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Lisa
SFN Regular
USA
1223 Posts |
 Posted - 03/05/2002 : 13:32:09 [Permalink]
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I try to savor books BA, I really do. But once I'm interested I tend to forgo everything else. You know, food, sleep, drink. And there's a guy who lives here that gets a bit upset too, his name will come to me in a minute.
Lisa
If you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much room. |
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Megan
Skeptic Friend
USA
163 Posts |
Posted - 03/11/2002 : 17:31:46 [Permalink]
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I got BA's new book!! I got BA's new book!! I got BA's new book!! 
Wow Lisa that was really fast!! 
~Megan~
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Lisa
SFN Regular
USA
1223 Posts |
Posted - 03/11/2002 : 17:47:30 [Permalink]
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Woulda been a little faster if you'd hang out at your house more often. I was ready to give you the book on Friday afternoon. See what cha get? 
Anyhow, I think you'll really enjoy it.
This is the kind of book that should be on a recommended reading list for schools. Not only does it answer FAQ about astronomy, its also a nice introduction to critical thinking. Students would never look at movies the same way. And maybe the next generation won't think "Capricorn One" was a docu-drama.
Lisa
If you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much room. |
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Chippewa
SFN Regular
USA
1496 Posts |
Posted - 03/11/2002 : 18:54:25 [Permalink]
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[quote]
"...This is the kind of book that should be on a recommended reading list for schools"
- Lisa
[/quote]
Ladies,
Since your conversation is sort of public - I'd like to add - this is the type of book that should be a TV program on PBS, host by You Know Who. (And I don't mean Dr. Who.) - I mean the BA, (and not one of those actors who looks like him). Maybe a NOVA special on astronomical misconceptions - hosted by Phil. NOVA has done programs basically narrated by one person before. Just thinking "outside the box." It would sure be refreshing after the Fox moon hoax travesty. :-D
"Speaking without thinking like shooting without aiming." - Charlie Chan |
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Trish
SFN Addict
USA
2102 Posts |
Posted - 03/20/2002 : 14:35:34 [Permalink]
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Hey, have there been problems at the BA site. I keep getting 'server not found' everytime I try to change pages. Or is it just me?
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...no one has ever found a 4.5 billion year old stone artifact (at the right geological stratum) with the words "Made by God."
<i>No Sense of Obligation</i> by Matt Young |
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Trish
SFN Addict
USA
2102 Posts |
Posted - 03/20/2002 : 15:15:06 [Permalink]
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Apparently my connection dropped out.
It's been a bit since I've been over there - WTF is with all the creationists?
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...no one has ever found a 4.5 billion year old stone artifact (at the right geological stratum) with the words "Made by God."
<i>No Sense of Obligation</i> by Matt Young |
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Lisa
SFN Regular
USA
1223 Posts |
Posted - 03/20/2002 : 17:00:11 [Permalink]
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[quote]
Apparently my connection dropped out.
It's been a bit since I've been over there - WTF is with all the creationists?
[/quote]
I have trouble getting to the site, off and on.
Creationists? I noticed the threads, "things creationists/evolutionists hate", but there doesn't look like any mass take-over by fundies. Mostly there's creationists bashing, always fun in my book.
Lisa
If you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much room. |
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Piltdown
Skeptic Friend
USA
312 Posts |
Posted - 03/20/2002 : 17:25:46 [Permalink]
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I really should start posting on the BA board again. I have let it get away from me in recent months.
Tomorrow, btw, is the first anniversary of the repeat broadcast of Fox TV's loathesome moon hoax show. I've used that description so often that I guess I should just abbreviate it to LMHS.
Immediately after the LMHS rerun, our local Fox affiliate, KJTV-34, ran a news segment that offered a skeptical examination of the show's claims. I was interviewed during that segment, along with noted skeptical activist Harvey Madison. We only had 2 minutes, but the LMHS's claims were pretty well demolished in that time, thanks to some excellent work by reporter Hal Nelson and videographer Doug Wilkinson. This was anchor Jeff Klotzman's intro to the story:
[quote]We're not in the habit of trashing our own programming here at KJTV, but any of you who saw the moon hoax program earlier tonight will know what we are talking about[/quote]
As far as I know, KJTV was the only Fox affiliate to publicly repudiate the program. Nelson and Wilkinson have also hunted much bigger game by going after local creationists, which takes serious [i]cojones[/i] for a journalist in this part of the country.
Authority has every reason to fear the skeptic, for authority can rarely survive in the face of doubt.
-Robert Lindner
Edited by - Piltdown on 03/20/2002 17:27:06 |
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Omega
Skeptic Friend
Denmark
164 Posts |
Posted - 03/20/2002 : 19:19:29 [Permalink]
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So this is the place to vent?? I have a little freelance job as a science-journalist, and have been doing some pages on conspiracy theories for the Danish National TV. Among them one on the Apollo Moon hoax.
(Please insert long string of curses!) I've never been exposed to a worse amount of pseudo-physics, gargle-optics and complete and utter lack of understanding of basic mechanics!
Why do some people need to believe in this sort of thing?
And thanks to the BA for letting me use parts of his site, translated, for the theme-page on the Apollo-hoax. Only 8% in the poll believe the Apollo-missions were a hoax.
If guys only learn General Relativity to impress girls, why do we learn it??? To impress the aliens? :)
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe."
-Albert Einstein |
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Lisa
SFN Regular
USA
1223 Posts |
Posted - 03/21/2002 : 01:49:58 [Permalink]
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Omega, this is the place to rant away! Feel free. This whole astronomy folder started a while back just to give BA refugees a place to rant. We used to get some pretty bad troll invasions over at badastronomy, and this folder is somewhere where we don't have to watch our language.
Lisa
If you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much room. |
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Trish
SFN Addict
USA
2102 Posts |
Posted - 03/21/2002 : 11:53:19 [Permalink]
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[quote]
So this is the place to vent?? I have a little freelance job as a science-journalist, and have been doing some pages on conspiracy theories for the Danish National TV. Among them one on the Apollo Moon hoax.
(Please insert long string of curses!) I've never been exposed to a worse amount of pseudo-physics, gargle-optics and complete and utter lack of understanding of basic mechanics!
Why do some people need to believe in this sort of thing?
And thanks to the BA for letting me use parts of his site, translated, for the theme-page on the Apollo-hoax. Only 8% in the poll believe the Apollo-missions were a hoax.
If guys only learn General Relativity to impress girls, why do we learn it??? To impress the aliens? :)
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe."
-Albert Einstein[/quote]
Yeah, there are I think four previous folders from us over at BA. Welcome both places, it great to have someone else join in the fun.
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...no one has ever found a 4.5 billion year old stone artifact (at the right geological stratum) with the words "Made by God."
<i>No Sense of Obligation</i> by Matt Young |
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Valiant Dancer
Forum Goalie
USA
4826 Posts |
Posted - 03/21/2002 : 13:10:41 [Permalink]
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[quote]
So this is the place to vent?? I have a little freelance job as a science-journalist, and have been doing some pages on conspiracy theories for the Danish National TV. Among them one on the Apollo Moon hoax.
(Please insert long string of curses!) I've never been exposed to a worse amount of pseudo-physics, gargle-optics and complete and utter lack of understanding of basic mechanics!
Why do some people need to believe in this sort of thing?
And thanks to the BA for letting me use parts of his site, translated, for the theme-page on the Apollo-hoax. Only 8% in the poll believe the Apollo-missions were a hoax.
If guys only learn General Relativity to impress girls, why do we learn it??? To impress the aliens? :)
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe."
-Albert Einstein
[/quote]
The consensus here seems to be a mix of mental health deficiencies and heavy drug use. Also in the running is the moon hoax as religion. (a.k.a. Piperism)
Oh, dear. I typed that name, didn't I. Sort of like saying "Hastor".
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Omega
Skeptic Friend
Denmark
164 Posts |
Posted - 03/21/2002 : 19:22:43 [Permalink]
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[font=Verdana]
The mental health problem… I think I'll buy that one :D
How about ego-problems in general? I mean, what do the PCT (Paranoid Conspiracy theorists) do? They “manage” to “expose” something that the rest of us wild, blind, deluded masses don't get. One of the people I interviewed was convinced a rocket could not possible function in vacuum, and claimed he was a physicist! When asked, it turned out he took physics in high-school and had read “some books”. To him the pressure differences between Earth and space would make a rocket impossible (okay, so there's 1 atms difference. What about the ocean and the enormous pressure-differences there?!??! ARGH… ahem).
I also did a page on ufos and flying saucers and came across some… person, who claimed Einstein was wrong! How come Alberts theories are almost 100 years old by now and the millions of students, professors, researchers and experimentalist didn't find the flaw yet??
Because all us scientists are in on the huge natural science conspiracy… We just don't know that, I suppose.
Bottom line is, I think, that the people who put these theories forward have a desperate need to feel “special”. One of the above is even into Freemason conspiracies, and the “target” of stolen mail and so on and so forth.
The PCTs find themselves a mission in life, spend enormous amounts on time on it, and become true believers in the worst/best sense of the word.
The religious aspect is interesting, too. As far as the True Believer syndrome is concerned.
[/font=Verdana]
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe."
-Albert Einstein |
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Dog_Ed
Skeptic Friend
USA
126 Posts |
Posted - 03/22/2002 : 19:59:23 [Permalink]
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Hi, Omega, welcome both here and on the Bad Astronomy board.
I agree that the moon-hoax believers have some psychological need to feel special, but I also think some of them are dysfunctionally obsessive as well. This is a bad mix. A fellow who called himself Piper (referenced above) posted to the BABB for a while, and I once tried to get him to respond to something outside the narrow subject of the moon hoax--nothing. He would not even respond to comments about the weather! His obsession seemed to rule his mind completely as far as his dialogue on the board was concerned.
Quite a horrible cell to be trapped in, I feel.
--Don Stahl
"Even Einstein put his foot in it sometimes" |
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Omega
Skeptic Friend
Denmark
164 Posts |
Posted - 03/23/2002 : 19:49:10 [Permalink]
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Well, thank you all for the welcome
There's now a forum at the TV-networks page on the conspiracy theories. And the latest is some guy claiming man didn't go to the moon… because the moon-dust is radioactive and emits its own light. Okay, I think that one is hilarious!
Humour. Weeh, I love it!
"All it takes to fly is to fling yourself at the ground... and miss."
- Douglas Adams |
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