Army General Makes Pregnancy Punishable Offense in Iraq

[Stealth Hunter]

Originally Posted by August

What, the opinion of a US military veteran who served during both Democratic and Republican administrations is not good enough for you? You'd prefer a link to some anonymous website instead?

Yeah actually. As far as I'm concerned, that is. Because opinions are never facts, no matter who's talking.

[August]

Originally Posted by Stealth Hunter

Yeah actually. As far as I'm concerned, that is. Because opinions are never facts, no matter who's talking.

Right because first hand knowledge is always less preferable than anonymous websites...

[Stealth Hunter]

Originally Posted by August

Right because first hand knowledge is always less preferable than anonymous websites...

When you put it that way, combined with the fact that "first-hand knowledge" is based upon experience which differs from person to person despite how they like to personify what they have to offer (which isn't much in most cases; and for that matter how it's fudged from person to person to appease their thoughts and motivations), I'd call them equal with one another. Something as simple as an encyclopedia article (from someplace like Britannica, etc.) or an Associated Press story will do, thank you.

When you put it that way,

When you put it that way it may have a modicum of relevance.
Otherwise it carrys as much weight as a hundredweight of cattle manure.

Right because first hand knowledge

Your knowledge is questionable and your perception of that "knowledge"is really open to question.
tell me again about Iraq or afghanistan ,(OK I had beter delete this bit as qustioning nonsense might be unseasonal)

[Stealth Hunter]

As far as first-hand accounts are concerned, for that matter eyewitness testimony (because they're basically the same thing), this article demonstrates why the testimony itself is not really a good source to rely upon alone- because of the human memory issue (not including the common social knowledge aspect of intentional dishonesty with testimony):

http://agora.stanford.edu/sjls/Issue...er&tversky.htm

Another interesting article:

http://www.visualexpert.com/Resource...essmemory.html

[August]

You people are amazing.

Originally Posted by August

Right because first hand knowledge is always less preferable than anonymous websites...

This is something I always take note of.

Is the author/speaker presenting first hand knowledge, or a collection of other peoples' experiences? The former, from multiple sources, is my preference. The latter can be useful when time or sources are limitted. The latter can also be useful for the inclusion of information not available to first person accounts. But again, multiple first person accounts are the most reliable source of information.