Subliminal ways to affect book review ratings

Research suggests that certain 'trigger' words can influence a reader's perception of a book.

Physical and subliminal conditions
can alter a reader's perception of a book.

A recent report published by a team of pyschology scientists at the University Of Central Newcastle has revealed some interesting findings into the effects of environmental conditions on a reader's enjoyment of a book, and the results will be of interest to authors and readers alike.

The full report stretches to eighteen pages, but to briefly summarise the results of their experiment, two groups of readers were given the same selection of books to read and then asked to rate each book out of ten. However, one subtle difference was that the second group was housed in a room where the temperature was kept five degrees higher than that of the first group.

Weird forums on the web (part 2)

The Charles Fudgemuffin blog takes a look at some of the unusual subjects and questions people discuss on the internet.

A few months ago I featured a post on some of the weird forums found on the web and paid particular attention to a thread discussing pencil sharpeners. There are many more forums discussing surprising subjects, however, so I figured it was time for another post on some more of the weird forums found on the internet...

Top advice on credit cards, mortgages
and, of course, potatoes.

1) MoneySavingExpert.com

As most people are aware, MoneySavingExpert.com is a useful website to consult if you're looking for advice on how to save money when selecting such items as a credit card, bank acccount or mortgage. However, their advice doesn't stop there. They also offer useful advice on how to save money when buying...

...potatoes!

Seriously, no lie ... there's a forum on Money Saving Expert which deals with potatoes! And incredibly, how to save money on your potatoes appears to be a very popular discussion indeed because at the time of writing it stretches to 13 pages!

In fact one particular forum user found it so helpful that they commented:

Funny prank or sly trick

When does a joke cross the line?

Wanted for playing sly tricks!

The thing with tricks and pranks is that different people draw the line at different points, so what one person considers a funny prank might be regarded as a totally sly trick by someone else. So to investigate where the majority of people would draw the line, I've compiled a 'funny prank or sly trick' quiz.

Basically it's all about when does a good natured prank go too far and become a sly trick? Some of the following scenarios are fairly tame whereas others are more harsh...

1) Misleading translations

To set the scene for this first example, a few years ago my mate used to have a soft spot for a Japanese girl he used to work with. For the purposes of the scenario we'll call her Mavis, but that wasn't her real name. (Actually, you probably already realised that, seeing as how Mavis isn't a very common girl's name in Japan.)

Five funny smoking stories for No Smoking Day

As George Carlin once said, "A restaurant having a smoking section is a bit like a swimming pool having a peeing section." His quote is quite topical this week, as it's No Smoking Day on Wednesday, so on that theme here's a health advisory message from the National Smoking Association...

(Original photo by www.tramsmail.se - Translation provided by Charles Fudgemuffin Translation Services Ltd.)

10 funny quiz show answers

None of the following contestants were appearing on Mastermind...

Darts, a popular game featuring a black ball.

The characters in my scifi novel 'The Quiz Master' give some wise and some not so wise answers to the questioned they are asked, but the following answers from real life quiz show contestants are exclusively stupid!

Just to reiterate, all of the following are genuine questions and answers from TV and radio shows over the years, starting with a pretty surreal answer from one contestant...

1) "Name an animal whose eggs you probably never eat for breakfast."
Answer: "Hamster."


2) "Of all Beatrix Potter's books, which is the only one to feature a human in the title?"
Answer: "Peter Rabbit."


3) "Name a game that uses a black ball."
Answer: "Darts."