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facts & arguments

Druids gather for a winter solstice ritual to mark the shortest day's sunlight on Beacon Hill near Loughborough, central England, December 19, 2010.Darren Staples / Reuters

The shortest day

"Throughout history, the day with the least daylight has been marked with celebrations," says The Washington Post. "Once called Yule, it was marked with the burning of a log. Today, many people still observe the winter solstice, which falls on Dec. 22 this year, as a time to look forward to longer days with more light and warmth from the sun. That was even more important before modern heat and electricity!"

Christmas is cancelled

"North Korea's so serious about mourning Kim Jong-il that it's cancelled Christmas," The Daily Beast reports. "That is to say, Pyongyang's furious protests over South Korea's plan to display Christmas lights near the two sides' border has persuaded Seoul to cancel the display as a gesture of goodwill."

Your name picks your job?

"Scientists are exploring the theory that people are drawn to certain trades and professions based on the connotations of their surnames. … [S]rious research is now being dedicated to the concept – known as nominative determinism – to explain why it occurs," says The Daily Telegraph. "… A paper in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology has concluded that people are disproportionately likely to 'choose careers whose labels resemble their names.' The paper, entitled 'Why Susie Sells Seashells by the Seashore: Implicit Egotism and Major Life Decisions,' cites the disproportionate number of dentists called Denise or Dennis as an example of the trend. … However, New Scientist points out that it is more difficult to explain examples of people who have unfortunate surnames in relation to their jobs, such as doctors called Pain."

Football versus education

"According to three University of Oregon economists, when a university's football team has a winning season, the grade point average of male students goes down," Miller-McCune.com reports. "At least, that was the case at their own school over the course of nine recent seasons. Given that the University of Oregon is 'largely representative of other four-year public institutions,' they have no reason to believe the equation won't apply elsewhere. 'Our estimates suggest male grades fall significantly with the success of the football team,' the research team, led by Jason Lindo, writes in a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper. Furthermore, the economists find this effect is 'larger among students from relatively disadvantaged backgrounds, and those of relatively low ability.' "

Anxious and surprised

"Anxious individuals are commonly characterized as being easily threatened and more sensitive than their counterparts," says Psych Central News. "But a new study measuring brain activity challenges this perception as researchers found that anxious individuals may not be sensitive enough. Researchers from Tel Aviv University used an electroencephalograph (EEG) to measure brain activity as study participants were shown images designed to induce fear and anxiety. … The discovery that anxious study participants weren't shown to be as physiologically sensitive to subtle changes in their environment as less fearful individuals surprised the investigators, says Tahl Frenkel, a doctoral candidate and study leader. She suggested that anxious people could have a deficit in their threat evaluation capabilities – necessary for effective decision-making and fear regulation – leading to an under-reaction to subtle threatening stimuli. … Essentially, anxious people are 'surprised' by fearful stimuli that non-anxious individuals have already subconsciously noticed, analyzed and evaluated."

Penguin jealousy?

"People queuing to see the panda enclosure at Edinburgh Zoo are being hit by penguin droppings as the curious birds have been watching proceedings," BBC News reports. "Rockhopper penguins have been standing along the edge of their enclosure since the pandas arrived earlier this month. The penguins are higher than the panda enclosure. … Now officials are planning to build a glass panel in a bid to stop people being hit by the guano. Gary Wilson, Edinburgh Zoo's director of business operations, said: 'Our rockhopper penguins in particular have been watching the events at the panda enclosure below with great interest, ever since work started on the enclosure. …We're hoping it's not a case of monochrome jealousy, but one or two of our rockhoppers seem to have had surprisingly good aim.' "

Thought du jour

"Friendship multiplies the good of life and divides the evil."

Baltasar Gracian (1601-58)

Spanish writer

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