Difference between revisions of "Talk:World History Lecture Eleven"

Revision as of 19:21, April 20, 2009

I noticed this spelling, Guomindang; can we make redirects like Kuomintang, or such, or how do you wish to handle things like this? Thanks. RobS 13:48, 9 March 2007 (EST)

Who's Andy Schlafly? How about some bibliographic info? Testing 15:40, 19 March 2007 (EDT)

He made the site...--Elamdri 15:44, 19 March 2007 (EDT)

Stalin established a brutal totalitarian state, whereby he dictated all aspects of life and used violence to destroy any opponents. A secret police aided Stalin in his vicious execution of all opponents.

And none of this happened under kindly Uncle Lenin? Pachyderm 10:29, 30 August 2007 (EDT)

Why does it not mention that Warren G. Harding was one of the most corrupt presidents ever? And that he is regularly ranked among the worst presidents by most historians?

Do you think Harding was almost as corrupt as recent Democratic Administrations???--Andy Schlafly 12:38, 1 April 2009 (EDT)

Almost as corrupt? try far more corrupt. He had multiple affairs before and during is time in office. he paid one of his mistresses $50,000 not to reveal the affair. his administration was a den of nepotism. he appointed personal friends to important positions such as head of the veterans bureau. His nepotistically appointed friend Charles Forbes, head of the veterans bureau, stole $200 million from the federal government, and his attorney general Daugherty was found to have profited from illegal shipments of alcohol. so yes, i'd say his corruption and that of his administration FAR exceeded that of any recent democratic administration!!!!—The preceding unsigned comment was added by JBryant (talk)

Well????

Are you sure you aren't trying to describe some of the problems in the Clinton Administration???--Andy Schlafly 09:59, 13 April 2009 (EDT)

Are you sure you're not trying to dodge the question???????????????????????????

listen, I"m no fan of Clinton or the democrats. I think that all presidents, liberal AND conservative need to be held accountable for their actions. I think that it is revisionist to not include Harding's shortcomings. I know that if he had been liberal, you'd be all over his affairs and other such corruption. I'm just asking that you be fair and balanced in terms of talking about corruption. is that too much to ask? JBryant 11:13, 15 April 2009 (EDT)

No, you're wrong in suggesting that a quality world history course would waste time on gossip about Harding if he had been liberal. This is a quality history course. Read the National Enquirer if you have a need for gossip.--Andy Schlafly 11:50, 15 April 2009 (EDT)

Theory of Relativity

This section is full of strange mistakes. Are we permitted to edit the lectures here so that the students get accurate science instruction? For example, the Theory or Relativity does not care whether the speed of light changed over time. It probably has not changed, but the theory has no preference either way. Also, why does the author state that the Theory of Relativity has nothing to do with the atom bomb or any other technology? This statement lacks any point or precision. It' not true that the theory of relativity has nothing to do with technologies we use today. Also the Theory of Relativity does not reject "Newton's Theory." It merely modifies certain Newtonian kinematics, as for very high velocities. Also, the Theory of Relativity has nothing to do with moral relativism. Why does the author keep saying it does? It is a scientific theory, not a theory of morality. I am interested in assisting with this project if it is open for participation! ShmuelB 12:24, 16 April 2009 (EDT)

The truth is welcome. Falsehoods, even popular ones, are not. Your comments are historically or factually incorrect, unfortunately.--Andy Schlafly 13:17, 16 April 2009 (EDT)

Postulates of Special Relativity

I clarified one postulate, i.e., The speed of light is the same for all observers, no matter what their relative speeds. That seems to be an improvement over the speed of light never changes...

This section - especially in its disparagement of Einstein's work - is something you don't find in any common textbook on the history of sciences. Therefore, I'd wish that A. Schlafly would include some sources to bolster his claims.

Unfortunately, such a (in my eyes, mainly unjustified) critique of the importance of the theories of relativity invokes memories of the German Physics.

Clement ♗ 09:30, 17 April 2009 (EDT)

It is inappropriate to compare scientific skepticism about materialist science to Naziism.

If you find me ten articles that accept the theory of relativity and use it to make historical claims, I can show you ten articles that accept that the speed of light is constant. Do you think that is some sort of coincidence?

I do not think it is a coincidence. BHarlan 16:03, 17 April 2009 (EDT)

I don't find any substance in either of the above comments. If you have a specific factual improvement to the article, then let's see it. Otherwise, let's move on.--Andy Schlafly 19:00, 17 April 2009 (EDT)

@Aschlafly: My specific factual improvement of the article is a change of your wording (the speed of light never changes) of one of Einstein's postulate of the theory of relativity. Here a some versions which I looked up over the last days:

• Wolfgang Pauli Theory of Relativity, 1958, p. 5: The velocity of light is independent of the motion of the light source

• Robert Resnick, David Halliday Fundamentals of Physics, 7th ed. 1996, p. 1254: The speed of light in vacuum has the same value in all inertial frames, regardless of the velocity of the observer or the velocity of the source emitting the light

and from a source you seem to trust:

• Merriam-Webster the speed of light in a vacuum is constant and independent of the source or observer

None of these - and many others - implies that the speed of light never changes. They stress the point that the speed of light is independent of the motion of the source or the observer - and I think that's the rather baffling, exciting part for everyone who is confronted with this postulates for the first time.

None of those states that the speed of light never changes, but they emphasize the mind-baffling (at least for everyone who is confronted with this theory for the first time) fact that the velocity of light is independent of the motion of the light source.

The phrase the speed of light never changes is at least unfortunate as it implies that the speed of light has never changed since the begin of the universe. But the postulates doesn't require this, the same theory would hold with a speed of light of 300 km/h instead of 300,000 km/s...

@BHarlan: If you find me ten articles that accept the theory of relativity and use it to make historical claims, I can show you ten articles that accept that the speed of light is constant. I honestly don't know what you want say here...

That said, I hope you'll approve that I change the lecture to the version of Wolfgang Pauli.

Clement ♗ 14:07, 20 April 2009 (EDT)

Pauli did not use it, in the quote you supply, to make historical claims. I maintain my promise of ten for ten, and I caution you against attacking the conservative worldview by prevaricating on what "historical" means. BHarlan 15:21, 20 April 2009 (EDT)