This sort of nonsense should be ridiculed to the max

[rally]

Carl,

The world has been of fools, morons and suckers since eternity and those seeking to benefit from them one way or another.

But we are not all incapable of differentiating between good science and non science.
Even (some) kids at school these days get lessons on how to work out what is reliable info (or not) on the internet.
They are given half a dozen diffreent sources of information about the same subject and then they have to work their way through it and ocme to a conclusion.
Maybe we all need to get our internet filtering drivers licences before we are allowed install our first web browser !!

There is a site http://www.crank.net/
Maybe that is good place to start reporting them.

I dont have a solution, but I suspect none exists - it may be that you will have to rely on the resilience of the human species for that, we all learn in different ways and for many that is the hard way !

Keep up the good work

[DavidU (Dave)]

This site is a beaut. Carl, have a look at this........
http://members.fortunecity.com/reactor1967/

[GrahamL]

What happened to the amateur science forum for this Carl ?

Its been pretty quiet through all the open astronomy forums since this stuff had been given a home of its own .

I mean no offense to the many genuine and informative posts in regard to science in the forums but the need to drag this particularly questionable subject matter out of were it should be !

Why so ??

[renormalised (Carl)]

Originally Posted by nightstalker

What happened to the amateur science forum for this Carl ?

Its been pretty quiet through all the open astronomy forums since this stuff had been given a home of its own .

I mean no offense to the many genuine and informative posts in regard to science in the forums but the need to drag this particularly questionable subject matter out of were it should be !

Why so ??

Because it's not strictly science, but about science. More to the point, the whole philosophy of science. To be honest, if stuff like EU was to be given a home, it would have a forum called "Questionable Science and Pure Speculation", but we don't have a forum named as such. Nor should we. That's the reason why I stuck it in the General Forum because it's not strictly a science topic. More a topic on the behaviour and principles of those that post speculation and expect everyone to swallow their party punch line. In many cases, this speculation has delved deeply into the realms of fantasy and quasi religious rantings. That's not science. It's even questionable philosophy.

[renormalised (Carl)]

Originally Posted by DavidU

This site is a beaut. Carl, have a look at this........
http://members.fortunecity.com/reactor1967/

Thanks

I'll have a look later...not that I need to build a nuke!!!!

[renormalised (Carl)]

Originally Posted by rally

Carl,

The world has been of fools, morons and suckers since eternity and those seeking to benefit from them one way or another.

But we are not all incapable of differentiating between good science and non science.
Even (some) kids at school these days get lessons on how to work out what is reliable info (or not) on the internet.
They are given half a dozen diffreent sources of information about the same subject and then they have to work their way through it and ocme to a conclusion.
Maybe we all need to get our internet filtering drivers licences before we are allowed install our first web browser !!

There is a site http://www.crank.net/
Maybe that is good place to start reporting them.

I dont have a solution, but I suspect none exists - it may be that you will have to rely on the resilience of the human species for that, we all learn in different ways and for many that is the hard way !

Keep up the good work

No, that's true.

That's true as well....but the people on this forum are far from being average in their knowledge for the most part and are a bit brighter than average. Your average person in the street might not be so discerning. Nor would they have the knowledge behind them to make a critical choice.

I'm sure there is no real solution, apart from making people aware that everything you read and hear about isn't always kosher.

[avandonk]

I reckon after much observation of my Jack Russel Terra that that mountain was eroded by a Jack Russel after a rabbit. It must be true as only a Jack Russel would be foolish enough to dig such a big hole for one rabbit.
I have done the calculations and it would only take him about two thousand years to dig that hole. Well within the upper bounds of the age of the Earth which at best is seven thousand years old.
I cannot think of any other rational explanation for the curious erosion we observe than that caused by legions of Jack Russels all over the Earth.
Any one who doubts my theory can see the vast amount of evidence in my book.

The Cosmological Forces of Canine Driven Terra Forming.

Bert

[CraigS]

Originally Posted by avandonk

I reckon after much observation of my Jack Russel Terra that that mountain was eroded by a Jack Russel after a rabbit. It must be true as only a Jack Russel would be foolish enough to dig such a big hole for one rabbit.
I have done the calculations and it would only take him about two thousand years to dig that hole. Well within the upper bounds of the age of the Earth which at best is seven thousand years old.
I cannot think of any other rational explanation for the curious erosion we observe than that caused by legions of Jack Russels all over the Earth.
Any one who doubts my theory can see the vast amount of evidence in my book.

The Cosmological Forces of Canine Driven Terra Forming.

Bert

Where can I get a copy of that ?

[renormalised (Carl)]

Originally Posted by avandonk

I reckon after much observation of my Jack Russel Terra that that mountain was eroded by a Jack Russel after a rabbit. It must be true as only a Jack Russel would be foolish enough to dig such a big hole for one rabbit.
I have done the calculations and it would only take him about two thousand years to dig that hole. Well within the upper bounds of the age of the Earth which at best is seven thousand years old.
I cannot think of any other rational explanation for the curious erosion we observe than that caused by legions of Jack Russels all over the Earth.
Any one who doubts my theory can see the vast amount of evidence in my book.

The Cosmological Forces of Canine Driven Terra Forming.

Bert

Is that dating in relation to Bishop Ussher's calculations??

That may also explain all these impact craters we see as well!!

[renormalised (Carl)]

Originally Posted by CraigS

Where can I get a copy of that ?

Amazon.com....Bert's famous, you know

[CraigS]

Originally Posted by renormalised

Amazon.com....Bert's famous, you know

Do you think he'd autograph it for me ?

[renormalised (Carl)]

Originally Posted by CraigS

Do you think he'd autograph it for me ?

I should think so!!!!

[avandonk]

As I am now almost as famous as the famous Eccles of Goons fame I will only require a small fee for my moniker.
Photographs of bank notes are unacceptable. Gold coins I can bite my tooth into prefered.

Bert

[marki]

Originally Posted by avandonk

I reckon after much observation of my Jack Russel Terra that that mountain was eroded by a Jack Russel after a rabbit. It must be true as only a Jack Russel would be foolish enough to dig such a big hole for one rabbit.
I have done the calculations and it would only take him about two thousand years to dig that hole. Well within the upper bounds of the age of the Earth which at best is seven thousand years old.
I cannot think of any other rational explanation for the curious erosion we observe than that caused by legions of Jack Russels all over the Earth.
Any one who doubts my theory can see the vast amount of evidence in my book.

The Cosmological Forces of Canine Driven Terra Forming.

Bert

Thats more like it, this thread is so much better when everyones taking the mickey out of something. Bert i think between your Jack russel and my bacteria we may finally have a unifying theory of everything .

Mark

[DavidU (Dave)]

You guy's.
Berts JRE theory is excellent. (JRE jack Russell erosion) LOL

[renormalised (Carl)]

Originally Posted by avandonk

As I am now almost as famous as the famous Eccles of Goons fame I will only require a small fee for my moniker.
Photographs of bank notes are unacceptable. Gold coins I can bite my tooth into prefered.

Bert

You're going to need an agent for all the interviews and such. Plus, when the filming rights come out, you can't go into those negotiations without a manager and lawyer

[avandonk]

All the same folks this is not a laughing matter. We live in an age when only a few really understand the technology we all take for granted and some consider their God given right.

The world is full of charlatans and Carl is dead correct to rail against them.

I rail against the darkness of ignorance. As only a decent education can protect you from despots that will use the primitive component of your fears to attempt to control you by engendering fear of others or the fear of the unknown.

Science by its very nature is counterintuitive. It does not pass the logical test of an informed layman. These facts are well known by the con merchants. They will use the standard cons of setting up a straw man and then killing him with so the called logic of connectedness of 'facts' that are barely relevant to each other. They no more have 'the answers' than my little toe.

I would even go so far to say that even what I am saying should be looked at critically as I could be conning you all as well.

Again I say your only defence is knowledge that can filter the gold from the dross by a critical mind.

As a little aside Marci bacteria do rule the world. Something like 70% of your body weight is water. Of the remaining 30% dry weight more than a third is bacteria that enable you to survive. So where do we begin and end?

Bert

[Esseth (Alan)]

Oh my oh my, thats a new one...

[renormalised (Carl)]

The problem is that many kids are leaving school without being taught how to think critically, to think logically and with any discipline at all. Or they just forget about it when they leave school. When they become adults, this carries on over and then when something turns up that is obviously a con, many get sucked into it because they can't see it. They don't have the background to filter out the good from the bad. This happens even to supposedly well educated people as well. But it all really depends on those skills they learn or don't learn as children. It's wonderful to be able to think outside the box, have that intuition and imagination, but it also has to be tempered by discipline and logic when needed. Only then can it be put to the best use.

And, as Bert has said, this is not a laughing matter. If we allowed any old thing to be considered as factual and have currency, without first checking that it stood up to all the criteria for being considered worthwhile, we'd be in up to our necks in all sorts of nonsense. Yes, there are some things our science and technology can't, as yet, prove or disprove, but we can certainly give well reasoned and educated guesses at what might be the case. But when things begin to devolve into sheer speculation, confabulation, fantasy or anything else which can lead to confusion then we become lost. Sometimes, there need to be limits put on things. Not because we may overstep some predetermined limit to knowledge, but to make sure we're heading in the right direction and don't get too sidetracked. Sometimes the best path to a destination is not always by the shortcut. It may save you time and effort, but it might also lead you away from the destination and get you into places where you shouldn't be. The ones that do navigate the shortcuts well are very few and far between. They're usually the Einsteins, Faraday's, Hawking's, Witten's and the like. Most of us will never be like them, nor should we be.