The Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect: A Wikipedia Corollary

When I was a wee lad, cutting my conservative teeth baiting hippies and fighting with communists on the streets of Berkeley, I lived in student cooperative housing. Since placement was based on seniority, I lived for the first two years in the least desirable and largest place, called Barrington Hall. It has been closed for years; a result off awful management on the part of the socialist organization that ran it, and dumb ass college students being allowed to do pretty much whatever they wanted.

In its defense, I met a lot of very interesting and intelligent people there, one of whom is a dear friend. And there was also a lot of free sex and nudity and punk rock and booze and all sorts of other stuff that appealed to the less high-minded part of my psyche. Anyway, I wanted to look up one of my acquaintances from Barrington, so I started poking around the internet, and discovered that there is a Wiki page devoted to it. As I read it I was immediately reminded of this:

“Briefly stated, the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect is as follows. You open the newspaper to an article on some subject you know well. In Murray's case, physics. In mine, show business. You read the article and see the journalist has absolutely no understanding of either the facts or the issues. Often, the article is so wrong it actually presents the story backward—reversing cause and effect. I call these the "wet streets cause rain" stories. Paper's full of them.
In any case, you read with exasperation or amusement the multiple errors in a story, and then turn the page to national or international affairs, and read as if the rest of the newspaper was somehow more accurate about Palestine than the baloney you just read. You turn the page, and forget what you know.”

-- Michael Crichton

I am as guilty as many of turning to the easy research of Wikipedia for many things. And while I am aware of its crowd-sourced nature, and its political bent, and most of all its famous inaccuracies, it is an effortless and lazy shortcut.

But the absolute drivel written about a place in which I lived for two years was astounding. Dates were wrong, events were reported badly, or ignored or made up from whole cloth. And this is not an overtly political topic, one that I assumed would have some passing familiarity with the truth! It was an amazing experience, having the world's portable encyclopedia revealed to be completely full of shit.

Posted by: CBD at 12:00 PM

Comments

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1 You mean to say that wet streets don't cause rain?

Posted by: Clueless Journalists at May 20, 2018 11:56 AM (WU8si)

2 The loss of Michael Crichton still saddens me. An extremely insightful and wise man.

Posted by: Ever at May 20, 2018 11:57 AM (OLS0m)

3 And also a topic for which mostly nobody cares. Which likely explains the lack of accuracy. To say that everything on Wikipedia is as filled with errors as a page inexplicably dedicated to "Barrington Hall" is quite a stretch.

I guess I'll have to look up the dorms at VA Tech to see how much of the super important history they've got wrong on that topic, too.

Or something.

Posted by: deadrody at May 20, 2018 11:58 AM (jsGbO)

4 The trees blowing back and forth? That's what causes the wind.

Posted by: Duke Lowell at May 20, 2018 11:58 AM (gC2IV)

5 Hordesource>Wiki

Posted by: f'd at May 20, 2018 11:58 AM (UdKB7)

6 Wikipedia is almost always wrong, and impossible to correct

Posted by: Anderson's Pooper at May 20, 2018 11:59 AM (UkiAG)

7 Wiki, feh.

Posted by: Snopes at May 20, 2018 11:59 AM (r9UYA)

8 This is how I feel when I see shows about Home decor, shows like "Open House". Ugh!! So many people have taste from hunger. Having no taste is better than bad taste.

And shows on woodworking and restoration, usually good for a chuckle.

Posted by: REDACTED at May 20, 2018 12:01 PM (Ymy4N)

9 I once worked on a public service project (in this case, not court ordered) which was reported on by the Washington Post. The paper managed to get every possible fact wrong in the resulting article. Every. Single. Fact.

Posted by: Weasel at May 20, 2018 12:02 PM (Uqz+J)

10 We're even more accurate than Wikipedia.

Posted by: CNN at May 20, 2018 12:02 PM (WU8si)

11 I have to wonder if Wikipedia doesn't amplify the Dunning-Kruger effect. Stupid people look shit up on wikipedia and think that they have a thorough understanding of the issue.

Posted by: Colorado Alex In Exile at May 20, 2018 12:03 PM (Tnhbr)

12 3 Someone pee in your cheerios? Lighten up Francis.

Posted by: rammajamma at May 20, 2018 12:03 PM (xceTB)

13 Interesting that Sharyl Atkission was telling ppl to beware the bias/falsity on Wikipedia today, too.

Posted by: Ever at May 20, 2018 12:03 PM (OLS0m)

14 Posted by: Ever at May 20, 2018 12:03 PM (OLS0m)

-------------

Someone was saying the same thing on the internet? That never happens.

Posted by: Duke Lowell at May 20, 2018 12:05 PM (gC2IV)

15 The Gell-Mann Amnesia effect is quite prevalent *here* when some Horde-person goes off on a rant about something they read from a news source. Not always, but far too often to be comfortable, it gets revealed that the article or headline are completely wrong.

Posted by: Mikey NTH - Purify Your Politics with Cleansing Fire! AtC Brand Flammenwerfers now at The Outrage Ou at May 20, 2018 12:07 PM (0QYMt)

16 I had this experience working at ATT/Bellsouth during and after the breakup of the parent company. Every single thing I read in the papers about the breakup and what was going on inside it was partially, mostly or completely wrong. I then noticed this was true about anything else I happened to know anything about. That's when I decided journalists are mostly lazy idiots that will twist a story or just make things up to match their preferred narrative.

Posted by: Ripley at May 20, 2018 12:07 PM (MxEKc)

17 I've solved the problem by not reading the newspaper ...

YMMV.

Posted by: Adriane the Literary Critic ... at May 20, 2018 12:07 PM (AoK0a)

18
Fook off, iPhone. All my brilliant snark lost, like tears in the rain ...

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at May 20, 2018 12:08 PM (pNxlR)

19 Wikipedia is extremley acucrate. You raycissts just can't handle the fackts, like that Obmama was the graetest Presidentt evur and the singal payer healthcare werks.

Posted by: Mary Cloggenstein from Brattleboro, VT at May 20, 2018 12:09 PM (WU8si)

20
Snow jumping out of the way creates a vacuum which propels snowplows down the road.

True. Science. Fact.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at May 20, 2018 12:10 PM (pNxlR)

21 Wikipedia was never meant to be based in fact. It was meant to disseminate leftist propaganda and disinformation. It has turned out to be a very effective tool.

Posted by: Soona at May 20, 2018 12:11 PM (Fs5vw)

22 I need to invent Weaselpedia.

Posted by: Weasel at May 20, 2018 12:12 PM (MVjcR)

23 I use Wikipedia primarily not so much for the truth of its content but rather to understand allusions. Thus if someone refers to Joe McCarthy's HUAC and I don't know what it is I loom it up and learn what people think they are talking about rather than the actual truth.

Incidentally, there have been a plethora of Audible audio books entitled [Whatever]: A History From Beginning To End that are quite short. For example, here is The Byzantine Empire: A History From Beginning To End. It one hour nine minutes long. I suspect they left some stuff out.

https://adbl.co/2rT5OPQ

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at May 20, 2018 12:12 PM (+y/Ru)

24 CBD - spot on. Digital revisionism feeds the faux superiority of the clinically insane. See Dunning-Krueger effect. And if you disagree with their utopian house of cards, you are a poopy head.

Posted by: Quilter's Irish Death at May 20, 2018 12:12 PM (uB9t9)

25 I start reading USA Yesterday and by the 3rd or 5th paragraph the writing is dead wrong about some subject. I think this is also called the Fox Butterfield syndrome.

Posted by: rhennigantx at May 20, 2018 12:12 PM (JFO2v)

26 "But the absolute drivel written about a place in which I lived for two years was astounding. Dates were wrong, events were reported badly, or ignored or made up from whole cloth."
------

This has the ring of truth to me:

"Resident complains not fit for habitability. Live boa constrictor, fire, dried blood on her door, food and burning matches thrown at dinner, person wandering through halls brandishing a whip and striking the walls with it."

This is you, isn't it CBD? In bondage leathers with a boa coiled around you, cracking a cat-o-nine-tails at the Squares.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 20, 2018 12:13 PM (qJtVm)

27 22 I need to invent Weaselpedia.
Posted by: Weasel at May 20, 2018 12:12 PM (MVjcR)

Ted Turner beat you to it

Posted by: rhennigantx at May 20, 2018 12:13 PM (JFO2v)

28 Why does my hash keep changing? Look at 9 and 22.

Posted by: Weasel at May 20, 2018 12:13 PM (MVjcR)

29 I generally find Wikipedia to be accurate in the non-controversial subjects I know about, like chemistry and mathematics. When it comes to controversial subjects, it's about as trustworthy as Whoopi Goldberg.

Posted by: Michael the Texan at May 20, 2018 12:13 PM (nvMvs)

30 22 I need to invent Weaselpedia.
Posted by: Weasel at May 20, 2018 12:12 PM (MVjcR)
-------

"If you enjoyed this WeaselPage on the history of WASP appropriation of the sombrero, won't you please consider donating?"

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 20, 2018 12:14 PM (qJtVm)

31 28 Why does my hash keep changing? Look at 9 and 22.

Think you got some bad hash. Looks stepped on.

Posted by: Quilter's Irish Death at May 20, 2018 12:15 PM (uB9t9)

32 This wiki entry seems pretty solid:

"The book describes the actions and interactions of a group of highly mobile dogs, who operate cars and other conveyances in pursuit of work, play, and a final mysterious goal: a dog party."

Posted by: f'd at May 20, 2018 12:15 PM (UdKB7)

33 When i was in college, distinctly remember a professor breathlessly regaling us with the 'fact' that the Boeing 747 was so big and complex that they truly didn't fully understand why it actually flew. Even though i was clueless and meek, i still didn't buy that argument.. which meant i started to wonder about my professor's 'expertise'....... and a conservative was born.

Posted by: goatexchange at May 20, 2018 12:16 PM (YFnq5)

34 All Hail Eris,

Two weeks ago I was in Pure (the Yooper part) Michigan. There was still a lot of ice on Lake Superior and in most of the harbors. The Keweenaw Peninsula also had a lot of snow in the woods. Fortunately the skeeters and black flies weren't out yet. The U.P. is one of the most beautiful parts of the country.

Posted by: Jake Holenhead at May 20, 2018 12:16 PM (9UFns)

35 30 22 I need to invent Weaselpedia.
Posted by: Weasel at May 20, 2018 12:12 PM (MVjcR)
-------

"If you enjoyed this WeaselPage on the history of WASP appropriation of the sombrero, won't you please consider donating?"
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 20, 2018 12:14 PM (qJtVm)
--------
Which reminds me, people,sti
-------
Yes! Do this! The tractor needs implements!

Posted by: Weasel at May 20, 2018 12:16 PM (MVjcR)

36 When i was in college, distinctly remember a professor breathlessly regaling us with the 'fact' that the Boeing 747 was so big and complex that they truly didn't fully understand why it actually flew.

=

physics professor ?

Posted by: runner at May 20, 2018 12:16 PM (/U6eQ)

37 Folks like to say that conservatives need their own Twitter, Facebook, etc. But when they do create them,those same people don't use them. Try Infogalactic, which can be corrected and mirrors Wikipedia with out the SJW slant.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at May 20, 2018 12:17 PM (Lqy/e)

38 Copy/paste fail at 35. Sorry.

Posted by: Weasel at May 20, 2018 12:18 PM (MVjcR)

39 When i was in college, distinctly remember a professor breathlessly regaling us with the 'fact' that the Boeing 747 was so big and complex that they truly didn't fully understand why it actually flew.

-
My mother used to say that believing in evolution was like believing a tornado hit a junk yard and a 747 popped out.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at May 20, 2018 12:18 PM (+y/Ru)

40 Posted by: Jake Holenhead at May 20, 2018 12:16 PM (9UFns)
---

I'm a troll, but I do want to take a tour of the wilder shaggier parts of the U.P., plus do some island hopping around the Great Lakes.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 20, 2018 12:20 PM (qJtVm)

41 I have a daughter attending the local tech school (community college) Even they will not accept Wikipedia "articles".

Posted by: lurking grandma at May 20, 2018 12:20 PM (sujqA)

42 'physics professor'?

fortunately, no. the Hard Science profs were awesome. it was the social sciency-types who were expounding on topics about which they were clueless.....a trend i first noticed then, and it hasn't let up.

Posted by: goatexchange at May 20, 2018 12:20 PM (YFnq5)

43 The stuff the MSM makes up about is Hillary is fake but accurate, like her love and dedication to her husband. After all they danced romantically together on the beach and they have a video to prove it.

Posted by: Ripley at May 20, 2018 12:21 PM (MxEKc)

44 28 Why does my hash keep changing? Look at 9 and 22.
Posted by: Weasel at May 20, 2018 12:13 PM (MVjcR)

It changes because there is really more than one Weasel (if that's even your real name) which are all part of a secret society known as the Weasellumanati whose goal is to crash websites which they don't like the color scheme of by overwhelming them with comments from users named "Weasel".

Or at least that's what Wikipedia said.

Posted by: Weaselspiracy Theorist at May 20, 2018 12:21 PM (WU8si)

45 .. i am SO STEALING that 'junk yard/747' analogy.....

Posted by: goatexchange at May 20, 2018 12:21 PM (YFnq5)

46 I once found myself on the Wikipedia page for Rudyard Kipling. There was a whole paragraph devoted to an essay on South Pacific candy that some contributor falsely attributed to Kipling. Seems they had misinterpreted the meaning of Wiki Tiki Taffy.

Posted by: Muldoon at May 20, 2018 12:22 PM (m45I2)

47 My mother used to say that believing in evolution was like believing a tornado hit a junk yard and a 747 popped out.

==

sigh

Posted by: runner at May 20, 2018 12:23 PM (/U6eQ)

48 I've been a spokesperson on and off for a while. For five years that was a core party of my job with some fairly technical subject matter.

I found the weeklies did the best job. Put in the most effort to get things right.

The dailies were hit or miss. I was happy if they got 2/3 right.

The absolute worst was Time magazine back when that was a thing. It was a hostile interview and I was just being called (by the reporter's assistant, no less) for the obligatory counterpoint in a hit piece that was already written.

The NYT and WaPo also gave me s a few hostile interviews but they were more professional and balanced in the 90s (and it wasn't political).

More recently I had a fine interview with an informed NYT writer on some downstream energy issues. At the same time and on the same topic, the WSJ was very disappointing going for the scary headline and take counter to the facts I laid out very clearly.

The funniest ting was about 10-15 years ago I was part of a refinery tour with the Tribunes harvard educated energy reporter. Downtown fashions and alligator boots and didn't understand ethanol and fuel and the RFS for a pub based in Illinois.

At the same tour a couple of guys from the big regional paper declined the $5 pens they were offered on ethical grounds. I took the pens. You want to influence my story a freaking pen isn't going to make that happen

Posted by: Keith at May 20, 2018 12:23 PM (USf3s)

49 Wiki Tiki Taffy > Stallone's Cobra.

Posted by: goatexchange at May 20, 2018 12:23 PM (YFnq5)

50 I have a daughter attending the local tech school (community college) Even they will not accept Wikipedia "articles".
Posted by: lurking grandma at May 20, 2018 12:20 PM (sujqA)

It's not a bad starting point; most of the articles list their citations. Citing the article itself, instead of using the bibliography as a jumping-off point for your own research is a mistake though, even if the school would accept the citation. And for whatever reason, any Wikipedia article on a technical subject is useless beyond the surface level. They're just terribly written.

Posted by: hogmartin at May 20, 2018 12:23 PM (y87Qq)

51 >>>>
The loss of Michael Crichton still saddens me. An extremely insightful and wise man.....And an excellent fiction writer too.

Posted by: The Great White Scotsman at May 20, 2018 12:23 PM (+Dllb)

52 fortunately, no. the Hard Science profs were awesome.

=

glad to hear. people take social sciences to breeze throught with "A"s, then end up with mush in their heads

Posted by: runner at May 20, 2018 12:25 PM (/U6eQ)

53 My mother used to say that believing in evolution was like believing a tornado hit a junk yard and a 747 popped out.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at May 20, 2018 12:18 PM (+y/Ru)

Interesting analogy

Posted by: MAC SOG and nothing will happen at May 20, 2018 12:25 PM (czkHE)

54 having the world's portable encyclopedia revealed to be completely full of shit.

But it will continue to show up as the first link for any search about pretty much anything, if not the first several links. There's no way to get away from it. It's friggin annoying.

That said, it is a good resource for lots of textbook-type material - hard science textbook material. But I always endeavor to go another link first - any other link.

Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at May 20, 2018 12:25 PM (uSurQ)

55 Probably most of my professors would be aghast that the library, where most original sources are found, are not really used anymore.

If you really want to know the facts, go to the library, not the internet.

Posted by: Soona at May 20, 2018 12:25 PM (Fs5vw)

56
Posted by: Jake Holenhead at May 20, 2018 12:16 PM (9UFns)

Yeah, keep that to yourself, eh? Whenever the locals crow about the U.P. scoring high in some destination survey or another I cringe. The same boosters then get their undies all wadded up when some Developer Warbucks out of Chicago declares for building high rise condos near the lakeshore because (s)he sees a huge opportunity to score big at the expense of the local rubes. Cause and effect is lost on Billy and Betty Booster ...

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at May 20, 2018 12:26 PM (pNxlR)

57 The Gell-Mann paradox doesn't apply to the wikipedia as a whole. Gell-Mann assumes that the entire publication is written by the same small group of people, all of whom are equally ignorant about, well, nearly everything. That doesn't apply to the wikipedia. There, different classes of articles are written by different groups of people, who, in many cases, know well the subjects about which they're writing. FWIW, in my area of computer programming, I've found the wikipedia to be an invaluable resource for technical information.

BTW, did you correct any of the mistakes in the article?

Posted by: Brown Line at May 20, 2018 12:26 PM (S6ArX)

58 Two weeks ago I was in Pure (the Yooper part)
Michigan. There was still a lot of ice on Lake Superior and in most of
the harbors. The Keweenaw Peninsula also had a lot of snow in the woods.
Fortunately the skeeters and black flies weren't out yet. The U.P. is
one of the most beautiful parts of the country.

Posted by: Jake Holenhead at May 20, 2018 12:16 PM
-------------------
For about two weeks out of the year.

We almost bought property up there way back. 20 acres on the Yellow Dog River.

Posted by: The Great White Scotsman at May 20, 2018 12:27 PM (+Dllb)

59 I use Wikipedia primarily not so much for the truth of its content but rather to understand allusions. Thus if someone refers to Joe McCarthy's HUAC and I don't know what it is I loom it up and learn what people think they are talking about rather than the actual truth.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks

HUAC was started in the late 1930's to investigate NAZI influence in America. All well and good then.

And then, after WWII, people on HUAC started to look into Soviet influence in America. BAD!!

And Joe McCarthy was a Senator, and never a part of HUAC: House committee on Un-American Activities.

It is, in the long run, a bad thing when the government starts to investigate Americans. It gets too easy in these days to find something that somebody did wrong, and for the full weight of the government to fall on you.

This is flat out tyranny.

Posted by: Bozo Conservative....living on the prison planet at May 20, 2018 12:28 PM (S6Pax)

60 just looked up evolution on Inforgalactic

Posted by: runner at May 20, 2018 12:28 PM (/U6eQ)

61 a couple of guys from the big regional paper declined the $5 pens they were offered on ethical grounds

Ha! Prolly the first "ethical" thing they'd done in years. Apply that to your craft, you buffoons.

Posted by: Notorious BFD at May 20, 2018 12:28 PM (Tyii7)

62 This wiki entry seems pretty solid:

"The book describes the actions and interactions of a group of highly mobile dogs, who operate cars and other conveyances in pursuit of work, play, and a final mysterious goal: a dog party."
Posted by: f'd at May 20, 2018 12:15 PM (UdKB7)

It also says the last hat was the best hat of all, and I don't agree with that.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 20, 2018 12:29 PM (cY3LT)

63 Damn.....you lived in Berkeley and went to (shudders) school there and were and still are a sane and productive person.

You Sir are a man among men.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at May 20, 2018 12:29 PM (EoRCO)

64 And shows on woodworking and restoration, usually good for a chuckle.
Posted by: REDACTED at May 20, 2018 12:01 PM
~~~
Reminds me of the scene in 'For the love of the game', where Costner, using a band saw, slices into his hand. Getting blood all over the fluffy white snow.
Pitching hand- subplot: no self-gratification.

Posted by: socalcon at May 20, 2018 12:30 PM (Roy2Z)

65 On non political topics a lot of the lack of quality in the media comes from the shrinking newsrooms and likely sub standard J schools where basic journalism is under taught.

I busted a bit above on a Tribune energy reporter not knowing some basic stuff, but in reality she was probably covering everything from electrical utilities to retail gasoline. It's hard to have depth with a beat like that.

Posted by: Keith at May 20, 2018 12:30 PM (USf3s)

66 *Infogalactic*

Posted by: runner at May 20, 2018 12:30 PM (/U6eQ)

67 I found Wiki's lack of commentary on the arboreal nature of the canine soiree to be disturbingly incomplete.

Posted by: goatexchange at May 20, 2018 12:31 PM (YFnq5)

68 It was an amazing experience, having the world's portable encyclopedia revealed to be completely full of shit.

Why it's almost like a three ring circus without a ringmaster that understand's the need for coherence and organization.

Posted by: Comrade Hrothgar at May 20, 2018 12:31 PM (n9EOP)

69 understands

Posted by: Comrade Hrothgar at May 20, 2018 12:31 PM (n9EOP)

70 The collision between "Abrupt Manmade Global Climate Change" and "Big Evolution™" could be epic!

Posted by: Muldoon at May 20, 2018 12:33 PM (m45I2)

71 Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 20, 2018 12:20 PM

The first time I had heard the Troll comment I was at breakfast in St. Ignace years ago. The waitress told me to watch out for trolls after I crossed the Mackinaw Bridge. She called it 'the troll bridge.' I laughed so hard my breakfast almost came out my nose.

Posted by: Jake Holenhead at May 20, 2018 12:33 PM (9UFns)

72 47 My mother used to say that believing in evolution was like believing a tornado hit a junk yard and a 747 popped out.
==
sigh"

There's a "yo mama" joke hiding in plain sight there, but I ain't gonna be the one.

Posted by: Tom Servo at May 20, 2018 12:33 PM (V2Yro)

73
63 Damn.....you lived in Berkeley and went to (shudders) school there and were and still are a sane and productive person.

There are at least three of us here with that shameful (not really) blight on our otherwise spotless strings of service to humanity. Che Guevera and I are the other two.

Kind of unexpected to have that exfent of connection to Berkeley within this august assembly of morons, but there it is.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at May 20, 2018 12:34 PM (pNxlR)

74 Nunes
If they ran a spy ring or an informant ring and they were paying people within the Trump campaign if any of that is true, that is an absolute red line.

IF???

Posted by: rhennigantx at May 20, 2018 12:34 PM (JFO2v)

75 Wiki is pretty good for what I use it for - airplane references & info on obscure wars & the like.

Posted by: josephistan at May 20, 2018 12:36 PM (ANIFC)

76 Just started Canton on TCM on demand, the precursor to Leftism

Posted by: Skip at May 20, 2018 12:37 PM (aC6Sd)

77 it all depends on the topic, I agree

Posted by: runner at May 20, 2018 12:37 PM (/U6eQ)

78 There's a "yo mama" joke hiding in plain sight there, but I ain't gonna be the one.

=

something , something parachute..there I said it

Posted by: runner at May 20, 2018 12:38 PM (/U6eQ)

79 And let allown the will repeat it all

Posted by: Skip at May 20, 2018 12:38 PM (aC6Sd)

80 Damn! I just spent fourteen generations growing thicker ody hair and now they tell me the globe is getting warmer!

Posted by: Muldoon at May 20, 2018 12:38 PM (m45I2)

81 My mother used to say that believing in evolution was like believing a tornado hit a junk yard and a 747 popped out.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at May 20, 2018 12:18 PM (+y/Ru)

Interesting analogy
Posted by: MAC SOG and nothing will happen at May 20, 2018 12:25 PM (czkHE)

Yep. And in actuality, a pretty good one for how/why evolution exists.

The junk yard being planet Earth, and the 747 being virtually anything/everything that has a utilitarian purpose, and therefore, exists.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 20, 2018 12:38 PM (cY3LT)

82 My BIL likens Wikipedia to the 'idiot lights' on an automobile's dashboard. Not as useful a gauges.

Posted by: socalcon at May 20, 2018 12:39 PM (Roy2Z)

83
I am positive that there is not a single smidgeon of untruth or error in the Wikipedia entries for Barky, Mooch, Shrillary, Slick Willie, Nanzi or John Effing Kerry. They are shining examples of honesty and selflessness to us all.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at May 20, 2018 12:39 PM (pNxlR)

84 I guess the Muldoon line winds up on an evolutionary dead end.

Posted by: Muldoon at May 20, 2018 12:40 PM (m45I2)

85 My mother used to say that believing in evolution was like believing a tornado hit a junk yard and a 747 popped out.

Not really.
\
The general theory of evolution describes a well-established mechanism that is among the most powerful ever known to Man. There is no question about this. Now, the theory of evolution as applied to biology is a separate question, but the evidence for it on the local level (intraspecies) is quite impressive and there is no other, even half-reasonable, explanation offered for the development of species.

You might not like the biological theory of evolution, but don't make the mistake of trying to argue against the general theory of evolution, which is one of the most important intellectual developments of Man, right up there with the wheel, writing, mathematics, and the concept of the chain reaction.

Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at May 20, 2018 12:40 PM (uSurQ)

86 76 Danton, you stupid autocucumber , got to watch this thing like a hawk

Posted by: Skip at May 20, 2018 12:41 PM (aC6Sd)

87 Why does my hash keep changing? Look at 9 and 22.

It's your future self returning in time to kill you to see if "he" will disappear after he pulls the trigger.

Posted by: andycanuck at May 20, 2018 12:42 PM (Evws/)

88
84 I guess the Muldoon line winds up on an evolutionary dead end.
Posted by: Muldoon at May 20, 2018 12:40 PM (m45I2)

HBOUS - Hair Balls of Unusual Size. Scientists generations from now will search in vain for the felines capable of creating such prodigeous spheres.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at May 20, 2018 12:42 PM (pNxlR)

89 lived in Berkeley and went to (shudders) school there and were and still are a sane and productive person.

You Sir are a man among men.

*******

Ever read Poe's A Descent into the Maelstrom?

CBD at Berkeley is like that one turd in the bowl that refused to go down in the swirl of the flush.

And I mean that in the best possible way.

Posted by: Muldoon at May 20, 2018 12:43 PM (m45I2)

90 *dusts off suit of armor*

Posted by: runner at May 20, 2018 12:43 PM (/U6eQ)

91 There are at least three of us here with that shameful (not really) blight on our otherwise spotless strings of service to humanity. Che Guevera and I are the other two.

Kind of unexpected to have that exfent of connection to Berkeley within this august assembly of morons, but there it is.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at May 20, 2018 12:34 PM (pNxlR)

I was at Cal briefly ... but left to come back to the East Coast (NYU). I couldn't get an apartment when I went there (rent control and 50 people interviewing for every open apartment really bugged me) and lived in the hotel above Blondie's Pizza for a while and then in the hotel down Telegraph (that I think burned down some years later).

Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at May 20, 2018 12:44 PM (uSurQ)

92 Gell-Mann amnesia? I created the internet for just such a reason.
Where's my Nobel Prize?

Posted by: Al Gore-icle at May 20, 2018 12:44 PM (Fb9aZ)

93 I generally find Wikipedia to be accurate in the non-controversial subjects I know about, like chemistry and mathematics. When it comes to controversial subjects, it's about as trustworthy as Whoopi Goldberg.
Posted by: Michael the Texan at May 20, 2018 12:13 PM (nvMvs)

Same here, and the good Wiki entries will point you towards sources, too. However, whatever the outrage d' jour is for the SJWs, Wiki is not to be trusted. The intertubes is both a wonderful and dangerous thing.

A nice thing about Wikipedia is that you can update an entry if you happen to have additional information. I did that once for a "golden age" Sci-Fi author. Perhaps CBD could do the same for the Barrington Hall entry (unless the entry is obviously biased towards "Lefties are wonderful!")

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at May 20, 2018 12:44 PM (5Yee7)

94 in seriousness, the problem with Wikipedia is that we've all swallowed the trendy theory of "crowdsourcing", because it both embodies our distrust of experts, and makes us feel good about ourselves.

"Crowdsourcing" information is Bullshit. Outrageous bullshit, it's like asking bushmen in the kalihari for instructions on how to build that 747 mentioned previously, and figuring that if we just talk to enough of them the answer will turn up.

An "answer" will turn up alright, it always does. But it'll probably involve gourds and hyena scat, which is probably a good approximation of most of Wikipedia.

Posted by: Tom Servo at May 20, 2018 12:44 PM (V2Yro)

95 There is a new Prager video on the belief of God and atheist believing in nothing. Be back with link.

Posted by: Skip at May 20, 2018 12:44 PM (aC6Sd)

96
I was quoted only one time after a phone call from a business newspaper. One line. Dude totally got it wrong.

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at May 20, 2018 12:45 PM (r+sAi)

97 CBD at Berkeley is like that one turd in the bowl that refused to go down in the swirl of the flush.

And I mean that in the best possible way.

-
You should manufacture your own line of boutique Valentine's Day cards.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at May 20, 2018 12:45 PM (+y/Ru)

98 We all know that we were brought here by interplanetary aliens, who landed on Machu Picchu, geez, people...

Posted by: runner at May 20, 2018 12:45 PM (/U6eQ)

99 I was misquoted. I meant "Waikiki Pussy".

Posted by: zombie rudyard kipling at May 20, 2018 12:46 PM (Evws/)

100
I've noticed the deep state narrative is now that spying on a presidential campaign is no diffierent than spying on Guido who is running a bookmaking operation in the Bronx.

Posted by: Flawless Male Logic at May 20, 2018 12:46 PM (PtOP4)

101 Fortunately the skeeters ... weren't out yet. The U.P. is one of the most beautiful parts of the country.
Posted by: Jake Holenhead at May 20, 2018 12:16 PM (9UFns)

Ah yes, the State Bird of Michigan!

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at May 20, 2018 12:46 PM (5Yee7)

102 I actually contributed 3 bucks to wiki when they had their fund drive. It was a weak moment.

Posted by: Kallisto at May 20, 2018 12:47 PM (iF4iV)

103 99 I was misquoted. I meant "Waikiki Pussy"."

Oh, leave that judge out of this.

Posted by: Tom Servo at May 20, 2018 12:48 PM (V2Yro)

104 Muldoon
Wicki Tiki Taffy, you made me laugh, not the first time either

Posted by: LMD Outer Banker at May 20, 2018 12:48 PM (Vuaet)

105 Mammoth Muldoon?

Posted by: andycanuck at May 20, 2018 12:49 PM (Evws/)

106 And shows on woodworking and restoration, usually good for a chuckle.
Posted by: REDACTED at May 20, 2018 12:01 PM
=====

Woodwright's Shop is the only one worth watching. The laboratory cleanliness and impossibly expensive tools of most of them is just sales/marketing. Serious tool envy with Roy Underhill.

Posted by: mustbequantum at May 20, 2018 12:49 PM (MIKMs)

107 If you really want to know the facts, go to the library, not the internet.

Posted by: Soona at May 20, 2018 12:25 PM (Fs5vw)

You can steal my book on Kindle!

Posted by: Zombie Abbie Hoffman at May 20, 2018 12:49 PM (sXefu)

108 what is it with NY and apartments? I worked with someone once who was bending over backwards to live with 5 other people, in Manhattan I think. We are talking references and school connections, as if trying to get into a fancy "invitation only" club.

Posted by: runner at May 20, 2018 12:49 PM (/U6eQ)

109 Posted by: Notsothoreau at May 20, 2018 12:17 PM (Lqy/e)

Just bookmarked Infogalactic. Hadn't known it existed.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at May 20, 2018 12:49 PM (phT8I)

110 https://www.prageru.com/videos/whats-greater-leap-faith-god-or-multiverse

Posted by: Skip at May 20, 2018 12:49 PM (aC6Sd)

111 HBOUS - Hair Balls of Unusual Size.
Are they asymmetrical like bears' ball?

Posted by: andycanuck at May 20, 2018 12:50 PM (Evws/)

112 I generally find Wikipedia to be accurate in the non-controversial subjects I know about, like chemistry and mathematics. When it comes to controversial subjects, it's about as trustworthy as Whoopi Goldberg.
Posted by: Michael the Texan at May 20, 2018 12:13 PM (nvMvs)

Same here, and the good Wiki entries will point you towards sources, too. However, whatever the outrage d' jour is for the SJWs, Wiki is not to be trusted. The intertubes is both a wonderful and dangerous thing.

A nice thing about Wikipedia is that you can update an entry if you happen to have additional information. I did that once for a "golden age" Sci-Fi author. Perhaps CBD could do the same for the Barrington Hall entry (unless the entry is obviously biased towards "Lefties are wonderful!")
Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at May 20, 2018 12:44 PM (5Yee7)

Yeah, I think that's kinda the point regarding the usefulness of Wikipedia. I don't go there to find out if Obama was wonderful or not.

I will go there to find out (for example) who won the 1968 Rose Bowl, however, or to touch up on a particular subject about which I know a little, and need a bit of reminding.

Then I expect the information I seek to be tested, either by reference links, or some other form of confirmation elsewhere. If it's important enough.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 20, 2018 12:50 PM (cY3LT)

113 that we've all swallowed the trendy theory of "crowdsourcing"

Who's "we", kimosabe?

Posted by: Anon a mouse at May 20, 2018 12:51 PM (BH7Yv)

114 I actually contributed 3 bucks to wiki when they had their fund drive. It was a weak moment.
Posted by: Kallisto at May 20, 2018 12:47 PM (iF4iV)

I did too. Sent them a $3 bill. They had no idea, it was close to being real money, but not quite.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 20, 2018 12:53 PM (cY3LT)

115 Back in my undegrad days at Washington State, I wanted to be a newspaper man. Damn I liked that...the guy who dug for answers and really knew what was going on. My first journalism class on reporting was taught by the classic old time editor. The final was to write an obituary.

The prof's philosophy was, obits are things that ALWAYS get read, and if you couldn't get that right, how the hell could you expect the readers to believe anything else???

Posted by: Diogenes at May 20, 2018 12:53 PM (0tfLf)

116 Roofies give you Jello Man amnesia.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at May 20, 2018 12:53 PM (IqV8l)

117 Then I expect the information I seek to be tested, either by reference links, or some other form of confirmation elsewhere. If it's important enough.

Posted by: BurtTC

*******

I think you hit the nail on the head here. All incoming information, regardless of the source needs to be tested and weighted accordingly. A sound approach.

Posted by: Muldoon at May 20, 2018 12:54 PM (m45I2)

118
"one of the most important intellectual developments of Man, right up there with the wheel, writing, mathematics, pizza and the concept of the chain reaction."

Fixed

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at May 20, 2018 12:54 PM (h3c1J)

119 I and friends of mine have noticed more and more, and not just in political writings, so many errors in magazines that are devoted to some certain interest. Errors that we as hobbyist laymen see instantly but pass through to make it into print.

Perhaps the ease of writing using word processing software as compared to typewriters has something to do with it. They lack of rigor in the educational establishment too would be a major contributor.

And then there is this,
https://twitter.com/ScottAdamsSays/status/998198385180983298
which just adds to all else.

Posted by: geoffb at May 20, 2018 12:54 PM (zOpu5)

120 lived in Berkeley and went to (shudders) school there and were and still are a sane and productive person.

You Sir are a man among men.

Little known factoid...Berkeley has a very good Army ROTC department. Their grads typically do very well in their military careers.

Posted by: Diogenes at May 20, 2018 12:55 PM (0tfLf)

121 You should manufacture your own line of boutique Valentine's Day cards.
=====

My kids and relatives roll their eyes every year at their annual Evil Mad Scientist valentines from me.

Posted by: mustbequantum at May 20, 2018 12:55 PM (MIKMs)

122 go to the library,"

Can't. There's a free speech corner nearby, and one can't be expected to handle that...

Posted by: Anon a mouse at May 20, 2018 12:55 PM (BH7Yv)

123 that we've all swallowed the trendy theory of "crowdsourcing"

******

But, but, but...consensus is important!

Posted by: Muldoon at May 20, 2018 12:56 PM (m45I2)

124
OK, let's see if my new Gab account info shows up in my nic.

Posted by: BackwardsBoy likes lobster at May 20, 2018 12:56 PM (GdWl+)

125 Errors that we as hobbyist laymen see instantly but pass through to make it into print"

Editors are mean people.

Posted by: Anon a mouse at May 20, 2018 12:57 PM (BH7Yv)

126

Good, that works.

I'm back on Gab and I joined the AoS group. Now I know how to mute accounts, which is a good thing.

Posted by: BackwardsBoy likes lobster at May 20, 2018 12:58 PM (GdWl+)

127 Ah yes, the State Bird of Michigan!
Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at May 20, 2018 12:46 PM

I'm somewhat used to skeeters, they just drill holes in you. It was the black flies that near drove me insane. They take chunks of flesh.

Posted by: Jake Holenhead at May 20, 2018 12:58 PM (9UFns)

128 Wikipedia is good for dates and names and places. You want to know who won Super Bowl VI and what was the score? The announcers? The half-time entertainment? You don't remember how many games the 1977 World Series went and who Reggie Jackson hit his 3 home runs off of? You want to know who played bass on the first Neil Young album, and who produced it? When Julius Caesar lived? And when Issac Newton died?
Wikipedia is the place.

But on anything that touches on any of the hot button issues of today or anything to do with any SJW shit?
Proceed with caution.

Posted by: JoeF. at May 20, 2018 12:58 PM (7uYFy)

129
But, but, but...consensus is important!
=====

Isn't there some new show about crowdsourcing investigations, CBS maybe.

Posted by: mustbequantum at May 20, 2018 12:58 PM (MIKMs)

130 44 28 Why does my hash keep changing? Look at 9 and 22.
Posted by: Weasel at May 20, 2018 12:13 PM (MVjcR)

It changes because there is really more than one Weasel (if that's even your real name) which are all part of a secret society known as the Weasellumanati whose goal is to crash websites which they don't like the color scheme of by overwhelming them with comments from users named "Weasel".

Or at least that's what Wikipedia said.
Posted by: Weaselspiracy Theorist at May 20, 2018 12:21 PM (WU8si)
-----
How can you not trust a guy on the internet calling himself Weasel?

Posted by: Weasel at May 20, 2018 12:58 PM (MVjcR)

131 1 You mean to say that wet streets don't cause rain?
Posted by: Clueless Journalists at May 20, 2018 11:56 AM (WU8si)

No. It's the barometer needle falling that causes rain.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 20, 2018 12:58 PM (jScj0)

132 I've worked off and on at a database used to offer search engine results. For stress relief we have forums where you learn about these "across the globe" individuals that you are working with solely virtually. Some of it is interesting and some horrific. I found by and large the true lefties know when they are lieing and choose to do so. They know their take on an issue is wrong but will honestly tell you that it doesn't matter. I lost a lot of trust with people during this time frame where I expect everyone to act in good faith. I know first hand out of their own mouths their agenda comes before anything. While this "job" has become scarccer and scarcer many of the editors moved on to Wikipedia. This people are not to be believed. Again, they take something so worth wild and trash it. Take everything with a grain of salt.

Posted by: sally at May 20, 2018 12:59 PM (sBDDH)

133 When your groin smells like hay, it's time to bathe.

Posted by: Hillary Clinton at May 20, 2018 12:59 PM (/qEW2)

134 But, but, but...consensus is important"

And truth is always between the extreme statements...

*sigh*

Posted by: Anon a mouse at May 20, 2018 12:59 PM (BH7Yv)

135 Berkeley has a very good Army ROTC department

Now there's an oil and water mixture, if ever there was one.

Posted by: That deplorable guy who always says... at May 20, 2018 12:59 PM (Tyii7)

136 go to the library,"
Can't. There's a free speech corner nearby, and one can't be expected to handle that...
Posted by: Anon a mouse at May 20, 2018 12:55 PM (BH7Yv)

I can't either....too many urban outdoorsmen using it for the can and a/c.

But mostly for the can.

Who knew the houseless were such scholars.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at May 20, 2018 01:00 PM (EoRCO)

137 Essentially, you should never trust Wiki for anything that is even remotely political and also do not trust it for info on any fact, person, theory or event that took place after 1950, when the communist-leftist f*cktards began to take over academia and turn it all into revisionist, baseless, not-empirically-sound, sh*t.

"Scientific method? What's that?"**
**Your basic "Climate Scientist"

Posted by: Publius Redux at May 20, 2018 01:00 PM (Fb9aZ)

138 Then I expect the information I seek to be tested, either by reference links, or some other form of confirmation elsewhere. If it's important enough.

Posted by: BurtTC

*******

I think you hit the nail on the head here. All incoming information, regardless of the source needs to be tested and weighted accordingly. A sound approach.
Posted by: Muldoon at May 20, 2018 12:54 PM (m45I2)

Within limits though. I mean this seriously. There are some "facts" about which I do not need to know if they are accurate or not. If it's not that important to me, I am perfectly fine with being misled. But I get to decide what's important to me, and when it is, I'm damn sure going to try to get it right.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 20, 2018 01:00 PM (cY3LT)

139 "Crowdsourcing" information is Bullshit. Outrageous bullshit,

Posted by: Tom Servo at May 20, 2018 12:44 PM (V2Yro)

For some things crowdsourcing is very powerful and good. How many of us are running Linux and parts of the GNU project? Crowdsourcing served to build a multi-billion dollar entity that serves some very important functions and does keep certain things free for people to use and manipulate themselves outside of ridiculous copyright restrictions. And, yes, we have a bunch of erstwhile commies to thank for that, in good part.

But crowdsourcing is not a universal tool that works with anything and that's where the problem lies. People often don't understand the limitations of specific tools. Yes, a hammer is great when you have nails but it's not so great with screws. But seeing a guy hammering in a screw is not evidence against the effectiveness and usefulness of hammers.

Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at May 20, 2018 01:01 PM (uSurQ)

140 OT, door gasket for an old Kenmore dishwasher, $45? Sheesh.

Posted by: Infidel at May 20, 2018 01:02 PM (a3OL0)

141 where I expect everyone to act in good faith"

I, too, was that naive once. The realization otherwise was pretty jarring.

Posted by: Anon a mouse at May 20, 2018 01:02 PM (BH7Yv)

142 Yes, Backwards Boy, it does show up, and is accessible.

Posted by: andycanuck at May 20, 2018 01:02 PM (Evws/)

143 go to the library,"
=====

No card catalogues. All research is through the computer -- as fungible as money.

Posted by: mustbequantum at May 20, 2018 01:02 PM (MIKMs)

144 What's GNU?

Posted by: andycanuck at May 20, 2018 01:04 PM (Evws/)

145 The prof's philosophy was, obits are things that ALWAYS get read, and if you couldn't get that right, how the hell could you expect the readers to believe anything else???
Posted by: Diogenes at May 20, 2018 12:53 PM (0tfLf)

Perhaps. If we're talking about things like, was he married or not. Did they have children, and did their children have children (his grandchildren).

However, most obits are filled with flowery language, like "he is mourned by his loving wife, his dutiful children, and his doting grandchildren."

The truth might be however, his wife was a hateful shrew, his children are mental defects and/or heroin addicts, and his grandchildren stole everything from his dentures to his bank account information.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 20, 2018 01:04 PM (cY3LT)

146
Encyclopedia Shittanica.

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at May 20, 2018 01:04 PM (VM6ev)

147
Wiki is okay for some STEM stuff. You have to ask yourself though, 'Could this be politicized?'

If the answer is maybe or above, then it is.

Posted by: Forgot My Nic at May 20, 2018 01:05 PM (LOgQ4)

148 For some things crowdsourcing"

A dedicated user base isn't crowdsourcing as I understand it...

Posted by: Anon a mouse at May 20, 2018 01:05 PM (BH7Yv)

149 No card catalogues. All research is through the computer -- as fungible as money.

Berkeley has its own free online library.

Posted by: Cosmo Cramer at May 20, 2018 01:05 PM (rdl6o)

150

Hot dawg, andycanuk. What's funny is that I got a follower about three minutes after I signed up for the AoS group.

I remember someone, perhaps a cob-logger, who posted a short "how-to" guide for Gab recently. Does anybody know where I can find it?

Posted by: BackwardsBoy likes lobster at May 20, 2018 01:05 PM (GdWl+)

151 Crowdsourcing also showed the TANG Memos were fraudulent; and combed through the Wikileaks (irony alert!) discovering Clinton/Dem illegalities etc.

Posted by: andycanuck at May 20, 2018 01:06 PM (Evws/)

152 gab ai - when I started to spend most of my time muting assorted whack jobs in my feed ( i am talking abut seriously disturbed people), I knew I've had enough

Posted by: runner at May 20, 2018 01:06 PM (/U6eQ)

153 So it depends on the definition of "crowdsourcing"?

Posted by: andycanuck at May 20, 2018 01:07 PM (Evws/)

154 go to the library,"
=====

No card catalogues. All research is through the computer -- as fungible as money.

Posted by: mustbequantum at May 20, 2018 01:02 PM (MIKMs)

Physical libraries with hard copy books are nothing but huge wastes of space. Unless someone needs to sniff the pages of a book there's nothing in a hard copy that cannot be more cheaply and efficiently digitized and rendered accessible from your living room.

It is truly amazing that the average 12 year old has a greater library in his pocket, now, than ever existed on Earth before. This is one of the reasons why college textbooks costing hundreds of dollars is such an intellectual offense. The same for K-12 texts that the schools pay for. Only government funding could pull off such a feat. The cost of information has been reduced to near zero and its availability has been extended to every nook and crannie.

Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at May 20, 2018 01:07 PM (uSurQ)

155 If you really want to know the facts, go to the library, not the internet.

*******

Either way, you need virus protection.

Posted by: Muldoon at May 20, 2018 01:07 PM (m45I2)

156 BurtTC needs a hug!

Everybody pile on!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 20, 2018 01:08 PM (qJtVm)

157

gab ai - when I started to spend most of my time muting assorted whack jobs in my feed ( i am talking abut seriously disturbed people), I knew I've had enough

I signed up last year and closed it for the same reasons. I guess that's not much different from the bowels of Twatter. We'll see what happens...

Posted by: BackwardsBoy likes lobster at May 20, 2018 01:08 PM (GdWl+)

158 conspiracy theorists, neo's, you name it

Posted by: runner at May 20, 2018 01:08 PM (/U6eQ)

159 'What's GNU?'

Nothing under the Sun.

Posted by: f'd at May 20, 2018 01:08 PM (UdKB7)

160 Crowdsourcing also showed the TANG Memos were fraudulent; "

Really? I was under the impression that the first questions were raised by a retired IBM'r...

Posted by: Anon a mouse at May 20, 2018 01:08 PM (BH7Yv)

161 Most of Michael Crichton's fiction has been made into movies or TV stories. Sometimes more than once, like Westworld.

A notable exception is State of Fear, about eco-terrorist believers in AGW, which Crichton refutes and abuses throughout, with a appendix.

Posted by: Ignoramus at May 20, 2018 01:08 PM (pV/54)

162 I signed up last year and closed it for the same reasons. I guess that's not much different from the bowels of Twatter. We'll see what happens...
=

I think I saw you there, Vm had a list for a while...let us know what you think after you re-visit

Posted by: runner at May 20, 2018 01:09 PM (/U6eQ)

163 What's GNU?
Posted by: andycanuck

******

Not much. What's gnu with you?

Posted by: Muldoon at May 20, 2018 01:09 PM (m45I2)

164 how do I add my gab info to my nic?

Posted by: LMD Outer Banker at May 20, 2018 01:09 PM (Vuaet)

165

Everybody pile on!

"Dogpile on the wabbit! Dogpile on the wabbit!'

Posted by: BackwardsBoy likes lobster at May 20, 2018 01:10 PM (GdWl+)

166 In Deadpool 2, anybody else catch the blatant, lingering shot of Karl Marx's portrait on the wall of the X-Man School?

Posted by: Citizen Cake at May 20, 2018 01:10 PM (ppaKI)

167 I think the reason for the effect is that we think it is trivial to just report/regurgitate a fact. But they can't even do that.

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at May 20, 2018 01:10 PM (/qEW2)

168 Listening the Dems debate for the Georgia governor primary. Must be nice to live in a world where everything can be be free. But also sad where everybody is a victim and suffering oppression but has hopes and dreams that can only be fulfilled by all the free stuff.

Posted by: Ripley at May 20, 2018 01:10 PM (MxEKc)

169 >>>My mother used to say that believing in evolution was like believing a tornado hit a junk yard and a 747 popped out.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at May 20, 2018 12:18 PM (+y/Ru)

Go, Mom!

Posted by: m at May 20, 2018 01:10 PM (0bRDi)

170 When i was in college, distinctly remember a professor breathlessly regaling us with the 'fact' that the Boeing 747 was so big and complex that they truly didn't fully understand why it actually flew.

This sounds like a mis-restatement of Friedman's "I, Pencil" thesis but scaled up because I guess pencils just weren't impressive enough for the prof. If by "they," you mean "any one single person," then it might be true.

Posted by: Bob the Bilderberg at May 20, 2018 01:10 PM (7oUUT)

171 i am talking abut seriously disturbed people

They are legion.

Posted by: That deplorable guy who always says... at May 20, 2018 01:11 PM (Tyii7)

172 What's GNU?

Posted by: andycanuck at May 20, 2018 01:04 PM (Evws/)

Basically the start of the free software project that Linux lives other. Not exactly, but basically. The point was that some computer scietists didn't like the fact that operating systems and other system software was all going to copyrighted proprietary material and it was going to be the case that people wouldn't be able to work with their own computers and programming without having to go through commercial software, along with being heavily restricted on the use of that software and the ability to develop it and change it. So they started GNU, the free software project. I believe it originally came from a bunch of Libertarian/Commie types at MIT ... though I might be mistaken in that.

Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at May 20, 2018 01:11 PM (uSurQ)

173 BurtTC needs a hug!

Everybody pile on!
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 20, 2018 01:08 PM (qJtVm)

I do?

Mind if I spray some Binaca first?

Posted by: BurtTC at May 20, 2018 01:11 PM (cY3LT)

174 "It is truly amazing that the average 12 year old has a greater library in his pocket, now, than ever existed on Earth before. "

If my long-dead parents were to return I'd have to explain how we can now send instant mail to anyone in the world, or talk to them at reasonable cost, and have the hugest library ever at their fingertips, all in a pocket device.

But how most people use it to take dick pics, and share cute cat videos

Posted by: Ignoramus at May 20, 2018 01:12 PM (pV/54)

175

how do I add my gab info to my nic?

I went to my Gab account without logging in and CampersandP'd the address into the URL: field in the comments then hit the "Post" button.

And viola!

Posted by: BackwardsBoy likes lobster at May 20, 2018 01:12 PM (GdWl+)

176 Was once interviewed for our local newspaper many, many years ago for an adventure I went on (Mt Everest), by a young woman. When I read the article, the embarrassment was great. The reporter made me sound like and idiot. She misunderstood absolutely everything said, then wrote the article based on her ignorance. Still embarrassed over knowing that people I knew read this hogwash.

A friend who appears in the newspaper with some regularity told me the same thing happened to him in his first article. Now he requires, in writing, that he gets final editor rights over all articles about him.

Also, after coming back from the Woodstock music festival, reading the crap concerning the festival was astounding. People who did not attend wrote as if they knew everything that happened. The festival was nothing like what was reported.

Posted by: French Jeton at May 20, 2018 01:13 PM (Fjvqd)

177 The problem with Wiki is that that things that are political are politicized, and things that are obscure are often wrong because there may be a single author interested enough to update the wiki.

Posted by: Grump928(C) at May 20, 2018 01:13 PM (yQpMk)

178 Little known factoid...Berkeley has a very good Army ROTC department. Their grads typically do very well in their military careers.

Posted by: Diogenes at May 20, 2018 12:55 PM (0tfLf)

Perhaps because they have met the enemy while they were young?

Posted by: Comrade Hrothgar at May 20, 2018 01:13 PM (n9EOP)

179 Physical libraries with hard copy books are nothing but huge wastes of
space. Unless someone needs to sniff the pages of a book there's
nothing in a hard copy that cannot be more cheaply and efficiently
digitized and rendered accessible from your living room.

=====

Cheaply and efficiently 'disappeared'. As I said, fungible. I recall an old, old interview with Eleanor Roosevelt where she was explaining coupons during wartime and how to encourage your servants to happily comply. FDR had a fit about saving money for millionaires. Can't be found any more. Have to go to a real book.

Posted by: mustbequantum at May 20, 2018 01:14 PM (MIKMs)

180 Physical libraries with hard copy books are nothing but huge wastes of space. Unless someone needs to sniff the pages of a book there's nothing in a hard copy that cannot be more cheaply and efficiently digitized and rendered accessible from your living room.

If everything is already digitized and perfectly tagged. It isn't and it won't be.

Do away with paper libraries and you miss the chance of stumbling upon "Price Functioning in Monopsonies" in the stacks in the middle of the night.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at May 20, 2018 01:14 PM (fuK7c)

181 What's GNU?

GNU is not Unix.

Posted by: Grump928(C) at May 20, 2018 01:15 PM (yQpMk)

182 Really? I was under the impression that the first questions were raised by a retired IBM'r...
Many people pointed out errors in the documents and in the arguments made by anti-Bush types but, yes, there was someone who noted it first. Chuckles helped too, as he used to crow, before he went nuts.

Posted by: andycanuck at May 20, 2018 01:15 PM (Evws/)

183 Literally.

Posted by: Grump928(C) at May 20, 2018 01:15 PM (yQpMk)

184 Re Jake Holenhead:

Yes, the U.P. is a great place. My favorite go-to spot. Visit a few times during the year -- work, vacation, fishing, and deer hunting. Have friends up there, so it is an especially enjoyable time.

Posted by: French Jeton at May 20, 2018 01:15 PM (Fjvqd)

185

If you want a chuckle, look up Trump on Wiki. Article reads like Wapo wrote it.

Posted by: irongrampa at May 20, 2018 01:15 PM (S/hVx)

186 Is it permissible to have a contact before you give an interview ? You only agree if get to review final, and if final published copy is in any way different you get reimbursed for all sorts of things, and bodily harm ?

Posted by: runner at May 20, 2018 01:16 PM (/U6eQ)

187

In Deadpool 2, anybody else catch the blatant, lingering shot of Karl Marx's portrait on the wall of the X-Man School?

There was a guy dressed up in a Deadpool costume walking around the complex (it has movie theaters) and letting people take pics with him at last night's gig. He gave the one-fingered salute in a lot of them. Real intellectual stuff, right there...

He was carrying a pink backpack. Not sure if that was an official part of his costume or not, but it looked funny.

Posted by: BackwardsBoy likes lobster at May 20, 2018 01:17 PM (GdWl+)

188 "Not much. What's gnu with you?"

What has been will be again
What has been done will be done again

Posted by: f'd at May 20, 2018 01:17 PM (UdKB7)

189 Literally.

Posted by: Grump928(C) at May 20, 2018 01:15 PM (yQpMk)

Yep. Unix was proprietary AT+T software, I believe.

Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at May 20, 2018 01:17 PM (uSurQ)

190 #172 Thanks, POP, for the explanation that I didn't know before. See? Crowdsourcing!

Posted by: andycanuck at May 20, 2018 01:17 PM (Evws/)

191 172 What's GNU?

Posted by: andycanuck at May 20, 2018 01:04 PM (Evws/)

Nothing really! whats gnu with you?

Posted by: rhennigantx at May 20, 2018 01:17 PM (JFO2v)

192 If you want a chuckle, look up Trump on Wiki. Article reads like Wapo wrote it.

I'm betting there were many a low-t orgasm in the composition of that one.

Posted by: That deplorable guy who always says... at May 20, 2018 01:18 PM (Tyii7)

193 What's GNU?

Posted by: andycanuck at May 20, 2018 01:04 PM (Evws/)

Nothing really! whats gnu with you?
Posted by: rhennigantx at May 20, 2018 01:17 PM (JFO2v)

lol !

Posted by: runner at May 20, 2018 01:18 PM (/U6eQ)

194 The problem with Wiki is that that things that are political are politicized, and things that are obscure are often wrong because there may be a single author interested enough to update the wiki.
Posted by: Grump928(C) at May 20, 2018 01:13 PM (yQpMk)

Yeah, my prior example, the 1968 Rose Bowl, I looked it up on Wikipedia. I now know USC beat Indiana, 14-3, and OJ Simpson was named MVP of the game.

Facts I did not know before I looked it up (mostly because I don't care), and now believe with 100% certainty.

Not political opinion, and not single-sourced. As such, Wikipedia has its usefulness.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 20, 2018 01:18 PM (cY3LT)

195 Check out books from the library on your computer and at the end of the checkout they disappear. What if they are assigning the wrong books to the wrong computer or disappearing problematic and unapproved reading. Be very careful.

Posted by: mustbequantum at May 20, 2018 01:19 PM (MIKMs)

196 I read an article once in Reader's Digest once, about Nuclear Power. Now that is what I do for a living, I really do know something about it, and this article was SO WRONG, so slanted, I began to wonder about all the other articles in it. I can't even pick up Reader's Digest anymore. In their own way, they really did broaden my horizons, and I became quite skeptical of just about everything written in the media after that. A questioning attitude is a good thing.

Posted by: Nancy at 7000 feet CO at May 20, 2018 01:19 PM (Nrxta)

197 Crowdsourcing!

Posted by: andycanuck at May 20, 2018 01:17 PM (Evws/)

This is one of the rare places where I'd trust crowd sourcing if I recognized most of the nics.

Posted by: Comrade Hrothgar at May 20, 2018 01:19 PM (n9EOP)

198 ... just report/regurgitate a fact. But they can't even do that.

******

In a world where every 'reporter' or 'journalist' fancies themselves an activist or shaper of opinions who is out to "change the world", this is not a trivial concern.

Posted by: Muldoon at May 20, 2018 01:19 PM (m45I2)

199 Has anyone tasted Encyclopedia Britannica lately? Its not much better than Wiki. I am of a mind to buy an old set of Britannica, say before 1975, just to have a start on reality. What would be nice is to have a set from the 1950s and 1920s just to offer a greater sample size for knowing things that can be known.

Posted by: Puddin Head at May 20, 2018 01:20 PM (vV/gB)

200 I guess the Muldoon line winds up on an evolutionary dead end.
Posted by: Muldoon at May 20, 2018 12:40 PM[/i

This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a limerick

Posted by: Zombie TS Eliot at May 20, 2018 01:21 PM (EzdLW)

201 What's GNU?

You GNU what would happen here when you asked that, right?

Posted by: That deplorable guy who always says... at May 20, 2018 01:21 PM (Tyii7)

202

Posted by: Zombie TS Eliot at May 20, 2018 01:21 PM (EzdLW)

203 What if they are assigning the wrong books to the wrong computer or disappearing problematic and unapproved reading. Be very careful.

Posted by: mustbequantum at May 20, 2018 01:19 PM (MIKMs)

Comrade, all you really need to know is today's truth!

Posted by: Comrade Hrothgar at May 20, 2018 01:21 PM (n9EOP)

204 Wiki is like all organizations that are not specifically and organizationally right-wing. They become Left-Wing. Because face it, the world, as the Left sees it, is easy for those who skill is in language. It rewards the unaccomplished glib over the taciturn performer. The net-workers over the solitary. The pretty over the skilled. It's a system set up by leftists to make leftists important.

Posted by: Grump928(C) at May 20, 2018 01:21 PM (yQpMk)

205 199 Has anyone tasted Encyclopedia Britannica lately? Its not much better than Wiki. I am of a mind to buy an old set of Britannica, say before 1975, just to have a start on reality. What would be nice is to have a set from the 1950s and 1920s just to offer a greater sample size for knowing things that can be known.
Posted by: Puddin Head at May 20, 2018 01:20 PM (vV/gB)

I have an Encyclopedia of plants from Britain, ca. 1830. What they knew and didn't know (but thought they did) is fascinating. What is also interesting is that the various authors also routinely cited the ancients.

Posted by: MarkY at May 20, 2018 01:22 PM (JbTDu)

206 What has been will be again
What has been done will be done again

Posted by: f'd

*******

Indeed.

I am nothing if not derivative.

Posted by: Muldoon at May 20, 2018 01:23 PM (m45I2)

207 And also a topic for which mostly nobody cares. Which likely explains the lack of accuracy. To say that everything on Wikipedia is as filled with errors as a page inexplicably dedicated to "Barrington Hall" is quite a stretch.

No, it's got errors in basically every article, and because they require that edits refer to someplace else on the web it's very easy for vandals to game the system and very hard for would-be do-gooders to fix things.

Posted by: Ian S. at May 20, 2018 01:23 PM (gm9yG)

208 What's GNU?

Posted by: andycanuck at May 20, 2018 01:04 PM (Evws/)

Basically the start of the free software project that Linux lives other. Not exactly, but basically.

========

Richard Stallman, who started GNU is a fat smelly idiot who invented ... a text editor with a lisp interpreter.

He tried to develop an operating system but failed. Linus Torvalds was the inventor of Linux, but Stallman got him to call it GNU/Linux. Richard's lasting contribution was the invention of the GNU clause that states "this software is provided as is without any warranty, including the implied warranty of merchantibility or fitness for a particular purpose".

vi is the ultimate text editor.

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at May 20, 2018 01:23 PM (/qEW2)

209 "The book describes the actions and interactions of a group of highly mobile dogs, who operate cars and other conveyances in pursuit of work, play, and a final mysterious goal: a dog party."
Posted by: f'd at May 20, 2018 12:15 PM

Go Dog Go!

Posted by: JuJuBee, just generally being shamey at May 20, 2018 01:24 PM (2NqXo)

210 204 Wiki is like all organizations that are not specifically and organizationally right-wing. They become Left-Wing. Because face it, the world, as the Left sees it, is easy for those who skill is in language. It rewards the unaccomplished glib over the taciturn performer. The net-workers over the solitary. The pretty over the skilled. It's a system set up by leftists to make leftists important.
Posted by: Grump928(C) at May 20, 2018 01:21 PM (yQpMk)

The problem is that the leftists see themselves as the Knights Templar of the Communist Party. They're utterly devoted, tireless, and relentless in pursuit of their goal.

Most other people have lives.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 20, 2018 01:24 PM (YqDXo)

211 What would be nice is to have a set from the 1950s and 1920s just to offer a greater sample size for knowing things that can be known.

Posted by: Puddin Head at May 20, 2018 01:20 PM (vV/gB)

My parents had encyclopedias from that era and I used that as reference material constantly.

I still remember one of them had the details of the process for making gun cotton. Sadly, those books got lost when they sold the house and downsized.

Posted by: Comrade Hrothgar at May 20, 2018 01:24 PM (n9EOP)

212 See you all later.

Posted by: andycanuck at May 20, 2018 01:25 PM (Evws/)

213
I have an Encyclopedia of plants from Britain, ca. 1830. What they knew and didn't know (but thought they did) is fascinating. What is also interesting is that the various authors also routinely cited the ancients.
-------------------------
Well, if a plant's leaf looks like a kidney it clearly must have some medical properties to aid kidneys. This is Aristotle. Bless his heart. He also thought women had fewer teeth than men and he had a wife to test the truth of the statement. Unless she was a 10 with no teeth.

Posted by: Puddin Head at May 20, 2018 01:25 PM (vV/gB)

214 Has anyone tasted Encyclopedia Britannica lately? Its not much better than Wiki. I am of a mind to buy an old set of Britannica, say before 1975, just to have a start on reality. What would be nice is to have a set from the 1950s and 1920s just to offer a greater sample size for knowing things that can be known.
Posted by: Puddin Head at May 20, 2018 01:20 PM (vV/gB)

I have mentioned before, I collected and read the AP annuals "History As We Lived It, which were published for the years 1964 through 1977.

They strike me as having been written with a specific intention of NOT infusing them with too much opinion or interpretation. They wanted them to be timelines. Accurate and as complete as could be fit in a thin volume.

I did notice however, the closer we got to 1977, the less sure I felt about what I was reading, without necessarily having any specific proof. Especially when it got to Jimmah Carter, but then, in 1977, I think much of what we later learned about him was still unknown.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 20, 2018 01:25 PM (cY3LT)

215 I am surprised at the SHOCKINGLY HIGH number of Americans who believe that Wikipedia would publish fake info. I must do a monologue about this McCarthyite attack on Wikipedia.

Posted by: Jake Tappper at May 20, 2018 01:26 PM (EzdLW)

216 Posted by: Grump928(C) at May 20, 2018 01:21 PM (yQpMk)

Also, appearing to be a manager is far far easier than being a really good manager that gets things done!

Posted by: Comrade Hrothgar at May 20, 2018 01:26 PM (n9EOP)

217 The HURD micro-kernel is still around, yes?

Posted by: Grump928(C) at May 20, 2018 01:26 PM (yQpMk)

218 What's GNU?

-----

GNU is not Unix.
Posted by: Grump928(C) at May 20, 2018 01:15 PM

And, much like The Horde is the heart of AoSHQ, The Hurd is the heart of GNU.

Posted by: Duncanthrax at May 20, 2018 01:26 PM (DMUuz)

219

Puddin Head, do a search for "online Encyclopedia" and you'll find a link to old ones online. Someone here posted that link recently.

Or try "online 1911 Encyclopedia."

Posted by: BackwardsBoy likes lobster at May 20, 2018 01:26 PM (GdWl+)

220 vi is the ultimate text editor.
Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at May 20, 2018 01:23 PM (/qEW2)

I used vi in the mid-70s. My next door neighbor was one of the people who had worked on it, and when he told me about it, I went to the computer science department and tried it. It was a revelation.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 20, 2018 01:26 PM (YqDXo)

221 "Indeed.
I am nothing if not derivative"

Funny, you don't look Dervish.

Posted by: f'd at May 20, 2018 01:28 PM (UdKB7)

222 I have an Encyclopedia of plants from Britain, ca. 1830. What they knew and didn't know (but thought they did) is fascinating. What is also interesting is that the various authors also routinely cited the ancients.
Posted by: MarkY at May 20, 2018 01:22 PM (JbTDu)

Interesting. Cited them for what ? Properties ? like what is deadly, what is medicinal ?

Posted by: runner at May 20, 2018 01:28 PM (/U6eQ)

223 set -o vi

Posted by: Grump928(C) at May 20, 2018 01:28 PM (yQpMk)

224 When i was in college, distinctly remember a professor breathlessly regaling us with the 'fact' that the Boeing 747 was so big and complex that they truly didn't fully understand why it actually flew.
**************************************************

The professor didn't understand how it flew, therefore no one else could possibly know, either. Shoulda asked the junkyard/747 mom about it, or the mysterious "they" who probably attended that dog party.

Posted by: JuJuBee, just generally being shamey at May 20, 2018 01:29 PM (2NqXo)

225 vi is the ultimate text editor.
Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at May 20, 2018 01:23 PM

Begun, the EMACS/vi Wars have.

Posted by: Duncanthrax at May 20, 2018 01:29 PM (DMUuz)

226 I think the corollary is:

People choose what they wish to believe.

They will credit facts which align with their beliefs and discredit facts that are misaligned.

Except me, of course.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at May 20, 2018 01:30 PM (EZebt)

227 Interesting. Cited them for what ? Properties ? like what is deadly, what is medicinal ?

******

Muldoon's Field Guide to Edible Mushr....Aaacckkk! Croak!

Posted by: Muldoon at May 20, 2018 01:30 PM (m45I2)

228 Just trying to add the gab to my nic, hopefully it works

Posted by: LMD Outer Banker at May 20, 2018 01:31 PM (Vuaet)

229 The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool. - Richard P. Feynman

Posted by: Grump928(C) at May 20, 2018 01:31 PM (yQpMk)

230
Cheaply and efficiently 'disappeared'. As I said, fungible. I recall an old, old interview with Eleanor Roosevelt where she was explaining coupons during wartime and how to encourage your servants to happily comply. FDR had a fit about saving money for millionaires. Can't be found any more. Have to go to a real book.
Posted by: mustbequantum

Helpful hints on how to survive with only ten servants.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at May 20, 2018 01:31 PM (IqV8l)

231 160,
"Crowdsourcing also showed the TANG Memos were fraudulent; "

"Really? I was under the impression that the first questions were raised by a retired IBM'r..."

The first one that is known, to me, to have shown that the font was from Word was a guy at Free Republic whose name I can't recall but his handle ended "in Buckhead." The definitive take down of the memo was by typography expert, Joseph Newcomer.

Posted by: geoffb at May 20, 2018 01:32 PM (zOpu5)

232 Linus Torvalds was the inventor of Linux, but Stallman got him to call it GNU/Linux.

That's only fair. Most of the software that Linux users run is GNU stuff. As you know, Linux is just the kernel.

Richard's lasting contribution was the invention of the GNU clause that states "this software is provided as is without any warranty, including the implied warranty of merchantibility or fitness for a particular purpose".

Though many other things have tried to say exactly that and found that asshole lawyers, dipshit judges and retarded juries have conspired to bankrupt them on no grounds, anyway.

I think his lasting contribution was making the copyright open to use and alteration by pretty much anyone who wanted to - minor differences in the various "free" software copyrights notwithstanding.

vi is the ultimate text editor.

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at May 20, 2018 01:23 PM (/qEW2)

I use vi when I have to, but only then.

Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at May 20, 2018 01:32 PM (uSurQ)

233 Puddin Head, do a search for "online Encyclopedia" and you'll find a link to old ones online. Someone here posted that link recently.

Or try "online 1911 Encyclopedia."
----------------------------
Thanks. Will do.

I loved Encyclopedia Britannica because of its condensed essays on almost any topic. I used to outline them when studying for an exam. During an essay exam I would list the outline in the left margin and then write to it. If I ever ran out of time and didn't finish the essay the prof's would reference my outline a give me full credit. I learned this tactic from reading a biography of John Foster Dulles. Neat trick.

Posted by: Puddin Head at May 20, 2018 01:33 PM (vV/gB)

234 222
Interesting. Cited them for what ? Properties ? like what is deadly, what is medicinal ?
Posted by: runner at May 20, 2018 01:28 PM (/U6eQ)

There is an ongoing disagreement even now among nurserymen... should the orientation of a tree in the nursery be maintained when it is transplanted out?
Theophrastus thought is was very important, Pliny the Younger thought it unimportant.
Also, in a discussion of huge, old trees, one author tried to find a particular tree, on a manor somewhere. He couldn't find one of the girth cited (some 100 years before) but found one nearly so. His theory was that it "girt itself up" to rise above the competition. As in got smaller to get taller.

Posted by: MarkY at May 20, 2018 01:33 PM (JbTDu)

235

LMD O B'er, I get a "404" error. Try deleting everything before your Gab addy to see if that works.

And thanks for the follow.

Posted by: BackwardsBoy likes lobster at May 20, 2018 01:33 PM (GdWl+)

236 The HURD micro-kernel is still around, yes?

Posted by: Grump928(C) at May 20, 2018 01:26 PM (yQpMk)

Yep. But I don't know anyone who actually uses it.

Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at May 20, 2018 01:34 PM (uSurQ)

237 When i was in college, distinctly remember a professor breathlessly regaling us with the 'fact' that the Boeing 747 was so big and complex that they truly didn't fully understand why it actually flew.
**************************************************

The professor didn't understand how it flew, therefore no one else could possibly know, either. Shoulda asked the junkyard/747 mom about it, or the mysterious "they" who probably attended that dog party.
Posted by: JuJuBee, just generally being shamey at May 20, 2018 01:29 PM (2NqXo)

Is it possible said professor was using the 747 as metaphor? Compare that statement to Adam Smith's "invisible hand."

The concept being, we're all flying on a jumbo jet called the marketplace. Nobody really knows how or why the damn thing flies, but it does.

And all the central planners who try to recreate its success, by trying to fly the thing their way, are bound to crash it, because it's too big and too unknowable for any collection of us to fully understand.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 20, 2018 01:34 PM (cY3LT)

238 %s\/u\/others/\/u\/everyone/g

Posted by: Grump928(C) at May 20, 2018 01:34 PM (yQpMk)

239 ...should the orientation of a tree in the nursery be maintained when it is transplanted out?

*******

GREEN SIDE UP!!!

Posted by: Muldoon at May 20, 2018 01:34 PM (m45I2)

240
There's an old saying in Tennessee - I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee - that says, fool me once, shame on, shame on you. Fool me, you can't get fooled again.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at May 20, 2018 01:34 PM (IqV8l)

241 @217: The HURD exists and is self-hosting on multiple architectures, yes. Nobody cares though.

Also, emacs and vi both suck. This is fscking 2018, there's no need to use something intended to fit into a machine with less power than a Commodore 64.

Posted by: Ian S. at May 20, 2018 01:35 PM (gm9yG)

242 testing

Posted by: LMD Outer Banker at May 20, 2018 01:35 PM (Vuaet)

243 Think I got it this time

Posted by: LMD Outer Banker at May 20, 2018 01:37 PM (Vuaet)

244 This is fscking 2018

ISWYDT

Posted by: Grump928(C) at May 20, 2018 01:37 PM (yQpMk)

245 I went to a dentist in the mid-80's who'd allowed some salesman to talk him into replacing his MS-DOS based office system with something UNIXy, which I discovered while leaving and seeing his lone office assistant looking very forlorn.

She had no clue how she was supposed to get her work, most especially word processing done.

I went home, printed out a vi cheat sheet, and went back and spent 30 minutes getting her introduced to it.

The next time I ran into her, she was very grateful. Sadly, I was in a relationship, and had to forfeit my opportunity to become the first Unixian to receive benefits from knowing Unix.

Posted by: Duncanthrax at May 20, 2018 01:37 PM (DMUuz)

246 There's another book, for those of Arboreal bent, written in the late 1700's, called Sylva, by John Evelyn.
The book could be and used as a text today.
It's on line.

Posted by: MarkY at May 20, 2018 01:37 PM (JbTDu)

247 We should bring back the b: drive.

Posted by: Weasel at May 20, 2018 01:37 PM (MVjcR)

248

"Fool me once, shame on you.

Fool me twice, shame on me."

Hence the need for having and using a Bullshit Detector for all things. We now live in the Misinformation Age.

Posted by: BackwardsBoy likes lobster at May 20, 2018 01:38 PM (GdWl+)

249 Long ago, when I was told by a Wiki moderator, that whether or not something was true didn't mean anything as far as if it could get included in a wiki article or not, I knew then that they were full of it.

Posted by: AshevilleRobert at May 20, 2018 01:38 PM (w+Jhj)

250 The next time I ran into her, she was very grateful. Sadly, I was in a relationship, and had to forfeit my opportunity to become the first Unixian to receive benefits from knowing Unix.
-------------------
Do Unixians have dangly parts?

Posted by: Puddin Head at May 20, 2018 01:38 PM (vV/gB)

251 Does anyone know what ice hocker team Presdent Obama wants to win the playoffs ??? We are routing for the Canadian teams because US teams do not deserve to win because some of the players support that taitor Trump !!!!!

Posted by: Mary Clogginstien from Brattleboro, VT at May 20, 2018 01:39 PM (qM84C)

252

Think I got it this time

You did BG. Link goes to your Gab page.

Posted by: BackwardsBoy likes lobster at May 20, 2018 01:39 PM (GdWl+)

253 What's GNU?

GNU is an acronym for "GNU's Not Unix" and was created in the early 1980's as a "free software" movement to re-implement and improve upon major portions of the Unix operating system which at that time was under heavy copyright restrictions from AT&T. Most Linux distributions are essentially a mix of the Linux operating system kernel (the core software that manages compute, memory and storage resources of the computer) and the GNU software suite which is the part of the software that a user interacts with and uses.

The GNU philosophy is that anyone should be free to use and improve upon the software in any way they wish, with the only restriction being that you can't restrict someone else from using and improving upon your changes to GNU software. People tend to think of GNU software was "free as in beer" which is often is the case, but to the creators of the software it's more about "free as in speech".

I think it's safe to say that the results of GNU software (or software under the GNU license such as Linux) and the free software movement has had as much or greater influence on the world than software from Microsoft or IBM.

Posted by: mpthompson at May 20, 2018 01:39 PM (b0njJ)

254 Unixians do it with text.

Posted by: Grump928(C) at May 20, 2018 01:39 PM (yQpMk)

255 Ruh-roh!:

Legal experts believe Mueller might have gathered sufficient evidence for indictments even without a Trump interview. They say Mueller could be reluctant to get bogged down in the months-long legal battle that would ensue were the president to resist a subpoena.

Posted by: Astro at May 20, 2018 01:40 PM (UhXxZ)

256 249 Long ago, when I was told by a Wiki moderator, that whether or not something was true didn't mean anything as far as if it could get included in a wiki article or not, I knew then that they were full of it.
-----------------------------
Wiki's bibliographies are worth exploring. But yes, the information at times seems tainted or just completely off track.

Posted by: Puddin Head at May 20, 2018 01:40 PM (vV/gB)

257 vi's only virtue is that it's installed on every Unix machine in the Universe.

Posted by: Duncanthrax at May 20, 2018 01:40 PM (DMUuz)

258 >>>That's only fair. Most of the software that Linux users run is GNU stuff. As you know, Linux is just the kernel.

In a sense that's fair. GNU reworkings of standard Unix utilities are infinitely superior. They don't have idiotic limits that cause odd failures whose causes are not obvious. Still, GNU did not invent most of the common Unix utilities. *genuflects to Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson*.

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at May 20, 2018 01:40 PM (/qEW2)

259 232 I use vi when I have to, but only then

i only use vi when i can't use wordstar. which, these days, is almost always.

Posted by: Anachronda at May 20, 2018 01:41 PM (h3yxu)

260 251 Does anyone know what ice hocker team Presdent Obama wants to win the playoffs ??? We are routing for the Canadian teams because US teams do not deserve to win because some of the players support that taitor Trump !!!!!
Posted by: Mary Clogginstien from Brattleboro, VT at May 20, 2018 01:39 PM (qM84C)

Hockey? That's the one with all the white people beating the only black thing in sight with sticks? No thanks.

Posted by: Barky O'Bama at May 20, 2018 01:41 PM (ANIFC)

261 Legal experts believe Mueller might have gathered sufficient evidence for indictments even without a Trump interview.

Or, maybe not. Worse than Fake News, it's Fake News Filler.

Posted by: Grump928(C) at May 20, 2018 01:41 PM (yQpMk)

262 Legal experts..... <<<

Ha, they give you the gell mann in the first two words.

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at May 20, 2018 01:43 PM (r+sAi)

263 97 CBD at Berkeley is like that one turd in the bowl that refused to go down in the swirl of the flush.

And I mean that in the best possible way.
-
You should manufacture your own line of boutique Valentine's Day cards.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at May 20, 2018 12:45 PM (+y/Ru)

Y'all are funny.

Posted by: m at May 20, 2018 01:43 PM (0bRDi)

264 246
The book could be EDITED and used as a text today.
Geez...

Posted by: MarkY at May 20, 2018 01:43 PM (JbTDu)

265 Crowdsourcing also showed the TANG Memos were fraudulent; "

Really? I was under the impression that the first questions were raised by a retired IBM'r...
Posted by: Anon a mouse at May 20, 2018 01:08 PM (BH7Yv)

First guy was "Buckhead" saying it looked proportional.

After it was shown that the doc could be reproduced by the most common word processor at the time (MS Word) with factory defaults the progtard true-believers claimed it didn't prove anything, a 60s era typewriter could have existed and have could have been used... then some IBM experts chimed in at said, "nope", And the font was copywrited in something like the early 90s.

Related and on topic - progtard true belief repeated daily - RUSSIA!111!1

Yet there has been little interest in following well-known rumors and leeds at the time it allegedly occurred and all evidence seems to point to the RUSSIA investigation is merely a vehicle to harass Team Trump while jack booting over the civil rights of anybody unfortionate enough to get in the way.
Meanwhile

Posted by: Burnt Toast at May 20, 2018 01:43 PM (Eu5eZ)

266 Do Unixians have dangly parts?
Posted by: Puddin Head at May 20, 2018 01:38 PM

Yes, and virtually unused to boot!

Posted by: Duncanthrax at May 20, 2018 01:43 PM (DMUuz)

267 Many a expert has said Mueller can't find out anything from President Trump that he doesn't already know.

Posted by: Skip at May 20, 2018 01:44 PM (aC6Sd)

268 Begun, the EMACS/vi Wars have.
Posted by: Duncanthrax at May 20, 2018 01:29 PM (DMUuz)

Oh well, it was nice to have sex with girls while it lasted...

Posted by: Colorado Alex In Exile at May 20, 2018 01:44 PM (Tnhbr)

269 Bad thing about subtitles, you can't do anything other else

Posted by: Skip at May 20, 2018 01:45 PM (aC6Sd)

270 I think Trump wants Mueller to issue a nothingburger report, and then have the indictments start to drop. Harder to spin as just politics to undermine the Mueller investigation, which is how MSM has been spinning the scenes from coming attractions that have been coming out.

Indictments are stubborn things.

Posted by: Ignoramus at May 20, 2018 01:45 PM (pV/54)

271 Got interviewed by the local paper once, while I was in the Navy. The reporter asked what my rank was. I was an E3 in Engineering so my Rank was "Fireman" and I told him, but also strenuously pointed out that my rank had nothing at all to do with fighting fires (even though all Navy personnel, at least at that time, were taught how to fight fires) , and that I was an electrician.
So, when the article comes out, what does it say?
It says I'm a firefighter in the Navy.

Posted by: AshevilleRobert at May 20, 2018 01:46 PM (w+Jhj)

272 Fun fact: vi was written over the weekend by the (now defunct) Sun Microsystems founder Bill Joy, inventor of the sparc microprocessor chip. As a practical joke, his coworkers once put his ferrari into a fountain.

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at May 20, 2018 01:46 PM (/qEW2)

273 Legal experts believe Mueller might have gathered sufficient evidence for indictments even without a Trump interview.

Or, maybe not. Worse than Fake News, it's Fake News Filler.
Posted by: Grump928(C) at May 20, 2018 01:41 PM (yQpMk)

Indictment of more companies that didn't exist at the time, imaginary people, and ham sammichs.

Gell-Mann Mueller.

Posted by: Burnt Toast at May 20, 2018 01:46 PM (Eu5eZ)

274 The first one that is known, to me, to have shown that the font was from Word was a guy at Free Republic whose name I can't recall but his handle ended "in Buckhead." The definitive take down of the memo was by typography expert, Joseph Newcomer.

Let's be fair: what actually convinced people the most was the animated GIF overlaying the TANG memo on a version retyped in Microsoft Word on default settings that was made by Ch*rl*s J*hns*n at LGF.

Posted by: Ian S. at May 20, 2018 01:46 PM (gm9yG)

275 Why are we hiding from the police, Daddy?

Because they use EMACS, and we use vi.

Posted by: Blanco Basura -It's OK, I'm with the banned. at May 20, 2018 01:47 PM (IcT7t)

276 Really do not care for "super hero" movies.
Wanna take out Superman, Krytonite tipped bullets. How hard is that.
Saw a trailer for this Deadpool 2. Stupid and juvenile.
Kinda characters you want to dip into a vat of a sulfuric acid/nitric acid mix just to shut them up.

I do miss the old Batman TV show; it did not take itself seriously and the babes were hawt.

BTW, I bet alot of the actresses that play these roles rode the casting casting couch to do so: Numbersignmetotogetthepartbitches

Posted by: The Man from Athens at May 20, 2018 01:47 PM (QMwOT)

277 250 Do Unixians have dangly parts?

it's called the sticky bit

Posted by: Anachronda at May 20, 2018 01:47 PM (h3yxu)

278 After it was shown that the doc could be reproduced by the most common word processor at the time (MS Word) with factory defaults

What kind of retard would make that mistake? If you're going to gin up a document to change the course of American history, would it be asking too much to find an old typewriter?

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 20, 2018 01:47 PM (YqDXo)

279 Many a expert has said Mueller can't find out anything from President Trump that he doesn't already know.

Mainly because he was part of the from op the very beginning.

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at May 20, 2018 01:47 PM (r+sAi)

280 Thats why they all say a interview is nothing but a trap

Posted by: Skip at May 20, 2018 01:47 PM (aC6Sd)

281 The Gell-Mann effect cannot be repeated too frequently for we do forget it. I started my professional life as a journalist. Though I had high test scores, good grades, and was in the honors program, I was actively discouraged from taking hard classes, especially a rigorous science curricula that combined biology, chemistry, and physics. This was in the late 70s at a state school with a good reputation. Being a good reporter is hard work. People lie to you routinely. Everybody's got an agenda, or a secret. As a small town reporter, I knew the city council met privately to agree on everything before they had the public meeting. Never once recorded a 'no' vote in my 10 months at that newspaper. But, when I caught them at this, my editor refused to run the story. Didn't want to piss off the people who bought ads. At the bigger papers, magazines, as well as radio and TV, it's almost impossible to get enough time to adequately research a story, and then you may have to condense everything down to two minutes or 2000 words. The Internet has destroyed the advertising model for the news business; from $45 billion annually to $9 billion. They've fired most of the people who actually gather the news. They rely almost exclusively on overworked, underpaid reporters who never have the time (and many who don't have the intellect) to understand the stories they are reporting. So they become reliant of leaks and influence peddlers like Fusion GPS. American journalism looks and feels like the emergency room in a third world city. Lots of noise and drama, but you sure as hell wouldn't want to go there.

Posted by: IanDeal at May 20, 2018 01:48 PM (5mrLG)

282 Wikipedia is useful for surface info. Most people don't go there for the end-all in knowledge, but if I want to know where Bulgaria is and what's their major industry or religion, it's useful.

Posted by: Make Katy Perry Stop Murdering Nuns! at May 20, 2018 01:48 PM (nv4jJ)

283 What kind of retard would make that mistake? If you're going to gin up a document to change the course of American history, would it be asking too much to find an old typewriter?

Asked and answered: Dan Rather, or his "informant" if you believe CBS didn't just manufacture the thing themselves.

Posted by: Ian S. at May 20, 2018 01:48 PM (gm9yG)

284

Just posted at GAB--under my real world name. Did NOT intend that, will have to figure out how to amend it to read irongrampa,

Posted by: irongrampa at May 20, 2018 01:48 PM (S/hVx)

285

Long ago, when I was told by a Wiki moderator, that whether or not something was true didn't mean anything as far as if it could get included in a wiki article or not, I knew then that they were full of it.

One of my societal pet peeves was the Seinfeld meme, "It's not a lie if you believe it." That really gets my hackles up.

Let's get this straight once and for all: A lie is a lie, and if you believe it, you're an imbecile for not using your Bullshit Detector.

Question everything. You can pretty much tell if something just doesn't sound quite right, but you need to question it first. Note how SJW's will repeat a phrase verbatim, even when pressed to 'splain itself. There's your sign...

"But Brawndo has what plants crave..."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFD2ggNxR1g

Posted by: BackwardsBoy likes lobster at May 20, 2018 01:49 PM (GdWl+)

286 >>>>Legal experts believe Mueller might have gathered sufficient evidence for indictments even without a Trump interview. They say Mueller could be reluctant to get bogged down in the months-long legal battle that would ensue were the president to resist a subpoena.

Go on.... I need a good laugh today.

Posted by: Monk at May 20, 2018 01:49 PM (Wd0WT)

287 Barrington eh? Was it anything like Cloyne Court? I hung out there a few times.

Posted by: Taco Shack at May 20, 2018 01:50 PM (ic+7n)

288 272 Fun fact: vi was written over the weekend by the (now defunct) Sun Microsystems founder Bill Joy, inventor of the sparc microprocessor chip~~. A~~ as a practical joke~~, his coworkers once put his ferrari into a fountain~~.

fixt

Posted by: Anachronda at May 20, 2018 01:50 PM (h3yxu)

289

Just posted at GAB--under my real world name. Did NOT intend that, will have to figure out how to amend it to read irongrampa,

IIRC, you change that in your Profile settings for Username. I did the same thing at first, too. Went back and deleted that post.

Posted by: BackwardsBoy likes lobster at May 20, 2018 01:50 PM (GdWl+)

290 So, when the article comes out, what does it say?
It says I'm a firefighter in the Navy.
------------------
Firefighter is better than Corpseman.

Posted by: Puddin Head at May 20, 2018 01:51 PM (vV/gB)

291 Guise. Guise! GUISE!

Trump is finnsh. For realz this time.

Posted by: Monk at May 20, 2018 01:52 PM (Wd0WT)

292 271 Got interviewed by the local paper once, while I was in the Navy. The reporter asked what my rank was. I was an E3 in Engineering so my Rank was "Fireman" and I told him, but also strenuously pointed out that my rank had nothing at all to do with fighting fires (even though all Navy personnel, at least at that time, were taught how to fight fires) , and that I was an electrician.
So, when the article comes out, what does it say?
It says I'm a firefighter in the Navy.
Posted by: AshevilleRobert at May 20, 2018 01:46 PM (w+Jhj)

____

If you were taught how to fight a fire the article was technically correct by your definition.

Next time say "Rear Admiral".

Went to the HR office of a University that I worked for back in the day. I had just gotten hired as an assistant professor and the lady was typing up my ID cards. When she asked for my position I jokingly replied "Provost". She blindly started typing and was rather cross with me when I had to stop her and tell her it was a joke. She was not amused.

Posted by: The Man from Athens at May 20, 2018 01:53 PM (QMwOT)

293 I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes - and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!

+++++
Swamp Things need to go buy a lot of Depends & Toliet Paper

Posted by: Schneider's Brown Slave at May 20, 2018 01:53 PM (y3aQB)

294 So, when the article comes out, what does it say?
It says I'm a firefighter in the Navy.

Even if the reporter got it right, I can imagine an editor changing it to "firefighter" in the interests of "clarity." I bet journalism generally has a lot of "Chinese whispers" going on.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 20, 2018 01:53 PM (YqDXo)

295 Posted by: AshevilleRobert at May 20, 2018 01:46 PM

Should'a told 'em you were a snipe. Problem solved.

Posted by: Duncanthrax at May 20, 2018 01:54 PM (DMUuz)

296 That last post was from PDT

Posted by: Schneider's Brown Slave at May 20, 2018 01:54 PM (y3aQB)

297 Legal experts.....

Ha, they give you the gell mann in the first two words.
Posted by: Guy Mohawk at May 20, 2018 01:43 PM (r+sAi)

No no, it took 3.

The sentence might have read "Legal experts were all gathered and roasted over an open fire, and even the dogs wouldn't eat it."

That would have been truth.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 20, 2018 01:55 PM (cY3LT)

298 It says I'm a firefighter in the Navy.
=====

Engineers. Choo-choo or science?

Posted by: mustbequantum at May 20, 2018 01:55 PM (MIKMs)

299 28
Why does my hash keep changing? Look at 9 and 22.

Posted by: Weasel at May 20, 2018 12:13 PM (MVjcR)

---

First one is posted from your tablet, second one from your laptop using your neighbor's wifi.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - I choose to live my life as a black woman at May 20, 2018 01:55 PM (VgKNm)

300 Legal experts.....

Ha, they give you the gell mann in the first two words.
Posted by: Guy Mohawk at May 20, 2018 01:43 PM (r+sAi)

"Legal experts from the National Lawyers Guild ..."

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 20, 2018 01:56 PM (YqDXo)

301 The problem I see with a fully digitized world is that it's too easy to track and destroy materials.

I'm a techno-twit and admittedly don't understand this stuff, but I always assume that anything in the aetheric is readily accessible to others, including the feds.

Posted by: Margarita DeVille at May 20, 2018 01:57 PM (0jtPF)

302 Iron Grandpa
Go back into GAB, at the top right hand corner there is something that looks kind of like an asterisk. Click on it and it will take you to your profile. Go into the profile and replace your name with what you want to show when you post.

Posted by: LMD Outer Banker at May 20, 2018 01:57 PM (Vuaet)

303 "I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, ...'

Shit's getting real. Has Trump ever made an accusatory tweet that didn't pan out.

Expect it will show that the DOJ/FBI surveillance predated any official authorization. In fact it was used to bootstrap things like the FISA warrant.

Will the MSM talking heads who said months ago that Trump was 25th Amendment crazy to say he was being spied on, now double down?

Posted by: Ignoramus at May 20, 2018 01:58 PM (pV/54)

304 gab profile, https://gab.ai/badger1970 . if you note, background from a CBD art link

Posted by: auscolpyr at May 20, 2018 01:59 PM (pzA2L)

305
realDonaldTrump
The Witch Hunt finds no Collusion with Russia - so now they're looking at the rest of the World. Oh' great!

and why hasn't the Podesta brother been charged and arrested, like others, after being forced to close down his very large and successful firm? Is it because he is a VERY well connected Democrat working in the Swamp of Washington, D.C.?

Posted by: Schneider's Brown Slave at May 20, 2018 01:59 PM (y3aQB)

306 I never signed up for a Twitter account. I don't know what I would do with Gab.

Posted by: rickl at May 20, 2018 01:59 PM (sdi6R)

307 The problem I see with a fully digitized world is that it's too easy to track and destroy materials.

When I read about a laptop having important information on it for an investigation, I laugh. At least with a sheet of paper you had to use "whiteout" or something to change something. Laptop....a few keystrokes.

Posted by: Colin at May 20, 2018 02:00 PM (yLA6Y)

308 Posted by: Ignoramus at May 20, 2018 01:58 PM (pV/54)
++++
VSG PDT knows everything that is going on from Adm. Mike Rogers & Now he has the levers of power

Posted by: Schneider's Brown Slave at May 20, 2018 02:00 PM (y3aQB)

309 Sadly, the NYTs admitting to a spy in Trump's campaign will lessen the air time for Pron Lawyers. Or maybe not. Let's see!

Posted by: Puddin Head at May 20, 2018 02:00 PM (vV/gB)

310 "A man has only those rights he can defend"

Posted by: Skip at May 20, 2018 02:01 PM (aC6Sd)

311 I never signed up for a Twitter account. I don't know what I would do with Gab.

Posted by: rickl at May 20, 2018 01:59 PM (sdi6R)

---

Me, neither. Using twitter to advertise for gab could be fun, though.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - I choose to live my life as a black woman at May 20, 2018 02:01 PM (VgKNm)

312 When taking a basic college history course recently, I found Wiki to be amazingly helpful. Obscure historical events (e.g., small-scale military skirmishes) were often described in detail. But the most amazing thing was that when I latched onto one - and checked it out with other (patently more reliable) sources, most of it checked out.
I think more political events would not be worth relying on much, tho.

Posted by: one-eyed cat peepin' in the seafood store at May 20, 2018 02:01 PM (/sTHK)

313 "Should'a told 'em you were a snipe. Problem solved.

Posted by: Duncanthrax"

Heh.

Posted by: AshevilleRobert at May 20, 2018 02:01 PM (w+Jhj)

314 When I first read this thread, I thought it said "Jell-O Man Amnesia" and I thought you were talking about me.

Then I realized it was "Gell-Mann Amnesia."

Boy, am I relieved.

Care for a drink?

Posted by: Bill Cosby at May 20, 2018 02:01 PM (53Dys)

315 irongrandpa -- hope your birthday celebration (boots and all) was a lot of fun. Don't know why, but Kinkyboots was running through my limited brain.

Posted by: mustbequantum at May 20, 2018 02:01 PM (MIKMs)

316 281---Posted by: IanDeal at May 20, 2018 01:48 PM (5mrLG)
---------------
Nice comment on the general state of modern journalism.

Posted by: Margarita DeVille at May 20, 2018 02:02 PM (0jtPF)

317 VSG PDT knows everything that is going on from Adm. Mike Rogers & Now he has the levers of power
------------------------
I suspect Director Wray updates the WH on the ongoing new broom sweeps clean agenda. All this talk about Wray not doing Trump's bidding is just that, talk. Trump knows entertainment and the slow strip tease always keeps the crowds glued to the stage.

Posted by: Puddin Head at May 20, 2018 02:03 PM (vV/gB)

318 Well, shit. If all I had to do was say that the Watergate break-in was "just an investigation," things would have been fine.

Posted by: Zombie Richard Nixon at May 20, 2018 02:04 PM (53Dys)

319
I always laugh when I read "journalism" that says, experts say, or some say, etc. They never name a person, they just wanted to get that line in their story.

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at May 20, 2018 02:04 PM (r+sAi)

320 and why hasn't the Podesta brother been charged and arrested, like others, after being forced to close down his very large and successful firm? Is it because he is a VERY well connected Democrat working in the Swamp of Washington, D.C.?
------------------
Same reason the Clinton Global Initiative got closed down.

Posted by: Puddin Head at May 20, 2018 02:05 PM (vV/gB)

321 NYT has an article on the demise of Time Inc. Sad.

giggle

Posted by: f'd at May 20, 2018 02:06 PM (UdKB7)

322 232 I use vi when I have to, but only then.

Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at May 20, 2018 01:32 PM (uSurQ)

I only use vi when I find that nano isn't installed.

272 Fun fact: vi was written over the weekend by the (now defunct) Sun Microsystems founder Bill Joy, inventor of the sparc microprocessor chip.

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at May 20, 2018 01:46 PM (/qEW2)

I still go to java.sun.com while checking for Java updates. It continues to redirect to the corresponding Oracle page eight years after Sun's demise.

Posted by: antisocial justice beatnik at May 20, 2018 02:06 PM (NL6wI)

323 Seems Maduro with 75% disapproval will win re-election. This should make Rahm Immanual ecstatic, what with his 25% approval rate.

Posted by: Puddin Head at May 20, 2018 02:08 PM (vV/gB)

324 "Experts say Miklos is certain to win the Powerball this week."

I'm putting that down on my mortgage application.

Posted by: Miklos, with more mortgages than ex-wives at May 20, 2018 02:08 PM (zCyNd)

325 NYT has an article on the demise of Time Inc. Sad.

giggle

Posted by: f'd at May 20, 2018 02:06 PM (UdKB7)

Time's up.

Posted by: Miklos, former Newsweek stringer at May 20, 2018 02:10 PM (zCyNd)

326 Or something.

Posted by: deadrody at May 20, 2018 11:58 AM (jsGbO)

Thanks for the insight.

You might like hotair.com a bit more than AoSHQ.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at May 20, 2018 02:13 PM (wYseH)

327 i've found wikipedia to be a great source for information on military history. i've learned a lot about historical battles which are often described in detail. the entries are structured to give context, leading events, logistics, strategy and tactics, casualties and aftermath.

i have no reason to believe these very straight-forward entries are anything but the facts as best understood by historians.

Posted by: musical jolly chimp at May 20, 2018 02:13 PM (Pg+x7)

328 >>>204 the world . . . rewards the unaccomplished glib over the taciturn performer.
Posted by: Grump928(C) at May 20, 2018 01:21 PM (yQpMk)

Not in that Fry, Peterson, Dyson, Goldberg debate linked in the sidebar. Yowza.

Posted by: m at May 20, 2018 02:14 PM (0bRDi)

329 I was perusing Drudge and MacAfee interrupts to tell this is a risky site. I guess Drudge has pissed someone off.

Posted by: Puddin Head at May 20, 2018 02:15 PM (vV/gB)

330 I use Wiki to look up all the famous people mentioned in the news, however, they are not known to me

Posted by: LMD Outer Banker at May 20, 2018 02:16 PM (Vuaet)

331 > But the absolute drivel written about a place in which I lived for two years was astounding. Dates were wrong,

*or* you might have remembered it wrong since you were there in the 1960s?

Having noted the mistakes, did you correct them?

Posted by: ArthurK at May 20, 2018 02:16 PM (r36Sg)

332 *Checks Wikipedia article on "Effects of the French Revolution"*

"Too soon to tell"

*pretty good, needs attribution*

Posted by: Zhou En-Lai at May 20, 2018 02:16 PM (zCyNd)

333 It's no Virginia Tech something something, but the one that opened my eyes to Wikipedia (and made me chuckle at their annual poor mouthing) was looking at their entry for some WWII codebreakers and reading about a superstar team headed by some hotshot man that had a couple of women on his team.

The photo associated with the hotshot man's team?

One of the women he supervised and who answered to him.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - I choose to live my life as a black woman at May 20, 2018 02:18 PM (VgKNm)

334 I was perusing Drudge and MacAfee interrupts to tell this is a risky site. I guess Drudge has pissed someone off.

I'm guessing lefty wankers have bots "reporting" Drudge several thousand times a day, because they're still pissed at him for breaking the Lewinsky story.

Posted by: Blanco Basura -It's OK, I'm with the banned. at May 20, 2018 02:19 PM (IcT7t)

335 285---....One of my societal pet peeves was the Seinfeld meme, "It's not a lie if you believe it." That really gets my hackles up.

Let's get this straight once and for all: A lie is a lie, and if you believe it, you're an imbecile for not using your Bullshit Detector.

Posted by: BackwardsBoy likes lobster at May 20, 2018 01:49 PM (GdWl+)
-------------------------------------
I dunno.
A falsehood is certainly a falsehood, regardless of what anyone believes.
But to "lie" is deliberately to state as true what you know to be false.

The witness who sincerely thinks he saw Joe Schnurd at the scene of the crime and so testifies may be mistaken.
The one who so testifies, knowing it is false, is lying.

But you touch on something very important here re use of one's Bullshit Detector. To what extent is someone morally culpable for just blindly repeating things they don't really know to be true?
At what point does a reckless disregard for truth become equivalent to a deliberate lie?

Posted by: Margarita DeVille at May 20, 2018 02:20 PM (0jtPF)

336 I know I should subscribe to Brittanica online but it's not cheap.

Posted by: Kim Jong-fu at May 20, 2018 02:21 PM (artIV)

337 BTW, did you correct any of the mistakes in the article?

Posted by: Brown Line at May 20, 2018 12:26 PM (S6ArX)

No. It really isn't that important to me. I just found it amusing.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at May 20, 2018 02:21 PM (wYseH)

338 NYT has an article on the demise of Time Inc. Sad.

-
We were strong armed into getting a subscription. The last two issues have turned a little away far left moonbatism, especially the, you know, the FBI really sucks issue but they still lean heavily left and are devoted to fake news. It's too little, too late. They decided to sacrifice credibility on the alter of virtue signalling so may they burn in magazine hell.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at May 20, 2018 02:22 PM (+y/Ru)

339 Wiki is like all organizations that are not
specifically and organizationally right-wing. They become Left-Wing.
Because face it, the world, as the Left sees it, is easy for those who
skill is in language. It rewards the unaccomplished glib over the
taciturn performer. The net-workers over the solitary. The pretty over
the skilled. It's a system set up by leftists to make leftists
important.

Posted by: Grump928(C) at May 20, 2018 01:21 PM (yQpMk)

This is a really good point....

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at May 20, 2018 02:23 PM (wYseH)

340 As a member of a technical profession, it seems the Gell-Mann effect does not play much of a role in articles on technical issues. Wikipedia is more likely to be opaque and unhelpful to the novice than inaccurate.

After all, it's not just j-school or telecomm majors reporting here.

Posted by: Axebot at May 20, 2018 02:24 PM (JhE5a)

341 I think the nail in the coffin for Time was the Barry and Micheal swimsuit issue.

Posted by: Astute observer at May 20, 2018 02:24 PM (zCyNd)

342 Wikipedia actually allows mere mortals to correct information? The couple of times I had tried a decade or so ago it told me no, and that I'd need to submit the information to the person who had originally posted the incorrect stuff.

Or something.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - I choose to live my life as a black woman at May 20, 2018 02:25 PM (VgKNm)

343 *or* you might have remembered it wrong since you were there in the 1960s?

Posted by: ArthurK at May 20, 2018 02:16 PM (r36Sg)

I'm not nearly as old as you....

I was there in the 1980s. And while my memory is hazy about many things, it's not that hazy!

Nope...I just don't care that much. Not interested in correcting it.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at May 20, 2018 02:25 PM (wYseH)

344

I am unable to alter my profile LMG Outer Banker, there is no icon or symbol to click on.
I don't really care if people HERE know my meat world name, but others may be able to bother a bit.
Gonna try a few more things, if nothing works, then I'll delete my membership and start fresh. So for a little bit I'll be unavailable.

Posted by: irongrampa at May 20, 2018 02:27 PM (S/hVx)

345 This place is more informative and it's run by Morons.

Posted by: DaveA at May 20, 2018 02:27 PM (FhXTo)

346 Everone knows wiki is a unreliable source yet cite it with false authority when expedient. Another great concept corrupted by the very people who maintain it.

The same now applies to other more esteemed and scholarly institutions like Stanford university's online philosophy papers.

Which also calls to mind things like Landmark pubishing Julius Caesar's et al supposed authority on the campaigns against the Celts. Wonderfully detailed maps. Moving narratives.

We can nibble at the edges of history, but never bite at the full reality of the thing.

Posted by: 13times at May 20, 2018 02:28 PM (K3B2k)

347 I was told by a Wiki moderator, that whether or not something was true didn't mean anything as far as if it could get included in a wiki article or not

-
True is a tool of white privilege.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at May 20, 2018 02:29 PM (+y/Ru)

348 323 Seems Maduro with 75% disapproval will win re-election. This should make Rahm Immanual ecstatic, what with his 25% approval rate.
Posted by: Puddin Head at May 20, 2018 02:08 PM (vV/gB)
-----------------------------------------
It helps when you destroy all of the opposition parties first!
No one there is even pretending it's a real election.
So sad.

Posted by: Margarita DeVille at May 20, 2018 02:29 PM (0jtPF)

349
I am unable to alter my profile LMG Outer Banker, there is no icon or symbol to click on.
I don't really care if people HERE know my meat world name, but others may be able to bother a bit.
Gonna try a few more things, if nothing works, then I'll delete my membership and start fresh. So for a little bit I'll be unavailable.
Posted by: irongrampa at May 20, 2018 02:27 PM (S/hVx)
++++
Click your Avatar go to settings & you can

Posted by: Schneider's Brown Slave at May 20, 2018 02:29 PM (y3aQB)

350 I was told by a Wiki moderator, that whether or not something was true
didn't mean anything as far as if it could get included in a wiki
article or not

=====

From what I recall from years ago, the only criteria is that 'reliable sources' are cited. Obviously a very flexible standard, but that is what they use.

Posted by: mustbequantum at May 20, 2018 02:32 PM (MIKMs)

351 What kind of retard would make that mistake?

Asked and answered: Dan Rather,

-
The motherfvcker of all fake news.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at May 20, 2018 02:32 PM (+y/Ru)

352 I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes - and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!

---------

mmphmmrm.... just 5 more minuteszzzzZZZZZZzzzzzz........

Posted by: Sleepy Sessions at May 20, 2018 02:33 PM (ANIFC)

353 professor was using the 747 as metaphor

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I never metaphor I didn't like.

Posted by: Will Rogers at May 20, 2018 02:39 PM (+y/Ru)

354 348
It helps when you destroy all of the opposition parties first!
No one there is even pretending it's a real election.
So sad.
Posted by: Margarita DeVille at May 20, 2018 02:29 PM (0jtPF)

I just read an article that said a lot of people are boycotting the election, calling it a "fraud".

Maduro will still claim to have a mandate, regardless of how few people vote. That's a big problem with democracy: it confers a veneer of legitimacy on a government, no matter how inept or criminal it is.

Posted by: rickl at May 20, 2018 02:43 PM (sdi6R)

355 "Scientific method? What's that?"**
**Your basic "Climate Scientist"

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Real science: adjust theory to match data

Climate science: adjust data to match theory

Posted by: Will Rogers at May 20, 2018 02:43 PM (+y/Ru)

356 Wiki mods are awarded shiny baubles and meaningless badges for clicking on stuff. All feeding off one another's virtual 'in' and 'out' work trays. Process reigns supreme. Reality and context mashed under typewriter keys. The EU writ small.

A bureaucrat's Utopia. Thomas More weeps. But from joy or terror?

Posted by: 13times at May 20, 2018 02:44 PM (K3B2k)

357
Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes - and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!

You've been served!

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at May 20, 2018 02:46 PM (+y/Ru)

358 It's simple, really!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix#/
media/File:Unix_history-simple.svg

Posted by: DaveA at May 20, 2018 02:48 PM (FhXTo)

359 >>>291 Guise. Guise! GUISE!

Trump is finnsh. For realz this time.
Posted by: Monk at May 20, 2018 01:52 PM (Wd0WT)

heh

Posted by: m at May 20, 2018 02:49 PM (0bRDi)

360
Gabba gabba hey!

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at May 20, 2018 02:49 PM (pNxlR)

361
So long, nickname link to the Encyclopedia of On-line Integer Sequences. *sniff*

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at May 20, 2018 02:52 PM (pNxlR)

362 Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
I hereby demand . . .

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Like Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday walking toward the OK Corral.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at May 20, 2018 02:54 PM (+y/Ru)

363 This place is more informative and it's run by Morons.

That's the plus side of the Dunning-Krueger effect. If you hang with people on the right half of the graph, you're okay.

We know we're Morons, so we don't spout off about stuff we don't understand.

...as often as Wiki editors do, anyway.

Posted by: mikeski at May 20, 2018 02:59 PM (JGBbg)

364 Strzok, the guy who needed an insurance policy in case Trump got elected, was involved in

1) the Hillary investigation. He was the FBI guy who interviewed her. After Page texted him that Lynch "knows no charges will be brought."

2) the Flynn Frame. He was the FBI guy Sally Yates sent to interview Flynn. Where Strzok changed his 302 report at McCabe's behest to claim that Flynn had lied.

3) the Russian collusion investigation. Strzok opens counterintelligence investigation of Russian collusion based on Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos, and oversaw the investigation.

4) the Weiner laptop cover-up. Comey sent Strzok to look at the laptop so they could say "nothing to see here, move along."

5) the Mueller investigation. Strzok joined the team, presumably to co-ordinate and carry messages to the rest of the cabal.

Also, Page and Strzok texted that "[President Obama] wants to know everything we're doing."

Strzok can roll up the whole thing. With Page and Priestap and lots of documents corroborating.

Mehtinks Trump knows this, and it informs his tweet storm

Posted by: Ignoramus at May 20, 2018 03:00 PM (pV/54)

365 nood pdt

Posted by: m at May 20, 2018 03:02 PM (0bRDi)

366 Climate science: adjust data to match theory
Posted by: Will Rogers at May 20, 2018 02:43 PM

Works for me.

Posted by: Tiffini in Dallas' plastic surgeon at May 20, 2018 03:03 PM (DMUuz)

367 i looked up an obscure American firearms company yesterday (surprise!) and, amazingly enough, the Wiki article and the NRA museum article had major differences in details...

one guess which one i trusted.

now, to see if we win the auction.

Posted by: redc1c4 at May 20, 2018 03:04 PM (QDw86)

368 The same for K-12 texts that the schools pay for.
Only government funding could pull off such a feat. The cost of
information has been reduced to near zero and its availability has been
extended to every nook and crannie.

Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at May 20, 2018 01:07 PM
I must correct you on this. I'd rather have a paper textbook with supplemental materials than a two-year license to an e-book. I've done the math, and in about four years, the license costs more than the classroom texts did. In addition, a district can pay for a brand-new curriculum and within five years, the textbook company will simply stop supporting it; e.g. the NY Engage curriculum's digital links are often broken or deleted.Or you get recommendations like "The Times in Plain English", which dumbs down the NYT so it can be read by the barely-literate. Go ahead and look up its version of the article "An America Only for Americans" and its blatant anti-Trump agenda.

Posted by: NaughtyPine at May 20, 2018 03:30 PM (fxCK2)

369 The general theory of evolution describes a well-established mechanism that is among the most powerful ever known to Man.

Except macro evolution has never been observed, it only exists as a form of creative speculation.

So what flavor of Evolutionary Theory is the most powerful ? Punctuated Equilibrium, Catastrophism, Classical Darwinism, Phyletic Gradualism? And of these which sub-theories correctly speculate on origins?

The problem is, that Creationists and Evolutionists have the same evidences, but have profoundly different assumptions, even Evolutionists have wildly divergent foundation of assumptions, and since no one was there to observe the initial conditions, its basically a food fight over ideology. Both are faith based. Only Creationism is rational.

Posted by: Blue Bird of F'ing Joy at May 20, 2018 04:25 PM (lD3vL)

370 If it's wrong, log in, edit it and fix it. That's the way crowd-sourcing is supposed to work. Not going to some other website and complaining about it. Just saying.

Posted by: Random Thought Generator at May 20, 2018 05:18 PM (iOKfQ)

371 Also, Page and Strzok texted that "[President Obama] wants to know everything we're doing."

And that right there is the real "insurance policy" - drop a record, just a little thing, showing Chocolate Jesus was running the whole damn thing.

Remember JEF was personally selected drone targets, so probable.

Posted by: Burnt Toast at May 20, 2018 08:19 PM (Eu5eZ)

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