JimPivonka commented on Is Indiana Jones a Pinko?

"@ Canthros: Culturally benighted 1950's America was, to a kid born in 1938, living on a farm in Kansas, and surviving what passed for popular culture during that (Honestly, really, by the Great Harry, I was there!) utterly benighted era."

JimPivonka commented on Cool and Crap Awards of the Week

"Forgive my lapse.."

JimPivonka commented on Cool and Crap Awards of the Week

"@ Ghede & the general data bank."

JimPivonka commented on The Savage Colors of Naked, Toxic Sea Snails

"@ taxbaby bivalves are phylum Mollusca, Class Pelycopoda Snails and slugs are Mollusca, Gasteropoda Molluscs also include the Cephalopoda; Octopi, Squid, Nautiloids, extinct Ammonoids."

JimPivonka commented on Rapid Deevolution Creates Lake of Fully-Armored Fish in Just 50 Years

"The conservation of genetic capabilities, once they have been incorporated into an organism's genome, is supported by the ability of the genome to switch particlular genes on and off."

JimPivonka commented on Rapid Deevolution Creates Lake of Fully-Armored Fish in Just 50 Years

"@ marvolvox & DocGratis: I beg you, and all, not to discount gene expression, that is the turning (switching) on and off of genes regulating the development of organisms - in this case the bony plates on the sticklebacks. Whether or not mutation is required for such switching to occur may vary with the trait being expressed."

JimPivonka commented on No, Bitches, It's Not a Designer Baby

"Intelligence variations at the individual level within a population's statistical range are likely not determined by genetic, but by epigenetic and environmental factors. Those may have the effect of shifting the range of intelligence for groups subject to environmental influences (including culture), up or down depending on the character fo the influences. The idea that the average intelligence of human populations is decreasing, while largely dependent on the definition of and measures used to determine "intelligence", is generally not supported by good evidence. What may be the case is that the types of mental processing needed to support passing of cultural artifact from one human generation to another are becoming more prevalent and efficient, while the types needed for individually determined and motivated de novo, creative, problem solving -based on interaction with natural environments - are being selected out of the race. Whether this has long term benefits for the survival of our selfish genes is open to question."

JimPivonka commented on No, Bitches, It's Not a Designer Baby

"Oh for pete's sake, make my teet grind and head explode whyntcha? We don't know how HOX regulates body pattern, and we're going to design an organism?"

JimPivonka commented on Will Barack Obama Destroy the U.S. Space Program?

"When Bush proposes something, anything, you can count on there being hidden agendas and double dealing involved."

JimPivonka commented on Grow Your Own Genetically-Engineered Bacteria

"I did the "download this Open Biohacking Kit from Sourceforge" and am not too pleased with the result. The DL relies on mirrors, and is not protected with even simple file size checks, let alone CRC or more adequate tests of file validity (to ensure no malware or other file corruption occurs in the archive package)."