Monday, December 13, 2010

Men Can Smile But Women Can't

Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor for lack of ideas. Disney also went bankrupt several times before he built Disneyland.

Eighteen publishers turned down Richard Bach’s Jonathan Livingston Seagull, before Macmillan finally published it in 1970. By 1975 it had sold more than seven million copies in the U.S. alone.

Smile and the whole world will smile with you is the old saying. Your winning smile will take you places. Unless you are a woman at work:

http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2010/12/10/women-at-work-should-smile-less-to-earn-more/?icid=main%7Chtmlws-sb-n%7Cdl4%7Csec4_lnk1%7C189356

The above article surprised me a lot because I would think a smiling woman is a happy woman and a happy woman is a confident woman. What is your take on the article? Are you going to quit smiling?

There have been numerous accidents caused by deer or other animals crossing the road. I know when I am on a mountain road I am lot more careful and look all around to make sure my car isn't going to marry a deer or other animal. There have been a lot of articles lately about wild animals making their home or being at home in cities and populated areas. There are critters crossing everywhere it seems and according to the following article critter crossings incrase road increase traffic safety.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/crittercrossingsimprovehighwaysafetystudyfinds;_ylt=AkS3JCNT6P50YcPxC5BUTF.s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTRrM2ExYWh2BGFzc2V0A2hzbi8yMDEwMTIxMi9jcml0dGVyY3Jvc3NpbmdzaW1wcm92ZWhpZ2h3YXlzYWZldHlzdHVkeWZpbmRzBGNjb2RlA21vc3Rwb3B1bGFyBGNwb3MDMTAEcG9zAzcEcHQDaG9tZV9jb2tlBHNlYwN5bl9oZWFkbGluZV9saXN0BHNsawNjcml0dGVyY3Jvc3M-

I am all for anything that make the roads safe. You? Want a critter crossing in your neck of the woods?

At first when I read the following article I was kind of thought the article would be depressing:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101210/ap_on_he_me/us_med_life_expectancy

While our live expectancy dropped there is still a lot of positive information in the article. What is your take on the article? Good news or bad news?

I hope you are enjoying the day more than I probably am. I'm down at the Holiday Inn in Wilsonville either being bored stiff or reading REVERSAL the new novel by Michael Connelly. They do have Internet hookup there so I will be checking the blog throughout the day.

4 comments:

Lady DR said...

I knew the Disney history, but wasn't aware of Bach's struggles.

Am I gonna smile less? Not a chance. I still believe it's true that a smile on your face, when talking on the phone, usually gets you better results (once you get to a human). I hope the premise of the article is wrong. With all the current stressors, including those in the workplace, I think the more warmth we can introduce, the better. I led the linked article about not being a nice girl and could agree with much of that.

I'm glad to hear about the under-road critter crossings and that they're working. Needless to say, where we live, we tend to be particularly careful at night, when animals "freeze" in the headlights of vehicles. We do see the occasional critter and most people drive defensively.

I don't think the change in mortality rate is enough to raise a flag for me, but I'm not the expert. I was glad to see the drop in infant mortality rates.

While my day was chiropractic, post office line, pool and work, I'm pretty sure it had to be more interesting than yours. Glad you had a good book to take along. How many more of these darned things do you have left to take? You must be coming close to the end, unless the cycle starts again.

Pat said...

I don't even get the first article. I probably tend to smile too much. Maybe. Maybe not, who knows? Seems to me I smile appropriately, but who am I to judge? BTW, if you click the "Cathy Black" link, you get a photo of her very much NOT smiling.

I rarely drive where large critters might be crossing the road, but once many years ago, my husband was at the wheel when we hit a deer on a mountain road. It was very traumatic for all 3 of us. There was another time when I was driving a rental car in a very bleak area, I can't remember where, broad daylight, and the road was absolutely infested with some kind of small critters zipping across. At first we stopped, but there was no end to them, and finally I just drove on, trying to ignore the occasional bump I felt. I still don't know what they were. Whatever, if the critters will stick to their crossings, I'm all for them.

I can't say the life expectancy article means much to me, though at my own advanced age 77.8 OR 77.9 seems a bit early to go. And as somebody... I think it was Dr. Dean Edell... was fond of pointing out, that last few months we all seem to want to hold onto will probably be spent in diapers in a wheelchair or a bed with tubes attached to us. So if my expectancy has gone down by 1/10 of a year, I don't think I'll lose sleep over it.

My day wasn't exciting, but I'm pretty sure it was better than one of your seminars. My book club had its annual Christmas "tea", and then I did some food shopping. Now off to visit mom, who makes fools out of those life expectancy predictors.

William J. said...

Hi DR

I knew of some of the history of Disney but not all of it.

I really didn't like the smiling article, I thought they were way off base. I completely agree with you that we need more warmth and kindness and smiling could help.

The under road critter crossing kind of fascinated me.

There was a lot to like about the mortality article, like strokes went from one to fourth for causes of death. That means awareness has worked.

A new cycle started July 1, 2010. My licensing is a two year period, it just ended 6-30-2010. I have eight more seminars to complete by 6-30-2012. Unless I win the lottery.

Bill

William J. said...

Hi Pat

The first article was almost sexest. Only an unsmiling person could write that article.

Hitting a dear on the road had to be frigthening. I'm glad you drove on with the critters, you could have waited forever for them to clear the road.

Dean lose sleep over it.

I thought there was a lot of positive news in the life expectancy article. Heart attack deaths have decreased, for instance.

The Christmas tea actually sounds like a lot of fun.

Bill