DEFINING MAN: THE SPECIES THAT COOKS. I have posted several times (here, here, and here) on the theory that cooking was a crucial breakthrough in the evolution of man. The October 22 New York Review of Books has a review by Steven Mithen of CATCHING FIRE; HOW COOKING MADE US HUMAN by Richard Wrangham, which explores the theory. The review notes several other (that is, that I haven’t posted on) ways that cooking enabled man to evolve in distinctive ways. Less chewing permitted a smaller jaw and smaller teeth, which in turn allowed a greater range for vocalizations—important for speech. Cooked food “can be digested with a smaller gut, releasing metabolic energy for a larger brain.” Humans use about 20 to 25% of their calories running their brains. Other vertebrates use as little as 2%. We have smaller colons and narrower pelvises—the human colon is only 60% of the colon of a primate of the same size. Support for the theory comes from the known lifestyle of early man: “Hunting and scavenging on African savannahs demanded energy, and required walking and running over long distances often with low rates of success….Without cooked food,….the energy and time required for such activity would simply not have been available.”
Archive for September, 2009
DEFINING MAN: THE SPECIES THAT COOKS.
Wednesday, September 30th, 2009THE REMARKABLE MOE BERG (COMMENT).
Tuesday, September 29th, 2009THE REMARKABLE MOE BERG (COMMENT). I was honored that Russell Seitz commented on this post on some of Moe Berg’s accomplishments. Annalisa advised me that that post was a little unclear. To clarify, the man who said that “Physicists do not kill physicists” was a physicist, and he was the head of a group of physicists who were tracking the Nazi nuclear effort. Moe Berg was not a professional physicist. Berg’s profession was baseball, and he loved it. This wikipedia article quotes Berg as saying: “”I’d rather be a ballplayer than a justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.” (The reference to the Supreme Court was meaningful. Berg had a law degree from Columbia and practiced law with a Wall Street firm). Kids, my father spoke fondly of Moe Berg at our dinner table, because baseball fans were proud of him and perhaps because he had played five years for the White Sox. The wikipedia article informed me that Berg was the subject of the most famous scouting report in baseball history, a telegram reading “Good field, no hit.” Russell Seitz in his comment calls attention to the fact that Berg’s technical expertise enabled him to spy on Japanese military production while he was touring Japan with other baseball players in the thirties (wikipedia notes that he addressed the Japanese legislature in Japanese while there). Russell Seitz points out that Berg “hung around with physicists at Columbia and [Princeton] during the 20’s and 30’s.” And so Moe Berg knew enough of advanced physics and the practicalities of making a nuclear bomb that the OSS turned to him to attend Werner Heisenberg’s lecture and decide whether to kill him.
@.
Monday, September 28th, 2009@. A series of letters in the London Review of Books has reported on the names for the symbol “@” in a variety of countries. Here are some of them (in translation):
Greek a duck
Dutch a monkey’s tail
Russian a little dog
Belarussian a snail
Hungarian a grub or maggot
Swedish an elephant’s trunk
Israeli strudel (a rolled up apple tart)
CHEATING—MOVING THE GOALPOSTS.
Sunday, September 27th, 2009CHEATING—MOVING THE GOALPOSTS. This article from yesterday’s London Times describes how a goalkeeper has admitted to moving the goalposts closer together to make it harder for the opponents to score in important Swedish soccer games. He said he had gotten the tip from a goalkeeping friend a few years ago. He was “caught on camera kicking in both sides of his goal to reduce the target area slightly at the start of a crucial match in the All Sweden division, the equivalent of the English Premier League.” I am embarrassed to acknowledge that the goalkeeper is Danish.
CHEATING—DELIBERATELY CRASHING.
Saturday, September 26th, 2009CHEATING—DELIBERATELY CRASHING. I reported earlier in the week about how at Minnesota Twins home games, the wind would on occasion blow out—in an indoor stadium–when the home team was at bat. According to this article from France24, the Renault Formula One team has admitted it ordered one of its drivers to crash deliberately in order to help his teammate, Fernando Alonso, to win the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix. The scandal is known as “Crashgate.” This article explains that the crash caused a “safety car period” during which Alonso was able to improve his position.
BEING FRIGHTENED OF GERMANY.
Friday, September 25th, 2009BEING FRIGHTENED OF GERMANY. It turns out that there was another set of fears about German reunification—fears that never occurred to me at the time. The same week that the Russian documents were reported on, the British foreign office released documents about fears that arose after the Berlin Wall fell. This article in the London Times recounts a conversation at a luncheon at the Elysee Palace two months after the Wall fell. A British diplomat recorded that President Mitterrand said that “reunification would cause the re-emergence of the ‘bad’ Germans who dominated Europe” and that “a unified Germany could win more ground than Hitler ever did.” In hindsight, it appears obvious that Britain and France, who had fought two wars with Germany in the century would have trepidations about reunification. I must have failed to realize that because I was thinking in terms of the Cold War, which had dominated the news in my lifetime.
“MR. GORBACHEV, KEEP THIS WALL UP!”
Thursday, September 24th, 2009“MR. GORBACHEV, KEEP THIS WALL UP!” That is the caption of an article in the September 14 Economist which reports on documents smuggled out of Russia which describe Margaret Thatcher telling Gorbachev—two months before the Berlin Wall fell—that Britain was opposed to German reunification and to the fall of the Berlin Wall. President Bush (the father) and French diplomats expressed similar thoughts to the Russians. The Economist article considers these sentiments as reflecting the fear of instability and violence if the Berlin Wall fell. I remember at the time being worried about violence. I had never thought Eastern Europe would be free of Russian domination in my lifetime, and I dreaded violence. My memories included Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968. Kids, things seem a lot easier after the fact.
THE WIND BLEW OUT ONLY WHEN THE HOME TEAM WAS AT BAT.
Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009THE WIND BLEW OUT ONLY WHEN THE HOME TEAM WAS AT BAT. The USA Today Sports Weekly article mentions the strangest advantage the Metrodome gave the Twins. Opponents complained that the Twins turned on the fans to blow out when the Twins were at bat. Bobby Valentine, when he was managing the Texas Rangers, was especially vocal in his protests. A few years ago, Valentine’s claims were confirmed.The article says: “Former Metrodome superintendent Dick Ericson admitted to the Minneapolis’ Star Tribune that, when the Twins were behind in the eighth inning or later, he would adjust the ventilation to be blowing up and out to try to get balls to carry further.” I have always wondered about the reaction of the teams that lost the World Series to the Twins in 1987 and 1991 when they read that news report.
FAREWELL TO THE BIGGEST HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE OF THEM ALL.
Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009FAREWELL TO THE BIGGEST HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE OF THEM ALL. USA Today Sports Weekly for September 23 to 29 has an article on the last days of the Metrodome, the home park of the Minnesota Twins. It will be replaced with a new ball park for next year. The article describes a number of strange things about baseball in this domed stadium. It was hard to see fly balls against the roof and the turf gave funny bounces, making it hard for base runners as well as fielders. Dan Gladden says that “many games have been decided by teams losing the ball in the roof.” The article quotes Fred Lynn that “It wasn’t anything close to baseball.” Being familiar with these peculiarities gave the Twins an unusually strong home field advantage. The Twins won the World Series in 1987 and in 1991, and the Series were unusual because the home team won every game in each series. The Twins won all eight games at home and lost all six games on the road.
“MY DOG PREFERS LANCOME.”
Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009“MY DOG PREFERS LANCOME.” Mary Jane has just finished ALMOST FRENCH by Sarah Turnbull, a memoir by an Australian lady about living in France. One day the author was walking her West Highland Terrier when a French lady kindly stopped her and pointed out that the Westie’s eyes were leaking. The lady recommended the use of eye make-up remover on the dog’s eyes. . She thought that any brand would do, but added: her dog preferred Lancome.
