Greg Laden's Blog

Primitive Cultures are Simple, Civilization is Complex (A falsehood) I

Category: Falsehoods

I'd like to offer a way of thinking about the difference between what we call "civilization" and what some people call "primitive cultures" that will be more useful and less falsehood-prone

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Posted by Greg Laden at 1:54 PM • 39 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Reading Human Nature

Category: Anthropology

A short list of foundational readings in ethnography for the Evolutionary Anthropologist.

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Posted by Greg Laden at 12:50 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Silence of the muffins.

Category: Blogging

The muffins. They are silent....The brownies. They are made of hemp.

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Posted by Greg Laden at 4:40 PM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Mail Order Brides and Hypergyny

Category: Anthropology

I've noticed that Scienceblogs.com has been running ads for hot Russian mail order brides. These ads are rather funny ...

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Posted by Greg Laden at 12:01 AM • 11 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Emailing Habits And Diurnal Patterning

Category: Ethnography

Duncan Watts at Yahoo Research in New York City and a few pals studied the time of day at which around 3000 individuals at a European university sent emails over an 83-day period as well as the email habits of over 122,000 e-mailers at a...

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Posted by Greg Laden at 8:16 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Amazon Dot Com is a different kind of thing

Category: Ethnography

Amazon Dot Com is a public utility. Make them do the right thing.

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Posted by Greg Laden at 8:58 PM • 25 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

The Four Stone Hearth Blog Carnival: October 22nd edition.

Welcome to the 22 October Edition of the Four Stone Hearth Anthropology Blog Carnival. The previous edition of this carnival was on Clashing Culture. The Home Page of Four Stone Hearth is here, and the next edition will be at Archaeoporn. And now, on with...

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Posted by Greg Laden at 7:28 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Cultural Evolution from Mosquitos to Worm Grunting

A very good day of grunting worms. Credit: Ken Catania So-called Gene-Culture Co-Evolution can be very obvious and direct or it can be very subtle and complex. In almost all cases, the details defy the usual presumptions people make about the utility of culture,...

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Posted by Greg Laden at 10:06 PM • 18 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Hurricane Kyle Is Going Down East

To go "down east" is to go "to Maine" ... or if you are already in Maine, to go to the "real" Maine. As you drive down east on Route One, you can see the transition as clear as the gull shit on Schooner Head....

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Posted by Greg Laden at 10:50 AM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

The Origins of the Evil Eye and Horticultural Fertility Cults?

Are certain ancient artifacts from West Asia evidence of the earliest horticulture related fertility rituals, and belief in the Evil Eye?

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Posted by Greg Laden at 1:14 PM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks