Money is an emotional issue, especially during economic hard times. Social scientists have always warned that once a person’s basic needs are met money doesn’t buy happiness. But if you’re wondering, or maybe even arguing over, what to do with any precious discretionary income these days, a new study suggests how to get the biggest emotional bang for your buck.
Ryan Howell, an assistant professor of psychology at San Francisco State University, found that buying experiences — such as vacations, going to the theater or renting a sailboat — gave people more happiness than buying material things. The study, of 154 people ages 19 to 50, showed that experiences increase happiness …Â More info
When the first MotoGP testing for the year concluded yesterday, it was Ducati’s Casey Stoner who sat proudly atop the Sepang timesheets.
Stoner set the pace on the third and final day of testing yesterday, clocking 2:01.043 on the last of his 38 laps at the Sepang Circuit.
Having complained of persistent pain in his wrist, which hindered him in the second-half of the 2008 season, and is still recovering from the corrective surgery he underwent in November…Â More info
The short, redheaded, freckled-faced kid looks more like a candidate to carry your groceries to the car at Publix than for superstardom, but that’s what Ricky Carmichael is: His nickname is “GOAT,” as in Greatest Of All Time, which in the world of motocross motorcycle racing he may well be. He’s the only rider in the AMA motocross history to have an undefeated season — and he did it twice.
Carmichael — a 29-year-old native of Clearwater who lives with wife Ursula and their twins near Tallahassee — has been busy making the transition from racing on two wheels to four. This afternoon, he’ll be behind the wheel of the Kevin Harvick-owned Monster Energy Chevrolet, starting 23rd in the 43-car grid for the Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200, the ARCA race that officially kicks off the oval track portion of Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway… More info
LONDON
— What would be the ideal address for Iron Maiden’s new hotel in London? How about 666 Satan’s Passage, or 1 Louder Than Ten Lane? Alas, it’s located in one of the quieter corners of Soho, with the city’s largest toy shop and a rather nice Zara around the corner.
On a recent morning, workmen unloaded vans outside the two genteel Victorian townhouses that have been knocked together to create the Sanctum Soho Hotel. The workers’ cigarettes were pretty much the only indication of antisocial activity: No champagne bottles crashed to the ground, no one was peeing out a top-floor window, and the only vinyl platform boots in sight belonged to gentlemen who can usually be found in that corner of Soho anyway…
…There was a time when you could drive a motorcycle down a hotel corridor, if you were on that month’s cover of Creem. Keith Richards could set fire to his hotel room, and Keith Moon could take the screws out of the furniture in his so that it would fall apart when the next guest arrived, and they’d still be invited back…Â More info