Postby Technomancer » Thu Apr 17, 2008 1:21 pm
EricTheFred (post: 1218060) wrote:But Mom! It's not a geek toy! It's eductional!!
http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/electronic/956a/Okay, if you're not an astronomy geek like me, it might not be quite as fascinating to you, but for me, this is so cool, I may have to get one, too. The wife will be greatly displeased, though, unless I can get her to believe it's for our kids...
It's neat, but it's more educational to properly figure out the position from the right ascension and declination yourself.
The scientific method," Thomas Henry Huxley once wrote, "is nothing but the normal working of the human mind." That is to say, when the mind is working; that is to say further, when it is engaged in corrrecting its mistakes. Taking this point of view, we may conclude that science is not physics, biology, or chemistry—is not even a "subject"—but a moral imperative drawn from a larger narrative whose purpose is to give perspective, balance, and humility to learning.
Neil Postman
(The End of Education)
Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge
Isaac Aasimov