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-   -   Weird News (http://cellar.org/showthread.php?t=16997)

DanaC 10-20-2011 04:26 PM
Actually, this is pretty important research with major implications for how children fare in education.

Quote:
IQ has long been thought to remain stable over a person's lifetime.

The new findings might have implications for kids' educations, the researchers said, because they suggest that children, especially those with lower IQs, should not be pigeonholed into specific educational and career trajectories based on their IQ alone.

"Approximately one-fifth of our sample had very substantial changes such that they moved from above average to below average or vice versa," said Cathy Price, senior study author and professor at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London, U.K.
Quote:
The team report that changes in IQ did seem to occur, with some participants improving their scores by as much as 20 points over time, relative to people of similar age, while other kids saw declines in IQ levels.

"A change in 20 points is a huge difference," Price said in a statement to the media. For example, she said, "if an individual moved from an IQ of 110 to an IQ of 130 they move from being 'average' to 'gifted.' And if they moved from 104 to 84 they move from being high average to below average.
Quote:
In the media statement, Price explained that "the degree to which verbal IQ changed correlated with the degree to which brain structure changed in an area of the brain that we are referring to as a 'motor speech area.' " She added that this region, the brain's left motor cortex, "is very active when we (including the participants in our study) articulate speech."

Nonverbal performance correlated to changes in the anterior cerebellum, which is also activated when making hand movements, Price noted.

The authors don't know yet what is driving these variations in IQ over time.


The same story was covered on the BBC site.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15369851

Quote:
Until now the assumption has been that intellectual capacity, as measured by IQ, stays quite static during life.

But tests conducted on teenagers at an average age of 14 and then repeated when their average age was nearly 18 found improvements - and deterioration
Quote:
The results show that a change in verbal IQ was found in 39% of the teenagers, with 21% showing a change in "performance IQ" - a test of spatial reasoning.

The findings are seen to have greater validity because for the first time the variations in IQ correlated with changes in two particular areas of the teenagers' brains.

An increase in verbal IQ corresponded with a growth in the density of part of the left motor cortex - a region activated during speech.

And an increase in non-verbal IQ correlated with a rise in the density of the anterior cerebellum - an area associated with movements of the hand.
Quote:
Professor Price said: "We have a tendency to assess children and determine the course of their education relatively early in life.

"But here we have shown that their intelligence is likely to be still developing.

"We have to be careful not to write off poorer performers at an early age when in fact their IQ may improve significantly given a few more years."
Quote:
The paper suggests that the results could be "encouraging to those whose intellectual potential may improve and… a warning that early achievers may not maintain their potential".

Pete Zicato 10-20-2011 04:38 PM
I got a lot dumber when my girls turned into teenagers. Now that they're in college, I seem to be getting smarter again. :D

Lamplighter 10-20-2011 06:30 PM
For me, "fluctuate" means up and down. I love my grandkids, but
honestly sometimes it seems they drop back into middle school
for a week, and then they are back to normal grade levels.

Dana... no evil intent ;)

ZenGum 10-20-2011 07:04 PM
The only "weird" thing about that is that we're only just acknowledging this.

The brain is massively plastic. So many factors effect it, from diet and general health to education and mood, that these things will bounce around a lot.

If you want to increase your IQ, just practise doing lots of IQ tests. Better, study them and find out how they are designed. You won't get much smarter in real life, but you'll get better at scoring good marks on IQ tests.

TheMercenary 10-20-2011 07:09 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by ZenGum (Post 765726)
If you want to increase your IQ, just practise doing lots of IQ tests. Better, study them and find out how they are designed. You won't get much smarter in real life, but you'll get better at scoring good marks on IQ tests.
Pretty true about all standardized testing. Teach to the test and you will do fine.

classicman 10-20-2011 08:14 PM
not in our educational system.. :bolt:

TheMercenary 10-20-2011 08:23 PM
Are you kidding? Bush's failed No Child Left Behind is a perfect example of the failure of standardized testing.

Clodfobble 10-21-2011 07:43 AM
Quote:
an individual moved from an IQ of 110 to an IQ of 130 they move from being 'average' to 'gifted.' And if they moved from 104 to 84 they move from being high average to below average.
Obviously the generalized categories overlap here, but this is worded very poorly.

Spexxvet 10-21-2011 08:20 AM
From Wiki:
Quote:
An intelligence quotient, or IQ, is a score derived from one of several different standardized tests designed to assess intelligence. When modern IQ tests are constructed, the mean (average) score within an age group is set to 100 and the standard deviation to 15.[1] Today almost all IQ tests adhere to the assignment of 15 IQ points to each standard deviation, but this has not been the case historically. Approximately 95% of the population have scores within two standard deviations of the mean. If one SD is 15 points, then 95% of the population would be expected to have an IQ within a range of 70 to 130.
I interpret this to mean that the measurement is guaranteed to change over time. Years, by definition, but perhaps over shorter periods as well.

footfootfoot 10-21-2011 08:39 PM
Drunken Prank Lands French Men in Jail

Quote:
FIVE drunken French tourists landed in a Texas jail after breaking into a county courthouse in the middle of the night and sparking terrorism fears, officials said.

Security footage showed the men wearing sombreros and playing around with a judge's gavel before they were arrested by police, who were tipped off by the courthouse security system at around 1.30am...Local officials were puzzled by the motive, but not the severity of the crime.

"At this point we do not believe nor do we have any evidence of a terrorist plot," said sheriff's department spokesman Ronald Bennett.

"We believe at this point the five individuals were here to see our country and after a night of drinking on the famous San Antonio River walk, things spun out of control and they decided to unlawfully enter a building. The reason why they entered the historic courthouse is unknown."
Obviously, you've never been drunk.

GunMaster357 10-22-2011 03:28 PM
Keep them!

If they're stupid enough to do a B&E in an official building, they don't have what it takes to be a PhD.

Thus, we don't want them back.

Lamplighter 10-23-2011 01:40 PM
On two local ballot measures, for the final election results...

A YES vote on one is consistent with a NO vote on the other, and visa versus.
A NO / NO outcome would leave the situation as it is now.
But, a YES / YES vote is incompatible with reality.

We saw a similar situation before regarding a 5-member Board of Education.
One measure added 2 members, the other removed 2 members.

Lamplighter 10-25-2011 09:55 PM
Do Ohio School Boards or Administrations not have any authority at all without going to court ?

The Columbus Dispatch
October 6, 2011 7:24 AM
Quote:
John Freshwater has lost his court case seeking to overturn the Mount Vernon
school board’s decision to fire him for teaching creationism and religious doctrine
in his middle-school science classroom.
<snip>
The school board put Freshwater on unpaid leave and voted in 2008 that it intended to fire him.
Among the allegations were that he failed to remove religious materials from his classroom
and burned crosses on students’ arms with a Tesla coil during science experiments.
Quote:
The Ohio Department of Education issued a letter of admonishment against Freshwater
for using the electrical device [a Tessla coil to burn crosses] on students’ arms,
but it removed the letter in July pending an appeal by the Virginia-based Rutherford Institute.

Gravdigr 10-26-2011 03:27 PM
1 Attachment(s)
Cause, you know, these are the criminals we need to worry about.

ZenGum 10-28-2011 02:13 AM
Quote:

We called our boy Adolf Hitler - but we're not racists

[nice family picture at the link]


HEATH and Deborah Campbell have three children: Adolf Hitler, 5, Aryan Nation and Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie, both 3.

They insist they aren't racist - they just like the names.

Heath and Deborah Campbell have covered their house in swastikas and have swastika tattoos.

But still, they insist they aren't racist - they just like swastikas.

What Heath and Deborah Campbell aren't anymore are parents after a court found there was sufficient evidence of neglect and abuse to take the children into care.

The couple, from New Jersey, in the US, were reported to authorities after they asked a bakery to make a cake with Adolf's name on it.

They claim the court has taken away their children because of their names.

"The judge and Division of Youth and Family Services told us that there was no evidence of abuse and that it was the names. They were taken over the children's names," Mr Campbell said.

He added: "People should accept change. The kid isn't going to grow up and do what Hitler did."

The couple hope to convince a judge in December that the children should come home.
New Jersey, eh? Wow. :right:

Are they racists? most likely.
Is this child abuse? Hmmmyyeahhhmmmmaybe...
Too bloody stupid to be left in charge of anything more significant than a hamster? Hell yeah.

Lamplighter 10-28-2011 08:27 AM
The parents couldn't be bothered changing their own name.

Didn't Britain had a Prime Minister named Heath ?

infinite monkey 10-28-2011 08:37 AM
Better Attention Whoring through Offspring.

maybe pensive pam should have children

Lamplighter 10-28-2011 08:35 PM
I had trouble with this article's headline...
O.C. woman Tweets NASA weather satellite launch

You need to know the source: The Orange County Register !

classicman 10-28-2011 09:05 PM
CDC official accused of child molestation, bestiality

Quote:
An official with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been arrested and charged with two counts of child molestation and one count of bestiality, police said.

Police arrested Dr. Kimberly Quinlan Lindsey, 44, in DeKalb County, Georgia, on Sunday.

Authorities also charged Lindsey's live-in boyfriend, Thomas Joseph Westerman, 42, with two counts of child molestation.

The two are accused of "immoral and indecent" sexual acts involving a 6-year-old, according to information from DeKalb County Magistrate Court and an arrest warrant.

The bestiality charge says Lindsey "did unlawfully perform or submit to any sexual act with an animal."

The alleged incidents took place between January 1, 2010, and August 22, 2011.

Westerman is out of jail on bail; Lindsey remains in jail with bail set at $20,000, said Lt. Pam Kunz of the DeKalb County Police Department.
CNN

Lamplighter 10-29-2011 11:17 PM
Quote:
An officer was bitten by a police dog while chasing burglary suspects
on foot near a Portland high school Saturday, police said.

“During the chase, and likely due to the dense fog, the police dog bit one of the officers,”
Simpson said. “The suspects were not located.”
Oh sure, blame it on the fog...It's always the fog's fault

infinite monkey 10-29-2011 11:27 PM
lmao!

When I watched The Fog (Oh, I'm sorry...John Carpenter's The Fog, what is up with that?) with a friend a few years ago we were laughing our ass off at a scene in the boat. I actually found that scene, but remade with the words but cartoon people? Anyway, you reminded me of that.

There's no fog bank out there. There's a fog bank out there!

Maybe you had to be there. :lol:

Lamplighter 10-30-2011 12:02 AM
:D

HungLikeJesus 11-07-2011 06:37 PM
Art so good it can't be distinguished from a stain on the floor
 

Oops! Cleaner Scrubs Away $1.1M Artwork
A cleaning woman at a German art museum mistook a $1.1 million sculpture for a mess, and made a bigger mess of things when she scrubbed most of it away.The cleaner went to work on the Martin Kippenberger installation titled “When It Starts Dripping From the Ceiling," a patina intended to look like a dried rain puddle, The Associated Press reported.The overzealous cleaning woman mistook it for a stain, and scrubbed most of it away.
Cleaning crews had been ordered to stay 8 inches away from the piece, but it is not known if the woman had received those directives.A spokesperson for the museum said it is impossible to return the artwork to its original state following the damage. The work had been on loan to the museum from a private collector.Kippenberger was a German artist who died in 1997.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/ima...EeGfATI7nkl-UQ

DanaC 11-07-2011 06:44 PM
Owwww. Owww, oww, ow.

How shit would you feel? If you were that poor bloody cleaning woman?

HungLikeJesus 11-07-2011 06:49 PM
Maybe she'll become an art critic.

Clodfobble 11-07-2011 10:02 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by DanaC
How shit would you feel? If you were that poor bloody cleaning woman?
I bet she doesn't feel bad at all. I bet she's bitter that she spent so much time on it just to get yelled at, and I bet she's even more bitter about the fact that some douchebag can pay 1.1 million dollars for a stupid stain while she can barely afford to feed her family.

Flint 11-07-2011 11:10 PM
Can we seriously elect Clodfobble's brain for president, or what?

GunMaster357 11-08-2011 04:47 AM
Whatever it is, a work of art should be recognized as such by anyone. If it is not seen as a work of art then it is not a work of art.

I have seen quite a few works that I would not call art but it was obvious an artist (at least, he calls himself that) put them together. From the pictures shown, I might have been curious but I'm not sure I would have seen it as art.

DanaC 11-08-2011 05:06 AM
I think it's art. It is a created illusion. What it's trying to say, I do not know.

@ Clod: good point, but I didn't mean so much in terms of feeling guilty at destroying art, as at finding yourself in the middle of a storm and and apparently responsible for the destruction of a million dollar's worth of anything.

Trilby 11-08-2011 05:19 AM
Let's giver her a medal.

Clodfobble 11-08-2011 07:34 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Flint
Can we seriously elect Clodfobble's brain for president, or what?
Oh, Flint... everyone knows a woman can't be President. We'd be bombing some new country every time we came around to "that time of the month."

Lamplighter 11-08-2011 08:05 AM
The PDX Lloyd Center (shopping center) made the TV news last night.

The Center announced it would maintain it's 50 yr old policy
of NOT putting up X-mas decorations until after Thanksgiving !

footfootfoot 11-08-2011 08:14 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Flint (Post 771040)
Can we seriously elect Clodfobble's brain for president, or what?
Clodfobble's brain can't be president because it's a pron star.

glatt 11-08-2011 08:54 AM
The owner of the stain should be pleased. It was transformed from a physical piece of art to performance art.

HungLikeJesus 11-08-2011 08:56 AM
I have a stain on my shirt. Imagine what that must be worth.

Scriveyn 11-08-2011 10:04 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Clodfobble (Post 771078)
Oh, Flint... everyone knows a woman can't be President. We'd be bombing some new country every time we came around to "that time of the month."
You have a secret stash of new, yet unbombed countries? Want!

HungLikeJesus 11-08-2011 01:31 PM
Tough Love: Toronto Zoo to Separate ‘Gay’ Penguin Couple


Quote:
It’s a romance suited for the pages of a children’s book. (Oh wait, that sounds familiar.)
Buddy and Pedro are two male African penguins at the Toronto Zoo who seem to have a connection — a very special, loving connection — that has zookeepers wondering if their relationship is more than just a bromance.
(PHOTOS: Same-Sex Overtures Across Species)
According to the Toronto Star, zookeepers have noticed that although Buddy, 20, and Pedro, 10, swim and play with the other penguins in their enclosure by day, they pair off and nest together at night as well as exhibit other telltale mating behaviors, such as touching, making braying sounds and defending their territory.
Does this mean that Buddy and Pedro are gay? Not exactly, as the term doesn’t normally apply to animals. But according to research from the University of California, Berkeley, birds — and other animals, for that matter — are known to form same-sex relationships.
...




GunMaster357 11-09-2011 04:51 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Scriveyn (Post 771118)
You have a secret stash of new, yet unbombed countries? Want!
Saudi Arabia ?
Israel ?
Caiman Islands ?
Canada ?

Trilby 11-09-2011 05:23 AM
WHY must the zoo separate the gay penguin couple?

Look, asshats, life is hard enough as it is and IF two people (or three) find love it should be honored and respected and left to play out. Separating these two is wrong for the zoo, wrong for Toronto and wrong for Canada!

LET GAY ZOO ANIMALS ALONE!!!

BigV 11-09-2011 09:15 AM
Quote:
In accordance with the species’ survival plan, the zoo staff will separate Buddy and Pedro so they can fulfill their biological destiny: to create more African penguins.

Read more: http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/11/08/...#ixzz1dDnH6vAE

Why? Keepin their pimp wing strong, baby.

footfootfoot 11-09-2011 09:42 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brianna (Post 771281)
WHY must the zoo separate the gay penguin couple?

Look, asshats, life is hard enough as it is and IF two people (or three) find love it should be honored and respected and left to play out. Separating these two is wrong for the zoo, wrong for Toronto and wrong for Canada!

LET GAY ZOO ANIMALS ALONE!!!
I think it's time for a rousing rendition of... (follow the bouncing ball)

GunMaster357 11-10-2011 09:18 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brianna (Post 771281)
WHY must the zoo separate the gay penguin couple?

Look, asshats, life is hard enough as it is and IF two people (or three) find love it should be honored and respected and left to play out. Separating these two is wrong for the zoo, wrong for Toronto and wrong for Canada!

LET GAY ZOO ANIMALS ALONE!!!
Did that damned Westboro Baptist Church picket the fucking zoo ?

infinite monkey 11-11-2011 11:17 AM
Ogopogo, Canada's version of the Loch Ness Monster, was caught on film!

Admit it, you doubted its existence before this, didn't you?

I never did. Because I'd never heard of it. I know Scotland, and you, Canada, are no Scotland. (I kid Canada. I love Canada. I've never been to Canada but, except for the cold, I would love Canada.)

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technolo...aught-on-tape/

footfootfoot 11-11-2011 12:18 PM
I remember that time you saw a billboard that read: Drink Canada Dry! and you tried to. I remember that. Good times, good times.

ZenGum 11-11-2011 04:38 PM
1 Attachment(s)
Attachment 35300

You have to admit, it is a nice ass.

TheMercenary 11-12-2011 07:10 AM
Silly Canadians....

The Story Of A Guy And His Pet Buffalo

Quote:
Imagine a guy and his buffalo walk into a bar... no, no, really, this happens on a fairly regular basis in Spruce Grove, a small town in Alberta, Canada, where Jim Sautner and his three-year-old, 1,800-pound buffalo hit the town in Sautner's specially modified red Pontiac Parisienne.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/...is-pet-buffalo

footfootfoot 11-12-2011 02:55 PM
Wow. Those Zany Canadians, is more like it.

Flint 11-14-2011 04:34 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Clodfobble (Post 771078)
Oh, Flint... everyone knows a woman can't be President. We'd be bombing some new country every time we came around to "that time of the month."
Is this like where Peter Griffin suggests something, jokingly at first, but then gauges your reaction?

DanaC 11-14-2011 04:38 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Flint (Post 772785)
Is this like where Peter Griffin suggests something, jokingly at first, but then gauges your reaction?
I just choked on my cup-a-soup.

Flint 11-18-2011 05:00 PM
Do you need a heimlich maneuver, my dear? Because I'm totally down for that.

Griff 11-18-2011 07:27 PM

Trilby 11-19-2011 05:57 AM
jermaine is very much like Bugs Bunny in the respect that at the exact moment when he needs a tiny piano or a xylophone, he has one.

That is probably why I love him so much.

infinite monkey 11-19-2011 05:04 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brianna (Post 774113)
jermaine is very much like Bugs Bunny in the respect that at the exact moment when he needs a tiny piano or a xylophone, he has one.

That is probably why I love him so much.
:lol2:

You so funny!

monster 11-21-2011 06:20 PM
Robbers cut through the roof of a local store and stole.....





....hair weaves?



http://www.annarbor.com/news/ypsilan...-beauty-store/

ZenGum 11-21-2011 09:19 PM
There going to sell them on the street.

Look out for scalpers.

monster 11-21-2011 09:38 PM
We need to get to the root of this

ZenGum 11-22-2011 01:21 AM
They almost had a brush with the law, but they managed to split.

infinite monkey 11-22-2011 07:42 AM
It was a mess when they departed.

Area police are combing the area for clues.

Spexxvet 11-22-2011 07:54 AM
They stole the hair weaves cause they didn't want toupe.

infinite monkey 11-22-2011 07:57 AM
Whoever has bills to pay, give it back, Bill needs it his head is cold.


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