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From: Ernest Major <{$to$}@meden.demon.co.uk>
Newsgroups: talk.origins
Subject: Re: Ancient tetrapod predator
Date: Thu, 4 Jul 2024 22:14:19 +0100
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On 04/07/2024 21:29, John Harshman wrote:
> On 7/4/24 12:51 PM, RonO wrote:
>> On 7/4/2024 9:18 AM, John Harshman wrote:
>>> On 7/3/24 6:29 PM, RonO wrote:
>>>> On 7/3/2024 5:56 PM, John Harshman wrote:
>>>>> On 7/3/24 3:04 PM, RonO wrote:
>>>>>> https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/fossils-show-huge-salamanderlike-predator-sharp-fangs-existed-111645297
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The giant salamander with fangs may have lived 280 million years 
>>>>>> ago, and they claim that Namibia was in a much colder region of 
>>>>>> the world at that time (they claim glacial region).
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Click on the link in the fourth paragraph and you can get a copy 
>>>>>> of the Nature article to read, otherwise the article is pay walled.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Ron Okimoto
>>>>>>
>>>>> What do you mean by "they claim"? Are you trying to cast doubt on 
>>>>> the Permian glaciation? There's plenty of evidence for it.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Why would you think that I was casting doubt on their claims.
>>>
>>> That's more or less what "they claim" connotes. Perhaps you misspoke?
>>
>> Perhaps you misunderstood.  They did make those claims in the paper.
>>
>>>
>>>> The paper indicates that if the region of Pangea that is now Namibia 
>>>> was as cold as they think, then amphibians had adapted to colder 
>>>> climates after diversification during the Caboniferous.
>>>
>>> "As cold as they think" is hardly a matter of "if". That part of 
>>> Gondwana was near the south pole at the time, and there's all sorts 
>>> of evidence of a protracted series of ice ages. There were of course 
>>> interglacials, but there would still have been very long, cold 
>>> winters. Think Alaska.
>>>
>>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late_Paleozoic_icehouse
>>>
>>
>> You seem to want to misunderstand what I wrote.
>>
> 
> Don't really want to belabor the point, but "they claim" and "if...as 
> cold as they think" are just not appropriate for what are well-settled 
> scientific facts. If I said "They claim that whales are artiodactyls" or 
> "if the mid-Atlantic ridge is a spreading center as they think", what 
> would you make of that?
> 

I sometimes use "report" when I'm not in a position to endorse something 
out of my own knowledge or understanding. I hope this doesn't have the 
negative implications of the use of "claim" in this context.

-- 
alias Ernest Major