Albert T. Wong - 黃頌言

Don’t follow the lies - Debt is not wealth, appreciation is not income, and credit is not saving.

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Irvine Housing Blog
Southern California is a beautiful place. The weather is perfect, there is a lot to do, and the people are generally friendly and keep out of your business. For those reasons and many others, I have chosen to make Southern California my home. However, Southern California is not perfect. The culture is infected with pathological beliefs that have led us to the huge problem with house affordability and the impending disaster in our real estate market.

God makes you stupid, researchers claim | The Register
A psychology researcher has controversially claimed that stupidity is causally linked to how likely people are to believe in God.

University of Ulster professor Richard Lynn will draw the conclusion in new research due to be published in the journal Intelligence, the Times Higher Education Supplement reports.

Lynn and his two co-authors argue that average IQ is an excellent predictor of what proportion of the population are true believers, across 137 countries. They also cite surveys of the US Academy of Sciences and UK Royal Academy showing single-digit rates of religious belief among academics.

That professional skeptics dont believe in a creator is perhaps not all that surprising. Lynn argues, however, that it is their intelligence that directly gives rise to the boffinated classes non-God-bothering tendencies. He said: “Why should fewer academics believe in God than the general population? I believe it is simply a matter of the IQ. Academics have higher IQs than the general population.”

Lynn pointed out that most children do believe in God, but as their intelligence develops they tend to have doubts or reject religion. Similarly, as average IQ in Western societies increased through the 20th century, so did rates of atheism, he said.

Peak-Season Map at Epicurious.com
Use our interactive map to see what’s fresh in your area, plus find ingredient descriptions, shopping guides, recipes, and tips

Featured Firefox Extension: Pronounce Tells You How to Say It
All platforms with Firefox: Whether English isn’t your native language or you’re just tired of wondering whether you’re reading that unfamiliar word in your mind correctly, the Pronounce Firefox extension is a very handy tool. With the extension installed, highlight a word on any web page, right click, and choose “Pronounce” from the context menu. Have your speakers on, because using pronunciation audio from the Merriam Webster dictionary, Pronounce will tell you how to say it. Give it a try: milquetoast. Pronounce is a free download for all platforms running Firefox, and it’s Firefox 3-ready.

Passwords: Recover Lost Passwords with Free Tools
ACCESS DENIED. Those two bone-chilling words are the last thing you want to see when youre trying to log into a system or open a file, but theyre not necessarily a dead end. Several free tools can help you find lost passwords you cant remember or that your computer has saved but obscured. Lets take a look at a few free remedies for lost password panic when youre trying to log onto a computer, network, or just figure out whats behind that string of asterisks.

Before we start, two things: First, use the information and utilities below to recover your own passwords, or to help out your desperate relative or co-worker with their consent—not to snoop in other peoples stuff. Second, to avoid these last-resort password recovery utilities forever, use an encrypted database to keep track of your passwords.

Now the Gear Will Start: The Gadgetry of World War II
Granted, there isnt much in the way of recognizable gadgetry in my new book, Now the Hell Will Start: One Soldiers Flight from the Greatest Manhunt of World War II. Most of the action takes place in the Indo-Burmese jungle, circa World War II—long before the advent of the integrated circuit. But that doesnt mean American GIs were entirely without nifty gear, much of which helped spur the development of our beloved modern toys. Read on for a rundown of three vital gadgets that took shape during the epic Allies vs. Axis throwdown, when geeks saved the world and my yarns anti-hero went on the lam.