Family Trees May Contain Nuts: RANDOM MONDAY THOUGHTS

Just some random stuff this morning.

Why was Kiss at the Country Music Awards? I don?t like country but my BB Guy does so he was watching it. I didn?t pay attention at all but then looked up and saw Kiss. And really how do we know that it really was Kiss under all that makeup? They could be fill ins.

KISS2

Octomom has now applied for welfare. Gee so surprised. What took so long. Shame on her and everyone who helped her breed a herd of children that she had no hope of supporting.

(I was going to post a picture of a litter of puppies here but thought that isn?t fair to the children)

So as many as 40% of big lottery winners wish they had never won the money. Seriously? I promise you I would never be in that group. Money may not buy happiness but are people so unhappy that the release from financial pressures wouldn?t be a huge benefit to their lives?

lotto

An estimated one in 88 children in the US has some form of autism spectrum disorder. This is a 78% increase since 2002. Now I understand the increase comes partly from more diagnosis being made and not necessarily all from an increase of the disorder. This should be a high priority for research into the causes.

autism

Technology experts are working on cars that ?talk? to each other warning of lane changes and other important things. This is basically driverless driving. I wonder if the other car will swear at the car that is pushing its way over into the occupied lane, maybe sending up a big car middle finger to show that the lane is occupied.

And that is it for me. Thanks for stopping by.

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RIM focuses on CDMA phones to boost India sales | Firstpost

GSM and CDMA are two mobile telephony technologies, of which GSM is dominant in India with telecom operators like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular offering services across India. On the other hand, CDMA ?

Read this article:
RIM focuses on CDMA phones to boost India sales | Firstpost


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2012 Intellectual Property Scholars Roundtable, Drake University Law

Panel 1: Copyright and CyberLaw

Prof. M. Scott Boone, Appalachian School of Law Virtual Property and Copyright: Taking the First Sale Doctrine into Virtual Space General concept: apply virtual property/object theories originally developed in connection with virtual worlds to first sale.? Copyright Act speaks of ?property rights in any material object,? ?202, and also ?computer programs,? ?117.? The latter was designed to protect ordinary user rights, starting to capture the idea of a virtual object which isn?t necessarily just one iteration of code sitting in RAM or sitting on the hard disk. The object is the combination of the functional software with the data with the copies in multiple places that together allow the user to do something. That?s the underlying idea anyway.? Those things shouldn?t be treated separately for purposes of infringement, because they work together to create one usable object. Barrier: contracts. A license isn?t a transfer of ownership, and thus first sale doesn?t apply to avoid distribution liability even if there?s no reproduction. One possibility: revise ?109 to add in rightful possessors, or a principle of mutuality?whatever user gets from copyright owner, user can transfer.? Copyright owners argue that they retain power to terminate licenses, even though they never really intend to do so.? Some software might be linked with a service and we wouldn?t want it transferable?might want an exception for such cases where it?s really a personal negotiated relationship instead of a sale of consumer goods. Second problem with contracts: restraint on alienation; can still add a contractual promise not to distribute even if it?s not a license. Barrier: technology.? DRM can prevent transfer; legal restraints on circumvention.? Need ?109 for ?1201? Prof. Thomas C. Folsom, Regent University School of Law Property concepts can change with code: if X sells poisoned flowers and Y doesn?t like the petals drifting over her fence, one must give; but if X can code the flowers to be nonpoisonous unless they leave the property with her permission, then both can win.? Code allows performativeness: can change reality immediately upon utterance.? There should be degrees of coded exceptionalism.? Build code to manage people?s relationships to focal points (Superman, the Eiffel Tower) that shape their decisions. The Magician?s Horse: Designing Code and Other Laws Beyond Cyberspace Prof. Jon M. Garon, Chase College of Law, Northern Kentucky University Legal Education in Disruption: Headwinds and Tailwinds of Technology Disruption: when change is choked off, the ultimate change is even greater and more disastrous.? Disruptive tech, etc.; globalization, pressure on state from ability of individuals to communicate; ability to aggregage/disaggregate info in cloud culture, including Facebook; internet of things, RFID chips; network effects creating real winners and losers from being on or off the dominant system?all triggers for disintermediation.? Globalization is also affecting law; BigLaw is where most people have focused on?huge economies of scale/control are possible so that consolidation of power in corporations is mirrored with law firms providing similar services. His focus: the bottom of the pyramid?software, self-help dramatically changing the environment. 2/3 of legal services have moved to corporate clients, who are more price sensitive. Most model rules are designed to protect the individual against the lawyer; the bargain is not as skewed with 500 lawyers in-house.? Lawyers as gatekeepers to info have fallen out of favor and we?re in a self-help world; costs of legal services have become incredibly difficult to pay and the value proposition is hard to justify if you can research it yourself.? Texas courts tried to block software formbooks but the legislature struck back. We?re only self regulated when the public wants us to be. Money is coming to legal forms: Kleiner Perkins invested $100 million and Institutional Venture Parters invested $41 million in LegalZoom; Google has invested; FindLaw is a ThompsonReuters company, who?s also invested in the leading Indian legal outsourcing company.? Direct legal services and mediating access to the public?not just a little WestlawNext app. Small is also big: models of socially mediated/curated legal forms are becoming popular; some are free/nonprofit and others proprietary; many use as loss leader.? LegalZoom is being attacked on the bottom--$99 is too expensive for incorporation, we can do it for $34.? Virtual law firm: ex-BigLaw lawyers are connecting virtually through software portals, getting rid of physical overhead; being used by AmLaw 500 companies. This is the wave of middle corporate law firm access, creating new relationships with attys.? New practice guides/ethics rules are emerging. These strategies are being adopted by lawyers but not being taught in law school.? We?ve always decried the end of the profession, but there are changes: modern client wants 24/7 service, without jurisdictional boundaries, very fast. This creates specific dangers for lawyes who need time to think: there?s an ethical constraint on how fast we can work. Thus prepackaged solutions prepared in advance are ethically responsible. Law school market shift: 45,000 students will graduate in an average year, to 25,000 jobs requiring a JD.? We?re producing to an eroded market.? Lawyers must be tech savvy, networked, specialized, unbundled, scalable. To do it well: socially responsible, civically engaged; work-life balance; valued intermediaries providing highly personalized consultative advice.? Legal education teaches content, and some skills?fact investigation, negotiating, client counseling.? Not enough of curriculum is directed towards corporate client practice instead of litigation; we don?t teach how to operate as businesspeople or how to talk to businesspeople.? Core curriculum has to be taught: people need to understand fundamental legal content.? But we should teach critical reasoning and analysis as a course, rather than inferring skills from 1200 page casebook.? Experiential learning?clinics, field placements, simulations, reflective learning from summer jobs/in-house, etc.? We must also pull skills from MBA programs: at a minimum, organizational behavior, management and leadership.? Quantitative and qualitative skills are also important. Prof. David S. Levine, Elon University School of Law Bring in the Nerds: Secrecy, National Security and the Creation of Intellectual Property Law We have no idea what?s happening internationally; compared to international lawmaking, Congress is transparent!? Observation one: secret law is not law.? The ability to see sausage-making on the international stage: FOIA has a national security exemption.? The rubric through which int?l IP law is running currently is ?national security.?? This isn?t based on the anecdotal data that piracy sometimes funds terrorism; the concern at issue here is one of diplomatic relations/effective int?l negotiations.? The ability to negotiate without the public glare; he is not suggesting that all int?l negotiations should be completely transparent and documented.? His concern is that there are fundamental info asymmetries between certain corporate entities with access to the USTR through an administrative process and others.? And the info at issue is the basic negotiating text, which is not known to the public but is known to representatives from content industries. Current executive order includes a variety of topics: national security information, including foreign gov?t info (where IP law tends to fall?draft text has info contributed by other countries); intelligence activities; foreign relations of the US including confidential sources; scientific matters relating to national security; nuclear safeguards; system vulnerabilities; WMDs.? WMDs should probably not be treated in the same way as draft texts about IP law. The impact is severe: ACTA.? Draft FAQ, retrieved through FOIA, included ?What if U.S. positions evolve during negotiations??? ?A: The public can see how the U.S. position has evolved when the final text is signed.?? With regard to the Transpacific Partnership agreement: US says it will disclose this four years from entry into force of the TPP agreement, or four years from the close of negotiations if no agreement enters into force.? If TPP never becomes law, the public will still not know what the negotiations look like for 4 years.? Why does this need to be withheld? We know more about Russia?s ICBMs than about the US position on TPP. Observation two: transparency, accountability and public input. We need nerds to avoid poorly drafted and unbalanced law?see, e.g., SOPA/PIPA and the DNS provisions. FOIA needs to be reconfigured to be more about when public inputs to government are needed; difficult to apply ?right to know? in abstract when competing with significant concerns on the other side.? Transparency is important when an expert would need to know more to opine.? Strong right/presumption for US negotiation texts and other information. Prof. Deborah Tussey, Oklahoma City University School of Law Work for Hire, Work for Free: The Dilemma of the Digital Freelance Background: Lawsuits by HuffPo bloggers; direct dissemination by authors; crowdfunding; voluntary contributions on wikis; worries about getting paid less online.? Is WFH fair, and is it well adapted to a changing environment?? Her focus: Freelance contributors to collective works in the industries most specifically benefited by WFH.? Including revision rights and license interpretation.? Excluding academics and sound recordings. Freelancers? rights get determined at initial allocation, and then subsequently exploitation under license?new uses/new media. Law is written by/for publishers at both stages.? Justified as necessary to facilitate investment in and exploitation of collectively produced works.? Concerned with freelancers and ?employees by interpretation??people who get called employees because of CCNV.? Some special commissions are voluntarily negotiated WFH agreements (Spike Lee directing Malcolm X) and others are involuntary?former employees who?ve been downsized and turned into workers for hire. Consequences may, of course, be severe for rights/duration/termination.? If a freelancer stays out of WFH, new media uses become an issue.? Tasini tried to protect freelancers by excluding electronic republication from the statutory privilege, but this was easily nullified by standard form contracts.? Publisher holds the cards.? Proposals for rectifying this: abandon agency rules as inappropriate; rejigger CCNV and import concepts of informed consent from employment law; encourage authors to organize and collectively bargain.? Intrigued by importing concepts from civil law: generally start from basic rule that employees don?t lose their copyrights, corporations can?t be authors. Then they limit transfers, require writings and specifically enumerated grants; narrowly construe grants; provide statutory royalties.? Intriguing but will Congress take lessons from Europe?? The reality of freelancing: highly variable rewards (makes academic writing look nice). Many writers? organizations are out there, hugely diverse by sex, genre, ethnicity, medium, etc.? Also lots of networking sites.? Some are actual unions engaging in collective bargaining; others offer services including contract review. There are some collective licensing societies.? Copyright tends to lump these folks into a few categories, but freelancers sort themselves more carefully. This might impair collective action, but also indicate problems with copyright?s treatment.? A lot of experimentation with new business models?pay what you want; direct dissemination. A fair number of positions are unpaid, as with HuffPo. Maybe we need distinctions between the kinds of works and/or industries that will likely remain in centralized production mode.? We?re used to centralized studio system for movies, but tools are now available to decentralize.? Could also take differences in creativity into account: contributor to a case report in a database might not deserve copyright, but a contributor of an article to a magazine is different.? May need less incentives for publishers/aggregators as individuals start their own dissemination. Maybe employee should just mean full-time employed, salaried workers.? For non-salaried contributors, they should keep copyright and we should focus on exploitation, taking lessons from civil law countries and deal with licensing as a way to even up the balance. Greg Vetter: we now regulate medical records software?to get federal funding you have to make ?meaningful use,? which is really tightly regulated.? Is this what Folsom is talking about? A: if we look at code world as network that affects living organisms, that can lead us to the right questions. My q: The last three presentations are all about crony capitalism: we live in a world where the winners win big and the costs are outsourced to the individuals on the bottom; tournament structure.? Three different strategies suggested?live with it and help the winners win; top down reform; and something else that might include bottom-up reform. Garon: the bar?s inclination is to protect us from these changes, and it?s been ineffectual; the legal profession is not going to have exceptionalism that will keep competitors out.? The rise of internationalization, WTO, etc.?the model that suggests that we can hold onto our piece of the pie is na?ve. My fiduciary duty to my students: be transparent with them. Levine: Not attempting to delude himself about the role of public choice. Trying to take the actors and assume that they?re operating in good faith.? Has no doubt that campaign finance is the fundamental issue here.? Even if we solve that, there are still info asymmetries?let?s take seriously that policymakers want to make right decisions and look at structural impediments. Most of these decisions are vested in the executive, and you need to resolve procedural/administrative issues. Tussey: WFH is what it is because publishers got it in the 1976 Act.? Freelancers have been at their mercy for a while, and she is not terribly hopeful that will change.? More hopeful that changes in tech may accomplish some things as works are capable of being produced and disseminated directly to their public. Garon: Freelancers provide an interesting forum for collective bargaining; theater and sound recordings have been very heavily negotiated and aren?t in WFH, which illustrates that collective organizations can perform quasi-legislative functions.? Getting all the actors in the room makes a difference, as Levine suggested. Levine: Rep. Issa?s alternative to SOPA/PIPA?public suggestions for the bill. Boone: would also say his project is tied to this?big copyright owners v. the consumer.? If you look at history of first sale, you see a shift/reversal of roles. Copyright owners traditionally fought to hinder secondary markets, like used CDs, VCR rentals. But if the change in the method of distribution leads to getting rid of secondary markets, then it?s the users who need to seek legislative assistance and legalize secondary markets. Sapna Kumar: FOIA change for priority when input to the government is most needed.? Who would make that decision? You don?t want it to be the agency itself?they?ll think they already got the necessary input.? Agencies don?t invest much in FOIA answers. Levine: tech is changing the ability of government to respond more quickly and thoroughly, though e-government has been largely defunded.? Bigger theoretical question is who decides?he?s thinking about how to define the factors. Things like whether there?s a collective interest at issue.? When there?s a specific body of experts with something to provide.? Not trying to eliminate the right to know! Katja Weckstrom: First sale and TM?? Also, for Folsom, beware of legislation?not that great at fine-tuning technical solutions. Boone: What would it mean to look at first sale in TM? Weckstrom: in copyright, contracts are a vehicle to profit from consumer?s use; in TM, this is usually not the case.? Usually no contractual relationship between TM owner and user.? (Compare FB?s new user agreement claiming rights over ?Face? and ?Book.?)? So on that model ability to control market is less; also no DRM. Boone: He?s focused on areas dominated by copyright rights?ebooks, games. Levine: legislative support for the change might come from TM concepts like nominative fair use?it?s ok to sell a legitimate copy--that?s worked very well for hundreds of years. Folsom: yes, skeptical of legislative competence.? He proposes a rule of thumb that any institution can apply. He doesn?t like statutes that become outdated by the time the legislature acts?too much specificity. He wants a rule more like TM, kind of fuzzy. A. Christal Sheppard: Industries say they won?t participate if their comments aren?t private. Levine: he?s skeptical of this. Diebold says that it won?t sell voting machines if it has to be public in a state; a state says no; turns out Diebold wants to be in that market enough to comply!? His response: let?s find out; we know that we?re not getting good law with this flawed process. If you want to be in the room, you?re going to have to deal with the process. Yu: For Levine: Your proposals aren?t very nerdy, but rather legal: is there a nerdy proposal? For Garon: what?s the IP hook? Levine: yes, his proposal is relatively un-nerdy. Could do more with info formatting. Could also put nerds on consultation communities, but FOIA is just not even grappling with these issues. Garon: for Boone, maybe the proposal is strongest when DRM works: you?ve converted the work into an object, and then ?109 rights should apply. Boone: agrees; his paper goes into the theory of the virtual object.? You have to regulate both DRM and contract, since either can allow the copyright owner to prevent a secondary market. That?s asking a lot, so we ask if we really need a secondary market.

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Tech Pills ? Information Technology History

Have you ever wondered what the true meaning of information technology is? Here is a simple article which will help you in understanding the history of Information Technology and also understand the concepts that are involved in Information Technology itself.

During the early years, the term information technology just has a little meaning among people. Information technology then is only understood by few people such as scientists, mathematical engineers, bank workers, and office workers. They call the technology on where they store the different information that is involved in their work as Information Technology.But as the years pass by, the term information technology has become more and more popular among many especially during the time where personal computers were invented. It was in the year 1980?s when people became more and more aware of information technology because it was also in this decade where personal computers where invented.

Today, the term information technology refers to the methods and techniques on how we are able to transmit information to and from different organizations or entities. This means that all the technology that we have today can be considered as a part of what we call Information Technology. From the computer that we use to surf the net or to send and receive email messages to the mobile phones that we use to make and receive calls to and from our loved ones, information technology is almost everywhere.

The effects of information technology that we know today have made our world more convenient and more comfortable to live in. In other words, with the aid of information technology, we are able to live better lives.

Imagine our world without the computers, mobile phones, and other gadgets and gizmos; will you be able to survive? Will we still be able to live the kind of life that we are living today?

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Scooter parts and scooter accessories for the serious rider

With dozens of brands to choose from its hard to know where to start when it comes to choosing your scooter parts and accessories. Therefore, its a good idea to take a look at a specialist scooter website which will offer detailed product descriptions to ensure you are buying the right part for your riding needs.

Scooter Decks

Blunt, Razor, Crisp and Addict decks are high quality brands that manufacture products which are perfect for all serious scooter riders. Their decks come in designs that are strong enough to take hits and light enough for effortless spinning. When selecting your deck, width, brake compatibility and headsets are all important factors to bear in mind. Scooter decks now come in a wide range of stylish colours, allowing you to choose a part which matches your scooter or personalise your ride and choose a completely different design.

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Many specialist scooter companies offer brake fitting services for just a small extra charge. Brake fitting experts will ensure your scooter gets a perfect set up that is right for your riding.

Scooter Wheels

Scooter wheels come in two different sizes. Riders can select either a 100mm or 110mm sized wheel, to suit the dimensions of all good quality scooters.? Wheels also come in hard and soft varieties; a soft wheel is ideal for those who ride in skate parks and on soft surfaces, while hard wheels are perfect for riding on rough street surfaces.

Eagle Sport is a well established brand which offers a wide range of stylish hard wheels, ideal for everyday street riding.
Proto design soft Gripper wheels come in a wide range of colours and are perfect for serious skate park riding.

Scooter Bars

Scooter bars come in many different shapes and sizes, enabling you to customise your scooter for perfect riding.

Steel and chrome scooter bars are manufactured for maximum strength and are often heavier designs. Aluminium bars are often much lighter but still have enough strength for ultimate riding.

Blunt Brendon Smith scooter bars are popular designs from Blunts rider Brendon Smith and are perfect for freestyle riding. Phoenix Suicide bars are designed with Chromoly steel for a solid structure and are available in black, white and raw.

?Scooter Accessories

Specialist online scooter stores stock high quality knee pads for maximum comfort and protection whilst riding. Stylish and comfortable helmets will ensure your head is completely safe when you slip or fall.

Choose a specialist online supplier for top quality scooter parts and accessories.
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Do You Really Need A Structured Settlement Company?

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Generally structured settlements and the regulation and legal processes around it may be very complicated for somebody with no financial background. A structured settlement company will dramatically decrease your ...

Source: http://www.nativeamericanbankers.com/do-you-really-need-a-structured-settlement-company

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How conservatives lost faith in science

msnbc.com

How do liberals and conservatives differ in their attitudes toward science? Statistics indicate that conservatives' confidence in science as an institution has declined dramatically since 1974.

By Alan Boyle

An analysis of 36 years' worth of polling data indicates that confidence in science as an institution has steadily declined among Americans who consider themselves conservatives, while confidence levels have been at steadier levels for other ideological groups.

The study, published in the April issue of the American Sociological Review, provides fresh ammunition for those who complain that conservative views on issues such as climate change are at odds with the scientific consensus.


"You can see this distrust in science among conservatives reflected in the current Republican primary campaign," Gordon Gauchat. a postdoctoral fellow at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Sheps Center for Health Services Research, said in a news release from the American Sociological Association. "When people want to define themselves as conservatives relative to moderates and liberals, you often hear them raising questions about the validity of global warming and evolution, and talking about how 'intellectual elites' and scientists don't necessarily have the whole truth."

It's not clear how much impact Gauchat's study will have on the debate over politics and science: Liberals are likely to see it as confirmation of what they already believe, while conservatives who are skeptical about the scientific elite are likely to greet the scientific claims with skepticism.

But the analysis represents a serious effort to flesh out political attitudes toward science with real data. Gauchat bases his findings on a statistical analysis of survey results from the General Social Survey, a long-running project that has weighed public confidence in social institutions since 1974. The GSS has been conducted annually or semiannually by the University of Chicago's National Opinion Research Center, or NORC, with an annual average of 1,500 Americans taking part.

Gauchat cross-referenced attitudes toward the scientific community with various demographic categories, and found that two categories showed a significant erosion of trust in science: conservatives and frequent churchgoers. People who identified themselves as conservatives voiced more confidence in science than moderates or liberals in 1974, but by 2010, that level had fallen by more than 25 percent.

Gordon Gauchat / UNC-Chapel Hill / ASR

This graph shows the unadjusted mean values for public trust in science, classified by self-reported political ideology between 1974 and 2010. The figures are derived from the General Social Survey.

Why the drop? Gauchat suggested that the character of the conservative movement has changed over the past three and a half decades ? and so has the character of the scientific establishment.

"Over the last several decades, there's been an effort among those who define themselves as conservatives to clearly identify what it means to be a conservative," he said. "For whatever reason, this appears to involve opposing science and universities, and what is perceived as the 'liberal culture.' So, self-identified conservatives seem to lump these groups together and rally around the notion that what makes 'us' conservatives is that we don't agree with 'them.'"

Meanwhile, the perception of science's role in society has shifted as well.

"In the past, the scientific community was viewed as concerned primarily with macro structural matters such as winning the space race," Gauchat said. "Today, conservatives perceive the scientific community as more focused on regulatory matters such as stopping industry from producing too much carbon dioxide."

Gauchat's findings run counter to at least one liberal stereotype about conservatives: that right-wingers are distrustful of scientists because they have less education. The figures do support a link between more education and more trust in science, but they also show that more highly educated conservatives are, if anything, more distrustful.

That trend fits best with the concept that "educated or high-information conservatives will hold hyper-opinions about science, because they have a more sophisticated grasp about what types of knowledge will conform with or contradict their ideological positions, and they will prefer to believe what supports their ideology," Gauchat wrote.

So what does this mean for the role of science in setting national policy? "In a political climate in which all sides do not share a basic trust in science, scientific evidence no longer is viewed as a politically neutral factor in judging whether a public policy is good or bad," Gauchat said. Heightened distrust could turn young people away from careers in science and engineering, and in the long run, that could hurt America's standing in a global economy that is becoming increasingly competitive on the technological front.

Vanderbilt University's Jonathan Metzl and Northwestern University's Jennifer Richeson explain the science behind how the brain weighs decisions and forms political beliefs.

'The Republican Brain'
Gauchat took on this project to assess the claims made by science journalist Chris Mooney in his 2005 book, "The Republican War on Science" ? and Mooney, who reviewed the paper before publication, said the findings confirmed those claims.

Wiley

"The Republican Brain" is the latest book from Chris Mooney.

"It's certainly gratifying to see this study come out," Mooney told me. "I appreciate that the author actually undertook to use data. I'm glad I wasn't just whistling in the wind when it came to Republicans and science."

Now Mooney is coming out with another book, titled "The Republican Brain: The Science of Why They Don't Believe in Science."

"In the book, I'm really careful to say there's what we call 'nature' and what we call 'nurture,' and you can't explain anything in politics without both of them," he said. "Whenever you see change in a group over time, that's probably 'nurture.'"

Mooney said the factors Gauchat mentioned would fit in the nurture category, along with the GOP's "Southern strategy" to bring what were once traditionally Democratic states into the Republican fold. "This is tapping into the power of nurture, but I also say we've ignored nature for too long," he said.

In "The Republican Brain," Mooney weaves his case for "nature" in politics from a variety of studies tracing the brain-based differences between liberal and conservative views of reality. (You'll find some of them by following the links below.)

Live Poll

How much of a role do you think genetics plays in political orientation?

  • 179957

    It's the biggest factor.

    11%

  • 179958

    It's a factor, but not that big.

    45%

  • 179959

    It's not a factor at all.

    43%

VoteTotal Votes: 1396

"You're starting to find things about fixity of belief, desire to have certainty, and you see that these things are also associated with conservatism," he said. "These traits are content-neutral. You could take today's conservatives, stick them in [Soviet] Russia, and they can be very pro-science."

Mooney said people may be born with brains that predispose them either to liberal-leaning traits such as "openness to experience," or conservative-leaning traits such as "conscientiousness."

"The research suggests that people are born with a predisposition, but it's only a predisposition," Mooney said. "'Just born that way' is a phrase that makes me uncomfortable, because it implies some sort of hard wiring. Genes aren't destiny."

If you haven't figured it out by now, Mooney considers himself a liberal, and he's doubtful that any amount of "nurture" could turn him into a conservative. But he said liberals could learn a lot from conservatives, specifically about loyalty to leaders and to their cause. Like conservatives, some liberals may find themselves at odds with the scientific consensus on some issues. Which issues, specifically? Mooney pointed to hard-line stands against hydraulic fracturing (a.k.a. fracking), nuclear power, childhood vaccination and genetically modified organisms.

"Liberals have wanted to believe that if the system were just fair, then everybody would agree with us," he said. "That's a liberal fantasy. Actually, it turns out that liberalism is not the only way of being. ... Liberals should realize that not everybody's like them, and liberals' instincts in politics could be exactly what you don't want to do."

I'm imagining there's a lot to disagree with here, whether you're a liberal or a conservative. Good thing there's a comment section below. To paraphrase Monty Python, this is the right room for an argument.

More about politics and science:


Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter or adding Cosmic Log's Google+ page to your circle. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for other worlds.

Source: http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/29/10911111-study-tracks-how-conservatives-lost-their-faith-in-science

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U.S. says has had good talks with South Korea over Iran sanctions

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-says-had-good-talks-south-korea-over-191329119.html

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France detains 19 suspected Islamist extremists

France's President and candidate for the Presidential Election 2012, Nicolas Sarkozy, delivers his speech during a campaign meeting, in Nimes, southern France, Thursday, March 29, 2012. (AP Photo/Claude Paris)

France's President and candidate for the Presidential Election 2012, Nicolas Sarkozy, delivers his speech during a campaign meeting, in Nimes, southern France, Thursday, March 29, 2012. (AP Photo/Claude Paris)

Relatives use shovels after Mohamed Merah's funeral ceremony in a cemetery near Toulouse, southern France, Thursday, March 27, 2012. Mohamed Merah is blamed for a series of deadly shootings which have shocked France and upended the country's presidential race. Merah, who claimed allegiance to al-Qaida, died in a hail of gunfire one week ago after a dramatic 32-hour-long standoff with law enforcement. Algerian authorities said they didn't want to take Mohamed Merah's remains, as his Algerian-born father had wanted. (AP Photo/Marthial Roland)

Relative use shovels after Mohamed Merah's funeral ceremony in a cemetery near Toulouse, southern France, Thursday, March 27, 2012. Mohamed Merah is blamed for a series of deadly shootings which have shocked France and upended the country's presidential race. Merah, who claimed allegiance to al-Qaida, died in a hail of gunfire one week ago after a dramatic 32-hour-long standoff with law enforcement. Algerian authorities said they didn't want to take Mohamed Merah's remains, as his Algerian-born father had wanted. (AP Photo/Marthial Roland)

Relatives react by the coffin of Mohamed Merah during his funeral ceremony near Toulouse, southern France, Thursday, March 27, 2012. Mohamed Merah is blamed for a series of deadly shootings which have shocked France and upended the country's presidential race. Merah, who claimed allegiance to al-Qaida, died in a hail of gunfire one week ago after a dramatic 32-hour-long standoff with law enforcement. Algerian authorities said they didn't want to take Mohamed Merah's remains, as his Algerian-born father had wanted. (AP Photo/Marthial Roland)

Relatives react by the coffin of Mohamed Merah during his funeral ceremony near Toulouse, southern France, Thursday, March 27, 2012. Mohamed Merah is blamed for a series of deadly shootings which have shocked France and upended the country's presidential race. Merah, who claimed allegiance to al-Qaida, died in a hail of gunfire one week ago after a dramatic 32-hour-long standoff with law enforcement. Algerian authorities said they didn't want to take Mohamed Merah's remains, as his Algerian-born father had wanted. (AP Photo/Marthial Roland)

(AP) ? French police detained 19 people Friday as they launched a crackdown on suspected Islamist extremists in cities around the country, President Nicolas Sarkozy said, promising more raids to come.

Tensions are high following a spate of killings in southern France by a radical Islamist that left seven people dead and two wounded and ended up with police killing the gunman last week after a 32-hour standoff.

But French Interior Minister Claude Gueant told journalists "there is no known link" between those detained Friday and Mohamed Merah, the 23-year-old Frenchman who claimed responsibility for the shootings in Toulouse and Montauban.

Sarkozy gave no details about the reasons for Friday's arrests.

"It's in connection with a form of Islamist radicalism," Sarkozy said on Europe-1 radio. "There will be other operations that will continue and that will allow us to expel from our national territory a certain number of people who have no reason to be here."

Sarkozy said he didn't know whether the 19 detainees were part of any network.

A police investigator told The Associated Press that the anti-terrorist unit of the Criminal Brigade detained five men before dawn in Paris who had suspected links to an Islamist movement. Weapons were also seized, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with the department's rules.

The other arrests took place in Toulouse, Marseille, Nantes and Lyon, the official said.

In Nantes, Mohammed Achamlane, the head of Forsane Alizza, a radical Muslim group that formed two years ago, was among the detained. French officials had banned the group in February.

Merah, who espoused radical Islamist views and said he had links to al-Qaida, was buried near Toulouse on Thursday.

Three Jewish schoolchildren, three paratroopers and a rabbi were killed in the worst terrorist attacks in France since the 1990s, slayings that revived concerns about homegrown Islamist radicals.

Public order and security are high up on the agenda as Sarkozy seeks reelection in the upcoming presidential poll that kicks off April 22.

"It's our duty to guarantee the security of the French people. We have no choice. It's absolutely indispensable," he said Friday

French Muslims have worried about a backlash after Merah's attacks, and French leaders have urged the public not to equate Islam with terrorism.

But concerns about radical Islam are high and the government on Thursday banned several international Muslim clerics from entering France for a conference of the UOIF, a fundamentalist Islamic group. The clerics were of Palestinian, Egyptian and Saudi origin.

"These people call for hatred and violence and seriously violate the principles of the Republic, and in the current context, seriously risk disrupting public order," the foreign ministry said.

Sarkozy said earlier these clerics would not be "welcome" as their views are incompatible with French values.

The leader of France's right-wing National Front party, Marine Le Pen, went even further Friday, calling for the complete dissolution of the UOIF and saying it is thought to have links with "terrorists."

"Drastic measures must be taken against radical Islam," she said in a statement.

The UOIF responded by saying that Thursday's ban "deeply hurts the Muslim community and reinforces the blending in public opinion" between moderate Muslims and extremists.

"Our group combines a peaceful way of practicing religion with republican citizenship," it said.

One of those banned, the Egyptian-born Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, is widely respected throughout the Middle East and has a popular weekly TV show on Islamic law on the Arab satellite channel Al-Jazeera.

But because of his suspected extremist links, the 86-year-old cleric has been banned from the United States and refused entry into Britain.

In the Islamic world, al-Qaradawi has been criticized by more conservative scholars for allowing men and women to study together, encouraging Western Muslims to participate in their democracies and condemning al-Qaida's Sept. 11 attacks.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-03-30-EU-France-Terrorism/id-6ba97481e6cd4d9eb9d5bf4f39688e8b

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