steel in the immediate vicinity of the fire would be hotter, the heat would quickly conduct throughout all of the steel columns (which should be connected with metal supports). I believe I recall hearing a claim somewhere that this is one of the reasons why steel-framed highrises have never collapsed due to a fire, even if the fire is much more longer-living and more intense than at the WTC. The entire building is essentially a massive heat sink. Your argument that the heat only affecting the immediate vicinity would mean that the rest of the supporting columns (especially in the case of the North Tower where the plane hit was close to the top) would remain unaffected just a few floors below the fire, and the vast majority of the supporting columns would remain structurally sound.\n\nHeat buckling is a good point, but I think it's irrelevant. As far as I understand the structure of the WTC, the supporting vertical columns were all in the middle, and the floors were supported by steel trusses attached to these columns (and the outer frame). The pancake theory postulates that the connections between the vertical support columns and the steel trusses holding the floors up failed, causing the floor elements to fall and pancake. What about the supporting vertical columns, though? They would remain standing, especially since the floor loads are suddenly removed from them. The connections between the support columns and floor elements would be the weakest link, so the floors going down would not pull the supporting columns down with them but simply cause those connections to fail. Once the floors are down, the force from the wind would probably cause lateral loads that the vertical columns can't support, but the supporting columns would topple, not fall straight down.\n\nA simple representation would be having a tree trunk representing the support columns in the middle, and having wooden platforms attached around it every few meters. If the top platform fails, it simply falls down taking all the platforms with it, but the tree (core columns) remains standing. So, why did the support columns come down with the floors, when the official theory strictly states that the floors were seperated from the support columns and came down on their own? What about the floors above the point of collapse, wouldn't they have stayed up there considering that the supporting columns should have remained standing? \n\n> The tree toppling I think is a bad example here\n\nThe tree toppling thing was the simplest example I could think of. The thing is that since the falling top part of the structure is completely separated from the structure below (assuming the core columns failed as well), if the center of mass is not at the exact center of the impacts, the force of the impacts would impart energy unevenly and thus cause an uneven collapse, especially since practically all of the vertical support is at the center of the building. If the center of gravity moves far enough off-center, this would add rotational energy to the structure above and cause it to roll off the bottom part, actually falling next to the building and leaving the rest of the original building standing.\n\n> The pancaking seen in the collapse is a great example of the occurrence.\n\nAs far as the impacts on each floor slowing the building down, you're correct that at some point the combined mass of the falling floors would be great enough that the impacts would cause negligible speed loss. At the beginning, however, when the speed is slow and the mass difference isn't excessive, this would cause a noticeable thump which is not visible in any of the footage of the incident I've seen (granted, I haven't seen much). Another thing is that several floors down, assuming somehow that the core columns go down as well, the falling structure would start encountering structurally sound vertical columns that are specifically designed to resist vertical loads, and would cause severe resistance in the middle of the falling building. Think a cube of butter dropped onto a vertically standing metal rod, where the diameter of said rod is much lower than that of the chunk of butter. It would spear right through the falling mass.\n\n> The temperature in the wreckage problem...\n\nA few hundred thousand tons of concrete with small pockets of air sounds like a fairly good insulator to me. Assuming for a second that it was thermite, and considering how much of it would have been needed to achieve a controlled demolition, I don't think it is impossible that even though the thermite would have burned out very quickly, the high temperatures and amount of sheer energy it produced combined with the insulation the collapsed buildings provided could have caused the temperature to stay that high for days afterwards. This is just a guess, though. I've also given thought to the offices having some kind of fuel source that could burn hot enough, but quite frankly I can't think of anything in a high-rise building that would burn at temperatures even close to the melting point of steel. This may just be a failure of imagination on my part, though, and I don't think the temperature measurements after the collapse are as interesting as the collapse itself.\n\n> Love your response by the way! Don't know why you got a down vote for it.\n\nI guess it sounded too conspiratorial to some or they disagreed with the physics. 1331319043 i don't know, my dad says they didnt appear till i was about 2 or 3 1340570423 I'm glad everything is great now. Make sure to keep us updated, please? 1350687672 Do you know about contextual links? 1321822386 If another person says "raise their vibration" I'm going to find them and shoot them in their face with a canon.\n\nLook for me in the news.\n\n 1343271955 For an interview with the sites author check [here](http://www.youtube.com/user/cosmicpreachers#g/c/C2B960DBF9438808) or [here](http://www.youtube.com/user/theduderinok#g/c/9BE89F2F400306E6) (great listens),...cuz this stuff is very hard to follow without an electrical & physics degree,... 1275051926 I support anyone with Falafel in their username who also posts to r/skeptic. 1331748590 There's another one. 1356565731 It's a real talent that you can be a jerk without even trying! 1332508374 Here's what I make out of it. It's a voice in the background, he's repeated after the pause and he's in-between some radio noise. \n\n"In other news. 34 people were injured when a packed commuter train derailed near the city of Birmingham in The United Kingdom. Local transit officials have said/stated that the accident was through the fault of the train's rail-road engineer. However, an independent safety inspector believes that recent maintenance work may have been haphazard. We'll have more on the story as it develops." 1355285245 Well, YouTube is not the skeptical community, and i agree with a post elsewhere in this thread that the distinction needs to be made. I agree that the authors and readers of Skepchick are very loud and forceful, but i do not see them exhibiting anything like dogmatism — especially compared to Thunderf00t — and [their comment policy](http://skepchick.org/about-2/commenter-code-of-conduct/) gives anyone experiencing harassment in their threads a recourse for it.\n\nAs to whether their complaints have merit, by accusing them of harassment you appear to agree that harassment within the skeptical community is a problem. I've only seen reasoned discussions of it coming from the likes of Watson, [Benson](http://freethoughtblogs.com/butterfliesandwheels/2012/06/a-tedious-correction/), and others close to Skepchick and FtB, so i was asking you in hopes of balancing that out. I'm not demanding evidence that it occurs. What i do seriously doubt is that the discussions going on about harassment at Skepchick and FtB are in any way contributing to the problem. You seem to disagree, so i welcome your reasons. Where have they been dogmatic, for example, since it seems clear to you that they are? 1341623653 Thing is anyone can be wrong or make honest mistakes, what matters is admitting those mistakes. And this should have no effect on any previous good things you might have done. We have the idea that one wrong step invalidates your entire life.\n\nI think that a very important thing about being a scientist and a skeptic (and I also don't see how a scientist couldn't be a skeptic) is knowing that you're fallible and prone to error. 1261639843 You seem to be trying to word around the issue, but unconvincingly. 1331883015 Some people just have a stronger sense of empathy than others... I understand exactly where you're coming from when you say there's a threshold of ignorance where you find it easy to not care; some people's threshold is just much higher. I sometimes wonder why other people don't care more about certain things, but I don't think it makes you a bad person to not agree with me on how much one should care.\n\nI personally am very conflicted about these people, because on one hand they're idiots... it's hard to deny that; on the other they're people, mostly just like you and me, who (on a basic human level) think and feel just as we do... I see aspects of other people I've known through out my life, who I wouldn't want to see harmed or distressed (even though they're misguided), and therefore my concern extends to them on that basis. 1306109518 Upvote -> worry wrinkles >.< 1351640096 I think the first page really says it all. I was really surprised at how another 10 pages were required.\n\nBut yes, this is the kind of wanking that's supposed to belong in /r/atheism. 1295320368 My classmates whose lives have been crushed as a result of their devotion to TM is exactly why I'm so hostile. 1332882954 Nothing gives me a surge of optimism like reading an article by someone who's investigated a complex issue thoroughly and revised their opinion according to the balance of the evidence. \n\n*Evidence does sometimes convince people.* 1302033311 lol, you guys are fanatics...have fun circle jerking this 1318669740 I am! 1344014919 theres a dude in r/paranormal talking about an alien he saw a few days ago . genuinenly scared.\n\nedit- It was in LA as well 1352097539 I was taught these are "familiar spirits" much like the comment above about gaining trust. The way I understood it was these spirits or demons actually mimic close relatives to gain trust. food for thought. 1345641605 Been to virginia city nevada....HOLY CRAP. the washoe bars crypt creeped me the fuck out. 1316011909 *Lanolin??* Like sheep's wool? 1303292401 God I dunno what to believe with this fucking thing. While I think they're playing it up pretty intensely for monetary gain, I still think this might be something important or at least interesting. \n\n I mean don't these guys have some semblance of a reputation to uphold? If they say something like "in my 20 years of diving, over 6000 dives, this is the most interesting bla bla", could it really just be a smooth rock or something just retarted to misidentify (especially for a goddamn treasure hunter)? \n\nAnd I just wish they had actually got a decent view and scale of size for their damn pictures, it could be a gigantic turd in a bath tub from what they showed. 1339789631 I'm an atheist as well and I have some level of belief in ghosts. If you even mention ghosts over there you get downvoted into oblivion. Just remember, seeing a ghost is not a representation of whether there is a god or not. People over there seem to forget that. 1350800653 I think it is CGI, Thanks for posting anyways. 1330331759 I know what he's talking about. 1322429723 Hence the "almost." It is possible for a delusional person to trust those around them more than their own perception, but the disease also isolates the sufferer. Since this guy still has at least one friend, it's worth a shot. 1318098396 I'm sorry, but what exactly are you saying is implausable? That a plane could fall out of the sky? The a plane 5000 feet in the air would take 17 seconds to fall down to the Earth? 1326995739 I ramble a lot too, no problem. I've been thinking of it, I even started writing some sort of a book, but I quit as it would never have an ending, and if I wrote only about sightings it wouldn't be a long read.\n\nBe sure to check /r/UFOs a bit later, as I'll be posting a new report from my friend with a video. 1352318895 Yes, indeed you are. I should be yet clearer before I get up because this is pointless, AA would have you still regard yourself a drunk. 1321717846 Yes, I did look at it (although after posting the comment) but decided to leave the comment up because 1) What's done is done, and 2) because you can read it either as opposing or enforcing comment and if you read it seriously then it's a hint about the content of the link for those people (like me) who open the comments section first before looking at the posted content. 1341209756 Am I gonna die? 1318898475 At least it's ironically named... or are they serious? 1353970959 http://whywontgodhealamputees.com/\n\nWhole website devoted to answering this. 1324905051 this looks to me like a possibly phased moon and the big dipper at night filmed with the handheld camera largely out of focus. the point sources expand into spheres like bokeh. we see a phasing in and out of the points as an unlit cloud layer of varying transparencies floats by and between. the white light at the bottom looks like it's in the near field. 1352864925 I hope that people will take a look at some of your research and make their own opinions. \n\nThanks for sharing. 1316800117 Question - August has 7 hrs of night (approx)...how many people do you think it would take to construct the above formation (1500ft in diameter - 400 circles) in 7 hours. Roughly? 1333739200 As usual no science, only bullshit. 1350703739 Ok, here is a horror story for you. I have a cousin who suffered seizures in her younger years because her mother's milk lacked an enzyme from a prescription drug her mother took, unknown until her case. She has the mental function of a ten year old and is about forty now. This is a gain from being at a seven year old level in her teens.\n\nDosing the sole source of nutrients for your child is risky business. 1337015189 Ha, funny story.\n\nI share an office with three other people, one of whom is really reclusive. We spend a lot of time in that office, and we see him once a month tops. "I want to believe in our other officemate" had become something of a running gag, so we put that poster over his desk. 1336448427 I don't understand what you mean, and I'm not sure if it's because of your grammar or because it is nonsensical.\n\nWhat I'm saying is that it is a waste of everyone's time for you to submit articles that aren't properly cited for that reason alone. There are millions of such articles. If you have a problem with the claims being made, explain why they are wrong. Nobody cares about improper citations without some larger point - such as the facts being incorrect - being stated as well. The internet is not a scholarly journal. 1354480611 Sounds like my -ex! I think the craziest thing she got into was voodoo. She actively tried to spend money to punish me for not liking her antics. 1336240042 Too proud to accept help? pffft. The universe needs benevolent helpers because not all planets are bound to progress to interstellar travel without violence. I would not be above accepting a helping or guiding hand. They don't need to supply us with technology, what I would expect is them to share with us the mistakes other species have made and let us learn from them. 1344706204 Your co-worker is an idiot, and here's why:\n\nWhich is more likely? A global conspiracy comprised of hundreds of thousands of individuals of different backgrounds and religious convictions that has *not a single scrap of evidence* to support it - **or** - that they're all following the same scientific method and the conclusions they reach (based entirely on the *abundant* evidence) happen to align against religious history?\n\nApproach it a different way if you need to: did we know more about the world two thousand years ago than we do now? Of course we didn't. Follow that line to its conclusion: religions were attempts to explain the world that spawned from our ignorance. Science is what has been removing our ignorance, slowly but surely. 1347244630 There are people who disbelieve just because they think the religion sounds stupid. That doesn't make them skeptics. It doesn't even make them rationally justified. There are also people who were born and raised atheist. They don't have to question anything to be atheists. 1354257045 "This thing is pretty top secret, do you think we should cover it up?"\n\n"Are you kidding me? Have you seen the price of tarpaulin lately?" 1339701539 Google says nothing... I have no clue where she'd get an idea like that. Make her prove it. The next time she gets a mosquito bite, take a laser pointer and hold the bite in a place she can't see it. Ask her to tell you when you have the laser on. Don't turn on the laser. Try something similar and come up with a way to do it WITH the laser. Like, without her knowledge you're doing it. Say, "Hey, your bite still itch?" When she says 'Yeah, a bit." tell her, "That's odd. Cause I've been shooting this laser at it for the last 5 minutes." 1309892920 >The only interest I have in this conversation is calling you out...\n\nDude, I strongly dislike tv and the entire commercialisation of it. I hate the non-education, the fearmongering and propaganda. I hate it showing what is right and what is wrong, what is beauty and what is to be laughed at. What you need to buy. What you need to think and when you need to think that.\n\nThere is hardly any science and logic involved. Everything is designed to make you watch through the commercials. In TV-business there is a thing called "content" and "filler". Content is the name for the commercials and filler is the name for the shows in between. And no, I didn't mix that up. That's simply they way TV works. Discovery channel included, everything is now 'a camera following guys doing something entertaining'. \n\nStop watching tv is the best advice someone can ever give to a fellow human being. Go read a book. Or if you want to learn about the paranormal, go on the internet and actually read some research. \n\nIf you think that watching ghost lab and the 'funny guys' is going to help you in your life, getting a better understanding of the world and make you happier, you are wrong. Plain and fucking simple. Let's not call it arrogant, let's call it advice.\n 1324326886 [m.xkcd.com](http://m.xkcd.com) 1342274760 I have seen some terrestrial explanations of cattle mutilations. Those same explanations would seem to be applicable here. See for example: http://www.skepdic.com/cattle.html.\n\nRelevant quote:\n>Naturalistic explanations in terms of diseases and predators (skunks, buzzards, weasels, etc.), insects (such as blowflies and maggots), or birds are to no avail, even though the most thorough examination of so-called cattle mutilations concluded there was nothing mysterious that needed explaining (Rommel 1980). It is useless to note that insects and animals often devour the vulnerable mucous membranes and the softer parts of dead animals such as the genitalia, instead of trying to burrow through the cowhide. It is pointless to note that incisions to a carcass by the teeth of predators or scavengers often resemble knife cuts. It is pointless to note that bloating often leads to skin splitting in straight lines resembling incision and exposing internal organs. It is of no use to point out that there is little or no blood oozing from the wounds because blood settles, the heart does not pump when an animal is dead, and insects devour the blood that does spill out. And it is certainly pointless to describe the experiment done by the Washington County (Arkansas) Sheriff's Department. They placed a dead cow in a field and had observers watch what happened over the next 48 hours. When they reported that bloating led to incision-like tears in the skin and that blowflies and maggots had cleaned out the soft tissue so that the carcass looked exactly like those that had been attributed to aliens or satanic cultists, they were generally ignored by the community of true believers.\n\nI would at least like to see some studies ruling out these possibilities before I accept less probable ones. The body certainly doesn't look fresh and I didn't see information about how long he was missing before being found. A lot of the missing parts seem to be things that scavengers find to be particularly tasty - soft tissue.\n\n 1312558539 May be stupid but what do you mean by real time? 1327334580 It's probably more intelligent than California voters. 1288860606 "Our violent shoot first, ask questions later attitude."\n\n 1334713367 Love how she keeps referencing Stephen Hawkings. Stephen Hawking is largely absent. 1335532915 This was great, There's also new swirled order i believe it was on netflix 1354720077 I would like to see someone do some more exploration of the concepts of [Thermoeconomics](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermoeconomics) in regards to currency. I first noticed this idea while reading Red Mars by KSM. It has been bubbling in mind unrelentingly since the crash. 1312521521 http://archive.org/details/PenetrationTheQuestionOfExtraterrestrialAndHumanTelepathy\n\n 1346881085 There are some metaphysical stores that have already dried sage in a bundle and it is called a smudge stick. very easy to find if looking in the right spot. The idea is that burning sage while thinking good thoughts will cleanse the space of unwanted energy and then sprinkle a line of salt in the window sill and door way to keep bad energy from coming back. Old school protection right there. Smudging is something that you can do daily or just as needed. When ever you feel energy present that you don't want present you can burn and think positive. If the sage is not available then just imagine your house in a big bubble of light and ask all energy that isn't good to leave the bubble. Sounds hokey but don't worry about right or wrong just believe in it and it will work. You are working with something that is in the dream world and so are your thoughts. Ergo everything in your thoughts directly effects the invisible. 1326153829 AS AN HONEST BANKER, I AM UPSET BY THOSE BASELESS ACCUSATIONS. I AM MOST CERTAINLY NOT RIGHTING LOUSY EMAILS. 1340313918 And all this time I thought....damn o_0 1344539745 "Laser Therapy has roots in the ancient acupuncture techniques using a cold, non-invasive laser to balance the energy flow between acupuncture points on the ears, nose and hands."\n\nIt's just acupuncture, only with lasers. So any research you can find to debunk acupuncture will work for this I imagine. It doesn't say anything about the power of the lasers used though. But I bet you could use a cat toy laser and achieve the same results.\n\nEdit: Found this from reddit. A study that shows that [acupuncture is equally as effective as placebo](http://www.reddit.com/r/skeptic/comments/gql4i/new_drug_as_effective_as_placebo_just_kidding_its/). 1302881718 There are a few, In deadwood there is The Bullock Hotel, The Alex Johnson Hotel in Rapid City. A really good one which I have experienced my self is Dark Canyon which is to the west of Rapid. In the 1971 flood a whole neigborhood of people drowned; you go through at night and many people have reported strange sounds and lights. Hope I helped 1319777651 I've actually gotten plenty of deja vu but only for small stuff like what i was doing that day. The thing that i only really remember preventing was a fight between me and a irritating kid. I normally dream it first though. 1343936854 She responded so kindly to you. Not that you were be degrading; you explained it quite well. \n\nGood post. A+++. Would read again. 1310674252 Once this gets sorted, do an IAmA: Survivor thanks to Reddit. 1356893725 > Totally legit, I can tell because if there is alien life out there it would be JUST Like the movies.\n\nWhat movies in particular are you thinking of? \n\nThe linked video shows something that doesn't look like Klaatu, a Klingon, a Hutt from Tatooine, a giant black monolith, the little green men from Mars Attacks!, or ET himself. It does sort of look like it could be from the X-Files, though. 1303250044 The statement "prove a negative" is meaningless because it is ambiguous. What is "a negative?" What is not "a negative?" 1283283681 What do loud noises have to do with emotions? 1246664077 A tax system can be in place where our money is not taxed. The problem now is that our money is loaned to us at interest, which amounts to a hidden tax. On top of that hidden tax are income taxes and sales tax and every other kind of tax. 1312484053 Well, not *all* their arguments.\n\nThe main reason I try to buy organic is to reduce the amount of herbicides and pesticides (particularly petro-chemical based ones) introduced into the environment. I buy into co-ops because the farmers I know are good about rotating their crops and growing things seasonally and regionally appropriate, so as to reduce water needs and fertilizer needs. Modern conventional farming is a thing of wonder, it really is, given the kinds of yields we're getting, but the damage downstream is pretty alarming. It's not long-term sustainable, either. \n\nBuying organic (or local) for environmental reasons gets a little complicated, though, since even organic farms can be practicing non-environmentally sound methods of farming, from wasting water to fertilizers entering the water table, and so on and so forth. The label's not enough to really know if you're buying what you hope you're buying. Still, there are certain benefits to buying organic that *is* actually responsibly farmed organic, but good luck finding it. 1333067713 ehh...don't know about this one. 1334864141 If you are simply refuting the charge that the upward trend in temperatures is entirely due to human activity, then we are all in agreement here.\n\nIf, on the other hand, you are disagreeing with the idea that humans could be helping with global warming, based on the fact that warming happened in the past without the help of humans, then you are committing the fallacy that the submitter pointed out. 1269551508 Fox News is seriously terrible, but that image is actually brought to you by the Photoshop News Network. 1332764483 Yeah, I was taken in by this for a while in college before I realized that maybe this guy is being bought by the tobacco industry. For about a year, all he ever put on his web site was bogus studies claiming that second hand smoke is harmless. 1328918710 It deconstructs the myth that taking these remedies is just a bit of extra precaution. If you explain the lack of evidence for these cures, most people will say that you might be wrong, but there's no harm in taking them. This shows that to be false. 1351614151 Chupacabra! goat sucking bastard. 1291964436 you've only used 1% of your 1tb hard drive, so i might as well delete all your files.\n\nSteve and Amy live in different countries, there is a big gap between them, therefore they are mostly Gap. Therefore they do not exist. 1351837009 What I find touching is the absolute conviction of its adherents that they know what happened and everybody else--including and especially those who have studied the era--are dead wrong or that they know the secret and are covering it up. Shakespeare conspirators are sometimes quite clever--some of their theories would put the Illuminati conspiracies to shame--but once you get into their theories you realize they really aren't that bright. What I find poignant is the sheer waste of human life by the true believers. In the early 20th century a [doctor](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orville_Ward_Owen) spent his entire fortune trying to prove that Francis Bacon was the true author, and he realized too late what a fool he had been, warning others on his death bed not to throw away their lives and fortunes as he had done. Of course they didn't listen, because not listening is really the only thing they're good at.\n\nAs far as Emmerich goes, he's only doing what movie directors do: providing entertainment and promoting his film. As P.T. Barnum said, there's a sucker born every minute, but now in the time of the internet there are literally thousands born every minute. 1302358128 There's really only one correct answer:\n\nMaybe. 1258723364 Penn has since then said [he doesn't know enough](http://articles.latimes.com/2008/jul/03/opinion/oe-jillette3) about Climate Change to say whether or not he believes in it.\n\nI think he shares the Libertarians' disconnect when it comes that that topic; Libertarianism has severe problems in dealing with such an issue, which seems to lead many Libertarians to deny AGW rather than admit the limits of their political philosophy.\n\n**Edited** for clarity and added linkage 1342827322 Chosing to believe in magical thinking over facts, makes one dumb in my book 1331502663 Wrong subreddit, dude. /r/fifthworldproblems/ is over there. 1351701693 astral projection is very real. It's different than lucid dreaming. Look up a few different methods. My cousin astral projected the first night after I told him about it. He was able to see me in my room and described what I was doing and other things in my room despite never having been in there. \n\n I tried and made it to the vibration state and it freaked me out the vibrations were so strong so I stopped, but I later found out that I was very close to projecting. 1352494796 >At the same time, many who self-identify as Christian hold beliefs that some churches would consider to be incompatible with traditional Christian teaching, such as astrology and reincarnation (27% in each case), ghosts (36%) and fate (64%).\n\nIt's bizarre to me how many Christians believe this nonsense, I knew a girl who identified as Catholic who was heavily into numerology, another practise that the church frowns on. She also didn't accept evolution because she thought that the Catholic church was opposed to it, which seems to be common with Catholics, that they don't even know what their own leaders have said about things like evolution and the big bang. 1329229931 The alternative power companies are not "set". They require massive subsidies to operate, without AGW those subsidies would have no basis.\n\nIf Al Gore could do something else, he would. Climate Change is a big money maker for him.\n\nFirst you say there are more people trying to disprove AGW than there are trying to prove it, but then in the next sentence you say there is a scientific consensus that it is real. Both of those things cannot be true. Where are the numbers we can look at? I know how big the IPCC is (multi-million dollar pro-AGW), and how big some of the thinks tanks that deny AGW are. They are about the same size.\n\nI am not surprised that dissent is supported by oil companies, nor am I surprised that the people that believe in AGW have vested interests in their side winning as well. Entire organizations would disappear if AGW did not "exist".\n\nI am still on the fence, just watching how both sides react to each other. Neither side deserves much respect on this one. 1331485260 This exactly. I searched around for a while when it was first brought into my store as I didn't believe any of the hype; it's scary how many people take Oz's word for that of a personal physician. 1353051712 I hope you don't own a dog or cat because by definition they are GMOs. Also, don't eat wheat grown in the US. Please don't use penicillin or any opiates, because they have been altered over time. Hope you don't eat beef, pork, or poultry even if it says organic its not 100% unaltered. I'd love to go on but that tasty apple won't eat itself. 1330126456 Well when I said that its killing her slowly, I meant really slow. As long as she keeps taking her meds she could live a normal life span, its just the side effects of the meds that are starting to wear her down. 1346716959 What is it? Just skimming the site, it looks like a charity vehicle. 1346432093 I think maybe he's questioning the legitimacy of the request for donations? OP have you checked any of the Disclosure Project websites for links and connections to this project? 1335591395 Do you have any examples? I never watch his show. 1339097123 I'm about to show the world that I can fly, AMA. 1355324839 I have worked rituals similar to this, using the sigils revised by Crowley and a Satanic invocation in place of the mumbo-jumbo hebrew shit. Works like a charm if you change everything about it. 1351405035 Not with fans. Keeping a consistent temperature with air conditioning is more efficient than warming up/cooling down all the time, but not with fans. 1312854101 Oh man... sick burn. 1336611320 There is no such thing as a generalized black race. Thats what you're missing. Think of a haitian, or an egytptian, or someone from madagascar. A south african. A jamaican. Distinct, isolated, populations. These are isolated populations, the only factor they share is a skin pigment; and yet we group them into a single category. \n\nThe studies you provided didn't show much of anything. Their genetic material was either unavailable or provided through a different source, they failed to compensate for socio-economic factors; their entire hypothesis is an interpretation of raw data, interpreted by an Engineer no less. \n\n 1345208362 This article (and the poster) is why the spam button exists. Clicking with extreme prejudice. 1329355503 Whole wheat is not "bad" for you. It has important nutrients and can be part of a healthful diet. I don't get the anti-wheat trend that is currently gaining traction. 1329669242 yeah I did. That was Joe the special effects guy, right?\n 1345089068 >aw fuck I typed out a long ass reponse and it was lost.\n\nI'm sorry to hear that. (Also, I just did the exact same thing >_<)\n\n>Short story is that I used to love /r/skeptic when it has orignial research and intersting articles. This post is neither.\n\nYou're making the unfounded assumption it's supposed to be either. It's a _comic_. Aren't skeptics allowed to laugh unless they first present the sources behind the claim of the mechanism of human laughter?\n\n>Furthermore in response to your comment I believe that the person making claims must provide the evidence [...]\n\nThat's fine, if a specific claim is actually being made. It's a _comic_. Lighten up, chill out, relax. Not everything has to be deadly serious in /r/skeptic.\n\n>[...] but thanks for the ad homin.\n\nIt's _ad hominem_, and it wasn't. My question was quite relevant considering _your_ baseless, unverified and un-sourced claim that it was just "meaningless propaganda". I repeat, _it's a comic_. 1296547468 If you think probes and alien spacecraft are visiting Earth - explain how no telescopes have picked them up??? If we were being visited by probes and UFO's, all sorts of telescopes would be seeing stars moving around the skies in odd trajectories and at seemingly impossible speeds...\n\nBut, that's never happened. Yet, we do full sky observations all the time...\n\n> im just going to go ahead and ignore how you assigned alien lifeforms human life spans (roughly 60 years).\n\nAnd, you aren't even understanding my point... I mentioned roughly 60 years, not because that's a human life span (human life spans are ~80 years), but because that's how long we've been sending signals into space. 1348383508 Wrong! God moves the sun and moon into place each morning and evening! Time zones are an illusion proported by pseduo scientists! 1330025268 Well yes, but let´s not forget that we are in the goldilocks zone (not to hot, not to cold) we´d be pretty much screwed íf we were to leave that zone. 1344635599 I see so if it only works out in some cases then people are stupid for even considering it. 1347043830 Yes, thank you for that. 1268980683 Yes! Exactly, it only happens on things I think about then drop instantly, if I was to think about it more in depth it doesn't happen, same with when I think oh now I know it will happen because I am a psychic, It just happens when I won't expect it too. 1337628372 I was wondering this as well. 1337519580 [That's not quite what happened here, though.](http://www.reddit.com/r/skeptic/comments/p7990/my_heart_sinks_when_i_hear_people_rely_on/c3n5860)\n\nMr. Troll is a bit of liar, it turns out. He clearly advocated hemp oil as a cure for cancer and refused to provide anything of substance to back it up. Now he claims *he's* the victim.\n\nAlso, this is the second time he's posted the same 'pseudo/fake skeptic' thread this week. 1328447781 The awful hoaxes are on the first page of the top posts? They are removed on youtube, not here. 1352982190 guest speaker in the film The Secret.\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Arthur_Ray 1308859967 I'm gonna re-watch the episode today, but as I remember, they also pointed out that tai chi is based around unquantifiable 'energy' and that some 'grand displays' like board/brick breaking are merely physics tricks and maybe some other things. 1321629489 except less racist and incoherent 1310870498 OP must be from the Baltic Sea UFO team. It'll be posted only after a week. 1339292608 You're right of course ... I will definitely get around to it ... I don't own a scanner ... 1346762346 Great. SAY THAT instead of just downvoting him or he'll never get your point. And go ahead and tell me if I'm full of shit; I can handle it. I reserve the right to be wrong occasionally. 1352498929 Very awesome story. Have you thought about reporting this to MUFON? If not you should absolutely do so! 1345142270 >The second assumption is that ice albedo and water vapor are the only climate feedbacks, ignoring the fact that warmer oceans are likely to outgas more CO2, and that melting permafrost is likely to release large quantities of CH4.\n\nSince the oceans are a net sink of CO2, I think you mean that they will absorb less, not outgas more, right? I don't disagree that melting permafrost will release CH4. Should temperatures get high enough, this would certainly occur.\n\nSpeaking of high temperatures, if we assume that ECS is 3X, and we assume that an increase of temps of 1 degree due to CO2 will cause these effects, I assume that you feel all of that CH4 from the permafrost melted 120K years ago during the higher temps of the last climactic optimum? I guess it was only captured again with the onset of the ice? I'm unclear of the science there. I didn't know all of the permafrost is less than 120K year old. 1356202008 Wood and coal have not been cornerstones of the food supply. In the us we demolished our top soil and broke the healthy pooping animals fertilizer loop for the first time this century. This is an unprecedented situation where out food-energy is coming completely non-renewals blue resource. 1355659837 It's nothing. Nothing to see here people. Move along. 1335622656 re.dick.u.lous 1330279375 Listen to this guy, he's studied branding. 1333270850 Is there a playlist for this? 1328080707 this is true. 1314151725 I have a PhD in horribleness. 1308360523 what a coinkidinky 1336856856 Maybe there are differences in actual measurements there, but I'm not seeing the "wide eyes" and "wide forehead" business they're talking about with my naked eye. They all look like normal kids to me. 1334025325 > There are chiropractors who are not quacks\n\nThen they would probably call themselves physical therapists. Although regulations have improved over the years, chiropractic is still largely based on pseudoscience and is still considered alternative medicine.\n 1336160582 Are you **seriously** asking me to "demonstrate" that lying to people about medical advice causes harm? That's exactly what he's doing here: claiming that something with no demonstrable risk is dangerous. That is lying.\n\nYou're in /r/skeptic, so put on your skeptic's glasses. He's claiming that parabens cause cancer, but the bulk of scientific research belies that claim. If I say that paper causes cancer, which one of us bears the burden of proof: me, or you? 1348906994 By the way, you had excellent grammar, just missed capitalizing some. 1326435749 one main issue, i would tell you to look at all the arguments against me right now. most of them involve floors falling and causing a continuous growing mass of floors that "snowballs" or pancakes all the way down.\n\nbesides the fact that NIST/FEMA the official investigations, dont support the pancake theory, all these peoples arguments fail to realize there are VERTICAL columns that would go un-effected by the collapsing floors. \n\nthe main reason NIST/FEMA don't support the pancaking theory is this reason... the inner core columns would have still been standing hundreds of feet in the air. the building was designed to have slabs/floors hanging on the innter core columns, and outer smaller columns acting like a "screen door" mesh all the way around the perimeter. the progressive collapse of floor slabs can not account for the destruction of the large inner core columns. \n\nbut everyone continues to ignore these flaws, and continue to push their pancake theory. and any comment ive made that goes against it, even if it was a fact such as NIST's standing on that theory, i get downvoted because it threatens them. 1332524363 ever since my first lucid dream, ive not been able to stop. its become an addiction. im on year 3. im convinced that the afterlife is an endless lucid dream. in this way all religions could be correct.. for what you think will happen, happens. example: if you believe youre going to see pearly gates and clouds... then that will be your afterlife. if youre convinced that youve done wrong and wrongdoers go to a firey hell.. then you create that hell. im going with the lucid route. creating whatever i want, whenever i want. figure out how to lucid dream if you havent already. for if im right, the ones who dont understand it are destined to be oblivious. 1326818740 interesting, doesn't validate anything though =/ 1354060474 This. If it's complicated you're doing it wrong. Learn to cook, know what you're eating, and do things. \n\nWanna know who does all the "diets" with fancy names and instructions? Fat people. 1330170353 Better still, repeat the experiment three times - one with religious/superstitious people, one with skeptics, and one mixed, so you can properly differentiate general superstitiousness from the degree to which we're influenced by people around us.\n\nI'd *guess* that the religious group would get more scared than the mixed group and the mixed group more than the skeptical group (due to the "mass hysteria" effect where people freaking out around you tends to freak you out more), but it would be a fascinating experiment to do... 1298235828 How do you know this is an underwater civilization? We have a few photos. Not much else. 1327378889 I've realized that "Why *(some weird little thing that you notice)*" is always the best question to ask when you're trying to figure out a magic trick or a scam. 1310605268 It's kinda like when you're laying in bed trying to fall asleep and you swear you hear a radio station or something, but can't quite make it out. It's your ears picking up white noise and your brain trying to make logical sense of what you're hearing. \n\nThat or you have a ghost following you around everywhere you go. 1332872245 You should at least apply skepticism to be a member. Are you saying climate change is a matter of opinion? 1349610191 The pediatrician's brother (Dr. Sears) is into alternative vaccine schedule/anti-vaccine group of quacks. I've heard "The Doctors" have had him on. 1302725586 Wow, Kelinb100. I really really like everything you have to say, and I am so glad to hear your refreshing point of view about atheists and theists coexisting peacefully. I myself am a Cafeteria Catholic but the attitude of many atheists on Reddit make me incredibly uncomfortable and angry. So much constant hating on others instead of focusing on one's own beliefs (or non-beliefs, or however one would put it) instead. I just really appreciate your voice around here. I remember you from before, and I don't often take notice of who I am talking to or reading from. You have definitely left a good impression on me, and I want you to know that i appreciate it. 1279951694 If the question was "why do you trust the bible", answering "because God says it's true - it's right there in the bible" would be begging the question. It's circular reasoning.\n\n"Have you stopped beating your wife yet?" is a loaded question. Regardless of whether you answer yes or no, the question still establishes that you were beating your wife. There's nothing circular about this at all so that's one big difference. 1273911803 Yep. It's not the panacea people make it out to be. 1309367349 Dude, that's the sound of a fucking helicopter, hovering in one place. Why the fuck are you wasting our time with this horseshit? 1318607168 somethingsomething measurements of the geometry of spacetime down to ? decimal places somethingsomething\n\nThat's what I have gathered in /r/askscience. And that these findings are recent (last 10 years). The findings are that spacetime seems to be flat. It's not conclusive, because the very small number found might still mean that spacetime is *not* flat. I didn't memorize the details so that I could point there or name them properly, but I am pretty sure that I didn't read some bad-weather-comments of /askscience but rather proper stuff.\n\nEDIT: Google'd something.\n\nhttp://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/nnjtj/is_it_possible_the_universe_has_a_finite_size/\n\nhttp://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/maafg/is_the_universe_infinite_in_size_if_not_whats/ 1333374617 I grew up with what I now know as a "shadow person". Siblings and I all seem to recall a woman-like shadow that existed in the corner of our vision near the hallway back at our childhood house. 1332399168 Blinking lights are aircraft. I doubt that an alien would attach a super bright strobe light to their craft and only fly in a sub-sonic straight path. This is only 50 miles from Whiteman Air Force Base, home of the B-2 bomber and other unusual air craft. 1338398808 HA! no, usually some small cc bike in an Asian country. 1328135272 Probably a combination of superstition and tradition. "We've always done it this way!" 1344306427 Pretty much this. My big thing is these people come on and try to convince us they care about us. My reaction is well then why the fuck not clean house on all the corruption in our world's governments. Or maybe hack tv signals and at least expose the truth. Otherwise this world will never change on "our own accord". The powers that be are literally wrapped up in everything at this point and it's impossible to change people's minds when they are indoctrinated.\n\ntl;dr - Scumbag Aliens, says they are here to help us achieve peace and abundance. Actually don't do shit. 1348014993 My recent exposure to so-called 'alternative medicine' has lead me to the conclusion that while it's easy for people to believe in 'woo' for a variety of reasons, the primary motivator for such beliefs is a fear of death. Would you say this is true in your own personal experience or based on your own knowledge of occult and religious belief systems? 1309163202 Was just looking up some quack called Dr David Carpenter who was talking about chemical sensitivity and electromagnetic sensitivity, and also saw his name associated with this Kangen water thing, though I'm not sure if it's the same guy or another quack with the same name. The guy I looked up is based at Albany University, came across him in this article which someone submitted. http://www.theage.com.au/national/hidden-risks-of-lurking-chemicals-20111129-1o54p.html 1322653782 I did also but that was after skipping ahead at the 20 second mark. 1305535448 I am with you on that. If it is real then, "yes", it is some of the best footage ever to reach the public domain. 1345500392 Actually that sounds like a BLEVE (Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion). Check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sl-JgyQA7u0 1352663546 You realize *anything* can kill you at high enough dosage right ?\n\nIt's like saying you don't want eat food because some guy died from obesity at 35. 1319317073 Now now, let's not be reactionary based on actual terms that are foreign to you. 1296077207 UFOs have a reputation for being very difficult to study due to their unpredictability and transience. So it's amazing to see something like this: real observations, real measurements being taken by proper scientific investigation. \n\nI really don't know what to make of this. Nothing has been proved conclusively, and these investigations raise a lot more questions than they answer. And that's a good thing, really; it means there's more to this than meets even the most skeptical eye. Even if it turns out to be a really unusual earthly phenomenon, that'll still be damn interesting. \n\nI really hope this phenomenon continues to be studied. 1339654810 > Speaker Pelosi\n\nThat's up-to-date. 1311533119 James Randi exposed something similar to this that televangelists were doing in the 80's. He dressed as an old woman and went to a televangelist for a faith healing. The faith healers handlers were talking with audience members before the show and then passing the information along to the faith healer as he was on stage through his "hearing aid" which was actually a radio receiver. R Lee Ermey also did this in Fletch.\n\nBut its more likely she was a plant.\n\nedit: [here's the story, faith healer was Peter Popoff](http://www.rationalresponders.com/james_randi_exposes_uri_geller_and_peter_popoff) 1329929484 Indeed it is! 1356503565 the original statement that I responded to was false. this is r/skeptic we should not be supportive of false statements.\n\n> That a totally free market is an ideal situation and will regulate itself\n\nit is not ideal nor self regulating, but as to which is best I make no judgment. It may well be the closest to ideal and closest to self regulating but that is not what was said.\n\n I got sucked into other things that belong in r/politics not here... \n\n\n\n\n 1315424988 Christian revisionist is a subset of liars, all christian revisionists are liars, but not all liars are christian revisionists. The term is distinct from simply 'liars'. 1344615343 interesting. but do you think there may be a chance you have a twin sibling that you have not met? 1353915229 Even ignoring any confusion over types of compression, this posting is full of non-sequiturs and logical inconstistencies. He spends his time explaining why current recordings are "compromised" on *any* format (specifically mentioning CD and FLAC in the same breath), then concludes that FLAC is worse than CD without any explanation of how the one is relevant to the other. 1349792963 Did you read the article? Towards the end, there is a story about an infant who died because nobody in the geographic area was vaccinated against pertussis (whooping cough). 1325182579 Exactly. The 50% would necessarily be simplistic because sexuality, like gender, isn't strictly binary. And it is difficult to code for that in a meaningful way for studies, and so numbers like this always have to be taken as interesting but simplified and rarely definitive.\n\nHowever, assuming that these numbers are accurate, and assuming that the same metric was used for M-to-F and F-to-M individuals, it is interesting to consider why there could be a significant difference how the two groups identify their sexual preference. 1323382945 False advertising. They're making medical claims, the FDA doesn't like that. 1293752026 Yeah, it's called a fasces. It's NOT the symbol for Fascism. It was first used during the Roman Empire as a symbol of Rome of and the power it held over its own destiny and, ultimately, over life and death. \n\n[edit]Clarification: Yes, it IS the symbol for fascism, but only in that the Italian fascist movement co-opted it for its own purposes, not because it was originally designed that way. It's not like congress looked at the fasces and thought 'hey. totalitarianism. that's pretty cool. let's put it on our buidlings.'\n\nTo think so is another example of people not understanding what a symbol is. A fasces carried meaning long before the idea of fascism, and is currently used in seats of authority because it represents... you guessed it. Authority.\n\nI watched excerpts of his video, but his arguments suffer from the same problem. They are UNFALSIFIABLE, and contain an INTERNAL LOGICAL CONSISTENCY. What he spouts is conjencture, tangentially related to the evidence he purports to have, based on faulty reasoning and a poor grasp of symbolism, architecture, and human nature.\n\ni.e. Jordan Maxwell is just another von Daniken, just another David Icke, just another George Noory. 1316214613 Criminally underrated comment. 1343245035 It's awful how many universities seem to offer courses in "traditional medicine", and how that is viewed as actually being acceptable. I don't think any university would try offering courses in "traditional astronomy" or "traditional chemistry".\n\nWhy is it though that with medicine people seem to think that tradition is a valid reason to think it's efficacious? 1314289919 I'm surprised that no one seems to have yet mentioned a basic understanding of [bias](http://pss.sagepub.com/content/early/2011/10/17/0956797611417632.abstract), [self-deception](http://www.skepdic.com/selfdeception.html), and [magic](http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/03/opinion-randi-magic-scientists/) — which don't just reduce to statistics and psychology, but involve a subtle, alert way of thinking that doesn't come naturally. A familiarity with the most common ways we trick ourselves or are tricked by others into believing things that are clearly false is both instructive (for a burgeoning skeptic) and illustrative (for discussing more complicated topics). We can't shed or suppress our bias, but we can account and correct for it; that's arguably most (or all) of what skepticism is about. 1336963922 Actually, I think it's interesting to note that even having an infinite number of possibilities doesn't mean that every conceivable possibility exists. There could be infinite other universes, and yet none of them need include you getting hit by a plane. 1326757111 ahhhh, that makes all kinds of sense! any idea what the nature of the foam is chemically speaking? 1346021031 Well you know what they say: a fool and his money are soon parted! 1327556056 I'm quite firm in my skepticism. But part of being a skeptic is also being open minded. Hurting people's feelings and calling them liars to their faces without even seeing it for oneself doesn't accomplish anything. 1308267428 Gee, those pics don't look photoshopped at all... 1331753588 I get *vomitously, vein-poppingly* angry at people who lack the intelligence to realise that Area 51 is *not* a secret facility.\n\nYOU KNOW WHAT IT'S CALLED!! IT'S ON GOOGLE EARTH!! HOW CAN IT BE A SECRET!??!! 1270812865 Bold statement, antibodies that last 6 years does not mean permanent. Also antibodies are not the only determinant of long lasting immunity, especially in the case of a viral infection. 1327899538 You ignored practically the entire content of my post. 1347415995 Wow...I lived in NC for 40 some odd years and never saw one (or heard of one on the news). Maybe it's a coastal thing and I was too far inland. It would make sense that they wouldn't launch over populated areas. \nThanks! 1351002549 So, three pant-loads? 1310510092 > In other words, no matter what you find or how you do it, the Skinwalker Ranch *will never be anything* except where scientists go to to end their careers. \n\nTo whom? \n\nAgain, there is so much focus upon disbelievers. I agree that it is frustrating and pathetic. Let them disbelieve; who cares? Look at the subject of global warming: 99% of all climate scientists agree that there is a solid factual basis to that phenomenon because there is ample scientific data that backs it, and yet millions of (uneducated and unqualified) people still disbelieve it and actively influence others towards disbelieving it. That certainly doesn't make it any less real. You can lead a horse to water, etcetera.\n\nThe important thing is to continue to gather evidence and approach each new case objectively regardless of what some people choose to believe. If we get all bunched up about the disbelievers we will lose focus. Maybe one day the data will be appreciated by society. Maybe not.\n\nAny links to the 'their careers are now over' part of the skinwalker ranch story? I'd like to read more on that. They tried to run Mack out of town, too. The mainstream scientific community is definitely hostile to any interest in the subject. For that matter, the vast majority of redditors thinks we are ALL full of shit for seriously considering this stuff. 1353193916 Be wary of TM research cites. It's mostly, according to independent researchers of poor quality and typically exaggerated. It's an expensive relaxation technique using a Hindu goddess mantra.\n\nIf you'd like to see a good independent view of learning Transcendental Meditation AND David Lynch, you'll probably love the documentary movie *David Wants to Fly* which is available [here] (http://www.linktv.org/programs/david-wants-to-fly) for free streaming.\n\nOne thing that may not be obvious is that TM zealots scour the web (and this site) for TM quotes, and they'll often chime in any mention of pet topics like this one. 1348582043 Did he do that because he didn't want to hurt his hands doing all that banging or because the striking board itself had some special properties? 1334427352 It seems to me prevalence ratio and relative risk are actually the same thing, judging from this link:\nhttp://www.nature.com/bjc/journal/v100/n11/fig_tab/6605069t2.html\n\nMight want to drop the arrogance when you don't really know what you're talking about. 1282472793 Thank you :) I have been greatly curious about past lives. Though, I also don't believe sites like the one OP linked to are meant to be taken seriously :) 1336770423 It just seems bad form. As it stands, the account is generating karma for what could be replaced, without issue, with a series of karma-free self posts.\n\nThat said, the annoying part about the acct is the spam and the fact that they're posting in the wrong subreddit. This is just more of a side-problem that mystifies me. 1299545151 That Romanian forest episode was crazy. I'm still not sure what to think about what happened to their cameraman. 1335913212 why didn't you just go sit in the car and honk the horn until someone came and opened the door for you? just sayin... 1346436210 The key is to consider the validity of the experience without jumping to conclusions about the cause. Even in the event of suspicion of something "paranormal" there is the possibility of an explanation impossible to explain given current scientific knowledge. Too many "skeptics" can be too dismissive of the experience itself, preventing any further understanding of the cause of it. \n\ntldr; I am an agnostic with beliefs leaning toward Athiest, however I am very open to the idea of a larger "universal" picture too complex for us to explain or possibly even comprehend in our currently evolutionary state. 1350917648 I would say a satellite but you said you can tell the difference so I don't know. Sometimes they are very bright and look a lot closer than they actually are. They will appear and disappear just like you described. 1348559161 Cannabis does not contain any nicotine, nor any of the additives that tobacco companies add to make cigarettes, so that's a plus, but apart from that many of the carcinogens present in tobacco smoke are also present in marijuana smoke. To be fair, it is rare that cannabis users smoke as many joints as a tobacco users smokes cigarettes in a day.\n\nPersonally, I'm wary about *any* kind of smoke entering my lungs. Also, smoking cannabis *does* irritate the throat and causes one to cough out that ugly grey-brown phlegm. Inhaling from a vaporizer doesn't cause this. I say, why take chances? Be nice to your throat: eat, drink or vaporize! :-) 1345239859 I have considered that, lol. \n\nMy own persuasions make me think the government knows very little. They may have verification, but I highly doubt actual contact. They wish. \nWhatever is flying around up there doesn't care if we see them or not, or whether its restricted air space, or a nuclear facility, .... Whatever is in those ships pays no heed to earthly governments. That's what I think anyway. \n As far as space politics, we better hope they are nothing like us. 1273911440 That's possible. I know exactly what you're talking about. Sometimes I feel my body shake as if the bed below me is moving too, but I've never felt anything else as you describe it. Our brains can do crazy things in that state of subconsciousness. 1341894469 Paranormal Activity 2 was essentially the setup for Paranormal Activity 4. \n\nIt explained why the "wrong" sister was being tormented in Paranormal Activity (although they were both married to the demon as we learn in Paranormal Activity 3) and showed that the demon got what it wanted in the end, thus allowing Paranormal Activity 4 to occur with a possessed Katie and what I can assume is the male child. Paranormal Activity 4 is the true sequel, while PA3 fills out the backstory.\n\nAfter watching the trailer I kind of feel like we could have done without this movie and been left to wonder whatever happened to Katie and the kid, but they did such a good job of building up the story with the third movie that I'm legitimately curious to know what's going to happen now that the demon finally has the long-awaited son in their family lineage. \n\nI saw the first Paranormal Activity in theatres and didn't really enjoy it because it was *uncomfortably* loud when big things happen. I re-watched it and the other two at home and enjoyed it much more. 1343878103 I don't know why people consume X, when they could instead consume Y, which tastes completely different.\n\nThere aren't even any bubbles in coffee! 1313502647 This is viral marketing for a new game. 1323092951 Wow this Is disappointing. 1320554892 > I buy organic stuff when I can, but mostly because of the environmental/sustainability stuff.\n\nI have a friend who is a farmer and was looking into growing organic potatoes. He did the calculations and knew how much more he'd have to charge to make money because on average one gets about half as many potatoes per acre growing organically than non-organically.\n\nSo the world would need twice as many forests/rainforests plowed into fields if everyone were to switch to eating organic food. I'm not sure where that ranks in terms of "environmental/sustainability stuff", but I think it's pretty bad for both.\n 1347080366 It was terrifying. Once my brain acknowledged its skepticism I couldn't stop the progression. I was scared to death to examine my religious beliefs. There were a few months of special pleading. Eventually I couldn't lie to myself any more and the religion fell away. Quite the relief. 1323670205 A thousand times this comment. Perhaps something that sounds similar to j, bcdefghiaklmnopqrstuvwxxy and or z? Perhaps someone you knew had associated some financial significance with a letter of the alphabet, or knew someone who did? 1331363239 those parents that vaccinate their kids might as well be criminals. I dont have enough &#3232;\\_&#3232;\n 1326696938 My local shoppers also has a section like that, but it puts stuff alongside actual medicine as well. I made a video:\n\nhttp://www.dumbassguide.info/index.php/entry/blog_id=137/ 1352713459 BUGS! I saw the same thing when I was there, you can see little insects reflecting light flying around.. Especially over the luxor 1347646451 A link to skip all the talking-\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hYPUT08q7o#t=7m38s 1341641466 No footage/pictures of Eagle taking off exists, so Stanley must have lost them. 1310504993 >It should be noted that, while the article comes from EU Times, it was apparently re-posted in full from a website called What Does It Mean, and is credited to “Sorcha Faal, and as reported to her Western Subscribers.”\n\nfaal! 1292531384 Folks who hate the idea of women controlling their reproductive abilities have been beating this drum for a while. Just a quick reading of "Are Oral Contraceptives a Significant Contributor to the Estrogenicity of Drinking Water?" from Environ. Sci. Technol., 2011, 45 (1) indicates that less that 1% of the estrogen in the water supply comes from the pill. The majority of human-based estrogen originates from pregnant women. The amount that comes from the pill is also less than the amount that comes from our diets (soy and dairy). Both of these are significantly lower than the amount of estrogen contributed by livestock (who excrete a crapload more than we do).\n\nSo, if the concern is truly about estrogen in the drinking water supply, it seems that we should be tackling farming and pregnant women first. 1337455409 The problem I have with HFCS is the enormous corn subsidies from the US Gov't. 1298550824 I have no trouble believing that people express themselves through their handwriting, and that there may be general principles involved in how people do it. I find it more plausible than, say, palmistry, that there might actually be something there to study.\n\nHowever, what I've seen of graphology (not much admittedly) is just a bunch of hand-waving and speculative intuition. I've never seen anyone make a rigorous study of it. I think, at the current time, it's nowhere near being a real science. 1288956354 >Well, then congratulations. Go ahead and ignore a very relevant piece of work that covers pretty much exactly the same stuff we're talking about here, namely Descartes' epistemology.\n\nThat's not relevant at all. It's actually a formal logical fallacy called ad hominem tu quoque. Arguments stand on their own. Your argument is that X is wrong because Descartes made Y argument in another work. You can't even touch X (because you don't even know what it is).\n\n>If you want to make the claim that Descartes is someone we should look to for advice on how to treat things skeptically, you cannot ignore other things he has written which contradict that.\n\nI never said that Descartes is someone you should look to for advice on how to treat things skeptically.\n\nI said The Method, which you haven't read, was a good place to start being skeptical about your own ideas. Now you're lying.\n\n>Um, your claim that Empricisim is radically different from science and the modern skeptical movement?\n\nThat never happened.\n\n>And please explain to me how "create" and "produce" mean significantly different things.\n\nCreate has the pejorative connotation of Creationism in an argument about how the Universe came about.\n\n> that the existence of the universe implies that something else existed beforehand - and pointing out the similarity between that and the creationist cosmological argument.\n\nThank you for admitting that you committed a guilt by association fallacy.\n\n>Assuming that there must be something else that "produced" this universe leads to exactly the same problem with the idea that the universe must have been created by something, and it deserves just as much respect (read: very little).\n\nAnd yet you can't even contradict it.\n\n>Pretty sure I'm done with this conversation.\n\nYou don't even know what it's about. You haven't even read the fucking book. The correct thing to do was nothing instead of humiliating yourself trying to win a fight with your eyes closed.\n\nWait until you actually finish the class, at least.\n\n\n\n\n 1355438099 It looks as if you have captured a friend who tried to get out of the way quickly. I could be wrong. 1350474988 I don't see why this should surprise anyone. Even a cursory glance into his science record reveals that [he doesn't accept evolution](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JyvkjSKMLw), [he called global warming a hoax](http://www.ronpaul.com/on-the-issues/global-warming/), [and he wants to do away with science funding](http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?31159-Stance-on-Science-Funding). The man's an anti-science loon. 1313869419 I think it's quite relevant and poignant, actually. 1285283295 With all that "information" about the danger of flu shots that is out there, the idea that getting one could trigger a reaction from someone who already sufferd from psychological illnesses but had shown no major symptoms before isn't too far fetched, and if some irresponsible doctors then start to give the idea of being physically ill credibility, this could very well happen - this could also explain why symptoms occur when she is made aware of the fact that she is supposed to be ill.\n \nThis, or she could have made the whole thing up for whatever reason, the point is: We don't know. 1323353420 Hi, Siarp, I'm a skeptic too. I posted to /r/paranormal because when I returned home from Europe and showed the photo to everyone no one could identify what the "face like image" was, but thats the first thing everyone who looked at the photo saw. \n\nIt was an iphone 4, and yes, it has a flash. The church I was in was an 11th century church and the first thing posted on the door to the said church was NO FLASH WITH CAMERA. \n\nIt was my first time being in Berlin, and my first time being in a church so old, so I took pictures. Everywhere. I figured if I took enough pictures a few would turn out okay and I could show people my amazing photography skills.\n\nAt the end of the trip I deleted probably 25 crummy shots of that church alone, and hundreds more of the trip that weren't focused or were to dark or blurry or whatever.\n\nWhen I posted to /r/paranormal I didn't say in my post "Hey, guys look at this ghost!" I was looking for a fun answer to a interesting photo. 1350393797 Except the girl is Johnny Depp. 1346598964 What about data mining though? 1349907225 CSB: The owner of a business in Utah that I worked for owned a tank and would drive it in parades. He also would occasionally shoot it, and I'm sure he had some special permit to do so. 1356235542 It's a private event, they can ultimately do what they want. I don't agree with the intimidation, nor with the alleged threats, but how they were treated isn't that surprising given the incompatibility in perspectives. \n\nFrom the perspective of the event organizers, they do not want people there who aren't potential consumers. Or, worse yet, have an adverse effect on those there to consume. Try questioning wal-mart employees on behalf of a group bent on exposing the evils of capitalism, consumerism, and the plight of third world labourers and see how far you get.\n\nI realize that the vast majority of products on offer at events like these are useless beyond placebo, but that really isn't the point. Yes, It's about profits and intimidating those who get in the way of making money. But go into any sort of organization as a known antagonist to that group's stated ideas and goals and see how you're treated. \n\nedit: Spelling 1291082956 this is cool! 1346132929 Thank you for this. 1309715228 Thank you for this. 1352683573 Because for the most part everyday folks with jobs and 3 kids and bills don't have the time or energy to care about this. Why don't you submit it to your local news station and paper and maybe they will do a bit about it? 1346417627 He may be full of shit, but his book *"Why is God Laughing?"* was actually really awesome and didn't have any of his views, it's a mock religious fiction narrative that really explores a lot of key eastern ideas without getting into bogus theory. Really brought a fresh perspective, but the rest of his works seem to fall much shorter in comparison. 1310608393 Extraordinary ideas require extraordinary evidence. 1330054577 Are these midwives able to give epidurals or perform emergency c-sections or deal with complications if something goes wrong? Can they do all the screenings and the like? \n\nNo brainer for me, but I wonder if there's some other underlying concern? Is she afraid of hospitals, or something like that? Just visiting one might help change her mind? 1282346382 >it's values and 'teachings'.\n\nBut Christianity is not, and never was about its values and teachings. Christianity is about a species of human who are each, individually, vile and corrupted and personally deserving of an eternity in hellfire seeking redemption through the substitutive sacrifice of Jesus Christ. No Christ no Sacrifice. No sacrifice, hell for everyone.\n\nThe teachings only matter when these conditions are already met. No Christ - no Christianity. 1335819027 hence they called him captain skirk who had a tic 1283362996 Aspergers or something else? I'd be shocked to see "vanilla" autism go undiagnosed that long. 1319926860 Not German but have lived there and known the language (a little).\n\nIf you are out of work, you can get a voucher towards 'job training' which you must use. In some cases, this is a little more than a scam with the 'education' being just something to allow the training company to collect government money.\n\nHomoeopathy is extremely strong in Germany, I even met a homoeopathic veterinarian once which seemed the biggest joke of all and they also have many training courses on this. Astrology just seems to be an extension of this.\n\nPersonally I just see this as being training for confidence tricksters. 1258970001 You haven't but Yaaf has. He spelled charlatan as sharlatan, I said education should have prevented faulty spelling, and you said nobody can know the spelling to every single word.\n\nThis is *charlatan* though, not *Nebuchadnezzar,* or *Eyjafjallajökull,* or *Huitzilopochtli*. Basic education should have prepared him for it. 1345455048 Yeah, that'll solve everything. 1339262315 Well, it's probably just my personal bias against, but I disturst any engagement that doesn't just laser in on truth. The notion that with both sides presenting and even if one side had better information, it was skewered by someone with a rhetorical flourish just really bugs me. But that's my engineering side showing through. 1347563046 I had the same problem -- came here to leave scathing comments, had an old-fashioned facepalm when I saw it was in /r/skeptic. 1332476553 It's an interesting story. If it actually happened as described you have to wonder what they might have been fighting over (if they were fighting). Protection of the earth? Turf war? Maybe it was just Von Neuman devices programmed to take out any other similar devices like in the book [Spin](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spin_%28novel%29). 1355930617 Greer? Low IQ? Come on. He's an ER doc, he's related to rocket scientists and astronauts, he's had a very good education, and hardly seems stupid.\n\n 1332436584 Isn't that a good thing? 1295160091 :mythbusted: 1348803844 I understand the concept just fine, and what is being discussed has absolutely nothing to do with the burden of proof. \n\nThe positive claim was made/implied by the article: "The supernatural doesn't exist because there is no scientific evidence to support it". I rebut the claim by pointing out that such an argument is clearly circular; that is, if you use a naturalistic method (that automatically ignores and rejects all supernatural claims) to study the world, then you're going to get naturalistic conclusions, regardless of whether the supernatural claims are true or not. This is akin to instructing people to go out and only count red flowers, and when they return with their data, you conclude that yellow, blue, and white flowers don't exist because you only have evidence for red flowers. Again, most simply, if your method and approach explicitly tells you to ignore an entire category, then you can't use that data to say the ignored category doesn't exist. \n\nI have not claimed that the supernatural is real (and I personally don't think the concept is even coherent enough to be worthy of consideration), and I haven't claimed that the concept should be treated as real unless disproved. My only point is that science is a tool for studying the natural world. Anyone who thinks that the conclusions from science can have *anything at all* to say on claims of the supernatural simply does not understand science. \n\nThis is basic high school science stuff. 1343020519 Non-mobile layout - [http://www.metropulse.com/news/2012/feb/15/reed-familys-alien-nightmare/](http://www.metropulse.com/news/2012/feb/15/reed-familys-alien-nightmare/) 1337108286 Probably won't convince you but this was always odd to me.\nhttp://www.cropcircleresearch.com/articles/arecibo.html 1257779472 Who else is making a serious (or at least visible) effort to bring attention to the ICC's most wanted list? Sure, some of us have known about Kony for years and see him in the same group as the SPLA, the government forces from Khartoum and Kampala, Alice Lakenma, bla bla bla the rest of 'em. When though is the last time stopping these people and their behaviours was a priority in American politics? I don't care if it takes a hipster ad campaign, let's get a USMC MEU(SOC) in there and shoot this motherfucker in the fucking eyeball. 1331795790 Cranks are fun, and they make us all laugh. What causes me pause on this guy is that Wikipedia is not allowing a page for him. I read on about it, and in a couple Google clicks found that there are forums that are flooded with bot clutter that disrupts any normal flow of reading or participation. The amount of energy being put into Cock blocking this guy seems disproportionate to his threat level.\nWhat do you make of that? 1292814909 :) great 1351475504 That's cool. Different strokes, right? For me, the only life I will ever have can be better spent. When I look at the way people in america are treating each other it creates a visceral spasm type sensation in my brain that tells me to stay far far away from it.\n\nI'd rather live in a society that leaves me alone. But for you you'd like to stay and fight for something. Perhaps to try and help other people.\n\nI'm more selfish. 1334523545 Barabara Loe Fisher is not just unscientific, she is SUPER-unscientific !!! 1263487423 If you're wondering where this person gets their data from check out the FAQ. It's very informative. 1324000691 Prove it. 1259005174 Prove it. 1304551878 > Just not in the earths atmosphere, right..right.. 'cmon, admit the truth. Why do they fudge the models ?\n\nWe have observerved the warming. And we know why. It's obvious and basic physics.\n\n> If you people want to be taken seriously, you need to disassociate your selves from crooked politicians and so called scientists.\n\nI just demostrated how crooked denialists are - and even that was just the tip of their lies. Just ask me more. Please. I'll demonstrate. There's plenty. Denialists lie. Yeah, your pals denialists lie and they lie blatantly to you.\n\n> Oh, and get some real evidence, not that fudged crap you've been passing off.\n\nThe evidence has been collected. It has been measured. It has been analyzed. It has been presented. It has been scrutinized. It has been accepted. And it holds true.\n\nYet there does exist an la-la-la-land where it does not hold. It's called denial.\n\n\nAnd I'll just ask you once again my friend weedeater64: \n\n1. Does that declaration I showed to you make any sense to you? \n\n2. What do you think of people who endorse such thing? \n\n3. Are they rational?\n\n4. Do you endorse it?\n\nDo you? 1351108212 My girlfriend is going to med school- to be a naturopath. I have NO idea what it is she believes- we end up shouting and getting mad whenever we talk about the subject. Seriously, the first paragraph seems to have it right- they don't know what it is they're arguing for. I think they actually tend to believe that science based medicine is useful (they call it "allopathic, I'd never heard this term before) but that they want to include woo based medicine in practice as there's some outside chance it will help. She seems very comfortable with the placebo effect's usefulness in treating people as well... I try not to talk about it too much. 1285358734 I think the LD50 of DHMO is a lot higher than that... But it *has* been found in cancerous tumors, and it's a major industrial solvent and the number one component of most commercially-available cleaning solutions. 1346162887 You can't prove a negative. "There are no facts disproving them" is a ridiculous argument in favour of their potential authenticity; I could say "there's a 1,200lb hamster orbiting Pluto on days that start with T, you can't prove there isn't" and by your logic no one would be able to tell me I'm fulla shit. 1333015181 I'm not assigning an extraterrestrial origin. I will adamantly argue against people convinced UFOs are ETs. We just don't know. That *is* the point. Despite our advances in science we are as ignorant of these things now as in 1947. We are suppose to investigate the unknown. Not ignore it. 1298704044 Thanks, I really appreciate that. I understand why you would be frustrated by what you describe, so I certainly won't hold it against you :) 1346270595 Holy fuck, warn someone before they just go clicking things! That was some frightening imagery. 1326577133 Hilarious. I also like that this was posted in r/skeptic rather than r/comics or r/funny. 1285710510 This SERIOUSLY made my night!! The existence of this guy and the willful ignorance pulsing through conservipedia make me shudder. That was beautiful! 1261620281 Could you give an example of something similar found on this earth? It sure looks out of place as far as shape goes. It looks very straight, both on the top and on the bottom. I don't know if nature can do that. 1329905376 Christ, not this guy again. This morning I didn't know who he was and now I have to be aware that he exists in the world. 1290988374 What the hell? That is really interesting. The way the debris trail comes off of it makes it look very large to me. Total direction change, too - this is no meteor. 1316194358 I saw this video a while ago. basically watched part of it and disregarded it, but it explains the chart. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ceJI2Cnz1w 1338140663 fuck exploding head syndrome. 1335252661 Exactly, r/atheism is a very active subreddit and this post is clearly more appropriate for that subreddit so there is no reason that this post should be here instead of r/atheism. 1308581444 True, but most (or all) of them have a much harder time getting big book chains to carry their books.\n\nIt was a sad, sad day when I went to my local B&N store last year to find that they had shrunk the Science and Philosophy sections to expand the Spirituality section. 1309814399 Someone has had to much LSD...\n\nOn a serious note, quite interesting! 1331292260 This sounds like a conspiracy!\n\nActually good stuff. However, it's not surprising that the fringe does what they can to legitimize their work. Giving it away makes it more likely to be seen and lends an air of familiarity. 1333805013 Yeah, the last three or four posts are almost entirely tongue in cheek. 1295454677 Where did I propose restricting choices? 1330639566 I don't mean that they opened the space where you would expect the crushed can to be, but rather where the mechanism would be. As in 'disassemble the crusher'. 1356014688 http://sites.google.com/site/wtc7lies/introduction 1290709593 Because it says "use water" and "no chemicals needed" and "no more chemicals". Yes, you could say "water" in this context is not itself pure H2O and therefore not a chemical, but to say that you could use anything that could be regarded as "water" and still have "no more chemicals" is disingenuous. 1341263976 A pretty well known Youtuber Aron Ra has a whole series debunking the fundational falsehoods of creationism. In this particular case, number eight is usefull. http://youtu.be/TU-7d06HJSs 1316746679 Or both! :) 1345059475 oh come on, talk about IQ in /r/skeptic (and the conflation with intelligence)? 1341993855 No takes over 60-40 woo hoo 1314765778 Are you suggesting a category tag be added to each story, or is this a personal initiative type of thing? 1326730132 Ha! I see what you did there. "Rational arguments".\n\n 1249505943 Go look through the replies to my comments in r/911truth and tell me again that ***I*** am the one being a dick!... I've put up with their attacks and dishonesty once and for all...\n\nEDIT: And, don't forget - the people of r/911truth are (falsely) accusing several different people of mass-murder! That's slander and libel. I don't see why I have to be civil to people such as that... 1306209163 Cross check it with [/r/keto](/r/keto). You may be surprised. 1327990907 I'm not worried about intelligently designed organisms. At least we have *some* idea what we're doing.\n\nNature on the other hand only cares about survival, and that could easily include some organism that is able to kill us all. There's nothing to stop the natural evolution of some organism that is deadly to us humans. At least with intelligent genetic engineering there are going to be some checks in place, especially if the scientists are working with something that they have reason to believe will be dangerous then the safety measures will be very tight. 1294279572 Is there any pain or headache of sorts when it happens? How does it end, do you suddenly remember again or is it a slow process? 1354814403 Well known sceptic? Don't you mean well known astrophysicist and director of the Hayden Planetarium? I don't think that being a sceptic would rank the highest among his [achievements](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_deGrasse_Tyson#Selected_awards_and_honors). 1312893060 [Another attempt](http://i.imgur.com/kFrWh.png)\n\nEDIT: I would like to point out that I think the one we have is great, it's just the dimensions of it that messes up the site layout a little. 1306413633 For some reason the 1st part is viewable but the 2nd and 3rd parts have been removed for copyright violation :( 1287355090 I'm not commenting on the reality, or lack thereof, of these folks' claims. Personally, I don't believe in their claim. My point originally was that science is a method of inquiry, not a body of absolute truth. 1241270554 >Well, I'm perfectly willing to cede to the notion that you might be better read on the subject than I.\n\nI'm probably not.\n\n>But in all honesty I have not seen much anarchist philosophy that just stopped at being antistate. It was always entirely anti-hierarchy.\n\nAnti-hierarchy anarchists are much more numerous than anarcho-capitalists. Anarcho-capitalism is not a very widely known school of thought. So, it's completely reasonable you've never encountered it.\n\n>As far as I can tell anarcho-capitalism is the only anarchist philosophy that is not anti-hierarchy\n\nThere are some voluntaryists who do not identify as anarcho-capitalists. Some individualist-anarchist-ish people might not fully qualify as anti-hierarchy anarchists. But anarcho-capitalism does seem to be pretty prominent in the not-anti-hierarchy anarchism world.\n\n>Is there much writing by anarchists (Rothbard and his adherents aside) that backs up the notion that it can mean only antistate?\n\nI would say that there's lots of anarcho-capitalist writers who use anarchist in the anti-state way, but I would be surprised if many of them claimed that was the only valid definition. Anarcho-capitalists can't ignore the history and large numbers of people who use anarchism in the anti-hierarchy way. At worst, they'll say that the anti-hierarchy anarchists want to establish something that's pretty much a state, and therefore aren't anarchists. I usually argue against them on that point...\n\n>And yes, you are correct that there are multiple usages of words. But that doesn't necessarily mean that these words are being used correctly.\n\nWell, words are just sounds and letters that have common agreements about associated ideas. So, I'm pretty accepting when there is widespread "incorrect" use. I actually wish that "anarchism" *only* meant anti-hierarchy and that the anarcho-capitalist types had never been labeled as anarchist. My theory is that they mostly got that label from other people that didn't really know much about the history of anarchism. So, "anarchism" gained a new definition mostly through ignorance. Oh well.\n\nI think that anti-hierarchists have a stronger claim on the term, but I also accept the consequences of language being decided by popular usage. So, to deal with the ambiguity and to ward off miscommunication, I usually over-specify what I'm talking about. I *wish* I could give you the word.\n\nAre you an anti-hierarchist? This converation has gone so much better than the last time I talked about this when an anti-hierarchist. 1306258509 Understood. I have cats though, and the vinegar is an improvement...\n 1347920389 My guess is that vid 2 and vid 1 are the same type of thing, the second shows the exit of the material, the first shows the material after it exited, either falling back into it, or falling behind it so it looks as if it were falling into it. \n\nedit: It's not literally the same instance, it's 2 instances of the same type of emission assuming of course.\n\nThough the angle is slightly off, which depending on wind conditions (which are shown by the smoke to be blowing left to right, same as the material falling) are strange, it's still plausible. 1353131826 Whether the earth is going to be destroyed or not, he makes a valid point. We must come together as the human race if we're ever to advance as a species. 1344796770 OK, then. Show me some evidence that education about genital hygiene significantly reduces HIV transmission.\n\nI'm not arguing that access to condoms reduces HIV transmission. Of course it does. But even in the US, where we have widespread and free access to condoms, our rates of HIV transmission are quickly growing in certain demographics. \n\nCondoms alone are not enough to stop the spread of HIV, because they aren't used consistently. 1346089038 Well, I suppose, since it seems to be over, that you two got lucky. These occurances don't always end so well. 1345010667 Typically, when someone sells a product they're confident of, they don't feel a need for coercion. 1313421804 There are a bunch of BBC ones but they are radio programmes. However I also listen to Guardian Science which is quite good too. 1288104631 "governor"? do you mean "mayor"? 1356888765 I thought Assange said there was nothing special to release about UFOs? 1333607351 Derren Brown is a fucking hero. Imagine the kind of money he could make if he wanted to by buying into cons like this. Well done. 1304092116 No. Ice T is an actual T, though. 1308338551 Yea, and all these babies being born can't even communicate, what a bunch of tiny dumbasses. No use in trying to educate any of them. /logicalconclusion 1289226013 Economics is tricky, because of the nature of history. The evidence is not straightforward, because there are hundreds of interacting variables. Post hoc is rampant. I think that's why it's best to say that we just don't know that much about it. Human society is a highly complex, perhaps a chaotic system.\n\nThat said, I think economics does have some valuable insights to offer. It's just that I don't think there's such a thing as a completely objective source of info, because of its nature. 1282957128 Brain zaps? That sounds....terrifying. 1337278925 Tyson 1349332264 My great-grandfather died of TB in the sanitarium. I've wanted to visit for a while but I've never gone. 1320092010 She is only as powerful as the people who listen to her.\n\nAnd I just removed Skeptics Guide and Pharyngula from my watch list.\n\nBecause I get really fucking sick of doing my damndest in the subreddits I like to contribute and grow only to be sidelined for some asshole (let's not call her a bitch, all it does is feed her persecution complex) and their "X makes me hate unrelated Y."\n\nAnd PZ Myers has gone from doing the hardwork of selecting things and promoting a debate to mindless parroting of what Watson declares.\n\nFuck them both. 1325106142 The placebo effect still works on your mom, though, in terms of how she interprets the dog's behavior. "Look how much happier she is today! That medicine is wonderful!"\n\nApart from that though, you've put your dad in a bit of a pickle, even if he agrees with you, since he's the one who gets to listen to your mom vent about your inability to understand the "value" of homeopathy. 1329333797 Interesting article, but I believe this "Perception Gap" is part of a mathematical phenomena that people can learn to avoid, it is not necessarily constrained by instincts. Here is why:\n\n1. Input (how do you believe the world is right now)\n2. Function (how do you believe the world works right now)\n3. Output (how do you think the world will be in the future)\n\nAnybody can be right or wrong about the 3 different layers, but if they are not right about all 3 of them simultaneously, then they are also wrong, even they might not discover it. People usually check 1 and 3 and correct 2 only when necessary and this results in situations like believing they know better how gravity works than Einstein because they can fix a car, or believing they win a dice game because they thought it was their lucky day, or believing a politician will hold his promise because he just said something they wanted to hear. This structure also holds for *similar* and *different* by comparing two objects.\n\nWhen two people talk, they use either abstract terms or examples to produce a picture of an analogy which for the 3 layer structure holds different characteristics. This is why analogies work for a particular situation, and why though experiments can be used to solve problems. For example: When two cars start from *different* locations (1) and drives in *same* directions (2) on a flat surface, they will end up in *different* locations (3). This also fits an analogy of parallel lines. This is a simplification that does not require direct observation or discrete values, only knowing whether something is similar or different.\n\nThe biggest problem is when people expect yes/no. For any story that builds up it's arguments to a conclusion there is no simple answer. You need to comprehend not just the conclusion, but the picture which the other person is trying to tell, before you really understand it is and learned something.\n\nOne can investigate perception and so on, but many problems only require the ability to think. If people give themselves enough time to think something through, they usually figure it out. The problem is that we live in a society where everything is meant to go fast, and people have no more time than hearing a "yes" or "no". 1328712744 That's a great rebuttal actually, thank you for the link. There are some good points made.\n\n>I also feel like Jacques Vallee has addressed this in one of his Binnall of America interviews.\n\nI'll check this out too.\n\n 1353709468 Just want to say... I work at Walgreens, and this really isn't a matter of a store's individual discretion. Reset planograms are frequently sent down from corporate, so the most recent cough/cold reset must have put all the homeopathic "medicine" together in that region's stores. A store manager has some degree of freedom in merchandising, but they can't just entirely shift up an aisle like that without drastically increasing workload, and at this point in the year, no store manager would risk such a time-wasting project or they could get fired.\n\nThe real things to worry about with people accidentally buying homeopathic remedies are the Hyland's pain relief products. There aren't any actual medicines specifically for joint cramps, so Hyland's holds a monopoly on it, which means that they get a lot of business from desperate senior citizens.\n\nFortunately I can sometimes prevent people from buying this crap... 1352739851 Let me explain how the simulation works. You give it the building schematics: what it's made of, how it's put together, physical properties, etc.\n\nThen, you tell it where the fires are and their composition. What they are made of, how they burn, the temperature, etc.\n\nThen you tell it to run. Then you wait a really long time because good simulation takes a fuckload of time. That video isn't a realtime run of the simulation. It's a compilation of all of the renders done.\n\nNote what we didn't specify: where it fails. Where it fails is determined by something we call math. You see, we can use math in conjunction with the physical and chemical properties of objects to approximate what would happen in certain situations.\n\nSo, in the simulation video, the fact that the floor failed in two places at nearly the same time is insignificant because it was determined mathematically based on the information fed into the simulation. If they would run the simulation again, they could get a similar but slightly different result. Because while specific events are essentially random, they are random within a certain range.\n\nThat building could have conceivably fallen in one of several million ways. The fact that it happened the way it did is no more significant than if it had fallen at a tilt. Which is why when a building is likely to fall, you get the fuck away from that shit regardless of where you happen to be standing. Because you can't say with 100% certainty what will and will not happen.\n\nWhich is what you are doing. You are trying to tell us that with 100% certainty the building could not have fallen like that because of the fire. 1315573219 The few times I've watched this show, I always asked myself these questions too. I used to be in a ghosthunter organization in Metro-Detroit, MI a few years ago, and I think I was the only rational being in the room when the evidence was reviewed.\n\nReviewing the tapes or audio, everyone would jump to the wildest conclusions possible, limited by their imagination, to only get frustrated with me when I point out what really might have happened.\n\nI digress, and yes, how the hell would they absorb energy anyway? We must go deeper... 1300124599 The comments are scary as fuck. America is fucked. 1333998565 The whole thing is just anti-animal. If they cared about the health and well being of animals, they wouldn't be spreading anti-medical horseshit. 1335325457 No way. You're Yul Brynner. Nobody would dare boot Yul Brynner off the set. 1310233266 Thanks for the website suggestion. Lots of info there. 1330619296 this a 'Merica dammit.\n\nhe makes more money off the placebo\n\n/s ... or is it? 1306724652 Or he was just really horny. 1349051430 Ah but they seek truth, which of course, is a noble goal. Bash on them all you want, you're only looking at one side. You must look at the positives as well. Otherwise you're no better than they are. 1315517363 Thanks for the information and the support.\n 1327299994 I agree, and it reminds me of the ["10 Things Christians and Atheists Can (And Must) Agree On"](http://www.cracked.com/article_15663_10-things-christians-atheists-can-and-must-agree-on.html) Cracked article posted on reddit a while back, which I agree 100% with. \n\nHowever, it makes me uneasy when people use religion to supersede scientific evidence or use dishonest strategies to manipulate what others believe instead of letting them think for themselves. 1303089165 It's not just planets. Many asteroids are composed of precious metals. We are only decades out from having the technology to capture a Kuiper Belt object containing more gold and platinum than could ever be mined from the surface of the earth. The idea that anyone would go through as much trouble to mine gold as is implied by this post is comical. If you can travel interstellar space, picking up one of these objects is trivial. 1334795475 For tens of millions of years, the vast majority of primates have lived in trees while adopting a wide variety of feeding strategies, including insectivory, frugivory, folivory, and omnivory. To my knowledge, all of them have binocular vision. Your "short term" statement might make sense looking across the tree of life, but context is important in biology, and your claim is wrong when it comes to primates. 1353138381 There is a lot to worry about concerning ones health. \n\nThe history of putting this toxic byproduct of manufacturing aluminum (sodium fluoride) into the public drinking water with only a cursorary amount of research is very strange. \n\nSkeptics love strange so this issue will always get a lot of attention.\n\n\n 1337792446 >MSG = Glutamate + NaCl\n\nNot a chemist, but where do the Chloride ions go in that reaction? 1337755904 Isn't there a difference between having no respect for a person as opposed to having no respect for a thing they believe in? Friends of mine are reasonably devout Christians, and while I have no respect whatsoever for religions or religious beliefs, I have the utmost respect for my friends as people. They can believe whatever they want, and they never try to force it on me or anyone else, so they can worship whatever and whoever they please as far as I'm concerned. Same goes for my father (with slightly less 'never tries to force it on anyone'). Let him believe what he likes; he's still my father and I love and respect him as a person. Who happens to believe in some stuff that I am very much opposed to. But it's the *belief* that I disrespect, not the *person*.\n\nI might as well lose respect for a person because they liked Oasis, or the Black Eyed Peas, for all the sense that makes. 1301430248 When did I ever say herbal medicine was superior? I said it was occasionally legitimate and effective. I'd take aspirin over willow bark any time, but if St John's wort happens to help your depression or valerian root helps your insomnia that's great. 1306541900 It does exist, although different people call it different things. It's more common with those who use drugs and alcohol, but even a "straight" person with a temper can experience it. When I was younger (and arguably slightly more short-fused) I have experienced it on a number of occasions. Needless to say it's not a great experience.\n\nI'm no doctor, but from what I understand the most likely causes are stress, and the sudden build up of high blood pressure that accompanies an outburst. In a stressful situation, the body releases cortisol as a response mechanism. Too much cortisol can prevent the brain from laying down a new memory, or from accessing already existing memories. Temporary memory loss in these type of situations can vary from being "fuzzy" to full blackout.\n\nI can't explain it very well, but if you would like to learn more [this](http://www.fi.edu/learn/brain/stress.html) may help.\n\n(edit- typo 1350437001 definitely make sure you're mentally balanced before anything. I have experienced a lot of spiritual things throughout my life so far both good and bad. I guess anything is possible and what happened to u sounds beyond effed! 1345557801 This is some weird stuff. I'd be scared as fuck. Keep asking question to your grand parents, make sure they understand what you're trying to tell them. 1335271383 I wonder if "diamond-filtered" means "filtered with a substance chemically identical to diamond."\n\nEdit- [Herkimer Diamonds](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herkimer_diamond) are quartz crystals. 1338298332 if the child doesn't make it to sexual maturity or have children themselves before they die, the parent's genes are not carried on. Those genes may contain the "Dunning-Kreuger Clusterfuck" gene that the parent so willfully acts upon. 1329586453 What a dangerous idiot. 1346792148 Here's a brief off the top of my head overview of some of the main ones:\n\nSelective breeding - selecting for a particular trait.\n\nHybridization - crossing two lines to get a hybrid plant.\n\nWide crossing - hybridizing one thing with something very distantly related, like crossing an apple with a wild Malus species, or crossing a cultivated potato with a wild potato.\n\nEmbryo rescue - Taking an embryo from a cross that would otherwise abort the embryo and culturing it, allowing you to make crosses that would otherwise result in non-viable seed.\n\nMutagenesis - using something, like a mutagenic chemical or ionizing radiation, to induce mutations in cells.\n\nSport selection - used in a lot of fruit trees. sometimes a bud will mutate and produce a branch that has a different quality than the rest of the tree. This branch is then propagated. A lot of the apples in stores today are sports of the original variety but are not named as such (the last Red Delicious you ate was probably a sport of the original Red Delicious).\n\nSomaclonal variation - when plant cells are being tissue cultured and a mutation arises in the culture, then this mutation is selected.\n\nPolyploidy - when the amount of chromosomes in the plant is altered. For example, some apples are triploid, having three chromosome sets instead of the usual two in diploid apples. Seedless watermelons are also triploid. Potatoes are tetraploid, wheat is hexaploid, and strawberries are octaploid. This can be induced with colchicine (as it is with watermelons) or can be a result of hybridization (as it is in wheat).\n\nProtoplast fusion - when you take two cells, lyse off the cell wall, put them next to each other and zap them so they fuse. I don't think this is commonly used yet though.\n\nSo there's quite a number of ways we modify plants besides genetic engineering (even GE has multiple types: transgenic, cisgenic, and antisense). Can't think of any more right now, but there's probably other techniques used. Ironically GE is fairly predictable by comparison to some of these yet I doubt most people protesting GE have ever even heard of them. Also, not genetic modifications, also worth mention is that some of plants are commercially produced by tissue culture, taking a piece of plant and growing it in vitro using hormones to regrow a new plant from a leaf or something, and lots of tree fruit are grafted, when they take a piece of one plant and graft it to another to produce a genetically identical tree and to take advantage of good rootstocks. 1331353160 You mean lady? But yeah, I'm happy I got linked over so I could give her the downvotes she deserves. 1328811609 how would it work in this application or in general? \n\nhow do you reduce your electric bill with geothermal? \n\nidk how they do it on an already built house but if one is building a house to include geothermal they run pipes through the floor then down deep underground where it's a steady temperature. keeping the basement floor at about the same temp as it is underground. \n\nDepending on where you are it's 50 degrees or so. So you've got a floor radiating 50 degrees so your furnace runs less. and cooling the house in the summer thus running the AC less. Saving electricity. \n\nIn the Sterling Engine case you've got water warmer than tap water so you have to warm it less to make the engine run. \n\nI'm probably wrong though. 1344738459 > Judging an individual based on their group membership is wrong, period.\n\nIt still happens, wrong or not. Pretending that it doesn't won't make it go away. 1351218222 I'm sure there are...but can you name one elected democrat of standing that is a climate change denier? now can you name any republicans that aren't? even huntsman buckled at the end.\n\n 1326845751 Are you being serious here?\n\nYou said:\n\n>Lame\n\n>poorly comprehended facts\n\n>Who gives a shit about this guy?\n\nThen had the nerve to say:\n\n>Belittling people and mocking them is not good form for rebutting claims.\n\nUmm...\n 1315772708 meh, I'm with digg_reject. I had a friend who got pregnant and was very poor and couldn't afford an abortion so she basically poisoned herself for 2 weeks and was miserable but it worked. Sometimes one cannot indulge in the safer methods, it is regrettable but necessary. 1284835500 That's very true, but I'm not sure exactly what you're getting at. 1340350206 Let us know what it says. 1339111739 Don't really have time for linking (meeting in a minute), but look up false memory syndrome and recovered memory therapy. 1318947483 I have seen his work, have you read the AMA? \nI am not discounting him I just find it strange that he answered peoples questions by telling them where to buy his books, and that he clearly endorses a Movie, Apollo 18 that he was apparently paid for.\n\nPlus you getting mad and calling me and angry teenager for trying to promote intelligent discussion is completely ignorant, and in the opposite direction of what we should be trying to acheive as race. 1352181796 This book was where Dr. Mack started to veer more into the 'spiritual aspects of the abduction phenomenon and what it might ultimately mean for humanity. Interesting, but not sure I go along with some of his conclusions. \n\nThis came after his book 'Abduction', which was more centered upon his research on over 300 subjects and their experiences. He initially thought that these cases would be easy to define as abnormal psychological manifestations, but he instead became convinced that these were more likely real physical events after his first few cases.\n\nHe then devoted his career to further investigation. Harvard tried to throw him out for it, but his work was pretty solid for the most part. Pretty sobering stuff. 1354762700 >Brewing has always been an interest of mine, but the science seems somewhat daunting.\n\nIt can be if you don't take it one step at a time. Too sum it up briefly, it's just yeast eating sugar and oxygen to create alcohol and carbon dioxide. The complexity comes from sanitation (HUGE PART) and ingredients. Most people start out with extract (suppliers basically malt barley for you, this gets complicated so just suffice it for now to say you use extract). You start with about 2 gallons of water, bring it to about 150F. Add some speciality grains, steep like a tea for 30 mins. Bring to a boil, add your extract and hops and boil for an hour. Then you cool it to about 70-80F (I put my kettle in my bathtub that I plug, fill with cold water and 3 - 7lb bags of ice, and add in 3 gallons of cooled water I have in the fridge. ) and pitch your yeast and let it sit for about 2-3 weeks. \n\n\nThe big part about sanitation, is you have to make sure it's clean of material and then everything after the boil (the boil will kill anything that could infect the beer) needs to be sanitized so you don't introduce any foreign material or bacteria. \n\nYou can look [here](http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html) for additional information on the process.\nIf you are interested in ever getting into it let me know, or check out /r/homebrewing. I'd be more than willing to answer any questions you may have.\n\nA starter kit will pretty much run you between 100-150 plus a kettle and plus your brewing ingredients. 1286950197 My grandfather killed himself in June of 2008 my brother and I found him. That night laying in my bed unable to sleep I drifted into the weird awake/sleep state and got lost in my mind. I was started when I came back to reality and saw what looked like my grandfather but younger standing at the foot of my bed. I just laid there scared and unsure how I should deal with this and he smiled slightly and nodded, he was gone. A few nights later he came to me in a dream and told me how sorry he was for hurting me the way he did and that he loved me. I still have vivid dreams about him once in a while and when I wake up I'm usually crying because I miss him so much.\n\nAnother time one of my friends girl friend died. I had met her maybe a month before her death and we clicked as much as you can when you meet someone for an hour. The day after she passed I had a dream about her, we were playing a board game and just chatting she told me to tell Travis that she was sorry but so happy to not be in pain. She said that she loves him and wants him to be happy. I told him about this the next day and was shocked that he had a similar dream. 1349113684 The comments are ridiculous as well. People are FURIOUS that the liberal "protect our daughters from HPV" agenda brought this legislation about in the first place. 1328120146 it seems similar to something my whole family saw at one point. we were watching my aunty walk around her house for a good hour or so with one of those black cone like things over her but she didnt notice it. it turned out a not so nice spirit had attatched itself to her and was causing mischief like things breaking, something cut my cousins hair while she was watching tv, my hair got yanked so hard my head bled, we once saw a blood trail going down the stairs where she had just walked so in our concern we checked to make sure she wasnt bleeding which she wasnt and she had to replace the stair carpets to get rid of it but it had all started when we first saw this thing over her. 1341063014 I'm always weary when I hear the word "craft" being mentioned. 1353018974 Future of archeology. heh 1341190237 Just look up Richard "Bob" Dean and see for yourself if you believe him to be spreading disinformation or not. 1333068829 I was just about to say the samething. A story like this would be sure to at least be a small article on CNN or any other news source, but I couldn't find it in any source, other than crazy, ufo, conspiracy, sites 1349071583 Yep, it sure is. When it exists. 1325888231 Just do it for the lulz... 1293908663 Seriously, I get blamed for everything around here. 1352435458 How do we even know that he worked for the CIA? Is there any source for that?\n\nCan't understand how people don't see that the guy is full of shit. 1345558177 Accidental double entendre: 5 points! 1309433525 I did. I see no new evidence on the bloop. The closest I see is they're saying that they've heard similar noises near the north pole. If you want to count that, I have to ask:\n\nHad we not heard these things before? \nWhy have we not heard it again at the south pole (in the last 15 years)?\nWhy have we moved it from happening the the South Pacific off the coast of South America to somewhere along the coast of Antarctica?\n\nThe established opinion was "that was weird" but it was also classified as having a "biological" origin.\n\nI'm willing to give it over to icebergs, I just don't want the race to find a mundane explanation to stop us from asking questions. Is the bloop Cthuhlu? Of course not. But the current report seems to have to move a lot of things around from the original to make it work. 1353424969 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZowK0NAvig 1342612367 That's not true. You are probably referring to infant mortality (a measure of pediatric care). According to the World Health Organization, the best measure of obstetric care is perinatal mortality. And according to the 2006 World Health Organization report on perinatal mortality, the US has one of the lowest rates in the world, lower than Denmark, the UK and The Netherlands. 1260335560 Science has nothing to say on the question of a god's existence. Science deals only with the natural world, and anything supernatural is outside its domain.\n\n 1349824619 What does it mean to be skeptical of your own position? \n\n 1328444012 I do recall one of my professors stating that brown adipose tissue or "Brown fat" As I think he referred to it only occur in significant quantities in humans when they're infants. \n\n 1345128329 I'd start with this, That Mitchell and Webb Look: Homeopathic A&E \n\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMGIbOGu8q0 1295767493 Other side-benefits include protecting your children, your family, you, and everyone else you come into contact with (and those people they come into contact with) from selected illnesses that have a far higher probability of seriously harming/killing any of the above than the likelihood of even the fabricated 'autism from shots' promoters acknowledge. 1337795578 Aren't you kind of contradicting your stance of being a skeptic by even contacting a group like that? It seems like even by trying to get them to check the place out you're just feeding the idea that there's some kind of paranormal activity/entity there. 1336792425 ...or, you know, you could have just posted a link to your climate change denial echo chamber: /r/climateskeptics\n\nAfter all, the people over there often ask themselves how they could "turn" [/r/skeptics](/r/skeptics) to the Right Path... 1327682992 <joking>Are you implying someone without a degree can't be intelligent?! You, sir, are a elitist!</joking>\n\nSorry. I couldn't resist after everyone attacked me for it the other day. 1333425041 Sure it's peer-reviewed. Her peers are other homeopath nutjobs. So a bunch of nutjobs reviewed a nutjob paper and determined that its nutjob conclusions are totally rational in the mind of a nutjob. ;)\n\n 1330406140 Gah it makes me MAD!! \n\nHow to do something wrong, wrong!\n\n\n\nEdit: for more information on bashar: http://www.bashar.org/contact.html\n\nAnd the research: http://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/05/16/everything-energy/\n\nEdit 2: spelling 1343541650 Plot twist: finyacluck's home is on Nubiru. 1354587248 My ex used to get attacked by (what we believe) to be a demon a long time ago, and all I can tell you is if it happens to be one, if it isn't medical in any way, or anything spiritual that is manifesting, you need to take it seriously. Scratches and bruises are one thing but this CAN get worse into worse physical abuse. Does she see things during the day? i.e. shadows, really bad, realistic nightmares, etc. Does this happen majorly when she's stressed or has a bad day? \n\nBeing a non-religious person myself, the only remedies I ever hear about regarding these types of attacks IS religion, so my first option would be going to a priest and seeing what you can do. Blessing each room in the house, blessing her. As for the name on her stomach, could it possibly be the spirit's name? Whatever it is, it is far stronger than your average ghost. Keep doing the extra precautions like burning candles and the salt if it's helping. \n\nIn the face of this, she needs to be brave because these types of things feed off of negativity. The stronger it gets, the more potential it has to severely harm her, even moreso than what's occurring. \n\nAs someone has said, make sure she goes with a God she believes in. It's all a battle with her mind and inner strength, and I wish you the best of luck; keep safe. 1351092592 http://www.geigercounters.com/\n\n$260 bucks. 1305340969 Guess they found Craig 1335232357 [Psychic reading, Angel card readings, Channeling, Holistic therapy, and life couching.](http://psychicjanetlee.com/services) 1254365034 Well, I don't really have experience in Astral Projection, outside of a few books and biographies that I read many years ago. I actually do believe it's a possibility, though I think some of the things associated with it are not accurate. A book I read once many years ago said something about being tied to your physical body by some thread-like thing, and if you stray too far and the thread breaks, you will never make it back to your physical body. I also read that it leaves you open to demonic possession. I don't believe either of those things. I think that if it does truly exist, it's more of a telepathy kind of thing than the spirit actually leaving the physical body.\n\nI'd be interested in hearing more details on your experiences if you're willing to share! 1352752112 I found *Misquoting Jesus* to be an interesting read. The actual history of the books is quite interesting.\n\nToo bad people are so invested in the idea that they are the unaltered truth...but there's no reason to go the other way, either. 1304250865 I've been trying to get her to go to the hospital for 90 minutes now. She claims she's fine, she has full control of her pupils and motor skills, etc. but I'd rather not lose her to something that can be easily prevented 1332388659 Which one? Which god, and which particular sect of worship? 1326314455 Metroid :D 1341227401 Yeah, I guess fiasco is a little strong. There was a panel discussion that was completely pointless. Then both Grothe's and Randi's presentations beat the topic into the ground, and other people on the panel also had to talk about it during their talks. \n\nI guess my frustration extends from first my local skeptic group which I had to stop going to due to this type of crap, then I had gone to Skepticon without knowing about the drama with Randi's organization ahead of time and was very confused. \n\nWith TAM starting next week, I don't want it to turn into a sexism thing. The theme this year is Space. That's what I want - not a 'you're a paternalistic chauvinist who doesn't like the success of woman.' All of the 'big' bloggers involved in this Watson/Dawkins crap is going to be there, so I know it's going to come up, and that just sucks. 1310056793 That's *a* non sequitur. "Non sequitur" is used as a noun in English. 1312483132 But you'll put forth the effort to bitch about it? Fuck off. 1341867222 You are correct, but the cycle works in the following way: The bank can make loans of $9 of that $10. Suppose they loan it to housebuyer bill, who buys a house with that $9 to houseowner sally, well sally will take that $9 and put it into her bank and her bank then goes and makes loans of $8 from that $9. This cycle continues until a monetary injection of $X has expanded to (1/r)*X where r is the fraction of reserves held by the bank. 1312521460 Well, there you have it! 1323042592 I just realized they don't use rel="nofollow", weird.\n\nYour idea is great, I was just throwing another option for consideration.\n\nDoesn't reddit use "nofollow" on outgoing links, though? The only thing they'd get is info that their traffic is coming from here, and I don't necessarily see that as a bad thing. 1292714241 The China Study is one of the most commonly debunked studies out there. Take all of 5 minutes to find out why. (It starts off with shitty methodology, works its way up to shitty math, and pretty much continues on from there) 1353154239 that's sad. i mean, that someone thinks all that. 1352675552 Great captures! EVPs continue to amaze me while the rest of the stuff people capture become less so. \n\nWhen you post, don't put what you think it's saying. Once you tell people what to listen for, people will hear exactly that. Have them PM you their interpretations. You'll get a better idea if most people are hearing what you are hearing. Just a tip, nothing more. :)\n\nI am sure that some of the stuff people capture are random noises mistaken for voices maybe even cell phones, radio, natural explanations, etc. But other times it is quite unmistakable. It's a voice, much like your 'Run away' one. Those just blow my mind. I still don't fully believe that they are from people who have died. To accept that claim, requires a whole lot of extraordinary evidence to back it up.\n\nThis is great book about EVPs: [EVP and New Dimensions](http://www.amazon.com/EVP-New-Dimensions-Alexander-MacRae/dp/1411615034/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1341927381&sr=1-1&keywords=EVP+new+dimensions) by Alexander MacRae. \n\nKeep recording and posting! 1341927456 An essential part of good teaching is emphasising that the teacher doesn't have all the answers and may get things wrong on occasion. This matters more for those students in certain authoritarian school systems. 1306059475 It's so depressing to me that this country that I love is such a shithole in so many ways. 1350993329 This is great. Many newer mobile phones have face detection software. Or should I say... aura detection software? 1342640750 No, I remember seeing them on my bed and sort of ignoring them on my way to the bathroom, but I didn't pick them up. 1341247451 I don't find prefacing a categorical pronouncement with "OK. Stop." particularly skeptical but rather clearly dogmatic. 1329695096 Do you routinely drink ocean water? If so, I think the Osama part might be the least of your worries. 1304455256 I have personally never seen these supposed "Skeptic community... issues with women", and I'm not entirely convinced that it exists. Most skeptics I know are also some of the most progressive people I know, and would openly shun anyone who acted misogynistic or chauvinistic around a woman. \n\nI mean, I'm sure it's *possible* that some people who have interacted with RW have said terrible things, but I find it hard to believe that these interactions are a trait or characteristic of our community as a whole. Think about it - basically every self-identified skeptic knows who RW is. She does literally hundreds of events per year, which means that she has interacted with tens of thousands of people in the past "several" years that she references. It is entirely UNSURPRISING that she has met a few unsavory characters in that bunch - but is it a regular occurrence? I doubt it. \n\nTry to believe me when I say that I'm basing the following statement on RWs personality (or at least, the personality I have inferred from SGU and other public appearances), and not the fact that she is a woman whom I do not find attractive... But I think she's making a lot of this stuff up. (I'm not saying she's lying about everything - like I said, it wouldn't surprise me if *some* people really did say *some* of those things.) \n\nShe tries to convey a certain character in SGU that she clearly IS NOT in real life. Its like comparing the movie character "Juno" to the real-life Ellen Page - Juno is fun to watch and be entertained by, but is unrealistic as an actual human being. So these lame, highly publicized "fights" that RW gets herself into just seem to be childish attempts to prove to the world that she *really is* this super sexy, independent, snarky person that she portrays on SGU - that she really is Juno, and not real-life human Ellen Page.\n\nIronically, this character makes her less relatable to the rest of us... She's trying to hide her own insecurities (which we can relate to) behind a faux veneer of victimization, and it's pathetic. 1338574972 I wonder how much of the curvature that can be seen, which isn't much it seems to me, is caused by the earth and how much is caused by the moon's own curvature? 1344386423 I thought that wasn't technically poop and they were called cecum pellets. 1332818365 Downvoted for asking for your opinions?\n\nCome on guys. I think this is a valid question that should be addressed. I'd appreciate any references you guys have against these type of claims. \n\n 1297470723 Well I had to clarify if you were talking about a pure diet or using coal as some kind of vitamin supplement. I shall assume you meant the latter. 1299565645 I see a lot of 'might' before the potential problems/dangers with no actual proof. So we have an absence of evidence against spinal manipulation, correct?\n\nAlso your 1st link states " An adolescent child might benefit from appropriate manipulation designed to relieve symptoms caused by uncomplicated, mechanical-type back problems." Which is what I and other evidence based chiropractors treat. We do not treat the non existent 'subluxation'.\n\nI will disagree with link #2's statement of "Chiropractic is defined by a belief in vertebral subluxations." This statement is false, as this is an opinion piece.\n\nOverall the research is not complete for pediatric manipulation but then again there is no research to reveal the amount of risk, the types of risk, ways to screen for red or yellow flags. Until the research is done on both sides it is an incomplete argument for both parties. 1342747661 I still fear the cold barrel effect from Counterstrike and thus have to fire a few shots of with every pistol in every FPS game I play, even though I'm fairly sure the problem has been fixed in other games by now. Does this count?\n\nPS: I'm fairly sure this existed, just not for all the handguns, just the Desert Eagle? 1332274712 Science is not a religion. It is verified, replicated, based on empirical evidence, objective, and viewed with appropriate skepticism way before it makes it out to the public. I trust science because it has checks and balances. Common sense does not.\n\nI'm sure you think you know that it works, and you're right. It does work. But not for any of the reasons that chiropractors say, and not for any of the serious ailments they claim to treat. Any effect that you are seeing is either something that could have been done by a physical therapist, or placebo. There is no evidence supporting "vertebral subluxation". \n\nAnecdotes are certainly not the only evidence you need. How could any real knowledge work this way? You say I rely too much on science so instead you place all your trust on the common sense of your friends and family? Do they study this sort of thing? Are they objective? Do they have any medical degrees? If I should not put trust in science, with all of its controls and experimentation, you should absolutely not put your trust in friends and family who know nothing about it other than effects that can be explained by placebo. 1315679873 Bring a Camera. Just in case. 1334135832 I seem to remember that mumps can have some pretty bad side effects. Let me google that for a moment. Oh yes...\n\n-------------------\n**Prognosis for Adult Mumps**\n\nMost adults recover from mumps without any long-term problems. However, there are a number of complications of mumps seen in adults. Some of these complications can occur with mumps symptoms. In other cases, these complications may develop without symptoms. *In rare cases, long-term problems can result, including deafness.*\n \n\nComplications associated with adults mumps include:\n \n* Inflammation of the testes, called orchitis (this occurs in 1 out of 4 males with mumps)\n* Inflammation of the brain and/or tissue covering the brain and spinal cord (called encephalitis and meningitis, respectively)\n* Inflammation of the ovaries and/or breasts (oophoritis and mastitis, respectively)\n* Spontaneous abortion, particularly in early pregnancy (miscarriage)\n* Deafness, usually permanent\n* Pancreatitis.\n\n-------------------\nHope your friend isn't pregnant or too fond of music then. 1272053696 Well, that's really a lie... I have Celiac's and there's gluten in all sorts of distilled beverages... \n\nFrom Celiac.com:\n\n> They did find gluten in distilled liquor! The levels varied from zero to 200-mg gluten/liter. The highest amount was found in a "Creme de Framboise" (200 mg/liter) but second was a French brandy VSOP with a score of 180 m g/liter. A Dutch gin was negative, which might be an indication that gluten in these type of liquor is not a carry over to the distillate! My guess is that this gluten is derived from the caramel coloring, though there is no proof about this yet. I always advise sensitive patients to abstain from brown colored liquor!\n\nEDIT: Interesting that I'm getting downvoted so much - considering that the OP said 'no distilled spirits contain gluten' and I posted a quote (from a reliable source) proving the opposite... 1336937762 ["I saw the planes the whole time and I actually heard the pilots describing the low visibility conditions as they were making their approach into Sky Harbor," said Air15 Photojournalist Jesse Rutherford who shot the video in question.](http://www.educatinghumanity.com/2011/07/ufo-ufo-news-phoenix-dust-storm-ufos.html) 1310235350 >there are limitations to science\n\nNone of which are surpassed by metaphysical claims. Isn't that interesting?\n\nYour first comment said "really, zero anecdotes about people meeting or experiencing God? Sorry, this is patently false." \n\nFor you to accurately say "patently false" you need to demonstrate that people have met or experienced god. And you already know that means believing someone who's met Vishnu AND someone who's met Christ at the same time, or discrediting BOTH of those individuals. Or, even worse, you can arbitrarily chose one and discredit the other. The problem with keeping an open mind is that your brain falls out and you become a Zoroastrian Catholic Mormon Hindu because if you're treating all claims equally you cannot discredit any of them.\n\nBesides, "seeing Jesus" when they're in a state of delirium is not anecdotal evidence. Its a state of delusion. 1322700675 Thanks for all the comments about the logical premises of my post. I am making changes accordingly. 1348089379 Were you the one who posted as Dave? 1332766108 I'm glad to hear people are trying to find evidence for extraterrestrials in our DNA and agree it's one of the best places to look. 1333051522 Indeed ! 1343669502 It's not supernatural. It's part, an undiscovered part of reality. Doesn't mean you have to accept the entire god-religion-afterlife scenario.\n\nI am comfortable now as an atheist to accept that there are still unexplained phenomena. \n\n...ironically, I have "faith" that these will be explained rationally at some future time. 1308498932 maybe they are VIRAL MARKETING for the next whatever alien movie that will no doubt come out soon 1334241665 As a kid I remain pretty grateful to resources that taught me responsible skepticism, from Zillions (a Consumer Reports-printed mag that dissected advertising methods) and even stuff like Disney's Recess (which celebrated individuality and showed that even adults could be misinformed or silly in their thinking).\n\nUnfortunately, I can't fulfill your specific request (which seems to be an appeal for a book going over methodology), but I do have some suggestions for books going over the mindset of skepticism and the scientific method. If your child is still pretty young, [this book](http://www.amazon.com/How-Think-Like-Scientist-Scientific/dp/0690045654/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1298798836&sr=8-1) is something of a classic and written for young children.\n\nI haven't actually read [this one](http://www.amazon.com/Maybe-Yes-No-Guide-Skeptics/dp/0879756071/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1298799129&sr=8-1), but it looks fantastic. The first few pages available in the preview go over a child addressing rumours with other children that a local house is haunted.\n\nRegarding the methodology angle, pouring over reviews of a few "science for kids" books on Amazon couldn't be a bad start. Given that "debunking" really doesn't have any real epistemological distinction from science itself and standard empiricism I'm not sure that more is really needed :). 1298799263 >I don't care for religion, but I do believe that when you did you don't infact die.\n\nwat 1324739598 That's exactly it, we need to see his evidence and determine ourselves whether it supports his claim. just because it's a new and "crazy" idea doesn't mean we can throw it out. 1316141884 Hey, hey, hey. Whoa there.\n\nThey're called *media* releases, now, so as not to offend non-press media, like television, radio, or those scumsucking bloggers that took 'er jerbs. 1331795528 >What do you even mean when you say "theory supported by evidence"? As we both know, nothing can be "proven", so where do you draw the line?\n\nWow. It's as if you had no science education whatsoever.\n\nLet me put it this way: the more lines of evidence support a theory, the more likely it is to be true. The less evidence there is supporting a theory, the less likely it is to be true.\n\n>As someone who aspires to be as skeptical as possible, I try avoiding any beliefs.\n\nWe're not talking about beliefs. We're talking about accepting that things are true.\n\nFor example, you probably accept that I'm a real person writing these messages to you. That is a reasonable thing to accept, as it is much likelier than other outcomes.\n\n>IMHO, this way of saying "I accept the theory" is just a convenient way to avoid the word believe while implying the alleged validity of the theory.\n\nWell, it's your opinion, as you say, and I don't share it. Goodbye. 1328407432 [It's banned from sale in the UK]( http://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/london-life/can-you-patch-up-your-hangover-8293699.html) 1352933180 Thank you for the links! I am not doubting the existence of E.T.'s, I simply thought you were implying the flashes of light on the ground were the U.F.O.s. I was just correcting you on that. 1331852758 Well there was one time where I was standing (awake) for 46 hours for an philanthropic event back at school. Looking out of my own eyes in in the later hours was like controlling myself in a video game. I looked at my own hands and giggled out loud and excitedly said to the people around me at the time "I have hands!" \n\n 1335353712 I find this very often happens with this sort of woo advice. "How do you get over your xyz? Exercise, eat well, get enough sleep, limit your stress at work, oh and buy this awesome product!" 1345828893 > I mean that in this particular instance, there is no overwhelming geopolitical or economic reason that justifies the massacre.\n\nYou can't be serious...\n\nHave you been living in a rock the past decade? War profiteers have been living a dream. 1315794261 Problem is you'll may only discover somebody's irrational after you start arguing with them... 1332100762 Dude if you had started playing some Hendrix and brought cookies into the room you would have gotten the trippiest seance ever 1351814724 I'm glad you pointed that out as it's exactly what I was thinking as I wrote the OP. Well put. \n\nHow about from a psychological point of view? We often look to psychological healers.. Would it violate ethics if they didn't explain the intent of the series of questions they were asking under the belief that you will try to consciously game the answers? For me personally, questions are rather benign so I would put my trust in that the healer knew what they were doing in working toward my betterment. The sugar pill's psychosomatic effect could be lost if you explained it (even though evidence points to the contrary in some studies, as pointed out below)..\n\n 1311100960 I need 1 million dollars to test my new plan for growing cats on trees\n\nsend dump trucks full of cash to:\n\nAMERICAN AIRLINES\nManager, Customer Relations\nP.O. Box 619612 M/D 2400\nDFW Airport, TX 75261-9612\nUSA\n 1323985814 "She gets a cold, doesn't come in and get an adjustment, and within three or four days she's perfectly fine." 1323981271 http://www.physorg.com/news192818350.html - 'Famed physicist Stephen Hawking set off chatter in late April when he posited the existence of intelligent aliens on his new TV series, "Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking" -- adding that it would be best for human beings to avoid contact with them...'\n'Hawking speculated that such aliens would likely be nomads, living in ships after sucking their own planet dry of resources, and hopping from one interstellar refueling station to the next.\n"If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn't turn out very well for the Native Americans," he said.\nHawking has made such statements for years - in a 1996 essay, for example, he said humans should be "wary of answering" aliens until our species has become more sophisticated.' 1328435736 Don't be pissed just take it and believe it will work, nothing beats a placebo 1330021750 If you look at the ‘editor's picks’ of the comments, it's clear which side of this ruling the editor falls on. 1328895661 Trust me, I know more about this than you do. Amish are "doing fine" because of herd immunity. Look it up. At the same time, you ignored my point about pertussis. Why? Because you can't argue that- it's fact. You clearly don't understand medicine, immunology, or how to analyze whether a study is valid or not.\nHint: the ones you cited are not. There's a reason that you can actually put a number on the anti-vax docs-- because there are almost none. And trust me, it's not a gigantic conspiracy. It's medical knowledge and medical experience. 1298336621 Asshat. 1342656380 So let's just say this is true (I can't locate another source quickly), so what? Judges aren't scientists, they don't necessarily have to hear all the data, they just side with whoever makes the better argument. In some cases, and I imagine such is the case with this one should it be true, all a good lawyer has to do is appeal to emotion. 1337274642 >Serum **corticosterone** is an anti-inflammatory steroid and appears in higher levels in captive chickens.\n\nFTFY\n\n 1356496250 How is (accurately) saying we don't know an "overly optimistic reassurance"? Unless there's some public report or press release missing, they simply said they had no evidence to believe a major quake was coming. 1351012544 $100 says Greer never got within 100 feet of Neil Armstrong's and Buzz Aldrin's families, let alone heard them discuss UFOs. Why would they talk to him about anything?\n\nThis is a real problem that I run into with Greer. He always places himself right at the center of everything, and yet none of these people would give him the time of day in reality. His claims of 'personal briefings' to high level members of the government and such are obviously gross embellishment. 1346894280 That's epic. 1311181343 Trust me..prescripted. He did answer questions about medical marijuana crackdowns..yet HAD THE FUCKING NERVE TO REPLY ABOUT HIS BEER RECIPE!\n\nTrust me...look at the accounts that asked the questions and the times they were created. Look at the generic answering platform he gives on those questions...nothing that will change ANYTHING\n\nThis was just an attempt to get his ass on the side of Redditors...please see through the bullshit, you're making the rest of us look bad. 1346352155 Classic. 1313335381 Hey, all of that new age stuff isn't crap. For example crystals do work. You can change people's behaviour using crystals. Like martensite. Especially if you sharpen it properly. 1303841844 Indeed. I'm wondering whether he couldn't find a study that supported his position, to he just picked one thinking no-one would actually look at it. Seriously, if vitamins were truly as simple and easy a cure as these people think, then oncologists wouldn't be putting their patients on such horrible treatments as chemotherapy and radiotherapy. 1317581672 hey OP, paranormal activity doesn't belong in here. put it in /r/nosleep. 1338707596 Continue reading his post... 1334247122 > Doctors readily admit that we have been giving away vaccinations and anti-biotics when they were not really needed.\n\nI've never heard a doctor say that vaccines were being given out too much. The dangers of antibiotics are not a problem for vaccines. Vaccines simply get your immune system to be able to resist a disease without any kind of treatment by exposing it to a dead/weakened version of a disease. \n\nThe only reason vaccines sometimes wear off is that viruses and bacteria evolve way faster than we do, so that the new strain of influenza is different enough from last year's strain (totally different strains: last years might have been H2N4, and this year's might be H3N1. Same symptoms, related viruses, but not the same virus. I might get that wrong) that the immune response is no longer effective. And for some vaccines, a shot is good enough to last a lifetime.\n\nThe FDA isn't that poorly organized, but it's not beyond lobbying. That being said, most of the lobbying goes around labeling: what is or isn't a natural ingredient, or not labeling something is a GMO. The studies they do on GMO's, MSG, or Aspartame are reliable science. They still do make sure stuff is safe before approving it. The only time they don't is when they let something rush to market, but that's normally over optimism about treating something bad like cancer, heart disease, arthritis, or obesity. \n\nFinally, studies on GMOs, aspartame, and MSG have been done by non government entities. The results aren't any different, and university research is generally pretty insulated from corporate influences, and they came to the same conclusions. I'm not too sure about MSG, but there have been dozens of studies on GMOs and Aspartame, and the only studies on either that show them being dangerous are biased and aren't peer reviewed.\n\n\nOh, one last thing: You said that you'd be alienating the other side. As someone who comes from a family that about a 3rd of which believe in Woo, being nice and understanding doesn't work. These are people who lecture me about drinking a diet coke because the aspartame "causes brain cancer/makes you fat/is bad for you somehow, but I forget exactly how." Trust me, nothing you say will point out that they don't have evidence. Period. I will never drink a Diet Coke or diet Dr. Pepper (which I drink for the flavor) in peace at a family gathering. It just won't happen. 1341942261 Dust and insects for sure. Love the architecture on the church, though. I have seen similar archways on a church in Philly. Very cool. 1325545266 The thing that got me is the records look worn. Like, they would be somewhat new back then, those look like they were all sifted out of a second hand store. 1352831557 1. Present self as sexual object.\n2. Get pissed when people view you in a sexual way\n\nYou're right, people have a right to be offended by others viewing them in a certain way, but it doesn't really make their positions rational. I can't imagine a playboy model having a really great argument to make about how uncomfortable she is with guys oogling her all the time.\n\nEveryone deserves to be treated with respect. If there is a scenario where a guy asks a girl out and she declines, nobody has been disrespected. That is what happened on the elevator. Nobody was objectified. The guy said "don't take this the wrong way" or in other words "I'm asking you for coffee but seriously, I actually mean coffee." Is is that surprising that someone at a conference full of intellectuals might actually want to have a conversation with someone?\n\nAn nobody is saying anyone has to accept advanced because you pose nude. All I said, and you can go read it again if you like, is that she can't be very surprised when men are hitting on her. Is that so unreasonable? 1310622947 barbie karaoke machine. great. 1338905026 Um... placebos work... yes. 1306311015 It's likely the ring just got caught on clothing / books /etc without notice, and eventually settled to where you found it.\n\nAnyone that's ever lost a contact lens can probably relate... 1328828436 Is this how things are generally in the USA ? - if so it's no wonder you're going down the gurgler !\n 1309250962 Well then maybe you should listen to the military intelligence folk who have gone on the record about what they have seen. Read Leslie Kean's book on the subject for a good introduction. 1332254806 Working out makes me grow more facial hair. \n\nGROW, DAMN IT. 1335063690 "Proved" ftfy 1322416523 Evidence of life on mars as described by Basiago: "In NASA image [PIA10214](http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpegMod/PIA10214_modest.jpg), a lake, azure blue in color, can be seen at the foot of Husband Hill, to the west of the Home Plate Plateau. In NASA image [PIA11049](http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpegMod/PIA11049_modest.jpg), a pipe can be seen, and from it, water can be seen flowing downward into a catch basin, around which, in turn, human beings can be seen standing, to the south of the Home Plate Plateau."\n\nThe above descriptions taken from an [interview](http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-2912-Seattle-Exopolitics-Examiner~y2009m11d9-Web-Bot--Andrew-Basiago-is-predicted-planetary-level-whistleblower-for-Mars-life-and-time-travel) with Basiago.\n\nAlso from the same article: "In the interview, Basiago states that the US government’s “quantum access” capability was so advanced 40 years ago that in 1971, he was asked to read a copy of his paper The Discovery of Life on Mars that had been retrieved from the future, so that when he wrote it, in 2008, it would contain as much data about Mars as possible."\n\nThere is much more in the article, I suggest you read it. 1258031981 Be a little more clear as to what you're on about - I have been reading the previous posts. 1300939457 Yeah I believe that they have forward facing eyes its part of natural selection and evolution but it all depends on climate, land, food ect you know? I just find it hard to believe they look like something from the cinema. 1345207546 > People still believe in the Pheonix lights despite this video showing that when the lights disappeared, they were falling behind the mountains\n\nThere have been countless people that have testified on video that what is shown on video *is not what they saw.* So, yes, they continue to believe that the event truly happened and they "know what they saw."\n\n> Marfa Lights are still routinely believed, despite this item\n\nJust because one sighting/phenomenon was debunked, doesn't necessarily mean others are as well. See: [straw man argument](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man)\n\n 1312838305 : ( I'm currently reading Contact by Carl Sagan so the timing would have been perfect if it was true. Oh well. 1325950283 I thought that it had already been determined it WASN'T a rock formation.....like waaaaaay back when they first scanned down there. 1339774129 You could say the level design was ... predictable. 1338525445 \n>How so? When you pick out these comments and use them to say "all the people who disagree with me are like this," \n\nThat's just it: **no one is saying that.** Pointing out that there's an endemic problem isn't the same as saying everyone's against you. 1351170998 Has a building such as Building 7 burnt for 7 hours without any attempt to put it out before? \n\nAnd what are you basing the claim "Even if it the fire burnt itself out a modern building would not collapse." on? And how is anything I said begging the question? 1316114858 Unfortunately, that's already on the packaging of the type we sell (it's some cheap knock-off). 1334775813 Sorry, have to Godwin you pretty quickly, least we forget and all. [Action T4](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-4_Euthanasia_Program) \n\n(not quite same thing, but a branch on the same ideological tree nonetheless) 1243124661 why didn't you like it? 1309189438 Is Oprah the queen of hearts? 1322423184 Thank you for relaying information given to you by a trusted first hand source. I have looked over you past posts and bullshitting people on stuff like this doesn't seem like your M.O..\n\nNo one here has knowledge of what is and isn't possible. I personally don't find it outside the realm of possibility that a B52 might be out fitted with composite wings and some sort of electromotive drive. The B52 is a very old and highly adapted airframe. One only has to look at the stealth versions of the Huey and Black Hawk to see how radically an airframe can be modified.\n\nI am not going to dismiss your story out of hand and find it interesting. Also realize that you are endangering your friend and yourself by talking openly about a black program. 1354515314 Would be great if you could explain what dowsing roads are and how they work. 1344310746 You saw through a cloak? 1350027166 As far as I know Brazil reached the same conclusion and publicly released everything. Iran might have as well, but their present government is different to the one that filed the reports on the Tehran UFO. 1325215906 I've always wondered if it's because conspiracy theorists inherently believe in some sort of ordered universe, and don't think the universe would let these miscreants get away with it. Thus these events are arranged for them, the truth-seekers, so they can discover the evil plot and foil it before it's too late by waking the sheeple. 1344542542 You'll never see one. Because there are no facts that support this conclusion. 1307943794 My uncle was a true believer chiropractor. So true, that he refused to treat his colon cancer when it was found at stage 1 using allopathic medicine and relied solely on chiropractic treatment. He did this until it had reached stage 4. THEN, he went traditional medicine. Too late, he died from the colon cancer. 1342726954 Shit like this is way I actively hate religion.......... 1338925912 You can't really base an opinion of a subculture with an example from a subreddit &#3232;\\_&#3232;\n 1318559307 No you can edit them 1296879543 Unusual, I'll give you that. But there isn't enough information to decide on a theory. 1333009592 Yeah, almost two minutes is really too much to expect us to watch. 1351740848 >Ehh, I don't really like this. Just because someone doesn't believe in god doesn't mean they have anything to do with science. \n\nAgreed. I'm not really suggesting it as a replacement for "atheist". But in Dawkins book The God Delusion, he wasn't really promoting atheism so much as rational scientific thinking. That's what the majority of New Atheists seem to want.\n\nNot believing in god(s) is just one of the results of applying the kind of thinking that New Atheists generally want. 1279275859 Fascinating. Got any links? 1332888055 What about substituting coconut oil for other oils that are already a part of the diet? 1345826671 as a mater of fact yes. The Switz laws were similar to our laws back in the beginning days. This is why the right bare arms. It was the Quakers who started the prison systems. Before then criminals were handled locally with the stockade, tar and feathers, or hanging. You protected yourself and you were allowed to do it. 1343146187 My sister swears she saw the apparition of a dog. At a house she rented one time, 1323830392 /r/nosleep would love to hear any and all stories you have! 1318246919 Mine too; it's seriously underrated by Whovians. It should have won a BAFTA too for sure.... And the acting! 1331558045 I find it hard to believe that Colbert is a religious Christian and a Sunday school teacher. He must have some serious cognitive dissonance. 1310519874 Seems to be a valid explanation actually. 1355769589 Very true; would we be having the same debate as to whether or not McCain being born in the Panama Canal makes him ineligible for the presidency? 1337493855 Soso, nobody´s seen Chinese lanterns before,.. 1344104563 Checked out a couple of other vids from this guy. What is that about the intros? 1341600616 THATS WHAT SHE SAID ABOUT ME! 1272871129 How many times has a president signed a budget when he knew that he did not have the political means to effectively fight the proposed budget?\n\nVetoing things is sometimes like stomping your foot and throwing a temper tantrum. It makes you feel better, but less likely to be taken seriously in the future. 1326427077 there were plenty of devices patented in the 90s that use thermite at high pressure that "shoots" out of the device at high temperature and high speed. if similar devices like these were used, explode would have been a better term to use then burn because they didnt just get hot and start burning like would or some thermite just laying on a table. 1337018385 It looks pretty fake. 1355123342 "[Bollocks](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bollocks)" is British slang. Means either 'nonsense' or 'poor quality', depending on the context. 1286845758 You're assuming that's what the creators were going for. 1346017671 I think a sharpie and the word FRAUD might be more effective. \n\nBy removing it, you miss a teachable moment.\n\n 1338996237 I dont think I was 'massaging' the statistics, I was just using the only ones which make a difference in my life.\n\nSure, it would be worse if I lived in India or somewhere like that, but I dont. 1328901789 i hate when those shows highlight a spot in a picture and there's NOTHING there! They kept showing it too! I didn't see anything in that spot they highlighted by the dudes head. 1339896725 http://www.youtube.com/user/alnetworks2010/videos?query=meier 1341676790 Somewhere a creationist's head just exploded. 1344134980 She lost credibility and respect for me when she publicly shamed a female student at an event she was paid to speak at, by name, with said student in attendance and no way to defend herself. She publicly behaved how SRS behaves here, lumping the student who disagreed with her in with misogynists, rape apologists, etc. She commands no respect and shouldn't get any because of the way she treats others who disagree with her. Just like SRS. 1351141673 What is an example of a government which has not colluded to protect the interests of capital? I am trying to think of an example that would show that this is an aspect of crony capitalism and not just capitalism. 1313551914 If circle jerking to Jenny McCarthy is wrong, hey I don't wanna be right. 1351002550 [> This has been one of the most well studied public health measures in the modern era, and the evidence of safety is well documented, both in the short and long-term.](http://www.skepticnorth.com/2010/10/fluoridiated-water-debate-returns-nothing-new-is-said/) 1326947618 Yep, I believe its been demonstrated by medical science that taking daily doses of chemo is bad for you, and should only be taken during certain stages in terminal cancer. Colloidal silver advocates often drink silver daily, and its toxic effects are bioaccumulative. 1344573350 I think they are wrong though, puppies are better then bacon!!! Oh wait, thats right, there is no context so we have noooo idea what they are talking about. The person could have been justifying why the people running concentration camps were actually just fantastic people. We don't know. 1310795734 That is fascinating. Thanks for the clear explanation. 1355948917 Is this thread really full of people that think children that aren't vaccinated should be left with no medical coverage? 1329557086 Some free radicals are necessary for bodily function and our body produces antioxidants naturally to fight off the bad ones. Taking antioxidant supplements may eliminate the necessary ones along with the bad ones, I suggest you don't use them. And yes avocados do have antioxidants. 1336016674 Anyone curious as to the OP's lack of answers? Maybe the ghost got angry... 1343875887 Pissed myself laughing reading the blurb for it to my girlfriend. 1340706081 It's like watching an amateur stand up comedian COMPLETELY bomb. 1352592488 Ok, that would be a good example, though I am certain that in a drug study it is far better randomized, and it seems very dubious to me that such approval is a good thing as the effect is not very strong and is too easily countered by perceived safety. If you assume a population that has a small percentile of extremely-at-risk individuals (who practice something particularly risky during sex), it seems to me that a short term study may yield overly optimistic results as the ultra high risk sub population would saturate in longer term.\n\nedit: also i think people don't normally just decide to blow off a lot of money on a drug, without expecting to be able to do more risky things sexually in return (given that they are already trading survival vs lifestyle). 1346095311 Just curious: did you look at the paper at all? 1350102794 Certainly there has to be a psychological effect with people "dressing the part" be that a politician in a suit or a psychic dressed "like a psychic. 1351034180 If true, and I think it most probably is, it is an important example of why we need a society that has good critical thinking skills. 1324194586 I need some video. You said there were cameras. 1352137707 Prometheus? 1353966726 Pause at :52 & :53 of the video. It is an advertising blimp. You can see the banner ad on the side, the red light in the back and cockpit below. 1322288339 I don't know if this would work, but why not ask to go with her to her homeopath's appointment next time (or offer to take her to an appointment if she's just buying stuff at a health food store and dosing herself).\n\nMy experience with alternative practitioners is that many see themselves as complementary to bio-medicine, and actually encourage their patients to ALSO seek the care of a doctor.\n\nI realise this is not the case with all practitioners, so this might not work, but maybe you could interview some alternative practitioners in your area and treat your mom to several appointments with one you can trust to encourage her to take her health more seriously.\n\nGood Luck. As a future "alternative" practitioner myself (acupuncture) it really frustrates me to hear people dismiss the benefits of "western" medicine. 1296693041 I like when they try to debunk their own stuff too. The thing I don't like is they say they don't like using orbs as a proof, but they constantly are pointing out orbs. 1346646530 The coatings on many lenses can produce artifacts like this. The light doesn't even need to be in the view, as it can often happen at very sharp angles. You can reproduce the effect reliably at night when the moon is out. 1325663947 > ask why though ghosts disappear when the house is knocked down?\n\nAll the ghost go to the garbage dump, duh. Except for the ones that get recycled, then they go into the sprite you drank last week.\n\nI love ghost sprite. 1348070139 The wikipedia page you cited. Follow the citation to the NEXT wikipedia page, where they break down how they get that number.\n\nI'm only ASSUMING Wired is talking about quantum efficiency, I haven't actually seen the article... 1274806567 Right. My point was that chiropractors, homeopaths, naturopaths, etc. aren't actually practicing medicine, so they don't have to be concerned with getting the actual correct diagnosis. 1333495898 I found this title immensely entertaining and I'm not sure why... 1335938150 The vatican does not subscribe to young-earth creationism.\n\nHell, Pat Robertson doesn't even subscribe to it any more. 1356872376 You're an idiot, but I respect your right to be an idiot. 1291056447 I'm not really sure myself. But from what I've gathered, it's in some way related to 2012, god, aliens, etc. 1347984602 Yeah, if it's one of those Chinese lantern things. They even said "it's right over Koreatown". 1341893894 From my encounters with chiropractors, they seem to have no idea how the body works:\nhttp://sciencebasedlife.wordpress.com/2010/09/06/chiropractic-pseudo-science/\n\nI would recommend going to a physical therapist for your muscular-skeletal problems. You get a lot more expertise with none of the woo. 1313980341 you have NO IDEA of all of the moving parts behind the scenes and the motivations of the actors - you have no way to claim the official story is nearly 100% true or 1/2 true. Just one major withheld secret could turn the whole thing on it's head. We do know that the commission was a fucking dog and pony show so it's no more informative than the conspiracy theorists really. As for other lines of inquiry (jackass), the lines are many and convoluted and would shed no real light. We need a second commission, we need to haul Cheney in with his new heart and put him under fucking oath, same goes for Saudi actors, Jeb Bush, World Trade Center insurers, Clinton, Tennent, Clarke, FBI, Pentagon, First responders, NORAD, FAA, ISI, Curveball, Bin Laden's Wife, any Arab "masterminds", Zelikow, Freeh - you get the idea. For every expert one guy can produce there is another expert who claims the opposite. Building 7 is fucked up dude. just sayin. And honestly the controlled demo "debate" bores me compared to what is being withheld about Atta. 1334561108 Thank you. I greatly enjoyed the Hessadalen video. 1339621485 Yes, to paraphrase a famous movie line, "I do not think that word means what you think it means." 1318801559 You're an idiot.\n\nYou called me an elitist and implied I'm not egalitarian because *I quoted you*.\n\nYou also keep implying that people are seriously considering doing things that would "[junk] our money making industries." Evidence needed, please. 1331426669 I cant speak for the other guys but what I wrote above actually happened. I did a quick search of this subreddit to see if anyone had posted about San Jose yesterday and found this topic. I'm not going to claim what my girlfriend saw was extraterrestrial, it was an unidentified flying object, nothing more. It was the level of her excitement that spurred me to post, as she is usually the first to be skeptical of everything. 1356020716 I just really want to know what the fuck I am looking at. 1324533623 he kept it super generic by saying "screens", so it appears to be difficult to disprove his blanket assertion.\n\nits much easier than considering that wacky things happening might have proportionately wacky explanations. 1351714182 Nightmares are generally warnings from the subconscious, no? I'll bet there are some things you need to see to. 1326530757 I do agree that it was government inaction. There were intelligence reports saying that [Bin Ladin was determined to attack in the US](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bin_Ladin_Determined_To_Strike_in_US). The problem was that there was too much intelligence flying around for anyone to determine what was a credible threat. \n\nI reject the theory that the inaction was on purpose. "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity." 1290676943 Wait no longer. They will say those radar images are from their experimental aircraft. You are welcome. 1346633220 He is also rumored to be an Nigerian Government official with a substantial sum of money to transfer to the US. All he needs is your bank details.\n\nWould you negate such a *called upon* man such a privilege? I'm sure he will compensate you, and use the money to fund his amazing expedition too. 1279451289 "Wait, wait, let's do another take." 1295454595 You teach flaws in logic in school? 1306475836 I still don't see how proving one case to be false somehow proves all other cases false, as well. 1331737033 Well, fuck this. Pack it up and go home everybody, she's got money. 1323059601 One word: Monsanto. \n \nResearch them. You'll never want to eat canola grown from "Roundup Ready" Farmers again. 1302794410 I'd say Darkness Radio, but lately it's become kinda Christian-ish, and Dave has become a bit negative lately...\n\nYou might want to check out parapods... i haven't heard it yet, i friend of mine just told me about it. 1333986452 No pictures, and I drew a pic and everything but I have no idea how to post it online. I don't have a scanner. Fuck. 1355360405 The truth is all is subjective and what is real for one person doesn't have to be real for other one. We create our own personal reality using our consciousness, then we create a shared reality through sharing consciousness between different persons and finally we create an established reality (common for most/all of us) through the consciousness of all of us together. And as WE really create our own reality we can get to do amazing things in it (just being aware and totally convinced that this things are real). Which is really intriguing is that through the shared reality some people due to different reasons sometimes can influence/impose/show/share some of that things from their personal reality into others realities. It's like a clash of consciousness and the result depends on how possible is the thing you are doing, in the other person personal reality.\n\n I hope this can be understandable someway. It's not the best explanation I have done of this, but I am not too mentally focused today.\n\nEdit: added a word. 1356284432 Almost certainly an airplane. At that distance our eyes want to see a 2D flat plane but in reality you're looking at a complex 3D curved space. It can create an illusion that something is traveling straight up when really it's traveling mostly parallel to the ground. It's possible it could be a missile, but most are going to be too small for you to see at that distance. 1313161925 I have to look up so much on this.. He's been telling me that the building wasn't hit by a plane OR a building! He's telling me it was also rigged with explosives.\n\nI'm so confused, there are so many stories surrounding this event. 1331243712 That sounds suspiciously like "basting". Are you from /r/atheism? :) 1330915502 > Well hopefully the teacher is familiar with the scientific method, which makes the facts that they're passing on better than the religious "facts" preachers pass on. Eventually the students must come to think and critically analyse things for themselves, but to get up to the point where you can do that you did need a good fact base first.\n\n\nYes, that's also my point: teaching just facts without teaching how do we know them is counter productive. We have to teach some introduction to logic and the scientific method as soon as we start teaching the basic facts of the universe 1314977332 >For some reason my password kept getting rejected. My dad said "it's the curse!!" I LOLd, and then carefully entered my PW, and signed in successfully.\n\nIt's like running into the Prince of Insufficient Illumination and having a Hex of Slight Inconvenience put on you. 1345091375 Played it; it helped immensely with energy..thank you. 1323695779 Any other theories on the word on the stomach? Ive been starting at the picture for quite some time. I'm not much help cause i don't know Latin or anything but I'm trying my best.\n 1351124077 It goes against a lesson that I thought everyone learned as a toddler. In truth, it's easier to hope that something will happen that is to work for it. 1307747609 cats have the ability to manipulate space and time. just their brains do not work quite like ours, so they are hard to understand. your cat was feeling unappreciated and felt like messing with you. \n\nAnyway I saw this yesterday, so enjoy a flying cat...\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-SMbblxhpM 1327462757 According to the article, and I have no idea whether what the article is claiming is correct or not, 10,000 IU is fine.\n\n>In November 2010, the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine issued its first new recommendations about the vitamin since 1997, and many people were disappointed. The institute did boost its recommended daily amounts to 400 IU for infants, 600 IU for most adults, and 800 IU for those over age seventy. It also said there was no harm in taking up to 10,000 IU daily, although it conservatively adopted 4,000 IU as the official recommended upper limit. 1311324247 I'm not thinking it's a ghost. I just am curious about different theories others have. 1331835718 As you are posting this to /r/skeptic, you should try to avoid personal bias AND anecdotal evidence.\n\nI mean, it's a good rule for life, but I think it goes doubly so here. 1346177127 Better yet, view [this version](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8u6BZv6_DLc). 1297457467 Well that's what I'm saying, you'd be surprised at how many different devices will transmit radio signals, if the source is close enough or just super powerful 1338820434 I know of this trick! when she "cut your energy in half" did she use her hands to make an x across your chest or something? my understanding was that it is purely psychological. the same time i did this we did a version of light as a feather stiff as a board. this is where 4 or more people pick somone up with just your index fingers. \n\nEdit: it also might have something to do with the nervous system, just the a touch is all that is needed to distract your nerves from recruiting muscles to respond to force on your arms. 1322671138 Oh looky here. I think you're bored, lonely, and [trolling hard right now](http://www.reddit.com/r/depression/comments/ruaet/a_question_about_otc_antidepressants/) and [this](http://www.reddit.com/r/UnsentLetters/comments/t4o2r/oh_fuck_you/)... and [this](http://www.reddit.com/r/UnsentLetters/comments/s5tsf/ill_wait_forever/)... and definitely [this](http://www.reddit.com/r/insomnia/comments/s7jhs/why_cant_my_body_understand_how_little_sleep_ive/) and probs some of [this](http://www.reddit.com/r/self/comments/u8e65/ive_trapped_myself/). Okay, you can come out from behind the curtains now. 1338555864 or 3. demolition explosions.\n\nIt is a possibility. 1316118832 what do you mean by artifact? and why do they appear on the C3 in the same location? 1342898319 I'll take a massage without the quackery, please. 1318966437 >You know, the things that really kill white people. 1296934532 I hate the "they traveled all this way" argument. If they have the technology to get here, im sure its some sort of space-time manipulation that allows them to go anywhere in a very short time. Its not like they are just sitting on a ship traveling for years and years to get here. Its probably instantaneous and not that big of a deal for them 1339885707 It's fake as hell. And not good fake, but Rolax watch and Gucce handbag fake. That's a good starting point. You could also add that Derek Acorah is a fraud and a media whore. Rational arguments won't sway the Daily Mail-reading public. 1301488114 In terms of percentages? I'd imagine you'd have a higher chance of dying on the car ride over than from the actual acupuncture. 1287487613 There was nothing wrong with her delivery, she was just reading a PR letter out loud. That is inherently boring material. 1335652031 Nah I was watching it in the park. Some guy came along and gave us a bunch of these flyers there. They immediately set off my bullshit detector, but you never know! 1319621333 I think presenting both sides of a news story is often a symptom of lazy reporting. A lot of reporters (and I'm talking about more about local TV reporters, not necessarily newspaper reporters, although many of them are guilty as well) don't have the time, motivation, or intellectual ability to dig into a story to determine which side of the story the evidence supports and tell us what actually happened.\n\nBy providing both sides, they can avoid doing to difficult leg work and claim that their reporting is balanced. 1349789390 You're providing quotes that support my position... I'm *seriously* wondering if you've started arguing against a different point than mine.\n\nIn [this comment](http://www.reddit.com/r/skeptic/comments/dy9w4/agnostic_on_the_fence_i_have_a_question_for/c13ultq), you disputed my claim that saying "I believe there is no god" is strong atheism."\n\nThen you quote from the article just now to support your view:\n\n>To be more precise about the issue of belief, consider the two possible claims one can make regarding the existence of a god:\n\n > 1. The god exists.\n > 2. The god does not exist. \n\n> There are two positions one can take with respect to either claim:\n\n > 1. Belief or acceptance of the claim.\n > 2. Disbelief or rejection of the claim. \n\n> For claim number 1 (the god exists), the theist takes the first position (belief), while the atheist takes the second (disbelief).\n\n> For claim number 2 (the god does not exist), the theist takes the second position (disbelief), while the atheist can hold either position (belief or disbelief).\n\n> Notice, therefore, that atheists need not positively believe that no gods exist. Some do, and this position is often known as strong atheism. \n\nThis basically says "claiming 'I believe no gods exist' is strong atheism". How does this not support what I said before? 1288396022 No worries. MSM means the "Main Stream Media". :) 1340005688 Sadly enough, the irrationalists will only use studies like these to commit so-called 'naturalist fallacies' and conclude that it's good to be irrational, because people have a tendency to be. 1250884829 I watched that documentary with John Cussack in. 1300060533 Perhaps she is just trying to get rid of you without making you feel inadequate, and is faking an interest in something she knows you'll dislike? 1301441157 > Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity. \n\\- Robert J. Hanlon\n\nThis I think is more true of today's muck than anything else. Nobody wants a shitty world, but a lot of people are greedy enough to not see or believe that their actions can have dire consequences. 1335045958 This is a government page saying they'll pay you £120,000 if you become disabled as a result of being vaccinated.\n\nObviously, every so often vaccines do cause disability but it's a matter of statistics, they save many more people from death and disease than they cause. 1298455774 Try getting pragmatic. Ask what it means to him for your invisible pink unicorn to exist. You could always press the intersubjectivity point and ask about what status it has in any sort of consensus reality if you assert its existence. 1333521114 but where did he come from? you can see an overhead shot of that whole side of the ice, and he's nowhere to be found. 1339435167 I always find it amazing how someone can come up with compilation of home made UFO's movies while I (and many with me) have been starring into to skies and haven't seen anything like it for years.\n\nBillions of camera's out there that never seem to catch a UFO and this guys captures a dozen.\n\nI find it hard to believe.. 1352736109 What was the wording on the WiFi signals? Potential Carcinogen...look up the list of what the WHO considers 'possible' carcinogens..its an interesting read. IIRC there's a colour on the list, magenta or something similar. 1311954594 Easy to try out. Have him stop drinking diet soda and products with aspartame inside and see if the migraines still happen. 1294256775 I like to lick the qi off the walls, and mix it with chewy caramel. Makes a great sundae. 1227318611 As far as how they handle finances, Charity Navigator gives them a pretty good rating:\nhttp://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=12429 1331302732 Also worth noting: predictive models like this require training sets (building the model) and testing sets (validating the model). If we wanted to really see if active facebook users were driving the debt crisis, we would need to see how well our model predicted future events. Since there's only one facebook and only one Greece, we'd have to wait a while and gather data. If we really wanted to see if beer predicts sexytimes, we'd just have to set aside a lot of OK Cupid users while we built our sexy beer model, then test our hypothesis on the remaining OK cupid users. Without that, we can never be sure if our model is generalizable. 1353390242 I agree with you. Little known fact: The difference between man made and UFO crop circles is in the kernels.\n\n>Biological anomalies and unreproducable effects such as nodal bending (where the 'knuckles' on stems are bent at strange angles to effect certain shapes in the lay) are always absent from man-made designs.\n\nFrom http://www.swirlednews.com/crop.asp\n\n>Work by laboratories on circle-affected crop has shown biological changes taking place at a cellular level, suggesting the involvement of microwave energy\n\nBUUUUUUT the skeptics are always right, aren't they? Yep, just a bunch of podunk trolls IRL. 1350918422 I've had a very similar dream a few months back. Basically, it was daytime and I was outside with friends going for a walk. We all looked up to see a huge-wave (thousands) of UFO's flying the skies. My friends run in different-directions. I guess I just stood there staring at the unusual-looking craft as it got closer. It was light-grey. \n\nThe bottom half was shaped like the handle of a pistol, very similar to [this image](http://tacticaltrainingsolutions.com/images/UTG/rb-pgrp478-m%20AK47%20Pistol%20Grip.jpg). The top half-went forward/straight like a pistol for maybe 30-feet, the end(tip I guess) was flat and circular. At the very front of the top half was a black-bubble, it was mostly-opaque but had just enough transparency to see inside, into the cockpit. Hard to explain. There were indentations and markings and vents on the craft.\n \nNext thing I know, I'm in the woods somewhere looking at a docked craft on the ground. I realize that I'm Looking directly at an extraterrestrial-being through the bubble-thing and she's intently staring right back at me. The bubble opens. \n\nFast-forward...I'm face to face with a beautiful-being. There was an overwhelming-emotion of love. This feeling or emotion, I never had experienced in real-life was just so strong I cried with joy within my dream. \n\nHer eyes resembled that of the cliche "grays", her mouth was much like ours but smaller and she had lips. Her head was the same size as ours. She had teeth/tongue and she spoke. When she spoke she said words, but I only heard them in my head(I don't know how that makes sense).\n\nI replied through thought. This being smiled the whole time and told me not to be afraid. She lead me to her craft, I sat inside and remember everything inside being black. the seats, instruments, walls, everything.\n\nThe seats were awesome as fuck. I can't even explain them. As I sat there... something started to feel very wrong, but she reassured me that everything will be OK.\n\nI then asked her "Are you going to hurt me"? She replied in a half-whisper in my head, and I quote(I guess): "*Yes, but it won't be painful*". She smiled the biggest, most sincere-smile and then I woke up. It's my favorite dream. 1329250059 But it has a picture of a cute baby elephant face on it. Surely it has to work. 1302399188 I know you were joking, but there are decent arguments that eating meat is unethical. The comparison with plants is obviously silly and, I hope, doesn't require debunking. Unless you were serious... were you? 1332136731 you derp increase magic? 1322035826 I think she had a hallucination brought on by fever and sickness. 1298150978 The various strains I have are not used because I want to fuck around and experience every high. I grew them because different strains help for different things. Certain strains make my back feel amazing, while other do nothing for the pain. Some make my anxiety and depressions much more manageable, while some make them worse.\n\nI have gone through about five or six different anxiety and depression meds, and the only one that worked was the most recent one I took: Buspirone. It needed to be taken twice daily: when I got up and when I had lunch. It gave me intense lightheadedness for 2-3 hours after taking it. With the medicinal marijuana, I can smoke at night and be fine throughout almost the entire next day without feeling high. \n\nAnd by the way, before you start saying that I'm a smugly incorrect person, you might want to look at yourself. 1327783373 I'm not really talking about controlling prices. Maybe I should have said "mitigating cost escalation". When it comes to medicare, government is the market. \n\nI don't know where you are going with this. I simply asked if they had to prove that their compelling interest was saving taxpayers money or if they had to prove that their plan for saving taxpayers money was worthy. Two different considerations.\n\nAll you are saying is that they shouldn't be doing what they are doing. Fine. 1337892728 The problem is that this may be people just seeing what they want. For example, in the picture you linked to that looks "exactly like a modern depiction of the electron cloud", it could easily have been something else. I mean if I were in 3rd grade and drew a bunch of symmetric doodles on my notepad, would future generations be like "this genius drew something that looked like 2 quantum entangled particles, he must have known before we did!", when really I was drawing no such thing? \nI mean if they had that kind of knowledge of electrons you think they would be able to depict it a little clearer. \n\nAs for ancients knowing such advanced astronomy that in theory they couldn't have known at all due to their tech limits, that is the main reason why I believe in the ancient alien hypothesis. 1315280355 Famous people injected the world media attention in **some** of my examples; the paranormal did the same in your example.\n 1293374457 It's a bitch. 1325632342 I didn't say there wasn't....but how they appear and move and flow is not ice.\n\nThe same shaped formations show up above storm clouds and are filmed from way above them...multiple videos of this. They just appear and pulsate with the lightning...as if they are absorbing energy. 1345925678 It sure was a terrifying experience, I can so relate. Im so glad that you're not going through this anymore. Although they do say, at least this experience happens once in a mens lifetime 1341697465 How many times have you seen 10+ helicopters swarm together and then take off in waves? That isn't how helicopters work as that is EXTREMELY unsafe. Helicopters are not the same as fighter jets. 1321812672 I had a very similar experience. I spent a trip thinking about the world really being vibrations relative to each other and came to think about many ideas from high-level string theory and such that I had never been exposed to before. I read up on it afterwards and was kinda weirded out in how similar it was to what my head presented that night.\n\nEnjoy the Law of One stuff. Again, it changed my life for the better. :D\n\n 1321675022 Right. It is a joke, like most (hopefully not all) intelligent falling sites. 1339131507 Ooh, new website for me to check out. 1305762329 What I thought: Oh look. It's a white blur. What camera was use for this because using a 360p quality is just unacceptable, a mobile phone camera has more quality than that. When was this taken. You also have to take into account the fact that you're filming this in a moving vehicle, it coud be a reflection of someone moving their hand/face etc inside the car or reflection of something reflection off of the windshield. How do you know it's a ghost? The youtube video calls it a ghost but it should be labeled "unexplained phenomena." Also, what's with the "spooky music" it's the equivalent of the mass media using the X-files music whenever they talk about strange sights in the skies. 1341375134 If water has a memory...\n\nhttp://4.bp.blogspot.com/_sRDhbC46aKs/SdqTq9ZM--I/AAAAAAAAAIs/iBlLxTBOcO4/s1600-h/HN09poster1A.jpg 1298045485 Ah, tin hattery... 1356802373 ahh, heres the link i was looking for. i think you nailed it, sir. 1321907142 Okay, dead animal flesh is out, but what if I bite into a fish or the ham or bacon parts of a pig that is still alive? Or how about if I eat living worms and insects? I don't see any of this mentioned in the pyramid. 1346432227 Dragons, in my Anime? It's more likely than you think. 1324319244 What the fuck is up with this thread and people lecturing me without reading what I said?\n\nI said GM is bad because of the fact it's corporatisation of food.\n\nI said Roundup is bad BECAUSE IT IS BAD FOR YOU.\n\nDid I say that GM food is bad? No. So don't put words in my mouth and pick me out of a crowd to lecture. Start your own bottom-level reply.\n\nAnd speaking of minimal understanding, do you or do you not understand that corporatisation of food is adding to the cost and complexity of feeding people and Roundup is harmful?\n\nSimple question. 1310780104 It's a youtube video of Anthrax the band, I swear! 1346647877 Jerk off? Do you think things things don't need to be said? Do you think everyone understands moles, molecules and that homeopathic medicine has nothing in it? Do a survey on the street one day. 1304457111 The streetlight thing happens with my dad and I also! He'd always tell me about it when I was younger and I never really believed him 'cause it sounded crazy and the area we lived in didn't have streetlights for him to prove it to me. And then I took a trip to San Antonio with my mom and grandma and when i walked down a particular street, each light turned off, in a row, then would come back as soon as I hit the next light and my mom freaked out about "Out of everything you could genetically inherit from your dad, it's that?!" :D 1338742018 OK, fixed. 1329892835 Hey there...my husband and I were looking at this, and he had a suggestion. He does calligraphy, and so he feels some of the lines may be flourishes of the letters. What he sees is "Malum".\n\nThis means "wrong" in Latin ,as far as a quick google search shows (we don't know much latin ourselves). 1351123617 There may be a few floating scientists, MDs, or RD's out there that will promote detox diets, but the accepted opinion of the medical community and dietary research community is that there is absolutely no sound science behind the idea of detox/\n\nhttp://www.webmd.com/diet/features/detox-diets-purging-myths\nhttp://www.senseaboutscience.org.uk/index.php/site/project/47 1298141850 >the person alleging to be a rape survivor was male\n\nAnd this matters because...?\n\n>was later found to have a comment history suggesting his allegation was false\n\nAnd this makes what TAA said okay because...? 1342347041 According to the post, the torch in the graphic should have malfunctioned. 1340292772 Ohhh now I see it. 1351125366 Sorry I ruined your day bro.\n\n Thanks for fixing my spelling error on sceptic. Seems my iPhone doesn't believe you though. Keeps auto correcting. I don't like reversing and fixing and then retyping, it kills my flow.\n\nGood luck with your 333 thing. It has BEGAN George Michael Jr. 1332190377 So was that a yes or a no? 1339368848 Aesthetics?\n\nNot that I buy into 'Magnetic Man's claims, but watch bands are a big part of the appeal of watches. 1352824450 Now is kind of a strange concept if we're in a simulation. Simulations can be paused, reversed, sped up or have their time manipulated in who knows how many ways.\n\nIf we're in a simulation, the real now could be in a universe that is 100 Billion years old and had the chance to evolve further than us even though we are in a simulation of a 13 billion year old universe. 1299725513 "Paediatric neurosurgeon Doug Cochrane, who has looked after them from birth, confirmed they can see through each other's eyes.\n\nHe said: 'The twins are sharing signals from the other twin's visual field."\n\nMaybe you'd be less skeptical if your read more. 1323434108 I have a tendency to disregard anything captured with a cell phone camera. The resolution is always so poor, and artifacts are extremely common in these low quality photos. If it had been taken with a decent camera, and was large enough to actually be able to see it clearly, I might think this photo was interesting. I don't believe this photo is intentionally faked, but it's impossible to determine if it's paranormal or not. 1343391201 I don't get it. you seem to be acting out defensively and irrationally. Nobody is coming after you singing about stars; that's all in your head. UFOs are described as such because we don't know what they are. By predetermining what is allowed and not allowed, you are beginning with ignorance as a starting point. That's not a scientific nor is it a smart approach.\n\nUltimately, this all seems like its simply "Stop liking what I don't like!". Just ignore it; it doesn't have to affect you. 1328138306 I'm going to tie this back to what is going on today.\n\nPeople who don't vote are similar to people who don't take vaccines. They think about themselves and not about the community or society that they are apart of. They think well I'll have no effect if I vote/don't get a vaccine, but if a whole society thought that way, it would lead to ruin.\n\nEveryone in a society getting a vaccine helps the society as a whole because you get a "herd immunity." Even the people for whom the vaccine won't work are protected because they don't have neighbors that can pass on the disease. When you say no to vaccines, you think about only the potential benifits to yourself, and not to the damage you're doing to society.\n\nThe same goes for voting. People who say "well what will MY impact be" are thinking selfishly. They are thinking about how this election will effect them personally and not about how the society as a whole can benifit from an active and civicly involved citizenry.\n 1288722940 True. And you're more likely to get a staph infection because hospitals do routine checks of dilation *even when contraindicated and likely to cause infection*. And any number of other issues. 1349538727 Fuck yeah. A glitch with actual evidence. 1326701732 >The idea that, generally, 'religion doesn't make any scientific claims' is undeniably true. The 'scientific' and testable claims that they sometimes do make are largely irrelevant and tangential to the religion itself. Taking the bible for example, I don't think anyone (even the most ardent of believers) would argue that it should be read as a textbook, but instead it's supposed to be a persuasive tool. \n\nI generally respect your opinion... But here I just completely disagree, and strongly suspect that you were not brought up religious, or if you were it was something like Church of England.\n\nAs someone who was raised Christian, the creation the existence of Adam and Eve are fundamental, without it you don't have original sin and the fall from grace, that removes the reason for Christ coming to sacrifice himself in order to redeem us, etc etc.\n\nI realise that more sophisticated theologians don't take the Adam and Eve story seriously, and the Catholic Church officially accepts evolution, though many Catholics don't themselves... But accepting evolution causes big problems, and requires stories about the human soul being inserted at some point in our evolutionary history, and that causes problems.\n\n>The idea that, generally, 'religion doesn't make any scientific claims' is undeniably true.\n\nPerhaps the problem is with what you mean by general though... Perhaps you mean something like if we were to take all, most, or even just many, religions and then look at the intersections of those beliefs... Then perhaps they're not making scientific claims... In general though I would say that religions on do make scientific claims. 1341803452 How do you hide an entire planet in some one's food? 1352002576 >doesn't do anything to support it as a reasonable treatment for cancer,\n\n"Reasonable" is a subjective term. If it means even short-term, temporary relief from cancer symptoms, that **is** a form of treatment. Additionally, there are no side effects, and it comes relatively cheap. \n\n>decreasing progression of tumors in humans.\n\nNo kidding. But trials start with animal testing, and the positive results on mice are quite promising for humans.\n\n>That's very simple, even for a layman, to understand.\n\neasy there cowboy, we're all still very impressed with your initial long-winded title you name dropped back there. No need to overdo it on the self-righteousness.\n\n>If you've got an agenda to push regarding Vitamin C\n\nYeah, I work for Big Vitamin. Busted. \n\nNo, but seriously, I'm not going to apologize b/c I'm not *immediately* pushing for manmade, chemical treatments. Working in your field, you're clearly biased and will immediately push your manmade drug agenda. And that's fine. Drugs have their place, but sadly, considering *legal* prescription drugs kill 10's of thousands of Americans every year, I think it's time we reconsider their immediate "go-to" status, and start to consider *cheap*, and *natural* (and of course effective) treatments, like, say vitamins. Vitamins are food to the human body. Drugs are not. No one is dying or getting sick b/c of a lack of acetylsalicylic acid, but you *can* at least become seriously ill from a lack of Vitamin C.\n\n>insist that these trials tell you everything you need to know,\n\nI'm surprised someone of your apparent caliber is making such a strawman attack. I did not say "These are the end-all-be-all Vitamin C proofs - Vitamin C cures cancer!!!" and certainly **not** that they're everything you need to know. Ironically, that's *exactly* what you were doing with your initial link and post when you snidely dismissed IV Vitamin C as any kind of treatment. *You* immediately dismissed it, making it sound like nothing more than a placebo, at best. **I** only ever said what can be backed up by these studies: that, at the very least, Vitamin C *can* relieve certain cancer patients with short term relief from their cancer symptoms.\n\n\n\n\n 1332944689 >parent's 1273428159 Huh, ok. So then I guess that would be my question - is there a good refutation for this these arguments from authority? Or is the general consensus that hard evidence is necessary before an argument can be properly refuted?\n\nBtw, I'm not a UFO believer or denier, just a curious layperson. 1351371530 I only take criticism from regularsizedbums. Just kidding :D 1332968159 I was going to sleep, but then the internet existed. 1330242731 Well, not taking someone at their word *is* disrespectful.\n\nTotally called for in this case, but still disrespectful. 1328309423 Link to said photo? 1350320029 How come google.com.au has a google doodle, but not google.com?!\n\nI'm outraged, *outraged,* I say!\n\nOutraged, because it's such a nice though, and there's a significant community in America that would flip their collective shits because it says "Happy Holidays" and not "Merry Christmas." \n\nPlease, carry on, and have a nice day! 1324657124 This man here knows what he's talking about. 1319514471 Maybe somebody ran you over. Hit and Runs are common in certain metropolitan areas. 1344148586 Has Dr.Ketchum considered making some sort of device which which to capture this specimen? 1353889025 I reread it a second time and see what you mean. The first time I read the tone of her first comment (Probably her usage of openly recommended) changed the meaning of it and the subsequent responses. 1345559133 Everything we know, to some extent, is based on personal experience. Even science is based on personal experience and human interpretation. If human experience and perception is so fallible, then science itself is a ridiculous fancy of a bunch of children bumbling about blindly in the dark.\n\nPersonally, I don't regard ghosts, etc. as requiring extraordinary evidence because I don't view it as extraordinary. People see the words "paranormal" and "supernatural" or any concept that falls under that umbrella and immediately start braying because it's illogical. Personally, I try to keep my head on about it.\n\nI regard many of these concepts to be so widespread culturally and ongoing throughout human history that I'm willing to give them some level of credence. On the other hand, I view the "supernatural" as simply a natural that we don't yet understand, probably relating to quantum mechanics and things of that nature. 1335476634 > Well, I've read Robert Anton Wilson's books and I've read tons of conspiracy theory bullshit over the last 20+ years, and I still can't say I believe there's definitely an "Illuminati" despite knowing someone who claimed to know someone whose family was tied to Them.\n\nThis is your problem, you are looking at this as if you're living in a fucking comic book with this "despite knowing someone who claimed to know someone *whose family was tied to Them*" ..seriously? Like what do you think this is? Some group of super-villains performing black magic at some solid gold or mahogany table somewhere, maybe with some kind of control over every single thing in the world?\n\n"The illuminati" is such a stupid term, just take a moment and look at the word - it's just a word, after all. It means "illuminated", as in, one who sees the light(generally held to be 'the light' of reason - both abstract and practical reasoning on a scale that most people don't and can't imagine), they know, they have minds of their own, they are alive and above the masses(who themselves are very similar to animals or to the dead - always running through their lives but never really getting anywhere, scurrying about doing the work of others to survive and never leaving a lasting imprint on the world that they found themselves in).\n\nIt's just a term used to describe the philosophical, intellectual, or social elite. It's not new, and it's not something somebody invented as part of a conspiracy theory. Get rid of your Robert Anton Wilson books and stop thinking in such polarized, black and white ways - all the while thinking you're doing the opposite because you're reading RAW.\n\nSure maybe at one point somebody came up with a nice little fraternal order they dubbed 'The Illuminati' - that's irrelevant. You have to start examining for yourself the meaning behind the meaning and the implications of things rather than taking everything at face value like hearing the word "illuminati" and thinking immediately "oh that's a conspiracy group! 9/11 man reptilians man!" or something.\n\nReally, it's not the people who don't believe in an illuminati who are logical and rational - they are like little children who are unable to reason for themselves. There has always been a philosophical and intellectual elite, and there always will be - **there has also always been a predatory elite ruling class, the members of which who fall into the other category as well(of 'philosophical/intellectual elite') we could reasonably call 'the illuminati', and it's a club you aren't invited to, it's one you're either born into or not, either by blood, position, or brain - but since the term has been so muddied by idiots on both sides of the brain-dead fence, both conspiracy nuts and conspiracies-don't-exist nuts, it's best to avoid, because the word is so often misunderstood by people like Nnnslogan, and taken away from reason and into fantasy - fantasy believed or disbelieved, but still fantasy.** 1333089136 Wow, have you tried confronting it in your dreams or are you powerless? 1340136581 Light reflects off of skin.\n\nIt's you.\n\nYOU ARE THE GHOST. AAAHHH! 1339225648 The Purpose of this reddit is to provide a place for:\n\n* Debunking requests (Please use "DEBUNK: <title>" when submitting)\n* Skeptical resources (RESOURCE: or USEFUL:)\n* other stuff of general interest to skeptics (no tag)\n\nif we use these tags, it should be a useful subreddit for everyone, suggestions/comments are welcome. \n\n/joe 1214230433 There are cases where this apprently happened to American ICBM tests, so it's a good a theory as the next, but most likely its debris 1334247262 >Furthermore, someone who thinks vaccines cause autism could call themself a skeptic - indeed they are one. Or we can call ourself a skeptic of the claim that vaccines cause autism. The same can be said for mainstream medicine, wifi, or what have you.\n\nSo wrong. Skeptic does not automatically equal doubter. There is a process a skeptic uses to analyze data to evaluate it's validity. An anti-vaccser is like a creationist by simply doubting their opposition and abandoning a skeptical mindset to keep believing something that just isn't so. 1314481304 Military drones. Move along. 1352662291 Oh lawds... the comments in that video you linked make my head hurt. 1356192723 Rocket Body 1348968471 We'll know for sure soon enough. 1352928830 i am skeptical of your claim that you have "skeptic senses." 1296675316 Oh jeez, I hope that this is just for headlines and not comments. Comments would take you forever. . . 1332930926 obtuse - *Adjective*\n\n1. Annoyingly insensitive or slow to understand\n\n2. Difficult to understand. 1342386410 Why are we stereotyping the athletes as dumb and superstitious, who will do anything anybody suggests? I think you are confusing 'muscle-heads' or more nicely put, 'body builders' who use steroids and aren't very healthy. Atheletes, especially Olympians are on a whole 'nother plane of the human physical condition because they know how to be healthy. 1344107126 >8) Ouija boards are not dangerous portals to hell. On the contrary, they are portals to your subconscious.\n\nThat's a very interesting thought, and probably it may be true in some, if not most, cases.\n\nBut according to the stories written on this subreddit, I guess that sometimes you really end up dealing with other entities as well.\n\nAlso not sure if you left out #23 by mistake or on purpose, for some reason, like a reference to that movie. 1324481123 Sorry, but I don't get why these posts are always at the top. I understand people need to be educated on the facts, but why are some random comments at the top instead of articles exposing false treatments/products/ideologies/etc.?\n\nPlease stop posting/upvoting this trivial circlejerky nonsense and put that effort toward community education through informative exposing articles!\n\nSigh. 1318866430 My grandmother told me that when they were younger she and her sisters played around with a Ouija Board. Long story short, religious father walks in, flips the heck out, and throws the Ouija board into the fireplace and sets it alight, to which the Ouija board promptly *screams* and flies out of the fire and slams against the opposite wall, completely unharmed by the flames.\n\nNeedless to say, I've NEVER had even the slightest intention of experimenting with one. 1323226650 It was a Catholic school and we had to sit in alphabetical order. My parents didn't get listened to when they said I couldn't eat bananas or use anything latex, either (fruit-latex allergy). They thought about suing, but we were poor and intimidated. 1328639095 Great one. Too bad the quality is so bad, I honestly don't even know if it's a plane or not. I don't know why so many folks would be making a commotion about it if it were, however. 1349231691 My reaction: Picts or get the fuck.....HOLY SHIT. Everytime I hear this sort of thing I suggest seeing a priest. Even though you are atheists, I still think finding someone who is familiar with spiritual warfare is important. If nothing else, he could give you an idea of what you're dealing with. I wish you the best. 1351141843 Goddammit. Title fail. 1323038359 I dunno, my hunch is that there's something there creating the shape, or it's a living person. It's difficult to post photos like this, because people will just knock them down. Without being there when the photo was taken, it's impossible to prove it's not something natural. Definitely interesting though! 1347309158 Oh, so you think they lied to Congress do you???\n\nAnd, fracking fluid is recycled - and they don't use very much of the stuff (they hold it in portable above-ground pools, similar to swimming pools). And, fracking fluid is 99% water.\n\nAlso, you don't appear to know what your talking about. They flare natural gas from oil wells when the gas isn't worth capturing - not gas wells.\n\nEDIT: Notice how the comment above shows absolutely no understanding of natural gas extraction and, in fact, mixes up oil wells and natural gas wells - yet has more than 6x as many upvotes than downvotes? While, I get way more downvotes than upvotes for pointing that out? 1347043409 > Wait, I thought it was common knowledge that HAARP caused earthquakes?!\n\nYes. There's a big switch to change its operating mode. You know, it looks like [one of these](http://www.flickr.com/groups/900488@N23/), and must always be thrown while laughing maniacally. 1331049721 That's fascinating, thank you! \n \nIf you ever fancy some physics lectures, I'll sort you out! 1291433943 What does this have to do with being skeptical? A woman get an infection while using intravenous drugs and lost her arm, that's the end of it. 1326518043 The term is used by Josephus and Pliny the Younger, both of whom were dead by 120AD, as well as Ignatius and Polycarp in the mid 2nd century. It was apparently the accepted appellation by the time Tacitus was writing. So your first assertion is demonstrably wrong. Your second claim is both vague and nonsensical.\n\nBoth are irrelevant. 1355855839 ADD does not include the hyperactivity part, unless it's a typo. 1287705099 How long has this been known? In 1993 I got verbally abused by a guy before I could finish a sentence where I was going to suggest philosophically that perhaps global warming is natural in the sense that since we're part of the environment, if we destroy ourselves it would be normal. I've always been skeptical of it and kept a distance from the debate ever since because it seemed like the fervor surrounding the issue was almost religious in nature. Especially when four or five years ago people were excited that there was finally a scientific consensus. 1335274569 I think that viewpoint in intellectually irresponsible because it lends validity to ideas that aren't supported by evidence. There is no legitimate evidence to support the aquatic spy hypothesis in the same way that the HIV-AIDS connection has been well established or that there are no real climate scientists that would deny the connection between humans and climate change. The only real difference between those examples is the inherent danger in ignoring the latter two. It's one thing provide a way to share new ideas, but they shouldn't be giving a platform for ideas that have been presented before but can't stand up to scientific scrutiny. 1355273178 At the level of actually teaching it is a science vs religion issue. The creationists would be the ones who would call themselves 'skeptics' in this case. I personally use skepticism to refer to issues that need investigation or is somehow not resolved. However, there is nothing to debunk or even investigate when it comes to creationism. \n\nConcerning the teaching of creationism in the class as a policy, this is a political and religious issue. 1310319700 sorry, but you were wrong. this doesn't belong here, it belongs in /r/nosleep. from the FAQ: \n\n>The Paranormal does not necessarily indicate a glitch, and may not be appropriate here. Glitches tend to be physics related, or time related. \n\nand\n\n>Is it a ghost story? /r/nosleep is the place for it. :)\n\nfurther, \n\n>Q: Is this place for creepy stories? A: Not quite, but they will probably freak you out! 1338705392 My mother bought me some when I had my tonsils out, but I couldn't stomach the flavour. They healed anyway. 1336821107 Not that I believe this, but I was just reading this thread over on Above Top Secret:\n\n[ATS Member, JakiusFogg, Predicted Japan Quake 31 Days Ago](http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread660276/pg1)\n\nSometimes when one stabs in the dark they actually hit something. 1299882990 It's actually a fundamental part of Shakespearian structure. The plot is advanced often by noble, idealistic, mendacious or vicious characters. These serious characters ponder the ineffable, the sublime and the vile.\n\nMeanwhile there are secondary characters scampering about making jokes or serious critiques of the primary characters positions. The secondaries delight in irony and love to expose the self-deceit of the primary characters.\n\nThat's just stylistic, though. Even the plots are practically morality plays in favor of skepticism.\n\n*Othello* is a fine example. All the "good guys" act in good faith and are excessively credulous, but they are fundamentally antagonists. The villain of the piece, Iago, is the protagonist, and he advances his agenda through guile. Othello is entirely a tragedy about a man who would have been safe if he were skeptical but is instead convinced by circumstantial evidence.\n\nI don't know where Shakespeare would have sat on issues of modern skepticism, but it's pretty clear he was in favor of the skeptical mindset. The skeptics get many of the best lines.\n\n\n 1323129061 Because real academic research requires work, not browsing Wikipedia and citing one of Wikipedia's citations. 1343681553 The issue I have is that this "positive effect" comes at a significant cost. It allows individuals to be fully disconnected from reality, allowing them to be more susceptible to believing the other more harmful woo. It perpetuates the idea that things grounded in woo are as valid as scientific methods. Although some woo is pretty tame, there are significant society-wide implications for other woo -- broken herd immunity from not vaccinating comes to mind. 1337103032 WTF was that? Think I will skip the novella now. Thanks 1342739621 All who live today are the result of a 4+ billion-year-old, unbroken chain of successful banging. 1344783533 Well don't get me wrong, I don't mean to knock hundreds and hundreds of experimenters through volunteer first-hand experience casual folks. In fact, my father was an experimenter through volunteer first-hand experience casual folk. And his father before that.\n\nPlease do not misconstrue any of what I have said as being derogatory towards hundreds and hundreds of experimenters through volunteer first-hand experience casual folks or in any way calling in to question the claims of hundreds and hundreds of experimenters through volunteer first-hand experience casual folks.\n\nI am merely saying that, as compelling as hundreds and hundreds of experimenters through volunteer first-hand experience casual folks are, you really need to have something published in the literature to be taken seriously in the field of *science*. \n\nWhat you are practicing, and advocating, is pseudoscience. You and the hundreds and hundreds of experimenters through volunteer first-hand experience casual folks are classic pseudoscientific proponents.\n\nWhile his receiving the highest award the Ontario Public Broadcasting Channel can bestow upon a lecturer is, admittedly, quite impressive, I am not certain that it constitutes proof of whatever theories he may happen to dream up. \n\nI have so many questions for you. For you and the hundreds and hundreds of experimenters through volunteer first-hand experience casual folks. I really...you have first hand experience? Please do tell! Don't deny my puny brain the light of day by trying to sound smart when talking to me. \n\nAnd whatever you do, please don't become self conscious and stop this thread now. I have a feeling the word parade of crazy is just getting started. 1330840218 I bought this book. It's terrific, although I can't help but feel that he wrote it for a less educated audience. The writing is very simple, with sentences rarely lasting long.\n\nI think it's a terrific book to give to relatives who buy into the woo crap. It is gentle on the beliefs themselves (including religion) but amusingly and efficiently demolishes the mechanisms for protecting those beliefs.\n\nHis chapter on "Going Nuclear" is especially good: it addresses the argument that since reason itself can't be justified by reason, my faith claim is no different from your faith that solipsism is false. 1308666098 Does he sell franchises of that same company now? 1319583649 I'd like to know what kind of hallucinogens he was taking... they don't seem to wear off quickly! 1297813311 There's a hot girl in it so it must be true. 1286682861 Not really. It's just the number of meters in a second. Or the number of meters in a meter. Or the number of seconds in a second. In relativity we can measure time in distance units or distance in time units. It's just by convention we don't say things like "oh, that's 60,000 nanoseconds down the road" in everyday parlance. 1332892499 If you're wanting to consider it urban exploration, that's a whole different monster. Great fun! Aside from creeping eachother out though, your odds of finding anything paranormal are pretty slim. When I do investigations, my favorite part is the history lesson. I love finding a piece of property and learning its history, then I try to find details within the building that coincide with what I've learned of the place. While I go about this, I run recorders and cameras, and occasionally pick up interesting, unexplainable things. If you do happen to catch anything you suspect might be paranormal though, don't bother showing it around. Nobody will believe it unless they were there when it was captured. Have fun, be safe, but remember, trespassing can land you in a whole heap of trouble! 1328702228 Where can I get the Balance Wombat? 1295914025 it is a "voltage stabilizer" if you want to research it. Basically just a bank of capacitors to help maintain a constant voltage in your car's electrical system.\ntheoretically it could help by ensuring that you always have enough power to get a good spark.\nI would be cautious about putting this in a newer car, as I think most cars have a stable controlled electrical system. I believe it could actually potentially help in an old car.\n\ni am not an expert on cars or electronics. this is based off of 5 minutes of research. 1309629653 Precedent has been established that Christians aren't schizo or have mal-intent. I while back I was informed that 75-80% of all charities are Christian based, and all others are negligible, not to mention the pathetic representation by so called reasonable Atheists which just seem to be a bunch of armchair barkers. So if precedent on who is caring based on real life examples is used Atheists are delusional nut cases that should be locked up according to your theorem. 1280158727 That is unfortunate. I wish you could explain why I am ignorant, as I seem to have missed something important. 1351209136 Until figure 25, I was prepared to change my mind - at cursory glance it looks like convincing data.\n\nHowever, all figures to 25 have time as the x axis - then figure 25 has different countries along the x axis - and describe this as a TRENDLINE. This is so retarded, it makes the rest of the data contained in this highly suspect. 1296707327 Oh, so in your opinion then why should't /r/skeptic just go ahead and do the same ??? Why shouldn't EVERY subreddit go ahead and do the same ??? I know, kind of rhetoric question given that you started with:\n\n> all subreddits are circlejerks\n\nbut it really shows a LOT MORE 'circlejerking' than usual :) 1317827343 For burns or rashes, it might be okay, but then again, any clay would probably provide some soothing. On the other hand, there are tons of other products that can relieve that pain. \n\nAny other claims are likely bullshit, especially when they start talking about toxins. \n\nEdit: by further looking, there is some evidence for the use of clay dermatologically, and apparently there are some heavy metal absorption properties of clay (this is without examining the source from the wikipedia article about the specific type of clay) , but I would pretty much think it impossible to absorb anything through the skin. And unless she is experiencing symptoms of heavy metal poisoning, she probably doesn't need to be "detoxified" and if she is, please take her to the hospital. It also has laxative properties, and as we all know, getting detoxified is about shitting, a lot. \n\nIf she wants to use this, she can find cheaper sources montmorillonite / bentonite clay. To find bentonite clay, look at home brewing supply places. While your at it, order some stuff to start home brewing. Gotta justify the shipping costs *wink wink* 1330928156 The zinc lozenges in question there are labelled as “homeopathic” for some reason. I bought those particular ones a while back because [zinc has some efficacy against the rhinovirus if you catch it early enough](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15496046 "I did a ton of research when I had a cold one time"), and bizarrely these actually had an appreciable amount of zinc in them. I think that Walgreens manufactures this brand and was using the term “homeopathic” analogously with “natural” or something? 1352704169 Yeah I remember him. George Norrey is just not the same man. 1351719100 Yes, but *what if he does*... 1328039832 As an athiest, all religious videos of any kind offend me. Time to get clicking? 1330287859 *shrug* I didn't intend to shock, sorry if that's how it came off. I was more looking to just get the *essence* of the word with as little window dressing as possible. 1338684150 So, I had a long post here, and just lost it all thanks to a bluescreen (ATI, your death will not be quick!)\n\nIt's gonna take me a bit to want to retype that. \n\nHere's the gist, in case you'd like to respond in the meantime. \n\nReason I brought up allergies, is your friend's reaction, inflammation, is normally due to a histamine reaction (allergy) if no other reason for it to happen is available. I also have brought it up, as many people incorrectly claim an allergy to msg. I agree that we have gone on to sensitivity, but I still feel it is safe to say it is non-existant.\n\nIf there are several stable isotopes of glutamic acid, I'm sure they'd show up in the studies already conducted, where no one showed any sensitivity. \n\nNiacin doesn't work in this argument because it's an essential nutrient. I know of niacin sensitivity, it is caused by large doses of niacin doing exactly what niacin does. It also tends to go away after repeated doses. I am not a doctor, I cannot tell you why this happens, but I do have enough basic knowledge of chemistry to tell you that this is much like sodium. Sodium is an essential nutrient, and can have severe side effects if too much is taken.\n\nFinally, Health Canada, I had not heard of before this argument, I have no opinion on them, but even going on their article, their wording is "some individuals may have a sensitivity". some, and may. This sentence still holds true if no one has this sensitivity. \n\nThe FDA's ruling was by a Select Committee. These are not medical professionals. They are elected officials. The US has a long history of electing laymen to make scientific rulings. There are many cases where they have been off, or outright wrong, and others where they have disregarded the advice of scientific council. There is no study listed, no advisor listed, nothing. Just the select committee. \n\nFinally, your last line is a straw-man argument. Please refrain from them. They do not aid this conversation, and I could throw the same type of ad-hominem attack against your arguments. \n\nI am at no point trying to be argumentative, or insisting that my view is right. I am saying that without a peer reviewed study showing msg sensitivity, I see no reason to believe it exists, when sodium sensitivity is much more plausible. The reason I am asking for a study, is that as a skeptic, I would like empirical evidence. Having this information on a website, no matter its legitimacy, does not make it fact without some provable phenomena. \n\nSo there's a wall of text, and much more than I meant to type, so I will probably not retype my original response. Simply put, empirical evidence will stop me from making this claim. I have empirical evidence that supports my theory. If you can refute that evidence, please do so, but until then, I stand by it. 1337848492 I really don't understand this at all. The end seemed to summarize a summary. 1315332465 It's an interesting hypothesis but there are a few issues I have with it. First, there is no evidence of genetic manipulation, implied in the article. Moreover, there is no reason for it. Even with our limited knowledge of chemistry and biology, we were able to create replicating bacteria in a lab. Imagine what beings capable of interstellar, maybe even intergalactic, travel can do? What that article is suggesting is simply too slow and not practical.\n\nThen again, if these are aliens we're talking about, their technology may have evolved via different mechanisms than ours. So I guess it's possible. 1343440359 Found a better resolution. http://www.thejobbitt.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/lets_say.gif 1354158318 Schrödinger's QM and Einstein's relativity were so close together and both of them (at least under the standard, Copenhagen interpretation) sort of said that normal intuitive logic about how things work doesn't totally apply to the world we live in. Instead we need something else. Some people take it to mean *anything* else. 1307149146 A random person cannot post to the atheism plus forum without subscribing. If a person posted this and even hinted that it might be a relevant criticism of atheism+ they would be banned.\n\nNote: that article was 9 months before atheism+ was rolled out. 1349913339 That'll do it. RES automatically spaces, so when we added spacing for everyone else, it doubled ours. We're working on it :) 1326494375 Even Jesus looks like he is rolling his eyes at this. 1350654226 I see a headless bust with nipples in the lower corner... is that what you see? 1349844957 Nowhere in my comment did I even make a suggestion as to either. I was commenting on the statistics. 1356137625 AKA that one really shitty show. 1335023172 I'd probably put it in the likely-nonsense basket. The language used is very nebulous. If the proponents wish for it to come out of the likely-nonsense basket then they'd need to seriously clarify their terms so that it can be clearly understood first. 1286804731 i think it may be photoshop 1341810900 This is true. I've actually heard barefoot running is the new kind of 'trend' in running since it seems to help build the muscles of the foot naturally as opposed to be cushioned and aided at every step by cushy running shoes.\n\nHowever, I run as well, and if I don't use specific stability shoes with medial posts to prevent my flat feet from pronating and straining, my feet kill. 1273637991 There are mutterings in Germany and the UK but I don't think it's turned into anything concrete yet. http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/taking-on-homeopathy-in-germany/ 1331859203 It a little fully realized to be real. I'd like for it to be a ghost. 1355037597 >Eg. Encouraging doctors to prescribe their drugs for off-label purposes. \n\nActually, using drugs for some of the side effects can be pretty helpful to the patients. Do you know how many of my friends are taking birth control for reasons not related to safe sex? 1285127360 Yea, I definitely welcome more studies being done. But if the most worrying article isn't strict, large, or done by a reputable source, then there's probably not much to worry about yet. More data is necessary. 1278013934 Randi is so old....can you actually *prove* that he was born? 1312739780 wat. animals cant heal.\n\nERMAHGERD SOMEONE JUST GOT RUN OVER BY A TRUCK\n\nScumbag brain: now\nimagine an elephant walking over him.\n\nERKKKKK GORE 1340977284 So not much has changed in the last hundred years. ;-) 1300472719 Full House by Stephen Gould. [Just go ahead and order it. :)](http://www.amazon.com/Full-House-Spread-Excellence-Darwin/dp/0674061616) 1354329943 What a douchebag. Why not simply read some books on the subject, and THEN decide? 1356316681 I've been told by an orthopedist (M.D.) that chiropractic might help with back pain. 1315479108 >This is what we face now: photography will never be accepted as 'proof' with today's editing capabilities. We need cases where several people photograph an object from different angles and with different cameras.\n\nVery true. In this day and age, if a UFO sighting does not have several witnesses then it is most likely a dud. Photographs and videos are too easy to manipulate and can look quite convincing. 1303317306 Your proposed system eliminates currency because there is no guarentor. And it strikes me as difficult to pay people for unpleasant jobs when the only people who get paid to do anything are doing unpleasant jobs. How could most people "pay" anybody anything? The only way is is EVERYONE did some unpleasant jobs and were paid to do it, which sounds pretty much exactly like the system that exists today. \n\n 1317588567 This podcast gets it: This stuff should be fun. 1298755103 Wait, what? That phrase doesn't even mean anything, so the question whether it's true or false is also meaningless and has no answer. 1312812761 Also very interesting! I daresay it'd be very easy to catch her out, she's probably never dealt with people using those techniques in what sounds like a gullible and superstitious environment! Also amusing is that her claims are basically blasphemy and parading around as a false prophet. 1308483420 Why does this shit always have to be blurry and out of focus? I'm not calling shenanigans, I'm just saying something that seems so important never seems to be caught in glorious HD. 1289821935 A wild elephant will destroy if you just look at it wrong. If I saw a woolly mammoth in the wild, my first instinct would be to stay as far away as possible. 1328821884 i've always spelt it today, just sometimes i am sleepy, or drunk and on reddit, sometimes i also type too fast and shove stuff like this: hell ohow, space in the wrong place. 1345021993 >.< NON BELIEVERS!!! 1335933418 Well at that point we're talking about criminal neglect.\n\nAnd I would argue not getting your kids vaccinated is also criminal neglect, but we have to respect every god damn stupid belief out there now, so we pretend reverting back to the god damn 19th century is a parent's right. 1322238020 ...so what's the difference between a chiropractor and a physiotherapist? 1313959452 you act like its an epidemic of people using theory when they really mean idea. i dont think anyone is reading this and thinking, well his next step is to get this peer reviewed. relax a little bit 1350610060 People always react this way to new tech. They shun it, try to get it banned, denounce it, demonize it and then 10 years later use it every single day and shun, denounce and demonize something else. 1354560810 I didn't realize how old of a thread this was, until your comment drew my attention to it! \n\nWe dodged a recurring bullet. 1332944097 From Carl Sagan's *The Demon-Haunted World*:\n"A leading UFO scholar comments that 'When the hypnotist does not have an adequate knowledge of the subject [of alien abductions] the true nature of the abduction may never be revealed.' Can we discern in this remark how the patient might be led without the therapist realizing that he's leading?" 1298819744 Well as a general rule I will never just completely write something off without at least giving it a chance. I appreciate your candor and understand what it is to operate on a low (to no) budget. I will certainly give your show a shot. 1343041845 Exactly. If you told someone from medieval England that the power went out, and you can't even get internet access on your phone because the lines are congested, and that those were your two largest annoyances at the moment, they would stab you in the face and attempt to take your place. 1309119150 I don't see that anywhere in the image you linked to. 1350450063 Actually, it can be that simple if the OP picks the right location. As you stated, you and your husband walked into a haunted location, and as soon as you walked in, you had an experience that took at least 30 minutes to recover from. I spent the night at Waverly Hills back in 2008 and had several experiences that were real enough to remove any doubt of the existence of ghosts. In today's world, with video, photo and audio editing software, the chances of capturing any kind of "proof" of paranormal are practically nil. The only evidence that can prove the existence of ghosts is personal experience, and that only proves it to the person having the experience. Therefore, the best bet for the OP is to put himself in a location that increases his odds of having an experience of his own. As for ghost hunters, they lost all credibility in my eyes when it was proven that they fake evidence for the sake of entertainment. I realize that they pretty much had to, to keep their viewer numbers up. It didn't help any when they started having pro wrestlers, washed up musicians, and the real housewives of whatever as guests either. I can't even force myself to sit through an episode these days. Paranormal TV is a waste of time, unless you view it purely as a source of entertainment. 1340281096 Being a skeptic does not involve accepting any nonsensical claim thrown at you, which is what you are suggesting we do. 1289639692 The yes votes are likely from people who see it as "sure, give em water! It's cheaper than real medicine"\n\nOr \n\n"let em die if they think water will help. Weed the morons out" 1314773949 "There is a rainbow ring in the sky; is this not clear evidence of a massive flying gay donut with Pleiadians aboard?" \n\nYeah, pretty stupid.\n\n\n\n 1331412194 According to a theory out there, there are many alternate realities and different things happen at the same time and sometimes same thing happen with different people if this makes sense.\nThe fact that you saw someone that "wasn't there" could be that particles from the other reality switched realities a little more vividly than normal causing you to see what is happening elsewhere at the sametime. If this makes sense. This theory also states that a particle that a person observes will take up two different places at the same time on the same plane (or reality) but that particle instead of being destroyed will disappear and show up in another reality. This causes people to see "ghosts" or the like. This also explains why things happen for no reason. If you want better information then watch a movie called "What the Bleep do we Know." Really good movie but it is all theory. 1339481368 Quick overlay... not an accurate overlay but the it's obvious that it's the same guy.\n\nhttp://i.imgur.com/mYqmk.jpg 1344874739 why are eye witness accounts fine for the court of law, but not accepted as evidence that someone has witnessed unexplainable phenomena/craft 1239469369 I assume this was downvoted due to the implied incredulity of the poster, but this **is** a legitimate question that furthers discussion.\n\n(I might add, for which bkayh685 provided a legitimate [response](http://www.reddit.com/r/skeptic/comments/yuwye/this_antimilk_fact_sheet_been_making_the_rounds/c5z5uhc) to) 1346039160 rabble rabble rabble darwin rabble rabble rabble! 1327148727 I have a good friend whose hair was salt and pepper by the time he graduated, and he now has completely gray/white hair. It really doesn't look that bad, and unlike gray hairs on older people, his hair isn't brittle, so it's kind of unique. I would say to embrace the hair, or just use dye if it really bothers you. 1337021497 I think similar cell phone things have been posted here before. Not the ring, but the audio from the past.\n\nI wonder if it's a technical issue, like some telecom data frames get cached in the wrong place or some other bug occurs that causes the audio data from your call to get "queued up" in some system that's hung, and when whatever the contention is in the system resolves, the data is sent through. Your phone recognizes incoming call data and rings, then plays it for you.\n\nIt'd be great to get a telecomm or cell phone engineer in here. 1331352608 No, it doesn't do that, LOL. 1316666054 It sounds interesting and I've heard other instances of shared dreams and had one myself. Sometimes details can be too specific for it to all just be a coincidence; dreaming the same thing, at the same night, from different point point of views. If you believe that the brain and mind are separate entities than that leaves the idea of people meeting up in an "astral dimension" possible. Remember that lucid dreaming wasn't even taken seriously by the scientific community until the 1960's and it wasn't proven, until the 1980's; so before you dismiss it as a coincidence, I suggest you look into it further. 1335675280 Nothing but net 1350808657 So angry *and* forgetful. 1307533681 > I reallly want to be a holistic health care practitioner\n\nYou want to spend time and effort (and money) to get an education so you can help people lead better, healthier lives - so you want to be sure to learn something true and useful.\n\nMaybe you can get in touch with the [American Dietetic Association](http://www.eatright.org/Students/) and they can recommend a good career path. I'm sure they're willing to help.\n\nThe problem with "degrees in nutrition" is that, since this is a rather "soft" health topic, there are *loads* of people out there who are more interested in selling their supplements or diet plans than in solid scientific fact. There are many questionable organizations, diploma-mills if you want, that charge you enormous amounts of money for worthless degrees, and without teaching you anything useful.\n\n**Edit:** It's a large site, but also have a look at [Quackwatch](http://www.quackwatch.com/) every now and then. It helps keeping the good stuff and the bad stuff in the medical world apart. If you truly want to help people, it is absolutely imperative that you know what *works* and what's just fantasy. 1296761688 >I really can't understand what the guy is saying, at all.\n\nNeither does he. 1343501069 I'd date you. 1310662599 I think this has been debunked as fancy footwork and wires, there was a thread on abovetopsecret a while back. I can find it if anyone is interested 1353549059 Yes, which is not surprising, since humans usually inhabited near rivers that are prone to floods. However, only in some of those legends is a god deciding to wipe humanity except for a single family, who constructs a boat and saves some animals with them. And this one in particular talks about how lifespans before the flood were enourmous, something that myths in other areas do not have. 1355256874 I don't know about you, but if I were an alian trying not to make contact (I am assuming so because it didn't bother touching down) I'd turn the fucking lights off to stay on the down low. 1277365337 I'd be curious to know how many students switch majors after taking the physics and chemistry. Once they realize there's no scientific basis for homeopathy, they'd have to be pretty clueless to continue their coursework. 1317304783 Ok, almost no one would ever become an atheist. Most theists were raised into it, not reasoned into it. I know that I was reasoned out of religion, but I certainly didn't reason my way in. 1337366891 This is an absolutely amazing, and horrifying, story. 1239503672 Ye-ah, there's definitely a need for a sarcasm font. I was as serious about the universal upgrade as I was about the hearing. I do remember the engines sounding differently but I have no idea why. I've gotta work on my delivery.... seriously! :-D 1334453003 It's either a waste, or a serious hazard, depending on who you talk to. Not the most glowingly recommended means of looking into the paranormal. 1342764647 So was much of all the best literature in the world. 1313116493 This reminds me of [my favorite \\(and relevant\\) xkcd...](http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/conspiracy_theories.png)\n\n 1311709987 > "But that's the thing, there are "alternative" medicines that have been shown to be effective through studies,..."\n\nI challenge you now to name one and provide appropriate, supporting, studies. Keeping in mind that if the study shows the 'alternative' medicine or therapy to be bad or to not work, that kinda invalidates any spin put on it saying otherwise.\n\nReally, what it sounds like you are saying is that you don't understand what placebo is. 1319759106 I think you are entitled to your beliefs, but this kind of thing is not about paranormal work, which is (or at least should be) scientific inquiry into unexplained phenomena. Maybe I'm hoping for too much from /r/paranormal, and that religious experience should be included. That's up to the mods. Personally, though, I think these stories just "fit" somewhere else. They have a place, to be sure, just not here. 1318389095 I have some water here, in fact. Let's seeee... 106mg of calcium per litre. RDA is 1000mg, so I'll need to drink 10 litres to get my RDA.\n3.8mg of magnesium per litre. 400mg is the RDA, so, about 100 litres to get that...\nYou get the idea. You would die of water poisoning before getting your mineral needs from this stuff. 1302886784 Considering that this is reasonably mundane, explainable evidence of extraterrestrial life, not a UFO sighting, abduction, close encounter, or otherwise unexplained event, I would have put it in r/space or r/science. \n\nIf that is a life-form it is most likely explainable in scientific terms. Unless they're GHOST scorpions from Venus! 1327474330 I mean what chances are a physicist is going to be super conservative in America? I mean there are a few, but, a negligible amount, I say! 1322703477 I'd rather have a ban on public schools which don't teach basic critical thinking skills. Ban homeopathic products and people will just stock up on more magic toxin sucking shoe strips. 1247239638 That's right. Something like the the VP is doomed to fail from the start because it fails at a fundamental level of taking the laws of economics and human nature into account. Also, I believe they're completely basing this whole project on speculation and anecdotes. As far as I'm aware, there have been no experiments and there has been no hard data or evidence to suggest a project like that would work. People have examined and shot holes in the ideology that is the VP, yet the founders and followers alike disregard it and staunchly defend it even though their project has been shown that it can't last.\n\nTrying to talk someone, such as a believer of the VP, out of something they willingly got themselves into, is akin to attempting to convince a theist via debate that their god doesn't (or can't) exist. Trying to debate, or otherwise convince someone their idea is wrong through heated discussion, will end in failure the vast majority of the time because during such an activity, the brain naturally goes into a defensive mode where efforts to convince the person otherwise will not be successful. The person you want to change must willingly change and that takes time and effort on their part. If they do it willingly on their own, the defensive mechanisms in the brain tend to subside and the person more readily accepts the new ideas. So the trick is getting the person to doubt their position enough that they would willingly go out and read and try to understand the arguments against their ideology. Persuading them is rather tough though, and a lot of people aren't that willing to put that much time and effort into such an endeavor.\n\nThis guy lays out why the VP is fundamentally flawed: [The science that is missing and completely wrong in the Venus Project](http://anticultist.wordpress.com/2010/04/19/the-science-that-is-missing-and-completely-wrong-in-the-venus-project/) 1314200521 Who is 'woo'? What other threads are you talking about?\n\nAlso, what outrage? It seems you are the only one outraged that people are pointing out how bigoted and ignorant your original statement has been.\n\nSounds like you sure are confused, kid. Maybe someday when you finally get a degree, you will understand things better. 1333129714 "the actual reactions that took place in the laboratory by bombarding Americium-243 with Calcium-48, which resulted in the two Isotopes of Element 115, indicated below, being identified."\n\n\n"The maximum theoretical atomic mass isotope of Element 115 that could be produced in the reaction, above, 115UUP291, would only have 176 neutrons in its nucleus. This isotope of Element 115 is shy 8 neutrons from containing the magic number of 184 neutrons. The two actual isotopes of Element 115 produced by this reaction, 115UUP288 and 115UUP287 contain 173 neutrons, shy 11 neutrons from the magic number of 184, and 172 neutrons, shy 12 neutrons from the magic number of 184, respectively."\nhttp://www.gravitywarpdrive.com/Element_115.htm#Table\n\nThey have other listed sources there.\n\nSo you're looking to copy the nuclear configuration of Bismuth if you want a stable isotope which Lawrence Livermore Labs were not able/did not want to do. 1297719620 You should let them know that "boosting" is not something you want to do to an immune system.\n\nIn fact, that's called [autoimmune disease](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autoimmune_disease) and cases the body to reject its own tissue. \n\nOur immune system is carefully balanced. Any significant change in direction, one way or the other, and we start to die.\n\nJust an FYI.\n\n(Obviously and on-its-face the homeopathic sugar pills don't, can't, and won't "boost" your immune system, but I'm just speaking towards the claim.) 1327359989 nice umbrella at the end, sigh. 1320666569 Hm my wife really got the hang of Ubuntu faster than OSX (having no computer skills.) Really varies from person to person. 1341478385 >Right. If you can't see the fundamental difference (other than scale) between being rude about people's beliefs and racism, I don't have anything to say to you, you're just a lost cause. \n\nAnd if you can't understand the concept that "it's OK to be an asshole as long as you don't intend for any of the people you're being an asshole to to hear about it" is bullshit, you're just as lost.\n\n>you might convince society to deem religious thinking to be socially unacceptable, which, in the end, achieves the same thing.\n\nTake a lesson from MLK. He didn't go around calling white people fucking stupid, and if he had, civil rights legislation would likely still be tabled. I don't really care how Dawkins plans to convert the world to non-religion. If he wants to succeed, he needs to stop being an asshole about it. I'm not religious, and he pisses *me* off.\n\n>A spade is a spade. Most people outgrow their imaginary friends.\n\nYeah, you are a lost cause, aren't you. Here's a little tip for you: You are being a classic example of the obnoxious skeptic, and skeptics like you are why the word "skeptic" is often associated with assholes.\n 1351119393 But it's not just the name of the product in this case, it's its appearance and the fact that it has ammonia added to it. Also, I believe it is made out of parts of the cow that normally aren't considered appetizing. 1333053852 I was taught that the rainbow was a sign that God would not destroy the earth *by total flood* ever again, and that nothing was absolved by it. \n\nI was also taught that God would destroy the earth one more time, only by fire. 1335409878 The sceptic in me takes this as a fabricated story written to draw users to a website. However I don't have a good idea of the reputation of the website. At the same time the fact that they are unwilling to release a video reinforces the possibility that it is a genuine ETI case, I mean, what other reason would they have to withhold the footage? The article suggests that maybe the "robot"-like UFO could be Chinese techology sent to India with supposedly slight malicious intentions. However, if india realizes this, why would they be so quick to withholding said footage? 1351994582 Is that an excerpt from a role playing game or something? 1309590985 I don't understand why this is posted here. It's d-bags making fun of some one stupi who is taking advantage of people even stupider still. There's nothing enlightening about it and they aren't even very good comedians. 1315606410 not to mention this thing is by no means the correct shape for a human foot. In the 'footprint', the big toe's metatarsal sticks out at a physically impossible angle. 1326179472 There has GOT to be a bigger reason for the BBC - the *BBC* - making a story out of a handful of UFO enthusiasts camping out next to a lake. \n\nI am quite convinced that this, as well as other recent UFO stories covered by the MSM, are purposefully being highlighted to soften the blow of full on disclosure en route later this year. 1344098331 Nobody has absolute control, but some individuals and groups exert a great deal more control than others, and this can be accepted without buying into any conspiracy theories. I like the first part of the quote, but I don't think I agree with the "rudderless" description. I think there's a rudder, I just think that the captain(s) are steering us recklessly. 1346321741 Its one of the few UFO related things that seems to be fairly good evidence, not proving anything but why would so many military and NASA folk go out of their way to be on a panel like this, these are not lunatic fringe folk.\n\nStill the only thing I have seen that I have never seen debunked, most pass it off as nonsense.\n\nNot saying this is proof of aliens, however simply passing it off as crazy people or nonsense is just skeptics playing the ignore game. 1281162574 http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/05/18/microwave-hazards.aspx\n\nOne of the links is even more bonkers. I stopped reading when they started talking about biophotons. 1344554024 Soyuz Rocket 1324771532 I agree, I got robbed at knifepoint in uk. The whole drive there I had an uneasy feeling. While I was being robbed my phone kept ringing and it was my gf at the time saying she felt like something was wrong and needed to check up (obviously heard that after)\n\nI could totally feel it coming. \n\nWhen I was younger I used to abuse solvents, and always got a feeling of dejavu as well as something unexplainable. Later in life (a few years) and again abusing the solvents god knows why.. and again with this dejavu..\n\nBtw if you don't know, i've come to realise heavy solvent abuse doesn't bring on a 'high'. It's bringing on a near death experience which is why you feel like your mind is at one with the universe.. you're dying..\n\nSo this uneasy dejavu matches the uneasy feeling from abusing solvents years previously.. and as my vision scews I realise i'm in the same place I was in years ago when I foresaw this moment.. \n\nEvolution.\n\nThis post is not a joke or sarcastic, seriously. 1350138331 Ensuring. It's a much nicer word than forcing. 1301528302 No, he's just going to make reproduction dependent upon owing a Zune. Problem solved. 1330140610 Wow this is right up there with digital homeopathy. 1352787967 I was always fascinated by the fact that most of his photographed ufos were always humping trees 1319985326 First off, great question. I personally believe this planet has been visited by extraterrestrials in the past and present. If you look at history the evidence is there. You have the Nazca lines, relics of the Mayan civilization that allude to them having contact with a higher being, the pyramid phenomenon around the wold, and etc. Presently, I think we're being visited without a doubt. There's enough eyewitness testimony, videos, pictures and a government that does not want to investigate the matter seriously. In fact I think there's a huge coverup and misinformation campaign on UFOs in general. The government, hollywood, and the media of successfully made the UFO question a laughing matter. 1316564461 You probably saw an aircraft in the far distance with its landing lights on turning towards you (the orb fades in) flying towards you and descending (hence the arc) and then turning away (orb fades out) to land. 1348026440 No way? That sucks ass, it was pretty cool.\n\nOh well, maybe the aliens will triangulate on this position anyway and come wreak some havoc. 1302296609 Easily the most common experience that I have in which my senses are deceived is what some are calling "phantom ring." I feel my phone vibrate as though I'm getting a call, but when I check the phone, I find that there was no reason for it to have vibrated.\n\nI understand that it is a common occurrence. Right? .... Right? 1275636401 Haaaaaaahahaha, sorry about your family. Perhaps they focus more on the 'pray together stay together' stuff rather than the whacked-out nonsense in your link, I certainly hope so.\n\nAsk him if he has any comment on the Mormon 'magic underpants' - that sort of thing has about the same scientific basis as this 'young earth' BS. Best of luck to you. 1326842836 He's using absolute logical, rational thought.\n\nIf they were hostile, we would be gone by now. \n\nOr, they are currently using us with an intention. \n\nI think these are the only two options possible towards the hostility argument. 1310954821 Michael Shermer is awesome. Here's a true story to show his awesomeness: \n\nAbout 6 years ago I worked at a local newspaper with about 100 employees. There was a book shelf in the lunch room for people to swap used books. Well a bunch of the fundie christian women started filling it up with christian literature. No big deal, to each his own I always say. Well, I decided to put some skeptic/atheist books on the shelf. What happens? They're all gone almost immediately, like $120 worth of books. I go to throw out my lunch and I see them all in the trash with the covers ripped off. \n\nI emailed the Skeptic Society and told my story, and Michael Shermer himself emailed me back saying he'd send me some skeptical goodies to put in the library. A week later I get a huge box delivered to my house. He sent me all his books, a bunch of pamphlets and a few miscellaneous skeptical books. I tell ya, it was hard not to keep them but I gradually added them to the company library. 1264779235 >One reason the Big Five does a much better job is because it is represented on a continuous scale, preserving the variability.\n\nEvery MBTI gives a scale, not a boolean value for each trait. 1338742361 What the fuck are you talking about?\n\nWhat exactly are conspiracy theorists supposedly waiting for? 1315763526 I've never felt like it was really mean or evil, just mischievous. The dog doesn't seem too fussed, she doesn't suddenly throw fits or anything like that. I'd say the same about the cats, but they're cats. They default to batshit.\n\nI actually don't mind if it's here, I just don't want it hurting anyone.\n 1335965632 How exactly do they determine if accupuncture is effective in dogs? 1311374650 > I live 5 miles from the nearest town and police... My neighbor used his gun to detain an intruder that barged in on his wife until the sheriff's deputy got there. If I lived somewhere else, I might have a lot of stories of friends getting shot by guns, but so far they seem to have saved more lives around me than taken them away.\n\nThis is the thing that people who live in rural areas need to understand (and it seems that you do). A gun means something completely different in Tulsa, Oklahoma that it means on the south side of Chicago. I understand the Constitutional arguments against gun control and I can accept them. But rural Americans need to understand that urban Americans see dozens of people killed by guns for every person they see saved by guns.\n\nHere's my grand compromise: Strike the Second Amendment completely. Craft language that leaves gun control unconstitutional at the Federal level but makes it constitutional at the state and local level. Oklahoma would never pass gun control, but Los Angeles, Chicago and New York will have every single gun outlawed by the next night. I'd like to hear a modern, State's Rights conservative argue against that solution. 1343176886 Sounds questionable. 1356385751 What a coincidence, *I hate his roommate too.* 1297199648 Wow, seven laptops! I have trouble with laptop failures too ... but not anywhere at that level. \n\nThis happens to me too, but it's not constant, daily thing. I will go through a period of a few days once or twice a year in which everything electronic that I get near breaks, crashes, fails, etc. At first I thought it was that the electronics were all simply reaching their "planned obsolescence" at the same time, but then I noticed it couldn't be the case because it happens to items I purchased at different times, or to other people's electronics. I have ruled out static electricity as well, because in most cases I don't even need to touch the items -- just get near them. \n\nThe last time it happened in the span of 3 days my (only 3 month old) laptop fried, the electronics in my 8 year old car toasted next, I blew out not one but both land lines in the house, the microwave AND the dishwasher conked out (both cases turned out to be electrical issues). \n\nIf you google around, you will see we are not alone. \n\n\n 1327862990 Ahem. Formal announcement: \n\n*"There ain't nothing to see here. Move along."* 1341030926 I have exercised the demons!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1318291932 Dude. It's the **US** highschool system.\n\nIf you don't get caught with a gun or drugs, you pass. 1325996394 I understand why it sounds like such a facile statement.\n\n[This talks helps provide the necessary foundation](http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/202214-1) for what it means. It is actually a rather easy set of general guidelines. "Eat well" can be problematic, since "well" is ultimately influenced by possibly wrong general guideline.\n\nWhile people should be wary of the naturalistic fallacy and argument from antiquity, it is still useful to consider that we evolved along with the evolution of various types of food available. Rapid changes in available food could conceivably happen faster than our biological adaptation, with those individuals who are conscious of what they choose being more fit to achieve better health. 1317081594 Well, I'm not sure what you mean by arcs. From what I perceived as I watched, they traveled relatively straight, or perhaps in a long arc. If you are referring to shorter arcs, or sudden movements, I believe those are entirely due to my poor camera phone work. You might be right about the speed though... It would help a lot to know what altitude they were at. All I can say is that the speed seemed to be relatively constant in that as it was overhead the speed was much quicker compared to the background, and as it approached the horizon it slowed in comparison to the background in a way that suggested constant velocity. I am fairly certain they were not aircraft, the travel across the sky was too fast for that. 1343600725 Yeah... except that at take of and landing, it can be literally seconds. If all they have time to do is yell "We're going down, BRACE!" that's the warning you get. If part of your reaction time is pulling out your headphones or hanging up your phone call, rather than instantly putting your head between your knees, that might be all you get.\n\nYou would think that you would notice the plane taking a nose dive, but your reaction would more likely to be "hmm, something is wrong, I better pull out my headphones" having already missed the one and only intercom call you get. \n\nIf you doubt me, go listen to black box recordings of plane crashes. For example, PSA-182 going down they had almost no time to react. Granted everyone died anyhow, but my point is you have basically no time to react, and you want to use that time to follow whatever few instructions you might get. 1356952141 My father flew F15's in the air force and saw weird shit all the time. 1288357304 The ocean grows every time you flush a toilet. 1346338656 > In a recent study, fires treated with homeopathic sodium were extinguished much faster, and caused significantly less structural damage than untreated fires.\n\nBeautiful. 1347050321 Hey, I keep those around but I just take a sip out of it, or half tops. I would only drink the whole thing in a case of like, falling asleep driving or some emergency. 1304816755 Ive never shared this with anyone but here goes:\n\nAs long as I could remember Ive been having nightmares about being abducted. My dreams would often be interrupted by an alien of several common types as described by others and cause me to loose control of my body/voice in my dream. At this point I would normally wake up in a cold sweat. These aliens often appear out of no where in my dreams often while Im dreaming about something completely unrelated. But as soon as I recognize it is an alien I immediately lose control of my voice and body. I often have these dreams in conjunction with a house I used to live in as a child. The earliest dream I could remember was me waking my brother up asking him to look at a light outside, Im not even sure if this exactly was a dream either. Another one I remember was an insect with familiar alien eyes flying outside my window trying to get in. An incredibly vivid one was one where I am in my house and I realize that the aliens are coming, I resign myself to the fate and upon seeing the aliens I extend my hand and say something to the effect of "nice seeing you guys again" to which the lead alien a tall gray immediately and telepathically told me "That is not necessary". There were different types of aliens there including one that was tall and odd looking but similar to a type that people have described in the past. Then smaller grays grabbed my hand and lead me outside to a very bright light through my front door. Mind you that all these dreams are occuring in a house I have not lived in for 14 years or so. I have never done regression hypnosis so I can only remember these dreams. Ive heard that some abductees often have frightening and vivid nightmares such as mine but it could also be that I have had a lot of interest in aliens for as long as I could remember. \n\ntl:dr - I may or may not have been adbucted 1351573548 anybody else remember the "windorphins" from ebay a few years back... no...i bet they have the same efficacy. 1330458671 >According to the Exopolitics Institute News Service, " ... there is good reason to conclude that Kettler’s ... claims are part of a psychological warfare operation that may be related to planning for a false flag alien event."\n\nAgreed. The last step in the plan to militarize Earth and protect its caste-system, is to militarize space. And we can't do that without an "alien threat."\n\nI've been hearing about reptilians for some time. 2001 or so. The only problem is that there's not a lot of eyewitness testimony. And the testimony that there is, is extraordinarily unreliable -- in a field where reliability is already a question!\n\nNow, don't get me wrong. I've seen demons. I've heard them. I've felt them. Their fundamental rule is to emphasize separate states. Disunity and disharmony. They're pretty much everywhere, just nagging ideas to the untrained eye.\n\nCan I imagine a whole species dominated by archons (eg, reptilians)? No. Can I cite Galaxy Quest, V, the snake in the garden of Eden, the Dragon of St. Michael ... as evidence for the existence of reptilians? No. (Especially when you consider that man's limbic brain is somewhat reptilian to begin with.) 1351523372 Hey op, just a heads up...you can link to a certain section in Wikipedia by typing a # after the url and then the section header. So you can link to 'criticism' by linking http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McClintock_effect#Criticism.\n\nSomething I found out recently. The more you know...! 1325541700 There are two sorts of chiropractors. Some work from accepted medical science to treat skeletal and muscular problems. Others claim that all physical ailments can be treated by manipulation of the body's bones and muscles (usually the spine, as I understand it), despite the lack of supporting evidence for this claim. Presumably your chiropractor is of the non-woo variety, while the OP's is woo-ful.\n\nI'm not sure what the ratio between the two sorts of chiropractors is. 1337618989 da fuq you mean, 2012 is almost over its been happening dude. 1353013999 Maybe it's not known *enough* then. 1342302979 what does having a pc have to do with it?\n 1350080677 >Ok, so you are fat.\n\nBest way to ensure your voice is ignorned in [/r/skeptic](/r/skeptic) is to resort to ad hominem attacks. It breaks down your entire argument to "well, my facts aren't that solid, and I don't have any evidence, so I'll just make fun of this guy". \n\n*clap, clap, clap*. 1329643773 I did some work for MUFON. I converted testenmonies of military pilots in to digital format. I was amazed at the storys right from the pilots. They know planes. What they encountered most of the time was never reported.\nOnce you filled a report, you were flagged as "nuts". THis would effect your career.\nThere are some amazing strange things going on right now. MUFON is there to try and figure some of them out. 1294430957 Personally I believe a person should be allowed to do any harm to him or herself if they choose to. I'm not saying you shouldn't engage these people in conversation and attempt to enlighten them but if they choose not to listen then the repercussions are their own. And people will try to capitalize on anything, I'm not really sure what to say or do about that. 1325893682 "One should respect public opinion in so far as is necessary to avoid\nstarvation and to keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond\nthat is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny, and is likely\nto interfere with happiness in all kinds of ways." —Lord Russell 1350636080 So, is Bieber a Zeta Reticulan? 1355868692 Are we declaring the magnetic bracelet officially dead now? That would make my day.\n\nI suppose that everyone buying the $1 cheap rubber bracelets to support everything from Lance Armstrong to [just saying hello](http://24hourwristbands.com/order-custom-one-inch-wristbands/) because they "look cool" has provided a reasonable substitute in that market. 1344009122 >Because one group has had 2 months less of sex than the other group and that the two groups weren't deviating, they were just remaining separated\n\nSo basically, you're arguing that abstaining from sex for 2 months will result in a 60% reduction in the risk of acquiring HIV over the next 2 years. \n\n>It's pretty tiny given the size of the samples, the numerous biases, the flawed methodology, and various other confounds\n\nActually, it's pretty close to the result seen with similar studies looking at other interventions for reducing the risk of HIV infection. Looking at the pre-exposure prophylaxis studies, for instance, in the [iPrEX study](http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1011205) there were 36 infections in the intervention group and 64 in the control group after a median of 1.2 years (N = 2499). Likewise in the [TDF2 study](http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1110711), there were 9 infections in the intervention group and 24 in the control group after a mean of 1.1 years (N = 1219). In the [Partners PrEP study](http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1108524) there were 13 infections in the intervention group and 52 in the control group (N = 4758).\n\nThe studies were conducted in similar populations and give very similar results. 1346246234 But what if the patient knows placebos work? 1278125211 also I searched medline, academic search premier and alt health watch databases and could not find the article. Here is the Journal's website http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/aip/ 1299363767 Aren't there some viruses that use RNA but not DNA? 1291230806 Sorry, but the bloop's been explained.\n"[The sound is consistent with the noises generated by icequakes in large icebergs.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloop)" 1354448714 Eating a controlled diet will reduce your chances of developing diabetes but I've never heard of fasting one day and eating normally the next. Something else that reduces your chances of developing diabetes (if you are already at serious risk) is doing high intensity exercise (exercise that makes it difficult to speak) everyday. 1315160277 Get out of here with your [gay science](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gay_Science) 1354857398 >load of shit, we made up time (man)..time in other solar systems is different to time in ours, cause all it is based upon is the orbit of the sun, our night and day..Time isnt a real thing, its just something we use to measure..this guys a nut\n\nYou are wrong. Time is a fundamental dimension of the universe, hence space-time. Time would exist just as it does now with or without human beings existing to experience it. Time is not a man-made construct. We simply observe it. Time exists as a constant, and we invented the clock measuring system to track its passage. For more information, see Einstein's Theory of Relativity. 1344955069 there's some reflections (2 similar colored rectangles when panning down), before the odd halo, that makes me wonder if it's not picking something else up. (Some intended effect). obviously the bit on the back of the hoodie is something. There are crafters who make fun stuff that do similar things. \n\nwhat interests me is what's in the sky, though it could be some display for the games. 1348658284 Dreams where teeth fall out are a sign of excessive nervousness and anxiety during waking life, FYI. 1342361589 Clown doctors? Going to the doctor is scarry enough. Why add the trauma of having him in wierd makeup, going through fits and asking how magnets work to the mix. 1335377086 Nope. Not a word. I wish they had. 1342151797 I would like to see her teeth, since presumably they didn't change. Also, is that gray hair on her temple?\n 1318723171 Only if you question it based on pre-kindergarden logic. 1326435409 Even humans can often detect a "death rattle" in terminal patients.\nPerhaps cats can hear death rattles too quiet for humans to hear. Perhaps they sound like purrs to a cat.\n\nEven humans can detect a sweetish acidotic breath smell in people who are metabolizing their own fats. Perhaps cats can smell levels that people can't.\n\nThere is no reason to jump to the conclusion that something "psychic" must be involved. 1298239576 If that's the real deal: Sounds like something about a "... make a fire because it's cold. Convenient pleasure" 1356990992 And it's tight against the skin so all the power goes **deep** into your soul. 1255785543 Maybe not appropriate here, but have you ever noticed you get phantom vibrations seconds before a call or text? I get them, but I always receive a text...Can our brains process the (radio?) signal phones operate on? 1335081184 Part of that is because Texas is so red that voting is often not worth it in many places. I know it is unpopular to say but in many cases your vote means nothing. 1343879256 Well that may be true, I'm not doubting what you SAW, I'm just doubting what it IS you know?\n\nI'd just liked to exhaust all of the mundane options before we start considering ET! 1350895673 Finally? As in, it's only *just now* been debunked? I think it's been debunked since they were "invented". 1319995255 Honestly though, Occam's razor could quite easily be overcome by alien/other dimensional technology.\n\nSensory data is just sensory data. 1336996855 > Except he told you a reasonable explanation.\n\nAnd his reasonable explanation is that atheism is too controversial for people to see.\n\nIt's not just /r/atheism. All atheism related posts are invisible on the front page, and deeper. 1251341836 It's 28th in UK. Does "the end of the world" mean the end of this heat wave? 1338160540 ;_; I'm 40 with a chronic ankle problem. How long will my training take? 1334894860 Ha ha! I started reading that thread, and thought I was still on /r/skeptic. I had several WTF moments. 1317269226 Oh, so this is the Gellar mentioned in "Nice to Know You" by Incubus. I always wondered who the hell Brandon Boyd was talking about. 1325736794 Talk to people who were on the base at the time and you'll find that Halt, Burrough and Penniston are a laughing stock (and for good reason).\n\nThere are a lot of mundane details that believers in the UFO story apparently seem to choose to ignore. 1348401552 >Which is the same as suggesting that the jet engine preceded the auto\n\nI don't get it?\n\n>I take it you've never read Lord of the Flies?\n\nI was forced to, and hated that book. What's the relevance? 1313576867 That is the second most flying humanoid i have ever seen. 1309092834 I agree with your last point: "control" is very different than "reverse." However, type 2 diabetes cannot morph into type I. They are completely different disease processes, even though the end result of both is high blood sugar. 1350415662 Somebody, quick, grab the lottery #'s. 1318146349 Ah, thanks, I didn't see that!\n\nThat's pretty much what Wakefield was trying to do with his "study," wasn't it? 1344541293 Our bodies are machines as are our brains which make up our consciousness. When the brain shuts down, so does our awareness, thought, and experience. It can only be like shutting off the light in a room. On, then off. The only question left to ask is whether the light flicks off or dims. 1325665935 Time to move on? The point isn't to convince Ray Comfort. That would be pretty much impossible, and the hosts of the show know it. Instead, they're trying to plant seeds of skepticism in the mind of theists watching the debate. There are a lot of theists that are less crazy than Ray Comfort, and more open to evidence and questioning their beliefs. 1305254881 This is the indisputable truth, if you are a low information, incurious, GOP base or Tea Party member. 1326303067 You are neglecting those that, either because they are too young, or for other medical reasons can NOT be vaccinated. They are the ones dying in outbreaks of diseases we thought we had conquered. It only takes a small percentage drop of vaccinated people in a population to lose our 'herd immunity'. This is precisely the reason children are now dying in affluent western countries from things like measles. 1303869253 Nicely done and not insulting (which I especially like). 1288111769 I concede your point on the difference between murder and manslaughter. However, I still have a problem with seeing what they did as negligent. As you say, negligence is about failing to meet a standard of care but I feel that deliberately withholding care is a different matter. \n \n[Here's](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-15466999) another example that doesn't involve any beliefs. This child was burned when she was held in a scolding shower and died up to a fortnight later from the burns. Look at the prosecuter's comment right at the end. \n \n> A total failure of both these two defendants to seek medical attention may well have been because both knew that Eva Logina had done this and both therefore wished, given the relationship, to avoid the obvious consequences of bringing it to the attentions of people who could treat it because they were gross injuries. \n \nThe mother was charged with manslaughter and child cruelty, but I have a hard time considering that to be neglect. Maybe it's not murder as they never intended their victim to die, but it should be consdered more than being criminally negligent. \n \nNINJA EDIT: I decided to look up manslaughter to get my head around it better. I found out that [involuntary manslaughter](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manslaughter#Involuntary_manslaughter) contains two types: constructive and criminally negligent manslaughter. Constructive manslaughter is pretty much what I was talking about, therefore my entire arguement is now rendered void. I shall leave my post up as it took me a while to type. 1320331797 Try this [link](http://eztvstream.com/documentaries/this-world-spains-stolen-babies). 1319538854 It is! A smudge on your camera lens! 1322265156 The National Inquirer? Jeezus, really? 1350245148 Anybody have any suggestions to make sure they realize how stupid this is and how it undermines the goals of the university and the museum? I work there so I can't piss off to many people. 1318443097 I looked at some of the rest of the website. I noticed a consistent usage of the word "seen" when the grammatically correct word would have been "saw." To me, this tends to suggest that each of these supposed first person narrative accounts were written by the same person. I seen the consistent grammar flaws in these narratives and became more skeptical about their authenticity. ;)\n 1344976382 Regardless of how hard you threw them, they should not have landed where they did. I mean, you could throw them harder and they would probably break, but that wouldn't affect distance. \n\nMaybe they fell on a corner/hinge, and they sorta… rolled? 1343432553 LOL that's the reason I won't start the thread now. 1338152681 You are right. But you also serve as an example that we might be quite alright alone, but it's better when we're together with someone. 1320640646 Did they try launching them? 1285605026 [u/joshuakevinperry](http://www.reddit.com/user/JoshuaKevinPerry) 1352399813 I was kinda hoping that at the bottom it was going to be the ship from Spaceballs. 1297132511 Given the history of the US government, this should end about as well as that IRS investigation of Scientology a few years back. 1297106921 No I understand that. I'm just talking about the popular belief out there right now that claims that weed is harmless. Kids really buy into this! Fundamentalist potheads will advocate that weed is harmless without sufficient evidence to back it. A skeptic does not advocate something that is not backed by sufficient evidence. And I was stating the only side effect of weed known to me. 1332791474 could you link us to the footage of the wingless planes ? 1321999629 I believe it is *A Magician Among the Spirits.* And [here's](http://www.thegreatharryhoudini.com/occult.html) some additional info about Houdini and the occult. \n\nEdit: I can internet. 1356397841 That's not accurate either. \n\nThe 9/11 Truth movement (for lack of a better term) has an enormous amount of credible data - much much more than the official story:\n\nhttp://patriotsquestion911.com/\n\n... the only people who still believe that the 9/11 Commission report describes an accurate story of how a bunch of cave-dwelling Saudi's (with nothing more than a couple of razor blades) orchestrated the most horrendous attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor... are now more commonly known as "9/11 Faithers" (given their blind-faith in Cheney/Bush dogma).\n\nMoving along... I do agree with you that there are a lot of anti-Government folks that have irresponsibly adopted the "9/11 Truth" movement as their own. \n\nJust like the Republicans would love to drop the "Birthers" on the curb, so too would most of the authentic 9/11 Truthers (ie. military personal, engineers, architects, federal agents, etc) wish they could distance themselves from lunatic fringe.\n\nIn other words, not all Republicans are retarded "Birthers". And not all Truthers are anti-Government nutcases. \n\nIn fact, most Republicans pray the Birthers would just go away... just as most Truthers pray the anti-Government lunatics would just keep their craziness to themselves.\n\nFocus on the legitimate, well established research and information organizations for factual and rational Truth:\n\nhttp://www.ae911truth.org/\n\nRespectfully. 1249622272 I carry my keys outside with me even if I'm just going to the mailbox, for this reason.\n\nOf course, in my case it's usually one of the two dogs throwing the deadbolt. 1331813501 I didn't downvote you. However, you can't make that statement with any authority in the same way that I can't say definitively that aliens are in our midst. 1304469346 3 points:\n\n- Ideas born from other wrong ideas can only be coincidentally correct, so there's no point in seeking out info from places that embrace wrong ideas as dogma.\n\n- If you find those sources interesting, use them in a different way.\n\n- If you use them the way I suggest (to understand the human condition) you might actually improve your cognitive tools, which might be much better than calibrating a bullshit detector. \n\n 1354800714 > If you've ever met a conspiracy nut - a good friend of mine became one - it's quite horrifying. She has failed out of what was a promising career in psychology, is incapable of having a healthy relationship, has developed an eating disorder, and now spends most of her waking hours on infowars.com. Despite seeing psychiatrists on a regular basis, her delusions are so powerful that the admonition of doctors have become part of the conspiracy against her. It leaves us all wishing we had taken her harmless interest in whacko 9-11 truth theories a bit more seriously, back when it would have made a difference.\n\nUnsubstantiated, anecdotal, subjective, obviously biased, and ultimately naive. \n\nYou seriously don't question the official story? 1315808703 Check out the last episode of ["Lawrence Leung's Unbelievable The Experiment"](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wu0XXLMWaas) for a great example of how far some people will go to fool someone.\n\nThe episode actually gave rise to what I termed "muse's law" *that it's more likely that your the victim of an elaborate hoax to make you think you're a psychic than that you really are one*.... To the victim's credit, I'm almost certain I'd have been questioning my view of reality after every thing they did to him. 1330434070 But with the open fontanel, I'm thinking hydrocephalus. It makes me wonder what baffled "medical experts" they consulted. 1351544265 There's an area a few miles from me where all the TV transmitter towers are, and if I'm parked anywhere near there my keychain car alarm transmitter won't work unless I hold it next to my windshield wipers. 1318553492 You might find this interesting: http://www.slate.com/id/2278314/\n\nGo to the map in the middle and press the play button. 1298798784 I think they sell it in Mexico. You can get it on eBay. 1344880171 This needs to be at the top. You immune system is not something you can "boost" for beneficial results, nor is poor health due to a "weak" immune system in most cases (HIV, etc)\n\n 1296941105 First time I've seen it... 1288295162 Phototropism and gravitropism occur after the plant is bent. It's an adaptive mechanism that ensures the damaged plant's survival.\n\nIn other words, the crop circles are created in whatever way, shape or pattern. The crushed plants, which are not irreversibly damaged, begin the process of growing towards light/away from gravity causing the cell elongation on one side. 1344461528 Uh, yeah, that's what UFOs are. Unidentified. We don't know what they are. I'm not saying aliens, I'm not saying humans. I'm saying unknown, therefor interesting. There's LOTS of that. 1343934321 I have experienced medical benefit from chiropractors, however it's nothing that I couldn't do on my own were I to study anatomy a little better. For instance, about twice a year (as a result of repetitive motion at work) I pinch a nerve in my left shoulder causing myself a mild dull ache. The first time it happened I went to the chiropractor, because he was a family friend and offered a free treatment. \n\nWhile I was there he showed me a way to stretch my neck to the opposite side of the pinched nerve, which when done regularly for 2-3 days relieves the pressure, and my shoulder stops hurting for a few months.\n\nSo in my experience, yes they can provide medical relief, but no more so than Jim down at the general store giving you advice. 1329427030 I think the approach here is all wrong. It is not your burden to disprove the hypotheses of homeopathy. If she asserts it's true or doesn't have her mind made up, she has to present the arguments and evidence in favor of it. Even something as strange and unintuitive as quantum physics has enough experimental evidence to justify it as a worthwhile model. 1295759364 It can't get better than this:\n\n\n* Believing that only one ideology could ever make mistakes; constantly demonizing that ideology while ignoring the faults of ones own (a particulary Liberal fault). 1314384985 He is handsome for an older fella! 1317463576 sometime when im at home and its just me and my gf ill hear my name come from up the stairs. I know no one is home but it still creeps me out. dont feel bad im sure it happends to every one at one time or another 1333397282 Does an apple from a small local orchard taste better because it's organic? Or just fucking maybe it's because the farmer took the time/care to ensure only the best varietals were grafted onto his orchard, controlled the sugar levels, processed the fruit without damaging/bruising it? And if he went to all that trouble/expense to grow a great apple, damn sure he made it organic because that's an easier selling point than all the other variables that went into its production. 1323505679 Well, it's always good to know that no matter how low I go, there are people willing to go lower. 1341472070 >Citation needed. The amphetamines were initially researched by military to improve performance of healthy people, and the adderall[1] brand mix of amphetamines is commonly abused by healthy students for exams[2] .\n\nYou've just provided an example there - people without ADHD get a high, increased energy, and can pull all-nighters for days straight. For people with ADHD, it slows them down, calms them, and helps them concentrate.\n\n>"No, ADHD is falsifiable,"\nYea, right. Let's start with the claim above, which is simply false.\n\nIf you think it's false, then demonstrate it to be so. I've already explained how it could be falsified and you seem to have no argument against that.\n\n>Which is utterly distinct from things like cancer and more similar to 'lump on the leg' or 'slow walking'. Suppose we got some "slow movement syndrome", which is diagnosed on basis of subpar performance at running 100 meters, and we treat it by prescribing common sports doping (not even steroids that increase muscle growth, no, just the doping that boosts short term performance). That's exactly what is being done.\n\nHaha your dishonesty is amazing. You think being unable to function in society is comparable to not being a great athlete?!\n\nIt's more accurate to compare mental disorders to musculoskeletal disorders, where somebody's movement is impaired so that they struggle to climb stairs or walk long distances. This is diagnosed through behavioral markers (e.g. inability to extend limbs beyond a certain point, reported pain and difficulties associated with certain tasks, etc) and treated through various therapies until the person regains some autonomy and ability to function in their world. 1348367603 To answer the question that most people think but won't ask--yeah, it would just be massages. No happy endings. 1348859174 The response to this one is "the drug companies can't make money off of it so nobody will fund a study." 1288825118 lol I don't think so, but I will forward it to my fiance for verification. 1348245266 Nice one. 1332942774 >I consider school a place of learning factual truths\n\nthis sounds like what our standardized testing advocates. having set facts they have to learn before the leave, instead of teaching kids *how* to learn and how to be critical of any information is the more important function of school in the modern age. 1335990094 >places like [1] /r/MensRights keep telling everyone that accusations of rape by women are 99% false\n\nCitation needed. 1345160816 Your username and reply seem to be about as in sync as OP's pic. 1293733813 Caustic Soda is a skeptic friendly,hilarious podcast about all the worst things the world has to offer. Highly recommend it for the "Lesser of two evils" segment. 1335706403 [This little girl](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Rosa) did it for therapeutic touch, you should be able to set up something similar. 1290818725 If you believe this to be a real thing look up old records for your house, and see if a Susan ever lived there. Seems to be a logical starting point. 1347208229 This article is from 2 years ago. Why are you digging it up now? 1322467421 The one that isn't even in production yet? Yeah, okay. 1329749353 Its all good. I knew what you meant. 1353106636 Y'all been trolled. 1310364989 Stop posting this shit. 1337482360 I am certain that things are much more interesting than we can imagine. Thanks for the thought, it definitely gives me something more to think about. \n 1342529536 I like watching them too from more of a, "What if", rather than the, "Holy shit it's true" aspect.\n\nLook, I think that it is very probable that E.T. has landed on Earth in the past. The problem is that there is not any proof beyond the circumstantial that this is the case. 1318631093 either a little schmutz on the camera, or a UFO\n\nonly two logical explanations ha 1336307178 I wouldn't count myself among the ranks of the Zeitgeist Movement but I am a person who values good science fiction, because looking at what might be in the future can help us figure out our values in the present. Looking at the endgame isn't just foolishness. Just because we're not post-scarcity yet doesn't mean we never will be. 1314198244 Think this way. Why would they be showing us they are here, without plopping down and saying hello? Maybe they have a reason, like some galactic policy about non-interference or something but it only is for newer species/races. Also with everything our government already does and keeps from people, why not this? So then maybe they are taking risks to show us "Hey, their is a lot more to this than you know." \n\nWhy do ancient civilizations, that were completely separated by both time and distance, all draw the same things when it comes to "aliens"? 1348071730 Did you ever tell your parents? I think they were fucking with you. 1340445035 Good luck. 1318985162 Good luck. 1332814484 Good luck. 1335201951 Man, I totally missed this bullshit. Anyone got a link to the original? 1345492550 ...but I'm a Climate Scientist, and I have a total of 25 years invested into my education and research center. Without global warming, think of the jobs that will be lost when climate scientists are out of work! Think of the children! 1325247644 whats with the thumbnail? 1285167982 If that's the case, then I'm still correct in saying that it's scientific in at least the smallest possible way - the complexity is what allows for 'degrees' of scientificness...\n\nThis debate is similar to the [No True Scotsman](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_true_Scotsman) discussion. Dr. Long's work, however painfully wrong it may be, has some of the characteristics of the scientific method. Moreover [Layne_Staleys_Ghost's](http://www.reddit.com/r/skeptic/comments/lpqo1/no_words/c2umlq4) comment, in general terms, that the collection of anecdotes is not scientific in the smallest way possible is false. Depending on your object of study, the collection of anecdotes may be an important step of your experiment. \n\nI guess the only real reason that it's important enough for me to drive this home is that I think it's worth noting that bad science is as dangerous as anti-science. 1324312671 Nothing to see here. Move along now. 1328822199 same boat. i come from a fundamentalist christian background. =/ 1309573256 I know this is a old post but I just found it. I have access to these documents and more like them. They are part of a larger set of files about the ghost rockets, which we will release as part of a [documentation project](http://ghostrockets.se) on UFO-Swedens ongoing investigation into the phenomena. 1328030414 I agree. I've had this discussion with my husband many times. Scientific methods just won't work with this supernatural phenomena. 1327326563 > scientific documented evidence\n\nCan you produce any of this evidence? Also, before you call me closed minded, see [this video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T69TOuqaqXI) on the subject. 1287355301 Can you substantiate those claims? How do you know he hasn't produced anything? The wikipedia article doesn't mention anything about that. 1345384977 They're not that vehement. Penn Jilette seemed to [backtrack on the denial](http://reason.com/blog/2008/07/03/penn-teller-and-climate-change) after the fact. 1355720708 I've been glued tight to this laptop for 3 hours waiting for him/her, riveted and anxious both. Thank you for relieving me of my post. 1335480214 So because the San Antonio Humane Society and the SPCA of Central Florida aren't HSUS sanctuaries, that makes the HSUS bad... how? 1301659315 C'mon, people, let's do some basic math here. Unless the objects are like 10 miles across (which they'd need to be to even be seen) they are in earth's atmosphere, not "near the moon". Interesting UFOs, but the moon is pretty much just a backdrop here. 1334606513 Yeah. If the large companies did discover it had scientific merit, they'd just use their immense production power to flood the market and make more profit. As it is now, they'd rather not be linked to pseudo-science. 1330593123 i know right im glad to see someone who read it like me 1335697221 He's right about not being able to buy one at Sears. They wouldn't insult their customers by selling such a clunky, amateurish piece of shit. I don't believe that it was designed by a real engineer. Must be a homeopathic engineer with just a tiny fraction of the knowledge required. 1283878878 I can't wait for these logical fallacies to be incorrectly pointed out in the near future. 1304813904 Well, you wouldn't be laughing at just the idea, you would be laughing at people who were victimized by the misinformation that you've deliberately spread. Homeopaths do recommend suppositories with homeopathic ingredients anyway, so this whole "Ha ha, wouldn't *this* make them look stupid" is moot. They are pretty damned good at victimizing people with their misinformation as it is. They don't require anyones half assed attempt at humour. 1334939160 Have you ever probed these memories via hypnotherapy? Or do you have dream-echoes of this experience? 1348078125 Strange how defending their cult brings out this type of venom in people. 1321646979 >In all likelihood the story of Jesus started as a Jewish adaptation of the story of Horus\n\nSounds like the [nonsense](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_Christ_in_comparative_mythology#Ancient_Egypt) spouted by [zeitgeist](http://conspiracies.skepticproject.com/articles/zeitgeist/part-one/#horus). I'm an atheist and I very much doubt historical Jesus, but Zeigeist is so full of bullshit it's not even funny. (Okay, it is a little - but mostly due to how bad it is) 1311683175 Especially when other doctors write them letters explaining it. 1267559611 So THAT explains why I hate the dentist. Novocaine doesn't do a damn thing for me. 1290024718 Desperate people do foolish things. 1309732073 I can't wait for this graph to somehow find itself in an email titled\n>FW: FW: FW: FW: FW: FW: FW: DON'T EAT ORGANIC FOODS!!! 1355337526 Rockefeller has a legitimate reason to desire more information on the subject. He's likely pretty far down in the intelligence hierarchy around the same level or a little higher than US presidents. I don't see anything sinister about it. 1342808770 I must have missed that being posted here, fair enough, perhaps a comment in that post would've been better placed though? 1351265290 When there are affordable preservatives available that have no mercury in them, I find it disingenuous to continue to use mercury. \n\nOn a mass production scale, I have a feeling that the extra cost to have 3 single-use vials instead of shipping vaccines in a 3-dose vial would be fairly affordable. Perhaps I'm wrong, and using single-dose vials would cause an undue strain on vaccine funding.\n\nIf I was provided with compelling evidence that there is absolutely no link between mercury and autism, I would support funding to continue research into finding the true cause of autism...that being said, \n\nI find it "reasonable" to embrace the concept that a small percentage of the population has a sensitivity to even trace amounts of mercury compounds. I have heard of children who have died from an allergic reaction to peanuts, so...can we agree that mercury should not be the first choice when selecting medical additives? 1350859884 Ha ha ha ha ha 1315550822 Far better with George Knapp. 1324666750 If one works 1 out of 1000 times, and the other works 3 out of 4 times. Is it dangerous to suggest the first one? YES.\n\n\nAnd in reality, most alternative medicine(and this diet and homeopathy) have no reliable evidence that they provide any benefit at all, and good evidence that they do not provide any benefit.\n\nThis alternative medicine you speak often spoken of from china... have a listen http://goo.gl/kaY9J 1311009958 Was he ever really IN the closet? 1348444182 Isn't it a little inaccurate to have different information for different languages in Wikipedia. Wouldn't it be more efficient and accurate to have one page translated and with the same supporting references? Isn't the truth the truth in any language. 1338104244 \n>Just as some people might not comfortable being a man or a woman, some people might not be comfortable with their sexual attractions. This doesn't mean that those attractions are inherently wrong or are a disease, any more than a person being transgendered means that it is wrong to be a man or a woman or that either of those requires a cure.\n\nBut why does the person with homosexual attraction feel uncomfortable? Is there any reason besides the taboo placed upon homosexuality by society and religion?\n 1354426255 The homophones are attacking, the homophones are attacking! Run! 1249239710 > sensory organs incased in bone.\n\nWhat are these? 1351989115 Now you skeptics have gone too far. Arsenal is clearly the best team to use in this analogy. What you're doing is shameful and you should be ashamed. 1354265326 TL;DR: You're too gullible. 1288391411 > I think the project is "proof" that it can't. It's mostly shunned by the community and the only explanations are still wildly unscientific and equally preposterous.\n\nThe scientists are the Hessdalen Project publish their results in peer-reviewed, non-"out there" journals. They present their findings at scientific conferences. They are held up as one of the best examples of a "UFO" investigation by many mainstream UFO writers. \n\nYou are part of "the community". If you see people ignorantly ascribing wild, preposterous explanations about the Hessdalen Lights it's your job to correct them. 1355591438 I had this revelation while on acid in 1992 but no one listened to me. 1352108716 Although I have had many a paranormal thing occur in my life.... the one instance... that this same thing happened to me....I discovered it was my cell phone screen turning on, then shifting to dark screen mode. No idea why, but the whole room lit up and it freaked me out. 1332141494 If the milk is kept sterile, then Salmonella can't get into it. Though if present, you're quite right. 1338313323 Logic and Religion have NOTHING to do with each other. In fact, they are at odds with each other. That is one reason religion is such a terrible idea, it is ILLOGICAL!!! The author of this article is a complete moron... 1276014271 More on this from the Huffington Post (which is kind of ironic):\n\n[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/27/dr-christine-daniel-cancer_n_984087.html](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/27/dr-christine-daniel-cancer_n_984087.html) 1319063804 Yes, this is true. I still don't see how you disagree with him.\n\nYou seem to be under the impression that he is somehow attacking science when his talk is about how remarkable our universe is and how much we've learned about what we don't know and how we've learned it through the scientific method.\n\nThis video should not be in this subreddit. 1348706791 Yeah It wasn't till after I had wiped my laptop that I realized how many pictures and videos of things I wanted to keep were gone. Dropbox is perfect to keep this from happening 1340905033 > Oh, those look like ice particles that form on the outside of the engines and break off.\n\nAh, no wonder you had down votes. Rational explanations are typically not welcome here. I'm not sure why people would be surprised that a bunch of particles would be floating around right after a piece of equipment just broke. (especially since they are talking about just that in the audio.) 1326994829 I'm shocked that the downvoting system here is used to get rid of comments people don't agree with, this is supposed to be a skeptic's community, it should promote (in a way) people disagreeing and discussing it properly. Instead we seem to still have the reddit voting system that gets rid of comments based entirely on how it makes us "feel". I know this has nothing to do with vaccinations, but 2 hidden comments (that are actually sharing calm opinions relevant to the topic) is not a good sign for this community.\n\nI do support vaccination (duh), but the idea of "forcing" it (which I don't think, based on what I read, they're fully doing?) raises issue of freedom/human rights. It's such a grey area, I can't say what I think about it. But I can imagine it getting worse if it's left alone, so I quite like the idea of them needing to prove their case so they can opt out. \n\nEdit: I'd also like to hear from everyone who is downvoting me, this is surely a community based on discussion? I got really excited when I found there was a skeptic's community on here, but it seems a little ruined by the voting system as usual. One which encourages quick, and emotional judgement. 1349685977 Are you sure you aren't near a wheat field? Because I just consumed a (probably alien-modified) beef. 1297381495 >Nothing *phases* me anymore.\n\nStop lying about the moon landing and gibbous the truth! 1346148792 You need to be pregnant to produce a placenta. It forms from a fertilized egg, and serves to exchanges nutrients between mother and fetus. 1283814894 I worked there a couple of years. When I started having "experiences" I thought I must be a nut, so I asked a few people around who had worked there longer than me, and everybody had stories and told me not to worry. One person had experienced a full apparition, right where my office was. Another lady had experienced detatched footsteps running past her (as in hearing them but seeing nobody attached to the footsteps as they ran past her). All in all it was a pretty creepy place, but there was only one spot in the building that felt "menacing", and I'm pretty sure that was a different energy/entity to the one that pestered me all the time. In fact, the "menacing" one was enough to me that I stayed well away from that area at night. I'm getting chills right now just thinking about it, actually :/ The last straw for me was when I walked into the area where "it" was, and felt so uncomfortable, almost ill, and then, though it was the height of summer and over 30C outside, my breath condensed into fog clouds (yes, just like in the movies). It was freezing in there. So I just turn and got the fuck out. Never went back in there at night. 1347423396 Wow your just such an E-thug I bet your mother would be proud :)\n\nAnd wait paranormal doesn't ever use science, technology, or beliefs? All I was asking what experiences, beliefs, ect lead you to saying that. I wasn't judging your or what not. But now I am :p \n\nJokes on you too I'm total dead weight right now so you will have to drag me out. 1338929804 To pull a classic example assosciated with utilitarian ethics, you're coincidentally standing at a railroad switch just as a train is about to crash into a stalled bus on the railroad tracks. If you do nothing the train will crush the bus killing the people aboard. If you pull the railroad switch the train goes onto a different track where there is but a single person (stupidly) sitting down to enjoy their lunch with their back turned to the train. You don't have time to warn anyone. \n\nCertainly, this is an absurd hypothetical situation, but nonetheless there's a point to be made. If you're a Consequentialist (i.e.: you view ethical actions as whatever creates the greatest amount of good as you define it) then it's a simple choice, most likely pulling the switch is moral, not pulling it immoral, but that will of course depend on how you quantify good. If you adhere to most other ethical systems, this may be somewhat of a quandary, you can either act and be responsible for the death of one person who otherwise would have lived, or you can fail to act and more people will die. Unless I'm mistaken these actions are opposites of each other (acting vs. failing to act) [at least in one sense, I'm not completely sure how much I like viewing ethics in terms of opposites just because you can come up with more than opposite for many situations] yet it does not seem contradictory to say there seems to be something unethical about either choice you can make. It is not that you desire to be an "immoral bad guy" instead it's that you're in situation where differing ideals of morality conflict. Generally most of us do not look at ethical situations purely based on consequences, or purely based on duty; we use a mix of the two. As such, situations can arise (i.e.: the vaccination case) that you have conflicting moral impulses about, but, one impulse can be stronger than the other, and one should have reasons why one option is better than the other, but those reasons may not be the same between all people. \n\nPS: I don't actually think it's immoral to forcibly vaccinate at all.\n 1303929546 I've used the captions a few times now, and have seen about 2% accuracy :| 1267906292 What the fuck is wrong with you? 1310399173 There is something else that you may have not considered: we have had almost two generations of children living in the (former) era of measles being eradicated in this country. Is it possible that our children's immune systems no longer "remember" *anything* about measles, thus leaving them exceptionally vulnerable?\n\n**EDIT:** I have two step-aunts who had measles, and they we're left totally deaf. 1304910172 Thank you for sharing. That's a great story. :-)\n 1347568541 That seems unlikely since iq is partially based on age. 1346173033 And the British figures that were published by the NHS showed the opposite 50% higher risk in hospital than home-birth. 1247307761 [Here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dispatches_%28TV_series%29#MMR:_What_they_didn.27t_tell_you) is a wikipedia article on the Channel 4 programme which broke the story. \n\nQuote:\n> Among a string of allegations, Deer revealed that, when Wakefield claimed a possible link between the vaccine and autism, his own lab had produced secret results which contradicted his claims, and he had registered patent claims on his own single measles vaccine. 1355778786 We're finally realizing that indeed, the commies *are* trying to disrupt our Purity of Essence. 1295579829 I looked at your screenshot *and* watched the video. In the video, you can even see the bird do a partial wing flap. I could be wrong, but that's my take. 1331442900 Ha, ha, good one... 1336514964 While not a core mission, I think skeptics have an important place in protecting people from fraud and fakes. 1324144471 Throwing out my favorite scary unexplained mysteries:\n\n[Unexplained Scary sounds from the ocean.](http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/sound01/background/seasounds/seasounds.html) \n\n[UVB-76. ](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UVB-76)The unexplained Russian radio signal nicknamed "The Buzzer"\n\n[The Toxic Lady](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloria_Ramirez) always creeped me out too.\n 1331213103 That sounds similar to Payne Rd. in Rural Hall, NC. 1347054063 I guess I can see some ambiguity in my response. I should have narrowed it further. :/ 1338409798 Alright, fair point ... lets do some do some self skepticism and apply a little analysis.\n\nI made a joke which apparently was considered inappropriate. I didn't intend it that way, but I can see how it may have been seen as such. I was then provided a link to the wikipedia page on bigotry .. with no explanation or comment on my joke, just a link which I'm assuming was an attempt at a clever way to call me a bigot. Now, being a real person, as I'm sure most of us here are, I've had a number of jokes made at my expense and I've made jokes at others expense. These jokes have come at the expense of everything from which hand I'm holding my beer in to the girls I date to my heritage to just about everything .. to jump to the conclusion of bigotry from repeating a common joke is a tad extreme. I mean, if I had actually said something bigoted, there's nowhere to go from there. By using the word in this way it dilutes it for when it's actually appropriate.\n\nNow I'm not going to get into my ethnicity or where I live or anything like that, but I will point out that if I was a lower middle class, gay black man living in a predominantly rich white upper suburban neighborhood .. being called a bigot for a vegetarian joke would be offensive to me, which I'll explain in a sec.\n\nI then responded with a shock response .. which I suppose I should have just let this go, but honestly it was extreme enough it got a reaction. As you can see, another redditor got upset and I simply pointed out it was a joke to clarify I wasn't trying to be mean. I'm not looking for a fight here. However, potentially a bit harsh, I used a nazi comparison. This was done because of the recent daily show events pointing out how the over use of the comparison to nazi's detracts from the power of the comparison and waters it down to what has almost become a daily use, thereby diluting it's meaning. Which is why the use of the word bigot as a reaction to a joke would be offensive to someone who's lived through actual bigotry .. just as a nazi reference on fox news would probably be offensive to someone who survived the actual holocaust. But, again, perhaps it was a bit harsh. However, given the use of the word bigot to a 2 line joke that poked fun at a common misconception (not even an insult to the life style in general) I thought it was at least somewhat appropriate. I think tried to make him realize that an over reaction of this sorts may be why jokes like this, as well as other negative social responses, exist in the first place.\n\nThis is where the obvious difference of opinion regarding social and cultural differences became apparent. He began to point out that since vegetarians are outliers, jokes of this nature only reinforce negative connotations of the group. I happen to disagree with this stance for a multitude of reasons. For one, just because you're different and a minority doesn't make you exempt from having jokes made at your expense. As an atheist, I'm quite aware of this (and from your user name, you are as well). \n\nThis is where you jumped in, but I'll continue with where the above conversation went.\n\nI pointed out that comedy can be used as a tool to get people to become more comfortable with differences they don't understand and are uncomfortable with. I used more powerful differences as a form of emphasis. After all, if comedy can help racism and homophobia, it certainly would aid in the general acceptance of something less intrusive, such as vegetarianism. \n\nThis point was apparently lost on sylvan (whom I recall picking fights in other subreddits, and I believe I referred to him as a troll because his reactions were so over the top a few weeks back). He then began to ask for evidence supporting my previous point, even though his evidence was the wikipedia and one page was 3 sentences long. \n\nHe also made a very comical statement about relaxing tension through mutual respect. Respect? This coming from the guy who started off the conversation by calling me a bigot? I actually did laugh out loud.\n\nAnother comment was about irrational hostility towards vegetarianism on reddit. This may or may not exist, but I can't say I've noticed it. Either way, he's obviously very passionate about this cause. He's also very obviously not willing to find any humor in it, nor ease up on making gross generalizations about me and reddit, which is ironically what he's claiming I'm doing with a two line joke and why he's so angry.\n\nSo ... after reviewing this under a little more skeptical view, you're right, we're probably both in the wrong here. I should have just not let him get under my skin with the bigotry comment, downvoted him (which I try never to do) and moved on with my life. By reacting that aggressively to a joke on the internet, it should have been obvious that he's either a troll looking for entertainment or someone who's not going to listen to me anyway. I mean, this is in an article where PETA drew anthropomorphic fish-cats and it's title infers insanity. \n\nSo, in the future, I'll try to learn from this interaction. For now, I'm done with that conversation, it's a waste of my time. (says the guy who just wrote this novel .. oh no, a book joke, better watch out for any professional writers saying these sorts of comments only belittle the effort that goes into writing a real novel ... ) However I can say that my opinion on vegetarians is a bit more negative now. I can honestly say in the future I'll do my best to avoid them.\n\nedit: on a side note, you had a good comment, self reflection with some skepticism is always a nice learning experience. kudos for the interruption. \n\nsecond edit .. sorry for the edit, just saw something interesting. I wonder why there weren't any insults thrown at Bomb-20's way. Was the sarcasm of his comment lost on sylvan, or did he just see me as an opportunity for an argument? Either way, seems like quite the selective aggressive. 1296760198 Violent crime doesn't get reduced by happy feelings.\n\nIf the best argument you can give for prayer is "it gives a positive attitude," then I'm not sure you've got much left to stand on. 1350710836 We are a new group composed of previous teams that broke up so not yet :/ 1344979652 I don't get at all why you don't want the study project to see you at all and try not to be visible at the same time. 1340336539 >It was easily 1000 feet wide.\n\nNot likely. Something 1000 feet wide at 15,000 feet would be still be a relatively large object to the observer compared to other objects in the sky. I could be wrong, but my rough estimation would be a couple of inches across. This is enormous. Your estimation of size and distance must be in error. \n\nMaybe someone else here better at math can correct me on this, but I'm more concerned with how you determine the size in the first place.\n\n>a solid yellow light appeared at 25,000 feet or so ...\n\nHow do you determine altitude? Without triangulation or a relative object by which to determine distance, this is nigh on impossible. \n\nHow can you tell the difference between a small featureless object at close distance and a large featureless object at much greater distance?\n\n>The next night, the same thing.\n\nUFOs are by definition a transient phenomenon. It is very unlikely, if they are genuinely anomalous, that they travel by a timetable. It would make it much easier for us to prove something if they did. \n\nAn unique plasma effect or geophysical EM phenomenon does not operate on predictable schedules either. \n\nIt is statistically unlikely that one observer will be present for remarkable anomalous phenomena on more than one occasion. If such phenomena are objectively real, they must be very rare, which makes observance rarer and very unlikely to repeatedly happen to a single individual. In such cases, it is much more likely to be a mundane cause.\n\nYou tell us that you use psychoactive substances. This is a concern because such use will alter your cognition in significant ways, effects which could last months. Interpretation of events will be altered, as you know. One's perception of what is real or what is possible is distorted, and one's personal connection to the numinous is greatly amplified. Regular use of psychedelics cannot fail to alter cognition even after the chemical effects wear off, sometimes dramatically. I am not saying that your account is untrustworthy because of this, but from experience I know that determinations based upon experiences under these conditions must be treated cautiously. \n\n\nMy advice would be to get a second witness to observe these objects, and get footage of them from something far better than a flip camera. We need steady footage that shows relative size of objects compared to landmarks or other features. If you can do this, your experience will become significant. As it is right now, it is anecdotal and problematic. 1335348890 Bear in mind that drugs manufacturers are constantly competing to create the next 'untraceable' performance enhancer, which is why all samples can be retested up to (i believe) 8 years after he fact. It's entirely possible that a negative sample can be retested later as positive due to improvements in testing. 1346064305 [Good movie](http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/exorcist/) 1268619697 What about a poisoned needle beak or micro explosives? Better than drone missile strikes and less collateral damage. Just store these things in the belly of an UAV and release them like a swarm. 1340417931 I like [this](http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2012/01/mountain-of-the-dead-the-dyatlov-pass-incident/) report, very detailed. 1356042722 Wow, that guy is hilarious! Could he be the voice of those Zero Punctuation reviews?? 1273520484 Upvote this people! These guys publish a peer-reviewed journal! \n\n[Here](http://www.scientificexploration.org/journal/articles.html) is a list of freely available PDFs of old papers. You can always start with the great [Guide to UFO Research](http://www.scientificexploration.org/journal/jse_07_1_swords.pdf).\n\n[Here](http://www.scientificexploration.org/talks/) is a list of free videos on their site. 1333724939 The women who watch them? 1306866300 I'm here to listen 1298853099 Try Thom Hartmann out. He is easily the smartest of the talk show hosts out there. (Ok, really it would be a toss up between him and Rachel Maddow; but she is a friggin' Rhodes Scholar, so that should give you an idea what level he is playing at.)\n 1351287005 Way too fast even for a fighter jet. 1289509735 Not a glitch. Just a very bad memory on behalf of your friend! 1341747199 How could that possibly help? 1303155947 You can reverse the pain relieving effects of acupuncture by administering naloxone which is an opiod receptor antagonist. This was in a lecture we had on opiod analgesia and dependence at the medical school where i study. Thought it sounded a bit dodgy. However it would appear it works by some unknown mechanism to release endogenous opiods. I know you guys are all for evidence so I put acupuncture and naloxone into google and [voila:](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T99-4754B11-107&_user=10&_coverDate=12%2F01%2F1976&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_origin=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1630105349&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=71376dece0d10fe8f5a7b11c15201d6e&searchtype=a) and [this](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4080256)\n\nSo I would say there is something in it as to how it works, I couldn't say. 1296813302 No problem, but I disagree with you that with the power to destroy a whole planet - any extra-terrestrial intelligence would see that as ant-like behavior; not worth their time. And just to add to that, we do study ants closely, and have been for a long time - we study any beings on this planet (and we venture to study beings on other planets too) no matter how insignificant their "contribution" is, I think that comes with our inquisitive nature as human beings (which could be argued is just a bunch of electronic signals going on in our brain to make us be better able to perform the ultimate task of reproducing), just like astronomy or space travel comes from that very same inquisitiveness.\n\nI argue that intelligent extra-terrestrial beings would have the same kind of curiosity, its most likely one of the ways to ensure survival of the race. It is to me extremely short-sighted and narcissistic to believe that this planet, among an amount of planets that is impossible to comprehend with our brains is the ONLY place where beings have been able to travel into space.\n\nWe have the technology right now to send nuclear bombs into space that are capable of destroying whole planets, have them travel to other solar systems; it will take a lot of time but it will arrive at some point, potentially detonating and causing massive destruction. Blowing this planet to pieces would be easy, blowing up the moon would be a walk in the park - that's with the technology we have today. And to add to that bit; knowledge about radioactive material and nuclear potential has only been available to us for a nanosecond on a universal scale - we just happen to be alive in this day and age and not surprisingly (since we live for such short time) we have problems grasping these massive universal time scales.\n\nWe are far from significant in this universe, but we are also far from insignificant. 1345249910 Missing holograms programmed to your body's natural frequencies. 1350653677 [spoiler](/s"John Tyler has two living grandchildren. Holy shit.") 1302570164 It doesn't matter if people talk or not. Just call them crazy and move on. 1328194440 Have you ever been hypnotised? If people fall deep enough into trance, you can make them see things and, if they get even deeper, make them no longer see things (or people, for that matter). I guess you do something similar to yourself, simply by convincing yourself that the things you wanna see are there / the things you want to hide are not there. 1354411983 Looks like your friend in the bad wig got in the shot. 1342627279 My family vacationed to Gettysburg a few times when I was younger. I think we did the actual "Ghosts of Gettysburg" tour (I think that was the official name of it.) It was a sweet tour, certainly not corny. I think I even have a ghosts of gettysburg tshirt that I bought from the store there. Also, perhaps to accompany the tour or if you are just interested in checking things out yourself, there are a few "Ghosts of Gettysburg" books available. I want to say the author was Mark Nesbitt? I'm not 100% sure on that though. I still have those books, and they are pretty interesting. \n\nIf you haven't already, check out the Farnsworth House and the Jennie Wade House too. Both locations are said to be haunted but also carry great history and interesting stories. Have fun, Gettysburg is a really great place, as you probably know! 1312252706 When Jim Carrey gets a degree in immunology, he can comment.\n\nUntil then he needs to stick to making rubberfaces and coming out with mediocre movies. 1306932064 mostly just the established stuff, hauntings started after a little girl named sallie had to endure an operation with no anesthetic. The house has been driving owner after owner out ever since. My roommate went to college in Atchison for a year, i'll see if he has any more he can add 1334866137 Wow, yup, that's exactly how this went. No memory of me saying anything. Just frozen time and shocked faces. Thanks! 1353178511 Ah yeah. I have no doubt that it would be easy for a man to kill somebody, and there issue with the so called "magic bullet" was really just a combination of collective ignorance, false statements and misplaced seating. I find the connection (and death threats) on the Kennedys after Robert started cracking down on the mob and the link between Ruby and Chicago rather fascinating. It's all conjecture of course, and a lot of the evidence was either inadvertently destroyed or simply absent, but its a subject that I find compelling.\n\nIn fact, the question never should be "who would want Kennedy dead" but "Who wouldn't want Kennedy dead?" Oswald, if he was acting alone and not by order of another party, did a deed that many many groups, including the Chicago Mafia, all wanted to do. 1343461078 I'm glad the JREF has started to challenge some of the more famous charlatans publicly.\nI only hope the debunking of every single one of these individuals will also be front page news. 1315334071 I can't cite this, unfortunately, but I'm of the understanding that plastic bottles require more carbonation of the soda, as the carbonation slowly leaks over time. I think this is the primary difference in flavor. In Thailand, both glass bottle Coke and plastic bottle Coke are available, and the glass bottle Coke does indeed taste better, to my tongue. 1344867359 I have, but the story begins with "when I was 10 years old", so I don't consider it particularly spectacular. 1335023761 Purred.. like a cat?\n\nWat?\n 1299041864 TIL Satan is dyslexic. 1335937568 Dude, do you have any big hair? Maybe the chip fell off of it and it got stuck earlier when you reached down to get a bowl from wherever. 1342309934 Thanks for this, you've taken all the things I was too lazy to write and worded them perfectly. 1329190007 > it may come as a surprise but i dont believe you work in online advertising.\n\n[Mitch Wells (pdf)](http://mitchwells.com/pdf/mitch-wells.pdf) 1330135089 Google: sleep paralysis dark figure (dark shadowy figure standing at bed is a common theme for some reason)\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnagogia\n\nYou can be conscious and dreaming. False awakenings seem to be common. 1331614060 I started to go through all their EVPs after reading this, and I got to the one labelled "????". The first time I clicked on it a couple days ago, the page was glitching and flickering non-stop and eventually all that played was this extremely high-pitched scream that made me shit my pants. Checking it now, the page works fine but I am still too scared to click play. 1333030906 Summary: go back to /r/atheism.\n\nDon't get me wrong, I love the subreddit, but I hate how they have massive circle jerks on just putting down religeous people, especially christians 1337124109 Yes, you are correct I do know what you mean, I saw an opening and I took it. 1266978835 Thank you for your interesting insight, although I wonder how much pre-programmed music selections would have affected this particular synchronicity back in 1976, especially since the way I remember it, all of the radio stations that we were listening to, were playing different segments of "You Should Be Dancing" and then after each of the same songs ended at different times on each station they all went back to regular programming, and we noticed that none of the programming was similar, while we triple-checked the radio buttons pertaining to this phenomenal event. 1328149503 Looks like it's pretty much just [this guy](http://www.reddit.com/user/exopolitiko) doing self-posts. 1294805127 The point should be that chiropractic was founded on nonsense, which is why the medical community has historically been opposed to it. 1330029581 I have no problem with the fact that your views differ from mine. Read what you wrote again though. In fact, I'll post the snippet below for you to read again. This is not the writings of a sane person. I'll even go as far as saying that this may be the most insane thing I have ever seen written, outside of fiction.\n\n"I always close my sessions to, not just turn it off; they say spirits can get trapped if you dont close it right. I forgot once and I brought something nasty home with me. I had to have someone clear the box for me before I could get peace in the house.\nThey are very interesting things indeed but also dangerous if done wrong." 1331750464 On that note, Science Based Medicine also has a whole catalog of articles dealing with homeopathy claims: http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/category/homeopathy/\n 1320253260 How is fucking with the product the right thing? What purpose does it achieve? They will sell those bracelets and countless other pieces of shit as long as they can make money doing so. Does hiding them change that? 1334761612 Because if you read the statements made by the firefighters on the scene they had reported that the building had been creaking for hours. They knew, based on their training and professional experience, that the building was so heavily damaged that it could not survive. That's the reason that the FDNY pulled everyone out of the immediate area. None of this is secret information and is readily available to anyone with a computer and the brains to use Google. 1290732825 I figure as long as people are coming in for their biannual cleanings, and other people are too lazy to brush at all, they're probably set. 1338758902 I got an experience that painfully illustrates this issue though. I got called once to cleanse this house of my friend's mom. They were seeing things I think it was orbs and such, and stuff was kept going missing. My friend's mom was rather concerned with a missing set of car keys she needed to quickly recover. I head down there and use some intuitive and occult techniques like giving the place a quinty eyed side ways glance. With these methods I perceived small fleeting "things" that weren't negative and nothing that would register as a ghost. I considered this in the context of both mythological and occult lore and I figured out what might need to be done. I told her to find a shiny trinket or object that she didn't need and offer it to these "spirits" and ask out loud for the key to be returned and I left. About an hour later she called and said she found a beautiful a aquarium rock and followed my instructions with it. Being home alone for the day she was surprised to find the keys where she had left the rock about five minutes after she left that room. She also later on said that after that there was no noticeable activity like that. I know this is one of my less spectacular experiences.\n\nThere's ten thousand possible naturalistic explanations as to what happened there, and I have not notion of ever offering that story as proof of the existence of the paranormal. There's no way I could even begin to. In my positioned though sometimes all you can do is take it as it is so to speak. 1324415409 Statistics are so easy to screw up.\n\nCasual observation would suggest that a small minority of religious zealots can do a LOT of damage. 1331603949 Dangers:\n\n\n[UFO injury reports](http://www.oocities.org/topsecretresearch/injury.html)\n\n[The Cash-Landrum Incident](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QdnFXcvug8)\n\n[USAF Missile Range Incident](http://www.sacred-texts.com/ufo/ufo1.htm)\n\n[The Falcon Lake Incident](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falcon_Lake_incident)\n\n[Zigmund Adamski](http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/yorkslincs/series2/ufo_alien_abduction_yorkshire_pennine_sighting_adamski_mystery.shtml)\n\n[Varginha UFO Incident and the death of Officer Marco Eli Cherese](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varginha_UFO_incident)\n\n[The horrific death of Joao Prestes Filho](http://www.ufocasebook.com/prestes.html)\n\n[Alleged mysterious deaths of UFO researchers...](http://www.2012changesarenow.com/2009/10/lest-we-forget-137-ufo-researchers.html) 1333213136 Dangers:\n\n\n[UFO injury reports](http://www.oocities.org/topsecretresearch/injury.html)\n\n[The Cash-Landrum Incident](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QdnFXcvug8)\n\n[USAF Missile Range Incident](http://www.sacred-texts.com/ufo/ufo1.htm)\n\n[The Falcon Lake Incident](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falcon_Lake_incident)\n\n[Zigmund Adamski](http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/yorkslincs/series2/ufo_alien_abduction_yorkshire_pennine_sighting_adamski_mystery.shtml)\n\n[Varginha UFO Incident and the death of Officer Marco Eli Cherese](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varginha_UFO_incident)\n\n[The horrific death of Joao Prestes Filho](http://www.ufocasebook.com/prestes.html)\n\n[Alleged mysterious deaths of UFO researchers...](http://www.2012changesarenow.com/2009/10/lest-we-forget-137-ufo-researchers.html) 1333213228 Dangers:\n\n\n[UFO injury reports](http://www.oocities.org/topsecretresearch/injury.html)\n\n[The Cash-Landrum Incident](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QdnFXcvug8)\n\n[USAF Missile Range Incident](http://www.sacred-texts.com/ufo/ufo1.htm)\n\n[The Falcon Lake Incident](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falcon_Lake_incident)\n\n[Zigmund Adamski](http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/yorkslincs/series2/ufo_alien_abduction_yorkshire_pennine_sighting_adamski_mystery.shtml)\n\n[Varginha UFO Incident and the death of Officer Marco Eli Cherese](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varginha_UFO_incident)\n\n[The horrific death of Joao Prestes Filho](http://www.ufocasebook.com/prestes.html)\n\n[Alleged mysterious deaths of UFO researchers...](http://www.2012changesarenow.com/2009/10/lest-we-forget-137-ufo-researchers.html) 1333213240 I suggest we apply this "spiral of silence" to Rebecca Watson. She needs to learn to put the emotion aside. There are so many other great women in the skeptic community, such as Sara E. Mayhew. 1321143039 they could also join a clinical trial of some kind or another. they may not save their kid's life, but they may help save lives down the road. all they'll do with those bullshit treatments is lose their money on wheat grass enemas and similar crap 1356569953 According to the wonderful *Bad Science* (Ben Goldacre, available at finer bookstores everywhere), part of the process involves knocking a vessel full of the preparation against a specially prepared leather surface. So perhaps that gives it amnesia? 1328294155 Actors and comedians are often less outgoing, but the thing is that individual personality doesn't really vary all that much over one's adult life. Besides, you are essentially just adding error bars on for the astrologist, who simply got it wrong. 1341775019 So...low-hanging fruit is often defined as "Easily obtained gains; what can be obtained by readily available means"... 1340774843 Exactly - the math equation assumed that 100% of people would know certain things by the time they're 30. That's a pretty big assumption! 1336654044 IT'S ON NETFLIX?!?! 1317712007 Most logical answer so far. 1355214514 >I really don't want to use the internet as a source, but here\n\nOMFG. Are you *seriously* suggesting that isn't a (bad) fake? LOL\n\nSeriously - when you can provide peer reviewed evidence that supports the existence of the supernatural, get in touch. Until then you are simply making things up. 1327518763 No problem, when I consider for a second that this could be true it blows my mind. 1342409515 http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?desktop_uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D0Gb6WNXX14Y%26feature%3Dplayer_embedded&feature=player_embedded&v=0Gb6WNXX14Y&gl=US 1321432893 His whole speech revolves around two main points. One about 9/11 over which he is clearly mistaken and two a ton of silliness about one court case he was involved in. It's hardly a convincing argument for a point that is actually pretty well understood by now. 1347389464 >One idea is that he has some sort of camera and he wears something in front of his eyes that serves as a monitor, \n\nStick your finger in front of your eye - at eyelash distance. \n\nTry and focus on that finger. I sure cant. \n\nThat wouldn't work. \n\n 1311187914 I did gave one that I genuinely believe is the actual phenomenon at work. It's the 'ghost at disneyland' video.\n\nYou don't agree that it is. Well that's just great! You already called me naive over it. I don't see a point for you to argue with the naive or the gullible. So i'm saving you the trouble. \n\nAbout me giving you that NQghosthunter stuff. Yes, I wanted to make a point: multiple cameras don't matter. It doesn't give any more or less credibility to the subject as a whole. Is that more comprehensibly rephrased?\n\nYou keep saying that it's acceptable if it has multiple cameras. But at the same time you keep proving my point over and over. It completely does not matter if it is on one or two or a million. \n\nYou want a perfect video, with a perfect setup of a perfect situation of a thing that is inherently unpredictable, it is a behavior, it is accidental, it is sentient. We can't give it orders, we do not know the limits of what it can do, we have no idea when or why.\n\nAllow me to put this into context with an analogy of trying to proof a fast, shy, light fearing monkey. You are asking that we set up multiple cameras in a well lit lab, showing a monkey doing a specific task that is extremely rare for a monkey to do 'in the wild'. Instead of accepting the circumstantial evidence of people who accidentally stumbled upon one, told stories about them, brought back fur and chewed on branches and make photos of fast moving creatures always to fast to capture clearly because they stay in the shade. And everytime such a story comes up you tell them they are delusional, they faked the bite marks, say the photos are always fuzzy and never really show anything; so these monkeys don't exist, well maybe just maybe, but until they are found you are going to say they don't.\n\nI think that pretty much sums it up. It's asking for a completely wrong kind of evidence. I'm saying that we don't know how to capture these monkeys yet let alone that we can take them into a lab to give you what you want. 1336681739 Why would she need a hearing aid in a silent film? Dun dun dunnnnnnnnnnnnnn! 1330606043 It's not that it's safe because nobody is stopping me.\n\nIt's that the danger is so minute, that it's not worth the effort to prevent it.\n\nAnd in most places you can receive a citation for driving on completely bald tires. With commercial vehicles, they can be taken off the road for it.\n\nThat said, we still live in a world where cars drive towards each other at 100kmph with nothing but a painted yellow line between them. 1356919045 I never stated that the government proved the phenomenon exists purely by investigating it. I said the fact that they've conducted multiple, official investigations lends credibility to the possibility they exist. It makes the phenomenon harder to dismiss. 1339083331 Wait, meaning that the Earth would actually rotate physically? Have to be a pretty huge asteroid, with a very strange orbital path. 1334414280 >>so there's something going on there.\n\nCOOL STORY BRO.\n\nGet it on video and talk to me. 1348032692 I find it pointless to argue with people that believe in those conspiracies. It's a waste of time. The reason they believe in that shit is because they REFUSE to listen to logic and facts, so they certainly won't listen to yours.\n\nA friend of a friend started going off in a frenzy about how Bill Gates has been secretly "vaccinating" Africans with AIDS instead of helping them. Now, being the strongly opinionated and confrontational person I am, I was about to start an argument with him, but then I realized that it was exactly what he wanted, and absolutely nothing I said would get thru to him at all. Sometimes, it's better to just leave these loons alone. 1340936740 Real. Because why not. It's stone henge. 1349820991 I don't understand this graph at all. There is yellow bobbles of various sizes and distances, which plot the number of copies of a text and some duration. That's all this graph shows and it's not even good at that (I don't count the table as part of the graph, as it is a table) 1334159204 What happens when you try?\n\nIs a firewall somewhere blocking that?? 1293249567 Ditto. Especially for things like beets, carrots, and potatoes, where the pesticides are absorbed right into the part that you're eating. 1331410957 I think a visual image might speed up such arguments to where they should end up. [This](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Iron_Lung_ward-Rancho_Los_Amigos_Hospital.gif) one is my favorite 1297265718 "There is an ancient Indian saying that something lives only as long as the last person who remembers it. My people have come to trust memory over history. Memory, like fire, is radiant and immutable while history serves only those who seek to control it, those who douse the flame of memory in order to put out the dangerous fire of truth. Beware these men for they are dangerous themselves and unwise. Their false history is written in the blood of those who might remember and of those who seek the truth."- Albert Hosteen (Indian elder in The X-files) 1351215994 Thank you, I love speaking about my passion! 1352929243 The point that -every- skeptic here is missing is that the world is consuming more resources than it can renew. Whether you like it or not, the current system WILL fail and it's only logical that a system based on resources will hold up better. 1296506818 I'd lay off the cheese before bedtime. 1344629829 This may be what is referred to als the "Werther"-effect.\n\nhttp://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werther-Effekt\n\nOh, just realized that this is called "copycat suicide" in english, so was already mentioned here :) 1339419864 The "exorcism" was just a really, really powerful placebo.\n\nYeah, I'm out of ideas. 1281925480 But nothing else on the radar moves... 1299222382 I love how it takes advantage of "hologram technology" if that were true, my marvel card collection would've made me the greatest athlete at my school. 1321931546 he probably just likes yellow. 1279039175 Maybe \n# http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fallacies\n# http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correlation_does_not_imply_causation\n# http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proof_by_example\n\nadded:\n# http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherry_picking\n# http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasty_generalization\n# http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wishful_thinking\n# http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_ignorance\n# http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_nature 1286726241 I totally get that! :)\n\nI'd probably whisper the odd time too just from habit! 1349469909 Hypnotism is real, one can hypnotize a person however not against their will. \nPeople who are hypnotized are willing participants and have mentally given themselves to the hypnotist. \nThe myth that one can hypnotize another without their knowledge is a myth. 1319595195 Wonderful, you've successfully employed the use of sarcasm to end any real possibility of a genuine discussion of the topic. 1313660875 there wasn't really anything negative in your link, except for the founder stating that he 'embraced all religions' which, although bullshitty, doesn't really effect the practice. 1278792288 Conceded, though you can try to build re-evaluation into your ideas 1306239642 my junior year prom date was a lake michigan surfer. he and his friends used to go every weekend, weather and conditions permitting. 1322019927 Yeah, I would have been fine with him being banned from attending. I don't find a zero tolerance policy to that kind of crap objectionable.\n\nStill not a rape threat, I can have a nuanced opinion can't I? Can both the asshole who tweeted it deserve to be banned for something unacceptable and not in any way funny and Rebecca's use of it seem sensationalist and distasteful? 1351153486 Slam dunk. 1336882502 I got a bunch of shit for trying to get a flu shot from my doctor, what was explained to me was that I was too young and healthy and old people needed it more. 1351134901 I might, if I could sit in the nosebleed section. 1325562702 I was thinking reflected light in the pane of glass...then lights flew across the sky...now I'm not sure how that was done/what that was. 1341995998 You should seriously post more your stories are great! 1345040115 As cool as this would be I'm not even close to holding my breath...and we have one more day until it's proven to be a load of bunk. I predict some message after nothing happens stating they had to push the 'decloak' back for some reason. These kind of things seem to be the UFO hoax de jour lately...starting with the Blossom Goodchild twit a couple of years back.. at least these guys are not talking about how this information is coming from "Ashtar Command" and through Channelers. :p\n\nAnd if they do show up, well, I have a worn pair of leather boots I'll eat. 1287513895 It's not common. A few companies do it, though. 1311444446 Extremely important part of the linked study is this:\n\n> The number of contrary unpublished reports that would be necessary to reduce the level of significance to chance (p > 0.05) was conservatively calculated to be 87 reports.\n> ... \n> It is our opinion that this degree of selective reporting is unlikely to be found in all 12 laboratories, due to the time required to perform the pertinent experiments and the lack of funding available for them.\n\nI'm not gonna bother with this review because even if I went through all the studies they reference and triple checked their methodologies, there would be no guarantee that we'd get anything besides a sharpshooter's fallacy as a result. For whatever reason, they took into account the possibility that the measly 12 labs that they reviewed hadn't reported negative data, but failed to consider the fact that any number of other groups could have neglected to publish negative data. How many did? We really can't know.\n\n[Very important related video featuring Ben Goldacre.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKmxL8VYy0M) 1351111367 There's a good chance we fixed climate change or fixed the ozone hole? \n\nWe certainly did a great job with the CFC ban, and the ozone layer will eventually firm up (still take decades). But we have not addressed anthropogenic climate change at all. \n\nExcess CO2 lasts a long time in the atmosphere - I saw a study that showed that even if we stopped emitting any CO2 whatsoever, levels would not start to fall until 2500, nor return to 1700 levels until 3000 AD. If we want to return the environment to normal we will have to actively remove CO2 from the atmosphere. Not only are we not doing this, not only are we not reducing our emissions, we're actually increasing annual output, and in fact, the rate of increased output is itself increasing (not only did we make more GHGs in 2011 than 2010, but the difference between the two was larger than the difference between 09 and 10). 1335068787 I got what he had to say, I just think I'd be out of my element to go further. Not that I was unable to grasp them. Sorry about all the confusion, my childish attitude frequently gets me in trouble! 1314253805 This is simple. I have had crazy demonic things happen to me before. I'll tell you a small story so you don't think you sound crazy! I remember shutting a door and I had a bad feeling but I refused to shut the door. I heard this loud demonic voice yell "DO IT!" so I did it and then I started to pray. It went away instantly. Something I have learned about demons is literally when you mean it "Lord Jesus, rebuke you!" if you throw that at them, they will really start to go the fuck away. Also keep your mind about you that the woman your mom was with could easily be mislead depending on her faith. All demons need is a door open but you can close that door whenever 1348438970 They threw out a lot of studies whose only "flaw" as far as I can tell is that they disagree with the premise of the book. If that's not a bias I don't know what is. 1343169348 You're right, but we can still do more than just stand and look. For example, people said this UFO was out to the East, so I would have at least driven out that way to try to get a closer look and judge its true distance.\n\nThe RC airplane idea was more for places where people claim to be seeing stuff all the time. There's allegedly a major UFO hot spot and all-around spooky place a few hours South of me, so I'm tempted to check it out and see just how active it really is. If it turns out that there are non-horrible odds of something happening down there, it could be worth geeking out on... 1302063750 Perhaps you need the Michael Shermer ten point [Baloney Detection Kit.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUB4j0n2UDU) 1333165226 "each of you an individual chord" - A strange assertion\n\n"one definition of health may be that that chord may be in harmony" - A nonsense phrase reminiscent of popular vibrations woo\n\nTwo of his three "big" issues with headphones:\nSchizophonia - There is no evidence of this being true\nCompression - No evidence that it makes people irritable vs. non-compressed music. "It makes you tired to have to make up all that data" Even if there WAS research about this he just pulled this reason out of his ass.\n 1285423149 They lost me when they refused to wear deodorant. 1346350341 Don't get me wrong, I am a Christian, but nothing in the Bible or Christian belief rules out the possibility of extraterrestrial life.\n\nIn fact if you believe God created not only the Earth, but the whole universe as well, it seems illogical to believe that he left the rest of the universe is devoid of life. Especially considering the size of the universe and the amount of life that abounds on this planet. 1322014594 I wouldn't say "proof", more like "arugement by mudslide". Pouring on lots of crap that muddies the debate and which you have to clear out before you can procced. 1302670706 I have tried to explain the carvings and "astronaut" looking statues without involving Aliens and UFOs ..... but usually end up with a less than satisfying explanation.\n\nCarvings like [this one](http://www.google.com/imgres?num=10&hl=en&tbo=d&biw=1920&bih=1038&tbm=isch&tbnid=kr1EpKncMWdPoM:&imgrefurl=http://mysteriesexplored.wordpress.com/2011/10/13/ancient-flying-machines/&docid=c5a3PFep6iF4IM&imgurl=http://mysteriesexplored.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/abydos-helicopter-photo.jpg&w=450&h=278&ei=JCnbUJmiGaS2iwLG4oDgBw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=1593&vpy=293&dur=6200&hovh=176&hovw=286&tx=111&ty=92&sig=112472537868744255573&page=1&tbnh=130&tbnw=204&start=0&ndsp=58&ved=1t:429,r:17,s:0,i:142) of flying machines only add fuel to the AA theory. \n\nI tend to lean on the side of Ancient visitations and possibly colonization 100,000 + thousand years ago. 1356540628 I've also read another study a very long time ago stating that the size of one's brain has no real effect on their intelligence. 1308517718 >the top 10 floors can not be treated as one "rock" of mass, while the lower treated as only 1 floor at a time. because each time the upper hits the lower, each lower floor is going to destroy an upper floor. \n\nBut where would the 'destroyed' upper floor go? They don't just vanish. To stop the collapse, all of the falling rubble would have to decelerate to a stop. On making contact with each floor on the way down, it loses some momentum, but when the floor collapses it gains momentum as it falls some more. They didn't find a completely intact 10-floor chunk at the bottom, did they? I'm sure it got wrecked too.\n 1332619909 Now with the Higgs Boson out of the way, we can finally focus some real effort on the tough problems. 1344065173 Every time my mom talks about hardcore liberals, people that complain, or atheists, she refers to them as skeptics. \n\nI tried to explain to her that she clearly doesn't understand the term. Well, mother is always right, and I am wrong. 1324353248 Tally Ho is the closest thing I am going up with, looks like it was a bar or something in chicago at one point. its not a city. Came up with nothing else. 1354286520 Of course I agree and I do believe that is the likely explanation. But seeing as it is the only facet of life where I have even considered that something spooky might be going on, I have been motivated to give it a further analysis. A phone is an electronic object. Is it possible that it is giving off a higher frequency sound or something else that my brain can detect subconsciously? 1327517033 Definitely a CB whip. 1354126527 I don't understand why this post is at a negative karma number. Even if people disagree with the points made it was lucid and civil. Have an up-vote. 1351962621 >the speed of light is not the fastest anything can travel, this will be proven in our lifetime.\n\nHow do you know this?\n\nI find it amusing that you accuse those who work within the confines of our best understanding of reality, of being unscientific. But you just assert that we'll find that the speed of light is not the fastest anything can travel, without any evidence to support this.\n\nI recommend that you read some books on the philosophy of science, "What is this thing Called Science?" is a good introduction.\n\nNext you'd say that it's unscientific to disregard claims about the invention of a perpetual motion machine. 1316991196 MMmm I wouldn't necessarily agree. You did attempt to make a factual statement. But you had the balls to admit you didn't know something. So all is right in the end. 1355635562 While there was a lot of crazy in this film, I have to say that the symbolic interpretation of The Shining is pretty interesting. I was pretty impressed with the interpretation of Danny playing on the hexagonal floor while wearing the Apollo 11 shirt. That's pretty transparent symbolism. I wonder now if Kubrick knew that people thought he had faked the moon landing, then made a film that was an "admission" of it. And even aside from the moon landing nonsense, the interpretation of the hotel as America and Kubrick representing himself as the business and creative side, and then having to destroy the creative side because he is driven crazy in the hotel, seems to have a decent case behind it. \n\nConspiracy theorists are fun because they see too many patterns. But for literature interpretation, that is actually a useful asset :p 1351608021 Why's that?\n\nAnd I said no such thing, btw. 1348417139 Skeptics should keep an eye out for the "House of Numbers" movie/"documentary" that such denialists are citing these days. It's likely to show up on the radar of the bad thinkers you may encounter. There are a number of write ups by skeptical/scientific thinkers. 1273266044 You have to have a pretty dysfunctional knowledge of economics to think the power supply will ever be 100% nuclear in any region of any real size, let alone the whole world. 1354589563 Don't forget the people who are just unlucky enough that the vaccine didn't take in their system. For them herd immunity is critical too. 1308379241 Thanks for the info. 1317076669 Thanks for the info. 1331907932 I totally agree. I mean, I know the host is a little bit annoying, but at times I find him funny. Plus, I think some of the tools they use are really awesome, like that one box thing, where the spirits can say certain words through it? I don't know how to explain it.. Ah hah. But anyways! Totally agree. 1339443200 Great article SciPhile, I have been laughing very hard at some of their responses. Mind numbing logic they have haha. 1327275633 What about Mexico City? Does that count? because those fuckers see massive displays like every third weekend.\n\nAlso, Manhattan over the summer...\n\nPhoenix Lights...\n\nLos Angeles "Air Battle"\n\nLights over D.C.\n\nI mean, the list goes on and on... 1296171213 People are skeptical of YOU, because you refuse to debate everything, yet you basically accuse everyone else of being foolish and uninformed. 1320998926 They had me at spaceships that look like WW2 Dakota cargo planes. 1336393320 It sounds a lot like they simply spin the water around in a blender. 1332005103 Exactly. 1311568413 Exactly. 1345085311 Exactly. 1345422327 Exactly. 1353513073 Exactly. 1354704639 Exactly. 1321505019 Exactly. 1337199867 Exactly. 1346176311 there are no bigfoots (bigfeet?) on that side of the state. it's more likely to be a bear. 1342510914 Commonly referred to as "crank magnetism". 1343434060 I would personally say the whole 'rule of non-interference' thing is b.s, based on a stance of logic. If they were truly non-interfering, our kind would have no knowledge of them in the first place. Why is it then that they're now so heavily embedded into western pop-culture? This leads me to conclude a few things.\n\nThey could be simply observing us the way we do with other creatures of this planet. If there is anything to abduction phenomena, then I'll point out how similar it is to our practices of zoological study. We track, tranquilize, take biological samples, measure, weigh, then either install a radio collar or an implant of some kind for tracking purposes. Are humans interested in sharing knowledge with monkeys? Not really, because they wouldn't understand most of it. I would hazard a guess that extraterrestrials may view us in the same light, otherwise they wouldn't abduct people and would have introduced themselves publically by now.\n\nI don't doubt for a moment that there likely are advanced civilizations amongst the cosmos, but maybe they have no interest in us? The information on the various humanoid species I read about constantly could all be total fabrication. I have no idea, and no way of corroborating it. It takes a leap of faith, and I'm not the type of person who operates on faith. Faith can be beneficial as a foundation for hope and directive for some people. For others it can be a catalyst for fanaticism of many forms. 1335854694 >I don't see why hundreds of people need to be involved. It would only take a few people with access to off-limit areas over a long period of time.\n\nAt the risk of starting yet another long thread on the subject, no it would take much more than that. I presume you're saying a few people with enough time could secretly plant enough explosives. This fails because of the tubular frame construction of the WTC towers. The structural members were the **outer wall**, the solid bits between the windows. These structural members weren't in "off-limit areas", they were right in the freakin' **faces** of the people with the window offices, and there were, in fact, no "spaces" at all. The structural frame was distributed all around the perimeter, which would have required **hundreds** of explosive devices planted **inside walls** without any bigwig corner office guys even *once* complaining about the mess left by the drywallers and painters that would have been necessary to clean up after such a placement.\n\nIt's an ignorant argument, just like all the rest of these cockamamie conspiracy theories. 1315498612 I'm using words like those because they are in my vocabulary and happen to be useful. So no, I'm not 'acting like a douche'; I'm simply conversing as I regularly do. That you can jump to such a haughty conclusion about me based solely on some large words I used is somewhat unbecoming. 1336850866 The exposure time on that shot was long, hence your long glowing trails. It's not because they're moving at a fast speed. 1344399052 I think you mean something like this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyposensitization ?\n\nWhere increasingly large doses of the allergen are given as a sort of vaccine. \n\nI would guess that the amounts of allergen present in homeopathic remedies would be too small to have any effect with this kind of therapy. \n\n 1253925776 And there is no reason to assume that is would.\n\nThe dutch soccer team "used" these. They won everything, but lost the match from Spain. Fark: The powerbalance bands were designed in Spain. 1294223934 I think so. She also has bruises in her arms, so maybe this is a domestic abuse? If so then her husband is really messed up. 1349512271 I live in Boca Raton, about 20 miles S of WPB, and I haven't heard anything from anyone. I was outside at 3 a.m. this morning for about an hour. I saw Jupiter. Orion. Oh, and a special treat cause I was out so late ... Procyon!\n\n... But no UFO's. 1354998548 Rubber band until necrosis does the job. 1317921198 Ok. I was thrown off by the whole seeing a ufo in an old movie thing. Going into it already dismissing it in my mind. Then i watched it. Then i watched it a few more times. Then i imported it into final cut and zoomed in as much as i could.\n\nJust my opinion, but i think the initial assumption of a lens flair is incorrect. When you crop it, track it and slow it down, it appears to be an object in the sky that slows down like it's interacting with gravity. I also applied negative filters on it and for the most part, it looks more like an object than just a light reflecting off something. The only "lighting" aspect of it is it looks like it's an object that's reflecting it.\n\nIt's...crazy. Being a skeptic and then looking at something like this. Maybe i'm wrong and someone with better post production experience can look at it and debunk it better but if i would've just stopped at my initial reaction, i would've thought lens flair too. It took spending a little more time with it to drift away from that idea 1333579049 What is it that makes it seem so? I am by no means an expert, but I feel as if I have a good intuition about things that are real or faked, or evidence that is worthy of speculation and I found this video to be pretty good. 1346007222 [Relevant](http://mybroadband.co.za/news/wireless/11099-massive-revelation-in-iburst-tower-battle.html)\n\n[Also somewhat relevant](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1440612/?tool=pubmed) 1322572779 Hey guys, \n\nWe scored a big interview with Travis Walton from the "Fire in the sky" case. Please head on over to the link to post your own question. Mr. Walton will be reading these and answering them next week! 1308951376 It's just a fucking gremlin 1283709714 [2] Neutral? That's appallingly off the mark. As the author (Sterling D. Allan) says himself:\n\n*Full Disclosure:**I am seeking a business relationship with Andrea Rossi.***\n\nAlso he reports that the machine operated in self sustaining mode, *a la* perpetual motion, which immediately makes me cringe.\n 1320000693 Thank you! Very interesting. I'll know what to do with my biscuits at dinner. 1331769150 A meme picture? Really? 1349105978 Nobody got autism from vaccination. The two appeared to be correlated at one point, but the correlation turned out to be unrelated. 1320563577 no change, or did autism rate increase? \n\neither way suck on that, jenny mccarthy. 1337110650 Thanks. This is definitely a concern of mine - I'm pretty freaked out about radiation in general (I do the opt out thing at the airport every time). Luckily I've only had x rays done 3 times (beginning and end of treatment, plus a year or two later when I thought the problem may have been coming back). They gave me a lead apron and like you'd get at the dentist, but I'm pretty sure less radiation is almost always better.\n\nWill add the book to my list, but any chance of getting a tl;dr on what those risks were? Are we talking about "they might shatter your spine" risks or "maybe it won't work as well as surgery" risks? 1336455473 I have friends with autistic children and it's so hard when they start in on the crazy antivax or holistic stuff. You can't say anything because it's all taken as a personal attack. You're not just telling them that they're misinformed about the current science, it's like you're calling them bad parents. 1350769123 John Keel as well. 1323762138 Fighter planes are way too heavy to fly that slow. I'm thinking SU-29s. 1337518350 You just completely ignored the post you responded to because you don't want to believe what it's saying. \n\n>WTC7 fell at free fall speed \n\nThis is an argument used for all the towers. It was debunked for the other towers, I know for sure. Although I'm honestly not sure falling at free fall proves? \n\n>had evidence of thermite in the debris\n\nI'm guessing the "evidence" you're thinking of is that truthers like to point out pictures of crazy looking fire and melty looking chunks of steal. This isn't evidence. This is "this sort of looks like thermite". But even that isn't true. Check the link on thermite I posted below. \n\n>Imploded on itself. \n\nAgain, if it did implode on itself, how is this evidence of controlled demolition. \n\n>only steel building to ever collapse from office fires.\n\nYou ignored the above post and are ignoring obvious, blaring evidence that you've probably never seen because you've probably only investigated one side of the story. There were massive chunks taken out of WTC7. There are pictures. They knew it was coming down hours before it did. Not because they were planning to set off explosives. \n\nBut the thing I cannot wrap my head around... How do you justify the NYFD killing so many of its own men that day? What reason would they have? Why would they involve themselves in a suicidal conspiracy. Why would they ALL remain completely silent about it for a decade?\n\n\n Truthers think pretty much everyone was in on this operation. The media, the government, police, fire department, cia, fbi, congress, senate. Hundreds of thousands of people knew about this incredibly heinous plot for mass murder. And nobody objected. And nobody has stepped forward. Not the news anchors, television producers, senators, firemen... \n\nThat makes the least sense of all. \n 1314915618 She describes her products as "completely toxic free" with "absolutely no side effects" ... Problem is, many essential oils *are* toxic. [Cedarwood](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cedar_oil) is one of them, shown in this video. [Valerian oil](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valerian_\\(herb\\)), also shown, can cause liver toxicity when combined with alcohol.\n\n**Edit**: One interviewee talked about putting a drop of "RC oil" on her tongue--this is a mixture including such toxic oils as [eucalyptus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucalyptus_oil#Safety_and_toxicity), [myrtle](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0300483X79900805), [pine](http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002733.htm), [lavender](http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/lavender-000260.htm)... 1356711524 I've upvoted because I agree.\nAlthough, you don't know the purpose for my asking for smoking guns.\nI am collecting the BEST evidence FOR UFO & Aliens in order to spread awareness to a cynical world. \nDefinitely spiritual evolution and inner ascension is worth looking into. But people will think I am nuts without proof.\nI only aim to meet the public "half way" before I expose them to such extreme ideals. 1292030392 Anyone gonna bite? 1278972802 Interesting viral marketing for the new Thing prequel. 1312006174 The Best Worst Paranormal Creatures name out there, Missouris own... MoMo! 1331948948 To be fair, we don't know if *any* of these sightings are legitimate. Stay tuned, I guess. :) 1287002518 this: "Our vinpocetine assists in delivering oxygen and nutrients to the brain via increased blood flow, and the combination of neuro-specific antioxidants, led by our proprietary AC-11® helps to clear away mental fog and reduce free radical burden. The result experienced by many of our satisfied customers is an extraordinary combination of lucid dreams, mental drive, focus, memory, and mental acuity." \n\nis gobbelty gook basically saying "This pill does the same thing as a cup of green tea (stimulant, antioxidant), but you will believe it helps more because we talked over your head and eluded to exotic and exclusive origins and promised effects that are subjective and nearly unquantifiable (dreaming, clarity, focus). 1337627773 Polygraphs are used for candidates applying for police positions. Pretty common in Law Enforcement. 1343767576 So what'd she get? 1324569319 [Best guess?](http://www.bluetonemedia.com/images/bluetone2012/blog/aliens-guy.JPG) 1354442107 And a little something extra, not worthy of its own post, but for the five people who actually read this...\n\nThere's a fabulous restaurant on the water called Schooner's Wharf. Cheap drinks, out-of-this-world food, friendly staff. After a sunset cruise with an open bar, we decide that we're too drunk/ lazy to go find something classier and stumble into this place. Talk to the waiter, he gets us even more -faced than we already are. Wife compliments him on his necklace, a piece of eight on a chain. Turns out it's from a shop just across the road, which is closed at that point. So we'll just have to come back for lunch the next day.\n\nShucks.\n\nMorning that we have to drive back up to fly out, we go in again. We eat, I drink, wife goes to shop for a necklace. I drink some more, wonder where she's got to, and go across to find her. The owner of the shop gives us a good deal on a full-sized medallion for her (marked $350, he's letting it go for $250. Is it worth it? Who knows, but I was buzzed and it made the wife happy) and convinces me to buy a small version for myself.\n\nSo we head north, stop off at No-Name Key, which had shown up in a crappy sci-fi book that I had really enjoyed. We drive down a dead-end road, stop and look around. Drive back towards the bridge, see a beautiful gate in the middle of a field. It looks like it should be in front of a beautiful mansion, except it's in the middle of a field with nothing else around it. Take some pictures, drive back to US-1, head north. We stop at a gas station so the wife can pee; as I'm waiting for her, I feel something brushing my arm under my shirt. If I had been on reddit then, I would have been looking to reap some sweet karma from /r/spiders, but instead flail and scream in a manly fashion until I figure that my new chain broke and was sliding down my arm. Look everywhere for the medallion, and it just isn't there. Look in the car, same deal.\n\nWife decides that the best course of action is to drive back to Key West to buy me another one, stopping everywhere we had previously stopped to look for the lost jewelry. We stop at every place that we had paused to take pictures, and shockingly can't find a half-inch silver disc.\n\nAnd then we get to No-Name Key. As we cross the bridge, the sun drops below the horizon. If you've never been to this out-of-the-way island, there are about twenty people who live there off the grid, and there is zero artificial illumination. And Key deer, so you have to drive slowly.\n\nWe pull over at the gate in the middle of nowhere, stop the car, and get out. There is just enough starlight to see the gate 100 yards away, and it looks creeptastic. Like something is waiting on the other side with a delightful assortment of power tools, waiting to film the latest episode of This Old Serial Killer. But we scooby around like champs, shining flashlights everywhere, looking for the glint of silver. We find neither lost coin nor vicious monster, and feeling better head to the dead-end.\n\nNow this dead end is at the end of a quarter mile straightaway, and you can just barely see the bridge from the end. So we pull right down the end, k-turn, and park. We walk slowly up and down, not wanting to get too far from the car because SPOOKY! After about ten minutes, I spot a glint from the ditch to the side of the road. Success? No, alligator! So now my wife drives slowly beside me with the door open, so I can jump in if need be, because I'm too wordy to be eaten.\n\nWe decide that it's a lost cause, and I call the jewelry shop to see if he's still open so we can just go buy another one. Successkid.jpg, he is and we can make it back before he shuts. So I hop in the car, we drive towards the bridge, and lights show up from another car across the bridge. A box truck drives over, stops right after the one-lane bridge, pretty much in the middle of the road. Brights on, pointing right at us. And there is a nasty sense that these people don't want us here. We drive as quickly as fear of killing a small deer will let us, edge past on the shoulder, and drive to the main island. As we look back, two shadows get out of the truck and just stare at us until we get out of sight.\n\nI got a new necklace, and we drove really fast back to the airport.\n\nTl;dr I saw an alligator and two guys in a box truck, none of whom wanted to point me in the direction of lost and found. 1351919228 I prefer this: http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/03/audiophiles-cant-tell-the-difference-between-monster-cable-and/ 1289072148 Montauk monster... 1321736933 Interesting... And as others have said, most likely a sham. 1319546475 You've just drawn a conclusion from anecdotal evidence... while complaining about anecdotal evidence. 1341870038 Eliezer is also organizing workshops on rationality in the East Bay area (SF/Berkeley area). There is a signup form on lesswrong. 1341606335 If you want it to be something extraordinary, that's just what you'll make of it.\n\nIf you want to start from the ground up, it sounds like you've seen a Chinese lantern, and all the people downvoting that suggestion are just fanatics who think everything is ET.\n\n 1352549232 While it is a testable, and therefore valid hypothesis, Occam's razor says that they were hired for TV because the melting had already been self-inflicted. 1301751389 I believe the aliens are immortal, and their bodies are only biological machines used to access the physical world. I believe an entire different world exists. Like if an Alien dies, only their body dies, their spirit is released. I don't know how long it would take, but it would be in a different sense of a world until it had the chance to obtain a new body, and another chance in the physical world. 1349453447 Well smartypants, the OP just asked if anyone had seen any. I figured if anyone wanted details, they would ask. And if you'll look at the other replies, you will see why I didn't go into an explanation.\n\nI will go ahead and tell you about one experience. I went on a trip to Philadelphia and went to walk around City Hall. At one point I saw the strangest thing: just two legs hanging in the air and a woman standing not far from them crying. I found out later that there used to be a gallows there and everything made a bit more sense. 1332356982 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesian_Hobbit 1349376061 If this subreddit experiences it's own "glitch in the Matrix" moment, will it be more reasonable that I'm in another person's dream?\n\nWhat if I'm dreaming right now, and when I wake up this subreddit is gone without any trace of it's existence? Whoa. 1326428344 Kinda weird that he deleted it. 1349787126 So what you're saying is that if I'm not doing the research to get the approval of others, I shouldn't be doing it at all? I don't care what others believe or don't believe. I do this because it's what I enjoy. 1352862146 I feel dumber for having read that. 1330333780 Whoa, whoa...this is r/paranormal. No debunking here, thankyou very much! Every outlandish claim is as valid as the next. 1327663502 Oh, funknut. . . don't make yourself trollfodder. Some know history and understand it, some recognize propaganda and refuse the koolaid, some don't. If folks won't do their own due dilligence and choose to leave an entire field unexamined because they want their closed mind to be seen as all "sciencey" by their peers, what can one redditor do?\n\nScams and their artists come in all flavors and all disciplines, and here it is used as an excuse to not have to work at research to make an informed decision. Science is about asking questions and making observations, not about following the status quo. 1328202183 \n\n>If the kid has enough calories otherwise, the soda won't do any good.\n\nBut again there is nothing inherently wrong with soda. Might as well ban all olive oil and butter too, in case someone accidentally consumes too much ??? wtf???\n\nSoda is for taste, as with most candies. Maybe we should ban WoW because it's also "possibly unhealthy". You can't go with "possibly".\n\n 1319659647 I've been threatening to my friends to conduct a blind taste test, but I simply haven't left my house for weeks. 1301004218 My mother suffers from it, and is hardly the type of person prone to hypochondria. I wish I could discount it so flippantly, but the pain she experiences seems quite real to her at least.\n 1323467859 I was south of St. Augustine Beach on Anastasia Island in St. Johns County, FL. It happened a little after 21.00 1321563802 1. This is largely factually untrue as no complete gun bans are in effect anywhere in America. It's not about personal aversion to guns, it's about a legitimate disagreement on what is best for the public interest. \n\n2. I'm not aware of many vegetarians who want to outlaw meat, but for those who do I understand. They place a much higher value on animal life, some even going so far as to say animals are equally valuable life as humans are. They think it's immoral and cruel to kill animals, so they want to ban it. Similarly, a lot of conservatives think a 4 week embryo is equal to a human life, and they want to ban abortions. "If a liberal doesn't like abortions, she doesn't get one. If a conservative doesn't like abortions, she wants all abortions outlawed." \n\n3. I'm not aware of any difference in likelihood for the poor to accept public funds based on political ideology. That said, red states on average receive more federal funding than blue states per capita. \n\n4. I'm not aware of anybody trying to legally force people off the airwaves. The protest against Rush, for example, was focused on his advertisers, utilizing a free market mechanism for action. \n\n5. I'm not aware of anybody who wants all mentions of God and Jesus silenced, just those that are clearly against the Constitution. Conservatives get pissed off whenever anything connected to Islam ever happens anywhere in our country. Attacks against Muslim places of worship have been notable, especially in very conservative areas. \n\n6. Most people pushing for universal health care are people who already have access to insurance. And we want the cost to be shared by all on an income basis. If I'm a rich liberal, I want to pay more. Bill Maher, Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, all of these people have stated in explicit terms that they should pay higher taxes, and that universal health care should be guaranteed. 1332962730 It's not that they are crappy. They are just recording it from a very far distance. The video quality will degrade even more if they are digitally zooming versus going to a max analog zoom level. HTH... 1345502165 As much as I believe in fairies. 1299195627 I guess I'm not sleeping tonight. 1327927194 IMO, everyone serious about the, er...serious side of the UFO phenomenon, should read that list. \n\nedit: That said, I think they should perhaps read some criticisms of each study (particularly the Condon Report) before the studies themselves and then, ask whether or not such criticisms are valid. After all, the apparent validity of the Condon report pulled the wool over many eyes. 1312398625 Nice try, dancingwiththestars 1347371175 If I'm not getting my daily dose of diatoms, I get downright cranky. 1339612272 I think you're being a little naive about family dynamics...\n\nSaying something is starting a fight in a lot of cases, and I'm not even talking about alternative medicine. Bring faith into the conversation, and all it takes is a word to start a fire. \n\nIn my family, there is no middle ground. Either shut your mouth, or build a bunker. 1322162579 Can't even read. Too infuriating. 1342043498 I 100 percent believe, I'm waiting for most everyone else to catch up to the mountains of evidence. Non believers constantly get in the way of the truth. Fine, don't believe, but don't get in the way of truth. Let the government continue to lie and deny, that's what they are best at. 1337982311 Since I was 13? No....but I've also taken several cautions to prevent it such as praying to every god/godeess that might exist and sleeping with a stuffed animal and curling into fetal position before I shut my eyes. 1324260296 This is from the documentary series [the power of nightmares](http://curtisnightmare.blogspot.co.uk/) from 2004 by filmmaker Adam Curtis. It is fantastic, and a must watch for anyone interested in the war on terror.\n\n\nthe point that the documentary is making is that, whilst such terrorists obviously exist, they are a loose grouping linked by ideology, rather than an organised worldwide hierarchy with a formal structure. It goes on to argue that whilst there is a self evident problem with Islamist terror, the breadth and organisation of the groups has been exaggerated, as finding ways to scare people is an easier way to get elected than finding ways to inspire people.\n\n\nI strongly urge everyone to watch the films, even if you don't agree with the concept.\n\n\n 1343998519 *shrug* I enjoy top gear when I see it. He just seems to have some of his facts, regarding the envirnoment, wrong, and then likes to rub those he disagrees with the wrong way. 1293928151 Is this sarcasm? 1306606400 I'll channel my inner Michael Caine from The Prestige, sometimes the simplest explanation is the hardest to believe.\n\nThat guy was a plant.\n\n 1317657951 >Even if they do cause cancer, I would expect that being pregnant also leads to an increased incidence of cancer because it is my understanding that oral contraceptives work by emulating the hormonal conditions of early pregnancy.\n\nThough admittedly, the pill emulates this condition for a lot longer than the early phases of one pregnancy. 1294862409 Just imagine all the secrets you'll learn about that you'll be sworn to secrecy over. And since you're a good employee, you will of course keep your promise and never let slip even the smallest hint about all the secrets you know. 1331044382 Stencils so many stencils, and they looked damn good too 1298512451 Is it possible you just hit the water table? Because then you would hit water regardless of where you dug, especially considered that you are doing this ins very moist area. 1308122513 Does the vaccine completely prevent integration of the virus? I'd be surprised if that were really true. My understanding is that if the virus can get into your cell, it can integrate into your dna. At that point, nothing can get it out. While a vaccine might prevent you from showing symptoms on exposure, I imagine that at least some could get through. 1327886857 No that's what you implied. Science has shown that chiropractic does not work beyond placebo. For starters:\n\nhttp://chiromt.com/content/pdf/1746-1340-17-13.pdf 1315711380 Well, when alcohol was made illegal, what happened to the quality of liquor? It was either bathtub gin or Canadian whisky. And you had to deal with a sketchy guy nervously patting his tommy gun to get it. When legalized, the quality and variety shot up, and you only had to deal with an unpleasant bartender to get it. Not saying marijuana production and distribution is exactly the same, but clearly the precedent indicates a similar pattern. 1350617225 Also, how common is it for presenters to get hammered and walk around backstage asking, "So, how do you know Ted?" \n\n(I *may* have done that at the TEDxToronto afterparty...) 1333239215 Yep, good for relaxation and stretching. Any other claims some might make are hokus. 1347844252 Tried that. Didn't work\n 1324270122 > why you downvoted me \n\nI didn't. Well I have now (to this comment). \n\nI was saying all foods are genetically modified. 1289419885 OP is James Howlett. Case closed. 1356635595 i dont know why but this video freaks me right the fuck out. i think its the squigglevision. 1327816266 I watched this twice. Once by myself, and once with my wife after we saw an article with fMRI brain images in it. Great content, AND the presenter's "aw-shucks" delivery is mesmerizingly adorable. 1356960135 >No, because I don't really think a google search of "guy dying from 2 hits of acid" would return anything. People die every day and usually the details are not disclosed on the internet when its something taboo like that.\n\nhttp://www.wral.com/apex-high-student-charged-with-selling-drugs-that-killed-a-friend/11662053/ 1351190401 It's lingo from /r/trees indicating how high I was on a scale from 1-10 at the time I posted this 4 hours ago. [1] 1354782907 Highlights include the second panel where you incorrectly defined validity.\n\nYou want: Valid iff impossible for premises to be true & conclusion false or (equivalently) Valid iff **if** premises true, then conclusion must be true. You're close to the second formulation, but not quite there. (I've never liked that version sense it puts the modal operator in a weird place. I like it to take as wide a scope as possible.)\n\n(And what else would "true" mean other than a claim about the way the world actually is?)\n\nedit: Deleted a criticism. Misread due to tiny, tiny font. 1317786020 > Leaders of the Chinese-Turkish expedition said wooden specimens recovered from the structure on Ararat had been carbon-dated to yield an age of 4,800 years. \n\nSo they use carbon dating in support of this discovery. But, Christians say carbon dating is an inaccurate science when it comes to everything else. [Link](http://www.christiananswers.net/q-aig/aig-c007.html)\n\n 1272473014 It's = it is. Applied fifth grade English. 1329543728 Being aware of how faulty the memory can be and now studying it for psychological pursuits is a bit sad; I wonder how much I've altered some of my fondest memories. 1316831154 > Why are there explosions in the video?\n\nReally? Did you just link me to a video claiming there were explosions in Building 7 that [even 9/11 Truthers agree is a hoax video](http://world911truth.org/fake-new-building-7-video/)? (Details of how and why this hoax was made can be found [by the person who made it here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8VAsoVuShM)). \n\nOf course, nothing you said in this comment addressed the actual point I was making about Building 7. If I were uncharitable I'd label your response with a large number of comments as a [Gish Gallop](http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Gish_Gallop), but I suspect that you aren't doing that deliberately, but are rather engaging in a very standard cognitive error where when one has some data or argument that contradicts a cherished view, rather than examine the new evidence and incorporate it into one's worldview one instead simply [repeats related cached thoughts for one's viewpoint](http://lesswrong.com/lw/k5/cached_thoughts/). This is a common cognitive error, deeply connected to belief overkill and [confirmation bias](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias).\n\nNow, I'm not at all sure that this conversation is worth continuing. I will briefly address some of your points, but I'm not going to substantially continue this conversation unless you indicate some minimal ability to indicate that you can admit when you are wrong (e.g. linking to a hoax video) and can actually address points made by other people (in particular, the actual problem of the motivation behind bombing building 7).\n\nWith that disclaimer out of the way: The fact that some engineers will say something or that some firefighters will say something isn't really good evidence when one considers how many firefighters and engineers there are. For example, Gerard Bouw has a PhD in astronomy and is a geocentrist. The presence of limited numbers of people with related expertise who happen to agree with contrarian views is not terribly strong evidence. \n\nThe passport thing is unlikely but not miraculous. If you do think it was so incredibly unlikely, why would the conspiracy have bothered doing that? Seems like evidetiary overkill. Also, can you explain how Kerik's later convictions have anything to do with anything other than general shit smearing? Are you claiming that Kerik was a member of the conspiracy? \n\n> Why was the steel carted away immediately to be melted down in China and India instead of being examined?\n\nThis is really simple- because no one important cared, (just as no one important now) cared about the 9/11 truthers. What happened was pretty clear to almost everyone. They weren't going to keep around massive piles of steel so that it could get a detailed forensic investigation when there wasn't that much question about what had happened.\n\nRight now, you should think really hard about the fact that you fell for such a transparent hoax video. What does it say about your capability to evaluate evidence in this matter in an unbiased fashion? \n\n 1329800318 Or Darwin's plan.. 1302633624 Where do you draw the line between good lies and bad lies? Innocent lies and well-intentioned lies? \n\nInformation has always been imperfect. \n\nKant said that if it's good for one person it's good for all, bad for one, bad for all, so no, libertarianism is very, very far from this. Nozick's Entitlement Theory is the only one that comes close. 1309723854 Yeah, I'm not clear on that. Not sure they specify the milk as BGH free...\nAnd, is BGH shown to be actually harmful to humans, if it is consumed \nin milk? 1328322838 The guys in the background are annoying. 1320033504 Fuck, I'm doing nothing else with my life. Where do you sign of to be a test dummy? 1326126778 I love posts like these - they always reaffirm the flaws in UFO posts. The first sentence *demands* that we should put more clout into your observations just because you fly a plane. You're still human and you aren't immune to mistakes. 1347959124 If it's reversed then a second one dove inside at night? Either way, this is loopey. 1353112559 Try /r/atheism yet? I would have him watch some Christopher Hitchens. [George Carlin](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeSSwKffj9o) at age 12 is all it took me to become skeptical of Religion. 1315644060 Don't stress yourself out over this 1315292999 I'd rather live in Somalia than 1984 (North Korea, for example). Freedom has value too. I just wish more lefties would learn that. 1313686399 While I do also feel strongly about the subject, I think it's important to remember that logic and reasoning aren't in-born traits; everyone, everywhere has to learn how to leave the demon-haunted world for the reasonable one. Some people have greater obstacles than others (like being in a social group that constantly reinforces misinformation). \n\nWe invented the scientific method a mere few hundred years ago; that's less than an eyeblink, considering the length of our species' history on this planet. We've still got catching up to do, collectively. \n\nNow, if we could get better science education all over the damn place, and keep education budgets from being cut first every time the shit gets tight, that would be a step in the right goddamn direction. 1321034073 But how often? Seriously. It happens often enough to women that it's on their mind. I'm more worried about getting struck by lightning than having some woman rape me. 1351115879 [Interesting](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depersonalization_disorder) 1318962923 There's no such thing as a regular schedule of payments. I'm not too experienced with how developmental programs are managed, but it's surely not a "fire and forget" approach, rather projects that are financed and controlled for budget and effectiveness by the Swedes.\nAlso - if that's what you're alluding to - the timespan of the program was not altered, it runs from 2012 to 2013, just as described in the strategy paper. \n\nAfter that period, Sweden might choose to offer a follow-up developmental program ... or not. 1346949457 The general idea was to remind people not to sin, I think. I'll admit to owning one as a kid. 1317593013 Interesting list... 1227229646 Agreed, but wanted to say your username is fantastic. 1346581487 It was pretty much accidental, I was playing with fire and it wasn't all the way out when i threw it away. The fire marshal didn't believe it was an accident and i got sent to pyro-aversion training. 1326544407 National Geographic's founders must be rolling over in their graves at a sustained high RPM.\n\nNational Geographic now calls itself "Nat Geo" and yesterday I saw an ad about a new show that is "more extreme" than "Keeping up with the Kardashians". Some bullshit about rowdy New York Gypsies and one of the guys has a goat.\n\nOh, and there will be drunk fat gypsies trying to throw punches.\n\nFuck you National Geographic. Just Fuck You. 1343349296 Sorry to put you through it. It's incredibly frustrating to see people who are otherwise so intelligent, believe in such dumb shit. Especially frustrating because they're still wrong, it just takes a long longer to convince them of the fact (if that ever happens). 1316651816 I would personally be extremely careful about adjusting the neck. There have been multiple reports of deaths occuring among people who have had their necks adjusted. (The only adjustment that have scientifically proven effect is against lower back pain).\n\nAnd x-rays are bad. Looking at curvature is an aesthetic thing. You shouldn't need to expose yourself to radiation to check for results. 1291165443 What's gonna happen? 1337615486 well it sounds like gun shots. 1296844429 But all available evidence that suggests the universe is anything but infinite comes from the fact that we can never see outside the barrier known as the "known universe". All of our science and understanding of the space around us deals only with this known universe. Trying to use anything we know to predict the happenings of the outside is like using a metre stick to measure the amount of molecules of water in a 5 dimensional swimming pool in the south of attlantis in units of ducks/fortnight; who the fuck knows.\n\nBut what I do know is, based on our one data point, that when you mix a certain set of molecules in a certain set of conditions and let them sit for just enough time, this is what happens, all this life. And not just a little life, fucking in every crevice and niche, all over the world. you would never gather enough sticks to shake at it. And we know that it can happen in a couple billion years. Maybe faster, maybe we were faster than normal, who knows, but it can happen in this amount of time.\n\nAll the chemicals required are completely stable. The set of conditions, though elaborate to us, don't fall outside the range of what is considered extreme for this universe. It would be very odd if these conditions didn't happen elsewhere. The only reason to think otherwise is the same reason you guys keep saying, "no seriously theres like billions of stars, if not trillions, it could totally happen." Try again guys, the orders of magnitude you guys think you are off by could probably be applied as a power and you might be close. Life at this scale, is not that strange of a happening. \n\nBasically I still stand by my belief, that because we could never prove this either way, that one who does not accept the possibility of E.T. life simply doesn't yet grasp the real enormity of even the known universe, let alone beyond it. 1335061865 Yes, that's summarily the point I was making. English is a bastard language if it is so because of historical features common to the evolution of every language. 1335147880 I'm sorry but your arguments are dripping with ridiculous statements. You have absolutely no way to know when any extra-terrestrial beings, that may or may not exist, achieved the technological ability for interstellar travel. You just assume and/or want to believe they've been here all along with not a single way of knowing that. 1314906383 Ugh I read that as "Septical" as in "septic". Lack of 'k' throws the balance of the whole word right off. 1324947353 Hey, don't knock these people too much. The folks from whom I bought my first house let it slip that they thought our house was "haunted", and we were able to get $20k off the purchase price because they wanted to sell quick. I replaced the water heater coil after buying, and *magically* the random 'footsteps' heard around the house (specifically, the boiling water noise coming from the water heater but echoed through our furnace ducts) disappeared. Clearly, my water heater coil is magic. 1278868709 Ah yeah what I mean is that a .jpg image is lossy format, which means it looses quality due to the compression process (you can see this if you zoom into any high contrast part of your image). If the phone only takes .jpg images, then there is no way to get the quality back. But if the phone takes .bmp or .png which are lossless (don't loose quality) and you were converting them to .jpg to post to the web, then it would be better to post the original format.\n\nAs you've posted 2 .jpgs I assume the phone takes .jpg images by default, in which case, disregard this entire thread. 1352709074 Any fool can see that's the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch being lobbed in the background, but at whom? 1290668165 This happens to me all the time when UFOs/aliens are mentioned. Matter of fact I'm thinking about it now and its happening again. I certainly hope its not due to past experiences that I'm unaware of. \n\nGlad I'm not the only one here that deals with it, though. 1316664975 i have my doubts that something useful or intelligent would ever involve twitter. 1276187641 Beautiful person? My mother isn't even remotely pleasant.\n 1330030409 >This is r/skeptic\n\nYes, where logic and reason are the gold standard and where Occam's Razor is sharp. I think your posts are more appropriate for /r/conspiracy.\n\n>From all your other post I assume that you are a doctor of sorts?\n>Are you directly involved in the research done on diseases?\n\nYes, I'm in medicine and see patients regularly. I not currently involved in primary research but have done some bench research in biochemistry.\n\n>As a doctor do you believe that the drugs that you prescribe to a patient is the best drugs for the job? Or is it just the most cost effective drug? \n\nI'm not sure why you are implying that these are mutually exclusive. The best drug is simultaneously efficacious AND cost-effective for the patient. In choosing a drug, I absolutely consider the patient's ability to pay. Writing a script that the patient can't afford to fill is counter-productive. This isn't to say that the quality of care is directly proportional to your bank account. If we can get insurance or Medicare/Medicaid to cover it, we go with what's best.\n\n>Do you not thinks that some discoveries are kept quite for the sake of profit? It is a profit driven world.\n\nQuite or quiet? English may not be your first language and that's fine but maybe something got lost in translation. Assuming you meant quiet this is not the kind of thinking I expect on r/skeptic. Pharmaceutical companies are absolutely profit hungry monsters but that makes them more likely to bring drugs to market, rather than less. They will slightly alter the molecular structure of a drug so that they can re-patent it and keep prices high. They're also far more likely to push a new drug out and obfuscate negative clinical data and pump money in to marketing than the basic science research. Several major drug companies have all been publicly outed as having done these things within the recent past (i.e. this isn't idle speculation, but rather something you would read in a reputable newspaper).\n\nAlso, how much would I make prescribing penicillin G (low cost) versus cefepime (higher cost)? Answer: on both, I make nothing. Doctors aren't paid for writing prescriptions. That simply isn't how it works. There is no kickback. 1350597857 Har har har. The media and the cops laugh as if this is some kind of joke.\n\nTruth be told, most plane crashes don't give off a green mysterious glow, they leave debris usually, and almost all U.S. flights are tracked at take-off and arrival. Someone would have noticed if a flight went missing with personnel and passengers at some point.\n\nI'm so Goddamn fucking pissed it's not even funny how this was treated.\n\nAs I've stated before, logically the three most likely scenarios as to what caused this are: A meteorite, space junk, or a real fucking UFO! \n\nAll the local authorities can do is laugh, search for a couple of hours on the surface of the lake, and then high tail it to the nearest bar with happy hour.\n\nIgnore the biggest fucking news story in history.\n\nIf aliens knew about us, and only had primitive intergalactic transport then they most likely would have sent something crashing into a somewhat shallow body of water on a continental plate so that the water would have cushioned whatever device they sent here. Instead the fucking local pigs just laugh at the crazy hippies who were tripping on LSD and say fuck it, "lets go and get drunk instead of investigating like we're supposed to!".\n\n-1 for humanity 1334305083 Yeah thats it! Thanks. Its been a long time since I read those books. 1355029771 There's no background for context or frame of reference. Also the time stamps indicate these are several different bits of film captured on different dates. 1327454881 Meet thought I'd see the day. Reddit giving ad traffic to the daily heil annoys me more than bad drivers. 1355242906 So the solution to prevent gaming the system is gaming the system? 1308172348 This is actually huge news and flies in the face of the increasing reports and forthcomingness by many countries about their ufo archives. Thanks for posting this. 1259932236 this is especially and always true when it comes to stupid fb statuses. 1299099531 well actually the FACT that species DO change over time into other species, is what most people have a problem with.. not the causes of these changes. They have a problem with the premise of the argument and really to be specific, they only have a problem with the idea that humans ever came from "lessor" beings.\n\n\nthe methods and manor of change is irrelevant, for the majority. So to be even more basic, they dont care if gravity is a real force or an emergent property, or w/e, THEY DENY THINGS FALL.\n\n\n 1336757178 What is an arbitrary functional designation? Another arbitrary functional designation. \n\nWhy should we be dogmatic about something that's clearly arbitrary? 1319288955 You can't discuss evidence for or against God unless you discuss the nature of God. A god compatible with science is certainly possible, but most religious people would consider him quite impotent because, for example, he doesn't seem to be involved in, or care about, the lives of human beings.\n\nSo, I think that, as long as you have a certain definition of God, there's nothing wrong with your stance. 1321887639 More like a pair of God's pliers.\n\nPliers of the Gods\n\nnever mind, it wasn't God, Just God's Cable tech left something behind after installing a new highspeed feed. 1325910239 As a woman who has given birth and had gallstones, I'd have to say the gallstones were worse. I wasn't prepared for that pain to start, and didn't know when/if it would end, etc. \n\nAlthough: I did have epidurals with the kids, so there's that. With one of the kids, the epidural had worn off completely along the nerve in my right hip, and I thought that my hip would explode...but I contribute that to the pain feeling a bit more concentrated than it normally would have been. (which may be part of why the gallstones hurt so much more)\n\nThen again, you add the episiotomy and still getting a 3rd degree laceration...\n\nI'm just glad I have a high pain tolerance. 1329967849 http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/2555/do-secret-societies-that-wish-to-bring-about-a-new-world-order-still-exist\n\nhttp://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/5644/does-the-bilderberg-group-have-influence-on-world-events 1326498411 Boo. 1283798675 You don't seem to quite understand definitions. I never said they practised neuroscience, I said they look at the brain from a structural and/or physical perspective. If they practised neuroscience then they'd be neuroscientists. I would disagree with the statement that the two are completely separate, there are areas of the two which obviously are, and that's the statement I've seen here. But there are areas (such as the plasticity area which I mentioned) which are often shared. \n\nThe categories aren't arbritrary. They denote particular sub-fields of psychology. I was hoping you'd take those and do a bit of investigation yourself into it all. I don't have the time, nor the will, to give you a full rundown of every field. But, for example, neuropsychology is largely concerned with brain functioning in regards to particular brain areas and their direct affect on behaviours. A stereotypical study would be to take an animal, lesion an area of its brain that's thought to have an effect, and run a series of behavioural tests for say... reward behaviour. You'd then obviously have control animals, and this would be done over 200 or so animals. Another thing cognitive neuro often looks at is brain anatomy and functioning in people with brain damage (the pop science version of this is Oliver Sacks book "The man who mistook his wife for a hat" which while a bit exploitative, is a good read).\n\nIn part, developmental looks at Natal development, and thus brain anatomy and differences intranatal and post. Clinical obviously takes its background from a lot of different areas, but many disorders and neurologically based (i.e Schizophrenia has both chemical elements in regards to chemical reuptake at the synapses, as does depression, and issues with information processing at different brain junctions). As a result, some clinical psychologists who are academics will focus on such areas, while others will study more behavioural aspects of therapy involved with anorexia and body dismorphia disorder for example. \n\nMoreover, practicing psychologists, i.e clinical psychologists don't "do" neuroscience..... I don't know where to start there. Clinical psychologists that practice, run clinics, they provide therapy and treatment for individuals just like a psychiatrist.\n 1345761636 Not trying to troll here but:\n\nIf hypnosis can cure smoking, why aren't there millions of people using that to stop? 1298817452 What's your experience with using signs as wards? 1349121271 Holy Conflict of Interest, Batman, look at those [corrections](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3463891/):\n\n>**Affiliations**\n\n>The Authors’ affiliations were published as:\n\n>Neil Z Miller, Independent researcher, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA Gary S Goldman, Independent computer scientist, Pearblossom, California, USA\n\n>However, for the purposes of this publication the correct affiliations are as follows:\n\n>Neil Z Miller, Think Twice Global Vaccine Institute, USA Gary S Goldman, Computer scientist, Pearblossom, California, USA\n\n>**Declaration of Conflict of Interest**\n\n>No declaration of Conflict of Interest was made at the time of submission. The Authors would like to make the following declaration at this time:\n\n>Neil Z Miller is associated with the ‘Think Twice Global Vaccine Institute’. Gary S Goldman has not been associated with the ‘World Association for Vaccine Education’ (WAVE) for more than four years but was, at the time of publication of the article, still listed as a Director for it on the WAVE website.\n\n>**Funding**\n\n>The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) donated $2,500 and Michael Belkin made a personal donation of $500 in memory of his daughter Lyla towards the SAGE Choice Open Access fee for this article.\n\nSo not only did Miller used to be the director of an anti-vaccine organization, another anti-vaccine organization provided some of the funds to make the article open access. 1354737496 lulz 1308766520 Cool, why can't we have other FBi confiscated videos? afaik there's one. That would really help. 1304625787 Cool, why can't we have other FBi confiscated videos? afaik there's one. That would really help. 1304626373 When I was a kid. In broad daylight, very high straight up there was a small ring, solid bright white in color. Watched it for a while and it didn't seem to move. Then it disappeared. Could have been a weather balloon or something reflecting light oddly. But it didn't seem like it. It was very sharp and distinctive in shape. 1249091847 Oh, you 'n all yer book learnin'! 1323233090 Also it's called global warming, not local warming. It really is annoying when someone goes "oh global warming isn't true, we've had the coldest weather here in 10 years", as though their local weather patterns disprove the global trend in warming. 1343088177 For some reason, the physical body, and its preservation (in a grave instead of cremation, no tattoos and other defilements allowed, etc) are/were very important in Christian mythology. It has to do with the pairing of the body with the soul at the Final Judgement when the world ends and the dead walk the earth and so on (or so a philosophy lecturer once told us). \n\nThere are also churches and monasteries where the bones of previous monks/nuns are preserved sort of like dog tags or a tomb stone; there's even a French (?) monastery where there are foundations, arches, walls, and even *chairs* and *tables*, made from the bones of previous residents, totally in earnest (not as some bizarre last-level-in-Doom-2 satanic mockery, but like a sculpture and testament), by a monk who lived there in the 13/14th (?) century. I think it represents a symbol of sacrifice, perhaps of people who believed they themselves meant nothing, and were just servants to god and nothing more, but left their bones to be remembered by for the sake of record keeping, and for some practical use. 1356837286 Oh :( 1346651347 Terrorist anchor baby? Do we know what religion his parents were? Do we have their baptismal records? Were they good Christian people coming to this country with jobs? 1304922928 For some strange reason I feel like it would feel really good to pull back my calf muscles when I run. I don't know why. That's why I almost bought tape during my town's running/hiking fair prior to our big 10k race.\n\nBut, being the skeptic I am, I decided to quickly research the known benefits of the tape on my phone. I found no journal article that suggested it relieved pain except for possibly in the shoulder. Very sad, because I wanted it to work. I shouldn't have looked it up so I could have at least placebo'd myself. 1343972038 Not the worst video either... 1301849152 Okay, sure, it's weird. But remember, in Japan the hand can be used like a KNIFE! 1272472498 you should treat it as religion, most people will simply ignore factual evidence that contradicts their own internal belief system, much worse, its possible that it could even reinforce it in order to sustain the logical fallacies. 1347557228 Back in 4th/5th grade, a friend had a ouija board and we'd use it at sleepovers (I don't remember what it said though--must not be memorable). I wanted one, and purchased my own. \n\nIt was used for the first time at a sleepover by two friends and I. All I remember is that we asked what its name was, and "it" spelled out Zoltar. We got creeped out and stopped using the board, and I still have it stored in a closet to this day, 21 years later. \n\nI recognized Zoltar as the name of the genie in the movie Big, but why that name? None of us had moved the planchette on our own.\n\n 1351787175 They tested Als Alb 30c vs Alcohol 30c. The Alcohol 30c was the placebo treatment &#3232;\\_&#3232;\n\nCompare it to water.... if the hypothesis is supposed to be that ultra-dilute treatments have a therapeutic effect, then don't compare two ultra-dilutes... compare it to a water only treatment. 1330293106 Maybe, but I've always taken his shows as good lessons - he espouses the practice of skepticism in the face of wild claims while challenging you to put that into practice by presenting wild claims of his own. There are few better lessons a person can learn than to question their authorities. 1326300041 No, I did not, I understand what you mean, you can easily lose track of time when there is nothing else to do. 1328199600 I think something like this could happen with DHS and the media completely ignoring it, rather than losing their shit over it. It's too weird to blame on Iran, and they haven't had time to make a fear-based Discovery Channel documentary about it. 1329111617 My problem is differentiating between the real-deal TIL posts from the karma-whoring I'll-just-scan-wikipedia-and-find-something-to-post posts. 1336656467 TL;DR - Rather direct application of concentrated substances found in cannabis (namely thc variants and cbn/cbd) can prevent the metastasization of malignant tumors. 1338590752 I believe, as the evidence has suggested, that a fairly non-quack chiropractor can be as effective as a masseuse, in the context of physical therapy. However, that doesn't excuse the non-scientific basis of their profession or the many who are quacks. 1335066109 Same as Hydrogen being flammable and so is Oxygen, but combine them and it puts out fire. I am agreeing with you by the way. 1349802956 Yeah, I totally saw this one coming too. 1303584021 i'm at work right now, so i'll have to watch the video later, but this all sounds really interesting. places such as hotels/hospitals and other places where people stay en masse are regularly haunted and usually some of the most interesting places. \n\ni cant wait to see the video. 1316428076 Yes it does. The stabilized version clearly shows the large ufo shake. That alone is the indicator that it is CGI. Proper "match moving" is the hardest thing to accomplish with shaky hand held shots. Yes, its pretty good in the video but not perfect. 1309048046 One man's woo is another man's seminal doctoral thesis. R. Keith Wallace published his UCLA Physiology PhD thesis, The Physiology of Meditation, in an issue of Nature in 1970, launching the past 40+ years of the modern exploration of meditation practices. Herbert Benson was his post-doc advisor at Harvard and they jointly published articles in journals like Scientific American. 1347818317 TIL food healthiness is measured in Megahertz. &#3232;\\_&#3232; 1346445815 I love this other video of him too btw, where he tries to pay with paper. He gets away with it a lot of times, but he also shows the times when it doesn't work. He knows its just mind tricks and what he wants with his video is to teach how you can be manipulated, not just by him but by anyone, especially advertisements. You can see how he uses the phrase: "take it, its fine" as a subliminal message to have people accept his blank paper. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Vz_YTNLn6w](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Vz_YTNLn6w) 1285789187 You said you have evidence in your original post.\n\nNow you say that there is no evidence that you can provide.\n\n\n 1349464774 I'm glad I'm not the only one. Like Michael Shermer, I'm also both skeptic and libertarian. Both these posts hit my front page, each of them eliciting an eyeroll. 1306197295 I can if you guys really want me to... 1340285994 Coast To Coast AM is the best radio show in history. Period. 1330696151 Winner 1345915167 >...because you are exactly the sort of educated person for whom some baseline scientific plausibility in a movie is moot, aside from making you want to lobotomize yourself to make the pain stop when it gets too bad. This is exactly what I meant when I said your own rationality seems to be blinding you to the problem.\n\nBecause I see two types of movies: fiction and non-fiction. Anyone I hear or see in fiction is suspect. Anything I hear or see in non-fiction I'll allow the possibility of being real. \n\n>No, your splitting hairs to avoid seeing the central point re: the Mrs. Jones example is obtuseness. The rest is just arguing with the usual nerdly stubbornness of the average internet denizen - something I engage in quite a bit myself. ;)\n\nHaha. It wouldn't be any fun if I didn't stubbornly defend my opinion and you yours. I did not find the analogy apt personally. \n\n 1341019672 Could have figured this out since the outfit who produced the film is "Invisible Children LLC" a for profit corporation who is ran by a board member of the organization. \n\nScam from top to bottom but what large non-profit organization isn't?? 1331311424 No one said it was the alternative medicine that directly made him kick the bucket, but more likely than not, the _NINE MONTHS_ he had his 'special diet' while putting off surgery absolutely necessary for any chance of his survival significantly contributed to the development and progression of the disease that (likely - since we don't have access to private autopsy records) killed him. 1318255120 Exactly, and most people have called it insects. &#3232;\\_&#3232; 1331937090 Yes, because Nyan Cat.\n\nNo, I watched the video. Still seemed like the guy was trying to counteract childish arguments with childish arguments. And I was sort of hoping for better. 1323048875 The only thing miraculous in this video is his beard. It is phenomenal. 1351321717 I never got the "the Feds had bombs set inside the towers" and the crash of airliners were just a smoke screen. Uhh... Couldn't they just use bombs and blame terrorist just the same? They wouldn't need the crash of the passenger jets at all if the conspiracy nuts were right about the inside job bs. 1317292487 I was still talking about Miss Teen USA.\n\nIn fact, if I could rig every beauty pageant in the nation to make Joe Biden win, I would. It would be the most hilarious episode of America's Next Top Model *ever*. 1354137082 > what path do you think should be taken to ascend.\n\nIn the East, there are several paths laid out for personal mastery. It is said there that there are many different doors into the house of ascension, and which one is taken is up to the individual's personal proclivities. Much as I would like to choose the Bhakti path (emotional path of ascension and enlightenment through love), I have gotten to the point where I have found myself working more and more on the path of what is called Jnana: ascension through knowledge.\n\nAll this is to say that while I myself have been working on personal ascension through disciplining my mind, there are as many different paths to ascension as there are beings that ascend. Ultimately, I think it's important to try to learn as much as you can about as many things as possible while understanding that there are many frightened human beings on this planet that will fight you and your attempts at personal ascension aggressively through the use of taunts, ridicule, or worse. It's important to listen to others well, but it's more important to really listen to yourself and what you feel is right. Be strong and do not let others dissuade you from your path.\n\n> channeled supposed "gods," really just an advanced species from beyond\n\nI would not doubt this. I personally find it immediately invalidating whenever a being (human or otherwise) claims any level of exclusivity toward being "God". God is literally everyone and every*thing*. There is no "person" or being alone that is God. God is universal and is in and of everything that ever was, is, or will/could be.\n\nAll that being said, your next statement...\n\n> "preach" a message of love and shedding of personal ego.\n\nIs one that I don't think is a bad one in and of itself. While I think it's important to be as critical and intelligent as possible, and not allow oneself to go off believing things that might not be very sound, I also think that any being truly and wholeheartedly exuding an energy of love and shedding of the personal ego is indeed a *good* being. Now, when I say this, I stress that I mean any being that is TRULY AND WHOLEHEARTEDLY doing this. There are many - especially on this planet - that claim to be doing this that are, in fact, doing anything but. Ultimately, the only being it seems you can be most sure is being true and good...is you yourself. Therefore, listen to everyone respectfully and intently, but follow *no one*. Pay attention and make sure that your *own* heart is as pure as you can make it.\n\n> Positive works seem to be a common thread. Is it possible without death?\n\nIs what possible without death? Are you asking if it's possible to exact positive works, or to spread a message of love and/or peace without death? Perhaps I am not understanding correctly, but if this is what you're asking, then of course it is possible. It is, in fact, *very* possible.\n\nAdditionally, we must realize that there is no such thing as death. What humans call death is nothing more than a simple illusion wherein one's personal identity switches from one perspective to another.\n\nWhat you call life is in fact the dream that the *real* you is having. Death is the waking from that dream. 1345593098 20 to life :| 1301218908 If that's her only reason then she should also probably start smoking salvia to learn the secrets of the universe. 1301855026 First let me say that you are right about: when there is no definition of a phenomenon, it's open to a wide range of speculation. However, this does not automatically mean that there is no phenomenon. That's a simple fact.\n\nSo you say, believers. Because, it is your believes that dictate what is plausible or not. In the video example that I gave, there is absolutely no proof at all that it is an insect. It means that in actuality that explanation simply falls within the range of speculation.\n\nUnless you can come up with some kind of statistical analysis of face like shapes under these conditions... it's just believes. Or at least give something. Otherwise it's simply a case of blaming 'the opposite believe' of being more gullible. Which is egoistically putting yourself on a pedestal that you made up in your own mind. (edit, not that this was your intention, It's simply very close to a 'my believes are correct and yours are false' argument.)\n\nThere is a pretty decent research paper floating around on the internet. [Here](http://www.theorbzone.com/FullOrbArticle.pdf) is a pdf. [Here](http://www.theorbzone.com/index.htm) is the website. Simply a 'everybody that has an opinion should at least read this' kind of stuff, found with a simple google search.\n\nMaking it pretty clear that in general, orbs have a natural explanations. But at the same time understanding that not every orb would necessarily be explained by this. There will be exceptions, we are talking about one.\n\nTo say that all exceptions must also be natural is astounding to me. However plausible you believe it is, there is absolutely no proof, whatsoever, in the example that I showed, that it is an insect. None. It's just your believes. At the same token, there is proof that it is supernatural, because it shows a frikkin face.\n\nIt is a perfectly valid hypothesis that when an orb has a paranormal explanation, iow, it is an entity of some kind. That it could exhibit features like a face. Which it accidentally does.\n\nAnd now you go and pretend that we are gullible, make things up and let our imagination go hay wire. That's simply not fair and simply not true. I understand perfectly well that this will not be definitive proof of some kind of paranormal explanation on its own. What it does do is show that not all orbs are simply explained away with naturalistic causes and do sometimes show abilities that might be linked to paranormal causes.\n\nIt has absolutely nothing to do with seeing what you want to see. Because 'everybody' will see that face, draw the same conclusions of what is the nose, eyes, etc. It's not open to personal powers of imagination. Go ahead, test it, [show this](http://imgur.com/LgxGX) to a 100 people and come back with a percentage. If it is so open to imagination, there will be what? 50 or 10 or 75 percent chance people see a face? And how much of them would point to the same facial features? Or is it going to be an unfair test because it is so clearly a face?\n\nOr are you backwards concluding that because people see faces in clouds, that this simply is what people want to see. Who's gullible here? Be honest. 1325574291 You're getting downvotes because you're post is either intentionally inflammatory or you've put absolutely no effort into finding the information yourself. 1336061241 I'm so buying this book. \n\nThe blind spot society has on medicine is indeed truly ridiculous. To think about it... you get severe public relation issues from being aware of bugs in your code but not telling anyone, even in totally non critical applications, yet not publishing the negative results by drug companies is absolutely OK, leading up to huge number of people taking drugs with strong negative side effects, but which are no more effective than placebo, or are less effective than older, patent-expired treatments, or the like. 1349730769 Damn. That video was full of assumptions. 1322628538 Thanks, Mr. Mod. I do also enjoy some humor. But seeing how it can get so out of control in subs like /r/atheism or /r/gaming, I'd prefer if we keep it under control here.\n\nCheers. 1341435841 I still do that too, but I don't really think of it as a superstition, more a shorthand for "I hope you do well."\n\nI saw a friends play at the theatre the other day though, and I told him to "break a leg." 1322409201 > If she had seen the picture, she probably would have said so.\n\nIf you feel like speculating I suppose that's one way to take it. 1348673352 How could you possibly go to sleep after encountering a stranger trespassing in your house? A stranger that could just walk up the stairs and run after you? Since this happened "last night," I'm assuming you're a grown man. I don't doubt that you may have seen something, but usually when there's a stranger in the house, you call the police or grab the nearest blunt object and clobber that shit. Unless he was transparent, floating or fading in and out of view, that shit was not a ghost. That was your neighbor trying to tell you that your damn window is keeping him up and you better go shut it or he's gonna get angry and beat you with his cold, dead fists. Oh... wait a minute. 1335668745 There hasn't been a point to this conversation since its inception. I put very little effort into these discussions. \n\nAs far the rant. That wasn't quite a rant so lets be honest and try not to exaggerate what actually happened. I merely pointed out that even very liberal outlets buried the acid rain "crisis". I have no affiliation with either the right or the left as my beliefs and values align closest to Libertarians. \n\n>Who cares about these people? They are a dwindling minority.\n\nYou and everyone else here who are constantly referring to them. \n\nAnd yes acid rain was blown so far out of proportion that the huge crisis we were in one would think would not have vanished less than a decade later.\n\n5.0 ph rain (normal) to 4.6 ph rain(acid rain) is not the end of the world. You cant make bank off of "not the end of the world" though. 1354424011 Something bugs me about this, but I'm not sure what...it feels a bit like we're saying they are too stupid to figure out that they are being tricked. Is that something we figured out because we are smarter? Or because we have access to better information? I have trouble completely letting them off the hook; they're likely smart enough folks who went to school and are able to run their own lives with some efficiency. I would like to think they can be held responsible for their actions just as much as anyone else; we all deal with imperfect information and various forms of cultural brainwashing. I was raised as a charismatic Christian, but I found my way out of it. 1314844204 I'm curious how they reproduced the study. If you use the same skull collection... wouldn't you also need to reproduce the racist expectations? 1345685470 There's a pretty big 'why' associated with your assumption. Why the detail on the oval? Why the constellation pattern on the right? Why the accurate orbit lines for each planet? It would have been much easier to simply have circles in ratio size to the inner planets and circular orbits. Why not have the circle the line extends to showing a trajectory toward Earth if the point was simply to create fear in "people like me". And let's not forget the biggest why of all... why are these patterns continuing to be made throughout the world with near zero coverage or arrests? I'd hazard a guess that it's because of people like you who have swallowed the few examples of human involvement in the production of agriglyphs and extend that proof to the entirety of their forms and don't give them a second thought. I stand by my previous statement. 1344277675 First of all, a nitpicky point: "alumni" is plural. They want either "alum" or "alumnus." However, I think it's a great article and an important subject, one which I have argued in favor for many times before.\n\nContrary to popular perception, 12 Step-based methods aren't effective and even counter-productive. Along the lines of the article's message, studies have found that AA members who "fall off the wagon" fall off hard, since they don't have the resolve to fight their desire to drink more. 1323246056 **1**\n\n> First, I would like to clarify something. I said that skeptics believe the truth where there is sufficient evidence to establish the truth and you replied with:\n\n>>And there is...in spades...overwhelmingly so, as a matter of fact.\n>Then I mention that you think there is overwhelming evidence and you reply with:\n>>That is not what was said or is thought. Incorrect.\n>Can you explain what I'm missing there? It looks like you're claiming there's overwhelming evidence and then saying you didn't say so.\n\nWhat you are missing is that what you, in fact, said was:\n\n> I understand you *think* there is overwhelming evidence...\n\nWhile I failed to add the italics in my initially quoting you, the point is that the meaning of your statement implies that my understanding of the proof that exists is not a result of the objective reality of the phenomenon and the evidence, but, instead, based on some sort of subjective interpretation on my part. This is why I responded then in the same manner that I am responding now: This (i.e. how you interpreted my statement) is neither what I said nor thought. Incorrect.\n\n> What tools do you propose we use to decide what is actually true versus what is "patently false" if not (as I would recommend) skepticism and high standards of evidence?\n\nDo not use skepticism. You must understand that skepticism, as the very definition itself says, includes (but is by no means limited to) doubting a thing *in spite* of whatever evidence may exist establishing it. As I said before, one who does this is in no way comporting themselves critically. They are doing nothing but parading the falsity of whatever personal agenda they have.\n\nInstead, what should be done when attempting to investigate pretty much *anything*, is simply BE CRITICAL. This does not have to involve skepticism. It need only involve proper analysis and REanalysis of the subject at hand...An intelligent researcher at that point simply goes wherever the evidence points regardless of how much the conclusions may challenge whatever previously held notions he or she may have. Ultimately, skepticism is in no way necessary if and when one has a sufficiently thorough, critical commitment to the investigation of whatever subject one is dealing with. Indeed skepticism often becomes a detriment and an anchor preventing the forward movement and acquisition of knowledge.\n\nTo be skeptical is not to be a critical analyzer. One should never confuse one thing for the other.\n\n> Surely you don't think the number of people that believe something determines what is true?\n\nIn and of itself, absolutely not. While a comprehensive analysis of any phenomenon's validity should indeed take into account the quantitative factors involved - and while at times the ultimate arbiter of such validity hinges upon those very quantitative factors - there are other, qualitative factors that come to bear upon the final analysis and are no less significant.\n\n> Please excuse me if I don't bother responding any further to the planetary conspiracy theory...\n\nThe very fact that your responses and reactions here are so predictable and controlled bode very, very ill indeed where it regards your fully arriving at a fuller understanding of the things going on around you.\n\n> If the phenomenon you're talking about is the paranormal, and the truth you're aware of is that it exists, then I am disagreeing with you.\n\nOf course you are. That much is more than apparent and obvious.\n\n> I thought that was pretty clear\n\nIt is.\n\n> I'm disagreeing that you have sufficient evidence to make the claim that anything paranormal exists, *regardless of whether or not it actually does.*\n\nAgain, it is obvious, of course, that you are disagreeing. Okay. What more do you want me to say to this? Okay. You are disagreeing. Okay. It doesn't change that the phenomenon exists and that there is ample evidence showing this...but you disagree...okay. You can disagree that the sky is blue all day. All I can say is okay and shrug my shoulders.\n\n[Okay](http://i.imgur.com/VwWlv.png).\n\n> all I'm arguing is that you haven't met the burden of proof and you are unjustified in making that claim to knowledge.\n\nFair enough. All I'm saying is that - as far as *anything* can be provable on this planet - you simply haven't done the research to understand that you are wrong. 1341128607 Though true, your statement is a non sequitur. 1285230349 I actually don't mind the taste, even ultrapasteurized self stable milk. I would hardly call it tasteless though. They do taste different though (to be honest I've never had raw milk so I am just talking about the difference between ultra and regular). Ultrapasteurized has a slight 'cooked' taste to it. Most "organic" style milk is ultrapasteurized.\n\nIn addition to preventing food borne illness, pasteurization also allows you to store milk longer (because you are killing of the bacteria and what not that leads to spoilage).\n\nEDIT: actually ultrapasteurized milk is not always the ultra heat treated self stable stuff, I was confusing the two. Self stable milk has the distinct "cooked" taste that I was refering too. I think most people would be hard pressed to distiguish pasteurized vs ultrapasteurized (ie most organic milk). 1317222858 fake - videotracking is out of sync sometimes... you can see it in comparison in relation with the clouds... 1334191659 "As it does with all vaccines, FDA continues to monitor the safety of Gardasil. For example, FDA recently evaluated the results of a postmarketing study, which included 189,629 females ages 9 to 26 years, 51% of whom were 9 to 15 years of age to assess the risk for onset of new autoimmune diseases after vaccination with Gardasil. Examples of these types of diseases include juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis, etc. The results of this study showed that there is no elevated risk for onset of new autoimmune disease associated with the use of Gardasil." http://www.fda.gov/BiologicsBloodVaccines/Vaccines/ApprovedProducts/ucm276859.htm 1347655571 They were all pale. The woman had big eyes; the men had small eyes. All three caucassian. The woman and one of the men had brown hair.. really dark brown hair. The other man had blonde hair. That's really all I remember. 1351882900 hypotheses* :) 1333560339 Just like there 'was' no spoon, there 'was' no ant. 1331369435 You're very kind, and I've very much enjoyed listening to what you've got to say on the matter. Talking to you has helped me clarify what I really think about this matter, and has certainly given me a better perspective on the flipside. For example: while I could certainly have envisioned the elevator-man's approach as *clumsy*, I found it unthinkable that it could be considered creepy, because as I tried to point out, I can understand each decision the man made in picking the time he did, the place he did, and speaking in the manner he did. That you yourself could perceive it as 'creepy' or threatening is very useful information.\n\nI can't think of much more I'd like to go over, but I'm very grateful for the time you took, and the approach you took, and I'll keep an eye out for you around the forums here. \n\nAll the best! 1351309545 >You apparently haven't spent any time in a lab. Samples get contaminated, **sometimes in the lab, sometimes before it gets there. It happens**, and that's that.\n\nBut see, you're not saying *sometimes* you are saying **always**; and that's entirely different. You are saying that it must always be happening when they perform their test. For the result to be always you'd need people to either be completely inept at their job (which would be pretty damn hard since these people have been doing their job for at least 30 years without any problems like that), or you'd need to defy the laws of probability.\n\nOr, you could simply have the more logical, more sound, and more reasonable explanation: She did her job, did not contaminate evidence, and found a new [/old] species of primate indeed does exist.\n\nOne of us is being unreasonable with our assertion and the other isn't.\n\n\n>Mitochondrial DNA that is identical to human along with nuclear DNA that is novel means contamination\n\nThis is a really ignorant thing to say; How do you suppose our ancestors' DNA results would come back as? How about **the same damn thing**. We certainly don't have their information in the database, yet they'd most certainly have "human" mitochondrial DNA. 1354390774 http://www.amazon.com/Excitotoxins-Taste-Russell-L-Blaylock/dp/0929173252\n\nWhat is this? Is this the debunked study? 1297821290 I've recieved the 'bumped the cord' response before but it was quite a distance from the bed, the cord being stretched pretty far to reach the bedside table, and had been there for some time.\n\nNot to mention that it was stil plugged in and functioning fine the next morning after I'd done the same process of sliding it down and back up.\n\nAnyhow, thank you for responding! 1337746796 I pick and choose my FB battles. Sometimes I let things slide, and sometimes I have to speak up. Usually I just resort to posting articles of my own, and hoping I catch a few readers. 1339263769 Fair enough. I'd say asked and answered, so thanks. 1333121163 I think that most (if not all) paranormal events are 'constructed' in a way that they can be easily debunked by skeptics, so believing in them is not forced upon people. Everybody has its own will, is free to accept its existence or not.\nImagine a husband beating his wife. If somebody saw that and told this man that he is doing wrong, he may accept it and stop or not. However imagine an aliens/ghost/whatever coming to this house and saying "YOU SHALL NOT BEAT YOUR WIFE", the man would stop beating his wife immediately because of pure fear.\n\nPeople should have their own choice whether to believe or not, and that is why paranormal events can be often explained as random coincidences.\nHope you understand what I mean ;] 1356522318 Because there is indeed a conspiracy going on? I don't understand why this is so difficult for you to grasp, or are you trolling?\n\nThe fact that there are groups of individuals that conspire and have forged an intricate system of consent propagation should make you mad as hell, and hopefully have you more then just "go out and vote" as a conclusion. \n\nGet out of the dualistic, bipartisan system. It's election year, and there are many who will start chanting this and blaming the "younger generation" for not voting; it's a scapegoat strategy that has worked thus far. 1338328102 I just check it and it's working. If nothing else just google Tehran dogfight. It is a well established case. 1299017681 Yes but regardless of whether it's reliable or not, I'm not asking if it's a hoax or not, I'm asking what a scientific explanation could be of what's happening. You don't need to believe that it isn't a hoax, but it's not very progressive to my question to have responses with "hoax" if it's a hoax then how was it created? That's what I'd like to know. 1335146553 I think there is a consensus that the 2005 Popular Mechanics investigation and summary is a good resource for explaining what happened.\n\nhttp://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military/news/1227842\n\nI believe it covers all of the aspects you mentioned, which seem to be the most frequently cited. 1337218541 > Saying that the problem is the simplicity of the sun sign doesn't hold water.\n\nI love your choice of wording there. My sun sign is Aquarius: the water barer soooo I hold water. Haha. (Take that as a cosmic coincidence or not... I enjoyed it. :))\n\nI meant intense and passionate in the sense that you took the effort to even debate me. Why do you care?? Because you enjoy talking so much and digging up a ton of evidence or whatever lke a Gemini. Even about something that you're not passionate about you gave passionate answers to like a Scorpio. And it appears like you usually responded right away. Quick to act like an Aires.\n\n 1310794159 Yeah those people sound like grade A douche-bags. I can't stand people who think of their pet as only an accessory. That does sound pretty cruel, I knew my ex's mom used to keep her pitbull mix in a crate all day because she was afraid she'd mess the carpet up. -_- then why adopt a dog lady...\n\noy, some people. No worries about "getting on my case" it's the internet, no one takes things seriously here.....right? -crickets- 1334023627 Psyops. Srsly. 1339643640 This is fairly cut and dry; I'm not sure what there is to be skeptical of other than the sensationalist title.\n\nThe malware used a malicious DNS server, the malicious server was shut down and (presumably as a convenience to the victims) a working DNS server was put in its place. They're going to take down that working server, and infected computers won't have any access to DNS - effectively cutting them off from anything that requires address name resolution. 1341609314 Ha! I saw that one coming :) (typing on an iPad in bed) 1293980976 American dad roger anyone? 1321580258 Flawless victory! 1323749222 Greenhouse gasses are nurturing the demons in the atmosphere! 1355872837 >Looks like triangles dropping flares, and the more I see triangles, the more I think classified aircraft.\n\nWhere are you seeing triangles here? The lights all move independently of each other. 1355516343 I'm sure [a library near you](http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/317314) has a copy. The book is expansive in its scope, so I highly recommend you read it rather than taking my summary too seriously. \n\nFirst you have to understand that Sagan was annotating and expanding Shklovskii's original book. Their contributions are clearly delineated, down to who wrote which sentence. So it's hard to capture the subtlety of that back and forth with a summary. But if memory serves, their chapter about the possibility of ancient contact between humans and an ETI is mostly or nearly all Sagan's contribution. He mostly discusses four different accounts of the Sumerian creation myth. \n\nRemember that this book came out in 1966. It was a small sensation and later became the "bible of astrobiology". The popularity of *Intelligent Life in the Universe* was Sagan's launching board into pop consciousness in America. Although interestingly when he was denied tenure at Havard, one of their concerns was that the young scientist spent too much time talking about UFOs. \n\n*Chariot of the Gods* was written in the wake of Sagan and Shklovskii's popular work 1968. It's unfortunate that this pseduoscientific speculation sold millions of copies while Sagan's work, while popular, sold only tens of thousands. It's quite ironic that Sagan so directly inspired Von Daniken.\n\nAnyway, if you're interested in ancient astronaut theories in general there's much more in *Intelligent Life in the Universe* that you'll enjoy. It covers a lot of ground, from specific planets to comets to Phobos to UFOs to the origins of life to nucleosynthesis. Sagan's presentational flare comes through with the rich historical quotes and many pictures. And I personally think the whole collaboration aspect is extremely interesting, and I love following the different perspectives. It's hilarious how frequently Carl Sagan will rant. Whole chapters have zero additions from Shklovskii. Yet no chapter is free of Sagan's comments. Remember that originally this was Shklovskii's book! \n\n**TL,DR**\n\nCarl Sagan. 1349513732 Can you please post a video of a "typical satellite" that looks like this. 1296751489 And I'm just saying that we should fix it just like skeptcism was meant to fix the bullshit-believing things. Why we are skeptic if not to make us better persons? 1325679161 Pretty much everything we do is bad for the environment. Christians aren't more to blame than atheists I don't think. 1310789035 It's because they're made with hedgehog bristles.\n\nProbably. 1248360052 I certainly try not to be rude.\n\nWhen I said that I'm not sociable though I meant that I don't interact with people much, and those that I think are too stupid I just avoid. I wouldn't want to be rude to them, I just don't want to interact with them.\n\nNote, I don't think that most religious people are stupid, and can happily interact with them.\n\nPZ Myers irritates me. Especially when a young creationist or someone emails him with questions, and he just goes on attack, it's not going to help him (the poor creationist), and certainly not the kind of behaviour I expect from an educator. 1311431589 1) Little People: "They are often described as being no more than nine inches tall, though with the physical features of a humanoid" Like a Monkey perhaps?\n\n2) Giant Birds: Described as scaly creatures with giant wings. They're probably eagles. Usually there isn't any frame or reference in the sky a cloud you think is massive may be tiny and just at a lower altitude then you thought. [Here's](http://cdn1.arkive.org/media/73/73BA077B-913A-4C2E-98A6-94BF9188275C/Presentation.Large/Immature-Stellers-sea-eagle-in-flight.jpg) a Stellers Sea Eagle in flight. Its giant giant wings that can span more then 8 feet. You'll also notice hes almost a blue color. That's so its harder for other animals to see him when hes flying. Look at his white markings in the right light its possible to mistake those for the bones in a bat (or similar creatures) wings. \n\n3) Dopplegangers: I'm going to keep this sample down to America for ease. About 300,000,000 people live in America. 84% of those people have shopped at a Walmart (255,000,000). On walmarts website there are 347 types of men's shirts available. 107 types of pants. The chance of any specific outfit of pants and shirt being bought by some one shopping for an outfit at Walmart is 0.003. That's pretty small but when you consider 255 million people shop at Walmart 3,000,000 people likely own the same pair of pants and shirt. Given this it starts to become apparent that look alikes are not that uncommon.\n\n4) Time Slips: [Dissociation](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissociation_(psychology))\n\n5)Chupacabra: Super duper awesome best cryptid. Likely just a dog with mange.\n\n6) PANic in the woods. What?\n\n7) Dog headed people. What? (Furries?)\n\n8) Stickmen: Hoaxes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhaMrCUDhjk This is how its done.\n\n9) Shadow People: Matrixing.\n\n10) Black Eyed Kids: Goths. Contacts. 1349783802 She should under no circumstance be exempt from criticism and critique when she gives a poorly researched speech. This is doubly so as a high-profile skeptic at a skeptic's conference. It is, however, *deeply* unfortunate that she does seem be a lightening rod for enflamed debate within the skeptic community. Everything I see her name attached to eventually descends a mensrights/feminist shouting match. Unfortunate. 1354555878 Mentally ill isn't the same as faking. It may be very real to her. Of course, it's also unlikely that any mental illness was caused by the vax. She was likely mentally ill to begin with. \n\nIt's soooo tempting to go to the "Liar! Faker!" place when you've had your sympathies yanked around. But try to remember that she's still sick. Just a different kind of sick than she tried to present. 1323368005 I urge anyone compelled to refute this to stop for one moment and actually read/skim the report and see the anomalies in their bare form, in their own words and context. In parts it openly admits certain things that can only be explained by facts not pertaining to the conspiracies portrayed in the NIST report, such as WTC 7 falling unilaterally at free fall speed. This is not possible from any combination of the damage or fire sustained during the 911 attacks. I'm sure you're all sick of these posts but I'm an advocator of truth and facts and feel a need to add light to the mist of misinformation. There are plenty of facts about 911 that clash with the official story, even acknowledging one fact that doesn't correlate with the teachings in the report is enough to question the whole article. All I'm saying is there are unignorable scientific barriers with the report, nothing more than that and If you still disagree I'd like to hear why. Thanks.\n\nSeeing as this is for skeptically minded people and not raving lunatics, here are reports and testimonies from over 1500 professional architects and engineers, some world leaders in their field expressing issues with the official report.\n\n[http://www.ae911truth.org/](http://www.ae911truth.org/) 1339012469 If they didn't care, then why are they wearing the tape? 1344308779 THere's some evidence that some forms of meditation can change gene-expression in the brain, and a significant regimen of "positive thinking" might conceivably have some slight effect in SOME people, but not in others, just as Bright Light Therapy will affect people who have SAD, but probably doesn't affect the average person much at all.\n\nPeople try to use alternative (ayurveda, etc) medicines the same way they use modern medicine, but even the original texts (especially the original texts) say this is foolish: such therapies are very specific to a given person and there is usually no "one size fits all" treatment. 1349941664 Doesn't that mean you have to pay extra for it? 1336952700 Arthur Schopenhauer's [Art of Controversy](http://coolhaus.de/art-of-controversy/) covered this excellently and hilariously in 1897. \n\n 1304996695 >Your response is to send them to 6+ years in prison. Why?\n\nIt's a deterrent so that other retards don't do the same thing. 1320216623 True, my statement was poorly worded.\n\nHere are the money quotes from the abstract:\n\n* Herbicide-resistant crop technology has led to a 239 million kilogram (527 million pound) *increase* in herbicide use in the United States between 1996 and 2011\n* Bt crops have *reduced* insecticide applications by 56 million kilograms (123 million pounds)\n* Overall, pesticide use increased by an estimated 183 million kgs (404 million pounds), or about 7%\n* The magnitude of increases in herbicide use on herbicide-resistant hectares has dwarfed the reduction in insecticide use on Bt crops over the past 16 years, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future 1350995581 Because he **believed it**, and he was important in the world of science and therefore his opinion informs many other scientists, rightly or wrongly. Again, **is/ought** - I was NOT saying that this is an opinion I agree with, nor that it was one that I subscribe to, I was reporting that this is the case, and that so long as the situation remains unchanged, there will exist a subset of scientists who subscribe to that definition. 1337860827 Well I would agree that most crop circles do appear in the UK. In the case of the ones i'm talking about however our science up till this point can not predict CME's. An a very rare CME during the solar minimum makes the prediction that much more credible. IMHO most crop circles in the UK are man made. It is not possible that this particular one was however. 1252013296 I'm vegetarian because I hate plants. 1271514457 It's not a matter of uncommon -- every single serious study I've seen on the issue has suggested that it's a non-existent connection. \n\n>Subsequent research found that, while large doses of MSG given without food may elicit more symptoms than a placebo in individuals who believe that they react adversely to MSG, the frequency of the responses was low and the responses reported were inconsistent, not reproducible, and not observed when MSG was given with food.[18] No statistical association has been demonstrated under controlled conditions, even in studies with people convinced that they are sensitive to it.\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monosodium_glutamate#Health_concerns\n\nThe whole thing dates back to the 60s when it was postulated MSG might be responsible for "Chinese restaurant syndrome" and it's taken hold in pop culture since. The reality is there's no hard science actually backing this up. Even individuals that claim to be MSG sensitive do not reproducibly respond to controlled tests. 1294265847 And great weed, let's be honest. 1318571919 Did you read the whole article? It's not really saying it's bullshit, just that DCA hasn't undergone clinical trials (which are currently underway). Maybe misleading, but definitely not bullshit. 1305596645 Yes very... 1355244869 If I happen to see news about Ray Bradbury dying within the next few days, I'll humbly come back & upvote this. 1327529496 http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/03/23/britannica_wikipedia_nature_study/\n\n6 years on and you're still not skeptical of that nature study?\n\nFurthermore, even if the study were good science to begin with, *one* study is not sufficient. In science, we require verification of a claim multiple times, so no matter what your opinion is on the study, if you consider this issue settled and don't demand more, you are scientifically illiterate. 1342266866 On a daily basis. They are continually amazed at the size of my genitalia.\n\nThat is what you meant by "reveal yourself", isn't it? 1334713209 It could be as simple as HFCS is 'cheap', so they put it in **everything**.\n\n 1344891900 Yeah, setup early, and have an accomplice with a couple of room dividers. 1310634800 You won't feel good about any ideology, they all have their weaknesses. \n\nI am liberal, but I do support Libya and Afghanistan efforts, and do not want a premature withdrawal that could result in instability in those regions and possibly government collapse, this may be completely opposite to what many liberals and even libertarians want. However, I don't stick by party-lines, I stick by facts and critical analysis. 1313593862 You know, whenever I see an article beginning or ending with "please send this to everyone you know!" I usually toss it in the bin outright. 1339534133 Ha! My next door neighbor had a cancer in her oak tree once. 1287119697 I am a Christian that believes in possession (because of my own past experiences), but your opinion about ghosts being passed religious people is pretty awesome to think about. I haven't ever thought of that, but I guess it lines up very well with what Jack_Shid was saying about "demonic" entities being the spirits of people that were awful when they were alive. Now I am going to be thinking about this all day! Thanks for sharing your theory. 1352825643 This sir, could be a proper glitch. OR she could be flirting with you outrageously, and lying at the same time.\n\nOr both.\n\nYou decide. 1335773772 Looking at the ingredients for a Throwback Mountain Dew, it appears they're actually made with beet sugar. 1344868040 Because some asshole researcher recycles this misleading "science" every few years to get publicity.\n\nHere is the SAME EXACT ARTICLE from 2005\nhttp://articles.cnn.com/2005-06-22/health/cancer.virus_1_cancer-cells-cervical-cancer-hpv?_s=PM:HEALTH\n\nSo, what have you been doing in the last 7 years? Introduced it to one new petrie dish this time with breast cancer cells? 1335924528 I'll just start with generic skepticism, as glutamates are found naturally in a wide variety of foods, including cheese, tomatoes, corn, most meats, nuts, etc.\n\nI don't see why tagging glutamates with a sodium atom would change processing that much in the body.\n\nCould this be an incidental link where (for example) processed food tend to have more MSG and (so the foodies tell you) are also worse for you? 1350445075 It could be a dialect thing.\n\nOr you could just be a dick who needs something better to do. 1326500943 Paranormal or not, you need to shut off the gas to that thing. There's a valve behind the oven/stove usually. If you can't do that, shut off the gas to the whole house. 1344856325 New firmware version for all entities in that sector. They simply forgot to reset the timer, making you aware of it. 1342021240 There have been many things that my family and i have experienced with another being... On multiple occasions while all of us are in the same room at least two of us will see the same thing happen. Whether it be a figure running through the front hall or it hanging over the banister looking into the room we're in. It also has touched my dad, talked to my sister-in-law and growled at me (it does not like me for some reason, or my sister- tried to possess her). We cant move, believe me this started two houses ago, it has been following us ever since. I have more stories but i thought id keep it short. 1344026984 is it truly a prophesy anyways? the way i understood it was every 5k years or so is the end of one of their calendars and just.. the beginning of a new one. the only thing that people are getting their jimmies rustled over is because i think it says something about their God(s) ushering in the next age between calendars. 1344343456 The best ones take months of planning and preparation to properly execute. 1305794364 Lol ... like the nonprofit I'm a part of, that promotes electric vehicles (it's basically a local car club), or a friend's former workplace, the nonprofit that runs the art museum downtown. Poor public citizens, now forever stuck to the teat of regular art exhibitions...\n\nBottom line is that we're all dependent on others, whether those others are for-profit businesses, nonprofits, volunteers, government, etc. That's kind of the whole choice that homo sapiens made when we decided to stop wandering around and build civilizations around fixed agriculture. One could argue it even predates that, to some extent. 1319485702 Argh... sorry, I assumed you were referring to another study! I thought you were talking about [this one](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20512135).\n\nA few quotes from the abstract of the metastudy you posted:\n\n> The methodologic quality of [the included] trials was variable but, on average, was low. \n\nRemember that Homeopathy metastudy that concluded that the better your blinds are, the less effective homeopathy is?\n\n> On the basis of the findings of this systematic review, there is no compelling evidence to recommend or reject acupuncture for any condition in domestic animals\n\n...which basically translates as "As far as we know, it does not cause harm." 1326209831 Hookworms can't reproduce inside of your body so if you got a controlled dose you would be fine. 1316020788 People are passionate about chemtrails because they do not know what constitutes a good reason to believe something. The evidence seems compelling to someone without a well-developed bullshit detection kit. The hypothesis then becomes unfalsafiable because any evidence presented against it is deemed to be part of the conspiracy. \n\nIn effect, it's a self-reinforcing belief. Like religion. \n\nIf there is no conceivable way to prove it false, then there is no way to test if it is true. 1337383035 Ah, I can agree with that thought. Never occured to me that the way we teach science might be undermining it. \n\nThank you for opening my mind a bit. 1350403633 I think you're in the wrong place. 1344257556 wasn't this posted yesterday? 1322609444 Wow. Thanks. 1281127999 wow - volcano pixies. 1315395884 Great stories, thanks for sharing! 1356191368 Could somebody please back up what this image says about Carter with facts please? I'd like to see where he actually did this, and not hearsay. 1327074817 The Carlos hoax was covered nicely in Sagan's "Demon-Haunted World". 1320313798 I find the obtuse nature of all the government denials absolutely apalling 1351912890 The moment i saw the plug for his book at the end of the article, i became bathed in disbelief at the idea of him making a profit from his story...\n\nInvolving any type of money or personal gain really breaks belief... 1350293954 You not only defended creationism and polygraph machines that can be used by con artists to create cons and frauds--but also gave them the title of scientist, like as if there is science in religion. You also claimed polygraphs are not pseudoscience when used in the context of lie detection.\n\nThese are serious serious mistakes for someone who claims himself as a skeptic. 1292615636 That is the largest stock photo I've ever seen on an article. At least she's cute. 1322013491 That's exactly what....a demon would say! 1285319852 As an undergrad, you don't need to understand statistics particularly well in most of your psychology classes. In graduate school, few of the more "practical" psych degrees (counseling, social work, psy.d) require much in the way of stats either.\n\nFor those that do (various doctorates, M.S.), they're taking a bunch of students that probably had a pretty weak foundation in math going into the program. There may also be a limited set of the faculty which understands the statistics on a fundamental level. In my experience, many of the psychologists that do understand the stats may ignore important design/psychological considerations at the same time.\n\nI'd say you also wind up at a disadvantage when attempting to make meaningful predictive statements about specific populations. The scope of a proper experiment investigating pathology should necessarily be fairly narrow, and often examines a specific disorder. However, it's often nigh-impossible to get sufficiently large AND random sets of people with a very specific disorder. \n\nFor example, your only source of PTSD patients might be from a local VA hospital. You'd like to be able to make a meaningful statement about PTSD with your findings, but your study is accordingly crippled by both poor sample size and a very abnormal sample. It's reasonable to think that returning soldiers would have many commonalities with respect to experience and type of PTSD (acute vs. chronic, clustering of symptoms, history prior to event, etc.). It's not reasonable to generalize them to all PTSD sufferers.\n\nThat study may get published just the same, with a "PTSD sufferers show increased likelihood of BLANK" lede. Were the statistics used necessarily bad? Perhaps not. However, a second researcher comes along later and throws that study in with others in a meta-analysis of PTSD studies (not distinguishing that it doesn't say much about the disorder as a whole). The result is the inclusion of questionable data in a paper that makes more general claims about the disorder. Papers like the meta-analysis are more likely to inform prevailing opinions going forward.\n\nThe inconsistency of understanding of facets of design, statistics, and pathology is what I see as the more general problem facing the field at the moment. 1337957974 Why are you so unwilling to even consider the possibility that a non-governmental system could work? You don't seem the least bit interested in any rational discussion, but rather in "debunking" anything which conflicts with your preexisting belief systems. 1325585465 I don't really get why he would say that; sounded like your standard speech up to the end.\n\nhowever : \n\n- it's not a mistake, i mean, it's not like he's Bush\n- he most have known it was being filmed and would be released\n\nSo why in the world would he say that, just to throw oil on the fire by manner of speech ? 1332835833 >Putin had the dude silenced.\n\nDon't be so quick to jump to that. It was a very sloppy way to kill someone, seeing how the KGB has killed people in very creative ways, (including using a ricin tablet inside of an umbrella, which the agent nicked the target with while walking past him), it would be a very strange way for the Russian government to go about killing someone. His death also did more harm than good to the Russian government. Litvinenko had been going public with all kinds of information for a long time, he wrote two books during his time in Britain, some people have even said that he was running out of money because he ran out of stories to market, and there are no signs of any assassination attempts while he was writing those books. \n\nThis guy was not a high level agent at all, the US even denied him asylum, apparently the State Department didn't think he wasn't worth dealing with. \n\nYes, you do need to be very wealthy and powerful to get a hold of enough polonium-210 to kill someone, but there were many other wealthy and powerful people who would like to have seen Litvinenko dead. Traces of polonium-210 were found in Berezovsky's office, and Russian prosecutors were blocked from questioning him or searching his office. Litvinenko also wrote a lot about the Russian government's involvement with organized crime, and Russian gangs certainly have enough wealth and power to get a hold of some polonium-210. \n\nIntelligence agencies tend to act intelligently, and assassinations tend to only be performed when it directly benefits the state or those in power. This was not a very intelligent attack, which leads many to think that it was done by a gang or a guy with shitloads of money and a vendetta against Putin. 1356636968 Milk? 1348851644 >A UFO could be anything. I'm not going to say you're lying if you say you saw one. But if you try to claim it's something extraterrestrial or paranormal, I'm going to ask for proof.\n\nClearly this would be impossible. If you saw a UFO that you thought was of extraterrestrial origin, how would you prove to someone like yourself that it was indeed extraterrestrial? What if 10,000 people saw a craft 10 miles long glide over their neighborhood, everyone took pictures and video etc etc. Even that isn't proof that it's extraterrestrial. It's good that you're skeptical, but the "proof" you require would be impossible for any observer to obtain. 1341125432 He's "just asking questions" the same way Glenn Beck is "just asking questions." 1291500511 Somebody's been watching Farscape... 1259026949 Yes, the correct term would be 'incongruous', but saying 'incongruous' just makes you sound like a dick. 1280861604 Shit this baby was totally not planned, was not ready for this decision today! 1356641238 There is a good (similar) story here;\n\nhttp://www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=33266&view=previous 1344266942 I am vegan and have experienced varied reactions firsthand.\n\nTypically, when people confront me or ask about being vegan I point out that studies show that veganism can be healthy. So choosing not to be vegan is an ethical choice where you are weighing animal interests and environmental consequences against your own pleasure and convenience. That's normally seen as pretty reasonable, so I don't get too much attitude (unless I'm on the internet), but I do get some rude dismissals.\n\nI think people have a prototypical vegan in their minds who is some sort of new age hippie. So, for the skeptic community, there's going to be some resistance. Throw in some trumped up claims of dietary perfection and you've got reasons for skeptics to be turned off from both sides.\n\nLike all communities, there are vegans who could use some education. I used to talk about the China Study a lot, until someone pointed out the problems to me. Now, I use evidence about how being vegan can be healthy, but never present it as some miracle diet.\n\nLike the vegan community, I think the skeptic community would do well to check out some people that talk about the ethics of animal use without involving bad science or hippie stuff. [Gary Francione](http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Animal-Rights-Your-Child/dp/1566396921) is a good example of one of those people.\n\nSo, I didn't really answer the question yet. I do think it's unreasonable how some vegans are treated, but the vegans who are in to good science and good ethics need to be better at messaging and speaking out. The skeptic community should see people who are being misled by bad information as people that need to be informed, not mocked and dismissed. Additionally, I think people who are interested in rational inquiry and truth seeking, should look into the legitimate reasons for being vegan instead of dismissing the whole idea because they've ran into some vegans that they didn't like.\n\nIn my experience, there are a lot of omnivores that don't like being called out for their lifestyle choices. Even when I'm not discussing being vegan with someone, just existing around them can be accidentally confrontational. Most people don't want to hurt animals, but they've been taught and reinforced to themselves that it's necessary or it's okay. By existing as a vegan, I point out that it's not necessary and I don't think it's okay to use animals. People have a bad reaction to having that thrown into the light because most people want to believe they are good people who would not hurt animals unless it was necessary. 1343746239 theres a stupid hippy ethic that all things natural are good. mother earth loves us bull shit. disease is natural. the earth erupting and killing everything around it is natural, but these events happen on geologic time scales so it doesnt occur to ppl. same with meteors crashing the earth. all natural. 1318437880 That's true, but Ockham's Razor is about what you should *assume*. \n\nFor example, there is no principle in science which states that ghosts can't exist or that they aren't real. However, when presented with a "ghostly" event, in order to conclude the presence of a ghost, you would have to assume a large amount of new information. Ockham's Razor simply states that if you don't know the answer to something for sure, you have to assume whatever posits the least amount of new information. Obviously those assumptions can be wrong, but they're usually correct because of the law of probability. The more variables you add to a possible outcome, the more the odds of it being the case decrease. 1326616417 That's pretty conclusive right there. 1342641951 >science gives us the framework for a reasonable guess.\n\nWhen the scientific method is applied correctly. 1304270882 Damn, put a warning up before you link to that guy. I almost heard him speak! Too close a call for my liking. 1294585543 Yes. I get told "Why do you have to intellectualise everything". DUH. 1301250688 My Physical Therapist? He recommended the chiropractor. 1285525451 I think the original picture had quite a bit of photoshop help with it. 1353611820 i thought you meant THIS subreddit, and was prepared for a shitstorm. Maybe a little more clarity in the headline next time? ;) 1332914367 If you're a "good skeptic", you should know that "seeing is believing" is not a good rule to live by. No properly-conducted study has ever shown acupuncture to be anything more than a placebo. Therefore, there's no reason to try it, because there's no evidence that it works.\n\nIf you think it's worked for you, congratulations, you've experienced a placebo effect. 1261321180 I enjoyed it more than the "Stifle and Wither" movement. 1316266968 I very much doubt they had people watching it continuously in shifts for three days. They will have taken him at his word he didn't touch it when they weren't there 1350268094 I haven't been to /r/atheism since I unsubbed it. Going to check it now... Yep, full retard. 1324025901 > go to hotspots the phenomenon can become observable and replicable\n\n(citation needed)\n\n> If there is no tangible evidence that means it doesn't exist? Science would not had come far had this motto been in effect.\n\nYeah, back when science was relegated to anecdote, speculation, and rumor like UFOlogy currently is based, people believed the Earth was flat and miasmas caused disease. The essence of science is observation and replication. 1346115102 I just don't think that homeopathy should be referred to as "an alternative form of medicine". I think it should be referred to as "an alternative to medicine". There's medicine, which can cure you, and then there's homeopathy, which can't, but is nevertheless used as an alternative. 1328292426 Listen to engineers about what? There is nothing at Pryamids or Puma Punku that cannot be done today or even by cultures native at the time. What engineers are you talking about? 1356720200 >No, I'm talking about real-world performance with proper training.\n\nYou are simply denying the evidence presented in the OP and the FOI research about **real world** performance of **real dogs.**\n\n>nearly 1/4 of the subjects correctly respond\n\nMore than **3/4** of them **failed**. You keep pretending this isn't significant.\n\nDogs have great noses. Theoretically, it is possible for them to act as highly accurate detector dogs. That's all your cited paper shows, it does not show **real world** performance.\n\nIn theory, it works in practice. In practice, it works in theory.\n\nIt's useless arguing with a believer. 1333490686 Should be "nothing escapes i's pull". 1317529088 ...*thetans*? 1352862942 Sometimes you have to believe there is a greater purpose to things - than a dick in a rubber mask 1316806498 I couldn't be more shocked if he'd said something homophobic. 1351092675 11:11? Can't understand. I have the same feeling when I look at my digital clock as it says 13:37. 1298206304 [Same video on YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k49rjd1vubA) 1331483769 Reasonable question, meet unhelpful sarcastic answer! I hope you guys become friends. 1335471877 I don't intend to be picking you out. Truth be told, you sound like you're contributing in a positive way. Respond to the substance of what they say. That's what brought me around. It wasn't having my beliefs being coddled. It was being challenged in a way that gave my beliefs the respect of being answered. \n\nOn the other hand, that's the long way around. My point is that it is generally easier to remove the barriers to the evidence than trying to overflood it. (Which requires a mind willing to carefully consider evidence as it is rather than as what their preconceptions demand it be.) 1265519968 um the article was more insightful than that, you just have piss poor reading comprehension.\n\n\nYou also suffer from the ignorant belief that the general public is as informed as you are.\n\n\n\nLast science is about exactness and quantifying things. Often science looks into things that seem obvious and it appears to the layman as a waste of money. But see it is one thing to say a hot stove burns, it is another to say a stove will start to burn your flesh at 120 degrees F.\n\nSure it is obvious that Vit E doesnt cure cancer, as people who take vitamins still get cancer, but science wasnt trying to answer that truism, science was looking to see if their was any effect what so ever that could justify myth.\n\nThere wasnt. 1331221764 If there is a window, this is a more likely scenario. 1345567806 ruh roh 2spooky4me i'm outta here guys 1356759715 I can always wake up a minute or two before my alarm clock. No matter what I set it to, I end up waking up early by a minute. 1340385401 If you believe you saw it then its real. That is of course ruling out a Scooby Doo style projection on the glass. But if you really truly saw it with your eyes then the opinions of a few internet weirdos don't matter. There are alot of things a person can do to hoax a picture but very little we can do to hoax your eyes. The picture does seriously resemble one of the ghost app ghosts though. 1334120375 Not with my money. Unlike with private insurers, with government run systems you have no option in paying for it. 1257457693 Exactly. This is why every link has someone simply saying "Daily Mail. Daily Mail, people." Then someone else asking "What's wrong with the article? Just coz you don't like the source..." 1329219175 No problemo! I just didn't want to devote an hour to gathering up all the resources so you could verify what I would be saying (esp. since I'm supposed to be studying).\n\nOne thing occurs to me, and it's relatively easy to explain, as I look back over the list... there have been several studies investigating the creeping age of menarche (first period for women, marks the onset of puberty in females). The proposed link seems to be between BMI and menarche - higher BMI at a younger age -> earlier menarche. In fact, when I first learned about menarche, it was thought that women needed to weigh a certain amount (this does not appear to be the case, but the 'rule of thumb' still applies). The magic figure used to be around 105lb (47kg), IIRC.\n\n[This PDF](http://downloads.hindawi.com/journals/jobes/2011/180729.pdf) is one example of evidence in favor of a correlation between increased BMI and earlier onset of menarche. In a (health) nutrition class I took just recently, one group presented on the increasing age of menarche in certain schools in Hong Kong as being indicative of the veracity of the BMI-menarche link. \n\nI could go on, but I assume you have a few tidbits to tear somebody a new one with! Good luck! 1312775670 Looks like he was fapin' while shootin' 1344180449 reddit.com/r/DMT 1354419593 A pretty basic one would be having a causative mechanism - that is, knowing how A might cause B. If you have a plausible causative mechanism and a correlation, you can then use the causative mechanism to work out predictions that can be made to test the mechanism.\n\nIf your predictions fail, your causative mechanism is disproved. If your predictions come true, you have more confidence in your mechanism and develop further predictions, then repeat as necessary.\n 1355406153 Maybe, as dumb animals, they were considered free of sin and were all accepted into heaven. Whoa, that would be a catch 22. 1307262108 I plotted their [horizontal movement over time](http://i.imgur.com/rcjMK.jpg) using a landmark from the video.\n\nEdit: I added a [vertical plot](http://i.imgur.com/1FxlU.jpg) as well.\n\nEdit2: All four time frames [superimposed](http://i.imgur.com/StJMc.jpg). 1352874587 ET (natural phenomenon) =/= supernatural\n\nI agree that "we don't know" is acceptable, I was simply saying why not consider ET at all. 1316708403 No worries, I don't mind skepticism! There's a decent amount of discussion of this in the perpetual motion machine debunking literature/community, and here are a couple representative sites I found from googling:\n\n[Link 1](http://reedmagneticmotor.com/)\n[Link 2] (http://dispatchesfromthefuture.com/2007/07/first_glimpse_of_an_orbo.html)\n\nTo think of this in an easier way, imagine wrapping a coil around a permanent magnet. Then heat the magnet, and as the magnetic domains randomly realign and destroy the net magnetic moment of the bulk, the change in flux will induce a current in the coil. But that's not FREE energy! It was "stored" in the magnet because the parallel magnetic domains were in a higher energy state than the state where they cancel each other out, which become accessible as their thermal energy increases.\n\nThat's functionally similar to what magnetic motors seek to accomplish.\n\n 1348468547 >I have been reading the webbot's reports since 2009 and many of his predictions have come true.\n\nSuch as?\n\nIve known about the webbots reports since Project Camelot started reporting on it and ever since it came up on Art Bells show...\n\nI still think it's bullshit though. :/ 1351727845 I feel like we should blame her for this moronic "trend" but then I remember that these anti-vacciners are *taking medical advice from a Playboy model*... it's their own fault, really. The only problem is that their stupidity can affect the rest of us. 1329420264 Don't make it more than it is.\n\nBreastmilk, a natural substance, which has been developed over the millenia for the benefit of the species or vitamin ( chemical ) fortified Nestle product fed in a plastic bottle so some corporate executives can bonuses next quarter ???\n\nYou're welcome 1335076327 I've only seen one myself once. It just walked by, didn't even look at me (I suppose) It just passed by looking like Dick Tracy.\n\n\nI have seen other shadows, more like blobs or something, recently I saw one of these things peering over an entertainment center, just looking at me. Saw it out of the corner of my eye and when I turned to look, it vanished. Same night I was playing a game online with two of my friends and saw something that really freaked me out, I saw the damn blob IN THE VIDEO GAME. I told my friends to look at the same spot I was looking at but they couldn't see anything. I've been to the same place over and over again on my own but it will not reappear. Maybe it was a glitch or something, but it had the exact same shaped the one I saw had. 1352680575 Richard Gere didn't go to my high school. The "buddhists" I went to high school with didn't know the first thing about Buddhism past the fact that it was asian and it might get them laid. 1309289572 Exploding Head Syndrome is the worst! About to go to sleep and BAM! sounds out like someone's setting off fireworks inside your head. 1326606423 Where did you get the idea that eyewitness identification alone is enough to convict anyone of anything serious? In some cases it's not even admissible as evidence. 1347423616 Reminded me of this guy in Italy who communicates with the dead through his radio. Check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qSEi_sfaSU and fast forward to 12:30. There is also a follow up segment at 1:12:05. The rest of the documentary has some cool stuff as well. But this rings true for you after you watch it!! 1325218108 On the flip side, the internets surely have taught me a lot about old cases and the very real history behind the phenomenon which I'm thankful for. So I guess we'll have to take the good with the bad. :) 1331951413 None of his hypothesis have been experimentally disproven. We've never actually played with heavier elements that are stable. It very well may be that the size of the atom's nuclei causes the gravity force to extend outside the atom, etc. And we know we can create anti-matter by just slamming particles together. His explanations are implausible but not impossible. \n\n/devil's advocate 1329190914 This was amazing. Thanks for posting. I wonder if that caller at the end ever called back. 1328974224 Are there other solid cases that have anything like the symbol Zamora reported? 1341930478 [They say of the Acropolis where the Parthenon is](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUVBXb4XIqE).. 1293937690 The facepalms were my least favorite part of the video.\n\nOtherwise, Grade A trolling. 1316787699 LOOK AT IT CLOSE UP - http://i.imgur.com/uiU4r.jpg 1342412194 That book was awesome! I got it for my mom last year for Christmas but couldn't help reading it the weekend before the holidays. I second your recommendation! 1354316421 One of the best videos I've seen in recent weeks. The speaker spoke very fast, but it was very interesting -- I'm going to look up some more of his talks. 1293284430 >Why would it matter if it was a religious belief? It causes harm for children not to be vaccinated.\n\nReligious beliefs are protected by the law. Stupidity isn't. At least not yet. 1348783620 I think the Weekly World News is a tabloid so I'd be willing to bet all my karma it's fake. If SETI really made this announcement, I would imagine other news sources would have picked it up. 1310650501 > Just imagine how unfun it would have been to discover that people really need saving, and you have to do it. \n\nOh yeah, absolutely. It's awesome to sit and plan how to build a rocket to divert asteroids from hitting the planet. It's shit wettingly terrible to be pointed at an asteroid and be told to divert it.\n\nedit: \n\n> It is no fun at all to give up luxuries to the extent to which 8 lives per dollar figure would compel you.\n\nThat's a great point. At that rate not buying a Big Mac ($4.20) could save 33.6 lives. You'd have to be a monster to do it. 1345122582 Those look like lens flares, but that doesn't explain why they're consistently in your pictures only around you. 1318536497 That I couldn't tell you. You would think that they wouldn't let planes stay in the air during that storm, but they could have been planes that were scheduled to land, and were now in a holding pattern. They could have also been research planes I guess, like flying into the dust storm to gather data on it. 1311183759 I like you. Thanks! 1328157179 [Here you go.](http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2897%2911096-0/fulltext) 1334282912 i mean, obviously i watch... 1352573827 >It also seems strange to me that the government would have develloped such a powerful technology within the span of what, 1 century in secrecy?\n\nYou forgot to mention what is strange about this. 1301397393 Here's the link for the IPCC's reports. (Specifically, as far as impacts are concerned, you might be interested in Working Group 2's contribution.)\nhttp://www.ipcc.ch/\n\nAlso, in addition to temperature change, ocean acidification is a potentially very serious issue:\nhttp://www.skepticalscience.com/ocean-acidification-global-warming-basic.htm\n\n(The whole Skeptical Science website is a good resource for primers on the science of climate change/global warming.) 1322728037 True but its definitely not the way to get them to vaccinate their kids which is more the point 1299057358 >If they were studying us, then the best way to do so would be with the least amount of interference possible. This way they can observe us in our natural habitat and our natural behaviors. Flying around in front of some random Joe Schmoe iPhone user is not exactly "least amount of interference."\n\nI disagree again. Interaction with the object of study is valid way of learning about it. Have you ever read Jacques Vallee? He had the idea of UFOs as being part of a "control system" - basically an extended cosmic ecology of which we are a part, but which is ultimately beyond our complete comprehension just by virtue of our anatomical and cognitive limitations.\n\nThe analogy would be fish in the ocean. They think the ocean is "it." We know it isn't. And sure, we observe them "with as little interference as possible," but sometimes we do interfere. 1349339838 My brother blocked my dad's emails for the same reason. 1297863489 Wow, not sure where to begin...\n\nFirst of all, are you claiming that doctors prescribing the best possible treatment once or twice proves they're always prescribing the best treatment possible?\n\nSecond, is there any evidence that all fatty foods increase risk of heart problems? What about the French "paradox", native Inuit, Maasai etc? 1322956292 anybody else clean your room? 1345356555 The only decent paranormal show in my opinion is "My Ghost Story" since they actually show the evidence, pics, videos, EVPs, along with the witness story. Celebrity Ghost Stories is entertaining, and has some credibility since I doubt most celebrities would risk ridicule talking about things like that, but without evidence it's still just stories. The rest is bullshit though, I can't stand any of the other shows. That one ghost show with Zack whats-his-name, assuming they aren't hoaxers, seem to have gotten some good stuff over the years, but they still make a big deal about nothing most of the time. I generally disregard any network paranormal show since there is no telling if they make shit up just for ratings. Would be nice if there was an actual scientific show about the paranormal, but I doubt that would ever happen. 1327565553 This is either a (1) real glitch, (2) a prank or (3) bullshit.\n\nIf 1: With our current knowledge of how the universe works it's unexplainable. A crack in the boundaries between parallel universes? [Quantum physics](http://i.imgur.com/f5kS8.jpg)?\n\nIf 2: Tell us more about the people you live with. You said you have a 'dick sister'. What kind of girl is she? Is she really the type that would buy a tube of toothpaste to prank you? Is she stealthy? Does she often say you're gullible? I can't even imagine anyone coming up with this kind of 'prank'. \nDo you usually have multiple unopened tubes of toothpaste at home?\nAlso, didn't you have the bathroom door locked when about to take a shower?\n\nIf 3: Not funny. 1350129374 Tribal markings are somthing every culture has used at some point, I don;t think they would be trying to mimic the vistors, but seeing them was somthing so strange they did this painting so they could tell younger generations of this amazing event and show them as well. I would be interested to know if there is any folklore about this paintings, but so much aboriginal culture has been lost since they were discovered.\n\nEdit: I am an idiot, there is a ton of folklore behidn these paintings. 1334261354 I posted this reply nested fairly deep, so here it is again: \n\nOr read some of their project reports:\n\n[1] http://www.homeopathswithoutborders-na.org/newsletters/mitchell_letter_feb_09.htm\n\nIt's bullshit all the way down. Nothing gained; plenty lost. 1322083810 Argh, region restricted... I think [this is a YouTube mirror](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFKojcTknbU) of the piece... 1295131387 ..part 1\n\n> Sorry about the length :)\n\nNo need to apologize, I was looking forward to a point by point reply :)\n\nBut because of your need to apologize, I'm assuming it might be a reflection on how you think about these long responses so now I feel the need to apologize.. sorry about the length!\n\n> I should probably clarify exactly what my view is before I get into my points though. My view is that this would be a great way to live if it worked, but there are too many unknowns at present to say whether it's feasible. \n\nIt's true, there are a lot of unknowns, but on the other hand, there is also a lot of data pointing a certain way. And let's not forget the learning experience, it would be a huge opportunity whether it succeeds or not to put some theories (as theoretical as the theory of evolution or gravity) about human behavior to the test.\n\nBut I'm pretty optimistic, I admit, about the positive outcome this could have for humanity and the feasibility of a working RBE. (Otherwise I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing now, obviously)\n\n> These include:\nWhether people can be educated to live a life free of waste, and to share resources instead of hoarding them.\n\nBefore I reply to this I do want to state that I'm going to share my personal views and it might not be official RBE material but I don't think it matters, I generally think more in line of directions and using wide guidelines to achieve a RBE-type system.\n\nI do know that the TZM-collective doesn't see the arrival of a RBE at the end of the year or decennia. We're looking at it like how cathedrals were built, it took a few generations.\n\nSo with that in mind, it's not about if it is possible to turn around people today (though that could work for the most part I assume, and we're already doing this by exposing people to this information) but it's generational thing, the education and environment of the children (think of the children! :)).\n\nI have met a surprisingly growing number of people that tell me that our system will eventually change itself to a RBE, and that there is no real need for what TZM does. The argument is that as we are constantly improving our environment that this gradual change would finally arrive at a RBE after a few (when we're long dead and burried) generations. But I'm not that much of an optimist and I would rather "take matter into my own hands", I'll probably never know the outcome but I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't do anything about it today.\n\nBut to answer more specifically, education can change people so they live a life free of waste (or keep it in mind and motivate them to do something about it) and share resources instead of hoarding them. Education would make it clear to them that it is in their personal interest to behave that way. And what benefits them (a more clean, healthy environment, less crime) benefits others automatically.\n\n> Whether the leaders of countries can learn to share resources (though this and my previous point are probably intertwined).\n\nI guess I can refer to my previous reply.. it would be beneficial for themselves as well.\n\n> Whether all the resources we need can be obtained in some form (whether through recycling, growing, synthesising or some other means) - the technology to do this efficiently doesn't exist, and in fact some resources can't be recovered at all (I'll expand on this later in this post).\n\nI know my answer is only based on speculation, but I tend to think it is credible.\n\nIt's all about intelligent management. There are today already alternatives to certain resources, and I don't mean exact replacements, we might have to do with less so we can do more. And I'll exaggerate with my example but you'll get the point, maybe instead of a solid gold chain you could have a gold plated chain (with comparable weight/feel). Not that people would actually want a gold chain in a RBE, this is just an exaggeration :)\n\n> So, yes, if we could get rid of capitalism, things may improve, but it depends on what it's replaced with, and whether that system works for the benefit of the people. And the last large societal experiment of that ilk (Soviet Russia, and Communism in general) didn't turn out too well for the people in those countries as well as other countries, so perhaps we can see one of the reasons for reluctance to change.\n\nI get this. And I wonder how that experiment would've looked if there was no money involved and equal access. Those are 2 components that have a very big impact on any system. Would it have failed as much? Would it have failed at all? I don't know, but it's food for thought.\n\n> The major thing I'm trying to get across is, before we can state that an RBE is indeed superior, we would need to run an experiment, and I believe that's one of the things TVP advocate.\n\nWell, what TVP actually wants is to build a test city first for researchers, to map the worlds resources and all other details about this planet relevant to how it can be applied to a running social system. This information is vital for the goals of a RBE.\n\n> We cannot, at this point, say that it will work, but we can point out some of the potential pitfalls. It's hard to say whether the issues can be resolved right now.\n\nI agree completely. And you might have already distilled my view on this, it's not because we don't know the outcome beforehand that we shouldn't at least try it. Eyes on the prize, and its a very attractive prize (world peace, comfortable lives, equal opportunities, no slavery (payed/unpayed) or prostitution (of any kind)).\n\n> True, but there are resources we require that cannot be recovered - when they're used, they're gone.\n\nWell, I was only making the assumption, just as I'm assuming that there could be a way, one day, to maybe either regenerate or recreate. \nThere are some things we can say never on but others, like these, were we can never really say never.\n\n> Also, most metals cannot be entirely recovered through recycling, despite best efforts of the companies that do it (and since they resell the recovered metals at profit, it's in their interests to maximise the quantities).\n\nUnless it costs more to do a complete recovery :) If you can't make any money by solving the problem, why solve it? That's the profit motive for ya ;)\n\n> No processes are 100% efficient, and there are losses through time (the amount depending on the metal).\n\nIdd, and you are talking about down-cycling, but there is also such a thing as up-cycling. I do think that it might be difficult recycling metal alloys back to their original components for example, but I don't think it's impossible (if we're changing things at the molecular level for example). And I'm referring to my previous reply, it might not always be cost-efficient (as in, it might cost too much money than you'll get back from that "investment") to do this.\n\n> Granted, part of this is through the design of the products, but there is a tradeoff between how practical it is to design a fully functional product and how much of it can be recycled - there will always be a certain amount of waste (in electronics, particularly).\n\nTrue, it might make things more complex if you have to also keep in mind the recycling part of a product. But if we're not living in a system where you only have a certain budget/time (to market, being faster than your competitor) for R&D and need to cut corners to make it, things will look very different.\n\nAlso, in a RBE, collaboration would be to the benefit of this facet of product design. Instead of having thousands of different corporations with their own R&D and patents, having a world collaboration of all those minds.. imagine the possibilities, it's easy to see the potential benefit(s) in this.. like for example the learning opportunities! 1317802524 1. When was this image on SKYmap taken?\n2. Can someone with a telescope confirm / not confirm these objects are there.\n3. Can Craig Kasnoff please stand up.\n\n 1291947508 nice one 1330943027 I'm not in America 1352214227 When I was a kid, I went on a field trip to the Tampa Theater. As I was walking in a row to take my seat, a hammer fell directly in front of me. I looked up, expecting to see a balcony, and there was not one. To this day, I can't explain where the hammer fell from. \n\nAnd I just looked up the Tampa Theater to confirm its name, and apparently it is haunted. 1336045965 The tree stump? Cool pic though. 1311889363 Is there some way to determine from the video alone that it was not rendered using video editing tools? \n 1339546460 You're right, that was a pretty bad and unfair generalization on my part. I'm trying to avoid poor phrasing like that, thanks for making me aware of it. 1315690285 From the abstract it looks to me like this could be helpful in chronic pain that has dubious origin but not limb severing conditions.\n\nAbstract: http://www.jneurosci.org/content/31/14/5540.abstract\nPaper of reference:\n Fadel Zeidan, Katherine T. Martucci, Robert A. Kraft, Nakia S. Gordon, John G. McHaffie, and Robert C. Coghill\nBrain Mechanisms Supporting the Modulation of Pain by Mindfulness Meditation\nThe Journal of Neuroscience, 6 April 2011, 31(14):5540-5548; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5791-10.20\n\nThis has also hit the meditation section.\n 1312393149 maybe it was the ghost of michael jackson 1336992286 It's been awhile since the DDT drama but it's important to keep yourself open to fact checking. Bug Girl has a very good [collection and summary](http://membracid.wordpress.com/2010/11/23/brian-dunnings-ddt-fail/) of what Dunning got wrong in his podcast on DDT. \n\nIf you weren't aware, Dunning is a libertarian and in his podcast he made several erroneous claims about environmentalists in general and Rachel Carson (whose 1962 book was instrumental in the banning of DDT) in particular. \n\nHe has an agenda. His podcast is usually pretty interesting but you should keep his ideology in mind when you listen. 1339891906 Don't presume that lefties aren't a rational and often skeptical bunch. Even those of us who don't embrace nuclear power or GM cropping. (Gasp!) It wasn't that long ago that such qualities might even have been described as an identifying characteristic of left leaning folk, and plenty of us have found good reason not to drink the postmodernist cool-aid! \n\nBe honest and be respectful, and you'll be right. You might be surprised at how many people will appreciate your vocalizing doubts and reservations that occurred to them as well.\n\nGood luck mate! 1318426611 No such thing as excessive animal consumption. The inuits ate an all meat diet and they had non existent rates of heart disease. The link between [saturated fat](http://www.menshealth.com/health/saturated-fat) and heart disease has been debunked a while ago. The 70's I think? 1331311285 Sky mall is filled with pseudoscience. I like reading through it and debunking every pseudoscientific product they present 1305649807 Ancient Aliens first episode asserts that the pyramids were primitive power generators and had a satellite array to distribute power. \n\nedit: punctuation 1323025846 > Sports drinks are, in my opinion, a nutritional joke.\n\nIn your opinion? So I presume you have some sort of credential, and have based this opinion on reproducable results?\n\nWait, no? What? \n\nSo ... uninformed OPINION now trumps EVIDENCE?\n\nI weep for the future. 1326756976 > and that only the Christians killed are going to heaven.\n\nI'll be happy to arrange that. 1343127227 You may not be as aware of changes in your environment as you believe:\n\nGradual change test:\nhttp://youtu.be/1nL5ulsWMYc\n\n*Selective attention test:\nhttp://youtu.be/vJG698U2Mvo\n\n(*you may well have seen this one)\n\n 1349128933 Unfortunately being war-like, violent and dominating is part of the reason human beings have survived and prospered in a very unforgiving, merciless natural world. It is hard-wired. 1327977882 Maybe the guy was just so fuckin ballsy that he went on the show with a 4/5 chance of looking like an idiot and a 1/5 chance of looking like the greatest magician on the show. 1309890296 in the opinion of this atheist: needlessly antagonistic and dumb, like most of their publicity stunts.\n\nedit: also\n>\n>\n>“The cheapest form of pride however is national pride. For it betrays in the one thus afflicted the lack of individual qualities of which he could be proud, while he would not otherwise reach for what he shares with so many millions. He who possesses significant personal merits will rather recognise the defects of his own nation, as he has them constantly before his eyes, most clearly. But that poor beggar who has nothing in the world of which he can be proud, latches onto the last means of being proud, the nation to which he belongs to. Thus he recovers and is now in gratitude ready to defend with hands and feet all errors and follies which are its own.”-Arthur Schopenhauer 1341370636 Don't you know germ theory is lies made up by big pharma to push horrible autism causing drugs? Obviously we were all better off living in caves as a hunter gatherer society. 1350155173 Dr Bronner, wasn't really a Dr. but he was a great soap maker. He came to America after fleeing the Nazis. He tried to convince his parents to come with him but they thought he was being paranoid. In America he received a heavily censored letter from his father that the only readable part said "you were right". His parents were later confirmed murdered by the Nazis. \n\nIts easy to understand how that could break someone's brain a little. Anyway the company is run by his family now. The labels are a tribute to Dr. Bronner and not so much about promoting any religious belief. \n\nThe soap is magic in being damn good. The website is straightforward about what is up with it. http://www.drbronner.com/\n 1339897338 I feel bad for them signing up back then. Greer sold them a good line and had the best intentions, he is just bugshit insane. I bet even David Icke rolls his eyes when he sees Greer on the same speaking circuit as him. 1285727502 I really think the Daily Mail should be brought to court for the spread of misinformation. \n\nNot sure what there would be to do at court. Maybe talk about it over tea or something. \n\n*Also typo in line 1\n>The Dail Mail 1350381441 This was exactly what I thought too 1354450573 No need to bother the dead. Its best for them to see let them know they have passed on and to follow the light. 1352554196 freaky ass shit. what do they look like? 1320646420 I might not be aware of the exact lifestyle witchcraft entails. Perhaps researching it and finding out whether it could cause her harm would help. 1352285684 why do ufos need lights? 1346157968 You have many inciteful ideas on offer for the next Star Trek convention. May I bring a camera? 1325710326 > The idea is that fructose is worse than glucose since it metabolizes differently in the body.\n\nThe other way around, fructose produces a lower glucose response, and thus is 'slightly' better in terms of risk of diabetes, damage to diabetics, or for those trying to lower their weight than glucose (assuming an equal amount being compared).\n\nThere again, HFCS isn't particularly high in fructose compared to table sugar anyway.\n\nThe problem with HFCS is that it's cheap, and you can stick loads of it in a product to make it taste sweet, and people love sweet stuff so they buy more of it, and so on.\n\n\nSource: my dietician - I'm diabetic and on a 'as low as possible GI diet', pure fructose (ie fruit) is considered a low GI/GD food stuff, and thus 'ok' for diabetics to eat without too much concern, HFCS and table sugar are considered equally bad on the GI/GD scale. 1354290674 Don't talk with any official people about it, get your ear checked and try to rewind time after time what exactly happened to see if you notice anything else. \nAlso try to think about what could have happened during the day, anything special that maybe scared you, even at a subconscious level. Anything regarding aliens or w/e ?\n 1340197355 Here in NJ, I don't think the teaching is to blame at all. I think we have some of the best, most passionate teachers you'll find anywhere. But a big part of the problem lies in the administration at the schools. Teachers are pressured to pass every student, regardless of how the student is actually performing. Parents pressure the school administrators to pass their child, because they don't want their precious little snowflake to experience the "unfathomable psychological damage" caused by being held back a grade. 1295443460 >nothing to back it up.\n\nNothing to back it up? Brother, if it walks like a duck, talks like a duck - it's probably a duck. (ie- there are hundreds of videos showing side by side comparisons of Bldg 7 falling at the same speed of officially confirmed bldg collapses.) Couple that with how the center of the building collapses fractions of a seconds before - again - like a common building collapse. Finally, there are the squibs up the sides of the top of the bldg.\n\nBut yes, you'd be right in then saying that that wouldn't be evidence enough (even though it's very damming and should certainly make one think twice.)\n\nHere's a detailed analysis citing the evidence for a free fall collapse, per your request:\n\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVCDpL4Ax7I\n\nAnd as for those pages you submitted re: collapses - they focus on Bldg's 1 and 2, but not on Bldg 7. I never once mentioned Bldg's 1 and 2. 1350341762 > Downvote brigades\n\nYou're only here because someone posted a link on r/whiterights. You are *participating* in a downvote brigade, dumbs. 1356391905 There's a lot of really dumb skepticism over GMOs. Lots. But this thing still fucking sucks. The last thing we need is our farmers spraying more little-studied pesticide, willy-nilly, all over everything we eat. It's bad enough that we've got round-up ready GMO products destroying local amphibian life and creating huge mosquito problems. I'm not sure what this shit'll do, but I'm relatively certain that it ain't gonna be good. 1342628996 >She genuinely meant were were supposed to be vegetarians and that meat eating was indeed an outlier, or aberration, that would (and should) eventually be eradicated.\n\nWhile it is quite clear to me that humans evolved to opportunistically take advantage of whatever food source happened to be available (including other animals), I have to agree with your acquaintance that meat-eating ought to be eventually eradicated. There are plenty of options for obtaining full nutrition without resorting to terminating the consciousness of sentient beings, not to mention the tremendous waste of resources and environmental degradation large-scale meat consumption entails. 1297477208 In theory, labeling food GM or non-GM sounds great but in practice it would require the FDA (or the state equivalent) to allocate time and resources into investigating every food item and drug on the market. It would also mean plenty of legal proceedings because a GM label would be looked upon as a liability by corporations (who would go to court to have re-evaluated or removed). It would mean a large increase in government spending with absolutely no useful or positive benefits for anyone except to ease the minds of a very small group of people. \n\nDue to our (US) current economic situation, an increase in spending in one area means spending cuts in other areas (most likely from education, grants, and scientific research). It would be a gross misuse of our limited time and resources. 1345051302 That's not the case I was thinking about, but here is a case of insects getting resistant : [science, 1996](http://4ccr.pgr.mpf.gov.br/institucional/grupos-de-trabalho/gt-transgenicos/bibliografia/pgm-resultados-contestados/Kaiser,%201996,%20Science.pdf).\n\nHere is a somewhat unreliable source (which seem to link to reliable one, hopefully ?) about the case I was talking about : [here](https://foodfreedom.wordpress.com/2011/08/24/monsanto-gm-corn-in-peril-beetle-develops-bt-resistance/)\n\nAnd I agree that plant-produced pesticide are a much much better option, but the thing is, we had millions of year to evolve resistance to naturally-produced pesticides, those are new, and maybe dangerous ? This is an open question, i'm not an expert. 1325617570 As a San Diego native for pretty much all my life(22yo), I can also confirm this. It's probably the biggest money maker in Old Town. 1349566049 I agree with xoxoyoyo, The final goodbye should have it's own subreddit. I've heard a lot of stories like this. \n 1342630029 Arnica gel only *has* "homeopathic arnica" in it. Why do you think under ingredients it has the dilution constant next to it? 1280331852 My brothers family swears by homeopathy and witchcraft. There are people out there that just won't listen. 1327255772 The lemon juice would not be kind to your enamel. 1317967547 it's you life and your sanity. Just remember the stuff you see on TV is not the real thing. Priest monks and real investigators go through years of training in the field and still more than 60% of these investigator either go insane, commit suicide, suffer personality disorders,or die mysterious circumstances. Just be careful. 1342070274 It's not the only way to do things, but it is the best one we've come up with so far (i.e., republican democracy). 1313595717 Obvious computer fakery, nice try. 1289069914 I didn't even know there were still cameras that were this bad until I found various paranormal websites and forums existed 10 years ago. 1356752034 [How the magic happens!](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWzX_rT9a-o) My favorite part is definitely the shaking machine. 1328244768 I have seen several, and some of them appeared as real as you and me; how do you know *you* haven't? 1353809779 wait you mean they took real scientists work breitbartted it, and tried to claim that it showed the complete opposite as usual an\n\n\n I just find it hard to believe how many people dont understand that they are having smoke blown up their ass, when the denialists do this time and time and time and time again.\n\nit is like the ID folks. it doesnt matter how many failures they have, you prove how the eye could evolve in stages, the flagellum, blood clotting, and they just make up something else they claim all scientists missed.\n\n\nBut I swear out of all the crazy psuedoscience conspiracy groups, the climate deniers really take the cake.\n\nedited out the totally baseless accusations.\n\n\n 1356486985 How do you know you are right, though? Do you ask the person "Hey, are you nervous because you are having bowel problems?" Or do you just assume you are correct? 1294337878 Religous nuts, conservative fanatics and fundamentalist wack jobs can't tell themselves from trolls. You have to be critically thinking and sceptic to spot a troll or a poser. 1314448146 Even a retard like you should know that Velikovsky claimed the following:\n\n- A tentative suggestion that Earth had once been a satellite of a "proto-Saturn" body, before its current solar orbit.\n\n- That the Deluge (Noah's Flood) had been caused by proto-Saturn's entering a nova state, and ejecting much of its mass into space.\n\n- A suggestion that the planet Mercury was involved in the Tower of Babel catastrophe.\n\n- Jupiter had been the culprit for the catastrophe that saw the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.\n\n- Periodic close contacts with a "cometary Venus" (which had been ejected from Jupiter) had caused the Exodus events (c. 1500 BCE) and Joshua's subsequent "sun standing still" (Joshua 10:12 and 13) incident.\n\n- Periodic close contacts with Mars had caused havoc in the 8th and 7th centuries BCE.\n 1354460787 Even a retard like you should know that Velikovsky claimed the following:\n\n- A tentative suggestion that Earth had once been a satellite of a "proto-Saturn" body, before its current solar orbit.\n\n- That the Deluge (Noah's Flood) had been caused by proto-Saturn's entering a nova state, and ejecting much of its mass into space.\n\n- A suggestion that the planet Mercury was involved in the Tower of Babel catastrophe.\n\n- Jupiter had been the culprit for the catastrophe that saw the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.\n\n- Periodic close contacts with a "cometary Venus" (which had been ejected from Jupiter) had caused the Exodus events (c. 1500 BCE) and Joshua's subsequent "sun standing still" (Joshua 10:12 and 13) incident.\n\n- Periodic close contacts with Mars had caused havoc in the 8th and 7th centuries BCE.\n 1354460818 Why give him the attention? "Don't feed the trolls." 1330574413 Fluoride is not a "waste product", like a lot of other chemicals it is separated as a byproduct from other primary resources. Like petroleum jelly, or cow hide. That has nothing to do with its safety or efficacy - incorrectly referring to it as a "waste product" is just a tactic to paint an inaccurate picture for the ignorant. 1337786261 I'd say that if his weird eating habits aren't bankrupting him or causing health or financial problems then it's his thing to do and not for you to worry about. 1327924285 This link doesn't seem to mention breast milk. Am I missing something? 1338322434 I am Ra. 1330304985 It just had to be next to a giant catfish. 1235649367 He had to fit a meme in there somehow. 1300842668 I've had times where I haven't shown up on security cameras, even though I can clearly see I'm not in a blind spot. 1342528579 It's not certain, but it seems plausible. The [Mercola idiots](http://www.mercola.com/) and other true believers that are at least fans of particular sites reveal themselves quite often.\n\nI swear, having been at this for a while, I can now detect misinformation that comes from Natural News and Mike Adams from a mile away. 1256253554 Reminds me of that old joke with the punchline, *"god said, 'I sent you a radio report, a helicopter, and a guy in a rowing boat. What on earth are you doing here?' "*\n\nI don't understand why religious people don't think that their god or gods provided medical knowledge to doctors so they can get help when they need it. 1320365651 Older doesn't equal better. 1341083875 I'm pretty sure most skeptics are already socially progressive anyway. 1339605170 Those experts are right. When you are generally speaking about a breed's characteristics you are speaking about its temperament. When you are speaking about whether or not a dog will behave a certain way in a specific situation you'll need a lot more info than just it's breed which is why those experts will tell you that those behaviors are dependent upon the owners training and upbringing of the dog. 1333565967 yeah.. because that is a bird. 1240814064 Do you make sure to examine your own arguments?\n\nI consider myself an ardent skeptic, but I have been admirably argued against for the benefits of homeopathy (placebo effects, hope - wether false or not). This part of your post looks like you have whipped your cohort into a fervor:\n\n>They simply couldn’t believe that anybody could believe in something so stupid. We spent a couple of weeks on this topic with students asking why the government hasn’t stepped in to stop them and what can we do to educate people about it.\n\nMight you consider that you only presented one side of this argument? I have no doubt that homeopathy is not a science but it is also interesting to consider it's societal implications. Perhaps hosting a debate with a local advocate of homeopathy would enable your group to come to a more informed view point. \n\nJust a thought. Congratulations on promoting skepticism so effectively. Best of luck in the future. 1314217919 We are one. We are waiting. \n22.3 1346070002 Well because if it's done 'properly' and diluted to 20x something, there's none of the toxic left really 1310107522 His link is to Escuela Nacional de Medicina y Homeopatía, which is in Mexico, so I'd have to say Mexico. 1348783535 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compartmentalization_(psychology) 1347288138 I suspect anything that would be called homeopuncture would have a large divergence from standard homeopathy and acupuncture 1338991394 I've seen a lot of paranormal-y stuff (not personally) that involves mist or fog or something like that, so it definitely seems like you had a paranormal experience.\n\nPeople - especially adults when a kid is explaining to them - tend to fob it off as an overactive imaginiation. Some cases are true, but most are not. \n\nKids don't tend to invent things that will scare the shit out of them. And a kid would most likely pretend a stuffed animal could talk, not pretend they saw mist that gradually formed, hovered over their friend and eventually took the shape of a man. \n\nThat's jus too vivid! 1356312619 To be fair, Pharyngula is P.Z.s personal blog. He can be as unprofessional as he likes on it. 1322775130 Ah. I had only seen people speak ill of the Daily Mail so far. We should maybe ease up on non-brits for failing to realize how bad some of their large newspapers are? It's not exactly obvious to a yank. 1322061525 HAHA, fuck that guy! 1312704387 Yes. And I have met a bug chaser too.\n\nClose friend of mine was diagnosed with AIDS 18ish months ago (long story to diagnosis) and in him trying to come to terms with this he started going forums for advice etc. Through these a lot of deniers were encountered (most of whom are HIV negative...)\n\nTheir stories range from AIDS is caused by anti retro-viral medication (HIV is apparently harmless) to the full scale conspiracy nut that its a form of population control. 1297378159 I'd say that rather, the firebreath is an indicator of extreme internal body heat. Whatever this source is, it could likely be used as internal warming in even the harsest conditions. 1317720747 Thank you! But did you hear the creepy voice in the background? 1355004052 I accept that there are UFOs. I just don't believe anyone who claims to know that those are alien spaceships. \n\nThe mental jump from "this is an unidentified flying object" to "those are aliens spaceships" is irrational unless evidence is available. \n\nSo, to clarify: there are UFOs but no evidence that they are alien spaceships. 1328091201 Didn't in any way appear to be spam. Was UFO related on /r/UFOs, right.... 1328739257 Alas you can buy them for £1 down at the market. 1305644494 Note the word "early." I knew I should have put it in bold. 1349655604 Yeah, there hasn't been a shift of consensus in the scientific community over the last few decades, just that there have been more dissenting opinions coming out of the woodwork (bought or otherwise) to generate a false controversy. 1333419307 Removed -- Because this is hosted on Facebook, it is possible to derive personal information from this link -- I would ask that -- if you choose to repost this, to A) rehost the image on imgur, and B) Review and follow the guidelines laid out in the "Policy on meme-like content" in the sidebar, this would be better put in a selfpost. 1338645159 Well, if we could simulate worlds I think we would be doing it - there's quite a bit you can learn from that. (Remember: the best way we're going to have to learn more about how the human brain works, is to simulate it with the models we have, see how the results compare to reality, and adjust the models accordingly. We can't just open people's head to see what's happening inside - so simulations will be widespread for research purposes once they become feasible; not counting the fact that you might want to simulate what a drug is going to do to you before you actually take it, and so on.)\n\nSo the opposite assumption - that it is possible to do such simulations but almost nobody is doing them - seems very implausible.\n\nNote that all this does not make the argument solid. We have no proof of other civilizations yet - it's safe to assume there are many, but we don't know. We also have no proof that a large fraction of existing civilizations would be capable of such a simulation - it might very well be that it takes so many resources that it is only worth doing it at a very small scale even if you have the technology for it; but a small scale simulation would probably not fit the definition of "simulated world". And so on...\n\nStill, the chance of being inside a simulation is non-zero, and I can understand why some people think it is very high, so it's an interesting issue from a philosophical point of view (not really from a scientific point of view). 1299723938 There are legitimate naturopaths, who know enough to refer you to an MD if you're beyond their scope of practice. What's actually wrong with her? 1305387712 I don't think it qualifies as a hoax if the people who kicked it off were sincerely delusional. 1322588447 I accept your challenge. \n\n1. Not a science blog. Critical thinking is not the exclusive domain of scientists. That's the point of the blog. Also, derp.\n\n2) Scholarly stuff? See our posts on how we know that Shakespeare is Shakespeare, our look into whether or not Roosevelt had polio (probably not), the origins of English profanity, whether or not there is evidence that Viking berserkers were dosed up on magic mushrooms, the relationship between literature and science, what's wrong with psychoanalytic literary criticism, as well as the post I'm currently working on.\n\nWhat did I win, nitwit? 1305573223 I disagree. I think there is more than enough evidence to conclude not of this world life forms. I would go as far as to say that most life forms here came from out there. Almost zero came from here in the beginning, IMO. \n\nAlso, they are not coming here just to do "fly bys". There is a reason(s) they are here and have been here. \n\nCrop circles being one proof for me of visitations of INTELLIGENT extra terrestrial visitations. Even if they send a remote robot to create the crop circle, that is in essence a visit from an intelligent extra terrestrial being just as we do with the mars pathfinders. \n\nStill no one can explain the pyramids or the rock work in Peru. There are probably many, many other unexplainable places on earth that were clearly not made by man and the machines/tools that man could build by themselves. \n\nThis is were I don't understand non believers, how they cannot believe. \n\nDid you see the flute they found recently, about 42,000 years old plus or minus? So ancient man can create the stonework in Peru and Egypt but the flute looks like shit? WTF. Please, someone explain to me this? Please, I'm dying to hear your logic!\n 1337985811 uh yeah I did, we track ALL the sats and are in fact in the proceses of releasing a satelite tracking app, and use that software in the field, but just wanna let you know and have fun writing entire paragraphs debunking UFO researchers who are out there capturing amazing raw footage unlike you\n\n(oh and buddy u ignoredthe fact that this one changes directions several times (noooo i know what ur gona say, nooo its NOT my camera angle change compensate for it and watch mang)) 1283091665 Here is a torrent of the whole series.\n\nhttp://thepiratebay.org/torrent/3752966/James_Randi_-_Psychic_Investigator_(1991) 1308410123 Oh...ok then. Makes sense. 1318919417 Yes post that door haha 1356508394 Oh, almost forgot to say ... its a good article. 1306867366 I too would say my main interest stems from wanting it to be true also, but i often wonder if full disclosure happened or if 'they' just happened to appear, what exactly my reaction would be.\nProbably extreme fear/terror to be honest lol 1340331795 > "Most people are not aware that diseases which need surgical correction can also be cured through homeopathy. In fact, there are diseases, in which homeopathy can avoid surgeries. For instance, ovarian cyst, tonsils, kidney stones, *breast tumour*, to name a few," Shah adds.\n\nWoahwoahwoah, not cool. Don't go around saying your shit can cure cancer. The general medical society doesn't appreciate that very much. In a "don't bullshit people and give them false hope and some water, diluted with more water and then send them home to die" kind of way. After taking their money of course. 1260286169 Yes, I know. Sorry. It was just a quick generalization to make a point. However, the amount of people in America that takes the unsubstantiated word of religion over actual, _factual_ science is still alarmingly high. 1271690066 im jealous 1345226220 Your parents are gullible idiots. 1346728871 You lost me on the last point. 1341794721 Sweet baby Jesus with a bottle full of Jack! This shit is soooooooo stupid. 1342125701 > BTW Resident Weeaboo is obsessed with telling stories to try to scare you away from Scientology. He has a few personal issues to deal with.\n\nOh. Then we should stop Weeaboo from telling his stories and have a look at other people's first person experiences in Scientology:\n\nhttp://www.forum.exscn.net/forumdisplay.php?f=2\n\nHey look! Coerced abortions! Yeah! The most ethical people on the planet!\n\nhttp://www.tampabay.com/specials/2009/reports/project/\n\nBad Weeaboo Bad. Let other people talk for themselves next time. 1277701802 I believe that Peter Singer has argued for the same thing too. Hugely controversial stuff.\n\nHaving a kid should be something that people plan for, and if they don't want one should use protection or abort early *I think*.\n\nEven if after birth abortion were available, I don't think many people would go with that option. 1330612192 You might be looking for Confirmation Bias\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias\n\nWishful thinking links to a bunch of similar ideas though\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wishful_thinking 1285913343 I fucking hate it when people use quantum physics to backup their new age spiritualism bullshit. \n 1322690563 I love The Last Question. My friend turned me on to The Last Answer as well. That's also good. Check it out if you haven't yet. 1286332521 Thanks for the info and the story. 1335247287 Bummer they didn't catch him alive. 1304355172 I emailed them. Other people should do that too. 1341056981 ...You might be having mini strokes or mini seizures...please see a doctor... 1346257335 > Eco-utopian zealots who actually dislike industrialization/consumption and deep down want us to live in some organic, artisan village.\n\nI really don't see the appeal to this, it's unsustainable. The most optimistic view will have humanity die out when our sun runs out of fuel in 4 billion years. More realistically every species living on earth will be wiped out long before that. 1323226341 Unless all of that is cheaper than the product they get (see: Deepwater Horizon). 1351077204 some better pics for you. I think it's real\n\nhttp://www.restavfall.se/blog/2007/12/07/fagel-overlever-en-grym-hok-attack/ 1314982290 It's the manor in which her material/argument was handled. It's insulting to any academic to see such a rapid degradation into ad hominem. 1342459852 Oh, just in case, [Imgur mirror](http://i.imgur.com/jdoKO.jpg). 1316113631 That was insane. The ignorance was so overwhelming. 1356173562 That's a slippery slope, and one that my girlfriend is addressing in for her Masters in Public Health thesis. It's about how to address the anti-vaccine problem in general, as well as how to provide access and education for the vaccines. This issue is a big one because it requires *coercion*, which is arguably unethical (this debate is raging), despite being in the interest of the greater good/world at large/entire population. Unfortunately, there are a lot of unintended consequences that would come along with this proposed law, such as poor people being arrested for simply not having access to proper medical care (either through lack of funding, physical proximity, time off work to get your kids to the doctor, etc). I'm not saying you're wrong (or right for that matter), but there are many more layers to the issue than such a law can fix, and ultimately it could do more harm than good to make vaccines mandatory by law...could being the operative word there, which is why the experts are still debating. 1328823782 Watch all 5 of those. About an hour total 1321432935 UFO's and Science - Stanton Friedman 1297164809 It would have been cooler if when he tried to push your arm down with the bracelet on you let him pull you over to the ground. 1309916919 This position assumes that health care pricing is subject to market forces in which price is a primary determinant of demand. This is a complete fallacy. 1283584596 But how can you possibly perform a fake chiropractic manipulation? Doing them wrong can cause serious injury, and you can't blind the individuals performing the manipulation because they'll know if they're doing it right or not. It's not like you can train a non-chiropractor to perform these manipulations - they take hundreds of hours of study to master.\n\nAlso just as an aside, chiropody is an [antiquated term for podiatry](http://www.google.com/search?gcx=c&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=chiropody#sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&safe=off&source=hp&q=define:+chiropody&pbx=1&oq=define:+chiropody&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=330114l330815l0l331080l8l5l0l0l0l0l0l0ll0l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.&fp=4843294771223d1e&biw=1920&bih=955), and isn't related to chiropractic (not trying to be nit-picky - I'd actually never seen the word before, myself, so I went and looked it up!). 1316401067 Very cool videos! 1326787060 thanks for the information, GUNNAR rep 1345246288 It was never about the math or the science, I think. The pundits are employed by the media, and the media needs viewers and readers. How do they get it? By creating suspense. And what's more suspenseful that a "razor tight" race between two candidates _exactly_ equally likely to win?\n\n...Only, that was never the case. As Silver's models showed, the popular vote might have been somewhat close, but Obama's win was not a "toss-up" in any way at all. In fact, it was rather likely. It's just that "it's rather likely that Obama will win" doesn't create an exciting, suspenseful narrative, and the media has _nothing_ to gain by representing it truthfully.\n\nThe job of the media, that we as viewers and readers have given it, is merely to entertain is. It chooses its numbers to that end. Silver's job is to accurately represent the outcome of the election, and he chose _his_ numbers to that end. Both, ironically, succeeded at their job. People tuned in to the news and read the election blogs like crazy, and Silver got 50 out of 50 states right. 1352300727 That square griddle is very likely aluminum. 1305483187 "told you"? Please explain 1347539067 Oh god give it a rest. Nobody gives a shit about the latest "scandal". We have more important stuff to do. 1310420025 I'm not arguing validity, that's irrelevant. I'm arguing that the effects of one are more advantageous to the general population than the other. What is the point of comparing two versions of governance if you're not even going to consider the results of said governance? If a totalitarian government resulted in lifespans being cut in half compared to a democracy would you actually argue that the two are equal? 1342991867 Hi Aohus, thanks for the response. I haven't checked that Wiki for quite some time and I'm always reluctant to use it as a reliable source. That said, it's good to see a reference for the above quote ( Fuller, Curtis (1980). Proceedings of the First International UFO Congress. New York: Warner Books. pp. 157–163), so thanks for the pointer. I've actually been trying to find a copy of that online for quite some time, but to no avail. \n\nPerhaps I misinterpreted that which I responded to:\n\n> The UFOs are ultra-terrestrial, as posed by Dr. Jacques Vallee (Stanford Research Institute) and Hynek, among others, meaning these entities are native to this planet, potentially before even mankind.\n\nAre you of the position that Hynek adheres to the ultra-terrestrial hypothesis? My interpretation of Hynek's position (on which there has been much debate) is that he acknowledged there being evidence for a multitude of potential explanations (including EDI and ETI) but, unlike Vallee, didn't ever (at least publicly) favour one over another. \n\ntl;dr: Hynek may have entertained the ultra-terrestrial hypothesis but, this was one potential explanation among many. 1333095616 She probably believes it herself, although in replying to my comments she openly admitted that the 'past lives' she makes her clients relive may be just their imaginations. That they are charged that much is hard to swallow. 1342448226 They are both the same.\n\nI enjoyed AA for what it was, a TV show. I knew it wasn't "true" from the first 5 minutes, it just offered another view of things that might have happened.\n\nAnyone can go to Wikipedia and debunk the show themselves, they don't need to make a 3 hour video about it. 1351892378 As a side node, [pangeaprogress](http://www.youtube.com/user/pangeaprogress) is my favorite YouTube channel. He makes spiritual posts on science & pantheism that makes religion seem dull by comparison.\n\nEdit: What's up with the downvotes? pangeaprogress is the guy who uploaded this video. 1290158105 He was an octopus, dude. No need to get worked up. 1288112030 I'm a Physics grad and I know a great deal about what we don't know. I know that there are many instances of scientific discoveries being accidental, in that the measured effect was not what was intended, but without making the initial erroneous prediction and testing it the discovery would not have been made, and that this doesn't equate to the discoverers "pulling something out of their asses" and does not indicate Alien intervention.\n\nYou are taking a cowardly and circular route in this exchange by proposing something rather ridiculous, then, as a defense to my argument against the statement, saying that you don't believe the statement to be true, just that it's possible and that I can't prove it's not, so what right do I have to say what's true?\n\nWithout actually addressing my argument or the contradiction it shows in your own argument, you then revert back to reaffirming your original statement bolstered by the mantras that truth is relative, nothing is absolute, and the inability to prove non-existence allows the set of possible but extremely improbable events to have an equal claim to reality.\n\nLater.\n\n 1329011112 certainly makes sense. 1334355673 Will there be one with a puma? 1326824920 Interesting - definitely something I've thought of before. I also think that the entire atmosphere when this is happening is very conducive to an elevated emotional state and makes people more susceptible to the suggestion of euphoric feelings. 1317269343 That's an infinite overdose of everything since the big bang. :) 1329875947 And by positive result you mean you find that people who disagree with you start to switch to your opinion? Also, given that we value data over anecdotes, what do you think of [this](http://youarenotsosmart.com/2011/06/10/the-backfire-effect/), which was linked by another person? 1344617054 The Beer-Lambert law talks about how a bean of light becomes less strong as it travels through something semi-transparent. Look at this [laser being beamed through a pink liquid](http://j.mp/z6qc0v). If you want to predict exactly what shade the laser beam is going to take, you use Beer-Lambert.\n\nBeer-Lambert talks about beams going through something completely transparent and completely uniform. It is utterly absurd to pretend it applies to something as opaque and bushy as a bunch of plants. 1330492608 That's a good point. It does cast a big shadow of doubt over the tablets. Do you think that means that it's impossible for there to be any ingredients in them that could have an effect on someone who eats them? 1355962415 There's no need to be a homophobe about it. I'm not gay, but I find your use of the term in such a hateful way to be offensive.\n\nStop replying to this thread, and I'll stop replying as well. 1346609473 There's no need to be a homophobe about it. I'm not gay, but I find your use of the term in such a hateful way to be offensive.\n\nStop replying to this thread, and I'll stop replying as well. 1346609486 1. Personal revelation? Check\n2. Scientists are confused and scared dogmatists propping up the religion of science? Check\n3. Energy, infinity, oneness? Check\n4. Gullible audience members with money to spend? Check 1314896486 My mom tells me of a time she and her sister were alone in their family home - did the Ouija board and it kept spelling a name neither one of them knew.\n\nAbout 3 weeks later when they were moving boxes out of the basement they randomly find all these pictures and stuff that belonged to the exact named person the board was telling them about. \n\nFreaked her out. 1326437659 Was my first thought. 1326492544 Kinesiotape is an elastic tape. You stretch it out to a percentage of its full elasticity before applying which provides a constant pull on the skin, facilitating a muscle contraction in the area it's applied to. You apply the tape along the direction of muscle fibers to target specific muscle groups. There are other supposed uses, but this is why the olympic athletes use it. 1344023456 INCORRECT. 31.1%. 1334857970 Good point.\n\nOverlord Xaxxan for President! All hail the Immortal Galactic Overlord!\n 1327438395 I'm not sure why you're confused. The two paragraphs you cited say exactly the same thing, with the second using an example. \n\nParagraph one: No evidence of existence = did not exist.\nParagraph two: No evidence of Jesus = Jesus did not exist.\n\nAnd yes, the entire point of that page is to come to a conclusion that Jesus did not exist. 1306435175 Nope. Never me. I know it's there though. There's time where I think I'm just beig paranoid and lther times where I can point to a spot and tell you that it's standig right there 1332699280 I'm just really irked by the idea of doctors taking up the reigns of some less than reputable protocols, giving this pseudoscience some appearance of medical legitimacy.\n\nAnd it seemed like you were disagreeing with my point by saying that acupuncture isn't as harmful as fortune telling or palm reading (in my eyes, it has the potential to be more harmful since it feeds into their delusions while also carrying the risk of causing physical harm). 1307029322 If one person a year dies from taking witchhazel and tiger penis to cure cancer (or something terminal) and dies, that's too much. \nMistakes happen, big and small, but wilfully convincing someone to stop taking scientifically proven medicine is bullshit. \nThe devil doesn't always need an advocate, y'know. 1291839950 I call myself agnostic since I can conceive a universe in which something like a deity created the universe and never made contact with humanity or was even aware of it. Some creator cannot be ruled out, though there is no reason to believe in it in the first place. I say I am an agnostic since I can't definitively rule out all possible theologies 1308035186 > Don't you think it would be terminally stupid of him to build up a trick like this if that was really how it was done?\n\nApparently not ;) 1252595400 It's Richmond. Really... how much are you expecting from the folks there? 1283648943 That's exactly what rape culture means though. It's not about people actively supporting rape. It's abuot cultural developments, that indirectly contribute to the rape. It's not about finding someone at fault. It is about pointing out these developments happening without anyone controlling them. 1351156388 Not very much. There is a little bit of give between the two pubic bones, but it only accounts for a few millimeters of extra width. Mostly human babies rotate during birth, and humans pretty much require assistance to successfully deliver. 1334861884 Definitely, I subscribed to that sub a while back and it's insane what sometimes pops up.. 1352217044 Just get a charcoal filter . 1321837595 Oxford dictionary "atheism: Disbelief in the existence of god or gods". Please don't tell me that agreement with the Oxford English dictionary puts me in the minority. 1308116603 For some people, not all. Milk and dairy can be a problem. 1346009733 *citation needed* 1309037296 *citation needed* 1315648282 I know. I'll try to dig up some good info to post there. Reddit is a tough crowd for UFO stuff. 1233435842 @mitchwells: I suspect it's because not being able to experience pleasure would suck. 1242507370 care to summarize without me buying and reading this book? 1280362186 And why would that be?\n\nI am just going by some of the things I have found out on the net. 1350912013 >Ask yourself one question: how can I disprove my idea? If you can't come up with a way, you're not doing science; you're well into pseudoscience (from greek and latin, meaning 'false knowledge').\n\nI don't have an idea, we're just speculating about possibilities here. So I guess you're right, I'm not doing science. I just want to know why would we dismiss the possibility of aliens visiting earth so lightly. 1341217430 > Pure garbage.\n\nDid you read the entire book or simply the last chapter? Also, you do realise that the link is 2 books in 1? See my comment below (with bold type). This is one of the reasons I posted a link to it and hoped to prompt discussion. That last chapter you referred to (along with two others) didn't exist when the book was first published. Indeed, when the book was published in 1956, Ruppelt concluded, "Maybe the earth is being visited by interplanetary spaceships. Only time will tell."\n\n> Hynek started a real investigation into UFOs after Project Blue Book was shut down. Google it.\n\nI'm very familiar with Hynek's work. If you want to contribute by directing to a particular link, feel free.\n\n> Remember, this report was published in 1956 and since then we know that government reporting on UFOs was falsified. Yes, this is a report devoted solely towards misinforming the public.\n\nNo, it was *first* published in 1956, then *republished with significant alterations and a different conclusion* in 1960. I posted this because it's *free* and would be of interest to some (whether or not they believe the contents to be garbage). Others, rather than labelling the book*s* as 'pure garbage' might acknowledge that the books have historical merit and, furthermore, question why the books have different conclusions. Don't you find that interesting?\n\n 1315156500 That's not true and you just come off as an ignorant douche.\n\nThe shots are really only needed for people who are either very young, old, or unhealthy. The average healthy adult doesn't need to get them because their immune system is strong enough to deal with it, without having to get a "head start" at combating the virus. 1289443452 Spirits can not hurt you. 1332360933 The second quote is misleading at best. OP links to a video where Cooper does claim to have seen what he believes to be "non-earthly" technology. He wasn't in space, so adding that distinction at the end allows Sheaffer to pretend Cooper claimed nothing while still being technically correct.\n\nThat said, I think it's far more likely that what Gordon saw was experimental aircraft that he simply wasn't allowed to know about. 1332245091 Yah sorry I got so excited haha. I don't know just googling around. The term phantom vibrations and a few other things have turned up. It's a debate as to whether it's by chance or by unintentional behavioral training. I would love to do an experiment about this stuff; the theory i've worked up is based off of an old behavioral experiment with dogs. Ring the bell, give dog food. Eventually ring the bell, dog drools. Sense change in electric field, phone rings, pull phone out...would theoretically change into, sense change in electric field, pull phone out, before it rings. It's been driving me a bit crazy. 1345020846 My skeptic sense tells me that this should be reviewed by many highly regarded scholarly journals if it made a good case for its position.\n\nIt very well could be true, but looking up the author and where he normally posts gives me pause. 1335404473 I do wonder about that if it were a single light, but my theory is the lights actually don't play the same role as conventional craft (landing lights etc.)\n\nI am starting to think perhaps the lights serve another purpose, maybe for travel, maybe for navigation, or maybe for becoming hidden (optical illusion to trick the mind into thinking the craft is not there)\n\nPerhaps even, when the light patterns change by either slowing down or speeding up is when we are able to see them. 1344542810 that was hilaribad. 1313033197 A large, deep elevator would also work. 1279701152 If it turns out those guys are correct and the alien/mayan connection is real, I'll kill my own damn self. 1342727728 SP is certainly demonic.\n\n>Sleep paralysis is a common condition caused by the body mistakenly remaining hypotonic after the REM cycle completes.\n\nNope. I became immediately paralyzed laying down after hearing a "Fuck you" in my head. I wasn't even asleep. If that's not demonic, then I don't know what is.\n\nI use to get SP all the time. And it's scary shit. It's like being aware that your dead and can't move your body.\n\nSorry to say, but demons are indeed real. Fortunately, I've taken authority over them and completely stopped SP.\n\n 1337627377 >redditor for 6 months\n\nYou haven't been here long enough to start making hamfisted analogies about Ye Internete Olde Times, buddy. 1303122770 Proof? 1346957061 So, what predictions by Velikovsky were wrong? Sagan promoted the "concensus"/traditional views and he turned out to be wrong. Sagan appeared on a panel condemning Velikovsky even though, by his own admission, he had not read the books and did not feel that was pre-requisite for criticism. \n\nOnce again: V was proven to be 100% accurate, S was 100% wrong, as were all of those others who offered their uninformed criticism. Since you have no idea about what Velikovsky had to say you join such eminant company as Sagan. 1354459897 tl;dr plz 1315512687 > another surgery we can't afford.\n\nThis makes me so sad. A disastrous healthcare system actually encourages people to turn to quackery. 1300564224 Anus! 1334657013 >Just because you all disagree and perhaps share some bad blood doesn't mean you can't put aside your differences to try to settle a question rationally.\n\nThat's an excellent thought. \n\nBut we've been there. This has been going on for years. Note [this list](http://www.reddit.com/r/skeptic/comments/y38gk/do_you_ever_wonder_if_somebody_is_paid_to_post/c5s2o53?context=1). \n\nNow, if you will, take a few seconds to browse through some of these - \n\nhttp://www.reddit.com/search?q=author%3Amacwithoutfries+self%3Ayes&sort=new\n\nSee what I mean?\n 1355428086 1st world problem. Just do the work and take the money. Being able to pick the morally pristine path would be nice, but you can't afford to and nobody will think less of you for working to keep a roof over your head, least of all me and I'm a judgmental prick most of the time. 1321030673 I kept bringing it up to kids at the stop and they seemed pretty indifferent. Could've been because of their age though. 1355214112 so, no virgins then? 1335654677 I was thinking more like Kenny Loggins. But, in any event why didn't they eat it? Isn't eating his flesh the way to eternal happiness? ;) 1306197271 Yes but also the more common atheism gets.\n\nCreationism and religion are interlinked.\n\nIf a religious person denies creationism, then they are denying God's written scripture. Then they are modern, passive, secular people, not really considered 'religious' in the traditional sense.\n\nThere are young-earth-creationists, old-earth-creationists, and biogenesis-creationists (90%+ of religious people), either way, religious people are all creationists (though not all subscribe to intelligent design, or young-earth creationism). 1354485226 Was going to suggest the same, and also that the OP probably should have considered r/photography before here. No offense OP, but I thought you might be trolling with this. Why you'd think "UFO" before the obvious is quite difficult to believe. Even a quick Google could have provided insight. 1315436103 Circles. It still feels like a dream when i hear it. 1335280193 >weighted against the 100% chance that, **if** my kid has some adverse effects \n\nOr, you know, weighted against the 1/several million chance that your kid has some adverse effects. \nYou can't say "well not wearing a seat-belt increases my chances of dying in a crash to 45%, but weighted against the 100% chance that if i happen to be be leaning down to the passenger glove box and the seat-belt is stretched against my neck just right and the impact causes a deceleration of >6g and I have a back issue I WILL DIE, those are pretty good odds". 1304322520 Yeah, it's not like global warming is supported by virtually the entire field of climate science. 1320564547 mm, you're right. \n\nCan we blame how very very very skeeved out by the terminology (and parenting sites) I am to begin with for my error?\n\n(also, iirc this time DD(5) or DD,5 would be the aforementioned five year old daughter?) 1329642974 I wouldn't listen to OortCloud. He is a [notorious liar](http://www.reddit.com/r/climateskeptics/comments/13ovqa/are_al_gores_dirty_weather_claims_and_tactics/c782ihh). 1354118062 I'd suggest the book "What is this Thing Called Science?" I think it'd help, it certainly helped me. 1321588321 Like I said in another comment, the zoo theory is the best. With aggressiveness and other things ruled out, I think we can assume they're here( I'm just humoring BTW, I don't actually believe they're here) to condition us as a species and make sure we don't kill ourselves. \n\nI cringe everytime there's a conversation about aliens and someone blurts out the same phrase copy and pasted "they look at us like ants on an anthill " or "like how a national geographic cameraman looks at animals". No. Those terms are entirely too simple to sum up a civilization like ours. Comparing the oh so interesting nature of monkeys flinging shit at each other to a group of people 6billion strong that accomplished space flight, nuclear programs, religion and the ability to shape the world we are in today, it's totally different. \n\nIf there were aliens visiting us there's no doubt they'd find us interesting. We're not simple creatures. And like UFO believers believe, if they're really shutting down nuclear missiles, it shows good intentions. It also shows they know our history. Who we are. What our intentions are and the horrible people we can be. \n\nI always like to preface things like this with "if aliens were real ", but if they were, they feel emotions too. Just because they have space ships and better tech, doesn't mean they look at us as ants. And it doesn't mean they're evil and want to conquer us without a second thought. 1317692393 So who has been answering my prayers all this time if not Tesla? 1345962573 I mean, the idea is cool, but I want to know what proof that's how he did the trick. 1265105397 Bullshit. There's nothing wrong with calling something bullshit. 1295327381 I never said it was inedible. Just too salty to support life, which i thought was funny. I thought the idea of canning a food was to boil most of the bacteria away and deprive them of oxygen. This doesn't mean no bacteria can live there, but most of the harmful ones are excluded. 1317087863 This is natural selection at its finest...poppin' mah popcorn! 1327896320 >would we not be doing this all the time?\n\nYes. It's called masturbation, and it's much easier than producing a peak-experience, which, by the way, I never said one could do by simply *willing it* to happen. Do some research into peak experiences, you'll see what I'm talking about.\n\nAlso, someone else in the thread mentioned /asmr, which is more than likely what the OP experienced anyway. 1353074607 Problem solving, ability to adapt, knowledge and understanding are all related to intelligence. I am not disputing your claim that your father is highly intelligent, I am disputing the claim that ability to use a computer has *nothing to do with* intelligence. 1341425060 There was a penn and teller bullshit episode about chiropractors and one of them once "treated" a 8 minute old newborn. 1326797326 Maybe they disclosed it to the researchers, but for obvious reasons don't want to go public. 1349156240 $10 *Billion* for the hospital? Where would this be located at? 1310789871 I mean, Lance Armstrong wears one and look how healthy he is!\n\nSo much fucking spirit energy. 1333946063 I don't think "not doing anything" is ever coercion. It doesn't pass the coma test.\n\nI don't think the china sweatshops are coercive (unless naturally violence is used or threatened) and the same with mining towns and early american factories.\n\nIn terms of unions... it's only a coercive environment if its not a right to work state (meaning, the companies are forced to use unions by the government) If its right to work, then the companies don't have to use the unions. 1343073745 Nothing that pointed to the lights being *aircraft in general?*\n\nPlease explain your position. Clearly the objects, wherever they are from, were positioned in the sky... 1302219575 That's even quicker, though I guess it depends on how much of the aerosols got to the upper atmosphere (where they would last longer). 1328286098 No, but Superman's leaping ability was later interpreted as him having the ability to fly, so that may not be your best example for your case. 1355252578 people need to stop giving a shit about what other's think. \nSeriously, all this smugness puts society on the brink. \nSure you think your brand of thought is 100 percent pure and true. \nBut you are just shopping for the suit that fits you. \nYes, no, maybe so.\nAll the above, none of the above, I don't know. \n- mc efu\n 1343011599 LMAO great argument! you've seen "many many thousands of UFO videos"... Yet you say you're not gonna waste your time looking for one video of a satellite that slightly resembles the video posted. You're quick to jump to conclusions about me. All I asked for was proof. Seems my Obama comment must have struck a nerve. I'm done with you, waste yute 1296771691 It's utterly worthless if you're a moron. Even a layman should see what that tool is. If you can't, well that's your problem and it doesn't make the tool or the information worthless.\n\nBTW, congratulations. That was the most ridiculous comment I've read all week. 1342762222 Labeling yourself as a skeptic doesn't make you one. I'm not necessarily saying that you are not a skeptic, but if you hold faith based beliefs, you're failing to think critically in at least one area. 1323576368 In my opinion everything should be under the category: "Sounds like something to be skeptical of" to a lesser or grater degree but never 0 skepticism. Scientific results included.\n\nI'm assuming you view this as something to be more or much more skeptical off than the average for other claims. Why is this?\n\nIntelligence isn't something easily defined and it depends on the context. For example in a social situation can drinking a small amount of alcohol make you more intelligent? One view would be that by dis-inhibiting you it allows what FIXED intelligence you already have to shine but you could just say it temporarily increases a certain kind of intelligence.\n\nSo why is it hard to believe that a list of plants and plant derived drugs can have positive effects on the average psyche? Those plants are probably drugs too but big pharma hasn't gotten around to "improving" and patenting them so you can feel safer about spending money on risky brain chemistry alteration. (OMG DRUGS!) 1353697256 I don't understand people like you that find the need to hate on others for no reason. You took that quote out of context. In fact, you literally reiterrated what I intended to convey in a way that was meant to be demeaning. The problem is, that is actually what I said. I do find pictures that fuel my imagination to be very entertaining. 1316282809 The theory is that if you travel faster than the speed of light, you will go back in time, correct? I have always wondered: If a ship leaves from one planet traveling faster than the speed of light, would it somehow compress the time it takes them to get from one point to another to make it seem like instant travel? Even to the travelers? There is much to be asked about time dilation and perception. 1336428805 The thing that worries me about this subreddit is they seem quite selective about what to be skeptical about. Materialism seems to be the accepted dogma, and this doesn't sound very skeptical to me. I hear people dismiss things like the placebo effect without acknowledging what an important effect this can be for some people; the idea that because we aren’t able to explain it using materialist logic it can’t be that important. I personally feel that a skeptic should be somebody who questions everything - including science. 1328241608 i think they just didn't realize how quickly it would go from free advertising to lost customers. maybe because the internet was quite a bit slower in the early days of the internet. 1345484936 Usually I don't make a big deal out of it. Eventually they find out that I get my horoscope from The Onion. Reactions vary. 1279656172 Fun article!\n The only part I think might be incorrect is, "One of the obvious progressions in drug use is the discovery of how to get high faster. People who took pills eventually figured out that you could snort them, **pot heads found out that you could bake marijuana into brownies.**"\n\nThe analogy works for snorting pills but if you consume pot, rather then smoke it, it actually takes quite a bit longer to have an affect.\n\nEdit- Just realized that you might be referring to stronger or longer effects. 1333156258 If people walked away with "it is misogyny to ask women out for coffee" then they didn't watch her video, because that is not even slightly what she said.\n\nAnd that's my problem with this whole thing. She said something very mild, utterly non-controversial, and some people are acting as if she personally attacked and insulted them. It's baffling. 1310648269 that's definitely not a kite. 1300808389 I can't believe nobody has brought up the Unsolved Mysteries series (4 parts). They are surprisingly well done and include interviews (some exclusive) with witnesses who have since passed away. Sounds cheesy, but they really did a great job with them. 1341795891 Thank *you* for watching. 1337229054 >Doreen, who holds B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees in counseling psychology\n\nFacepalm. 1300463669 Neither do they. Though, chiefly for different reasons. 1317268097 It's acupuncture, so no. 1323899081 Considering taking up smoking. It seems like everyone here sees their UFOs while they're smoking! 1352998156 Some times we do and sometimes we don't. We were successful in getting AMC theatres to pull an anti-vaxx "PSA" but we were unsuccessful in getting Delta Airlines to do the same. Two steps forward, one step back.\n\nThink of it this way - where would we be today in women's rights, visible minority rights, LGBTQ rights if the people at the starts of those movements gave up after every setback instead of rallying and trying harder? 1325130960 Yes, we are in UK. 1311269882 THAT'S A STRAW MAN FALLACY! 1308380165 For the trip back, it's worth remembered that gas gauges can be really unreliable. When it reads a half tank, you might have considerably less than half a tank of gas left. This has gotten me in trouble a couple of times, LOL. 1329673675 Before the migration across the land bridge there were no people in North America. There is plenty of evidence of this. It was not somebody's hunting ground before that. \n\nThe oldest human fossils in Africa are around 7 million years old. Before that, Africa was not someone's hunting ground.\n\nIt is not turtles all the way down. Sentient beings had a beginning. 1343071697 Upvote if you watched it to the end.\n\n\nNOTE: I'm surprised Big Energy didn't manage to take the site down while I was watching this amazing offer that will 1) cut my electric bills **in half**, 2) while allowing me to be **totally independent** from my electricity company 3) and have **free** energy...wait wut? 1327765790 well reading your [post](http://www.reddit.com/r/atheism/comments/m4wtf/dear_ratheism_im_agnostic_i_dont_like_religion/) over there, it seems like you were just being instigative.\n\nin my opinion you would have done better if you originally posted [your later comment](http://www.reddit.com/r/atheism/comments/m4wtf/dear_ratheism_im_agnostic_i_dont_like_religion/c2y4bei) instead\n\nin any case i don't think the responses were that bad 1320783913 Ya, what I love is how animated he can get. You can tell he truly loves his work. 1258589920 do me! do me! 1353498545 It's where the cronies go after they're done running for elected positions. The senators and the governor general are the most useless positions in Canadian politics. 1327524203 In a way, having a placebo there is actually quite clever. 1350444884 Well I can't really see the point of this article, it's like saying that skepticism doesn't have anything to do with global warming because it can't answer the question "should we care about global warming?":\n\n>“feminism is simply the belief that women should be treated as fairly as men.” [...]\n\n>The inclusion of the word “should” makes it impossible for evidence to confirm Feminism through the process of skepticism.\n\nThat definition of feminism is simply derived from the social dogma that all persons are "equal". This is a social construct and doesn't have anything to do with skepticism like any other motivation in the world. **Skepticism can never give you a main motivation in any aspect, it can only question derived motivations to see if they are working in accord to your main motivation.**\n\nSo in this case, applying skepticism to feminism is not about asking "should women be treated as fairly as men?", that's the goal and doesn't have anything to do with skepticism like any other goal. The questions may be something like "is women treated as fairly as men?", "does process X cause inequality between women and men?", "can inequality be palliated by process Y?". 1345502676 http://scholar.google.ru/scholar?q=%22Gunnar+optiks%22&btnG=&hl=ru&as_sdt=0%2C5 1355878481 That's a really great question, but I sleep normally. I drink every now and then but even in an altered or sleeping state I have total control.\n\nI have always taken longer to fall asleep and can totally function on less sleep than the average person, and have lucid dreams quite often. Not sure if that has anything to do with anything, though. 1343578856 Yes. Most evangelical kids are home-schooled and their parents go to great lengths to find textbooks that support their (non-scientific) preexisting bias.\n\n*Jesus Camp* is a great example of this, right at the beginning. 1269188266 This.... you win the internet.... 1341470032 Flash light theory. It's quitter at night so you hear small noises better also dim lights appear much brighter on a dark background than a bright one. It's not that they are more active it's just that they are more noticeable. 1329797009 Being an small child their eye sockets would appear disproportinate than the rest of the skull due to not being fully developed. 1322013071 Is that Barry Kripke? 1351701348 why does the distinction matter? if we treat someone like shit enough they'll eventually give in and change? 1330282708 Was is?\n\nIn both you're talking about someone who is a Professionally Offended person. \n\nSomeone who seeks out something to be offended by. 1347376885 Thank you. \n\nI see articles like this all the time and figured what some people will assume to be magic supplements to make their I.Q. increase needed at least some level headed scrutiny. 1353707142 You might also want to investigate retired Army Command Sergeant Major Robert O. Dean who said that he read an above top secret manual while at Supreme Allied Forces in Europe in the '60s. Here's a YouTube video regarding his experiences: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc__scf1uMM 1333581370 > I must keep safe from aliens long enough to see this film\n\nFTFY 1292541084 Oops, I see it's wrong now, stupid mistake.\nSorry, English is not my native language.\n\nBTW... There are plenty of satellite images of the north pole, I guess the guy never tried Google. :P 1279410506 Naturally occuring calcium fluoride/fluorite is different than the fluoride chemicals and byproducts that are added to water (often sodium fluoride, fluorosilicic acid, sodium fluorosilicate). \n\n\n[In 2006 The USGS Mineral Resources program cites that](http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/fluorspar/fluormcs07.pdf)\n>There was little or no domestic mining of fluorspar in 2006. Some byproduct calcium fluoride was recovered from industrial waste streams, although data are not available on exact quantities. Material purchased from the National Defense Stockpile or imported was screened and dried for resale to customers.\n\n\n([I'm sure you know, fluorite is used to prepare uranium for nuclear fuel-rods and nuclear weapons...](http://mineralofthemonthclub.org/2007-10%20Fluorite3.pdf))\n\nScreened for what exactly? Industrial waste and radiation obviously.\n\nWhat is the limit on contaminants?\n\nWhere is the oversight? How do we know exactly what chemical is used, the purity, and where it was sourced from? Who is making money from selling these chemicals to municipalities?\n \nIt all sounds a little bit too sketchy to me. 1346652396 *also used to be lead singer of midnight oil* Thats awesome! 1331307286 I guess skeptics throw around a lot of psuedoscience as well. 1343110547 These guys are all very close to the Frederick Douglass Foundation, a Christian/Republican group. Wasn't Fredrick Douglass an atheist/agnostic? 1343872165 The fact that there's no proof for it. 1324929508 on of my close friends and I shared a dream once if it makes you feel better. Although there were no wolfs, it was more she was watching my dream from my perspective. 1335081288 Do you mean that they planned to fly a plane into WTC 7 and when they didn't, they decided to blow it up anyway, or that they smuggled tonnes of explosives into the building at the last minute? 1315580173 Calling demons "spirits" is like calling Jaws a "fish"--technically correct, but a gross underexaggeration of the circumstance.\n\nSome people have all the sense and self-preservation an ice cube. 1351424761 But they're actually very useful in many different modes of discourse.\n\nI'm going to keep using them. 1247102330 it means it hasn't been studied yet... 1344302749 That is unrelated to the analogy, and I'm curious why you are moving down that path? 1328867142 I could not expect to persuade others, but it would certainly change my perspective. I would try to replicate the data, or try to persuade others to replicate the data, but any attempt to claim a god exists *should* be met with scientific skepticism. 1309394261 Just because they change the company name from Adipose to Sensa does *not* make it okay. 1322930782 Someone should do this. Not me. But *someone*. 1323185015 I'm still not sure how I feel about to be honest. In the grand scheme of things it seems ridiculous to think a spirit would come down or what ever and push on humans in their sleep. In retrospect all it was was inconvenient, in that it disrupted my sleep. But I suppose anything's possible. I'm not discrediting any theory as if yet. What about you? How did you make sense of your experiences? 1352169880 >Follow the money trail...\n\nSure, we can do that. Burzynski makes money using this alleged treatment, and is therefore not a reliable guide of its effectiveness. Boy, that was easy! 1333406777 I grew up in that area too. Southern New Mexico is significantly eerie and secretive with tons of strange vibes in different places. I don't think I could have handled what you went through. I guess it is a bit different when it happens that early in your life and you are still determining what reality is. 1343326929 Oh you're right, poor poor Muslims, let's just excuse them from their attacks and murders. \n\nMaybe while we're at it we should have the victims family reimburse those poor Muslims for the cost of the bullets they used to kill the loved one. \n\nYou are just a bleeding heart apologist and lack the logical ability to see that some of the blame rests with those who pulled the trigger. 1347466199 Not me. And [here's](http://www.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/md7ky/rconspiracy_is_bubbling_over_into_the_rest_of/) why. \n\nEdited to add: what I meant to say is that these guys thrive on attention, negative or otherwise. I see no point in indulging them. 1321398913 They take the USMLE because that is what permits licensure in the US. 1326168816 Why is this on /r/skeptic? 1344473615 [Here's MUFON's analysis of the complete radar data from that night.](http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/archivos_pdf/MUFONStephenville.pdf) Warning, it's quite long. 1331340264 Yes, and thank you. Sorry for the confusion; it's still great footage. 1350772862 Omg, does he really believe it is a hoax? 1343827114 i used to have this co-worker, she was a mother but that isn't really necessary for this story. anyway, she refused to believe me that poison ivy couldn't be spread by scratching it. i explained to her how poison ivy develops over days so it appears to spread when it is all caused by the initial exposure. i even found her a page on the Mayo Clinic's website which unequivocally stated "you can not spread poison ivy by scratching."\n\nher response? "Those doctors need to leave their labs and get some real world experience."\n\nsome people are just that unwilling to trust anyone else's experience/knowledge. to them even experts take a back seat to what they "know." 1294466586 no, silly - it's in a sugar pill. - duh.\nMedicinal Ingredients: X-Ray ;\nNon-Medicinal Ingredients: Lactose, Sucrose 1337848024 How come they know English or other earthian languages... 1334150801 Reddit is my happy light (White background). 1354525950 >Looks like a duck, acts like a duck - it's probably a duck.\n\nYes, because we know what ducks look and act like because we can observe millions of ducks from birth to death; we can probe their genes, see them study them. There are thousands upon thousands of hours of undisputed duck footage. \n\nAliens on the other hand...? We don't know thing one about what an alien spacecraft would look like, how it would behave nor do we have one undisputed photo of something that is identifiable **only** as an alien spacecraft. \n\nUFOs do not equal aliens. In fact, soon as you label it an alien craft it's not longer a UFO by definition. \n\nMy point is that there is evidence of something we can't explain, but aliens shouldn't be the first and only conclusion one draws. 1267750007 There is little doubt that the presence of oil have had an impact on the situation in the Middle East. US have been in the business of overthrowing the governments in the region for the last 100 years. Most recent invasions only reinforce this theory.\n\n1928 - [Red line agreement](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Line_Agreement) to ensure US and Britain were part of the oil cartel. This is how they wedged themselves into the ME oil business.\n\n1944 - Anglo-American Petroleum Agreement drafted with the intension to divide the oil market between US/UK, later was conveniently swept under a rug to avoid public scrutiny.\n\n1953 - Iran coup organized by CIA immediately after Iran tried to nationalize its oil fields.\n\n1991 - Operation "desert storm" is undertaken for the sole purpose of taking back the Kuwait oil fields. \n\n1992 - [Defense Planning Guidance](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfowitz_Doctrine) was an imperialist doctrine that had an overall objective to maintain the predominant power in the Middle East and to preserve U.S. and Western access to the region's oil.\n\nThere are many more instances of US intervention in the internal affairs of other sovereign states that I [left out](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_intervention_in_the_Middle_East), but you only need to look at what companies are currently involved in the business of [pumping the Middle-Eastern oil](http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2011/12/2011122813134071641.html), to realize that there is a reason why they are called an oil cartel. 1340490687 I'm disappointed that so many well-known skeptic blogs are falling for this blatant promotional ploy. \n 1310254652 The lack of air is possibly the spirit showing you how he/she died. Spirits communicate through a voice in your head that sounds almost like your own thought, visions, symbols, and feelings. they show you how they feel like confused, sad and taking breath away can be signs that they died of a heart attack. Next time you get a feeling ask them to show what that means and you might get some visions that answer your question. Like a car accident. 1324060681 Honestly, that is bullshit. I had the pleasure of seeing a great Atheist Comedian shortly before his death. George Carlin was not very funny, in fact I found him depressing as fuck. Since he was an old atheist, and there was nothing left except for him knowing he was sick and waiting to die. My husband was working at the theater that night, so he didn't see much of the show, but.... that was my opinion that I express to my atheist husband, and Carlin did die less than 2 months later. \n\nYou might think it's liberating. Lets see how liberating you feel when you know certain death is close. Like they say, there are no atheists in a fox hole. 1344371025 To start off, your protip is the cutest thing I've read in a while. You should read some philosophy, and you'll understand that the subjective card can be played equally for all of these. Trust me, we can spend all of our life time disagreeing on what it is exactly to be a noun like an American, or a libertarian. \nEvery single word represents a slightly different concept for every single person. Dictionaries simply attempt to approximate the most commonly shared meaning at specific snaphsot of time for a specific context.\n\nAnyway, to more relevant part:\nIf you think I'm any more political than you, then that's again a sign of your naivety.\n\nIn fact, it is your definition of freedom seems to stem directly from American centric politics and government. Equal opportunity? If I kill everyone in the world, everyone will have equal opportunity. Would I have maximized freedom? Obviously not. I would have done the opposite, even though we all have equal opportunity when dead.\n\nEqual opportunity is simply a political strategy to provide *equal* freedom to citizens. But what is actual freedom that your politics are trying to maximize/equalize? The freedom is arguably the ability to act based on your *internal* impulses.\n\nIf a person desires x, then sure, you can make the naive interpretation that a person is free when they purchase a fraudulent product that promises x. A more meaningful interpretation of freedom though is the ability to actually achieve x.\n\nThat's the only concept of freedom of the two here that is actually worth talking about. 1345187384 Stupidity of the quote aside, the premise for that film has a bit of potential. However, I'm skeptical of whether or not it'll be executed correctly. 1294824876 D'oh! Goddamnit, National Geographic. 1351737475 Their 2004 documentary and the first few seasons is where it's at. 1348520961 I saw this for sale at Costco recently, and wasn't sure what it was (the sign did say "mood stabilizer"). 1276017488 Who says it's a communication with us? What if it's just breadcrumbs? so to speak... a map/guide/label for other beings of their kind to observe. 1354723155 Read, "The Allagash Abductions". That event pretty much traumatized and ruined the four Guy's involved in that's lives. 1319951790 Yes that's my point. There's no glory in bashing the face of a delusional man. 1269608899 It's part of the video for "the new dance".\n\nWhat is freedom to you? 1301193505 Jokes on you, i know what everything is! 1350764463 Its pareidolia simply because its a lowres picture of the moon and the title claims it to be a moon base. Sit back down 1329931406 tl;dr: Vaccines are causing autism among mentally retarded children. 1296435838 Is that the place with the sinking house? 1347317305 Second data point here. 1313512143 But it may lower the food prices and make it available to the population rather than for exporting to rich nations. 1289346990 You're right, so lets substitute Dan Aykroyd, I believe he is actually heterochromatic. \n 1292377104 I hate the idea of myself believing all this, but I don't really have another explanation for what has been happening to me. I'm more of a logical person (I'm a musician by trade) and feel ridiculous talking about this seriously. So here's my story:\nAbout a year and a half ago my aunt died. Her husband and kids are masons, but she was Lutheran. Her husband (I dont think of him as family anymore, you'll see why) despised her religion and basically would freak out anytime she took my cousins to church - to the point of abuse. I've heard that masons are into devil worship, but still that seems pretty far fetched to me even now. Well there was an enormous falling out while my aunt was dying of cancer, my immediate family and grandparents were banned from visiting and actually forced to leave the hospital when we tried to visit her because of the lies they had told the doctors about us. The funeral was an even bigger disaster that we should not have attended in hindsight. Very shortly after the funeral everyone who didn't get to say goodbye had an experience that was exactly the same which we found out after sharing our experiences were we were lying in our own beds and suddenly felt like a hand just laid itself on our back for a moment then the pressure eased up. Kind of like not a real hand but pressure in the shape of a palm. Each person shared this info with my mom who kept it quiet until about 5 of us shared the same thing and she started to kind of be wierded out and than told us we had had the same thing happen. Now fast forward a few months, we had some christmas light bells that play music when turned on with a remote. My aunt had the same set. Every day for about a week at 4pm these lights turn themselves on and begin playing carols. The first 2 times I thought it was a glitch from them getting old so I just turned them off. The 3rd and 4th times I'm getting frustrated because I'm at the other end of the house hen they turn on and theyre blaring carols till I can get to them to turn them off. So I decided to put the remote away in the box to stop the glitch I thought was the culprit. They still turn themselves on every day at 4pm. I finally put them away for good unplugged.\nThe next thing, if you remember my aunts husband was supposedly into devil worship - still doubtful, but this explanation makes the most sense. I started to wake up in the middle of the nights unable to move. Now I did research about sleep paralysis an all that an it does not match the descriptions. I am unable to move myself, but it feels like my body is moving o it's own. I have felt on different occasions that I am squashed up against my bedroom wall, sliding off my couch, being shaken like tremors, and sliding around my bed. My eyes are also closed, yet I can feel as though I can see around the room perfectly fine like they are open. So my mom and I started to use holy water every night, and this stopped, which makes me feel like it is not sleep paralysis. I am also an extremely deep sleeper, on vacation when I was 8 to Disneyland there was an earthquake and I did not wak up. So to suddenly have sleep paralysis at age 25 seems unlikely. Last night I had forgotten to use the holy water and I again woke up unable to move, but there was a sort of loud metal clang in my ears sort of a sensation like buzzing, and felt like I was moving around the bed. But I wasn't moving myself. \nSorry I this was incredibly long but if you have any thoughts I'd love to hear them. 1314609707 And meats, cheese, wine and seafood. If you want to class up a cook-out, they have great meats, cheese, wine and seafood. As far as actual food quality goes, you can't beat it. The only way to get better food quality is to go one of those once a week farmers market things. 1349193727 It's the music of your soul. Kind of like a soul fingerprint... every person has a different one, most can't hear it. 1326495551 I'm a DJ - have been for 10 years. This happened once. Djed a Pulp song , put next song on - took Pulp CD out, put Michael Jackson CD in, checked on headphones that MJ was cued up ok - heard Pulp??? Checked CD in machine - it was MJ.. Me no understandy... 1342570636 Maybe we will see god. jk gods not real. 1336489419 If someone is a consistent liar, is it necessary to address every lie? 1329335371 Versus as in the opposite views on the subject not a fight between the two. 1297126700 You shouldn't believe. Until the evidence presents itself there is no reason to believe the random claims of others. Many people want to believe so they see evidence where there is not necessarily any. This effect is called confirmation bias you believe in ghosts so now every bump in the night is one. Me personally I have heard footsteps in a completely otherwise empty house, is this enough evidence? Honestly no. But it is intriguing as to just what it was I heard. 1331130897 I'm skeptical of foods being pro-GM or anti-GM, unless you're a cannibal. 1292723293 I plan to sell a *haunted* donald trump water bottle in the next few weeks...hoping it'll go over $40 1281498433 I never said science should go to another subreddit. I just wanted to share my story, and heard about this subreddit. I have never thought about the matrix, but figured this was a good place to post. I would love to have a scientific explanation that can be proved by facts. So don't act like I'm being ignorant. Also, "a glitch in the matrix" is just a place for stories that make no logical sense, because the movie is a work of fiction. I see people may believe in the matrix, but obviously not everyone on this subreddit does, considering they just told me to buy a christian book. Thanks for this insight, please don't look any further into this story other than it being weird, for that is all I have done. 1352502702 If they're marketing him as a mentalist then he's supposed to prove how people can be fooled by simple tricks, not claim that he actually has magical powers or anything. I guess his format will be a lot like Darren Brown's : claim there's no magic behind anything and yet use psychology-hocus-pocus like NPL to justify the clearly doctored results. 1346412275 This isn't exactly "new". This was common practice where I am for a long time. Some people still do it, but with the advent of the varicella vaccines, the practice is dying out. 1320429740 spirit science is a very insightfull videoseries on youtube and can help explain the things we experience... it could also explain why sone people see ghosts\ncheck this out...\n\n\n\n\n\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPkX0iOVX18&feature=youtube_gdata_player\n 1348453274 [Scoreboard!](http://www.reddit.com/r/skeptic/comments/phknn/sketchy_unfocused_video_of_rumored_mammoth_in/c3pg7vl)\n\nSince the rise of Youtube, my first assumption on any fuzzy video is hoax. People just love putting fake videos on the internet for free these days. 1329248922 I doubt it, there is not much we could do much to a cilivilisation in our own solar system, let alone beyond. 1335987492 i'm not looking to troll anyone. even if what you're saying is true, none of those things are glitches. 1347242161 > Another good clue (at least so far as I've found) - if you look up their domain and it's registered to a hotmail.com user... it's probably not reliable.\n\nNice catch! :-> 1332997530 > Well, I wouldn't believe everything I read on the Internet, watch on YouTube, or hear from the government. All sources are known to mislead you.\n\nGee, thanks for that little gem of wisdom. I'll get out my crayon and write that one down.\n\n 1253827971 Honestly my girlfriend and I have experienced the same exact thing. 1342385046 Well if Paul Collingwood and Andrew Strauss both wear it, surely I must too! 1294424256 I think that's just a reflection of a kid of a really sunny day. And yeah, he is a creepy lookin' little one but just a kid. 1338241562 Check out the entry in The Skeptic's Dictionary on it: [Myers-Briggs Type Indicator®](http://www.skepdic.com/myersb.html)\n\nJust a quote from his response to someone at the end:\n\n>One reader wrote me to complain that my "claim that any type to a significant extent fits most people is absolute nonsense." Perhaps others have also misread my concluding remarks in this entry. What I suggest is that some parts of the profiles could apply to most people, a characteristic shared by other kinds of readings such as astrological or psychic readings. I do not claim that any profile, taken as a whole, will fit most people. I am not suggesting that one type fits all. Since the various profiles are based on information the client has provided, they shouldn't be telling the customer anything about himself that he doesn't already know. Thus, just as psychics have many satisfied customers because they feed back to clients what the clients have told them, and they make claims that could apply to most people or that most people would want to be true, so too do Myers-Briggs folks have many satisfied customers. In any case, those who read the above article carefully recognize that the main problem is not with the accuracy of the profiles but with the way they are abused by employers and others.\n\nEdit: Added the quote from it as a semi-TL;DR--but seriously, all his entries are great reads. 1327285860 It's just the impression I get. 1347074780 Just reword your phrase as "I hope to see more studies that.."\n 1309296801 Awesome. Pics please :D\n\nYou should do a meditation on it to see what comes through. Sounds like it will be some sort of key for you. 1334715340 I've never really thought of that point. That is magnificently brilliant. 1303156869 Current listing: http://cgi.ebay.com/VAMPIRE-TRANSFORMATION-SPELL-BECOME-IMMORTAL-VAMPIRE-/260665862141?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cb0e567fd#ht_758wt_1136 1284833716 I should have known! :P 1314136429 Maybe it's because he spent the first minute advertising his stupid company.\n\nThis is obvious a viral video created to advertise it. He's using legit footage, but the whole myth over it sounds quite orchestrated. 1288330226 The gentlemen is correct in his assumption! 1302978939 But isn't being a Ghost avoiding Divine Judgement? - Which, if you believe in that sort of thing, is unavoidable? 1339864654 It does. Sharks (particularly bull sharks) have the ability to hone in on the electrical impulses given off by a human heart prior to an attack.\n\nThough there are several other signals and scents a human can give off that will attract a shark, it's well known that bull sharks (amongst several others) can and do hone in on humans sitting perfectly still in shallow water because of the electrical impulses given of by the heart.\n\nOther marine predators can sense electrical fields unwittingly given off by prey and use the signal to hone in on their location.\n\nThere are several other examples of the human heart giving off electrical impulses, easily checked by an EKG which can detect normal and abnormal rhythms. \n 1305987490 I've read plenty about Frank and his infamous box. Another loon. Way to pick your role models, my friend. 1331785807 That was over 50 years ago. Things are very different. 1341958281 If it were made by me or somebody I trusted, sure. [Cat-poop cookies](http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/cat-poop-cookies-ii/Detail.aspx) are a favorite at this time of year. 1288274671 Lol. These guys have a [Facebook page](http://www.facebook.com/ParentsAgainstWiFiinSchool) 1340694255 And yet it is used more often than just about any other credential. 1351820498 DOUG STANHOPE IS NOT A WEED SMOKER, POTHEAD, WEED ADDICT. HE DRINKS. 1344990047 Not really, it's potentially an interesting paper but in this context it just suggests that the OP might have a point. \n\nThis thread is about a paper which notes that the dangers of chiropractors are under-reported in studies about chiropractors. That's a study about chiropractors which happens to report that they pose little danger.\n\nEdit: a paper / an article. Gah 1337188047 Evidence? Any? Even a tiny bit? Outlandish claims need equally outlandish evidence. 1329695816 He believes that scientists want people to stop believing because they want to brainwash people into not believing in God. I think he's implying that somehow all scientists are working together with Satan against God haha!\n\nThose are some good points, maybe they will get him to think just a little but I don't think they'll break through to him. He'll probably say something about how man is easily corrupted and single out corrupted priests as just bad apples. He always finds a way for contradictions to fit into his delusion.\n\nIt's funny you talk about religious leaders making money because earlier today he called me and told me he bought some CD from the church that he wanted me to listen to and my first thought was, "They're making money off you." I wanted to say something but I decided to keep my mouth shut since I have to work with him and all. 1347240955 I'd say no, primitivism advocates a 'returning to nature' way of life, that's not what I'm saying at all. I'm simply stating that if each person lived according to their own will and coerced no other person to live as they do, we'd all end up much better off as a species. There'd simply be radically different communities of people. 1332153156 If anythings gonna be ancient, its gonna be another species, considering how old this universe is 1351000693 Thank you for staying civil and trying to teach people reason, logic and science. 1336992434 Oh my god, there's so... much... bullshit!\n\nThe worst part, for me, is just how many people are wasting time employed to *do absolutely nothing of value*. The company could, and probably does, skip all of the steps (thus saving millions on wages and equipment) and just add tap water to little bottles, for the exact same effect. 1328272661 I know how you feel. I'm also a walk-in, but I have dreams. It's like in the dreams, I'm the real me. The real memories are in the dreams and I hold the false ones. 1328942320 It almost feels like they were about to say "yep, our friends up there actually do exist", maybe this is a first step into disclosure? 1287082025 i read this like you were screaming 1341855080 This is real but will only benefit source material created for that color space. Most if not all cameras today are RGB so raw video won't gain anything from this.\n\nNow stuff shot on film could be rescanned in the RGBY color space and renderings can be re rendered for this color space. So your next video card could support RGBY and existing films can be rescanned/re-rendered for this.\n\nRGBY dose create better color than RGB. Many of the LED fixtures used in concerts and theater today are RGBY and RGBYW(White). 1284041988 OMG, I didn't get far enough to see the UF theory bit! lol 1336346809 I think Isaac Newton would be an example of the "otherwise brilliant" component of the title. 1298139638 UFO = Unidentified Flying Object. Doesn't make anything clearer. 1330357333 My point is to be careful about looking at chimps in order to understand ourselves, and that closest living relative is down to accidents of extinction of the other species that would have been closer to us were they still alive today.\n\nClosest living relative does not necessarily mean that they're particularly closely related. It really just means that there are no other closer evolutionary relatives alive now.\n\nOf course there are many similarities between us and chimpanzees, and to a broader extent between us and other apes, and us and other mammals, to even broader similarities between us and other vertebrates etc. We just need to be aware that we are a different species from chimpanzees, and while they can be helpful in understanding ourselves, they can also be misleading. 1290988873 I tried a lot of times to get into OBEs, or at least lucid dreaming, but most of the time I just get stuck in the sleeping paralysis, which is crazy in itself, if only for the creepy hallucinations you get. \n\nI think I may have had an OBE once, because I felt myself waking up and getting out of bed after sleeping paralysis, seeing myself still sleeping, and I started walking upstair to see what would happen and saw my mother in the kitchen. Then I felt pulled back to my bed and woke up, went upstair and found my mother in the kitchen. 1342030102 no, because this is /r/glitch_in_the_matrix, not /r/paranormal. possible glitch explanations must have a basis in reality, and if they can't be explained using known laws of nature, then they're just glitches. "the paranormal" should never come into play. 1344126237 An the "calendar ending" world ending stuff is nonsense. Let it go. Science refutes any logical claim to it. 1333250787 And, when the government does anything `curious' -- it deserves notice. 1262027985 In the author's words: "I do wonder how many she cared for (how big was the data sample?), and I also need to ask myself how diverse the group was." What was her methodology? What was the sample size? Are her observations statistically valid, in other words, if I was to ask any random dying person what their top regret is, would I receive one of the top five regrets? 1328377302 Oh, please do not think I call these people idiots or failures. Foolish, maybe, but foolish is not stupid, foolish is just foolish. Even the smartest people can be foolish. As for Failures, absolutely not - They did the best they could, and the system they used failed them, that does not make them failures.\n\nI feel you are also failing to consider the idea that we may live in a consensus reality. It is not how strongly you believe, but the world lines up with what the vast majority of us believe, rather than the world lining up with what each individual believes. It is a question I think to be worthy of consideration.\n\nThat said, I don't think this conversation is going anywhere. I'm 100% science and evidence based medicine, and you believe...well, what you believe. I can't make a statement on that, just like everybody else on the planet, I don't read minds. So, I feel it best we both retire to our respective corners, before this degenerates into another silly reddit argument. 1326682323 http://i.imgur.com/9O4Q0.jpg 1351663105 Don't forget that the 1400 haven't directly examined the evidence. They've seen at best reports of the evidence. \n\nGiven a group of experts who have directly seen the evidence, and a group of non experts who have not, It should be clear that the former group's opinion has a much higher weight. 1307547213 Ironic that if the dress is indeed haunted by the soul of the tragic fire girl, then the name is quite befitting. It is forever hers. That kinda makes it more fucked up if it's real. 1348269190 Adding as a response to 1), you might very well be right about the impact for the rich world. We might just have to get used to paying a bit more for certain things as technologies are adapted to compensate.\n\nFor the rest of the world, as fossil fuels (rapidly) double triple, and beyond in price, it's quite likely that this will result in millions if not billions returning to extreme poverty. Just as 100 million people in china have risen out of extreme poverty in the last ten years, a rapid increase in transportation costs and other fossil fuel-related costs, would likely plunge at least as many back as businesses are forced to (temporarily) abandon supply chains that require too much transportation. Eventually, the global economy would adapt to the new costs, but in the short term there would be a lot of pain and it likely take decades to require.\n\ntldr; **Markets are bad at dealing with scarce resources.** 1355751958 They're cheaper because they aren't regulated by the FDA. No testing is required for efficacy, safety, or content. If you just want a painkiller, why don't you take aspirin, or acetaminophen, or ibuprofen? What "herbal" solution gives you just the painkiller without all the other stuff that's present in the plant it's derived from? 1304012777 Sir, i am afraid I have it on good authority that you DO in fact believe in spirits, demons, angels, zombies, suspension of the laws of physics, and talking animals. \n\nSource: cirqueis 1324371543 Self-confidence diminishes *because* you begin realising how little you know. 1307133322 The presence of large amounts of aluminium has always been interesting to me, in terms of conspiracies.\n\nA friend of mine ranted about "thermite bombs" used in demolishing the twin towers. (Usual BS). I asked him what a thermite bomb was, and pointed out that thermite is a powder that burns incredibly hot, but can't ACTUALLY be used to make a bomb because it doesn't explode.\n\nHe largely ignored that and said the military has top secret bombs we don't know about, etc, but that doesn't explain why there was THERMITE RESIDUE in the ground zero area.\n\nI proceeded to ask him what thermite residue actually looks like. Because it would seem likely to me that it would be thermite-like. And thermite is actually just aluminium oxide in a powder.\n\nCan anyone else thing where a large amount of oxidising aluminium might have come from in this scenario? Hmmmmmm... Nothing jumps to mind.\n\nThe relevance here is that there could well be some merit to this point at least to the degree that the presence of aluminium could well have made the fire much hotter than a pure fuel fire would have.\n\nAnother interesting point is that just below the crash point of one of the planes (I can't remember which one) was a large UPS system. Think giant bank of car batteries. And that's what they are, metal and sulphuric acid.\n\nSulphur + aluminium = thermATE. Even hotter burning, and catches at a lower temperature.\n\nNot sure how relevant this is, but it's interesting, nontheless. 1317106290 Wow. I agree with xoxoyoyo, then. The puppy is probably symbolic in some way. 1327700130 Again what does this have to do with the thread?\n\n1. Still waiting for one of the believers to write a coherent argument supporting the OP. You are completely going off into left field much less actually providing a coherent argument. If it doesn't need faith then spell it out, this is a skeptics forum; evidence comes before everything else. Do you know what evidence is?\n\n2. It is common for anybody who doesn't 'BELIEVE' to be automatically labeled as clueless. I hear this from 9/11 truthers, creationists, PSI believers and the like all the time. They usually say, "you just haven't researched the evidence enough". What they are really saying is that "if you have faith the 'evidence' becomes obvious", which is typical religious thinking. Thanks for demonstrating this so thoroughly.\n\n\nAs it stands, this thread isn't in the topic 500 threads in the skeptics forum any more so there is no more reason to keep it up. There are much better topics to post on. 1306691627 I bothered to re-read mine and was floored at how accurate it was. Are these just sciencey sounding astrological signs? Or is there a good deal of truth / merit to these types? 1302156135 Toxic black mold, the infamous species of [Stachybotrys](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stachybotrys), produces trichothecenes. These are a class of hideously toxic substances that cause [a variety of symptoms](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stachybotrys#Symptoms_of_Stachybotrys_exposure_in_humans). The Wikipedia article doesn't specifically list any neurological symptoms.\n\nWhether toxic black mold causes neurological symptoms is still under active research. The introduction section of [this study from last year](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2808125/) explains that damp building related illnesses include neurological problems, and toxic black mold is associated with damp buildings. Also, trichothecenes are known to be neurotoxins. The part that they are studing is the exact mechanism of how the toxins get from the air into the body and damage neurological systems, which includes studying the dosages.\n\n**TL;DR:** It's very likely that toxic black mold will "fry your brain"; we're just studying exactly how it happens to make sure. 1335986315 Their "About us" includes: "and providing direct care for thousands of animals at our sanctuaries, emergency shelters, wildlife rehabilitation centers, and mobile veterinary clinics."\n\nThat explicitly states they provide care for animals. They're called The Humane Society (of the US, with that latter part in small letters).\n\nOn their FAQ they also say:\n"The HSUS works with local humane societies and supports their work through training, evaluations, publications, and other professional services." After a short disclaimer, and that's the only place on their site that notes there isn't a connection.\n\nIf you check out actual Humane Society websites:\n"No. The San Antonio Humane Society is a non-profit no kill organization that relies entirely on donations, grants and self generated revenue to operate. We are not affiliated with any national organizations and do not receive support from the county, state or federal agencies."\n\n"No. We do not receive funding from, nor are we affiliated with, the Humane Society of the United States located in Washington DC, the American Humane Association located in Denver, or the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals located in New York City. We do not receive funding from the Heart of Florida United Way. The SPCA of Central Florida is a private, independent, 501(c) (3) non-profit corporation."\n\n\nHSUS is aware of the confusion, and benefit directly from it. They don't mind giving people the impression that they render aid to local shelters, despite local shelters saying it isn't the case.\n\nShould people know better? Of course. Just because it's a person's fault for being mislead doesn't make the con-man "good" though. 1301610891 Mr. Rogan has an admirable amount of skepticism, but just a superhuman amount of wonder. 1331471544 Ok, thanks anyway. I'll keep looking too. 1297718698 Thank you for the correction! 1306255514 Sounds like an aura. I get exactly what you're describing before migraines. Could be that you're experiencing "silent migraines".\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aura_%28symptom%29 1339245519 To be clear, I am not the person who initially charged you with strawmanning them, my point was to show you why your post was subject to that sort of attack, and to advise you of how it might be restructured so as not to elicit that kind of response. Also, I took issue with the facial legitimacy of some of the points in so far as they are indistinct from the other points or insufficient to undermine the general points made by the Four Horsemen.\n\nI've actually begun reading the work that you linked to. You would have done yourself, and reddit a better service if you had premised your points as being a summation of the book, rather than relegating that to a footnote. The form of this discussion then would have been over whether the book makes good points, and not whether your summation of the books points stand on their own without further evidence or explanation.\n\nTo put it another way, I'm actually quite glad that you brought this all up, but wish that you had presented it differently so that it could have resulted in a more fruitful discussion. 1330569448 The Austrian School of Economics has denied the value of empirical data, the scientific method, and formal mathematics.\n\nI think we can safely discount them as authorities on anything. 1313573493 Well, you are being directed to do more. talk to him, visit the town, or do something. can you tell if your dreams are set in the past or the future? if future... maybe do not visit :) 1345035282 It's like a brick wall of stupidity, I can't even get my head around how to counter this kind of thing. This guy in particular keeps up a steady stream all of which matches and some of which exceeds this level of madness. He genuinely believes in the times of yore being full of wizards and dragons. It's beyond ridiculous. 1345808739 The subjects of psychology (human behavior and the human mind) could very well end up being as scientific as the hard sciences. This is the subject of neuroscience, a field in its infancy really.\n 1345672617 You need to stop participating in elctroshock therapy! 1352483766 Under that proposal, the protection and services of the "police" would be literally bought and paid for by the wealthiest individuals. When that happens in government, we call it corruption, and it's one of the greater social evils. 1304769244 That does suck. Need to get the word out so their enrollment gets hit. Then locals will understand what harassing students gets them. 1340598002 Look at how he was dressed. I mean, come on. 1355967141 My husband woke me up once and told me I was making the strangest sound he's ever heard. It didn't sound human, yet it was coming from me. I'm not trying to belittle your experience. I guess I'm just saying that it may not be supernatural. On the other hand, I don't really know. I just want to reassure you that it is nothing to be frightened of. :-) 1326057312 I understand it like this:\n\n\nDepending on the field, it refers to different things. There is a new branch of skepticism that is on the track with new atheism. Where a baby is an atheist (it has no belief in a god or gods... at least, I don't think so,) Atheism is now a kind of a movement towards science and away from superstition.\n\n\nAll human beings are going to be inclined at points, probably throughout any day, where they will be inclined to believe something that isn't true. Sometimes they will believe these things their entire lives. People who dub themselves skeptics, at the very least what I try to do, is to keep ourselves in rigorous check of what we want to be true/feel to be true, and what in life demonstrates itself to be true in live via a multitude of examples.\n\n\nPhilosophical skepticism or radical skepticism is the doubting of all things, even those things that seem consistent, such as logical frameworks and natural occurring consistencies.\n\n\nRegardless of a word's etymology or original use, we need to be sensative to how people interpret our words as we use them for the same reason people should agree on the rules of Monopoly before playing. It wouldn't make for a very fun game, and just lead to a lot of yelling at each other for cheating. \n\n\n\nOne other quick example: Post-modernism, depending on the field means very different things. Philosophically it means an end to modernity, and a crushing end to enlightenment, whereby there can be no single truth or unifying theory of everything. (in a very small nutshell.) In counseling, it refers to humans having very unique internal maps, and that counselors need to recognize that the client is the expert of their scenerio, and the counselor is just there to help the client understand his/her/its own terminology. In literature, I heard it in a nutshell as "the author is dead," in that regardless of how an author intended something to be interpreted, it is only the readers interpretation that matters.(I first heard this quote from Hank Green who I believe credits it elsewhere,) In art, it means bad art. :p I hope this helps. 1355314293 I never said that I thought it wasn't possible and I was even trying to go out of my way to make sure that you understood that when I said:\n\n>I know that there are many companies that operate with everyone's best interest in mind, but the ones who don't more than make up for the companies that do.\n\nI don't know why you still think I don't. This is the second time that I've pointed this out to you.\n\n 1248909141 Has there been anything else that has happened in the house since you've moved in? How long ago did you move in to this place? And have you noticed any marks? 1330452846 Yeah, I know - that's why I cited the evidence mentioned by the structural engineers re: the manner of collapse and it's virtual carbon copy nature of an implosion. I'm not sure what else I can say to that respect. 1324953836 Yes, you're correct sorry. My specific municipality has removed artificial fluoridation from water, though it contains a small amount of naturally occurring fluoride. \n\nMany other municipalities have followed suit, though the federal government has taken to the American and British system of denial of new evidence. It's hard for any long standing system to change its policy. \n\nI was correct about the studies now being done:\n\nhttp://www.health.gov.on.ca/english/public/pub/ministry_reports/fluoridation/fluoridation.html\n\nBut they do little to sway the federal government, the municipal governments seem the most prone to change first, then provincial, then federal. 1295580524 Where's "Have a headache? Chew some willow bark." "Tired? Chew some some coca leaves." "Not enough trees talking to you? Eat some mushrooms." "Taking life serious? Smoke some marijuana leaves." "Too alive? Eat some nightshade." 1341151843 I coped by thinking; I understand paranormal activity (if you want to call it that) now probably better than anyone on the planet because I thought about it... all the time. some times instead of doing something I'll just sit and think, and years and years of thinking combined with my experiences (basically I've experienced everything but possession). The best part is that some of it might line up with string theory. Also I've just ignored what ever has been around me until it shows it's self and then I attack it. I set my self into the state of mind where if I see something my first reaction is charge and attack, the issue is that I haven't seen a persistent apparition for a while. I've been followed by what people usually call feys, or maybe there demons, I'm not sure where you make the distinction, they're the same thing, one's just intending to do evil. I once caught one in a dream but she tricked me and got away. I found them all standing together in a group staring at me and then started to transfer dimensions I'm pretty sure which looks like they're sinking into the ground. They all have different animal associations and have eyes accordingly, black robes grey skin black hair. And that's about the extent of my story with out writing a book. Also on that topic I'm pretty sure that the way it works is that there's this dimension, and then two other dimensions one higher level than the other, the higher level is very dark and sort of purplish/ ultra-violet and the other one is also dark but red. At least that's what I've got from the patterns in dreams that seemed to be much more real and I'm guessing were at least partial astral projection sort of things. I still don't fully understand how it works with ghosts and matter interaction (noises and object movement) but I'm thinking about it. I should come to a full understanding in the near future hopefully. 1326100127 50-50 Pisces Aires, beginning and end.\n\nThe few times that I've read my horoscope, it's pretty amusing.\n\nStrangely enough, almost every woman who guesses my sign guesses Pisces. 1289329289 Wololo!\n 1337610380 It's only that we don't believe in a version of free will that breaks causality. 1264262513 Could you tell me about the ghost I have at home? If possible? 1353405238 let's see, i went gray when i hit 20. i work a job that has me in the woods most of the time and a very similar situation happened when i was out wandering around with the dog at the end of last summer. this guy was fumbling around lowering the car after i showed him the ropes and i get a little embarrassed about being thanked a lot, so i faded back into the weeds. it's amusing to think i might be someone's glitch.\n\n 1331771819 Every 3rd word is incomprehensible?\n\n... it amplifies the geomancy in light and ascends it and brings it to monadic and higher telepathic levels at a much faster rate and vibration... 1328604802 What else do you expect from the Gawker network? 1326390490 Well first off trying to associate me with McCarthy is logically unsound, for you don't have any basis to make that comparison. I never stated my personal experiences were not based on reason, or did not hold scrutiny from outside rational inquiry. \n\nEven deciding that rational skepticism is the best method of understanding the world is once again, subjective.\n\nAlthough I appreciate your sentiment, I do not appreciate you attempting to associate me - or even the idea of subjective experience as a foundation for rational belief with certain people and ideas. 1279035376 That's basically what I get out of it too. I'm not so sure Romanek's mentally ill, though...I've listened to interviews with both him and his wife, seen the scant evidence he's put forward...it's all very elaborate. Either this is a hoax or it's real, but I don't think he's being exploited. \n\nEither this is earth-shattering, world-changing stuff or he's the one doing the exploiting. I'm keeping an open mind, because his story's been consistent and he's offering a lot more than your average attention-seeker, but my bullshit meter is blinking off the charts. I have a feeling this documentary is going to be make-or-break for the Romanek story. 1339638736 I very rarely correct people's mistakes but I feel this one would be crucial in everyday life. It's "I counted two" not "too". Sorry, that one really bugged me. 1352754476 This song makes me sad 1279063506 TIL meaning of [allopathic medicine](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allopathic_medicine). I don't really see it as negative based on its greek roots but I only use it because that's how my parents refer to it. \n\nModern medicine it is, then. 1297393746 There are many other reasons they might not know that terminology, including language and dialect, slang, communities etc.\n\nA french tour de france winner might know the name in English but he probably knows his shit. 1355728764 Please. That's clearly a weather balloon illuminated by swamp gas during a thermal inversion within the atmosphere of Venus. 1341879969 Eh, I let my boyfriend find my lower chakras. He's good at that. 1341081236 Really? Your attention span is *that* short? This subject may not be for you... 1335330749 No, you are on the right track girafa. Solomonkull just has a cause that needs vindication. Not only are churches free, the donations are given by choice. I know youtube has a lot of videos with assholes claiming to heal others for a small fee but they are not that common.\n\nMost mega churches are entirely funded on small donations from common church goers anyways. \n\nThere is no liberal or conservative in scam artist. There are just smart dick heads who take advantage of the less education. 1330637919 Quoting a post from r/untiedkingdom... "killing a minor witness (if he was even going to be a witness) who was dismissed for drink and drugs would be tantamount to corporate suicide if it was traced back to News International."\n\nIt would make no sense for News International (or anyone else) to have him killed, way too much risk of it being traced back (especially with several non-Murdoch media organisations all gunning for Murdoch/NI) for very little reward. 1311024166 Really guys? I gotta get me one of those amorphous glowing plastic bags. 1345585033 >That was the only line I need to realise I am in the entirely wrong subreddit, if your basement-dwelling lifestyle suits you that's fine by me. \n\nI don't live in a basement, I'm a psychology master's student, I teach autistic children and I have constant girlfriends for the past five years (edit: I feel disgusted even bringing that up, but you seem to think it's important that I was having sex) and only took a break over the last six months. I've a handle on my life and I'm pretty damn happy.\n\nIf you have issues living in your basement and not experiencing the world, then stop doing that! Stop blaming all your problems on masturbation. More importantly, your worth is not determined by how many sexual partners you have. You have a warped view of sexuality that's been conditioned into you over the years. That's your issue. Not how much sex or masturbation you're having or not having, the fact that either way, it takes complete control over your life. You don't have to have sex to be cool or to have value. There's so much more to life. Promiscuous sex is fine if you like it, but if you think it determines your worth that's ridiculously unhealthy.\n\n>All science is based on interpretations of data and hypotheses, funnily enough masturbation research wasn't at the forefront of scientific discovery for much of the last century and most of the research is being done this century, meaning less proven science that has stood the test of time.\n\nAlso, I don't think you understand. A hypothesis is an *untested* idea, often derived from data not directly on a topic! A *theory* is an interpretation of numerous sources of data that directly link to it. Those leads us to make decisions. Both are techincally interpretations of data, but theories are a lot more objective, whereas hypotheses are *possibilities*, of which there is usually a myriad of. Making decisions based on cherry picked hypotheses is madness.\n\nEdit: clarity and mistakes 1344246973 Yes, it's a diverse field. It's interesting to ask why that might be. Naturopathy a catch all, picking up but rarely discarding any alternative health idea that might be floating around. 1328224232 i highly doubt that ill ever see this being again, let alone summon it. BUT my brain definitely does want to have that experience again, and i look forward to not freaking next time and analyzing the situation a little better.\n\nIf i do have this experience again, i will invest in placing a mirror on my ceiling for our amusement and will report back here on this thread. but like i said, i highly doubt ill experience that again. 1326548650 Yeah, I was amazed that the person was posting there. "Free thinking" doesn't mean "think whatever you want", especially when it's about knowable, scientific things. 1227292303 As do I. It stems from the secrecy though. When you look at the footage it's clear that something flew down very fast and probably burning. I mean it hit a god damned train... Giving a press conference and calling it a meteor would settle everyone, why didn't they just do that- even if that isn't what it was.\n\nI'm just uncomfortable with people connecting these things because what is next is an unreasonable conspiracy theory. 1350667036 i'm not sure you know what ufo means... 1355104519 Yeah, my sister's doctor got her on this a few years ago. Had her convinced she was "allergic" to almost every food and subsisting on brown rice and steamed veggies alone. After she collapsed at work a few times, I finally talked her into getting a second opinion and eating like a semi-normal person again. 1324915704 I like how you're now so afraid of downvotes you only do this shit on posts with single-digit counts.\n\nYou're the worst kind of troll- the kind that only does it so long as nobody disagrees. 1301974810 I had an aunt that had to be treated for blood poisoning from working in a chemical laden environment and getting over exposed. After that, any sort of plastic off-gassing would make her ill. She was tough as nails too, it practically killed her to have to change everything to avoid getting sick from fumes. She never said a thing about radio waves though, and they had a huge CB setup in their house, as my uncle was a truck driver. 1348767847 How do you know the odds? 1316585926 Are you OP? Why did you delete your other account? 1318873165 Interesting. Well, if you look at the top of both images you do seem to see replicated or echo-effect blurs.\n\nI was also thinking that this could have been an effect of film processing. At one point (in part 2) she says she didn't notice any of this behavior when she was filming, but when the film came back from processing it seems to have had very obvious blur effects. Perhaps large, clunky equipment could have produced single-frame deformations. Again, I am not an expert on 60's/70's film technology but would like to hear what a fotomat tech from that era might have to say.\nMaybe someone like this:\nhttp://i.ytimg.com/vi/RDE_Qn2zihA/hqdefault.jpg\n;)\n\nEDIT: She says "when the film is processed, I got a lot of surprises" 1339610680 >You probably should not waste time with Archie. He uses, 'skeptic' to mean, those who agree with his position. \n\nActually, I don't. In my mind, a "skeptic" is someone who evaluates the scientific evidence before accepting or rejecting a theory as correct or not. The evidence strongly supports AGW theory, therefore it is very likely to be true.\n\nNow, AlyssaMoore and others will gladly claim they agree with AGW theory, just not the "catastrophic" part - but when you ask them to define what "catastrophic" means they quickly change the subject.\n\n>Clearly he has no grasp of the meaning of the term.\n\nI think I have a better of the term than you do, oh great meddling troll.\n\n>This is fairly typical of the level of Archie's discourse. He seems to have a rather poor grasp on 'logic' and 'the scientific method', and he just argues for the sake of argument.\n\nReally? Then I guess it should be easy to point out a logical flaw in my argument. Please, be my guest and explain to me where I got it wrong. 1332769013 Awesome find!\n\nFor anyone who hasn't had formal training on arguments, keep in mind that a fallacy is just **one** way in which an argument can be flawed. An argument could also lack good grounds to draw a conclusion or just have false premises. So don't get hung up on looking for fallacies all the time. 1318184716 Agreed, no person or system is infallible. It was only a couple decades ago that we were lobotomizing people with pickaxes. And the peer-review system for new pharmaceuticals is a fucking joke. 1328263202 She was there. She saw a moving van go through the flames. I think it was really pretty far from the center of the explosion. Just the outside edge. She also got a picture when she stopped to turn around. It was pretty amazing that no one was killed. The driver and passenger in the moving van were slightly injured when the heat blew the windshield, but nothing they had to be hospitalized for. 1355536775 It's hard not to assume an agenda to some of the comments here when the [very same article is getting a warm welcome over at r/mensrights](http://redd.it/144xrf). 1354453633 Tell you what: no date, no city, no time of day, no name, no info... this is bullshit, skip to the next one and never look back. 1315609109 Made it to number two (vaccines) before I realized that this is Poe's Law in action. Hopefully. 1326705115 I kind of wonder ...when they appeared to the people of early earth, they were...gods..and we were nieve..weak..easy to control. Now that they are back, we have become more intelligent, less controllable..and braver to defend ourselves. They can't just come down here and say ' bow to us..we are your God"...ya...that's not going to happen. When we come across an aggressive animal..we stand back and watch...go slow..yet in plain view. Maybe they don't need to come down to us because they have the sensors necessary to complete thier goals from up there. Maybe that is thier goal...to let us see them. So when they do land, it will not be so fearful to us. I think, to them, we are like cave men and our under developed brains couldn't handle thier level of evolution...who knows..what ever it is...or why ever it is...we will find out soon and my guts tell me that when it does happen..it is not going to be very good. 1355976026 Why is it undeniable?\n\nCould you please provide the evidence?\n\nAlso, you're claiming to be familiar with all known flying objects of human origin. If by known you mean known to yourself, then fine. If by known you mean publically available knowledge, then fine. Then, there is stuff that may be known by people working of prototype military aircraft that isn't known to the rest of us. 1332246096 I was really bugged by the theologist's comment about the "God doesn't play with dice" comment. It was in direct opposition to the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics. Entirely. nothing more, nothing less. 1342335267 I completely respect your story, and how crazy it sounds. I know I would be quite scared. But how does any of this make you believe in ghosts? How do you know it wasnt a homeless person, for example? 1335818119 "Someone's kid got a potentially life-threatening disease! Made me smile :)"\n\nI feel like i need a vaccine against the smugness in that post, lest it infect me. 1334481387 The picture is compelling, but the video is a bit bogus. It looks like it was edited for the Sci-Fi channel or something. 1353612347 try taking a photo of a passing passenger jet... not that easy... 1317514596 It's shit like this 1310478777 >The one on the left looks more physical and real. The other one is almost blue. Thing about them is that My hand is on my chin in one picture and the next is my hand moving downwards, as if this picture is showing a timeline of my movements.\n\nThis is exactly how double-exposure works. If you do a Google image search for double exposure, you'll find lots and lots of examples.\n\n>But this was a digital camera (most people are using Iphones/Androids to take pictures). I don't think a double exposure is likely.\n\nDigital cameras are capable of double exposures.\n\n>the apparitions in photos have become more and more frequent.\n\nDo you have any at all that you could post for us to look at?\n\n>The thing that has me the most freaked out, is that the internet says that evil ghosts can take the form of a person they are after. I even say that on the tour.\n\nDo your best to become un-freaked-out by this. If you wrote down every claim that every person has made about their personal belief in supernatural events and compared the entries, half would likely be rendered impossible due to fundamental conflicts, and the rest suspect due to there being a lack of proof outside of personal experience and assumption.\n\nThat's awesome that you do ghost tours, but don't lose your grasp on two of the greatest gifts humans have evolved to use; critical thought and skeptical inquiry. 1336075840 Could God create problems so big that even his call center couldn't handle ? 1315319351 You can read my comment below if you care to. Frankly, I don't claim to be any expert in any way in the realm as my knowledge on this topic is highly limitted. I don't care to dig through all the bullshit out there for a piece of evidence. What I can do is defend is the concept of homeopathy, bullshit aside, which neither of us know the whole picture of. If you are convinced remotely by this article, I encourage you to be a little bit better of a critical thinker, as this skill is especially important when examine arguments you side with. \n\nCan you describe the difference between homeopathic responses and hormesis responses? I seem to be a little misinformed. 1323656257 give it some time, somebody will torrent them\nif you do it i'll keep the tracker alive ^^ 1317925062 My respect for her just went up about 200%. 1294761990 homeopathy does cure one thing\n\nlife 1276221353 Well, there is this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_fluctuation \n\n 1326048317 Some theories of reality would state that you did die, but were not ready for it, still had things you needed to accomplish, so you came back and shifted into another reality where a different version of yourself had a similar but not quite the same accident. 1345474359 "Herbal medicine" works perfectly well, provided that you're going with the definition of "medicine" that means "things which have been proven to work being used in an effective manner." Unfortunately people tend to abuse "natural" remedies by using them either in ways in which the active ingredients are completely ineffective, or even dangerously by using some plants that shouldn't be taken over a long period as a supplement due to mistaking a *treatment* for a condition with something that will *prevent* it. 1303974589 At first, I wondered, is she a spiritual Doctor of Psychology - as in she has a PhD and is a spiritual person? Or is she a Spiritual Doctor of Psychology - which explains why they didn't capitalize any of it...\n\nTurns out, she really is a Doctor - and has done some good things - or at least worked in places that do good things.\n\nBut when searching for *what* her thesis was on, I came upon this interesting [note](http://books.google.com/books?id=fVtmQVCgUt0C&pg=PA251&lpg=PA251&dq=doreen+virtue+doctoral+thesis&source=bl&ots=iq99cINh6X&sig=bjaQz2NtMw3yI9QMKxkKFQKJ0L8&hl=en&ei=wcSDTbeSGYKDtgf-o5HMBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false):\n\n> Doreen holds... a Ph.D. in Counselling Psychology from California Coast University (which was fully accredited at the time of graduation)...\n\nSo, it looks like it's accredited now, or at least their website says so. Why did they include the parenthetic note?\n\n 1300481618 Sorry, away from computer for a couple days.\nYou are correct, and I let myself argue far past the point where I should have realized I was out of my depth.\nI thank you, for making me realize I need to put an '*' next to my personal 'skeptic' label. \nMy personal experiences with Chinese Medicine have been overwhelmingly better than those with MD's, but that doesn't change what you're saying.\nAgain, \nThanks. 1344527421 I grew up in a house with a lot of activity and lived there as an adult for several years with my children. \n\n1. My moms bf lived with us, a pilot with a major airline of 20 years at the time, came face to face with an older man in 18th century clothes in the master br doorway. this lasted 5 seconds until he turned to shout at my sleeping mother and it was gone. He left that moment and didnt set foot in the house for weeks.\n\n2. as a kid, I often woke up to the sheets billowing down perfectly as if someone had just tucked me in.\n\n3. I would often wake up to the sounds of someone going in the bathroom and doing their business, when I would sit up to look after listening, it would go away and the door was open with lights off.\n\n4. as a teen, a pet lab use to wake me up in the middle of the night by laying on my chest and threatining to kill something above my head\n\n5. when my sister and friends were telling "true" ghost stories when in our living room, every lightbulb in the house went out. seconds after I said "stop talking about this stuff or something will get mad". Literally every lightbulb in the house needed replacing with no reason to suspect electrical issues. I left immediately down the street to a friends when it happened and refused to come home for a few days. I was about 10 years old and it scared the hell out of me. I't wasnt until my 20's that my sister and mom told me every bulb was burnt out, even closets that were never used. A 4 br 3 bath house with a finished basement. Im guessing 60 bulbs total. The fact that they turned off after I said sent me running\n\n6. I woke up once to see a painting that had hung on the north wall of my br for years, hover above my friends sleeping head and crash down on him as soon as I said in my head "WTF is that"\nI was a teenager and my brother was off to college, the double beds still remained and a friend was spending the night. I opened my eyes from a deep sleep to watch a painting hover over his head for maybe 3 seconds, and then it fell flat on him. He woke up asking wtf and I explained exactly what I saw. This was the same now grown up friend whose house I ran to years before, he never doubted me once.\n\n7. FF to my late 20's, the house has been unoccupied for a half a year and I am fixing it up. I am in the family room which has a view of the front door and foyer. The foyer has a view of the living room and the bottom 4 stairs that take you up. When I am in the family room, my 4 yr old step son makes an odd noise and I see him in the foyer, frozen staring in to living room. The only way to explain it is like he just saw a ghost. he turned towards me and stumbled over his own feet frantic to get to me. he was panicking but when he finally made out was wrong he said someone was in the house. I rushed outside and went next door. I was sure nobody was in there since i had been all over and you can hear anything in a bare bone house. Me and my neighbor went in with our weapons of choice and acted all tough lol to find no one in there. When my step son calmed down, he told us about how a man bent around the wall coming down from the stairs and motioned for him to shhhhhhhh. This is the point where he shit his pants and froze. If you saw you would have no doubt he saw something. the description of the man closely matched what my moms bf came face to face with 20 years earlier.\n\n8. I saw a human figure rush from my bedroom , across the hall to my sons bedroom and I chased after it. probably about 1 am, I was in the upstairs bathroom smoking out the window when everyone slept. we had 4 kids in the house and the mrs at this time. I opened the door to go back to the bedroom and saw what I assumed one second was my wife/gf and the next realizing it certainly wasn't. my first step I was thinking "OMG whats wrong with her, is billy ok" and the next step I was realizing whatever I was rushing after isn't the mrs.. When I turned the corner I found the room empty and him sleeping soundly. I spent an hour cursing that ghost daring it to come back. It seemed to have a malicious intent the way it rushed in MY FUCKING KIDS room, I was pissed and wanted a ghost fight. I put my son in our bed and dared that mother fucking to make a peep. threatened with every christian and voodoo bullshit I could find on the planet to send it to a place it didn't want to be if it didn't go where it was suppose to. I was honestly more angry than I have ever been and was confident I wasn't threatening a figment of my imagination. I said a lot of things in that bedroom that night and I dont know which is to blame, but I haven't heard a peep since. \n\nI have since move out of the house to raise my kids elsewhere. My mom currently lives and will probably be there in 20 years\n\n 1342239131 Well from what i know,white noise is a phenom,that just occurs. Are you tying to reach someone in particular? \n\n 1346638766 Do not accept. Nothing worth knowing is not worth examining. Chiropractic theory has been examined extensively. The theory was made up, it has no basis in human physiology or modern medical science and is worthless.\n\nNow, in order to further evaluate your claims, we'd need to know what was done? Some traditional and standard physio-therapy - sure, a recent study showed that this was the most effective treatment for non-idopathic lower back injury. Is this Chiropractic treatment - NO. Just because a Chiropractor does some physio, doesn't mean that it was Chiropractic treatment.\n\nTai-chi - sure, some calming exercises and range of motion might indeed improve someone's back issues. Is this Chinese medicine using the theory of Qi - NO. Just because a Tai-chi practitioner does some helpful body stretching movements doesn't mean they've balance their Qi (or Chi).\n\nSo, indeed your observations are worthless to this discussion. Sorry. 1327965746 Apparently it's possible to fly an RC plane to a height of over 2500 feet and the actual operating range is about a mile.\n\nNow that I think about it, it would make sense to strap a light to an RC plane if you're going to fly it really high so that you can see it. 1356287613 All I got from this was that it showed that this guy doesn't understand the Zeitgeist Movement. 1303772508 I have to agree, labeling it a conspiracy theory actually gives it credibility (amazingly). Some conspiracy theories (very rarely) have turned out to be true. Better to not even give the slightest glimmer of hope. 1350599347 What about the holy ghost? 1307219362 The first comment hit on something that is of course going to be ignored in this whole toss-up:\n\n>Matthew Myers says:\n>July 6, 2011 at 11:39 pm\n\n>Y’know who’s really feeling awkward right now?\n>“…and if I was that guy, I’d already be changing my name and moving to a third >world country.”\n>**Yeah, that guy. Tried without jury.** I hope he remains anonymous until things cool >down. -.- I feel sorry for the poor bastard.\n\nThere's basically been one brief description and it's degraded into "ZOMG ELEVATOR GUY IS A POTENTIAL RAPIST!!"\n\nThis hysteria has got to stop. Until then, I'm taking the stairs and *not talking to anyone.* 1310043455 I'd have to prove this fake for this to be certified bs; for now, it's weird and it challenges my reality. 1341448619 Yeah, language is far from perfect. What do you mean by lack of a 'strong belief'? They have a weak belief? That would make them a theist who's not very convinced of their belief. If you instead meant someone who lacks a belief in any gods, then that would make the people that disbelieve in all gods a subset of the first group that just lacks belief. This first would be any atheist, while the second would be a hard/positive/gnostic atheist.\n\nIf the definition of theist was added to the dictionary, it would, if done properly, have to follow people using it in that manner in actual use. Actual use leads, and dictionaries follow. I'd argue against people using it in this way, as it further muddies the waters of communication, and hope that it changes.\n\nThe terminology only matters to have clear communication. If someone else uses a term in another way, and explains what they mean, then we're communicating. I explain how I use the term differently, and why, and hope others use it the same way.I'm not trying to push it on them, but instead trying to convince people that it's clearer and more useful way of defining the word.\n\nIn a world dominated by theists, I think there is use for a term describing the set of all people who are not theists, regardless of the particulars of why they are not theists. What word, if not atheist, would you suggest for this? 1296249342 The unfortunate truth is you're working in sales, and if you say anything to discourage a customer from buying a product, you risk being fired. You could talk to your manager about whether the store should keep selling it (or whether it should be displayed with a "not vegetarian" sign) but ultimately it's a management decision. \n\nEDIT: Afterthought: I think suggesting to your manager that it be displayed with a "not vegan/not vegetarian" sign is a great idea. It may reduce sales of that product, but I think it would increase customer appreciation and loyalty. If you manager goes for it, you'll then be safe in answering the question "what's in it?" 1327357893 Absolutely possible. It happened to my grandma. It came in through the chimney. My grandpa opened the door and it flew out. \n\nI don't know how fast it was or wether it made sounds or not. Could check. 1334836745 That is a terrifically written article. It strikes the tone for the skeptic movement well, IMO. 1349041110 Well, there's a lot of posts like, say, the most recent example I seen with the basic idea that "i want to convince someone nuclear power is safe", and then god knows who god knows how allegedly related to the nuclear power comes in and posts vaguely reassuring posts to be met with much upvoting and zero scepticism. \n\nThat is in the day when if you want to know how NRC does stuff, how much actual "proofs" of safety they do and how much they don't, you can go look at NRC resolutions yourself and make up your mind, rather than to listen wide eyed to some second hand fairy tales of perfection from god knows who, which is incidentally the *exact fucking same* process by which various crackpots learn of the alleged dangers. Pro mainstream doesn't equal skeptic any more than anti mainstream does. 1355760639 Yesterday I saw [this ridiculous nonsense](http://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/x2ne3/made_me_think_about_the_co_shooting_xpost_from/) posted and I almost flipped my desk at work.\n\nI almost flipped the *shit* out of my desk, you guys. 1343249598 Several studies show that people expect a certain degree of deception in studies, and it is generally accepted that debriefing properly can overcome the majority of problems surrounding deception.\n\nOf course, this wouldn't work with a life-threatening illness, but with chronic illnesses that don't prevent patients from functioning, like IBS, I see no problem with this. 1293588614 [and circlejerk says you should use PNG](http://www.reddit.com/tb/apkd9/) 1293739054 Nice site, thanks.\n\nFor some reason, there's a link to /r/conspiracy in the page footer in the bottom right though. 1339368375 Ah, I see, "predict" was the keyword. I should have known. 1306861564 >I think there is a fundamental misconception that 'deniers' flat out reject it's happening. For the most part from what I've read and observed, they don't.\n\nI keep hearing this, but I have yet to see actual figures about this. For example, the whole "Climategate" affair is all about whether or not temperatures are increasing, i.e. if climate change is indeed happening. I see a *lot* of deniers/"skeptics" constantly attacking people like Mann and Phil Jones, even though the trust of their research is about whether temperatures are increasing or not.\n\nSo I think you're mistaken. The mistake is probably rooted in the fact that you're assuming the arguments on the part of deniers/"skeptics" to be rational and consistent with each other, but the reality is that it's rarely the case. Many people who doubt "clmate change" will follow what others have called the climate change denial ladder:\n\n* First, question whether it's really warming up, attack the various official temperature records, with the exception of Roy Spencer's (an anthropogenic climate change denier) because it is ambiguous.\n* When confronted by solid argument that the records are in fact mostly right, and that temperatures *have* been increasing, claim (with emphatic certainty) that it is due to natural causes\n* When faced with the incontrovertible evidence that human-generated CO2 warms the atmosphere, claim that the effect is very limited or near saturation\n* When faced with evidence that the effect is significant and nowhere near saturation, claim it will actually be beneficial, and not catastrophic (CO2 is plant food! Cold kills more than warmth!)\n* Finally, in the rare cases where deniers/"skeptic" will concede that the effect is real, significant, and won't be beneficial on the whole, they'll claim we can't do anything to change it, and thus will be forced to adapt.\n\nObviously, a given denier/"skeptic" will go back up the ladder at the first opportunity, therefore being caught in a loop of irrational arguments, wishful thinking, and cognitive dissonance.\n\n>They do however question the causes.\n\nThere is as much evidence supporting the theory that the warming is man-made than there is pointing to the existence of the increase. AGW theory is quite solid, as scientific theories go (a side-effect of being constantly attacked over the past few decades), and in order to question it you need to put forward evidence that shows the *current* evidence is somehow wrong. No "skeptic" has been able to do this yet. 1342286701 It's a bit ridiculous. Not sure about the history of "gun control" (vague term that can mean any number of things) in totalitarian states, but I'm willing to bet that yes, they probably controlled them. They pretty much controlled everything; that's what "totalitarian" means. Just to address the dumbest thing on this, though:\n\n"During WWII the Japanese decided not to invade America because they knew most Americans were ARMED!"\n\nBullshit. The Japanese "decided not to invade America" for the same reason Australian has decided not to invade China - it's an utterly inane idea. They couldn't. The Japanese were stretched thin throughout the Pacific. Their goal was domination of Asia. Not only could they not get the men and material across the Pacific to accomplish what would have amounted to the largest invasion in history, by far, but even if they COULD have done it, why would they expend vast resources to occupy a territory that had nothing to do with their strategic goals?\n\nAlso, I don't have time to research this currently, but I'd be interested to compare gun control laws in Western European countries - U.K, Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium, etc. - which I'm pretty sure all have far fewer guns and far less violent crime than the U.S. I will bear factual correction on this, if this is wrong. 1355898985 That defiantly says "give it to me" Did you ask a question? 1350255017 Eh, it's 1.50am where I am and this reminds me of a similar experience. I awoke feeling frightened and saw a dark mass which hovered about for a couple of seconds before darting off at a ridiculous speed. \n\nNobody believed me when I told them the next day. But I know what I saw. 1354384432 Agreed, but the r/machine will downvote your reasonable assertion to hell and back. 1285129631 Not saying that it's impossible to lie, just saying that it's very hard to fake DNA results.\n\nAlso, you're acting like a conspiracy theorist. This allegation falls for the same reason the general allegation falls- it would be quite a difficult secret to keep under wraps. 1304415539 I like to think that it's possible that we are on a simulation of a future generation. This would be to argue the whole, we are running a simulation at the same time as the people running the simulation. Time is what you percieve it as. So for a Matrix Computer, so to call it, running it simulation(s), it would be as us loading a program, or skipping forward in The Sims. For us it just goes in regular motion, because we are still bound to our perceptions of time and space, and need to act out all the events in our daily lives. They can speed forward in it as they are watching because it's a program, meaning everything is predestined. Everything happesn for a reason. God knows everything that is going to happen in the all of time. The thing to check is if this Matrix Computer is running more than one simulation at the same time. Could we figure out the computer language and communicate with the other simulation(s)? 1356938143 Sounds like a new pickup line to me. I WISH TO APPLY MY SPERMATOPHORES TO YOUR FEMALE MANTLE CAVITY. 1287529140 Thanks, I watched the video but I just missed that part. Probably shouldn't be doing homework at the same time. 1328825443 Who? 1323383403 Who? 1326628632 Who? 1332869664 Who? 1281898655 Who? 1294098915 Who? 1314255429 Who? 1344460364 The fact is that the President could have him killed with just a few bureaucratic steps - all done in secret and perfectly legal.\n\nJust like he can order any United States citizen killed, without trial or notification. Just a paperwork drill. 1331132961 Regulation is not the answer. People have every right to take homeopathic medicine or to refuse vaccination. What right do you, or even a majority of the population, have to tell me what I can do with my own body? 1286221545 It's okay. Now I feel like an asshole. To answer your question, I've just never seen anything about Mila Kunis before on here in any context that wasn't about her being hot. Lol 1341943546 Two possibilities. that came to mind for me. Aura, and bi location. the second relies on the first.\n\nAura is a thing that all living things have, from bacterial life to slime molds to humans and everything else. IT is an energy around all life, and in individuals with a strong enough one, it can feel like just another limb. It is entirely possible, that that was your first unconscious separation of the aura around your arm. With individuals with particularly strong ones, the aura feels more real than the arm. AS for the bars, it could have been many things, water pipes, electrical wiring (often magnetic or electrical force con exibit similar effects of solid mass to flesh that it does to aura), squirrels.\n\nNow bi location is complicated, and relies on a belief in part one. Assume it is true for now, just for simplicity. Bi location occurs when two people who have both previously interacted with one another, are both less actively aware of their surroundings. Either through intoxication, being tired, zoning out, or something else. IN addition both people's auras must be in similar strength, and compatibility. The last bit is that one person is not conscious, and that person will bi locate into another persons body.\n\nNow Bi location seems like a complicated BS reasoning for dreams. The difference being that when bi location occurs, your mind acts out a much stronger version of the placebo effect, in which your body will inflict the same physical state on you that your mind experienced when bi located.\n\nI have had one experience that I can remember with bi location. I was walking around my old school from when I lived on the other side of the country. I interacted with an old staff member who did not teach there when I attended, instead he was hired on as a temporary replacement for someone after they left when the school was announced to be getting shut down. When I woke up I remembered everything, so I act checked it. I had not thought about that place for years, turns out everything was accurate, even the staff.\n\nSo... I hope that helps you out Crocquack. 1350506152 Great insight! Thanks! I'm going to compare some of his translations with the Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary and see what I can find out. 1307393587 Russians with hangovers? Yeah, right.\n 1342738641 I've never seen him this bad.... he's really treading on becoming too crazy for armchair conspiracy types to take him seriously, which was his biggest demographic in the past. It's funny how he's like "I really shouldn't be telling you this", because he *knows* it's too batshit sounding. \n\nI also really do think he believes this shit... All signs point to clinical paranoia. I mean, yah, he makes a living off it, but it's pretty obvious that he's a highly religious dude.... and that he comes up with these theories to deal with the cognitive dissonance he experiences trying to explain the world in such a manner that religion is the infallible "[big good](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BigGood)" it claims to be. 1308965472 I'm just saying, if the dude had excellent cinematography and had the chair on 3 angles and it was centered in the middle, it just would seem...too perfect of a situation. 1352943348 -Albert Einstein 1332909530 ...then you're uncomfortable. And while that's a completely valid emotional response, it's not in itself basis for a public policy decision regarding the safety and well-being of thousands. 1349725885 "He said humans were not going to be able to establish contact with the extraterrestrials through radio waves but through the power of thought."\n\nTake a second and think that if this was real, it could very well be what was considered prayer in religion. These mother fuckers probably came down in their "fiery chariots" ufos thousands of years ago and ruled all of us. They're our gods. 1350995902 >And, as you say, It has been shown that it's no better than placebo.\n\nHe was actually saying that it has been shown to have some effect beyond that of a placebo not that it has been shown the same as a placebo. Random needles are not the same as a placebo, placebo would be to somehow make the person think they had been stuck with needles when they hadn't, which I'm not sure how you would do that. \n\nIn theory acupuncture could work in the following manner, the pricks with needles could cause the body to release some sort of anesthetizing agent, thus it doesn't matter where the pricks are, but the pricks themselves would cause some reaction, now I have no idea if that happens or if it was in fact the placebo effect that caused the reduction in pain, but the former is a possibility as far as I know though I haven't really researched it so it could have already been proven that doesn't happen.\n\nAlso note that if being stabbed with tiny needles does in fact cause some reaction in the body that reduces pain, it certainly isn't for the bullshit magic reasons acupuncturists claim it is, so in that sense acupuncture is horseshit in that their claims about how it works are, and even if it does have an actual effect for other reasons, the people doing it have no clue why, and it doesn't matter where the needles go, so paying someone who doesn't know what they are talking about lots of money to stick needles in specific places when the places don't matter is kind of a waste of money. 1296951298 The paragraph I quoted from mentions criticism by Nancy Ammermann, a professor of sociology of religion, directly beforehand. She was not involved with the cult but rather employed by the US government to analyze the incident. [She doesn't seem sympathetic to the organization at all](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Ammerman#The_Branch_Davidians_Siege_Episode). Hence, characterizing her as a "cult apologetic" seems inappropriate. The connections to Scientology he draws in the [source for the quote](http://www.rickross.com/reference/waco/waco3.html) between the other experts involved in the case, including Ammermann, is rather indirect.\n\nI don't know if she herself is religious, since her Wikipedia page doesn't mention anything about it, but that's beside the point anyway.\n\n(P.S.: Looking at the article by Ross, it's clear that she's not the only one he has called a "cult apologist" - in fact he has a whole page of supposedly such page on his website. I only looked up Ammermann because she's mentioned in the Wikipedia article. I'd be interested what independent evaluations of the rest of them turn up.) 1342040009 theyve done this for a long time, didn't think it was a big deal. 1329265472 Cut to the chase, proven false and that it was all done by the power of Jesus. 1353989117 Yup. No worries. 1343505615 I actually had a [discussion](http://www.reddit.com/r/atheism/comments/ey8lx/why_dont_all_these_so_called_moderate_atheists/c1bvdqv) recently where I was advocating the "Don't be a Dick" mentality. A few people disagreed with me, but as I talked to them more it turned out we were defining "dick" in different ways.\n\n I was referring to someone who uses insults and makes rude comments or jokes that add nothing to the discussion, but they were viewing it as simply being assertive and not worrying about offense. We actually ended up in agreement.\n\nI know a lot of people will use harsh words here (it is an atheist forum so I think it's okay to poke some fun) but they might not use that "tone" in a debate or discussion with a believer.\n\nEdit:\nI say insulting/derogatory jokes about believers in various types of nonsense all the time around my atheist friends, but I try to be as respectful and and polite is as possible when engaging in a dialogue with a person that doesn't share my view. 1295076741 Probably because compared with a diet filled with soda, McDonald's and donuts it's something like food perfection. 1347597829 Unfortunately the first video is fake, as can be seen in this analysis: http://i.imgur.com/YQ0EI.jpg\n\nThe top frame is from another video posted by guy who posted the first video:\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXCEj-fOyEc\n\nThe following frames are from that first video:\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQ-bNOy_CKQ\n\nAround 0:58 of that video the camera suddenly pans up to follow the UFO flying off in to the night. At that point you can see where he has sloppily mirrored the background image to fill in the areas to the left of the original image. The pattern of the lights is perfectly symmetrically. But the patterns of the lights are completely different beyond that point in the later video.\n\nThis is conclusive proof that the video was put together in a program like After Effects (a default setting in After Effects to extend images is to mirror them)\n\nI was pretty sure for a while that this video was real, and that all (except the "close up" video) were real. But once I saw this in the original video it stuck out like a sore thumb.\n\nIf the first video is fake, it stands to reason that all videos that follow are fake too (unless you can come up with a plausible scenario that would explain why a fake video would be released before a real one)\n\nI know this revelation won't be popular as the Jerusalem videos have been very popular and cited as "good" evidence for UFO's.. but the fact is, the videos are fake.\n\nIf we want to get to the TRUTH of what UFO's are and what aliens are and what they are doing here we MUST scrutinise the evidence. When we discover overwhelming proof that a piece of evidence is fake, we MUST accept the fact that it is fake.\n\nAccepting any and all evidence as proof takes us AWAY from the TRUTH, not closer. 1300207959 "We must preserve the American way of life." 1351238513 The maternal mortality rate was also much higher before modern medicine and continues to be high in countries without access to modern medicine. http://www.ajcn.org/content/72/1/241S.full 1297545801 Yes, he's been posting in earnest since May (when he pled guilty) though he had posted a few things as far back as December. He started with YouTube, and then gradually extended. He jumped on Twitter again this week.\n\nThe police are aware of it, they tweeted as much from their public account. Since the last newspaper article said he was told to stay off social media by the judge, we're hoping some action will be taken. We'll see, it took quite a bit of lobbying the first time.\n 1348978817 there is this one particular ghost i think that has haunted me and my bro, it first attacked him and a few years later attacked me and it does it while we are in bed (in separate houses) , my husband has even seen it once while laying next to me, and my best friend saw it once when she slept over my house one time. i dont know who or what it is but i have a feeling its all been the same ghost. i wish i knew more about who or why it does it, i havent been attacked by it in 6 months though its not like it happens often 1346996273 Why not try something positive for a change? 1344563545 Arizona is littered with ghost towns. 1333472648 Fox CONSTANTLY edits their videos to mislead their audience. Fox CONSTANTLY shows only negative news when it comes to the President or Democratic issues. Fox CONSTANTLY changes their position from issues that were positive for Republican administration that are now negative for Democratic administration.\n\n 1340836042 Interesting, my concern is that the person filming has a very steady hand until the lights move. I understand excitement but it also ends rapidly. Red flags... 1317098517 That blonde looks ready to kill someone after that. 1298426037 If I didn't know better, I would think I was reading the words of a fundamentalist Christian. Tone down the generalizations and blind hatred eh? 1322876110 If you are talking about those plug in the wall devices that are suppose to generate a sub-sonic sound that annoys pests and creates a barrier?\n\nI tried them when we had field mice come in the house last summer. You know what got rid of the mice? Poison. I saw a mouse standing next to one of those devices completely un-phased. 1345580522 Oh man, totally forgot about the baking soda and vinegar part. What the fuck. I don't even know what to say to that. 1324679110 Haha. It's possible. My sister has never been much into drugs.\n\nHonestly, I think that all of this Qigong stuff was sort of a straw-that-broke-the-camel's-back sort of thing. She's had a rough year and it seems like this might have put her over the edge.\n\nAnd like I said, I'm mainly trying to reach my more stable sibling. 1297020309 Yes! When you are viewing a non-rebutted page (like this one), click on the app and the middle option in the list below the title "No Rebuttals" has a link to 'Go to a random discussion'\n\n...lets test something. THIS might take you to a random discussion to: http://rbutr.com/rbutr/WebsiteServlet?requestType=showLink&linkId=random\n\nYep, that link should. So anyone not using chrome can just use that link to 'Stumble' as it were, through random claim articles (though if you don't have the plugin installed.. there is no way to get to the rebuttals.... :( WHICH, btw, is something else we will fix in the near future :)\n\nBut for now, using that link is pretty useless unless you like reading rubbish or have the app installed.... 1338230724 That is depressing. All you need to do is film three planes flying in formation and these guys jump to UFO? 1299262512 The problem is after one time you use the Ouija board, it can open a portal to the spiritual planes that is hard to close. The more you use it, the more it wedges open that door. Just because you haven't used it in a while, doesn't mean that door has shut any more. Bargaining and playing with demons is serious business and although it may just be games it's playing now, it could get to the point where it can physically harm you. Also there is lore that if an entity knocks and you open the door to answer and check, it is technically inviting the entity into your home to better contact/terrorize/whathaveyou to the inhabitants in the house. Its possible it might not even pester your mom, but mostly you because if you've been experiencing the paranormal since a young age then you probably have a aura of energy that unknowingly attracts spirits. Even if you cannot get a professional to come, check up on cleansing rituals. No matter the religion/spiritual belief, there is some sort of cleansing/exorcism/banishment ritual you can perform to rid you and the house of spirits. Holy water/prayer, smudging with sage, there is much more out there. If anything, have your significant other perform it with you so that he is cleansed as well. It seems to be attached to both of you. 1345094101 Bear in mind - despite all of the apparent drama they're building, the measures of secrecy *must* be maintained. \n\nSure it could really be a whole bunch of nothing and the team is just jacking us around, but in the slightest event that it really is something monumental down there, taking secrecy precautions is a dire necessity.\n\nAnd the tin-foil hat wearers can surely come up with a myriad of reasons about the 'wrong' parties knowing whats down there first.\n\nThat being said, they should have had a live feed going, especially if they really were convinced something was down there. 1339371903 I've been growing more skeptical recently with the lack of good evidence and the supposedly scientific and critical researchers being anything but. My beliefs about the lack of good footage are a) there's nothing real to show in high quality, everything is faked or mistaken identification (I'm basically here as an optimistic skeptic waiting to be convinced), or b) people are frigging stupid when it comes to recording evidence.\n\nRecently I watched what was supposed to be a fantastic bigfoot video. The video quality was great. You could see a dark mass behind some bushes, and after several seconds, the mass moved and it looked like an animal, but possibly with a humanoid shape. In less than a second after the creature moved, the cameraman whipped away and the two witnesses ran off, even though they were under no apparent threat. I immediately felt like it was a hoax. If it wasn't, why didn't those idiots stay put at keep recording? They'd obviously felt secure enough to pull out a phone, start the camcorder app, hit record, etc.\n\nTips for investigators:\n*Get a tripod\n*Use low-light technology; I think the reason everything is indecipherably bad is because cameras just can't get a lot of data in low light (because physics)\n*Grow some balls and dedicate yourself to dispassionately recording evidence in a scientific matter, without freaking out, talking too much, jostling the camera, etc.\n\nIt's depressing how often people are willing to accept supernatural answers without seeking out a more obvious one. Humankind has been suffering from this for millenia; it's only from a scientific approach that we've stopped accepting thunder is caused by gods fighting. If people would stop responding to their reptilian brain tendencies and tried some scientific method in their evidence gathering and evaluation, maybe we'd see some better evidence. 1352752137 Not *that* quick if it takes till next year... 1341950089 That's a tumbling faceted satellite.\n\nLook up Iridium flares on http://www.heavens-above.com they are very interesting to watch, can be very bright and look pretty much like this video. 1342740938 I don't think this is an appropriate subreddit for that. 1334940247 Just the one dude you were replying to. Somehow them *not* caring is destroying your faith in your family. At least, that's how I read it.\n\nAnd it depends on how large the minority is. There's a difference between a problem with one guy, and a major trend. 1325698941 I use MediaMonkey to organize my music and download podcasts. Takes a little getting used to, but it's very useful. It doesn't have much of a podcast directory though; I just find the RSS feeds enter them manually. 1276003202 This is not how news station reporting works.\n\nThe cameraman is just some guy. I've worked for local news stations, and the camera operators are not guaranteed to be rocket scientists. \n\nAnd the cameraman doesn't decide what goes to air, the producer does. The actual story is being run by the reporter who writes the material. The cameraman just does what they are told. They have no authority at all. \n\nThe cameraman may well be some jaundiced old hand, or a pot smoking cynic, a believer, or someone who doesn't give a shit either way. There are all types. \n\nIt's just as likely that the cameraman thinks this is a silly season story and hasn't given it any further consideration than not. \n\nThe actual footage that went to air was enhanced in the editing suite - that's probably not done by the cameraman either, might have been done by other crew, depending on the size of the station. 1353295496 >But if we could redefine "scientist" to mean someone who tries to think scientifically, I think that would be much better than brights, as it would also help to promote scientific thinking.\n\nEhh, I don't really like this. Just because someone doesn't believe in god doesn't mean they have anything to do with science. Granted, statistically they *probably*do support the idea of scientific thinking, there's no guarantee. All it would take is one idiot asshole proclaiming to be a "scientist" doing and saying stupid things, and it would tarnish the image of people doing actual scientific work. 1279275632 Also: Homeopathic Hospital? I wonder what [that would be like.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMGIbOGu8q0) 1349970148 For a weather team at a reputable news station to remark that this is 'unusual' is enough for me to at LEAST inquire about it. \n\nI'm not a scientist, nor am I a an orinthologist. However, when I look at the radar-derived elevation reading of the anomaly (1,300 - 1,400 feet), and pair it against the roosting patterns of this specific kind of bird (see http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/Wilson/v077n03/p0217-p0228.pdf ), the two don't coincide. \n\nThis default position of "Occam's Razor! It was birds!" reflects the same kind of thinking that would rule out an actual ET craft, were in to actually show up on radar. 1294512521 yeah that's pretty much what I figured, thanks. 1347191108 No, it's a Rick-Roll. 1295808907 Now it won't leave my head. 1326755896 No, I think s/he's shaving you Occam-style. 1342417413 It's not a saarloos wolfhound. There smaller 1347992197 Lol, that robotic woman's voice always gets me, what is that voice called? 1310481523 Yes. Without question. I've been meaning to get hold of [this book](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tale-Two-Sciences-Peter-Sturrock/dp/0984261400/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=3IFDEEE3SP0IW&coliid=IEL95CWHFXT5J) for a while...but first on the agenda is finding a copy of Project Identification (still struggling for various reasons). Hope all's well, and that you can pull this off. 1354747656 I am **not** defending Pastor Lou, but a) it's a silly bitch who believes this in the first place and 2) it would be exponentially worse if they were charging money or accepting donations for the CD. 1349672301 It's because homeopathy is actively trying to deceive you into thinking their stuff is better than real medicine, while Star Trek episodes aren't trying to convince you that you should build a warp engine instead of getting your family a real car. 1278189573 When you say "ancient prophecies" are the Mayans included in this as well? I'm asking because they didn't account for leap years, so according to their calendar whatever should happen in 2012 should have already happened. 1334136803 A whole hat full of spam. 1295430858 /r/Pseudoscience 1342922019 [You're technically wrong](http://www.cnn.com/2003/BUSINESS/06/26/australia.metalstorm/index.html), but functionally right. 1345390289 That's the only explanation. 1356989811 And the more you realize you dont know a damned thing, the more you seek knowledge. That´s what distinguises you from them. 1315656701 Sure, but it worries me that this subreddit could take a wrong turn and I think that this post is going to get a lot of Karma, it could be a signal. I don't want this to be the skeptics stackexchange, but I would like if it pointed a bit more in that direction. 1356116105 I am motivated to do this. I'll take my laptop before my shift ends and leave it on the floor. I'll post what I find. 1319487165 On the one hand there was no link directly to the Scientific American article. I thought there was. Also, I was wrong about the quote.\n\n\nHowever, I found the Scientific American [article](http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=second-thoughts-on-fluoride) which says it all. 1338782912 refuted at http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2011/10/six_medical_myths_that_arent.php 1319740149 >I don't think I ever even mentioned a hallucination. \n\nThe facepalms, can I take any more... \n\nYes, lets talk of LSD revelation and exclude hallucinations, brilliant. Are we just going back to alluding to them? \n\n>I don't believe that, but it's clear to me that you've somehow felt threatened by our conversation, while I was merely providing philosophical perspective. \n\nThe only thing I saw was giving hallucinogens a bad name. Which could be why I asked if you'd prefer to have the conversation in a relevant sub. I'm in the minority there too but at least it is not off topic there.\n\n>Do you live in a purely objectified world or something \n\nI live in reality with actual things that can be shown to exist. So yes, I live in an objective world. \n\nWhy would you mention devaluing an object? A purely devalued object world doesn't make any sense in the slightest.\n\n>Dear god, why are you so angry? \n\nNo anger, just frustration of the direction the conversation went. I should have known better than to comment on "Take acid. Personal revelation is all the evidence one needs." and think anything would come from it.\n\n>Do you feel objectified, sir or madam? \n\nAwesome example of not understanding the topic at hand. To go from objective to objectified, it answers that you truly can't tell when false equivocation arises. \n\n>I just feel like the discussion could have remained civil, and I was attempting my best to keep it that way. \n\nMy apologies, frustration got the better of me. I was hoping it wouldn't go that direction but when it did there's not much else to be done, it seemed to show a flawed understanding of how things operate and I'd have no idea where to start. \n\n>A lot of my ideas actually have stems in Kant and Berkeley. So I don't see how I could possibly be impressed with what you seem to have decided are "my own ideas" when I am literally practically quoting the two aforementioned philosophers... \n\nThat was in reference to you thinking of psychedelic experience as being a valid reason to believe something or affirming the existence of something. And what? You say that we need to wipe our preconceived notions yet you quote people? Doesn't that sound a little hypocritical?\n\n>seriously it's actually produced anxiety in me that you've gone and acted this way. I suppose maybe I am too empathic. I didn't even ever downvote you... \n\nMy apologies, time to chop up I think. \n\nI presumed you didn't, they are because of the tone and it is the minority view in this sub, there are plenty of morons who use downvotes instead of words. I don't touch the arrows if there may be disagreement, it doesn't make anything said any more valid. I usually up the first one or two and then forget about em. \n\nNinja edit: Then again, I wonder how many believe in the supernatural because of psy's. 1352368830 News seemed to clear that one up. [Link](http://www.fox4kc.com/news/wdaf-kansas-city-ufo-lights-civilian-flight-team-says-theyre-the-aliens-in-the-sky-20111007,0,6265687.story)\n\nGreat responses. Glad it was worth a post..caught it just looking at general UFO news last night through Google/Yahoo. Believe it was shot on an iPhone too, but not 100%. And is that the real Sarah Silverman that is on our string? That's cool if it is... 1318371999 ...Hey it's plausible. 1232919891 Yeh - what the fuck is that all about? Maybe if they made Simpsons episodes about actual shit (instead of ripping off movies) we'd all be able to pass exams easier. 1331655075 His declaration of attitude and temperament made from his hospital bed. \n\nhttp://nirmukta.com/2009/09/22/premanand-in-abhirami-hospital-coimbatore/ 1254685850 From the article: >The case did not investigate whether Dr Wakefield's findings were right or wrong, instead it focused on the methods of research. 1274736551 I will never forget the episode where he is driving up to this house resting his arm out the window, when he gets there he lifts up his arm and says "I've been scratched!" and shows his arm to the camera, his "scratch" is clearly the imprint from resting his arm on the car door, that one made me laugh. 1344576921 Skepticism is a movement? 1241155505 If something exists in the fourth dimension, then we see only a cross-section of it, like how a flatlander sees a cross-section of a 3-dimensional object when it passes through the second dimension. Likewise, a 4D being could actually appear and fizzle out of existence within our dimension. \nThen again, you can argue that humans are 4D in some ways because we have duration, and from conception to decomposition, we fizzle in and out of existence within the third dimension and see only a cross-section of our 4D selves as we age. 1355418132 If you are psychic, why do I have to call you? 1316139616 I'm not the FTC. 1296520072 Yep, I can't see in 3D, it's really strange. Like I know it's 3D, but my brain splits it into separate images anyway. 1355778419 Is there any update to this? 1332826762 You don't have to be an atheist to debunk creationism...most theists don't buy it either. 1310310975 Out of curiosity, what are your thoughts on ball lightning? A natural event which has recently been shown to be somewhat possible in lab experiments, but cannot be reliably proven or demonstrated in nature because it is by its very nature uncommon? Thousands of testimonials over centuries to its existence, but we can't prove it exists with the scientific method. 1276712842 Haha well thanks! You have a nice day:) 1352817055 A thought; I bet the reports of leprosy in ancient times were more likely this disease small pox, just misdiagnosed due to ignorance.\n\nThank you for the eye-opening photo. 1320842596 Wow thats really bad. I consider the huffpo a new agey rag but as far as i remember thats the worst thing I've seen on there. 1319727312 "So, I was walking through the woods (which happen to have fresh tyre-tracks running through them) when I spontaneously decided to film my dog. But just after I turned on my camera, I happened upon two young girls one of whom was about 3 meters in the air and rocking or pivoting slightly around her pelvis (almost as if she was wearing some kind of harness). The girl dropped back to earth (although I seem to have missed this bit, but I'm sure it wouldn't have betrayed any signs of jerkiness/unclipping of harnesses etc). The two girls then walked away quickly, but I decided not to follow them because we see this kind of shit all the time in Russia; but my dog decided to leave with them. (almost as if he knew them!)" \n\nSounds legit. 1351299954 the trick is to miss hitting the ground. 1351142598 It seems to me that the UFO doesn't stay synced with the camera's jerkiness, regardless of the fact that it's moving. I say fake as shit. 1315609041 This is not really true. We get plenty of MACROnutrition, which is proteins/fats/carbohydrates. However, we are often woefully deficient in MICROnutrition, which is vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, phytonutrients, etc. 1299429670 From the "Face to Face" clip at 3:02:\n\n"…the **tenant** of the separation of church and state"\n\n\nAaaarrrgh. 1281747145 Goes to show us, when the SR-71 was retired and congress *offered* money for a replacement, the Air Force pretty much said "No, we got it covered" (Aurora) This X-37b is what they let us know about.... what's really in the pipeline? 1329797016 >There are documented reports of UFOs not adhering to our laws of physics, for example a 90* turn without losing any speed. Solid objects jumping on radar instantaneously, corroborated by eyewitnesses.\n\nLight can make a 90 degree turn without losing any speed. Radar is light.\n\n>Our knowledge of physics is incomplete.\n\nThere isn't a single honest scientist on Earth who would claim otherwise. 1345052907 Some people don't like the taste of Aspartame, others do. There's no right or wrong stance on that, but it's kind of irrelevant. The issue here is whether it's safe or not. 1317829615 I'm not asking you to learn something you should already know - why weigh in on a topic if you aren't prepared to vigorously and thoroughly present both sides? 1314484462 They may not have found 'us' but they would have eventually found an Earth-like planet with a complex ecosystem (assuming they didn't come from one themselves). Then they would have sent probes to *every* Earth-like planet.\n\nSpace is very big, but our planet is very old, and our galaxy far older. 1296040127 **IT'S A SIMPLE QUESTION.** 1319657273 He's not adding the nursing science specification on purpose. It is not a BA in Nursing Science, but a BSN, a separate degree. He would be lying about his qualifications if he failed to say that it was a BSN. A Ph.D is not encoded with its field, and thus as a title should not contain it's field of study.\n\nIf he were a doctor he would not have a Ph.D at all, but instead an M.D. 1333844171 >[Last Thursdayism](http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Last_Thursdayism)\n\nFTFY\n\nSee also: [Dark City] (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118929/) (1998)\n\nI'd link to the wikipedia article on Last Thursdayism but that entry changed about 2 years ago to a creationism specific one (one could argue it was hijacked). 1350651254 True, but when confronted with facts you were able to come to the realization that blood is not blue. If I couldn't get a girl to see the truth about something as obviously bogus as a powerbalance bracelet, it would make me question the long term potential of someone who cannot be reasoned with once they become stuck on something.\n\nI guess you could say that refusal to accept valid data in place of personal opinion is just another type of annoying quirk, but to me it's a step above stuff like snoring, smacking while chewing, or having a preference for pterodactyl porn. 1316680797 Also from the comment section: "News update: samples of water taken off the east coast show exactly ZERO molecules of homeopathic substances. The Minister for Health said tonight 'the situation is far graver than first predicted.'" 1315861806 No, my phone actually shows the call. And it being received on my phone. 1342159822 > Skepticism isn't a brand name. You can be skeptical of evolution, cats and dogs or anything else.\n\nYou can't really be truly skeptical of evolution. Either you accept it, or you are ignorant. A true skeptic would look at the actual evidence, and would quickly conclude that the scientific theory of evolution is correct. As such, his actual skepticism would last for a very short time indeed.\n\nAnd to use myself as an example: In the past, I didn't give a shit about climate change, global warming or whatever. I was completely ignorant of the facts. But I wasn't a skeptic. I just didn't know anything, nor did I care. If I was to be a skeptic, I would need to care, and start weighing the evidence.\n\nWhich is also what I did after Climategate. The discussion that followed was interesting to me, and for a very brief time I was skeptical of both sides. Then I educated myself, and realized that the denialists were as full of shit as creationists are.\n\n> Besides they have a freedom of speech just like anyone else.\n\nSure, but that doesn't mean their dishonesty shouldn't be pointed out. 1294763848 Ok. This will take a while b/c you have to get through a lot of information to get the crux of what Im saying but this is an ok place to start: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qw_O9Qiwqew He mentions the field theory I was talking about and some books/studies you can look up.\n\nFrom there follow the references he mentions about his work and that of others.\n\nNext follow up with the work and information you can find here: http://www.parapsych.org/home.aspx\n\nFinally, if you're really interested see if you can come across the studies on remote viewing and the declassified results that was done by our the US government. Now this area is far more sketchy and filled with a lot of disinformation etc so Im not relying on it. But if you can believe the results they showed that, yes, they could take anyone off the street, train them in basic remote viewing up to a point. It showed they would have most success in the beginning of the work (as they arent clouding their expectations) the success would drop enormously and then with practice and continued work they could reach a level of similar aptitude if they maintained the discipline. Sorry I dont have links to this right now... I'll see if I can come up with some.\n\n\nI also think you misunderstood my evolution context and that was my fault. The mind is far from fixed just look at neurology to get that. Its a given with modern understanding that we can effect its effectiveness - see all the studies that say things like: meditation helps reduce stress and increase memory, Sudoku helps stop the onset of Alzheimer etc etc. My meaning of evolution was not biological evolution but social/cultural evolution but I did not clarify that so I understand your reaction. Biologically and fundamentally I agree, our minds have not changed much since we became homosapein, if at all. But thats my point, this ability has been in us since before the development of language and is quite common in the natural world among animals (see the Raden video he mentions that too including studies).\n\nBest of luck.\n\nOh and why not, why are you so vehemently certain that no one can ever develop these abilities? 1351340620 [The Mad Revisionist](http://www.revisionism.nl/Moon/The-Mad-Revisionist.htm) agrees. 1291676399 hah, i really will try. i feel like it would take forever for me to actually get something worth while. and by the time i do, everyone would have forgotten the relevance. such is the internets... 1346347126 I couldn't agree more.\n\nBut I'm probably going to leave it as they're a bit sensitive, and don't really want to unnecessarily piss people off who in other respects are nice. 1337154063 No, it doesn't. 1343949050 I know, right! 1353735838 My family has lived in this house since 1999. Honestly, this is my first experience on this level, but I've had a few weird things every now and again. Lots of noises in the night, but usually never anything else with them. 1333519324 I really wish that these kinds of articles would mention the methods used. While it might be safe to assume that these guys blinded themselves, and were able to detect which ones contained "natural" ingredients without knowing what brand of coke they were, it would be nice to know that they have actually had all the proper controls in place instead of just assuming that they did.\n\nI have a sneaking suspicion that many scientists flaunt all the proper requirements for a good experiment. In medical science this seems to be rampant unfortunately. 1304572549 > In times of rapid social change...\n\nDoes this describe the current situation? In the middle-east and north Africa, sure. Perhaps even China. But I'm not convinced you could say the same for the Americas and most of Europe.\n\nOne of the hallmarks of hyperbole is extending the specific into the general. Not only did Sagan qualify that statement to "times of rapid social change", but he suggests that such paranoia is limited to the particulars of that social upheaval. Wondering about secret experimental airplanes is one thing. But when you stretch the bounds of credibility too far it becomes believing in alien autopsies.\n\nOr, give a conspiracist a hammer and everything looks like a hidden nail. 1353356131 It's very dull. 1350617872 Isn't this just another way of saying "stupid people" exist. 1274050815 he's got perfect teeth! 1312337829 seriously 1261438881 I feel that way about visiting reddit, but I just can't stop. 1344223221 I don't, sorry. I just recalled the mechanical voices/people-as-robots thing from a long-ago Psych 101 class and did a little poking around to verify that I was remembering it right. Looks like dissociation is a recognized response to a stressful situation, which seems to fit the bill. Glad it was (apparently) just a transient episode. 1344182134 They obviously don't cure you, but they make the symptoms bearable until your body successfully fights off the virus. Nothing else. All of this medications have solid scientific evidence that show they help with the symptoms. 1298651131 The author of the paper that was linked to by the original poster was assassinated in Tucson quite a few years ago, IIRC. Salman Rushdie merely took his phrase "Satanic Verses" and turned it into a book title.\n\n"Satanic Verses" referred to the verses in the Quran that did NOT fit the numerological analysis presented on that website. 1345477902 Everything I do, I do for you. 1323642202 You are totally right on point! That sounded insane. 1353975919 >UPDATE: I'll try and rephrase a point that I didn't get across before. /moviecritic and /atheism aren't legitimate top ten reddits. They appeared that way because they were under attack, making them appear even more popular. Removing atheism from the top ten by hand isn't about censoring, it's about a shortcoming in our popularity metric. We'll fix the problem, and that'll be the end of it. 1251342567 Well, not quite. To be a stickler for accuracy, what they actually believe is that you must take a substance that causes the symptom you wish to cure, dilute it to the point where none is left, and then it should cure that symptom somehow. Basically, if you used ethyl alcohol with the homeopathic process, you'd come out with the greatest sobering up agent of all time (theoretically). 1315867009 >/r/atheism it's a circle jerk because peopl (sic) say so is kinda circular logic\n\nHe never substantiated that point because it can be considered common knowledge. If you go visit /r/atheism, there are tons of [memes](http://qkme.me/3pz9u1) and facebook/twitter posts and other nonsense that don't promote thoughfull discussion, just everyone vigorously agreeing about how stupid someone's relative or friend/acquaintance is. If that isn't a "circle-jerk", then what is? 1341549334 I'm wearing one right now! And Diabolico is right, although mine has lasted a bit longer than "a few washes." Mine is approximately 4 years old and looks like this: http://imgur.com/0jszG\n\n 1334077415 It's nothing like your example at all. The same very strange, unusual, inexplicable phenomenon happening in the skies over two largely populated cities is not anything close to a murder, and you know it. You know you're wrong, which is why you called me a moron. \n\nI sure hope you're not under the impression you're some great rational debunker, because you're not. Your explanation is not feasible just because you want it to be, and you'll have to learn to cope when people call you out on that. 1287354808 First clip sounds like "Working mums".\nSecond clip is a little harder, it could be a pro-longed "No".\nThird clip sounds like an instrument of some sort.\nFourth clips sounds more like interference of some sort.\n 1340696518 This is the kind of combining of science and religion that I can get behind. 1311051226 You call bullshit due to unfortunate wording choice? You're an idiot. Full health for himself relative to what he has been living with, is that better? 1301963479 Thank you for upload, and like Jan... stated, appreciate you taking out that shitty intro. 1342403197 I am not a conspiracy theorist. I believe Oswald acted alone, I believe Islamic fundamentalists attacked us on September eleventh. I also believe that where there is great power, there will be efforts made to wield that power. I believe that in 2008 there was an amalgam of events that constituted a concerted extra-legal effort to make Bush the president, and it succeeded. I believe there are also efforts to manipulate our democratic efforts now. I believe that there is enough evidence to implicate Lyndon Johnson when he ran for the Texas senate for ballot manipulation as well as many other politicians. It is not a partisan issue. If these people do not respect the interests of the average American because of their greater loyalty to campaign money, there is no reason to expect them to respect the democratic process. If all facts were available to us, I am reasonably certain we'd find a government corrupt beyond our most cynical expectations. \n\nThis is all based on my 40 years on this earth and the repeated and relentless efforts to pervert our government for avarice driven interests, corporate, union, or otherwise. \n\nThe only time working people matter is when we burn the palaces and hang our "rulers" on the trees and lamp posts of our communities. \n\nRead your history. The working man doesn't matter till he rises up. And then it is only a matter of time before he is subjugated back to his *proper* place of ignorant servitude and grateful subservience. \n\nThe lies on television designed to manipulate the public voice save us from armies that would crush us for the same purpose. Our illusion of democracy saves us from the military subjugation our rulers would require in lieu of our ignorant support.\n\n"An optimist believes this to be the best possible world. A pessimist knows that to be true." 1352259539 He actually won the nomination if you believe Reddit. 1343900782 As a parent (without OCD but with some previous anxiety issues), I spend a lot of time fighting off irrational fear, reminding myself that it's not good for my baby to be hovered over or to not be exposed to germs. Fear is a very powerful motivator and is easy to evoke, which is why so many religions use it so extensively. 1307540182 I'm not sure if the addition of more fictional creatures to this story will help. 1329054331 Social phobia huh? How convenient. Have your friend call them. 1342162202 Thank you so much for this. I am saving this comment since it explains something so much better than I, someone who has had fibro and CFS issues nearly my entire life, ever could. Of course, that could be because the brain fog makes me feel down right dumb most of the time. \n\nEDIT :I re-read your comment and it made me start sobbing. \n\n>get treated like hypochondriac neurotic nutbags by non-sufferers simply because doctors have failed them.\n\nthis truly struck me. I have lost potential relationships and friendships even down to owning an animal because of me being seen as a nutbag.\n\nI would do anything to be able to work beyond 15 hours a week. To be able to have the energy to be a MOTHER. To get myself in shape. To go to Disney with my boyfriend and his family. To get a MASSAGE (pressure points). \n\nBut no, of course I am faking being sick and why yes, I am making these claims to get out of something that I would immensely enjoy... \n 1312328601 PETA? Really? Wow. Well that really should eject him entirely from the skeptical orbit. More. 1330306447 By the way, GPS doesn't use triangulation -- it uses trilateration. Spheres, not points. 1352028311 God did it. Got pissed at you throwing that ball around. 1329119337 Steal his ID. Then you will know. 1346979011 I remember reading about/watching shows about this when i was younger, good story! probably the first i've ever read involving a policeman. 1329830615 Giving the benefit of a doubt, they did show sculptures resembling the night crawlers. Do we know if those are new or old? I can't get anything out of Google, so far. Also, I'm more inclined to think that they'd be terrestrial; probably from the long band of forest that goes through the Yosemite valley. I'm trying to dig up some native folklore on the area. If there's nothing to hold up the story beyond the videos, *then* we can start casting proper doubt. 1325213812 Isn't that oprah? 1316738308 Are you perhaps thinking of Elizabeth May, the Canadian Green leader? 1345494814 Well if they *truly* don't censor you, then go balls-to-the-walls man. Tell anyone who comes up with homeopathic bullshit that they're buying water evaporated on sugar, and if they wanted tastier treats to check the candy aisle. Tell them you personally think they're being stupid for throwing their money away. \n\nOr let the idiots keep buying idiot-tax products, and keep your job.\n\nUp to you. 1327360262 I'm guessing \n\na) a kite \n\nb) a large bird of some sort that resembles the shape. 1287054262 Actually, if you turn up the audio, she says:\n\n"We've seen this in mississippi but never like... never like this in mississippi!"\n\nSo she does finish her sentence, but she does stutter/repeat herself. I'll admit it sounds like she's probably had a few drinks tho... 1296460506 The only theory that sounds remotely plausible, to me anyway, is that the original footage from Apollo 11, if there actually was any usable footage, was somehow destroyed, and in order to show the public, and "win" the space race, they had Kubrick recreate the footage. Either that or had it made ahead of time, like the speech Nixon had prepared in case they died on the way. 1354159311 Post it? Grainy or not, I'm interested. 1354297409 Yeah, actually follow that chart answering the questions and I think most of would end up at rolfing 1287186334 Honey can't be anti-microbial or people would not have been able to make mead because the honey would kill the yeast.\n\nI swear I read an article a few years ago where archaeologists ate honey they found in an Egyptian tomb but after some quick googling, I can't find any references to it. 1281744321 What does this have to do with skepticism? 1310187714 Or it could be a ghost 1339467361 if i were you i wouldnt be too worried at the moment although if it does happen to get any worse be sure to stand your ground in your home so whatever entity is in your home knows you mean business 1345495861 Perhaps. However, when it's Chopra, who is so *frequently* self-serving and self-aggrandizing, he gets a little less benefit of the doubt. The man has habits and books to sell, it might be coincidence, but I doubt he's shooting from the hip: everything is scripted precisely how he wants to say it. 1322712814 The world will follow the 'others'. By this I mean a world founded on principles that will allow us to move forward both culturally and spiritually. \n\nI think it will play out as rapidly changing current events leading to a paradigm shift. Those that don't want to experience the shift will lead a life similar to those who are still mad that Obama was voted into office; they will be bitter, they will probably find the world unfair, and they will probably wonder how everyone keeps guessing what they are thinking. Again, I think it will be subtle to the point that those who think this is all bullshit will continue in that thought process; the shift comes from within each one of us and spreads out from there. I think the shock will be just how many people are ready for a true change.\n\n>How can you be sure that, as some believe, you will be able to see the portals ?\n\nI can be sure of no such thing at all, nor do I necessarily believe portals will show up. I feel it will be a shift in our perception of the world; not a shift in the world itself. 1327508685 > Even some of the brightest people I know are utterly convinced.\n\nWhere do you live? You might want to move. 1324504670 this looks like it could potentially be something that is inflated with a gust of wind and blowing in the air - someone's laundry, a kite at an odd angle, a piece of fabric or plastic tent... 1340438677 For the longest time, I thought a Chiropractor was just a normal doctor who specialized in spinal treatment :( 1342761761 I want REM to play "It's The End of the World" in times sqare on December 21st. 1348956142 I have an opinion based on what I have seen in the past over time...but I don't resort to aliens every time...I am just saying based on past research and videos that have surfaced...I do not believe humans are behind the majority of massively complex crop circles.\n\nNo one has to like or agree with my opinion but it is my own. 1350875126 I'd assume she's taking about calcium from hard water when she says minerals. I read this in a few places which all use a direct copy/paste of this sentence from wikipedia:\n"Calcium can choke the hair at the mouth of the follicle causing the hair to break off, then coat the scalp, blocking further new hair growth."\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hair_care\n\nThere's no source given for this info though so it's hard to say how accurate it is. 1354117639 ghosts in Golden Gate Park 1332281878 Wheat is the reason the West has companies like Monsanto and Africa still doesn't. Wheat isn't bad food any more than rice is. 1330157660 Jeez thats kinda weirdI would be scared too.. Yes your right its probly an open line innterfiering with a radio signal. 1348322185 No, I'm just stating the fact that eye-witness accounts are not reliable: http://agora.stanford.edu/sjls/Issue%20One/fisher&tversky.htm \n\nAnd that you have not provided a single shred of evidence that contradicts the scientific evidence put forth by the NIST. Nor are any of the quotes you have provided relevant to the topic at hand. \n\nNo one was questioning if there was molten metal. That part is true. However, molten metal =/= molten steel and we've been in circles about how the science of "molten steel" pouring out of the building would be impossible by all known laws of science. \n\nNo one was denying it was hot. It was hot. But that =/= 911 was an inside job, nor the sheer act of being hot provide any relevant evidence to the table. \n\nEdit: Again I will ask you. What's more likely? \n\nA. A few eye-witnesses are wrong or didn't understand what they were seeing. \n\nB. Thousands of scientists at private and public institutions, and top Universities collaborated with George Bush to cover up that 911 was an inside job. \n\nWhich one do you believe? A or B please. 1355266346 But like i explained, they were bb shaped, not exactly bbs..\n\nIve came to the conclusion someone shrunk bats with a shrink ray and they shat their destructive shit on me. 1342428504 People don't know about the real Battle of Los Angeles anymore? Dude, that shit was real. We were launching some serious fire power at something in the sky. Buildings were wrecked and people were killed. 1300368643 i meant it in the general sense. Way to ignore that. 1306386289 I eat puffer fish every day. It does wonders for the stomach. You should try it.\n\nSincerely, some guy on the Internet 1318046192 If the Quran even started it, then [Al-Ghazali](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Ghazali) surely ended it.\n\n> his movement from science to faith as a detriment to Islamic scientific progress 1349826939 Hi everyone! I'm on the organizing committee of SkeptiCal 2012--a conference of science and skepticism in Berkeley. It's our third year and we've got some interesting speakers lined up. Our aim is to be a bit different than some of the other skeptical conferences. Hope to see you there! 1332623983 Looked to me like it went behind the treeline when it ascended into the neighborhood. 1352483244 Reminded me of the same thing. 1327003363 Ah, misread "premedical" as "medical"\n\nYou are correct, sir. 1305543528 Seems legit to me. The parts that are opaque plastic *do* grant 100% UV protection.... 1303270533 Oh, like saying "Yes, I read the article too."\n\nSensationalized ignorant twit.\n\nThe difference between you and me is that I don't care about the votes. 1339992533 For someone who promotes freethinking, you seem awfully conformist. 1324684134 I am well aware of this Wikipedia article on the historicity of Jesus and like other Jesus related articles, it is disingenuous. \n\nNote how they say "most contemporary scholars" and NOT "most contemporary historians". By scholars, they are referring to Biblical or New Testament scholars - individuals whose scholastic locus is the Bible, and for whom the credibility of their life's work is predicated on the principal character not being a myth. \n\nIf Jesus was real, how come there isn't a single contemporaneous record of his life, or his death - an official execution on the orders of Pontius Pilatus?\n\nLook behind the myth - there is absolutely nothing there. 1335427898 Music can affect your mood and help relax you. Stress can play a big part in inhibiting mental tasks. Music can't make you smarter or more creative, but it can help some people focus more. 1351792879 I'm always skeptical about the claims of any anarchist. Quite simply anarchy can never exists for very long. From chaos some form of order, of government will arise. \n\nPeople will always form into some form of order, some form of structure. Be that in a tribe or in a modern democracy. Humans are creatures of individualism and community. It's not either or, it's this and. This communal aspect will always grow in some fashion.\n\nHowever, it can get out of control where the community oppresses the individualistic aspects of humanity. Modern democracies at least try and draw a bounds around what the community (through government) can do to an individual.\n\nTLDR: Anarchy doesn't exist anywhere for very long. 1333690804 I used to believe ridiculous shit, but then I took a hormone to the adrenal system.\n\n\nI'll show myself out...... 1329668911 Apparently it was while he was downloading the image in question that he was caught and kicked out of their computers, which if true may explain the lack of evidence. 1350504062 http://youtu.be/Qq78Z_TVGso 1342901163 Then all they'd have to do is point the way to the grave site and turn it into some sort of shrine. After all, there'd be no use keeping his death quiet now that everybody believes him dead. 1304614723 Maybe it's a running joke and everyone is in on it but you? 1338595068 I'm pretty sure I do... 1324737934 Will look into it! You study dreams, aye?\nI have two recurring dreams. If your interested after this one, I'll tell you the other.\nThey both lead me to the recurring part differently every time but this is what it is.\n\nBeautiful. I mean BEAUTIFUL Fall colored leaves everywhere. There are also different kinds of snakes everywhere dangling, falling from trees onto my shoulders, and some coiled up chilling. They see me but they're not paying any attention to me. I'm walking on egg shells just trying to get through them. I'm almost through and something startles them I assume cause I begin to hear hissing and tails rattling. I'm scared to look back to see what it is and focus on just trying to get out of the leaf and snake infested area. I'm one step away from the clear when I feel a sharp pain on my lower calve/ankle area. I wake up the instant i turn around, but before I do, I see a snake, that was blended in with the leaves, has bitten me. Red, orange, yellow, brown, and what looked like to be spike looking things above his eyes.\n\n\nWhat does this mean? 1355003483 If they finally get around to publishing their API, I'll be interested, and probably write a plugin for it. But on it's own, this isn't enough to get me using Chrome. 1339721550 Source games have a still unfixed feature that allows one person to appear as another person. 1353308193 Agree to disagree, looks exactly like soap bubbles to me. Hard to believe people don't recognize soap bubbles when they see them. 1344789419 I clicked the link, and it doesn't even go to a specific page on that site. It just takes me to the home page. Clicking on a link to HuffPo is a surefire way to ruin my afternoon. 1337357007 In my 40 years there has always been something that was going to be the 'end of the earth' that we all had to be constantly worried about.\n\nWhen I was a kid it was nuclear war. Then when I was an my teens it was the destruction of the rain forest that was going to kill us all. Then in my twenties it was aids that was going to kill everyone. Now its global warming, 2012 hysteria and so on...\n\nPeople just seem to like to have something big to worry about, right now its global warming. Whether or not GW is a serious threat does not matter, in 10 years it will not be the fashionable big problem that people are worrying about. 1264824371 Fuckin Fox News. They put all sorts of wacky, silly pictures on the screen during the interview. So lame. 1223869351 same thing has happened to me i had a lighter with a specific marking on it and its found its way back to me not once but twice 1356386914 and yet that's not what the headline says, is it? it says: first known cave man where I don't see any proof. 1302486876 > Yuuuup \n\nRead this in the voice of Dave from storage wars. 1326446710 This isn't true everywhere, it varies state to state exactly because in some places it's been successful argued that they're not good evidence. But yes, they are often ADMISSIBLE in court. That does not mean they're considered good evidence. It just means they're not illegal to bring to the table. If the only evidence you bring to a court case is a second-hand account of a death-bed confession, you're going to lose, for exactly the reasons I listed. The speaker doesn't have to answer for what they said, and can't be reached for clarification. Just because something is allowed in court doesn't mean it's a smart way to win an argument. 1333991257 this is a little flimsy, but maybe someone accidentally broke like the plastic cases and when they were putting them back together they put the wrong reels in the wrong cases? 1331411761 This used to happen to me when I was little, not so much anymore. The most recent time is when I heard my dog bark in my house a few months after she died. Or sometimes in the shower I'll hear what I think is my mom and brother talking outside but they're not even home. 1355371071 Fascinating! I did not know the extent of the investigation involved the local police and the air force. I find the owl explanation to be quite incredulous given the entire sequence of events. Since when does alcohol make a person mistake an angry owl for other worldly beings, to top it off, 7 people! Sounds ridiculous. 1330804985 Is moving an option? I am not suggesting you can't evict the entity, but it will require cooperation among all of you and an energetic shift. It may be easier just to move. 1334363187 Have you tried other sensations apart from touch? For instance, if you imagined a bird chirping or a bee buzzing beside someone's ear, to try to induce the expected reaction to the auditory impulse. 1340975864 Hey man, a thirsty alien's a thirsty alien. 1287808435 the eyes thing, yeah.. it was strange. i was fixated at the spot. \n\nbut creepy none-the-less 1325179367 Oh geez, that is where I went to college. Stupid college &#3232;\\_&#3232;\n 1320860505 well obviously we need the audio\n\n 1314661799 You can find a copy of the research here http://physics.princeton.edu/~mcdonald/examples/fluids/may_ajp_71_842_03.pdf , it has nothing to do with the Bermuda Triangle and it consists mostly of laboratory experiments and simulations but it was completely distorted by the media. 1284354661 There's too many TV shows already, making a mockery of the field. It's hard enough getting anyone to take us seriously without these TV shows making us look like a bunch of Roto Rooter plumber wannabe's. Sorry, I support my own team from my own wallet. Can't afford to support yours too. 1344961972 Dangerous new threat to the health of your children reported!\n\nKeep your children away from fresh fruits and vegetables, they carry bacteria that may cause life threatening illness.\n\nSources: [1.](http://www.reddit.com/user/NonViolentWar) & [2.](http://www.reddit.com/user/Im-postle-able)\n\n\n\n 1351841550 Why is this in /r/skeptic? 1300188618 Why is this in /r/skeptic? 1313497892 Why is this in /r/skeptic? 1313589831 Why is this in /r/skeptic? 1352120470 >"This technique is the target of critiques regarding results and efficacy. >One of them is about the “placebo effect” of its remedies, which do not >contain any trace of the raw material used in its preparation. To answer >this criticism, a clarification is necessary: **homeopathy is not related to chemistry, but to quantum physics, because it works with energy, not with chemical compounds that can be qualified and quantified."**\n\nWaaaaaaaaat???? This is just...my brain hurts. 1334807219 I'm not. I've heard plenty of stories regarding Bill Nye's pretentiousness. But that doesn't change the fact that he's right about what he's arguing here. Those guys are claiming aliens are among us without backing that up with substantial evidence. It's along the same lines as all of the Christians out there who say, "I can't explain what I just saw, therefore it must be a miracle from god." This is why no one in society or the scientific community takes them seriously. \n\n"Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." - Carl Sagan 1343489468 You just changed my entire worldview thank you brave sir.\n 1346431924 Yes, I read it, but a company breaking the law doesn't strike me as unusual enough to post a question asking about it. I took it for granted that they were breaking the law, or at least bending it somehow. That left the question of what s/he was skeptical about.\n\nThe update to the post makes it clear. 1290390235 [No shit](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placebo) 1344316750 Good point - lucky he had Bert Newton to make him look like less of a fuckwit. 1352253002 How much heat do balloons give off? Enough to be detected by an IR camera at that altitude? 1320125078 Where is the control mentioned? 1344030603 If he was only a British citizen, and not born of an American parent, then this is true.\n\nHowever most critics who latch onto this seem to be emotionally attached to assigning him Kenyan citizenship.\n\nHis American mother trumps all that.\n\n 1337454038 I remember reading that placebos can be very effective for treating seasonal affective disorder. Peoples' moods are easily manipulated, and maybe sticking a flashlight in your ear will actually make you feel better.\n\nThat being said, I don't think blue light in your brain (if it even reaches your brain) will have any physiological effect. 1284562335 \n>multiple photon absorptions of microwaves shouldn't be sufficient for bond-breaking, let alone ionisation damage to DNA.\n\nYeah, shouldn't, but I have yet to see a computation demonstrating this. Yes, the energy of microwave photons is a million times less than UV, but the intensity is probably a billion times higher, possibly even more. There are much, much more microwave photons per cubic centimeter in a microwave oven than there are UV photons right under your skin. My gut tells me that the probability for multi-photon absorption goes down exponentially with the number of photons (in which case there should be no risk), but I'd rather see a treatment by an expert on the topic than try to figure it out myself. 1345986202 Another shape shifting object hovering over Nellis Air Force Base. This is a classic as well.\n\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1L4CBIeNFY0&hd=1 1324077677 I see where you are coming from, but you're letting your 'anti-woo' feelings get away from you.\nThe doctor of Chinese Medicine I see was a practicing MD in China who relocated to the US and decided to practice traditional medicine here.\nHe uses acupuncture, but is very open about healing coming from the correct use of medicinal herbs. When I asked him if he could help my Mother when she was diagnosed with cancer, he said no. He said there is nothing in any alternative medicine that can react with the strength and speed that is required in treating cancer. He said he might be able to strengthen her body in dealing with the chemo, but we didn't go that route.\nI have multiple stories in my family of MD's causing harm by misdiagnosis. I don't think that the process of diagnosis is well taught (in the physicians I've seen at least), and I have wondered if the scientific methodology for it needs improvement.\nBut, in any case, maybe some day I'll meet an MD who knows how to treat me as a person. I remain open to that possibility, just not hopeful. 1316265724 here's an article from a website i occasionally read\n\n"What's awesome about Ouija boards is that the real reason it works is almost as spooky as the ghost explanation: You're actually communicating, not with the dead, but with the subconscious part of your brain. Your hands move the piece across the Ouija board due to involuntary movements in your muscles, which are called the ideomotor effect. Basically, your brain can and will move your muscles without your express permission because, for the most part, your body kinda operates on autopilot anyway. It's just usually not brought to your attention (you'll notice it the next time a light stops working in a room, but you unconsciously keep flipping the switch every time you walk in anyway).\n\nSo with the Ouija board, you subconsciously think of a response to the question and your brain subtly moves the planchette where it wants it. Maybe not enough for it to work if you were using the board alone (though it is for some people -- it's likely how water dowsing works), but when you get a few people together and they're all subconsciously pulling, it creates the distinct sensation that the planchette is moving on its own accord. In theory, ghosts should be able to direct their hands no matter the orientation of the board, right? Turns out, without being able to see the board, they just kinda move their hands to where they think the letters are."\n\nRead more: 6 Scary Tricks That Amazed Us as Kids (Explained by Science) | Cracked.com http://www.cracked.com/article_19506_6-scary-tricks-that-amazed-us-as-kids-explained-by-science.html#ixzz29Jxs3WXo\n\n\n\n\n 1350255532 Although correlation is not causation (or comparison) That is still pretty cool. 1318269108 The only EVP I've heard that I would remotely call scary, although it is also likely fake, can be found [here](http://www.ghostpix.com/march5evp/drowning.wav). 1328413565 (After a cursory glance at the page) I don't see anywhere that says the gem has supposed mystical properties. It looks like a name of the piece, not a claim of mystical powers.\n\nIf she's just saying "It'll make me FEEL closer to the ocean," she's probably right. It is very pretty and oceany. 1297585018 http://alienresistance.org/ancientofdays.htm\n\nWatch the first video, I encounter people who have experience similar types of events. What you described sounds like something I have heard from a Indian city close to me.\n\nTo keep it short, what you have experienced is demonic activity. I could go into great detail about this, but I recommend you researching for yourself, starting with that website I linked.\n\n 1347207461 It's simple: Inside the battery, there aren't as many percents in the way of the radiation beams, which means they can then enter your brain unhindered. When you recharge it to 100%, the beams are fully blocked. 1353937233 From the source material:\n> While most humans are clearly “behavioral” omnivores, the question still remains as to whether humans are anatomically suited for a diet that includes animal as well as plant foods.\n\nNo, this is not in question. We are suited to eat meat. When we eat meat, we get nutrients from it, a benefit which far outweighs the cost of eating meat. Thus, we are suited for it. This isn't hard.\n\n> The masseter and pterygoid muscles hold the mandible in a sling-like arrangement and swing the jaw from side-to-side. Accordingly, the lower jaw of plant-eating mammals has a pronounced sideways motion when eating. This lateral movement is necessary for the grinding motion of chewing.\n\nWe don't really grind side-to-side like dedicated grazers. Our incisors and canines prevent it (try it right now: separate your molars a tiny bit and see how much lateral movement you have). An herbivore like a [horse](http://www.britannica.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/horse2.jpg) doesn't have this problem, as the incisors/canines don't interlock as arcs at the front of the jaw.\n\n> [In herbivores] The temporalis muscle is small and of minor importance.\n\nhaha. [Gorillas are herbivores](http://www.flickr.com/photos/24704473@N07/5880477367/), you big dope. What muscle do you think goes up in that pocket on the side of the skull? The *giant* temporalis.\n\n> Many of these herbivores increase\nthe sophistication and efficiency of their GI tracts by including carbohydrate-digesting enzymes in their saliva.\n\ncommon misconception. Salivary amylase doesn't noticeably affect digestion. It prevents the buildup of insoluble polysaccharides in the mouth, which would otherwise cause tooth decay.\n\n> Bears have not, however, adopted the flattened, blunt nails seen in most herbivores and retain the elongated, pointed claws of a carnivore .... An animal which captures, kills and eats prey must have the physical equipment which makes predation practical and efficient.\n\nSure, but what about non-predatory meat eaters? Bears can hunt and kill prey (even deer!) and thus have claws and teeth capable of subduing large, living animals. Other omnivores (many rodents, raccoons, skunks, etc) do not have "killing bodies". They scavenge, eat defenseless young of other animals, or eat invertebrates.\n\n> The [Human] canines are neither serrated nor conical, but are flattened, blunt and small and function Like incisors.\n\nThey are not quite pointy, not quite flat. They are thicker, so they can take more lateral stress than incisors and shear better than molars. Give someone a big piece of tough jerky. What will they almost always do? Put it in the side of their mouth, bite with the canines, and rip it away with the hand. Our canines still tear well. They aren't made for punching holes in the neck vessels of prey, but they aren't reduced to grinding surfaces or missing altogether. They're between a typical herbivore's and carnivore's. ...shocking...\n\n> Human saliva contains the carbohydrate-digesting enzyme, salivary amylase. This enzyme is *responsible for the majority of starch digestion.* [emphasis added]\n\nAs above, this is demonstrably FALSE. Our pancreatic amylases do that work. Salivary amylase is destroyed by the stomach proteases. If the claim was true, potatoes would dissolve in our mouths. They don't. They dissolve in our intestines.\n\n> There is also extensive bacterial fermentation of fibrous plant materials, with the production and absorption of significant amounts of food energy\n\nCitation needed. I am not medically aware of any substantial caloric gain from the large intestine contents. By the mid-ilium, most of our nutrient absorption is done. vitamin B12, bile, and a few bacterial products are absorbed in the distal small gut, but the colon is pretty much there for water balance.\n\n> In conclusion, we see that human beings have the gastrointestinal tract structure of a “committed” herbivore. Humankind does not show the mixed structural features one expects and finds in anatomical omnivores such as bears and raccoons.\n\nLOL. He just discounts the evidence that we ARE a hybrid form between dedicated carnivores and herbivores. We can't digest cellulose unlike the grazers. We can't bring down large prey with only our bodies like apex predators. We have teeth both for shearing and for grinding. We have reasonably close herbivorous cousins (gorillas) with vastly different anatomies suited for fibrous vegetable food. We have close omnivorous cousins (chimpanzees and bonobos) with dentition and GI tracts much like ours. \n\nTL;DR: the source material ignores all of the omnivorous adaptations we have, falsely dichotomizes the world into predators and herbivores, and is flat out wrong many times. It's pure bullshit. The guy is cherrypicking and distorting evidence to support his beliefs much like a creationist.\n\nEDIT: wow, thank you for the reddit gold, anonymous person. Tokens of appreciation like that are encouraging, and yet I am almost embarrassed that what was just a whimsical, snarky rebuttal got this much attention. Anyways, many thanks. I will consider writing more in-depth stuff for reddit (and this sub) more in the future. 1353110908 >Sure, but then it's not necessary to call it anything other than incorrect, it's not that you're saying it's wrong, it's that you're calling it laughably wrong that I take issue with. \n\nBut it *is* laughably wrong--I often laugh aloud when reading such things. How does me relating this fact to peers 'hurt' anyone? Even if it does 'hurt' anyone (and, to be sure, such words are only capable of doing so in an extremely superficial sense), why should that weigh on my prose? I laughed when I saw the recent "UFOs over Denver" video, and [I shared it here](http://www.reddit.com/r/skeptic/comments/13724u/cnn_many_subreddits_stunned_by_shocking_video_of/) (where it was well-received, for what that's worth) with a decidedly derisive (and, in the end, [perfectly accurate](http://www.reddit.com/r/Denver/comments/13da3k/this_is_the_denver_ufo_meeting_followup_post/)) title featuring my best guess at a more likely explanation. Is your position so aggressive that you think that post doesn't belong here as-is? If it *does* belong, why would anything I've advocated here be at all objectionable?\n\n>I don't particularly see the need to call it stupid, laughable or any other negative term nor do I think that the beliefs are stupid, merely wrong and irrational\n\nI don't personally say "stupid", but I do say "uninformed", "laughable", and similar fare regularly. These are accurate descriptions of their irrational beliefs, I see no reason to not let someone I am speaking with know that this is how I view an issue. If it causes them to dismiss me outright, that is their loss at least as much as it is mine.\n\n>something like "I'd stop calling these people stupid if they act and believe like I do." which, to me, isn't too different from "Hey, I'd stop calling these people fags if they weren't so gay."\n\nExcept, ~~again~~ {EDIT: I appear to have confused you with someone else in the same thread who committed the same error, my apologies}, that it's completely different than in your example because I'm "coercing" (read: posting comments that some *may* find somewhat objectionable on a publicly available website) people who **have chosen to subscribe to a particular worldview as a group**, *not* people who belong to some non-self-selected group and not any particular individual that I might be engaged with. My "y'know, super hurtful" comment was meant to capture the idea that people do not have a right to not be offended, that being offended from time to time is a fact of everyday life, that periodically being offended does not in fact do an individual any actual harm, and that offending someone in the course of expressing an opinion is not in any way shape or form "bullying", nor is it even something that justifies accusing another of being mean-spirited (let alone some greater claim) on its own. Please stop insinuating that I am a bully simply for posting my opinion in an honest format in an open forum--it's disingenuous, *flatly* untrue by definition, and unfair to the victims of a very real problem in our society. I would earnestly prefer that you consider rescinding the remark as a poor choice of words. 1353381519 Ugh what has happened to this sub? 1319513211 Are those dreams the same reoccurring ones or always different? 1335069570 I think doctors should treat everyone regardless of their silly beliefs and practices. Refusing to treat someone because they aren't vaccinated (unarguably a poor decision) is as silly as refusing to treat someone because they're a smoker.\n\nMaking sure your doctor tells their patients about vaccination-related facts and myths, sure. Demanding that your doctor say "you're not vaccinated? Sorry, you can go die in the gutter" is completely excessive. 1311093763 I like how homeopathy being from Germany is cited as one of the reasons that this strategy wouldn't work. "Well, Germans are kinda the *opposite* of an oppressed minority..." 1305295148 Though I do admit it could have been a dream (that dick just pissed me off) It would absolutely be the most realistic dream of my life. Unfortunately I can't remember that much details about the text It was a couple years ago :/ 1344982096 The whole autism/vaccine link is supported solely by one article, the Wakefield Study, which has become a shining example of scientific misconduct and incompetence. The safety of vaccines is scientifically *uncontroversial*, to the extent that global warming is. This means there is no longer any real discussion in the scientific community, as the evidence is very heavily stacked. If you don't understand already, learn to understand the scientific and peer review processes. It will kill some of that paranoia that there are hidden interests "covering everything up." 1301674150 *sigh* why must everything be a double edged sword? 1305143412 All too true. 1312920734 i thought stanton was a shill? \n\nsource: Behold a Pale Horse by Bill Cooper 1350445925 So no? 1345264327 Urban myth alert!\nhttp://www.snopes.com/inboxer/household/cellphones.asp 1326618374 True, but what is scary is he was ELECTED to that office, which means there are millions of Texans and Americans too, who either agree with this moron or don't care about it as long as a republican gets in or their taxes don't go up. 1313698384 I'm sorry, but you're trying to move this away from the scientific towards the political, and I'm not really interested.\n\nThe fact is that deniers have politicized the debate about whether AGW theory is correct or not. I'm not really interested in discussing Libertarian politics with you.\n\n>And there aren't green interest groups that favor government intervention for gain?\n\nIrrelevant. Only one side is denying the science.\n\n>That still doesn't mean it was not once presented and gained significant support.\n\nWell, it didn't. Even in the 1970s there were more scientific papers predicting global warming than there were global cooling.\n\n>I was bunching the terms because there is a history of failed theories by climate/ecological alarmists.\n\nThere isn't, actually. The Ozone layer problem was a real one, and so was Acid Rain. Furthermore, a scientific theory is judged on its own merits, not on those that preceded.\n\nIt seems you are trying to politicize a scientific debate for obvious reasons: indeed, Right Libertarianism fails when confronted with problems such as Global Warming, which require the intervention of the state. To acknowledge man-made climate change would require you to accept that Libertarianism isn't perfect, and that is anathema for a ideologue such as you. Thing is, science trumps ideology, every time. Sorry.\n\nSeriously, don't bother responding if you're not going to make this about the **science** of global warming. 1350869907 argument from tradition fallacy 1338307162 pps. I asked you a hard question! why you no answer? :( ill repeat my hard question.\n\n Do you honestly believe.. now, let me get this right.. that there is not a God, because "he" does not >reveal the truth to us on a day to day basis for all to see and clearly interpret. [?] 1351406571 Looks like that could certainly cause the effect. At several points, it appears the 'object' [passes in front of the moon](http://i.imgur.com/LYjB7.jpg). Could that still be explained by the mirage effect? 1310406371 Wow, that really contradicts a lot of what I had read about the situation in the past. Seems like a lot of things were blown out of proportion. 1287378214 Yeah, that's just what we'd expect from vaccine-pushing freedom haters! </sarcasm>\n\nAs usual, people who have never seen the diseases these safeguards were developed to prevent are the ones clamoring loudest for their abolition. Bovine tuberculosis is serious business, folks. 1330022543 This is why I prefer /r/skeptic to /r/atheism. In /r/atheism the OP would have dropped a snappy one-liner, screenshot it before anyone could respond, and raked in the back-pats from their fellow /r/atheists. 1296351271 I really want to run before and after stats for all the MLB players that stated wearing those stupid Phiten Necklaces. 1289415181 SCA-style swords made with PVC pipe can be very painful, even deadly. In fact, at least a few decades ago, they were banned as a no-no for various reasons, IIRC, so PVC isn't entirely safe for all uses... ;-)\n\nedit: [that is no longer the case](http://youthfighters.eastkingdom.org/Documents/BofferWeaponGuide_BasicSword.pdf) if it ever was, though the webpage says to use something stronger than the traditional duct tape, because PVC can shatter on impact, causing dangerous splinters. 1354582841 True, and spoken as eloquently as all posts should in UFOs. 1354200336 Why is this in skeptic and not science? 1331439022 Please help me understand your other-worldly reasoning. I need you to help *explaining* it.\n 1270049172 I am curious how you found this video of the actor? 1344886279 [Here it is being done](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtkMrNrEMLM) with ropes and boards by people. \n\n[Here's another example](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkpZKu5lu5w).\n\nThere is copious evidence of circles being made by people. There's no evidence of them being made by other processes. \n\nThe evidence for radiation and non-human interference in crop circles is disputed. 1344510290 Grrr... r/skeptic of all places should know that results of studies with "small" sample sizes are pretty valid because the studies have stricter standards for significance. 1335680789 I think this is what he's after: http://imgur.com/quY9T 1347220498 Like Tim Minchin said, if you open your mind too much, your brain might fall out. 1326874828 I don't think blurring the baby's face is necessary. It could actually contribute a lot to the understanding of the picture (ie- is the baby crying or laughing) 1306962838 This has now overtaken [the hugging saint](http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2011/07/04/amma-known-as-the-hugging-saint-embraces-new-york-city/) as the most idiotic woo. 1349471124 Happens to me all the tim;e since I was about 9. It's become so normal for me. Sometimes I think about the dream I had and then do what happened next in the dream on porpose, no matter how strange it may be, just so the dream plays out exactly how I remember it. 1328675543 It's a fantastic read. I highly recommend it. Ramachandran writes with clarity and humor, and the book is rife with diagrams and examples of little neurological ticks you can play with at home. 1307131795 You're kidding, right? Since when does the mainstream media give ufo stories anything more than a 15-second "little green men hyuck hyuck" snip at the end of a news broadcast? 1296681706 I still don't know what to say...\n\nI still think it could be a viral marketing campaign, but as more and more videos come up its tough to feel sure about any conclusion.\n\nRegardless, without the original video, all this "disproving" that has been done has been well-intentioned but flawed at best, imo. The additonal videos could have just been added to the first, but who knows? we shall have to wait and see... 1296625497 Could the messages have originated from a presence closer to Earth? Metaphorically, maybe they aren't phoning from home but from the phone booth down the block from our place, and can even the lights on in our windows. 1344794780 That's exactly it. It must be sleep paralysis, but -and I know I didn't mention it above- there were a few times I woke up with scratches on my face. 1326857509 This seems like material ripe for criminal prosecution...is this illegal? 1322846168 Each recounting, story, and interpretation holds a piece of the truth - is a piece of the puzzle. Realize, however, that it is only a piece, and you or anyone would be foolish really to look for any "ONE" person or story to hold the sole truth to the ET phenomenon.\n\nThe ET phenomenon is as vast as the cosmos itself.\n\nInstead, simply take in every bit of information from all these sources, and simply piece them all together in a mosaic. The pieces will form an image of what actually is going on. It will likely be a very confusing image, but it will be an idea none the less.\n\nDo your own critical and independent examination, and then combine that with what you read and hear from other sources.\n\nCombine, discard, etc, etc . . . and continue on that road investigating, understanding that the truth of the matter is likely a bit more complicated still. 1336187000 That does make sense. Would this also affect kids though? just wondering. Thanks for the answer! 1354521499 >correlations between eating red meat and various illnesses\n\nHonestly there are *only* correlations, and there are just as many for eating too much wheat. 1331325173 Added this for clarity:\nHere are just a few examples of Fort Bragg not being able and/or willing to provide similar support to our festival.\n\n1) No funding for hotels (Evangelical Christians: $6,668 for rooms. $500 for room service)\n\n2) No funding for transportation (Evangelical Christians: $1,360 for 3 vans for 3 days, $1500 for 'Air reimbursement')\n\n3) No funding for A/V support (Evangelical Christians: over $7,000)\n\n4) No funding for meals for performers (Evangelical Christians: over $7,000)\n\n5) Must put warning label on posters/flyers/adverts about 'Not associated with Fort Bragg' (Evangelical Christians: ringing endorsement from Public Affairs, Chaplaincy, IMCOM. Advertised as an official Spiritual Fitness Event!)\n\n6) Denied use of the parade field, the only venue large enough for us (Evangelical Christians: got to use it for their membership drive)\n\n7) Golden Knight Paratrooper Jump denied (Evangelical Christians: approved)\n\n8) Denied venue on the basis of musicians not being 'chart-toppers' (Evangelical Christians: didn't have any either)\n\n9) No funding for or venue appropriate for 'Kiddie land' (Evangelical Christians: Rock Climbing, Face Painting, 5 Bounce Houses)\n\n10) No funding for advertisements (Evangelical Christians: $12,620) 1299478049 Video unavailable... 1350236055 Back in the 90s I used to enjoy looking through [TheBlackVault.com](http://www.theblackvault.com/) It's still around and is a great way to read through the fruit of a mountain of FOIA requests. A lot of it is pretty interesting and not related to UFOs, but there's a lot about things like Project Blue Book and whatnot too. 1325047979 While I haven't watched it yet, and she's likely full of nonsense, the title you gave this seems suspiciously like an ad hominen attack. A degree does not necessarily imply expertise any more than the lack of one implies ignorance. I would expect better of you. 1333137759 Excellent, thank you for posting. this was a good read 1326241123 Excellent, thank you for posting. this was a good read 1326256230 Seriously, guys, it works. I just got some ordinary sugar pills blessed with an ancient Chinese chi magic called *pra-shee-bo*. Cured my headache in minutes! 1307823030 The Equinox :p\n\nThe method of science, the aim of religion. 1341548682 Massages actually do nothing for me once the rubbing stops. So I would imagine acupuncture is the same thing. But since I havent ha it done I wouldnt know. 1306960632 Correction: Reiki isn't "traditional": Mikao Usui made it up in 1922. If that's "traditional", then so is homeopathy, unless "traditional" is some kind of euphemism for "asian".\n 1287209952 Every time I fall and hit my head on the ground, I can tell that the impact would have been enough to give me a concussion if not for the helmet. \n\nTry riding home with a concussion. 1318698958 The NERVE.\n\nYou think you're SOOOOO smrat.\n\nEDIT: Smrt\n\nEDIT EDIT: Smart.....DAMMIT 1349399015 Whenever I allow it. 1344013363 You say "context", I say "not being an intentionally and pointlessly argumentative brat".\n\nThe level of reading comprehension around here would go up a million-fold if people were more interested in having a conversation than calling someone wrong for nit-picky or outright absurd reasons. 1302347639 UFO's w/ intelligent direction/navigation are much easier to prove than anything paranormal. Agreed? 1331942089 I used to work with students with autism. It was a residential program so, I was in charge of helping students with their diet. You would be surprised how many parents insisted on their kids being on a gluten free diet. They were convinced it lessen symptoms.\n\nA parent gave me the example that she took her son to the movies, caved and let him get popcorn. She said his symptoms immediately got worse, his tics increased in frequency and intensity, etc. I looked it up later and found there is very little gluten in movie theater popcorn. \n\nThe student reported being around his mother raised his anxiety because he felt she was domineering and overly-involved. Anxiety increases tics. And so, the cycle continues. :/ 1330785551 Right now, nothing. The future? Maybe some sort of engineering. 1331005052 Holy shit. One of them references the [Protocols of Zion](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Protocols_of_the_Elders_of_Zion), which has long been debunked as a fraud. Wow, they really are disconnected from reality. 1290819040 Related: I just posted my photo, do you see what I am seeing?\n\nhttp://redd.it/pl607 1329001058 I only asked about your profession because I find that most people who are vehemently against osteopaths (and osteopathic medicine) tend to be outside of the medical field.\n\n * As a DO I'm allowed to attend an MD residency if I desire. \n * As a DO I'm allowed to specialize in any specialty I choose... I recently watched a DO pediatric heart surgeon repair a ventral septal defect on a neonate. \n * As a DO I'm allowed to practice medicine in the US military (there has even been a DO surgeon general)\n * Many MDs take "crash courses" to learn osteopathic techniques\n * All US medical insurance companies recognize osteopathic treatments and will reimburse for them\n\nIt seems that DOs are pretty well recognized across the board. So I was just wondering what makes you so confident that it's BS while so many organisations recognize osteopathy as legit. 1335313612 Oh yeah, so OH, O? 1351302252 No, that's just head-to-head competition. He's talking about conjoined twins. 1293637964 Those first two statements were meant to show you that I wasn't born yesterday, as you seem to think by talking down to me... and it obviously had no effect.\n\n>claimed that "pull it" is demolition-speak for blowing up a building. **However, it is not.**\n\nYou can convince me of that by simply telling me what is "demolition speak for blowing up a building". This is a crucial point in any "pull it" discussion. I understand that you've already said that you do not know. Perhaps it would benefit your argument if you found out.\n\nI cannot disagree that some people have taken parts of that "specific video" out of context.\n>You are trying to make some odd, roundabout argument that doesn't actually have any relevance.\n\nI'm sorry, but it is relevant. Industry professionals always have industry related terms for various aspects of their work. You can't just pick and choose the ideas/terms that support your own personal convictions. \n>Do you think that Daniel Nigro and other FDNY are lying in their statements about WTC7[?]\n\nI already answered no to that question earlier. Why are you asking it again? \n\n 1321418993 >Our children are being forced to endure endless "relocation drills", "lockdown drills" and "active shooter drills".\n\n\nWe've had two lockdown drills in all of the four years I've been in high school.\n\nOne week this month, we had two fire drills. Morons. 1333063709 That reminds me of a conversation with a friend about the plane that landed in the Hudson, and him casually mentioning that based on the implications of losing power at that altitude during takeoff, that God clearly didn't want them to die that day. I felt bad for immediately saying, "or go to Charlotte, North Carolina". 1276832926 The feeling of strangeness and what could have been a hallucination actually sounds quite similar to a simple partial seizure. It reminded me specifically of a case study I read recently about an epilepsy patient who used to have psychic visions, which vanished once she was diagnosed and began pharmacotherapy. 1353897260 The deeper relationship SciAm (which last I checked, was fairly reliable) is hinting at isn't all that deep:\n\nBaby Stem Cells migrate to help repair damage, increasing survival chances for both mother and child. \n\nOr that the baby cells might cause the immune system to respond to similar, yet non-identical cells (like cancer cells) better that someone who hasn't had cells like that present in the body.\n\n\nThat's a deep connection, but not deep like "Oh, babies know their mom's don't want them if they're an unwanted fetus because of magic psychic" bullshit I hear about. You know, the kind that's like "I or a dumbass friend of mine invented this because I don't like abortion and you're winning with your real facts and I can't make ethical arguments properly so I need to make up bullshit." would be if the ". \n\nAnd let's face it, a lot of this "fetus-mother have a magical pyschic connection" bullshit is spouted by people who are pro-life and can't make a compelling argument without woo. Or moms who are dumbasses and want to try and make themselves sound better just for having popped a kid out of her birth canal.\n\n(Don't get me wrong, abortion opposition has plenty of facts and can be well argued. Just a lot of hyper-religious types tend to be dumbasses and try and use Woo to win arguments.) 1354842494 This class would make an interesting bait and switch. People enroll to learn how to be those goofballs on TV but the class is actually about science and skepticism. 1311022563 >I agree, can you define to any degree of certainty what situation, settings or environments where all women would agree that they would be open to flirtation or be seeking potential romantic candidates? \n\nHow about "Not work environments" for starters? Again, this part of the discussion is irrelevant though, as flirtation is NOT the focus here.\n\n>Can you define for me just what this means, and prove that being "marginalized" isn't due to something else? \n\nIt means that there is an unfounded assumption that the lack of women in leadership and technical positions (for example) is simply assumed to be because of some physiological difference between men and women despite the shocking lack of any actual evidence that this is the case, and in the face of the large amount of cultural stigma against women being in those positions.\n\n>While I certainly agree this has happened at times to certain individuals, this doesn't mean that every woman that isn't promoted or isn't paid equally is an act of male chauvinism. \n\nNobody is claiming that this is the case for EVERY woman, but when the median income for men and women holding the same positions differ, that is somewhat telling.\n\n>I would agree but until one can have an objective way to make the determination of genuine vs unrelated discrimination it's impossible to claim them all as genuine. \n\nAgain, nobody is claiming they are ALL genuine. Are you claiming that it isn't a problem? That the gulf in income between men and women holding similar positions is not because of discrimination?\n\n>I would agree until homosexuals want different penalties. That is a cry for special treatment. \n\nIt is understandable to want crimes of equal severity to carry the same punishment. However, if you believe as I do, that criminal prosecution should not be about payment of a crime but rather only be targeted to attempts to reduce/eliminate it, then similar crimes with differing motives can indeed warrant differing levels of consequences.\n\n\n\n\n 1325802461 >For example, we cannot do a double-blind study where we assign half of our group of children to a domestic abuse situation and half to a non-domestic abuse situation. Instead, we may choose to do a qualitative study on children who were exposed to abusive homes previously.\n\nOf course, but you don't need to do a double-blind study in order to do a quantitative study. A lot of the research in educational psych is quantitative as well, but they use observational or longitudinal studies. \n\nI don't deny that there are a lot of qualitative studies done, my only quibble is with the implication that they form a majority, or even significant minority, of the research done in psychology - i.e. enough of it done to invalidate the "scientificness" of the entire field. \n\n 1338434670 The second and third stories sound like Sleep Paralysis.\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis\n\nBoth my mother and I get this occationally. It's terrifying but I've never had an experience like yours, just the paralysis then falling back asleep... 1333548209 bwaaaa hahahahhaa! ...sorry. ahem. well I hope you come to your senses some day. 1306528727 I'm nowhere close to an expert on scripture, but I'm not scared of claims that it's all been edited or changed to mean something it was never intended to. Ignore that statement, though, and let's just say that I don't believe God would let His teachings be ruined and altered, thereby letting humans cut God's actual truth out of the religion He intended for us. My thinking along this line will likely irritate you or make you throw up your hands. Anyway, since I believe God guides the Church, if anything, I believe any changes in scripture were intended by God and were not flip-flops or Him changing the rules. It all belongs to Him. God can neither deceive, nor be deceived.\n\nThe traditions of the Church have undergone development here and there, but have never actually changed in any huge, radical way. It is always preserved in some way during troubled times - like now, with several decades of modernism finally, slowly showing signs of being purged by tradition once again - and it actually remains radically the same. St. Athanasius was an incredible example - *Athanasius contra mundum!* Schisms and heresies led people away, but their proponents left the Church by their actions. Heretics never win against the Church, they just cause it to suffer until they leave or are anathematized or excommunicated. They usually end up accidentally helping to clarify and improve things, such as with the Council of Trent.\n\nBasically, I would say tradition has undergone relatively minor changes throughout time, none of which meaningfully altered the substance and character. \n\nThere wasn't some humanistic, relativistic early tradition that was seized and altered by narrow-minded zealots to be an institution simply intended for control and conformity. If that were all it was, it would have ended so easily at some point. It's not just a regime like some sort of super-government. \n\nJust sharing my thoughts here, by the way. I've intended to state things as I see it, but not as though I am not an authority or expert. 1313139102 One problem I have with world-end dates is that the world could end before the date as well. 1328829907 Nope, but I'm probably a hipster. I like indie music (including the music my friends make, [example](http://fugue.bandcamp.com/)), I like "good" coffee, I care about fashion, I try to consume only sustainable goods, etc. Also if I lived in NYC I'd probably ride a singlespeed because it would be a better workout than a 10 speed or something.\n\nBut [yes](http://i.imgur.com/61xOZ.png), [seriously](http://i.imgur.com/YRQbJ.png). There's a "discussion" like that at least once every couple of days. They're not overwhelmingly intellectual discussions but they're not stupid either. And, going back to shiv52's post, I would be depressed as hell if the depth of my friendships went as far as getting drinks with them. That's boring as hell. I want friends I can talk to and depend on, not people I'd despise if I actually got to know them.\n\nIn retrospect, shiv52's comment is probably one of the most depressing things I've read, and a hole I hope I never fall into. 1318701431 I don't understand the question. It was exactly as effective as other recommended treatments. It worked the same. It had the same effects. It showed no statistical difference in outcome.\n\nYes, it works. It is better than placebo.\n\nBut this study is, I must note, only about lower back pain. Chiropractors will claim to be able to do a lot more than that, but they have only been proven to be effective in treating back pain, and as per this study, only lower back pain. 1336388568 Where's the.. "They show how dark the area they're in is.." ? 1317363116 And they always give some bullshit line like "I'd just hurt you"\n\nThat is the biggest cop out ever. I've trained in BJJ for a long time and fought hundreds of times both with people infinitely better than me and infinitely worse, and guess what? No one ever got hurt. If you are good enough to beat someone easily, you're good enough to do it without hurting them. 1343522455 it would only take one piece of legislation really. But god I hope it comes. 1313962004 What's that supposed to mean? 1326646981 If that person takes it in the place of real medicine it could be very bad; if it's only to complement, the effect of the medicine could be attributed to homeopathy. It hasn't been proven to work as a form of medicine so it shouldn't be considered so. 1333559653 I'm not talking about mystic bullshit, I am there offering studies and good evidence for what I am talking about, but I am limited to 1 reply per every ten minutes. \n\nEverything I've posted is down voted into oblivion anyway.\n\nAlso for the record I do not believe in the supernatural. \n\n 1348951449 yeah. 1313900502 http://vaers.hhs.gov/data/index\n\nA bunch of the stuff there is inconclusive as well. Why aren't people making a better effort to validate this data? 1314423992 Thank you! \nthat makes sense now. phew ... thought i was going crazy 1321225292 Hmmm. Thats actually a really good point. Our calendar year has 365.25 days in it. I wonder if the Mayans took that into account on their calendar somehow. 1348331979 Sounds fun, sign me up! 1275002918 > does not absolve them of the responsibility to provide any evidence at all.\n\n...? I never implied that it did?\n\nI was merely commenting on the fact that no matter steps are taken to provide evidence of these events, there will be a subset of people for whom no amount of evidence will matter; ergo, we will be hearing conspiracy rumblings no matter what happens. 1304346646 Can I ask why you are talking to me about climate change? 1324701734 >I really don't have a solution to the problem of human stupidity.\n\n*(sighs)* 1350430478 Well imagine their point of view. Birds must plan relentlessly to take dumps on our people and our national monuments. Could you imagine their reaction to seeing a UFO? This would be the holiest of holies to locate and shit on. There would be large V formations coming from every point in the sky just for the honor of defiling something thats not even from here!......too far? 1300302204 Gotcha- I guessed by your detailed description that you were more than observant enough to rule this out. Had to ask though. 1321493940 You underestimate ancient civilizations. Egyptians had engineers, mathematicians, etc..\n\nSaying aliens built the pyramids is like someone 1,000 years from now saying aliens built the Empire State building.\n\nI guess it's POSSIBLE but it's really far-fetched. 1296785819 Hang on...acting like a skeptic here...\n\nAs a voter in North Carolina, I was about to contact my rep. I wanted more ammo when talking about it, so I looked up [the bill](http://www.ncleg.net/gascripts/billlookup/billlookup.pl?Session=2011&BillID=H819) in question.\n\nThe entirety of the bill is [as follows](http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2011/Bills/House/HTML/H819v0.html):\n\n>A BILL TO BE ENTITLED\n\n>AN ACT To amend laws relating to Ocean setbacks to protect the property rights of homeowners.\n\n>The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:\n\n>SECTION 1. Notwithstanding Article 7 of Chapter 113A of the General Statutes and rules adopted pursuant to that Article, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources shall not deny a development permit for the repair or reconstruction on its original footprint of any residential structures with total floor area greater than 5,000 square feet and constructed prior to August 11, 2009, when the basis for the denial is the setback requirements set forth in 15A NCAC 7H .0306(a).\n\n>SECTION 2. Rule‑Making Authority. – No later than October 1, 2011, the Coastal Resources Commission shall adopt temporary rules consistent with the provisions of Section 1 of this act. Notwithstanding G.S. 150B‑19(4), the rules adopted by the Commission pursuant to this section shall be substantively identical to the provisions of Section 1 of this act. The temporary rule shall remain in effect until a permanent rule that replaces the temporary rule becomes effective.\n\n>SECTION 3. This act is effective when it becomes law.\n\nSo what am I missing? 1338850041 A placebo is bullshit pseudo-science in a capsule. \n\nIf a treatment is all in your head, what difference does the vehicle make? 1326055906 Take your word for it? Isn't this supposed to be r/skeptic? 1302278904 Hilarious you guys ;) 1291000400 Keep in mind that aspirin was derived from willow bark at one point, and penicillin from mold. The revelation that a study showed that there may be naturally occurred biochemistry out there with greater affect than currently synthesized medication should not be considered inconcievable by itself, and an attack on the positive result rates in the very wide field of 'psychology' should not invalidate any individual study's methodology either. Clinical psychology/psychiatry, which relies on very standardized double-blind methodology, is very different from the esoteric experiments performed in social psychology for example. 1337652084 How do you a do a double-blind trial to test an economic claim?\n\nJust because you can find some similarities between the study of economics and the study of science does not mean the scientific method is an appropriate course of action.\n\nSome problems are intractable; which is how the Austrian school approaches economics with regards to empirical data. That doesn't mean they don't want to be rigorous. 1313596155 I think unless he told you about this dream before hand, its very likely just a form of Déjà vu. This sort of thing happens to me all the time. Some event happens and I'll have vivid memories of it happening before. I don't trust it unless I have proof that this memory was real before the triggering experience. 1345193602 Quite simply, non-sequitur, but could also be construed as an ad hominem, and, as already pointed out, a genetic fallacy.\n\nThe negation of the argument -> "I've never been to war, but I can still define a war crime" makes sense, and invalidates the first argument. 1327506481 is that the "oh kwa tanzin wah" guy? 1329026241 There's no real evidence that any chiropractic technique actually works. Both mixers and straights use some physical therapy techniques (or similar to) which is why they get results. That and the placebo effect. \n\nA mixer is just a bad physical therapist; go to a physical therapist. 1348408423 I guess my real problem is that there are a *multitude* of little plot holes and errors that could have been totally eradicated with the odd line here or there.\n\nNow maybe Scott was trying to avoid spoon-feeding the audience, but obfuscating character motivations just makes him look sloppy. If we don't understand their motivations, it's hard to identify with them. 1341191066 Alright, I have semi long claw marks spanning across my entire back, (going down, not across) , I have faint scars on my inner arms, and small scars on my palms. The scars on my back and inner arms occurred from the same event; I attempted to reject a female spirit who chose to become obsessively possess over me, keeping me at protected from other spectre interactions while I was about 14 or 15. She became too much to the point of nearly hurting those in the physical realm who took my attention from her. She is gone, however she made sure to leave her mark. The ones on my palms are all gone due to growth, but at the age of 9 I attempted to physically attack a spectre of questionable origin. It did not work out well, and lead to a major mental trauma as well. 1344227712 Heroine, duh. 1287182079 I am excited to see this movie. If anyone is interested in another perspectives on abductions and abductees, read the book "Communion" by Whitley Strieber. It is phenomenal.\n\nhttp://www.amazon.com/Communion-True-Story-Whitley-Strieber/dp/0380703882 1257269541 mmm bambi burgers! 1346430268 "Except"? I *just* agreed and said it's in the post. But there is still dispute as to whether this impacts TED itself - but the point if being TEDx is made in the post. I couldn't make the point of the difference between TED and TEDx (assuming there *is* a difference - which is itself an ongoing argument) in the title, since that's irrelevant to the overall point. 1333248767 >David Evans formerly worked (until 2006) in the Australian Climate Office where he did research into AGW. Evans has as much credibility in the field as any other person. There is no degree in climatology that I’m aware of, nor is there a certification or professional body. James Hansen, the main man in the field, is trained in physics. Persons in the field come from a wide range of disciplines, many of which touch on climate. A person who’s degree is in physical geography or chemistry is just as qualified if not more so. \n\nThat's all fine and dandy, except that [Evans is an Electrical Engineer](http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/David_Evans_(Australian_skeptic\\)). Evans' arguments have been [thoroughly debunked by Tim Lambert](http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2008/07/18/the-australians-war-on-science-16/), 1354471253 guitar360 is clearly just making things up. 1340179163 I also love Peep Show. It's actually written by other writers and only performed på M&W. 1282772033 I don't think PageRank gives much juice to these links, frankly. Even if the reddit.com domain has quite a high PR, the juice it can give is distributed among all the links on the front page, so unless people are linking to the individual reddit post in question a lot, I don't think the individual posts have high enough PR to matter. 1337472951 Well that's depressing. 1344516317 Interesting. I can honestly say I didnt expect a response 6 days after I posted. Thank you for the info. 1313601000 Just our luck...every time bigfoot appears, the guy with the camera accidentally gets Vaseline all over the lens. 1300982686 A chemical imbalance (in this case in oxygen-deprived brain) will cause hallucination that is somewhat consistent regardless of age, sex, context, etc. 1319648494 [Not in this particular case.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Blue_Book#Project_Blue_Book_Special_Report_No._14) 1348845544 The home I grew up in was built in the early 1900's, so some weird stuff would go on. My father would have single handles rattle audibly and visually on a dresser, the shadows caught in the corners of your eyes, and stuff being misplaced in ridiculous places. \n\nMy dad always called it Uncle Creepy, and would always welcome him/her to stay, as long as it was welcoming to and kind to our family. I would hear footsteps at 3 am and other stuff growing up, but it never bothered me or scared me. When alone you had a near constant feeling of being watched, but in the sense of someone watching out for you. \n\nI think you should welcome it, and lay down ground rules. If it's kind, or a human spirit, I think it will honor your wishes. 1342260218 > That still doesn't change...\n\nTotally irrelevant non-sequitur that had nothing to do with my original point. Flog that horse all you want archie, but I pass on arguing irrelevancies.\n\n> your lack of knowledge... is much bigger than mine\n\nIt is to laugh. I seriously don't think you understand any of this. If it weren't for (un)SkS feeding you talking points even more of what you write would be reduced to gibberish than already is (which is most).\n\n> your side keep saying...\n\nWell, given the first part of all this is just a stupid straw man that once again has nothing to do with me I'm just going to ignore it. As for the second part, the point you make is once again irrelevant to the discussion. IF the study wasnt a steaming pile of horseshit then MAYBE it would be relevant to the topic at hand. But it's not.\n\n> I don't see how I could get any dirtier...\n\nNow THAT was hilarious. Apparently the only one who believes in conspiracy theories in this discussion is you. \n\nYour arguments are so bad, pointless and irrlevant I'm rapidly beginning to think you're some sort of parody account. Do you have *anything* relevant to say about ascylons original point, the link he proved, or my follow up? Or are you just going to keep frothing like a child? 1347251645 Pretty much. Though, in some abstract way, I imagine the American people/government are helping out due to tax write-offs on those donations. 1341010414 Is this blogspam again? 1351789021 Thanks for posting that follow-up. I can't believe I missed that episode of Radiolab, and I will try to catch up with SGU as well. 1307897881 me too\nEDIT: Send me a message too 1354391301 That happened to me too; it was exactly like those coin-operated vibrating beds they sometimes have in motels. There was a loose pane in the window that registers the slightest tremor, so I know it was the bed only. I searched high and low for the source of the vibration, and then sat on it for ten minutes in wonder before going about my business; I don't know when it stopped, but it went on for hours. Funny it never occurred to me to just lie down and enjoy it; too disconcerting I guess. All I can think of is a dead kitty who considered that bed his in life. 1336067934 inb4 cgi 1341546568 besides the bible saying that the earth is only 5000 years old and therefore carbon dating is wrong and therefore core samples are fraudulent, what evidence is on the "other side" of this issue that 99% of scientists have formed a global consensus on? 1343458349 "Electro Man" is "immune to electrocution"? Hmm... I'm sure I and my fellow electrical engineers could find a way to prove that claim false. 1283028058 i don't think it matters. either you believe in ghosts or you don't. any idiot can say a picture is Photoshopped. only a wise man will consider what could happen if it isn't. 1337200616 'you know what they call alternative medicine that has been proven to work? Medicine." 1322074395 Well yeah...but when it *does* decompose, it turns into mostly carbohydrates. The white lettuce and overgrown tomatoes provide some vitamins, but not much. And what meat is actually present in the meal is most likely spiders and navel fluff. 1281844910 Things that actually work. This "alternative treatment" for cancer is probably something completely bogus like homeopathy that wouldn't even have an effect, let alone help stop the cancer. 1356607153 I appreciate your curiosity!\n\nSome of them are commercial farms, although they don't need giant plots of land, because "beyond organic" techniques are actually much *more* productive/profitable per acre than even high-intensity modern monoculture/CAFO techniques (note that this, among other things, puts the lie to the blog the OP posted). Use this: www.polyfacefarms.com/ as a jumping-off point, feel free to explore as your level of interest guides you.\n\nThanks for the cite and good-faith effort - I knew that it didn't make sense that organic pesticides would be *more* toxic than their conventional counterparts. [ed note: on second read, I misread your point earlier - my bad] \n\nI'd never advocate for traditional organic methods as the solution, and in any case, pesticide toxicity (which is one of the more... tangential concerns of the sustainable ag movement, to say the least) definitely wouldn't be one of the reasons I'd advocate for organic ag. Besides, regulatory capture has rendered the US "organic" classifcation meaningless.\n\nSomething interesting I note reading through your blog, there - I think there's a real danger in relying on generalists to make evaluations about field-specific claims. Let me illustrate: \n\n"Some in the organic lobby have said that organic farming reduces or eliminates the need for added nutrients by rotating crops and better managing the soil. This is true, but it's always been true of all farming, and is in no way unique to organics."\n\nThis isn't the point at all! It's like the author has never heard of topsoil depletion, soil desertification, or soil sterilization.\n\n"To make synthetic fertilizer, we start with nitrogen, which we extract from the atmosphere. This process is infinitely sustainable and produces no waste."\n\nUh....[Nitrogen fertilizer production is tied directly to natural gas, the energy source used in the United States to synthesize nitrogen-rich ammonia from thin air](http://www.energybulletin.net/stories/2010-02-12/tracking-us-farmers%E2%80%99-supply-nitrogen-fertilizer)\n\nAs we know, fossil fuels are infinitely renewable as well! Not to mention the atmosphere's limitless ability to absorb waste carbon.\n\nLook, I could go on, but my point is that you should be very careful about relying on generalists like this when considering a specific field. Often times, like in this article, what they say may be technically true, or logically true, but it also oftentimes forms an incomplete picture of the situation. \n\nIn any case, if you're interested in a refutation-through-practice (the experimental method! Joel Salatin's (Polyface's owner/manager) opinion of academic debates like this is really pertinent too) check out that link earlier. If you're interested in conventional v organic v sustainable agriculture, check out *The Omnivore's Dilemma* by Michael Pollan (who *is* an expert in the field, and includes loads of citations/resources in his works), and stay curious!\n\n(dawg, by the way, is always acceptable in informal situations, at least in the circles (sweet ones) that I run in. and the day i hold myself to a standard of formality on my internet message boards is the day i heavily reconsider my time-management choices, lol) 1310608313 Nope. They are heavily edited and events are exaggerated in order to make them more exciting and appealing to viewers. \n\nA simple rule of thumb I personally go by is not to trust film of any sort, especially tv shows, when it comes to paranormal stuff. 1335888027 Yeah, what I heard didn't really sound like many of them. It wasn't as loud. And it was a long drawn out sound that vibrated the porch I was standing on. I just found it odd. It only lasted about 10 minutes or so. I dunno what it was, but first time I heard it, just wanted to make a note of it. 1330516008 There's only one way that sprite tastes and coke and Pepsi flavors aren't too varied, so...well I can't say what would happen. I'd have to see the experiment. Red wines can have lots of variety, so it's not going to be easy to guess that it is red colored white wine, which is a situation that probably never comes up for most people. 1323797634 Given your second paragraph, it seems you're taking this a bit too emotionally and so didnt understand. Or you're just an idiot, but lets assume its case nr. 1 (Also you possibly dont understand what "rational" means). \n\nI'm not saying what he's doing isnt good, right or that exposing bullshit is somehow wrong or bad manners or some such. What i'm saying is that its in no way *smart* or rational to knowingly put yourself into serious danger for a relatively trivial reason (there's nothing life threatening for anyone about the situation, the whole thing is very local, etc.), especially when there are far safer alternatives.\n\nBut thanks for your reply, your a grade A example of overemotional and irrational people preventing reasonable discussions if they even slightly relate to something unpleasent. 1334242135 Your modesty embiggens you! 1294634978 As a former Jew (or a bad Jew depending on who you ask), it's the best part of hanging around "my people." 1343919951 No, we haven't observed black holes. We are trying to but have yet to be successful. 1334003762 I just now got the kindle edition of his book. Ill let you know. \n\n 1356705978 www.andromedacouncil.com\n\nI like this guy, no end of the world shit... just evolution. 1344922884 The second one. 1287517626 It's worth noting they went through completely separate hypnotic regression sessions and were encouraged to not talk to each other about the sessions after the fact. 1306003343 I suppose we have to be thankful it was in a higher resolution than these sort of things normally are - but still - my initial reaction was not ET - i dont know why, maybe it was the colours used in the flashing - i know that sounds wacko lol but still thats what i thought - lol reading that back i sound bonkers rofl\n\nAnyway i thought it might be some sort of r/c helicopter or something, but the kites fit the bill better - i would put my bet on them. 1343664127 Yep. This seems superimposed. 1327799208 I'm a bit of a skeptic, but read this genre as good-fun fiction. Bear with the sneering quotation marks :)\n\nIf this is true, this bit gets me:\n\n> We were all standing in a circle in the parking lot just talking. We had either just gotten done smoking, or were playing hacky sack. Now that I think of if, we were standing to close to have just hacked. I think we were done smoking, and standing around smoking cigarettes, talking.\n\nOk, maybe you don't remember because it was 10 years ago. However, when people have 'really' had encounters, repressed memories can be involved. The starting point for finding the memories are to recount the event and look for logical gaps when the details get fuzzy. You can rationalize a scenario, but you don't really know for sure how you got from memory A to memory B, and it makes you a bit uncomfortable thinking about it. UFO/spooky 'experts' jump in with hypnosis at this point to 'recover' the lost memories, but since hypnosis can also plant false memories, the witness/victim can never be trusted again.\n\nThe text I quoted you on sounds like any missing time you might have had started right before you were in a circle. In other words, your spooky encounter was *before* you remember seeing the craft and blocked in your mind.\n\nAnyway, try to think really carefully: what was the last thing you can clearly remember before you were standing in a too-close circle. Any images, sounds feelings? Do they make sense? Can you remember the next moment? That sort of critical thought begins to dredge up (or fabricate, depending on your expert) any buried memories.\n\n 1348486605 I... love you? 1348707639 Good points. Nice to see you here discussing this stuff. I think you basically nailed it.\n\nI am one of the few people who are 'not necessarily in favor of disclosure'. I seriously question if humanity is ready for it; mainly because humanity has such a massive ego that many of us are not ready to have races more intelligent than us knock us off the top sentient tier. The same ego that currently has most redditors dismissing such discussions as kooky to the point of not even wanting to say 'what if?'. I always make comments in r/space that get people all worked up due to 'lack of proof'.\n\nI agree that subconscious fear plays heavily into it. I doubt if it's something to seriously be afraid of, but our paradigm is bound to come crashing down if disclosure happens. That's scary enough. As for them visiting, if their motives weren't peaceful I'm sure we'd know it by now. We wouldn't stand a chance fighting against that sort of intelligence and technology. How do you fight against telepathic extraterrestrials if you don't have telepathy?\n\nI would go further and say that there is some other underlying reason why this info is not being disclosed. Something major; something which would make all countries align in an effort to keep it secret, or at least so it is dismissed as hoaxy or delusional. Not sure what that might be. That they seeded us as a race, maybe?\n\nSuch a fascinating topic. I could go on for hours.\n 1283808387 It sounds awfully similar to ADHD. What's the difference? 1353026439 You should email the avionics expert. Tell him you want his resignation and to take his job. Apparently you know better. 1352955934 So if I learned homeopathy at a Canadian medical school, that would make it less of a crock? 1259688279 This argument is self contradictory.\n\nThe author, Dana Nuticelli, is trained in physics, not [epistemology](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistemology), the theory of knowledge, but here he is making an epistemological statement, not one concerning physics.\n\nIf, as he insists, only experts in a domain are qualified to speak in matters concerning that domain, and given that he is not an expert in this particular field, then he has just disqualified himself from making his own argument.\n 1349755705 Better try and police content providers. This is the equivalent to freaking the fuck out because someone nipple is visible on tv for a fraction of a second. 1333239813 Hi, Mr(s). Pubilus LXXII (I hope I got that right) -- My name's Jfred, I'm the local mod (with my good friend kylev), and I just thought I'd say hello and explain some things.\n\n1) Reporting people for libel is not particularly effective, as there is nothing I'm likely to do to remove anyone's comment in this subreddit. The only such comments that get removed are ones that threaten people, reveal personal information, or are obvious marketing spam. Everything else stays. Look at that, free speech!\n\n2) Lying is not a bannable offense either. If you think he is lying, prove it! In /r/skeptic we value hard evidence. Surely if you provide that evidence, and enter into some honest discussion (without *a priori* considerations or conclusions), then I think you'll find most of us open and willing to engage you in that kind of discussion. If they aren't, they'll hear from me when I notice it.\n\nSo, I just wanted to note all that to you. I made the assumption that you're new here, if that's wrong, take this as a belated welcome. I hope that this clarifies when it's okay/useful to report comments in /r/skeptic.\n\nThanks for reading!\n\n 1355371404 I completely agree with what your saying. Radio waves certainly arent the best way to broadcast that we're here, but theyre pretty much the best we have for long distance communication.\n\nBut on the off chance that someone heard us, they would have to be sufficiently advanced to pick up that same signal and therefore should know how to create it to respond, or know of a better way to contact us back. Them replying with a crop circle is equivalent to us going to some planet and tagging "Earth4Lyfe" on one of their bridges. Crop circles are man made, regardless of whether someone else figured out how they did it or not. Anything else is Ancient Aliens-level speculation. 1354662577 And overall the glasses do offer 50% protection. 1303293696 >Also: they actually do not want to be responsible for a bloodbath caused by a war between two militias. I don't think you have thought this through.\n\nBut they're totally cool with the resulting bloodbath from US military intervention. 1331495533 I agree with Bronsonite. If you feel disoriented after every knock on the head then there could be something wrong with you. I'm no doctor but I think it's best to just be cautious. No more running around Dad's dungeon with Jake, okay? 1354245501 WTF? Uni network blocks liveleak.com because of violence. Great... 1308760206 Someone else did the work on the local news cast comments.\n\nThere's more in some archery forum, but I can't access it at this time. 1291966939 Ha, I know...sorry I made it sound better than it was. 1292557789 ...but it's from the Northern Punjab Mountains! So it must work! :-) 1290537500 [This is part of the discussion.](http://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/ijkef/new_report_on_obesity_stats_by_state_details/c24csk0)\n\nbut yeah, it's funny that you guys already downvote me before I even try to provide an example 1317138693 Just the retards... 1316357455 Birds (especially Gulls native to the area) were a serious contender for the analysts - When the navy discounted birds the Air Force took over the analysis and their conclusion was even more startling - They concluded that the objects were 'intelligently controlled flying craft' but not planes. What the documents contained can be found in these sources;\n\n Project Blue Book files\n\n Correspondence: Key witness to U.S.A.F., 11 August 1952.\n Interview between A.F. Intelligence Officer and key witness, 10 September 1952. \n\nRuppelt, E.J. The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects, Garden City, New York: Doubleday; Ace Books. \n\nPentagon Press Officer Albert Chop, also corroborates this account in a documentary - The Truth about Flying Saucers (1956)\n\nAnd of course J Allen Hynek was present at the meetings where they were discussed and corroborates all of the above. 1349727127 Being shocked might be true but only because we have been brain washed for so damn long. Once everyone knows the truth, they will find that if the aliens wanted to do us harm, they could. Man kind, just like me, has to realize that there are certain things that are in our control and there are certain things that are out of our/my control. Once you realize that, then you can say fuck it, whatever happens, happens. I mean, we can try to fight with our stick and stones but I'm sure they could fuck us up at will. \n\nIt could be that they don't want us fucking up space like we tend to do down here on earth. Also, the government may not want us to know so that they can maintain power and control. 1337987622 I liked him even more when he flat out said that anti-vaccinationists are killing children while being interviewed by Sanjay Gupta. 1298651225 >found its way into The Wall Street Journal under the title "The Radium Water Worked Fine Until His Jaw Came Off",\n\nI think that would qualify as jaw-dropping news. 1295782390 I miss Perry with each SGU ep. The show while great is still missing that element of Perry keeping the rest of the Rogues in line. monkeys rule. 1297215668 Care to share the photo with the smiling ghost? 1313546490 As a skeptic, I can't jump straight out and call bullshit on these cloths. However I have no reason to suspect they would work better than any old terry cloth towel to do the same job. And I bet you won't be able to do very many windows with the same cloth without them getting mucked up.\n\n* For starters, the antibacterial claim is taken care of by silver. That one is true. Just don't try to ingest silver, it will turn you blue eventually.\n\n* There are existing products like Mr. Clean's Magic Eraser for taking smudges off of walls that work. http://home.howstuffworks.com/magic-eraser.htm\n\n* Water is still an effective substance for cleaning. It's just that soaps & other solvents makes the work far easier.\n\nSo I don't doubt that this product may work as advertised. But I do doubt, I can get more than one clean window from a single towel, and I doubt it would be any more efficient than a bucket of terry cloth towels, and I doubt I would find using this product easier or more efficient than that traditional ammonia & throw away paper-towel method. 1341254534 Here's the [story](http://consumerist.com/2012/07/homeowner-pulls-gun-to-stop-new-electric-meter-from-being-installed.html).\n\nRelevant quote:\n>"Our constitution allows us not to have that kind of intrusion on our personal privacy," she explains. "They’ll be able to tell if you are running your computer, air conditioner, whatever it is." 1342927267 Whoa! This is crazy/cool. 1354623542 I can answer this partly for Jay, he has mentioned Carl Sagan - Demon Haunted World as a favorite skeptical book on the show a number of times... 1346247053 For years I never heard of shadow people actually interacting or assaulting anyone and now here's the second one in two weeks. Have I just been misinformed or are they getting worse? 1326592347 That was pretty good. What looses it for me is when one of the small light just whips across the screen from left to right. For some reason that doesn't look right. I'd love to see the evidence that this is fake. 1281047574 > Just a Brit/US English thing... in the UK, "mentalist" is slang for someone with a psychiatrist disorder or who acts crazily. We get the show "The Mentalist" over here, but all the same, that's not what we think of when we call someone a "mentalist".\n\nWhat a load of bollocks. Firstly, stage mentalism is an established British tradition, just because you haven't heard of something, doesn't automatically mean it's an American import. Secondly, I've never heard any one other than Alan Partridge use it as a substitute for "mental".\n\nMentalism has a long British tradition, but the word hasn't been used much in recent years, possibly because our most famous modern mentalist (Derren Brown) says he doesn't like the term, and doesn't use it to describe himself.\n\nIf you're interested, in educating yourself, I'd suggest watch the BBC's History of Magic episode on Mentalism. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrHWgWNXveY 1315294927 I mean that the hypothetical gov't branch would have to be a very busy one with a lot of resources. (That could be done if you throw enough budget at it.) You'd also have to agree on maximal time frames within which the observational data would need to be gathered and evaluated in order to make decisions based on them. Is there a constant? Does it vary, depending on the nature of the "thing" analyzed? What constitutes success or failure? With some things that's relatively easy to answer, with others not at all. After all, it's not just about black-and-white scientific facts; especially with "soft sciences", sociology etc., I see a lot of potential for disagreement.\n\nAgain, I'd welcome some sort of working solution, but I think it would be far from perfect. 1343924859 Is this why we can't have nice things? 1352000438 >How did they know? Are the elephants psychics?\n\nI think that's exactly the crap these people are trying to promote. 1355137132 I'll just take your non-reply as an admission that you don't know what you're talking about, after committing a logical fallacy while trying to explain "universal logic" to me. 1311040085 "135 Million pus cells?" As in the effluvia that comes out of an infected wound? What? How would that even get in the milk in the first place?\n\nNot to mention that 135 million of anything at a microscopic level is pretty small potatoes. 1346001268 Ya know.... I didn't even think for one second that they could be any kind of gnome. I did assume they were some kind of elemental (which, a-duh, gnomes are elementals. man, i feel stupid.), and also didn't put they ol' superstition of iron anything to the test. But on this thought, maybe I will. Thanks. 1348249034 and this is why we cant have nice completions 1322465362 You can't keep government honest. If history has demonstrated anything it is this.\n\nHonestly, I trust the government less than I do a corporation. I know a corporation's motives, the bottom line. It is a legal construct built to earn. A government can act as deviously as a corporation, but with complete immunity and often with interests and motives that are varied and complicated.\n\nI think it is absolute insanity to put any trust in government. 1345187782 No....it's not. No science teaches I can control reality. 1354483063 [That's fake](/http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/05/02/6568249-webs-bin-laden-death-photo-just-the-photo-is-fake) 1304360494 I worked at CVS for a couple years. I hid that shit behind things and advised customers to purchase actual medicine. 1329268722 I'm sorry, I don't know what you mean by that first sentence?\n\nYou specifically said: ''The Bible and Torah don't have passages saying it's OK to lie, cheat, and murder infidels.'' And that the most blatant was ''kids being killed by bears and stuff''. That's what I'm responding to, because those things *are*, in fact, in the Bible. And many Christian do consider the OT canon. 1347613881 You were a Token Ring user. I can tell. 1309046324 This reminds me of a woman who walked up to me while i was texting a friend and said "Get rid of your phone or you'll get cancer like me!", she then proceeded to take a drag from her cigarette. 1332009988 ...I'm not very good with puns. 1315438646 It's a pretty hypothesis, but given the lack of evidence I doubt it holds water. 1278602199 I apologize myself. I was a little harsh....and that's the thing with text, there is no emotion. Man, you don't know how many times I've said, "but...but...I didn't mean it THAT WAY". Haha. In reality, if we were speaking to each other, I think this would be a good conversation, minus our childish antics...lol. OK, the issue at hand, the reason I feel so strongly is because I do know about this Guy and his history, as I have been in the UFO field for nineteen years now and I have read a lot about a lot of folks. Granted, there have been a lot of false deathbed confessions and you could say that some have done it for fame or for legacy, who knows. I just know this man was a no nonsense individual and was known to be "a geek" for lack of a better word. He was very scientific and documented all of his work to an annoying degree for his coworkers. It's really too much for me to type, but sure, his could be a lie too, and if so, then it's a real shame. I know you are just saying to have a healthy amount of skepticism and I agree with you.\n\nShit, I can't stand it when people equate ALL UFOs to ETs...it drives me nuts haha. A UFO is just that, unidentified flying object. OK I'm rambling here. Look, check out a few things for me, get or download the book called "UFOs: Generals, Pilots and Government officials Go On Record by Leslie Kean", it's a great book. Also keep an eye on ufocasebook dot com and ufocenter dot com. Read some reports. Again, if his confession is a lie, shame on him, but too much is pointing to it being a good confession in my eyes. Again, I'm sorry too, I'll make it up to you. 1334119216 It's exactly that lack of harmony with Mother Earth that was my point, perhaps I could clarify a little further. For example, if an ET race were to find that humans are being destroyed by another, potentially hostile race, then stepping in and lending a hand may be warranted, much like we humans step in when a species here on earth is being driven to extinction by something like pollution. However, if said ET race were to find us in the unfortunate process of self-destruction, as we currently appear to be doing, then they may be forbidden from providing aid, much as a scientist here on earth would be forbidden from helping a species dying out due to a simple lack of adaptability. Just a thought... 1352888809 He looks more like Charles Darwin every day. 1317475658 I urge you to read Carl Jung. You may be able to get some insight into this experience. As you may know, he wrote on the UFO phenomenon and had quite a bit to say about dreams.\n\nI, too, have a dream-related experience of an alien presence. Then again, I have had dreams of all kinds of unlikely circumstances and events.\n\n*Dreams* 1351623827 If she was a real psychic, she would have answered before any questions were submitted. 1316664314 Having owned a Rott, and having had friends with Rotts, they are actually VERY sweet and gentle dogs. They are rather possessive, perhaps that is where the stereotype comes from, but ultimately, they are a product of how they were reared. \n\nPitt Bulls are also rather gentle, but there is one thing you need to be aware of with a Pitt Bull, they have a genetic disorder that effects whatever percentage (I do not know the number on the top of my head, but I know it is more than a simple few) that can best be described as lock jaw. Regardless of their behaviour patterns or temperment, they can quickly and easily lock up when doing something simple as playing, leading to the mob mentality that they are aggressive. This is not true, it is years of genetic breeding that has caused a flaw, resulting in a very sad plight for them.\n\nThat being said, I would never own a Pitt Bull. I have been around many, and have found all of them to be absolute sweet hearts. But I can not trust them with my child due to this genetic flaw that causes their jaws to become death traps when even they least expect it.\n\nSource: Me--having breed, trained, and taken in over 300 dogs in 29 years. 1333585225 I like how the MMA guy completely switches modes after being declared winner, and sprints over to make sure the old geezer is okay. 1269560856 This is an excellent capture in my opinion. Even without prior knowledge, I would have seen the figure. Reminds me of this pic uploaded to ghostsstory. While it's not as clear... it seems [something](http://ghostsstory.com/007000/photo/view/queen-mary-ghosts-2-3/) can be made out of it. 1313469088 I dunno man, I watched the whole series. He doesn't seem like the kind of guy - especially since he spent the prior 7 episodes ridiculing pretty much every religion. Before Bob did the 'exorcism', he spent a long time giving John suggestions via a very lengthy 'personality test', which I'm sure preloaded John with specific thoughts of 'demons' and the bad things he'd done and had remorse for and whatnot. The relentless and methodical nature of the 'exorcism' makes me think that Bob is just an expert hypnotist and he preys on people using his skills. 1285339746 I think a bird took it and that was why it was clawed up 1353454936 I believe there is some pretty compelling evidence that we are being observed (but I'm not sold 100%). If this is true, I see no evidence that these "extra-terrestrials" are looking to initiate contact with man kind. To me, it would appear that they're taking more of a biologist approach, "observe but don't interfere". Or perhaps our collective consciousnesses is not ready to accept what the existence of extra-terrestrials would imply to meaning-of-life views, and they are being polite. Regardless, I see the metaphorical ball in their court. If they are out there, and want to have contact, they will initiate it. 1345571709 Someone with an HD DVR, get on it! 1311353209 I came to this conclusion while browsing NaturalNews.com and reading their comments. At least two people per article ranted about how great Ron Paul is, actually they just said support him, and gave little reasons, if any, of why someone should. 1334854349 Honestly, this comes across as quite condescending. It's also sort of logic defying because your statement seems to be "don't just take things at face value" but you start off by saying "take what I'm saying at face value...it's *all* humans." I don't know how you reached this conclusion. \n\nVarious groups have come forward and they can replicate some of the phenomena...not all of it. Within the most interesting crop circles there are phenomena that would be difficult for humans to replicate: microwave radiation, the depositing of iron within the circle, and actual changes to the plant itself. \n\nA few years back an MIT group did research on several circles and verified these aspects. I don't doubt that humans could create the designs but in conjunction with these other elements I think other explanations come into play. \n\nAlso, "Fox News" is becoming like the new "Hitler" in internet debate. The same things that make that network's journalism so tedious exist in all the other major networks. I think we'd both agree that consulting multiple choices on an issue is important. 1345205171 [knock yourself out man.](http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/genetics/one-species-living-worldwide) 1290036102 You're quite welcome. 1346938334 *statistically significant* has a different meaning to significant as used colloquially. \nIt means they could say there was a measurable difference in mercury levels, not that it had a large effect. \n\nit increased mercury levels far less than eating one normal tuna sandwich . 1327576896 Scumbag UFO witness\n\n\nSees UFO\n\ntakes one shitty picture 1355389266 This has always been my favorite short of Animatrix. 1326465882 it's manifest bitterness and hate for the naivete and stupidity of our species 1340154822 de·bunk \nExpose the falseness or hollowness of (a myth, idea, or belief) 1320001701 give it up travis im not telling you who i am 1349280816 This is probably going to be downvoted. What disturbs me, ist that the lights move constantly, but as soon the camera zooms in, they just stop movng... why is that? Because the UFOs know when the camera is zooming in? 1339043865 Both Firefox and Chrome have Adblock. \nI never see any of those ads. 1302388944 Ah, I've been casually following the blog since around September. I just never saw his specific estimations of voting percentages per state. I stand corrected. 1352303019 Not a doctor, but that sounds a bit like paranoid schizophrenia to me. 1311119047 >Friends in the sky, eh? I must have missed the part where aliens were documented creating crop circles. Please cite source.\n\nThis is the UFO subreddit. What did you expect? 1246751870 > we simply put it reste 1/4 of the times (*as the other farms do*) \n\nIn fact it's illegal not to do it here, it's not a jail sentence just they can loose all the gov funding as you can see on the [maps](http://www.applications.mayenne.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/cartographie-des-sites-natura-2000-r116.html) with the natura 2000, Yes its french and to resume me - hug trees and not war.\n\nThe OP didn't ask how to be a bio-farmer but the internets opinion on what's wrong in monsanto, that was my opinion, i clearly stated that, we don't they have too much power and no can stop them (doesn't mean we have to bend over), about really about *corn* or how to grow something. \n\nI will leave this here and hope you understand it's my personnal opnion, we don't live in the same country, the regulations are different and i guess we don't do the same work.\n\noff to bed. 1325629246 I'm not sure I understand how you mean that phrase to apply here. 1344544149 Thanks so much for the clarification. Smacked my forehead at your second paragraph, it's so parallel to other topics, I don't know how I didn't notice it before. 1345700779 Now that I've learned a lot about photography, my explanation since has been [bokeh](http://webdesignledger.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/bokeh_photography_10.jpg)\n\nHere are some bokeh orbs I got with [snow](http://i.imgur.com/UxUJ9.jpg) that resemble common "paranormal" orbs. Notice that I took the shot with flash, too, as many "orb photos" are.\n\nIf I'm not mistaken, the farther the particle from the lens' focus length, the more aggressive the bokeh will be. If you pick up a piece of dust on the flash at just the right angle to be picked up by the camera, the lens will do its bokeh thing. It happens a lot with flash in very dark areas because of the contrast. 1336066629 I used to think the same way. However, they only say "Life as we know it" needs water to survive. My understanding is, they are simply saying that life forms as we know like humans and animals here on earth can't survive on such horrid conditions. \nIf you watch Stephen Hawking's "Into the Universe", he discusses about other forms of life that are not carbon based and can be water independent. 1335885884 Could be. The angle of the window is about right for catching a reflection from your flash. Sucks that you had such a scam artist for a guide. Better luck next hunt!\n\nEdit: spelling. 1349337735 Similarly, my sister's house in Phoenix had the same layout as one of my friends' houses in San Diego. At least, the ground floors perfectly matched. 1331684324 just as i expected, ill pray for you, have an open mind at least, consider it as a possibility 1332821097 My research shows 75% of statistics majors agree. 1320290243 [Google Tech Talk: Cognitive Nueroscience of Mindfulness Meditation](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sf6Q0G1iHBI) I guess it's related enough, but there's a few good sources for those needing more information. 1353628106 Ah no problem, I just meant it as a light-hearted joke with no overall meaning. Thanks for the insightful reply though! 1353358024 In all honesty, i don't think disclosure, in the form of statements from the heads of states on the planet, will happen. Ever.\nIf anything happens, it'll be the stereotypical landing on the front lawn of the White House or somewhere else equally as prominent to announce their arrival.\nThink of what full disclosure would mean to our society, right now, or even in a few decades time.\nThink of what disclosure would do to religion on Earth...\nChristianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism. Do you think these religions would be able to accept it? I think not!\nThe pope once sidestepped a question about aliens by simply saying that if there were other beings on other planets, then they were also probably made by God.\nSounds like the Catholics have been preparing for a while now, but for the millions of other religious people? How do you think they would react?\nThe world would be in chaos and not a very nice place to be...\n\nJust my thoughts on the matter. 1340727764 >...however, the sham reiki had exactly the same effects, and there were no differences between real and sham reiki.\n>\n>What does this mean?\n\nHmmm, I wonder. 1318406657 Ok. I'm not having this conversation with you. I understand your refusal to consider that vaccines are questionable. Your judgement of me is quite inaccurate and chances are you haven't really done much research yourself.\n\nHave a nice day :) 1328670162 This is one of my favorite pastimes! Telling one of my friends point blank lies that on the surface sound like they could possibly be true. When asked "really?" I just yell out "NO!" I'm a good friend.\n\nExample: The name of the porcupine came from the fact that they would poke you with their quills and resembled pine trees "poke of pine" gradually changed into "porcupine" 1330721527 James Gleick's: [Chaos: Making a New Science](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos:_Making_a_New_Science). \nWhich explores the birth of Chaos Theory, where each chapter is a story about researchers exploring this often looked-down upon new science. It is one of the books that might have coaxed me into getting back into research. Well, I might have gone back into research anyways, but this book is an inspiration. 1345690415 Scams is for making money. How the fuck is he gonna make money if he put up the movie on youtube, FOR FREE?\nAnd if you watch the whole thing, you wouldent even be writing this. 1338306760 Nice job trying to generalize me in with people who believe in ridiculous nonsense. I think it served your point well.\n\n\nIf you remember that you're having a conversation with ME, not every 'truther' you've encountered on the internet, you'll realize that I've never hinted to the belief in any outrageous and unfounded beliefs.\n\n\nIn fact, I presented you with facts that neither you nor NIST can provide explanation for. I've provided you with just one of many good resources of independent research.\n\n\nYou seem content in staying in your comfort zone and warding off anyone who may threaten the deteriorating bubble you live within. I wish you luck coming up with enough personal attacks to protect your delicate little bubble. 1350193814 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnL0XgK_plY#t=6m10s , perhaps you could take a look better on that time frame 1337128884 Nice try, psychic hotline person 1271862607 I've seen the youtube video, and wikipedia also says that he has done this.\n\nThe youtube video though makes me skeptical, it sounds like he's just bullshitting. It could be possible, but it sounds like he's just making stuff up. If it were possible to find out who this old woman he claims to have kicked in the face was, that would help. 1344207762 Hundreds of millions of years of reproduction and evolution. 1337072591 Hardly a surprising study. If you're emotionally invested in a certain idea, it is almost impossible for you to be able to see the other side of the argument. Take birthers, for example. Literally every theory they have put forth has been debunked, and yet they're still out there... 1329757704 I'm not vegan, i'm just a normal reddit citizen who is tired of hearing the same lame ass joke over and over again. The worst part is that the people who tell it seem unaware of the irony of telling a joke about vegans announcing themselves to world in every meat eating circle jerk thread. 1296783616 Yes, they are building landing strips for gay Martians. I swear to God. 1331267419 so what exactly is he claiming ? that he can hit his arm with a machete and be ok ? 1353578329 Girls love it. 1321550100 Can I use a digital kitchen timer? Cuz future? 1350398295 [Similar article](http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/31/health/31pray.html?pagewanted=all) 1324892320 what rocket?\n\nedit: comments say it could be a failed soyuz launch on 23 dec. gonna check it out.\n\nedit: Somehow I missed the news but there was a failed Soyuz 2.1B launch from a northern Pleseck cosmodrome. Rocket was equipped with a new engine system and was carrying a Meridian satellite. It's debris is reportedly fallen in the Novosibirsk region. I've looked through the videos and comments to get more info on the UFO sighting: Sighted mainly in Chelyabinsk region, object was seen for 2-3 minutes flying from N-W at 6PM. The rocket was launched at the same time. I've put some points on the map http://g.co/maps/8awd7 \n\nNow it's identified - failed Soyuz 2.1B rocket 1324766507 I kind of think of this (when it comes to religion faith) as someone with a table with 50 legs. You have to take away a lot of legs before it falls and even with some people it won't ever fall because the center leg is rooted and it consists of "I believe because it feels good and I won't ever change my mind!" 1272614008 I think my skepticism got me out of the trap of thinking I could rely on any political party instead of basing my decisions on their actual voting records. 1287638287 I am getting so sick of all of us dying all the damn time. 1317084449 It's controversial in no small part because theism itself is such a broad-sweeping, fragmented, and often nebulous concept. 1323582179 As a prominent Vulvologist, I assure you, his methods are legit. 1320428670 Yeah, not like they have better things to do in Kansas anyway. 1324309119 I'm having trouble seeing the part where you disagree with me. Please specify where I was wrong.\n\nFor clarification, I was stating that the power to convince a person is more powerful in a first-hand experience rather than scientific studies. I was not saying that science was weak and powerless to explain reality.\n 1340043680 You're being downvoted because this was cross posted to r/conspiracy to teach us Skeptics a lesson in conspiracy, not that any of your points are wrong: http://www.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/m6mzw/not_even_one_person_in_rskeptic_thinks_theres/ 1320986954 I've been a Plus member for..a couple years, maybe? I never thought I'd pay for a podcast but it's money well spent. I'm listening to an episode as I type this, actually. MU is far and away the best podcast of it's type. \n\nI love letting people listen to the story of the Dibbuk box. 1344561035 My father only eats the greenest parts of lettuce, which taste horrible, because they are more "rich in chlorophyll". I keep telling him chlorophyll is of no use to the human body whatsoever unless he plans to start doing the photosynthesis, but he won't listen. I think he got the idea from some quakery, since he has done the macrobiotic thing and other stupid diets before. 1334717672 Actually, what pisses me off about your comment more than you ignoring the excessive amounts of science that says the recommended vaccine schedule is safe, is that you're making the "xxx has changed their stance on the safety/efficacy/whatever in the past, so we shouldn't trust them on their current stances."\n\n[Asimov](http://chem.tufts.edu/AnswersInScience/RelativityofWrong.htm) on the relativity of wrong: "John, when people thought the earth was flat, they were wrong. When people thought the earth was spherical, they were wrong. But if you think that thinking the earth is spherical is just as wrong as thinking the earth is flat, then your view is wronger than both of them put together." 1322955635 i have a time machine myself. get a cardboard box, a standard kitchen timer. get in the box, set timer to an hour, then wait until it dings. congratulations, you've traveled an hour forward in time....... at normal speed. 1350236882 during puberty and menopause this happens to a good handful of people for some reason, somehow the body either causes or attracts it. 1351261392 Or recognize that some mathematical models use assumptions that don't work out as cleanly in the real world.\n\nOf course we are totally screwed if scientists ever develop spherical cows. 1311731281 I imagine that some people don't get the joke, but so it goes with satire. 1348451761 I'll be nice and just say that Wikipedia isn't exactly optimal for this sort of research.\n\nHave a look at [this](http://www.jbc.org/content/263/36/19392.full.pdf) or [this](http://jn.nutrition.org/content/135/6/1539S.long). In the latter, pay particular attention to the literature cited at the end for additional resources.\n\nTrouble with citing anything really credible is cost. There are many articles that have content germane to the topic but must be secured with payment unless you are in the field. 1305172732 Chris Gardner (a 20 year vegetarian) in [Battle of the Diets](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eREuZEdMAVo) admits otherwise. 1335799739 Kurt Vonegut wrote about the bombing of Dresden, for example\n. 1337363851 You need a basic curse of logic. 1297666122 Fish have teats? THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING 1317943477 All "atheism" means is "lack of belief in god(s)". Just sayin. 1343007194 I agree. It needs more marquee! 1284800268 I don't think most people mind having a vegan friend question them. Mine get exactly one conversation to discuss it with me. What IS annoying is being confronted over dinner or constantly nagged. \n\nUnfortunately for nice vegetarians and vegans, too many people associate all of them with the zealous variety that do nag their friends about it. 1343795699 You can do studies of identical twins where one smokes and the other doesn't in order to test the hypothesis that those that get lung cancer are genetically predisposed to start smoking. [Guess what](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VBF-4663BR6-DT&_user=10&_coverDate=12%2F31%2F1989&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_origin=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=1ec162745bd6a919a5e6b45ae9b5ebf8&searchtype=a), no dice. Smoking does cause lung cancer. We know this not because of any one single result, but of hundreds if not thousands of results, which have studied the problem from many angles and have tried to isolate every possible variable that might account for an alternate explanation. 1293041087 What a load of crap. I've had sex with thousands of demons and I'm still not gay. 1353960697 Now replicate the green jelly bean study and demonstrate the [decline effect.](http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/12/13/101213fa_fact_lehrer) 1302105956 then you answered your own question. 1321990617 It sound like you might be happier in the [r\\Science](http://www.reddit.com/r/science/)\n\nAlso the things you claim seem kind ignorant (I don't mean to be condescending I just mean you seem to be ignoring that these issues are still major problems in many communities) since out here in the west the Anti-vax movement is still getting whole communities to drop to dangerous levels which has led to increased epidemics of [Whooping Cough](http://www.doh.wa.gov/Publicat/2012_news/12-038.htm) So should we ignore this or how about places like [Australia](http://theconversation.edu.au/pseudosciences-are-destroying-the-reputation-of-australias-universities-5685) are having problems with Homeopathy and CAM being taught in Colleges alongside science based medicine.\n\nI think the reason Anti-vax and CAM are such big and common occurances here is they do direct harm to people and communities especially. To say that this is not a problem either shows that you only are looking around at your own community and since it is not a problem there it is not a major problem elsewhere.\n\nYou make the claim it is a dead horse I can only conclude you are willfully ignorant when it took the skeptical community's input and hard work to stop this which happend only a couple weeks ago.\n\n[American Airlines to air dangerous antivax propaganda](http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2012/04/23/american-airlines-to-air-dangerous-antivax-propaganda/) 1335460196 No one said, "Faster-than-light travel"... Only that we've possibly observed neutrinos traveling faster than light. 1316746164 http://www.phy.mtu.edu/~suits/notefreqs.html\n\nYou will notice that the frequency doubles and the wavelength halves in length as the note is raised by an octave. This is something which is necessary, rather than something that just sounds good. A note is an octave higher than another purely because it has a frequency that is doubled.\n\nIt is true that the scales we use now are based on what people thought sounded good, and what people are now used to, but even using some eastern scales - containing 15, 17 or 24 notes - the octave of any note will always be double the original and any octave will span double the frequency of the octave below it.\n\nMaybe that's more physics based now that I think about it but it seems close enough for me. 1278681853 We may need to chemically engineer some sort of super salt to deal with this... 1287259783 Here's one: If Osama wasn't actually dead, and suddenly the leading piece of news was the US had killed him, how long, in hours do you think it would be before he released another video? What better way to undermine the US than to show up alive? 1304565954 Also: [Cyclamate](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclamate#History), [Saccharin](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saccharin#History) and [Acesulfame K](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acesulfame_K#Discovery). . I recall another story where another sweetener was discovered due to a misunderstanding of the word "try", but I can't find it now. 1312577566 Honestly, it looks like a reflection to me. Especially the way the two "orbs" line up perfectly and are the same shape. 1320429761 It seems to me that there are also different types of pain and psychological pain enhancers. For example, if a torturer gave me the option, I'd choose any level of electric shock before I would choose a paper cut, or an eye gouging, or fingernail pulling. This choice is not for fear of disfigurement, but for a perhaps irrational fear of those "types" of pain. 1334852292 Wow! The chiro didn't do x-rays before adjusting her??! 1356912648 You...you take your upvote and get out. 1336445458 You do realize the whole post is a joke right? 1273761672 Actually I was referring to the thing Zak refers to as the 'spirit speak-and-spell" that just speaks words itself. The thing you were referring to seems pretty cool and legitimate. I want one actually, haha. 1348524101 Agreed, and well said. All we can do is speculate. \n\nI would add that if the universe is indeed infinite and there are indeed many more dimensions or universes which somehow can be traveled between, we are likely ALL right to some extent. That is what makes this topic so incredibly interesting to me.\n\nI should also come clean and admit that I have a belief that many other UFO researchers discount: I believe that abductions ala John Mack and Bud Hopkins exist. I don't think that they are demons, though. I think that they are likely exactly what thousands of people describe them as: alien entities in search of DNA. See? I shouldn't point fingers.\n\n 1331598287 I can tell you're just brimming with shits to give, so let me nip this in the bud.\n\nThe things you believe range from silly to possibly self-harming. Nothing you say will convince me that you're not a ridiculous person, and the only thing that can possibly help your case is demonstrating that you possess one Planck volume's worth of self-awareness. Lighten up. 1344227409 I can't find it online either yet, let me know if you track it down.\n 1308949818 Well I'm not saying it's likely, but with software like bootcamp, I could imagine it being possible. 1352572961 [Law of One](http://www.lawofone.info/) 1345485896 In the future, if I ever create a fake product that doesn't work (and shouldn't) please protest me by buying as much of it as you can. 1264865581 am I missing something? the article makes a pretty good point that it was a lighthouse.\n\nI'm all for looking at the evidence, and in a lot of cases, the evidence suggests a true UFO. But being unscientific and believing in bad evidence only puts into discredit the rest of the good evidence out there. 1310295788 > Considering that 75% of the American public\n\nOnly 40% accept evolution, every fifth American thinks the Sun orbits Earth. 1299074873 >*one cow laugh*\n\nFTFY 1292837502 Does anyone know how I can watch this from Italy? I'm American but I don't get syfy :( stupid navy 1342033642 I think this was posted on r/WTF and the general consensus is swordfish. Nothing too paranormal here, guys. 1350133903 For some unfortunate reason, r/skeptic is skeptical and rational about almost everything **except** acupuncture and chiropractic. Despite the numerous studies showing that they don't have any effect other than placebo, people keep talking them up here. It's r/skeptic's dirty secret. The more we call them out on their bullshit, the better. 1326041826 If there really is an image in the window in real life, this phenomenon is [pareidolia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareidolia). \n\nIf you hadn't been told that it was supposed to be Diana, you wouldn't have seen her. The suggestion has been planted before you even see the footage.\n\n20 years ago, especially if you were Catholic, you might think it was the Virgin Mary. Or you might think it was Marilyn Monroe, or whoever.\n\nIt's more likely that the video is doctored. \n\nHere's why: we're not told what church in Glasgow this is, because we could then go and *look at the stained glass design* and compare it. The fact that the location is not mentioned is a bit of a give away that this is a beat-up, and so is the fact that it is being used in a TV show. The people doing the filming are also conveniently anonymous.\n\nThe video is so poor in resolution that there's no way to tell what is really on the glass in real life, but the image of Diana at one point suddenly gets clear and crisp, which suggests a superimposition. You can't improve a low resolution piece of footage in that way.\n\nThe movement of the camera looks like an editing job, too, does not appear like hand held movement, but more like the simulation of shaky cam from some video editing software. \n\nWhy would a ghost would manifest itself in a static image in a place that has only a tangential connection with their life? If you had that ability, wouldn't you manifest in some much more visible and recognisable location? 1327906510 Excellent analysis of this [here](http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/a/6755), with citations. 1346162433 I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure it's happened. I don't think I'm psychotic or anything like that, but when I was a kid I saw shadow people in my parents' house multiple times. \n\nIt's rare, but sometimes our brains just trick us. 1356905613 Little known fact; before the invention of whiskey, Ireland was a futuristic utopia. 1284509252 Expensive is relative to utility. Since homeopathy doesn't work, it is truly the wasteful expenditure. 1329151418 this again? 1348863305 [Nailed it (44:30)](http://youtu.be/wi2IC6e5DUY?t=44m30s) 1354115794 Naturally. 1301620794 I vote for option 5 as well 1339492427 Earthquakes are caused by the motion of the earth's tectonic plates. The moon, or any other celestial body, has nowhere near enough influence on the earth to affect that. 1332414211 no.\n 1341740401 I checked the post. You came away with a positive score and none of the comments seem to hint at people disbelieving you. Was it PMs or something else that gave you the impression you weren't believed? 1353506248 They are probably being DOS'd by everyone eager to see their response of the rapture not... rapturing. 1305996730 Very interesting. Could you mock up a drawing of what you were seeing; its movement? You said this was at night, correct? Did the shooting star-like thing erupt *from* the object or behind it in the space that it was? 1337786874 Downvoted for lack of actual information that makes this relevant to UFOs. 1313702344 yeah, right.\n\nAdam = Tate. We've all seen American Horror Story. 1325697510 Ah right. No worries then. Well it would be extremely weird if we were the only ones in the 'verse if one thinks about it. 1304615614 Only if it was biodynamically tested to increase the magnetic balance in my system. 1305613746 If everyone here reaches 2013 without some kind of flying, purple, raptor-jesus coming to "cleanse" the planet around Dec 2012, and I remembered to message you. Would you be able to answer me or would this account cease to exist? Would an alternate version of you continue on living in that parallel reality? Would that person have a recollection of noticing these glitches? \n\nYou don't seem to be erratic or "crazy". Although, there might be an information processing malfunction happening and it's causing you to perceive time differently. This is strictly my opinion and as I'm not a licensed psych/doctor, they are not meant to disrupt your thinking, just to enhance my own. 1336921542 I'm just gonna start by saying you need to do more research and think critically about this subject before jumping into the "Let's all write a petition to submit to the government" as a briefing doc sort of thing. To begin with, your terms are all confused and your meanings are unclear. You need to define what exactly is meant by "prove the existence of UFO's" (sic), what type of investigation are you proposing? When you say you want to "spearhead" the document but don't want to be a leader, what are you saying?\n\nTo think that one document alone, or one research project, or one unified voice can make a difference is admirable. We all have to have passion in this subject if we want to see any headway in what amounts to disclosure of information about *already government verified and studied* Unidentified Flying Objects, which is what you are really talking about here. Take them to task about what is already acknowledged and go from there (as Leslie Kean has suggested).\nGood luck, young padawan. 1321977588 Yes, thank you for the correction. My point really was that they are trying to say he's president illegally and not just that Americans don't like Kenyans. 1306471933 Hate to ruin the fun...\n\nhttp://whenpigsfly.bz/Merchant2/p3.jpg\n\nPink Floyd can make pigs fly, unfortunately some assholes with too much time on their hands can as well...among other things. 1326096232 You should remind him that Edison was an inventor early, and a hack and a cheat later in life. He also had no qualifications in medicine, and that field in his day either way was not so hot. 1330066506 I saw another video with him in it where he claims that countries that had people vaccinated against polio took 2x as long for polio cases to disappear. Also, sodium bicarbonate cures cervical cancer apparently. 1332959534 Your tone is appallingly dismissive. If you want to have a reasonable discussion, you need to engage with the opponent's argument, not just call them names and attack them personally.\n\nYou failed to analyse the merits of his argument and concentrated on your own agenda.\n\nIn short, it was just another Post-feminist copy-pasta. You were utterly dismissive of somebody who had good points to make, even if that person was not entirely correct.\n 1345138754 It's really hard to gauge the size or distance in this clip. Has it been caught on film elsewhere? 1323711074 > These could all be studied further\n\nThey could be, and that's the whole point, they should be studied further. However, none of the many obvious questions will be answered if it's continued to be ridiculed, marginalized and poorly understood.\n\n> nobody actually in support of UFOs is doing real, verifiable research\n\nI beg to differ. There are many folks involved in ufology who are doing real, verifiable research such as [Leslie Kean](https://www.facebook.com/lesliekean), [Richard Dolan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_M._Dolan), (arguably) Robert Hastings, [Stanton Friedman](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanton_T._Friedman), and [Jacques Vallée](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Vall%C3%A9e). There have been other, well-respected researchers who have since passed such as [Dr. J Allen Hynek](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Allen_Hynek), [John E. MacDonald](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_E._McDonald) and [Major Donald Keyhoe](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Keyhoe).\n\nYou're also prematurely assuming that UFOs and crop circles have any sort of connection, which I personally don't believe they do. At least there's no evidence to connect the two phenomena. 1312562456 I reported his facebook page as a scam. I recommend we all do so. maybe it will create a stink if we can actually get him booted off. 1312277455 I've never seen it... 1344137059 It will be a great day for science and education when this rag of a blog goes out of business. \n 1336421938 Why, he doesn't have email?\n\nAnd she doesn't have the right to talk about her own experiences? 1351118965 Let me ask the question everyone is thinking.\n\nWho cares? 1310158823 Zombie Apocalypse 1313492672 a UFLOP 1310111153 He's a butthurt 911 truther that follows me around Reddit like a deranged puppy dog, because I deny the Truth that George Bush definitely blew up the WTC in a false flag attack (also, something something Da Jooz!). He's really not worth arguing with unless you enjoy making fun of or arguing with conspiracy theorists. \n\n 1352920771 If it was a one time thing I'd agree, but they've already booked what I expect to be a rather pricy session at this "renowned" medium. These people will milk her for every cent she has, giving her the feeling that her husband is just in reach and not paying the medium anymore would mean abandoning the man she loves and who wants to be in contact with her over petty cash. These people guilt their victims into bankruptcy. 1308519375 I can make actionable choices, but there are some things that end up like I have no free will. This whole thing, the dreams... I dunno, I feel like I've unleashed this projection of reality, maybe it's my mind running "simulations" or maybe I am dreaming about the future. I don't really know, honestly. There's gotta be a point to all of it, but honestly, I really don't know. 1354574145 Not silver obsidian, obsidian set in silver. Lodestone is good too, but think of it like a breathing exersize. In with the good, out with the bad. Anyways, good luck, and I hope you enjoy this job for a while. 1332483653 Watch this one, this is the first time UFO's have been scientifically studied by a university. This documentary will blow your mind\n\nhttp://topdocumentaryfilms.com/portal-hessdalen-lights-phenomenon/ 1310172211 Derren Brown - one of my favorite mentalists! Thanks for the clip. 1317269395 Awesome. How would you like to receive the translations? Could you PM me your email address so I can send them? 1334534672 Ya its not the kids fault. I am sure many of us have had incredibly stupid parents. Her mom is probably brained washed from watching the Oprah show. \n\n 1297555548 Just considering all possibilities together and even pro forma suffices. 1254175402 Rabbits and Hares are completely different creatures. 1351827100 From the article:\n>"The "Dr. Oz Show's" apple juice alert may be *fruitless*"\n\nHa! 1316128505 At the very least we could all draw "red envelopes" on the back of our hands. 1245124853 We need some evidence, not a video of some dude. 1344862083 Thanks, wasn't exactly expecting a reasonable answer as I was half joking. But you make a good point. \n\n>and which would still do buckley's for a the punters cancer \n\nIs that a saying? I think I understand what you're saying, but not sure. 1319696479 They were monitoring subspace frequencies. Don't you watch Star Trek like the rest of us? 1344812005 I think of atheism as being sort of a natural consequence of a skeptical and naturalistic worldview which values empiricism. Rightly there's an awful *lot* of things that I don't believe in, or remain unconvinced of, but there is some reasonable standard of evidence which could convince me of any given claim's truthfulness. The fact that we have a term for *not* believing in this certain claim about the existence of deities is more a sign of the cultural weight we give to that particular idea, not that atheism is itself so radical or an entire world-view. 1335427269 Yes, they lose my respect in that respect. But I try to enjoy the other facets of their personality. Some people are good at partying, others at ping pong, others have something to teach, others ask good questions, and so on; you know, all the things good companionship is for. Sometimes, several of these qualities are found in one person. But if they're not, I just know: this girl knows how to party, but stay away from the 9/11 talk unless you want to slam into the goddamn iron curtain of stupid. 1285357391 What about it? You haven't done many photographs have you? 1314992708 Enjoy downvoting then. \n\nI started my time here with constructive analysis and got downvoted to oblivion because of it. I remember two cases specifically, one where the poster was videoing the reflection of traffic off a billboard situated high above a row of townhouses. I called it and was attacked via PM in return.\nAnother where a ufo was passing through the treeline of some guys riding snowskis, strangely no-one noticed that the UFO didn't pass by every tree (as it was too hard to photoshop segments of UFO between the trees that were close to each other). \n\nSo yeah, enjoy this group's "thoughtful dissemination".\n\nps: inane != insane 1342680682 Absolutely, Zelda was not the most important thing, it was just a conduit for those ideas. But the reason why I think it was such a good one is because it was in this isolated sandbox. \n\nMost people are heavily influenced by the beliefs of their family and others around them, usually learning that whatever their parents think must be true and carrying on the same ideas. Anything with real-world applications is very subject to biases based on social/cultural influences, and we have to overcome those biases and prejudices in order to think properly. (That in itself is an indicator of what I think is the most fucked up thing about modern society, that everyone learns the exact opposite of the right way to think and are never told that this is wrong, leading to much prejudice, discrimination and hatred.) \n\nOf course, people going into things with biases still happened in indirect ways, but this was an excellent way to learn these skills without also forming or utilising any beliefs on major issues debated in the real world - better to do that later, *after* discovering the pitfalls. The consequences rarely extended further than the games themselves, while the consequences of political/economic/religious/scientific/moral arguments can be far-reaching and can obscure the actual point of the debate. (Though appeals to emotion and consequences still popped up sometimes, in the most pants-on-head-retarded ways.)\n\nAs a bonus, it also helped me hone my understanding of how to analyse a story, and the themes and intent behind that story, which applies in some really interesting ways in the Zelda series - such as where gameplay and plot themes tie together. (The Wind Waker is the big one there, and other games, like The Minish Cap, also have interesting thematic elements which play into their timeline placements.) 1295491050 Enjoy your strawmans, good sir! 1314043661 > the immunity is above me\n\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRsNh0eB-Io\n\nYou can watch the experiment performed live here.\n\nIt really isn't rocket surgery, Wim is injected with a bacterial endotoxin made from noninfectious dead bacteria which cause a massive immune response, and violent sickness for 3+ hours.\n\nWim uses his immune system to complete suppress that, and you can watch it for yourself as well as the see the results of his blood work, and hear doctors commentary from the medical center.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n> I still don't know about steaming blankets\n\nYou can watch clips from Dr. Herbert Benson's film where monks are drying the wet sheets here:\n\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WajTafbG7II\n\n\n\nTummo master Wim Hof packed in ice for over an hour to emerge steaming hot. \n\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36IX7fjfTVM\n\n--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n> I'm not completely to the point of trusting the magnetic one\n\nhttp://www.amazon.com/Scientific-Qigong-Exploration-Zuyin-Lu/dp/0965713571\n\nThis book details many studies done in china on external chi, what they found was a lot more interesting than increased magnetic fields. \n 1350839634 >What would they do if they actually found it?\n\nBe convinced. 1294789037 > That's irrelevant: such sweeping changes to crop production will incur massive costs.\n\nYa, except I run a farm so I can confidently say, it's really not that big a deal. I grow literally dozens of of different crops at any given time.\n\nThe only people that freaks out are the really big agribusiness's and their monocultures. The corn belt will have to diversify but they will have to anyway for other reasons.\n\n> It's not really that reasonable when you just play on words and dismiss the literature off-hand without providing peer-reviewed research on your own.\n\nWhat you see as a play on words is me pointing out the fact that you are asking me to freak out about something that is inherently unpredictable. We have two knowns, 1) overall warming and 2) rising sea levels. The rest, the details that will make the most important impacts are impossible to foresee and I refuse to freak out over invisible boogiemen that might make my crops wither or might make them shine with 50/50 odds.\n\nAs for the peer reviewed research, I'm commenting from the perspective of an actual farmer at the moment but I used to work in drug discovery so I'm pretty good at reading research papers. As a farmer, I'm intimately engaged with things like temperature and rainfall as a normal part of what I do.\n\nIf there is a particular, specific paper you wish to discuss please link and we can go over it.\n\nI'm looking at the same research you are, and can tell you with great confidence, exactly what would happen to me and my ability to produce food under those scenarios.\n\nFor example, take a hypothetical 3C increase in temperature where I'm at. Summers would be too hot for leafy greens but I'd be able to grow early spring tomatoes which I can't do now. Corn would be planted a full month or more early and could take advantage of the winter rains where currently I have to irrigate. I could probably even plant tropical corns that are photo-period sensitive to provide access to fresh Choclo to local Peruvian restaurants. I'd be able to overwinter rocotos. Basically it would be as if you picked up my farm and moved it to San Diego, it would require some change to the way I do things, but overall, it's not real scary.\n\nThe one question for me here in this specific senario is, what happens to rainfall. If it increases that's a wonderful thing, if it decreases california agriculture would dry up, but it's that very specific kind of thing that is not predictable.\n\nOn a side note, 18k years ago, the mojave desert extended all the way up to Livermore CA, that's change.\n\n> I don't use sockpuppets, but we probably reacted this way at the same time because it doesn't seem that you're debating in good faith.\n\nI've replied in good faith to every point either of you have posted, you just don't like my answers. 1348468163 Time Travelers seem to me more likely than even aliens. The Time Travel idea actual removes the questions of: \n\n1. Why grays and other aliens look exactly like us. \n2. Why Earth is their focal point. \n\nAlso time travel may be more possible than FTL travel, depending on how that works out. 1301947636 Based on symptoms, upper esophogeal pain without any lower gastrointestinal symptoms.\n\nGluten irritates the lining in the duodenum or lower, not the esophagus. Placing a piece of wheat "under the tongue" is a ridiculous way to diagnosis someone. \n\nGluten has been latched onto by new-age types as yet another universal malady. However, it has very specific effects, none of which the OP is exhibiting. \n\nIf I had to take a guess, the OP is suffering from an ulcer. \n\nWhatever it is, the OP needs to visit their general practitioner. If that doesn't give answers, make an appointment with a gastroenterologist. 1331511263 According to pollsters 5-10% of people will agree with almost any proposition put to them.\n\nAlso, the idea of stated versus revealed preference is pretty relevant here.\n\nPeople *state* they think the world will end, but these same people continue to work at jobs and save money up until that point. Their *revealed* belief is that it isn't going to end. 1338259636 If anyone knows of some good suggestions that would not be offensive to hard core Christians then let's have those posted here too.\n\nI'm in the same boat but have to be even more circumspect about it than the OP. 1353717271 I had a 7 year old tabby tomcat that died of liver failure almost 2 years ago. A day after he died, a cat that looked exactly like him came in the back of my yard, by the grave and started yowling away. Gosh, it was creepy, I only saw that cat once though. It continued for about a week then stopped. Never seen that cat/spirit since. Oh and we had a German Shepherd mix that never seemed to notice a cat in the yard meowing like crazy, maybe because he knew it was his spirit and not a random cat.. 1340562709 That's good. Posting there is like staring into an abyss. 1351185102 But at the same time, coal plants can fuck shit up really bad when they work properly. 1337308001 Yeah! He's such a reasonable asshat! 1298702469 in parallel reality theory it would be possible to experience one side of an event and then zap back to the split and experience the other. the soul contains both experiences, however our memory can only function in a linear fashion. Seth (Jane Roberts) actually had two books out on the topic - called the unseen reality. He states that we are always exploring both sides of things and we can get in touch with the other side by doing a simple meditation of following the unchosen path to see what happens. 1335226104 It is not pointless, it makes you feel better about yourself retard! 1337360265 Hit her. 1321593352 Salon counts as main stream media? 1310212703 I was skeptical, I didn't know I did research and I have found that Islam is as true as 2+2 = 4. I was a freethinker, I came to Islam using logic. I am very rational, I asked for proof and the Qur'an provided mountains of evidence. Watch all the videos from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cv7lCR-7AKQ and then examinethetruth.com 1347202728 You can argue semantics all you want. A patent is a property right. The round-up gene is patented, his seeds contained this patented technology which he intentionally selected for.\n\nYou might disagree with patents in general, or in the specific case of patenting genes, but to argue stealing intellectual property isn't theft because you're only making a copy is asinine. 1352428037 I hope I don't get this stupid when I hit 35. 1348865203 To be fair, if you were hacking into haarp the last thing you'd want to do is prove it. 1344506461 What do they do, *pray extra hard*? 1356818056 Delusional. 1315780570 You need Carrot Top in the last one. Just to throw people off. 1342377376 As I keep trying to say:\n\n1. You've invented the terms "explicit institutional sexism" and "implicit institutional sexism". \n\n2. Institutional sexism is defined as what you are calling explicit institutional sexism\n\n3. You start telling me I disagree with a concept just because I think you are calling that concept by the wrong word: \n\n> I explain that I don't think it's reasonable to discount implicit institutional sexism as a part of institutional sexism\n\nWho gives a shit if you think the common usage of word is "reasonable", that's when I said you were making normative judgments about word definitions. That's how people use the word. That's how it's defined in dictionaries, normally "argument by dictionary" is not a good argument, except in the case of arguing about what the common meaning of a word is.\n\n> argue that it's better understood as "cultural bias" or "sexism"\n\nNOT "understood as", I was saying "defined as"\n\nI also went to great lengths to point out that I do not disagree that that type of sexism is prevalent or with your other points.\n\n4. The social institutions part\n\nI say: "I guess if you count social institutions I can see why you would group what you call "implicit institutional sexism" as a type of institutional sexism, but I think that's a stretch, and as I said before that's just called "sexism". \n\nI said this because I was trying to figure out what type of sexism you were talking about. \n\nThen instead of you saying "no, i'm not talking about social institutions, i'm talking about endemic sexism in institutions that is still entrenched and is not covered by anti discrimination laws nor by the simple label of "sexism" because ..." you think I'm arguing the opposite of my point and say basically the same thing back to me about it being a stretch.\n\nIt's as if we were both working stocking shelves in a supermarket and you started to put the pickles on the shelf labeled olives. I say "that's the wrong shelf, the label says "olives" and you say "how can you not like pickles! they are delicious"\n\nCan you blame me for thinking you were trolling me? 1348248910 There's a difference between trolling and trying to make a good, sound argument against psychics. When you're trolling, you're not actually trying to get anyone to think critically about the situation. I would be willing to be that's the one he was doing. 1329757024 Well, my advice would be to try different cameras, preferably video cameras, and keep trying to catch the thing. Also, start a log of your experiences with every detail you can think of each time someone has an experience. Maybe you'll find a pattern that will help you find the answers you're after. 1340812243 Please, no downvoting for the mere suggestion that a video or photo of a UFO could be explained by a natural or man-made phenomenon. 1346477834 this is no longer the reddit you deserve, it is now the Reddit he deserves. 1347900687 I would plank on it. 1333165019 This is sound advice right here. 1333538396 Well, it's terribly unfortunate that you are offended so easily. The internet is full of reasons to be offended, unless you realize that not everything is to be taken so damn seriously. Your group of friends from Africa can rest knowing that they aren't the only people that are 'bundled' up in stereotypes, there are plenty to go around, and the internet is the best place to find it all. Relax. Take it easy. Chill the fuck out. \n\nActually, I didn't bundle your many friends from Africa into a stereotype at all, I bundled only the tribes that ran around naked covered in bone and cock jewelery into a stereotype. The internet will offend you if you let it, I was only making a comment, I wasn't writing an essay claiming that all black people eat each other. \n\nI doubt, by the way, that your friends would be anything but embarrassed that you claim to be 'defending' them by telling me how offended you are that I called an ancient tribe from Africa cannibals in a comment thread about a David Icke video where he claims that they were all raped by reptiles from a different planet.\n 1324139426 I can't prove it's not a ghost; but I can offer several more plausible explanations—a stain on the wall, a double exposure, etc. 1289832878 I know Paranormal State is fake but it is honestly one of my favorite shows 1335889997 Maybe. Maybe it's all bullshit. But it's fun and exciting bullshit for the people who go through or do this stuff. Take it as a new brand of mysticism for a technological age. Difference being, this is like a myth that is all based on personal experience and evidence, while most other spiritual beliefs of the past were pretty heavy on the dogma and intolerance while not having much by way of evidence or value for the individual.\n\nOr maybe our perceptions limit us from being aware of certain things, things like dimensions other intelligences might call home. It'd be pretty hard to convince society that you dreamed the color red and know what it looks like if everyone lacked eyes. That doesn't mean the wavelength somehow wouldn't exist though.\n\nTake it for what you will. I'm not putting any stock in an explanation for now, the truth could be anywhere here. 1329262666 Hm, you have a point. I'm not sure how much it really affects anything, but you *do* have it. 1349492356 Hmm, some quick searching seems to indicate that nutmeg is indeed psychoactive at large doses. Check out the citations here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutmeg#Psychoactivity_and_toxicity 1348250688 Goats come from within. Have more faith. 1327606252 You ignored everything I said and choose to reject even the notion of damning, factual information being available on the subject even though it can be viewed insantaneously thanks to the time invested by people's research over the years, but you'd rather make a joke of things, laugh with your buddies at how dumb it all seems. You obviously only implement skepticism as far as society's boundaries allow you, so whatever form of skepticism is the accepted around here it must be some branch I missed out on because I thought it only referred to the use of critical analysis, observation of facts and ability to see beyond face values.\n\nYou're going to scoff at this no doubt and scoff away at the end of the day our paths will probably never cross again but this **really** does apply to people who exhibit the type of mindset you are displaying [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEGgAk1AbA4](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEGgAk1AbA4) 1339029499 He is a skeptic yet his name Premanand reads as "eternal (prema) bliss (anand)" ?\n\nNo compute! KRCR, Sskc kmc ... 1254725670 Not if you're doing it to promote a product that you're selling, like in the post. 1344702201 Yep, agree.. Optical artifact. 1288272366 Unstar that doctor's name, we'll find you dirt on him in minutes, I promise. Quackwatch exists for a good reason. 1310391121 I'm sure I remember seeing a documentary about cold fusion being successful but on an incredibly miniscule scale that wasn't even remotely useful. I vaguely recall them zooming in on a beaker of water/some clear liquid and seeing a very faint spec and the scientist saying "see that? that's fusion!". The end result was that the process wasn't useful at all but it was something to work towards.\n\nHowever, I don't remember the program other than I *think* it was hosted by James May. \n\nUseless post is useless :\\. 1301408282 Who ever buys that, their "aura" is going to be seething red when they find out it's horseshit. 1343089751 adblock is your friend. 1352865219 That's more of a convenient undocumented feature - near instant fried eggs - wonder if the counter will fry bacon.\nPersonally I freak out more when there's an entire demon world in my fridge 1314629217 Thankyou! Skeptical thought and critical thinking are such important tools in life, I think they should be a part of the education of all children. 1314270553 Alarming? Try the phone companies image and the banks image. 1349824837 Nope, we're gonna go find some civilian undertaker in town to build teeny tiny coffins! That's how the USAF rolls, boys 1332283362 its a Chinese lantern, powered by swamp gas with military grade flares attached by wires.. everyone can see that. 1341068851 I'm going to take the easiest stand in the world:\n\nWe will never cure aging. Death will remain a part of the human existence until such a time as the ability to transfer the thoughts and ideas of humans into a non-living platform becomes possible - something that is similarly not-too-difficult to argue against as a possibility of existence.\n\nFor a forum of skeptics, the number of upvotes and downvotes on these last two posts is indicative of a miserably uneducated lot.\n\nEdit: for the inevitable reference to a 9th-grade-biology-level understanding of aging - telomeres are not the only, nor even the most important, biochemical aspect of aging needing to be addressed. Please... please don't try to bring up something you learned about in high school.\n\nUntil the perpetual motion machine is invented, my posts are accurate, and my only current reply is wishful thinking. 1354055933 How do you approach the anti-vax movement so prevalent in the chiropractic field? Do you talk openly about it with other Chiropractors? Have you ever called another doctor or instructor out on their bullshit? 1342743856 That looks exactly like what the titles says. 1340594678 His point is at the 2:50 mark, but to better understand what he's saying, you need to watch it from the beginning. 1330842152 If you look at a 20x20 px zone centered at 1500 x 875, you can see the window's chip reflected in the mirror. 1349377837 Well maybe they should use a pic of Jenny McCarthy blowing milk out of her nose with a caption saying "would you take medical advice from her ?" \n\n 1292123382 I actually think it's more awesome when you know what it really is. 1354024791 OH MY GSM, HE REALLY EXISTS!\n\nI guess I somehow don't get the pointless "me with a celebrity" posts. 1317306204 I think the mistake made, on both sides really, is that they will posit that since such or such a thing *could* be happening, that is actually what *is* happening. They will make that decision with their confirmation bias ratcheted to it's highest setting. 1351192891 And your parents captured audio and visual recordings of these supernatural events, enlisting multiple separate witnesses to attest to them over this period which was the best part of a decade. Subsequently this material was published in multiple media and journals, making you all famous and rich beyond the dreams of avarice.\n\nOh wait, that didn't happen. \n\nWhat kind of a person lives in a constantly active paranormal site and *doesn't* get any evidence? 1355113189 I love Fingerpori, but its the punniest comic I've ever seen in addition to having a metric asston of cultural references in it - translating most of the strips is nigh impossible. (I tried to do that for a friend, but failed miserably.) Of course one could always try to persuade the creator to write different comics specifically meant for an English speaking audience. 1287150747 Thanks for sharing your dream. My mom passed away from cancer last summer and I occasionally dream of her. Sometimes it seems as if she never died and when I wake up I remember the awful truth of what really happened. \n\nI don't think it's weird to see her in my dreams. In fact it makes me feel happy to see her in my dreams even if there is a chance I am going to be disappointed when I wake up. Granted I'm still in the grieving process, but I would be very sad if in the future I found out she wasn't going to appear to me in my dreams anymore. \n\nJust wondering, do you want her to appear in your dreams or do you not want that?\n\nAlso, when we wake up, we usually don't remember all of our dreams, so it isn't a sure thing that she is not in your dreams anymore. \n 1333863100 He might have done his deed faster than you. Unless you are certain you can span your attention to taking a crap and keeping a conversation and still make sure no one comes in then you might have something. But this is all speculations. 1350104540 yes, 10 searches, all successful. There are hundreds of these that we could go on endlessly confirming. I'm ready to move on to the next point. 1356337586 >If you think about this in an open-minded manner leaving all preconceived ideas about cavities behind, doesn’t this make sense? Shouldn’t the body be able to heal a cavity just like it heals a broken bone or a cut on your arm? Why would teeth be any different from a broken wrist after all?\n\nRight, that's why amputees grow legs back. Why wouldn't a hole in a tooth fill itself? \n 1351477198 Well, the hypothesis behind the mechanism of how SSRI's work is that they inhibit a transporter on one end of the synapse that blocks it from pumping serotonin back into the neuron. That's supposedly how SSRI's work. Of course, no one knows for sure because no human would voluntarily have his/her brain subject to the invasive procedures that would allow for this hypothesis to be directly tested. 1334465837 I think he was looking for something a little more non fiction :b. I do love that site though. 1342432266 There's nothing wrong with many of the teachings in Buddhism, but as soon as something turns into a religion, it's worse than it could be.\n\n[Sam Harris - Killing the Buddha](http://www.samharris.org/site/full_text/killing-the-buddha/) 1311262418 I read that as "nostrils being removed" and I was like WTF? Then I saw that it was "tonsils being removed" and I was like "oh, that makes... about the same amount of sense." 1296598823 Ok, good answer.\n\nNow, who is the person going through this process? And if it's not a person but a computer, who programs this computer to make these decisions to run the process in the way that you wrote? \n\nChances are that that person would take a totally different approach than you. Let's say, they might look at the nutritional needs of the people who go to restaurants Instead, or maybe he would look at what is underused in the food supply and try to use it. Even if 2 people used similar data, they would probably implement it differently. \n\nThis is obvious to anyone who's done computer programming and looked at other peoples' code. Different people take wildly different approaches to solving problems. Some work better than others which is why some software is good and some sucks. It all depends on the myriad of choices made while writing it.\n\nNow, assume the guy writing this software is corrupt- how do you deal with that? Maybe he writes a program to put as many restaurants as possible in an area whos restaurants are controlled by his buddy who takes the food and sells it on the black market to a non-rbe country? Or maybe he just programs it to favor his locations near his house? This is what happened in the USSR, and without any safeguards it would happen here too. People are always trying to game the system for their own benefit. How will you guard against it? Without some laws to guarantee against such behavior and someone to enforce them, it is sure to exist- at least it has in every other society since the dawn of time. 1317116711 I like this idea 1334165892 I like this idea 1337637675 When did I say that I believe in Homeopathy? I said the opposite.\n\nYou're confused. And stupid. 1333658480 The author left out the most common explanation offered by skeptics, actually. That in a great many cases, the listener is extracting signal from noise where there's really nothing there. The human brain is very good at this, especially when primed by expectation to look for something. 1351011276 Both 1/3 and 1/2 are true; they're different answers to slightly different questions. The puzzle exploits the subtle and easy to overlook difference between those two questions (as many such puzzles do) in order to make it into a cool puzzle for people to argue about.\n\nThe answer to "what is the probability you chose the right door and should not switch?" is indeed 1/3 (therefore you should switch). But the answer to "what is the probability that the door he is offering you has the car, BASED ON THE CURRENT STATE OF THE GAME?" is 1/2. And this is where the puzzle becomes a trick.\n\nSuppose someone walked into the room, who was in an isolation booth during the beginning part where there were three doors and then one got removed. He doesn't know about the three original doors and they are hidden from his view. He takes your place in the game, and takes over your situation with the two remaining doors. His odds are now, pretty clearly, 1/2. He had nothing to do with the original choice, so the 1/3 is irrelevant. He either has the car, or he doesn't.\n\nThis also applies to the original contestant; he either has the car, or he doesn't. So 1/2 is a legit answer. But with the original info supplied by Monty, he should still switch in every trial, because he knows that 2/3 of the time he is switching away from the shitty prize.\n\n**TL,DR;** It's a trick question, designed to get people yelling at each other. 1297163581 I haven't seen a homeopath address the question of how the water "forgets" everything else it has encountered prior to being used in the preparation. Surely a mere filter could not accomplish this. 1328284113 Right on, brother! What matters is that the information is spread around. 1312830168 Sounds like you're all about:\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moderation_Management 1344986564 we are in a simulation like the matrix. thereareglitches 1342927174 Citation [provided](http://www.immunizationinfo.org/science/demographics-unvaccinated-children).\n\nedit: here's the history of [anti-vax movements](http://www.historyofvaccines.org/content/articles/history-anti-vaccination-movements) to show that modern anti-vaxers started out in more liberal parts of the world. The initial furor began in the UK and Wakefield's fradulent study motivated the California-based group Generation Rescue to start a crusade against vaccination.\n\nAlso, what's with the downvotes for Curtis for asking a question? r/skeptic, I am dissapoint. When someone asks me to back up what I've said, I'm more than happy to provide citations and asking for sources and links is the skeptic thing to do in the first place. 1314375926 Possibly a group of visitors from another galaxy...needed to take a pit stop! 1307708422 I believe there's some evidence that aspartame (NutraSweet) increases insulin production, even though it's not adding to glucose in the blood stream. If you're worried about maintaining insulin sensitivity (which is probably a good idea) it might be good to avoid it. Sucralose isn't supposed to have this effect, although I personally hate how it leaves a sweet taste in the mouth for hours afterward due to saliva enzymes not being able to break it down.\n\nThe acid in the soda is probably a bigger worry, as it seriously affects dental health and may lead to digestive issues like acid reflux and inflammation. I think diet sodas in general have also been linked to weight gain (not just correlated with being fat, which would seem natural). In large quantities, the occasional conversion of aspartame into methanol (at higher temperatures) can become a problem too. 1294246210 Not only that, but it corrodes metals, erodes rock, and can cause explosions if mixed with the wrong chemicals, like sodium which is found in common table salt. It's very dangerous. 1341252851 LOL, ok, osteopaths aren't "a medical thing"...How do you have 11 upvotes with that as your opening thesis? 1331602761 Wow! Thank you! Incredibly informative and exactly what I wanted to know. I can't wait to dig into this stuff. \n\nMight I ask, how do you feel if anything at all about Dan Ariely and his contributions to psychology and science?\n\n 1330317297 That is for ages up to 19, not 6 years olds 1356144580 The author isn't saying his opinions are god-like, he's just using the god figure as a fun means to express his ideas on the future.\n\nIf you didn't detect any language toying with the chosen writing technique, then you are literarily blind. 1286380698 Read this:\n\n"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do can and will be held against you in a court of law. You have the right to speak to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you. Do you understand these rights as they have been read to you?"\n\n\nNotice that they do not state, "Anything you say or do can and will be held **FOR** you in a court of law."\n\n\n**TLDR: Shut your damn mouth.** 1330376411 I can certainly see the bias in your comment. 1331071823 I think he means it went away "suddenly" as opposed to a video cutting off gradually, haha 1333559174 >I've heard repeated that we actually do produce enough food to feed the entire world population, but if that's the case, there's some major disconnect in getting the food where it needs to go, and that's what needs changed.\n\nThis is exactly the issue. When people are starving there is always a group of people holding the food hostage. The problem is what to do about that - do we send in military to fight the rebels stealing the food? Do we stay out of all of it? Do we pick and choose? Who pays for this? Those questions and deciding the answers to them are often what truly holds up getting food to the starving people. 1333324631 600 light years away?\n\nWell, no chance of us visiting them. 1323131242 There are four hours of testimony from ex-military, NASA, & government employees. Search "Disclosure Project". 1302901254 Excellent points all, original and the edit. Thank you. It is blinded as far as I know (the patient has to go get the "remedy" and it will either be a placebo or not). Not sure what the null hypothesis is, but I can find out easily. \nOne of my big concerns is that families participating in the study would have to alter the protocol that we already use. For example, we do suggest two herbal remedies (well known in the lactation world) via capsule in the first month when prolactin levels are already high. The study demands that they take the herbs via tea, not capsules, which I'm not sure would be as effective. I'm not a big fan of the herbs to begin with (6-8 capsules tid; that's a meal!) but they can be effective sometimes. If they don't work, we prescribe a medication that boosts prolactin levels. This is in concert with working on latch, feeding management, and addressing issues such as tongue tie. \nIssues such as how baby latches at the breast can be major, and it varies greatly how well families make adjustments when they go home. So, for example, perhaps a mom does a great job changing the latch at home and therefore experiences better milk flow, whereas another mom still has challenges changing her latch. Would this not have an impact on whether the "remedy" has had an effect? The mind boggles. 1342795279 Isn't that the same as what happened with polio at about the time of the release of the polio vaccine? 1327028158 I've seen people berate vegans/vegetarians (or heard stories of people I know being berated) far more often than I've actually witnessed anyone I know who is vegan/vegetarian attempting to force their diet on anyone else. \n\nIt amazes me how such a stupid stereotype comes from nowhere, when everyone has the right to choose what they do and don't want to eat, and both sides have assholes who harass the other. It's as bad as the "all gays are flamboyant and effeminate" bullshit. *No, it's just the ones you've identified using that stereotype as your sole determinant of whether someone fits that label or not.* \n\n...Besides, how else would you identify a vegan other than the fact that they've told you?\n\nFor the record, I am not a vegetarian or vegan. I'm just not an asshole. 1346052352 The only possibilities are starchild or alien hybrid. According to the video submitter that is literally the only possibilities in all the cosmos. \n\nUnlikely recessive genes showing up? NO\n\nRandom genetic defect/quirk? NOOO\n\nMutation? NOOOOOO\n\na *starchild* 1327469267 This is just to enforce labeling. That empowers people to make their own decisions. They'll be informed when they read the label and see that it's homeopathic. 1316966610 Also... thanks! Good post. You made me stop and actually think for a moment... 1344136986 If he says nothing to his family he fails them. If this also makes it easier for them to dodge or minimize the consequences of their actions, he also fails society and the justice system. I understand he is under no obligation. This is similar to a criminals mother not giving him up out of some twisted sense of loyalty regardless of his crimes or their nature. Similar, not necessarily in severity but through the act of indifference on one of the involved parties. \n\nWhy let them weasel out of the consequences, and feign ignorance. They need money,they may not even be ignorant of it being a scam, merely willing to take peoples money because it is easy, and at least to themselves, personally justifiable.\n\nI too would be rooting for the plaintiff regardless. 1304015460 >No they don't, no they don't. There is absolutely no evidence to show that,\n\nI'm on my mobile at the moment so I can't find links however wikipedia has some good stats and the like. Countries with more stringent gun controls in general have a much lower gun crime homicide rate per population unit. There are a few countries here and there that break that trend on both sides of the coin but in general that seems to be the case and in essence it makes sense, if there is less of X around then usage of X will be less. Please note that I said less *gun related* violent crime and not violent crime in general. \n\n>but besides that everyone knows that first of all you need weapons to protect from government tyranny, then defense from buglers and stuff and then you can use your weapon for hunting\n\nThat's personal opinion. While this has been the case in the last year or so in places such as Egypt, Lybia, etc these are very different countries to those in the Western world and I think the battleground against tyranny in places such as the US is political & not at gunpoint. Having said that, it's another conversation altogether and as I previously mentioned, I'm not saying that you should repeal the 2nd.\n\n>You just said it yourself, people kill and not guns and there is no way to stop acts of violence, I mean if it isn't guns its going to be homemade bombs and then you'd probably have even bigger casualties.\n\nThat's a big jump to make, no guns "Better make a bomb!". Yeah, a couple might but I'd think it's much more likely that they grab a knife or try and beat the crap out of someone with a baseball bat. \n\n>You can not make the world completely safe, I mean its just impossible, if you want to be completely safe lock yourself up in one room and never leave, even then you are probably just going to die actually sooner from heart attack because of lack of exercise and sun, so going out and having a 0.000001% chance of dying from a gun shot is a lot smaller than 25% chance to die from heart attack within 1 year of inactivity.\n\nWhat, I don't even? Where did this paragraph even come from. Suggesting tighter controls for a deadly weapon ≠ suggesting we all stay inside. Not even close. \n\n>So whatever way you look at it guns are not the issue and shouldn't be an issue and should never be discussed and governments never allowed to restrict guns, because when they do you have government tyranny.\n\nGovernments banning gun ownership causes them to auto flip to being tyrannical, got it! \n\nThe US is doing it how it would like to and I'm not suggesting they take gun ownership away from the masses because I think as a country you're far and away beyond the point of no return for that to work. What I am trying to get across is that there are other countries that do restrict gun ownership, it DOESN'T make them tyrannical and it does on average seem to have a positive effect on gun based crime stats. \n\nI'm not going to argue/reply any further as it's gotten to a point where all that is on each side of this argument is your belief that gun ownership is a basic human right of some sort and me believing that it isn't. There are many people like each of us on both sides of this argument and at the end of the day all we're likely to achieve here is to repeat old threads, blow a lot of hot air around and have some people in subreddit drama laugh in our direction. I think it's better if we just leave it at this, we can shake hands and agree to disagree. 1343138225 It seems something happened over San Jose yesterday evening.\nI found some links to a few sites where people describe seeing the same thing (they are from nutty sites but the writing style seems genuine)\n\nhttp://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message2087640/pg1\n\nhttp://unitedstatesufo.blogspot.com/2012/12/speeding-white-ball-of-light-becomes.html\n\nhttp://unitedstatesufo.blogspot.com/2012/12/bright-green-light-flew-over-northern.html\n\nhttp://unitedstatesufo.blogspot.com/2012/12/blue-light-speeds-across-sky-over.html\n\n 1356032204 OMG I've never heard of black eyed children until just now but I've seen one! Well, a black eyed teen!\nOnly experience I've ever had, I saw a teen that I thought was a friend of my brothers, but he kept staring. When I eventually looked up at him his eyes were completely black, he ran, I chased to see who it was but he disappeared into thin air. Been scared of seeing it again ever since! 1342088201 Not clear on this, but did the guy in my dream who handed me a free hat do the same in real life? 1332985598 Touché, sir 1288956347 >"Although the researchers say that the differences between organic and non-organic food are not 'important', due to the relatively few studies, they report in their analysis that there are higher levels of beneficial nutrients in organic compared to non-organic foods.\n\nDoesn't seem like "no", probably "small" or "not significant" is more appropriate.\n\nAnd also they didn't say whether they looked at the content of trace minerals. The main nutritional claim made for organically-grown food is that there are more trace nutrients since the soil is replenished. It's not all N-P-K, all the time. 1248925166 A true skeptic uses hard evidence. Please don't confuse conspiracy theorists with skeptics. 1328679544 I'm a different guy. 1320213618 thanks! i knew it was a bad idea to eat that newspaper. and then I bit the postman too! 1328049843 What makes Mercola more dangerous is he uses his credentials those who'll more likely appeal to authority. He's a bit more clever than Mike Adams, who has a problem hiding his crazy. 1343098318 They aren't irrational. There are plenty of honest, concerned people looking at this right now. Ultimately there may not be a way to really prepare, but society seems to be subconsciously picking up on our predicament 1341212990 I can hear the question but I didn't hear the response at all, just static. Should I try different headphones? 1349819152 If the parents didn't believe in the magic of faith healing they would have taken their child to see a real medical professional who would have given that child real healing advice. 1316467168 In winter, in europe, during an ice age?\n\n 1342738576 >So I don't understand why the hate on her. If anything, it should be directed at those that exaggerated the claims.\n\nShe has made things worse now by calling for a boycott of Dawkins books, tours, etc. She's digging herself in with those who have made the whole thing into a big mess.\n\n>extremely mild sting. A sting, by definition, is a painful thing.\n\nYes, and something that is extremely mild is by definition at the extremities on the spectrum of mild things. If something is mild it's hardly painful, let alone something that is extremely mild. 1310089337 Thanks.\n\nWell, it's hard to create a control for acupuncture studies. What's the placebo for a needle? And, it's easily explained as a placebo effect. But, I believe studies are starting to show acupuncture works better than a placebo. Here's a quick example of one.\n\nhttp://www.painjournalonline.com/article/S0304-3959\\(99\\)00107-4/abstract\n\nI'm guessing the science is that if you cut yourself it will release endorphins.\n\nBut, whatever. That's not my point.\n\nAnyway, thanks for listening. I did feel like an ass.\n\nEdit: link has brackets. 1284080760 >manipulator, a lunatic at best\n\nSo exactly like other prophets? 1344779695 Where did the video say it was a huge conspiracy? It's just a system that was adopted by a few elitists in power because it seemed like a good idea at the time. Systems have a way of evolving and distorting themselves, and lo and behold that's what happened. See, it turns out that when one coercive monopoly has control over the education of children, they don't get taught to think critically about that coercive monopoly. 1332056354 I'm surprised he lasted as long as he did. Good riddance to bad rubbish. 1341610665 Mission accomplished. 1327425625 So why not start making open contact with the everyday average person? Some of us are waiting. 1338939367 Just called the guy in charge. It's totally open to the public, just show up a bit early to get a seat. 1287513819 I never had an experiance personally but I used to work in a resort in The Smokey Mountians that had it's fair share of suicides and murders. There is one suite that no one in the two years I worked there stayed the whole night in. It's not a rule but the manager will tell you that it's the very last room you should book.\n\nAbout a year before I started working there a man brought his pregnant wife in and ended up murdering her then hanging himself. The hotel closed the suite for awhile and compleately remodeled it. They even changed the room numbers around to prevent people from seeking out the room.\n\nStill everyone that we put in it ,and a friend and I would often put people in it, no one stayed in it the whole night. They would check out in the middle of the night or would come down to the desk and demand another room. Most people wouln't give a reason but the few we got were people kept hearing a baby/woman crying, seeing a woman in the room, hearing voices, being touched, and having items moved around.\n\nI've heard they don't even book the room at all anymore and have turned it into storeage.\n\n 1339443019 Death is the only reason to ever give in to a stupid argument. 1293857142 Oh lawd, I had that happen to me once in a rock shop. I had some metaphysical magick lady pounce on me in the back room and try to tell me how she could see my aura, and that it was wise indeed that I had fashioned myself a 'pendant' of picture jasper for my necklace, for it fended off 'the dragon' and kept me enclosed in a circle of light. *-many sincere nods-* 1283477484 That was the first red flag for me too. 1331307232 I'd recommend you checkout The Skeptics Guide to the Universe podcast. \nNice mix of cutting edge science and skepticism with a very vibrant panel. \n\nThat show got me into skepticism and has been a huge influence on my life. \n 1328996409 Ever read those "Magic eye" books?\n\nProbably something like that. 1326499358 There is [this article](http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2006/02/meditation-found-to-increase-brain-size/?fb_ref=sidebar%2F) that seems to suggest some measurable benefits. 1325897416 It's also notable that just because a side-effect is reported, that doesn't mean that it's due to the medication or vaccination. Coincidences happen, and unless a direct cause can be determined, it's possible that a side effect is just a post hoc attribution. 1330067681 Pretty sure that's a lens flair caused by the reflection of the sun off the bumper of the truck. 1333566072 It was bad ass.\n 1342396764 Vidible incredios and photos. 1350869378 I'm afraid FOX is just that bad. 1332734885 You have asserted that people who are anti-GMO are generally ignorant of the benefits of GMOs.\n\nYou have demonstrated, as the entirety of your evidence, that two people out of the entire set of people who are actively against GMOs, are ignorant of the benefits of GMOs. \n\nYou have not demonstrated that the over 2.9 million members of Greenpeace, an organization which actively blocks distribution of Golden Rice because it is an Evil GMO, are ignorant of the benefits. \n\nYou have put forth anecdotal evidence about a couple of know-nothings in your family. If that is all you have, I suggest you reconsider your position that the majority of anti-GMO activists are ignorant of the potential benefits of GMOs.\n\n 1352930350 This is by far the clearest indicator I've seen to date that we are spending far too much money on our military. They aren't even trying anymore to hide the gigantic boondoggle that they've become. 1321498663 The internet still at the very least leads to self-diagnosed Aspergers. 1313083801 Some strains of influenza (e.g. bird flu) appear to preferentially kill people in the 15 - 50 age bracket instead of the elderly (like normal strains), and it's suspected that people in that age bracket die *because they have a strong immune system*. Too many immune cells are sent to the infection triggering a [cytokine storm](http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-cytokine-storm.htm).\n\nIgnoring bird flu, the immune system is a balance - there are disorders at both ends of the scale, and even thinking about it like a scale or 'general strength' is wrong because the way it reacts to something depends on what it's been exposed to in the past. 1291909517 That's so original and unexpected!... however, "proven beyond a shadow of a doubt" does not include visions, it includes several witnesses. But hey, I give zero fucks about what skeptics and angry tweaking atheists think of me. It seems like you're so ashamed of your life that you're afraid to believe. Like a gay person with homophobia. 1350207865 So what do they use in [programs like this](http://www.liberty.edu/academics/arts-sciences/creation/)? I mean, they teach a required-for-all-students class in "origins of life." Do they just use a high school textbook? 1356126662 I can tell by their epic website design that they're legit. 1312171297 Regardless, its still really good. And its using the every day meaning of theory rather than the scientific one, but if its meant for none scientific people then I think it works pretty well. 1337462104 Many times thank you! It's great reading arguements by someone who actually knows the topic, not just blindly believing everything onefind on the internet. I wish my friends and the media would understand these arguments, they all seem to believe the eco-terrorists propaganda. Dankeschön and keep up the good work!\n\nAlso OP, please try to avoid such misleading headlines, obviously the e.coli is not *actually* the palgue 1307743983 That's called the [Courtier's Reply](http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Courtier%27s_reply)\n\nThis argument is particularly favored by anyone who fancies themselves more qualified than others on a subject. 1355689670 Mweh, this again.\n\nThe assumption that certain frequencies cause certain feelings are to be approached with similar skepticism as the ghostly things they are used for to explain. Sound frequencies especially. There is no other way to enter the brain other than physical resonance, which may or may not occur at any frequency. This will be different for each person. It will never be absolute.\n\nAlso the "20Hz" thing gives this away. Humans are relatively deaf for low frequencies. We here best at ±4000 Hz, and the lower it gets, the more deaf we are for it. An airco may produce 70 dB SPL around 60 Hz without being loud, but if it were to produce a whine at that sound pressure level around 4000 Hz, you'd turn it off right away.\n\nThis deafness does not start at 20Hz exactly. Your subwoofer needs to be really big to produce 20 to 40Hz audibly, not because the waves are so large (20Hz is 17.5 meters!) but because it needs to move a lot of air, because you are too deaf to hear it otherwise. This deafness is a curve, and it's different for everybody. I bet a large speaker and a big amp can produce 19Hz at an SPL that most people can hear.\n\nThat said, I do get very dizzy and uneasy when my GF ventilation system is on. It has very low audio components at a loud volume. 1318701542 That is a great rebuttal post Sazrak. It isn't often when you see someone put as much effort as you have to respond to an such an inane "argument." I'd upvote you more if I could; but I can't; so I won't. At least you get an orangered along with the upvote :) 1266818466 that must be frustrating. keep looking, one day you will stumble upon what you are looking for or it will discover you.\n\nmay I ask what changed? 1323127813 When one looks at the data, then calls the data irrelevant and unfounded, even when the data, and results, have been confirmed by three different groups looking at climate change, and all three of them finding the same conclusion, then yes, that is denialism. \n\nDenialism, which apparently is not a word. 1325357716 You don't have to reserve judgement until you watched it. One video should not change your mind anyway. just to interest you. And to show that this is serious business. Not something you just dismiss on a frikkin beach in 20 seconds.\n\nThere have been many talented people studied, some showed significant results.\nJames Randi is not a scientist, he is a lying magician who's entire life is devoted to debunking at all costs. If you want truth for him, you might as well believe in fairy-tales. JREF's price is a showpiece. Even if someone actually did made a successful go at it, the contract is so that JREF can get out of it. There is tons of that on the internet, some stories truly outrageous.\n 1316224774 Fair points. And yes, there is a huge difference between having evidence that there is unexplained phenomena and saying they are coming from other planets. What annoys me though is debunkers who dismiss evidence of the phenomena itself and come up with prosaic reasons that are quite ridiculous, for example the so called sceptic who dismisses the Rendlesham Forest case saying that it was probably lights from a lighthouse when we have the audio recording of the army base officer describing the UFO that was on the ground in front of them and left radiation traces. 1346501137 Sorry, guys, [it's bullshit.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG4wTZuT3wM) 1340068765 I wish I could give you more upboats.\n 1343710147 I think so, see my arguments elsewhere in this thread. 1274606574 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluoride_toxicity 1337791940 Already tried, good luck! 1344818488 Exactcly.\n\nOur bodies are literally light traveling at 186,000\nmiles a second. The light is vibrating so fast that our bodies appear\nsolid. That is the best our eyes are capable of seeing. As beautiful\nas our senses are, they literally see one one-billionth of the known\nelectromagnetic spectrum. With this limited information we have\nabout the world, we venture to make our judgments. 1320677854 stupid, definatley.\n\nI'm sick of the middle-aged women in my workplace talking about all this crap. No matter how many times I tell them its an ancient trick called 'cold reading' they just ignore it. Its like the logic part of some peoples brains just doesn't exist. I fucking hate people. \n\nFolk in the UK - Derren Brown is debunking some 'Psychics' on monday at 10pm on channel4, think he goes on tour with someone who 'speaks to the *other side*' should be gid! 1273335887 The reason that I had heard was there was a food shortage in the USSR and the USA was secretly sending grain to them. 1356267504 Stupid fucking pandas! 1353156165 There's no such thing as "tox". 1286502035 >Unfortunately the average person falls for repetition. That is, the more people hear bad stuff about something the more they believe the bad stuff.\n\nThe technique you describe is often called "[The Big Lie](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Lie)." 1316987390 Ugh, this again. People who do not understand how the EM spectrum works are infuriating. Their minds are also very, very hard to change. The small island (pop. 2000) where I used to live still doesn't have cell service, despite AT&T and Nextel trying to build towers, because the braindead residents form "safety committees" that shoot the construction down every time. To this day my mother does not own a microwave because she "doesn't believe in them" and they "make food taste bad." I have many childhood memories of attempting to heat things up in the toaster oven. 1318612772 Answer about animals. Yes, they are more sensitive to spiritual activity, however, in your case it would be more logical to say your car was just spazzing. My cats do it all the time. For no apparent reason they run around the house all puffed up with pupils dilated. Now I'm not saying it's not possible. If they did that anytime they went near a certain area it may be more likely. 1342033986 It surprises me that people don't realize that asking someone to go back to their place to drink coffee is often innuendo for sex. Sure, the guy may have meant that literally, but I don't blame Rebecca if she saw it as an invitation for sex.\n\nBut it's disappointing that some skeptics here are resorting to using strawman arguments (exaggerations of Watson's reaction and caricatures of feminism) to air out their own grievances over this whole drama. 1310428105 Yes, it's the golden knights: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaqvrv-8jIY 1287337598 Yeah, I didn't really see anything disagreeable about him when checking his wikipedia entry... That redditor was still trying to "poison the well" though by associating me with someone that he himself finds reprehensible. 1305687613 I love how in the first 10 seconds of the clip the commentary says Darwinism = paganism and Darwinism = atheism.\n\nSeriously, attack one group at a time :P 1295145114 You mean [this one](http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2428437236878343763) 1315245229 I meant it was like looking at the map for the general election in 2008. You would see Obama's blue areas around the big cities in Ohio and the rest of the state was all red. \n\nIn the republican primary this year it looked the same except Romney won those urban areas where the rest of the state was for Santorum. I'm just pointing out that doesn't mean it was fraud. Romney just happened to win the more populated areas. One reason I would offer is with more wealthy people living closer to those cities. 1351415923 Amazing thing is I just had that dream last night! I don't know if it was before or after this post. But talking about glitch explanations for dreams, I have this theory that anniversaries bring up the same ideas. I looked up my posts from about 12 months ago, and I was using phrases like "boil down," quoting Helen Keller feeling "waves of music" and so on... 1350797567 it makes sense when you think about it, i mean, i know the human body is seriously flawed and never really properly evolved for this whole giving birth thing, but there are muscles that open, whereas...with a gall stone....ouch. 1329980850 You'd perhaps like Pinker's book "How the Mind Works". I've not finished reading it yet, but he brings together philosophy of mind, psychology and cognitive neuroscience. 1322438892 Lost count after the first one, its pretty intense. She burned through doves though, those are like one a week but they get to live. She lets them go after shes uses them. 1327653963 That's fuckin crazy. I can't think of anything that would explain what that is. 1223870098 I hate when watching shows like Ghost Adventures or Ghost Hunters when there's music or sound effects constantly playing in the background. Motherfucker I want to hear shit going on. 1341354515 [NoScript](http://noscript.net/) and [AdBlock Plus](http://adblockplus.org/en/) are your friends. 1313403515 That isn't evidence of anything. Photos rarely are. 1331258431 The best part was when Assange said that 9/11 truthers annoy him. 1292045106 Given that the placebo effect will always convince some people that an ineffective treatment works, and alt med treatments generally lack double blind studies, how can a consumer know which alt med practices don't work before spending money on it? 1318466733 >Indeed - thankfully, we have much more factual data than you are aware of.\n\nI'm speaking specifically of the data used for their animation, which does not match reality. They data that they refuse to release in freedom of information request.\n\n>We know the location and severity of the damage to the structure itself.\n\nReally? Of WTC7? I would love to see how you know this damage that they talk about.\n\n>Your picture isn't taking in to account that the exterior structure of the building was separate from the interior structure.\n\nThat's complete nonsense. If the corner columns were gone, you would notice it. The corner would be gone. I talked to structural engineers that do research for NIST, and they don't even suggest that. They say it's just a model, that is not accurate, but explains what could have happened.\n\n>>Do you know that NIST has refused multiple FOIA request to release the data behind their animation?\n\n>I was unaware of that. Have they given a reason why?\n\nYeah, you are going to love this. They say, the release of the documents "might jeopardize public safety." No shit! Read it here:\n\nhttp://cryptome.org/wtc-nist-wtc7-no.pdf\n\n>You're jumping to conclusions. You've gone from what should have been a "Hmm, why aren't they releasing the data" data point A to "CONSPIRACY!!!!" data point Z without filling in B through Y in the middle.\n\nI'm fairly well researched in this area. Saying they won't release the data models for "public safety" reasons suggest a coverup to me. Simulations are for science; animations are for marketing. Right now, giving the facts we know, this is an animation, and the dataset would likely show fraud by NIST in their report. 1315571923 And some people say they don't see any outright sexist comments on reddit... 1325662069 Ugh, I totally saw a sign outside of a pet store advertising for a 'doggy chiropractor' the other day. I'm not sure which is more ridiculous. 1283493311 Good point about them being radioactive which is another thing people are badly educated about. It takes billions of years for that radioactivity to fade to nothing but that's the type that is not dangerous to you. \n\n 1316121626 Misleading title is misleading.\n\nI've seen similar paintings, and the locals will tell you about the dreamtime stories to accompany them. Nothing to do with aliens whatsoever. 1287168486 Because sociolinguistics. 1341039821 Note: I'm preparing my own scientific research which counter this study by proving that Canadian food is more healthful than Korean food. I will be serving subjects a Canadian traditional food of pancakes as well as a Korean traditional food of Soju. I predict that the subject group eating pancakes will gain better nutritional gains than the subject group drinking Soju. 1340190100 I am fortunate because I had a terrific philosphy teacher in high school, she was really passionate and taught us well. I often didn't agree with her beliefs but she had reasons for them and I respected her for it! 1329174176 Yeah, you could have just gone to IMDB and found out that every person in that movie was an actor & saved yourself some "detective" work. 1332187522 >Donald Trump has been publicly making claims that not only question whether President Obama was born in Hawaii, but insist that he was born in Kenya. These claims are part of an overall belief that’s been termed “birtherism” – which is a conspiracy theory that asserts the media is suppressing the knowledge that Obama’s presidency is unconstitutional. \n\nOP fail\n\nedit: formatting the quote 1302567606 PPS I am very proud of our service record: [http://i.imgur.com/D7qCK.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/D7qCK.jpg) 1308068107 Yes [everything](http://i.imgur.com/ISALh.jpg) you read on the internet is true. 1332497593 It's the hemispheres. Being in the north the frequencies of the holograms are reversed for us! 1294148352 Looks legit.\n\nhttp://www.lankasrinews.com/view.php?2bYAlJ4a2dVYc242dmM0a220AmB42d2pBK4e0doMAOce0AA5V3c2cXO4e2\n 1355391144 Nothing can be done. We don't know the names of the 30 accounts the guy on ebay owns, ebay won't care, and only idiots will pay such a ridiculous amount for something that is essentially just an ego boost. The upvotes will cause it to go to the hot page, which will cause it to get a large amount of downvotes, and actually generate negative traffic towards the link.\n\nSo, yeah, nobody can get banned for this. 1331117982 See, now I respectfully disagree with this idea. \n\n>I believe we are not alone in the universe, btu the odds of us making contact with any other intelligent lifeforms is so small we probably never will. \n\nI think this, in itself, says that it's very likely. I saw [this](http://i.imgur.com/YWthu.jpg) and it kind of put things in perspective. Now mind you, I knew a good portion of this already (and being at a [6] might have helped a bit), but just looking at how vast the universe is, and understanding that we know fuckall about what's out there, I think contact is virtually inevitable.\n\nI have a theory that maybe for every 2 or 3 solar systems there can only be one planet with life. But then, who know how big each particular solar system is? Just what I think. 1316565578 Hey everyone. I just emailed the JREF (James Randi Educational Foundation) with a request for Mr. Randi's time. It would be a great help, I'm sure, if anyone else wouldn't mind shooting them a quick one or two sentence email, as well, in order to demonstrate our desire for this to happen. Here's the link. Thanks!\n\nhttp://www.randi.org/site/index.php/contact-the-jref.html\n 1304099897 SLIGHT AND CREAMY, TRIPLED FILTERED VODKA HAHAHA THE HEADSTONE OR HEADBANGWER LUXURY VODKA, MANFACTURED TO BEING YOU A PURELY NONENHANCED PURE SPIRIT THANK YOU 1303113970 Interesting and thought-provoking stories are always welcome. But "OMG, two years ago my friend saw slenderman juggling orbs!", is not. And unfortunately, that covers many of the submittions to this sub. 1355796269 As i've said in another thread from this post, I would generally agree with you. What we have here, however, is a collection of people who have a self-diagnosed sickness that often share no common trigger or symptom between individuals. When the only two studies done find no physiological differences between participants who are healthy and those who suffer from MCS in or out of the presence of the identified triggers the only rational conclusion is that the illness is psychological. 1316465925 You like using big words without properly understanding their meaning don't you? 1347579612 Maybe there is nothing odd about this, but the intensity of the event to the point I will never forget it and I have always struggled to understand it has always left me weirded out. It just felt like the beginning of my life.\n\nI credit this one occurrence to me studying philosophy in college, because I could never quite come to terms with it. I think if it were just my coming to terms with my existence it wouldn't be this confusing. I think what im trying to say is that it was very spontaneous and instant, its not like I was sitting there thinking about anything profound. It just happened. 1335331920 It evokes feelings of caring and bullshit like that. 1285361191 no i dont. id rather they not be there and how can that be when my whole family, friends and random strangers see the same stuff as me. plus this stuff goes on in every house on my street. oh and i really dont think a 7 yr old girl would want to look for that stuff plus the fact i had an ornament thrown at me on many occasions as a child when nobody was near the ornament. i still have the scar from where the wing on the ornament hit me. 1341337404 Fucking kids, throwing balls around in what *I* created with my own two, possibly even fifteen hands. 1329130801 This. School should show how it applies everywhere - in science, in English, even in music. 1328669251 How about 'conspiracists'. People who believe in conspiracies seem to fail to change their beliefs based on evidence. 1304114560 Just because someone is 'yelling' (but what we really mean here is being hostile) it doesn't mean they have no good point to make and so would be *reduced* to it (as if rhetoric is somehow *below* a person). 1342481046 You meet the ghosts of retard future -- your classmates. 1309700649 Good luck, Hitch. 1277935187 That I definitely disagree with. It's all about perception. The two parts of the statement- "It's not your kid" and "back off"- when added together seem like they would really give the message of "I don't want you involved." I know it's not what's being said, but you know how people get.\n\nI actually think it would be better to flat-out say "that's bullshit, ma" when grandma says something suspect. Then again, this guy knows better than us how to address his own mom in that respect so I guess it's a futile discussion. 1295154430 Yeah, these data are skewed, of course. I think it's meant to be a little bit of fun, not an academic paper. 1284029841 When my granddad was still alive, he used to get a forewarning of somebody's death. Occasionally, he would hear a knocking sound. A few days after the knocks, he would find out that a friend or family member had died. Apparently, the knocks were louder when it was a person who was close to my granddad. \n \nMy mum told me this years ago, but I can't really explain it. Maybe something along the lines of conformation bias. Maybe he heard the knocks all the time, but only paid attention to them when somebody died? \n \nEdit: As far as I am aware, he never heard 'the knocks' before his death. One would have thought that the knocks would be *really* loud then 1344721086 What a childish thing that would be. 1304374390 im 14... 1356887585 A taste of your own medicine, eh? Well, I *do* understand more about the nature of the world than you do. I'm talking to you in the way you sometimes talk to others. Once you drop the 'I'm smart and you need education' mentality when interacting with your brothers and sisters, I won't need to use it anymore. \n\nHere's what I want you to do. Whenever you remember, if you get upset again, for any reason, whether it's on the internet or anywhere else, just stop and become aware of your anger. Ask yourself if you want to experience this feeling. Ask what it is *for*. Then go about your day. Just do this at least once per day. 1316564941 Those who will be raptured still need to make preparations for their pets. 1294971443 The earth! \n\nBasically, AC can be used to send power through only one conductor if you have two large capacitances at the ends. \n\nImagine a circle of tubing filled with water, with a pump and a turbine lying across from each other on this circle of tubing. The pump can pump water through the tubing, which turns the turbine, and the water comes back through the tubing to the pump.\n\nNow, cut the tubing between the pump and turbine, and put water-filled balloons at the ends. If you turn the pump on, the turbine will turn for a while, but one balloon will have the water pumped out and one balloon will get filled up. Eventually, the negative pressure from the empty balloon and the positive pressure from the full balloon will overwhelm the pump, and the turbine will stop turning.\n\nBut... what if you have the pump switch directions regularly? Now one balloon will start to fill and the other will start to empty, but before the pressures can overwhelm the pump the pump *switches directions*! The turbine, then, will move back and forth. You've transmitted power through through only one piece of tubing (conductor)! The water balloons are the capacitances, providing a temporary storage place for the extra "water" (charge) that sloshes back and forth.\n\nYou can try this at home (if you have a Tesla coil at home, of course :P): Touch your Tesla coil and hold only one lead of a LED. The LED lights up! This is because of the inherent capacitance of the LED leads and the semiconductor junction in the LED. With low-frequency (say, mains), the LED won't light. The pump doesn't switch directions fast enough, and it gets overwhelmed by the pressures before it switches. 1353361017 Seconded: I *really* don't want to live in this world anymore. 1320526849 Don't really mind it, either. It's more just not wanting a thread to be filled with stuff like that. And /r/skeptic is pretty small, so I don't think it's a *big* problem here. 1353375401 Yours is the only hostile comment here, it was all fine until you exploded. 1337872883 I'm not trying to downplay it, it is very interesting footage, but... as steady as it angle is, the clouds never move. I see birds flying, but the clouds, even the contrails, are stationary. Why is that? I stare at the sky from my cubicle daily, and every single cloud in the sky, man made or natural, move in all directions conjunct with atmospheric conditions. Easy to spot with a fixed point reference. I am not seeing any movement in this video beyond the distant, quadrotors with lights.\n\nI need more physics shattering dynamics or much more detailed footage. sorry guy. I'm not your buddy, pal. 1300172656 Yeah, and it may come to that. But I dislike the idea of letting something slide just because of culture. (And if he's there for cultural reasons, I'm a little sad that the most inspiring aboriginal speaker we could find was someone who sells snake oil...) 1318425901 I love how specific these recipes are.... makes you really certain of how accurate their results will be if at all. 1305735527 The point is that many of those who belief there are risks to vaccines can not be convinced that they are wrong. So this could be a way to challenge their decision without needing to overturn their false belief. 1327299784 ?\n\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7FBvav4YPo 1333140313 Yes, I got the cheekiness. Just wanted to point out that Ms. Watson is correct in her "assertion" as it does exist in legislation (though not in all states AFAIK). It is also in FBI's definition of rape, and in the rules of many colleges and universities, just for an example see UNH's Student Code of Conduct: http://www.unh.edu/sharpp/consent\n\n"Can someone consent to having sex if they are intoxicated? \n**No.** Once a person is intoxicated by alcohol and/or other drugs, she/he cannot legally give consent, even if she/he appears to give consent or verbally says “yes.” \nIf someone you are with is having difficulty walking or talking, is throwing up, passed out, or just generally unaware of what’s going on, that person cannot legally give consent."\n\nAnd if there's no consent it's rape or sexual assault. \n\nJust felt that that's important to point out as there seemed to be some confusion about this among skeptics. And as you can see from the link in my previous post confusion about this rather simple thing can have very serious consequences indeed.\n\nEDIT: Here's another example, this former economics major at Texas A&M University (and a serial rapist) is now serving 18 years: http://www.publicintegrity.org/2010/02/26/4404/undetected-rapists-campus-troubling-plague-repeat-offenders\n\n>By the time it was over, there would be a total of five women, all testifying they were assaulted by Yarbrough in the same circumstances: After drinking heavily, each said she passed out or fell asleep and woke to find Yarbrough having sex with her or touching her sexually. “He would pick the most intoxicated female, whether he’d be at a bar or at a party,” recalled Lt. Brandy Norris, the lead investigator on the case for College Station police. “He’s a serial rapist. He was smart enough to know he didn’t have to hide in the bushes and grab them as they were walking by.”\n\nHere's couple of examples of how these guys operate: [WWYD? - Unscripted Scenario](https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&amp;v=QUKCWT05LWA) 1356084234 > we tried that on early reddit and it became dominated by "vote up if bush should be impeached."\n\nA bit OT, but as one old-timer to another - I'd completely forgotten about those "vote up if ..." style posts. I haven't seen one in a while. Good riddance. I'm an unapologetic get-off-my-grass curmudgeon - I automatically downvote any imgur link. I reserve the (rarely exercised) option to un-downvote in case the image content was somehow substantial.\n\nThat said, when I joined Reddit, the upvote / downvote mechanism was supposed to help Reddit customize your front page - it meant "show me more/fewer items like this" - sort of like the Netflix recommendation engine. I really liked the potential of being introduced to new topics based on interest. It never worked all that well, unfortunately, so I suppose I don't mind having to manually choose my own subreddits. 1317496813 I heard about this before... don't think it's a glitch in the matrix though. Probably not true. 1346272202 my grandmother passed away last month, we just got home after watching the funeral home take her away from her house :( and i went to bed i was so upset, well i left the tv on and somthing woke me up it sounded like her voice saying daaaaaviiiiiiid like she was letting me know she was safe i broke down but after i felt happy because i knew she wasnt suffeing cause we lost her to esophogal cancer 1345134785 >Keep ooooon marching to that tune, pooch\n\n[Will do!](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwqfWR2KPd0&feature=related) 1342806482 Well Fukushima was an accident, nuclear missiles are controlled directly by man. 1337620857 I know nothing about the paleo diet, but I am skeptical of any majority determination! We used to call that the bandwagon back in my day. :) 1304220535 You're talking about HUNDREDS of independent studies all coming to the same conclusion. You're talking about a product which is virtually ubiquitous to the world population. Any ill effects from that product would be detected very quickly considering the UNIVERSAL sample size. 1317249803 There's definitely something there. Here's one [book](http://www.amazon.com/Zen-Brain-Understanding-Meditation-Consciousness/dp/0262011646) to get you started which has been highly recommended to me. 1276143598 From what I've heard, the Thai surgeons are quite competent. Plus you get to party in Thailand before they do the work. But if you're doing something crazy like this, I guess having it done in a kitchen with only ice for anesthetic is part of the allure. 1321228199 I'd be interested in what you find out. Of all aircraft, the B-52 would seem the least feasible to use for such an experiment. Is your buddy from Travis AFB? 1354759086 I found what I consider to be a very accurate review of his book on goodreads.com: \n\n"Terrible. Here's the book in a nutshell. "I'm in <3rd world country> doing <something bad not backed up by any statistics>. I feel bad about this. I meet <friendly 3rd world local who teaches me the local language>. He takes me to <cultural festivity that no other white man has ever seen>. I learn <specific critique of US imperialism>. I return to my out of touch american enclave and happen upon <famous dictator/dissident/writer>. He <describes the country's forthcoming assasination/revolution/economic degregation> like a prophet." The process then repeats. \n\n\nAnyway, I'm sure the ideas in this book will help some 19 year old get laid. and if you are that 19 year old then I can not recommend this book highly enough." 1278041565 Fair enough. I have no problems with this then. 1345174977 Counter argument: "Proof?" 1338214663 Bingo... if they reveled themselves no one would do whats normal and we would expect them to fix all of our problems with their technology.\n\nWe wouldn't make discoveries anymore we would just ask how.\nThis way they get to see if their project is working as designed or if its time to make a change. 1334728122 The problem is that it's not one or two cell phones having a dramatic effect that's the issue, it's 30 or 40 having a slight effect at a bad time. And that effect can't really be measured by a pilot from the cockpit, but only through hard, thorough testing. 1335822331 That depends on where you get your definition, now doesn't it? Some definitions define proof as \n\n**The evidence that compels one to accept an assertion as true**\n\nThis definition, which I feel is more widely used, discredits your train of thought. 1284919173 [Here](http://evogeneao.com/store.html). 1306519967 I must see this video. 1342970893 bigger than santas 1292271414 I have to check since I think it was a different term from anthropic principle which concerns more the appearance of the universe to beings evolved to live in it. I think this was only about how we should by default consider everything about our environment to be medium and not special (we are not the center of the universe, milky way is not the only galaxy etc.) 1330697760 Ok, how did they use the number? 1335955846 typo sally 1349738993 The catholic church has an office dedicated just for this very thing (investigating miracle claims and debunking them), why in the world would the Indian catholic diocese be pushing this claim for this guy doing essentially what the Catholic church itself does all the time?\n\nMaybe it's time to lobby the Vatican to step in and shut these people down. 1339105964 There is some evidence for the usefulness of [omega-3 capsules](http://examine.com/supplements/Fish+Oil/), but I don't know about cod liver oil. 1350061571 What's the causative mechanism for the science boner that comment just gave me? 1355414257 I don't understand all the joke comments, I find this quite interesting! This is the first story where someone (even if you're lying) said they saw it disappear right in front of their eyes.\n\nI wish I had more questions, but you're certain it totally disappeared instantly or was there some kind of fade out (even if the fading only lasted a split second)?\n\nYou should post a note at work about "can of missing spaghettios" and if someone does find the can, ask them where they found it. It seems most "gone missing stories" the item usually does turn up again, just in a weird location. 1350448246 I watch it, but never really process anything since all I can think about is punching Zach in the face repetitively. 1348554139 didn't the army fund the 'remote viewing' or ["Stargate Project"](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stargate_Project)\n\nthrowing a few million down the new age healing hole shouldn't surprise anyone 1329495655 This always happens to me while I'm driving. 1318987511 I love CD! Digital media is such a huge part of our lives, I'm disappointed there aren't more resources like him to easily learn about this stuff. 1347721872 If nobody else (other students/teacher) can remember it happen though, it may be that you were hallucinating. \nWhatever the case, I will agree, awesome story. 1352244317 I believe that something extraordinary happened in the woods outside of Bentwaters AFB in late 1980. I also think that fuck-faces like Jim Penniston are trying to capitalize on a real event with lies. Penniston claims that he received a binary code transmission which he recorded in his notebook but didn't tell anyone about for 30 years. It speaks of Hy Brasil which is a supposed Atlanian-type island that sank off the coast of Ireland. It really is quite ridiculous and harms the honest testimony of witnesses like Halt. 1347923625 Fair's fair. He knows a *lot* about the mysterious alchemical art of turning stupid into money. 1292442749 Everything 2012 is bullshit. I am so looking forward to 2013 so that we can finally hear the end of the 2012 bullshit and the Mayan calender.\n\n 1293501658 This is basically the entire basis for the r/conspiracy subreddit. I've never encountered as much pure, unadulterated confirmation bias as I have there. In addition to confirmation bias, there's a fair amount of circlejerking - that is to say, one conspiracy theorist quotes another who quotes another, and then claims this as a credible source. \n\nNot to mention the hilarious dismissal; if you don't agree that Jews run the world and 9/11 was an inside job, they accuse you of *only watching Fox News*...and then, on the strength of this baseless assertion, they ignore every point made in your argument.\n\n 1319266190 I suppose you have the resources to go from ground-to-air without cutting. Tell me, what's the annual budget on your production company? 1350919574 Cool - Sitchin was one area I knew something about, so I went straight to that and found the Biblical stuff in it. Then I went and checked bios and websites and found a strong Christian agenda. Made me suspicious for sure. "Ancient Aliens are false, ergo Jebus"\n\nYour last comment offers a much better defense of their points than the support of their use of the Noah's flood.\n\nI'll go read the Baalbek stuff. I grew up near there and climbed all over it so many times as a kid. Didn't even know it was part of the ancient alien woo. The guides certainly don't give that history. 1349311426 Maybe have a friend over and see if they experience anything? 1349277281 >Did you mean to say 'skepchick' there?\n\nNo, I meant as a more accurate alternative, though maybe my view of skepchick is mostly down to what I've seen from Rebecca Watson who when I first came across her I thought was cool, sensible and a good spokeswoman for skepticism, but then I started to see too much "lol stupid religious people" type of things from her, which put me off.\n\n>What issues do you think they've exaggerated?\n\nFor instance, Dawkins comment, which ended up in a call for people to not buy his books or give any attention to him. That's silly, it wasn't engaging in reasoned discussion.\n\n>The FTB contain a vast range of blogs;\n\nI was talking about skepchick.com not freethoughtblogs. It'd be silly to make any general claims about FTB as it's just like wordpress as far as I know, just offering a service for a vast range of different things.\n\n>As for the adverts, I might be wrong but it was my understanding that those ads are tailored towards the web user based on their history and hits, not on the site itself? Either way, I don't think the website owner chooses the ads at all, and they'd probably appreciate being told that those ads were coming up.\n\nAs far as I know the people running the websites can select what kind of ads would be displayed, not specific ads but they can select from a category. I'm using a new install of firefox at my parent's in law, so there wasn't any history.\n\n>It seems fair enough to me - it's objectively true that Satoshi's conclusions stem directly from his misogyny and racism, and it makes sense to oppose him being hired by a site dedicated to intellectual topics on that basis.\n\nIt might be true that Satoshi is a misogynist and racist, I don't know enough about him as I've generally ignored him as I think he's utterly ridiculous, but if I was going to say anything about him it'd be pointing out problems with his claims and ignoring the person.\n\n>What's wrong with "pornographic astronomical terms"? Most feminists don't believe there is anything inherently wrong with pornography, and most argue for the importance of having positive views of sex.\n\nWell I'm not really familiar with their views on pornography. But I'd have thought it'd be in tension with the fact that they, and no other reasonable person, think that portraying women simply as sexual objects is a good thing. Maybe I'm creating a strawman image of what pornography is though? 1347957485 Some of these look really good! Even modern drawings of ufo's draw similar conclusions. Many people try to debunk it by saying it must be the Military flying some new craft, but these ancient dates clearly prove otherwise. Ty and keep on keeping an open mind. 1314934221 Isn't that the whole point and process of science? Challenge something, then if it holds up, adopt it? 1338850530 "Reaper? I hardly know her!" 1302894307 Here is the study the article I read got their facts from:\n\n[BMJ - tea drinking habits in northern Iran](http://www.bmj.com/content/338/bmj.b929.abstract)\n\nThe conclusion of the study was that it is advised to wait at least 5 minutes before you consume the hot liquid.\n\nOther articles on the same subject have also advised against drinking hot liquids through a straw since the liquid does not cool sufficiently in the mouth before it reaches the throat. 1330372206 I hate musical snobs like that, had they been born before they would be bitching about The Beatles and that damn negro music corrupting young minds 1329051966 > Only that it was there for 3 years prior to be covering it with acv.\n\nThat's the thing. You have no idea when it would have gone away without the ACV. 1347920612 If it's a UFO, how do they know that they are extraterrestrial? Or have they forgotten that UFO stands for *Unidentified* Flying Object? 1302897018 I spent a few minutes looking through this site. While it was entertaining, I soon reached the same conclusion. 1345363403 I'll confess to not having my head entirely wrapped around the section where Mises lays out those logical underpinnings, but I do know that was a very long and comprehensive section where he established praxeology's logical validity and the soundness of the science as a science. I'm only on my first read, however, and that is the area I intend to revisit first when I go through it again. Thus far, the economics have lined up to describe and explain what i've already observed in reality, and as such, has been quite compelling.\n\nI apologize for the tone of my previous comment, since you are clearly studying the literature of this field. I would like to humbly suggest you attempt to digest the entire work before leveling judgement though. It's a huge volume, and I'd imagine it would be rather difficult to skim through and fully understand the implications of what the author is presenting. 1334628952 My greatest concern is to present the evidence in a clear and accurate manner. If I felt that these were more likely Chinese lanterns rather than more likely classified as 'unknown' then I wouldn't have bothered to expose myself to unreasonable conclusions such as yours. 1332146377 calm down. smoke a joint. have some cake. \n\nblinding rage? really? \n\nwhen something actually worthy of outrage happens, be sure to stay indoors, and turn off the tv and the internet. \n\nyou don't want to suffer an aneurysm from apoplexy. 1279906352 was looking on [Anderson's Websight](http://www.andersoncooper.com/2012/02/28/een-exorcists-backstage-were-helping-people/) and found this gem... 1330534649 Lightning, guys. Lightning. 1331347668 OK. This is what I have found. You can do a simple search on the W.H.O. website.\n\nhttp://search.who.int/search?q=reiki&ie=utf8&site=default_collection&client=_en&proxystylesheet=_en&output=xml_no_dtd&oe=utf8\n\nAnd this seems to be typical of the type of "recommendation" that is being given.\n\nhttp://www.searo.who.int/en/section1174/section1199/section1567/section1824_8089.htm\n\n> Spiritual leaders and faith healers…wisdom to action\n\n> Spiritual leaders and faith healers occupy a unique position in South-East Asian societies owing to their stature, position, wisdom and their capability to influence people’s beliefs and values. While the spiritual and religious dimensions of suicides are debatable, it is essential to realize that "human life is precious". Since people have enormous faith, respect and confidence in spiritual leaders, they should emphasize the fact that suicide is preventable and individuals can be helped by counselling, medication and supportive services. Spiritual leaders can emphasize the importance of life and its meaning by promoting positive beliefs and values.\n\n> **Faith healers should be involved in suicide prevention activities at the community level as they are the first level of contact for many health problems.** If they can play a positive role in identifying suicidal thoughts, behaviour, depressive states and offer emotional support to people, it will be a step in the right direction. Several non-pharmacological methods of management are gaining popularity in SEAR Member Countries. **Some of these are yoga, meditation, acupuncture and reiki. While no established randomized controlled trials are available to prove their efficacy and effectiveness in the management of certain psychological problems, their acceptance in the community has been growing. It is vital to develop a better understanding about the role of these systems to incorporate positive, harmless and culturally- accepted methods.** The involvement of spiritual leaders (imams in Bangladesh, monks in Sri Lanka and Thailand, religious leaders in India) in community decision-making activities will be of help in promoting solidarity in the community.\n\nSo what this boils down to, is that in 3rd world countries where there may not be access to full medical care, the W.H.O. with attempt to use whatever the locals use to seek treatment as an avenue to promote their agenda. So if the W.H.O. can utilise the local faith healer to promote, condom use to prevent AIDS, or to encourage vaccination, or to use mosquito nets to prevent malaria, they will do it. This is quite simply a practical approach. 1336243795 Ah, gotcha. I mean, your insurance is going to matter, it's going to depend on your diagnosis, etc. Make sure you do not get pills made by [these fuckers](http://www.drreddys.com/). They have poor bioavailability and bad quality control.\n\nI take an antiepileptic which works well as a mood stabilizer, if you have oscillating moods. Lamictal, made by Teva. Without my insurance, it'd probably be about 200/mo (I take two a day, morning/night).\n\nReally, this is something you should talk to your doctor about.\n\n**edit** with my insurance I pay about $2/mo 1329964209 i'm writing a movie.. about a kid who lives exactly what you describe, in a forest with his dad. weird. there are some differences but wow. I'd love to know more about how you felt back then and recently about this exact moment.\n\nit must be incredible, I wish I could live something weird like this one day. 1340670876 I predicted you were going to say this. 1335680520 I'm dying to hear what happened next man! Did you speak to her? Did you tell her about your dream? 1317283893 If the op is very transparent about all the money that has been earned and donates it to a public charity or does some public good with it that is completely transparent, then I have no issue with him charging. Plus look at Penn & Teller's BS episode on woo/alt medicine. They didn't get rich off ripping people off, but they still charged a few people, but they put it on TV. I am not sure if that justifies them, but I don't see anyone giving them any hell for it. 1342627231 !!Exclamat!on! Marks! Everywhere!!!! 1349910236 > but i own an aluminium water bottle which has none\n\nThe technology involved in created a seamless aluminum bottle vs. a seamless aircraft 30+ feet in diameter is *much* different, as I'm sure you know.\n\n> It would be quite a leap to claim it's purely a coincidence that the non-metallic material they use just happens to exactly resemble metal. \n\n[Not really.](http://news.thomasnet.com/fullstory/Plastic-Embossed-Sheets-simulate-look-of-metal-19292)\n\n> It seems you're clutching at straws with that one.\n\nlol. Says the guy who can't believe UFO reports where metal, one of the most abundant resources in the universe, is reported. 1334159555 This is a terrible example for you to trumpet.\n\nI mean, really. 1342137251 So you're familiar with science... Why do you believe that UFO research should be held to a lower standard than other disciplines? 1306029903 Any chance of a link to the 2 pics..? 1343934244 Not even sure that makes sense. Who denies that the climate changes? 1343483705 no, it was a tiny trip. 1345505106 Fascinating, but also kind of sad if you think about it. Arabic culture used to be so cool and scientifically advanced before the fundies took over. Makes you wonder what could have been. If Islam never existed, the Middle East could have potentially been a huge cradle of scientific advancement to match or even surpass the West, rather than the regressive third world quasi-medieval environment that exists in that region today. Also a warning for America. A leader in science can be destroyed if anti-science religious zealots are allowed to gain too much power. 1352585609 No, you don't understand. This isn't a rage comic, it would go nowhere on r/atheism. 1308620038 if it helps you to think in terms of labels, sure, why not... 1329515797 Hell of a lot of yelling for absolutely nothing. Did the marketing team actually seek out the most annoying people out there? Why would the girl scream "SHUT THE CAMERA OFF!" ? This is so stupid. 1288362722 I have a few friends who are true believers in this stuff. I have never read anything reliable to trust their opinions on it tho. 1314832421 My question to this would be: does OP leave his cable box on, or turn it off when he turns off yhe TV? Also, some STBs have pass-through electrical outlets; Is the TV hooked to that, or a dedicated outlet? 1346032195 Pretty sure he cited his own sarcasm and wit there. 1323054905 How do you mean? I know he has some quack ideas about vaccines. 1346357374 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JP-5 1289780738 So if I start drinking I might find it harder to lucid dream... 1351020768 that pattern has been going on for years. Unless you believe they are all Chinese Lanterns then there isn't any point talking about it is there? 1341699908 > but in all previous cases of anarchy, crime has increased\n\nThis is not true. There's only been a few cases of anarchism, and in all of them there was less crime compared to the previous state. [Crime in Somalia went down, although there aren't a lot of statistics to go by except for the increase in trade freedom).](http://www.peterleeson.com/better_off_stateless.pdf) [Almost all of these didn't have crime either.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_anarchist_communities) [Even the Kowloon Walled City had very little crime](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kowloon_Walled_City#Urban_settlement), outside of crime that was defined by the Hong Kong Government (like drug trafficking and unlicensed medical practice, which aren't really crimes).\n\n> Does it follow from that that all government is immoral?\n\nGetting back to my main argument; Government is immoral because it is funded through theft (taxes) which are immoral. If Government was voluntarily funded, then it would not be immoral.\n\n> If you don't accept going to arbitration, you lose nothing.\n\nI disagree. I may lose the right to fight future claims, the ability to have a DRO accept me as a client, and shunning from the community. If I don't pay, the arbitrator could make a post on Facebook or another type of website for other people to see, including future employers. There are other types of punishment besides monetary.\n\n> If you implemented that into your system, it would be just as immoral as government, by your standards at least.\n\nI disagree, since it was the original person that stole the $50. If he didn't steal it, it would be in his best social interest to prove his innocence. Or, he could just post his information on Facebook, and maybe find out that the other guy was saying that hundreds of people stole $50 from him. Then they could all get together, and shun the other guy for lying about it all. Either way, there are ways to make it work outside of a state-run criminal justice system.\n\n> Now I ask, what makes coercion objectively and scientifically bad? You'll need to develop a moral system that crosses the is/ought gap. Otherwise, it boils down to something being bad because it feels bad. As skeptics, it is our self-imposed responsibility to attack positions based on feelings, rather than reason.\n\n> Without evidence of it's inherent evilness, Ockham's razor disposes of such inherent qualities.\n\n> If it is only subjectively bad, than you can not prove it to me and there is no reason for me to accept it, just like you can not prove that green is better than red. \n\nBut isn't this unprovable, since you can't scientifically prove that Government is good, just because it feels good. In your last statement you say "If it is only subjectively bad, then you can not prove it to me and there is no reason for me to accept it." So i could just retort with "You may think it's subjectively good, but you can't prove it to me and there is no reason for me to accept it. Plus, I have evidence of theft, [police brutality](https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=rwAQX0SWlhY), etc." Then we'd likely end up each listing things in our defense (i.e. I list all the bad things government does, you list all the good things government does). If there were thousands of bad things, and a few good things, then I could state the the Government is statistically more likely to do bad things. That makes it objective. You could still support Government if you wanted to, but I would have a lot of reasons and statistical evidence to think we'd be better off without its existence. I mean, this is why social science and economics are considered 'soft science' in the first place, and why this debate (government vs. non-government) is still ongoing. But just because you can't objectively settle something, doesn't mean that you can't change it. For example, you can't objectively state that Gay Marriage shouldn't be prohibited. Except you can, because the LGBT population wants the same rights as everyone else. There's no scientific evidence that says they should get married, but there's plenty of social evidence that says they should have the same rights because it's what they want. And in the same way, you should be able to have a government if you want one, and I should be able to move somewhere that is not under the jurisdiction of a Government. As of now, that's impossible. \n\nLastly, as far as a moral stance goes, it would be the [Non-aggression Principle.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-aggression_principle)\n\nAnd to lighten the mood up, [here's a good picture.](http://sphotos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/302794_10152309593045285_1602574834_n.jpg) [x-post from front page of /r/anarcho_capitalism.] 1354550638 [You're a fucking moron.](http://www.reddit.com/r/skeptic/comments/l2k8u/steve_jobs_waited_a_year_to_have_his_tumor/c2pc3zk) —and the reason why people don't trust science or "proven medicine". \n\nHow many MD's would be entertained by this type of comment? \n\nThere is a subculture in Medicine and many of the people who don't see it are closer in age to Reddit's primary demographic than they are to Steve Jobs' 54 years of wisdom. 1317919359 Oh good I was afraid that SyFy might show some scifi. 1316292349 I explained to my mother the silliness of dilution last week actually. I even showed her personally. I did a 6x dilution (The same as the pills they gave me) of what started as 1 cup of vodka. She was still convinced that If I drank the cup I would become drunk. She continued her mantra of "You cannot bring science into this" in the discussion. My dad refuses to talk to me about it still.\n\n 1321340154 No one is qualified to see a UFO. 1353200376 Don't open them. These are some of the most diluted samples EVAH! Very hard to come by. 1328062563 Would the homeopathic solution be a finely grounded up economist added to water and then diluted?\n\n*I don't actually have any issues with economists or economics in general.* 1335259471 is it weird that its on my birthday? 1318952652 This is a shame - I do believe that at one point Dr. Oz was a reputable source of medical information. When he first came on Oprah he was a consistent source of medical advice in a sea of quacks touting spiritual healing and homeopathy. My mom even credits him for helping her stop eating foods with added sugar, after seeing an episode where he talks about the correlation between consuming sugar and diabetes in overweight people. \n\nThat said, I'd have to imagine that when he was put in a position where he has to create content for hundreds of episodes per year and keep his ratings up, he 'sold out' and began allowing the quality of the medicine shared on his show to slip. 1302699671 http://www.cracked.com/article_19283_7-ancient-forms-mysticism-that-are-recent-inventions.html 1311641319 That's why I hate the "don't be a dick" thing. It's so completely ridiculous, and it's even more insulting coming from intelligent people. Being a "dick" is completely relative. People can think you're a dick for all sorts of unfounded reasons. Am I to understand that I can't ever offend anyone's sensibilities, no matter how inane? \n\nI know it's supposed to be a "general rule" and all, and maybe I'm being a bit pedantic. But it's thrown about so flippantly, as if that one rule is the secret to everything. Just follow that, and you'll be okay. No, it's stupid. Sometimes, people need to be offended. Although, I wholeheartedly agree with the OP's point. Sometimes, you have to be less like a samurai and more like a ninja. But I'm not going to walk on eggshells for morons. 1341541001 You mean to tell me that UFOs are not of US property? But belong to some tiny nation with no funds or scientists? 1341849134 99% of the arsenic atoms are left in the existing solution; only 1% are used to make the new (diluted) solution. The dilution process isn't only "adding water", first you take a *part* of the previous solution to use, otherwise you'd end up with massive amounts of water... that's the whole point of using multiple steps. Didn't you ever dilute anything in Chemistry class?\n\n...or are you interpreting it as asking "what's the number of atoms including all the previous leftovers"? That's an invalid interpretation since it specifically asks what is the number in the current level of dilution. 1328288719 Nope its not a hanging skeleton, we walked away from all the Halloween- type decorations and just went around the plantation. And I doubt it's bark from a tree. 1344997098 Are number 2 and number 4 the same?\n\nAnyone got links to the BBC versions above that are freely accessible? 1350469702 Pray to Jesus Christ, directly. Ask His help. If you've come to the point you're willing to sprinkle cooking products in a doorway, I'm sure the age old Jesus, Help Me has crossed your mind...BUT do it with belief, faith, intent, and love. Jesus was/is the physical representation of God's (universe/creator/xyz) Love for us. I can honestly tell you that whenever I have unwavering faith that Jesus will help me, He is there. And I'm not a church freak, and I don't talk much, if at all, about these things to people.\n\nIf youre having trouble with the faith part, first start asking for signs. Seriously, He will give u proof. Which only makes sense, He's not trying to trick us, the answers are there, just look. 1354933911 I was just responding to someone, who is aptly named richard head, in a trollish way. 1318308782 Just as long as they aren't bath salts... 1344807327 And "evidence-based" medicine is not infallible, it's a system of making the best educated guess you can. And evidence-based medicine is always changing and evolving as it should. Why? Because we learn more. We keep testing scientifically. \n\nAlso, I don't think you know what a professional doctorate is, because these people are MDs and DOs - the PhD in medicine is completely different than an MD. 1318730849 Will you ask him things through the Ouija for us? 1340616377 4/20 closing ceremonies\n\nThey know 1335012153 Yeh I would definitely enjoy it too. I'm really hoping to see it happen. 1290543042 First, yay.\n\nSecond, that seems like maybe 30 minutes of material. Maybe 50. Is it supposed to be "feature length"? 1263554930 Yes!! Adults not getting boosters is a big problem. You need a "Tdap" shot every 10 years. It covers tetanus, diptheria and pertussis. 1343159997 I even knew that (it was in my college chemistry book) but forgot. Yes, that would be the thing, aluminum.\n\n(Now I'm picturing that scene in Star Trek 4 with the transparent aluminum.) 1335824502 It is not a conspiracy when it is something not driven by a (presumably hidden) agreement among companies but instead by very clear (and legal) economics:\n\n- if the costs for a more advanced drug are very, very large and the chances to actually get it are actually very small a company will assign a very, very high risk to that research;\n\n- the research for a less spectacular drug (or a new use for an existing drug) can be easier and less expensive - and a company will assign a far more moderate risk to that;\n\n- on top of all things a company will assign an even smaller risk (or a higher benefit/risk ratio) for profits resulting from increased marketing;\n\n- when having to decide on funding some of many options, the profits/risk ratio will be the essential part (and I believe companies in some places are/were [required by law](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodge_v._Ford_Motor_Company) to act on maximizing returns for shareholders) - this explains why [all the large pharmaceutical companies in the world spend more for marketing than for actual research](http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080105140107.htm) and spend more on 'safer' (but less spectacular) solutions rather than on more advanced solutions with a very unproven track.\n\nIt is a very bad thing (for the public) the fact that big pharma is spending huge amounts of money on lobbying for patent-law extensions - but since lobbying is perfectly legal that is not a conspiracy! It might be also bad for the public the fact that big pharma is investing a lot more money on extending patents for existing drugs by getting new uses for them - but again on that the problem was on creating the legal framework - so the public has to blame himself or his elected officials, or eventually start lobbying against such laws!\n 1321363310 Like I said, try it and see. Even if there were countless studies you could never know what works for you until you've tried it. 1318355630 More interesting is the fact that research indicates huge benefits to male vaccination also, yet that isn't discussed much at all. 1318857840 When you see even small storms from a distance (best when out in the middle of nowhere), it's easy to see how there are pillars of rain distributed throughout the storm. \n\nYou may have simply been inside an area that didn't have any immediate pillars of rain sweeping through. You also mention a lack of wind... which would make it even more likely that the rain is coming straight down, rather than blowing around and coalescing into a more sprinkle-everywhere nature. 1346626476 Good points, but when they went after Dawkins like that they lost me. 1330963317 It caused me to recoil at the same point. You can't counter dishonest rhetoric with more dishonest rhetoric and expect to be taken seriously. 1303189536 Ceiling cat represents the omniscience of God. He's telling you you will go to Hell for posting this sacrilege. 1341887625 >Yes they can,\n\nFine. You still haven't said anything negative about the 2500+ architects and engineers. So there's that.\n\n>The issue is elementary, \n\nAgreed. \n\n>The section addressing the idea that it was a controlled demolition is from 2006.\n\nThe [evidence of of explosives](http://stj911.org/press_releases/ActiveThermiticMaterial.html) (not that one really needs any further evidence than the video evidence of a near-free-fall collapse) is from 2009. You are still citing an outdated opinion.\n\n>Firstly, it gained speed\n\nYes, you are correct. At first, it did gain speed - from 0 to near-free-fall. And assuming the planes took-out the center columns (though unlikely an aluminum tube could pulverize concrete-reenforced center columns of the World Trade Towers, so as to create the opportunity for a near-free-fall event), the floors beneath (all 90+) offer nothing but resistance.\n\n>momentum = mass * velocity\n\nYes, noting that "velocity" SHOULD decrease as the tops floors hit the resistance of the bottom floors, and "mass" will also be decreasing as debris from the structure (maybe 10%) will undoubtedly fall to the side.\n\nThe French are "famous" for developing a demolition technique that takes advantage of those physics:\n\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwFHEoiUZ7o\n\nThat said, the footage clearly demonstrates how the top floors are always self-destroying, **slowing and stoping** eventually, due - needless to say - to the maintained structural integrity of the bottom floors:\n\nhttp://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2td63_hd20h20070822chunk2_news\n\nUnder no circumstances will the top floors **gain** momentum after the "trigger" event:\n\n1. standing bulding\n\n2. trigger event: top floors briefly "gain momentum" (from 0 - near free-fall -- takes about 2 seconds)\n\n3. the top floors hit the bottom floors, and immediately begin to lose momentum = (the maintained structural integrity of the bottom floors = loss of velocity; and the debris flying off the edge = loss of mass).\n\n... that, unlike WTC1 and WTC2, where the buildings' collapsed maintained a **highly-unexpected** steady rate as the top 20 floors collapsed straight down and through the bottom 90 floors -- the path of greatest resistance.\n\n>It's so damn straight forward, so simple and obvious\n\nI agree with you completely. It's very straight forward. (And we haven't even touched WTC7 -- nor did any planes, coincidentally.)\n\nFeel free to have the last word, as I am sure you will. My intension wasn't to make you angry (as it appears I have), rather to simply inform you of some relevant and important details you have seemingly missed/side-stepped along the way.\n\nTake care.\n 1325430966 So-called regression hypnosis should be called something else, in fact. I have not seen compelling evidence that it works. Could it not be the implanting of false memories by leading and suggesting, I wonder. 1351624068 The emergent behavior of the cells in the brain. There's your soul. 1295589240 Wow, thanks! That's exactly what I was looking for. 1332941958 if shadow ppl are ghosts, wouldn't they just be called ghosts?? and idk. this is MY PERSONAL experience on the matter 1311738336 The logic she uses to even get to that point is simply amazing. Reminds me of [Douglas Adams describing the population of the universe](http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy#Chapter_19). 1320956725 Doesn't work like that.\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herd_immunity 1297342712 Not all conspiracy theories turn out to be bullshit (not saying it's the case here...) 1350591352 I'm asking sincerely but is it at all possible you could have gotten the same relief from a legitimate massage or seeing a physical therapist? 1351142567 I agree. Irony: the article defines the straw man fallacy and is composed entirely of the same. 1268843289 Sounds like you guys are two aspects of the same soul. In that regard you are very in sync with each other, "tuning in" to the same realities.... 1332002781 Fireworks, wow. Then we should see millions of birds tumbling during war time? 1294187374 Feel free to post any studies which demonstrate, through scientific means, that acupuncture does anything that can't be achieved with a placebo. \n\n"Our nerves are weird." (Taken from another post of yours) isn't science. It's demonstrative of a lack of knowledge, and you choose to fill in make-believe pseudoscience because of your lack of knowledge. Our nervous system is very well understood. Acupuncture is absolutely nonsense, and your post does nothing to demonstrate otherwise. Just because a creationist thinks "people are complex", that doesn't mean that evolution is incorrect, and that there must have been a creator. The same goes for acupuncture.\n 1307002124 I love MU too. But you are right that they are a bit less than skeptical. Aaron goes on and on about how he is a 'scientist by training', but without fail he somehow feels the need to come to a (usually) baseless conclusion for every topic they discuss. But he's honestly a great guy and so is Ben. They work very well together.\n\nI have to add: the music is beyond annoying. Arhythmic dubsteppy samples instead of songs, waay too much of it, and twice as loud as the talk segments so you need to repeatedly turn the volume up and down. It seems really incongruous to the subject matter. But it's worth enduring I guess. 1329697132 Simple solution. Ask John Titor who the next president will be, what are some historical events that are imminent (i.e. natural disasters, terrorist attacks etc.). 2036 isn't that far into the future, he's already been born and roaming the Earth as we speak. Where is John from? Go to his home town and find his younger self and KILL THE CHILD! 1303723923 In some states to sell real estate you have to note paranormal activity when showing the location \nhttp://www.realtor.com/home-finance/homebuyer-information/selling-a-haunted-house.aspx?source=web \n\n3rd paragraph. I can find the actual law here if i dedicate time. 1341290389 But they were pioneers by their first album. British rock and roll just hadn't been done before them. 1329079327 Well from my understanding, if someone can access a higher power through their mind & simply kind of "take 'matter' into their own hands" such as dematerializing objects, and warping through space.\nI kind of believe someone who knew these sacred ways of our life could build structures like the great pyramids, or coral castle. 1349419935 Yeah, that was me. Sorry, guys. It wasn't theaters anymore by the time I found out about it. 1346363950 There tends to be anomalies with the emf meter, these anomalies were assumed by some to be paranormal. I have not however seen convincing evidence of this. But it is an attempt to understand the paranormal. Generally "stabs in the dark" are how one learns new things that no one ever knew before. Of course one must also know when something doesn't work the first 12,352 times that it probably wont work the next 5,738 times either. But humans are a stubborn bunch and will create data where there is none because it makes them feel better. 1335787704 "Why, exactly, is it objectionable for the government to infringe on these liberties, but not for a private employer?"\n\nI stopped reading after this sentence. Government has the authority to use force and thus must be limited. You can tell your employer to kiss off and find some other way of making money. If you tell the government to kiss off you could end up with a bullet in the back of the head or thrown in a cell with little to no recourse. 1343090115 Thanks for that. I think there are also some ecological arguments against round-up ready crops. Monsanto were disliked by many people before they became the major player in GM because of a history of actual dodginess, so they're a convenient target. I'm not sure where the hysteria about GM started. It seems to hit a raw nerve with a lot of people who instantly Nope based on near zero understanding of the issues. 1331003610 To be fair, there were a few popular novelty monster songs in the 50s and 60s. The Mr. Show sketch was based off [*The Monster Mash*](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0R_oDEvYUY). The only other one I can think of off the top of my head is [*Purple People Eater*](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9H_cI_WCnE) (which is clearly a euphemism for penis). 1314155716 In my experience Empaths & Sensitives have many unexplained phenomena around them for most of their lives. Understanding friends' pain is unique & wonderful, but there is a world of difference between human empathy & having a paranormal connection. I would advise you to never, never, NEVER invite in spirits, haunts, ghouls, ghosts, whatever you want to call it. It is a door that is really difficult to shut & if you don't have proper guidance, it can ruin your life.\n\nMy advice? Just enjoy having an amazing connection with your friends. If things start to get weird & the dead are speaking to you, then seek out help to understand what's going on. For now, please just develop your interpersonal relationships with the living... They make *far* better friends, I promise! 1340568654 Yup! Most points only go to 10, but this point, well, gives you 1 more if you really need it... 1344035774 ROFL -- good point, have an upvote! :) 1355083295 I'm going to guess you're not from the States? WWN is the bottom of the barrel in tabloids here.... You find them in checkout lines..good for a chuckle but that's about it. 1316619653 >My brain tells me they are just scouts observing.\n\nAre you sure that's not just wishful thinking? Let's be fair. We don't "know" anything. They're UFOs, literally - Unidentified Flying (or, as often occurs in outer space, Floating) Objects. There is no implication of extra-terrestrial spaceships like we see in popular culture. We can fill in the gaps in information all day and, thanks to the human penchant for feeding mysteries, those gaps get filled with all sorts of fun whimsy and, at times, total insanity. 1337105441 He is slowly turning more and more into Count Dracula. 1312538995 Sources =/= *good* sources.\n\nDo you believe the things said by the sources you linked, or are you acting as devil's advocate?\n\nIf you believe them, and are arguing towards their veracity, please provide actual evidence to support the claims. If you're acting as devil's advocate, you done a good job at showing these claims have no evidence to support them beyond a bunch of quacks claiming so. 1330147275 Then it should be just as easy to find more recent quotes or clips. I'm simply pointing out that quoting somebody that far back is dishonest, because that is plenty of time for someone to potentially change their views. Are you the exact same person now as you were ten years ago? 1335443430 Nope. Succussing is shaking *in a very particular way*, which doesn't occur in nature. Depending on who you ask, you either have to shake it ten times in each of three axes, or strike it multiple times against a leather-bound book. Sometimes both. 1333581880 Finished listing to the podcast a few hours ago, I love Joe Rogan's podcast and as if the univers was speaking to me, it turns out I'm headed to Washington this weekend so I'm going to go to the Portland seminar, can't wait ! 1340785408 Yes, this site is not limited to debunking non-skeptical news. It also focuses on keeping a skeptical mindset when covering general news. 1340673303 Sort of the inverse of the Ferengi Rule of Acquisition #62:\n**The riskier the road, the greater the profit.** 1338319002 (*Disclaimer*: *Because it can sometimes be hard to interpret the "tone" of someone over text: I don't mean to sound angry, upset, snarky etc.*)\n\n\nIf you are so sure that humans have some kind of suffering that mammals like pigs and cows don't have, then why don't *you* tell me what that definition of suffering is ;)\n\nPlants lack a central nervous system (so there is no "entity" which could feel that *it* was suffering), insects have a CNS butt lack other features thought to be important for feeling pain (connecting potentially painful stimuli to emotion). \n\nMammals (and actually birds to) lack none of those things and the "burden of proof" lies on the person who claims these animals somehow don't feel pain anyway. Why wouldn't they? What made *us* so different in this regard? What's the selective pressure that brought about a uniquely human pain? \n\nIt's just a cultural circumstance that I ,rather than you, *seem* to have the "extreme" position that needs to have extra evidence. 1325097656 JFC: they just can't discuss UFOs without referring to the X Files. It blows my mind; it's like they have a script that they have to follow. 1286656417 Ask anyway. Temporary humiliation is better than well honestly I do not know enough to even guess what could happen but it could go south very quickly with no point of return.\n\nWork it back manually, if you know the guy you bought it from, he might know who he bought it from, and so forth. Go back until they are no longer alive. Do you have ghost laws, laws that require a realtor to disclose any deaths that have occurred on property, in your area. If not all the ownership data has to be on file somewhere. Someone has what you are looking for, go to a mayors office and request records of the property. Then a local library should be able to have more detailed records through copies of old news papers.\n\nEven saying that you found cockroaches in the house and have to fumigate for a couple days could have people help you out while you continue with normal life and try to find more info.\n\nHonestly, My mate had a bad experience with a similar issue. Man killed himself in the house. Spirit did not realize it, continued to try and kill himself. The emotions and actions influenced my mate to fall into a horrible depression, and try to kill himself. After I got the house cleared, with help, while the family was in the hospital did he recover and went back to his normal happy self. It was over the course of six months, not to long. 1350509747 Did you ask her up for coffee? 1326497127 I now am leaning to the "genetic freak" theory\n 1322865976 Camcorder guy: WHY U NO POKE IT WITH STICK!? 1303188017 I know when I was a young atheist I replaced religion with mythology, it was like my brain needed something to latch onto. I started reading books about witch craft, believed in ghosts and vampires.\n\nThen I grew up and realized I should be skeptical about all supernatural bullshit, and well skeptical about everything in every situation really. 1278886891 Absolutely, since, unlike the Roswell Crash - the RCMP (the equivalent of the State Police for you American folk) didn't come out days later and just say it was a weather balloon. To this day, they still say it's inexplicable. 1330316350 From the sidebar\n> Need something debunked by those in the know? **Looking to exercise some critical thinking or research skills?** Want to eviscerate pseudoscience, idiocy, and irrationality wherever it lurks? Skeptic's Subreddit, where all the cool kids go.\n\n.\n\nFrom the [sidebar link](http://www.skeptic.com/about_us/manifesto.html)\n> [L: skeptic defined as] One who doubts the validity of what claims to be knowledge in some particular department of inquiry; one who maintains a doubting attitude with reference to some particular question or statement. \n\n\n.\n\n> The most ardent skeptics *enjoy their skepticism as long as it does not encroach upon their own cherished beliefs*. Then incredulity flies out the window. I once received a call from a gentleman who professed to be a skeptic, wanted to support the organization, and agreed with our skepticism about everything except the power of vitamins to restore health and attenuate disease. He hoped I would not be organizing any skeptical lectures or articles on this field, which, he explained, has now been proven scientifically to be effective. “Your field wouldn’t be vitamin therapy would it?,” I inquired. “You bet it is!” he responded.\n\n.\n\n\n> *It is easy, even fun to challenge others’ beliefs, when we are smug in the certainty of our own*. **But when ours are challenged, it takes great patience and ego strength to listen with an unjaundiced ear**. But there is a deeper flaw in pure skepticism. Taken to an extreme the position by itself cannot stand. \n\n\n.\n\n\n> Nor does skepticism produce progress. It is not enough simply to reject the irrational. Skepticism must be followed with something rational, or something that does produce progress. As the Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises warned against those anti-communists who presented no rational alternative to the system of which they were so skeptical (1956, p. 112):\n\n> *"An anti-something movement displays a purely negative attitude. It has no chance whatever to succeed. It’s passionate diatribes virtually advertise the program they attack. People must fight for something that they want to achieve, not simply reject an evil, however bad it may be."*\n\n.\n\n**The Essential Tension Between Skepticism & Credulity**\n\n> It is important that we recognize the fallibility of science and the scientific method. But within this fallibility lies its greatest strength: self-correction. Whether mistakes are made honestly or dishonestly, whether a fraud is unknowingly or knowingly perpetrated, in time it will be flushed out of the system through the lack of external verification. [The cold fusion fiasco](http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2011-10/29/rossi-success) is a classic example of the system’s swift consequences for error and hasty publication.\n\n.\n\n\n> Because of the importance of this self-correcting feature, there is in the profession what Richard Feynman calls “a principle of scientific thought that corresponds to a kind of utter honesty — a kind of leaning over backwards.” Feynman says:\n\n> *"If you’re doing an experiment, you should report everything that you think might make it invalid — not only what you think is right about it: other causes that could possibly explain your results"* (1988, p. 247).\n\n.\n\n> Despite these built in mechanisms science is still subject to a number of problems and fallacies that even the most careful scientist and rational skeptic are aware can be troublesome. We can, however, find inspiration in those who have overcome them to make monumental contributions to our understanding of the world. Charles Darwin is a sterling example of a scientist who struck the right balance in what Thomas Kuhn calls the **“essential tension” **in science between *total acceptance of and devotion to the status quo, and an open willingness to explore and accept new ideas* (1962, 1977). This delicate balance forms the basis of the whole concept of paradigm shifts in the history of science. When enough of the scientific community (particularly those in positions of power) are willing to abandon the old orthodoxy in favor of the (formerly) radical new theory, then, and only then can the paradigm shift occur.\n\n.\n\n\n> This generalization about change in science is usually made about the paradigm as a system, but we must recognize that the paradigm is a only a mental model in the minds of individuals. Historian of science, Frank Sulloway, identifies three characteristics of Darwin’s intellect and personality that mark him as one of the handful of giants in the history of science who found the essential tension between skepticism and credulity (1991, p. 28): “First, although Darwin indeed had unusual reverence for the opinions of others, he was obviously quite capable of challenging authority and thinking for himself.” Second, “Darwin was also unusual as a scientist in his extreme respect for, and attention to, negative evidence.” Darwin included, for example, a chapter on ‘Difficulties on Theory’ in the Origin of Species; as a result his objectors were rarely able to present him with a challenge that he had not already confronted or addressed. Third, Darwin’s “ability to tap the collective resources of the scientific community and to enlist other scientists as fellow collaborators in his own research projects.” Darwin’s collected correspondence numbers greater than 16,000 extant letters, most of which involve lengthy discussions and question-and-answer sequences about scientific problems. *He was constantly questioning, always learning, confident enough to formulate original ideas, yet modest enough to recognize his own fallibility*.\n\n.\n\n\n\n> A fourth characteristic that might be added is that Darwin maintained a good dollop of modesty and cautiousness that Sulloway sees as “a valuable attribute” that helps “prevent an overestimation of one’s own theories.” There is much to be learned in this regard from Darwin’s Autobiography. Darwin confesses that he has “no great quickness of apprehension or wit which is so remarkable in some clever men,” a lack of which makes him “a poor critic: a paper or book, when first read, generally excites my admiration, and it is only after considerable reflection that I perceive the weak points.” Unfortunately many of Darwin’s critics have selectively quoted such passages against him, not seeing the advantage Darwin saw in the patient avoidance of regrettable mistakes made in haste (1892, p. 55):\n\n> "I think that I have become a little more skillful in guessing right explanations and in devising experimental tests; but this may probably be the result of mere practice, and of a larger store of knowledge. I have as much difficulty as ever in expressing myself clearly and concisely; and this difficulty has caused me a very great loss of time; but it has had the compensating advantage of forcing me to think long and intently about every sentence, and thus I have been often led to see errors in reasoning and in my own observations or those of others."\n\n.\n\n\n> His is a lesson in science well worth learning. What Sulloway sees as particularly special about Darwin was his ability to resolve the essential tension within himself. “Usually, it is the scientific community as a whole that displays this essential tension between tradition and change,” Sulloway observes,\n\n> *"since most people have a preference for one or the other way of thinking. What is relatively rare in the history of science is to find these contradictory qualities combined in such a successful manner in one individual"* (p. 32).\n\n.\n\n\n\n> Carl Sagan summed up this essential tension (in Basil, 1988, p. 366):\n\n> *"It seems to me what is called for is an exquisite balance between two conflicting needs: the most skeptical scrutiny of all hypotheses that are served up to us and at the same time a great openness to new ideas. If you are only skeptical, then no new ideas make it through to you. You never learn anything new. You become a crotchety old person convinced that nonsense is ruling the world. (There is, of course, much data to support you.) On the other hand, if you are open to the point of gullibility and have not an ounce of skeptical sense in you, then you cannot distinguish the useful ideas from the worthless ones. If all ideas have equal validity then you are lost, because then, it seems to me, no ideas have any validity at all."*\n\n.\n\n\n\n> There is some hope that rational skepticism, and the vigorous application of the scientific method, can help us find this balance between pure skepticism and unmitigated credulity. \n\n> Carl Sagan sounded a similar warning to skeptics:\n\n> ***"You can get into a habit of thought in which you enjoy making fun of all those other people who don’t see things as clearly as you do. We have to guard carefully against it"*** (in Basil, 1988, p. 366).\n\n 1320255380 >Seems like if you use the tape like athletes do on TV (put it on during your performance, and then take it off), it works.\n\nHold on, we don't have enough evidence to make a claim as strong as that. Currently we can only say that using the tape is better than not using the tape. To say that "it works", we need to demonstrate that it works at a rate greater than placebo, which no study has been able to show. 1344066830 human construct exists, therefore other human construct exists 1275937519 Wait, Cold-FX was debunked? Do you have a link? Last I read is it did actually have some scientific merit...\n\nFrom my experience, I've run into a lot of people that believe in alternative medicines. I also know med students that are similar to what you're describing. I think the problem is that alternative medicine is widely prevalent in society. If you ask me, it seems to be on an upswing lately.\n\nRejecting evidence-based medicine like vaccines is another issue... If I was a doctor I would be definitely speak up in that case. I'm hoping your group of friends aren't like the majority. 1326850222 I would think that having been visited by the CIA in the hospital, they would have collected blood samples, DNA evidence, etc. and presented proof to us that it was actually him before throwing the body out into the sea, effectively destroying any evidence. 1304359251 What, did I throw my keys ahead of me? 1329450557 It could word in an asian-style noodle dish, I suppose. 1355281229 "Of course it's safe, there's nothing in it". I like that. 1314031332 I just nostalgia'd big time. They need to bring this show back.\n\nThanks for the post! 1354568662 I use EFT sometimes on 2-3 clients a week. I have been doing it for about 6 years. \nYes, it works. \nThe trouble is sometimes it works too well and when I talk about it, it sounds fantastical. \n\nMy favorite quick EFT sessions are phobias. \n\nA common example of this is someone comes in with an extreme phobia of birds. We talk about it and I find out she links this to one huge traumatic event when she was younger involving the family chicken. As we talk about it I tap on the EFT points and have her stop every once and a while and rate the level of her anxiety she feels in her body when she thinks of that memory or birds in general. Soon the memory no longer holds the 'emotional' power it had. It no longer triggers her hyperarousal when she thinks about birds. \n\nI saw her later that week with her husband and she ran up to me and gave me a hug. Her husband was all smiles telling me how amazing it is that she is not afraid of birds. How she would make him go outside and scare birds out of the yard so she could get to her car. \n\nThose are the ones that tend to go really quickly. \n\nI think about EFT quite a bit when I watch that Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind movie. Not erasing *actual* memories but simply removing any fight or flight triggers that still exist in traumatic memories.\n\nI am also a LMT and when I have clients that have limited ROM in their necks I always ask about and trauma. If they quickly recall the memory of a specific neck trauma I do EFT on the memory. I love the feeling of the muscles relaxing and their astonishment at being able to turn their heads. \n\nRepeated traumatic histories like abuse and war related PTSD can take much longer that one session but most everyone will feel a change in the specific triggers we work on. \n\nI know this thread is about the science of EFT and I see lots of neuroscience articles that fit my view of how EFT might work but in the end it is a technique. It is a pattern anyone can learn in 5 min, apply and make a personal experiment with. I would greatly encourage you to try. it. 1343287110 Happens. At Universal, some old guy died of old on the stairs in front of where you get onto the seats for the Mummy ride. There were so many problems with sightings and people being spooked they roped off those stairs, made a new walkway, and put up red lights (the most interesting note). The walkway was just an alternative route to the exit leading to the mummystore, as you could mostly see when walking around the side exits. So next time you see red lighting for no particular reason in a theme park, or potentially maybe anywhere, keep a mind out. 1342989862 snapping things with a flash will often show "orbs" which 99.9% of the time are dust particles reflecting the flash. \n\nAlot of ghost programs overreact on these, but they really are nothing. I saw on "most haunted" they showed a picture of a white line going across the photo, even i could see it was the nylon camera strap, even had the weave! 1324820450 Light pollution would make it very difficult to see the blimp or craft throughout the firework display. 1343984593 I did some sleuthing, and yeah, it's a guy. Al Zeeper. He's the "Amateur Physicist" who "discovers answer to Einstein's biggest question!" It's obviously someone with delusions of grandeur, who wants to self-promote, despite using the word "we" all over the place. 1345015675 http://cropcircleconnector.com/2011/2011.html has the latest photos but no analysis 1312923727 I'm considering growing my hair longer and make it mis-shapen. Then i can pick up some easy paychecks as a UFO-ologist. \n\n"Could these crop circles have been made by humans? Sure, that's a possibility... but they also might have been made by aliens. Since we don't know for sure, the only reasonable explanation is that we're being visited by creatures from another world." 1327963324 Insulating wires costs money. Now you need to protect the aircraft against fake phones (Nckia phones) which aren't insulated because they were made in a sweatshop in Shenzhen and look about the same. 1356926939 He thinks conciousness is the soul, and the soul is energy. 1286809023 God damned emotion chip always messing with the logic circuits... 1257050136 what could that reason be... :D 1342643226 >Consider it in reference to evolution/creationism, or climate science/denialism.\n \nIf you look at it that way, then that makes sense, but the cartoon was initially pretty vague in what it was going after. I thought it was going after the whole argument if there was a god or not. You though it to be in reference to evolution/creationism etc. I would have to agree with you if it was the latter. \n \n>Which doesn't meant different positions are on equal footing.\n \nNo it doesn't. The onus is usually on someone. But as far as proving if some entity exists that can be called a "god" or "higher purpose" the onus is on both parties even though it's most likely that he does not exist. 1274198357 Because calling people concerned for their health freedom "nutters" *really helps* inspire their trust in authority and confidence in your truths.\n\nYou guys are just *too smart*. 1243279443 I agree with the message however we need a bit more evidence. 1330622193 I agree with the message however we need a bit more evidence. 1330622299 Paying £500 and getting no treatment for it? Yes, that is a bad thing. 1298209828 I am still skeptical, maybe he left something out. 1314239457 This might be consistent with nightime sky divers. 1315537897 if chiropractors are useless then why do they still bring in business? 1330094669 If you are going to begin a sentence with an insult don't expect people to finish reading. Communication 101 brah. 1338612507 Hmmmm \n\nhttp://www.blifaloo.com/info/lies_eyes.php/\n\nThis says up and to the right is remembering, not constructing\n\nUp and to the Right \nIndicates: Visually Remembered Images (Vr)\nIf you asked someone to "What color was the first house you lived in?", this would be the direction their eyes moved in while thinking about the question as they "Visually Remembered" the color of their childhood home. 1344792277 >I think that you have a massive blind spot to this situation. You are getting accused of being poor at impartial judgement yet again, you are getting downvoted yet again. It might be that you simply aren't as impartial as you think.\n\nIt seems unlikely that everyone who mentions feminism on reddit is biased and carries a massive blind spot. But look at some of my comments getting downvoted: \n\n- one was a question as to whether someone's description of a position was accurate and whether it wasn't possible that they were confusing criticism of the patriarchy with criticism of men. For that I have currently received **25 downvotes**. \n\n- one comment was me stating that I was editing my last post because I had incorrectly quoted someone. For that I have currently received **5 downvotes**.\n\n- I then point out that institutional sexism still exists. For that I have currently received **6 downvotes**. \n\nI think when I start getting downvoted for correcting my unintentional misquotation of someone, then the problem most likely isn't with me. \n\nI don't think I'm a particularly offensive poster, and I don't think (before recently) I've ever had a karma score for a comment below zero. But, without changing my posting style and (as far as I know) without attacking anyone, I've suddenly started receiving mass downvotes. The only difference is that I've mentioned feminism in a non-negative light. \n\nTry it one day. Create a sockpuppet account, jump into one of these threads and say something entirely unoffensive and uncontroversial like "I think feminism makes some valid points", and you'll likely be downvoted. \n\n>I will admit that I struggle with being impartial in this case (although I feel that recognizing my bias does help a bit to overcome it) in the opposite direction (I started out sympathetic, but was quickly turned off and probably to a degree where I'm too emotionally vested).\n\nThat's fair enough, and it's great that you're attempting to be aware of your biases. With me though, I don't really care who is right or wrong on this issue. I find some feminist arguments convincing because they are backed by solid argumentation and empirical evidence, so when people make contradictory statements I point out where I think they're going wrong and I ask them to explain why they think I'm wrong. \n\nIf feminism is wrong, or if atheism+ is a completely stupid idea, it makes absolutely no difference to me. I will inevitably have the biases which are common to all people at all times, but my point was just that I don't see how I can be biased one way or the other on this issue as I have no allegiances or commitments to either conclusion.\n\n>In our previous discussions I noticed that you don't really listen to opposing arguments,\n\nI can't understand why you'd say that. I took a lot of time reading through your comments and I provided detailed responses. I don't think it's accurate to say that I wasn't really "listening to opposing arguments" simply because I took the time to explain why I think they're incorrect. It is, of course, possible to 'listen' to someone and not agree with them. \n\n>and you have a tendency to be highly aggressive.\n\nI think perhaps you're confusing me with someone else there... I read through our previous discussion to make sure I didn't step out of line at some point, but I didn't remember getting angry or aggressive at any point and I couldn't find any comments which suggested such. \n\n>That is probably counter to your claim of impartiality.\n\nI disagree. Impartiality doesn't mean that all views are given equal weight. I understood *exactly* where you were coming from with your criticisms of concepts like patriarchy and privilege and I tried to explain to you why you were fundamentally misunderstanding those concepts. But if you had fully grasped those concepts, and then highlighted a possible flaw in those things, then I would absolutely support you. \n\nI just can't help comparing the situation to a creationist discussing evolution with a biologist, and the creationist complaining that the biologist is biased because he wasn't really listening to opposing arguments like, "If man evolved from monkeys then why are there still monkeys?". I know it's an insulting comparison and I don't mean to imply that you personally are as bad as a creationist (you're obviously far smarter than those people) but the similarity is the failure to grasp the core concepts required to make valid criticisms of the field. 1348023518 me either, keeping an open mind to all possibilities is for the birds 1344426646 - The dentists' effort was so coordinated that they each chose a specific advantage of fluoride during their allotted three minutes of time before the board so their observations didn't overlap.\n\nCOMMUNIST CONSPIRACY!!! 1318254622 I think it's intentionally made that way given the apparent intent of the last picture. The "unreliable author" plot device comes to mind.\n\nAlso, embrace the [/r/paranormal](/r/paranormal) downvotes. 1329485564 There's also /r/debunked 1327880668 I think it should be as the story develops, until it goes to reddit's front page.\n\nAs far as I can tell "antineoplastons" aren't a real group of compounds, just a cocktail of random peptides. Aka snake oil. And Burzynski quite possibly doesn't even have the PhD that he claims to - [or he somehow gained it in the space of one year, while working full-time... at a university with no doctoral program.](http://www.ratbags.com/rsoles/comment/burzynski.htm) 1322611487 Lemme just put it this way, respectfully requesting would be wiser than summoning. And if you don't know what you are going to run into, you could gather yourself an armful of trouble. If you really want to try your hand at this use a circle of salt for a bit of protection. Be respectful and don't use broad terms like "anyone who is here"... Try asking for like say a dead relative that you got on peascefully with. \n\nAnd whatever you do do not be an ass. \n\nBut my first advice would be to reconsider. 1344724220 As far as the scream in the corn field, any possibility of a bigfoot/sasquatch scream? You can youtube some of the recorded calls they make and compare it. If you don't live near wilderness/woods/mountains, I wouldn't worry about it too much. 1332986239 I used to get the occasional migraine. I haven't had a single one since I cut aspartame out of my diet.\n\nThe actual researchers at the FDA who were testing aspartame recommended that it not be approved. The administrator overseeing the study (who had no experience with artificial sweeteners) disregarded their recommendation and approved it anyway. 1305142866 NEW UPDATE:-\n\nDeepak Chopra has blocked me on his twitter, so I can no longer follow him or debate him. It is just another in a long line of spiritual and pseudoscientfic people who are trying to silence or ignore their critics. 1341605278 If you call UK chips French fries in USA then what do you call French fries? (Skinny chips that are basically just fat, think mcdonalds chips) 1354760220 Well, I used to be so thrilled reading these kinds of story before. Now I'm even MORE thrilled to experience them *again* after having experience once. I have a deep love in natural science, particularly quantum physics so you know. It's just pure curiosity. 1326432727 How about specific examples of skeptics relying on clearly flawed government data? 1285165654 I just found this show, it's a great way to spend a night, watching it\n 1355500837 same here! 1348766203 Like the [Sigur Ros song](http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5udbj_sigur-ros-gobbledigook_music) ? 1290562005 When the object caught my eye that was the first factor I wanted to test. I accelerated and decelerated and could not see any drastic change in the objects location. When I became parallel with the object and slowed down as much as I could (10 mph). I could not see ANY movement in the object at all. I have seen stars at night making more movement then that object. It was completely stationary. 1335744659 Not at first, went back and looked again, found it.\n\nIt's like Where's Waldo, but ghostly. 1350392450 Okay I'll bite. When I was fresh to ritually cleansing houses I had this dark and moody female friend come to me and state that she had entered a blood pact with the devil. Knowing that this could mean anything, I listen to the fully extent of her story of paranormal phenomenon and traumatic abuse she experienced as a child; and how these paranormal experiences were seeming to become aggressive to her being a by stander to the judo/christian mysticism I used in the course of my hobby. I believe she said the entities actually semi-manifest and told her so. So she decided both that she didn't want any part of that anymore, and to ask for my help.\nAs it happen I did manage to have a ritual for breaking a blood pact, so I thought I'd give it a go as the worse case would just be psycho drama and a bad emotional experience.\nIt was going fine with some elements showing of minor spiritual obsession/possession which I had no problem handling with a minor improvised exorcism to accompany the task at hand. However, I did notice a strong but quiet change in the ambiance. I also thought I noticed what I call lyaks in the outskirts of my field of vision, but I pushed ahead. This was soon followed by a scream from a different side of the yard. I rush over to find out that my then girlfriend, and my sister had both seen one of those very shadow entities run across a well lit area. Mind you they had no idea about the aspects of what I was doing; So for sake of confirmation I asked them to describe exactly what they had seen. A with out hesitation and no knowledge of such things described a three foot tale dark humanoid that ran right by them nearly in unison. I've seen and dealt with these before but these two had no experience in either my beliefs or my practices or anything paranormal in general.\nThen another friend spotted one on the other side of the yard again (half acre property). Ultimately about fiver of those were seen that night. The thing that got to me though was the appearance of two other things. The first which was spotted by myself and the formally afflicted person was a dark entity approximately seven feet tale with visible glowing red eyes. The second and I believe if I remember correctly I might have been the only one to witness this was a glowing white sphere with possible blue outline about a foot in diameter that was clashing with that seven foot dark entity and seemingly to repel it. Considering all this and the barking dogs ( I know, it sounds like a bad rip off of the movie The Exorcist, maybe fear made me notice) I rounded up everyone inside and started casting wards and prayers until sunrise.\nWith that my friend went on for a time to be very religious which ultimately didn't last long but never had another of those paranormal experiences as far as I'm aware.\nAlso as for my use of the term lyaks, this terminology isn't credible as I actually got that name from a horror story and it seemed to fit. For the closest/best match to the entities I am describing in a demonology sense you'd have to go back to Pre-Christian Judaic mythology regarding demons a little entities that run around and harass the living back when Sammel filled the role of the devil (or close enough too it).\n\nQuestion is, what's your take on the Big one? First time I'd seen anything like that. 1323742611 One thing I find fascinating about the God of the Gaps argument is that it is always formulated in terms of something we know we don't know. Thus, as that page points out, you go from lightning to planetary physics to diseases to universe causality. But it seems like you only had planetary physics being brought up *after* lightning became common knowledge, disease only *after* planetary physics, etc. That is, the GotG argument always tails science by complaining about the current border of knowledge.\n\nThat might seem like a trivial truism (how could you formulate an argument about something you don't know you don't know?), but the end result is that the theist making the argument is *necessarily* on the heels of scientists who are attempting to explain nature precisely without any supernatural phenomena. It's an admission of a fundamental misunderstanding of science. Of *course* science is at the edge of human knowledge - where else could it be? It also admits a misunderstanding of knowledge itself as a thing which is in constant flux as opposed to the theist's apparent interpretation of it as a stationary concept.\n\nAnyway, I'm not trying to make any kind of argument here, I just find these things interesting. 1288374377 Eh, pre-long-form-release, I might have agreed with you. Not anymore.\n\nBirthers are now the intellectual equivalent of someone who still insists that the world is flat and supported by an infinite stack of turtles. Reams of data and mountains of evidence have already been presented to prove them wrong (even though the burden of proof should be on them, since they're the ones claiming something). If they don't get it now, they never will, because they're either neurologically or willfully stupid. \n 1337362649 Sensationalist title for sure, but very tragic for Jobs and the rest of us: we possibly lost a brilliant man sooner they we needed to :( 1318641930 http://i1251.photobucket.com/albums/hh548/KarmaFallsDown/IMG_0096.jpg\n\nHere is the link to the photo. Yeah, that is me in that photo, it's from a while back.\nWell anyways the figure is in the windowed door. Its in the middle window, and if you have good eyes for these things you'll make it out. And it isn't just the window being dirty, we checked, and its not edited at all. 1343965895 I agree, I was just making an ugly joke based on the wording there not so much about vegans or buddhist. The word mainstream instantly makes me think of hipster cat. 1318078341 I understand your point. Also, the sun wasn't completely set, because it was rising not setting. I've heard a lot of different reasoning on this photo and still have not come to a conclusion but thank you very much for your input! 1352754366 He's a little beat up right now, too. He had some sort of recent medical issue, so he was being carted around in a wheelchair a lot (though he also wandered around on foot too). To avoid germs, he also wasn't shaking hands; no details were given, but it's safe to assume he's just being cautious to protect his immune system that has plenty of work to do right now. 1247511527 Agreed. I tend to think that this is some type of training video. Real soldiers and fake situation. 1290854017 > If you open your mind too much your brain will fall out 1314787503 >better than bloodletting and trepanning.\n\nWrong. At least bloodletting does have some modern therapeutic uses. And trepanning while barbaric and archaic at least there is a possible science behind a physiological change that might take place.\n\nYour relative and their bullshit homeopathic fiction is just dangerous and preys upon weak fools and suckers who don't realize they are practicing placebo medicine.\n\nSo you still don't get it, it's not better than anything except maybe prayer, which at least prayer has some legit scientific studies under its belt. And doesn't involve factories for making tons of crap homeopathic ripoff "supplements" for thousands of dollars. 1333662963 Did you even watch the video? He explains that most people were skeptical, saying it was fake, don't spread it, etc.. But *some* people are gullible. All this proves is that with a large diverse group of people, some are going to be more credulous than others. \n\nThat said, if anyone in /r/skeptic still believe that the 9/11 Commission Report is the full truth, then wow. Just wow. 1316833154 Came here for informed responses. Left disappointed. 1352079472 careful, apparently unlikely coincidences [count as glitches now.](http://www.reddit.com/r/Glitch_in_the_Matrix/comments/zmdei/just_found_this_sub_and_i_think_this_story_fits/c65vbod) 1347688904 Uncle who is a 9/11 conspiracy theorist and all around psuedohistorical idiot 1335672347 i saw something like this in real life many years ago and it came down quite low over us, maybe 300 feet. it was the weirdest thing i have ever seen. it made no sense. we were looking at something right there in the world but our brains could not process what we were seeing because nearly everything about it seemed "impossible". the shape was always changing yet it somehow maintained a sense of cohesiveness in some way. it was like looking at morphing computer animation but at the same time something real, or like seeing a totally impossible optical illusion that is somehow real in front of you. 1332489614 But one treatment is draining it with tubes, and I suppose this would have to be done by a doctor with a fancy medical degree, which she presumable won't consult. 1351700717 Wait, he says he has no children, then he says he has one daughter? Wha? 1350431552 [The point you are missing is here.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=LwB3o5L5XY0#t=344s)\n\nEdit. Hmm... the deep link isn't working for some reason. Advance to 5:44 for the point. 1294584010 I don't know anything about how the Australian government works, but I would suggest writing to lawmakers. Also, contact various medical professionals and skeptical, science-oriented individuals and ask them to do the same. 1332302595 Hey... Hey, mister... That staff... You wanna... You know... You wanna maybe... let go of it? Just a second? Surely it's not the most important part of the act of levitating? Oh, it is? Wow... That's odd... But I guess it might make sense somehow... Hey... Another question... That carpet? Surely you don't need it since you're not even touching the ground... Mind if I take a look at it? No? It's _also_ integral to your magic? Wow. I had no idea. It's a magic carpet then? No? You're performing the magic, not the carpet? Ok. Fine, I guess... How about your robe? Why aren't you wearing those toga-like sheets that are simply wrapped around your shoulder? Is it that cold in India? It's not a magic robe, is it? But you really don't want to take it off? Ok, I guess there's a light breeze in the air. Might be chilly without it. I can go with that...\n\nYeah, I can't see how _anyone_ would ever doubt a trick like this... 1310644886 Incoming shitstorm from climate-change deniers. Protip, kiddies: When someone tells you ultra-diluted arsenic will cure poisoning, be exactly as skeptical as when someone tells you pouring gigatons of pollutants into the atmosphere *won't* cause climate change. 1264292922 This doesn't definitively prove anything. 1342472396 I work with the Epsom Salt Council, and we asked the same question. Here’s what some experts told us: http://www.epsomsaltcouncil.org/news_letsmove.cfm. 1295535475 > So, let me see if I got this right; you haven't found any evidence and that somehow proves that evidence doesn't exist? LOL...\n\nI am not saying there 100% is none, because am not omnipotent, but if you gave me some evidence I would change my mind, or if I came across some I would change my mind. But the fact that you are not raising any evidence makes me think that you do not know of any evidence either.\n\n> I completely agree; which is the reason I wonder why so many people believe chemo is the best cancer treatment available, when I personally know so many people that have went through absolute misery getting it done, only to possibly prolong their life...\n\nThey believe that because that is what the evidence says, there are tons and tons of evidence that chemo can, in some cases, cure cancer. 1328451823 opwilldeliver.jpg 1354378015 Poor Australia. Not only is every thing that crawls or swims trying to kill them, even the doctors are out to castrate you. 1346845934 The media is controlled by four major corporations, all of which are run by very wealthy, elite individuals who 'play the global game'. Anyone running a network will never have gotten there in the first place unless they play by the rules. They are very heavily pressured to not run anything that is too in favor of 'the truth'.\n\nAnd from a journalistic perspective, no one believes anything unless a senior politician says it's the truth... and even then (because this has happened often even within the US military)... people look the other way. The President could come out and say it, but unless he has evidence to show the world, no one would believe him.\n\nAnd all the evidence is controlled by the people who run the global system; the energy industries, military-industrial complex, and banking sectors. They are the ones that need to disclose the truth since elected officials have already tried and failed. 1328639873 The point is that you are obviously fishing for a particular answer to back up what you already want to be true. 1352429042 Um, no. PMS is not a myth. Some women may not be highly affected, but! If you tried to tell me at the end of the month that it was all in my head while I was sobbing over spilled milk I would CLAW YOUR GODDAMN EYES OUT. Has this study been peer reviewed? No? Then shut the hell up and go get me some chocolate. 1351061069 The wikipedia entry isn't naming John Edward as biggest douche in the universe, it is about that episode of South Park which is titled "The Biggest Douche in the Universe". It's a summery of the plot and reactions, not just an article that says "This title was awarded to John Edward." 1334721632 I think it's good for you. I do a shot of braggs apple cider vinegar once in a while. I love the way it makes me feel sharp and awake. 1309899049 That was what I was going to say. Poking stuff with sticks is always the best solution. 1340810326 Sort of- the alien looks very computer animated to me, and his movements are too fluid and smooth to be natural. The background is all pixelated and seems like a picture. 1330131612 There isn't much standard issue underwater personal armament. As well, Baikal is a big frickin' lake. 1250020630 Are the people in the audience understanding her? Because, I have no idea what she is talking about? 1305577754 That said, the prospect of using the ionosphere as a conductor and Earth as a ground is an interesting concept for transmitting power. Probably not practical, and there certainly hasn't been much research into it since Tesla's Wardenclyffe lab got shut down, but interesting nonetheless.\n\nNowadays it would be fairly useless; a superconducting smart grid would be a far better investment. 1353262975 I'll do that when university starts and get back to you :) 1342801156 Yeah, I actually think I had seen him around on base. I was in the Air Force but worked at BAMC on Fort Sam Houston. It's entirely possible it was someone else, but it's not often you see a person in a US Army uniform with a full beard. I never thought about the connection between the 2nd Amendment. I'm surprised there hasn't been a Sikh superhero in a comic yet- it seems like the values would translate really well. 1352170456 It's become very clear that the term "circlejerk" on reddit now just means "A very large amount of people who don't agree with what I personally believe."\n\nAlso, it really helps to identify the pettiest of people. Much like if you meet someone who's car is covered in bumper stickers, you don't want to be their friend, if someone yells "circlejerk," they obviously have nothing worthwhile to say.\n\nI still can't believe you came to /r/skeptic, and then got *so very angry* that people were skeptical of these anecdotal, non-verifiable claims. That's a bit silly, isn't it? 1332326701 Oh, I should also point out that Tim Farley (creator of "What's the Harm?") has written a detailed review of our app (from a couple of months ago now) on his blog at Skep Tools: http://skeptools.wordpress.com/2012/04/02/rbutr-is-the-newest-tool-in-the-skeptic-arsenal/\n\nJust thought I would post that, so you can see the opinions of another well respected skeptic and get an external take on it all.\n\nTim has been helping us a lot over the past few months, and is an amazing guy when it comes to helping skeptics make a difference. 1338220724 I got the silent treatment once for asking exactly *how much* energy was in that *energy healing crystal*. What? 1 Joule? 3 Joules? 1280578905 sooo you think that the next generation of Muslims *aren't* going to be pissed off at us because after killing one of the greatest Muslims ever, we buried him at sea? Thats not exactly their custom and believe me, as long as people still believe that the Koran is God's word or any other man made fabrication for that matter declaring war on non believers, there's going to be a problem... 1304369852 I've seen the Silverstein "Pull" comment debunked many times and never thought this was a strong point. He clearly did not mean "demolish the building." It's not a claim I pointed out in my comments. It still doesn't seem to explain how WTC7 collapsed solely due to small fires. 1355439101 If that isn't a ship, I want to know what it is and how the image ends up looking like that. 1343085209 This post isn't arguing against euthanasia in any way. The goal was to address a claim I'd read that PETA had very poor adoption rates and extremely high euthanasia rates (especially compared to other shelters). Those claims came from a meat-manufacturing lobby group, but they actually turned out to be true. 1271518552 "It shows a deep lack of understanding of how science works and a deep ignorance of the philosophy of science"\n\nsorry\n\n 1328257661 contact by far 1336958204 There are two types of libertarian, minarchist and anarchist. I am an anarchist, so I'm not sure we could have much or a real discussion. I hope a more mainstream libertarian responds here, I feel I can't argue in a manner that would push this discussion forward. \n\nI'm pretty radical and bad at arguments, I just don't want to go down the rabbit hole of hours of posts that lead nowhere. \n\nBut overall yes, I feel a private property based free market society can solve problems best. 1313546270 I too would love to see a more in-depth analysis of debunking done on this one. Seeing the "1980" in the top corner constantly drilling that date into my head felt like "bad juju" for this video from the start. 1352751197 No, his first prediction was that the world would end in 1994. 1306421564 Please say someone has another link to this 1268773453 Most of science isn't proven \n 1284919995 I'll miss it too but the premise for this new show looks promising 1305769820 Of those you listed, I'm only familiar with SGttU, which also includes a companion 5x5 podcast I enjoy. However, I'll now be sure to give these others a try.\n\nHere is a list of skeptic-themed podcasts I am currently subscribed to (other than SGttU):\n\n* [Consequence](http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/component/content/article/37-static/1753-consequence.html)\n* [For Good Reason](http://www.forgoodreason.org/)\n* [Point of Inquiry](http://www.pointofinquiry.org/) 1340987851 Me thinks you misunderstand what I meant by the third-- if I'm wrong, I can't, by definition, prove myself right. What I mean when I say I take it as a personal standard is that if I hold an opinion or make an assertion, I'm going to damn well make sure it can ALWAYS be proven right. 1280598845 Why is this in r/skeptic, exactly?\n 1341002590 You just want me to stfu. I will come to my own conclusions, not yours. I will speak my opinion, you will not stop me. In my examples, I never said if fluoride was good or bad, I just stated that it was some expert that tell us it is good for us. Define "real" expert, and "respected" journals. Real on who's terms? Respected by who? Real to you? Respected by you? Guess what, I am not you, I am an entity with my own opinions. I am entitled to mine just as you are entitled to yours. You are the one continuing to impose your opinions onto me. Go back to your flock. 1324540932 Thats pretty much what I was trying to clear up from my original statement. 1351722746 They only have a different number of bones because carpals and sesamoids haven't formed and certain bones haven't fuse yet.\n\nThere are boney growth centers within infantile cartilage. 1342754790 Siberian regional government in 'cash grab' from Moscow. 1318268071 I live in Lee's Summit, like 10 minutes away from Blue Springs. I will keep yawl posted if I see anything. 1337900921 Moons? mars has two\n\nAsteroids/meteorites?\n\nGlitches in the camera hardware/software?\n\nNot likely a dead pixel as those are a static hot/cold spot that can result in a number of different odd artifacts in the image. 1345834026 See this has always been the true question for me, what do the aliens get out of this deal for helping humans? The only logical reasoning I could come up with is that these aliens think completely different than humans. Humans are selfish and emotional creatures, it could be possible that these aliens are simply paying it forward and desire nothing. You can almost compare it to the US or UN helping other countries but on a much grander scale, and yet there is absolutely nothing in any form or capacity we could offer them in exchange for their knowledge. 1334696772 Yes, actually when I was the only one with my hand near it. The owner said you don't have to even touch it (to kinda prove no one was moving it) and told me to just kinda point at it with my finger about a centimeter away. \n\nI did that and it did move. That is the biggest thing I couldn't explain to my self and what made my every interested in the paranormal. 1338947195 Hey! Aren't you the girl from my story? 1350691444 Cool! I went there years ago and found it to be very interesting. I saw no ghosts, but was in a large tour group during the day. The scariest part was seeing the doctors 'tools' in the museum...bone saw...ugh. 1334178564 reddit is neither TV or a book. You are confused. 1351766580 Yeah, Masonic aliens. 1351713861 Whaaaaat!?!? Really!? My Hero is gay? Really!?!?!\n\n.... YAAAYYYY! I want to give him a great big Furry hug!! 1320572307 meme predator. 1303949548 Yeah. And I asked questions like put your hand on my left thigh if this is ***** and moments later my thigh would be warm in an area the size of a hand. I felt like she was right there with me, and it was an amazing experience. Not to mention blowjobs are always nice! 1339383054 That is beast! Let us know if you catch anything. This should be interesting. 1335647944 I would never use a ouija board. Screw everything about those! lol \n\nI'm glad you and your family were safe and nothing ended up coming of whatever was in your home. I will try that later tonight. Start the new year with letting whomever it is stay if they are harmless and if not GTFO. =) Happy New Year! 1325250655 As opposed to telling people they're wrong, it would be better (and more accurate) to say that there's no scientific evidence that they are right/that x works. 1298999826 I thought she did a really good job of representing positive skepticism. Well done, Rebecca!\n\nEdit: Holy crap, I didn't realize why [Robert Llewellyn was so familiar](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kryten) to me! 1264798189 Honestly, people come on here and slam videos because the filmer isn't freaking out and then guys like you moan because they are freaking out. Make up your minds people. 1356867848 [This one](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zorya#Midnight_Star). Wikipedia even talks about her mythos as if he didn't invent her, only mentioning that near the end of the article. 1321488166 [R.W. Ridley claims this is from the movie Clawed](http://rwridley.wordpress.com/2012/02/25/breaking-news-on-the-melissa-hovey-bigfoot-picture/) I think it would be great to get more shots of the costume they had used from this movie in order to have a better comparison. But I agree with Ridley on this. It's easier to sway towards the side of this being from that movie. After all, Karl Kozak is willing to put his name on this being fake. The person who supposedly provided the photo isn't willing to have their name staked to this yet.\n\nPart of me feels pretty certain that we will never get the full bit of information from this person nor will we ever see the other images from the series. 1330415056 Therefore, aliens! 1344716966 This might also interest you. It is a little more positive :)\n\nhttp://www.stanford.edu/group/brainwaves/2006/theclinicalguidetosoundandlight.pdf 1301445080 >Most commenters have taken both sides of the question, validating the poster's framing of the inquiry in terms of the position with which he/she didn't agree.\n\nFair enough, I see your point, We *will* have to agree to disagree here, I think. I just think that the poster's framing in terms of absolute right or wrong was a bad idea. Peace. 1278104696 disorder /dis·or·der/ (dis-or´der) a derangement or abnormality of function; a morbid physical or mental state.\n\nso...no\n\nit's just muscle pain and fatigue, these are not medical ailments \n\nto me, others could have a wildly different definition 1325786850 That would be unusual. Most bars look unfavourably on anything which reflects badly on the profession. I don't know much about the Texas Bar, but according to [wikipedia](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_Bar_of_Texas) their statements of purpose include:\n\n>to foster and maintain, on the part of those engaged in the practice of law, high ideals and integrity, learning, competence in public service, and high standards of conduct;\n\n\nIt would seem to be covered by high standards of conduct. 1307492805 Really, the start of what you said is stuff that I have said many times. However, the answer to that is almost never to say "Check your privilege" - someone who says something that off is probably going to become very, very hostile at that phrase (and not completely without reason). The solution might be to explain (very briefly) that this person hasn't experienced the kind of racial injustice that the word nigger comes from, and that their experience doesn't allow them to fully understand how it feels to someone else. I know, it's the old 101 argument, but to me it's fairly valid, especially if you have a 101 level doc you can link to instead of explaining. It might come across as tone, but we are humans, and tone really does matter. Now, I'm not saying that women need to speak in respectful tone to men all the time, but I am saying that screaming at someone who just doesn't get it makes them get it less, dismissing someone who just doesn't get it makes them get it less. Both of these make them *want* to get it less.\n\nThe Rush example is actually a pretty good one, but if you use it on the people who love Rush, they won't get it either.\n\nFinally, my point throughout any discussion of privilege, is that people don't just have or not have privilege. There are elements of privilege in any group in certain circumstances. There are circumstances where a poor inner city black female has power that a straight white cis male doesn't have, and where she has privilege that he doesn't. Damn few of them admittedly, but they do exist. To use check your privilege as I have seen it used a fair bit recently is sometimes a case of not actually recognizing your own privilege (for example: I was homeless, 16, white, and male - there are a shitload of programs for homeless people, but any one that is for a specific group isn't for straight white middle aged males, the only special category I fit into that would open up more programs was the youth category, it would have been even worse had I been a bit older in terms of programs - black would have opened up a bunch, female even more, handicapped even more, the only one that seems to really fuck you over is some form of mental illness, which pretty much makes the rest of it null and void). The person I was arguing with could not understand that for that very, very narrow set of circumstances being white made things harder, being male made things harder. Once I got out of the absolute bottom position in society, those qualities made things easier (I can actually tell, I've lived in circumstances other than homelessness where those things are not advantages to the same degree including one country where being white means you can't go outside after dark and during the day you have to be damned careful, because you are at a high risk of getting shot at all times). 1347479747 >Its an explanation of how people are inclined to misinterpret things as being paranormal given certain conditions.\n\nI just read the article and can confirm. The article tries to explain away people's perceived eyewitness of the paranormal by theorizing that their extravagant accounts are nothing more that creative inventions of a person psychologically predisposed to believe such phenomena (which have been synthesized from an otherwise normal and mundane situation).\n\nI can credit the attempt to explain a person's perception of paranormal encounters, but I couldn't help but notice a skeptic's bias in the research. They quoted the X-Files (*rolls eyes*), they jokingly mention "little green men from the planet Glank" among other references to paint the picture that all paranormal experiences are nothing but "hooey," and they end with saying that any and all research into the paranormal is nothing more than fruitless distractions from solid scientific branches of study like zoology and astronomy--which seems like a very unfair thing to say. 1351222455 Impressive 1356751466 I love how he want's to be an atheist but then believes all the other nonsense people tell him. 1316816257 Airpes, to give it its technical name. 1285388021 This is what I was thinking. But you never know! 1354992477 I've only had one real sighting and it was broad daylight. I came out of the shower and was chatting with my girlfriend and this old man was just suddenly standing right next to me. I did a double take and he was gone. I turned to my girlfriend and she said, "I saw him too."\nI've stalked that spot for years with cameras and all hours of the day. Never seen anything again. But all the cats have always meowed at that spot. If that means anything. 1336365926 You are not alone. That show was mediocre at best. 1297745446 Yes indeedy! Complete with glasses, poor fashion sense, and complete Star Trek movie collection. =) 1310080200 i don't know why your being downvoted. You are right and UFO nuts are the first to throw the simplest explanation out the window. 1329947673 I was thinking more that traumatic events could cause an "image" of one or more person's thought patterns to be etched into a place or on to a thing, but it wouldn't be the person it resembles anymore than a photo or a video. 1344612486 yep, for guitar work, we typically use nylon or metal wound strings. back in the day, it was typical to use cat gut or sheep gut. orchestral instruments will usually use horse hair.\n\nedit: BTW, catgut is not actually from cats, it's usually from a mule or donkey or something like that. sheep were used also. 1299461485 Throwaway -\n\nI'm a sales rep in the "natural" supplement industry. AMA. 1335053252 Okay, sounds good. I tend to believe that people are good at coming to the right conclusion when presented with the evidence and opposing theories, etc. It will be interesting to see if it helps. 1348937445 I watched that documentary.. and didnt you see a logical explanation where that "artifact" was found?? how and why? 1349448722 You british? 1315868003 A thousand times this. Censorship doesn't work, debunking does, as well as reporting to authorities. A sticker with "FALSE: Miracle cures don't exist. Well-researched medicine does. 1023.org" would go a long way. Also, a leaflet explaining what homeopathy actually *is* with one drop vs an ocean to explain 'there's nothing in it' might get some people's interest. 1338968031 >your headline appears to be misleading.\n\nBut upvotes. 1311104851 The thing that science seems to ignore is that almost all of the experiences are so similar. You can't say that for alcohol or drugs. Everyone experiences those in a different way. 1325367945 After looking at the article again, it is a private school. It's the "publicly funded vouchers" that threw me off. 1343061800 You need to be upvoted more. 1352666611 I'm a new sub to his subreddit, just a question: Is the normal consensus among the 'skeptic' community 'pro-choice', is this lady 'pro-choice'?\n\nI appreciate any answers, thanks.\n 1262745642 That sounds utterly ridiculous. I fail to see how it would take anyone's occupation or reduce the quality of life at all. Or if it did, how ancient people would ever realize it.\n\nWhere exactly are you hearing this? 1305463218 Doubtful, but nice to see theyre still letting trolls into the debunker camp,... 1305910355 I just have to point out that the Sears store in the Toronto Eaton Centre also has negative numbered floors. 1311295942 Uh... that spinning thing hurts my brain. 1326086753 one of the stupidest things i've ever seen on youtube. im quite curious so know where he got his PhD from, so i can never attend that school. 1279400000 Well, if you have to ask... 1336824644 Portlander here.\n\nLove the politics here, hate the woo. Too many god damn hippies in my paradise. 1340647066 usagoim were also selling him weapons though 1334049040 An "Energy Beam"!? Could they possibly be more vague and unscientific? 1340862222 i just searched for this address on google maps and nothing came up 1310954911 I don't believe the second video. Who just leaves their attic lights on? 1319430987 I like the story, even if it's fiction. 1336532206 There was a consensus among most people that the sun revolved around the Earth. That didn't make it correct.\n\nOK you tell me. What if bronze age people did have interactions with alien visitors what would they have called them?\n 1324943655 There's some blatant leftist bias. 1305527004 I didn't see the accident, it happened on the freeway, but watching the man on the motorcycle that night was like watching a video of the last time he left my house. 1340303381 That sounds kinky.... :P 1307813529 I believe the lights are a camouflage. Most of the pics or videos of any ufos that I have seen has lights on them and it was very difficult to make out any specific structure which has intense lights on them. It's like camouflage in public view. You're looking at the object but can't make out any features or characteristics of the object itself other than the speed it was traveling or a generic outline of the object itself. Every photo that has been taken of an ufo which has lights on it seems to be very blurry so as to not give any detail of the object itself. \n\nRecently, I heard about a pilot who chased an ufo in a jet and reached very close to it but even he couldn't make out any details of the object and only said that the object was illuminated by a very bright intense light. 1308372443 What happens to hydrochloric acid in water? 1336868648 Yes male circumcision is wrong IMO, too. But I disagree that male circumcision is anywhere near as destructive to female anatomy and sexual organs in a quantifiable way. Female genital mutilation can not only involve removing the clitoris, but also the labia and sewing up most of the labia majora.\nHere's a diagram for reference:\nhttp://i.imgur.com/pG0Fc.jpg\nThere is a world of difference between these things. Equating them is dismissive of how horrific FGM is.\nWhy don't you present me with some peer-reviewed research demonstrating that male circumcision is just as bad? 1351097327 The vaccine has been around in Japan for about 25 years now, and the current two-dose system has a very high success rate. We know for sure that immunity is maintained for more than 20 years. Strictly speaking, we can't know if any vaccine is permanent until it's been around long enough to observe the lifetime results, but there's currently no evidence that additional boosters are required. The rumors going around that it requires boosters every few years are unsubstantiated. 1327901939 here is the other issue. When you have "Ph. D" types in China and other countries speaking out about this, it stokes the fires. \n\nhttp://www.fluoridealert.org/50-reasons.htm\n\nI really wouldn't write these people off. It's kind of like climate change. Yes, there are the fanatics who will never ever budge. However, there are a lot of people who hear "scientists in other countries..." and it puts the doubt back in people. It doesn't matter how good the science is. It's about if enough confusion can be sowed to enable uncertainty \n 1337779250 Very impressive stuff here. Thanks for sharing. 1320264595 In that case, it simply appears to be the confirmation bias. 1321735435 "They believe *WHAT*? Hahaha, let's come back in a hundred years." 1341059242 Let's say you don't get something (like the meaning of "defense," just to pick a random example).\n\nNow you criticize me in public, based on your misunderstanding. \n\nI correct you in public, **explaining** it to you. \n\nI just defended myself. That's called offering a "defense."\n\nFTFY\n\nGod this is fun. 1302866071 A large bird? bigger than a jet? Really? Lol. 1337356043 Wouldn't that be necrophilia? 1340739692 What about, "we have pictures of American flags on the moon" day. 1344911721 No, because with creationists there is no precedent of god existing anywhere else, but with aliens we have the precedent that life exists on at least one planet, that there probably/could be life on others too. Of course you can't say with any certainty that there is life on others, but it isn't a leap to believe there is. 1328344260 Raising the global temperature one degree is pretty significant, not "moderate" 1257713706 My father-in-law, I think in 1967, was driving across the US to California with a friend. They stopped by the side of the highway in Oklahoma and saw a very large, metallic disc-shaped craft hovering at low altitude. As they watched, it rotated onto its side and they noticed a symbol that resembled a swastika and a trident on the bottom. It then flew off suddenly at very high speed and was gone within seconds. A minute later a jet fighter flew overhead, apparently trying to follow it.\n\nMy wife, as a teenager around 1990, was driving to the supermarket with her sister from their home in Novato, CA late one evening. As they drove westward on a straight road they noticed a bright light that appeared to be on the nearby hills/mountains. At first they thought it was headlights of a car in the hills, but as they drove toward it it rose into the sky (possibly because they were getting closer to it). They drove around a 90 degree turn in the road, and the light in the sky moved at high speed until it was almost directly in front of them again. It was now closer and they could see two bright white lights on it. As they drove toward it it moved away and to the right, in the general direction of their destination. They were able to watch it in the sky most of the way there, and when they parked in the parking lot and get out of their car, it flew slowly over them at fairly low altitude and they could see that it had four lights arranged in a square shape, and was completely silent. As they watched it accelerated again and flew towards the bay. 1268249777 I don't know what happened to it, I am just telling you that mods have the ability to delete whatever the fuck they want... that is old news.\n\nFurthermore, the OP can also delete it himself and then claim he is being censored. Who the fuck knows what happened.\n\nBut when you read the comment that was posted, it had absolutely nothing to do with the post it was contained in and was likely seen as spam.\n\nPut your rage where it belongs, I didn't delete it or even know who did, I am just pointing out why and how it may have been deleted. 1328733699 A Friend took a picture of this.(Not THIS exact Pic)...It was a Missle Streak in NM.\n\n 1347548658 I saw this at -1 and thought this doesn't deserve downvotes, especially without any explanation. \n\nI'm glad the hivemind has turned this around :p 1298323230 Randi might wanna pull up his pants a bit more, we can still see his neck. 1302467937 definitely false; they'd use the BBC... 1341312118 I think the host's name was Ben? An Aussie? Aside from the interesting stories, he played great music to boot.... Miss it! 1298849486 Excellent story! Back when this sub was new there were tons of posts about people getting "second chances" or something along those lines. Who knows, maybe it really did happen, and you're in another timeline, or things just reset all together. You should look at some of the top posts and see if you have anything in common with some of those people. 1332914934 Ironically, an apple a day. (no I'm just bullshitting, I have no idea). 1317889044 If there is an effect, we do not have evidence of cause. e.g. Placebo, focusing thoughts on something else, expectation, or meditation may also explain the effects. 1343122864 It's hard to wrap my mind around, and I saw it happen. I don't blame anyone for finding it hard to believe. 1324253018 What makes you think that those could *not be* Chinese Lanterns? Do they display anomalistic fight characteristics or appear to be under intelligent control in any way? Have you ever seen hundreds of Chinese Lanterns aloft in the sky? I have, and I can assure you that they look and behave *exactly* like those seen in the videos you posted.\n\nBottom line (and a UFOlogy lesson for you):\nIf they can be easily explained (or have been attributed to a known event, such as a release of party balloons, etc.) as Chines Lanterns, they are *more likely than not* what they appear to be. Occam's Razor, critical thinking, basic reasoning all trump your desire to believe or see UFOs in these things.\n\nNow, if they couldn't be explained as lanterns, or a balloon hoax (a la Bill Birnes' UFO Hunters failed to identify) and displayed truly anomalous behavior, I'd tend to agree with you. As such, all you would get - were you to report the sighting to MUFON or CUFOS - is a "thank you very much for your report, however we seem to have reasonable evidence to support the notion that these are likely Chinese Lanterns or some such human-originated device."\n\nDo you want to believe that badly that everything you see in the skies is a UFO and can't be explained away prosaically? If so, you are pursuing the wrong subject and won't get very far with your brand of UFOlogy. No offense, but I'm beginning to tire from constantly laying out the basic fundamentals of skeptical inquiry to everyone who posts a video of *likely* (again, I said "likely") Chinese Lanterns. 1302032347 Well... where this image came from is obviously illuzone (whatever the hell that is). But the flouride is bad for you thing comes from years of conspiracy mongering starting decades ago (1940's - 50's), and really picked up in the 60's with the John Birch Society (a far right wing group) pushing against water fluoridation.\n\nOnly one item on that list has any evidence to support it and that is [dental fluourosis](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dental_fluorosis) (at least in any dose that you would be consuming). Since Dental flourosis is largely cosmetic, it is far outweighed by the benefits of public fluoridation.\n\nMore [/r/skeptic](http://www.reddit.com/r/skeptic/search?q=fluoride&restrict_sr=on) threads about it.\n\nMore [/r/askscience](http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/search?q=fluoride&restrict_sr=on) threads about it.\n\nAlso, it is worth noting that many water fluoridation plants REMOVE excess fluoride from public water sources because natural levels are high. 1342119787 Truly, and ripping up a known charlatan doesn't really draw the belly laughs. 1278451916 There was only one cup in three which didn't have a stone placed in it, so even if he wasn't getting the specific stones correct he could still have claimed that he could sense a difference between the normal water and the water that had contained a stone.\n\nYou needed to set things up differently, have many more cups of just plain water.. Also you need to be careful about plain old cheating, was there a key hole available to peep through or something else for instance. 1291037070 MMM mmm mmm.\n\nI love the smell of smug in the evening! 1272060700 Thanks lol. Its all true, you got it or not. 1351186840 It's therefore also been incontact with every homeopathic thing that 'causes' illness.\n\n Water, the cause and solution to, all of life's homeopathic problems. 1259364067 I simply can't understand why this guy Greer keeps getting attention, the first time I heard of him was a long while back it was a crock of shit then, but his name keep cropping up as soon as I see it I move swiftly on 1347198060 Meta philosophy/joke, via "The Matrix". Loosely related to mastery of self-control. 1320908589 Are you comparing the low-quality cheapest stuff to Whole Foods, or are you comparing food of similar quality? Buying organic and local is often cheaper at Whole Foods than regular grocery stores. \n\nTrader Joe's is for the good and cheap stuff though. 1349194386 Do you have any article on elephant graveyards being a myth? Every link I find seems to point out that they do in fact have death rituals. [1](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant_intelligence#Death_ritual), [2](http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/10/1031_051031_elephantbones.html), [3](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=563821), [4](http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/08/magazine/08elephant.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&sq=elephants&st=cse&scp=2), [5](http://animal.discovery.com/news/briefs/20051031/elephant.html) 1337100597 Then you are agnostic ? Because there is no proof he exists. \n 1296172436 Is it me, or did it seem like it went behind the clouds in certain points too fast? Like for the speed it appears to be going at it would seem like you might get a few milliseconds of half ship if it went behind a cloud?\n\nJust what caught my eye. 1322322571 Woot! just went 0.1% in front. 1332252729 yes and video too, please!\n 1348886280 Actually, I've seen quite a few sources that seem to indicate the key component of getting rid of warts is believing the method works - not the method itself.\n\nI'm not qualified to rule one particular article or paper more valid than the rest, but [this](http://www.psychosomaticmedicine.org/content/21/6/473.abstract) is the first result under a google search for "psychosomatic warts". 1347921929 Text on the religious and social values section of the survey: http://www.people-press.org/2012/06/04/section-6-religion-and-social-values/\n\nFull survey: http://pewresearch.org/pubs/2277/republicans-democrats-partisanship-partisan-divide-polarization-social-safety-net-environmental-protection-government-regulation-independents 1338867409 Well I've asked my older sister if she senses these things, and she says she has, but not as much as me. My younger sister hasn't sensed any of these things, so far it's just been my friend and I that have been affected by her presence. Since she's 20 now she leaves the house a lot and when she's gone, it doesn't happen. So I'm planning to do some paranormal investigations during October to test my limits, or if its just my imagination. Because I've read that October is the month when the door to other worlds is cracked, or thinned. I'll post more if I find anything. 1346024068 >Incorrect. Religion is based on belief.\n\nOh please, did you really just say that? In a *skeptic* forum? Just because you *believe* something doesn't make it compatible with scientific evidence. 1350481409 This is either ignorance or disinfo. I'm leaning towards disinfo. 1351201745 So if there is a unified theory of physics you wouldn't want to live in a time after it's been discovered? Think if that was already understood all of the amazing things that could be done and created. I guess I'm more of an engineer at heart than a scientist. 1299030755 It was the Sermon of San Algo Dementi where Paul the Apostle summoned an F-15 from the horizon. They rejoiced and ate bread and drank wine. 1310812844 source please? 1327466867 source please? 1327466882 Yes, that's correct. 1331069356 There is nothing wrong with wanting to know more about our planet or even the universe. To be honest there should be more people like you seeking to get a gimps of the truth. 1345827895 >and the other 50% is me knowing so I can fool others! Ignorance is never the point. Knowing is always more fun, imo.\n\nThe fun part of magic is being fooled. If magicians revealed how they did every trick, no one would ever be fooled by magic. Knowing is more *satisfying* sometimes, but it's not more fun when it comes to magic performances. 1317672602 CGI *is* amazing. (You realize that was just a depiction of the video, right?) 1343442302 I think that this is somewhat unfair. There's a clear difference in economic policies under Republicans versus Democrats. \n\nDemocrats are somewhat Keynesian, while Republicans are heavily supply-side. Keynesian economic practices are more likely to produce jobs, because they oftentimes call for government's direct intervention into the market. (See, for example, Obama's jobs plan).\n\nIn other words, there's a clear correlation between Keynesian policies and job growth (which usually translates to a higher GDP, which in turn buoys the stock market, etc, etc). \n\nNow, I can already hear what you're thinking: correlation doesn't equal causation. Well, to this I say sure, but correlation over a long period of time (and it's been decades by this point), lends a high degree of confidence to the idea that they are correlated because of a causal relationship. However, as is ever the bane of economics, there is no way to empirically test the relationship in a systematic fashion.\n\nBut yeah, this isn't useless information. I think it requires a background in economics to really understand, but it proves the democrat (or, I would more fairly say) Keynesian side quite well.\n\nAnd the President really does have a lot to do with the macro side of economic performance and job creation. Sure, he doesn't have much of anything to do with individual commodities like oil (barring, of course, such heavy-handed policies such as bailouts or subsidies), but the president does greatly influence the overall economy. 1351952008 Ah sorry, I was just generalizing, not talking about you. I should of said, "If one is to think otherwise". 1304611284 >Doctors are taught during medical school and residency that pharmaceutical drugs are the only effective medicine. \n\nYou're either frighteningly misinformed or outright lying. This is just one of those statements where I don't know where to begin. It's not even wrong. \n> Most doctors do not continue learning after residency. \n \nYou obviously have no idea how medical education in this country works. Physicians constantly have to learn and update their knowledge of current best practices to maintain their license through CME. In addition, board certified physicians (which is pretty much everyone these days as more and more insurance companies use lack of board certification to deny payment) must renew their certification via testing and other procedures on a regular basis. \n\n> Even if non-pharmaceutical drugs (such as vitamin D) exist for the disease, doctors won't use them.* \n \nThe information you provide to go with this asterisk disprove what you're saying. Increasing intake of vitamin D does appear to be promising for many diseases and conditions. However, the science is not yet there for it be considered best practice in most cases. However, just because something is promising or because it makes sense does not mean doctors should begin changing their practice. It was just in the last year or two where we discovered that calcium supplementation with or without vitamin D actually increased risk of heart disease and stroke. Just last month a major study came out that showed an increased risk of death in patients who took iron and other daily supplements. We know that a potential cause of cancer is DNA damage to reactive oxygen species. Therefore it made perfect sense that supplementation with antioxidants like vitamin E would be protective. The hypothesis proved true in animal models. But it doesn't work in humans and we don't why. That's why the studies are done. That's why studies are being done on vitamin D right now. If physicians were to start changing practice before the science came in, they would kill more people than they would help. 1319501418 If there was a mistake made in quoting some figure about cancer survival rates, I'm sure everybody would be amenable to a correction.\n\nAnd as for organic food, I believe the discussion was about how overrated and overpriced it was. Certainly there's room for discussion about how some farming methods may be better than others, and a discussion of that nature would be fascinating. \n\nBut it sounds to me like you agree that the label "organic" as it's currently used is pretty useless and over-hyped. I think that's pretty much all that the discussion was about.\n\nIt seems strange to be annoyed just because nobody bothered to look at the benefits of different farming methods. The discussion had to do with how some foods were sold on the basis of wildly overstated health claims. Why would farming methods even come up? 1318273477 >1,000 milligrams of aspirin, 120 milligrams of caffeine and a stomach-soothing agent split up into two tablets \n\nSo... take two aspirin, drink an espresso and go through your local pharmacy to find a 'stomach-smoothing agent', whatever that would be. \n\nNot seeing how this is all that big of a breakthrough. 1323743611 >"I almost wish that there would be like a simultaneous telecast," Huckabee said at a conference last year, "and all Americans will be forced, forced — at gunpoint, no less — to listen to every David Barton message. And I think our country will be better for it."\n\nWell, that's terrifying. 1344538065 I think I'll join, I'm also a member of the Esoteric Order of Dagon so I only pay a flat rate for union dues :-) 1351730785 The curse of stupidity? 1326679938 For your benefit:\n\nhttp://www.vaed.uscourts.gov/notablecases/moussaoui/exhibits/prosecution/thumbs/P200045.jpg 1290724761 Duuuuuuuuude yess!!! That is such a sick post! 1351054967 Does any of what's claimed there seem particularly untruthful to you? 1346634976 What the hell... This is ridiculous. 1352238278 Yeah, I can understand your experience. What changed things for me is an insane experience when I was 14. I had been studying the paranormal for 4-5 years already by then. I have seen colors in my vision since I was about 8. They fluctuate and change constantly when I am in a relaxed state. Sorry if I ramble, as I am drunk. Anyways, I thought I was seeing auras, or some energy field in my vision. I had tried astral projection for a few years with no luck.\n\nSometime when I was 14 I took a big dose of LSD. I had the worst experience of my life, and I felt like I was going to die for 12 hours. I know this probably discredits anything I say from here-on-out. I don't care. I heard tribal drumming, and saw DNA helices being constructed and re-constructed in front of my eyes. I experienced the universe from the view of itself looking in upon itself, and what psychonauts call "ego death" in its entirety. Once again, this is a looooong story.\n\nI woke up the next day feeling like I was just born again. Everything I experienced felt novel and sharp. I realized that everything I have gone through as a child was a kind of conditioning to minimize sensory input into what is "natural" to survive in our complex world. All day we are bombarded with sensory input. Out brain filters out 99% of the world, and works on past memories to function socially. \n\nWhen you look at a clock sometimes it seems that the second hand stays there for longer than a second. This is called the [chronostasis illusion](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronostasis). It actually seems like a second lasts longer than it does.\n\nThis brings me to my main point, and my point of understanding from my hellish ordeal. The world we experience is largely created by our brain. Not only that, but the plasticity of our brains as children hones in on these illusions, and imagination to create memories. What you remember isn't what happened, and only your worldly way of dealing with the influx of sensory input that overwhelms your brain at the time.\n\nPreconceptions about what you are going to experience play into this. There is somewhat of an experience-placebo effect to memory if you have an idea in mind. I honestly don't trust my memory. I have seen impossible things happen in the past.\n\nWe then get to a philosophical question. Is our perception of the world ACTUALLY what is going on? Most likely not.\n\n**This is a big reason that science is so important when judging said phenomenon.**\n\nWe need to test and retest experiences with many individuals, and in different environments to see what is the consensus *reality*. We need verifiable proof to say what is real. We need hard science. 1323247157 zactly. 1317920261 We really should start setting a precedent on this subreddit of linking to sources. I believe [this](http://heart.bmj.com/content/98/12/920.abstract) is the study being referred to here. The study still found lower rates of heart attack in people who took calcium supplements compared to people that had low calcium levels. It was only when comparing people who had normal levels of calcium that got all of their calcium from their diet to people that got all calcium from supplements that the supplement users had increased heart attack, and this is likely due to them just not absorbing as much calcium as the dietary users.\n\nCalcium in a pill doesn't absorb as readily as dietary calcium, and to absorb calcium you need things like vitamin D. I would recommend looking for food without lactose. 1348797382 Maybe you can use it as a metronome and make your own music. He might like that... 1342131738 That is a great idea, but it is really quite long and I'm not sure I'd do great making it interesting. I'd tried to write it for a magazine article before but it came across very "then this happened! Then this happened!" Maybe I'm a bit better at that now. I don't know. I'm hoping that through the questions I'm able to eventually get to all the incidents. 1318336489 I am wondering. Who has told you this was going to happen? Because that seems pretty extreme even for a believer to say. You seem to think of the game as more extreme than people that believe it is real do. 1323215293 [Cognitive biases](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_bias) exist and influence our judgments and the whole point of science (which is rather a bunch of methods than a world-view) is to overcome our own weaknesses in this respect.\nAsk them, why traditional/alternative medicine didn't find out about how flawed our judgments are.\nE.g. "like-goes-with-like" is a reasoning heuristic that humans apply and makes homeopathy sound plausible.\n\nPoint to optical illusions. They always work, even if you know that what you see can't be right. If even our immediate perception of the world is broken, why should our memory and reasoning (which builds on our perceptions) be perfect and completely different from our senses? 1304670266 It has been 6 days. I see no signs of a video proof you promised us.\n\nOP. I crown you,\n\nA faggot 1355342870 > Which was awesome, because not nearly enough space missions are directed by Michael Bay.\n\nI really love the writing in cracked articles, and I'm normally prepared for whatever they're going to send at me. For some reason, though, after reading this line, I am now covered in coffee.\n\nThe polar bear related countersuit baffles me. Our court system has to be pretty screwed up for companies to decide there's a reasonable chance of winning a case to remove the threatened/endangered status of a species. 1309006730 It should be easy to recreate it then... 1351790563 *what it has gotten, sorry. 1320516115 This has been happening to me personally my entire life (starting when I was 13, I'm 27 now).\n\nThis looks pretty serious. I know you might not be a spiritual person, I'm not either really. She needs to ward off these spirits now before it gets worse. Alone. \n\nThis spirit or energy, I prefer to call it the later, has the power to follow her. This has nothing to do with your house or location. Something is obviously attacking her personally. I've been followed by this energy as well in multiple locations. And it seems to attack me when I'm at my worse (stress, high anxiety, etc). \n\nShe needs to believe that she has control. Say a strong prayer (believe in strongly, don't half ass) or something of the equivalency. This has nothing to do with modern religion and waving a bible around will only work if you believe in it. I personally drew up some ancient symbols and said a strong prayer to myself. So far, I haven't been touched in a year now. \n\nI know this sounds crazy but the morale of the story is she needs to confront her demons and ward them off. Her scars look really, really bad. More severe than I've ever had. Try not to think about it and for sure don't act scared. Anything that will give this energy more fuel for the fire will not help your situation. \n\nAnother strategy would be to ignore it entirely. Maybe this energy is seeking attention. However, ignoring it might spark more activity. I'm not sure. \n\nI wish I knew who and what this energy is and giving advice is hard because not every attack is the same. I'm still trying to figure our why its happening to me. All I know is that training your spirit and mind to take control of the situation helped me.\n\nFeel free to message me anytime. 1351088776 Sweet god. I just want to throttle half the people there.\n\nI really thought we'd put to bed the idea that AIDS is a made-up disease and that HIV is nothing more than a big pharma tactic. 1256845204 There's a difference of intent in "God says set up a test, so we did it" and "We demanded God pass a test". As I understand the dynamic, he's allowed to make demands and people aren't, being as he outranks them.\n 1338472122 Again, I'll remind you of some key facts:\n\n1) the appeal to popularity is fallacious. I don't care how many people agree with me, if I'm wrong, I want to hear the arguments. \n\n2) the upvote/downvote system isn't there to display your agreement or disagreement with people. \n\nIf you think I'm "making myself look more stupid" then explain why I'm wrong. So far all you've done is to continue to demonstrate why you are completely unable to comment meaningfully on this discussion (i.e. you don't understand the fundamental issues relating to the topic, subreddit, or philosophy of skepticism). 1354004017 Well *obviously* he wouldn't use photoshop.\n\nThere's nothing particularly odd about that image. All you have to do is take a picture of some cut glass or crystal while some guy is walking by. 1310409720 experts say electro-magnetic fields produced by earrings made of pure cubic zirconium can cure gout. you can't explain that! 1304533792 Unidentified flying barf? 1296520060 Do you mean a flare? 1353743405 Like most interactions it's a judgement about what those involved stand to gain versus what they stand to lose and the likely outcome. I see little value in jumping on every woo-ish statement I hear in casual conversation. If someone is offering poor advice in a group setting then I'd feel free to offer a counter-position to the person being advised but providing an unrequested debunking of a simple statement of personal belief? Not so much.\n\nOn the other hand, your question asks about non-skeptic *friends*. You might be using the term in a more inclusive manner than I would but I'd expect a friendship to include some sort of mutual understanding. Either that understanding is that you can speak freely or there's a line that you don't cross to avoid getting in each other's face. Personally, I wouldn't put up with a line that allowed the other person to say what they liked and insisted that I didn't express disagreement.\n\nThere's no easy answer. Realistically there will always be people who will get pissed off if you confront them and who you don't want to piss off: your parents, your boss, your landlord, the bartender at your favourite drinking hole. Right now I'm temporarily sharing a house with an alternative therapist who is into all sorts of stuff that I could express a view on. If she asks me what I think I'll tell her but I'm not about to invite a discussion that I know has a chance of causing problems outside of a disagreement about whether she can treat people by moving their skull bones around.\n 1327216181 Mike Adams: HEALTH RANGER!\n\n(Fan of Skeptics with a K) 1333636185 "the rest became a cup of herbal soup and a bowl of potpourri." 1318464578 /r/techsupport 1356472184 His natural habitat is after all the unfocused portions of a picture. 1335170751 Last I checked, strangling somebody is assault. 1334868262 I couldn't construct said system. However, I could construct one that does not come down to insecurity or unexamined beliefs since it stems from uncertainty, which went without mention in your original post.\n\nI think at this point we are more or elss in agreement -- the issue I had with your post was that you claimed that all belief stemmed from insecurity or unexamined beliefs when we both agree there is a third option. 1298502912 Yes, but it is still an incredibly small number of sightings. The poor quality of current recording devices doesn't help either. It would be very difficult to separate out true sightings from mistaken identities because there are so many different phenomena that could potentially appear on low quality phone cameras at night that even when there is footage it is hard to tell a Chinese lantern from a remote control quad-copter.\n\nedit: Let alone an actual UFO. 1354423403 Thеrе is dеlicious irony in thе thought that so many /r/skеptics wеrе outragеd for a timе bеcausе thеy wеrе taking this vidеo at facе valuе. 1301671698 Take it back 1348016856 I'm from London and know that sort of personality type very well. She actually reminds me of my sister in her mannerisms, so I would disagree with what you said, but her steadfast refusal to accept reality made my blood boil. 1336930666 >unless the point is to be happy, regardless of accuracy.\n\nThat'd be some pretty shoddy skepticism, wouldn't it? 1338328853 Has any creationist ever responded to this argument? I know they often say "But there is so much beauty and wonder in the world!" and the counterargument is always the one that there are creatures that lives on eating their prey alive from the inside, eventually killing them. But every time I hear it it seems to stop there. Do they simply walk away, chosing not to respond? Because it is true that if god made such cute things as kittens he also made tapeworms, thinking those were a wonderful idea. 1330245791 WTF? Why the hell were they ever using imperial units? Where do they live, in the stone age? 1255345026 Glitch in the matrix: Someone older than 20 something is on reddit. I'm so confused :/ 1330397653 ====D It's relevant content. 1351086011 Yes. Please post it when you get a chance.\n\nFlu sucks. I don't think I've ever had it, but I had what my doctor was calling a psuedo-flu -- presents with flu symptoms condensed to about 36 hours, including a high fever. I was pretty terrified. 1355460795 What I don't understand though is why the people that know the truth don't come out with it when they are out of power or on their deathbeds? 1333083953 Two ideas here:\n\n1. My mind is the only thing that exists, and has created the world and all of my knowledge. Every time I learn something new, that's actually my own mind changing what I perceive to be reality. \n\n2. The universe exists independent of my mind; I am a product of natural selection.\n\nI find it a lot easier to believe that the universe came into existence in a way that I do not understand than that I came into existence in a way that I do not understand, and that my hunger and other drives are a mechanism of survival rather than a product of my own mind.\n\nAnd what TheUndefenestrator said. 1269734543 Yeah, I meant 15-20 feet. Sometimes I get so caught up I forget to type words. I've never had another experience like it. It was amazingly awesome. I just wish my brothers had seen it. Maybe one day everyone will get to see them up close, or at least closer. 1340406302 I disagree. Cleopatra's headdress was a vulture. The bird in the photo looks more like a Falcon or Hawk, which is associated with Horus. Also notice that the medium itself looks like the sun, which is also associated with Horus, the sky/sun god. 1334889418 [Over NY](http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/10/13/2010-10-13_mystery_shiny_objects_floating_over_manhattan_spark_ufo_frenzy.html) 1287018219 Clinton couldn't get blown in his own office without people finding out. What makes you think any kind of actual plot involving thousands of people could work? Human nature doesn't really work that way.\n\nI guess the problem is that the "proof" of a real conspiracy is that we wouldn't know anything about it, which makes it a poor example of a real conspiracy. If that makes sense. 1302239346 wow I forgot how boring that guy can be. 1333255335 I think you comment points to the core of it in a simple way.\n\nThe downvote you got i can not understand. Up from me 1323479933 I guess that's a good way to think about it, but it's turned into an obsession.\n\nWhat I mean is, while I'm driving to work, I constantly think about the worst possible car accident I could be in...and *magically* it doesn't happen. 1332210501 Ghosts are real, VERY real. This fact freaks me the fuck out sometimes, I've seen them... 1334554802 There could well be something there but it could be very close to the telescope making it [very small](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vbd3E6tK2U). There's no way of knowing the distance that something is from just one 2D picture therefore there's no way of knowing what [size it is either](http://cdn.smashingwall.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/forced-perspective/78fp.jpg) so the logic that "the sun is huge therefore this thing must be huge" is kinda flawed. That was what I was getting at earlier but obviously I should have been more explicit! But it's a moot point anyway because, as other people have pointed out here, it looks exactly like a [high energy particle hitting the sensor](http://digitaljournal.com/article/323840). 1343144683 I think this has already been answered in the thread behind the link and [this one](http://www.reddit.com/r/photography/comments/jj6fd/what_causes_this_effect/) in /r/photography.\n\nSince OP claims one of the marks took the picture (and not the "guru" herself), it is probably most likely that the reason for the halo is moisture the air and a bright spot directed and the guru in white. 1313408381 I would assume most people here err on the side of the one that has solid scientific evidence in favor. 1356240641 Tim Minchin is great. "Confessions" and "ten foot c**k" is also spectacular. 1297278262 Your name is Not Sure? 1315672467 I actually have 3 extra nipples and I'm a guy. The first looks just like a mini nipple right beneath my normal right and the other two are on my abdomenen but they just look like small moles. You have to really look at them to realize that they are superfluous nipples. Like the OP, it's not something I'm very proud of but I have learned to accept. 1353121233 The voiceover on the video sounds like Pilz-E 1352057981 The [10^23](http://www.1023.org.uk/) campaign has a couple videos on homeopathy. I would inquire how it is that hundreds of people can consume entire bottles of this stuff on camera and have no effect(good or bad). I know James Randi has consumed entire bottles of homeopathic sleeping pills to prove the point that they don't do anything. 1314562746 This belongs in /r/aww. 1340253097 Words mean things. Evidence means validated, peer-reviewed, published research. She made a video with evidence of harm, but not relative harm, which are two very different concepts, scientifically-speaking. 1351100372 More that we have already chosen them. Under this doctrine, "She was asking for it" is the ultimate defence. 1310616183 Derren* 1321113231 I am not. Sadly Cyanide & Happiness has a lot of the same colors and number of objects, and karmadecay often gives false positives. Shoot over to karmadecay.com and tell them you found a bug, I'm sure they'd welcome the information! 1326087694 The only way he could have done that is that the host and the band guy were in on it. Logically that's the only way. There is no way he could just "read" their minds by looking at their faces. The cold reading bit was just more misdirection. 1352822695 I've had that experiance before right after sprinting, but it usually occurs when im just doing hanging around the house. Cleaning my room or doing daily homework doesnt really spike my adrenaline. 1326842924 Nothing fails like Faith & Prayer! 1348151590 That, and preventing GM crops from spreading into the wild, into other farmers' fields, or hybridizing with non-GM crops so that consumers can have a choice. Not EVERYTHING Monsanto does is for evil-intent or profit. 1335610609 There are a lot of scenarios. Infinite, if we include all the possible ones we could conjure up in our own minds. \n\nAbduction cases are interesting and 3rd kind encounters where a person shows physical evidence of having been in contact with something such as the guy in the woods who heard a noise in the woods while he was out fishing or hunting or some such activity and came across a craft.\n\nHe heard voices, which sounded like human vocalization, but not a language he was familiar with.\n\nHe approached the craft and suffered burns on his chest from what he described as an exhaust portal that opened up, blasted him, threw him down and the craft left. Pretty fascinating tale. Not to mention Betty and Barny Hill, equally interesting and quite a few others involving airmen, police and what one would consider completely legitimate and valid sources of tales of such magnitude.\n\nWhat can be deduced is:\n1.Something is happening\n2.It is rare relative to the actual true amount of abductions and sightings\n3.Governments may very well be involved\n4.It may all stem from the secret space program developed by USSR and the USA following Operation Paperclip in 1944-45.\n\nOn point 4 it can't be stated enough just how amazingly parallel the two programs were and how the partnership has been developed to this point now where it's at. All launches to the ISS are private and manned launches are funded but launched on Russian rockets in Russian capsules. \n\nFor instance Skunkworks mothballed the SR-71 years ago. What was newly developed and not exposed to the public that would lead to getting rid of the fastest, highest flying manned aircraft ever made? \n\nWhat about electro magnetic propulsion? It's known about. Why would it not be employed when it is one of the known 4 forces of physics? Or even used in a manner of assisting flight?\n\nAlso, mercury/cesium ion propulsion is of some interest.\n\nThese are all of great interest I think. It would be nice to be able to not be impeded by hoarders of hoaxery while learning of the topics. 1343692482 I figured as much. 1288371104 Why is 11:11 less probable than 10:10. Both are equally probable. 1333649216 Because Christianity and Science tend not to be equally credible when it comes to things like facts. 1327252102 My chiropractor makes his patients sign a form saying they agree that his treatment will not cure anything other than back/joint pain. I feel like the Tin Man after Dorothy oiled him up after my chiropractor does his thing to my knees. 1335057514 Best place to get at conspiracy nuts? Youtube. Golden treasure trove of idiots. 1356618461 Incontrovertible evidence: The Soviet Union.\n\nThink someone over there would have spoke up if the U.S "faked" the moon landings. 1335784137 Number 3: If someone says "stop" or goes limp, taps out the fight is over. 1343241888 I don't know what skeptics you're talking about but I can't think of any I know how are closed-minded as you describe. In fact it is open-mindedness and a desire for the truth that makes one become very skeptical in the first place. That's partly why people with absolutely no evidence on their side (simply a personal preference or anecdotal information), claiming open-mindedness as a defense is often so infuriating to a skeptic. If they were truly open-minded they would more highly respect evidence, even if that evidence greatly disagreed with their deepest beleifs or forced them to admit they had been wrong. That kind of open-mindedness is rare though. Most people aren't willing to face the possibility that at points they have been deeply wrong or had acted a fool. There's no shame in that though, only in not trying to be warier next time.\n\nScience requires open mindedness. It's a process not a solution, therefore relying on science means often getting answers you wouldn't expect, didn't want and even sometimes can't yet explain. Yet, despite this you still respect and embrace the process in the sense that it was an attempt to seek truth. Also, real science done correctly need not worry who is funding, just who is editing the publishing the results. Someone genuinely skeptical is certainly also skeptical as to whether the science was conducted properly and can be reproduced independently. 1241122669 Yes\n\nwarning: this shit is dumb\n\n[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAaDVOd2sRQ](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAaDVOd2sRQ) 1316050968 What always blows me away about this stuff is how simple it is. And it doesn't make sense why one would cause the other. Sure, my handwriting leans to the left, which is the direction of the past in western society (since we read left-to-right), but why would my not worrying about the future, and thinking about the past, cause my writing to change accordingly? It's so silly, it's funny how people straight up believe this stuff! 1349256315 "Acti-Mineral ceramic crystals"\n\nThis made me snort coffee through my nose. 1331767994 Positive attitude helps a patient deal with the course of the illness, but it has no effect on treatment success rates.\n\nJust two things to read about it:\n\n[Positive Attitude Doesn't Whip Cancer?](http://www.webmd.com/cancer/news/20071022/positive-attitude-doesnt-whip-cancer) from WebMD, which is just a barebones overview, incidentally featuring a doctor from MSK.\n\n[Emotional well-being does not predict survival in head and neck cancer patients](http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cncr.23080/full) from the journal *Cancer*.\n\nOne study does not a rule make, I understand, but there's a body of literature that's been growing over the last few years about positive attitude and cancer treatment effectiveness. You can probably Google around and find more without too much effort.\n\nOtherwise, I agree with your comment wholeheartedly. 1297626628 > the overuse of sports drink and sodas\n\nThe author doesn't say anything about "overusing" sports drinks or sodas. Absolutely everything from milk to oxygen to Vitamin B can be dangerous or detrimental if overused/over-ingested.\n\nWhat this loon has to say is that sports drinks/sodas in any dose are dangerous. Which is, of course, something only a loon would say. 1326703834 I just think the idea that "the body needs to rest because digestion is dangerously tiresome" is really ridiculous. It's kind of what the system is built to do, and that exclusively. 1346502964 Maybe the moon has got some tiny rocky satellites of its own? Definitely not a mirage effect, these are solid objects that appear darker as they pass over the face of the moon. 1310411727 What country are you in? We can't give legal precedent unless we know what country the precedent should be from. 1350296404 These things have little to do with each other. Evolution is a theory that is well-established and backed up by a great deal of evidence; the chemical origins of life is very speculative at this point in time; global warming is not as well-established as evolution but nearly as well backed up by evidence; and human cloning is more a technology than a science for which any objections would be moral or legal, not scientific.\n\nThese disparate things are a pretty blatant laundry list of issues that concern modern-day religions, and if this bill really does tie all these things together, then I'd think it would not be too hard to argue that it constitutes a state ruling driven by church demands, and it sets a very bad precedent if it's allowed to stand. 1334146408 On a slightly different note: what happened to the recent story that a woman was killed on one of the queen's properties and was buried nearby? The story seems to have disappeared down the memory hole. 1327753309 Idealistically, I'm more or less anarcho-communist, but I also recognize that the only way that such a system is possible is to have >99% of people on this planet die, and that's not even remotely an acceptable tradeoff to me, so in practice, I tend to be a more standard European-style social democrat. However, I am gaining some sympathy for a more capitalist perspective as well. 1287456079 Isn't there a specific mental illness where the individual loses all sense of familiarity? 1327935485 > If its a chain pharmacy the pharmacist has no say in what goes on the shelf.\n\nThat is of course true, and I'm trying not to blame the salespeople. However, "I'm just doing my job" is a very, *very* poor excuse for doing something unethical. And make no mistake - it is: You are selling people in a weak or desperate position something that will certifiably do *nothing* to help them, and that at a higher price that something else that actually would.\n\nThey may not want to do it, but they still *do.*\n\n> And then you have people who swear by homeopathic remedies such as this.\n\nYou see, I have this naive, idealistic view that a pharmacy is a place where you get stuff that works against disease and for your well-being.\n\nI have an even more heretic view, namely that "patient choice" is a joke. A patient doesn't want to choose, a patient wants to get better. Selling him something of which he has been mislead to think it'll help but which factually actually doesn't breaches the trust that I set in health care professionals such as pharmacists.\n\n> Plus it cost the store more for that item as well, they aren't going to charge you less than they paid for it just because the competing item is cheaper.\n\nWell, reducing a pharmacy to a purely profit-driven market entity is a rather bleak vision. I thought we were talking about health? (Plus, my point wasn't that they should sell homeopathy cheaper, but that they shouldn't have it at all. It's a grand scam.)\n\nBrave new world. 1316157775 LIAR!!!! 1323495922 Perhaps you will be needed in a later event in life? I like to accept a lot of theories for life, maybe you could be in a case where 'the universe' is making sure you make it from Point A [birth] to Point B [event X] safely? Maybe this memory you have is residual thoughts / memories from switching from Timeline A to the next? 1327941862 Whoa, the asheville paranormal society found something in their own town! how about that shit? 1218230873 Yeah, they didn't go into details, but I am fairly certain that they'd either make sure they stuck to the diet or kicked them out of the "study". In any case, it definitely wasn't on the level in any case. You couldn't learn shit from the study. 1296434265 Does he have any videos from the top of that hill? If he has been "filming them for months" I would assume he would want to film other the UFOs from several vantage points. 1352776172 Higher resolution images show these to be nothing of particular interest. They're off to one side of the so-called face on Mars which is what caused alien/conspiracy theorists to get all excited about them, due to their close proximity with the face.\n\nhttp://www.universetoday.com/41283/pyramids-on-mars/\n\nAs the article concludes you can find such formations here on Earth... Perhaps someone with some more time can find a few images of structures like that on Earth. 1322481114 #1- I've repeated several times that I was open to the idea of a hallucination. My problem is that my situation would require two seperate people to have the same hallucination at different times. That simply does not compute. I've heard people say it could be false memories. Okay, but from what I've read about false memories the way you can tell they are false is that different people with the same false memories will have conflicting details. In my case the details were astonishingly similar. This also does not compute.\n\n#2- Have you ever considered that there may be a reason that ghosts do not show up on film? Imagine an energy field that electricly stimulates nerves but that does not emit photons. Such an energy field could theoretically be detected by the brain but not by film. I know it's a crazy idea, but it's no crazier than quantum physics to me. 1331335304 Triblistic groups seperating themselves from everyone else and creating a "us vs them" mentality while ostracizing themselves from the rest of society? Never! 1283521432 The guy's an embarrassment to the field of medicine. 1316377453 I had a similar thing happen to me, except I knew what caused it. Riding my bike as fast as I could to hit a ramp and my bike managed to lock up while in full momentum. 5 feet of sliding face-first on the road later (ow, by the way, stitches in my chin and bits of gravel in my arm) I found out that my tire had kicked a small rock up into my chain where it proceeded to get wedged. 1328399962 >You are presenting an entirely theoretical situation (perfectly trained dogs) as a rebuttal to a real world situation (the actual record of how well actual dogs work in the actual world).\n\n\nThe point you keep missing is that real-world data tells us nothing about whether they should be used as probable cause. Let's frame this as strongly as possible: suppose that nearly all dog units in the world only have a success rate of something like 25%. Does this, in itself, mean that they should not be used as probable cause? No, of course not.\n\nThis is because of two important lines of evidence: 1) in those averaged results, there are individual dogs that are successfully detecting drugs between 80-100% of the time, and 2) when training is done properly, all dogs achieve near-perfect accuracy. What this means is that dogs are capable of successfully detecting drugs in real-world cases - we know this because of the experimental results, and the fact that individual dogs do it. The variable which is letting them down in some dog units, like the ones you've brought up, is poor training.\n\nThis necessarily means that if we fix the training, we increase the success and it becomes reasonable to use them as probable. \n\nThink of it this way: suppose nearly all hospitals in the world employed doctors who couldn't identify broken arms using X-rays better than chance, but 1) there were some doctors in those hospitals who were consistently succeeded at this, and 2) all medical students can do so. On this evidence, would you argue that X-rays shouldn't be used to identify broken arms, or that X-rays cannot be used to identify broken arms any better than chance?\n\nOf course not. What you'd argue is that something has gone wrong in those hospitals where the doctors are failing. Most likely, it would be the case that the doctors need continual training and reminders, otherwise they lose the ability they had in med school. \n\nThe same thing applies to drug detector dogs. If some dogs are doing it with near-perfect accuracy in the real world, and all dogs are doing it with near-perfect accuracy in experimental conditions, then it is a valid tool and accurate enough for probable cause. If the average dog is not scoring above 50% or higher, then it either needs to be retrained or taken out of the dog unit. \n\nIn other words, the problem is not the ability of the dogs. There is more than enough evidence that demonstrates that they can successfully identify drugs in the real world. The problem is the training and the regulations. If these criteria are not met by the dog units, then I agree that they should not, and cannot, be used as probable cause. But this argument does not suggest that dogs cannot be considered a legal justification for a search, the argument suggests that **poorly trained** dogs cannot be considered a legal justification for a search.\n\n>You misconstrue the question at hand as "is it Clever Hans, or is it bad training?" when the actual question is "are police drug detection dogs working in the field accurate enough to be considered a legal justification for a search?"\n\nI'm not interpreting the question as that at all. The question is: "Are they accurate enough for it to be considered a legal justification for a search?". To answer this question, we need to assess whether some anecdotal reports of their failures are a result of their inability to detect drugs in the real world (i.e. the Clever Hans effect), or a failure of training. \n\nThere is no way to assess the question you're asking without determining whether its a Clever Hans effect or a failure of training. 1333595319 You should ask your parents about this. Maybe there is something they have not told you about a still born baby they had or even a miscarriage. 1332448019 Ever been to an optometrist or DMV?\n\nThe depth appeared to be about six to eight inches, from what I remember. There's plenty of room inside the headache box to do that. 1311340812 Really, this is the best [/r/skeptic](/r/skeptic) can do? Humans not having hookworm is an extremely recent development, and appears to be the cause of asthma, some allergies, and other ailments. This woman can better treat her conditions, without the severe side effects of medication, with a small dose of a parasite that millions of people live with all their lives. But your advice is that she take the drugs and deal with the side effects and worse outcomes, or somehow synthesize her own new medication from parasites? It's a symbiosis, not a dosage. Maybe you should be skeptical about modern medicine. I know, it's pretty great, but doctors have been wrong before, and they'll be wrong again. 1326835492 They always do this. If you remember "climategate", it was entirely this; quotes taken out of context. 1356567795 Exactly. Where do they think some of these things were found back in the day, and even now? They might not be as strong, but they do work. We still have drugs we use straight from the plants, though they may not be used as medicine ex tobacco and coffee.\n\nJust because something isn't synthesized in a lab doesn't make it useless. 1298229709 my son doesnt share enough to tell me why he talks to himself. Your lucky your brother does. But that is an interesting thing to think about. He could just be repeating conversations back to himself to replay it and understand better whats going on. 1345853340 This article takes examples of terrible practices and equates them with the whole of TCM. Somewhat akin to describing prescription drug abuse or the eugenics practices of previous generations and equating them with 'western' medical practice.\n\nThe article also provides little evidence to support any of its claims - in fact I've read the article twice and the only reference to a study of any kind is from 20 years ago.\n\nThis isn't scepticism - it's scoffing.\n\n\n 1313680187 In any argument on the supernatural, religion, or any beliefs, have you ever seen one side realize the error of their ways, and turn?\n\nNo. It's never happened. Getting riled up and arguing with people about beliefs is never a good idea. And besides, it just ruins everyone's mood to have arguments about their personal beliefs. 1325893329 I do this because I suspect that a microwaving probably alters the center of mass very slightly. Keep the 20 face-up in the nuke, and see how it rolls afterward. 1332263366 [Here's one for you.](http://fishgame.com/article.php?ArticleID=4656) You'd be amazed how many people fell for this (Texas Night Gollum, *Pseudomagnus texanus*) 1327959352 If the person is deep enough into the delusion about "them" being out to get "us" then it becomes a religion in and of itself. Just like a Christian who so clearly sees that the bible is God's word and Jesus is the only path to eternal life. If he "leads you to water" (generally that means showing you the weak ass propaganda that convinced him) and you don't drink then he is forced to conclude that you are either too stupid to understand the concept or that you just hate God/Jesus/Unicorns so much that you "see the light" but refuse to accept it.\n\nI find most conspiracy theorist have 3 bins that everyone get's put into. Again, too stupid to see the light, too comfortable with the way things are to acknowledge the light (this is usually the point where they accuse you of being a Fox News robot) or maybe just "in" on keeping the light from other people. I generally get put into the latter category since just like an atheist being confronted by a Christian, I can usually run circles around them using their own material (I have a fetish for conspiracy theories I guess). 1337349526 I think we should all hold hands and take a page out of Stephen Colbert's book. He is and ever shall be the **greatest** counter-troll to Bill O'. \n\nanyone have a link to the O'Reilly factor that had Colbert on it? my favorite quote from it was when O'Reilly was yelling at CoLbert, "BUT I'M JUST A PARODY OF NEWS! PEOPLE SHOULDN'T TAKE ME SERIOUSLY!"\n\nTo which Colbert replied "If you're a parody, then WHAT DOES THAT MAKE ME, PAPA BEAR?" 1312868723 I've never heard of low-key lighting referred to as ambient.\n\n> "Ambient" light is just another way of saying diffused light.\n\nAmbient lighting can be quite hard. For example, the sun is ambient and midday isn't diffused any relevant amount 1345138184 Sleep Paralysis. You were awake, which is why you feel it was so real, but hallucinating. Your parents didn't hear you because you weren't really screaming, you only thought you were. 1326474074 It's not out till 25 Sep in Uk. 1348265506 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyeurism 1293713170 Now one? 1332181403 I have no clue as to what I just watched but I find it hard to believe the French would try to ban this. Nothing spectacular or definitive. 1345195680 I need a new computer. Why don't you do your thing for your me, your buddy, whose name is Christian. I live in Texas if that matters. 1337907649 Not at all necessarily. Especially over very large studies, you would not expect certain levels of variation. Given that this is pseudo-medical (mostly psychological) observation, they are only aiming for 95% confidence (not to say they aren't MORE confident than that, 95 is just the industry standard for psych). I also haven't read through the study, so I haven't seen their actual data. 1346177023 Yet he has the Streisand effect on his side. 1322647770 >quite a few studies\n\nSource? 1349282812 They look very similar, but the confirmation bias is only applicable in a system where it would be reasonable to not make the initial assumption that leads to bias in favor of confirming it. In this case it was not reasonable, due to the complexities of the matter, to spend time analyzing the possibility that the wine had been faked. 1323841439 *sigh*.\n\nRule 1: BE NICE AND POLITE TO PEOPLE.\n\nRule 2: DON'T BE AN ASSHOLE TO PEOPLE.\n\nIf someone is lazy, they are more than free to just follow Rule 2. \n\nThere is NEVER a reason to threaten someone over something that they have said. There are obvious exceptions, I mean if someone posts a detailed plan on how to kill your family and they have attached diagrams of your house and your work schedule to it, ok sure, you can be irrate. Anything short of that, *KEEP IT CIVIL*.\n\nIf Redneck Jesus himself comes to visit, you still treat him politely.\n\nI think a lot of people responding to her in such a violent manner actually feel threatened, and thus feel justified in their response to her. \n\nThe thing is, as skeptics, they are likely already aware of what it means to have one's "fundamentals", "safe spaces", and "privilege" feel threatened. \n\nSkeptics take joy in destroying the privilege that the religious cast has over their followers. Many of us have had to go through a painful process of having our world views shattered before coming out a stronger, more skeptical and introspective, person.\n\nSo when someone starts pointing out that there may be flaws in one's beloved community, a common response is to lash out in horrible ways. This is the *exact same thing* religious groups do, and indeed groups of *any kind* do.\n\nThe thing is, we go around proclaiming we are the standard-bearers of Critical Thinking. If that is going to be true, we need to show that we can apply those same critical thinking skills *to ourselves and our own community*, rather than lash out emotionally.\n\nIf we don't, we become hypocrites just like the ones we take so much joy in lampooning. 1351115660 > I want to believe\n\nSo do I ... but wouldn't you so much rather ***know***? :) 1315874989 Why mention the cereal box then? It was a poor argument. Don't take the tearing down of bad arguments personally, we're all here to learn. 1299563009 What about with different frames of reference? I'm in a car travelling 50km/h, you're standing still on the side walk. I could say that you're travelling 50km/h towards me, is there a force acting on you?\n\n*Addendum*\n\nActually, I've realised this is wrong, that's not acceleration. Should have said if I was accelerating towards you...\n\nI'm not really sure what mrsamsa is talking about. I always thought that Einstein's theory was accepted because it could explain the known data and predicted the observed bending of light when Eddington went and made his observations, Newton's theory predicted less bending than was observed. 1346939541 All current evidence that I'm aware of says that your statement is inaccurate. Do you have source links like news articles, studies, controls, or anything at all where I can read further about how voodoo works as a supernatural practice to make other people dead? 1337804476 HPV is only one of several known cancer causing viruses. 1308319746 >As of press time, the world had not ended.\n\nHeh. 1306036078 *"(...)the entire NASA "mission to Mars" is an elaborate modern-day judeo conspiracy designed to destroy Christianity and our way life(...)"*\nWait...wut? 1345220017 Let's just hope we can isolate the political and managerial worlds from the ill effects of this so-called "bullshit". The consequences could be catastrophic! 1291972012 so do you think the majority of that 21% are talking about Wiccans or evil witches? 1318967617 Can you elaborate on that? I'm not really sure what you're getting at? But I'll outline some things about wages which may help. In a communist society, that is after the withering away of the state, there won't really be currency anymore so it's not really a problem. As for the intervening period of socialism people will be payed based on the amount of time worked. Things like basic amounts of food, housing will all be free (with the groups that produce food being payed by the state) \n 1311048148 wow, I'd be extremely interested to know more, or to hear an expert's response to this. An expert in what though... Pychology or Hypnotism? 1315801082 >That's what the Internet does -- you get a free bonus prize of Stupid Lies with every box of Delicious Facts. 1304969371 sarcasm there. 1306889289 Ghosts don't have shadows. Point made. 1280327466 >He walked into an elevator at the same time she did\n\nActually no he didn't. He waited until she said, literally, goodbye, and 'i'm going to bed' -- as in, "i'm having my alone time now" -- _then_ he _followed her into_ the elevator.\n\nAnd she does not have a vile attitude regarding men. You know why? B/c she only talked about this one guy. You are the one assuming what he did was normal male behavior. That only says something about _you_. 1310068096 MN br0s 4 lyfe <3 1337563898 Yesssss!! 1326869237 A few months ago my wife taught my daughter (who'd just turned two) about fruit turning brown. \n\nShe (my daughter, that is) now knows that it's called oxidation and to prevent it you should squeeze an orange on it. Also, she knows that citric acid is the active ingredient which makes this work. \n\nWe then set up a little experiment for her, where she tasted different citrus fruits (lemon, lime, grapefruit, orange) and had her guess which one would keep a slice of apple from turning brown the longest (there was a control slice as well). She evaluated the juice coated apple slices every morning so see which one was the least brown.\n\nShe loved it, and so did we. 2 months later she's in the bathroom with my wife, and sees a rusty pipe overhead: "Look mommy, that's oxidation!"\n\nKids are awesome. Come to think of it, so is my wife. 1283186432 I saw Insidious too. 1340027858 Really? Airplanes? This is what we've been reduced to?? 1304480321 There is a tremendous amount of trust involved in science. If you're publishing about one time events (anything from a supernova to the trend in a population of endangered critters), that really can't be meaningfully replicated. You can publish your data, you can publish your methods, but no one can replicate it to check unless they have already done so.\n\nIn fact, were photos of Bin Laden's corpse published, you would still have to rely on the accuracy of the photos, no? What you have suggested is black and white, is in fact many shades of gray. You're still trusting someone, unless you perform the autopsy yourself (and then we all have to trust you). 1304346937 I use firefox but I guess its not catching that one. Thanks! 1302390224 Was V-Sync on? It looks like a VGA refresh rate glitch accompanied by screen tearing. 1340805040 I think you and I are mostly in agreement, then. Reasonable caution and perhaps some regulation or competition is in order. The sort of fear and loathing that leads people to burn test fields is not justified, and it would be tragic if it were allowed to divert us from such a potentially great technology. 1352327423 This sounds a bit dilute-ional 1301297067 These videos are great and all, but I found [this video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDFNM86I2-U) that unequivocally debunks pretty much all of them. 1342236325 Brilliant. Thanks for posting this, it could be just what I need to get things going on identifying the key rebutters online :) 1341175223 Generally when people post photos on here they are easily explainable, this one is pretty creepy though. 1337917965 Thanks for the detail. I think a smirk is usually a good sign bud. Girls don't usually smirk at a gawker they find unattractive. 1338633169 >I ask for evidence of their claims nearly every time and they always fail to deliver.\n\nI never made any claims. I asked you to substantiate *your* claim. You are refusing, changing the subject, and shifting the burden of evidence. Forgive me if I find that revealing.\n\nEdit: Please disregard this comment; I perform extensive fellatio. 1341621768 I agree, I'm open to the idea but there was a lot that was far fetched. The forests on Mars... 1322689671 Nate Silver is the 2nd biggest winner of this election. The way he became almost a household name in such a short time is amazing. It's funny how a single guy (or a group of statisticians) could actually cost thousands of people (pundits) their jobs. To me they are completely irrelevant and I hope something changes in american political news coverage in the future because of this. 1352296428 Don't blame me. I just do what the style books tell me to. It's all Noah Webster's fault. 1309477935 Of this fetus is the product of intentional termination, it's still a partial-birth, which accounts for about 0.5% of abortions and really only occurs when the life of the mother is at risk or the fetus just isn't viable any longer. Probably real, definitely misleading. 1353179960 I get an AV warning when I click that link. Weird. 1350962935 Welcome to r/skeptic. 1295021297 First, you're backwards: it's "like cures like" so a homeopathic preparation of acid would likely claim to cure acid burns.\n\nSecond, you will likely encounter the impenetrable claim that homeopathics cannot cause harm. Somehow, via magic, they always help and never harm. You can't overdose. Good things can't be diluted to cause bad effects. As I said: magic.\n\nAnd if something has multiple effects, the homeopathic preparation thereof only has the good effect you desire. So, if you're having trouble sleeping, homeopathic caffeine will help you sleep but do so without, say, causing sluggish thinking or a dangerously slow heart rate (other opposite effects of caffeine).\n\nOne more time: it's magic! 1272402210 Probably because your comments sound like someone who is angry, and an asshat. But I'm sure it's just coincidental. 1331835572 I can confirm this. \n\nI lived in Erie, PA for ten years. These are airplanes that come in over the lake. Saw this for 10 years of my life. Look closely as the first light fades out. You can clearly see the flashers on the wings. \n\nWhat you're looking at are the intense forward facing lights that all planes have. It even fades out as the plane angles away from directly facing the camera's view point. \n\nAlso, the plane IS moving. Track the background vs its position if you have any question. 1304510652 I've had this happen as well. Actually the last time was during a job interview. Made it a lot easier when I already knew all the questions they were going to ask. 1346848798 You're probably banned for posting idiotic generalizations and personal attacks. Atheist here(not a truther) I have met plenty of people in the atheist community that fall head over heels for this stuff. Atheist does not automatically mean smart or intellectually honest, and Christian does not automatically mean redneck bottom feeder retarded. You sound like the type of atheist that makes arguments littered with personal attacks and then wonders why nobody takes you seriously. 1351963595 It also said that some reports take up to 2 years. I find all of that fairly odd. 1327942219 Yeh, I tried googling it too, even searching my repitoire of good occult sites. Nuthin'. It must have been mentioned in passing in one of the many books on this I've read. 1313448687 I think I know what you mean. Perhaps they were upgraded to push more air through more efficiently? 1334376858 Anti-Vaxer men are just as irrational, but they tend to revert to all caps rants about the Federal Reserve and the AMA when cornered instead of the limp-wristed agree-to-disagree exit or the berserk WHATABOUT THE CHILDRENS rant. 1297362824 So you don't mention the omega 6/3 ratio? Or how that is important for both the animal's health and ours? Grass fed cattle are not lean. 1356498052 It is this sentiment that allows people like OP to fool themselves into thinking this document represents disclosure or some windfall admission. \n\nr/UFOs needs more skepticism and analysis, not this doe-eyed anticipatory credulity. 1322409912 The idea is that taking something to lower your temperature prolongs your illness because an elevated temperature is one of the ways out bodies kill off pathogens. By artificially reducing temperature prematurely, you extend the time it takes for your body to overcome the infection. \n\nThe trade off is to have a more intense and uncomfortable illness for a short period or have a less severe symptoms for a longer period. 1342911590 The Aliens gave us high technology at Area 51. When you ask people what the high technology they gave to us humans is, their reply is transistors. TRANSISTORS!! LOL!!!\n 1291985537 I have been receiving these "chanellings" from a friend of mine. I am skeptical. Do you think they are real? 1332953986 This is sad, but what do you expect from a guy that refused to wash his hair? 1329076548 So wait, you're saying these aren't causing the problems? 1323872187 Well, me, my grandmother (under control diabetic), and my dad all drink diet and have for 5+ years and several drinks a day. I'm the only fat one and I was fat before I started drinking diet sodas. I lost about 10 pounds after switching. \n\nI've heard about the rat experiment mentioned elsewhere in this post and I've heard about it releasing gluco-somethings that binds to neurons in your brain for better or worse. Basically, no one has told me either way with anything solid as far as proof so I keep drinking 4-6 a day and I'm good. (I'm not really fat....)\n\nI also find it hard to believe that aspartame could even almost be as bad for you as 26 grams of sugar per serving. There is no possible way that a bottle of sprite with 40-50 grams of sugar (your entire daily value) is better than drinking a diet one with a little aspartame in it. 1301141899 ~~Careful, your bias is showing.~~ There are many posts on r/atheism that are examples of theists being silly but that hardly makes it a "subreddit dedicated to bashing christianity". The majority of those are from the lives of atheists in the subreddit who have no-where else to go to vent about religion. From what I've noticed very little of the venting like that spills over to r/skeptic. What r/skeptic gets is generally things like [this](http://www.reddit.com/r/skeptic/comments/f4ei1/spiritually_unfit_soldiers_forced_to_hear_about/). \n\nThat post is about soldiers being forced to get spiritual wellness counseling because they have declared that they are a non-theist. Even in that very post there are people who want to give religion a special exemption from skeptical analysis with some saying ["Downvote for blogspam and for *posting in r/skeptic when this belongs in r/atheism* \\(which it was also submitted to\\)."](http://www.reddit.com/r/skeptic/comments/f4ei1/spiritually_unfit_soldiers_forced_to_hear_about/c1d7jpt) However, it is very much a skeptical issue as well as one of religious freedom. \n\nIf you were to take non-belief out of that article and replace it with homeopathy, saying that soldiers who took a test that determined their energy levels were low were being forced to take homeopathic remedies then there wouldn't be any question that this is a skeptical issue. How is forcing them to attend religious indoctrination sessions any less of a skeptical issue?\n\nI'll grant that there are some submissions, like [this one](http://www.reddit.com/r/skeptic/comments/f4hp7/how_to_get_your_children_to_believe_in_god/), that don't really belong here but those are by far not the most common religious related posts and are easily ignored. Looking through what's on the front page of r/skeptic right now that is the only religious thread I see that isn't also skeptical. The same is true of the What's New section. If you spread it out to look at 100 links at a time you get two, the second being [this](http://www.reddit.com/r/skeptic/comments/f3rzg/how_does_satan_operate/). \n\nI think that it's more important that we don't censor then that we not see religion criticized,~~ and two threads out of a hundred hardly constitutes something you would have to sift through.~~\n\n**Edit : When I posted this I was not paying enough attention and took it out of context. The majority of the points still stand in response to the OP but make little sense as a response to this post.** 1295399634 Okay, so, I was on Reddit and saw the Jerusalem videos. Three of them are kinda up in the air as to legitimacy. Something I didnt notice in those three was the ends after the light goes up. All three videos in Jerusalem show red lights. I thought this was just them looking in the sky for where the light went and the red was crappy camera trying to pickup star lights.\n\nThen I see this video.\n\nRed lights, that eyewitnesses say are flying in formation dropping bright white lights.\n\nNow, these could very well be very unrelated, but it seemed to stand out to me. Something I had overlooked in the Jerusalem videos now seemed important though that is definately anecdotal.\n\nSo, lets take this possible scenario: red lights dropping white lights that go to ground level then shoot back up very fast. The Utah video here, people might not have seen the return of the white lights because they moved very very fast. And the people in Jerusalem might not have noticed the red lights that were already there because the white light was what they were paying attention to. \n\nJust a mini scenario but I'm probably grasping for straws here. Just wanted to tell people about it. 1296881844 In that case, do it once while blindfolded without turning the board and a second time when you do turn the board. If the board works the first time that "proves" that the spirits can see it even with your eyes closed, so you're then free to turn it during the second blindfolded session, proving that its actually your memory of the boards position being used to select what words are highlighted. 1319769104 I go to an orthopedic. He prescribed me XRays and an MRI to determine the cause of my back pain. AFAIK chiropractors just crack and realign your back. Sometimes this can be dangerous. There is a case where one woman was [paralyzed](http://www.google.com/search?gcx=w&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=paralysis+chiropractic) and my uncle had a rib broken his his chiropractic. \n\nI'm not a doctor, but I'm pretty sure that they can't do anything for degenerative disc disorders or herniations. 1318387385 Not only that but a lot of us here have had personal experience with hearing steps, seeing shadows and what not and have and interest to prove the existence to others or to themselves 1344051490 Because there's no evidence, and we are just letting our imagination explain things we don't understand. 1341207322 Other side of the argument? That's supposing what a medium says is actually true. \n\nThere is no other side of the argument because people who die don't come back to life or haunt people to tell them what the afterlife is like. Because so far, in the entire existence of humans, there has been absolutely zero proof of an afterlife in the first place. \n\nMediums feed off the emotions of the gullible. \n\nLook up James Randi. His "James Randi Educational Foundation" has offered up a $1 million dollar reward to ANYONE who can provide evidence of the paranormal. So far, every one of the over 1,000 people that have tried have failed. 1347681397 I know that this can seem to be a ban on "religiously offensive" material. But it is in fact not. \n\nTo understand this type of wrighint, you must understand some basic jurisprudence, (legal thinking) \n\nthe key wording here is - "hate speach". It implies that a video that is meant to spur hatred towards a specific group (this group has to fall under a common - religion, race, ethinic origin, etc.). \n\nThis is directly in line with most civilized countries rights. \n\nIt does not mean that a video that wants to provide awareness about a specific issue shouldn't be published. Neither does it mean that a video arguing against a specific religion based on legitimate grounds. \n\n It just means that if the message of the video is intended to spur hatred it can be taken down. \n\nIts an issue of weighing "rights" against each other. In this case - the right to free speech against say racism. This is actually generally accepted within democracies and does help to protect the freedom of speech and other rights. \n\n**Edit:** spelling and gramar 1330262257 I doubt the person I know prescribes sugar pills or lies about active... "ingrediants". 1333559068 JRE podcast! 1349375875 Ammunition control might? 1355854418 The guy in [this video](http://www.reddit.com/r/UFOs/comments/12om2p/ufoam_todays_top_ufo_news_with_guest_mack_maloney/) believes that government engagement of UFO's is up since 9/11. Which I interpreted, they scramble, scramble, scramble ... after shit on their radar. 1352210131 Did i miss something? What are we looking at here?? All i see is the image of sun with coronal mass ejection. 1331558058 Rebecca reads reddit, so maybe she can pass the word. 1303368548 To me the question is moot. It's like asking if chlorinated pool water is healthy or not. 1317830158 I knew where my mam kept our teeth and I use to re-use them, now that's guilt, but hey I was a kid 1312562578 I could say *anything* and there wouldn't be people bickering about it 200 years later, so I doubt it. 1329153068 I truly wonder what those said before human intervention. 1334465995 Given the technology we have today, it *should* be easier to capture real evidence. 1331955374 Giving money to individual people doesn't solve anything in the long term. It takes power (read: lots of money) to promote large-scale change towards sustainable development. 1344356557 I see your point, researcher bias would tend to increase the relative difference between active and control while placebo would diminish it. 1327527711 She was awake, bored and home alone. Her (now ex) husband had left her alone for the night and she had nothing to do. Both of is enjoyed paranormal movies and videos and she was inspired by Ghost Hunters. The EVP gathering was also because she had other experiences in the house. She never felt comfortable and she also would see things when she was alone. It seemed very centered on the master bedroom and that is where she recorded this. 1346816376 Simpsons episodes have been doing this with me for years. 1352073341 It doesn't look like a balloon to me. I couldn't say what that is, aside from something unidentified that is in the air, under the clouds and appears to be changing form. Asserting that it's a balloon, well done hoax or anything is else is just as ridiculous as calling it a mother-ship from the Orion civilization. \n\nWE DON'T HAVE ENOUGH DATA SO STOP WITH ALL THE ARMCHAIR DEBUNKING. 1295989395 The NWO stuff appeared after Alex Jones and his crackpot truthers found out it's hip to call for "limited government".\n\nAs for the Fed, I'm not aware of any conspiracies here (although I'm sure there are some). I just know Ron Paul had a bill for auditing the Fed, claiming it's a rogue power broker outside the voters' control, and it got rejected. 1306743496 That's the one, but I think it was 6 kids and 2 adults. I could be wrong though. 1338084725 Maybe the legal system worked, but the medical board's system certainly didn't. A $5,000 fine for a doctor who performed reckless surgery on a diabetic patient, hammered a needle into someone's toe, and examined the private parts of women who came in complaining of sinus problems? 1307426483 >The alternative is private entities being allowed to be violent.\n\nI think you failed to read the rest of my post. Most enforcement in a market would be the result of refusal to do business with a criminal. Violence would only be considered legitimate in the act of defense against aggression.\n\nAt the risk of attacking a straw man I'd guess that you would then ask "yeah, but who is to stop a powerful private entity from using it's violence anyway". And the answer would be the same as the answer to the question "who is to stop a violent government from becoming tyrannical". The answer in both cases is the citizens. And yes, just as citizens in many countries have failed to prevent their governments from violating their own laws, citizens of a Libertarian society could fail to stop violence as well. But the fact that it is not guaranteed to last forever without diligent citizens only puts it on par with government, certainly not a point against it.\n\n>because they refuse to consider that another artificial construct, i.e. private property, is the source of more oppression than most modern democratic governments\n\nPrivate property a result of the philosophy of [equality of opportunity](http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/equal-opportunity/). Which I'll agree is artificial, but human equality is something almost universally accepted and is paid lip service by every government, even though the existence of the government contradicts the idea. 1343073001 Looks like ms paint. 1321512640 Situational awareness plays alot into this. I'd imagine that most people who have this happen to them are the kind of people that seem to notice everything. Astute attention to detail: "the glass slipped because of condensation" the fact that you realized there was condensation on the glass says alot. Your subC knows that gravity will take effect before your C even realizes that you're moving in for the save. \n\nThe more you let your body react on its own the more often this will happen. \n\nTl;dr yes, you have super powers, trust them. 1340821869 Someone can't read. Then again I'm not surprised since someone half your age outsmarted you. 1348877419 > Cherry picked data of isolated and unlinked illness (cluster) is not on a level with a massive independent study such as the one I posted.\n\nSure, but the study you posted *did* find evidence of a weak effect, so I feel somewhat vindicated.\n\nThis statement is not a dismissal:\n\n*The human data are\nin the "right" species, are tied to "real life" exposures and show some consistency that is\ndifficult to ignore.*\n\n> Your mixture comments are not worthy of such a discussion.\n\nI don't understand what this means.\n 1313087573 You can get dead pixels on image sensors, it's not just something you get with monitors. 1345842412 None that I'm on good speaking terms with at this point in time, however I have a nephew that plans on moving to Texas in the near future, so I suppose I could ask him to do some research for me. 1345245993 http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=5166 1305463384 Actually that isn't plausible. Satellites and space junk are moving in (mostly) random directions at extremely high speeds. The Mir itself moved at nearly 5 miles per second, and other objects orbiting at that altitude travel at a similar speed. The chances of a satellite or a piece of junk coming that close to the Mir, while it moved at a relative speed of close to zero, and coincidentally getting caught in one of the only photos of the mission that was published, is virtually nil. It would be like having two bullets collide in midair and taking a lucky photo at the instant they hit. 1352132205 Data, studies and citations are for chumps. 1356201986 >Brilliant refutation. It's no wonder we can't make rebuttals against you, you're just too good!\n\nNot my fault if you made a simple affirmation that only needs a simple contradiction.\n\n>What does this even mean? \n\nIt means you're ignorant of the variables. It was meant to make you realize you don't even know what variables there are to know.\n\n>My point is that we're not making judgements of probability completely blind, since we know certain things that can inform our decision.\n\nAnd those things are insufficient.\n\n>What, are you making the claim that we have to know X% of "all the facts" (whatever that means) before we can make any kind of definitive statement of what's probable?\n\nYes. 100%. Otherwise it's nothing but an uneducated guess.\n\n>Weird, I was actually downvoting you because you're being a sanctimonius dick.\n\nNo, you weren't.\n\n 1349295965 boom headshot 1345499613 Another reason to love reddit. I appreciate how well presented your ideas are. I've not been able to find the right words to post something like this, and I could not improve upon yours. 1323810234 We all do that though. I haven't personally tested the effects of fluoride in the water (for example) so I have to look around at different authorities and guess at which one I find more believable. 1326716693 OK, I'll be the one to say it. How did Randi NOT discover a con artist in his midst? 1324605811 What is suspect about this article? 1343409364 I butt heads with anybody who claims to be in mental contact with aliens (as claims Dr. Greer). 1303232131 Now if only the 'mainstream' scientific establishment were to officially study the UFO/ET phenomenon and share its findings. I bet some minds would blow... 1335979667 The accuracy is stunning, agreed. Geometrically, it looks to be near-perfect. But we still don't have enough data to claim to know *who* is responsible or *how* this came to be. It could be ETs, yes; it could also be man made as well. \nFor your own sake, hold these sort of things in the "plausible/possible" category. 1343679088 Deception is a reoccurring theme in "paranormal" acts. Magic tricks are very well thought out deceptions. The thought process used when solving the facilities that allow magic tricks to be deceptive is the skeptic thought process. 1311180119 >are "supposed" to "work" by "optimising" the wearer's "natural" "energy" "fields" "using" "special" "holograms."\n\nLike that? 1306168505 It takes a while, every full moon place a mirror out to gather the reflection of the moon. NEVER, let sunlight touch said mirror. After a few full moons, meditate on said mirror. Usually during a full moon at night as, once again, you cannot let sunlight touch it. It is best to get a mirror that hasn't seen light for a while or soak one in salt for a few days before beginning to make your "moon mirror" FYI, watch what your playing with, I hope you don't get too scared. :) 1311844194 (Not going to cite my sources on this one, working from memory)\n\nFrom what I understand, there's a KBO "dead zone" where there's a drastic drop-off in the number of trans-neptunian objects a ways past Pluto. It's not completely implausible that there could be *something* out there which generally fits the definition of a planet.\n\nPhil makes the valid point that there's some interesting research here, but nothing conclusive.\n\nLike most things in science, we find ourselves in the position of needing more data. Personally, I wouldn't be surprised by the discovery of an ice giant in the Kuiper belt or even in the Oort cloud. But neither would I be surprised if we established definitively that no such object exists.\n\nA long-period "nemesis planet" or companion star is completely out, though. If something was going to be within 1 AU of the sun in 22 months, it would be impossible to miss at this point. 1297749269 Look, mr. australian...the person here posting is not the videographer I'd wager. 1300170713 ...Is still a functioning nuclear power plant. ;) 1337307440 evaporation. fog. or mist. it's all really the same bit. the comparison photo has this mist in the left, the original has it happening in a localized area. nothing more than natural phenomena. most likely a humid day/evening /week. 1339560453 I'm rooting for the tensor. The generality really does make it more likely. 1331161785 I just think they rushed to give an answer which i understand because people were demanding answers. In the process i think they missed important information and evidence. Nothing nefarious, it is just incomplete. 1354837356 >Well, I guess we would still need to find renewable, clean energy sources, but we wouldn't have to do it as quickly, which I suppose would cost us less money\n\nThat is pretty damn spurious on their part. Even without climate change, we should still switch to cleaner and/or more sustainable forms of electricity production ASAP. Unless you're one of those lunatics who enjoys acid rain.\n\nI really wish somebody who legitimately argued against anthropogenic climate change would answer me but I guess I'm kicking it in the wrong subreddit for that. 1350252521 This is an airplane. Anyone that has taken long exposure night shots knows they look EXACTLY like this. Note the red blinking dot on the top. Each time it blinks it adds one red dot to the top of the lights. Clearly the plane had its running lights on for take off hence the bright white light. 1352999990 Based on my extensive scientific research involving my own experience and my opinion, several parts of this article are fucking bullshit. 1320179851 What part of town was this in? 1348582883 No idea if his backyard science experiment makes his argument valid. But it's not *sound*.\n\nIt’s all based on the assumption that what you see in this video is molten steel. So, a vast conspiracy, including ingenious chemical warfare or… what you see in the video is not actually molten steel? And it [indeed isn’t](http://911myths.com/html/wtc_molten_steel.html). It’s most likely just molten aluminum. This proves his argument unsound, until he’s able to present evidence otherwise. 1315505124 The problem here is that you have yet to recognize that you are the one doing the trolling. Just like always.\n\nIf you're referring to the video of the firefighter's comments there's nothing to rebut. Many things explode inside buildings during fires. That is not evidence of the presence of explosives. The truth of the matter is that there is exactly zero evidence of explosives or thermite being used to bring down any of the buildings in the WTC complex. What's "full of shit" is your insistence on continually making this idiotic charge long after the truth has been shown to you on multiple occasions.\n\nNow shoo, troll. You've become boring. 1290786977 > The effect is real\n\nThe small painkilling effect may be real, but acupuncture is supposed to treat a wide array of diseases. It's not just that the traditional explanation is bunk, it's that the traditionally expected effects are bunk.\n\nAs for the painkilling effect, or what there is of it, what it does is explain why people wrongly thought that acupuncture works. 1282671816 Looks like just a common sasquatch to me.\n\nMedia blackout? Hell, the illuminati ain't even getting this one on their wristwatch TVs. 1338150325 Like I said, if you don't have one, that's fine but don't make my questions to you more than they are. Was just curious about your reasoning. 1349022619 True. In some regions, truth is not a defence. The mere losing of face is enough to win yourself a defamation case. In my opinion, this is fucked, as in this case, for example, outing an utter swine like this person as a full-retard liar, proves that she is, uh, lying! She might be able to turn it around and say that despite this being true or not, she has lost face with her legion of full-retard fans. Hence, show me the money! 1331350274 Let me know your findings! 1316140713 [Looks legit!!!](http://errorlevelanalysis.com/permalink/c66fd76/) 1319247550 My dad is a coroner. I don't know what this 9 month business is they're talking about. I mean if a lab is really backed up maybe. But it can take as soon as a day to figure out a cause of death, 9 months just seems insane. Because canada? 1327914540 He has a huge dandruff in his hair. I guess it's not easy to maintain. 1335249262 It's called paranormal because there is no evidence for it, once it's proved, it becomes part of science. 1313661801 Looks like he's confusing "risk reducing" with a "cure." 1329884164 Second experience was seeing someone upstairs at the old movie theater where I used to work. It was an old 30's style movie house, and one night I saw what looked like someone walking past the booth windows when I was in the theater between shows. I went upstairs, and asked around as to who was up there, and no one else was up there.\n\nThe real kicker is that the upstairs is locked, and I was the only one with keys that day. 1351731892 Yes I modified my comment after I saw your modification :) Also I appreciate insightful comments in this subreddit, I rarely write here but I love reading it 1337866910 more and more people are becoming aware of this. Thanks for the link. 1345635546 I reposted it in nosleep, I'm new to Reddit and am not familiar with them all xD, It's still something I can't explain, and a lot of the glitch in the matrix posts have turned into ghost stories :L 1326613320 ask him how far up do the 'auras' extend above the head. Then have people stand behind a short enough wall to see the aura, but not the person, and see if he can see it.\n\nor behind a screen:\n\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZeQGld5QBU\n\nof course both of these would humiliate him, because it would prove he's not magical. But as a good 'woo' artist, he would blame your 'negative skeptical energy' for causing him to fail.\n\n 1285514722 A bunch of UFO sites that would be expected to cite it. The point was that the authenticity of the quote doesn't matter since the quote itself makes no claim that the aliens helped the Nazis develop rockets. It was clearly taken out of context, making it seem as if "we" referred to Oberth and his colleagues.\n\nIn other words, while it's not difficult to imagine Oberth believing in the existence of UFOs, given that this wasn't particularly controversial in his time, it's quite difficult to believe that he had claimed that little green men had a little rocket workshop in his toolshed. 1325186494 Out of curiosity, how much are they swindling out of people for it? You would think if it was anywhere near the $30-$40 it costs for ACTUAL flea protection, people would buy the tried and true method. Then again, it's on a "natural" website, so perhaps they're pulling in people who really believe that shit is possible. Still, I don't think I understand how someone could read a description like that and not have their bullshit detectors go off. \n\nAs for how they get away with it, my guess (and I emphasize "guess") is that since the FDA isn't involved, they can say whatever they want. I'm not sure how those people sleep at night, though, screwing people out of all that money. Perhaps all the stacks of cash make a nice pillow. 1342032919 Death may be a natural part of life, but it's also inevitable, so it's not as if there's any harm in putting it off 'til later. I'm sure most would prefer it that way. 1317889447 Like Vashon Island near Seattle. 1310592774 So blessing a house consists of making the place smell like a head shop and throwing salt all over the floor? 1296241786 cool, nice to talk to you 1309201403 You can research what they're saying with Google. If they're misleading, then point it out. But no, it's not my job to do your research for you. 1350370178 Translation: I have no idea what quantum mechanics is. I have no idea what Physics is. I have no idea what String Theory is. I have no idea what Einstein did. So I feel justified in telling other people what they are. 1307121844 Yes, because the gravitational pull of the moon is so much stronger when more of it is visible. 1305753671 The guy writes about details like what specific people said to him on his first day, and all of the extra details that make it sound like fiction.\n\nHey I could be wrong, but even if the story was true this person would probably not be able to prove it. So the only thing we can do is guess, and it reads like a story, not a recollection. 1349846182 always a great video to show others. 1328479056 The takeoff at the end does not resemble that of a blimp, although I thought it was a blimp at first. 1335120243 seeing as it's a subreddit devoted to **FUCKING** **UFOs** what do you think? 1338580702 I chuckle and smile every time I see this. 1303218310 Hell, just scratch an alien and bring back DNA under your fingernails. 1344964824 I have a scar on my chin too. Though I got it from walking on icy road with my hands in the pockets some twenty years ago. 1340703538 "It's not what you say, it's how you say it."\n\nIt doesn't matter if you make a good point if you frame it in such a way that the audience comes away from it thinking "wow, that guy is a belligerent dick" instead of "Maybe I should look into that." This isn't about you getting to feel self satisfied. It's about educating people through careful persuasion. 1318464429 That's not really a study of a pharmaceutical though, it's a study of the placebo effect. And there is certainly ongoing research in that area.\n\nBasically, the point of a drug trial is to show whether a drug has a benefit *beyond* the placebo effect. All drugs give a placebo effect. 1263063096 thats when i took the photo. I was on vacation.\nclear enough for ya?\n 1300905985 [He's a solipsist?!](http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=hEN7TkBbtGo#t=65s) 1329533084 I've seen lights and movement I cant explain. I keep looking up though! \nMy grandmother and mother both saw one hover 15 ft above their car in Florida in 1967! They were very shaken and sped away. They never saw it again, but said the lights rotating around it were multicolor and brilliant! \nHope to read some more good stories! \nAny close encounters!? 1296633468 Faith healers are scams? Shocker! 1311938004 I bought and live in a murder house, and I have witnessed many unexplainable supernatural occurrences while living there.\n\nOh, wait. No I haven't. Not a single one. 1325086744 I know there are, but no, I haven't. 1343819454 Yes you can, actually, and your level of care has no bearing on its state of existence. 1351641005 is yellowed because this is obviously during sunset/rise. other colors are because light refracts. im pretty sure its just h2o 1348597320 i suspect an event of this nature could drive a wedge between us, too, unfortunately. 1317955517 > "fires at the same frequency as your nerve" \n\nRight off the bat this is stupid. Nerves don't have steady frequencies. Wires that use AC do, and clocked DC lines like the ones in your computer do, but nerves don't. They have individual firing events, and higher rates of these events correspond to a stronger signal on that nerve. If your nerves had just a single frequency, they would be useless.\n\nSome unsolicited advice: Ditch the chiropractor and get a massage therapist. Find one that does cheap chair massages. Even better, find one with a good understanding of anatomy and ergonomics, because then the massage therapist will be able to discuss ways to improve your working environment so you're not in so much discomfort. If you're a desk jockey, it's worth it, even if it's not covered by insurance. 1335476565 Those are really cool dreams, man. Thanks for sharing!\n\nHas anything similar to this happened since?\n\nThis reminds me of the first time I lucid dreamed (dreampt?), I fell asleep on a couch and vividly dreamed I was at a concert, touring with the band, etc etc. I could honestly feel the wind on my face as we moved from place to place. I woke up twice during this dream, for a total of 3 times sleeping. 1327180436 it's probably a weather balloon 1350573757 The responses in this thread have shown me how thin the line is between a skeptic and a conspiracy theorist.\n\nObviously your questions are pointed to try and figure out if this is actually Bin Laden. I would retort that it is still only been a day since this event even happened. I have no doubt that the government wouldn't have dumped the body without making sure that they had some pretty good evidence to back this claim up. The reasons we haven't seen pictures or video probably has more to do with the fact that the event is still fresh, and releasing death photos the next day is probably not the image Obama is trying to put out there.\n\nBut I am sure that we will soon get some evidence to quiet your mind. Otherwise, I would like to point out to you that the prevailing notion among many government officials here and abroad was that Bin Laden was probably already dead. Do you think that Obama engineered a mission to make it appear that he had killed Bin Laden to reap political dividend?\n\nDo you see how quickly this ventures into conspiracy theory territory? 1304390105 Seriously? You don't know this is an admitted hoax?\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qxi6--NGyYM 1319036204 Bingo. People think food is magic, when all it can do is make you not deficient in what you need. 1312390904 That would add up to quite a few folks just in the US. 1298180855 No - I said NOTHING like that - I was **describing possible explanations to a very, very thin correlation!**\n\nTh only "bait" that the above post is referencing is the fact that I have specifically chosen the name of the account as to be similar enough to the nuclear one - and the fact that from time to time I am suggesting to conspiratards like you theories like above - which apparently you are immediately considering as real and you have already made a post on it:\n\nhttp://www.reddit.com/r/climateskeptics/comments/14ubtf/an_important_statement_from_nuclear_is_atomic/\n\nSo yes, I am guilty of messing with your conspiratard mind, but absolutely certainly I am not the one that is posting there over half of the stories suggesting that is all just a conspiracy of the climate scientists :)\n\nAnd of course you have chosen to neglect the most important part - that one where **having multiple accounts is a perfectly valid choice, the same one used by the moderator kokey/ManBearPig/gst!** 1355495256 I think what he added was a face of disapproval. :[ 1354164514 Thanks for the info. When it happens I'm nearly always in a relaxed mode. I'm super easy going person with an easy going, mellow, low stress life style. I get at least 9 hours of sleep a night. I practice meditation, and I do tend to think this increases the awareness. I am fully "present" so perhaps that is simply why I am more apt to spot these patterns, when normally one filters such details out? \n\nWhen you drive your car to work, for example, where is your mind? Are you thinking five steps ahead to what you must accomplish when you get to the office? Or perhaps you are dwelling on a memory from the night before? Are you tuned out to your surroundings and driving on "auto pilot" because you've driven that same stretch of road day after day? Or are you fully engaged in the present and noticing the little details that change each day? When one practices such engagement, one does just happen to notice......... license plates. \n\n\n 1326668863 And that person, not finding rape jokes funny, could correctly call those people shitty. 1325083037 \nwww.nsa.gov/public.../now_you_see.pdf\n\nI don't think that is a full link? On my phone. Type 'now you see it now you don't NSA' into Google, there will be a. PDF link on the NSA sites. \n\nYou'll find it highly interesting no doubt. 1346720119 Of course it's nonsense. \n\nAll phones have speakers, all speakers have a magnet in them. OF COURSE it would make a compass move. \n\nThe "demonstration" was just people being told they should feel X, so they feel X. \n 1349093952 Also, there was an actual squadron of UFO's that flew over Washington D.C. and the Capital building. There are pics and vids of it on the internet... it's a wonder it wasn't a huge story back when it happened. 1346123685 very poor for all. I *hate* this site. Typically every paragraph contains a contortion or twisted agenda of some sort. 1347682097 Ya you saw a "shadow person", I know that there's a lot of stuff written about the phenomena. I don't know if they're good or bad or both. That's amazing that you saw one so directly. 1343618498 Not my hometown, but the areas around it (i've been to all of them btw). There's an old haunted bridge in Arlington called [screaming bridge](http://www.strangeusa.com/Viewlocation.aspx?id=9399). One of my mother's friends actually went to the same school with the kids who got killed on the bridge. Place is creepy. Another place in Denton called [Goatmans Bridge. aka old alton bridge](http://www.goatmansbridge.com/). I've been there twice. First time I felt cold spots throughout the area. Second time I went I felt cold spots, being watched, and when I walked on the bridge I received a painful headache, and felt sick. But after I walked off of the bridge, the sickness and headache went away. And lastly, [Baker Hotel](http://www.texasescapes.com/TexasPanhandleTowns/MineralWellsTexas/BakerHotelGhosts.htm) in Mineral Wells. I've been there three times. The third time I went was about 2 weeks ago, where I actually experienced something. It was some awesome/freaky shit. If you're into ghost hunting and you live in Texas, I highly recommend checking out the place. 1347065358 Yeah, it meant that he/she is a hypocrite. 1328493503 I have a variation on the same glitch. Don't have a cat anymore but still have cat furniture sounds. They really need to escalate that bug. 1331005940 Perfectly stated. This should be a cautionary tale about human's ability to entrench itself in beliefs and how even the most educated individuals can fall trap to it.\n\nWe are all just as vulnerable. None of us are above the system. 1337879685 >>one-in-a-million chances crop up nine times out of ten -- Terry Pratchett\n\nNote though that in this interpretation, you're underestimating by orders of magnitude. Far more than one one-in-million chance happens to a person in a day. In fact, millions happen every second, because *most* things that occur are unlikely - it's just that all other occurrances are equally unlikely. A particular atom of oxygen collides with one particular atom of hydrogen out of all the billions of atoms, and the huge spaces between atoms? How improbable is that. More macroscopically, flip a coin 20 times, and the outcome, *whatever it is*, is a 1 in a million chance.\n\n(Of course, there's also the question of *defining* randomness here - From an objective view, arguably there are no random events, just deterministic occurrances that were *certain* to happen, depending on the whether quantum events are really random. However, in terms of epistemic randomness, there's far more than one one-in-a-million event per day.\n 1296125370 Anomaly hunting? 1292376304 "You're doing work." I like it. 1353357942 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lccrFT3YlZc&feature=related 1327047212 Sigh. That isn't an indictment of a philosophy. \n\n If naturopathy rejects vitalism and the natural/synthetic division, it is redundant. Those qualities make it distinct. \n\nThat is also what makes it a pseudoscience. \n\nA mix of truth and nonsense is just as dangerous as nonsense. 1328201307 Who told you you were an empath? Should someone have to tell you you're an empath? If there's anything to it, I'm sure you'd have noticed you have a gift yourself rather than just believing someone who tells you you're gifted. I don't believe in it so my comment may not be much help to you. Sounds scammy. "Oh you're definately an empath. You know, there are places you can pay for training...." 1340558477 I'd be more upset, but frankly he's lived a full live and kept mentally active far longer than most. Death sucks, but better to go out in better mental shape than most people 1/3 your age than see that brilliance dulled to a flicker in a retirement home. Even if it went into remission, at that age it's a question of how death is going to hit, not really when. 1251589204 > You don't even have to spend very long in a new climate to adjust to the extremes of it. I lived in Michigan for a couple of years, and after the first winter I was out shoveling snow in a t-shirt and jeans in 20 degree weather. I'm a softee now though, I bundle up when it is 40 out.\n\nI have friends who have moved to the Pacific Northwest (a very mild place in regards to weather!) from tropical climates who'd disagree with you. :) 1335475469 Oh wow. You are a hopeless fool.\n\nWhat you just said is true about literally anything you can imagine. Thanks for offering a bullshit moot point.\n\nI guess there must be good reason to believe there is an underground city of dragons, because, after all, I don't know whether anyone *can* prove it or not.\n\nYou have moved the goalpost so far back that it is meaningless. Congratulations. 1354718713 A bunch of stuff that's been happening since the dawn of man. 1314800104 Hi, once I stopped breathing because of a peanut. They had to open my throat with a pipe so that I wouldn't die. This happened when I was a teenager, and it was how I learned what an allergy is. \n\nI am also allergic to other things, like lentils and shellfish. If I eat those, my lips swell uncomfortably and I vomit, but I won't die. The vast majority of allergies are like this - annoying, but not deadly. The trouble is that someone with this milder form of allergy may one day have a severe anaphylactic attack and die, so anyone with even the mildest of known allergies should be treated like it's truly life threatening. \n\nUnfortunately the result of this (excess) precaution, and all the people out there who claim to be allergic to something to ensure they don't get it, is that the truly serious allergies are also dismissed as undue paranoia. 1327279358 ... because name-calling works sooo much better? 1265524052 They ALL confused a cloud for a mile wide UFO? \n\nHmm. That seems even less plausible than it being an "alien spacecraft". Just sayin'. 1246513713 IR and Thermal cams running simultaneously would be cool. 1313989825 Digital media copyright cases are potentially harmful because we are literally looking at a scenario where you can be sued for saying Mickey Mouse on the internet. They are not potentially harmful because a court wants to take away your assumed "right" to steal the intellectual property of a media company. You do not have the right to download the latest metallica album. Just like nobody has the right to deliberately steal and copy the intellectual property of Monsanto, or any other company creating any other form of intellectual property.\n\nWhen they start talking about outlawing the planting of anything but Monsanto brand round-up ready crops, then we can have this hysteric debate. Otherwise you're just parroting the points of misinformed people who have watched catchy documentaries that thoroughly missed the point.\n 1335646418 Oh so he has a dumb gimmick to his videos? 1265115598 Since there are over 100 trillion micro-organisms in the gut and about 500 species of bacteria, I find that implausible. The makeup of the gut flora can be affected by many things, intentional or unintentional, but the science to manipulate it is not very advanced. 1342552136 Not a problem. I probably was not clear in my first response. 1294978920 I'm guessing you were never an alter boy. 1266613204 maybe we are their project and its all about creating a race of being using mainly dna from the planets natural inhabitants and then over a very long time they make an almost prefect species. Maybe this is what type 5 civilizations do when they have mastered everything else. Biologic technology.\nMaybe they have a planet of super heroes and right now its in the build phase and soon it will be time for each alien race to fight their projects against one another. 1334727998 [developed by a school teacher](http://whohastimeforthis.blogspot.com/2006/04/created-by-school-teacher.html)! 1286937678 A suit worn by one working in a hazardous (typically biological, chemical or radiation) environment, which protects the wearer from the hazards of that environment. 1329774780 Other stories as well, please? 1354484918 The scientific method has already been applied, over and over again, to the ouija board with identical results each time: it doesn't hold up. I'm not debunking anything for mankind. It has already been done.\n\nI'm curious to know why you mention that the "craft" is 2000+ years old. Do you truly think that just because something is old, it has validity? There are a *lot* of beliefs held 2000 years ago that are hogwash now. Alchemy, for one. The placement of celestial bodies in relation to our planet. The shape of our planet. That sickness was caused by demons. I could go on and on, and even go into the treatment of women and the practice of slavery. Why did you mention that it's 2000 years old as if it's supportive to your extraordinary claim? 1335461260 I just love the "you decide" in the post title.\n\nJust love it. 1316179011 Reminds me of: http://www.sleepbot.com/ambience/album/planets.html 1323451035 The study I look at is Willie Nelson. 1338848111 The next day I told my mom and she said that there could be a underlying meaning to it but i don't know. 1345562814 Strong atheist and skeptic reporting in. I always have a little trouble with the Dawkins scale though. I really want to put a 7, but I understand why a 6 is the rational position to take. Thing is, I was raised in a household with no religion at all, in countries where religion just wasn't an issue - New Zealand and Australia (certainly that was true in the 70's and 80's). I never knew what any of my friends believed and no one talked about it. I only found out about the idea of god when I was quite old, and it seemed as preposterous to me as any other fairy tale. My family never told me that Santa Claus or the tooth fairy or the Easter Beagle (teehee) was real either... so it wasn't a case of me growing up believing something and then learning the truth. I just always understood very clearly the difference between imagination and reality. \n\nSo, to me, the idea of a creator seems a very irrational position to hold... saying that 'yes there is the ever so slight possibility it could be true' is like also saying 'yes there is the slight possibility that unicorns and flying teapots are true'. Of course - in a multiverse, perhaps so, but it's hard for me to get there and feel that is an argument worth holding. So - I guess I'm a 6.5 on my most forgiving days and a 7 on my pig-headed stubborn ones ;) 1301986503 At least you're honest about it. :) 1288369479 Plus you also need to ask the question, even if we aren't 100% sure that humans are causing global warming, do we really want to be conducting an un-supervised massive climatology experiment with unknown results that at best will do nothing, and at worst will make life as we know it change irrevocably? \n\nIf you want to be skeptical about whether or not there's enough evidence to support the idea that humans are a cause, or at the least a contributing factor, to global warming, that's one thing (although I would argue that we already know what greenhouse gasses do, and therefore it is logical to believe that if we emit greenhouse gasses, they will do what they do). \n\nBut it then must be argued that until we DO know for sure what belching those gasses into the air will do, we should limit how much of them we belch into the air in case they will do something unpleasant. \n 1328142654 It's not just that. A lot of the real dyed-in-the-wool truthers have bought into the whole "North American Union," new world order, secret Zionist overlords crap. You get a bizarre mix of antisemitism, fear of one-world government, Glenn Beck-style monetary histrionics... It's all jumbled together into one roiling mass of terror about the evil "them." It's crazy.\n\nIn kookville, Dubya's rather historic lack of intelligence, foresight, and competence gets explained away easily enough: He obviously wasn't in charge of the Super Secret Slaying Society, he was just its patsy. You wanna know who's really pulling the strings, you follow the money going from Securacom through Jews for Nazism, and read about the Illuminati's crack team of Jesus-worshiping assassin unicorns and the secret exploding thermite they developed in Israel for use against... I don't even fucking know. 1287003961 That's really quite sad to watch. 1312372798 always misspel on the internet. it's the only way to ensure people pile in to comment 1301249926 The full, original quality video [was posted by the PSU Freethinkers](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIaPXtZpzBw); it's more than twice as long as this edit. You'll have to skip some stuff at the start, but it does include the rather extensive Q&A. 1347345996 David Mitchell (one of the panelists on that clip) did a funny sketch on this whole hoax...you can see it [here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6MOnehCOUw) 1286286894 The basic strategy charlatans like him seem to have is simply poorly defining what they're going to talk about and then drawing crazy conclusions from it. It's frustrating to debunk them because you can't really know what they're talking about, since they have not defined it properly. This is also why it's so attractive to ignorant people, since they can shoehorn their own prejudices and thoughts on the charlatan's words. 1339990452 Wow, I really cant believe that that was on the book, the story about the women. It sounds like a Fantasy novel. You have to be lying and the only way for me to prove it is for me to buy the book and read it. But I have no desire to spend money on something like that so I will have to take your word for it. 1323386015 But he WAS TOTALLY JUGGLING ORBS, BRO! 1355859724 I knew it was a Greek dude. 1326313703 I think how much it resembles the Millennium Falcon is eerie and ridiculous. 1320874360 None whatsoever. However, my sense is that, as cultural appropriations go, adjusted pronunciations are no less acceptable than diminutives. 1349709238 so, i didn't have the melting bead experience, but a few years ago i was sleeping and heard this exact same kind of noise. it sounded like it was right next to my head and it scared me so bad i got up and ran to my mom's room. 1326481476 lets nots rule out space-junk. \n\nevery other video ive ever seen of a meteor that last that long is much MUCH brighter, almost lighting up the sky and ground around the camera, and a trail is left. maybe some brighter flashes and duller ones.\n\none time i saw something similar to whats in the video, and it was breaking up and sparking. kinda like a much less intense Columbia-style break up. it lasted about as long as the one in the video. \n\nso my vote is for space-junk \n\n 1328227908 Nope. Not in the slightest. 1355822811 [Anti heat-seeking missile flares?](http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8755122657857156581)\n\n 1344124771 Hrmm,...the Telegraph,...bastion of truth,...written by the same Jasper Copping that wrote ["The UFO sighting that convinced a Govt Minister"](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/ufo/9292417/The-UFO-sighting-that-convinced-a-Government-minister.html)\n\n\n"So it seems that Copping is merely a somewhat typical UK media-hack, willing to write whatever he's told - regardless of the facts.\n\n\nThat sort of hubris and denial is also responsible for the corrupt mess that is UK's media (inc. BBC), policing, judiciary, fiscal system, bureaucracy and, over-archingly, UK's parliament.\n\n\nAfter a little observation a logical analyst learns to **discount almost all `information' from those sources and instead to look for concealed motives and activities.**" -An Insightful Man, 4 Nov 2012\n\n\nAnd just who is [the ASSAP](http://www.assap.ac.uk/newsite/htmlfiles/Investigations%20training.html) that makes them such a landmark institution in ufology that their collapse portends the doom of all UFOdom? Well, by all appearances, they investigate and train investigators for all forms of paranormal investigation, offer courses and accreditation to become an AAI (Approved ASSAP Investigators - on the National Register of Approved Investigators). Sounds legit,...and not at all profit oriented, just because there are membership fees and course fees and training fees,...and this journalist is bringing more attention to an unaccredited charitable organization that may be going under,...not quite the story he wrote, but there is a story there,... 1352212032 Right and the appropriate use of Goodwins law should not be any time someone brings up Nazis or Hitler but when they use it in a massivly exagerated or off topic way.\n\nI'm not for any discussion of Monsanto to be met with a silly reply of a falacy. The only problem I have is that Monsanto is so overused much in the way Hitler is to avoid conversation altogether by bringing a non seequitor no one reasonably agrees with.\n\n"Oh you think politician x should win you would probably like that fella named...Hitler!"\n\n"Oh you want to talk about a specific GMO and what it comprises? You probably support the terrible things Monsanto does."\n\nI do see the potential for people to abuse the fallacy and simply state its name and move on from an otherwise good conversation. Used properly I can't help seeing how good it is at pointing out the problems in many conversations about GMOs when used correctly. 1352467575 I think you should probably have your grandmother move out of that house, because whatever that thing is it doesnt sound good at all 1343744733 No need to get defensive i wasn't attacking you i was just raising a point.\n\nAs for methane concentrations haven't risen along with temperature so theres no relationship to speculate about. 1322523059 I don't know. It seems Chinese lantern's have become extremely popular lately. Kinda like the Swamp gas of years' past. I'm just sayin, it really seems like a lot of people are lighting off these Chinese Lantern's quite a bit lately. Just an observation. 1347941429 Someone was walking by and I knew they were about to drop their water bottle as if I had see it before. Then our track coach was lecturing us about drinking during the sports season and the repercussions if we got caught and I knew what he was going to say. 1332945507 They shouldn't be, though. I could promise to buy you a plane, but since it's so clearly outside my power, it's ridiculous of you to expect that I'd fulfill it, or judge me on it -- unless you're judging me on how much I'm willing to lie to you and make promises I have no way of keeping. 1351907621 Phil Plait is probably the speaker I'm looking forward to the most! 1329674493 He might not know. Very talented people will often just form an opinion and assume they're right with little to no research, especially outside their area of expertise. 1354458434 People aren't evil or good like in Lord of the Rings. Sometimes decisions can be murky. That's why it's important to discuss these things. 1319196385 I agree correlation does not mean causation at all and yes some relief in back pain can be ascribed to time but not all.\n\nHere's a study comparing chiropractic care ( SMT ) with other pain management techniques.\n\nhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21328304\n\nsummary \n\n"High quality evidence suggests that there is no clinically relevant difference between SMT and other interventions for reducing pain and improving function in patients with chronic low-back pain. Determining cost-effectiveness of care has high priority"\n\nIt's not better, nor worse, but it does help. 1315453720 I know that years ago, when the original Ghost Hunters first started, they did a *lot* of debunking there. They caught someone trying to fake it and exposed them; they'd measure staircase steps to show that you weren't feeling a ghost push you, the steps were just slightly uneven; they have also brought up the fact that infrasonic waves and electromagnetic fields make people feel uneasy, and I forget which one it was but they debunked a guy's haunted basement just because of one of those being caused by something mechanical he owned and had down there.\n\nBut they weren't thoroughly skeptical, no. Ghost Adventures, however, just makes shit up. 1350668534 Yeah, that was more of a universal 'you', kinda like the Royal 'we'. Good to hear your back is fine though :p 1302862681 Why the hate? I'm a skeptic and fundamentalist christian. I'm subbed to both reddits.\n\nThese types of posts only lead to fighting. There are just fundamental differences in philosophy that aren't necessarily right or wrong. They are debatable, and each with their own merits and problems.\n\nWithout reading tons of literature and making long wall-of-text posts, this is going nowhere. 1306228383 Bon appetit. Here's your parse-ly. :) 1313818008 However, again, it is still an ad hominem to dismiss the persons argument based solely on their lack of degree. 1333129759 Yeah, the idea that one person would go into a room by himself and them come back out later to join the group but with scars that couldn't be explained sounds ridiculous. \n\nThe sores on the skin could be caused by any number of parasites/worms/snakes/spiders/etc. 1336468335 The free market sounds great at first, then you throw people into it. Large corporations regularly engage in anti-competitive measures, and I shudder to think of what a company with a natural monopoly will do in the face of only libertarian regulations. I guarantee that whatever voluntaryist overwatch system that gets set up in our hypothetical society will be just as subject to cronyism if not more, or unable to prevent abuses. 1343105219 The song “Ted Haggard Is Completely Heterosexual” is the one that introduced Roy’s music to me. Following the controversial news of the illustrious evangelist Ted Haggard’s homosexuality and crystal meth use, and the initial cover-up and denial, Roy explained the situation in song. It is noteworthy that the highly influential pastor had consistently taken positions against gay marriage, and other homosexual rights issues. He has also been known to have hosted a weekly phone call with President George W. Bush, though this situation changed abruptly. As Roy explains in the song... (video included)\n\nRoy has reworked the song before, to apply to similar situations as they made the news. I’m thinking this song is just waiting for a new version… something about a certain part of the government being completely heterosexual. (*cough cough* US Military *cough cough*) But then again, maybe he’s sick of that song since it is 3 years old now. Either way, we are in for a treat. 1298983581 Indeed. What I meant is that although the Vatican employs scientists, the Vatican's opinion itself is not of interest, since it is not a scientific organization and may or may not have scientific views on various topics (they tend to adapt their beliefs to science somehow nowadays, it still doesn't make them a scientific organization). The scientists themselves may have good reasons to be listened to however.\n\nBut I mostly agree with your conclusion. 1343082795 why so short? 1348281888 Note to poster:\n\nDo keep us updated on the analysis once it comes back from the Uni. 1328127954 a feel-bad thread! i feel too sad to upvote now. sorry.\n\nactually, i'm not quite sure this belongs here and not on r/dae. 1335653540 I absolutely do not wish to be inflammatory, but based on my own (anecdotal) observations, Hinduism is the most backwards of all the major institutionalized religions. \n\nI have spent time in India on a few occasions. I had a PhD chemist (a friend of mine) show me around his village. There, they have a rock that is apparently growing every year - it is a religious miracle. I asked him if anyone measures its mass to confirm this; I asked what size this rock should be if it has been growing for thousands of years; I asked about the conservation of mass; he did not care - it was growing. \n\nOn a different trip, I was taken to see a clock that never needs to be wound (another miracle). I asked what the door in the clock house was for, my guide apparently had never considered it. \n\nHindus, it seems, to not believe only in miracles that happened thousands of years ago, or that God cured the sick - they believe in things you could *easily* disprove if you wanted to. They don't care. Its scary stuff. 1335030753 Entering ketosis is dangerous and should be avoided. There is gobs of science to back this up. It's akin to suggesting that one get scurvy to drop a few pounds.\n\nThe paleo diet advocates reducing fruit consumption and Carb rich tubers. Where you're going to get carbs from is a mystery.\n\nBecause there are different opinions on the matter, doesn't mean they are equal. This is the same argument we have with climate change deniers "there are some scientists who deny it", but the vast majority do not.\n\nIt is entirely possible that they are mistaken, it is not however likely. 1327418234 That's skinny bob to you mister. 1319165427 I don't think it was a non sequitur at all. That quote was given as an example of what Putnam sees as a possible solution to the diversity tension his study found.\n\nWhite Americans used to divide themselves along religious lines, just as Americans still divide themselves across racial or ethnic lines. Over his lifetime, he has noticed that the religious differences have faded from the public consciousness; white Methodists, Baptists, Catholics, etc now consider each other as part of the same group — whites, or at least white Christians[1].\n\nSimilarly, if people stopped considering racial differences a social differentiator, the "diversity challenge" of a mutli-racial society fades away. Putnam hypothesizes that this is one possible solution, but expects it to be more difficult than the religious divisions he mentioned.\n\n[1] Remember that "Christian" as an overarching term for all the various denominations of Christianity is a new thing. Protestants didn't always consider themselves coreligionists with each other, certainly not with Catholics, and absolutely not with Jews — but today we speak of Judeo-Christian values as a real thing. The old divisions and tensions have faded. 1356762934 Context makes your comment irrelevant. 1355362597 Nah, I haven't seen it, as I don't watch a whole lot of movies, but I get why you did it now. Also, I'm not afraid of acknowledging the truth at all. I just like to be sure it's the truth. 1315880175 Very scary. Our cat Truffles had died a few weeks prior to me waking up in the night feeling as if she was walking around my bed and rubbing on me. I never opened my eyes but I reached out to pet her and she definitely felt as if she was dead and had been decaying for quite awhile. Matted missing fur, and boney cold skin. I was so scared I then shot strait up to find no cat there. I always figured it was more of an old hag night terror than my poor cat actually trying to terrify me. But who knows... cats are strange. 1352414298 My older brother had shingles, that week was hell for him. 1329667860 That's not how I remember it. 1326799168 This is the most convincing UFO footage I have ever seen. 1246923992 You are right, but arguing with a magical fairyland isn't really a good good position. And that's what muddy_shoes is saying.\n\nIf you have something tangible, by all means, bring it to the discussion. If you have indicators, that GM can actually "end world hunger, reduce animal cruelty, AND taste good.", show me the evidence. But so far, all the evidence is wishes and dreams. 1325937674 Never. 1352902714 I would say the same of you.\n\nI have not personally, but I had a behavioral psychology lecturer[behavioral psych does a lot of animal experimentation] speak at length about the reason chickens are never used for conditioning experiments. They don't readily condition. They're incredibly thick. Pigeons, on the other hand, are very perceptive.\n\nAlso read the article, this thing was relying on its brain stem alone. That's reflex. Call them sophisticated reflexes if you want. 1314994827 People are so enamored with SHC that it's nearly impossible to convince the believers otherwise. 1317100145 Is he stoned? 1297596937 yea totally, it makes me think, "damn I hope all the evil alien overlords aren't into peeling skin and jacking organs" 1259472288 Thank's Kenchu for this videos...and i'm absolutly sure this is not what i have see this night...( not the same way to move, sound, color ... ) 1330775502 I was employed there for about 5 to 6 years. I can confirm that a lot of this is misleading or untrue. Although, I will admit that sometimes it just comes down to individual store management.\n\nThe location I worked at didn't give a shit about the environment (Recycling? Reduce? Reuse? Hahaha), treated it's employees like crap, supported the Whole Body "doctors" giving medical advice and pushing snake oil, had poor standards for auditing and food labeling. And gain-sharing usually amounted to 50 bucks a month unless you worked in Whole Body. The cashiers were shit on, a lot, by everyone... but apparently the girls hanging out in the back corner of the store tossing homeopathic pills and oregano oil at anyone who stopped by deserved 10 times the gain sharing. Oh, and that food education they offered was either "green" propaganda or thinly veiled advertising for products.\n\nTheir 15 minutes of fun classes were often used to push anti-nuclear, anti-vaccination and other shitty opinions on gullible employees too afraid to ever question anything. What an awful place that was. 1349243867 well it's a good point. i should've said the *evidence* is legit. while the *circumstances* are deceiving. i agree though. i personally don't give a fuck that it's filmed over multiple nights. i just wish they'd be honest about that aspect. 1336360925 This seems like a perfect video for r/skeptic: [Video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5-kbzAR6FU) 1332455106 look more into astral projection if you are saying the subconscious remembered 1343973070 Hope, we must have. Just look at the evolution of public opinion about the subject, compared to 20,30 years ago. 1329419722 If by "depressing," you mean "hilarious," then yes, yes it is. 1352908786 It also had nothing to do with rebecca watson, so this whole thing is just a cry for attention. 1310367740 It's also not really an example of DIY science. The doctors who investigated H. pylori did so in a real research program. 1328369637 Definitely crazy people. Unfortunately here is your bigger problem\n\n>**Boss** tries to tell me that it's "Proven science", and that I know nothing.\n\nIgnorant people in power still have power. If you choose to do anything about their ignorance please do it very gradually and carefully. They've already shown they are subject to confirmation bias and confrontations can easily become more about emotions and status than fact vs. fiction. Should you choose to quickly prove them wrong they will not be happily enlightened, they will be forced to grudgingly accept they've been in error for years. If you don't play it right you might not only push them further into belief but reduce your effectiveness (or even lose your job) and so condemn them to this stupidity for another 15 years or more.\n\ntl;dr Attack this foolishness slow and smart, don't lose your job. You're the only hope to resolve this little gathering of ignorance. 1350828399 More that they can make you do things that you wouldn't ordinarily do in real life, for a time after the game. Speaking personally, I can go along with that - way back when Midtown Madness (anyone remember that one?) came out, I caught myself driving more aggressively if I had to drive somewhere immediately after playing the game. \n\nI'll note that I did not bounce up on sidewalks and try to mow down pedestrians, or crash through shopping malls, or fishtail around corners trying to run away from the cops, however. \n\nThe point is that the idea that games can nudge behavior one way or another for a brief time after playing them is not entirely without merit. However, taking this to mean that if someone plays a FPS, they're more likely to go out and shoot up a school, is a very large departure from logic. \n\nI tend to agree with EffectThatAffect that games might influence people who already have mental problems, but that's more an indictment of our country's attitude toward and access to mental health care than it is of the video game industry. Anyone who's insanity is dangerous enough that a simple video game can convince them to kill a classroom full of children is someone who should have been detected, treated, and/or institutionalized for the protection of society. \n\nSo in short, even if violent video games can influence mentally ill people toward mass murder, blaming the video game is stupid. Blame the fact that the dangerously insane person is able to roam freely through society rather than get the treatment they need.\n 1356032182 Wisdom from the strangest of places here on reddit. 1330995768 I think I'm agreeing with you but after your post it's hard to say. 8-). My point was to emphasize convincing when the opposite side has some evidence (which is obviously not convincing). However, I feel an expert in some subject has the right to use the term valid as only they can evaluate it from a valid/invalid point of view.\n\nAnd I'll disagree with your last point because the evidence for health effects has in almost all cases been show to be invalid, improper or inadequate. Common sense would make one find widespread evidence of illness considering the widespread nature of power lines rather than the isolated clusters that seem to be factors of chance rather than real health effects. 1313018478 The whole thing can be summed up in a sentence:\n\nPeople like to believe they are special and live in a magical world, science denies these fantasies. 1332734176 I couldn't even listen to it. It's so fucking awkward. 1292956658 THEN WHO WAS PHONE?! 1331428789 Haven't his conclusions been pretty much universally derided by the scientific community? The fact that this charlatan is still able to find a forum annoys me to no end. 1353964786 Yeah, that was my thinking. The Beatles were revolutionary, Bieber is far from it. 1329079121 One major issue is the layer of air he quotes would be approximately he same temperature as the human body, which is warmer than the room (for the figures given). That means that the flow of 'hot' air would still cool the body, and so not result in fan death. 1341988124 This was a misleading title. You can do better buddy. 1345252200 I had raiki and i saw a shit load of colour no idea what was going on but it was probably heat related 1354212621 Exactly. In the article it mentions Perry, a serious contender for the GOP nomination, who openly and broadly denies evolution, yet it doesn't mention anyone running for the Dems who openly and broadly condemn vaccinations. \nThe article does a very good job of attempting to tie things together, but the fact that vaccination compliance is lower in areas with Whole Foods, and that areas with whole foods supported Obama does not mean that Obama is anti-vaccination 1316799401 Next step: Why on earth would posting some random factoid (even if true) on FB make you rich? 1303938629 Taken in conjunction with [Asimov's essay](http://chem.tufts.edu/AnswersInScience/RelativityofWrong.htm) on the relativity of wrong it works well.\n\nEven if things are absolutely black or white, it doesn't mean that they're all equally wrong. For example, the predictions for an eclipse that will occur in a few hundred years might be off by a few seconds at most, but just because it might be to 100% spot on, doesn't mean that astrology is now on equal footing. 1267718012 First, apply a little skeptical inquiry into your assumption that it's possible that any study could be devised that would sway your inlaws. 1324907113 Was one way a lot more downhill/uphill than the other? 1329597174 You'll find allot of people pushing woo will seem very nice and helpful and spend lots of time with their patients. It's one of the many tricks in their bag. If you had a baby sitter that served you well but out of the blue offered your kids heroin would you keep her around ? \n 1311371775 I would love to take a trip to a hotspot sometime. Seeing a true UFO is a life changing experience. And even if we don't see one, we'd still get some really good stargazing in. I have been lucky enough to see some very unexplainable lights in the sky, but alas, I was alone so I have no one to talk about it with. 1321386540 At this point, anyone talking about mercury in vaccines should make you smack your forehead. It's largely a scare tactic and is utterly outdated (except for trace quantities, [mercury/thimerosal hasn't been in routine childhood vaccines since 2001](http://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/Concerns/thimerosal/thimerosal_timeline.html)). There has been no corresponding change in autism diagnosis rates, so the mercury hypothesis is effectively dead. Anyone still forwarding you emails about it is peddling a particularly outdated brand of wack-a-loonery. All the "cutting edge loons" are now on to blaming nondescript toxins or attacking the 200 year old science of vaccination itself.\n\nAnd, yes, there is still thimerosal in some flu vaccinations. However, as others have said, it is about the same mercury exposure you'd get from a tuna sandwich. Anyone claiming this quantity would violate EPA exposure/safety guidelines (another popular chorus for email fowards) is simply wrong or bad at math.\n\nWelcome to r/skeptic! May evidence guide your inquiries! 1262984675 I wasn't defending the mod specifically because I didn't read the discussion in detail, but in general I do think if a space if defined to be safe and you don't follow the rules, it's a good reason for a ban. 1347381316 If I were you I'd put all your money down on "TELLING THE TRUTH".\n\n 1339607404 yes, and its quite paranormal 1351714355 Think about 200 years ago having someone come back from today saying that people all over the world talk to each other through using a plastic, rubber, glass-type thing they call "cell phones".\n\nYou know, like a cell in a microscope.\n\nIt would have sounded insane. 1316612428 >I knew the homeopathy levels of **delusion** were ridiculous but I didn't realise they were this bad - How is this even possible? \n\nFTFY 1291306737 The problem with this is that whether something is real is a different matter to whether we believe it. If there was a little corner of our brain that was somehow plugged in to direct knowledge of whether things were true or not and ensured we *couldn't* belief false things, it wouldn't be an issue. But in fact, we're confined to determining such things from evidence, reasoning or whatever epistemology we use. \n\nAs such, there's a real need for vocabulary to describe not only what's real, but what we **think** is real - because there's always the potential for those things to differ. Something being real or not is independent of whether I **believe** it is real, except that I (wanting by beliefs to positively correlate with reality) wish to believe it if and only if it is real.\n\nSo "real" or "fact" is talking about something different - a property of the territory rather than the map. In describing our own model of the state of the world, "belief" is still an entirely relevent and applicable word. If you say "evolution is real", then unless you're lying it is an accurate statement to say "ZootKoomie believes in evolution". 1309348449 Some places are like that. Our old farm house is the same way. It surprises me to watch shows about the paranormal and hear investigators say they went investigating for a year before ever getting a single word. The first time we went we got several and that wasnt our super haunted house. All I meant was that it is possible to have problems. 1341503681 I thought Reiki was the hand waving one?\n 1324556666 Happened to me once, but overnight. My mum woke me up in the morning, and I was confused, as I'd literally just closed my eyes. I don't doubt I just fell asleep, but it was very creepy, I was quite young at the time. 1326556464 Hey, hard to argue with her, she's right, you know. Is she psychic? Of course not. Does she know she's merely entertainment, and some people believe she's real? Of course. She's found a market that makes money, and she's taking it.\n\nI wouldn't be upset with her, I'd be upset with the OSC for knowing all of this, and using her to make money. Look at the top folks for bad policy, not middle management. 1292079873 where I'm from, my state (the little one) is the only one in the region that uses "jimmies" over sprinkles. Apparently, jimmies is a racially-charged word everywhere else. Gotten bad looks for it, and have reformed my ways since college out of state. 1331729014 [Caltrops](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caltrop) thrown by ninjas. 1343835953 It is almost exactly the opposite of acupuncture. Acupuncture says "your mind and body will change because I'm doing something silly with needles" but hypnosis says "your mind will change because I'm telling you to change it." \n\nNotice that what aupuncture says isn't true. The needles aren't important. What hypnosis says *is* true. The patient is responding to being told how to feel.\n\nHypnosis is essentially pure, unadulterated woo. Placebo that's *labelled* as placebo. Nazi rallies were hypnosis with a different label. Speaking in tongues is hypnosis with a new label. Spirit-mediums, reiki, Transcendental Meditation... It's all hypnosis.\n\nMesmerism is bullshit, though. It's the original dishonest label for hypnotism. 1298875215 > Based upon who recorded the video\n\nWho recorded it? All I see on the video description is this:\n\n"The witness wanted to remain anonymous but did mention he was with two friends."\n\n> and where it came from...its not likely these people have those kinds of resources.\n\nCanada? I'm pretty sure they have computers in Canada. These days all it takes is a personal computer and some inexpensive software to fake something like [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfqDVP_0O0c). 1341379500 Funny story: I was looking through your post history and noticed something that made this whole conversation make sense:\n\nShrooms.\n\nYeah, explains why you have a slightly twisted sense of reality. 1337533424 This is kinda Off tOpic but do you live in ohio cause i saw a black lab named jack up gor sale once 1344105932 Happy Reddit birthday, sir! 1305230298 I should do my homework next time I witness a recurring loophole at my job. i asked around and all I got was that a principle in the 60s had a heart attack and passed away in his office, but I feel like that is either unrelated or just a rumor to scare 2nd graders. 1354123019 It's not the first I have heard of a second crash at Roswell, but it this account varies a lot from the other I have heard, so both are pretty useless. 1344271989 It's on the right under the ladder 1356196479 The stuff on Project Blue Beam is as hilarious as ever.\n\n> "The use of telepathic hypnosis also holds great potential. This capability could allow agents to be deeply planted with no conscious knowledge of their programming. In movie terms, the Manchurian Candidate lives, and does not even require a telephone call. 'Other mind-to-mind induction techniques are being considered. If perfected this capability could allow the direct transference of thought via telepathy from one mind or group of minds to a select target audience. The unique factor is that the recipient will not be aware that thought has been implanted from an external source. He or she will believe the thoughts are original."\n\nSo, if that technology existed **how could you fight it**?\n\nAnswer - You couldn't - there would be no way that you could avoid being co-opted, so why would anyone bother?\n\nI love how it mentions that the guy's kids were "kidnapped" from his house by the government. Yes, this normally happens when the kids are being raised by a crazy person! 1326385518 She was a *hell-beast* let loose *upon this earth by satan* to *lower the standard.* 1356158496 Fear does crazy things to people, so it seems like it would take a clinician to sort out whether there is a mental illness or if this is a fear-based reaction (granted, emotional distress could be a clinical issues as well).\n\nValidating the fear being expressed (i.e., "I can see that you are extremely anxious/afraid of the effects of [insert lunacy here]") and then offering to get help with/for her might make a difference, but yeah, this seems to run very deep. It's a shame. 1342384737 Still leaves open the question, how is it a voice message? This means that they called you, not that they answered your phone. \n\nIt makes no sense. 1323533258 That noise you just heard was their head getting firmly planted in the sand. 1279661826 Possibly because he meant 'chaff' ... see Krlll's reply below\n\n 1347654174 One of the reasons I won'y discount it as a hoax (and I know: the rest of you can't apply this measurement) - at least one or two within the relatively small social space that is Adelaide on the internet claim to have seen this. These individuals are only a few hops away in my social network.\n\nNow as to if it's flares; as others suggest in this comment thread - that's reasonably plausible.\n\n 1317034348 I tend to think in absolutes, so I think that either:\n\nA: We are worth preserving.\n\nor\n\nB: We are not worth destroying. 1352834137 Go watch Grave Encounters for tips. 1354800765 Oh, I know they mess up both. But if it's down to taking your meds or making rather minor mods to your diet, it's kind of a toss up which does more. I'm sure it's hell on wheels for MDs - every time I've used their services (not often) for me or my kids they're always surprised at how well everything went and completely amazed that I actually did exactly what they to do. Even simple stuff like "You're kid has a broken foot. Make sure this cast stays on, don't stay on it more than an hour a day or so. Might wanna make sure calcium stays up" = "You have one hour. I'll set you up with video games, computers, etc but one hour shall be the time your foot doth move. I will give you these calcium supplements in the morning with your multivitamin. Don't worry, they're chewy and taste like chocolate". 1319509248 > UFO ~~sightings~~ reports\n\nFTFY\n\nAnd the answer is yes. 1337933416 The Hessdalen Phenomenon is a must. 1312128140 But it's not real. The ending looks cg. Why no audio? The bird has to fly in frame and he zooms in right before it zips away. Also why would two of the dots merge and not the third one? I'm a big fan of UFO stories this was a nice try. I agree about pointing at the ground after being to fast. I video that spot for hours if I had to. Who know if it will come back? 1267734556 I said it wasn't a conspiracy if it was true. It doesn't take conspiring. It just takes facts. I'm not saying it is a conspiracy-- I am claiming wrong-doing by large corporations. Simple facts. 1294974594 This is the example I have heard of. I did a little poking around and found [this \\(cached\\) article](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:vqIoVt87T3oJ:https://www.ecs.umass.edu/index.pl%3Fid%3D5961+&cd=8&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us) from UMass's website, which refers to Temple Grandin's article about hugging machines and cattle chutes. 1329694983 I'd never consider Cracked as a reliable source for facts, at least they link to the sources, and make it entertaining. The don't LIE about their articles. 1335063398 Emphasis on appropriately planned. I hear of B12, iron, and vitamin D being the more commonly "low" values from vegan diets.\n\nIn my experience, many vegans don't have much planning in their diets, it's more of a "is it vegan?" metric applied to food. In being in a relationship with a vegetarian for a couple years, her diet was weighted heavily towards chips, soda, and things like pancakes. I've met others with better diets of course.\n\nThe hormone reasoning alone isn't a particularly good one for going vegan (as noted above), but really you should be carefully managing a child's diet either way. 1343051768 i shot a naturally occurring stick from a naturally occurring tree into a naturally occurring squirrel once when i was very young. I did use a non-natural bow. \n\nI'm sure the squirrel was comforted. I cried. I was pretty young and didn't realize it should have been an organic bow 1342146214 Very true. 1319574961 Very true. 1347634211 Very true. 1301915583 Very true. 1315530411 Very true. 1332636849 That's really creepy haha. Could you hear the voices live or only on the tape? 1355875756 Yes, because it's impossible to punch them in the face properly online. 1326695018 Explain this: http://i.imgur.com/TfBRU.jpg 1356327158 What big genetic differences though? To quote Dr Pitsaladis, from the University of Glasgow, who investigates the genetics and sports performance: "Genetic studies of elite sprinters from Jamaica and the USA have not found that these athletes possess a unique genetic diversity among ethnic groups. It is unjustified, therefore, to regard ethnic differences in sporting success as genetically determined; to justify doing so one must identify the genes that are important. Until now, that has proven elusive". In addition to that, if it were just down to genes, where are, say, the Brazilian sprinters? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/100_metres#Olympic_medalists 1345052701 At least I try to back up my statements with sources. Your only effort seems to be an echoing rejection of everything. 1344370657 Ugh drug use to unlock hidden skills in the human mind. If these rituals worked off anything other than group delusion then the chemicals would have been synthesized to make sime form of designer deug. 1344687744 But they're *not* rational about what they've already convinced themselves is true. For example...I live in a murder house. I bought it from the estate of the murdered owners. I've lived here for over ten years and never experienced anything that I ever thought for one instant was any sort of supernatural occurrence. \n\nWhen woo-gullible people visit that do NOT know it's a murder house, they don't mention anything out of the ordinary. When woo-gullible people visit that DO know it's a murder house, all of a sudden there's mention of 'cold spots' and 'unusual noises' and lights turning off and on by themselves, all of which I know is not real, and which were never experienced by them until they actually found out there had been a murder here.\n\nThe mind is an incredibly suggestible thing, and irrational "experiences" like this can be contagious to others. 1343133081 we need whistle blowers with evidence. I've always wondered what the president had to sign behind closed doors after being sworn in. It seems that the smile and satisfaction after inauguration day quickly dissolves to some very advanced aging within the first year. Clinton was drastically so. It would be hard to blow the whistle knowing that not only is your life in danger but that of your family and loved ones as well. 1343539506 As a vegan, I am exuberantly in favor of it being developed & produced. While I believe the ethical & environmental arguments for veganism are compelling, I'm not so naive to think that the majority of the human race will come around any time soon. People are still worshipping imaginary deities, after all. \n\nBut once available, it should allow for an industrial shift, and reduce barriers to getting real animals legal protections. For example, you can't beat your dog, but you can chop up a pig or cow after confining it painfully for months or years. If you can buy vat-grown beef or ham, then there's less justification to deny the same level of protection to the animals.\n\nHowever, would I *eat* it? Probably not. Not out of ethical objection, but an aesthetic one. 22 years without eating meat, the stuff is just disgusting to me.\n 1288039457 Yeah, I suppose it's inherent in the subject matter. 1348359178 Can I blame all my mistakes on "glitches"? So, if I get a question wrong on a test, it's because it used to be right but it changed? 1331332957 A few. \n\n[The Lancet retracts Andrew Wakefield’s article](http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=3716)\n\n[The Wakefield Factor](http://briandeer.com/wakefield-deer.htm) by Brian Deer, the journalist who did the most to expose Andrew Wakefield. \n\n[MMR doctor Andrew Wakefield fixed data on autism](http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article5683671.ece)\n\n[Brian Deer discusses Andrew Wakefield’s “autistic enterocolitis” in the BMJ](http://leftbrainrightbrain.co.uk/2010/04/brian-deer-discusses-andrew-wakefields-autistic-enterocolitis-in-the-bmj/). \n\nOr, you could just google Wakefield. He's hardly unknown, and his disgrace has been big news for a while now. 1274321260 The behavior of the Tall Whites reminds me of a combination of American Indians (speed, ability to track), Russians (love of children), and the Mongols (warlike qualities.) 1327844872 I've always thought he looks like Charles Darwin, looks like I'm not the only one xD. And now Randi knows too :P. 1245694716 Isn't that what applied science is for? :D 1271873528 Um....I think you're in the wrong subreddit.... 1355545222 >You were implicitly making the argument that your claims about Carl Sagan were true.\n\nBecause I am convinced that they are.\n\nYou think I should write the opposite????\n\n>That you weren't trying to convince me they were true isn't relevant\n\nOf course it is.\n\n>the actual veracity of the claims is.\n\nDude... get over yourself already.\n\nAs I said... go plop a picture of Carl Sagan up, light votive candles to his scientific perfection all you want...\n\nI couldn't care less.\n\n---\n\nBTW, it was YOU who initiated the "not to contribute to the idolization of Carl Sagan" -- yet ever since then you have done nothing BUT idolize him.\n\nIronic that. 1353543577 These guys are actually well respected in their field, and they aren't trying to sell you anything. They are *actually* on a quest to discover the origins of consciousness, and don't claim to know all the answers or even that their theory is correct. 1351702517 Some of the pendants would make really pretty necklaces. 1328553192 sweet, I totally forgot about the sole in my freezer! 1296766612 You speak as if you assume I don't believe in UFO phenomenon, well its been 60 years since Roswell and yet no exposure so either the coverup is very well executed or these kinds of sightings are basically filing the perpetual need for people to create a narrative thats alluring to them.\n\nI read Leslie Keans book, to be honest I'm surprised she attached her name to this flimsy "evidence" I preferred [Mirage Men](http://www.amazon.com/Mirage-Men-Mark-Pilkington/dp/1845298578/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1331826210&sr=8-2) in order to gain a fresh perspective 1331826328 I'm not a 9/11 conspiracy theorist by any means, but here's a question: if it was an inside job, and if it wasn't perfectly executed, how would it look? Wouldn't we see exactly what we've been seeing? Wouldn't it be called out by a group of hawk-eyed, vociferous, pesky citizens? Wouldn't the conspirators try to silence them?\n\nIn other words, if goofball conspiracy theorists look identical to smart citizen activists, how do we know when to believe them and when to dismiss them? 1305815240 Checking around further it seems that at the time he was heavily criticised by scholars and seems to have faded into obscurity, I can't manage to find much of that criticism though. In general I can only seem to find crank websites supporting his claims.\n\nIt doesn't look like there is anything to it.\n\nIt is also an unnecessary hypothesis to explain the origin of a religion. Humans are superstitious enough without drugs. Certainly Christians these days don't need to use drugs to maintain belief. Furthermore, even if it was true, so what?! So a major religion originated along with the use of a psychedelic mushroom? Even if that were true, it would have no bearing upon the truth value of the claims made by Christianity. 1355820345 AH, /r/skeptic. Everything has to be about how dumb homeopathy is. 1351003223 meat is good, fruity pebbles are better with milk 1328485914 Not if you poke the fork tines through all the rings and stack em up and then eat them! Easily the most fun way to eat spaghettios. 1350493292 The ghost wants to do a reddit "IAMA Ghost Communicating Through A Ouija Board" thread. 1322098894 To hell with that. Oranges make everything better. 1309372304 YEAH! whatwhat?! 1350652543 You can't heat blood for transfusions over a certain temperature. Since microwaves do not heat evenly, if you put blood in there, pockets would be hot and pockets would be cool. When you take it out and mix it, it would all be the correct temperature, but you would have damaged the blood that got too hot. I assume that this is what happened to the alleged patient that died from a microwaved blood transfusion.\n\nAnyone who thinks that microwaves are evil and going to kill us all with their protein-modified food is pretty much nuts.\n\nThere are arguments that it "alters" the food somehow. All it does is heat it. In fact, in most cases, it can't even heat it above the temperature of boiling water. Frying or baking does more damage to the food than microwaves. (Browning, crisping, all the things that make food tasty, are less healthy than microwaved food. But hey, they're delicious, right?)\n\nThere is no evidence to back up their claims. 1333025146 They do. Most of them do now. The difference, though, is that with cell phones you aren't allowed to use autodialers. You have to manually dial everything. It's kind of ridiculous because all that's doing is giving people repetitive motion injuries, which almost certainly costs more than a few extra calls to cell phones, but what are you gonna do? Personally, I suggest not working in a call center.\n \nWe also offered cash incentives for cell users on some studies.\n \nOne of the things you want to remember, too, is that this work is contracted. The CDC doesn't go do the legwork themselves, and neither does Pew. They design an instrument and they hand it to roughly a thousand people to play with. Many of those people *suck*. Miscoding was rampant at a few of the other places. Ours was pretty good, but I wrote a *lot* of problem sheets about people miscoding and fabricating stuff. Faking out screeners so they could get into the body with *whoever was cooperative* regardless of whether or not they met the criteria, stuff like that. I've heard of people faking whole interviews. I'd imagine that increases the margin of error. 1338905405 You guys understand that this has nothing to do with UFOs but rather the unreliability of eye witness testimony and anecdotal stories right? 1312192854 Does anyone know how the authors controlled for the reliability of crime statistics? Certain crimes are more likely to be counted than others, so if the effect they identified varies in the same way it would suggest that the effect is overstated at least. 1336403909 [amazon book list](http://www.amazon.com/James-Arthur-Ray/e/B000APLKOU/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1308789492&sr=1-1) 1308789574 >"The Vatican has its own process to determine the authenticity of things."\n\n"So, Pope, what do you think of this one? Authentic?"\n\n"How are donations doing in that town?"\n\n"Meh..."\n\n"Absolutely authentic. Next?" 1356830066 From the [/r/UAP](http://www.reddit.com/r/UAP) sidebar--\n\n* [Unidentified Flying Objects, The True Story of Flying Saucers](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bGTLtdwPHM) (1956) (Edward Ruppelt and Dewey Fournet advised on the production)\n\n* [UFO: It Has Begun](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phhGSqS3Wss) (1979) (written by Robert Emenegger, researched by Dr. David Jacobs, narrated by Rod Sterling)\n\n* [Other documentaries](http://www.reddit.com/r/UAP/comments/jvf2k/other_documentaries/)\n\n* [A History of Government Management of UFO Perceptions through Film and Television](http://www.49thparallel.bham.ac.uk/back/issue25/Graham-and-Alford.pdf) (pdf)\n\n* [Video clips](http://www.reddit.com/r/UAP/comments/jtudq/video_clips) 1349206686 You're assuming that this photo was taken from a position perfectly above the paddock (crop).\n\nIt's called perspective, which is what is making it look skewed here I would think.. 1346050518 The people above this just made my life, I can die happy now 1324702864 Was your mom ok? Even though you don't hear the voice, do you notice that you can predict things that are going to happen? 1354027297 Did anyone else go to the link just because they saw a hot lady? 1323078622 My best case of this happened last year. I was trying to find a document attachment in my gmail and did a search on a keyword. In the search results was an email from over a year previous from a girl I dated very briefly when I lived on the other side of the country, in CA. I opened it and it contained a photo of her. I closed it and thought nothing of it.\n\nThe next day she sends me a friend request on facebook. Zero communication between us since we dated, and I was now living in New York. There was no connection between us, we had zero chemistry or spark and never remained in contact yet I find a photo of her and within 24 hours this woman contacts me completely out of the blue. To add more weirdness, she was coming to the city the next day for business. 1327077789 I grew up in Clearwater and have had a lot of contact with this group of people. I have worked for scientologist ad agencies in town. They are, on the whole, a sorry lot of misinformed and uneducated dupes who get suckered into classes and guilted into sticking around and donating their labor and capital to what they perceive as the greater good. Most stick around for a while, lose everything and leave looking to pick up the pieces, others get hooked for life. \n\nNo scientologist gets onto the bridge thinking the SouthPark version of the tale is true, in fact low level Scien-os will argue and plain faced tell you that's all propaganda from an unkind media/psychiatry conspiracy, they keep the origin stories and superpower secrets from you until you are properly indoctrinated. The ones who know the South Park version is actually 100% true keep their mouths shut because anything that detracts from the credibility of scientology detracts from their personal claim to superpower that cost them decades and thousands of dollars to accrue (and they probably secretly suspect its bullshit too, but its bullshit that gets them big time sway inside the scientology bubble, so it's bullshit they keep to themselves, a perpetual poker bluff) \n\nWhen you have power inside a bubble and nowhere else, guess where you stay. Low level scientologists look up to OTs like other people look up to professional athletes. \n\nI have so many stories about oddities and stupefying WTF moments interacting with scientologists its ridiculous, they are interested and believe in nearly every kind of woo you can name, every last topic on Quackwatch.org is a thing a scientologist will be into or interested in if you frame it properly. \n\n"the _authority establishment_ wants you to think_______ but _______ has known for thousands of years that the real way to _______ is ________ but _establishment authority__ is trying to supress it! "\n\nevry tyme. 1328206331 in cases like this, where it seems to be slang, urbandictionary is actually a pretty good dictionary. [second definition.](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=woo) 1340651288 Wasn't vaccination. Was [homeopathy.](http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/28/homeopathy-baby-death-couple-jailed) 1286849178 > Using a software package to highlight key words in chiropractors' websites, claims were uncovered relating to everything from haemorrhoids to hair loss, chlamydia to cancer.\n\nLike ctrl+f? 1329948779 I'm still thinking about it. My original thought was to start it with "you dumb fucks..." but now I'm thinking of doing something more expressive. 1339121790 Haha. I like Kentucky. My dad lives in Union. Cincinnati is legit, but sometimes it blows. 1340411998 As I've gotten older I let a lot more things slide, and when I do talk about them I focus more on how cool the real science is. Seems to keep people listening. 1299639691 I *knew* someone in the comments was going to trot out Isaac Newton (they always do).\n\n"Isaac Newton believed in god and he pretty smart so there!"\n\nYes, but Newton lived in a time when 'not believing in the state religion' was punishable by execution. 1328706767 Remember the good old days, when the police would hold you at gunpoint while a doctor stuck your dumb ass with a needle? It's how we killed smallpox. 1303151651 Vast amounts of documentary evidence that point to Shakespeare being "that" Shakespeare can be found in the front of any old copy of the Norton Shakespeare (or any scholarly collection of the collected works). This evidence is typically ignored by conspiracy theorists, but in reality, their hypotheses need to not only explain that evidence too, but explain it better than the conventional interpretation.\n\nAlso, who the crap would vote this down? 1325436663 New band name: Surgically Altered Russian Midgets. 1306406847 >I am immediately wary of their claim.\n\nRightfully so. Cancer is an umbrella term for many different diseases. The way they attack the body, possible treatments, likelihood of survival, & pretty much everything you can think of varies wildly. There really can't be a single response to all of them. 1342029126 Someone needs to vectorize that picture into the "Wrong again..." rage face. 1318917608 the GOP is full of stupid 1353490834 How do these people sleep? 1344768416 this sounds pretty interesting to me did go to the spot the next day to see if there was anyting there? 1327591994 No it isn't. The event and person described by reapfreak do not describe either Rebecca Watson or any other recent events. They exist purely in his mind. 1309976125 Or title AMA Request liars from a paranormal tv show...\nI'm sorry but those shows are all to fake for me.\n\n 1355518818 Damn, I had to take a second look at the author's headshot and yet I'm still suspicious... 1287472237 I was both bored and fascinated by his explanation of contact physics. 1332866498 I don't know of any literature which has specifically set out to demonstrate it in babies, but theoretically there is no reason why not. The placebo effect does not require any conscious expectation of what the result is supposed to be, as it can occur through basic classical conditioning. This is why the placebo effect works in animals, despite the fact that they have no verbal capabilities or ability to expect complex abstract consequences. \n\nThis article does a good job of summarising some of the research into the effects of classical conditioning on placebo responses: [The Placebo Effect: Dissolving the Expectancy Versus Conditioning Debate](https://www.ptsdforum.org/c/gallery/-pdf/1-42.pdf). Unfortunately, the entire premise of the article is a little flawed, presenting expectation effects and conditioning effects as if they were separate processes, so take some of their conclusions and inferences with a grain of salt. Their discussion on previous research is spot-on though. 1323997830 This is a really good post. Some valid points are made. I recommend it. 1325794809 yeah sleep paralysis can be nasty. My one encounter with sleep paralysis involved a horrible dream where a being told me "You're already dead. You just refuse to realize it." He then sent me outside to view the land which was all torn up. I started to accept what he was saying in the dream, but then I felt an intense urgency to wake up. I did wake up, and I couldn't move. The guy was standing in front of me. After I got control again I went downstairs and the front door was open. Weird. 1330524043 It's an idealist thing, It would be cool to know "Hey it's 13:30 am, that means the east coast is 135 degrees into it's rotation"\n\nEdit: btw, 9 am would be 13:30am on a base 36 clock 1314967757 I don't understand why we still need to "prove" psychics are frauds. Though, it is always fun to watch them squirm when confronted. 1270728953 I think that fact is usually indicated by a combination of the following steps:\n(a) Upvoting, and\n(b) Adding information of value or staying quiet.\n\n<3 1349599537 I wonder if they're going to find mysterious black ghost specks laying around next. 1343514951 Probably around 8. Thoughts rarely make me feel uncomfortable but for some reason this one really bothered me. 1340146304 Yes, I have. I did tarot readings for several years during college. Not to disappoint you, but I was not a believer in any supernatural sources (not to say that one does not creep oneself out from time to time).\n\nI never charged money except at fundraisers for student organizations (specifically at Halloween parties, where the entertainment atmosphere is self-evident). Owing to that, no guilt whatsoever.\n\nNow, here's the thing, tarot cards do "work" for some narrow definitions of "work."\n\nTarot cards "work" by allowing the reader to say things that would be offensive if said by a friend or stranger. When I accuse someone of cheating on a girlfriend, for example, it wasn't me "it's in the cards." The (completely mundane) information provided through a tarot reading is provided consequence-free.\n\nI never learned or utilized any formal cold-reading techniques. I didn't have to, either. People who actively seek out tarot readings are open books. They come with friends, they wish to be impressed.\n\nHere's something else tarot cards "work" at. A deck of tarot cards, if studied as though it were a novel or work of art, contains a wide variety of broad-spectrum ideas, each of which is narrow enough to be "helpful" while being broad enough to be hard to miss. Any given spread of tarot cards can apply to any situation. In this sense a tarot deck is a good self-analysis tool in the same way that a set of dice inscribed with commonly-used psychoanalysis phrases would be. That is to say, not highly effective, but moderately effective. The same moderate benefit applies to reading for others.\n\nFinally, I must add, that whenever anyone came to me as a tarot reader seeking help with serious personal problems I referred them directly to the counseling center on campus and refused to do a reading for them. This shit is for entertainment and good-humored introspection, NOT real help.\n\nNow, once a person has sat down I would require them to ask a question. Since I wasn't there to prove anything to the Amazing Randi, I shamelessly required them to provide me my first hook. I would interpret the cards honestly, but in light of their question, and most often they would draw their own conclusions and, bizarrely, attribute those insights to me. I can't really explain why it is that subjects so willingly count everything as a hit, especially when one refuses to voice a question and I simply spent twenty minutes explaining the meaning and context of the cards and positions to them while they silently bug-eye at me in astonishment.\n\nIf anyone has any questions, I'll happily answer them. I won't entertain accusations of fraud, because I never, not once, claimed supernatural powers, never accepted money outside of a charity setting, and never allowed a person to take advice from a deck of cards about things that require counselors or psychiatrists. Also, any questions you ask me won't be answered until tomorrow night. A man has to work. 1350879014 [well then](https://encrypted-tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRN1_c4ncFjMrZZoZXlugkwcj3FGHQMvdsaa18BNE-Y2WWm03VB) 1336239215 >So while you're partially right, he's not outright saying that Watson fought off an elevator rapist, but he's strongly hinting that elevator rapists strike a lot and Watson was in potential danger.\n\nWell, let's go to the *whole* tape, and not just a selected quote presented out of context:\n\n>It started with a fairly straightforward story about a clueless man putting a woman in an uncomfortable situation.\n\n..\n\n> This man may have had nothing but noble intentions, but that doesn’t matter. \n\nI think with clarifications like that, it's difficult to interpret his comment as arguing that this situation was 'narrowly avoided rape'. The entire article is framed from the perspective that Watson was in, where she had no idea whether this guy was a nice guy or not, and how this makes it reasonable for her to protect her own safety. \n\nSo I don't think it's fair to describe his article as discussing a "narrowly avoided rape", as it quite clearly is focused on the real concerns women have about potential rapes and assaults.\n\n>My problem is with female skeptics saying that men don't understand that they're scared of rapists and because they're men, they don't understand how easily they can be threatening. We understand they're scared but there's only so much we can do to soothe their fears if they choose to be afraid in every situation and condescendingly tell us that we just don't get it is not the way to communicate with us.\n\nThe point is that men don't understand. We have some indication, and we can try to understand it from our own perspective, but at the end of the day we'll never actually know what it's like to be constantly aware of our surroundings, fearing turning our backs on strangers who look like reasonable and nice people, etc etc. \n\nInstead of complaining that it's condescending to be told you don't understand and that there's "only so much we can do", why not just try to take the time to appreciate their concerns and treat them as valid issues? There's no need to dismiss or diminish them on the basis of their factuality makes you feel sad.\n\n>Like I said, her original post was not at all problematic and Dawkins sounded like an ass. It's doubling down on the hyperbole by her fans that's the problem. I've been clear about this since comment one.\n\nBut I still don't understand how the hyperbole from her fans caused you to change your position on Watson's concerns. Were you initially judging her concerns on the basis of how her fans responded to her, and when they changed their approach then you did too?\n\nWhy not just judge Watson's position and concerns on the basis of what she says?\n\n>No, there isn't.\n\nOf course there is. The first is a judgement of other people, the second is a description of someone's feelings and perspective.\n\n>We can all live in fear of someone bigger than us can attack us and do horrible things to us.\n\nAnd if you, in your dodgy neighbourhood, were careful about pulling your wallet out when in close proximity to strangers, or got jumpy when someone followed you down a dark alleyway, then that would be entirely reasonable. It would be fucking ridiculous for someone to listen to your concerns and fears and say: "Can't you just judge these people based on who they are? Why make judgements about them before knowing them?!". \n\n>Hardly. You would just be making yourself paranoid and frightened when the probability of you being stabbed are statistically insignificant.\n\nYou're just talking shit now. You would be absolutely comfortable with a complete stranger standing around with a knife? You'd just figure that maybe he was a chef and he was on his way to work with his own tool kit or something? \n\nFuck no. If someone has a knife you don't give a shit whether he volunteers at a children's hospital and cured all diseases - you stay at least 2m out of reach. If he comes up to hug you, you back away. \n\n>This is the germ of the same argument used by conceal-and-carry advocates. Why should they open themselves up to risk? Maybe it's a good idea to carry a gun, you know, just in case of trouble?\n\nFalse analogy. People carrying guns increase risk and can accidentally hurt other people, whereas leaving your details with a friend before a date or not turning your back on a stranger in an elevator has no such repercussions. \n\n>But it is. I don't know any man who takes someone on a first date to some secluded forest rather than a coffee shop or a popular restaurant.\n\nBut we do know many men who don't see a problem with propositioning a woman in an elevator. Or coming by their place of work when they say they don't want to date them, in an attempt to convince them otherwise. Or putting their arms around girls they don't know, etc.\n\n>But the discussion goes beyond that, down to how far away we should stand from a woman, how loud we are to speak to her, how we are to look at her for the first time, how we are to walk towards her, etc.\n\nThe first is obviously uncontroversial - nobody can be annoyed at the fact that standing too close to people is creepy and disturbing. I haven't heard anything about how loud to speak, but the way you look at her (leering at their boobs for an entire conversation is creepy) and the way you approach her (don't come up from behind) are, again, uncontroversial and nobody can be annoyed at that.\n\n>They do, but we're applying the Schrodinger's Rapist logic and grading them on a scale of how gold-diggery they are just by the fact that they're women.\n\nBut the whole point of the Schrodingers Rapist logic is that the existence of this fear compels us to behave in different ways to accommodate the fears of these people. Women already do this, so I don't see what the problem is. \n\n>This is usually when the men go "wait a minute... something's not right here."\n\nIn such cases the emotional coercion is a problem and I think it would be fair to do your own PSA on how women need to understand the concerns and fears of men by letting them wear condoms if they want to. \n\nAgain, the difference I think is that the vast majority of women would be in agreement making the announcement a little redundant, whereas with the Schrodinger's Rapist situation, many men still don't understand the problem - *why should I change my behavior? not all men are rapists! they're just overreacting. I fear getting mugged too but I don't treat all people as muggers! etc etc.* \n\n>That's so very telling. Men can have a privileged viewpoint which is why they don't understand [blank]. Women can't have a privileged viewpoint, therefore [assumptions about a problem men deal with rather than women]. Do you see what you're doing here?\n\nYes, I'm using the term "privilege" correctly, whereas you seem to be interpreting it as "perspective". \n\nPrivilege is the unearned advantage that people receive for belonging to what is considered "normal" (i.e. white, male, able-bodied, straight, etc). It's impossible for a woman to be privileged because they aren't what is considered the norm - i.e. they aren't male. (They can of course be privileged in other ways, like being straight or white, but this privilege is not a result of their sex). \n\nJust because women can't be privileged does not imply that they understand everything about men, or their concerns, or can make assumptions about their experiences. Women have no idea on what it is like to be the privileged group in terms of sex, so they won't be able to fully understand the experience of men. \n\n>Terrific, but again, I think you missed the point. I was being sarcastic and using post-modernist terminology to turn the argument on its head.\n\nExcept your failure to understand the term you were using resulted in you making a nonsensical comment, rather than turning the argument on its head.\n\n>No, not always. Otherwise you wouldn't have cases where women get pregnant by lying about birth control and then demanding child support or marriage when the man finds out. Have you really never heard of this sort of thing happening or do you live in a region where all women are saints?\n\nYou're severely missing the point here. Everybody agrees that any woman that does that is a scumbag - men and women. If someone says, "Hey, I don't think it's fair that men shouldn't be allowed to wear a condom when they want to", then practically everybody in the entire world will say, "Yeah, that's pretty shitty - anyone who tries to make you stop using one is an asshole". \n\nCompare that to the situation of women saying that they're concerned about being attacked in vulnerable situations. Do we get agreement? No, we get shitty apologetics and invalidation. We treat concerns of men in vanishingly rare and practically non-existent situations (the girl getting herself pregnant) as hugely important and talk about how we have a friend of a friend that heard of a girl that did that once, and we get all up in arms about how shitty they are. \n\nWe raise the very real, very constant, very serious concerns of women, and they basically get told to shut up. \n\n\n 1348366392 Great story, but I especially I loved that quote at the end. 1312410110 Aircraft carrier 1302567222 Now for Dr Oz to go on the skeptics guide... 1303943683 Love the fact that one of the first bits in the story is a link to purchase a book. 1354148442 You mean people actually believed this silliness? 1335360333 I am here to debunk you retards 1355301296 You need to up your comprehension skills.\n\nI never said that or even insinuated that. Elites is not synonymous with climate scientists. \n\nId appreciate it if you would not put words in my mouth. \n\nEdit: So let me get this straight, this guy completely misconstrues what I said and gets upvoted? /r/skeptic 's finest at work here lol. 1354390026 I'm unsure of how to check for carbon monoxide poisoning. 1343428672 i think it has been proven for some time now that these are fakes, and this jackass is a hoaxer. 1328167007 Love it. That was brilliant, funny and on the money. 1302273685 I don't know all the facts and i think all children should be vaccinated. But I will upvote you because you shouldn't be downvoted for stating your belief. All the people downvoting you should be ashamed. 1319284937 >He's focusing on a small subset of people who will believe anything that fits their paradigm, and is ignoring those who really have some valid questions.\n\nThe *vast* majority of questions I've seen truthers ask are invalid. What valid questions are you talking about? 1316793724 I was in so much pain last year. I really tweaked my back. \n\nTo stand up, I would sort of roll over, plant my feet on the ground, and sort of do a push up off my knee.\n\nIt got unbearable, to the point that I was considering going to a chiropractor because I knew I could see one that day, instead of waiting to get an appointment at a physio-therapy clinic and going through diagnosis etc etc.\n\n3 days later, the pain was pretty much gone. If I had broke down and gone to the chiro, I would have given him the credit for it.\n\nAs far as "adjustments" and that crap goes, it has the same success rate as doing nothing.\n\nHowever, most chiros have pretty advanced diagnostics, and if you have one leg shorter than another, or lowered arches, they're one of the best people you can see to get fitted for orthotics (besides a real doctor of course). 1322334482 What do you mean "return"? \n\nThe Mayan calendar doesn't end in 2012, it just cycles back to the beginning. That is like some future person finding one of our 12-month calendars in some ruin and thinking the world comes to an end at the end of December. It's just the end of the Long Count, and then it starts over.\n\nNothing was predicted by anyone to happen at this time. A bunch of fucking kooks in the late 20th Century grabbed hold of some half understood micro facts and spun it out of context to support their own wishful thinking and sell books.\n\nHere's what's going to happen: nothing. Except all the people on the internet who posted about all the wild stuff that will go down will all miraculously get new forum accounts. 1348317706 I'll agree with you that there is likely a correlation between lower population density and lower light pollution (in most cases) and that the lower the light pollution the more likely you will be to notice something unusual going on in the sky. As to whether that also increases the chance that what you see is an IFO.. I'm not so sure about that. But thanks for your food for thought! 1339940917 The problem with herbal medicine is a category error. There are medicines that are derived from herbs, but the herb factor is incidental. There's nothing intrinsically medicinal about herbs, and a true herbal remedy (one that isn't just an isolated molecule created by a plant) contains hundreds of other chemicals that can range from benign to toxic, mother-nature's pesticide. Thus in ascribing to herbal medicine one betrays their cultural and ideological motives, like a nostalgia for Native and mystic cultures or a belief that herbs are somehow subversive. 1303997232 I think you are right on especially about the ego driven desire to be special. I'm not theorizing that earth is the central hub of the universe, just what reasons some ETs might have to be coming other than to mess with our heads based on what information we currently have access to. \n\nWhat I'm really trying to get at maybe can be understood better using your metaphor with lightening.\n\nSomeone had to theorize where lightening was coming from if not from god for us to be able to test that hypothesis. If we don't allow for some degree of imagination we will be confined to the current perspective.\n\nI don't disagree I just think a healthy balance of skepticism and hypothesizing are important to progressing our understanding of the universe. \n\n"knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.” -A.E. 1345673882 That appears to be a study of shining LEDs on people who have had bone marrow transplants and comparing outcomes to not shining the LEDs on them, not a double-blind study that could account for the placebo affect of shining the light on them. 1327560703 It's a rigid airship! 1344961621 Ouch. My brains. It hurts. 1351800437 oh come on you philistine, that is a flawless formation 1341533898 Interesting read. Anyone know a site / page that tells of more of these kind of things? This page says it only scraped the tip of the iceberg, so I would be interested in reading more. 1335535796 I like him boasting about hunting bigfoot for 25 years. So where the hell is bigfoot already? Seriously, you can't find one in 25 years!?! 1329242421 We'll file this one with state-funded religious schools and bishops in the House of Lords I think. Just behind "Why the fuck do we still have a monarchy?". 1264441184 We'll file this one with state-funded religious schools and bishops in the House of Lords I think. Just behind "Why the fuck do we still have a monarchy?". 1264443460 That's hilarious lol what year did you graduate from Fowlerville? My cousins went there as well as a few friends 1349266696 Yeah, I was floored the first time I heard him speak at TAM6. He has a fantastic voice; I think he could be a radio presenter. It's almost a shame it is almost never heard. 1265139849 Another way I look at this is over is bachelor and under is married.\n\nMyself, I also fall into ease. 1346889918 http://www.examiner.com/article/iowa-family-reports-egg-ufo-hovering-over-nearby-power-lines 1341177917 All smoke contains carbon monoxide and particulate matter, neither of which anyone should be enthusiastic about inhaling. It's not the psychoactive ingredients in cannabis which make it dangerous to smoke, but the fact that you're burning it and inhaling the smoke. 1332817026 very cool. good find. 1333562970 I THOUGHT NO ONE WOULD NOTICE!!!!\n\nI made the whole thing, then decided to add the last 2 panels and didn't feel like going through the effort of finding the exact center/etc. I figured it bothering me was just me being too critical of myself and that it wasn't a big deal and blah blah blah.\n\nDAMN YOU IOIOOIIOIO!!\n\nEDIT:http://i.imgur.com/K97Fk.png 1337457422 *Reynolds v. United States* (1878). \n\nFreedom of religion is only extended to that which is coherent with the law. A person may not violate existing law and claim they were merely exercising their First Amendment rights. You can not kill somebody and say you were practicing your religion, or as in this case practice polygamy. 1320204060 No problem! i'm trying not to post every single thing, but good bits of info 1334170335 I live on central Long Island and I saw 5 orange lights moving around in the eastern sky last week 1342158325 These people are trying to make it sound like cooking with a microwave is equivalent to throwing in a tablespoon of uranium. As someone else mentioned, this is non-ionizing radiation, and is harmless. It's just making the water molecules hot! That's how all cooking works! 1345989183 excitement 1317963721 I totally agree with you that one study doesn't prove anything. I think the point is that it is a promising novel area of anti-cancer research. PubMed had nearly a thousand papers linking cannabinoids and cancer in some way [link](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=cannaboinoid%20and%20cancer). These are all published papers. I think to discount cannabinoid's anti-cancer promise is a bit sort sighted. (btw i'm not saying anything about chemotherapy, that's a conventional cancer treatment and comes under a different category entirely). \n\nI dont see how the autism/vaccines thing is pertinant to this. IIRC there was only one published paper showing that link and that was retracted by the author because he had falsified data. 1338585421 Always look on the bright side of DEATH! 1332459935 The future GOAT always gets my upvotes. 1338824583 Agreed. They have done more to combat AIDS than most subsaharan governments combined, and they aren't afraid to call out the powers-that-be on their bullshit. 1296813940 https://itunes.apple.com/us/itunes-u/critical-reasoning-for-beginners/id387875757\n\nI also highly recommend "Justice: what is the right thing to do"\n\nhttp://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL30C13C91CFFEFEA6&feature=plcp 1353404208 When did this become about stand up comics? You specifically said comedian. 1337368763 Here's author Jim Spellman's [twitter](http://twitter.com/#!/jimspellmancnn) account if you have something to say to him. I sure do. 1305857344 It's amazing me how this thing is getting weirder and weirder with time...still intriguing me. 1340294544 > American's are spoiled.\n\nAmerican is are spoiled?\n\nAlright, in all seriousness, the favoring of breast meat over other parts of the chicken is silly. The breast meat is simply the largest piece of clean meat (i.e. with no bone or other kind of tissue in the middle) of the bird, which is why those who have easy access to an apparently limitless supply of birds would go for the breast.\n\nAlso, some people (such as myself, and I'm not an American) simply don't like the flavor of the darker meat. Personally I like the mild flavor of the breast meat which makes it a great canvas for other flavors to be used on. 1350584935 Also, GM soy makes us gay. 1333326179 do you follow economic news at all? this isn't a conspiracy.. it's what's happening.. just for a general example, check the current state of the [dollar](http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/index/DXY/charts) as measured against it's allies.. \n\nobama doesn't even matter in the grand scheme of things..\n\nalso, make sure to tune into the doublespeak from bernanke tomorrow, it will be the first time in history that the head of the federal reserve bank has a "press conference". 1303873670 NONE. Absolutely no trust. Liver flushing? the hells?\n\n 1310863468 Good Timothy Great lecture 1351719478 Unfortunately no video, I may be able to scrounge some photos up from the family but I don't live anywhere near them. Yes, it is still standing and is currently occupied. The next time i'm in my hometown I want to visit the people currently living in it and talk to them.\n\nON WITH THE STORIES!! 1325802114 I see where he is coming from speaking out against public involvement in investigations, you only have to look on the sub to see the delusional people who will believe anything. 1346585790 That was a terrible fake. Shit like this makes this whole subreddit look bad. 1314141904 chick embryo. Umm Okay, is this not just an egg. I mean ok I get that a Chick egg is not fertilised but come on really. These people are mad.\n 1339892697 I thought you were going to link to a sex act there. 1301488814 I think there is some confusion.\n\nEven though Anderson Cooper has done some journalism in the past, there is nothing distinguishing this from any other daytime talk shows.\n\nThis is about as worthy of people's attention as the subject of a Jerry Springer episode or whoever else is doing the equivalent these days. 1330719195 Additionally, they've linked it to other conspiracy theories in attempt to keep it afloat. 1343919485 No idea. It does not have anything to do with scientific thinking. Probably more to do with the way we treat each other is how we would treat strangers. For yourself, be open for "contact". If you have ever had a sleep paralysis dream or examination dream that is a pretty good sign they are already working with you. 1340249264 >I also believe in magnetism, but we don't really know what that is either.\n\nWhat do you mean by "we don't really know what that is"? 1342116963 I'm guilty of being among the infowars readership for the better part of a year in my recent past, but I came out of it knowing more about political philosophy (among other things) as a result of fact-checking. Getting to know the Bilderberg conspiracy (and its inconsistencies) was just one of many steps toward skepticism for me. 1320779319 >You gave me a mountain of information! Thank you so much!\n\nNo problem, I'm glad what I wrote made sense.\n\n>I got really worried when people were hammering other people online for having a 6 week old puppy and were pleading with others to call the owners to take them back and wait a couple of weeks.\n\nYeah, sometimes it can be a sign of a bad breeder or a puppy mill, where they just get the mothers to pop out babies and they send them out into the world, but sometimes it is just dedicated breeders minimising the amount of time before being able to sell them. This is because you can start weaning at about 3 weeks and weaning them about 2 weeks, it means that you can safely sell them at around 5 weeks without any long term negative effects. \n\nThe "8 weeks" figure should be treated more of a guideline, rather than a strict number where dogs will be fucked up if they are taken before that point, and perfectly healthy if taken afterwards.\n\n>As for vaccinations, there are suggestions to socialize later like around 1 year, but isn't that what the vaccination at 4-5 weeks is for?\n\nStart socialising at 1 year? That would go against everything I've read and certainly wouldn't recommend it. If your shots are up to date, then yes they are as protected as they would be a day later as they are a year later - there is no advantage to waiting a year before socialisation, and many obvious disadvantages.\n\n>I don't understand how Parvo works or dog viruses work but if you keep the shots up to date, why is it still dangerous to take your vaccinated pup to a dog park? Can Parvo still infect after the first vaccination? Do you need all three vaccinations before it is considered safe?\n\nIt's recommended that you wait (if I recall correctly) a week after the last Parvo shot before taking them out but this is more of a extra safety precaution and as long as you aren't taking them somewhere that is notorious for Parvo outbreaks, there shouldn't be a problem. \n\nAnd yeah, Parvo can still infect after the first injection, you need all three. Each one reduces the chances of catching it I think, to some degree, but it's not recommended to go out until all three have been given. For interacting with other puppies, it's usually just recommended that you get the first injection and they should be fine playing with each other.\n\n>I'm glad I haven't doomed my puppy yet. I'm sure all the alpha stuff catching on is from Caesar Milan.\n\nHaha no, you should be fine. My general philosophy is that you're inevitably going to fuck up some things but as long as you're actively interested in doing the best for the puppy, and willing to put in the work to fix mistakes, then you'll be doing better than most dog owners. My best advice would be to keep in mind that it's easier to stop a puppy learning a bad behavior than it is to correct a bad behavior that is occurring. This means that if you don't want your dog to beg for food when you're eating, never feed it from the table and always put food in their bowl. It's so easy to slip up and think, "Oh, it'll be fine if I just do it once" but this is quite literally the worst thing you can do. \n\nAs for Cesar - agreed, he is almost single handedly responsible for keeping the dead theory alive but unfortunately he is still just one person among many who believe that crap. Browse /r/dogs for a while and you'll find most people there believe at least some aspects of dominance theory. \n\n>I very much appreciate the serious and thoughtful answer and it looks like you took a lot of time out of your day to make someone more aware and knowledgeable and I feel like this is the true power of Reddit.\n\nAh, it's no problem at all. I have an awful problem of being incredibly long-winded so you don't need to thank me for a detailed response - you could ask me a "yes or no" question and you'd get an essay in response. \n\nFeel free to PM me anytime if you needed any help. It's a topic of interest to me so it'll never be an inconvenience. 1353918178 Please no more facebook posts. I don't go to /r/atheism anymore cause of crap like this. 1341190388 That's pretty much what I thought... A battle of Woo could be most entertaining. I liked when the acupuncturist said they could accidentally puncture a lung... If you're using acupuncture or "dry needle" needles that deeply then you're doing it wrong! 1295484767 I think that's actually the most reasonable part of the whole image.\n\nhttp://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/peppermint-000269.htm\n\nGranted, nothing about rubbing it on the "stomach reflexes of feet", but it can be useful in calming an upset stomach.\n\nEdit- adhoc_lobster posted the same link earlier as a top level comment that I didn't see until now. 1352741730 Why People Believe Weird Things also has a chapter concerning Holocaust revisionism. Specifically how the *intentions* of both sides has completely overrun actual historical facts. \n\nThere are historians that know or suspect the official numbers are off, but can't/don't want to go down those roads of research because they would be perceived as siding with neonazis. They can't admit to inaccuracies because they know anything they say like that will be latched on to by the opposite side and used as evidence against the official claims. So discourse is stifled. \n\nMuch like this thread. Everyone is so concerned with *who* is posting that no one bothered to address *what* was posted. Honestly, I'm not big into history so I don't have much to offer on the subject, but the way /r/skeptic is handling it is terrible. 1356375490 Yeah, I don't get why this one is still held up as the ultimate frivolous lawsuit. 1348177894 Ah, thank you! It was the "bullet impregnation" that was BS and that's what I was remembering. 1350920233 I was given a copper bracelet, similar to this, as a child. I was allergic to it.\n\nI wish it had had Jesus on it, so I could tell the Christians in my life I was allergic to their lord and saviour. 1295263443 freaking scary. had anything since?\n\ni've had some deja dreams before, but as interruptions during a dream. like a commercial. only for a second or so, and were generally silent visuals of mediocre actions (like walking in the forest and stepping on this moss covered tree trunk, never been there, but it was exactly the same scene. like i was watching it from my eyes playback footage). seemingly useless precognition, but i never contested what i'd see. i felt if it was some sort of message to send me down a specific path. string theory/marvel universe esk. they stopped when i had a repeated one, i was much older, much more in shape and kayaking. i fell over a water fall. it happened a few times, i made a promise to myself to never get in a kayak. creepiest part is i totally have that body now.\n\ni don't recall precog dreaming after that.\n\n\n\nedit: thinking about that death-dream it became the default "you're about to die in a dream, here's the loading screen before you snap awake" 1338752287 Paraphrased conclusion:\n\n>To date, 46 studies involving 1175 volunteers with IEI-EMF have tested whether exposure to electromagnetic fields can trigger the symptoms reported by this group. These studies have produced little evidence to suggest that this is the case or that individuals with IEI-EMF are particularly adept at detecting the presence of electromagnetic fields. On the other hand, many of these studies have found evidence that the nocebo effect is a sufficient explanation for the acute symptoms reported in IEI-EMF. Thus while continued experimental research in this area will be required to clarify the role of chronic exposures and to test the effects of new varieties of electromagnetic emissions, the best evidence currently available suggests that IEIEMF should not be viewed as a bioelectromagnetic phenomenon. Despite this, some commentators continue to discuss the condition without sufficient reference to this literature [Carpenter and Sage, 2007; Goldacre, 2007]. This is regrettable and suggests that the scientific community should do more to communicate the current state of the art in this area. In the meantime, when faced with someone who describes subjective symptoms that are apparently associated with exposure to an electrical device, it would be wise for clinicians and policy makers to begin with the assumption that an alternative explanation for these symptoms may be present, either in the form of a conventional organic or psychiatric disorder, or in terms of the more subtle psychological processes associated with the nocebo response. In the latter case, treatment based on cognitive behaviour therapy may be h