Tag: Evolution

Is This Evolution?

First of all I am not writing this for some silly debate on the difference between evolution and “intelligent design” (so please stick to the post and not some weird idea)

The Theory of Evolution formulated by Charles Darwin basically states….

The theory of evolution by natural selection, first formulated in Charles Darwin’s book “On the Origin of Species” in 1859, describes how organisms evolve over generations through the inheritance of physical or behavioral traits, as National Geographic explains. The theory starts with the premise that within a population, there is variation in traits, such as beak shape in one of the Galapagos finches Darwin studied. Individuals with traits that allow them to adapt to their environments will help them survive and have more offspring, which will inherit those traits. Individuals with less adaptive traits will less frequently survive to pass them on. Over time, the traits that allow species to survive and reproduce will become more frequent in the population and the population will change, or evolve. Through natural selection, Darwin suggested, a diverse life-forms could arise from a common ancestor.  

Some of these characteristics may give the individual an advantage over other individuals which they can then pass on to their offspring.

Individuals with characteristics best suited to their environment are more likely to survive, finding food, avoiding predators and resisting disease. These individuals are more likely to reproduce and pass their genes on to their children.

Individuals that are poorly adapted to their environment are less likely to survive and reproduce.

What got me to thinking along this line is the raging Covid-19 virus and people’s reactions to the steps that need taking to prevent it from wiping out populations.

Could the reactions to the issues of health during the pandemic be evolution as Darwin envisioned?

Those with the logical and rational brain that have been intelligent enough to take the precautions will survive and those with the less sophisticated mind will doom themselves?

As my grandfather use to tell me….”Ignorance is easily cured but stupid is terminal”.

Those that are against these precautions are doing to themselves what they have been afraid that others we doing to them….dooming the white race.

Could this be a blessing or a curse?

Just thinking out loud.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Evolution For a Sunday

This is a topic that I intended to offer at the meeting of the Psi Phi Society but it never made it to the get together…..I decided it would be a good weekend post……

It is widely accepted that Charles Darwin’s work of 1859, Origin of the Species was the first work to establish the theory of evolution…..or as some would like to believe…..”Intelligent Design”…..

Sorry but about 500 years before Darwin’s ground breaking work…..another scholar, ibn Khaldun……made a profound observation….

“One notices how these elements are arranged gradually and continually in an ascending order, from earth to water, to air, and to fire. Each one of the elements is prepared to be transformed into the next higher or lower one, and sometimes is transformed. The higher one always finer than the one preceding it. Eventually, the world of the sphere is reached. They are finer than anything else.”

Then, concerning what he called “the world of creation”, he wrote:

“It started out from the minerals and progressed, in an ingenious, gradual manner, to plants and animals. The last stage of minerals is connected with the first stage of plants, such as herbs and seedless plants. The last stage of plants, such as palms and vines, is connected with the first stage of animals, such as snails and shellfish which have only the power of touch. The word ‘connection’ with regard to these created things means that the last stage of each group is fully prepared to become the first stage of the next group.

“The animal world then widens, its species become numerous, and, in a gradual process of creation, it finally leads to man, who is able to think and reflect. The higher stage of man is reached from the world of the monkeys, in which both sagacity and perception are found, but which has not reached the stage of actual reflection and thinking. At this stage we come to the first stage of man.”

http://www.islamicpluralism.org/2469/origin-and-evolution-of-human-society-in-ibn

Class Dismissed!

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Why Do Men Exist?

I will confess that back during the ERA days I was pretty much a macho dick…….but I have seen the error of my ways……..I cannot imagine a country that would do everything possible to make women second class citizens……but unfortunately this country is going in that direction…….sorry I digress.

During those feminist days there were many questions asked……but one that persisted was…..why do men exist?

Well that question has been answered for those women still wondering…….

Scientists have long wondered why men exist. Sex between males and females is simply not nearly as efficient as asexual reproduction. But now a group out of the UK is reporting in the journal Nature that, after looking at several years of lab-controlled procreation of the Tribolium flour beetle, they’ve found that sexual selection—the process by which males compete for females—helps species become fitter and more resilient to disease. “Competition among males for reproduction provides a really important benefit, because it improves the genetic health of populations,” the lead researcher at the University of East Anglia says in a press release. “Sexual selection achieves this by acting as a filter to remove harmful genetic mutations, helping populations to flourish.”

Such a question can be tested on this particular beetle (a pest in many a flour bag) because aside from their genes, the males don’t help raise offspring, reports NBC News. In the lab, the scientists controlled the beetle’s environments such that the only difference between populations was the strength of sexual selection, which ranged from intense—with 90 males competing for 10 females—to no sexual selection at all, where females were limited to one monogamous partner and thus males didn’t have to compete. Seven years (and 50 generations) later, the beetles that resulted from the strongest sexual selection were in the best health and were the least likely to go extinct when inbred, Reuters reports. (Speaking of evolution, a third of Americans don’t believe it exists.)

And there you have it!

“I Like Big Butts”

Sir Mix-a-lot wailing in the corner…….the song got me thinking about what he was saying…..why is it that most men like  “junk in the trunk”?

Okay Ladies I am not a pig I promise…..I am just honest……

I am an old fart and he been girl watching for too many years to count….no I am not one of those pigs that whistles and yells out crap….but I do  enjoy watching the ladies glide by……(at least I admit it)…….

Why do we like those curves?

A new study finds that there’s an evolutionary reason men prefer women with a “theoretically optimal angle of lumbar curvature.” Another way of putting it? Even prehistoric guys probably liked a gal with a curvy backside. Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin ran a two-part study, published in Evolution and Human Behavior: In the first part, men rated the attractiveness of manipulated images of spinal curves; most best liked a 45.5-degree curve from back to buttocks. In the second part, men were shown pictures of women with different buttock sizes—and they still most preferred the ones whose spinal curvature was closest to the ideal, meaning it’s the lumbar curvature they like, not just “big butts,” researchers say in a press release. But “men may be directing their attention to the butt and obtaining information about women’s spines, even if they are unaware that that is what their minds are doing,” the lead researcher explains, per Medical Daily.

As for that evolutionary reason for the preference, researchers attribute it to “prehistoric influences.” Explains the lead researcher, “This spinal structure would have enabled pregnant women to balance their weight over the hips. These women would have been more effective at foraging during pregnancy and less likely to suffer spinal injuries. In turn, men who preferred these women would have had mates who were better able to provide for fetus and offspring, and who would have been able to carry out multiple pregnancies without injury.” Researchers note that this preference has evolved over thousands of years. “This adds to a growing body of evidence that beauty is not entirely arbitrary, or ‘in the eyes of the beholder,'” says a co-author, “but rather has a coherent adaptive logic.”

And there you have it!

Did that creep you out?  Well I can top that…….

You should enjoy having fun with people and you should not be afraid of contact.” Normally, a line like that in a help-wanted ad would raise red flags, but not so much in this case. A German social media company that specializes in the sex industry is looking for a brothel tester, reports Newsweek. The ideal applicant has a college degree, speaks more than one language, and has experience visiting brothels. The company—called Kaufmich, which roughly translates to “Buying me”—says the main point to rate safety and health standards and emphasizes that sex (and the ranking of sex workers) is “only a part of the job,” reports CNBC. For the record, both men and women can apply.

Ladies–I promise I will post something along these lines for you to enjoy……that is if I can find something that is not offensive……