[email hidden] (Stephen Baker) wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...
Quoted message said:cc says (in big print, so we can read it...)
Quoted message said:Not to be rude, but please consider that you may be talking to others with
science degrees before you start *sounding* smart. 😉
Problem there is that then no-one would say anything about anything.
I took it to mean "before you start *sounding* smart...about issues
related to science."
Quoted message said:Also, when you have to start throwing degrees around to be credible, then you
may as well be MV.
If he were talking about math or psychology, then I might give his
commentary some weight, even with all the baggage surrounding his
USENET history. Obviously, he hasn't the first clue about hard
science.
Quoted message said:Give me experience over a degree any day for REAL practical
knowledge.
Without a proper education, "practical" knowledge is very difficult to
come by. In some sciences, lack of book-learning could get you killed
if you try to gain practical experience by performing experiments.
Ask meth lab "chemists" who blow themselves up because they haven't
the first clue about what not to do in a particular situation. You
don't need to blow yourself up to learn not to do some of the wacky
[censored] they do. (Boil solvents on a gas-fired stove, sheesh.)
Quoted message said:Steve "BSc in Yacht Design"
PS. "Yacht Design" = Jack of all trades, Master of some"
Substitute "none" for "some." 🙂
In materials sciences, or physical chemistry, not all that can be
learned is learned by practical, empirical data collection. People
with no education in these things can't possibly know that some steels
are quite ductile at very low temperatures. Or at what temperatures
we're really talking about when we talk about dry ice, Freon vapor, or
liquid nitrogen. I don't know how many bulk-forwarded e-mails I've
had to "debunk" just because the claims were scientifically impossible
(or so highly improbable as to be laughable.) One of my favorites was
"don't freeze bottled water in plastic containers, because it forces
the dioxins in the plastic into the water." Holy [censored], where does one
begin with that load of hooey?
Another good one was that the chickens with KFC were fed liquid diets,
were beakless and feetless, and that's why they don't use the word
"Chicken" in the name of the place. LOL. Anyone who has studied
experiments with lab animals will tell you how damned expensive and
difficult it is to try and raise regular animals the regular way in a
controlled environment. Using regular food, etc. IV-fed motionless
chickens? LOL.
Even a small amount of book-learning could make these claims instantly
preposterous.
I think the "freeze/shatter" metal myth came about via the movie
"Terminator 2". I'd never heard of such a thing before that.
Book-learning has it's place, and is nice when combined with some
practical field work. But you can't just dismiss it as irrelevant to
the real world, any more than the folks with heads buried in books can
dismiss practical experience. That latter case is MJV all over.
--
Jonesy "here endeth the rant"
