I found alot of answers within this website to be lacking information. This leads me to believe that that amount of effort to research them is minimal at best. Why answer them at all if your just going to spoon feed portions of the whole? It seems to me that Cecil shows more concern in flaming people than offering a full disclosure. Don’t get me wrong though, some of the information is thorough. Out of the 30 or so responses i viewed this is only true 50% of the time. It would be much more constructive to inform the web viewers on how to more effectivley search the web for information. Instead of give a proportion of the facts to believe in just like most national media agencies. Its ashame there is a large portion of society that holds the idea that if it was on the news it must be true.
I am not going to pick at every little flaw i observed within these pages, i dont want to be as snide as the web authors. What truly upset me was a reply to a 12 year old in concern to “Demensions”. There is only 4 demensions? I guess unified feild theory, M theory and superstrings mean nothing to you then huh? Allthough “theory”, it is todays theories that will become the future of reality. And with the numerous theories circulating now it is no doubt that one of them will prove correct. Three dimensions of space, one of time, and six more compact dimensions currently undetectable by current scientific methods. Its a combination of the superstring and Kaluza-Klein theory.
“Are the Earth’s poles going to shift soon?”
This amused me as well as you failed to mention the near perfect allignment of the solar system’s planets that takes place on 05/05/2000. Thats what the authors theory of the book you mention is based on. Why leave it out? Who gives a damn if the author is a loon. The interesting fact here is the allingment, regardless if it has impact on our planet or not. And his book isnt the first theory about this allignment. Fifteen years ago or so there was a documentary movie i believe called " The Jupiter Menace". And it speculated on the possiblity of enhanced gravitational force exherted on earth from the May 5th allignment causing a global earthquake that would flip the Earths axis. Today most Scientists do not feel the gravitaional force is to be of concern with scince we have already had some near “full” planet allignments that were uneventful.
Go ahead an flame me, i know you will. Its what you feed on. But maybe you should spend more time researching your subject matter than taking the time to look for grammatical errors within surfers questions. But then again i bet that makes you feel high and mighty as well.
Make sure to proof-read this one as well!! Im sorry if my grammar isnt up to par with your standards, im not writing a thesis. And niether are other surfers who come to you with questions.
In writing of the column Are the Earth’s poles going to shift soon?, molecular makes reference to a “near perfect allignment (sic) of the solar system’s planets that takes place on 05/05/2000.” Since it (note use of non-sexist language) likes references, permit me to introduce this one, demonstrating that, under the most charitable interpretation of the facts, molecular is far less than pefectly informed about that situation.
Of course, since the alleged planetary alignment of 5 May 2000 has absolutely nothing to do with the question being discussed (except, possibly, that Noone is too foolish and/or indolent to make up his own date for the disaster, and therefore stole it from the Harmonic Cons), we wouldn’t expect to read about such drivel.
We note that How many dimensions are there and what are they? is a Straight Dope Mailbag question, and strictly ought to be discussed in that forum. However, it is worth mentioning that Dex and Karen note that some scientists are of the opinion that there are (or were) more dimensions than the conventional four.
The theories of today, of course, are not necessarily to realities of tomorrow; we but need to remember Lamarckian evolution to know that.
It is often said that “anything is possible”. In fact, very few things are possible, and most of them have already happened.
molecular, I’m not sure that you realize what The Straight Dope is. It is a syndicated newspaper column that generally runs in weekly alternative papers. In New York, where I live, it runs in New York Press, a free weekly. Cecil’s columns are strictly limited in the amount of text that he can include in a weekly column. Also, since it is primarily a newspaper column, focusing it on effective web search would be impractical.
Part of Cecil’s charm is that he is not afraid to answer offbeat or somewhat crackpot questions. And, where necessary, to gently flame folks that write in.
In short, the column is part of the “national media agencies” that you object to. I think its funnier, more informative and more accurate than most, but you are free to form your own opinions.
Your first post, and you make it a troll? You might want to go back and read Dex and Karen’s article about dimensions again. I think you missed some parts.
You obviously just as egotistical as the web author.
“I” am unimformed about the May 5th solar allignment?
I can find that hard to believe scince i work work the University of Arizona Astronomy Dept. I will say only that much as i choose to remain anonymous. Do you believe me? Do not answer, because your opinion is of no value to me as i am not here to “prove” anything.
You obviously did not research into the allignment as well as you think mister.
[note to self]It was his first post. Gave him the benefit of the doubt that he was merely uninformed and not the troll he appeared to be. Oh well.[/note to self]
Well, I’m glad that you clarified that you work in the Astromony department at the university, molecular. Here I was thinking you must be a professor of English.
Hey, when I was in college, I worked at the Department of Astronomy, too. I swept the floors at night.
But even then, I knew how to spell words like dimension and field, and I knew about subject/verb agreement.
Please note, that the columns under the topic “Cecil’s Mailbag” are not answered by Cecil himself, but by the Straight Dope Science Advisory Staff. Yes, we do make mistakes, and members are quick to point them out, and we try to get them corrected when that happens.
In the case of dimensions, however, there are no errors. The article was written by a Ph.D. mathematician and a Ph.D. physicist. We did make reference to the use of other dimensions in modelling, since n-dimensional or even infinite-dimensional spaces are quite well known as models in math and physics.
I love dimensions “currently undetectable by current scientific methods”, one of them is undoubtedly the psychic channel.
:: slapping self upside the head ::: Naw, this is too easy. Like shooting ducks in a barrel.
Well if no one else will stick up for Molecular, I guess I’ll have to. I totally agree with him. Cecil, and just about everyone else who writes on here are very
conceited. You people think you know everyting! Straight Dope Science Advisory Board… Gimme a break.
I used to like reading Cecil’s column on the web here, but the more I read of it, the more I see him flame people. He even flames them in this “comments” section.
I have to wonder why Cecil never shows a picture of himself and has to resort to a fake name. How old is Cecil? Funny it says nothing about his age or real name in the FAQ. All the FAQ says is “Cecil knows everything” over and over and over again.
How f’in conceited can you get?
Cecil, you don’t know it all. Get over it.
I congratulate Molecular for voicing his opinion amongst the rabid fans on this board.
Way to go!
According to my sources (several different spirit voices) there are many unseen dimensions, and it goes without saying they are undetectable by any known scientific method. And since each of these spirit voices are channeled independently, we may safely rely upon the evidence they provide.
Now if you’ll excuse me, there’s a very interesting lecture on n-dimensional geometry being given right now by Lewis Carroll. Gotta go.
I totally agree. All columnists and authors should shuck off the styles of writing that their fans enjoy and start writing to meet the standards of non-fans.
People like Douglas Adams, Robert Asprin, Gregory McDonald and Spider Robinson who use humor in the deadly serious fields of science fiction, fantasy and mystery should do the same. And authors like Piers Anthony, who use puns, should just be taken out and shot.
Your Official Cat Goddess since 10/20/99.
“I’m a god. I’m not the God–I don’t think.” --P.C.
If you want humourless sources of information, there are plenty. For instance, many of the Mailbag questions come directly from reference books that are readily available in your public library. And those books are as dry and humourless as anyone could possibly want.
Speaking for the Straight Dope Science Advisory Staff, we don’t claim to be perfect, nor to know everything. We make mistakes, and the Teeming Millions point them out, and we correct ourselves. However, the comments that molecular made are NOT mistakes on our part.
[Note: This message has been edited by CKDextHavn]
Cecil’s problem is not that he is conceited. I don’t think his “know-it-all” attitude is really quite the same as being conceited. And, sometimes a slightly insulting tone is the best. You don’t like being flamed for spelling? Hey, I don’t like spelling flames, either. I don’t spell as well as I could. No one likes to pay too much attention to perfection in their posts. But if you think you know more than Cecil or whoever, and can’t even spell a simple word in the area you profess to know so well, such as “dimension”, I’m sorry, I think you are deserving of a flame. I mean, let’s take this to the extreme. Would you take me seriously if my post was like “Listen 2 ME! I AM phisiks professor! CECIL IS WRONG!!!1!!”? I think not…
If you are going to fault Cecil for something, my personal gripe (a minor one), is that Cecil quite often doesn’t quite answer the asked question completely. He answeres an easier question sometimes. I don’t blame him, many of the questions he is asked have no answer right now.
I don’t know if I can define what level of inattention I find reasonable. It’s a fuzzy line. I guess a loose rule is that some spelling and grammer errors are okay, but if it’s enough to be distracting to the reader, that’s not ok. And if you consistently misspell things that are in your claimed field of expertise, that’s definately not OK.
ANY errors are distracting. That’s why they’re called errors.
If you really want to know what conceited is, try defining it this way: Someone who thinks “I’m so ‘smart’ and say such ‘wonderful’ things that I’m sure others want to wade through my insufferable grammar and sloppy spelling in an attempt to decipher my pathetic ramblings.” Mind, people who think like this tend to talk into their armpit about all the “fuckers out there” who just don’t understand. The world is out to get them because–despite their advanced intelligence–they flip burgers at McD’s and live at home until their parents die (usually of shame).
So Cecil is conceited–so what? So are we all, in one way or another. I like that Cecil does his research and admits his (very few) mistakes. This is an alien concept to those people who channel voices, who long so desperately to be smart that they believe any dreck that sounds “scientific,” and who get angry because others–nearly everyone–are smarter and wittier than they ever have a prayer of being.
I for one only read Cece’s column for the humor and whimsy with wich he answers questions. If I had a question I wanted answered in a hardhitting and informative way I would ask my local libraries reference desk
