A Field guide to Crazy

[pgp_protector]

A Field guide to B..
Saw this when reading another link, love it

 

[Cabal]

There was a great blog article I saw recently containing tips to wackjobs about how to not look crazy on the internet.

I'd post it, but I'd hate for the cranks here to become less obvious, even if only slightly.

 

[driewerf]

Calculate people's crackpot index.
Crackpot index

 

[MattRose]

A Field guide to B..
Saw this when reading another link, love it

Hey that guy derided all my best tools for convincing others.

 

[Naraoia]

There was a great blog article I saw recently containing tips to wackjobs about how to not look crazy on the internet.

I'd post it, but I'd hate for the cranks here to become less obvious, even if only slightly.

PM, pretty please?

 

[OldWiseGuy]

Calculate people's crackpot index.
Crackpot index

Based on this almost everyone is a crackpot (I know I am).

 

[keith99]

Calculate people's crackpot index.
Crackpot index

Dang, I could be a great crackpot. Like Einstein I excercise anyway. Like Einstein I was misunderstood by most of my early math teachers. I have a better beard and hair than Einstein. Einstein takes a much better picture sticking out his tongue than I do.

And I do Haka much much better than Einstein.

And like Einstein I do not think Einstein had the final answer.

 

[AV1611VET]

Calculate people's crackpot index.
Crackpot index

#8 = 5 points for each mention of "Einstien", "Hawkins" or "Feynmann".

-10 points for pointing out spelling errors?

-- I have to admit, you guys are a rich source of entertainment.

 

[keith99]

A Field guide to B..
Saw this when reading another link, love it

Interesting. Seems the guy only knows very basic science.

But isn't one person's claptrap another's truth?
There's a belief system about water to which we all sign up: it freezes at 0 °C and boils at 100 °C. We are powerfully wedded to this but that doesn't make it an intellectual black hole. That's because these beliefs are genuinely reasonable. Beliefs at the core of intellectual black holes, however, aren't reasonable. They merely appear so to those trapped inside.

Some of us know this is untrue, but I'm not going to explain that great mystery to people who simply can't understand.

(I know there are other initiates into this mystery on this board, please don't reveal our secrets to the great unwashed masses here).

 

[Jade Margery]

Based on this almost everyone is a crackpot (I know I am).

I don't think anyone here is going to argue with you on the second point, oldguy.

But personally I don't think I have ever done any of the things on the list--except maybe spell a word or two in all caps. And I guess I can't speak for the statements I've made while sleep deprived or inebriated, they may well have been vacuous or inconsistent. But under normal conditions, no sir! Though it should be noted that the list is not in reference to internet discussions, but was compiled by a physicist who was sick of seeing repeated attempts by amateurs to 'revolutionize' physics (and sending him mail about it. I think he worked for a university.)

Btw, OP, great linked interview.

 

[keith99]

Calculate people's crackpot index.
Crackpot index

Did you notice the omission?

There is no scoring scale, absolutely no point level where one becomes a crackpot.

 

[AV1611VET]

There is no scoring scale, absolutely no point level where one becomes a crackpot.

Yes, there is -- when we display this:

And for the record, if an unregenerate psychiatrist asks you if you talk to God, or think about dying much -- expect to be sequestered from the general public.

 

[Insane_Duck]

Yes, there is -- when we display this:

And for the record, if an unregenerate psychiatrist asks you if you talk to God, or think about dying much -- expect to be sequestered from the general public.

I wouldn't call that the point, but it's often a great indicator.

 

[Nostromo]

#8 = 5 points for each mention of "Einstien", "Hawkins" or "Feynmann".

-10 points for pointing out spelling errors?

-- I have to admit, you guys are a rich source of entertainment.

#20 - 20 points for emailing me and complaining about the crackpot index. (E.g., saying that it "suppresses original thinkers" or saying that I misspelled "Einstein" in item 8.)

 

[Naraoia]

And like Einstein I do not think Einstein had the final answer.

To be fair, who in physics does? Something's got to happen to that little quantum gravity problem...

#8 = 5 points for each mention of "Einstien", "Hawkins" or "Feynmann".

-10 points for pointing out spelling errors?

-- I have to admit, you guys are a rich source of entertainment.

Not as rich as you

In fact, all three names are misspelled (Hawking ends with "g", and Feynman has only one "n" at the end), and that is precisely the point.

Clever, isn't it?

 

[AV1611VET]

Clever, isn't it?

Not bad -- not bad at all!

 

[OldWiseGuy]

I don't think anyone here is going to argue with you on the second point, oldguy.

What would really bother me is if ya'll started agreeing with me.

 

[AV1611VET]

What would really bother me is if ya'll started agreeing with me.

Or worse yet -- you start agreeing with them --

 

[OldWiseGuy]

Or worse yet -- you start agreeing with them --

Bullseye. That was my point (presented in my crackpot way).