Study Says Taller People Generally Smarter - More Likely To ER?

[jeff2006]

Or it might be because they are in general not as attracted to bizarre and risible competitions and bragging.

Didn't Will Rogers say something like "I never met a MENSA member that I didn't dislike immediately"?

Unrelated thought: I wonder if President Bush is a member of MENSA . . .

 

[Nords]

Unrelated thought: I wonder if President Bush is a member of MENSA . . .

He decided that he couldn't afford the membership fee...

 

[Mr._johngalt]

Well, I haven't seen women here bringing up the fact that they are MENSA members, perhaps out of modesty. Maybe they have; maybe I should do a search first.

Oh, well, I will google MENSA.

Assuming you're not kidding, you may want to Google INTERTEL, ISPE,
and the "Triple Nine Society" also.

JG

 

[astromeria]

Unrelated thought: I wonder if President Bush is a member of MENSA . . .

No, he's a member of MUTTON--Men Under The Thumb Of Neocons

 

[flipstress]

I got to thinking more about my recent posts about MENSA mentions, and I realized that I expressed passive-agressive censure about a poll on an attribute (IQ) of the members of the board. I also stereotyped men as braggy and women as modest. So I apologize.

It's human nature to want to see how we compare against others or if there are others like us, and on this forum, we do it with polls.

I did Google MENSA and found out the origin of its name is the Latin word meaning round-table.

Edited to add: Even if there were some truth in my observation, who's to say that modesty can't be as annoying as bragging when it is fake modesty? And in certain arenas, modesty is not very useful, for example when applying for a job or vying for promotion.

 

[REWahoo]

I did Google MENSA and found out the origin of its name is the Latin word meaning round-table.

flipstress, if you check out the forum acronyms, you will see it actually means "Making Elucidating Nonsense Sound Authentic".

If anyone is thinking of starting an IQ poll, you need to realize that's a sure sign of MENSAnity. Sheesh.

 

[audreyh1]

That's the funny thing about "studies" or averages. It really doesn't apply that much to the individual - in other words it's easy to be the exception to the rule.

I'm pretty short (5' 3"), have a couple of engineering degrees (so maybe I can't be too dumb), was successful in business and ER'd at a very early age. So those studies certainly didn't impair me!

Audrey

P.S. IMO the characteristic that was really stacked against me financially was that I was female.

 

[Danny]

http://pollmeister.blogspot.com/2007/03/study-says-taller-people-smarter.html

 

[Cool Dood]

There was an ethnicity poll not long ago. The board is 99.999% white, +/- a handful of posters. I guess the theme song for this forum should be "white & nerdy."

I didn't read the book, but apparently the recently very popular Freakonomics had some discussion of birth month and a variety of activities, like professional athletes, scientists, etc. Since I didn't read the book I don't know what all their observations were, but I recall a few plausible explanations such as the oldest, most developed kids in a particular grade will appear best to coaches, so they'll be provided more attention, consideration for top positions, etc. -- in addition to whatever benefits they gain directly from growing up as always the most developed and therefore best kids in the class, like self-confidence, practice in the top positions, etc.

 

[Martha]

Hard to tell much from our polls. It is rare we get more than 100 votes. Nearly 2900 people have registered on this board at one time or another (though there are some who have registered more than once ) At any time there may be 75 guests online. We know nothing about the guests.

I imagine, but can't say for sure, that those who post fairly frequently are those who are more likely to respond to polls.

We are getting down to a fairly small self selected group among all the FIRES and FIRE wannabes in the English speaking world. for whatever reason we found this board and each other and many of us stick around for quite a while.

 

[Nords]

There was an ethnicity poll not long ago. The board is 99.999% white, +/- a handful of posters. I guess the theme song for this forum should be "white & nerdy."

Speaking as a white nerd, only 99.999% of the posters who bothered to answer the poll claim to be white.

The rest of the board's posters are probably much taller, of other ethnicities, and too busy studying for the Mensa exam to take the poll...

 

[haha]

I'm pretty short (5' 3"), have a couple of engineering degrees

Something I have noticed is how many women engineers there are on this board. In most of life, if you are asked to guess a woman's profession, engineer would be low on the list. Here, if we include programmers, half the women might be engineers.

Ha

 

[haha]

We are getting down to a fairly small self selected group among all the FIRES and FIRE wannabes in the English speaking world. for whatever reason we found this board and each other and many of us stick around for quite a while.

One very obvious thing is that people here are both more intelligent and better educated than most, by a long margin. An also they are a generally polite and respectful group.

Some Yahoo boards also have these characteristics. They are often stock boards in energy areas which draw a lot of people from the industry who are smart and experienced and nobody's fools.

Ha

 

[Mr._johngalt]

There was an ethnicity poll not long ago. The board is 99.999% white, +/- a handful of posters. I guess the theme song for this forum should be "white & nerdy."

Although I believe I have written the rap version of this "theme song",
you have hit on the reason I am reluctant to post it. Without the background audio, you need to put some hip-hop bounce into the lyrics.
This may be tough for most white folks. Anyway, still working on the audio.

JG

 

[sgeeeee]

I find myself humming this tune, inserting other groups like fat people,
or dumb people, etc. Good song. Works well with many venues.

JG

I think that was the point. If you were taller, you probably would have understood that.

 

[sgeeeee]

Well, I haven't seen women here bringing up the fact that they are MENSA members, perhaps out of modesty. Maybe they have; maybe I should do a search first.

Oh, well, I will google MENSA.

Actually, very few posters have brought up MENSA membership or IQ score. It's just that the few who have felt compelled to do so seem to be men.

 

[Mr._johngalt]

Actually, very few posters have brought up MENSA membership or IQ score. It's just that the few who have felt compelled to do so seem to be men.

Just in case someone is talking about me , sooner or later I will probably
"bring up" just about anything (No subject off limits). Anyway, humility
does not come easy to me. I think we can agree on that.

JG

 

[astromeria]

We've got a hole in our Bell curve--we need to recruit some FIRE-oriented women in the 5'6"-8" range

 

[Nords]

We've got a hole in our Bell curve--we need to recruit some FIRE-oriented women in the 5'6"-8" range

OK, I'll answer for my spouse at 5'6".

 

[Dreamer]

Okay, I am not more intelligent, I don't have a college degree and I am short. I guess that I should not be retired and should get back to work!

 

[Bimmerbill]

I am 6'6" and agree with the study results!

 

[youbet]

As our astute federal government struggles to find ways to keep SS and Medicare alive, means testing has been discussed. But, how do you measure means? Earned income? Investment income? Assets owned?

It seems clear that a simple and fair solution is at hand. The taller you are, the more you pay! Tall folks have all the advantages and could easily afford to pay more, much more, for government benefits with no ill consequences. Someone 6'6" could pay, say $500/mo for Medicare while a 5'6" or less person would continue at today's rates. Folks in the middle could be pro-rated.

Simple, fair and the folks who can most easily afford it, foot the bill!

Perhaps our system of progressive income taxes could be modified along the same lines?

BTW, I have no dog in this fight. I'm very average at 5'10"

 

[dumpster56]

Humm I am over 6 feet, interesting....

 

[astromeria]

And since one shrinks as one ages, that would help the elderly--my mother has gone from 5'6" to 5'2" already