superbad's Comments
I'm not an expert on banana domestication or biology, but it seems reasonable to me to suppose that bananas (and palm fruits generally) could have evolved specifically to be eaten by primates, who crap out the seeds and thus propagate the plant. Most fruit evolved to be eaten by one creature or another, in the same way that flowers produce nectar specifically to attract bees, who then inadvertently spread the pollen around. It's a win-win.
Go check out Richard Dawkins' essay on the fig and the fig wasp. We think of a fig as a "fruit," but it's actually more like an enclosed flower, which has evolved specifically to meet the needs of the fig wasps that pollinate it. And those fig wasps, of course, have evolved to do nothing but reproduce (and inadvertently pollinate) inside figs. Evolution is far more interesting, complex, and beautiful than just saying some old man with a big white beard made everything, which is the kind of explanation a 5 year old would come up with to explain the natural world. And even an above-average five year old would eventually ask: who made the old man with the white beard?
Go check out Richard Dawkins' essay on the fig and the fig wasp. We think of a fig as a "fruit," but it's actually more like an enclosed flower, which has evolved specifically to meet the needs of the fig wasps that pollinate it. And those fig wasps, of course, have evolved to do nothing but reproduce (and inadvertently pollinate) inside figs. Evolution is far more interesting, complex, and beautiful than just saying some old man with a big white beard made everything, which is the kind of explanation a 5 year old would come up with to explain the natural world. And even an above-average five year old would eventually ask: who made the old man with the white beard?
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In 1000 years, historians will view Mike Judge as a visionary. Except that in 1000 years the average IQ will be about 25, so we won't have any historians.
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I'd like to leave some kind of interesting comment, but that is just stunning. 7.5 billion light years away... The idea of that thing being 7 billion light years closer and lighting up the nighttime like daylight is incredibly awesome. Oh, and they detected it (and 5 other GRBs) the day Arthur C. Clarke died...
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A true update for our times really ought to include IEDs, collapsing twin towers, bombs on the track, Predator drones, etc. It's a small world indeed.
But I guess increasing the commercialism and jingoism is a good start.
But I guess increasing the commercialism and jingoism is a good start.
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Well put.
I suppose this kind of crap is one of the inevitable side effects of polygamous cultures. Too many men looking for somewhere to put their penis, and too few unmarried women to go around. Or maybe all the adult unmarried females in Yemen have been executed for "adultery" or "driving" or "unaccompanied walking" and other such high crimes.