Silly/Odd News Stories from around the World

[ganbaru]

Originally Posted by RRW

http://news.yahoo.com/intelligence-i...034622242.html

I am not surprised of the ''lower QI'' of the FOXNews viewers but 20 points seem like a big difference.

[MrTerrorist]

Originally Posted by RRW

http://news.yahoo.com/intelligence-i...034622242.html

I wonder how Fox News will defend themselves over this since the group that did the study are conservatives.

[Ascaloth]

Originally Posted by mrterrorist

i wonder how fox news will defend themselves over this since the group that did the study are conservatives. :d

"They are Evul Deep-Cover Libruls!!!"

[AnimeFan188]

How the 'Mayan Apocalypse' came from a New Age magic mushroom trip:

"The 'prophecy' does not stem from the Mayans at all - or date from thousands of
years ago. Instead, the beliefs come from two New Age books in the Seventies
and Eighties. The two books predict outcomes as surreal as a 'upgrade' to human
consciousness predicted by a spirit from the seventh century. The date itself
comes from a prophecy based on a magic mushroom trip."

See:

http://news.yahoo.com/mayan-apocalyp...130852054.html

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by RRW

http://news.yahoo.com/intelligence-i...034622242.html

Once the word "common sense" pops out, it becomes a flawed test.

How do you measure common sense anyway?

[ganbaru]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

Once the word "common sense" pops out, it becomes a flawed test.

How do you measure common sense anyway?

Shouldn't you prove the existence of something before even trying to mesure it ?

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by ganbaru

Shouldn't you prove the existence of something before even trying to mesure it ?

IMO, there are a few I know and respect for their thinking, they use the term "common sense" often when mentoring "kids" like me.

It makes sense, but it is not commonly shared because everyone has different life experiences. Neither does those advice work for everyon; it is supposed to be taken with a pinch of salt and adaptes to work for you.

That, my friends, is a combination of simple logic and LATERAL thinking. Common sense is an umbrella term for potpourri common nonsense.

[GDB]

Originally Posted by ganbaru

Shouldn't you prove the existence of something before even trying to mesure it ?

From the dictionary:

common sense
noun
sound practical judgment that is independent of specialized knowledge, training, or the like; normal native intelligence.

Now, I'm unsure as to what sort of tests they would perform to measure this, but it's very much a defined existence.

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

It makes sense, but it is not commonly shared because everyone has different life experiences. Neither does those advice work for everyon; it is supposed to be taken with a pinch of salt and adaptes to work for you.

So, you're saying it wouldn't be common sense not to touch a hot iron with your bare hand? Or not to walk down the middle of the road in reduced visibility conditions? Or that there isn't really a Nigerian Prince who wants to give you free money? I don't give a shit what your "life experiences" are, it's all common sense. Just because you want to generalize it even further doesn't mean it's wrong.

[ChainLegacy]

Does a stupid person have common sense? To you or I the Nigerian e-mail scam seems common sensically fraudulent, but more people fall for it than you'd think. Do all these people lack 'common' sense? I actually think the term is sometimes fun to poke holes through, since you have to think of what makes something 'common' knowledge. Burning one's hand on a hot iron, yes... but it starts to get more fuzzy with things like the Nigerian e-mail scams.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by GDB

From the dictionary:


Now, I'm unsure as to what sort of tests they would perform to measure this, but it's very much a defined existence.



So, you're saying it wouldn't be common sense not to touch a hot iron with your bare hand? Or not to walk down the middle of the road in reduced visibility conditions? Or that there isn't really a Nigerian Prince who wants to give you free money? I don't give a shit what your "life experiences" are, it's all common sense. Just because you want to generalize it even further doesn't mean it's wrong.

So it is common sense to spend more today because the value of the currency will drop tomorrow?

That is common nonsense....the term is nothing more than a cliche used by people who don't like alternatives. Much more apt is the term "simple logic" because it gives a benefit of doubt and choice. There are some people who live better lives without adhering to "common sense".

[Anh_Minh]

... Seriously?

It's just a hoax, like that one about IE uses being dumber.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

... Seriously?

It's just a hoax, like that one about IE uses being dumber.

And French who can't appreciate French maids more likely to have way below average intelligence.

[ganbaru]

9 Maine students suspended over pot-laced cookies
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...12-10-19-01-19

[GDB]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

So it is common sense to spend more today because the value of the currency will drop tomorrow?

That's not common sense at all. The value of what you would buy would drop tomorrow, too. Does that mean you should invest only in potatoes?

There are some people who live better lives without adhering to "common sense".

And they're rare, thus not common. So their sense, by definition, would not affect what is common. They are merely outliers.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by GDB

That's not common sense at all. The value of what you would buy would drop tomorrow, too. Does that mean you should invest only in potatoes?

Exactly what I said. Common sense is often "common nonsense"; it is a bloody cliche that shouldn't even be a proper descriptor. It is no different from the word swag.

And they're rare, thus not common. So their sense, by definition, would not affect what is common. They are merely outliers.

Not true. There are people who live by walking under hanging containers and inspecting them, disabling explosive devices and doing their own electrical work. If it is common sense not to do anything dangerous without prior training, how do we exactly discover new things?

I would pull up an article that made our Manpower Minister the laughingstock of the professional circles during coffee/water-cooler/after-meeting breaks :

Calling SCDF for help is common sense

Sembcorp Marine's handling of the accident comes a week after another incident which didn't reflect well on local companies.

Nearly 200 SMRT drivers from China staged an illegal strike over their unhappiness with what they perceived to be unfair wages and undesirable living and working conditions.

An SMRT spokesman admitted that the company needed to improve its management, communication and engagement efforts to be more proactive, responsible and sensitive to their drivers' needs.

Commenting on this on Sunday, Acting Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin said there were many practices not required by law that "any good company should have to fulfil", including how a firm manages its employees and looks out for their welfare.

He added: "Frankly it's common sense."

If it is "common sense" for a company to protect its own image by not involving proper authorities during an accident, "common sense" to pay workers their bare minimum so as to reduce business costs, why is it "common sense" too to call for civil defence to prepare for mass casualties during a shipyard accident so the nearest hospitals are not swamped (there is a protocol for this, and more serious incidents would call in the military Special Forces to provide unarmed S&R), and "common sense" to pay your workers well so they won't strike?

If "common sense" has a context and perspective, how can it be common? And what would it be called when "common sense" clashes?

Common sense is nonsense - it is used by people who don't understand whatever they are doing, but because the methods has not caused any incident it is assumed as right. So much for causation does not imply correlation.

[Vexx]

Your alarm flags should always fire off any time anyone uses the words "common sense" because more often than not, they're just appealing to some traditional meme that they're without a clue as to its origin.

"That's always the way its been done, so there!" Pbfffffffffft.

[GDB]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

Not true. There are people who live by walking under hanging containers and inspecting them, disabling explosive devices and doing their own electrical work. If it is common sense not to do anything dangerous without prior training, how do we exactly discover new things?

Nothing you just said here makes doing those things common sense, or not doing them not common sense. And not everyone has common sense. That's why it's "common sense", not "sense".

Originally Posted by Vexx

Your alarm flags should always fire off any time anyone uses the words "common sense" because more often than not, they're just appealing to some traditional meme that they're without a clue as to its origin.

"That's always the way its been done, so there!" Pbfffffffffft.

Agreed, but that doesn't mean common sense doesn't exist and/or is automatically wrong because someone uses the term.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by GDB

Agreed, but that doesn't mean common sense doesn't exist and/or is automatically wrong because someone uses the term.

Then the term is "logic".

I could go on for this by dividing it into "simple" and "complex" logic, but it would just be like trying to untangle a plate of spaghetti with melted cheese all over it - everything is yellow but not all are carbo.

Originally Posted by GDB

Nothing you just said here makes doing those things common sense, or not doing them not common sense. And not everyone has common sense. That's why it's "common sense", not "sense".

Then why is the adjective "common" added before the word "sense"? According to dictionary.com, the word "common" means "belonging equally to, or shared alike by, two or more or all in question". The term "common sense" should therefore be a "sense" that is "shared alike by two sensors/people".

Common sense isn't always automatically wrong, it became a cliche because people are too lazy to figure out the underlying meanings and intentions beneath the "common" opinions and ideas - it dragged on until nobody knows where all these ideas came from - eventually all that "common sense" become "common nonsense" as it is today.

Here is a not-so-good book, but albeit an interesting one when it comes to discussing common sense. It is not a simple read, it is confusingly written and over-marketed, but nonetheless, eye-opening to a certain extent.

[GDB]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

Then why is the adjective "common" added before the word "sense"? According to dictionary.com, the word "common" means "belonging equally to, or shared alike by, two or more or all in question". The term "common sense" should therefore be a "sense" that is "shared alike by two sensors/people".

Your random hatred for the term "common sense" is clouding your ability to think logically here. It is not shared by all, because then it wouldn't be "common sense", it'd just be "sense". Common implies that there are varying levels, such as uncommon and rare, and that the level known as common merely has the highest degree of consistency. Anyway, this is horribly off topic, so that's the end of this topic for me.

[ganbaru]

NTSB: Use ignition locks for all drunken drivers
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...12-11-15-09-34