More nonsense from Pat Robertson

delphi_ote said:
This section of the forum is called "General Skepticism and the Paranormal." There's another thread about this in the politics section, and you could very easily start your own thread over there about all of this. Why did you drop it here? And what does any of it have to do with the subject at hand?
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Pssssst: Hey idiot: I was responding to a post:

I predict that, considering Robertson's claim, Kim Jong will shortly announce leg pressing 2,0001 pounds.

From the The Herald (Glasgow), August 3rd, 2005-

"According to the North Korean website article published yesterday which featured his aces, he also pilots jet fighters, writes operas, and produces films in his spare time.

The extravagant claims also stretched to the fact that he can easily memorise hundreds of lines of computer codes.

The article said Kim wakes up early every day for intensive memory training where he sits down and commits to mind items such as the phone numbers of workers in his state.

Once, when the North Korean leader visited a cemetery, it added, he glanced at tombs and could later remember the achievements and characteristics of scores of dead people"
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Don't like the derail?

Take it up with the derailer.
 
senorpogo said:
"According to the North Korean website article published yesterday which featured his aces, he also pilots jet fighters, writes operas, and produces films in his spare time.

The extravagant claims also stretched to the fact that he can easily memorise hundreds of lines of computer codes.
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How blasé. I’ve been able to “easily memorise hundreds of lines of computer codes”. And not just some easily memorable code either. I wrote several hundred lines of code (which isn’t really a whole lot) and lost the source file. The next day I re-wrote the code from memory. Then I found the lost file. I compared the two files and found they were the same. Amazing? No. Computer code has to be written within the context of the code language. Every period, semicolon, etc. means something and has to be exact. Different set of codes could be written to achieve the same results, but I (and most programmers) use consistent coding methods.

So I could re-write thousands and thousands of lines of code and end up with exactly the same as the original. No memorization of the actual code is required. It would sort of be like if you were given a test where you had 10,000 simple addition questions (1+5, 2+6, 4+9. etc.), and then a month later you were given the same test. You got the same results! Miracle!

I also “produce films” with my digital camera and occasionally “writes operas” about the boss on coffee breaks.

Whoever this guy is, I'll put a couple bucks on a memory challenge with Kim Peek. :)
 
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I too have composed an opera -- composted might be a better word -- "Il Uomo di Oregano," or "The Old Spice Man." It's about a sailor with a duffel bag, returned from a long voyage at sea, who strides along docks and waterside scenery trailing the scent of Old Spice after-shave lotion. Women's eyes follow his progress with amorous intent. Other men envy his confident stride, his hundred-dollar hair style (it was quite a ship), and of course his shave. The musical theme is familiar to anyone who's seen an Old Spice advert on TV... but it's orchestrated BIG.

And unsurprisingly, I too have "memorized" hundreds or thousands of lines of computer code in almost two dozen programming and markup languages. It ain't no biggie. Slapping Chuck Norris silly with my li'l bitty handpaws, then leaving him weeping in a corner... that was somewhat tougher. But believe me, friends, it was worth the effort.
 
He *might* have actually pressed 2,000 pounds.
But what they neglected to say was that he leg pressed
20 pounds 100 seperate times, over many weeks...so, he
*technically* leg pressed 2,000 pounds (though not in one shot) ;-)


DrZ
 
Reading that Kim Jong Il can glance at scores of tombstones and repeat the information on them and memorize his subjects' telephone numbers brought to mind Dustin Hoffman in Rainman. Apparently KJI is also an excellent driver.
 
delphi_ote said:
But was Jesus lifting with him? And was he drinking the Miracle Shake (tm) order now for just 12 easy payments of 19.95 and if you act now we'll throw in this amazing two in one latte machine and cell phone charger?
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You can call God on the free cell phone but his voice mail is always full.
 
You got that right, c4ts. If there's one thing we ought to have learned from the Da Vinci Code, it's that God text-messages in mysterious ways.
 
delphi_ote said:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060527...0OAJMWs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b2NibDltBHNlYwM3MTY-

Riiiiight. :rolleyes: Think he's planning on joining these guys?
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I attended a Power Team performance in Seattle in the early 1990's. I don't remember too much about it except the strange, botched start of the show. You see, the house lights dimmed, the Power Team ran onstage, then suddenly stopped the show and the house lights came back on! The head guy complained about something not being right for the TV cameras, then they trotted off stage. Again, the house lights dimmed, then they ran back on stage and started the show over!

I also remember they had a huge wooden log with handles on it as one of their props. They announced it was "trucked in from Montana", something of a faux paux, as Washington is also a proud lumber state.

Having been a sideshow performer, I appreciate keeping "strongman" stunts alive, but these guys were complete and total dorks...
 
tube said:
Having been a sideshow performer, I appreciate keeping "strongman" stunts alive, but these guys were complete and total dorks...
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I believe one of the fellows of CSICOP wrote a nonfiction book about the relationship between Christian fundamentalism and physical strength. Some sort of allusion to fascism, I think.

But I don't think this is a special Christian fundy thing: I think it's more an appeal to the WWF crowd. A Christian guilt spin on just what you imply above: a travelling carny sideshow troupe. If you're Asian, maybe it's all about those Shaolin monks lifting bricks with their testicles. (*)

I was dating this girl back in the '80s and her uncle was coordinating a Power show here in Vancouver. It was "by donation", rather than charging tickets, because then the entire revenue could be considered tax-free. However, there was a minimum donation of $20, and they were turning people away at the door. She defended this until I asked her: WWJD? Would he literally turn the poor away from his sermons? Why does it require an atheist to out the money changers?





(*) I 8 you not. When I saw this as a demonstration, I thought: is this actually useful in combat? When the Mongols besieged the monestary, did they put Chen up on the battlements with his nuts-of-steel to beat them into retreat?
 
I've never seen the power team, but we have something simlar localy where I live. It's a martial arts team that pretends they can act. The basic premsis is the same. We're strong in body and in faith *sigh * All I can remeber about it is being really bored and I strarted running random "Monty Python" acts trough my mind. It was interesting to see how mad they got when I giggled at "inapropriate times." More to the subject at hand I don't doubt that dear old Pat beleives that he leg pressed 2,000 pounds (in what ever way he did or thinks he did, ie: 20 lbs 100 times) I grew up in the Tidewater area and Pat Robinson was as omnipresent as a human can get and it was an anoyiance, but no one I knew beleived him. I think most of what happens with in a fundy's mind has to be taken in prospective, goodness knows I was one once.
 
No video released of Pat Robertson's 2,000 pound leg-press, I notice. Maybe someone should challenge him to do it under some weightlifting officials' scrutiny for charity. C'mon, it's for charity. Gotta do it, right? Make it a Christian charity too. Can't back out of that, surely? ;)

Kim Jong-il's alleged memorization feats sound like the standard memory tricks which have been around since at least Roman times and are still widely used by people like magicians today:

http://www.mindtools.com/memory.html

These are generally visual methods which can be used by students but often require more effort to create and use than they are worth, with verbal mnemonics such as those used by medical students being quicker and more useful:

http://www.medicalmnemonics.com/cgi-bin/browse.cfm
 
To anyone who's read a bit about memorization tricks, Kim Jong-il's feats are the equivalent of him pulling a rabbit out of a hat or asking you to pick a card, any card. It's got a cheesy over-familiarity to it that's amusing. :D
 
There was a girl once that I was interested in who tried to recruit me into the International Church of Christ. They're a special brand of Christian cult that's into discipling. They also have the only way into heaven. Who knew? Anyhow, while I still thought I had chance with her, I went with her to a recruiting party because there was the promise of beer and met a member who said that he was a Christian powerlifter who traveled around to high schools doing motivational speeches. A girl who was also being recruited asked him what qualified him to do that and before I could stop myself I blurted out "he can lift heavy objects!". She laughed and he glared at me at which point my unrequited girlfriend apologized and shuffled me out of the party before I could do any further damage to their recruiting efforts...

She found out soon afterwards that I was, at the time, an agnostic/borderline atheist and we never spoke again...

But it's good to know that if this academic thing doesn't work out, I can go out and get a job motivating people by lifting heavy objects...
 
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