One More Chapter

 Epigenetics is real but overhyped "If the claim is that environmental shocks leave durable biochemical marks on the DNA, and those marks survive the developmental demolition derby of early embryogenesis, and then survive again into the next generation’s germ cells, and then change phenotype in a measurable, replicable way, all those steps need to be demonstrated. What we have instead are a handful of noisy observational studies that would fail to impress even if the question were trivial, let alone one of the boldest claims in biology — namely, a partial rewriting of inheritance."

Twin studies: One thing the partial heretitarians have convince me of is that twin studies are not necessarily as powerful an argument as I had assumed.  When I first heard the caution that identical twins reared apart still share significant environment if they are in the same or even similar (Canada/US) countries, I thought it a stretch and an excuse. Because the circumstances of being separated are often unusual or even dire, the parenting, socioeconomic status, diet, and home culture can differ widely. Yet it is true that much that is key to development is the same. Communicating things via signage, including diagrams for directions, are a way of knowing that is not known in all societies. The idea of having shelter might vary in America, but far more worldwide. Students enter school at the same age in Michigan and Mississippi, and might even have the same textbooks.  Heck, the fact that they are given textbooks has developmental implications. From early years they will color in shapes, hear similar music.  Even if one child does not have a TV or a computer they will see plenty of both and learn to decode the world from screens. I was wrong to dismiss it so thoroughly.

Nose ring theory revisited.  It is a symbolic statement that one can be led around by fashion quite easily and thoroughly.  This includes intellectual fashions. As these fashions are usually part of female culture, it is an advertisement that one can be led around by other women. This mostly applies online, as far as I can tell. As I wrote before, the women with nose rings I meet in real life seem more like lost souls than man-haters.

 

 

Dormi Jesu

 

The Gospel of John in The Last Battle

 John 21:1-6 

And as He spoke, He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before. 

On December Five-and-Twenty

Reposted from 15 and 10 years ago.

Well knock me over with a feather.

The commonly-told explanation for the early Christians choosing the date of Christmas - that it was piggybacked onto a gift-giving Roman holiday Saturnalia, in and effort to woo pagans over to celebrating the birth of Jesus? Turns out it's likely not true, according to Biblical Archaeology Review. It's a good example of how hearing a plausible theory that explains some of the data can cause you to forget what you already know. I had known that the very earliest Christians didn't pay much attention to Christmas at all. Easter was the big deal, as it should be. And if you'd asked the question in the right way, I would have answered that over the next few centuries, the Church were concerned with distancing itself from pagan customs, not embracing them and co-opting them. That came much later, when it was making a more concerted effort to convert my ancestors in northern Europe. But I breezed right by those known facts because the Saturnalia (plus a few other pagan celebrations) theory sounded so plausible.

The most loudly touted theory about the origins of the Christmas date(s) is that it was borrowed from pagan celebrations. The Romans had their mid-winter Saturnalia festival in late December; barbarian peoples of northern and western Europe kept holidays at similar times. To top it off, in 274 C.E., the Roman emperor Aurelian established a feast of the birth of Sol Invictus (the Unconquered Sun), on December 25. Christmas, the argument goes, is really a spin-off from these pagan solar festivals. According to this theory, early Christians deliberately chose these dates to encourage the spread of Christmas and Christianity throughout the Roman world: If Christmas looked like a pagan holiday, more pagans would be open to both the holiday and the God whose birth it celebrated.

Despite its popularity today, this theory of Christmas’s origins has its problems. It is not found in any ancient Christian writings, for one thing. Christian authors of the time do note a connection between the solstice and Jesus’ birth: The church father Ambrose (c. 339–397), for example, described Christ as the true sun, who outshone the fallen gods of the old order. But early Christian writers never hint at any recent calendrical engineering; they clearly don’t think the date was chosen by the church. Rather they see the coincidence as a providential sign, as natural proof that God had selected Jesus over the false pagan gods.

(CWCID: First Things)

Quick Links

 The Myth of Male-Only Voting Rights Voting rights?  What is this "voting?"

We now know when the best years for culture were. 

Your Brain May Be Built For Socialism - But Your Country Wasn't. I have said the same thing less well. We resent rich people and assume they must be gaming the system or even stealing because in prehistory, that was true for hundreds of thousands of years. 

Related and from the same source: Nordics are not socialists, they are compact capitalist societies with high social trust, built up over years. 

"Gentle Parenting" of other adults. It's really grating, isn't it? This young woman, like many others, clearly gets off on using this tone.  Did I mention there are also men that do this?

Land Acknowledgements

While we're at it, shouldn't Europe - especially France and Germany - be doing land acknowledgements that the land they are on was stolen from the Neanderthals? As for Great Britain, they should be acknowledging that they took their land from the Neolithic farmers, possibly with high rates of violence. 

And don't even get me started on the Bantus.  Their list would take an hour at conventions. 

The Gospel of John in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

 John 13:1-9 

Eustace: 

The water was as clear as anything and I thought if I could get in there and bathe it would ease the pain in my leg. But the lion told me I must undress first…

So I started scratching myself and my scales began coming off all over the place… But just as I was going to put my feet into the water I looked down and saw that they were all hard and rough and wrinkled and scaly just as they had been before... Then the lion said—but I don’t know if it spoke—‘You will have to let meundress you.’ I was afraid of his claws, I can tell you, but I was pretty nearly desperate now. So I just lay flat down on my back to let him do it. The very first tear he made was so deep that I thought it had gone right into my heart. And when he began pulling the skin off, it hurt worse than anything I’ve ever felt.

The only thing that made me able to bear it was just the pleasure of feeling the stuff peel off. You know—if you’ve ever picked the scab off a sore place. It hurts like billy-oh but it is such fun to see it coming away.”

“I know exactly what you mean,” said Edmund.

“Well, he peeled the beastly stuff right off—just as I thought I’d done it myself the other three times, only they hadn’t hurt—and there it was lying on the grass: only ever so much thicker, and darker, and more knobbly-looking than the others had been. And there was I as smooth and soft as a peeled switch and smaller than I had been. Then he caught hold of me—I didn’t like that much for I was very tender underneath now that I’d no skin on—and threw me into the water. It smarted like anything but only for a moment. After that it became perfectly delicious and as soon as I started swimming and splashing I found that all the pain had gone from my arm. And then I saw why. I’d turned into a boy again.”

Harmonious Chorale

 They sure are

New York City

 We got home about 1AM. We agreed there are too many people in New York.

Tree Topper

Star, Angel, or something else?  I saw Archangel Michael ornaments and thought that would be a great tree topper.

The angels are getting more insipid.  

Silent Night

 Ghost of Christmas Past

The Gospel of John in The Magician's Nephew

 John 11:32-39 

Digory: 

“But please, please - won't you - can't you give me something that will cure Mother?'

Up till then he had been looking at the Lion's great feet and the huge claws on them; now, in his despair, he looked up at its face. What he saw surprised him as much as anything in his whole life. For the tawny face was bent down near his own and (wonder of wonders) great shining tears stood in the Lion's eyes. They were such big, bright tears compared with Digory's own that for a moment he felt as if the Lion must really be sorrier about his Mother than he was himself.

'My son, my son,' said Aslan. 'I know. Grief is great.”

2013 Links

 Irish Mossing Museum - and small, odd museums in general

What's Wrong With the Schools?  Spoiler alert: Many of these things are still wrong with the schools.

Jesus and Personal Freedom tribes, clans, and loyalties

How Doctors Die - forwarded to me at that time. 

Social Truth vs Objective Truth  When the person you are disputing with says "the debate is over" or some equivalent like obviously/unquestionably/unarguably the odds are good that this is a social truth that you should believe is true if you want to belong to a particular tribe, not an objective truth.

The Gospel of John in The Silver Chair

 John 4:10-14 in Narnia

“Are you not thirsty?" said the Lion.
"I am dying of thirst," said Jill.
"Then drink," said the Lion.
"May I — could I — would you mind going away while I do?" said Jill.
The Lion answered this only by a look and a very low growl. And as Jill gazed at its motionless bulk, she realized that she might as well have asked the whole mountain to move aside for her convenience.
The delicious rippling noise of the stream was driving her nearly frantic.
"Will you promise not to — do anything to me, if I do come?" said Jill.
"I make no promise," said the Lion.
Jill was so thirsty now that, without noticing it, she had come a step nearer.
"Do you eat girls?" she said.
"I have swallowed up girls and boys, women and men, kings and emperors, cities and realms," said the Lion. It didn't say this as if it were boasting, nor as if it were sorry, nor as if it were angry. It just said it.
"I daren't come and drink," said Jill.
"Then you will die of thirst," said the Lion.
"Oh dear!" said Jill, coming another step nearer. "I suppose I must go and look for another stream then."
"There is no other stream," said the Lion.” 

CS Lewis 

In Dulci Jubilo

 Couldn't find a favorite version. Something about this one kept me coming back, though.

Susie Wiles

 Nellie Bowles at the Free Press has the best take of anyone so far. 

Saturday Links

 We will be traveling, back Monday.

Stereotype Accuracy  In my split-the-difference solution, I have said that stereotypes are about 50% accurate. As a 50-50 guess would be random, 77% looks like about 50% accurate.  Yay me. The tricky part is figuring out what part is accurate and which is historical prejudice. Also, the American political system made a great contribution to the world by pretending stereotypes weren't accurate - and even our own people had a lot of trouble with that.  My solution is to pretend even to myself that stereotypes aren't accurate, but remember them silently when evaluating a situation. 

Journal of Controversial Ideas  Cory Jane Clark discusses the idea of female empowerment contributing to the ascendance of their societal values: "women are more harm-averse, equity-oriented, and prone to resolving conflict through social exclusion." We have discussed this recently and though I think there are holes in the argument it is what we now call directionally true.  

Sharron Davies was canceled in Britain, but is now a life peer in the House of Lords.

The Four Deep Ancestries of Europe  The 20th C guesses based on skulls, plus hair and eye color were wrong, but not completely wrong.  They were taller, and Europeans still carry that. The Aryans did not have blond hair and blue eyes, but you can read about the history of those traits. Basically, all that pigmentation selection occurred after they got to Europe.

What's Killing Marriage - Unmarriageable Men or Liberal Women?  It's a discussion at the Institute for Family Studies, not an either-or choice. 

 

The Gospel of John in Prince Caspian

 John 3:1-9

Lucy: 

But what would have been the good?" 

Aslan said nothing. "You mean," said Lucy rather faintly, "that it would have turned out all right – somehow? But how? Please, Aslan! Am I not to know?" 

"To know what would have happened, child?" said Aslan. "No. Nobody is ever told that." 

"Oh dear," said Lucy. "But anyone can find out what will happen," said Aslan. "If you go back to the others now, and wake them up; and tell them you have seen me again; and that you must all get up at once and follow me – what will happen? 

"There is only one way of finding out."

Now Shine a Thousand Candles Bright

 It is from decades ago.  I had heard it was lost, but that seems greatly in error.

Friday Links

Deeper research with newer techniques confirms studies fro 25 years ago, that the Cohanim priestly line is ancient and distinct.  It can be traced at least as far back as 850 BC, the time of the Assyrian invasion and the Captivity, and is present in nine Cohen lineages worldwide.

Garrison Keillor re-tells the Christmas Story.  My children grew up on this version 

Hitler did not have only one ball, contrary to the WWII song, according to a new DNA study.  He had a worse problem. 

Mark Stoller at Things Have Changed (sidebar) visits the Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie centers in Tulsa while in town for a Billy Strings concert.

I hesitate to mention Fuentes at all, knowing that he became famous for being famous via an astroturf campaign. Don't mention his name, and his name will pass on, as "Laredo" tells us. But Rob Henderson does a good job showing his vulnerability to a skilled interviewer. 

 

The Gospel of John in The Horse and His Boy

 John 1:47-50 in Narnia

 Aslan:

 I was the lion who forced you to join with Aravis. I was the cat who comforted you among the houses of the dead. I was the lion who drove the jackals from you while you slept. I was the lion who gave the horses the new strength of fear for the last mile so that you should reach King Lune in time. And I was the lion you do not remember who pushed the boat in which you lay, a child near death, so that it came to shore where a man sat, wakeful at midnight, to receive you.

 

Old Basque Carol

 Also called "Gabriel's Message" and "The Angel Gabriel"

Church Visit

We are traveling this weekend and so visited a church that has weeknight services. Live by the cliche, die by the cliche. There was nothing wrong with it, really. Nothing much to be wrong about. They said "represents" for both body and blood at communion, so I guess that's wrong. I'm not sure even that is wrong, however - just a huge undersell. There was a symbolic moment during the closing music. On a huge screen behind the band, there was a projection of drone footage over an evergreen forest   Off in the distance you could see a frozen lake that we were flying toward.  It looked interesting and I wanted to have a look at it, to see if there were towns or camps of bobhouses there. After a couple of minutes it occurred to me that we weren't any closer.  I looked at the nearer, moving footage and saw that it was on repeat, spliced and overlaying a still photo of the horizon. I nodded resignedly.  I wanted to see the lake.

Why Does Getting Hit in the Cold Hurt More?

 Gee, I wonder why this occurred to me at the dump today...

The Chilling Truth  

"Quick Summary: Cold temperatures trigger vasoconstriction, stiffen muscles, and heighten nerve sensitivity. These physiological changes intensify pain perception, making impacts feel significantly more painful in cold weather than in warmer conditions." Get that?  Significantly.

It's actually a fairly detailed article.  Of course it annoyingly recommends mindfulness and reducing stress, but most of the rest seems based on medicine rather than fashion. And taking a moment to exhale gives perspective anyway. 

 I did like the advice in the sub-question about what one can do to minimise pain from cold weather.  Get warm.

The internet can be a wonderful thing. 

Persuasion

Related to the previous post, though possibly in contradiction of it, I have thought of the fertility crisis and our responses to it.  Because it can be tied pretty solidly to the marriage crisis, I don't see how we get around putting responsibility on both young males and young females, as well as on the economic and social environment we parents and grandparents have put them in. Yet my prejudice is toward lecturing the young men. Dude, it's your job to persuade her.  Present a package that someone will put on their wish list. If you aren't pretty, you should work on being funny. Only then you can start on laying down your Good Provider/Kind/Smart/Generous cards.  Those only matter if you've you've already made it to the display case.  The days when she had to choose someone are over. It's not fair that she doesn't care about those things first, but you aren't hurrying to buy the brussel sprouts first either, amiright?

Is Everyone Capable of Changing Their Mind?

Despairing over the futility of so many discussions I encounter, and the mere recitation of the previous point in a louder voice, I wondered if there were some present who were not even able to change their mind. There is a poster that has alternating near-identical lines "Taxing billionaires will solve Problem A/Deporting illegal immigrants will solve Problem A. Taxing billionaires will solve problem B/Deporting illegal immigrants will solve Problem B..." for about eight things, with every other one crossed out.  I forget who it favored, but it doesn't matter. The real answer matters, but it doesn't matter in terms of the current national discussion. Similarly WRT the fertility crisis, it's the women's fault, it's the men's fault. 

One of the interesting discoveries discoveries about the persistence of delusions is that acetylcholine transfer in the brain is impaired for those with the illness, and that is tied to the formation of stories and comparing narratives. There are certain types of arguments you don't want to get into with an autist. Yet those two categories do not in any way exhaust the percentage of people who are unmoved by any reasoning. I dare say it applies to all of us, and often. Persistence of belief has advantages after all. Who wants to get up every morning taking everything under question? 

The probability of this being on a continuum looks high, doesn't it?  Also, it looks situational, where some beliefs overturn easily. It really is 7 minutes quicker to take the highway. Incentives matter. The ones that are immovable are more tied to our status and reputation. Folks want to belong to the Good Team and don't you dare try and take that away from them. The smart/righteous/strong/modern/fashionable team. This is more powerful than courses in logic or those websites about bias - unless, of course we are aspiring to be recognised as a member of the logical team. Then we change jerseys to play for the Logics. I have said we are more likely to have our mind changed by someone who agrees with us 90% of the time than by an opponent.

When we hear stories of people changing their minds about major things it is often after painful disillusionment or shocking revelation. Going on a foreign mission trip might change a child more than years of Christian schooling. Yet the incentive of getting along with our chosen group works the same magic. If we move to a different society, even a different neighborhood or job, we have incentive to worship the gods of that city. With the latter we don't always notice it happening. 

Yet sometimes I wonder whether we exceed amoebae in our reasoning ability, merely responding to external stimuli. I am principled. You are stubborn. He is pig-headed. 

Thursday Links (and a quote)

 Intelligence isn't Really Sexy.  At least, not at first.  It's pretty good for survival and mate stability, but looks and humor are your best lead cards

Martin Gurri at the Free Press  "Young men and women today are at war with the world. Deprived of the lubricant of local habits and traditions, they tend to experience reality as exasperating friction and suffer inordinate levels of anxiety, depression, and suicide. Their politics are outbursts of frustration" (Italics mine)

A frequent commenter here has a post at the True Crime Times. Most of you have seen earlier versions of this work.

The claim (from the emails) is that Jeffrey Epstein was "a dealmaker and fixer at a very, very elite level" with intelligence agencies, including ours. Steve Hsu does the interview with Murtaza Hussain at Drop Box News.  Well don't look at me.  It sounds plausible, but everything sounds plausible at this point.

Grammatical Gender with a great quote from Jorge Luis Borges.

Heather Cox Richardson-ism  It looks like I should be up on this sort of thing, but frankly, I just can't work up the energy. 

Once In Royal David's City

Years ago, youth groups used to go Christmas caroling to shut-ins, either at their houses or in nursing homes. Someone would ask if they had a favorite carol. Usually, people would say "Oh, I like them all," but some would have a choice. Years ago, I decided that when it came to be my turn I would choose this one, just to enjoy the blank stares.