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The Red Queen
After laying our souls (and chromosomes!) bare in Genome, Ridley swiftly moves on to a topic that is variously fascinating and taboo: Sex. Every Slashdot user it seems wants more information about it. Ridley immediately tackles the Paradox of Sex: In an asexual organism, every individual of the species can create offspring. In sexual creatures (like people!), only the female can produce young. What's so great about sex then, that overcomes this obvious numerical handicap? In eleven brisk chapters, Ridley unravels the riddles with examples of how and why other species Do It (or Don't It), and what it all means.
Topics explored (though not claimed to be definitively explained) include mitochondrial DNA, dowries, the genetic foundations of harems, how males of a species could develop flagrant 'handicaps' like bright coloration or songs, monogamy, polygamy, adultery and a small species of New Zealand snail that suffers from a parasite named (I'm not making this up) Microphallus. One of the most compelling concepts is that a species' strongest competitor (and driving force behind their evolution) is their own kind, not their foes. In the end it is this argument, called The Red Queen (after a Lewis Carrol character that runs quickly but never gets ahead) that explains so much of our evolutionary hodgepodge of DNA and instinctive behaviour.
Around the world The Red Queen hustles, dissecting the environmental clues given by the mating rituals and biology of various species, asexual, sexual, heterosexual, hermaphroditic and otherwise, comparing them to Homo Sapiens, "the sexiest primate alive" (except for bonobos). As for humans, Ridley divulges how walking upright and our large brains are connected to our comparatively slow maturation, long lifespan and lack of hair. Always in the background is the unquestionable tenet: No one is descended from a celibate organism.
Ridley daringly takes on feminism and gender equality by pointing out that males and females DO differ genetically (duh!) and that in other species the effect of this difference is quite marked. Rather than degenerating into a misogynistic orgy of gender-bashing, he exposes the reasons why (among other differences) men might actually be better at reading maps and women might be more social. Both genders have to get along in order to continue the species, so understanding our differences may be a boon to all. While in the mood for controversy, Ridley delves into the reasons for the genetic-confounding phenomena of homosexuality in a species.
You don't need to have read Genome to read Red Queen, but if you have, you might find all of the puzzles fitting together into an even bigger picture, to be further sketched out in The Origins of Virtue and Nature Via Nurture. This book is not illustrated and probably won't help you get a date next weekend, but it might explain why you're instinctively attracted to those three young blondes at the bar. And why they're all more interested in the cinderblock quarterback of the football team. And despite what my inbox tells me, it has nothing to do with the size of a certain part of your anatomy, but rather the size of ... well, go read the book.
Table of Contents
- Human Nature
- The Enigma
- The Power of Parasites
- Genetic Mutiny and Gender
- The Peacock's Tale
- Polygamy and the Nature of Men
- Monogamy and the Nature of Women
- Sexing the Mind
- The Uses of Beauty
- The Intellectual Chess Game
- The Self-Domesticated Ape
You can purchase The Red Queen from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
trinity dies at the end of the matrix
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Are you MORE than your SPINAL COLUMN?
African or European?
As the tragedy of Gov. Gray Davis advances toward an embarrassing recall, threads common to the entire Democratic Party are finally receiving some attention. The party that never has to say it's sorry is now a sorry lot.
In California at least, voter outrage over what the politicians have done to them surges. And with calculating indifference, Democrats project calm blamelessness.
Imagine the shock when they wake up one morning and discover that the cover the liberal media have been running for them for so long no longer keeps the rain out.
Discomforting enlightenment and more accurate terms to describe their conduct reveal a party without an ethical compass, hell bent on passing laws contrary to the public consensus, apparently driven to rewrite history, societal norms and cultural conventions and, until now, getting away with it.
That's changing. And we are all the beneficiaries.
If the term fits, it should be used. No favorites. No games. Gray Davis and the radical Democrats in Sacramento are liberal fascists who have been abusing their authority, pushing unpopular policies while recklessly ignoring the state's financial catastrophe, almost begging it to happen.
Even now, as if in the throes of a catatonic mental disorder, they deny reality, continuing to push legislation that will make the budget crisis worse.
Davis' response has been equally insolent. He has castigated the press, meeting with them personally, demanding they write stories that defend his mindless pursuit of increased taxes. He has launched a counterplot "anti-recall" crusade designed to destroy the efforts of thousands of voters diligently gathering signatures to ensure the recall question hits the ballot.
His better judgment knows the public is correct: He has to go. Yet he angrily fights reality. And that's the point. Davis and the Democrats are here to leave an ugly, confrontational scar on the body public while scoffing at critics who "don't know what they're talking about." At times one wonders if we are all on the same planet.
Let's establish two points before we start. I have no personal reason to write columns that discredit Gray Davis. In fact I met him in 1989. He seemed like a nice enough guy, coming across as gravely earnest.
The object here is to demonstrate how his strategic endorsement of fascistic liberalism emanating from the capital's Democrat-ruled juggernaut has been so damaging to the Golden State, while destroying his political career.
Dupes in the Press and Other Tactics
To the disbelieving or uninformed, dashing though life, taxes, work, kids and baseball practice and relying solely on California newspapers for the facts required to form an educated opinion: A false picture is being delivered to your doorsteps in the morning.
The state's papers share two common traits: paranoia and intimidation.
Paranoia in that they fear the repercussions (and accusations) should full disclosure over who is paying for state services, and who is not, be revealed.
And they are intimidated by belligerent and aggressive "activist" lawyers, gay rights crusaders and immigrant defenders, all at the ready to misapply the law to extract blood and money from anyone who dares to challenge their sacred cows. Compromise is not an option, atonement out of the question.
Overwhelming California majorities have voted that only English be taught in schools (Prop 227), they are against discrimination on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin (Prop 209), they are for marriage defined as that between a man and a woman (Prop 22), and they strongly disagree with providing social services, publicly funded health care and a free education to illegal immigrants (Prop 187).
Excluding the infrequent editorial, however, rarely can one pick up the Sacramento Bee, Los Angeles Times or Orange County Register, among others, and read a report validating the majority perspective.
In fact, the press, falling all ove
:: So which is it? :: 1. If you try to use something in Linux and it fails, you are stupid :: because you didn't try to fix it and make it work.
:: 2. If you try to make it work and it fails at every attempt, you are
:: I find it very funny that you can't admit that software
:: :: Oftentimes, the libraries are present on your system, but the names :: may vary slightly. You could try to force the install and see if it :: works anyway with the --nodeps --force options added.
: Yes.
stupid because you are trying to use a tool that doesn't meet your
needs and your only reason for trying was to prove that it doesn't
work.
: Yes. At least we seem to understand each other.
I tried to get my digital camera working with Linux. To assume that I did it
for any other reason than to be able to use the camera with Linux makes you
an arrogant prick. But we already knew that, didn't we?
installation on Linux is a huge pain in the ass. I tried to install
Everybuddy with MSN Messenger support and had the same problems.
Failed dependencies at every step. If this system is supposed to be
good for development, why doesn't it include the libraries needed
so you don't have to waste a lot of time searching the net every
time to try to anything? This is a real problem and it will prevent
most users from attempting to replace Windows. Why can't the
programmers include the required files in the package. They could
offer a bare bones version and an all inclusive version. They
could, at a minimum, include links to required packages so you
don't have to search for them. Why don't the distros include the
common libraries needed?
: Very often they do. The problem here is that you are using pre-
compiled binaries. These expect your system configuration to be
sufficiently similar to those that they were compiled on in order to
install.
So precompiled binaries are basically useless unless it was specifically
compiled for your system? Kinda forces you to compile everything yourself if
you have any hope of getting it to work. We have already established that
you can't expect the distro managers to compile every package out there for
each version they release. So it is pretty much up to the end user to learn
to compile software, find the source for the package they want and waste
time getting a functioning system. What we are saying is you are pretty much
stuck with whatever came with your distro if you aren't willing to learn to
compile programs and search the net for missing files.
Brilliant suggestion. NOT!
: Many times, the issue is simply a matter of you having libfoo.so.1
: and the binary is looking for libfoo.so.2. Both of these are just
: links to libfoo.so, and so you can merely create the link and viola!
: Problem solved.
: Another option is to simply download the source for the app and just
: compile it specifically for your system. This way the dependancies
: are resolved according to your specific configuration and you get
: the benefit of added performance.
: There have been many times that I've attempted to install a binary
: and it complained about failed dependancies; but when compiling and
: installing the source for the exact same application on the exact
: same system, it went through without a hitch.
And you guys like to bitch and whine about DLL's under Windows? Failed
dependencies is pretty much a given when trying to install something on a
Linux system. I have rarely had a problem with DLL's, especially now that XP
supports multiple versions.
: Of course, you have no desire to actually resolve issues like Pete
: Goodwin, you just want to be able to bitch about them.
Rappy, you are so full of shit. Linux has some significant problems
associated with failed dependencies and di
Any girl like sex there? I need girl like sex!