Reading Bleak House, I became interested in spontaneous human combustion, as it occurs to a character in the book – during an excellent chapter, I might add. I remember hearing about it as a kid and it occurred to me that I’d never checked up on its authenticity. Although it seems far-fetched, I could see how it may be possible that some cellular process goes amok and sets off a chain reaction. So of course I googled it, and of course what turned up but Wikipedia.

Wikipedia is reliable in some areas (the battles of Plataea, Arbela, and Cannae are well-related), and hilariously poor in others. The SHC article is the latter to the nth degree. I quote:

“Thus his unfounded nitpick being presumed by him to be an all inclusive conclusion is yet another slippery and bogus means used by amateur debunkers like him. In order to achieve the goal of steering others away from this phenomena as being "Real”, Simpson hopes that his depravity of thought and logic will go unnoticed. (Wrong.)“

Yes. He also questions both Newton and Einstein. It reads like a personal tirade defending someone’s favorite "unexplained natural phenomenon,” which I suppose it is. It’s been flagged, unsurprisingly, for needing more citations. Good reading.