• pastel_de_airfryer@lemmy.eco.brEnglish
    0·
    21 days ago

    It makes more sense when we assume it’s software development terminology instead. Alpha means the software is immature and full of issues.

    I am a release candidate male.

  • Stonewyvvern@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    21 days ago

    Carrots improve eyesight…nah, just military misinformation that is now a staple for parents to get their kids to eat their carrots

  • anarchrist@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    0·
    21 days ago

    I’m an alpha male: barely able to keep myself running and likely to completely break down if I encounter an edge case my designers did not forsee.

  • themeatbridge@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    21 days ago

    Imagine if phrenology caught on as the latest pop-culture dipshit trend.

    “My bumpy skull means I’m preternaturally predisposed to be polygamous and misogynist, and I’m just looking for a girl who has a compatible set of head bumps.”

    “If you can’t handle me at my alimentivenest, you don’t deserve me at my inhabitivenest.”

  • Voroxpete@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    0·
    21 days ago

    To be more precise, Shenkel’s work was discredited by the collective efforts of numerous scientists studying wolf behaviour. Probably the most notable of these was David Mech. His book “The Wolf” was based on Shenkel’s work, and his own research on wolves in captivity, and was really the work that popularized the “alpha” nonsense in the public mind.

    After numerous studies of wolves in the wild failed to bear out these conclusions, Mech later concluded that his work was wrong, and got The Wolf removed from publication.

  • Empricorn@feddit.nlEnglish
    0·
    20 days ago

    If you were a (regressive, anti-science) female that believed this, wouldn’t you have to be a “beta” wolf in this fictional world?

    • dustyData@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      19 days ago

      Thats the funniest part about this belief. The pop version is not even accurate to the original research, just a gross misinterpretation. The original bogus hierarchy started with the alpha couple, who are supposed to be the only reproductive couple of the pack. The rest of the population was simply defined by feeding hierarchy, who ate first. This might sound plausible but it only makes sense when you live in a fenced enclosure and there’s only like 8 of you, no den space for offspring and you can’t leave to find non-family mates. But then people made up a bunch of zodiac style personalities for this shit, and they’re just as scientific.

  • 58008@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    21 days ago

    I’ve heard this debunk a lot over the years, and I don’t disbelieve it, but is it not the case that one or two animals (wolves or otherwise) in a group will be the “bosses” or something close to being dominant over the others? Is all of that internal power struggling we see in groups/families of animals not really what it seems? Or is the “alpha” stuff different from that? Or does it only apply to wolves, and “alphas” do exist in other animal species?

    Yours, confused and uneducated,

    u/58008

  • Th3D3k0y@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    21 days ago

    There are species that do have leader types in the social hierarchies though. Gorillas for example, or orcas.

  • zephorah@lemm.eeEnglish
    0·
    20 days ago

    Someone needs to tell all the authors involved in the wave of trash urban fantasy books that flooded the market a while back, using this to write werewolves. (True Blood, etc.)

  • pjwestin@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    20 days ago

    Peter Gibson, the guy who discovered non-celiac gluten sensitivity, retracted his own study a few years later, but it had already become a fad diet, so it just stuck. That being said, there have been some studies that seem to confirm its existence, but the evidence is pretty thin. (To be clear, celiac disease and wheat allergies are 100% proven and can be reliably tested for).

    • TheSlad@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      0·
      20 days ago

      However, the gluten-free fad diet was actually incredibly beneficial for sufferers of celiac desease because it made gluten-free products so mainstream and really expanded what pre-made foods and snacks they can buy in stores.

      • Trainguyrom@reddthat.comEnglish
        0·
        20 days ago

        My dad joined a local celiac group in the early 2000s not long after his sister developed celiac through pregnancy and his doctor suggested he start the diet out of an abundance of caution. At the time there were about 10 people in the group local to a city of ~250k. They’d swap menu hacks to get safe(ish) food while out and about and trade recipes. Then some specialty stores started carrying more safe stuff as the fad was starting to gain traction and it definitely went mainstream when mainstream groceries and restaurants started officially offering safe options. Needless to say, that gluten-free diet support group no longer exists.

        Most interestingly, his other sister tested negative on the celiac blood test and neither I nor my dad have ever had that test done, so there’s a good chance we’re in the clear after all.

        I can’t remember now why I felt compelled to share this, or how it tied into your comment but I hope it’s at least interesting!

      • pjwestin@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        20 days ago

        True, although I met a girl with celiac early in the gluten-free fad who claimed that she couldn’t trust a lot of restaurants’ gluten-free options because a lot of them weren’t actually gluten-free. Restaurants were just chasing a trend that they didn’t fully understand. Things are much better now, but I think early on a lot of restaurants were treating gluten-free like the Atkins or Paleo diet, not an allergy.

      • Saprophyte@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        20 days ago

        Sometimes, I have a friend with celiac who often sees “gluten free°” on menus to look down at the bottom of the menu and see “°not for people with gluten sensitivities”

        He calls it “Becky gluten free” because Becky doesn’t know what gluten is but she doesn’t want it in her body.

      • Soulg@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        0·
        20 days ago

        Not really though, because it led to many places and cooks not taking it that seriously. Becky won’t have any idea there’s a little gluten on the knife and cutting board, but a person with celiac definitely would.

  • Deconceptualist@lemm.eeEnglish
    0·
    20 days ago

    The dude from the Scorpions also studies wolves?? When he’s not rocking you like a hurricane?

    No wait, that’s Rudolf Schenker.

    • theangryseal@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      20 days ago

      Every time I see this band mentioned I can’t help but think of the terrible album cover for virgin killers. That shit is like a stain on my brain that I wish I could clean.

      Don’t google it. Please trust me on this one. Could get you put on a list.

  • masterofn001@lemmy.caEnglish
    0·
    20 days ago

    Just remember:

    An alpha release is unfit for public use, contains bugs, is untested, unrefined, and is likely to crash and may cause system wide issues.

    An alpha is the first step, the very basic of basics, an infant in terms of development.

    If anything, be an Omega man.