Occam’s Razor is currently typing from snowed-under Washington, DC, a region that has gotten smacked in the face with a giant Mother Nature snowball so vicious, that pretty much everything has come to a halt (insert your own joke about whether congress is more or less harmful when not in session). The world has taken on that surreal post-apocalyptic feeling where norms as we previously knew them don’t apply and society breaks down (I thought a few days ago I was going to observe my neighbor and a plow-truck driver get into a fight…but it was disappointingly nothing more than that pseudo-bravado posturing and foot stomping we guys do). Today I emerged to shovel my driveway – again! - only to look onto a blindingly white, shapeless landscape that resembled the Hoth ice world from Star Wars.
I’ve essentially barely left my house for five days now, and quite honestly I’m bored! I’ve watched old movies, dusted, waxed my back (Occam is excessively hairy) and by now I’m just about dying of boredom. Which, by the way, is no longer just a figure of speech! Scientists at University College London released the findings of a study of 7500 civil servants that shows that people reporting high levels of boredom (which surprisingly, given that they were civil servants, was not the entire cohort) had a shorter life expectancy than those not reporting being bored. The reason being, say the researchers, is that those who are bored engage in unhealthy behaviors to help give life some edge, such as drinking and smoking. Occam has drained a six-pack of Guinness and had three Bloody Mary’s (today) but hasn’t touched a cigarette! I think I’m in the clear. Next on my agenda is spending some time with SciCheer’s Sexy Scientists and Engineers Gallery, which will raise my blood pressure, but only for a bit.
Adding to my cabin fever is that I’m in my home with two women, one of whom has mono and the other, my wife, who is pretty. What is wrong with that, you might ask? Nothing, except for the fact that the latest from science tells us that attractive women are “more prone to anger, prevail more in conflicts of interest, and consider themselves entitled to better treatment.” (Find the study here in the Proceedings of the NAS). That explains a lot of the power dynamics in my marriage! Five days in a house where I know I’m the lesser partner is stressful. Maybe I’ll think twice about looking at that sexy scientist and engineers gallery…
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