dentistry and Transformers and intelligent design

[talyxsaunt]

Today I had a crown prep.  That is to say, my dentist did horrible [but generally not painful] things to a tooth well in the back that has had a root canal [sometime in the forgotten past], but has decayed.  In three weeks, he'll put in a crown.

My dentist has various kewl things in his office, including these screen jobbies on arms on which you can

Comments

[splanky]

I prefer to believe in evolution. Because if the entire process of menstruation and gestation was deliberate, then I'd just be cross!

[talyx]

"And, if you were going to make a large animal that lived on bamboo, would you start out with a bear? Seriously."

No, but I might start out with a raccoon... Oh, wait, that makes me an evolutionist!

[talyxsaunt]

Hmmm. Just now, overwhelmed with uncertainty by this comment, I checked out my source for these things - the Animal Diversity Web by the UofM Museum of Zoology.

According to them:

1. Giant Pandas are in the family Ursidae, along with other bears.

2. Raccoons are in the family Procyonidae, and are a New World animal, although they've now been introduced in various spots in Eurasia.

3. Red Pandas are in the family Ailuridae, all by their lonesomes, and are an Asian animal.

I wouldn't start with a bear, a raccoon, or a red panda.

[talyx]

Here's the background on my reference.

The last time I took a science class dealing with the material, the contention was that pandas were more closely related to racoons, as the Schaller excerpt indicates (it was published in 1993,) which is more recent, or contemporaneous with, most of the research cited on the Diversity Web. The most recent, dated 2005, I may just go looking for...

[talyxsaunt]

How about this?

I wouldn't start with a carnivore.