OT Another way to express a political opinion.
http://www.physorg.com/news9161.html
The guardians of animal nomenclature had mixed feelings over a proposal to name three newly-discovered species of slime-mould beetle after US President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. A pair of insect experts reserved the names Agathidium bushi, Agathidium cheneyi and Agathidium rumsfeldi for their latest creepy-crawlies. |
OT Another way to express a political opinion.
Usual Suspect wrote:
http://www.physorg.com/news9161.html The guardians of animal nomenclature had mixed feelings over a proposal to name three newly-discovered species of slime-mould beetle after US President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. A pair of insect experts reserved the names Agathidium bushi, Agathidium cheneyi and Agathidium rumsfeldi for their latest creepy-crawlies. The beetles deserve more respect than that. John |
OT Another way to express a political opinion.
Usual Suspect wrote:
http://www.physorg.com/news9161.html The guardians of animal nomenclature had mixed feelings over a proposal to name three newly-discovered species of slime-mould beetle What pray tell is a "slime-mould beetle"? I did not realize that slime moulds were so prevalent that there would be multiple species of beetle adapted to interact with them in some way. -- --John to email, dial "usenet" and validate (was jclarke at eye bee em dot net) |
OT Another way to express a political opinion.
On Mon, 02 Jan 2006 09:44:05 -0500, with neither quill nor qualm, "J.
Clarke" quickly quoth: Usual Suspect wrote: http://www.physorg.com/news9161.html The guardians of animal nomenclature had mixed feelings over a proposal to name three newly-discovered species of slime-mould beetle What pray tell is a "slime-mould beetle"? What, you don't spend long days in the muck looking for new lifeforms? ;) I did not realize that slime moulds were so prevalent that there would be multiple species of beetle adapted to interact with them in some way. Of course you didn't. You (like most of us) are probably unaware of the names of 99.999% of insect life on the planet. There are tens of millions of them, most under-studied and many unidentified. I feel that it's offensive to slime mold (and beetles in general) to name them after this rotten lot, and I used to be a Republican. - The only reason I would take up exercising is || http://diversify.com so that I could hear heavy breathing again. || Programmed Websites |
OT Another way to express a political opinion.
In article , Larry Jaques says...
I did not realize that slime mo[]lds were so prevalent that there would be multiple species of beetle adapted to interact with them in some way. Of course you didn't. You (like most of us) are probably unaware of the names of 99.999% of insect life on the planet. There are tens of millions of them, most under-studied and many unidentified. Insects are far and away the catagory that contains the most species. Most of them, as noted, have yet to be identified and studied. Because of the variety, and also because of the specialization that occurs, insects are prime candidates when one wants to study things like, how speciation actually occurs. If you talk to an entomologist, you will find somebody who works with natural selection and evolution the same way we work with bar stock, lathes, and milling machines. It's pretty much the front line of exploring how evolution works. I feel that it's offensive to slime mold (and beetles in general) to name them after this rotten lot, and I used to be a Republican. Ah, those biologists. If you want to have a good party, get some of those folks together and liquor them up. Quite the opposite of the physical science folks. True story: the American Physical Society had their annual meeting in Las Vegas one march. After it was concluded, the APS was told in no uncertain terms to never ever come back to that town again. SEems like the physics folks didn't spend any money on gambling, shows, hookers, or resturants. Basically a bunch of deadbeats. The other true story to match involved a biological field station that shall remain nameless http://research.amnh.org/swrs/index.htm wherein a former boss there was having a substantial difficulty with the local cattlemen. There was a bunch of friction and this was bad because a great deal of biological research was carried out on their land, with their permission. So it was decided to throw a party to allow the researchers and local landowners a chance to meet each other and socialize. This basically lasted a day and a half and involved a large amount of alcohol. At the end of the time it was decided that maybe the researchers and landowners really weren't all that far apart and most folks there were pretty friendly once you got to know them. Good relations remain in the area to this day. Those crazy cornell guys. No knowing who they're gonna name a new species after. That's how it works of course. If you describe a new one, it's up to you to create the name. Jim -- ================================================== please reply to: JRR(zero) at pkmfgvm4 (dot) vnet (dot) ibm (dot) com ================================================== |
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