Recently I signed up for Geni, a family tree building website, after reading an article about it on TechCrunch.

Coincidentally, TED released a video at around the same time, which I just caught today:

This talk is by one of my favorite scientists, Spencer Wells, who wrote The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey, which is also a National Geographic video.

At the end of the TED Talk, I was pleasantly surprised to hear that it’s possible to actually participate in the Genographic Project by ordering the participation kit which “will reveal your deep ancestry along a single line of direct descent (paternal or maternal) and show the migration paths they followed thousands of years ago.” Impressive.

I have added this to my list of interesting and creative gifts for holiday shopping ‘08.

Share this post

Hide Sites

My mom is, aside from an exceptional gift giver, a lover of history and culture. So this Valentine’s Day I gave my mom a different sort of gift. I had someone in India call her – from India – to give her a history lesson on the history of Valentines Day in India and it’s impact on India’s culture.

What followed was a very happy mother and some fascinating information about India and the somewhat controversial celebration of Valentines Day there.

Now that I’ve read through the research that was done for my mother’s gift, I thought I’d share some of the tidbits I found most interesting:

• About 10 years ago, Valentines Day was dubbed as “another decadent influence of the west” and written-off by most. However, today Valentines Day is widely recognized and celebrated.
• A big influence on the success of Valentines Day in India was the globalization-fueled economic boom which brought with it foreign television channels that often aired Valentines Day specials.
• Weeks before Valentine’s Day, “Street Romeos” appear everywhere, reenacting Bollywood style boy-meets-girl stories.
• Protests against Valentine’s Day customs have included stealing Valentine’s Day greeting cards from and ceremonially burning them as well as threats to beat the faces and shave the heads of those who participate.

Share this post

Hide Sites

Tomorrow marks the 76th anniversary of the ratification of the 21st amendment to the US constitution, also known as Repeal Day. As you may know, the 21st amendment repeals the 18th amendment which began prohibition. I’ll drink to that.

The prohibition movement succeeded thanks to heavy lobbying by the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union and the Prohibition Party. By banning alcohol, they claimed, we would see the reduction or even elimination of of society’s ills: prostitution, murder, and even racism. Protesters against alcohol did everything from singing hymns to customers in saloons to taking a hatchet and smashing bottles. Amazingly, both organizations still exist.

This, of course, begs the question: What the hell were they thinking? After prohibition, virtually all the ills of society that were supposed to be reduced or eliminated had gotten far worse; even public drunkenness. Organized crime got out of hand, and respect for the authority of law plummeted.

Whoops!

With all that fervor over something that turned out to be essentially a non-issue, it makes you wonder about the policies of today.

What about the war on drugs? A quick Google search will tell you it’s about as popular as the war in Iraq. Would ending the war on drugs be similar to the end of prohibition? What, if anything, makes this form of prohibition different?

What about smoking bans? I don’t smoke but I find smoking bans that affect private businesses pretty troubling, albeit convenient.

What else?

Share this post

Hide Sites

Not feeling so great about income taxes today, I researched a bit of history and found this video:

There, now I feel better. Wait… no I don’t.

Share this post

Hide Sites

Dan Dennett talks about toxic memes and their virus-like ability to wipe out entire cultures. Dennett’s assertion that memes are, in some cases (communism, capitalism, Islam, Catholicism, and many more), essentially deadly parasites is an interesting perspective.

As interesting as Dennett’s ideas are, I tend to take a more simplistic view. While memes may be wiping out cultures, languages, and traditions I don’t blame the meme as Dennett does. I think it’s as natural an occurrence as ordinary, every-day pack behavior: The dominant “pack” – or culture/society/sect in our case – will ultimately be the most genetically successful.

Share this post

Hide Sites