Aliens and Skeptics

I am bad for waiting so long between posts, but I think I'm the only one that reads this anyway, so whatever.

Here are some things that inspired me today:
1. If you take the height of Khufu's Great Pyramid it equals the perimeter of the base divided by 2 times pi.
2. According to a TV show I watched the other day, there is an image from a pyramid in the Valley of the Kings of a cone of light coming out of a lotus blossom, with a writhing snake in the center.
3. A pair of tiny mummies with oversized heads were found in Tutankhamen's tomb.
4. There has never been a Bigfoot carcass recovered.
5. Penn Jillette chose the James Randi Educational Foundation as his charity for Celebrity Poker Showdown.

Here are answers as given by believers in all things paranormal:
1.This is obvious evidence that the pyramids were built by someone other than the Egyptians, as Egyptian geometry as far as we can reconstruct it is rather pitiful. Probably Atlanteans or space aliens. Or both.
2. This is an electric light bulb. The snake is the filiment. This is proof of aliens and also explains how the Egyptains carved and painted dark tombs and pyramid walls without mirrors or torches.
3. These are alien bodies, so sacred that they were buried with the young king. You can tell by the oversized crania.
4. Carcasses in natural environments are difficult to recover. Scavengers get to them. Bugs get to them. Rotting takes place. ANd in the wet and temperate environment of the Pacific Northwest, this is especially true.
5. Penn Jillette is a freaking moron. That's not a charity.

Here's a pure skeptic of the sort that shows up on TV shows:
1. There's no evidence of a civilization like Atlantis. Egyptians are smarter than we like to think.
2. Of course this is not a light bulb. Where are the light bulbs the Egyptians used?
3. These are the king's baby daughters.
4. Of course. This proves there is no Bigfoot.
5. Rock on, Penn Jillette.

Here's how I respond:
1. This measurement can be reached accidentally. Roll a drum or wheel to mark out the distances and you will inadvertantly incorporate pi. Moreover, we haven't found everything. They might have known it. Or they might not have. But I do think the pyramids show while the Egyptians might not have been big on pure geometry, they had functional geometry down. Keep in mind that the Great Pyramid is not the only one. Atlas of Ancient Egypt lists 43 pyramids, plus 1 sarcophagus shaped pyramid and 3 undiscovered sites. true, they aren't as spectacular, but you can see a definite progression in skill and design. Look at the Dashur Pyramids.

2. This is not a light bulb. This is not even in the Valley of the Kings. There are no pyramids in the Valley of the Kings. This is an image from the crypts beneath the Temple of Dendera. Looking at this and seeing a light bulb is ridiculous and shows how people overlap modern sensibilities and imagery on foreign or ancient peoples. In the creation myth of the time and place, the Sun God emerged from a lotus in the midst of the Waters of Chaos.
And who the hell do they think they're fooling, "No mirrors"? Of course they had mirrors! They had very nice mirrors! You can go into any decent Egyptian collection and see one, very often with a figure of Hathor in the handle.

3. These are fetuses of the stillborn princesses. Their names are inscribed on their tiny coffins. Only someone struggling to find any possible "evidence" of aliens in Egypt would leap to the Bush-level stupid that makes these poor babies aliens. Ask any human osteologist. Ask a random archaeologist.

4. Carcasses are difficult to recover from the wild. I believe there are two know skeletons, for example, of wild orangutans who weren't shot. One of which was picked to bones in the course of a night. This is not proof of no Bigfoots...Bigfeet...However, the Bigfoot people have to do better than one incredibly convenient video and some footprints for proof (Eyewitnesses don't count as proof).

5. I wouldn't invite Penn Gillette to a dinner party.

More importantly though, the James Randi Educational Foundation should put money into training better skeptics for those shows. They're really making the skeptics look like morons. I mean, I can debunk these idiotic claims.

Which doesn't of course mean that I am entirely closed to the possibility of paranormal events/abilities. But saying they're true doesn't make them true.