Stupid Things I Have Heard At Work Part Deux 4

[AnotherHiggins]

OK, I'll start.

A Former supervisor at my company (thankfully I never reported to her) raised Jack Russell Terriers. She was discussing it with a group of us in the office. Someone asked her what the tails look like before folks lop them off. She said that the tails were often short or malformed. She went on to explain how one day they would be born without the tails.

I must have given her a strange look, because she cocked her head to one side and said to me in a supremely condescending tone, “It’s called evolution, John.”

I laughed out loud. I thought she was kidding.

She went on, “We keep cutting their tails off before they breed, so eventually they won’t even be born with tails.”

I couldn’t believe it, but the group actually started debating whether this made sense, with only a couple of us dissenting. I tried to explain that evolution can occur because of mutation, but not mutilation, that the tails were malformed because Jack Russells simply aren’t bred for nice tails so dogs with ugly tails but other desirable characteristics were allowed to breed.

She didn’t get it.

I ended the discussion by asking the supervisor if her ears were pierced. She confirmed that they were. I asked how many generations of ear-pierced women it would take before their daughters started being born with holes in their ears.
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NOTE: I do not wish to spark a debate about evolution. Dogs are bred for certain characteristics, that’s all I'm talking about.

[tt]_____
[blue]-John[/blue][/tt]

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[AnotherHiggins]

Oh, yeah. I'm off 'till next week.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!


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[blue]-John[/blue][/tt]

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[Stella740pl]

I must say you were exceptionally nice to her.
I've heard (not personally, I must say, anecdotally only) much harsher response in a similar “evolutionary” situation.

Let’s just say it will take loooooong, since, after all the generations, boys are still routinely born uncircumcised, and after many more generations, girls are still usually born virgins.

 

[GwydionM]

At work, we have software to filter out offensive items. Which blocked me from looking at a serious news storm about former BBC executive Mr Greg Dyke.

AOL also put an e-mail about astronomy in the 'spam' folder, even though it was from a serious supplier. It did mention 'hot proprety' along with full-frontal pictures of telescopes and star maps.
Shows the limits of artificial intelligence - there will be work for programmers until the youngest of us dies of old age!

Regarding dog's tails, Weismann did a classic experiment involving cutting off rat's tails. There were other experiments with fish kept in the dark but given plenty of food, who did not lose their eyes in the way that actually does happen to cave fish.

Also it is evolution of the sort people once beleived in, Lamarck's original idea. Just not neo-Darwinian natural selection.

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An old man who lives in the UK

 

[tsdragon]

In the same vein, why do possums, squirrels, etc. still get run over on the highway with regulartiy. I would think that the ones who didn't have the intelligenc to stay off the road would have all been killed off and the remaining ones left to breed would be too smart to get run over.

Tracy Dryden

Meddle not in the affairs of dragons,
For you are crunchy, and good with mustard.

 

[mberni]

this thread reminds me of ...

if swimming improves your body ...
what went wrong with the whales?

 

[grande]

This doesn't have to do with a tech workplace, but this happened to me.

I was in Niagra Falls, and payed (paid?) a visit to the Wax Rock & Roll Museum. After the tour, you arrive in the gift shop. I decided to buy some 1" pins.

I pay, and the woman places the pins, face down on my open hand. I say 'thank you,' and close my hand over the pins. I then said some words that are unappropriate for this forum.

The woman had placed the pins, face down on my hand, with the pin sticking up. When I opened my hand, two of my fingers were bleeding, and another finger would've been bleeding, had the pin not been still stuck in it.

I was not pleased.

-------------------------
Just call me Captain Awesome.

 

[grande]

Just got an email:
"There research is part of a action plan on TD Pulse."

I wanted to send an email back saying 'IT'S SPELT THEIR!!' but yelling at CIOs is usually frowned upon.

-------------------------
Just call me Captain Awesome.

 

[GwydionM]

Captain Awesome has run into a problem caused by spell cheque software, write?

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An old man who lives in the UK

 

[MiniMufasa]

One of my favorites--

A wedding announcement posted in the break room read, "...we request the honor of your presents at a reception..."

I did not attend, nor did my present.

 

[SilentAiche]

Tracy,

In the same vein, why do possums, squirrels, etc. still get run over on the highway with regulartiy. I would think that the ones who didn't have the intelligenc to stay off the road would have all been killed off and the remaining ones left to breed would be too smart to get run over.

I suspect the cars are getting smarter, too. The new cars are called "high-breeds."

They run on/over gas and rodent.

GM advertises them as the [red]American Evolution."[/red]

[red]S10[/red] sounds like a score to me, with the squirrels losing badly. Nuts.

Tim

[blue]______________________________________________________________
I love logging onto Tek-Tips. It's always so exciting to see what the hell I
said yesterday. [/blue]

 

[ChrisHunt]

I would think that the ones who didn't have the intelligenc to stay off the road would have all been killed off and the remaining ones left to breed would be too smart to get run over.

If the roadkills were a significant proportion of the population, I'm sure that would happen over time. Given a few hundred years it still might.

Being particularly averse to the sound of traffic would (it seems) be an evolutionary advantage to such critters, but if most of them live far from the road anyway it'll take time to make itself felt.

I have heard that here in the UK, pheasants and other game birds are flying noticably lower than they used to. Their high-flying forebears were easier to shoot, so more of the low-fliers survived to breed - with evolutionary results. Shooters are probably the most significant "predator" for game birds, so it's only taken a coupla hundred years for this effect to become apparent.

-- Chris Hunt
Webmaster & Tragedian
Extra Connections Ltd

 

[SilentAiche]

Interesting.

Rodent. Road Dent. Hmmm.

Asphault. Hmmm.

After exhaustive research, it was determined that cars wrecked 'em.

Hummers. Hmmm.

Tim [grins, etc.]

[blue]______________________________________________________________
I love logging onto Tek-Tips. It's always so exciting to see what the hell I
said yesterday. [/blue]

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Chris ... The pheasants are probably flying lower due to the increase in gravitational force. Although this phenomenom has not been well documented, it has been occuring here in Canada, over the last 24 years. I have noticed the pronounced effect it is having on my body. When ascending stairs I can no longer run up three treads at a time ... in fact somedays I struggle with one. It is also causing my skin to noticeably sag. Even my bathroom scales have been affected. They now read nearly 50% more than when I bought them.

I am hoping this trend will reverse itself soon.

 

[tsdragon]

There is no increase in gravity. The world just sucks more than it used to.

Tracy Dryden

Meddle not in the affairs of dragons,
For you are crunchy, and good with mustard.

 

[2ffat]

An answer to the age old question, "Why did the chicken cross the road?"

"To prove to the opossum that it could be done!"


James P. Cottingham
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[sup]I'm number 1,229!
I'm number 1,229![/sup]

 

[Toshilap]

And why do we still grow underarm hair???

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I finally got it all together and forgot where I put it.

 

[PaulTEG]

for transplanting ...?

if this process improves we could start sprouting new spare parts

Spend an hour a week on CPAN, helps cure all known programming ailments ;-)

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

... but my underarm hair is short & curly! Where could that possibly be translpanted to?

 

[PaulTEG]

your head of course ...

Spend an hour a week on CPAN, helps cure all known programming ailments ;-)