06-25-2007, 02:49 AM | #76 |
Larger than life and twice as ugly.
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 5,264
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As we know,
There are known knowns. There are things we know we know. We also know There are known unknowns. That is to say We know there are some things We do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns, The ones we don't know We don't know. But... you have to remember...art is art...but on the other hand water is water...and east is east...and west is west...and if you stew cranberries like applesauce, they taste much more like prunes that rhubarb does...
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We must all go through a rite of passage. It must be physical, it must be painful, and it must leave a mark. I have no knowledge of the events which you are describing, and if I did have knowledge of them, I would be unable to discuss them with you now or at any future period. Don't waste your time always searching for those wasted years |
06-25-2007, 06:02 AM | #77 | |
still says videotape
Join Date: Feb 2001
Posts: 26,813
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Quote:
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If you would only recognize that life is hard, things would be so much easier for you. - Louis D. Brandeis |
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06-25-2007, 08:54 AM | #78 |
why so serious
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 1,712
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I know it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, today.
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06-25-2007, 10:04 AM | #79 |
Lecturer
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 945
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I know i had a good time at the drink experiment party.
I also know I had too much to drink, too darn quickly. I proved I could still get hammered in a couple of hours and worry I was about to get sick. I'd like to apologize to SG, monster, Cloud and everybody else I didn't say goodbye to when I took off. |
06-25-2007, 05:50 PM | #80 | |
UNDER CONDITIONAL MITIGATION
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 20,012
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Quote:
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06-25-2007, 08:34 PM | #81 | |
™
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Arlington, VA
Posts: 27,717
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Quote:
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06-25-2007, 08:54 PM | #82 |
I think this line's mostly filler.
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: DC
Posts: 13,575
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So is any tautology. He was running down the clock on the interview, saying nothing. Sorta like saying that he knew where the WMDs were - around Baghdad, or north, south, west, or east of it.
There, he was trying for a tautology, but got nabbed by the WMDs not actually existing. Sorta the only way he could have been wrong.
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_________________ |...............| We live in the nick of times. | Len 17, Wid 3 | |_______________| [pics] |
06-25-2007, 09:56 PM | #83 |
Touring the facilities
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: The plains of Colorado
Posts: 3,476
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06-25-2007, 10:13 PM | #84 |
LONG LIVE KING ZIPPY! per Feetz
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Arkansas
Posts: 7,661
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I know there is Only 2 currently active Test Truck ( 65 K worth of truck for testing truck scales ) drivers in our shop out of a crew of 8 , this IS TOOOOO few , I have to drop what I am doing , drive 3-4 hours ONE WAY , load into the truck , drive it , do the job , then go BACK to what I was doing WAY TOOO OFTEN !!!!
WA ,WA ,BITCH , Moan ,CRY !!!!
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"Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get. " Brother Dave Gardner |
06-26-2007, 03:41 AM | #85 | |
Larger than life and twice as ugly.
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 5,264
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Quote:
I posted it because the thread is called "What do you know?" I found the Rumsfeld quote to be, at first glance, confusing, but if you thought about it for a moment, it makes perfect sense. I now have it printed out and hanging above my desk. I also used it to segue into the Groucho Marx quote, which, in and of itself, is absurdist logic in it's finest form.
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We must all go through a rite of passage. It must be physical, it must be painful, and it must leave a mark. I have no knowledge of the events which you are describing, and if I did have knowledge of them, I would be unable to discuss them with you now or at any future period. Don't waste your time always searching for those wasted years |
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06-26-2007, 09:43 AM | #86 |
Only looks like a disaster tourist
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: above 7,000 feet
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Yes. We're in a canyon and the trees on the opposite side have been lit by that light.
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06-26-2007, 12:15 PM | #87 |
twatfaced two legged bumhole
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 3,143
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I know I embarassed my boss today, because he turned deep scarlet
I invented a model of secondary brain injury that I dubbed the 'poke' model. (Will come up with something a little more scientific for the journal article) Anyhoo, my boss just came up to me and said " Are you available tomorrow for a poking?" I said, totally straight faced, "Yes, but I'll have to ask my husband if it's OK." He turned red and said "I probably wouldn't be wecome at your house anymore." I said, "As long as I got a raise after you would be". He got even redder. I made him forget what he was going to say, heh heh heh. It was a hoot.
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Strength does not come from how much weight you can lift, or how many miles you can run. It comes from knowing that you set a goal, and rose to the challenge. Strength comes from within. |
06-26-2007, 01:38 PM | #88 |
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I know it's wrong to teach your children to hate.
I know it's wrong not to educate your girls. I know it's wrong to execute a family member for "honor."
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"Guard your honor. Let your reputation fall where it will. And outlive the bastards!" |
06-27-2007, 12:19 PM | #89 | |
Goon Squad Leader
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Location: Seattle
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From DoD website transcript, 06 June 2002
Quote:
Rumsfeld's statements. BigV paraphrase and interpretation. Rumsfeld: Sure. "Ok, I'll answer your question." Not a lot to interpret here. Except that he doesn't answer the question. Rumsfeld himself is famous also for saying "Don't answer the question you've been asked, answer the question you wish had been asked". I paraphrase, but this is an example of him following his own advice. All of us in this business read intelligence information. And we read it daily and we think about it and it becomes, in our minds, essentially what exists. And that's wrong. It is not what exists. "We read intel, and then decide that what we read is truth. But we're wrong to make that conclusion." Here Rumsfeld states his case. He will try to support it in a minute, but I would point out here that this is the moment when he transfers our attention from the question asked to the question he wishes was asked. I say that because I have had experiences where I have gone back and done a great deal of work and analysis on intelligence information and looked at important countries, target countries, looked at important subject matters with respect to those target countries and asked, probed deeper and deeper and kept probing until I found out what it is we knew, and when we learned it, and when it actually had existed. And I found that, not to my surprise, but I think anytime you look at it that way what you find is that there are very important pieces of intelligence information that countries, that spend a lot of money, and a lot of time with a lot of wonderful people trying to learn more about what's going in the world, did not know some significant event for two years after it happened, for four years after it happened, for six years after it happened, in some cases 11 and 12 and 13 years after it happened. "Sometimes we find out later that we had an incomplete understanding of the truth. This happens despite our best efforts. Sometimes the missing pieces are important, and sometimes they're not known until years later." Here Rumsfeld supports his case, "Our conclusions are not 'the truth'" by saying that our intelligence, upon which we based our conclusions, was incomplete. So far we have: "Ok, I'll answer your question. We read intel and draw conclusions. But conclusions are ideas, not reality. We have found that our conclusions are based on incomplete intel." Back to his words. Now what is the message there? Rumsfeld will now try to tie together his evidence in support of his original statement. The message is that there are no "knowns." Pretty unambiguous. There are thing we know that we know. Which he immediately uses to contradict himself. This is "the first thing". It is also unambiguous, and fairly reasonable. Most people "know" some things. There are known unknowns. That is to say there are things that we now know we don't know. This is "the second thing". Also unambiguous, also fairly reasonable. Most people know of things that they don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know. This is "the third thing". It is a little more abstract, and it sounds unusual, but it's not weird or wrong. It's a way of saying "ignorant", something we all share to some degree, something we're all familiar with. It's only slippery in that we are often unaware of our ignorance. So when we do the best we can and we pull all this information together, and we then say well that's basically what we see as the situation, that is really only the known knowns and the known unknowns. And each year, we discover a few more of those unknown unknowns. "We base our conclusions on what we're sure we know and what we're sure we don't know, but we don't know what we're missing." Right. Just like everyone else in the whole world does, every day. Proceed with what you know and keep your eyes open. Duh. It sounds like a riddle. It isn't a riddle. It is a very serious, important matter. "You're confused, but I'm not and it's important, so believe me." This is his argument, his conclusion. "I said things were uncertain. You should believe me." WTF?! There's another way to phrase that and that is that the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. It is basically saying the same thing in a different way. Simply because you do not have evidence that something exists does not mean that you have evidence that it doesn't exist. And yet almost always, when we make our threat assessments, when we look at the world, we end up basing it on the first two pieces of that puzzle, rather than all three. Rumsfeld says "We're unsure as to the incompleteness of our understanding of things." Now, how does that answer the question? It does not. He does not answer the question. But he sounds profound doing it, and that buys some time and space. Yes, sir. "Next!" Whatever.
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Be Just and Fear Not. Last edited by BigV; 06-27-2007 at 12:53 PM. Reason: to correct formatting errors |
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06-27-2007, 12:27 PM | #90 |
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not picking up on any personal knowledge here, just yammering
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