They say that everyone in Los Angeles drives everywhere, well, not everyone…. Posted by razib at 03:22 PM

All entries over 14 days old will automatically disable comments now. Posted by razib at 03:17 PM

Cholesterol gene linked to longevity, well, at least in Ashkenazi Jews….

Hugo Chavez has been standing up for the indigenous peoples of the Americas and denouncing ‘Columbus Day’. Aside from the political issues, I found there were some ironies in this. According to the State Department the racial breakdown of Venezuelans is as follows: 68 percent mestizo, 21 percent unmixed Caucasian, 10 percent black, and 1 […]

Here is a long article on the decline of religion in Europe. A few points…. They emphasize the greater decline of Protestantism without being explicit (note the excess of Catholic statistics, I suspect the Protestant ones would be very low)They note the prevalence of non-whites in many of the more dynamic churchesEuropeans have not turned […]

A type of horoscope that I won’t laugh at-basically about people in India getting genetic testing before marriage to rule out high risk combinations.

China Has Tightened Genetics Regulation. I’ll believe it when I don’t see the Han clone army….

Johannes Kepler has a good a claim as anyone to be the father of empiricism. He was the first to formulate scientific “laws” based on rigorous observation (e.g. Planets travel in ellipses- based on Brahe’s meticulous observations of Mars’ orbit). His first book, the Mysterium Cosmographicum, published at age 25 in 1596, singehandedly makes the […]

Genetics make Welsh distinct says a story in on a Welsh website[1]. Oh really??? Here are some quotes from the article: The results show that the Welsh are related to the Basques of northern Spain and southern France and to native Americans. All are descended from the Kets people of western Siberia.This shows that in […]

This article from US NEWS & World Report discusses an art show displaying the rock paintings of ancient people from the Tassili N’Ajjer of Algeria deep in the Sahara. It depicts a time when the region was more savanna than desert. There are still echoes of this time that have remained to haunt us, I […]

Suman Palit echoes me when it comes to Bobby Jindal. The interesting point is that it is clear Suman had not read my post prior to writing his own thoughts, but they are very congruent, but then again, Suman is an American/Secular/Right-leaning/Techie/of Bengali origin, so we have enough commonalities that it isn’t that surprising…. Posted […]

Murdoch Junior to undergo psychometric testing for BSkyB job.

This press release from the University of California at San Diego summarizes some major change in the conception of genetic rearrangement, no longer does “random breakage theory” hold, rather, there are “fragile regions” that are likened to “genetic earthquakes” (am the only one that feels the rhetoric reminds of some sort of molecular saltationism???). It […]

One month ago I wrote a piece titled The Typological Temptation that focused on the human tendency to classify in a sloppy fashion to throw a negative light on those who you perceive as your ideological enemies. To see the nuance in those you disagree with on point x can be difficult sometimes, and it […]

Well, sort of… Some research with bees showing their “occupation” is largely determined by their genetic make-up. Although the article’s writier does not seem to have too large a grasp on his content matter, it is rather interesting nonetheless.

Two links of note I’d like to point you too. Eric Lien posts about Asian American Christianity. I was a member of "The Korean American Christian Federation" in college (purpose: meet Japanese chicks, result: failure) and can attest that I feel there is some truth to what he says. Second, Randall Parker has blogged his […]

California governor-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger has come out in favor of amnesty for illegal aliens. Here is the quote, from the Washington Times: The governor-elect said he supported a bill sponsored by Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican, that would grant temporary working permits to allow illegal immigrants to travel to and from the United States and […]

Rush Limbaugh is a junky and has checked into drug rehab. No link necessary-that’s the declarative fact. That’s the most valuable public service he has ever performed. Mark this date as commencing the United States’ treatment of drug addiction as a genetic/medical issue rather than a matter for the criminal justice system.

This stupid article from The New York Times is about high achievers who do not have college degrees. I’ll let readers pile on-but one thought, I think at many companies it is harder for managers to justify the firing of incompetent employees who have college degrees than those who don’t. Ergo, those workers without degrees […]

Mark Krikorian talks about the role immigration played in California’s recent election. It being National Review, he asserts that the fact that Dan Lungren & Bill Simon ran away from this issue is why they lost to Gray Davis, rather than the fact that they were social conservatives in a state that is socially liberal. […]