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I’m fascinated to find that a Web site that my friend Christian Toto (film critic at What Would Toto Watch) and I (under the aegis of my Dave On Film blog) are building out and experimenting with has pulled directly into the #1 slot on Google for our catch phrase, yet it has no incoming links other than a post on Facebook and another on Google Plus.

Here’s the Google search result for the phrase “dinner with a critic”:

I realize that it’s a perfect match for our domain name (which is, ingeniously enough, DinnerWithaCritic.com) but that wouldn’t explain moving into the #1 position on a search that has 13.1 million results. Is it because I’m logged in to Google?

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Do you know someone who seems to be happy, positive, uplifting and full of vigor? I bet you do. Now tell me, is this person pleasant to be around? Before you answer, I’m not talking about the cheesy, fake, drive you crazy kind of “happy”. I’m talking about someone who is generally just optimistic about life and work. The answer should almost certainly be “yes”, unless you yourself are a negative grouch.

I think there are a few reasons why people who are this way generally get further in business and in life.

Have you ever heard of the Y.E.S. principle? I don’t rem

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Financial market pressure on the euro zone eased a little this week as Italy’s borrowing costs fell and bank shares stabilised but the bloc risked fresh market attacks, perhaps as soon as in the next few weeks, as it tried to implement promised steps to address its debt crisis. Full Post…

The Australian dollar has started the trading day weaker, with both Europe and the US still struggling to find a solution to ward off potentially catastrophic sovereign defaults.

At 0700 AEST, the Australian dollar was trading at 106.29 US cents, down from 106.73 cents at Friday’s local close.

Since 1700 AEST on Friday, the local unit traded between 106.20 US cents and 107.02 US cents.

HiFX trading director Mike Hollows said the Australian dollar was suffering alongside other higher risk currencies, as the US and Europe both race to avoid potentially catastrophic sovereign defaults.

“The failure to get through 108 US cents over the last week or two has seen the Australian dollar starting to stumble a bit against the US dollar in a risk adverse world,” Mr Hollows said.

Eurozone nations will hold an extraordinary summit on July 21 in Brussels on ways to tackle the debt crisis and provide fresh aid for bailed-out Greece

The EU regulator revealed on Friday that eight European banks failed stress tests, with five of the eight failures Spanish and two Greek.

“In some respects the market is pleased, but on the other side there is a genuine concern that perhaps the stress tests were flawed,” Mr Hollows said.

“The stress tests broadly allowed for 15 per cent of a bank’s total exposure to Greece being defaulted on and the concern is that it could be more than that.”

US President Barack Obama has pressed lawmakers to reach a deal quickly to avoid an early August debt default he described as economic “Armageddon”, amid fevered congressional wrangling.

Mr Hollows said the currency may trade between 105.80 US cents and 106.80 US cents during the domestic session today. Full Post…

The government reported first-time applications for unemployment benefits fell to the lowest level in four months. That’s a sign that employers are laying off fewer workers. The Labor Department said applications fell to a seasonally adjusted 398,000. That’s the first time applications have fallen below 400,000 in 16 weeks.

The positive news on jobs sent the Dow Jones industrial average futures up 25 points, or 0.2 percent, to 12,269.

Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures rose 5, or 0.4 percent, to 1,304. Nasdaq 100 index futures rose 11, or 0.5 percent, to 2,369.

Stocks have been falling since last Friday as an Aug. 2 deadline for raising the U.S.

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