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Norman Davies is basically the better version of Jared Diamond. He's an actual historian, and does a good job of balancing depth with accessibility.

I really recommend both Europe: A History and The Isles: A History. They are both quite dense tomes, but Davies does a really great job of creating a narrative of the entirety of European/British history (from prehistory to modern times) while challenging our biases and subconscious notions. Instead of a tedious listing of events over 10000 years, he uses narratives and environmental/geographical analysis, interspersed with 'windows' where he goes into several key events in detail.

Interesting. No doubt you're right that some mammals have awful stamina and some reptiles have good stamina, but couldn't it still be true that mammals have greater stamina in general? My original comment was based off this passage in Nick Lane's book Life Ascending (page 210)

> What exactly is it that we have but the reptiles don’t? It had better be good.  

> The single most compelling answer is ‘stamina’. Lizards can match mammals easily for speed or muscle power, and indeed over short distances outpace them; but they exhaust very quickly. Grab at a lizard and it will disappear in a flash, streaking to the nearest cover as fast as the eyes can see. But then it rests, often for hours, recuperating painfully slowly from the exertion. The problem is that reptiles ain’t built for comfort–they’re built for speed. As in the case of human sprinters, they rely on anaerobic respiration, which is to say, they don’t bother to breathe, but can’t keep it up for long. They generate energy (as ATP) extremely fast, but using processes that soon clog them up with lactic acid, crippling them with cramps.

No shit the percentages were pulled out of my ass. It is a literal computer simulation that demonstrates natural selection. The actual percentages merely change the ‘evolution rate.’ If you cannot recognize this, then you probably don’t understand evolution.

And it actually shows how evolution is the outcome of randomly generated traits being ‘selected’ for via an increased chance of achieving a certain outcome (adaption to the environment). This is the essence of evolution and natural selection that your explanation lacks.

Claiming the genetics are ‘trying’ out different things makes it seem as if the genetics go different ways in order to ‘adapt’ when this is demonstrably wrong. The adaption is the selection process, and this is the outcome of probabilistic phenomena.

Your type likes to given an illusion of understanding via using an analogy to ‘explain’ a concept, but then you end up explaining how the analogy works instead of the actual concept.

I proposed an actual model that explains evolution in a static environment with a single trait being selected for. This model can easily be expanded.

In fact, many don’t realize that truly understanding evolution requires the knowledge of advanced mathematics as it is a highly mathematical field.

Research mathematical population dynamics to get a taste for it.

Mathematical Population Genetics 1: Theoretical Introduction (Interdisciplinary Applied Mathematics):
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1441918981/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_n7PbAbMRM7XRW

Elements of Evolutionary Genetics:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0981519423/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_MdQbAb4BA2DT8

Ever read The Secret Oceans? Beautiful fantasy for cetacean loving dreamers. I've grown wiser, though. I know their endgame now.

Those are great questions! I went looking to find the answers for myself and found this website that explains it all.

It also reminded me that I want to read The Horse in the City: Living Machines in the Nineteenth Century. Before the advent of automobiles & trucks, horses were indispensable as a source of power and transportation in cities everywhere. Cities had to deal with housing, care, manure removal, etc.

But I'm going to get it from the library and read it.

SECTION | CONTENT
:--|:--
Title | Joe Rogan Experience #942 - Dan Flores
Description | Dan Flores is a writer and historian who specializes in cultural and environmental studies of the American West. His recent books "Coyote America: A Natural & Supernatural History" and "American Serengeti: The Last Big Animals of the Great Plains" are both available now via Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/American-Serengeti-Animals-Great-Plains/dp/0700622276/ref=pd_sbs_14_img_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=9VRNEM68AF50K4W4WFHJ
Length | 2:24:50






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This photo is by National Geographic photographer Paul Nicklen. I have his book of polar photos, it's gorgeous!
https://smile.amazon.com/Polar-Obsession-Paul-Nicklen/dp/1426205112?sa-no-redirect=1

That's an awesome pic! Unfortunately it's a composite. It's from Nick Brandt's "This Empty World" collection.

The Amazon description is below.

>Moving into color photography for the first time, this monograph of new work from photographer Nick Brandt is both a technical tour de force of contemporary image making and an ambitiously scaled project that uses constructed sets of a scale typically seen in major film productions.
>
>Each image is a combination of two photographs taken weeks apart, almost all from the exact same camera position. The starting point of each composition is always the animal photographed in its native savannah landscape. Brandt then designs and builds sets in the precise location of the original photograph depicting the human developments, such as gas stations, highway and bridge construction sites, and bus stations, that are invading the East African landscape. A second sequence is then photographed with the completed set, populated by a large cast of people drawn from local communities and beyond.
>
>The final images are powerful composites of the two source photographs, which presents the wild animals and the people as equal victims of the environmental―both now aliens in their once-natural, once-native habitat

​

I was introduced to this amazing bird at a young age when I read My Side of the Mountain. Wonderful book.

Made me think of “Thidwick - The Big Hearted Moose”, but this is more like “Sharack - The Dope Antelope”.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0394800869/ref=tsm_1_tp_tc

I'm reading a book by Martin Doyle that had a chapter describing the American Southwest's water politics. In it Doyle referenced an old growth (500 years old+) tree ring study that showed that the years of American west expansion into these states were uncharacteristically WET period for the region. This implies that the local climate is regressing to it's typical hydrology. Basically these droughts are going nowhere.

Reacher Grabber Tool, 32" Foldable Grabber Reacher for Elderly, Lightweight Extra Long Handy Trash Claw Grabber, Reaching Assist Tool for Trash Pick Up, Nabber, Litter Picker, Arm Extension (Blue) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078RMCFWQ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_H.5yDb2SXVGHR

It’s a fuckin grabber, my dude.

This is simply how evolution works. Read The Selfish Gene if you enjoy this topic. I promise it won't disappoint.

They don't. That guy is talking out of his asshole.

Meet your new bible:

https://www.amazon.com/Tarantula-Keepers-Guide-Comprehensive-Information/dp/0764138855

A visual of how I would imagine spearfishing sharks near the Gulf's oil rigs as read in the book The Helldiver's Rodeo.

came here to say this. https://www.amazon.com/Temple-Man-Eaters-Kumaon-Oxford-Paperbacks/dp/019562257X

Great read

Here is the mobile version of your link

Here you go.

http://www.amazon.com/Cash-The-Autobiography-Johnny/dp/0060727535

Have a look at The Conspiracy against the Human Race

Did you know Reuters (the news agency) broke onto the scene by using doves to transport stories much faster than other available alternatives?

32 Pigeons (doves) have received the Dickin metal for their service in war (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_pigeon).

Doves seem dumb to us, yet their navigational abilities are simply unimaginable to our intellect. Doves can routinely be trapped in a dark box, transported hundreds of miles, released and then fly straight back to where they started at a pace faster than a car driving on roads (about 40-60mph in a straight line, no stoplights). With all our science and computers we still don't even know exactly how this is possible. And this is the same exact species of street pigeons/sky rat/etc. you see in every city (Rock Dove).

Intelligence isn't as straightforward as we assume it is.

Edit: check out this book! https://www.amazon.com/Pigeons-Fascinating-Worlds-Revered-Reviled/dp/0802143288