Finances are on everyone’s mind this week.  Consider that just hearing money mentioned changes our behavior dramatically:

Participants reminded of money were less helpful than were participants not reminded of money, and they also preferred solitary activities and less physical intimacy. On the other hand, reminders of money prompted participants to work harder on challenging tasks and led to desires to take on more work as compared to participants not reminded of money.

It seems we’ll all be working harder, and getting less, this week.  And I guess I should take my wife’s frequent money reminders as indicating she’d rather I worked harder even if that makes me less helpful, social, and intimate. 

This seems another important clue to understanding seriousness vs. silliness.