University of Pennsylvania Evolutionary Psychologist Visits UNL

"Like Dr. Hibbing at the last "brownbag," Dr. Kurzban complained about academic silencing. While he did not explicitly name political correctness, he did say:

* Feminist scholars view evolutionary biological from a political perspective. Dr. Kurzban said "I don't care if you say 'This theory is stupid. It's not worth my time.' But saying 'This theory is a plot by The Man to keep women down' is not useful.'"

* Graduate students at one university petitioned the academic Senate to prohibit evolutionary psychologocial texts from being assigned by any professor. This was instigated when one black collegian said the theory "challenged her identity.""

The comments thread is also interested, especially this quoted bit:

"I would like to put in a quote from the book Origins of Genius by Dean Keith Simonton pg.115

"Several investigators have found the incidence rates of parental losses than what holds true for the rest of the population. Thus, one ambitious study of 699 eminent figures of world history discovered that 61% lost a parent before age 31, 52% before 26 and 45% before 21. Another study of 301 geniuses found that over one-fifth were plagued by orphanhood A follow-up investigation, also based on famous people from all area of accomplishment, discovered that nearly one-third had lost their fathers early on.""

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geekgeek on Sondra in today's Digital Life:

"There, I hope you're all happy now. Don't even need to publish a book anymore, even the PRESS has done that for you, summarised (almost) everything. National circulation no less. Good job guys, really."


My observation: Well, you know that wouldn't have happened if people hadn't started flaming, cursing and kicking up a big fuss in public (as opposed to voicing their concerns sotto voce) in the first place.

So ironically it's the people who professed to be so concerned about Sondra's privacy (who went by many nicknames but most of whom shared the same 5 IP addresses), one of whom was such a good friend of hers and was so concerned that he threatened to punch some of us at her funeral, who are responsible for the shit hitting the fan, ironically bringing about the very thing (nay, much worse) that they claimed to be so against.

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Church 'misused welfare' - "HILLSONG Church is generating money by recycling public funds aimed at disadvantaged people back into its own coffers through tithes, a NSW MP has alleged."
Dig deeply enough anywhere and you will probably find some scandal.

Hold the Limo: The Prom's Canceled as Decadent - "It is about social manners, class, gender roles; and to a more or less open degree, it is about sex. That may explain why recent decisions by two Roman Catholic high school principals on Long Island to cancel proms for the class of 2006 - both citing exasperation with what the educators described as a decadent "prom culture" - seem to have struck a chord well beyond the worlds of Catholics, high schools or Long Island."

Did drug cultures open up spiritual worlds? - "Graham attempts to explain why, about 50,000 years ago, humans suddenly began to think creatively after having evolved anatomically millions of years before. He believes that it was due to altered states of consciousness (ASCs) triggered by experimentation with hallucinogenic plants, such as ayahuasca, datura root and the psilocybin or "magic" mushroom. He suggests that art and religion can be traced back to these ASCs experienced by ancient shamans and their communities."
The second part of the theory sounds like crap though.

Kids... - "1. sTicKyCaPs. I HaVe No IdEa wHy ThEy LoVe tO wRiTe lIke ThIs, sO IrRiTaTiNg lOrX, I dUn eVeN kNoW WhAt tHe hElL ThEy aRe wRitiNg aBoUt, aNd tHeY aRe So pROuD Of It lOlx ~"
Lamenting the moral degeneracy of the youth is a popular parlor game, but this guy really hit the nail on the head.