Greta seems angry.

First case of coronavirus confirmed in Orange County, health officials say

https://mobile.twitter.com/ABC7/status/1221336452719468544

The illustration.

Murray outlined his book in a tweet sequence this morning. I doubt he'd mind it being shared here.—

The publication date for Human Diversity is just two days away, so I’m going to set out some of the basics in a series of tweets. I’ll start with the 10 propositions that make up the core of the empirical presentation.

Here’s the way I introduce the 10 propositions. “Low-hanging fruit” refers to my self-imposed restriction to findings that have broad acceptance within their respective disciplines.

Proposition 1. “Sex differences in personality are consistent worldwide and tend to widen in more gender-egalitarian cultures.” Who would have predicted that sex differences in personality are wider in Denmark than in Burkina Faso? But the pattern is thoroughly replicated.

Proposition 2. “On average, females worldwide have advantages in verbal ability and social cognition while males have advantages in visuospatial abilities and the extremes of mathematical ability.” No net advantage in g for either sex—just distinctive cognitive profiles.

("G" is the 'general factor of intelligence.')

Proposition 3. “On average, women worldwide are more attracted to vocations centered on people and men to vocations centered on things.” Women took advantage of new vocational opportunities in the 1970s. Then a new equilibrium was reached that has persisted for three decades.

Proposition 4. “Many sex differences in the brain are coordinate with sex differences in personality, abilities, and social behavior.” For me, the most fascinating material in the book. I wish I could have made it less dense and difficult. But it’s complicated stuff.

Proposition 5. I especially enjoyed researching this chapter’s section about the peopling of the earth. The work with ancient DNA has already been revelatory, and geneticists have barely scratched the surface.

Proposition 6. “Evolutionary selection pressure since humans left Africa has been extensive and mostly local.” In the last 15 years, it has been found that evolution through changes in allele frequencies can be and often has been rapid. It's typically confined to one continent.

Proposition 7. Geneticists are just beginning to understand what that distinctiveness means. Large databases of non-European populations are required to draw authoritative conclusions. Those databases are in the process of being assembled and will come online over the next few years.

(Consider the possible implications of this kind of research: You should not anticipate that it will flatter you.)

Proposition 8. “The shared environment usually plays a minor role in explaining personality, abilities, and social behavior.” A tour d’horizon of the findings from thousands of twin studies conducted over the last half-century. Old news for those who have been paying attention.

Proposition 9. “Class structure is importantly based on differences in abilities that have a substantial genetic component.” The discussion amounts to Richard Hernstein’s 1973 syllogism (“If differences in mental abilities are inherited….”) elaborated with genomic findings.

Proposition 10. “Outside interventions are inherently constrained in the effects they can have on personality, abilities, and social behavior.” Probably will be the most fiercely denounced proposition. People hate the idea that it is true. But it is. Yes, I deal with epigenetics.

We are destined to become who we are. You should stop your childish whining as early as you possibly can: You have more important things to do.

He's lying… That's really her!

Neat spapshot.

Snap. Snapshot. Sorry.

Here's a list of resources.

We're long overdue to outlaw helicopters.

Bring back the autogyro.

Darth linked this Quillette piece about the limitations of the scientific method as currently practiced.

Everyone thought this was a really cute photo, but peer review is only one way to protect ourselves from careerist corruption of science. (Replication is another.)

…

Listen, people who claim to love science without beefing up their own understanding of statistical truth are bullshitting: Consensus won't protect you from anything.

Science is a human process like anything else, with small-minded practitioners and deeply entrenched interests. "Scientists," as a career descriptor, aren't to be blindly trusted any more than are bankers or short-order cooks or anyone else…

Especially when they say something that you like of find titillating.

It's why I felt bad about (perhaps) jumping the gun on that Feigl-Ding link yesterday.

Everything you hear about science deserves critique and suspicion of motives, including this—

Hanging over the coronavirus “outbreak” is the terrifying possibility that the disease was not the result of bat soup or bad fish or snake tartar, all of which have been mentioned as possible sources of the rogue pathogen. Here’s Nature.com News from roughly three years ago:

A laboratory in Wuhan is on the cusp of being cleared to work with the world’s most dangerous pathogens. The move is part of a plan to build between five and seven biosafety level-4 (BSL-4) labs across the Chinese mainland by 2025, and has generated much excitement, as well as some concerns.

The daughter was stunning.

Is There a Link Between Gluten Consumption and Infertility?

https://naturalwomanhood.org/is-there-a-link-between-gluten-consumption-and-infertility-undiagnosed-celiac-disease-cd-unexplained-infertility-2020/

In case anybody's interested:

Coronavirus live thread 1-26

Ding Dong Death. This maniac should swing from a rope.

'Doorbell Ditch' Prank Led to Crash That Killed 3 Teens, Officials Say