Archives for the 'anthronerdism' Category

God bless you, Mr. Brounwater

Published on 24 Apr 2008 at 8:08 pm. 4 Comments.
Filed under BS, Bums, Jihad, Nazis, Neanderthals, Taliban, al qaeda, anthronerdism, boobs, dummkopf!, filthy Crusader pigs, human organs, incompetence, law & order, military, mockery, moronocy, nerds, nude, opportunity, pervs, porn, punishment, sex, transsexuals, western civilization.

Representative Paul Broun, R-Ga, wants to define nudity and ban government employees (specifically, military members) from spending their money on it. His Bill has 16 co-sponsors.
 Up in heaven, Kurt Vonnegut laughs.

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Another Neanderthal Mystery

Published on 9 Mar 2008 at 10:48 am. No Comments.
Filed under Neanderthals, anthronerdism.

Was eating each other’s brains what killed them off or not? Superlative anthroblogger John Hawks notes 100,000 years of cranial dining suggests not. Meanwhile, I sense this is important, and Hawks finds a mystery in it, but the whole damn thing is a mystery to me. He’s also all over that Hobbit/Cretin debate. There’s a lot more on human/other [...]

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Taking the Re- Out of Repatriation

Published on 26 Oct 2007 at 9:05 am. 4 Comments.
Filed under America, anthronerdism.

John Hawks on the return of 10,000-year-old human remains to a tribe of current occupants of Beringia:  

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How Fast to Australia?

Published on 20 Oct 2007 at 10:50 am. 1 Comment.
Filed under Neanderthals, academia, anthronerdism, apes, science.

And other sci-tems. The superlative anthroblogger John Hawks taps us into the issue of whether the earliest colonization of Oz was a matter of accidental vegetation* or if they strapped bits of wood together and paddled, 60,000-plus years ago. Meanwhile, in Watson news: 

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Envelope Please

Published on 5 Oct 2007 at 6:58 pm. 1 Comment.
Filed under anthronerdism.

And the winner is … Nasal Sinuses!  Let’s hear it for the weird network of cavities behind your face!  Often unnoticed, unappreciated until something goes horribly wrong. 
The winners of the 2007 Science/NSF-sponsored Visualization Challenge are pictured in this week’s Science.  

OK, now let’s all visualize our sinuses. Notes John Hawks, “It’s pretty cool, if you’re into [...]

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Five scientists who made the modern world

Published on 28 Aug 2007 at 2:00 am. 3 Comments.
Filed under anthronerdism, history, nerds.

If you were to make a list of the top five scientists who ever lived, who would you choose? People are asking the question (also, here, here). So far, it hasn’t been all that interesting. All the lists have two or three names in common, and throw in two or three unexpected names for balance. [...]

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Chimp Office Politics

Published on 18 Aug 2007 at 3:52 pm. 1 Comment.
Filed under anthronerdism, sex.

Not for nothing they call it monkey business.
Meanwhile, big debate over whether free love hippy apes are for real.

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Yeah, Wrong Tribe Though

Published on 9 Aug 2007 at 7:28 am. No Comments.
Filed under anthronerdism, blogs, pols.

Rightwingnuthouse’s anthropological observations at YearlyKos:  

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Great Rift Volleys

Published on 7 Aug 2007 at 9:32 am. 1 Comment.
Filed under anthronerdism.

Lucy’s enroute to Houston amid great controversy over whether her 3.2 million-year-old bones (a)  should be moved at all and (b) display of same constitutes a propaganda coup for the current government of Ethiopia.  Anthroblogger Hawks on some other proto-humans and ancient relics that got caught up in modern politics.   Here’s more on same, a Beeb article on [...]

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Wake Up

Published on 29 Jul 2007 at 12:07 am. 8 Comments.
Filed under UFOs, anthronerdism.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Headsup from a John Hawks reader irked at Hawks’ bizarre focus on monkeys, homo erectus, etc., in the quest for human origins:
I would like to submit to you that Earth has been invaded five (5) times by humanoids from different civilizations. 

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Monkey Business

Published on 18 Jul 2007 at 11:34 pm. 1 Comment.
Filed under anthronerdism, pols.

Modern hominid politics mar 3.2-million-year-old australopithicine Lucy’s travel plans: 

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Scrotal Pigmentation and Hillary’s Dangerous Allelist Tendencies

Published on 22 Jun 2007 at 12:27 am. 5 Comments.
Filed under anthronerdism, pols, sex.

What makes monkey scrotums blue? You know you’ve been wondering. John Hawks’ superlative anthroblog has the answer. I believe there is variant causation of testicular azurity* in humans and possibly other higher primates, however. 
None of which has anything to do with Hillary Clinton, upon whom John Hawks power-nerds most righteously in another post for her patronizing remarks about racism and genetics.   

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CSI BC

Published on 22 Jun 2007 at 12:17 am. 4 Comments.
Filed under anthronerdism.

They’ve zeroed in on the Ice Man’s exact cause of death.  No, not the arrow.  What the arrow did.  Now, as Dr. Ruehli suggests, it’s just a matter of figuring out who did it, when, where and why.

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Tut Exhibit Racist

Published on 25 May 2007 at 12:40 am. 11 Comments.
Filed under anthronerdism, moronocy.

Fails to mention Africa, implies Tut was white.
(h/t archaeoblog, which also addresses the issue of male dominance of the archaeological record. put another way, “love is fleeting, stone tools are forever.”)

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Weird Margaret Thatcher Faces

Published on 11 May 2007 at 1:07 am. No Comments.
Filed under anthronerdism.

And other strangeness here.  You want to know what that’s about?  You go here.
h/t John Hawks, who is hosting Encephalon 22, a Carnival of the Neurosciences, here.

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Climate Change

Published on 11 May 2007 at 12:45 am. No Comments.
Filed under anthronerdism.

… very bad for Neanderthals.  No cheap climate change-Neanderthal jokes, please. 
h/t archaeoblog.  

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Hurry Up Already

Published on 11 May 2007 at 12:13 am. 2 Comments.
Filed under anthronerdism.

I don’t know where we’re going, but we’re getting there faster. Study finds walking speeds up 10 percent in the last decade. 
Tall Nordic places unsurprisingly have some of the faster paces, and the Inshallah zones tend to take it slow.  Not a shock to learn that Singapore, peopled by smaller people, is booking. But what’s [...]

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Smart = Rich?

Published on 11 May 2007 at 12:02 am. 4 Comments.
Filed under anthronerdism.

Patently no.  A fool and his money may be soon parted but some morons are like money magnets.
For the rest of us, every IQ point is worth between $234 and $616 a year.  

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Cave Smarts

Published on 30 Apr 2007 at 11:48 pm. 3 Comments.
Filed under anthronerdism.

Think you’re smarter than the average caveman?  USA Weekend bets you’ll test well below 5th grade level on your CAT* and your NCAS.**    
 (h/t anthroblogger John Hawks, whose disturbingly large duck penis and lateral brain-tail connection posts are just a few of the strange and wonderful things you’ll find at his site.
*Cave Achievement Test
** Neanderthal Comprehensive Assessment System

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Anthronerding the News

Published on 7 Apr 2007 at 5:33 pm. 5 Comments.
Filed under anthronerdism.

Forget global warming. Turns out western civilization is responsible for zits.  

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Chicken vs. Egg

Published on 22 Mar 2007 at 10:06 am. No Comments.
Filed under anthronerdism.

Which came first, the religion or the morality? Over at John Hawks, the argument is made that morality is observed in lesser primates, but religion is not.  Of course, how you feel about that may depend on how you feel about Darwin.

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300

Published on 17 Mar 2007 at 10:54 pm. 1 Comment.
Filed under anthronerdism.

Superlative anthroblogger Dienekes Pontikos, named for a hero of Thermopylae, gives Hollywood’s effort two swords up, with charitable allowances for the Hollywood bits: 

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Evolution = Conservative Values

Published on 28 Feb 2007 at 12:32 am. 7 Comments.
Filed under anthronerdism.

David Brooks posits the passing of the notion of innate human goodness, supplanted by recognition of natural tendencies to competitiveness and strife.  

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Gut Strain

Published on 26 Feb 2007 at 12:51 am. 6 Comments.
Filed under anthronerdism.

I already had a gut feeling about this.  But apparently the DNA of bacteria we carry around in our guts tells the story of our origins.  We’ve been carrying this stuff around since Africa. Its been evolving. Anthropology.net:  

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Chimp Surprise

Published on 22 Feb 2007 at 7:48 pm. 4 Comments.
Filed under anthronerdism.

Chimps, smarter than they look. They’re using spears. Apparently its only sheila chimps, though.  The blokes can’t be bothered. 
It should be no surprise that chimps are smarter than they look.
I don’t know what the big deal is about chimps using spears. So what? But what’s with girl chimps outperforming guy chimps?  What are the guy chimps doing?
 

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Nerd Fight!

Published on 21 Feb 2007 at 10:17 pm. 25 Comments.
Filed under anthronerdism, geekism, science.

Inbred Jesus Cultists vs. Monkey-Loving Darwinists is so 1925.  Astrophysicists vs. Ptolemists is the happening pop edu-clash! 
Highly evolved anthroblogger John Hawks takes umbrage at a proposal to “de-emphasize Darwin” in order to lessen the ideological overtones in the debate over evolutionary science. Chron of Higher Ed:   

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Here, Obedient to Their Laws, We Lie*

Published on 20 Feb 2007 at 2:18 am. 2 Comments.
Filed under anthronerdism, courage, military.

Graves of Athenian war dead from the defeat of the Persians at Marathon, through the Peloponnesian War between Sparta and Athens, until Rome’s wars against Carthage, in a cemetery said to include the grave of Pericles, are being excavated and will be accessible to visitors in the near future. 
“We have the remains of Athenian warriors of the Peloponnesian [...]

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You Live To Row This Ship …

Published on 18 Feb 2007 at 10:57 pm. 4 Comments.
Filed under anthronerdism, science.

… Row well, and live!
— Roman Tribune Quintus Arrius, to the galley slave Judah Ben-Hur.
A Brit researcher claims ancient Greek athletes were superior to modern athletes, based on his study of modern rowers’ metabolic output and what the ancient texts say about the feats of Greek trireme oarsmen. via John Hawks.

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Vasectomy? What, Are You Crazy?

Published on 16 Feb 2007 at 11:00 am. 6 Comments.
Filed under anthronerdism.

John Hawks points us to a disturbing study that links vasectomies and dementia.  Thank God he’s not much impressed by it. 
Uh oh, true tale of vasectomy-induced mental impairment, h/t GVDL
Hawks also has that important archaeological find re chimps and nut-cracking technology. Reminds me of a knuckledragger I used to work for who enjoyed cracking nuts.

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Anthronerding Survivor

Published on 12 Feb 2007 at 10:36 pm. 2 Comments.
Filed under anthronerdism.

Survivor is the show for anthro-couch potatoes who want to study the human animal’s Machiavellian social behavior, says anthroblogger John Hawks.  He is a tad apologetic about being too “anthronerdy” about all those bogus “biker skulls” with the “baseball-like” fake sutures, however.
Hawks would also like to see them using real flint and steel instead of magnesium.  I’m with [...]

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Lion, Dung Beetle Gaming

Published on 7 Feb 2007 at 10:24 am. No Comments.
Filed under GWOT, anthronerdism, science.

In response to my request for some asymmetrical Game Theory more applicable to today’s conflicts than the Cold War variants, John Hawks says he’ll be posting more on the subject in coming weeks. He offers this in the meantime:  
“Asymmetrical contests have been one of the big interests in game theory. Asymmetries not only with respect to strength or [...]

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Math Made Simple

Published on 7 Feb 2007 at 12:15 am. 1 Comment.
Filed under anthronerdism, science, sex.

OK, I’m a math moron. But even I can get this. Bikini calculus.*

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Game Theory

Published on 5 Feb 2007 at 12:09 am. 2 Comments.
Filed under GWOT, anthronerdism, science.

John Hawks’ introductory lecture on the subject is relevant. Only problem, the games it describes are all symmetrical.  The games we are engaged in are not.  Except in strange ways.  Our strength of force, their ruthlessness; their weakness of force, our wavering political will. We need asymmetrical game theory.  Anyone know any?

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“I’d Be Very Surprised if the Hobbits Didn’t Fall Down There.”

Published on 2 Feb 2007 at 12:47 pm. No Comments.
Filed under anthronerdism.

Big Homo floresiensis dig developments via John Hawks.  They’ve found a big new chamber in the hobbit cave on Flores Island.
Dr Gagan said he and his Indonesian colleagues surveyed just the top 5cm of a 5m-deep layer of mud in the 430sqm cavern. “Imagine what’s below,” he said. “It might have been a split-level home for [...]

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