1. PLEASE WRITE IN SUPPORT OF PZ MYERS

Comment #209045 by Tania on July 11, 2008 at 2:26 pm

Sent this:

Dear Sir,

from here in England, the antics of US religious fundamentalists are viewed by many with a mixture of amusement and open mouthed disbelief. It appears that a Catholic League campaign to sack PZ Myers is being aimed at your good self - and it's all over a communion wafer.

I do hope you bolster our regard for the USA by ensuring that quiet men and women of reason prevail over baying bigots.

(Any good do you think?)

2. Why Science Will Triumph Only When Theory Becomes Law

Comment #88055 by Tania on November 14, 2007 at 12:21 pm

All we need is an additional sticker:
BUT IT'S LIGHT YEARS BETTER THAN CREATIONISM/ID, WHICH IS SUPERSTITIOUS NONSENSE.

3. Public school teacher tells class: 'You belong in hell'

Comment #9153 by tania on November 23, 2006 at 7:20 pm

to Anonymous: This is tangential to what I wanted to say, but, yup: Bloody oath I think he should have apologised! Especially when confronted with the recording. If he didn't remember the occasion, he should have apologised for creating an impression he didn't intend. And once he heard the recording, there's no excuse. But it takes a strong person to apologise, especially if you can't understand the problem. But failing to see there is a problem, and his strategies for dealing with questions, really does raise the question of his teaching competence generally...

4. Public school teacher tells class: 'You belong in hell'

Comment #9152 by tania on November 23, 2006 at 7:15 pm

oh, to add to what I said above (having now read Matthew's dad's comment), I love the fact that my lectures are all recorded, and I think all classes should be recorded, because it DOES show what actually happened. Matthew's recording shows clearly threats and abuse of a position of power in action. Modern linguistic thinking is that recordings are to be relied upon above memories. And I certainly agree with the analysis of the teacher showing an abuse of his power by cutting of students' replies, and ignoring others. These are well-documented power plays, and not only that, but show that a lack of competence in teaching too!

5. Public school teacher tells class: 'You belong in hell'

Comment #9147 by tania on November 23, 2006 at 7:02 pm

I'm a linguist. As part of my job, I record conversations, transcribe them and analyse them. On the occasions I've spoken with people about these conversations, I have discovered that most people have no idea what they've said, especially if they've had no particular motivation to remember that particular conversation. Sometimes they can remember topics, especially if prompted, but when I quote to them verbatim an excerpt, people tend to respond with, 'That doesn't sound like something I'd say,' or 'I don't phrase things in that way,' and 'I don't remember saying that'.

So the guy could well have been telling the/his truth when he said later that he hadn't said the things in the recording, if we consider his subjective 'truth' at that particular moment.

A recent example (3 days ago): A colleague lecture thought she had mentioned that no extensions to a particular due date for an assignment were allowed. We listened to her lecture (which are all recorded these days), and, while she said a lot which IMPLIED no late submissions, she never once explicitly said that late submissions would not be accepted. This colleague also works in Discourse Analysis, ie, even professionals who KNOW they're being recorded, do not necessarily have perfect recall.

(Just an interesting point to keep in mind when asking people about what they've said. You can try this one at home!)