Optimists

One more reason to keep your glass half full: Optimists might be less likely to have a stroke. In new research, the more people believe good things will happen, the less likely they were to suffer a stroke within two years. Psychology researchers from the University of Michigan examined data from 6,044 stroke-free adults from the Health and Retirement Study. The adults answered how much they agreed with statements like “In uncertain times, I usually expect the best,” and two years later the researchers tracked which participants had suffered a stroke.

City Councilman Eric Garcetti's supporters began filling up the Hollywood Palladium theater long before the first results were released, as the Los Angeles mayoral hopeful awaited returns with his family at a nearby hotel. The choice of the cavernous venue - the campaign was expecting several thousand supporters Tuesday night - was a hint of the team's optimism about their chances. While his opponent, City Controller Wendy Greuel, stumbled in her fundraising efforts in the final days, Garcetti's campaign was comparatively flush, aides close to Garcetti said, to outgun her in advertising and get-out-the-vote efforts that will be crucial in a low-turnout race.

I am one of the optimists in the Nuclear Age referred to by Bernard Lown and Conn Nugent in their article (Editorial Pages, June 24). My concern about nuclear and space weapons, based upon a 35-year career in the military-industrial complex, closely parallels theirs. The article ends, "We need a concrete, common-sense step to give us optimists some new reason for hope." Because we live in America, a "common-sense step" is already available to us. Money for everything from toilet seats to nuclear weapons is controlled by Congress.

Walking into the Aviator Nation store on Abbot Kinney in Venice is like stumbling into a frat house with a feminine touch. Steely Dan, Doors and Grateful Dead album covers and vintage skate decks nailed to the walls, a record player spinning Aerosmith's "Sweet Emotion," a "720 Degrees" arcade game in the corner, stacks and stacks of foam trucker hats, T-shirts and hoodies spreading good vibes like "Pray for Surf" and "California Is For Lovers".......

Worries about Europe's debt troubles sent stocks diving again Tuesday — until some investors decided that enough was enough, and the market staged a stunning reversal. The Dow Jones industrials plunged as low as 9,774 — down 293 points, or 2.9%, from Monday's close — in the first minutes of trading. But the blue-chip index quickly pulled up from that low and then rallied strongly in the last two hours of the session to finish down just 22.82 points, or 0.2%, at 10,043.

The inspiring documentary "The Revolutionary Optimists" profiles a memorable quartet of youngsters from India whose attempts to effect change in their impoverished neighborhoods - as well as within themselves - offer a vital snapshot of developing world struggles and possibilities. Producer-directors Nicole Newnham and Maren Grainger-Monsen spent several years tracking the hardscrabble lives of these kids in Kolkata, including Shikha and Salim, a pair of self-possessed friends (both are 11 when the film begins)

A mother and daughter are driving along. The young girl suddenly asks: "Mom, where are all the jerks today?" "Oh," says the slightly surprised mother. "They're only on the road when your father drives." Alan McGinnis tells this story, laughs and then, like the preacher he used to be, points out the lesson therein: "If you expect the world to be peopled with idiots and jerks, they start popping up."

Humans have a well-known bias toward good news, often at the expense of reality. This bias, which social scientists call the "good news/bad news effect," has been blamed for events as diverse as the recent financial crisis, our often-poor preparation for natural disasters and, more generally, the pervasive human trait of optimism. In a new study, however, scientists have figured out a way to dampen that optimism: By turning off a certain part of the brain believed to play a role in how we balance good and bad news.

"The Optimists" is a simple film, as much family memoir as documentary. But the story it tells is as significant as it is little known: how the people of Bulgaria rose up in 1943 and saved the country's Jews from deportation to the death camps of World War II. Completed several years ago, "The Optimists" (named after a jazz band of the period with Jewish members) is playing in Los Angeles now because of an exhibition at UCLA's Hillel Center titled "Bulgaria and the Holocaust: The Fragility of Goodness.

Year-end messages are generally upbeat, but I'm finding too few who share my optimism for '91. Regardless of media forecasts, I see my glass spilling over for one simple reason: I control my fate. I'm not the first to state that positive attitudes breed positive results, but it bears repeating when messages of gloom are as fashionable as they now are. To make '91 the best year ever, just increase your productivity. I believe we can all do that by thinking in terms of problem-solving.

They rallied from a non-playoff team to the No. 2 seeding in the Western Conference, set a team record for consecutive home wins, displayed an exciting comeback nature, surprisingly emerged with dueling goalies, and locked up their two pending star free agents. Yet, the Ducks bowed out to the seventh-seeded Detroit Red Wings in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. So following Sunday's 3-2, Game 7 loss that deprived Southern California of the first Ducks-Kings playoff series, the season assessments were: "Disappointment.

Gov. Jerry Brown said on Tuesday that it was too early to be overly concerned about the safety of the new Oakland-San Francisco Bay Bridge scheduled to open later this year, and affirmed his confidence in the state's experts who are analyzing the bridge's safety. “Professional engineers are looking at this thing and when they're ready to give us their report, I think the public will be satisfied,” Brown told reporters in West Sacramento outside a memorial for fallen Highway Patrol officers.

MEXICO CITY - President Obama on Friday painted a sunny picture of a modern Mexico emerging from its past troubles, an attempt at rebranding that serves the political aims of both governments but clashes with the realities of a country beset by violence and poverty. On his second day of a swing through Latin America, Obama emphasized optimism about Mexico's economic future and offered a broad endorsement of President Enrique Peña Nieto's reform agenda. Speaking to a crowd largely made up of high school and college students, Obama pushed the next generation of Mexicans to continue to demand change.

The busiest man on the Lakers' payroll this off-season will be, as usual, General Manager Mitch Kupchak. And the most pressing question will be Dwight Howard. Will he or won't he sign with the Lakers when free agency begins July 1 -- if not sooner? Kupchak initially said Tuesday it was "hard for me to say" whether Howard would return. Later, though, he expressed confidence in re-signing Howard and "selling the Los Angeles Lakers" to him. "I think he has complete faith in the organization.

There's unanimity within the Lakers. Kobe Bryant and General Manager Mitch Kupchak both want Dwight Howard to return. There's also a problem within the Lakers: Howard isn't so sure. He declined to reveal which way he was leaning after his one-year run with the Lakers. "I'm going to take my time, get away from the game, my phones and everything and just clear my head," Howard said Tuesday in an end-of-season interview at the team's practice facility. "I'll do what's going to be best for myself, what's going to make me happy.

Dodgers' optimists everywhere, how do you like Sunday's challenge? How does anyone hear the Chad Billingsley news and not think the absolute worst? Visualize surgery and his losing the season, and parts of next season? The sword of Damocles, indeed. Everyone knew from the instant Billingsley elected to try to rehab his elbow instead of undergoing Tommy John surgery that this was a possibility. The pessimists called it inevitable. Billingsley made it through two starts before the elbow barked again.

Nice drivers will get their due in Camarillo this week. Starting today, members of the Camarillo Noontime Optimist Club will cite drivers who yield unnecessarily, give right-of-way or do something noticeably considerate of other motorists or pedestrians. "It's common-sense stuff that should happen daily," said club spokesman Alan Kaluhikaua. "We just wanted the community to be aware that there are good people driving courteously this holiday season."

On more than one occasion during the last several years, my 10-year-old daughter has expressed a desire to be an actress. This has led to Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel being banned from our household for long periods of time while I chastise myself for ever turning her on to "Hannah Montana" or "iCarly. " But the desire has remained long enough to be respected, and so I recently recommended that she watch the work Eden Sher is doing on ABC's "The Middle" as beyond-awkward teen Sue Heck.

Steve Nash participated in half-court five-on-five in practice with the Lakers on Friday, his first practice since being sidelined with hip and hamstring soreness during a brief appearance against the Milwaukee Bucks on March 30. The veteran guard said he's hopeful he'll be ready for Game 1 of the Lakers' first-round playoff series against the San Antonio Spurs. "Mentally, I'm chomping at the bit. Physically, I'm getting there,”  Nash said. “I'm very optimistic that I'll play on Sunday.

The Lakers just beat the San Antonio Spurs last Sunday and played them closely in two losses earlier this season. Nobody seems to care. Try finding somebody - anybody - not wearing purple and gold who would pick the Lakers to win this first-round playoff series. Oddsmakers certainly don't like them, making the Spurs decisive favorites, as most second-seeded teams are against seventh-seeded teams. MGM Resorts International has the Lakers as 51/2 to 1 underdogs. Gambling website Bovada has them as 6 to 1 going into Sunday's series opener in San Antonio.