Looking for Skeptics

[Dumb All Over]

What about Frank Zappa's Apostrophe? Huh? It's a whole bloody album name!

It's especially relevant here as it features Cosmic Debris, which pops into my head more often as a result of the woos visiting the forum than anything else. ("Look here brother/ who you jivin' with that cosmic debris?")

For common usage, the symbol for his apostrophe looks thusly--

Use this instead of regular, mundane apostrophes and you

ll be fine.

 

[Donn]

Zapostrophe!

 

[TjW]

I felt obligated to look up the rules. I had no idea I was so ignorant. The rules were not taught properly to me, or I was looking out the window at the time.

The rules are too complicated for most people. As long as there is no misunderstanding, I am not going to double-check. I will concede to making an effort.

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

Over the years, the use of apostrophes has been criticized. George Bernard Shaw called them "uncouth bacilli". In his book American Speech, linguist Steven Byington stated of the apostrophe that "the language would be none the worse for its abolition."…

…Peter Buck, guitarist of R.E.M. claimed, "We all hate apostrophes. There's never been a good rock album that's had an apostrophe in the title."​

The late Frank Zappa might have disagreed.

 

[asydhouse]

Zapostrophe!

I think I love you!


PS Zappa was so great... and Beefheart! And they were in high school together! Cosmic! (Not). But Brilliants. I just read Barry Miles' biography last year... brilliant book! (Note the apostrophe!) I've come over all exclamation points!

By the way, since this thread is titled "Looking for skeptics", all this is relevant... because here we are! Enjoying life!

 

[Donn]

giggles.

 

[pakeha]

This has been an interesting thread in many ways.

I get the impression that there is almost a missionary zeal to help flaccon “see the light”. ...

I beg to differ- I have the impression the urgency or zeal was in getting flaccon to cease offering communication with the dead for monetary gain.
I could be wrong, though.
Not for the first time!

 

[Dumb All Over]

Here is my attempt at keeping the thread from drifting too much.

Don

t add my name to the list of people who haven

t heard a voice in the recordings. I haven

t listened to the recordings and I won

t listen to the recordings.

 

[TjW]

I think the zeal is more an attempt to help her use a skeptical/scientific approach to evaluate her experiences. I don't think that's out of line for a skeptic board.
It's not as though people ambushed her and brought her in kicking and screaming.

 

[Pixel42]

I get the impression that there is almost a missionary zeal to help flaccon “see the light”.

Initially I just wanted to help her devise a meaningful test but as it became clear just how much distress her belief in the supernatural had caused her in the past, and to some extent still was causing her, it seemed worth trying to help her see that this distress was completely unnecessary. I never had much hope of success so I'm a little disappointed, but not surprised, at the outcome.

 

[Donn]

Yeah, it's the local 'lurgy: unsurprised and bummed.

 

[jsfisher]

Yeah, it's the local 'lurgy: unsurprised and bummed.

I thought that was more of just a LDS or Catholic thing. Are you saying it is more wide-spread?

 

[xterra]

1 Alderbank
2 Donn
3 Biscuit
4 Orphia Nay
5 Slowvehicle
6 IXP
7 AdMan
8 Drs_Res
9 jsfisher
10 blue sock monkey
11 trustbutverify
12 John Jones
13 Blue Bubble
14 Maurice Ledifficile
15 Abaddon
16 Jack by the Hedge
17 pakeha
18 xterra

ETA: Speaking as a linguist, when I looked at the waveforms of the samples using Audacity, I saw none of the characteristics I would expect of speech. I will add that it would have been very useful to be able to see spectrograms(frequency vs time), rather than just the amplitude vs time graph, but I do not think that having them would have changed my professional judgement.

 

[Donn]

I thought that was more of just a LDS or Catholic thing. Are you saying it is more wide-spread?

Uh.. Yes?


I'm not that widespread.

 

[tsig]

I listened to five of them (including "Wimbledon"). I heard nothing.

You guys aren't trying, I've transcribed three completely unknown Beethoven symphonies, two versions of Abraham and Isaac* and an autobiography of Jesus.

*He kills him but god heals.

 

[Donn]

Those sounds are really from inside a still and them's real spirits!

 

[Slowvehicle]

You guys aren't trying, I've transcribed three completely unknown Beethoven symphonies, two versions of Abraham and Isaac* and an autobiography of Jesus.

*He kills him but god heals.

...not s'posed to play 'em backwards...

 

[pakeha]

... Speaking as a linguist, when I looked at the waveforms of the samples using Audacity, I saw none of the characteristics I would expect of speech. I will add that it would have been very useful to be able to see spectrograms(frequency vs time), rather than just the amplitude vs time graph, but I do not think that having them would have changed my professional judgement.

Thanks! That's the sort of opinion I'm glad to read here.

You guys aren't trying, I've transcribed three completely unknown Beethoven symphonies, two versions of Abraham and Isaac* and an autobiography of Jesus.

*He kills him but god heals.

Nomm'ed.

 

[jond]

For common usage, the symbol for his apostrophe looks thusly--
[qimg]http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=217&pictureid=7961[/qimg]
Use this instead of regular, mundane apostrophes and you[qimg]http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=217&pictureid=7962[/qimg]ll be fine.

/Thread

(and many MANY internets to Dumb All Over!)

 

[IXP]

These people heard words in flaccon's recordings:

1 Quinn (after using his imagination)


These people did not hear words in flaccon's recordings:

1 Alderbank
2 Donn
3 Biscuit
4 Orphia Nay
5 Slowvehicle
6 IXP
7 AdMan
8 Drs_Res
9 jsfisher
10 blue sock monkey
11 trustbutverify
12 John Jones
13 Blue Bubble
14 Maurice Ledifficile
15 Abaddon
16 Jack by the Hedge
17 pakeha
18 xterra

These people heard bird sounds:

1 IXP's wife (robins, specifically)

Of course, we know flaccon cannot make recording during the day because of the bird sounds, so many this one was made during the day, in which case, my wife wins.

IXP

 

[xterra]

OOPS! I just discovered that Audacity will give me a spectrogram. I played one of the samples -- and still don't see any characteristics of speech.


As for apostrophes, with a little care, most people are confused only in a few uses:

its vs it's : It's true that the cat had its kittens yesterday.

possessive in words ending in s, especially when the word is a name, or when the word is plural:

It was Mr. Jones's cat. The kittens' names have not been decided yet.

http://public.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/apostrophes1.html