In another dumb study and finding, Sep 3, 2009, a psychologist found that men with the highest IQ also have the healthiest sperm.
"The findings could explain why some of the world’s most intelligent men have so many female admirers no matter their physical attractiveness. They also suggest that being smart and funny might have developed as a signal to women looking for a mate with healthy genes."
The research, by the evolutionary psychologist Professor Geoffrey Miller of the University of New Mexico, centered around a study of 400 Vietnam War veterans who were put through extensive mental tests and were also asked to provide sperm samples.
According to the test results, it was found that men who scored high on a battery of intelligence tests boasted high counts of healthy sperm. Whereas, low scorers tended to have fewer and more sickly sperm.
Professor Miller, who was speaking at a conference of the Association for the Study of Animal Behavior at Oxford University, believes that sperm quality was directly related to brain quality. The two traits could have evolved together as a way to advertise good genes, he said. I guess he also believes that evolution begins in the classroom. This proves it, if you go to school, your sperm will be healthy and you might become a psychologist that gets paid to conduct stupid studies, come up with dubious results, and share them with the Brits.
Sep 18, 2009
Quotable
The error of youth is to believe that intelligence is a substitute for experience, while the error of age is to believe experience is a substitute for intelligence.
Sep 17, 2009
Men and Memory
In another stupid research study, research shows men who spend even a few minutes in the company of an attractive woman perform less well in tests designed to measure brain function than those who chat to someone they do not find attractive.
Researchers who carried out the study, published in the Journal of Experimental and Social Psychology, think the reason may be that men use up so much of their brain function or 'cognitive resources' trying to impress beautiful women, they have little left for other tasks.
Women, however, were not affected by chatting to a handsome man. This may be simply because men are programmed by evolution to think more about mating opportunities.
Radboud University in The Netherlands recruited 40 male heterosexual students. Each one performed a standard memory test where they had to observe a stream of letters and say, as fast as possible, if each one was the same as the one before last.
The volunteers then spent seven minutes chatting to male or female members of the research team before repeating the test. The results showed men were slower and less accurate after trying to impress the women. The more they liked them, the worse their score.
In a report on their findings the researchers said, "We conclude men's cognitive functioning may temporarily decline after an interaction with an attractive woman."
Psychologist Dr George Fieldman, a member of the British Psychological Society, said the findings reflect the fact that men are programmed to think about ways to pass on their genes. If we look at the two studies together, we must conclude that if a smart man talks to a beautiful woman, he becomes dumb and his sperm get slow. This would negate both and prove how stupid they both are.
Researchers who carried out the study, published in the Journal of Experimental and Social Psychology, think the reason may be that men use up so much of their brain function or 'cognitive resources' trying to impress beautiful women, they have little left for other tasks.
Women, however, were not affected by chatting to a handsome man. This may be simply because men are programmed by evolution to think more about mating opportunities.
Radboud University in The Netherlands recruited 40 male heterosexual students. Each one performed a standard memory test where they had to observe a stream of letters and say, as fast as possible, if each one was the same as the one before last.
The volunteers then spent seven minutes chatting to male or female members of the research team before repeating the test. The results showed men were slower and less accurate after trying to impress the women. The more they liked them, the worse their score.
In a report on their findings the researchers said, "We conclude men's cognitive functioning may temporarily decline after an interaction with an attractive woman."
Psychologist Dr George Fieldman, a member of the British Psychological Society, said the findings reflect the fact that men are programmed to think about ways to pass on their genes. If we look at the two studies together, we must conclude that if a smart man talks to a beautiful woman, he becomes dumb and his sperm get slow. This would negate both and prove how stupid they both are.
Krispy Kreme
According to TV, it takes 22 seconds for KK to make a stack of doughnuts the height of the Empire State Building (1250 feet).
Lobbyists be Gone
Remember when the new administration said, "There is no room for lobbyists in this Administration" just a few short months ago?
WASHINGTON (CNNMoney.com) -- The fight over health care overhaul is on track be the most expensive issue ever to hit the hallways of Congress.
The bill for lobbyists, television ads and political donations has topped $375 million - or enough to pay the entire insurance tab for about 30,000 families a year.
The largest chunk has gone to direct lobbying of lawmakers and other policymakers. In the first half of 2009, the health care industry spent nearly $280 million on lobbyists, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
"The health sector is on track in 2009 to spend more on lobbying than it has on any other year in U.S. history - and by a lot," said Dave Levinthal of the Center for Responsive Politics, which analyzes and collects lobbying and campaign spending figures. And we think our elected officials really work for us?Quotable
When people cease to believe in God, they don’t believe in nothing; they believe in anything.
Stimulated Internet
The $787 billion stimulus bill set aside up to $350 million to create a national broadband map that could guide policies aimed at expanding high-speed Internet access. According to AP, it is also to figure out where broadband Internet access is available and how fast it is. The NTIA also wants extensive data on that behind-the-scenes Internet infrastructure. Officially, the goal for the map is to help shape broadband policy and determine where best to invest the $7.2 billion in stimulus money earmarked for broadband programs.
In addition to the NTIA's mapping project, there's a parallel push at the FCC to gather more detailed data on broadband subscribers. Both efforts are designed to aid the Administration in setting telecom policy, said Colin Crowell, a senior counselor to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski.
Of course the mapping will not be done by the February 2010 release date of a national broadband plan being developed by the Federal Communications Commission, which is also mandated by the stimulus bill.
North Carolina's state broadband authority e-NC already maintains a map of broadband availability in the state, detailed enough to list individual addresses, according to executive director Jane Smith Patterson.
Rory Altman, director at telecommunications consulting firm Altman Vilandrie & Co., which has helped clients map broadband availability, said $350 million was a "ridiculous" amount of money to spend on a national broadband map. The firm could create a national broadband map for $3.5 million, and "would gladly do it for $35 million," Altman said.
Dave Burstein, editor of the DSL Prime broadband industry newsletter, believes a reasonable cost for the map would be less than $30 million.
Internet service providers have already committed to handing over data about where they have broadband coverage, so the main job will be to collect and translate that information into a map.
When the Pew Internet and American Life Project surveyed people who didn't have broadband in 2007 and 2008, it found that most of them aren't interested in it, find the Internet too hard to use, or don't have computers.
In addition to the NTIA's mapping project, there's a parallel push at the FCC to gather more detailed data on broadband subscribers. Both efforts are designed to aid the Administration in setting telecom policy, said Colin Crowell, a senior counselor to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski.
Of course the mapping will not be done by the February 2010 release date of a national broadband plan being developed by the Federal Communications Commission, which is also mandated by the stimulus bill.
North Carolina's state broadband authority e-NC already maintains a map of broadband availability in the state, detailed enough to list individual addresses, according to executive director Jane Smith Patterson.
Rory Altman, director at telecommunications consulting firm Altman Vilandrie & Co., which has helped clients map broadband availability, said $350 million was a "ridiculous" amount of money to spend on a national broadband map. The firm could create a national broadband map for $3.5 million, and "would gladly do it for $35 million," Altman said.
Dave Burstein, editor of the DSL Prime broadband industry newsletter, believes a reasonable cost for the map would be less than $30 million.
Internet service providers have already committed to handing over data about where they have broadband coverage, so the main job will be to collect and translate that information into a map.
When the Pew Internet and American Life Project surveyed people who didn't have broadband in 2007 and 2008, it found that most of them aren't interested in it, find the Internet too hard to use, or don't have computers.
Sep 11, 2009
Most Expensive Chocolate
I found it. Knipschildt's La Madeline au Truffe was recognized by Forbes Magazine as the most expensive chocolate in the world.
La Madeline au Truffe starts with a decadent 70% Valrhona dark chocolate, heavy cream, sugar, truffle oil and vanilla as the base for the rich creamy ganache. A rare French Perigord truffle is then surrounded by this ganache. It is enrobed in Valrhona dark chocolate and then rolled in fine cocoa powder.
The result is pure extravagance! Lying on a bed of sugar pearls in a silver box tied with a ribbon. For a 1.9 ounce ball as shown, costs $250. This product is made to order and ships within 14 days of order date. Product has a 7 day shelf life. Mmmm!
La Madeline au Truffe starts with a decadent 70% Valrhona dark chocolate, heavy cream, sugar, truffle oil and vanilla as the base for the rich creamy ganache. A rare French Perigord truffle is then surrounded by this ganache. It is enrobed in Valrhona dark chocolate and then rolled in fine cocoa powder.
The result is pure extravagance! Lying on a bed of sugar pearls in a silver box tied with a ribbon. For a 1.9 ounce ball as shown, costs $250. This product is made to order and ships within 14 days of order date. Product has a 7 day shelf life. Mmmm!
Chocolate
There is a theory that chocolate slows down the aging process. It may not be true, but should you dare take the chance?
Unwanted Catalogs
When you receive unwanted catalogs or other paper mail from specific sources, call the (usually toll-free) customer service number of the organization or business and request that your name be removed from their mailing list.
Other options are to make your request via e-mail from the company's website, or via letter or postcard.
Since the mailing label will help the company identify how you are listed in its files, have the label handy when you call, or tape it to the postcard if you make a written request. Sign and date your request. Think of the cycle, they print the stuff, send it to the post office, which delivers it to our mailbox, and we take the paper from the mailbox, and deliver it to the garbage. What a waste. Literally!
Other options are to make your request via e-mail from the company's website, or via letter or postcard.
Since the mailing label will help the company identify how you are listed in its files, have the label handy when you call, or tape it to the postcard if you make a written request. Sign and date your request. Think of the cycle, they print the stuff, send it to the post office, which delivers it to our mailbox, and we take the paper from the mailbox, and deliver it to the garbage. What a waste. Literally!
Double Chicken
KFC Double Down Sandwich - Two pieces of bacon and two slices of cheese smothered with the Colonel’s Sauce and two fried chicken patties as buns. Mmmm!
Speaking of Chicken
Did you ever wonder what chicken poop is good for? A study last month Aug, 2008 shows that shooting ranges in Japan have extremely high levels of lead in the soil. To get rid of this, they developed a method of remediating the contamination by mixing the soil with chicken poop to reduce the bad environmental impacts from the lead.
The study (published in the Journal of Environmental Quality this past month, and last year at the Soil Science Society of America) demonstrated that the amendment reduced the toxicity characteristic leaching by 90%. It also showed that levels were reduced even further when plants were grown in the amended soil.
The study (published in the Journal of Environmental Quality this past month, and last year at the Soil Science Society of America) demonstrated that the amendment reduced the toxicity characteristic leaching by 90%. It also showed that levels were reduced even further when plants were grown in the amended soil.
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