morganls

Two different definitions of old - the author seems to be saying as people get older while still in the working realm [so maybe, 20-65 or so] while the study talks about the elderly/seniors. So not necessarily conflicting [and it might make sense that a person gets more and more dissatisfied as they get older and opportunities slip away until they finally let go of those regrets and become satisfied with their lot]. More on age/happiness:

http://www.slate.com/toolbar.aspx?action=print&id=230055...

In Thai [also tonal] people definitely sing tones. The tone is a deviation from the baseline, either up or down or falling or rising or whatnot. So even if you're singing high, you can do a low tone. May be different in Chinese [or just some Chinese music].

from friends who have "unlimited" vacation situations I think it can turn into a bit of a guilt trip. Like, if you want to look good, you take very little. That being said, not sure if that's company culture or just workaholic friends.

according to TNW article, there's human matchmaking involved too.

http://thenextweb.com/apps/2011/09/08/just-launched-grouper-...

Don't know about polish, but lots of studies discuss this with chinese vs. english. One example:

http://www.springerlink.com/content/6r7k345387j14653/

"The reading rates were about 385 equivalent words per minute for Chinese and 380 words per minute for English for the same scientific textual material (Table 1)"

Probably worth digging more to see if the consensus has changed since then. That one was also done with scientific reading material, so might have limited applicability.