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The Good Fight
The Boston Globe: It starts in childhood: As every kindergartner learns, getting along with others is a practical virtue. From our earliest years, we start to absorb lessons of diplomacy and tact, all meant to help us navigate our surroundings without friction. Down the road, as grown-ups, we seek harmony at home and in the office. Couples who project tranquility are envied, and an unflappable attitude is often a job requirement. Fighting, meanwhile, is perceived as corrosive and stressful. But what if we’re thinking about fighting wrong? What if, as counter intuitive as it seems, certain kinds of fighting are good for us?
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Power, sex and conventional wisdom
GULF TIMES: Would there be fewer sex scandals if the world were run by women? The question comes to mind in the wake of scandals that involve two powerful men, Dominique Strauss-Kahn and Arnold Schwarzenegger, and came to light almost simultaneously. Strauss-Kahn resigned as head of the International Monetary Fund four days after being arrested in New York for allegedly trying to rape a hotel maid. Schwarzenegger, the former governor of California, admitted having fathered a child with a woman on his household staff.
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Power, sex and conventional wisdom
Reuters: Would there be fewer sex scandals if the world were run by women? The question comes to mind in the wake of scandals that involve two powerful men, Dominique Strauss-Kahn and Arnold Schwarzenegger, and came to light almost simultaneously. Strauss-Kahn resigned as head of the International Monetary Fund four days after being arrested in New York for allegedly trying to rape a hotel maid. Schwarzenegger, the former governor of California, admitted having fathered a child with a woman on his household staff.
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Sex, Lies, Arrogance: What Makes Powerful Men Behave So Badly?
TIME: When her husband Dominique Strauss-Kahn was preparing to run for President of France five years ago, Anne Sinclair told a Paris newspaper that she was "rather proud" of his reputation as a ladies' man, a chaud lapin (hot rabbit) nicknamed the Great Seducer.
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Email her on your favorites, if you’re comfortable with that
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Comfort food: It might make you fat, but at least you'll be happy. Or so says the professional journal Psychological Science. Researchers conducted experiments to determine whether comfort food could make people feel less lonely. In one experiment, some participants wrote about a fight with someone close to them, while others completed an emotionally neutral writing assignment. Then, some people in each group wrote about eating comfort food, while others wrote about eating a new food. Lastly, everyone filled out a questionnaire to measure loneliness. Read the whole story: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
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Happiness
The Economist: GDP is a useful measure. After all, nations with high GDP per head have more education, better health and longevity, and higher life satisfaction. I would never argue that we should replace GDP with measures of "Subjective Well-Being" (SWB)—"happiness" in common parlance. Instead, I believe that the case is now strong for adding SWB to other social indicators. Everyone recognises that GDP does not give complete information in itself. Nations spend billions tracking educational success, crime rates, diseases and longevity, and many other indicators.
