Beyond The Board the first doctoral study of SKATEBOARDING

You can download the actual study HERE

or watch this summary from this skate blogger:



Very cool stuff, particularly for those who don't already know, but for those that do, it's great to have this scientific study to share with those who don't.

DO FOX NEWS VIEWERS REALLY HAVE ‘AN IQ THAT IS 20 POINTS LOWER THAN THE U.S. NATIONAL AVERAGE’?

from DangerousMinds

We’ve known for a long time that Fox News has the oldest cable audience (average age 65) and we know, too, that Fox has the dumbest and most misinformed audience. But are they really THIS DUMB?

A PRWeb press release reposted on Yahoo News, “Intelligence Institute Study shows Fox News viewers have an IQ that is 20 points lower than the U.S. National average.” is currently quite high on the hit parade at reddit/r/politics. I’d like to believe that’s true, but it’s very obviously a prank.

Although it admittedly does feel “true enough” to be plausible for a moment (or even two moments) if you do a search for “The Intelligence Institute” and “lead researcher, P. Nichols” you don’t come up with much. In this case, just a bunch of people who are either gullible lefties who want to believe this is true, reposting it frantically, or else people who simply find the writing hysterically funny.

I wonder who paid PRWeb to post this:

The results of a 4 year study show that Americans who obtain their news from Fox News channel have an average IQ of 80, which represents a 20 point deficit when compared to the U.S. national average of 100. IQ, or intelligence quotient, is the international standard of assessing intelligence.

Researchers at The Intelligence Institute, a conservative non-profit group, tested 5,000 people using a series of tests that measure everything from cognitive aptitude to common sense and found that people who identified themselves as Fox News viewers and ‘conservative’ had, on average, significantly lower intelligent quotients. Fox Viewers represented 2,650 members of the test group.

One test involved showing subjects a series of images and measuring their vitals, namely pulse rate and blood pressure. The self-identified conservatives’ vitals increased over 35% when shown complex or shocking images. The image that caused the most stress was a poorly edited picture of President Obama standing next to a “ghostly” image of a child holding a tarantula.

Sweet Jeebus is that droll. But it’s still totally plausible isn’t it?

Test subjects who received their news from other outlets or reported they do not watch the news scored an average IQ of 104, compared to 80 for Fox News viewers.

Admittedly. if they said the Fox News watchers had IQs of around 90, I could totally see that, but 80?

Lead researcher, P. Nichols, explains, “Less intelligent animals rely on instinct when confronted by something which they do not understand. This is an ancient survival reaction all animals, including humans, exhibit. It’s a very simple phenomenon, really; think about a dog being afraid of a vacuum cleaner. He doesn’t know what a vacuum is or if it may harm him, so he becomes agitated and barks at it. Less intelligent humans do the same thing. Concepts that are too complex for them to understand, may frighten or anger them.”

He continues, “Fox News’ content is presented at an elementary school level and plays directly into the fears of the less educated and less intelligent.”

The researchers said that an IQ of 80 is well above the score of 70, which is where psychiatrists diagnose mental retardation. P. Nichols says an IQ of 80 will not limit anyone’s ability to lead happy, fulfilling lives.

The study did not conclude if Fox News contributed to lowering IQ or if it attracts less intelligent humans.

Sputtering with laughter on this end…

P. Nichols concludes that he wasn’t shocked by the studies’ results, rather how dramatic their range. “Several previous studies show that self-identified conservatives are less intelligent than self-identified moderates. We have never seen such a homogeneous group teetering so close to special needs levels.”

It’s the sort of thing that could have been written by jokesters on either on the right or from the left, it’s hard to tell what the motivation was here. I expect we’ll find out soon. Since it’s actually funny, I don’t think this is likely to turn out to come from a conservative prankster, but maybe it was.

More info to this study can be seen here:

P. Nichols

The Intelligence Institute

202-656-1746

Email Information

The email information leads nowhere, but if anyone calls the number and gets someone on the line, leave what happens in the comments [at DangerousMinds].

'Vegansexuals' Do It With Each Other

from ABC News

Vegans, a new study has found, are grossed out by sex with meat eaters, and some so-called "vegansexuals" only want to roll in the alfalfa with other super strict vegetarians.

A recent study conducted in New Zealand found that vegans — notoriously finicky eaters who don't eat meat or animal byproducts, like eggs and dairy — don't like the idea of swapping spit (or anything else) with those who have been dining on flesh.

Annie Potts, a researcher at the University of Canterbury's Centre for Human-Animal Studies, noted that vegans, particularly women, found sex with meat eaters disgusting.

Vegans, she told ABC News.com from New Zealand, don't like sex with carnivores, for personal reasons: "They're attracted to people with similar interests;" ideological reasons: "they see meat eaters' bodies as being composed of the lives of others;" and sexual reasons: "they didn't want to engage in intimate sex ... because of the smells and tastes of their body fluids."

Potts sampled 157 vegans, 120 of whom were female.

All of the women, according to Potts, fell along a continuum. Some expressed discontent with being with meat-eating men, while others would sleep only with other vegans.

"It is totally, totally true," said Janna Cunnigham, a 46-year-old Brooklyn, N.Y., native, about the smells and tastes of carnivores.

"Their body odor is pungent. Their sweat is extremely smelly. Their spit, and all their body fluids, are strong and stinky. Vegetarian people are not so smelly," Cunningham, who has been a vegetarian for 32 years, and a vegan for 10, told ABC News.com.

Cunningham added that she has dated both meat eaters and vegetarians, but would stick to seeing only vegetarians in the future.

While PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, has long advocated people give up meat and go vegetarian, the animal rights group has its misgivings about vegans only sleeping with other vegans.

"Sex is a very effective form of outreach and activism," said Dan Shannon, a PETA spokesman, and 10-year veteran vegan, who thought meat eaters could be converted by their partners.

Shannon said he knew vegans who dated vegans exclusively, but suggested that acting repulsed by the scent of your date probably wasn't the best way to change his or her mind about veganism.

Potts said PETA's attitude differed from what was a very personal sentiment on the part of vegans who participated in the survey.

"PETA is taking a political position by using the bedroom to recruit vegans — this is about intimate relationships."

Potts added that more women responded to her survey than men, but those men who did respond were less likely to be disgusted about having sex with meat eaters.

"As far as I'm concerned, it doesn't matter too much to me," said Mike Hartikka, a 20-year-old vegan from San Diego, who has been in relationships with meat eaters and vegetarians.

But, he says, when it comes to long-term relationships, he would rather be with vegetarians or vegans.

That sentiment is borne out by Potts' research.

"It is really not that unusual that people want to be in relationships with those who they have things in common," she said.

I mean, why wouldn't we, or at least anyone with integrity? Being Vegan says a lot about who you are and how you perceive and think about the world around you, and the planet, so hell yeah it makes sense that we'd rather be with people of like minds.