Disqus - Friends of rekster

Re: Meet the USGS’s Newest Volcano Observatory: CalVO

Skeptical Raptor — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 13:42:50 -0000

Way up north near Oregon. I took a driving/backpacking tour of most of California's recent volcanic sites last summer.

Re: Mystery Volcano Photo #43

Skeptical Raptor — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 01:13:43 -0000

I don't mean to be off-topic here, but predicting an earthquake based on a headache? Sorry, but no. Confirmation bias is hardly a reason to make such a claim.

Re: Mystery Volcano Photo #43

Skeptical Raptor — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 00:12:04 -0000

You're promoting pseudoscience in a scientific blog? Let me list the logical fallacies that you're using all in one paragraph. You'd be a champion, but I spend my days destroying the anti-vaccine lunatics, so you fail to compare to their junk science.

To predict an earthquake would require you to convince me that there is a plausible scientific mechanism. If you were right about these things, I would assume that every Ph.D. candidate in geology would have a thesis written on it. Because there are over 15,000 earthquakes a year in the world. I would assume that your pseudoscientific hypothesis would have been tested by now. It hasn't.

Furthermore, your confirmation bias where you ONLY remember when an earthquake overlaps with your physical symptoms, but you forget about the 100 times when you have your medical problems and no earthquake happens.

And a fine-tuned nervous system? Is that like a fine-tuned universe? Intelligent design? At least I'm a biochemist who knows enough to not chime in about things I don't know about in geology. Short of those with neurological problems, all nervous transmissions in mammals is approximately the same. We can't bend spoons. We can't read minds. We can't do remote viewing. And we cannot predict earthquakes with a headache. Maybe we'll be able to predict earthquakes through some geological, geophysical or geochemical process, but it's going to be through computers and mechanical sensors, not the human nervous system.

Re: Bubbles, Fragmentation and Explosive Eruptions

Skeptical Raptor — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 19:12:06 -0000

Erik, not sure which direction your group will be traveling, but you need to stop at Fossil Falls along the way (it's at the southern end of the valley). It's a lava flow that blocked the Owens River, until the river broke through, and created an amazing canyon in the lava. The whole area is covered with all kinds of lava flows, tuffs, everything. It sort of encapsulates the geology of the eastern Sierra with both effects of vulcanism and weather during the last glacial maximum.

http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en...

Re: Bubbles, Fragmentation and Explosive Eruptions

Skeptical Raptor — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 21:33:33 -0000

I love the Eastern Sierras. Camping at the bottom of Mt. Whitney is so cool. About every mile along the 395 is going to make you want to stop and check it out. It might make a volcano guy like you just pass out from information overload!

Re: The iPad Wins Because Android Tablet Apps Suck: An Illustrated Guide

Skeptical Raptor — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 14:36:10 -0000

Not that it matters much, but you refer to the wrong "Melo" in the ESPN screen shot with Syracuse. It's not Carmelo Anthony (who helped us win our only national championship in basketball) and now plays for the Knicks, but Fab Melo a dumb Brazilian who didn't keep up with his classes and cost us another national championship. Now, you brought back my depression over the Cuse losing to those rednecks from Ohio State.

Re: The iPad Wins Because Android Tablet Apps Suck: An Illustrated Guide

Skeptical Raptor — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 14:39:06 -0000

It's an iOS vs. Android discussion. Offensiveness is expected. Apparently the ongoing "Android is better. No iOS is better. Android is run by the commies. The iPad is made by commies. Your mama. Your mama" argument is more important than global warming, Republicans destroying the working class, and the New York Yankees once again being arrogant pricks.

Re: Francine Scrayen, the litigious liar

Skeptical Raptor — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 22:00:15 -0000

There's been a cancer patient "cured" by homeopathic potions? Really? Prove it, or shut up. I won't be holding my breath, because I just can't do that for an infinite amount of time.

Homeopathy doesn't work, because it would violate the basic principles of physics and chemistry. Not that it's illegal to do so, but because it would require a ton of evidence to do so. You know, the old "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence."

"Allopathic" is one of those terms that science denialists use to make them sound all intelligent and all, but denying science basically indicates the level of intelligence one has. Evolution denialists, global warming denialists, alternative medicine believers, and alien abductions nuts are all the same. They ignore evidence because they either lack the intelligence to understand the evidence, or prefer their lame ideas to reality.

Homeopathy is water. Pure and simple. And the only good thing about that water is that you can drink it if you're thirsty, though given how homeopaths rob good money from ill patients, it's kind of expensive water.

Back to my first point. Prove it.

Re: Francine Scrayen, the litigious liar

Skeptical Raptor — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 22:00:15 -0000

There's been a cancer patient "cured" by homeopathic potions? Really? Prove it, or shut up. I won't be holding my breath, because I just can't do that for an infinite amount of time.

Back to my first point. Prove it.

Re: Evolution, climate teaching bill awaits Tenn. governor’s signature

Skeptical Raptor — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 00:01:41 -0000

Evolution is not controversial, unless you consider the 100 or so biologists, out of 1 million research biologists in the US, as creating a controversy. It's a political discussion.

As for global warming, it is clear that the wealth behind global warming denialism have allied themselves with the religious right, who are denialists because they fear science. Or they think their god will clean up the earth. Or something idiotic. The oil companies could care less about those gods, they just use the religious fundamentalists to vote for politicians who are also denialists.

This is all so useless.

Re: Three iPad giveaways in three days: day three, courtesy of Gogo!

Skeptical Raptor — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 13:06:56 -0000

Can I sell it on eBay?

Re: The Fraudulent Business of Earthquake and Eruption Prediction

Skeptical Raptor — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 15:41:27 -0000

I'm in the sciences. And you, sir, are completely wrong. However, I have enjoyed your ad hominems, your strawman fallacies, and probably 3 other logical fallacies, which are amusing at best.

Re: The Fraudulent Business of Earthquake and Eruption Prediction

Skeptical Raptor — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 15:42:30 -0000

Actually, you have a bit of NPD. Good luck with that.

Re: The Fraudulent Business of Earthquake and Eruption Prediction

Skeptical Raptor — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 15:44:13 -0000

More laughable that Nigel Lawson?

Re: The Fraudulent Business of Earthquake and Eruption Prediction

Skeptical Raptor — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 15:50:14 -0000

Erik, I didn't know that the geology world was filled with pseudoscientific fools like in medicine. The arguments here are as hysterical and filled with anti-science understanding as say creationism, homeopathy, anti-vaccination lunatics, and whatever else that works in the same manner.

Like I tell homeopaths, creationists (or place any pseudoscience you want in the blanks), if you can provide evidence, a plausible scientific foundation for the hypothesis, publish in a peer-reviewed journal, and have the evidence repeated by other researchers, then I'd be willing to support you for the Nobel Prize. But otherwise, yelling and bullying Erik because you're insulted that he called you a fraud is amusing at best. Because if you try to do anything legally with Erik, I can assure you that, in the USA, you'll have to prove you have science backing you up.

But please, continue with the strawman fallacies, the Appeals to Authority, and special pleading. Real scientists can see through your lame attempts at belittling another real scientist.

Re: Earthquake/Eruption Predictions Revisited and a Challenge

Skeptical Raptor — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 18:35:09 -0000

Erik, I had to borrow your last sentence. Everyone thinks that science is dogmatic, when, in fact, it works best under the bright lights of criticism. You might have been too young to remember when Alvarez proposed the Chicxulub impact as the cause of the K-T event (I'm sorry K-Pg event), but I remember being at some meeting where he was ridiculed. But every geologist jumped on it to see if they could repeat the observations, and within a few years there was tons of confirmation of the theory.

My point is, science only works if it is self-critical. And you're just being a good scientist, not that you need me to confirm that! Other than sciencebasedmedicine.org, this is my favorite blog to read. Maybe it's because I wish I had chosen geology rather than biochemistry when to grad school.

Re: MacKeeper Is 911 For Your Mac [Deals]

Skeptical Raptor — Sun, 13 May 2012 21:46:14 -0000

Seriously? Have you even read the Apple Community Discussions about this product? Have you googled it? Do you how many people have websites that have to explain the multiple steps that required to remove it from you Mac?<div>
</div><div>It's malware of the worst kind, because you pay for it. If you're shilling for these jackasses, then Cult of Mac is gone from my reader. How can we trust ANYTHING you write any more? </div><div>
</div><div>Anyone consider buying this POS software, go search it on the Apple Discussion. Just search it. There will be literally 1000 threads on the problems it causes and how hard it is to eliminate from your computer. It does everything from memory leaks to system overhead problems. This is shocking.</div>

Re: MacKeeper Is 911 For Your Mac [Deals]

Skeptical Raptor — Sun, 13 May 2012 21:46:14 -0000

Re: MacKeeper Is 911 For Your Mac [Deals]

Skeptical Raptor — Sun, 13 May 2012 21:46:14 -0000

Re: MacKeeper Is 911 For Your Mac [Deals]

Skeptical Raptor — Sun, 13 May 2012 21:46:14 -0000

Re: Apple Unveils Totally New Maps App And Traffic Service In iOS 6 [WWDC12]

Skeptical Raptor — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 20:08:23 -0000

Cute. Not very useful, unless it stores maps on the device. I travel a lot, especially to small roads in non-3G (geez, many are non-any signal) areas. With limited data plans, and as much travel as I do, I never used the google app. Nor will I use this, unless, again, the maps are downloaded and used offline.<div>
</div><div>My Navigon App, stores all maps for Canada and the US (including tiny little fire roads in the National Forest system) in a 1.5 Gb file on my iPhone. When I'm in a 3G area, I can use google in-App to find POI's that I require.</div><div>
</div><div>I'm sorry, but I think these maps for people who travel once a year, not for real power users of Navigation. The iPad and iPhone Navigation apps, though expensive, are infinitely more powerful and useful.</div>

Re: Apple Unveils Totally New Maps App And Traffic Service In iOS 6 [WWDC12]

Skeptical Raptor — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 20:08:23 -0000

Re: Apple Unveils Totally New Maps App And Traffic Service In iOS 6 [WWDC12]

Skeptical Raptor — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 20:08:23 -0000

Re: Apple Unveils Totally New Maps App And Traffic Service In iOS 6 [WWDC12]

Skeptical Raptor — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 20:08:23 -0000

Re: Navigon boosts iPhone app to version 2.1, discounts purchases through July 16th

Skeptical Raptor — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 11:10:01 -0000

I go off the beaten track quite a bit so the Navigon app is a great choice for me. I need the maps downloaded into my iPhone, and I think the google maps or the upcoming iMaps solutions will be a lousy alternative outside of cities with good 3G connections. In fact, I use my iPhone 4 on trails with the NeoTrek app for detailed USGS level maps.

I happen to agree with your assessment that people want tremendous quality apps for free. There is a reason why Navigon costs what it does, and if you don't need it, then don't buy it, use the free stuff. But if you're doing a cross country trip through the Sierras don't expect your free nav app to help you through one of those cool back roads.