There are several possibilities but I doubt if melanin content of the skin helps you run faster. It reduces UV damage and decreases folic acid breakdown in the body.
There is a theory that the slave ships preferentially selected for some physical characteristics in a small segment of the West African population. That would be consistent with the facts but is not definitive proof. There's also similar theories about the oxygen capacities of some East African tribes, and we know that people in the Andes are better at surviving low oxygen tension, although some of this may be natural adaption rather than being genetic. And to complicate matters further, some epigenetic characteristics can have an effect.
The epigenetic feature are particularly interesting. The Dutch winter starvation of 1944/45 and it's effects on the pregnant women and subsequent generations are worth googling. For once, there is some good robust data.
I've also heard differing levels of testosterone, between races, might be a factor. Not sure if that is true.
The fascinating case is Ashkenazi Jews, and their average IQ of 115. This is so out of whack with average IQs, i.e. one entire standard deviation - it cannot be explained by them four by twos doin' so much book learnin' last year.
It must be "evolutionary"?
In which case we can speculate that persecution of the Jews, from Romans to Nazis, had the perverse effect of ensuring only the smartest, most scholastic Jews survived, significantly raising their average IQ, and ensuring that super clever Jews run the world through a fiendish conspiracy of evil geniuses/have a surprising influence in global geopolitics despite a small population (delete as you feel appropriate)
You could use that as the basis for a torture-thriller.
History shows that it is the elite, mostly the intellectuals, that are the first to be culled. Outwith the battlefields of France the plebs are most likely to survive....
This is so untrue it deserves a special category of ultra-untruthiness.
There are several possibilities but I doubt if melanin content of the skin helps you run faster. It reduces UV damage and decreases folic acid breakdown in the body.
There is a theory that the slave ships preferentially selected for some physical characteristics in a small segment of the West African population. That would be consistent with the facts but is not definitive proof. There's also similar theories about the oxygen capacities of some East African tribes, and we know that people in the Andes are better at surviving low oxygen tension, although some of this may be natural adaption rather than being genetic. And to complicate matters further, some epigenetic characteristics can have an effect.
The epigenetic feature are particularly interesting. The Dutch winter starvation of 1944/45 and it's effects on the pregnant women and subsequent generations are worth googling. For once, there is some good robust data.
I've also heard differing levels of testosterone, between races, might be a factor. Not sure if that is true.
The fascinating case is Ashkenazi Jews, and their average IQ of 115. This is so out of whack with average IQs, i.e. one entire standard deviation - it cannot be explained by them four by twos doin' so much book learnin' last year.
It must be "evolutionary"?
In which case we can speculate that persecution of the Jews, from Romans to Nazis, had the perverse effect of ensuring only the smartest, most scholastic Jews survived, significantly raising their average IQ, and ensuring that super clever Jews run the world through a fiendish conspiracy of evil geniuses/have a surprising influence in global geopolitics despite a small population (delete as you feel appropriate)
You could use that as the basis for a torture-thriller.
lol. I could.
oops! I did.
Sean
I'd be interested in reading your thoughts on the BBC's barrel scraping return of 'Open All Hours'.
Is that the sort of comedy renaissance you've been calling for ?
There are several possibilities but I doubt if melanin content of the skin helps you run faster. It reduces UV damage and decreases folic acid breakdown in the body.
There is a theory that the slave ships preferentially selected for some physical characteristics in a small segment of the West African population. That would be consistent with the facts but is not definitive proof. There's also similar theories about the oxygen capacities of some East African tribes, and we know that people in the Andes are better at surviving low oxygen tension, although some of this may be natural adaption rather than being genetic. And to complicate matters further, some epigenetic characteristics can have an effect.
The epigenetic feature are particularly interesting. The Dutch winter starvation of 1944/45 and it's effects on the pregnant women and subsequent generations are worth googling. For once, there is some good robust data.
I've also heard differing levels of testosterone, between races, might be a factor. Not sure if that is true.
The fascinating case is Ashkenazi Jews, and their average IQ of 115. This is so out of whack with average IQs, i.e. one entire standard deviation - it cannot be explained by them four by twos doin' so much book learnin' last year.
It must be "evolutionary"?
In which case we can speculate that persecution of the Jews, from Romans to Nazis, had the perverse effect of ensuring only the smartest, most scholastic Jews survived, significantly raising their average IQ, and ensuring that super clever Jews run the world through a fiendish conspiracy of evil geniuses/have a surprising influence in global geopolitics despite a small population (delete as you feel appropriate)
You could use that as the basis for a torture-thriller.
lol. I could.
oops! I did.
Sean
I'd be interested in reading your thoughts on the BBC's barrel scraping return of 'Open All Hours'.
Is that the sort of comedy renaissance you've been calling for ?
Dad's Army is still funnier than David Mitchell so maybe yes.
Its losing £2M a year - not sure how it can turn that around ?
The crap location is a massive factor and Edinburgh has had a lot of recent investment (not flow to Glasgow for years so can't comment).
Why do you need Glasgow International (?) and Prestwick?
I think the 50% drop in traffic at Prestwick might answer that question.
Ryanair still fly there and some charters - thats about it.
Not to mention Aberdeen, Dundee and Inverness - plus the island "airports".
Scotland does is not short of airports..
Prestwick is an Airport too far,taking it into state ownership will not solve it,the market will,good luck to the Scottish in trying to make it work. Meanwhile just packing for a Ryanair flight,got to be careful to avoid the checkers as you board,in case you get a last minute surcharge.
"Over the past thirty years, a new breed of “anthropometric historians” has tracked how populations around the world have changed in stature. Height, they’ve concluded, is a kind of biological shorthand: a composite code for all the factors that make up a society’s well-being. Height variations within a population are largely genetic, but height variations between populations are mostly environmental, anthropometric history suggests. If Joe is taller than Jack, it’s probably because his parents are taller. But if the average Norwegian is taller than the average Nigerian it’s because Norwegians live healthier lives. That’s why the United Nations now uses height to monitor nutrition in developing countries. In our height lies the tale of our birth and upbringing, of our social class, daily diet, and health-care coverage. In our height lies our history."
Tim: "Jeff Randall covering the insanity of help to buy"
"
Not show the show went as tim intended
Randall Team @JeffRandallLive 1h Charles Haresnape, Aldermore Bank: 95% loans were relatively common pre the crash, and very responsibly managed #helptobuy
Randall Team @JeffRandallLive 1h Charles Haresnape, Aldermore Bank: I think a housing bubble is completely overplayed as a proposition #helptobuy
Randall Team @JeffRandallLive 1h Charles Haresnape, MD Aldermore Mortgages: More demand will create supply in the housing market #helptobuy
The bloke selling the mortgages likes Help To Buy because the taxpayer takes the risk. As was pointed out.
No, tim.
What it tells us is that the cost to the banks of buying risk insurance from the government is less than the cost of raising new capital to secure the risk on the banks' own books.
As regards height, I can see it would reflect basic food supply and health care in developing countries. To achieve your true "genetic" height, you need adequate protein, vitamin D and a lack of debilitating illnesses. These three may be lacking in third world countries.
But the USA is sunny, is Burger country, and may only lack number three. Although a "poor" lifestyle could also be to blame. The obesity epidemic doesn't suggest the total food supply is deficient.
Your genes show your height potential, your lifestyle defines it.
Anyway, being tall isn't necessarily good. Maximinus was a tall emperor (I did have to check Wikipedia for this, but one source had him at over 8'), and also a thug.
I'm pretty equivocal on Help to Buy - I'd use it if I needed it and, from a pointlessly futile but feelgood POV, it's causing my house price to rocket - up £7k since I bought it in the summer. But it's clearly a demand-side measure when the problem is lack of supply. What's it like for FTBs who HAVE deposits? Presumably some will now be priced out of the market due to crowding over available properties?
I'd be interested in reading your thoughts on the BBC's barrel scraping return of 'Open All Hours'.
Is that the sort of comedy renaissance you've been calling for ?
It's desperate, isn't it?
It is now very difficult to see any field in which the BBC excels, other than perhaps nature documentaries, and the odd radio programme, and a mildly nice website. Everything else is pitiful: the current affairs, the comedy, the drama.
AND FOR THIS WE PAY, AS A NATION, 3.5 BILLION, BY POLL TAX
What's so depressing is that the UK oozes with creative/journalistic talent, but the BBC is now so destructively dominant, it crushes the life out of alternative voices. It is incredible, and yet eye-opening, how so many lefties refuse to admit this, as they are so keen to have the BBC's wet liberal voice smothering everything that might possibly dissent.
That said, I thought Jennifer Saunders' anti-BBC tirade today was significant. The first time a certified luvvie has stated the bleedin' obvious. The BBC is failing, horribly.
Shut up with all this BBC bashing. We've just spent an hour glorying in the food-porn that is Great British Bake Off, revelling in their glorious creations.
And if the truth be told, revelling in the glorious creation that is Ruby. A stunningly beautiful woman.
I see the EU also banned packets of 10 ciggies today - is that a gateway amount of fags ?
I've pretty much switched to e-cigs. Very impressive and the tech should only get better
Obviously, why do you think single cig sales are banned?
You didn't used to be this error prone, what happened?
Perhaps they should just er - ban cigarettes ?
Why? Methods of reducing smoking are working well, despite Lynton Crosby and David Cameron's rearguard action to protect the interests of tobacco companies.
I've pretty much converted to e-cigs - very impressive
Mr. 1000, I missed your response to me earlier (just noticed it when I checked my profile).
I would say two things about that. First and foremost, the climate has always changed. Attributing the latest change to ourselves is the same sort of hubris that caused the medieval church to claim Earth was the centre of the universe. The climate scientists, perhaps slipping from a priori to a posteriori thinking as they abandon reason and logic for the one green faith, have gotten their predictions wrong, to a staggering degree, multiple times, but each false prophecy merely serves to reinforce their belief.
There's another factor, just as important. Regardless of whether or not global warming is true, it's simply not going to stop carbon emissions increasing. Millions of Chinese and Indians are rising from poverty to prosperity, and it's indefensible to argue that these people should dwell in squalor and that their nations should not build coal-fired power stations. If/when Africa starts kicking on that continent will be rife with the construction of power generation, and arguing against it is absolutely deluded.
Compared to the rise of China, India, Brazil and other nations the carbon emissions of the UK are absolutely paltry. If we listened to arch-greenists then we'd absolutely **** our own economy and even if they were actually right it'd make no difference to the global picture whatsoever.
Tim: "Jeff Randall covering the insanity of help to buy"
Have you ever owned your own house? Do you understand how difficult it is to get on the ladder without a deposit? Did Labour do anything to help people when they were in power for 13 years? Did Labour build enough council houses with all the taxes they collected for 13 years? Have Labour put any policies on that blank sheet of paper yet, apart from 3 the words "Anything you say Len"(Mc Cluskey)?
I suspect the answer to all questions is "No"
"Anything you say Len " is 4 words . Looks like the average IQ of pb.com posters has just decreased .
Indeed, Mark, it has now that we are graced with your presence.
Perhaps you could try and address Wayne's point rather than just picking up on a meaningless error and aggressively abusing a new poster?
Shut up with all this BBC bashing. We've just spent an hour glorying in the food-porn that is Great British Bake Off, revelling in their glorious creations.
And if the truth be told, revelling in the glorious creation that is Ruby. A stunningly beautiful woman.
I like a scone. I just don't see why I should be taxed to ensure the baking of such things is televised.
Okay, a question. How much of BBC's TV output do you watch a year, in hours? I know you spend a lot of time out of the country, so think of the radio and websites as well.
If you divvy it up by the licence fee, then it'd be hard to get cheaper entertainment. Take the cinema: 8 quid a person for two hours, at four quid an hour. £145 would buy you 18 films, or roughly 36 hours of entertainment. That's probably the same amount of time I spend watching F1 on BBC1. Some weeks I probably listen to that much of BBC Radio 4 or 5 whilst working.
True, going to the cinema is a social thing, but it's hard to find forms of entertainment cheaper than the BBC licence fee.
One of my biggest complaints about the BBC is they way they're leveraging their dominant position to break into other markets, but that's another matter.
But the BBC are screwed long-term as I've said passim, with new ways of disseminating information. It'll continue to exist, but in very different form.
So many of my past colleagues learnt to program via the BBC and government scheme ("a computer in every school"). Then again, I did work for Acorn for a while. ;-)
I'm pretty equivocal on Help to Buy - I'd use it if I needed it and, from a pointlessly futile but feelgood POV, it's causing my house price to rocket - up £7k since I bought it in the summer. But it's clearly a demand-side measure when the problem is lack of supply. What's it like for FTBs who HAVE deposits? Presumably some will now be priced out of the market due to crowding over available properties?
House prices are principally driven by the availability and cost of mortgage finance. This applies to almost all UK segments except prime property in central London where foreign buyers tend to pay in cash.
New builds account for only 8.5% of total property sales. The rate of new dwelling construction has therefore only a marginal effect on house prices.
Many house price indices, particularly those compiled by estate agents, are based on asking price rather than transaction price. Asking prices increase in line with consumer confidence in the housing market and the volume of pre-sales activity. Asking prices tend to be more volatile than transaction prices, with higher short term peaks. Media coverage of house price rises unsurprisingly picks on the peaks.
Valuations commissioned by bank lenders are key constraints on increases in completion prices. If surveyors take a documentary view of price rises in a particular location, i.e. derive their valuations from historical transaction prices rather than estate agents' claims of asking price levels, then valuation surveys will become an important determinant of pricing. It doesn't matter how much a seller asks for if a bank is not prepared to lend at that value.
The current mortgage market is flat: new lending is being matched by capital repayments. Volumes of mortgage approvals are rising, from 68,228 in July 69,642 in August, a 2.07% increase. But the average value per approval fell over the same period from £158,400 in July to £156,800 in August, a fall of 1.01%. The prior six month average mortgage approval value is £156,000.
The above BBA stats may demonstrate that a greater proportion of lower than average value, new build properties are being purchased, but they also show that the press and estate estate stories of "7%" rises are more hopeful thinking than reality.
@Morris - I think your usual construction of Mr Ajob is more elegant.
TAYQ I haven't tried either. An E-pipe sounds likes something from a Chris Morris sketch.
Try this when you get a chance... much the best in it's class
BAT launches nicotine inhaler
BRITAIN’S biggest tobacco company is gearing up to launch another alternative to cigarettes — a nicotine inhaler that it may market under the brand name Voke.
The device is the latest move by British American Tobacco to insure against a decline in cigarette smoking by offering so-called harm reduction products. It recently became the first British tobacco company to sell electronic cigarettes.
BAT is working on plans to bring the inhaler to market. It has registered the trade mark Voke, although the company refused to confirm that this will be the official name of the device. It said that the Voke tag is “just an idea” and that nothing had been decided.
Sure we have been here before but how is the ratio of black men to have run a sub 10sec 100m compared to white men explained?
Isnt there just one white bloke ever that's done it?
:anecdote:
Once caught some OU programme on Al-Beeb Zwei that stated that the average "African" * and "European" ** were - ahm, on average - the same height. The physical differences were explained as thus:
Africans had longer lower-limbs, and
"Europeans" had longer torsos
Maybe it is evolution: Lions and cheetahs are sprinters but bears are purely enduringly physical...?
*In the Sahal the African - apparently - see themselves as part Ayrab. *** ** Europeans are Indo-Ayrans, as any fool knows! [Turks are mongols, by-the-bye....] *** Better link into Mohammedian African thoughts....
I think the west african ethnicity of the top sprinters is a big factor - more fast twitch muscle fibres. Add to that generational selection working on the cotton and sugar plantations as slaves taken to the West Indies and the USA. Those plantations were to put it mildly 'hard' work, many died on the crossings too. So there has been darwinian fast forward evolution for 'superior' physical traits which has resulted in USA/West Indie isle dominance. Nigerians themselves are 'OK' at sprinting, but have not matched USA and Jamaica
@SeanT "Moreover, as a journalist, I have seen the way the publicly-funded, advert-free BBC is sucking the life out of newspapers that have to make a profit (so much so, even the Guardian is now complaining)."
That is the key point which is consistently ignored. How many people go to the BBC website for their 'news'. It has too much power.
Comments
Ryanair still fly there and some charters - thats about it.
Not to mention Aberdeen, Dundee and Inverness - plus the island "airports".
Scotland does is not short of airports..
http://www.scotsman.com/news/transport/scotland-s-regional-airports-record-passenger-rise-1-3131299?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highlands_and_Islands_Airports
I'd be interested in reading your thoughts on the BBC's barrel scraping return of 'Open All Hours'.
Is that the sort of comedy renaissance you've been calling for ?
'Did Labour do anything to help people when they were in power for 13 years?'
Yes,allowed Northern Rock 125% self certified mortgages.
http://www.glasgowprestwick.com/flight-and-passenger-info/flight-information/departures.html
They have cargo too I guess but hardly looks sustainable.
Sean T,
"This is so untrue it deserves a special category of ultra-untruthiness"
There's a famous phrase attributed to Wolfgang Pauli ... "That's not even wrong."
Meanwhile just packing for a Ryanair flight,got to be careful to avoid the checkers as you board,in case you get a last minute surcharge.
Mr. Isam, it's worth pointing out that Napoleon wasn't short. The fact he's renowned for being tiny is a testament to the work of British cartoonists.
Fortunately, I can't be bothered.
What it tells us is that the cost to the banks of buying risk insurance from the government is less than the cost of raising new capital to secure the risk on the banks' own books.
That's all.
As regards height, I can see it would reflect basic food supply and health care in developing countries. To achieve your true "genetic" height, you need adequate protein, vitamin D and a lack of debilitating illnesses. These three may be lacking in third world countries.
But the USA is sunny, is Burger country, and may only lack number three. Although a "poor" lifestyle could also be to blame. The obesity epidemic doesn't suggest the total food supply is deficient.
Your genes show your height potential, your lifestyle defines it.
Only just stopped laughing.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/ed-miliband/10364357/Ed-Miliband-could-be-the-PM-who-leads-us-out-of-Europe.html
And if the truth be told, revelling in the glorious creation that is Ruby. A stunningly beautiful woman.
http://thegreatbritishbakeoff.co.uk/bakers/ruby/
Reminding voters that Ed Balls has been a prophet of doom whose predictions don’t hold true will add to the sense that Labour just isn’t credible.
http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2013/10/imf-forecast-helps-tories-argue-that-voters-should-stick-with-them-for-the-recovery/
TAYQ I haven't tried either. An E-pipe sounds likes something from a Chris Morris sketch.
I would say two things about that. First and foremost, the climate has always changed. Attributing the latest change to ourselves is the same sort of hubris that caused the medieval church to claim Earth was the centre of the universe. The climate scientists, perhaps slipping from a priori to a posteriori thinking as they abandon reason and logic for the one green faith, have gotten their predictions wrong, to a staggering degree, multiple times, but each false prophecy merely serves to reinforce their belief.
There's another factor, just as important. Regardless of whether or not global warming is true, it's simply not going to stop carbon emissions increasing. Millions of Chinese and Indians are rising from poverty to prosperity, and it's indefensible to argue that these people should dwell in squalor and that their nations should not build coal-fired power stations. If/when Africa starts kicking on that continent will be rife with the construction of power generation, and arguing against it is absolutely deluded.
Compared to the rise of China, India, Brazil and other nations the carbon emissions of the UK are absolutely paltry. If we listened to arch-greenists then we'd absolutely **** our own economy and even if they were actually right it'd make no difference to the global picture whatsoever.
Acronyms can be overdone. I refuse to shorten thus differential front end grip. DFEG just doesn't have the same feeling to it.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/05/15/what-if-finlands-great-teachers-taught-in-u-s-schools-not-what-you-think/
Education here has been a mess for decades.
Perhaps you could try and address Wayne's point rather than just picking up on a meaningless error and aggressively abusing a new poster?
If you divvy it up by the licence fee, then it'd be hard to get cheaper entertainment. Take the cinema: 8 quid a person for two hours, at four quid an hour. £145 would buy you 18 films, or roughly 36 hours of entertainment. That's probably the same amount of time I spend watching F1 on BBC1. Some weeks I probably listen to that much of BBC Radio 4 or 5 whilst working.
True, going to the cinema is a social thing, but it's hard to find forms of entertainment cheaper than the BBC licence fee.
One of my biggest complaints about the BBC is they way they're leveraging their dominant position to break into other markets, but that's another matter.
But the BBC are screwed long-term as I've said passim, with new ways of disseminating information. It'll continue to exist, but in very different form.
Oh, and whilst on the BBC, this is great news. A return to *real* programming in schools, and on the BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24446046
So many of my past colleagues learnt to program via the BBC and government scheme ("a computer in every school"). Then again, I did work for Acorn for a while. ;-)
New builds account for only 8.5% of total property sales. The rate of new dwelling construction has therefore only a marginal effect on house prices.
Many house price indices, particularly those compiled by estate agents, are based on asking price rather than transaction price. Asking prices increase in line with consumer confidence in the housing market and the volume of pre-sales activity. Asking prices tend to be more volatile than transaction prices, with higher short term peaks. Media coverage of house price rises unsurprisingly picks on the peaks.
Valuations commissioned by bank lenders are key constraints on increases in completion prices. If surveyors take a documentary view of price rises in a particular location, i.e. derive their valuations from historical transaction prices rather than estate agents' claims of asking price levels, then valuation surveys will become an important determinant of pricing. It doesn't matter how much a seller asks for if a bank is not prepared to lend at that value.
The current mortgage market is flat: new lending is being matched by capital repayments. Volumes of mortgage approvals are rising, from 68,228 in July 69,642 in August, a 2.07% increase. But the average value per approval fell over the same period from £158,400 in July to £156,800 in August, a fall of 1.01%. The prior six month average mortgage approval value is £156,000.
The above BBA stats may demonstrate that a greater proportion of lower than average value, new build properties are being purchased, but they also show that the press and estate estate stories of "7%" rises are more hopeful thinking than reality.
BAT launches nicotine inhaler
BRITAIN’S biggest tobacco company is gearing up to launch another alternative to cigarettes — a nicotine inhaler that it may market under the brand name Voke.
The device is the latest move by British American Tobacco to insure against a decline in cigarette smoking by offering so-called harm reduction products. It recently became the first British tobacco company to sell electronic cigarettes.
BAT is working on plans to bring the inhaler to market. It has registered the trade mark Voke, although the company refused to confirm that this will be the official name of the device. It said that the Voke tag is “just an idea” and that nothing had been decided.
http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/business/Industry/article1320423.ece
That is the key point which is consistently ignored. How many people go to the BBC website for their 'news'. It has too much power.