Links - March 26, 2011

I got the job. :)

How do siblings influence theory of mind development in children with autism? Apparently autistic children with older siblings score worse than autistic children with younger or no siblings on theory of mind tests. Theory of mind, as I understand it, is one's ability to understand that other people have minds of their own. My younger brother is autistic, but we also have an even younger brother, so I imagine he would fall into the middle. He's very severely autistic so I can't really ask him how he perceives other people, although I'd be interested to know.

The Penis Size Worldwide. This is a world map of average penis length by country. I was a bit startled at first until I realized that the units are in centimeters, so keep that in mind if you're used to talking about your penis in terms of inches. Some old stereotypes are represented: Asians and white people have the smallest penises while black and Hispanic people have the largest. Argentina, which considers itself a European-esque country, trends with the whiteys (apologies to my Argentinian buddy, Facundo). The USA has a smaller penis on average than Canada. That's interesting, actually.

My Dodecad results are posted. I'm DOD493. Nothing too surprising. 59% Northern European, ~30% Southern European, ~11% West Asian (what I'd call Middle Eastern), and 0.5% South Asian. This is essentially the same thing I've gotten from Razib's various analyses except that there are no Native American reference populations in Dodecad, so it isn't showing up here. In Razib's analyses I usually wind up with a tiny Pacific Island-y component which in this case seems to have been replaced by a tiny Indian subcontinent component. I'm not entirely convinced that this isn't just noise, but it does seem to be consistent.

Study undercuts view of college as place of same-sex experimentation. On average, women with bachelor's degrees are actually less likely to have had a same-sex experience than women without a college education. Also interesting: "Although 13 percent of women over all reported same-sex sexual behavior only one percent identified themselves as gay, and another 4 percent as bisexual." Much of the thrust of the article is to the idea that poor and minority lesbians have been rendered invisible because of the media focus on white, educated lesbians.

The L Word, the most well-known lesbian drama, has often been criticized for being the "Sex and the City of lesbian television", focusing on the lives of wealthy, mostly white women.

Are your allergies worse in the morning? I know mine are.

What the "uncanny valley" means for robot love and sex. Basically, we have a long way to go before we can make a Gigolo Joe.

Patricia: I'm afraid.
Gigolo Joe: Of me?
Patricia: Yes.
Gigolo Joe: That I will hurt you?
Patricia: Yes.
Gigolo Joe: I think... you're afraid of letting go. I think you're afraid of happiness. And this is starting to excite me. Are you afraid of seeing the stars... Patricia? I can show you how to reach them.
Patricia: I'm afraid of what you've got under there. May I see what it looks like first?
Gigolo Joe: Is this your first time... with something like me?
Patricia: I've never been with Mecha.
Gigolo Joe: That makes two of us.
Patricia: I'm afraid it will hurt.
Gigolo Joe: Patricia... once you've had a lover-robot you'll never want a real man again. Are these the wounds of passion?
Patricia: Do you hear that music?
Gigolo Joe: You... are a goddess, Patricia. You wind me up inside. But you deserve so much better in your life. You deserve... me.