Sideswipe: February 2: Obvious knock-offs…

TV shows are just habitual

In 1957, a television advertiser came up with the concept of an “Index of Boredom” in an attempt to quantify how bored TV viewers were while watching shows. The research studied 160 viewers in New Jersey and came across an unexpected finding: people would continue to watch TV shows even if they found them boring. Perhaps the strangest fact to emerge from the reports was that people watch programmes even though they are tired of them. Some of those surveyed were quite hostile to the spate of westerns on TV, but they watched westerns anyway.

Did you know…

1. Horses can’t vomit because they have a strong lower oesophageal sphincter that acts as a one-way valve, preventing food from coming up.
2. When the # and * keys were first put on landline phones they had no purpose whatsoever and were only included because touch-tone phones could create up to twelve tones.
3. In the 17th century, London was plagued by an attacker who would slap an unaccompanied lady’s buttocks, before shouting “Spanko!” and running away.

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A grandparent's guide to thriving in a depressed job market

Unemployed? Made the mistake of admitting this to your elderly relatives?
Go to the factory and ask
Don’t wait for jobs to be advertised. By that time they’ve already gone. Have you considered popping down to the tyre factory in town and asking if there’s any work going? It was closed and outsourced to Bangladesh in 1992 but you never know if you don’t try.
Tell everyone you know you’re looking for a job
Your grandparents will be doing this on your behalf, but it doesn’t hurt to spread the word. Tell everyone you meet — the GP’s receptionist, strangers at the bus stop, small children — that you’re out of work at the minute. Doris from the bingo’s son might be head of human resources at Google, you never know.
Offer to work for free
Getting your foot in the door is the most important thing. Worry about rent and food bills later. Don’t fuss about health and safety, you don’t want them thinking you’re soft. Get going on the welding equipment and if you don’t horribly maim yourself they might keep you on. (Via The Daily Mash)

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