Posts by Stephen Judd
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Put it this way: are "reality" shows real?
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On reflection, gullibility is perhaps a harsh term. Yeah, you're not gullible, Kyle's Dad isn't gullible. But we are all vulnerable to manipulation. Professional deceivers don't need you to be gullible, they just need you to be a typical thinker.
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"Unless it can be disproved it can't be discounted."
That's a recipe for gullibility. I would rather discount things that can't be proved.
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33% of users say that their use of the Internet has increased their sense of identification with New Zealand (4% report a decrease). This is greatest amongst Asians (50%) and Māori (43%)
Certainly I've discovered a patriotic streak I didn't realise I had after participating in online communities where the default assumption was that you were American. Which, statistically was a very fair assumption, but irritating all the same.
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Kyle, I don't think it's a safe assumption that it's not a complete fraud. That is how psychics work.
For example, some psychics have stooges in the waiting room outside theatre auditoriums who report back with overheard conversation. Some use listening devices.
Even without that sort of deception, maybe some researcher did background work on the family.
It's not surprising that they seemed legit, even to your dad - maintaining that appearance is their business.
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How the hell did they figure all that out without being told?
One very obvious answer is that they WERE told. Or that there were multiple takes, and all the takes with bad guesses were left on the floor. Or that many of the participants are actors working to a script.
What is more likely - that this is entertaining bullshit, or that it is true?
It amazes me that people watch shows with psychics and believe the premise that the psychic is working cold.
There are plenty of accounts of so-called psychics being caught with accomplices passing information or using plants.
This show makes me very angry, actually. It's a fraud on the public, promoting superstition, and a nuisance to the justice system.
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Thread-jack 2: I got my Forest & Bird newsletter today, and the Riroriro (or Grey Warbler) won in a "surprise victory."
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Amazing. Is this the peak of a trend that will unwind, or a permanent change? I don't know, but sometimes I think I'll stay in the renting classes forever.
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Hillbillies? This liberal Jewbag has a five-string and fingerpicks. Haven't quite got a clawhammer Hava Nagila sorted out yet though.
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And the Gender Genie identifies statistical tendencies, that's all.
If I hear someone is 7 feet tall, I'll lay money that person is a man. But I can walk down Lambton Quay and find plenty of women, with or without heels, who are taller than the average bloke.
Something that really pisses me off about popular reporting is the way that minor differences between groups get turned into enormous dichotomies between individuals. They always seem to say if you are a man, you will feel A, if you are a woman, B; whereas the truth is that slightly more men are a bit more A.