[Taxacom] counting the number of species on Earth ... for the Ark

[John Grehan]

There's also no limit to the capacity for self-deception by the not so
religously inclidned.

John Grehan


On Mon, Feb 24, 2014 at 6:31 PM, <m.egger at comcast.net> wrote:

> Well, get ready  for a LOT more Ark claptrap in the next few months, as
> the new "Noah" movie, with Russell Crowe, Anthony Hopkins, Emma Watson, and
> other "big time" stars approaches its late March release date. Word has it
> that the movie is getting mixed reviews from the true believers at the
> early screenings because it is not "biblical" enough and has a minor
> environmentalist sub-plot and because the director is Jewish (wasn't Noah
> also?? Not to mention Jesus). No mention of the fact that the Ark story is
> argueably one of the most absurd pieces of fiction in the bible.There's
> just no limit to the capacity for self-deception by the religiously
> inclined.
>
> Mark
>
> ----- Original Message -----
>
> From: "Michael Ohl" <Michael.Ohl at mfn-berlin.de>
> To: "taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu" <taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>
> Sent: Monday, February 24, 2014 5:04:29 AM
> Subject: [Taxacom] counting the number of species on Earth ... for the Ark
>
> Hi list,
>
> I recently stumbled over a series of absurd papers on estimating the size
> of the global biodiversity of reptiles, which I would like to share with
> you.
>
> Some of you have probably heard that there is an initiative to rebuild
> Noah's Ark today as an 'Ark Park'. See here: http://arkencounter.com/,
> and comments here:
> http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/12/the-ark-park-needs-to-sink/.
>
> If this is not weird enough, a series of papers were recently published in
> "Answers Research Journal" (sic!), on how to estimate the number of reptile
> species which have been aboard on the original Ark and how many have to be
> considered for planning the total capacity of the new one. As one can
> easily imagine, some of them are "potentially capable of surviving Flood
> conditions and therefore are not included on the Ark", which makes life
> easier for the architects and Noah himself. As an example, the author could
> demonstrate that Noah and his family had taken care of 11 turtle and 3
> crocodile species, which "since that time ... have diversified into the
> plethora of species we marvel at today". The results are said to be based
> on available biosystematic data from molecular and hybridization studies
> and baraminology (a new word for me which I never heard before. See
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baraminology).
>
> In the first moment, it makes a lot of fun to read those papers, but after
> a while the entire absurdity becomes more and more apparent. It is hard to
> believe that those people are really serious ...
>
> Oh well...
>
> Cheers, Michael
>
>
>
>
>
> Michael Ohl
> Museum fuer Naturkunde Berlin
>
>
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> Celebrating 27 years of Taxacom in 2014.
>