OK, it was an example not a hard statistic. My point being, outside purely scientific/mathematical research, the statistics used in the modern world are obtained or reported in ways to prove a particular point. There are infinite different ways to obtain and represent statistical data to show exactly what you wish. Advertising companies can do polls of people at a Soccer game and say 90% of americans polled wear Nike, Reebok, or Adidas shoes. This statistic would be correct, but had the same poll been done on the streets of New York, they would have gotten a much lower number!

Let us also keep in mind that 99% of all publicized statistical information is not obtained or reported correctly. Through what methods were these numbers created? Were the people polled all done from religious groups, where they predominately middle aged/older citizens. Was the polling all done from one region in the country? I'm willing to bet if you took a poll of everyone in the country you would find somewhere around 30% believe Creationism only, 20% believe Evolution only, and 50% believe some combined form. Basically the majority believe God created the universe, but also accept that he didn't just snap his fingers and poof everything just appeared.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth
"Scientific evidence indicates that the planet formed 4.54 billion years ago, and life appeared on its surface within a billion years." I'm not saying this IS correct, but current indications and beliefs place life as having 3.54 BILLION years worth of Creation/Evolution. that's 3,540 MILLION years, now if there was a single species at that point and we'll make it simple and say it takes 10 million years for any single species to evolve into another species. At 10 million years 1 species evolves into 2, then 10 million years later those 2 species evolve into 1 more each, you now have 4 species, (the originial 2, plus the 2 that evolved.) now with this base model, after only 1 Billion years (I really don't feel like doing, X times 2, 354 times for every 10 million years.) There would be 1,267,650,600,228,228,229,401,496,703,205,376 Different Species.. now many species go extinct over time, many of these mutations simply could not live, for instance it could have been an animal born with no heart. So lets cut this number by 1/trillion to represent those species that died off and could not continue evolving. So that leaves 1,267,650,600,228,228,229,401 different species... and this is only 1 Billion years. There's still another 2.54 billion years for evolution and you have a much larger base of species that are still adapting and evolving to start with than you did for the first Billion years.

Now I will admit that the death of early species would effect more that 1/trillion that I used as an example, but I wanted to show that even with such a small survival rate, you still end up with a HUGE number. and even with only say a few million different species that is still enough for 2.54 Billion years of further evolution to do some major work!

I'm a bit perplexed after reading this and was curious if you could educate me, I was wondering who's theory of Evolution included plants or animals of one genus evolving in a single generation into something totally different. I certainly can't recall anyone ever claiming that an aligator had puppies! The major transformations that Evolution offers are things that we as humans would NOT see because they happen over thousands/millions of years. During the course of a single year, a frog can change from having gills and only able to survive in water to having lungs and incapable of breathing underwater. So you are saying it's impossible for a mutated fish to hatch with both gills and lungs, or perhaps do the exact same thing and have his organs change during growth? Try to remember the major changes happened one little thing at a time... never changing directly into something else but merely a species with a different characteristic, then after enough changes it would be different enough that we could no longer classify it as the same creature. (remember the method of Scientific Classification is not something created by God or nature, but merely a method we humans have used to identify different types of creatures, it is not nearly as cut and dry as many people think, there are many many creatures that sort of sit on the edge between one type and another. Something as basic as laying eggs, or giving birth keeps a creature from being classified as a totally different genus.

Everquest, that Great and Cruel world that has so entrapped many peoples imagination and time, CURSE THEM ALL!!!!

OK yeah.. I still play Everquest, on the Tribunal

Yes, definitely an excellent series, unfortunately I have not seen it on any channel for about 3-4 years now... with any luck that means it's about time someone decides to bring it back again.

"White Christmas", I love musicals, and I'm a big Danny Kaye fan!

Followed closely by "Scrooge" starring Albert Finney.