The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
Please vote in the Forum Structure Poll. Polling will close at 2PM EST on January 21, 2025.
A Thread About [Pointless Arguments]
AngelHedgie
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Yes, there are arguments that seem pointless to some people who aren't involved. This is not the thread for those.
No, this is the thread for the sort of argument that you are completely, totally invested in while knowing deep down that you are arguing over something incredibly trivial, inane, or both. Like:
And let's not forget:
In short, the sort of argument where you find yourself irrationally drawn to belaboring a trivial point, while screaming at yourself within your head about why you're continuing the debate.
So, here's the question - what's the most trivial, pointless argument you've ever been in? And let's leave politics and religion out of this, because how pointless or not those arguments are is very much a matter of opinion.
No, this is the thread for the sort of argument that you are completely, totally invested in while knowing deep down that you are arguing over something incredibly trivial, inane, or both. Like:
And let's not forget:
In short, the sort of argument where you find yourself irrationally drawn to belaboring a trivial point, while screaming at yourself within your head about why you're continuing the debate.
So, here's the question - what's the most trivial, pointless argument you've ever been in? And let's leave politics and religion out of this, because how pointless or not those arguments are is very much a matter of opinion.
XBL: Nox Aeternum / PSN: NoxAeternum / NN:NoxAeternum / Steam: noxaeternum
+4
Posts
It's not even close
Yeah cause he's funny and gives victims a glimmer of hope.
No contest.
You could get that shit for free man!
Well, it is. At least I think it serves a purpose.
Yes, but have you tried having that argument with someone that probably doesn't even know the purpose of the comma?
It's rather pointless, in case you were wondering.
http://lexiconmegatherium.tumblr.com/
dudes.
Cake is superior to pie.
And cheesecake is a cake; its in the name!
Let's play Mario Kart or something...
I will fight to the death anyone who says otherwise.
Let's play Mario Kart or something...
Don't know how this one is even an argument.
I like this one, but good ol' Monty Hall is amazing and I love it
Monty hall becomes a lot easier conceptually if you start off by doing a 100-door variation, since at that point more people will either not have an intuitive answer or think the intuitive answer is "of course switching helps."
Yeah, people sometimes do that. I've definitely seen it. However, I don't think saying that gets most people to pick it up. Or maybe most people, but not certain people who are convinced otherwise, and can't accept that the answer isn't either 1/3 or 1/2.
(I'm pretty sure I've seen bitter arguments between 1/3rd and 1/2 convinced people and just had to laugh)
When I was like 14, my dad was literally seething with rage at me and wouldn't even talk to me for about 48 hours when I bought up the monty hall problem over dinner as something I learned that day and found interesting, and he didn't believe me at first and got embarrassed and macho when I mathematically showed him the proof. I've encountered similar dispreportional resistance in the 0.999~=1 thing.
Mathematical insecurity seems to be a weirdly common thing.
Most of the pointless arguments I've been in were arguments about whether or not we were having an argument. And then there was the infinity or undefined argument of 1/x that defriended two of the forum math nerds
Doc: That's right, twenty five years into the future. I've always dreamed on seeing the future, looking beyond my years, seeing the progress of mankind. I'll also be able to see who wins the next twenty-five world series.
5 minutes into this. This is good. This is real good.
Some people thought that the conveyor belt's capabilities cancels out the movement of the plane because it moves at the same speed as the airplane's wheels.
I remember trying to give an analogy with a man with a shotgun, roller skates, and standing on a floor covered with oil. That one didn't work.
It just can't maintain that. If it could it could exert enough force to prevent the plane from flying. It would have to be moving many times faster than the required airspeed of the plane in order to do so.
An airplane pushes against the air, not the ground, to achieve forward movement. Unless this conveyor belt could also grab hold of the wheels, it ain't going to do shit to slow the plane down.
Wait a minute... Damn you @MolotovCockatoo
If the wheels were locked it might work? (or on skids). But, well. Wheels.
Via punching those that are wrong.
It's also gendered as well (remember, the original Monty Hall problem was posited by a woman, who got some really virulent responses from men looking to prove her wrong.)
But for real it's .9999etc = 1. I can prove it to 8th graders, adults shouldn't be too stupid to figure it out.
Lift is a function of air being pushed over the wings
It all depends on the kind of plane
The wheels arent frictionless and so some of the force from the conveyor belt transfers to the airplane. You can see this effect by sliding a peice of paper from under a matchbox car. The car does not remain stationary; it follows the paper a bit.
Such if the conveyor belt were actually traveling as fast as the wheels were spinning they must be producing enough force through friction to keep the planes airspeed at zero. Edit: sure you may argue "holy hell that is a lot of focre to be transfered through friction!" And you would be right. The wheel bearings would almost certainly melt before that happened, either on the 2,000,000 horsepower conveyor belt* or the airplane.
You could further say that if the belt is traveling at the same speed as the wheels the planes ground speed must be zero, either enforced by friction, lack of thrust from the plane, or one hell of a headwind.
if the question stipulates that the conveyor belt keeps pace with the wheels the only way the plane can take off is if the plane is flying into a headwind large enough to produce liftoff. If it stipulates no headwind then the plane may not take off. Either through lack of force produced by its engines, or the friction on its wheels producing drag equal to the force of the engines. If the question stipulates that the conveyor belt has a fixed velocity then the plane may take off.
*badwrongdumb rough estimate required for one variant of 777
Estimate assumes an absolutely laughable 1/10 transfer on the wheels and 4 engines on a 777 going full blast.
I purposely get pineapple and onion because it's the most delicious cold pizza the next day. We're just enlightened on the pizza meta.
Totally unrelated, but everyone here uses the pool of ketchup method of dipping fries? I mean, it would be silly to squirt ketchup haphazardly all over the fries, and then eat them that way. Completely ridiculous.
Pool of ketchup, salt the ketchup instead of the fries. I will accept Tabasco on the fry-mass as variable quantities of spice distribution keep fries interesting.
I'm always fascinated by the toilet paper roll argument. Do you hang it sheet out or sheet flush with the wall?
Even asking this question is a grave insult to be remembered for untold generations. Unless you have a cat.