Discover link:

... Together, these results suggest that an actual interaction is not a necessary prerequisite for the cognitive impairment effect to occur. ...

So, the mere suspicion of the possible presence of a woman impairs heterosexual men's cognitive performance? Men are smarter when women are nowhere around them? That seems ridiculous to me. I've heard hetero men say women are really distracting, but surely (most) men learn at some point after adolescence to overcome this tendency to be distracted by women. It sounds like another way to blame women for things going wrong. "Of course I failed the test! A woman passed me in the hall! I couldn't think anymore!" I dunno.

And I've decided to go to Chicago for my birthday, so I can eat at my brother's restaurant and attend his yearly holiday party and play with his dogs.

I am going to try to get there when I'm in Chicago in December! Maybe for lunch Wed. the 21st. And I'm so sorry you are having to go through all that with your mom. ugh. My dad had similar issues with his folks -- mom with dementia who was pretty tractable but dad had parkinsons and absolutely refused to let anyone help the two of them. Eventually my dad had to get power of attorney (after somebody found my grandfather fallen on the floor and my grandmother completely unaware of what was up and they'd been like that for a couple of days). He was able to get them into a care facility where my grandfather had to wear an alarmed cuff on his ankle, otherwise he'd try to run off. It was an incredibly stressful time for all involved. I hope your folk's situation can be eased in some way soon.

Matilda is watching Yellow Submarine for the first time:

The Beatles: All the lonely people - where do they all come from?

Matilda: They come from America!

The Beatles: Where do they all belong?

Matilda: JULY!

I am crabby crabby mccrabby cakes. crabbiness is my superpower.

Zenkitty,

wasn't that study weird? I don't know what to think about the findings. It seems like men should be/are made of heartier stock than that.

Yeah, I have Good as well. I wish that it could integrate personal calendars with work calendars. If I could sync Outlook with my phone, I would still have two calendars, but at least they'd be in one place. But, I can't download iTunes to my work computer, and they have no reason to let me, since my work calendar syncs with my phone through Good.

le nubian,

Yeah, if that were true, no military unit, no administrative or scientific team could function of there were women on it, and there's ample real-life evidence that that's not so.

Aww, msbelle, come let the crabbycakes out here! We got your back!

I was glad to hear Katehi condemn the policemen's actions in no uncertain terms, but I do wonder how much of that is trying to save her own ass.

Well we do know she called the police knowing what they had done in Berkley. So I'd say condemning the police, after initially defending them, does not get her off the hook. She should resign. Either she called the police knowing what would happen and is not morally qualified for her job, or she called the police not knowing what would happen and is intellectually not qualified for her job.

Men are smarter when women are nowhere around them?

That's what they want women to believe.