Re: Conspiracies and party lines

Steve Clark (ssclark@facstaff.wisc.edu)
Mon, 30 Dec 1996 15:12:30 -0600

At 12:50 PM 12/30/96, you wrote:

>>JB, quoting Taylor<<"The real obstacles to such a move were the massive
>>structural changes needed to make life on land worthwhile. To bein with,the
>>fish would need legs simply in order to relieve the pressure of its body on
>>the ground, which would compress the lungs." >>

[snip]
>>A fish coming onto the land would need support to keep pressure off his soft
>>little belly as it flopped around. Of course, while it did so it wouldn't
>>notice its gills collapsing. Nor would it care that its body was drying out
>>rapidly, redcuing to zero the area of the respiratory surface and effectively
>>stopping the diffusion of oxygen into the blood. Easy stuff, this, right?
>>Evolution is so simple. All we have to do is imagine all these problems
>> were really "selective advantages." Poof!
>>

I like this. Although they don't believe that evolution happened,
creationists, nevertheless, know how it would have happened. Another
"just-so" creationist story.

Jim also wrote:

>>... the fish backbone is basically a rod (called a notochord)
>>surrounded by cartilage rings. (BTW, the remainder of the fish skeleton is
>>also cartilaginous,

This is incorrect. A small of group of fish, the chondrichthyes (e.g.,
sharks--no offense Jim, and skates), have a cartiligenous skeleton. The
remainder are bony.

Steve
____________________________________________________________
Steven S. Clark, Ph.D . Phone: 608/263-9137
Associate Professor FAX: 608/263-4226
Dept. of Human Oncology and Email: ssclark@facstaff.wisc.edu
UW Comprehensive Cancer Center
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600 Highland Ave.
Madison, WI 53792
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