Spike ,'Conversations with Dead People'
Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.
Our bodies have not fully adapted to walking upright, which is why we often suffer from back problems, fallen arches, etc.
Not to mention pain in childbearing (because narrow bipedal pelvises and big skulls for large hominid brains are unmixy things).
Things like this are why the phrase "intelligent design" makes me laugh. Human knees? So clearly a botched job.
(Is that still a popular theory?)
No idea, but it makes sense to me!
I've developed an Extremely Heretical interpretation of the early chapters of Genesis as being a folk memory of the transition to an agricultural lifestyle, with all the trade-offs that entailed.
I think I have a similar interpretation, Susan. It hangs together quite well. We can be heretical together.
How's that go, something about finding a watch that doesn't keep time and grinds its gears implying the existence of a blind watchmaker?
What about a watch made of diamonds? What will that tell us?
The time. In red. I really love that.
(eta: it may also imply the existence of Uma Thurman, I'm not sure)
I've developed an Extremely Heretical interpretation of the early chapters of Genesis as being a folk memory of the transition to an agricultural lifestyle, with all the trade-offs that entailed.
Ooh, interesting. I'll have to think on that one.
The New Yorker had a fascinating article on the height question about a year ago. IIRC, one of the things they mention was that Charlemagne was something like 6'8" and not at all out of the norm. But I think it's not just diet related as it is the growth of cities that shrunk us. (Which of course follows from the adoption of agriculture, so not entirely off.)
eta: Found it. [link]
But I think it's not so much diet related as it is the growth of cities that shrunk us.
So we'll evolve shorter legs after generations of air travel?
We're already evolving bigger asses after two generations of TV and TV dinners.
I have short legs and a big ass, I am the future!
When I was at Gettysburg a few weeks back, we marvelled at how TINY men were at that time. A lot of the uniforms on display wouldn't fit on my mom, and she's fairly small. Nutrition kinda sucked for them.