Cop Car's Beat

I don't believe it.

From the Improbable Research website:

Why women wear high heels (new study)

January 11th, 2018

“Despite the widespread use of high-heeled footwear in both developing and modernized societies, we lack an understanding of this behavioral phenomenon at both proximate and distal levels of explanation.”

Prompting the development a new (experimentally-tested) hypothesis by David M. G. Lewis, Eric M. Russell, Laith Al-Shawaf, Vivian Ta, Zeynep Senveli, William Ickes and David M. Buss, presented in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, Nov. 2017.

“[…] we hypothesized that high heels influence women’s attractiveness via effects on their lumbar curvature. Independent studies that employed distinct methods, eliminated multiple confounds, and ruled out alternative explanations showed that when women wear high heels, their lumbar curvature increased and they were perceived as more attractive. Closer analysis revealed an even more precise pattern aligning with human evolved psychology: high-heeled footwear increased women’s attractiveness only when wearing heels altered their lumbar curvature to be closer to an evolutionarily optimal angle.”

See: Why Women Wear High Heels: Evolution, Lumbar Curvature, and Attractiveness

Note: The authors cite the work of Ig Nobel Physics Prize winners (2009) Katherine K. Whitcome of the University of Cincinnati, USA, Daniel E. Lieberman of Harvard University, USA, and Liza J. Shapiro of the University of Texas, USA, for analytically determining why pregnant women don’t tip over. Ref. “Fetal Load and the Evolution of Lumbar Lordosis in Bipedal Hominins,” Nature, vol. 450, 1075-1078 (December 13, 2007).

Also see: Heel thyself (The Guardian, Nov. 2014)

Why I don't believe it: The hypothesis is centered on only one of the two sexes. As far as I could tell, the researchers didn't even consider why men wear/have worn high heels. According to a BBC posting, Why did men stop wearing high heels?:

....

"The high heel was worn for centuries throughout the near east as a form of riding footwear," says Elizabeth Semmelhack of the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto.

Good horsemanship was essential to the fighting styles of Persia - the historical name for modern-day Iran.

"When the soldier stood up in his stirrups, the heel helped him to secure his stance so that he could shoot his bow and arrow more effectively," says Semmelhack.

At the end of the 16th Century, Persia's Shah Abbas I had the largest cavalry in the world. He was keen to forge links with rulers in Western Europe to help him defeat his great enemy, the Ottoman Empire.

So in 1599, Abbas sent the first Persian diplomatic mission to Europe - it called on the courts of Russia, Germany and Spain.

A wave of interest in all things Persian passed through Western Europe. Persian style shoes were enthusiastically adopted by aristocrats, who sought to give their appearance a virile, masculine edge that, it suddenly seemed, only heeled shoes could supply.

Image caption Louis XIV wearing his trademark heels in a 1701 portrait by Hyacinthe Rigaud

As the wearing of heels filtered into the lower ranks of society, the aristocracy responded by dramatically increasing the height of their shoes - and the high heel was born.

In the muddy, rutted streets of 17th Century Europe, these new shoes had no utility value whatsoever - but that was the point.

"One of the best ways that status can be conveyed is through impracticality," says Semmelhack, adding that the upper classes have always used impractical, uncomfortable and luxurious clothing to announce their privileged status.

"They aren't in the fields working and they don't have to walk far."

When it comes to history's most notable shoe collectors, the Imelda Marcos of his day was arguably Louis XIV of France. For a great king, he was rather diminutively proportioned at only 5ft 4in (1.63m).

He supplemented his stature by a further 4in (10cm) with heels, often elaborately decorated with depictions of battle scenes.

....

Although Europeans were first attracted to heels because the Persian connection gave them a macho air, a craze in women's fashion for adopting elements of men's dress meant their use soon spread to women and children.

"In the 1630s you had women cutting their hair, adding epaulettes to their outfits," says Semmelhack.

"They would smoke pipes, they would wear hats that were very masculine. And this is why women adopted the heel - it was in an effort to masculinise their outfits."

From that time, Europe's upper classes followed a unisex shoe fashion until the end of the 17th Century, when things began to change again.

It is my hypothesis that, like some of the men of old, women took to wearing high heels to give them more stature (figuratively and literally) within the population. I know it gives me a crick in my neck to constantly be looking up to people who are much taller than am I. For whatever reason (some reasons make sense, others are nonsense), people equate height with greatness. Physical height is desirable. Never mind that it would be much easier to feed a human population that includes no one taller than five feet: We must have height!

I leave you with this titillating thought (you may go to the above BBC article to learn how they got from the above paragraphs to the following one):

Semmelhack, author of Heights of Fashion: A History of the Elevated Shoe, believes that [...an] association with pornography led to high heels being seen as an erotic adornment for women.

A World First in Ice Skating

Our local public radio station, KMUW - operated as a service of Wichita State University - carried a broadcast that told of a world first in ice skating that occurred at the Olympics of 1998. If I had heard of it, before, or (perhaps) watched it, it had flitted from memory. I hope you enjoy this video as much as did I. In the radio program, they told how, the previous day, the skater had been helped to her place at the Olympic Village because she could not walk on her own. She was suffering from two injuries, one old and one new, following a preliminary event. Thus, she had been encouraged to withdraw before the finals. Because of her particular history with the Olympics, she refused to withdraw. What followed was another "defeat"; but, Surya Bonaly pulled off a world first. She later denied that it was her intent, but her performance was taken (by some - including me) as flipping the bird to the judges. *grinning*

 More footage, some of it after she turned professional, of Surya Bonaly is below.

 

Published on Feb 25, 2017

This, from YouTube: "Surya's speed on the ice, her energy, her style, her height on the jumps and especially her backflips are something very special on her! A long time she was the only skater in the world who could land a backflip on one blade. She'll always be remembered as one of the greatest in the figure skating history!"

What's been happening around here

Several things have occurred to me for posting; but, for some time, now, I've been unable to sit for a useful length of time. Sciatica! For the past couple of days, my exercises (suggested by a PTD - Doctor of Physical Therapy - in 2010 when last I suffered a bout with sciatica) seem to be edging me toward pain relief. Thus, I'll post at least a bit of what's been happening around here.

While Elder Brother was with us last weekend, I answered the doorbell to find a US Postal Service delivery person at our door with a box from Hutchinson, Kansas. The outside of the box held the name of the sender, whose name I recognized as belonging to a volunteer out in the Colby, Kansas, area. She and a couple of her cohorts from that area, nurses all three, had shipped me a box of goodies to thank me for the help I've provided them over the past few months. What a welcome surprise - especially since I had done nothing special, in my view, for them - just doing my volunteer job. I had met the three women in Salina, Kansas, in March when we were all in attendance at the 2017 Regional Disaster Training Institute. How thoughtful of them!

In particular, I enjoyed the rhubarb pie - which was shared with no one! (Fortunately, neither Elder Brother nor Hunky Husband is a rhubarb fan.)

Yesterday, WichiDude and Dudette dropped by so that Dudette could show us her new car. Her car history comprises:

    1. AMC product - year and make not recalled - that she purchased for $400 in about 1977. I co-signed the loan for her which she paid off early!

    2. Chevelle - year not recalled - that her Dad and I had given her for her 21st birthday in 1980. I had purchased it from an estate in 1978 or 1979, and found it too large for comfort in my garage. Of course, in 1982, WichiDude and Dudette moved into my house when I moved to Florida. The garage didn't grow for them, but Dudette put up with the fit.

    3. 1982 Mazda 626 - that she had purchased from me when I came back to Kansas in 1990. Dudette drove it until 2000, from which time her daughter (our Wonderful GrandDaughter) drove it for another several years.

    4. 2002 Ford Taurus SHO - that was a gift from me in 2000, reflecting the profit I had made on the sale of the house that she and WichiDude had rented from me for 10 years. I've never felt it right to profit off of our daughters!

    5. 2017 Ford EDGE - her first brand-new automobile, purchased from the same woman who has sold me my last two, and HH his last, vehicles.

Well done, Dudette!

Early Mothers' Day Card

As many people in the USA know, next Sunday is to be celebrated as Mothers' Day 2016. Bogie knows this full well; but, she sent me two cards - early - with the suggestion that I open one, today, and the other next Sunday. I have opened one. It tells about "Great Moms throughout History". It gives quotes from several of them.

"You can cross the Delaware AFTER you've finished doing your chores!" - George Washington's Mom

"It looks like this room hasn't been cleaned in fourscore and seven years!" - Abe Lincoln's Mom

"You actually met men who are willing to ask for directions?" - Sacajawea's Mom

"It doesn't take a genius to see you need to comb your hair!" - Albert Einstein's Mom

Bogie was kind enough not to send any quotes of my own back at me. What would she have sent? Contest!

Thank you, Sweetheart!

It's about time!

There is a posting on the Military Advantage Blog that is mostly about military pay/benefits. It does, however, include a paragraph on possible registration of women for the Selective Service draft, which is excerpted, below.

Posted By: Tom Philpott April 28, 2016

Military Update: With U.S. forces still at war and House members up for re-election in November, the House Armed Services Committee rejected almost every idea the Obama administration proposed in its 2017 budget request to dampen military compensation and apply dollars saved to other defense priorities.

....

Women Draft Registration — With all combat jobs now open to women, the committee voted 32-30 for an amendment to require women to register with Selective Service System. Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), who opposes women serving in infantry or Special Forces, said he offered the amendment to spark a debate that the Congress, so far, has avoided.

For those who may think that women get an easy pass in the military

In an article at Military.com, Max Fitness Test, Skip the Tape: Marine Corps Mulls New Body Fat Rules, the following paragraph appears:

"The brief notes that while the male BMI maximum for Marines is 27.5, the most liberal standard allowed within the Defense Department, the female BMI max is the strictest in the department at 25. The proposal would increase the BMI max for female Marines to 26, increasing maximum weight by five to nine pounds, depending on height."

I recall the fitness tests that the US Navy applied to us, annually, when I was in the Reserves. We had to cover 2 miles within so many (don't remember how many) minutes and meet waist to stomach and hip ratios. I don't believe that the US Navy used BMI, then; but, I would have had no problem joining the US Marines on that account. At the time, my BMI was 19 (age 42). We won't talk about what it is now that I am in my late 70s. Fortunately, I'm the anomaly in our family. I'm guessing that Bogie's and Dudette's BMIs are lower now than when they were in their early 40s. They work a lot harder (outside the workplace) than I did at their ages. Good for them!

From the Center for Disease Control:

Measurement Units	Formula and Calculation
Kilograms and meters (or centimeters)	Formula: weight (kg) / [height (m)]2 With the metric system, the formula for BMI is weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared. Because height is commonly measured in centimeters, divide height in centimeters by 100 to obtain height in meters. Example: Weight = 68 kg, Height = 165 cm (1.65 m) Calculation: 68 ÷ (1.65)2 = 24.98
Pounds and inches	Formula: weight (lb) / [height (in)]2 x 703 Calculate BMI by dividing weight in pounds (lbs) by height in inches (in) squared and multiplying by a conversion factor of 703. Example: Weight = 150 lbs, Height = 5'5" (65") Calculation: [150 ÷ (65)2] x 703 = 24.96

Happy Birthday, Bogie!

Google Doodle that I missed - Hedy Lamar's 101st Birthday

Smörgåsbord

Hunky Husband and I have spent this past week in meetings held by the organization for which we volunteer - some meetings of which were informational, some of which were training, some of which we were actually getting work/planning accomplished. At our ages, 10-12 hours of meetings is just too much. We skipped the evening meetings, entirely! As it was, we were at meetings from 8am to 6:30pm each day. There was no day that I failed to put in a few more hours at my normal type of volunteer work. Yesterday, I took it easy. (In my jargon, that means that I only put in about seven hours at a hot computer.)

Sexist quote of the day: “I couldn’t believe it,” recalls Peggy Udden, an executive secretary at MIT, “not only because she was so young, but a girl.” from a Yahoo! article concerning Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski. Pasterski is a physicist, a first-generation American from Cuba who is the new buzz in the world of physics. If you want to see Pasterski's home-built aircraft, go here.

Speaking of buzzes in physics: Gravitational waves, Einstein’s ripples in spacetime, spotted for first time. From the linked article:

The discovery marks a triumph for the 1000 physicists with the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), a pair of gigantic instruments in Hanford, Washington, and Livingston, Louisiana. Rumors of the detection had circulated for months. Today, at a press conference in Washington, D.C., the LIGO team made it official. “We did it!” says David Reitze, a physicist and LIGO executive director at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena. “All the rumors swirling around out there got most of it right.”

From Wikipedia:

History of the Universe - gravitational waves are hypothesized to arise from cosmic inflation, a faster-than-light expansion just after the Big Bang (17 March 2014

By Yinweichen (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Earth-shaking: Yesterday, we experienced another earthquake - stronger than any I've previously felt in Kansas. The quake was measured as 5.1 on the Richter Scale by USGS with epicenter down in Oklahoma - the strongest quake they've had since 2011. It really rattled my computer and everything on my computer desk around! (I was working on the computer at the time.)

 

 

Just for laughs

The title of the following posting from Slashdot.org is what gave me a laugh. I could tell them that anything designed more than 25 years ago would probably appear to be sexist. In aviation, our standard passenger was a 160# male and the standard pilot was a 170# male, as I recall. Women should be pleased to learn that, in later years, it has been recognized that both sexes of any age may be aboard an aircraft. I was an "over-50 female" for one evacuation test. I was well "over-50" at the time (about 65) and we found the door blocked, so had to exit through an escape window - onto the wing, down to the ground. I was also the Guinea pig for testing to see whether a woman in high heels had a problem with using re-designed control pedals (I had to borrow the shoes!)

Researchers: The Thermostat In Your Office May Be Sexist 304

Posted by samzenpuson Tuesday August 04, 2015 @05:30AM from the coat-day dept.

sciencehabit writes: If you're constantly bundling up against your office building's air conditioning, blame Povl Ole Fanger. In the 1960s, this Danish scientist developed a model, still used in many office buildings around the world, which predicts comfortable indoor temperatures for the average worker. The problem? The average office worker in the 1960s was a 40-year-old man sporting a three-piece suit. But fear not, those for whom the 'work sweater' has become a mandatory addition to office attire: Researchers say they have built a better model.