News:

Welcome to our site!

Main Menu

Blasphemy doeth good like a medicine.

Started by St Truth, October 01, 2017, 12:07:37 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

trdsf

Quote from: Cavebear on October 18, 2017, 10:52:54 AM
I think what he is suggesting is that, because he gets likes elsewhere, they must mean something here.
At last glance, he has 2300+ likes right here on AF.  The data is what the data is.

Of course, as a standalone number, it lacks context.  We lack the average rate of likes per message across all users or even across the regularly active users.  At a bare minimum, in order to be useful as a metric it has to be taken against the user's total number of posts, not as a disconnected datum.

It's like asking "How are you?" and getting the answer "Five!" with no further clarification.  Five what?  Five out of five?  Five out of ten?  Five percent?  Five minutes to live?

It's just a dilatory tactic, really, taking advantage of an almost instinctive innumeracy in the face of a number for which we cannot form an immediate meaningful visualization.

If I hand someone a coffee cup and say there are five marbles in there, they can tell at a glance if there are.  If I hand them a coffee cup full of marbles and give them any number that's not unreasonable on the face of it, it will be accepted as a reasonable estimate and, more importantly, the number will not be challenged by the person without a good reason to challenge it.  If I tell you a cup full of marbles has 'two' or 'two hundred thousand', both are obviously incorrect at a glance, even without knowing the actual count.

But if I tell you 'one hundred and fifty seven', that isn't obviously incorrect.  And most people are willing to shrug and go 'okay', even though it may actually be three hundred, or there may be an obstruction invisible underneath them and the count is only forty.  And once I've said 157 and you've provisionally accepted it, you'll reject 300 and 40 as being 'obviously' too many or too few, even though one or the other answer may be the right one.

The most correct response here is to look up the formulæ for the volume of a sphere, and the volume of a cylinder, and -- assuming the marbles are all essentially similar -- you can get an estimation of your own that's going to be damn close to the actual count without just having to take a number at face value.  It may turn out that 157 is a meaningful number, and you would then have a reason why it's a good number.  There is a context for the claim.

By analogy, the correct thing to do with the claim of 2000+ is to look for its context, which would be all members who have a comparable number of posts without regard to likes, and all members who have a comparable number of likes without regard to posts, and then you can draw a conclusion about whether its inference -- that the claimant writes meaningful and appreciated posts via the metaphor "dogs like to eat cat poop" -- holds merit.
"My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total, and I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution." -- Barbara Jordan

Cavebear

Quote from: trdsf on October 18, 2017, 01:28:38 PM
At last glance, he has 2300+ likes right here on AF.  The data is what the data is.

Of course, as a standalone number, it lacks context.  We lack the average rate of likes per message across all users or even across the regularly active users.  At a bare minimum, in order to be useful as a metric it has to be taken against the user's total number of posts, not as a disconnected datum.

It's like asking "How are you?" and getting the answer "Five!" with no further clarification.  Five what?  Five out of five?  Five out of ten?  Five percent?  Five minutes to live?

It's just a dilatory tactic, really, taking advantage of an almost instinctive innumeracy in the face of a number for which we cannot form an immediate meaningful visualization.

If I hand someone a coffee cup and say there are five marbles in there, they can tell at a glance if there are.  If I hand them a coffee cup full of marbles and give them any number that's not unreasonable on the face of it, it will be accepted as a reasonable estimate and, more importantly, the number will not be challenged by the person without a good reason to challenge it.  If I tell you a cup full of marbles has 'two' or 'two hundred thousand', both are obviously incorrect at a glance, even without knowing the actual count.

But if I tell you 'one hundred and fifty seven', that isn't obviously incorrect.  And most people are willing to shrug and go 'okay', even though it may actually be three hundred, or there may be an obstruction invisible underneath them and the count is only forty.  And once I've said 157 and you've provisionally accepted it, you'll reject 300 and 40 as being 'obviously' too many or too few, even though one or the other answer may be the right one.

The most correct response here is to look up the formulæ for the volume of a sphere, and the volume of a cylinder, and -- assuming the marbles are all essentially similar -- you can get an estimation of your own that's going to be damn close to the actual count without just having to take a number at face value.  It may turn out that 157 is a meaningful number, and you would then have a reason why it's a good number.  There is a context for the claim.

By analogy, the correct thing to do with the claim of 2000+ is to look for its context, which would be all members who have a comparable number of posts without regard to likes, and all members who have a comparable number of likes without regard to posts, and then you can draw a conclusion about whether its inference -- that the claimant writes meaningful and appreciated posts via the metaphor "dogs like to eat cat poop" -- holds merit.

AWESOME!

I might look at the top layer of marbles and project the number through an imagined cup. but I read every word with interest.  Your writing was worth the effort.

I never thought to look up my "likes". 
Atheist born, atheist bred.  And when I die, atheist dead!

Baruch

#62
Quote from: trdsf on October 18, 2017, 10:39:44 AM
And in any case, quantity doesn't mean quality.  If it's 2,000 likes out of 20,000 posts, that's only 10%.  If it were 2,000 likes out of 2,500 posts, that might be different.

No ... just that an echo chamber isn't the best way to determine how things are.  Every forum is an echo chamber.  It is ironic to get that many likes here, when I am a pet theist.  But then most people here like pets ;-)  I also give out a lot of likes.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Baruch

Quote from: Cavebear on October 18, 2017, 01:54:21 PM
AWESOME!

I might look at the top layer of marbles and project the number through an imagined cup. but I read every word with interest.  Your writing was worth the effort.

I never thought to look up my "likes".

You are a curmudgeon, you don't even like your own posts.  Are you going to do a flip for us and become narcissist?
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Baruch

Quote from: Cavebear on October 18, 2017, 10:52:54 AM
I think what he is suggesting is that, because he gets likes elsewhere, they must mean something here.

You are so wrong, oh Legend In My Own Mind.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Blackleaf

Quote from: Baruch on October 19, 2017, 07:13:39 AM
No ... just that an echo chamber isn't the best way to determine how things are.  Every forum is an echo chamber.  It is ironic to get that many likes here, when I am a pet theist.  But then most people here like pets ;-)  I also give out a lot of likes.

I do consider you the one most knowledgeable of the Bible, historical context for the text, as well as the languages it was written in. An expert on fiction, perhaps, but it is quite entertaining when Christians come here and try to act like they're smarter than you.
"Oh, wearisome condition of humanity,
Born under one law, to another bound;
Vainly begot, and yet forbidden vanity,
Created sick, commanded to be sound."
--Fulke Greville--

aitm

Nearly forty years ago poolside at my apartment complex amongst a group and we had some clouds and a few bolts of lightning, somebody said some kind of "god is angry" crap so I grabbed a aluminum umbrella and stood on the diving board, "god does't have the balls to hit me with lightning".

Now I am convinced that the average xian has a great deal of uncertainty and doubt, they know prayer really hardly ever works, and yet when I shouted that line, 10 of the 15 or so there, literally fell over chairs and tables trying to escape the confines of the pool area. I laughed my but off.
A humans desire to live is exceeded only by their willingness to die for another. Even god cannot equal this magnificent sacrifice. No god has the right to judge them.-first tenant of the Panotheust

Baruch

Quote from: aitm on October 19, 2017, 12:21:51 PM
Nearly forty years ago poolside at my apartment complex amongst a group and we had some clouds and a few bolts of lightning, somebody said some kind of "god is angry" crap so I grabbed a aluminum umbrella and stood on the diving board, "god does't have the balls to hit me with lightning".

Now I am convinced that the average xian has a great deal of uncertainty and doubt, they know prayer really hardly ever works, and yet when I shouted that line, 10 of the 15 or so there, literally fell over chairs and tables trying to escape the confines of the pool area. I laughed my but off.

Don't repeat that at home, kids ... OSHA won't approve.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

trdsf

Quote from: aitm on October 19, 2017, 12:21:51 PM
Nearly forty years ago poolside at my apartment complex amongst a group and we had some clouds and a few bolts of lightning, somebody said some kind of "god is angry" crap so I grabbed a aluminum umbrella and stood on the diving board, "god does't have the balls to hit me with lightning".

Now I am convinced that the average xian has a great deal of uncertainty and doubt, they know prayer really hardly ever works, and yet when I shouted that line, 10 of the 15 or so there, literally fell over chairs and tables trying to escape the confines of the pool area. I laughed my but off.
Reminds me of a guy in my fraternity in '81 who, during a thunderstorm, climbed out on the roof of the frat house with a beer in one hand and a bong in the other and sat there yelling "I DARE YOU!"
"My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total, and I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution." -- Barbara Jordan

Baruch

Quote from: trdsf on October 19, 2017, 12:48:50 PM
Reminds me of a guy in my fraternity in '81 who, during a thunderstorm, climbed out on the roof of the frat house with a beer in one hand and a bong in the other and sat there yelling "I DARE YOU!"

The legless friend of Forrest Gump?  He did that, while on the mast of the shrimp boat.  Got the stupidity out of his system, he did.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

fencerider

Jesus H motherfucking Christ
Quote from: St Truth on October 03, 2017, 07:32:17 PM
Does the H stand for Holy?
I think in this situation it stands for Horny

If Mohammed was buggering Allah and he thinks he’s gonna get 7 virgins every night, he must be horny too.
"Do you believe in god?", is not a proper English sentence. Unless you believe that, "Do you believe in apple?", is a proper English sentence.

Baruch

Quote from: fencerider on October 22, 2017, 03:59:48 AM
Jesus H motherfucking ChristI think in this situation it stands for Horny

If Mohammed was buggering Allah and he thinks he’s gonna get 7 virgins every night, he must be horny too.

In Kabbalah, sex is a good thing, not a bad thing.  Most anti-sex behavior is motivated by misogyny and misandry.  In Kabbalah mythology, G-d and Shekinah get it on every Friday night, that is what makes it both holy and sexy.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Cavebear

Quote from: aitm on October 19, 2017, 12:21:51 PM
Nearly forty years ago poolside at my apartment complex amongst a group and we had some clouds and a few bolts of lightning, somebody said some kind of "god is angry" crap so I grabbed a aluminum umbrella and stood on the diving board, "god does't have the balls to hit me with lightning".

Now I am convinced that the average xian has a great deal of uncertainty and doubt, they know prayer really hardly ever works, and yet when I shouted that line, 10 of the 15 or so there, literally fell over chairs and tables trying to escape the confines of the pool area. I laughed my but off.

I am reminded of when Lee Trevino was called off the course because of lightening and he held a 1 iron over his head because "even God can't hit a 1 iron".

BTW, I can.  But I can't hit a wood (or even a metal "wood") worth a damn.  And my chip shots are pretty random...

And speaking of golf, I love the joke about the Saudi Arabian guy saying "Darn, I landed in the grass trap".

BTW, do you recall the one about Sam Snead saying the greens were so slick he marked his ball with a dime and it slid off"?
Atheist born, atheist bred.  And when I die, atheist dead!