Thursday, August 10, 2006

They say don't mix religion and science in an educational context, but I think my professor does it well

This is, verbatim, what my professor said during our first genetics lecture:

"In the beginning, there was Mendel. And he said, “Let there be peas.” And there were peas, and it was good. And he put the peas into the garden, saying unto them, “Increase and multiply. Segregate, and assort yourselves independently.” And they did, and it was good. And now it came to pass that when Mendel gathered up his peas, he divided them into round and wrinkled, and he called the round ‘dominant’ and the wrinkled ‘recessive’, and it was good. But now Mendel saw that there were 450 round peas and 102 wrinkled peas. This was Not Good, for the law stateth that there should only be 3 round for every wrinkled, and Mendel said unto himself, “Gott im himmel, an enemy has done this! He has sown bad peas in my garden under the cover of night.” And Mendel smote the table in righteous wrath, saying, “Depart from me, you cursed and evil peas, into the outer darkness, where thou shalt be devoured by the rats and the mice!” And lo, it was done. And there remained 300 round peas and 100 wrinkled peas, and it was good. It was very, very good, and Mendel published."

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