mary simmons on fri 21 apr 00
Monona--
The reason that any of us with any scientific literacy at all look
dubiously upon your "research" is due to such comments as this:
>Can anyone out there help me? There have been a number of orange juice
>incidents, but I seem to remember that one happened in the 1970s or 1980s in
>Canada. I can't find my file on this and would appreciate anyone who could
>point me to a record of this incident. As near as I can remember, a mother
>kept orange juice in a jug in the frig. I don't think it was Mexican ware.
>When her twin boys came down with symptoms of the flu which were actually
>lead poisoning symptoms she doubled up on the orange juice to get more fluids
>into them. I think one twin died or was brain damaged.
This is NOT data, it is a story--a not a very believeable one the way you
have told it. "I seem to remember....", "I can't find my file on this..."
"As near as I remember...." "I don't think it was Mexican ware..."
(meaning you don't know), "I think one twin died..."
You obviously don't really know what you are talking about.
Please do not pollute any more until you have developed a hypothesis, as
well as an alternative hypothesis, collect a large amount of data that you
can keep track of ("I seem to remember" doesn't cut it), and interpret the
data you have collected. If you start off a study without RELIABLE data,
and without the concept that your hypothesis might be incorrect, your study
is suspect, and settles to the level of "I believe it, therefore I see it"
You are generating more hysteria than anything. You have taken a very
small amount of data and blown it quite out of proportion, and tried to
support it with stories like the one above. I think you are very
irresponsible in this. And you are scaring people needlessly. If you
really want to help people, you will come up with more reliable data and
information than you have thus far--in other words, do this the RIGHT way,
with data, and real research and experiments, and most importantly, realize
that you may be wrong.
I have no doubt that you strongly believe what you are saying. I encourage
you to stop amplifying these thoughts until you have developed a more sound
scientific basis for them. I recommend enrolling yourself in a graduate
program and study these ideas, learn how science is done. Until you adopt
a more scientific approach, you will not convince anyone but the un-educated.
If you feel compelled to respond, please do--to the list--any private email
you send to me will be sent on to the list. I have no desire to argue with
you (and won't). I just would like to see you take your passion and your
study to a scientific level, and stop creating the illusion that at this
point you know what you are talking about.
best wishes
Mary
Mary Simmons
Dept of Earth and Planetary Sciences
Northrop Hall
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131-1116
(505)277-9259
piedra@unm.edu
ferenc jakab on sat 22 apr 00
> Monona--
>
> The reason that any of us with any scientific literacy at all look
> dubiously upon your "research" is due to such comments as this:
>
Mary,
You are being a Little unfair on Monona. After all this is not an academic
forum, it is from a scientific point of view a lay persons forum. Monona
has imparted valuable information to this forum, I for one am grateful for
it.
I believe there is nothing wrong in her using every day language for
communicating with us lay people. It makes her more Human and it's possible
one of us may have seen that article and Monona can then access it and
become Scientific and empirical form that point on. Do you ever go into
class and conversationally ask about things that interest you? I'd hate to
be in your class if all we ever got was the empirical point of view, no
casual speculation allowed.
Mary that sort of attitude is what puts lay people off science. Believe me I
am very sympathetic to science. My wife is a MSc. Pathology University of
Melbourne, Aust, and has twenty years of teaching Science education. One of
her problems has always been that people either put science in the realms of
evil or on a pedestal. Please climb off yours.
Feri.
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