Undead Astronauts

the national sleep foundation polled ppl of different racial groups and found that there were both similarities and differences. all groups reported getting less sleep than they wanted, and the vast majority of every group knew that lack of sleep led to health disorders. with that said, here’s the interesting stuff.

While watching TV was the activity most often performed every night or almost every night for all ethnic groups within one hour of going to bed, Asians were less likely than their counterparts to report doing so (52% vs. 75% Blacks, 72% Hispanics and 64% Whites).

Asians were much more likely to have been on the computer or Internet every night or almost every night than the other ethnic groups in the hour before bed (51% vs. 22% Whites, 20% Blacks and 20% Hispanics).

Meanwhile, Blacks were much more likely to have reported praying or doing another religious activity during this time every night or almost every night than their counterparts (71% vs. 45% Hispanics, 32% Whites and 18% Asians).

Hispanics tended to complete household chores every night or almost every night more often in the hour before bed time than their counterparts (41% vs. 33% Blacks, 25% Whites and 24% Asians).

Blacks (10%) and Hispanics (10%) were both more likely to report having sex every night or almost every night in the one hour before they went to bed than Whites (4%) and Asians (1%). [尸zed: oh come on...]

Asians were the least likely ethnic group to have consumed alcohol within one hour of bed time every night or almost every night (1% vs. 7% Whites, 4% Blacks and 4% Hispanics).

Whites are most likely to sleep with their pets — as well as more likely to sleep with their spouse or significant others. Sixteen percent of white respondents say they sleep with a pet, and 72% say they sleep with their partners. In comparison, only 4% of Asians, 4% of Hispanics, and 2% of black people let the pet on the bed. But the space isn’t always saved for a spouse or partner, apparently. Only 48% of blacks and Asians sleep with a ”significant other,” and 54% of Hispanics.

Recession-related stresses affected sleep to different degrees, with Hispanics and blacks more affected than whites or Asians.

Overall, Asians were the most likely ethnic group to say they get a good night’s sleep at least a few nights a week (84% vs. 72% Hispanics, 68% Whites and 66% Blacks), and Asians were also the least likely to have been asked about or discussed sleep with a HCP or doctor (31% vs. 56% Whites, 48% Hispanics and 45% Blacks).

i the skimmed about half the report which is huge. answering all the questions must’ve been a big snore.

a study has come out that asked college freshmen how many AP courses they took in high school. this is not a measure of iq. it is only a measure of how hard a student is willing to push himself in high school. obviously asians answered that they took more AP courses than other groups. this is in spite of the fact that more white and hispanic kids went to schools that offered AP courses. from previous studies u might then expect the following group order: asians, whites, hispanics, blacks. but in fact it doesn’t go that way.

hispanics actually take more AP courses than whites. looking further into the numbers, u see that a higher percentage of hispanics go to schools where AP classes are offered. but even so, the numbers show that hispanic kids are willing to work harder in the classroom.

unfortunately even though they take the class at higher rates, their rate of scoring 3′s or above is lower than whites. so while it may be that they work harder than whites, hispanics aren’t seeing all the fruits that might be expected from that hard work.

hat tip to 8asians for the story link.

an online dating site decided to go through their own dating data and see how race affected dating. and of course, anytime data such as this is posted, it’s gonna make some group (or all of them) look racist and/or pathetic.

the data held something that ran counter to my expectations: black women responded more to every race of message sender than any other female groups. that surprised me b/c i had always thought they wanted to date black men. that apparently isn’t true as the data shows something a little sadder…

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inflammatory title no? it’s not like i’m against desegregation in theory. like some magical panacea, if u desegregate, everyone will suddenly go colorblind and not see race but rather individuals. but when u read some of the current news, it doesn’t suggest that, by itself, desegregation leads to improved racial relations.

from newsweek:

Moody found that the more diverse the school, the more the kids self-segregate by race and ethnicity within the school, and thus the likelihood that any two kids of different races have a friendship goes down. (more…)

another steve sailor related post dealing w/ testing and ricci aftermath. he posts the percent of AP test takers who pass each test (earn 3, 4, or 5) by race in 2008. the reason he does this is b/c the equal employment opportunity commission (EEOC) that came up w/ the regulation that a test is racially “valid” only if the lowest scoring group passes at 80% of the rate of the highest scoring group. i considered posting the numbers, but u should just go to steve’s site for that.

the upshot is that none of the 38 AP tests conform to the 4/5 rule set by the EEOC. if attending college was considered a job, AP tests would be illegal. the tests where NAMs come closest to reaching 80% are french (74%), 3d studio art(73%), spanish lit (73%), and 2d studio art (72%).
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the nytimes has a story on how interracial roommates decrease prejudicial views except when one roommate is asian. it cites a UCLA study that attempted to verify or disprove contact theory. contact theory is the idea that social contact between different racial groups can, in itself, serve to lessen prejudicial views. the researchers studied the # of roommates from different groups, group affect (how positively/negatively a person viewed ppl from other groups), intergroup unease & competence (ease and competance person felt in dealing w/ ppl from other groups), the symbolic racism, social dominance orientation,  anti-misegenation attitudes, friendship homogeniety, and interracial dating present in 1st year students. it then kept track of those students’ roommates for 4-5 years in college and restested them at the end to see how their attitudes tracked. (more…)

during a recent stroll downtown al47, archon and myself were talking about the need to revitalize downtown hsv. this has been a long standing issue w/ downtown b/c it has basically been (un)dead since as long as i can remember.

we noticed a new restaurant had popped up called, cotton row. but unfortunately, the jazz factory has moved to oregon. i can’t say i frequented the jazz factory much, but it’s one less reason to go downtown and there weren’t many reasons to go to begin w/.

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