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Windshield pitting incidents in Washington reach fever pitch on April 15, 1954 (2003)

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Re: Windshield pitting incidents in Washington reach fever pitch on April 15, 1954 (2003)

#181

English is my second language, so this might explain what I'm going to say. I really did not understand what this was all about. Even worse, the pictures were not clear. AFAICT, there were some minor dents in windshields that caused some hysteria in the Seattle area but no further explanation was given. The article was confusing indeed.

Basically a lot of people mistakenly thought something had been damaging their windshields, but it was just regular wear and tear they had never noticed before. The damage appeared to spread as more people talked about it The pictures weren't clear to me either, probably because they're pictures of ordinary windshields lol

Thanks for explaining this. You were much more clear than the whole article.

Re: Windshield pitting incidents in Washington reach fever pitch on April 15, 1954 (2003)

#182
post #9

The conclusion is terrifying in my opinion. A not yet explained phenomenon or even something as far fetched as "aliens" would have been a more comforting answer than "essentially we can all start losing our mind at once, and it takes very little to trigger it".

Human beings are the most dangerous, potentially-violent, and destructive animal this planet has ever known... and far more dangerous in larger groups. None of us is as dumb as all of us.

Re: Windshield pitting incidents in Washington reach fever pitch on April 15, 1954 (2003)

#183
post #9

The conclusion is terrifying in my opinion. A not yet explained phenomenon or even something as far fetched as "aliens" would have been a more comforting answer than "essentially we can all start losing our mind at once, and it takes very little to trigger it".

I think that people, on the whole, vastly underestimate the degree to which humans are animals.

There's a word for it: anthropocentrism. And another apt aphorism: arrogance.

Re: Windshield pitting incidents in Washington reach fever pitch on April 15, 1954 (2003)

#184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that people, on the whole, vastly underestimate the degree to which humans are animals.

I don’t understand how people underestimate it so badly when we have so much history we are taught that demonstrates it. History makes it abundantly clear that it is a regular occurrence for large groups of people to collectively believe things for which there is little evidence, and furthermore, to take extreme actions based on such beliefs. This applies to you too, reader. Many would read the above and fully agree…

We have just gone through the most massive event in this category in the lifetime of most people alive today, and the next such event is quite openly being planned for execution.

Each and every one of us knows very well by now how we reacted to mass psychological movements and how we will react to the next one, which is of course the next great war.

Re: Windshield pitting incidents in Washington reach fever pitch on April 15, 1954 (2003)

#185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> People in the past were just as good at figuring stuff out as we are today. I seriously doubt that. My experience in college was not to learn facts and formulae, but to learn how to learn. I.e. training the mind. It's similar to athletes. The worst Olympic athlete today would blow away the best from a century ago. That's not because people are inherently stronger today, but because we know how to train much better.

But again, that is access to knowledge. How good would your college education have been if there was no library or textbooks? If you took the athletes today without their support team and sent them back in time two years before an Olympics event to compete on their own, I don't think it would be as big of a blowout as you suggest.

It would be a huge blowout. We didn’t know how to train or eat and athletes smoked and drank substantially more. Meanwhile, the gear evolutions make significant difference.

But take distance running - prior to 1954, nobody had done a sub 4 minute mile. After that was known to be possible multiple people sub 4 minute miled in the following decade. If you sent a top runner back a hundred years they would be able to run a sub 4 minute mile, even with 1920s equipment - and the world record in 1923 was 4:10

Re: Windshield pitting incidents in Washington reach fever pitch on April 15, 1954 (2003)

#186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t understand how people underestimate it so badly when we have so much history we are taught that demonstrates it. History makes it abundantly clear that it is a regular occurrence for large groups of people to collectively believe things for which there is little evidence, and furthermore, to take extreme actions based on such beliefs. This applies to you too, reader. Many would read the above and fully agree…

We have just gone through the most massive event in this category in the lifetime of most people alive today, and the next such event is quite openly being planned for execution. Each and every one of us knows very well by now how we reacted to mass psychological movements and how we will react to the next one, which is of course the next great war.

What? What great war did we all live through and what's being openly planned? I feel like either you're being dramatic or I'm waaaayyyyy more out of touch than I thought I was.

Both are possible, so I need some clarification.

Re: Windshield pitting incidents in Washington reach fever pitch on April 15, 1954 (2003)

#187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have just gone through the most massive event in this category in the lifetime of most people alive today, and the next such event is quite openly being planned for execution. Each and every one of us knows very well by now how we reacted to mass psychological movements and how we will react to the next one, which is of course the next great war.

What? What great war did we all live through and what's being openly planned? I feel like either you're being dramatic or I'm waaaayyyyy more out of touch than I thought I was. Both are possible, so I need some clarification.

We went through covid, just a couple of years ago. Each of us know how we reacted and how we behaved. The great war between Russia and NATO is being openly planned right now, by both sides. European and Russian media has reached a war frenzy that probably hasn't been seen since WWI.

Re: Windshield pitting incidents in Washington reach fever pitch on April 15, 1954 (2003)

#188
post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

because candy is to carbohydrates what meth is to adderall :)

meth vs adderall is more about dosage. If for some reason you decided to consume massive amounts of adderall the same way crazy homeless people consume meth (1000mg instead of 30mg), you could get addicted to it. Pretty much nobody does this with adderall, but the theory is solid. See https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/drug-users-use-a-lot-of-dru... > Despite the repeated claims of METH being more addictive or preferre…

> The psychostimulants d-amphetamine (AMPH) and methamphetamine (METH) release excess dopamine (DA) into the synaptic clefts of dopaminergic neurons. Abnormal DA release is thought to occur by reverse transport through the DA transporter (DAT), and it is believed to underlie the severe behavioral effects of these drugs. Here we compare structurally similar AMPH and METH on DAT function in a heterologous expression system and in an animal model. In the in vitro expression system, DAT-mediated whole-cell currents were greater for METH stimulation than for AMPH. At the same voltage and concentration, METH released five times more DA than AMPH and did so at physiological membrane potentials. At maximally effective concentrations, METH released twice as much [Ca2+]i from internal stores compared with AMPH. [Ca2+]i responses to both drugs were independent of membrane voltage but inhibited by DAT antagonists.

Do you intentionally cite way out of date scientific research? What is your background in pharmacology? The simple addition of the methyl group is known to effect absorption and potency.

Re: Windshield pitting incidents in Washington reach fever pitch on April 15, 1954 (2003)

#189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The majority of people (in the US, at least) spend half a day a week being taught to believe in magic. From birth. Usually on Sunday.

[flagged]

Are you one of those people who think that regular modern capitalist societies with any kind of social safety net or publicly funded healthcare are communism?

Re: Windshield pitting incidents in Washington reach fever pitch on April 15, 1954 (2003)

#190
post #9

The conclusion is terrifying in my opinion. A not yet explained phenomenon or even something as far fetched as "aliens" would have been a more comforting answer than "essentially we can all start losing our mind at once, and it takes very little to trigger it".

Maybe not all of us, but enough + the media indulging it.
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