Sex, drugs, rock n roll and late nights

Guess which one is not on a list of things that will make you more intelligent.

Sorry, Rolling Stones, it is rock 'n' roll. Hey, Mozart wrote "The Magic Flute," and all he had going for him was sex, late nights and some brandy.

There have been hints in recent years that this is true, but new research in England is the most convincing yet.

Esquire magazine reports that Oxford and Cambridge universities spend more on sex toys than their compatriots at lesser universities.

A 2010 study in Psychology Today found that people with higher IQs are more likely to use drugs than those with less intelligence.

The journal Psychology and Individual Differences found last year that those who go against conventional wisdom and stay up late are “more likely to acquire and espouse evolutionary novel values and preferences than less intelligent individuals." That often includes atheism.

"The correlation probably has something to do with the open-mindedness that comes with intelligence," says Annalisa Rose, 23, who works at Honey, a high-end sex shop in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. "I think that the ability to engage in an open sex life comes with the abilities of introspection and logical thought, and those require some level of intelligence … sexual mores are mostly made up anyway and intelligent people can rationalize past them," she told Esquire.

Psychology Today found that drugs, which have been around since antiquity, have always had negative effects smart people are prone to novel behavior. A study in the United Kingdom found that British children who were above average intelligence at the age of 16 are likely to use drugs than less intelligent people at the age of 42.

Night owls buck the trend, an indication that they are more likely to “espouse evolutional novel values and preferences than less intelligent individuals.”

This does not mean that Toronto Mayor Rob Ford should be re-elected. As far as is known he is too stoned to have sex.

Sources:

Esquire

Psychology Today

Journal of Personality and Individual Differences

Bones of real Godzilla found in Patagonia

Pay attention Steven Spielberg, this one may need an entire continent. A Godzilla-sized fossil found in Argentina is from a dinosaur that stood more than 60-feet high, towering over T Rex, and at least 14,000 pounds heavier than the largest specimen ever found, Argentinosaurus.
The BBC and Guardian report the dinosaur is a titanosaur, an animal that lived during the last days of dinosaurs.
The animal’s bones were found in Patagonia, at the literal end of the earth.
Seven specimens were found, the largest weighing more than 154,000 pounds, 150 miles west of the city of Trelew.
"Given the size of these bones, which surpass any of the previously known giant animals, the new dinosaur is the largest animal known that walked on Earth," researchers from Museum of Palaeontology Egidio Feruglio, told BBC News.
"Its length, from its head to the tip of its tail, was 120 feet. Standing with its neck up, it was about 20m high. Fortunately for its neighbors the animal ate plants. Godzilla, the screen character, feasted on radiation but would also eat humans.
Seven specimens were found, the largest weighing more than 154,000 pounds, 150 miles west of the city of Trelew.

"Given the size of these bones, which surpass any of the previously known giant animals, the new dinosaur is the largest animal known that walked on Earth," researchers from Museum of Palaeontology Egidio Feruglio, told BBC News.
"Its length, from its head to the tip of its tail, was 120 feet. Standing with its neck up, it was about 20m high - equal to a seven-story building."
The herbivore doesn’t have a name yet, though previously such animals have been known as sauropods.
“It will be named describing its magnificence and in honor to both the region and the farm owners who alerted us about the discovery," the researchers said.
“It's the largest example ever found," said Ruben Cuneo, director of the Feruglio Museum.
Other scientists also will have to verify its size.
Dr Paul Barrett, a London's Natural History Museum dinosaur expert, said the new species is "a genuinely big critter. But there are a number of similarly sized big sauropod thigh bones out there… ideally we'd need much more material of these supersized animals to determine just how big they really got."
The fossil remains are believed to be 90-million years old, and the creatures lived in forests in the area.

Workers in Ukraine unite with oligarchs to battle Russia

In an unlikely alliance of workers and capitalist billionaires, Russian separatists have been driven from the eastern Ukraine city of Mariupol.


Other oligarchs, including the nation’s leading agriculturist and the top banker, also are supporting the new government.

 If history repeats itself, just as the downfall of the Soviet regime began in neighboring Poland’s Lenin shipyards in 1980, the Russian effort to seize or subjugate Ukraine will be stopped by the very workers communism is supposed to represent.

Ukrainian steelworkers who work for Rinat Akhmetov, a billionaire and the country’s wealthiest man, joined the fight first. Akhmetov had held back from getting involved in the fighting until this week, when he sent his men out into the streets in hard-hat patrols. There wore no camouflage or ski masks.

 On Thursday, in a televised address, Akhmetov said, “I strongly believe that Donbass (eastern Ukraine) can be happy only in [a] united Ukraine.”

 Akhmetov is believed to employ 280,000 in the eastern Ukraine metal industry.

 The Toronto Globe and Mail said the workers also fanned out in Donetsk, capital of the new so-called people’s republic, and three other cities. Some miners joined the patrols.

 Barricades and tires have been removed from many areas.

 Numerous polls have shown the steelworkers will have the support of the majority of the population, who wish for Ukraine to remain an independent country and not a vassel of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

 At the same time, in another sign that Putin may have opened Pandora’s box, the Russian economy was staggering.

 The stock market is down and the ruble has tanked.

 European Central Bank President Mario Draghi has said that estimates of $63 billion in foreign money leaving Russia are vastly understated, and could be as high as $220 billion. In all of 2013, only $63 million was withdrawn. Even domestic investment has fallen.

 Some leading investors, under pressure from Washington and Europe, have pulled out of economic forum in Russia.

 The New York Times spoke with the workers. Aleksei Gorlov, a steelworker, told the Times: “We have to bring order to the city. “People organize themselves,” he said. “In times of troubles, that is how it works.”

 Steel executive Yuri Ryzhenkov, CEO of Akhmetov’s Metinvest, said Russian separatists initially balked at the patrols but then pulled back.

 The Donetsk People’s Republic understands if they attack unarmed local people, they will lose all support here,” he said.

 Sources:

New York Times

Toronto Globe and Mail

AP

Financial Times

Nigerian village vigilantes kill 200 Boko Haram and drive them off

With the government unable or unable to defend them, three villages in Nigeria set up their own defense force and drove off attackers from Boko Haram.

The BBC, Al Jazeera and Turkish Press said up to 200 members of the gang of Islamic fanatics were killed near Kala-Balge district of Borno state on the Cameroon border.

The Osundefender website in Nigeria published a picture of what it said were dead Boko Haram fighters.

The Daily Beast said Nigeria’s security forces have developed a reputation for being even worse than Boko Haram, indiscriminately arresting alleged rebels, their families, and executing some. That makes the population unwilling to cooperate with them. The Daily Beast quoted human rights lawyer Justine LLjeomah, himself a victim of police brutality.


BBC said an eyewitness, whose name was withheld for his safety, said he had seen 150 bodies of the terrorists in one village and 50 in a second. Al Jazeera said some of the Boko Haram fighters were captured.

Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for bomb attacks that have left up to 4,000 dead, as well as the kidnapping of several hundred schoolgirls.

The kidnappings attracted world attention and the Nigerian government belatedly accepted offers of help from the US, France, United Kingdom, Israel and others.

US aircraft, including drones, have begun flying over the area where the girls were believed to be held. It wasn’t clear whether they would cross the nearby borders of Cameroon and Chad, though both former French colonies were unlikely to object.

The villages that fought off Boho Haram on Tuesday are near where the group’s gunmen had killed 300 people last week.

Villagers reportedly had received warnings the attack was coming and were prepared. Amnesty International says the Nigerian army was warned at least four hours ahead of time before the girls were kidnapped April 14 but did nothing.

The girls’ plight has been adopted by the world, and led to the creation of the #bringourgirlsback Twitter hashtag.

Nigeria has said it will talk with Boko Haram, which first publicly appeared in 2009, about a possible prisoner exchange for the girls. That would be much more likely to bring them home safely than a raid by commandos. Such rescues usually end in some deaths.

The government also has offered a $300,000 reward for information leading to the rescue of the girls.

Sources:

BBC

Turkish Press

Rescue of Nigerian schoolgirls likely to be a bloody affair

Nigeria is reportedly prepared to negotiate with Boko Haram for the release of more than 100 girls, undoubtedly the safest way to bring them home.

 The BBC said Nigeria reversed its refusal to even talk with the terrorist group and asked it to send representatives with power to negotiate an exchange.

 Any attempt to seize the kidnapped schoolgirls will likely be the bloody affair. French and US special forces have considerable experience in trying to rescue hostages, and in killing terrorists. Few such affairs have ended without the deaths of hostages and soldiers.

 The desert Harmattan winds, which make flying helicopters extremely risky, normally end in March. The area where the girls are being held is in the Sahel, the semi-arid region next to the Sahara.

 The decision by Boko Haram to make a video of the girls available may mean they are no longer in Nigeria.

 France, as the former colonial power and more recently the foe of Muslim fanatics in the region as well as the late Col. Muammar Gaddafi, knows the area very well. But the governments of Chad and Cameroon are even weaker than Nigeria. They will be unable to provide much help.

 The vast US spying apparatus probably will find the girls. What then? Do they have permission to try to rescue them?

 The government of Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has been anything but purposeful in his handling of the seizure of the girls a month ago. Thousands of northern Nigerians have died in terrorist bomb attacks.

 If Jonathan has any hope of winning next year’s presidential elections he needs to find a way to rescue the girls with as little blood spilled as possible and at the same time crush the terrorists.

 He might choose to negotiate a prisoner exchange then go after Boko Haram later. It is not known how many members of Islamist fanatics the Lagos government holds. Al-Qaida is believed to have helped the group get started in 2009. That very connection puts Boko Haram high on the list of terrorist groups Washington wants to eliminate, The Guardian reports.

Sources:

BBC

The New York Times

Transvestites making progress throughout the world

The Bible Belt will be furious but transvestites are no longer hiding from the public. Moscow also was furious.

 They are in music, movies and perhaps will be openly serving in the military.

 Austrian Tom Neuwirth Is a “bearded lady” who goes by the stage name of “Conchita Wurst. But he is not in the circus or sideshow.

 This weekend he won the Eurovision singing competition in Denmark singing “Rise Like a Phoenix” to the cheers of crowds.

 After his unlikely victory, Wurst/Neuwirth said, "This night is dedicated to everyone who believes in a future of peace and freedom."

News.com of Australia said the victory was branded “the end of Europe” by Russia’s anti-gay lobby.

 Russia didn’t fare well in the competition. Its delegate was booed and the Ukraine representatives finished higher.

 The victory in Eurovision gives insight into battle Moscow is having with Europe and the US.

The Washington Post said Russian politician/activist Vladimir Zhirinovsky said the Eurovision victory was “the end of Europe. There is no limit to our outrage. It has turned wild. There are no more men or women in Europe. Just it. “Fifty years ago the Soviet army occupied Austria,” he added. “We made a mistake in freeing Austria. We should have stayed.” The Post said Zhirinovsky had recently ordered one of his staff to “rape” a pregnant journalist on a live television show.

 While the Russian reaction was no surprise, some viewed as startling a statement by US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, whose military is still dealing with allowing soldiers, sailors and airmen and women to come out of the closet.


 Stars and Stripes quoted Hagel as saying the ban on transvestites “continually should be reviewed.”

Stars and Stripes said an estimated 15,450 transgender personnel already serve in the military, National Guard and Reserve, according to an estimate from San Francisco State University.

 Without offering an opinion on the matter, Hagel said “every qualified American who wants to serve our country should have an opportunity if they fit the qualifications and can do it."

 Stars and Stripes defined a transgender person as “someone who has acquired the physical characteristics of the opposite sex or presents themselves in a way that does not correspond with their sex at birth.”

 Those who believe such people are not entitled to the same rights as others will likely argue, as they do with homosexuals, that their choice is not determined at birth. The psychology and psychiatric community has said such people cannot change their sexual characteristics and no one should try to make them.

 Transgener performers such as RuPaul [Unlink] have been around for years. “The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert” was a success as a movie before being staged on Broadway.

Today's Ukraine rebel vote announced yesterday

Supporters of annexation by Russia rushed to the few polls that were open in eastern Ukraine to cast millions of ballots Sunday.

 Even before the votes had been cast, hard-working Stakhanovite election workers were able to report an overwhelming victory for supporters of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

 The little green men poll workers were helped by the fact that voters were able to cast multiple ballots and the voting took place in just a few places, and there was no need for secrecy.

 The voting lines were reminiscent of bread lines in the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

 Twitter posted a photo taken by a foreign camera crew of a woman putting two ballots in the box simultaneously.

 Was that a voting chaos or a festival. It certainly wasn’t celebratory for at least one man, who was shot dead.

 Russian Television, whose workers were among those awarded medals last month for their heroic coverage of the takeover of Crimea, said it was told that 70 percent of the electorate had turned out.

 It was not clear how this could be determined since there was no list of those eligible to vote.

 Only five percent of those who voted were opposed to ultimately becoming part of Russia, RT said.

Later, the official news agency, RIA Novosti, said 98.5 percent voted for independence. Russia says the vote should be respected, RIA Novosti added.

 The same reliable Cossacks who horsewhipped Pussy Riot were on hand to guarantee security.

 It was hard to imagine how the Republican Party in the US would have reacted to people voting without photo IDs. The GOP has sought to make sure that Democrats don’t flood the polls with illegal immigrants.

 The Kiev government is obviously not getting the joke. The Guardian reported Ukraine jets had turned away a Russian plane that had departed the breakaway Transdniestria region of Moldava headed for Moscow.

 The plane was carrying Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin.

The Guardian quoted Rogozin as Tweeting: "Upon US request, Romania has closed its airspace for my plane," he tweeted. "Ukraine doesn't allow me to pass through again. Next time I'll fly on board TU-160." He was referring to a bomber jet.

 Earlier Russian television program host Dmitry Kiselev reminded America that “Russia is the only country in the world that is actually capable of turning the U.S. into radioactive dust.”

 The Russian threats were pathetic when compared to the supposedly accidental microphone slip US President Ronald Reagan began a speech in 1984 with: "My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes."