MEETINGS of psychology associations always produce a crop of interesting
paper titles, and last week鈥檚 conference of the American Psychological
Association was no exception. Papers presented included: 鈥淭he impact of time
pressure on condom use鈥� and (for those occasions when the time pressures get too
much) 鈥淏rief female condom skills building intervention for women鈥�. Then there
was 鈥淩epairing your marriage: after his affair鈥�, 鈥淐limbing the ladder of self
for peace within鈥� and, as an alternative kind of climbing, 鈥淪caling Satan鈥�
(whatever that means). We also liked 鈥淥wning our shadow鈥� and, our personal
favourite, 鈥淧rofessors鈥� office door decorations: what do they tell?鈥�
SADLY, the findings in many of these papers tended towards the glaringly
obvious. For example, it was found that 鈥渃aring鈥� professors put more helpful
information on their doors than 鈥渦ncaring鈥� ones and鈥攕urprise,
surprise鈥攃ondoms are less likely to make it out of their wrappings when
time is short.
But every so often the conference came up with something
unexpected鈥攍ike when Jennifer Tackett of Texas A&M University asked
groups of males to rate the attractiveness of photographs of females and groups
of females to rate those of men. To control for overall pickiness, she asked
both groups to rate the attractiveness of photos of birds as well.
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The men in the survey rated the women much higher than the women rated the
men, giving rise to various observations about evolution on the part of Tackett.
But the most interesting result was surely this: women are more attracted to
birds than to men.
What the evolutionary implications of this are, we cannot imagine.
THE US Surgeon General, David Satcher, has launched a campaign to make the
American people more aware of 鈥渢he magnitude of the problem of suicide and the
fact that suicide is so often preventable鈥�, according to the online news
bulletin www.cnn.com/ HEALTH.
Saying that the problem cannot be left to health professionals alone to
address, Satcher says: 鈥淚t is important that we reach out to everyone in the
community who interacts on a regular basis with others: teachers, coaches,
丑补颈谤诲谤别蝉蝉别谤蝉.鈥�
Well, it will certainly make a change from discussing where you鈥檙e going for
your holiday while you get your monthly trim.
IS THIS the first example of someone adopting part of their e-mail address as
their given name? The author of an article on electronic beeps in the 鈥淐ircuits鈥�
section of The New York Times a couple of weeks ago was named as
鈥淛ennifer8 Lee鈥�.
It could have been an error, of course, but we have a dreadful suspicion that
it might be the beginning of a new trend.
SOMEWHERE in Scotland there is a dog owner with a very poor understanding of
biology. An advert in the 鈥淧ets and Animals Wanted鈥� section of Scotland鈥檚
SuperMart (a free advertising paper) reads: 鈥淲anted: Alsatian bitch and
dog, must be brother and sister or father and son鈥ood home
辞蹿蹿别谤别诲鈥︹赌�
CAMBRIDGE is undoubtedly proud of the millennium countdown clock overlooking
its market square鈥攐r it would be if the clock wasn鈥檛 jinxed. Not only has
its large digital display stopped at least twice recently, but the clock is
running on British Summer Time.
At midday, when the clock is working, it reports that there are x
days and 12 hours until the end of the year. So either revellers are going to be
very disappointed when the clock reaches the new millennium an hour early, or it
will have to be reset in October with the change to winter time in Britain. But
what is the point of a countdown clock that you have to change?
MEANWHILE, after all the argument about 2000 versus 2001, yet another problem
has cropped up over exactly when the next millennium starts. According to John
Zarnecki of the University of Kent at Canterbury, the recent flyby of the
Cassini-Huygens space probe has slowed the Earth鈥檚 orbital motion. As a result,
the start of the new millennium will be delayed.
However, there is no need to change your millennium party plans. Zarnecki,
who is one of a team of British scientists involved with the joint European
Space Agency/NASA mission to Saturn, emphasises that the delay will only be for
one-million-millionth of a second.
DURING Britain鈥檚 spell of hot, sticky weather in July, Peter Smith and his
sweltering work colleagues invested in an electric fan, the Air Wave HKL-12D, to
keep their office cool.
How disappointing, then, to read item nine of the safety precautions that
came with the product: 鈥淒on鈥檛 use under the following circumstances: High
temperature, high humidity鈥︹��
FINALLY, Boots the chemist sells Flipsticks鈥攍ipsticks with a flip top.
The label says: 鈥淥pen cap before use.鈥�