THE "CHATBOX"

[Critical Mass]

I don't know who's done it but someone has managed to get vicsim mentioned on legacy.com at the page for one of my favorite vicsims, Jonathan Cappello (or Jono)... he's the guy who's family allegedly made memorial baby clothing!



Anyway here's the post...



... "I think of you and all the vicsims, every time I climb my one flight of stairs at home. It's like my own personal Memorial Stair Climb."

[hoi.polloi]

Amazing!

[anonjedi2]

I know we don't have a thread dedicated to today's number one mainstream celebrity scientist, Neil deGrasse Tyson, so I'll just drop this gem here in the Chatbox.

The clip starts at about 30 seconds when that ass kisser Larry King asks Tyson what he likes most about himself.


full link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkmU7LBhJRA

Well, if this isn’t the height of arrogance and contempt for alternative viewpoints and beliefs, I don’t know what is.

He essentially says:

The thing I like best about myself is that I can speak such truth that you can’t counter it with anything other than to agree with me, because there is no disagreeing with me. There is no disagreeing with me because everything that I say is true and not up to interpretation or your opinion. So when I say something, I can just leave the room and let it be the final truth.

Why should we even have a conversation if you’re going to disagree with me? I am all-knowing, and I know everything about the universe, its origins, where we came from and where we are going. I am a mainstream, celebrity scientist and everything I say is undebatable. Therefore, rather than prove my position or engage in debate, I will ignore anything and everything that challenges what I say…I'll just let my godlike status speak for itself, since you all worship the ground I walk on.

Just wow.

[ICfreely]

Well put anonjedi2! Why anyone takes anything deAss has to say seriously is beyond me. Speaking of ass clown astrotheologians, I came across Carl ‘billions & billions’ Sagan’s final interview.


full link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iyFw8UF85A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iyFw8UF85A

“Science is more than a body of knowledge. It is a way of thinking; a way of skeptically interrogating the universe with a fine understanding of human fallibility. If we are not able to ask skeptical questions, to interrogate those who tell us that something is true, to be skeptical of those in authority, then, we are up for grabs for the next charlatan (political or religious) who comes ambling along.”

IMO, it amounts to a ‘My whole lifework has been a pile of ci cago’ deathbed confession from an ‘in the know’ charlatan. Who knows? I could be wrong. Either way, I think we should all heed his sagacious advice!

[simonshack]

Just to say I'm o-ok, folks - been a bit MIA lately the forum. Am currently without internet access (writing this in a rush from a friend's place) - relaxing and enjoying the summer sun.

[brianv]

Just to say I'm o-ok, folks - been a bit MIA lately the forum. Am currently without internet access (writing this in a rush from a friend's place) - relaxing and enjoying the summer sun.

Summer sun? Remind me what that looks like again! Ireland is currently basking in near February temperatures.

:fixed typo

[Farcevalue]

Cold - the new warm!

[brianv]

A small Donut hoi. Hope it helps.

[hoi.polloi]

Thank you brianv! It most certainly will! I am back in the reach of the webz and sent our annual hefty check to the septemberclues.org host as well, AcornHost.

I just got back from Frascati (where Fakeologistas Kham and Videre were as well, and we all had a lot of great conversation and food — alas, we did not get to meet Del who couldn't make it this time) and I can confirm that Simon is indeed still struggling with the telecommunications company that removed the Internet (and phone line!) from his house. It was just a "mix up" apparently, and they say it will be resolved soon.

However, I will be monitoring the forum for the next week or so, or until he gets Internet power again. So go easy on me. We're flying this monster solo for the next few days. However, we've already been on auto-pilot for a week and it seems most people are spending their precious summer time out of doors, so luckily there isn't a lot to moderate lately.

How's things, everyone? Any good fakery discoveries and/or stories lately?

[Critical Mass]

How's things, everyone? Any good fakery discoveries and/or stories lately?

Don't know about good but I have been doing some work on the Mumbai* attacks of 2008 (probably as I vaguely recalled that Tunisia wasn't the only supposed attack perpetrated by 'dinghy borne terrorists'... although I believe that aspect of the Tunisian tale has been dropped).

I've become oddly fascinated with it as it too featured a "live on TV terrorist attack"... anyone interested can watch the footage for themselves here & here.




* It should be noted Mumbai is THE home of Bollywood

[Xious]

^ Forgive me if I'm asking a stupid question, but didn't the incidences of smallpox and polio start going down drastically and quickly at the same time as the introduction of those two vaccines? What caused such a good result if not the vaccines?

Fair questions fbenario! You’re absolutely right in that incidences of Polio diagnoses drastically plummeted shortly after the introduction of the ‘Salk’ vaccine in 1955. However, it was changes in diagnosis and diagnostic methods that helped ‘wipe out’ Polio (in name only!). For example, cases that would have previously been classified as ‘poliomyelitis’ (Polio) were reclassified as ‘non-poliomyelitis acute flaccid paralysis,’ ‘Guillian-Barré syndrome’ and ‘Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease’ to create the illusion of vaccine efficacy (Polio ‘eradication’).

It’s been a very successful medico-media psyop to say the least. I touched on this in the brief timelines of Smallpox & Polio I posted in the Ebola thread (http://cluesforum.info/viewtopic.php?f= ... 0#p2394414). What we used to call ‘Polio’ we now call ‘Chronic fatigue Syndrome.’ Vaccination has to be one of (if not the) cruelest scientific hoaxes of all time! Kudos to Pilgrim for his timely and informative post which may help people in scud & brianv’s (Congrats, btw) situation make informed decisions.

I agree. Vaccines are not only a hoax but arguably a weapon.

From an article titled: "Louis Pasteur Plagiarist, Impostor & the Truth About Vaccines"

http://aetherforce.com/louis-pasteur-pl ... ign=buffer

Epidemiologist Dr. G.T. Stewart made a similar statement which was reported in Lancet of May 18,1968; and prior to this Sir Robert McCarrison, the great English physician, wrote:

“Obsessed with the invisible microbe, virus, protozoa as all important excitants of disease, subservient to laboratory methods of diagnosis, hidebound by our system of nomenclature, we often forget the most fundamental of all rules for the physician, that the right kind of food (nutrition) is the most important single factor in the promotion of health and the wrong kind of food the most important single factor in the promotion of disease” (McCarrison, 1936).

In a personal communication (1974), Dr. Klenner made the following important observations: “Many here voice a silent view that the Salk and Sabin vaccine, being made of monkey kidney tissue, has been directly responsible for the major increase of leukemia in this country."

[Ataraxia]

How's things, everyone? Any good fakery discoveries and/or stories lately?

I know this isn't strictly media fakery, but I've been reading The Histories by Herodotus. It’s unsettling how basically everything he says is myth, yet it's often cited or credited as being truthful or potentially truthful. Reading this too, I wonder if Sparta ever existed at all except in myth. It’s just a too perfect opposition to Athens. Everything Athens was, Sparta was the ideal opposite: Sparta was land-based, Athens was sea-based; Sparta was essentially non-religious, Athens was heavily religious; Sparta had two kings who had complete control of the state, while Athens had a glorious democracy; Sparta was based on a culture of warfare, Athens was based on one of philosophy and arts; Sparta built no architectural monuments, Athens built tons of them; Sparta led the Peloponnesian League, while Athens led the Athenian Delian League, etc.

Herodotus himself says, “I may be obliged to tell what is said, but I am not at all obliged to believe it. And you may consider this statement to be valid for my entire work.” (Book 7.152.3) It's interesting to wonder if The Histories were written legitimately to merely state what the myths were, or if they were written with an eye towards turning the myths into apparent realities.

The point of The Histories after all was to record the conflict between the Greek's struggles to remain free and democratic versus becoming enslaved to the Persian Empire, and that only through uniting the constantly bickering Greek city states could the empire from the east be defeated. In the medieval ages, this was the exact same attitude promoted by Pope Urban II in the buildup to the Crusades, when he pleaded for the union of the European provinces in order to stop the Turks. Since before the Crusades, the hundreds of European provinces were engaged in constant warfare amongst one another, just like in Ancient Greece. It’s odd that it’s the exact same rhetoric.

I guess my point is how we're still conditioned to believe in a world based upon this Western versus Middle Eastern conflict—that if only we can destroy Iran, ISIS and the terrorists we can finally truly have freedom and peace. Yet absurdly, we also purposely give them the power over us by buying their oil. It seems that no matter what happens or what has happened, this conflict and fear will stay with us forever, promoted by our literature and entertainment.

[TheRideNeverEnds]

Interesting, Ataraxia. The way I see it, the purpose of history (besides being a source of great stories) has always been nation-building, it's always been about conditioning the minds of the masses. Without stating it explicitly and sometimes even while stating the opposite, history books persuade readers to believe in a book's capacity to objectively spell out the events of the past for an entire people, sometimes even the entire world. Not unlike journalists or politicians, historians like to hide any doubts they have beneath a façade of authority and objectivity. It's a potent trick that most people fall for, and this is why I actually admire Herodotus for admitting to not believing in his own bullshit.

[simonshack]

Alright folks - I'm back in "business" after more than a month of forced internet abstinence. It's been good though - feeling great! Those Italian phone companies truly suck, though. I'm in no mood to tell you the whole story, just glad to be able to read and moderate my lovely forum again - from home.

Hope you're all having (or had) a great summer vacation!

[bostonterrierowner]

How's things, everyone? Any good fakery discoveries and/or stories lately?

I know this isn't strictly media fakery, but I've been reading The Histories by Herodotus. It’s unsettling how basically everything he says is myth, yet it's often cited or credited as being truthful or potentially truthful. Reading this too, I wonder if Sparta ever existed at all except in myth. It’s just a too perfect opposition to Athens. Everything Athens was, Sparta was the ideal opposite: Sparta was land-based, Athens was sea-based; Sparta was essentially non-religious, Athens was heavily religious; Sparta had two kings who had complete control of the state, while Athens had a glorious democracy; Sparta was based on a culture of warfare, Athens was based on one of philosophy and arts; Sparta built no architectural monuments, Athens built tons of them; Sparta led the Peloponnesian League, while Athens led the Athenian Delian League, etc.

Herodotus himself says, “I may be obliged to tell what is said, but I am not at all obliged to believe it. And you may consider this statement to be valid for my entire work.” (Book 7.152.3) It's interesting to wonder if The Histories were written legitimately to merely state what the myths were, or if they were written with an eye towards turning the myths into apparent realities.

The point of The Histories after all was to record the conflict between the Greek's struggles to remain free and democratic versus becoming enslaved to the Persian Empire, and that only through uniting the constantly bickering Greek city states could the empire from the east be defeated. In the medieval ages, this was the exact same attitude promoted by Pope Urban II in the buildup to the Crusades, when he pleaded for the union of the European provinces in order to stop the Turks. Since before the Crusades, the hundreds of European provinces were engaged in constant warfare amongst one another, just like in Ancient Greece. It’s odd that it’s the exact same rhetoric.

I guess my point is how we're still conditioned to believe in a world based upon this Western versus Middle Eastern conflict—that if only we can destroy Iran, ISIS and the terrorists we can finally truly have freedom and peace. Yet absurdly, we also purposely give them the power over us by buying their oil. It seems that no matter what happens or what has happened, this conflict and fear will stay with us forever, promoted by our literature and entertainment.

Good points!

especially this one:

"...I guess my point is how we're still conditioned to believe in a world based upon this Western versus Middle Eastern conflict..."

You are aware that for thousands of years an enormous arbitrage trade had been open, namely different gold/silver ratios in occident and orient. For example one unit of pure gold was worth 14 units of pure silver in Spain whereas in let's say Japan the ratio was 6 to 1. Profit possibilities for the few with the ships, capital and knowledge were enormous.

I found out about this discrepancy quite recently reading Alexander del Mar.

We are talking about 100% ROI in span of centuries practically undisturbed. Control of trade routes were and are the major casus beli.

Today it's drug trafficking I suppose.