T.G.I.F. Friday: Volume 62

Welcome to “Thank God I’m FI” Friday, Volume #62!

Here are some things I really like and that you might too.

Financial Independence/Retirement Articles

Stop Buying Your Stuff Stuff (Live Your Wage) – “The problem is that certain kinds of stuff simply attract more stuff.”

The Great Retirement Exodus: What Is Really Happening and Why (Retires Great) – “Everything has changed, not necessarily for the better, and the workplace is vastly different.”

Video

I play guitar. If you do too I’m here to say we both suck. At least we suck compared to Mike Dawes.  Watch him play all parts of Van Halen’s “Jump” on an acoustic guitar.  This guy is an alien…

Who’s Inspired Me

Joffrey Maluski and Loïc Forques. 

Maluski and Forques made a pretty wicked boat out of nothing but plastic bottles and bamboo and floated it the entire length of the Andour River in France, from source to sea.  Oh and they transported the boat – which weighed 175lbs – by bicycle to the starting point.  Why did they do this crazy stunt?  To highlight and bring attention to the devastating impact of single use plastics on the planet and specifically the oceans. 

Bikepacking.com has a great interview with the duo and the link includes the short film of their adventure.  An amazing and inspirational feat for a crucial cause. 

What I’m Grateful For

The ever growing throng of scientists, teachers, and researchers who are starting podcasts and sharing their knowledge and expertise about diet, fitness, and science in general.  It’s so easy to get a free college level education nowadays without taking on decades of crippling student loan debt.

Lyrically Speaking

Living on juice
Eating out of tuna cans
Mobile home
With my Dairy Queen
Tied me a knot
But she had to cut me loose
I liked her a lot, yeah
Like lovers do

From “Like Lovers Do” by Lloyd Cole

Lloyd Cole is undoubtedly one of the most overlooked songwriters of the rock era.  Thrust onto the world stage in the mid-80’s, he along with bands like the Smiths and R.E.M. were an antidote to the dayglo, overproduced, synth-obsessed crap that much of the 80’s devolved into.  As literate as Morrissey and witty as Dylan, Cole has an uncanny ability to bring New York romanticism to life in a 3 minute song.  And as the lines from “Like Lovers Do” above show, he also has an insightful understanding of the rural poor in America.  Not bad for a Brit. 

Speaking of those lines, they remind me of extreme frugality.  I had a government colleague who used to literally eat tuna right out of the can when he was on official travel just so he could pocket as much of his daily food per diem as possible.  Now that’s saving money.

Miscellaneous

Scientists dive deep into the different effects of morning and evening exercise – “Their research shows how the body produces different health-promoting signaling molecules in an organ-specific manner following exercise depending on the time of day.”

The oldest hominin fossil ever found in the Levant – “The fossil hints that early members of our genus expanded out of Africa in waves.”

Why old music is now more popular than new music and what to do about it – “Why practice your instrument, try to form a band, or learn how to record when all you have to do is find a beat or loop that you like and build the song from there?”

The high-speed physics of how bobsled, luge and skeleton send humans hurtling faster than a car on the highway – “Beneath the thrilling descents of the winding, ice-covered track, a myriad of concepts from physics are at play. “