I agree that noise is not "environment" in the social science sense. The noise effect would actually increase biological determinism even as it limits genetic determinism.

I lot of those older paleo gurus have always been in great shape. Arthur de Vany was a minor league baseball player who lifted weights in the 1950s. He is doing great now, but he would probably do pretty good on some other type of diet and/or exercise regime.

I have been eating paleo for a while now. You definitely lose weight without too much pain. It kind of cuts down on your endurance though.  
 
I read Taubes book; it seemed reasonable to me at the time but who knows. 
 
I liked this Taubes article: 
 
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/16/magazine/16epidemiology-t.html?ref=magazine

The hype is stupid, but on the whole it is a good idea to get some use out of libraries as public spaces.  
 
I have gotten in the habit of reserving books from the library online. Based on the size of the reserve shelf, this seems to be very popular now.

It does seem odd that the "world's fastest typist" used Dvorak when hardly anyone else does: 
 
http://thebrainiac.wordpress.com/2009/01/09/the-worlds-fastest-typist/ 
 
That is just anecdotal, but there could be advantages at high typing speeds or something.

This could be. On the other hand, certain cities may just attract the college educated who marry later and are more likely to be women.

This is surely due to improvements in automotive design and stricter transportation laws. Since the 1960s we have seen crumple zones, airbags, 3 point harness seatbelts, mandatory seatbelt and motorcycle helmet laws, stricter policing of drunk driving laws, and requirements for babyseats. Apparently, even the use of an additional braking light up by the rear window reduces accidents.

That is a silly article. They really seem to be stretching things.

The first shows the distribution of AP scores, where 5 is greatest. You can check the numbers for yourself in the previous link to the AP data, but there has been no change in the percent of all tests that received a score of 4 or 5 -- there have not been more and more smarties piling into AP classrooms, at least not since 1988. Therefore, everyone who deserved to be there was already there. 
 
To reemphasize what Mike McK said, this is wrong. Since the percentage of 4s and 5s has stayed the same, the number of 4s and 5s has gone up in proportion with increased number of people taking the test. If the test scores can be trusted, there really has been more and more smarties piling into AP class rooms. It isn't hard to believe that smart kids were underserviced with AP classes in 1988.

The regrets of college students and the regrets of average americans are a lot different as shown in Table 3 of the meta-analysis that Jason Malloy cites. This really weakens the argument that Tierney is making.  
 
I don't think asking people at their 40th reunion about their regrets is going to change things very much either. Looking back over 40 years, the risks of not studying over spring break or thanksgiving seem minimal, and the salience of good times with old friends is high. 
 
Sometimes it is better not to party: 
 
On the bus ride down to St. Paul to take the test that will help determine who will get ahead in life, who will stay put, and who will fall behind, two of my closest buddies seal their fates by opening pint bottles of cherry schnapps the moment we leave the high school parking lot. They hide the liquor under their varsity jackets and monitor the driver's rearview mirror for opportune moments to duck their heads and swig. A girl sees what they're up to, mutters, "Morons," and goes back to shading in the tiny ovals in her Scholastic Aptitude Test review book. She dated one of the guys a few months back, but lately she's grown serious, ambitious; I've heard that she hopes to practice law someday and prosecute companies that pollute the air. When she notices one of the bottles coming my way, she shoots me a look of horror.  
 
That said, if at all possible, it is better to go to a high status college that de-emphasizes hard work in favor of good times and networking.

This is also a reason not to get pissed-off at teacher unions. The schools are not that bad. 
 
Although, this seems to show that the washington dc schools, as opposed to new york and boston, actually are that bad when you break it down based on school lunch eligibility: 
 
http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/06/the_truth_about_urban_schools.php

He's interested in pushing a very particular policy agenda, specifically, the elimination of affirmative action and welfare programs aimed at the poor.  
 
Charles Murray is interested in pushing for elimination of affirmative action and welfare programs aimed at the poor. He talks about this in the Bell Curve as well as in 1984's Losing Ground: American Social Policy, 1950-1980.

It could have other commercial benefits. For instance, it could be sprayed in restaurants to put diners at ease, or be used as an alternative to tear gas to calm rioters. 
 
good grief