BERIGAN

Nina Hagen singing "Fever" you have been warned!

Who invented War? Pornography? Heroin? Wasn't no woman! Men Smarter than Women, Scientist Claims Jeanna Bryner Men are smarter than women, according to a controversial new study that adds another cinder to the fiery debate over whether gender impacts general intelligence. ADVERTISEMENT "For 100 years there's been a consensus among psychologists that there is no sex difference in intelligence," said J. Philippe Rushton, a psychologist at the University of Western Ontario, Canada. Recent studies, however, have raised questions about the validity of this claim, he said. One such study showed that men have larger brains than women, a 100 gram difference after correcting for body size. Rushton found similar results in a study of gender and brain size. To determine if there was a link between gender and intelligence, and perhaps between brain size and intelligence, Rushton and a colleague analyzed the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores from 100,000 17- and 18-year-olds. G-factor When Rushton and colleagues weighted each SAT question by an established general intelligence factor called the g-factor, they discovered that males surpassed females by an average of 3.6 IQ points. The g-factor uses only the tough questions in the test. "If I tell you the last four digits of my telephone number and ask you to repeat them back to me, that's a low g-loaded memory test," Rushton explained. "But if I then ask you to repeat them back to me in the reverse order, that suddenly requires a tremendous amount more cognitive processing. It is a very high loaded g-item.” So the g-factor "is really the active ingredient of the test," Rushton said. "It's the single best, most predictive part of the test." Rushton suspects that the results are due to males having more brain tissue than females on average. "It's a very reasonable hypothesis that you just need more brain tissue dedicated to processing high ‘g' information," Rushton said. The study, which Rushton co-wrote with Douglas Jackson, also of the University of Western Ontario, is detailed in the current issue of the journal Intelligence. Flawed conclusion Bruce Bracken, a psychologist at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, who was not involved in the new study, said he thinks Rushton and Jackson make a convincing argument for the sample they used. "The difference appears to be real," Bracken said. But he questions the team's conclusions. "I believe that the differences probably lie in the variables they hadn't considered," Bracken said. One plausible explanation is that more females than males decide to go to college and thus take the SAT test. The study did in fact include about 10,000 more females than males. "This suggests that more males are deciding to do something else," Bracken said. "It may be that the males who would not have scored as high on the SAT chose not to take it, and they chose another route." A more reliable study, he said, would be to match each male with a very similar female and then compare the results. The debate goes on The findings add fuel to a still smoldering debate ignited by former Harvard President Lawrence Summers, who stated early last year that males have a higher intrinsic aptitude in science and engineering. In a letter from Summers days after his controversial statements, he wrote: "Despite reports to the contrary, I did not say, and I do not believe, that girls are intellectually less able than boys, or that women lack the ability to succeed at the highest levels of science. As the careers of a great many distinguished women scientists make plain, the human potential to excel in science is not somehow the province of one gender or another.” While Rushton called his results significant, he doesn't think they are a basis for uprooting the field of education. "I don't think it has any real implications for education policy or schoolwork," he said. "In fact, females actually get better grades than males.” Plus, he doesn't think the IQ difference would show up in everyday activities. "For the vast majority of people in the vast majority of jobs, it really doesn't translate into very much," he said. But when it comes to Nobel Prize winners, he said that men could outnumber women 10-to-1. "Where it will really show up is at the very high end of the distribution," Rushton said. Rushton has left the door open for opposing views and findings that might contradict his new study. "I wouldn't say it's the last word. We really do need more research on it before we can be absolutely certain," Rushton said. http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20060908/sc_...scientistclaims

Dan, at the risk of having even more talk about the Red Sox, I just checked out Beckett's stats. Have you heard much mention of the fact he has given up less hits, than innings pitched, yet has an E.R.A. over 5?? I mean, I know he gives up lots of homers, but if you look at his career he has always done that(Less hits than innings pitched) but had an E.R.A. in the 3's before this season. So, do people think he has followed Shilling a bit too much, always challenging folks? Funny, I heard an interview with Joe Girardi talking about Sanchez, and how he was battling shoulder pain in spring training(And this after having Tommy John surgery at what, 19?) I can see why the Sox were willing to risk trading him ,but it may end up biting them in the butt....

What? No Marlins fans on this board? What am I saying? There are no Marlin fans in Florida! Congrats to Anibal Sanchez for the No-no! Can you imagine where this team would be if they had gone 21-21 instead of 11-31 to start the season? I still say, IF somehow they win the Wild card, they might just get to the W.S. Imagine the Twins and the Marlins in the W.S.

Paul, keep getting better! Perhaps before you leave, you can innocently ask if anyone on the staff there plays chess, that you just started playing the game a few weeks ago, and need to improve!

I saw some other reviews saying the same thing....shows how important a producer is in pop music today.

Getting back to Steve Irwin, part of me wanted to say something to the effect that he was tempting fate, forever looking to lose a finger or arm it seemed. But, the story I saw had this photo of Steve and his wife, and it makes it kinda hard to say see I told you so.

Spiders as well! http://www.usyd.edu.au/anaes/venom/spiders.html#FUNNELWEB

Heatwave, Varitek has 50 RBI's in 304 AB's,(70 RBI's all last season) which is not horrible at all for a catcher. Yes, his batting average is down about 40 points from last year, but he does have a .270 average with runners in scoring position. Varitek clearly handles a pitching staff very well, after his injury the next 20 games the staff goes 6-14 with s 6.13 Team ERA, 5 blown saves and a .313 opponents' batting average. Just a coincidence???

Kind of surprised there wasn't a thread on this....(Then again, I could have done one sooner, eh?)I used to think of him as a lucky actor, kind of a bland leading man I thought. But, the more films of his I saw, the more I realized he could really rise to the occasion for a good role, like he did when he got the rare chance to play a bad guy in 3:10 to Yuma. Leading Man Glenn Ford Dies at 90 By Adam Bernstein Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, August 31, 2006; 1:14 PM Glenn Ford, a rugged but amiable leading man who appeared in nearly 100 movies, including gritty urban dramas, light comedy and Westerns, died Aug. 30 at his home in Beverly Hills, Calif., police said. He was 90. Beverly Hills police were dispatched to Mr. Ford's home about 4 p.m. and found him dead inside, said Sgt. Lincoln Hoshino. No foul play was suspected. Ford had suffered a series of strokes in the 1990s. Three of Mr. Ford's best films were "Gilda" (1946), "The Big Heat" (1953) and "Blackboard Jungle" (1955). In them, he was a gambler, a police detective and a schoolteacher, respectively. As varied as the parts were, all benefited from his low-boil technique. It always appeared he would erupt into physical force if pushed too far. Mr. Ford also was the Man of Steel's adoptive father in "Superman" (1978), and, in characteristic Ford fashion, he used minimal body language to convey inner strength. Film critic Gary Arnold wrote in The Washington Post that "Ford has a stunning death scene in which he fully comprehends the sign of a coronary seizure an instant before it kills him. This jolting loss of a modest, decent man leaves lasting emotional reverberations." The son of a railroad executive, Gwyllyn Samuel Newton Ford was born in Quebec, Canada, on May 1, 1916, and raised in Santa Monica, Calif. He once said he knew acting held promise when, at age 4, he appeared in a community production of "Tom Thumb's Wedding" and the part required him to eat a large bowl of chocolate ice cream. Later, he earned money for theatrical training by working as a parachute jumper at state fairs and as a stage manager for actress Tallulah Bankhead. He appeared in a film short, "Night in Manhattan" (1937), as a nightclub emcee before his feature debut in "Heaven With a Barbed Wire Fence" (1939) as a New York store clerk who ventures west. That movie's director, Ricardo Cortez, doubted Mr. Ford's prospects in Hollywood, but Columbia Pictures snapped him up and groomed him for stardom alongside his lifelong friend William Holden. Mr. Ford appeared in a succession of minor dramas and began a long run in Westerns with "Go West, Young Lady" with Penny Singleton, "The Desperadoes" with Randolph Scott and "Texas" with Holden. "We competed in strange ways," he once said of Holden. "I stuffed paper in my boots to be taller than he was. Then he stuffed paper in his boots, and I stuffed more in mine. Finally neither of us could walk, and we said the hell with it." Amid a spate of mediocre service pictures, Mr. Ford was granted a rare foray in an A-list production with "So Ends Our Night" (1941). The film was based on an Erich Maria Remarque novel, "Flotsam," and Mr. Ford played a Jewish refugee in wartime Germany. In a cast with Fredric March, Margaret Sullavan and Erich von Stroheim, Mr. Ford was singled out by New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther as "a most promising newcomer [who] draws more substance and appealing simplicity . . . than anyone else in the film." With the outbreak of World War II, Mr. Ford joined the Marine Corps and participated in the Battle of Midway. Later, in the Navy reserve, he did tours of duty in the Vietnam War. Columbia showcased their veteran in better vehicles after World War II, with the agreement he sign a long-term contract. The result was a few fine pictures, including "Gilda" and "A Stolen Life" with Bette Davis playing both good and bad sisters with a yen for Mr. Ford. It also meant a succession of forgettable dramas that at least presented him in various locales ("The Man From Colorado," "Affair in Trinidad," "The Man From the Alamo"). "Gilda" was one of the most popular films of its day -- and one of the most sordid by Hollywood standards. Mr. Ford played a gambler on a long losing streak who tramps into Buenos Aires and lands a job managing a casino for a sadistic boss (George Macready). The boss is married to an old flame, played by Rita Hayworth, who performs a striptease and says at one point, "If I'd been a ranch, they would have called me the Bar Nothing." During filming, Columbia studios chief Harry Cohn, infatuated with Hayworth, reportedly bugged her dressing room to see if she was having an affair with Mr. Ford. The actors found out about the plan and decided, for fun, to pretend to act on Cohn's worst fears. Two years later, Hayworth chose Mr. Ford to co-star in a film she produced, "The Loves of Carmen," in which he was Don Jose, and she was Carmen. "One of the greatest mistakes I ever made. Embarrassing," Mr. Ford once told a reporter about a role that required him to lather up in suntan oil and curl his hair. "But it was worth it, just to work with her again." He also was a mountain climber in "The White Tower" (1950) and champion golfer Ben Hogan recovering from a car accident in "Follow the Sun" (1951). While in France making the post-war chase film "The Green Glove" (1952), he enlisted in the French Foreign Legion reportedly after a snub from co-star Geraldine Brooks and after consuming what he called "too much wine and bouillabaisse." He managed to get out of the Legion, which was displeased by his little joke, and then headed for one of his other great parts -- as the hot-tempered cop who avenges his family's death in Fritz Lang's "The Big Heat." "As angry and icy as they come," Crowther wrote of Mr. Ford's performance, but it took many more years for the film to find its large following. He also was in Lang's "Human Desire" (1954) as the lust-driven war veteran; "Interrupted Melody" (1955) as the caring husband of polio-stricken diva Marjorie Lawrence (Eleanor Parker); "Trial" (1955) as the courtroom defender of a Mexican youth accused of rape and murder; and a grief-stricken submarine commander in "Torpedo Run" (1958). "The Blackboard Jungle" (1955) showcased Mr. Ford as a teacher at an inner-city school trying to control delinquent, often violent students. The film was best known for its "Rock Around the Clock" theme song and became a massive hit with audiences. A gifted horse rider who in childhood was stable boy for Will Rogers, Mr. Ford appeared in dozens of Westerns of varying quality. Among the best were "3:10 to Yuma" (1957) as an outlaw; "Cowboy" (1958) as the experienced cowhand with tenderfoot Jack Lemmon in tow; and "The Rounders" (1965) as an aging cowpoke alongside pal Henry Fonda. There was also "The Sheepman" in 1958 and a spate more in the late 1960s, including "A Time for Killing" "Day of the Evil Gun," "Heaven with a Gun" and "Smith!" Though never nominated for an Academy Award, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame of Great Western Performers in Oklahoma City in 1978. Mr. Ford put on modern clothes for "It Started With a Kiss" and "The Gazebo," both with Debbie Reynolds in the late 1950s. He also was an Army captain in post-war Japan in "The Teahouse of the August Moon" (1956), with Marlon Brando as his Japanese helper, and an urbane widower being set up on dates by his son, played by Ron Howard, in "The Courtship of Eddie's Father" (1963). In the early 1960s, Mr. Ford was at the peak of his fame, and he starred and helped produce "Pocketful of Miracles" (1961), a remake of Frank Capra's old feel-good weepie "Lady for a Day." Capra came back to direct Mr. Ford but the relationship was tense after the actor insisted on casting his then-girlfriend, Hope Lange, as a brassy nightclub owner. Mr. Ford also forced Lange on director David Swift to star with him in the comedy "Love is a Ball" (1963). Swift later likened Mr. Ford to "a 12-year-old temperamental child. Were he mine, I would have spanked him physically." Mr. Ford starred in two television series: as the sheriff in "Cade's County," an early 1970s CBS police drama that also featured his son Peter Ford; and a Depression-era country preacher in the 1975 NBC drama "The Family Holvack." Mr. Ford said he had no patience for acting schools and especially for the Method acting style that required plumbing his own life experiences for character motivation. He barely tolerated the usual tools of the trade, putting into his contract that he never be required to wear make-up. "I don't believe an actor can be over-exposed unless he becomes repetitive," Mr. Ford once said. "The secret is to play different roles as often as possible." His four marriages ended in divorce. His wives were tap dancing movie star Eleanor Powell; soap-opera actress Kathryn Hays; model Cynthia Hayward; and his personal nurse, Jeanne Baus. The final marriage lasted a month; the couple had a 40-year age difference. Survivors include his son. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...6083100870.html

I hope Ortiz and Lester will both be up to par as soon as possible! This has been a very weird season, can anyone recall a season withmore players having non-baseball related health problems??? Now Marcus Giles has heart problems.... Giles might need heart surgery By DAVID O'BRIEN The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published on: 09/03/06 Philadelphia — Marcus Giles will return to Atlanta Sunday for tests to determine whether he has a heart-valve condition that might require surgery. The second baseman was examined by a Philadelphia doctor Saturday and told that he might need a procedure that would entail going through an artery in his groin and stapling the valve shut. "She said it would only be about a week to recover from that," said Giles, referring to what he was told by the doctor who examined him. "It's great that it was discovered now. The main thing is getting it fixed right away." First Giles will have further tests with Atlanta cardiologist John Cantwell, who works with the Braves. He will be examined Sunday or Monday. Giles said he was alarmed Saturday morning after taking a sip of a soft drink and experiencing knee-buckling pain after the drink seemed to go down his throat wrong. "It was the scariest thing I've ever been through for about 10 minutes," he said. The pain subsided, but Giles still felt discomfort as he prepared for Saturday's doubleheader at Citizens Bank Park. There were no doctors at the stadium that early, so Giles was taken to a local hospital. After the second game of the doubleheader, Giles met with Atlanta reporters and laid out what he was told. "She said there's a valve in my heart, and it's supposed to keep out all the bad stuff," Giles said. "They think it didn't close after I was born." If the condition went undetected or wasn't corrected, Giles said, "A blood clot could get in there. Something could stop my heart or cause a massive stroke." http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/b...ravesheart.html

Well, only way it might be a good idea is that at $13 a film with the pre-order, you could sell off the copies you already had after buying this set, which would pay a fair chunk of the cost of the set, impress your friend with what a badass film fanatic you were, and have that swell book to boot.

Are the Tigers starting Rogers in any of these games? I HOPE SO!!! Hope he gets his ass kicked, too! I don't think Rogers pitched this series, Al. Meanwhile, the Wells deal is done, but interestingly, the Red Sox released a statement saying he was dealt to San Diego for the proverbial "player to be named". If its not the catcher, who would it be, and I have to wonder whether LA or St Louis stepped up (which was being reported earlier) and forced San Diego to sweeten the deal. Certainly seems strange when a name was widely reported, and then when the deal is struck there is no name announced. What will suck is that this is likely to doom us to a third place finish, especially with Lester out. This team as originally constituted hardly deserves that fate. It takes losing 60% of our starting rotation at one point, 100% of our outfield at another, to possibly end up trailing Toronto. That'll be allright though - we should have approximately 30 million more to spend on salaries next year, and Toronto's GM has already acknowledged he doesn't have the cash to make the big splash that he did last year. Saw this on mlbrumor.com, which may answer the question of why he would be a player to be named later. And why the Padres might make it deep in the playoffs, if they only had some offense. Trade To Padres Likely For David Wells As you well know, the Padres are the frontrunners to acquire David Wells by midnight tonight. The name that's been bandied about is catcher George Kottaras. Keep an eye on tonight's 7:05 contest between the Portland Beavers and the Fresno Grizzlies to see whether Kottaras starts for the Beavers. If not, he's probably the guy. He went 0 for 4 last night. According to the Boston Globe, the Dodgers could have Wells if they would step in with one of Matt Kemp, Andy LaRoche, or James Loney. Here's the tricky part. Based on info from a Steve Phillips article a year ago, I learned that "all 40-man roster players must go through waivers in order to change teams even if they are in the minor leagues." All four prospects mentioned above are indeed on the 40-man roster. So how does this work? The key, I believe, is slipping the player through as a player to be named later. The rule for waiver trades is that the PTBNL cannot be an active Major League player. So, the Red Sox can acquire a top-notch prospect in exchange for Wells if they are willing to wait until spring to see him in a Sox uniform. I think these rules debunk the notion that the Red Sox could somehow acquire Adam Wainwright in a deal. It's a moot point, as Wells won't play in St. Louis. The Padres are three games back of the Dodgers in the NL West. San Diego currently holds a half-game lead over the Phillies for the wild card. If the Padres were to sneak into the playoffs once again, their playoff rotation would boast Jake Peavy, Chris Young, David Wells, and Woody Williams. All have pitched decently or better this month; it would be a fairly deep group. And fifth starter Clay Hensley has a 1.82 ERA and 1.25 WHIP this month, so maybe he'd be in the mix instead of Williams.

It's available on vinyl I think you know what I meant. Right. And I responded by saying it's available on vinyl, so it can be broken down into sides. So. Just to clarify. It is available on vinyl. Is it on vinyl? What's Vinyl? What's a side??? Vinyl siding?

Ain't that somethin. Travis Hafner probably won't be close in MVP voting because he plays on an under-achieving team from a small market (not on a superstation), but he should finish in the photo, 'specially if Ortiz wins. Acquired from the Rangers (essentially) for pitcher Ryan Drese. Wonder who he's pitching for now? Seems like he had one bad game for the Rangers, and in a fit of "leadership" Jon Hart cut him loose. Business as usual around here..... Like Patrick said, nationals now. As for his record for Texas, just checked. His ERA was 6.85 , 4.20 and 6.46 his 3 seasons! So, Hart was right to cut him loose, stupid to trade Hafner for him! Naturally, after proving he was no good with the Rangers, he is still in baseball. You know, I look young for my age, I'm a lefty and I throw a good curveball...hmmm, if you guys don't see me post much next year, just keep your eyes out for a long haired southpaw with a 8.50 ERA....who will stick with the big club most of the year...

So, did you go in a suit, or something else by the time of the interview? Did anything else...umm, change in the interim? http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php...st&p=548041

I'm with you, though I'm not bold enough to say never, even though that's my intent. I mean, like in 20 years when we finally get those flying cars we were supposed to have by now, maybe just maybe I'll have a cell phone that doesn't allow incoming calls. Wait till you have car trouble at 2 AM, on a deserted highway....then a cell phone will seem like the Biggest Technological Advance of the Last 20 Years

Yeah, horrible! I hope that he will be alright, that was a rocket!

I had been to NY several times, but never was in New Jersey til I helped out at a Borders in Bridgewater in the late 90's. Man, talk about a state that has gotten bad press! I was very pleasently surprised by how pretty the parts around Bridgewater were! The garden state indeed! Like you said, what state doesn't have not so great parts? I lived in Jacksonville, Florida for 10 years, and let me tell ya, it sucked big time!

I wonder if he will play now...they have a 3 ring circus right now. He clearly has mental issues that will just ruin his career, what's left of it....

Woman Crashes When Teaching Dog to Drive Aug 28 8:19 PM US/Eastern Email this story BEIJING A woman in Hohhot, the capital of north China's Inner Mongolia region, crashed her car while giving her dog a driving lesson, the official Xinhua News Agency said Monday. No injuries were reported although both vehicles were slightly damaged, it said. The woman, identified only be her surname, Li, said her dog "was fond of crouching on the steering wheel and often watched her drive," according to Xinhua. "She thought she would let the dog 'have a try' while she operated the accelerator and brake," the report said. "They did not make it far before crashing into an oncoming car." Xinhua did not say what kind of dog or vehicles were involved but Li paid for repairs. http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/08/28/D8JPOG481.html

hairy legs.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2560806 Nice story! Good headline as well.

Where are you getting your numbers? I look at this source, Baseball Almanac, at http://www.baseball-almanac.com/hitting/hibavg3.shtml George Brett! That's one that I just happened to know. My favorite baseball historical stats site is: Baseball-Reference You know, I checked dozens of HOF'ers, and I thought I checked him! I used that site, I love it too!