[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 inclined (typo fixed).

John Grehan


On Mon, Feb 24, 2014 at 7:20 PM, John Grehan <calabar.john at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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.
>>
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>>
>> Celebrating 27 years of Taxacom in 2014.
>>
>
>