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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)

#281

Post by willy_k »

mcswell wrote: post #278
willy_k wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are without a doubt large drones with nav lights flying around multiple states at night now. There are a lot of people seeing drones where they aren’t, too, and it would be odd if that weren’t happening. But to take that and say “nothing to see here” is ignoring the mass of solid video and official non-statement evidence to the contrary. I myself saw a drone, and tried to paint it as a plane or helicopter at fi…

What exactly makes a drone "mysterious" or "omonious[ly]"?

The phenomena is a mystery right now, unless you discount military and government statements. Ominous might not have been the most precise word for what I meant, more out of place yet unassuming.

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

#282

Post by Vegenoid »

WalterBright wrote: post #165
RajT88 wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> People may have had less access to information and technology, but that didn't make them any dumber than we are now. There's probably an aspect to people confusing "knowledge" with "brainpower". People in the past were just as good at figuring stuff out as we are today. We have the advantage of Millenia of stuff figured out and documented. So we know on average more about how the universe works than people in the d…

> 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.

I think that it depends on what you mean by “people”. My hypothesis is that the average person today is better at learning than in the past, for the reasons you stated, but that there have been people as good at learning as the best today for quite a while. It seems hard to refute this when considering some of the great minds of the past, and the incredible discoveries they were able to make with far less tools and collaborators with which to make them.

I also don’t think that brainpower/learning ability correspond as directly to training regimen as physical ability. We also don’t have as clear of an idea for what the “best” ways to increase learning ability are as for fitness. And of course our methods to quantify intelligence are much less objective than for fitness - partly because we separate fitness ability into different domains in a way that we tend not to for intelligence.

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

#283

Post by WalterBright »

Maken wrote: post #251
WalterBright wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A free market requires a government that will enforce laws against fraud and force. Government also plays a role in dealing with externalities. A free market is not "completely unregulated". > Almost literally everyone here is in favour of free markets How does that fit in with single payer health care, rent control, universal basic income, calls for wealth taxes, calls to eliminate wealth "inequality", government fo…

Universal basic income is about replacing government health care with free markets.

That's a novel interpretation of it. I've never seen anyone advocate that.

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

#284

Post by WalterBright »

bregma wrote: post #267
WalterBright wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What separates men from animals is men have honor.

Some men have honor. FTFY

Those without honor are intelligent animals, but not men.

Each of us makes that choice for ourselves.

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

#285

Post by gopher_space »

itronitron wrote: post #63
gopher_space wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The veterinary world has a specific term for a condition they can’t diagnose, and I appreciate the intellectual honesty behind that.

do you know the specific term, or does your intellectual honesty prevent you from saying that you do?

Ain't Doin Right.

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

#286

Post by itsanaccount »

montjoy wrote: post #226
itsanaccount wrote: post #46

Since we all know what this is actually commenting on, I'll answer that directly. The noise on the UFO topic has reached a massed hysteria pitch. When that happens, the overall signal to noise ratio of internet sourced sightings goes from "very poor" to "nearly invisible." I blame a lot of that on the recent congressional hearings bringing stories to the public's front of mind. But. And I think its a very very import…

I’ve come to few conclusions about this recently. 1. Most people will never believe in UFOs until they see one for themselves in an unambiguous way or hear a report from someone in person that they believe is credible. There is too much stigma around this topic. 2. There is a very large amount, probably 1000s records, of credible and consistent evidence out there. However 99% of it is circumstantial and will never be…

I think you're right on all points, though I don't find the concept of a higher technological power terrifying. If they? it? wanted to harm us they could/would.

I make my posts about the subject on the idea that its important for people to have some warning, that its not something to dismiss, so they aren't surprised if/when something happens in our life time. For those who don't have the hobby of reading through those thousands of credible reports.

Not that I have any idea what I'm looking at, I don't think anymore than any ape on this planet. But those orbs exist and do very weird things, and probably have for a very long time, and isn't that neat.

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

#287

Post by WalterBright »

evgen wrote: post #246
WalterBright wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

I love the notion perpetuated by American god botherers that Marx and Jesus do not occupy the exact same circle in the “economic policies” Venn diagram. Given the low uptake of Marxism in the US (either real or that which is imagined by the US right) I would suggest your hypothesis would have more evidence behind it if you replaced Marxism with current US crony capitalism and rent-seeking behavior.

I don't see a connection between crony capitalism and rent-seeking, and religion. See the list of common characteristics I listed between religion and marxism.

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

#288

Post by WalterBright »

Eisenstein wrote: post #260
nradov wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Humans made gradual progress before the scientific method but it was slow and kind of random. If you look at the historical pace of innovation it tremendously accelerated after the scientific method became widespread.

> Humans made gradual progress before the scientific method When was 'before the scientific method' exactly? > it was slow and kind of random. I would argue it wasn't random at all -- it was directed towards human needs and desires as appropriate to the times. There was never a period where humans stopped using their intelligence and problem solving skills to improve their lives in whatever ways were available. > If…

Google says:

"While elements of the scientific method existed in ancient times, the modern scientific method is generally attributed to Sir Francis Bacon who outlined it in his 1620 treatise "Novum Organum," placing the invention of the scientific method during the early 17th century during the Scientific Revolution;"

which sounds about right.

It was much more prevalent in free market countries. Authoritarian economies tend to be too rigid to experiment and develop new things.

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

#289

Post by mikestew »

ricardobeat wrote: post #255
mikestew wrote: post #11

In the context of the fact that, according to TFA, the pits were there all along: you'll really notice how pitted your current windshield is when you go get a new, crystal-clear one. The folks in TFA just skipped the "go get a new one" step, and for the first time took a really hard look at their windshield.

Some of the pictures in the article show several golf-ball-size holes in the windshield though. Not something that would go unnoticed. Was windshield glass not laminated in that era?

Windshields should have been laminated back then (a lot of manufacturers were using it in the 1930s). It's oddly difficult to find when it was required in automobiles in the U. S. But in reference to the picture I'm pretty sure you're talking about, even if the glass were laminated it should have spider-webbed. I have no idea what would have caused what is in that photo. I mean, it could have been just plain vandalism that was blamed on the "mysterious" pitting phenomena.

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

#290

Post by Eisenstein »

WalterBright wrote: post #288
Eisenstein wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Humans made gradual progress before the scientific method When was 'before the scientific method' exactly? > it was slow and kind of random. I would argue it wasn't random at all -- it was directed towards human needs and desires as appropriate to the times. There was never a period where humans stopped using their intelligence and problem solving skills to improve their lives in whatever ways were available. > If…

Google says: "While elements of the scientific method existed in ancient times, the modern scientific method is generally attributed to Sir Francis Bacon who outlined it in his 1620 treatise "Novum Organum," placing the invention of the scientific method during the early 17th century during the Scientific Revolution;" which sounds about right. It was much more prevalent in free market countries. Authoritarian economi…

> "While elements of the scientific method existed in ancient times, the modern scientific method is generally attributed to Sir Francis Bacon who outlined it in his 1620 treatise "Novum Organum,"

Which specific aspect of that work was responsible for humans being better able to solve complex problems after its development which could not have been solved before it, if the same access to materials and resources were available?

> Authoritarian economies tend to be too rigid to experiment and develop new things.

The German regime during the years between 1930 and 1945 is generally understood to have been highly authoritarian and was responsible for some very famous technological breakthroughs in fields such as rocketry and aviation.

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