December, 2009, Posts of the Month

When you find a post that is too good to be missed, nominate it here as one of the December, 2009, Posts of the Month (POTM).

You message subtitle should include the author's name and the topic/thread title.

Message Format:

Author: Author's Name Forum: Forum where posted Thread: Thread title Message #: Number and Link to the nominated message

Nominations should include a link to the nominated article, and a short comment on why the message deserves nomination.

Note: As always, this is not a thread for debates. Posts should be limited to nomination, seconds, and acceptance statements by nominees.

Author: onifre
Forum: Coffee House
Thread: Hate-crime = Thought crime?
Message #: Message 72

In three paragraphs, towards the end of the post, he nails not only what's wrong with hate-crime laws but with today's society in general.

Edited by Legend, : spelling

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"We must respect the law, not let it blind us away from the basic principles of fairness, justice and freedom"

Author: Lyx2no
Forum: Is it science?
Thread: At what point should we look for a non-materialistic explanation?
Message #:Message 84

Specifically the following.

It's even more amazing when one understands it. Science does not make the world less amazing but more. I'd not dare to think that I have a greater sense of the beauty of music than Brahms because he understands it more than I.

Thanks, Legend

I haven't had a chance ot get back into the debate, busy travelling. But thanks again for the nomination...its my first, so you broke my cherry.

- Oni

.its my first, so you broke my cherry.

Think he'll ever call you again?

Edited by Larni, : No reason given.

Oni writes: .......its my first, so you broke my cherry

Really? I am astonished. I honestly thought you had been nominated several times. Anyway the post in question is well worthy of a nomination even if I think I disagree with it.

Oni writes: I haven't had a chance ot get back into the debate, busy travelling.

Fair enough.

When I first entered that discussion I said that I could see merits in both sides of the argument. I have since gone on to expound one particular side of the argument in my usual impetuous and (overly) fervent manner. But I suspect that you and I will agree on far more than is currently obvious. I guess we will see.

Anyway - Congrats on your nomination. And seconded (sort of)

Message: Message 116
Thread: Speed of Light
Forum: Big Bang and Cosmology
Author: AnswersInGenitals

This is short enough that I'm just going to post the entire exchange. AnswersInGenitals posts this in Message 113:

AnswersInGenitals writes: Dear Prof. Pope: I'm wondering if in your extensive wanderings and interactions with physics illuminaries you had the opportunity to have discussions with a certain Dr. Arthur Compton. His thoughts on photons seems to be very scattered and I am curious to know if you have any opinion on his work. I was talking to him just the other day and he didn't recall having met you.

So Viv Pope responds in Message 115 as follows:

Viv Pope writes: No, I haven't had the pleasure of meeting Profesor Compton. In the current state of physics there are so many so busily 'plouging their own furrows' that they sarcely have time to see over the hedges. One looks forward to the time when it all comes together. If you see that gentleman again, please give him my best wishes. By the way, I am not a card-carrying 'Professor'. So any bids for qualifications I have made in that particular area have been cloaked in controversy. This was from the time when my mentors discovered that I was a heretic. It is certainly a truism that society doesn't encourage heretics, far less fund them. Thereby hangs a tale, which might provide some insight into what I said in an earlier posting, about Socrates being executed and so on. I'd love to tell that tale, but hardly on this particular forum thread, even though that tale is all about my views on light and relativity.

To which AnswersInGenitals replies in the grand finale in Message 116:

AnswersInGenitals writes: You have my sincerest sympathy and empathy. I know what it is like to have someone totally miss my point. May we both have more success in future endeavors.

The irony only becomes apparent when you realize that Arthur Compton is a deceased Nobel laureate famous for his discovery of the Compton Effect describing how photon scattering works when interacting with matter, and that shows that light behaves as more than just waves. He's been dead some 47 years now. Viv not only didn't know who Arthur Compton was, he didn't even pick up on the photon scattering reference.

A great setup and a fantastic punchline!

--Percy

Gleefully seconded!

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Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions. Ideas must be distinct before reason can act upon them; and no man ever had a distinct idea of the trinity. It is the mere Abracadabra of the mountebanks calling themselves the priests of Jesus. -- Thomas Jefferson

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and non-believers. -- Barack Obama

We see monsters where science shows us windmills. -- Phat

So clear, for a moment I thought I actually understood string theory!

Seriously, even if you're the type whose eyes glaze over when reading physics, give this a read.

Message: Why extra dimensions are a good thing
Thread: String! Theory! What is it good for ?!?
Forum: Is It Science?
Author: cavediver

--Percy

Thanks Percy - the fruits of a week's frustration of being away and not getting to read EvC

I 2nd this. Amazing post cavediver.

Thirded. Cavediver has been generally awesomely educational in this thread but this post is great.

Author: ZenMonkey
Thread: An inconvenient truth.... or lie?
Message: Message 157

Not all great posts are great art. Here ZenMonkey in a few simple links demolishes the ignorant silliness that is standard fayre for climate change deniers.

Seconded

I am humbled. I regret the snark level in that post (sorta), but as Nick Cage says in Raising Arizona, "He provoked me."