JB I appreciate the time you spent on this reply but honestly it isn't worth it. Nothing I say will change your mind. I want to refer you to the hour long youtube video you made with my name in the title to explain how CTE works on your mini table. At one point in the video you actually got to the point where you were going to state how CTE can pocket balls in slightly different positions with the same perception. When it came down to it you glossed right over it and simply said "It works." The fact that you cannot seem to understand that you didn't actually explain anything, and "it works because it works" kind of thinking is acceptable to you says all I need to know.
lol - just because I might not have explained something to your satisfaction doesn't mean it doesn't work or that how you think it works (subconscious adjustment) is how it works. Maybe I didn't have the words to explain and I certainly don't have the "math" to explain perception in 3d space but I know that you didn't then and don't know now how it works either.
Better than your lame - and it was TRULY LAME - attempt to discredit Stan with a two shot curtain video. I will give you $500 - NOT A BET - I will GIVE YOU $500 if you duplicate the two videos of Stan shooting with a curtain and get the same results by this Friday. Go ahead and prove to us all how easy it is "if you have played long enough" to just know where the pockets are and make balls without seeing them.
As far as it works because it works - billions of people live highly productive lives using methods and techniques that work without knowing the underlying physics/math/calculus/geometry of those methods and techniques.
The bottom line with any widely observed phenomena is that existence of such is not in question. When humans discovered how to create fire they didn't know the physics and chemistry behind combustion. But they sure as hell knew how to start a fire and burn down a village. CTE is not like sightings of Bigfoot it is literally having Bigfoot over for breakfast. The how and why of how Bigfoot came to exist would still be a mystery at that point but the existence of Bigfoot wouldn't be in question. Especially if more people came to meet Bigfoot and then Bigfoot's family showed up.
I keep saying the proof is on the table and that's the real point here. Every pool player at every level understands pocketing balls. They understand pocketing levels BEFORE learning ghost ball and AFTER learning ghost ball. They understand pocketing BEFORE learning about the effects of spin and AFTER the learning about how spin affects the path of the cueball and object ball.
You mocking CTE is the EXACT same as you mocking some player who said they just learned ghost ball and are now pocketing at a higher level if that player couldn't tell you WHY it works. There is certainly a valid inquisition for those interested in the underpinnings but NOT in my opinion a valid inquisition and mocking of the practitioners who are having success. That is what you are engaged in.
Earlier you made another snide remark implying that the opinions of degreed knockers outweighs the experiences of successful practitioners. What you don't know is that there are many degreed practitioners who use CTE successfully when they play pool and enjoy it very much. They don't need to use their science/engineering degrees to argue for the system in a credential battle. They follow the instructions and see the results and that's enough. And that IS enough. The goal in pool is to pocket the shots you want to pocket and win matches and win or do well in tournaments, match and league play.
No other aiming system gets this much hate and it is because that hate started long before you showed up here. It is because a small group of haters has kept the hate flame alive and thus provided the motivation to continue studying and improving on the method. It is because that small group of haters isn't content with "it just works" being the answer to "how does it work" and they seek to discredit if they don't get the answer the want.
Just because a phenomena can be observed to be true doesn't mean that it will be accepted as true. Just because a phenomena doesn't have sufficient correlation in the current body of evidence doesn't make it untrue. Many things were observed and discovered BEFORE the rest of the world accepted them and ultimately the pioneers were proven right.
Why do you think that you know everything that there is to know about how a system that you didn't discover and refine works? My criteria is this.
1. Use the method to take me to a shot line.
2. Shoot the shot.
3. analyze the results.
That's really it. If that leads to making more shots and winning more then it's good enough for me. Just like ghost ball did for me when I learned it. Just like banking and kicking systems have done for me. I don't go to Tom Rossman and DEMAND the geometry behind the kicking systems before I will recommend them to others. I don't need to. I follow the directions then successful results ON THE TABLE are enough for me.
Before learning the kicking systems I know what my success percentages were and what they are afterwards. Pretty simple.
So honestly I don't know what your real problem is. As Bruce Lee said, learn everything and keep what works and discard what doesn't. If you tried to learn CTE and you couldn't for whatever reason then discard it. But discounting and knocking it because YOU could not figure it out is simply silly. That's hubris. There is no way in this universe that Hal Houle, Stan Shuffett and the countless other instructors teaching objective aiming methods created non-working purely psychological mind tricks just to mess with your sense of order.
I don't care if I change your mind. I am not writing for you. In my opinion if you HONESTLY wanted to learn CTE then you would have and you would have then been in a position to analyze it as deeply as your curiosity would take you. I am writing to those whom you seek to dissuade from learning it, those whom you would steer away from it based on your unproven claims.
Those folks, like me, deserve the opportunity to try CTE and any aiming methods that interest them without the false and slanderous claims you and other knockers make devaluing the proposition. But since you and them are morally deficient when it comes to this subject those claims will not stop, the mocking will not stop and so whenever I feel like it I will rebutt your statements as needed.
I am so glad I didn't get into the "aiming wars" when they appeared on RSB. If I had I might have avoided Hal Houle and not been gifted with some amazing methods to aim that were not found in conventional books. And later when I was drawn into the aiming wars in 2001ish after merely recounting my day with Hal and being attacked by some on this forum now I am glad that I didn't let them win by running me off.
But more than that I am glad that you and your cohorts did not succeed in stopping Stan Shuffett in his quest to learn CTE in depth and to improve it constantly.