Friday, May 30, 2008

Greasy lazy pythons

How rich is it that when various woomongers try to fill their cracked pots with abiotic oil, one of their favorite processes is serpentinization?

Come on guys, how about some effort. If you’re gonna sell snake oil, fine. But isn’t it a bit obvious associating snake oil with serpentinites? At least pretend it comes from lizardite*. Or crocodilite. As it is, you're giving yourselves away.

*In a nomenclatural twist designed to foil zoologists, lizardite is a serpentine, while crocidolite is not.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

wow ... that's good stuff, I haven't read the latest in abiotic oil "research" ... I almost choked on my bagel laughing.

C W Magee said...

The sad thing is that while 4 of those sites are crackpot sites, one is a press release for a science paper- but you can't actually tell the difference from a quick skim...

C W Magee said...

Wait, I take that back- in the end I only linked the way out stuff...

C W Magee said...

responsible press release on science paper here.

Anonymous said...

that press release is fine by me ... it doesn't make that big inference leap that once hydrocarbons are found, that that somehow equates to an unending supply that is useful ... but, then again reading that press release right after reading those other sites makes it sound extra rational

C W Magee said...

Yeah, that one is fine. I figured it would be nice and fair to actually put an example of good science journalism up for once. Searching for "abiotic oil mantle" generated a range of responses from the rational to the utterly loony, and comparing them is an excellent exercise in crankwatching.

I should probably combine these zillion small replies into something sensible once I get a chance.