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HMS Beagle (Possibly) Found
With the Beagle 2 lander lost on Mars, good Beagle-related news has been lacking, until now. British paper The Observer is reporting that the original HMS Beagle, the ship Darwin travelled on during his famous voyage, may have been found. Marine archeologists believe they have found the ship, which has been resting at the bottom of some Essex marshes for the last century.
"who knows what remnants of Darwin's trip may still lie down there"
I doubt there will be anything of Darwins on board. It did many things after his travels in it and was eventualy stripped down by someone else. It's like getting a used car with several owners before you. Will you really find anything worth wild from the first owner. Maybe an old green fry in the seat. Who wants that.
Evolution or ID?
I'm not looking to start a theological debate here, but just make the statement that it bugs me when some of the more fundamentalist Christians outright oppose evolution in schools because they see it as a blasphemy. Same thing happened when folks were debating the planet being round or that it isn't the center of the galaxy.
I know your comments weren't on this extreme level at all, but it just made me think of others who have taken such stances.
Paul Lenhart writes words!
HMS Beagle was very successful, it only ended up at the bottom of a marsh after years of useful voyages.
Let's not undervalue history.
What value did Ballard's discovery of the Titanic and Bismark have? They wouldn't have been nearly as important if they had been some anonymous freighter that sank during a storm, even though the technological achievement would have been identical.
These are ships with history -- with stories that we deem important, interesting, or compelling. The stories that we value as a culture (species?) are part of what define who and what we are.
The value of the Beagle's discovery is purely historic. And in defining it as important or unimportant, we define something about ourselves as individuals and a society.
How is it that Darwinism (a theory) has to be proven wrong, yet Creationism (also a theory) has to be proven right. I call double standard. And don't try to give me the Darwinism is a theory in the mathematical sense and Creationism is a theory is a thory in the common sense. Evolution does have some evidence that SEEMS to suggest at it's correctness...but have you ever heard of epicycles?? Look it up. You'll see that the evidence fit the theory, but it was WRONG (at least we think now). Just because we have a suggestion of proof, doesn't make it true.
"As a long time moron that ignores scientific rational and puts my faith in a 2000 yr old book that only evolves only to suit those in power, I believe evolution is crap and fags are going to hell"
Is that what you really meant to say jwthompson2?
Jesus man, even the pope believes in the big bang -
Here is a quote on what he feels about evolution:
A 1996 quote from Pope John Paul II:
"Today, almost half a century after the publication of [Pius XII's] Encyclical, fresh knowledge has led to the recognition that evolution is more than a hypothesis. It is indeed remarkable that this theory has been progressively accepted by researchers, following a series of discoveries in various fields of knowledge. The convergence, neither sought nor fabricated, of the results of work that was conducted independently is in itself a significant argument in favor of this theory."
I know, you're not catholic, you're southern baptist like I was - before I got a clue. You are out of touch, even by christian standards. This would be a lot longer post if you wanted me to rip your stance completely apart using only Christian points, but trust me it is trivial. Progressive Christian's are seeing the problems associated with centuries of denial - I suggest you try some real critical thinking if you intend to continue being a christian, and not a fundamentalist relic.
ymmv
I'm going to kick myself for biting flamebait in the morning, but oh well. I have room for a couple more hooks in my mouth.
I am not opposed to teaching evolution in schools, I am in favor of treating it as a theory though.
The problem here is that you don't know what a theory is. A theory is not a hypothesis. The exact definition is fairly complex, but the rough meaning is that, by all emprical methods, a theory is as right as we can get with the data we have.
Newtonian gravity is "just" a theory. It's also been overthrown: The only way to overthrow a theory is to make one that A. mechanically encompasses explains all observations explained by the existing theory, B. by the same* mechanism encompasses, explains, and/or corrects observations not covered by the previous theory, or in conflict with the previous theory. Relativity covered everything the old theory of gravity did, plus it corrected for things like Mercury orbiting too fast and partially explained why Neptune and Uranus are all out of orbital-mechanical whack.
My biggest problem is that it is used as a defense to try and disprove the truth of the Bible and is treated as fact when it has yet to be and probably can not be proven.
I'm not going to get into the proof, but there's enough of it that Henry Morris as encorporated evolution (or what he calls "selective diversification") into his antievolutionary model. He dresses it up nicely, but in the end, he's showing you a Zebu and calling it a Nene, and banking on the fact that most people probably don't know the difference anyway.
Anyway, science has NEVER, and in fact CAN never attempt to use Evolution against any Theological construct, because the bible covers matter that is not proximate in nature. Science can cover the proximate all it wants, because it has access to the proximate within its means of action.
It can draw no conclusions on nonproxmiate or superproximate events or actions, and in fact has very clear boundaries set on just where it has to stop.
It is Christianity that bears full and complete responsibility for saying that Evolution means the end of Christianity, and all that other slippery slope gloom and doom. Christians published The Genesis Flood, God and Evolution, and The Fall of Noah. Not scientists, but Christians. They had help from a few secular philosophers like Sagan and Asimov, but for every secular attack on Christianity, there's a thousand self-inflicted wounds.
If you plan to talk to your kids about evolution, remember not to build a dam around your house in the river. The more parents attempt to protect, misinform, uninform, or isolate their children, the more those children learn about things for themselves, and when they do, they know nothing but their parent's determination that what they're told on Sunday disagrees with what they see the other seven days, and the more we drive our own children out of the Church forever.
It should be clear to any rational thinker that the most, if not all, of the Bible is intended to be metaphorical rather than literal. EG, the Book of Job is allegorical rather than a record of actual events. The basic problem with the literal interpretation theory is that even if you accept that the Bible is the result of Divine Inspiration, it is still a *human*, and therefore flawed, interpretation of God's word. (IIRC) According to (self-contridictory) Judeo-Christian tradition [Specifically Exodus 24:12-15], the only physical writing to come directly from God was on the first set of stone tables Moses carried down from the mountian.
Why is it that the proponents of "one nation under God" are so eager to get rid of "liberty and justice for all"?
If it holds such important why was it sold for scrap?
It has historic value today. It didn't back then - it was only a tool.
A broken civil war rifle or a cracked native american clay pot might have been thrown away as garbage in their time, but today they are valuable artifacts worth $$$ and part of private collections or museums.
Obligatory Indiana Jones quote. "Look at this [holds up a pocket watch]. It's worthless, $10 from a vendor in the street. But I take it, I bury it into the sand for a thousand years and it becomes priceless, like the ark. Men will kill for it, men like you and me."
I'd rather be a conservative nutjob than a liberal with no nuts and no job.
If people were swayed by facts, or were even capable of recognizing them, superstition would have died centuries ago and most politicians would be unsuccessfully trying to sell used cars instead of feeding at the public trough.
Why is it that the proponents of "one nation under God" are so eager to get rid of "liberty and justice for all"?
You need to learn the difference between a theory, a hypothesis, and a fairy tale. You cannot pull any idea out of your ass and call it a theory -- until you have tested it and produced supporting experimental and/or observational evidence it's (at best) hypothesis.
Why is it that the proponents of "one nation under God" are so eager to get rid of "liberty and justice for all"?
IMHO you are deluded.
Evolution is not a theory. Scientists aren't trying to prove that evolution happened. It is accepted to be a real fact.
The THEORIES of evolution surround what the mechanisms of evolution are, was it genetic mutations, natural disasters, etc. HOW did evolution occur, not DID it occur.
It's a stupid point to argue about. If you need a single holy creator, than you need to work him into the scheme of the big things: millions of galaxies and galaxy clusters, a potentially life rich universe, why is there life at all? Don't argue the small points like the evolving body of genetics found on Earth.