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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13476 Posts |
 Posted - 12/20/2004 : 19:54:16 [Permalink]
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quote:
Storm:
Now whether I think the Skunk Ape is the missing link I don't know.
Oh hey, wouldn't that be great? That would prove evolution...  |
Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 12/20/2004 : 20:14:58 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Storm
Like I said Dave I am not sure of what exactly the skunk ape or bigfoot is. Maybe because bigfoot or the skunk ape did or could not populate that they died off. Maybe it is just a bunch of homeless mountain men. Who knows. I sure do not and never claimed to. But the possibilities are there. Have you ever seen the swamps down here? Alligator Alley? It is like living in Jurasssic Park. Our earth is vast we find a new species and creatures all the time. So the possibilities that something like this to exist I think out ways the possibilities that it does not.
Storm, I think that we can safely rule out any sort of a large primate other that ourselves, not only in the US, but in the western hemisphere. There is and never has been any reliable evidence of any of these fabled creatures. The stories of hunters and fishermen are merely stories. Hell, I've been known to spin a yarn or two mydamnself, when I've thought I had a gullible audience.
I am interested in venomous reptiles, and when I'm physically up to it I go looking for them. I have spent a lot of time in southern swamps, including the 'Glades of which Lake Occechobie(sp?) is a part. Wonderful snake country that, and I've learned to ignore the mosquitos.
I am not saying that if the skunk ape existed, I'd have seen it, but I'd have seen evidence of it. An animal that size cannot help but leave it's spoor behind it. I have seen the Flordia panther, a much more wonderous creature than any myth or legend brought forth in a bar room by bullshiters.
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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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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26020 Posts |
Posted - 12/20/2004 : 20:19:07 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Storm
Like I said Dave I am not sure of what exactly the skunk ape or bigfoot is. Maybe because bigfoot or the skunk ape did or could not populate that they died off. Maybe it is just a bunch of homeless mountain men. Who knows. I sure do not and never claimed to. But the possibilities are there. Have you ever seen the swamps down here? Alligator Alley? It is like living in Jurasssic Park. Our earth is vast we find a new species and creatures all the time. So the possibilities that something like this to exist I think out ways the possibilities that it does not.
Just because a possibility exists doesn't mean that it's of equal weight with every other possibility. It's possible that I will find myself on Mars when I wake up in the morning. It's not very likely, but it's possible. The possibility that I'll wake up in my own home here on Earth is vastly more likely.
In the 100 years between 1897 and 1997, only ten new species of large mammals were found, and only the mountain gorilla approaches the size of the alleged American primates. There's no place for a breeding population to live. There are no skeletons, no scat. Thus, the possibility that Bigfoot and Skunk Ape are simply stories backed up with hoaxes (several of which have been admitted to) is much more realistic and much more likely than that they ever existed.
Serious questions, Storm: do you think that alligators live in the New York City sewers? Can eggs only be balanced on end during an equinox? |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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Ricky
SFN Die Hard
USA
4907 Posts |
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Cuneiformist
The Imperfectionist
USA
4955 Posts |
Posted - 12/20/2004 : 22:32:55 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Storm
Like I said Dave I am not sure of what exactly the skunk ape or bigfoot is. Maybe because bigfoot or the skunk ape did or could not populate that they died off. Maybe it is just a bunch of homeless mountain men. Who knows. I sure do not and never claimed to. But the possibilities are there. Have you ever seen the swamps down here? Alligator Alley? It is like living in Jurasssic Park. Our earth is vast we find a new species and creatures all the time. So the possibilities that something like this to exist I think out ways the possibilities that it does not.
Your desire to believe in the ludicrous despite sound claims to the contrary is amazing. You suggest that there are possibilities that, say, bigfoot is or was real-- so much, in fact, that to you these outweigh the possibility that they don't. Yet any serious perusal of the site you linked should tell you just the opposite. Look at the FAQ I linked. This guy's best answer to the most fundamental question is a total and complete dodge. Why haven't any bigfoots been found? Well, they have been found, but scholars just couldn't classify them. Does that make any sense to you? What the fuck does it even mean that they can't classify it?
When you read crap like this, storm, and couple it with myriad reports of hoaxes and the like (I linked some above) you should begin to have serious doubts about the claims of "cryptids" like bigfoot. Instead of waxing about their "possibilities" you should be expressing your reservations. It's almost that you're letting your desire of the fantastic to be true govern your assessment of the data so that, to you, it is true. That's not a skeptic, storm, that's a rube. |
| Edited by - Cuneiformist on 12/20/2004 22:35:13 |
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13476 Posts |
Posted - 12/21/2004 : 09:26:54 [Permalink]
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quote:
Storm: So the possibilities that something like this to exist I think out ways the possibilities that it does not.
As for absence of evidence not being evidence of absence and remaining open to all possibilities no matter how demonstrably remote some of them are, there is this wise old saying to consider.
“Have an open mind, but not so open that your brains fall out.”
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Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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Storm
SFN Regular
USA
708 Posts |
Posted - 12/21/2004 : 15:04:36 [Permalink]
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Hey ya all!! I just sent over a website to check out, not the most convincing evidence ever. I never said I agreed or disagreed with the material. The possibilities yes I do believe. You speak your reservations I speak my beliefs. So what? It's what it is all about. Thinking, debating. Other than BIGFOOT What else do you think about cryptozoology? Some of you need to take a chill pill |
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R.Wreck
SFN Regular
USA
1191 Posts |
Posted - 12/21/2004 : 15:19:27 [Permalink]
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quote:
Ricky wrote:
I saw a creature just the other day in a stream about 200 yards away from my backyard. It was about 8-9 feet tall, I couldn't quite tell because it was hunched over. It had a big red head. Its feet were more of a really dark brown, almost black. The chest was a brownish red.
I think I know what it is. |
The foundation of morality is to . . . give up pretending to believe that for which there is no evidence, and repeating unintelligible propositions about things beyond the possibliities of knowledge.
T. H. Huxley
The Cattle Prod of Enlightened Compassion
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Cuneiformist
The Imperfectionist
USA
4955 Posts |
Posted - 12/21/2004 : 15:37:57 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Storm
The possibilities yes I do believe. You speak your reservations I speak my beliefs.
But this is the crux of the matter, storm! You seem to accept possibilities when there is no reason to. Surely you wouldn't accept fire-breathing clowns on Mars just because I link some lunatic website, can you? (I can appect them, and don't call me Shirley! *Sigh*)
What we're saying is that bigfoot is like the Martian clowns that breathe fire. There's simply no reason to think that it exists (or ever existed). Tragically, the best reason you seem to muster for proposing the realistic possibility that there might be a bigfoot is simply that there's an unrealistic possibility that there might be a bigfoot! |
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Storm
SFN Regular
USA
708 Posts |
Posted - 12/21/2004 : 16:06:00 [Permalink]
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| Now wait a minute cuniformist. You cannot comapre Bigfoot to clowns on Mars.The possibility of an ape like human creature living in the woods is far more possible than clowns on mars. Maybe bigfoot was a homeless man that was spotted. A person with that hair disease. Any of you know what is called. They used to call these people wolf man. I never said Bigfoot was unatural, paranormal, Just an anomolie. How can you not think something like that could exist? |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 12/21/2004 : 19:30:15 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Storm
Now wait a minute cuniformist. You cannot comapre Bigfoot to clowns on Mars.The possibility of an ape like human creature living in the woods is far more possible than clowns on mars. Maybe bigfoot was a homeless man that was spotted. A person with that hair disease. Any of you know what is called. They used to call these people wolf man. I never said Bigfoot was unatural, paranormal, Just an anomolie. How can you not think something like that could exist?
Now, we're getting somewhere! At last!
Ok, you are willing to accept a reasonable explanation for bigfoot, yes? While I rather doubt that it is a homeless man in the woods, I consider this a much better explanation than a population of relitivly primitive primates.
So called 'wolf men' were often exibited in freak shows. They were and are merely people who were excessivly hairy. Some of them were really pretty wolf-like and even downright scary.
The wolf ledgend goes back a long way. Romlus and Remus, the founders of ancient Rome, were reputed to have been suckled by a wolf. Few other animals have influenced our folklore as much as has the wolves.
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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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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26020 Posts |
Posted - 12/21/2004 : 20:16:00 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Storm
I never said Bigfoot was unatural, paranormal, Just an anomolie.
So you started a thread by posting a link to a site which wallows in woo-wooness, and you asked for our thoughts. You got them, argued against them, and are now getting defensive.
This isn't thought-provoking, or a debate. It's more annoying than anything else.quote:
How can you not think something like that could exist?
There is as much evidence for Bigfoot as there is for the idea that my car runs on water. It's not a matter of whether it could exist (since fire-breathing Martian clowns could exist), it's a question of whether or not it is reasonable to keep the possibility open. In all three cases, the answer is 'no'.
Mind you, if new and compelling evidence comes to the fore which suggests a change should be made to that tentative conclusion, I'll be glad to do so. That is what "keeping an open mind" is all about.
And in a previous post:quote:
Other than BIGFOOT What else do you think about cryptozoology?
Since I don't know of any predictions cryptozoologists have ever made correctly, or of any theory of cryptozoology (Coleman's definition is confused and overly broad), or of even a single creature which any self-proclaimed cryptozoologist has discovered, I think very little of the field. Like "parapsychology" or "homeopathy," the term "cryptozoology" is a puffed-up label for nonsense. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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