Petal Power

There could be hidden benefits to saying it with flowers. In a study by psychologists at Rutgers University, research participants claimed to feel less depressed and have a greater sense of life satisfaction after receiving a bouquet. So far, so unsurprising - who isn't cheered by a gift of flowers? However, in addition older participants did better in everyday memory tasks and experienced 'enriched personal memories' when in the presence of beautiful blooms.

Many to Any...

" People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered. Love them anyway.
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Do good anyway.
If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.
The good you to today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway.
The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds. Think big anyway.
People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs. Fight for a few underdogs anyway.
What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway.
People really need help but may attack you if you do help them. Help people anyway.
Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you have anyway. "

in The Paradoxical Commandements, by Kent Keith

How to become more attractive

The secret of attractiveness is making other people smile, according to a study by British psychologists. Experiments at Aberdeen University found we are more likely to think a person is good-looking if we catch members of the opposite sex smiling at them.
Tests show that our taste is always swayed by the attention people receive from others. In the tests, women ranked men as substantially more appealing if they had been shown images of other women smiling at them. The psychologists believe men respond in the same way, suggesting both sexes subconsciously take account of their sexual competitors' views when judging the appeal of a potential partner.
"So when you're out in a bar, there's an advantage to being nice to everyone, because if they're smiling at you, it's going to make you more attractive," said Ben Jones, author of the paper in the Royal Society's biological research journal today.

source:http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,,1992093,00.html

How to be remarkable

by seth godin
1. Understand the urgency of the situation. Half-measures simply won't do. The only way to grow is to abandon your strategy of doing what you did yesterday, but better. Commit.
2. Remarkable doesn't mean remarkable to you. It means remarkable to me. Am I going to make a remark about it? If not, then you're average, and average is for losers.
3. Being noticed is not the same as being remarkable. Running down the street naked will get you noticed, but it won't accomplish much. It's easy to pull off a stunt, but not useful.
4. Extremism in the pursuit of remarkability is no sin. In fact, it's practically a requirement. People in first place, those considered the best in the world, these are the folks that get what they want. Rock stars have groupies because they're stars, not because they're good looking.
5. Remarkability lies in the edges. The biggest, fastest, slowest, richest, easiest, most difficult. It doesn't always matter which edge, more that you're at (or beyond) the edge.
6. Not everyone appreciates your efforts to be remarkable. In fact, most people don't. So what? Most people are ostriches, heads in the sand, unable to help you anyway. Your goal isn't to please everyone. Your goal is to please those that actually speak up, spread the word, buy new things or hire the talented.
7. If it's in a manual, if it's the accepted wisdom, if you can find it in a Dummies book, then guess what? It's boring, not remarkable. Part of what it takes to do something remarkable is to do something first and best. Roger Bannister was remarkable. The next guy, the guy who broke Bannister's record wasn't. He was just faster ... but it doesn't matter.
8. It's not really as frightening as it seems. They keep the masses in line by threatening them (us) with all manner of horrible outcomes if we dare to step out of line. But who loses their jobs at the mass layoffs? Who has trouble finding a new gig? Not the remarkable minority, that's for sure.
9. If you put it on a T-shirt, would people wear it? No use being remarkable at something that people don't care about. Not ALL people, mind you, just a few. A few people insanely focused on what you do is far far better than thousands of people who might be mildly interested, right?
10. What's fashionable soon becomes unfashionable. While you might be remarkable for a time, if you don't reinvest and reinvent, you won't be for long. Instead of resting on your laurels, you must commit to being remarkable again quite soon.
source:http://money.guardian.co.uk/workweekly/story/0,,1983601,00.html

Wear this

Your cheap office chair may not be to blame for your bad back. When Pennsylvanian osteopath Andrew Kirschner surveyed 150 women, he discovered that about half wore the wrong size bra, and more than 70% suffered from Somatic dysfunction, a form of back pain. His solution? Get sized by an expert.

Words...

An american professor of psychiatry has claimed that men say only 7,000 words a day, while women say 20,000. Do women really talk more?

Chinese food for thought

"There are many paths to the top of the mountain, but the view is always the same."
(Chinese proverb)

"I don't know where you get all these Chinese proverbs."
(Chinese student)

It's potty

In Britain each child will use an average of 5.000 disposable nappies, and landfill sites are overflowing with the results. Nappies do not exist in China: infants wear crotchless trousers and learn first to use a container held under them then to squat over the gutter. Save the environment!!!