Off topic- the Crackpot test- could not resist

Okay, I must admit after thousands of dismal posts I am allowed one humorous one okay. This gets so very serious. Now understand surely, like most horrorscopes, I think every researcher and scientist can find just a little touch of this in something they have published or posted. And not to say this test is even valid... but it was funny to me in the deepest intellectual way - and I think you might enjoy dustiing away the dead bird feathers and chuckling, because it is funny.

The Crackpot Index

John Baez

A simple method for rating potentially revolutionary contributions to physics:

1. A -5 point starting credit.

2. 1 point for every statement that is widely agreed on to be false.

3. 2 points for every statement that is clearly vacuous.

4. 3 points for every statement that is logically inconsistent.

5. 5 points for each such statement that is adhered to despite careful correction.

6. 5 points for using a thought experiment that contradicts the results of a widely accepted real experiment.

7. 5 points for each word in all capital letters (except for those with defective keyboards).

8. 5 points for each mention of "Einstien", "Hawkins" or "Feynmann".

9. 10 points for each claim that quantum mechanics is fundamentally misguided (without good evidence).

10. 10 points for pointing out that you have gone to school, as if this were evidence of sanity.

11. 10 points for beginning the description of your theory by saying how long you have been working on it. (10 more for emphasizing that you worked on your own.)

12. 10 points for mailing your theory to someone you don't know personally and asking them not to tell anyone else about it, for fear that your ideas will be stolen.

13. 10 points for offering prize money to anyone who proves and/or finds any flaws in your theory.

14. 10 points for each new term you invent and use without properly defining it.

15. 10 points for each statement along the lines of "I'm not good at math, but my theory is conceptually right, so all I need is for someone to express it in terms of equations".

16. 10 points for arguing that a current well-established theory is "only a theory", as if this were somehow a point against it.

17. 10 points for arguing that while a current well-established theory predicts phenomena correctly, it doesn't explain "why" they occur, or fails to provide a "mechanism".

18. 10 points for each favorable comparison of yourself to Einstein, or claim that special or general relativity are fundamentally misguided (without good evidence).

19. 10 points for claiming that your work is on the cutting edge of a "paradigm shift".

20. 20 points for emailing me and complaining about the crackpot index. (E.g., saying that it "suppresses original thinkers" or saying that I misspelled "Einstein" in item 8.)

21. 20 points for suggesting that you deserve a Nobel prize.

22. 20 points for each favorable comparison of yourself to Newton or claim that classical mechanics is fundamentally misguided (without good evidence).

23. 20 points for every use of science fiction works or myths as if they were fact.

24. 20 points for defending yourself by bringing up (real or imagined) ridicule accorded to your past theories.

25. 20 points for naming something after yourself. (E.g., talking about the "The Evans Field Equation" when your name happens to be Evans.)

26. 20 points for talking about how great your theory is, but never actually explaining it.

27. 20 points for each use of the phrase "hidebound reactionary".

28. 20 points for each use of the phrase "self-appointed defender of the orthodoxy".

29. 30 points for suggesting that a famous figure secretly disbelieved in a theory which he or she publicly supported. (E.g., that Feynman was a closet opponent of special relativity, as deduced by reading between the lines in his freshman physics textbooks.)

30. 30 points for suggesting that Einstein, in his later years, was groping his way towards the ideas you now advocate.

31. 30 points for claiming that your theories were developed by an extraterrestrial civilization (without good evidence).

32. 30 points for allusions to a delay in your work while you spent time in an asylum, or references to the psychiatrist who tried to talk you out of your theory.

33. 40 points for comparing those who argue against your ideas to Nazis, stormtroopers, or brownshirts.

34. 40 points for claiming that the "scientific establishment" is engaged in a "conspiracy" to prevent your work from gaining its well-deserved fame, or suchlike.

35. 40 points for comparing yourself to Galileo, suggesting that a modern-day Inquisition is hard at work on your case, and so on.

36. 40 points for claiming that when your theory is finally appreciated, present-day science will be seen for the sham it truly is. (30 more points for fantasizing about show trials in which scientists who mocked your theories will be forced to recant.)

37. 50 points for claiming you have a revolutionary theory but giving no concrete testable predictions.

MC

#38 100 points for blaming everything on librals, Clinton, Gore or Obama , when you know darn well we just had 8 years of some one else in charge and who seems to have done no wrong???

#39   100 points listening to Rush and quoting him like he's the only accurate source of information.

Why bring politics into this? H2H, did you even read the test? And cgh18, what do your two questions have to do with insane theories in physics?

You failed to answer my question, but I'll play your game. According to you Gore scores an 11.
- 5 points to begin
-1 point for every statement that is widely agreed on to be false.
-2 points for every statement that is clearly vacuous.
-3 points for every statement that is logically inconsistent.

Obama scores 11 along with Bush, McCain, Pelosi, Gingrich and just about every other politician in the world. Seeing as how neither the fascist liberals (yes, I know that is an oxymoron) money grubbing conservatives have claimed that Einstein is inherently incorrect, they probably won't score very high on this test.

Some people on this board want to make everything a devisive political issue, and I just don't see the need. Patients suffering from bipolar mania who are in the manic stage, are, unfortunately, not a key issue in the policies of thist country's government. Certainly this test is humourous (yes, I spelled it the British way, what of it?) regardless of one's political leanings, so let's focus on something that brings us all together when there is no need to tear us apart.