WHAT'S NEW Robert L. Park Friday, 25 Mar 05 Washington, DC

From: Sam Wormley (swormley1_at_mchsi.com)
Date: 03/25/05 

Date: Fri, 25 Mar 2005 22:57:56 GMT

WHAT'S NEW Robert L. Park Friday, 25 Mar 05 Washington, DC

1. FREEDOM ELEMENT: DO YOU KNOW HOW EASY IT IS TO SELL BALONEY?
In his 2003 State-of-the-Union address, President Bush called for
building a Freedom Car, "powered by hydrogen and pollution free"
http://www.aps.org/WN/WN03/wn013103.cfm. Baloney, but people
didn't ask where the hydrogen will come from. They asked if it's
safe. Hey, it's fuel -- fuel burns. However, Dr. Addison Bain
insists that in the 1937 Hindenburg disaster, it was the paint
that burned, and compared it to rocket fuel. More baloney, but
guess who bought it http://www.aps.org/apsnews/0700/070004.cfm?
However, A.J. Dessler, D.E. Overs and W.H. Appleby found the burn
rate of an actual piece of Hindenburg fabric to be thousands of
times too slow. The fire consumed the Hindenburg in 34 seconds.
If the 800 foot-long craft was painted with solid rocket fuel, it
would have taken 12 hours to burn end to end. Dessler is a PhD
physicist (Duke), 26 years as Professor of Space Physics and
Astronomy at Rice (15 years as Dept Chair), directed the NASA
Marshall Space Sciences Lab (4 years), and is Sr. Scientist at
Univ of Arizona, Lunar and Planetary Lab. What about Dr. Bain?

2. DIPLOMA MILLS: MAYBE THEY CAN GET TOGETHER FOR CLASS REUNIONS.
In his memoir, The Freedom Element: Living with Hydrogen, Doctor
Bain says he is a former manager of hydrogen programs at Kennedy
Space Center, but what is he a "doctor" of? He writes of being
"teary-eyed" at finally becoming a PhD, but nowhere mentions his
alma mater. Even the bio on the jacket of his book gave no clue.
A Google search turned up nothing after Flathead High School in
Montana. Someone suggested we try California Coast University, a
"distance-learning" university in Santa Ana. That's where Lynn
Ianni, the therapist for "The Swan" on Fox Television, became
Doctor Ianni in 1998. Although CCU has no campus, that's not a
problem; it has no courses. There, in the same graduating class
with Dr. Ianni, getting a Management PhD, was Dr. Addison Bain.
Now look at me, would you? Here I am getting all teary-eyed too.

3. SCIENCE BY INTIMIDATION: DOES BEING RIGHT COUNT FOR NOTHING?
The 2003 IMAX film "Volcanoes of the Deep Sea," sponsored by NSF
and Rutgers, would seem to be just the sort of documentary that
science centers thrive on. Not exactly. It was turned down by a
dozen Science Centers, mostly in the South, because of a few
brief references to evolution. There goes the profit margin.
The result is that IMAX films just aren't made if the science
might offend the religious right. It's worse in schools. Even
if there is no prohibition on teaching evolution, teachers leave
it out rather than listen to all the complaints. In the 1925
Scopes trial, Clarence Darrow said, "John Scopes isn't on trial,
civilization is on trial." It still is. And it's losing.

THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND.
Opinions are the author's and not necessarily shared by the
University of Maryland, but they should be. 

---

Relevant Pages

  • Re: WHATS NEW Robert L. Park Friday, 25 Mar 05 Washington, DC
    ... FREEDOM ELEMENT: DO YOU KNOW HOW EASY IT IS TO SELL BALONEY? ... What about Dr. Bain? ... SCIENCE BY INTIMIDATION: DOES BEING RIGHT COUNT FOR NOTHING? ...
    (sci.physics)
  • Re: The Reasonable Minority
    ... air of authority. ... It's not baloney if you read science, do science, talk to scientists, ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: The Reasonable Minority
    ... air of authority. ... It's not baloney if you read science, do science, talk to scientists, ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: The Reasonable Minority
    ... some B-movie full of BS is going to change the way science works. ... it's baloney if you think some second-rate plagiarist who makes ... is going to have any effect on science or scientists. ... Iowa State has no need to wipe anything. ...
    (talk.origins)