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Entry 23 - Still More Staffers To Go Through - Esifex
Hello Purvis:
Paranormality question: How does one distinguish sensitive from deluded? There has been a history of people utter convinced of things that have been proven to be, on analysis, suffering from mental issues instead.
Esifex:
The song that made me want to learn violin
--- Quote from: Squawkers on July 25, 2011, 07:51:16 PM ---A. Sorry, must have missed the music one. I am reading this, but I'm only human.
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Happens to the best of us. But not me. I'm a cyborg. *_?
--- Quote from: Squawkers on July 25, 2011, 07:51:16 PM ---B. To be honest, I don't really consider it science if it can't be replicated by anyone, anywhere (with the right environmental adjustments, of course) but eh, to each his own. I guess that's why I didn't take that one into account.
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It's like math, too. Sometimes you need to be unable to prove its false. That's why it's such a gray area - no one can definitively prove it's real or not. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Reddyne has done an excellent job of saying it much more clearly than I.
--- Quote from: Squawkers on July 25, 2011, 07:51:16 PM ---Have you ever read a fanfic that turned one of your least favorite characters into one of your most favorite characters, or at least made you like them a whole lot more? Not characters you were neutral about, mind you, but characters you actively disliked.
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Sound of the City by our own Tengukami. I really honestly did - and most of the time, still do - perceive Aya as just a big nuisance, who got pleasure out of harassing and giving people a bunch of shit. Sound of the City turned that trollish aura into one of determination and a powerful sense of curiosity.
If being neutral about a character - or set of them - Rising Star would've done it for the Palanquin Ship-Temple crew. Beyond that, there really aren't that many Touhous that I actively dislike. I'm incredibly bored whenever the Eientei crew is brought up, and only mildly disinterested by Mokou and Keine, though I do appreciate the last two because 1)The phoenix is my favorite mythological creature, and 2) Keine. Just Keine.
--- Quote from: Reddyne on July 25, 2011, 10:50:40 PM --- :objection!:
Explanation time from a resident science guy. The reason why paranormal phenomena are not (yet) taken seriously by the scientific community is that one of the very principles of the scientific method is reproducibility. Coincidentally, these concepts of paranormal phenomena are unexplored and nebulous enough that they lack falsifiability, so they, by law of scientific method, cannot be dismissed. Also, even a slight variation in the wording of a hypothesis provides a new hypothesis which can be tested, so even if one concept is out-and-out proven false, a very similar or specific concept could be proven true. Still, the key is the ability for these concepts to be tested in a manner that creates a reliable and predictable result. Paranormal phenomena typically lack definition and could benefit from a distinct value that defines it. Properly state the concept or element of what you are testing, test it in a controlled manner, then REproduce the result within definable limits, and it will gain a lot of credibility. It's how science has done so many of the things it has for the world. Any bit of reproducibility will help push it from pseudoscience and into the proper scientific realm. Until then, apples will fall down and not up, ducks will go "quack" and not "I'm the ghost of your uncle Luke! Couldja spare us a fiver?" and 1+1 will equal 2 and not cheesecake even if that would make math a lot tastier.
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That would make math a lot tastier. Also, I HAVE BEEN DEFEATED BY LOGIC! I suppose deep down I always did understand that there's a very good and valid reason paranormality is considered a quack field.
That being said, my friends and I have done a good series of meditation, followed by a very informal test; sitting across the room, backs to each other, calling out numbers that the other was looking at on an index card. I managed to score 14 out of 20 on one of them, and never below 7 of 20 on the other three 'turns' I took. But, again, one of my friends who was participating with us never managed to get more than 4, so that whole reproducibility thing rears its ugly head.
--- Quote from: Reddyne on July 25, 2011, 10:50:40 PM ---Anyway,
What's one thing that you would like to change about yourself and what one thing would you never want to change?
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I'd rather change my voice back to how it should be. I deliberately tore the crap out of my vocal chords by screaming along to some metal songs way back when, because I didn't like how a 6' 4", 220lb fella still had a soprano voice. Now I can't actually sing anything without my voice breaking, and my voice deepened on its own accord and now I sound like George Takei. Who's voice breaks on occasion.
I wouldn't change my personality. I particularly like my large, powerful calves- I mean... being a Libra, and having an almost-to-the-T match-up with the standard Libra personality.
--- Quote from: Genichiro on July 26, 2011, 06:00:32 AM ---Ever locked yourself in a place deemed to be "haunted?"
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Not locked in, no, but I have been around places. My massage school, as a matter of fact, is 'haunted' by Mrs. McGillicuddy, the school owner-proprietor's wife, who was murdered when she came home early one day to a burglar in their house. She was shot and killed. I've felt a vague presence while organizing the store-room that we kept all the massage tables in.
I've also gotten some really nasty vibes from nursing homes and rehabilitation centers, and, I hope for an unrelated reason, the dungeons in St. Augustine's fort.
I'd love to get out to the St. Augustine Lighthouse, though. I had no clue it was such a hot-spot until Ghosthunters went out there.
--- Quote from: Genichiro on July 26, 2011, 06:00:32 AM ---What do you think about Touhou ghosts?
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Youmu is a pretty cool guy. Eh sweeps gardens and dosent afrade of nething.
The Prismriver Sisters are actually pretty cool, in my book, despite the rather depressing backstory. Ghosts, who can telekinetically play their instruments, get to play music for however long an eternity they want? That would be the best kind of eternity for me.
--- Quote from: Genichiro on July 26, 2011, 06:00:32 AM ---Is Youmu's ghost half a marshmallow? That tastes like a cheese steak?
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* Esifex sobs in the corner, unable to ever think of marshmallows again
--- Quote from: Sakura Kyouko on July 26, 2011, 07:29:48 PM ---If you could change any historical event to have the outcome of your choice, what would you change and why?
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I wouldn't. Temporal paradoxes terrify me. But, assuming I could without any direct repercussions to myself... the outrageous trolling against Nikola Tesla by Edison. If they'd gotten along, instead of competed so vehemently, who knows what sort of scientific advances Tesla could've given us? Instead, he was harassed, prosecuted, and more or less just utterly fucked with without relent. Not cool.
--- Quote from: Sakura Kyouko on July 26, 2011, 07:29:48 PM ---How good are you at the Touhou games?
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AAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAH BAAAAHAAHAHAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAHAHAHAAHAHAA
I'm not :fail:
With the slight exception of a few of the characters in SWR/UNL. I'm kind of good with Alice, Komachi, and Meiling. Not nearly good enough to warrant trying to fight anyone else who knows what they're doing, though.
--- Quote from: Killer Purvis on July 26, 2011, 08:50:45 PM ---Paranormality question: How does one distinguish sensitive from deluded? There has been a history of people utter convinced of things that have been proven to be, on analysis, suffering from mental issues instead.
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By testing it in a controlled environment. Just because I swear up and down that the trees are talking to me but no one was around to verify it doesn't mean anything to anyone else. Especially once I tell them that the trees only talk to me when I'm in my underwear and screaming at squirrels.
There are methods for testing someone, or someones. My friend does all the gung-ho research on how to test it; I just go with the flow and deal with what I can sense or feel when it comes to me.
Aya Squawkermaru:
Oh yeah, and before you get the wrong idea, I'm not saying I deny the paranormal. I tend to be skeptical about most things, especially as a man of science (to be), but I have my own reasons for being open-minded about the paranormal. I'd tell you about it now, but this is your "talk about yourself" thread, not mine. :P
Anyway, if you could go back in time (or just move through space in the present with ease) and meet any one historical figure, who would you choose? (unless this has already been asked, in which case I really feel like an idiot. :derp:)
Obligatory nonsense question: How much Rou could a Rou Kan Ken if a Rou Kan so Can You?
E-Nazrin:
--- Quote ---Not locked in, no, but I have been around places. My massage school, as a matter of fact, is 'haunted' by Mrs. McGillicuddy, the school owner-proprietor's wife, who was murdered when she came home early one day to a burglar in their house. She was shot and killed. I've felt a vague presence while organizing the store-room that we kept all the massage tables in.
I've also gotten some really nasty vibes from nursing homes and rehabilitation centers, and, I hope for an unrelated reason, the dungeons in St. Augustine's fort.
I'd love to get out to the St. Augustine Lighthouse, though. I had no clue it was such a hot-spot until Ghosthunters went out there.
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Have you had the ventilation checked recently?
--- Quote ---By testing it in a controlled environment. Just because I swear up and down that the trees are talking to me but no one was around to verify it doesn't mean anything to anyone else. Especially once I tell them that the trees only talk to me when I'm in my underwear and screaming at squirrels.
There are methods for testing someone, or someones. My friend does all the gung-ho research on how to test it; I just go with the flow and deal with what I can sense or feel when it comes to me.
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I remember watching a video in school that covered some Russian things about people with psychic power and magic water that could do special things. But every time challenges to the belief came up, they'd add new conditionals to explain away the failure, like the involvement of attempts to study it making it not work. Would you accept this?
Esifex:
Six degrees are all that separate these guys from me
Or something
--- Quote from: Squawkers on July 27, 2011, 02:13:54 AM ---Anyway, if you could go back in time (or just move through space in the present with ease) and meet any one historical figure, who would you choose? (unless this has already been asked, in which case I really feel like an idiot. :derp:)
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You're in luck, because at this hour, I don't really remember if I answered a question like that yet. Yay sleep dep! In that case, this would be the number two answer. If not, then number one. Nikola Tesla! I'd tell him to get a safety deposit box in another name and make copies of his notes. Entrust it to his assistant. Keep his stuff from getting vandalized.
Number two would be Bill Nye. Just 'cause. He's a cool dude.
--- Quote from: Squawkers on July 27, 2011, 02:13:54 AM ---Obligatory nonsense question: How much Rou could a Rou Kan Ken if a Rou Kan so Can You?
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More Rou than you, that's for sure :derp:
--- Quote from: IronE-Nazrin on July 27, 2011, 03:32:50 AM ---Have you had the ventilation checked recently?
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Low-frequency sounds also induce sleepiness, though these are sounds that are in the audible range of human hearing. I refer specifically to the sound fluorescent light bulb-tubes make.
--- Quote from: IronE-Nazrin on July 27, 2011, 03:32:50 AM ---I remember watching a video in school that covered some Russian things about people with psychic power and magic water that could do special things. But every time challenges to the belief came up, they'd add new conditionals to explain away the failure, like the involvement of attempts to study it making it not work. Would you accept this?
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As cliche-Zen as this would sound, I'm pretty convinced that trying to force it tends to make it not happen. You can't just grab water by brute force and make it still enough to see a reflection - you have to be chill and not fuck it up. Bad analogy, I guess, but hey, :sleepdep:
I'm starting to answer them as they come because more drama is being whipped up at home thanks to Dad and his Ludite tendencies, so I have no way of knowing if I'll have internet access all the way up to Wednesday, when this thread ends.