Delaware students can now choose their own race (Yes, RACE!) under new regulations.

[Final-Fan]

o_O.Q said:

Final-Fan said:

0.  I now believe you are intentionally trolling, but I'll play this out a little while longer.  Please pay attention to the numbers since they changed. 
1.  No, your term "adapted wings" is pointless.  It means nothing more than "they don't have wings, but their ancestors did". 
2.  Yes, I do. 
3.  No, that isn't even remotely close to what I am arguing.  You aren't even in the ballpark of describing the concept.  Go back and reread carefully, and take note of the parts you fail to understand.  Let me know what parts are beyond your comprehension. 
4.  Okay, so someone was 1 foot tall at birth and they are 6 feet tall now.  I think it would be fair to say that you were short when you were 1 foot tall, and let's say 6 feet tall counts as "tall".  Do you think it would be possible to identify the exact moment they stopped being "short" and began being "tall"?  I.e., 17 years 3 months 23 days old?  Or is there a fuzzy area?  Would you say these are just groups humans use to help categorize the world around them and "short" and "tall" are not "natural strict groups"
5.  You're welcome, but that's not the only claim you've made. 
6.  So, for example, you would say that the International Space Station is not in space? 

0.  "I now believe you are intentionally trolling, but I'll play this out a little while longer."
1.  "No, your term "adapted wings" is pointless."
so why did you agree that they have adapted wings yourself multiple times?
3.  "what? are you now claiming that elephants evolved into fish?"
"No, that isn't even remotely close to what I am arguing."
"there has been a living continuum of creatures leading gradualistically from elephants to fish"
uh... ok, if you say so
4.  "  Do you think it would be possible to identify the exact moment they stopped being "short" and began being "tall""
is irrelevant to their current height which is 6 feet... wtf
do you not understand that present time is a different concept to a time range? you seem to be incapable of differentiating the two
5.  "but that's not the only claim you've made."
i've only really made two points... and so far you've conceded both multiple times...
6.  " So, for example, you would say that the International Space Station is not in space? "
are you having difficulty with the concept of atmospheric pressure now? all it is referring to is the measure of the magnitude of the force of air pressing on an object at a particular altitude

the magnitude of this force reduces the further away from the earth's surface an object gets until eventually it falls to zero ( i think i'm wrong here its probably near zero ) at a certain distance away from the earth's surface

what does any of this have to do with the ISS?

0.  Not sure why you quoted me without comment ... are you admitting it? 

1.  At the time I was underestimating your stupidity. 
"your term "adapted wings" is pointless."
BECAUSE
"what is the point of calling penguin flippers "evolved wings" when they are really just "evolved legs"?"

ANALOGY It's like you saying "I'm a grown up eleven year old."  Sure, you used to be eleven.  You used to be a lot of ages.  What's the point? 

CONCLUSION If you entire argument is that penguins, which currently do not have actual wings, evolved from a species that in the past did have actual wings, then I agree with your claim. 

But I don't see why you insist on using "evolved wings" to describe what penguins are swimming through the ocean with instead of a term that describes the sort of limb they CURRENTLY have instead of what they USED to have.  Are you the one who has trouble with differentiating past and present? 

3.  I see now that I will have to literally draw you a picture. 
"there has been a living continuum of creatures leading gradualistically from elephants to fish (via a common ancestor in the past)"*

                          common ancestor
                  _--'''                                '''--_
elephants                                                fish

4.  In order for you to claim that what I am saying is wrong, then you have to dispute this actual argument, not its relevance.  In order for your argument about strict natural groups that are clearly differentiable from one another with no gray area in between to hold up, in my opinion you have to explain how to differentiate between the natural groups that creatues of the past would fall into, not just creatures of the present.  However, if you want to just talk about strict artificial groups that humans can identify in presently living creatures to help us understand the world we live in, then you don't have to worry about creatures of the past. 

5.  I don't even understand what your "evolved wings" claim IS, so how could I concede it?  I conceded that they were "evolved wings" in the sense that the flippers they currently have "evolved" FROM "wings", but I don't know if that is what you mean by the term you insist on using. 

And your "two claims" aren't including disputing the claims of others. 

6.  "( i think i'm wrong here its probably near zero )"  Yeah you better fucking believe you're wrong, since I already explained this to you.  The ISS loses altitude due to the "near zero" part.  So if the atmosphere goes up until there is NO Earth air left whatsoever, then the ISS is not in space.  But if the ISS is in space, and there is Earth air in space, then you have not yet come up with a "natural, strict" differentiation of the atmosphere versus outer space.  Humans use a certain atmospheric pressure at the cutoff point, but this is clearly an artificial distinction made for convenience; the line is drawn between black and white in the middle of a gray area. 

*7.  "what? are you now claiming that elephants evolved into fish?"
"No, that isn't even remotely close to what I am arguing."
"there has been a living continuum of creatures leading gradualistically from elephants to fish"
uh... ok, if you say so
"there has been a living continuum of creatures leading gradualistically from elephants to fish (via a common ancestor in the past)"

Oh.  Deliberately cutting off the quote midsentence because that was literally the only possible way for you to twist my words in such a way to allow even the appearance of being able to misunderstand me.  Well, now I know for a fact that you are either trolling me or have been driven literally insane by your biases.