Blondes and evolution

[Frank Harrist]

http://articles.news.aol.com/news/artic ... 4409990001

I wouldn't call this serious stuff, but it's interesting. I know Daybrown will have a comment on it.

[RK Awl-O'Gist]

Interesting! I'm sure another 'expert' somewhere stated that the reason there are so many redheaded, brown-eyed people in Scotland was due to their Celtic ancestry.
You can 'prove' just about anything with genetics, apparently.

[Frank Harrist]

Isn't that why there are so many redheaded brown-eyed people in scotland? This does seem like frivolous research to me, but someone thinks it's important. I guess you can get funding for anything if you know the right people.

[Guest]

it is good for a laugh and i would have to agree with frank on its frivolousness.

if you make it sound important enough and attach the scientific label, yes you can get funding for anything.

i have heard of studies pertaining to the affect of ant farts on the enviorment. i have also heard of stories where people got grant money for a certain topic, (not sure which as it has been years) spent the summer on the beach and writing their report in a day or two.

[Forester]

Hmm, blondness as a sexually selected trait? I suppose it is possible. After all, full female breasts even while not pregnant/nursing are a sexually selected Homo Sapiens trait. Apes do not have this trait.

However, I would like to see some data on the assertion that males were in short supply, the supposed driver of this kind of sexual selection.

[Minimalist]

Even now there are more women than men in the general population.

[Forester]

That is sort of true, in that there are more older (post-menopausal) females than there are males, because of a naturally longer lifespan. Take a look at the over-65 stats. But the ratio of males to fertile females is very close to .5; and in some countries like China, there is a definite shortage of females, presumably because of the strict birth control practices there.

CIA Factbook

[daybrown]

<http://articles.news.aol.com/news/artic ... 4409990001

I wouldn't call this serious stuff, but it's interesting. I know Daybrown will have a comment on it.>
Right, but I think his conclusions are based on inadequate evidence. First of all, when HSS arrived, it would have been the HNS that had the low melanin to produce fair hair. And while one mite assume that the deathrate for hunters was very high, the maternal deathrate was even higher, which resulted in all the images of fecund female figures.

That which is most desired is rendered more often in wishful thinking like art.

Both of which contribute to the paucity of HSS and HNS remains. I've read they often lived in groups of no more than a dozen. Genetic diversity would have been a critical priority, precluding monogamy as meaning sexual exclusivity. Not that people didnt pair up. But most of the earliest coupled figures we have are both *female*. Competent midwives would have been just as necessary as competent hunters.

Given that fair hair is so recessive, there must have been a lot of inbreeding to keep it in the pool. A certain amount of inbreeding will be needed to keep the haplotype around.

[Minimalist]

That is sort of true, in that there are more older (post-menopausal) females than there are males, because of a naturally longer lifespan. Take a look at the over-65 stats. But the ratio of males to fertile females is very close to .5; and in some countries like China, there is a definite shortage of females, presumably because of the strict birth control practices there.

CIA Factbook

A self-inflicted wound in the case of China. Their one-child/family polcy has led to female infanticide.

Generally, though, men fought the wars and had the more dangerous jobs and engaged in more self-destructive behavior (smoking, drinking, etc.) Of course, women have caught up in most of those categories, now.

[Minimalist]

Somewhat related to this and other threads:



We all know that 666 is the Number of the Beast, but did you know
that:

$665.99 = Retail price of the Beast

$699.25 = Price of the Beast plus 5% sales tax

$769.95 = Price of the Beast with all accessories

$656.66 = Walmart price of the Beast

$333 = Half off sale on the sign of the beast

6, uh... what was that number again? = Number of the Blonde Beast

00666 = Zip code of the Beast

1-900-666-0666 = Live Beasts! Call Now! Only $6.66/minute. Over
18 only please.

Route 666 = Highway of the Beast

666 F = Oven temperature for roast Beast

666k = Retirement plan of the Beast

6.66 % = 5 year CD interest rate at First Beast National Bank,
$666 minimum deposit.

666MHz = CPU of the Beast

666i = BMW of the Beast

668 = Next-door neighbor of the Beast

666A, 666B = Tenants of the beast

999 = Sign of the Australian Beast

[stan]

Fuel of the Beast: Phillips 666

[Barracuda]

I think the origins of "race" are a very serious subject. Deadly serious. Think of all the death, pain, and suffering caused by misconceptions about the origins of "race" even to this day.

Perhaps a better scientific understanding would help? Maybe not.....People see they want to see....

About male/female imbalance. In the not so distance past, the Chinese even killed female children at birth in times of famine. Perhaps more recently than we know...

One little known example of a male/female imbalance happened in this century in the region of Uruguay and Paraguay. The two countries fought a really vicious war that left a surplus of females for a generation.

Also, a male/female imbalance was the reason why Muslims practice polygamy. When Mohamed was exiled from his home city of Mecca, he made his way to Medina. The ruler of that city made his living raiding caravans. Mohamed raised in the ranks until he was in control of the city. He continued the raiding and eventually took back Mecca.

The constant warfare resulted in a male/female imbalance and Mohamed encouraged men who could afford to take more than one wife to do so, so there would be less widows and orphans for the community to support.

[Minimalist]

Mohamed encouraged men who could afford to take more than one wife to do so

Silly ass idea. One is more than enough.

[daybrown]

< A self-inflicted wound in the case of China. Their one-child/family polcy has led to female infanticide. >
Those stupid enough to do that will have stupid sons as well, who wont have the talent and character to find wives, and thereby be the end of the line. OTOH, I daresay that the smarter families keep the girls, and simply switch to matrinliny... and stay in the gene pool.

Anyone who now takes steps to encourage smart blonde women to donate eggs for less gifted, but yet perfectly nurturant women of any race will have a very lucrative long term investment. Rich men all over the world, just as they have like white dogs and white horses, like white trophy brides, and a blonde is the very best. We see one now in the supreme court, and whatever happens, she will be in a position to reward the family that raised her very handsomely.

Of course, we dont need any more airhead blondes. But the *reason* dumb blonde jokes are not racist, is that so few natural blondes are stupid enough to get their panties in a wad over it.

We have the human genome, and the next step is eugenics; not for the purpose of any 'pure race' (there never was such a thing) but to maximize the number of competent people of whatever lineage, and minimize those who need more active case management. I can see where some lines, like say the Ainu, or the Cherokee, mite take steps to recover some "racial purity" for the sake of analyzing the effects of various strings of DNA if for no other reason, before it becomes lost in the herd pool.

No doubt as well, there will be steps to propagate blondes, not only for the obvious economic advantages due to the aesthetic tastes of rich men of all colors, but for the sake of DNA code, that while it results in fair hair, also has other characteristics. There may well be a *reason* that myth is so full of fair haired ideal models of noble spirits.

[Minimalist]

< A self-inflicted wound in the case of China. Their one-child/family polcy has led to female infanticide. >
Those stupid enough to do that will have stupid sons as well, who wont have the talent and character to find wives, and thereby be the end of the line. OTOH, I daresay that the smarter families keep the girls, and simply switch to matrinliny... and stay in the gene pool.

Well, among the Chinese peasantry, the feeling is that sons bring home wives who will tend to the family as they age whereas daughters go off to be the wives of other people's sons.

The Communist Party makes a lot of rules for the peasants but does not seem to particularly care about their needs.