[O]ne prayed God right heartily aloud that He would send them betimes a knight that durst convoy them through this strait pass.

People use that acronym [TERF] all the time as though it isn’t offensive, and it really is offensive…and it just shows how successful the TRAs have been in framing themselves as victims and the rest of us are witches.

It is based on the following observations: (i) different regions in the oceans subside like BL until different flattening ages, some as old as 170 Ma (49 ); (ii) depth and heat flow in some old basins behave like BL but with an effective thermal age t e, which is younger than the (paleomagnetically determined) actual age t m (50 ); (iii) effective elastic lithosphere thicknesses under some intraplate volcanoes suggest that hot spots produce a thermal rejuvenation, reducing t e (51 ); (iv) the depths and subsidence of hot spot swells suggest that many swells reduce t e to the same value (52 ); and (v) on old lithosphere, it is hard to find areas that have not been near hot spots (53 ).

I watched through squinted eyes as the driver-side door opened and a man stepped out wielding a Maglite, his other hand placed on his Batman-like utility belt. What all did they keep in those things? Surely the pistol, a few clips, handcuffs, ...