i posted this on the kingsnake forum but it's pertinent to many discussions we've had here too, so figured i'd share it again...
Every once in a while someone reminds us on this forum that we shouldn't jump to conclusions based on a modest amount of data--several clutches of babies, or the results of only one or two breeding seasons at a different time of year, a preponderance of males the first season we breed our animals at a different temperature-- that sort of thing.
So i thought the following quote from the 1/2/04 Wall Street Journal was worth sharing. The article asked scientists to propose a scientific principle, law or rule they might attach their names to, in the spirit of, for example, Murphy's Law.
To quote:
"Mathematics inspired John Allen Paulos of Temple University, Philadelphia, to devise his Law of Coincidence: 'People often note some unlikely conjunction of events and marvel at the coincidence. Could anything be more wonderfully improbable, they wonder? The answer is yes. The most amazing coincidence of all would be the complete absence of coincidence.'"
science, folks!
peace
terry dunham
albino tricolors
st pete florida
