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01/21/2008: "Blue Monday"

Feeling a little down today? A little depressed? In a bit of a blue funk? Congratulations - it's not your fault.

In a society where we don't hold anyone accountable for anything any more, there is now scientific proof that your depression today isn't an accident - it's Blue Monday.

Dr. Cliff Arnall, a staff psychologist at Cardiff University in Great Britain, has developed a formula that takes into account various factors that lead to a bad mood. According to his formula, today's the day.

Where T equals time since Christmas, D equals debt, W is weather, d is money due in January pay, Q time since failed quit attempt, M general motivational levels and NA is the need to take action, today, he calculates, we are in trouble.

Here is the formula: 1/8W+(D-d) 3/8xTQ MxNA.

Don't try and work it out, it's too depressing.

In short, it decrees the Monday morning of the last full week of January to be a deeper shade of blue than any other of the year.

Personally, I think his formula is wrong. The days are getting longer, and the weather warmer, and we learned on Friday the benefits of that. Besides, the only really depressing thing I can see is that pathetic performance yesterday of the Packers ...

Replies: 3 Comments

On Tuesday, January 22nd, RavTan said:

hah ! There writes someone who does not have lots of stocks (me neither)

and who isn't too worried about the Engine controls (?) on that 777

On Tuesday, January 22nd, MarlinNut said:

Actually, I was flying the day that 777 bellyflopped at Heathrow. Always consider it good luck whenever someone else crashes the same day I have to fly - what's the odds of two accidents ...

Personally, I think the BA pilot deserves a pint ... and the guy who wrote the software that shut down the engines a caning ...

On Wednesday, January 23rd, Rav Tan said:

And don't forget a pint for the guys who created and set up the simulators - even if they had never practiced this (total loss of power at a worst moment) manouver , I reckon the calmness instilled by trying things again and again helped stave off panic or hesitation.

Reminds me of that Airbus (A300 ?) crash at a Paris airshow ten years ago where the engines refused to speed up after a low pass and th eplane became the biggest tree-strimmer in the world.

Do you reckon it was software (as oppsed to sudden fuel interruption) ? Seems most likely.