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Top of the Foshay

Happiness Can Spread Among People Like a Contagion, Study Indicates

By Rob Stein - Washington Post Happiness is contagious, spreading among friends, neighbors, siblings and spouses like the flu, according to a large study that for the first time shows how emotion can ripple through clusters of people who may not even know each other. The study of more than 4,700 people who were followed over 20 years found that people who are happy or become happy boost the chances that someone they know will be happy. The power of happiness, moreover, can span another degree of separation, elevating the mood of that person's husband, wife, brother, sister, friend or next-door neighbor. "You would think that your emotional state would depend on your own choices and actions and experience," said Nicholas A. Christakis, a medical sociologist at Harvard University who helped conduct the study published online today by BMJ, a British medical journal. "But it also depends on the choices and actions and experiences of other people, including people to whom you are not directly connected. Happiness is contagious." One person's happiness can affect another's for as much as a year, the researchers found, and while unhappiness can also spread from person to person, the "infectiousness" of that emotion appears to be far weaker. Previous studies have documented the common experience that one person's emotions can influence another's -- laughter can trigger guffaws in others; seeing someone smile can momentarily lift one's spirits. But the new study is the first to find that happiness can spread across groups for an extended period. When one person in the network became happy, the chances that a friend, sibling, spouse or next-door neighbor would become happy increased between 8 percent and 34 percent, the researchers found. The effect continued through three degrees of separation, although it dropped progressively from about 15 percent to 10 percent to about 6 percent before disappearing. The research follows previous work by Christakis and co-author James H. Fowler that found that obesity also appears to spread from person to person, as does the likelihood of quitting smoking. The researchers have been using detailed records originally collected by the Framingham Heart Study, a long-running project that has explored a host of health issues, to construct and analyze detailed maps of social networks. The findings, Christakis and others said, provide striking new evidence of the power of social networks, which could have implications for public policy. Happy people tend to be better off in myriad ways, being more creative, productive and healthier. Read the rest of the story at the Washington Post: Happiness Can Spread Among People Like a Contagion, Study Indicates Thanks for the story Larry!

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Don't Ever Stop - Cell Phone Sunday

The True Meaning of Cell Phone Sunday

My friend Dave pointed out that my skills as a photographer may appear to be the result of my good equipment, so I should get a cheap camera and prove otherwise. I suggested my cell phone camera, because it has a simple 640×480 camera and I always have it with me. “Perfect” Dave said, ”now do it.” Simple rules: only uncropped, images directly from my cell phone. I do some post processing to sharpen up the image. The "camera" on the phone only has a "capture" button, so, at heart, it's really a composition challenge. See past Cell Phone Sunday Photos.

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Cell Phone Sunday: $1

The True Meaning of Cell Phone Sunday

My friend Dave pointed out that my skills as a photographer may appear to be the result of my good equipment, so I should get a cheap camera and prove otherwise. I suggested my cell phone camera, because it has a simple 640×480 camera and I always have it with me. “Perfect” Dave said, ”now do it.” Simple rules: only uncropped, images directly from my cell phone. I do some post processing to sharpen up the image. The "camera" on the phone only has a "capture" button, so, at heart, it's really a composition challenge. See past Cell Phone Sunday Photos.

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Bubbler Triptych

I love these old WPA Bubblers. What's Cell Phone Sunday all about?

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Cell Phone - Lake Harriet

Can you believe this? It's like a perfect world here. It's freaking me out. What's Cell Phone Sunday all about?

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Cell Phone Sunset

Love those colors. What's Cell Phone Sunday all about?

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Cell Phone Sunset

It's interesting how well cell phones do with sunset pics. What's Cell Phone Sunday all about?

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Cell Phone Sunset & Rainbow

Thank goodness for the cellphone, if not, I'd have had to just stand there and enjoy the rainbow. What's Cell Phone Sunday all about?

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Goose, Dog, Man - Cell Phone Sunday

The path around Lake of the Isles is heavily trafficed by all God's creatures, great and small. What's Cell Phone Sunday all about?