Vikings brought an Indian woman to Iceland.

Is the ACTN3 stop codon polymorphism that is associated with greater strength linked to "Neanderthal genes"? Are Neanderthal genes correlated to the Strongest Men in the World contestants? Genuine questions.

Mr. Obvious wrote:

Aghast wrote:

Everything you said at this point is mostly speculation.

Well, none of it is established as rock solid fact but it is a little more than speculation. I personally find the evidence pretty compelling.

Colonialism and interventionism from the West made Africa "piss-pot" in first place. (quote)

When we British arrived in black Africa, we found virtual stone-age primitive tribal societies, naturally enough with no written languages and hadn’t even come round to inventing the wheel.

When we departed, we left behind roads, railways, telephone and telegraph systems, farms, factories mines, hospitals, trained police, a judicial system and a civil service.

And what has self rule produced?

Well after aid worth six times the value of the wartime Marshal Plan pouring into that continent - the natives are a lot poorer now than before independence.

When we find that, just one example, Nigeria’s black leaders have stole or misused £220 billion in the past - that sez it all..

But even worse are nightmare countries like Zimbabwe.

An old colony of the British Empire, they declared ‘Independence’ from British rule in 65.

Unfortunately for them - it was independence under a white dominated government and, naturally, Britain, the UN, the US, Uncle Tom Cobbley and all declared it unacceptable and introduced economic sanctions to the land.

UN sanctions and a guerrilla uprising finally led to ‘free’ elections in 1979 and independence (as Zimbabwe) under a black leadership - Mugabe, in 1980.

Now, despite years of sanctions - this, from a booklet produced in 1982 by the former British Overseas Trade Board as an aid to British companies intending to do business in the new Zimbabwe:

"Despite the severe strains imposed on Southern Rhodesia during the last few years of civil war, and to a lesser degree by UN sanctions, the economy inherited by the first government of Zimbabwe in April 1980 was sound in infrastructure and resources. External trade was in a favourable balance; foreign debt, including pre-UDI commitments, was of manageable proportions; and the inflation rate, which rose steeply in 1979, was back to a single figure."

Exchange rate was Z$ 10 to the pound sterling.

The were producing so much food from the white owned farms, not only was there plenty of food to feed the native population, they were able to export quantities to earn foreign exchange.

Now what do we find after decades of black rule?

Well, the inflation rate was 11.2 million percent in 2008 and Z$100 trillion dollar banknotes were introduced!

Poverty, barbarism, violence and cruelty is everyday life for the natives now and millions of people are starving, their homes burned down or bulldozed, 3,000 die weekly of Aids and life expectancy has fallen to 35 years.

Procrastinator wrote:

Is the ACTN3 stop codon polymorphism that is associated with greater strength linked to "Neanderthal genes"? Are Neanderthal genes correlated to the Strongest Men in the World contestants? Genuine questions.

I believe the ACTN3 polymorphism is found at highest rates in Western African populations and American/Carribbean/South American descendants thereof. That would argue against a Neanderthal origin.

tired runner wrote:

That's 200 years prior than any of the sources that I'm familiar with...

I hadn't either until I heard an interview on NPR with the author of a book who stated recent findings say as much.

i've enjoyed this thread today. thanks.

-i wonder what the sensitivity and specificity of a test like this is? though i assume northern european being relatively tall with natural blond hair and blue eyes, would be cool to know my origins.

First off what was "wrong" with their culture in the first place? It was very rich culturally, and didn't want technological advances that were forced upon them or arbitrary borders drawn to divide them.Second, they were never "self ruled", Europeans pulled the strings for their own interests.I don't think you understand the ramifications of colonialism.

Neandrathals are circa 350,000 years ago, preceding our original human race. It has never been proven that humans and neandrathals are genetically realted. The first two humans that Vikings, Indians, and all humans descend from appeared in Kenya 60,000 years ago.

Before this cod was brought over, the Spaniards had something called a "halibut piece" that they wore to attract the ladies. If a lady indulged in a one night stand, it was "just for the halibut"

Alf Shrubb wrote:

Colonialism and interventionism from the West made Africa "piss-pot" in first place. (quote)

When we British arrived in black Africa, we found virtual stone-age primitive tribal societies, naturally enough with no written languages and hadn’t even come round to inventing the wheel.

That was because the environment of sub-Saharan Africa didn't require nor facilitate those developments. The Australian Aboriginies were still at a Stone Age level of technology when Europeans first made landfall in the 17th Century because that's what the conditions of Austrlia allowed for (important to note that the original humans who arrived to Australia built sea worthy boats and rafts over 40,000 years ago).

Settled society began in Mesopotamia (where the wheel and written language were first invented) because you had both numerous types of plants that were easy to domesticate and mammals that could also be domesticated and raised as a source of food and as a source of labor. But those factors didn't exist in Australia. There didn't exist a number of grains that could be domesticated or any potential beasts of burden or any of the factors that led to settled society. Without settled society, there's no specialization of labor, meaning that everyone is a hunter-gatherer and others aren't free to develop writing, or experiment with new technologies.

It wasn't exactly the same in sub-Saharan Africa, but they certainly didn't have the same factors that went existed in the Fertile Crescent. You can tout Europe's achievements, but underneath it all is the fact that farming and written language was invented in the Middle East and spread to Europe.

I forgot to add that Jared Diamond provides an outline of this process in his books.

You can make all the excuses for them you want, but the primitive state of the peoples of Africa before colonialism betrays their fundamental intellectual inferiority.

Those obsessed with political correctness try to brainwash us into believing there are no real differences among the races of Man apart from perfunctory physical features, when in reality even the very young can see this clearly isn't the case.

Now, does this mean that one race is "better" or "superior" to another? Absolutely not. But our differences run deeper than mere skin hue.

Political correctness, reverse discrimination, and things of the like are a cancer eating away at us. They force ignorance upon us and represent a turn from true enlightenment.

Vikings brought an Indian woman to Iceland.

Yeah? Well I brought a chazzwazzer to Australia.

jfaf;dsajfa;sjf wrote:

You can make all the excuses for them you want, but the primitive state of the peoples of Africa before colonialism betrays their fundamental intellectual inferiority.

Those obsessed with political correctness try to brainwash us into believing there are no real differences among the races of Man apart from perfunctory physical features, when in reality even the very young can see this clearly isn't the case.

Now, does this mean that one race is "better" or "superior" to another? Absolutely not. But our differences run deeper than mere skin hue.

Political correctness, reverse discrimination, and things of the like are a cancer eating away at us. They force ignorance upon us and represent a turn from true enlightenment.

Could you tell me, as a Stone Age Sub-Saharan African, c. 7000 BCE, what mammals would you domesticate?

Well, for starters, perhaps the zebra could have been Africa's answer to the horse?

Although they are difficult to tame, years of selective breeding could have produced an animal as useful as the horse.

But instead all they did was hunt and kill them for their skins.

Except Europeans have now been in Africa (in at the very least active trade relationships) and had access to Zebras for at least 500 years and have not domesticated Zebras.

written language was invented in the Middle East and spread to Europe.

jfaf;dsajfa;sjf wrote:

Well, for starters, perhaps the zebra could have been Africa's answer to the horse?

Although they are difficult to tame, years of selective breeding could have produced an animal as useful as the horse.

But instead all they did was hunt and kill them for their skins.

Zebras have proven to be untamable, a few exceptions aside. The same for the African wild ass, African buffalo, and African elephant.

What cereal crops would you have domesticated? Crops you could efficiently plant, cultivate and store for later consumption. You would agree that the ability to cultivate and store crops, and the domestication of animals, both as beats of burden and as a source of food, are crucial to forming a settled society.