BellGab/bellchan Archive

Quote from: Scully on August 10, 2013, 11:17:27 PM
Interesting how quickly this thread reverts to politics over and over again.  Could it be for the same reason Wells can't string two sentences together without blaming the big bad government for whatever ails the world?

If you share his politics, though, I guess ya just can't be expected to notice.  Or else you haven't put in much listening time, but you did hear Wells once for a few minutes and he sounded ok then.

Beulah, peel me a grape.  :

Hi Scully! Always nice to see a Coastgab veteran posting.  Please read the following in a conversational tone, like chatting over a drink.  My comments are critical, but I'm certainly not attacking you personally.

I wasn't sure if your second sentence I bolded was directed at me, as I mentioned in an earlier post that I had only briefly listened to Johnny Baritone by accident.  Just to clarify again, I didn't defend his choice of topics or his political views, but said he seemed like a competent broadcaster when compared to Noory, and raised the question of what degree C2C hosts have a choice in the topics they cover. [1] 

I also have a hunch that the first sentence I bolded - the notion that sharing Johnny's political stripe would prevent conservatives here from objectively evaluating his broadcasting skills - may grate on a few Coastgabbers.  No doubt, it applies to some, though.

(Apologies for any formatting glitches. I'm going to try to use the ipad while traveling, and am already looking for creative ways to destroy it.)

[1]  I think most everyone around here would agree that if we learned of Premiere spoon feeding topics to their C2C hosts each night, a good chunk of the negative criticism on Coastgab would be rendered invalid.  Noory would still be an idiot, but he couldn't be blamed for his topics.

Quote from: Nucky Nolan on August 11, 2013, 02:00:59 AM
David Icke is close to the truth? It's time to stop defending Wells now. It's Knapp time unless and until Wells leaves the conspiracy theory reservation. How can you buy claims inspired by an old show with a cast of reptilian aliens ("V")?

Hey!  I remember that show!   

Quote from: onan on August 10, 2013, 12:52:40 PM
Please tell me what happiness is? I can give you contextual situations where one may be happy. But describing happy is kind of like describing the taste of salt.

I think those in marketing look for a tangible happy but I doubt the depth of such a search. I think many in management attempt to measure a level of stability in their employees which is often called job satisfaction. But I don't find that to be a substantive understanding of what we believe to be happy.

I am trying very hard to stay away from metaphysical arguments and it is leaving me hard pressed to explain my point.

Yes, I agree there are happy people. But you use the term variable which by definition is at most a target area with no specific point. And now I get into the ethereal... bleh. I guess we will just disagree.

Oh, I absolutely agree that two people will describe "happy" in different ways.  It is an emotion-laden word by its very nature.  I was just speaking to a scientific definition.  If you were to ask me "what is happiness?", I would say "a high score on a reliable and valid scale of generalized positive affect".  Whether that's an ideal measure of "happiness" is a fun discussion, but it would be objective and quantitative. 

(Admittedly, social scientists often give terrible measures a free pass just because they are an objective number.  The history of "intelligence" measurement is a good lesson in this regard.)

Sorry for any grammatical errors.  Hurry-posting.

I'm not going to mock you further, El Bee, but I strongly encourage you to do a bit more critical reading of history, using sources that are respected and highly cited.  David Irving is not one of them.

The harsh reaction of other Coastgabbers is understandable.  You stated an unpopular opinion on an extremely sensitive issue, and based it on a source with zero credibility.  That's bound to cause a reaction.  Do some research and learn a bit more about the issue.  I'm not a professional historian, but am just a WW2 fanboy who has read dozens of texts (mainly tactical-level military), and not one of these treatments gives a shred of credence to anything written by Irving regarding the Holocaust.  Please consider this when revising your own beliefs on the subject.

Quote from: El Bee on August 10, 2013, 01:10:23 PM
Wow, was in reference to how excellent his various books are. Hitlers War for example (of course, all you Irving haters have read them all right?)

I wasn't so much enthralled with the holocaust views but his work on Hitler and Churchill.

Irving is not trying to diminish the Jewish lobby's suffering, but more highlighting that actually compared to say, the 50-60 MILLION communists killed by Stalin they didn't have it so bad!

I know an awful lot of you on this forum are very center line conservative - but come on! Is it OK that people are being SENT TO PRISON FOR YEARS for raising QUESTIONS about why the Jewish suffering DOMINATES history books!

I don't want to be confrontational here, but how can you set aside his views on the holocaust when evaluating his writing?

I'm referring specifically to the scholarly aspect of his writing.  Someone can write incredibly well, and be very articulate, and at the same time, be uhm, completely fucking wrong.

THEY DIDN'T HAVE IT SO BAD?  Sure, set up a lemonade stand and there would have been no hard feelings.  Even steven! 

Come on, man.  I sincerely hope you are trolling.

I hope we hear a clarification from El Bee soon.  One ambiguous sentence isn't much to start judging or piling on.

On the subject of Irving, I remember starting to read "Hitler's War" on a long train ride to Toronto, and quickly thinking something wasn't quite right...  On this same trip, I was delighted to learn that Shirer's "Rise and Fall" had the effect of scaring other passengers, allowing me to have an entire row to myself on a full Amtrak.  I cuddled up to "Lost Victories" and "Russia at War" on the return trip, but they apparently weren't as repulsive to other passengers.  Perhaps I should have gone with the pop-up version of "The Devil's Adjutant".

Quote from: onan on August 10, 2013, 12:08:30 PM
I'll see your flip on the flop.

Any requests from the islands? 

Quote from: onan on August 07, 2013, 07:05:25 PM
It is a bullshit study. Happy isn't quantifiable. Stability is. Safety is. I have a client that is happy whenever he has cocaine. What does that mean? It means happy, if the only measurement, is a poor target to judge anything of relevance.

Is happy a goal? sure sometimes, but at other times abstaining from pleasure can be much more healthy.

I am not saying a discussion over children isn't worthwhile. I am saying the study is hardly worthwhile. It is more of the same crap that existence has to be about one aspect of mood. If only life were that simple.

Sorry to pull a thread from a few days ago - just catching up on reading.

We'll have to agree to disagree on this one, Onan.  Not only is happiness quantifiable, it is one of the most measured variables in all of human psychology, right up there with motivation.  Granted, it is usually more complex than a single concept, and I think this was one of the other points you made.  A lot of theories partition happiness by areas of life - e.g., satisfaction with work, life, self, relationship, etc. - and happiness in one dimension has no implications for another.

I'm off to a thrilling academic conference (but I repeat myself, pfffftt..), and probably won't be rolling through this part of town again until Art goes live.

It was nice to see many of the familiar and friendly faces still here from a few years ago, as well as some new ones.  Sorry if my posts have sounded like long-winded meandering lectures at times.  I'm accustomed to babbling in front of 20 year olds every day, so my natural tendency is to use more words (I've ordered a bikini-clad editor to follow me around 24/7, which will hopefully help).  Tonality is difficult to convey in online forums, but be assured, I sure as hell don't think I'm smarter than any of you.  The moment you perceive intellectual superiority over a person, the chance of you learning anything new from them diminishes to zero.

Now.. better looking  than all of you?  Different story... 

Egads... see what happened?  I sound like I'm lecturing in a post where I apologize for sounding like lecturing.  Meta-lecturing! 

Anyway, I'll see you all in a few weeks.  Be safe and snarky!

Quote from: Georgie For President 2216 on August 07, 2013, 01:42:49 PM
I don't really have an issue with the types of subjects Wells delves into, though I wish he would get his facts straight.  It's more his manner -- the twenty minute questions that leave the guest 'dazed and confused' wondering what they were just asked, the confused logic, the condescending attitude that's based on.. what exactly?, the linking of everything to the new World Order, Well's susceptibility to suggestion by anyone with a one-world-government or secret-government-bases-on-the-moon-or-inside-the-Earth schtick, and a lot of things I just can't think of right now.  The worst thing about Wells is that I think he's smart enough and socially adjusted well enough to do better.

If he comes off as condescending, that's a flaw for sure.  But as far as getting facts straight and falling in line with the guests' NWO nonsense, it would make sense if he's simply humoring his employers.  He may not be genius, but just seems smart enough to both disbelieve what he's saying, and tow the company line enough to convince listeners that he does believe it.

Ah well, just conjecture.  For all I know, he was the exact same way in all his work prior to C2C.  I see he has several clips on Youtube.  Maybe I'll give a few of them a listen.

Seeing as my earlier tongue-in-cheek post was one of only a few "pro-Wells" commentaries in the last few days, let me clarify that I'm not a fan, and have probably heard him for only two hours more than Onan's nil.  Crazy topics and right-wing lunacy aside, he just seems like a competent broadcaster, and his note to SR-71 was polite and up-front.  Credit where it is due.

I wonder how much say Premiere has in the topics covered by their hosts, as well as their "alliances", so to speak.  I've heard that Wells is cozy with Alex "Hulkamania" Jones, but is this genuine, or a command from on high?  Is anyone here familiar with Wells' work before his C2C gig?  His background in the entertainment industry just doesn't jive with being too much of a right wing nutcase, but certainly does so if he is acting like he is.  He might talk about marinated shit on a shingle if people would listen.  Ratings are his paycheck.

Actually, this same notion applies to Noory.  He's a buffoon and professionally incompetent.  This is objectively apparent.  But does he truly believe the crap he spews?  We really can't say, and perhaps the negative critical reaction of him based on his show being right-wing, too religious, pro-whatever, is unfair.  He may just be doing Premiere's bidding.

Quote from: Nebraska888 on August 07, 2013, 12:10:06 PM
Damn........did I miss this???   

Check it out in the George Noory Sucks thread:

http://coastgab.com/index.php?topic=3.28590

Specifically, Reply #28597.  Plenty of discussion of it on that thread.

When you have one of those "ah, now  I get it..." moments.

Similar to knowing the statement "2 __ __ = 4" is true, and hoping you get the operator and not the second operand, as the former uniquely identifies the latter, and not vicey versy.

And btw, kudos to bateman on some laugh out loud prank calls.  Your funniest line for me was right before you lost it the other night - "... the announcement, the wonderful announcement.. that Art Bell...".   The personality that you were mimicking would say something just like that.  Great line.

(Edit:  Might have been more approp. for the GNS thread.  Only note it here because of the Art Bell mention.)

Quote from: West of the Rockies on August 07, 2013, 11:29:48 AM
Any suggestions for an H.P. Lovecraft story for a complete newbie?  I've heard the name for years, of course, but never read any Lovecraft.  Isn't he sort of an acquired taste?

"The Dunwich Horror", "Picture in the House", and the classic "The Call of Cthulhu" are all good.  And yeah, you'll pretty much know early on reading HPL whether you'll like him or hate him.

Quote from: bateman on August 06, 2013, 05:09:50 PM
Beautiful photography

Heh... I'm a follower of shipwrecks, and when I saw that, thought "Oooh, oooh, I know this!  That's... that's....  oh.  No, it's not."

Great photo though.

Quote from: bateman on August 07, 2013, 10:37:42 AM
John Batchelor does them almost nightly, and he's nationally syndicated.

http://johnbatchelorshow.com/podcasts

Indeed he does.  I'm not too familiar with him, but a peek on Google makes me think author interviews are more in his wheelhouse, and expected by his audience.  I should have probably been more specific, and said "Art's likely audience".

We'd all save ourselves a lot of grief when discussing politics if we simply judged the person in question by their actions, and not the actions by our previously-formed opinion of the person.

Quote from: UFO Fill on August 07, 2013, 08:42:23 AM
As far as Millenium, the 1999 episode Collateral Damage stars Art Bell.

You are quite correct, sir.  I had completely forgotten about that episode.

Quote from: Ravenna on August 06, 2013, 08:21:04 PM
I think Art would dig Lovecraft's stories if he gave them a chance, and I think he would be fascinated by H.P.'s life.  As you undoubtedly know, HPL has an avid following of readers, many whom are also gamers (as Lovecraftian themes are in many computer games these days).  I'm in a Lovecraft group on FB, and there's close to 8,000 members and the people who are members are the kind of people that Art would like:  intelligent, quirky and interested in the paranormal.  S.T. could, of course, also discourse on the topic of underground/alternative weird fiction world, of which there is quite a movement of that in this country (in a small  but continually growing way):  they write, publish books and magazines, they put on and attend conferences, ... heck, some of them even make documentaries (Jason V Brock).  I think it's a movement that Art would be intrigued by if he knew about it, and it would make Dark Matter more cutting edge if it was a topic of one of his shows.  It would add breadth to the show, and not be the same old topics that he's always discussed (but yet, philosophically, fit within the realm of Art's usual old topics).

It would be wonderful to see some of the interviews you mention (Lovecraft, Martin), and perhaps someone who was more of a pop culture name in the 90's, such as Clive Barker.  (His short story collection, "Books of Blood", showed a very different side to his work.)  Though I'm not sure how much a modern audience would be interested in author interviews on the radio.  TV writers might be a better draw.

A white write-in candidate actually received the most votes in the Detroit mayoral primary:

http://www.detroitnews.com/section/politics0106/

This was after he was: 1) bounced off the ballot by a legal challenge, and 2) another candidate drafted a similarly named barber ("Mike Dugeon") in the hopes of confusing write-in voters. 

This is refreshing news.  Not that Mike Duggan's "whiteness" would make him a better mayor, but that the decades of race-baiting Detroit's 80% black population to fear white politicians as suburban invaders might be nearing its end.  That may be optimistic.

On the subject of grammatical pet peeves, mine is the use of "since" in place of "because".  Both imply a temporal arrangement of the following two phrases, but only "because" implies causality.

Though I don't think it is grammatically incorrect, certain usage of the word "enjoy" bug me.  If enabling is "bringing ability to", and engender is "bringing existence to", shouldn't enjoy technically mean "bringing joy to"?  Sentences such as "Did you enjoy the show?" make no sense. The show cannot receive joy.  "Are you enjoying yourself?" sounds better to me.

Quote from: West of the Rockies on August 06, 2013, 02:43:14 PM
Thank you for both tips, Onan!  I'm sure we'll give Fringe at least a brief look, but it looks like a sort of stale retread.  I was no fan of Millenium.  It struck me as waaaaay too dark when I watched the first few episodes.  Maybe it got better.  Then again, it didn't last all that long, did it?

I'd definitely suggest giving Millennium another look.  You might have seen my comments about it earlier in this thread.  I absolutely loved that show - season 1 is especially brilliant, but there are gems throughout the three seasons.  The first few episodes were VERY dark, probably to draw in curious viewers.  Things do taper down quite a bit, and if you like X-Files, you might like seasons 2 onward.  I'm biased, of course, but I think Millennium had some of the best writers in television at the time, and because the show wasn't tied down by a "mytharc" like X-files (At least in season 1 and early 2), it gave these writers free reign, and boy did they deliver.

I'm trying to think of a later Millennium episode to recommend to you that's a stand alone story, without spoilers for the overarching plot, and may be appropriate for all ages, so that your daughter can watch as well...

Ah.. "Luminary".  Season 2, Episode 12.  Start there, and see if it piques your interest.  I bet it will.

Quote from: West of the Rockies on August 06, 2013, 10:16:27 AM
Damnit... just damnit....  I honestly thought about writing an essay on this topic of people who begin their sentences with "so".  It's something I've noticed repeatedly on Science Friday in particular (an NPR offering for those who are unaware).  Over and over, I hear scientists on that program begin sentences with "so".  My theory is that they do this because they are used to people not understanding their explanations.  "So" is a a sort of verbal breadcrumb to lead the topic in a certain direction.  "So" also has with it the element of cause/effect explanation -- quite important in scientific conversation.

Now someone else has taken my idea -- curse you, BBC the platypus!

I think you're spot on with this.  Starting a sentence with "so..." seems to be saying "a lot of irrelevant stuff is already established, and therefore..."  Terrible English, but I do it all the time.

Reminds me of a testy exchange at the end of a lecture I attended.  One of our faculty had worked with NASA for two semesters, and returned to describe what he worked on and the results.  At the end, someone asks: "So could one summarize your last hour of talking by saying you wasted 8 months of your time?".  After a barely audible "oooh" went through the audience, the speaker rather calmly said "Well, you know, past behavior taken into account, I think YOU could say that, but others may think differently."  Well played.

Just saw "Oblivion".  Wasn't expecting much, and it was a pleasant surprise.  Slow pace reminded me of older sci fi (though we're not talking Tarkovsky's Solaris here).  Style more than substance, but enjoyable.  For as much crap as he gets, I still think Cruise is a decent actor.

Great topic, West.  Funny that Eddie mentioned McMurphy, as I'd also go with a Nicholson role and say Bobby Dupea.

Quote from: SR-71 on August 05, 2013, 11:02:28 PM
Here is the Email that I got from Commander Wells.

Hello Aaron,
Well, thanks for the heads-up, but I'm afraid you're going to miss a lot more than you may have already.
Within the last few weeks I have interviewed Nick Pope re: UFO's.  There have been chats about Transhumanism,
Police State takeover of the USA,  and many things I consider to be clear, real and present dangers.
Area 51 is a dead issue.  Nobody's talking. UFO's? They are real.
Paranormal? Like what? Ghosts? Yawn. Yes, they exist. So what else is new?
Good luck to Bell. He lost me after the second time he 'quit'. Or was it the third? I forget.
Anyway, I hope you come back sometime. I am sure there will be something you'll like on the program.
Be well.
John B.

JOHN B WELLS
www.caravantomidnight.com


-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent 8/5/2013 3:45:17 PM
To: johnb@coasttocoastam.com
Subject: I will not be listening to your show

Mr Wells, How are you today? I will not be listening to your show
anymore. The main reason is your not covering UFOs, Paranormal, Area 51,
your adventures as a pilot(I too am a pilot), etc. You are covering
and/or rehashing Mr Alex Jones topics. I'll planning to listen to Mr Art
Bell's new show on 16 Sept 13. I hope that you have a good run with
Coast. As Mr Spock would say, Live long and prosper.

Wow.  That was a classy and direct response.  He states his opinions yet remains respectful.  Noory's email handlers could learn a thing or two from John B.

For those used to George Noory's diction and sentence structure, here is a rough attempt at translating John B. Wells email to Noorese:

Thanks, Arin....  Your going to miss more..... Did you hear the pope talk to me about UFOs? Transhumans? Their real.
Police are taking over are nation.. The people want to hear this..... Its a dangerous time to all of us out there in the world.....
Area 51 is a really important topic to me.... All of the areas are important to me..... Ghosts? Their real.... UFOs? Their real..... if you heard what the pope said... their all real.

(skipping Bell comment - GN wouldn't wish him luck or mention him)

Come back and listen any time, Arin.... Theirs somethings on the shows for all of us.... Were in this thing together....

Quote from: RedMichael on August 05, 2013, 08:25:23 PM
I find it incredibly ironic that the discussion about GPA, getting accepted to medical school, etc etc is happening in a John Wells thread. A good and informative read though.

Yeah, sorry about that.

Back on topic, I only listen to C2C if I catch it accidentally, but I like John B. Wells from the little I've heard him.  That may just be Noory providing contrast, though.  When speaking understandable English becomes an added bonus, anyone would look good compared to George.

Quote from: Mind Flayer Monk on August 05, 2013, 07:34:12 PM
I think if we take a class with sections taught by a wide variety of teachers and an "easy teacher"-something like Calculus 2 or Logic/Argument maybe-and then compare the average overall GPA's of the all the students in the easy teacher's class vs the hard teacher's class it would give us a start into evaluating if what I asserted earlier is true. (This would just be a first step, but it could provide some insight). Probably some grant money in that area, too.
"Do Teachers With The Highest Average Class GPA Also Have Students With The Highest Overall GPAs?"

Did I hear the words "grant money"?   

I'll have to request that data from the college one of these days, and run that correlation.  The pattern you describe may be there.  Plenty of fun breakdowns to consider, too, such as class size and level.  GPAs skew a bit higher with seniors due to self selection (lower GPA students have already dropped out).

Of course, I'll need two course releases, a 20G stipend, and a motivated assistant named Becky to accomplish all this.. haha.

Quote from: awake on August 05, 2013, 04:03:45 PM
Scam indeed, or disinformation or  or  or.......


premrat has just re-upped dave's contract and have invested in his future.  I do not believe it is a stretch to imagine that they might attempt to poison the excitement of Art's return.  There is certainly no love loss between this site and C2C or premrat, we have fun at their expense we should expect likewise.  I actually think there will be more agent provocateurs as Art's start date nears.

Possible...  but one wrong step with a paper trail, and they'd be sued into the stratosphere for tampering or sabotage.  I'd hope the management and attorneys at a large media company would know better.