Matt Metzgar

So You Think You Can Dance?

It doesn't take a lot of imagination to see that dancing is primarily a courtship ritual.  Dancing is most often performed by young, single people in the presence of similar persons.  Now, researchers have shown that dancing ability itself is related to desirability.

Using faceless, computer-animated figures to recreate the actual dance moves of Jamaican teenagers, the scientists found that dancing ability was positively correlated to sexual attractiveness.  The article goes on to mention other important aspects of sexual selection, such as body symmetry.  The researchers also mentioned that "women notice" when men put on a good show.  I guess Patrick Swayze knew what he was doing in "Dirty Dancing" after all...

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Evolution Wins Again

In a victory for science and reason, a judge in Pennsylvania rejected the teaching of the bogus "intelligent design" theory in public schools.  As has been discussed before in this blog, "intelligent design" offers itself as an alternative to evolution, though one without any proof.  The "theory" states that some organisms are too complex to have arisen through evolution, and therefore some type of "designer" (i.e. God) must be behind the process.

Intelligent design has been referred to as "creationism in a cheap suit."  In the ruling, the judge mentioned how a former textbook on creationism modified its references and became a "textbook" on intelligent design.  The judge saw through this sham and stated that intelligent design "is not supported by any peer-reviewed research, data or publications."

Why can't some people differentiate between science and religion, or science and anything else?  If someone wants to believe in intelligent design, go ahead, it's a free country.  But why do people feel the need to push their beliefs onto others, and especially onto schoolchildren?  If someone believes in tarot cards or astrology, you don't see them going to court trying to get these ideas put into science textbooks.  It's only when it comes to religion that the wackos come out.  I honestly feel these people pushing intelligent design need psychological help. 

So evolution triumphs again, while the misinformed (or delusional) intelligent design backers have failed.  Nothing good was accomplished by all this, other than the fact that stupidity was kept in its place.  The judge succintly summarzied this whole process as "an utter waste."  Amen.

Biophilia

Biophilia isn't a term commonly known, but it is one related to our evolutionary heritage.  The term was popularized by E.O. Wilson's book, "The Biophilia Hypothesis".  Wilson's argument is straightforward: we evolved as hunter-gatherers who were constantly surrounded by nature.  Therefore, modern humans have a natural affinity for objects of the natural world, such as plants, animals, and natural landscapes. 

This hypothesis can explain a lot of things, such as why so many people have pets.  It also gives us a clue about our landscape preferences.  Humans evolved in the African savannah, and therefore have a natural liking for this type of environment.  This explains why most parks possess open spaces with a few trees and rolling hills - just like an African savannah.  For a look at the real thing, here's a photo from Tanzia, Africa (credit to goanimal.com):

Pay It Forward

I finally figured out how to put a new image link on the sidebar.  In keeping with the holiday season, I put up a link for Toys for Tots.  Our family had a good year financially, so I thought it was appropriate to share the wealth, and therefore made a small donation.

On a related note, I have been seeing more mention in the media about the "pay it forward" concept.  Originally, I had no idea what this meant, so I did a little research.  The phrase comes from a book, Pay It Forward, by Catherine Ryan Hyde.  The book is fiction, but its story serves to showcase the pay it forward concept.  The idea is simple: when someone does something nice for you, instead of paying them back you "pay it forward" (do something nice for someone else).  This would then create a chain reaction, where one good deed leads to countless others.

There is now a Pay It Forward foundation, that has some educational resources and other assorted materials.  The phrase "pay it forward" was also mentioned prominently in this week's episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.  Here's hoping that the idea spreads in 2006.

Mount Union Wins

Mount Union College, my former employer, won the Division III football championship earlier today.  The win marks their 8th national championship, giving them 8 championships in the last 13 years.

A couple of players I taught did well in the game, and it was nice to watch their successful performance.  By and large, I thought the football program did an excellent job of balancing athletics and academics, as I never had any problems with the football players in my classes.  I also believe the graduation rate for their football players is very high, unlike what you see in a Division I program.

Congratulations to the Purple Raiders for their outstanding season! 

Supersized Drinks

Related to my post below, one of the worst dietary habits children (or anyone else) can develop is to consume these monster soda drinks served by fast food chains and convenience stores.  As this research report shows, soda and sweet drinks now make up the majority of calories for the average American.

These massive drinks really have no redeeming qualities.  They are basically sugar water, some with caffeine, some without.  Worst of all, they give people a large amount of carbohydrate with no fiber.  From an evolutionary perspective, hunter-gatherers always consumed fiber when they consumed carbohydrates, because carbs only came from three sources: fruits, vegetables, and nuts.

The body is not built to consume massive amounts of carbohydrate with no fiber attached.  These drinks undoubtly are a factor in the rise of diabetes in the U.S.  When it comes to supesized drinks, just say no. 

Veggie Monster?

The Institute of Medicine issued a report this year recommending that tv characters and advertising should stop promoting junk food to young children.  In response, it seems that Sesame Street is slowly revamping its "Cookie Monster" character.  Cookie Monster will now recognize cookies as a "sometime" food rather than a regular food.

I really don't know what to make of this report.  I'm sure children are affected by junk food advertising and associations, but this seems to miss one crucial point: children are dependent on their parents for food.  If parents don't buy any cookies, how can the children eat them? (Unless they're in the schools, which is worthy of another blog.)  At the grocery store, I see parents with kids loading up their grocery carts with cookies, candy, soda pop, etc.  I would think that educating parents should be a higher priority than taming the Cookie Monster.

That's Why It's Called A Market

A couple of weeks ago, the Chairman of the Federal Communication Commission(FCC) stated that cable companies should begin offering cable a la carte.  Immediately after, lobbyists for cable companies pronounced this a "very dangerous idea". 

What's so dangerous about letting consumers choose only the channels they want?  Cable companies operated as monopolies for many years until satellite tv and other competitors were allowed in the market.  Letting consumers pick and pay for the channels they want instead of a pre-fab package strikes me as neither dangerous nor revolutionary.  This probably would have happened years ago if the cable industry had not been insulated from competition for so long.

In a related piece,  the lobbyists claim that a la carte cable would doom some lesser-watched channels such as Black Entertainment Television(BET).  They state that "only a few subscribers might pay for them under a la carte."  Exactly!  That's because some channels aren't very good!  From the little I've seen, I would think that African-Americans are insulted by the programming put on by BET, which apparently consists of grungy rap videos and nonsensical political commentary.

Markets work to deliver a variety of products that consumers demand.  Let the market work for cable tv, and watch the quality and diversity increase.

Blogless

Blogging has been a little slow lately due to the fact that I started a new job last week.  We're also still recovering from the recent move.  I'm hoping to pick up the pace as I get better organized.