“Personality Predictors of Intelligence Change from Younger to Older Adulthood” (Science Daily):

In the cognitively superior older group, who outperformed both the cognitively comparable older adults and the younger adults on every ability tested, “agreeableness was found to have a contrary relationship with general knowledge suggesting that a disagreeable nature may go hand in hand with better vocabulary and knowledge retention in older age,” said [Thomas] Baker. This result supports previous research that suggests that those who are highly intelligent may be more aloof and independent.

The research study was conducted by Thomas Baker MA, of York University and Jacqueline Bichsel PhD, of Pennsylvania State University, and reported on in 2006.

Hat tips: As I was saying and Time Goes By.

It’s a psychological mark. Last week, I paid $3.799 a gallon to fill up. So today’s price would cost me an additional four bucks for a 20-gallon tankful. I can afford the four bucks, but the $80 for a fill up hurts. And it feels bad to see that price and to know it is going higher still. Why wouldn’t it hit five bucks a gallon this summer? I see no reason for the increases to stop — unless demand decreases.

I’m thinking twice before I jump behind the wheel. Except to go to work, of course. Luckily my commute is under 10 miles. The round trip is costing me about — four dollars.

Employers trimmed jobs in April for the fourth straight month, according to a government report Friday that was not as weak as Wall Street’s expectations.

There was a net loss of 20,000 jobs in the month, according to the Labor Department report, compared to the revised loss of 81,000 jobs in the March reading. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast a loss of 75,000 jobs in April.

The unemployment rate slipped to 5% from the 5.1% reading in March. Economists had been forecasting unemployment would rise to 5.2% in the latest report.

“It’s not good news, but it’s not as bad as we thought it would be,” said David Wyss, chief economist for Standard & Poor’s. “It’s consistant with the view it’s going to be a mild recession, but an extended one, where you spend a lot of time bouncing around the bottom.”

Comment: As long as the experts keep forecasting economic woes bigger than those that actually develop, we will be in good shape. Of course, in my home state of Michigan, we have an unemployment rate of 7.2%, so even the originally fore-casted rate of 5.2% would look good here. In fact, according to a chart at the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Michigan’s unemployment rate currently ranks 51st out of the 50 states. That’s quite a feat.

We’ve been bouncing around the bottom for several years now. It’s beginning to get irritating.

Exxon Mobil, the world’s largest publicly traded oil company, said Thursday that its first-quarter net income rose 17 percent, boosted by surging oil prices.

But even as it posted the second-most profitable quarter in its history, Exxon’s earnings managed to disappoint investors because of a drop in oil production. Shares were down more than 3 percent Thursday after the company missed earnings estimates by a dime a share.

Record oil prices have lifted corporate profits to new heights throughout the industry but they are also masking an increasingly tough business environment for international oil companies, marked chiefly by rising development costs and stagnating hydrocarbon production. In the refining business, profit margins have plummeted as refiners have been unable to pass through all the increases in oil prices onto gasoline.

Comment: Sure, an $11 billion profit is nice, but not if you were expecting, say, $15 or $20 billion. Or, who knows, maybe $30 billion. When it comes to our emotions, absolute numbers mean nothing. It’s all relative. Personally, I think we should all chip in a few more bucks at the pump today and make ”em feel better over at Exxon. What do you guys think?