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Posted on 11/10/2011 5:47:19 AM PST by decimon
We should build a space explorer for inner space and find out exactly what’s down there. A nuclear powered ball could slowly dig down for hundreds of years, and come back with gold and diamonds.
I have to wonder what provoked such a hostile response to a lady like MD Expat in PA. She gave you a little gentle teasing and you answered with a direct insult. I’ve just finished reading back through a few weeks’ worth of her FR posts, and I was impressed with her intelligence and the clarity with which she expresses well-reasoned views. I could not find one example of the “ignorant remarks” you say she is prone to.
Maybe you wouldn't understand as you seem prone to ignorant remarks.
I’m sorry you took offence. I really wasn’t trying to insult you; that wasn’t my intention, I was just poking some good natured fun with how your post was worded.
OTHO, I am not an academic either, nor am I a physicist or even an amateur physicist although I’m fascinated by the subject. So if I went to a university on one of my “occasional visits” with my HR background and proposed a completely new and radical theory of gravity to a real physicist and he or she said, “would you be interested in writing a paper on the topic?”, I’d either be highly impressed with my own brilliance or gather that I was being summarily dismissed in the gentlest and politest way possible.
Perhaps in your case the geologist was indeed impressed, one way or another. : ),
The one I responded to is prima facie evidence.
ML/NJ
FTR, I do have a minor in physics, not that it means much as concerns geology. My "occasional college visits" are more serious than most. They started when my kids began to go to college, and continued after they graduated. I would pick two to four days a month or so in the future, and write to any professors leading classes I thought might be interesting indicating that I was seeking permission to attend, wanted the expected assignment for the day I would sit in so that I could properly prepare, and that I would enjoy participating or be content to sit on my hands as the professor preferred. In a few instances I've actually led discussions after the professor could tell I could handle it. Some days I would go from 8 AM until after 5 PM without a break. I would guess that I've taken more than 150 classes in this fashion. Mostly they tend to be in subjects like history, philosophy, religion, law, and others where controversies arise. For the most part I avoid the sciences except geology and evolution where I believe the conventional wisdom is largely wrong. (I've also sat in on a couple of "global warming" classes which pretend to be science.)
I am almost always granted permission to attend, and I am always treated as a serious "student."
ML/NJ
One teasing post does not mean she is “prone to” making ignorant remarks. “Prone to” by definition indicates a pattern of behavior. Can you point to other places in which she made ignorant remarks, to demonstrate the pattern? I can’t find them.
Come on, the lady poked a little fun. Don’t be so sensitive.
FTR, I do have a minor in physics, not that it means much as concerns geology. My "occasional college visits" are more serious than most. They started when my kids began to go to college, and continued after they graduated. I would pick two to four days a month or so in the future, and write to any professors leading classes I thought might be interesting indicating that I was seeking permission to attend, wanted the expected assignment for the day I would sit in so that I could properly prepare, and that I would enjoy participating or be content to sit on my hands as the professor preferred. In a few instances I've actually led discussions after the professor could tell I could handle it. Some days I would go from 8 AM until after 5 PM without a break. I would guess that I've taken more than 150 classes in this fashion. Mostly they tend to be in subjects like history, philosophy, religion, law, and others where controversies arise. For the most part I avoid the sciences except geology and evolution where I believe the conventional wisdom is largely wrong. (I've also sat in on a couple of "global warming" classes which pretend to be science.)
I am almost always granted permission to attend, and I am always treated as a serious "student."
So in other words, you are sitting in on the college classes of your choice as an “audit student”? Meaning that you do not have to turn in course work or take tests, you receive no grade, earn no college credits and participate only with the permission of the professor? Do you have to pay to take these classes? What type of college is this; a state university or private or community college?
I’m not trying to be smarmy here, I am genuinely curious. I am at an age where I don’t want to pursue a degree but have some money and time and the interest to take classes on subjects that interest me but don’t want to hassle with college admissions and earning credits.
You say you “avoid the sciences except geology and evolution where I believe the conventional wisdom is largely wrong”.
Could you explain further and tell how the conventional wisdom is wrong and how your opinions are greeted in the classroom?
It has already been documented.
Thanks. The person who recommended FR to me warned me that some folks get uber sensitive sometimes. I’ve lurked for quite a while before joining and saw this, but this is the first time I’ve experienced it firsthand. I have strong opinions sometimes but even when I disagree with someone, it shouldn’t be taken as an insult.
Again, in this case, I was just poking fun, and I didn’t mean any offence.
Think of the furnace in your house. It's a lot hotter than the interior of the house, and the house is cooler than outside (assuming it's winter).
Or Mars. Yes we would.
As I wrote, I read back through weeks of posts from you. Everything you wrote has made you seem intelligent, determined, principled, and conservative. I like you. Too bad you don’t still live here; Maryland needs more conservatives and we’d be friends.
I don't pay anything. I'd rather not say specifically which schools I've done this at but one is a State school and another is an Ivy.
have some money and time and the interest to take classes on subjects that interest me but don’t want to hassle with college admissions and earning credits.
I am also not interested in degrees anymore. They really don't mean much to me except to be able to present them as evidence of some sort of standing to other people who do seem to care about them.
You say you “avoid the sciences except geology and evolution where I believe the conventional wisdom is largely wrong”. Could you explain further and tell how the conventional wisdom is wrong and how your opinions are greeted in the classroom?
It would take quite a bit of space to explain how the conventional wisdom is wrong about geology and evolution. Basically geology depends upon uniformitarianism which seems obviously incorrect to me. Trying to find out what the earth was like when it was only 7000 miles in diameter is an interesting exercise.
Evolution is a bait and switch kind of thing. It's obvious that micro-evolution occurs. But the fact that it does hardly demonstrates that macro-evolution (speciation) occurs. I like to ask two questions: Do you believe that our understanding of cells and genetics is basically correct? And do you believe that evolution occurs quickly or over long numbers of years and generations. The correct answers are supposed to be Yes, and long time (not quickly). Well we normal humans have 23 chromosome pairs in our normal cells. All animals have a characteristic chromosome number. Apes are 24. We all supposedly evolved from single celled animals. (Plants are a whole separate problem.) So how did we go from 22 (or 24 or one) chromosome pairs to 23 over a long period of time. Humans are born with 24 chromosome pairs in their cell from time to time. But they are all sterile. Even if they weren't the likelihood of a pair of these rare freaks being born in close proximity to one another (in time and geography) is quite unlikely.
I do not ask disruptive questions or make disruptive comments during a class. If everyone is giving their opinion about what event in American History made the Civil War inevitable, then I will give mine if so allowed. But, e.g. I attended a lecture on "Rarity" in an evolution class. (Rarity is the study of populations necessary to avoid extinction.) I might have asked that if rarity was a problem for extinction then wouldn't it be an even bigger problem for speciation. But such a question would have completely disrupted the presentation the professor was giving. In such cases I wait until after the class, and then until all the real students have asked their post class questions (usually about grades or tests). In the case of this rarity class, one kid stuck around to listen to the discussion I had with the professor. The professor's first response was, "Yes, it is a problem." We wnet on to talk about the chromosome thing and the kid's eyes were bulging out of their sockets. It made me wish I could have been around for the following class.
One of the best things about these college visits is that as soon as you're walking around in the cold air between buildings with your books, you're 20 again; except now you really want to be there and talk about all this stuff.
ML/NJ
What part of the physics of geology do you not beleive? From that comment I am assuming you are a creationist and a young earther. BTW...MD expat was right, the professor was just being nice to you. He was telling you "Show me the math". Bless your heart.
If your theory was correct, then the sun and all stars would not have a fusion reaction going on in their cores. The pressure caused by the huge mass of hydrogen creates the heat necessary to start the fusion reaction and maintain it.
See, well you assume wrong.
I don't have to come up with a replacement theory to discard an obviously inconsistent theory.
Suggesting that we really understand what is going on inside stars is only slightly more fantastic than suggesting that we know what is going on inside the earth.
ML/NJ
I was so scared when that lizardy thing almost ate Pat Boone and the big, Swedish guy lost his duck. Holy Crap, history is exciting!
Good explanation, and might I also add that there is a difference between temperature and heat. The heat of the sun is millions of times higher than the core of the earth.
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