Wonderful to agree and disagree with you, yes indeed, even better with *spirit*!
Jon Stewart would be proud of us both.
I went to the rally in DC last Saturday! We two are indeed sane :-)
As for the utility of ranks -- well, I'm ready to agree to disagree, as long as we can both acknowledge that lots and lots of existing data "out there" are still classified (in a taxonomic sense) against the Linnaean nomenclatural system, for which dwc:taxonRank is a relevant (at least) attribute.
Indeed! As mentioned in a previous email to you, I can live (even happy) with dwc:taxonRank :-)
Nico (who does not believe in species but thinks only clades are real)
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Nico Cellinese, Ph.D. Assistant Curator, Herbarium & Informatics Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Biology
Florida Museum of Natural History University of Florida 354 Dickinson Hall, PO Box 117800 Gainesville, FL 32611-7800, U.S.A. Tel. 352-273-1979 Fax 352-846-1861 http://cellinese.blogspot.com/