Comments on: More Than Just a Pretty Face

By: tribald ozgevir

tribald ozgevir — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 17:23:46 +0000

Slight misuse of the slanted Flannery O’Connor cite there, Belle. “She would of been a good woman if there had been somebody there to shoot her every day of her life” because the prospect of death inspired in her a generous and self-sacrificing, morally focused character. There’s no indication here that the prospect of being popped on the schnozz would inspire this gentleman to anything but more resentful, bigoted, boastful self-pity.

By: etat

etat — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 15:09:14 +0000

Hey, I resemble that Lyle Lovett remark! For the longest time, the guy in Eraserhead was my style hero, but then Lyle showed up, and proved that good looks/locks and intelligence can go together. but by that time my own coiffe was thinning, and required lowering. Therefore, Lyle still rates, cuz he’s kept his.

As for the original post, Belle, don’t you have better things to get excerised about? Or are you secretly hoping to match-make this sister of yours? You’ve already characterised her as someone who likes a knuckle-dusting, if not someone who is a knuckle-dragger. So, if it’s a punching bag she wants for a mate, the guy you describe above seems to fit the bill. Wish them both interesting times then step back a good few paces.

Lastly, since you have started up this business of match-making, could you have a word with the proprietors about setting up a CT dating service? It makes sense, given the demographic.

By: aaron

aaron — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 08:06:36 +0000

What amazes me is that your criticism is even lamer than the comments you criticize.

By: Alf

Alf — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 07:52:57 +0000

Wow, I have a huge crush on Bell’s sister now, and to think she can probably do a russian accent…

To bad I’m not ugly enough for her.

By: kid bitzer

kid bitzer — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 01:04:46 +0000

wait a second—
while Bonnie Raitt is in fact a first-rate bottle-neck guitar player, she is in no way lacking in the more traditional charms that lead to the production of offspring.

I mean, Lyle Lovett has to make up for his looks. The kid’s a dog face. Bonnie Raitt is and always has been a looker.

(And yes, you can calculate my age from this comment, with fair reliability. If you don’t agree about the present tense version, just check out the version that corresponds more closely to your own current age).

By: David

David — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 22:41:07 +0000

I take lynn g-s’s point about Lyle Lovett’s singing as an attractor (he does in fact sing, and pretty well, if predictably). A parallel is Bonnie Raitt who on top of what are I’m sure many charms, is a very greasy bendy slide guitarist, which for me would make up for the absence of many other charms.

By: Martin James

Martin James — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 19:24:27 +0000

My new favorite misquote about science is that science began to make progress when people learned that the fact that something seems to be true is independent of whether it is actually true.

This is the problem with psychology, evolutionary and otherwise. It is hard to tell the difference between ridiculous truths and ridiculous falsehoods.

That the current state of our evolutionary psychology sucks and that Freud was dishonest, does not make it true that we are not Things subject to Unconscious forces.

By: abb1

abb1 — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 19:19:00 +0000

The Japanese are looking to Princess Kiko, wife of the second-in-line to the Chrysanthemum Throne, to do what other royal women have failed to do for more than 40 years: give birth to a boy and head off a looming succession crisis in one of the world's oldest monarchies.

Not nearly enough orgazms there, apparently.

By: lemuel pitkin

lemuel pitkin — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 17:37:58 +0000

Yeah, Mia is Teh Hot. Evidence that there is indeed a genetic basis for beauty.

By: Paul Gowder

Paul Gowder — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 17:09:11 +0000

Oh wow. Brain-dead economists + evolutionary psychologists + “nice guys.” All you need to find are some fundamentalists who are working to usher in the apocalypse, and you’ve got every major species of crazy in the world today, all in one post. Are the ~~comics~~ comments to that post still open? I’ll bet I could find some to contribute.

On the other hand, I think I now have a small crush on your ass-kicking sister.

By: xyz

xyz — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 16:49:26 +0000

while discussing with a friend about the absurdity of the paper, one itneresting question has arised – how do they account for abortion and miscarriages?

otherwise, i totally agree with the comment that said “ugly is adaptive” – true. Also, Why separate the smart and the beautiful? What about people who are both ugly and stupid?

By: Lynn Gazis-Sax

Lynn Gazis-Sax — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 16:47:51 +0000

Incidentally, the “good looking couples have fewer female orgasms” theory could work by a mechanism of good looking men being so stuck up about their looks that they think that’s all they need to bring to the table for sex.

By: Lynn Gazis-Sax

Lynn Gazis-Sax — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 16:45:51 +0000

For example, Lyle Lovett, the singer, is often described as less than lovely and horselike in appearance, but is also rumored to be hung like a horse.

Actually, as far as I’m concerned, being able to sing well is a bonus all by itself (I’m assuming Lovett does in fact sing well – I haven’t really listened to him).

On the other hand, attractive people of either sex being matched with less attractive people of either sex doesn’t really require any explanation beyond regression to the mean.

I’m astonished people are still discussing this work seriously

You mean this is a serious discussion? I was assuming most of the proposed explanations were mockery of one kind or another. Or at least a chance to have fun skewering one or another of the groups that supposedly have more boys or girls.

By: Belle Waring

Belle Waring — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 16:38:18 +0000

I was pretty much assuming it was all bullshit, but I was adopting drum-esque even-handedness. let the open mockery fly!

By: lemuel pitkin

lemuel pitkin — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 15:33:43 +0000

Yeah, everyone should read comment 12 and then limit their comments on Kanazawa to mockery.

As Montaigne said, people too often ask “why is it so?” without first asking, “is it really so?”