Copasetic Flow

In any scientific investigation, it's always important to keep an open mind. Otherwise, the important details can sneak right by while you're too busy hollering that they don't exist. I've been researching dugg reports of strange phenomena lately. Things like the woman, the canals, and the face on Mars. Just about as often as there is a report of a strange phenomenon, there's another report that claims to debunk it. In reading these 'debunkings' I noticed that most of them use the same logical fallacy. It's called the ' argument from fallacy ', and here's how it works: If P, then Q. P is a fallacious argument. Therefore, Q is false. And here's a further example from wikipedia: Tom : "All cats are animals . Ginger is an animal. This means Ginger is a cat.". Bill : "Ah you just committed the affirming the consequent logical fallacy. Sorry, you are wrong, which means that Ginger is not a cat".Of course, Ginger cou...

Martian Rock(Sculpture?) While 'digg'ing around the internet this week I found this article about a recent picture sent back from the Mars rover Spirit. The author was in an inordinate rush to dismiss the image as a case of pareidolia , which is defined as perceiving vague or random stimulus as being significant. Amusingly enough, pareidolia is a type of apophenia , which is what this article may wind up being categorized as. As an example, of the phenomenon, he sited the back of the New Hampshire quarter. I've lived in the Southwest for much of my life, and I've seen my fair share of rocks that look like something else . However, the above picture of the Mars 'sculpture' goes beyond this. All the other rocks look worn by the wind like sandstone does here. However, the rock of interest has not only NOT been worn in the same manner as the others, but is in a recognizable shape. Why? The author goes on to cite another 'expert' who says the 'statu...