I think what value remained mostly migrated to sci.math.research.

[QUOTE=CRGreathouse;263296]I think what value remained mostly migrated to sci.math.research.[/QUOTE]Yup. Roughly 20 years ago I gave up reading any unmoderated newsgroups for anything but entertainment.

Paul

[QUOTE=R.D. Silverman;263266]His rantings sound like a typical day in sci.math.[/QUOTE]

Actually, the scary thing is that usually people who ramble on like that fellow, particularly with regard to deluded views of mathematics and science, and particularly when they try to tie up the government/judiciary/etc. doing the same, grow up to have even bigger problems and potentially do serious damage, a la Ted Kaczynski, a la Jared Lee Loughner. Indeed, one of Loughner's write-ups by campus security was regarding an incident in math class where Loughner kept demanding that the teacher use a specific number (8, I think) in every single example, and making similar arguments that mathematics was some attempt for "them" to pull the wool over the eyes of the supposed sheeple.

Teachers and government officials should probably strive to get cranks of this nature some help for what is quite possibly serious mental illness, before these kinds of incidents become "cries for help" in hindsight.

[QUOTE=xilman;263300]Yup. Roughly 20 years ago I gave up reading any unmoderated newsgroups for anything but entertainment.

Paul[/QUOTE]

Try misc.transport.road sometime...

[QUOTE=R.D. Silverman;263285]A little, but not much IMO. It is totally inundated by cranks, kooks,
trolls, and other unwelcome intruders. I find their psychology to be
a mystery --> which is one of my limitations: I don't understand their motives.[/quote]

That is a question that comes up quite frequently on Wikipedia, where the mathematical articles (including some extremely specialized and obscure topics) are frequently vandalized or hoaxed. I mean, if you change George Washington's date of birth to 1620, that might screw up a second-grader writing an essay, but who really cares if someone mucks about with the article on elliptic integrals? Anyone searching for the latter is likely to be smart enough to recognize (and fix) a sophomoric prank; anyone else is likely not to be even searching for the topic, nor would they "get" the joke anyway.

you guys are amazing! I found this thread few days ago and I wasted all my weekend because I could not let it down! And it worth it all the money! I never laughed so much in my life, except maybe years ago when I was reading James Randy's (JREF foundation) forums with [URL="http://forums.randi.org/forumdisplay.php?f=43"]guys claiming they have paranormal abilities[/URL]. My wife said I was going nuts.

I still remember on that JREF page some joker did a (very serious!) claim about his wife having paranormal abilities, because she could make all the money disappear at once.

If our guy is just a joker, like somebody said before ("king of flames"), then he is a genius. A buffoon, but a genius. But if he is serious in his claims, he is just a poor crazy deluded frustrate and I still don't understand how plenty of clever people here wasted their time with such a guy (and me, to read all the 19 pages, but whatever you'll say, it was fun-fun, I would do it again next weekend :P :P)

[edit] that thread of jref should be read by anyone, it is the best example of "negotiation" ever seen, and also how people delude themselves...
Now back to work... :(

[QUOTE=LaurV;263656]
(snip)
I still remember on that JREF page some joker did a (very serious!) claim about his wife having paranormal abilities, because she could make all the money disappear at once.
(snip)
[/QUOTE]

But..but..my wife has that ability too!!!!! :no:

[QUOTE=Christenson;263688]But..but..my wife has that ability too!!!!! :no:[/QUOTE]

what are the odds all people don't given a long enough time

It is an unfortunate fact that Don is still trying to peddle his nonsense. He gets a couple of less competent mathematicians to agree with him and that bolsters his thinking regarding his proof, but if those mathematicians were to congregate with more competent people who see the flaws, then they would easily be convinced that their initial judgement was wrong.

[QUOTE=rogue;268587]It is an unfortunate fact that Don is still trying to peddle his nonsense.[/QUOTE]
Is he? I haven't seen him post on this thread in a while....

[QUOTE=flouran;268588]Is he? I haven't seen him post on this thread in a while....[/QUOTE]

Not here, but in other places.