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Messages - Tausami

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31
The Lounge / FES Constitution
« on: August 06, 2014, 08:06:05 PM »
So this is a thing, guys. We of the new and improved site have been working on it for a while and, since reunification looks like it's gonna be a thing, it was suggested that we point it out to the fine folks of this forum. Feel free to register on the new site and make comments, suggestions, concerns, death threats, etc. in the linked thread or to talk in this one.

32
The Lounge / Re: Why can't we be friends?
« on: August 05, 2014, 02:26:11 PM »
even if half of the guests viewing the site are spambots, that's still a lot more eyeballs than the other site gets.

I agree with what Particle Planet said, but it is worth noting that we don't get spambots because PP and ParsPars are awesome at things. :]

Well, there is definitely better spambot protection over there, but if the site were higher in the rankings there would be more trying to register, and more spiders would be crawling the site. If the sites merge, those things will happen. I never understood why we don't have better spambot protection here. I know, I know, the lack of active and competent tech support for the forum is one of the biggest reasons y'all left.

No, Pizaa did some technical thingy involving a fake webpage or something like that during registration, causing us to be theoretically immune to spam. I don't remember the exact details.

___

So, it's true that our site has way fewer members than this one and that this has led to stagnation and disinterest in even the most committed members. However, I'd argue that while we have less forum activity the society itself has benefited from the new forum. We have a new brochure, several of us are working on an annotated copy of ENaG (admittedly in the same way that John Davis is working on his book), the Zetetic Council seems to actually work fairly well when it has a real job to do (or at least better than Daniel), and I feel like the new site has more... patriotism than this one. The new site feels more optimistic than I'm used to from my time at FES, and I hope we can carry that over through the reunification.

___

Also, hello everyone. It's been a while. Has katsung fallen to the conspiracy yet?

33
Suggestions & Concerns / Re: Request for Member Banning...
« on: January 14, 2014, 11:48:58 AM »
If you hate so many people on this site, I suggest you go to TFES.org. Clean slate and all that.

34
Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Rob Ford, Mayor of Toronto, Degenerate
« on: November 18, 2013, 05:13:51 PM »
Dammit, Canada. Why do other countries get all of the interesting politicians? Ours just cheat on their wives with teenage boys.

35
I think the reason we remember the holocaust so vividly, as opposed to other genocides, is that it occurred in the 1st World. Most genocides take place in countries that aren't known for being particularly hospitable. Atrocities are almost expected from Africa and  Southeastern Asia. A genocide in Germany, though, is shocking because Germany is one of us. They were an industrialized European nation. We expect them to be above such things.

Also, it gives us a reason to justify the worst war in history. It's much easier to rationalize the amount of death and destruction caused by WWII when we can demonize the bad guys to the point that they no longer seem human.

36
Flat Earth General / Re: Serious problem with UA
« on: November 03, 2013, 10:57:12 AM »
Special relativity has exactly nothing to do with gravity. That's general relativity you're thinking of.

The apparent gain in mass does not occur to within the frame of reference. To an outside observer not moving at speeds near light, the Earth would appear to be gaining mass. But to us, this is not the case.

I encourage you to read the FAQ and the Wiki. We're hardly unaware of these concerns.

37
Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Students get paid
« on: November 02, 2013, 01:49:28 PM »
Crime & punishment have little to do w/ the prosperity of a nation-state. But, when Israelites lived according to Torah communalism, they did indeed prosper. Singapore has EXTREMELY strict crime & punishment, & they have one of the highest standards of living on Earth. Japan also is strict, albeit not to the degree of Singapore, & they likewise have a high standard of living, as does South Korea.

Oh, shut up. No one is taking you seriously. You've failed. Try a different troll.

38
Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Columbus Day. To celebrate or no?
« on: October 28, 2013, 07:32:38 PM »
Well, for a time, religious scholars did debate whether there had been two Edens. They could not comprehend how the Natives had gotten there. This was after Castile knew that it wasn't the Indies Columbus had found. And there is no doubt that Columbus disobeyed the Crown by enslaving the Natives. This is why he was relieved of his Governorship. I am not suggesting that Columbus should be absolved. I merely suggest that what he did be considered in light of what any European would likely have done. And though Columbus was relieved, do note that the system of indentured servitude he had set up was merely changed to the equally brutal encomendero system. When the Natives had proven not to make good slaves (insofar as they died by the millions due to European disease), the Spanish imported Africans to solve the problem. So, Columbus was a product of his time, and should be evaluated accordingly.

Yes, we're all aware of US History 1.

But, I'm inclined to say that you're wrong. It's Great Men Syndrome. When you learn history purely via the great people who supposedly led it, it's easy to believe that humanity didn't evolve morality until a decade or two ago. But you have to remember that the average person didn't realize that this stuff was going on. And when they did, they freaked out about it. Columbus and the other great explorers were people who were willing to sacrifice their lives and the lives of their crew for glory. They weren't exactly the nicest people in society. In fact, I'd be willing to wager quite a bit of money that if Columbus lived today he could be diagnosed with sociopathy.

39
Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Columbus Day. To celebrate or no?
« on: October 28, 2013, 05:19:31 PM »
Don't pretend Columbus was some ignorant savage who didn't know any better. He knew exactly what he was doing.

40
It won't destroy democracy. It'll destroy the ability of governments to keep things from us. Secrets are not a necessary part of democracy. In fact, it's quite the opposite. If anything is going to take our freedom, it's politicians who think they're protecting us.

41
Technology, Science & Alt Science / Re: atoms,neutrons,electrons,etc
« on: October 23, 2013, 11:51:59 AM »
This is a question for quantum mechanics.

Electrons don't really orbit the nucleus. They form probabilistic arrangements, and they usually aren't spherical. It's much more complicated than a bunch of balls with smaller balls circling them.

42
Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Alternative Medicine (also, Oprah)
« on: October 19, 2013, 03:55:42 PM »
I think the fact that this is posted in PR&S instead of the science board says everything that needs to be said about the topic.

43
Flat Earth Debate / Re: Can we stop all this ignorance please?
« on: October 15, 2013, 11:19:41 AM »
Young Earth Creationism is the worst sort of pseudoscience. As someone with a working knowledge of geology, I'm rather offended that it exists.

Ironic, since you can find atheists and YEC laughing together about the absurdity of FET.

Only out of ignorance. Flat Earth Theory is several orders of magnitude more scientific than YEC, regardless of your opinion on the shape of the Earth.

44
Flat Earth General / Re: nasa balloon versus private co. rocket
« on: October 14, 2013, 10:33:09 PM »
They say the camera can add 5 pounds.  Maybe it can also add 5° of curvature.

It can add 180° of curvature with the right lens and settings.

45
Flat Earth General / Re: nasa balloon versus private co. rocket
« on: October 14, 2013, 09:59:43 PM »
This is actually a pretty good example of why FE'ers discount video evidence. There are simply too many possible explanations.

46
*breaking image to save space*

Seriously, these tests are downright insulting to honors students.  They're designed to let you pass.

Also, in many countries not everyone takes the test. They artificially inflate their scores that way.

Again, this isn't to say that America has a good education system. Just relatively good when compared to other countries.

47
A rather presumptuous question, don't you think?

As for the American Education System, I hate it with a burning passion. But not for the reasons most people do, I think. It's not the we have one of the worst systems. We have the best by far. The problem is that it's so achievement-oriented. This goes deeper than teaching to the test. The point of tests is to help learn. We've kind of reversed that. In our system, the point of learning is to help take tests. And that's awful in my opinion. Other countries are even worse, especially Japan. And we're trying to be more like them, because they do better on tests. But that doesn't make them better. They're just better at force-feeding information to be retained until the test, which is an ass-backwards way of defining educational success.
/rant

48
Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: What's wrong with Capitalism?
« on: October 14, 2013, 09:38:21 PM »
The main problem with capitalism, I think, is that it fails to promote ethical behavior. In fact, it rather does the opposite. Unfortunately, there really isn't a better system.

49
Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: The GOP has gone insane
« on: October 14, 2013, 11:01:50 AM »
No, that's clever on the dem's part. This makes the GOP look bad. Really, I want to know what idiot in the GOP decided to do this. It's not going to end well for them in the next election.

50
Flat Earth Debate / Re: Can we stop all this ignorance please?
« on: October 13, 2013, 05:14:25 PM »
Young Earth Creationism is the worst sort of pseudoscience. As someone with a working knowledge of geology, I'm rather offended that it exists.

51
Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Why Obamacare is bad
« on: October 10, 2013, 01:34:22 PM »
Thanks for this, Tom.  We really needed a fourth thread about Obamacare.

52
Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: The GOP has gone insane
« on: October 07, 2013, 08:35:52 PM »
It's not the GOP that's gone insane, it's the American Government in general. We've created a system prone to gerrymandering, and that's exactly what happened. The majority of congressmen have arranged it so that the only way they can be beaten in a congressional race is in the primary against another member of the same party. Being moderate and willing to compromise could cost them their jobs.

I did look at the link. You are implying that we are in this mess because Obama didn't agree to a compromise so its okay for Republicans to shut the government down. It doesn't matter if Obama would have agreed to it or not, the threat of shutting down the government is terrorism.

Its like me telling you to admit the world is round or else I'll hack the FES and destroy it.

They did not shut it down. They simply not agree to fund Obama's federal budget proposal, just like the Senate did not agree to any of the proposals put forward by the house. The shutdown was a consequence of that.

All modern presidents have had the dignity to reach across the isle to the other side and negotiate to come to a comprimise. This is the foundation of how government works. A refusal to negotiate is unpresidented. Obama and the democrats have been refusing to negoatiate long before the government shutdown.

No, Tom. They didn't disagree to the budget proposal. They disagreed to the temporary measure that gets passed almost automatically in order to allow them to disagree without the government shutting down.

This isn't a situation of negotiation. This is a hostage situation. In a negotiation the GOP would have something to give. All they have is the threat of continued shutdown.

53
Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: An alternative to Obamacare
« on: October 07, 2013, 01:31:41 PM »
If OCR is so advanced, why is the recapcha project needed to decipher the text of printed books?

Because some words aren't really recognizable, especially in old texts. Frequently letters are damaged. People are better at figuring out what it's supposed to say than computers are.

54
Do you understand how compasses work?

yes. what do you mean when you say 'they are telling us to turn 1/60th of a degree every mile'? Is this because they are working, or not working?

Also, the point on your admission that people have circumnavigated the globe - yes you believe or no you don't? I'm fascinated.

It's because they're working. They are pointing north. That's literally the only thing compasses do. North just happens to change slightly as you move, because the Earth is a disk.

People have circumnavigated the Earth. They have not done so by going in a straight line. Are you really this obtuse?

55
Do you understand how compasses work?

56
Literally impossible is a bit of a hyperbole, but yes. We just follow our compasses. How could we be expected to notice that they are telling us to turn 1/60th of a degree every mile?

Because that's just a compass that doesn't work that you're describing.. Also, planes. By your logic no-one would ever get to the right place on any plane flight they ever took.

So, again just to clarify, all of these people went unwittingly in a circle and thought they'd gone in a straight line?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_circumnavigations


I think you're misunderstanding something fundamental, but I can't figure out what. Possibly it has more to do with compasses or navigation than Flat Earth Theory. Could you actually articulate your thoughts instead of leading me on this little roundabout?

No I'm just positing the idea that you can travel in a straight line around the Earth and end up in the same spot you started from as a necessary proof of the spherical nature of the Earth. You appear to be saying that the people who have done just that, and hence proved my point irrefutably, were in fact in error as they went in a massive circle instead of a straight line.

Well, no. You can't do that on a flat Earth. Happy?

Literally impossible is a bit of a hyperbole, but yes. We just follow our compasses. How could we be expected to notice that they are telling us to turn 1/60th of a degree every mile?

Because that's just a compass that doesn't work that you're describing.. Also, planes. By your logic no-one would ever get to the right place on any plane flight they ever took.

So, again just to clarify, all of these people went unwittingly in a circle and thought they'd gone in a straight line?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_circumnavigations

Imagine the probability of that - 60 or so journeys, with the compass not working properly (1 in 2 chance if i'm being generous), in which no-one (except Tausami, somehow) noticed that they were going in a big circle (hard to quantify but probably a 1 in 100 chance given that they were all trained and experienced seamen/pilots), as well as no-one else (air traffic control, marine authorities, radar operators, support teams etc) noticing (1 in 100 again let's say) and all believing that they'd travelled around the globe when in fact they'd just circled a flat disc (1 in ... what? Mass coincidental delusion is hard to quantify... let's say 100 again).

1/2 x 1/100 x 1/100 x 1/100 = 0.00005% likelihood.

And that's your best answer.

I refer you to Occam's Razor, as ever.

Why would the compass not be working properly? I'm seriously confused right now. Or maybe you are. I think probably the second one.

57
Literally impossible is a bit of a hyperbole, but yes. We just follow our compasses. How could we be expected to notice that they are telling us to turn 1/60th of a degree every mile?

Because that's just a compass that doesn't work that you're describing.. Also, planes. By your logic no-one would ever get to the right place on any plane flight they ever took.

So, again just to clarify, all of these people went unwittingly in a circle and thought they'd gone in a straight line?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_circumnavigations


I think you're misunderstanding something fundamental, but I can't figure out what. Possibly it has more to do with compasses or navigation than Flat Earth Theory. Could you actually articulate your thoughts instead of leading me on this little roundabout?

58
Literally impossible is a bit of a hyperbole, but yes. We just follow our compasses. How could we be expected to notice that they are telling us to turn 1/60th of a degree every mile?

59
Well this thread has gotten rather rude. I shake my head in mild disapproval at you all.

From a practical perspective there is a finite amount of great circles on Earth, as after a point two circles become indistinguishable.

In case you haven't read it yet or seen it somewhere along on this topic, the Ice Ring is guarded by armed guards from NASA who prevent persons from even seeing the Ice Ring.

No. Please stop saying that. It's really incredibly annoying.

Are you trying to straw man me by saying that technically a bit of veering isn't a straight line? I have crossed oceans in Aircraft Carriers and Amphibious Assault Ships. They PLOW through weather and swells. Our ships can go in straight lines at amazing accuracy and during a replenishment at sea we do so with nearly perfect accuracy. These voyages use the great circle. I know this is faster because, specifically in the Pacific, some of these trips take a pit stop in Hawaii, thereby avoiding that great circle. This is a difference of 1000's of miles and weeks. This very cruise which I have done so many times is all the proof I need to know that the bipolar model is nonsense... And that's just the proof I need when playing by your no pictures and no satellites rules. Which coincidentally, is my job.

I call BS on this one. As a sailor, I simply refuse to believe that a ship of any size is capable of keeping a straight course with any degree of accuracy. Perhaps your Navy vessels have advanced autopilots which allow them to travel exactly as they are supposed to, but constant corrections must be necessary.

For God's Sake! That's not relevant!

In the name of all that is holy will one of you, please, just answer me - how is it possible for people to have circumnavigated the globe by heading directly forward until they returned to their starting point if the Earth is not a globe?

It's SUCH a simple question and yet not one of you has even tried to answer it - what is that if not proof that you have no answer because your idea is just plain wrong.

Answer the question..
You are seriously angry. May I suggest a snack? Perhaps some chocolate? I won't debate you if you plan to be so rude about it.

It's really quite simple. I assume you've been a helmsman of some boat or another at some point. You have a compass (or, more modernly, GPS) and you follow a predetermined course. You deviate constantly from that course and must constantly make corrections. It's not that you're following a straight course. It's that it would be impossible to notice such tiny deviation. It would be lost among the thousands of other corrections you have to make.

so you answer is 'everytime someone has circumnavigated the globe they've got it wrong and gone around in a big circle  and thought that they'd gone in a straight line'? Really?

Also, for the last time, I'm talking about people who have flown around the Earth. In a plane! On an undeviating course!

Also also, why do you necessarily deviate from your course? Surely the point of having a course is to stick to it, and with GPS you can now see that course on a screen and so would notice if you've gone in a circle instead of going straight ahead (I regret writing this last bit as I have no doubt that you will simply latch on to this and ignore the other bit)

I suppose you've never captained a vessel. They don't go where you tell them to. Planes are the same way. They get buffeted around like you wouldn't believe if you've never been at the wheel/tiller. You don't follow a straight path. You follow a zig-zag and try to mimic a straight line as closely as possible. On even a short voyage, by which I mean from New Jersey to Rhode Island, for example, it's acceptable to be a much as a minute (one 60th of a degree of latitude) off course at any given time. Once again, it's the same for planes. Worse, in fact, since you have a third dimension to contend with.

60
Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Government shutdown and default
« on: October 05, 2013, 08:22:13 PM »
That does not in any way address what I just asked. Did you quote the wrong person?

I've addressed what you asked. Obamacare doesn't fix anything because it hurts more people than it helps.

I didn't say anything about Obamacare fixing anything. I said that the system we had beforehand was at least as broken as the ACA is. Especially for mental health.

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