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Google Celebrates “Missing Link” [Dan Collins]

No, they didn’t bury news of Democrat misdoings, this time, but instead are hyping the discovery of a potentially important ancient lemur fossil:

After all, that’s much more important than honoring our vets or celebrating American independence.

In the latest news, paleontologists examining the contents of the stomach have discovered material that they believe might be Charles Johnson’s spooge. Tests are ongoing.

Frank J.: Ontogeny recapitulates Christianity, just to piss Charles off

UPDATE: Oh, looky. Wolly doesn’t get the wingnut logic. He suggests that you might need to take the “advance course.” Which is how you get the “advance degree.”

152 Replies to “Google Celebrates “Missing Link” [Dan Collins]”

  1. happyfeet says:

    Google is creepy and gay. I think it’s a lot because you have to take a dork personality test to work there so you have a staff of homogeneous pasty dirty socialist losers.

  2. LTC John says:

    I didn’t notice the Veteran’s Day snub… I use dogpile.com anyways.

  3. happyfeet says:

    Freddie Prinze Junior need not even apply.

  4. Sdferr says:

    When popping open my latest banana I’m always like, yay fingernails!

  5. Mr. Pink says:

    You figure Charles Johnson still has the ability to spooge? I figured his balls haven’t even dropped yet.

  6. LTC John says:

    Remember folks “Don’t Be Evil”!

  7. kelly says:

    You figure Charles Johnson still has the ability to spooge? I figured his balls haven’t even dropped yet.

    Makes bicycling more enjoyable.

  8. N. O'Brain says:

    “Ontogeny recapitulates Christianity”

    Now that’s funny.

  9. serr8d says:

    Looks much like a child Charles and Sharmuta might conceive. It has Charles’ derailleurs. And Sharmuta’s scrotum.

  10. happyfeet says:

    I’m very yay evolution but fetishizing it like the googledorks do is a lot onanistic.

  11. N. O'Brain says:

    “A zygote is a gamete’s way of producing more gametes. This may be the purpose of the universe.”

    -Robert A. Heinlein

  12. psycho... says:

    “Missing link” hypes piss off us Darwing-knowing types.

    Jubilate lemur.

    I think it’s a lot because you have to take a dork personality test to work there so you have a staff of homogeneous pasty dirty socialist losers.

    I “took” the late-’90s version, conversationally, when a friend applied there. Your assessment of what creepy monoculture it was made to generate is happy-accurate.

    Instead of answering the questions, I got all dissecty at it. Friend said I should apply, too, because despite my ’80s-level computer knowledge, those free-minded Google geniuses would be totally floored by my snap-analytical blah blah blah.

    I did not do that.

  13. Obstreperous Infidel says:

    We’re also descendents of single cell bacteria, so who the fuck cares if we’re descendents of zaboomofoo? Sdferr, your #4 actually did make me LOL. Nice.

    Frank J makes a good point about celebrating any new fossil finds as proof of the existence of God, rather than proving evolution. I mean it does prove evolution, but how does that disprove the existence of God? Young earth creationists, yeah, but then again…duh.

  14. Except its not important, even if it is some mythical ancestor. It’s just a really complete (yet not total) fossil of a lemur.

  15. Chim Chim says:

    Yeah, I’d hit it.

  16. Joe says:

    This is one of the weakest missing link arguments ever. I believe in evolution, but to find a monkey skeleton 45 million years old and declare this is the missing link is just bullshit. You might as well think Don Rumsfeld never made a mistake in Iraq (sorry, that was a joke, I could not resist the threadjack).

  17. Joe says:

    Comment by Chim Chim on 5/20 @ 2:42 pm #

    Yeah, I’d hit it.

    Ha! Yeah, but too skinny.

  18. Alec Leamas says:

    Ha! Yeah, but too skinny.

    I don’t know, it kind of looks like inter-rehab Lindsay Lohan to me.

  19. gus says:

    I thought liberals outlawed species extinction.

  20. ukuleledave says:

    Thank you for noticing the Google art, too. It’s not even a darned holiday yet. I expect that foolishness during Kwanzaa season.

    By the way, while you’re on Google, look up Piltdown Man and Cardiff Giant. Just sayin’.

  21. Joe says:

    Here is the Google editor who made the decision.

  22. Joe says:

    Charles Johnson will cry and then go on a bike ride…and take a photograph. He is so happy.

  23. Ric Locke says:

    A word from the wise.

    Regards,
    Ric

  24. Zelda says:

    I don’t understand the missing link part. I read the articles and everything, and they don’t explain anything except to say the thing had opposable thumbs. Don’t a lot of monkeys have opposable thumbs? Why is it a missing link and not the world’s oldest monkey or lemur? What exactly is it linking humans to? Or why isn’t it a missing link between simians and prosimians? I accept the theory of evolution, but I don’t know what they’ve proven with the unveiling of this fossil.

  25. McGehee says:

    Could it be Mort?

  26. Bob Reed says:

    Excellent pull Ric.

    Velociman is completely correct in his assessment and criticism…

    Much like one of his commenters noted, ‘“None of this is about real science. it’s all about “Those God-Freaks are WRONG! it’s EVOLUTION!!! “‘…

    Speaking as an engineer, a believer in science, a confirmed God-bothering Catholic, and someone that also sees no conflict with religion and legitimate science as we know it, I too am skeptical…

  27. Rob Crawford says:

    Zelda — I’ve seen quotes from other scientists marveling at the publicity machine built around this fossil. Add in that — as I understand it — the fossil’s provenance is unknown, and you got a whole lot of “what the hell”.

    It’s rather like the “life on Mars” evidence that popped up just as NASA’s budget was coming up for debate.

  28. SBP says:

    I think it’s a lot because you have to take a dork personality test to work there

    Let’s just say that of the people I went to grad school with, the best programmers were not the ones who got hired by Google.

  29. Joe says:

    It is a very cool looking fossil, the Ric link has a much better image of it. It is just some crazy leap of logic on the missing link part (in fact it is not logic at all). The commentator Ric links to is spot on. At this point (46 million years ago) you might be able to say it is the link between primates and lemurs. Even then you would be speculating. But to say it is the missing link for Homo Sapiens? We can look at starfish DNA and show a better relationship to modern Humans.

    Now that we are over that…

    What about hitting australopithecus Lucy? Discuss!

  30. newrouter says:

    i thought joey hairplugs was the missing link

  31. SBP says:

    How much tequila is involved, Joe?

  32. Joe says:

    newrouter, that is australopithecus Scranton. And I will pass on hitting that!

  33. Makewi says:

    Thank God! Now I can sleep in on Sundays.

  34. Joe says:

    There is not enough tequilla in Mexico for australopithecus Scranton.

  35. Jonas Sedlar says:

    May 20 is indeed an important milestone in the story of American independence. Today is Meck Dec Day.

  36. Joe says:

    Won’t there always be a “missing link” ?

    Hey, where has thor been?

  37. dicentra says:

    Hey, where has thor been?

    He’s ashamed that we were right about Obama all along. He can’t show his face.

  38. bh says:

    I have to ask, has anyone told these guys they could just be studying DNA?

  39. Sdferr says:

    How do you mean bh? That is, which guys and what dna?

  40. bh says:

    I’m not ripping on the paleontologists. I’m glad they’re out there fossil hunting.

    I’m talking about the response to this. I don’t see how it’s such a big deal frankly, and “missing link” doesn’t mean anything. With the guaranteed incompleteness of the fossil record and the very nature of punctuated equilibrium, if we’re hunting for missing links, we’re going about it wrong.

    If people want to understand the connections between life, check the DNA. Heck, we even have some pretty great ideas on mutation rates so we can not only tell how closely things are related, we can posit how long ago it all happened. Heck, just by looking at DNA, we have a pretty good idea when we domesticated the dog.

    This is harder to understand than saying, hey, this thing kinda looks like this other thing. And you have to pass O chem.

    So, people play up stuff like this to either get funding or tweak creationists. It’s a few decades behind the game when it comes down the evolutionary theory.

  41. Dan Collins says:

    Any idea when the cat domesticated us, bh?

  42. SBP says:

    Pretty rare to find useful DNA of that age, bh.

  43. Sdferr says:

    Ah, ok. I don’t get worked up about this stuff myself one way or the other, though I welcome it as additional data, and confirmatory in the sense that it likely fills an hypothesized niche. Then too, should a dna approach vector in on the same critters, well, the more the merrier.

  44. Sdferr says:

    I’m guessing that they don’t have to work with ancient dna SBP, but extrapolate back from existing forms, using higher primates and extant lemurs to show where their genomes converge.

  45. Makewi says:

    I once crapped something that looked kind of like George Stephanopoulos. I tried not to draw any conclusions, lacking as I was, any reasonable way to obtain a tissue sample from him.

  46. SBP says:

    using higher primates and extant lemurs to show where their genomes converge.

    Ah. Gotcha.

  47. bh says:

    Heh, Dan.

    Oh, definitely, SBP. But, fossil hunting just lets you compare morphology. Which is good, when it’s all you have. I guess I’m partially irritated with the anachronistic use of “missing link” or the grand pronouncements when molecular biology and DNA analysis have contributed so much over the last decades.

  48. Sdferr says:

    I’m down with a two-minute hate on missing link, especially the Goodson-Toddman production with Ed McMahon. Boo. Hissing.

  49. Swen Swenson says:

    Comment by meya on 5/20 @ 6:12 pm #
    Won’t there always be a “missing link”?

    Yep. The fossil record is very incomplete and there are far more links missing than found. This critter is a “missing link” in the sense that every new-found fossil species is a new link in the long story of life that had previously been missing. But that’s about it. It’s only a “missing link” in that trivial sense so far as I can see.

    It is amazingly well-preserved though, a very nice find.

  50. Swen Swenson says:

    I’m reminded of a comment made by one of my professors regarding the many missing links in the human family tree. It was his thought that there are so many gaps in the record of fossil humans because humans are smart enough not to get into situations where they can become fossilized.

    I’m pretty sure that doesn’t explain Thor’s absence, however.

  51. pdbuttons says:

    thors broke

  52. ccoffer says:

    “In the latest news, paleontologists examining the contents of the stomach have discovered material that they believe might be Charles Johnson’s spooge. Tests are ongoing.”

    Both testicles and a penis would be required for such a delivery. That rules out the father of Tiny Little Balls.

    Case closed.

  53. RTO Trainer says:

    I have trouble reading the word paleontologists.

    I always see pale ontologists. Which might also work actually, regarding the effort to make this “missing link” mean something profound.

  54. Dan Collins says:

    Honkyontologists?

  55. happyfeet says:

    The other gay gay gay thing about google is that they actually for real as in I have heard them do it call each other “googlers” as in “let me check with some of my fellow googlers and get back to you.” OMG I think in my head I am so embarrassed for you please please please don’t call back. Yahoo! dropped the “fellow yahoos” bullshit years and years ago, or at least they have the social skills to not do gay self-abasement rituals in front of people.

  56. happyfeet says:

    Actually Yahoo! people are cool beans except for that one heinous heinous hoochie what had the Sex In The City power hair and would for real talk about how much she loved shoes and how you wouldn’t understand it cause you’re a guy but no really she really really loves shoes. She quit a few months ago and many people are noticeably happier.

  57. SBP says:

    Pale ontologists make me thing of wan grad students formalizing sets of concepts.

    Pale phylogenists, on the other hand…

  58. ghost of Bill Hicks says:

    Using “gay” as a put-down? Eighth grade called and wants its pejorative back.

  59. bh says:

    gay=lame

  60. bh says:

    Well, not the thing gay equals the thing lame. The word gay is used in speech as a synonym for lame.

  61. Dash Rendar says:

    Yea I guess the Yahoo people are cool except for the ones who tanked my ill advised stock purchase that I bought with my tender high school gradiation monies. Yea they should have let Microsoft sully them but they’re doomed doomed doomed because they have fuckall of an idea what’s going on.

  62. Dash Rendar says:

    And they’ve sent me enough paper to vote on the Ichann character worth which you could have sent all his kids to Boys Latin.

  63. happyfeet says:

    oh. I never used gay as a put-down until… and even though I use it a lot copiously now the only for real gay thing I use it for is Lindsey Graham. I think most likely I will continue calling stuff gay for awhile yet and then I’ll get bored and find new language but probably not until that gay-assed PSA campaign goes away. Thank you very much for your input.

  64. happyfeet says:

    ack. You have to remember though many many of their own people got burned really bad same as you. A lot of them can buy and sell you though, so it kind of balances out.

  65. Dash Rendar says:

    If you’re hangin with some fine ladies I dis-advise using the gay too liberally, because of the whole Freudian thing and the ladyfolk are way more receptive to that then the menfolk think. But otherwise, the pejorative is the vernacular which is to say proles keep youselves in line lest we get vindicative.

  66. happyfeet says:

    there is wisdom in what you say

  67. Dash Rendar says:

    Yea that link before you think or whatever reminds me of the dress in all black day for amnesty international and you’re not allowed to speak in class lest you dishonor the poor brown people what got hacked to death in Rwanada and then they changed it to Darfur and now I can’t tell the two apart and all the fine ladies wince when I say save the poor Rwandians oops I meant Darfur, b/c that’s soo 2005.

  68. happyfeet says:

    words fail really

    no, really

    not in my name I don’t think

  69. bh says:

    “Besides, God’s listening.”

    I think I’m going to start using that at odd times in conversation. Dijon it up!

  70. B Moe says:

    I can’t believe people are still using the term “missing link”.

  71. Dash Rendar says:

    O, that guy should have diverted his energies to the mob, because at least he could have helped some nice old Italian ladies living in the burbs of New Yawk which are all dying but nobody likes to say so. I think this encapsulates nicely what our liberal friends have in mind for us.

  72. Joe says:

    bh, I have a feeling God is covering his eyes when that minister is having communion with this fellow parishoners.

  73. bh says:

    Whatever you do, don’t define “communion” in that context.

  74. Joe says:

    The missing link’s DNA was found in Charles Johnson’s stomach.

    Don’t ask.

  75. […] back home Dan Collins over at Protein Wisdom was kind enough to note how those fine folk at Google — you know, the ones who can’t be […]

  76. Joe says:

    Charles Johnson self proclaimed lord of lizards and lemurs.

  77. McGehee says:

    …missing link…

    RACIST!

  78. Greg says:

    Oh shit, you sure nailed Wolcott! He misspelled “advanced”! Snap!

  79. will twiner says:

    in response to 25: This has been terribly poorly reported (not a surprise, most science has been since the late 80’s when most newsrooms lost their full time science beat editors/writers). It’s not the opposable thumbs (you are right, there are earlier specimens that have them, and are as plausable a hominid link) it is the FINGERNAILS. To find a hominid specimen this old that already has flat nails instead of claws is surprising, and may change the way we think about early hominid development. Of course, the find needs to be studied and verified before we say anything firm about it, but it does look interesting. Of course, saying that does NOT sell ad time, so the OH SO SERIOUS media has to go “ZOMG!!!!!11!!1 MISSING LINK!!!!!11!!!!!ONE!!!!11!!”

  80. Guy Caballero says:

    The author is an idiot. The End. Can’t we get back to proving that the President is an alien from Romulus? Or maybe calling the Democratic Party “Socialist”??? Puh-leeze….

  81. Rob Crawford says:

    Or maybe calling the Democratic Party “Socialist”???

    I thought that argument had been settled when their platform became indistinguishable from that of the CPUSA.

  82. Jeffrey says:

    Why do you care whether Google (or any other web site for that matter) has a banner acknowledging Memorial Day? Can you explain why Memorial Day is supposedly so important since the U.S. has sent U.S. personnel to die abroad in just one war in the last 100 years that had anything to do with “protecting our freedoms”?

    Other than WWII, none of the wars we have been involved with (or started) have had anything to do with national security. Korea? Vietnam? Lebanon? Grenada? Panama? The first Gulf War? The invasion of Iraq? The people who died in these wars weren’t protecting the U.S. or safeguarding our freedoms. They were all political actions and/or wars of aggression. So sporting a woody for Memorial Day in this context is about as meaningful as getting excited about Arbor Day.

  83. Dan Collins says:

    You’re really an idiot, Jeffrey. There are a lot of people who owe their freedom to the US–in South Korea, for example. And yeah, they celebrate Arbor Day.

  84. Rob Crawford says:

    Other than WWII, none of the wars we have been involved with (or started) have had anything to do with national security.

    1812?

    Mexican-American War?

    And, seriously, Korea? You realize that was a no-shit, for-real, United Nations organized “police action”, don’t you?

    Hell, so was the Gulf War.

    But, whatever. You got your ten second hate for America out for the day. Betcha feel better about yourself for it, too.

  85. Jeffrey says:

    “Dan Collins on 5/21 @ 10:38 am # You’re really an idiot, Jeffrey. There are a lot of people who owe their freedom to the US–in South Korea, for example.”

    Perhaps a lot of S. Koreans. But no Americans.

    “Rob Crawford on 5/21 @ 12:21 pm # 1812? Mexican-American War?”

    Math isn’t your strong suit, eh? But then again, this is a wingnut web site. Both these wars were fought more than 100 years ago, and you’ve got a pretty poor grasp of history if you think the Mexican-American War in particular (which we mostly lost getting to keep Texas) was some sort of threat to national security. The War of 1812 was pretty much a joke as well, especially since it resulted in more soldiers dying of disease than combat and that shitty Johnny Horton song.

    “And, seriously, Korea? You realize that was a no-shit, for-real, United Nations organized “police action”, don’t you?”

    So? The U.N. was pretty much an extension of U.S. foreign policy at that time (and remained so for nearly another 20-years), and whether all of Korea or only part of Korea was a pawn of China (as had been the case for most of the last 500 years), again, would have had no significant affect on U.S. security. As it was, S. Korea was a pretty much a policy state under martial law for 30+ years after the truce. Except for a better economy, there wasn’t that much political difference between S. Korea and N. Korea until just before the Summer Olympics in 1988.

    “Hell, so was the Gulf War.”

    Again, so what? Who organized and was primarily responsible for that very expensive mess? (Wanna buy some pictures of Rumsfeld shaking Saddam’s hand?) If the U.S. hadn’t participated (and there was no reason to except that our bestest buddies in the ME, the Saudis, were wetting their pants), it never would have happened and, you know what, nothing in the ME would have changed in the least.

  86. donquijoterocket says:

    I notice a visiting wingnut got to inject their daily accusation of “hatred”, wingnut code for you don’t think precisely as I’d have you think.
    I don’t know abot the Heinlein creation hypothesis. I prefer the Tom Robbins explanation that:human beings were invented by water as a device for transporting itself.

  87. Dan Collins says:

    Visiting where? Does your theory somehow explain Carrie Prejean’s media treatment?

    It’s funny that lefties like to talk about how nobody’s free until nobody’s enslaved, until it comes time to, you know, DO SOMETHING.

    And quite frankly, America’s interventionism in world conflicts has increased American freedoms.

  88. Slartibartfast says:

    “Besides, God’s listening.”

    A nondenominational God, anyway.

  89. Charles Johnson says:

    Curse you! I’ll ban anybody who even looks at this post!

    Sharmuta! Killgore! Irish Rose! Where are you?!?

    Waahhh!

  90. Shirlena says:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFgKXAphIlc
    Here is Charles Johnson reading the tea leaves

  91. Shirlena says:

    Seriously, though. Isn’t Charles the same fool who drove PJ Media into the ground?

  92. TB says:

    “After all, that’s much more important than honoring our vets or celebrating American independence.”

    Well, let’s see. You posted this on May 20th, and Memorial day is on the 25th, and Independence Day is in another five weeks.

    I know you conservatives aren’t real big on the whole science thing, but do you even have a basic understanding of time?

    You know, Christmas is only 7 months away, maybe this is another one of those fabled “war on Christmas” things you people keep imagining?

  93. Dan Collins says:

    TB, do you have a rudimentary understanding of context, or must everyone always speak of things in the continuous tense?

  94. Oakeshott and a Beer says:

    I’m just shocked that Google has survived this long without any of you brilliant, socially-skilled, manly wingnuts working for them. I bet they still cry over the day they missed out on the “snap-analytical” skills of that dude what’s-his-name who ALMOST took their test. Sergei Bryn has often said his algorithm needed an intelligent-design component he just couldn’t find among the latte-sippers at Kepler’s, when all he had to do was go to the “conscious choice!” lurkers at Gas ‘n Sip.

  95. Dan Collins says:

    Yeah, people who think that Memorial Day is better worth celebrating than Ida are teh stoopid.

  96. Dan Collins says:

    People who buy the $5 coffees are the real heroes, because they aren’t disdainful of the proles.

  97. Carin says:

    I’m just shocked that Google has survived this long without any of you brilliant, socially-skilled, manly wingnuts working for them. I bet they still cry over the day they missed out on the “snap-analytical” skills of that dude what’s-his-name who ALMOST took their test.

    I think it’s a great idea to piss off (roughly) half the population with your political bias. GENIUS!

  98. Dan Collins says:

    You know, I think he may have found his way over here from that organ of the downtrodden, Vanity Fair.

  99. […] in foreign markets by Oglivy and Mather, which won a Clio award. These are the same kinds of people who become upset when I criticize Google for what I regard as an amazing disrespect and lack of gratitude towards our armed forces. Posted […]

  100. God, some of you people are ignorant. Go learn some science, for Christ’s sake. Go read the actual research report the paleontologists published in PLoS One (that’s Public Library of Science One; it’s FREE)

    Yes, the hype over this is annoying, to many scientists as well as you. Biologists hate the outdated phrase ‘missing link’, since evolutionary theory tells us that ALL fossil and living species are potentially ‘links’ between preceding and following species. But yes, Darwinius is related to humans…some of you cretins just need to accept the fact that humans (like other apes) evolved from earlier simians that evolved from ‘prosimian'(lemur)-like critters that probably evolved from things a lot like Darwinius. Whether Darwinius lies in THE direct or even nearby line with the actual 47 million years ago ancestor of Homo sapiens, or whether it’s more like a fifth cousin twice removed, is for paleontologists to decide, not braying rightwing ignoramuses.

  101. SBP says:

    I’d lay long odds that the mean IQ and education level on this site comfortably exceeds your own, Steve.

    But by all means jump right in and make an idiot of yourself! There’s a lot of that going around here.

  102. God, some of you people are ignorant. Go learn some science, for Christ’s sake.

    heeee

  103. Oh, and btw, the attempt at humor ‘ontogeny recapitulates Christianity’ only suggest that the author hasn’t a clue what those big words mean. Although the idea of a fetus re-enacting the Stations of the Cross in the womb *IS* funny…Mel Gibson would be all over it.

  104. SBP says:

    Did you have a point, Steve? Or are you just afraid that someone will fail to notice you’re an asshole?

  105. SBP says:

    since evolutionary theory tells us that ALL fossil and living species are potentially ‘links’ between preceding and following species.

    Really?

    So you’re saying that the Madagascar hissing cockroach, say, could potentially be a “link” between, say, the naked mole rat and the trumpeter swan?

    Interesting thesis.

    Let’s see you defend it.

  106. SBP says:

    I mean, you did say ALL, didn’t you? Capital letters and everything.

  107. So, what’s the ‘mean IQ’ here SBP? Would it likely be higher than that of, oh, say, a Columbia grad with a Ph.D. in biology? Just wonderin’. If the number of shit-dumb posts about evolution here are any indication, I’m thinking you’ll have to do some fancy Wall Street-style accounting to make it so. Or is evolution just a regrettable blind spot for rightwing geniuses?

  108. SBP says:

    Would it likely be higher than that of, oh, say, a Columbia grad with a Ph.D. in biology?

    Ph.D. are a dime a dozen around here, Steven. They don’t impress us a bit.

    Columbia, even less so.

    Now, about your thesis….

  109. SBP says:

    Oh, and would that be cell, molbio, or are you a moose counter or some such?

  110. SBP says:

    Steven?

  111. “So you’re saying that the Madagascar hissing cockroach, say, could potentially be a “link” between, say, the naked mole rat and the trumpeter swan?

    Interesting thesis.

    Let’s see you defend it.”

    Holy crap! You got me. I never before realized that a living species must be ‘potentially’ a link between two other living species — or for that matter, than an insect has to be ‘potentially’ a link between a birds and a mammal — or else evolution FAILS. The combination of your logic-fu and profound insight into evolutionary theory is clearly way out of my league.

    (Hope you don’t mind if I show this example of your work to my colleagues on and off the Intarwebs. They like a good laugh as much as anyone.)

  112. SBP says:

    I never before realized that a living species must be ‘potentially’ a link between two other living species

    It was your thesis, Steven, not mine.

    Here, allow me to refresh your memory:

    since evolutionary theory tells us that ALL fossil and living species are potentially ‘links’ between preceding and following species.

    Your statement, Steven, not mine.

    So you now wish to retract it?

    Hope you don’t mind if I show this example of your work to my colleagues on and off the Intarwebs.

    Please do show it to all of your imaginary “colleagues”.

  113. (I realize some here must know their shit re: evolution. SBP can’t POSSIBLY be your best shot.)

    (Right? Swen Swenson? Your blogmates need schooling. Tell them at least that it’s not a ‘monkey skeleton’, OK? )

  114. If the number of shit-dumb posts about evolution here are any indication

    I’m guessing you’ve only seen this one.

  115. SBP says:

    I’m still not seeing where you’re either defending or retracting your thesis, Steven.

    Somehow I’d expected more from a “Ph.D.” in “biology” from “Columbia”.

    I’m forced to conclude that you’re simply a garden variety liar.

    Good night, Steven.

  116. SBP says:

    P.S.

    Steven, next time you should at least try to make up a better school.

    Columbia is an Ivy, certainly, but it’s not particularly well-known for biology.

    I suggest you use Harvard in the future.

    Just a tip.

  117. “It was your thesis, Steven, not mine.

    Here, allow me to refresh your memory:

    since evolutionary theory tells us that ALL fossil and living species are potentially ‘links’ between preceding and following species.

    Your statement, Steven, not mine.

    So you now wish to retract it?”

    No. It stands nicely just as I wrote it and there is no contradiction if you aren’t ignorant and know how to read.

    (It also echoes what your colleague Swen Swenson wrote above about every new-found fossil species being ‘a new link in the long story of life’. Scientists generally abhor this ‘missing link’ talk for that reason. They’ll use in in public sometimes just as shorthand, or maybe the fancier ‘transitional fossils’ phraseology, but they probably shouldn’t. All fossils are likely to be ‘transitional’; some are just more ‘obviously’ so than others, like Tiktaalik, which even a creationist dumbass could see is ‘transitional’ between fish and tetrapods. And living species of today are just fossil species of tomorrow, from a evolutionary/geological perspective.)

  118. oh, but, SBP, I’m guessing he’s stabbing at something like this

  119. SBP says:

    No. It stands nicely just as I wrote it and there is no contradiction if you aren’t ignorant and know how to read.

    Got it. So the Madagascar hissing cockroach is potentially a “link” between the naked mole rat and the trumpeter swan.

    And your evidence for this would be?

    Hint: insults and weaseling don’t count as “evidence” around these parts. Perhaps they do things differently at “Columbia”.

  120. SBP says:

    I’m also not seeing any mention of what kind of “biologist” you are.

    You did know that there’s more than one subfield, right?

    Even at “Columbia”.

  121. SBP says:

    Good night, all.

  122. And btw, SBP, while it is possible to be a Columbia grad and have a doctoral degree in biology from Columbia too — (but here I must warn you, a shocking, mind-shattering Shamalayanic twist follows:) — you can be a Columbia grad — AND have a Ph.D in biology from *somewhere else*! (Let’s not even discuss the concept of *post*doctoral work…I am not a sadist)

    But hell, I could actually be just a dog pawing words into a keyboard, and you’d *still* be clueless about evolution.

  123. SBP says:

    Or it’s possible that you’re simply a liar.

    A clumsy one.

  124. SBP says:

    Oh, and Steven?

    You seem to be operating under the assumption that I don’t accept the theory of evolution.

    Hint: that’s far from the case.

  125. sdferr says:

    One of the sadder aspects of his approach SBP, is the ugly attitude, wherein, were we to suppose him a teacher of the subject addressing a classroom full of willing students, by the time he’d had done with them, they well may have decided to leave and not come back.

  126. SBP says:

    Right, sdferr. He came over here to smite the unwashed.

  127. Rob Crawford says:

    So, what’s the ‘mean IQ’ here SBP? Would it likely be higher than that of, oh, say, a Columbia grad with a Ph.D. in biology?

    Likely.

    A piece of paper doesn’t mean you’re intelligent; as a wise man once said “I can’t give you brains, but I can give you a diploma.”

  128. Dan Collins says:

    “Ontogeny recapitulates Christianity” was a cartoon of a cartoon meant to irritate prigs such as yourself, Steven. Despite having read Ernst Mayr, though, in tedious detail as a grad student, and his detractors and supporters, I’m certain you’re correct that I don’t know what I’m talking about.

    Either way, this isn’t about Ida–whose name might be RAAAAAAACIST! if you think about it. Rather, it’s about what Google determines worth celebration and what not. In short, piss off.

  129. SBP says:

    Absolutely, Rob.

    As I said, there are tons of advanced degrees floating around here, but some of the smartest posters on the site don’t have any formal credentials as far as I know.

    The fact that Steven uses his alleged (undergrad!) degree from Columbia speaks volumes.

  130. Rob Crawford says:

    One of the sadder aspects of his approach SBP, is the ugly attitude, wherein, were we to suppose him a teacher of the subject addressing a classroom full of willing students, by the time he’d had done with them, they well may have decided to leave and not come back.

    That type isn’t so much interested in teaching as in stroking their own ego.

  131. Dan Collins says:

    I love the Wizard of Oz reference, Rob. ;-P

  132. Pete says:

    Yeah, Hi. Memorial Day is on Monday. Independence Day is on July 4. Veteran’s Day, pace Comment #2, is on November 11. I don’t see the snub, here.

    Less Protein, more Wisdom, please.

  133. sdferr says:

    Gee, did history begin just yesterday, d’ja think Pete?

  134. Pete says:

    Not sure what that means, sdferr. I just think dumping on Google for not respecting a holiday that *hasn’t even happened yet* is a bit weird. It’s like, to choose a non-partisan example, getting mad at Google for not having a Happy New Year’s display up on December 28. Come Monday and they don’t have anything up and then you’ll have a point. I would be quite surprised if they didn’t…

  135. SBP says:

    . I just think dumping on Google for not respecting a holiday that *hasn’t even happened yet* is a bit weird.

    Er…. Pete?

    Google has been around for more than one year.

    So have those holidays.

    Really!

  136. sdferr says:

    Sometimes I wonder SBP, is the stuff I write that unintelligible, honestly? Or maybe, how the heck is Pete (or any of us, for that matter) going to recognize wisdom when he finally runs into it?

  137. Pete says:

    My bad. Lame! Some really quite acceptable Memorial Day Google logo ideas can be found here: http://zombietime.com/google_memorial_day_logo/

    Happy Memorial Day weekend, all. Thanks to those who serve and have served.

  138. Oh snap, Dan, you read Mayr (‘and his detractors and supporters’)in grad school! And your incoherent riff on Haeckel was *meant* to be stupid because that ‘irritates prigs’!

    This, from someone who’s irritated because, with Memorial Day still five days away, god-damnable Google honored a breaking-news scientific discovery instead of ‘our vets’ or ‘American independence’.

    What next, you’ll tell me this is all a performance art piece?

    If so, me so *pwned*.

    And SBP, from evidence so far — like, interpreting ‘all species are potentially transitional’ to mean bugs are now, or have ever been, transitional between birds and mammals — you’re ignorant of important concepts in evolution, whether you claim to ‘accept’ the ToE or not. To remedy that, try spending some time at the educational resource whose URL I keep attaching to my name: talkorigins.org

  139. SBP says:

    And SBP, from evidence so far — like, interpreting ‘all species are potentially transitional’ to mean bugs are now, or have ever been, transitional between birds and mammals

    You said it, not me.

    And I said “potentially” transitional. Exactly the same word you used, Steven.

    So, you’re now going to lie about what you said and what I said?

    Hint: that doesn’t work too well when the original posts are still here for everybody to read.

    You might want to take the time to actually read what people are saying, Steven, rather than blithely assuming positions that are not in evidence.

    In specific, I, for one, certainly accept that evolution has occurred.

    Sorry to interfere with your debate with the cartoon character you have in your head.

    BTW, if I feel the need to review the mathematical underpinnings of evolution, I’ll go back the copy of David Goldberg’s book that I have right here on my shelf, or maybe even call him up on the phone, rather than wasting time on some random web page derived from a notorious Usenet flame group.

    Thanks.

    Oh, and what was your field of specialization again?

    You’ve somehow failed to answer that.

  140. SBP says:

    Characterization of goldfish homologues to Drosophila Notch

    That you, Steven?

    ‘Cause if so… still doing post-docs 15 years post-degree. Wow.

  141. Xanthippas says:

    So…Memorial Day’s Monday, right? As in, not the 20th, or 21st or 22nd?

  142. JD says:

    You can always count on Zippy to join in with an influx of trolls. Excitable Andy’s cousin Steve was a great one, proclaimed his moral and intellectual superiority in his first comment, and then proceeded to prove himself a liar with every comment thereafter.

  143. JD says:

    Steve, Black, and dr kill should all get together, whack off to mental pictures of nishi, and tell each other how much those creationist god-botherers are teh suxXor.

  144. JD says:

    Oh … TB and Jeffrey added lots to this. Guy and Greg too. But especially Jeffrey. Jeffrey was so unoriginal I fell asleep, TWICE, trying to make it through that pedestrian rant of his. Wingnut is sooooooo 2004. War of aggression. Imperialist. You forgot racist homophobic xenophobic jingoistic misogynists you partriarchal SOB.

    Besides, God’s listening.

  145. bh says:

    Never ever forget that, JD, God’s listening. He’s still not offering fashion advice though.

  146. JD says:

    bh – You could not be more correct on the lack of fashion advise from God. That is the only explanation of the hairshirt that Steve Sully and Black are so fond of.

    Besides, God’s listening. Even if you do not believe. ;-)

  147. EastcoastMurcielago says:

    GET OFF MY WEBSITE YOU CRACK-ADDLED CHIHUAHUAS any by the way jeffrey tb and steven get back under your bridge

  148. Steven Sullivan says:

    “And SBP, from evidence so far — like, interpreting ‘all species are potentially transitional’ to mean bugs are now, or have ever been, transitional between birds and mammals

    You said it, not me.

    And I said “potentially” transitional. Exactly the same word you used, Steven.”

    Yeah, I ‘said’ that, SBP. My mistake, though, was to presume that no one so sure of his knowledge could be so ignorant of basic biology as to interpret ‘that’ as meaning ‘all species are potentially transitional *between each other*’. Clearly I overestimated you, SBP…which is saying a lot.

    Meanwhile I continue to laugh at your bizarre insistence that *I’m* ‘lying’. I guess the alternative just too much for you to bear.

    As for your nonsequitur about having the ‘mathematical underpinnings of evolution’ at your beck and call…er, that’s just *keen*, really (though your pal was more on-target citing Mayr than you are citing an AI guy, if you’re trying to score famous evolutionary biologist points.)

    Your ignorance in regarding talkorigins.org as a ‘random web page’ that is discreditable as being ‘derived from a notorious Usenet flame group’ is both hilarious and entirely unsurprising, though. I’m gonna guess you consider the NCSE a Commie atheist liberal front, too, so I won’t bother pointing you there for the same sort of information.

    Btw did Google come through for you angry patriots? I forgot to care last Monday.

  149. JD says:

    Yes, hairshirt, you obviously do not care, since you cam back to comment in a thread that had no activity for almost a week, just to be some intellectual poseur. You clearly do not care.

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