A new guy
Hey loyal readers. Razib et al have graciously decided to let me post on here occasionally. I’m a biochemist by training but hopefully will be moving on to other, more profitable pursuits in the near future.
Happy New Year to those following the Western calendar:)
[Dave, remember to select "Publish"-I assumed that you made a mistake and left it at draft. Also, now we have our first African-American contributor if my ass isn't black enough for you :) -Razib]
I’ve always enjoyed Dave’s contributions to this website- welcome aboard, man. To those that haven’t been
paying attention, Dave is one-quarter black (his grandmother I believe).
To call Dave African-American might be a little one-droppish though. Obviously, all race labels are, by
necessity, approximations; and, unfortunately, in America, we use only a few broad racial categories to
approximate to. I have never seen Dave, or analyzed his DNA, but one-quarter would suggest he should be
called white (if we have but two terms to choose from). Unless some genes are more equal than others.
Of course I’m not trying to be an ass, there’s a conversation in this. Dave’s 1/4 blackness is very non-trivial
and gives him an invaluable perspective on hbd.
(If race was Platonic we wouldn’t have these issues. This is a semantic dispute.)
Welcome David! Trying to break the brown power structure at Gene Expression? Diversify, my man!
Blog on, Dave. Now that I have retired from the profession, gnxp is my home away from home (blog
away from blog?)
Although I am not scientifically trained, I am fascinated by HBD. I recently skimmed a book that has
tremendous HBD implications:
“World on Fire: How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability” by
Amy Chua. (Thomas Sowell gives it a positive review although he steers clear of any gene talk:
http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=2293.)
I’d be interested to see what you two make of Prof. Chua’s book, which is not a simple-minded denigration
of globalization, but a sophisticated consideration of the ill-thought out enthusiasm for mindlessly
exporting ideas with explosive consequences.
Yeah, to call me black/African-American is a bit of a stretch. I look white, and never “checked the box”
at any time in my life.
But yes, my dear grandmama is quite black, as are her brothers and their children.
Hey, I’m a BMB major going for my MBA myself. What sort of more lucrative pursuits are you envolved
in? Was money the main thing driving the change? If not, what was?
i was just making fun of the obsession with hypodescent that seems to be the vogue among modern day
black intellectuals-and was the norm for white america less than a generation ago.
might comment on it later.
oh, and one thing, Truth Teller keeps saying how i’m “black,” perhaps by some definitions, but when i am
the object of racial slurs, they tend to be “camel jockey,” “dot-head,” and most commonly “sand nigger,”
the adjective “sand” implying that most american bigots differentiate between various “nigger” groups.
kind of amusing how some red-necks are more sophisticated than racial activists….
and i’ve seen a picture of dave, he looks as white as snow.
Razib, maybe not black, but according to the racial hustlers, a “person of color.” Diana, a “colorless”
woman
Raz–
I knew it. You’re stalking me. Dammit.
Michael– I’m looking for jobs in finance etc. Money wasn’t the main reason. The main reason is that I
don’t want to do bench work anymore. I’d be perfectly happy doing biotech management/strategic
consulting or stock research–I don’t hate science, just bench work.
David
By the way….Raz, I tan very well. It’s just that there’s no damn sun in the Bay Area. Fog, grumble
grumble, rain, grumble grumble.
But yeah, my skin tone is what happens when your black grandma marries a blond German, and then
their son (my father) ends up marrying a redhead. I still have dark hair by the virtue of some dominant
genes.
David
Welcome as a blogger, David! I, too, have always enjoyed your posts.
I don’t think we can reasonably be expected to assess how black anyone’s ass is unless we’ve actually seen
it. And so I request that all GE contributors post their butt shots so their faithful readers can judge for
ourselves. :)
Yes, I agree. We need those pictures in the interest of science. Or, if that doesn’t persuade you, “for the
sake of the children…”
Diana,that link doesn’t seem to work.
Razib: I’m unable to format things (bold, itals) or put in links in your comments. I don’t think I’m doing
anything wrong.
M: Just do a CTRL-O and paste this for the URL:
http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=2293
No period/dot at the end
sorry diana-no HTMLing in the messages anymore. doesn’t add too much, and too many people forget to
end their with
Razib, 1) oh. 2) you have an ass of color, not a black ass.
To the lovely ladies of gnxp–
I only have a shirtless picture of myself. Sorry:)
david, there are about 6 or 7 ladies probably that read GNXP, out of the ~300 daily readers :)
Raz–
It’s quality not quantity;)
David
dave,
spoken like a lady :) [speaking from the perspective of evolutionary psychology]
Wow, I feel special. Or perhaps, weird.