Why do the Chinese throw coins into jet engines?

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Rgbeard said:
IMO, the world would be a much better place without a belief in mysticism in any form.
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Better IS an opinion. Thankfully it will never happen, humans are hardwired to believe. It's a need.
 
Stingray Don said:
And we all know that they can’t put it on the internet if it’s not true.
:stirpot:
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duty_calls.png

https://xkcd.com/386/
 
SToL said:
I agree, that is the dumbest thing I have ever seen! My F250 has 54in tires!
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Well, I don't have a fancy raised up truck, but I followed one down the highway the other day with nothing better to do than ponder it. "Why," I asked myself, "Do they jack the things up so high, yet the differential looks like it's still six inches off the ground?"
 
dtuuri said:
Well, I don't have a fancy raised up truck, but I followed one down the highway the other day with nothing better to do than ponder it. "Why," I asked myself, "Do they jack the things up so high, yet the differential looks like it's still six inches off the ground?"
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Correct. A lift doesnt fix that. If you have to cross stumps or rocks, you need larger tires to get clearance for the differential. The lift will improve your angle of approach, angle of departure and break-over angle (particularly important for a long wheelbase version like a long-bed crew-cab).
 
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Rgbeard said:
Some are. Making that not-so-hardwired will be interesting as time goes forward.
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I am not sure you understand hard wired. The current conclusion of genetic behaviorist is that people will believe something about the spiritual world...because our genes dictate it.
 
bflynn said:
I am not sure you understand hard wired. The current conclusion of genetic behaviorist is that people will believe something about the spiritual world...because our genes dictate it.
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So why dont I believe? Do I not have human genes?
(I actually take no stance either way. Provide me evidence. Beliefs get people killed. Ideas can be explored.)
 
You believe something. Belief is personal and everyone has something. Even a belief that we are just carbons constructs that cease function after some time is a belief.
 
bflynn said:
You believe something. Belief is personal and everyone has something. Even a belief that we are just carbons constructs that cease function after some time is a belief.
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In regards to that I don't have a belief. You may not for lack of a better word believe that but it's true. There is no evidence saying we are only carbon constructs that cease to function and there is no evidence saying we are more than just carbon constructs that continue to function after death. So I don't believe either one. There may be a completely different option we haven't even considered. And I don't believe in that either. Things are possible but it doesn't mean I believe in them.
 
Do you believe in Dark Matter?

I ask because nobody has ever seen it, you can’t prove that it exists, the nature of it can only be guessed at based on extrapolation from other information, yet you take it on faith that it absolutely is what makes the universe operate.

I reiterate, you believe SOMETHING.
 
Thanks to Sam Harris et al., skeptics have become obnoxious. Parading ignorance has become fashionable.
 
Kansas Flyer said:
Many Japanese fishermen believe that it is good luck to pass very close to a warship and there have been many close calls and some collisions between fishing boats trying to refill their supply of luck for the year and US ships entering and leaving Japanese ports. We had a fishing boat come within a few feet of a collision once when my destroyer was in Tokyo bay.

The coin throwing might be similar to the ancient Greek belief of placing coins with their dead to pay the toll for the ferry over the Styx.
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Silver coin, paid to Charon, the "Ferryman's fee" - adopted by other military groups in the West now, though sometimes the coin is put in the left hand instead of the mouth.
 
An airplane is an intelligent design; a bird is merely happenstance.
 
bflynn said:
Do you believe in Dark Matter?

I ask because nobody has ever seen it, you can’t prove that it exists, the nature of it can only be guessed at based on extrapolation from other information, yet you take it on faith that it absolutely is what makes the universe operate.

I reiterate, you believe SOMETHING.
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No, I do not. We have taken measurements, and we don't get the results we expect. That does not automatically make it dark matter. Dark Matter is just a place holder. Could be something else. Might as well call it God. Might be that somehow we are getting bleed over from the 5th/6th/7th/however many dimensions may (or may not) exist, but we can't detect visually from our 3(or 4 if you count time)D world. But I don't BELIEVE in it. I entertain the possibility. Or it could be something else. It could be the weight of all the souls of dead people. It could be....pick something....pick anything.

A belief implies a conviction towards something unprovable. I don't have those.
 
EdFred said:
You make that claim based on what?
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It was an incomplete claim. I should’ve said, “or you must have very few convictions”.
I say it based on our ability to really “know” anything with absolute certainty. We have to live with beliefs or else life would become so Sisyphean (or contrarily, so mundane that it could never be enjoyed.
 
Cooter said:
It was an incomplete claim. I should’ve said, “or you must have very few convictions”.
I say it based on our ability to really “know” anything with absolute certainty. We have to live with beliefs or else life would become so Sisyphean (or contrarily, so mundane that it could never be enjoyed.
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I won't disagree with that. I am willing to change my stance when provided with logical arguments or when solid evidence is presented. But for the most part I'm pretty open about most possibilities in the absence of concrete evidence. Karma may or may not be real, God may or may not exist, etc...
 
bflynn said:
Do you believe in Dark Matter?
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I don't, because I'm not sure that it's the only way or the best way to explain observed results. However, I admit that I haven't studied the evidence.
 
EdFred said:
So why dont I believe? Do I not have human genes?
(I actually take no stance either way. Provide me evidence. Beliefs get people killed. Ideas can be explored.)
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I also don't seem to have that gene, nor did my father. My mother must have had ten copies ...
 
bflynn said:
Better IS an opinion. Thankfully it will never happen, humans are hardwired to believe. It's a need.
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Can people, being hardwired, change those beliefs?
 
I believe in gravity, war, inertia, friction, and Ashley Judd - having seen them all in person, I'm willing to accept my sensory impressions as being accurate enough to make those calls as being "true".

Besides, if Ashley isn't real, I don't want to know it. . .
 
Ventucky Red said:
There is actually a gun for this, the Chicken Gun.

And that United captain... well.....
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Yeah, if it was a Continental captain, he would have bailed @3393RP out of that predicament.

(I’m still not mad about the “merger”. What makes you all think that?)
 
Cooter said:
Can people, being hardwired, change those beliefs?
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It isn't any particular belief. It's a need to believe something.

I tend to prefer people who believe in God, mainly because their behavior is better on average . When you think you'll be roasted in fire for all eternity (or some similar torture) because God watches all, you do tend to self regulate the negative behaviors.
 
Palmpilot said:
I don't, because I'm not sure that it's the only way or the best way to explain observed results. However, I admit that I haven't studied the evidence.
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There's no evidence, it's theory. Physicists believe that Dark Matter is what makes the universe expand. They can't observe it, they can't test it, they can't hold it, they just have to believe that it exists because if it doesn't exist, a lot of other science has to be thrown out. It's a consequence of a lot of other things.

Dark Matter is a question of faith for physicists. If you don't believe, then you're bucking the system because without dark matter, a lot of the science of the last 50 years starts to fall apart.

To me, that's no different than believing in God, except I think a belief in God has more positive outcomes.
 
So PM me. Not sure why you would have any reason to say something negative about my personal preferences, but if you do and you don't want to say it in public, send it over.
 
Rgbeard said:
oh wow - I really want to comment on that one - but I don't want to get thrown off the board.

resisting urge to type further comment......
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Include me in the PM, or send one directly to me. I’m happy to have any of my beliefs challenged, as long as you’re willing to defend your own.:)
 
bflynn said:
It isn't any particular belief. It's a need to believe something.
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That seems pretty obvious unless I’m missing your point. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who didn’t believe anything. That’s a weird thought, I don’t know if it’s even possible! :dunno:
 
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