Comments | andrewducker: Interesting Links for 13-09-2013

andrewducker

Interesting Links for 13-09-2013

Sep 13, 2013 12:00

art, marvel, music, insects, bacteria, wwi, language, optical_illusion, scotland, phones, trees, mechanics, movies, interesting, humans, london, gears, lobbying, hair, beards, davidattenborough, research, nazis, ocean, links, diabetes, telecoms, science, uk, europe, funny, harm, cthulhu, comics, dc, harrypotter, accents, tv, fashion, jkrowling, heavymetal, psychology, food, evolution, medicine, politics

Comments 19

channelpenguin September 13 2013, 11:11:35 UTC

NAW, NIVUR! (I don't watch EastEnders anyway)

ice_hesitant September 13 2013, 11:20:59 UTC

Oh, I misunderstood. I thought they were rebooting the Harry Potter movie series with a new cast. That would have been interesting.

cartesiandaemon September 13 2013, 12:54:49 UTC

Yeah, I thought that, which would make sense from a profits point of view, but be controversial to fans. HP spin-offs decently separated in time but in the same universe... seems like a solid but not spectacular idea, I don't explode either way :)

ice_hesitant September 13 2013, 14:33:47 UTC

It sounds like this particular HP spin-off will not share any characters with the existing movies. I think this limits the appeal.

artkouros September 13 2013, 13:40:32 UTC

Where's J.J. Abrams when you need him?

(The comment has been removed)

a_pawson September 13 2013, 11:51:58 UTC

We haven't stopped evolving, but the mechanism by which we are doing it has changed now that natural selection has effectively been curtailed, mainly due to medical science.

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danieldwilliam September 13 2013, 13:49:20 UTC

I’m with you.

Natural selection, to my mind, has two compenents. The first is adaptation to the environment and the second is sexual selection.

I’m far, far from convinced that humans are now immune to the influences of the environment (including our own culture.) Even a 95% success rate in converting babies into grandchildren still leaves some environmental pressures.

I’m certain that sexual selection is still a potent source of evolutionary change. It’s perhaps very strongly influenced by culture.

The two factors seem to me to also be interconnected in many ways.

Thread 5

nancylebov September 13 2013, 11:57:15 UTC

>Diabetes Rising, 2011, is about diabetes as a more complex disease than is commonly thought-- and one that's been becoming more common over the past century.

The book has a takedown of all the theories about the causes.

I've just found out that there's a revised paperback edition.

I'm surprised that the rate of sadism is as low as 25%, but they only tested for pleasure in killing insects. It wouldn't surprise me if liking to hurt mammals (and possibly birds) is a separate but overlapping motivation.

I'm surprised that the rate of sadism is as low as 25 cartesiandaemon September 13 2013, 13:00:10 UTC

I always assumed everyone had some sadistic impulses and some altruistic impulses, but maybe varied whether that was a primary part of their personality. I also don't know how it relates to BDSM -- I suspect some people who are turned on by it don't have other sadistic impulses, and some people do, but I really don't know.

Kentucky Fried DEATH METAL cartesiandaemon September 13 2013, 12:53:32 UTC

LOL. I wonder if Ted Hughes' Crow Tyrannosaurus could be given the rock music treatment, as the Nazgul put Yeats' Second Coming to music in Armageddon Rag :)