[jwalsh07]

Hey Mr Beltfed, how does one provide empirical evidence of an event that never occurred. IOW’s, if person A says person B screwed the pooch on the porch, how does person A falsify person B’s slander?

[60Gunner]

Well, it's done in the same manner in which one would provide proof of the existence of something- that is, by presenting a published example. Only in our case, one would have to provide published examples in which the item in question was most certainly not there.

This "negative evidence" often requires more extensive research to prove than does the presentation of "positive existence." But it is still possible. Therefore, if one empirically declares that something does not exists at all, one must be prepared to prove it through (a) presenting a range of any media wherein the item might typically be found but is not, or (b) find published empirical evidence that clearly refutes the existence of the item (an example of which is the 'cooked' data supporting global warming- yes it's there, but the real data does not support it). This is research 101.

So to summarize, I stand by my challenge for empirical proof.