K. Shirts Caught Plagiarizing on Sciforums

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_Mister Scratch
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K. Shirts Caught Plagiarizing on Sciforums

Post by _Mister Scratch »

The Mopologetic front continues to crumble. As much as you may like his goofy persona, Kerry Shirts is really showing himself to be a bumbling oaf this time around:

http://www.sciforums.com/showthread.php?t=51165

What's amusing about the post is that KS apparently "plagiarized" a rather significant chunk of text from Allen Christianson. The key text in question is the following:

This from Allen J. Christensen, an expert in three of the Mayan languages in the New World. Notice the important view that we *still* have no idea what the actual name of the ancient city is, but the name we have right now stems from our own era, 1936. This is the nature of the names for the cities all over Mesoamerica. WIthout knowing what their names are, and since so much was destroyed, how are we to tell *when* we have found something significant for the Book of Mormon? This is just one of the serious differences with the Book of Mormon as opposed to the Biblical names. It is just the fundamental nature of the situation that is so vastly different. We have to take into account the differences like what we read below before we can pronounce much of anything concerning either the finding, or the lack of archaeology for or against the Book of Mormon.

My own limited field of work is in the area of highland Maya languages, of which there are at least thirty-two. Each of these is really a separate language within the larger family of Maya languages—something like Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Italian, which are somewhat related based on common roots but are certainly not mutually intelligible. I work with three highland Maya languages (K'iche', Kaqchikel, and Tz'utujil). This does not, however, qualify me to work seriously in any of the other twenty-nine Maya dialects.

The ruins of Kaminaljuyú are certainly of the proper date to qualify as a Book of Mormon community, its major occupation dating from approximately 400 BC–AD 400. But the identification based on the name itself is wholly improper. Kaminaljuyú is a straightforward K'iche'-Maya language name meaning "hill of the dead." However, we do not know what the city's name was anciently. The name Kaminaljuyú was coined by a Guatemalan archaeologist and scholar, J. Antonio Villacorta C., in 1936 when the first mounds were excavated and it became obvious that the remains of a major city lay beneath them. The major mound was previously known as Quita Sombrero (Spanish for "take off the hat"), or by one of the Spanish names of the farms on which the ruins stood—Finca La Majada, Las Charcas, or La Esperanza. Although one complex text inscribed on a stone altar from ancient Kaminaljuyú has been uncovered, it is impossible at this point to read it because of the paucity of related texts and the absence of a Rosetta Stone–like key to its structure and language. It is therefore impossible to know until further texts are uncovered what the ancient inhabitants of this site called themselves or their city.


Anyways, this assertion got torpedoed pretty quickly:

WildBlueYonder wrote:also, if memory serves me right, Maya is written with common glyphs, so a "Rosetta stone" would only be needed to show pronunciation diffs &/or diff concepts, or did Dr. Linda Schele's, Yuri Valentinovich Knorosov's, et al's work go to naught?
see below:
http://www.utexas.edu/opa/news/99new...aya990302.html
http://muweb.millersville.edu/~colum...art/COE-01.ART

more stuff:
http://www.civilization.ca/civil/maya/mmc04eng.html
http://www.jaguar-sun.com/calendr.html

this Allen?:
http://www.mesoweb.com/features/fabric/interview.html

Allen Christenson has had an unusually varied preparation for his work as an art historian; a journey which takes in teaching, dentistry, Maya linguistics and shamanism!


so are you Kerry Shirts or Allen Christenson?


LOL!!! Does it matter?!?
Last edited by Physics Guy on Thu May 08, 2008 9:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
_LifeOnaPlate
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Post by _LifeOnaPlate »

Note: This response has nothing to do with the actual arguments in the thread to which you link. It is in response to Scratch's comment that Shirts "apparently 'plagiarized' a rather significant chunk of text."

Looks like the issue is, Shirts simply didn't put his reference in a quote box. He clearly cited his source, however, when he said in the first sentence there "This from Allen J. Christensen."

This is what the other poster pointed out when he said:

could you put quotes around others work? is the body of this post from you or "Allen J. Christenson"? are you the one that speaks 3 Maya languages or is it Allen?


Shirts clarified, saying
No, no, I'm sorry for the confusion. It is Allen Christensen who is familiar with three Mesaomaerican lnaguages, not myself. And yes I am Kerry Shirts, not Allen Christensen. Sorry to confuse you, that's my fault. I shall put quotes around stuff next time. I am learning how to work this board, so please forgive the gaffe!
One moment in annihilation's waste,
one moment, of the well of life to taste-
The stars are setting and the caravan
starts for the dawn of nothing; Oh, make haste!

-Omar Khayaam

*Be on the lookout for the forthcoming album from Jiminy Finn and the Moneydiggers.*
_Scottie
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Post by _Scottie »

Yeah, I'm not sure that constitutes a "reaming"...
If there's one thing I've learned from this board, it's that consensual sex with multiple partners is okay unless God commands it. - Abman

I find this place to be hostile toward all brands of stupidity. That's why I like it. - Some Schmo
_LifeOnaPlate
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Post by _LifeOnaPlate »

I think a better title to this thread would have been "Mopologist fails to put a quote in a quote box, though he cited the actual reference."
One moment in annihilation's waste,
one moment, of the well of life to taste-
The stars are setting and the caravan
starts for the dawn of nothing; Oh, make haste!

-Omar Khayaam

*Be on the lookout for the forthcoming album from Jiminy Finn and the Moneydiggers.*
_bcspace
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Post by _bcspace »

Looks like the issue is, Shirts simply didn't put his reference in a quote box. He clearly cited his source, however, when he said in the first sentence there "This from Allen J. Christensen."


Yes, where is the plagarism? This is one of those outrageous claims I was telling Harmony about that drives people into our Church. Scratch may not have been the one to first accuse KS of plagarism, he simply passed on the accusation. I would append to that "without research", but think it's intentionally NOT researched in order to generate a headline. In other words, countermo rhetoric is directed at those who react to headlines without doing any studying, reading, or thinking about the issue. That says a lot about many exmos who use these types of things in their "exit stories".

The glory of God is intelligence.........
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Satan's Plan Deconstructed.
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_guy sajer
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Post by _guy sajer »

bcspace wrote: This is one of those outrageous claims I was telling Harmony about that drives people into our Church...


And you know this because of your extensive research? You are, after all, such a careful and thorough researcher you'd never make claims based on limited, biased evidence, now would you?
God . . . "who mouths morals to other people and has none himself; who frowns upon crimes, yet commits them all; who created man without invitation, . . . and finally, with altogether divine obtuseness, invites this poor, abused slave to worship him ..."
_bcspace
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Post by _bcspace »

This is one of those outrageous claims I was telling Harmony about that drives people into our Church...

And you know this because of your extensive research? You are, after all, such a careful and thorough researcher you'd never make claims based on limited, biased evidence, now would you?


Never claimed anything but personal experience on that issue (Harmony's) which is pretty much all you guys are giving at the moment. Where is the simple research required to prove KS plagarized which is the claim Scratch has made by spreading it?
Machina Sublime
Satan's Plan Deconstructed.
Your Best Resource On Joseph Smith's Polygamy.
Conservatism is the Gospel of Christ and the Plan of Salvation in Action.
The Degeneracy Of Progressivism.
_guy sajer
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Post by _guy sajer »

bcspace wrote:
This is one of those outrageous claims I was telling Harmony about that drives people into our Church...

And you know this because of your extensive research? You are, after all, such a careful and thorough researcher you'd never make claims based on limited, biased evidence, now would you?


Never claimed anything but personal experience on that issue (Harmony's) which is pretty much all you guys are giving at the moment. Where is the simple research required to prove KS plagarized which is the claim Scratch has made by spreading it?


No, silly goose, I am referring to the claim that "outrageous claims . . . drives people into our Church . . . "

Your evidence for this is what? You limited anecdotal experience as a stake missionary in a one stake.

So, with your N=(what 6?), you are prepared to generalize (and that is exactly what the context of your posts does)???

Wow, super duper research there ol' buddy.

I'll get off your case if you get off your stupid "lazy research" high horse. Otherwise, be prepared to have ever single instance of lazy research exposed.
God . . . "who mouths morals to other people and has none himself; who frowns upon crimes, yet commits them all; who created man without invitation, . . . and finally, with altogether divine obtuseness, invites this poor, abused slave to worship him ..."
_LifeOnaPlate
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Post by _LifeOnaPlate »

What did you think of Scratch's overall thread, Guy?
One moment in annihilation's waste,
one moment, of the well of life to taste-
The stars are setting and the caravan
starts for the dawn of nothing; Oh, make haste!

-Omar Khayaam

*Be on the lookout for the forthcoming album from Jiminy Finn and the Moneydiggers.*
_guy sajer
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Joined: Tue Jan 16, 2007 2:16 am

Post by _guy sajer »

LifeOnaPlate wrote:What did you think of Scratch's overall thread, Guy?


It doesn't do much for me. I don't really know much about the stuff they're debating. I don't worry to much either about plagiarism on a discussion BB. A discussion BB is akin to a conversation, very informal, and similar rules apply, only one can be a lot nastier on a BB and get away with it.

Got that numbnuts :-)
God . . . "who mouths morals to other people and has none himself; who frowns upon crimes, yet commits them all; who created man without invitation, . . . and finally, with altogether divine obtuseness, invites this poor, abused slave to worship him ..."
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