68% Of Republicans Don't believe in Evolution !!!

[SINcinnati513]

And even when there are gaps in our knowledge and reasoning, how is intelligent design plausible? There is no absolute proof to whether God exists or not. But the probability is far in evolutions favor. After all, God or no God, it is proven that evolution exists.

[Guest CincyInDC]

[quote name='Quaker' post='502475' date='Jun 20 2007, 07:18 AM']...If all humans started to lose their pinky fingers, would you consider that "evolution"? From the way it sounds, to you it would not be when it clearly is. The human body has figured out the pinky is rather useless and has started to breed that part of our genetic makeup out of our bodies and eventually, in a very long time, humans will no longer have pinkys. Humans will not have become a totally different looking animal, but it's still evolution.[/quote]

I use my pinky finger all the time. It's the only finger that fits in my ear. And my ear itches a lot.

[Quaker]

[quote name='CincyInDC' post='503031' date='Jun 21 2007, 06:58 PM']I use my pinky finger all the time. It's the only finger that fits in my ear. And my ear itches a lot.[/quote]
...A Hypothetical.

[Lawman]

[quote]Our eyes are not perfect, but they are what they are.[/quote]

[i]What is the defining point which establish's perfection? X-ray vision (the ability to see gamma rays); the ability to see miles ahead, elimination of glaucoma myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism,presbyopia (which I am encountering now)[/i]

[i]I am simply trying to point out how the wording presented is missleading "The eye has a blind-spot; therefore it is imperfect"[/i]

[url="http://www.tedmontgomery.com/the_eye/optcnrve.html"]http://www.tedmontgomery.com/the_eye/optcnrve.html[/url]

[color="#000080"]blind spot
The beginning of the optic nerve in the retina is called the optic nerve head or optic disc. Since there are no photoreceptors (cones and rods) in the optic nerve head, this area of the retina cannot respond to light stimulation. As a result, it is known as the “blind spot,” and everybody has one in [b]each eye[/b]. The reason we normally do not notice our blind spots is because, [b]when both eyes are open, the blind spot of one eye corresponds to seeing retina in the other eye[/b].[/color]

In other words, one eye will compensate for the other; voiding any deficiency. If we all had only one eye (like Cyclops), the argument would be sound.
(Note: the link has a neat little practice test to see how blind your blind spot really is)

[code]Some animals have better eyes than ours.[/code]

[i]Again, What defines better?

Yes, our eyes are sensitive to a very small region of the electromagnetic spectrum "visible light"; 400-700 nanometers.

Where on the other hand birds vision extends into the 400 and below range, or "ultraviolet" zone.

True story; I was nearl impaled by a "Sandpiper". I was standing approximatelly 10' in front of a building that was covered with reflective glass. I was looking at the building when I noticed this object rapidly approaching behind me; near my head. I ducked and the bird flew smack-dab right into the building.

I don't think that abilitiy to see in the 400 nanometer range was very helpful to that "Sandpiper".[/i]

[Lawman]

[quote][u]The human eye has blood vessels on top of the retina:[/u]

[b]This is why we have a "blind spot" in our vision[/b]. This is the area where the bloodvessels come through the retina and thus no photoreceptive cells.[/quote]

[url="http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/cuius/idle/percept/blindspot.htm"]http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/c...t/blindspot.htm[/url]

[img]http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/cuius/idle/percept/optics.gif[/img]

[color="#000080"]Blind Spot
The human eye has a blind spot in its field of vision. [b]This lies on the point of the retina where the optic nerve leads back into the brain[/b]. [u]The retina has no light-sensitive rods or cones at this point[/u], and so a small object in the field of vision's blind spot becomes invisible[/color].

[url="http://www.tedmontgomery.com/the_eye/index.html"]http://www.tedmontgomery.com/the_eye/index.html[/url]

[color="#000080"]The retina is the innermost layer of the eye (the tunica intima or internal tunic) and is comparable to the film inside of a camera. It is composed of nerve tissue which senses the light entering the eye. This complex system of nerves sends impulses through the optic nerve back to the brain, which translates these messages into images that we see. (We “see” with our brains; our eyes merely collect the information to do so.)

The retina is composed of 10 layers, from the outside (nearest the blood vessel enriched choroid) to the inside (nearest the gelatinous vitreous humor):

1. pigmented epithelium
2. photoreceptors; bacillary layer (outer and inner segments of cone and rod photoreceptors)
3. external (outer) limiting membrane
4. outer nuclear (cell bodies of cones and rods)
5. outer plexiform (cone and rod axons, horizontal cell dendrites, bipolar dendrites)
6. inner nuclear (nuclei of horizontal cells, bipolar cells, amacrine cells, and Müller cells)
7. inner plexiform (axons of bipolar cells and amacrine cells, dendrites of ganglion cells)
8. ganglion cells (nuclei of ganglion cells and displaced amacrine cells)
9. axons (nerve fibers from ganglion cells traversing the retina to leave the eye at the optic disc)
10. internal limiting membrane (separates the retina from the vitreous)

[b]Beneath the pigmented epithelium of the retina [/b]are these 4 layers, from the outside (furthest from the retina) to the inside (closest to the retina):

1. sclera (white part of the eye)
2. large choroidal blood vessels
3. choriocapilaris
4. Bruch’s membrane (separates the pigmented epithelium of the retina from the choroid)

Light entering the eye is converged first by the cornea, then by the crystalline lens. This focusing system is so powerful that the light rays intersect at a point just behind the lens (inside the vitreous humor) and diverge from that point back to the retina. The diverging light passes through 9 (clear) layers of the retina and, ideally, is brought into focus in an upside-down image on the first (outermost) retinal layer (pigmented epithelium). The image is reflected back onto the adjacent second layer, where the rods and cones are located.[/color]

[i]Hence, the blood vessels have no bearing on te blind spot.[/i]

[i]More discussion on blood vessels...[/i]

[color="#000080"]retinal detachment (RD)
[b]Normally, with age[/b], the vitreous gel collapses and detaches from the retina—an event known as a posterior vitreous detachment. Occasionally, however, the vitreous membrane pulls on and creates a tear in the retina. Vitreous fluid can seep into or underneath the retina, detaching it from the pigmented epithelium underneath.

When a retinal detachment occurs, a shower of floaters may be observed by the person experiencing the detachment. These are thousands of blood cells being liberated from a tiny blood vessel which has been broken due to the retinal tear or detachment. Sometime the floaters are described as a “shower of pepper” before the eyes.

Sudden flashes of light, as well as a “web” or “veil” in front of the eye or in the periphery, also may appear in conjunction with the onset of floaters. If the retinal tear and subsequent detachment are not repaired as soon as possible (by sealing it using an argon laser, or freezing it in a procedure known as “cryotherapy,” or securing it with a tiny belt or “scleral buckle” around the equator of the eye), permanent vision loss can result.[/color]

[color="#000080"]Normally with age[/color], [i]ah..... entropy ensues.[/i]

[i]Psalms 102: 24-27

24 I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days: thy years are throughout all generations.

25 Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands.

26 [b]They shall perish[/b], but thou shalt endure: yea, [b]all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed[/b]:

27 But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end. [/i]