The Dude wrote:Yep, somebody has to go to the library and find the book, look up the study, pay a fee to get a reprint, wait a few weeks, and then look to see if what kind of statistics were used and whether it supports the claim of "400 C.E. as the most likely date for the last specimens of gomphothere in South America."
Will has never actually seen the study, and has invented the statistical language ("most likely") he's using, but he thinks he is right until somebody does all that work and proves him wrong.
Intellectual honesty at its best.
I have seen the study cited. I may attempt to locate it, if I find the time. If I recall correctly, it was referenced in a thread on the MAD board a few months back. It claimed a fossil specimen of gomphothere, found in South America, which was dated, radiometrically, to ~400 C.E. That date can be found in numerous online references to gomphothere. If you believe it to be wrong, feel free to give your reasons.
... every man walketh in his own way, and after the image of his own god, whose image is in the likeness of the world, and whose substance is that of an idol ...
William Schryver wrote:I have seen the study cited. I may attempt to locate it, if I find the time. If I recall correctly, it was referenced in a thread on the MAD board a few months back. It claimed a fossil specimen of gomphothere, found in South America, which was dated, radiometrically, to ~400 C.E. That date can be found in numerous online references to gomphothere. If you believe it to be wrong, feel free to give your reasons.
If I accept this at face value, it would support your claim that gomphotheres survived until at least 400 C.E.
X
"And yet another little spot is smoothed out of the echo chamber wall..." Bond
I brought up elephants because being the most closely related two living animals in terms of phylogeny is no guarantee they will superficially look similar at all. A hyrax might be an elephant's closest living relative, but at no point would it make sense to substitute elephant for it in a text about them. The quote DCP got a kick out of uses an exclamation point precisely because tapirs superficially look so different than horses and more like pigs that it might be one of those "believe it or not" facts for people to hear. I don't think it is that big of a deal.
(Nevo, Jan 23) And the Melchizedek Priesthood may not have been restored until the summer of 1830, several months after the organization of the Church.
EAllusion wrote: ... because tapirs superficially look so different than horses and more like pigs that ...
That might be even more impetus for thinking that Nephites would associate these tapirs more with an elephant or a horse, since pigs are shunned in Kasruth law. Neither the Elephant or the horse have cloven feet.
Can you not sense the debate when these tapir were first found by the ancient Nephites? Probably settled when Rabbi Nephi said, "Oy! I wll concede that these animals are pigs, when FARMS Ziggurats fly!".
