ratchet driven spanish windlass or windless

The University of California Internet Research Laboratory is funded by Microsoft, Google & Sun Microsystems.

Social norms from the past seem absurd. I'm sure future humans will look at our norms and think they're absurd too.

Return of the Susso schemes from the Great Depression for Australia maybe? It was a scheme where the unemployed (29% of the population) worked for food vouchers consisting of bread and potato's.

"We’re on the susso now,

We can’t afford a cow,

We live in a tent,

We pay no rent,

We’re on the susso now."

@Cheeseduck
"Wow. I can’t believe how stupid some people are."

Really? You must be new to this planet? Once you've stayed here a while, you'll be totally convinced of the stupidity of humans and you wont give it a second thought.

So this is the case throughout human history and every culture that exists now, has existed in the past or may exist in the future? I think not. It's pop psychology and junk science.

If you check the statistics of violent crimes committed by non-mad people that have stable housing, you'll find the rate is far higher than homeless mad people.

"It is not by confining one's neighbour that one is
convinced of one's own sanity."
Dostoievsky

There will be a piece of information somewhere that will most likely collapse our scientific categorisation system one day.

Forget the wigs, I'd expect nuclear fallout shelter sales to be increasing with the prospect of Palin getting voted in.

@EP,
This is a place for comments, not necessarily debate. Personally, I understand that everyone has preferences on how they want to view the world. I've read a lot of your comments on many neatorama articles and I couldn't think of anything more pointless than debating you. It would be like pulling the string on the back of a dolls head, it can only say what it is programmed to say. I certainly don't agree with but I also couldn't care less what you think.

PS. Rational knowledge does not produce an objective accounts of reality.

Cheers EP
Terry

There are extensive writings on the Nature vs Nurture debate. I've read a fair bit of it and I'll take the Nurture side.

In many cultures Polygamy is the norm.

It seems to me that these scientists are just applying their own cultural values as a measuring and categorisation method. If you lived in a culture without the social constructs of marriage, commitment and monogamy, the claims made by these scientists would be laughed at.

"Do few things, if you would enjoy tranquillity. ... By desiring little, a poor man makes himself rich. " (Democritus, 460 - 370 BC)

Wealth and success are only a state of mind. If you're happy with what you've got, what more do you need. When you're desires have been me (on any level) then you are rich.

There's a new possible cause for bipolar published every week. None of them ever amount to anything. No lesion has ever been found for bipolar and no standard reliable lab test exists to identify the unknown cause.

The use of antidepressants (and the side effects of mania) has seen the unreliable "labelling" by quacks of people as BP sky-rocketed.