You Win Because You Are An Idiot. Goodbye.

[Johnn Johnston]

Me: "It won't. There is less than a 1 in over 50,000,000 chance of there being a world-destroying black hole. Anyway, a black hole wouldn't blow up the world, it would just suck it in.

Where are you getting that number?

Just a random number I picked to calm him down. In actuality, the odds of a black hole were almost certain. After all, one of the things CERN were trying to examine was something about black holes (I can't remember quite what). However, the black hole would be so small as to close almost instantaneously.

Not only is a black hole closing an impossibility (as it is not even a hole)

It would disappear 'cause o' hawking radiation

It would disappear, yes, but it cannot be closed in the way that he was proposing, which was just throwing enough matter at it until it became full up.

 

[SunoffaBeach]

but if Switzerland was swallowed up there would be the small matter of a gaping hole in the Earth. That would make us be the very opposite of fine.

why? Switzerland not part of EU.

 

[Lvl 64 Klutz]

I was arguing about the colour of nothingness. When my opposition said it would be clear and so would not have a colour i thought to myself 'wa wa'
Nothingness = No light
No light = Darkness
Colour of darkness = Black
Black = That dark colour
That dark colour = Nothingness

Oh and any argument involving becoming a football when they're older, 'YOU SUCK! YOU WILL NOT BE A FOOTBALLER!'

Uh... Nothingness would be neither black or clear, it would simply be devoid of the property of color.

 

[Imitation Saccharin]

Just a random number I picked to calm him down.

And people wonder why the public doesn't believe us when we try to convince them it's totally safe.

In actuality, the odds of a black hole were almost certain.

I had no idea you not only had a degree in particle physics, but had in fact altered the standard model in such a way that black holes went from highly unlikely to almost certain.

I guess the old saying's true. Everyone on the internet has a PHD in whatever is being discussed.

After all, one of the things CERN were trying to examine was something about black holes (I can't remember quite what).

Good 'cause they aren't.

 

[Johnn Johnston]

Just a random number I picked to calm him down.

And people wonder why the public doesn't believe us when we try to convince them it's totally safe.

It was totally safe, but the only way I was able to get him to just calm down was by saying it was highly unlikely. I had tried other methods, and they had not worked, so I decided to put him at ease. No harm, no ill.

In actuality, the odds of a black hole were almost certain.

I had no idea you not only had a degree in particle physics, but had in fact altered the standard model in such a way that black holes went from highly unlikely to almost certain.

I guess the old saying's true. Everyone on the internet has a PHD in whatever is being discussed.

In that case, I'm wrong. It was just something I was told by a lecturer I know who not only has a degree in physics, but friends at CERN. Thanks for correcting me.

After all, one of the things CERN were trying to examine was something about black holes (I can't remember quite what).

Good 'cause they aren't.

Again, that's what I was told by the lecturer. I'm not trying to have an argument here, I'm just trying to post in a thread.

 

[Imitation Saccharin]

I had tried other methods, and they had not worked, so I decided to put him at ease. No harm, no ill.

Except you lied, destroyed the credibility of your words when he finds that out, and in general have provided the perfect case-in-point for why intellectual is derogatory in many circles.

In that case, I'm wrong. It was just something I was told by a lecturer I know who not only has a degree in physics, but friends at CERN. Thanks for correcting me.

Fuck! I forgot the ancillary. Everyone on the internet also has implausibly applicable friends with PHDs if he himself does not have one.

Also: Well see now you're lying or misheard him. Under the standard model, you'll get no black holes. It's only a modified version of the model that produces them.

Again, that's what I was told by the lecturer.

You Win Because You Are An Idiot. Goodbye.

 

[Johnn Johnston]

I had tried other methods, and they had not worked, so I decided to put him at ease. No harm, no ill.

Except you lied, destroyed the credibility of your words when he finds that out, and in general have provided the perfect case-in-point for why intellectual is derogatory in many circles.

He was worried out of his mind that the world would end that day. I was giving him some respite - I wasn't trying to provide a perfect truthful answer. It did the job.

In that case, I'm wrong. It was just something I was told by a lecturer I know who not only has a degree in physics, but friends at CERN. Thanks for correcting me.

Fuck! I forgot the ancillary. Everyone on the internet also has implausibly applicable friends with PHDs if he himself does not have one.

Also: Well see now you're lying or misheard him. Under the standard model, you'll get no black holes. It's only a modified version of the model that produces them.

In that case, I misunderstood him. My apologies for not being accurate enough on a scientific experiment while on an informal forum, and for listening to someone else in order to try to get an understanding of it.

Again, that's what I was told by the lecturer.

You Win Because You Are An Idiot. Goodbye.

So I misunderstood someone. That isn't a crime. Now you're just trying to be inflammatory, which doesn't serve to do anything productive except start a needless flame war. Let's let this be before you derail the thread any more.

 

[Zykon TheLich]

I had tried other methods, and they had not worked, so I decided to put him at ease. No harm, no ill.

Except you lied, destroyed the credibility of your words when he finds that out, and in general have provided the perfect case-in-point for why intellectual is derogatory in many circles.

I've heard the 1 in 50M figure bandied about as well, maybe he just made it up on the spot, but if thats the case a lot of other people did as well.

 

[Crofty]

One that was said to my mate
"You're wrong because YOU'RE NOT AMERICAN!"

 

[LeChuck99]

I think it should go without saying that if someone raises their voice, starts insulting the other person, or walks away without hearing the other persons point or retort, they automatically loose the arguement.

 

[Zykon TheLich]

I think it should go without saying that if someone raises their voice, starts insulting the other person, or walks away without hearing the other persons point or retort, they automatically loose the arguement.

That doesn't necessarily make them wrong, chances are they are being a dick though. I would add being an unneccesarily snide fucker to that as well.

 

[Johnn Johnston]

I think it should go without saying that if someone raises their voice, starts insulting the other person, or walks away without hearing the other persons point or retort, they automatically loose the arguement.

Too true. I once knew someone (I wasn't a friend of theirs, mind you) that would start an argument for no reason. As soon as they began to lose, as they always did, they began to start saying, "Shh. Zippit. Shh. Shh." They continued doing that as they walked away from the argument. As you can tell, they weren't very popular.

 

[Imitation Saccharin]

I've heard the 1 in 50M figure bandied about as well, maybe he just made it up on the spot, but if thats the case a lot of other people did as well.

Huh. Maybe you're right. I mean could it be a coincidence? With one person on a forum, and an indefinite, possibly entirely fictional amount of people elsewhere heard third-hand?

This is why we can't have nice things society. This right here.

 

[Johnn Johnston]

Actually, I found a quote that has apparently been bandied around a lot.

Martin Rees, a physicist, has estimated the chance of an accelerator producing a global catastrophe at one in 50 million which is about the same odds as winning some lotteries.

Here's one instance of it being used. [http://www.virginmedia.com/digital/science/largehadroncollider.php]
And another, from CNN. [http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/06/30/doomsdaycollider.ap/index.html]
Three's a crowd. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safety_of_the_Large_Hadron_Collider#Safety_concerns]
More than just a few made up people, it seems.

 

[Zykon TheLich]

It doesn't say which report exactly, but heres a link to something online in the New York Times I found with a quick search. Right or wrong, its not just been pulled out of thin air.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/15/science/15risk.html

The Times and various other online sources quote that figure as well.

 

[Amnestic]

People around me were discussing where we should go sit down. I suggested Costa Coffee as it was nearby, warm, had comfy chairs and...well, coffee and cakes. One of my friends responses?
"You can't join in, you don't have a girlfriend."
Luckily the rest of the group wasn't as batshit retarded as him and we agreed on my proposition of costa.

 

[Johnn Johnston]

People around me were discussing where we should go sit down. I suggested Costa Coffee as it was nearby, warm, had comfy chairs and...well, coffee and cakes. One of my friends responses?
"You can't join in, you don't have a girlfriend."
Luckily the rest of the group wasn't as batshit retarded as him and we agreed on my proposition of costa.

It would be even dumber if you were a lass yourself.

 

[Imitation Saccharin]

More than just a few made up people, it seems.

And yet they did. Because he just said he did.

 

[Johnn Johnston]

More than just a few made up people, it seems.

And yet they did. Because he just said he did.

So, there are more than a few made up people, and yet they did, because he said he did. That makes no sense whatsoever.

If I assume you just have syntax issues, and you really mean that the people quoted a made-up source, then I have a response for that, too. I never said it was a true statement - I just said that people had quoted it, which I think you'll find that they did.

And seriously, you are just going on and on about it. Let it go, already.