If you'll read what I wrote you'll see that when I quoted your specific words, I used quotation marks. Where I did not quote your specific words, I did not use quotation marks. If conversation and clarification were important to you, you'd have noticed that I paraphrased what I understood your point to be and addressed that rather than playing your little game of trying to distract by attacking me.

A few posts previously, your actual words were "[i]t is dangerous to text at traffic lights. You are more likely to be rear-ended, and more likely to cause a delay (And delays increase congestion and congestion increases crashes)."

This statement is a positive assertion which means the burden is on you to provide some evidence that it's valid and to disprove the null hypothesis.

It's not really that difficult a concept to grasp.

Umm... no, it's called 'logic'. To put a more-formal title to it, it's called 'the null hypothesis' -- in this instance, texting at a stoplight is no more or less dangerous than merely sitting at the light and waiting for it to turn green. You came along and said that texting at stoplights was far more dangerous than sitting there; that's a positive assertion which retains the burden of proof (i.e., show evidence which supports your conclusion and which disproves the null hypothesis).

Also, stating that "a non-moving car at a green light is more likely to be rear-ended" is trivially true; your unstated presumption is that texting while waiting for the light to change is the cause for a sharp increase in these kinds of rear-end collisions (which you'd also need to show).

Yes, thank you. I didn't read Wiki in my relatively brief search, but what I did read meshes with that.

Yup, that's why I sought clarification.

Holy shit, you are such an asshole. Yes, it was King County Sheriff's department. My fucking mistake. I was never arrested; I took the screening polygraph for potential employment and very grateful now that I didn't pass.

Courts still accept polygraphs under strict rules. If you have information to the contrary, I'd like to see it; I would love to be wrong in this instance.

Unfortunately, you are still quite wrong. The United States has courts that accept polygraph tests under strict rules. Dunno why, but it's still true.

How many polygraphs have you taken? I've taken one in my life, personally. This was for King County police (in Washington state) and even being fully truthful, they claimed I failed the test. Since I knew I told the truth, this experience prompted me to study up on polygraphy and to discover to my surprise that it was nonsense.

Oh, and I never sat on anything other than a hard wooden chair. I had the finger thingies put on, the chest band and a blood pressure cuff, sat sideways to the polygrapher and did as I was told.

The reason a human being may show higher galvanic skin sensitivity or increased breathing rates do not map reliably to deception. It's pseudo-science, pure and simple, and is not reliable for what it's supposedly for. The problem with your analogy is that there are only a handful of issues that could cause the idiot light to glow and narrowing down the reason the "low oil" light is lit is straightforward.

The polygraph is a lie; social engineering before the term caught on, really.

Wanna walk me through the math please? I don't think that your statement regarding the probabilities is accurate.

And also remember that the most infamous and successful spies in the United States passed their polygraphs handily. Polygraphs are a dangerous distraction when relied upon as they have been in the past and apparently continuing into the future.

He specifically linked to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention website for those whom it may help. That to me is evidence that he was not advocating suicide nor encouraging anyone to do so.

Perhaps not, but a five year pre-paid contract does.

Not in Mexico.

A fair amount of stuff, unfortunately. I've had to work pretty hard to overcome much of the societal programming and public inundation of FEAR FEAR FEAR.

Rationality has helped a tremendous amount though thankfully.