Welcome new Members! Introduce yourselves here!

[amb]

Originally Posted by Prometheus

3rd Floor

Well I'll be damned! There really is a Talk, Dewey, Cheetham.

[Zeno X]

As is proper, please let me introduce myself. I'm a Mormon, an intellectualist, and a college student studying computer science and math, new to politics and mostly interested in fixing the US education system. I hope I'll be welcome despite my political specialization?

[COLONEL]

Welcome Zeno X have a glass of goats milk, you will fit right in. JREF is one big melting pot, we have all types of people here.

[Zeno X]

Great. I hope goats are just your thing and not a meme around here!

[Ketyk]

eXcellent! This month’s freshman class has real potential.

Zeno, let me ask you a question. How may I be of assistance to you in this monumental endeavor?

You see, this is orientation class, and if we let you pass here without certain basic knowledge, we would be remiss in our duties. I could quote the Membership Agreement ad noseaum while losing the essence of proper JREF Forum etiquette.

With that said, do you see the button below this text that reads "Nominate"? I want you to click that button, and follow the instructions given. Everyone does it. You will be nominating this post for something we call the TLA.

Having nominated this post, you will made aware of what are considered the best posts presented every month. Hitting that button is a small price to pay.

It's right there.

[Roadtoad]

Originally Posted by Zeno X

Great. I hope goats are just your thing and not a meme around here!

Man, are you in for a shock when you meet Shemp, the Marquis, and Ketyk.

(Oh, wait. I see one of them has already stopped by.

(You're screwed.)

[Prometheus]

Originally Posted by Roadtoad

Man, are you in for a shock when you meet Shemp, the Marquis, and Ketyk.

(Oh, wait. I see one of them has already stopped by.

(You're screwed.)

[Zeno X]

Originally Posted by Roadtoad

Man, are you in for a shock when you meet Shemp, the Marquis, and Ketyk.

(Oh, wait. I see one of them has already stopped by.

(You're screwed.)

Well, I'll see for myself how serious people take the education subforum, won't I?

Originally Posted by Ketyk

How may I be of assistance to you in this monumental endeavor?

You see, this is orientation class, and if we let you pass here without certain basic knowledge, we would be remiss in our duties. I could quote the Membership Agreement ad noseaum while losing the essence of proper JREF Forum etiquette.

With that said, do you see the button below this text that reads "Nominate"? I want you to click that button, and follow the instructions given. Everyone does it. You will be nominating this post for something we call the TLA.

Having nominated this post, you will made aware of what are considered the best posts presented every month. Hitting that button is a small price to pay.

Thanks and done. Unfortunately, I'm not one to have many questions at first.

[arthwollipot]

Originally Posted by Prometheus

ShhhhH! Don't mention the fist!

[Foolmewunz]

Originally Posted by Terpsichore

Hi, I'm Pat, aged 64, so I'm old enough to be skeptical about skepticism. I got here by looking for 9/11 stuff, bouncing from link to link the way you do. I'll say straight off that I'm not likely to be a stayer. But I might be an occasional dropper-in.

I only recently got interested in 9/11, having avoided it for years. I'd had enough conspiracy talk on a forum I used to visit where people spend their time trying to prove that Shakespeare was really somebody else. Eventually I got tired of the methodology, which is, a) never to stay too long on the same point, but blow smoke over it by saying "and what about...?", and hopping off to some other point, b) when comprehensively refuted, to retreat from position to position, with the ultimate position being where all arguments are settled with "that's what they want you to think". When the evidence fits it fits. When it doesn't fit it still fits, because it's been deliberately manipulated by the all-powerful Elizabethan secret service to look like it doesn't fit, just for credibility. In the end you just have to walk away.

But I've read up a bit on the 9/11 theories over the past few weeks. So I'll follow some of the threads here, and probably post something.

Hey Pat - can I ask if Terpsichore is because you're a dance, too. Susan (in the quote right below) is a tap dancer. She's only 29 though. Meh, I'm a little soft shoe, a little hip hop, a little ballroom - a whole lot of free form from taking jazz ballet for years as a kid. Oh, and I'm 62.
(Not that it matters but "just Pat"? You're not required to tell us. But... Male or female..." We're always looking for partners for our virtual Dancing With Skeptics, which I just invented.)

Originally Posted by SusanB-M1

tersichore

welcome. Did you read the Bill Bryson book called, 'Shakespeare'?

Susan, Susan, Susan! You of all people, mios-spelling terpsichore! Turn in your Keefe Braselle Fan Club badge!

[SusanB-M1]

Originally Posted by Foolmewunz

Hey Pat - can I ask if Terpsichore is because you're a dance, too. Susan (in the quote right below) is a tap dancer. She's only 29 though.

Ah, if only....!

Quote:

Susan, Susan, Susan! You of all people, mios-spelling terpsichore! Turn in your Keefe Braselle Fan Club badge!

I know, I only heard it when it was too late to edit!!

[COLONEL]

Welcome to all the NEW B'S We are going to have a pot luck BBQ this weekend . We will Supply the Goats Milk, Beer, Roo meat,Baked beans, Oatmeal Cookies,and Minties. You guys bring some chips ,salads etc.

[Catewilliams]

Hi! I'm Catewilliams (Cate for short?)

I'm a 19 year old female, I consider myself a skeptic. I joined after reading a thread here about Norwex cleaning supplies and the claims the company makes.

By no means am I a scientist- I serve tables as a living currently. But I was thrilled to find the information I was looking for interpreted by a professional in the corresponding field! Anyhow, I'm always trying to figure out what part of product claims are true and which ones are false or misconstrued.

Hope to contribute my knowledge to the community.

[Foolmewunz]

Originally Posted by Catewilliams

Hi! I'm Catewilliams (Cate for short?)

I'm a 19 year old female, I consider myself a skeptic. I joined after reading a thread here about Norwex cleaning supplies and the claims the company makes.

By no means am I a scientist- I serve tables as a living currently. But I was thrilled to find the information I was looking for interpreted by a professional in the corresponding field! Anyhow, I'm always trying to figure out what part of product claims are true and which ones are false or misconstrued.

Hope to contribute my knowledge to the community.

Well, welcome Cate. I love that thread, too.

May I suggest, though, that if you feel the urge to post in it that you get a few dozen posts first. We're kinda like piranhas when we see single-digits post counts in MLM Woo Scam threads. (We just about lunched on several poor innocents in The Amega Wand thread, a now legendary bit of work that I like to think had something to do with driving those weasels out of business.)

It's not that we're paranoid - Wait, ... What was that sound.... It's just that we've had(as you can see from the Norwex thread) so many "I'm a new poster and just have some questions. Chief of most is "Won't you buy my product or B.S.?" " in so many threads from Conspiracy Theories to General Skepticism to Math/Science.

Welcome aboard.

Right now, I think I'm going to bump the Norwex thread. It's literally the only critical listing in Google and needs to get more attention.

[SteveDale]

Hello everyone!

I'm Ste, from Englandland, and I'm an avid fan of good science though I have no qualifications past high school - I'm looking forward to hopefully adding to my own knowledge as well as contributing to discussions where I feel I can!

Anyway, I don't usually like doing "Hello!" posts because they feel a bit attention-seeky, so I'm sure I'll see you around the forum

[Foolmewunz]

Oh, so now everyone's coming in with, like, names? Cate and now Ste (doesn't that make you a female saint).

Welcome, also. I'm hijacking the thread from the usual rowdies because it's my calling (or I'm sitting around bored at home waiting for my wife and kid to return).

Drop into Forum Community where you can get your feet wet (if not whet your appetite), we're having a running, er.... um.... discussion (yeah, that's it,... a "discussion") on the merits of English Cuisine* versus American. Bring plenty of Marmite.

And if sports is your thing, the Englishters have fairly good representation in the Sports sub-forum, with massive ongoing threads on Cricket, Rugby, and Footie.

[Ketyk]

Thanks, Foolie. (Yes, I follow the Our Story... thread)

[geebee2]

Hi. I'm from Gloucester, UK. I'm 53 years old, male.

I came to this site due to an interest in the case of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito, there is long running discussion of this here, and that's likely to be the area I will be posting in.

[COLONEL]

Welcome geebee2 Have a glass of fresh goats milk and when you see the goat pat it on the head.

[Terpsichore]

Originally Posted by Foolmewunz

Hey Pat - can I ask if Terpsichore is because you're a dance, too. Susan (in the quote right below) is a tap dancer. She's only 29 though. Meh, I'm a little soft shoe, a little hip hop, a little ballroom - a whole lot of free form from taking jazz ballet for years as a kid. Oh, and I'm 62.
(Not that it matters but "just Pat"? You're not required to tell us. But... Male or female..." We're always looking for partners for our virtual Dancing With Skeptics, which I just invented.)

Male. Pat for Patrick. No, I'm not a dancer, but I am a passionate classical music fan, which is why I'm familiar with the word. I just like its sound. But I'm not even a dance fan, particularly, unless the dancer is Kate Bush. So I probably won't join your Dancing with Skeptics club. Which is just as well, because by the time I'd finished inflicting all the foot injuries I could inflict you'd have to rename it Dancing with Septics.

[Lt Rabbit]

Hi, 27 Male Australia, land of the medium beleivers, newly converted to critical thinking and learning how to use my brain. apologies in advance for my spelling and grammer. :P

[amb]

Rabbit, did you say rabbit? We have rabbit on the menu for newcomers. Rabbit alla king coming right up.

[lionking]

Originally Posted by Lt Rabbit

Hi, 27 Male Australia, land of the medium beleivers, newly converted to critical thinking and learning how to use my brain. apologies in advance for my spelling and grammer. :P

G'day. We have at least one Adelaidian here, Wildy.

[Foolmewunz]

Originally Posted by geebee2

Hi. I'm from Gloucester, UK. I'm 53 years old, male.

I came to this site due to an interest in the case of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito, there is long running discussion of this here, and that's likely to be the area I will be posting in.

Jeez, you get here for a day and you already broke the thread.

Guys! Geebee broke teh intertubez!!!

[englishmongoose]

Hello all, i'm 24 from Hampshire England,

I came across the site due to the 1million dollar challenge and had an interesting time reading through the failed applicants, read a bit more and decided to sign up.

I do worry that as a believer in Ghosts (having believed what i have seen, or maybe believed what my brain has told me i've seen is a better way of putting it) that i may be picked on a little here due to that belief.

I do truly believe that a proper scientific investigation should be carried out over say 2-weeks or a month at a number of supposed haunted locations, with controlled environments, high quality equipment and other tests put into place to try and prove/disprove the existence of ghosts.

As for the rest of the spectrum of paranormal/UFO/conspiricies i'm mostly sceptical, i prefer to see proper evidence before i believe something.

i hope to enjoy chatting with you all

Goose

[Foolmewunz]

Hey, Goose! And welcome. All the Americans (except me, due to my inexplicable location) are resting up for Thanksgiving and aren't up yet, so the Welcome Wagon consists right now of a bunch of Euro Trash, a couple of Aussies, and my charming self.

Most of us, by the nature of these boards, are not believers in ghosts, but I personally don't rate it up there with Homeopaths, Faith Healers, Psychics, and other very harmful woo. I have a mate who believes in ghosts. It's part of her culture. (She's Thai - they don't worship ancestors/ghosts the way the Chinese do, so it's just a sort of matter-of-fact belief.)

Generally, we save our thrashings for believers who pretend to be skeptic/sceptic. Since you're up front about it, you might be able to have an intelligent conversation on the topic. We have sufficient Net Nannies to keep the bullies in line, generally.

What, in particular, leads to your belief in ghosts? (Just curious.)

[amb]

I will add my house to the million dollar challenge if anyone can prove scientifically that ghosts or apparitions of any kind can be proved. 99.9% are mistaken natural phenomena. The other.01% are blatant lies.

But a warm welcome to the forum in any case.

[Prometheus]

Originally Posted by amb

I will add my house to the million dollar challenge if anyone can prove scientifically that ghosts or apparitions of any kind can be proved. 99.9% are mistaken natural phenomena. The other.01% are blatant lies.

But a warm welcome to the forum in any case.

I'm guessing that She Who Must Be Obeyed will give you a chance to become a ghost if you tried that....

[amb]

Then I would prove conclusively that there is nothing but oblivion after death.

[englishmongoose]

Thanks for the welcomes...

My belief started aged 12 or so when i saw, or probably more accurately thought i saw a full bodied apparition at my schools boarding house. Although it is entirely probable that it was a brain fueled hallucination at 1am, why my brain decided to insert an image of an old woman in full 19th century dress walking away from me i'll never know but hey, what can you do!

I think i've continued my belief on the off chance that there is something more to us that what todays science can show...

[amb]

The Wager again hey ?

[englishmongoose]

if i thought that i could then i would have your house sirrah...


unfortunely i cant

[SusanB-M1]

englishmongoose

Welcome. there are a few other Hampshire JREFers!

As you read the very good, clear and rational answers which you'll get here to your questions about ghosts, I hope you will soon re-file them under a (heading of a) because the brain is brilliant at producing images, or (b) reason unknown just at present, but definitely not supernatural, etc.

[Ketyk]

Originally Posted by englishmongoose

I do worry that as a believer in Ghosts (having believed what i have seen, or maybe believed what my brain has told me i've seen is a better way of putting it) that i may be picked on a little here due to that belief.

Originally Posted by Foolmewunz

All the Americans (except me, due to my inexplicable location) are resting up for Thanksgiving and aren't up yet, so the Welcome Wagon consists right now of a bunch of Euro Trash, a couple of Aussies, and my charming self.

Hi goose. On behalf of us ugly-Americans, I welcome you and hope you stick around. I use this place as a learning tool, weighing what I believe to be true against what is scientifically provable. Be prepared to engage in debates where you are asked to provide evidence for you assuptions.

I find it fun to toss around ideas and see what others think. But don't take any challenges as person attacks. If you do feel attacked, maybe that's a clue that your position is based on false assumptions.



Why has no one offered the lad any goats milk?

[amb]

Because he may think the goat is a friend of Satan. Will a Millers Draft do?

[englishmongoose]

i'll take the Millers Draft thanks....

and thanks again for the welcomes, i will be lurking around the paranormal + humour sections untill i get a bit more comfortable with the site.

Hope to engage in some discussions with you soon.

[COLONEL]

Welcome to all you NEWB's

The menu for the weekend is left overs from thanksgiving. Turkey soup, turkey sandwiches,stuffing,Roo meat, squash,potatos,cornbread pudding, assorted pies Goats milk and goats cheese,Smithwicks and MINTIES

Don't forget to pat the goat on the head when you see it.

[amb]

Ran over a cat this morning. Hate it to go to waste. Will it be okay if I add cat meat to the weekend menu?

[COLONEL]

Originally Posted by amb

Ran over a cat this morning. Hate it to go to waste. Will it be okay if I add cat meat to the weekend menu?

Good job, that is one less cat running loose. Throw it into the CHILE pot ,no one will ever know,

[amb]

We will pass it of as rabbit. Too right, no one will know the difference.