What should we do about all of the new people?

What should we do about all of the new people? What new people? Consider this information from the British Medical Journal:

The world’s population now exceeds 6700 million, and humankind’s consumption of fossil fuels, fresh water, crops, fish, and forests exceeds supply. These facts are connected. The annual increase in population of about 79 million means that every week an extra 1.5 million people need food and somewhere to live. This amounts to a huge new city each week, somewhere, which destroys wildlife habitats and augments world fossil fuel consumption.

What does the BMJ suggest as a solution? Nothing coercive. Rather, start by emphasizing that two children is the largest responsible number of children a family should have. Second, make sure that everyone has access to birth control, given that about 1/2 of the world's births are unplanned; that's right: one-half. This article asks, "isn’t contraception the medical profession’s prime contribution for all countries?" I would think so. It's time to stop being cowed by those who get shrill--even furious--when we merely raise the issue of overpopulation, as though discussing the carrying capacity of the Earth is automatically the precursor to instituting coercive techniques to stop only poor people from having children. It's time to discuss this issue of overpopulation firmly and responsibly, keeping in mind that each birth in a developed Western country uses 160 times the amount of resources as each baby born in the Third World.

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Richard Nisbett: Intelligence mostly varies due to the environment, not genes

The dominant hereditarian view of intelligence holds that intelligence is mostly fixed by the genes. Richard Nisbett has dismantled the evidence on which the hereditarian theory is based. In his new book, Intelligence and How to Get It, Nesbitt argues that the twin studies on which the hereditarian view is based are deeply flawed. The main problem is that the adoptive homes in which those separated twins often find themselves are uniformly enriched learning environments. Nisbett's book was reviewed by Jim Holt of the NYT Book Review:

Nisbett bridles at the hereditarian claim that I.Q. is 75 to 85 percent heritable; the real figure, he thinks, is less than 50 percent. Estimates come from comparing the I.Q.’s of blood relatives — identical twins, fraternal twins, siblings — growing up in different adoptive families. But there is a snare here. As Nisbett observes, “adoptive families, like Tolstoy’s happy families, are all alike.” Not only are they more affluent than average, they also tend to give children lots of cognitive stimulation. Thus data from them yield erroneously high estimates of I.Q. heritability. (Think: if we all grew up in exactly the same environment, I.Q. differences would appear to be 100 percent genetic.) This underscores an important point: there is no fixed value for heritability. The notion makes sense only relative to a population. Heritability of I.Q. is higher for upper-class families than for lower-class families, because lower-class families provide a wider range of cognitive environments, from terrible to pretty good.

What does Nisbett's book have to say about race and intelligence? That the differences among the "races" are not genetic. Evidence in point: The "racial" IQ gap has been shrinking. "Over the last 30 years, the measured I.Q. difference between black and white 12-year-olds has dropped from 15 points to 9.5 points."

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Boats for free

The NYT reports that many people are dumping their boats--simply abandoning them:

Some of those disposing of their boats are in the same bind as overstretched homeowners: they face steep payments on an asset that is diminishing in value and decide not to continue. They either default on the debt or take bolder measures.

Marina and maritime officials around the country say they believe, however, that most of the abandoned vessels cluttering their waters are fully paid for. They are expensive-to-maintain toys that have lost their appeal.

This story reminds me of something my friend Gary once told me:
Gary: What's the second-happiest day in a person's life? Me: I don't know. Gary: The day they buy a boat. What's the happiest day in a person's life? Me: I don't know. Gary: The day they selltheir boat.
This abandonment of playthings reminds me of the 20-foot Python problem that could someday take over 1/3 of the U.S.

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How I Got Into John McCain’s Pants

Well, it was this John W. McCain, and he wasn't in them at the time. We were in Cincinnati for a dance weekend, the Pigtown Fling. That's the same event that I mentioned last year when I didn't go to the Creation Museum. I didn't go there this time, either. But how did I get into John McCain's Pants? Well, dancing is hot work. It's like doing aerobics or jogging, but with hot and cold hotter running women flowing through your arms all night. So by the end of the evening, I was quite het up. It didn't occur to me to pull on long pants. We drove to our hosts house in the rainy wee hours. (Short dashboard video of driving "home" to the tune of "Hello, I must be Going") As we arrived and cooled down, I discovered that I had left my long pants back at the gym. I'd get cold knees in the morning. After a couple of hours of conversation, I got a good night's sleep. Note: At a dance weekend, anything over 4 hours is phenomenal. In the morning I got up to shower. When I returned to my guest room, I spied a pair of unfamiliar slacks neatly lain at the foot of my bed. I'd had a visit from The Trouser Fairy! No host was in sight; he apparently returned to sleep in. So I started my day in John McCain's pants. They eerily reminded me of a pair I'd owned some years back. Who'd'a thunk that Big John wore nearly my size? Here's a video of our group dancing during Earth Hour, the next night:

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