The American Association for the Advancement of Science held their annual gathering in San Francisco, California, this last week... One of the more interesting talks was about the effects of worrying on test results... Mark Ashcraft, a psychologist at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas, and Sian Beilock of the University of Chicago, Illinois, went over some of the results from their ongoing study of test anxiety... What they discovered is that worrying about a test - in this case a math test - can adversely affect the ability to perform well on that test...

"It turns out that math anxiety occupies a person's working memory," Ashcraft said... With fewer mental resources to devote to solving complex problems, people are more likely to guess or look for a shortcut... And while it may not show up when dealing with simpler questions or subjects, the more mentally challenging the exam, the more anxiety about the exam can affect the results... Once people get past the anxiety, they may do the same work perfectly well... Overcoming the worrying is the hard part, as only familiarity with the subject and confidence in a person's proficiency seem to resolve the issue...

(So all those times your Parents told you to stop worrying and just try your best? That really was the best advice they could give you!)

Here is an actual headline from today on the Greenville Online website:

That's not all - the story then leads off by saying "average gas prices in the Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson metropolitan soared, rising more than a penny and a half a gallon today, according to AAA Carolinas..."

Here's the kicker... If you can make it to paragraph two, it finally gets to details: "The price per gallon of unleaded regular gasoline in the Greenville metro area is $2.107, up from the $2.09 price reported on Thursday - still the lowest metro prices in the state...."

(Well... I think we should all just panic now on such bad news...)

What to do for Valentine's day... Candlelight dinner? Jewelry? While traditional (in a contemporary sort of way), they certainly don't stand out from the crowd... So maybe you should try a different tradition:

• In the UK, women used to eat salty egg whites the day before Valentine's day and then go to sleep with bay leaves pinned to the four corners of their pillow... Supposedly, this would guarantee dreams about their future husbands... Then, on Valentine's day, they'd write down the names of their dream husbands on papers attached to clay balls and dunk the balls in water... Whichever name was on the ball that came up first would be the man they were to marry!
• In the 1600's, British and Italian women believed the first man to walk by their window on Valentine's day would marry them within the year - and if that didn't work then someone of similar looks would!
• Danish suitors, however, would woo their woman by sending a romantic poem (or song, etc) to their beloved - but not sign their name! Instead, they would put a dot for each letter in their name... If the woman guessed the correct name, they would send their guy an egg on Easter!
In Japan and Korea, only women send romantic gifts on Valentine's day... To do so, they send candy to friends, but boyfriends and husbands get homemade chocolate! And if there was a doubt as to who got the good stuff, those who don't get chocolate eat black noodles called Jajangmyun on april 14th!
• The Taiwanese must really like flowers: they give only one rose to their true love, but they give 11 roses to their best friends... And if you want to ask that special question, 108 roses is the equivalent of a marriage proposal!

First it was the debt managers behind on their payments, now it is the safety inspectors who keep getting hurt... The Times in the United Kingdom decided to get some safety data from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) - the government agency responsible for safety inspections and ensuring guidelines for health and safety are enforced... What they found was stunning: Over 510 accidents and injuries in a 3½ year period! That works out to almost 1 accident every 2 days, far and away more often than more "dangerous" workplaces like manufacturing, industrial jobs, farming, and vehicle repair...

Now, you might be thinking all these accidents were from inspectors who got injured while inspecting other workplaces... But that only accounted for 96 of the injuries... The rest were all in the HSE's offices! Some are normal - like the employee who suffered a groin strain from slipping on a wet tea room floor or the one who slipped on a plastic bag and pulled a hamstring... Others are a little surreal, like the woman who bruised her eye when a toiletpaper roll dispenser fell from the wall or the guy who was injured due to poorly fitted safety shoes! And the best of all was the one where someone got injured by walking into a warning sign!

So if you are looking for a nice safe job, maybe you should consider working somewhere else...

Have you ever looked around your property and thought, "Man, I really wish I had a bridge"? If so, then the state of Kentucky would like to hear from you... The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet is working on improving Kentucky Route 490 and is looking for ways to preserve one of the old bridges crossing the Rockcastle River... The bridge, built in 1922, is an example of a Pennsylvania petit truss bridge developed in the 1800's... While it only has a 3-ton weight limit, officials say it would be perfect for a pedestrian or bike bridge, or for a private drive... Plus, it even qualifies for the National Register of Historic Places...

To sweeten the offer further, the state will pay for disassembling the bridge and moving it to a site you designate! All you have to do is agree to rebuild the bridge at your own expense, maintain it for at least 20 years, and make it available for the public to visit... Plus, whatever monies would have been required to demolish the bridge can be applied to the reconstruction and maintenance costs!

So if you are interested, contact the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet by March 28th...

Go Colts! Yes, the Indianapolis Colts have won the Super Bowl! But let's ask the really important question: were the commercials any good?

Because let's admit it, a goodly part of why we watch the game is to see the commercials! And this year, the commercials were educational as well as entertaining... For instance, while I do not suffer from Connectile Dysfunction (CD), I now know that Robert Goule is why my desk is always so messy in the afternoon... Also, while an ax may double as a bottle opener, it doesn't matter what the guy with the chain saw is a carrying, I'm not pulling over... Plus, no matter what, I am not ever going to open an account at this bank or get to know this doctor...

Did you miss any? Then check out ifilm's Super Bowl 2007 commercial site... Then you can watch the ones you missed... Or, in some cases, watch the ones you liked over and over again!

(And find out why the people at Garmin (the GPS Navigation systems) apparently watch way too much Power Rangers...)

Sunday is the Super Bowl... Is you boss giving you Sunday off? Probably not... How about Monday off? Not likely... Unless, that is, you work for Monarch Beverage Company in Indianapolis, Indiana! Not only are they giving all 630 of their employees Monday off with pay, they're also throwing in a six-pack of Blue Moon beer and a Super Bowl T-shirt! All because their hometown football team, the Indianapolis Colts, are playing the the Super Bowl... "The Colts' wins have had an extraordinary impact on our business, and we want to return that support," Monarch Beverage CEO Phil Terry said...