the evolution of man
the neanderthal genome
Using DNA fragments from three Croatian fossils, scientists have mapped 60 percent of the Neanderthal Genome.
“The Neanderthal genome sequence will clarify the evolutionary relationship between humans and Neanderthals as well as help identify those genetic changes that enabled modern humans to leave Africa and rapidly spread around the world,” Germany’s Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology said in a press release.
“These DNA sequences can now be compared to the previously sequenced human and chimpanzee genomes in order to arrive at some initial insights into how the genome of this extinct form differed from that of modern humans.”
Research suggests that the last common ancestor of Neanderthals and humans lived about 660,000 years ago.
strike that
Bernice Gallego found a baseball card of the Red Stocking B.B. Club of Cincinnati, the first professional baseball team in America, and tried to sell it on eBay. Once she realized what she had, she halted the auction and tried again. The card just sold for $64,073.
The sale ended a whirlwind month for Gallego, who attracted an avalanche of attention on the front page of Yahoo!, the New York Times and other outlets across the country. Her popularity soared even further in late January, when she appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and revealed that this wasn’t her first instance of blind luck. She once won $250,000 from a slot machine in Nevada.
How Alabama Compares to Iran
Overheard at the Donut Shop
Big woman in her 60s, accent and voice like Barney Frank (only deeper), talking on the phone:
Carol? Shit, you sound like crap! You got the flu? Yeah, like that time you brought the ham.
Where’s Joaquin Phoenix?
Painfully hilarious.
Fleet Foxes – Sun Giant/Blue Ridge Mountain
A Few Werds About Basterds
Here’s the trailer for the new Quentin Tarantino Nazi-ploitation movie Inglorious Basterds:
It looks a teensy bit too silly for my blood (I would much rather see a bona fide Dirty Dozen homage rather than a farcical one), but I have to admit I love an Aldo Ray shoutout. Also, I can’t fault any movie that has Cloris Leachman in it, unless that movie is Spanglish.
The A-11 Offense may be banned
Last July, I posted about an innovative offense implemented by a Piedmont California high school football coach that gives smaller schools with fewer students a chance against larger schools.
Then, Humphries came up with a whopper: Why not put two quarterbacks in a shotgun formation and make every player on the field a potential receiving threat?
High school sporting associations in some states have already banned the offense, and California, the state where the offense originated, may vote to ban it next week.
In the A-11, players do not wear the traditional jersey numbers for linemen: they use 1-49, and 80 through 99, which is legal. This means that all 11 players on offense can be eligible for a pass.
In essence, the offense creates an island for 11 players, spreading the defense out, and looking for one-on-one matchups.
If a player gets set on the line, and another player lines up outside that player, the inside player is ineligible to catch a pass. What the A-11 can do is have offensive players wait until the final seconds of the play clock and then take positions on the line making it difficult for the defense to know, until the last moment, which receivers are eligible.
The North Carolina High School Athletic Association declared the A-11 offense was an “unsporting act” and banned its members from using the offense.
Officials from state associations who say their members cannot use the offense said the A-11 uses a loophole in the rules to deceive opponents. That loophole could get closed in the next week.
There’s Nothing Funny about Design, David Barringer
Sometime ‘flocker, David Barringer, has a new book out with Princeton Architectural Press. Congratulations, David!
“There’s Nothing Funny about Design” is now available for preorder. 256 pages, 6×9, cover illustration by Felix Sockwell, written and designed by me, published by Princeton Architectural Press, official publication date is June 1. If you’re a reviewer, contact PAP for your review copy. Discounted preorder prices are available at some online booksellers right now. Princeton, Chronicle, B&N, Powells, Amazon, Tower. More information later.
Aztecan fighters in mass grave
Archaeologists digging in a ruined pyramid in downtown Mexico City said Tuesday they found a mass grave that may hold the skeletal remains of the Aztec holdouts who fought conquistador Hernan Cortes.
The unusual burial holds the carefully arrayed skeletons of at least 49 adult Indians who were buried in the remains of a pyramid razed by the Spaniards during the 1521 conquest of the Aztec capital.
The pyramid complex, in the city’s Tlatelolco square, was the site of the last Indian resistance to the Spaniards during the monthslong battle for the city.
Unity
Mike Nowak thinks that 2009 is going to be a big year for browser-based games:
If 2009 is going to see the emergence of high-quality browser-based games, then 2009 is going to be the year of Unity. It has: lots of powerful features; iPhone support (I see the Unity logo in a half of the iPhone games that I’m interested in), which is a space that Adobe has consistently failed to enter (it’s trying though); Wii publishing; a developing community (which was essential in spurring Flash’s early spread); quality developers using it; and an upcoming PC version. In short, it is about to make a major splash. I feel compelled to jump in with it — the indie license is cheaper than the Flash IDE.
Unity3D does look promising and and Indie license is only $199, a pretty nominal fee for those dedicated to the cause. I, for one, cann’t wait to see what the indie devs do with this.
Harad’s Tree Hotel, Tham & Videgard Hansson
Lamborghini Stilettos
rich assholes
People from higher socioeconomic backgrounds show more signs of rudeness in conversation than people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.
They found that students whose parents were from higher socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds engaged in more of what he called “impolite” behaviors, such as grooming, doodling and fidgeting. Lower SES students showed more “I’m interested” gestures, including laughter and raising of the eyebrows.
The higher SES students fidgeted with nearby objects for an average of two seconds, while those from lower SES backgrounds almost never fidgeted during the 60-second clips. Upper SES students also groomed themselves for short stints while lower SES students didn’t. Rather, the lower SES students nodded their heads, laughed and raised their eyebrows an average of one to two seconds more than their upper SES counterparts.
“We’re talking seconds here, but that is a pretty big difference when you consider that we coded one minute of interaction time,” Kraus told LiveScience. “So how many times a day are you nodding if you’re lower socioeconomic status?”
Actual sentences from actual students
nth in a series . . .
“. . . and a small battery-powered carousal.”
Them cables
(which is to say, Elizabeth Perry’s wires overhead) put me in mind of three photographs from clusterflock friend Phil Bebbington. Here’s one.
Two more photos make for a Ménage à Trois, the theme of the current show at the Watson Studio Gallery in the Texas Hill Country.
Not only was Phil’s photographic trio selected from a pool of international submissions, but his images bubbled just under the two cash prize winners. He was awarded a sort of bronze star.
There’s a video of the January 31 opening here.
Bunkers
Errator Sum
Legenda of Zelda II translated into Latin. (It really is “gaudium et utiliis!”) (via Offworld, screenshot by Auntie P)
HFCS is the new Hope?
You’ll never look at the new Pepsi logo the same again.
Knowing is half the battle
I’m seeing it (I know, I know).
the trough of no value
Jason has a great post about the investment of time it takes for relatively worthless things to become collectors items. What are you holding onto in the hope that one day you can sell it on eBay for a dorkload?
fact checking an idiot
When Weekly Standard columnist Fred Barnes compared Obama’s stimulus package to Al Gore’s increased hysterics in the face of proof against global warming, Talking Points Memo gave Fred a call.
We hadn’t heard anything lately about the case for man-made global warming falling apart. So we called Barnes and asked him what he was referring to.
At first, he cited the fact that it’s been cold lately.
Perhaps sensing this was less than convincing, Barnes then asserted that there had been a “cooling spell” in recent years. “Haven’t you noticed?” he asked.
Asked for firmer evidence of such cooling, Barnes demurred, telling TPMmuckraker he was too busy to track it down.
We pressed Barnes again: surely he could tell us where he had found this vital new information, which could upend the current debate over how to address global warming.
In response, Barnes said only that he knew where he had found it, but would not tell us, apparently as a matter of principle. “I’m not going to do your research for you,” he eventually said, before hurriedly ending the call.
securing the colonel
A description of the security measures taken to protect Colonel Sanders’ chicken recipe.
“It’s like an onion of security — many layers,” said security expert Bo Dietl, who brought the recipe back to the building.
Thick concrete blocks encapsulate the vault, situated near office cubicles, that is connected to a backup generator to keep the security system operating in times of power outages.
“I can guarantee you, once it’s in there, it will be safe,” Dietl assured Eaton.
The Evolution of Man
Blu, an Italian street artist, does his take on the evolution of man. (via)
