Fallacies of the Day: Argument from Ignorance & Shifting the Burden of Proof

The "argument from ignorance" goes something like this:

"Statement X can't be true because there's no proof for it."
or
"Statement Z must be true because there's no proof that it isn't true."

An example might be, "Psychic phenomena don't exist because there's no proof that they're real." There might be other, valid, arguments against the realness of psychic phenomena, but this isn't a valid argument.

Or, "God exists because nobody has proven that he doesn't." Of course, it's as consistent (and equally fallacious) to argue, "Oh yeah? Well, God doesn't exist because nobody has proved that he does."

More examples and further explantion here:
http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/mathew/logic.html#ignorantiam
http://www.logicalfallacies.info/argumentfromignorance.html

During an argument, the burden of proof is on the person making the initial assertion, say, "Gray aliens rule the White House." If person A is arguing this point, and person B is skeptical, Person A might then say, "If you don't believe me, then where's your proof that gray aliens are NOT ruling the White House?" Person A would be committing the fallacy (really just a sub-set of argument from ignorance) of shifting the burden of proof.

http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/mathew/logic.html#shifting

World's healthiest foods

I haven't had time to look this over thoroughly, but it looks like it could be a good source for me and some of my LJ friends who are interested in improving their eating habits, especially in the form of adding in more nutrient-dense foods.

http://www.whfoods.com/