T.G.I.F. Friday: Volume 95
Welcome to “Thank God I’m FI” Friday, Volume #95!
Here are some things I really like and that you might too.
Financial Independence/Retirement Articles
Why One of Us is Taking Social Security Now (Can I Retire Yet) – “ Why is it so hard to build wealth and get the life we want?“
Get Rich… Holistically (The Escape Artist) – “ Why is it so hard to build wealth and get the life we want?“
Video
Let’s talk pufferfish. If you’ve never seen the pufferfish segment from the famous BBC Planet Earth series you’re in for a treat. Watch this little fish build something… well, scary. I mean, there’s a lot of talk about artificial intelligence right now and the scary sides of it. Will AI take over the world and kill us? I’d suggest what if these pufferfish learned how to live on land and congregate together to plot against us? To me the complexity and perfect symmetry of the creation from this fish suggests a level of intelligence that I think we should watch out for, just as much as AI.
Who’s Inspired Me
Tom Hornbein.
We sadly lost one of the original legends of American mountaineering this past May 6th. Tom Hornbein was a climbing legend who was on the team that made the bold pioneering first ascent of the West Ridge of Mt. Everest in 1963. Even though I’ve done many posts about mountaineering I get it that most folks aren’t interested in the details and intricacies of the sport. I’ll just say that what Hornbein and company did in 1963 is beyond mind-blowing, and doubly so when you consider the kinds of equipment and clothing they were using at the time as compared to now. Sixty years later even with massive advances in gear, clothing, and weather forecasting few have repeated this climb, and many have tried.
Hornbein was also a medical doctor and chief of the anesthesiology department at the University of Washington. I had heard many interviews with him over the years and even heard him on a few podcasts and he couldn’t have been a sweeter guy. The American Alpine Club made this short video tribute after his passing. R.I.P. Mr. Hornbein, you inspired so many to love the mountains, including me.
What I’m Grateful For
The good side of YouTube.
The drive belt in my 30 year old dryer recently broke and I thought how hard could it be to fix it myself? The part was $16.99 and the job took me about 50 minutes. This video laid it out perfectly although my model is so old a few things were a bit different but easy enough to get around. YouTube has enough bad sides to fill an encyclopedia set, but one of the good sides is that you can learn most anything thanks to folks who put up instructional videos. So while this repair video will never go viral I’m sure it’s helped thousands of regular schmo’s like me who would rather learn a new DIY skill than call a repairman. The financial independence ethos is to fix things whenever possible instead of throwing them out, because the latter only forces you to spend more and unnecessarily bring more things into the world.
Also kudos to Whirlpool who made something pretty easy to get into and repair. Support Right To Repair.
Lyrically Speaking
You rise with the sun, you leave before everyone
Dirt under your shoes, packing earth as you run
From “Creatures” by Ellevator.
A little while back I mentioned the Swedish artist Many Voices Speak as probably my favorite artist at the moment. Well Canadian quartet Ellevator are probably my favorite band right now. I discovered them early this year and with only a 5-song EP and one full length album their catalog is limited but has been on frequent rotation in my house. Regular readers of this section know I’m a fan of real musicians who play real instruments and who can play live without computers or auto-tune or all the shit that’s homogenizing and ruining music.
Ellevator have my nod of approval. They did a studio cover of Kate Bush’s iconic 1985 hit “Running Up That Hill” back in 2019 – three years before it went viral last year and got rediscovered after being featured on a TV show. Singer Nabi Sue Bersche has a voice perfectly suited to cover Bush who’s voice is undoubtedly one of the most unique female voices in rock history. Here’s Ellevator’s studio version, it’s great. But then I found this version of the band playing it live at SiriusXM and was sold, what a great job. Real musicians, real instruments, no digital automated bullshit. The drummer is playing a stripped down kit and is money, in the pocket. And the guitarist looks like the guy from Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure who is not Keanu Reeves which is totally cool. Support Ellevator on Bandcamp, I’m looking forward to their next release.
As for the lyrics from “Creatures” above, it sure sounds like work dunnit? But….. it could also be flipped around and sound like me in summer getting my 5 mile run in at 5:30 to beat the heat. The benefits of semi-retirement.
* On another somber note, I learned this morning that Andy Rourke, the bassist from the legendary British band The Smiths, died from pancreatic cancer at the far too young age of 59. I highlighted The Smiths in T.G.I.F. Friday Volume 32. R.I.P. Andy and thanks for the music.
Miscellaneous
Don’t drink and science: why a study on the cognitive effects of wine and cheese is sheer stupidity – “A study claiming that daily consumption of cheese and wine may improve long-term cognition seems more like a bad joke than reliable science.”
Self-Censorship in the Classroom Harms Student Learning. Here’s What We Can Do About It – “Student learning is enhanced when dissenting viewpoints are voiced, but the recent HxA Campus Expression Survey shows that 58% of students are reluctant to share their views on contentious topics in class.”
Yet another problem with recycling: It spews microplastics – “One recycling facility emits as much as 3 million pounds of microplastics a year.”
I always enjoy your content. The pufferfish video is amazing! Who wouldve thought?!
I, for one, welcome our new pufferfish overlords. Thanks Lisa!
Thank you for sharing about climbing and Mountaineering. I wasn’t familiar with Hornbein, so it’s good to learn about.
Stoked that you like mountaineering, I could do endless posts but need to restrain myself.
self censorship in the classroom: i was an adult student in my mid/late 20’s taking a required sociology course. i consider the sociologist and the tow truck driver neck and neck with the amoeba for the lowest life form. but… being an adult student with a job and having seen a few things a formed a few of my own opinions – i refused to censor or eat all the indoctrination pablum this professor was serving up. i don’t think she liked it but respected what i had to say as i didn’t take an aggressive or angry tone. i just presented my side of the arguments,
If there’s any large group of people who live in an ideological thought bubble it’s college professors. And having taught at a major university for 17 years I saw it. They need to hear alternative viewpoints because they sure don’t get them from each other.
Thanks for the links and video, Dave. I especially enjoyed that video. What a sweet little pufferfish! Happy Friday and have a great weekend.
Glad you liked the pufferfish, just be careful and keep a watch out for them 🙂
Don’t worry, if they take over and become our overlords, I will be the Human Liaison to the adorable pufferfish. 😉
YouTube instructional videos are awesome. Heat in my dryer cut out and I searched for possible problems. Most search results suggested it was a bad solinoid. I found and watched a repair YouTube video and decided to try it. Ordered the part on Amazon for $7 and fixed it in 15 minutes (and I’m terrible at this sort of stuff). A new installed dryer would likely set me back $700.
We should unite and go into the dryer-fixing business, haha. Very cool, and great job. I hope to get another 30 years out of mine – I even painted the top as it was scratched up pretty bad. She looks as good as new with nice 1990’s styling!
Right to Repair needs to be the norm, how can we be expected to be at the mercy of these manufactures when many of us have the ability to make fixes? I thought we are already in a labor shortage. Good on you for taking the time to fix it.
And thanks for sharing the truth about micro plastics. What most folks may not know is recycling is really not the answer, because plastic breaks down over time, it’s not like glass or aluminum which can be made into the same product. Even washing synthetic clothes gets micro plastics into the water system.
Microplastics scare me. We all have them in our bodies and lord knows what that’s doing to us. I only hang dry my synthetic clothes which avoids more microplastics flying off into the air but they’re going to break down over time anyway so it seems hopeless. We’re all guilty and it seems like a monumental problem that’s only getting worse.
Have you read Ishmael? Kind of an extension of your pufferfish line of thought.
Liked Attia’s article; I enjoy him exposing how headlines regularly misinterpret data for clicks. Really liked what he put out about bike helmets awhile back.
I have no read that book and thanks for the recco, will go on my list. And I love how Attia exposes so many of these horrible studies. What’s depressing is that he shouldn’t have to do that – meaning they shouldn’t be published in the first place. So to me it’s these journals and “science’ sites that allow official publications (supposedly peer reviewed) to come out in the first place when they’re so flawed.