New Book of Rules
in [Design]
|
From: Jim Yanik on 17 Aug 2006 11:21 John Larkin <jjlarkin(a)highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote in news:ecd7e2dsmn3utfi02n0a8uth92sgs6fap2(a)4ax.com: > On 16 Aug 2006 23:43:50 GMT, Jim Yanik <jyanik(a)abuse.gov> wrote: > >>John Larkin <jjlarkin(a)highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote in >>news:l3a6e2d8cdn1f2e4g0qqjgtnke1j58e0uf(a)4ax.com: >> >>> On Wed, 16 Aug 2006 05:43:54 +0100, Eeyore >>><rabbitsfriendsandrelations(a)REMOVETHIS.hotmail.com> wrote: >>> >>> >>>>The concept of free speech was never designed for the yahoo likes of >>>>you who find the free speech of others not to your liking. >>> >>> >>> Spoken like a genuine Liberal! Thank you for this classic line; I just >>> love this sort of reasoning. >>> >>> John >>> >>> >> >>One more datum showing that liberals are anti-free speech. > > That's a paradox: one of the definitions of "liberal" is "tolerant", Not in the current usage WRT politics. These days,"liberal" is more accurately "socialist". > but liberals seem to be intolerant of people who aren't liberals! > > John > -- Jim Yanik jyanik at kua.net
From: John Woodgate on 17 Aug 2006 11:42 In message <j329e2t9dc055hbcl7iip1lp8j43fo9fnp(a)4ax.com>, dated Thu, 17 Aug 2006, John Larkin <jjlarkin(a)highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> writes >I certainly am confused. I've been informed that one or more comets >killed off everything over a few kilograms, and that all available >ecological niches were filled a few million years later. So giraffes >and walruses and mastadons evolved from rabbit-sized critters in a few >million years. > >Have I got it right at last? Yes, for sometimes quite large values of 'few'. -- OOO - Own Opinions Only. Try www.jmwa.demon.co.uk and www.isce.org.uk 2006 is YMMVI- Your mileage may vary immensely. John Woodgate, J M Woodgate and Associates, Rayleigh, Essex UK
From: Tim Auton on 17 Aug 2006 19:08 Jim Yanik <jyanik(a)abuse.gov> wrote: > John Larkin <jjlarkin(a)highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote in > news:ecd7e2dsmn3utfi02n0a8uth92sgs6fap2(a)4ax.com: > > On 16 Aug 2006 23:43:50 GMT, Jim Yanik <jyanik(a)abuse.gov> wrote: [whatever] > >>> Spoken like a genuine Liberal! Thank you for this classic line; I just > >>> love this sort of reasoning. > >> > >>One more datum showing that liberals are anti-free speech. > > > > That's a paradox: one of the definitions of "liberal" is "tolerant", > > Not in the current usage WRT politics. > These days,"liberal" is more accurately "socialist". Not just 'socialist': 'liberal' in US politics now seems to mean 'authoritarian socialist'. That's a fair attempt at the exact opposite meaning of liberal, as far as I can tell. Tim
From: Eeyore on 17 Aug 2006 19:27 Tim Auton wrote: > Jim Yanik <jyanik(a)abuse.gov> wrote: > > John Larkin <jjlarkin(a)highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote in > > news:ecd7e2dsmn3utfi02n0a8uth92sgs6fap2(a)4ax.com: > > > On 16 Aug 2006 23:43:50 GMT, Jim Yanik <jyanik(a)abuse.gov> wrote: > [whatever] > > >>> Spoken like a genuine Liberal! Thank you for this classic line; I just > > >>> love this sort of reasoning. > > >> > > >>One more datum showing that liberals are anti-free speech. > > > > > > That's a paradox: one of the definitions of "liberal" is "tolerant", > > > > Not in the current usage WRT politics. > > These days,"liberal" is more accurately "socialist". > > Not just 'socialist': 'liberal' in US politics now seems to mean > 'authoritarian socialist'. That's a fair attempt at the exact opposite > meaning of liberal, as far as I can tell. Yes. liberal P Pronunciation Key (lbr-l, lbrl) adj. Not limited to or by established, traditional, orthodox, or authoritarian attitudes, views, or dogmas; free from bigotry. Favoring proposals for reform, open to new ideas for progress, and tolerant of the ideas and behavior of others; broad-minded. Of, relating to, or characteristic of liberalism. Liberal Of, designating, or characteristic of a political party founded on or associated with principles of social and political liberalism, especially in Great Britain, Canada, and the United States. Tending to give freely; generous: a liberal benefactor. Generous in amount; ample: a liberal serving of potatoes. Not strict or literal; loose or approximate: a liberal translation. Of, relating to, or based on the traditional arts and sciences of a college or university curriculum: a liberal education. Archaic. Permissible or appropriate for a person of free birth; befitting a lady or gentleman. Obsolete. Morally unrestrained; licentious. Graham Even Jim Thompson reckon's he's a liberal by that definition.
From: bill.sloman on 17 Aug 2006 20:25
John Larkin wrote: > On 17 Aug 2006 03:23:49 -0700, bill.sloman(a)ieee.org wrote: > > > > >John Larkin wrote: > >> On 16 Aug 2006 07:50:29 -0700, bill.sloman(a)ieee.org wrote: > >> > >> > > >> >John Larkin wrote: > >> >> On 15 Aug 2006 20:10:25 -0700, bill.sloman(a)ieee.org wrote: > >> >> > >> >> >What survivors? Asteroid impacts that have had the same sort of > >> >> >consequences tend to kill off all the big, slow-breeding land animals - > >> >> >everything heavier than a few kilograms. > >> >> > > >> >> >It takes a few million years before the small, fast-breeding stuff > >> >> >evolves variants to fiill all the empty niches. > >> >> > >> >> So whales and elephants evolved from mice, in a few million years? I > >> >> never knew that! > >> > > >> >Good thing too. It isn't true. For whales > >> > > >> >"The short answer is that the best available evidence is that whales > >> >evolved > >> >from a terrestrial ancestor that resembled a wolf or hyaena, only with > >> >its > >> >five toes ending in small hooves rather than claws. This ancestral > >> >species > >> >belonged to a group called the mesonychids, or was closely related to > >> >them." > >> > > >> >For elephants > >> > > >> >"Subclass Eutheria > >> >Among the orders emanating from the subclass Eutheria are three that > >> >are closely related. > >> > > >> >Order Hyracoidea: > >> >Modern descendants are the hyraxes. African rodent-like animals the > >> >size of rabbits. > >> > > >> >Order Sirenia: > >> >Modern descendants are manatees and dugongs (sea cows). Seal-like > >> >mammals living entirely in water. > >> > > >> >Order Proboscidea: > >> >The order of modern elephants" > >> > > >> >So it would seem the both evolved from something closer in size to a > >> >rabbit than a mouse, > >> > > >> >The mouse is a relatively small rodent, so no more closely related to > >> >elephants or whales than we are (and more closely related to us than > >> >either). > >> > > >> >http://biology.plosjournals.org/perlserv?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.0040111 > >> > >> > >> > >> But, I quote, > >> > >> >> >What survivors? Asteroid impacts that have had the same sort of > >> >> >consequences tend to kill off all the big, slow-breeding land animals - > >> >> >everything heavier than a few kilograms. > >> >> > >> >> >It takes a few million years before the small, fast-breeding stuff > >> >> >evolves variants to fiill all the empty niches. > >> >> > > > >You are confused. A mouse weighs some 20 to 40 grams. > > I certainly am confused. I've been informed that one or more comets > killed off everything over a few kilograms, and that all available > ecological niches were filled a few million years later. So giraffes > and walruses and mastadons evolved from rabbit-sized critters in a few > million years. > > Have I got it right at last? Getting closer. Something vaguely like a giraffe must have evolved to graze the leaves on tall bushes - though it probably wasn't as well-adaped as the giraffe, and couldn't graze as high. There was alsosomething mammalian swimming around estuaries catching fish - though it probably wasn't as good at it as the walrus - and there was some kind of big grazer, though probably not as big as a mastadon or a giant ground sloth (althogh the giant ground sloth probably evolved to exploit the giraffe niche). Check out pages 3 and 4 of http://www.miracosta.edu/home/kmeldahl/articles/dinosNorthAm.pdf#search=%22post%20Cretaceous%20mammalian%20radiation%22 which discuss the radiation of the mammals after the K-T extinction. -- Bill Sloman, Nijmegen |