QUOTE(Twitch98 @ Sep 20 2006, 03:38 PM) [snapback]1358128[/snapback]
We conclude that the hobo lacks credability due to his station in life and the Harvard dude who is simply tap dancing real fast to push through his version of reality gets the nod as believable. It's not simply being skeptical, it's turning off your mind.
Only if you do it for the reasons that you pointed out above. If, on the other hand, you use your skeptical abilities and realize that the probability of the Harvard 'dude' actually having studied and learned about different sorts of phenomena that can result in the effect that the hobo reports are quite high, then it is not turning off your mind, but rather understanding that what Harvard offers is generally of a higher caliber, meaning that it contains far more research, logic, and reason, by virtue of being Harvard material (It is, after all, not merely a title handed out for nothing), as opposed to the hobo.
QUOTE(Jaguat @ Sep 22 2006, 09:27 AM) [snapback]1360463[/snapback]
What about the Bermuda Triangle? The "Mary Rose"? The Philadelphia Experiment?
The Bermuda triangle is a non-mystery, in that it is essentially a created mystery done by exaggerating actual incidents, incompletely reporting other incidents, and outright fabricating more than a few incidents. When looked at in context, one realizes that the Bermuda Triangle region is actually the single most heavily traveled region near the U.S., with literally hundreds of flights and ships traversing through it on a daily basis. It is also the primary training ground for the U.S. Navy. If looked at statistically, there should actually be far
more incidents than there actually are, due to the heavy traffic, but because of the heavy traffic, the area is more closely monitored than normal, and thus there are actually
less incidents than normal. The "Mary Rose" and the Phildelphia Experiment, again, are also incidents that, upon stripping away the exagerration and embossements, become somewhat more banal.
QUOTE(Col. Kurtz @ Sep 22 2006, 09:31 AM) [snapback]1360465[/snapback]
I remember when i was younger reading a story about some WW1 brigade or battalion disappearing right on the battle feild in smoke and fog,,also Roanoak comes to mind.

Right, the Battle of Mons. The thing about this, again, is context. After the battle, the clean-up involved the logging of around 12,000 individual body parts and entire bodies that could not be identified due to battle damage. That the 200 odd soldiers and 17 or so officers of the 203rd Battallion disappeared becomes, in context, less than surprising.
Same with Roanoke. It's all about context. It's all about the forest, not the trees. A colony, left alone for two, close to three years, running out of food because of the people who did not know how to deal with the new world around them? Roanoke was not the first colony to disintegrate in the time it took a supply ship to go from the New World to England and return.
Incidentally, I can't believe this thread came up again, after two years of being lost to the abyss.