1. Barry Schwartz, ”Consumption Makes Us Sad?” at The Daily Beast.
2. Henry Harpending on class and meritocracy (via Reihan Salam). My dumbed down version: it wouldn’t take all that long for something similar to castes to form within societies where people were able to assortively mate on the basis of IQ. The question is, if higher-IQ individuals (the cognitive elite) tend to cluster and cluster and cluster, what will be the outcome for those left at the other end of the spectrum? If we are thinking about social policy and if we want to address, say, income inequality, how can we expect to use old statistics or trends to inform the policies we craft today?
hbd* chick writes on the subject too.
3. A self-described feminist and wannabe anthropologist that I know in real life wrote this on her Facebook page:
Dear whores in xxxxxx, put some clothes on. It’s fucking cold outside so unless you are getting bent over in an alley and need easy access, it is not necessary.
Pretty crude, even for my taste. ’Skank’ would have been a better word to use. I replied with a simple “don’t hate” comment to which this chick replied in a condescending manner that she understood that I wouldn’t resist a free show. This is a subtle hamster. She discredits my pointing out that she’s a hater – bitter and jealous – by chalking my comment up to my desire to check out half-naked chicks in public. Therefore I’m just being the pig that I was always meant to be which means that any criticism from me doesn’t sting as hard. If I’m biased then, in the feminist’s eyes, there is nothing wrong with her hostility.
4. Why people can’t make themselves go to the gym. The piece also touches on my recent gym discovery:
Gyms make most of their money from two sorts of people: 1) Absentee members and 2) super-users who pay not only the monthly fee but also for the add-ons, like trainers and classes, all the way down to the whey smoothies.
5. Steven Pinker’s interview with Reason for his new book. There’s a longish discussion about the role that capitalism played in helping diminish violence over time.
6. Razib Khan on sex ratio imbalances. Sex selective abortion – given that most aborted fetuses are female – creates a scenario where the overflow of men in a given society seek mates from another. Women of less prosperous societies would be brought in thereby leaving an imbalance in an even less prosperous society. Khan uses Korea-China/Asia and the Punjab region of India as an example.
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The Facebook thing… my vow to self is to keep it apolitical. No one on my friends list has any idea of my rightie worldview.
Conversely though, I’ve unfriended a couple of people who used FB as a forum to say leftist shit. The most recent example was my unfreinding of a girl I briefly dated in high school for making smug, snarky posts about the virtues of lesbian couples parenthood (she is a straight-married mother of two; I have no idea why that’s her wild hair).
I mostly unfriend them because of the overwhelming temptation to post responses to the contraty, breaking my FB apoliticality.
By they way, FB has served as a time-capsule, revealing sometimes unexpected things about people I have not heard from in 20 years. In other cases, my reconnecting with some people felt like no time has elapsed whatsoever.
My personal fitness tip on making oneself go to the gym: Give it up. Instead of working out for the sake of working out, find an athletic endeavor that you really, really enjoy and enjoy it.
For me it’s mountain biking. I’m still exhausted from my ride yesterday. My legs are sore, my back aches, and yet I’m not worried about finding the will power and motivation to exercise. It’s a lovely day in Big D and I’ll be anxious to hit a trail as soon as I finish taking a good shit.
Which is to say that I accept that I have a strong propensity towards ‘hyperbolic discounting’, especially as it pertains to exercise, and I accommodate accordingly.
I think the ideal male:female ratio about 1:4. I’ve come to this conclusion after watching Sister Wives. The only time I could see this being a problem, is in a society where day to day activities require a lot of physical strength, or if you are at war. Other than that, I prefer societies where women outnumber men.
Anytime I was in a situation where I was outnumbered by guys, it was a little uncomfortable. I don’t think men ever mind being in a situation where they are outnumbered by women.
Sister Wives would be ideal (I like that show), and stable so long as humans uniformly reproduced at 1:4 boy-girl ratio.
Would most men really be happy with a Sister-Wives arrangement? I sure wouldn’t.
Why not?
Two things, I suppose. Primarily, I am an introvert with very quirky interests. Even if I found a second woman who shared my interests and loved me, I don’t think I could handle giving her as much attention as she’d need. Secondly, I can’t imagine dispute-resolution between three-to-five people going smoothly. For instance, it took my wife and I a very long time to find a house that we both liked and that was close to both of our workplaces — if we had to take the input of two other women into account, nothing would ever get done.
There can be community without polygamy. True community is what is lacking in our society, and the way to build that is to pull others up instead of cutting them down.
3. vitriol is never attractive.
“There can be community without polygamy”
Good point.
Thanks, Lara! I was talking with a female friend the other day about my positive freshman dormitory experience in response to a mention of a group home for teenage mothers. I thought the home was a good idea as it would allow them to help each other out with cooking, babysitting, etc. There is a sisterhood among mothers, especially single ones, but I think we all “deserve” our own man;)
It occurred to me that in earlier times and in other cultures, where the fierce desire for independence does not cause people to live such an insular existence, people did pitch in and help out more. In my opinion, Hillary Clinton’s greatest contribution to the world has been the book It Takes a Village. It has been said that children need 42 adult role models in their upbringing through their parents, extended family, teachers, coaches, etc., which is just hard to provide in the lives most of us lead, which is why, perhaps, some turn to alternatives to the traditional family.
I thought the home was a good idea as it would allow them to help each other out with cooking, …
With curry, by any chance?
Hillary Clinton’s greatest contribution to the world has been the book It Takes a Village
Yes and no. Hillary Clinton’s phrase is intended as the exact opposite of community. “Village” here is the federal government that takes over families and communities, imposing its own collective over the natural ones that existed before.
I say “yes” too though because the Republican response to the growth of the federal government has been inept since the death of the Old Right in the fifties. Rather than defending communities, Republicans have championed a rugged individualism which in practice is a fuck-you atomization / corportism.
They never counteratacked the Dems’ assault on community, which began in earnest in 1954.
Links? I brought my own (ht patriactionary):
FDA Escalates War Against Amish Dairy Farmers
http://rawmilkfreedomriders.wordpress.com/press/fda-escalates-war-against-amish-dairy-farmers/
After a two year expensive, exhaustive undercover operation, including multiple armed raids on Allgyer’s farm, FDA agents and a team of ten federal lawyers amassed over two hundred and seventy-six pages of evidence allegedly proving what Allgyer openly admits, that he is selling fresh (raw, unpasteurized) milk to customers who knowingly carry the milk across state lines.
^^^OMG! Lock those bastards up! The cows too! How dare people want to consume a natural food source.
fuck. it’s her.
I know several women who like Sister Wives, even though they don’t find Corey appealing. I like the camaraderie the women have. Doing chores with other women is more fun than doing it by yourself.
Women definitely like the idea of sharing a man with other women. I guess this probably should be discouraged, since too many men get left out completely.
The situation in China is a disaster all around.
The thing about Corey is that he took in a divorcee with three kids. That is very different than a 40 yr old man, who already has four wives, monopolizing a 16 year old virgin. This may be why people aren’t so critical of him.
He also has a very likeable, teleganic personality, down to the golden locks. I find myself liking him. One quibble is that, unlike the Duggars whose kids seem very healthy, disciplined, well-adjusted and well raised — and in shape — Cody’s two (out of four) wives and many of his biological kids are on a prole-drift, if obesity is an indicator.
“Chuck Rudd 01/15/2012 at 3:53 pm
fuck. it’s her.”
Um, was that referring to me?
My aunt’s the one who got me into the show. I just started watching it. I asked her how one man can get four wives, when a lot of men don’t even have one. She said, “Because they’re fat.” I like the wives on the show, I think they have good personalities. I do think Kody needs to put his foot down on the weight issue. It does look like some of the teenage daughters are getting fat also.
Kody’s first wife Meri and fourth wife Robyn became very close. They are the slim ones. In fact, the multiple-wives thing was originally Meri’s idea, when she was unable to have more children with Kody after their first one. Her parents were polygamists.
The season ended with Robyn delivering her first child with Kody (she has kids from a prior marriage). Meri was very supportive of Robyn during her pregnancy, while the two other wives, the fat ones, anguished and grumbled. The season ended with Robyn telling Meri that she can surrogate a baby for her.
Chuck just called me. He said I’m this close to getting banned.
Chuck,
You should start watching Sister Wives.
About castes forming based on economic merit, or IQ … or whatever proxy we’re using for how some people end up upper class and others lower class … it’s all idle mental calisthenics. Never gonna happen. The wide open gaping hole is the assumption of endogamous reproduction. Women are not going to select men to breed with primarily for smarts, nor honesty and integrity, nor conscientiousness, nor any of that stuff that gives a man economic value. We’ve all read enough Roissy and done enough approaches to know that.
Still, as for the question of what happens to the leftmost of the bell curve, I suspect the answer is much the same as what happens to the least desired now. For the men, expulsion from the genetic game through hopeless grinding celibacy. For the women, they would find ways to reproduce if they want, and if they really wanted to get married, there will always be omegas who want them. But hypergamy will ensure they won’t want the men available to them. Every girl wants the handsome, er I mean genius, prince, whether she’s a two or a ten. So they’d have options, just not ones that make them happy.
No, PA. Not with curry
?
3. A la the previous “Every woman deserves a man who…” post: I wonder what the corresponding hater-rant by a guy jealous of a pack of alpha’s would sound like:
“Dear cocky-assholes, rolling up in your Range Rovers and acting like you own the bar or something. Unless you actually own the bar, chill the fuck out, you’re not impressing anyone, and it’s not necessary. ”
This would be the FB rant of a beta who didn’t get laid that night, or even talk to a girl.
4. I don’t understand how most people don’t go to the gym.
Physical, mental, & emotional cost of looking & feeling like shit > physical, mental, & monetary cost of going to the gym.
Then again, I am an android who thinks in purely rational terms.
Alexamenos, let me add that an even better way to exercise is to integrate it into your life. I myself commute to work by bicycle, 13 km (8 mi) each way, and can thus eat whatever I like without ever thinking about petty things like calories.
The ideal is to work at a job that has you using your muscles all day long, but those jobs aren’t for everyone. If you have a sedentary job, use your muscles in getting to and from work!
Chuck–
You need a post on the NFL post season!
Am I allowed to say totally off topic that I was rather underwhelmed by Aaron Rodgers last night? I mean quite a few have said they think he’s the best QB in the NFL. Maybe the problem was more Rodger’s receivers, but I don’t think he had the sort of drilled ball precision that Brady normally does, and sure as hell had Saturday when he and his crew stomped Tebow and the Denver Broncos 45-10. Even the New England defensive secondary was looking way better than earlier in the season.
Doug1:
I think you hit the nail on the head when you say the problem was Rodgers’ recievers. That and the turnovers. In any game, there will always be a couple of easy catches that are dropped, but there were so many against the Giants and especially on the make or break 3rd down conversions that were clearly not Rodgers fault. I’ve never seen Rodgers so frustrated last night, which speaks to how surprised he was that they were playing so terribly.
And I think that last night showed how bad the Packers D can be. Usually the high-powered offense masks any problems on the defensive side of the ball but when that stalled, the D failed to deliver.
The piece also touches on my recent gym discovery: …..
Touches ….
gym discovery …..
Time for me to stop reading.