trentmkelly/rationalwiki huggingface dataset:
Black

{{fork}}
*[[African American]]s, who are sometimes referred to as Blacks, usually in contrast to Whites — the terms 'Black' and 'White' may or may not be associated with [[racialism]] depending on the speaker and the context, having been derived from the original racial categories of [[Racialism#Case study: Caucasoid, Mongoloid, Negroid|Caucasoid, Mongoloid, Negroid]]
*[[Black brute]]: a [[racist]] [[stereotype]] targeted against Black people
*[[Black Death]]: a [[Medieval]] [[pandemic]] of near-[[apocalyptic]] proportions.
*[[Blackface]]: racist performance where a White person pretends to be a Black person, typically as a form of [[It's a joke|"comedy"]]
*[[Black genocide]]: a [[conspiracy theory]] that Black people are being subjected to an orchestrated [[genocide]] campaign
*[[Black Hammer]]: [[astroturf]]ed black separatist group notable for being [[useful idiots]] for [[Russia]]
*[[Black Hebrew Israelites]]: a [[fringe]] movement that identifies people of Subsaharan [[African]] descent as being the "true" [[Israelite]]s
*[[Black helicopters]]: an element of various conspiracy theories
*[[Black hole]]: [[Astronomy|astronomical]] entities so dense that the escape velocities required exceed the [[speed of light]]
*[[Black Lives Matter]]: a social movement with the goal of addressing systemic [[racism]] targeted against Black communities.
*[[Black Panther Party]]: an antiracist Marxist-Leninist Black Power political party that became a major force in [[New Left]] politics.
**[[New Black Panther Party]]: [[reactionary]] black supremacist wannabe "successor" to the original BPP that has been denounced ''by'' members of the original BPP.
*[[Black Pigeon Speaks]]: [[Neo-Nazi]] [[YouTube]]r and [[plagiarist]]
*[[Black Sabbath]]: the original heavy metal band
*[[Black salve]]: a popular [[alternative medicine]] [[cancer]] "treatment" that does ghastly things to the skin
*[[Black site]]: any off-the-books facility that holds [[government]] black ops.
*[[Black supremacy]]: a reactionary [[ideology]] that views Black people as the supreme race
*[[Black swan]]: an extremely rare, unpredictable event with a high impact
*[[Black triangle]]: a type of [[UFO]] that looks like what it says on the tin.
*[[Blackwater]]: American [[mercenary]] company
*[[Don Black]]: [[Stormfront]] aficionado and Neo-Nazi shithead
*[[History of Black people in Britain]]
Black triangle

{{ufology}}
[[File:Blacktriangle.jpg|left|thumb|165px|Is it really necessary to point out that this is an "artist's conception"?]]
[[File:Avro 707s and Vulcans Farnborough 1953.jpg|left|thumb|165px|This photo is 100% real. <small>(But the objects are of {{wpl|Avro Vulcan|earthly origin}}.)</small>]]
'''Black triangles''' are a type of [[UFO]] that look like, well, black triangles with or without lights on their tips. The type seems to have become popular in the 1980s and 1990s. By some [[coincidence]], this is about the same time when vaguely triangular stealth aircraft like B-2 and F-117 were tested and commissioned. Some crazier individuals might propose that these stealth aircraft are actually reverse engineered black triangles. For some time, sightings of black triangles became much more common.<ref>http://www.space.com/302-silent-running-black-triangle-sightings-rise.html</ref> Either the old flying saucers became passé for alien pilots, or this is just a new fad in [[hoax]]es.

==Explanation==
Most likely there's no single reason explaining all cases. Nevertheless, here are several possible reasons (assuming that the observer actually saw something triangular):
*Any group of three lights in the dark sky may be interpreted by an observer as a single, triangular craft, even if it's actually three aircraft flying in a formation or something entirely else. Given that a number of these sightings occur at night, this is probably one of the most plausible explanations.
*Misidentified stealth aircraft: the military would be very happy indeed to have their secret stuff "identified" as an 
alien craft
 Unidentified Flying Object, although some claims overlap with conspiracy theories such as that about a top secret plane called the TR-3B which is capable of flying into space.<ref>[https://www.express.co.uk/news/weird/927399/UFO-black-projects-TR-3B-triangle-UFO PROOF OF BLACK PROJECTS? Stunning 'TR-3B triangle UFO filmed on dashcam'], Daily Express, Mar 5, 2018</ref>
**A "stealth blimp" (see http://www.thestealthblimp.com/, though this one borders on a [[conspiracy theory]])
*A trio of first or second generation Naval Ocean Surveillance System (NOSS) satellites — US spy satellites that fly in a triangular formation.<ref>http://www.satobs.org/noss.html</ref><ref>http://web.archive.org/web/20081224190856/http://www.astronautix.com/craft/noss.htm</ref>
[[File:TriangleBelgium1990.jpg|thumb|175px|A real photo taken during the 1990 {{wpl|Belgian UFO wave||…}} of a black, triangle-shaped, piece of polystyrene with four lightbulbs, suspended by a wire<ref>[https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4538 The Belgian UFO Wave], [[Skeptoid]]</ref>]]
One particular declassified document from the UK ministry of defense suggests that most sightings could be a sort of buoyant plasma, that is to say a completely natural phenomenon.<ref>http://www.mod.uk/NR/rdonlyres/BA0DA42F-2C56-431E-98F6-19CD45EE7D43/0/uap_vol3_executive_summary_pg2_paras4_and_7.pdf</ref>

==See also==
* [[Aurora (aircraft)]]

==External links==
* {{wpa|Black triangle (UFO)}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{stub|ufology}}
[[Category:Ufology]]

Categories: Ufology
Blobsquatch

{{Cryptid}}
A '''blobsquatch''' is a portmanteau of "blob" and "sasquatch". It is usually used derisively to refer to the photographic or video evidence offered by [[cryptozoologist|cryptozoologists]], [[Ufology|UFOlogists]], [[Ghost Hunters|ghost hunters]], and [[Elvis|Elvispotters]] that are of poor quality. 

==Features==

Blobsquatch photos share one or more of the following features:

* Out of focus
* The subject is hidden in shadow
* The subject is taken from a long distance away and the blow up is grainy or pixelated as hell

==History==

Although the term has become a favorite of skeptics these days, it does seem to have emerged in the cryptozoology camp as a kind of {{wpl|check digit}} by more serious researchers when presented with alleged photos of Bigfoot. [[Loren Coleman]] has suggested<ref>[http://cryptomundo.com/cryptozoo-news/blobsquatch-history/ The Short History of Blobsquatch]. ''Cryptomundo'', 2006.</ref> the term was coined by [[Bigfoot]] researcher Vito Quaranta and used by him on a Bigfoot forum. Fellow squatching enthusiast Ray Randell popularized the term for several years in the early 2000s. Alton Higgins was the first to use the term in print in a 2004 paper titled "Evaluating Purported [[Sasquatch]] Photographic Evidence". He suggested:

{{quotebox|Any photo requiring equal parts interpretation and imagination (photos sometimes characterized as ‘blobsquatches’) should be discounted.<ref>Alton Higgins. [https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Evaluating-Purported-Sasquatch-Photographic-Higgins/1f3f14ca71538cda2b4696030aec3adc0bbe58ef Evaluating Purported Sasquatch Photographic Evidence]. ''Semantic Scholar''. 2016</ref>}}

That seems reasonable.

==Expanded use==

The term in recent years has been applied to any extremely bad photo of almost any woo phenomenon. For example, videos and photos from the [[UAP]] flap of the 2020s have been compared to a blobsquatch.<ref>[https://twitter.com/thewalterb/status/1419532634221383681 Tweet] by Walter Burton.</ref>

[[Doubtful News|Sharon Hill]] may have been one of the first to introduce the term into skeptical circles in a 2006 blog post.<ref>Sharon Hill. [https://idoubtit.wordpress.com/2006/12/29/unexplained-blobjects/ Unexplained Blobjects]. 2006.</ref>

==See also==
*[[Apophenia]]
*[[Electronic voice phenomenon]]
*[[Face on Mars]]
*[[Pareidolia]]
*[[Religious pareidolia]]

==External links==
*[https://xkcd.com/2572/ xkcd cartoon - "Alien Observers"]

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

[[category:neologisms]]

Categories: neologisms
Blotting

{{Sources needed}}{{Biology}}'''Blotting''' is a method of analysing DNA and RNA. There are two main blotting techniques.{{cn}}

Northern blotting, or Northern hybridization, is a technique for detection of specific [[RNA]] sequences to study [[gene expression]]. Northern blotting was developed by James Alwine and George Stark at Stanford University and was named such by analogy to Southern blotting, named for biologist Edwin Southern, used to study [[DNA]].{{cn}} Northern blotting involves the following steps: 

:#Total cellular RNA or mRNA is size-separated by denaturing agarose gel electrophoresis.
:#The separated RNA is transferred onto a nylon membrane.
:#The RNA is then detected with isotopic or non-isotopic labeled complementary DNA or RNA probe.{{cn}}

A notable difference in the procedure (as compared with the Southern blot) is the addition of formaldehyde in the agarose gel, which acts as a denaturant.<ref>[http://www.natureprotocols.com/2006/09/15/northern_blot_analysis_of_mrna.php Explanation of the procedure] by Nature Protocols.com</ref>

As in the Southern blot, the hybridization probe may be made from DNA or RNA.

Southern blotting was named after Edward M. Southern who developed this procedure at Edinburgh University in the 1975.{{cn}} It allows investigators to determine the molecular weight of a restriction fragment, to measure relative amounts in different samples and to locate a particular sequence of DNA within a complex mixture. DNA (genomic or other source) is digested with a restriction enzyme and separated by gel electrophoresis and transferred from an agarose gel onto a membrane which is then incubated with a probe which is single-stranded DNA.{{cn}} This probe will form base pairs with its complementary DNA sequence and bind to form a double-stranded DNA molecule. The probe is labeled before hybridization either radioactively or enzymatically (e.g. alkaline phosphatase or horseradish peroxidase). Finally, the location of the probe is detected by directly exposing the membrane to X-ray film or chemiluminescent methods.{{cn}}

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

{{Template:Molecularbiology}}

[[Category:Biochemistry]]{{stub|science}}

Categories: Biochemistry
Blue law

{{religion}}
'''Blue law''' is the US term for laws limiting retail activities on Sundays, including laws restricting or barring the sale of [[alcohol]]ic beverages, or restricting or barring businesses from being open at all on Sunday.<ref name=britannica>https://www.britannica.com/topic/blue-law</ref> These laws originated in [[Christian]] tradition but are often maintained for economic or political reasons. "Blue" in this sense comes from a 17th century (or in the US, 18th century) usage meaning "rigidly moral".<ref name=britannica/>

The trend over the past few decades has been to repeal blue laws, although many still remain on the books. The strictest blue law still in effect is in (of all places) [[New Jersey]]. Bergen County, New Jersey contains a high concentration of high-end shopping malls, which attract shoppers from New York City taking advantage of lower state sales taxes. This has motivated residents to retain the county's law banning sales of just about everything on Sunday, despite many referenda to repeal it. The blue law is estimated to cost the county millions of dollars in lost business and sales taxes,<ref>https://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/americas-last-ban-sunday-shopping</ref> but there's a compelling case to be made that keeping New Yorkers away for at least one day a week is worth it.

Some blue laws, such as those preventing automobile sales from being conducted on Sundays, were pushed forward not by religious groups but by local industry leaders, to give them a day off and ensure that none of their competitors would be open on that day.<ref>https://www.autotrader.com/car-news/why-cant-you-buy-a-car-on-sunday-262228</ref>

Whether or not the [[Fun:American football|NFL]] had anything to do with these laws is fair game for speculation.{{efn|Probably not; the NFL was only founded in 1920 and did not surpass College Football in popularity until after World War II.}}

In some European countries, particularly Switzerland<ref>https://www.ch.ch/en/working-night-or-sundays/</ref> and Austria,<ref>http://businessculture.org/western-europe/business-culture-in-austria/work-life-balance-in-austria/</ref> laws restricting Sunday trading have been supported by an alliance of religious conservatives, workers' rights activists (who are concerned that 7-day opening would lead to pressure on low-paid workers to work all 7 days), and small business supporters (as both countries exempt shops, etc., where there are no employees and only the owner or joint owners work there).

==See also==
* [[National Sunday law]]: A [[Seventh-day Adventism|Seventh-day Adventist]] [[conspiracy theory]] about Sunday blue laws in the United States.
* [[Prohibition]]
* [[Teetotalism]]

==External links==
*[http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Blue+Laws Sunday Blue Laws]
*[https://www.gov.uk/trading-hours-for-retailers-the-law Sunday retailing laws in England and Wales]
==Notes==
{{notelist}}
==References==
{{reflist|2}}
__NOTOC__
[[Category:Law]]
[[Category:Religion]]

Categories: Law, Religion
Bob Livingston

[[File:BobLivingston.jpg|thumb|upright|Official photo.]]
'''Bob Livingston''' {{lived|1943|}} was a [[Roman Catholic]] [[Republican Party|Republican]] congressman from [[Louisiana]] who, surprise surprise, couldn't keep his pants up.  In late 1998, [[Newt Gingrich]] resigned as Speaker of the House, and Bob Livingston was selected to take his place.  Unfortunately for him, [[Larry Flynt]] had placed an ad offering up to $1 million for information on politicians' [[Bill Clinton|sexual escapades]], and gathered some apparently rather juicy information on [[adultery]] on the part of a certain Republican from Louisiana.  Tsk, tsk.  Bob Livingston instead resigned from Congress in early 1999 to become a lobbyist for the government of [[Turkey]] trying to [[Armenian Genocide denial|prevent]] Congress from recognizing the [[Armenia#Armenian Genocide|Armenian Genocide]]. He would later lobby for [[Libya]] and [[Egypt]].<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/02/world/middleeast/02lobby.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=arab%20lobby&st=cse The New York Times:Arab Unrest Puts Their Lobbyists in Uneasy Spot]</ref> He was replaced by [[David Vitter|Vitterman]].

He now runs the Orwellianly misnamed Personal Liberty Digest, where he makes incoherent rants about everyone and everything [[persecution complex|coming to destroy his freedom]]. Oh, and he's [[crank magnetism|also]] a germ-theory denialist, a Climate Change denialist, a birther, and a 9/11 Truther as well.


==References==
{{reflist}}
{{stub|politicians}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Livingston, Bob}}
[[Category:Former United States Representatives]]
[[Category:Christians]]
[[Category:Living people]]

Categories: Former United States Representatives, Christians, Living people
Bobby Mackey's Music World

[[File:BobbyMackeyHell.jpg|thumb|right|165px|Hell hath no fury. But it does have cinder blocks.]]
{{Paranormal}}
'''Bobby Mackey's Music World''' is a nightclub in Wilder, [[Kentucky]] that is supposedly so haunted it has its own portal to [[Hell]] in the basement. 

==The club==
Country singer Bobby Mackey bought a run-down building in 1978 and turned it into a nightclub. It wasn't very successful until Mackey heard that a [[murder]]ed woman's body was dumped in the nearby town of Fort Thomas more than 100 years ago. Since [[paranormal]] aficionados consider any murder, even one located 3 miles away, to be sufficient proof of a haunting, the club was soon being promoted as "the most haunted nightclub in the USA".<ref>[http://www.travelchannel.com/tv-shows/ghost-adventures/articles/bobby-mackeys-haunted-history Bobby Mackey's Haunted History] Travel Channel</ref>

==Fakelore==
The building allegedly housed a meat-packing facility and slaughterhouse in the 1850s; however, why there would be some connection between meat packing and the presence of [[ghost]]s and [[demon]]s is anybody's guess. The [[fakelore|owners promote]] a number of popular but completely unverifiable stories, including one about a dance hall girl named Johanna who committed suicide in the basement after a tragic love affair, gunfights between Cincinnati mobsters in the parking lot, and secret [[Satanism|satanic]] rituals held in the basement by [[cult]] members.

==Portal to hell==
The management charges $10 to go into the basement and look at a shallow hole in the dirt floor, most likely an old well or drainage pump site which patrons are assured is the entrance to Hell itself.<ref>[http://beforeitsnews.com/paranormal/2013/12/bobby-mackeys-music-world-the-gate-to-hell-2461802.html Bobby Mackey’s Music World, The Gate To Hell] beforeitsnews.com</ref>‪‪‪‬

==Favorite Yelp comments==
*"The spookiest thing about this place is how little gin they can put in their drinks and still call it a gin and tonic"
*"I'm not sure what's more scary: the paranormal or fat women in tank tops and tube tops riding the bull"
*"Hey, if you're scared of ghosts, no worries, the smoke disguises them"

==As seen on TV==
They may not be able to keep the restrooms clean, but one thing they are very good at is publicity. Bobby Mackey's was launched onto the tabloid TV scene in the early 1990s with a supposed live [[exorcism]] of the club's caretaker performed on that most credible of documentary programs, ''The Jerry Springer Show''. More recently, it's received the highly imaginative attention of shows like ''[[Ghost Hunters]]'', ''[[Ghost Adventures]]'', and ''[[A Haunting]]''.

==External links==
*[http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/b8abb86f3397.jpg Watching over the portal to hell] 
*[http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2002&dat=19931024&id=nLUiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=5rQFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1531,5192365 Ghost punched me, man says]

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Business]]
[[Category:Paranormal]]
[[Category:Restaurants]]

Categories: Business, Paranormal, Restaurants
Bones of Contention: A Creationist Assessment of the Human Fossils

{{crenav}}{{title-italics}}
'''''Bones of Contention: A Creationist Assessment of the Human Fossils''''' is an anti-evolution book written by [[young earth creationism|young earth creationist]] Marvin L. Lubenow. It was published by Baker Books in 1992.

==Overview==

Lubenow claims that he has a major in [[anthropology]] and degrees in [[theology]]; he is a devout [[Christian]] and young earth creationist.<ref>[http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/bios/m_lubenow.asp Biography for Marvin L. Lubenow]</ref> In a nutshell, the book proposes that the human [[fossil record]] supports the 
theory
 conjecture of special creation rather than [[evolution]]. Lubenow has said that he has over 35 years of research in the field of [[paleoanthropology]].<ref>[http://www.christianbook.com/contention-creationist-assessment-fossils-revised-updated/marvin-lubenow/9780801065231/pd/65238 Book Description]</ref> 

The book rejects [[common descent]] and any evidence for evolution and claims that the fossil record shows that humans were divinely created by the Christian [[God]].<ref>[http://nwcreation.net/store/books/bonesofcontention.html Creationist Website]</ref> Lubenow rejects the dates of any fossils from the scientific community and argues for a young earth.<ref>[http://kukis.org/evolution/Lubenow.pdf Creationist Review]</ref> The purpose of the book was an attempt to show that [[hominid]] fossils do not exist.<ref>[http://www.designwatch.org/2005/03/book-review-bones-of-contention.html Creationist Review of Bones of Contention]</ref> Astute readers may have noticed that every one of the points mentioned above is wrong.

==Reception==

The book has been described as [[pseudoscience]] by the scientific community. Dr. Colin Groves in a review wrote that Lubenow has not educated himself about the [[scientific]] evidence for evolution and misrepresents the fossil record based on his [[religious]] beliefs.<ref>[http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/lubenow_cg.html A review of Bones of Contention: a Creationist Assessment of Human Fossils]</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}
{{crebox}}

[[Category:Religious books]]

Categories: Religious books
Bongo Bongo Land

{{Race}}
'''Bongo Bongo Land''' is a fictional place somewhere in Africa, according to 
the country's government website
 a crazy lunatic from Middlesex.<ref>[https://www.whois.com/whois/bongobongo.land whois]</ref> According to said lunatic, Bongo Bongo Land is somehow both located in [[Kenya]] and "a small landlocked country in Eastern Africa".<ref>A [https://web.archive.org/web/20220115075701/http://www.bongobongo.land/ weird blog site] has gone offline, but the Internet Archive preserved a copy for posterity.</ref>

Anyone who mentions ''Bongo Bongo Land'' is definitely, certainly and unequivocally a [[xenophobic]] racist. They will try to convince the few people who have any interest in them that they aren't racist and that vaguely labelling a whole continent as uncivilized, backward and tribal people is somehow acceptable.

The [[BBC]] found that in Tanzania (a real place in Africa) the term "Bongoland" is actually a compliment. You have to be a young native Tanzanian for this to count.<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-23600129 The other meaning of Bongoland]</ref>

==Noted proponents of Bongo Bongo prejudice==
*[[Tory]] MP Alan Clark.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/from-the-archive-blog/2013/aug/07/bongo-bongo-land-ukip-bloom-clark-alan Archive: Tory MP Alan Clark makes racist 'bongo bongo land' comment]</ref>
*Godfrey Bloom, [[UKIP]] nut.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/aug/08/ukip-mep-bongo-bongo-land-antelope UKIP man denies being a racist again]</ref>
*Most of UKIP until they realised they had image problems.<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23597233 'Bongo Bongo Land': UKIP bans use of 'outdated' phrase]</ref>

==Not to be confused with==
*{{wpl|Bongo drums||,}} little drums that you tap tunes on.
*{{wpl|Luciano Pozo González}} and related proponents of the drums.
*[[Richard Feynman]], a guy who has some drums.
*{{wpl|Georg August Schweinfurth}} and crew. Noted explorers who can't possibly have been racists, but were because they lived in a time where everybody was.
*Bongoland in Port Orange, [[Florida]], a dilapidated theme park<ref>[https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/12707 Ruins of Bongoland] RoadsideAmerica.com</ref>
*Bongo Bongo, one of the boss monsters in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
*Oingo Boingo, Film composer Danny Elfman's band

==External links==
*{{wpa|Bongo Bongo Land}}

==References==
{{reflist}}