UK News 28-01-2005 who: Psychologist Dr Cliff Arnall what: Calculates that Monday was statistically the worst day of the year where: Cardiff University, CARDIFF when: This week snippet: "His formula? It`s (W+(D-d))xTQ MxNA, if you must know," explains Richard Morrison at length in The Times, "where W stands for the weather at this time of year (ghastly); D-d for the gap between your Christmas shopping spree credit-card debts (astronomical) and your next pay cheque (pathetically inadequate); T for the time that has elapsed since those carefree, feel-good nights of yuletide boozing and carousing (so long ago that you can`t remember them); Q for the time that has passed since you spinelessly broke your new year resolutions to quit smoking and eating burgers; M for your motivation level as you staggered out of bed this morning (zero), and NA for that nagging, desperate feeling that you need to take action of some sort to cheer yourself up if only you could stop being depressed for long enough to work out what that action might be." And in other psychology news, the BBC reports that German researcher Dr Petra Kempel has fuelled "the age-old male myth" that women are bad at parking cars and reading maps due to a testosterone deficiency in the womb. [... more]

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