In case the analogy was overlooked, the appeal to Google is similar to the appeal to the scientific establishment and is a form of fallacy—the appeal to authority—, in this case a negative result meaning the data or facts are not found in the authority. The alternative explanation of the red shift is not needed and does not explain anything the mainstream explanation overlooks. Van Flandern actually has his creds and fellow PhDs are required to at least pretend to listen to him or were until he retired to pursue his own crackpot schemata.
The search engine doesn't really matter; Google just seems to work the best in my small world. With the proper search phrase(s), I'm usually able to get what I'm looking for within a page or two. I actually went several pages deep into Google with several different search phrases with no luck. Could you recommend a travel agency that might be helpful??? On second thought, don't bother. We're both too busy I'm sure.
The alternative explanation of the red shift is not needed and does not explain anything the mainstream explanation overlooks. Van Flandern actually has his creds and fellow PhDs are required to at least pretend to listen to him or were until he retired to pursue his own crackpot schemata.
Heh. I actually know nothing about Van Flandern, but after a quick Google search, I find he generated a healthy following of skeptics and detractors, particularly in his later career. So, as an added bonus, I'm not surprised. He thought outside the box, to coin a phrase.
The tenor of the discussion I linked was more what I had in mind, which coincidentally follows a similar pattern. The nOOb on the board presents his case, complete with whistles, bells and overhead projection; the old timer(mod?) on the board responds with "conventional wisdom"; that is to say, accepted science™ says it ain't so; so there. The old timer was apparently able to chase the nOOb off but another took up the chase and proceeded to bury the old timer with reams of information to back up the original claim. Near as I can tell, they called the game on account of rain.