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28 March 2024

Best of Web: Why today is happiest day...

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By Staff & Agencies

Why today is the happiest day of the year

Happy Monday! Two weeks after Blue Monday, the day when our spirits are at their lowest because of post-Christmas debt and limited daylight, comes Happy Monday - as good as it’s going to get all year, reports Daily Mail.

Psychologists say a combination of getting the first pay cheque of the year and booking your summer holiday make today the highpoint of the year.

‘We each experience an average of 10 major happy days every year but none is happier than January 31, or Happy Monday,’ Dr David Holmes, senior psychologist at Manchester Metropolitan University told the daily.

‘We all go into work on that Monday - January 31 - with renewed vigour, buoyed by the excitement of having money in the bank again and having one of the major family events of the year - the annual summer holiday - to look forward to.’

The last weekend in January was the busiest on record for the travel industry in 2010, said the paper.

Holiday firm Thomson Al Fresco saw a 56 per cent increase in bookings year on year, and were quoted by the paper as saying that they were expecting even brisker trade this year than last.

A budget honeymoon for William and Kate?

(REUTERS)

BRITAIN: Prince William and Kate Middleton are planning a credit crunch honeymoon in the Scilly Isles.

The Royal couple are also considering telling friends not to get them lavish gifts when they tie the knot - but instead make donations to charity, reports Daily Mail.

The couple have reportedly drawn up a shortlist of British honeymoon destinations - because Palace officials don't want them going on an expensive foreign break while Britons see their living standards squeezed.

Prince William last went on holiday to the Scilly Isles - off the coast from Penzance - on a family holiday with his mother Diana, brother Harry and Prince Charles in 1989 when he was just seven.

Charles and Diana spent time at Lord Mountbatten's Hampshire estate and at Balmoral on their honeymoon in 1981.

An aide told the People: 'William and Kate are acutely aware that in these difficult times being seen to take a luxury honeymoon would not look good and send out entirely the wrong signal.

'Neither has lavish tastes and a domestic location is ideal to ensure they are secure.'

It had been thought that William and Kate would fly to Kenya where the Prince proposed or go to the Caribbean.
 
Cheryl Cole tattoo sitting 'took 11 hours'

(GETTY IMAGES)

LONDON: Cheryl Cole's latest tattoo took a whopping 11 hours to ink, which certainly shows the star's devotion to her body art.

The tattoo, which spans 13 inches across the songstress's lower back and features a butterfly design, is the latest addition to Chezza's collection, which includes her much-imitated tribal design on her hand and barbed wire around her upper thigh.

She showed it off at National Television Awards, wearing a daring backless black dress.

According to the Daily Mirror, Cheryl told her pals: 'The tattoo is deeply personal. It took weeks to come up with the final design. It has a strong symbolic meaning and signifies a fresh start and my new independence.

'The sitting itself was pretty painful but I was determined to get it done in one hit. I didn't cry once!'
 
French children to learn English from the age of THREE

PARIS: Nicolas Sarkozy has left French traditionalists wiping Burgundy's finest rouge from their whiskers in disgust after proposing that the country's youth be forced to learn the English language from as as early as nursery school, reports Daily Mail.

The French President, who has recently come under fire for his own grasp of Francais, has said that he wants France's youngsters to learn 'the language of Shakespeare'.

And now he has further enraged a proud - and sensitive - nation by suggesting that French children should learn the Queen's English... from as young as THREE.

It is the complete opposite of the approach taken by one of France's most famous leaders, Charles de Gaulle, who refused to parlez Anglais in public, says the daily.

The French general and statesman, who led the Free French Forces during World War II, founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969.

He would turn in his grave at Mr Sarkozy's latest suggestions about linguistics - a move that critics fear will dilute the cherished French language and halt its dissemination.
 
A bad taste in music 'can ruin a relationship'

INDIA: A bad taste in music can really ruin a relationship, say researchers.A new study has revealed that music actually predicts sexual attraction - in fact, music functions as a 'badge' that people use to not only judge others, but at the same time, to express their own ideas.

For their study, the researchers examined the link between identity, music and what makes people 'click'. The study, published in the 'Psychology of Music' journal, explored what it's about why people like, what people like, and perhaps more importantly, how this can make or break a relationship.

During adolescence, music becomes a symbol of one's identity to help one belongs. This symbol of identity also helps one strike a balance between belonging but also being original, the study found.

The study also found that a woman's devotion to country music diminishes her attractiveness to a potential male mate and a man's interest in country music make him less attractive to women. But devotion to classical music and heavy metal rock has a different effect depending on if one's a man or a woman.

"A date's devotion to country music was found to diminish attraction in respondents of both genders. In contrast, devotion to classical music and to heavy metal rock proved to be gender specific.

"Fascination with heavy metal rock greatly enhanced the appeal of men, but it proved detrimental to that of women. Adoration of classical music produced reverse consequences.It tended to facilitate the appeal of women, but to diminish that of men," the 'Daily Mail' quoted the study as saying.

It also found that men were more strongly attracted to women with whom they shared musical tastes. But for women, this had only a 'negligible effect' on their attraction to men.

The researchers believe that rock is associated with social awareness and rebelliousness while pop is connected to values about gender roles and conformity. They discovered that people who like blues, jazz, classical, and folk are liberal and more open to experiences.

 

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