Youth Aptitude as a Predictor of Adulthood Income

I examine the relationship between youth aptitude and adulthood income. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of the Youth 1979 cohort and OLS regression analysis, I test the hypothesis that a higher 1981 Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT) score is directly related to a higher income in 2010, ceteris paribus. First, a single regression equation is run for educational attainment subgroups at the time of taking the AFQT. Second, a regression equation including total lifetime educational attainment, and one that excludes it, are run to examine potential co-linearity between AFQT score and educational attainment. The results show that AFQT is significant and positively related to adulthood income

The Tortoise And The Hare: A New Moral For An Old Fable

Aesop\u27s The Tortoise and the Hare is a prominent moral fable in American cultural discourse. Having originated in ancient Greece, the fa­ble has varied over the years, but the basic elements remain the same. The story, as it is generally told, involves a tortoise and a hare as its two main protagonists. The hare is arrogant; he continually boasts about his speed and picks on the tortoise for being slow. The tortoise grows tired of the hare\u27s boasting and questions the hare\u27s claim of being the fastest creature. In retort, the hare decides to challenge the tortoise to a race in which he feels sure that he will be victorious

On Man

There is an all-pervasive assault, especially in schools, on gen­dered language. Increasingly, it is not acceptable to say he or she, him or her, et cetera (Martyna, 1980). These terms are seen as exclusionary to any and every unspecified party. Instead, students are required to say one, person, s/he or some other non-specific,arbitrary, gender-neutral term. The epicenter of the assault, posited as the pinnacle of linguistic evil, is the term man. Man, the assailants say, only denotes males. Females are the excluded party, and thus the use of the term is sexist (Kleinman, 2007). The solution, then, is to reject the use of the term for some substitute (APA)

The Effects of Background Factors on AFQT Score

The introduction of the National Longitudinal Survey of the Youth (NLSY) 1979 and 1997 cohorts made Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT) score data widely available and has thus dramatically increased its use in academic research. However, there is strong evidence that a wide variety of background factors, such as poverty status, race, and parent’s education level, affect AFQT score. Human capital theory, in conjunction with the pathways framework, suggests that these background factors have both direct and indirect effects on AFQT score. The focus of this research is measuring some of the important direct and indirect pathways through which background factors affect AFQT score. The purpose of measuring these pathways is to identify the effects that some background factors have on AFQT score, thus elucidating how AFQT score is determined by some background factors

Faulty Phrases: Only Human

After a forceful lesson demonstrating his incompetence as a green lantern, Hal Jordan, the hero of 2011\u27s blockbuster Green Lantern, claims, \u27\u27I\u27m done. He\u27s right. I\u27m only human (IMDB, 2011). This anti-man attitude pervades the movie, and seems warranted given the portrayal of a reality in which there are non -human species capable of accomplishing feats incomprehen­sible to mankind. Unfortunately, this anti-man attitude is not limited to the realm of fantasy and science fiction where the facts of reality, i.e. laws of logic and physics, have no bearing. For millennia, this attitude has been just as prevalent in the earthly world in which men reside, and has arrived on the doorstep of today\u27s culture in the form of the bromide: only hu­man:\u2

Faulty Phrases: There Are No Absolutes & The Truth Is Relative

There are no absolutes:\u27 The truth is relative:\u27 Each phrase im­plies and necessitates the truth of the other. An absolute is something that is universally true, that is, its truth is independent of all other factors or contexts (New Oxford American Dictionary). To say, there are no absolutes:\u27 is to say that there are no inde­pendent universal truths. All truths are therefore dependent. The truth is relative makes exactly this claim. Philosophically speaking, that which is relative is dependent on something else (New Oxford American Dictionary). But the concepts of relativity and dependence do not exist in a vacuum. For something to be relative it must be relative to something. For something to be dependent it must be dependent on something. What that something is depends on the external factor or context being referenced. Thus, both phrases boil down to the same basic premise: the truth is entirely dependent

Examining the AFQT as a Proxy for Human Capital

I examine whether the Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT) is a suitable proxy for human capital skills by testing the hypothesis that those factors most germane to human capital skills acquisition will most affect AFQT score. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of the Youth and OLS regression analysis, I find that strict and loose human capital factors are robust determinants of AFQT score, and thus the AFQT is a suitable proxy for human capital skills. However, its use as such requires specification that the AFQT is not a catchall for human capital factors, as it is significantly related to only some human capital factors considered in this study

The Geology of the Adair Marble Quarry Wiarton, Ontario

The Adair Marble Quarry is located 14 kilometres North of the Town of Wiarton on the East side of the Bruce Peninsula. This area is on the eastern margin of the Michigan Basin and the Middle Silurian dolostone extracted at the quarry is part of the concentric belts of Paleozoic formations that ring the Basin. The regional structure of the area is related to the Algonquin Arch, a basement feature attributed to progressive compressional and extensional stresses that are also responsible for the joint and fracture systems of the area. The present surface physiography was modified by the Wisconsin glaciation and post-glacial hydrology has produced an extensive karst system. The quarry has been operated at the present location by the Arriscraft Corporation of Cambridge, Ontario since 1979. Dolostone of the Wiarton Member of the Amabel Formation is currently extracted at the quarry. Approximately 6 metres below the present quarry surface the Wiarton Member grades into the Transition Zone between the Wiarton and Colpoy Bay Members. Differences occur between these two units and also within each unit. The Wiarton Member is typically a medium-grained , porous, blue-grey mottled, light grey and white dolostone while the Transition Zone Beds are fine-grained to dense, dark blue-grey mottled, buff to buff-grey dolostone. The mineralogy is essentially constant between the units and consists predominately of dolomite with cal cite, chalcedony, clay minerals, organic material and metallic minerals. An increase in chalcedony, clay minerals and metallic minerals occurs at depth. A change in the type of stylolites occurs with the individual, well defined type in the Wiarton Beds replaced by swarms of microstylolites in the Transition Zone Beds. The variations noted between the units can be attributed to a change in the original carbonate. The Wiarton Member represents a shallow, low energy shelf facies while the Transition Zone Beds are a more basinal facies. Within the units variations in the amount and type of mottling are due to the organic content of the rock and the type of dolomitization. Areas of higher organic content have a darker colour and are comprised of incipient dolomicrite formed through a sulphate reduction process. Lighter coloured and white areas are comprised of a dolomite mosaic formed through freshwater/seawater mixing. The one constant feature of the rock is the presence of sub-horizontal fractures. These fractures can be accurately mapped by ground probing radar to a depth of 10 metres as an aid to quarry planning. All of these features vary in a random fashion and the characteristics of the rock cannot be ascertained before extraction

The Scorpion And The Frog: A False Narrative Of Human Nature

The Scorpion and the Frog is an age-old fable, having taken various forms over the past centuries.1 In the story, a scorpion asks a frog to carry him across a river. The frog is hesitant to agree because the scorpion might sting him on the trip. The scorpion assures the frog that he would not do that because it would cause himself to drown. The frog agrees, yet midway through the trip, the scorpion stings the frog anyway. When the frog asks the scorpion why, he replies that it is in his nature