The Thing About Neanderthals

 I'm one of those people fascinated by discussions on Neanderthals.  This week, I sat through a podcast where a PhD guy sat and discussed this one odd difference between modern man living in this same age as the Neanderthal folks.

When you go and talk about a crowd of Neanderthal living in some cave or some location....the number goes from five to fifteen.  Modern man in the same era?  It could be as low as twenty but typically got into the 120-range (yeah, a tribal unit).

Why?  No one has figured this element out.

You would think that with zero birth control and lusty relations going on....typically every two years, the Neanderthal gals were delivering new 'troops' to the clan.  Were they more susceptible to disease or early death?  Unknown.  Was it simply bad luck and one out of every births lead to a death by age ten?  Was there some weird ritual going on where someone was sacrificed every six years? 

The problem with a low number in the tribe 'game'....for defensive purposes.....you just never can be sure of some fight with the other tribe on the far side of the valley.  You might wipe most of them out in a hour-long battle and find two members of your clan were wiped out as well.

Were they just territorial and always inclined to fight over a forty square mile space with any intruder clan?

It's a silly question but you just wonder if the Neanderthals just never grasped that there was safety in numbers.  

Observations Over Joe Biden's 'Soul of a Nation' Speech

 I sat this morning and watched the roughly 25-minute Philadelphia speech.  Some observations:

1.  The days where Biden could deliver a peppy and highly enthusiastic speech (probably as late as the 1990s) are long gone.  It was a kind of speech that VP Harris should have given.

2.  It was just odd how Biden walked to the podium with his wife....then she stepped off to the left.

3.  Lighting?  Well...it was somewhat dim.  Maybe somewhat intentional....maybe accidental?  I don't know.  It was like they had a 40-watt bulb over him.

4.  Scratchy throat thing?  Well....yeah, one could notice that.

5.  Maa-gaa chatter?  It was a funny pronunciation that he tried to use for MAGA folks. How many times did utter the phrase?  I stopped counting at ten.

6.  The F-Joe Biden chants?  Well....you could hear them toward the end.

7.  For 2022, there hasn't been that many speeches made by the President and so it's hard to grade this one.  I think a lot of people would suggest that 'beacon-to-the-world' status, that he uttered, has come and gone.  

My humble guess?  You might see one more speech like this prior to the end of 2022. It'll probably come just prior to November's mid-term.