Word: personent
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...people are priceless, even when the real people are celebrities. When the L.A. house he is renting as a location for a new interview show turns out to be unfurnished, Brüno recruits some Mexican laborers to get down on all fours as human benches. What kind of person would actually sit on other people? Now we know: Paula Abdul, warily, and LaToya Jackson, with gusto. Jackson's scene was cut from the film after Michael's death, so unless it's restored on the DVD, you won't get to see that what really offends her about...
...then there are the long-term obligations - those big, hulking costs that, much as society may value them, eventually weigh on states' financial health. In New York, unfunded state pension liabilities average $2,633 per person. Massachusetts' tab is even larger, at $3,372 per capita, although that's nothing compared to New Jersey's $9,833. By comparison, California seems in something of a sweet spot, at $1,325. Still, that's hefty compared to Florida...
...There are unhappy lottery winners, but generally if a poor person wins the lottery, they are a little happier with their life," noted Diener, who is known as "Dr. Happiness" for his foundational work in the field and who holds the aptly named Smiley chair in psychology at the University of Illinois. As for paraplegics, "there is a big drop for those who became 100% disabled, meaning they can no longer do any work." In general, Diener noted, people do adapt to a major life change but not completely. "We have to be careful when we cite these studies," warned...
Such findings support a widely held theory by happiness researchers that a person's level of satisfaction is determined largely by character and attitudes - less by external factors, like money or disability - and that we tend to return to our personal set point. But another branch of research - the one that leads to bestselling books and, at the conference, sessions that were packed to the point of fire-code violation - suggests that set point can be modified, and that people can learn to be happier...
...their self-esteem. The students were then asked to write down their thoughts and feelings for four minutes. Every 15 seconds during those four minutes, one randomly assigned group of the students heard a bell. When they heard it, they were supposed to tell themselves, "I am a lovable person...