Looks like a little bit of a squirmish here....

Allow me to put in my 2 cents worth of a recap:
0)Continuing dialogue is always good....
1) Per Lucy Jones' briefing of 30 Aug. 01 earthquakes cannot be predicted (using the current models, etc. etc...)
2) Therefore going to a message board entitled "Earthquake Prediction" is an oxymoron per Institutional Bias/Paradigm Maintainers. Furthermore, expecting bullet-proof "proof" about an obviously speculative prediction issues from the same (and is also an oxymoron).
3) Most people on the board probably accepted any statements about a possible coming quake as just a prediction.
4)dib, expected to see the tentative qualifier words as part of the prediction (which others presumed present).
5)dib, then challenged the logic since no "data" were presented to support and relying on "current thinking" (which by the way changes very fast in today's information explosion).
6) It appears LW took it as a personal attack supposing that it was implied that he posted willy-nilly without a shred of data to back things up....
7)dib, still remaining cool, identified that that was not intended and continued the thread looking for the "slam-dunk" proof or related data (or reference thereof)
8)LW comes back with supporting theories currently being worked...along the way identifying the anti-science, stifling, poison gas atmosphere of the Paradigm Maintainers...and pointing out that without scientific papers to reference the area being worked is prior to or during inititial papers in this area (and not "meat-already-on-the-pole & problem solved" type papers)
9)dib, now getting a tad emotional, fires back with typical Institutional Paradigm tactics including but not limited to the following:

1- Use of "Distortion to ridicule" of opponents position using "hot (push button) phrases" such as "New Age Psychobabble" and "weird non-science"...all attempting to stigmatize victim and assert to other Paradigm Maintainers that she is "Towing the Line" and "With the Hurd"...(thus keeping her future grants intact perhaps ...and deflecting the fear of peer criticism away from herself and onto her opponent (victim?).
2 - Use of Scathing Core Ability attacks phrases such as "I'm beginning to doubt your scientific credentials"...fighting words, no doubt, in many books....
3 - Finally, topped off with a heaping helping of
seemingly witty yet bankrupt phrases such as "it isn't, they aren't...you get the picture.

What's reallly going on here? First let me say that I appreciate dib's scientific curiosity and awareness of some but not all science. I also appreciate her asking for the info...and she did receive some....

Somewhere along the lines...the science degenerated into an emotional realm where the focus shifted away from the goal....

Let me say this, IMO....
1)dib - true enough, relies too much on current thinking
2)info sometimes needs time to trickle around and sink into the "current thinking"....
3)dib should continue the pursuit...and not be filled with so much fear (which is what I see when I see a rant like the one above....)
4)dib did not perform sufficient backround before pursuing her line of thinking and maybe due to time constraints fell victim to relying on "current thinkers" to base her arguments upon...and has also learned well the line of attack used by Status Quo to squelch innovative thinkers from the beginning....

Folks this is an example of exactly what to expect out there....

The point is not that pseudo-science is being pursued here, it is that the qualifying phrases were not present in the words of a "prediction"...(now since added)...but nevertheless a scientific process is being pursued but not in a science courtroom (just yet) as the data/theory is being processed over time and new revelations become evident.

Now if we can hold the intruding ego(s) at bay (I strive to include myself in that as well), set aside the Status Quo jargon and attacks, then I believe some significant forward motion and touchdowns might just get scored here....

I know I've written some words that will no doubt haunt me in the future....only time will tell....