Ok, now that the hat is off, Archangel said:
Man, why didn’t we think of that. Just think, if Gould and Dawkins and all the other biologists, geologists, astronomers, etc. put such a disclaimer on their works, creationists would be out of business!
Yep, Doc, that’s been me, recommending Song of the Dodo all over the place.
My bad, not remembering the terminology - I have the concepts pretty well in place, but biology’s not my field, so the terms keep leaking out. But thanks for explaining allopatric speciation better than I would have - I was tempted to, once you put the term in play.
Allopatric speciation as the nearly exclusive means of speciation is also the answer to the frequent creationist question, ‘if species B evolved from species A, how come species A still exists?’
Usually that comes up in the context of mankind evolving from the apes, where even the question is wrong, since the apes we evolved from aren’t around anyhow.
The creationists could also point out the paucity of fossil evidence for sympatric speciation, and probably will if it makes them sound good.
(Sympatric speciation, if I’ve got this right, is when a new species diverges from an existing and continuing species without the aid of geographic separation. This either happens almost never, or just plain never: any genetic changes occuring in part of a population would get absorbed into the population as a whole, and contribute to the (generally negligible) phyletic evolution of the species.)
Correct me if I’m wrong, Dr. F.; you know more about this than I do. 
Glitch wrote:
That in itself would be rather miraculous, because a superconductor can’t levitate glass.
The truth, as always, is more complicated than that.
How about we put the glass jar on a levitating tray?
If I may explain what the word theory means in science. Everything in science is theory. A theory is a hypothesis that explains observations that we have made and makes testable predictions. Experiments are performed and if the results are consistent with the theory the theory is supported, but it is not proven, because the next experiment could contradict the theory. To be more specific, Suppose I have a theory of gravity that predicts that when I drop a weight, it will fall to the ground. This explains why when you drop something, it falls. As an experiment, I drop a weight; it falls. This supports the theory. It does not prove it. There is the (remote) possibility that the next time, the weight will rise. No theory in science has or ever will be proven.
I am paraphrasing something posted by someone else on this topic here (I wish I remembered who said it.):
Evolution is scientific theory. Creationism is belief. If God himself came down tomorrow and demonstrated his clay to human trick, then true scientists would be forced to discard or at the very least re-examine the theory of evolution. True believers OTOH, no matter how many fossil records are found, no matter how much DNA evidence is presented etc., cannot, by definition, alter their beliefs.
This guy is offering money for the a proof, which by definition cannot exist.
Virtually yours,
DrMatrix
Does anyone recognize what I quoted above (from my imperfect memory) in my previous post. I would really like to give credit. I would also like to know exactly what the quote was.
Thank you.
Virtually yours,
DrMatrix
I’m not sure who you quoted, Dr M, but a bunch of us have said the same thing in various words in assorted c/e debates. Thanks for taking your turn in the rotation, as it were.
Sure it can if you coat it with a very thin layer of metal.
Bloody nitpickers.
Nope. It would need to be a coating of magnet – and be more than just a little “thin.”
How’s that for nitpicking!
What if we use a VERY SMALL beaker?
Just wanted to add an amusing note I found out. The New Mexicans for Science and Reason gave Hovind their "P.T. Barnum ‘One Born Every Minute’ Award for 1999. On May 7, 1999, Hovind told a packed house in Philadelphia that there was new evidence of humans living with dinosaurs. His evidence – a web site at www.darwindisproved.com – turned out to be the annual April Fool’s joke of said New Mexicans for Science and Reason! What great research Hovind did! (You can read about the joke at that site. It’s pretty funny.)
What i have come to believe is that evolution exists with help from God. That explains what happened to the missing links.
:: banging head against wall ::
Yer pal,
Satan
What i have come to believe is that gravity exists with help from God. That explains what happened to “what goes up must come down” after the invention of space rockets.
What i have come to believe is that electric circuits exist with help from God. That explains why resistors have a small amount of inductance.
What i have come to believe is that the Roman Empire existed with help from God. That explains what happened to the historical records of Jesus.
:rolleyes:
The truth, as always, is more complicated than that.
Actually, tracer, I was banging my head because of the second sentence, not the first.
I will never patronize someone having faith. I will always bang my head against the wall when someone mentions “missing links.”
Yer pal,
Satan
Hey, Brian, I bang my head against the wall when I find missing links. Of course, I’m talking about dated connections from one Web page to another… 
Satan wrote:
I figgered. I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to show how absurd it can be to attack a science on the basis of faith.
And incidentally, I’ve heard about one instance (probably apocryphal) of a pastor claiming that God suspends the law of gravity whenever He allows an airplane to fly!