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Getbig Main Boards => Gossip & Opinions => Topic started by: el numero uno on April 13, 2016, 03:10:08 PM
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http://www.forbes.com/sites/jvchamary/2016/03/31/black-superman/#6b65c46e2f52
Science Says Superman Should Be Black
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jvchamary/files/2016/03/man_of_steel-1200x800.jpg)
Superman should be black.
By that I mean he should have dark skin, and not that he’s African-American or any other person of color. After all, the Man of Steel is from the planet Krypton, not Earth. That said, Superman could indeed be played by a black actor in future superhero movies.
My argument for why Superman should be black is based on science. Before I explain the reasoning, however, we need to address a sensitive subject: race. Many people use skin color as shorthand for ethnicity, but ‘race’ has little meaning in biology – it’s a social concept that describes recent ancestry.
Race matters for superheroes because it contributes to their identity. And over the past few decades, comic book publishers and movie studios have increasingly changed characters to reflect a society’s ethnic diversity.
While that should be applauded in principle, identity changes are often short-term publicity stunts. It might sound cynical, but if publishers and studios had pure intentions, changes would be permanent. As long-time comic fans know, major heroes almost inevitably revert back to their original identities.
Rather than promoting diversity just for diversity’s sake, I believe the case for changing a character’s identity is made stronger if the rationale makes sense based on origins and powers. The change is more likely to be welcomed – and become permanent – if it’s based on logic, not gimmick. And that brings us to Superman.
Solar-powered cells
In the movie Man of Steel, Superman asks his biological father why he’s different from humans. As Jor-El explains: “Earth’s Sun is younger and brighter than Krypton’s was – your cells have drunk in its radiation, strengthening your muscles, your skin, your senses.”
The fact Superman is powered by solar radiation – light – is also shown in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. In one scene, he regenerates after bathing in the Sun’s rays, paying homage to the comic that inspired the film, ‘The Dark Knight Returns’, when he tells Mother Earth: “The Sun’s power… fuels us both.”
Almost all life on Earth is ultimately powered by the Sun via photosynthesis: plants and other organisms use light to make food (carbohydrates) from CO2 and water. Their photosynthetic cells also release oxygen, which can be used to burn the energy-rich carbs that fuel metabolism.
Superman’s cells would carry out a process similar to photosynthesis. Instead of making carbs, maybe he synthesizes fictional molecules that store even larger amounts of chemical energy.
Light rays consist of photons, subatomic particles that behave as both waves and pure energy. The length of a wave determines a photon’s energy: short wavelengths – gamma rays, x-rays and UV light – are at one end of this spectrum, long wavelengths like infrared at the other.
High-energy radiation such as UV damages living tissue and can trigger genetic mutations (potentially causing cancer), whereas low-energy radiation is harmless but has low energy. As a consequence, Superman would absorb photons from the visible spectrum.
Colored pigments
On Superman’s home planet of Krypton, the best pigment color for absorbing solar radiation would be black.
Light-capturing pigments act as antennas tuned for picking-up photons with a particular energy, and their colors – how they look to our eyes – is determined by which photons they absorb. Blue photons have more energy than red photons, but few manage to reach our planet’s surface.
Air and water filter-out certain wavelengths. On Earth, land plants have evolved to use the red-absorbing pigment chlorophyll, which looks green. Not all photosynthetic organisms are green, however: some plants have red leaves, while purple bacteria can even absorb infrared.
Photosynthetic organisms on distant worlds would use whichever pigments are most appropriate to the available wavelengths of light. Green may be common on Earth, but other colors could be more popular on other worlds. This could be exploited to detect signs of extraterrestrial life, as described in a brilliant article in Scientific American by biometerologist Nancy Kiang of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
As Kiang explains in her article, ‘The colour of plants on other worlds’: “The limiting factor is not the feasibility of novel pigments but the light spectrum available at a planet’s surface, which depends mainly on the star type.”
While the light that reach the surface is affected by which wavelengths penetrate the atmosphere, it’s ultimately dictated by which rays are emitted by nearby stars.
And as comic fans know, Krypton orbits a red star and Superman gains his powers thanks to Earth’s yellow Sun.
Sun of Krypton
(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jvchamary/files/2016/03/red_sun_planets-1200x800.jpg)
Astronomers classify stars according to ‘spectral type’ – basically, temperature and luminosity. There are 6 types (O, B, A, F, G, K and M). Rare O-type stars are hot, bright and look blue, whereas M-type stars – such as red dwarfs and red giants – are relatively cool and dim. Our Sun is somewhere in-between, a warm and yellow G-type star.
After accounting for atmosphere, the peak wavelength of light reaching Earth’s surface is around 685 nanometers. For an M-type star like Krypton’s Sun, it’s about 1045 nm. In Man of Steel, a Kryptonian soldier says atmospheric conditions on their spaceship isn’t compatible with humans, so the peak wavelengths would be slightly different due to filtering by air and water vapor.
Photosynthetic species – including a Kryptonian like Superman – living on a world orbiting a relatively inactive star would therefore need dark pigments to harvest light.
As Dr Nancy Kiang explains in her Scientific American article: “A planet around a quiescent M star would receive about half the energy that Earth receives from our Sun… Evolution might favour a greater variety of photosynthetic pigments to pick out the full range of visible and infrared light. With little light reflected, plants might even look black to our eyes.”
Dark skin
The dark pigment that Superman’s cells would need to absorb sunlight has a different function to melanin, the brown pigment that humans and other mammals use to protect against damaging UV radiation.
After humans migrated out of Africa 200,000 years ago, those populations exposed to less light would have been under weaker evolutionary pressure to spend metabolic resources on making UV-blocking pigments, which is why their descendants now have white skin.
Characteristic features of species are usually the result of natural selection, adaptations to their local environment. Because Superman has powers, light-capturing pigments must be useful to the survival of Kryptonians.
How did superpowers evolve? One possibility is that abilities were favored by evolution on Superman’s home planet, and his ancestors lost their powers when the star turned red. Alternatively, they never evolved super-strength or super-senses – light was simply an energy source for ordinary metabolism – and Earth’s yellow Sun artificially boosts their abilities.
Will we ever see a black Superman? In fact, Kryptonians of color already feature in comics. On an alternate version of Earth, for example, Calvin Ellis is not only Superman, but President of the United States (the character was modelled on Barack Obama).
But ethnic diversity hasn’t always been politically correct. One issue of Superman describes Vathlo Island as ‘home of a highly developed black race’. Such cringeworthy statements were typical back in the 1970s, but as comics writer Mark Waid points out, “A lack of ethnicity was an error of omission, and I’m not sure given the time that it’s fair to call that ‘racist’.” It’s less forgivable that the Kryptonians in Man of Steel (released in 2013) were all white.
DC Comics regularly relaunches its continuity, but it’s unlikely the company would make Superman black, partly because he has so much history. A hero’s race influences whether people identify with that character too.
But there is a precedent for changing ethnicity. Most famously, Nick Fury – traditionally depicted as white – was reimagined as Samuel L Jackson in comics. Life then imitated art as the actor was cast in the Marvel cinematic universe. Fury is a relatively minor character, however, and changing a major superhero might be met with more resistance from long-term fans.
The companies that own superheroes – publishers and movie studios – could follow the example of their heroic characters and make brave decisions. Henry Cavill will play Superman in Warner Bros’ Justice League films, but what about the inevitable reboot in a few years’ time?
Science says Superman should be black. Hopefully the next time we see him on screen, the Man of Steel will be a more realistic, solar-powered superhero.
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Fuck Superman. We have Christ who is real and will return. You can keep Superman.
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Fuck Superman. We have Christ who is real and will return. You can keep Superman.
You got that right.
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Fuck Superman. We have Christ who is real and will return. You can keep Superman.
Superman is a tad cooler than Christ though.
Christ don't have no laser-eyes!
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The original Jay Cutler was black. Fact.
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Fuck Superman. We have Christ who is real and will return. You can keep Superman.
Jesus was the Original Superman! FACT!!
(http://newsrescue.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/superjesus.jpg)
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We have Christ who is real and will return.
(http://www.getbig.com/boards/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=440349.0;attach=483496;image)
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Superman should be a homo also.
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Jesus was the Original Superman! FACT!!
(http://newsrescue.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/superjesus.jpg)
First off, his name isn't "Jesus" It's Yahshua. 2nd, he wasn't no pink booty, blonde hair, blue white boy. Jesus is a fictional character just like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. Yashua the Messiah, is very real and will return...and HE'S BLACK... FACT!
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First off, his name isn't "Jesus" It's Yahshua. 2nd, he wasn't no pink booty, blonde hair blue white boy. Jesus is a fictional character just like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. Yashua the Messiah, is very real and will return...and HE'S BLACK... FACT!
Jesus was obviously a caucasian looking man (blonde hair, blue eyes, etc). You are a fool for thinking otherwise.
(https://abagond.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/wallpaper-wajah-yesus-jesus-face-71.jpg)
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First off, his name isn't "Jesus" It's Yahshua. 2nd, he wasn't no pink booty, blonde hair, blue white boy. Jesus is a fictional character just like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. Yashua the Messiah, is very real and will return...and HE'S BLACK... FACT!
What is MOS's take on this? I suspect he may provide a drastically different answer.
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Jesus was obviously a caucasian looking man (blonde hair, blue eyes, etc). You are a fool for thinking otherwise.
You're right he was. But that's not the man in the Bible who is the Messiah. It shows how fucked up you people are. You changed his name, then you changed his skin color. lololol
Pathetic.
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Hi AD2100.
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What is MOS's take on this? I suspect he may provide a drastically different answer.
No offense to MOS, but it doesn't matter what his take is. It matters what the Bible says. I just quote scripture. The scripture says the Hebrews and Christ were black people. I've posted plenty of them the last 4 years. Really not up for debate if you're using the Bible. If you're not using the Bible you can make all kinds of shit up.
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Hi AD2100.
That brotha spreads truth that scares and pisses you all off as well.
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No offense to MOS, but it doesn't matter what his take is. It matters what the Bible says. I just quote scripture. The scripture says the Hebrews and Christ were black people. I've posted plenty of them the last 4 years. Really not up for debate if you're using the Bible. If you're not using the Bible you can make all kinds of shit up.
But MOS is also using the bible. Are you implying you guys are using different bibles? ???
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;)
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That brotha spreads truth that scares and pisses you all off as well.
What about Bigblackstallion?
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You all can employ the use of cognitive dissonance, that's your choice. It doesn't affect me one bit. But to say Christ is anything other than a black man makes you look and sound really stupid to those in the know.
It's the death blow to white supremacy.
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What about Bigblackstallion?
I don't know his work.
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;)
How is this evidence? ???
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How is this evidence? ???
That wasn't a response directly to you, that was a general posting. You'll have to ask MOS about that and if he doesn't give the right answer which is the one I said, I'll rip him a new asshole with scriptures. I don't know what his take is on black Christ. If he's like most Christians he'll say, "It doesn't matter what color Christ is". My response to that is, if it doesn't matter, then why'd they change his skin color from black to white?......Because it does matter. It matters spiritually, psychologically, emotionally and socially. It matters.
Those pics are showing 3 popes bowing kissing or praying to a black messiah, that's how that's evidence.
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My god, Odin, kicks the ever loving crap out of your f aggy hebrew sky god.
Fact.
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My god, Odin, kicks the ever loving crap out of your f aggy hebrew sky god.
Fact.
lololololololololololol
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I'll put back part of what Parker deleted.
In the land of Odin, soon Islam will reign supreme. How do you like them apples?
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My god, Odin, kicks the ever loving crap out of your f aggy hebrew sky god.
Fact.
Superman has never done well with magic.
It's part of why Captain Marvel can get one over on him.
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But MOS is also using the bible. Are you implying you guys are using different bibles? ???
All these years on getbig and you've learned jack shit. There's the real Hebrew bible Wiggs and the pope uses and the whitewashed bible the rest of the populace uses.
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Man of Steal. :)
His weakness could be white women with big asses.
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???
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Black Jesus isn't that funny.
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Black Christ, not Jesus. Jesus isn't even his reap name translated or transliterated. His name and race were changed. It's a totally different character. White Jesus never existed. Black Yashua did and he's going to return.
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The huge nostrils of the Hebrew would cause too much drag for a black Superman to exist.
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Being bulletproof would protect him from the police and black people.
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In the land of Odin, soon Islam will reign supreme. How do you like them apples?
The fierce heart of the Viking race will awaken soon enough.
The day of reckoning draws near.
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Superman is fake. He can be any color. But as mentioned above about photosynthesis, on earth he should be green.
Also Jesus wasn't white or black, he was Jewish. So therefore, a tan color.
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I'll put back part of what Parker deleted.
In the land of Odin, soon Islam will reign supreme. How do you like them apples?
That will only bring Odin's wrath down on the heathens!
Which begs the question: Why doesn't Odin show himself every now and again?
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How can Superman be black if the pigmentation of their skin cannot absorb anywhere near as much UV?
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Superman has never done well with magic.
It's part of why Captain Marvel can get one over on him.
Odin can too, due to magic.
Regarding the original topic.
Jesus was mexican. (but had some superpowers as long siestas (being able to return after a long crucifiction-siesta), being able to wake people out of long siestas (Lazarus) and turning wine into cerveza.)
Yashua came from Pluté. Had 12 tentacles.
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Jesus definitely wouldn't have been white. Probably looked how the typical Semitic people did before mixing with Europeans, Asians, Africans, etc...
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FACT!
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How can Superman be black if the pigmentation of their skin cannot absorb anywhere near as much UV?
read the article
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Superman is fake. He can be any color. But as mentioned above about photosynthesis, on earth he should be green.
Also Jesus wasn't white or black, he was Jewish. So therefore, a tan color.
No he wasn't He was a Hebrew from the tribe of Judah. You guys have no clue what youre talking about.
Jewish is not Hebrew.
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How can Superman be black if the pigmentation of their skin cannot absorb anywhere near as much UV?
What? Black skin absorbs light. White skin reflects it. Blacks don't require an outside source of vitamin D because we just go out in the sun and get it because of our melanin. Whites can't like us. Which is why they need Vitamin D supplements.
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What? Black skin absorbs light. White skin reflects it. Blacks don't require an outside source of vitamin D because we just go out in the sun and get it because of our melanin. Whites can't. Which is why they need Vitamin D supplements.
Whites make vit d as well. ???
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Whites make vit d as well. ???
Not like black. Which is why you must supplement.
http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2013/11/20/246393329/how-a-vitamin-d-test-misdiagnosed-african-americans
By the current blood test for vitamin D, most African-Americans are deficient. That can lead to weak bones. So many doctors prescribe supplement pills to bring their levels up.
But the problem is with the test, not the patients, according to a new study. The vast majority of African-Americans have plenty of the form of vitamin D that counts — the type their cells can readily use.
The research resolves a long-standing paradox.
"The population in the United States with the best bone health happens to be the African-American population," says Dr. Ravi Thadhani, a professor of medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and lead author of the study. "But almost 80 percent of these individuals are defined as having vitamin D deficiency. This was perplexing."
The origin of this paradox is a fascinating tale of genes interacting with geography. More on that later.
To unravel the mystery, Thadhani and his colleagues looked closely at various forms of vitamin D in the blood of 2,085 Baltimore residents, black and white. They focused on a form of the vitamin called 25-hydroxyvitamin D, which makes up most of the vitamin circulating in the blood. It's the form that the standard test measures.
The 25-hydroxy form is tightly bound to a protein, and as a result, bone cells, immune cells and other tissues that need vitamin D can't take it up. It has to be converted by the kidneys into a form called 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D.
For Caucasians, blood levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D are a pretty good proxy for how much of the bioavailable vitamin they have. But not for blacks.
That's because blacks have only a quarter to a third as much of the binding protein, Thadhani says. So the blood test for the 25-hydroxy form is misleading. His study finds that because of those lower levels of the protein, blacks still have enough of the bioavailable vitamin, which explains why their bones look strong even though the usual blood tests say they shouldn't.
"The conclusion from this study is that just because your total levels are low, it doesn't mean we need to replace vitamin D" using supplements, Thadhani says. The study was published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The reason people of African descent have far less protein-bound vitamin D is probably related to the geographic origins of the human race. Our earliest ancestors lived near the equator in Africa, where sunlight was plentiful and intense year-round.
Vitamin D is synthesized in the skin when sunlight strikes it. When sunlight is deficient, the vitamin has to come from dietary sources such as eggs and fish oil.
Humans living in sunny climates make plenty of vitamin D on their own. In fact, one reason for the high degree of skin pigmentation in people of African descent is to prevent the synthesis of too much vitamin D, which can be toxic.
Early humans didn't need to store up reserves of vitamin D, so they didn't need as much of the binding protein, whose function is to squirrel the vitamin away in a form where it can be used later.
"Everyone who came out of Africa had the ancestral genotype associated with lower vitamin D-binding proteins," Thadhani says. "When humans moved to areas with less sunlight, a different genotype evolved. The further north they went, the more people needed reserves of vitamin D. So D-binding protein levels went up."
And that genetic difference in vitamin D-binding proteins is what researchers have finally figured out.
Reducing dietary salt and alcohol, exercising, not smoking and maintaining a healthy weight are other lifestyle tweaks known to help prevent or reduce high blood pressure, doctors say.
Dr. Michael Holick, a leading authority on vitamin D at Boston University Medical School, tells Shots that the new research is prompting him to resurrect blood samples from earlier studies to figure out whether the ill effects of low vitamin D in African-Americans and Caucasians are related to low levels of the bioavailable form or the protein-bound form.
While the effect of vitamin D on bone health is undisputed, Holick says, "there's a lot of controversy about [the vitamin's effect on] hypertension, diabetes, cancer and infectious diseases."
Meanwhile Holick, who wrote an editorial in the journal accompanying Thadhani's study, intends to keep giving his African-American patients vitamin D supplements when their blood levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D are low, even though they may not need the pills to maintain strong bones.
"There's no downside to supplementation, so it's not a big deal," Holick says.
But Thadhani says doctors should hold off on prescribing vitamin D until they do other tests to determine whether their African-American patients are really vitamin D deficient. Those tests include blood levels of calcium, bone density tests and parathyroid hormone levels.
There is currently no approved test for the bioavailable 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D, although Thadhani and his colleagues are working on one and have filed for a patent.
He says he used to take vitamin D supplements "until I realized there are genetic differences, then I stopped. I've looked at my bioavailable levels of vitamin D. Now I'm comforted to know that I'm not deficient."
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Rare footage of black Superman subduing a bad guy -
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Whites make vit d as well. ???
I thought everyone made vitamin D.
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I thought everyone made vitamin D.
Read the article.
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Read the article.
I did.
It says the current test doesn't adequately measure bioavailable vitamin D in African Americans, not that we are more efficient. Getting Bioavailable Vit D is a 3 step process. It's probable that albumin bound Vit D is more difficult to measure in African Americans or our greater GFR affects how the kidneys do their part with Vit D.
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I did.
It says the current test doesn't adequately measure bioavailable vitamin D in African Americans, not that we are more efficient. Getting Bioavailable Vit D is a 3 step process. It's probable that albumin bound Vit D is more difficult to measure in African Americans or our greater GFR affects how the kidneys do their part with Vit D.
First we were told we needed more vitamin D. It turns out we don't, if we get enough sunlight. We can do this, they can't because they don't have what we have. They need supplements or foods that require vitamin D. If we can get ours from the sun and they have to eat food or supplements. That makes us more efficient. I don't understand why can't understand this. I shouldn't expect you to. MDs and Chiros are not nutritionists. Many on this board know more about nutrition than an MD. In addition, they never talk about natural cures or remedies unless they're holistic.
Critically think "Doc".
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superman should at least not look like a beautiful thin lipped, small eyed, perfect hairline and 1950's caucasian business man hairdoo having male that's for sure. i'm thinking he shouldn't even have african features, but "something else". something that looks like it's human kind of but then no where near. thoughts?
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First we were told we needed more vitamin D. It turns out we don't. If we get enough sunlight. We can do this. They can't because they don't have what we have. They need supplements or foods that require vitamin D.
Critically think "Doc".
Let's pretend one of us has extensive training in anatomy and physiology that's not online or nursing school. Sunlight is only 1/3 of the Vit D equation.
Yes, blacks have higher bone density but we also have higher muscle mass and differences in muscle fiber types.
The real question is whether or not Superman would give a fuck about humanity. Someone who walked among us as a God would likely decide to rule or be apathetic to our plight. :)
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i think u all miss the point. superman would not look like caucsian but it wouldn't look like a hebrew neither. the dude is from another planet. i think he would look human, kind of, but with features not seen ever on this earth, so..
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Take D3, not D2
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Let's pretend one of us has extensive training in anatomy and physiology that's not online or nursing school. Sunlight is only 1/3 of the Vit D equation.
Yes, blacks have higher bone density but we also have higher muscle mass and differences in muscle fiber types.
The real question is whether or not Superman would give a fuck about humanity. Someone who walked among us as a God would likely decide to rule or be apathetic to our plight. :)
That's the problem. You have conventional training. You've been indoctrinated and can't think outside of the box if it goes against what you're taught.
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i think u all miss the point. superman would not look like caucsian but it wouldn't look like a hebrew neither. the dude is from another planet. i think he would look human, kind of, but with features not seen ever on this earth, so..
Can't remember what year but they did something in Silver Surfer where he decided that a disguise was the only way to truly learn about humans. Unfortunately, he decided on being black and immediately dealt with racism. He learned enough and vowed to never disguise himself again because humans were so superficial.
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Can't remember what year but they did something in Silver Surfer where he decided that a disguise was the only way to truly learn about humans. Unfortunately, he decided on being black and immediately dealt with racism. He learned enough and vowed to never disguise himself again because humans were so superficial.
lol sounds about right. alien coming on this planet digsuised like a black man with a cover name like "j qwellin", not a good idea
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lol sounds about right. alien coming on this planet digsuised like a black man with a cover name like "j qwellin", not a good idea
Another question no one asks: Why didn't Superman's creators make him reflect their own ethnicity? Superman comic character essentially ignored what was happening during the time of Die Übermenschen. :)
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There is ONLY ONE true superman.
(http://images.uncyc.org/commons/thumb/0/0d/Subermensch.jpg/250px-Subermensch.jpg)
(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/bxiKqA-u8y4/maxresdefault.jpg)
(http://www.theimaginativeconservative.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/1363720803631.jpg)
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Superman should absolutely not be black. Think about it, his white parents in the rural town of Smallville "adopted" him ie found him in his crashed spaceship. Do you have any idea how much attention would be drawn to them if they had a hebrew child. Lex Luthor would kill the chocolate face before his 10th birthday.
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Superman should absolutely not be black. Think about it, his white parents in the rural town of Smallville "adopted" him ie found him in his crashed spaceship. Do you have any idea how much attention would be drawn to them if they had a hebrew child. Lex Luthor would kill the chocolate face before his 10th birthday.
Changing fictional character colors to politically reflect changing demographics is silly.
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Superman should absolutely not be black. Think about it, his white parents in the rural town of Smallville "adopted" him ie found him in his crashed spaceship. Do you have any idea how much attention would be drawn to them if they had a hebrew child. Lex Luthor would kill the chocolate face before his 10th birthday.
read the article.
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ICON, aka Augustus Freeman
He beat Superman. Fuck Superman.
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Richard Pryor did black superman already.
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read the article.
Would rather not.
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ICON, aka Augustus Freeman
He beat Superman. Fuck Superman.
(http://www.getbig.com/boards/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=607593.0;attach=676161;image)
Arnus isn't black, he altered his appearance and mimiced the first sentient life-form that discovered him, in this case a slave in the American South in 1839.
(http://static4.comicvine.com/uploads/original/14/146793/3147493-7142005025-1507l.jpg)
Arnus Nemesis Kalik'Kak is the real black though.
(http://www.writeups.org/img/inset/Oblivion_Milestone_h2.jpg)