Who Are The Innovators In The US?

This is a rather interesting study that I haven't seen before. It surveys people who are considered to be innovators and the US to see who they really are and what their backgrounds area.

This study surveys people who are responsible for some of the most important innovations in America. These include people who have won national awards for their inventions, people who have filed for international, triadic patents for their innovative ideas in three technology areas (information technology, life sciences, and materials sciences), and innovators who have filed triadic patents for large advanced-technology companies. In total, 6,418 innovators were contacted for this report, and 923 provided viable responses. This diverse, yet focused sampling approach enables a broad, yet nuanced examination of individuals driving innovation in the United States.

I wish the sampling is larger, but it is what it is. What they found is quite fascinating, especially when framed with the current US political climate on immigration:

• More than one-third (35.5 percent) of U.S. innovators were born outside the United States, even though this population makes up just 13.5 percent of all U.S. residents.

• Another 10 percent of innovators were born in the United States but have at least one parent born abroad.

• More than 17 percent of innovators are not U.S. citizens, yet they are making invaluable contributions to U.S. innovation.

• Immigrants born in Europe or Asia are more than five times as likely as the average native-born U.S. citizen to have created an innovation in America.

• Immigrant innovators also are better educated on average than native-born innovators, with over two-thirds holding doctorates in STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics)

I think there's plenty of evidence to show that the US has, throughout its history, depends on immigration of some of the brightest and most innovative individuals around. The question is how to encourage that without abusing the system and replacing US workers, the way the H1-B visa has been abused. That visa program was supposed to bring in high-skilled workers into areas in which there is a shortage of US workers. Unfortunately, that has been used by many companies for what it was prohibited from doing, i.e. replacing US workers with foreign workers that have regular skills not in short supply.

At the same time, we also must keep in mind that dumping the baby out with the bath water isn't the solution either. This survey clearly shows that when it is done right, it has significant benefits to the US economy, even if one take a very conservative approach to the result of the survey. We need a smart, thoughtful, and rational approach to this. Do you think your politicians have such skills to make that type of a decision?

Zz.

Religious Children Are More Selfish?

Well, this is an interesting revelation, no pun intended.

A new study published in Current Biology has found that children who are supposedly brought up in a religious environment are more selfish than children without any religious affiliation.

Decety’s team of psychologists assessed altruism using ‘the dictator game’: each child was given 30 stickers and told to choose how many to share with an anonymous child from the same school and similar ethnic group. This task reflects choices in ecology – allocating limited resources – and the results were used to calculate a ‘generosity score’. The researchers looked at 1170 children aged 5-12 years old, from six countries (USA, Canada, China, Jordan, Turkey and South Africa). Most kids came from households that identified as Christian (24%), Muslim (43%) or not religious (28%). (Small numbers from Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu and agnostic homes weren’t compared.)

The results revealed that secular children shared more stickers. Muslim children appear to be less generous than Christian kids, but this is not statistically significant (labelled ‘ns’ in the bar chart below). All three groups became less altruistic with age, though religious kids had lower generosity, suggesting that longer exposure to religion leads to less altruism.

This result, of course, goes against the prevailing and unproven notion that religion makes one more "moral".

Parents were also asked to score their children according to a sense of empathy and sensitivity to injustice. This subjective self-reporting showed that religious adults think their children have strong moral tendencies, contradicting objective assessments of altruism (generosity and moral sensitivity).

Why are religious people less moral? One factor is a psychological phenomenon known as ‘moral licensing’: a person will justify doing something bad or immoral – like being racist – because they’ve already done something ‘good’, such as praying. “It’s an unconscious bias,” Decety explains. “They don’t even see that’s not compatible with what they’ve been learning in church.”

History backs-up the scientific evidence that secular people are more moral, as reviewed by Israeli psychologist Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi. Most white supporters of the US Civil Rights Movement were non-religious, for example, while the apartheid regime in South Africa was led by devout Christians and opposed by atheists.

All interesting and eye-opening stuff. This again reinforces my point that just because Talking Heads that you listen too says such-and-such, it doesn't mean that it has been socially or culturally verified to be true!

The source paper can be obtained (at least for now) from here.

Zz.

Conversion Therapy Does Not Work!

And now we have the most extensive review of all the evidence that shows this.

The report, released by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, reviewed the scientific evidence on conversion therapy and concluded that the practice is not effective and is often harmful.

An expert panel convened by the American Psychological Association also published in the report a consensus statement warning of the dangers of conversion therapy and confirming that variations in sexual orientation are normal.

The SAMHSA report can be obtained here.

Will this stop all these conversion therapy? Of course not. After all, there are still people  who believe the universe is only 6000 years old, despite all the physical evidence. So why would something like this change their minds? The only way to stop  this is to make it illegal in each state or country. Do you think politicians, or your politician, care about scientific evidence?

Zz.

Chapati With Malaysian Chicken Curry

This is what we had for dinner tonight.

Made the Malaysian chicken curry last night for dinner with rice. And since curry tastes so much better the next day, I decided to have it again tonight, this time, I accompanied it with my own homemade chapati.

The curry used 2 packets of Malaysian meat curry powder. But I added my own touches which, based on my own recollection, is what a Malaysian current should  be. I added whole star anise, whole  cloves, whole cardamon, and cinnamon sticks. These all are cooked with the curry broth for at least half an hour to impart the aroma and flavor.

In some cases, the Malaysian curry has a base made of shrimp paste (belacan). Since I didn't have any, and since someone here is allergic to shrimp, I substitute that with anchovy paste, and then added fish sauce as a finishing touch. The end result is scrumptious, if I may say so myself.

The chapati is 50/50 combination of all-purpose flour and whole wheat flour. I added some salt, about 1/4 cup  of olive oil, and then added some water until I can kneed it into a dough ball. I let it rest of 10 minutes before rolling out golf-ball size dough into flat disk about 1/4 inch thick. Then fry them in some oil on a griddle, and you have chapati.

The chapati went very well with the curry.

Zz.

I'll Have What Phil's Having

Hands down, and without any doubt, this is the BEST new food and travel series on TV right now. Period!

"I'll Have What Phil's Having" follows the food travel of Phil Rosenthal, the creator of "Everybody Loves Raymond". Two episodes into the series on PBS, it has become a very endearing show on TV. The first episode where he went to Tokyo, was a riot! That egg-cream scene at the end is destined to be a classic. And the reunion scene at the end of the Florence episode will make you cry.

And that is one of the emotions you'll run through during an episode. It'll make you laugh, gasp, cry, etc. It is as much a story of people as it is about food.

Read more of a Q&A with Phil Rosenthal and why he created this series in this news article.

Q. What is the most fun about doing this show?
 
A. All of this is really just an avenue: The food, the travel, the humor . . . it’s just a way to get to the people. That’s what the show is about — getting to know and meet people and trying to connect them through the food, through the humor and through the traveling.

My wife [actress Monica Horan, who played Amy on “Everybody Loves Raymond”] showed the Paris episode to a friend of hers who had never gone on a family vacation. After watching it, she called me, and my hand to God, she said, “Phil, I booked tickets and I’m taking my family to Paris because of the show.” It was the greatest compliment and I got very emotional because this was really all I wanted. 

To me, the best shows about food are not on The Food Network. Bizarre Food with Andrew Zimmern, America's Test Kitchen series, A Chef's Life, and now I'll Have What Phil's Having are all amazing shows that transcend beyond just food. These are the shows that The Food Network does not have the guts to produce! Shame on them!

Zz.

Homophobic People May Have Psychological Issues

Well, this is certainly a major turn-around, isn't it?

Until the 60's or 70's, being gay was considered to be a psychological defect, that there was something wrong with you. It was only till then that professional psychological organizations sought to remove such standing, and removing homosexuality as being a psychological disorder.

But now, the shoe it seems is on the other foot! A new study seems to suggest that very homophobic people may tend to have psychological issues themselves!

This doesn't mean that homophobic people are psychotic; rather, psychoticism is a personality trait marked by hostility, anger and aggression toward others. But the study does suggest that people who cling to homophobic views have some psychological issues, said lead researcher Emmanuele Jannini, an endocrinologist and medical sexologist at the University of Rome Tor Vergata.

You may read the paper itself here (not sure if it is available at this link in perpetuity).

So, how do you like them apples?

Zz.

Kentucky's Clerk Kim Davis Might Be Violating The Bible Herself!

And interesting take on this ridiculous issue in an article from Huff Post. It comes from a passage in the Bible (Roman 13).

Based on that passage, this is what the author concluded:

Of course, this famous passage in Romans is in addition to other verses like 1 Peter 2:13 and Titus 3:1 and Jesus's own command to "Render unto Caesar" in Mark 12:17, Matthew 22:21, and Luke 20:25. Together they mean that if we're going to play the The Bible Is Clear™ game, then Kim Davis is clearly in violation of Scripture for the Bible clearly and repeatedly tell us to obey the government. Which obviously creates an incredibly awkward conundrum, for in her steadfast determination not to violate her biblical values, Davis has done just that.

Regardless of what she believes in, she is a PUBLIC SERVANT, and it is part of her job. The local government didn't refuse tax money from gay men and women, or give them partial refunds, because it would not provide some service to such citizens. So she is obligated to provide such a service.

If she can't, then she has not been performing the job she was hired to do. She should quit, or she should be fired!

It is as simple as that!

The claim of religious freedom is bogus. Did she check if the straight couple she issued marriage licenses to have had premarital sex? Has she ever issue licenses to a pregnant woman? Does that mean that she actually endorses all of these behaviors?

Once again, we have an example of people using religion to hide and justify their bigotry and stupidity.

Zz.