PODCASTS AND PRESENTATIONS
The Sculptor of Giants | Walter Peter Brenner – AD #13
Philosophy: I Need It (on Substack here)
Episode description: In this conversation, I’m joined by Walter Peter Brenner—sculptor, painter, architect, and philosopher—whose monumental works bring to life a heroic vision of man. From Prometheus and Sophie to Atlas and more, Walter shares the philosophical convictions behind his art, his Objectivist influences, and how he built a successful career without compromising his ideals.
ARTICLES AND ESSAYS
Frontiers in Sports and Active Living
Abstract: Objective: To assess the prevalence of menstrual disorders and the perceived effect of menstrual cycles upon performance in elite athletes. Methodology: A longitudinal survey in the form of a questionnaire was sent to female track and field athletes at British Athletics every 6 months, over a five-year period between 1st October 2014 and 1st October 2019 in the United Kingdom (UK). Results: 128 athletes completed an average of 4.2 ± 2.9 questionnaires across the study period. The mean age of menarche was 14.2 ± 1.4 years, 13.4 ± 1.3 years and 12.8 ± 1.4 years in endurance, power, and thrower athletes respectively (p < 0.05). Two-thirds (66%; n = 82) reported consistently regular cycles, 30% (n = 37) irregular at some point during the period of observation and 4% (n = 5) were amenorrhoeic. 87 athletes (68%) reported dysmenorrhoea and 40 (31%) menorrhagia. More than three quarters (76.8%; n = 96) described their cycle negatively affected performance. Amongst those who reported when the negative impact occurred (n = 91), 40% (n = 36) reported this in the late luteal phase and 35% (n = 32) during the early follicular phase. 79% (n = 100) of athletes reported at least one cyclical symptom, of which bloating, lower back and pelvic pain were most frequently experienced. Conclusion: This data highlights the complex interrelationship between women's health and elite athletic performance. Athletes perceive a negative impact from their menstrual cycles upon performance with a desire to manage these more effectively, particularly during competition. Female reproductive health expertise in the multi-disciplinary management of elite athletes is required.
Maybe He’s Just Not That Into You
Fiamengo File
It will take a lot more to re-establish men’s trust in women than the standard diagnoses and promises.
Zombie theory: Women file for divorce because men are horrible
Best Interest
Fact: Lesbians divorce at the highest rate of all marriages.
Invisible Man: My Experience as a Male Trainee Clinical Psychologist in a Female-Dominated System
Centre for Male Psychology
Female vs Male Undergraduate Enrollment: Women Dominate
Briefed by Data
Female vs. Male Master's Degree Enrollment: Women Dominate a Little More
Briefed by Data
Censoring ‘All Men Are Created Equal’ cost U. Oregon $724K — will other universities learn?
The College Fix
Education Department to begin mass layoffs after Supreme Court victory
The College Fix
Michigan State U. ends mandatory DEI statements, scrubs DEI plan from website
The College Fix
Do No Harm
(*Full report available here.)
American Pride Slips to New Low
Gallup
Pride among Democrats tumbles, while independents also hit new low, more than offsetting increase among Republicans.
Measles Update — United States, January 1–April 17, 2025
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report
Abstract: A multistate measles outbreak, predominantly affecting members of close-knit communities with low measles vaccination coverage in New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas began in January 2025. As of April 17, a total of 800 cases have been reported in the United States in 2025; 654 (82%) cases in New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas have been associated with the ongoing outbreak. These cases represent an approximately 180% increase over the 285 measles cases reported in the United States during all of 2024, and the second highest annual case count in the United States in 25 years. Overall, 771 (96%) patients have been unvaccinated or had unknown vaccination status (77% were unvaccinated, and 14% had unknown vaccination status when excluding 590 cases reported by Texas, which requires explicit consent by law [i.e., opt-in] to enroll in the Texas Immunization Registry), 85 (11%) patients have been hospitalized, and three patients have died. Among 48 (6%) internationally imported cases, 44 (92%) occurred among U.S. residents. Endemic measles was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000 as a direct result of high 2-dose childhood coverage with the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine. However, measles cases and outbreaks continue to occur when travelers with measles return to the United States while they are infectious; larger U.S. outbreaks typically follow importation into close-knit communities with low vaccination coverage. Nationally, risk for widespread measles transmission remains low because of high population-level immunity. To prepare for and prevent measles cases and outbreaks, public health departments should continue working with trusted community messengers on culturally competent community engagement, education, vaccination efforts, and other community infection prevention approaches (e.g., case isolation, contact monitoring, and post-exposure prophylaxis) and coordinating with health care facilities and schools. Increasing national and local MMR vaccination coverage is essential to preventing measles cases and outbreaks.
Eye-Tracking Insights into the Perception of Buttocks
Aesthetic Plastic Surgery
Abstract: Background: Aesthetic enhancements to the buttock region have grown in demand due to media influence and evolving beauty standards. Using eye-tracking technology, we sought to uncover subconscious visual preferences regarding the buttock aesthetic. The objective of this investigation was to assess visual gaze patterns in assessing female buttocks among Caucasian and Asians through eye-tracking technology. Materials and methods: 67 participants viewed photographs of buttocks from various angles, and eye movements were analyzed using the Tobii Pro Nano eye-tracker. Results: Males fixated on the intergluteal cleft for 0.96 ± 1.1 s and the thigh gap for 0.07 ± 0.2 s; while, females fixated for 0.81 ± 0.9 s and 0.06 ± 0.2 s on the same regions, respectively. Significant gender differences were observed in the intergluteal cleft (p = 0.002) and upper lateral buttock (p < 0.001). Conclusion: This study offers new insights into the observation of buttocks. The consistent attention toward the intergluteal cleft across demographics could be of potential significance in the aesthetic perception of buttocks. However, diverse gaze patterns also underscore the multifaceted nature of human attraction. These findings hold implications for plastic surgery, aesthetic medicine, and the sociocultural understanding of beauty. A deeper dive into aesthetic preferences is pivotal for a holistic understanding of human perceptions of attractive buttocks.
Sports Medicine
Abstract: Background: Handgrip strength (HGS) is an important marker of health. Using allometric scaling, we previously identified that adult HGS should be normalized by a cross-sectional or surface area measure of body size, although it is unclear whether scaling youth HGS by the same body size dimension is appropriate. We therefore aimed to (1) identify the optimal body size dimension(s) to normalize youth HGS for differences in body size and (2) generate norm-referenced values for HGS using the identified body size dimension(s). Methods: Data were from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), a representative sample of the US non-institutionalized civilian population. Exclusions resulted in a final sample of 4816 youth (51.2% male) aged 6-19 years. Handgrip strength was measured using electronic hand dynamometry. Body size dimensions included body mass, height, and waist circumference. Allometry was used to identify the most appropriate dimension(s) associated with HGS. Population-weighted, sex-stratified generalized additive models for location, scale, and shape were used to develop norms by sex and age. Norms were tabulated as percentile values (3rd to 97th) and visualized as smoothed percentile curves. Results: Predicting HGS using all three body size dimensions (three-dimensional) resulted in collinearity predominantly owing to the presence of waist circumference, prohibiting the use of all three body size dimensions as normalizers. However, collinearity was not an issue when two of the three dimensions (body mass and height) were adopted. Allometry identified a "generalizable" normalizing ratio as HGSn = HGS/(HT2∗M0.333). If only a single body size dimension were available, then HGS should be normalized using height2 (i.e., HGS/HT2) because height was identified as the strongest single body size dimension associated with HGS. Sex- and age-specific norms for HGS/(HT2∗M0.333) declined from age 6-8 years and progressively increased thereafter. Conclusions: Allometrically scaling HGS by (HT2∗M0.333) helps normalize strength for body size in population-based youth research.
Who are the 100 largest scientific publishers by journal count? A webscraping approach
Journal of Documentation
Abstract: Purpose: How to obtain a list of the 100 largest scientific publishers sorted by journal count? Existing databases are unhelpful as each of them inhere biased omissions and data quality flaws. This paper tries to fill this gap with an alternative approach. Design/methodology/approach: The content coverages of Scopus, Publons, DOAJ and SherpaRomeo were first used to extract a preliminary list of publishers that supposedly possess at least 15 journals. Second, the publishers' websites were scraped to fetch their portfolios and, thus, their “true” journal counts. Findings: The outcome is a list of the 100 largest publishers comprising 28.060 scholarly journals, with the largest publishing 3.763 journals, and the smallest carrying 76 titles. The usual “oligopoly” of major publishing companies leads the list, but it also contains 17 university presses from the Global South, and, surprisingly, 30 predatory publishers that together publish 4.517 journals. Research limitations/implications: Additional data sources could be used to mitigate remaining biases; it is difficult to disambiguate publisher names and their imprints; and the dataset carries a non-uniform distribution, thus risking the omission of data points in the lower range. Practical implications: The dataset can serve as a useful basis for comprehensive meta-scientific surveys on the publisher-level.
RUBBISH BIN
No rubbish this week!
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Thank you for taking the time to create this. Lots of interresting stuff. To the "butt"story. I believe Emil Kirkegard either did his own research or referenced this a few years ago; whether butts or boobs where seen as more important across class, race and Sociosexual orientation.
I was just thinking about the menstrual cycle the other day and noting how it has disappeared from the media. Now why could that be? I would love to see some research on the female menstrual cycle and productivity at work or even the number of arguments with male significant others. Maybe even a logic test given on all days and look for variations. lol
Oh the butt thing made me laugh! I would be curious to see the differences in Black and White men in their tracking of butts. Different? Similar? But, but, but....
Thanks Jim! Great stuff.