Ecolog and others:
I have received two queries regarding the scavenger hunt.
One person asked if publications concerning "non-teleological evolution"
would qualify. Of course not; the whole point is to find publications which
advance advancement or progress as a theory of how evolution works, not
those which refute the teleological approach. I said "no tricks" or
technical "gotchas" or other tricks, no matter how common or ingenious will
disqualify the entry."
Another asked if I planned to accept entries in the spring. Sorry, no--the
whole point was to get students busy under a deadline, but not having them
laboring for months for a lousy hundred bucks. By "year's end" I meant by
this year's end--December 31, 2012. I only SUGGESTED that students might
request, and that professor's might grant, extra credit for the work itself,
implying that while I consider what is submitted to me to be my property, I
do not wish to preclude students from using the same work to get extra
credit should they choose and their professors approve. (For example, I once
conned a comparative government and an economics prof. to accept the same
paper on the basis that I wanted to do a more exhaustive study that would
require more than twice the work of two different papers and that they could
be the judge of the validity of my assertion and grade accordingly. I got
"A's" in both courses.) Students, BE AGGRESSIVE, but not tricky. And I am an
ace at spotting plagiarism. Any cases of blatant deception run the risk of
being put in the stocks. ZERO TOLERANCE of any kind of con-artists!
WT
----- Original Message -----
From: "Wayne Tyson" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, December 07, 2012 9:04 PM
Subject: [ECOLOG-L] STUDENTS! ATTENTION! MONEY! TELEOLOGY IN EVOLUTION
SCAVENGER HUNT TRIPLE-CREDIT FOR TEXTBOOKS AND DOUBLE CREDIT FOR READINGS OR
READING LIST BOOKS
Hear Ye, Here Ye,
ATTENTION ALL STUDENTS!
$100 PRIZE OFFERED
LITERATURE SCAVENGER HUNT
I, Wayne (Stickler/Scrooge) Tyson will pay the sum of $100 US to the first
student who, in good faith, sends to me, by year's end, the greatest number
of published references, including separate electronic copies of the papers,
citing the use of the terms "progress," "advance," "improvement,"or
equivalent terms implying teleology in works on or about evolution, complete
with page numbers and highlights of the incidences. In the case of books and
other works for which no electronic copy is available, I will accept a scan
of the title page and the pages containing the examples of this practice. If
scanning is not possible, I will accept paper copies by mail. For students
not having free access to electronic works, I will accept typed or legible
handwritten lists. All entries must provide a count at the top of the
submittal and all items must be consecutively numbered. Any "shady" claims
like duplications or special pleadings and technical "gotchas" or other
tricks, no matter how common or ingenious will disqualify the entry. All
submittals must be in English, but translations of works in other languages
may be accepted. A bonus will be considered if a concise (brief but
complete; the briefer the better) essay on the subject is submitted along
with the list of references, but an essay is not required. Each entry must
include a declaration that the work was done without assistance entirely by
the person making the submittal. All entries will be kept confidential
unless a statement granting permission to publicize personal information.
All submittals become the property of Wayne Tyson.
The date of the award will be dependent upon the time it takes me to process
all of the submissions. If the volume of submittals is too great to
determine the winner within a reasonable time, it may be necessary to review
only a random sample or the first 100 submittals received in which case the
winner will be based on the sample rather than the entire number of
submittals, so speed is of the essence, so to speak. In the case of ties, I
will use a subjective measure of quality to determine the winner. Please
spread the word; being an Ecolog subscriber is not required and the offer is
open worldwide. Only the winner will be notified.
WT
I hope that professors will consider giving course credit to students who
concurrently submit their work in any course, regardless of said course's
apparent relevance to evolution.
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