Culture
razib | September 7, 2008A friend of mine emailed me that he scored a 21 out of 107 on the full list of Stuff White People Like. I thought it was a little tedious to count, so I wrote up a small script which counts it up for you via the checks you make. Below the fold....
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#107 Self Aware Hip Hop References
#106 Facebook
#105 Unpaid Internships
#104 Girls with Bangs
#103 Sweaters
#102 Children's Games as Adults
#101 Being Offended
#100 Bumper Stickers
#99 Grammar
#98 The Ivy League
#97 Scarves
#96 New Balance Shoes
#95 Rugby
#94 Free Healthcare
#93 Music Piracy
#92 Book Deals
#91 San…
sheril | September 6, 2008A 2001 Unicef report said that the United States teenage birthrate was higher than any other member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The U.S. tied Hungary for the most abortions. This was in spite of the fact that girls in the U.S. were not the most sexually active. Denmark held that title. But, its teenage birthrate was one-sixth of ours, and its teenage abortion rate was half of ours.
Look, teens everywhere are dealing with a cocktail of hormones and emotions, a changing physique, and a myriad of social pressures. And yes, many are going to have sex. Thing is…
razib | September 5, 2008One "urban legend" which is in common circulation among my friends is that liberals are smarter than conservatives. From my own personal experience this seems plausible, and I doubt I'm the only one as evidenced by the furious speed at which the "Bush voting states have lower IQs" meme spread around the blogosphere several years ago. But is this true? I've seen enough data to suggest that this really isn't so, and my psychologist friends have told me the biggest predictor of liberalism isn't IQ, but a strong tendency toward "openness" on personal tests.
But I just couldn't leave it alone…
razib | September 4, 2008A Woman's History of Vaginal Orgasm is Discernible from Her Walk:
In the sample of healthy young Belgian women (half of whom were vaginally orgasmic), history of vaginal orgasm (triggered solely by penile-vaginal intercourse) was diagnosable at far better than chance level (81.25% correct, Fisher's Exact Test P < 0.05) by appropriately trained sexologists. Clitoral orgasm history was unrelated to both ratings and to vaginal orgasm history. Exploratory analyses suggest that greater pelvic and vertebral rotation and stride length might be characteristic of the gait of women who have…
sheril | September 3, 2008'I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a 'community organizer,' except that you have actual responsibilities.'
- Sarah Palin, 2008 Republican National Convention
My heroes are community organizers who impact lives everyday in their neighborhood. I have the utmost admiration for such selfless, often frustrating, and deeply committed work. And I prefer this sentiment:
'Be the change you wish to see in the world.'
- Gandhi
sheril | September 3, 2008Once again, Seed is planning parties with readers and you're invited! Around the world, wherever sciblings are, we'll be celebrating our one millionth comment (expected to happen some time mid-September). There will be shindigs in Michigan, Oklahoma, Iowa, Minnesota, New York, San Francisco, Vancouver, London, and more... watch the blogs for announcements. And North Carolinians are in for a treat because we're sort of the unofficial Scienceblogs capitol with 7-8 sciblings expected.
Mark your calendars for September 20th and we'll meet you at the N.C. Zoo in Asheboro. They'll be a tour…
sheril | September 2, 2008
After Obama spoke about a new hope last week, Jim Ramsey suggested this title.
What did readers think of the night?
razib | August 29, 2008In my post below I pointed out that there was no sex difference in terms of attitudes toward the legality of abortion on demand. But the question remains: is there a difference of intensity? Yes. Women care more. Specifically, pro-choice women care a great deal more than pro-choice men. There is a slight sex difference between men and women in the pro-life camp, but far less. I wonder if this difference might explain why many liberals seem to assume that abortion is a "woman's issue" and that women would by their nature support abortions rights; in their own social circle avowed apathy…
razib | August 29, 2008Those with more education, wealth and intelligence. Those with less pigment in the skin and more liberal politics. There is no sex difference. Charts below.
The question: "Please tell me whether or not you think it should be possible for a pregnant woman to obtain a legal abortion if: The woman wants it for any reason?"
razib | August 29, 2008A comment:
In Canada, places in the far west like Alberta and British Columbia contain a higher percentage of atheists and other non-religious, but also a higher percentage of evangelical Christians.
This is true in the USA to some extent...but I didn't want to compare to "evangelical Christians" because the relatively low proportions of evangelicals in the Mountain West and the Northeast are historical artifacts due to their particular religious demography. So I used the same methodology as earlier and plotted the proportion of atheists vs. those who attend religious services at least once a…
razib | August 29, 2008At least when it comes to choosing his VP candidate. Joe Biden as a "safe" choice; Sarah Palin is not.
sheril | August 29, 2008
Sarah Palin is McCain's running mate.
As I wrote yesterday, with less than two years in office, her nomination undercuts his central criticism of his opponent -- that Obama is too inexperienced to be commander-in-chief. As a relatively young woman, she may draw a necessary demographic and conservatives will be pleased she is opposed to abortion rights.
As Nate points out, Palin may run into gender politics taboos and be unable to draw Clinton voters. Further, Andrew Sullivan is correct that she has no Washington experience or foreign policy expertise.
On the campaign trail, this may…
razib | August 28, 2008Over at Island of Doubt James Hrynyshyn says:
As far as I can tell, North Carolina's no different from the rest of America when it comes to religion. About a tenth of the population is free of religious conviction....
Well, I was pretty sure that there is a statistically significant difference between most Southern states and the rest of the country in regards to these things, so I decided to check out the data in detail. The US Religious Landscape Survey allows me to see what proportion of each state's population are atheists; that is, they don't believe in God. Unfortunately the margin of…
sheril | August 28, 2008As I watched Obama deliver his acceptance address tonight, I sensed the growing optimism across the nation. And I'm not alone. Andrew Sullivan eloquently describes his speech:
It was a deeply substantive speech, full of policy detail, full of people other than the candidate, centered overwhelmingly on domestic economic anxiety. It was a liberal speech, more unabashedly, unashamedly liberal than any Democratic acceptance speech since the great era of American liberalism. But it made the case for that liberalism - in the context of the decline of the American dream, and the rise of cynicism…
sheril | August 28, 2008In presidential campaigns, there's a tradition of allowing one's opponent a clear run on the night they accept their party's nomination. This time, McCain plans to air an ad congratulating Obama as he accepts the presidential nomination.
Also for several hours we've been hearing rumors that the name of the Republican VP pick will be leaked just before tonight's speech. And McCain does indeed have to make a very tough choice...
Pawlenty (age 47) would make it impossible to argue about experience to lead.
Lieberman or Ridge would mean selecting a pro-choice running mate (not to mention…
sheril | August 27, 2008After Bill Clinton brought down the house, John Kerry called McCain a flip-flopper, followed by an impassioned speech from Biden accepting the VP nomination. And then...
sheril | August 27, 2008
"People around the world have always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power."
- Bill Clinton, 2008 Democratic National Convention
sheril | August 27, 2008In case you missed it, Hillary suspended the roll call to make Obama the nominee by acclamation:
"Let's declare together in one voice right here, right now that Barack Obama is our candidate and he will be our president," said Clinton.
Afterwards, everyone joined hands, singing and dancing to The O'Jays Love Train.
sheril | August 26, 2008As I've written before, I'm nonpartisan. My decisions are dictated by more than political affiliation and I support members across the blue-red spectrum. But while the DNC and RNC websites are predictably focused on the same candidate this morning, I'm particularly troubled with the way this new GOP ad closes.
Regardless of whether Debra Bartoshevich was aware of the implicit message when she spoke these lines, I'm not alone in the reaction that it seems to be vaguely racist. Politics aside, that tactic is completely unacceptable--and no, not okay.
razib | August 24, 2008John Hawks points me to a "He said, she said," piece which wonders whether there is an inverse relationship between belief in the paranormal and religion. The basic thesis is that the mind abhors a vacuum so without institutionally guided supernatural beliefs people simply revert to "default" intuitions. The article doesn't come to any conclusion, citing contradictory results. So of course I decided to look at the GSS. Specifically, two variables, ASTROSCI and SCITEST3, which query how scientific individuals believe astrology to be. I paired them up with belief in God, GOD, highest…