Author Topic: YouTube Madness  (Read 33284 times)

Offline Donnie B.

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Re: YouTube Madness
« Reply #30 on: February 01, 2013, 05:25:28 PM »
I've been in all four-corners states... at the same time.

Although I seem to remember hearing that the marker is actually misplaced and not at the intersection at all (inexpert application of a theodolite, maybe?)  In which case I've been in all four states but not at the same time.  But obviously could never perform a successful rocket launch from that spot... ;)
« Last Edit: February 01, 2013, 05:38:59 PM by Donnie B. »

Offline Noldi400

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Re: YouTube Madness
« Reply #31 on: February 01, 2013, 05:57:09 PM »
Hey, wait a minute.......



WHERE ARE THE STARS?!?!?

FAKE!  FAAAAAAAAKE!!!!!!
"The sane understand that human beings are incapable of sustaining conspiracies on a grand scale, because some of our most defining qualities as a species are... a tendency to panic, and an inability to keep our mouths shut." - Dean Koontz

Offline Echnaton

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Re: YouTube Madness
« Reply #32 on: February 01, 2013, 07:21:17 PM »
Here is my favorite photo of Jay Lightyear.

The sun shone, having no alternative, on the nothing new. —Samuel Beckett

Offline Echnaton

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Re: YouTube Madness
« Reply #33 on: February 01, 2013, 07:29:43 PM »
I've been in all four-corners states... at the same time.

Although I seem to remember hearing that the marker is actually misplaced and not at the intersection at all (inexpert application of a theodolite, maybe?)  In which case I've been in all four states but not at the same time.  But obviously could never perform a successful rocket launch from that spot... ;)

My GPS showed the actual border to be a small distance away where the terrain was much more difficult.  If that is true, then the place is more of a tourist trap than it appears.  Maybe it keeps them from having to pay sales tax in four states.  OTOH, Google shows the border to be very near the monument, and who can argue to the font of all wisdom?
The sun shone, having no alternative, on the nothing new. —Samuel Beckett

Offline Not Myself

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Re: YouTube Madness
« Reply #34 on: February 01, 2013, 07:36:33 PM »
Here is my favorite photo of Jay Lightyear.



Well that's a fake.  The wind that's blowing the flag isn't affecting his hair.
The internet - where bigfoot is real and the moon landings aren't.

Offline Sus_pilot

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YouTube Madness
« Reply #35 on: February 01, 2013, 09:55:34 PM »
I once played Thomas Jefferson in 1776.  Shaved my beard, but I refused to bleach and dye my hair.

We have a huge in-house costume and wig shop.  These days we very often opt to have the actor keep his own hair and just use an appropriate wig.  And yes, anyone who visits the Salt Lake City area can hit me up for a backstage tour.
Y'know, I work for a, um, small railroad that has a regional headquarters there.  Sounds like it may be time to go visit...

Offline Noldi400

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Re: YouTube Madness
« Reply #36 on: February 27, 2013, 06:40:54 PM »
Quite possibly the most reasonable and convincing pro-conspiracy video ever.  I think they may have persuaded me.

"The sane understand that human beings are incapable of sustaining conspiracies on a grand scale, because some of our most defining qualities as a species are... a tendency to panic, and an inability to keep our mouths shut." - Dean Koontz

Offline smartcooky

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Re: YouTube Madness
« Reply #37 on: February 27, 2013, 08:49:20 PM »
Undoubtedly one of the best Apollo Hoax pisstakes I have ever seen!
If you're not a scientist but you think you've destroyed the foundation of a vast scientific edifice with 10 minutes of Googling, you might want to consider the possibility that you're wrong.

Offline pzkpfw

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Re: YouTube Madness
« Reply #38 on: February 27, 2013, 09:20:49 PM »
That was genius, thank you.

Offline Tanalia

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Re: YouTube Madness
« Reply #39 on: February 27, 2013, 10:12:13 PM »
More coherent than most HBs.

Offline gillianren

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Re: YouTube Madness
« Reply #40 on: February 28, 2013, 01:23:43 AM »
My favourite part (yes, I actually watched it; shocking, I know) is that every single clip/picture is either "rare" or "never before seen."  Even the bit from Apollo 13.  It even got Graham's attention!
"This sounds like a job for Bipolar Bear . . . but I just can't seem to get out of bed!"

"Conspiracy theories are an irresistible labour-saving device in the face of complexity."  --Henry Louis Gates

Offline Noldi400

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Re: YouTube Madness
« Reply #41 on: February 28, 2013, 02:08:36 AM »
I loved the line  "Also, the fact that I am speaking authoritatively and with a British accent means that our proof is scientifically irrefutable."

Kudos to the author of this; I think he managed to get in a poke at pretty much every catch phrase and buzzword they use, and with all the logic of the typical HB.
"The sane understand that human beings are incapable of sustaining conspiracies on a grand scale, because some of our most defining qualities as a species are... a tendency to panic, and an inability to keep our mouths shut." - Dean Koontz

Offline Andromeda

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Re: YouTube Madness
« Reply #42 on: February 28, 2013, 04:10:40 AM »
I giggled throughout that... right up until "The letter 'O' being the first vowel in the word 'model'", at which point I howled with laughter and startled one of the pets.

That video was awesome.

(And this post was written in a British accent)
"The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' but 'That's funny...'" - Isaac Asimov.

Offline raven

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Re: YouTube Madness
« Reply #43 on: February 28, 2013, 04:35:33 AM »
Ooh, I was wondering where that video was. I remember seen it years ago, but it's not an easy one to search for without being deluged with apparently genuine moon hoax theory videos.
It's not obvious by the name or description that it's parody. God's own irony indeed.

Offline ka9q

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Re: YouTube Madness
« Reply #44 on: February 28, 2013, 04:49:57 AM »
Although I seem to remember hearing that the marker is actually misplaced and not at the intersection at all (inexpert application of a theodolite, maybe?)
The question of the exact location of state borders is actually a pretty interesting one. They were traditionally defined by lines of latitude and longitude (four  corners being the classic example) but it's my understanding (and I'm not a lawyer) that the legal border is wherever the traditional markers have been placed.

This actually matters a lot for the casinos on the southeast shore of Lake Tahoe.

When you give geographic coordinates, to be precise you also have to give the map datum (coordinate system) in which they're defined. There are actually many, as prior to the GPS age every country had their own, and they were sometimes revised. GPS forced the issue; it's global (that's what the G means) so naturally it (or more accurately the US DoD, which runs GPS) had to define its own datum as a compromise to all the others. That's WGS-84, the World Geodetic Survey, 1984 version, last updated in 2010 I think. Before that  there was WGS-72, and a bunch of others. GPS receivers can usually be set to a number of datums, but nearly all default to WGS-84. So when someone gives you coordinates that's almost certainly what they refer to. And they're often quite different from the "traditional" coordinates used in many areas.

Because of the worldwide popularity of GPS, WGS-84 has become the defacto standard in most other countries so their users have to be very careful when using local maps drawn in a different datum. For example, if you've ever visited the Royal Greenwich Observatory in England, you'll discover that the true (i.e., WGS-84) prime meridian isn't on any of the lines on the observatory wall that the tourists pose next to for pictures. It actually runs through the park a hundred meters or so to the east of the building. When I was last there I lined up some garbage cans on it so I could get my own, proper souvenir photo.

The other datum that Americans are likely to run into is NAD-27 (North American Datum 1927) which is what all those nice USGS topographic maps are drawn in. NAD-27 and WGS-84 can differ by hundreds of meters (I think) in some parts of the country, so the distinction does matter. Now you can see the wisdom of defining state borders by traditional markers rather than the currently popular geodetic datum...

There are formulas and webpages to perform the conversions, such as on the FCC website. They maintain some of their licensee and antenna databases in WGS-84 and others in NAD-27, all to make life more interesting.
« Last Edit: February 28, 2013, 04:54:44 AM by ka9q »