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SYSTEMIC STUFF ( + occasional nonsense ) IN THE NEWS . . . . DECONSTRUCTED FOR POSSIBLE MUTUAL BENEFIT
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JAN 07
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Players' perilsProfessional musicianship might not be the first occupation to spring to mind as dangerous – but many suffer from work-induced health problems. The current issue of the journal Medical Problems of Performing Artists has a free-access essay outlining some of the problems with musical instrument ergonomics. Traditional designs for instruments – though they might have evolved towards tonal perfection over hundreds of years, may not necessarily be the most ergonomic. The author points out that there’s great scope for manufacturers to improve the designs without affecting the musical qualities in any adverse way. Needless to say, some instruments are more dangerous than others. The brass insrtuments ( + oboe and bassoon ) are the safest – although laryngoceles ( ‘blowout’ of the larynx ) can be a problem for trumpeters. [ *tip : Playing a brass instrument outside in cold weather ? Use a fibreglass mouthpiece ] Medium rates of injury tend to occur with the bowed string instruments, as well as with the saxophone, clarinet, organ, flute, and percussion [ *tip for cymbal players - wear earplugs ] The most dangerous of all are the piano, guitar, and harp. Piano players
suffer from Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) to the hands [ *tip
: get a piano with narrower keys ]. Guitarists too get RSI – in
one
survey 81% reported one or more musculoskeletal problems. Thankfully though, at least one very severe music-related injury is now very rare . . .
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UnderwowedThere’s still time to enter the Microsoft showusyourwow completion ( deadline 11:59 p.m. PT on March 5, 2007. ) which is part of the launch promo for the company’s new operating system and addons " the highest quality products we've ever released ". Really Magazine always likes to read the small print – so we turned to the ‘official rules ’ page - but got hung-up on the second paragraph. “ ‘Releasees’ (as defined below) assume no responsibility for lost, late, illegible, garbledor (sic.) misdirected entry materials, or for any computer, online, telephone, human, or other error or for anytechnical (sic.) or other malfunctions that may occur. “ Undeterred, but slightly less than 100% reassured with the apparent levels of quality control, we duly searched for the definition of ‘ Releasees ’ – but there isn’t one. So, overcautious though we may be, rather than upload our ‘ Wow ’ we decided instead to watch the video of the launch party in Times Square yesterday. Here’s the result :
Then it locked up. </wow> 30 JAN 07 (late) comments | permalink | back
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Penguins are hot.Specialists in biodiversity advise that species are currently going extinct at a rate unequaled since the last ice-age – as a result of human activity. Given the motivation though, it’s possible to ‘rescue’ at least some of them from the prospect of extinction before it’s too late. Suggesting the question ‘ Which ones ? ’ In some cases, perhaps the chances for a species' survival will come down to the simple factor of whether humans find them attractive or not. In other words, is it considerably more likely that, say, Giant Pandas will be protected rather than Epilampra haitensis , the endangered Haitian cockroach.
The team proceeded by studying pictures from penguin books – four of them – and found 304 suitable photos. Then, the popularity of the various species – there are 17 in all – was ranked according to how many pics of each species appeared in the books. Later, Multiple Regression Analysis was used to find a common denominator for the popular photos – which turned out to be : ‘ Warm colors ‘. ( as in the photo: King Penguins , courtesy NOAA ) " The work pretty conclusively shows there is a large difference of appeal among organisms, even among closely related organisms ... " Not good news perhaps for the Jackass penguin – which is B&W only – and has a world population of just 120K.
The work will appear in a future edition of the journal Human Ecology Univ. Washington press-release here
30 JAN 07 comments | permalink | back
to the top [ put title here ]See the January issue of the journal ‘ Psychological Bulletin ’ for an article on a pernicious form of self-regulatory failure – a.k.a. Procrastination. The author, Piers Steel , is Associate Professor at the University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and has been studying procrastination for almost 30 years. He has created an extensive website on the subject, complete with online tests which will allow you to test your own procrastination levels ( and your attention focus.) It should be emphasised though, that although the research paper is another step along the road towards a complete theory – procrastination as a psychological phenomenon is it is still not entirely understood. The abstract of the paper ' The Nature of Procrastination: A Meta-Analytic and Theoretical Review of Quintessential Self-Regulatory Failure ' ends thus : “ Continued research into procrastination should not be delayed ...“ 29 JAN 07 (late edition) comments | permalink | back
to the top Tips for potential muggeesBrazil’s biggest-selling newspaper – o Globo - published some tips over the weekend on how to avoid being mugged/ kidnapped - and what to do if you are. The tips were aimed at Rio residents, but presumably would be applicable in any big city. Some examples: • If you are attacked, don’t shout ‘Help!’ – this tends to make others around feel afraid, and they might run off rather than assist you. Instead, shout the name of a man ( any man ). This will make the assailant think that you have some help nearby. • If you think you are being followed, go into a shop which is ‘inappropriate’ for them. A ladies lingerie store for example ( or a fishing-tackle shop if the suspect is female ) The suspect will be unlikely to follow you inside. From the relative safety of the shop, check to see if they are waiting for you outside - if so, you are being followed.
29 JAN 07 comments | permalink | back
to the top “ Modifying solar radiance “
Why not just pump a few megatons of sulphate droplets into the atmosphere ? How to do it ? Easy ! Just add some extra sulphur to diesel fuel ! And throw away those expensive catalytic filters too ! Like, Duh ! . . . ( That way we can keep our SUVs , right ? )
[ note : One of the ideas unlikely to be featuring strongly in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC) report - due out next Friday. ]
27 JAN 07 (late) comments | permalink | back
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Thought for the day ( in the future )See an essay in the Winter 2007 [Eh? Ed.] issue of the journal ‘ Leader to Leader ‘ , from the Leader to Leader Institute. " Leadership is a matter of how to be, not how to do ..." ( For further info on the author, click the link ‘ More on Frances Hesselbein ‘ )
The Leader to Leader Institute also administer the ‘ Leader of the Future Award ’ the first of which was presented in October last year, to Alan Mulally, president and CEO of the Ford Motor Company. Who, by coincidence, was in the in the news just yesterday.
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News from DavosThe problem of spam – said Bill Gates, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos “ will be solved within two years “ Regarding this wonderful prospect of permanently spam-free inboxes, Really Magazine urges
our readers that it might well be prudent to temporarily restrain any possible
excitement initiated by Bill’s
visionary statement . . . ( Source here - well worth a look )
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Soft-bot Timeline.
They now have assets of over1 Billion U.S. Dollars. ( source: ) At the end of last year they awarded $730,000 to the Biomimetic Technologies dept. at Tufts University, Massachusetts - for continuing research into their Soft Bodied Robots project. The lab's goal is to create robotic devices – with very wide-ranging applications – which don’t have to rely on the current ‘hard’ tech which almost all contemporary bots are currently forced to use. To this end, they have been closely examining the way that soft-bodied animals – caterpillars for example – move about, and the new grant will assist them to “ design a truly soft-bodied locomoting robot with the workspace capabilities similar to those of a living animal. “ There are two fundamental obstacles facing soft-bot designers though. Firstly there’s a lack of powerful, fast, and reliable soft actuators ( the equivalent of, say, an electric motor or hydraulic cylinder ). Lack - as in ‘there aren’t any’. [please get in touch if you know of one] The second is that accurate control of a ‘soft robot’ ( if one could be made ) would, almost by definition, be 'fuzzy' too – severely limiting their application for tasks requiring accuracy. ( something which the ‘hard’ robots excel at ) If the two main obstacles can be overcome though, soft robots obviously have a bright future filling gaps and niches where hard bots are inappropriate. Here’s the lab's director Prof. Barry Trimmer - in a Tufts interview back in 2004. “ A soft-bodied robot could be just a few years off. It might not
work as well as a caterpillar because they've had 300 million years to optimize.
But, I think we'll have something that's very flexible and moving around
within a few years. It's close… I can almost feel it." 26 JAN 07 comments | permalink | back
to the top Clearing the airA new study on the motivations behind adolescent smoking – from the Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania – is published in the Jan./Feb. issue of the journal ‘ Psychosomatic Medicine ’ The researchers hypothesized that : “ ... exposure to peer and family smoking may affect adolescents’ smoking through two sets of risk beliefs; beliefs about the personal harm of smoking, and beliefs about the general immediate harm of smoking, and these beliefs may in turn affect smoking “
“ ... suggest that exposure to household smoking may affect adolescent smoking through its effects on beliefs about the personal harm of smoking, beyond the effects of previous smoking. “ Read an abstract of : ‘ Beliefs About the Risks of Smoking Mediate
the Relationship Between Exposure to Smoking and Smoking ‘ here 25 JAN 07 (late) comments | permalink | back
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Creating Legacies for Organic Entities ( in Redmond )The Microsoft Corporation has a Big New Idea - as revealed in their patent application published earlier this month. [link to pat. below] First, a thousand words or so of background info reminds us of the staggering rate of information-generation - the fragility of the media used to store it - the difficulty of finding the data you’re after - and the possibility that a viral outbreak or a natural disaster could wipe everything out. That’s where the company’s new concept comes in : “ Immortal information storage is leveraged to provide an interactive means to retrieve information associated with a physical artifact. “ Really ? But, So, Ummm . . . How does that work ? Here’s some snippets which we’ve been using as clues to try to divine the exact nature of the idea :
• “ instructions for reading the data can be included with the physical artifact and written in multiple languages such as, for example, English, Latin, and/or even hieroglyphics and the like. “ • The word 'immortal' appears 74 times. • The word ‘tomb’ appears 6 times. • And it can all be read by a computer with a PCI bus and a floppy disk.
In any event, it will, apparently, get around the problems of storing the entire history of every individual of the human race on something the size of a coin : “ Imagine flipping such a coin and watching in horror as it rolls down into a storage drain, disappearing forever. “ Scheesh ! Quite ! Ouch !
Read the patent application here to find out how it will actually work : ( p.s. if you do, can you let us know please ? )
• Update : We’re still stuck in a loop. Hooked on the phrase : “ . . . During the lifespan of the immortalized
data . . . “ • Comment : from reader Tony B, who points us towards this, from 1961 25 JAN 07 comments | permalink | back
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The winners of the ' nanohazard ' sign competitionhave been announced today in Nairobi. Sadly, our own effort wasn't even shortlisted - though it did get somewhere between 48 and 50 votes . . . 24 JAN 07 (midnight edition) comments | permalink | back
to the top Link of the day :It’s not everyday that Komodo Dragons’ eggs hatch on camera. But the UK’s Chester Zoo has been carefully incubating a clutch since May last year. Five have just hatched - the last one was on Monday. Komodo Dragons are the largest lizard in existence ( growing to 2 to 3 metres in length ) and there are reckoned to be only 4000 4005 or so left on the planet. Flora , the parent lizard, has no partner. DNA tests have shown that she is both the mother and the father of the offspring . . .
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Who says alcoholics have no sense of humour ?A new study of German alcoholics has shown that they have difficulty in understanding jokes. 29 alcoholic patients and 29 healthy control subjects were shown lists of ‘joke stems’ and asked to match them with the ‘correct’ punchlines. The alcoholics only chose the ‘correct’ punchline 68% of the time – as against 92% in the healthy control group. Following-on from previous studies by the same authors, the punchlines were of four types : Correct (C), Slapstick (S), Logical (L), and Illogical (I). Here’s an example of a joke stem and punchline(s) from the study : Joke stem : ' It was Mother’s Day. Anna and her brother had told their mother to stay in bed that morning. She read her book and looked forward to breakfast. After a long wait she finally went downstairs. Anna and her brother were both eating at the table . . . ' Alternative punchlines : • Anna said: ‘Hi mom, we didn’t expect you to be awake so early’. • Anna picked up an egg and smashed it on her brother’s head. • Her brother said: ‘We have a new teacher at our school’. • Anna said: ‘It’s a surprise for Mother’s Day. We cooked our own breakfast’.
؟ ؟ ؟ Further reading from (two of) the same authors : a 2006 study, using similar joke-evaluation techniques, which suggested that ‘older people‘ ( 60 –79 ) show ‘ mild humour-processing deficits ‘. ( Advisory: This .pdf will rigorously test your sense of humour )
Discussion : Perhaps future research could investigate possible links between famous humourists and alcoholism ? As the above results do seem a touch anomalous with the fact that a great many of the funniest people who have ever lived ( and to a ripe old age ) were also very fond of a drink or ten . . . 24 JAN 07 comments | permalink | back
to the top Roads ( dangers of )TrafficSTATS (STAtistics on Travel Safety) is a newly-launched joint venture between Carnegie Mellon University and the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety (AAAFTS). It’s an interactive database website which allows experts and members of the US public alike to get a precise fix on the risks associated with various road-based travel activities. “ This user friendly tool, will allow risk calculations based on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) and the Bureau of Transportation Statistics National Household Travel Survey (NHTS). ‘ The database provides a hugely powerful no-nonsense tool for anyone wondering about the real risks involved in road transport – unfortunately though, the implementation of the site leaves a lot to be desired. Navigating though it using Firefox is about as pleasurable and rewarding as it is for a pedestrian trying to cross a windswept five-lane city ringroad on a rainy day with a broken umbrella. The frame-based website ( kind of ) works with Internet Explorer – but the CMU obviously have a very different definition of ‘User Friendly’ than we have. If you are determined enough to fight your way through the site you’ll be able to glean a lot of useful data though – some of it highly counter-intuitive ( even myth-busting ) As with any set of statistics of course, the way they’re looked-at makes all the difference : so the data are presented in various flavors • Your prospect of a (personal) fatality per hundred million trips, • As above per hundred million person-miles, • And per hundred million minutes of travel-time ( about two hundred years )
• If you’re female, you can expect a (personal) fatality 0.38 times every hundred million minutes travelling in a car, but only 0.33 times in an SUV. Which, according to TrafficSTATS, is safer than walking. ( 0.53 fatalities per hundred million minutes ) [ It would be interesting to see the stats organised say, for fatalities per $ spent, or per tonne of carbon-dioxide emitted - hopefully pedestrians would fare a lot better. Ed. ] Also revealed : • an 18-year-old male and an 80-year-old female have roughly the same driving risks. • In the US mountain states, summer fatality risks are twice as high as the winter months ( when measured in deaths per passenger mile ).
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Offshore . . .<how things work> Registering your business offshore doesn’t come cheap. But it can have serious advantages. Lets imagine, for the sake of argument, that you happen to be in, say, the international shipping business - and one of your unlucky container ships gets into difficulties and sheds its load ( toxic chemicals included ) into the sea. Bearing in mind the possible hefty nature of the cleanup bill, and the negative PR - let alone any possible allegations of negligence - it could be seriously advantageous to you if your personal global profile was rather low. Imagine then that you had had the foresight to register your shipping company to a ‘letterbox’ . . . an ‘offshore’ one (large). Take, for example, facilities like the ones which are available in the British Virgin Islands. There are financial advantages of course : No earnings-related taxes to pay. No requirements for any yearly accounts or records. But most importantly, your name or identity wouldn’t be required for the incorporation documents and don’t appear in any public records. Anywhere. Thus ensuring that, no matter what the outcome, your management company and insurers would be left to take all the flack and pick up the bill - rather than yourself. Perhaps not so high-scoring on the ethics front - but, from your point of view, awfully convenient. <end of how things work> You read it here first. 22 JAN 07 (late edition) comments | permalink | back
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Who put the As in Arkansas ?“ In the mind of the general public, the words ‘arsenic’ and ‘poison’ have become almost synonymous. “ begins the abstract of an invited review in the current edition of the journal ‘ Poultry Science ‘ In the interests of any readers wondering why the authors - the ‘ Center of Excellence for Poultry Science ‘ ( at the Univ. Arkansas ) may be investigating the ‘perception issues’ regarding arsenic, think : Roxarsone a.k.a. 4-hydroxy-3-nitrobenzenearsonic acid an organoarsenic antimicrobial drug routinely added to chicken feed – as this page from the U.S. Geological Survey informs. “ We estimate that approximately 106 kilograms (Kg) per year of roxarsone and its degradation products are introduced annually into the environment “ 106 kilograms is another way of saying 1,000,000 Kg – or 1000 tonnes – hardly an insignificant amount ? [ Note: In the original posting we foolishly made a decimal point error here: but the 1000 tonnes figure is now confirmed by this piece in Chemical and Engineering News, April 2007,. Ed. ] And, from January 2006 the US Environmental Protection Agency maximum contaminant level (MCL) for arsenic in drinking water from was lowered from 50 parts per billion, to 10 parts per billion . ( source: ) No need for alarm though says the Center of Excellence for Poultry Science " no link has been established between litter application and As [arsenic] contamination of ground water." Really Magazine wondered though if that might be because no such study has yet been published ? ( odd perhaps, considering that the routne use of Roxarsone in poultry feed goes back more than 30 years ) Things might change later this year though, as the first (?) such study is due to be completed at the end of Feb . . . We await its publication with interest . . . as, no doubt, does the Univ. Arkansas.
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to the top Sockless in SheffieldMaintaining a very large database-driven website is a far from trivial task. As Sheffield Hallam University is in the process of demonstrating . . . We followed a link which their Brain, Behaviour and Cognition Research Group was providing to this file : and were led to the following error message : “ Just like that sock you put in the washing machine which you never see again, the page you are looking for has disappeared . . . If you have lost a sock, register it on our 'socks reunited' database - we may be able to help you find its missing counterpart. “
Not yet fully disheartened, we did a ‘search’ for the phrase "socks reunited" using their Google-based search facility . Here’s the result : “ Your search - 'socks reunited' -
did not match any documents.
No pages were found containing 'socks reunited' ". On reflection, it dawned on us that perhaps we had unknowingly been taking part in a subtle under-the-radar psychology experiment. The penny dropped when we saw the university’s motto . . . ” Sheffield Hallam University : Sharpens
your thinking “ 20 JAN 07 ( late edition ) comments | permalink | back
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Today’s global media roundup :• 'Official' US Media releases: “ Chinese shot down a satellite “ • 'Official' Russian media releases: “ No they didn’t “ • 'Official' Chinese media releases: “ Jade evicted from Big Brother “ 20 JAN 07 comments | permalink | back
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' Dirty Work ' ( taint normalizing and the three 'R's )A new multi-university US study looks at ‘ Dirty Work ’ and the managerial tactics used to counter the feelings of ‘taint’ that sometimes accompany it. First, the team needed a definition of what ‘ dirty work ‘ actually is – or, more accurately, what occupations are looked upon ( by varying segments of society ) as being ‘tainted’. That in itself is a far from easy task – for though some work is unequivocally dirty, in that involves contact with dirt ( e.g. janitor, rodent exterminator etc ) others are far less clearcut. For example, the kind of jobs which some might consider as ‘servile’ - such as shoe-shine attendants and customer complaints clerks. And then there are those which are “ thought to employ methods that are deceptive, intrusive, confrontational, or that otherwise defy norms of civility ” – which, according to the research paper, includes - exotic dancers, tabloid reporters and personal injury lawyers. In all, ( after discounting bakers, bank tellers, café managers, electrical engineers, insurance company receptionists, librarians, music teachers, newspaper editors, optometrists, payroll clerks, software designers, and travel agents ) the researchers finally defined 18 occupations as truly being ‘ Dirty Work ’. *(see note) The occupations which had been chosen were then calibrated according to their physical, social, and moral ‘ dirtiness rating ‘. Next, the team conducted one-hour recorded interviews with 54 managers of a variety of stigmatized occupations. Some example questions: “ What are some of the worst things that happen here? How do you manage those situations? “ “ If you were at a party and a stranger asked about your job, how would you describe it? “
After the interviews had been transcribed and analysed, consistent results began to emerge : “ although society may fairly or unfairly brand certain occupations as physically, socially, or morally tainted, the managers of such occupations articulated an impressive array of techniques for normalizing the taint. It is through normalizing that occupational members are able to derive pride and identification from jobs that society necessitates but then sanctimoniously disavows. “ It was noted too that the managers themselves, though sometimes well-practiced in ‘ Stigma Distancing ’ are not always completely immune from taint. In fact, 39 of the 54 managers felt that society in general misunderstood them. Though : “ ... managers have the status shield of being managers and may be more physically and psychologically distanced from the work itself. “ But what of the practical recommendations of the study ? What can managers of these various occupations actually do to counter the stigmas ? “ Managers should emphasize the collective nature and common individual forms of normalizing rather than implicitly putting the onus on the individual, as if the taint were his or her unique problem rather than the system level issue that it really is. “ Then there are the possibilities offered by : Recalibrating : ' Adjusting implicit standards used to assess the work ' Refocusing : ' Emphasizing non-stigmatized aspects of the work ' And, as many Waste Relocation Operatives will already be aware, there’s
The paper will be published in the February issue of the Academy of Management Journal Or, read a full draft of the paper in advance here: ( 62 page .pdf )
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* Note : See the paper for the full list of 'dirty work' jobs. Though a thoroughly non-scientific ad-hoc poll around the Really Magazine office did throw up at least one profession which was noticeably ( and in our view regrettably ) absent : Politician. comments | permalink | back
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Light-pollutionis a rapidly growing worry for astronomers. Over 99 percent of people in the US and EU now live in light-polluted areas. To draw attention to the problem, and provide a discussion forum for possible solutions, the International Dark-Sky Association is organizing a two-day symposium, to be held at the Carnegie Institution, 1530 P Street NW, Washington, DC on February 21st & 22nd. Register here : it's free of charge ( though donations are accepted )
Light pollution sources, such as outdoor lighting and vehicle lights are threatening not only astronomical observations, but plant and animal populations : as well as, in more general terms, endangering the perception of the Universe around us. It goes without saying too that all the man-made light which escapes upwards ( except for aircraft navigation lights ) is ‘wasted’ – or rather the electricity used to generate it is – so it’s not helping with global-warming either. * * * * * * In Really Magazine’s research on the subject we came across this picture ( courtesy of ‘Eye Captain’ ) which shows : the Carnegie Institution building at night ( note the up-lighting ) We wondered if the Dark-Sky Association might be requesting that it's turned off during the symposium - so we e-mailed them to ask . . . And yes !, they have ; here's their reply : " The Carnegie Institution was selected for a variety of reasons, its proximity to the DC Metro, news organizations, and a large number of environmental organizations. Not to mention the beautiful architecture both in and outside the building. In observance of the dark sky symposium being held there February 21 & 22, 2007, we have asked that they turn off their lights. Unfortunately, the lights at the Carnegie are on a complicated timer system, which would make the complete darkening of the building near impossible. But, the Carnegie has offered its support in retrofitting portions of its outdoor lighting display. IDA is currently seeking lighting designers and sponsors for the project. " Also see : the Carnegie Science Center at night ( note the neon signage ) the Carnegie Library at night ( floodlit ) and of course the Carnegie
Hall ؟ ؟ ؟ 18 JAN 07 comments | permalink | back
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The time is now five minutes to midnight.As expected , today the hands of the ' Doomsday Clock ' have moved on - by a couple of minutes. " This deteriorating state of global affairs leads the Board of Directors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists--in consultation with a Board of Sponsors that includes 18 Nobel laureates--to move the minute hand of the 'Doomsday Clock' from seven to five minutes to midnight. " • visit the new www.thebulletin.org website. • or check out the Brobdingnagian Bards . . . (audio) 17 JAN 07(late) comments | permalink | back
to the top If looks could kill.Turn to the January edition of science journal ‘ Evolution and Human Behavior ’ for details of a new study ( from the universities of Aberdeen, Liverpool and Stirling UK ) which looked at the question of whether facial appearance might affect voting behaviour in political elections ( or not. ) The team conclude, yes, it does - as hinted-at in the title of the paper ‘ Facial appearance affects voting decisions ’ Photos ( all male for some reason ) which had been left untreated or photo-warped/morphed/blended with others, were shown to groups of subjects ( mostly Univ. of Liverpool students ). The data of their responses – supposed to reflect their likely ‘voting behaviour’ , was subsequently analysed using one-way chi square tests . “ Our results provide strong evidence that facial appearance has important effects on choice of leader. “ Going further still, in a second experiment, the investigators asked the experimentees to re-asses their vote on the basis that they were ‘in a time of war’ or a ‘time of peace’ . . . “ changing context from war time to peace time can change the type of face that is voted for - the dominant features of Bush and masculine faces were favored in a leader during ‘war time’, while the more forgiving features of Kerry and feminine faces were favored in a leader in ‘peace time’. “ Really Magazine is puzzled though by the use of photos of high profile political figures - Bush, Blair, Hague and Kerry - whose personalities and beliefs would presumably have already been well known to many of the subjects in the experiment. Wondering about how this could lead to an unbiased scientiifc conclusion - regarding facial appearance alone - caused severe, almost painful, eyebrow-raising around the office. Not all that clear either how it’s possible to realistically imagine how one would really react in a time of war or peace – or nowadays even be sure which is which. Here’s the full paper, complete with the photos of our 'leaders' ( real and warped )
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To
find out, a new study from the Department of Interdisciplinary Arts
and Sciences, University of Washington decided to concentrate on a particular
order, the
Sphenisciformes, ( Penguins ) to determine which type
people find most attractive – and
why.
Global
warming 
In 1921, The
So
we dutifully followed the link provided on the error page to the 'socks reunited'
database – which took us straight back to the university’s front
page again . . .
There
is an 
Our
apologies for being slightly late with notification of a recent study from 
But here’s the current front page of the 
When
entering a hotel lobby, are you perhaps influenced by ‘atmospherics’ ? 
(lista)
= list > listaphobia 
(katalogos)
= catalogue, directory, inventory, > katalogophobia 
