An interesting night of facepalming

[Old Ned]

So last night I went out to my mates, his new girlfriend was there, we had lots of laughs and jokes etc.
Then she stared at me for a moment and said "Someone in your life has a name beginning with A, or the letter A is important to you"
I looked at her, thought for a minute and said ... "No, not in the slightest, in fact the only people I've ever known who's name starts with A was a girl named Amber and a boy named Andrew I went to school with over 2 decades ago and haven't seen for over 10 years"
Then as I stood there in my work clothes, a blue and white rugby shirt and blue sports trousers, with a black baseball hat with blue rim and a pair of blue lens sunglasses sitting happily on my hat... she said with an inquisitive look... "Your favourite colour is red"... I just about fell over laughing.

She also attempted other things, each one getting more and more vague... "You have had a tragedy in your life" .... Ummm, I don't think I've ever met anyone who hasn't.

The claim?.... "I have a sort of psychic ability" ....

I of course referred her to James Randy, who has been offering vast sums of money since the '70's for any proof of the supernatural.

This was met by.. "It's not something I can control, I just know things"
I proceeded to explain that "Reading" someone is nothing more than an ability to hone in on body language, notice items f clothing, colours they are wearing (which she apparently missed) and the things people say.
I am actually very good at this, which is why I make a good salesman, she blew this off... so I, looked at her with a sort of magical gaze and said... "Your favourite colour is a sort of dark pink or lavender" .... her friend gasped and said "Oh he has it too!"
I then explained I knew that because she was wearing a purple necklace, dark pink lipstick and lavender eye shadow, nothing supernatural about it, simple observation.
She was adamant she has this "Ability" even though I went on to tell her other things about herself, things I based on her body language and reaction to certain key words and the things she had said earlier, I used her own "Ability" against her and demonstrated I'm actually better at it than she is.

The conversation moved on... Astrology.... at which point I explained how the sun and planets lining up with the constellation has shifted over the past 2000 years since the birth of astrology and you can see this simply by looking at the sky and seeing that you are now one whole astrological star sign off. She then guessed I'm a Gemini, I corrected her to say I was Torus.
She threw her hands up and said "Of course..." and then explained how and why I am a Torus in great detail.... until I told her I lied and I am actually Cancer, being born July 19th.

She then told me that I have blue eyes and people with blue eyes are kind and gentle and loving etc etc etc etc..... until I showed her a picture of the Blue eyed, kind, loving and gentle... Adolf Hitler.

Then it got really wild.... with a throw up on her hands while I was talking about oxygen meeting with the suns rays create Ozone (this was very simplified) ... and she exclaimed... "What about CHEMTRAILS!???, the government is spraying stuff in the air to try and cool the earth"



I simply said "You mean vapour trails?, otherwise known as Con trails or Condensation trails?"

"No, they are different"

"How?"

"Chemtrails stay for much longer and it's what causes the northern lights"



I tried to explain how vapour trails work, unfortunately I am not as knowledgeable about this as I would like to be so I had less argument than the other topics, but I do know it's a conspiracy theory and I do know it's simply vapour trails and has been widely debunked.

She even through the "Evolution is only a theory and are you suggesting we come from monkeys" at me...
You all know what my answers to those statements would have been.

Point is, this woman professed not to be religious in any way... except she believes there is a god and reincarnation happens and..... you'll all love this one... "Protestant means you don't believe in christianity" ...AND... "Christianity is all religions together, muslim and catholic and hidu, all of them are christianity"

By this point of the evening I had facepalmed so much I now need reconstructive surgery.

It was a fun night, but it also saddened me to see someone who is so incredibly misinformed and is living in fear of things that do not exist and unlike god... HAVE actually been proven false.

When she asked me why I don't believe these things... I simply said "Because unlike many people, where I hear or read a wild claim, I check the facts, I refuse to believe something just because someone says it's true"

To which she replied "Thats sad that you always need evidence and can't just go on faith, everyone needs faith, no one can survive without believing in a higher power"

"I do believe in a higher power... it's called nature"

"No, you believe in some form of god, you have to, there is no way you or anyone can live without believing in a higher power without going mad"

"Then I must be mad"

To clarify, no arguments got overly heated and we did all have a good night... but my brain hurts from listening to so much garbage that is so incredibly unsubstantiated and even misunderstood by the person spouting it.

Rant ends.

 

[Habbit Animal]

She's an idiot.
People like that are not worth your patience. Simply tell them, look, Sylvia Brown is dead and she was a fraud. Don't try to take her place here.

And then smile brilliantly and look away.

 

[Old Ned]

Oh my lord!! You have it too!!! Her name is Sylvia!!

I must admit, while I enjoyed the evening, it was very frustrating at times when claims of absolute misinformation were made and the statement and vigorous argument that all religions are Christian nearly drove me to insanity.

She also suggested I am a fundamentalist, to which I don't mind being called but also pointed out that when she started "Reading" me we were talking about Internet pricing.

I'm not offended that people believe this stuff, but if you are going to push it on me, I am not going to sit quietly and pretend you have a magical ability that I can explain.

I also showed her a couple of card tricks and sarcastically and pig headedly claimed they were real magic and the fact she could not explain how I did them proves it's magic... real magic... I then pulled the old Levitation trick and told her I have the ability to control gravity.... yet these claims she said were "Just tricks" yet she couldn't explain them any more than anything else she claimed.

It was just.... Aaarrrrggghhh!!

 

[AV1611VET]

How do you explain an eight-year-old who has never been to Germany, drawing a map of a very small town, complete with street signs and restaurants?

(The answer is simple.)

 

[Old Ned]

How do you explain an eight-year-old who has never been to Germany, drawing a map of a very small town, complete with street signs and restaurants?

(The answer is simple.)

Google Earth?

 

[AV1611VET]

Google Earth?

... That's good!

 

[durangodawood]

How do you explain an eight-year-old who has never been to Germany, drawing a map of a very small town, complete with street signs and restaurants?

(The answer is simple.)

As of now its just a tale. I feel no need to explain every tale I get told.

 

[Old Ned]

I freely admit there are many odd things that happen or are performed that I do not understand and cannot explain, there may be explanations but as yet I have not learned them.

Someone drawing a map of a town they have never been to, ok I'm sure there is an explanation, I do not know what it is.

But everything this woman threw at me, I explained clearly and concisely.

I can't explained the claim that one twin will get stabbed and the other who lives on the other side of the world feels the pain. This doesn't mean I believe it, I just can't explain it, but because I can't explain something I don't jump to supernatural beings or happenings.

The map thing could be that the child has some form of eidetic memory and had seen a map of the town days/weeks or years before and just suddenly got the notion to draw it.
That's perfectly plausible. And does not require "Ooo must be some sort of power"

 

[leftrightleftrightleft]

Just out of interest's sake, you said this was your friend's new girlfriend, right?

Does your friend also have these kinds of views and if not, how is he dating her?

 

[Old Ned]

Just out of interest's sake, you said this was your friend's new girlfriend, right?

Does your friend also have these kinds of views and if not, how is he dating her?

Yes his new girlfriend.
No he doesn't believe this stuff but he's not one for research either, he's a bit of a redneck type of guy. Very intelligent and an awesome electrician, but if/when he hears something like this he will respond with "Huh, wow thats messed up" or words to that effect and then never think about it again.

I ask myself the same question as to how these 2 match, but since he has recently had his wife leave him, he is reaching out a little I think and this woman has been there for him and probably told him all kinds of nice things about himself and has made him feel better... for now. But I also feel she has been "Selling" him on these "Abilities" she supposedly has, and with his lack of any Scientific knowledge or research, she probably sounds like she's making sense.

The Psychic thing is a sales pitch, it's the exact same techniques employed by salesmen as I demonstrated. But like Horoscopes, those who don't question things will read it and say "Ohhh that applies to me so well" , what they don't see is that it could apply to just about anybody.

To be honest, it concerns me a little with regards to him and her, I wonder what she is filling his head with and what effects it might have. How his mind will interpret this crap could lead down a very dangerous road given his current mental state... but it's not my business, although I am going to keep an eye on it because he's a great guy who just went through a really rough ride and is vulnerable to anything that makes him feel better.... the words "Suicide" has come up between he and I, and I am concerned that her garbage may push him over the edge , I realise she is trying to help and it may actually help him... but to me, it is a flip of a coin as to which way it could go.
Messing with peoples heads is a dangerous road and she is far from qualified to do so even though I do believe her intentions are good.

 

[UnderstandForgive]

If you weren't lying about your birthday, we have the same birthday!

I performed an experiment and wrote to James Randi about it. He agreed with my findings and referred to his atlas.

I went to some Chiropractors, when they had free assessments. I would come in saying part of my back hurt hurt, either my neck or lower back or the right side of my shoulder. (My back felt fine btw) When they did their 'assessments' when I said I had pain in my neck when I didn't they would take an x-ray and describe to me that my neck was out of alignment. The point is they always confirmed what I said. Every time they confirmed what I said, and they wouldn't mention to me what the other chiropractor did, for instance if I went to a Chiropractor and complained of lower back pain, he would show me the lower back pain, but not the neck or upper back that other doctors noticed. And then I told this Chiropractor, after the assesment what I was doing, and he became red in the face and started sweating, He gave me a book on Chiropractic knowledge. Another thing I did, is I went to a clinic, and a doctors office and I told them I had all the symptoms of diabetes or some other illness, and they would do a blood test and every time they told me I wasn't sick, every time that it may be something else. So doctors using a blood test could know what was true and wasn't, the chiropractors seemed to just confirm what people are telling them.

 

[Old Ned]

No I wasn't lying, I was born July 19 1977, a Tuesday I believe. Silver Jubilee baby lol

As for the chiropractor thing, that's interesting. I went to one a few years ago when my back injury started really hindering everyday stuff, my boss paid for it. I went 5 times even though they told me I would need to keep going for a few years.
I didn't take much notice of his diagnosis, I already knew I had a curved spine and an injury from years ago that damaged my back and every once in a while It will flare up.
So after a few treatments I felt much better and never went again, and have had much much less back issues since.
To be honest I don't know the in's and out' of it, all I know is the cracking of stuff felt really really good and loosened whatever it loosened.
I do this with my fingers too, I start to get pain in my fingers and crack them, this relieves the pain, couldn't tell you why and don't really care as long as it works without me having to take chemical drugs.
Could have been a placebo effect, maybe not... don't know, but I do know for sure that cracking bones when they are tight or whatever really does help.

Having said that, I have never referred anyone to this treatment since I know it has had terrible results for some people, I simply consider myself lucky in that respect, for me it worked for whatever reason.

I was told the age old tale that I have 1 leg shorter than the other because of alignment, I just dismissed it because I enjoyed the cracking... I used to call it "Popcorn therapy" lol

 

[leftrightleftrightleft]

Yes his new girlfriend.
No he doesn't believe this stuff but he's not one for research either, he's a bit of a redneck type of guy. Very intelligent and an awesome electrician, but if/when he hears something like this he will respond with "Huh, wow thats messed up" or words to that effect and then never think about it again.

I ask myself the same question as to how these 2 match, but since he has recently had his wife leave him, he is reaching out a little I think and this woman has been there for him and probably told him all kinds of nice things about himself and has made him feel better... for now. But I also feel she has been "Selling" him on these "Abilities" she supposedly has, and with his lack of any Scientific knowledge or research, she probably sounds like she's making sense.

The Psychic thing is a sales pitch, it's the exact same techniques employed by salesmen as I demonstrated. But like Horoscopes, those who don't question things will read it and say "Ohhh that applies to me so well" , what they don't see is that it could apply to just about anybody.

To be honest, it concerns me a little with regards to him and her, I wonder what she is filling his head with and what effects it might have. How his mind will interpret this crap could lead down a very dangerous road given his current mental state... but it's not my business, although I am going to keep an eye on it because he's a great guy who just went through a really rough ride and is vulnerable to anything that makes him feel better.... the words "Suicide" has come up between he and I, and I am concerned that her garbage may push him over the edge , I realise she is trying to help and it may actually help him... but to me, it is a flip of a coin as to which way it could go.
Messing with peoples heads is a dangerous road and she is far from qualified to do so even though I do believe her intentions are good.

Judging by what I know about the situation (which is very little), it seems that your friend is not ready to be in a relationship yet. But I guess you gotta start somewhere. Unfortunately, in his vulnerability, he is probably more gullible and likely to cling to things she says and take on her ideas.

But I guess there's not much you can do about it. It is remarkable when you find someone who thinks so opposite to how you think that you can't help but walk away from the conversation flabbergasted and speechless.

 

[AV1611VET]

As of now its just a tale. I feel no need to explain every tale I get told.

Yet you'll be glad to explain evolution ... won't you?

 

[durangodawood]

Yet you'll be glad to explain evolution ... won't you?

That doenst follow at all from what I said.

 

[Old Ned]

Judging by what I know about the situation (which is very little), it seems that your friend is not ready to be in a relationship yet. But I guess you gotta start somewhere. Unfortunately, in his vulnerability, he is probably more gullible and likely to cling to things she says and take on her ideas.

Exactly, this is what concerns me.
It's not that I'm afraid he's going to join her in her delusions, I would just make fun of him lol, although I can't see it getting to that extreme.
What concerns me is what mental triggers she might set off, what thoughts she instills in his mind and how they could possibly start him thinking that this is how it is and he did something wrong or blames himself or just see's a dark side to life.
As I said, it could also help, I can't say for sure either way, obviously.

But I guess there's not much you can do about it.

Yes and no, if I really felt the need, I would have no trouble telling him to think more clearly about things. If that risks our friendship but ultimately helps then so be it.
But I don't think and I hope it wont come to that.

It is remarkable when you find someone who thinks so opposite to how you think that you can't help but walk away from the conversation flabbergasted and speechless.

Oh she doesn't just think the opposite of me, she is off the chart.
It's one thing to believe in something strongly, whatever it may be... but to confuse so many beliefs all as one and not even understand the basis of each of the components of the composition is bordering on stupidity.

At one point when she did the "it's only a theory" at this point we were talking about Evolution obviously (and bare in mind she works in a doctors office as a radiologist (have I named that right?), but when I explained what a Scientific theory is and there are more than one definition of the word Theory, she claimed that it means what it means. She did this with a few other words through the night, claimed they did not mean something that they actually do in one of their definitions.
I demolished this argument by asking "Define fire"
She replied with "You're FIRED!" ... to which I posed.. "So what are flames?"
My mate hi 5'd me and was in tears laughing at how stumped she was

 

[Michael]

So last night I went out to my mates, his new girlfriend was there, we had lots of laughs and jokes etc.
Then she stared at me for a moment and said "Someone in your life has a name beginning with A, or the letter A is important to you"....

I call that "fishing". It's the first sign IMO that you should run.

 

[Subduction Zone]

Hmm, I wonder if this woman's name is Sylvia too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HV9gRFv5Kgc

 

[Michael]

I loved the line: "Everywhere we look the visible spectrum is rainbows. This cannot be natural....."

Hoy Vey! Someone hand that woman a prism and a textbook please.

 

[pgp_protector]

That doenst follow at all from what I said.

You have to remember facts, science and evidence have all taken a hike in AV's world.