Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this week’s post is an audio file.
I don’t think I’ll make a habit out of this, but I told someone recently how easy it is to make a podcast and I thought that I’d better actually try it myself.
So listen to this bad boy and tell me what’s wrong with it.
[Update: I can already see that it’s hard to update/correct an audio post. For example, right after I posted it, someone pointed out that I didn’t connect the dots about why a larger brain might lead to fewer successful births.
(I meant that larger brains have to fit into larger baby heads, which makes childbirth harder. Also, the way to get around having such large heads at birth is to let the baby be born even earlier in development than human babies are born. Which may make them even less likely to survive.)
Also, I’m starting to think that fewer, not more, people will get to a post if it’s audio. Shrug.]
Unfortunately, I don’t know how to embed it yet, so you kinda have to download it.
1) It was fun to hear your voice.
2) It isn’t as ugly as you think it is.
3) I sit down to my blog generally with only one tagline or phrase in mind and then just let it flow. Thats one difference between you and me.
4) Have you investigated whether the Neanderthals had bigger birth canals?
5) I would not be adverse to more audio Weekly Rob.
1. Try answering your phone every once in a while and you can hear it more often. 😉
(Skipping down to 4) I haven’t investigated at all. Then, it’d be a question whether having to accomodate the larger head would have caused other kinds of troubles. Maybe they’d lose speed, flexibility, or something else in order to have a larger space to get that fat head through.
5. Maybe I’ll do a few more some time. It was kinda fun.
LOL. Several times, in fact.
Your voice is normal, and not particularly ugly. Not like a certain talk show host who has a face for radio and a voice for newspaper. Watch out for the “um”s and “ah”s, etc. Now I wonder if there’s a way to reply with a sound file…
I thought that (1) neanderthals counted as “human”; and (2) that the other “humans” around at the same time were more primitive than modern humans—homo erectus or one of those, vs. homo sapiens sapiens. I won’t stand behind that statement, though, as I haven’t looked it up.
Bruce:
1) Ok, lots of early and slightly differing creatures are called “human,” and are part of our genus (homo), but they’re of a different species (in this case, neanderthalensis, sometimes without the ‘h” apparently!). They’re not homo sapiens. They’re not modern humans.
[Actually, I don’t even know what the word, “human” is supposed to actually mean. It doesn’t sound precise.]
For the most part, when I say “human,” I mean our species, homo sapiens. If I want to be more specific, I do what you did, and get all Latiny.
2) Look it up.
Thanks for the tips. To tell you the truth, I really thought I did well with the ums and ahs until you said that. I was like, Rob, you rock. One take, and you sound like a star. So it’s good to hear someone else’s opinion.
I heard a few of them, but decided to let ’em stand, and post it just as I said it. Next time maybe I’ll do some studio-work to cut out the minor blemishes and imperfections. But would people still love me if I did that? No need to answer that. Pride goeth before a fall.
If you send me a sound file, I’ll post it!
(1) I see the same tendency in online articles to use the term “human” to mean homo sapiens sapiens. Elsewhere, the term “human” seems to be for any homo species. It is, of course, surprising to find such vagueness in the English language, but we’ll have to just let that one go.
(2) I did! Actual effort on my part! Some (including Richard Leakey in _Origins_) list neanderthals as a subspecies of homo sapiens, but others (including Wikipedia) say that it was more likely a separate species. It appears that the timelines for humans, neanderthals, and homo erectus all overlap. In fact, if Wiki is to be believed, there was quite a bit of overlap among the various human/protohuman varieties. I’m still not clear on which ones lived near each other geographically as well as temporally. Since we find only a very small sample of any of these to work with, it may remain unclear. However, I was under the impression that modern humans evolved a bit later, not roughly at the same time as neanderthals, as was apparently the case. Oh well, it isn’t the first time I’ve been wrong. I think it’s at least the seventh, maybe even the tenth.
I wasn’t always the exemplary speaker I am now. Once, I too used “filler” words. Then I joined Toastmasters, largely because my wife did and I spend all available time with her, following her around like a lovesick puppy. I not only was gently notified of my lapses, I started noticing those of others. Once, as “grammarian”, I counted something like fifty fillers from one speaker, and warned him that he was nearing the “folding money” stage (we are fined a penny for each). His later speeches were much improved, and he thanked me for helping him with that. I still catch myself making tyro speaker mistakes, but not as much as I used to. If you plan to do a lot of speaking in public, or in front of management, etc., you may find Toastmasters worthwhile. If so, I suggest trying a few local groups, and seeing which works best for you. I’ve found the groups can vary tremendously in structure, meeting form, personalities, etc.
I’ll see about putting together a short sound file and sending it. At the very least, it may make you feel better about the sound of your own voice!
ok- I listened to it all. I prefer reading it- that’s all. It was fine – I just prefer reading at my pace rather than listening at yours.
Love you anyway.