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Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter)
Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) UltimaDork
8/1/24 12:24 p.m.
1988RedT2 said:

Without making any guesses as to the mental fitness of the rear window journalist, it bears mentioning that there is some talk of popping up a big umbrella to give us a little shade...

https://www.space.com/sun-umbrella-attached-to-asteroid-fight-global-warming

 

Truth is stranger than lunacy?

procainestart
procainestart SuperDork
8/1/24 12:33 p.m.

Fear, anxiety apparently drive a lot of this stuff... 

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/people-drawn-to-conspiracy-theories-share-a-cluster-of-psychological-features/

Also, as someone who used to work with geotechnical engineers, I, too, was disappointed by this thread... 

1988RedT2
1988RedT2 MegaDork
8/1/24 12:53 p.m.

To appease those who were hoping for some content regarding soiled mechanics in this thread, I offer the following:

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse4.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOIP.90rluAOX-06QXLW61PeHagHaE8%26pid%3DApi&f=1&ipt=d800d890020e2cb6b2cd269fbecc49994a1a711a6584aa3ed4e146d15c24c1f8&ipo=images

aircooled
aircooled MegaDork
8/1/24 1:51 p.m.
Scotty Con Queso said:

As a geotechnical engineer, I hoped this thread would be about soil mechanics.  Boy, am I disappointed. 

Here is something for your...  beliefs..... cheeky

The Portuguese Bend complex hasn’t been plagued by the sudden and violent shifts commonly associated with the word “landslide.” Instead, the ground has moved for years at a uniquely glacial pace, making it one of the most studied landslides in the nation. But the recent scale and rate of its movement have officials and residents on edge.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-02-18/ancient-landslides-on-palos-verdes-peninsula-accelerating-winter-rains-increase-threat

A construction worker walks along cracked pavement where land movement exacerbated by recent storms in Rancho Palos Verdes.

Scotty Con Queso
Scotty Con Queso UltraDork
8/1/24 2:04 p.m.

In reply to aircooled :

I mean geotech is all theory based so in some ways it is almost "beliefs."

But yeah, me and a coworker have been reading about that landslide in CA.  Holy carp man.  That's horrible and I really feel for the homeowners in that situation.  

edizzle89
edizzle89 SuperDork
8/1/24 2:07 p.m.
ScottyB said:

how are they changing the lightbulb on the fake sun? 

At night obviously, you don't need your third eye to be open to figure that one out

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter)
AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) MegaDork
8/1/24 2:22 p.m.
edizzle89 said:
ScottyB said:

how are they changing the lightbulb on the fake sun? 

At night obviously, you don't need your third eye to be open to figure that one out

Don't even get me started on "lightbulbs burn out = deep fake". Big Filament doesn't want you to know what I know. Click here to read more shocking news.

GameboyRMH
GameboyRMH MegaDork
8/1/24 2:44 p.m.

I call cars like these "nutmobiles," usually they're clapped-out old beater sedans with this kind of stuff written on every surface, but occasionally you see a new SUV with a smaller amount of written area like this one, and it makes me wonder how someone can be crazy enough to believe such things but somehow have enough money to afford a new SUV. I'm thinking maybe something happened after they bought the SUV to make them go off their rocker?

I do appreciate a highly original conspiracy theory though, and the sun being fake is pretty original. There are a couple others I've run across:

- Heard one in the early 2000s about an American guy who thought that Europe was still mostly buried in rubble from WW2 and that everything the rest of the world sees about Europe was faked or at least carefully curated (Edit: Just to be clear, the guy was real cheeky)

- Saw one in a YouTube comment that said that the US government was covering up the existence of bigfoot, because if people knew that there were skunk apes running around they'd want to buy heavier weaponry to defend themselves from the sasquatch menace than either party would like civilians to have. Funny enough, it was on a video that animated a story of a bigfoot encounter that all seemed pretty level-headed and you could even say very believable, except for the part where police showed up and treated a bigfoot encounter like a totally ordinary wildlife issue. Like "Yeah they live in this area, just stay indoors if you see one and it'll be fine."

GameboyRMH
GameboyRMH MegaDork
8/1/24 2:45 p.m.
AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:
edizzle89 said:
ScottyB said:

how are they changing the lightbulb on the fake sun? 

At night obviously, you don't need your third eye to be open to figure that one out

Don't even get me started on "lightbulbs burn out = deep fake". Big Filament doesn't want you to know what I know. Click here to read more shocking news.

There actually was a lightbulb filament conspiracy though: https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-great-lightbulb-conspiracy

aircooled
aircooled MegaDork
8/1/24 3:06 p.m.

In reply to GameboyRMH :

As with most conspiracies, they are many times based on a kernel of reality.  I believe lightbulbs (could) can be made to be far more reliable.  There are examples of some being on for almost 100 years!  I suspect the reality of it is that far more reliable light bulbs would be hard to sell considering the cost of the common ones (call it the Walmart effect?).  You also have the aspect of breakage and failure from handling etc, which would be hard to avoid even with an expensive one.

I am just glad those stupid florescent tube ones are gone.  Those where crap.

nderwater
nderwater MegaDork
8/1/24 4:08 p.m.
Duke said:

All in one place.

Plenty of people believe in conspiracies.  But mighty bold of this one to believe ALL the conspiracies.

prodarwin
prodarwin MegaDork
8/1/24 4:31 p.m.

I was hoping this would be more 'completely incomprehensible insane crazy' like Time Cube.

GameboyRMH
GameboyRMH MegaDork
8/1/24 4:32 p.m.

In reply to nderwater :

It's actually pretty common, people who believe in one conspiracy theory tend to acquire beliefs in other conspiracy theories over time, even ones that conflict with those they already believe in. It's been nicknamed the Crank Magnet effect.

AAZCD-Jon (Forum Supporter)
AAZCD-Jon (Forum Supporter) UltraDork
8/1/24 4:46 p.m.

"Sun Simulator" isn't quite right because all of reality is a simulation inclusive of the sun.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulation_hypothesis

The fact of anything's existence depends on how you define exist.

z31maniac
z31maniac MegaDork
8/1/24 5:25 p.m.
aircooled said:

In reply to GameboyRMH :

As with most conspiracies, they are many times based on a kernel of reality.  I believe lightbulbs (could) can be made to be far more reliable.  There are examples of some being on for almost 100 years!  I suspect the reality of it is that far more reliable light bulbs would be hard to sell considering the cost of the common ones (call it the Walmart effect?).  You also have the aspect of breakage and failure from handling etc, which would be hard to avoid even with an expensive one.

I am just glad those stupid florescent tube ones are gone.  Those where crap.

The famous one you're thinking of has never been turned off. I've read the big wear, like many mechanical items, is the shock the filament receives when the bulb is turned on. 

dculberson
dculberson MegaDork
8/1/24 5:58 p.m.

I wonder but don't really want to know what's under the white censor bar. Is it the N word? What we can see says 'N-----'s never left Antarctica = "deep state"'. What the berkeley? 
 

people must just be SO BORED to go in for this stuff. Maybe life is too easy and we need some hardships to keep our minds from falling prey to bs. Hard to bother believing this crap when you're outside digging a garden so you don't starve next winter. 

z31maniac
z31maniac MegaDork
8/1/24 6:12 p.m.
dculberson said:

I wonder but don't really want to know what's under the white censor bar. Is it the N word? What we can see says 'N-----'s never left Antarctica = "deep state"'. What the berkeley? 
 

people must just be SO BORED to go in for this stuff. Maybe life is too easy and we need some hardships to keep our minds from falling prey to bs. Hard to bother believing this crap when you're outside digging a garden so you don't starve next winter. 

I have long felt the reason we see a lot of crying and "outrage" about completely inconsequential things is because how good things are in the West. 

aircooled
aircooled MegaDork
8/1/24 6:15 p.m.

In reply to dculberson :

I associate it with an innate need to have answers to things, which is certainly not a bad trait.  This is likely why conspiracy theories tend to be more common in those with higher intelligence.  So, a similar type of person that might become a scientist or explorer and such.

The disconnect with reality of course comes when they start accepting answers that have little basis in reality, but it DOES satisfy the need for an answer.

Duke
Duke MegaDork
8/1/24 6:56 p.m.

In reply to dculberson :

It is an N word, but it's the one with a z in the middle.

aircooled
aircooled MegaDork
8/1/24 7:42 p.m.

In reply to Duke :

Ahh, come on!   Everyone knows they are on the moon! Not Antarctica, that's stupid!

 

Appleseed
Appleseed MegaDork
8/1/24 7:47 p.m.

Remember, these people vote. With alarming regularity.

Floating Doc (Forum Supporter)
Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) UltimaDork
8/1/24 8:54 p.m.
Appleseed said:

Remember, these people vote. With alarming regularity.

I had intended to post this exact statement, and neglected to do so. Thanks for saying so. 

prodarwin
prodarwin MegaDork
8/1/24 10:21 p.m.
aircooled said:

In reply to GameboyRMH :

As with most conspiracies, they are many times based on a kernel of reality. 

Climate engineering is definitely real - it just isn't being used in the way that site suggests, if at all.  The big one he shows on the splash image for "the dimming" and on bumper stickers, etc. is a real proposal to help mitigate climate change.  Its covered in this book along with real (non-consipracy) geoengineering examples in history and their consequences.

https://www.amazon.com/Under-White-Sky-Nature-Future/dp/0593136284/

 

RacetruckRon
RacetruckRon SuperDork
8/1/24 10:28 p.m.
ScottyB said:

how are they changing the lightbulb on the fake sun?  i guess if the earth's flat they have it mounted up on a big pole.  they better pay that guy well.

That's why they scheduled the eclipse for this summer... duh

RacetruckRon
RacetruckRon SuperDork
8/1/24 10:37 p.m.
GameboyRMH said:

Saw one in a YouTube comment that said that the US government was covering up the existence of bigfoot, because if people knew that there were skunk apes running around they'd want to buy heavier weaponry to defend themselves from the sasquatch menace than either party would like civilians to have. Funny enough, it was on a video that animated a story of a bigfoot encounter that all seemed pretty level-headed and you could even say very believable, except for the part where police showed up and treated a bigfoot encounter like a totally ordinary wildlife issue. Like "Yeah they live in this area, just stay indoors if you see one and it'll be fine."

I mean that just makes plain sense to me.  I'd be packing some serious lead if I thought that giant skunk people lived in the woods behind my house. 

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