6:51 PM — Fringe Theory Alternative scientists can often provide valuable commentary on the shortcomings of mainstream science. For example, this "paper" starts off with a good criticism of the tendency of many scientists to write elaborate descriptive models before having solid theoretical models. To the humanities major who has somehow stumbled across this blog, an example could be how you know exactly how fast your car is going to go when you push down on the gas pedal (description of what the car does), without knowing a thing about what's going on under the hood (theory of how the car works).

Unfortunately this author then firmly plants his foot in his mouth by saying the astronomical equivalent of "cars are powered by two dozen fairies in a hampster wheel under the hood; see Geddes, Anne (2004)."

Folks, just because someone quotes someone else, doesn't mean any of them know their shit.

Astronomers, go read that paper and tell me at what point your jaw hit the floor. For me it was "Stars are an electrical, not a thermonuclear, phenomenon."  ¶ permalink | 0 musings