Undead Astronauts

1. If you’re a single guy looking for a girl, you might prefer to live in an area where there are lots of single girls relative to single guys. If so, then according to this chart, you’d probably like to live in Massachusetts where the ratio is around 51% of guys to girls. Only Delaware is lower and just slightly at that. The chart is also interesting because it shows only 5 states in the US with the ratio trending upwards with more men. The reason the majority of states are trending lower is that so many single women are delaying marriage.
2. A new study reports that hetero guys are signaling strength when they dance. The same researchers had previously reported that girls preferred the dance moves of males who were more symmetric (an indication of gene quality). The new study indicates that dance also signals strength to other guys who see them dance.

Researchers at Northumbria University filmed 30 males, aged 19-37, as they danced to a basic drum rhythm. Participants also completed a fitness test and assessments of upper and lower body strength. The dance clips were converted into virtual humanoid characters (avatars) and rated by women and men on perceived dance and physical qualities. The ratings were then correlated with various biomechanical indices.

The results showed that both sexes found significant positive associations between an individual’s hand grip strength and their perceived dance quality, these qualities were picked up by the size and vigour of the movements of the upper body and arms.

I’m slightly skeptical of their results from seeing how they conducted their previous study, but it’s at least plausible. I’ve certainly been impressed at how much strength and control certain bboy moves require.

Not an entirely surprising result.

Pew Research has a wide ranging report on the status of Asians in the US. One wonders if the author was thinking about China’s “rise” when he titled this report.

It covers some familiar ground about education and income (Asians are group with highest in both). It also reaffirms some long held views that I haven’t seen numbers on, such as importance of family.

More than half (54%) say that having a successful marriage is one of the most important things in life; just 34% of all American adults agree. Two-thirds of Asian-American adults (67%) say that being a good parent is one of the most important things in life; just 50% of all adults agree.

They are more likely than all American adults to be married (59% vs. 51%); their newborns are less likely than all U.S. newborns to have an unmarried mother (16% vs. 41%); and their children are more likely than all U.S. children to be raised in a household with two married parents (80% vs. 63%).

The tiger mom perception is confirmed to no one’s surprise.

Nearly four-in-ten (39%) say that Asian-American parents from their country of origin subgroup put too much pressure on their children to do well in school. Just 9% say the same about all American parents. On the flip-side of the same coin, about six-in-ten Asian Americans say American parents put too little pressure on their children to succeed in school, while just 9% say the same about Asian-American parents.

Religiosity and political views in this survey generally matches the information posted yesterday. There’s a ton more information in the full report, but it’s so large I haven’t finished reading it. Here are some of the key numbers.

The full report is 8 pages. Quite comprehensive and really too much to cover in a blog post. As I read more of it, I’ll post anything that sticks out.

Charles Murray (of The Bell Curve fame) has a new book out called Coming Apart. In it, he makes an argument that class lines in recent decades have solidified such that the upper class and working class don’t understand each other’s lives anymore.

He has a quiz which he says will give the responder an idea of his own ignorance of working class life and also an idea of how widespread that ignorance reaches within his circle of friends. Here is the 25 question quiz. Some of the questions seem really fuzzy to me as my idea of a close friend is probably different from other people’s idea of a close friend, and some of them seem like regional questions. But in general, a quiz taker will probably understand the thrust of his questions.

Living in the south and considering the places I’ve been and things I’ve done for work , I would have thought my score would be rather higher. I scored a 25 which would put me as slightly more isolated than the typical first-generation upper-middle-class person with middle-class parents. But as this test and book was probably more geared toward describing whites, I think some of the bubble effect is related to my racial/ethnic background. Regardless of the reasons, it’s true that I haven’t often encountered individuals from other stations in life. Until recently, I didn’t hang out with anyone without at least a college degree, much less be able to call one of them a close friend. That has changed within the past several years, but only in a technical sense as the friend I’m thinking of was prevented from attending college for documentation reasons and not because she was unwilling or unable to finish the coursework.

How thick is your bubble and how well do you think you understand the lives of working class people?

From your genes’ POV, winning means building more replicating machines (us) so that they become more numerous. Since guys don’t worry about actually bearing a child to term, they tend to have sex more freely than girls. The guys who used to have the ability to do that tended to be rich and/or powerful. Now? If you are a CEO or a nobel laureate or have other highly valued signalling qualities (Harvard grad, doctor, etc), donate some sperm, and you will potentially father some 150 kids to women in search of superior genetic material.

I’ve actually thought about donating sperm in lieu of having actual kids, but I’m sure that I don’t meet the height selection criteria of most women. Unfortunately, the linked article mentions numerous groups that believe it’s unethical to allow more than 10-25 kids to any one donor. We should actually be encouraging this behavior, but instead we glorify idiot kids that get pregnant and have idiot babies at 16 by putting them on tv. High value sperm and eggs are a small antidote to dysgenic population trends.

One unfortunate side effect, however, of assortative mating (or insemination) between high IQ types is that there’s a higher chance the kid will be autistic. Too much of a good thing apparently.

US News has put out a ranking of the top 100 public high schools in the US for 2011. Conveniently they let you see the schools with high Asian American percentages. 4 of the top 5, and 6 of the top 10 schools have high Asian American attendance (>20%). 40 schools with a high Asian population are on the list. Only 2 are ranked 90 or lower. Well no surprise there. Tim at 8asians also points out that 10 of those 100 schools are in San Francisco. I counted at least 21 in NYC metro area. Not all of those schools are Asian dominated of course, but a significant fraction of them are.

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“Love thyself last” – William Shakespeare

There’s a particular liberal dream for the future in which racial discord will disappear due to interracial relations. Every race, so the dream goes, will inevitably mix with every other race, and in so doing, skin color (among other attributes) will blend and everyone will live in perpetual unity. Okay, that’s a bit of an exaggeration… but only a bit.

Do any racial groups actually follow Shakespeare’s advice and love themselves last? OkTrends puts this dream to the test. In a hypothetical world where all racial populations are the same in number, what would dating patterns look like? Would there be a “winner” or would things even out? The result may surprise you as they surprised me.

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