So, who are the smartest scientists?

The paper below is a curious one. The authors seem to be making mountains out of molehills.  There IS for instance a correlation between IQ and conventional religion but it is slight  -- unlikely to be of any practical importance and probably artifactual anyway.  See here

But the thing which amused me most was the claim that social scientists are more religious.  I spent many years teaching the social sciences in Australian universities and during that time  went to a lot of conferences both in Australia and overseas  -- where I met many fellow social scientists.  And it is true that most social scientists are religious, but the religion is Leftism. Anybody who can still believe in socialism after all the socialist disasters of the 20th century is in the grip of deep faith.  I think I only ever met three Christian social scientists.  So I would have thought that social scientists were the LEAST religious academic group as far as conventional religions are concerned.  So the study below would seem to rely on some very strange sampling.  Journal abstract included below


SOCIAL science professors at elite institutions are more likely to be religious and politically extreme than their counterparts in the natural sciences, argues a new paper. Why? Natural scientists are just smarter.

“There is sound evidence of a negative correlation between intelligence and religiosity and between intelligence and political extremism,” reads the paper in the Interdisciplinary Journal on Research and Religion which examines existing data on academic scientists’ IQs by field, and on religious beliefs and political extremism among science professors in the US and Britain. “Therefore the most probable reason behind elite social scientists being more religious than are elite physical scientists is that social scientists are less intelligent.”

The paper, written by Edward Dutton, adjunct professor of cultural anthropology at the University of Oulu, in Finland, and Richard Lynn, a retired professor of psychology from the University of Ulster, in Northern Ireland, who is known for his work on race and IQ, continues: “Intelligence is also a factor in interdisciplinary differences in political extremism, [with] physicists, who have high IQs, being among the least extreme and lower-IQ scholars being among the most extreme.”

In an interview, Dutton said social scientists aren’t stupid, or necessarily extreme in their politics or overly religious. But, statistically speaking, they have lower IQs than their colleagues in biological and physical sciences and are likelier to be extremely conservative or liberal or religious, or both.

Dutton said that there are many similarities between political extremism and religious fundamentalism; in other research, he uses the term “replacement religions” to describe the phenomenon.

“[Physical] scientists are overwhelmingly atheist,” Dutton said. “This is predicted by their high IQ, which allows you to rise above emotion and see through the fallacious, emotional arguments.” Arguments about God are all emotional arguments, he added.

The paper is a meta-analysis of existing data showing several things: that natural scientists have higher IQs than social scientists; that low intelligence “predicts” political extremism and religiosity; and that physical scientists at elite institutions are less likely to believe in God or be politically extreme than their counterparts in the social sciences.

The connection between all three research areas has never been made until now, Dutton said. But — in just one example of potentially problematic methodology — the logic can’t be extended to academe in general. Several studies cited in the paper drawing from a wider mix of colleges and universities than simply the most elite show that life sciences professors are more likely to attend church than their peers in the social sciences, not less. The paper assumes this is because professors at elite institutions are smarter than their peers elsewhere.

The researchers also use IQ as the sole measure of intelligence (they mention Howard Gardner’s multiple forms of intelligence, but argue that they could also be considered personality traits).

The researchers acknowledge some of their limitations, including that some older data in the analysis involve a very small sample size. Dutton and Lynn say that future research involving larger academic samples would be “extremely useful” in exploring these areas in greater depth.

Dutton said he knew his paper would upset some readers, but that he invited feedback from fellow scholars. The point of research, even when controversial, is to “get closer to the truth of human life,” he said.

SOURCE

Interdisciplinary Journal on Research and Religion. 2014 Volume 10, Article 1

Intelligence and Religious and Political Differences Among Members of the U.S. Academic Elite

ABSTRACT

Many studies have found inverse correlations between intelligence and religiosity, intelligence and political conservatism, and intelligence and political extremism. Other studies have found that academics tend to be significantly less religious and more liberal than the general population. In this article, we argue that interdisciplinary differences in religiosity and political perspective among academics are predicted by interdisciplinary differences in intelligence between academics. Once personality factors correlating with religiosity have been substantially controlled for, physicists, who have higher average intelligence, are less religious than are social scientists, who have lower average intelligence. Physical scientists are also less politically extreme than are social scientists.

SOURCE

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

Ernest Hemingway's Burger Recipe



One could easily imagine that Hemingway wrote A Farewell to Arms, The Old Man and the Sea and The Sun Also Rises on the same typewriter he used to document his burger recipe.

Given the supermarket of strong ingredients, one might also chance to speculate that Hemingway ate this spice-overloaded burger the day he committed suicide.

Valentine's Day Abortions

The President of Planned Parenthood, Cecile Richards, tells men to forget chocolates and flowers because what women really need most for Valentine’s day is a “safe abortion.”

In a global Internet search of the varied customs of Valentine’s day expressions of love, there were zero mentions of other abortion traditions.

It appears that Ms. Richards can safely claim that she is the seminal inspiration for the “avant-garde” concept that having an abortion is a value to be shared on Valentine’s day.

Abortion is a value to be shared on Valentine’s day? I don't think so. To me, it doesn't speak of love and romance.

Abortions on Valentine's Day makes as much sense as euthanizing wounded servicemen on Veterans Day.

Wisconsin Woman Accused of Killing Her Child

(Janesville, Wisconsin) A 23-year-old Beloit WI woman, Tallie Strommen, is in jail for allegedly killing her 13-month-old child.

Strommen faces a charge of first-degree reckless homicide.

Officers responded to a home on North Atwood Avenue in Janesville on December 26, 2013, in regard to a death investigation. There, they discovered the body of 13-month-old K'myah Strommen.

Toxicology testing showed the child died from an overdose of methadone.

Police say the child's mother, Tallie Strommen, admitted during questioning on February 11, 2014, to giving the child a portion of a methadone pill.

Details on arrest and booking are not available.

Arizona Teacher Accused of Sex with Son, 13

(Tucson, Arizona) A 47-year-old special education teacher at Lineweaver Elementary School, Christine Mazzarella, has been accused of engaging in sex with her 13-year-old son multiple times in July 2013.

Mazzarella faces four counts of sexual conduct with a minor.

Sgt. Chris Widmer with the Tucson Police Department said there was no evidence to suggest she was involved in any sexual misconduct at the elementary school, but a parent who has three kids at the school said this in terrible: That's incest. That's not right for someone like that to be working at a school. What other kinds of things could they do?"

Tucson News Now went to night court to get video of Mazzarella but a judge denied our request.

Mazzarella was booked into custody at the Pima County Jail with bail set at $10,000.

Eco-terrorism

Torch bearing radicals descend on pipeline executive’s home

It’s the kind of scene we’d like to think we’d put behind us. Yet here it is again.  How would you like to look outside and see masked radicals with torches on your front lawn?

That’s what greeted Mark Maki and his family.  Maki was targeted for this shameful act of intimidation because he is a member of the board of Enbridge Energy Management which works with oil pipelines.

The masked perpetrators refused to identify themselves, or their group, claiming only that they represent “the people.”  Their banner includes the words “solidarity means attack!”  The age of the eco-terrorist is upon us.

This comes at a time when both parties are coming around to the realization that pipelines are the safest, most economical and environmentally sound way to move petroleum, particularly after several bad train accidents.

The radicals are in danger of losing the pipeline issue and they know it.  Their response is to act out and threaten sabotage.

Not too long ago Marc Morano, who edits CFACT’s award-winning Climate Depot Morano interviews pipeline protesternews and information service, asked an anti-pipeline protestor if they were ready to engage in “eco-terrorism.”  The protestor replied that they would do “whatever it takes” to prevent the project.  It appears now that such threats are more than mere hyperbole.  Law enforcement needs to be on alert.

The most high profile pipeline project in the country right now is the Keystone XL.  It has been the subject of years of wasteful and foolish obstruction.  It is time for President Obama to end all delays, listen to his own State Department, pick up his vaunted pen, sign his name and authorize Keystone XL once and for all.

Paul Driessen has the facts on Keystone XL at CFACT.org.  They are important.

Mister President, the time has come.  Authorize Keystone XL today.  Will you side with ignorance, radicalism and intimidation, or the economic, energy and environmental needs of the nation?

No American, no matter who they are or where they stand, should ever fear threats from masked radicals with torches outside their home again.

Such intimidation cannot be tolerated.

SOURCE

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

Virginia Teacher Accused of School Property Theft

(Chesterfield County, Virginia) A 51-year-old teacher at O.B. Gates Elementary School, Julia C. White, has been accused of several offenses related to the theft of property.

White faces counts of felony embezzlement, larceny with intent to sell/distribute stolen property, burglary, three counts of grand larceny and two counts of petit larceny.

The investigation indicates that she stole items while employed as a teacher at O.B. Gates Elementary School. The school division has removed White from the school.

The stolen items include school property, as well as property belonging to students and other teachers. Some of the stolen property has been recovered.

Details on arrest and booking are unavailable.

Arizona Woman Accused of Naked, Bloody Tirade

(Glendale, Arizona) A 24-year-old local woman, Ashley Marie Prenovost, has been accused of going on a naked, bloody tirade when her boyfriend refused to have sex.

Prenovost faces counts of child and adult abuse, aggressive assault on a minor, endangerment, assault with intent to injure, criminal damage and disorderly conduct.

Glendale Police officers called to the home near 55th Avenue and Desert Cove say they found Prenovost naked and intoxicated with both her hands bloodied from punching walls and a glass picture.

When her boyfriend refused to have sex, Prenovost allegedly picked up the couple's 4-month-old daughter and ran around the house yelling and screaming. The infant hit her head on a dresser.

According to the police report, the suspect attempted to flee the residence through the garage and began yelling and screaming when detained.

After arrest, Prenovost was released on her own recognizance.

Florida Teacher Accused of DUI & Drug Charges

(Palm Harbor, Florida) A 32-year-old first-grade teacher at Mittye P. Locke Elementary School, Laura Santoro, has been accused of DUI and drug possession offenses after being stopped for an apparent lane violation.

Santoro faces counts of driving under the influence of a controlled substance, possession of fewer than 20 grams of marijuana and possession of paraphernalia.

A deputy pulled her over. Her eyes were bloodshot and watery, the report states, and she failed a field sobriety test.

Inside her car, the deputy found a glass pipe with marijuana residue inside and other traces of marijuana in the car.

Santoro was booked and released on $800 bail.

Climate Change This Week: Faulty Accounting

An audit by the Office of the Inspector General found that the State Department's $75 million tab for climate change programs included $600,000 that couldn't be accounted for. That may be seen as nothing more than a rounding error, but it was also a sign of burning cash and fudging data. The OIG pointed out the recipients in question “did not fully … ensure that the data used in reporting programmatic results were complete, accurate, consistent, and supportable.”

Buttressing this revelation about “fudging” the data, at a time when earlier climate models estimated we had been significantly warmer, the amount of ice and snow cover burying most of the nation signifies otherwise. Satellite reporting this week showed the Great Lakes had their greatest ice cover in two decades, with Lake Superior and Lake Erie being almost totally frozen.

Yet there are some in Congress who continue to use incomplete, inaccurate, inconsistent and unsupportable data to plod on with their tired tales of man-made climate change. After all, there's a lot of government money to be redistributed and regulations to be handed down from on high. The Safe Climate Caucus (yes, that's a real thing), chaired by retiring Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), can't get the time of day in a GOP-controlled House, so the Caucus is enlisting the help of an all too willing Leftmedia. Regardless of the evidence mounting against man-made climate change, Waxman believes the American people will “wake up” and ask “how can you deny this?”

But the chances are greater that a new skepticism of science could arise, argues Australian climate scientist Garth Paltridge. He writes that “the average man in the street … is beginning to suspect that it is politics rather than science which is driving the issue,” fretting that this may put an end to the belief in the honesty of science for years to come. Having to dig out from another foot of snow may also be a sign of this challenge to conventional wisdom.

SOURCE

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

Iran Women's Soccer Team with Men

(London, England)

Four players in Iran women’s national football team turned out to be men. They were temporarily disqualified, the British media reported.

Kind of makes me wonder. Wouldn't a man automatically and forever be disqualified?

Arizona Woman Accused of Sex with Boy, 15

(Florence, Arizona) A 34-year-old woman, Keri Gonzalez, has been accused of engaging in sex with a 15-year-old boy.

Gonzelez faces charges of sexual misconduct with a minor and providing false information to a peace officer.

The boy's mother called the Pinal County Sheriff's Office two days after she said she was awakened about 2 a.m. Jan. 21 by "knocking sounds by the stairs and on the wall," according to a PCSO report.

The mother said she found her son's door locked, and when he opened it she saw a naked woman crouching on the floor between the bed and wall.

The mother said told deputies she yelled and the woman quickly dressed and jumped out a the second-story bedroom window and was seen limping down the street, according to the report.

About 30 minutes later, the mother said there was a knock and Gonzalez, a family friend, was standing at the front door and said she had broken her ankle. She left shortly after, according to the report.

Gonzalez was booked into custody at the Pinal County Jail.

New Jersey Teacher Gets 6 Years Prison for Sex with Student - Update

(Toms River, New Jersey)

A judge sentenced Erin T. Haskell, a former Toms River Regional School District teacher, to six years in prison after she plead guilty to having a sexual relationship with an underage student, Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph D. Coronato announced Monday.

Haskell, 32, of Barnegat will be subject to parole supervision for life and listed as a registered sex offender in addition to her jail sentence, Coronato said in a news release. Haskell also is prohibited from contacting her victim under New Jersey’s Nicole’s Law, he said.

Haskell worked as a Spanish teacher for fifth- through eighth-graders at Toms River Intermediate South in Beachwood before she was arrested in November 2012, and accused of having sex with a 15-year-old boy.

Reportedly, Haskell is already in prison.

* * * * *
New Jersey Teacher Guilty of Sex Assault - Update
[Previous 8/7/13 post]
(Toms River, New Jersey) Former Spanish language teacher at Toms River Intermediate South, Erin T. Haskell, 32, has pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a 15-year-old male student.

Haskell faces a possible 10 years in prison when sentenced.

She taught Spanish to fifth- through eighth-grade students at an annual salary of $52,800, according to state pension records.

The victim was a 15-year-old male who was subjected to sexual abuse between June 2012 and September 2012, taking place in both Barnegat and Beachwood. The case was referred to the county Prosecutor’s Office by the state Institutional Abuse Investigation Unit of the Department of Children and Families, authorities said. Haskell was arrested Nov. 21.

A sentencing date has not been established.

* * * * *
New Jersey Teacher Accused of Sex Assault
[Previous 11/29/12 post]
(Toms River, New Jersey) A 31-year-old intermediate school Spanish teacher, Erin T. Haskell, has been accused of sexually assaulting one of her students.

Haskell faces charges of first-degree aggravated sexual assault, second-degree sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child and a third-degree exhibiting obscene material to a minor. According to Ocean County Prosecutor Marlene Lynch Ford:

The Prosecutor’s Office will not release any other information pertaining to the student in order to protect the child’s identity, Ford said.

Haskell teaches Spanish to fifth- through eighth-grade students at an annual salary of $52,800, according to DataUniverse.

A bail amount of $300,000 has been set.

Doubts about the hiding ocean heat

The latest episode in the claim that  heat is "hiding" in the ocean is  here, reporting a study led by a Prof. England.  Just a few preliminary notes:

The study offers an explanation for the pesky fact (for Warmists) that there has been a "standstill" in the earth's temperature for about 17 years.   Prof. England calculates that stronger winds in the Pacific in recent years would have pushed hot surface water to below 700 meters and that the heat is just lurking there to come up again some time and warm us.  So the heat is not absent, just hiding.

There is much to note there.  The first is that Prof. England has spent at least a decade denying that there has been a temperature standstill.  Yet when it suits him he suddenly admits it.  His attachment to the facts is clearly very opportunistic and not at all confidence-inspiring.  Would his calculations survive scrutiny by someone who knows all about fluid dynamics?

Secondly, he implicates a NATURAL process in what it going on  -- something Warmists have always sedulously avoided.  Why could not ALL the processes involved be natural?  And there is every reason to regard the standstill as natural and requiring no particular explanation. It is entirely consistent with the meandering pattern of slight temperature changes over the last century or more.

Thirdly he speculates that the warm water is hanging out below 700 meters, when the extreme limit of the mixing layer is normally given as 200 meters. How did it get down there?

And how long is that "hot" water going to stay down there?  It is very cold in the ocean deeps so normal convective processes would  ensure that the "hot" water would rapidly become cold.  As such it's unlikely to warm anything in the future

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

Pennsylvania Teacher Faces Drug Charges

(Denbo, Pennsylvania) A 45-year-old special education teacher with the Bethlehem-Center School District, Jacqueline Righetti, has been accused of illegal drug offenses.

Righetti faces counts of possession of cocaine, possession of drug paraphernalia, and disorderly conduct.

An officer approached Righetti’s stopped vehicle around 9 p.m. Dec. 28 because he thought it was disabled, according to the criminal complaint. When he got close to the vehicle, he saw a man and a woman moving around inside.

The woman, later identified as Righetti, told police she pulled over to talk with her nephew, and the man gave the same story. The officer noted that Righetti was acting nervous and shaking, according to the compliant. During a search of the vehicle, the officer located two containers; one contained a snorting straw and the other contained two white pills.

A second straw was found in Righetti’s purse, and a white, powdery substance believed to be cocaine was found in her possession.

The man later told police that Righetti told him to lie and that she was not his aunt. He said Righetti was his former teacher, and that they had met to have sex, according to the criminal complaint. The man said he was unaware of the drugs, and was released.

Righetti told police that the substance was cocaine and that she had a drug abuse problem.

Details on arrest and booking are unavailable.

George Soros Gets Socked by Former Mistress

Adriana Ferreyr
(New York City) Billionaire George Soros got smacked in the kisser by his former mistress, 30-year-old Brazilian-American soap opera actress, Adriana Ferreyr, during a court appearance last Friday.

According to court papers filed by Soros's attorney Martin Singer, the 83-year-old left-wing billionaire was struck in the head by Ferreyr, knocking off the earphones he was wearing to aid his hearing of the proceedings.

As Ferreyr pulled back her arm to take a second jab at Soros, Singer grabbed her. She then struck the lawyer knocking off his eyeglasses.

The parties were in New York State Supreme Court for a hearing involving a 2011 law suit filed by Ferreyr against Soros alleging that he reneged on a promise to give a luxury apartment valued at $1.9 million on Manhattan's Upper East Side, according to the Post.

Not your everyday domestic dispute, eh?

Texas Woman Accused of Sex with Boy, 16

(Cameron, Texas) A 33-year-old local woman, Angela Christine Nichols, has been accused of engaging in sex with a 16-year-old boy.

Nichols faces a charge of second-degree felony sexual assault of a child.

Police say they were contacted on February 1 by the victim's mother. According to police, the sexual assaults began at a Cameron home and also occurred at other locations in Milam County several times.

The victim, who is now 17, told police that the incidents started in August 2013 and went on for several months.

Nichols was booked into custody at the Milam County Jail.

Suicide Bomber Training

(Baghdad, Iraq)

A group of Sunni militants attending a suicide bombing training class at a camp north of Baghdad were killed on Monday when their commander unwittingly conducted a demonstration with a belt that was packed with explosives, army and police officials said.

The militants belonged to a group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, which is fighting the Shiite-dominated army of the Iraqi government, mostly in Anbar Province.[…]

Twenty-two ISIS members were killed, and 15 were wounded, in the explosion at the camp, which is in a farming area in the northeastern province of Samara, according to the police and army officials.

Heh.

Leftist hate of their own society pops out again

In theory, Leftists should be vehemently critical of Islam.  It stands for everything they claim to oppose:  religious rule, maltreatment of women and executing homosexuals.  So why do Leftists cosy up to Islam?  Because the only genuine motive of the Left is hatred of Western society.  And Muslims share that hate

What are you doing for Valentine's Day? Bleeding-heart progressives across the country are raising money for "an evening of music, song and sharing love for recently released People's Lawyer Lynne Stewart." Warm fuzzies for one of the world's most notorious terrorist helpers? I can't think of a more stomach-turning way to mark the holiday.  

Thanks to the Obama administration, Stewart walked out of prison on New Year's Eve. She is reportedly suffering stage-four breast cancer. Now she's passing the plate among her supporters, asking them to foot the bill for her health insurance deductibles and co-pays, as well as for a "special diet, vitamins and other healing methods." What, no Obamacare?  

Has Stewart shown exceptional remorse or good behavior to warrant such compassion? Don't forget: Both the Bureau of Prisons and a federal judge previously had denied Stewart's petition for a compassionate release, but a U.S. Attorney intervened. This preferential treatment is extraordinary: Since 1992, the annual average number of prisoners who receive compassionate release has been less than two-dozen.  

Let me remind you of what she did, who benefited, who died and how she has acted since being caught red-handed and freed.  

Stewart was convicted in 2005 of helping terrorist Omar Abdel Rahman -- the murderous Blind Sheik -- smuggle coded messages of Islamic violence to outside followers in violation of an explicit pledge to abide by her client's court-ordered isolation. Rahman, Stewart's "political client," had called on Muslims to "destroy" the West, "burn their companies, eliminate their interests, sink their ships, shoot down their planes, kill them on the sea, air or land." He issued bloody fatwas against U.S. "infidels" that inspired the 1993 WTC bombing, the 1997 massacre of Western tourists in Luxor, Egypt, and the 9/11 attacks.  

Stewart ignored a judge's communications ban, transmitting Rahman's edicts of violence to fellow jihadist Rifa'l Ahman Tara in Egypt. She smuggled out a coded order to his followers lifting a ceasefire between his terrorist group and the Egyptian government.
 
SOURCE

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

Sochi Winter Olympics - Fast and Loose

(Sochi, Russia)

As athletes and fans from around the world descend upon Sochi for the 2014 Winter Olympics, they are (according to some) sitting atop a site of immeasurable loss and irreversible damage to what was once a unique and pristine ecosystem. They’re unlikely, however, to be aware of it, and authorities will be on their guard to prevent anyone with a megaphone or a picket sign from bringing it to their attention. Those would-be protesters are yet another group being silenced in Russia – where, along with everything else, it’s also a crime to defend the environment.

In the rush to complete what ended up being $51 billion in construction in just five years, Russian’s Olympic Committee has played fast and loose with the environmental standards it once promised to uphold. To take just one example of many, Olympic organizers make much of the fact that Russia’s first green construction standards were implemented for the Games. But at the same time, authorities have also reversed legislation protecting national parks in order to allow for those green buildings to go up. As a result, construction of the Olympic village ended up affecting over 8,000 acres of Sochi National Park, a strictly protected UNESCO World Heritage Site.

As the global news agency AFP recently reported, the area’s sensitive wetlands, home to 65 species of birds, were buried under six and a half feet of crushed rock, while reptiles and brown bears have reportedly gone missing from surrounding mountain areas. Water pollution in the Mzymta River, once a major spawning site, threatens a fifth of Russia’s Black Sea salmon. And while Olympic organizers boast that they’ve planted 1.5 million new trees — three for every one that was cut down — Suren Gazaryan, a zoologist and environmental activist who was forced to flee the country, said that the scattered planting can in no way make up for what was lost.

Fast and loose wouldn't work in the U.S.