An Effect of Birth Order on IQ

Over my undergrad and graduate career, I've read a lot about intelligence. It's overall a very controversial topic in psychology. A new Norwegian study published in the journal Science quite convincingly demonstrates that older siblings (in the case of this study, they looked at 241, 310 men) will have a slightly higher IQ than their younger siblings. What is fascinating is that it is not so much the effect of being the first born as the effect of being the eldest in the family, because this effect was also found in boys whose oldest sibling had died during childhood and now found themselves the oldest of the family. A companion article by a psychologist at Berkeley outlines plausible reasons for this effect. The most likely theory is that oldest children find themselves in roles of tutoring youngest children and sharing knowledge and that this role benefits more the oldest child than the youngest. Anyway, there are many more fascinating intricacies to it all, but I thought this was so interesting.

This Feels Like An April's Fool Joke...

but I guess it isn't: Falling in Love With Objects. My brain is broken by trying to understand this. How can you be in a sexual relationship with an iBook? I want to know. As much as they want to claim they're not fetishists, I beg to differ. Anyway, I am not going to judge too much because I was far too invested and happy on Thursday night, knowing two fictional characters were finally going on a date. ;) Well, you know though it is not a deep-abiding love for fictional characters and I'm not sleeping with Jim and Pam action figures as of yet. LOL Although I may as well come out and say it, I would date Jim Halpert if he were real. Ha!



How cute are they? Very cute.

So Let Me Put This On Paper...

or on screen or whatever to get it out of my head. I'm trying to write, but this keeps popping back into my head, but if I do commit it to a little corner outside of my head, it might stop running through my mind...

Yesterday, I went with a few colleagues to lunch to a prof's house. He has nice country home in a resort town and we drove out there. We do this a few times a year. We organize a potluck, and it is always a lovely time. The prof's wife is also in the same discipline as we all are, but the others are researchers while I focus more on clinical work as does she so she always tends to engage me on the topic. Nevermind that I've never asked for advice, that's all perfectly good and fine that she wants to dispense wisdom. Mentoring is helpful. The problem is, she kills my spirit. I am all for realistic appraisal of the field, its limitations, job prospects, and all that good stuff but she is such a downer. I have a feeling that she is a bit disillusioned with her career and she is not the most upbeat/relaxed person to start with but still...

I swear, every time I've had a conversation with her about this, she makes me feel like I should quit my degree and get myself to the unemployment office stat because that is where I'll end up anyway. She has repeated me things like "You should get experience and training with a pediatric population. That is where the interesting jobs are." It's all well and good except 1) I told her it is not of interest to me to work with children, 2) I am quite far along within my degree to pick up something like that which would require a lot more work, and 3) I don't think I could handle working with sick kids all the time. I am willing to make concessions regarding a lot of things, but I am not going to get trained in something just because I may find more jobs that I wouldn't want anyway. I also told her all my experience has been in setting X but I'd also like to explore setting Y after graduation through some contacts who might be able to hook me up with opportunities. I don't know if I'd like setting Y, I have a feeling setting X is more for me, but since there are fewer jobs in setting X and they don't tend to pay as well combined with a greater flexibility in setting Y, I want to give it Y a try. She proceeded to tell me that indeed setting X is much better, even if there are no jobs in it, and why setting Y is all wrong, and how it is so difficult to make ends meet in that setting. Thanks, that was very helpful.

This went on and on about a variety of aspects of the job for like 15 minutes. Basically, everything I am interested in about the job was either: a) the opposite of what I should do if I want to get a good job or b) will be impossible to find. I am always a little thrown by at 1) her lack of sensitivity towards my enthusiasm for my field and my future and 2) just plain discouraged and sad. It's not like I am getting a Ph.D. in Cloud Shovelling/Unicorn Chasing/Leprechaun Surgery. Anyway, people suck sometimes.

Suck It, Spyware!

Wow, my post titles contain a lot of questionable words these last few days. Hmmm. So after spending the night trying to fix the stupid computer (I was up until 5 am), it still wasn't working. I called a service, and they could come to fix it tomorrow. I made an appointment, but decided to take another crack at the computer. I think I may just have fixed it. I think it was some spyware that was bogging the whole thing down. I'm not done yet, but keep your fingers crossed!

I had to post a link to the Onion article, because the psych student in me can't resist: Report: US May Have Been Abused During Formative Years. It is just a brilliant satire. They made the DSM-IV (the Bible of psych diagnoses in psych) the Democratic Symptoms Of Maltreatment handbook. They have so many great reports, but another one is Cost of Living Now Outweighs Benefits. Business rules applied to the extreme. Hee. Man, I love funny clever people. I need to marry one of those.

Girls' Bike Club: "Shut Up Tom Cruise" edition

Sars at Tomato Nation has The Vine, her rocking advice column, as well as many interesting essays. My favourite series of essays is without a doubt the Girls' Bike Club. The Girls' Bike Club is basically a collection of male celebrities who either get into legal problems or are generally acting like idiots, jackasses, and/or douchebags. The format of the essays is just as a discussion between Sars and her friend Wing. It always cracks me up so. Well, this week's essay is all about Crazy Tom Cruise, and angry Russell Crowe. It's a good read.

Seriously, what is up with Tom Cruise? I'm very empathetic towards people who suffer from mental illness, not that Cruise suffers from one as Scientologists believe there is no such thing as mental illness or, at least, nothing that can't be solved with vitamins. *shakes head* Anyway, regardless, it's very sad and dismaying to see him unravelling like that. Sanity is a sad thing to misplace.

Besides that, I'm reading Vanity Fair in my very scarce free time (i.e., while eating a meal or on the subway). Anyway, good profile of Nicole Kidman, if not exactly hard-hitting. But she doesn't deserve to be hit hard at this time (see crazy Tom and his formely-charming teen star bride-to-be). There is also an interesting story about the Michael Jackson's trial, an event I've been avoiding like the plague. There is also a piece on Iran, and the article I've been waiting for, the revelation of the real identity of Deep Throat. Can't wait to read it.

Prior to my purchase of Vanity Fair, I was reading "Un dimanche à la piscine à Kigali", a semi-fictionalized story about the genocide in Rwanda. Very well-written book on a very disturbing topic.

Picked up Gwen Stefani's "Love. Angel. Music. Baby." & "Motown Unmixed" at HMV today. I'm currently playing Gwen Stefani's album, and it's wonderful!

Wow, I realized I was able to talk about a bunch of things not involving my job. Unbelievable! Good thing because I had a really long & somewhat stressful day. I love teaching but it's one tough job.

Night!