I read that the reason why sheep dogs don't attack sheep and eat them is that selective breeding throughout the centuries has separated the four main predatory behaviours of wild dogs so that no domesticated dog breed possesses all four of those wild instincts at the same time.

Herding dogs possess the part of the genome that causes them to chase their prey but not the rest of the genes that make them actually grab their prey, kill it and eat it.

Retrievers on the other hand got the part of the genome that makes them want to grab the prey and carry it in their mouths, but they don't possess the genes that make them want to chase their prey, kill it or eat it.

I worry that without speciality breeders, the dog genome would eventually recombine and undomesticate.

We could end up with mutts that have all their hunting instincts genetically recombined.

Those dogs would end up being put down for good reason -- because they couldn't be trusted around children or other pets.

LIFE IS NEVER AS SIMPLE OR AS SIMPLISTIC AS THE POLITICS DEMANDS.

He's got some "small government footprint" views that make him sound encouraging on medical marijuana. But I guess I'll have to go to the mainstream media to find his views on that issue, since it's obviously not going to be covered in Salon.

Are you by any chance that guy with the same username who used to post on that listserv for women physicists about ten years ago and complain that you didn't know of any woman in physics who actually deserved her job?

I'm very curious because you sound like the same guy. Same name, same obsessive preoccupation with tearing down women.

So is that you? Have we argued bitterly before?

Selective breeding is really the only reason your dog won't eat your kid when you forget to buy dog food.

That other guy was an example of how 95% of the hostile climate for women in physics is caused by 5% of the men.

You're afraid to hug the kid because you have Asperger's. Men with Asperger's are usually leery of interacting closely with children. That's a typical male Asperger trait.

I believe Asperger's also explains why you don't understand the social nuances of human behavior enough to understand how and why feminism politics exists and operates as a force in society.

That's why you have such an obsessive presence. People with Asperger's frequently obsess over one little area of interest and hang onto it and won't let go even when other people think it's time to move on.

I think this about you because I have Asperger's and that's what keeps me from being a feminist team player even though I do understand why feminism exists.

People with Asperger's are not team players and we tend to cynical and even at times hostile towards people who are team players.

Politics is a team sport and feminism is a team in the political sporting arena.

You might as well go to a Mets web site and complain they're being unfair to the Yankees.

By the way -- people with Asperger's tend to find it hard, even impossible, to ever admit when they've been wrong.

Is Broadsheet or the book section of Salon going to do anything to honor this great writer? I think she was the first science fiction writer to feature strong girl heroines. I loved her work and I am hoping Salon is planning to honor her passing.

My dog is really funny. She was rescued from a pet hoarder. Pet overcrowding makes some dogs overly submissive and others overly dominant. My dog is the latter.

She's so dominant she will hump a male dog from behind. Even though she's been spayed and the male dog has been neutered, she will hump him until he lies down on the ground and acts submissive.

She also has figured out how to manuever her behind so that she can pee up the side of a light pole or a tree.

It's a scream to watch.

She's hard to walk, because she has to sniff every single urine spot she passes as carefully and systematically as if she were collecting evidence for CSI: Dog Park.

China is still being run by the Communist Party. So the lead danger coming from toys manufactured in China amounts to a capitalist-socialist joint venture.

Socialists have reasons for cutting corners, too. Soocialists tend to cut corners to fulfill the state's economic plan, rather than to guarantee profits for the shareholders.

working around men with Asperger's who are using their limited social skills to parse gender.

I'd rather have a nail pounded into my head than work around men with Asperger's who are trying to parse gender.

That's the real reason why I'm not teaching physics or writing code.

I'm reading "The Complete Guide to Asperger's Syndrome" by Tony Attwood and I'm able to find descriptions of, and detailed explanations for, almost every kind of frustrating male behavior that women at Caltech have been complaining about for the last 20 years.

And I also discovered why Caltech women are prone to take this frustrating behavior so personally and need a "fainting couch" -- because we have Asperger's too.

I've never understood the frustrating peculiarities of the gender discourse within science until I read this book.

And I have read EVERYTHING on gender and science in my search to understand this environment and why it is the way it is.

I've read books by scientists and books by social critics of science. I've read Donna Harraway and Evelyn Kox Keller. Heck my Evelyn Fox Keller books are even SIGNED by Evelyn Fox Keller.

Nothing has explained to me the gender dynamic at Caltech as well as this book on Asperger's.

And not just the gender dynamic but also how the men can mistreat each other.