[Taxacom] taxonomy article in the NYTimes

[Doug Yanega]

>Genesis 2: 19-20
>
>19 Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of 
>the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man 
>to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each 
>living creature, that was its name.
>
>20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air 
>and all the beasts of the field.

Well, this would demonstrate two things:

(1) Taxonomy would accordingly be the world's oldest profession (as 
opposed to the presently-titled "world's oldest profession")

(2) Given that Adam and his descendants have not even managed to give 
names to 10% of the life forms on the planet after all this time, one 
can only assume that God intended for Man to be a pitiful 
underachiever. Either that or He's really, really disappointed, and I 
dread the interview at the next performance review:

"So, how's that "naming all the living creatures" job coming along? 
Got a good task force working on it?"

"....."

Peace,
-- 

Doug Yanega        Dept. of Entomology         Entomology Research Museum
Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314        skype: dyanega
phone: (951) 827-4315 (standard disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's)
              http://cache.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html
   "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness
         is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82