skeptic2

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Posts by skeptic2

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  84

  Weird crop circle sighting...

  by troubled mind in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my husbands cousin lives in a small rural area in illinois and over the weekend crop circles appeared in their soybean crop .

  i just talked to his cousin , and she is beside herself from all the publicity .

  she said the phone started ringing at 6am this morning .

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  skeptic2

  You can actually bring people out to a field, make a complicated crop circle right in front of them and they'll still say somrthing like: "Sure, that one was a hoax, but some of them just can't be explained." What they forget is that until they were shown that one, they thought none of them could be explained.

  
  It's the usual reverse argument.

  It is not necessary to prove that all crop circles are man-made, as this is the likeliest scenario.

  It is necessary to prove that some aren't, this more extraordinary claim has a higher burden of proof.

  It is backwards to accept the more extraordinary claim, while demanding greater evidence for the least extraordinary.
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  58

  Are witnesses Christians?

  by KW13 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  .

  i know that all religions have their flaws, so do you agree that witnesses should call themselves christians or are they 'too un-christian'?.

  the baptism, i think proves its different, they are baptized into an organization, that forms part of the questions...agreeing that the society is god's earthly representation.. personally i feel they are not christians.

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  skeptic2

  I always think of them as a cult hiding behind the Bible.
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  84

  Weird crop circle sighting...

  by troubled mind in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my husbands cousin lives in a small rural area in illinois and over the weekend crop circles appeared in their soybean crop .

  i just talked to his cousin , and she is beside herself from all the publicity .

  she said the phone started ringing at 6am this morning .

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  skeptic2

  Don't believe everything you see on Discovery Channel, or any other entertainment medium. Real scientists only wish channels like these would stick to the facts.

  Both DCI [makes of Discovery Channel and The Learning Channel] and A&E carry quality programming on their flagship channels. But they also carry shows which utterly undermine the credibility of their scientific and historic programming. Source
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  84

  Weird crop circle sighting...

  by troubled mind in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my husbands cousin lives in a small rural area in illinois and over the weekend crop circles appeared in their soybean crop .

  i just talked to his cousin , and she is beside herself from all the publicity .

  she said the phone started ringing at 6am this morning .

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  2. 
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  skeptic2

  obviously many crop circles are made by pranksters but there is some evidence of unexplained phenomenon going on here and i'll list 3 points that have intrigued me... 1. Seed pods in soybeans/wheat/etc. have been found to be sterile or even exploded. the seed pod has actually burst open. 2. Soil samples inside the crop circle are inconsistent with soil samples outside the crop circle (i.e. raised levels of magnetic material, elements or compounds) 3. One of the scientists researching crop circles actually discovered a new geometric theorem by studying a particular crop circle. how a group of pranksters could have know about this theorem before all of the world's scientists and mathematicians is beyond me. Now I'm not saying that aliens made these but it's just some evidence that makes me question the whole "they are all pranksters" theory. I think there is enough evidence to at least doubt that they are all man made.

  You state that there is evidence but you don't actually reference any. Remember that it is very easy for humans to see patterns where there are none, or to see things that they want to see. Research has to be peer-reviewed and replicated before it is worth assigning any importance to conclusions drawn. If you have knowledge of such research I would be glad to hear about it.
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  84

  Weird crop circle sighting...

  by troubled mind in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my husbands cousin lives in a small rural area in illinois and over the weekend crop circles appeared in their soybean crop .

  i just talked to his cousin , and she is beside herself from all the publicity .

  she said the phone started ringing at 6am this morning .

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  skeptic2

  The expert that came to check out the crop circles here this week said she could find no evidence that they were caused by pranksters . She said she has examined others that clearly were , but not this one . She took samples of soil and of the bean crop . Interestingly she said in many of the cases she has studied the soil within the circle proves to have higher magnetic material , also some of the seeds within the circle are inexplicably sterile .

  
  There are also experts on Scientology, Graphology, Astrology, Atlantis, the Bermuda Triangle etc. etc.

  What are the qualifications of this expert? What is her standing in the scientific community? And more importantly, has her 'research' been peer-reviewed and then replicated with the same outcome by other scientists?
• 
  84

  Weird crop circle sighting...

  by troubled mind in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my husbands cousin lives in a small rural area in illinois and over the weekend crop circles appeared in their soybean crop .

  i just talked to his cousin , and she is beside herself from all the publicity .

  she said the phone started ringing at 6am this morning .

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  2. 
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  skeptic2

  Here's my transcription of the pamphlet:

  Being a True Relation of a Farmer, who Bargained with a Poor Mower, about the Cutting down Three Half Acres of Oats, upon the Mower's asking too much, the Farmer swore That the Devil should Mow it, rather than He. And so it fell out, that that very Night, the Crop of Oats shew'd (?) as if it had been all of a Flame, but next Morning appear'd so neatly Mow'd by the Devil, or some Infernal Spirit, that no Mortal Man was able to do the like. Also, How the said Oats ly now in the Field, and the Owner has not Power to fetch them away.

  Must have been much better than a crop circle then, because there is no crop circle that cannot have been produced by a mortal man.

  That is of course if you believe this fairy tale.
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  84

  Weird crop circle sighting...

  by troubled mind in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my husbands cousin lives in a small rural area in illinois and over the weekend crop circles appeared in their soybean crop .

  i just talked to his cousin , and she is beside herself from all the publicity .

  she said the phone started ringing at 6am this morning .

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  skeptic2

  Mary - what evidence do you possess that has lead you to the conclusion that some crop circles are not man-made?

  All the picture in the pamphlet appears to show a circular formation, it is unlikely that the artist visited the field in question (assuming that these events even occurred). Pure coincidence cannot be ruled out as an explanatio of the similarity between this artist's impression of a mown field and modern crop circles.

  Here is Wikipedia's rendition of the story.

  The Mowing-Devil: or, Strange News out of Hartford-Shire is the title of an English woodcut pamphlet published in 1678. The pamphlet tells of a farmer who, refusing to pay the price demanded by a labourer to mow his field, swore that he would rather that the Devil mowed it instead. According to the pamphlet, that night his field appeared to be in flame. The next morning, the field was found to be perfectly mowed - supernaturally perfect, in fact. This pamphlet, and the accompanying illustration, is often cited as among the first recorded cases of crop circles by cereologists. Compare the figure of Puck, a pre-Christian sprite who might be induced to do farm-work or housework.
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  26

  Does anyone know if this article is true or not?

  by Keyboard22 in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  click here: u-turn on blood policy

  u-turn on blood policy .

  jehovah's witnesses are now allowed to accept blood transfusions without facing excommunication from their faith.

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  skeptic2

  If you click on the link 'Rapid Responses' in the menu on the left under the article link, you get this response from the editor:
  
  
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  84

  Weird crop circle sighting...

  by troubled mind in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my husbands cousin lives in a small rural area in illinois and over the weekend crop circles appeared in their soybean crop .

  i just talked to his cousin , and she is beside herself from all the publicity .

  she said the phone started ringing at 6am this morning .

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  skeptic2

  Crop-off in progress.
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  84

  Weird crop circle sighting...

  by troubled mind in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my husbands cousin lives in a small rural area in illinois and over the weekend crop circles appeared in their soybean crop .

  i just talked to his cousin , and she is beside herself from all the publicity .

  she said the phone started ringing at 6am this morning .

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  skeptic2