Thursday, October 15, 2009
Bring the troops home
Lou Dobbs has an online petition relating to U.S. troops. Reader Brian Pace brought it to my attention. Thanks Brian!
Nation of Cowards - 10/15/09
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Celts and their animals in Britain
DNA tests on British populations of small mammals show a genetically distinct Celtic Fringe, say scientists at The University of York. Voles, shrews, mice and stoats in northern and western areas have different DNA from their counterparts in other parts of the British Isles. The paper says the different populations arrived at the end of the last ice age. The authors say the work sheds light on the origins of the Celtic people. The traditional view is that the ancestors of British Celts spread from central Europe during the Iron Age and were later displaced by the arrival of the Anglo Saxons. However, recent genetic studies have challenged this theory, suggesting a much earlier origin, dating back to the end of the last ice age, 19,000 years ago.
Related:
Small Mammals Have A 'Celtic Fringe' Too
Related:
Small Mammals Have A 'Celtic Fringe' Too
Estrogen and the male brain
It is said that overly macho males suffer from too much testosterone, but a new study in mice reveals how estrogen might share in that blame. The report reveals how early estrogen exposure masculinizes the brain circuitry, predisposing boys to be boys as it were. That early event is specifically critical in producing male mice that will pick fights with other males and that dutifully mark their territories with urine. "It's been known for decades that estrogen may play a role in making males behave like males," said Nirao Shah of the University of California, San Francisco. "What we do here is to provide insight into the logic of how estrogen regulates that behavior." The basis for differences between the sexes in such behaviors, they show, may reside in the neurons that are equipped with an enzyme, called aromatase, that converts testosterone into estrogen. The masculine brain has more of those testosterone-converting neurons in certain regions. The researchers now show that these neurons establish a unique neural circuitry in males, and that this difference in wiring depends on estrogen. The researchers found that female mice exposed to estrogen as pups get wired to behave as tomboys of a sort. Their aromatase neurons now look like what is seen in the male brain, and the female mice take on aggressive and territorial behaviors typically reserved for males. But if estrogen, the female hormone, establishes male behavior patterns, why don't girls act like boys? Shah explains that the ovaries normally don't pump out any hormone that early in life, but males do see a surge in testosterone at a young age, at least some of which gets converted by aromatase to estrogen. The findings indicate that adult gonadal hormones are not the entire story when it comes to determining masculine versus feminine behavior, Shah said. "Rather than the gonadal hormones telling the adult brain what do to, the brain interprets signals based on its prior history," he said. Thus, female mice exposed to estrogen as pups respond to estrogen as adults by switching on the aggressive and territorial behaviors typically observed in males. Testosterone itself isn't off the hook yet, however. Shah's team suspects it is also likely to have direct effects. As evidence of that, Shah notes that female mice whose brains are masculinized by exposure to estrogen in early development do fight, but they tend to fight with less intensity than males. But when these females have their ovaries - their adulthood source of estrogen - removed and are treated with male levels of testosterone, their will to fight goes up. "It suggests testosterone acts on its own receptor to increase the intensity of male-like fighting," Shah said.
Related:
Serum Estrogen, But Not Testosterone, Levels Differ between Black and White Men in a Nationally Representative Sample of Americans
Related:
Serum Estrogen, But Not Testosterone, Levels Differ between Black and White Men in a Nationally Representative Sample of Americans
Monday, October 5, 2009
Norway is the best place in the world to live
Britain has been ranked the 21st best place in the world to live – flagging behind Ireland and Iceland. The UN list, which saw Norway retain its status as the world’s most desirable place to live, ranks sub-Saharan African states afflicted by war and HIV/AIDS as the worst. Data collected prior to the global economic crisis showed people in Norway, Australia and Iceland had the best living standards, while Niger, Afghanistan and Sierra Leone scored worst in terms of human development. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) index was compiled using 2007 data on GDP per capita, education, and life expectancy, and showed marked differences between the developed and developing world. Life expectancy in Niger was 50, about 30 years shorter than Norway, according to the index. For every dollar earned per person in Niger, $85 was earned in Norway. People were poorest in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where average income per person was $298 per year.
Searching for Whitopia
Is it racist for white people to want to live amongst their own kind?
Related:
The New White Nationalism in America - a critique
Related:
The New White Nationalism in America - a critique
Rabbi pretends to be fireman
The NYC Correction Department rabbi who resigned after it was revealed he organized a bar-mitzvah bash for an inmate's son behind bars recently has been parking illegally while displaying a placard that falsely claims he is a firefighter. Rabbi Leib Glanz was spotted using an official Uniformed Firefighters Association placard Friday while praying in a Williamsburg synagogue. The politically connected rabbi had organized a bar mitzvah for the son of notorious fraudster and longtime fugitive Tuvia Stern in the downtown Manhattan jail known as The Tombs. The soiree had dozens of non-inmates as guests, featured catered kosher food and a live performance by popular Orthodox Jewish singer Yaakov Shwekey. Several former inmates soon afterward said Glanz for years had arranged for Jewish inmates to be housed at The Tombs, where he let them use his office to watch movies, make phone calls and nosh on kosher delicacies. The exposé sparked a still-pending Department of Investigation probe into Correction's coddling of Jewish inmates, as well as the resignations of Glanz and Correction chief Peter Curcio, who didn't stop the rabbi's flouting of jailhouse policy.
Related:
More Women Allege Inappropriate Behavior By Rabbi
Related:
More Women Allege Inappropriate Behavior By Rabbi
White party GOP and Black party Democrats
Steve Sailer offers the Republicans an interesting political strategy.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Homelessness and policing in Los Angeles
Heather Mac Donald explains why the LAPD is the best friend of the poor in Los Angeles.
Brain size and cancer
The larger brains of humans, compared to chimpanzees, may make us more vulnerable to diseases such as cancer and mental illness.
Vacant properties are concentrated in black areas of Chicago
Vacant, lender-owned foreclosed properties in Chicago are concentrated in African-American communities, where they go unsold longer and incur greater losses to the lender than such properties in white communities, according to a report by the Woodstock Institute. Sixty percent of such properties from 2007 and the first half of 2008 were in black communities, and the properties took 25% longer to be absorbed into the market than such properties in predominantly white areas, the report found. When the properties were sold, the average loss per property to the lender was 35% in black communities. That compared with an average loss of 17% in white communities. The longer a property remains vacant, the longer the community is exposed to the negative effects of vacant properties, including declining property values of surrounding homes and increases in crime, according to the institute.
Lung cancer risk and African-Americans
A recent study published in the October 2009 issue of the Journal of Thoracic Oncology determined that variations of specific genetic markers identified in previous research, or SNPs, may indicate a greater lung cancer risk in African Americans than in whites. The genes CHRNA3 and CHRNA5 may contribute to lung cancer risk due directly or through their association with nicotine dependence. Although their presence is less frequent in African Americans, the risk for lung cancer may be greater when present. Despite reporting lower levels of smoking, lung cancer incidence remains higher for African Americans, than for whites, so this is an important population in which to study the role of CHRNA3 and CHRNA5 genes and risk of lung cancer. The present study concentrated on the genes CHRNA3 and CHRNA5, confirming a stronger association with the risk of lung cancer than with nicotine dependence in African Americans.
The Tanzania Albino Society (TAS) has called for the men found guilty of killing an albino boy to be hanged publicly as a warning to others
A court sentenced them to death for attacking the boy and severing his legs for use in witchdoctors' potions. There are more than 100 people on death row, but no-one has been executed in more than 15 years. But TAS chairman Ernest Kimaya urged the president to endorse the sentence. Kimaya told Tanzania's Citizen newspaper that a public execution would also "show that the government is serious in its war on albino killers". In the past two years, 53 albino people have been murdered in Tanzania. Albino people, who lack pigment in their skin and appear pale, are killed because potions made from their body parts are believed to bring good luck and wealth. The Tanzanian government has publicly stated its desire to end the killings. Officials banned witchdoctors from practising, however many have continued to work. Many of Tanzania's estimated 17,000 albino people are now living in fear, especially in villages in the north-west where the majority of the murders have occurred. The case in Kahama was the first conviction in Tanzania for an albino killing. There is also a fear of reprisal killings as witchdoctors and their clients wield a lot of power in their communities. Witchdoctors in Tanzania and other parts of East Africa have made tens of thousands of dollars from selling potions and other items made from the bones, hair, skin and genitals of dead albino people. They pay a lot of money for body parts. In July 2009 a court in neighbouring Burundi sentenced one person to life in prison and eight others to jail for the murder of albino people whose remains were sold in Tanzania.
Related:
Journey to Tanzania: Reporter Exposes Epidemic of Albino Killings
Related:
Journey to Tanzania: Reporter Exposes Epidemic of Albino Killings
Thursday, October 1, 2009
The latest crime statistics in South Africa show a slight decrease in the murder rate but a sharp rise in burglaries and sexual offenses
While the murder rate has fallen by 3%, this still represent more than 18,000 killings per year and is one of the highest rates in the world. Sexual offenses have risen by 10%, which the government partly attributes to the inclusion of attacks on men. Opposition parties have criticized the government's record on crime. Nationwide, some 2.1m serious crimes were recorded in the past year.
Related:
Crime in South Africa: It won't go away
Related:
Crime in South Africa: It won't go away
Sugar and violence
Children who eat sweets and chocolate every day are more likely to be violent as adults, according to British researchers. The Cardiff University study involving 17,500 people is the first into effects of childhood diet on adult violence. It found 10-year-olds who ate sweets daily were significantly more likely to have a violence conviction by age 34. The researchers looked at data on around 17,500 people and found that 69% of the participants who were violent at the age of 34 had eaten sweets and chocolate nearly every day during childhood, compared to 42% who were non-violent.
Related:
Working mothers' children unfit
Pregnant smoking 'psychosis link'
Related:
Working mothers' children unfit
Pregnant smoking 'psychosis link'
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