Shadow Analysis by a PHD.

[bknight]

I do not accept claims to a PhD in physics as simply an assurance that the author is a very smart person who has probably got the right answer, regardless of subject.

This is an interesting point. When I put together the pdf version of my website on satellites and weather patterns I had a long discussion with myself about whether to put my name and the letters that go after it. In the end I decided to do both, partly as a "I have nothing to hide" thing, mostly as a "you are not dealing with an idiot" thing, and partly because dammit I earned it!

I am aware, however, that my PhD only makes me an expert in the subject that earned it, and that was 25 years ago now in a career I left behind a long time ago. All I can claim is a grounding in how to do research and how to draw appropriate conclusions from it. I looked at a tiny area of a big subject and produced a small amount of information that no-one else did before me - that's all that is required. No-one has to invent the theory of relativity or discover DNA to get a PhD. They just have to be stubborn and funded. 

My doctorate makes me no more an authority on the subject of my website than someone with no qualifications at all who has put the same amount of effort in as I have. What matters is whether anyone else could employ the same methodology I have and come to the same conclusions, and whether I have exercised due diligence and impartiality in my research. I have. Aulis' papers are generally none of the above.

I am happy to concede that I have an a priori stance that the missions happened as described, but that has not coloured my analysis (just my discussion of them). There have been many edits and rethinking of some sections as a result of my initial conclusions not fitting the data, where I have made conclusions based on what I thought was happening not on what the historical record and the numbers actually said happened. Aulis don't do that - they decide what happened and bend the numbers, or ignore them, or pretend there aren't any other numbers, in order to make their story fit.

I still think my site is a contribution to the body of knowledge and should get me another doctorate

I'm amazed at you Drs.  When I finished by BS, all I wanted to do was go to work and start earning a salary, not to go to school.  Kudos to you obm, Jay(if you got a PhD) and any others on the board that have a PhD, from a lowly Bachelor of Science 

[JayUtah]

Graduate study is a very different sort of animal.  It's much less about having things thrust upon you, and much more about letting you investigate things that genuinely interest you.

[bknight]

Graduate study is a very different sort of animal.  It's much less about having things thrust upon you, and much more about letting you investigate things that genuinely interest you.

Like I indicated my interest was money.    Anyway do you have a Dr. attached to you?  I never have heard/known.

[jfb]

Graduate study is a very different sort of animal.  It's much less about having things thrust upon you, and much more about letting you investigate things that genuinely interest you.

And this is how I ultimately realized grad school was never going to happen for me.  I enjoyed my CS classes, but there was nothing that really grabbed me in a way that would make me spend extra time researching for its own sake (except maybe computer graphics).  I found that I was happy coding during the day for a living, but in my spare time I wanted to do too many other things. 

I had a half-assed notion of wanting to teach (which would require a graduate degree of some kind), but I kept finding reasons not to apply, and before I knew it I was in my late 40s and realized that if it hasn't happened by now, it ain't gonna happen. 

[onebigmonkey]

I'm amazed at you Drs.  When I finished by BS, all I wanted to do was go to work and start earning a salary, not to go to school.  Kudos to you obm, Jay(if you got a PhD) and any others on the board that have a PhD, from a lowly Bachelor of Science 

I fell into mine by accident. When you focus all your efforts on getting the best Bachelor's degree you can you kind of get stuck in a groove. Finishing exams and study took away everything I'd been focused on. There was an offer on the table of paid employment at my university doing field work for a project, there was funding in that project for a PhD et voila, one easy way of not having to make any complicated career decisions for a few years!

[Zakalwe]

I thought I recognised that place. I'm from Blackburn my friend

(Waves hello)

[gillianren]

I'd love to get a PhD, but between financial issues and health issues, it's likely not going to ever happen.  And if it did, a PhD in English wouldn't be the most helpful thing in these discussions.  Though Gods know enough conspiracists could stand to at least take English 101.

[Dalhousie]

I fell into mine by accident. When you focus all your efforts on getting the best Bachelor's degree you can you kind of get stuck in a groove. Finishing exams and study took away everything I'd been focused on. There was an offer on the table of paid employment at my university doing field work for a project, there was funding in that project for a PhD et voila, one easy way of not having to make any complicated career decisions for a few years!

I did too, more or less.  Always thought I would do more study at some stage, but only a masters.  Then I lost my job, there was an industry down turn and new ones were not to be had.I approached a local uni that welcomed me enthusiastically and soon upgraded my masters to a PhD.

It was a lot of fun(as well as hard work) and don't regret it.  Even though I have never really worked in that particular field again, except as a sideline.

[Dalhousie]

Back to the point....  I assume this PhD person is not going to be gracing us with his presence?

[bknight]

Back to the point....  I assume this PhD person is not going to be gracing us with his presence?

Probably knows that his observations and all would not stand up to the scrutiny of a forum where his anomalies will actively be shot down, his methods destroyed and  his observations be negated.  It is easy to post a lot of BS where there are no challenges.