Just Over 50 and Not Dead Yet

Happiness resumes at 50...writes Stephen Moss

Happiness is U-Shaped according to a joint study from Warwick University (UK) and Dartmouth College (US) with the low point being 44.
Stephen Moss in It's Official: Happiness resumes at 50 comments on the study and suggests it happens because "will is replaced by art, acceptance and a sense of the universal. You learn to enjoy the comedy of life's struggle, and happily take your place in this huge and leaking lifeboat".

Read Is Wellbeing U-Shaped over the Life Cycle? the Dartmouth/ Warwick study (18 pages long).

Can you confuse Passion and Obsession?

I dare to differ with Seth Godin when he mentions blogging on the beach as a sign of being a Passionate Worker.
Anne Zelenka asks where the boundaries between work and life lie and how to set them.
My 2 cents.

Who shrunk my magazine? Got Fortune?

After the demise of Business 2.0, I was informed that I would receive Fortune for the remainder of my subscription.
I received my first issue and wondered what happened, who shrunk my magazine?
Were heavy tomes of years past 3 part advertising, 1 part writing?
Who still reads magazines and books and where did the ads go?

Does 'Midlife Crisis' equals 'The Dog Ate my Homework'

Confused or just plain full of themselves, Richard A. Friedman puts the question on the table in Crisis? Maybe He's a Narcissistic Jerk (NY Times).
He attributes that bad behavior to the fact that some guys suddenly realize their youth is behind them and get fearful of dying.
One of the reasons I picked this 'Just Over 50 and Not Dead Yet' title is that my father died before he was 50 and it makes me grateful to be alive and reasonably well.

People behaving badly: Jerks at work, How not to become one of them

What about 'Tummy Tuck' Jeans for Guys?

Whatever it is that brings the love handles to the middle age man, where ladies get their Tummy Tuck Jeans, a runaway hit, what's the alternative for guys who get a`little flabby and can't quite shed it?

Navigating a Publisher's Maze: 15 Steps to a Book Review

Today as I was looking for details on a book (published by Harper Collins) that I wanted to mention on Serge the Concierge, I had to jump through hoops before I could get to their publicity department.
On the book page, there was no press/media friendly 'button/link'.
It seems that most of the requests for book related materials could only be done by snail-mail or fax.
In my case I was interested mostly in getting photos or illustrations from this title with a 'food and drink' theme as this is what I write about on STC.
I ended up calling the PR office listed on their corporate site. I was then transfered to the voice-mail of the person that was really in charge of this title.
My suggestion, if they do not want to spend their life answering phone calls or e-mails, put these useful materials online.
This is 2008 after all.

Smarter not Faster...An healthier approach to work?

After learning that Om Malik of Gigaom was recovering from a recent heart attack, it made me think of another topic for our Just Over 50 and Not Dead Yet panel at South by Southwest.
You might want to call it Slow Work (as in Slow Food) or Smarter not Faster.
Ruining your health on your road to success is not a good survival strategy, is it?
What's your take?

Switching Careers at and around 50

Challenging the idea that changing profession after 40 comes with a penalty, in A Late Switch in the Career Game, Alicia Clegg (Financial Times) highlights the benefits of previous work experience in charting the new course.