From: sdoe@nmsu.edu (Stephen Doe)
Subject: Re: Favorite astronomer jokes
Organization: New Mexico State University
Distribution: world, public
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1992 04:52:29 GMT

In article <36@fedfil.UUCP> news@fedfil.UUCP (news) writes:
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>It appears obvious to me that the twentieth century American
>scientific community in general and the astronomical profession
>in particular, are, in the next century, going to come in for a
>great deal of opprobrium, calumny, criticism, ridicule, abuse
>etc. etc. for the manner in which Immanuel Velikovsky was dealt
>with and for the steadfast refusal of establishment scientists
>to deal with the emergent discipline of catastrophism until at
>least two generations of them have died out altogether.  Maybe
>the term I want is DISSIN', as in "He was dissin' my woman, so I
>snuffed him out with my Uzzi..."  Our present astronomers are
>going to come in for some DISSIN' in the next century.

Apparently we haven't done a good enough job abusing Velikovsky, since
there are still people out there who believe in this drivel.  

I am the last person to object to receiving scorn and ridicule (as a
grad student, I receive a daily dose of the above), but when he who
ridicules not only lacks fundamental knowledge of physics and
astronomy, but also good plain common sense, then I become annoyed.  I
suppose that when one is the self-appointed savior of modern science
(if not Western civilization itself) then one can ignore piddly little
details such as the fact that the Earth probably would have been
within the Roche Limit of this "small electromagnetic star," or the
fact that we would've frozen our collective ass off in transit from
Saturn and Jupiter to Earth's present orbit, or the fact that it
would've been really amazing for the Earth to have retained Luna while
engaging in these wildly improbable shenanigans.  Not to mention that
Mr. Holden's interpretations of ancient mythologies, while interesting
from a psychological point of view, has no relevance to the scientific
discussion of our origins.  I am amazed at the levels of ignorance and
arrogance it takes to not only give credence to such an inane
doctrine, but also to present it as though it were vastly superior to
our present scientific understanding.  In case I haven't made myself
clear:  it is my opinion that Mr. Holden doesn't know shit from Shinola.

I am quite aware that Mr. Holden is beyond reasoning with when it
comes to this issue.  I simply want to say to those naive enough to
take his ideas seriously:  please do some basic reading in physics and
astronomy.  Then decide for yourselves who belongs in the same
category as those fellows who just discovered the image of Elvis in an
Egyptian tomb.  

>I have only one problem with this:  it flies in the face of the
>old Yankee adage against putting off until tommorrow what can be
>done today.  The following are a few of my favorite astronomer
>jokes:
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>How many redneck astronomers does it take to change a lightbulb?
>Answer:  Four...  one to actually change the bulb, another to
>write a song about it, and two more to gt into a fight over it
>out in the parking lot.
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Let me guess:  the "redneck astronomers" were originally "redneck
country singers," or maybe just "rednecks."  If you expect those of us
within the astronomical community to be offended by such lame attempts
at humor, then prepare to be disappointed.  It looks to me as though
you went out and bought a copy of "Tasteless Jokes," randomly selected
jokes concerning various ethnic groups, and inserted the word
"astronomers" when appropriate.  If you're going to copy something, at
least copy something that once had some originality to it!

Mr. Holden, your attempts to vilify modern science have failed
miserably.  Your theories are nonsensical, your arrogance is boorish
and your "humor" is tiresome.  I can only hope that one day you will
realize that each and every one of your posts was a waste of
"hundreds, if not thousands of dollars."

Sincerely,

Steve Doe