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Author Topic: Human beings close to extinction
Mohamad Khan
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Babbler # 1752

posted 10 June 2003 02:06 AM      Profile for Mohamad Khan   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Humans may have come close to extinction about 70,000 years ago, according to the latest genetic research.

The study suggests that at one point there may have been only 2,000 individuals alive as our species teetered on the brink.


BBC

i'm sure nobody would have missed us.


From: "Glorified Harlem": Morningside Heights, NYC | Registered: Nov 2001  |  IP: Logged
TommyPaineatWork
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 2956

posted 10 June 2003 02:29 AM      Profile for TommyPaineatWork     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Unlike our close genetic relatives - chimps - all humans have virtually identical DNA. In fact, one group of chimps can have more genetic diversity than all of the six billion humans alive today.

dang it, y'all just knowed they was a'laughin' at us all this time....


From: London | Registered: Aug 2002  |  IP: Logged
lagatta
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 2534

posted 10 June 2003 03:13 AM      Profile for lagatta     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
How about us pussycats?
From: Se non ora, quando? | Registered: Apr 2002  |  IP: Logged
TommyPaineatWork
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Babbler # 2956

posted 10 June 2003 03:34 AM      Profile for TommyPaineatWork     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
A recent local study indicates there is less genetic diversity the further EOA one is. In fact, East of Highbury, there's no genetic diversity at all.
From: London | Registered: Aug 2002  |  IP: Logged
speechpoet
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Babbler # 3693

posted 10 June 2003 03:59 AM      Profile for speechpoet     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
i'm sure nobody would have missed us.

Oh, somewhere, sometime there would have been a beetle larva trying desperately to avoid the probing of an ivory-billed woodpecker and thinking, "I kinda miss them wacky hairless apes."

And Labrador Retrievers living out their entire existences next to their food bowls, wondering "Where the hell's my kibble?"


From: Sunny Vancouver | Registered: Feb 2003  |  IP: Logged
Flowers By Irene
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Babbler # 3012

posted 10 June 2003 04:15 AM      Profile for Flowers By Irene     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
A recent local study indicates there is less genetic diversity the further EOA one is. In fact, East of Highbury, there's no genetic diversity at all.

Hey! I resemble that remark.

Ed: I mean, I resent that remark.

[ 10 June 2003: Message edited by: Flowers By Irene ]


From: "To ignore the facts, does not change the facts." -- Andy Rooney | Registered: Aug 2002  |  IP: Logged
TommyPaineatWork
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posted 10 June 2003 05:53 AM      Profile for TommyPaineatWork     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Actually, I've been having a good time pointing out to Rebecca how WOA Londoners routinely fail the four way stop I.Q. test, and how they really don't merit all those railway underpasses/overpasses and such.

but we digress.


Actually, while there are many species that have not done so well adjusting to us, there are also many that have done well.

Either way, we've been noticed, and in the game of evolution the only thing worse than being noticed, is not being noticed.

Anyone notice any mastadons lately?

See.


From: London | Registered: Aug 2002  |  IP: Logged
Flowers By Irene
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posted 10 June 2003 06:34 AM      Profile for Flowers By Irene     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Nope, no Mastadon's 'round these parts. No (Oscar)Wildebeests, either. Well, I heard about one, but nobody got a picture so judgement reserved...

Speaking of endangered species, try walking lately? It seems that quite too many London drivers have interpreted "pedestrian right-of-way" as "pedestrians getouttamyway"


From: "To ignore the facts, does not change the facts." -- Andy Rooney | Registered: Aug 2002  |  IP: Logged
Jimmy Brogan
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posted 11 June 2003 10:58 AM      Profile for Jimmy Brogan   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Another piece of the puzzle

Edited to the correct link.

[ 11 June 2003: Message edited by: JimmyBrogan ]


From: The right choice - Iggy Thumbscrews for Liberal leader | Registered: Nov 2002  |  IP: Logged
Rebecca West
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posted 11 June 2003 02:10 PM      Profile for Rebecca West     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Actually, I've been having a good time pointing out to Rebecca how WOA Londoners routinely fail the four way stop I.Q. test, and how they really don't merit all those railway underpasses/overpasses and such.
Logic would dictate that the reason we have those railway overpasses is because we fail the four-way stop IQ. However, a survey of Tommy's driving behavior should note that his incidents of road rage occur equally EOA and WOA. The logical conclusion is that Tommy is constructing a spurious class argument for driving ability, and all Londoners are equally crappy drivers, regardless of where they drive, and should take lessons from people who used to live in Toronto, where driving is really complicated.

Not me, of course. I don't drive. But as a pedestrian here, I am tempted to carry a long stick. The next time one of these bloody cyclists, who never ride on the fucking road where they belong, almost plows me/my toddler down, in the spokes the stick goes.


From: London , Ontario - homogeneous maximus | Registered: Nov 2001  |  IP: Logged
WingNut
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posted 11 June 2003 02:29 PM      Profile for WingNut   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
As an EOA'er, er, ???

... I'll be back when I figure that out ...


From: Out There | Registered: Aug 2001  |  IP: Logged
WingNut
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posted 11 June 2003 02:30 PM      Profile for WingNut   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
As an East of Adelaider ... Adelaidian? ... damn!
From: Out There | Registered: Aug 2001  |  IP: Logged
Rebecca West
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posted 11 June 2003 02:57 PM      Profile for Rebecca West     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
East of Adelaide. By Tommy's definition, working-class heroes and superlative operators of motor vehicles, the lot.
From: London , Ontario - homogeneous maximus | Registered: Nov 2001  |  IP: Logged
Michelle
Moderator
Babbler # 560

posted 11 June 2003 07:49 PM      Profile for Michelle   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Sounds like what in Kingston are referred to as "NOPS" - North Of Princess Street.
From: I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
Timebandit
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posted 11 June 2003 08:06 PM      Profile for Timebandit     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
We just have North-end and South-end, as do most prairie towns (railcars unload on the north side of the tracks, where the warehouses are, so uppity neighborhoods originally sprang up on the south side of the tracks, and poorer ones on the north side). Although some have referred to North-of-Dewdney hair in my presence. One at least had the courtesy to blush and stammer when informed of the location of my parents' home -- apparently I "don't look like a north-ender".
From: Urban prairie. | Registered: Sep 2001  |  IP: Logged
TommyPaineatWork
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Babbler # 2956

posted 12 June 2003 01:47 AM      Profile for TommyPaineatWork     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
From the Globe Article,

quote:
Mr. White said two of the skulls appear to have been scraped clean of flesh, suggesting an ancient mortuary practice, or possibly cannibalism.

Scattered across the same area were thousands of stone tools, including hand axes, along with the butchered bones of hippopotamus and antelope.

Mr. White said the site, once the lush shoreline of a large lake, was probably a seasonal foraging ground for the humans.


Good science; it raises as many or more questions than it answers.


quote:
However, a survey of Tommy's driving behavior should note that his incidents of road rage occur equally EOA and WOA. The logical conclusion is that Tommy is constructing a spurious class argument for driving ability, and all Londoners are equally crappy drivers, regardless of where they drive, and should take lessons from people who used to live in Toronto, where driving is really complicated.

Not at all. The drivers who try my patience EOA are WOA drivers on their way home or going to work, or looking for a Tim Horton's drive through so they can order sandwiches, then change their mind, and order something else at the window, then argue about the change they get.

Spurious, HA!

[ 12 June 2003: Message edited by: TommyPaineatWork ]


From: London | Registered: Aug 2002  |  IP: Logged
Trinitty
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 826

posted 12 June 2003 01:05 PM      Profile for Trinitty     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Does this coincide with the gigantic volcanic eruption scientists believe to have occured thens of thousands of years ago? I forget the name of it, it was off of the Coast of south west Africa, if I remember right, and it was said to ahve reduced human numbers to 2000 or less. I'll look it up.
From: Europa | Registered: Jun 2001  |  IP: Logged

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