I shall take a break from acids, common markets, QUAAADRATIC inequalities, REEVVIEWS - not an ADVERTISEMENT -, 高级华文与文化, Newton, Demographic Transition Models and Igbo society ... only to indulge in philosophical arguements.
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So I guess it's pretty clear cut now. Non-dualism is the key to the age-old conflict between scientists and humanitarians (which includes religious people). Distinct but not separate. End of discussion.
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Having the academic mood right now, let me show an academic joke from the Net (just for fun):
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Here's how you should read science lingo:
1) "IT HAS LONG BEEN KNOWN" ... I didn't look up the original reference.
2) "A DEFINITE TREND IS EVIDENT" ... This data is practically meaningless.
3) "WHILE IS HAS NOT BEEN POSSIBLE TO PROVIDE DEFINITE ANSWERS TO THE QUESTIONS" ... An unsuccessful experiment, but I still hope to get it published.
4) "THREE OF THE SAMPLES WERE CHOSEN FOR DETAILED STUDY" ... The other results didn't make any sense.
5) "TYPICAL RESULTS ARE SHOWN" ...This is the prettiest graph.
6) "THESE RESULTS WILL BE IN A SUBSEQUENT REPORT" ... I might get around to this sometime, if pushed/funded.
7) "IN MY EXPERIENCE" ... Once.
8) "IN CASE AFTER CASE" ... Twice.
9) "IN A SERIES OF CASES" ... Thrice.
10) "IT IS BELIEVED THAT" ... I think.
11) "IT IS GENERALLY BELIEVED THAT" ... A couple of other guys think so too.
12) "CORRECT WITHIN AN ORDER OF MAGNITUDE" ... Wrong.
13) "ACCORDING TO STATISTICAL ANALYSIS" ... Rumour has it.
14) "A STATISTICALLY ORIENTATED PROJECTION OF THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THESE FINDINGS" ... A wild guess.
15) "A CAREFUL ANALYSIS OF THE OBTAINABLE DATA" ... Three pages of notes were obliterated when I knocked over a glass of beer.
16) "IT IS CLEAR THAT MUCH ADDITIONAL WORK WILL BE REQUIRED BEFORE A COMPLETE UNDERSTANDING OF THIS PHENOMENA OCCURS" ... I don't understand it.
17) "AFTER ADDITIONAL STUDY BY MY COLLEAGUES" ... They don't understand it either.
"THANKS ARE DUE TO JOE BLOTZ FOR ASSISTANCE WITH THE EXPERIMENT AND TO ANDREA SCHAEFFER FOR VALUABLE DISCUSSIONS" ... Mr. Boltz did the work and Ms. Schaeffer explained to me what it meant.
18) "A HIGHLY SIGNIFICANT AREA FOR EXPLORATORY STUDY" ... A totally useless topic selected by my committee.
19) "IT IS HOPED THAT THIS STUDY WILL STIMULATE FURTHER INVESTIGATION IN THIS FIELD" ... I quit!
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This is hilarious. Hahahahaha.