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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)

#261

Post by Eisenstein »

rob74 wrote: post #252
jyounker wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why does it always have to be an accident? Because that's a surprisingly common way for things to be discovered. Saccharine? Somebody working in a lab didn't clean their hands well, licked their fingers, and discovered it was sweet. Aspartame? Somebody working in a lab didn't clean their hands well, licked their fingers, and discovered it was sweet. I think this is true of basically every major artificial sweetener…

Same as the famous discovery of Penicillin in a petri dish contaminated with a mold that killed off the bacteria? ...but now I'm starting to wonder how many people working in a lab didn't clean their hands well, licked their fingers, and died, because they had accidentally discovered a toxin?

Except it happened to be in a petri dish and it happened to be observed at the time by a scientist. Total accident!

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

#262

Post by Eisenstein »

WalterBright wrote: post #232
Eisenstein wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That is partially true. There is no incentive, for example, for slaves to make any improvements. I cannot think of any technology developed by slaves. That meant the few people in power were not enough to think of much new stuff. You can't think of any technology developed by slaves because they wouldn't get credit for it. I am sure all sorts of useful things have been invented by slaves, but if you yourself are pr…

> You can't think of any technology developed by slaves because they wouldn't get credit for it. Can you think of any in the US Confederacy? Any at all? The cotton gin comes to mind, but that was invented by Eli Whitney in the north. Can you imagine this? slave: "Boss, how about if we do it this way, we can be more productive?" boss: "shut up and do what I told you to." Slaves had every incentive to do as little as p…

If you can't come up with a scenario where a slave would improve their life by innovating the tools and objects they had available to them, or a scenario in which a master is not a one dimensional caricature, or a scenario where a slave is not a stupid pack animal that can only follow orders, then the burden is not on history to convince you otherwise.

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

#263

Post by mplanchard »

thmsths wrote: 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".

Welcome to the human race, we’re the scariest thing around

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

#264

Post by op00to »

flutas wrote: post #102
j_timberlake wrote: post #78

This was literally my first thought for the anomalous drones like 2 weeks ago, and it was immediately obvious that the entire NJ police department should not be incompetent enough to fall for something so obvious. The mayors and governor should not be dumb enough to stake their reputations on this when the null hypothesis of "mass hysteria" is easier and safer. Even back then, we knew the sightings do not appear on f…

There was also a call in to a 911 department on the 13th of a drone crashing in someones backyard and then being swarmed by 10 others. https://www.newsweek.com/drone-new-jersey-911-sighting-20002... But I haven't seen a follow up from anyone on it yet.

A drone crashes in my backyard most days. My drone.

The case referenced by Newsweek was a commercially available drone of the DJI variety.

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

#265

Post by bregma »

Eisenstein wrote: post #261
rob74 wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same as the famous discovery of Penicillin in a petri dish contaminated with a mold that killed off the bacteria? ...but now I'm starting to wonder how many people working in a lab didn't clean their hands well, licked their fingers, and died, because they had accidentally discovered a toxin?

Except it happened to be in a petri dish and it happened to be observed at the time by a scientist. Total accident!

Serendipity favours the prepared mind. That's all.

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

#266

Post by op00to »

AlexandrB wrote: post #15
ggm wrote: post #3

Timely, given the "lights in the sky" fever.

I don't get why someone would see lights in the sky and jump to anything other than "domestic/commercial aircraft". Why would aliens or foreign powers light their vehicles up for easy spotting? I would really start to worry if I spotted an aircraft at dusk/night with no lights on it.

Obviously they would have lights to blend in with all the other air traffic! /s

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

#267

Post by bregma »

WalterBright wrote: post #168
binoct wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t take issue with the point of your last sentence, but rather the framing that “animal” is somehow a negative thing. Humans are animals, there’s no separate animal nature. We are animals, full stop. The scientific method is a skill we have developed to be more objective about complicated phenomena. Depth of knowledge and education certainly help an individual reason more carefully about cause and effect in vari…

What separates men from animals is men have honor.

Some men have honor. FTFY

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

#268

Post by bregma »

schmidtleonard wrote: post #12
thmsths wrote: 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".

It's all just memes? Always has been.

All the way down.

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

#269

Post by aguaviva »

carlosjobim wrote: post #254
aguaviva wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The great war between Russia and NATO is being openly planned right now, by both sides. I don't see any basis for this view. There are indications that the two sides may be sleepwalking towards a great conflict. But neither side is specifically intending to start or escalate towards such a conflict.

Today from Russian media: "All NATO decision-makers from countries that provided military assistance to Bandera Ukraine are participating in a hybrid or conventional war against Russia… All these individuals can and should be considered legitimate military targets for the Russian state,” Medvedev said" Every media outlet in Nordic countries talk about a Russia-NATO war within the near future or whether Russia and NAT…

There is talk about necessary defensive preparations for a larger conflict. The primary goal of which is to deter such a conflict from starting in the first place.

But that is not the same as saying that "war is being planned". The latter implies an actual intent/desire to start a war, the former does not.

Today from Russian media: "Bandera Ukraine, blah, blah"

That phrase on its own should indicate that what you are reading is pure verbal flatulence. The speaker in this case (Medvedev) should be another strong indication.

If you read Nordic message boards, most users are ...

I was referring to actual reality (i.e. what decision makers at the state level are planning). Not what randos on the message boardz are saying.

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

#270

Post by strken »

stickfigure wrote: post #225
hedora wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s down to 30% in the US; it was over 40% twenty years ago: https://news.gallup.com/poll/642548/church-attendance-declin...

Wow, today I learned. I'm gratified to see that the lizardman coefficient is consistent. In the chart, 2% of "None/Atheist/Agnostic" apparently attends religious services every week.

My brother and I used to take our grandmother to church for Easter mass, and a friend of mine goes once a month with his wife's family, despite all three of us being atheists. I really don't think that 2% is guaranteed to be polling error, as Lizardman's Constant would suggest.
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