Latest in brain science

Some frauds at the journal Science Daily have published a study seeking to show that what they call “the brain” (the wrinkly thing in skull) has to “spit” to stay alive. It oozes blood every now and then to get rid of “debris.”

This fantastical brain-of-the-gaps theory is an attempt to keep traditional brain science alive while the evidence becomes ever clearer that the human brain is located throughout the human body.

The silliest thing about this so-called breakthrough is that it actually only applies to mice. However, cognitive scientist Noam Chomsky has demonstrated why studies of mice are inapplicable to studies of humans:

If Jonathan Krohn is not a hoax, then he has Chatterbox Syndrome

Many of you have by now read the New York Times article about Jonathan Krohn. For his sting operation against the Republicans as a deep cover liberal, the timing couldn’t have been more perfect. Just after I (the first one!) break the story that he is a hoax, he gets a major credibility boost from the newspaper of record. I’m not too concerned, however; as Martin Eisenstadt has shown, official news organizations are not immune from being fooled in this manner.

The only arguments I’ve seen that he is not a hoax are extremely thin. For example, some lady named “Kate,” probably herself a fraud (her one identifying feature turns out to be false), thinks that because he is an actor, he must therefore not be a political hoax. Have you ever heard such an absurd argument? This Kate person thinks that being an actor makes it less likely that someone is acting. I’ve heard a lot of idiotic arguments (mostly in favor of Dark Matter), but this one might top them all. Kate, if you’re out there, the only thing maintaining my faith in humanity is my knowledge that you, like Mr. Krohn, are not being genuine.

To return to my major thesis: Jonathan Krohn’s rhetoric is vastly too empty for him to be legitimate. If he really was a “prodigy,” this would mean that his content would be above the level of a twelve year old, not just his speaking skills -his form, if you will. This makes me think of one thing: Chatterbox Syndrome, more technically called Williams’ Syndrome (to me the word “chatterbox”  sounds more technical than “William,” but since when has scientific nomenclature made any sense whatsoever?). Anyway, his words are virtually empty. They are rough, but slightly garbled, parrots of Limbaugh, Hannity, and the rest. Plus, this Krohn kid talks way too fast, is way too cheerful, and way too likable by the people he encounters. These are the exact symptoms of Chatterbox Syndrome. Look it up for yourself if you don’t believe me. It’s in the official dictionary of neuropsychology, under “cocktail party syndrome,” yet another one of its names.

Anyway, it’s really the complete utter lack of information in his words that clinches it for me. “Kate” said that his ideas are his own, but this begs the obvious question: What ideas? His ideas are non-existent, not to mention his factual knowledge. Of course this clincher comes with several lesser supports, such as they fact that he is an actor, and that his alleged book does not actually exist.

All I can say is, if he is not a hoax (unlikely), then his parents and other handlers should be ashamed of themselves for letting the poor boy continue to publicly humiliate himself with empty nonsense platitudes, as he does.

If he is serious, and does not have Chatterbox Syndrome, then I am at a loss. Perhaps he is the first known case of some other neurological disorder. What shall we call it? Krohn’s Disease.

9/11 Conspiracy and the War on Christmas

Some people don’t like Christmas. Twice. Or Chanukah.

But some people, who are (if you can believe it) even more shameless, have decided to capitalize on Christmas by opening the old wounds of terrorism. Here is the proof. Can you believe it? As if insulting science wasn’t enough, these people now want to insult Christmas! Well, some of us wish to keep our real science, and our real holidays.

       

The scientific pitfalls of this 9/11 conspiracy stuff are too numerous to count. There are more holes in 9/11 conspiracies than there are in the fossil record! Many people have pointed them out, including the international press. Like Dark Matter, 9/11 conspiracy theories get much of their impetus from works of fiction. It should be no wonder, then, that the vast overwhelming majority of academics in the movement are poets and Mormons. Imagine that! Scholars with the gall to tell us that Reformed Egyptian is a language have now decided that gravity proves conspiracies! Sure, and Jesus was a Native American. Anyway, let’s quickly go through some of the main claims of the 9/11 Truth Movement.

1) Buildings don’t obey gravity when they are hit by airplanes

This claim should make you queasy right off the bat. To base a broad overarching theory on something as shaky as gravity, which no one understands, is ludicrous. And in any case, consider the false dichotomy presented by “Jonathan” and the other conspiracy theorists: it was either airplanes, or it was the government. But surely any five year old can think of other alternatives, e.g., the buildings happened to fall down that day. Stranger things have happened. Why rule out this coincidence? Furthermore, perhaps Al Quaeda itself did a controlled demolition. That none of the conspiracy theorists have thought of this is incredible! Good one guys.

2) Science proves that 9/11 was a conspiracy

None of the theorists have the authority to say this. For one thing, the movement consists mainly of middle schoolers who don’t know how to express themselves. Honestly, is Dylan Avery still in diapers?

3) Dick Cheney planned 9/11 from a bunker. We know this from documents.

Nope. Go ahead, check for yourself.
So those are three of the major claims. They are incredibly easy to refute, as you can see, since I just refuted them. This won’t even be my longest blog post. Besides, several other commentators, including psychopaths, have refuted 9/11 conspiracy. That’s embarrassing for the movement.

And natural scientist Noam Chomsky has very, very succinctly refuted the basic premises of the movement. He has done this multiple times.

Anyhow, this Christmas, don’t get distracted by the war profiteers pushing 9/11 conspiracy. Dylan Avery, Jonathan Leland, Korey Rowe, the Mormon Church, and Jason Bermes, think they can make money of the birth of Jesus. I think that there’s enough profiteering during the holiday season. We don’t need it tarnished even more by the crazies.

Nazi Technocrats Harness the Power of the Sun

As you no doubt have heard, IBM has begun taking over the sky, consildating corporate and educational power, and attempting world domination and mind control.

This should worry everyone. Unlike Google, IBM does not have a good human rights record.

What can be done about this monstrosity? Perhaps nothing. The end may be near.

Probability (part one)

Probability is false. Imagine the following scenario:

You and Dominique Jones are great friends in 2nd grade. Then, twenty years later, Dominique moves to Venezuela and loans a Noam Chomsky book to Hugo Chavez. Then, you become a custodian for a small high school. Then, you win the lottery – without even buying a ticket. Then, you travel to the Congo. In Congo, you run into Dominique. Dominique says, “Oh gosh! What are the chances?”

Most people would respond with something ignorant such as “Yeah I know!” or “Pretty low!” According to my research, however, the proper response is 100%. But why?

Because if this scenario happens, the chances of it happening are of course 100%. The key terms in my analysis are “if,” “happens,” and “of course.” If it didn’t happen, then the chances of it happening were always 0%. Some people would argue that this commits me to hard determinism, but it does not. A la carte Peter van Inwagen free will exists. What it commits me to is the world of facts. If you are pro-fact, then you will abandon all probabilities between 0 and 100%.

Dark matter? (part one)

Did you know that the concept of “Dark Matter” was actually invented by primarily American novelists?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_matter_in_fiction

Belief in Dark Matter has roughly the same validity as a small child’s belief that there is a monster in his closet. He can’t see anything, his parents aren’t home, the closet is dark, and its properties don’t fit with his explanatory theory which has been accepted by his epistemic peers in the scientific community. Therefore there must be this ridiculous substance to explain his yucky feelings.

Thinking I’m out on a limb on this one? Well, don’t take my word for it. According to smartest man in the world and noted scientist Noam Chomsky,

Physics is in a situation in which something like 90% of the matter in the Universe is what is called dark matter — it’s called dark because they don’t know what it is, they can’t find it, but it has to be there or the physical laws don’t work. So people happily go on with the assumption that we’re somehow missing 90% of the matter in the Universe.

There you have it, from an official and mainstream scholar of the natural sciences. What more do you need?

QUED

[EDIT: See part two in this series, here.]