(Finishes reading the articles above completely.) He proposed iron filings in 2008 and actually spread iron sulphate in 2012.
Here at least–and in midsummer–5 to 6 PM is the hottest time of day. It’s too late in the summer for that now. And the coolest time is generally around 5 to 6 AM. In the winter, it does peak around 1, but the coldest time is around 7.
I am surprised that no one has mentioned the anti-vaxxers. Children are actually dying for this (not many, but a few). I don’t know any of them, but my daughter lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn which is a hotbed of them and she is damned sure her kid is up to date on all his shots, since there isn’t as much herd immunity as there should be.
My mother used to claim that you got rest only from sleep before midnight. I am not sure she actually believed that; possibly she was trying to get me to go to bed earlier. But I must move in remarkably sane circles since I don’t know anyone like the ones described upthread.
I had a coworker who believed that any misfortune anyone had, they had done something to “deserve” it. This usually came up when talking about rape, pregnancy, obesity, HIV, diabetes, liver failure, poverty, illiteracy, abusive relationships, catching a cold or the flu, etc. She was especially hard on suicides. When nothing else applied, she’d fall back on “karma.”
That’s a worldview I cannot fathom - dissing something you know jack about.
Astrology is not stupid, though many charlatans and assholes writing entertainment columns for newspapers certainly do make it appear ridiculous.
It is a common misperception that astrology exclusively relies on the positions of the planets to make predictions about your life. That’s just one branch of astrology - there are many others that do not crunch the numbers to make predictions, or need to.
In Southern India, there is a derivation of astrology called ‘Nadi Shastra’ that is stunningly accurate, if you can find the right pandita (expert). I once randomly walked into one of the Nadi shops (yes they run shops selling that kind of profound stuff for cheap; everyone’s got to eat). Gave them my DOB and right-thumb print. They returned a few minutes later with a bunch of ancient papyrus plates, and laid bare my entire life - my name, age, education, my parents’ name, my grandparents’ name, and significant events that happened in my life.
Apparently they CAN predict how and when you will die, but ethics of the practice prohibit them from doing so.
My head was spinning when I came out. Mind you these guys did not know me and I did not know them. There is no scientific explanation I can think of.
But I do hereby declare that Linda Goodman style astronumerology is a shipload of crap. In fact, all Western-style astronomerology is bullshit. Apparently Westerners can only handle hard science.
Or they just conned you really well.
Obviously (since LavenderBlue and I wrote an entire book about it), the anti-vaccine thing is one that I cannot comprehend. But on a larger level, I cannot grok on any level the anti “Western Medicine” mindset. The people who put black salve on their bodies to burn off tumors rather than have surgery. The people who believe diets will cure everything and that there is literally no need for medical care beyond what’s necessary for emergencies like setting a broken bone.
Corollary to that is the belief that all doctors, everywhere, know nothing about health and are merely paid tools of the “Big Pharma” conspiracy that has paid off every government on the planet, every governmental and non-governmental agency in every country, every employee of those agencies and governments, and every scientist who’s ever done research on anything to do with pharmaceuticals.
And that they, and only they, with their high school education, know that all you need is coconut oil and magic water to fix whatever ails ya.
When I think of all the people I know who are living lives free of pain and disease because of “Western medicine,” and consider that these people MUST know at least one person who is alive only because of the evil pharmaceutical companies, I just…my brain breaks.
Getting away from politics, I don’t understand the people who extremely negative about…everything. All they do is complain, all they see is fault and error, everyone around them is malicious and/or pathologically stupid and deserving of abuse, every job duty is a huge burden and imposition on their time, they never lift a finger to help anyone because see point #3, and so on. I work with two people like this, and I don’t understand how they can stand to live with themselves.
You sound exactly like one of those UFO conspiracy theorists - there MUST be a worldwide coverup, because you just KNOW there are UFOs out there. :rolleyes: Everyone who disagrees with you is a liar or a con artist.
I did think about my experience - I just gave them my DOB (millions must have been born on that date) and my thumb print. That might have enabled them hack into the DHS’ fingerprint database and let them pull in details - such as my grandparents’ names. And my parent’s vocations. From a small Indian town that did not have a single internet connection at that time. Sure, why not.
Only, I had never been in the US at that time and no other nation in the world was paranoid enough to collect fingerprints at that time. Certainly India did not (and still does not) have a fingerprint database of its citizens.
Where there is mysterious smoke, there must be mystical fire. 
Now there is also a “anti-Big Energy” bandwagon that people are hopping onto. It holds that there are cheap ways to make energy from thin air that big energy wants banned. Grab the last few copies of the quantum generator before DOE cracks the whip and guarantees we will forever pay for the greed of the power companies.
On that note, they did impound Tesla’s lifetime works - which included generating / transmitting usable power through the ionosphere (?) So maybe there was a conspiracy there after all.
So, nothing to do with your choice of a bald dad?
I definitely don’t agree with this line of thinking, but I understand it. A lot of people believe some version of the “fair world” hypothesis. It does two things. First, it deludes them into thinking that if they do X,Y, and Z, they will be perfectly fine. Everyone has to have some basic level of security to function, and this provides it. And two, it gives them an excuse for not caring about people who are suffering. Why give to charity when poor people are simply paying for the bad choices they have deliberately and willfully made?
What I don’t understand is how people can be so vocal with their judgments and yet not hear how mean and cruel they sound. But that’s not really a worldview.
Actually, the “rich = good”, Poor=bad" mentality is part of what got the USA colonized by English-speakers.
Think about it - what exactly would a “Puritan” be? Right, a Holier-than-Thou asshole who are unwelcome wherever they go.
Part of their belief was in the “Elect” - persons selected by God to go to Heaven upon death. Being rich did not get you selected, but if you were selected (among the Elect), one way your status was indicated was by wealth.
Getting rich doesn’t get you “Elect”'d; but getting “Elect”'d may manifest itself by being rich.
If you were poor, you MIGHT still be among the Elect, but get buried in asbestos, just in case…
Now you know why they got kicked out of the UK.
From the two posts above on worldviews that are hard to fathom, those supposed moral and upright religious people who positively salivate at the thought of other people suffering in the afterlife while they enjoy their just rewards.
Sadistic swine covered in a cloak of righteousness.
Morals Are The Devil’s Playthings.
I know a couple of people (former classmates) who are convinced that because I like to read horror books and watch horror movies, it means that I’m a psychopath that secretly wants to ax-murder innocent people. In their thinking, a desire to kill people in gruesome ways is the only reason horror would appeal to anyone.
(Actually, when I get into those stories, I’m most often rooting for the good guys and wishing my own inner demons were as straightforward and recognizable as theirs are. Horror is a visual representation of good fighting against evil, and the idea of being able to fight against evil, which in real life has no physical form, is cathartic)
People who think literature is a frivolous waste of time.
People who refuse to like a movie or book that has bad reviews. It is possible to recognize that a story is not Nobel Prize caliber and still get enjoyment out of it.
Something I’ve noticed about addicts: Most of them know it’s not fun, and don’t like the things it does to those around them, but the pull is just too strong until they hit bottom. There’s an exception to this, and that’s gambling addiction. People who do that, men in particular, seem to enjoy all the carnage they create, their families going without necessities being the main one.
Anyone else observed this?
Is it just Foxnews or what? I was camping on vacation. The conversation at the camp laundromat went around “Obama is going to take your guns away if you sign up for Obamacare.” I did not correct them, they might have guns.
Oh God yes. A cousin of mine’s eldest child is mildly autistic, so of course that doesn’t ‘just happen’ it has to be due to the vaccines right?
She is a perfectly nice and rational person in all other respects, luckily I don’t physically see her very often, and she’s not a ranter about it then, but the facebook posts supporting the anti-vax position.
First, people are easier to read (if you’re trained in it) than one might think. It’s relatively easy to trick people to reveal details about themselves they don’t even realize they’re giving.
Second, I can’t find the video, but there was a stunning video by a “psychic” that was being spread around about a year ago showing everyone how he did it as a PSA. The basic idea behind his stunningly accurate readings was hacking. Most people suck at making good passwords, so he’d hack their bank, social networking, and other personal accounts and read their transaction history and Facebook posts (etc) and say things like “so how is that cancer treatment for your husband going? I know it’s taking a toll on your finances!”
Then he’d pull a curtain and reveal a big screen with all their accounts open and be like “learn to make better passwords kthxbai”.
So through a combination of surreptitiously gathering information and having contacts in the right places, people can get a lot of info on you. Combine that with most mystics being good at speaking in generalities, and you have a recipe for suspiciously good predictions.
Or maybe it’s magic, but I’m not convinced.
Edit: You say they don’t have internet. I’m not saying they did internet hacking. But there are other ways of getting information. I have to say that I’m more convinced that they just cold read you and used things like body language against you.