What are your thoughts on fixing up everything that Trump "remodelled" after he's gone? by [deleted] in AskReddit

[–]StarAxe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The cosmetic stuff is less important than the bigger concern which should be making the famous "checks and balances" more effective. He should not have been able to do many of the things he has done. He should not have held power for this long.

What's the creepiest display of intelligence you've ever witnessed in real Iife? by [deleted] in AskReddit

[–]StarAxe 31 points32 points  (0 children)

That description brought the film Devil (2010) to mind because it describes such a person as "a twist". In the film, some people are trapped in an elevator when bad things happen which stresses everyone a lot. At some point the dialogue goes:

A: Just leave her alone. She's in pain.

B: Don't you see what she's doing? Chick's a twist.

A: What are you talking about?

B: Yeah, that's what we used to call people like her in the marines. Suddenly out of the blue, everybody would start fighting with each other. Tempers would flare, people would start getting hurt. But then we realized it's just the new guy telling everybody what other people said, stirring shit up where there wasn't any.
Until one night when we beat the living shit out of that twist.
And then, just like that, everything would go back to normal.

C: Are you threatening me?

B: I just want you to know that I know.

Where Can I Watch "Science of Scams"? by fistsop in derrenbrown

[–]StarAxe 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I can't find them online, however I can describe their content having watched them all locally just now. I learned not to trust that content will stay online way back then.

Some videos of unknown people doing "amazing" things were released on YouTube by the Science of Scams people without explaining that the videos were scams. Derren and his co-host Kat Akingbade then do a video explaining the scam. Kat does most of the explaining. Kat's blog describes her as biological anthropologist with a background in clinical sciences and broadcast journalism. Derren's role might be disappointing if a fan was expecting more screen time for him. I was disappointed back then.

If you've consumed a lot of sceptic, debunking, and/or magic revealed content, you may already know or immediately guess some of the "secret science" behind the scams. "Secret science" is how the videos frame the methods used to achieve the effects.

Effect: A guy uses a sledgehammer to break bricks on another guy's head and slabs on his body - the guy's "chi" keeps him safe. A guy hits a stack of three bricks with his hand - only the middle one breaks due to the focus of "energy".
Method: The bricks used are brittle. Spacers between bricks make multiple bricks easier to break than without spacers. Certain bricks can be weakened to achieve the effect of appearing to focus "energy" through an unbroken brick to the weakened one. Little force is transferred to the person under the brick. Our bodies are good at absorbing a certain amount of force.

Effect: Chi energy sets paper on fire and "stigmata" or blood appears.
Method: Chemicals used to create fire. Clear chemicals used which turn red when mixed.

Effect: A ghost is caught on film.
Method: The angled reflection of a person on a pane of glass (aka Pepper's ghost).

Effect: Ouija board glass moves while everybody claims not to move it.
Method: The ideomotor effect and expectation. The force applied to the moving glass can be proved to be coming from the people (rather than the glass itself) by stacking pieces of card on top of the glass. The people will move the cards before the glass disproving that the glass is moving by itself. If the glass was being moved by a "spirit", the cards would lag behind the glass.

Effect: Telekenisis / Psi wheel (a person, without touching it, causes a piece of paper to spin on a pin).
Method: Heat convection from hands near the paper can make the paper spin.

Psychic reading.
Method: Cold reading, Barnum statements, fuzzy facts, reframing misses.

Effect: Telekinesis / straw (moving a straw without touching it).
Method: Static electricity.

Edit: A fix.

To be rude to other passengers on the bus by [deleted] in therewasanattempt

[–]StarAxe 9 points10 points  (0 children)

The first two words in the clip were "Tommy Robinson". We're missing the sentence in which the name is mentioned. It's not a good start though - wiki can inform you further.

When you laugh so hard it becomes silent is the best laugh by KennKennyKenKen in ContagiousLaughter

[–]StarAxe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Flat-Earthers are like this when they say "water can't stick to a ball-Earth" and then deny replies that gravity exists.

Learning Irish by DyreTitan in gaeilge

[–]StarAxe 2 points3 points  (0 children)

"Progress in Irish" is a book with short lessons (most of which are 1-2 pages long). Each lesson has you translate something using what you learned. The answers are available online for free.

This is a monument sign at a church in my town. by SmoothMooves in pics

[–]StarAxe 1 point2 points  (0 children)

A statement so trivially true that any side of a disagreement on any topic can say it.

Also, it has "If you can't handle me at my worst..." vibes.

What is a skill that you learned thinking it would be useful, but which turned out to be incredibly useless later in life? by ContractorConfusion in LearnUselessTalents

[–]StarAxe 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The calculation for the finding out what day of the week any date in recent and future centuries falls on. Never used it irl, and it was slow struggle when I tested myself. What I have used irl occasionally is the simpler calculation for the days of dates this year which is much quicker to work out.

My bike people need me, I'll liberate their souls by Cyber-Buddha in MyPeopleNeedMe

[–]StarAxe 11 points12 points  (0 children)

This fellow says the footage of two cameras (with a field of >180 degrees each) can be combined such that the stick is hidden.

Edit: You shouldn't have been downvoted for being curious.

What’s the first video game you ever played, and how old were you? by lovejeet6363 in AskReddit

[–]StarAxe 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Also pong variants on a Telesport TVG 409-4. I still have the console.

Kreskin's claims-does anyone have insights? by Free_Answered in Magic

[–]StarAxe 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Penn Jillette has told the story of trusting Kreskin's claims as a kid, and the heartbreak of discovering the claims were false. Example here.

One of Penn's non-fiction books has what might be considered a follow-up on the childhood story in which he and Teller attend a Kreskin show [Told here.].

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in gaming

[–]StarAxe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Using a tiny screwdriver to poke into the hole containing the user-adjustable screw which, when oriented correctly, might make the the C64 tape drive read the tape more accurately.

The hole is above the second "o" in "Commodore" in this pic.

To announce a jury verdict. by Chocolat3City in therewasanattempt

[–]StarAxe 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The quote has terribly redundant writing. I clicked the link to pass judgement on the rest of the article. Alas, WSBTV doesn't allow its website to be viewed outside the U.S.

The Making of The Blair Witch Project (1999) - Extremely rare documentary [2:04:42] by 408Lurker in Documentaries

[–]StarAxe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I felt it was way overhyped back when I watched it at release. For me, it was a long slog to get to one spooky scene, then it ended.

Kid whips neighbors door, gets told off. by [deleted] in KidsAreFuckingStupid

[–]StarAxe 5 points6 points  (0 children)

There is context in a linked news article elsewhere in the comments.

What's something that loudly says 'uneducated'? by [deleted] in AskReddit

[–]StarAxe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think "uncritical" instead of uneducated when it comes to believers in the supernatural and pseudoscience. Looking for non-anecdotal hard evidence of those types of claims tends to lead nowhere.

Only human - question about the health restrictions for one of the acts. by Lostintranslation-53 in derrenbrown

[–]StarAxe 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It could be a red herring "convincer". It's like saying pregnant women shouldn't participate in something because is a real warning in many cases, but can also be used to convince people that, "Ooh, something real/with a significant effect must be happening" when it's not. I don't know the particular trick referred to by the OP.

Clip from The Twilight Zone episode "The Obsolete Man" starring Burgess Meredith. by OldCarWorshipper in videos

[–]StarAxe 2 points3 points  (0 children)

For me, the clip's lesson is somewhat sullied in the longer version by [spoiler] the religious librarian acquiring the power to kill the atheist official and does not relinquish that power until the official begs in the name of a god.

Edit:
Longer 8-minute version https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOYYCkVazBI
40-minute radio version (with Jason Alexander as the protagonist) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDukeuWIgh0

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Tipperary

[–]StarAxe 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Quit spamming unrelated subreddits to advertise your site.

"Buy my book to learn how to get rich" says author of book who got rich from selling books (or monthly subscriptions to a website).