"George" <george@yourservice.com> wrote in message
news:tYadnTCIf6ykB5jYnZ2dnUVZ_vKdnZ2d@insightbb.com...
|
| "Sorcerer" <Headmaster@hogwarts.physics_b> wrote in message
| news:4mgNg.39015$a9.9990@fe2.news.blueyonder.co.uk...
| > If you are going to plagiarise, at least quote your sources.
|
| This is a typical Don Findlay response. I think the University of Glascow
| should investigate his very unprofessional conduct, and take his degree
| away from him (if that is even possible at this point). He is certainly
| too incompetent in his field for anyone to take him seriously. At the
| least, the geology department there should publish a statement divorcing
| themselves completely from this lunatic. Something like "yeah, he
| graduated here, but he only got his degree because he was in the
department
| so long that we just had to graduate him in order to get rid of him" I
| think would be appropriate.
|
| George

The problem with academia is Catch 22. If too few gain a qualification
that is seen as the fault of the educator, not the student, the college then
gets fewer applicants, not enough funding and the better educators move
on to greener pastures. Standards are lowered, more people are "qualified"
and this then becomes a "good" school to send young students to
"pass" exams and gain degrees, thus providing positive feedback of
greater stupidity. So "yeah, he graduated here, send us some more like
him, we'll graduate anyone for a fee".
The guy with a 40% passing grade is 60% wrong.
A large part of that problem is democracy, we tire of the idiots we
put in power and vote in the opposition to oust them, anyone that
shakes hands and kisses babies will do so long as he has a lot of
money to back him. In a world where everyone has their own
uninformed opinion only chaos can result whe nthose opinions
are acted upon, but the alternatives are to horrific to contemplate,
we do not wish a return to dictatorship.

If Findlay doesn't like Plate Techtonics, what does he expect us to
do about it? Tell geologists they are wrong without listening to
them also? That is not going to happen.

I have no solution to offer, save the restructuring of democracy
whereby no single party can have more than a 33% share of
decision making, compelling each party to court the vote of others.
The Findlays of this world need to be heard in the event that they
have a valid point, but rejected when they do not. These newsgroups
provide some of that service.

One hopes Findlay will see his own
shortcomings, but even if not he isn't going to get anywhere.
His writing is amusing, but that's all.
Androcles

| > "don findlay" <don@tower.net.au> wrote in message
| > news:1157992632.896465.135060@b28g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
| > |
| > | Sorcerer wrote:
| > | > "gresham" <Gresham3@cox.net> wrote in message
| > | > news:eT3Ng.12487$xk3.5771@dukeread07...
| > | > | Sorcerer wrote:
| > |
| > |
| > | > Humpty Roberts in Wonderland:-
| > | > Date: Sat, 17 Sep 2005 17:57:18 GMT
| > | > Local: Sat, Sep 17 2005 6:57 pm
| > | > Subject: Re: Does the 'Curvature of Spacetime' cause gravity?
| > |
| > | "...And if it wobbles, does it cause mass?"
| > |
| > | > Humpty Roberts let out a great sigh.
| > | > " <sigh>", he said.
| > | > "The nuances of English. I was discussing the usage of words and
| > | > not the concepts they represent."
| > |
| > | "Subduction zone," barked the Woof.
| > | "Straw man," contradicted the Geopge, clicking the latch and pulling
| > | the door shut.
| > | "Sit down and do have tea," whispered Alice, wishing to avoid
argument.
| > | "..And let's have some music. The others will be here directly."
| > | "Yoohoo," bawled the Geopge ... has anyone seen my question? It was
| > | right here, ..underneath this role of killfile.. And nobody has
| > | answered it."'
| > | "There," purred Alice, pulling the Woof by the nose and inserting a
| > | fork in his ear, "....isn't that delightful?"
| > | <excruciating file-musik>
| > |
| >
| >
|
|

In article <tYadnTCIf6ykB5jYnZ2dnUVZ_vKdnZ2d@insightbb.com>, George
wrote:

I think the University of Glascow
should investigate his very unprofessional conduct, and take his degree
away from him (if that is even possible at this point).

IF Findlay graduated (I haven't managed to find someone who's
currently at Glasgow to go to the registry to find out, and I've not
managed to get through to the right people on the phone. One of these
days
their Ladyships will want to go down there for a day or two and I'll be
able to check the records for myself), and did it at the time that he
claims, then PT was still a decidedly novel set of views at the time and
some of Don's fear of PT may have been considered as open questions at
the
time of his studenthood. On that basis, I'm afraid that there's no good
grounds for taking away the *record* of his academic achievement (which
is
all that a degree is, after all). Sorry George, but that's not going to
work.
If Don were a member of a professional society, then he'd certainly
be laying himself open to a case of "bringing the profession into
disrepute" ; but he obviously doesn't care about that.

IF Don's claimed qualifications are valid (which may or may not be
true - I make no assertion one way or the other until I've checked the
records myself, or found someone who I've confidence in to do it for me),
then we're just going to have to accept the fact that someone with
non-trivial geological education has some particularly bizarre ideas.
Mind
you, since one of my classmates was a member of some Xtian sect that
required biblical inerrancy (and thus a 6-day time frame for geological
history), this doesn't come as a gut-wrenching idea to me. The last I
heard of that guy he was doing hydrogeology in Englandshire somewhere.
Probably squared circles in the (very narrow) margins of his bible at
lunch.

Hey, Tom Gold wasn't a fool. Despite his "Deep Hot Biosphere"
ideas. Ditto for Fred Hoyle, panspermia and public-school flu outbreaks.
Even intelligent people can have some pretty silly ideas at times. (Not
that I think that Don Findlay is noticeably intelligent, in this forum.)

Uggh, defending Findlay. I must go and sandpaper my hard drive
clean!

--
Aidan Karley, FGS
Aberdeen, Scotland
Written at Tue, 12 Sep 2006 00:38 +0100, but posted later.