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World's Plant Life Far Less Diverse Than Thought

Meshach writes "A report out of FOX News (I know, I know) says that there are far fewer unique species of plants than previously thought. The report states that only about a third of named species are actually unique. The rest have been 'discovered' multiple times, often by separate scientists."

4 of 338 comments (clear)

  1. Re:ah faux news by Blue+Stone · · Score: 5, Informative

    >I'll make you a deal. I'll support a ban on submissions from Fox News as long as we never have to see another submission from MSNBC, Mother Jones, Rolling Stone, or anything similar.

    None of those media news outlets have gone to court, though, to argue that their right to deliberately lie to and consciously mislead their readership is protected by the First Amendment.

    During their appeal, FOX asserted that there are no written rules against distorting news in the media. They argued that, under the First Amendment, broadcasters have the right to lie or deliberately distort news reports on public airwaves. Fox attorneys did not dispute Akre’s claim that they pressured her to broadcast a false story, they simply maintained that it was their right to do so.

    http://www.relfe.com/media_can_legally_lie.html

    That, to me, says cease using Fox News as a source (and burn it with fire).

    --
    Corporation, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility. - Ambrose Bierce
  2. Re:Bias does not exclude fairness by compro01 · · Score: 5, Informative

    This doesn't inherently discredit them as a news organization

    No, the fact they filed and won a lawsuit arguing that they are allowed to deliberately lie about the news does.

    --
    upon the advice of my lawyer, i have no sig at this time
  3. Re:ah faux news by TapeCutter · · Score: 5, Informative

    Climate is not chaotic in the mathematical sense until you get into geologic time scales that are long enough to negate the regulating influence of the Milankovich cycles (ie: millions of years). Weather is chaotic on timescales of days.

    You can see the same mathematical concept in a pan of water on the stove, you can make a usefully accurate model to predict how long it will take to boil but there is no way to predict when or where the first bubble will start to form.

    Climate model forecasts of climate trend (particularly golbal average temps) have matched observations within their defined error margin for over 30yrs now.

    Since this stuff is so easy to google I can only assume you haven't tried answering your own question.

    --
    And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
  4. Re:Meh by overlordofmu · · Score: 5, Informative

    What if instead of linking to news source third party slashdot linked to THIS: http://www.theplantlist.org/

    Would 50% of the post be discussing the third party news source instead of the real news. I don't even think the news is the spin of the third party (which was, "Look! Scientists have goofed an estimate!" (One that will alway be a moving target, in this case the plant count)). I think the real news is this: There is a group working to create an open, coordinated effort to prevent the very thing that the triple-faced thirdy party is spinning negatively.

    In other news, post is now both the plurar and singular form of the word "post".