HERE is no why, a mixtape

here today; the beach boys
here, there and everywhere; the beatles
get me away from here, i'm dying; belle & sebastian
so here we are; bloc party
round here; counting crows
sittin' here; dizzee rascal
we're here; guillemots
here and there; homunculus
we're no here; mogwai
here; pavement
here comes the flood; peter gabriel
here comes your man; pixies
here and there; sandbox
you were here; sarah harmer
don't come down here; serena-maneesh
here is no why; smashing pumpkins
tomorrow is already here; stereolab
there's no home for you here; the white stripes

relativity ...

Some people say that their school days were the happiest of their lives. They may be right, but I always look with suspicion upon those whom I hear saying this. It is hard enough to know whether one is happy or unhappy now, and still harder to compare the relative happiness or unhappiness of different times of one's life ...
~ Samuel Butler, The Way of All Flesh

the green-eyed monster

of all places, Yahoo! Finance has some good advice on defeating 'money-envy':

To overcome money envy, we need to figure out our purpose, identify what we love and value most, and make our money obey our values by setting specific financial goals. Because if we achieve the things we value most, we'll be less riveted by what the neighbors are doing.

papal advice

... many jobs lead to the 'hardening of the heart', as well as 'suffering of the spirit'

~ Pope Benedict XVI, quoting Saint Bernard of Clairvaux

random rules ...

this is a neat concept: The Onion's A.V. Club asks artists and celebrities to "set their MP3 players to shuffle and comment on the first few tracks that come up—no cheating or skipping embarrassing tracks allowed."

Perpetual motion?

the first law of thermodynamics (which states that energy can not be created or destroyed in a closed system, only transformed) may have been broken by an Irish company, who claim to have invented a motor which is more than 100 percent efficient; that is, it produces more energy than it consumes!

the age of cheap plastic robots ...

Lore's observations never fail to amuse

a great band, a cool site

(click)

Walden-inspired ...

hereis some of the logic behind my retirement plan:

"the cost of a thing is the amount of [life] which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run." ~Thoreau

after a four-year degree in finance and economics, it is this concept which best encapsulates my thinking on personal financial planning ... i look at a material possession and instead of seeing a price tag of $1000, i see a price tag of "one more month at my stupid job".

what i would like to do in my life is to accentuate this simple formula of cost = time. i would like to look at all material desires and think to myself "is it worth giving up my afternoon for that?" the problem with doing this currently is that i need to make money to cover my fixed costs: food, shelter, and other basic needs. thus, i have no choice but to work a full-time job ... and if i'm going to have a full-time job, why not stick with the prosperous one which i currently have ... and if i'm currently prosperous, why not spend some of that money on material desires ... and the slave-to-the-wage cycle continues ...

so instead, what i have done (almost) is i've saved up enough money to cover my basic fixed costs for the rest of my life. with my fixed costs out of the way, every use of my time becomes a matter of choice. i want a car? is it worth working this winter for one? yes? okay, decision made. i want to eat out more, is it worth it? nah, i can make great food at home for much cheaper, and hey, i like cooking and have plenty of time to do it ... heck, i might even use my time to plant a garden in the backyard and grow my own veggies!

capese? :)

Ian McEwan

i just finished reading Ian McEwan's wonderful new novel Saturday, and wanted to reiterate my love of his work. His previous novel, Atonement, is one of my favourites of all time, and i also greatly enjoyed Amsterdam and Enduring Love. if you are a reader, you have my guarantee that you will find some value in picking up any of these.

clickable ...

did you know that you can click on any pic on this blog and be taken to more information?

you did?! how smart are you!? ;)

these made me laugh ...