text:
Pumpkin Person
~ The psychology of horror
Saul Kripke's estimated IQ: A historiometric analysis
Posted by pumpkinperson in Uncategorized
[NOTE FROM PUMPKIN PERSON: PLEASE PLACE ALL OFF-TOPIC COMMENTS HERE. THEY WILL NOT BE POSTED IN THIS THREAD]
Commenter gregorwayne wrote:
If I may make a request, I would love to see you estimate the IQ of Saul Kripke.
Saul Kripke is often considered one of the smartest people on Earth and the greatest living philosopher. To estimate Kripke's IQ, I decided to take a historiometric approach, analyzing his biography for evidence of verbal IQ, followed by math IQ. These two estimates were then combined into a composite IQ estimate.
Historiometric estimate of Kripke's verbal IQ
Kripke's bio shows much evidence of extreme verbal IQ. According to his Wikipedia article:
Kripke was labelled a prodigy, having taught himself Ancient Hebrew by the age of six, read the complete works of Shakespeare by nine, and mastered the works of Descartes…before finishing elementary school
Some of these achievements are so specialized that it's hard to compare his abilities to the common man, so I decided to focus on his mastery of Shakespeare, since that's a common benchmark. A yougov poll in the UK found that about 94% of adults had experienced Shakespeare in some form (i.e. reading a play, seeing a film, being taught it in school) and of these, 58% claimed to understand it. This implies 55% of the UK adult population understands Shakespeare.
Perhaps a higher percentage could have understood him if given exposure. On the other hand, perhaps some claiming to understand him are not being honest. Both sources of error likely cancel out, thus the ability to understand Shakespeare implies an adult verbal IQ in the top 55% of the British distribution, implying an IQ of 98+ (British norms). It's worth noting that Britain was 87% white as of 2011, so British norms are more or less synonymous with U.S. white norms.
Having read the complete works of Shakespeare by age nine, Kripke at age nine was as capable as an adult with a verbal IQ of 98. Since adult mental age is defined as 16, an adult with a verbal IQ of 98 has a mental age 98% as high as 16, so 15.68. A nine-year-old with a verbal mental age of 15.68 has a verbal ratio IQ of 174, which translates into a deviation IQ of 155 (sigma 15).
This number should be increased by 4 points because verbal IQ, as measured by the WISC Vocabulary test, has been increasing by 4 IQ points over the last half century, so any measure of Kripke's verbal functioning at age nine that relies on modern data (the recent yougov poll) will be 4 points too low. Thus Kripke's verbal IQ is 159.
Historiometric estimate of Kripke's math IQ
According to Wikipedia, Kripke:
mastered…complex mathematical problems before finishing elementary school.[7][8] He wrote his first completeness theorem in modal logic at the age of 17, and had it published a year later. After graduating from high school in 1958, Kripke attended Harvard University and graduated summa cum laude obtaining a bachelor's degree in mathematics. During his sophomore year at Harvard, Kripke taught a graduate-level logic course at nearby MIT.
According to The New York Times
Mr. Kripke, a rabbi's son, grew up in Omaha, and by all accounts was a true prodigy, so brilliant and precocious that the so-called prodigies of today are by comparison mere shadows flickering on the wall of our collective cave. In the fourth grade he discovered algebra, which he later said he could have invented on his own, and by the end of grammar school he had mastered geometry and calculus… While still a teenager he wrote a series of papers that eventually transformed the study of modal logic. One of them, or so the legend goes, earned a letter from the math department at Harvard, which hoped he would apply for a job until he wrote back and declined, explaining, "My mother said that I should finish high school and go to college first."
A lot of these achievements depend on more than just raw math IQ, but interest and motivation as well. Thus, I decided to focus just on when Kripke "discovered algebra" because this is probably the closest datum we have to a developmental milestone. You either grasp the concept or you don't.
In 2012, The New York Times reported:
To our nation's shame, one in four ninth graders fail to finish high school… Most of the educators I've talked with cite algebra as the major academic reason. Shirley Bagwell, a longtime Tennessee teacher, warns that "to expect all students to master algebra will cause more students to drop out." For those who stay in school, there are often "exit exams," almost all of which contain an algebra component. In Oklahoma, 33 percent failed to pass last year, as did 35 percent in West Virginia
So it sounds like as of 2012, only 75% of American young adults completed high school, and of those who did, only 2/3rds grasped algebra. This roughly implies only 50% of all American young adults can do algebra, which means grasping algebra requires an adult math IQ of 100 (U.S. norms), or 97 (U.S. white norms). Since adult mental age is defined as 16, then adult IQ 97 implies a mental age that is 97% of 16 or 15.52. Since Kripke had discovered algebra in fourth grade (when he was presumably nine), a math ratio IQ of 172 (15.52/9=1.72) is implied. This equates to a math deviation IQ of 154 (sigma 15).
We should probably add about 10 points because Kripke's precocity was achieved before 1950, and the Flynn effect has raised math related abilities by 2 (Arithmetic) to 16 (Block Design) IQ points from 1947 to 2001. Thus Kripke's deviation math IQ might be 164.
Composite IQ
Given an estimated verbal IQ of 159 and an estimated math IQ of 164, and given a 0.67 correlation between verbal and math talent in the general population, Kripke's estimated composite IQ is 168 (white norms). Only one in 344,000 white Americans have an IQ this high or higher.
Open thread Feb 27, 2018: All off-topic comments belong here
The comment section of future articles will be moderated more strictly to keep the conversations on-topic.
Going forward, all off-topic discussions should take place in this thread and future open threads.
Lead, Race, and Crime by Race Realist
[Note from Pumpkin Person, feb 22, 2018: The following is a guest article by Race Realist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pumpkin Person. Out of respect for the author, please try to keep all comments on-topic. I understand conversations naturally evolve but at least start on topic]
Lead has many known neurological effects on the brain (regarding the development of the brain and nervous system) that lead to many deleterious health outcomes and negative outcomes in general. Including (but not limited to) lower IQ, higher rates of crime, higher blood pressure and higher rates of kidney damage, which have permanent, persistent effects (Stewart et al, 2007). Chronic lead exposure, too, can "also lead to decreased fertility, cataracts, nerve disorders, muscle and joint pain, and memory or concentration problems" (Sanders et al, 2009). Lead exposure in vitro, infancy, and childhood can also lead to "neuronal death" (Lidsky and Schneider, 2003). While epigenetic inheritance also playing a part (Sen et al, 2015). How do blacks and whites differ in exposure to lead? How much is the difference between the two races in America, and how much would it contribute to crime? On the other hand, China has high rates of lead exposure, but lower rates of crime, so how does this relationship play out with the lead-crime relationship overall? Are the Chinese an outlier or is there something else going on?
The effects of lead on the brain are well known, and numerous amounts of effort have been put into lowering levels of lead in America (Gould, 2009). Higher exposure to lead is also found in poorer, lower class communities (Hood, 2005). So since higher levels of lead exposure are found more often in lower-class communities, then blacks should have blood-lead levels than whites. This is what we find.
Blacks had a 27 percent higher concentration of lead in their tibia, while having significantly higher levels of blood lead, "likely because of sustained higher ongoing lead exposure over the decades" (Theppeang et al, 2008). Other data—coming out of Detroit—shows the same relationships (Haar et al, 1979; Talbot, Murphy, and Kuller, 1982; Lead poisoning in children under 6 jumped 28% in Detroit in 2016; also see Maqsood, Stanbury, and Miller, 2017) while lead levels in the water contribute to high levels of blood-lead in Flint, Michigan (Hanna-Attisha et al, 2016; Laidlaw et al, 2016). Cassidy-Bushrow et al (2017) also show that "The disproportionate burden of lead exposure is vertically transmitted (i.e., mother-to-child) to African-American children before they are born and persists into early childhood."
Children exposed to lead have lower brain volumes as children, specifically in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, which is the same region of the brain that is impaired in antisocial and psychotic persons (Cecil et al, 2008). The community that was tested was well within the 'safe' range set by the CDC (Raine, 2014: 224), though the CDC says that there is no safe level of lead exposure. There is a large body of studies which show that there is no safe level of lead exposure (Needleman and Landrigan, 2004; Canfield, Jusko, and Kordas, 2005; Barret, 2008; Rossi, 2008; Abelsohn and Sanborn, 2010; Betts, 2012; Flora, Gupta, and Tiwari, 2012; Gidlow, 2015; Lanphear, 2015; Wani, Ara, and Usmani, 2015; Council on Environmental Health, 2016; Hanna-Attisha et al, 2016; Vorvolakos, Aresniou, and Samakouri, 2016; Lanphear, 2017). So the data is clear that there is absolutely no safe level of lead exposure, and even small effects can lead to deleterious outcomes.
Further, one brain study of 532 men who worked in a lead plant showed that those who had higher levels of lead in their bones had smaller brains, even after controlling for confounds like age and education (Stewart et al, 2008). Raine (2014: 224) writes:
The fact that the frontal cortex was particularly reduced is very interesting, given that this brain region is involved in violence. This lead effect was equivalent to five years of premature aging of the brain.
So we have good data that the parts of the brain that relate to violent tendencies are reduced in people exposed to more lead had the same smaller parts of the brain, indicating a relationship. But what about antisocial disorders? Are people with higher levels of lead in their blood more likely to be antisocial?
Needleman et al (1996) show that boys who had higher levels of lead in their blood had higher teacher ratings of aggressive and delinquent behavior, along with higher self-reported ratings of aggressive behavior. Even high blood-lead levels later in life is related to crime. One study in Yugoslavia showed that blood lead levels at age three had a stronger relationship with destructive behavior than did prenatal blood lead levels (Wasserman et al, 2008); with this same relationship being seen in America with high blood lead levels correlating with antisocial and aggressive behavior at age 7 and not age 2 (Chen et al 2007).
Nevin (2007) showed a strong relationship between preschool lead exposure and subsequent increases in criminal cases in America, Canada, Britain, France, Australia, Finland, West Germany, and New Zealand. Reyes (2007) also shows that crime increased quicker in states that saw a subsequent large decrease in lead levels, while variations in lead levels within cities correlating with variations in crime rates (Mielke and Zahran, 2012). Nevin (2000) showed a strong relationship between environmental lead levels from 1941 to 1986 and corresponding changes to violent crime twenty-three years later in the United States. Raine (2014: 226) writes (emphasis mine):
So, young children who are most vulnerable to lead absorption go on twenty-three years later to perpetrate adult violence. As lead levels rose throughout the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, so too did violence correspondingly rise in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. When lead levels fell in the late 1970s and early 1980s, so too did violence fall in the 1990s and the first decade of the twenty-first century. Changes in lead levels explained a full 91 percent of the variance in violent offending—an extremely strong relationship.
From international to national to state to city levels, the lead levels and violence curves match up almost exactly.
But does lead have a causal effect on crime? Due to the deleterious effects it has on the developing brain and nervous system, we should expect to find a relationship, and thus relationship should become stronger with higher doses of lead. Fortunately, I am aware of one analysis, a sample that's 90 percent black, which shows that with every 5 microgram increase in prenatal blood-lead levels, that there was a 40 percent higher risk of arrest (Wright et al, 2008). This makes sense with the deleterious developmental effects of lead; we are aware of how and why people with high levels of lead in their blood show similar brain scans/brain volume in certain parts of the brain in comparison to antisocial/violent people. So this is yet more suggestive evidence for a causal relationship.
Jennifer Doleac discusses three studies that show that blood-lead levels in America need to be addressed, since they are related strongly to negative health outcomes.Aizer and Curry (2017) show that "A one-unit increase in lead increased the probability of suspension from school by 6.4-9.3 percent and the probability of detention by 27-74 percent, though the latter applies only to boys." They also show that children who live nearer to roads have higher blood-lead levels, since the soil near highways was contaminated decades ago with leaded gasoline. Fiegenbaum and Muller (2016) show that cities' use of lead pipes increased murder rates between the years o921 and 1936. Finally, Billings and Schnepnel (2017: 4) show that their "results suggest that the effects of high levels of [lead] exposure on antisocial behavior can largely be reversed by intervention—children who test twice over the alert threshold exhibit similar outcomes as children with lower levels of [lead] exposure (BLL<5μg/dL).
A relationship with lead exposure in vitro and arrests at adulthood. The sample was 90 percent black, with numerous controls. They found that prenatal and post-natal blood-lead exposure was associated with higher arrest rates, along with higher arrest rates for violent acts (Wright et al, 2008). To be specific, for every 5 microgram increase in prenatal blood-lead levels, there was a 40 percent greater risk for arrest. This is direct causal evidence for the lead-causes-crime hypothesis.
One study showed that in post-Katrina New Orleans, decreasing lead levels in the soil caused a subsequent decrease in blood lead levels in children (Mielke, Gonzales, and Powell, 2017). Sean Last argues that, while he believes that lead does contribute to crime, that the racial gaps have closed in the recent decades, therefore blood-lead levels cannot be a source of some of the variance in crime between blacks and whites, and even cites the CDC 'lowering its "safe" values' for lead, even though there is no such thing as a safe level of lead exposure (references cited above). White, Bonilha, and Ellis Jr., (2015) also show that minorities—blacks in particular—have higher rates of lead in their blood. Either way, Last seems to downplay large differences in lead exposure between whites and blacks at young ages, even though that's when critical development of the mind/brain and other important functioning occurs. There is no safe level of lead exposure—pre- or post-natal—nor are there safe levels at adulthood. Even a small difference in blood lead levels would have some pretty large effects on criminal behavior.
Sean Last also writes that "Black children had a mean BLL which was 1 ug/dl higher than White children and that this BLL gap shrank to 0.9 ug/dl in samples taken between 2003 and 2006, and to 0.5 ug/dl in samples taken between 2007 and 2010." Though, still, there are problems here too: "After adjustment, a 1 microgram per deciliter increase in average childhood blood lead level significantly predicts 0.06 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.01, 0.12) and 0.09 (95% CI = 0.03, 0.16) SD increases and a 0.37 (95% CI = 0.11, 0.64) point increase in adolescent impulsivity, anxiety or depression, and body mass index, respectively, following ordinary least squares regression. Results following matching and instrumental variable strategies are very similar" (Winter and Sampson, 2017).
Naysayers may point to China and how they have higher levels of blood-lead levels than America (two times higher), but lower rates of crime, some of the lowest in the world. The Hunan province in China has considerably lowered blood-lead levels in recent years, but they are still higher than developed countries (Qiu et al, 2015). One study even shows ridiculously high levels of lead in Chinese children "Results showed that mean blood lead level was 88.3 micro g/L for 3 – 5-year-old children living in the cities in China and mean blood lead level of boys (91.1 micro g/L) was higher than that of girls (87.3 micro g/L). Twenty-nine point nine one percent of the children's blood lead level exceeded 100 micro g/L" (Qi et al, 2002), while Li et al (2014) found similar levels. Shanghai also has higher levels of blood lead than the rest of the developed world (Cao et al, 2014). Blood lead levels are also higher in Taizhou, China compared to other parts of the country—and the world (Gao et al, 2017). But blood lead levels are decreasing with time, but still higher than other developed countries (He, Wang, and Zhang, 2009).
Furthermore, Chinese women, compared to American women, had two times higher BLL (Wang et al, 2015). With transgenerational epigenetic inheritance playing a part in the inheritance of methylation DNA passed from mother to daughter then to grandchildren (Sen et al, 2015), this is a public health threat to Chinese women and their children. So just by going off of this data, the claim that China is a safe country should be called into question.
Reality seems to tell a different story. It seems that the true crime rate in China is covered up, especially the murder rate:
In Guangzhou, Dr Bakken's research team found that 97.5 per cent of crime was not reported in the official statistics.
Of 2.5 million cases of crime, in 2015 the police commissioner reported 59,985 — exactly 15 less than his 'target' of 60,000, down from 90,000 at the start of his tenure in 2012.
The murder rate in China is around 10,000 per year according to official statistics, 25 per cent less than the rate in Australia per capita.
"I have the internal numbers from the beginning of the millennium, and in 2002 there were 52,500 murders in China," he said.
Instead of 25 per cent less murder than Australia, Dr Bakken said the real figure was closer to 400 per cent more."
Guangzhou, for instance, doesn't keep data for crime committed by migrants, who commit 80 percent of the crime in this province. Out of 2.5 million crimes committed in Guangzhou, only 5,985 crimes were reported in their official statistics, which was 15 crimes away from their target of 6000. Weird… Either way, China doesn't have a similar murder rate to Switzerland:
The murder rate in China does not equal that of Switzerland, as the Global Times claimed in 2015. It's higher than anywhere in Europe and similar to that of the US.
China also ranks highly on the corruption index, higher than the US, which is more evidence indicative of a covered up crime rate. So this is good evidence that, contrary to the claims of people who would attempt to downplay the lead-crime relationship, that these effects are real and that they do matter in regard to crime and murder.
So it's clear that we can't trust the official Chinese crime stats since there much of their crime is not reported. Why should we trust crime stats from a corrupt government? The evidence is clear that China has a higher crime—and murder rate—than is seen on the Chinese books.
Lastly, effects of epigenetics can and do have a lasting effect on even the grandchildren of mothers exposed to lead while pregnant (Senut et al, 2012; Sen et al, 2015). Sen et al (2015) showed lead exposure during pregnancy affected the DNA methylation status of the fetal germ cells, which then lead to altered DNA methylation on dried blood spots in the grandchildren of the mother exposed to lead while pregnant.—though it's indirect evidence. If this is true and holds in larger samples, then this could be big for criminological theory and could be a cause for higher rates of black crime (note: I am not claiming that lead exposure could account for all, or even most of the racial crime disparity. It does account for some, as can be seen by the data compiled here).
In conclusion, the relationship between lead exposure and crime is robust and replicated across many countries and cultures. No safe level of blood lead exists, even so-called trace amounts can have horrible developmental and life outcomes, which include higher rates of criminal activity. There is a clear relationship between lead increases/decreases in populations—even within cities—that then predict crime rates. Some may point to the Chinese as evidence against a strong relationship, though there is strong evidence that the Chinese do not report anywhere near all of their crime data. Epigenetic inheritance, too, can play a role here mostly regarding blacks since they're more likely to be exposed to high levels of lead in the womb, their infancy, and childhood. This could also exacerbate crime rates, too. The evidence is clear that lead exposure leads to increased criminal activity, and that there is a strong relationship between blood lead levels and crime.
Karl Marx's IQ
Commenter Tvrtko writes:
P.P. what would be Marx's IQ? I'd like to know what you estimate is the intelligence of the Left's main deity.
On Michael Hart's list of the 100 most influential people of all time, Marx is the second highest ranked Ashkenazi Jewish academic behind only Albert Einstein.
How exceptional does that make him? To answer that question, we need to know how many Ashkenazi Jews have ever lived. If you believe Greg Cochran et al (and some of you don't), biological Ashkenazi Jews as we know them today did not full emerge until about 1700.
About 20 billion people have lived since 1650. If we conservatively assume based on current demographics, that Ashkenazim are only 0.14% of all humans in this era, then 28 million Ashkenazi Jews have ever lived, and Marx being the second only to Einstein, would be at the one in 14 million level in scholarly success.
If there were a perfect correlation between IQ and scholarly success, this would put Marx's IQ about 79 points above the average Ashkenazim, but since the correlation was about 0.7 in national samples (though it's shrunk in recent decades), and assuming roughly the same correlation and variance in Ashkenazim, this implies an IQ that is 0.7(79) = 55 points higher than the average Ashkenazim, and since Ashkenazim average about 110 (when the white mean is set at 100) an IQ of 165 is implied (95% confidence interval 144 to 186).
However because Ashkenazim come from an intellectual culture, they likely over-perform their true ability on IQ tests to some degree, so I'd round Marx down to 160; which is still absurdly high (only one in 30,000 whites score this high).
Tvrtko correctly describes Marx as a deity of the left which is ironic because he was arguably alt-right. Unlike the right who hate the poor (including blacks) and the left who hate the rich (including Jews), Marx like many alt-righters has been accused of hating both.
Even though Marx is considered the poster body for political correctness (cultural Marxism), he was anything but, and while like most leftists, regarded the rich as parasitic, he also viewed many members of the underclass this way too, referring to them as the lumpenproletariat though it's unclear if this was an attack on their class, or their lack of class consciousness. If it's the former, it's a right-wing view, but if Marx was merely calling certain members of the underclass "class traitors", he's a typical leftist.
Estimating Noam Chomsky's IQ
The brilliant Bruno writes:
Chomsky has much more than 125 and a huge creativity ability. In linguistics theory, he is a master . Like Gärdenfors or Davidson for semantics. And Stalnaker for syntax .
This reminds me that I promised I would do an article on Noam Chomsky's IQ.
Chomsky is arguably the most academically successful Jew of his generation. In 1992, MIT news reported:
Recent research on citations in three different citation indices show that Professor Chomsky is one of the most cited individuals in works published in the past 20 years.
In fact, his 3,874 citations in the Arts and Humanities Citation Index between 1980 and 1992 make him the most cited living person in that period and the eighth most cited source overrall–just behind famed psychiatrist Sigmund Freud and just ahead of philosopher Georg Hegel.
Indeed, Professor Chomsky is in illustrious company. The top ten cited sources during the period were: Marx, Lenin, Shakespeare, Aristotle, the Bible, Plato, Freud, Chomsky, Hegel and Cicero.
In 2005 he was voted the World's top public intellectual.
Chomsky is part of the Silent Generation, one of the 58 million Americans born from 1925 to 1945. In 2013 it was estimated that Jews are 3.3% of U.S. adults, if Jewish is defined as having at least one Jewish parent or being raised Jewish, even if you now have another religion. Only 55% of this 3.3% is Jewish by religion.
We don't know how many Americans were Jewish in Chomsky's day, but in 1957, 3.2% of Americans 14 or older were Jewish by religion, and assuming even back then, Jews by religion were 55% of the Jewish population, then the total Jewish population was 5.8% of America.
Assuming they were also 5.8% of the Silent Generation, and assuming Chomsky is the most academically successful Jew of his generation, that puts him in the top one in 3.4 million level among U.S. Jews in academic success. If there were a perfect correlation between IQ and academic success, and assuming Jews have the same IQ variance as Whites, this would imply Chomsky's IQ is 75 points higher than the average U.S. Jew. Today the correlation between IQ and academic success is only about 0.55, but in the mid-20th century, when Chomsky was coming of age, it was a potent 0.7 and was likely about the same in the Jewish population.
A 0.7 correlation implies that instead of Chomsky being 75 IQ points smarter than the average Jew, as a perfect correlation predicts, he'd be 75(0.7) = 53 points smarter than the average Jew. On a scale where the white mean is set at IQ 100 (Standard Deviation = 15), U.S. Jews average about 110, making Chomsky's expected IQ 163, with a 95% confidence interval of 142 to 184.
Why are Ashkenazi IQs so high? Gregory Cochran, Jason Harding, and Henry Harpending cite sphingolipid diseases in the Ashkenazi gene pool and claim these mutations increase the length and branching of neurons in Ashkenazi brains. As many as 2% of Israeli Ashkenazim are in high IQ occupations, but an incredible 15% of Israeli Gaucher patients are. This suggests Gaucher patients are 1 standard deviation above the Israeli Ashkenazi mean in occupational status. If one assumes Gaucher disease caused these high occupations via increased IQ, then the 0.7 correlation between IQ and occupation implies this disease increased IQ by 1.43 standard deviations (21 points) for occupation to have increased by 0.7(1.43 SD) = 1 SD.
Of course these results need to be replicated in more numerous and diverse samples before any causal inferences are made.
My personal opinion is that yes, Ashkenazim are smarter than whites, but that the gap is inflated by their hyper-intellectual culture, giving them an unfair advantage on IQ tests. On a truly culture reduced IQ test (that could somehow measure verbal ability without culture bias), I think they'd score 5 points higher than whites, instead of the 10 point advantage they enjoy on conventional tests. Thus, my best guess is Chomsky's true IQ is 5 points lower than estimated above: 158, not 163.
Given that Chomsky is now 89, it would be absolutely fascinating to give him a version of the WAIS. Unlike brilliant young adults who have their IQ scores limited by ceiling bumping, the WAIS-R had an astonishing ceiling of IQ 185 for 70-74 year olds, so just imagine how much ceiling you could get at Chomsky's age.
Now that I've discussed Chomsky's intelligence, here's Chomsky discussing Neanderthal intelligence:
Minor corrections were made to this article on Feb 14, 2018
Great Canadian singers
The great Gordon Lightfoot! Such a beautiful song. I was honored to be given front row seats when he shocked everyone by showing up to sing it at Canada's 150th. I didn't think he was going to show but like the great Canadian he is, he showed:
The legendary Anne Murray So innocent! My favorite part of the below video is at the 1:25 mark when the beat picks up and Anne starts walking forward to the beat. In the U.S. singers have to shake their booty, but all Anne has to do is stand there, because she's Anne Murray, and that's enough. And because she's so restrained and understated, the mere act of taking a few steps forward is enough to excite the crowd.
The great Celine Dion In one of the finest moments in TV history, here she is surprising the Canadian Tenors on Oprah. French Canadian women are the most beautiful on Earth:
The incredible KD Lang
Commenter JC writes:
Through a purely subjective (and admittedly meaningless) "assessment", k.d. merits a VQ (Vocal Quotient) of 190 (SD = 16); score assigned on the basis of her supernal performance of the song "Constant Craving".
I also love her version of "Crying" and the way the audience cheers when she hits the high notes:
The great Burton Cummings Commenter JC also suggested that at his prime, Burton Cummings was in the same vocal league as Lang:
The fabulous Joni Mitchell Black national merit finalist G-man made this great suggestion
Based on feedback from readers, the list was updated on Feb 13, 2018
Raven vs Wechsler
A reader asked which was the better test. I once asked J. Philippe Rushton which IQ test he would put more trust in if they gave different results: The Raven or the Wechsler.
"They're both excellent tests," he gushed, but the problem with the Wechsler he felt, was that there's a lot more room for scoring error because the examiner has to time you to the second on certain puzzles, and various verbal questions require subjective scoring, so in a case where the two tests disagreed, Rushton placed his vote with the Raven.
However the Wechsler is probably much more g loaded, and recent editions of the Wechsler include a Matrix reasoning subtest, so now the Raven has been reduced to just another Wechsler test.
The Wechsler probably also has more predictive validity, not just because it's more g loaded but because it measures non-g abilities that are useful in life like verbal skill, spatial ability, processing speed, memory, and social understanding.
One of the great disappointments for psychometrics was discovering that the Raven was not the culture-fair test so many psychologists had hoped. In fact it shows some of the largest Flynn effects ever recorded, though this doesn't necessarily prove it's the most culturally biased, as the Flynn effect has a biological component (nutrition increasing brain size which might in turn be increasing IQ) and the biggest Raven Flynn Effects were in countries like Holland, where people have been getting taller so rapidly that brain size is likely exploding.
Nonetheless IQ gains of 7 points per decade are unlikely to be entirely caused by exploding brain size so we're forced to admit the Raven is sensitive to something changing in the culture, and thus is not culture fair.
People think culture bias means the Raven must be measuring some kind of knowledge or skill, but I suspect the culture bias is more subtle. When Rushton administered the Raven to a bunch of gypsy adults they had shockingly low scores (only IQ 70 on average), far lower than the IQ 85 that had been reported for gypsy children.
My guess is dropping out of school made the gypsies intellectually lazy and so their Raven scores (though not real intelligence) declined rapidly with age, relative to the white reference group, most of whom stayed in school.
Because so many gypsies complained that the test was giving them a headache, it was clear their minds weren't used to working hard intellectually. For me the lesson was a true culture reduced test needs to be "fun" like some of the hard-core Performance subtests on the Wechsler, not hard work like the Raven.
The fact that some studies show IQ declining when kids go on summer vacation is more evidence for the intellectual lazy factor.
The other day I was at a bar when a woman confronted me. "You don't remember me, do you. Oh how could you, you were just a teenager, but you gave me a test!" she reminded me.
It took me a while but I remembered she was the delinquent older sister of a childhood friend who had had shocked her upper middle class family by running away from home to dabble in drugs and prostitution. In high school, my friend and I would sneak downtown to stay at her apartment.
"I just wanted to give you a hug" she said sweetly, "because of you I ended up getting my college diploma!"
"What did I do?" I asked puzzled.
"You always used to give me those tests," she explained, referring to some Raven items I would ask her to solve when I first learned about the test. "So when it came to taking the exam to get into college, I was totally prepared." (Unlike our universities, Canadian colleges use entrance exams because many applicants are high school dropouts who lack basic skills)
Apparently I had cured her intellectual laziness.
Most influential LIVING Canadian of ALL TIME takes on Trump
The only Canadian to make my authoritative list of the 100 most influential living people EVER is David Frum. His intellectual impact on the Bush administration, including coining the term "axis of evil", landed him the 71st spot on the Living 100.
While I'm thrilled that a Canadian made the list, I would have much preferred it be the great Jean Chrétien or Celine Dion than the neocon Frum. Frum's politics are especially heartbreaking because we Canadians so worship his late mother, liberal icon Barabra Frum.
The great Barbara Frum: 1937 -1992
I remember in the early 2000s seeing David spouting his neocon views on TV, as my grandparents would moan "poor Barabara must be turning in her grave."
Yet as much as I disagree with David's politics, the neocons are brilliant and exude a level of sophistication that other conservatives can't match, and it's because outside foreign policy, they're basically liberal intellectuals, and Frum's Canadian roots give him an added layer of polish.
He's especially critical of Trump for the damage he feels he's doing to democratic institutions:
Why the West Rules–For Now
I couldn't sleep so I listened to a great lecture on youtube by British historian Ian Morris. He wrote a book a called Why the West Rules–For Now which sounds really good, even though, like Jared Diamond, he explains World history from a non-HBD perspective. But I think it's good for HBDers to learn about non-HBD theories because HBD has anomalies that can only be resolved from more holistic views.
Example: HBDers argue whites, especially Nordics, are smarter than dark Caucasoids, but how then can we explain the fact that civilization started in the Middle East, not Europe?
Well, Morris argues that geography explains everything, but the meaning of geography is constantly changing, so at the dawn of civilization, the Middle East was in one of the "lucky latitudes". Morris writes:
Humans may all be much the same, wherever we find them, but the places we find them in are not all the same. Geography is unfair. Human societies have all followed the same sequences of cultural development, but geography has dictated that they have not done so at the same speed. … If we look back nearly 12,000 years to the end of the last spasm of the Ice Age, what we see is that climate, topography, and ecology conspired in these Lucky Latitudes between China and the Mediterranean (and a similar band stretching from Peru to Mexico in the New World) to allow the evolution of unusually large numbers of plants and animals that could be domesticated, vastly increasing humans' food supply. Because people (wherever we find them) are all much the same, it was in these Lucky Latitudes that humans first domesticated plants and animals. Fuelled by these resources, it was also in the Lucky Latitudes that people went on over the next 10,000 years to create the world's first cities, states and empires. People in Australia, Siberia, and sub-Saharan Africa stuck with hunting and gathering not because they were lazier, stupider, or better attuned to nature than people in the Lucky Latitudes. Geography had simply endowed their homelands with fewer resources, and domestication therefore took longer. (p. 35)
The Lucky Latitude hypothesis was criticized by historian Michael Hart who argued that sub-Saharan Africa was actually luckier than Mesoamerica, but I do think the Middle East was lucky in the sense that it's in the middle of where peoples from different regions could trade.
A second anomaly is the dominance of Whites over the last 500 years or so, even though HBD claims East Asians are smarter. I've argued it's because East Asians are too evolved for their own good, and such advanced social organization weeds the mentally unstable creative types out of the gene pool because their non-conformity is disruptive.
However Morris gives his geographic explanation. Admitting that East Asians were the first to have the guns and navigational ability to conquer any country on Earth, it seemed unimaginable that whites could ever catch up technologically. But Morris argues that the East Asian technologies worked to White advantage, because Whites were geographically much better equipped to exploit them, given their ocean proximity to the Americas.
So what started out as Europe's geographic disadvantage (being isolated from the terrestrial trade routes that the Middle East enjoyed), suddenly became a geographic advantage, thanks to Chinese sea navigation technology. The Atlantic ocean went from being a barrier to a trade superhighway, allowing whites to sell goods to Africa and buy slaves, sell slaves to the Americas, and buy more goods to take back to Europe and sell to Africa, and this feedback loop continued for centuries, creating what he calls the first true market economies.
If Morris is right, no wonder libertarians worship markets, given all they have done for the West.
The need to navigate faster, led to modern science and calculus and Western domination for centuries, Morris claims.
Morris ends the lecture much like J.P. Rushton ended his infamous AAAS lecture back in 1989: By making two important predictions about the course of World history. 1) Like Rushton he predicts East Asians will once again rule the World, but unlike Rushton he gives (somewhat facetiously) a specific year: 2103. And 2), he shockingly predicts there will be over FOUR TIMES as much progress in just the next 100 years as has occurred from the ice age until now. Sounds like a future that would exceed our wildest sci-fi fantasies.
What a great time to be born!
You can watch the full lecture below, or if you don't have time, the last 20 minutes is the most relevant part:
Scientists claim Southern Europeans are GENETICALLY INFERIOR????
Snooki and her ex-boyfriend were mocked for their height
Of course nowhere in the study do the scientists use the term "genetically inferior" but here's what they actually say:
By studying height, a classic polygenic trait, we demonstrate the first human signature of widespread selection on standing variation. We show that frequencies of alleles associated with increased height, both at known loci and genome wide, are systematically elevated in Northern Europeans compared with Southern Europeans (P < 4.3 × 10−4). This pattern mirrors intra-European height differences and is not confounded by ancestry or other ascertainment biases. The systematic frequency differences are consistent with the presence of widespread weak selection (selection coefficients ~10−3–10−5 per allele) rather than genetic drift alone (P < 10−15).
Now you might say genetically short is different from genetically inferior, but when Charles Murray and Richard Herrnstein said blacks might average genetically low IQs, here's the reaction:
Paul Krugman of The New York Times wrote "…Charles Murray, most famous for arguing that blacks are genetically inferior to whites."
Scholar Shirley Steinberg said "As educators, we cannot imagine a stronger disincentive to our non-White students than to be told that they are genetically inferior to Whites and there is nothing they can do about it."
Some might say that genetically low IQ implies genetic inferiority because intelligence is such a valued trait. But height's an extremely valued trait too. We metaphorically "look up" to people we admire and "look down" on those we disdain. "Standing tall" is a metaphor for dignity. Tall men earn more money, attract more mates, and are far more valued by sperm banks, so if calling blacks "genetically low IQ" is "racist" because it implies "genetic inferiority", then calling Southern Europeans "genetically short" is racist too. Indeed I suspect most men would rather boost their height by a couple inches than boost their IQ by 10 points.
More interesting from a scientific perspective is this comment from Steve Hsu:
If the results on selection hold up this will be clear evidence for differential selection between groups of a quantitative trait (as opposed to lactose or altitude tolerance, which are controlled by small sets of loci). We may soon be able to conclude that there has been enough evolutionary time for selection to work within European populations on a trait that is controlled by hundreds (probably thousands) of loci.
Hsu hits the nail on the head because one of the arguments by HBD skeptics like our very own Afrosapiens is that populations differ primarily on genetically simple traits like skin colour, yet here we have groups as closely related as Northern and Southern Europeans showing genetic differences on a trait influenced by an estimated 10,000 SNPs.
Hsu quotes a blog called Genetic Inference stating:
Europeans differ systematically in their height, and these differences correlate with latitude. The average Italian is 171cm, whereas the average Swede is a full 4cm taller. Are these differences genetic? Have they been under evolutionary selection in recent human history?
It's worth noting that a within sex difference of 4 cm equates to about 0.76 standard deviations within developed countries. An IQ difference of 0.76 SD equals 11 IQ points. If a 0.76 SD difference between groups as genetically similar as Italians and Swedes might be mostly genetic for a complex trait like height, then how big of a genetic IQ gap might we expect for far more genetically distant human groups?
J.P. Rushton, on group differences
contact pumpkinperson at easiestquestion@hotmail.ca
pumpkinperson on A reader's cousin takes…
dealwithit on A reader's cousin takes…
Ganzir on A reader's cousin takes…
freddie on A reader's cousin takes…
Carlos on A reader's cousin takes…
name redacted by pp.… on A reader's cousin takes…
women suck as barris… on A reader's cousin takes…
Flaminhotcheetos on A reader's cousin takes…
chronometrics
dark dramas
ethnic genetic interests
genetic similarity theory
Low IQ
pumpkinperson


MAJORCA needs more criminal detention facilities with the old Palma prison highly unsuitable as an open prison for third degree offenders. PSOE socialist party congresswomen Teresa Riera and Mercedes Gallizo visited Palma's two prisons yesterday and announced that, at the next session of the parliamentary justice commission in Madrid, they will propose a new open prison is built in Majorca. Despite Palma's new prison being under five years old, the old crumbling penitentiary is still being used as an open prison for weekend prisoners and third degree offenders, but Riera, socialist congress woman for the Balearics, said after visiting the prison yesterday, that the facilities are clearly inadequate and that Majorca should take advantage of central government's new programme to construct more "social correction centres." Apparently a small one is to built in Minorca and Riera believes that Majorca needs one as well, albeit larger. "It is going to be pointless sending third degree prisoners to Minorca for the weekend, when the reason the centre is being built on the island is to bring an end to minor offenders being brought to Majorca because of the lack of facilities in Minorca," she said. Riera believes that a new centre should be built on the site of the old prison, making use of the facilities already in operation. There has been growing concern over the crime rate in the Balearics, which last year rose dramatically. Despite the launch of a new National Police Focus plan at the start of last year it has nearly doubled, and has highlighted the deficiencies and lack of facilities in the prison service. One central prison in Palma is no longer sufficient. It currently holds 1.041 inmates, and Riera stressed the need for Ibiza's ageing prison to be reformed along with a general shake up in the Balearic prison service.


text:
Judge Throws Out Former Embassy Hostages' Suit Against Iran
In a case pitting the Bush administration against former U.S. hostages, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Thursday reluctantly threw out the ex-hostages' lawsuit against Iran. "This court has no choice but to ... dismiss this case," the judge said, because the U.S. government agreed in 1980 to bar lawsuits as a condition for the release of the 52 hostages held in the U.S. Embassy for 444 days.
By Pete Yost | April 19, 2002 at 12:00 AM
In a case pitting the Bush administration against former U.S. hostages, a federal judge on Thursday reluctantly threw out the ex-hostages' lawsuit against Iran. Federal Judge Emmet Sullivan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said they were barred from collecting damages for trauma they suffered two decades ago. "This court has no choice but to … dismiss this case," Sullivan said, because the U.S. government agreed in 1980 to bar lawsuits as a condition for the release of the 52 Americans. They spent 444 days in captivity when the Iranian government took over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. "Were this court empowered to judge by its sense of justice, the heartbreaking accounts of the emotional and physical toll … would be more than sufficient justification" for granting relief, Sullivan wrote in a 98-page opinion. The State Department intervened in the case late last year. It argued that American credibility would suffer abroad if the government failed to honor its international commitments, such as the Algiers Accords between the United States and Iran that freed the hostages. The hostages and their families sought $33 billion in the lawsuit filed against the Islamic Republic of Iran and its ministry of foreign affairs. The judge criticized Congress for not acting clearly on behalf of the hostages, an assertion that Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, disputed. "The Congress twice in the last six months has enacted laws to clarify the right of Iranian hostages to sue and collect damages for the pain and suffering," said Harkin. "This decision will only add to that pain and suffering." In court, the former hostages testified about beatings, simulated executions at the hands of their captors and imprisonment in cold conditions with only minimal clothing, food, water and medical care. "Both Congress and the President have expressed their support for these plaintiffs' quest for justice, while failing to act definitively to enable these former hostages to fulfill that quest," wrote the judge. "If the political consequences of overturning the Algiers Accords are too great, so be it," the judge added. Harkin said he will continue efforts on behalf of the hostages so that they have their day in court and receive restitution. Earlier this year, Sullivan signaled that he might have no choice but to dismiss the lawsuit, and lawyers for the hostages and their families continue to seek legislative remedies. The government of Iran did not defend itself in the case, and Sullivan issued a judgment in favor of the ex-hostages in August. The Bush administration stepped in on the eve of a trial to determine how much money the former hostages were entitled to. Copyright 2002 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Benefits of a Digital Membership:
Free access to 1 article* every 30 days
Access to the entire ALM network of websites
Unlimited access to the ALM suite of newsletters
Build custom alerts on any search topic of your choosing
Search by a wide range of topics

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Touch Lucky has a few years' experience behind it now, having launched in 2015. The site is owned by Nektan, who are responsible for a whole load of sites, including Reel Vegas, Slot Fruity and Monster Casino. Nektan is an industry name which is expanding rapidly, with new sites popping up all the time.
The site has a royal purple colour scheme, which works really well, it doesn't feel too busy and allows the games to stand out. The layout is a bit different to other Nektan sites, but is still really intuitive, resulting in a site that is nice and easy to use.
When you first sign up at Touch Lucky you'll receive 10 free spins for Starburst with no deposit required. You need to use these up within 7 days and the wagering requirement is pretty crazy, at 100 times. Best to view it as a bit of free play, although all the games can be played for free anyway.
When you are ready to make a deposit, you'll be rewarded for your first three deposits of £10 or more. Your first deposit will get a 200% bonus up to £50 and 50 free Starburst spins; your second will get a 100% bonus up to £200 and your third will get you a 50% bonus up to £250. The wagering requirement is much better than the no deposit offer, but it's still a little steep at 30 times your combined deposit and bonus amount, although free spins winnings just need to be wagered 30 times. You've got 28 days to use it or lose it and, as ever, not all games contribute equally to the wagering requirements, so make sure you check out the terms before you play.
There are loads of other offers and promotions on the site, it's definitely not all about the newbies, there are plenty of chance to get reload bonuses and free spins and there's a VIP scheme.
There's a really good choice of games to choose from at Touch Lucky and, as they work with some of the leading developers out there, all of them are really good quality.
The slots section is brilliant, it's not as big as you'll find on some other sites, but there is a decent choice, including games like Starburst and Gonzo's Quest. There's much more than those well-known games though and, as they can all be played in free mode, it's a great place to try out something different. The main downside is that there's no search function, so it can take a while to find a specific game.
The casino section covers off all the classic table games, including roulette, blackjack, poker and baccarat. There's a decent selection of live dealer games too, although they are mixed in with the standard table games.
There isn't any live chat support, which is a bit odd for a Nektan casino, but you can get in touch with them by both a local rate telephone number and email. The support isn't 24/7 unfortunately, but they do have long opening hours from 9am to midnight, Monday to Friday. There's no weekend support, so if you do have a problem in the early hours of Saturday morning, you'll have to hold on until Monday to get it sorted. There is a decent FAQ section, so you should be able to get to the bottom of any straightforward queries without customer service's help.
The mobile site works well on most up-to-date devices, you don't need to download an app, just go to the main website in your device's browser. There are over 100 games in the mobile casino, but you will find some of the desktop games are missing.
Touch Lucky Casino is registered in Gibraltar and fully regulated by the UK Gambling Commission, so you've got all the protection you'd get from any other genuine UK site.
Touch Lucky has been around a good few years now and, with a company like Nektan behind them, you can be sure all their credentials stack up. The site is a bit different to most Nektan sites, but it still works well and is pretty easy to use.
The no deposit offer is a bit rubbish, mainly because of the crazy wagering requirements, but the deposit bonus is much better and there are plenty of other promotions on the site.
There's a really good choice of slot, table games and live dealer games, but as there isn't a search function it can be hard work finding a specific games. Not all of the games are available on mobile, but you will find over 100 and they all work just as well as the desktop games.
Customer support is well covered by phone, Monday to Friday, but there's no weekend support and no option at all to contact them via live chat.
This isn't one of the best Nektan sites out there, it's one of the company's older sites, so will likely get updated in time. That said, there are some great games to choose from, so it's well worth some time to check it out.


text:
Home » Posts made in September, 2016
Dr. Eugene M. Joly, 88
Sep 30, 2016 by Keith Curtis
Published in the September 30, 2016 edition. PALM COAST, Fla. — Eugene Mathias Joly, M.D., 88, of Palm Coast, Fla., formerly of Wakefield, died Sept. 11 at the Stewart Meyer Hospice House in Palm Coast, Fla. Born in Manville, R.I. on Dec. 30, 1927, he was the son of the late Eugene N. and Helen E. (Thibault) Joly. He was the brother of Jeannette E. Strunz of Florida (deceased) and Paul J. Joly (deceased) and wife Gabrielle of California. Eugene was a graduate of Providence College, Class of 1951, and Georgetown University School of Medicine, Class of 1955. He was an orthopaedic surgeon for more than 30 years, first in the U.S. Navy and then in private practice in Lynn. Eugene retired from the U.S. Navy in 1965 as LT CDR MC. He was...
Bruce E. Cameron, 63
Published in the September 29, 2016 edition. WAKEFIELD — Bruce Edward Cameron, 63, a resident of Wakefield for over 30 years, formerly of Reading, died Sept. 27 at the Tufts Medical Center in Boston. Bruce was born in Melrose on Nov. 2, 1952, the son of Audrie (Burton) Cameron of Reading and the late Edward P. Cameron. Bruce grew up in Reading and was a graduate of Reading Memorial High School. He then went on and attended Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey. He was the owner of Stylecraft Supply Inc., a Benjamin Moore retail home decorating company in Wakefield which his father opened in 1952. Bruce was an avid golfer and a member of the Ferncroft Country Club in Middleton. Bruce was the devoted father of Amanda C. Cameron of Wakefield and Allison...
A fitting end to summer
Published in the September 29, 2016 edition.
Halloween changes coming
By MARK SARDELLA WAKEFIELD — There will be some changes to this year's town-wide Halloween celebration, which will be expanded to the entire weekend of Oct. 27-30. "Wakefield Haunted Happenings" will be a collaboration between the Wakefield Merchants organization and the Wakefield Chamber of Commerce. In the past, the very popular "Spooktacular" downtown trick-or-treating event took place on the Thursday before Halloween and quickly grew to incorporate the Wakefield High School Art Department's "Fright Night," with the lighting of decorated pumpkins on the steps of Beebe Library and the showing of student produced scary movies at the Galvin Middle School. This year, the Wakefield Haunted Happenings will kick off on Thursday evening with the traditional Fright Night events and conclude on Sunday, Oct. 30 with the closing of Albion Street from Main Street to...
Primitive social media
Published in the September 29, 2016 edition. By MARK SARDELLA Wakefield is good at hosting really big parties: Festival Italia, the Holiday Stroll and Independence Day are prime examples. Soon to take its place alongside those is the upcoming Halloween spectacular, "Haunted Happenings." But what if you can't make it for some reason? Or what if you were there and just want to relive the experience or share it with your fellow citizens? Well, of course you can always turn to us in the dead tree media for our insightful and incisive coverage. There's no denying, however, that people go to social media knowing that people who did attend the event can't help sharing their thoughts, photos and maybe even a video on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or any of the other platforms that have...


Shhhh, don't tell the kids … The eggplant in this delicious cake adds nutrients and well as moisture … the whipped frosting is easy, light, and fresh.
Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. When it foams add the eggplant and salt, turn the heat to medium-high and cook, stirring, until the eggplant starts to soften, about 3 minutes. Add the honey, water, vanilla extract, and pumpkin spice. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the eggplant is soft and caramelized. Allow to cool for a few minutes, then place in a food processor or blender and blend until completely smooth. Set aside and let cool.
Heat the oven to 350¯F.
Butter and flour a 9-inch cake pan shaking to remove excess flour. Set aside.
In a medium bowl combine the flour, cornmeal, baking powder nand salt. Mix with a whisk.
In a large bowl beat together the butter and sugar, using a hand held or stand-up mixer, until they are light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat until incorporated. Add the vanilla and eggplant mixture, mix well. Add the flour in 2 batches, alternating with the milk, mix until just fully incorporated. Do not over-mix.
Pour the mixture into the prepared pan, using a spatula to make the top even, and place in the middle third of the oven. Bke until the cake starts to pull away from the side and the top is golden brown, about 35-45 minutes. A toothpick when inserted into the center should come out clean.
Set the cake, still in the pan, on a cooling rack and allow to cool for 15 minutes. Invert the cake onto the rack and allow to cool completely.
When the cake has cooled, prepare the frosting. Using an electric mixer, or whisk, beat the cream until it just begins to thicken, add the confectioner's sugar and beat until soft peaks form. Add the orange zest and extract. Mix well. Frost the top and sides of the cake, cut and serve. This cake will hold, covered in the refrigerator, for up to 2 days.
Do you remember the first time you had zucchini bread?
I remember thinking it odd that they didn't taste at all like the vegetable. As a matter of fact, they were moist and tender and sweet. The fruit, or vegetable, only added moisture. But otherwise was not a major flavor factor.
So when I got to the end of my summer garden and had these beautiful eggplants left, I wanted to do something different and sweet with them.
There wasn't a lot online for eggplant cakes. But I had recently purchased a cookbook called The Vegetable Butcher by Cara Mangini, and so I thought let's see what she has in it for eggplant. Could she have a recipe for an eggplant cake?
I made it as she wrote it, then I made it as I wanted it.
This is my version of her Honeyed Eggplant Polenta Cake with Orange Mascarpone Frosting.
Of course, I might be a little prejudiced.
But only a little as I made hers too, and still liked mine better.
So let's start, with the eggplant.
Eggplant, like people, come in many shapes, colors, and sizes. Most common is the Globe, that big round ball of flesh you make Eggplant Parmigiana with. Then there are the Chinese and Japanese varieties, long and slender, great for stir-frys ad perfect for my Quick Spicy Thai Style Eggplant. More difficult to find are those heirloom varieties; Fairy Tale, Snowy White, Rosa Bianca. All beautiful, delicious, and healthy.
The many health benefits of eggplants come from its vitamin, mineral, and nutrient content. Eggplants are a rich source of vitamin C, vitamin K, vitamin B6, thiamin, niacin, magnesium, phosphorous, copper, dietary fiber, folic acid, potassium, and manganese. Good benefits to add to a cake, don't you think?
But eggplant can turn nasty in a pretty quick time, turning bitter, soggy, with hard seeds. Not so yum, So regardless of the variety buy fruit that is shiny and firm. Smaller is generally better (sweeter) than large, but if it's fresh, it's all good. Growing them in the garden is the BEST.
For this recipe, I recommend Japanese eggplant or small globes. I used a combination of the two, but as stated above, I grew them.
We are going to saute the eggplant low and slow over a medium-low flame. You want it to caramelize to add a great depth of flavor. In the original recipe, the author calls for "peeled" eggplant. I find peeling eggplant to be a PITA as well as removing many of the nutrients. So I didn't, in either test, peel the eggplant.
The original recipe also calls for a scant 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg. I found that lacking so instead I used 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin spice. Pumpkin spice includes nutmeg, along with clove and cinnamon, all-spice…well, I just think it's a well-rounded spice for cakes, especially those with a fall "pumpkin season" feel.
It may have looked "prettier". I say it looks like chocolate, and at the end of the day, it didn't matter.
Although many people call coarse cornmeal "polenta" Polenta is a dish. Not an ingredient. The original recipe called for 2/3 cup polenta (coarse cornmeal) which I found made the cake a little too crunchy. While I don't mind a bit of tooth to my cake, I thought it to be overly grainy. So I used 1/3 cup fine cornmeal and 1/3 cup coarse cornmeal in my cake and found that to have the best of both worlds. My taste testers agreed. However, if you prefer more crunch, use more coarse cornmeal. If you like a lighter, more traditional style cake, use all fine cornmeal.
How Big is a Large Egg?
This recipe uses 2 large eggs at room temperature. Since I have chickens, I use my backyard chicken eggs. Of course, my chickens have failed to read the fine print of what the size requirement of a large egg is. I discovered this when I made a couple of baked goods that I had made previously with less than stellar moistness. So into investigation mode I went.
The inside of a standard large egg, with the yolk, is 1.75 ounces – so two large eggs would = 3.5 ounces. My eggs came up short, by about 1/2 of a whole egg. I solved this by adding an additional egg white. Not the yolk, but just the white. The yolk is saved for another day. You can even freeze egg yolks. Or make a really nice hollandaise sauce.
But the bottom line is, if using eggs of varying sizes, go by weight, not number.
I admit I'm a pretty experienced cook. Baking is always a challenge because it's so scientific. But frosting? That should be, pardon my pun, a piece of cake. The original recipe used mascarpone, at room temperature. The instructions then state to beat it with an electric mixer. I did this and got a waxy butter like a curdled mess. I did it again, thinking I did something wrong and got the same result. I was pretty sure it wasn't the mascarpone as I bought it at WholeFoods/Amazon, so it was a fine product and fresh, but it just didn't do what I thought it should.
It looked terrible. And while it tasted ok because she used vanilla extract it lacked any real orange flavor.
So I traded the mascarpone for whipped cream and the vanilla extract for orange extract and got a much better, tastier, and easier result.
The next time you are faced with an overabundance of eggplant, give this Eggplant Cornmeal Cake with Whipped Orange Frosting a chance. Your friends won't believe it is made with eggplant – and you don't have to tell them if you don't want to – especially the kids. What a sneaky way to get them to eat their vegetables.


text:
BlogHome Improvement TipsActress Emily Hampshire was the first to test 4 new faucets. Here's what she wants you to know
Actress Emily Hampshire was the first to test 4 new faucets. Here's what she wants you to know
(BPT) - As a lover of everything at-home, actress Emily Hampshire jumped at the chance to be the first to test four all-new kitchen and bath faucet collections in a real home. Delta Faucet set her loose with never-before-seen kitchen faucets and an all-new bath set to touch, try and test - and then spill the tea. The result? 'This experience left me OBSESSED with all things faucets!' said Hampshire.
From near-boiling water to the ultimate shower (but not at the same time), Hampshire dished on her top faucet picks - then didn't even do the dishes.
Q: We let you explore a house full of exclusive kitchen and bath faucets. What was your favorite item?
A: I absolutely fell in love with the Stryke Kitchen Collection. Jaw-dropping. Functional. Conversation-worthy. And the best part of this striking statement piece: its Lumicoat Finish. With an ultra-sleek surface, it keeps itself cleaner, longer. Which is something we should put on everything.
Q: What did you do in the bathroom?
A: Besides that being none of your business, I spent hours with the Galeon Bath Collection. With a chiseled arc design and knurling on the handle, the Galeon is a modern beauty. Pro tip: They tell me the 'k' in 'knurling' is silent, but I think we should keep it loud. Also, it's a manufacturing technique, in case you didn't know ('k' is silent in this case).
Q: It's already very cold in Canada, where you're from. Anything you'll use to keep you toasty warm this winter?
A: I'll be snuggled up to the Instant Hot Faucet all winter. Real talk, it's kinda sorta pretty amazing. It has beautiful finishes, serious style and it gives you near-boiling water in an instant, which I most definitely put to the test. Noodles, soup, a cup o' tea and warm spoons to scoop lots of ice cream all kept me company during this taste test - I mean faucet test.
Q: All that ice cream must have left you thirsty. Anything you'd recommend for a quick drink of water?
A: After two-and-a-half pints of butter pecan ice cream, I got very familiar with the Beverage Faucet. It's designed to work with any reverse osmosis filter or under-the-counter chiller, giving your drinking water some above-the-counter glam. One look and you might catch feelings - or just a drink of cold, pure water.
Q: Any parting words after this full-on faucet experience?
A: If you thought I didn't want to leave my house before, now I don't even want to leave the ROOMS in my house that have water! If you want to virtually test these faucets along with me, visit DeltaFaucet.com.


Need a Garbage Collection Service in Jakin, GA?
Garbage Collection Service are available* in Jakin.
These are held to the truck using a cable however, if the bed raises up they will sort of move off the pick up truck so that is just how they got their name. Dumpsters generally is a great thing if you are busy rather than want to transport off your individual trash. You can rent the dumpsters and then they will come vacant them whenever they get entire. It sounds pretty good to never need to take your own rubbish away once more doesn't it? Anyone can organize anything else and leave worries of getting rid of that litter box to some organizations offering convenience bin in addition to Garbage Collection Service in Jakin, GA services. All those big loads of trash have become out of your property in a few instances only.
Dumpster generally aims at selling cleanliness throughout it's bordering. Dumpster hire for the waste operations needs may bless you with the clean way of life. Cleanliness will be next to godliness, if you have clean way of life then is clear that you have good health and good health is ideal asset of which anyone want to preserve on their life.
Dumpsters are usually of 2 kinds trash dumpsters in addition to roll off of dumpsters. Trash dumpster cover anything from 2 yard to 8 yard are suitable for small tasks like diner trash convenience and departmental clean ups. Roll off of dumpsters come in large sizes of which range between 10 garden to 50 yard, these kind of roll off of dumpsters are the best matches for enormous projects such as construction, home rehabilitation, yard cleanup and commercial clean ups.
Let's say you have chosen to ultimately clean out the garage, basement, or loft and get eliminate all that stuff you don't need any more. It may seem like a manageable job, but once you get all those containers, papers, and pieces of previous furniture out of their hiding locations, they can definitely pile up. Yet, if you rent the dumpster, you can simply discard everything in one particular central location. You don't have to vacation anywhere as well as load nearly anything into cars and trucks. You just place it in the dumpster in addition to wait for this to get acquired.
These companies supplying Garbage Collection Service in Jakin, GA and rubbish bin rental products and services take the rubbish and sell it. That's why you not only get rid of the rubbish but also take action in an eco-friendly way for which you will be proud of yourself. The bin as well as dumpster that they provide is a large bin. You could have seen such on the development sites. One can choose from different styles and sizes and can hold the rubbish accordingly. You can choose a big one to get more trash along with a smaller one particular for lower garbage. Every single company offers fee in another way. Some cost flat fee for the service among others often offer the bins for the week as well as less can be. Some other organizations may offer more cost-effective rates. Yet there may be several hidden charges like they might charge you in addition for getting rid of the rubbish after collection of the same. In order to avoid any unnecessary surprises, one must read the fine print of the company they are employing for the job.
Arlington, Veterans administration is in the county of Arlington. Arlington District is just south of Washington, DC. The Potomac River will be across coming from Arlington County as well. On Walk 16, 1920, Alexandria County evolved into known as Arlington District. The population will be 210,000 respectively.


Do you live or work in Regentville?
No problems. Geeks2U provides reliable on-premises computer support and network configuration services to homes and businesses in the Regentville and wider Sydney region.
Whether you need help with your computer set-up, fixing computer issues, network configuration or recovery solutions, an extremely knowledgeable and personable Geeks2U computer repair wizard can be there in a flash.
Fast and convenient computer repairs in Regentville – cheers Geeks!


On January 23, 2017, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney signed into law a wage equity ordinance that makes it unlawful for an employer in the city of Philadelphia to ask about the wage history of a prospective employee at any stage of the hiring process. Under the new law, an employer may not condition employment on the job candidate's disclosure of their wage history (which includes fringe benefits) or refuse to hire a candidate because of their refusal to respond to an inquiry about their past wages. The ordinance also prohibits employers from relying on a candidate's wage history in order to determine the amount that it will offer a candidate unless the candidate has "knowingly and willingly" disclosed such information to the employer during the hiring process.
The stated goal of the ordinance is to reduce wage inequality among men, women, and minorities, which, according to the recitals set forth in the ordinance, is perpetuated by the practice of employers of asking their prospective employees about their past earnings. The law will be the first of its kind (Massachusetts passed a similar bill that will take effect in 2018). Not surprisingly, the ordinance has not been without its share of critics from within the business community who question whether the intrusive effect of the law on employers is disproportionate to its intended objective. Comcast has been among the law's most vocal critics and has threatened to sue the City on the purported basis that the law violates employers' free speech rights under the First Amendment.
The ordinance will take effect on May 23, 2017. Employers covered by the new ordinance should prepare themselves by taking measures to ensure compliance by the effective date. This should include, among other things, editing employment applications to remove any questions about a candidate's wage history, making any necessary adjustments to wage inquiries that are made during the employment verification and background check stages of the hiring process, and training employees involved in the hiring process about the new requirements. The law will also require employers to post a notice once it is made available by the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations.
If you have any questions about Philadelphia's new wage equity law and its requirements, please contact the Labor & Employment Group of Cohen Seglias.
Jonathan Landesman is a Partner in the Firm's Labor & Employment Group. He practices in all areas of labor and employment law.
Joshua A. Brand is an Associate in the Firm's Labor & Employment Group. He represents employers in both federal and state courts in a variety of employment-related matters, including discrimination, harassment, and retaliation claims.
Joshua A. Brand is an Associate in the Philadelphia Office of Cohen Seglias and a member of the Firm's Labor & Employment Group. He represents employers in both federal and state courts in a wide variety of employment-related matters, including discrimination, harassment, and retaliation claims. Josh also handles litigation involving restrictive covenants.


David Wood has been part of the company since its inception and has been instrumental in our strategy, development and growth.
An innovator and entrepreneur, he brings diverse skills and leadership abilities to the organization. He plays an integral part in physician aggregation, acquisitions and in shaping our business strategy and culture.
Wood was the previous president of a financial services firm and co-managed a hedge fund. Before that, he served as president and CEO of Woodco Partners, a company he founded that owned and operated manufacturing and construction companies. He was also an Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year finalist.
Wood earned his BBA in Marketing and Finance at the University of Iowa and his MBA in Finance from Wayne State University.
He is an active volunteer in the community, and enjoys an active outdoor lifestyle that includes fishing, diving and climbing one major mountain each year. He most recently climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, Mount Rainier and Mount Everest Base Camp.


Baby you're a source of wonder to me This tinder spark turned into lightning Baby let's make some thunder, it's free We've got the green light with red lighting. Baby I've got a bowl And you've got decisions. So deep your stomach's full 'Cause you know I can hit it with precision. Better drink up … More Isn't It Really Wonderful?
Leave a comment Isn't It Really Wonderful?
I know I have reached self-love Because of how happy I am for you.


text:
About Alan®
About Alan®EducationTechVoice AI
Frustrated Users & Poor Conversions: How Voice Assistants are Solving Classic UX Problems
By Alan TeamNovember 12, 2020No Comments
When it comes to customer acquisition, it's essential to make a good impression. There are many facets to creating a lasting impact, and there isn't a direct formula for each and every case. There are enough opportunities to lose customers between lousy website design and awful customer support, but if there's one thing that really annoys people, it's terrible user experiences.
From incredibly long drop-down menus to inconsistent chat systems, there's a lot that can go wrong. Sometimes it isn't feasible to create a robust UX – from development time to user testing, a lot of work goes into pleasing the end-user.
Despite the apparent benefits, some businesses don't allocate resources to good UX simply because it's hard to implement. A study from Forrester Research shows that well-designed UX could improve conversion rates by up to 400%. In fact, according to data collected by Skyhook, only around 55% of companies currently conduct any UX testing at all.
A report from Amazon Web Services shows that nearly 88% of online consumers claim they wouldn't return to a site after a bad user experience. As people have started to spend more time online, now more than ever, it's crucial to create that good impression.
Customer frustration can be the bane of your business model, and there are a plethora of simple methods to improve site UX, such as the better use of white space and catching 404s before your customers. However, many businesses have started to implement an up and coming method to separate the customer experience from a website altogether.
Just Say the Word
The jump from physical stores to online stores was quite the revolution, but as convenience continues to trump practicality in the minds of consumers, AI-powered shopping assistants were an inevitable byproduct.
Be it cat food or home decor; there's nothing you can't find on the Internet. The problem arises when FOMO and buyer's remorse precede and follow hours of scrolling through listing on a web browser. Online payments are tedious and can quickly lead to customer dissatisfaction for various reasons.
Modern e-commerce has certainly made products and services more accessible than ever before, but that doesn't mean it can't be better. A study conducted at the University of Surrey shows that people form 75% of their judgment of a website's credibility from aesthetics alone. That might seem overly superficial, but numbers don't lie.
By handing control over to a voice assistant, e-commerce websites let their products take the center-stage. With no unnecessary navigational UI taking space, websites can tailor the experience entirely to the user's needs — like how stores showcase products on shelves.
With IBM engineer William Dersch having developed the first speech recognition technology back in the mid-20th century, this is not a new concept. Through simple voice commands, users can now sit back and ask computers to perform tasks and answer questions like a real assistant.
Voice commerce brings this technology to shopping, allowing the AI to do all the hard work while the user signs-off on the final decision. Further, customers can set budgets, filter through search results, ask for recommendations based on user reviews, and postpone delivery timings — all without lifting a finger.
A Vocal Future
Voice commerce is projected to grow into a $40 billion industry within the next two years. In 2019, Statistica predicted that over 100 million households worldwide would own a smart display by 2023. As smart speakers and smartphones begin to dominate the average consumer's life, voice-enabled shopping could bring any product to your doorstep with a flick of a tongue.
As artificial intelligence continues to become more and more advanced, people have started relying on them for increasingly important things. Modern AI companions like Google Assistant can even dial 911 on command.
With Alan AI, integrating a voice assistant is a seamless and straightforward way to improve user experience without much overhead. Research from Adobe shows global consumers, on average, use 2.23 devices simultaneously, and that 9 out of 10 users will abandon a bad content experience. Optimizing for multiple platforms can be time-consuming, and a drain on development resources. Get in touch with us to see how Alan brings great UX to all platforms.
Voice commerce is a culmination of the seemingly infinite options that stem from online businesses combined with an in-store shopping assistant's personal touch. This industry may be a minor one now, but as consumers continue to demand greater convenience and better products and services, this minority could become incredibly vocal in the years to come.
Alan Platform Overview
https://youtu.be/QFSfQi1dDjI
Restaurant Technology
MROUncategorizedVoice AI
Ramco Systems and Alan AI bringing Voice AI Capabilities to the Aviation Industry
Alan Team 0
About Alan®EducationEnterpriseFinanceHealthcareMRORestaurant TechnologyVoice AI
Voice AI: 100 Use Cases of Alan's Deployment Into Business Apps Today
Revolutionize Your App With a Single Voice Assistant Button
© 2022 Alan Blog.