From: dstuve@storm.CS.ORST.EDU (David Stuve)
Newsgroups: sci.skeptic
Subject: Re: NOAH's ARK Docudrama
Summary: my favorite quotes from the show
Date: 22 Feb 93 21:35:11 GMT
Organization: Computer Science Department, Oregon State University
Lines: 55

What a scary show -- HUGE leaps of faith from point to point, with
no in-depth explanation (or proof) of anything.

My Favorite 8 spots:

1)  When showing fossils, the "scientist" (sic) mentioned how it was
    frozen in a position of terror -- indicating a flood, or disaster.
    (It was a plain fossil of a fish - no indication of what a
    position of terror for a fish was.)

2)  The continents whizzing along at 45 miles per hour after the layer
    of water beneath the crust was released at supersonic speeds.
    (Interesting classic Catastrophism here, but wouldn't the H2O come
    out as boiling or steam?)

3)  The polygraph test:  (Officer who gave the polygraph)
    "I don't know what mountain he was on, but he sure thinks
    he saw a boat."

4)  How the animals made it to the Ark from a "biologist" (sic)
    Perhaps the animals felt the changes and new a disaster was
    coming, so they instinctively migrated to the Ark.
    (Failing to mention how only 2 of every species could do this)

5)  US Government Conspiracy:  (Witness of some sort)  "at the
    SAC headquearters they have satellite pictures of Mt. Ararat,
    even labelled "Noah's Ark" -- but they won't release these photos
    because they don't want to reveal how good their satellites are."

6)  How many animals were on the ark?  (Expert of some sort)
    "We don't know how many species, but there were probably between
    2500 and 20000 species of animals on the Ark."
    (Nice range there -- 10x fudge factor that would make any scientist
    blush.)

7)  Isn't that a lot of species to put on the Ark?
    (Again, a nebulous expert)  All species are derived from common
    ancestors, like the 300+ breeds of dogs are from a single ancestor.
    So they could have brought only a few common ancestors, and all
    other animals were derived from those.

8)  It's all Darwin's fault:  The show implied that explorers were on
    the verge of revealing the Ark of Noah to the world, when Darwin's
    theory of Evolution appeared, and everyone forgot about the ark.

The show was fun to watch -- but I was disappointed by how little
they backed up what they said.