[thechat] Mythology was comics

[Luther, Ron]

Hi Judah,

<snip>
I tend to use the strict biological definition which is that two individuals
are of different species if they cannot mate to produce viable
(reproductive) offsping.  That is, if they mate the their germlines die off.

</snip>


Actually I think you'll find that taxonomy (the branch of science where they
'name' living things - like species) is one of the most contentious areas in
all of science.  Oversimplifying - you generally find folks belonging to one
of two camps; the "lumpers" who want to combine different species / genera /
familes "Oh! That's just natural diversity - they're really the same."...
and the "splitters" who want to make finer and finer differentiations
between sets of organisms  "These buggers from the west side of the county
really ARE different from the buggers on the east side of the county.".  The
arguments between the two camps can (and have) gotten fairly intense!

There used to be a magazine called "The Sciences" published by the New York
Academy of Science that was remarkable for three reasons:  (1) The articles
were not "dumbed down" in any way.  (2) NO illustrations were allowed to
accompany the articles.  The editors selected photographs of artwork to
accompany each article.  {And did an absolutely amazing job in selecting
some very very fitting art!} (3) The "letters" section gave us outsiders a
splendid insight into the 'human side' of science - the arguing and
back-biting that go on during the consideration of a new idea or theory.
Unfortunately, it was a tad expensive ... I think it was about $100 a year
when I quit subscribing ... a looooong time ago.

RonL.