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New Evidence in Historical Cannibalism Debate
An anonymous reader writes "ScienceNOW is reporting that a team of scientists led by Geneticist Jaume Bertranpetit has called into question findings from an earlier study of human prion diseases. The first study, led by John Collinge of University College London, stated that the existence of a gene that codes for prions was a result of a "balancing act" that had kept it in the gene pool for so long. The balancing act was supposedly due to widespread cannibalistic practices in human history. The new report suggests that their results were skewed because of low frequency variations known as 'ascertainment bias.'"
so we were cannibal's children, now we're not.
Let's throw both research teams into the pot!
It's really the only way to test this theory.
Why are women so complicated? Find out how little I know here.
...but the mainstream news media will continue to utilize the cannabalism story due to their 'entertainment' bias
"Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for you are crunchy and good with ketchup."
An innocent kid and budding geek, I tried feeding novel combinations of nouns and verbs to the primitive parser.
I tried "EAT LAMP"... got back "You can't eat the lamp." "EAT BREAD"... "That was delicious."... Etc.
I tried "EAT ME". I couldn't comprehend why my dad, who had just bought the game for me and was supervising over my shoulder, started laughing so hard.
Several years later I finally understood why he laughed even harder when the computer responded:
"Auto-cannibalism is not the answer."
You can mod this offtopic, but those 1983 game designers had a real sense of humor and subtly implemented it in 64KB.
it's a blue bright blue Saturday hey hey
Few taboos are stronger than cannibalism. It's no surprise then that a study published 2 years ago created quite a stir by claiming that modern humans harbor a genetic signature suggesting our ancestors engaged heavily in the practice.
I don't see why. Just because something is taboo now doesn't mean it always was. I wouldn't be bothered too much if I found out for certain that my ancestors were cannibals. It's not like that reflects poorly on me or my society. Every culture used to do some weird/nasty/mean things at some point.
...what the scientists tell me about my genes. If I'm hungry and you look tasty, get running, unless you have an offering of a loaded baked potato or appropriate substitute.
How are sites slashdotted when nobody reads TFAs?
It doesnt really matter that much to me if my ancestors did a little canibalism, or even a lot for that matter. After all Im pretty sure that somewhere down the line some or perhaps even a lot of my ancestors engaged in equally terrible things to survive or perhaps even took part in them without "survival" really being an issue.
These thoughts dont exactly delight me.
However they dont really frighten me either.
To me all this article really says is that genetics is more complicated that we are currently able to understand and goes a lot deeper than just decoding a genome. One scientists sees some data and comes to a conclusion, another scientist looks at the same data a couple years later and reaches the opposite conclusion.
(You knew it was coming)
... is people!"
Fry: "My God! What if the secret ingredient
Leela: "No. There's already a soda like that. Soylent Cola."
Fry: "Oh. How is it?"
Leela: "It varies from person to person."
"There is no time, sir, at which ties do not matter," Jeeves, (Jeeves and the Impending Doom)
But how much? Did we eat each other daily? Weekly? On special holidays? It can't have been to common anyway. If you eat more of a food source then is grown your run out. or put another way. Even if you farmed humans you would be hard put to serve baby more then once per year. Presuming of course that factory farming is really a recent invention.
Anyway wasn't cannabilism more ritual then food source? Eat the X of a vanguished enemy to gain his X. God forbid to think what the chinese would serve after the battle.
Oh well whatever the truth just don't accept an invitation to the donner party. Or board an airplane with an Uruguayan rugby team. Well unless you are feeling peckish.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Somewhere in the dusty recesses of the library stacks I came across writings that suggested many early northern european peoples practised cannibalism as was evidenced by the skulls of victims being halved to get at the brains. The National Geographic article suggests modern cannibals fed the brains to women and children as less desirable, but, for examples, grizziles feeding on migrating salmon will feed exclusivley on the brains once their initial hunger is sated.
My culinary perversion only extended to a one time feeding on beef tartare. I kinda liked it.
"Academicians are more likely to share each other's toothbrush than each other's nomenclature."
Cohen
I once knew a girl who liked to be eaten.
Once, twice, thrice she'd entreat me,
Eat me, she'd say, eat me, EAT ME!
And so I would; on the lass I'd dine.
Now, you'd think that a strapping young girl would taste,
Like beef, or lamb, or pork at least.
But I tell you, this hot young lass of mine,
always tasted like fish, each and every time.
Farewell! It's been a fine buncha years!
Baby back ribs
If I can do it, its probably not worth doing... probably
Man is the only animal that can remain on friendly terms with the
victims he intends to eat until he eats them.
-- Samuel Butler (1835-1902)
two cannibals are eating a clown. one turns to the other and says "does this taste funny to you?"
Nevertheless, perhaps we'll see an article in the future to see the conclusion after more comparisons between the two papers and further research. It's an interesting topic, to say the least.
Fun Zoid RPG
Johnny, eat your Steven. It's good for the gene pool....or not...
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
Because taboos are mostly irrational attitudes, the ways each culture chooses to be irrational are different and varied.
That is not to say that some taboos may not be rooted in some practical fact, but more often than not they are nonsense.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
By the by sometime poeple ate people for because otherwise their diet would lack proteins and other important nutrients, ancient American tribes for instance (think Aztecs, Toltecs or Maya's)
All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.
Now there is hufu, the healthy human flesh alternative for the ethically inclined cannibal: http://www.eathufu.com/faq.asp
I ate the last one
Two cannibals walk into a restauraunt and take a seat. A nervous waiter explains that the only thing the restauraunt could possibly offer them is a missionary from Prague willing to sacrifice himself. The cannibals exchange glances and one tells the waiter "Yeah, I guess we could split the Czech."
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not entirely sure about the universe - Einstein
This story points out, once again, how the media and other Mauraders - (definition from Mark Cuban) - mis-use the word "scientific".
More often than not - pronouncements in the staus quo media as well as the so-called alternative media - write stories about one thing or another - so that it appears to be "scientific" - but in fact is simply a - "notion"!
Scientific is simple - means proven by the "scienific method" -and the proof replicated by others using the "scientific method". More often than not - the so-called science (or medical) research doesn't even follow the scientific method. And even worse - the results are never replicated to see if the original research was accurate.
The list of the failures is endless - the most glaring example is that HIV is the sole cause of auto immune dis-eases.
By the way - here's the five key criteria for the "scientific method":
1. Observation and description of a phenomenon or group of phenomena. 2. Formulation of an hypothesis to explain the phenomena. In physics, the hypothesis often takes the form of a causal mechanism or a mathematical relation. 3. Use of the hypothesis to predict the existence of other phenomena, or to predict quantitatively the results of new observations. 4. Performance of experimental tests of the predictions by originator of the hypothesis with properly performed experiments. 5.Replication of the experimental tests of the predictions by several independent experimenters and properly performed experiments.
Dear Sir,
I am glad to hear that your readership disapprove of this article as strongly as I. As a loyal reader and paying subscriber, I abhor the implication that Slashdot.org is a haven for cannibalism.
It is well known that we now have the problem relatively under control, and that it is Kuro5hin.org who now suffer the largest casualties in this area.
And what do you think the Argylls ate in Aden. Arabs?
Yours etc.
Zontar T. Mindless (in a white wine sauce with shallots, mushrooms and garlic)
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
Given the fact that some of our distant relations, e.g. Chimpanzees, still kill and eat humans if they can, it doesn't surprise me that early humans might have done this as well. It probably was never a food of choice but was a 'meal of opportunity' so to speak. In addition, there could also be another reason behind the cannabalism: ritual. Many primitive cultures had rituals in which they eat animal parts in order to obtain some of that animal's powers and it isn't much of a stretch to assume ritualized cannabalism of vanquished enemies was practiced as well by early humans. We certainly know men have been killing each other for a long, long time and show no signs of developing a distaste for it (no pun intended). Even today, some Asians consume tiger genitalia and other animal parts for certain perceived benefits which probably has an origin in those rituals. The patterns seem clear enough, but it isn't very politically correct in the most religious of industrialized nations to point out man's animal orgins so I expect significant resources will be brought to bear to dissprove this even if fabrication is necessary.
Enslaving people with no souls cannot possibly be a sin, can it? Therefore there existed an incentive to find all sorts of evidence of cannibalism among tribes in distant lands.
We decided to cut back on our fatty missionary intake and went vegetarian altogether - although there certainly was a time I would have eaten you. Young guy like you, not too much muscle... I'd probably marinate you in white wine for forty-five minutes... dip you in a light corn batter... wrap you in banana leaves and bury you in a pit with a hundred hot coals... let you roast overnight. Then I'd serve you on a bed of basmati rice... with a garnish of shitake mushrooms and shallots. Mmmmmmm...
Circumcision is child abuse.
Soylent Green! It makes its own gravy!
"Polynesian" is not a specific nationality, but a supranational cultural/ethnic group. As the name implies, it encompasses many widespread Pacific islands and their related languages and cultures. Hawaiians and Maoris are both subsets of the Polynesians. So are the original inhabitants of Tahiti, Samoa, Fiji, Easter Island, the Marquesas, Tonga, Niue, Tuvalu, and about 1000 more islands.
A few of the Polynesians were definitely cannibals, e.g. Maoris, Marquesans, and Fijians. The Tongans, Niueans, and Hawaiians, among others, have been accused of it, but there is little supporting evidence.
The Hawaiians themselves insist that they never practiced cannibalism and consider the allegation insulting. They did perform human sacrifice and kept relics of the dead, but they did not actually consume any part of their victims.
-ccm
Too much Law; not enough Order.
Kuru (a common prion disease from cannibalism) is also known as Laughing Death. That's right.. I've got my eye on you laughers and I know what you're up to. You know who you are.
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere