Curved or Linear and Intelligence

It was a news item over the weekend.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,310636,00.html

Scientists at the University of Pittsburgh have actually been spending time interviewing 16,000 or so women and girls in an effort to discover a correlation between curves and intelligence. They have now published a report in a professional journal with their conclusions.

I am the oldest of six children – four girls and two boys. All three of my sisters are beautiful and smart. We are all in different stages of life since we are spread out over seventeen years in our ages.

My youngest sister who has four very smart sons put me onto this news item today. One of her very intelligent sons found it. For some strange reason some scientists at the University of Pittsburgh have been studying the correlation between female body measurements and cognitive tests. . (One has to wonder if science is winding down on what needs to be known if it is reduced to such a project. One has to wonder where the initial concept came from in the first place.)

According to Fox News online, women with more curves (greater difference between hips and waist specifically) scored significantly higher on the intelligence tests. And the children of these women also scored significantly higher on the tests than others whose mothers have fewer curves. (The actual defining statistic used was women whose waists are smaller than their hips.)

Now think about that for just a moment: bigger hips than waists. Except for pregnant women (who are supposed to be shaped that way), who in the world would ever want a bigger waist than hips? That is a serious call to diet when one’s waist measurement exceeds the size of one’s hips.

The report continues that the correlation between large thighs and hips is also linked to higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids. The report states that these omega-3 fatty acids contribute to brain growth during pregnancy. The report didn’t specify whose brain grows. One assumes the baby is whose brain grows but perhaps both mother and baby benefit intellectually from their bonded experience.

The report also states that “thinner or more linear-shaped women lack both omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids around their waists and hips” so that they benefit from being more “linear” by living longer in their linear state but with more diminished intelligence than their curvier counterparts.

The report concludes: “Real women don’t just have curves. They are also smarter, live longer and give birth to smarter children.”

I have one very happy curvaceous baby sister today with four very intelligent sons! But the best news of all is: they all have restored hearts as well as superior intelligence. They know Jesus and walk with Him – every single one – and that’s the most intelligent choice of all!

It doesn’t take scientific research to determine the intelligence of choosing Jesus, it just takes faith and life lived in a relationship with Him. And that’s far more significant than curves or the absence thereof or even superior intelligence or less superior intelligence.

In the first century Paul of Tarsus wrote something like this (my paraphrase): When you know and love Jesus then neither having curves or not having curves – neither being of superior intellect or lacking in intelligence – is of any value. What matters is something far more interior (in the restored heart): faith expressed in love! (Galatians 5:6, paraphrase)

Where is technology taking us?

Everyone who knows me knows God gave me John so he could shore up my technological weakness (among other things) ! :o)

I love some of the techie gadgets we have to help us. I don’t want to know how to make them – just how to use them – like the computer. I find great pleasure in the internet for email, being in touch with lots of people, researching information with Google, etc. But I was very slow catching on and getting even up to the speed I am.

HOWEVER I saw a news item yesterday that really made me wonder. Fox News was interviewing three young women from somewhere who live together. Apparently they have had unknown and numerous men coming to their house asking for sex because of a sick “joke” being perpetrated on them on the web. Someone put an "ad" with their names, pictures address and bios somewhere on the net saying they would provide “sex on call.” They were just in the beginning stages of trying to navigate through how to stop the unwanted visitors, how to protect their reputations and how to find the perpetrator.

This isn’t the first time someone has played a sick joke over the web. We have an example right here in Pittsburgh in a story we know where someone broke into another person’s email and sent an email as tho’ from that person. The information sent wasn’t true and was defamatory.

Like feathers in the wind, these kinds of things don’t ever go totally away. And there doesn’t have to be any truth or substance to what is said, written or disseminated.

I have more than 20 nieces and nephews most of whom are in the 20 – 30 age range. I have just discovered that most of them (if not all) keep in touch through the net – not email – but “Facebook.” I am a total neophyte about this process, but I would like to be in the communication circle with my nieces and nephews particularly since I have told them for years that I am their favorite aunt and some have even “believed” me. Not all, mind you! There is at least one tenacious hold-out!

I am reminded in my musings of what Joseph told his brothers when he forgave them for their dastardly actions against him – actions which impacted not only the rest of his life but effected the future course of history as God’s story is written across the sands of time. He said, “You meant it (the things they did starting with hatred in their hearts) to me as evil but God meant it for good.”

Evil happens. Evil people use good technology for their own evil purposes. We are called to be salt and light which includes knowing enough to protect ourselves and those around us as much as possible.

The evil is not in the technology. The evil is always in the heart. We don’t need restored technology. We need restored hearts! With a restored heart we can say with Joseph (when others have done great evil to us), “You meant it for evil but (now I know) God meant it for good.”