The Baloney Detection Kit

[Zakalwe]

Michael Shermer doing what he does best

This should be mandatory watching for all HBs.....

[Noldi400]

Michael Shermer might just be one of my heroes.  HBs, take note: when a professional skeptic is telling you that you're full of crap, you might consider listening, yanno?

BTW, from what I read, the hardcore CT mob just absolutely hate this guy.

[Glom]

Michael Shermer might just be one of my heroes.  HBs, take note: when a professional skeptic is telling you that you're full of crap, you might consider listening, yanno?

BTW, from what I read, the hardcore CT mob just absolutely hate this guy.

I'm not surprised, but what did you read?

[Noldi400]

Michael Shermer might just be one of my heroes.  HBs, take note: when a professional skeptic is telling you that you're full of crap, you might consider listening, yanno?

BTW, from what I read, the hardcore CT mob just absolutely hate this guy.

I'm not surprised, but what did you read?

Comments on YT videos, various blogs - there was a Wall Street Journal article about his book "The Believing Brain" that started off:

Michael Shermer, the founder and editor of Skeptic magazine, has never received so many angry letters as when he wrote a column for Scientific American debunking 9/11 conspiracy theories. Mr. Shermer found himself vilified, often in CAPITAL LETTERS, as a patsy of the sinister Zionist cabal that deliberately destroyed the twin towers and blew a hole in the Pentagon while secretly killing off the passengers of the flights that disappeared, just to make the thing look more plausible.

Almost anything that comes up if you Google 'Michael Shermer Conspiracy Theories'.

Oh, and of course Hunchbacked's video "Debunking Michael Shermer".

[dwight]

Just to clarify, hunchbacked is the guy who, after telling me I had absolutely no expertise in TV, proceeded to make a debunk video of footage that had nothing to do with what I had described, despite having been given specific timecode points.

[Noldi400]

Just to clarify, hunchbacked is the guy who, after telling me I had absolutely no expertise in TV, proceeded to make a debunk video of footage that had nothing to do with what I had described, despite having been given specific timecode points.

That's the one. He also stated recently that "There are no real aerospace engineers on Apollohoax.net".

Oh, and just today he asked if I could caculate an orbital speed for a spacecraft orbiting the moon - I said that yes, given the periapsis and apoapsis, I certainly could.  He replied:

Except that a satellite orbiting the moon does not need to have an as elliptical orbit as a satellite orbiting the earth; there are no magnetic poles on the moon.

? ? ? ? ? ? ? 

[dwight]

The best thing is, he is convinced he is so right. I wonder why he didn't take into account that you would be using a flux capacitor?

[smartcooky]

Oh, and just today he asked if I could caculate an orbital speed for a spacecraft orbiting the moon - I said that yes, given the periapsis and apoapsis, I certainly could.  He replied:

Except that a satellite orbiting the moon does not need to have an as elliptical orbit as a satellite orbiting the earth; there are no magnetic poles on the moon.

Oh, please, please pop over to JREF and nominate that for May's Stundie Awards

[Echnaton]

Hunchbacked is one of the more hopeless cases of being "reality challenged but still able to write a coherent sentence" ever seen. 

[gillianren]

I'll take that over "reality challenged and not able to write a coherent sentence," personally.

[twik]

I'll take that over "reality challenged and not able to write a coherent sentence," personally.

Yes, but it's puzzling - one would figure that if you are able to understand words enough to be able to string them into sentences that are grammatically correct and that, on their surface, appear to make some sort of sense, you would then have enough intelligence to be able to verify that they had anything to do with reality.

[nomuse]

I've run into several "The Moon has no gravity because it has no magnetic field" folks lately.

I'm intrigued by where it is coming from.  I don't think they are being influenced by the Electric Universe people, not directly.  My best guess is they just have a very poor recollection of grade school science, and have confused magnetism with gravity.

[Noldi400]

Oh, and just today he asked if I could caculate an orbital speed for a spacecraft orbiting the moon - I said that yes, given the periapsis and apoapsis, I certainly could.  He replied:

Except that a satellite orbiting the moon does not need to have an as elliptical orbit as a satellite orbiting the earth; there are no magnetic poles on the moon.

Oh, please, please pop over to JREF and nominate that for May's Stundie Awards

I may.  Hunchy is practically a walking Stundie - makes it hard to pick one.

ETA: When I asked what the magnetic poles of a planet had to do with an orbit being elliptical, he answered:

 They may have to do if the satellite contains fragile electronic equipment which fears a magnetic field.

See what I mean?

[gillianren]

I'll take that over "reality challenged and not able to write a coherent sentence," personally.

Yes, but it's puzzling - one would figure that if you are able to understand words enough to be able to string them into sentences that are grammatically correct and that, on their surface, appear to make some sort of sense, you would then have enough intelligence to be able to verify that they had anything to do with reality.

Hmm.  That may tie into the assumption certain people make that, if you're a reasonably intelligent person, you obviously know the basics of their field--whatever their field is and however specialized it may be.  I believe that constructing a coherent sentence is actually quite easy--certainly easier than orbital mechanics--and even I am frequently proven wrong.

[Donnie B.]

. . . there are no magnetic poles on the moon.

Not true!  Karel Kowalski was on the ill-fated Apollo 18 flight, and he's certainly been magnetized by the solar wind by this time!