Posted on 07/12/2010 12:47:10 PM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
WASHINGTON (AFP) – Scientists have found the reason why blacks dominate on the running track and whites in the swimming pool: it's in their belly-buttons, a study published Monday shows.
What's important is not whether an athlete has an innie or an outie but where his or her navel is in relation to the rest of the body, says the study published in the International Journal of Design and Nature and Ecodynamics.
The navel is the center of gravity of the body, and given two runners or swimmers of the same height, one black and one white, "what matters is not total height but the position of the belly-button, or center of gravity," Duke University professor Andre Bejan, the lead author of the study, told AFP.
"It so happens that in the architecture of the human body of West African-origin runners, the center of gravity is significantly higher than in runners of European origin," which puts them at an advantage in sprints on the track, he said.
Individuals of West African-origin have longer legs than European-origin athletes, which means their belly-buttons are three centimeters (1.18 inches) higher than whites', said Bejan.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Very interesting.
Paging Nick "The Greek," white courtesy phone, please.
Navel studies program .
The first lie. This article reminds me of those theories that measured the cranium, and could divine all manner of truths in the 1800s.
Uh... mightn't THAT have more to do with it than belly-button placement??
I don’t think we’re supposed to talk about things like this in today’s politically correct world.
You can joke about “white men can’t jump” but never ever can say “black men can’t do such and such”.
They are thin politically correct ice even broaching this subject. A feminist woman professed that she was going to faint and throw up at a conference which discussed why so few women are in the hard sciences. Some subject are just too hot to handle.
Finally, scientists are truly engaging in ‘navel gazing’.
Why am I reminded of Nazi studies of the size and shape of the nose as it relates to criminal behavior?
Makes sense
When I went to high school, I was always embarrassed about the location of my belly-button. I tried exercises, but nothing seemed to help.
Every morning I would stand and look at it in the mirror. I would look at other people’s belly-buttons and experience deep feelings of inadequacy.
My parents told me I had a fine belly-button, but it didn’t help. Then one day the lead cheerleader at my high school told me she liked it.
From that day on, I wore my belly-button with pride.
I went on to be nationally recognized for my belly-button.
I’m still a slow runner, but I have managed to compensate in other ways.
If you have a low belly-button, don’t let it get to you. It can be overcome.
But, but, but . . . the only difference is the color of their skin.
This article was about belly-buttons. I don’t see a belly-but...
Oh. There it is. Nevermind... ;^)
So I must be genetically engineered to drive a car. lol
It’s not NICE to fool Mother Nature, but in this case, maybe I’ll make an exception.
Obviously, I didn’t see your text at the top either... LOL.
Did this ‘research’ get funded by taxpayers?
If so- another example of what is wrong with Washington DC.
So to test this, they need to look at whites who have longer legs than average whites and see whether or not they’re better sprinters, and similarly test short-legged blacks to see if they’re better swimmers than average blacks. Did the investigators bother to do that? Article doesn’t say.
Having a high bellybutton also reduces your chances of winning a Nobel Prize in hard sciences by 100%.
Isn’t it racist to suggest there are genetic differences among people?
Navel intelligence rules!
I don’t have a navel, just an unblinking eyeball guaranteed to mesmerize anyone who stumbles into my lair.
When our party finds its voice for the November elections, I hope such wasteful studies will be mentioned as one more reason spending cuts are needed.
If we are truly in deficit hell, there is simply no justification to fund studied on whether black peoples’ innies and outies are different than white peoples’.
Let’s get rid of any public money for NEA, NPR, PBS, Dep’t of Education, most foreign aid, etc., etc. etc.
It also fits with something I noted for some time in weightlifting were it seen to be more whites than blacks... I could see a lower center body mass being advantage weightlifting/power sports
My dad was a remarkable athlete, and not only did he have perfect teeth, but his navel was almost completely invisible. Not an innie or an outie — just totally healed over. People used to marvel at it.
Yeah, it’s irrelevant. Just sayin.
Don’t you know that regardless of any scientific method used, any study that says blacks are different from any other race is blatantly racist in nature and published only for it’s derogatory conclusions.
GEORGE: Hello-o-o-o Elaine!
ELAINE: What’s that?
JERRY: Oh, it’s just this stupid thing.
ELAINE: Well, I’m sure it’s stupid. It’s not about me, is it?
JERRY: (doing the voice) No-o-o-o.
GEORGE: (doing the voice) Not at all.
ELAINE: Tell me!
JERRY: All right. You know this girl Clare I am seeing?
ELAINE: Yeah.
JERRY: Well, he and I starting joking that when she falls asleep her stomach stays awake all night and talks to me.
ELAINE: How is it talking?
JERRY: Well, her belly button is like a mouth. (doing the voice) I’m bored. Talk to me.
ELAINE: Oh I gotta start taking these “stupid” warnings more seriously.
We are Neanderthals.
Scientists have found the reason why blacks dominate on the running track and whites in the swimming pool:
ELAINE: "I don't think we should be talking about this."
DARRYL: "So, what are you?"
ELAINE: "I'm white."
DARRYL: "So, we're just a couple of white people?"
ELAINE: "I guess."
DARRYL: "Oh."
ELAINE: "Yeah. So do you want to go to the Gap?"
How does this correlate to SAT and ACT scores?
Wanna race?
I’m not convinced that the navel always indicates the precise center of gravity for every individual. Did they do any actual SCIENCE in making this decree, or is it just a verbal assumption by a journalism major who fancies himself a thinker?
That's racist!
does this give me an excuse since I don’t have a bellybutton?
There’s something to this — I’d never thought about this before, but I can’t remember ever seeing anyone without a navel do well in sports.
Did the scientists graduate from the Navel Academy?
blacks have grown physically since I was little...by a nice margin
funny
will Aztec-Mayan midgets do the same in years to come?
“Uh... mightn’t THAT have more to do with it than belly-button placement??”
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That is the whole story, the business about belly buttons is just being cute. The story is that those who have relatively longer legs run faster while those who have relatively shorter legs and longer bodies swim faster. Anyone who gave it a moment’s thought would probably have guessed as much. Michael Phelps has such a long body and short legs relative to his height that he looks really strange. I have never heard of anyone who was both a great swimmer and a great runner.
Personally I think there is far too much of this trying to be cute rather than doing a straight news story.
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