A growing number

In this fine essay on Project Steve and the Appeal to Authority, Matt Inlay finds several examples of another of my least favorite rhetorical tricks:

Since they obviously can’t claim that 100 scientists is a significant number (actually some do), they use the phrases like, “a growing number of scientists question evolution” or something like that. Don’t believe me? Try googling the term “evolution” with the phrase “growing number of scientists”, and you’ll see what I mean.[...]

Ah, yes, a growing number. I don't know whether the use of this construction is growing or not, but I'm pretty sure that if I claimed it was, few people would bother to call me on it. Its very vagueness places it in the useful realm of statements for which gut feeling constitutes sufficient research.

Designoids

Also via The Panda's Thumb, here's an astonishing cautionary page about how easy it is to be fooled when looking for ancient artifacts—not by human fraud, but by nature.

Of course, to me it immediately brought to mind the fuss over Martian things that look like fossils (or even artifacts). Most of the things on that page of non-artifacts are crazy-looking concretions. Keeping in mind that the Opportunity landing site in Meridiani Planum, in particular, is almost completely covered with concretions as far as the digicam can see, caution would seem to be in order. (On the other hand, some of those Earthly concretions were partly formed by the traces of living things!)