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Have you ever had a "supernatural" experience? How did you rationalize it?

cresur said:
So there are no shades of grey about this. You either are "woo-woo" if you lack critical thinking, or you "possess" critical thinking and you are automatically not "woo-woo".
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I think that is the case, by and large. That's why I like the "vaccination" analogy.

If your daughter one day is taking a real long time to get home from school and you worry that something bad have happened, even though there is no evidence to support this, you are now completely and irrevocably "woo-woo".
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That's not a supernatural (or even unreasonable) thing to worry about. It doesn't carry the unparsimonious baggage of a supernatural claim. That is, the possibility of something bad happening to your daughter doesn't run counter to physics or chemistry or biology.
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KateHW said:
They are. Now I'm trying to come up with some kind of 'paint you a hellishly bad picture' pun but they're all coming up lame.
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If I were to try to make a pun about painting a hellishly bad picture, I'd just Bosch it up. (That was a veiled reference.)

Obviously. I fail at this succubus thing. :(
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Somehow, I think not. :)
 
cresur said:
Well, if you decide to focus on the first 3 words of that definition, worrying about a late child can be woo :)

But yeah, sure.
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If you want to redefine woo sure. But the definition is more than the first three words. Actually, redefining it like you just attempted is more woo than worrying about a late child. BTW, why didn't you answer the part of the question about Silvia Browne? Are you a fan? Do you believe in psychics?
 
~enigma~ said:
Your not too familiar with Quantum Theory are you?
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Not really no. I think I have a very basic grasp of the theory but I'm always willing to be educated.

The analogy that i read was to think of a massive group of children confined by a rope. they all move randomly within the rope meaning the net force keeps the thing in place. If however by chance they all moved in the same direction then the whole group would shift. substitute the kids for billions of atoms and you can see why things stay still.

I'm quite happy to admit if I'm completely wrong so don't hold back.
 
Actually, redefining it like you just attempted is more woo than worrying about a late child.
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Redefining it like I attempted is more like making a joke.

BTW, why didn't you answer the part of the question about Silvia Browne? Are you a fan? Do you believe in psychics?
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Uh because I don't feel like it right now. Is that ok? And no, I'm not a fan and neither do I believe in psychics.
 
coops said:
Not really no. I think I have a very basic grasp of the theory but I'm always willing to be educated.

The analogy that i read was to think of a massive group of children confined by a rope. they all move randomly within the rope meaning the net force keeps the thing in place. If however by chance they all moved in the same direction then the whole group would shift. substitute the kids for billions of atoms and you can see why things stay still.

I'm quite happy to admit if I'm completely wrong so don't hold back.
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Didn't mean your analogy was bad. Just meant that your saying it was unlikely is wrong concerning Quantum Theory and by your use of atoms, you were closer to Quantum Theory than you thought. For a good laugh, look up barrier tunneling.
 
cresur said:
Redefining it like I attempted is more like making a joke.
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You always joke in the middle of serious coversations? If your taking this thread as a joke then I once again question your sincerity.
Uh because I don't feel like it right now. Is that ok? And no, I'm not a fan and neither do I believe in psychics.
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Yes that's fine but if that is the case, I wonder how far you would get (learning here) if everybody just didn't feel like answering your questions.
 
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cresur said:
I'm new on this board and I don't know the lingo. That interpretation was what I could extract from the way I've seen its usage. He used the word, you should ask him instead.
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In my opinion you are trolling the board, with a Huck Finn "I'm new and want to learn" routine that is amazingly transparent and intellectually dishonest.

If you are truly new, then perhaps you would be well served in reading past Swifts...where you too can learn terms such as "woo woo"; Randi (and others) use it frequently.

cresur said:
If your daughter one day is taking a real long time to get home from school and you worry that something bad have happened, even though there is no evidence to support this, you are now completely and irrevocably "woo-woo".
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Being worried is one thing, irrational fear another...neither being "woo woo". If however, in your example, you jump to the conclusion the daughter is late because: ET/Aliens abducted her, somehow involves ghosts, evil spirits, "Bigfoot", demonic possessions, etc. then yes...most certainly "woo woo" applies.
 
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Yes that's fine but if that is the case, I wonder how far you would get (learning here) if everybody just didn't feel like answering your questions.
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I just didn't see the point of it. I had already seen a very clear explanation that only someone who didn't know how to read wouldn't be able to tell the difference. It looked like you were past the point of educating and right onto humiliating, and it didn't sit well with me.

In my opinion you are trolling the board, with a Huck Finn "I'm new and want to learn" routine that is amazingly transparent and intellectually dishonest.
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You say that to everyone.

If you are truly new, then perhaps you would be well served in reading past Swifts...where you too can learn terms such as "woo woo"; Randi (and others) use it frequently.
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Thanks, someone also mentioned a link with more reading from the site and I'm certainly going to get into it over the weekend.

About my example, it's clear by now that I didn't know what I was talking about.
 
Locknar said:
In my opinion you are trolling the board, with a Huck Finn "I'm new and want to learn" routine that is amazingly transparent and intellectually dishonest.
cresur said:
You say that to everyone.
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So to be clear you are stating I've said this to every member of this Forum; proof?

Perhaps you want to rethink your claim.
 
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Oops, my mistake. I didn't realize this plane had already been hijacked. I'll just take my parachute and bail. Geez, we'd just taken off, too.
 
So to be clear you are stating I've said this to every member of this Forum; proof?

Perhaps you want to rethink your claim.
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I think you are the troll.

Would have been easier to say that before. Nothing is wrong with not knowing.
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Yes, lesson learned.
 
cresur said:
For example, once I was having a couple friends over when all of us started talking about ghosts (it was Friday the 13th and the subject naturally came up). Then at some point we all saw an empty bottle of coke, rested for more than a day on top of a clean, uncluttered, parallel to the ground table, which was on the other side of the room (but still in our view) just hurled itself a couple meters to the wall. ...

One of them (present in the bottle episode) recently went to my kitchen to get some water, made some strange noise back there and came back pale and shaking, saying he'd seen a man in my pantry.
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My first reaction: your friends know you are susceptible to this stuff, and are pulling tricks on you.

It is not all that difficult to come to a party, for Fri 13th, talk of ghosts, tie a thread to a bottle, have a few beers, and yank the thread and watch cresur freak out. Nor is it very difficult to go into a pantry and come out pale and shaking reporting a man inside.

Your reaction should be: "OK, who's the wise guy?" in the former example, and
"Yeah, right!" in the latter.

Most people I know would not even consider the "ghost" theory, except to make a joke.
 
ACK! You've slain me with your rapier wit! A simple "you are right, I exaggerated" would have sufficed.
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Yes, my remark did not had a literal correspondence to reality.
 
I think some of you are being a little hard on Cresur. I see no reason to suspect he's being insincere.

I believe his thinking is a bit fuzzy (and he apparently admits as much), but that's not the same as being a troll.
 
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