I received a message pointing out that I was turning PHYS_L into a
personal soapbox for topics outside the field of teaching/learning
physics.
This is a valid point. "Cold Fusion" and its resemblence to the situation
with the Wright Brothers is only appropriate if other PHYS-L people are
interested, and only if they have no objections to the level of "heat" I
bring to the subject.
Do some physics educators teach physics from a historical perspective? Do
they see a need to take seriously the lessons of history and to learn from
them? Some certainly do. However, if they form a tiny minority here,
then I have no business in long-windedly pushing this topic on the
uninterested majority.
Are others here as fascinated by these topics as I am? This stuff
certainly isn't found in the textbooks I've encountered! If PHYS-L
prefers, I shall shut up about the Wright Brothers, CF, etc. If nobody
says anything, I'll take that as a vote against the CF/Wrights discussion.
(Where do I get the time to write so much? Two things: I get up fairly
early in the morning, and also I type really REALLY fast. This is normal
for computer programmers. Imagine if email was the same as voicemail.
Imagine if you could speak to your computer and have it type out the
dictation. Then we could all send quick little messages where we speak
for five minutes yet generate 50K of ascii text per message. That's a lot
of typing, but not a lot of talking. I am in that situation at present,
but using fingers rather than mouth.)