Friday, September 11, 2009 LONDON: Tall people lead happier lives than their more vertically challenged peers, according to a new study which found that most miserable men are almost an inch shorter than average.Researchers found that shorter people tended to be more dissatisfied with their lot in life. The study interviewed more than 450,000 adults about how they viewed their life. The volunteers were asked to place themselves somewhere on a “life ladder” and asked about their emotions. According to the findings, people who were taller were also more likely to be positive about their life and were more likely to judge themselves a happy. They were also less likely to feel a range of negative emotions, including sadness and physical pain, although they were more likely to experience stress and anger, and if they were women, to worry. Men who reported that their lives were the "worst possible" were in general more than eight tenths of an inch, or two centimetres, shorter than the average height. Women who viewed themselves as "on the bottom step" on the life ladder were shorter than the average woman by half an inch, or 1.3 centimetres. There was also a link between height and education, the findings, published in the journal Economics and Human Biology, found. Men who did not finish secondary school were found to be half an inch, or 1.27 centimetres, shorter than average and more than an inch, or 2.54 centimetres, shorter than the average height of those who had gone on to graduate from university. However, there was no such clear link when it came to women, with just small differences in height. The authors of the report, from Princeton University in New Jersey, conclude that the link between education, income and height mostly explained the link with happiness and life satisfaction. The data was taken from the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index daily poll of the American population. The survey interviewed adults aged 18 or between January 2008 and April 2009.
Sunday, February 28, 2010 HAVANA: Hundreds of wealthy merchants and cigar aficionados from all parts of the world gathered in Havana this week to bid high stakes for humidors full of premium cigars. Cuba's annual Habanos festival ended on Friday night with an auction of ornate humidors of cedar and mahogany stacked with hand-rolled stogies that raised 800,000 euros ($1.09 million dollars). Habanos S.A. executives this month said cigar sales fell 8 percent to $360 million in 2009, so they have created the Julieta, a smaller, milder version of the Romeo y Julieta cigar, aimed specifically at female smokers. Women now make up only 5 to 10 percent of customers for Habanos. But even with the creation of the Julieta, Garcia said Habanos has only modest hopes for 2010 sales, due largely to a weak economy in Spain, the biggest market for Cuban cigars. The flavor of premium tobacco relies on the soil and climate in which it is grown. The western province of Pinar Del Rio, famous fo...
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