Author: Rebecca Healy

The happiest districts are among the most affluent in the nation. Six of the top 10 are affluent and physically magnificent California communities. The least happy districts are mainly places of extreme disadvantage, inner-city neighborhoods in Detroit, Cleveland, South Philly, the Bronx, or Appalachia.

There are a couple of slight anomalies – wealthy Grosse Point, Michigan, is lumped together with poor inner-city Detroit neighborhoods (wonder why that would be?), and given the devastation of greater Detroit it’s not surprising that even the rich would be less happy then elsewhere. And hipster Williamsburg is lumped together with Bed-Stuy: But, then again, whoever said hipsters were happy…

Via The Creative Class.

The same concept of using “white space” can be applied to our careers. As young professionals, it’s so easy to open our mouths as a way to overcompensate for our lack of experience or to fill the silence with rhetoric. Consider your favorite leaders: they choose their words carefully. Sometimes they nod and think rather than speak. Great public speakers have learned to master (and rely on) white space.

Via Ms. Career Girl.

photo via WeHeartIt.

As all my friends have coupled up, life is dramatically different. In short, my girlfriends and I got a little boring, we rarely have girls’ nights anymore and worse yet, they went and chose partners that aren’t all that compatible with my boyfriend and I. Sometimes it’s awkward to hang out with other couples and Ryan and I have only found a few couples that we genuinely enjoy going on a night on the town with.

The dynamics are complicated. The females need to get along and the males need to get along so that even though you’re going out as a couple, you get in your girl and guy time accordingly. Also, the other female needs to be able to talk to your boyfriend and vice versa without being too painstakingly boring. In short, everyone needs to get along and like eachother whatever way you cross it. At least for a drink’s worth amount of time. The WSJ reports:

Take the experience of Ben Van Houten and his wife, who’ve “dated” an array of couples since moving to Grand Rapids, Mich., three years ago: “They had one ‘date’ where the woman was self-absorbed, another, Mr. Van Houten recalls, where the man was ‘a complete dud with no sense of humor,’ and a third that was ruined by politics. When Mr. Van Houten got up his nerve and asked a neighbor and his wife out to dinner, the man replied, ‘I don’t like people.’”

And the date, Elizabeth says, is merely where the stress begins. “Because what if they don’t call? Should you contact them? And if you do, and you still don’t hear back, what does that say about your relationship with your partner? Are you irritating? Insufferable? Uninteresting as a team?” …

“Research shows that couples who are friends with other couples have happier, longer-lasting relationships with each other,” Elizabeth writes. “The reasons are simple. If you have friends who enjoy you as a couple, you may feel better about your union. These other couples can be a support network. And the process of making new friends together may inject energy into your relationship and give you something to bond over.”

Did They Like Us? via The Wall Street Journal.

I don’t own an SUV or a dog, but I would love a dog if I had a dog-walker for the Winter months… I was surprised to learn that a dog could be just as bad an SUV according to some new research. Either way, SUVs still suck.

New Scientist took a look at the relative carbon impact of owning a dog (or cat, or hamster) and owning an SUV like a Toyota Land Cruiser. The results, plotted in the chart above, may surprise you. Take a look at the original article to see if you agree with the methodology, or if you can even put an environmental price on your furkid.

Via Good Magazine.