Hopefully this is an acceptable place to post this... anyway.. my question...
Can someone explain to me what exactly constitutes race? I mean, scientifically, what determines race? I doubt that it technically refers to the color of one's skin, but I could be wrong. Is it geographically based?
That's a tough one, technically it's pretty arbitrary. As we learn more about genetics and DNA it turns out that what we choose to call race is an arbitrary distinction based on outward physical appearance and what area of the world that you or your ancestors come from.
It used to be that Hispanic (or Latin) was considered a race or ethnicity but these days it's considered more of a cultural identity as those countries are populated by people who range from black African looking to white.
My old roommate Kat had a pretty mixed heritage but called herself black. Strangely in my opinion she doesn't look black at all.
Here's some info from wikipedia. Here's the part I found most interesting.
Because skin color has been under strong selective pressure, similar skin colors can result from convergent adaptation rather than from genetic relatedness. Sub-Saharan Africans, tribal populations from southern India, and Indigenous Australians have similar skin pigmentation, but genetically they are no more similar than are other widely separated groups. Furthermore, in some parts of the world in which people from different regions have mixed extensively, the connection between skin color and ancestry has been substantially weakened (Parra et al. 2004). In Brazil, for example, skin color is not closely associated with the percentage of recent African ancestors a person has, as estimated from an analysis of genetic variants differing in frequency among continent groups (Parra et al. 2003).
Polls, this post of mine from November 2004 on PM's GLBT boards might help.
Good News, everyone!
You can turn Tequila into Diamonds!!!
Now you can use Tequila to both get into and out of trouble!
ZOMG!!!! Zombie Fire Ants!!!!!!!!!
Someone alert George Romero!
And now, we find that the cat is in fact, the evil overlord.
Cats do control humans.
Now where did I leave my monocle?
Well, I could'a told them that, and without a study.
(Also posted under Internet...)
What would happen if you tried to hit a baseball pitched at 90% the speed of light?