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Hey, Rich! Get a Life!
Rich Galen Monday March 14, 2005
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- Here's what you do on the weekend if (a) the weather is, even in the face of global warming, still too cold to ride your 50cc Skippy Scooter; (b) No one wants to come out and play with you except the granddog, Titus; or (c) You don't have the good sense to get your butt off the couch in the den: You read the press releases on the week's scientific discoveries and studies.
- Speaking of global warming, our first report comes from the University of Illinois (which is the overall number one seed in the NCAA Men's basketball tournament following a 32-win season).
- It seems that corn, soybeans, sorghum, and alfalfa hay farmers in the Midwest all enjoyed record yields in each crop during the 2004 growing season.
- According to Stanley Changnon, adjunct professor at the university, an ABOVE average number of sunny days coupled with temperatures averaging between 5 and 15 degrees BELOW normal led to the best growing weather in the past 117 years.
- However, lest Mr. Changnon lose his visitor's pass to the faculty lounge, the release ends with, "[T]hese conditions and their crop impacts are not considered indicative of those expected with a change in climate due to global warming."
- Courage.
- What else? Oh, here's one which is sure to help fundraising at the Lawrence Summers Institute for Gender Separation. In an abstract headed, "Women Lag Behind Men in Academic Leadership Positions Worldwide," researchers in Sweden discovered,
"In most countries around the world, men significantly outnumber women in academic leadership positions. A group of researchers recently set out to � examine whether this difference reflects the female to male ratio among physicians or whether it reflects country-specific factors." - This was reported in that well-known journal of sociological and cultural developments, the March 2005 issue of "Arthritis & Rheumatism."
- Still on the education front, it seems that there is still more evidence that President George W. Bush is onto something when he insists that pressing for democracy and freedom everywhere is a good thing.
- A study published in the recent issue of the American Journal of Political Science titled, "Democracy Increases Education Spending in Africa," indicates that moving from a dictatorship to democracy "led to clear preliminary evidence that democratically elected African governments have spent more on primary education."
- According to the study (which used United Nations data so it must be correct) a, "government subject to multiparty competition is estimated to devote 4.4% more of its total expenditures to education" than in non-democratic countries.
- Hmm. Imagine that. Freedom = fewer children left behind. Get me Armstrong Williams on the phone.
- And here's one which proves your mother was correct: Wash your hands.
- A University of North Carolina study (also a number one seed in the NCAAs) shows that there is nothing better for getting little critters like viruses and bacteria off your hands than washing them in soap and water.
- Epidemiologist Emily Sickbert-Bennett showed in "the largest, most comprehensive study ever done comparing the effectiveness of hand hygiene products shows that nothing works better in getting rid of disease-causing viruses than simply washing one's hands with good old-fashioned soap and water."
- She also reported that, those "waterless, alcohol-based agents had variable and sometimes poor effects, becoming less effective after multiple washes" because viruses are hardy and relatively resistant to disinfection."
- On the other side of the same bathroom door, a study from last September rated the people who wash their hands after using the toilet in some of the nation's busiest airports.
- In August 2003, Wirthlin Worldwide watched about 7,500 people in public restrooms in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas, Miami, and Toronto airports.
- According to the results, the most dangerous place to shake hands with a man was Chicago's O'Hare airport (only 62% washed up); the worst place to shake hands with a woman was San Francisco's airport where only 59% of those using a restroom washed their hands afterward.
- Interestingly, San Francisco scored highest among men - 80% washed up after, uh, oh! Nevermind.
- On the Secret Decoder Ring page today: Links to all the studies including the data on each of the airports; another Mullfoto of the granddog; and a pretty good Catchy Caption of the Day.
--END --
Copyright © 2005 Richard A. Galen
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