Blinding Flashes of the Obvious Part 1

Every year, billions of dollars are spent worldwide on research. Scientists make use of public and private funds to test a hypothesis and then publish their results in journals and white papers. Researches have helped to shed light on many interesting things and progresses human kind. However, a lot of them are also stupid and worthless. Not to mention that they are Blinding Flashes of the Obvious.

For example, a few days back I read a study that said unemployment increases stress.

Er, hello? I can, like, tell you that without having to interview retrenched workers.

Today's The Sun newspaper had a couple of BFotO researches:

• "Men and women who describe themselves as nervous or anxious seem to be more likely than their calmer counterparts to be hospitalised at some point for a suicide attempt, according to a study involving adults in Sweden."


• "Occupational exposure to substances that trigger asthma can affect the severity of the disease, according to a report from France."

In other weird news as reported by The Sun, 29/8/2005:

• World's first toilet college: Set up by the World Toilet Organization, this college aims to improve the lavatory washing skills of cleaners. Zemien says that you better not diss toilet cleaners from now on - he or she may have a degree while you don't.


• PAS blames police for trouble: Regarding the ruckus in Kuala Nerus, Terrenganu PAS commissioner Datuk Mustafa Ali said, "Police action was the cause of the disturbance. Police were not friendly as stated in their slogan." Zemien agrees, and says that police should now ask, "Can I arrest you now? Please?" before handcuffing suspected terrorists.

Hmm, I loved doing this post. I'll definitely do it again in the future. Stay tuned for the next episode of... Blinding Flashes of the Obvious.