Mensa Bulletin Items: Why Short Faces; Cowardism; Historical Jesus; Barbaric Practices

You know.... it's hot still.  Summer has us in its grip.

One of the benefits of belonging to Mensa is the ability to read the monthly "Mensa Bulletin."  It is designed to feed the curious like me.  The August 2016 is filled with delicious foodstuffs, such as:

Why the short face?

Science News for April is quoted.  Surely you have wondered why humans have "wimpy" teeth and jaws, compared to other primates.  Scientists at Harvard have determined that  this was because of the use of stone knives.  Chewing raw meat is a hard job, requiring much time and effort.  But when our ancestors learned to cut up meat, they could consume more calories in a lot less time, and they lost their need for gigantic jaws and teeth.  Thus, the much smaller human face appeared, and with that, room for a "vocal tract that makes speech possible."

Terrorism

Dennis Lenahan wrote to the Bulletin about the word "terrorism."  He thinks that the word should be changed in Government documents to forms of  "cowardism."  Surely, a terrorist is a coward and shouldn't be rewarded with a name associated in some places with "Freedom Fighters."  So, Dennis thinks that headlines such as the following should be generated:

"Man Arrested in Conspiracy to Commit Cowardism In Arizona."

"New York Enacts Tougher Anti-Cowardism Rule."

"Cowardist Attacks in Paris."

Dennis says:  "There may be some implied glory in being a terrorist. There can be no glory in being correctly labeled a cowardist."

AMEN!

Historical Jesus?

Father John Oliver, an Orthodox Christian priest from Tennessee wrote the Bulletin about Jesus' existence, and lists some non-Christian sources:

o  The Talmud (1st and 2nd century)  "eve of the Passover when Yeshua was hanged"

o  The Antiquities (Jewish text from the first century):  records the crucifixion of Christ.

o  Tacitus (1st century secular Roman historian) .. noted Nero's hatred for Christians and their "Christus."

o  Pliny the younger (1st century pagan senator) .. couldn't understand the Christians for their refusal to renounce "Christ as God.)

What do you think?

Barbarism

The Bulletin editor asked "what practices taken for granted today will be viewed as barbaric in the next century?"  Here are some of the results from Mensan readers:

o  Abortion.. instead perhaps we might have:

--- long-term, yet temporary and reversible sterility for males and females
--- more "user friendly" methods of birth control

o  Chemotherapy..

--- Hopefully, cancer will be cured.. no need for it

o  Circumcision..

-- males.. no need for it (now.. automatic in hospitals?  religion mandate.)
-- females.. no need for it (now.. in African tribes and parts of India.. why?)

o  Health Care

(I don't think we can imagine the advances that will probably to made in the next few decades.)

o  Zoophagous Lifestyle

(Will we change to a vegetarian society?  Right now, "fifteen pounds of grain fed to humans is fifteen pounds of edible food, but fifteen pounds of grain fed to cattle results in only one pound of edible meat." Seems like a waste.)

Again... what do you think?

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