"Jeff" wrote in message
. ..
* KLC Lewis wrote, On 4/4/2007 7:10 PM:
"Jeff" wrote in message
. ..

When I was a wee little lass in Elementary school, yea, even when I was
older and graduated from High School, the "concensus view" was that there
was, once upon a time, a critter called a "Brontosaurus," who lived in
marshes and dragged his tail. It was also the concensus view that this
critter, and those like him, died out because they "got too big."

No. That's a cute story, but fantasy. Although there were much
speculation as to what might have caused the extinctions, there was
certainly no consensus on the topic. To quote the Encyclopedia Britannica
from 1973:

"What caused this sudden extinction? The answer is not at all clear.
Temperature changes, epidemics, eating of dinosaur eggs by early mammals,
have all been suggested but are far from satisfactory."

Perhaps in your school system the teachers made up fairy tales; that could
explain a lot.

The Denver Public School System, in the 60's, was rated very highly. And
regardless what the Encyclopedia Britannica would say in the next decade,
the story I related was accurate.



The "concensus view" in science changes almost faster than peer-reviewed
papers can be published. I see no reason to believe that the concensus
view regarding Global Climate Change will be carved in stone any time
soon.

I don't disagree, but it doesn't change the fact that there is a consensus
view.

And a concensus view does not mean that they are correct. The concensus view
of the medical community some twenty years ago was that ulcers were caused
by stress.

* KLC Lewis wrote, On 4/4/2007 9:11 PM:
"Jeff" wrote in message
. ..
* KLC Lewis wrote, On 4/4/2007 7:10 PM:
"Jeff" wrote in message
. ..

When I was a wee little lass in Elementary school, yea, even when I was
older and graduated from High School, the "concensus view" was that there
was, once upon a time, a critter called a "Brontosaurus," who lived in
marshes and dragged his tail. It was also the concensus view that this
critter, and those like him, died out because they "got too big."
No. That's a cute story, but fantasy. Although there were much
speculation as to what might have caused the extinctions, there was
certainly no consensus on the topic. To quote the Encyclopedia Britannica
from 1973:

"What caused this sudden extinction? The answer is not at all clear.
Temperature changes, epidemics, eating of dinosaur eggs by early mammals,
have all been suggested but are far from satisfactory."

Perhaps in your school system the teachers made up fairy tales; that could
explain a lot.

The Denver Public School System, in the 60's, was rated very highly. And
regardless what the Encyclopedia Britannica would say in the next decade,
the story I related was accurate.

I guess I'll have to find an older reference. Mañana .

However, if the school system was so good, it might have taught you
how to spell consensus.



The "concensus view" in science changes almost faster than peer-reviewed
papers can be published. I see no reason to believe that the concensus
view regarding Global Climate Change will be carved in stone any time
soon.
I don't disagree, but it doesn't change the fact that there is a consensus
view.

And a concensus view does not mean that they are correct. The concensus view
of the medical community some twenty years ago was that ulcers were caused
by stress.

How many times do I have to say that the consensus may not be correct?
I've said that over and over; my point is simply that there IS a
consensus.

Jeff wrote:


How many times do I have to say that the consensus may not be correct?
I've said that over and over; my point is simply that there IS a
consensus.



So you're saying that just because some theory has consensus support, it
means little?

"Jeff" wrote in message
. ..
* KLC Lewis wrote, On 4/4/2007 9:11 PM:

However, if the school system was so good, it might have taught you how to
spell consensus.


And if yours was any good at all, it might have taught you that there are
two correct ways to spell it.

* KLC Lewis wrote, On 4/4/2007 9:11 PM:
When I was a wee little lass in Elementary school, yea, even when I was
older and graduated from High School, the "concensus view" was that there
was, once upon a time, a critter called a "Brontosaurus," who lived in
marshes and dragged his tail. It was also the concensus view that this
critter, and those like him, died out because they "got too big."
No. That's a cute story, but fantasy. Although there were much
speculation as to what might have caused the extinctions, there was
certainly no consensus on the topic. To quote the Encyclopedia Britannica
from 1973:

"What caused this sudden extinction? The answer is not at all clear.
Temperature changes, epidemics, eating of dinosaur eggs by early mammals,
have all been suggested but are far from satisfactory."

Perhaps in your school system the teachers made up fairy tales; that could
explain a lot.

The Denver Public School System, in the 60's, was rated very highly. And
regardless what the Encyclopedia Britannica would say in the next decade,
the story I related was accurate.

I was at the local library today and wandered over to the "Dinosaur"
section. The books there were labeled with the publication date on
the spine, so it was easy to find the several books from the late
'50's through the '60's. For completeness, I also went up to the "old
reference" section and found an encyclopedia from 1967. Without
exception, they had the same information as the 1973 Britannica. For
example, "The Fossil Book," 1958, went on for several pages in a
section titled "The Puzzle of Extinction" with a discussion of the
various theories. They favored climate change triggered by some
unknown cause, but noted that no one had presented any complete theory
that fit the data. Without exception, every text presented this as a
mystery that maybe someday will be solved. This is how I remember the
subject being presented here in Boston, but secretly I favored the
egg-sucking mammal theory.

So the question now is, was the Denver School System incompetent back
then, or is KLC spinning a cute yarn?

"Jeff" wrote in message
. ..
* KLC Lewis wrote, On 4/4/2007 9:11 PM:
When I was a wee little lass in Elementary school, yea, even when I was
older and graduated from High School, the "concensus view" was that
there was, once upon a time, a critter called a "Brontosaurus," who
lived in marshes and dragged his tail. It was also the concensus view
that this critter, and those like him, died out because they "got too
big."
No. That's a cute story, but fantasy. Although there were much
speculation as to what might have caused the extinctions, there was
certainly no consensus on the topic. To quote the Encyclopedia
Britannica from 1973:

"What caused this sudden extinction? The answer is not at all clear.
Temperature changes, epidemics, eating of dinosaur eggs by early
mammals, have all been suggested but are far from satisfactory."

Perhaps in your school system the teachers made up fairy tales; that
could explain a lot.

The Denver Public School System, in the 60's, was rated very highly. And
regardless what the Encyclopedia Britannica would say in the next decade,
the story I related was accurate.

I was at the local library today and wandered over to the "Dinosaur"
section. The books there were labeled with the publication date on the
spine, so it was easy to find the several books from the late '50's
through the '60's. For completeness, I also went up to the "old
reference" section and found an encyclopedia from 1967. Without
exception, they had the same information as the 1973 Britannica. For
example, "The Fossil Book," 1958, went on for several pages in a section
titled "The Puzzle of Extinction" with a discussion of the various
theories. They favored climate change triggered by some unknown cause,
but noted that no one had presented any complete theory that fit the data.
Without exception, every text presented this as a mystery that maybe
someday will be solved. This is how I remember the subject being
presented here in Boston, but secretly I favored the egg-sucking mammal
theory.

So the question now is, was the Denver School System incompetent back
then, or is KLC spinning a cute yarn?

Now you're just being insulting. Perhaps the teachers back then, rather
relying upon the most recent data, repeated what they had been told when
*they* were in school. How many elementary school teachers do you know who
are rocket scientists? The fact remains that the critter was called
"Brontosaurus" at least until 1974, we were taught that he dragged his tail,
and we were taught that they died out from "Gigantism."

You can apply today's theories and knowledge to the past as much as you
would like, but I attended public school in three states (Colorado, New
York, New Jersey), and distinctly remember being taught pretty much the same
thing in all of them. Were they wrong? Yup. That's my point, innit?

As for Gigantism killing the dinosaurs, the theory is making a comeback --
at least in some circles: http://www.dinoextinct.com/ . Will you now claim
that this website doesn't exist?

"KLC Lewis" wrote in message
et...
Now you're just being insulting. Perhaps the teachers back then, rather
relying upon the most recent data, repeated what they had been told when
*they* were in school. How many elementary school teachers do you know who
are rocket scientists? The fact remains that the critter was called
"Brontosaurus" at least until 1974, we were taught that he dragged his
tail, and we were taught that they died out from "Gigantism."

You can apply today's theories and knowledge to the past as much as you
would like, but I attended public school in three states (Colorado, New
York, New Jersey), and distinctly remember being taught pretty much the
same thing in all of them. Were they wrong? Yup. That's my point, innit?

As for Gigantism killing the dinosaurs, the theory is making a comeback --
at least in some circles: http://www.dinoextinct.com/ . Will you now claim
that this website doesn't exist?


Another link which addresses the "Gigantism" theory, proving for Jeff that
such a theory did, in point of fact, exist in the past, and has since been
falsified. Gee, funny that someone would go to all the trouble of falsifying
a theory that I couldn't have been taught because it didn't exist, but there
ya go.

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/diapsids/extincthypo.html

* KLC Lewis wrote, On 4/5/2007 8:23 PM:
"KLC Lewis" wrote in message
et...
Now you're just being insulting. Perhaps the teachers back then, rather
relying upon the most recent data, repeated what they had been told when
*they* were in school. How many elementary school teachers do you know who
are rocket scientists? The fact remains that the critter was called
"Brontosaurus" at least until 1974, we were taught that he dragged his
tail, and we were taught that they died out from "Gigantism."

You can apply today's theories and knowledge to the past as much as you
would like, but I attended public school in three states (Colorado, New
York, New Jersey), and distinctly remember being taught pretty much the
same thing in all of them. Were they wrong? Yup. That's my point, innit?

As for Gigantism killing the dinosaurs, the theory is making a comeback --
at least in some circles: http://www.dinoextinct.com/ . Will you now claim
that this website doesn't exist?

The website exists, but I can make the claim that it doesn't represent
"science."



Another link which addresses the "Gigantism" theory, proving for Jeff that
such a theory did, in point of fact, exist in the past, and has since been
falsified. Gee, funny that someone would go to all the trouble of falsifying
a theory that I couldn't have been taught because it didn't exist, but there
ya go.

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/diapsids/extincthypo.html

Thanks for the link - that only proves my point. There were many
hypotheses for the extinction, but virtually no proof for any of them.
There is nothing wrong with presenting the various suggested
possibilities, that's exactly what the my teachers did, and what the
books of the day taught. Selecting one of them, and teaching it as
accepted fact, as you claim your teachers did, is, at best, incompetence.

"Jeff" wrote in message
...

Thanks for the link - that only proves my point. There were many
hypotheses for the extinction, but virtually no proof for any of them.
There is nothing wrong with presenting the various suggested
possibilities, that's exactly what the my teachers did, and what the books
of the day taught. Selecting one of them, and teaching it as accepted
fact, as you claim your teachers did, is, at best, incompetence.

Still can't bring yourself to admit that I related a true story, can you?

* KLC Lewis wrote, On 4/5/2007 9:46 PM:
"Jeff" wrote in message
...
Thanks for the link - that only proves my point. There were many
hypotheses for the extinction, but virtually no proof for any of them.
There is nothing wrong with presenting the various suggested
possibilities, that's exactly what the my teachers did, and what the books
of the day taught. Selecting one of them, and teaching it as accepted
fact, as you claim your teachers did, is, at best, incompetence.

Still can't bring yourself to admit that I related a true story, can you?

Did I ever say that? I only said that if it happened as you claim,
the teachers were incompetent.

Thinking about it, I can remember several instances of being taught
falsehoods - The Great Western was not the first ship to use steam to
cross the Atlantic, and Henry Ford did not make the first automobile.

My problem with your story is the implication is that society freely
accepts theories that are later shown to be false. While there may be
some cases of that, dinosaur extinction by gigantism is not one of
them. Whether you were taught it, imagined it, or made it up
yesterday is irrelevant. It was never accepted as probable by a
significant number of scientists; it was just one of many hypotheses
proposed to explain a mystery.