Duhon's Hammer

What is the most common thing brought up when discussing UFOs and pararnormal subjects?

Lately, I'm beginning to think it's that infamous rule we all know as "Occam's razor". I've read it everywhere, and this thing really gets on my nerves. People on all sides of the issue hold up Occam's razor as if it is the ultimate all-purpose tool of rational thought and deduction.

Unfortunately it's not. It's generally a tool for lazy people.

The next time someone holds up this razor business please consider this addendum to Occam's razor, which is really just common-sense, and helps to reveal just how porous this "all-purpose" rule in fact is:

Duhon's hammer- The accuracy of Occam's razor is inversely proportional to the number of factors, involved in the phenomenon being investigated, that the investigator is ignorant of.

To help illustrate Duhon's hammer, consider a group of cave dwellers who don't understand electrical science. One night three of these men see a giant bolt of lightning, streaking down from the clouds to the ground and striking a large tree in their village. The tree catches fire and is burned to a cinder.

The next morning everyone in the tribe discovers the burned-down tree, and these three men tell everyone that they witnessed a light come down from the sky and burn the tree. People in the village become afraid, and the "educated men" of the group are consulted for help in explaining this bizarre occurrence.

The educated men consult among themselves and come to the only rational conclusion: It is all a hoax. These men burned down the tree themselves and made up the story, perhaps for attention.

But the three men insist that they are telling the truth.

In response, the educated men ask the tribe to consider Occam's razor. Which alternative is more likely: A) That a magical ray of light streaked down from the sky, defying all known laws of science, and burned their tree to the ground, or B) That this small group of men instead set fire to the tree themselves and then concocted this "paranormal" story to conceal their hoax?

Occam's razor is a fine tool when trying to decide whether the sweets in the fridge were eaten by your girlfriend, but it is pretty weak when dealing with subjects where the laws and facts are little understood.

Ok let's test this posting thing.

Hello, welcome to post number one for my blog, tentatively titled "Jumping the Fence".

Ok, so as a very brief intro I'm a big fan of the UFO subject. And recently I was warming up to post yet another soliloquy on a certain forum when it occurred to me, "I keep bringing up subjects that no one here is talking about, and perhaps no one here is interested in. I'm basically talking to myself, so why don't I just take this to the next logical level and start a blog like everyone else?"

It seemed obvious, so why hadn't I thought of this before? I think it's because I've never really felt that seemingly universal inspiration to start posting commentary on my social life and relationships. I have no interest in other people's social lives and relationships so why should they be interested in mine?

So basically, I just needed to find a subject that I would actually enjoy writing about. I think UFOs and paranormal subjects are the ticket for me.