Science is cool.

I was right in criticizing the "smart atheists and liberals study"

Phew, I'm still decent at being critical.

Stop patting yourselves on the back.

I'm not sure I buy this, but it's interesting

From ScienceDaily. I think the title is a bit misleading, but it's interesting nonetheless. More intelligent people are more likely to adopt novel social values and religious and personal preferences, and the converse is sometimes true, that liberals and atheists (only one of many many novel social values/religious/political preferences) appear to be more intelligent (based on IQ).

Liberals and Atheists Smarter? Intelligent People Have Values Novel in Human Evolutionary History, Study Finds

It doen't say that those who adopt ANY novel social values are necessarily more intelligent though...

For example, fundamentalists are definitely outliers in their religions...from Jews to Mormons to Muslims.  Wouldn't we also say that they adopt "novel social values and religious and personal preferences?" Wouldn't their values also lie outside of society's preferences?

In addition, it makes me wonder about the past...would Lutherans and Calvinists and those who first protested the Catholic church also exhibit this behavior?

hmm.

this post isn't very well organized because i'm just waking up. BLarg.

In fact, the more I think about it the more I think it's kind of a load of crap (besides the author's hypothesis).  Something else is going on for sure.  Karrigan? help me out here.

Things I love right now.

1. James Franco...even in Milk (I know), but not in Spiderman.

2. Carnivorous plants...Check this out!
A pitcher plant has evolved to serve as a toilet for a shrew. No kidding.  Wow. Here's the photo from the linked article:

Also, they are lovely, and how can you not love something that turns the tables on typical predation dynamics?  I ask you, how can you?!

3. Shaun White - Completely adorable and lovable, yet a TOTAL BADASS.

4. Meyer lemons

No shit.

“In the study, husbands’ marital hostility was significantly related to increases in wives’ symptoms of depression,” said Proulx, assistant professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies in the College of Human Environmental Sciences.

“The more hostile and anti-social behavior exhibited by husbands, the more depressed their wives were after three years.

“These findings suggest that husbands’ treatment of their wives significantly impacts their psychological well-being and that hostile behavior has a lasting effect on couples that continues throughout their marriages.”

The researchers found no significant relationship between wives’ hostile behavior and husbands’ depression, unless significant life events, such as a death in the family or a job loss, were present.

Additionally, warm, positive behavior from husbands lessened the negative impact of their hostile behavior.

Anti-social behaviors are those that are self-centered, defiant or show a lack of constraint; hostile behaviors are those that are angry, critical or rejecting.

http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/02/23/husbands-hostility-spawns-depression/11635.html

Does this mean I can marry an antisocial, hostile man if I stay on the meds?

The effed up thing is that the reciprocal isn't true. What the heck?

Religious belief positively correlated with crime rates

Your ex lover is dead

I found a song about the connection between saying goodbye to someone and experiencing the death of a loved one. I've become a big big fan of the cold turkey approach (my friend Aaron said that breakups should be like a carrot and not like a stick of celery). Some time has passed - but not enough time like, ever...or forever or whenever or even never would be enough.

My sister died almost 9 years ago. Not enough time could ever go by for me to feel ok with Traci dying. I don't think about it as much, of course, but there are definitely times when I'd love to talk to her. When a person is gone, then they may as well be dead. Mercifully, the sudden death of my sister rather than a slow death via anorexia made it easier to deal with. I didn't have a choice, didn't have time to decide or fuck up. I remember feeling so selfish in the immediate aftermath. Maybe going cold turkey is a way of symbolically killing off the relationship rather than letting it continue to slowly die.

Obviously it's very very different in many ways, but the process of dealing and putting it behind you is similar. Letting go, grieving, regrets, responsibility...all of it. Hoping for different things, wanting to be a better person a better friend a better family member. Feeling sorry for myself...I was also pissed at Traci for being anorexic. What a waste of life it seemed. How could she do that to herself?

"When there's nothing left to burn you have to set yourself on fire."