Black Friday looms this week, with American Thanksgiving this Thursday. Black Friday may be starting Thursday night (and online even earlier). I don’t plan to join in the orgy of spending predicted (and even more on Cyber Monday), but I will see if there are any cheaper Solid State Drives (SSDs) that might tempt me.
How many people will die in the stampede to get the new Furby? How many will be trampled under a herd of shoppers attempting to get an iPad Mini? What gets me is that Canada is getting into the act as well. Our Thanksgiving is in October, remember?
For those like me enjoying Movember, there are some perils involved. Evidently, facial hair is a bacterial sponge (according to Microbiologists), so make sure you are washing your mustache and combing it out (don’t want any little critters taking up residence there either). Mrs. C8j is not happy with it but is allowing it (for now). I suspect on December 1st, there will be some more shaving done.
On the Twitter Feed, lots of interesting stuff about worrying and money too:
- Loveless, Sexless Marriages and Money was me ripping off Preet for a comment he made on a CBC panel discussing debt load and Canadians, money screws up many relationships, be careful.
- Are you Losing Sleep because of Money Worries, join the club, I think money and children are the two major reasons folks lose sleep.
- With life and money Time Waits for No One, so keep that one in mind, if you feel like you are wasting your time.
- The Best Financial Advice I ever received was from my Dad and I wrote about it six years ago, but I think it still is relevant now.
- Men’s Health is a touchy subject but thanks to erectile dysfunction medications, more men are seeing their GP (I am not kidding).
- With Encouragement: Be Persistent I point out that failure sometimes must come before success, you just need to figure that out.
Some have argued that the Internet has made us bigger liars, but, is it? Our friends at Ted discuss this very point:
Other Ted Talks
- Barry Schwartz asks why have we lost our financial wisdom? Darn good question.
- Julian Treasure talks about how Noise Affects our Health and 8 steps to keep sound health.
- Does Democracy stifle economic growth? Yasheng Huang thinks so.
- Cities As a Mathematical Model is an exciting model idea
- Seth Godin talks about how the technology landscape is littered with broken things.
- Does Education need to change? Sir Ken Robinson thinks so, and I am inclined to agree with him.
- How do we Innovate to a zero energy footprint? Bill Gates has some ideas, it seems.
- Can low cost eye care be world class? Thulasiraj Ravilla thinks so.
- Rewiring the Brain may be needed in the future, given how damaged some brains have become due to how fragile the brain is.
- Cliff Stohl was the original Hacker-Catcher but he also espouses the value to continual learning
- Graham Hill wonders can you be more happy with less stuff? Less clutter is a good thing, we know that, so maybe he isn’t far off.
- There is a right and wrong way to tie your shoes? I did not know that, until Terry Moore explained it to me.
- Nigel Marsh wonders if it is possible to create a work life balance? Not sure how that works.
- Does anyone know what technology wants? Kevin Kelly thinks he has an idea.
- TED’s Chris Anderson says the rise of web video is driving a worldwide phenomenon he calls Crowd Accelerated Innovation
- Did we get different consumer behaviour after the 2008 crisis? Not really. That’s why we had the 2023 crisis.
- Can social media predict epidemics or pandemics? We saw something like this with COVID-19.
- Jay Walker seems to think that English is the second language in the world? Might be right.
- How can we combat modern slavery? Most major economic empires or empires in general were built on slave labour, how do we break this cycle?
- What is the Bio-Future of Joint Replacement? Are we just going to use metal and plastics?
- Mandlebrot wishes to talk to you about the roughness of shapes. He has written about Turbulence in Financial Markets
- Philip Zombardo talks about the psychology of time, which is always interesting.
- Measure What Makes Life Worthwhile, Chip Conley may have some ideas for you.
- Billy Graham talking about technology and theology? Pastor Graham is a strong orator, not sure I buy into all his messages.
- What happens on losing everything in a fire ? A very interesting question answered in this very interesting Ted series chat by David Hoffman.
- A former salesman tells you that sometimes the Simple Answers are the right answers.
- The Canadian Medical System can take its time on some surgeries, but two years for a hip?
- Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics is a typical theme but in this case with a bit of tongue in cheek.
- Can Money buy happiness? According to Benjamin Wallace not really, but your misery might be more enjoyable?
- Temple Grandin talks about being Autistic and her fight to live in our strange world.
- James Randi’s skepticism helped debunk a lot of hokum that arose in the 20th century.
- With profound simplicity, Coach John Wooden redefines success and urges us all to pursue the best in ourselves.
- The Spectre of Denial of vaccines and medical solutions is now the normal view of things, and that is quite worrying.
