razib | November 6, 2006I recently re-read the Epic of Gilgamesh. This translation was particularly helpful in that there were notations next to passages with clear parallels in the Hebrew Bible (in Genesis). I thought about this when I watched a YouTube clip of Richard Dawkins confront Ted Haggard last year about his beliefs. Haggard, a successful pastor, seemed totally oblivious to the outside world in his intellectal worldview. For example, he states that there are "no contradictions in the Bible," a work "written over 1,500 years by 40 authors." And yet reading the Epic of Gilgamesh how could one not but…
razib | November 6, 2006Neandertals and moderns mixed, and it matters:
Twenty-five years ago, the Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic transition in Europe could be represented as a straightforward process subsuming both the emergence of symbolic behavior and the replacement of Neandertals by modern humans...Over the last decade, however, taphonomic critiques of the archeology of the transition have made it clear that, in Europe, fully symbolic sapiens behavior predates both the Aurignacian and moderns. And, in line with evidence from the nuclear genome rejecting strict replacement models based on mtDNA alone, the small…
razib | November 5, 2006Hawks on Neandertal introgression:
The bottom line is that the bones are modern (i.e., not Neandertal), but they include features that are common in Neandertals. Almost all the other European bones of early Upper Paleolithic date also have Neandertal features. The number and frequency of such features in this earliest Upper Paleolithic sample are greater than in any later sample.
In other words, they look like they have genes from Neandertals. And those genes declined in frequency or effect over time.
Info on specific genes coming soon....
razib | November 4, 2006Saudi court sentences rape victim to 90 lashes
A Saudi court has sentenced a gang rape victim to 90 lashes of the whip because she was alone in a car with a man to whom she was not married.
The sentence was passed at the end of a trial in which the al- Qateef high criminal court convicted four Saudis convicted of the rape, sentencing them to prison terms and a total of 2,230 lashes.
The four, all married, were sentenced respectively to five years and 1,000 lashes, four years and 800 lashes, four years and 350 lashes, and one year and 80 lashes.
A fifth, married, man who was stated to have…
razib | November 4, 2006Interesting piece in The Guardian about the problems that a Catholic revivalist group is making in the pagan-rich town of Glastonbury via heckling and intimidation. In Korea scholar Frank Tedesco has long chronicled the assault which Buddhism has faced from evangelical Christians. In Brazil the rise of charismatic evangelical Christianity has witnessed violence against followers of Afro-Brazilian cults, as well as symbolic destruction of Roman Catholic statuary. Of course in the first story it seems that the local cleric responded in anger at the actions of vigilantes, but it is important…
razib | November 3, 2006This week's Ask a ScienceBlogger:
What's the most important local political race to you this year (as a citizen, as a scientist)?...
I want to Harlold Ford Jr. to win in Tennessee to show that there's no harm in a man of color having a taste for white women. This is personal, I want my life choices to be validated!
(and hey, if a pink-faced high yellow brother like Harold is raising eyebrows what does that say about Mr. Cinnamon adding a little flavor to whole milk?)
razib | November 3, 2006Q: Is it permissible for white men to rap?
A: There are no hadiths which state the prophet's opinion of white men rapping (P.B.U.H). But, we can apply our reason in light of the evidence to this question. In the year 1413 A.H. a white man produced a reggae themed "rap" single which force us to state that it is impermissible for a believing white man to rap. Additionally, it is impermissible for believers to listen to the rapping of a white kuffar rapper. This ruling does not apply to the white rapper Marshall Mathers, for a whom a special dispensation is granted due to the felicitousness…
razib | November 3, 2006Islam Online is one of the top 1,000 sites on the net according to Alexa. Every Friday I will offer a "taste" of learned commentary from that website for your edification. Today, apostates, or irtidad.
Dr. Yusuf Al-Qaradawi "is a world-renowned scholar and head of the European Council for Fatwa and Research (ECFR) and president of the International Union for Muslim Scholars (IUMS)." He has been involved in the InterFaith Cultural Organization. Dr. Qaradawi says:
The greatest kind of danger that faces Muslims is that which threatens their moral aspect of existence, i.e., their belief.…
razib | November 2, 2006"And say to the believing katz that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what (must ordinarily) appear thereof; that they should draw their veils over their fur ... " [24:31]
razib | November 2, 2006Aisha points me to this new report about sexuality worldwide:
However, those reporting multiple partners were much higher in developed countries - up to a third of under 25s in some areas - whereas only a small percentage in Africa reported the same.
And among singletons, westerners were more sexually active as well.
Two thirds of men and women without a partner in African countries reported they had had sex recently, compared to three quarters of those in developed countries.
Damn...paleface be hittin' it.
razib | November 2, 2006Yes. Ted Haggard might be gay. So what? Robert Wright his gay too, he's obviously falling in love with Henry Farrell. And there are other gay people out there....
razib | November 2, 2006This Moral Politics quiz said I was a progressive liberal. I wasn't happy with that result, so I retook the Politopia test which tagged me as a a "centrist." I wanted to look for a test which would label me as a libertarian, but I'm tired, so another time....
razib | November 2, 2006I predict that the Democrats will be pick up 22 seats in the House and 5 seats in the Senate. These are uneducated guesses, but, if I'm close I'll pretend that I had reasons to make these guesses after the election and generate a bunch of after the fact justifications for my random guess based on convential wisdom. This post will be far enough down the page that newbies won't notice my bullshit.
razib | November 2, 2006Over at my other blog another post on the veil. Also, check out the interview with Ingrid Mattson, head of the Islamic Society of North America. She has some pragmatic things to say about the veil, and the reality of living in a non-Muslim social context where the old rules no longer apply. Mattson is not a "moderate" in my opinion, I recall her being interviewed and stating that she rejected demonization of the Salafi position because she sees it as primal and originalist. Of course, Salafism is more diverse than terrorism, but it gives one a flavor her viewpoint.
razib | November 1, 2006John Hawks says:
So keep on coming by -- I guarantee there will be some very interesting stuff in the next two months.
Things that make you go hhhmmm....
Well, go this symposium:
Salk Institute for Biological Studies DeHoffmann Auditorium
Friday, November 3, 2006
2:30 - 2:50: John Hawks, "Combining morphology and population genetics"
2:50 - 3:10: Henry Harpending, "Molecular genetics of modern humans and Neanderthals"
Details @ Hawks' place.
razib | November 1, 2006Modern Humans, Neanderthals May Have Interbred:
"To me, what happened is that the Neanderthals were [genetically] absorbed into and overwhelmed by modern humans coming into Europe from Africa, and they disappeared through this absorption," Trinkaus said.
...
Examining the bones, Trinkaus discovered certain features that he believes are Neanderthal elements incorporated into this early Homo sapien.
Features at the back of the woman's skull and in her lower jaw, especially, "are found in high frequency in Neanderthals" but are absent in bones from older groups of Homo sapiens from Africa, he…