Quote from: K-Dog on Jun 02, 2026, 06:32 PM

QuoteYou see problems with the system as a default setting.

No, I do not see what does not exist.  A default setting would be delusional.  I am not.

I just read the words you wrote. They sure seemed to indicate my representation. And YOU put in the delusional, I don't believe the mental machinations we are talking about are delusional. People are people, and think in many different and varied ways. And some people BELIEVE so strongly that they then interpret things within that belief...and can arrive at faulty conclusions. Hence why I anchor my perspective in science, as opposed to believing things.

Quote from: K-Dog

QuoteYou never ask your friends or similarly thinking folks to test your thoughts.

That is untrue, smart people do it all the time.

Indeed we do. I've got 20+ PhD's on call, on various aspects of the physical/natural and social sciences. Hell, I'll ask the kids if the old man is crazy depending on the topic.

Online folks? Hit or miss...as the PhD's I can name during the peak oil days have demonstrated. I swear, how can you put that much time and money into getting a doctorate and not have been taught to think for yourself?

From Wiki

Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc. was an American multinational investment bank that was forced into bankruptcy in 1990 due to its involvement in illegal activities in the junk bond market

I quit before they got caught.  In my day we were not so stupid.

RE

QuoteYou see problems with the system as a default setting. You see problems with the system as a default setting.

No, I do not see what does not exist.  A default setting would be delusional.  I am not.

QuoteYou never ask your friends or similarly thinking folks to test your thoughts.

That is untrue, smart people do it all the time.

Quote from: RE on Jun 01, 2026, 10:10 PMNext 2 trips while making the Big Bucks at Drexel. 
RE

What is Drexel?

Quote from: RE on Jun 01, 2026, 10:31 PM

Quote from: TDoS on Jun 01, 2026, 04:55 PMstill a small sample size but....markedly different than yours RE.

We can consider your experiences and mine as outliers.

You can maybe. I do statistics for a living....two of us don't a reasonable sample size make.

Quote from: REThe official stats say 50% of claims are rejected.  IOW, it's basically a coin toss on getting paid.

Statistics can lie, and liars use statistics. Whom are we calling "official" stats? Sources matter of course, as peak oil taught all of us.

But let us assume your stat is correct. For starters, the stat of 50/50 could be true....now lets talk dependencies. I use Insurance A, and you use Insurance B. All of my claims are paid, none of yours. 50/50. INSURANCE isn't an outlier, the COMPANIES are. I have only used a single independent "price matters" insurer in my life. A year or two, until I bought my first motorcycle on a loan, and needed full coverage. Hit a Toyota with it, damaged the Toyota badly, broke my back, totaled the motorcycle. Allstate paid it off, fixed the Toyota, gave me insurance when I replaced it with an identical replacement, no change in insurance rates. Stuck with the big names ever since.

Quote from: RENot buying insurance, I am 100% guaranteed not to spend money on it, and no legal battles trying to get paid off.

That is logical. And so is being sued for whatever you have for someone or something you damage to recoup their losses. Lacking assets means someone can sort of be sue-proof. So my motivations are different from someone angling for that scenario.

Quote from: REOf course there was a risk I would have an accident at some point, but I considered it negligible.

Of course. Discounting high impact, low probability events changes the distribution of outcomes certainly. It is like playing the lottery, except in reverse. What you "consider" it though is irrelevant....life is life. You can be careful, drive safely, and still have a tie rod snap and send you barreling into the path of another semi.

It is a personal choice, certainly.

Quote from: RECertainly far less than what actuarial tables said it was, which is what the premium cost is based on.  So even with an "honest" Insurance company, the cost was a ripoff.
RE

I don't have the statistics that an actuary does on behalf of accidents and whatnot, and of course their job is to make a profit, but I don't need actuary tables to suss out how this game is played. To you, the cost of insurance is a ripoff. To me it is exactly what it represents itself as....a hedge against a form of risk that has ZERO requirement of being known by my, or your, calculation in advance to place our bets. 

Quote from: K-Dog on Jun 01, 2026, 07:26 PM

Quote from: TDoS on Jun 01, 2026, 05:01 PMReally? You aren't homeless, don't suffer deprivation, and see all SORTS of issues with the system. What makes you think most folks are any different? Because some MSM mouthpiece said otherwise?

I have always seen problems with the system.  It is in my nature.

Well there you go. You see problems with the system as a default setting. I recommend fighting ones nature to come to conclusions we are naturally drawn to because we like them, or they sound cool.

Critical and analytical thinking is my motto....first, last and always. If some humans didn't do that, hell, we'd all still be praying to Zeus and confusing lightning with Thor running amuck in the clouds.

Quote from: K-DogI am also painfully aware of how ill informed most people are, and that I am most definitely an exception the general rule.

As far as I'm concerned any EE has what it takes to NOT just submit to their nature and pretend everything they believe is automatically true. Sort of a cognitive dissonnace thing maybe?

Quote from: K-DogMaking me an idiot or a savant, depending on your point of view.

Never met an idiot EE. And being one doesn't make one a savant either.

Quote from: K-DogMost people concern themselves with the banalities of their lives and nothing else.  Not many people care to crunch the big numbers.

Most people don't crunch any numbers at all. But quite a few BELIEVE stuff even if they can crunch numbers. Some use numbers to back up what they believe.....and hope that they don't run into anyone who knows what someone trying to prove s negative looks like.

Quote from: K-DogConcerning my original statement.  I stand by it.

Same here. Some folks can intuit an idea they like first, and then backup what they like. Unfortunately, they sometimes backup ONLY what they like...say..Matt Savinar for example. Not a dummy, but had a thought, and simply collected evidence validating that thought.

Others think a thought...and then back it up against all comers, as it is the only way to truly test its validity.

You never ask your friends or similarly thinking folks to test your thoughts. Echo chambers are quite popular on the internet as I've discovered since its invention. I learned to find the smartest people most experienced in the field who hate your guts and ask THEM to test your thought. AAPG Core committee as one example. Every peak oiler I could ever find. USGS folks...after all....Hubbert was one of them once. SPE chapters, the EIA, academics from Univ Texas Austin, Stanford, Penn State department heads.

At the end of the day it is just a procedure that some are familiar with to make sure they aren't espousing an idea they like, but one they can prove.

Quote from: K-Dog on Jun 01, 2026, 07:26 PM

Quote from: TDoS on Jun 01, 2026, 05:01 PM

Quote from: K-Dog on Jul 03, 2024, 08:17 AMAmericans are patriotic and will happily experience homelessness and deprivation before they see any issues with the system.

Really? You aren't homeless, don't suffer deprivation, and see all SORTS of issues with the system. What makes you think most folks are any different? Because some MSM mouthpiece said otherwise?

Because most folks have no idea how money is created.  They don't  understand that all money is debt, and all a Dollar reprents is an IOU, it's a note of infinite duration.  The only thing backing it is "the full faith and credit of the FSoA".  Once the faith is gone, so is the credit, so is the value of the note.  That the F&C has lasted this long is a testament to how well the folks who issue credit sewed up the monopoly on this, beginning back in 1692 when our old friend Sir Isaac Newton, co-inventor of the Calculus was Master of the Mint at the BoE.  Actually it traces back even further to the Medici era and the Holy Roman Catholic Church, but the real Monopoly globally came with the Bretton Woods agreement after WWII.  Most people don't even know about that, much less understand how it works.  Really even here over the years besides myself I've only ever met a couple of people who understand it.  Neal Stephenson called it "The System of the World", and our whole civilization is guided by it.  A very small number of people control it, and they are not elected.

RE

Quote from: TDoS on Jun 01, 2026, 04:55 PMstill a small sample size but....markedly different than yours RE.

We can consider your experiences and mine as outliers.  The official stats say 50% of claims are rejected.  IOW, it's basically a coin toss on getting paid.  Not buying insurance, I am 100% guaranteed not to spend money on it, and no legal battles trying to get paid off.  Of course there was a risk I would have an accident at some point, but I considered it negligible.  Certainly far less than what actuarial tables said it was, which is what the premium cost is based on.  So even with an "honest" Insurance company, the cost was a ripoff.

RE

Quote from: TDoS on Jun 01, 2026, 04:59 PMWow! Pretty good for a kid wandering Europe on money earned from delivering groceries and whatnot to help support mom because of a dead beat dad. Shit I could barely afford to hitchhike to the Cabinet Mountains of Montana to try out some survivalist skills back then.

First trip done on $700 I saved up in HS cutting lawns, shoveling snow and summer jobs.  I flew Freddy Laker  (Better Laker than Never).  2 month Railpass, slept on trains, train stations, beaches, hostels when I needed a shower.  Next 2 trips while making the Big Bucks at Drexel.  Last was my Honeymoon, paid for with my VISA Card, later discharged in Bankruptcy when my Union went on strike for 6 months.

RE

Quote from: TDoS on Jun 01, 2026, 05:01 PM

Quote from: K-Dog on Jul 03, 2024, 08:17 AMAmericans are patriotic and will happily experience homelessness and deprivation before they see any issues with the system.

Really? You aren't homeless, don't suffer deprivation, and see all SORTS of issues with the system. What makes you think most folks are any different? Because some MSM mouthpiece said otherwise?

I have always seen problems with the system.  It is in my nature.  I am also painfully aware of how ill informed most people are, and that I am most definitely an exception the general rule.  Making me an idiot or a savant, depending on your point of view.

Most people concern themselves with the banalities of their lives and nothing else.  Not many people care to crunch the big numbers.






Concerning my original statement.  I stand by it.