Comments for Devolve! at http://www.theind.com , comment 1 to 19 out of 19 comments http://www.theind.com Thu, 20 Jun 2013 07:23:38 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.theind.com/cover-story/7427-devolve#comment-23123 "It's been longer than 10 years since I went to college and bought textbooks, but not so long ago that I can't still dust off the old mathematics skills. So I divided 70 Million by your reasonable guess of $50 per book--and that comes out to 1,400,000 books, 1.4 Million. that is enough to give a science textbook to half the population of the state. do you think there's 1.4 million school kids in Louisiana? I don't. How bout HIGH school kids-even less. Then HIGH school kids in PUBLIC schools--less again. " Well, your math is wrong. Dickhead. High School is more than 1 year right? So even making the proviso (And I had seperate books for each year) that each book lasts two years, that means that the books can be split in two (I don't know the American System, my High School was 4 years) So that's a divide by two. Then you have 700,000 books for the students, for all their high school years. Then you have at least two streams of science, Physics and Chemistry, making Physical Sciences, Biology and Ecology, making biological Sciences, and Psychology and Sociology, making Social sciences. So even if you only teach two of those, then you have 350,000 book sets. Now, if you have all of those (And some schools WILL), you have 175,000 students. Either way, you failed to use maths properly, and automatically assumed a conspiracy. (BTW, you should get a refund on your maths textbooks, because a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, clearly in your case. Brett: Your comment is brilliant and succintly to the point: The professional opinion of a person on a subject they are not trained or currently employed in is of no worth. Physicists who deny Global Warming: worthless conjecture, just as Climatologists who (I'm making an example, I haven't heard of any who do this) deny Special Relativity have no opinion of worth. Just as the Opinion of an Evolutionary Biologist is worthless on Linguistics, the Opinion of a Linguist on Evolution is worthless. - All manner of stupidity Thu, 06 Oct 2011 09:04:40 +0100 http://www.theind.com/cover-story/7427-devolve#comment-17164 Why does anyone care what a linguistics professor has to say on the topic of biological evolution? Just because you have some letters after your name does not make you an expert in everything. I'm sure that Oller would have a fit if a biology professor started making claims about linguistics that were incorrect, so why is he sticking his nose in a field that he has absolutely no authority in? - Brett Mon, 02 May 2011 18:17:08 +0100 http://www.theind.com/cover-story/7427-devolve#comment-13323 I don't believe in moviestars, organic foods and foreign cars, that east is east, and west is west, foreclosure on homes are coming down, and that Obama will turn the economy around, but, i believe in "love, and "I believe in You... - NORTHSIDIAN SHOTGUN Wed, 15 Dec 2010 14:48:41 +0100 http://www.theind.com/cover-story/7427-devolve#comment-13305 LookSomeThings, what a shame, you are missing out on so much. "Divine = as in mother, father, sister, brother, sweetheart, and friends. There is so much that is Great, and so little that is "Divine. Ga Walter, it must be the season ? - NORTHSIDIAN SHOTGUN Wed, 15 Dec 2010 04:11:55 +0100 http://www.theind.com/cover-story/7427-devolve#comment-13281 Really??? - Lisa Blackburn Tue, 14 Dec 2010 19:25:23 +0100 http://www.theind.com/cover-story/7427-devolve#comment-13273 *divine. Crap. I don't use that word a whole lot. - LookSomeThings Tue, 14 Dec 2010 16:17:14 +0100 http://www.theind.com/cover-story/7427-devolve#comment-13253 Not to troll, but I just love people who cling to the "there's not enough evidence to support evolution" argument yet are totally behind the concept of a devine creator because at one point their parents said so. - LookSomeThings Mon, 13 Dec 2010 23:32:02 +0100 http://www.theind.com/cover-story/7427-devolve#comment-13208 Look, people. You can believe in God and also in evolutionary theory. God created the spark for life on this planet and it went from there. See? That's not so hard to reconcile. Even the dang Pope came out recently as being okay with evolutionary theory. I really don't understand why this is such a big deal with a lot of Christians. - DreDay Fri, 10 Dec 2010 23:46:52 +0100 http://www.theind.com/cover-story/7427-devolve#comment-13159 "I've seen nothing that convinces me that evolution is the best thing that can be conjured up by folks who refuse to admit the possibility of a creator." No one is conjuring up anything to dispute the possibility of a creator. Evolution does not seek to explain how life began. It is an explanation for how life diversifies given the conditions of A) genetic variability within a population, and B) environmental variability over geologic time. This is not antithetical to a creator putting this in motion. If you are interested in the subject, I would recommend a book called "The Beak of the Finch" which is a very good documentary of evolution in action. - Resident Thu, 09 Dec 2010 20:54:58 +0100 http://www.theind.com/cover-story/7427-devolve#comment-13151 This was a very irritating article. Basically a lot of space devoted to making your case that you think people who aren't taken in by evolution nonsense are idiots. Basically, with all I have been taught, or read independently, I've seen nothing that convinces me that evolution is the best thing that can be conjured up by folks who refuse to admit the possibility of a creator. Even if I didn't believe in God, I couldn't muster up enough faith to buy into evolution. It's just too big a pill to swallow. - Danny Wilson Thu, 09 Dec 2010 19:40:36 +0100 http://www.theind.com/cover-story/7427-devolve#comment-13115 There you go Molly showing your bloomers once again. Remove your head outta your backside and try this on for size. "The same people who are bitchin over a freeze on their Social Security cost of living increases, ( PAY ATTENTION NOW, MOLLY BLOOMLESS ) thats the MONEY, THEY PAID INTO THE SOCIAL SECURITY FUND, AND THEY ARE WANTING THEIR MONEY RETURNED FROM the Social Security Fund. I'm sure that is the same fund that is probably providing what meager supplement income your grand parents are receiving, "WHILE YOUR OBAMA PRESIDENT IS PROMOTING TAX CUTS TO MILLIONAIRES, and mega-millionaires. MOLLY BLOOMERS," YOUR RAGE OF VISTA CLEARLY DEFINES YOUR AGE, CHILD. STICK TO YOUR SORORITY PARTYS, AND GIRLS NIGHT OUT BINGES, TIS BEST YOU LEAVE THE THINKING TO THOSE MORE MATURE, AND THOSE WHO HAVE TRULY EXPERIENCED LIFE, AND WHOSE BEATEN PATHS YOU SEEM TO CONFUSINGLY REGARD AS THE WAY. WHEN YOU HAVE NO IDEA, WHERE THE START POINT BEGINS AND WHERE THE END POINT LIES. - HARDHAT Thu, 09 Dec 2010 05:38:10 +0100 http://www.theind.com/cover-story/7427-devolve#comment-13114 It's amazing that religious fanatics have enough sway in this or any state to cause us to question and debate whether or not to teach real science in our science curriculum. - JimmyCCorn Thu, 09 Dec 2010 05:20:11 +0100 http://www.theind.com/cover-story/7427-devolve#comment-13110 asonge -- It's been longer than 10 years since I went to college and bought textbooks, but not so long ago that I can't still dust off the old mathematics skills. So I divided 70 Million by your reasonable guess of $50 per book--and that comes out to 1,400,000 books, 1.4 Million. that is enough to give a science textbook to half the population of the state. do you think there's 1.4 million school kids in Louisiana? I don't. How bout HIGH school kids-even less. Then HIGH school kids in PUBLIC schools--less again. I'd say that BESE is buying books for about 200,000 high school kids in Louisiana. Divide $70 Million by 200,000, and I come out with $350 per book. DoE says LA has 179,000 high school kids, so THAT comes out to $391 per book. I didn't pay THAT for text books when I went to college, did you? http://nces.ed.gov/programs/stateprofiles/sresult.asp?mode=full&displaycat=1&s1=22 Hmmm.....Is my math wrong? Are there more kids in Louisiana than I realize? Do high school textbooks in Louisiana cost 3 times more than college textbooks? Maybe the $70 Million is wrong. I don't know much about arithmetic and texbooks, but something sure sounds fishy to me. Maybe MOLLY can explain this to us. She sure sounds like SHE knows something about the issue. :) - ragin_cajun Thu, 09 Dec 2010 04:22:19 +0100 http://www.theind.com/cover-story/7427-devolve#comment-13107 Personally, i find it amazing that linguistics professor John Oller is able to find employment at an institution of higher education, considering his field. After all, isn't linguistics is a science? It's not biology but it is a science nevertheless. And as such, its practice and mastership should require a thorough understanding and appreciation of such concepts as the scientific method, which should have made Professor Oller weary of claims of pseudo-science, as well as the very real threat that pseudo-science poses for scientific literacy. If i did not know better, i would assume that Oller, as a higher education instructor of a scientific field, would be on the opposite side of this debate, and i actually find it hard to believe that he has so much involvement in propagating pseudo-scientific claims himself, and thus seemingly intentionally promotes scientific illiteracy. And in Louisiana!. . .Meanwhile, we wonder where we're going wrong in attempting to improve higher education in our wonderfully unique and oft-misunderstood state. (Not that i have to say this, but perhaps some of the problem comes with employing creationists as science professors of our favorite universities!) - cgStarling Thu, 09 Dec 2010 02:00:35 +0100 http://www.theind.com/cover-story/7427-devolve#comment-13106 Personally, i find it amazing that linguistics professor John Oller is able to find employment at an institution of higher education, considering his field. After all, isn't linguistics is a science? It's not biology but it is a science nevertheless. And as such, its practice and mastership should require a thorough understanding and appreciation of such concepts as the scientific method, which should have made Professor Oller weary of claims of pseudo-science, as well as the very real threat that pseudo-science poses for scientific literacy. If i did not know better, i would assume that Oller, as a higher education instructor of a scientific field, would be on the opposite side of this debate, and i actually find it hard to believe that he has so much involvement in propagating pseudo-scientific claims himself, and thus seemingly intentionally promotes scientific illiteracy. And in Louisiana!. . .Meanwhile, we wonder where we're going wrong in attempting to improve higher education in our wonderfully unique and oft-misunderstood state. (Not that i have to say this, but perhaps some of the problem comes with employing creationists as science professors of our favorite universities!) - cgStarling Thu, 09 Dec 2010 01:54:36 +0100 http://www.theind.com/cover-story/7427-devolve#comment-13092 asonge, your reasoned response to ragin_cajun demonstrates that one should first understand something about an issue before they start complaining about it. Folks who have no idea how complex problems are want to solve them overnight and, for them, the best way to solve them is to fight "big gubbement." It reminds me of those goofball tea baggers who kept yelling that they wanted "government out of their lives," while simultaneously complaining that they wanted their social security increases and for Obama to fix the oil gusher! - MollyBloom Wed, 08 Dec 2010 19:39:24 +0100 http://www.theind.com/cover-story/7427-devolve#comment-13089 ragin_cajun: I think that's all high school science textbooks in that $70m figure. Also, you fail to recognize the average cost of textbooks because the state always pays for them. If you went to college in the past 10 years and had to pay for your books (I certainly did), you'd see that the median retail price for a textbook is between $50 and $150. You've also got teacher's editions which are packed with twice as much material and you have curricula errata. I'm sure the bulk cost for those books is likely to be about $25-50 and it's for science books overall and not just biology books. That's the last time I looked at the textbook price lists about 5 years ago. - asonge Wed, 08 Dec 2010 19:16:32 +0100 http://www.theind.com/cover-story/7427-devolve#comment-13070 "$70 million" Wait! we're talking about high school biology textbooks. There's 3 million people in Louisiana, of that let's say half are school age children. that's 1.5 million. Of that, half again are high school age, so that's 750,000. That's about $100 per book for a biology book? That's outrageous! Everything in these books is, by definition, common public knowledge about biology. Why so expensive? We don't get a volume discount? I think the BESE board should have asked THAT question, instead of arguing millenia-old philosohpical points about God. I bet if I spent some time, I could download all the knowledge in those textbooks for free from the Internet, print it all up for pennies a book, and ship it to every school in the state for under $1 Million--and keep a hefty year's salary to boot. - ragin_cajun Wed, 08 Dec 2010 16:25:30 +0100 http://www.theind.com/cover-story/7427-devolve#comment-13056 After reading this story, I went over to BESE's website, where I cringed every time I saw Bayard's name associated with anything remotely resembling authority. Thanks for covering this, even though it pissed me off to no end. I can't even begin to predict the range of responses The Ind will receive. god(sic)speed. - LookSomeThings Wed, 08 Dec 2010 11:13:36 +0100