Since Nazis were very big on German nationalism, they liked that hypothesis, and that is why they called themselves Aryans.
January 30, 2026 at 11:09 PM
Since Nazis were very big on German nationalism, they liked that hypothesis, and that is why they called themselves Aryans.
Enter German nationalists around 1900. Some of them loved the Central European hypothesis because it made Germany seem like the homeland of a great race of conquerors and culture bringers.
January 30, 2026 at 11:09 PM
Enter German nationalists around 1900. Some of them loved the Central European hypothesis because it made Germany seem like the homeland of a great race of conquerors and culture bringers.
Thus, the Proto-Indo-European speakers must have been very India-like, and thus would have called themselves Aryans. That’s nowadays rejected, because that name did not survive elsewhere.
But where did the PIE speakers live? Central Europe? Eastern Europe? Northern India?
But where did the PIE speakers live? Central Europe? Eastern Europe? Northern India?
January 30, 2026 at 11:00 PM
Thus, the Proto-Indo-European speakers must have been very India-like, and thus would have called themselves Aryans. That’s nowadays rejected, because that name did not survive elsewhere.
But where did the PIE speakers live? Central Europe? Eastern Europe? Northern India?
But where did the PIE speakers live? Central Europe? Eastern Europe? Northern India?
That’s a traditional self-designation of people of northern India and of Iran (< Aryan).
When the Indo-European language family was discovered, at first it seemed that Sanskrit, the oldest recorded language of India, was very close to Proto-Indo-European.
When the Indo-European language family was discovered, at first it seemed that Sanskrit, the oldest recorded language of India, was very close to Proto-Indo-European.
January 30, 2026 at 10:55 PM
That’s a traditional self-designation of people of northern India and of Iran (< Aryan).
When the Indo-European language family was discovered, at first it seemed that Sanskrit, the oldest recorded language of India, was very close to Proto-Indo-European.
When the Indo-European language family was discovered, at first it seemed that Sanskrit, the oldest recorded language of India, was very close to Proto-Indo-European.
If they want something to spend their time on, they can write a book. I even have a title that they can use:
Our Struggle
Our Struggle
January 25, 2026 at 4:37 PM
If they want something to spend their time on, they can write a book. I even have a title that they can use:
Our Struggle
Our Struggle
I don’t think that the administration is serious. I suspect that they will renege on their part of the deal, and make some bull-doo-doo excuse for doing so.
January 25, 2026 at 4:35 PM
I don’t think that the administration is serious. I suspect that they will renege on their part of the deal, and make some bull-doo-doo excuse for doing so.
Yes, he whined about what his job involved.
January 23, 2026 at 2:09 PM
Yes, he whined about what his job involved.
What historical illiteracy. That makes *every* New-World nation illegitimate, including the US, because European colonists all arrived by boat.
Is the correct way to arrive to walk? That would make the Native Americans / First Nations people the only legitimate inhabitants.
Is the correct way to arrive to walk? That would make the Native Americans / First Nations people the only legitimate inhabitants.
January 21, 2026 at 3:08 AM
What historical illiteracy. That makes *every* New-World nation illegitimate, including the US, because European colonists all arrived by boat.
Is the correct way to arrive to walk? That would make the Native Americans / First Nations people the only legitimate inhabitants.
Is the correct way to arrive to walk? That would make the Native Americans / First Nations people the only legitimate inhabitants.
Yes, what helped defeat Napoleon’s and Hitler’s armies in Russia.
January 14, 2026 at 5:54 PM
Yes, what helped defeat Napoleon’s and Hitler’s armies in Russia.
Why doesn’t anyone say something sensible, like that Israel’s and Hamas’s leaders deserve to share prison cells?
Or Hamas rocketeers and murderous Israeli snipers?
Or Hamas rocketeers and murderous Israeli snipers?
January 11, 2026 at 11:50 PM
Why doesn’t anyone say something sensible, like that Israel’s and Hamas’s leaders deserve to share prison cells?
Or Hamas rocketeers and murderous Israeli snipers?
Or Hamas rocketeers and murderous Israeli snipers?
You will never have the right amount of wealth to satisfy a right winger. You will always be either too poor or too rich for them.
That latter one is odd because they believe that wealth = moral superiority and the right to rule.
That latter one is odd because they believe that wealth = moral superiority and the right to rule.
January 10, 2026 at 2:49 AM
You will never have the right amount of wealth to satisfy a right winger. You will always be either too poor or too rich for them.
That latter one is odd because they believe that wealth = moral superiority and the right to rule.
That latter one is odd because they believe that wealth = moral superiority and the right to rule.
Seems like an equal-area projection.
January 10, 2026 at 2:28 AM
Seems like an equal-area projection.
There is no way to make a perfect map, since the curvatures don’t match.
Mercator preserves shapes but not areas.
If one preserves areas, then one won’t preserve shapes; one will get distortions.
Mercator preserves shapes but not areas.
If one preserves areas, then one won’t preserve shapes; one will get distortions.
January 10, 2026 at 2:23 AM
There is no way to make a perfect map, since the curvatures don’t match.
Mercator preserves shapes but not areas.
If one preserves areas, then one won’t preserve shapes; one will get distortions.
Mercator preserves shapes but not areas.
If one preserves areas, then one won’t preserve shapes; one will get distortions.
And bigger than the contiguous US.
It’s mathematically impossible to make a perfect sphere-to-plane map, because the curvatures don’t match.
So one has to lose some features. Mercator is shape-preserving but not area-preserving, for instance.
It’s mathematically impossible to make a perfect sphere-to-plane map, because the curvatures don’t match.
So one has to lose some features. Mercator is shape-preserving but not area-preserving, for instance.
January 10, 2026 at 2:18 AM
And bigger than the contiguous US.
It’s mathematically impossible to make a perfect sphere-to-plane map, because the curvatures don’t match.
So one has to lose some features. Mercator is shape-preserving but not area-preserving, for instance.
It’s mathematically impossible to make a perfect sphere-to-plane map, because the curvatures don’t match.
So one has to lose some features. Mercator is shape-preserving but not area-preserving, for instance.
I don’t know if the JBS ever celebrated the downfall of its favorite villain. Communist regimes have either fallen and become replaced by capitalist ones, or else they have become capitalist roaders, to use an old Maoist insult.
January 10, 2026 at 1:52 AM
I don’t know if the JBS ever celebrated the downfall of its favorite villain. Communist regimes have either fallen and become replaced by capitalist ones, or else they have become capitalist roaders, to use an old Maoist insult.
Seems like the JBS might get lost in the forest of birch trees that Xwitter has become.
January 10, 2026 at 1:48 AM
Seems like the JBS might get lost in the forest of birch trees that Xwitter has become.
Seems like more and more Gilded Age II. Or even a Pyrite Age.
January 10, 2026 at 1:20 AM
Seems like more and more Gilded Age II. Or even a Pyrite Age.
It is possible to make a virus from nonliving materials, but that is much more difficult for a cellular organism. So one must content oneself with doing that by proxy, by mapping out biosynthesis pathways.
January 8, 2026 at 7:36 PM
It is possible to make a virus from nonliving materials, but that is much more difficult for a cellular organism. So one must content oneself with doing that by proxy, by mapping out biosynthesis pathways.
I conclude with mentioning Jacques Loeb’s 1912 book “The Mechanistic Conception of Life”. He offered a challenge: either create an organism from nonliving materials or else show why that can’t be done.
January 8, 2026 at 7:33 PM
I conclude with mentioning Jacques Loeb’s 1912 book “The Mechanistic Conception of Life”. He offered a challenge: either create an organism from nonliving materials or else show why that can’t be done.
But enough is understood to develop a concept of cell fate, with uncommitted or partially committed cells being stem cells.
So Hans Driesch had a very naïve conception of cell fate, that commitment starts at the first division. But his experiments showed that commitment starts later.
So Hans Driesch had a very naïve conception of cell fate, that commitment starts at the first division. But his experiments showed that commitment starts later.
January 8, 2026 at 7:21 PM
But enough is understood to develop a concept of cell fate, with uncommitted or partially committed cells being stem cells.
So Hans Driesch had a very naïve conception of cell fate, that commitment starts at the first division. But his experiments showed that commitment starts later.
So Hans Driesch had a very naïve conception of cell fate, that commitment starts at the first division. But his experiments showed that commitment starts later.
Organism development is not nearly as well-understood as metabolism or heredity or material transport, none of which have any detectable vital force.
January 8, 2026 at 7:13 PM
Organism development is not nearly as well-understood as metabolism or heredity or material transport, none of which have any detectable vital force.
He expected the two half-embryos to develop into two larva halves, but instead, they developed into two small but complete larvae.
He found that very odd, and he concluded that living things have an “entelechy” in them, having a goal in them.
He found that very odd, and he concluded that living things have an “entelechy” in them, having a goal in them.
January 8, 2026 at 7:09 PM
He expected the two half-embryos to develop into two larva halves, but instead, they developed into two small but complete larvae.
He found that very odd, and he concluded that living things have an “entelechy” in them, having a goal in them.
He found that very odd, and he concluded that living things have an “entelechy” in them, having a goal in them.
The larva then eats and grows, and a bit of it then grows into the adult phase.
Hans Driesch was studying sea-urchin embryonic development, and he tried cutting an embryo in two in its first few divisions.
Hans Driesch was studying sea-urchin embryonic development, and he tried cutting an embryo in two in its first few divisions.
January 8, 2026 at 7:06 PM
The larva then eats and grows, and a bit of it then grows into the adult phase.
Hans Driesch was studying sea-urchin embryonic development, and he tried cutting an embryo in two in its first few divisions.
Hans Driesch was studying sea-urchin embryonic development, and he tried cutting an embryo in two in its first few divisions.
There was one last big-name biological-sciences researcher who was a vitalist: embryologist Hans Driesch.
Sea urchins hatch as a “pluteus” larva that looks like a glass jug with glass spikes on it that point in the direction of the open end.
Sea urchins hatch as a “pluteus” larva that looks like a glass jug with glass spikes on it that point in the direction of the open end.
January 8, 2026 at 6:59 PM
There was one last big-name biological-sciences researcher who was a vitalist: embryologist Hans Driesch.
Sea urchins hatch as a “pluteus” larva that looks like a glass jug with glass spikes on it that point in the direction of the open end.
Sea urchins hatch as a “pluteus” larva that looks like a glass jug with glass spikes on it that point in the direction of the open end.