creationists still sucking at paleobiology

Sherry Konkus's Latest Post

Sherry has posted this article on some more stupid Creationist claims on her site Stupid Dinosaur Lies



Well done as always Sherry. Your debunking efforts continue to be appreciated.

A moment of Science Awesome

Scientific and Religious Worldviews Collide

The CMI travesty happening here in Cold Lake today has got my feathers ruffled, I admit.

Making Light of the Buffoons

I found this post by PZ Meyers on Pharyngula amusing and weirdly appropriate.

D

The wrong thing to take away from this is that females are more irrational than males (females being more irrational than males would be an unsubstantiated claim in addition to being an insult to females). The correct things to take away from this are that Creationism and by extension Religion are irrational.

If you need your Revealed Truth to get up in the morning, good for you. I choose to be rational and prefer the Empirical Evidence (and coffee), even if I don't like the evidence or it clashes with my expectations.

Kent Hovind Raps

CMI Plays their Con Today

At 7:00 pm MST CMI's Calvin Smith will stand in front of a crowd and preach CMI's doctrine of Creationism to the gulli-believers.

To "celebrate" let's watch one of the Creationist movements more infamous speakers give us his rap on Creationism. Ladies and Gentlemen, give it up for Kent Hovind!



Yes, Kent Hovind is an idiot, but the people who fall for this crap...I'm at a loss for words.

Updates

I had accidentally pointed the video URI to the wrong clip. They're very similar, but I wanted the original video not the modified one advertising the The Fish of Time Show.

The Creatards are Coming!

CMI Lia-A-Thon

CMI (Creation Ministries International) is coming to my town on the 24 November 2011. Prepare for misrepresentation of scientists' papers and findings, outright lying, dubious cryptozoology claims and basic shoehorning of half-baked claims into The Bible.

Radio Ad

A local radio station, K-Rock 95.3 ran a spot to interview the people sponsoring the event, Military Christian Fellowship. The organizers had the affrontry to claim that there was evidence for a young earth, raise the T-Rex blood canard and state that creationist scientistsidiots simply filter the paleontological evidence differently than those crazy liberal, satan-worshiping, NWO, "evolutionist" scientists! It ticked me off so badly that I had to shut off the radio for the duration.

I have a day off on the day of the seminar. So, should I attend?

Mr. Bonking vs. Murdoch: Throwing Down the Gauntlet

Better Than Ultimate Fighting

Well, I never watch UFC fights, but I find this more interesting anyhow.

The Challenge

Murdoch, tired of Mr. Bonking's constant spamming and sniping in the James Randi explains homeopathy channel forum has issued a formal challenge to Mr. Bonking.

drchristoaa:

@murdocha YOU , JUST A BORN IDIOT , Dont have
the ability to think and answer, i feel pity
for you..

The TRUTH is your IQ is very LOW, AND you have
proved it with more and more evidence by your
posts here, and still going on proving it...
ass hole

murdocha:

@drchristoaa Actually, I believe I have shown,
in post after post, a logical, well thought out
argument. You, on the other hand, have resorted
to name calling, mass spamming, voting a number
of posts as spam when they are not, and fake
accounts to prop up your beliefs, while providing
no robust evidence for homeopathy.

drchristoaa:

@murdocha TOTALLY WRONG COMMENT

murdocha:

@drchristoaa I issue you a formal challenge.
Please present your most logical and cogent case
for homeopathy from the posts on this video. No
trolling, no all-caps, no marking spam, just your
best argument from those you have made to date. I
will reply to that with the most logical and
scientifically based of those I have posted on
this video.

If you don't (or can't), then I will consider the
argument closed.

Murdoch challenging Mr. Bonking

Mr. Bonking's Current Response

Mr. Bonking's response thus far has been to ignore the challenge and continues his spamming program.

drchristoaa:

HOMEOPATHY IS THE MOST ADVANCED SCIENCE OF
HEALING...SCIENCE HAS ALREADY PROVED HOW HOMEOPATHY
WORKS...DEAR FRIENDS PLEASE UP DATE YOUR SCIENCE
KNOWLEDGE....HOMEOPATHY IS THE MEDICNE OF FUTURE,
EVEN THE FATHER OF MODERN MEDICNE SUPPORTED
HOMEOPATHY.

This video is published by antihomeopaths, because
many poeple are tuning to homeopathy for better health,
SO IGNORE THIS FOOLSIH VIDEO.

HOMEOPATHY WORKS...EXPERIENCE IT.

Blech! Spam!

Where Now?

Until Mr. Bonking actually takes up Murdoch's challenge he will not be able to prove his case. However, I believe I can predict how this will go:

1. Mr. Bonking will yet again present the IIT Bombay study as evidence for efficacy of Homepathy.
2. Murdoch will refute IIT Bombay study yet again.
3. Mr. Bonking will claim, "Nuh huh!" and proceed to spam the forum.
4. The rest of us will document and publish the idiocy of Mr. Bonking's arguments and behaviour.

Bear in mind, I've been wrong before. Mr. Bonking may rise to the challenge. Although the science is settled,there's always that small chance that scientists got things wrong, however improbable that may be.

There's also the small chance that Mr. Bonking, should he fail at providing verifiable, peer-reviewed evidence for his claims, will bow out graciously. Small, but possible.

HTML Cleanup

Blogger's Compose Barfs div Tags

When I first started using Blogger I tried using the "Edit HTML" option, but I made the mistake of trying to use proper HTML syntax. In frustration I began using "Compose" until I learned the rules of editing HTML in Blogger. I've since learned what those rules are and will be editing the raw HTML in future posts.

Current Todo

1. Clean up HTML in old posts.
2. Make posts more accessible.
3. Make post Web Pages load faster (Point's 1) and 2) should mostly cover this).
4. Use HTML5 semantics as appropriate.

So, if you notice any errors in my old posts that may be a direct result of my clean up attempts please let me know.

John Benneth's Childish Fantasies of Persecution

Wow, The Guy Just Gets Nuttier

So, our friend John Benneth has been lying low ever since I announced that I was going to expose his dishonesty. While he was lying low Mr. Benneth composed the following video:

D

Frankly, I'm not too sure what Mr. Benneth is getting at here. I imagine that it may be one of several things.

Mr. Benneth:

• is feeling persecuted by other Netizens for his bizarre beliefs and claims and is expressing his desire to strike back.
• is angry at the success of Modern Medicine, frustrated with the ineffectiveness of Homeopathy and is expressing his desire for reality to conform to his views.
• has watched or listened to Dara O'Brian mock Homeopathy and woo in general and believes himself to be equally witty and sufficiently intelligent to counter O'Brian's humour.
• has a deep-seated hatred and fear of children and is expressing his wish to shoot them. (least likely, but still possible)

Mr. Benneth, though I laughed when I watched your video HOMEOPATH BRUTALLY BEATEN, it wasn't because I found you witty and intelligent. I was laughing, Mr. Benneth, because you are transparent, immature and a bad actor to boot.

If there was a reward for idiocy, I'd nominate you. In it's place I offer the "G' in th' fuck'n sack!" Award, dedicated to the personage who's humour you try to counter by emulating (while failing to do either), Mr. Dara O'Brian.

Introducing the Amazing NymShifting Homeopath Troll

I thought USENET was bad for Trolls.

Where do they come from?

November 2011, towards evening -7.00 hr Greenwich time I received an interesting notice in my e-mail from YouTube.

Subject: =?iso-8859-1?q?Reply_from_drhomeopathycure_on_=22James_Randi_explains_hom?=
 =?iso-8859-1?q?eopathy=22?=
From: YouTube Service 
To: wstevenschneider 
Status: RO
Content-Length: 2913
Lines: 97
  
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

drhomeopathycure has replied to your comment on James Randi explains homeop=
athy:
      @wstevenschneider asshole fuck off

Surprising e-mail

I was a little bit surprised and a bit confused. Who was this drhomeopathycure and what did I ever do to this person? Why was drhomeopathycure calling me an "asshole" and telling me to "fuck off"?

This is an odd story, so I'd better fill you in.

Background on Christoa

The youtube user known as jamesbondking aka drchristoaa (He calls himself doctor, but his degree is in Homeopathy. Even if Homeopathy were viable science I don't see how an undergraduate's degree entitles him to practice medicine. But Homeopathy isn't medicine is it? No, it's woo.) heretofore known as Mr. Bonking, likes to enter forums where a video has been posted denouncing Homeopathy. Initial posts by Mr. Bonking often begin with an announcement of a study done in Bombay that, in his opinion, proves Homeopathy works.

drchristoaa

new research conducted at the respected Indian Institutes of Technology has
confirmed the presence of “nanoparticles” of the starting materials even at
extremely high dilutions of homeopathic medicine. Researchers have
demonstrated by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), electron
diffraction and chemical analysis by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Atomic
Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES), the presence of physical entities in these
extreme dilutions

the researchers received confirmation of the existence of nanoparticles at
two different homeopathic high potencies (30C and 200C) and because they
tested four different medicines (Zincum met./zinc; Aurum met. /gold; Stannum
met./tin; and Cuprum met./copper), the researchers concluded that this study
provides “concrete evidence.”

Citing the Bombay Study

Challenge Mr. Bonking's understanding of the Bombay Study, say you tell him that finding particles in the Homeopathic remedy doesn't equal proof that homeopathy works, Mr. Bonking shows that he can't accept an alternate explanation.  Mr Bonking can't even begin to explain how the Bombay finding supports his notion that Homeopathy works.  At that point, Mr. Bonking begins to talk down to his challengers.

drchristoaa

@wstevenschneider Again you are becoming a clown here...dear read the article
understand it as it is, dont make your own explanation ok science has proved
how homeopathy works and homeopathy is the most advanced science of healing

you dont mislead innocent people, the fact is homeopathy works and is the most
advanced science of healing.And science has recently proved it using
nano-particle studies, IIT bombay found it, and it is not metal contaminates,
scientists at IIT are not fools like u. They know that science is everchanging.
They have done genuine test of Homeopathic dilution,and is done dublind blind.
They never know the aurum met 200 was the medicne before they detected the gold
particles form it.

wstevenschneider

@drchristoaa - "you dont mislead innocent people,"

Until proven otherwise, Homeopathy is a scam!

"it is not metal contaminates"

Do you even read what you post?  The article clearly said that they were
studying the metal contaminates _not_ the active ingredients.

"They have done genuine test of Homeopathic dilution,and is done dublind blind"

Their tests didn't prove anything beyond placebo, which what _all other double
blind studies_ found.

Talking Down to Challengers

Mr. Bonking even believes that Homeopathy journals are respected scientific journals. This despite the fact that Homeopathy journals don't appear in listings such as PAIS. (Yes, I misspelled it. Hey, I never claimed perfection, I just demand it.)

drchristoaa

@wstevenschneider Randi is still knows homeopathy can work. Homeopathy
works and is the most advanced science of healing, scientists has
proved it,(search IIT BOMBAY HOMEOPATHY) and the research paper
appeared in PEER reviewed well established journal and the result was
published after 4 years of study on nanotechnology and homeopathy by
scientists of IIT Bombay.

This definitely shows that HOMEOPATHY is the MOST ADVANCED  science
of healing and medicine of present and future.

Homeopathy Journals not in PAIS

Once all of his arguments run out (which doesn't take long) he not only continues using them as if they weren't refuted, but he begins to spam the forum. For example:

drchristoaa

HOMEOPATHY IS THE MOST ADVANCED SCIENCE OF HEALING...SCIENCE HAS
ALREADY PROVED HOW HOMEOPATHY WORKS... DEAR FRIENDS PLEASE UP
DATE YOUR SCIENCE KNOWLEDGE....HOMEOPATHY IS THE MEDICNE OF FUTURE,
EVEN THE FATHER OF MODERN MEDICNE SUPPORTED HOMEOPATHY.

This video is published by antihomeopaths, because many poeple are
tuning to homeopathy for better health, SO IGNORE THIS FOOLSIH VIDEO.

HOMEOPATHY WORKS...EXPERIENCE IT..

Spam

and

HOMEOPATHY IS THE MOST ADVANCED SCIENCE OF HEALING...SCIENCE HAS
ALREADY PROVED HOW HOMEOPATHY WORKS... DEAR FRIENDS PLEASE UP
DATE YOUR SCIENCE KNOWLEDGE....HOMEOPATHY IS THE MEDICNE OF FUTURE,
EVEN THE FATHER OF MODERN MEDICNE SUPPORTED HOMEOPATHY.

This video is published by antihomeopaths, because many poeple are
tuning to homeopathy for better health, SO IGNORE THIS FOOLSIH VIDEO.

HOMEOPATHY WORKS...EXPERIENCE IT..

More Spam

and

HOMEOPATHY IS THE MOST ADVANCED SCIENCE OF HEALING...SCIENCE HAS
ALREADY PROVED HOW HOMEOPATHY WORKS... DEAR FRIENDS PLEASE UP
DATE YOUR SCIENCE KNOWLEDGE....HOMEOPATHY IS THE MEDICNE OF FUTURE,
EVEN THE FATHER OF MODERN MEDICNE SUPPORTED HOMEOPATHY.

This video is published by antihomeopaths, because many poeple are
tuning to homeopathy for better health, SO IGNORE THIS FOOLSIH VIDEO.

HOMEOPATHY WORKS...EXPERIENCE IT..

Even More Spam

Detect a pattern yet?

HOMEOPATHY IS THE MOST ADVANCED SCIENCE OF HEALING...SCIENCE HAS
ALREADY PROVED HOW HOMEOPATHY WORKS... DEAR FRIENDS PLEASE UP
DATE YOUR SCIENCE KNOWLEDGE....HOMEOPATHY IS THE MEDICNE OF FUTURE,
EVEN THE FATHER OF MODERN MEDICNE SUPPORTED HOMEOPATHY.

This video is published by antihomeopaths, because many poeple are
tuning to homeopathy for better health, SO IGNORE THIS FOOLSIH VIDEO.

HOMEOPATHY WORKS...EXPERIENCE IT..

Spam Again

Want to guess what's coming next?

HOMEOPATHY IS THE MOST ADVANCED SCIENCE OF HEALING...SCIENCE HAS
ALREADY PROVED HOW HOMEOPATHY WORKS... DEAR FRIENDS PLEASE UP
DATE YOUR SCIENCE KNOWLEDGE....HOMEOPATHY IS THE MEDICNE OF FUTURE,
EVEN THE FATHER OF MODERN MEDICNE SUPPORTED HOMEOPATHY.

This video is published by antihomeopaths, because many poeple are
tuning to homeopathy for better health, SO IGNORE THIS FOOLSIH VIDEO.

HOMEOPATHY WORKS...EXPERIENCE IT..

Side order of Spam

The fact is that Mr. Bonking does this a lot. He's not a very good troll, but he's definitely consistent.

Getting Bonked Twice

I have to say, that I certainly did not enjoy it. When I first met Mr. Bonking I met him under his jamesbondking Channel ID in the James Randi's Challenge to Homeopathy Manufacturers and Retail Pharmacies posted by JamesRandiFoundation. Suddenly someone named drchristoaa started responding to our posts and sounding a lot like jamesbondking. Naturally, we were suspicious and so we pressed drchristoaa for the truth.

murdocha

@drchristoaa Wow, you sound a lot like jamesbondking. Are you
related?

wstevenschneider

@murdocha - Based on dr(?)christoaa's posting history I propose
this possibility.

drchristoaa == jamesbondking

Thoughts?

murdocha

@wstevenschneider It is astounding that you never see the two of
them together at the same time.

drchristoaa

@wstevenschneider yes u are right.Homeopathy works and is the most
advanced science of healing and science has proved it.

@murdocha Both are same,

wstevenschneider

@drchristoaa "Both are same, "

QFT as in the days of USENET.

murdocha

@drchristoaa Thought so. Troll away!

drchristoaa

@murdocha shut up..

Mr. Bonking's First Sockpuppet

To Mr. Bonking's credit, he did admit to the nymshift even if only under coercion.  To this day, Mr. Bonking keeps both accounts active though these days he's been posting most often as drchristoaa.

Hypothesis: A Third Bonking?

So, you've seen the e-mail that I received from drhomeopathycure at the beginning of this post. Here's a screenshot I took of drhomeopathycure's response. As you can see, drhomeopathycure's response has been deleted, but guess who also replied to me?

drchristoaa

@wstevenschneider fuck off

Evidence of Third Bonking?

As you can see (aside from Mr. Bonking's stream of verbal abuse) Mr. Bonking's response is suspiciously similar to drhomeopathycure's. Coincidence? Perhaps, but it is my belief that Mr. Bonking has nymshifted a third time and accidentally replied as drhomeopathycure.

Drhomeopathycure's Channel Screenshot

Because my screenshot program isn't working at 100% efficiency right now, I had to take a series of shots of drhomeopathycure's Channel. In the fifth screen shot you'll see drhomeopathycure's recent activity. Anything seem familiar?

Top of Channel

Second sixth of Channel

Third sixth of Channel

Fourth sixth of Channel

@wstevenschneider asshole fuck off

Fifth sixth of Channel

Bottom of Channel


So there you go, whether drhomeopathycure is Mr. Bonking or not, drhomeopathycure did indeed curse at me. Not that's such a big deal, I have cranks and crackpots curse at me all of the time. However, if drhomeopathycure is Mr. Bonking then, Mr. Bonking, you've made an error and have been caught.  Because, Mr. Bonking, The Internets never forgets!

The Stolen Video

Aside from (unsuccessfully might I add) trying to destroy my confidence, drhomeopathycure seems to be a bit of thief too. Now, Standard YouTube License allows other YouTube users to use portions of other user's videos in their own videos. The license also allow people to mirror other peoples videos as well. Proper attribution and credits are required. Drhomeopathy cure used the video James Randi explains Homeopathy posted by Rational Response and reposted it as HOMEOPATHY EXPAINED WRONGLY....mp4. This was without proper attribution, crediting the original uploaders, stating that it's a mirror, without permission of the JREF and without modification.

Compare RationalResponse's video

D1

to drhomeopathycure's. (Video no longer available. See Updates below.)




Is there any significant difference between the two?


Drhomeopathycure, Mr. Bonking, or whomever the hell you really are, this is very low.  I don't even know if it's legal.  I can't, even for a moment, think of how you believe James Randi's video proves your case.  Have you no originality?

Updates

07 November 2011

1. Murdoch has informed me that drhomeopathycure has removed the questionable video!!!
2. Drhomeopathycure has given us more evidence in the If Homeopathy Beats Science forum that he is Mr. Bonking. (see screenshot below, he removed his original post)

Post in drhomeopathycure's activity window.

HOMEOPATHY IS THE MOST ADVANCED SCIENCE OF HEALING...SCIENCE HAS
ALREADY PROVED HOW HOMEOPATHY WORKS...DEAR FRIENDS PLEASE UP DATE
YOUR SCIENCE KNOWLEDGE....HOMEOPATHY IS THE MEDICNE OF FUTURE, EVEN
THE FATHER OF MODERN MEDICNE SUPPORTED HOMEOPATHY.
This video is published by antihomeopaths, because many poeple are
tuning to homeopathy for better health, SO IGNORE THIS FOOLSIH VIDEO.
HOMEOPATHY WORKS...EXPERIENCE IT

Spam for desert too!


Mr. Bonking, did you accidentally post as drhomeopathycure again? Silly mistakes to make with your little sock puppets, your antics are revealed for all to see.

YouTube, DMCA and Safe Harbor

The Trials of Peter Hadfield

About Peter Hadfield

The YouTube user known as Potholer54 has produced many videos on YouTube on topics such as science and debunking anti-science. His videos are informative, witty and entertaining.

Thar's Gold in Them Thar Ducks and Crocodiles!

One of his video series is called The Golden Crocoduck Award and is awarded annually to those whom Peter's viewers feel has lied the most for Jesus that year. Nominees for this year's award included such illustrious types as Ian Juby, Louis Giglio, Richard Kent and Amenakin (I guess for Amenakin, she lied for Mohommad. Still counts though.)

When Peter produced his video for the nominee, Amenakin, he promptly received a DMCA takedown notice on her behalf. Peter counter-filed and in the meantime had a conference with Amenakin. Amenakin admitted that she was wrong in her video and agreed that the DMCA takedown notice was inappropriate though she still felt her copyright was violated.

YouTube's Unorthodox Decision

Despite Peter following the standard procedure, there being no legal grounds for YouTube to refuse to put the video back up and Amenakin withdrawing her DMCA-violation complaint, YouTube has refused to put the video back up. Since YouTube depends on its Safe Harbor status to avoid lawsuits over videos user's post on their channels, this decision has some far reaching implications.

Peter's Video Explanation

My Opinion

I believe that YouTube's decision will threaten its Safe Harbor positions and possibly erode it for other sites that claim Safe Harbor in other countries. Once a neutral party begins deciding who owns copyright and who does not then they have taken a side and must act accordingly. In fact, YouTube will be expected to act accordingly.

IANAL, please take my opinion for what it is, an opinion of a non-professional.

Updates

07 November 2011

Potholer wins! Potholer wins! Potholer wins!

Yes folk, Potholer54 has won his case against YouTube's copyright infringement claims. It's sure nice to see the good guys win once and awhile.