(February 17, 2014 at 11:38 pm)Stimbo Wrote: I rather think you're over-estimating the level of wit.

Agreed. remove the "half" and it would be accurate: "feck-wit".

(February 17, 2014 at 11:38 pm)Stimbo Wrote: I rather think you're over-estimating the level of wit.

I'm in a charitable mood.

Well, you're an atheist, aren't you? It's what we do. We're famous for it.

(February 17, 2014 at 11:47 pm)Stimbo Wrote: Well, you're an atheist, aren't you? It's what we do. We're famous for it.

Admittedly I sorta miss being a christian once in a while. Killing people that disagree with me and feeling completely justified about it has got to be satisfying.

Best part --- none of this will pierce the 5" thick ignorance armor that surrounds these two.

I think y'all are being a little unkind. It's worth remembering that these guys are not trying to sell anything, they don't get anything for doing this. Think of it like a child, proudly bringing you a mud pie and telling you its a cake.

(February 17, 2014 at 11:44 pm)Cthulhu Dreaming Wrote: I'm in a charitable mood.

Charity in this case means playing with your food. Torturing it and maybe just leaving it to suffer.

(February 18, 2014 at 3:48 am)Jacob(smooth) Wrote: I think y'all are being a little unkind. It's worth remembering that these guys are not trying to sell anything, they don't get anything for doing this. Think of it like a child, proudly bringing you a mud pie and telling you its a cake.

What they're getting is a big heaping helping of self righteousness, at the expense of looking down on us poor pitiful atheists. I, for one, don't appreciate being sneered at like I've never heard of the damn bible before, and I similarly don't like being threatened and cajoled with the possibility of hell.

Moreover, I dislike being lied to, and what else would you call this kind of retained ignorance in the face of requests to educate oneself, especially given that we've generally already done the wiki walking to link them right to the information?

You're right, they probably don't intend any harm, and even think they're doing a good thing, but I'm not going to be so condescending as to treat that ignorance with the kiddie gloves just because it's sincere.

At first we offered guidance. They refused to take it; what happens now is solely down to a refusal to even listen to a competing point of view.

Quote:Reptiles evolved into birds, really? Based on what? If so why did some evolve and some didn't? Wouldn't of all reptiles of ceased to exist and there be just more birds? Who decides they stay a lizard and another will be a bird?

Oh dear.

The lack of knowledge you are displaying here is so great it is almost impossible to address but god dammit I am going to try!

The animal kingdom is broken down as follows:

Kingdom
Phylum
Class
Order
Family
Genus
Species

This is a hierarchical structure so a species belongs to a Genus which belongs to a family and so on.

Reptiles are a class - as are mammals, birds and so on.

There are many species of Reptiles belonging to a smaller group of Genii belonging to a smaller number of families and so on.

Species evolve.

Over extended periods of time a given species may evolve into a creature sufficiently different from the original that it changes Genus, a longer period and it might change Family and so on.

All the while other species of reptile have evolved differently. Some may have stayed as reptiles and even as the same species, others created new Genii, families etc.

At the same time species go extinct all the time. Genii go extinct less often - again all the way up.

On a few occasions in the history of this planet, great extinction events - five of which are known about, huge numbers of species have gone extinct taking out entire genii, families, orders and classes. The most famous of these is the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago where whole families of marine reptiles and all of the pterosaurs also went extinct at the same time.

It is important to understand that a single species can, under exceptional circumstances give rise to everything below Phylum (possibly even Kingdom).

One example of this is the species that gave rise to the vertebrates ( overwhelming majority of the phylum Chordata) of which you are a member.

So here is (probably) your great great great.....granddad. He's 525 million years old:



His children include mammals, birds, reptiles, mammal like reptiles, dinosaurs, pterosaurs and Christian TV evangelists.

Not just the "animalia" Kingdom

Plants, fungi, bacteria and viruses have the identical structures

Helps us keep track of just WHAT we are talking about.






this is kindergarten information surely?