tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3674475728195095319.post3699403801415495046..comments2024-03-28T14:38:25.719+11:00Comments on The Adventurerer: Dear Scientific reporting: You suck.harryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10218346748576276702noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3674475728195095319.post-85218216464907136442011-06-08T21:31:37.438+10:002011-06-08T21:31:37.438+10:00*chortle*
Wow, I love the concept of a 'stifl...*chortle*<br /><br />Wow, I love the concept of a 'stifle'.<br /><br />[runs away before any discussion begins]Ampersand Duckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12245377686193859488noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3674475728195095319.post-39159188519176019922011-06-08T15:49:24.873+10:002011-06-08T15:49:24.873+10:00"Who the fuck fights when kneeling?"
Cu..."Who the fuck fights when kneeling?"<br /><br />Cue: discussion of SCA playfighting rules.<br /><br />*runs away*<br />.<br />*googles*<br />.<br />*runs back*<br /><br />The "knee" of most quadrupeds is called a "stifle". <br /><br />Cue: discussion of Stifler's Mom [fully sic] kneeling.<br /><br />*runs away again*Fyodorhttp://alizaybak.netnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3674475728195095319.post-9886493516482167042011-06-07T12:15:56.000+10:002011-06-07T12:15:56.000+10:00And what is this thing about kneeling? Who the fuc...And what is this thing about kneeling? Who the fuck fights when kneeling? Do animals kneel? Many of them don't even have knees, just weird ankley joint thingies (using my large brain capacity for vocabulary again)...Ampersand Duckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12245377686193859488noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3674475728195095319.post-89848155021495450092011-05-27T16:29:19.023+10:002011-05-27T16:29:19.023+10:00*nods, nods, gets distracted by busty barmaid**nods, nods, gets distracted by busty barmaid*Fyodorhttp://alizaybak.netnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3674475728195095319.post-90422770780097923902011-05-27T11:44:37.999+10:002011-05-27T11:44:37.999+10:00Well, quite. Also, looking at the fossil record y...Well, quite. Also, looking at the fossil record you see a trend for homonids to get taller from, say, four feet to over six feet. Also, robust forms give way to gracile forms. There is no skeletal trend to suggest any sort of hand-to-hand combat selection pressure. So, why he should suddenly think that punching was important is a mystery - even before you start thinking about how stupid an idea it is, the complete lack of evidence to start with makes the theory even more baffling.<br /><br />Tallness = good nutrition = better disease fighting when young = better chance of producing viable offspring etc is easy to find evidence for.<br />Even as late as the 1940s you can read accounts of British troops from industrial cities meeting Antipodean troops and marvelling at how tall and fit they are. These men are extremely closely related - perhaps even only by one generation or so - and the effect of good nutrition is evident. And this was before the science of nutrition really got started, so this is much more applicable evidence than using highly trained boxers to provide data.<br /><br />Interestingly the UFC underwent a rapid selection process that now sees almost all fighters using a combination of Brazilian Jujitsu and Muy Thai. Now how much of that, do you reckon, is downward directed punches? Almost none. And how much is non-punch fighting ie grappling, wrestling and kicking? Most of it.<br />If you want an analogue to hominid fighting then UFC is closer than highly formalised boxing: and you can see it in chimp fighting which looks much more like UFC than it does boxing.harryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10218346748576276702noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3674475728195095319.post-91029526181681097952011-05-25T15:21:57.481+10:002011-05-25T15:21:57.481+10:00Yah. The whole thing stinks of a biased preconcept...Yah. The whole thing stinks of a biased preconception desperately seeking a supporting theory.<br /><br />WV: "bingfu" - getting that last dollar off the washing machine at Bing Lee.Fyodorhttp://alizaybak.netnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3674475728195095319.post-23772745722692820092011-05-24T01:07:31.771+10:002011-05-24T01:07:31.771+10:00Well a "better" explanation would be tha...Well a "better" explanation would be that the height faeries exude magic pheromones that float downward and are diluted into a homeopathic love potion in the tear ducts of shorter women.<br /><br />At least that wouldn't be pretending to be science.<br /><br />(I also like the various assumptions that: 1) you always punch your opponent in the head, 2) you always aim a downward blow at someone shorter than you, and an upward blow at someone taller, and 3) the fact that he's collected some data about punch force in any way proves a correlation between punch force and... anything.)anti obhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02853494819364588013noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3674475728195095319.post-40261950446704898292011-05-23T11:06:22.529+10:002011-05-23T11:06:22.529+10:00I wrote the wittiest, most astute and concise epig...I wrote the wittiest, most astute and concise epigram ever to have graced a screen...but the blog ate my homework, thus am I reduced to making do with the following crapola.<br /><br />The thing I found hilarious about this "research" is that the entire hypothesis relies upon the assumption that unarmed combat is determined by punching. It's a ridiculous assumption for two reasons: first is that the human hand has small fragile bones that are optimised for manipulation, e.g. tools [weapons, anyone?], not hitting things. The bones in the human head, for instance, are stronger than those in the hand. For that reason alone there is very little historical evidence of a successful martial art built around bareknuckle punching. Boxing/pugilism has only evolved where fighters were allowed to protect their hands, which rules out an evolutionary explanation.<br /><br />The second, and probably more important issue, is that wrestling/grappling forms of combat are historically far more prevalent and successful than those built solely around punching, as the last two decades of mixed martial arts shows. The idea that punching effectiveness due to height has anything to do with evolutionary success is just bollocks. <br /><br />A better explanation is that height correlates better with general health and social standing.Fyodorhttp://alizaybak.netnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3674475728195095319.post-2298905025598246292011-05-23T09:51:04.908+10:002011-05-23T09:51:04.908+10:00I have taken to writing blogger replies in noteboo...I have taken to writing blogger replies in notebook first. Then copy and pasting. Learned the hard way just like you did just now.harryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10218346748576276702noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3674475728195095319.post-22187589410459837722011-05-21T02:23:39.833+10:002011-05-21T02:23:39.833+10:00Dear Blogger comments; you suck too.
I wrote a bi...Dear Blogger comments; you suck too.<br /><br />I wrote a big long comment linking the the original paper and mocking Carrier and the SMH even more, but Blogger appears to have eaten it. Unless it suddenly turns up later, but its been nearly half an hour...anti obhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02853494819364588013noreply@blogger.com