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    Protopterygotes / Sky Rods / Sky Fish

    It just looks like damage on the negative resulting in an artifact on the print; why would you think it's some kind of creature?
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    Atheism

    I hate it when Dawkins' brand of atheism is branded as "militant"; it's such a loaded word, and implies a use of violence to achieve one's goals which isn't in any way part of Dawkins' position, or that of any other atheists I know. It'd be much more appropriate to call it argumentative...
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    Protopterygotes / Sky Rods / Sky Fish

    I've been a birder for 40 years and see nothing in that video to indicate fright; if a small passerine bird was scared, it would take flight. All I can see is another insect flying across - no reason to suspect anything unusual.
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    First Ever Black Squirrel in Britain?

    There are some of the darker "brunette" red squirrels amongst the surviving population at Formby, near Southport.
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    the unmoving tit

    Tits can be very easily tamed to come to the hand for feeding, so I suspect you had parked at a spot where the birds are regularly hand fed: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7iV5TiRJcr0 I've even seen people reporting them climbing into pockets to get at food they have worked out is stored there.
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    World's Loneliest Spider

    I wonder if it could have been an individual that originated in a different place entirely, that could have traveled even a great distance via blooming?
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    Simulacra

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22686500
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    Alien Big Cats ('ABCs')

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22284463
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    Alien Big Cats ('ABCs')

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/scie ... y-ago.html
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    Living Dinosaurs!

    Re: Expedition to find living dinosaur, from 1922 "The plesiosaurus, half fish, half mammal..." I don't think Fairfax Downey was a student of taxonomy then.
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    Celtic Megaliths In New England?

    Sorry Pietro, I should have been clearer - I was referring to the New England stone.
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    Celtic Megaliths In New England?

    I can't see from the photos any reason to suspect it's not a glacial erratic that just has a coincidental similarity to a dolmen - anyone who's walked the wild moors of the north of the UK knows how common erratic boulders are in areas once covered by ice sheets, and how "deliberately placed"...
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    T rex fossil blood cells

    Pteranodons seem to be most often mislabeled this way; they have become most people's standard go-to image of a pterosaur, at the same time as pterodactyl has somehow become the go-to word.
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    Places That Don't Exist

    Along the clifftops, towards the South Foreland lighthouse, hidden amongst the trees, are the remains of a couple of WW2 plotting room bunkers. Not been for a few years, but they were easily accessible by squeezing through a gap and climbing down the entrance ladder last time I went...
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    Strange little beetle: Help

    Could have been a type of fairy moth, as some species can superficially look similar to longhorn beetles, and some do have "bottlebrush" antennae. Here's an example of one from Thailand: http://www.whatsthatbug.com/2010/08/28/ ... -or-other/
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    Why Don't We Have Proof Of Cryptids' Existence?

    Yep, one helluva coloniser, that bigfoot; I'm surprised they haven't been reported in Antarctica yet, as they seem to be distributed as widely as humans. Perhaps they travel from shore to shore using sea serpents as mounts? :-)
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    Why Don't We Have Proof Of Cryptids' Existence?

    When new large creatures are discovered, I'd expect them to be associated with extant taxa, e.g. the pygmy beaked whale, rather than physiologically improbable creatures which don't fit any known taxon, such as the classic "sea serpent".
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    Why Don't We Have Proof Of Cryptids' Existence?

    Let's not forget the vast wildernesses of Bolam Lake Country Park in Northumberland, and Cannock Chase in the West Midlands.
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    Why Don't We Have Proof Of Cryptids' Existence?

    Sorry - maybe over simplified a bit to make the point - I appreciate there are also endemic rodents that evolved from ancestors that arrived before man, but the probability of their evolution to an endemic 8 foot tall ape beast is pretty slim ;-)
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    Why Don't We Have Proof Of Cryptids' Existence?

    I've even actually seen this psychosocial mechanism at work through a little experiment we did at school. A friend and I told everyone how we'd been chased out of a local abandoned pub garden by a weird "half cat half human creature". Before long, other people had reported going to the same...
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    Why Don't We Have Proof Of Cryptids' Existence?

    This agrees with my view on cryptids and most other Forteana. We need folklore and mystery, so people are driven to create it. Staying on topic with cryptids, simple statistics tell you that there is something other than simple unknown animal sightings taking place. Let's take the hairy...
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    Doyle animal = thylacine.

    Bardsey? Good job you didn't get the boat, as you may have been even more disappointed - you may have got ashore and noticed there were no trees, realised you'd mis-typed Brownsea in your Satnav, and were now 300 miles away from the squirrels :-). At least you could pop up to Anglesea, where...
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    Doyle animal = thylacine.

    People seem to see what they want to see. I've looked at the same blurry images and can see very clear evidence that the animal is not a thylacine. It has a thickening of the tail, whereas thylacines had kangaroo-like tapering tails, and thylacines had a very distinctively short rear foot in...
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    Richard Dawkins

    Things would get pretty unpleasant in the gastro-intestinal tract if there weren't at least some genes for this....
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    Red Squirrels

    I don't see how the grey squirrel control to help the reds is any different from any number of other cull programmes that take place when an introduced, invasive non-native species threatens the existence of threatened native species. The release of grey squirrels into the wild in the UK and...
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    The Loch Ness Monster

    I've always thought the explanation for that photograph (assuming it's no hoax) is actually rather simple. There is clearly very calm water in the foreground, as you can sea a clear reflection of Urquhart Castle. If the calm water extended right across the loch, you would expect to see a...
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    Blasphemy

    It would be if that government was an undemocratic dictatorship....
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    Mokele-Mbembe

    Mokele Mbembe Article on the BBC website:
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    Out Of Place Animals

    Source: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/artic ... d=10724847
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    Atheism

    Tricky call - if it was me, I'd be confident that I could explain clearly to my child exactly what was going on and what parts of the school experience were indoctination. I think a good dose of reason should be reasonable medicine. If there started to be issues with the school pushing it, I'd...
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    Atheism

    If I was in your boat linesmachine, I'd happily play the system - I'd take advantage of the school, but I'd clearly explain to my kid what the church itself is doing with these schools, i.e. using them in their indoctrination practices. As long as your kid has a sensible counterpoint at home in...
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    Atheism

    Not sure if we can move this topic to another thread, but that slightly misses my point - he hoped not to get caught, yes - but he was still somehow motivated in the first place to perpetrate a hoax that would potentially bring him to ridicule if exposed; why? I suspect it is because many...
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    Atheism

    I can't see any argument for it being oversimplified; it's simple because the situation is simple, as I can see it. "God(s)" as a concept are simply irrelevant to the human condition, unless there is any genuinely good reason to start thinking such things exist. "Faith" does not even begin...
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    Atheism

    I'm quite happy to label myself as a cultural Christian; I'll be playing in a brass band at a religious service on Good Friday this week - I love the music, the art, the architecture, the festivals, the community spirit, the good works, even most of the Christian teachings when they are handled...
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    Atheism

    I disagree - most atheists I know are broadly anti-philosophy. Logical arguments support themselves and need no names behind them for any added authority. My ideas are in many cases my own, and if I hear ideas from others that make sense, I'll pick them up. Just because some philosophers have...
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    Atheism

    Be careful though Colpepper - I'm not speaking on behalf of atheists - I'm speaking on behalf of me, who happens to be atheist - other atheists may and will probably disagree with me. As I've said already, I see most philosophy as complete BS; empty verbiage trying to hide behind a mask of...
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    Atheism

    I agree, no legislation, but, speaking for myself, I see nothing wrong with trying to highlight the fact that there are reasons to consider the indoctrination of your own children into a religion as child abuse. I can't press for the banning of this, because I believe that would be a step too...
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    Atheism

    I think you'll see us as more of a vocal group, there to argue publicly against the excesses of religion. One example - I would love to see an end to faith schools and religious Sunday schools, as I agree with Dawkins that forced indoctrination of vulnerable children into religions is a form...
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    Atheism

    I think we're seeing more atheist campaigns and press articles though, against poor government decisions (such as Blair's support for faith schools) than we used to, and I think that is helped by social networking. I also think this is a very good thing.
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    Atheism

    I have to agree with Colpepper that there has certainly been a rise in the activity of atheists over recent years, and they have rallied to some degree around the likes of Dawkins and Christopher Hitchins. Where I disagree though is the perception that this is a bad thing, or that there is...
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    Atheism

    But where is this attempt to "impose" anything? How is arguing against religion imposing anything at all? I still see this as confusing our expresssion of our opinions with being a form of imposition. With regards to holding high office, I can guarantee that at present, the bishops' seats...
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    Atheism

    But you said above "people in this country are entitled to believe whatever they choose within the law. Every alternative proposal is a weakening of that position." I apologise if I misread this, but I took that to mean people proposing alternatives to the religious position were somehow...
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    Atheism

    Again, I disagree with you - I think most people are simply religious because they have been indoctrinated by religions. I think religion is profoundly irrational and the language you use above is just typical pro-religious apologetic rhetoric; language which doesn't actually stand up to any...
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    Atheism

    Absence of evidence isn't evidence of absence - nobody is claiming that. Absence of evidence is absence of reason to believe in a concept though - that is weak atheism. I could apply your same logic to an infinite multiverse with no guiding intelligence and universes being spawned within...
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    Atheism

    OK, I'll leave him out for now, but I suspect his motivations (apart from his selling books!) are somewhat similar to mine. Presuming that by "master plan" you mean the loss of religion, you fit in it wherever you want - you either believe in gods or you don't - atheists aren't obliged to...
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    Atheism

    Dawkins is on topic on an atheism thread, especially when we are discussing pollitically active atheists. I still can't see what angers you. Both Dawkins and I think that religion, even moderate, is a poor way to approach knowledge and wisdom, and are simply voicing our opinions over this...
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    Atheism

    Dress it up however you like, he's still simply putting forward arguments that stand and fall on their own merits and exercising his free speech, and to confuse this with trying to enforce anything on any one is an extremely dangerous path, which really does smack of totalitarianism and thought...
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    Atheism

    But Colpepper - I just don't see these atheists that you seem to place in a "militant" bracket - they certainly have existed in history, and I'm as against them as I am against religion - all I see in the current trend is people arguing their case in a society where this is normally respected as...
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    Atheism

    I can see no religion which is completely benign. All indoctrinate childern, as Dawkins has discussed, so again, my opinion differs from yours, and I am simply voicing my opinion. Can you point to the religions that don't use indoctrination methods on children to me? Debating and discussing...
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