Monday 6 December 2004

Doubly stressed?

According to Dr Tony Mann I should be stressed out because my Christmas shopping wasn't completed by 12:30 on Saturday:
FOR anyone who has spent the past week or so sending their blood pressure soaring as they fight their way through the crowds of Christmas shoppers - searching frantically for that one special gift - there is some terrible news: it has been proved mathematically that come 12:30pm today any remaining fun and good cheer they may have felt will disappear
Actually, I'm a bit of an exception here: I reckon the cut-off point is more like 4pm on Christmas Eve. What stresses me right now is learning that our tax-funded universities investigate stuff like this.

1 comment:

David Farrer said...

Comments made on previous template:

Squander Two
I love Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve. Alas, I can no longer do it, because I live far from my family and have to post stuff to them. I don't enjoy Christmas shopping half as much now I have to do it long in advance as I did back when I did it all at the very last minute. 
 
Mind you, I did rather like this year's Christmas shopping, definitely the most expensive I've ever done. I bought a house yesterday. 
 
Incidentally, nothing here has been "proved mathematically", especially not the claim made by that journalist. It has been demonstrated statistically. Aaaaarrrrrrgh! 
 
That's better. Sorry.

10 December 2004, 14:51:36 GMT
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Andrew Duffin
I am sure we all know that one of the advantages of being of the male gender is that you can complete all your Christmas shopping in 45 minutes, in one shop, at 3pm on Christmas Eve. 
 
It's never failed for me. 
 
Whatever is all this stress stuff?

6 December 2004, 12:22:04 GMT
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David Farrer
You're correct. But as you say we won't know what the market would fund until universities are privatised. A large part of the research in US "private" universities is funded by government.

6 December 2004, 10:38:05 GMT
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Stuart
That is very subjective. 
 
Who knows what lines of research the invisible hand of the market would lead academics to investigate in a privately-funded university system? 
 
Do US academics not do some pretty odd research projects from time to time? 
 
Just because you do not value the findings does not mean that the market wouldn't find a profitable buyer. Mind you, we will never know until universities have to compete.

6 December 2004, 09:36:16 GMT