EVOLUTION OF GOLF

THE PUTTMETER

The game of golf has changed by the gradual process we can call evolution.  Sometimes changes occur rapidly and it might almost be called a revolution.  Both are changes, one by gradual steps, the other by drastic changes.

I tried to introduce a tool into the game to help golfers complete a game with fewer strokes by improving their putting.  I gave my device the name, Puttmeter.  It really is just a variation of a line level available in most hardware stores.  The patent lawyer I consulted said it was basically a level and couldn't be patented as one, but a design patent could be applied for possibly some protection.

           From top to bottom- maple, walnut, red oak, and cherry Puttmeters.

A soon to come post will describe how to use the Puttmeter, or your own line level.  Sorry, but I no longer make Puttmeters.  I sold less than a dozen from a few advertisements in Golf Digest about thirty years ago.  I thought I would be wealthy from the product so I could spend more time in research, and less teaching, to get my evolution and other ideas in to print.  The small number of ones sold came from orders stretching from the East Coast to the West Coast.  But I had a larger number of requests for free samples from various golf league officials to use for prizes at their annual golf banquets or outings.

Even if you don't have or get a line level, the instructions on a coming post about using one may help you improve your putting.

THE BALL

Early balls in Scotland, the country viewed as the birthplace of golf, began as small quantities of a stuffing material packed into a cover that was presumably stitched tightly shut.  The biggest changes in my lifetime has been replacement of the dimpled cover subject to being cut, or sliced open, by impact with an edge of the club face.  The interior, formerly a tightly wound strand of rubber, has been replaced by a solid but resilient compound.  The surface sculpturing of the ball used to be bumps, for a long time now they have been replaced by over a hundred shallow surface concavities designed for best aerodynamic effect.

Because the ball gets some of its velocity added as it pushes off from the club face that has flattened it, softer balls are used for those not having the power to fully compress the ball with their swing.

THE CLUBS

In my father's day, his clubs had wooden shafts and the shorter ones had metal heads, longer ones had wooden heads.  Metal inserts were usually on the face and bottom of the club to reinforce the wood for greater durability.  Materials have changed, especially for the woods.  Now we have metal woods.  The heads are attached to shafts of metal or fiberglass.  It would be good to get a pro to help you get a set of clubs with the right attributes for you.

A pro can also get you started on a swing to practice with a stance and alignment that well help you make consistent desired movements of the ball.

The lower the number of a club, both for woods and for irons, the longer the shaft and the closer the club face is to vertical.  A third class of club is the putter.  It is used when the ball is on the green.

Putters are quite variable although all have the same object - to roll the ball into the hole formerly occupied by the flag staff marking the target you try to reach with the fewest number of swings from tee to green.

THE VERY FIRST PUTTMETER

I had given my idea to my brother-in-law who had a factory making vials for levels and was looking for product to expand the use of his production equipment.  He didn't do much about it but told me he knew of someone who tried putting a level-vial into the head of a putter without much success.  I told him I thought it could be put in the shaft or handle of the putter to be more effective in reading the potential variability in the break of the ball on the green.

He provided me with a large supply of vials and I inserted one of the smallest one into the grip of my putter so that the bubble was in the center of the vial when the putter was laid on a level surface.

Puttmeters in various stages of construction.  A bag of 250 vials (of type used in wooden Puttmeters, lower left) and several small vials similar to the one used in the club grip.

A POSSIBLY PARTIALLY HUMOROUS ANECDOTE

I used the first one built into my putter in the golf league I was in.  Apparently, my putting improved because after one round a member came up to me and said "I laid my putter down like you do and it didn't do me any good!"  I stopped using it when someone told me such devices are not allowed in competitive play.  So my dream of installing them in putters evaporated and its use as a separate training device was pursued for a short time.

EVOLUTION

The demise of the Puttmeter illustrates the extinction of species that don't survive the struggle for existence.  My boxes of unfinished stages of the wooden product may never show up in the fossil record.  If they did, would anyone think it had anything to do with golf?  Or evolution?

Joe Engemann           Kalamazoo, Michigan     January 30, 2015

KING TUT'S MASK

ON DISPLAY IN EGYPT

The original mask was reported to have had the beard break off and then be glued back on in an Egyptian museum.  I saw a brief view of the repair job, I think, on TV today.  I wasn't sure it was the original mask so I ran a search on the internet.  King Tut had over 4 million  hits.  King Tut's mask had over 300,000 hits.

The search engine brought up a group of eight or more different images without identifying the original version.  I presume all were copies.  So here is my photo taken in the Royal Egyptian Museum in Cairo.  It was taken when I was on a side trip to Cairo, when the Strathnaver, that I took from Melbourne to Marseilles in October of 1957, was one of the first cruise ships through the Suez Canal after several years blockage.

My history knowledge of King Tut is all jumbled up in my mind - thought he was a boy king and wouldn't have a beard.  I think he came from a different pyramid than the one I climbed (Cheop's).  I didn't realize the privilege I had to see it.  There were less than a dozen other visitors in the museum.  When the mask was on tour in the U.S.A. several dozen years ago the lines to see it were blocks long.  Anyway, I suspect the picture I took of the mask above is of the original one.  So you can compare and tell which is the real one if you want to buy a copy.  It looked like they are for sale, but not the original.

I'll get back to evolution topics soon, I hope.

Joe Engemann     January 26, 2015

UNRECOGNIZED PRINCIPLES OF EVOLUTION

HELP NEEDED - TELL YOUR FRIENDS - SEND A LINK

Any biologist doing evolution type studies of phylogeny should understand the concepts of the following posts which are not currently appreciated, especially by those doing molecular phylogeny studies.

June 9, 2014, Variable rates of evolution

http://evolutioninsights.blogspot.com/2014/06/variable-rates-of-evolution.html

June 22, Evolution in the deep sea

http://evolutioninsights.blogspot.com/2013/06/evolution-in-deep-sea.html

http://evolutioninsights.blogspot.com/2013/06/evolution-protostome-deuterstome-link.html

May 31, 2013 or June 1, 2013  Science screw-up no. 1 - Why molecular phylogeny experts have gone astray with the introduction of Ecdysozoa and Lophotrochozoa has been archived as below

http://evolutioninsights.blogspot.com/2013_05_01_archive.html

January 23, 2015 -  Salvaging data for evolution studies, it should be read in conjunction with the blog post listed above, may be a view principally of interest to biologists studying evolution.

http://evolutioninsights.blogspot.com/2015/01/salvaging-data-for-evolution-studies.html

IF YOU KNOW A BIOLOGIST THAT RESEARCHES IN EVOLUTIONARY STUDIES PLEASE EMAIL HIM A LINK TO THIS POST

http://evolutioninsights.blogspot.com/2015/01/unrecognized -principles-of-evolution.html

My demise is not expected, but at my age I would hate to leave a world lacking a link to ideas needed for the advance of animal evolution studies.

Joseph G. Engemann   Kalamazoo, Michigan   January 24, 2015

SALVAGING DATA FOR EVOLUTION STUDIES

MOLECULAR DATA

It occurred to me within the past day that I have ignored one of the things I learned in my youth - how to get some use out of discarded materials in the city dump!

Such experiences were something few children in modern cities get.  So many of the products we use are not designed to be repaired, just throw the whole thing away and get a new one, or at best, get a module to replace a portion.

So my criticism of the Ecdysozoa and Lophotrochozoa studies [post of May 31, 2013] overlooked the fact that, if the errors introduced by linking most ancient ancestors were taken in to consideration, and some such ancestors were omitted in a new analysis, the remaining data might lead us closer to the reality of the ancestral paths.  Even so, the inadequate sample sizes and the limited portion of the genomes examined are unlikely to be very useful.

I don't think it is worth trying because the sample sizes were already inadequate and might still be if clusters could be reanalyzed omitting the nematodes in the Ecdysozoa study.  Nematodes need omission not only because they may have extreme retention of genomic identity giving them "long-branch attraction" to diverse distantly related groups, but they also are a separate lineage that is not basal to any other major modern group.

The Lophotrochozoa represent newer evolutionary events.  Because uncertainty due to variable length of lineages from common ancestry of early coelomate animals, and the "long-branch attraction" problem affecting some of the members descended from annelids via the Pogonophora, the relationship of various "lophophorate" clusters can not be determined with simple corrections.

EMBRYOLOGICAL DATA

As discussed in my posts regarding isopod egg comparisons it is clear that the old idea of the "biogenetic law" where animals were thought to repeat some steps of their evolutionary development in their individual embryonic development is not valid.  But I hope I made it clear that the concept is still a useful model that may suggest investigation for support from other evidence.

The isopod eggs, and ecological factors involved in deep-sea selection, helped me see how the Pogonophora explain the close relationship of ancestry of deuterostomes to advanced protostomes.  Judging from the number of views of my blogs on the topics, I think people studying such things are unlikely to know about them and thus will be unable to apply the concepts.

ANATOMICAL DATA

Amazing data can be found in studies of anatomy.  But it is increasingly unlikely to be helpful, not because it can't be, but because modern researchers are swamped with so much useful information they will never get far into older studies and approaches.  Anatomy and its changes not only reflect evolutionary history but are intimately connected with the genomes of animals.

The environment imprints it natural selection role on structure, development, and the responsible genes.  But the complex interaction is so nebulous I pity the researchers of today who are certainly more technically advanced than I have ever been.  The day is not long enough, nor their life long enough, to have much chance of putting it all together.  Still, I anticipate the continuation of the string of remarkable advances science can make in many areas.  I hope they can still get the benefits study of the humanities can make in their lives.

Joseph G. Engemann    Kalamazoo, Michigan    January 23, 2015

OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD

The Point of the Previous Post

I had hoped to indicate all religious views have some good in them.  Most of my early life only gave me exposure to Christians.  I heard many of the contentious views that separated denominations.  But when I talked with friends from those different denominations, it was difficult to find fundamental differences of importance.

CHRISTIANS

My Roman Catholic background included seeing anti-catholic sermons advertised on signs in front of churches.  Of course, I worried about them not having the true religion I had.  I'm sure some of they worried about me for the same reason.  Perhaps my first enlightenment came with a discussion with my best friend from grade school, Jack Rumohr.  He was well along with his preparation for becoming a Baptist minister who later spent many years as a missionary in Africa.  Like most Protestants, I don't think he shared my views of the Pope, the Blessed Virgin Mary, Apostolic Succession of the priesthood, and details of sacraments.  But fundamentals about God and faith in our salvation through Jesus Christ had only semantic differences.

In graduate school, discussions with Pierson VanAlten made me see that the difference between Christian Reformed views of predestination, and free will as seen from my point of view, seemed to hinge on minor differences in understanding and the words used.  During my two years in the army, another platoon member was Warren Wiles, a Pentacostal Minister and a good friend with whom the sincerity of belief in the action of the Holy Spirit in his life was without question.

NON-CHRISTIANS

Herbert Wolfson was a Jewish friend, also in the same platoon in the army.  We went together on a three day pass to Vienna and had to pass through the Russian occupied zone of Austria.  We didn't discuss religion, but he was a good and honorable man.  The only Jews, in the town of 4,000 where I grew up, were Abe Friedman and his wife.  I knew neither one, but my father knew him from his business and had a very good impression of him.

OUTSIDE JUDAO-CHRISTIAN TRADITIONS

While attending the University of Tasmania I lived in a boarding house where two others were university colleagues.  One was a graduate student from a Muslim university in India.  The other was my room-mate who was a Hindu and a professor from a different Indian university, he was researching the chromosomal make-up of certain primitive gymnosperms.  In the years since then, I have gotten to know more of both Hindu and Muslim faiths.  That happened in the years since I was in Tasmania.

In 1980 I spent a few weeks in Libya with other member's of Abubaker Swehli's doctoral committee.  We visited several oases in the Libyan portion of the Sahara Desert.  The hospitality of the people in desert oases was remarkable as they hosted mid-day meals for our group of strangers.  Apparently, part of the Mulsim tradition is taking travelers into their home for up to three days, but at the end of three days it is time to go.

At the time we were there one of Dr. Swehli's siblings was being married in Tripoli.  I attended one of the wedding events where the men walked from the Swehli house to the house of the other wedding partner.  It was something like the shiveree tradition accompanying weddings in the old American West.  I was not a vocal participant in the process, but one of the participants engaged me in conversation about his pilgrimage to Mecca.  He was wearing the gown of the color signifying he had made the visit to the Kaaba.  He told me of its significance and then surprised me with the question "what is your big message in life?"  He may have phrased it differently, but I struggled mentally and came up with something I had thought about a number of times in the past.  I told him something to the effect that "one shouldn't take criticisms from others personally, they are just trying to make themselves seem or feel better."  For a long time after that I wanted to ask people with printing on their T-shirts, "what is your big message in life?"

After my year in Tasmania, I had stayed on for a few months with a fellowship extension to help complete a year studying the isopods discussed in other posts.  I got back to Michigan just in time to attend my younger sister's wedding shown in the photograph below.

                In the Catholic church in my hometown and my sister's wedding.

Now, after being fortunate to be friendly with people of many countries and of many religious persuasions, as well as some agnostics and atheists, I see why God is so happy with his creation and I should join my Protestant friends holding up the sign that says "John 3,16".  The message should make each person realize the vast amount of love God has for each one of us.

I am optimistic that the world is improving in spite of all the trouble and woe.  One bit of evidence is the first sentence of the prayer of Pope Francis for the month of January, "Dear Heavenly Father,
During this month we pray that you bless all those from diverse religious traditions and all people of good will, that they may work together to produce real peace in our world."

So what is our relationship with God?  God loves us.  Do we reciprocate that love as best we can?  It's never to late to start.  One way is to love everyone else; God does.  At least, smile once in a while, it's a start.

Joseph Engemann    Kalamazoo, Michigan    January 21, 2015

GOD and Religious Traditions

MONOTHEISM, belief in one God

Most people probably grow up thinking their religious tradition is the correct one favored by God.  Before the predominate view of a single, all-powerful, infinite God beginning with the monotheistic God traced back to Abraham, there were undoubtedly numerous traditions around the world.  Both Christians and Muslims trace their origins through, and, along with Judaism, back to Abraham or Abram about 4,000 years ago.

POLYTHEISM, belief in many gods

Polytheism was common in much of the world during pre-Christian times

The Hindu tradition began with a blending of the beliefs of new arrivals to India and those of native Indians about 3500 years ago, almost as early as Judaism began.  They are not far from monotheism by viewing the many gods as representing one divine principle.  Within Hinduism, Budda (Sidhartha Gautama) founded Buddhism over 2400 years ago.  Both Hinduism and Buddhism recognize successive reincarnation as aspects of their traditions.

The steeple of the Hindu temple above in Colombo, Sri Lanka, depicts many gods sculptured on it.

Confucius founded Confucianism in China over 2400 year ago.  A few generations later, Aristotle, a Greek philosopher and scientist, proposed his proofs for the existence of one supreme God.

My first roommate in a dormitory at Michigan State University, during my first year of graduate school, in 1954, was Toshiaki Kinjo, from Okinawa, Japan.  I didn't discuss religion with him much, but he presumably had a Shinto background.  He was one of the finest persons I have ever met.  I lost contact with him after he moved to Brazil to help develop agriculture in new areas.

ISLAM

Islam was founded by the Prophet, Mohammed, about 1400 years ago.  He recognized Jesus as a Prophet, but did not get the message that his divine nature as the Son preexisted in the one God, along with the Father and the Holy Spirit, as recognized as the three persons making up the One, Trinitarian God of Christians.  For Muslims, the first principle of their faith is declaring that there is one and only one God at least once publicly during their life.

                                Mohammed Ali Mosque (back, right) in Cairo, Egypt

Their second duty is to pray at least five times throughout the day.  One or more minnerettes (or towers on their mosques) are used to call the faithful to prayer at appropriate times.  During prayers, they face the Kaaba, located in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

                      A minerette viewed from a balcony of a mosque in Bombay, India

Muslim duties also include paying alms, fasting during Ramadan, and, if possible, making a pilgrimage to the Kaaba at least once during their life.  Like other religions, Islam has versions, about 90 percent of Muslims are Sunni, about ten percent are Shiites of one of three groups.

THE GOLDEN RULE

All major religions preach some form of the Golden Rule as being part of their moral code.  Treating others as you want to be treated is usually a good idea.  But apply it reasonably and don't force candy on a diabetic.  In fact, don't force anything on others and be cautious about applying a right of self-defense.  Freedom and slavery issues have plagued humanity from inherited built-in survival mechanisms developed earlier in our evolutionary history.

TERRORISM

Violence seems to have been something religions have not escaped.  Fanaticism of some divine right or obligation may possible be derived from some aspects of Old Testament theology.  In its worst form in recent years, such as the dictatorships leading up to World War I, it was not particularly religion based.  But, much earlier, the Crusades and the Inquisition had religious roots.  Today, the Islamic world, over one and a half billion strong, is embarrassed by the small fraction with mostly Shiite background trying to avenge perceived wrongs.  The Christian embarrassment has not ended with the Inquisition; witness the activities of the Ku Klux Klan in the United States and the attempts of the Irish to solve their political problems.  Of course terrorism, partially religion based, in several African countries has yet to be solved.

HOW DOES GOD VIEW RELIGION?

Looking at where God's Son took on human form in the person of Jesus might shed some light on the question.  Muslims came after the fact, and Judaism was the smallest of the three great traditions of the time.  That part of the world was frequently beset with wars, invasion, plundering, and placing the conquered into slavery.  Perhaps the Oriental and Indian regions, especially in China, had similar turmoils but fairly stable and peaceful times seem to develop.  Although I am largely ignorant of the history of the Eastern part of the world, it seems that the family had developed into a stable unit, and older family members were accorded great respect.  Deceased ancestors were also viewed as being an important part of their heritage.

So Jesus went where he was sent and needed.  In the process he fulfilled predictions of the prophets, becoming the greatest Jew and prophet or rabbi the world will ever see.  He charged his follows to carry his message of love and redemption to the rest of the world.

So the message that Jesus left us with that God loves all of his creation and knows our inmost thoughts, may indicate the following.  The peaceful orient already understood the message, but the warring Middle Easterners needed more direct instruction.  His criticism of the priestly leaders style of not following what they were preaching can probably still be seen as needed.  Hence the hope engendered by the comments of Pope Francis to the Curia.  Perhaps such problems leave Protestants relieved they need no top human leader.  I suppose Imams having different views of Sharia may be less of a problem if they do not have civil authority combined with their religious role.  Separation of church and state seems a good principle to follow.

So, you can see I don't really know the answer to the question.  But my having had the benefit of knowing Christians of many persuasions, as well as Jews, Muslims, and Hindus makes it easy to see that God loves all the people he has created. And that includes agnostics and atheists.  Maybe some are special, but Jesus said "in my Father's house are many mansions" and "others I have that are not of this fold".  In fact, all individuals are special; God not only knows us better than we do ourselves, he also loves us more than we do ourselves.  That love extends to forgiving us all our failings if we turn to him.


Joseph G. Engemann    Kalamazoo, Michigan      January 19, 2015

ICE STORMS

The Beauty of an Ice Storm

                                                      is often not appreciated.

The picture above was taken in January over thirty years ago of fruits on a small tree beside our house.  Before the winter was over the berries were eaten by a flock of birds whose usual food had become snow covered or eaten.

In the spring, well after the ice storm, I looked up and saw slashes of light colored wood on the upper branches of big silver maple trees along the street.  Throughout the city there had been many trees and large limbs broken down by the load of ice the trees bore.  A coating of ice on the tips of upper branches presumably broke off many of the small upper twigs and lightened the load on the big branches so most trees survived.

About a dozen years ago we were in a different house when another ice storm hit.  The most remarkable damage in our yard was a tall pine tree in a neighboring lot broke off and almost reached our house.  I had noticed that the upper part was bending over under the weight of ice and better exposed the branches to more freezing rain and ice accumulation.  During the night the trunk snapped off about ten feet above the ground.

The consequences of such events must have a selective role in the lives of many organisms.  In a forest the occasional large tree falls and leaves an opening for sunlight to enable a new cycle of plant growth near the ground.  The various plants have a role in feeding or hiding animals from small to big.  Such complexities have no doubt been a feature of the environment organisms adapt to over time as they evolve to better compete.  If they don't they join the throng of extinct species preceding them.

There are many natural disasters that do have a role in natural selection even though they arrive at unpredictable intervals and locations.  Many of the disruptions we cause may affect the course of evolution, sometimes in ways similar to natural disasters, sometimes in ways that may be worse.

Joe Engemann       Kalamazoo, MI      January 7, 2015