List of pseudoscience topics from Wikipedia

[Doktor Howl]

Sorry I didn't meet your standards.

Dok,
Wonders why he bothers at all.

Meh, don't bother with people who only want to see what they want to see Dok.

Meanwhile, I have become distressed ever since I stopped noticing all that stuff. So yeah, plz to let's find The Weird this Friday, okay?

I think we can manage that.  No point posting any of it, though, as it's all old news.  

As long as we find it, I'm good.

It's Tucson.  If we don't find IT, it will find US.

[Don Coyote]

Fuck it.  Done with this.  You spend a few minutes trying to make your case, and the response is "OH IS THAT ALL?  I'M SO FUCKING WEIRD AND ZANY THAT YOUR POST IS OLD HAT!"

Dude, over reacting. I was just expecting some more weirdness. I've seen a lot of that already is all. It wasn't meant to be "your shit is weak." It was meant as "oh ok, that's cool" I've seen weird shit, acknowledged it as weird and moved on. I was expecting some specific examples of weirdness you have encountered.

Or I could just go back to deliberately pissing you off.

[Doktor Howl]

Fuck it.  Done with this.  You spend a few minutes trying to make your case, and the response is "OH IS THAT ALL?  I'M SO FUCKING WEIRD AND ZANY THAT YOUR POST IS OLD HAT!"

Dude, over reacting. I was just expecting some more weirdness. I've seen a lot of that already is all. It wasn't meant to be "your shit is weak." It was meant as "oh ok, that's cool" I've seen weird shit, acknowledged it as weird and moved on. I was expecting some specific examples of weirdness you have encountered.

Or I could just go back to deliberately pissing you off.

Do whatever you like.  I was trying to convey an idea, not give a list of all the cool shit I've ever noticed.

You managed to piss me off before because I wasn't aware that you aren't to be taken seriously on any subject.  Only works once.

[cheezer]

COCK PIERCINGS

[Don Coyote]

Fuck it.  Done with this.  You spend a few minutes trying to make your case, and the response is "OH IS THAT ALL?  I'M SO FUCKING WEIRD AND ZANY THAT YOUR POST IS OLD HAT!"

Dude, over reacting. I was just expecting some more weirdness. I've seen a lot of that already is all. It wasn't meant to be "your shit is weak." It was meant as "oh ok, that's cool" I've seen weird shit, acknowledged it as weird and moved on. I was expecting some specific examples of weirdness you have encountered.

Or I could just go back to deliberately pissing you off.

Do whatever you like.  I was trying to convey an idea, not give a list of all the cool shit I've ever noticed.

You managed to piss me off before because I wasn't aware that you aren't to be taken seriously on any subject.  Only works once.

Right then. Piss off Dok. Or lighten the fuck up.

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

It is a pretty all encompassing big list, I think... For me, this guy, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcello_Truzzi and his reasons for leaving SCICOP are interesting. Though I know this will might get another "FFS" or at least an "SMH" from Dok Howl, I'll put it out there:

I believe in Ghosts, ESP, and lots of other "Sciences" on that list. What I relate it in my head is often to the Geiger Counter. Before that, there was no accurate way of measuring radioactivity though we sort of knew something was up. The Geiger Counter gave us a way to quantify that energy. Ghosts, dreams that predict the future etc etc, are all parts of the natural world that have yet to be explained. I believe that matter cannot be created or destroyed. From that, I postulate that there are types of energy, methods of releasing that energy, and eventually, ways of measuring and explaining that energy.

On the other hand, things like Phrenology and the Hongcheng Magic Liquid are rather funny

wut

1) That's not a matter of belief, that's the way the universe is. A natural law, even. One does not "believe" natural laws any more than one "believes" in anything that can be clearly tested, observed, and proven. We call that sort of belief "knowledge" (and I will internet-punch anybody who goes all "Reality Tunnels LOLOLOL" on this discussion).

2) How in gibbering splutterfuck does that have anything to do with ghosts, ESP, or any other hoo-hah spunkdiddling nonsense that middle-aged women dressed in gaudy clothing use to weasel money out of your gullible ass (a profession which I have the utmost respect for, btw; milk the suckers dry!)?

Or are you gonna tell me that a person's "soul" is made out of some kind of "energy", and therefore ghosts and spirits must exist becuz science sez so, you guys!

The whole point of Truzzi's 'pseudoskeptic' argument is that "extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof"... on both sides of the argument.

In science, the burden of proof falls upon the claimant; and the more extraordinary a claim, the heavier is the burden of proof demanded. The true skeptic takes an agnostic position, one that says the claim is not proved rather than disproved. He asserts that the claimant has not borne the burden of proof and that science must continue to build its cognitive map of reality without incorporating the extraordinary claim as a new "fact." Since the true skeptic does not assert a claim, he has no burden to prove anything. He just goes on using the established theories of "conventional science" as usual. But if a critic asserts that there is evidence for disproof, that he has a negative hypothesis—saying, for instance, that a seeming psi result was actually due to an artifact—he is making a claim and therefore also has to bear a burden of proof.

I think that CSICOP fell victim to the same kind of issue that atheists have... they got an influx of nominal members that BELIEVED they KNEW THE TRUTH instead understanding that they were not holding a position, but rather awaiting extraordinary evidence to back up an extraordinary claim. Skepticism is a neutral position, but most monkeys need to take a pro or anti position which seems to be the crux of the problem.

[Stelpa]

Heh, this one still makes me giggle

[Doktor Howl]

I have lightened the fuck up.  I have processed new information, and revised my view.  You're a fun guy to hit the goof threads with, but not really someone for whom I'd spend time writing out a long or well thought out response to, because you won't take it seriously anyway.

Little tiny paradigm shift, and the irritation is all gone.

[Apikoros II]

Whoah down there nellies... My point was there is all sorts of weird shit and stuff out there, from Dok's list, to the wikipedia list I posted etc etc. For god's sakes, I live in NYC and ride the subway! To me, uh oh, Illuminati Quote Coming through: skip this you anti-RAW people : All things are false, all things are true and all things meaningless. Also, in this day and age, you sometimes have to say that you buy "natural laws": 'cause there are plenty of people who don't. I do not need Penn and Teller's show to prove that one out. I am saying that the preponderance of fakes and charlatans combined with people who think all is explained sometimes stifle discussion and exploration of the full because their ideas are all ready in place. Oh, and yes, I do believe that the phenomenon we call ghosts will someday be explained as an energy we haven't discovered yet, and will have nothing to do with what we 21st centurians think of as a Soul or some such. "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy." - Hamlet

Also, on a side note, is their someplace explaining how to put a picture into a post? I have a great NYC subway photo from the E train last week that is amazingly weird and funny to share.

[Doktor Howl]

The whole point of Truzzi's 'pseudoskeptic' argument is that "extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof"... on both sides of the argument.

Hmm...Define "extraordinary proof".

[Doktor Howl]

All things are false, all things are true and all things meaningless.

Nihilism FTL.

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

The whole point of Truzzi's 'pseudoskeptic' argument is that "extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof"... on both sides of the argument.

Hmm...Define "extraordinary proof".

The weight of evidence for an extraordinary claim must be proportioned to its strangeness. - Pierre-Simon Laplace

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Whoah down there nellies... My point was there is all sorts of weird shit and stuff out there, from Dok's list, to the wikipedia list I posted etc etc. For god's sakes, I live in NYC and ride the subway! To me, uh oh, Illuminati Quote Coming through: skip this you anti-RAW people : All things are false, all things are true and all things meaningless. Also, in this day and age, you sometimes have to say that you buy "natural laws": 'cause there are plenty of people who don't. I do not need Penn and Teller's show to prove that one out. I am saying that the preponderance of fakes and charlatans combined with people who think all is explained sometimes stifle discussion and exploration of the full because their ideas are all ready in place. Oh, and yes, I do believe that the phenomenon we call ghosts will someday be explained as an energy we haven't discovered yet, and will have nothing to do with what we 21st centurians think of as a Soul or some such. "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy." - Hamlet

Also, on a side note, is their someplace explaining how to put a picture into a post? I have a great NYC subway photo from the E train last week that is amazingly weird and funny to share.

Type IMG in brackets, then the URL then /IMG in brackets.


Fixed

[cheezer]

KAT STACKS

[Doktor Howl]

The whole point of Truzzi's 'pseudoskeptic' argument is that "extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof"... on both sides of the argument.

Hmm...Define "extraordinary proof".

The weight of evidence for an extraordinary claim must be proportioned to its strangeness. - Pierre-Simon Laplace

Sounds like crap.  Einstein changed physics entirely with some very simple proofs.  Nothing extraordinary about what he used to prove his viewpoint.