Comments on: Pseudoscience in the Sky http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/10/06/pseudoscience-in-the-sky/ Random samplings from a universe of ideas. Tue, 24 Nov 2009 22:18:33 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Clay Aiken http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/10/06/pseudoscience-in-the-sky/comment-page-1/#comment-21018 Clay Aiken Mon, 09 Oct 2006 17:36:53 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/10/06/pseudoscience-in-the-sky/#comment-21018 What a marvelous ride the last few weeks have been!! It truly is a wonder to behold, as I reflect on all that I've experienced. It's been a rollercoaster ride, this is true!! I've had some ups, and I've had my downs, but as I reflect on it, I understand that without the lows, how would I know how high I can go, attaining levels of grandeur so that I can indeed look at the eyes of the Creator of the Universe and greet him with a smile, a smile that rocks the very foundations of the Cosmos, and one that holds all the darkness at bay, the smile of a small child!! Wonderful!! What a marvelous ride the last few weeks have been!! It truly is a wonder to behold, as I reflect on all that I’ve experienced. It’s been a rollercoaster ride, this is true!! I’ve had some ups, and I’ve had my downs, but as I reflect on it, I understand that without the lows, how would I know how high I can go, attaining levels of grandeur so that I can indeed look at the eyes of the Creator of the Universe and greet him with a smile, a smile that rocks the very foundations of the Cosmos, and one that holds all the darkness at bay, the smile of a small child!! Wonderful!!

]]> By: Louise http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/10/06/pseudoscience-in-the-sky/comment-page-1/#comment-21019 Louise Mon, 09 Oct 2006 17:07:00 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/10/06/pseudoscience-in-the-sky/#comment-21019 Joanne is favourably mentioned at the climax of Daily Lama's post on <a href="http://palosverdesblog.blogspot.com/2006/10/female-brain.html" rel="nofollow">The Female Brain</a>. Joanne is favourably mentioned at the climax of Daily Lama’s post on The Female Brain.

]]> By: Mark http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/10/06/pseudoscience-in-the-sky/comment-page-1/#comment-21017 Mark Mon, 09 Oct 2006 04:31:05 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/10/06/pseudoscience-in-the-sky/#comment-21017 I can't believe people are suggesting that a guy this scientifically literate might have also gotten something wrong about the flat earth idea :) I can’t believe people are suggesting that a guy this scientifically literate might have also gotten something wrong about the flat earth idea :)

]]> By: pgm http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/10/06/pseudoscience-in-the-sky/comment-page-1/#comment-21020 pgm Mon, 09 Oct 2006 02:01:12 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/10/06/pseudoscience-in-the-sky/#comment-21020 <i> ...people used to think that the world was flat, until they dared to go and find out if it was true. </i> I know this is a thread hijack, but the flat earth stuff is a complete myth. Not only Eratosthenes, but Plato, Aristotle and pretty much every literate person in the middle ages thought the Earth was spherical. From the wikipedia article <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_earth" rel="nofollow">"Flat Earth"</a>: <i> The modern misconception that people of the Middle Ages believed that the Earth was flat first entered the popular imagination in the nineteenth century.</i> …people used to think that the world was flat, until they dared to go and find out if it was true.

I know this is a thread hijack, but the flat earth stuff is a complete myth. Not only Eratosthenes, but Plato, Aristotle and pretty much every literate person in the middle ages thought the Earth was spherical.

From the wikipedia article “Flat Earth”:

The modern misconception that people of the Middle Ages believed that the Earth was flat first entered the popular imagination in the nineteenth century.

]]> By: Mark http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/10/06/pseudoscience-in-the-sky/comment-page-1/#comment-21021 Mark Mon, 09 Oct 2006 01:49:10 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/10/06/pseudoscience-in-the-sky/#comment-21021 Since the commencement of this blog, I have felt that reading and then writing lengthy comments on the blogs of people one considers to have a severe lack of human integrity, dignity, responsibility, conscience, and higher intelligence, is good and sufficient evidence of a severe lack of a sense of irony. Since the commencement of this blog, I have felt that reading and then writing lengthy comments on the blogs of people one considers to have a severe lack of human integrity, dignity, responsibility, conscience, and higher intelligence, is good and sufficient evidence of a severe lack of a sense of irony.

]]> By: Carl Brannen http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/10/06/pseudoscience-in-the-sky/comment-page-1/#comment-21041 Carl Brannen Mon, 09 Oct 2006 00:15:59 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/10/06/pseudoscience-in-the-sky/#comment-21041 On one flight I found myself sitting next to a young man (aged 12 I guess) who clearly had a scientific bent. When I pulled out a notebook and started making calculations in Clifford algebra he asked me what I was working on. I told him I was trying to understand electrons. He said "oh, so you're an electrician". I said, "that's right". Not a peep out of him for the rest of the long flight. For adults, I find that the best way of getting them to leave me to my thoughts is to steer the conversation onto the fascinating and beautiful intersection of time, money, death and love -- (life insurance, interest rates and morbidity tables). On one flight I found myself sitting next to a young man (aged 12 I guess) who clearly had a scientific bent. When I pulled out a notebook and started making calculations in Clifford algebra he asked me what I was working on. I told him I was trying to understand electrons. He said “oh, so you’re an electrician”. I said, “that’s right”. Not a peep out of him for the rest of the long flight.

For adults, I find that the best way of getting them to leave me to my thoughts is to steer the conversation onto the fascinating and beautiful intersection of time, money, death and love — (life insurance, interest rates and morbidity tables).

]]> By: heraclitus http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/10/06/pseudoscience-in-the-sky/comment-page-1/#comment-21022 heraclitus Sun, 08 Oct 2006 18:42:41 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/10/06/pseudoscience-in-the-sky/#comment-21022 Since the commencement of this dark age, a confession of having flown on commercial airlines is to me good and sufficient evidence of a severe lack of human integrity, dignity, responsibility, conscience, and higher intelligence in the person. I mean, even chimps don't tolerate abuse without complaint, but, I suppose they can be conditioned to do so. It's actually laughable to watch so-called intellegent scientists submitting to Skinner methods administered by DHS. As if they possessed some special immunity by reason of having advanced degrees or the reception of their peers at their destination will operate as a kind of antidote. Shall we have double blind study threshholds for admitting any of our personal experience ? When studies superceded the test by repeated experiment as a method, something critical was lost, in my opinion. The unaware are unaware of being unaware. - Merrill Jenkins http://www.ninehundred.net/control/mc-ch6.html Since the commencement of this dark age, a confession of having flown on commercial airlines is to me good and sufficient evidence of a severe lack of human integrity, dignity, responsibility, conscience, and higher intelligence in the person.
I mean, even chimps don’t tolerate abuse without complaint, but, I suppose they can be conditioned to do so.
It’s actually laughable to watch so-called intellegent scientists submitting to Skinner methods administered by DHS. As if they possessed some special immunity by reason of having advanced degrees or the reception of their peers at their destination will operate as a kind of antidote.

Shall we have double blind study threshholds for admitting any of our personal experience ?

When studies superceded the test by repeated experiment as a method, something critical was lost, in my opinion.

The unaware are unaware of being unaware. – Merrill Jenkins
http://www.ninehundred.net/control/mc-ch6.html

]]> By: http://quasar9.blogspot.com/ http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/10/06/pseudoscience-in-the-sky/comment-page-1/#comment-21024 http://quasar9.blogspot.com/ Sun, 08 Oct 2006 13:08:43 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/10/06/pseudoscience-in-the-sky/#comment-21024 A Light Year is approximately the distance travelled by earth around the Sun in approximately fifteen hundred years. - So how old is the Universe? and how far has light travelled since the "big bang"? - Hope you are all having fun in the sunlight! PS - moonlight is sunlight reflected by moon - A Light Year is approximately
the distance travelled by earth around the Sun
in approximately fifteen hundred years.
-
So how old is the Universe?
and how far has light travelled since the “big bang”?
-
Hope you are all having fun in the sunlight!
PS – moonlight is sunlight reflected by moon
-

]]> By: Q http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/10/06/pseudoscience-in-the-sky/comment-page-1/#comment-21023 Q Sun, 08 Oct 2006 12:35:37 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/10/06/pseudoscience-in-the-sky/#comment-21023 Hi Citrine, I can't appraise your body since I cannot see it But I understand A light year is the distance travelled by light in a 'year' (is a light year a solar year?) Could you just remind me in simple layman's terms how physics measures a billion light years or two. - As in a day is an earth's revolution and a solar year is an orbit around the Sun a billion solar years would be a billion orbits but light travels faster than the earth around the sun we know that because the laws of physics state nothing with the size (and mass) of a planet can travel at the speed of light so how many billion solar orbits in a billion light years Hi Citrine, I can’t appraise your body since I cannot see it
But I understand A light year is the distance travelled
by light in a ‘year’ (is a light year a solar year?)
Could you just remind me in simple layman’s terms
how physics measures a billion light years or two.
-
As in a day is an earth’s revolution
and a solar year is an orbit around the Sun
a billion solar years would be a billion orbits
but light travels faster than the earth around the sun
we know that because the laws of physics state nothing
with the size (and mass) of a planet can travel at the speed of light
so how many billion solar orbits in a billion light years

]]> By: citrine http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/10/06/pseudoscience-in-the-sky/comment-page-1/#comment-21026 citrine Sat, 07 Oct 2006 20:53:20 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/10/06/pseudoscience-in-the-sky/#comment-21026 Even worse are the (always) elderly men that try to hit on me. ************************************************ Not to turn CV into a site for girl-talk but that describes my life. The conversation starts with "oh, how interesting, so you teach Physics". Stupid me, I always take the bait and excitedly start talking about how much I love to teach Physics and after a few minutes I see their eyes openly appraising my anatomy. Mark, I'd rather talk to your loon. Even worse are the (always) elderly men that try to hit on me.

************************************************

Not to turn CV into a site for girl-talk but that describes my life. The conversation starts with “oh, how interesting, so you teach Physics”. Stupid me, I always take the bait and excitedly start talking about how much I love to teach Physics and after a few minutes I see their eyes openly appraising my anatomy. Mark, I’d rather talk to your loon.

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