When Humans Faced Extinction

BBC ^ | 6-10-2003 | Dr David Whitehouse

[Doctor Stochastic]

Actually, Jenner based his work on Turkish practices. Of course, the resistance to smallpox is different from allergies.

[Aric2000]

Well, I know that 45% of scientist believe in theistic evolution.


Since I am not a scientist though, I am pleased to be a part of your group as well Cobalt.

[dsc]

"fantasy, folk tale, or maybe even science fiction story"

Well, you know, Einstein said something to the effect that science consisted of thinking God's thoughts after Him.

[Fiddlstix]

Bump

[ffusco]

Yup. I did mean those two particles.

[ffusco]

What Turkish practices? Like caling The Saint Sofia the hagai Sofia-Preteners All.

[stuartcr]

To me, it doesn't make sense that if someone can believe that God is the creator of all, how can they not believe that He created stuff in the beginning, then that stuff evolved. Seems like a no-brainer.

[Doctor Stochastic]

The Turkish practice of exposing people to cowpox to induce smallpox immunity. It was based on observed immunity of milkmaids. Jenner expanded and improved the idea. This is discussed in history of medicine books.

[Mike Darancette]

There are different types of sperm that have different functions - killers, blockers, and egg-getters.

Like a little Hockey Team in there. :)

[JosephW]

It's actually the Hagia Sophia.

Hagia comes from the Greek Agios (pardon mis-spellings) which means holy or saint.

Hence Hagia Sophia is Saint Sophia.

Those that carry their laundry on their head do not refer to it by this name, they have picked something else (which I do not remember nor care to know). They did however bastardize it by placing minarets around it and other alterations.

[js1138]

Fascinating concept, which would make a great fantasy, folk tale, or maybe even science fiction story.

That was a premise in Arthur Clarke's 2001, the book (not made clear in the movie).

[CobaltBlue]

>> Seems like a no-brainer.<<

I agree. My home page on my web browsers (all of them, I use IE, Netscape, and Opera - my favorite is Opera but some web pages don't recognize Opera) is NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day. Very cool way for the layman to learn cosmology.
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

I know that the evolution of the Universe and the evolution of life forms are not related, but in my mind they are analogous. The Universe started out as gas and became more complex over time. A couple of days I learned the theory that the Sun is a Third Generation star - which I gather means that our Sun is made up, in part, of material from dead stars, two generations of dead stars.
http://www.physlink.com/Education/AskExperts/ae465.cfm

When I first heard the term Intelligent Design, I thought it might mean that people had discovered that a drive towards complexity was somehow programmed into physical matter, which I have seen in science fiction, and that they had somehow decoded that, but unfortunately, that's not the case.

Nobody really knows the First Cause.

[CobaltBlue]

Brandywines are heirloom tomatoes, first developed by Amish farmers near Brandywine, Pennsylvania.

People in Alabama do grow heirloom tomatoes. Here is a link to a thread on the Alabama Gardening forum on Gardenweb.com.
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/alabgard/msg0218462815146.html

I post on Gardenweb as Msilaine. Probably should change it to CobaltBlue just to be consistent.

[CobaltBlue]

Your mama probably grew Creoles. I am from New Orleans and that's the tomato that everybody grows in New Orleans. They get huge and RED and are tangy and strong tomato flavor. They don't crack too much when it rains.

Hybrid tomatoes just don't taste as good, but they are disease resistant.

I had to turn my tomato bed into a flower bed because of viruses and there is no other really sunny place for tomatoes except along the sidewalk leading to the front door, so I am not growing tomatoes this year.

[CobaltBlue]

On second thought, if your mama saved her seeds every year, no telling what she grew, it could have been something she developed all on her own. If you grow the old style tomato, not the hybrid kind, but the kind they call heirloom now, they are open pollinated and so you can get new varieties due to pollination, especially if you grow different varieties.

Evolution in your tomato bed. ;^)

[ffusco]

Thanks. Typical behavior of a bastard culture.

[CobaltBlue]

Conquerors have appropriated the religious sites of vanquished foes throughout history - long before recorded history.

[stuartcr]

I agree with your analogy. When you think about the amount of time that is involved with a third generation star, you begin to realise that we are speaking about time periods that are virtually incomprehensible to humans. If God truly is the creator of all, then we can begin to realise just how tiny a part in all this, we have.

[Mamzelle]

Oh, please don't post your CV.

When a discussion board thread devolves into dueling credentials, it becomes a dead bore.

If you're so teddibly smart, why bother even talking to me?

[CobaltBlue]

I have no idea whether I am smarter than you, not that it matters. Facts are facts.

Real scientific research doesn't rest on hands waving. It may rest on faulty assumptions, but that's what the next generation of scientific researchers is for. Learning never stops.