Random BS people say that you get fed up with.

[shootthebandit]

"Easy listening" seriously why do people say this? Of course listening is easy we do it without even trying. Most of the time we do it when we dont want to

Well, some music is easier to pay attention to. Taking it to the extremes, you can play this-

Spoiler

-and carry on with what you're doing. It doesn't require much attention to really appreciate and makes you quite relaxed.

On the other hand, if you want to listen to this-

Spoiler

It generally demands a bit more attention, it's more effort to appreciate. It's just semantics, 'easy listening' sounds better than 'easy to appreciate'.

I'd like to point out that I don't want to be one of those music snobs- Just because something is harder/easier to appreciate doesn't necessarily make it better.

I understand where your coming from. Thats what the phrase "easy listening" means but in terms of the actual listening you are doing the same thing with both songs. Sure jack johnson is far more pleasant to listen to so perhaps it should be called "pleasant listening". The word easy implies their is a skill invloved which their isnt

 

[Blue_vision]

Natural gas and fracking are fantastic solutions to improve our economy. Their extensive use across the country and the planet has no long-term consequences whatsoever.


5:15 for the moment you've been waiting for. I'm surprised she managed to get this on camera. Usually gas companies make entire counties sign NDA's.

This would be true. Except that a sizeable proportion of people with fracking going on in their community who get natural gas in their water actually always had the gas in there to begin with. Because natural gas companies tend to set up fracking operations in those areas because there's lots of natural gas in the ground.
It's the same false argument as when anti-mining activists declare that there are high levels of metals dissolved in waterways near mines. Yes, and there have always been high levels of metals dissolved in those waterways, because the ground around them is filled with metals (that's why the mining companies are there!)
Flaming well water is an issue for a small number of people who have fracking operations on or near their land, but it's really just a dramatic pitch to build anti-fracking sentiment. The far bigger danger for people comes from the contamination of wells with the chemicals they use in the fracking process.

But there's two big issues with this:

First is that if done right, fracking is pretty safe. The reason people have so many issues with it is because companies are skirting around guidelines which the government is not enforcing and behaving downright dangerously. In addition, there are many slightly more expensive technologies that can completely replace the dangerous chemicals used in fracking. They are not used for generally the same reason why gas companies skirt around safety measures: because the government's so pro-fracking, they don't want to actually make companies act responsibly, for fear of driving them away.

The second is that, in comparison to our alternatives, fracking is still pretty great. Consider all the pollution and death that comes from coal, the main energy source which natural gas competes with. Thousands of people in the US die each year due to coal; either from waterways contaminated with heavy metals from coal mining, or from the particulate matter which coal power stations produce. Fracking has none of these downsides. And renewables aren't a replacement for natural gas, they are a compliment to it. Combined-Cycle Gas Turbine power stations are basically our best bet to transitioning to a post-carbon economy, and it's unfortunately going to be hard to convert our power grids to a mix of gas and renewables without using fracking to take up the huge demand that coal power's satisfying in the US and other countries.

tl;dr: Fracking's not as bad as it's made out to be. Could be better, but that's up to governments and natural gas companies, not an issue with the technology.

 

[Woodsey]

I find it frustrating that literally nobody knows how to use the word "literally" correctly.


See what I did there? Total misuse of the word, and I get so sick of hearing people say "literally" when I doubt they have any grasp on what the word actually means.

Everyone knows what it means - it's casual emphasis. Pro-tip: people who have previously described themselves as having "died laughing" do, in fact, know what death is.

OT: There's a special kind of prick who prowls the internet interjecting, "in your opinion," to the end of other people's comments. I know it's my opinion you moron, I fucking said it.

 

[Glongpre]

'People in Africa have it so much worse than you, be grateful!'

So much this. "You think you have it bad?", no did I say that? My Dad always says that and always says it to me and it pisses me off to no end.

 

[TheRightToArmBears]

I find it frustrating that literally nobody knows how to use the word "literally" correctly.


See what I did there? Total misuse of the word, and I get so sick of hearing people say "literally" when I doubt they have any grasp on what the word actually means.

Everyone knows what it means - it's casual emphasis. Pro-tip: people who have previously described themselves as having "died laughing" do, in fact, know what death is.

OT: There's a special kind of prick who prowls the internet interjecting, "in your opinion," to the end of other people's comments. I know it's my opinion you moron, I fucking said it.

I'm glad someone else on the internet understands hyperbole and how god damned annoying pedants are. I love The Big Lebowski, but every time I see that 'Well, that's just, like, your opinion, man' meme I die a little inside.

'People in Africa have it so much worse than you, be grateful!'

So much this. "You think you have it bad?", no did I say that? My Dad always says that and always says it to me and it pisses me off to no end.

Exactly, apparently it's some sort of misery competition to some people and the prize is being allowed to complain. I was more referring to (makes sense with one of the other gripes I had) people who say that about people suffering from depression, which raises it to a new level of insensitivity.

 

[lacktheknack]

Please read this.

snip

You seem to think that this was some sort of event horizon of stupid, seeing how you wrote "Please read this", but it's really not. Careless and thoughtless, yes, but it's not even the stupidest thing I've heard in the last hour.

Besides, extolling the virtues of positive thinking, even if they claim false benefits, is still not a bad thing.

Now, if your friends were waxing eloquent of the benefits of blood diamonds (true story), THEN we'd have something to properly facepalm at.

Uh giving people false solutions to problems is quite bad. It could mean they never find a real solution

If your positive thinking directly results in false solutions, you're doing it VERY wrong. Hence the "false benefits" note.

What do you mean 'hence'? You don't seem to understand that no, it very well can be a bad thing when false benefits are claimed. Your mention of false benefits is the PROBLEM since you ignore the importance of them.

Gah, I'm bad at typing things.

I was trying to say that the intent was good, just the execution was off. Very off.

My course of logic is that a good message with problematic errors probably isn't "the stupidest thing evar". I'd relegate that to a bad message with problematic errors (my "virtues of blood diamonds" example, for instance).

 

[bearlotz]

Spoiler: snip

I hate when people think that a fact has to be true. Anything which can be proven OR dis-proven is a fact. I am 100 feet tall is a fact. It can be dis-proven. On a different note, the statement "God is real" is a paradox since it is set up like a fact but the very notion of God, or at least the Judeo-Christian God, can not be proven, that is kind of his whole deal.

Uh... according to who?

noun
1.
something that actually exists; reality; truth
2.
something known to exist or to have happened
3.
a truth known by actual experience or observation; something known to be true
4.
something said to be true or supposed to have happened

Edit: Goddammit the last bit of my post got eaten let's try this again:
While there are things that we have once taken as fact (i.e. the earth is flat), once something has been DISPROVEN (we have discovered the world is round), it is no longer a fact, as it is no longer true. The whole point of a fact is that it is TRUE. Otherwise it's a "fiction" (or "lie" if you prefer) or a hypothesis (for lack of a better word here).

I guess you could call anything like that a "proposition" as well.

OT: Somewhat related, this brings up the thing that annoys me: people claiming that something "used to be a fact" or "used to be true". I'm about to get pedantic all up in this mutha, so buckle up. When someone makes a claim about something (e.g., "The world is flat/round/made of yogurt") there exists an implicit time-stamp and subject within the statement. If you were to expand it fully, it would read as "[Insert name here] states that at [insert time of statement here] the world is flat/round/made of yogurt."

Spoiler: ''It was true, but then it was proven false''

Let's use the flat earth example because it is the easiest; even back in Ye Olden Days when that statement was generally accepted as True it was, in fact, a False statement. The "Truth Value" of a statement remains constant from the moment it is uttered until the heat-death of the universe regardless of popular opinion or current scientific consensus. In this example, that statement is False. People may not have known at the time that it was False, but it was False all the same: it was not True while it was believed and then False later because it was no longer believed. This principle can also be applied to statements/theories/hypotheses that cannot be tested with our current instruments: when that statement is made it is either True or False, and our current lack of instruments able to test the theory does nothing to change that.

Spoiler: ''It's true for me''

This also ties into the idea of something being "true for me" or "only true on Wednesdays/lunar eclipses/whatever". In the first case, I think it stems from the same misunderstanding about the true content of the statement. For example:
Person 1: "[Insert diet food here] is a great way to lose weight!"
Person 2: "I've tried that and not lost a pound."
Person 1: "Perhaps not, but it is definitely true for me."
The expanded form of the first two statements would be:
Person 1: "At [insert time of statement here], [insert diet food here] is a great way for [Person 1] to lose weight!"
Person 2: "At [insert time of statement here], [insert diet food here] has not helped [Person 2] to lose weight."
It is not that a proposition is "true for Person 1 and not for Person 2", but that there are 2 propositions in play here and in this example both statements may be True or False without any relation to each other.

Spoiler: ''It's true now, but won't be tomorrow''

The same logic applies to "timed truth" statements. For example, saying "The cafeteria is serving tacos today" wouldn't be True on Wednesday but become False on a Thursday; making this claim on a Wednesday and again on a Thursday is not the same statement made twice but in fact two completely different statements. The expanded forms:
Person 1 on Wednesday: "At [XXXX hours on Wednesday], the cafeteria is serving tacos."
Person 1 on Thursday: "At [XXXX hours on Thursday], the cafeteria is serving tacos."
In this example the cafeteria serves tacos on Wednesday and not on Thursday, so the first statement is True and the second is False.

 

[Tayh]

People who quote their captcha's and comment on them on the Escapist.
I mean, is it really so interesting that some people feel the need to share a completely useless, irrelevant and random tidbit of captcha text?

 

[___________________]

People who mimic Sheldon's speech pattern (that character on that Big Bang show everyone likes). And people who keep going on like "Also, blablabla" and "Plus, blablabla". "lol" is pretty annoying too, but that's been annoying for a long time now, together with all those other things people use now for some strange reason. And other crap they think makes everyone else accept them better and/or makes them seem smarter somehow.

 

[Wyes]

People who seem to think that Eastern martial arts are superior to Western ones because mysticism, which is kind of bullshit. Any art is only as good as the practitioner.

On a related note; people who think that the katana is the ultimate sword (again, mostly because mysticism). No, there's no such thing as the ultimate sword, and if there was, I don't think the katana would be it (and who knows what it would be?).

"Evolution is just a theory". No, evolution is an observed phenomena. The theory of evolution via natural selection is a theory - supported by mountains of evidence.

That science somehow leeches all the mystery out of the world and makes it a dull place. What a load of crap. I don't understand how it subtracts [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRmbwczTC6E].

 

[FPLOON]

Whenever someone says a show/movie/game/book/etc. sucks or is overrated and have never actually seen it or even played it beforehand... especially when they do not have any sort of proof to back up their opinions and/or claims...

I know my best friend does this at times, and I'm used to that since he's usually has tangible and/or plausible evidence to back up his claims... But, even then, if it hasn't even come out yet, that's not really a good enough excuse to outright judge it negatively right then and there...

(Just saying...)

 

[IndieGinge]

Pathetic excuses for drugs. "Not being high makes me feel bad" in particular.
And what Solemnwar said, with the addition of men who give too much attention to females for just because they're female.
Also people who just call you a nazi because you believe in Socialism/Eugenics is morally okay, then proceeds to tell you why you're wrong for ten minutes.

How about "Getting high makes me feel good?" as a reason for doing drugs? I mean, I personally can respect the honesty there. Although if someone's physically addicted I think they actually have a real reason to do it. Just a terrible one. Also, this hypothetical person should try to get help, even though doing so is probably about as difficult and shameful as can be to admit to others, right after porn-star or prostitute most likely.

Anyhoo, I'd say that anyone who says things like "Atheists/Muslims worldview/doctrine means they will inevitably do evil things". I want to punch the fucks who say things like that. I've actually met some IRL, not just online crazies too. Hell, my uncle goes full NWO conspiracy theorist, claims that the philosophy of humanism is evil, and thinks that atheists think of ourselves as gods, and I have to sit and take it because he's my uncle. And I hate him for it.

Also, people who refer to all women as bitches should get smacked. If you are talking about someone who's a ***** it's totally fine - hell - if you're down at a club getting drunk or high and you say something to that effect, I will be totally chill with it. You can do you, even if it's kinda bad. But if you start to refer to the women around us as bitches while I'm working the cash register and trying to ring up your drink, I will try to at the very least fuck up your order, if not directly antagonize you, as I don't wish to lose my job.

 

[Gennaroc]

People who correct people for using the word literally 'wrong'. Most virtually everyone ever* is -intentionally- using it wrong. Its the ultimate in hyperbole. It's used 'incorrectly' for emphasis for christ sake. Jumping around and flailing about with all the 'gah you mean -figuratively-' shits me no end; I happen to have a reasonable grasp on my fucking language and know that I'm using the opposite meaning of the word. It's really patronising.

*this is called hyperbole. No one will care if I say it like that. I say 'literally most everyone ever' and there will be some fuckwad somewhere to vomit up a 'deerrrr that word doesn't mean what you think it means'.

For added emphasis, this is from the apple dictionary thingo:

-

literally |ˈlitərəlē; ˈlitrə-|
adverb
in a literal manner or sense; exactly : the driver took it literally when asked to go straight across the traffic circle | tiramisu, literally translated ?pick me up.?
? informal used for emphasis or to express strong feeling while not being literally true : I have received literally thousands of letters.

-

Notice that bottom point? Even the freakin dictionary gets it.

 

[Innegativeion]

I'm gonna be "that guy" and jump in with the response everyone's been expecting, but has somehow not been posted yet.

It's "I could NOT care less", not "I could care less". By this point we shouldn't have to fucking explain why the fuck this is. If you're an adult and you don't know how to properly use the word "Not" by now then I'm going to politely ask you and the rest of your inbred, window-licking kind to line up, side by side and proceed to cap the person to your right. I will then proceed to castrate and parade the last remaining one of you around the world as an example of what not to fucking to do.

Also, to a lesser extent, people who are too thick to know how to use the various versions of the words Their/They're/There and Your/You're. Which is, unfortunately, still too common, even on these forums.

"I could care less" is a sarcastic expression.

"I could care less... so continue explaining it to me so I'll further lose interest"

or...

"I could care less... but not by a huge margin"

Much cleverer than just flatly telling someone you're not interested. Plus, it sounds better.

Besides, since when did we have to fucking justify turns of phrase that, in a literal sense, are completely illogical? Like... almost all figures of speech are illogical, that's why they're "figures" of speech, not statements to be taken so seriously.

(especially with threats of violence... like... cool it, dude.)

 

[TheOrb]

"I could care less."
...
You know who you are.

 

[Chairman Miaow]

People only used 5% of their brains and geniuses are people who can tap into all of 100%. In that case, why are headshots so damn deadly? If we are only using a small percentage of our brains then we can lose most of it and be perfectly fine.

While what you are saying is mostly true, it is possible to lose a large portion of brain and be mostly fine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phineas_Gage#Extent_of_brain_damage

 

[Atrocious Joystick]

When people claim only a vocal minority of Christians are an issue without evidence. Considering the influence this supposed vocsl minority has politically I expect actual evidence they are just a minority. When there's a phenonmenon like that they need a stronger argument than their own word.

Even if every single christian in the US was a crazy extremist that would still be the minority of christians. Because you do understand there are christians outside of the United States and that in many cases these countries have no problem with a "christian right"?

 

[TheScottishMexican42]

"It was a miracle"

Like "The fact that the pilot landed the plane without wheels is a miracle" or "Do you think the fact you lived was a miracle?" or "This teams victory was a miracle!"

WRONG.

It was the pilot's abilty that landed the plane.
It was the skill of the doctor's that they lived.
It was the team's skill, and teamwork that helped them win.

Not divine fucking intervention.

 

[mattttherman3]

People that think because they are religious, they should get special treatment from me. I work at a call center, I get this a lot:"Now I'm a christian, and I think my services should be working." WHO. FUCKING. CARES. Your damned internet is out! That has nothing too do with the fact that you are indoctrinated!

 

[A_Parked_Car]

Basically whenever somebody who is uninformed talks about history, particularly military history, around me. It is pretty incredible what people think they 'know' about various historical events.

Also, when people constantly use 'how are you' as a generic greeting. That is actually an extremely meaningful and personal question that has been watered down to the point that it is basically equivalent to 'hello'. How stupid is that?