Author Topic: This is whats wrong with society.  (Read 3164 times)

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Offline Plantains

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This is whats wrong with society.
« on: April 03, 2008, 05:24:24 PM »
So... I often discuss how a number of individuals think that they possess great amounts of intelligence simply because they have a piece of paper claiming so. Furthermore, I wish society was more passionate about what they do and would realize that their job isn't simply "just a job".

I found this article interesting... read on.

Quote
ALLEGAN, Mich. - Is fifth-grader Kenton Stufflebeam smarter than the Smithsonian?
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On a winter break trip with his family to the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History, the 11-year-old southwestern Michigan boy noticed that a notation, in bold lettering, mistakenly identified the Precambrian as an era.

Since it opened in 1981, millions of people have paraded past the museum's Tower of Time, a display involving prehistoric time. Kenton was the first to point out the error.

Kenton, who lives in Allegan but attends Alamo Elementary School near Kalamazoo, said his fifth-grade teacher, John Chapman, had nearly made the same mistake about the Precambrian in a classroom earth-science lesson before catching himself.

"I knew Mr. Chapman wouldn't tell all these students" bad information, the boy told the Kalamazoo Gazette for a story published Wednesday.

So Kevin Stufflebeam took his son to the museum's information desk to report Kenton's concern on a comment form.

Last week, the boy received a letter from the museum acknowledging that his observation was "spot on."

"The Precambrian is a dimensionless unit of time, which embraces all the time between the origin of Earth and the beginning of the Cambrian Period of geologic time," the letter says.

The solution to the problem would not involve advanced science but rather simply painting over the word "era," the note says.

While no previous visitors to the museum had brought up the error, it has long rankled the paleobiology department's staff, who noticed it even before the Tower of Time was erected 27 years ago, said Lorraine Ramsdell, educational technician for the museum.

"The question is, why was it put up with that on it in the first place?" Ramsdell said.

Excited as he was to receive the correspondence from museum officials, he couldn't help but point out that it was addressed to Kenton Slufflebeam.

In Allegany.

So after all of that... not only did they acknowledge their error on the museum display, but the young lad who pointed it out to them received a letter of recognition from the museum. The letter however, had his name mis-spelled as well as his town's name. To top it off... The department that would apparently seem responsible for the advisement on such accuracies of such a display of course mentioned that they had noticed it over 27 years ago prior to the display being put up. Why they would acknowledge that is beyond me. I would rather say I hadn't noticed it and credit the young chap for finding it than have people think I noticed it and never spoke up this whole time. ::)

Jeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze.
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Offline Sal Atticum

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Re: This is whats wrong with society.
« Reply #1 on: April 06, 2008, 06:12:57 PM »
Why is this in the cycling forum?

I imagine that if the same pillar of time has been up since 1981, if there are any dates on it they are wildly incorrect as well.  I'm not defending the mistake, but it wouldn't be that big of a deal to most geologists or paleontologists unless they work in rocks of that age.

Leaving it up for 28 years and misspelling the kids name and town are inexcusable, however.  They're scientists, and they should be paying attention to detail more than the average person.
JUST EXTRA POLISH. I DO SOME WORK WITH EXCELL SO I KEEP THE CAPS LOCK ON :-P

Offline Plantains

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Re: This is whats wrong with society.
« Reply #2 on: April 08, 2008, 12:31:32 AM »
psh... why are YOU in the cycling forum?  :evil6:
Alaska Unicyclist: if you ban me, i'll set your complex on fire.... just a heads up

 

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