Curious
Times No. 370
October 12, 2006
DESPITE
WHAT THAT VOICE IN MY HEAD SAYS, I’M NOT CRAZY AFTER ALL
Psychological researchers from Manchester University in the UK
now claim that hearing voices inside your head is far more common
than previously thought and is not necessarily a sign of mental
illness. The new research suggests that as many as one in 25 people
regularly hear voices inside their heads and that for more than
half of those people the voices actually have a positive impact
on their lives. The researchers concluded that hearing voices
is only disturbing to people who are struggling to overcome a
trauma or who are suffering from extremely low self-esteem. On
the other hand, the voices often serve to comfort and inspire
otherwise “normal” and “psychologically healthy”
people. (BBC)
“YOU SAFETY IS OUR HIGHEST PRIORITY” IS JUST A MEANINGLESS
SLOGAN
Here’s something you don’t want to hear if you ever
fly on planes. Last February a British Airways pilot decided to
continue a flight from Los Angeles to London even though one of
the plane’s engines was on fire. According to a transcript
obtained by the Wall Street Journal, the air traffic controllers
advised the pilot to turn around and come back to Los Angeles
after they saw flames coming out of one of the engines on the
Boeing 747. Instead, the pilot decided to simply shut down the
engine and “get as far as we can.” The plane eventually
made it as far as Manchester before concerns about low fuel levels
forced the pilot to finally land. (The
Guardian)
IF THEY WERE GANGS OF PAJAMA-WEARING DEATHSQUADS I WOULD BE
CONCERNED
Usually you associate the negatives of living in a big city with
things like noise pollution, extreme smells, killer traffic and
high rates of criminal activity. But not for the spoiled-rotten
citizens of Shanghai. A recent survey has revealed that the most
irritating aspect of living in that massive city is people wearing
pajamas in public. Other top irritants for the hard-done-by citizens
of Shanghai include aggressive pets and unhelpful neighbors. (Reuters)
FINALLY AN ANSWER TO THE QUESTION “WAR, WHAT IS IT GOOD
FOR?”
Thanks to the hundreds of dismembered soldiers returning from
war in Iraq without all of their arms or legs the American military
agency DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) has funded
research to figure out how humans might one day regrow their limbs.
DARPA has given two competing groups of scientists $7.6 million
in grants with the promise of more research money if preliminary
trials are successful. For a start, scientists are trying to isolate
the genes and molecular signals which enable regenerative abilities
in many amphibians. “There are actually more species on this
globe that can replace lost structures during regeneration than
there are animals who can’t,” said one scientist, who
went out on a limb by guessing that the next big breakthrough
could come next year or 20 years from now. (Wired)
THE BUSINESS END OF THE SUIT
Next time you need to be all business for a video conference but
don’t want to bother getting dressed, get yourself a Business
Bib from BusinessBibs.com.
The Business Bib is simply the top-third of a suit which you can
throw on over your t-shirt for that professional look you need
to fool your colleagues into thinking your actually give a damn
about that account you’ve been forced to work on. The website
boasts that “the BusinessBib allows you to look perfectly
put-together in a fraction of the time it takes to boot your computer.”
Wearing pants, or underwear, is optional. Just remember not to
get up during the meeting.
HO-HUM
Leading a backlash against everything that is exciting, unusual,
and extreme, sociologists have launched The Journal of Mundane
Behaviour. Available at MundaneBehavior.org,
the journal celebrates everyday banal and tedious conduct around
the world. The inaugural issue includes intellectual ruminations
on shaving, searching for a library book and interactions in elevators.
Founding editor Scott Schafer claims that people are yearning
for tedium to break up the monotony of excitement.
FOR
HOURS OF FUN AT ANY AIRPORT
On the other hand, if your day-to-day routine has gotten a bit
stale you might want to drum up some excitement by carrying around
the “Suspicious Looking Device” as seen at JunkFunnel.com.
The SLD is a bright orange box with a countdown timer on the top.
If you touch it, it lets out a loud siren and then scoots away
on a set of hidden wheels. “The only function of the Suspicious
Looking Device is to appear as suspicious as possible, whether
carried in hand or placed indiscriminately in public places,”
boasts the artist who created it.
I-READ-IT-ON-THE-INTERNET-SO-IT-MUST-BE-TRUE FACT OF THE WEEK
In Tasmania, a widow is required to wear her dead husband’s
penis around her neck for a period of time after his death.
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