We’ve seen the studies that show optimistic people are less likely to get heart and lung disease or breast cancer, and are generally happier.

A new study out this week provides evidence that optimism also helps when looking for a job.

A working paper issued by the National Bureau of Economic Research unveiled a study of MBA students who were looking for a job.  The results are in, say the study’s authors, business professors Ron Kaniel, Cade Massey, and David T. Robinson: An optimistic disposition is an important factor in job search success.

Using a novel longitudinal data set to track job searches, the researchers found that dispositional optimists experience “significantly better job search outcomes than pessimists with similar skills.”

“During the job search process, they spend less effort searching and are offered jobs more quickly,” the authors said in the summary.

Even though invisible on a resume, “dispositional optimism” is an influential personality trait associated with individuals who believe, either rightly or wrongly, that in general good things tend to happen to them more often than bad things.

“Although we find optimists are more charismatic and are perceived by others to be more likely to succeed,” the paper went on, “these factors alone do not explain away the findings.”

The authors point to unseen elements of optimism “not readily observed by one’s peers” as having the most influential effect on economic outcomes.

You can order the full report for a fee or apply online at the group’s website, http://www.nber.org.

Nearly 60 years ago, and without telling their parents, five high school students led 720 of their fellow pupils on a walkout to protest the inferior facilities at their all-black school in segregated Kinston, North Carolina.

Some mark that peaceful march to the courthouse by Adkin High School students in November 1951 as the start of the Civil Rights Movement.

Over the weekend, a reunion of original students reenacted the protest that eventually succeeded in getting many of their demands met by the school board, like the construction of a gymnasium.

(Originally published by WNCT. Note, source material has been removed by the source)

A now-67-year-old German woman finally got to thank in person an 88-year-old American woman for her middle-class family’s generosity toward ‘the enemy’ after World War II.

The American family had made sure that life was just a bit more bearable for a German war widow and her young daughter, by sending 70 boxes of clothes, food and supplies –one every month, or so, for years.

Now, after all those years, the daughter traveled to America and wanted to find the American family — the Benjamins — and thank them personally.

Mr. Benjamin considered Hitler and the government the enemy, but the people as victims. He signed up at his church to provide CARE packages, but instead of just donating money for supplies, he made it a personal mission to get to know the family and to bridge the ocean of distance and experience that divided them.

(READ the FULL story from the Seattle Times – watch a short video interview, below)

Out of his love for the environment and concern about over-flowing landfills, Akinori Ito, from the Japanese company Blest, developed a machine capable of transforming plastic back into oil for use as gasoline or kerosine.

While the process is easy to understand the results are pretty impressive: For every 1kg of plastic, 1 liter of oil can be harvested. Aside from the obvious advantage of this process targeting issues of plastic recycling, the machine also breaks down the byproduct of carbon dioxide into water.

Plastic’s carbon footprint is very high, since incineration is often its destination because the recycling rate is so low around the globe.

The tabletop machine can be transported via commercial airline and taken to developing countries where they have no capability to recycle trash.

“(After seeing a demonstration of the machine) people begin to see that this is not garbage,” said the inventor. “The plastic cap, the (carryout) lunch container, is oil.”

Further, if oil and gasoline could be created in these countries, they wouldn’t have to import it from faraway places, thus eliminating the extensive CO2 emissions required to transport it.

Commenters from around the world who’ve seen the following video on YouTube or Reddit are anxious to know if and where they can purchase such a machine. Though the company still mainly produces larger, industrial-use machines, Blest Co. will be more than happy to hear from you. Contact them directly at [email protected].

WATCH the video below, and read more at Our World blog, United Nations University… Thanks to Kiama Robinson for the link!

Since 1946, a roadside honey stand has survived as a monument to the proposition that people are basically good.

That’s because it runs on the honor system.

Its shelves are crowded with jars of golden honey. Next to this is a weathered, steel strongbox with the words “PAY HERE/THANK YOU” written in marker.

As an economic proposition, does it work?

“Works great. It’s been there 63 years,” said David C. Biggers, who operates the stand.

Biggers says he stocks the shelves almost every day. He has to; it’s a popular product and his system works for him.

“Basically the American people, they’re honest,” Biggers says. “That’s what I think. Don’t you?”

(READ the story in Daytona Beach News Journal)