[OT] Do you subscribe to any conspiracy theories?

[CrazyMage]

OK. So I read this thread last night and post to it, and then have the strangest, most messed-up dream about pocket dimensions, time loss and alien abductions. Someone here is messing with me!! (I knew I should have used my aluminum bedsheets...).

Is it because I have stumbled unto the truth, that this is all fake? I mean, look at the evidence--all the pseudo-identities and the faked pictures (Eric Noah as Gary Gygax's father--come on!!) You people leave me alone!!!!

 

[Furn_Darkside]

Salutations,

I don't believe in such conspiracies..

and I sure as heck hope they don't believe in me.

FD

 

[Quickbeam]

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind, that the US government (and perhaps those of other large industrialized nations), along with the oil and automotive companies, are willfully preventing the eradication of the current car engine designs. You cannot make me believe for even one minute, that designing vehicles which can efficiently run on other forms of "clean" fuel, is not yet plausible.

The problem is that none of the aformentioned parties want to witness the decline of oil prices, or lay out the cash necessary to re-tool production lines. So, in the meanwhile, we continue to pollute the environment and make ourselves reliant on nations we'd sooner have nothing to do with. Lovely.

 

[Quickbeam]

Oh yeah...I almost forgot. NASA staged the Apollo moonlandings from a soundstage in Hollywood .

 

[Pielorinho]

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind, that the US government (and perhaps those of other large industrialized nations), along with the oil and automotive companies, are willfully preventing the eradication of the current car engine designs.

Check out http://www.snopes2.com/autos/business/magiccar.htm
-- about two-thirds down this page, there's a pretty convincing refutation of this theory. Most importantly, the auto companies have nothing to gain by keeping such an engine off the market -- they don't sell gas. And if such an engine were placed on the market, the US would be less dependent on the Middle East for energy supplies, something the government would dearly like.

Check it out!
Daniel

 

[green slime]

Conspiracies, one of my favourite subjects!

Where to begin!

I have my own pet theories... on a small scale, not JFK/UFO/Elvis/Illuminati scale, but more about the deals made between govt's dividing the world into little portions of "Well, you get this, but then I want that..."

Kind of like why the Coalition didn't finish the job in Desert Storm? Because the Turks and Syrians didn't want the Kurds and to have a autonomous state, and nobody wanted to see Iraq desintegrate into little pieces.

But reading about the big conspiracies is truly fascinating stuff.

 

[Michael Sorensen]

I am a firm believer that Lee Harvey Oswald did not shoot JFK.

 

[Quickbeam]

Check out http://www.snopes2.com/autos/business/magiccar.htm
-- about two-thirds down this page, there's a pretty convincing refutation of this theory. Most importantly, the auto companies have nothing to gain by keeping such an engine off the market -- they don't sell gas. And if such an engine were placed on the market, the US would be less dependent on the Middle East for energy supplies, something the government would dearly like.

Check it out!
Daniel

I read the linked article, and there are several important facts to bear in mind:
1) I'm not referring to a car that gets 200 mpg...or even 50. Just one that can efficiently run on a clean fuel like ethyl alcohol, electricity, solar energy, etc.
2) The auto companies have a TON to gain by not making a switch to such vehicles (if they do exist). Darn near every single facet of their engine and exhaust production lines would have to be entirely redesigned and re-tooled. That, my friend, is not a cheap proposition. Additionally, what do you think the market for all of the cars currently in production and on the dealership lots will be? How about used vehicles returned after leases expire? Don't forget, that I'm from Detroit as my profile notes. I have a friends and family that work for the Big Three, and they fear such a massive change coming to pass all at once.
3) The cost increased initial cost of producing such cars would either:
a. need to be passed on to the comsumers, who would then buy fewer vehicles because fewer folks could afford 'em.
OR
b. be partially absorbed by the automakers themselves (fat chance), thus lowering their profit margins and causing their stock value to decline.

As for the government not wishing to rely on Middle Eastern nations for oil -- I agree, and said so in my original post. But there are HUGE American oil companies (and their related businesses) which contribute millions of dollars each year to political campaigns through PAC's. They could not afford to witness such a sweeping change, and will obviously invest every penny they have to prevent such an eventuality. Self preservation is a pretty big motivator.

P.S. one last item of note in my little diatribe . Two of our last three Presidents have come from a state whose economic well-being is largely reliant on the oil industry.

 

[Pielorinho]

I read the linked article, and there are several important facts to bear in mind:

Interesting points! I'm afraid that we're veering into the verboten, though, so to pull this puppy back to the proper:

Howsabout conspiracies in your own games? Do you take inspiration from real-world conspiracies, or do you rely more on fictional conspiracies?

I usually look to fiction for my conspiracy inspiration. Recently, however, I've been playing with a cult that's trying to return society to an older, more decent order, and have found some real-world political/religious conspiracies useful (e.g., Al Queda) for inspiration.

Daniel

 

[Wicht]

Phila- is a Greek root meaning "love", as in philosophy, philodendron, and philanderer.

Delphia is a Greek word meaning (I believe) Brother. I can't think of any similar words in English.

philodelphus is all one greek word meaning brotherly/sisterly love. Phileo on its own means love as in fondness or perhaps familial love. Delphus means the womb.

The ancient city of Philadelphia was built by a man named King Attalus II Philedelphus. He was so named because of the love he showed for his brother who had ruled before him. Another ancient King, Ptolemy Philadelphus acquired the nickname because he married his sister.

Just thought I would throw it out for clarity's sake