Bob B.
Bob the Excel Guru?
Posts: 3,072
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Post by Bob B. on Jul 19, 2011 8:47:32 GMT -4
I refer to hoax proponents by their last names, and not unkindly; it's academic tradition. So I can hardly complain if I'm treated in kind. I refer to Jarrah by his first name because if I say White it's not clear whether I mean Jarrah or Jack. ditto I use last names all the time out of tradition. For instance, if I were writing about Apollo 11, I'd give the astronauts full names initially to introduce them, but thereafter I'd just refer to them as Armstrong, Collins and Aldrin (as I'm sure any writer would). It's easier to read and it leaves less doubt about who is being referred to. I also think calling a person of high esteem by their first name it too informal.
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Post by photobuster919 on Jul 19, 2011 9:19:11 GMT -4
Just nipped in for a peek, not done this for a while but it piqued my interest (I hang my head in shame). Top of the list, a begging letter in video format, if you donate you get a free copy (DVD) of one of his films....... One of the expense things he mentions is books, one particular a book on astro physics? (not listening twice). Other expense issues are hardware and consumables for film and computers etc. Might I suggest he save money and uses a bit of paper and a pen to achieve more? I watched that video too. What struck me the most was when Jarrah said his research materials, namely his books and DVD's cost between $1 and $100 each depending on their rarity. If thats the case its no wonder Jarrah is losing money. I would honestly never spend $100 on a DVD or book no matter how rare it is and Jarrah does have a lot of rare items. He has also said that he has many more uses for the JSC1 simulant, which is doubtful because I can't imagine anything else it could be used for. Why does Jarrah spend so much money trying to prove that men never landed on the moon? He should make his expenses at a better price like buying stuff for his girlfriend? The moon missions were real and it will be impossible for Jarrah to show otherwise.
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Post by echnaton on Jul 19, 2011 9:22:55 GMT -4
IIRC, the AP style book allows the use of last names in a story once the person has been identified. The honorifics, Mr. Mrs, MS are normally dropped. The blog that passes for a local newspaper in Houston these days uses this style, referring to "Gov. Rick Perry" when our governor is introduced in the story and to "Perry" thereafter.
Under this guidance, the last name can reasonably be used without a necessary meaning of disrespect, if the reader can be expected to know who is being referred to. I find the use of the first name to carry more connotation of disrespect unless the writer is familiar and on good terms with the other person. I would refer to anyone here by first name, but Jarrah White by "White" or "JW" if using a neutral tone. ( As Jay said, using White alone can lead to confusion between Jack and Jarrah.) One can look to Bush the elder in his use of "Sadam" in reference to the former president of Iraq as a use of a first name to show contempt for ones foes.
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Bob B.
Bob the Excel Guru?
Posts: 3,072
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Post by Bob B. on Jul 19, 2011 9:36:22 GMT -4
He has also said that he has many more uses for the JSC1 simulant, which is doubtful because I can't imagine anything else it could be used for. Cat box?
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Post by gillianren on Jul 19, 2011 11:29:12 GMT -4
No, I tend to see it as a bit dismissive. I don't know why, given how presumptuous it is to refer to someone you don't know by their first name. First and last? Last and honorific? Location? Here and on BAUT, places he frequents and reads, when talking about him you are also talking to him, so Jay is Jay, one of the regulars, or JayUtah if you encounter him for the first time. In other places, when talking about him, or more specifically his work on Clavius, he's Jay Windley, or more tersely just Windley. I think this may be a place where the rules feel different online. Though in fact I refer to him as Jay regardless of where the discussion is taking place. This may also be because I don't just think of him impersonally, even in more formal conversation. I'm not sure we're close enough to be friends, exactly, but I've long felt there needs to be a word in English for "more than an acquaintance but less than a friend"--someone you've known for years and know a lot about but aren't quite close to.
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Bob B.
Bob the Excel Guru?
Posts: 3,072
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Post by Bob B. on Jul 19, 2011 11:39:20 GMT -4
I'm not sure we're close enough to be friends, exactly, but I've long felt there needs to be a word in English for "more than an acquaintance but less than a friend"--someone you've known for years and know a lot about but aren't quite close to. I agree. I often have a hard time deciding on the right words to describe someone I've become familiar with through the web forums, etc. To just refer to them as an acquittance seems too distant, but can I really call someone I've never met and talked to face-to-face a friend? I often just end up calling the "Internet friends," which I think most people can relate to and understand the distinction. (edit) Maybe they should be called ifriends?
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Post by gillianren on Jul 19, 2011 12:04:59 GMT -4
It's not exclusively an internet phenomenon, however. I have a few people I'd consider genuine friends whom I've only met online, and I have a lot of people whom I've known in person for years that I wouldn't.
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Post by JayUtah on Jul 19, 2011 12:06:00 GMT -4
I meant no offense referring to you as "Windley" and this has most certainly nbothing to do with Jarrah. Certainly none taken, and hello. My user name JayUtah actually predates the Clavius web site. I keep it the same here as at BAUT so people understand it's the same person talking.
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Post by ka9q on Jul 20, 2011 0:52:54 GMT -4
He must have spent all his money on last year's trips to the NASM and TAM...I've often wondered where he get's his money. I didn't see him at TAM9 this year, but with over 1,600 attendees it's entirely possible I missed him (as far as I know, we've never met). Adam Savage was on the program again, which made me half expect JW to show up to question him again. But Savage had to cancel at the last minute, which I found very disappointing. However, Neil deGrasse Tyson's keynote speech on Friday made the whole trip worthwhile. What a performance! The topic was scientific illiteracy in America, and even his subtitle slides got huge laughs (e.g., "Jury Duty I"; "Jury Duty II").
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Post by ineluki on Jul 20, 2011 11:22:28 GMT -4
(edit) Maybe they should be called ifriends? Careful, Apple may have trademarked that...
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Post by Obviousman on Jul 21, 2011 7:04:53 GMT -4
Jarrah spending money on items is not unique, and perhaps indicative of his state of mind.
I think he has shifted into the realm of the obsessive.
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Post by abaddon on Jul 22, 2011 23:21:06 GMT -4
How he puts it together in his videos? It's very hard to explain, but it involves some whizzy graphics, lots of annoying music and a whole lot of cherry picking and quote mining. Don't forget the annoying voice. You'd think by now he'd learn to get somebody else to narrate his videos. OK, I must admit a personal failing. While JW rants are easily debunked, that nasal, supercilious voice invokes in me an immediate urge to seek a baseball bat.
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Post by ka9q on Jul 23, 2011 0:13:43 GMT -4
What struck me the most was when Jarrah said his research materials, namely his books and DVD's cost between $1 and $100 each depending on their rarity. If thats the case its no wonder Jarrah is losing money. I would honestly never spend $100 on a DVD or book no matter how rare it is and Jarrah does have a lot of rare items. Good technical books are unfortunately quite expensive these days because their costs can't be recouped by selling hundreds of thousands or millions of copies to the general public. They're usually written for a small and very specific audience and have correspondingly small print runs. If I arbitrarily avoided every book costing more than $100 I'd eliminate many important references that I use regularly. The really sad thing about Jarrah is not that he spends a lot of money on technical books and DVDs but that he gets so little out of them. Books can be expensive but they're essential to education, and a good education is priceless. His collection sometimes appears in his videos. Just as lawyers almost always appear on TV before a wall of law volumes, Jarrah's Apollo library seems to serve mainly as a prop to show the world how 'learned' he is. Yet it would be the envy of many scientists, engineers and general fans of space exploration. He really ought to consider donating his space books to those who, unlike him, could appreciate and benefit from them. Even his local public library would be a worthy cause.
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Post by svector on Jul 23, 2011 2:33:33 GMT -4
Jarrah does have video skills He doesn't even have that. Jarrah simply copied the production style of my early works and called it his own. Watch some of my videos and then see Jarrah's from six months later. The first time I saw them, I thought I was watching my own work! He's clearly a big fan, even though his massive ego would never allow him to admit it since we're on opposite sides of the debate. Not only is the A.D.D. Aussie completely wrong about the moon landings - he's completely unoriginal as well. .
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Post by lukepemberton on Jul 25, 2011 1:16:14 GMT -4
Not only is the A.D.D. Aussie completely wrong about the moon landings - he's completely unoriginal as well. In fairness svector, while I and others find the accusation that Jarrah and his cronies threw at you repugnant, you don't know that he has ADD.
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