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Monday, January 24th to be Worst Day of the Year
RonMcMahon writes "Dr. Arnalls from Cardiff University has crunched the numbers and has precisely determined that Monday, January 24th will be the worst day of the year.
For those of you who might be wondering, the formula to use when deciding what day to stay in bed is 1/8W+(D-d) 3/8xTQ MxNA.
The fact that the 24th happens to land on a Monday is purely coincidental."
...the birthday of the Macintosh! Perhaps I should leave my computer off that day?
RTFA:
1/8W+(D-d) 3/8xTQ MxNA. Where:
W: Weather
D: Debt
d: Money due in January pay
T: Time since Christmas
Q: Time since failed quit attempt
M: General motivational levels
NA: The need to take action
RelevantElephants: A Somatic WebComic...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_24
* 41 - Claudius is appointed Emperor of Rome after his nephew, Caligula, is assassinated.
* 1458 - Matthias I Corvinus becomes king of Hungary.
* 1679 - King Charles II of England disbands Parliament.
* 1742 - Charles VII Albert becomes Holy Roman Emperor.
* 1848 - California gold rush: James W. Marshall finds gold at Sutter's Mill near Sacramento.
* 1859 - Wallachia and Moldavia are united under Alexander John Cuza under the name Romania (see December 1, 1918 for the final unification, Transylvania and other regions were still missing at this time).
* 1888 - Jacob L. Wortman patents the typewriter ribbon.
* 1908 - Robert Baden-Powell begins the Boy Scout movement.
* 1916 - In Brushaber v. Union Pacific Railroad, the Supreme Court of the United States declares the federal income tax void.
* 1922 - Christian K. Nelson patents the Eskimo Pie.
* 1924 - St. Petersburg, Russia is renamed Leningrad.
* 1936 - Albert Sarraut becomes Prime Minister of France
* 1943 - World War II: Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill conclude a conference in Casablanca.
* 1952 - Vincent Massey sworn in as first Canada-born Governor-General of Canada.
* 1962 - Brian Epstein signs to manage The Beatles.
* 1966 - An Air India Boeing 707 jet crashes on Mont Blanc, on the border between France and Italy, killing 117
* 1972 - Shoichi Yokoi, a Japanese soldier, is discovered on Guam.
* 1982 - Super Bowl XVI: San Francisco 49ers defeat the Cincinnati Bengals, 26-21 in the first Super Bowl played north of the Mason-Dixon line
* 1984 - The first Apple Macintosh goes on sale.
* 1986 - Voyager 2 passes within 50,679 miles of Uranus.
* 1987 - In Lebanon, gunmen kidnap Alann Steen, Jesse Turner, Robert Polhill and Mitheleshwar Singh.
* 1989 - Serial killer Ted Bundy is executed in Florida's electric chair.
* 1995 - The prosecution delivers its opening statement in the O. J. Simpson murder trial.
* 1996 - Polish Premier Jozef Oleksy resigns amid charge he spied for Moscow.
* 2001 - The last two of the Texas 7 are taken into custody in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
* 2002 - Enron Congressional hearings begin.
* 2002 - Terrorist suspect John Walker Lindh's hearing begins.
* 2002 - The United States Department of Justice indicts Robert Nicholas Angleton for conspiring to murder his wife, Doris Angleton, along with his brother Roger.
* 2003 - The United States Department of Homeland Security officially begins operation.
Births
* 76 - Hadrian, Roman emperor (d. 138)
* 1712 - King Frederick II of Prussia (d. 1786)
* 1776 - E.T.A. Hoffmann, poet, composer, and painter (d. 1822)
* 1862 - Edith Wharton, writer (d. 1937)
* 1888 - Vicki Baum, writer (d. 1960)
* 1888 - Ernst Heinkel, aircraft designer (d. 1958)
* 1895 - Eugen Roth, lyricist and narrator (d. 1976)
* 1917 - Ernest Borgnine, actor
* 1918 - Oral Roberts, evangelist
* 1925 - Maria Tallchief, prima ballerina
* 1928 - Desmond Morris, anthropologist, writer
* 1934 - Stanisaw Grochowiak, Polish poet and dramatist (d. 1976)
* 1939 - Doug Kershaw, musician
* 1939 - Ray Stevens, country music musician
* 1943 - Sharon Tate, actress (d. 1969)
* 1944 - Neil Diamond, singer
* 1946 - Michael Ontkean, actor
* 1947 - Warren Zevon, American musician-songwriter (d. 2003)
* 1949 - John Belushi, actor (d. 1982)
* 1958 - Jools Holland, musician
* 1960 - Nastassja Kinski, actress
* 1968 - Mary Lou Retton, gymnast
* 1979 - Tatyana Ali, actress
Deaths
* 41 - Caligula, Emperor of Rome (AD 37-41) (assassinated by his own guards) (b. AD 12)
* 1125 - David the Builder, king of Georgia (b. 1073)
* 1366 - King Alfonso IV of Aragon
I have seen this story reported on several 'reputable' news sources, and it makes me angry. It just screams of psuedo-scientific nonsense.
No units are given for any of the variables. What unit is the result in? It's completely meaningless.
Look at the guy's home page, he seems to be a press whore:
http://www.nopills.demon.co.uk/
Well, take some comfort in knowing that only a small percentage of kids are born on their actual due date. A due date is simply calculated as 280 days from the first day of a woman's last known menstrual period (LMP), but anytime after 37-38 weeks is considered full-term and kids aren't late until after 41-42 weeks (based on LMP). So that gives basically a 3-5 week "window". And by the way, congratulations.
No man's an island, unless he's had too much to drink and wets the bed.
The day after Christmas day is Boxing day and a holiday in England and Wales but not Scotland. Traditionally it was the first working day after Christmas day and was the day that the workers received gifts and bonuses from their bosses.