GOT $35?

Top U.S. beach will cost you

Two Hawaii beaches are among this year's top 10 in the nation selected by “;Dr. Beach,”; aka Professor Stephen Leatherman, but the top-rated beach is also the most expensive. Waikiki's Kahanamoku Beach was ranked sixth and Maui's Hamoa Beach was ninth, both of which have free access.

No. 1 Coopers Beach in Southampton, N.Y., costs $30 to park on weekdays and $35 on weekends.

OH, HAPPY DAY

Life throws you curve balls, then you cheer up

If you want to be happy for the rest of your life, then try growing old. Sure, it can't be helped anyway, but a new study suggests that older people are generally the happiest, despite the aches and pains and diminished faculties that go along with it. As reported in The New York Times, a Gallup poll in 2008 of more than 340,000 people ages 18 to 85 found that people start out pretty happy, but that declines as they approach 50. Then there is a sharp reversal and they get happier. Go figure! The results of the survey were just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

EAT THEM SPUDS

China looks to potatoes for national food security

Mmmmm, potatoes.

That's what the China's government is hoping that the billions of Chinese will be thinking in the years ahead, as it tries to move the world's most populous nation more toward taters and less toward rice. According to the Washington Post, the government there has been worried about its “;shrinking supply of arable land while confronting severe water shortages,”; so has launched various subsidy, research and pilot programs to encourage farmers to grow the humble spud. Entrepreneurs are doing their part as well, coming up with recipes that accord with Chinese palates, including “;buns, noodles, cakes.”; The Post notes that China already “;produces and consumes more potatoes than any other country. But that's largely because of its huge population.”; The goal is to raise its per-capita consumption, which at the moment is about two-thirds of what Americans eat.