Too minor for the pit, but here’s the ridiculous headline: Loch Ness Monster-Like Creature’s Bones Found:
Hey moronic journalist - There is no Loch Ness monster. It doesn’t exist. The pictures are a hoax. Yes, people have theorized it’s a plesiosaur, and the skeleton found in the Antarctic is that of a plesiosaur, but that’s no reason to make that the lead sentence and headline of your article! Please stop trying to mix interesting science with legends and hoaxes.
Hey, just because those pictures are a hoax doesn’t mean there’s no Nessie. Haven’t you seen the recent documentary?
This one is the definitive one, IMO.
It’s a fun tourist attraction. I went to Loch Ness and my daughter became a real fan of Nessy. I put little Nessy doodles in the margins of my notes to her.
And that’s great. People can have fun going to tarot card readers, the local Ghost Tour or the various Gravity Spot tourist attractions.
Still doesn’t mean that a legitimate newspaper writing a science story should compare a real scientific discovery to paranormal nonsense.
Oh, wait. The link is to a local TV “news” program. Does anyone still count that as journalism?
Attention Scottish Dopers: Is that Castle Urquhart in the background?
I was there in October. Really neat.
IANA Scottish Doper, but that seems like it could be Urquhart. I was there too, last summer. AND I SAW NESSIE.
Well, I saw something.
Me: OHHHHHH look I see something!! It’s a head!! Something’s moving!!
Friend1: OMG it’s Nessie. How cool is that?
Friend2: That’s not Nessie. It’s a fucking otter.
Seeing otters fucking is pretty cool. It’s not as cool as Nessie, but it’s still pretty cool.
Seriously though, everyone knows that Nessie’s not there-he’s working as a door greeter at Mr. Burns’s casino. Duh.
If Nessie doesn’t exist, then what’s been in my pool for the last month?
oh lord…i went to a christian camp as a teen. they claimed that the existance of the loch ness monster and all those other monsters disproved evolution (macro evolution, not micro)
Well, there may have been better comparisons to make, but one can’t deny that “Loch Ness Monster” brings up a stronger and more immediate mental image comparison than using, say, diplodocus (or whatever that dinosaur that Nessie is supposed to resemble is).
Loch Ness Monster = fake
Sasquatch = real
And what about the sauropod that lives in africa? That one is real, right? 
COOL! I’ve seen some otters in California, but I’ve never seen them have sex.
runs
In a pig’s eye: [thread=395683]A silly poll about Bigfoot[/thread]
Stranger
Amen. It’s also very annoying to those of us who are seriously interested in legends. The day that the Loch Ness monster became a plesiosaur,* a little bit of humanity died.
*Before the famous hoaxed photo in the 1920s (?), the few authentic legendary accounts of Loch Ness lake monsters are rather short on detail, but it’s pretty clear than nobody in Scotland was thinking “enormous long-necked aquatic reptile.”
There is a family of them in a pond about half an hour’s drive south of Manitouwadge, Ontario, Canada.
Nessies or otters?
A colleague of mine went on a scientific expedition to explore Loch Ness when he was a student. They didn’t find anything, but he thought there must be something there because of all the sightings.
Here are those sightings, which include descriptions of Nessie in water as
and on land
Now eye-witnesses can be mistaken. Let’s go to the film evidence:
As of the whereabouts of this film, no one knows. A still from the film was exhibited but this was no conclusive proof of the monsters existence and it could not be confirmed that the location was in fact Loch Ness.
Others agreed that it resembled an otter or a whale. The film is now missing but stills were published of some water disturbances and a mysterious object.
The film is now said to be hidden somewhere in a London bank vault. Also, with instructions stating that the film could not be shown ‘until such time as the public takes such matters seriously’.
Again the film that Irvine exposed has been lost
It was agreed by the experts that the film clearly showed an ordinary inanimate object floating in the Loch.
The films whereabouts is not certain but it is said to be also locked away safely in a London bank vault.
http://www.nessie.co.uk/nessie/cine1.html
I think that settles it.
Oh, and here’s a quote from Donna Black of VisitScotland:
“Although legends like the monster from Loch Ness and the ghosts of Edinburgh’s underground may be embellished for the benefit of visitors, there’s nothing fake about them.
It’s a shame if people see that stuff as just for the tourists, because it’s something that’s part of our culture and should be handed down.”
Urquhart Castle on the banks of Loch Ness is Scotland’s sixth most-popular visitor attraction. Although the Nessie legend is not used to promote the castle, it can’t help but play a part.
Black says: “Whether people come because they have an interest in the history of the castle or because they want to buy a cuddly Nessie toy, people get really into these things. If that brings people in and they want to spend money and create jobs, we shouldn’t criticise.”