Nov 222012
 

Eric Hovind, a Young Earth Creationist (i.e. believes that the Earth and the universe were created by God pretty much as-is about 6,000 years ago; implicit in this is Hovind’s belief that God is a dirty liar for installing vast reams of data for deep time apparently for no better reason than to trick humans), at a debate gets pretty thoroughly flummoxed by a pretty simple question from an 11-year-old:

[youtube HhDPrP-tpeo]

The problem for Hovind here is that he tries to use “logic” to justify “faith,” and his *big* problem is that he uses *bad* logic. His argument seems to be:

1) Unless you have *all* knowledge, you cannot claim to be 100% certain about anything (true enough, I reckon)

2) However, if someone else *does* have all knowledge, and there’s a rule that this someone cannot lie, then you *can* be 100% certain about anything that omniscient someone tells you

3) Thus: God.

A lot of fuzziness (to put it mildly) but there are some fairly blatant gaps, omissions or outright errors that can be pointed out:

1) Assume all-knowing, all-honest God. Assume also you ain’t all-knowing. By definition, if you are not all-knowing, you cannot be 100% certain that God is all-knowing, nor can you be 100% certain that God is all-honest.

2) Nor can you be 100% certain that you are, in fact, talking with God (as opposed to Satan, Loki, Darth Sidious or some mis-wired brain cells)

3) Assume all-knowing God. Assume also that God is *not* required to be all-honest. Thus, if an all-knowing but occasionally dishonest God spoke to you, this God might well say that he was in fact all-honest, when he’s actually lying.

4) Assume all-knowing+honest God. But he speaks through allegory, burning bushes, faces popping up on tortillas. For example, God tells you, “if you cross that river to fight your enemy, a kingdom will fall.” You think claiming 100% certainty on your part about what the actual outcome will be is sensible?

Faith is fine, when it doesn’t conflict with facts. Justifying the unprovable with logic and reason is fine… so long as your line of logic and reason isn’t a trail of rubbish.

 Posted by at 11:54 am
Nov 212012
 

When you need to shoot down small rockets and mortars, C-RAM is there:

[youtube V2004nrHxa0]

The Counter Rocket And Mortar Protection System is a modification of the naval Phalanx Close In Weapons System. Both use basically the same 20mm M-61 Vulcan gatling gun and turret to shoot about 6,000 rounds per minute of depleted uranium or tungsten sabot rounds. in the case of the C-RAM, since it’s shooting over ground and over the heads of friendlies and civilians, the rounds detonate in flight if they miss the target, turning themselves into little bits that will not hit the ground nearly as fast as an intact projectile.

[youtube euwf6TA9dIc]

A 20mm round is  of course quite sufficient to take out virtually any projectile likely to be lobbed at you. But when you want to send a message, you use the Goalkeeper. Same basic idea as CIWS/C-RAM, but with the 30mm GAU-8a  gun used on the A-10 Warthog.

[youtube SGrJnxdDbO8]

WANT.

 Posted by at 12:33 pm
Nov 202012
 

Yes, yes, everyone to the left of FDR is a brainless anti-science rube because some Republicans are creationists. But how much must it suck to be a writer for the left-wing rag “Slate” and have to write this article:

Who Said It: Marco Rubio or Barack Obama?

Where we find that Candidate Obama said in 2008:

What I’ve said to them is that I believe that God created the universe and that the six days in the Bible may not be six days as we understand it [NOTE: “may not be” means “it might be,” for anyone who thinks that Obama is scientifically certain]… it may not be 24-hour days, and that’s what I believe. I know there’s always a debate between those who read the Bible literally and those who don’t, and I think it’s a legitimate debate within the Christian community of which I’m a part. My belief is that the story that the Bible tells about God creating this magnificent Earth on which we live—that is essentially true, that is fundamentally true. Now, whether it happened exactly as we might understand it reading the text of the Bible: That, I don’t presume to know.

Ooops.

Oodles of weasel-words there, but the basic upshot is that his position may be fundamentally no different from your standard Young Earth Creationist, he’s just less willing to come out and say it plainly.

 Posted by at 8:32 pm
Nov 202012
 

How to clear a minefield in just a few seconds: blow it to hell.

[youtube a52-rOC8_Zk]

This is the M58 MICLIC (mine-clearing line charge) in action. Put simply, it’s  a rocket on a string. Put less simply, a 5-inch rocket is launched from a carrier vehicle and tows behind it a string, which gets laid down over a mine field. This is a string with a bit of a difference, though… it’s 350 feet long and carries with it five pounds of C4 plastic explosives. That’s five pounds of C4 PER FOOT. When the line is laid down, the C4 is set off, and 350 feet of terrain gets a mighty whoopin’. Most (but not all) types of mines and IEDS will sympathetically detonate if they are anywhere nearby. This would, I imagine, also be handy for dealing with small buildings, guys in spiderholes, trenches, etc.

 Posted by at 12:19 pm