News Roundup Special Edition: Combustibles (and a Ghost)

Sometimes… Things catch on fire…

  • Fires sparked by hand sanitizers? – February 19, 2013 // By idoubtit
    Flaming children at hospitals. The only positive so far: There are worse places in which to burst into flame. Hospitals still use the alcohol based hand sanitizers, which are far more flammable than the more commonly used by pedestrians like us non-alcohol ones. It’s suspected that the hand sanitizer and static electricity are at the root of this one.
  • Oklahoma Sheriff surprised by fire victim, considers spontaneous human combustion (UPDATE: not spontaneous) – February 19, 2013 // By idoubtit
    The case is a classic example of what’s commonly called Spontaneous Human Combustion (SCH). There are, however, no proven cases of SHC. Many cases appear to be wick-effect incinerations. As in many of the not-so-spontaneous cases, this victim was both a smoker and  a heavy drinker, leaving the SHC possibility in doubt.

Yes. This is only two stories and I normally do at least three, but I wanted badly to talk about these fire stories and didn’t have a good third. Have a fake ghost instead.

  • The CCTV camera “ghost” [fake] – February 26, 2013 // By snoma
    That’s right. Fires and fake ghosts. I could fake a better video than this… I wonder if any of my friends would take up the challenge with me…

Papal Retirement Newsdump

For some reason the Pope’s retirement is still causing a fuss. Here’s the latest on the subject!

Prehistoric News Roundup Vol.2

I’ve covered a bunch of bunk type news of late. So I’m going to cover some fun stuff for a bit and get some real news into this blog. Today’s theme is Prehistory.

And, we have a surprise visit from the Evolution vs. Creationism “debate”.

  • Creationism Creeping into Schools – FEB 15, 2013 08:00 AM // DISCOVERY NEWS
    Anti-science is all too common. 5 bills are proposed already. But it’s not just Creationism and Intelligent Design. Now it’s “Academic Freedom” to question things like Stem Cell Research or Climate Change. The bills want to give teachers the right to skip over units required by curriculum in favor of their own personal views.
  • Antiscience bills die in Arizona and Oklahoma – February 26, 2013 // By idoubtit
     Isn’t it shiny when things go so well? Of the 5 mentioned above on the 15th, 2 have lost! This is why you need to watch these cases and make your voices heard in response to them! Hopefully the other three will also get struck down!

Internet Bigfooting: Was Ketchum even trying to do this right?

I continue to be amazed by the stubborn way the hard-cores in bigfooting cling to the idea that their initial decision, regardless of any scientific results, that whatever they want to be of bigfoot origin.

 

New Ketchum Paper Issues Revealed

A member of the JREF forum spotted a serious problem in the Ketchum paper this week. One of the references is to a well known April Fools day joke by LANE. From there investigations of since revealed a number of suspect papers cited in the Ketchum paper. You can view a full list on Doubtful News, who broke the story.

Ketchum responded (via Facebook, because that’s where all reputable scientists respond to questions to their work) claiming that the references were demanded by reviewers and that she “had  not felt had any place in our manuscript and were not included originally“. I say this, Ketchum: If the references had no place in your paper and were related only to “so-called folklore”, then why were they not presented in the paper as such, and referenced in the text of the paper as “other scientific evidence lending credence to the existence of Sasquatch“?

I’m with idoubtit that Ketchum likely believes in her work, and is not maliciously perpetrating a hoax. But this does not change the fact that, even if she has proof, she’s rushed her paper to publish in a journal with no credibility, and with little to know scientific review, or even review of her paper on her part. This is why reputable journals wouldn’t publish. This is why the scientific publishing review process exists!

 

THE LINKS

File this under “why are we having this conversation, still?”

Who reading this doesn’t know that the confederate flag is a hate symbol rather than a symbol of southern pride?

I’m from the North and I know it for what it is: A symbol that was once used by a nation that defined itself on racial oppression, having since been co-opted into representing white power and the arian race.

Awareness is key. Your Region District School Board was right to choose to ban the symbol, but they must also increase awareness of the reasons for the ban, and the wrongness of the symbol. It’s a failing of their educational choices about the past of the region that have led to students misguided view of the symbology of the Confederate flag. Only new education, focused on what was wrong about Confederate ideals and the way of life, will change the feelings of the students who are misunderstanding it.

Though, while one student was defending it as a part of “freedom of speech”, another walked by and stated that “You can buy a f—— swastika if you want, it’s still racist”

There’s hope yet. We just have to make sure that hope outshines those stuck in the past.

Internet Bigfooting: The Ketchum Paper is Crap

I’ve been dragging my feet before I write anything about Melba Ketchum’s Bigfoot Genetics paper because I was trying to hold out for Monster Talk to come out with an episode on it, in hopes that they’d interview Dr. Todd Disotell again.

Since time is dragging on, and the paper is thrown into less and less positive of a light as time goes on, I’ve decided to put together this new roundup on the topic, highlighing what are currently some of the best stories on the subject in hopes of at least giving the matter some coverage here before it’s forgotten completely.

A Meteoric Followup

I must admit that I like to be able to followup my stories when I can. The Russian Meteor story is a big one, and I really can’t be shocked that I get to follow it up at least a bit.

The new Russian Meteor has since be dubbed the “Chelyabinsk Meteor”. In fact, it really has given us a chance to understand what happened with the Tunguska Blast. It’s always interesting to get to see science advance when a rare event duplicates itself and we’re fortunate enough to have TONs of footage because of Russian Dash cameras.

Despite this many russians believe that the Meteor story is a conspiracy to cover up the truth. No one truth has come forward as the leader yet, but it’s headed by things like “a UFO Crash” and “an extraterrestrial trojan horse carrying a deadly space virus”.

 

the sources

Family-centric News Roundup

Today’s News Roundup theme is Families, with a focus on children, but a small detour into staying together.

  • Woman Births Two Sets of Identical Twins in a Day – FEB 19, 2013 12:45 PM ET // BY RICHARD FARRELL
    I brought this one up for the sheer statistical anomaly of a woman fertilizing two gets (creating fraternal twins) that each then went on to split into sets of identical twins.
  • Shopping Center Bans Screaming Children – FEB 20, 2013 09:52 AM ET // BY TRACY STAEDTER
    The part of this that catches my mind is that when Sydney Dee Why Grand shopping complex banned screaming children in the food court, it actually brought up supports of why people’s screaming kids should be tolerated. And I’ll excuse an infant, but when kids are “running amok in the food court” (the complaint that triggered the ban) there isn’t a “this is my only means of communication” reason for excuse the noise.
  • Couples Who Drink Together, Stay Together – FEB 20, 2013 08:00 AM // DISCOVERY NEWS
    Drinking effects your relationship… Positively, if you drink together. If you drink apart, the most issues you’ll have when together. So basically, if you’re going to drink, you’ll want to do it together. Keep in mind, though, heavy drinkers statically (even when matched) have a higher rate of divorce than their less sloshed counterparts.

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Meteoric News Dump

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This is going to be a monster News Roundup, because for awhile there was a ton of news on this Combined Asteroid Flyby and Russian Meteor Hit. I know it’s not as up to date as it could be, but I wanted the excitement to roll over and be able to present the full picture via articles from assorted sources.