Science used to get the best food! My wife does that. When somebody else has scallops she starts talking about how scallops eight(?) beautiful, Windex-blue eyes. It doesn’t work on me but other people are more susceptible.
Or maybe nothing beyond mere chance. It’s a pretty small sample.
I remember, from a biology class, the example of this point was a storm that killed a number of birds in some locale. A greater percentage of the male birds survived.
From here: http://ribonode.ucsc.edu/HuGen/01_80H/01_80Hlec9.html
“Birds have a W and a Z chromosome, with males being ZZ, and females WZ, therefore in birds, females are the heterogametic sex.”
From here: http://home.ca.inter.net/~dhansen/hlthhred.html
“Hen birds have a pair of sex chromosomes, one being an X and the other a Y chromosome in each ovum or egg, whereas cocks have a pair consisting of two X chromosomes for each sperm, this being the opposite to the situation in mammals.”
From here: http://www.apol.net/dightonrock/Woman%20stronger.htm
“Biologically, there is a clear superiority of women over men:
• Women live longer by at least seven years! In the animal kingdom, the female also lives longer than the male.
• Women are more resistant to infectious agents and even cancer!
• Women work longer hours during their lifetime than men. Women have less leisure time. • The infant mortality rate is less for girls than boys.
• In industrialized countries the greater longevity of women is an undisputed fact.
• Women are known to take better care of themselves, both physically and mentally.
• At any age, men are three times more likely to die of accidents, violence and cardiovascular diseases.
• Malignant cancer related to smoking and alcoholism occur more frequently in men.
• Women resist extreme cold longer than men, because they have a deeper insulating layer of fat under their skin.
• Hemophilia, the hereditary disease which prevents blood from clotting, affects males primarily.
• Men are more subject to color blindness, stuttering and learning disabilities.
• Women have better manual dexterity enabling them to do work requiring finer movements.
• Women are wealthier than men. The U.S. Treasury Department informs us that women die richer by outliving spouses and inheriting everything. • Girls mature, on the average, three years earlier than boys.”
From here: http://www.rediff.com/news/2001/oct/24spec1.htm
“Yet, it has been medically proved that the female foetus is biologically stronger than the male. If both receive equal amounts of medical care and nutrition, the chances of the female child surviving are brighter.”
Google on “biologically stronger” women females to see more.
See my answer to Speaker for the Dead, and then Google on heterogametic advantage. You may learn something.
Being a “Donner Party” buff (I grew up just down the road!), here are my theorys:
The epic of the Donner Party that you most hear about is the hardships at the winter camp at the lake. What some people fail to realize is the extreme difficultly and struggle these people had in the Wasatch range, well before getting to the Sierras. I think that probably the men had worked themselves so hard by the time they got to Truckee that they were pretty bad off. If you had a snap-shot of the whole crew in late October, I think you would see the the women were much better off, realitivly speaking, before the winter trapped them. Also, at least 3 men were murdered (Snider, the two indians) and possible a 4th (Hardcoop, by Keesburg. Keesburg may have also killed a child at the winter camp, but I can’t recall the name, and it certainly isn’t proven). In the case of the indians, they went to feed members of the “Forlorn Hope”, some of which were women who survived as a result. George Donner injured himself pretty good and that defenatly contributed to his demise. His wife refused to leave him, and consequently some of her male children did not make it. I wonder if she had decided to leave with the rescue parties if she could have protected her children better.
Another thing to consider is the fate of Stanton and McCutchen. These two guy actually made it to Sutter’s Fort and came back to get stuck in the winter camp!! Would have been four less men dead had they not come back.
Sad point: Had they immediatly butchered all the remaining animals, instead of letting them run off and get lost, they would have had an easier time of it stuck at the lake. Problem is, they just had no idea that they were stuck there for the duration and were probably saving them for the trek over the summit.
If you ever get a chance to go to Donner Lake, go! It is amazing how close they came to making it, only to die of starvation in paradise.
Anyway…as far a book recommendation, try “Ordeal by Hunger”. Its pretty good and not too overly dramatic or discriminatory. I stumbled across an increadable website, but I forgot to bookmark it. I think it might be the Utah Crossroads one above. I’ll have to check it out later.
I have a cool piece of the “Big Rock”, too!
“Lets get them meek bastards NOW!”
“The Donner Reed Party!”
Had they all not been wearing a-line dresses, heels, and pearls they very well may have survived. Yet another episode of fashion-related cannablism. Will it never end?
Stupid fingers. That’s what I meant.
Is this some well-known incident? I’ve never heard of this. Is this what Robin Williams’ joke refers to in “Patch Adams”? IIRC, he grabs a skeleton and says “Donner Party - party of one?”
- Jinx
Most people I’ve talked to seem to at least have a vague idea of what it is, if not more detailed knowledge. If you’ve ever see the movie “The Shining”, Jack Nicholson gives his son a nice summery about 10-15 minutes in as they are driving up to the hotel through the moutains.
Yeah, I saw “The Shining”…didn’t understand that, either. But, it was an enjoyable. Obviously, I missed the reference to what Nicholson was alluding. Maybe you can give me some more insight? Outside the Jonestown mass suicide and Jeffrey Daumer…I don’t follow these things… Well, then there was that Jeffrey(?) Bobbitt incident! 
And so…is this the Patch Adams reference, too?
- Jinx
Jeffrey Dahmer. ugh! A friend of mine was the only reporter who got into Dahmer’s apartment the night he was arrested and before they began tearing the place apart. She said it smelled like death.
Anyway, here’s a primer on the story of the Donner Party.
They traded a nice rack for a spice rack.
There’s a lesson in this for all of us.
And so…is this the Patch Adams reference, too?
- Jinx
yes it is.