T.G.I.F. Friday: Volume 176

Welcome to “Thank God I’m FI” Friday, Volume #176

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

Financial Independence/Work Life/Retirement Articles & Content

It Just Got Harder to Make a Financial Complaint (And Get Relief) (Nerd Wallet)  “The CFPB has added new hurdles for Americans with financial disputes.”

Want A Happy Retirement? Start With Your Top Five Core Pursuits (Forbes)  “Studies have found that retirement may influence an individual’s sense of purpose, with some retirees experiencing renewed fulfillment and engagement after leaving the workforce.”

Video

Many have seen videos of tourists getting far too close to bison In Yellowstone and getting charged or gorged.  In most cases the tourists are behaving stupidly by posing for selfies and not giving nearly enough space to a massive wild animal.  Well, to show how unpredictable wild bison can be, even tourists who are not being stupid can be at risk.  In the video below the man and girl are pretty far from the bison and seemingly not encroaching on it.  Even park rangers commented that they should have been safe at this distance.  But the bison had other things in mind.  The man survived but is hurt.  If you got to Yellowstone or other places in America with wild bison, just be aware that even ‘safe’ distances can be not so safe.

What I’m Grateful For

That my tweaked knee isn’t so bad that it will interfere with my upcoming race. I twisted my knee awkwardly doing yard work when my shoe got stuck on a wooden board.  I can ride on it with minimal discomfort, but I’m stopping running till after my race. 

Lyrically Speaking

Everyday I think…
Everyday I think of money
I drive a truck, it carries money,
And everyday, I dream up my fantasies.
Yesterday, I bought my beach house,
A little place just off the coast of France.
Everyday I think of money,
Everyday I think of running.

From “Everyday I Think of Money” by The Stereophonics

I’m taking a little break from highlighting unknown bands this edition of Lyrically Speaking and featuring The Stereophonics.  At their height they were as big as U2 and Coldplay in Britain and parts of Europe and sold out stadiums. But there will undoubtedly be Americans who read this and who have vaguely heard of them.  They never really got huge in the US due partly to bad luck and also to the fact that they focused on cultivating their fame in the UK and Europe once they achieved it in the late 1990’s. 

The Stereophonics are a straight up 4-piece rock band, but to me they are defined by lead vocalist Kelly Jones’s voice.  It’s a raspy, sandpapery, gritty thing that gives all their songs a distinct edge.  It’s polarizing, many do not like the band solely because of it.  I generally like his singing for the music they play, and since much of their early material dealt with themes of working class life in Britain (such as the song highlighted above), to me it was a good fit.  But I admit his voice can wear thin on me after a while. I like their music best when it’s mixed in playlists versus listening to full albums.  The Stereophonics are still going strong and released their 13th album last year.  If you’re American check them out as you probably missed them.  If you’re British you probably either love them or hate them 🙂 

As for the lyrics above, we in the “FI space” (if that even exists anymore…) probably think about money everyday since we focus on it so much to achieve freedom. Now that I have full freedom and early retirement I think about it still, probably not as much, but if I’m honest probably at least once a day.

Miscellaneous

Scientists discover how the brain rewires itself to truly multitask – “Researchers found that extensive training physically reorganizes the brain, allowing learned tasks to bypass the prefrontal cortex and run through specialized circuits instead. By freeing the brain’s “thinking” center, people became better at performing another task at the same time, challenging the long-held idea that humans only switch rapidly between tasks rather than truly multitask.”

Teleoperated humanoid robots complete first-ever live surgery – “Surgeons at UC San Diego just handed the scalpel to two humanoid robots, who went on to complete live surgical procedures for the first time in history. This milestone moves beyond the fixed robotic arms found in operating rooms today and hints at an operating room of the future where humans and humanoids work side by side.” 

Disable autoplay and infinite scroll or risk massive fines, EU tells Meta – “Digital Services Act may force Meta to make big changes on its platforms.”  Dave’s Comment: While I am generally against heavy or excessive government regulations, the key is in the words ‘heavy’ and ‘excessive’. If people want to smoke and get cancer or consume sugary soda all day and get diabetes I think they should be allowed to. And if they want to doom-scroll on social media all day and rot their brain and increase their stress levels and depression, they should be allowed to do that too (except young children). But in this case when you combine the current environment of fake AI images and videos with auto-play and infinite scroll, I’m beginning to feel laws against this might not be classified as ‘excessive’.”

**Note To My Readers – I sometimes get complaints about ads on my blog (too many).  I’m kind of astonished that anyone browses the internet without an ad-blocker.  I haven’t seen ads in over a decade, and you shouldn’t either.  Please use an ad blocker, your life will improve 500%