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Couldn't agree more. However nothing is made less incredible simply by the existence of other things which are even less credible still.
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"evolution gives us an explanation of how each level of the tree of life could have branched from earlier ones"
Simply put, what we don't know still far outweighs what we do. Evolutionary theory, especially the Darwinian understanding of natural selection, is self-evidently a comforting story to fill in the huge gaps in the fossil record. It still has no satisfactory explanation of any process beyond speciation. I don't have a problem with that as long as it doesn't claim to be fact that which is still unproven theory. It's the best story we've got - certainly more than adequate to dismiss fundamentalist creationist claims - but it is still a story as yet.
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Well speciation is really what we're talking about here. But evolution is so much more than just some bloke's idea to explain why there are so many species. It is a proper scientific theory that allows us to predict and test outcomes.
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racketeer wrote: Well speciation is really what we're talking about here.
No. We're talking about the origin of all life. Natural selection provides a basis for understanding how there came to be thousands of different types of birds and a lot of different types of cat all climbing thousands of varieties of tree. It less successful in is explaining how there came to be birds and cats and trees. It is becoming increasingly obvious that natural selection is neither efficient nor sufficient as an explanation of the entire evolutionary process but it remains less than obvious with what it can be supplemented or replaced with as the 'story' we tell. As a result the majority of the worlds children continue to hear the old one at school.
racketeer wrote: predict and test outcomes
Predict what exactly? I don't remember there being any prediction of an adaptation even so small as antibiotic resistance and the new 'bugs' that would arise. The only area in which macro predictions can be made (and then not always with entire accuracy) is in purposive directed breeding which (despite the many natural selection advocates who can't get the distinction straight) has absolutely nothing to do with evolution. What is there to test then and how would you test it anyway? It's called a theory (cf. the Big Bang) precisely because no matter how much confirmatory evidence may be found it remains fundamentally untestable (at least until somebody finally invents a time machine!) and thus equally unproveable.
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Prediction of a future adaptation may be difficult but given that the theory of evolution tells us that at some stage in the past, aquatic creatures made the transition to dry land, scientists were able to predict where would give the best chance of finding fossil evidence of this happening and this led directly to the discovery of tiktaalik.
I don't think you're grasping the definition of theory in a scientific context.
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How is that 'prediction' remotely related to evolutionary theory? It's a simple application of geology using the techniques by which coal and oil bearing rocks are discovered, for example. You cannot seriously believe that scientists have the ability to pinpoint where evolutionary events occurred millions of years ago when what land there was wasn't even where it now is? You look for fossils in the types of rock where fossils have been previously found just as you go to buy ice cream in what you have previously established is a shop that sells it. You don't stick a pin in a map and heartily proclaim, "Here be where fishes got legs, I'll be bound! There'll be fossils there for sure!"
The discovery of fossils is entirely serendipitous. That's why there are such huge gaps in the record. Nothing in evolutionary theory can tell you where to look or what you can expect to find. One of the greatest weaknesses of much palaeontology has been presupposition of this kind as Stephen Jay Gould illustrated so aptly with his reassessment of the fossil finds in the Burgess Shale[^] which I urge anyone who thinks they understand evolution and evolutionary science to read!
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Shift to erase car chip, encoded but easily broken. (6,6)
The answer is Caeser cipher[^] which is an anagram of "erase car chip" (encoded being a trigger word to look for anagrams) and is a shift-based cipher that is easily broken.
modified 29-Sep-15 7:23am.
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Good one! 
You have just been Sharapova'd.
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Jaysus that's quick.
Well done - you're up tomorrow.
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What?
veni bibi saltavi
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Agent_007 got the answer (correctly) but then hid it so others could have a try.
Very sporting...
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It is a simple one! I only just saw the clue, and it's pretty easy to solve.
A good clue!
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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Sounds like grab her code :=)
We can’t stop here, this is bat country - Hunter S Thompson RIP
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Et tu Brute?
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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We can’t stop here, this is bat country - Hunter S Thompson RIP
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I don't understand what this ccc otd means, what the game here? move quote of the day of fairly easy but CCC?
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Cryptic crossword clue of the day
We can’t stop here, this is bat country - Hunter S Thompson RIP
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Don't worry too much if you don't understand, its a bit of a private club for three or four members here to be honest.
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The idea is that one person posts a Cryptic Crossword Clue[^] and everybody else has a set amount of time to give the right answer (and preferably the solution).
The first person to give the right answer gets to set the next clue (one per day, Monday to Friday): the rules are at the bottom of here[^]
A CCC can be simple or complicated, but they follow the rules set out in the Wiki article.
For example:
The Jester's headgear is made of paper! (8)
The (8) means the solution is one word of eight letters.
The solution is:
The Jester's FOOLS - A Jester is also known as a Fool, so a Jester's somethign is a Fools
's something
headgear CAP - A Cap is a form of headgear
is made of paper! FOOLSCAP - Foolscap is a paper size
Or
Bestrewn with rubbish and kittens(8)
Again, one word, eight letters.
Bestrewn with rubbish LITTERED - Litter is rubbish, so an area bestrewn with rubbish would be Littered
and kittens LITTERED - A group of kittens is a Litter, so kittens are Littered
It's not too complicated when you get your head round it!
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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OriginalGriff wrote: The Jester's headgear is made of paper! (8)
The (8) means the solution is one word of eight letters.
The solution is:
The Jester's FOOLS - A Jester is also known as a Fool, so a Jester's somethign is a Fools
's something
headgear CAP - A Cap is a form of headgear
is made of paper! FOOLSCAP - Foolscap is a paper size
Or
Bestrewn with rubbish and kittens(8)
Again, one word, eight letters.
Bestrewn with rubbish LITTERED - Litter is rubbish, so an area bestrewn with rubbish would be Littered
and kittens LITTERED - A group of kittens is a Litter, so kittens are Littered
Can we have one of these two tomorrow so I can answer it for once. 
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Nope - I already did 'em! 
(They were in my "past CCC's" folder so I just pulled 'em out with solutions)
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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Aha thanks, seems like a fun challenge indeed. 
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Have a go at tomorrow's - it should be posted about 09:00 BST (08:00 UCT)
But be aware: they are a lot harder to set that they look!
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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