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Curious Times No. 215
October 23, 2003DON’T STAND SO CLOSE TO ME
An experiment conducted at the University of Liverpool found that not only do people have negative opinions of overweight people, but that this stigma even rubs off on their average-sized friends. The study tested students’ reactions to two different prom photos. One showed a thin guy standing next to a thin woman. The other showed the same guy standing next to an overweight woman. According to ratings on the "fat phobia scale," the man standing next to the large woman was rated 22 per cent more negatively than the same man in the "thin" photo, and was described as miserable, passive, depressed, weak and insecure. "It shows that people project negative attitudes associated with obesity not only on the obese but all those who associate with them," said psychologist Jason Halford. (SF Gate)IF YOU CAN’T BE THIN, AT LEAST BE TALL
So, what we’ve learned so far this week is that you want to stay as far away from your fat friends as possible. Now if you really want to climb that social ladder, you’ll also want to make sure you’re as tall as possible. A study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology has found that tall people earn way more money than their shorter co-workers, and also enjoy better performance reviews from their superiors and more respect from the average-sized folks around them. Professor Timothy Judge discovered that each inch of increased height was worth a whopping US$798 a year in pay, which, over the course of a 30-year career, can add up to hundreds of thousands of extra dollars just for being a few inches taller than average. (Reuters)HITLER’S BEST FRIEND
A German man has dodged a day in court after teaching his dog to do the Nazi salute. Originally, Roland T, 54, had been charged with "using symbols of unconstitutional organizations," after teaching his dog "Adolf" to raise his right paw, Nazi-style, when he yelled the command "Heil Hitler!" After checking his record, police discovered that the man was already facing several more serious charges related to his Nazi-loving ways, so they dropped the doggy-related charge. (AP)STOPPING FOR A BAG OF CHIPS HALFWAY UP THE TUBE WON’T HELP
Two separate studies last week revealed the effects of drinking coffee and smoking pot on a man’s sperm. As might be expected, drinking coffee makes sperm swim faster, but doesn’t affect sperm concentration or levels of hormones. Meanwhile, smoking cannabis not only reduces the volume of sperm produced, but also increases the sperm’s initial hyperactivity, followed by a "burn-out" as the sperm nears the egg, resulting in lower rates of fertilization among pot smokers. "The sperm from marijuana smokers were moving too fast too early," said Lani Burkman, lead author of the study, "the timing was all wrong. These sperm will experience burnout before they reach the egg and would not be capable of fertilization."EVEN KIDS KNOW MONEY TALKS
A couple of strange tales involving children and some poorly earned cash emerged last week. In Norway, a 12-year-old boy came home to tell his mom he had made about US$14 after being hit by a car. Apparently, the woman who hit the kid gave him the cash and told him to go buy some candy and forget the accident ever happened. Meanwhile, back in the U.S.A., an even more bizarre exchange of money happened when a 13-year-old girl in Florida was able to avoid being raped by giving her attacker $28. She said the man had abducted her, taken her to his home, and was taking off her clothes when she realized she had some money in her bag. She offered him the $28 for her freedom and he accepted. She immediately went to the police who promptly arrested the man, who now faces charges of kidnapping, false imprisonment, attempting sexual battery and strong arm robbery. (pub.tv2.no / local6.com)YOU MAY NOW SHOOT THE BRIDE
Despite ongoing safety warnings from the Serbian government advising people that shooting off guns during celebrations is not such a good idea, injuries continue to mount, especially after major sporting events and during New Year parties. In what must be the worst accident yet caused by the bizarre ritual, guests at a wedding reception managed to take down a small airplane last week, as they fired off round after round in celebration of the newly wedded couple, causing the destruction of the plane and serious injuries to the two men who were on-board. (BBC)THIS IS YOUR LIFE, AND IT’S ENDING ONE MINUTE AT A TIME
Okay, you already know that you’re going to die. But what you might want to know is how much time you’ve got left. And if you’re really freaky, you might want to get yourself the "LIfe Expectancy Watch," a handy little device which will count down your remaining seconds above ground. You set the Life Expectancy Watch by answering a few simple questions about your lifestyle, and the watch crunches the numbers and then displays how many years, months, days, hours, minutes and seconds you’ve got left. The watch then begins the countdown to your impending doom, so you’ll always know how much time you’ve got left before your deathbed conversion. (www.totallyabsurd.com)
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