University students are surprised to discover that tourists buy souvenirs to remind them of places they've been

The word "souvenir" is a French word, a reflexive verb (se souvenir de) meaning "to remember." Apparently, University of Alberta human ecology students were unaware of this. As reported by Marta Gold in the Edmonton Journal, April 8, 2012:

EDMONTON - Nothing says “souvenir” like an I-‘heart’-NY T-shirt or a tiny replica of the Eiffel Tower.

Whether you think of them as tacky trinkets or treasured mementos, they indisputably make us think of faraway places and vacation experiences.

A new exhibit at the University of Alberta explores these ideas and the holiday souvenirs that inspire them in a show called “Greetings From ….”

Compiled by fourth-year human ecology students, the keepsakes were gathered from the department’s clothing-and-textiles collection as well as from students and staff.

The items range from the simple and iconic — tourist T-shirts and models of international landmarks — to the handmade and intricate, such as a mask from Venice and a wall hanging from Egypt.

Some are created from indigenous materials by local craftspeople, such as the African coasters carved out of tree bark, while others are cheap imports hawked to tourists, such as the dashboard hula girl from Hawaii.

But interestingly, the cost or quality of the memento has little bearing on its value to the owner, says Megan Strickfaden, the U of A professor who taught the students in a class on material culture in the home and the community.

“It’s really more about the connection they make with those objects.”

That was among the discoveries students made through the project, which required each of them to write a proposal and then vote on a favourite for the class project.

The theme they chose was submitted by student Holly Postma-Strand, who suggested focusing on travel souvenirs – “the kinds of objects people collect, why they collect those objects and how they are important to individuals,” Strickfaden says.

Souvenirs are particularly interesting because of the “dual conversation” they create, she says.

They’re made or imported to represent a particular city or country, but they have a whole other meaning and significance to the visitors who then buy them — usually, as a reminder of their holiday.

Even though the small Eiffel Tower was likely produced in China and has little connection to anything truly Parisien, to the person who buys it, it represents their actual experience, Strickfaden says.

“No matter what the artifact is, whether it’s inexpensive or expensive, whether it’s handmade or mass produced, it’s still an authentic representation for the person who purchased it, because it represents that moment in time, that experience that that individual had, visiting that culture.”

That came as a surprise to some of the 23 students in the class, she adds.

“I think for the students, they went in being biased, thinking that if something’s made in China it can’t actually represent (another) culture. But, in fact, it can for the individual who’s purchased it.”

The items in the exhibit include 10 from the U of A collection and another 20 or so from students and staff. They include musical instruments from China, a boomerang and didgeridoo from Australia, a doll from Mexico and a kimono from Japan.

Each is accompanied by the story of its origin from the student or staff member who bought it.

“The personal stories are often very quirky, because people acquire things for interesting reasons,” Strickfaden says. “They make connections with those objects after they return home, as well.”

She submitted several of her own souvenirs, including a cookbook she received in Belgium, where she used to live. When she left, friends gave it to her, explaining cookbooks are usually given to teens when they leave home. “They wanted to give it to me because they wanted me to remember Belgium as a home for years to come.”

The kimono was given to her in Japan by the mother of a student she had helped take care of by teaching her in Canada, Strickfaden explains.

Robyn Stobbs, one of the students who helped choose the items from the university’s collection, says working on a project with the entire class and putting an exhibition together was a great experience.

Her own contribution, a small clay flute she picked up in China, was clearly made for tourists — it even came with English and Chinese instructions. “Yet it still has a great deal of meaning to me,” she says.

One of her favourite pieces in the exhibit is a set of beautiful nesting dolls from Russia, she says.

The exhibit runs until May 21 in the main lobby of the U of A’s Human Ecology Building at the corner of 116th Street and 90th Avenue.

It’s open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. weekdays, Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 4 p.m. Admission is free.

May 17, 2012 update: I just visited this exhibit, and there's really not much to it. Some of the items are more interesting than others; many of the items are the sort that might strike tourists as exotic, while the natives probably regard them as trinkets of the sort that you can find in any souvenir shop.

Stupid young males tend to be oblivious to their surroundings while listening to headphones

As reported by Joan Delaney in The Epoch Times, February 20, 2012 (updated February 25, 2012):

The deaths of two headphone-wearing high school students who were struck by trains in separate incidents just hours apart last week brought home the dangers of being oblivious to surrounding sounds when walking near train tracks.

On Feb. 13 around 3:00 p.m., 16-year-old Jacob Hicks was hit by a train at a level crossing in Oshawa, Ont., while texting and listening to music on headphones. He died later in hospital.

The automated lights and bells at the crossing were active at the time, but police said the music Hicks was listening to was likely so loud it drowned out the warnings, according to media reports.

The same afternoon, 19-year-old Daniel McPherson was walking along the tracks in Leduc, south of Edmonton, when he was struck and killed by a freight train. He was also wearing headphones.

McPherson appeared not to hear the train’s squealing brakes and whistle as the driver tried desperately to alert him.

If a recent U.S. study is anything to go by, the tragic incidents demonstrate a growing problem, particularly among young people.

According to research from the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, the number of injuries and deaths in headphone-related collisions in the U.S. has increased dramatically in recent years—and the victims are mostly young males.

Between 2004 and 2011, the researchers reviewed 116 accidents in which injured pedestrians were documented to be using headphones.

Seventy percent of the 116 accidents resulted in the death of the pedestrian. More than two-thirds of victims were male (68 percent) and under the age of 30.

Fifty-five percent of the moving vehicles involved in the accidents were trains, and 29 percent of the vehicles reported sounding some type of warning horn prior to the collision.

The researchers came to the conclusion that the increased incidence of accidents over the years closely corresponds to the rising popularity of auditory technologies with headphones.

“Everybody is aware of the risk of cellphones and texting in automobiles, but I see more and more teens distracted with the latest devices and headphones in their ears,” said lead author Dr. Richard Lichenstein, associate professor of paediatrics at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

“Unfortunately, as we make more and more enticing devices, the risk of injury from distraction and blocking out other sounds increases.”
Distraction, Sensory Deprivation

The researchers noted two likely phenomena associated with the injuries and deaths: distraction and sensory deprivation.

The distraction caused by the use of electronic devices has been dubbed “inattentional blindness,” in which an individual fails to notice a fully visible but unexpected object because his attention is otherwise engaged.

In cases of headphone-wearing pedestrians being struck by trains or vehicles, the distraction is intensified by sensory deprivation—the pedestrian’s ability to hear warning signals is hampered by the sounds produced by the electronic device and headphones.

The Sherlockian powers of observation and deduction on the part of the researchers are positively dazzling, especially when they attribute the accidents to "distraction and sensory deprivation." For those who may not have the scientific expertise to figure this out, it means that the stupid yutes have the volume turned up too loud, and they're not paying enough attention to their surroundings to notice oncoming trains.

These tragedies can be easily avoided by doing three things:
1/ Turn down the volume;
2/ Look up and around and show some awareness of your surroundings;
3/ Remember that railroad tracks are there for the movement of trains, and aren't intended as paths for pedestrians.

Close friendships are good for you

The psychologists who conducted this study apparently have no close friends themselves, or they'd already know this. As reported by Anne Sutherland in the Montreal Gazette, January 29, 2012:

MONTREAL - ..."We've long studied the effects of friendship on the behaviour and emotional well-being of children and we wanted to see if the HPA axis (hypothalamic, pituitary and adrenal systems) varied (under stress) when a friend is with you," said William Bukowski of his study published in the journal Developmental Psychology.

If a child is alone when he or she gets into trouble, there is a measurable increase in levels of a coping hormone and a decrease in feelings of self-worth, Bukowski said.

A group of schoolchildren, in Grades 5 and 6, were given journals to record their feelings and had their saliva tested four times a day for four consecutive days.

For privacy reasons, Bukowski would not reveal which school the children attended, but said they came from all walks of life.

They were tested and questioned before school, right after recess, after lunch and after school, the classic schoolyard periods outside of class time when bullying or hassling are most prevalent.

When the body is stressed, the adrenal glands produce cortisol, a hormone that metabolizes sugar to provide energy for the flight or fight reaction.

Bukowski and his team looked for levels of cortisol in the children as an indicator of stress levels.

Bukowski's participants who were with their best friends showed lower levels of the hormone during stressful situations.

"We knew what the experiences the kids were having through their journals, so we could monitor the cortisol levels of both positive and negative experiences," he said.

The researchers found no discernible gender difference between boys and girls and their best friends.

"We chose kids in Grades 5 and 6 because friendships are very important at this age and the child is developing the emotional patterns that will continue through adolescence," Bukowski said.

Besides handling stress, having a best friend is very good training for all that life has to offer, teaching children to take into account the needs of others and not to be selfish, Bukowski said...

Boys will be boys: Men are wired to be aggressive

Some scientists--at least the ones who came up with the study cited below--have apparently never experienced aggression in academia, and are therefore substituting a "review of the academic literature" for the experiences of a normal life. As reported by Nick Collins of the London Daily Telegraph, January 23, 2012:

The "male warrior" instinct means that men are programmed to be aggressive towards anyone they view as an outsider, a study claims.

In evolutionary terms an instinct for violence against others helped early men improve their status and gain more access to mates, but in modern terms this can translate into large-scale wars.

In contrast women are naturally equipped with a "tend and befriend" attitude which means they seek to resolve conflicts peacefully in order to protect their children, researchers said.

The study, published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, is a review of evolutionary evidence for the so-called "male warrior hypothesis".

It claims that in every culture throughout history, men have been more likely than women to use violence when confronted by people they saw as outsiders.

The "tribal" attitude of men, ultimately aimed at boosting their chances of reproducing, is similar to the territorial behaviour of chimpanzees, it was claimed.

The study also examined evidence which suggests men have a stronger sense of group identity than women, and that they will develop closer ties with others in their group if they are in competition with rivals.

Although men's hostile responses most likely evolved to combat the threat from outsiders, they "might not be functional in modern times and are often counterproductive," experts said.

Over time this has resulted in full-scale wars between countries and empires, and also in scraps and skirmishes between rival groups of football supporters and urban gangs.

Prof Mark van Vugt, who led the study, said: "A solution to conflict, which is an all too common problem in societies today, remains elusive. One reason for this might be the difficulty we have in changing our mindset, which has evolved over thousands of years.

"Our review of the academic literature suggests that the human mind is shaped in a way that tends to perpetuate conflict with ‘outsiders’."

The original article, titled Evolution and the psychology of intergroup conflict: the male warrior hypothesis, is by Melissa M. McDonald, Carlos David Navarrete1, and Mark Van Vugt, and appears in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 367 (1589), March 5, 2012, pp. 670-679.

Scientists discover the purpose of sex

Scientists who obviously have no sex lives of their own (like some bloggers) have made an astonishing discovery. As reported by Nick Collins in the Daily Telegraph on July 8, 2011:

Now researchers have discovered that animals reproduce together, rather than simply cloning themselves, because it helps them to ward off parasites.

The findings support the evolutionary theory that blending of two animals' genomes creates an offspring with a new genetic code which may make it more resistant to attack, experts said.

Cross-fertilisation helps creatures stay a step ahead in the continuous "arms race" with parasites, which are forever evolving to try and infect them.

Biologists have described the situation as "Running with the Red Queen" in reference to the character in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass, who tells Alice: "It takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place."

Despite the popularity of the theory, there has until now been little solid evidence to support it.

But experts at the University of Indiana may have provided the best evidence yet after engineering two types of worms, some which could only reproduce by mating with each other and some could only clone themselves.

After exposing them to a harmful bacteria, worms that reproduced through sex survived fairly well while those that were asexual died rapidly.

Co-author Curtis Lively said: "The Red Queen Hypothesis predicts that sex should allow hosts to evade infection from their parasites, whereas self-fertilisation may increase the risk of infection.

"The coevolutionary struggle between hosts and their parasites could explain the existence of males."

HT: Max Read; Dracul Van Helsing

Unlicensed drivers are prone to risky behaviour

Of course, the propensity to engage in risky behaviour may be a major reason that these drivers don't have licenses. As reported by Dave Cooper in the Edmonton Journal on April 18, 2011:

Drivers who get behind the wheel without a valid licence are more likely to take chances, traffic safety expert Barry Watson says.

They're also involved in about 10 per cent of all fatal crashes in Australia and 20 per cent in the U.S., and are also four times more likely to be involved in a fatal crash compared to licensed drivers...

...His study of accident files between 2003 and 2008, plus interviews with hundreds of drivers charged with illegal driving, paints a picture of drivers "outside the system" who are banned from driving yet continue to do so because they can get away with it...

...Driving to traffic court with a suspended licence suggests to Watson that "punishment avoidance" -or not being caught -was the strongest predictor of continued illegal driving. He said one-third continued to drive unlicensed and undetected before their court date.

"They would say I have been driving for 10 years and have been caught once, so I'll just keep doing it."

Exposure to dumbed-down content in the media can dumb you down

As reported by Misty Harris of Postmedia News on June 15, 2011:

A new study suggests that when people don't think critically about their media consumption, they're in danger of assimilating some of the mental characteristics on display. Specifically, researchers found that if the main character in a screenplay was a total imbecile, and people weren't expressly asked to identify differences between themselves and that protagonist, the participants' own cognitive skills were compromised.

In other words, stupidity appears to be contagious - if only temporarily.

"It's not like a disease, where once you have it, you have it for a long time; we're not saying you'll be impaired the day after reading a stupid story or watching TV," says study author Markus Appel, an associate professor at Johannes Kepler University of Linz in Austria. "But we do show that performance in knowledge tests is susceptible to fictional characters."

Just as video games put players at the centre of the action, Appel says storytelling implicitly asks people to identify with the characters on some level. And just as video games have been (controversially) linked to behaviour, stories can have a transformative effect on people's thinking.

"People are scared of being influenced by aggressive content but there are many other things to consider," says Appel. "There's much more to narratives than just entertainment."

In experiments with 81 people, Appel had different groups read a screenplay that featured either a protagonist whose intellectually abilities were undetermined or one in which the star was an alcoholic, aggressive and intellectually feeble soccer hooligan (think Europe's answer to the cast of Jersey Shore).

Half of those given the latter story were directed to think about ways in which they differed from the protagonist, while the others were given no such instruction before reading the tale.

Afterward, all participants took a general knowledge test, and those who read the story about the idiotic thug did significantly worse, on average, than those who read the story in which the main character's intellect wasn't addressed. The exception was the group that was asked to actively think about the imbecilic character's traits - a process Appel says kept the contagion effect from occurring, and ultimately underscored the value of critical thinking.

Go here to see the abstract of Dr. Appel's article A Story About a Stupid Person Can Make You Act Stupid (or Smart): Behavioral Assimilation (and Contrast) as Narrative Impact in Media Psychology, Volume 14, Issue 2, 2011, pp. 144-167.

Cats kill birds

As reported by Elisabeth Rosenthal in The New York Times on March 20, 2011:

While public attention has focused on wind turbines as a menace to birds, a new study shows that a far greater threat may be posed by a more familiar antagonist: the pet house cat.

A new study in The Journal of Ornithology on the mortality of baby gray catbirds in the Washington suburbs found that cats were the No. 1 killer in the area, by a large margin.

Nearly 80 percent of the birds were killed by predators, and cats were responsible for 47 percent of those deaths, according to the researchers, from the Smithsonian Institution and Towson University in Maryland. Death rates were particularly high in neighborhoods with large cat populations.

I especially like the brilliance of that last finding. To see the abstract of the study as it originally appeared in The Journal of Ornithology, go here.

Snipers face less stress than other soldiers

The Canadian Armed Forces have made the shocking discovery that snipers are less stressed than other soldiers, and enjoy their work more. Gee, I wonder if that may be because snipers aren’t directly in the line of fire. I have the suspicion that the study’s finidings regarding Canadian snipers are probably true for snipers in armies the world over. As reported by Andrew Mayeda of Postmedia News on January 5, 2011:

OTTAWA — Canadian snipers who have served in Afghanistan report being less traumatized by the war than the average soldier, according to a study that offers a rare glimpse into the minds of Canada's battle-hardened troops.

Rather than expressing regret over their deadly line of work, snipers say they feel justified in killing enemies who pose a threat to Canadian troops and Afghan civilians. Moreover, most show high levels of career satisfaction, and say their job has been a positive influence in their lives.

Yet snipers report being more troubled than other soldiers when asked about specific combat experiences, such as knowing that someone has been seriously injured or killed in action, or seeing members of their unit become a casualty.

The findings are part of an ongoing three-year study commissioned by Defence R&D Canada, the research arm of the Department of National Defence. They paint a complex, at times contradictory, portrait of the carefully screened, elite soldiers who are paid to take out the enemy from afar.

A House of Commons committee has estimated that 1,120 of the 27,000 Canadian soldiers who served in Afghanistan between 2002 and 2008 showed symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. Yet a number of soldiers who have returned from the war have complained that the military does not provide adequate care to those afflicted with the disorder.

After reports of snipers being traumatized, the former commander of Canada's land forces, Lieut.-General Andrew Leslie, called for an examination of their psychological well-being. Previously, little was known about the unique makeup of snipers.

"Unlike other soldiers who can deflect their responsibility for killing by rationalizing that they were led into battle by their officers, or had to kill in order to stay alive, snipers have more autonomy than conventional combat soldiers and often have discretion as to who they kill and who they don't," writes study author J. Peter Bradley, a retired lieutenant-colonel in the Canadian Forces who now works as a professor at Royal Military College in Kingston, Ont.

In his initial exploratory study, Bradley interviewed 19 snipers who had served in Afghanistan and been back to Canada for at least six months. Most had killed someone in combat. Because of the small sample size, Bradley cautions that more research needs to be done before any firm conclusions can be drawn about the sniper community.

Compared with a general benchmark, the snipers exhibited escalated levels of psychological stress after taking a test known as the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale. However, their stress levels were actually lower than the average scores of Canadian soldiers who served in Afghanistan.

Bradley notes the Canadian Forces have been developing a system of tests to filter out candidates who don't fit the right psychological profile. According to this research, snipers tend to score low on "neuroticism," high on conscientiousness and low on "tender mindedness."

According to conventional theory, soldiers typically feel an initial sense of euphoria after killing someone in combat. Most later express remorse, and in the third stage, they try to rationalize their actions — a process that can haunt soldiers for the rest of their lives, Bradley notes.

But the snipers he interviewed showed little remorse, with one third stating that they had no feelings about killing, since they were just doing their job.

Bradley says it's possible snipers truly have no regrets and are coping well. "First, killing in combat may not be as traumatic as one might think. Humans have been killing one another in combat for millennia. Second, even if we assume that killing in combat is traumatic, not everyone suffers after experiencing trauma."

However, he also suggests the snipers could have been concealing their feelings to reconcile conflicting emotions about killing, or to "protect their place within the sniper community."

"Snipers are top soldiers and weakness is not consistent with the sniper image," Bradley writes.

Pet owners trust pets more than people

Anyone who's had a pet will wonder why this is reported as a news item:

Canadian pet owners would rather deal with their furry friends than other people, according to a recent study by Harris/Decima.

The study revealed 53 per cent of Canadians who own pets find them more reliable than people. Ninety per cent of Canadians talk to their pets and one-third have confided their deepest, darkest secrets to Fido or Milo or Hero.

There are several obvious reasons for this, such as: pets don't lie to you; they aren't mean to you; they're glad to see you; and best of all, they don't talk back.

Science confirms what Jackie Gleason knew more than 50 years ago

Musical choices affect chances with women: study
Agence France-Presse June 19, 2010

French researchers have provided scientific backing to would-be seducers who instinctively know they have to swap rap or heavy metal for Marvin Gaye to improve their odds...

...At the end of their conversation, the young male used a standard pickup line. What swayed his chances of success was the music that had been played in the waiting room, the researchers found. When a "neutral" song was played, only 28 per cent of women responded positively.

But when the romantic ballad was played, his success rate nearly doubled, to 52 per cent.

Jackie Gleason was more than 50 years ahead of science when he released an album of instrumental music titled Music to Change Her Mind. Any of The Great One's albums will do just as well; or you can try The Many Moods of Murry Wilson (1967), which is now available on CD.
For those who like romantic singing to help accomplish their purposes, I recommend Nat King Cole, Roy Hamilton, and Frank Sinatra. If you're really adventurous, you might want to try the album You're My Girl (1958), with Jack Webb talking his way through a dozen romantic ballads. For those of us without anyone, there's Roy Orbison (and Mr. Sinatra when he's in a melancholy mood).

Fathers in Tokyo work too many hours

As reported by Reuters:

Tokyo fathers spend less time playing with their children and pitching in with the housework than dads in other big Asian cities due to working such long hours, according to a Japanese survey.

Among Tokyo dads, only 37 percent spend at least two hours a day with their children on weekdays compared with 50 percent for fathers in Seoul and about three-quarters of Beijing and Shanghai dads, the survey by education services provider Benesse showed.

It also showed that fathers in Tokyo come home from work much later than their Asian counterparts, with about 40 percent getting in the door after 9 p.m. versus 29 percent in Seoul and a low 3 percent in the Chinese cities.

Teenage boys eat a lot

This study from the U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development won't surprise anyone who's ever known or been a teenage boy. I just wish I still had the metabolism I had then.

As reported by Reuters, June 15, 2010:

NEW YORK - Parents of teenage boys often believe they are being eaten out of house and home. A new study suggests they’re right.

In a lunch-buffet experiment involving 200 kids ages 8 to 17, researchers found that boys routinely ate more compared with girls their own age. But boys in their mid-teens were the most ravenous of all — downing an average of nearly 2,000 lunchtime calories.

The pattern makes sense, given that boys usually hit their growth spurt — putting on height and muscle mass — in late puberty, according to senior researcher Dr. Jack A. Yanovski, of the U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Yet, while teenage boys have a storied reputation for packing it away, there had actually been little objective evidence that this is the norm.

“There’s a lot of folk wisdom that says boys can eat prodigious amounts, but we haven’t had much data,” Yanovski told Reuters Health.

To fill the gap, he and his colleagues had 204 8- to 17-year-old boys and girls come to a lunch buffet on two separate days. On one day, the kids were instructed to eat as much as they normally would during lunch; on the other day, they were told to eat as much as they wanted.

Overall, the researchers found, boys ate more than girls did at each stage of puberty. Prepubescent boys — generally between the ages of 8 and 10 — averaged nearly 1,300 lunchtime calories, versus 900 among prepubescent girls.

Girls showed the biggest increase in appetite during early- to mid-puberty, roughly between the ages of 10 and 13. Girls that age averaged almost 1,300 lunchtime calories, and that figure was only slightly higher among girls who were in late puberty.

That pattern is in line with girls’ development, Yanovski said, as they tend to have their most significant growth spurts in early- to mid-puberty.

Boys, on the other hand, tend to develop later. And their calorie needs appear to shoot up significantly in late puberty, or between the ages of 14 and 17.

While boys in this study showed little change in calorie intake between pre- and mid-puberty, their average lunchtime calorie intake reached nearly 2,000 calories in late puberty. Even for active children, those 2,000 calories would be most of their daily energy needs.

“They really can eat,” Yanovski noted.

For parents, he said, the findings offer an idea of what they can reasonably expect as far as their children’s calorie needs, and the family grocery bills, as kids get older.

Many Americans believe that God guides their daily lives

Only in Trudeaupian academia (and in Canwest newspapers) would this be considered newsworthy:

...a new Canadian study sheds light on why: the vast majority of Americans believe God is directly concerned with their personal affairs, with most assuming a divine reason for everything from job promotions to speeding tickets.
"In American culture — much less so in Canada — there's a really constant flow of God-talk that references these small, personal interactions. It's almost like a self-absorbed view of divine will," says study author Scott Schieman, a professor of sociology at the University of Toronto.
"The extent that it's so visible, almost saturating the culture at times, makes me think it's not just metaphor or symbolism; many, many people believe these processes are real."
Eight in 10 Americans say they depend on God for decision-making guidance. Seven in 10 believe that when good or bad things happen, the occurrences are part of God's plan. And six in 10 believe God has set the course of their lives.

Go here to see Professor Schieman's original article.

Female social scientists make astonishing discoveries about ogling

Female social scientists, having apparently never been ogled themselves, have difficulty understanding the behaviour in others. The women who never get ogled (such as the feminists mentioned in this article) are the ones who complain the most about being "objectified." The UWO professor is at the perfect campus to conduct such a study; I went to that university, and I found the women very oglable. Their taste in men, however, should be a subject for another study.

In experiments with more than 200 people, researchers discovered that when a female believes her body is being sized up by a male, she'll diminish her presence by speaking less. When a male believes a female is eyeing his physique, however, no such effect occurs.

The study, published this month in the journal Psychological Science, explains that our culture has so taught women that they're judged on appearance that they've come to evaluate themselves that way, ultimately self-objectifying.

Only a woman who has never attracted the interest of any men could come up with this howler (I laughed so hard when I read this, I almost needed medical attention):

Veronica I. Arreola, assistant director of the University of Chicago's Center for Research on Women and Gender, hopes this helps "dispel the myth that ogling women or staring at their chests should be seen as a compliment."

"Yes, we want to look nice and yes, we like to hear that we looked nice today," says Arreola. "But we also want to communicate our thoughts and ideas without wondering if someone is staring down our shirt."

That depends, of course, on whether there’s anything down the shirt worth looking at (or imagining). I have news for Ms. Arreola: Men are interested in what's inside the shirt, they're not interested in women's thoughts and ideas, and all the feminist indoctrination in the world isn't going to change that.

Meanwhile, this observation is positively Sherlockian:

"I'm often struck watching perfectly reasonable and attractive women hiding behind towels at the beach while men of all ages and sizes stroll up and down the beach smiling and looking happy in their skin," says Brennan, who studies gender equality.

"We don't teach men that they'll be judged on how their bodies look, and certainly there's much less emphasis on appearance in male socialization."

Another article on the same topic can be found here.

Big fat slobs don't get jobs...

...except maybe as "Before" models in weight-loss ads. This survey was done by a weight-loss organization in Britain; I suspect the results might be less dramatic in the U.S.A. and Canada, where the number of fat people has ballooned in recent years. Perhaps it might be a good idea to get the promotion first, then earn the "BFS" degree.

Overweight face a ‘catalogue of discrimination" in the workplace, shows survey

Overweight people are missing out on jobs because employers assume they are ‘lazy’, ‘lack self control’ and are ‘not hard workers’, according to a survey by Slimming World and YouGov.

When people who are very overweight do get a job they are twice as likely to earn a low salary, four times more likely to suffer bullying about their weight and six times more likely to feel their appearance has caused them to be overlooked for promotion, the survey of 2,000 people revealed.

In addition, while one in three people who are obese admit they feel like ‘second class citizens’, data from the survey’s 227 bosses shows that they’re right to fear discrimination – particularly from male employers. One in four male bosses say they would turn down a potential candidate based purely on their weight and one in 10 admit they have already done so.

Many people hated physical education class (and still do)

This doesn’t come as a surprise to those of us (including this blogger) who were usually the last ones picked to play on teams during Phys Ed class. It doesn’t sound as though much has changed in the teaching of Phys Ed since George Leonard’s article Why Johnny Can’t Run ( a chapter adapted from his book The Ultimate Athlete) appeared in the August 1975 issue of The Atlantic Monthly (pp. 55-60). I quit taking Phys Ed after Grade 10 in the first half of 1976, but my last Phys Ed teacher, Rick Capyk, was the best I had in that subject, because he had some sympathy for the non-jocks among us. He came up with the idea of intramural leagues in various sports where we could pick our own teams, with one level of play for the jocks, and another level for the rest of us (my junior high math teacher, Mr. Farrelly, had done a similar thing for some of us a couple of years earlier). I started a flag football team, and we had a lot of fun. I have no idea if such intramural leagues still exist, but the idea is still worth trying.

Gym class makes grown-ups shun sports

Bad memories of phys-ed linked to inactive lifestyles

By Elise Stolte, edmontonjournal.com
January 7, 2010

EDMONTON — The reason many adults don't play sports may be related to the humiliation they faced as kids in gym class, when they couldn't climb a rope with everyone watching.

That might seem obvious, but University of Alberta researcher Billy Strean said he was shocked by the painful, visceral reactions he got when he interviewed people about their gym teachers even 40 years later.

When a man's brain is turned on, so is another part of him

Why is it that the social scientists who are researching other people’s sexuality don’t seem to have any themselves?

Sexual response in women more subtle than men: Study
By Linda Nguyen, Canwest News Service
January 5, 2010

The old joke goes that a man's brain is located in his pants, and according to an international study published this week, the adage may in fact be partly true.

The study, which appeared in the Archives of Sexual Behavior journal, examined more than 40 years of international sex research and found that in many cases, when a man's mind was sexually aroused, it was likely his genitals were too. But in women, sexual responses were much more complicated.

For the original article in academicese as opposed to English, go here.

Sand is softer than wood

Another study done by scientists who apparently have never been children, or don't have any:

Children who fall off playground equipment and land on sand may be less likely to break an arm than if they land on wood chips, Canadian researchers say...

...How badly a child is hurt depends not only on how far they fall, but also the type of surface they land on, researchers at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto found after some school playgrounds in the city were resurfaced.

Women cry more often, longer, and more dramatically than men...

...with the possible exception of Johnnie Ray. I do have my doubts as to the validity of the "scientific" studies. If the data came from self-reporting, I suspect that the men may be inclined to lie. Roy Orbison was very popular for singing "crying" songs at a time when men weren't supposed to cry or admit that they did--and his following was largely red-blooded heterosexual men.

...German experts provided confirmation on Wednesday: women cry more often than men, for longer -- and in a more dramatic fashion.

Go here for the original German press release.

Young people don't want to let adults in on their conversation

The slang you use gives away your age? Far out! This article leaves one question unanswered: Why would any adult want to talk with today's foul-mouthed, body-pierced, tattooed freaks yutes?

Slang vocabulary, like musical tastes, or physical height, may be one of those things that is more or less fully formed before we exit our teens...

Pamela Munro, a linguist and editor of U.C.L.A Slang 6, defines slang as "language whose use serves to mark the user as belonging to some distinct group within society."

In other words, when your kid is slangin,’ he’s really saying he is different than you — and he likes it that way.

"Anthropologically, kids form themselves," said Munro. "Slang is a kind of code or password if people are trying to show that they are a member of your group."

Late-night snacks could pack on the pounds...

...although the study doesn't mention that they might give you weird dreams, too.

Midnight raids on the refrigerator may have worse consequences than indigestion -- a study in mice boosts the theory that when you eat affects whether the calories go to your hips or get burned off.

Mice fed during the daytime -- when they normally would be sleeping -- gained more weight than mice fed at night, Fred Turek of Northwestern University in Illinois and colleagues found.

Smokers are unpopular with non-smokers

The Collective Dynamics of Smoking in a Large Social Network
Nicholas A. Christakis, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., and James H. Fowler, Ph.D.

From the abstract:

Network phenomena appear to be relevant to smoking cessation. Smoking behavior spreads through close and distant social ties, groups of interconnected people stop smoking in concert, and smokers are increasingly marginalized socially.

Translation: Smokers are influenced by the behaviour of those in their social circle, and that social circle is getting smaller.

Maybe the reason non-smokers can't stand the company of smokers is that smokers reek of the foul stench of tobacco. Football coach Dave Skrien put it succinctly in his book Countdown to Grey Cup (page 44):

Tobacco is the most useless habit ever invented by man. It is unnecessary, unclean, unhealthful, rude and thoroughly distasteful.

Could it be that men honk their horns at women because they're interested in them?

University of Alberta professors differ on why men beep their car horns at women
Car honking theories range from male aggression to competition for status
Sarah Malik, News Writer

Dr Michelle Meagher, a women’s studies professor at the University of Alberta, has formulated a theory as to why men blow their car horns at women. According to her, there is no question that this behavior— which she talks about in terms of aggression and desire—reveals how boys have been raised and the sort of fantasies they have developed about women.

"It has nothing to do with how men are hardwired," she said.

However, Dr Peter Hurd, a Psychology professor at the U of A who researches sex and aggression, emphasizes that men are more likely to honk at women when other men are around rather than when they’re alone.

"It is a dominance signal, a competition for status with other men," Hurd explained.

He further maintained that the role of the woman, who is treated merely as an object in such scenarios, is minimal and that the honking is not about her, but about the male peers.

Obviously, these professors need to get out more. If you saw the photo of Dr. Meagher that accompanied the article in the print edition of The Gateway, it would be easy to conclude that she probably hasn't been honked at by any men. On that point, I wonder if she actually conducted a study on this behaviour at all. It's highly unlikely that any such study could be conducted in Edmonton, since most of the city's women are fat, ugly, waddling slobs with butch haircuts, tattoos, and body piercings. In the words of Newman, "A more offensive spectacle I cannot recall."

"This behavior is part of a sliding scale," Meagher said. "It is related to other violent activities by men against women, such as physical violence."

This is typical of the misandrist drivel that "women's studies" serves up by the bagful. My mother has told me that when she was young, she and her friends took offense if men didn't honk and whistle at them. If Dr. Meagher were a woman, she'd feel the same way.

Lonely hearts find comfort in TV characters

Subjects in one study who felt down from remembering unhappy moments of social rejection soon perked up upon writing about their favorite TV shows and characters. This supports the "social surrogacy hypothesis," where technology provides a sense of social belonging when real social connections are lacking.

"Normally rejection has a horrible effect on us, because we're a very social species," said Shira Gabriel, a psychologist at the University of Buffalo in New York who conducted four studies on the issue. "But with our favorite TV shows, we're no longer sad."

However, if George Costanza is the television character that you draw the most comfort from, you may be in trouble. These social scientists may someday discover that lonely people tend to fantasize a lot, and that lonely females like to read romance novels.

Apparently these "scientists" have never met either children or dogs outside a laboratory

To anyone who knows anything about kids or dogs, this isn't unclear at all. So many social scientists are so retarded, I wonder how they ever got their degrees.

Dog Bite Risk for Kids Greatest in Summer

SUNDAY, March 8 (HealthDay News) -- Young children are at the greatest risk for dog bites in the summer and are especially vulnerable to severe bites in the head and neck areas, say researchers who analyzed 84 cases of dog bites in children.

It's not clear why children are more likely to suffer dog bite injuries in the summer, but it may be because children spend more time outdoors playing with dogs in warmer months, the researchers suggested. Or it may be that dogs are generally more irritable in hot weather.

Sex researcher discovers that attitude influences behaviour

I suspect that sex researchers are too busy studying others' sex lives to have any of their own.

Virginity Perceptions Affect Relationship Choices: Trent Professor
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Findings Have Important Implications for Sexual Education Programs

According to Trent University psychology professor Dr. Terry Humphreys, virginity is a powerful cognitive schema that has different meanings for people and can affect their relationships choices and other life decisions.

People who act like snobs are probably rich

Rich Man, Poor Man: Body Language Can Indicate Socioeconomic Status, Study Shows

The results, reported in Psychological Science, reveal that nonverbal cues can give away a person's SES. Volunteers whose parents were from upper SES backgrounds displayed more disengagement-related behaviors compared to participants from lower SES backgrounds. In addition, when a separate group of observers were shown 60 second clips of the videos, they were able to correctly guess the participants' SES background, based on their body language.

The researchers note that this is the first study to show a relation between SES and social engagement behavior. They surmise that people from upper SES backgrounds who are wealthy and have access to prestigious institutions tend to be less dependent on others. "This lack of dependence among upper SES people is displayed in their nonverbal behaviors during social interactions," the psychologists conclude.

Fat kids don't feel good about themselves...

...while kids who do well on exams do feel good about themselves.

According to this study from the University of Alberta:

Kids who scored well on provincial exams tended to have high self-esteem, the researchers said, although children with low self-worth still managed to perform well. Children dealing with obesity, meanwhile, weren't feeling good about themselves.
"Body weight affected self-esteem negatively, and ... school performance affected self-esteem positively," the study says.

For another article on the same study, go here.

Mother knows best

Children may groan, but Mom was right, scientists find
Modern research affirms traditional wisdom of motherly dictums
Tom Spears, CanWest News Service
Published: Tuesday, January 06, 2009

The more scientists study us, the more they confirm that your mother was right. You should eat your veggies, wash your hands and play with friends outdoors.

Unhappy people watch more television...

...or does increased televiewing cause more unhappiness? If I spent more time watching the garbage that's on TV these days, I'd be unhappier, too.

Unhappy People Watch More Television
By News Staff | November 15th 2008 12:00 AM

A new study by sociologists at the University of Maryland concludes that unhappy people watch more TV, while people who describe themselves as very happy spend more time reading and socializing. The study appears in the December issue of the journal "Social Indicators Research."

Analyzing 30-years worth of national data from time-use studies and a continuing series of social attitude surveys, the Maryland researchers report that spending time watching television may contribute to viewers’ happiness in the moment, with less positive effects in the long run.

"TV doesn’t really seem to satisfy people over the long haul the way that social involvement or reading a newspaper does," says University of Maryland sociologist John P. Robinson, the study co-author and a pioneer in time-use studies. "It’s more passive and may provide escape - especially when the news is as depressing as the economy itself. The data suggest to us that the TV habit may offer short-run pleasure at the expense of long-term malaise."

Bullies enjoy seeing people in pain

Bullies may get kick out of seeing others in pain
By Julie Steenhuysen – Fri Nov 7, 8:15 am ET

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Brain scans of teens with a history of aggressive bullying behavior suggest that they may actually get pleasure out of seeing someone else in pain, U.S. researchers said on Friday.
While this may come as little surprise to those who have been victimized by bullies, it is not what the researchers expected, Benjamin Lahey of the University of Chicago, who worked on the study, said in a telephone interview.

There's a generation gap in fitness clubs

'Geezers get out'
New research finds that if the old folks like it, the kids will stay away
Sarah Schmidt , Canwest News Service

Young customers don't want old people around when they're eating out at restaurants and will avoid patronizing health clubs and other service industries related to physical activity if senior citizens are present, a new study suggests...

I prefer rude doctors, myself

Patients prefer polite physicians, says U.S. report
Wed May 7, 2008 6:27pm EDT
By Gene Emery

BOSTON (Reuters) - Doctors should try a new type of prescription -- being a little more polite -- if they want to connect with their patients, a U.S. psychiatrist suggested on Wednesday...

Yutes with TV in their bedrooms get dumber

Study ties bedroom TV to unhealthy habits in teens
By Will Dunham
Mon Apr 7, 12:04 AM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Teenagers with a bedroom television tend to have poorer diet and exercise habits and lower grades in school than those without one, U.S. researchers said on Monday...

People prefer trains that run on time

Headline: Report: On-time trains would reduce Amtrak's losses
Date: April 3, 2008

"Amtrak could significantly boost its revenues and cut expenses if
it improves its on-time performance, according to a report by the
Transportation Department's inspector general. Doing so, however, would
require the cooperation of the freight railroads, which host the
national passenger carrier on their tracks."

Wounded war veterans bring their wounds home with them

This will come as a surprise only to those who've never heard of war. And here's another possibility these "scholars" might want to investigate: Families and caregivers of those who suffer serious injuries not related to war may also suffer from stress.

Military families suffer collateral damage
Caring for injured soldiers has steep price: study
Keith Gerein, The Edmonton Journal

EDMONTON - When a Canadian soldier loses a limb in combat, or suffers paralysis or develops severe depression, the injuries can be devastating.
But when that soldier returns home, the impact can be passed on to spouses, parents and children -- caregivers who suffer in profound and often unrecognized ways, say the authors of a new University of Alberta study...

Crucifixion isn't supposed to be good for your health

The following items are excellent examples of one of the major errors of Roman Catholicism: Roman Catholicism teaches that the death of Jesus Christ on the cross isn’t enough to pay the penalty for all our sins. In contrast, the teaching of the Bible is clear: Jesus Christ has done it all, and there’s nothing that we can do instead of or in addition to what He did on the cross to achieve our salvation.

On the cross, just before He died, He said "It is finished." (John 19:30). The Greek word is tetelestai, an accounting term meaning "paid in full." Other New Testament passages that confirm this include:
I Peter 3:18a: For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God...
Hebrews 9:26b: But now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
Hebrews 9:28a: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many...
Hebrews 10:10: By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Hebrews 10:12: But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;
Hebrews 10:14: For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.

Obviously, if Christ has done it "once" and "for ever," it’s neither necessary nor efficacious to try to reenact Christ’s suffering, or to try to atone for our own sins by inflicting suffering upon ourselves. Moreover, we’re saved because of what Jesus Christ accomplished on the cross, not because He endured a certain amount of physical suffering. Mel Gibson is a Roman Catholic who believes that physical suffering is necessary for salvation; that’s why his movie The Passion of the Christ dwelt on the gory details of Christ’s physical suffering on the cross. The Bible on the other hand, doesn’t dwell on the gruesome physical details, but rather on what Jesus Christ accomplished on the cross. As the passages cited above state, He took the punishment that we deserved, and by the shedding of His blood (Hebrews 9:22b: ...and without shedding of blood is no remission) completely satisfied the demands of God’s law.

When Jesus paid the penalty for our sins, He paid a debt that was owed to His Father--not a debt owed to Satan, as some erroneously teach. The work of salvation was completely the work of God. It should be noted that when Jesus said "It is finished," He was on the cross; He didn’t finish the job in Hell, as some heretics in the so-called "Faith Movement" teach.

If anyone reading this blog hasn’t yet accepted Jesus Christ’s payment for sins, that forgiveness is available to you right now:
Psalm 95:7-8: ...Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your heart...
II Corinthians 6:2: ...behold, now is the day of salvation.
John 6:29: Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.
Romans 10:9: That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Ephesians 2:8-9: For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Warning: Crucifixion bad for health
From correspondents in Manila
March 19, 2008 09:43pm
Article from: Agence France-Presse

PHILIPPINE health officials are warning people taking part in Easter crucifixions and self-flagellation rituals to get a tetanus shot first and sterilise the nails to avoid infections.
Every Good Friday in the predominately Roman Catholic Southeast Asian nation, dozens of men re-enact the crucifixion of Jesus Christ by having themselves nailed to wooden crosses.
At the same time hundreds of others, mostly men, strip to the waist and whip themselves until their backs are cut and bloody as a way of atoning for their sins over the past year...

Man crucified for 22nd time
By Joseinne Ignacio and Samuel Medenilla in the Philippines
March 21, 2008 08:23pm
Article from: Agence France-Presse

A MAN has been crucified for the 22nd time in a gruesome Easter ritual.
Devout Roman Catholic Ruben Enaje donned a crown of thorns before being nailed to a cross.
The 47-year-old decorator was the first of 19 men in this northern Philippines village of San Pedro Cutud who underwent the bloody Easter crucifixion ritual, an extreme form of penance by devotees wanting to thank God for answering their prayers...

In order to discover what drives voter preferences...

...advanced brain research isn't necessary. The same information can be obtained just by asking women why they vote the way they do--which is why women should never have been allowed to vote.

Voters make decisions more on emotion than reason, author finds
Honest pitch will persuade quicker than facts, figures, even among sophisticated
David Zussman, Freelance
Published: Tuesday, March 04

...A recently published book authored by Drew Westen, titled The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation, provides a new lens through which to analyze and speculate on voter behaviour...

In essence, Westen challenges the popular notion that voters are rational and cool headed in their assessment of political parties and individual candidates. Westen argues that when strategists "assume voters dispassionately make decisions based on the issues, they lose."

In other words, based on their MRI research, when voters are asked to choose between reason and emotion, they always choose the candidate or party that evokes the emotional response...

Psychologists are the last people to discover the truth about human nature

Lack of free will may aid cheating
Linda Nguyen, Canwest News Service
Published: Wednesday, February 20, 2008

People are more likely to throw caution to their moral standards and cheat when they believe they have no control over their free will, according to two recently published academic studies.

The studies, both appearing in the American journal Psychological Science last month, found that participants were more likely to cheat when they were told that genes or the environment predetermines their behaviour...

People in love use pet names for each other

Of course, if they start calling each other nasty names, this could be a sign that the relationship may be in trouble.

Terms of endearment make hearts grow fonder
Chris Zdeb, The Edmonton Journal
Published: Friday, February 08

Sweetie. Darling. Adonis. Baby Boy. Jam Tart. Words of love: pet names for people.

They're more than terms of endearment, says registered psychologist Helen Neufeld; they enhance a relationship...

These scientists apparently don't have (or have never been) children

More evidence that scientists need to get out more often:

Generation Gap? 'Online Gap' Widens Divide Between Parents and Children

ScienceDaily (Feb. 5, 2008) — Instant messaging, blogs, Facebook, MySpace -- there are limitless ways your child communicates online with the offline world. And the risks and opportunities are only increasing.

A new Tel Aviv University research study has found that, despite what parents might believe, there is an enormous gap between what they think their children are doing online and what is really happening...

Don't marry someone you can't stand

Of course, the sooner the relationship breaks up, the less time the partners will have to get on each other's nerves.

Marriage: It's Only Going to Get Worse
By Jeanna Bryner, LiveScience Staff Writer
posted: 05 February 2008 02:19 pm ET

If your spouse already bugs you now, the future is bleak. New research suggests couples view one another as even more irritating and demanding the longer they are together...

Watching close, exciting games is more stressful than watching boring, lopsided games

Canadian Football League coaches (especially Danny Maciocia and Tom Higgins) have been very effective in recent years in preventing heart attacks by doing everything they could to remove all the entertainment from the games.

Don't be a Super Bowl statistic
Stress of watching the big game can be hazardous to heart, research suggests
By Jeremy Manier | Tribune reporter
January 31, 2008

Most sports fans can recall a close game that made their hearts skip a figurative beat, but a new study suggests that the stressful emotions of big contests may in fact increase the risk of chest pains or cardiac arrest in spectators...

Maybe drunks are depressed because they can't stop drinking

Alcoholics With Depression Less Likely To Stay Sober

ScienceDaily (Jan. 4, 2008) — It’s hard to stay on the wagon when you’re depressed, according to a new study of problem drinkers...

These findings aren't "surprising" to anyone who's ever lived near a frat house

These studies remind me of the episode of Get Smart where Maxwell Smart was showing Agent 99 a listening device hidden inside an artificial ice cube. According to Max:
"Professor Parker has tested this device in every known liquid. That's how he got his reputation."
"As a scientist?"
"No, as a drunk."

Drinking And Aggression Among University Students Often Depends On The Context

ScienceDaily (Mar. 4, 2008) — A significant proportion of university students experience violence, under circumstances that often involve alcohol. A new study has found that drinking at a fraternity, sorority or campus residence increases the likelihood of aggression, and that attending parties can especially increase aggression for women...

Inside College Parties: Surprising Findings About Drinking Behavior

ScienceDaily (Jan. 6, 2008) — Most studies of drinking by college students have focused on individual factors like attitudes, and have relied on self reports. A uniquely designed study instead had researchers visit college parties, gathering data on the spot. Findings revealed that drinking games and themed parties are associated with higher levels of drinking...

Football Game Days Tops For Drinking Among College Students

ScienceDaily (Nov. 19, 2007) — College students drink larger amounts of alcohol on football game days, comparable to well-known drinking days such as New Year's Eve and Halloween, according to research from The University of Texas at Austin...

Would you believe...Teen binge drinkers may become adult binge drinkers

Teen Binge Drinkers Risk Alcoholism And Social Exclusion As Adults

ScienceDaily (Sep. 10, 2007) — Teen binge drinkers are significantly more likely to become heavy drinkers as adults and find themselves with a string of criminal convictions, indicates a study in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health...

Heavy drinking shrinks brains...

...especially those of the scholars who conducted this study.

Drinking Heavy Amounts Of Alcohol Shrinks Your Brain

ScienceDaily (May 3, 2007) — Drinking heavy amounts of alcohol over a long period of time may decrease brain volume, according to research that was presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 59th Annual Meeting in Boston, April 28 -- May 5, 2007. The study found the more alcohol people drink on a regular basis, the lower their brain volume...

Scientists make the shocking discovery that young people imitate the behaviour they see on the screen

If scientists got out more often, they'd realize, as tobacco companies do, that most movies today are made for young adults and teenagers. This is why these companies pay actors to smoke in movies.

On-screen Smoking In Movies Linked To Young Adult Smoking Behavior

ScienceDaily (Oct. 3, 2007) — New study findings show that exposure to on-screen smoking in movies has a strong correlation with beginning to smoke or becoming established smokers among young adults 18-25, a critical age group for lifelong smoking behavior...

Teens Who See More Smoking In Movies May Have Increased Risk Of Becoming Established Smokers

ScienceDaily (Sep. 4, 2007) — Exposure to smoking in movies appears to be associated with adolescents' risk of becoming established smokers who have used at least 100 cigarettes in their lifetimes, according to a new report...

Exposure To Smokers In Movies Increases Likelihood Of Smoking In The Future

ScienceDaily (Jun. 14, 2007) — A new study appearing in the July issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, reports that watching an actor smoke on the big screen may make smokers more likely to continue smoking in the future, and make nonsmokers more favorably disposed toward smoking...

Drunks get hurt a lot because drunks fall down a lot

Drinking Can Be Dangerous

ScienceDaily (Jul. 20, 2006) — People who drink alcohol are up to four times more likely than non-drinkers to be hurt from physical injuries such as a fall or punch, new research shows.

The University of Queensland study found any alcohol consumption quadrupled the risk of injury for the first six hours after drinking alcohol and this risk remained at 2.5 times that of a non drinker for the next 24 hours...