COACH TAYLOR'S BLOG

Noah's Ark Found????

noreply@blogger.com (Coach Taylor) — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 14:35:00 +0000

For years there has been speculation the Noah's Ark has been found in Turkey. Various reason ranging from political pressure to area instability, have hindered efforts to reach and excavate the find. It seems that we now have a team of archeologist that claim they have partially excavated the remains and found what they believe to be the biblical boat. Look at the link below (particularly the video) and let me know what you think!

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2949640/Noahs-Ark-found-in-Turkey.html

A-DAY

noreply@blogger.com (Coach Taylor) — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 14:28:00 +0000

Just under 92,000 fans turned out to see Alabama's A-Day Scrimmage. What is normally just another practice during the spring, has turned into a yearly event that draws many Alabama fans just like it is fall! A-Day is free to the public, and fans tailgate and R.V. just like they would if Tennessee or Aubarn were coming to town. I really can't wait until the fall!!!!!!!!!! Roll Tide!!!!!!!

Photo courtesy of Sports Illustrated

This is why we don't plagiarize!!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Coach Taylor) — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 23:51:00 +0000

Rampant cheating hurts China's research ambitions

By GILLIAN WONG, Associated Press Writer – Sun Apr 11, 12:49 am ET

LIUZHOU, China – When professors in China need to author research papers to get promoted, many turn to people like Lu Keqian.

Working on his laptop in a cramped spare bedroom, the former schoolteacher ghostwrites for professors, students, government offices — anyone willing to pay his fee, typically about 300 yuan ($45).

"My opinion is that writing papers for someone else is not wrong," he said. "There will always be a time when one needs help from others. Even our great leaders Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping needed help writing."

Ghostwriting, plagiarizing or faking results is so rampant in Chinese academia that some experts worry it could hinder China's efforts to become a leader in science.

The communist government views science as critical to China's modernization, and the latest calls for government spending on science and technology to grow by 8 percent to 163 billion yuan ($24 billion) this year.

State-run media recently exulted over reports that China publishes more papers in international journals than any except the U.S. But not all the research stands up to scrutiny. In December, a British journal retracted 70 papers from a Chinese university, all by the same two lead scientists, saying the work had been fabricated.

"Academic fraud, misconduct and ethical violations are very common in China," said professor Rao Yi, dean of the life sciences school at Peking University in the capital. "It is a big problem."

Critics blame weak penalties and a system that bases faculty promotions and bonuses on number, rather than quality, of papers published.

Dan Ben-Canaan is familiar with plagiarism.

The Israeli professor has been teaching for nine years at Heilongjiang University in the northeastern city ofHarbin. A colleague approached him in 2008 for a paper he wrote about the kidnapping and murder of a Jewish musician in Harbin in 1933 during the Japanese occupation.

"He had the audacity to present it as his own paper at a conference that I organized," Ben-Canaan said. "Without any shame!"

In a separate case, he gave material he had written to a researcher at the prestigious Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. He said he was shocked to receive a book by the academic that was mostly a copy and translation of the material Ben-Canaan had provided — without any attribution.

The pressure to publish has created a ghostwriting boom. Nearly 1 billion yuan (more than $145 million) was spent on academic papers in China last year, up fivefold from 2007, a study by Wuhan University professor Shen Yang showed.

One company providing such a service is Lu's, in Liuzhou, a southern industrial city. His Lu Ke Academic Center boasts a network of 20 to 30 graduate students and professors whose specialties range from computer technology to military affairs.

Lu, a 58-year-old Communist Party member, is approached by clients through Internet chat programs. Most are college professors seeking promotions and students seeking help on theses. Once, 10 students from the same college class put in a collective request for him to write their papers, he said.

"Doing everything on your own, independently, should be possible in theory, but in reality it is quite difficult and one will always need some help," Lu said. "This is how I see it. I don't know if it is right."

Even in the business of selling research papers, there are cheats. Among the papers bought and sold in 2007, more than 70 percent were plagiarized, the Wuhan study found.

Early last year, Internet users found that the deputy principal of Anhui Agricultural University had committed plagiarism in as many as 20 papers. The university removed him from his post but allowed him to continue teaching.

In June, the principal of a traditional Chinese medicine university in the city of Guangzhou was accused of plagiarizing at least 40 percent of his doctoral thesis from another paper.

And in March, the state-run China Youth Daily reported a 1997 medical paper had been plagiarized repeatedly over the past decade. At least 25 people from 16 organizations copied from the work, and more doctors are expected to be named as the investigation by two students using plagiarism-detecting software continues, the report said.

Fang Shimin, an independent investigator of fraud, said he and his volunteers expose about a hundred cases every year, publicizing them on a Web site titled "New Threads."

"The most common ones are plagiarism and exaggerating academic achievement," Fang said.

The papers retracted by the British journal came from researchers at Jinggangshan University in southeastern China. The editors are checking other papers from the same institution, and say more retractions are expected. Calls and e-mails sent to Zhong Hua and Liu Tao, the two researchers named as lead authors of the papers, were unanswered. Other researchers contacted at the university too did not respond.

The journal, Acta Crystallographica Section E, publishes discoveries of new crystal structures, much of it from legitimate Chinese research.

"Chinese authors have submitted thousands of high quality structures to Acta E, which represent an important contribution to science," wrote Peter Strickland, managing editor of Journals of the International Union of Crystallography, which owns Acta E, in an e-mail. He said it was the first time fraudulent papers had been found in any of the journals.

Richard P. Suttmeier, an expert in Chinese science policy at the University of Oregon, said the problems can be traced to China's efforts to modernize its science system in the 1980s and early 1990s when research accountability and evaluation were still weak.

In trying to find ready measures of achievement, China emulated Western practices and began to focus on high-quality publications, but with mixed results, he said.

The problems could hurt the country's ambition of becoming a global leader in research, Suttmeier said.

"I suspect there will be less appetite for non-Chinese scientists to collaborate with Chinese colleagues who are operating in a culture of misconduct," he said.

Last month the Education Ministry released guidelines for forming a 35-member watchdog committee. Also, in a faxed reply to questions, it said it has asked universities to get tough.

Rao, the Peking University dean, remains skeptical.

Government ministries are happy to fund research but not to police it, he said. "The authorities don't want to be the bad guy."

___

Associated Press researcher Xi Yue contributed to this report.

___

Well said…..

noreply@blogger.com (Coach Taylor) — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 23:37:00 +0000

I thought that this picture pretty well summed up what I feel about our government right now!

Fun in the Sipsey Wilderness!

noreply@blogger.com (Coach Taylor) — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 00:05:00 +0000

These are a couple of the shots my friend Tim took while we were on our Spring Break hiking trip! It was a blast!

Global Warming…..or not.

noreply@blogger.com (Coach Taylor) — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 02:08:00 +0000

There is a rather large debate (at least among the uneducated of us) as to whether or not global warming exists, and if it does, what is causing it. Many in the scientific community have come out against United Nations sponsored global warming summits, stating that they represent falsified data. Much of this data has been sponsored by institutions who would have a vested interest in proving global warming exist and that mankind is causing it (this is the equivalent of getting a panel of overweight people to study if Big Macs are good for you…of course they would say they are!)

The link below show some data (admittedly not all the data on earth) pertaining to Global Warming. Look at the link and decide for yourself. Let me know what you think!

http://www.isthereglobalwarming.com/

New Human Ancestors? See for Yourself!

noreply@blogger.com (Coach Taylor) — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 23:38:00 +0000

Possible new human ancestor found in Siberia

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(Reuters) - Genetic material pulled from a pinky finger bone found in a Siberian cave shows a new and unknown type of pre-human lived alongside modern humans and Neanderthals, scientists reported on Wednesday.

SCIENCE

The creature, nicknamed "Woman X" for the time being, could have lived as recently as 30,000 years ago and appears only distantly related to modern humans or Neanderthals, the researchers reported.

"It really just looked like something we had never seen before," Johannes Krause of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, told a telephone briefing.

"It was a sequence that looked something like humans but really quite different."

Writing in Nature, Krause and colleagues said they sequenced DNA from the mitochondria, a part of the cell, which is passed down virtually intact from a woman to her children. They compared it to DNA from humans, Neanderthals and apes.

The sequence indicates the hominin's line diverged about a million years ago from the line that gave rise to both humans and Neanderthals and that split about 500,000 years ago.

That makes it younger than Homo erectus, the pre-human that spread out of Africa to much of the world about 1.9 million years ago.

"It is some new creature that has not been on our radar screen so far," said Svaante Paabo, a colleague of Krause's who specializes in analyzing ancient DNA.

And it would have lived near to both modern humans and Neanderthals. "There were at least three ... different forms of humans in this area 40,000 years ago," Paabo said.

Krause and Paabo are careful not to name the creature a new species just yet. They are now working to sequence nuclear DNA -- the DNA that makes up most of the genetic code, which will tell a great deal more about "Woman X".

NEW SCIENCE OF EVOLUTION

The genetic sequence tells scientists little about what the creature would have looked like or whether it interacted with other humans living in the Altai mountains of Siberia, where the pinky finger bone was found.

The work, done using a DNA sequencer made by Illumina Ltd, suggests a new way is opening to identify the ancestors of humanity. Krause and Paabo had only a tiny fragment of bone to work with and cannot reconstruct a skeleton in the time-honored manner of most paleontologists.

But there may be more there. The cold, dry conditions of the Altai mountains preserve the DNA. Stone tools also have been found in the area, as well as the bones of woolly mammoths but only tantalizing fragments of human bone and teeth.

Researchers have sequenced DNA from mammoths frozen in Siberia and the same team has sequenced DNA from Neanderthals.

Paabo and Krause said it is theoretically possible the creature is related to another potential third species of human -- Homo floresiensis, nicknamed "hobbit" -- which lived on an island in modern-day Indonesia about 17,000 years ago.

The team has tried without success to get DNA from hobbit bones. Most skeletons of pre-humans have been found in warm places such as Africa, but hot, wet conditions break down DNA.

Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor

WASHINGTON

Wed Mar 24, 2010 2:09pm EDT

Courtesy Reuters March 2, 2010

Old Rail Bed

noreply@blogger.com (Coach Taylor) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 20:31:00 +0000

Old Rail Bed, originally uploaded by firefocus.

This is an old rail bed at the bottom of the valley near my home. It stands out in the summer like a fire lane for animals, off-roaders, and hikers alike! In the winter it becomes more inviting and open. The snow these past few weekends really makes it interesting. Like a white carpet underneath a winter canopy. Go explore something!

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noreply@blogger.com (Coach Taylor) — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 17:35:00 +0000

Alabama vs. Texas

noreply@blogger.com (Coach Taylor) — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 17:56:00 +0000

Roll Tide...

Courtesy of ESPN

Congratulations Mark Ingram!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Coach Taylor) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 15:34:00 +0000

Congratulation to Mark Ingram for bringing home a Heisman Trophy for the University of Alabama. He is very deserving and an outstanding football player as well as an outstanding person. Roll Tide...

Courtesy of the University of Alabama

noreply@blogger.com (Coach Taylor) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 19:06:00 +0000

Courtesy of Sports Illustrated

Alabama vs. Florida

noreply@blogger.com (Coach Taylor) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 19:40:00 +0000

Roll Tide....

Courtesy of the Birmingham News

Alabama vs. Auburn

noreply@blogger.com (Coach Taylor) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 15:51:00 +0000

Roll Tide...

Courtesy of the Birmingham News

Alabama vs. UT Chattanooga

noreply@blogger.com (Coach Taylor) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:41:00 +0000

Roll Tide....

Courtesy of the Birmingham News

Alabama vs. Mississippi State

noreply@blogger.com (Coach Taylor) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:33:00 +0000

Roll Tide.....

Courtesy of the Birmingham News

Alabama vs. LSU

noreply@blogger.com (Coach Taylor) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:26:00 +0000

Roll Tide.....

Courtesy of the Birmingham News

Alabama vs. Tennessee

noreply@blogger.com (Coach Taylor) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:14:00 +0000

Wheeeewww. Rolll Tide...

Courtesy of the Birmingham News

Gino Toretta and Me

noreply@blogger.com (Coach Taylor) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:34:00 +0000

If you are an Alabama fan, then you love to see pictures of the last national championship the Crimson Tide won, the Sugar Bowl of 1992. Gene Stalling led an Alabama team with a top ranked defense, and an unproven quarterback (Jay Barker, who like myself, is a Hewitt-Trussville High School grad), against a undefeated Miami team. Alabama destroyed the Hurricanes and intercepted their quarterback 3 times. The Miami quarterback won the Heisman Trophy that year. His name was Gino Torretta. I had a chance speak with Gino last weekend at the Alabama v. South Carolina game. Roll Tide Gino...Roll Tide!

Alabama vs. South Carolina

noreply@blogger.com (Coach Taylor) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:48:00 +0000

Roll Tide..

Courtesy of the Birmingham News

paintball to the ear!

noreply@blogger.com (Coach Taylor) — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 17:39:00 +0000

Alabama vs. Ole Miss

noreply@blogger.com (Coach Taylor) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:43:00 +0000

Tiffin kicks five field goals to lead Bama past the Rebels

Roll Tide...

Courtesy of the Birmingahm News

Alabama vs. Kentucky

noreply@blogger.com (Coach Taylor) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:06:00 +0000

Roll Tide....

Courtesy Birmingham News

Alabama vs. Arkansas

noreply@blogger.com (Coach Taylor) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 18:25:00 +0000

gobamagobamagobamago!

photo courtesy of the Birmingham News

New Blog Bonus: School Spirit

noreply@blogger.com (Coach Taylor) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 13:40:00 +0000

One of my fondest memories of high school revolves around my friends and their behavior at football and basketball games, particularly basketball games. Students from my school used to take up and entire section of the stands in the gym, paint themselves, make signs, and scream their lungs out for our team. They had cheers that everyone knew by heart, and sang as loud as they could. It was not uncommon to see 200 students at a basketball game on a Friday night, instead of out with their boyfriends or girlfriends. So...............

Here is my question. What is school spirit? Do we have any at Ashville? How does a person "get" school spirit? What can we do to improve school spirit? Do you have any school spirit? Explain.

Let me know what you think. Good answers would be appreciated!