Meme of the Week - Alex Jones Is A ?#@$&%! Christian

This is classic Alex Jones at his crass, vulgar, over-the-top, bombastically bloviating best/worst, juxtaposed with the contrastingly tranquil voice and sound of Enya. Enjoy!
*WARNING: Not safe for work!

Graphic of the Day - Evil Mr. Vaccine

Tonight on Facebook I got into a cyber-tussle with an anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist. This anti-vax activist's dear child has rheumatoid arthritis which she attributes to her child's vaccinations in an apparent example of Causation-Correlation Fallacy. I feel sorry for her that she is emotionally tortured by her child's health problems. However, she is not adapting well to it at all and perhaps this has exposed an outstanding personality defect. She offers no valid proof for her pseudo-intellectual, anti-scientific conspiracy theory, but rather merely URLs to questionable websites and Amazon links to books by non-experts. This is a sore subject for me as ignorant parents who don't vaccinate their kids will be a danger to me in my career as an educator unless I work in an environment where the relevant laws protects me from such tomfoolery.

Picture of the Day - "Geoengineering"

Okay, so I lied; there are TWO "pictures of the day," but they belong together as a two-panel propaganda window poster. This morning (and tonight) I worked half-shifts of security for a pharmacy having its roof redone. An adjacent business in the plaza is a hippy-dippy, New-Age-y, head-in-the-clouds "healing room" whose posted price scale is a menu of prescribed donation price points. On their front window is this bit of malarkey. Even the name itself, "geoengineering" is a misnomer as what they are arguing is happening would more accurately be described as "meteoengineering."

Both photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Graphic of the Day - Conspiracy Theory Pyramid

On this 23rd anniversary of the deadly and fiery end of the Waco Siege and 21st anniversary of the Oklahoma City Bombing given the pervasive pseudo-intellectual conspiracy theories associated with these events I think it appropriate to share this graphic now.

Quote of the Day - Alan Moore

I previously encountered this marvelous quote from British graphic novel author Alan Moore (best known for authoring V Is For Vendetta) a few years ago but neglected to or was unable to determine at the time its author. Regardless, I loved it immediately as I grasped it's essential truth... that man is not in control and cannot be in control no matter how much he tries and no matter how much power the Tin Foil Hat crowd attributes to mysterious malevolent men. From that time until now I never really forgot it aside from forgetting the entirety of its specific wording. I was in a friendly online debate/discussion tonight and was reminded of this gem of wisdom. Now I don't at all agree with Moore in regards to the last sentence of the quote. The world is indeed rudderless in so far as much as man is concerned, but the world is not the least bit rudderless to its Creator who reigns sovereign in this universe.

"The main thing that I learned about conspiracy theory is that conspiracy theorists actually believe in a conspiracy because that is more comforting. The truth of the world is that it is chaotic. The truth is, that it is not the Jewish banking conspiracy or the grey aliens or the 12 foot reptiloids from another dimension that are in control. The truth is more frightening, nobody is in control. The world is rudderless."

~ Alan Moore (The Mindscape of Alan Moore)

Pisgah Crater Truth 2011

 Recently a video (followed by a series of follow ups from the same source) was created and posted on Youtube that created a minor ruckus on the internet after making the rounds through the Tin Foil Hat webforum world where Chemtrails and HAARP Signals are stock in trade.
The following video published on July 23, 2011, got the ball rolling: 



It was followed by this more elaborate example of perception as reality in the pseudo-intellectual world of Conspiracy Theorism and Junk Science:



 Other videos followed along with a myriad of feedback loops throughout various chat rooms, email lists, and webforums. This foolishness got out of hand enough that the USGS had to bitch slap it with this reality check:


USGS rules out volcanic origin of plume-like feature seen in NEXRAD in Mojave Desert (California)

Inquiries have come to the USGS regarding a potential eruption in the vicinity of Lavic Lake Volcanic Field (LLVF) in Southern California. The inquiries stem from a citizen report noting a plume-like feature on NEXRAD radar imagery from July 23, 2011. USGS volcanologists evaluating the situation find nothing to indicate that the NEXRAD feature results from volcanic activity. Satellite images from the same period do not show the steam or ash clouds that accompany volcanic activity, and there is no seismicity in the vicinity indicative of volcanic unrest/eruption. No earthquakes were located within 20 miles of LLVF during the last week (USGS-Caltech Seismic Net update 14:10 PDT July 27, 2011 ). No reports of eruptive activity have come in from ground observers (LLVF is within 2 miles of Interstate 40) or from regional pilots (Barstow Daggett County Airport is within 10 miles of LLVF).

The USGS monitors volcanic unrest and provides announcements of volcanic activity within the US as soon as detected and confirmed. Often, warnings of possible volcanic activity are issued in advance, based on data from satellite or ground-based sensor networks. The status of US volcanoes is always available at the Volcano Hazards Program website.

Background: The Lavic Lake Volcanic Field is located in the Mojave Desert, south-central California (34.75 deg N / 116.625 deg W). Lavic Lake Volcanic Field is a collection of cinder cones and lava flows produced during effusive (non-explosive) eruptions of basaltic lava. The age of Lavic Lake volcanism is not well constrained, but the most recent eruption (Pisgah Crater) likely occurred about 25,000 years before present (Smithsonian Institution, Global Volcanism Program). It is a seismically active area cut by numerous Basin and Range faults.


My good friend Lin discovered this follow-up gem of Tin Foil Ass-Hattery on Youtube:



These two sweet, simple souls named Yvonne and Angie (sisters actually) went on a windmill jousting, er, "volcano-chasing" excursion to Pisgah Crater (actually they ended up at Amboy Crater  40 miles EAST of Pisgah Crater but let's not confuse the issue with annoying facts.) 
Anywho, they did capture some cool scenery both geological (how can anybody not like the sight of a lava flow next to a dry lakebed?) as well as meteorological (monsoonal moisture) not to mention some cool Route 66 images.

The plumes they captured on camera are clearly located within the confines of the post of Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center 29 Palms. These plumes are caused by dummy shells containing no ordnance that are fired by either tanks or howitzers conducting gunnery practice. Quite possibly some of the plumes are alternately dust devils and/or dust-ups caused by military vehicles traipsing around in the desert conducting maneuvers.

That these two people conducted this Route 66 in full belief of Dutchy's Delusions and then posted it on Youtube days later by which time it was clearly not what Dutchy suggested is somewhat of a surprise to me but perhaps I'm being overly charitable or even just a bit naive ... or even a bit of both! Cheerio!

Check out the comments below the video on it's Youtube page... the peanut gallery has spoken and ignorance has become elevated to a high art form.

Okay, I freely admit I'm a gummint hack trying to trick you into disbelieving there has been a huge eruption of a volcano right next to Interstate 40 and within sight of Barstow, CA, and and the traffic between Sin City and La-La Land but that does not matter. It requires my elaborate lies to suppress this truth.

With the Birther Movement now fully discredited and the 9/11 Truth movement laying fallow within pseudo-intellectual confines of the lunatic fringe I call for the next big conspiracy theory movement to be the 2011 Pisgah Truther movement!