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I don’t think I want to strangle the author of this article or the original researcher. Its more an elbows propped on desk, head in hands kind of frustration. Sarcasm Seen as Evolutionary Survival Skill

I mean really, who cares? Oh for God’s sake. Don’t you have anything better to do that read this column?

According to Dr. Rankin, if you didn’t get the sarcastic tone of the previous sentences you must have some damage to your parahippocampal gyrus which is located in the right brain. People with dementia, or head injuries in that area, often lose the ability to pick up on sarcasm, and so they don’t respond in a socially appropriate ways.

Presumably, this is a pathology, which in turn suggests that sarcasm is part of human nature and probably an evolutionarily good thing.

Yet no proof is offered that sarcasm as a behavorial trait has passed through a few million years of evolution because it offered some kind of advantage to those offspring that were better at sarsacm. The resecarchers field of expertise is anthropology and I’ll assume cultural anthropology. the ability ti be sarcasitic and appreciate sarcasm might well have some cultural benefits. Evolutionary benefit that was naturally selected? The only proof that the writer at Live Science provides is the following supposition,

It’s also easy to imagine how sarcasm might be selected over time as evolutionarily crucial. Imagine two ancient humans running across the savannah with a hungry lion in pursuit. One guy says to the other, “Are we having fun yet?” and the other just looks blank and stops to figure out what in the world his pal meant by that remark. End of friendship, end of one guy’s contribution to the future of the human gene pool. (emphasis mine)

Evolutionary psychology is a genuine and relatively new discipline. There is a good on-line journal here, Evolutionary Psychology. This take on sarcasm is pretty far off the reservation. There is a fair case that sarcasm has evolved along with human language skills, but not that it actually was a of any genetic advantage. LS has done the study of evolutionary psych a disservice by using imagine this arguments as evidence, not all human behavior is genetically based.

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Warning For Teens: Teeth And Jewelry Don’t Mix

Dr. Liran Levin, a dentist from the Department of Oral Rehabilitation, School of Dental Medicine at Tel Aviv University has found that about 15 to 20 percent of teens with oral piercings are at high risk for both tooth fractures and gum disease. Resulting tooth fractures as well as periodontal problems, he says, can lead to anterior (front) tooth loss later in life.

Nothing personal against anyone with piercings, but in a few years we’ll probably be in for a national wave of piercing regret along with one over those huge tribal back tattoos.

I don’t have ESP, but some people are so predictable I could probably fake it, Anti-Obama book to be released by conservative press that published Swift Boat smear book

Reporting on the forthcoming book The Case Against Barack Obama (Regnery, 2008), authored by former Human Events writer and National Review Online staff reporter David Freddoso, a June 23 Politico article stated that Marjory Ross, the president and publisher of Regnery Publishing, “likens the goal of Freddoso’s book to that of ‘Unfit for Command’ ” (Regnery, August 2004), which was co-authored by Swift Vets and POWs for Truth co-founder John E. O’Neill and Jerome R. Corsi. Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry — which Regnery touts as among its best-selling publications — contains false and baseless attacks on Kerry’s military service, as documented by Media Matters for America, and in numerous media reports. Media Matters also extensively documented numerous falsehoods put forth elsewhere by O’Neill and other members of Swift Vets and POWs for Truth (previously known as Swift Boat Veterans for Truth).

Freddoso, Regnery Publishing and the other fringe assclowns mentioned have something in common with this woman, Police say DUI suspect went to bar instead of jail

ERIE, Pa. – A woman charged in the drunken-driving death of her son went to a bar after his funeral instead of reporting back to jail, state police said.

They all have a kind of disease. Unlike most people that would rather be healthy they’ve decided to embrace, nourish and love their illness regardless of how it affects others.

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