Work Day

[shanmonster]

Today's a busy day. I'll be doing homework, laundry, baking, kayaking, kung fu, and running the craft shop for a couple of hours. But first, let me clear out my browser tabs....

Olympic Sex: Muscles are sexy.

First Americans may have come from Australia: So much for First Nations, hmm?

India's first 'vanishing twin' born in Bengal hospital: "In a rare occurrence, a young mother here has given birth to what is medically termed as the 'vanishing twin', a freak delivery in which one of the twins appears to be painted on a translucent leaf-like sheath."

Camanche road sprouts Ronald McDonald dolls: This is just plain weird (thanks, wicked_wish).

Volkswagen Beetle by VRBANUS: Somehow, I don't think this quite qualifies as a ricer, does it?

Tomato Bob: If only I could grow tomatos on my balcony! Sigh (thanks, Neil Gaiman)....

Nose-controlled device may replace computer mouse: I want a nouse, too.

The Powerbook Prank: An oldie, but a goodie (thanks, Jack Frost)!

Infinite Cat: It's cats watching cats watching cats (thanks, resa).

Comments

Oh dear ...

[forthright.livejournal.com]

That article on the research on early Americans is unfortunately total bunk. The only 'evidence' presented is certain similarities in cranial shape, which as a 'science' is only one step up from phrenology. And the 'hints' that this will be confirmed with DNA evidence are just that - there are no research findings. My best guess is that this will be completely debunked within 18 months.

Re: Oh dear ...

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

Nifty! So where do you suppose those early North Americans did come from? I seem to recall reading about very early Caucasian remains. Any ideas?

Re: Oh dear ...

[forthright.livejournal.com]

Well, the problem is that that data is based on craniometry alone, so when you see a sentence like "This is a Caucasian skull" what is meant is "I think that certain features of this skull look more like modern Caucasians than they do any other population", and it's really all up in the air after that. There is such diversity within populations in terms of skull shape that any single skull proves absolutely nothing about what populations it may be related to. The most likely hypothesis is that all early Americans came from Siberia, until such time as we find large numbers of ancient skulls that show a distinct pattern from the huge majority of Asian-looking ones.

Also, not mentioned in the article is the fact that if it were to be shown that there was a distinct population of early Americans that is unrelated to modern-day peoples, then according to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, scientists would be allowed to study those skulls without regard to the interests of native peoples. Thus, there is a strong political motivation to prove that there are such skulls.

Re: Oh dear ...

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

Interesting! I hadn't considered the political implications from that side of the fence, before. Can you recommend any good articles on this?

Re: Oh dear ...

[forthright.livejournal.com]

Hmm ... I know of dozens of academic articles, but not much that's readily available. A search under "Kennewick Man" should give you an idea of the terms of the debate, though. That's the find you probably heard about.