Jake and Simon,

It turns out that although Basque language is unique, it may not be as totally mysterious as I had previously supposed. It is actually a genetic isolate language that has been spoken in the same region for longer than surrounding Indo-European languages. It’s ancestor is thought to be Aquatinian. Some linguists think it is…[Read more]

TheEncogitationer wrote:
Another thought on this: If they’re killed off fast enough, the bacteria aren’t around to evolve.

Yes, absolutely. Just a side-note, elsewhere in that video they were also discussing how to terminate pathogens with a “cocktail” approach, which is applying more than one treatment at once in order to kill faster, lea…[Read more]

That Basque region in Spain is also the one area that resisted the onslaught of the Muslims in the 8th century. I believe Basques are also the people who bring us jai alia. If ya ain’t seen it an entertaining gambling sport that requires great reflexes and hand/eye coordination. Chula.

Imagine the Almohades and Almoravides slaughtering, raping…[Read more]

Simon,

Genetics would certainly explain the capacity for language. Whether there are innate structures in the brain for how a language forms is something different.

Another great mystery is the Basque language. It’s still a guess where it came from because it bears no resemblance to Spanish or French, yet Basque country is in between Spain and France.

Reg,

The Time article I cited said the same thing, but it evidently needs repetition, so no fault here.

Mind you, while I still think that crime is crime, regardless of the motive, as long as the hate enhancement exists, everyone should be covered by it.

It is so F’d up. RELIGION based? aaaahm does that mean Jewish atheists who get their chops busted because they are being blamed for the lefty lies about Israel won’t be considered in the hate crime stats?

I have read and heard how Jew hatred is a litmus test for societal stability and it certainly meets the knee jerk test.

FBI: Anti-Jewish hate crimes comprised nearly 70% of all religion-based hate crimes in 2024

Enco, wasn’t it Noam Chomsky who said that the human brain is biologically primed to learn languages?  Any functioning human language.

I’m sure there is a story to why the various language families write left to right or right to left.  I believe the Russian Cyrillic alphabet was made as a Russian version of the Greek alphabet, by St Cyril (…[Read more]