|
|
|
|
filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
 Posted - 04/25/2005 : 01:12:29
|
No wonder children around the world are growing up to be natural history ignoramuses. They're being taught by idiots!
According to this museum(?), the coelecanth has no bones and is the oldest animal in the world!
quote:
Have you ever heard of a fish that can stand on its head? And does not have any bones? This is a fish called the Coelacanth. (Pronounced si-lo-canth) It actually lived hundreds of years before the dinosaurs. Surprisingly, many are still thought to be alive today and are swimming in the oceans.
I couldn't bring myself to put this pathetic tripe in the Evolution folder.
Small font -- I pasted it into a Word document to read it.
Oh, a coelacanth can indeed stand on it's head, as can many other fishs. Fairly common behavior. 
|
"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
|
Edited by - filthy on 04/25/2005 01:16:04
|
|
|
Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
 Posted - 04/25/2005 : 04:19:05 [Permalink]
|
| I'd blame the problems on the reporter and/or editor of that story, rather than the museum itself. The article is pretty bad, overall. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
 |
|
|
BigPapaSmurf
SFN Die Hard
3192 Posts |
Posted - 04/25/2005 : 05:02:06 [Permalink]
|
| Lol "Hundreds of years"! So what this fish developed between 65,000,200 years ago and 65,000,700 years ago... |
"...things I have neither seen nor experienced nor heard tell of from anybody else; things, what is more, that do not in fact exist and could not ever exist at all. So my readers must not believe a word I say." -Lucian on his book True History
"...They accept such things on faith alone, without any evidence. So if a fraudulent and cunning person who knows how to take advantage of a situation comes among them, he can make himself rich in a short time." -Lucian critical of early Christians c.166 AD From his book, De Morte Peregrini |
|
|
|
filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 04/25/2005 : 07:06:18 [Permalink]
|
quote:
Originally posted by Dave W.
I'd blame the problems on the reporter and/or editor of that story, rather than the museum itself. The article is pretty bad, overall.
If that should be the case, I'll still blame the museum for not proofing the article, or failing that, for neglecting to flay the reporter & editor alive and tacking their hides to the his'n and her'n, privy doors. They should have at least demanded a correrction or a retraction.
A muesum is primarily a place of education. Now, not only the children attending, if it's the museum's misinformation, but many who read the article will be misled as well.
quote:
Lol "Hundreds of years"! So what this fish developed between 65,000,200 years ago and 65,000,700 years ago...
Correct me if I'm wrong, but as I recall the lobe-finned fishs, including our modern coelathanth, date back to the late Devonian. That's at least a couple of weeks beyond the stated hundreds of years.
That nonsense came way too early in the morning. My blood pressure is still hitting the red line.
|
"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
|
|
|
|
Ricky
SFN Die Hard
USA
4907 Posts |
|
|
Hawks
SFN Regular
Canada
1383 Posts |
Posted - 04/25/2005 : 19:35:18 [Permalink]
|
The article is bad indeed. It sounds more like something 12-year-old Eric Wafula from Ruaraka Academy would write, rather than a reporter.
quote:
Hey, at least they got the pronunciation right. I tried about 100 times and my biology teacher just laughed at me.
I thought you pronounced it starting with a "k"-sound. I was evidenly wrong.
Looking on google I found these different explanations of how to pronounce it (plus some minor variations):
Seal-a-canth
see-la-kanth
SEE-luh-kanth
SEE-lah-kanth
seel-uh-kanth
seel-uh-kannth
SEAL a kanth
seé-la-kanth
see-la kath
see-le-canth
Questions:
Isn't there a standard for phonetics?
Is it pronounced la, le or lu (in the middle)? |
METHINKS IT IS LIKE A WEASEL
It's a small, off-duty czechoslovakian traffic warden! |
|
|
|
H. Humbert
SFN Die Hard
USA
4574 Posts |
Posted - 04/25/2005 : 20:08:48 [Permalink]
|
quote:
Originally posted by Hawks
Looking on google I found these different explanations of how to pronounce it (plus some minor variations):
Seal-a-canth
see-la-kanth
SEE-luh-kanth
SEE-lah-kanth
seel-uh-kanth
seel-uh-kannth
SEAL a kanth
seé-la-kanth
see-la kath
see-le-canth
Questions:
Isn't there a standard for phonetics?
Is it pronounced la, le or lu (in the middle)?
Well, Merriam-Webster Online uses this pronunciation: 'sE-l&-"kan(t)th. They also have an audio clip of the pronunciation. The closest approximation from your list would probably be "SEE-lah-kanth," where capital letters are used in stressed syllables.
I always believed there was a standard for phonetic spelling, but that it is obtuse enough to be very rarely used by non-professionals. Part of that may also be due to the number of symbols used in phonetics not readily available on standard keyboards (like the schwa). There may also be a phonetic pronunication guide for keyboards incapable of producing non-standard characters, as it seems Merriam-Webster Online itself employs, although whether this is truly universal I do not know.
|
"A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true." --Demosthenes
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool." --Richard P. Feynman
"Face facts with dignity." --found inside a fortune cookie |
| Edited by - H. Humbert on 04/25/2005 20:19:45 |
|
|
|
filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 04/25/2005 : 23:00:08 [Permalink]
|
"A rose by any other name..."
I've always pronounced it: See-lee-canth. That was the way a neighbor who told me about the fish when I was a kid pronounced it, and right or wrong, it stuck.
These sorts of garbage articles really yank my chain. People actually believe this idiocy! The legend of Fragrant Flower, the 50' reticulated python, is still floating around, and it seems that no amount evidence nor argument will refute it.
I often think that we are a species of dolts susceptible to the ignorant and led by the incompetent, and I wonder as to our long-term survival. B'rer Coelacanth saw us crash this party and it is not impossible that he'll see us drunkenly depart.
|
"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
|
|
|
|
leoofno
Skeptic Friend
USA
346 Posts |
Posted - 04/26/2005 : 06:02:38 [Permalink]
|
Give the museum a break. They can't be responsible for every article written about them. And this article was really about the kids who visited. The museum's web site seems to have no problem with evolution, as indicated by this excerpt from their description of the Fish and Reptile Gallery: "One of the cases contains a variety of cichlids from Lake Tanganyika where over 125 known species have evolved from one initial ancestor. " (Although the Fort Jesus Museum had me wondering for a bit 'till I checked it out).
http://www.museums.or.ke/ |
"If you're not terrified, you're not paying attention." Eric Alterman
|
|
|
|
filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 04/26/2005 : 08:49:56 [Permalink]
|
quote:
Originally posted by leoofno
Give the museum a break. They can't be responsible for every article written about them. And this article was really about the kids who visited. The museum's web site seems to have no problem with evolution, as indicated by this excerpt from their description of the Fish and Reptile Gallery: "One of the cases contains a variety of cichlids from Lake Tanganyika where over 125 known species have evolved from one initial ancestor. " (Although the Fort Jesus Museum had me wondering for a bit 'till I checked it out).
http://www.museums.or.ke/
The museum's stand on evolution is no longer the question, here. Apparently, they are a legitimate organization, not a road-side zoo as I'd initally thought. It is how they allow their information to be disiminated. Write a garbage article like that one on an exibit in the National Museum of Natural History, and your publication will soon find themselves correcting it, assuming that you could get such drivel published.
This is especally important in places like Africa, where the general populace is even more superstitious than our Religious Right. I feel that the museum has an obligation to insist upon accuracy in anything that is written aboul it.
|
"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
|
|
|
|
leoofno
Skeptic Friend
USA
346 Posts |
Posted - 04/26/2005 : 10:49:58 [Permalink]
|
You mean that issue was already settled, and I still went on about it? Dang, I hate it when that happens.
My main point (badly put) was that the museum has little control over what is written about it.
They can protest, sure. And maybe they have. The article was in this Sunday's paper, and its only now Tuesday. Give them a chance. |
"If you're not terrified, you're not paying attention." Eric Alterman
|
|
|
|
filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 04/26/2005 : 16:35:25 [Permalink]
|
quote:
Originally posted by leoofno
You mean that issue was already settled, and I still went on about it? Dang, I hate it when that happens.
My main point (badly put) was that the museum has little control over what is written about it.
They can protest, sure. And maybe they have. The article was in this Sunday's paper, and its only now Tuesday. Give them a chance.
'K. I will wait with baited breath. Baited breath is why I have so few friends... 
But if there is indeed a retraction, I rather doubt we'll hear about it. Papers too often put such embarrasments on page D-59, where few ever see it. Meanwhile, the article has spread ridiculous disinformation throughout it's readership.
Further, it is obvoius that this fishwrap doesn't bother with fact checking, something that is starting to become endemic in our own news organs.
|
"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
|
|
|
|
Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
Posted - 04/26/2005 : 17:27:59 [Permalink]
|
It's probably important to note that Twinkle appears to be the kids' supplement in The Standard. It's not like it was an A-section article to begin with.
This doesn't excuse the crappy fact-checking, but it might help explain it. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
|
|
|
filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 04/26/2005 : 17:49:31 [Permalink]
|
quote:
Originally posted by Dave W.
It's probably important to note that Twinkle appears to be the kids' supplement in The Standard. It's not like it was an A-section article to begin with.
This doesn't excuse the crappy fact-checking, but it might help explain it.
Unfortunatly, yes.
I have long felt that the children's section for these sorts of things should be ridgidly accurate, albeit written in simplier language and made more enjoyable for younger readers. As it is, one must hope that they remain impressionable enough that when the real thing comes along, they will seasily accept it.
Writing for children is not easy -- I can't do it, and I've tried.
|
"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
|
|
|
|
Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9688 Posts |
Posted - 04/27/2005 : 16:17:53 [Permalink]
|
| The Concise Oxford Dictionary, 8th edition says it's pronounced "see-luh-canth" (canth as in the American "can", and the 'luh' as in ago |
Dr. Mabuse - "When the going gets tough, the tough get Duct-tape..."
Dr. Mabuse whisper.mp3
"Equivocation is not just a job, for a creationist it's a way of life..." Dr. Mabuse
Support American Troops in Iraq:
Send them unarmed civilians for target practice..
Collateralmurder. |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
Topic Locked
