Frazz by Jef Mallett for May 09, 2013

Ummm, so they can see it? Crawling around on the ground is an inefficient way of finding things on the ground unless they’re very closeby.

From the Wikipedia article on California condors:“Since they do not have a sense of smell, they spot these corpses by looking for other scavengers, like eagles and smaller vultures, the latter of which cannot rip through the tougher hides of these larger animals with the efficiency of the larger condor. They can usually intimidate other scavengers away from the carcass, with the exception of bears, which will ignore them, and golden eagles, which will fight a condor over a kill or a carcass.”The turkey vulture forages by smell, so it often flies low. The condor flies high to spot where the vultures are gathering.

Joshua trees and California condors are relicts (formerly abundant in a large area but now occurring at only one or a few small areas) for some of the same reasons. Condors are best suited for large carcasses, and the extinction of the Pleistocene megafauna (giant sloths, etc.) limited their food supply, except for elephant seals and whale carcasses at the coast. Giant sloths also distributed the seeds of Joshua trees (with suitable fertilizer) since they appear to have been the main consumer of the tree’s fruit and leaves.

You don’t need to fly to 15,000 ft to avoid power lines.

And power lines evolved to be high so they didn’t trip condors walking on the ground looking for food.

Yes, he went to public school.

Four days on the same subject. Will the condor ever pasa?

If the young lady and Caulfield want answers they shouldn’t be asking Mrs Olson, they should be reading the comments section of Frazz!

There are always last year’s Encyclopedia Britannica.

It’s OK to say you don’t know Mrs. Olsen…..Make her Google it….

People who don’t understand evolution probably shouldn’t discuss it…..It just proves they don’t understand it….

@exoticdoc2The fossil record does show very well that evolution is true; there are gaps in our knowledge, but that doesn’t invalidate the huge amount of evidence backing evolution.

Our genome is evolving. There is no such thing as a degenerating genome — you’re assuming that we’re evolving toward a specific ideal form, but that’s not true. Creatures are simply evolving based on their environment, evolution doesn’t necessarily means improvement, just change.

You don’t need a god to be moral or to understand what information is. As for free will, if god is omniscient, he knows what you’re going to do in every situation, doesn’t he? If he knows the future, how can you have free will? It’s all according to a plan. And why would he punish you for sinning in a way that he knew you sin when he created you?

How can you posit a god with nothing to create it?

You should evaluate arguments based on their logical and rational value, along with the quality of the data they’re based on, not just on what brain or book it came from. Don’t just believe a science book because it says so, try and understand how it came to its conclusion then think for yourself whether the conclusions are valid. Do the same thing with other sources of information like news or the bible. God gave you intelligence and rational thought, use it ;)

Vultures are one of the few birds with a highly developed sense of smell so they can find what rots; it seems to me condors would too, but I don’t know.

Is there any difference between the Andean Condor and the one in CA?

higher sees more country.

@exoticdoc2You’re right, we don’t have absolute proof that evolution as we understand it is true. There are gaps in our knowledge. I understand that you posit that the bible has a more exact recounting of the appearance of species, that some super being created all living thing from nothing within a week. You ask for perfect proof of evolution, so I think it’s only fair that you provide such proof for your own point of view..What proof do you have that this “god” you speak of exists? Can I see god? Hear him? Measure his existence in some objective way? Are there any traces of his existence anywhere (some proof that would be much more conclusive than the fossils we have for proving evolution, of course). What proof is there that he, in fact, created living things and didn’t take all the credit for it? I’ve seen some pretty convincing evidence that the universe is way older than humans have existed, but I’m open-minded enough to consider other evidence..Keep in mind that I’ve read the bible but don’t trust it as a reliable source of information; there are no reproducible experiments or data in it, it just asks you take everything in it as is, based on faith. We don’t even have the original books to see if there were changes over the centuries. If I start doing believing the bible just because it tells me it’s the “truth” I could just as well start believing the books of other religions too, who all claim to be just as right without providing evidence.—Why do you need God for right or wrong? Are you telling me that the only reason you’re not horribly evil is because you fear punishment by god? I act in a good way because I respect other human beings and I believe they have just as much a right to life and happiness as I do. I don’t need an invisible watchman to keep me moral, as you apparently do.

exo, God’s a prick and you know it….Repeat after me…God Is a Prick. God Is a Prick….Why? He sent his only son out to bury dinosaur bones during the Great Flood! Meanwhile God and Satan are laughing at the joke on humans….Those guys….What, the archangels were busy? Doing what?.

“Evidence for God? The need for a creator is apparent from several viewpoints. Without God you cannot even get things started in the first place. He is the required first cause, the necessary being, the causeless cause, which atheism lacks.”

I disagree. There is no reason to suppose that someone, or something ‘started’ anything.

Nature is clearly capable of starting and stopping things totally independent of man’s activities. Fires can be started and whole prairies and forests can be burned. Various liquids can be fermented very readily with no help from humans. The process begins spontaneously, and ends when the process is complete. Because we don’t know what started the universe expanding is no reason to assume that it must have been the action of an intangible entity.

So far as morality is concerned, are you seriously suggesting that without the guidance of a god, you wouldn’t know that it was wrong to lie, cheat, steal, seduce your friend’s wife or kill someone? Seriously? Most people learn those things from their parents, whether they go to church or not.

The primary difference between atheistic philosophy and religious philosophy seems to be that atheistic philosophy is thoughtful, observant and somewhat pragmatic. MidEastern religious philosophy tends to be rigid and punitive. Other religions are various in their dogma and practise. In many, if not most cases, the practioners believe theirs is the only true religion. This poses a paradox, because obviously all can’t be right, though each believes he is right.

But there are many other belief systems and many gods, and in most the dogma governing morality are comparable. There is no particular reason to believe that athiests are more prone to criminality or even immorality, unless you consider yourself to be the sole determiner of which system(s) of morality might or might not be valid.

" Jeffrey Dahmer abandoned the beliefs of his family and embraced atheism and evolution. By his own admission it was his new beliefs that led him to commit his atrocities."

So? If he was brought up in a deeply religious family, he would be bound to say that, wouldn’t he, whether he truely felt it or not? Clearly he was somewhat confused, but he’d be bound to blame someone, or something, wouldn’t he? If he didn’t find some excuse, all that would be left would be that he wanted to commit those atrocities and enjoyed them.

And clearly his religion didn’t prevent him from commiting those atrocities. If it had, he would not have been able to abandon it. It has been postulated that it was his repressive upbringing which led to his criminal career. I doubt there is any way to know the truth, but but I could argue that side, too.

Few criminals claim atheism, though many, having been caught, ‘embrace Jesus’. You can call me cynical if you like, but criminals are dishonest by nature, and I think we can afford to take their declarations with a grain of salt. Their dishonesty has little if anything to do with their religion or lack thereof.

Morality boils down mostly to a commitment to treat others as you would be treated. This injunction appears in more than one religion, and really does seem to be the bottom line for human morality, whatever god or gods are being worshipped, or none at all.

There is nothing inherently moral or necessary about religion. One can even argue that religion fosters violence and war; we have probably fought more wars over religion than any other issue, even those of territory and resources.

No religion should have any part in government. Let each worship his own god(s) in his own way, or not, and leave god out of government. Religion is a personal issue, not a civil one.

You have converted me! I now believe that a supernatural being in the shape of a giant space goat has created the universe instantly, already in movement, last Tuesday. It explains everything! Everything was created as is, with every event appearing as if already in motion with fake memories implanted into our minds. It’s a lot simpler than that middle-eastern god theory you mention, and it has just as much proof backing it up (ie. none). (Or do you have concrete proof that god exists? You’ve completely failed to provide any.)

No basis for morality? Hah! If it boggles your mind, it’s impossible? I guess that explains a lot; see the many rants above…