(Top three in January (here), February here), March here), April (here), May (here), June here, July here, August here.)
This was the month we learned about the mechanical gear (cogwheels) in the lacewing, and the 419 mya jawed vertebrate hopped out of the hat.
1. William J. Murray: Can We Afford To Be Charitable To Darwinists? 752 comments (and they’re really an important part of the story)
Does it make one a barbarian if one employs the tactics of the barbarian to win the war? I’ve seen that argument countless times in the media: we will become that which we are fighting against. I used to identify with that – I wouldn’t lower myself to “their” level. The war wasn’t worth winning if it meant using the tactics of the enemy. Now, however, I see that sentiment as part of the cultural conditioning towards the failure of good, principled people while the post-modernists employ our principles, our sense of reason, of good, of fair play, against us. They have no compunction using the principles of Christianity (or any rational theistic morality) as a bludgeon to coerce the religious/spiritual into giving up social ground.
Comment 28, scordova Give honor to whom honor is due. We should be as charitable to Darwinists as we would be to any citizen.
Many of my professors and mentors were Darwinists. An ex-girlfriend was a Darwinist, but her being a democrat was more of a disqualifier.
As far as charity goes, we dispense it independent of one’s level Darwinism, but on other factors.
If the Darwinists is someone like laser-inventor and Christian Charles Townes, we honor them as they are due. If the Darwinists are Jeffrey Dahmer or Amy Bishop we throw them in jail.
2. Sal Cordova: Mechanical gear found in living organism — Behe’s IC still a challenge for Darwinism:
How does selection arrive at such coordination? What good is one gear without the corresponding gear? The challenge of IC for Darwinism remains.
3. News: Another rabbit jumps the hat: 419 mya JAWED fish
Remember we were discussing how current Darwinian evolution theory would not be challenged even if a modern rabbit were found back in the 550 mya Cambrian era (and Darwin followers in the combox appeared to agree).
Hippety hop. A 419 mya jawed vertebrate.
The ancestors of modern jawed vertebrates are commonly portrayed as fishes with a shark-like appearance. But a stunning fossil discovery from China puts a new face on the original jawed vertebrate. [US$18 paywall]
National Geographic News reports*, …
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