Fossils of possible new human species found in China

[galanie]

I listened to a man today talk about how global warming model are way off in determining the warming predictions of the earth. They have learned that the sun has a more profound effect on the climate than before as the sun cycles and is not a constant source and is enough to throw off all the modeling. Apparently they have satellites now capable of measuring more accurately how heat escape the atmosphere and that too is happening at a much faster rate than the modeling inferred. 

That the models are way off is nothing new. To put it in a more course term, the figures are pulled out of someone's backside that go into the computer modeling. The only thing I have issue with in those "OMG WE ARE OVERHEATING THE EARTH" arguements is whether humans are causing it or not. Yes, the weather is odd the last few years and does match the "global warming" theory or whatever you want to call that hypothesis today.

But really those computer models they go for are garbage. They cannot predict the weather accurately 48 hours in advance, how am I to believe they are doing it years in advance? I don't. Only historic data is reliable.

 

[chickened]

I know,

global warming predictions are 1. became very political and 2. they are like end times prophecy people, they just keep changing the date but never accurately predict the event.

I did read that the sun is near the end of the 23rd cycle and that is somehow significant to the weather pattern and it usually changes when the sun changes cycles.

We have 2 lakes in eastern Oregon, Malhuer and Harney they are in a basin so they only evaporate. In the 80's they almost dried up to nothing. In the late 90's they were touching and the average distance between them is about 20 miles. Weather is all about patterns and according to the article I read the Earth increases the heat escapement amount prior to a warming event as determined by satellite measurements.

That the models are way off is nothing new. To put it in a more course term, the figures are pulled out of someone's backside that go into the computer modeling. The only thing I have issue with in those "OMG WE ARE OVERHEATING THE EARTH" arguements is whether humans are causing it or not. Yes, the weather is odd the last few years and does match the "global warming" theory or whatever you want to call that hypothesis today.
But really those computer models they go for are garbage. They cannot predict the weather accurately 48 hours in advance, how am I to believe they are doing it years in advance? I don't. Only historic data is reliable.

 

[WooingWyandotte]

Wow, this thread moves faster than a chat thread in the GJ&F section! 5 days and 14 pages?

Then again, maybe it's not so surprising because everyone's inclined to their opinions.

 

[GardenerGal]

lol!
Yeah, that poor bunch of "possible new human species" fossils is freshly buried again...under our pages of posts about other stuff.

Wow, this thread moves faster than a chat thread in the GJ&F section! 5 days and 14 pages?

Then again, maybe it's not so surprising because everyone's inclined to their opinions.

 

[AquaEyes]

lol!
Yeah, that poor bunch of "possible new human species" fossils is freshly buried again...under our pages of posts about other stuff.

Well, I'm happy that the article prompted such a lengthy and geeky discussion, even if it does veer off-topic.

Relating back to it....what do we think about the "hobbit" that was discovered a few years back? Imagine if we found a living population of them today.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_floresiensis

http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/flores.html

http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-fossils/species/homo-floresiensis

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/10/1027_041027_homo_floresiensis.html

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090506144307.htm

 

[Matthew3590]

I would ask if they have seen frodo

 

[AquaEyes]

I would ask if they have seen frodo

 

[chickened]

They were discovered on an island my initial guess is they were outcasts from a tribe maybe aboriginals and had a phsyical deformity maybe from an illness or maybe from a cultural mutilation practice. I am just speculating though.

Well, I'm happy that the article prompted such a lengthy and geeky discussion, even if it does veer off-topic.

Relating back to it....what do we think about the "hobbit" that was discovered a few years back? Imagine if we found a living population of them today.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_floresiensis

http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/flores.html

http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-fossils/species/homo-floresiensis

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/10/1027_041027_homo_floresiensis.html

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090506144307.htm

 

[GardenerGal]

Funny you brought up hobbits... I was watching the 3-DVD "LOTR" movie all weekend and just finished "Return of the King" earlier tonight.
My own speculation goes along the lines of chickened's. It seems to me that these were perhaps an isolated "anomaly" group of people, maybe either an inbred island population with mutations, or banished there (like the Hansen's Disease/"leprosy" people exiled to an isolated Hawaiian island) for their deformities. It doesn't seem like they are part of a larger population.

But then again... possible that a subspecies or different species of genus Homo could have lived side by side with H. sapiens sapiens... Though I'd expect to have seen some skeletons of hybrids in that situation. Or that one would have ended up being "lunch" for the other, and its gnawed bones would be in the kitchen midden of dominant species.

 

[AquaEyes]

They were discovered on an island my initial guess is they were outcasts from a tribe maybe aboriginals and had a phsyical deformity maybe from an illness or maybe from a cultural mutilation practice. I am just speculating though.

That was one of the arguments after the find was first published -- the remains were simply of humans who suffered from some form of disease. This started a debate and further analysis of the skulls, comparing them to those of humans who were known to have some of the proposed conditions -- microcephaly, Laron syndrome, or endemic cretinism. Neither can account for the full range of differences in these remains as compared to our species, but I think some of the proponents of these alternative explanations have not been fully satisfied yet. Discussion of those alternative hypotheses is summed up on the wikipedia entry, and see the clickable references within for further information. The debates that followed the discovery of these remains illustrates the cut-throat process of peer-review, serving to weed-out claims not fully substantiated by evidence.

Personally, the idea of a species of human that small and looking like the proposed reconstructions is both fascinating -- and somewhat frightening. I remember as a child seeing a rented horror movie called Trilogy of Terror, and there was one story about this tribal zuni doll that comes to life and tries to kill a woman -- in the end she becomes somehow possessed by its spirit. When I first read about Homo floresiensis I immediately had flashbacks. If you remember the movie, you'll know what I mean. If you don't -- google it (you can watch it on YouTube).