Scientist Prove: Girls Make Boys Stupid

I literally laughed out loud when I read the title of this article from the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior: "The Mere Anticipation of an Interaction with a Woman Can Impair Men's Cognitive Performance." You can read the abstract here.

Apparently, a 2009 study showed "that heterosexual men's (but not heterosexual women's) cognitive performance is impaired after an interaction with someone of the opposite sex (Karremans et al., 2009)."

By the way, I love how they were careful to include 'but not women.'

Researchers at the Behavioural Science Institue in The Netherlands, took it one step further. They tested men who hadn't even met the girl yet. Just the mere possibility of interaction with a woman reduced men's mental processes.

When I told my husband about this study, his response was the following:

"Well, yeah. Then, when they actually meet her it's ten times worse. Add a rival to the mix, and the stupidity becomes exponential."

Ladies, the next time a guy does something stupid to "impress" you just remember that, apparently, they can't help it.

When Booth Saved Lincoln

I know what you’re thinking. “But Booth killed Lincoln!” Different Booth, different Lincoln – but they’re related.

Edwin Booth in 1870 as Hamlet

Sometime during the winter of 1864-1865, President Lincoln’s son, Robert Todd Lincoln (aged 21), was buying a train ticket in New Jersey. The crowded platform led to Robert having to lean against the body of the train.

When the train began to move, Robert was pulled off balance and into the gap between the train and the platform. Before any damage could be done, someone grabbed his collar and pulled him back up.

Robert Lincoln’s rescuer was none other than the renowned actor Edwin Booth. Just a few months later Edwin’s brother, John Wilkes Booth, would become infamous for assassinating Robert’s father, President Abraham Lincoln.

At the time, Edwin had no idea whose life he had saved. It wasn’t until some months after the assassination, when Edwin received a letter of praise from Robert's friend, Col. Adam Badeau, that he realized the significance of his heroism.

Undoubtedly, the incident provided some consolation to Edwin following the heinous act of his brother. You can read the full story in History.net's article, "Edwin Booth Saved Robert Todd Lincoln's Life."

The First Computer Bug

The First Computer Bug

Common lore says the use of the word “bug” to indicate a technical malfunction dates back to 1947.

In September of that year, U.S. Naval Captain Grace Murray Hopper was working on the “granddaddy of modern computers,” Harvard University’s Mark II.

Hopper and her team experienced a series of glitches. Some quick troubleshooting showed that the problem was mechanical.

Hopper opened up the machine and, after a quick inspection, found a two-inch moth trapped in Panel F between the points of Relay #70.

Things promptly improved after Hopper successfully “debugged” the equipment.

Is the Moth Story True?
Yes, the moth story is true. The proof comes from the Dahlgren, Virginia, Naval Surface Warfare Center Computer Museum. Taped to a page in the team’s log book is the actual moth followed by the handwritten quip, “First actual case of bug being found.”

What’s not true is that it’s the source of using the word “bug” to describe a technical problem (though it may be the first reference to a computer bug). Grace Hopper herself tells us that the term was used during WWII to describe hitches in radar electronics.

An electrical handbook from 1896 tells us that the word bug “is used ... to designate any fault or trouble in the connections or working of electric apparatus.” By the way, that book is available as a free Google eBook and is called New Catechism of Electricity by Nehemiah Hawkins.

The Original Bug

Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison

Where does using the word bug to describe a technical glitch come from? Etymonline’s bug entry says it “may have been coined c. 1878 by Thomas Edison.” It may not have been Edison himself, but using the word bug to refer to a fault was common in his lab.

Personally, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was actually coined by Nikola Tesla – the true source of many of “Edison’s” innovations.