Assorted links: Evolution in action

1. Invasion of the Super Weeds (Pollan is spot on.)

2. Neanderthal / Homo Sapiens interbreeding (More on this later.)

3. New species discovered that doesn't breathe oxygen (Evolution is smarter than we are.)

 

Question: Is taking an evolutionary perspective on weed resistance a fad?

Answer: No.  It will never go out of fashion.  Draw your own conclusions.

Personality and Food

I work in personality.  I'm Director of Research at an internet start-up called Mindset Media, and we help brands target large audiences who have a common personality trait, like creativity, extroversion, or modesty.  We were founded on the premise that people are more than just a set of demographic stereotypes (age, sex, income, race).  People have individual personalities, and our personality traits, or Mindsets, relate to what music we listen to, what cars we drive, and how we vote.  Pretty cool stuff.

At the office, we subscribe to Psychology Today, and I picked up the new issue earlier this week.  Two surprises greeted me on the cover.  The first surprise was that the cover didn't show a half-naked beautiful woman.  (The folks at Psychology Today are a little too aware that sex sells magazines -- 7 of the last 10 issues feature a beautiful woman's face, a sexy woman's body, or cover the topic of love and relationships.)  The SECOND surprise was one of the featured cover stories -- "Caveman Cravings: The Allure of An Ancient Diet".  A random and hilarious intersection of two of my worlds: personality and food.  My co-workers and I had a good laugh.

Make no mistake, personality and food are strongly related.  That will be the topic of my talk at the Ancestral Health Symposium next year. I'll be blogging more about it, but if you want to waste four minutes of your life, you can listen to my interview on KFWB Los Angeles last year about beer and personality.

Stop by a newsstand and leaf through the latest Psychology Today.  The article gives a fair treatment to the evolutionary perspective on health -- perhaps the fairest and least sensational of the many recent articles.  Not one of those THERE ARE CAVEMEN LIVING AMONGST US, OMG, THAT GUY ISNT WEARING SHOES!!! articles.  I have to say, I'm getting a little tired of those.  How about this for a fresh angle?  Hunter-gatherer sex.  With the right photo of a paleolithic hottie, we could probably get the cover of Psychology Today.

Michael Pollan vs. Ted Nugent on Hunting

     

On the surface, you couldn't find two more different people than foodie journalist and author Michael Pollan and hard rocker, gun rights activist, and avid hunter Ted Nugent.  They certainly don't vote the same way.  Is it possible they have similar views on hunting?

I'm going to post a video of each of them.  WATCH THEM BOTH.  They each speak in a completely different manner.  But if you can get past Nugent's brash and unmeasured language (particularly the first 30 seconds), you'll hear a message of wildlife conservation, reverence for nature, natural foods, and an anti-drug and healthy living philosophy.  Pollan's video, on the other hand, fittingly takes place at the Yale Farm, and he speaks softly in measured fashion, acknowledging nuance and subtlety -- but at about second 54 he starts to criticize the environmental movement for excluding "the hook and bullet crowd".

NOTE: If you are squeamish about hunting or hold liberal political attitudes watch Pollan first.  If you are a gung-ho hunter or hold more conservative political attitudes, watch Nugent first.  Put your reactions in the comments.

Ted Nugent on Hunting

Michael Pollan on Hunting

 

(Hat tip to Castle Grok for the Nugent video.)

Putting the Hunt Back in "Hunter-Gatherer"

This weekend I'll be learning how to hunt.  I'm really excited.

Nine of us from Eating Paleo in NYC are heading down to Charlottesville, Virginia for a deer hunting seminar.  We will learn deer ecology, gun safety, how to shoot, how to field dress a deer, and how to butcher and cook venison.  Though we won't be hunting any deer, we will be field dressing a freshly killed deer outdoors, and then cooking it that evening.

Jackson Landers will be leading the seminar.  The New York Times featured Jackson in a great piece last year about urban and suburban foodies who wanted to learn to hunt.  Many wanted to take the ethical step of being willing to kill the meat they eat.  Jackson was raised a vegetarian, and takes ethical considerations seriously -- it's not simply a testosterone-driven exercise in domination.  He also tries to hunt invasive, non-local species that could use a little culling.

Check out Jackson's blog.  

Did I mention I'm excited?  I swear it's not the testosterone talking.  (Okay, maybe a little.)  Lots more to come this weekend.

Tough Mudder Action Shots with Commentary

#1:  This was a fun wooden hurdle near the end of the race.  Most racers were physically capable of vaulting the hurdle going at a decent clip, but many didn't.  They pretty much came to a stop and climbed over.  Why?  Because they never actually move this way at the gym, and so lacked the confidence to pull off an easy maneuver over a relatively low barrier.  This was Day One basics at one of Erwan Le Corre's MovNat clinics -- remembering that you have a body and that it moves in ways other than jogging, push-ups, pull-ups, and sit-ups.

#2:  Notice my bare feet with Vibrams in hand.  Focused on my landing.

 

#3:  Off to the races.  But notice anything funny?  Look closely.

The guy in black is only just landing!   He was ahead of me before the obstacle.  If you look at the first picture I'm only slightly ahead of him, but by the last picture, he hasn't even landed yet.   And he looks totally off balance and unsure of himself.  He looks trim and fairly muscular, but he's thrown off by an obstacle he's never encountered in the gym.

I work out at a gym too.  There is a railing that separates the stretching mats from the machines, and I sometimes use it to vault over.  Back and forth, back and forth.  You can find ways to move even in a gym. You'll get looks, but hey, that's half the fun.

(Thanks to Lisa for the screen grabs from her filming.)

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