Mark Twain

“Suppose you were an idiot and suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.”
- Mark Twain

FOSSILS CHALLENGE OLD EVOLUTION “THEORY”

I have never copied a story verbatim, but this I found very interesting.

WASHINGTON - Surprising research based on two African fossils suggests our family tree is more like a wayward bush with stubby branches, challenging what had been common thinking on how early humans evolved.

The discovery by Meave Leakey, a member of a famous family of paleontologists, shows that two species of early human ancestors lived at the same time in Kenya. That pokes holes in the chief theory of man’s early evolution — that one of those species evolved from the other.

And it further discredits that iconic illustration of human evolution that begins with a knuckle-dragging ape and ends with a briefcase-carrying man.

The old theory is that the first and oldest species in our family tree, Homo habilis, evolved into Homo erectus, which then became human, Homo sapiens. But Leakey’s find suggests those two earlier species lived side-by-side about 1.5 million years ago in parts of Kenya for at least half a million years. She and her research colleagues report the discovery in a paper published in Thursday’s journal Nature.

The paper is based on fossilized bones found in 2000. The complete skull of Homo erectus was found within walking distance of an upper jaw of Homo habilis, and both dated from the same general time period. That makes it unlikely that Homo erectus evolved from Homo habilis, researchers said.

It’s the equivalent of finding that your grandmother and great-grandmother were sisters rather than mother-daughter, said study co-author Fred Spoor, a professor of evolutionary anatomy at the University College in London.

The two species lived near each other, but probably didn’t interact, each having its own “ecological niche,” Spoor said. Homo habilis was likely more vegetarian while Homo erectus ate some meat, he said. Like chimps and apes, “they’d just avoid each other, they don’t feel comfortable in each other’s company,” he said.

There remains some still-undiscovered common ancestor that probably lived 2 million to 3 million years ago, a time that has not left much fossil record, Spoor said.

Overall what it paints for human evolution is a “chaotic kind of looking evolutionary tree rather than this heroic march that you see with the cartoons of an early ancestor evolving into some intermediate and eventually unto us,” Spoor said in a phone interview from a field office of the Koobi Fora Research Project in northern Kenya.

That old evolutionary cartoon, while popular with the general public, is just too simple and keeps getting revised, said Bill Kimbel, who praised the latest findings. He is science director of the Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State University and wasn’t part of the Leakey team.

“The more we know, the more complex the story gets,” he said. Scientists used to think Homo sapiens evolved from Neanderthals, he said. But now we know that both species lived during the same time period and that we did not come from Neanderthals.

Now a similar discovery applies further back in time.

Susan Anton, a New York University anthropologist and co-author of the Leakey work, said she expects anti-evolution proponents to seize on the new research, but said it would be a mistake to try to use the new work to show flaws in evolution theory.

“This is not questioning the idea at all of evolution; it is refining some of the specific points,” Anton said. “This is a great example of what science does and religion doesn’t do. It’s a continous self-testing process.”

For the past few years there has been growing doubt and debate about whether Homo habilis evolved into Homo erectus. One of the major proponents of the more linear, or ladder-like evolution that this evidence weakens, called Leakey’s findings important, but he wasn’t ready to concede defeat.

Dr. Bernard Wood, a surgeon-turned-professor of human origins at George Washington University, said in an e-mail Wednesday that “this is only a skirmish in the protracted ‘war’ between the people who like a bushy interpretation and those who like a more ladder-like interpretation of early human evolution.”

Leakey’s team spent seven years analyzing the fossils before announcing it was time to redraw the family tree — and rethink other ideas about human evolutionary history. That’s especially true of most immediate ancestor, Homo erectus.

Because the Homo erectus skull Leakey recovered was much smaller than others, scientists had to first prove that it was erectus and not another species nor a genetic freak. The jaw, probably from an 18- or 19-year-old female, was adult and showed no signs of malformation or genetic mutations, Spoor said. The scientists also know it isn’t Homo habilis from several distinct features on the jaw.

That caused researchers to re-examine the 30 other erectus skulls they have and the dozens of partial fossils. They realized that the females of that species are much smaller than the males — something different from modern man, but similar to other animals, said Anton. Scientists hadn’t looked carefully enough before to see that there was a distinct difference in males and females.

Difference in size between males and females seem to be related to monogamy, the researchers said. Primates that have same-sized males and females, such as gibbons, tend to be more monogamous. Species that are not monogamous, such as gorillas and baboons, have much bigger males.

This suggests that our ancestor Homo erectus reproduced with multiple partners.

The Homo habilis jaw was dated at 1.44 million years ago. That is the youngest ever found from a species that scientists originally figured died off somewhere between 1.7 and 2 million years ago, Spoor said. It enabled scientists to say that Homo erectus and Homo habilis lived at the same time.”

Still, my friends, we are talking about 1.44 million years ago. IT’S ALL THEORY! (Well, except of course, what I believe!) Have a beautiful day! By the way, the author of this article was Seth Borenstein, Associated Press Science Writer.

Take this day to regenerate and relax!

Whether you are with someone, have children, or are alone - it’s all good! Find a spot where you can take a breath and regenerate. Teach your children to learn to relax. It will ultimately help them in school and prior to tests!

If you are alone, take time to reflect, renew, relax and regenerate. Remember: You are never alone. My life has taught me, in no uncertain terms, that there is a Creator - an artist of infinite magnitude. He is with you and will empower you. If you seek Him, He will find you! (Einstein: “Ethical axioms are found and tested not very differently from the axioms of science. Truth is what stands the test of experience.”)

CREATE a wonderful day, and if you aren’t in a place that reflects eye candy, I hope you enjoy this photo. From Blog Land - I love you too! We are human brothers and sisters, are we not

Unknown author verses thoughts

I see God in everything.

When the immense waves of water dance onto the shore, and the the echo of crashing waves sing loudly in my ears. When a child laughs and wiggles his toes in the cool sand. When the gulls fly circular celebrating the air currents and they swiftly dart around each other.

I see God.

When a puppy is born. When a child learns to make those first independent steps towards someone. When mama looks at me from the face of an elderly woman who has loved me all my days, and she loves me still, even after all my folly.

I see God.

We seek self-realization . We seek joy. Seek God first and He will fill your every need and desire. Give love to Him and your love will abound, and you will see God too.

Sad truth - A quote from the Bible

“For man knows not his time; as the fishes that are caught in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falls suddenly upon them.”

“Wisdom is better than weapons of war; but one sinner destroys much good.”

Ecclesiastes 9:12,18

What ever you believe, we must all go forth together as humans, and hope that the tragic events that occurred at Virginia Tech will not be mimicked by a troubled copy cat . Keep your eyes wide open. Elevate your thoughts. Don’t be fearful - but watchful.

My heart goes out to those children and their families. My thoughts move across
the globe and hold to the realization that in many countries incidents of violence
and horror occur on a regular basis.

My heart, and my prayers go to all these living souls as well.

If

I remember hearing this as a youth. My dear sister-in-law, and friend, refreshed my memory this
morning:

IF
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being li ed about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream–and not make dreams your master,
If you can think–and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings–nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,

If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And–which is more–you’ll be a Man, my son!

Rudyard Kipling

A wise man once said:

“We must all bite our tongues occasionally. When personal choice
and the good of the family is at stake, however, keep in mind,
if we bite our tongues too often, we may wind up biting ourselves in the ass.”
Author Unknown

Anger

“Nothing else makes such havoc in the lives of ordinary men and women as yielding to sudden fits of anger.

How sweet the serenity of habitual self-command. How many stinging self-reproaches it spares us!

When does a man feel more at ease with himself than when he has passed through a sudden and strong provocation without speaking a word, or in undisturbed good humor?

When, on the contrary, does he feel a deeper humiliation than when he is conscious that anger has made him betray himself by word, look, or action?

Nervous irritability is the greatest weakness of character. It is the sharp grit which aggravates friction, and cuts out the bearings of the entire human machine. “

Orison Swett Marden, 1898

Life

My twin brother is a very talented man. He is an author. He is also a songwriter. I wish I could sing the melody to you, but instead will just post the words and consider them as one of the choice quotations from authors. (I’ll just hum along)

“Life is never like your dreams
It’s never what it seems,
It seems to me that real,
is only what you feel and not what you believe
you need

Now love is sometimes in disguise,
It fools the old and wise
and that’s why it survives
Beyond our earthly lives
And lingers on and on
Beyond

Beyond, the fact I can’t predict
I wouldn’tchange the script
not even if I could

Now fools, might think they understand
Because they know the land
Because the they know the rules
Believe me their still fools,
but happy none the less,
to never have to guess I guess

The fact, I think there is no end
Just makes me glad again,
To end is to begin again
Begin Again
Begin Again

Life. . . “

Morris Walker

Kavanach: A Tale

Men of genius are often dull and inert in society; as the blazing meteor, when it descends to earth, is only a stone.

The natural alone is permanent.  Fantastic idols may be worshipped for a while; but at length they are overturned by the continual and silent progress of Truth, as the grim statues of Copan have been pushed from their pedestals by the growth of forest-trees, whose seeds were sown by the wind in the ruined walls.

The everyday cares and duties, which men call drudgery, are the weights and counterpoises of the clock of time, giving its pendulum a true vibration, and its hands a regular motion; and when they cease to hang upon the wheels, the pendulum no longer swings, the hands no longer move, and the clock stands still.

The same object , seen from the three different points of view - the Past, the Present, and the Future - often exhibits three different faces to us; like those signboards over shop doors, which represent the face of a lion as we approach, of a man when we are in front, and of an ass when we have passed.

In character, in manners, in style, in all things, the supreme excellence is simplicity.

From  Kavanach: A Tale
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1893