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Blogger Christopher Taylor employs a journalistic tactic unknown to Terry Lane: research.
Interesting that the AP has also perpetuated the myth too. I wonder if they ever issued a retraction?
Posted by andycanuck on 2007 01 17 at 09:37 AM • permalinkThat’s not very gneiss, paco, even if it’s true. (And excuse the redundancy in my #2, er, posting #2, that is.)
Posted by andycanuck on 2007 01 17 at 09:39 AM • permalinkDear Ash,
I have a problem that I’m having trouble with. Someone, I’m not going to tell you who, so we’ll just call him Tim. Oh no, wait, that’s too obvious. Let’s call him T. Blair. Anyway, this T. Blair person has been telling me I need to do something called research, but I have no idea what he’s talking about. I’ve never heard that word before. Can you help me out with figuring out what it is?
Thanks heaps buddy,
Tezza.
The interpretive staff at GCNP we are working with do not want to be identified and have gone into deep underground as the atmosphere at the park is now somewhat volatile.
Apparently Jamil Hussein works at the Grand Canyon, too!
Posted by Rob Crawford on 2007 01 17 at 10:44 AM • permalinkThat quote’s from PEER by way of the Skeptic article, BTW.
Posted by Rob Crawford on 2007 01 17 at 10:45 AM • permalinkBunny,
That link to Skeptic Magazine had me cracking up laughing. These oh-so skeptical people run a press release from a lefty group as is, without doing any research whatsoever. Then, they whine when it turns out the information is inaccurate. They should change the name of their rag to Sucker Magazine.
Posted by David Crawford on 2007 01 17 at 11:46 AM • permalinkG’day again Tez,
I can help you out, be’n the great m8 I is. Anyway this Blair guy seems like a smart cookie. Injecting some research into your work would give you more street cred, and that’s what a dude like you should be after.
So, research, huh buddy? Well, research is where you type http://www.google.com.au into that space where you put my email addy. It’ll come up with a pretty nifty page. In that page, next to da box dat says ‘Search’ type the name of whaddeva you’re writing your letters bout. Den click da Search box. It’ll come up wit some intristing shit, and u’ll have streed cred again m8.
This Blair dude won’t be able to bag u again until at least Sunday Bro, go 4 it.
Luv ya alwayz,
Ash.
why do I suddenly feel so dirty?
David Crawford—sadly, Skeptical Inquirer is going the same way under the new editor.
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2007 01 17 at 04:08 PM • permalinkHey Terry! I have this neat Swiss watch for sale - by Gneiss & Schist. Actually, it’s just a couple of rocks arranged as a sundial.
The left has a phobia concerning Christians, who must be attacked - particularly if they engage in any form of story telling of a type which would pass without comment if it came from primitive animists, like the Grand Canyone being created by the Great Serpent, etc.
Having Lane on an ABC program called The National Interest for so many years was a bad joke. At least he is there no more. Unfortunately there are plenty more where he came from.#10 David,
“These oh-so skeptical people run a press release from a lefty group as is, without doing any research whatsoever.”
This goes on to show that all human beings are biased, one way or another. We all desire that our beliefs be true, and this includes “skeptics” of which I’m one. Skeptics usually have this under control, but unfortunately it’s a very strong urge. Sometimes we fail to apply our due diligence and this is what happens: we cherry pick the evidence to favor our side. They admit as much:“Unfortunately, in our eagerness to find additional examples of the inappropriate intrusion of religion in American public life (as if we actually needed more), we accepted this claim by PEER without calling the National Park Service (NPS) or the Grand Canyon National Park (GCNP) to check it.”
On the other hand, they had the cojones to issue a fortright apology, admitting their lapse in no uncertain terms.
Posted by ElectronPower on 2007 01 17 at 05:03 PM • permalink“Skeptics”, by and large, believe that because they don’t believe in the supernatural, they are not believers. In reality, they are believers, “that there is no supernatural”, and are therefore prone to make errors based on their faith. The statement in the above quoted apology, “in our eagerness to find additional examples of the inappropriate intrusion of religion in American public life (as if we actually needed more)”, suggests that the Skeptics, too, can be led by “faith-based assumptions”. (Sorry about running down the boldening budget, Tim!)
Posted by AlburyShifton on 2007 01 17 at 05:35 PM • permalink#22
Perfect example. The bias is so institutionalized that these so-called skeptics would never be able to attempt Cartesian rationality, because the requirement of starting with only a couple of postulates (e.g., that reason itself is reliable) is (quod erat demonstrandum) beyond them.
Or maybe they just suck.
Here’s some interesting stuff related to the earlier post, “People United”, about some 9/11 Trutherites. I assume these folks weren’t considered ready to release to a half-way house, yet.
Lane is a tosspot. Everybody knows for a fact Jesse MacBeth dug the Grand Canyon using only plastic turkeys and his gold carbon credit card.
Posted by curious george on 2007 01 17 at 06:43 PM • permalinkLegislation is needed to address issues such as this.
A free and RESPONSIBLE press is of great importance to any democracy or democratic republic.
Anyone employed as a journalist or through a journalist organization that publishes untruths and misinformation must be stripped of position and protections given to journalists.
The industry of journalism had better start doing what ever it takes to police itself or it will be policed by outside forces and nothing much good will come of that, as usual.
It’s interesting that Terry Lane’s notoriety as a perveyor of dishonest bias parading as journalism, is spreading around the blogosphere. His fame should be a source of great shame to him as his integrity as a journalist is in ruins. I assume things are still rosy at The Age though, as their standards are now so low that nobody there would have the bottle to take Lane to task for his shoddiness and blatant bias. In fact I suspect many of his colleagues would applaud it.
This from Christopher Taylor I find particularly poignant:-
Lane Says: “Bush is stupid and a fundamentalist Christian to boot, he’s a Jesus freak and we all know they hate science”. Taylor: The presumption is of course President Bush would do such a thing… he’s one of those dumb “Christianists”... This sad presumption is about the only kind of permissible bigotry left in the PC world.
Taylor is right - strident and poisonous anti-Christianity IS the only bigotry still permitted. No wonder the world is going to hell in a handcart -and it’s the immorality of people like Terry Lane who are hastening the process.
O/T
Or maybe on, seeing as everything is now being blamed onGlobal WarmingClimate Change - well, OK, this one is Global Warming.
ANU academic Mike Gagan has been studying coral. He reckons that 6,000 years ago there was warming, but it was natural, and happened gradually. The current trend in warming is fast, and this will be catastrophic. linkyI just don’t know any more. Seeing that I, as a part of society, have failed the people of Palm Island (ABC Radio; quoting Sir Laurence Street), and I am contributing to
global warmingclimate change, and the world is going to end because of me, I just feel really, super-guilted about it.No, I’m just angry that people swallow this crap without doing any free-thinking of their own. Climate Change.
I’m angry that there is bleating about people who want to live in tiny communities and complain about not having the same facilities as the bigger towns or cities. It’s just not possible to provide them, the financial cost is prohibitive. Enough money has been thrown at the problem - it’s not worked. Time to look at alternatives.
More on the Palm Island situation.
/rant
O/T but way cool news :)
BlackFive has the story about an Afghani national, sometimes volunteer, sometimes paid, guarding a vehicle entry point (gate)at a combined NATO/Afghan base, armed with nothing but a lead pipe that stopped a vehicle born suicide bomber.
#10 Rob Crawford,
Michael Shermer is a pretty well known anti-religion gadfly who pops up on TV from time to time.
To his credit, he isn’t solely obsessed with Christian bashing but has done work to expose ‘psychics’ and other frauds.
So you are correct, it really is funny that Shermer’s Skeptic mag got Terry Lane’d on this.
Well I never!!!!!!!
It was my comment that Terry Lane was officialy deemed a google-dodger, being used as a title there! And no credit.
My solicitor, Mr Chris Murphy will be in touch as soon as he has sorted out Matt Newton’s difficulties.
Ohhhh granted, this is nothing compared with belting a woman, but it is much worse than the unpleasantness in Iraq. At least, I plan to make it that way.
Where’s my PACO Industries virus launching software package? Aahhh there it is, the Pre-emptive Anarchic Computer Obliterator. I simply knew that, at the low, low, price of $999 it would pay for itself someday.
Ah, there’s a Lane born every minute.
Hey Terry, for your next column: tell them about Bush’s secret dartboard with Al Gore’s face on it. Oh yeah, and the hidden wardrobe with Nazi memorabilia. And don’t forget that fragment of the Israeli missile which struck a Lebanese ambulance he keeps in his top desk drawer.
Don’t both checking, you can take my word for it.
Doomsday Clock - Who will ever forget the day they didn’t adjust it for the end of daylight saving.
Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2007 01 17 at 09:35 PM • permalinkOT Big news just in, front page of the SMH - some line markings on Sydney roads are better than others, some good, some less good. Motorist lobby group says it would be much nicer if they were all good. Roads and Traffic Authority says it inspects them every year.
Posted by Margos Maid on 2007 01 17 at 09:38 PM • permalink#41 Just so long as it was a continuous line. I would hate to see a hare-line fractured.
I slay myself, I really do.
Posted by Margos Maid on 2007 01 17 at 09:48 PM • permalinkI think Paco’s virus must have hit this thread: every time I update the main page, it shows 2 - 3 less comments than are actually here on the thread. It correctly shows that there are more comments than before, just not the correct total. Is this some new “Fake but accurate”
bugfeature?Posted by AlburyShifton on 2007 01 17 at 09:57 PM • permalink#40 Margos
Big news just in, front page of the SMH - some line markings on Sydney roads are better than othersThe story continues that the painted ‘turn left’ arrows are to be maintained in pristine condition and that ‘turn right’ arrows are to be obliterated, skidded-on and defaced by whatever means available.
Slightly OT, but on the issue of pseudo-scepticism, Richard Dawkins and his book The God Delusion have been getting a good run lately, but what quickly emerges from almost any interview with Dawkins is that he has a passionate, and strictly irrational hatred of belief and believers. Even the typically soft-left-liberal journos who interview him - who should be onside with him - can’t paint over the eccentric nature of his comments, and end up gently sending him up on them. Any true rationalist should know enough about human psychology to know you will never ‘reason’ a believer out of his faith, and only a fool would try.
OT Are you ready for some heavy Sound Healing Intensive Training?
Posted by Margos Maid on 2007 01 17 at 11:50 PM • permalink#43 AlburyShifton
I think Paco’s virus must have hit this thread: every time I update the main page, it shows 2 - 3 less comments than are actually here on the thread. It correctly shows that there are more comments than before, just not the correct total. Is this some new “Fake but accurate” bug feature?
Dare I say it?
I blame wronwright.
Posted by Spiny Norman on 2007 01 18 at 03:54 AM • permalink(spits Starbucks Christmas Blend coffee onto key board)
What the ... ?
Spiny Norman, I might remind you that her evilness, Andrea the Administratrix, is in charge of the comments and comment totals. Obviously, she’s asleep at the wheel. I say WAKE HER UP. I suggest spanking her until she
returns to me my Zulu spear and William the Conqueror Norman shieldupdates the comment total thingy. She must be made to see the error of her evilly ways and submit to my majestic bearing. Um, for the good of all the commenters here of course.Posted by wronwright on 2007 01 18 at 06:34 AM • permalink51. wronwright
“and submit to my majestic bearing.”
If by that you mean she musnt complain too much when being carried on her majestic, Cleopatra gem encrusted litter by a horde of “willing” minions…. Dont like your chances.
Posted by thefrollickingmole on 2007 01 18 at 06:59 AM • permalink#20, Ian,
You’d think that the Skeptics Society might have been more skeptical.
Not at all. In my experience the only thing Skeptics are sceptical about is anything that contradicts the evaluative presuppositions in which they and their favourite authorities believe. They are seriously lacking in epistemic objectivity. Which is why, like #23 (mark from monroe) I think they probably just suck. Do remember please, all of you, that FatFill is, I believe, a member and then extrapolate from there.
Furthermore, can anyone (MentalFloss?) come up with an explanation for why the letters ‘p’, ‘a’, ‘c’ and ‘o’ appear to be so much more fruitful for reverse engineering acronyms than, say, the letters ‘t’, ‘i’, ‘m’ and ‘b’? Personally, I’ve never tried either combination of letters. Too busy thinking about what bit of housework needs doing next and how I can avoid doing it.
If I appear a little less humourless than usual it’s because my youngest got the uni placement he was after. I can breath again and it feels good.
Heh heh. Wronnie will indulge in his little fantasies. The spear is, of course, safe in my lair. Which is guarded by a moat full of alligators and… a swarm of specially-bred bees. Who are always hungry and pissed off.
Posted by Andrea Harris, Administrator on 2007 01 18 at 07:28 AM • permalink#53: Janice:
Congratulations to your youngest. Well done. Stevo Jr has two years to prove if he is an academic (don’t think so), or sportsman (more likely), or whatever he wants to be (lazy and obnoxious). 16 year olds are a tad difficult. However he keeps on asking me what I did at 16 but I have to often lie to him.I do take issue with the statement about sceptics’ favoutites. I am a sceptic, but have no favourites. I use my own bullshit detector to determine what I believe is correct. I base it on my liberal upbringing with respect to science. However, I’m glad my liberal political tendencies soon stopped after I left Uni.
Lane never changes- consider this Laneism in the SMH back in January 2005:
“Already we [Australia] rank near the bottom of the international league table in all the measures of social well-being”
At the time Australia was ranked third on the UN human development index
the whole article’s pretty funny Cry ‘Havoc’, let slip the dogs of capitalism
Posted by eeniemeenie on 2007 01 18 at 09:15 AM • permalinkit’s in the Age of course- not the SMH
just thinking about terry’s got me acting like him
Posted by eeniemeenie on 2007 01 18 at 09:25 AM • permalinkMy dear Stevo, (she says, still being in a good mood) first let me thank you, on behalf of my son (Jimbo), for your congratulations re his accomplishment. If you knew what course he applied for you may not be so congratulatory even though he did have to submit a portfolio and undergo an interview before he would be considered for enrolment in the course. Me, (aka Janno) I just hope that at the end of it he can find gainful employment such as his brother (Seano) and father (Paulo) enjoy.
Second, there are sceptics and there are Skeptics. It was scepticism that, ultimately, led me to accept Christianity. You may be sceptical that such an outcome is possible but I can only say again that there is scepticism and there is Skepticism. People to whom the former tag applies check everything for themselves and make up their own minds. People to whom the latter tag applies believe they already know the “Truth”, often claim to have known it from mere tiny tottedness (see FatFill) and constantly reference, as authoritative, the opinions of people with whom they agree and who have many letters after their names which is, of course, the opposite of the meaning of the term “sceptic”. But they do it for the usual reasons.May your son find something to do that he enjoys doing.
#53, congratulations to your son on choosing what he wants to do. Judging by #59, he’s in some form of art course.
However, based on first hand knowledge of 13 different friends who also took an art course, give him one year of an art course and he will immediately transfer to either a business or trade course. All 13 of my friends who went in to art courses did.
I wish the best for you and your family.
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The (US) Skeptics Society has done the right thing and admitted they were duped:
>Fact Checking 101
>How Skeptic magazine was Duped
>by an Environmental Activist Group
>by Michael Shermer
It tells the story of how Shermer got the runaround from the Jeff Ruch, the liar who runs green group PEER.
Does Terry Lane require anything else?