Category Archives: Anthropology

Here’s the Beef, Or the World Economy Explained by a Billion Cows

Posted on March 9, 2013 by gymnosperm

Grasses coevolved with ungulates (we can call them cows). About 30 million years ago due to declining temperature, humidity, and atmospheric Carbon dioxide a bunch of plants including grasses evolved a more efficient form of photosynthesis called C4. This allowed them … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthropology, Climate, Climate Change, Economics, Geography, History, History of Life, Paleoclimate, Salvation from Cows | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Charybdis and the Oldest Ocean Floor on Earth

Posted on January 6, 2013 by gymnosperm

A few years back there was a much ballyhooed drilling effort to find some 175 million year old sea floor touted as the “oldest”. Incorrecto qui mo sabe. That particular ocean floor is interesting in its own right (see our … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthropology, Geography, Geology, Paleogeography, Plate Tectonics | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Global Warming and Prohibition

Posted on January 3, 2013 by gymnosperm

We like to think we live in an enlightened era, but even modern history keeps reminding us that a rigid and intolerant side of human nature lies just beneath the surface. It is ironic that Prohibition, and a corresponding amendment … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthropology, Carbon Theology, Climate, Climate Change, Global Warming | Tagged | 6 Comments

Creatures of Metaphor

Posted on December 26, 2012 by gymnosperm

We humans are creatures of metaphor. Our signal character, the sole remaining bastion between us and less godly creatures, is language. Language is metaphor, a music we infuse with meaning, infused with thousands of different meanings in as many different … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthropology | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Carbon Theology

Posted on October 16, 2012 by gymnosperm

A while back I wrote a post “On Carbon and Sodium” where I pointed out that in spite of the fact that researchers have known for forty years that it is the Chlorine (Chloride) in table salt that causes hypertension … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthropology, Carbon Theology, Climate, Climate Change, Global Warming, Religion | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Done with “Anthropogenic”

Posted on October 3, 2012 by gymnosperm

Wine folks rightfully speak of mouthfeel as a quality of wine. Words have mouthfeel too. When I say “Anthropogenic” I get a bad puckery finish that makes me want to smack my lips. This word is bandied about as a … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthropology, Climate, Climate Change, Global Warming | Tagged , | Leave a comment

What is it with squares in nature anyway?

Posted on June 30, 2012 by gymnosperm

Actually, perfect squares are extremely rare in nature. Squares are human constructs. We imagine Pythagoras and the Greek philosophers drawing their squares in the sand, dividing the sides equally, connecting the divisions, and counting the resulting smaller squares to develop … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthropology, History, What's going on here? | 2 Comments

Spreadsheet of Human History

Posted on May 24, 2012 by gymnosperm

Spreadsheet of human history Spreadsheets are really graphs. This one has time on one axis and space on the other. The space geography is arbitrary but intended to sequence human dispersion from Africa. I have lots of Teaching Company timelines … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthropology, Climate, Geography, History, History of Life, Religion | Leave a comment

Explaining Milankovitch to a Barmaid.

Posted on April 10, 2012 by gymnosperm

I had been drinking. And thinking, and remembering Einstein once said no scientific theory was any good unless you could explain it to a barmaid. Well, Albert, good luck with special relativity on a napkin, but Milankovitch? A barmaid brought me … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthropology, Climate, Climate Change | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Skepticism

Posted on March 22, 2012 by gymnosperm

You know what skepticism is? Skepticism is doing yoga in your socks because it is cold and you didn’t start the fire soon enough. You know darned well it will be fine, you’ve even done it before when it was … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthropology, Climate, Religion | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment