ah, ok. confused ;-) 
 
I should be more careful when I use other people's computers. ;-)

Theresa on cousin marriage & corruption. 
 
That's not me but, amusingly given the topic of this post, it is a family member -- one that I can usually talk to. ;-)

Thanks, David! I actually have been waiting for part 3! :-)

Fromf the original interview/article in The Sunday Times: 
 
He says that he is ?inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa? because ?all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours ? whereas all the testing says not really?, and I know that this ?hot potato? is going to be difficult to address. His hope is that everyone is equal, but he counters that ?people who have to deal with black employees find this not true?. He says that you should not discriminate on the basis of colour, because ?there are many people of colour who are very talented, but don?t promote them when they haven?t succeeded at the lower level?. He writes that ?there is no firm reason to anticipate that the intellectual capacities of peoples geographically separated in their evolution should prove to have evolved identically. Our wanting to reserve equal powers of reason as some universal heritage of humanity will not be enough to make it so?. 
 
link

"> 40% of the variation in subjects' rejection behavior is explained by additive genetic effects" in this particular (Swedish) population, no?

The point is that frontal-lobe-specific damage often doesn't impact IQ test scores at all, so IQ measurements don't necessarily show us how skilled a person is at thinking. 
 
Ah ha! Thanks, Caledonian. I had no idea. 
 
Well, at least Alex's point still holds -- i.e. that it's pretty silly to infer from one brain-damaged person to a whole population.

Brilliant response! Thank you. 
 
"Antonio Damasio of the University of Southern California had a patient rendered emotionless by damage to his frontal lobes. When asked what day he could come back for an appointment, he stood there for nearly half an hour describing the pros and cons of different dates, but was incapable of making a decision. This is not the Spock-like brain engine suggested by the I.Q." 
 
By all means, lets infer from one person with severe brain damage to the entire population. 
 
Yeah -- this certainly didn't make ANY sense at all. What on EARTH does an example of someone with damaged frontal lobes have to do with IQ or general intelligence? Just seemed like some sort of random example thrown in for who knows what reason. 'Cause it had something to do with brains? I dunno. ??

Looc: When someone is exclusively attracted to sex partners that can never produce offspring.... 
 
How do you -- or the researchers -- define pedophilia? If you're talking about men who are attracted to boys/young men or pre-pubescent children, then you're right -- those sex partners are obviously not going to produce offspring. But, some pedophiles are interested in girls aged 9, 10, 11, 12 ... many of them are able to conceive or are on the verge of being able to do so. (Also, some societies consider men who are interested in 15 or 16 year-old girls to be pedophiles -- obviously that is far out.)

I'm glad I bothered to follow the link and read the article 'cause (I guess for all the nerds reading it) the author actually spelled out what the slang use of the word 'blood' means (i.e. friend). Huh -- never knew that. :-P 
 
jaakkeli: Yes, you do have to talk about that stuff to be considered social... one of the most essential social skills (which I've been very badly lacking in, personally) is finding the lowest common denominator stuff to talk about with a new person. 
 
Talk to a new person?! My impression is that Finnish people barely speak to the folks that they know, let alone to the ones that they don't. You guys are prolly the least talkative of all the Nordic peoples! Not that there's anything wrong with that.... ;-)

Hey! You labelled your post 'babes and hunks', but you didn't include any male belly dancers... 
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6autbeh_tUk 
 
(Prolly NSF anybody to watch -- anywhere -- anytime!) :-P

...she's very proud of her "Brazilian butt"... 
 
You sure it's real? ;-) 
 
[In Brazil] plastic surgery is common. Over 600,000 operations were performed in 2004, including over 365,000, almost 60%, for purely aesthetic reasons, according to a Gallup poll conducted in conjunction with the SBCP. Brazil has been a recognized international leader in the area for decades. Indeed it might be the only country with a procedure named after it: the Brazilian butt lift. 
 
http://www.brazilmax.com/news.cfm/tborigem/tt_prstuff/id/4

I wouldn't think they're preying on leopards regularly, either. Could've been carrion -- or the chimps could've actually killed the leopard during some sort of altercation. Baboons (usually the large males), for instance, will regularly stand up to/chase away cheetahs [cheetah/baboon story 2/3s down): 
 
http://www.hoothollow.com/Tanzania%20Gnu%20Migration%202005%20Scouting%20Report%20.html 
 
I could imagine a gang of 'brute chimps' managing to kill a leopard if it got in their way for some reason.

A lot of autists/parents of autistic children claim that they/their kids suffer from gluten intolerance and that a lot of their symptoms are relieved (at least partially) if they cut gluten out of their diet. No idea what sort of numbers, though -- or how much this has been properly researched: 
 
http://www.autismweb.com/diet.htm 
 
http://scholar.google.com/scholar?um=1&tab=ws&hl=en&q=autism%20gluten%20intolerance

From Wikipedia: Some Indo-European languages are usually characterised as tonal, such as Lithuanian, Slovenian, Serbo-Croatian, Limburgish, Swedish and Norwegian; more correctly, however, they are pitch accent languages, as only the tone on the stressed syllable can have any effect on the meaning. 
 
Pitch accent.

omar.k -- Miss Argentina's scary 
 
THANK you! I was gonna say that, but I thought it would be too catty coming from a girl. ;-)

Kirby Ann Baken -- Norwegian father and Filipino mother: 
 
http://www.dfa.gov.ph/news/pr/pr2007/apr/pr230.htm

Well, Miss Norway, Kirby Ann Basken certainly looks Scandina... uh, I mean, Filipina! 
 
http://www.missuniverse.com/delegates/2007/files/NO-photo-swim.html 
 
;-) 
 
Her full name is Kirby Ann Tan Baken, apparently. Last year she competed in the Miss Intercontinental (huh?) representing the Philippines: 
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_Universe_2007#Contestant_notes 
 
Is that really kosher?

22. 
 
Pretty much all of the sensory things apply to me -- and always have since I was a kid. I'm a very sound sleeper, too, though! -- it's all the input during waking hours that are a problem. ;-) 
 
Don't mind violent movies -- enjoyed Reservoir Dogs, for instance. Can tolerate strong pain pretty well -- but am really irritated by light touches (a gentle tap on the shoulder, for instance) -- commonly reported by people w/Asperger's & autism. Something's definitely faulty with my wiring! :-p

In plain language that anyone can understand, she explains that the trait is normal, is present in about 15 to 20 percent of the population, and exists in about the same proportion in other species. 
 
I'm guessing the "she" referred to here is Elaine Aron: 
http://www.hsperson.com/ 
 
Hadn't heard of her until just the other day when someone posted about HSPs on MeFi: 
http://tinyurl.com/2sx3ns 
 
There's gotta be some overlap here with Asperger's, etc. 
 
I'm definitely one of those 15-20% (she says as she cowers in the corner...)! ;-)

Thanks, Matt!