Why are physically attractive people more intelligent than others, on average?

Research has shown that people who are regarded as physically attractive also tend to be seen as more intelligent. And it has often been noted that attractive children tend to receive higher grades in school. Although the later finding has been interpreted as evidence of teacher bias, an economic analysis of the informal market for marriage partners suggests that better-looking children may actually e smarter. Evolutionary psychologists Satoshi Kanazawa and Jody Kovar, for e.g. offer persuasive evidence for the following four propositions:

1) More intelligent men tend to achieve higher social status and higher incomes.

2) Men generally regard physically attractive women more desirable for marriage partners

3) Women generally regard men with higher incomes and higher social status as more desirable marriage partners.

4) Both intelligence and physical attractiveness are traits with significant heritable components.

If the first three propositions are true, then it follows logically that relative attractive women will pair up disproportionately with relatively intelligent men. And if both beauty and intelligence are heritable, then the offspring of such unions will tend to display above-average value of both traits. In short… the hypothesis that beauty and rains go together does not appear far-fetched

Why are whales in danger of extinction, but not chickens?

Seldom does a year pass without street demonstration by environmental activists decrying international hunting that threatens extinctions for many large marine mammals’ species. Yet to my knowledge there has never been a demonstration exhorting us to save chickens. Why not? The short answer is that chickens have never been an endangered species. But that just raises the question of why one species is endangered and another not. Whales’ populations have been dwindling because no one owns whales. They swim in international waters, and several nations have refused to respect the international treaties that have attempted to protect them. Japanese’s and Norwegian whalers understand perfectly well that their current practices threaten the survival of whales and hence their own livelihood. But each whaler also knows that any whale he does not harvest will be taken y someone else. Thus no whaler stands to gain from self-restraint. In contrast, most chickens in the world are owned by someone. If you kill one of your chickens today, that is one less chicken you own tomorrow. If chicken farming were your livelihood, you would have strong incentives to balance the number of birds you send to the market and the number of chicks you would acquire. Chickens and whales are both economically valuable. The fact that people enjoy secure property rights in chickens but not in whales explains why the former are secure and the latter are endangered.

Why are DVD’s sold in much larger packages than CD’s, even though the two types of discs are exactly the same size?

CD’s come in cases that are 148 milimeters wide and 125 milimeters high. In contrast, DVD’s are sold in cases that are 104.5 milimeters wide and 191 milimeters high. A little digging reveals the historical origins of this difference. Prior to the appearance of digital CDs, most music was sold on vinyl discs, which were packaged in close-fitting sleeves that measured 302 millimeters square. The racks on which vinyl discs were displayed were just wide enough, in other words, to accommodate two rows of cases with a divider between them. Making the CD cases a little less than half as wide as the album sleeves they were replacing thus enabled retailers to avoid the substantial costs of replacing their storage and display racks. Similar considerations seem to have driven the decision regarding DVD packaging. Before DVDs became popular, most film rental stores carried videotapes in the VHS format, which were packaged in form-fitting boxes that measured 135 millimeters wide and 191 millimeters high. These videos were typically displayed side by side with their spines out. Making DVD cases the same height enabled stores to display their new DVD stocks on existing shelves while consumers were in the process of switching over to the new format. Making the DVD package the same height as the VHS package also made switching the DVDs more attractive for consumers, since they could store their new DVDs on the same shelves they used for their VHS tapes

A few questions for Shiv Sena

Dear Udhavji,

First of all congratulations for winning over your cousin to get into the headlines in the last fortnight.

that was really smart of you. After you lost the last assembly elections, people had started having 'low' views about you. But any ways u have made a good comeback, after discovering the mantra: find an 'enemy', threaten and scare them, commit the odd violent act, and, eureka!

Atleast you are more brave than your cousin who lashes out to the faceless taxi drivers and North indian students and other unprotected soft targets. It actually takes courage to hit out at national icons like Sachin and SRK and even the powerful Mukesh Ambani.

So i have got a few questions for you

Q1. Your father and your party has always had problems with the 'Indian Muslim Identity"

for eg. your father had questioned Dilip Kumar's patriotism for accepting an award from the Pakistani government. Not surprisingly, you've called Shah Rukh a traitor for wishing to choose Pakistani cricketers in the IPL. However why is it okay when your father invited, Javed Miandad the former Pakistani captain and a close relation of the notorious Dawood Ibrahim to your own house.

Q2. The Sena has always enjoyed an excellent relation with the corporate India....

Why then criticise India's biggest businessman for suggesting that Mumbai belongs to all?

Especially when it cannot be denied that, Mumbai is what it is because of the entrepreneurs belonging to the communities across India.

Q3. It is strange that you lashed out at Sachin as well! The question is 'WHY', especially when even you will agree that, he like Lata Mangeshkar, symbolizes Maharashtrian pride in a better manner than renaming the shops and streets in Marathi.

Q4. Not so long ago, some of your local thugs attacked the IBN Lokmat office? Now why would you (who claim to protect the Maharashtrian culture) do that to a leading 'Marathi' News channel?

Isn't it ironical that over the last four decades, the Shiv Sena has targeted some of Maharashtra's finest literary figures and journalistic institutions?

(can you atleast decide what you actually want)

Q5. Why did your newspaper 'saamna' run headlines seeking an apology from SRK, and asking your followers to agitate against Rahul Gandhi's mumbai visit, instead of waging a war against the water cuts in Mumbai which has left millions suffering, and on the same day when the 'Sena- controlled city's municipal corporation's annual budget revealed an alarming financial crisis???

Q6. And finally this is a question in which i can help with a few solutions....

WHY has the Shiv Sena has been unable to capture power in the state even when the Congress-NCP government in the state has been thoroughly incompetent and when the last decade has seen Maharashtra decline on most social and economic parameters.

Answer : Because you could convince or for that matter "fool" only 43 percent of the voters in Mumbai-Thane which further got 'divided' amongst you and your cousin party. As result you just won 9 out of 60 seats.

My Suggestions:

Now the only way forward is to outdo your cousin in this game of politics. However your ways of grabbing headlines would only help improve television ratings and not get you votes or goodwill. There is space in Maharashtra's politics for a regional force, but it needs to be based on a constructive, inclusive identity.

You can do that by:

1. Instead of setting up the odd wada pav stall in Mumbai (which hardly serves the purpose), better start training projects to make Maharashtrian youth face upto the challenges of a competitive job market

2. Give regional culture a boost by supporting Marathi theatre, literature or cinema (The wonderful Marathi film, "Harishchandrachee Factory", nominated for the Oscars, has been co-produced by Ronnie Screwvala, a Parsi, who like millions of other 'outsiders' has made Mumbai his home.)

3. (Maharashtra has been rated the top in farmer suicides in the country) Seems like there are important things to worry about, rather than wasting the energy and time in lashing out against those who do their bit for the spirit of cricket and extend hands for a better relation with our neighboring country (which is better for us considering the economics) and against those who create a sense of brotherhood in this City of Dreams.

Use your power and might to arrange for finance credit and water supply for the farmers who are on the verge of giving away their lives which would further push the rest of the family in situations which would be 'unimaginable'

Remember,

Always try to keep away from the 'rat race', coz you are a Tiger whom people want to look upto when they are in need of help, and whom they consider to be their 'Protector'.

C'mon media!! India is much more to be proud of!!!

Why is the media here in India so negative?
Why are we in India so embarrassed to recognize our own strengths, our achievements?
We are such a great nation. We have so many amazing success stories but we refuse to acknowledge them. Why?
We are the first in milk production.
We are number one in Remote sensing satellites.
We are the second largest producer of wheat.
We are the second largest producer of rice.
Look at Dr. Sudarshan , he has transferred the tribal village into a self-sustaining, self-driving unit. There are millions of such achievements but our media is only obsessed in the bad news and failures and disasters.
I was in Tel Aviv once and I was reading the Israeli newspaper. It was the day after a lot of attacks and bombardments and deaths had taken place. The Hamas had struck. But the front page of the newspaper had the picture of a Jewish gentleman who in five years had transformed his desert into an orchid and a granary. It was this inspiring picture that everyone woke up to. The gory details of killings, bombardments, deaths, were inside in the newspaper, buried among other news.

Do you have 10 minutes? Allow me to come back with a vengeance.
Got 10 minutes for your country? If yes, then read; otherwise, choice is yours..
YOU say that our government is inefficient.
YOU say that our laws are too old.
YOU say that the municipality does not pick up the garbage.
YOU say that the phones don't work, the railways are a joke. The airline is the worst in the world, mails never reach their destination.
YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs and is the absolute pits.
YOU say, say and say. What do YOU do about it?
Take a person on his way to Singapore . Give him a name - 'YOURS'. Give him a face - 'YOURS'. YOU walk out of the airport and you are at your International best. In Singapore you don't throw cigarette butts on the roads or eat in the stores. YOU are as proud of their Underground links as they are.. You pay $5 (approx. Rs. 60) to drive through Orchard Road (equivalent of Mahim Causeway or Pedder Road) between 5 PM and 8 PM. YOU come back to the parking lot to punch your parking ticket if you have over stayed in a restaurant or a shopping mall irrespective of your status identity… In Singapore you don't say anything, DO YOU? YOU wouldn't dare to eat in public during Ramadan, in Dubai .. YOU would not dare to go out without your head covered in Jeddah.
YOU would not dare to buy an employee of the telephone exchange in London at 10 pounds (Rs.650) a month to, 'see to it that my STD and ISD calls are billed to someone else.'YOU would not dare to speed beyond 55 mph (88 km/h) in Washington and then tell the traffic cop, 'Jaanta hai main kaun hoon (Do you know who I am?).. I am so and so's son. Take your two bucks and get lost.' YOU wouldn't chuck an empty coconut shell anywhere other than the garbage pail on the beaches in Australia and New Zealand ..
Why don't YOU spit Paan on the streets of Tokyo ? Why don't YOU use examination jockeys or buy fake certificates in Boston ??? We are still talking of the same YOU. YOU who can respect and conform to a foreign system in other countries but cannot in your own. You who will throw papers and cigarettes on the road the moment you touch Indian ground. If you can be an involved and appreciative citizen in an alien country, why cannot you be the same here in India ?
Error! Filename not specified.In America every dog owner has to clean up after his pet has done the job. Same in Japan ..
Will the Indian citizen do that here?' He's right. We go to the polls to choose a government and after that forfeit all responsibility.
We sit back wanting to be pampered and expect the government to do everything for us whilst our contribution is totally negative. We expect the government to clean up but we are not going to stop chucking garbage all over the place nor are we going to stop to pick a up a stray piece of paper and throw it in the bin. We expect the railways to provide clean bathrooms but we are not going to learn the proper use of bathrooms.
We want Indian Airlines and Air India to provide the best of food and toiletries but we are not going to stop pilfering at the least opportunity. .
This applies even to the staff who is known not to pass on the service to the public.

"ASK WHAT WE CAN DO FOR INDIA AND DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE TO MAKE INDIA WHAT AMERICA AND OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES ARE TODAY"
Lets do what India needs from us.

Is the Indian Media ashamed, yet?

On Tuesday, this news swept across all the news channels 'Sanjay Dutt relieved by court'. 'Sirf Munna not a bhai' '13 saal ka vanvaas khatam' 'although found guilty for possession of armory, Sanjay can breath sigh of relief as all the TADA charges against him are withdrawn' Then many personalities like Salman Khan said 'He is a good person. We knew he will come out clean'. Mr Big B said "Dutt's family and our family have relations for years he's a good kid. He is like elder brother to Abhishek".. His sister Priya Dutt said "we can sleep well tonight. It's a great relief"

In other news, Parliament was mad at Indian team for performing bad; Greg Chappell said something; Shah Rukh Khan replaces Amitabh in KBC and other such stuff. But most of the emphasis was given on Sanjay Dutt's "phoenix like" comeback from the ashes of terrorist charges.

Surfing through the channels, one news on BBC startled me. It read "Hisbul Mujahidin's most wanted terrorist 'Sohel Faisal' killed in A nantnag , India .. Indian Major leading the operation lost his life in the process. Four others are injured.

It was past midnight , I started visiting the stupid Indian channels, but Sanjay Dutt was still ruling. They were telling how Sanjay pleaded to the court saying 'I'm the sole bread earner for my family', 'I have a daughter who is studying in US' and so on. Then they showed how Sanjay was not wearing his lucky blue shirt while he was hearing the verdict and also how he went to every temple and prayed for the last few months. A suspect in Mumbai bomb blasts, convicted under armory act...was being transformed into a hero.

Sure Sanjay Dutt has a daughter; Sure he did not do any terrorist activity. Possessing an AK47 is considered too elementary in terrorist community and also one who possesses an AK47 has a right to possess a pistol so that again is not such a big crime; Sure Sanjay Dutt went to all the temples;
Sure he did a lot of Gandhigiri but then.......... ..

Major Manish H Pitambare got the information from his sources about the terrorists' whereabouts.. Wasting no time he attacked the camp, killed Hisbul Mujahidin's supremo and in the process lost his life to the bullets fired from an AK47. He is survived by a wife and daughter (just like Sanjay Dutt) who's only 18 months old.

Major Manish never said 'I have a daughter' before he took the decision to attack the terrorists in the darkest of nights. He never thought about having a family and he being the bread earner.

No news channel covered this since they were too busy hyping a former drug addict, a suspect who's linked to bomb blasts which killed hundreds. Their aim was to show how he defied the TADA charges and they were so successful that his conviction in possession of armory had no meaning. They also concluded that his parents in heaven must be happy and proud of him.

Parents of Major Manish are still living and they have to live rest of their lives without their beloved son. His daughter won't ever see her daddy again.