26 May 2006

How many species?

I've got a little question to keep people busy over the long weekend.

There are three populations of an organism. The populations are physically separated from each other as a result of geographical factors. Geographically, they are arranged in a more or less linear fashion. The geographic details are as follows:

Population A is the northwestern population. Population B lies to the southeast, and is eparated from population A by a minimum of ~14km. Population C is southeast of population B, and separated by about 50km.

Populations A & B are identical to each other in appearance and in a key reproductive characteristic. Population C differs very slightly in appearance, but is substantially different in the reproductive characteristic.

The organisms (flying insects) were captured and bred in the laboratory. Experimental crosses were made for the different combinations of these three populations, with the following results:

Male from A x Female from A:
91% of male progeny fertile

Male from B x Female from B:
99% of male progeny fertile

Male from C x Female from C:
92% of male progeny fertile

Male from A x Female from B:
98% of male progeny fertile

Male from B x Female from A:
93% of male progeny fertile

Male from B x Female from C:
0% of male progeny fertile

Male from C x Female from B:
0% of male progeny fertile

Male from A x Female from C:
0% of male progeny fertile

Male from C x Female from A:
69% of male progeny fertile

Female offspring had somewhat better fertility than the males, which is not unexpected in this group, for reasons I'll discuss in another post. Female offspring were fertile in the cases where the males were sterile, but the number of offspring surviving to maturity was greatly reduced in those crosses overall (around 10% of what was seen in the control crosses) and the fertility of the female hybrids was reduced compared to the control crosses.

My question for you is this: How many different species should these three populations be grouped in? Provide an explanation for your answer. Oh, and if you hadn't guessed, this isn't a hypothetical case. I've removed the names so that you can't see what the "right" answer is.

I'll talk about the currently accepted scientific grouping sometime on Tuesday.

25 May 2006

Uncommon Dissonance

Over at Uncommon Descent, DaveScot seems to have forgotten that the theme of the blog is Intelligent Design, and gone off on an anti-ACLU rampage. So far today, he's managed to post three items assaulting ACLU positions.

One isn't really worth mentioning - it's just a link to "stoptheaclu.com." That site is mostly focused, at least right now, on promoting efforts that are currently underway in the House of Representatives to prohibit courts from awarding legal fees in Establishment Clause cases. This is intended, apparently, to make it possible for local communities to violate the first ammendment without running the risk of having to pay as much if they are sued and lose.

The second is a copy of a First Ammendment Center press release about the ACLU recently forcing some high schools to exclude prayers from their graduation proceedings. (Appearently, the students at one of the schools decided that their classmates' rights weren't worth respecting no matter what the courts said.) For an interesting perspecive on the problems with prayer at major public events, I'd encourage people to take a look at this article at WorldNetDaily - a site that I usually don't endorse.

The third is an article about a lawsuit that the ACLU just filed in Kentucky on behalf of a supporter of Westboro Baptist Church. For those of you not familiar with that wonderful religious institution, those are the "God Hates Fags" folks. Recently, they've taken to protesting at the funerals of troops killed in Iraq, carying signs that say things like, "Thank God for IEDs," to promote their claims that the deaths of the troops are god's punishment because the US tolerates homosexuality. Kentucky recently passed a law intended to stop the Westboro assholes from protesting at the funerals. The law bans any protest activity of any kind, whether disruptive or not, whether spoken or written, that takes place within eye or earshot of the funeral, or within 100 yards of the funeral, unless they have the family's consent. (See here for the ACLU's complaint.) The ACLU's argument in this case, and as much as I despise Westboro and everything they stand for I think the ACLU is right, is that the law is extrordinarily overbroad and an unconstitutional restriction on free speech and expression. As an aside, I have to wonder if DaveScot and the rest of the wingnut community would have been so pissed at the ACLU if this had happened as the result of the protests Westboro Baptist used to run at funerals for AIDS victims.

What I really love about DaveScot's complaints, though, is this: when he was running around trying to defend his idiocy in falling for a well-known anti-ACLU scam, he said:
The ACLU has certainly stood against prayer in public school even if led by students in extra-curricular settings like graduation ceremonies and football games. There is not one iota of doubt in my mind that the ACLU would love to do the same thing to prayer in the military. Prayers led by commissioned and non-commissioned officers in the Corps are common. The military builds and maintains chapels on military bases. They employ religious clerics whose job is spiritual counseling and leading worship services. Anyone that thinks the ACLU wouldn’t stand against that if they could get away with it needs their head examined. They simply know the American public wouldn’t tolerate it and the ACLU would be so harmed they might never recover as an organization. So they bite their anti-religious tongues in the interest of self-preservation.
Gotta love it.
The ACLU is defending Westboro Baptist, which DaveScot refers to as "vile" (proving, I suppose, that the old adage about a stopped clock might just be right). The ACLU has defended in the past the free expression rights of Nazis and the KKK. But they won't take on military chaplains, he says, becuase it would be too unpopular.

Somebody needs to buy DaveScot a clue, because he's in desparate need of one and obviously can't afford it himself. If there is one thing that the ACLU has proven, time and time again, it is that they do not care how unpopular the cause. If they think that someone's rights are being violated, they'll take on the cause no matter how scummy, sleazy, dishonest, repulsive, or reviled the plaintiff might be. Hell, they've even come to the aid of Rush Limbaugh. If that doesn't prove it, I don't know what will.

23 May 2006

Isn't that like...

Over at Uncommon Descent, Bill Dembski says that he has purchased the domain name "pro-science.com"

Is it just me, or is that just a little bit like Henry VIII buying pro-marriage.com? OJ Simpson buying WhoKilledNicole.com? King Herod buying BethlehemDayCare.com...

22 May 2006

DaveScott and new depths of slime

Over at Uncommon Descent, Dembski lackey DaveScot is plumbing new depths of dishonest, slimy behavior. The attempt is nothing new for him, of course, but this time he may actually have managed to tap previously unreachable depths.

Here's what happened:
A friend of DaveScot's sent him an email claiming that the ACLU is about to go after the government because they don't like to see soldiers or marines praying while in uniform. DaveScot posted this email on Uncommon Descent, along with a request to pass it along to everyone you know. A number of people who read Uncommon Descent immediately informed him in the comments that the letter is, in fact, a several-year-old scam that has been thoroughly discredited by pretty much everyone who has bothered to check the facts. DaveScot responded to this by slightly altering the message, deleting the comments that pointed out the scam, and posting a brief comment responding.

The original message read:
If you look closely at the picture above, you will note that all the Marines pictured are bowing their heads. That's because they're praying.

This incident took place at a recent ceremony honoring the birthday of the corps, and it has the ACLU up in arms. "These are federal employees," says Lucius Traveler, a spokesman for the ACLU, "on federal property and on federal time. For them to pray is clearly an establishment of religion, and we must nip this in the bud immediately."

When asked about the ACLU's charges, Colonel Jack Fessender, speaking for the Commandant of the Corps said (cleaned up a bit), "Screw the ACLU. GOD Bless Our Warriors, Send the ACLU to France."

Please send this to people you know so everyone will know how stupid the ACLU is Getting in trying ! to remove GOD from everything and every place in America. May God Bless America, One Nation Under GOD!
Here's how it appears after DaveScot's editing. The changes are so minor that I'll highlight them in bold to make them easier to spot:
If you look closely at the picture above, you will note that all the Marines pictured are bowing their heads. That’s because they’re praying.

This incident took place at a recent ceremony honoring the Birthday of the Corps, and it has the ACLU up in arms. “These are federal employees,” says a rumored spokesman for the ACLU, “on federal property and on federal time. For them to pray is clearly an establishment of religion, and we must nip this in the bud immediately.”

When asked about the ACLU’s charges, former Marine Sergeant David Springer, speaking for all his brothers in uniform said (cleaned up a bit), “Screw the ACLU. GOD Bless Our Warriors, Send the ACLU to France.”

Please send this to people you know so everyone will know how stupid the ACLU is Getting in trying to remove GOD from everything and every place in America. May God Bless America, One Nation Under GOD!

What’s wrong with the picture? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING
Let's look at those changes. We'll set aside, for the moment, idiot boy's amazing arrogance in claiming to speak for everyone in uniform. (I know for a fact that he does not.) That aside, he removed the name of the ACLU spokesman, instead calling him "rumored," and substituted his own name for the name of the Marine spokesman. That's it. The attack against the ACLU is left fully intact.

DaveScot made those changes after being told that the letter is a hoax, and that THE ACLU HAS DENIED THE ALLEGATIONS. DaveScot provides his justification for this in the comments to the post:
To everyone who’s pointed out that the ACLU story is a fabrication according to snopes.com - that’s hardly the point. The pictures of Marines praying are real. The fighting and dying to protect the interests of the United States is real. The request to pray for them is real. So I removed the fake names, noted the ACLU statement is rumor, and quoted a very real former Marine Sergeant’s sentiments instead. If anyone has a problem with that they can KMA. Google that.

HOO RAH! Semper Fi!
You gotta love it.

Never mind that there's a difference betweeen the ACLU's statement being "a rumor" and being a well-documented fabrication. Never mind that he doesn't just quote his own sentiments, but also claims that his sentiments are those of everyone in uniform. Never mind that he actually labeled the ACLU spokesman and not the entire incident as a "rumor." Just look at the logic. It's a real picture of marines praying, so that means that it's OK to bash the ACLU. What a scumbag.

Still, the incident is worth noting for reasons beyond just the personal failings of DaveScot. It illustrates those quite well, while simultaneously illustrating a common creationist trait - being too much of a skeptic to accept any evidence for evolution, while simultaneously being credulous enough to accept anything, no matter how clearly false, that supports your own preconceptions.