Reactions to My Tall Presidents Column

For Presidents' Day I wrote a column pointing out that since women got the vote in 1920, the taller candidate has won the popular vote 83% of the time. Before women voted, the taller candidate won only 45% of the elections.

Here are a few interesting comments I received from readers:

• Congratulations on your research finding regarding height of our candidates post and prior to woman getting to vote. I don't know enough about statistical math to really understand the significance of your finding. I do know that Al Gore won a Nobel Peace Prize based on a much weaker correlation. I told (my friend) Barbara about your finding. She smiled and proudly said, "Of course, we know the taller guy can beat up the shorter guy." I think your work on the correlation between the vote favoring tall candidates before and after women got the vote is very praise worthy. Good job!
• ... loved your blurb about President's height advantage. Makes you wonder if we need a tall woman to run. Maybe this is why Hillary was at a disadvantage as well as McCain.
• ...this is fairly fascinating stuff! Makes you think. I guess poor James Madison wouldn't have stood a chance today.

For the record, Madison was our shortest President, standing only 5'4"!

You Survived Valentine's Day! Now What?

Are you boyfriend or girlfriend-less? Did you have a terrible Valentine's Day?

Another dating/relationship advice website run by a woman named Kathryn Lord posted the following:

Single’s Misery Awareness Day? If Valentine’s Day is your worst holiday of the year, use the misery to get you moving towards finding love.
Instead of just waiting until Valentine’s Day is over, try magnifying your distress to get you moving. http://www.find-a-sweetheart.com/blog/

If you are off today (Presidents' Day) or this week (February vacation week for educators), use your time to try and meet someone. If you have been considering joining an on-line dating service or a personal matchmaking service, or attending a Speed Dating event, or finally going to a Singles' Dance, or hiring a Dating Coach (ahem), this is a great week to do so!

Because many, many other singles feel the exact same way, and they will be proactive this week. Therefore such services will have a large pool of available members for you to meet over the next several weeks.

At LunchDates, the week AFTER Valentine's Day was always an extremely busy time of year! So get out of bed and get moving!

It's Valentine's Week...Be 'Romantically Creative'

If you haven't heard by now, Valentine's Day is this Saturday. (And if you really haven't heard, you must be living in a cave!)

But this year, in a miserably down economy, Valentine's Day gives men and women (especially the men) the opportunity to be "romantically creative."

Unless you are very wealthy, nobody expects to receive very expensive presents to "prove your love." What women really want anyway guys are romantic gifts.

So here's some suggestions:

• Print an old special photo of the two of you off your computer and buy a nice frame.
• Create your own card and write a poem or a few lines detailing how much she means to you.
• Leave little notes scattered all over your home.
• Instead of taking her to an expensive restaurant, take her to the restaurant where you had your first date.

GET THE PICTURE? If the two of you are like most couples these days and struggling financially, there is a good chance that if you go off on your own and buy an expensive piece of jewelry, it just might backfire!

And you certainly don't want that to happen.