as a Texas school board
votes 11-3 on the age of the universe (they go with the Ian Paisley hypothesis). Still, that's saved a lot of money. Now they've decided, we can close all those costly science labs, university departments and so on. *hat-tip to
Pharyngula
8 comments:
That, is educational cancer in action. I hate these people, and they hate science, and I'd like to quote Hazlitt, from his brilliant essay 'On the Pleasure of Hating', where he states: "The pleasure of hating, like a poisonous mineral, eats into the heart of religion, and turns it to rankling spleen and bigotry'. I quoted that just because I love Hazlitt and I hate religion. I like the country however, but Hazlitt didn't, and elsewhere he wrote: "There is nothing good to be had in the country, or if there is, they will not let you have it", which is my favourite quote of his. What has all this to do with the Texas school board? Not much, but god I hate them...
That's quality quotation. I love Hazlitt too. He's right about country people too - despite living off EU subsidies, they treat the rest of us like Morlocks.
Reading about the Texas vote, I stumbled across this: 'scientific reality is not a matter of opinion and cares not for the majority vote' and thought I can use this opportunity (so many opportunities on this blog, I can't keep up) to say that this is what worries me about the apparent replacement of encyclopedias such as the EB with what I would like to call "democratic knowledge" on Wikipedia - and the rest of the web, for that matter (I know, this sentence is too long, but at least it doesn't have an exclamation mark!).
I like the web for its relative democracy, but I'm not entirely sure I'm happy with these developments. In fact I'm pretty sure I'm not. People don't seem to worry about it much, though. Is it because it's less obvious than the Texas vote, guided by the hand of God?
I think you're right, but the EB was a terrible publication - openly ideologically biased. The entry for Wales, for instance, simply read 'For Wales, see England'.
This is tragically comic and makes me laugh like an old horse!
I think an animal friend meme is emerging!
Actually Wikipedia is not all bad. It is actually a very useful Search Engine.
For example: If you were interested in horse riding then the Wikipedia article (though the text may not be accurate) would have at the bottom a list of links to official riding groups. You type the words "horse" and "riding" into the Google Search Engine at your own risk.
Thanks, Your Honour. I have decided I don't like horses that much after all...I only like laughing like one, so you won't convince me of Wikipedia that easily. What about camel and deer riding, for example? Blank looks from Wikipedia.
Also, you haven't mentioned the problem of democratic knowledge. I am not saying that Wikipedia is not useful. I'm saying that the way people use it is potentially dangerous.
Your still anonymised Deer Friend
Post a Comment