I am a Norwegian, and when I have lived abroad, there is one pattern I have noticed that is relevant here. The locals trust me, far more than they trust each other. I have spoken with other Norwegians, who have the same experience. The origin for this might be cultural, and that the foreigners have learned that Scandinavians in general can be trusted, but it can also be that people notice behavior, and confer trust accordingly. It is for instance not hard to see that when people try to dominate you, that they are not really thinking about what is best for you, rather than what is best them.

Oh, Dalrymple is subtle, and he does have an agenda. Ask what his real name is. With that you might be able to guess at his motives.

Aren't ground sloths, in fact, extinct?

It is now hypothesized that Homo Erectus became extinction as a result of a severe embarrassment event when more evolved hominids made fun of his name.

Molten salt breeder reactor.

"The Art of Being Ruled" by Wyndham Lewis.

I prefer the RHS girl. She looks like a Bougereau shepherdess.

I read the article. It is of the worst kind of "popular science" writing. It even mentions the "genetic blueprint." Anyway, if drugs are developed that make the general population less stupid and bone-ignorant it might make my life a bit easier. But I will not indulge in anticipatory cessation of respiratory action.

Real Flavour, your comment intrigues. Could you elaborate or provide a link? Signed, Curious About The Coming Gloom

Did you hear about the Navajo guard dog? 
 
He was adobe.

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Edited By Siteowner

"Technology: albatross or millstone?"

Naked mole rats are the only known eusocial mammals. It is interesting to note that because they are blind, they have no way of knowing that they are naked.

So, just out of random curiousity -- motiveless, really -- one might wonder if any of these alleles -- the ones which preserve variation from ancient non-African hominids -- have anything to do (surely only slightly, if at all) with c..cog..c..c.. -- No, I can't say it. It's just wrong. Forgive me.

"And they knew that they were naked. . . " 
 
Mole rats, like Adam and Eve, were naked. Unlike Adam and Eve, they did not know that they were naked. The inescapable conclusion: mole rats represent humanity before the Fall. Given that no mammal is more similar to social insects in mode of life, this is extremely suggestive. Perhaps God's plan for humanity was that we should live as "one body", without true individual consciousness (see Julian Jaynes), with pheromones controlling social behavior and reproduction controlled by a large, blind "queen".

And the Lord said: Behold, I have been creating for six days; and on the seventh day, I shall rest. But I can't stop just like that. I'm really into it. I should finish up with something archaic and silly. I know -- I'll tapir off!

"An inordinate fondness for beetles"

Computer programming references are always welcome. In fact, I move that GNXP could support a rollicking thread or two on realtime raytracing. Who'll second? Hear, hear!

Maine, too, has forests where once were cows in fields. There is a word for a white pine which towers over surrounding hardwoods: a "pasture pine": the only tree left when a pasture was cleared, left to provide shade for cows, now surrounded by a resurgent forest.

Were I a citizen of the sceptred isle, I should vote for the BNP in a trice.