flying spaghetti monster flap in kansas

I don't understand how people get something so simple so wrong, over and over again.Selection doesn't cause mutations. Selection is the fact that not every organism survives to reproduce, or reproduces the same number of offspring. Well, we know that mutations occur at random, over time. We know that they're not something programmed into the DNA, laying there in wait. Mutations happen; they're not designed or preprogrammmed.

Well, no, that's false. Many, many experiments have been performed that show that mutations aren't the environmental activation of already-present genetic programming; they're novel genetic sequences that arise, at random, in organisms. Mutations aren't magic. They happen because DNA, like any molecule, follows the laws of physics. Sometimes mutations happen because UV radiation causes two adjacent thyamines to form a dimer. Sometimes they happen when reactive molecules damage a nucleotide base or two.What would make you think that the origin of mutations couldn't be a scientific question? Seems perfectly scientific to me. You're entitled to your own opinion, but not to your own facts. The fact is, mutations are not pre-programmed into an organism's DNA; they're changes that happen to the DNA, caused at random by one of a number of perfectly natural physical events.

You're the one doing that. You're the one setting scientific explanations of the mechanisms of events against subjective religious stories about why they happen, as though those two things were mutually exclusive, and the presence of the second nullified the first. Who cares why they exist? It's hardly necessary for us to know the origin of the laws of physics for us to draft models that employ them to explain phenomena. Where in this thread have I made any assertions about my view of the origin of the laws of physics?Also, this is a substantially different claim than the one you were originally making. Can we assume, because you've abandoned any attempt to support it, that you no longer hold the position that mutations are pre-programmed into the DNA of organisms?

Eyes exist because seeing is useful. That's a perfectly scientific answer to a perfectly scientific question.I mean how hard is that? Why is it that you two insist on taking perfectly answerable, scientific questions and acting like the answers are somehow beyond the scope of human knowledge?I mean, did you two really need me to tell you what to do with your eyes? Reading books with them would be my first suggestion. Carrion eating would be the transitional state, there, I suspect. Eating your own offspring costs you nothing (setting aside diseases) if they're already dead, or even if they're likely to die. This is a strategy that many insects employ - spiders eating their own young, etc.But honestly? What makes you think that carnivores evolved from herbivores in the first place? Carnivores and herbivores are more likely to be specialized derivatives of omnivores.

Why? What leads you to believe that chaos, and not order, is the natural consequence of a lack of guidance in the natural world?(What I love is the idea that the best-supported theory in biology is somehow "far-fetched", but a magic sky-man who grants wishes is totally reasonable.)

You mean "respond to your goading." Mission accomplished - you were able to be rude and dismissive enough for someone to reply in the same manner. Do you want your cookie now?

What would you call message 37, if not rude? You basically implied that evolutionists were idiots who couldn't see something so obvious it was hitting them right in the face. What? Cookies go great with coffee.

Take it from a former barista - buy fresh beans and grind your own. Get one of those blade grinders like Billy Crystal uses in City Slickers. Grind for about a slow ten-count. Put the grinds into some kind of funneling filter device - you could actually just shove a few conical coffee filters into a large kitchen funnel, or do like I do and use one of those perforated gold screen ones - put it over the top of a carafe or something, and slowly pour hot water (like, bring it to just where it starts to bubble before the boil) through - about 6 oz for every tablespoon of ground bean you have in the filter.Yes, Starbucks is kind of a ripoff. I mean, once you have a real cappuchino, you'll pay quite a bit for it, and Starbucks is going to have equipment for drawing espresso and frothing milk that you don't. On the other hand, they're going to have zombies working the espresso machine instead of people who know what coffee should taste like, and charging you bundles for the privilege.

I don't think they offer the same control over the grind. You have to guess when you set the dial. The blade grinder, you just stop when you hit the right grind. They're easier to clean and they don't hold onto coffee oils as much. Plus you can use them to chop peanuts.My burr grinder is a piece. I used it once and then went back to my blade grinder; the one that's half-melted from my apartment fire.

The evidence is the lack of any evidence that supports the notion of intelligence behind our existence. If literally everything is complex, then how do you recognize complexity? If there's no simplicity in the universe, what makes you think that it's even possible for something to be simple? Questions about how living things then became the living things we have now are not philosophical or theological, they're biological.

If even a stupid rock can be complex, what makes you think you need intelligence to have complexity? What, God hand-made every single rock? The "why" is because, if they didn't become that, they wouldn't have survived. And a lot of organisms haven't.What makes you think that "why" has to be philosophic every time it's asked?

Then how do you know when to buy milk when you're at the store?"Honey, I'm about to go to the store. Do we need milk?""Well, let me check. I don't see any evidence of any milk in here, but that's hardly evidence that we have an absence of milk.""Ok, I guess I'll just save 3 bucks and not buy any. After all I can't be sure we actually need some."

What makes you think it could be any other way?

I still don't see how you know when to buy milk. How do you prove that the milk doesn't exist in your fridge?

No, they're nothing alike. Your ridiculous "God" is made of "spirit" or some nonexistent nonsense; the FSM is made of pasta, which we all know actually exists.There's actually evidence for the FSM, but none for your so-called "God."