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Comment: Re:Idle speculation (Score 1) 290

by wonkavader (#43170745) Attached to: Manga Girls Beware: Extra Large Eyes Caused Neanderthal's Demise

Until we sequence a good representitive sample of Neanderthals, this is premature. You could look for mitochondrial progession, and make some judgements about that (see the complete cock-up the Eve hypothesis people made of this in the late 80's) but right now we have the genome of ONE Neanderthal. ONE!

This is a group of people which ranged across Africa, Asia, Europe and Australia and were there for a long time. There's a lot of genetic variation possible. We don't know how much, because we have nothing to compare against.

This is shoddy work.

Comment: Re:Idle speculation (Score 1) 290

by wonkavader (#43170693) Attached to: Manga Girls Beware: Extra Large Eyes Caused Neanderthal's Demise

"Theories that modern humans simply outbred them and replaced them are viable"

Of course they're not. It impies that there wasn't enough food for Neanderthals, once the modern HS came on the scene. Humans (including Neanderthals) are omnivores with big enough brains to adapt to different food sources, and to move on when there's not enough food in one place. The Earth is BIG, and there were lots of prey animals and plants. There are plenty of places Neanderthals could have held out. Remember, the above hypothesis doesn't require them to starve on 99% of the planet. It requires them to starve EVERYWHERE.

They had to have been assimilated or killed. They may have been reduced in number by diminishing food sources, but that wouldn't have eliminated them.

Comment: Re:This just in (Score 1) 290

by wonkavader (#43170475) Attached to: Manga Girls Beware: Extra Large Eyes Caused Neanderthal's Demise

No, if it does, then the data will reflect it. They might be right in their testable hypothesis, and wrong on their guess at causality.

You can't prove anything about the size f the visual cortex in the Neanderthals, so you'd be comparing apples to smoke anyhow. Their paper says "Big eyes means stupid." That's testable.

This is just another in a long string of pointless Neanderthal speculation articles. This one made the mistake of having a testable hypothesis. Finaly, one that can be shown to be a waste of paper!

Comment: Re:This just in (Score 1) 290

by wonkavader (#43170351) Attached to: Manga Girls Beware: Extra Large Eyes Caused Neanderthal's Demise

This study is being badly interpretted (notably on Nova).

Europeans show a small amount of Neanderthal DNA because we compared them to ONE Neanderthal sample.

When this is done on a respectable sample size including Neanderthals around the world, we'll find that everyone has Neanderthal DNA.

Comment: Whatever seems reasonable... plus this (Score 4, Interesting) 272

by wonkavader (#42926239) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Inexpensive SOHO Crime Deterrence and Monitoring?

This does nothing. But it completely stops break-ins and it's cheap.

https://spygear4u.com/ds_proddetail.asp?prod=GS-LS-131

Watch the videos you can find of it around. It's very scary. Does nothing, of course, but it's VERY scary. And that will keep your family's store safe.

Comment: Have it, Hate it. (Score 4, Interesting) 587

by wonkavader (#42843923) Attached to: Woz Says iPhone Features Are 'Behind'

People who love their iPhones usually bought them. There are two things going on there. Firstly, it's a self-selecting group. They bought into the idea of the ads they saw for the phone. Secondly, they spent money on it. When you make a purchase, you tend to self-justify. You think what you bought was the best, because otherwise you got suckered. No one likes that, so we tell ourselves we won. What we have is the best.

I was handed an iPhone by my company. It's really nice to have a free phone and I appreciate it hugely. Yes, it's a ball and chain to the company, but if they hadn't given me the phone, they'd be calling me on my personal phone anyhow.

But I hate the iPhone. Hate it. My antipathy for it was nonexistent when I got it. It was way better (in some ways) than the crappy blackberry it replaced. But over time, I've grown more and more frustrated with the potential of the thing which is squandered. Every little thing about it annoys me.

My wife has an android phone. I am so envious. There's still much to hate there, but not nearly as much, and there seems to be progress on Android. Something which annoys you might actually get fixed. On the iPhone, you must learn to love it, for it will never change.

I have often regretted my speech, never my silence. -- Publilius Syrus

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