There Is No Such Thing As "Not A Dog Person"

What I mean by that is that humans and dogs have a fundamental connection, like England and America's special relationship, that has been forged over the past 100,000 years. It is in our genes to live with dogs and them with us. Anyone who says they don't like dogs is simply expressing a learned emotion based on a bad experience.

Here's my hypothesis: genetic evidence indicates dogs began separating from wolves at least 100,000 years ago. Human DNA studies indicate there was a "population bottleneck" 50,000 to 100,000 years ago most likely after the Mt. Toba eruption 70,000 years ago. Therefore, I hypothesize that when humanity was down to its last few thousand families dogs had to be there, and it was because of dogs that humans survived. But what was the relationship? That is the PhD candidate question.

And these are the other questions I have (at this time):
Did dogs begin their morphological changes at this time?
Did humanity survive because dogs were with them?
Did only humans who could bond with canines survive?

Not sure any of this will be known with any certainty unless time travel is invented, but my educated guess is that we all have bred into us a connection to dogs that comes from a time when they saved us and we saved them.

For further reading, PBS's Nova program last night got me thinking about the time line. See: Dogs Decoded

And for information on the human DNA studies see Wikipedia's entry on human population bottlenecks which includes a link to the "Toba catastrophe".

Fox News, The White House, Apple, Verizon, And Strategy

Much hubbub has been made lately about the spats between Fox News and the White House and Verizon/Motorola and Apple/AT&T.

See:
-Droid Does: Verizon Launches Anti-iPhone Ad for Motorola Droid
-Verizon Tweaks AT&T With "There's A Map For That" Commercial
-The Battle Between the White House and Fox News

All of the analysis has been wrong.

Have these commentators never had an ex they wanted to get back or teach a lesson to? Ask a guy who was dumped by his hot girlfriend how he reacted then look at Verizon/Motorola or The White House for comparison. It is the same reaction. These spats and battles are strategy. They aren't trying to break things up completely; they're trying to hook back up by teaching a lesson that they don't need them. No, it is not rational but then people aren't either.

Yes, Fox News is awful and the iPhone's hotness cannot be debated. But that is not the point. Because Verizon still wants the iPhone on their network. And I bet Obama would grant Fox News' Chris Wallace an interview.

In the end, these fights are like a guy trying to get his hot girlfriend back so I will not be surprised when Fox News gets an exclusive interview with Obama and Verizon gets an Apple device.

If only the pundits listened to Jawbreaker and paid attention to 'Bad Scene, Everyone's Fault'

I ran into this guy I knew
But hadn't seen in years.
We went into the neon kitchen and stole a couple beers.
He said his girl had dumped him
But there was another guy.
He said that he still liked her.
All I could say was,
"Why, why, oh why, oh why,
Why is it always like this?
Either you're too mean, or you're too nice."
He said, "I even cooked her breakfast."
So we went into the living room.
Someone was blasting Zeppelin.
It sounded good.
I felt ashamed.
I knew every drum fill.
Anyway, there she sat,
Totally kissing this guy.
They looked good, I mean like in love.
Then I remembered my friend.
He said, "How could you do this?
You said that you needed your space.
He's wearing the shirt that I gave you."
Then she said, "Why, why, oh why, oh why,
Why are you always like this?
If I'm having fun then it's breaking your heart.
Besides, you said I could have it."

Another Dog Origin Hypothesis

On the heels of the Dogs In Disarray post comes a mitochondrial DNA study suggesting dogs were first domesticated in China for the same reason cows and pigs were domesticated.

See NYT: In Taming Dogs, Humans May Have Sought a Meal

Sampling the mitochondrial DNA of dogs worldwide, the team found that in every region of the world all dogs seem to belong to one lineage. That indicates a single domestication event. If wolves had been domesticated in many places, there would be more than one lineage, each leading back to a local population of wolves.

The single domestication event seems to have occurred in southern China, where the dogs have greater genetic diversity than those elsewhere. The region of highest diversity is usually the place of origin because a species tends to lose diversity as it spreads.

An Evolutionary Explanation Of Depression

It is for analysis of complex problems perhaps.

See SciAm: Depression's Evolutionary Roots

Health And Intelligence

Smarter Men Have More Sperm

Recent Earth Science News Of Interest

Wired: Proof That Meteors Could Have Sparked Life on Earth

The simulation, conducted by a team of Japanese planetary materials scientists, produced compounds required to form the first cell and every subsequent organism.

"We use shock experiments to recreate the conditions surrounding the impact of chondritic meteorites into an early ocean," wrote the researchers in Nature Geoscience. "Organic molecules on the early Earth may have arisen from such impact syntheses."

Discovery: Life and Minerals Evolve Together

Before life evolved on Earth, the slow, inexorable grind of plate tectonics created a total of 1,500 mineral species. Now, Hazen said, most minerals require living creatures to spring into existence.

"That's about as far as we think you can get without life," he said. That means about two-thirds of all known minerals depend on Earth's living creatures to survive.

Evolutionary Explanation For Pregnancy Related Nausea

PhysOrg - Pregnant women get morning sickness to protect fetus

"...nausea and vomiting in pregnancy is beneficial by expelling such foods as meat and strong-tasting vegetables that historically and still may contain harmful toxins and microorganisms that could potentially sicken the woman and damage her fetus just when its organs are developing and are most vulnerable to chemicals,"

Hey Fatty - Eat Breakfast

If you skip breakfast not only are you ignorant but probably fat too.

NY Times- Skipping Cereal and Eggs, and Packing on Pounds

You don't have to follow a paleolithic diet to know the best way to eat is in the morning after a walk. This replicates the evolutionary ritual of searching for food in the morning then eating it. Otherwise, if you do not eat in the morning your body gears up for a lean day and slows down your metabolism so once you do eat something your body holds onto the food because by skipping breakfast you've basically told it "food is scarce so hoard whatever you get".

Here are my basic "health" rules:

- eat breakfast within two hours of waking up
- eat complex carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber for breakfast
- breakfast like a King, lunch like a Prince, dinner like a pauper
- use fruit for mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks
- strive for a 12 hour food consumption window so that your food does not linger in your digestive track while you sleep
- walk for a total of one hour a day
- avoid white things (sugar, bread, rice, etc)

* Dogs should always eat AFTER walks and playtime too in order to avoid stomach twisting.

And Michael Pollan, in his new book, gives these basic rules to eating:
"Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."
and via SeriousEats:
Michael Pollan's Twelve Commandments for Serious Eaters: Can You Live By Them?

1. "Don't eat anything your grandmother wouldn't recognize as food."
2. "Avoid foods containing ingredients you can't pronounce."
3. "Don't eat anything that won't eventually rot."
4. "Avoid food products that carry health claims."
5. "Shop the peripheries of the supermarket; stay out of the middle."
6. "Better yet, buy food somewhere else: the farmers' market or CSA."
7. "Pay more, eat less."
8. "Eat a wide variety of species."
9. "Eat food from animals that eat grass."
10. "Cook, and if you can, grow some of your own food."
11. "Eat meals and eat them only at tables."
12. "Eat deliberately, with other people whenever possible, and always with pleasure."

"If You Strike Me Down I Shall Become More Powerful Than You Could Possibly Imagine"

My thoughts on why Senator Clinton should concede the nomination: A Senator Obama, stung by a stolen presidential nomination, would outshine a President Hillary Clinton. And if Hillary Clinton were to lose the presidency to McCain it would mark the end of the Clinton era.

Basically, she cannot fairly win the Democratic presidential nomination at this point. But she delusionally thinks Obama cannot win (See: Richardson endorsement still irks Bill Clinton: Meantime, Hillary reportedly told Richardson that Obama can't win). I cannot imagine Obama ever saying this about Clinton.