Category Archives: Evolution

The great but grumpy biologist J.B.S. Haldane was once asked what evidence would disprove evolution, whereupon he growled: Fossil rabbits in the Precambrian. He was referring to the evolutionary fact that complex multicellular creatures came along later than simple, unicellular ones. A bit surprising, perhaps, that one of the foremost evolutionary geneticists of the 20th century immediately reached for a paleontological example, but Haldanes reply was well-suited for public consumption, because thenas nowwhen most people thought of evolution, they were likely to conjure images of dinosaur fossils.

Donald Prothero is a research associate in vertebrate paleontology at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. When I learned he had written a book that examined 25 different discoveries relating to evolution, I assumed that he, like Haldane, would deploy paleontology in making his case. Mr. Protheros book is indeed tilted toward examples from the world of ancestral creatures, but, refreshingly, also guides the reader through impressive discoveries in embryology and molecular genetics.

The Story of Evolution in 25 Discoveries is a parade of self-contained vignettes, often including biographical sketches of the scientists who made and interpreted each discovery. This particular story begins (like everything else) with the big bang, followed by the fascinating tale of how science gradually came to understand the age of the Earth: From biblical literalism; through Lord Kelvins famous underestimate, in the 1890s, of 20 million years; to our current understanding of 4.5 billion years. Then comes a whirlwind tour of evolutionary change as it occurs, in real time, among microbes, plants, insects, fish, birds and mammals, obliterating the creationist canard that evolution hasnt even been witnessed, let alone studied.

Some of the most impressive evolutionary stories involve common body plans, technically known as homologies. Thanks to Mr. Prothero, I now know that Aristotle first noticed this widespread phenomenon, of which Darwin wrote: What can be more curious than that the hand of a man, formed for grasping, that of a mole for digging, the leg of the horse, the paddle of the porpoise, and the wing of the bat, should all be constructed on the same pattern, and should include similar bones, in the same relative positions? Curious indeed. And strongly suggestive of common descentor, for anti-evolutionists, of a Creators insistence on sticking with the same divine blueprint, or archetype, even when other more direct routes should have been available. The Darwinian story provides scientific insight into why homologies occur, whereas the theological story simply reiterates that they occur.

And on we go, to the embryonic similarities of otherwise distantly related creatures (ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny) and then biogeography (the sinking of Noahs Ark), which shows, among other relevant findings, that the flora and fauna of islands resemble those of nearby continentsa phenomenon that wouldnt necessarily be expected if each had been a special, independent creation. The story of life continues, detailing how living things within natural categories share those common body plans, or, as Darwin put it, how organic beings have been found to resemble each other in descending degrees, so that they can be classed in groups under groups. As a result, instead of being arbitrary, our system of biological classification conforms perfectly with the nested, branching patterns of evolutionary relationships demonstrated by anatomy, physiology and genetics. Moreover, as Mr. Prothero points out, if life had been specially created rather than evolved, there would be no reason for the molecular systems to reflect this pattern of similarity seen in megascopic features . . . [and] not even Darwin could have dreamed that the genetic code of every cell in your body also shows the evidence of evolution.

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The Story of Evolution in 25 Discoveries Review: The Branching Tree of Life - The Wall Street Journal

Janet Marie Smith smiled when she heard the words designated hitter.

I know what story youre telling, said Smith, the architect behind Polar Park, as she interrupted Charles Steinberg ,the president of the Worcester Red Sox.

Thirty-two years ago this December, Smith walked into the office of Larry Lucchino, then-president of the Baltimore Orioles, to discuss plans to build Camden Yards.

Lucchino greeted her with a question.

I say with some embarrassment looking back on it, the first question I said to Janet as she was walking into my office was, Which league has the designated hitter? Lucchino said.

Smith responded, Im offended by the question.

Thats fantastic, sit down, lets talk, Lucchino said.

The exchange represents the intersection of two future baseball Hall of Famers whose collaboration created Camden Yards in Baltimore. Since then, each left their fingerprints on about a dozen baseball cathedrals such as Fenway Park, Petco Park in San Diego and Turner Field in Atlanta.

Polar Park is next on the list but holds a special significance. Its the first project since Camden Yards, which opened in 1992, that the two have built from start to finish.

Youre looking at John Lennon and Ringo Starr, Lucchino said with a smile looking at Steinberg, who is a big Beatles fan. We wouldnt have done a ballpark without Janet and Charles being a part of it. I wouldnt have. I dont remember how it happened, but the minute we bought the team, I talked to Janet and Charles about being involved.

Lucchino is quick to point out that no two cities or ballparks are identical, but direct lines can be drawn from Camden Yards in 1992 to even some of the most unique features at Polar Park in 2021. Other aspects derive from Lucchinos history around the game of baseball.

Worcester in a sense is the beneficiary of a lot of experience in other places.

Larry Lucchino

Still, aspects from the location down to specific items like smiley faces on the foul poles originate from successes at Camden Yards.

Worcester in a sense is the beneficiary of a lot of experience in other places, Lucchino said.

Lucchino pitched Camden Yards as the new centerpiece of Baltimores inner harbor, which experienced its renaissance before with a convention center and aquarium among other things. On a smaller scale, Worcesters Canal District fits within the Lucchinos ballpark lineup.

From Birchtree Bread Co. to the Locke 50 and The Queens Cups, the Canal District was booming with some of Worcesters finest eateries years before Lucchino thought of moving the Pawtucket Red Sox out of Rhode Island.

The redevelopment of the Crompton Building injected retail into the area. The Worcester Public Market acted as fuel to the economic fire burning in the neighborhood.

Worcester sells itself in that regard, Smith said. Wed love to present ourselves as geniuses. But when you see a city thats rich in and history and with that kind of opportunity laid out in front of you, when you combine that with some of our previous experiences, it just seemed like a natural fit.

Worcester Red Sox chairman Larry Lucchino (left) and ballpark designer Janet Marie Smith look around in Polar Park early during construction.

Lucchino grew up with the idea of an urban ballpark in his backyard in Pittsburgh with Forbes Field. The home of the Pirates was nestled, as Lucchino described it, a long home run from Carnegie Library. A short walk could take fans from the YMCA to the ballpark.

It was a place you could spend your entire day, Lucchino said. And I did many times, spend my entire day there going from one of those buildings to another.

Lucchinos account of Pittsburgh in the 50s and 60s describes the plans for Polar Park in the 2020s.

The Worcester Public Library and YWCA sit about a block from the scoreboard in left field of Polar Park. Across the diamond in right field, Summit Street acts as a border between the Worcester Wall seating and the Canal District.

Smith, Lucchino and Steinberg envision the corridor as a next-generation Eutaw Street in Baltimore or Jersey Street at Fenway Park - locations where fans gather before, during and after games.

Both are trying to animate the area just outside the ballpark itself, Lucchino said. Its an area not generally animated at a ballpark.

The former mayor of Baltimore Kurt Schmoke initially resisted the idea of an urban ballpark downtown. After touring other suburban ballparks, he altered his thinking.

Schmoke said the city instantly benefited economically from the creation of Camden Yards. Baltimore saw visitors from other Major League cities, specifically Boston and New York, drive to Camden Yards for a game. Schmoke also highlighted hosting the 1993 All-Star Game as an event the city reaped rewards from years down the road.

While out-of-town visitors are far less likely in Triple-A baseball, the WooSox have already floated the idea of hosting an International League All-Star game.

Economically, Worcester City Manager Edward Augustus Jr. said the stadium coinciding with the arrival of the WooSox has already directly led to investors showing interest in New Englands second-largest city.

Ill tell you, the ballpark, which some people love to hate, Augustus said, I think the ballpark if you talk to a lot of developers, most of them that have come have cited the team relocating to Worcester as one of the reasons they took another look at Worcester.

The diamond at Polar Park looks like a baseball field with grass in the outfield, three bases, a pitchers mound and home plate.

Small business owners in the Canal District including OneZo, a bubble tea cafe and Suzette Creperie & Cafe each cited the WooSox arriving in the city as catalysts for investing in the city. A.J. Stephens, cited the WooSox as a reason why he selected Worcester as the location for his American Basketball Association franchise.

The WooSox, thats why we decided [on Worcester], because the baseball team thats coming to Kelley Square in this area, owner of OneZo James Ta said. We love this area and hopefully its a great location to expand our business.

Schmoke said economic arguments can be built upon figures favoring both supporters and detractors of ballparks. Something not up for debate, Schmoke said, is the pride the Orioles new home installed in the city.

Were kind of a tale of two cities. We have some wonderful things going on but we also have challenges of heavy concentration of poverty and areas of high crime. [Camden Yards] was always an entity that brought and uplifted our spirits and boosted the morale of the community, Schmoke said. Even the years when the Orioles werent doing well, Camden Yards was a real source of pride for residents of Baltimore.

A week before Camden Yards hosted opening day, the ballclub allowed people to enjoy a brown-bag lunch sitting at the ballpark.

Schmoke estimated 1,000 people attended the event. As the former mayor and Lucchino walked down the first baseline, a man shouted at the mayor, Glad to see government can do something right.

It brought diverse neighborhoods together, Schmoke said. People who might not interact at other times during the week, found common ground, both physically and literally at Camden Yards. The rich and the poor, all races, men and women all enjoyed the experience.

Lucchino planted the idea of an urban ballpark in Baltimore in the ear of Steinberg during the 1986 World Series between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Mets. (The same series, coincidentally, where Worcester native and WooSox hitting coach Rich Gedman played in.)

At the time, Memorial Stadium acted as a multi-purpose facility in Baltimore that hosted baseball in the summer and football in the winter.

Lucchino envisioned one old-time ballpark for baseball and another stadium for other purposes.

It was such a foreign concept in 1986, Steinberg said. He said were going to build two stadiums. I said, Two? Theres not even an appetite to build one.

Lucchino held a belief that a ballpark differed from a stadium. During the planning and construction of Camden Yards, Lucchino even implemented $5 fines to employees who used the term stadium to describe the project.

The hunger for two stadiums reached a fever pitch in May of 1988 when the organization announced plans for a new home for the Baltimore Orioles.

At about the same time, construction was nearing completion in Toronto on SkyDome, a $570 million (Canadian dollars) project which included a retractable roof and artificial grass.

When discussing the project with then Blue Jays president Paul Beeston, Lucchino downplayed the magnitude behind Camden Yards.

I said, Paul, The difference is you guys are building the eighth wonder of the world. Were trying to build a nice little ballpark, Lucchino said. In many ways getting back to basics was an important part of what we brought about.

In 1988, the idea of an open-air nice little ballpark with a natural grass surface was considered outside the box.

Photographers cover the game in an empty stadium during fourth-inning intrasquad baseball game action in Toronto, Friday, July 17, 2020. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)

SkyDome represented the trend. It evolved out of symmetrical multi-purpose artificial turf stadiums like Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh, Kingdome in Seattle, the Astrodome in Houston and Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.

All followed circular, symmetrical shapes footprints, with cookie-cutter seating bowls. Lucchinos envisioned resurrecting asymmetrical dimensions, fitting the ballpark into the landscape.

Grounds crew members work on pulling a tarp off the field during a rain delay of a baseball game between the Baltimore Orioles and the New York Yankees, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2019, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Three decades later, Lucchinos out-of-the-box ideas, like keeping the warehouse on Eutaw Street in Baltimore as a backstop to a corridor in right field, are now etched into the vernacular of ballpark design.

At the time, though, the thought of integrating the warehouse into the ballpark drew criticism. Lucchino remembered a sports editor in Baltimore criticizing him for wanting to keep a rat-infested building.

Janet Marie was very clear that it would be something distinctive in a positive way as opposed to a negative way, Schmoke said. Initially the consensus among elected officials was that we doubted the wisdom of [integrating] that building. Obviously, she was right. We were wrong.

Keeping the warehouse forced Smith and Lucchino to construct the park around its surroundings. Polar Park is no different with a severe grade differential in right field on Summit Street and a railroad track along the third baseline.

A look at the Worcester Wall in right field at Polar Park.

As an organization under the Boston Red Sox, it made sense in terms of development to install a Green Monster-like structure.

Listening to the landscape, it was obvious where the Worcester Wall would stand.

We expected a version of the Fenway Green Monster, a wall in the outfield, for a whole host of reasons, Lucchino said. There was no way Janet was going to read the terrain to suggest there was a need for a wall in left field. The place where there was a need for a wall was right field.

In construction Camden Yards, after the decision to keep the warehouse, Steinberg questioned the idea of creating Eutaw Street as a place for congregating and moving throughout the game.

When they were designing Camden Yards and talking about the Eutaw Street corridor, I thought, thats going to be empty during the ball game because 40,000 people are going to be in their seats, Steinberg said. Its going to be animated before the game, but its going to be a concrete desert during the game.

I think what Larry has challenged us to do at Polar Park is really to take whats defined as a seat to another level and one that responds to how fans watch baseball today.

Janet Marie Smith

Lucchino and Smith built it in Baltimore and people came. Polar Park challenges the notion even more as with a capacity of 9,508, but only about 6,000 seats.

I think what Larry has challenged us to do at Polar Park is really to take whats defined as a seat to another level and one that responds to how fans watch baseball today, Smith said.

From nearly every vantage point, Polar Park offers a perspective for the nomadic fan. A family can start with a picnic in the left-center field berm, then move across the outfield to the Worcester Wall in right field for the third or fourth inning. By the seventh-inning stretch, they may have caught a perspective on the bridge along the right field line and behind home plate before closing out the game in left field.

Each vantage point offers a view not only of the playing field but of scoreboards packed with more information than ever -- from Boston Red Sox updates, to pitch velocity and diving deeper into analytics. The scoreboard also will allow for an interactive experience for fans, which the team has yet to release.

Twenty years from now youre going to see how so much of this information and interaction between fans and the ball game has become par for the course, Lucchino said. And no one would want to go back and be without that information.

The largest videoboard will be located in left field measuring 40 feet by 70 feet. It will focus on the batter and lineups during the games.

The final piece to constructing Camden Yards is also apparent in Polar Park. Smith not only created a ballpark, but the place uniquely home to the Baltimore Orioles.

It was shoehorned into the culture and history of the city, Schmoker said.

With Camden Yards it started with the name. The team agreed to call it Oriole Park at Camden Yards, to honor the original home of the ballclub in Baltimore in the 19th century.

It continued by marking each home run that landed on Eutaw Street with a bronze marker with the distance and hitter. The organization also unveiled the Flag Court, located between the right-field scoreboard and Eutaw Street. Each American League team has a flag that is flown in order of the divisional standings.

Those things arent so much about history as they are saying this is a place that will have a history and how can we start that storytelling from the first pitch, Smith said. Polar Park will offer some of those same kinds of opportunities, maybe even more because its Triple-A.

Four months before Polar Park is set to open, its saturated in characteristics tying it to Worcester.

The diamond at Polar Park looks like a baseball field with grass in the outfield, three bases, a pitchers mound and home plate.

The outfield lights will be shaped like hearts. Smiley faces will appear atop the foul poles. The capacity, 9,508, pays tribute to Worcesters area code. Informational signage and kiosks will appear throughout the concourse educating fans about Worcesters industrial and social history as well as its threads that tie it to the fabric of baseball history.

Construction workers, city officials and the Worcester Red Sox celebrated the laying the final steel beam on Polar Park. The final beam was covered in signatures from those involved in the project.

Much of Polar Parks history begins with a baseball game at the stadium Camden Yards replaced. Smith overheard a fan discussing a possible new stadium. The idea fermented for months. During Thanksgiving dinner with her parents in Jackson, Mississippi, she experienced a eureka moment that prompted her to pen a letter to Lucchino about her ideas for Camden Yards.

She wrote the letter on her birthday, December 13, 1988. The letter was nearly dismissed by the Orioles, but caught the attention of Lucchino, who then invited her in to talk ballparks and urban planning.

I read the one from Janet, and I said my goodness, Im up to my eyeballs in Camden Yards, Lucchino said. This woman has an architectural background, an urban planning background, she would be perfect.

More than three decades later, some of the most beloved ballparks in America have Smith and Lucchino to thank from Fenway Park and Camden Yards on the East Coast to Petco Park or Dodgers Stadium on the West Coast.

The next line on their respective resumes and accomplishments will include Worcester and Polar Park.

The remarkable chemistry between Larry and Janet Marie is going to propel both of them to the Hall of Fame, Steinberg said. Theyll be enshrined because they not only changed ballparks for the better, theyve not only changed baseball for the better, but theyve also changed the social and cultural history of American cities. And thats quite an accomplishment.

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The evolution of a ballpark - masslive.com - MassLive.com

Today, U.S. News and World Reports released its official ranking for the best diets and the top honors were given to the Mediterranean diet for the fourth year in a row. The eating planwhich advocates for lean proteins, whole grains, seafood, and plenty of vegetables, along with the occasional glass of winewas deemed the best by a panel of 25 experts who specialize in nutrition, obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.

Heres what the experts look for when determining the official ranking: how nutritionally sound and safe the eating plan is, effectiveness for weight management, ability to prevent and manage conditions like diabetes and heart disease, and if its easy to follow. With these parameters in place, its not hard to see why the Med diet would beat out ones that are more restrictive, like the ketogenic diet or alkaline diet: Theres not only a wealth of studies backing up the Mediterranean diets benefits but it leaves more on the table than it restricts.

Watch the video below to learn more about the benefits of the Mediterranean diet:

Still, the eating plan isnt without its faults. As Well+Good reported last year, scientific studies on the Mediterranean diet lack diversity and the plan disregards eating patterns of different cultural traditions. We reached out to registered dietitians to see how they felt about the Mediterranean diet once again taking U.S. News and World Reports top spot and how they hope the eating plan continues to evolve in the future.

Right now most recommendations in regards to the Mediterranean diet tend to focus solely on nutrition, and leave out other important aspects of the Mediterranean lifestyle which include culture, community, and movementall of which play a significant role in impacting the possible long-term health benefits of this particular diet, registered dietitian Megan Faletra, RD, says.

Community and movement are important pillars in Blue Zones, two of which, are in the Mediterranean region. We need to stop looking at the Mediterranean diet as a diet and start discussing it as a lifestyleone which if we looked closely has many similarities with other traditional cultures around the world, Faletra says.

Registered dietitian Maya Feller, RD, says part of why she feels the Mediterranean diet continues to come out on top is because its based on whole, minimally processed foodsa win in her book. But even though the eating plan doesnt seem very restrictive, there are ways she believes it should be broadened even more, starting with the types of cuisine people think of as Mediterranean food.

When people think of the Mediterranean, they tend to think of countries like Italy and France, but the Mediterranean Sea spans Western Europe as well as [Northern] Africa and the Middle East, she says. She hopes the evolution of the Mediterranean diet includes people expanding past what they think of Mediterranean food to include ingredients and dishes from these regions as well.

Another aspect of the Mediterranean diet Feller says she likes is that it incorporates spices (which add flavor as well as extra health benefits), but she feels this, too, is something that can be built upon. One reason why I think people love Greek salad is because it incorporates spices and thats not something we tend to think to include spices in, she says. But I can tell you that putting cumin on your lettuce and drizzling it with pumpkin seed oil is delicious.

Feller hopes that people will think of ways to use the spices in their pantry beyond just when theyre making chicken or fish. She again encourages people to experiment with a wide variety of spices beyond what is considered Italian or Greek, broadening to include the Mediterranean region as a whole, and even beyond.

While public health dietitian Shahzadi Devje, RD, is a fan of the Mediterranean diet, she says it has some shortcomings that need to be addressed to make it more accessible. We typically hear that the Med diet can be adapted to meet specific cultural needs, she says. In essence, were brushing other cultures aside and giving precedence to Western eating styles as the only way to be healthy. I am afraid this plug and play model is narrow-minded and rather discriminatory.

This is in large part due to the fact that some foods characteristic of the Med diet are not always familiar or accessible to BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) communities, Devje says. Many of these communities are disproportionately affected by food insecurity or are more likely to live in food deserts, making it harder for them to include these ingredients in their diets.

Thus, Devje says its important for the Mediterranean diet (and those recommending it) to consider accessibility and cultural habits when making dietary recommendations. I believe its important to build cultural competence and advocate for dietary eating patterns relevant and meaningful to allnot just to white audiences, Devje says, adding that its important to note that there is not one universally healthy eating plan for all bodies. In order to engage the BIPOC community, healthy diets must be reviewed within the context of culture to ensure they are relevant, achievable, and sustainable. Food is highly personal for people; its an illustration of their culture and identity. We eat not solely to nourish our bodybut also our life.

Feller hopes the evolution of the Mediterranean diet will grow to include people putting their own unique stamp on it. Im such a lover of fusion food, she says. There is such a wide range of cuisine in various regions across the U.S. Think about what flavors are unique to where you live and how you can incorporate them using the principles of the Mediterranean diet.

Feller says the key to adding your own twist while still staying true to what the Med diet actually entails is ensuring that the ways you build off it are still plant-forward, minimally processed, and incorporating healthy fats. That way, youre still getting the nutrients that make the Med diet so beloved, but youre using a wide variety of foods and spices to get there.

As beneficial as the Mediterranean diet is, Devje says she hopes the way we talk about the eating plan evolves in the future. Promoting health and optimizing nutrition, throughout the lifespan, requires a globally inclusive lens; one where cultural diversity is accepted and included at all levels: in nutrition research and review, dietary guidelines, healthy eating public policy, and media, Devje says. To this end, she hopes the future will be advocating that the Mediterranean diet is one healthy way to life, not the healthy way to live.

Theres no denying the health benefits that make the Mediterranean diet a healthy eating plan to follow for many. But broadening the way we think about what it means to eat Mediterranean will make it even more of a win going forward.

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The Mediterranean Diet Is Once Again On TopHeres How Dietitians Hope It Evolves - Well+Good

There were two previous columns on the origin of blasphemous or swear words that are spoken in frustration, anger or pain. This will be the third and last column on the subject of cussing. My mother did not allow her children to swear and she was never heard to say so much as darn even when aggravated. So we didnt do it because in those days the penalty for swearing was a big bar of P&G laundry soap rubbed a few time across your front teeth. I never had the experience, but I think my brother did once, and it was the prospect that is could happen to us that kept all four of us swear-free.

As admitted earlier, my dad swore in German and English, my grandfather in Norwegian so I learned how to cuss in three languages because I have ears. (But I didnt do it, of course.) However, there was the time while removing a casserole from the oven that, I accidently dropped it and it landed upside down on the kitchen floor. My family was already at the table when this happened and I was thankful my mother was not around to hear me express my dismay at the sorry mess. It resulted in a soap-worthy display of cussing in three languages. Sadly, it was done in the presence of my husband (who did not swear) and our kids, mores the pity. I should have washed my own mouth out with soap!

The word cuss has evolved too. It is often pronounced curse. But I think the r was removed from the word in Boston where no one says an r like it is supposed to sound or it was the result of speech impediments by a lot of people. The r in our language is made by curling ones tongue upward at the outer tip. Holding the tongue straight will not produce a proper r sound. What that tells us about the tongues in Boston is your guess.

Oath became swear, swear became curse and curse became cuss. Cuss is an un-pretty word that describes an un-pretty habit. However there are some misunderstandings about that too. It is commonly said that people with limited vocabularies resort to swearing for lack of the right words to say when they are frustrated or angry.

Wrong. Studies show that people with well-developed vocabularies cuss better and more fluently than those with a limited vocabulary. That did not surprise me, I am a word smith and I am quite certain that I could cuss fluently, (but of course I dont). Well, not often. Studies show that women swear as much as men and although considered a bad habit, it can be beneficial in ways one would not suspect.

Swearing helps make pain more bearable. It is a way to ease intolerable situations and actually can soothe emotions in highly charged-damaging -to-your-heart moments, like when I dropped the casserole. Had I not cussed I may have died of a heart attack.

The cussing habit is not necessarily a bad thing according to what I have read. It has been shown that swearing relieves pain and stress, fosters friendliness among peers, indicates verbal fluency and openness as well as relatively high intelligence. It is also a typical verbal habit of the Type A Personality in men. I am wondering if that would apply to Alpha females, since in later life, I have learned that I am one of. Those.

In spite of my leniency in regards to swearing, there are some four-letter words in common usage today that I find extremely offensive: Blasphemy and the ugly, naughty four-letter words can indeed be associated with limited vocabulary, in my opinion. Seeing them written or hearing them spoken can be so offensive it makes one cringe and the penalty should be to have their mouths washed out with P&G laundry soap. It worked for me and my siblings. Extreme? Yep, I am extremely offended by those words and so are most of the people I know.

I am not advocating that we all cuss for what it offers therapeutically for it rarely impresses anyone. In this case there was a need for the facts pertaining to, effects of and a clarification of the habit of cursing. From experience I can assure my readers who just perchance may drop a boiling hot casserole on the floor and have it land upside down and splatters on your flip-flop-clad feet, Oh fiddle-dee-dee just wont cut it.

Sources: National Geographic, Discovery Magazine, Science Alert, Psychological Science and others

Marge Flados resides in Harlingen, Texas and can be reached at nflados@gmail.com

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More on the evolution of words - Huntsville Item

Namacalathus and Cloudina fossils, collection of Redpath Museum, McGill University, by Daderot / CC0, via Wikimedia.

On a new episode ofID the Future, German paleontologist Gnter Bechly explains why the Precambrian fossil Namacalathus fails as a transitional precursor to the Cambrian explosion. Darwinists want to find transitional precursors to the Cambrian animals to minimize how poorly the Cambrian explosion fits with Darwinisms story of a gradual evolutionary development. Dr. Bechly gives other examples of such efforts as well and shows how each fails. Download the podcast or listen to it here.

As Bechly says, the more we learn about the Cambrian and Precambrian, the more dramatic the Cambrian explosion appears and the poorer it fits with modern evolutionary theory. As he also notes, the points he makes in this episode have been made by mainstream evolutionary paleontologists. He differs only in stepping back from the larger pattern and arguing for intelligent design as a far better explanation than any version of blind evolution. His conversation with host Andrew McDiarmid builds on two articles Bechly wrote at Evolution News,hereandhere.

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Paleontologist Buries Another Proposed Cambrian Precursor - Discovery Institute

For most of his career, fans have taken the good with the bad with Marcus Smart. Good Marcus meant hard-nosed defense and reckless abandon on hustle plays. Bad Marcus would turn from stuntman to dramatic actor as he tried to sell bad calls and take ill-advised shots. For better or for worse, both Marcuses were born out of a selfless need to impact the game.

The irony is unavoidable. On more talent-laden teams, there were times when Smart would try and do too much. Sometimes, that was necessary; reminisce over his barrage of threes in Game 2 against the Toronto Raptors. Sometimes, hero ball made him the villain; in Game 6 against the Miami Heat, his 8-for-22 was more shots than Kemba Walker, Jaylen Brown, and Gordon Hayward in a season-ending loss.

So far, this season has been different.

With an expanded role as the starting point guard with Walker still on the shelf, hes raised his assist numbers to a 6.7 per game and more impressively, hes sporting the highest assist-to-turnover ratio (3.36 per game) of his entire career. After spending years as the sixth starter, hes responded well with more on his plate.

There are some strange statistical anomalies in his game though. Hes hit just eight of his nineteen shots in the restricted area (42.1%). League average is around 57.4%. While the makes and misses can be frustrating, his shot profile does however suggest a new discipline to his decision making. Hes only taken six shots in the mid-range, opting to force the issue in the paint and at the rim. Thats translated to a slight uptick in free throw attempts per game and the career 32% shooter from behind the arc has hit 16-of-39 (41%) to start. But dont get it twisted. The longest standing Celtic has now been tasked to be a key cog in the teams offense rather than an unreliable wild card and hes embraced the challenge.

Listen, hes really trying. Over these last seven games, hes the only person thats been above 5 assists each game. Hes trying to get us organized, hes trying to get us in a place where everybody can be successful, Brad Stevens said after Smarts first double-digit assist output of the season.

Weve seen the Cobra strike. Weve seen Smart the daredevil who will sacrifice his body if it means two points for Boston or two fewer for their opponent. In Year 6, this has so far been a more cerebral Smart.

Hes bailed us out on so many occasions over the years that I appreciate how much hes trying to do the right thing on every possession, Stevens added.

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Smart has excelled in all the winning plays that dont necessarily show up in the box score. Hes a Tommy Point favorite. Now, hes making headier plays as a point guard or as Stevens might put it, hitting singles over home runs. Instead of launching a low percentage three-pointer from the angle, a pump fake and a hesitation dribble freezes two Pistons and Smart smartly drives into the paint.

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In another crucial moment in Detroit with the game tied at 113-113, the ball swung to Smart in a similar spot on the floor with nine ticks left on the shot clock. Again, instead of jacking up a three-pointer with three defenders closing in on him, Smart calmly waited for them to commit and hit Theis cutting on the baseline for an and-1.

Marcus Smart is the heart and soul of this team. His energy and his poise on the offensive end has been great for us. They asked him to step up and play the point guard position and hes matched that, Jaylen Brown said. Hes got me easy baskets, hes got Jayson easy baskets, and hes got himself easy baskets. Im proud to see Marcus Smart grow. The responsibility hes gotten, hes handled it well in the first seven games.

Smart is still susceptible to a heat check. He still has the mentality of a kamikaze pilot on defense. Hes currently wearing a compression shirt after suffering a shoulder contusion attempting to draw a charge from the Pacers Malcolm Brogdon. However, theres a maturity in his game and even in his tone as the elder statesman of the Celtics.

On Friday night in the first of the two-game series with the Pistons, Smart went 0-for-3 in the clutch, including an air-balled open 3, a front-rimmed floater in the closing seconds, and two missed free throws. When asked about the bunny he missed to potentially tie the game, Smart said, it didnt go in, plain and simple. In the post-game presser, it felt like a gotcha question that the veteran handled like a pro.

The now six-year vet expects these ups and downs from such a young team. We didnt expect it to be this bad, but we expected some ups and downs. Lot of curve balls, lot of learning curves thrown our way, a lot of young guys, a lot of new guys, but its still not an excuse. The rest of us have been here for a longer period of time. We know the system. We know what Brad wants. We just have to go out there and do it.

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Marcus Smart(er): the evolution of the Celtics heart and soul - Celtics Blog

Here are some of the most eye-raising anthropological findings of 2020.

2)Certain Neanderthal genes, researchers found, code for proteins that convey a heightened sense of pain to the spinal cord and brain. A July studyshowed that a sample of people from the UK who had inherited those Neanderthal genes experienced more pain than study participants who didnt have them.

6) New evidence upended the idea that the first people arrived in North America after continent-hopping from modern-day Siberia via the Bering land bridge between 18,000 and 13,000 years ago.

During the last Ice Age 32,000 years ago, that land bridge was impassable. So the research suggests the first Americansarrived by sea. According to the study authors, these migrants were likely anatomically modern humans.

7)Scientists discovered a 9,000-year-old burial site containing weapons and animal-skinning tools high in the Andes mountains of Peru. They assumed the human bones there came from a skilled male hunter.

But a closer look revealed that this hunter was female. Further analysis of 27 other burial sites across North and South America, which also contained hunting tools and date back to the same time period, revealed that 40% of the hunters were female.

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13 2020 discoveries that have transformed what we know about human evolution - Genetic Literacy Project

MIAMI, Jan. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --Lucyd, the smart eyewear and wearable software developer,is proud to introduce the Lucyd Lyte. The Lyte is tech-enhanced eyewear on par with designer, lightweight, fashion frames. The Lyte represents both the pinnacle of form factor for tech glasses and a technology evolution in the miniaturization of components. The e-glasses enable wearers to seamlessly play music, take phone calls and chat with their phone's assistant while keeping their ears free and clear; a true co-connected experience via strategic open-ear technology.Lucydis also in development of a voice-controlled app calledVyrb, which will allow users to listen and respond to social media posts with their voice, without looking at their smartphones, and can be accessed via wearable tech like the Lyte.

Lucyd's mission is to Upgrade your eyewear with advanced, tech-infused, ergonomic frames that are easy and fun to wear.

Hi-fi Bluetooth Audio

Intuitive Touch Controls

Additional features

"It's not just about expanding our connection to technology, but quite the opposite, it's really about connecting our technology to us," said Harrison Gross, Lucydcofounder and CEO. "The new Lucyd Lyte collection is affordable at $149 and will work seamlessly with ourVyrbapplication bringing true voice interaction to our social media interactions."

Richard Sherman, star NFL cornerback and Lucydbrand ambassador states,"I think everyone should be excited about Lucyd because it's been a pioneer in the eyewear space,this technology's transcendent. Lucydis ahead of the curve."

About Lucyd and Innovative Eyewear Inc. Lucyd'smission is toUpgrade your eyewearwith advanced ergonomic frames that are easy and fun to wear enhancing awareness to stay safely connected.The Lucyd brand is exclusively licensed to and operated by Innovative Eyewear, Inc.

To learn more, or order Lucyd Lyte, please visithttps://lucyd.co or Innovative Eyewear'sRegistered Crowdfund.

SOURCE Lucyd Eyewear

https://www.lucyd.co

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Lucyd Introduces Lyte Bluetooth E-glasses, an Evolved Wearable Emerging from the 700 Year History of Eyewear. - PRNewswire

A new year has arrived, which mostly means that life will continue finding a way in a similar fashion to the year before. That includes the weekly free Epic Games Store offerings where you can currently find dino park maker Jurassic World Evolution free until Thursday. Its not the best dino game or the best Frontier Developments game either, honestly, but it sure does have big, stompy dinos to play with if thats your lane.

RPSs Jurassic World Evolution review says that the management and customisation are a bit of a disappointment, but the dinos are a bright spot.A T.Rex wont tolerate other dinos sharing their enclosure, even another T.Rex. TheDiplodocus, meanwhile, enjoys having pals around and doesnt mind coexisting with other small dinos. Hopping into a car or helicopter to check them out seems like one of the games highlights.

The quality and range of animation is exceptional, especially in a management sim where youre mostly getting a birds eye view, Fraser Brown says. Dinosaurs within the same family or suborder, like the Velociraptor, Deinonychus and Dilophosaurus (thats the one that killed poor Dennis Nedry), can look quite similar and share traits, but even then there are noticeable differences. The Dilophosaurus retains its spitting attack and colourful frills from Jurassic Park, for instance, which it loves to show off.

After their flurry of daily freebies over the holidays, Epic have returned to the weekly schedule for their free game offerings. That means youve got until this Thursday, January 7th to snag Jurassic World Evolution on Epic, at which point it will be replaced by tactical space game Crying Suns.

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Jurassic World Evolution is free on the Epic Store right now - Rock Paper Shotgun

Portsmouth Herald

EXETER The Exeter Historical Society and ExeterTV will host a virtual presentation on Tuesday, Jan 5,about the history of Exeter Hospital.

The presentation by curator Barbara Rimkunas will take place at 7 p.m. on Zoom. It can also be viewed on the historical societys Facebook page and on Channel 98.

The program is free, open to the public and will be recorded for those unable to attend.

To attend via Zoom, register at http://bit.ly/ExeterHospitalHistoryRegistration.

In the late 19th Century, Exeter was without a local hospital. A grassroots fundraising effort led to the establishment of Exeter Cottage Hospital in the 1890s. From its humble beginnings on Pine Street to the current campus on Alumni Drive, Rimkunas will explore the history of Exeter Hospital in this illustrated talk.

The Exeter Historical Society is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the research and preservation of Exeters past. During the pandemic, the Historical Society is open to the public on a weekly basis by appointment, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2 to 4 p.m., and on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to noon. Please call or email to make an appointment at 603-778-2335, info@exeterhistory.org. Find past recorded programs, the Exeter History Minute series, Exeter history columns and more on the societys website at http://www.exeterhistory.org.

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Virtual program on the Evolution of Exeter Hospital - Seacoastonline.com