OK, reading some of the passages on the link, it seems like much of the time verbs are implied, but not explicitly written.

Also, though I know little about French, I have a feeling that the writing works better in its native language.

Ah, but doesn't the colon represent the word "is"?

Besides, shouldn't a novel be more like a field of wildflowers? If I want a nice, cultivated literary garden, I'll go read a poem.

Oberon, pee-el-zee

I was skeptical at first, but that site is waaaaay funnier than it has any right to be!

Actually, ptitz, I was just pointing out that for someone who berates Americans because they are "cocky and arrogant", you came off awfully cocky and arrogant yourself.

ptitz said: i seriously dont care whats going on in that part of the world

Really? Because the simple fact that you bothered to post here says otherwise.

and also

americans with their homicide rates, extreme poverty going hand to hand with excessive over consumption, rotten economy and that cocky arrogant attitude

Actually it sounds like you'd fit right in.

I agree that the rules he's set out are stifling and will probably end up causing rebellion if carried through, but let's face it: the guy just became a father, and some overreaction is inevitable.

He has, however, struck on the core of the problem by recognizing that it is himself (and his wife) who will ultimately have the most influence in shaping his daughter, rather than just passing the blame onto "pop culture". Removing the offending media from his own life will do more to keep his daughter from becoming a bimbo than trying to keep her fenced in with arbitrary rules that his own actions don't support.

Your headline is misleading, Alex. The point of the article was not that the US was fading, as many claim, but simply that the rest of the world is now catching up.

I thought it was a good read, though. Thanks for posting it.

Yeah, I hate when studies say X is dirtier than a toilet seat. Toilet seats are not all that dirty!

Besides, how often do you clean your toilet seats? How often do you clean your keyboards? Right.

Do you have any actual criticisms Selvo, or are you just trying to be contrary?

Sorry NiteWhite, but no babies were harmed in the making of this research. Please take your trolling elsewhere.

No bias...

...except, perhaps, for any that might inherently be in the the "handful of leading international news sources".

So they are comparing the tourist districts of Manhattan to South London? Gee, I wonder which will be safer.

Wow, look at all these concerns that these researchers -- who have made a career out of designing experiments and securing funding (i.e. justifying to funding agencies) for them -- forgot to account for when they designed the test! Good thing they have Neatorama readers to set them straight...

But seriously: for those of you calling the test "flawed", did you even stop to think about what it's really doing? It's not trying to tell you you're racist. (In fact, looking at the results on a person-by-person basis is pointless; I'm sure they are much more interested in the statistics of hundreds or thousands of people.)

Instead, it's trying to measure whether or not you have been subconsciously conditioned to perceive blacks as more threatening. That's why they used a variety of positions, settings, gun colors, etc. -- to statistically remove any biases that may be caused by these things. It's why cell-phones were sometimes held in threatening ways, to get rid of any biases you might have based on the way things are held. That's also why no women were used -- why complicate the results any more than necessary?

Is it realistic? Of course not. Reality has a way of complicating things. If it were possible to get the results they seek from realistic situations, they would simply study data from police reports or something.

Is it perfect? Again, no. Some of the points brought up by commenters here are valid. I'm sure the published study will acknowledge these issues as a potential source of error. But to insult the study, the people behind it, and even all of academia (see Evil Pundit) based on going through the subject's end of it a single time is ridiculous.

Justin -- that might just be cracked.com. If I go there at all anymore, I just read the headings and skip the critical snark.