Anne of Carvesville

Anne is reading …

iStock photoNew research on men and guns confirms what many of us know intuitively. Discovery News reports that just holding a gun is enough to convince others that the weapon-holder is extra big and extra strong. The research seems to confirm that humans evaluate opponents much like out early ancestors did.

“What we think we’re tapping into here is a system that summarizes many, many variables in a single, easy-to-think form, namely a picture in your head, and ultimately we think that this then is the key variable that is used in calculations of what to do next,” said Daniel Fessler, an evolutionary anthropologist at the University of California, Los Angeles.

“Potentially, these kinds of calculations go on all the time in situations of conflict of interest, even at the level of large groups or whole armies,” he added. “Now we have whole nation states with incredible technology going to war, and still people making those decisions have representational systems in their heads that use very simple dimensions of size.”

New York mayor Bloomberg accuses NRA of backing ‘licence to murder’ Guardian.Co.UK

More DFR

Secretary Hillary Clinton meets with Stacy Lambe, left, and Adam Smith. (Stacy Lambe, Adam Smith / Texts From Hillary / April 11, 2012) Last week, the blog ‘Texts From Hillary’ Tumblr blog was raging through the Internet. Teeing off photos of The Secretary of State taken by photographers Diana Walker of Time and Kevin Lamarque of Reuters, showing her peeking at her Blackberry, the witty commentarys shows Hillary having imagined conversations with figures like Mitt Romney, Arrianna Huffington and even her boss Barack Obama.

On Tuesday, Hillary herself gave a thumbs up to the site, submitting her own meme.

Mitt Romney on Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act

Mitt Romney hit the campaign trail today, trying to convince women voters that fears in his Republican agenda are unfounded. It’s reasonable to assume that the week after Romney buddy Wisconsin governor Scott Walker repealed legislation guaranteeing women equal pay for equal work, that Romney would be asked about his support of President Obama’s first piece of legislation — the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.

Sure enough Huff Po reporter Sam Stein asked the presumed Republican presidential candidate if he supports Lilly in a conference call designed to prove that Romney is good for women.

Silence ensued. Six long seconds and then Romney’s policy director Lanhee Chen stepped in, saying “We’ll get back to you on that.”

Obama campaign manager Jim Messina jumped into action, circulating a critical statement from mad in Alabama Ledbetter herself: “I was shocked and disappointed to hear that Mitt Romney is not willing to stand up for women and their families.”