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44 posts / 0 new

Wed, 02/05/2020 - 13:59

boomer47

Below is clip about coincidences between Abraham Lincoln and John Kennedy. (1.24 min) There was once a very popular recording which was on the pop charts, but I can't find it on line.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-APH0GBnyxI

The pioneering psychologist Carl Jung coined the term synchronicity, meaning 'meaningful coincidences'. (the idea being that everything is connected ) He also believed in poltergeists , and taught there are such things as racial archetypes. Gullible people have swallowed that guff ever since.

I think the tendency towards believing in meaningful coincidences may be related a to pareidolia, the tendency of human beings to find meaningful images where there are none.

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Pareidolia (/pærɪˈdoʊliə/ parr-i-DOH-lee-ə) is the tendency for incorrect perception of a stimulus as an object, pattern or meaning known to the observer, such as seeing shapes in clouds, seeing faces in inanimate objects or abstract patterns, or hearing hidden messages in music. Pareidolia can be considered a subcategory of apophenia.

Common examples are perceived images of animals, faces, or objects in cloud formations, the Man in the Moon, the Moon rabbit, and other lunar pareidolia. The concept of pareidolia may extend to include hidden messages in recorded music played in reverse or at higher- or lower-than-normal speeds, and hearing indistinct voices in random noise such as that produced by air conditioners or fans.[1]

Pareidolia was at one time considered a symptom of human psychosis, but it is now seen as a normal human tendency.[2]

Pareidolia is not confined to humans. Scientists have for years taught computers to use visual clues to "see" faces and other images.[2]"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareidolia

Wed, 02/05/2020 - 16:38

#33

Kevin Levites

(Directed at cranky47)

Everything you say seems very probable.

Pareidolia is interesting.

I wonder how many innocent people have ended up in prison because of cops who don't believe in coincidences.

My favorite example of pareidolia is the face on Mars in the Cydonia region.

Nor did follow-up missions dispell the nonsense. When follow-up missions showed the region in better resolution, which turned out to be a wind-carved mesa . . . everybody claimed that the NASA mission carried a compact nuclear weapon to destroy the face.

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Wed, 02/05/2020 - 19:38

(Reply to #33) #34

boomer47

@kevin Levites

Perhaps one reason people were so eager to believe the mistranslation of 'canali' as 'canals'.

However , I'm not really complaining; it allowed Edgar Rice Burroughs to write his cracking-good stories of "John Carter Of Mars" (which of course Hollywood destroyed beyond recognition)--those books are worth reading if only for his views on religion, explained in the way he demolishes Martian religion.

----and of course the terrific ' Martian Chronicles' by Ray Bradbury

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"The popularization of the idea of canals on Mars began with the observations of a 19th-century Italian astronomer named Giovanni Schiaparelli. Schiaparelli believed he saw a system of straight lines on the surface of Mars, which he called “canali” in 1877. Although the Italian word can be translated to mean “channels”—which is closer to what Schiaparelli intended—the word got translated in to English as “canals.”

The works of Edgar Rice Burroughs are now in the public domain, and free from the Internet Archive. Some to borrow, most available as Ebooks.

I recommend his Tarzan books and as well as John Carter of Mars.

I heartily recommend a look at the Internet Archive if you are not already familiar. They boast 20 mILLION items. ; it includes books, films and recordings. They have a fantastic library of old radio serials on wire, from the 1940's and earlier ; last year I got some some great radio recordings with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.

https://archive.org/search.php?query=edgar%20rice%20burroughs%20-%20john...

Sat, 02/08/2020 - 10:28

(Reply to #34) #35

David Killens

I devour books, and when

I devour books, and when young, I discovered Burroughs and read every darn book he created. Wow, that Tarzan in his books was pretty savage, and of course, the John Carter of Mars was epic.

And how about E E Doc Smith, the originator of the space opera?

Asimov, Bradbury, Clark, and a heck of a lot more authors I devoured.

Wed, 02/05/2020 - 22:53

#36

Kevin Levites

(Directed at Cranky47)

That sounds intetesting. I have read many (but not all) of E.R. Burroughs' mars novels.

The Chessmen of Mars was pretty cool, but I liked Thuvia, Maid of Mars.

There was an undercurrent subtext that was very sexual, depending upon how you see things.

He also invented Pellucidor (or something) which was a hollow world where gravity draws everything against the inner surface of the sphere.

If you like Heinlein, read The Number of The Beast (1980, I think . . . but may be wrong). There were many references to Dejah Thoris, Thuvia, and John Carter, a ". . . clean-limbed fighting man . . . ".

Edgar Rice Burroughs showed us what was possible when it came to the fledgling art form of science fiction.

So, he was wrong about Mars? So what? His story could just as easily taken place if a man falls through a wormhole onto another planet very far away.

Every time we refine our measurements (like with a better orbiting space telescope, for example), the Universe keeps getting bigger. So big, in fact, that there are probably lots of planets out there with 6-limbed, green fighting men. Maybe some will be named Tars Tarkus.

So, instead of teleporting to Mars, you fall through a wormhole and land on Barsoom, but far away. Much further than Mars.

Otherwise, how does the story need to change?

Thu, 02/06/2020 - 15:20

#37

boomer47

@Kevin Levites

Yair, have read all of the Mars series ,but no others. However, that was in 1966, so I've probably forgotten most of it .I never thought John Carter's interest in Thuvia was platonic .

Rice Burroughs was constrained by the mores of the time, so used a 'code; his readers would have understood,. Just like in popular music, ' kissing' has been code for 'fucking' ,as indeed is the term Rock and Roll.

In terms of the science in John Carter the books were written between 1912 and 1916.

The hollow earth theory was common in the crackpot fringe at the time. EG Jules Verne used it in his 1864 book "Journey To The Centre Of The Earth"

Heinlein is a favourite sci fi author. Have always wanted a craft like 'Gay Deceiver'.

Fri, 02/07/2020 - 11:25

(Reply to #37) #38

LogicFTW

This post makes me wonder,

What if we took someone from 100+ years ago and strapped them into the latest top of the line VR headset, to explore a high fidelity graphical world like Skyrim, modded with photo realism graphics.

Would that person start worshipping dragons after that experience?

If people can be so fooled by a book, one can only imagine what a high end VR experience like that would do to an untrained mind.

Fri, 02/07/2020 - 18:10

(Reply to #38) #39

boomer47

@LogicFTW

The gullible have been conned for millennia, perhaps beginning with the notion that Shamans became animals .

I forget where I read this, so it may be wrong: accounts of talking idols; a hidden door at the back of huge idols, where the priest would hide and convince the believers the god was talking to them .

My favourite war Heron of Alexandria (10-70ce), who made wonderful mechanical devices. EG self opening temple doors, so believers would think it was their god .mechanical birds which sang, and the first known vending machine, which dispensed a fixed volume of wine after a coin had been put into the slot. He also invented the first stream engine.

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Hero of Alexandria (/ˈhɪəroʊ/; Greek: Ἥρων[1] ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς, Heron ho Alexandreus; also known as Heron of Alexandria /ˈhɛrən/; c. 10 AD – c. 70 AD) was a mathematician and engineer who was active in his native city of Alexandria, Roman Egypt. He is often considered the greatest experimenter of antiquity[2] and his work is representative of the Hellenistic scientific tradition.[3]

Hero published a well-recognized description of a steam-powered device called an aeolipile (sometimes called a "Hero engine"). Among his most famous inventions was a windwheel, constituting the earliest instance of wind harnessing on land.[4][5] He is said to have been a follower of the atomists. In his work Mechanics, described the pantographs.[6] Some of his ideas were derived from the works of Ctesibius.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero_of_Alexandria

A 1minute clip demonstrating Hero's steam engine;

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

An excellent 49 minute National Geographic documentary . There is a much longer one available on Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pHugV8csi4

Thu, 02/06/2020 - 21:21

#40

Kevin Levites

(Directed at cranky47)

Heinlein is one of my favorite authors as well.

In case you're interested, historians who were sorting through a cache of his papers found a complete, unpublished novel called The Pursuit of the Pankera. It features the same characters as The Number of the Beast, but a completely different story line.

It will be released next month if that's of intetest.

I'll have me an ebook copy of this novel 10 seconds after it's released.

See link below:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.risings...

Fri, 02/07/2020 - 22:16

#41

Cognostic

You know.... Jesus must be

You know.... Jesus must be a dead lay. Fucking him is certainly like fucking a corps. Face it. He has been cumming for 2000 years and no one has heard so much as a moan out of him. Talk about a boring lay, I would not fuck that with your dick.

Sat, 02/08/2020 - 10:31

(Reply to #41) #42

David Killens

Dunno there Cognostic. He

Dunno there Cognostic. He kept his twelve "friends" happy ......................

Sat, 02/08/2020 - 21:45

(Reply to #42) #43

Cognostic

@DAVID: Perhaps we should

@DAVID: Perhaps we should address the Elephant in the room: "Necrophilia" Is it that he keeps them happy or the fact that they use him to make themselves happy. I'm going with the latter. LOL

Sat, 02/08/2020 - 22:28

(Reply to #43) #44

David Killens

Dirty little buggers.

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