I was inadvertently exposed to the filth and depravity of VH1's "Rock of Love Bus," also known as STDs on Wheels, when I turned on my TV to watch the (relatively) innocent and science-fueled Big Bang Theory.

If you feel like dropping 150 IQ points, here's the clip in all its intellectual and classy glory. If you don't have any neurons to spare, here's a quote that sums up the few minutes' worth of the show I saw (and that's all I ever want to see), as Bret Michaels expresses his heartfelt emotions with lyricism inspired by the deep wells of pure love: "You are this rocking hot centerfold, ok?"

A Science Of Human Language - Part #10

In this part of the series, commenced here, I give some concrete examples from various languages of how words can cue the category from which other words were, or are to be selected.

"Can the Saussurean definition of grammar as a structured system of SIGNs be reinterpreted as a structured system of code + information?"

Huang, Chen and Gau¹, Institute of Linguistics,
Academia Sinica.

Although possessing an undeniable bias against consciousness and mood altering drugs, courtesy of the 1960s and 1970s, I was curious to see what progress had been made utilizing these same substances to treat addictions.  Allegorically, we have vaccines derived from pathogens to prevent disease, thus grudgingly but also with a bit of morbid fascination, I can admit that hallucinogens and their derivatives might be effective in treating some individuals with certain addictions, and precedence seems to support this hypothesis.

A Science Of Human Language - Part #9

This is a funny question to ask.  Funny in that no one has ever asked this of me before, and yet a few moments of reflection reveal how utterly important such a question is.

The simple answer is that no, I am not living the life expected or wished for.  As a child of the 50s and fan of “Dr. Kildare” and “Ben Casey”, I wanted desperately to be a surgeon.  Before I was 10 years old, my plans were laid – I would work at a big hospital and save lots of lives regardless of ability to pay.  I took the Hippocratic Oath to heart and believed in it completely.  Although I retained the intention well into my 20s, an assault endured at 10 years of age effectively put an end to that idea.

In Was Michael Jackson A Pedophile? we dismissed the idea that Michael Jackson was gay and the unlikeliness of his being a clinical pedophile along with being an autogynephile.  So what was he?

The predictably massive postmortem analysis of Michael Jackson has focused on both his enormous talent and his spectacular strangeness. Although there is lively debate whether Jackson or Elvis Presley is the all time King of Pop, there is no question which of them is the King of Weird.

Elvis Presley had his quirks—secret meetings with Nixon, shooting at television sets, and of course, drug abuse. But these did not compare with Michael Jackson's bizarre physical appearance, abetted by untold plastic surgeries; child-like speech; enjoyment in sleeping with (and perhaps "sleeping with") boys; obsession with Peter Pan; and of course, drug abuse. 

How many of you are afraid of something? Well, it's probably all in your head. Literally.

Warrior Goddesses can be afraid too

I am not a fearful person. Growing up I played with Teela and He-Man, She-Ra and G.I. Joe - no plastic prissy domesticated girly dolls for me.


I also had the She-Ra with the purple shield, facemask and sword - and had the Becky-sized costume to match.

Although the apparent increase of deviant sexual behaviors is of great concern to many, few crimes inspire a more impassioned response than pedophilia.

Proponents for decriminalizing pedophilic predation are equally as ardent as those who would seek the most severe penalties for such behaviors. On a global scale, the inability to reach a consensus concerning sexual involvement with children requires that science determine why some individuals are sexually aroused by children.

Only with definition can we categorically declare pedophilia as criminal behavior, else the debate will continue and more than likely conclude as a civil rights issue – with the rights of adults taking precedence over the rights of children.

University of Minnesota Medical School researcher Iris Borowsky, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues found that one in seven adolescents believe that it is highly likely that they will die before age 35, and this belief corresponded to more adolescents engaging in risky behaviors.

Borowsky and colleagues analyzed data collected by the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, a nationally representative sample of more than 20,000 youth in grades 7 through 12 during three separate study years. In the first set of interviews, nearly 15 percent of adolescents predicted they had a 50/50 chance or less of living to age 35.

The Columbine school shooting in the US and Dawson College in Canada are examples of recent traumatic events that, due to their broad timeframe, allow researchers to examine their residual impact.

The Columbine shooting occurred in 1999 and was followed by 60 similar ones, despite increases in gun regulations in the US and Canada, twice as many as the previous decade.   Part of the reason may be 'copycat' attempts at the kind of impact and attention Columbine brought. 

A Science Of Human Language - Part #8

A Science Of Human Language - Part #7

The first two articles of this series have covered a brief overview of evolutionary psychology and the difficulty in defining and measuring intelligence. In the first article, I covered that we can measure what people prefer and value, but we don’t know the "why" behind those preferences and values.

An evolutionary psychologist from the London School of Economics, Satoshi Kanazawa, wrote a paper on the origin of individual values and preferences that suggests values are tied to IQ, and you can theoretically predict the values of a nation based on its average intelligence.

A Science Of Human Language - Part #6 : Quistic Grammar


Part #1 of this series outlines the need for an inclusive theory of language based in science.  Part #2 

In a unique study of four previously convicted adult male pedophiles (Mage = 33.8, SD 9.7 years), utilizing structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and imaging genomics (neuroimaging combined with genetic analyses), the authors propose that small variations in genotypes are responsible for paraphilic phenotypic expression (Tost, Vollmert, Brassen, Schmitt, Dressing, Braus, 2004).
    

A Science Of Human Language - Part #5


This article is a continuation and expansion of the theory of mental models, introduced in part #4.

A Science Of Human Language - Part #4


In Part #1
of this series, I suggested that a grammar heavily based in syntax was not sufficiently scientific as a general theory of how language functions.

Part #2  was an overview of how linguistic error-handling processes can add to the reliability and predictability of communication using human language.

Where we are born not only determines how we speak apparently how we taste food and drink, according to Andy Taylor, a researcher in flavor technology at The University of Nottingham and Greg Tucker, a food psychologist.

The taste preferences of the UK's major regions have been analyzed by the pair and Taylor of the Flavour Research Group said, "Taste is determined by our genetic make-up and influenced by our upbringing and experience with flavours. Just as with spoken dialects, where accent is placed on different syllables and vowel formations, people from different regions have developed enhanced sensitivities to certain taste sensation and seek foods that trigger these."

A Science Of Human Language - Part #3

In Part #1
of this series, I suggested that a grammar heavily based in syntax was not sufficiently scientific as a general theory of how language functions.

Part #2 was an overview of how linguistic error-handling processes can add to the reliability and predictability of communication using human language.