Lynette

While doing family history research I discovered that one of my GGG Uncles was listed as a "Civil War Veteran" and even has this on his headstone: http://www.kempsey.nsw.gov.au/%E2%80%8Bcemeteries/...

When I read his entry on Civil War Veterans I discovered that he was only in the service for 7-8 months and was only involved in actions against "hostile Indians": http://www.acwv.info/%E2%80%8B1-files-veterans/S/%...

Upon further investigation I discovered that the so-called "skirmish" of Light Prairie mentioned above was a civilian lead massacre of a group of Hoopa or perhaps Wiyot or Whilkut people and I am still looking into this: http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/%E2%80%8B67531/me...

I realise that a number of Civil War Veterans did participate in the Indian Wars but I'm now wondering if this is an isolated case or whether other Veterans of the Civil War period were falsely labelled "Civil War Veterans" when they didn't directly participate in that war?

We have a very old Valley Treadle Sewing Machine still in working order and want some idea of it's origins and perhaps value. If anyone has any information on this brand could they please let us know!

In the last week an anonymous individual in Australia created a website called "Boong Drunk" on which young Australians made jokes about "drinking themselves Indigenous".

A group of concerned people have sucessfully had that site removed but we are now getting posts such as this on the site dedicated to banning the original:

"the way isee this .. is its like america some culture came there ( i think from england i dont really care about american history cause im not american) and they wiped out the native americans after houndreds of years of rebuilding relation ships the americans gave them some land back and with that land they built casinos .. so my question is would you guys like some casinos ... because the burswood casino sucks"

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fremantle-Australia/...

I would understand if Native Americans thought it was simply better to ignore this but I wondered if anyone wished to respond because I know a few people on here who could respond very well!

If the average IQ is always 100 how is it possible to determine whether the intelligence of a population changes over time?

I made a comment in a response to a question about evolution on YA suggesting that some populations could be becoming less intelligent over time based on this quote:

"The average IQ in USA is 70 the same number it was in the Civil War!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxmzNH_ba78

For my trouble I received this personal attack via email and was blocked by this user:

"Subject: ???????

Message: you fool!!!!!! the i q doesnt change hahahhahahahahahahahahah ur so ******** retarded! 100 is the adverage i q and it stays the same now and 10,000 years from now! please know what ur talking about b4 u troll YA ******* liberal"

Clearly this person has a point about the average IQ being 100 as it designed to do, but doesn't any "average" change over time?

I am aware of that there is some debate regarding "The Flynn Effect" and the change of IQ in a population over time but am not certain of it's status as a theory:

http://www.indiana.edu/~intell/flynneffect.shtml

A YA claiming devolution of IQ over time:

http://sg.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Ah...

Here is one highlighting a change since 1932:

"If present day American children took the 1932 Stanford-Binet test, their mean score would be about 120."

http://sg.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=200...

This is the best answer I could see on YA for how IQ is calculated:

http://sg.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Ai...

Here is one comparing IQ around the world (to me this example demonstrates how much educational and other bias there is in IQ tests):

http://sg.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=As...

There are plenty of examples of changes in an individual's IQ over time - for example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbakB41A-cw

http://sg.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Ai...

I'm not really looking for answers that attack anyone for their beliefs (as in the example here) only someone who can explain whether there are changes in averages over time:

http://sg.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Ai...

By the way I don't put too much stock in reducing any human being to a score, put more value in EQ than IQ and would personally love if equal regard were given to the possibility of a HQ (Humanity Quotient)!

A Russian ice dancing duo has just won bronze at the Vancouver Olympics doing an 'Aboriginal dance' that they had previously ditched. Is it an shameless appropriation of Indigenous culture and racist generalisation of everything 'other' as the first example would argue, or a harmless contribution to the cultural melting pot, even honour for Aboriginal people as the second example would insist?

Example 1:

"At times, Shabalin led Domnina around by her ponytail. They mugged, stuck out their tongues and mimicked the hand over mouth gesture that was once associated with American Indians. (See it here and judge for yourself.) After the dance ended, the crowd gave the Russians what could generously be called a lukewarm reception.

After seeing the dance Sunday night, an Aboriginal dancer wrote in Australia's Herald Sun newspaper:

The dance is certainly unlike anything I've seen, and other than a few complex lifts, the performance didn't really entertain me. It looked wrong on so many levels. ... When creating a dance or theatre work, even as contemporary indigenous dancers, it is a part of our practice to follow cultural protocols and consult with traditional elders who understand the meaning behind the movement. It is respect for our traditional cultural laws, language groups and elders for this information to be passed on correctly."

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancouver/blog/fo...

Example 2:

This is pathetic. Other countries than Russia have been doing their own inept versions of the Russian ballet like 'The Nutcracker Suite' which clearly originated with Russian/Germanic ideas in mind. ...Since when is a cultural idea or style such a nazi thing that only one group 'owns' it? The costumes look fine and the Russian duo should have been permitted to go ahead with it as a creative notion based on Aboriginal artistic and musical motifs. Red Indians have had their costume and war dances repeated endlessly from cartoons, comedies to serious movies. All not authentic but nonetheless enjoyable to the masses and drawn into everyone's culture. Cultural chauvinism should be ignored. If everyone took back their cultural contribution from the melting pot of the world we would be left with nothing. Could the English please take back the English language? Good idea except they stole many words from other Europeans."

"Oh FFS. GET over it! How pathetic is political correctness in the modern age. IF there was any intended link between this pair of ice skaters and the aboriginal culture/industry that has permeated Australian society over the past few decades, the aboriginals should be honoured and flattered that they are being recognised on the world stage."

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/russians-ditch-a...

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/sport/loin-cl...

http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog...

I'm trying to get a region 4 copy to rent out in my Video store but any DVD copy would do. All I can find are online copies but I am sick of downloading it and want to show it to people.

There has been allot in the press just recently about paedophilia by Australians:

1. Australians are the top child sex tourists in Asia:

http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/latest/6028616/child-...

I honestly don't know anyone but at the rates this report suggests many Australians obviously do. I heard a story of one Australian woman traveling in South East Asia who actually started attacking the men she saw walking around with young children like they owned them! It seems if you have enough money and your victims or those who are supposed to be protecting them are poor enough - you can quite easily get away with murder. Does anyone travel over these areas or know people that do and have seen (or suspect) any of this please answer here?

2. Australian man locks up daughter for 30 years:

http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/latest/6042644/vic-ma...

I myself know from talking with survivors of at least five families where incest occurred (unreported officially) - some of it a century ago - some within the last 30 years! I have heard of maybe a dozen more cases second hand and I have never worked in any kind of social service industry where the subject might more regularly come up.

3. People regularly attack Dennis Ferguson everywhere he goes:

http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/australian-news/60380...

My first instinct when I saw a news report of a community ordering Ferguson out of town was to ask; "How many of you are yelling at him because you have something to hide yourselves?" I am also aware of the cry of "paedophile" being used in personal disputes because the stigma created is so powerful. I know of one child who - if you were to believe her carer (who seems to have a vendetta against everyone) would have been abused by at least three completely different predators (two of whom have been jailed for attacking her) by the time she was ten. I do not discount the possibility that at least one of events did occur but this person accuses so many of paedophilia I find myself wondering what they themselves have been part of. Were the family in case 2. publicly attacking know paedophiles before the truth came out about them for example?

I am not defending Dennis Ferguson, or any other 'proven' paedophile, because pardoning them would be the thin edge of the wedge to accepting paedophillia but wonder how much paedophilia both within families and in the form of sex tourism legitimated by the mighty dollar goes even more unnoticed while we focus entirely on the small percentage of paedophiles who have actually been identified?

If you have heard of instances of paedophilia within families or communities that have gone unrecorded or you are aware of people taking 'suspicious' trips to Asia or elsewhere feel free to report it here?

Why is vilifying Dennis Ferguson so important and doing something to stop the abuse of poverty stricken children in other countries so unimportant? Methinks the people who protest the loudest have the most to hide!