From the NYT:
Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen, with her husband, Marc Andreessen, the Netscape co-founder, says that she was drawn to philanthropy because of her mother's early death from cancer.
John Arrillaga, her real estate developer dad, is one of the two Spanish-surnamed people on the Forbes 400. His parents were Basques born in Spain. Last I checked, the other Spanish-surnamed billionaire is billboard king Arte Moreno, a genuine Mexican-American, who, as owner of the California Angels, is going to pay a quarter of a billion to slugger Albert Pujols.
Here's Razib on the distinctive Basque DNA, although I must say that Ms. Arrillaga-Andreesen doesn't look too different from most rich men's wives / daughters.
Here's Razib on the distinctive Basque DNA, although I must say that Ms. Arrillaga-Andreesen doesn't look too different from most rich men's wives / daughters.
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76 comments:
I've heard that Basque surnames are considered posh in Latin America, though I don't know why.
> Here's Razib
You left out the Razib link ...
She's a looker, he...kinda cranky from my interactions back in the day. Must've cleaned up that act to score such a catch.
Very wealthy and still they shop at one of those mid-century faux adobe and railroad tie Town & Country shopping centers. Steve Jobs and family were known to dine there in Palo Alto. Silicon Valley wealthy are forced into tolerating modest shopping options--unless they're into cars. Then Aston Martin, McClaren, Massarati and Tesla dealers are close by.
She is pretty good looking. Made someones top 25 list.
http://www.businesspundit.com/the-25-hottest-wives-of-business-10-1/
I like how her job is *philanthropist*. Being generous with other peoples money must be deeply satisfying. Not only is she beautiful but she's a truly good person.
Still, I think Jim Clark is the Netscaper who really cleaned up. (See link)
But how many Evangelicals and HBD types in Silicon valley?
She looks like Richie Cunningham with tits and he is wearing an Addidas warm-up suit over a tailored shirt.
"I've heard that Basque surnames are considered posh in Latin America, though I don't know why."
Basques tend to have less Arab/Moorish ancestry than other Spaniards so maybe they are paler.
Smart women don't conquer the world - they bare sons who do. The best way to find a good woman is to find one with a father - or, even better, brothers - who have cleaned up, as Laura's father has. Marc Andreessen chose wisely.
Laura Andreessen wears not one but two crosses? Genuinely religious, or just a fashion statement? She can't be too shallow - her dad's a billionaire and she still married a guy who looked like Andreessen. Laura Andreessen ne Arrillaga chose wisely.
They should have 50 kids.
And I saw Andreessen on Charlie Rose a few years ago (though not, alas, with Christopher Hitchens). He struck me as a pretty bright guy, not one who got rich by just being a tech geek.
"She's a looker, he...kinda cranky from my interactions back in the day."
Because tech zillioanires - Bill Gates, MArk Zuckerberg, Larry Ellison, Steve Jobs - are all widely regarded as nice guys.
The long-time presidente of the National Council of La Raza was Raul Yzaguirre. I heard him say in an interview once that his surname was Basque, but his family is Mexican, and he looks it, especially in younger photos with a moustache.
Basque is interesting in that it is one of the few known linguistic isolates (a language unrelated to any other, whether a predecessor or contemporary).
"Basque surnames being posh in Latin America doesn't seem like that much of a mystery to me. If you have a Basque surname there, the chance of you being a White European is infinitely greater than if you have a Spanish surname, which have been appropriated by Latin Americans of every kind, whether they be Castilian, Indian, or Mestizo."
I had a very mestizo Mexican-American secretary in Chicago who had a Basque surname so there must have been Basques among the conquistadors who impregnated the Indian women.
"If you have a Basque surname there, the chance of you being a White European is infinitely greater than if you have a Spanish surname..."
But some of the conquistadors must have been Basque. Look at it this way: the proportions of English, Scottish and Irish surnames among Alabama's blacks seem to be similar to those among of Alabama's whites.
Basque guys might have come to Peru in the 16th century and left behind half-Indian kids at the same rate as Aragonese, Murcian or Andalusian guys. Or am I wrong about this?
http://gsbapps.stanford.edu/facultyprofiles/biomain.asp?id=07018169
It looks like she's about 40 and it doesn't mention anything about them having kids.
I'm pretty sure Vdare's bete noir (or should that be bete café) , Ruben Navarette, is heavily Basque.
The Wiki page on the Basque language is very good. I think the most interesting part is how the Basque millers counted:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basque_language
I think Basques brought sheepherding to the Central Valley. There's some Basque history in Bakersfield.
most rich men's wives / daughters.
"Andreessen" is a Scandinavian name. I imagine pretty much all of Andreessen's maternal ancestors looked like that, regardless of how rich their husbands and fathers were. Scandinavians weren't really well off until about 100 years ago.
Nothing says billionaire like an Adidas pullover.
"I like how her job is *philanthropist*. Being generous with other peoples money must be deeply satisfying."
oh, thou doth protest too much. how generous do you think vanessa bryant is going to be with the 100 million dollars she is going to rape out of kobe next year? just be glad some of these rich women do good deeds with the money they have and don't deserve.
Hispanic students filling medical schools nationwide
"Many schools have shifted their admissions process, focusing on the entire student rather than simply grades and MCAT scores." New euphemism for racial preference: 'focusing on the ENTIRE student.' Hey, he may not have done well on the MCAT but he has wonderful eyes and a nice smile... on that brown face of his. Maybe AA will be 'entire personism'
But when I get a sick, I want a real doctor, not an 'entire person'. I wanna know what he knows about medicine, not what he knows about making tacos or what his favorite tv shows are.
Well, at least we know that she will be able to qualify for affirmative action benefits.
"Many schools have shifted their admissions process, focusing on the entire student rather than simply grades and MCAT scores... 'Having a wealth of diversity helps all of us to learn to be better physicians,' said Dr. Michael Koller."
So, is 'focusing on the entire person' the the euphemism for 'affirmative action'? So, it doesn't matter if a student's MCAT's scores are low as long as he or she loves, say, tacos or a certain TV show? Or has a brown or black face?
Let's cut the crap. This is not about 'focusing on the entire person'. It's about FAVORING certain people soley for their race or ethnicity. If medical schools were to 'focus on the entire person', they would have to find out the person's taste in movies, cooking ability, knowledge of music, understanding of chemistry and math, sexual preferences, ability in chess, etc. That is not the issue here. The issue is simply ethnicity or race. In other words, medical schools have been told to favor lower-scoring Hispanics over whites and Asians because.... they are Hispanic.
Dr. Koller says 'diversity' is good, but if you get sick, do you want the best doctor with the best credentials or an 'entire person'? If I'm ailing with some disease, I don't care whether a person has a brown face or white face. I just want the doctor with the best skills and knowledge. It's a matter of life or death! Do you the best doctor or an 'entire person' doing surgery on your child? I think evern Hispanic patients want the best doctor, not a doctor simply because he's Hispanic or 'entire person'.
(By the way, if you're white or Asian and have done well on exams and have high IQ, are you somehow not an 'entire person'? Should they be rejected by schools in favor of 'entire persons', whose entirety is based on their brown complexion, speaking Spanish at home, and knowledge of how to make tortillas?)
I suggest that if Koller or his family ever gets sick, he or she not contact a Jewish doctor but some Hispanic doctor or black doctor who got into medical school not because of his academic credentials but because of his 'entire personhood'.
And just how does 'wealthy of diversity' help a bunch of medical students to be better students? Hey, maybe we can apply that to the NBA too. Maybe Chicago Bulls would be better if it had more diversity. If say, only one guy on the team were black while others were Chinese, Indian, Turkish, Mexican, Arabian, etc. Why doesn't NBA go for more diversity and 'entire personhood' to make the game better?
And how come virtually all running backs in football and vast majority of defensive linemen are black? You see, the game would be much better if it had more Mexicans running on the field and trying to sack the quarterback. After all, diversity makes everything better, doesn't it? You see, Chicago Bears won't win the superbowl as long as the team's mostly made up of blacks and some whites. We need more diversity. Doesn't Chicago have a sizable Vietnamese community? Get more 'entire person' Vietnamese on the team. Since no other team has a Vietnamese-American player, Chicago Bears will be advantaged over them for its diversity(of having a Vietnamese player, or 'entire person' player.)
And speaking of 'social justice', Jews are only 2% of US population yet they occupy nearly 50% of all positions in elite colleges. If we follow the logic of 'affirmative action' or 'entire personhood', aren't Jews vastly overrepresented and taking away opportunities from others who are more 'entirely personlike'? Shouldn't Jews be reduced to 2% of student body to make room for more 'entirely personlike' white gentiles, blacks, Hispanics, etc?
OT, but if no one mentioned it before, this study might be iSteve timber.
Spanish, Basque, WASP, Jewish--amazing how m/billionaires' wives all tend to look the same. Maybe trophy wives are a genetically distinct subgroup.
I love the fact that her face is plastered on the top of her charity website. She wants to be the Donald Trump (or Arianna Huffington) of charity.
But what magnetic association can we make of his southern Wisconsin and her northern California roots?
The Basque country is mainly in Spain but some of ancient Navarre is on the French side of the Pyrennes.
One of the French rugby teams (Bayonne?) bring their games to San Sebastian in Spain to accomodate larger crowds.
Marc Andreesen happened to be in the right place at the right time. Given the importance of web browsers and the fact that he co-developed the very first one, you'd think by now he would be at least as rich as the Facebook geek. It would appear that growing up in bucolic WI doesn't prepare you to be adequately ruthless, whereas being the son of a dentist on LI prepares does. So enough of all this talk of how great the genes of rich people are.
By the way, if I didn't know that Mark Zuckerberg was an internet billionaire, I'd swear from his appearance that he was a dentist just like his father.
Anon, those shopping centers are charming in their lack of pretension, and they can conceal some very fine stores.
The lack of pretension in old-school Silicon Valley, reflective of both nerd/engineer and Yankee Protestant culture (see Tom Wolfe on Robert Noyce, midewstern Congregationalist), is completely disappearing under the onslaught of the nouveaux riches.
Stanford Shopping Center has kate spade, Louis Vuitton, Neiman Marcus, etc., anyway, if you need that.
Signed, a grumpy exiled nth-generation Bay Area native.
"Very wealthy and still they shop at one of those mid-century faux adobe and railroad tie Town & Country shopping centers. Steve Jobs and family were known to dine there in Palo Alto. Silicon Valley wealthy are forced into tolerating modest shopping options--unless they're into cars. Then Aston Martin, McClaren [sic], Massarati [sic] and Tesla dealers are close by."
"Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen, with her husband, Marc Andreessen, the Netscape co-founder, says that she was drawn to philanthropy because of her mother's early death from cancer."
I suppose it has nothing to do with having a rich husband and with philantrophy being way for rich women to join the club of 'important people'.
It's like Bill Gates makes the fortune, and Melinda Gates plays 'save the world'.
If you're a good-looking bimbo wife of some rich guy and if you just enjoy your riches, you're just a rich bimbo. But if you play at to 'saving the world', you're doing something 'important'. Moral vanity to go with other materialistic vanity.
As for the rich guy, I guess it's part vanity, part love. In love with his hot babe wife, he wants to make her feel important, a real partner in changing the world than just a wife. Also, it must be nice to show off that 'my wife is an important woman'. Oy vey.
Philanthropy wife.. or Philan-trophy wife?
Who says what?
Spanish surname means little, just as an Anglosaxon or Russian or in my case German surname do not imply ethnic identity.
"good-looking bimbo wife"
Where?!
Yet another mystery as to why the rich guy isn't with someone hotter.
If you're ever in Reno, be sure to eat at Louie's Basque Corner. Still the best place in town, if you don't mind family seating.
"If you're a good-looking bimbo wife of some rich guy and if you just enjoy your riches, you're just a rich bimbo."
Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen, bimbo? Do bimbos take MBAs from Stanford?
Nothing of her background, attire, or mannerisms suggests such. Nor does her choice of husband who, for all his other qualities, doesn't strike me as the kind of stud to which bimbos would flock.
"Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen, bimbo? Do bimbos take MBAs from Stanford?"
If you are a striving nobody, you better be smart and show signs of entrepreneurial brilliance to get into Stanford's MBA program. But if you are the bimbo daughter of a wealthy person, you still have quantifiable value to the Stanford Business School as a potential booster or fundraiser, even if you are a bit thick. Of course, you can't be Paris Hilton thick.
"Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen, bimbo? Do bimbos take MBAs from Stanford?"
She's a smart bim. Look, business schools are kinda bogus. Bush got a business degree from Harvard. Most of business school is about making right hand shakes, meeting the right people, having the right smile, etc.
MBA
biMBA.
Gimme liberty or gimme debt.
""Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen, bimbo? Do bimbos take MBAs from Stanford?"
"Don't be ridiculous, they get law degrees from Harvard!"
-Kylie
From whence come all these trolls anonymii?
Arrillaga-Andreessen appears to have made a substantial return on her Stanford education by way boosting non-profits in the surrounding community. As a true-believing HBDer I have serious doubts that these projects will really help in the long-run, and question why the philanthropic left continues to ignore the rotting in Middle America, but I doubt neither her motives nor her work ethic.
You assume bimbo based on nothing; based on countless evidence to the contrary.
I thought I was supposed to be pouring cold water on the idea she's hot, with T-Dog telling me I'm nuts.
She looks more like a down-market Helen Slater to me, though.
Another 'Nice White Lady'.
"...so maybe they are paler."
Yes, Basques show less or none admixture from Arabian-berbers.
And No, they are not "paler" than spaniards. They are ligther in average than Andalucians, but not more than Asturians, Galicians or Catalunians (for instance). The reason is the same that´s make north-germans lighter than south-germans. Besides, "Moors" from North-Africa or Midle-east, were caucasians-Mediterranics not very distinct from south-europeans. After the "Reconquista", they are obliged to use a signal (like the Jews)to be recognized...
"Spanish, Basque, WASP, Jewish--amazing how m/billionaires' wives all tend to look the same. Maybe trophy wives are a genetically distinct subgroup."
Indeed they are: Indo-European, Germanic.
She looks somewhat like my cousin, who works in the "legacy" arm of the Heritage Foundation. Blondes have an advantage, for sure.
Most trophy wives/bimbos don't have fathers in the Forbes 400. She found a guy who didn't need her money though...
She's not really a trophy wife. She's rather slightly built and not voluptuous or anything like a typical trophy wife. She looks kind of like the nerdy, intellectual type, not a knockout or anything. There is more to the "blonde trophy wife" than just blonde.
"She looks more like a down-market Helen Slater to me, though."
Helen Slater?!?!?
Not even close. Now she was hot, Supergirl, and wasn't she the one that did that Lesbo flick with the chick with the French surname?
"Spanish, Basque, WASP, Jewish--amazing how m/billionaires' wives all tend to look the same. Maybe trophy wives are a genetically distinct subgroup."
Indeed they are: Indo-European, Germanic.
Not all of them. The second wife of the only billionaire I know is Korean-Californian.
Steve,
I detect more snark than usual in the comments thread to this post.
Andreessen was smart and creative enough to go in the the hedge fund industry, and instead he went in to technology where his work benefitted all of us. Then once he struck it rich he observed the cardinal rule of HBD and married a high IQ young woman instead of a low IQ young woman.
Andreessen should be celebrated here rather than insulted
"you'd think by now he would be at least as rich as the Facebook geek."
Eh. When he punched out of UIUC he'd done an IP-encumbered web browser and he was a new graduate. Jim Clark did the business end of things and rounded up the programers and money to do Netscape. Clark made a ton of money, and Andreesen made good money. He was in a public-facing position at 23 and did a good job at it, and used the experience in a series of other startups. He sold LoudCloud/Opsware for $1.6B.
These days browsers are platforms that are mostly done to give strategic advantage to something else, eg Chrome for Google, IE for Microsoft, etc. They're money pits in and of themselves. They take lots of programmer time and the market price is zero.
Not all of them. The second wife of the only billionaire I know is Korean-Californian.
Nic Cage and Oliver Stone's third wives are Korean. Maybe they're just tired of blonde trophy wives, girlfriends, one-night stands, etc. (presumably they've had many) and now just want a submissive woman or something.
Apparently the great Ted Williams had some Basque ancestry.
Anonymous said...
Please. I'm all for good deads. I just don't like sanctimonous, insufferable, priveledged white women.
(See any black womans review of the movie The Help to get the gist here.)
Better yet see Whiskey's review of The Help. I generally can't stand Whiskey but once in a thousand he writes something interesting.
Andreesons wife is gonna make a big deal about being a good person and will probably wreck a whole bunch of lives in the name of whatever noble cause is in vogue right now.
Least Kobe's wife will theoretically be helping some (her) kids stay out of the ghetto.
ROFLMAO
So noble of her to raise her own kids like that. She should be awarded with a Nobel Prize.
This is a phenomenon that has become quite common in the US - heaping volumes of praise on Blacks for accomplishing even the most mundane task that whites do without expecting a pat on the back.
The Basques pretty much became the ruling class in Chile, and as others have pointed out, they rose to the top throughout a lot of Latin America.
In the US, one commenter mentioned the Basque shepherds in the Central Valley, but they also cleaned up in Nevada. Probably the most famous Basque-American (and sheep rancher) was Paul Laxalt, first Governor and then Senator from the Silver State. Most people who knew Reagan are fairly convinced that he personally preferred Laxalt as his successor in 1988.
"Nic Cage and Oliver Stone's third wives are Korean. Maybe they're just tired of blonde trophy wives, girlfriends, one-night stands, etc. (presumably they've had many) and now just want a submissive woman or something."
The common sight of successful old white media moguls marrying very young Korean women probably has more to due with the availability of Korean women in LA and their traditional willingness to tolerate very old provider mates with limp dicks whom they can dominate in private life.
"She's not really a trophy wife. She's rather slightly built and not voluptuous or anything like a typical trophy wife."
There's nouveau riche trophy wife.
Blonde and busty.
There's haute riche trophy wife.
Slim and soPHisticated.
There's hip riche trophy wife.
Quasi-nerdy, cute, and caring.
"This is a phenomenon that has become quite common in the US - heaping volumes of praise on Blacks for accomplishing even the most mundane task that whites do without expecting a pat on the back.
She's Mestizo, Sport.
The WSJ cries for Chipolte. Apparently burritos will remain unwrapped in the fast food joints if we don't allow more immigration:
"A government crackdown that found Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. had hired hundreds of illegal workers has turned Monty Moran, the burrito chain's fiery co-leader, into an unlikely champion of immigration overhaul."
The ignorance of Sailer's readers continues to amaze me. So now this woman is bright because she is a Basque, and Basques are more intelligent than Spaniards because they are lighter-skinned....holy shit, the ignorance is appalling..so many faulty addumptions.
For starters, the amount of Moorish ancestry in Spaniards is no higher than the amount of Turanid ancestry in Russians or Eastern Germans for that matter, and going by your logic than Russians and Prussians should have accomplished nothing intellectually since Mongols haven't. Secondly, even if Spaniards had lots of Moorish ancestry, it is a complete assumption that white Europeans are more intelligent. Arabs invented Algebra and were living in cities with sanitation and courts of law in a time when white Europeans were living in Paleolithic villages picking up lice from each other's hair like monkeys. And finally, Basques are not lighter-skinned than other Spaniards.
Keep going with your ignorance and prejudices. At least you guys are good for a laugh.
"Nic Cage and Oliver Stone's third wives are Korean. Maybe they're just tired of blonde trophy wives, girlfriends, one-night stands, etc. (presumably they've had many) and now just want a submissive woman or something."
This commentator does not know Korean women. Submissive is not a word that describes Korean women of any age in general.
Mestizo means "mixed" so a taking your statement that Vanessa has grandparents from Spain (which I could not collaborate) would not preclude her from being Meztizo.
Also, the feminine ending "Mestiza" would have been necessary had I used an article: "She's A Mestiza" I did not, I identified her with a general group, and as such the masculine form takes precedence.
But thanks for trying.
Basque cuisine is pretty great, though I don't know the difference from Catalan which is also great (recommend B44 near Union Square). After watching two minutes of this chick chirping, on "Charlie Rose" natch, I would be pleased to never hear about her again. In terms of Hispanic personality she's less Iglesias, more Yglesias. Like latter she doubtless has a close relative on the TransCanada board of directors (possible funniest blogger revelation of '11, right under the wire too)
"I've heard that Basque surnames are considered posh in Latin America, though I don't know why."
Basques tend to have less Arab/Moorish ancestry than other Spaniards so maybe they are paler."
There's a lot of misconceptions about Spain-Spanish people. They are not particularly dark on the whole, although the brunette type predominates. But there are many light haired people, especially among kids. As in most places hair darkens with age. Even in Andalucia in the southern part, there are many Spanish who do not look "Arab" at all. There were much less mingling than most people think because Catholics and Muslms did marry much, if at all. There was some mingling, tbere always is; but it's been exaggerated.
A good show on Spain is Jose Andreas "Made in Spain." This guy is a chef from the north and he has the clear, dark blue eyes i've seen among Spaniards from his region.
As far as Basques, their language is non-Aryan, yet they have a genetic profile that is singularly European. For instance, they have the highest rate of Rh negatives in the world, and Rh negatives are predominantly European. Very few among non-European races unless there is white ancestry. The Portugese explorer Vasco de Gama, was probably Basque. The founder of the Jesuit order, St. Ignatius of Loyola was Basque.
btw, there are mosaics featuring "Moors" or Arabs, playing chess and doing other things with Christians and even Jews. I'd be hard pressed to tell them apart except for the costumes; but nobody in these rep looks particuarly swarthy.
Also, the feminine ending "Mestiza" would have been necessary had I used an article: "She's A Mestiza" I did not, I identified her with a general group, and as such the masculine form takes precedence.
Well, whatever she is let's just call her a Saint for being noble and self-sacrificing enough to raise her "at risk" kids. (and thereby save them from "the ghetto")
"Secondly, even if Spaniards had lots of Moorish ancestry, it is a complete assumption that white Europeans are more intelligent. Arabs invented Algebra and were living in cities with sanitation and courts of law in a time when white Europeans were living in Paleolithic villages picking up lice from each other's hair like monkeys. And finally, Basques are not lighter-skinned than other Spaniards."
well you're right in you're last sentence.
Hmm. So you go on about how smart "Arabs" were to invent Algebra--actually I've heard it was Persians, while ancient Vedics invented the zero.
And yet the jaw-dropping achievements of the last ten centuries (I'll forget about the Greek temples and the Roman baths for now; I'll also forgo mention of Stonehenge, and humongous pyramids (biggest yet) in the Balkan areas, as well Ireland because the archeologists have only begun to study some of these structures and learning about their functions is still a work in progress) are somehow accidents the lice-picking monkeys just happened on.
The "ignorance" and assumptions of some commenters here is odd. They seem to have latched on to a very narrow world view of people and places, that a very little reading could put right. However, when somebody argues that whites shouldn't assume their greater intelligence because
"Arabs" or "Chinese" or whoever, invented Algrebra, or the zero, or court of law.... the irony is so hilarious. Where were they taking that Algrebra and those courts of law by the 1300s? Good god, if I listed the achievements of a tiny handful of earthlings, called Europeans, I'd never come to the end of it. It even took Europeans to dig up and discover some of the achievements of "Arabs." Because if you are comparing "Paleolithic" people in Europe to middle easterners and their courts of law, you must be referring to the code of Hammarabi? About 1772 BC? That's "Paleolithic?" In any case, it took European archeologists to see that into the light of modern day.
I think you better thank you're lucky stars that the Europeans have plied the archeological trade so assiduously and European scientists and mathematicians took Algebra and the zero to places they'd never gone before. Otherwise any number of non-European people would have little awareness of their "courts of law" , mathematical achievements, or even their own history. There is no evidence that any country is Asia was progressing anywhere by the 1500s. Their scientific, architectural, and legal glories were all in the past and they'd never gone as high as we have known in the last 200 yrs.
I say all this as a friend and student of middle eastern history. I am not hostile to you and respect the accomplishments of other people. However, what whites have done in the past 1000 yrs is unprecedented. Nobody can achieve that and not have a laundry list of good and evil to check off.
So let's not get into a tit-for-tat of discoveries, because you'd loose big time. We've only just begun learning about the deep past anyway.
But Arabs had best not rest on their algebraic laurels. India has learned that a zero does not suffice for all infinity.
"Arabs invented Algebra"
Did Arabs invent Algebra? Wiki says Greeks invented geometric algebra and Arabs later built on it. But the real source of Algebra seems to be Babylonians.
"The ignorance of Sailer's readers continues to amaze me. So now this woman is bright because she is a Basque..."
Maybe they are basquetcases.
"So now this woman is bright because she is a Basque..."
No, she's probably bright because she's the daughter of a billionaire AND a Stanford grad AND the wife of another guy who happens to be pretty rich and smart. Granted, daddy's money may have bought her the MBA and maybe even the husband. But not likely...
As for those Korean wives - believe it or not, not all Asian women are grinds (said as though a good work ethic were a bad thing). I'm not so sure about Rupert Murdoch's wife, who seems a bit too ruthlessly ambitious for my taste, but believe it or not there are plenty of Asian women with great personalities to go with their looks and their brains.
To: Anonymous textrovert 6:15
Whatever. You aren't up to addressing the crux of the blog item--soft-hands white girl masquerading as ethnic--so you resort to the hoary algebra, algorithm, & alcohol tropes (btw see Voltaire / Dictionnaire philosophique, "Sens commun"). The story didn't have any other interesting facet so critiquing her looks will suffice, while your rage only makes you appear silly. Now leave us alone to basque in our own Ignorance...
The Basque Region had special privileges (fueros) in Spain which included free trade, and its own legal code allowing for the right to bear arms and provisions more encouraging towards merchants. John Adams wrote that the Basque Region was the only region in Spain which enjoyed liberty. As a result it became one of the richest regions in Spain in the late 18th century, and along with Catalonia the only place on the Iberian peninsula where the Industrial Revolution happened at the same time as elsewhere in Europe.
The Basque legal codes gave women more rights than they had elsewhere in Spain or France. Hence the tradition of many strong Basque women, which carried over into the Americas. Think Eva Duarte de Peron or Mexican actress Maria Felix (whose inability to speak English deprived 1940s/50s Hollywood of yet another glamorous female icon with a strong screen presence).
In addition, Ignacio de Loyola who founded the Society of Jesus was a Basque and there has long been a disproportionate Basque influence in the Jesuits. Basque Jesuits organized schools and taught countless children to read.
I recommend you read Mark Kurlansky's Basque History Of The World for more on Basque history.
The Basques gravitated to the most remote areas of the Spanish empire as they were used to fishing, herding sheep, and being priests serving where other priests would not. Places like Chile, rural Argentina, Northern Mexico, and California. But not everyone with a Basque nickname is of Basque descent. There are Filipinos with Basque surnames and no white ancestry, because it was common for Filipinos to take the last names of the priests who converted them to Christianity.
Forbes had an article that California's Mexican population will be the next wave of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.
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