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Tim
SFN Regular
USA
775 Posts |
 Posted - 10/14/2004 : 01:01:00
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I've been working nights for about eight years, until last week when I became a casualty of corporate downsizing. With a bit more time on my hands than I care for, I decided to check out a little prime time television, and that was a rather humorous lesson.
I tuned into a show on SciFi called Proof Positive.
http://www.scifi.com/proofpositive/
They advertised investigating three stories, and one would prove to be sure fire evidence of a para-someting-or-another event.
What I saw was, in fact, one of the silliest, most predictable productions of pure bull shit ever allowed to reach even the tawdry domain of cable television.
The first story was about a photographic phenomena called "rods." That one I solved as soon as I saw the first photo. I've taken too many pictures to be fooled by something I've seen dozens of times in my own shots that were trashed because of this 'phenomena.'
The second story featured an inoperable lighthouse with a light that kept coming on at night, and a story about the ghost of a dead keeper. Not much I can say about this one except reflections happen, but they, at least, tried a little locked-up misdirection to make this story more tantalizing.
The third story was about a cop, (detective and hack writer), that knew he was a reincarnated second rate artist. They even introduced twenty some odd generalizations, er I mean, facts to prove the detective/hack writer couldn't be making the story up. This was added to the most amazing set of coincidences to make the story absolutely credible.
Then, came the 'Proof Positive' coupe de gras. The cop took a polygraph! To make things worse, the first polygraph was inconclusive. The operator must have asked a bad question. Man, Aldrich Ames would throw a fit, a cop that can't beat a polygraph! So they got a second operator to do the test. And, of course the guy passed this time around.
We now know that reincarnation has been shown to be 'Proof Positive.'
Imagine that, we can use pseudoscience to certify the existence of the paranormal! Things never change -- They just get weirder.
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"We got an issue in America. Too many good docs are gettin' out of business. Too many OB/GYNs aren't able to practice their -- their love with women all across this country." Dubya in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, 9/6/2004
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Ricky
SFN Die Hard
USA
4907 Posts |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 10/14/2004 : 02:37:53 [Permalink]
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Possibly future generations will be less pliable -- evolution might do something in a hurry -- but I doubt it.
Lets face it, crap sells. And the crappier it is, the better we like it. We are a species of intellectual honey-dippers.
I was going to make a point here, but I've forgotten what it was.....
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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Dude
SFN Die Hard
USA
6891 Posts |
Posted - 10/14/2004 : 08:09:12 [Permalink]
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Well, that show is on the SciFi (Fi=Fiction) channel.
So take it with a grain of salt. |
Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson
"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin
Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth |
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Gorgo
SFN Die Hard
USA
5310 Posts |
Posted - 10/14/2004 : 08:11:57 [Permalink]
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| He's one of the guys that's mentioned on http://www.johnadams.net that I brought up in the thread about Kevin Ryerson. He looks similar to Carroll Beckwith, so therefore..... |
I know the rent is in arrears
The dog has not been fed in years
It's even worse than it appears
But it's alright-
Jerry Garcia
Robert Hunter
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beskeptigal
SFN Die Hard
USA
3834 Posts |
Posted - 10/15/2004 : 00:01:53 [Permalink]
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| Proof positive needs another name. [rolls eyes] I saw about half an episode. That's all I could take. |
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Gorgo
SFN Die Hard
USA
5310 Posts |
Posted - 10/15/2004 : 03:32:07 [Permalink]
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The URL I posted is working now. This is the page with Beckwith http://www.johnadams.net/cases/samples/Snow-Beckwith/index.html .
I'm glad someone brought this up. I happened to watch that segment, too. Coupled with the fact that they debunked the other two claims, this made it seem to a lot of people, I'm sure, that these people are serious scientists. |
I know the rent is in arrears
The dog has not been fed in years
It's even worse than it appears
But it's alright-
Jerry Garcia
Robert Hunter
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Siberia
SFN Addict
Brazil
2322 Posts |
Posted - 10/15/2004 : 07:41:41 [Permalink]
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Hey, it's science fiction. Science that is not real ;)
Anything in that channel is automatically discredited by the channel's very name.
But worse than believing in pseudo-science, is having a firm belief in vampires, elves, mysterious pyramid powers and crap like that. My best friend's a self-declared witch, heh. Even she admits you can interpret anything from tarot. Sad, she never got to read my tarot... *sigh*
My poor generation (I'm 19, in case you people don't remember) went out the toilet. Pity. |
"Why are you afraid of something you're not even sure exists?"
- The Kovenant, Via Negativa
"People who don't like their beliefs being laughed at shouldn't have such funny beliefs."
-- unknown
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Tim
SFN Regular
USA
775 Posts |
Posted - 10/19/2004 : 21:04:19 [Permalink]
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Actually, we do enjoy watching shows like Farscape, and other pure scifi stuff. It's fun. Unfortunately, some folks don't seem to recognize the difference between fun, and taking some poor schmuck to the cleaners, or capalizing on the naivete of others. The Scifi Channel, as we all know, seems quite content to indulge in the latter, and that particular enterprise bothers me.
I don't consider television shows like "Proof Positive" or "Crossing Over With John Edwards" to be science fiction--Fantasy perhaps, but not scifi. Either way, they present it as reality programming.
It's the same old crap that I've been railing against for years Maybe, I just need to air my gripes before a sympathetic audience every now and then, and I thank y'all for your compassion. The only sympathetic ear I have down here is my wife. I'm waist deep in the US capital of hoodoo and anti-intellectualism embodied by our fearful leader.
I once wanted to show some folks the frivolity of their beliefs. I spent months studying the Tarot, and learning to do cold readings. I actually became quite good at it. But, as belief in the paranormal goes, once I finished a reading, and explained everything I did, the believers still insisted that the cards were so powerful they could even work through the hands of a non-believer.
Fortunately, I was able to charge five or ten bucks a reading at the local dance club!
Maybe, I'll go chase a feu follet back into the swamp, now...
And, Siberia, I know what that's like. We recently had a 'friend' move out of our home--At last! She liked to pretend she was a vampire, but I don't think it was an honest belief. I think she just liked the attention of dressing up pseudo-goth and shocking people. She backed off on most of the crap after she discovered nobody really cared. We all have cars and a road to New Orleans these days. So, nobody's shocked anymore. |
"We got an issue in America. Too many good docs are gettin' out of business. Too many OB/GYNs aren't able to practice their -- their love with women all across this country." Dubya in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, 9/6/2004
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H. Humbert
SFN Die Hard
USA
4574 Posts |
Posted - 10/20/2004 : 02:25:36 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Siberia
My best friend's a self-declared witch, heh. Even she admits you can interpret anything from tarot. Sad, she never got to read my tarot... *sigh*
The few self-proclaimed I've spoken to also cast magic spells which they are convinced truly work. They chant, burn sage, invoke the names of several "spirits," spin around in a circle three times or whatever. One witch said she's never had a spell not work for her. When I pressed her on it, she mentioned that not all spells take effect right away though, and you actually have to "be on the lookout" for when you spell works. So if you cast a spell for money, six months later that $10 you find on the sidewalk is because of your spell.
She seemed oblivious of the fact that she was using the exact same rationale as those who employ the useless "power" of prayer, ironically a practice she mocked. I swear, when you get down to it, all religions are pretty much the same, or at least they all require the same set of delusions in order to function properly.
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"A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true." --Demosthenes
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool." --Richard P. Feynman
"Face facts with dignity." --found inside a fortune cookie |
| Edited by - H. Humbert on 10/20/2004 02:27:55 |
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