[continued from previous message]   
      
   >>>>>>>>>>> enough sense to test your reactionless drive in a good vacuum, you   
   might   
   >>>>>>>>>>> have been worth taking seriously, but you don't seem to be the   
   kind of   
   >>>>>>>>>>> meticulous experimentalists who can set up a convincing test, and   
   you do   
   >>>>>>>>>>> seem to be silly enough to have tweaked your experiments to   
   maximise the   
   >>>>>>>>>>> potential confounds,when you should have been minimising them.   
   >>>>>>>>>>   
   >>>>>>>>>> It seems to me that you haven't done any experimentation and just   
   >>>>>>>>>> repeats what others have already said.   
   >>>>>>>>>> Basically, you want to continue   
   >>>>>>>>>> believing in the status quo.   
   >>>>>>>>>> The only way, 'perhaps,' to convince you is to have you witness   
   >>>>>>>>>> long experimental PNN tests without further chatter.   
   >>>>>>>>>> But that's not possible.Besides it seems to me that you are not   
   convinced   
   >>>>>>>>>> that Lorentz force can exist in circuits in which alternate current   
   flows.   
   >>>>>>>>>>   
   >>>>>>>>>> Regards   
   >>>>>>>>>   
   >>>>>>>>> Thank you for keeping Mr Sloman amused.   
   >>>>>>>>   
   >>>>>>>> It's Dr.Sloman.   
   >>>>>>>   
   >>>>>>> Given a sound theoretical basis confirmed by experiment, it is our   
   >>>>>>> company policy to never hire PhDs.   
   >>>>>>   
   >>>>>> That makes sense. The literature survey is an essential part of a any   
   >>>>>> Ph.D. thesis, and it has to demonstrate a capacity of for critical   
   >>>>>> thinking. John Larkin doesn't like criticism.   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>> Just four of the problems with PhDs:   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>> Years of being forced to kowtow to authority   
   >>>>   
   >>>> I don't recall doing much of that.   
   >>>>   
   >>>>> and   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>> Ingrained unwillingness to think crazy   
   >>>>   
   >>>> My Ph.D. work didn't proceed the way my supervisor had expected. There   
   >>>> wasn't anything crazy about using computers and modern electronics, but   
   >>>> he wasn't familiar with either - it didn't worry him, though he would   
   >>>> have liked it to go faster.   
   >>>>   
   >>>>> and   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>> Affection for complexity.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> Knowing what you are doing - not your strong suite - can lead to   
   >>>> elaborations that the less well-informed can see as unnecessary   
   >>>> complexity. My colleagues were known to describe me as "gadget happy"   
   >>>> but were happy enough to accept my help when writing computer programs.   
   >>>>   
   >>>>> and   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>> Lack of common sense   
   >>>>   
   >>>> You think that Trump has common sense. Anything that cures what he has   
   >>>> got has got to be a good thing.   
   >>>>   
   >>>>> Phil, of course, is the rare exception. The occasional dose of   
   >>>>> gin+tonic cures any residual academic side effects.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> Alcohol does make people stupid.   
   >>>>   
   >>>>> I've been to some meetings of physicists. They are brutal, instantly   
   >>>>> attacking any non-scientifically-defensible idea. Not a good   
   >>>>> brainstorming environment.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> They can probably spell defensible correctly too.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> You can waste a lot of time in brain=storming sessions on obviously   
   >>>> impractical ideas. Getting rid of them without inhibiting the expression   
   >>>> of the unconventional idea you want can be difficult. Not including   
   >>>> ignorant half-wits in the the brainstorming session is an easier solution.   
   >>>>   
   >>>>> Are chemists the same way?   
   >>>>   
   >>>> The ones I interacted with mostly knew what they were talking about,   
   >>>> which didn't prevent heated discussions.   
   >>>   
   >>>   
   >>> When I was in high school, I worked two summers in the physics   
   >>> department of LSUNO. MIcrowave spectroscopy and Mössbauer Effect   
   >>> mostly.   
   >>>   
   >>> They registered me as a fake student so they could pay me 50 cents per   
   >>> hour, made me student number 20,000.   
   >>>   
   >>> I noticed even then the streak of cruelty that runs through academic   
   >>> physics.   
   >>   
   >> I can't say I've seen it. But you seem to be able to detect cruelty in   
   >> the less favourable responses you get here.You probably had even more   
   >> exaggerated ideas about your capabilities back then than you have now.   
   >   
   > A guy was applying to get into grad school, and was making a   
   > presentation about particle accelerators to the dean and a prof,   
   > basically an oral qualification exam. I was invited to sit in. The guy   
   > did his talk, the dean asked a couple of questions, and the dean said   
   > "I think I've heard enough" and they just walked out. The poor student   
   > was crushed.   
      
   It's undiplomatic - but flattering people to make them feel good is   
   optional. It takes time and busy people don't have a lot of that   
      
   > I thought that was cruel.   
      
   You do make it clear that you expect to be flattered at every possible   
   opportunity. Most people don't. Where I've worked people will   
   occasionally say that a presentation was unusually impressive, but they   
   don't say it often.   
      
   > I have seen that sort behavior in other physics meetings.   
      
   It's pretty much the norm. You get up and say your piece, and the   
   meeting moves on to the next speaker.   
      
   > Engineers are not often that skilled in brutality.   
      
   What you are describing isn't brutality. Brutal behavior involves   
   pointing out what was wrong with the presentation and spelling out how   
   it could have been improved by adopting the approach that had been the   
   industry standard for years. I've seen that done.   
      
   It saves a lot of time. It doesn't seem all that effective in getting   
   people to do better next time - if they were dim enough to say stuff   
   that was obviously stupid in public they probably don't have the   
   capacity to do better.   
      
   --   
   Bill Sloman, Sydney   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)