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(my PGP key, and you can get PGP from here)
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Those who prefer a more colourful yarn will be familiar with the legend of Finn MacCool, the Irish giant who, children are told, created the causeway as a footbridge to fight the Scottish giant Finn Gall but who then foxed his rival by pretending to be a baby.I vote for the Finn MacCool version - there's just as much evidence for it and it's got fighting giants in it. The creationists, as ever, don't fail to amuse:
However, momentum is growing in Ulster for an alternative theory of the origin of the causeway... The Causeway Creation Committee was set up in Co Antrim as a body which advocates literal biblical creationism.
Therefore the theory [sic] dictates that the Earth is only 5,000 years old, it was created by God in six days and the dinosaurs existed alongside humansWhen you stop laughing, try to remember that some people really think this. But they save the best for the punchline:
"The other main difference in our view is the date. They say the causeway was created 60 million years ago but we believe that's a fairy tale. When you follow The Bible timetable it is about 4,500 years ago and due to volcanic activity that surrounds the events of a global flood."Let's get this straight. You think the Earth was ravaged by a catastrophic, all-destroying months-long flood which killed every animal and person who wasn't on Noah's boat 4,500 years ago... but somehow various civilisations around at the time didn't notice it?
They've identified what they believe is the closest fossil relative [from that time] of whales [today]. It's a raccoon-sized beast named Indohyus that lived 48 million years ago in Kashmir. Analyzing the bones of Indohyus, the scientists discovered that it shares some--but not all--of the traits previously considered unique to cetaceans from Pakicetus to today's whales and dolphins.Obviously this won't for one moment silence even a single creationist. For one thing, where there used to be one gap in the whale fossil record (between Pakicetus and Ambulocetus) there are now two gaps: one between Pakicetus and Indohyus, and one between Indohyus and Ambulocetus. So creationists will say "Hah, those crazy scientists' evidence just keeps getting even gappier!". Then they'll pick up their main weapons of incredulity and straw men: "In any case this discovery is nonsense, as we all know that whales were designed intelligently to spend their lives underwater swimming in the sea, without any distant common ancestors on land. That they breath air and have femurs just, erm, shows the designer's intelligence... erm, anyway... nobody's ever seen an antelope give birth to a dolphin."
Lego is set to turn slightly more sinister with the launch of an unofficial book that teaches children how to make weapons out of the iconic plastic bricks. ... controversial new book that gives children detailed instructions on how to make weapons such as catapults and 'automatic ping-pong ball launchers' purely out of Lego.
Local people believed they could be healed of spiritual and physical problems if they touched his leg.Yet somehow he didn't see this coming. But seriously, if you know of anyone in the Tirupathi area who seems to have come by half a leg that doesn't belong to them, please contact the police immediately.
They also believed in Mr Kondaiah's predictions of the future.
People have been plucked to safety from Antarctic waters after their ship ran into trouble with an iceberg.
At Middle Moor Water Park in Somerset, England, a 19-year-old man was killed after he was flung from a catapult device 100 feet through the air and fell short of a safety net. The machine, a replica of a medieval trebuchet, is owned and operated by a group known as the Human Catapult Club.Who'd have thought that might be dangerous?
Mendel, the bad chemist, Clegg, Gimpy, the mighty Orac, Mr HunnyBun, jdc325, Taylor, skepticaldog, brayton, pertsovich, Sharon and Gordon, the whitecoatunderground, Blake Stacey, the conspiracy factory, bronze dog, infophilia, happy jihad's house of pancakes, gas, Skeptico, matharu, skeptix, the millenium project, lockwood, Mr Toad, enomi, D-notice, the crack emcee, homepathic complaints, the ordinary girl, tabasco de gama, Skeptikeren, blogher, dikki, qnoodle, freeborn john, skeptobot, James Randi, Skeptigator, Bishop Hill, CounterKnowledge, Ministry of Truth, MediaWatch.org.uk, Mike Powers, Aharonic, Amused Cynicism, Humaniform, chicken yoghurt, the devil's kitchen, starshun, gas, be lambic or green, nana's notions, a night on the tiles, powerup, unfiltered perception, action skeptics, apathy sketchpad, sceptiphrenia, thinking is dangerous, rants and raves, Matt Wardman, the parish pump and The Blog Review, as well as in a few Google Groups... and pause for breath.It has also received attention on local radio, and we mustn't forget the column in a major national newspaper. The Quackometer has never been so well known, so valued and so widely read. Many more people - me included - have now read the article than would ever have heard about it if the Society of Homeopaths hadn't stormed in with legal threats. As I saw someone comment about this, you'd have thought homeopaths - of all people - would have known that trying to dilute criticism would only make it stronger. It's worth reminding ourselves that the Society of Homeopaths have never actually told anyone what was supposed to be so objectionable about the article (despite being asked) and have now gone off in a huff:
The Society instructed lawyers to write to the Internet Service Provider of Dr. Lewis’ website [instead of doing what most rational people would do, and complaining directly to him or writing a rebuttal of his charges] because the content of his site was not merely critical but defamatory of The Society, with the effect that its reputation could have been lowered. Dr Lewis, in his article, stated as fact highly offensive comments [which they don't specify] about The Society and it is for that reason that The Society decided it had no option but to take action [by issuing legal threats instead of addressing reasonable criticism?]. ... Due to the unpleasantness and surprisingly vitriolic nature of the postings on the Quackometer website and others, The Society has taken a conscious decision not to respond to these bloggers.Ahh, bless: they're not going to talk about it because nasty bloggers are being horrid. Grow up, Society of Homeopaths: you got yourself into this by deploying the lawyers instead of answering your critics like grown-up professionals would have done.
Two of Britain's leading environmental thinkers say it is time to develop a quick technical fix for climate change.Their specific idea is for floating pipes to pump seawater, causing jelly-tube-worm creatures to flourish and lock up carbon in their poo:
Writing in the journal Nature, Science Museum head Chris Rapley and Gaia theorist James Lovelock suggest looking at boosting ocean take-up of CO2.
One of the life-forms that might benefit is the salp, a tiny tube which excretes carbon in its solid faecal pellets, which descend to the ocean floor, perhaps storing the carbon away for millennia.If nothing else, it would provide a much-needed boost to the world's floating pipe industry.
Atmocean CEO Phil Kithil has calculated that deploying about 134 million pipes could potentially sequester about one-third of the carbon dioxide produced by human activities each year.
The head of the Catholic Church in Mozambique has told the BBC he believes some European-made condoms are infected with HIV deliberately.Oh well done, Archbishop, there's nothing quite like a bit of paranoid conspiratorial disinformation to help the fight against infectious disease. Just like the idiot notion that polio vaccination is a plot to render people infertile, this sort of thing will cost lives.
Maputo Archbishop Francisco Chimoio claimed some anti-retroviral drugs were also infected "in order to finish quickly the African people".
A reminder of a time when air travel didn't involve being herded around like cattle and crammed into a narrow seat with no legroom before being given a barely edible meal made largely from plastic,
'Airship Voyages Made Easy' is a 1936 booklet explaining what a Zeppelin passenger could expect of their journey:
You listen for the roar of the engines, or the fierce rush and vibration of the air, but apart frm a distant quiet murmur, everything is tranquil and peaceful.Zeppelins were great*. The problem with trying to find stuff about them on the 'net is that search engine results tend to be cluttered with stuff about some band from the 1970s, who are inexplicably more popular than giant airships.
Another classic enters the Ghastly Hollywood Remake Machine, as Keanu Reeves signs up for the leading role in 'The Day The Earth Stood Still'. A remake! Of 'The Day The Earth Stood Still'! With Keanu Reeves!
Woah! Your choice is, like, totally simple. Join us and live in peace, or pursue your present course and face obliteration, which would suck. We shall be waiting for your answer. The decision rests with you, dudes.
Warren County prosecutors said Stephens told police he set his couch on fire.The readers' comments are a comic goldmine. Meanwhile, an Indiana exorcist applies a novel spiritual approach to the treatment of autism:
"That is what you have to do to remove the evil spirits," prosecutors claim Stephens said.
Uyesugi was charged with battery and confinement after he reportedly punched the boy approximately 20 times in his face and stuck his fingers down the boy’s throat, causing him to vomit.Yeah, that'll work.
