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WASHINGTON --In a published report, the Lovenstein Institute of Scranton, Pennsylvania has detailed findings of a four month study of the intelligence quotient of President George W. Bush. Since 1973, the Lovenstein Institute has published its research to the education community on each new president, which includes the famous "IQ" report among others. According to statements in the report, there have been twelve presidents over the past 60 years, from F. D. Roosevelt to G. W. Bush who were all rated based on scholarly achievements, writings that they alone produced without aid of staff, their ability to speak with clarity,...

Maths genius declines top prize Photos of the reclusive genius are rare Grigory Perelman, the Russian who seems to have solved one of the hardest problems in mathematics, has declined one of the discipline's top awards. Dr Perelman was to have been presented with the prestigious Fields Medal by King Juan Carlos of Spain, at a ceremony in Madrid on Tuesday. In 2002, the mathematician claimed to have solved a century-old problem called the Poincare Conjecture. So far, experts working to verify his proof have found no significant flaws. There had been considerable speculation that Grigory "Grisha" Perelman would...

I like France. The language is beautiful. The food is inspiring. And I appreciate topless beaches as much as the next guy. Still, I sometimes wonder if eating snails doesn't somehow dull one's ability to make sensible economic policy. I promised that this column, I would debunk one of the most pernicious economic ideas of the left. (In my last column, I skewered one from the right: See "Debunking One of the Worst Ideas in Economics".) I've chosen the "lump of labor" fallacy, which is the mistaken notion that the world has a fixed number of jobs and that therefore...

Mars robots to get smart upgrade By Jonathan Amos BBC News science reporter, in Baltimore Dust devils on Mars: Catch them if you can The US space agency's rovers will get a software upgrade to allow them to make "intelligent" decisions in the study of Martian clouds and dust devils. The new algorithms will give the robots' computers the onboard ability to search through their images to find pictures that feature these phenomena. Only the most significant data will then be sent to Earth, maximising the scientific return from the missions. Nasa says its robotic craft will become increasingly autonomous...

Minneapolis-St. Paul is a "cosmopolitan gem," according to a new ranking by Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine. Granted, "the winter weather isn't for wusses," Kiplinger's June issue reports, but the seven-county Twin Cities area has so many good things to brag about: cost of living and housing, quality health care, low crime rate, education, quality of life, cultural amenities, the economy and transportation. St. Paul doesn't get short shrift either in the write-up: The Ordway Center for the Performing Arts and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra are mentioned, among other pluses. Minneapolis is described as "progressive and hip, with a Midwestern sensibility."...

MANCHESTER, Pa. -- A cat interrupted a catnap, possibly saving two lives. Jean Poole and her 9-month-old granddaughter were dozing Tuesday in Poole's home in the Newberry Estates mobile home park. Poole's 7-year-old cat, Princess, woke them up, meowing loudly. Poole got up, smelled smoke and heard crackling flames. She went to check the wood burning stove in the living room, and saw flames at the picture window. With fire blocking the front door, Poole grabbed the baby and went out the rear door. Then she returned to get Princess. "She woke me up. I don't know if I'd have...

Clothes also make the woman trying to look smart amid disaster Leonard Pitts Jr. / Syndicated columnist New Orleans cultural ambassador, Irvin Mayfield, plays a tribute to first responders as Mayor Ray Nagin, left, U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, second from left, Lt. Gov Mitch Landrieu, and Gov. Kathleen Blanco, center, listen during an Interfaith Celebration in front of the Superdome in New Orleans, La., Sunday Jan. 1, 2006. The event was sponsored by Louisiana Rebirth celebrating the strength of those dedicated to the rebirth of Louisiana. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) Apparently, Brownie wasn't the only one. You remember the grief that...

The smartest state is Vermont. The dumbest is Arizona. These are the 2005-2006 findings of the Education State Rankings, a survey by Morgan Quitno Press of hundreds of public school systems in all 50 states. States were graded on 21 factors, including student achievement and attendance, positive outcomes, strong student-teacher relationships and school district efficiency. Other factors are the number of high school graduates, reading, writing and math proficiency, percent of school-age kids in public schools, high school drop out rates, student-teacher ratios and class size. "The Smartest State Award recognizes those states that are committed to students and teachers,...

Don Adams, who gained worldwide fame and three Emmy Awards starring as Agent 86, Maxwell Smart, in the classic television comedy GET SMART, died at 8:02 p.m PDT, Sunday, September 25, 2005, at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Beverly Hills. He was 82. Although he had been in failing health for more than two years due to bone lymphoma, his death resulted from a sudden lung infection for which he was hospitalized the previous day. Born Donald James Yarmy on April 13, 1923 [correct, despite frequently reported erroneous dates] in New York City to Irish-Hungarian parents, Adams hoped for an engineering career....

Utah man will be sent to a state hospital Updated: 5:26 p.m. ET July 26, 2005 SALT LAKE CITY - The man charged in the kidnapping of Utah teenager Elizabeth Smart was declared mentally incompetent to stand trial Tuesday. The decision by Judge Judith Atherton will send Brian David Mitchell to a state hospital until he is deemed capable of standing trial. Atherton issued her decision after six days of hearings over the past seven months. Mitchell repeatedly shouted Biblical admonitions and sang hymns during the hearings, prompting him to be removed from court several times.

John G. Roberts pairs a youthful demeanor with a sharp, seasoned legal mind that has impressed Ivy League professors, government lawyers and U.S. presidents. Befitting his age of 50 and limited time on the appellate court, the book on his judicial decisions remains a work in progress. President Bush on Tuesday tapped Roberts to become the nation's 109th Supreme Court justice, introducing the Harvard honors graduate, former clerk to William Rehnquist and successful Washington attorney to the nation in prime time. "He has argued 39 cases before the Supreme Court and earned a reputation as one of the best legal...

Back during the Presidential Election, Kerry enthusiasts were constantly gushing over the perceived intelligence of John Kerry. If it was not praises toward his “nuanced” approaches of how to creatively surrender to the United Nations and international terrorists then it was how all of his aides had to run around carrying dictionaries just so they could understand his “big words.” Well, the truth is out. Eight months after everyone quit caring about John Kerry’s records, he has finally released them to “The Boston Globe.” Chance of chances, these records show that Senator Kerry was a “C” student with a virtually...

April Fools has past, but the joke is still on us! Electricity prices are going up again throughout Ontario. Who is to blame? It seems like just about everybody. With OPG making a profit off of the generation of power, the McGuinty Liberals have nevertheless increased hydro rates from 4.3 cents per kWh when they took office, to 4.7 cents last year, and now as of April 1st to 5.0 cents per kWh for the first 750kWh, and 5.8 cents after that. You will really get hit if you switched to electric heating a couple of decades ago, as the...

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - The man charged with kidnapping teenager Elizabeth Smart was kicked out of his mental competency trial Friday after he began singing a religious hymn, the fourth time he has been removed from hearings for singing. As Brian David Mitchell was led away, he shouted, "He mocks and scorns the son of God. ... You know I speak the truth. You know I speak the truth." The hearing then resumed with defense expert Stephen Golding testifying that Mitchell has become increasingly more mentally disturbed and unfit for trial. Golding said Mitchell has vowed to do everything...

London 07.01.05 | Colombian President Alvaro Uribe described quite neatly the sentiment of very many people yesterday, when he affirmed "these FARC individuals have got some nerve; on the 1st of January they killed 17 peasants, they kidnap people constantly, they execute terrorist acts daily, they violate human rights, they trade drugs and when they get captured they denounce that they have been kidnapped and that their human rights have been violated". As a Venezuelan citizen I can only dream of having a president with half the integrity and steadfast anti-terrorism conviction of Alvaro Uribe. On a lighter note I...

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - Knowledge of the ocean and its currents passed down from generation to generation of a group of Thai fishermen known as the Morgan sea gypsies saved an entire village from the Asian tsunami, a newspaper said Saturday. By the time killer waves crashed over southern Thailand last Sunday the entire 181 population of their fishing village had fled to a temple in the mountains of South Surin Island, English language Thai daily The Nation reported. "The elders told us that if the water recedes fast it will reappear in the same quantity in which it disappeared,"...

It would be hard to imagine improving on the intelligence of computer engineer Bjoern Stenger, a doctoral candidate at Cambridge University. Yet for several hours, a pill seemed to make him even brainier. Participating in a research project, Stenger downed a green gelatin cap containing a drug called modafinil. Within an hour, his attention sharpened. So did his memory. He aced a series of mental-agility tests. If his brainpower would normally rate a 10, the drug raised it to 15, he said. "I was quite focused," said Stenger. "It was also kind of fun." The age of smart drugs is...

Foreign policy considerations do not need to be very complicated. If one were to consider foreign policy as based on the type of alliances and trade deals that are supposed to guarantee a maximum of safety for one country, and a maximum of prosperity for its inhabitants, Venezuela natural and principal partnership would be with the United States, with essential side links toward Colombia, the Caribbean and to a lesser extent the rest of South America. Europe would be a purveyor of luxuries and Asia of electronics. Why? As the geographically closest supplier of oil after Mexico and Canada, Venezuela...

Urban Legends and Folklore IQ and Voter Preference in 2004 Presidential Election Netlore Archive: In which the results of the 2004 U.S. presidential election are correlated with purported average IQ of voters in each state Description: Net hoax Circulating since: Nov. 2004 (this version) Status: False Analysis: See below IQ and Voter Preference State Average IQ 2004 1 Connecticut 113 Kerry 2 Massachusetts 111 Kerry 3 New Jersey 111 Kerry 4 New York 109 Kerry 5 Rhode Island 107 Kerry 6 Hawaii 106 Kerry 7 Maryland 105 Kerry 8 New Hampshire 105 Kerry 9 Illinois 104 Kerry 10 Delaware 103...

THE KERRY~BUSH STUPID~SMART CHART (STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES) by Mia T, 11.17.04 LEHRER: New question. Two minutes, Senator Kerry. What is your position on the whole concept of preemptive war? KERRY: The president always has the right, and always has had the right, for preemptive strike. That was a great doctrine throughout the Cold War. And it was always one of the things we argued about with respect to arms control.... But if and when you do it, Jim, you have to do it in a way that passes the test, that passes the global test where your...