NationStates Jolt Archive

:D

Commentary: Awww yeah. Now this is some great science. If you have pale skin, you're a mutant. :D

Link/Source (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/15/AR2005121501728_pf.html)

Good times.


By Rick Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, December 16, 2005; A01

Scientists said yesterday that they have discovered a tiny genetic mutation that largely explains the first appearance of white skin in humans tens of thousands of years ago, a finding that helps solve one of biology's most enduring mysteries and illuminates one of humanity's greatest sources of strife.

Bring on the pitchforks and torches.

:D

Commentary: Awww yeah. Now this is some great science. If you have pale skin, you're a mutant. :D

Link/Source (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/15/AR2005121501728_pf.html)

Good times.



Bring on the pitchforks and torches.

Death to the honkeys! Death to the mutants!

wow...who would have thought a call for "Kill Whitey" would be found on Nationstates... what a day what a day...

Heh. Master race my ass. ;)

I will be founding a Huynh's school for gifted children... and create a team of H-men for all the outcasts.... lolllll

wow...who would have thought a call for "Kill Whitey" would be found on Nationstates... what a day what a day...

Don't feel bad. It makes me 3/4ths mutant.

I wish I had gills, though.

A lot of whites pass out when they think of a black person on a sled.

Death to the honkeys! Death to the mutants!
*Da woad gives of a high pitched scream*
*Pan Out: Da Woad running from a large crowd of people with pitchforcks and torches*

cool, i'm an x-man. awesome :cool:

where did wheels... i mean, professor X get to? ;)

Heh. Master race my ass. ;)
Careful... with all this call for progress and change, it might be seen as being white is being an improvement.

So that's why I'm able to shoot beams out of my eyes! :eek:

That info maybe true, but the blacks still can't take aspirin, as they are too proud to pick that cotton.

http://www.studip.uni-goettingen.de/pictures/smile/braveheart.gif "Kill all the white men!" (NOFX)

YEA!:D

I can fly and shoot laser beams out of my eyes cus I'm a mutant... and you can't!:p

The most fascinating thing about this is it is a rock solid argument in favor of Evolution as it clearly shows the "Design" is subject to change without notice.

The most fascinating thing about this is it is a rock solid argument in favor of Evolution as it clearly shows the "Design" is subject to change without notice.

The last release's bugs are heralded as 'features' in the next version.

So I'm a mutant now eh. From hence forth I shall be known as WHITETO! All non mutants shall fear me and my brotherhood.

The last release's bugs are heralded as 'features' in the next version.

lol!

Hahahah, can I join the X-Men now?

Cool, now I have a good reason to go by Makis in RL. :p

Yah- In biology my teacher called a blonde girl a mutant:p

Mutation. Isn't that just another word for evolutionary change?

Part of it...

Mutation. Isn't that just another word for evolutionary change?

Damn you and your PC thuggery!! :p

haha, whitey is essentially caused by a single point mutation. that's great.


"Unlike most mutations, this one quickly overwhelmed its ancestral version, at least in Europe, suggesting it had a real benefit."

or is just a good example of the founder effect combined with sexual selection...

As a mutant, I demand to know what my other powers are!
And to make the above statement look sensical, I'll add that being white has to have offered someone an leg up. You don't go from freakish oddity to majority without an extra edge.

As a mutant, I demand to know what my other powers are!
And to make the above statement look sensical, I'll add that being white has to have offered someone an leg up. You don't go from freakish oddity to majority without an extra edge.
you have the mutant ability to pick up a sunburn.

you have the mutant ability to pick up a sunburn.
Plus you're "The Man"! You have the ability to keep the Brother in the Ghetto, among other dastardly plots to dominate the world! :D

:D

Commentary: Awww yeah. Now this is some great science. If you have pale skin, you're a mutant. :D

Link/Source (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/15/AR2005121501728_pf.html)

Good times.



Bring on the pitchforks and torches.

What a pitiful mutation! I bet all the other kids teased the first pale lid relentlessly. :p

I was going to mention the uncanny knack for successfully hailing cabs, but...:rolleyes:

Dammit and after all those years of therapy dumping cash every week convicing me it wasn't so. And now it turns out to be the truth after all. I could bought a boat. A big boat at that.:mad:

*Dances like a Coloured Man*

Mutation. Isn't that just another word for evolutionary change?

Not exactly. Generally, evolution refers to adapting to a new circumstance, whereas mutations are generally random, and often actually detrimental. Its related, but not exactly the same thing.

Plus you're "The Man"! You have the ability to keep the Brother in the Ghetto, among other dastardly plots to dominate the world! :D
So being white allows me to leech the success and mobility (social and geographical) from those around me who don't share my mutation? Marvelous!

What a pitiful mutation! I bet all the other kids teased the first pale lid relentlessly. :p

i'm surprised the original whitey wasn't just killed in infancy for looking so freakish. which actually makes me think s/he was taken as some sort of sign from the gods by the band's elders.

i'm surprised the original whitey wasn't just killed in infancy for looking so freakish. which actually makes me think s/he was taken as some sort of sign from the gods by the band's elders.

WHich I suppose is a lesson to all of us:

When in doubt, hit it with a rock. ;)

All joking aside, I think you're right. He must've become someone important in his culture to spread his mutation so quickly and thoroughly.

Yeah, well, all humans are mutant primate anyway.

WHich I suppose is a lesson to all of us:

When in doubt, hit it with a rock. ;)

All joking aside, I think you're right. He must've become someone important in his culture to spread his mutation so quickly and thoroughly.
No, as the original THE MAN the first white baby no doubt could exude a dampening field that oppressed all niggers (see, I can throw around racial epithets too) around him. They couldn't strike at him because he kept sending them to the ghettoes.
Eventually, he grew a mustache and made a top hat for himself, and at that point it was all over.

:D

Commentary: Awww yeah. Now this is some great science. If you have pale skin, you're a mutant. :D

Link/Source (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/15/AR2005121501728_pf.html)

Good times.



Bring on the pitchforks and torches.

Shutup or us mutants will colonise your ass again.

No, as the original THE MAN the first white baby no doubt could exude a dampening field that oppressed all niggers (see, I can throw around racial epithets too) around him. They couldn't strike at him because he kept sending them to the ghettoes.
Eventually, he grew a mustache and made a top hat for himself, and at that point it was all over.

Oh, if only someone challenged him to a game of basketball before it was too late. :(

WHich I suppose is a lesson to all of us:

When in doubt, hit it with a rock. ;)

All joking aside, I think you're right. He must've become someone important in his culture to spread his mutation so quickly and thoroughly.
at the very least, we can assume the kid got a lot of ass.

Not exactly. Generally, evolution refers to adapting to a new circumstance, whereas mutations are generally random, and often actually detrimental. Its related, but not exactly the same thing.

actually, evolution is the selective pressure that causes a mutation to take hold or die out. Mutations tend to be bad, but some are beneficial. The mutation is the engine behind evolution (sorry if I just said the same thing you did...my reading comprehension is shot today)

:D

Commentary: Awww yeah. Now this is some great science. If you have pale skin, you're a mutant. :D

Link/Source (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/15/AR2005121501728_pf.html)

Good times.

Bring on the pitchforks and torches.
LOL! Hell, bro! We're ALL mutants! :D

BTW ... loved your post to Zooke's thread, man! :fluffle:

i'm surprised the original whitey wasn't just killed in infancy for looking so freakish. which actually makes me think s/he was taken as some sort of sign from the gods by the band's elders.
Yessss. Ve are all gifts from the Elder Gods! :D

Oh, if only someone challenged him to a game of basketball before it was too late. :(
Once he had the top hat and mustache, it was already too late. He built a huge enclosure, which he called a "stadium", in which he trapped all the talented basketball players. Forever forced to duke it out with each other (and periodically a fan or two) they were unable to throw off the oppressor's yoke.

Once he had the top hat and mustache, it was already too late. He built a huge enclosure, which he called a "stadium", in which he trapped all the talented basketball players. Forever forced to duke it out with each other (and periodically a fan or two) they were unable to throw off the oppressor's yoke.

He certainly knew his business. :)

All joking aside, I think you're right. He must've become someone important in his culture to spread his mutation so quickly and thoroughly.

it also would help matters if he (and i would tend to assume it was a he, because guys are so much more efficient at spreading the ol' genetic legacy around) was in the group that first colonized europe with modern humans. that way the mutation can take advantage of the small population size to become fixed and not be bred out by the sheer weight of brown power numerical superiority.

My mommy always told me I was special, but now I finally understand.

I sent this link to my Marvel comic-lovin' geek of an ex-boyfriend and I bet he squealed like a little girl.

Cries of "I knew it!" can be heard ringing through our metro area.

I demand x-ray vision forthwith.

I shall astound you with my amazing mutant powers of...

LAZYNESS!!!

I can sleep...
I can sit...
And I can do nothing...
For longer than any man alive!

Yessss. Ve are all gifts from the Elder Gods! :D

Ia! Ia! Cthulhu Fhtagn!

Don't feel bad. It makes me 3/4ths mutant.

I wish I had gills, though.

Let me guess- you're part black now?

This would explain my third testicle.

This would explain my third testicle.
Um, actually I don't think there is a logical explanation for your third testical. Or the fourth, and most certainly not the fifth.

http://www.cafepress.com/fightinwhite/

I prefer the term upgrade instead of mutant. ;)

But technically, everything alive is a mutation of a single cell organism that grew out of the earths primordial soup billions of years ago.

Are white people 'mutants'? Yes, but so is everyone else.

Uses Spidey Sense>.<

What people seem to be missing is that every characteristic of human beings (or any other lifeform) is the result of mutation. So the article really isn't that fascinating.

edit: ok, someone did mention this a couple posts up.

What people seem to be missing is that every characteristic of human beings (or any other lifeform) is the result of mutation. So the article really isn't that fascinating.

edit: ok, someone did mention this a couple posts up.
I don't see how anybody's "missing" that at all, actually. All we're doing is choosing to use it in exactly the way that scientists don't want us to use it: an excuse to view ourselves (that is, if we're white) as somehow better than everybody else.

And I'm still waiting on that goddamn x-ray vision.

What people seem to be missing is that every characteristic of human beings (or any other lifeform) is the result of mutation. So the article really isn't that fascinating.

edit: ok, someone did mention this a couple posts up.

I think the unusual thing that makes the article worthy of note is that it is but a single 'letter' of the genetic code that creates pale shmucks like me. Little change, big results.

My mutant power? When I roll up my sleeves, I tend to blind people with my upper arms' whiteness; does that count?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakub

Read. It's interesting.

As a mutant, I demand to know what my other powers are!
And to make the above statement look sensical, I'll add that being white has to have offered someone an leg up. You don't go from freakish oddity to majority without an extra edge.
Being serious for a minute here, the advantage of having light skin in the north is that you maximize the amount of light passing through the skin to make calcium, vitamin E and the like. People with black skin who live in those places have a very hard time producing these.

On the other hand, a light skin in the tropics means more risk of sunburn, cancer and other nastiness.

Being serious for a minute here, the advantage of having light skin in the north is that you maximize the amount of light passing through the skin to make calcium, vitamin E and the like. People with black skin who live in those places have a very hard time producing these.
So that means that the farther north I go the more powerful I become?
BRILLIANT! I'm heading to the North Pole right this moment, with the increasing abilities I may be able to take out Santa Claus by the time I get there. That fat bastard has had it coming ever since he failed to bring me either a brand new pair of roller skates or a key.

The most fascinating thing about this is it is a rock solid argument in favor of Evolution as it clearly shows the "Design" is subject to change without notice.

And for the creationists it provides more evidence for the theory that Adam and Eve were black. And since God made Adam in his own image...

Poor Klan ;)

So that means that the farther north I go the more powerful I become?
BRILLIANT! I'm heading to the North Pole right this moment, with the increasing abilities I may be able to take out Santa Claus by the time I get there. That fat bastard has had it coming ever since he failed to bring me either a brand new pair of roller skates or a key.
I don't know. Santa's pretty white, and he's been in the North Pole for a long time. All that belly may be stored superpowers just itching to be used.

haha, whitey is essentially caused by a single point mutation. that's great.


"Unlike most mutations, this one quickly overwhelmed its ancestral version, at least in Europe, suggesting it had a real benefit."

or is just a good example of the founder effect combined with sexual selection...
Maybe since they migrated north they needed lighter skin to get the vitamin D they needed to survive. The lighter skinned people got that needed vitamin and survived where the darker skin didn't.
It's a cool thought.

Not exactly. Generally, evolution refers to adapting to a new circumstance, whereas mutations are generally random, and often actually detrimental. Its related, but not exactly the same thing.
Couldn't the fact that they were migrateing north lead to an evolution to that group of people? do they know if the mutation came first or the migration.
If it was the migration then that is a great example of evolution.

And for the creationists it provides more evidence for the theory that Adam and Eve were black. And since God made Adam in his own image...
That is a lie purported by fools and liars. God made Edam and Ave in his own image, Adam and Eve were rejects who couldn't spell their names correctly and just sucked in general.
Who were Edam and Ave, you ask? The original 2 Killer Whales, who were made in God's own image, but never sinned and were never ejected from paradise. The master race of Killer Whales was what gave birth to Jesus, not man. And it is the Killer Whales that will again rule the world for a million million years after Ragnarok and the Second Great Flood.

Being serious for a minute here, the advantage of having light skin in the north is that you maximize the amount of light passing through the skin to make calcium, vitamin E and the like. People with black skin who live in those places have a very hard time producing these.

On the other hand, a light skin in the tropics means more risk of sunburn, cancer and other nastiness.
You are right but it is Vitamin D, calcium and E are ingested. Though D does play a vital role in the absorbtion of other important vitamins and minerals.

That is a lie purported by fools and liars. God made Edam and Ave in his own image, Adam and Eve were rejects who couldn't spell their names correctly and just sucked in general.
Who were Edam and Ave, you ask? The original 2 Killer Whales, who were made in God's own image, but never sinned and were never ejected from paradise. The master race of Killer Whales was what gave birth to Jesus, not man. And it is the Killer Whales that will again rule the world for a million million years after Ragnarok and the Second Great Flood.

Why is one of them named after a fairly yummy cheese?

Why is one of them named after a fairly yummy cheese?

Because we should all hail the cheese.

Ave Edam !

Why is one of them named after a fairly yummy cheese?
He wasn't. Edam was named after Edam who invented edam so that he could give it to the Adam and Eve because he felt sorry for them. Killer Whales often have such flights of pity and mercy on us mere slaves of the shores.
Jesus the Killer Whale, for instance, invented Television and the Toaster Oven. Regretfully the humans around him were unable to figure out how to work either one, and so those great discoveries were forgotten for years until people stumbled across them again later.

Ia! Ia! Cthulhu Fhtagn!
<.<
>.>

Hastur, Hastur, Hastur, Hastur, Hastur, Hastur, Hastur, Hastur, Hastur, Hastur, Hastur, Hastur, Hastur, Ha...

Okay, far be it for me to destroy the fun but...

Wasn't the fact that a mutation caused white skins sorta obvious? I mean, given that we know that humans came out of Africa, where there is a lot of a sun, we can expect that the original humans had skin with a lot of melanoma to block out harmful radiation. But as humans travelled north to where there was a lot less sun, too much melanoma prevented humans from absorbing enough vitamin D, causing rickets in children and osteomalacia (and prostate cancer?) in adults. Thus, those with lighter skins were less likely to suffer from these conditions, and more likely to breed and have children...

Okay, far be it for me to destroy the fun but...

Wasn't the fact that a mutation caused white skins sorta obvious?

Not for creationists.

Maybe since they migrated north they needed lighter skin to get the vitamin D they needed to survive. The lighter skinned people got that needed vitamin and survived where the darker skin didn't.
It's a cool thought.

yeah, but it clearly isn't what happened. here's why:


http://www.parklandpublishing.com/internat/nwt/nwt5-533.jpghttp://www.itk.ca/images/5000-year-heritage/map-inuit-circumpolar.jpg

this man and his people live in this area.


http://www.ucl.ac.be/actualites/dhc2000/images/jospin.jpg

on the other hand, this man and his people are from an area well south of anything depicted on that map.


there are some benefits to lighter skin in certain conditions, but there are also some drawbacks. neither case seems to create enough selective pressure to matter overly much. looking at the skewed distribution of the mutated gene, this is a classic example of the founder effect (moderated on the edges of the population group by out-breeding with people who had the ancestor gene). so it is evolution. just not adaptation.

You mean I am a mutant?! I feel jipped, no special powers or abilities come from it. Oh well, atleast I can still pilot aircraft. ;)

Okay, far be it for me to destroy the fun but...

Wasn't the fact that a mutation caused white skins sorta obvious?

yes. but the point of the actual article was that it wasn't anything complex as had previously been thought, but largely resulted from a single point mutation. which is just impressive. and also quite damning to any remaining nonsense about race as a real biological category, for that matter.

yeah, but it clearly isn't what happened. here's why:


http://www.parklandpublishing.com/internat/nwt/nwt5-533.jpghttp://www.itk.ca/images/5000-year-heritage/map-inuit-circumpolar.jpg

this man and his people live in this area.


http://www.ucl.ac.be/actualites/dhc2000/images/jospin.jpg

on the other hand, this man and his people are from an area well south of anything depicted on that map.


there are some benefits to lighter skin in certain conditions, but there are also some drawbacks. neither case seems to create enough selective pressure to matter overly much. looking at the skewed distribution of the deformed mutated gene, this is a classic example of the founder effect (moderated on the edges of the population group by out-breeding with people who had the ancestor gene). so it is evolution. just not adaptation.
You have to account for Human migratory patterns in relationship to this mutation. The inuit peoples - in fact, everyone except Europeans - stayed separate from the European migration. This map shows the mitochondrial DNA links (maternal) between separate populations as it is currently perceived.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/Map-of-human-migrations.jpg
If the single base mutation occured in a human population after the split in the middle east, it's quite possible that an evolutionary force such as genetic drift accounted for whiteness becoming prevalent. Since the chance of a new mutation becoming fixed is 1/(2N), where N is the population size, a relatively small population moving to Europe could fix this allele than a larger population e.g. those on the main route to Asia. If this larger population never fixed the allele it could easily explain it.

EDIT: *kills thread*

:D

Commentary: Awww yeah. Now this is some great science. If you have pale skin, you're a mutant. :D

...So?

Nature is about mutation. Some mutations benefit the evolution of a species, others deter it, and others still do jack.

White skin may have been a mutation...but really it isn't helping or hurting anyone...except the KKK, they're probably pissed.

Hey, Tribes, can you pass the link from where you got the migration map? I'd like to know what all the symbols mean, and the background research.

Let me guess- you're part black now?

It's not a black and white world, chum. I'm 1/4th Caddo.

Why is one of them named after a fairly yummy cheese?

Because the Flying Spaghetti monster formed man out of cheese rather than out of dust and clay as the silly Christians believe.

Yes, it was Edam and Brie that started it all.

aren't all traits in all living things mutations?

aren't all traits in all living things mutations?

No ... some things are the direct result of Space Jew magic.

No ... some things are the direct result of Space Jew magic.


Oh okay, that makes a lot more sense then
*still waiting for the Mel Brooks "Jews in Space" movie*

Hey, Tribes, can you pass the link from where you got the migration map? I'd like to know what all the symbols mean, and the background research.
The map's taken from wiki, although I don't know its origin. Just google 'human migration map' and look on the wiki site.

The short version of the research is that the mutation of one of 3.1 billion DNA codes in the human genome proves that the alleged "difference" between groups is insignification, sociologically speaking. It's only real importance is in allowing those within the "altered" group to adapt to new climates and prosper physiologically. "Sexual selection" takes over from there, it would seem.

Frankly, this study has only limited sociological importance. Our global climate is so controlled (via weather-control technology and advances in shelter-making) that the relevance of climatological mutations of the human genome is questionable. It may certainly help to treat illnesses like melanoma, but beyond that the utility of the finding is questionable.

Unless you happen to be a racist or a moron. But I'm being redundant.

Technically, we're all mutant prokaryotes anyway.

Technically, we're all mutant prokaryotes anyway.
Arf. For some reason, I just saw that as a show of our diploid character because of the two complementary sentences. :D

Oh, and Scarlet - what weather control technology do we posess and use on a large scale?

Because the Flying Spaghetti monster formed man out of cheese rather than out of dust and clay as the silly Christians believe.

Yes, it was Edam and Brie that started it all.
*Smacks J00*
KILLER WHALES HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH FUCKING SPAGHETTI!
Pasta is an inferior food dish, loved only by heretics and dirt slaves too far removed from Killer Whale Jesus to fully appreciate and enjoy eating fish and baby seals. The only good pasta is a fish pasta, and even that is merely a poor imitation of the truly glorious food substance that sustains Our True Lord.