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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13476 Posts |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
 Posted - 10/26/2003 : 10:23:47 [Permalink]
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Lessee, wasn't it National Geographic that got all a'twitter over a fossil (one of the microraptors?) a while back, before it had had any real study?
Bigfoot. Yeah, right. Please produce one.
Don't care if it's alive or if it's dead, dressed off, and ready for the grill, just show it to me. And in the latter case, pass the ketchup.
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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furshur
SFN Regular
USA
1536 Posts |
Posted - 10/27/2003 : 09:12:54 [Permalink]
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The bigfoot legend is so absurd. My son asked be how people in the time of Columbus could believe in sea monsters, I told him in the same way people believe in Bigfoot and UFOs.
The best evidence of Bigfoot according to this article is the guy in an ape suit from California. OK. On the California state flag is a Grizzly bear. The reason is that there use to be lots of very large grizzly bears in the state, now there are none, not even in the surrounding states. We killed them all. Not just most of them we wiped them out of exsistence, and in that same time we never caught or killed one single Largetoe. In California they killed every single wolf in the state. Every single one and yet again no Massivepods were caught or killed. Oh, I know the Sasquish is very intelligent, but Californina also killed or captured every Native American in the state while never killing a bigfoot. I know that the last Native American was not captured until early 1900s but I think we still would have stumbled over a 800 lb 9 foot tall dude by now. What is it with people that they need to believe this kind of rubbish? |
If I knew then what I know now then I would know more now than I know. |
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Randy
SFN Regular
USA
1990 Posts |
Posted - 10/27/2003 : 13:10:22 [Permalink]
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| Did Nat.Geo just get bought out by the slease merchants at Fox News?! |
"We are all connected; to each other biologically, to the earth chemically, to the rest of the universe atomically."
"So you're made of detritus [from exploded stars]. Get over it. Or better yet, celebrate it. After all, what nobler thought can one cherish than that the universe lives within us all?"
-Neil DeGrasse Tyson |
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Renae
SFN Regular
543 Posts |
Posted - 10/27/2003 : 13:49:32 [Permalink]
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Can I just say this is one urban legend I WISH were true?
I live in the NW and have heard Bigfoot stories since I was a little girl. I hike, and I can almost understand "seeing" (read: imagining) boogeymen like Bigfoot in the dark, remote forests here. Mostly the woods put me in awe, but sometimes they can be creepy.
I realize wishful thinking doesn't make something so, but wouldn't it be cool....?
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Maglev
Skeptic Friend
Canada
65 Posts |
Posted - 10/27/2003 : 14:05:01 [Permalink]
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There's a few things about this article i'm wondering about...
From the article:
"An adult male is said to be at least 8 feet (2.4 meters) tall, weigh 800 pounds (360 kilograms), and have feet twice the size of a human's. The creatures are described as shy and nocturnal, and their diets consist mostly of berries and fruits."
Ok, let's see... How much fruits and berries does an 800lb giant monkey need to stay alive? I suspect a whole lot, which begs another question: How the hell can it afford to be shy???
"Chilcutt says one footprint found in 1987 in Walla Walla in Washington State has convinced him that Bigfoot is real."
ONE footprint? Out of a 150? How can an "investigator", who, by the way, has no "reference foot" to compare against, can make such a claim?
*shakes head in disbelief*
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Maglev
"The awe it inspired in me made the awe that people talk about in respect of religious experience seem, frankly, silly beside it. I'd take the awe of understanding over the awe of ignorance any day."
--Douglas Adams, on evolutionary biology. |
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9687 Posts |
Posted - 10/27/2003 : 22:46:45 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Maglev
There's a few things about this article i'm wondering about...
From the article:
"An adult male is said to be at least 8 feet (2.4 meters) tall, weigh 800 pounds (360 kilograms), and have feet twice the size of a human's. The creatures are described as shy and nocturnal, and their diets consist mostly of berries and fruits."
Ok, let's see... How much fruits and berries does an 800lb giant monkey need to stay alive? I suspect a whole lot, which begs another question: How the hell can it afford to be shy???
"Chilcutt says one footprint found in 1987 in Walla Walla in Washington State has convinced him that Bigfoot is real."
ONE footprint? Out of a 150? How can an "investigator", who, by the way, has no "reference foot" to compare against, can make such a claim?
*shakes head in disbelief*
Congratulations to a good first post on Skeptic Friends.
And welcome. |
Dr. Mabuse - "When the going gets tough, the tough get Duct-tape..."
Dr. Mabuse whisper.mp3
"Equivocation is not just a job, for a creationist it's a way of life..." Dr. Mabuse
Support American Troops in Iraq:
Send them unarmed civilians for target practice..
Collateralmurder. |
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Fireballn
Skeptic Friend
Canada
179 Posts |
Posted - 10/28/2003 : 16:46:19 [Permalink]
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Is Bigfoot real? I dunno I've never seen one. The evidence (or lack there of) is stacked for its non-existence though. What I have seen is the millions of tourist dollars being spent on the "What if" question. Would Loch Ness be such a tourist destination without its monster? Obviously not......or Roswell, or anything else X-fileish.
So could people (from different cultures, from different centuries, claiming different monsters) all be terrible mistaken, or is there something inherently human that attracts so many people to the idea of such beasts. Just as in Renae's post, a lot of people just wish there were, but because this is such a wide spread phenomena...it seems that human psychology plays some role. |
If i were the supreme being, I wouldn't have messed around with butterflies and daffodils. I would have started with lasers 8 o'clock day one!
-Time Bandits- |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 10/29/2003 : 04:47:49 [Permalink]
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Simple, really. We need monsters.
From the dawn of our species existance, our folklore has been filled with horrible 'creatures' bent upon destruction. Religions are full of them; devils, demons, dragons, malevolent spirits of the dead, and so forth. Also witches and other, evil people. In short, we require an adversary, the more bizaar, the better.
Actually, some few monsters have a solid grounding in fact; the Kraken, for instance is based upon giant squid sightings.
I was vastly amused, some years back, when the rotting corpse of a basking shark was hauled aboard a Japanese trawler. Even before the rendolent thing was finally untangled from the nets and dropped back overboard (to the vast relief of all concerned) rumors and even claims that it was a pleosaure began to circulate. They still circulate today, and are believed by the more easily impressed.
As are Nessie, Bigfoot, Champ, Mothman, Batboy (apologies to Kil), and all of the rest. And if not them, there'd be others.
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
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Fireballn
Skeptic Friend
Canada
179 Posts |
Posted - 11/01/2003 : 01:45:17 [Permalink]
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| You are right filthy we do need monsters.......my question is why? Some answers come as......if there are no monsters there are no heros....I think it stems from this |
If i were the supreme being, I wouldn't have messed around with butterflies and daffodils. I would have started with lasers 8 o'clock day one!
-Time Bandits- |
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On fire for Christ
SFN Regular
Norway
1273 Posts |
Posted - 11/03/2003 : 07:19:40 [Permalink]
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| If there is any large undiscovered land mammal it certainly wouldn't be in california. |
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furshur
SFN Regular
USA
1536 Posts |
Posted - 11/03/2003 : 07:34:43 [Permalink]
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Christ On Fire writing about bigfoot,
quote:
If there is any large undiscovered land mammal it certainly wouldn't be in california.
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He died for you
Why do you say bigfoot died for me? Where is your proof? I personally do not believe in bigfoot anyway. |
If I knew then what I know now then I would know more now than I know. |
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On fire for Christ
SFN Regular
Norway
1273 Posts |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 11/03/2003 : 09:13:59 [Permalink]
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With all of the pro and con sputtering about bigfoot (Champ, Nessie, and so forth), we must consider the bottom line: All of our modern monsters bring home the good 'ol yankee dollar. In every location where these 'creatures' are said to abound, there is at least a small industry dedicated to relieving the gullible of the burden of a too-heavy wallet.
Just for the hell of it, let's consider Nessie in the same light as our friend Maglev has Bigfoot. If there is one, then there must be a population; otherwise we are talking immortality. If the animal is a pleosaure (da filth succumbs to a fit of hysterical giggles), then it's species is very ancient and the population, even if it's much reduced, must be considerable. Remembering that these animals were fish-eaters of considerable size, how many pleosaures would Loch Ness support? Not many, I would think. Probably not enough to keep a population viable. And, it seems to me that, if Nessie existed, there would be a lot more sightings, not to mention the odd corpse found washed up on the beach, to the fascinated disgust of the populace.
Anyhow, everybody seems to be having a lot of fun with it all. Maybe that's the point?
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
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Tim
SFN Regular
USA
775 Posts |
Posted - 11/06/2003 : 05:39:00 [Permalink]
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You know, the lack of evidence for a huge primate, (other than us, of course), roaming North American forests should speak volumes--Even to the producers and writers at National Geographic.
I'm reminded of the extreme rarity, and adept secrecy of the Southeastern Cougar, panther, puma, or whatever you want to call it. They are endangered, well equiped for speed, stealth and agility, they have expansive territories and they avoid humans like the plague. Yet, we still find the remains of their kills, there is a large deer population to support them, we find their tracks, feces and corpses, and we even get a photo of them every now and then.
On the other hand, we have this huge biped that is far less equiped physically for stealth in the forest, and would need to consume great quantities food that is not particularly easy to forage in sufficient quantity to support a breeding population within their habitat, and all we can find is a few questionable footprints. It doesn't take Forrest Gump to figure this one out!
As far as inventing monsters is concerned...My brother and I went fishing one day when we were kids. I caught the biggest bass of my life--at the time. It was probably near three pounds. Unfortunately, I lost it while I was attempting to remove the hook. Does anyone care to speculate how much that fish grew by the time we got back home?
In another case, a young story teller heard a tale once. It was about a hermit that lived alone way back in the swamp. Now, that old hermit was a real big and ornery sorta fellow. He had no money to buy clothes, so he wore furs from the animals he trapped. He couldn't stand being around other folks, so he hid every time a visitor came for him. He protected his feet with homemade shoes that were pretty darned big and ugly.
Well, that young story teller retold that tale to another, but added a bit to make the story more interesting. Well, the person he told it to told another, who told another, and then another was told that same story. Eventually, it got back to our young wordsmith. Anyone care to speculate about the most recent discription of the hermit?
Now, we got ourselves a real amazing creature, and a great story to boot. What more could a story teller, or a seller of baubles, trinkets and trifles ask for? |
"We got an issue in America. Too many good docs are gettin' out of business. Too many OB/GYNs aren't able to practice their -- their love with women all across this country." Dubya in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, 9/6/2004
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 11/06/2003 : 08:57:05 [Permalink]
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The really silly part of all this is that there are in existance many creatures far more amazing than even a dark-ages beastiary could come up with. Some imaginary, hairy, forest lout ain't even in contention.
Fer instance:
Cook Mountain Weta: This is a cricket that lives above the frost line on Cook Mt., in NZ. Each night, it freezes solid, only to thaw out a little after sunup and continue doing whatever it is that a weta cricket does.
Colonial bacteria that ingest minerals and excrete sulferic acid. Current thinking is that they are responsible for the formation of many caves.
The aye-aye from Madagascar: It has enlongated forefingers. With them, it taps on limbs until it hears a hollow sound. Then, using the sharp nail, it snags any grub or beetle that might be hiding in the hole, making the phrase, "Giving the finger" have a whole, new meaning.
Sea turtles: arguably the greatest navigators, ever.
Abyssimal angler fish: The tiny male, lives a parasitic life permenatly attached to the vastly larger female. Sometimes the lovely lady might have several males, happily breeding with all.
Wanna big, bad monster? Archetuchis dux, if I've spelled that right, the giant squid. They attain a length of some 50 feet, tenticals extended. An even bigger one has been recently discovered; the colossal squid. All squid have one thing in common: they are ferocious predators.
How 'bout the Komodo monitor? This giant lizard lives in a virtual symbiotic relationship with the virilent bacteria in it's saliva. A bite from one, even a minor bite, can be a death sentence for the prey, even if it initally escapes.
Venomous serpents, particulary the Viperids and especally the Pit Vipers. An amazing hunting technique!
American horned lizards: Their defense strategy is to squrt blood from the eyes.
Speaking of blood, there's Darwin's finches: one of them is a vampire.
I can go on all day with this, but I'll refrain.
Bigfoot......, how pedestrian. Yawn.
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
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