Word: pangloss
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...Federal Reserve Board, remarked that though economics is supposed to be "the dismal science," he and his colleagues on TIME's board were sounding full of "Panglossian optimism." No, the economists did not contend that this is the best of all possible worlds. But like Voltaire's Dr. Pangloss, they did insist that developments that at first glance might seem bad are actually good. Specifically, the slowdown in growth from manic annual rates of 6% for the most recent 12 months--the last half of 1999 and the first half of this year--and an unbelievable 8.3% in last year...
...PANGLOSS POWER Here's something to really smile about. A 30-year study shows that folks with a positive perspective live 19% longer than pessimists. How this might work is not clear, but it may be that an optimistic attitude somehow strengthens the immune system or simply inspires people to take better care of themselves. In the study, the optimists were happy to credit themselves when things went right, and they tended to view crises as fleeting. Pessimists, on the other hand, were chronic self-blamers. Most of us are, no doubt, a bit of both...
...much Pangloss? Frankly, as a performance manager who gets paid by what I make, I can't afford to take the gloom-and-doom position that has enveloped so many managers who appear on television and pontificate about how the good times must end. Those are the same people who mouthed the same warnings last year. Had I listened to them, my investors would have saluted my caution and conservatism--right before waving goodbye...
...went. Nuccio's performance as Voltaire himself, Dr. Pangloss, Cacambo and Martin wowed the audience. One of Nuccio's most memorable numbers is in the angrily energetic "Auto Da Fe" (riot), when he, playing Dr. Pangloss, sings about how he contracted a virus most resembling syphilis in an attempt to save himself from execution for heresy. At several points he breaks into a curious Russian dance, the ensemble matching his energy and spirit as they kick and push him towards one of the black poles, set up as a gallows. Not only is the song about his contraction...
...plays the more-jaded-than-thou Old Lady, and in the process loses herself and the audience in her mezzo warble. She milks what lines are comprehensible (and even some that aren't) for all they're worth. Rounding out the cast is David Evitts, as the bumbling master Pangloss and Voltaire himself, adding as much spice as he can to his limited part...