Intelligent Design Theory: Science or Religion?

I always wear standard acceptable kit and I've never had even a slight dent in any vehicle I was driving.

I think you must have assertivitis. It's nothing to worry about. The antidote is easy. You simply allow that the other fellow might have a point. Piece of cake.

Option B seems pretty good.

I might also throw in an explanation of naturalism as the basis for science, and why science doesn not address religious concepts.

With all these scientific minds gathered here could any of them offer an explanation of the following points which were raised in the pub tonight?

Why, given the exponential growth of women's expensive beauty treatments, are women getting uglier?

Why do women footballers not rip their jerseys off and run around waving them over their heads to celebrate scoring a goal like bloke footballers do?

You've got him rl.

Don't release your grip.

Ahh, but the strawberries that's... that's where I had them. They laughed at me and made jokes but I proved beyond the shadow of a doubt and with... geometric logic... that a duplicate key to the wardroom icebox DID exist, and I'd have produced that key if they hadn't of pulled the Caine out of action. I, I, I know now they were only trying to protect some fellow officers...

Great flick (nobody's better than Bogie) , but I liked the book better.

Speaking of the navy, wandeljw, have you got any good explanations of how aquatic critters like dolphins 'evolved' sophisticated sonar 'a little bit at a time' , ( and they didn't have very long to get it done either) ?

Lots of very specialized equipment requiring a huge number of unusual mutations, and only a relatively short time to make it happen.

Doesn't seem very likely to have conveyed any 'survival benefit' if all of the necessary unique components weren't in place and functioning very well from the get-go. (Just try closing your eyes, and trying to locate something in your backyard using the echo of your voice, if you don't believe me. No benefit.)

It's a biological law, spendy: beauty requires ease. The law of diminishing returns comes and goes, and increased energy expended on beauty only begins to detract from it. Consider the capital -- financial, personal, sexual, and otherwise -- that goes into a facelift, and consider the result? All that dejuvenation to see skin stretched taut. There is an ideal balance in any biological system (from biochemistry on up to ecology) that may be hovered around but is never quite struck. That's why all young species eventually age, pass their glory, and die out, from starlets to starlings.



One did. It was one none-too-great show that garnered more attention than it warranted.

Probably wouldn't work the second time around.

You might need to pick a different sport.

Dozie-dawg,

Actually, I didn't mean women getting older. I meant women in general. Young ones as well. Quite a lot of older women still look reasonable and behave in decorous ways. Those are the ones who have retained the attitudes of yesteryear. What an unsightly mess they look in jeans and with tattoos to accompany vanishing attention spans and voices like buzz-saws. They drink pints with the inevitable result.

I know I'm looking through jaded eyes now and I think I can allow for that. Young women are getting uglier and much stupider and more raucous. I think their nerves are shot out with their frenzied activities. You probably have hit it with the "ease". The Rubens with the lady on the couch is a model they should follow.

A few weeks ago one actually told me she hadn't had a shag for ages. And one tells me she has no bloke because she's "fussy" and she's an ugly little stupid runt who it is impossible to talk to.

I think it's the decline in religious education. They expect and demand about a thousand times more than they deserve.



Synchronised swimming or pole vaulting maybe. Pairs figure skating?

The tried knickerless can-can once in the 1890s but the cops shut it down half way through the second performance due to the disorder.

rl

As the southern Tethyan sea began opening, the entire S Asia area was like a big swampy foreland. Lots of hillocks at sea level and islands connected by shallow embayments. Think of an area as long as the Arabia through SE ASian subcontinent , except its dotted with an expanse of tidal marshes like the mississippi delta. About 56 million years ago, small artiodactyl animals like ambulocetus and pakicetus began differentiating small changes that showed an adaptation to these marshy forelands. Fossil eveidence from the entire S Asian area, especially around the Sunderbaans and bangladesh then clear over to and reemerging at the W inDian and Pakistan coastall areas (remember, India was still being "delivered" 50 + my ago )
Pakicetus and a number of these early fossil "pre-whales" had gradually exibited identifiable evolutionary changes, seen clearly in fossils up the geologic column. Changes such as:

1The sinus and nares began to migrate from the snout tip eventually to wander to the top of the head. (This took about 35 million years, I suppose thats fast, but its clearly evidenced, so its not much under debate)

2feet structures clearly diverge from the "split hooved " animals and began to modify through time as they started out as "river edge loungers" to become more active water habitues. The fossils show animals with body structures not unlike otters, but with legs and feet modifying into flippers rather than webbed paws

3The outer ear and immediate internal structures (stapes etc ) began to be minimized and the jaw and hyoid became more of a hearing tool (Think about it, the original animals could hear wellin air but later became structurally modified to hear better in water

As the entire continent of Asia swung away from its adjoining pre-Tethian land areas, this whole S continent became more open sea and shorefront property (VERY GRADUALLY- about 6 cm a year or about 5 inches)

As the paleo-"cetids" began hearing in water better, they gradually developed so und emitting structures around a hyoid that became modified to develop along with the changing breathing channels. The Nasal structures were gradually migrating to the top of the head and the sound emitting followed by virtue of skull modifications.
The whales and porpoises then (about 30 my ago) began to diverge into 2 major groups, both having rudimentary echlocation systems that further developed so that by about 18 my ago,The porpoises and whales seemed pretty much equipped like modern ones.
The fossil and DNA records of cetacean development through time is one of the best records weve got. There are literally thousands of key stage specimens of fossils that show evolutionary trends

It seemed that the sequence was quite logical. First the pre-whales had their legs and feet modified to more constant life around water then their hearing modified to be better equipped to hear underwater, and, as their lives in water became more " forced full time", their echolocation by active pinging gradually developed along with the breathing apparatus. Remember, this is all a consequence of the rapidly changing environment as an entire plate area began "swinging" apart and leaving an open ocean area behind

I dont know why youre so incredulous RL, as a parallel the newest "Little Lucy" shows an intermediate hyoid bone that while "monkey like" in its structure, showed that it evidences that it is being modified as , perhaps screams and grunts would give way to actual verbalization.

Also, the DNA records from modern whales and specific artiodactyls indicate and ancestral "common ancestor" relationship.

Theres tons of stuff on the web about whales and porpoises and evolution of structures in this divergant group that had its ancestor as a small hoofed animal that had the blind fortune to live in an area like the Mississippi delta. (hoofies are a real pain in the ass when you get your legs sucked in the muck so why not evolve so you can make a better living at the environment at hand)

Were you to concern yourself about echolocation of bats, youd have a much better case in incredulity. Bat fossil records are very sparse. Apparently the number of bat fossils are quite limited.

A tiny yawn opened the lightly lipsticked lips of the lady in the pale green trouser suit who was seated unassumingly in the second row to the right of the speaker. She raised her small gloved fist, yawned ever so gently, tiptapping said small gloved fist on her opening mouth and smiled tinily and ever so sweetly as if remembering some long past triviality.

It's funny you should mention bats. I was googling to try to find images of ancient bats a while ago and discovered very little information on them.

For some period of time there must have been gliding animals which used webbed skin between the toes as well as arm-to-leg webbing (like flying squirrels of today).

I was hoping to see a picture of such an animal, even a drawing based on fossil evidence, but I could never find anything.

I think there are flying frogs which use toe webbing, and I envision something like that in ancient bats, but haven't been able to find anything.

Well, it seems to be some information about fossil bats around...



"Oldest Fossil Bat : The fossil at left comes from Icaronycteris index, a bat found in sediments of the Green River Formation. This is the oldest fossil known for a bat, and is beautifully preserved. The preservation includes the full skeleton, plus cartilage and wing membranes. The fossil suggests that bats had fully evolved flight by the Eocene."

Thanks Francis, I found that one too. I was hoping to find something that didn't yet have fully evolved flight. I was wondering if the finger membranes developed before the arm-to-leg membranes.

The earliest bat fossils are most of those that are absent, as opposed to whales .

Thank you Sir!. I can't imagine how I have come so far on this perilous journey without the assistance of such useful information.

That was naughty Francis. It reminded me of Steve Martin in The Man With Two Brains. I loved that.

The little mentally challenged boy quietly yawns and farts as he hears spendi's self absorbed drivvel." Lawd, least I aint as dum as eem, "says he.

Being able to quietly yawn and fart is a skill to be admired but to also be able to do assertions at the same time is awesome. The self discipline required is extreme.

Mammals were around before the dinosaurs became extinct. I wonder if bats were already flying before 65myago?

What were atmospheric conditions like at that time?

From an aerodynamic perspective, very similar to today.