🚀 go-pugleaf

>In the trial you did where I submitted two groups of three questions, I 
>found it next to impossible to choose matchings between your responses 
>and the original questions (though my doing that didn't form part of the 
>test protocol). The fact that you believe that the responses had been 
>shuffled somehow doesn't alter the fact that faced with the task of 
>choosing matches, I'd have got next to nowhere. 

This is probably a *GOOD* thing for Herc trying to prove his power.
If what Herc does is so obvious anyone can do it, I start to doubt
that there's any paranormal power involved at all, or if there is,
he's not the one with the power.  At the extreme case, if I can
replace Herc with a computer and still get results indicating a
power, then the paranormal power might be in those selecting the
page and line number.  If some people can do it and some can't,
that suggests that the some can do it might have a power the others
don't.  This assumes that there is a power in the first place, and
that it's paranormal, not paranoidal.

The currently proposed test of taking the Bible quote and matching
it to one of three questions is not something that can easily be
computerized, IMHO.  Even the humans argue over it.

It would be even more interesting if Herc could do this with a Bible
in the original Goa'uld even (or especially) if he's unable to
translate it.

>Even if matches exist, 
>as you claim, it would seem that most people can't recognise them, and 
>the judges would essentially be randomly ordering them even if you 
>weren't, meaning you would fail the test even if your power exists.

I don't recall any test protocol that required someone other than
Herc to determine which question was originally first.  If there
was, it's determining the power of the person doing that, not Herc.


Herc - you should note that there's a reason why no one else
references the Bible by page number.  (It's OK to use it for these
tests, as you don't want people searching for quotes, then producing
a reference for the quote they want you to see -- that's cheating
on their part).  They reference the Bible by book, chapter, and
verse because even the same translation of the Bible doesn't keep
the same page number for the same book, chapter, and verse.  That's
especially true since some versions of the Bible are in paperback,
and some are in hardcover, and the paperback versions would have
to use a really tiny font to keep the same page numbers.  Some
include only the New Testament and some don't.  It gets worse for
Bibles in braille, Bibles in large print for people with poor vision,
and Bibles in different languages which use different-length words
to express the same meaning.  Some Bibles also include reference
material, indexes, maps of the Holy Land, word definitions, and
comments on the translation, sometimes between books.  They do make
it clear what's Biblical text and what isn't, but the page numbering,
if there even is page numbering, can be thrown way off by this
material.

The points:  Giving a page/line reference and saying "check it in
your own Bible" isn't meaningful to most people, unless they have
exactly the same printing you do.  On the other hand, it's harder
for someone to cheat by arranging to give you a page/line containing
only one irrelevant word on it, or a page/line number that doesn't
actually have any text on it.