T.G.I.F. Friday: Volume 158

Welcome to “Thank God I’m FI” Friday, Volume #158

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

Financial Independence/Work Life/Retirement Articles & Content

FIRE.230 Drinking Issues (Life In FIRE) “Another way to look at it is, saving that money from skipping each beverage could build some serious financial security in a household’s finances right now, and in the near-term as well.” 

The Lengths Americans Are Willing to Go to Make Every Penny Count (Wall Street Journal)  *here’s a copy on an archived site “From buying half a cow to watering down soap, people are experimenting with frugality—and it is affecting sales at consumer companies.” 

Dave’s Comment: While I’m glad to read some people are learning frugality and to not waste stuff, parts of this article were beyond hilarious/depressing.  The woman who – having to shop at Aldi and feed her dog Aldi brand dog food – says ‘I keep hoping that this is going to be temporary,” Lucas said. “Like, we have to deal with this for a little while, and it will get easier.'”  Effing hilarious!!  Perhaps Mrs. Lucas needs to learn there are things like 3rd world countries and millions of people in the world who don’t even have access to clean water every day.  Shopping at Aldi is apparently hardship for some in the entitled-class…  sigh. Ok I’ll stop 🙂

Video

Red Bull Rampage is arguably the most visually amazing sports competition in the world and likely the most dangerous.  Every year the world’s best and most insane free ride mountain bikers converge in the Utah desert and use gravity to do tricks that should be impossible.  Check out the video below to see some of the amazing runs from this years competition.

What I’m Grateful For

My time spent in 3rd world/developing countries.  From El Salvador and Guatemala, to Afghanistan, Tanzania, and Uzbekistan, I’ve gotten around a bit in life. I’m extremely grateful for the experiences I had in these places where the basics of life – food, clean water, and shelter are often hard to come by. Hearkening to the WSJ article at the top, as the wealth gap of the world continues to grow, rich people in rich countries like America and the EU seem to be losing touch with how millions on this planet actually live.  And along with that comes a total lack of gratitude for the embarrassment of riches they have.  Sorry if I’m coming off as preachy, but a little gratitude goes a long long way. 

Lyrically Speaking

This year went by in the usual way
Some friends were lost, some friends were made
Money was spent, money was saved
And in the end we’re all ok

From “The Year In Review” by Her Space Holiday

Her Space Holiday isn’t a band per se but the stage name and recording moniker of Marc Paul Bianchi. He’s been releasing music with that name since 1997 and his music often challenges me.  Regular readers of this section know I’m not really a fan of electronic and synth-driven music unless it’s done in a way that compliments organic instruments.  Bands like the Shout Out Louds, The Changes, Stars, The Delays, and others have pulled this off extremely well.  Her Space Holiday often hits the mark too, weaving digital musical textures with guitars and drums in a way that prevents his music from sounding like computer-driven dribble.  Other times they drift into electro-dance pop slop, often by allowing remixes.  I can take the good with the bad and overall I think Bianchi is a creative artist who deserves the longevity he’s had. 

As for the lyrics above, they describe most years right?  Well, so many Americans don’t actually save any money at all even know they can, so it only describes most years for folks like us who are conscious about our money and who want to escape the rat race to spend our time making humanity better instead of blindly consuming.  I’m FI and retired, and when I’m done spending each month I still often find myself saving.  I’m not gonna buy shit I don’t need or want.

Miscellaneous

Running fixes what junk food breaks in the brain – “Exercise can reverse many of the depressive and hormonal effects caused by junk food diets, thanks to changes in gut metabolites and hormone balance.” Dave’s Comment: This is great news but should not be looked at as an excuse to keep eating a shitty diet full of processed foods and just think “Ok cool, I can just run and the negative effects will disappear!”.  Try eating real, healthy, one-ingredient whole foods and STILL run.  Trust me, you’ll feel 1000 times better.

Waymo CEO Says Society Is Ready for One of Its Cars to Kill Someone – “Waymo CEO: “You know, we don’t say ‘whether.’ We say ‘when.’”  Dave’s Comment: In America alone cars are responsible for the deaths of about 40,000 people a year.  That means every night when you go to bed another 110 people died that day from cars.  If self driving cars could hypothetically cut this to 20,000 a year, we’d save 20,000 human lives.  BUT, would people be accepting if their loved one was killed by the mistake from algorithms from a mega-corp, versus a mistake from another human driver?  These are the kinds of questions we have to grapple with as AI advances.”

Does eating more protein burn more calories? – “Metabolizing dietary protein requires more energy than metabolizing other macronutrients, but is the effect large enough to matter?“