Saturday, October 17, 2009

Adequate Coverage



Modern man a wimp says anthropologist

Excerpt:
Some Tutsi men in Rwanda exceeded the current world high jump record of 2.45 metres during initiation ceremonies in which they had to jump at least their own height to progress to manhood.

Any Neanderthal woman could have beaten former bodybuilder and current California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in an arm wrestle.

These and other eye-catching claims are detailed in a book by Australian anthropologist Peter McAllister entitled ‘Manthropology’ and provocatively sub-titled ‘The Science of the Inadequate Modern Male.’

McAllister sets out his stall in the opening sentence of the prologue.

‘If you’re reading this then you — or the male you have bought it for — are the worst man in history.

----
Perhaps but evolution doth hath its advantages.

10 comments:

Tesla said...

I don't buy this guy's argument at all- sounds like a bunch of shock claims to get publicity (it's working). People in the Middle Ages were a bit smaller and had a much lower life expectancy than today- yet they were somehow much stronger and faster than us today?

As for Australian aborigines, why would they have gotten weaker across tens of thousnds of years? Nothing in their life got more technologically sophisticated so why would their superhuman athletic abilities become maladaptive?

Bob said...

Haven't read McCallister's book, but when it comes to hominid evolution, brains win out over brawn every time. At least according to 2001: A Space Odyssey.

See amateur biologist Danny Vendramini on
neanderthals vs. humans. Humans rock.

Son of Brock Landers said...

There's not enough wax in the world to make a neanderthal woman look good in a wicked weasel bikini.

Unknown said...

Casey Serin is alive today.

Female pygmies could take him out.

Ants work harder than he does.

Nuff said.

TJandTheBear said...

Dawg,

Is that Candis Cayne aka Brendan McDaniel?? NOT exactly my type of cheesecake.

Monica said...

Actually, humans suck. Neanderthals were much stronger, physically fit and better adapted to cold climates but according to that theory, humans drove them to extinction because the Neanderthals were preying on the ancestors of modern humans. If the Neanderthals won, everybody would be strong and fit like the Neanderhals.

Mr. Outspoken said...

Now that was wrong. Here I was enjoying myself, and that swimsuit, and then someone had to mention her name. I look it up, find some google images, and then just when I am enjoying myself I click the wikipedia article and bam. You just sent my boner right into ground. Thanks a lot.

TJandTheBear said...

MO,

Rob has a wickedly subtle sense of humor, doesn't he?

Son of Brock Landers said...

@ Monica

I thought the theory was that Neanderthals had limited speech ability so they were worse at big battles, which our ancestors used to their advantage.

w said...

Rob, is that really a man?