RE: Birds and pornography

["Williams, Tim" <TiJaWi@agron.iastate.edu>]

Philidor says:

>Your job is much easier if you look at Classes.
>Does it have feathers?  Bird.  (True, in the past non-birds may 
>have had feathers.  

Again, the Pornographic Guide to Classification: I can't define a bird, but
I know it when I see it.


>Taxonomy is a naming convention.  Its purpose is ease of communication.
>To both scientists and the public.  

Silly me, I thought the purpose of science was accuracy and precision when
discussing concepts, not simplifying everything to a level everyone can
*easily* understand.

In that vein (so to speak)...  From now one, I propose that all medical
practitioners should refer to any bacterial or viral disease as "plague" (if
it's contagious) or "ague" (if it's not).  The general public gets so very
confused when you throw names like _Yersinia_ and _Pseudomonas_ or
_Staphylococcus_ at them.  Not to mention the Doctors!  Let's dumb down all
science so that everybody can understand life-threatening diseases without
forcing them to think too much.



Tim