Steve Mays @smays@mastodon.technology
Technology, Art, Blogging, Books, Dogs, Gadgets & Apps, Media, Philosophy, Science - http://www.smays.com
You can keep your Eames chair. I'll take one of these every time. Spotted in Clarksdale, MS
If you looked at every post on a social media site (like this one for example) and labeled them 'mostly positive' or 'mostly negative,' what would you expect the ratio to be.
Let's say we discard those that too neutral to put on one pile or the other.
I'm gonna guess 80/20 negative. Wonder why that would be so (assuming I'm correct).
Are more positive, upbeat folk less likely spend time here?
PS: I never met a negative person who'd cop to it. "I'm just being realistic" is the refrain.
"About 20% of Americans are upper income, according to Pew Research Center. You might call them "rich." (Not to be confused with the “super-rich.” The 1%.) This map (link below) shows how much you have to earn to be considered rich in every state."
"A person earning $83,510 in Mississippi is considered upper income in the state, while a New Yorker would need to make $125,820 to be considered rich."
“When the whole world is connected, only astronauts are ‘remote workers.’”
“In the past, the key to a better life was a better job. You did whatever it took to rise in your career and sacrificed your happiness from 9 to 5 each work day, all so you could make enough money to splurge on your private life – home, vacations, cars and toys. But the mobile revolution has changed this equation entirely.”
Stopped by a local locksmith this week to have a key made and spotted this old safe. It had been in someone's barn for a while and they brought it in to have it opened to see what was inside. The locksmith drilled the safe and found what looked to me like one of the first iPods. Would love to know the story.
We're gonna need more dog food. A LOT more dog food.
"According to BlackRock, the average Boomer has only $136,000 saved for retirement. Even assuming 7% returns—when they’re more like 2%—it’s a yearly income of only $9,000. That’s $36,000 shy of the ideal retirement income."
http://www.businessinsider.com/impact-of-baby-boomers-retiring-on-the-economy-and-stocks-2017-9
“Those who sell credit freezes don’t like them much. “Freezing your credit file is an extreme step that removes you from the credit marketplace,” says Rod Griffin, director of public education with the credit bureau Experian.”
http://www.smays.com/2017/09/credit-freeze/
A question for younger folk (I'm 69): is it possible to live in 2017 w/o incurring huge debt? I get that it might not be much fun, but can it be done?
"And I hope when I get old I don't sit around thinking about it
But I probably will"
-- Bruce Springsteen
Okay, I *did* take a shot at "guess what I'm not wearing..."
I said one of those canvas deep sea diving suits with the metal helmet and the little round window.
No response.
Why has nobody taken the time to interview some of the people that write subject lines for spam? There must be some good stories. I always scan before deleting my spam folder.
* F stevemays
* stevemays, A Gorgeous Russian Bride Could Be Yours
* Guess what im not wearing..
* We Have Found Your Missing Money
The spammers might be right. Anyone that would open one of these deserves what they get.
"Paraphrasing early 20th century commentator H.L. Mencken, Jack Kornfield says the point of politics is to “put the populace in a state of alarm and keep them fearful so that they will vote for safety.” In this way, politicians and pundits “hijack your limbic system.” [...] He suggests only a small dose of news daily. “You don’t need a lot of it. You know the plot,” he said.
I feel *much* better since regaining control of my limbic system.
Four minutes of feel good. The perfect (for me) antidote for the animus and hatred that seems to be everywhere. As you listen, watch the faces of the musicians.
“You think you’re directing the movie, but you’re actually just watching it.”
-- Why Buddhism Is True (Robin Wright)
“One thing all feelings have in common is that they were originally “designed” to convince you to follow them. The feel right and true almost by definition. They actively discourage you from viewing them objectively.”
-- ibid
“Natural selection didn’t design your mind to see the world clearly; it designed your mind to have perceptions and beliefs that would help take care of your genes.”
-- Robin Wright
Part 2 of 2:
“They compose their rants against the machine on very fast desktop machines. While they sip coffee. Their routines are only marginally different from mine. They have not relinquished the conveniences of civilization for the better shores of nomadic hunter-gathering.”
From Kevin Kelly's What Technology Wants. Specifically, the chapter titled: The Unabomber Was Right
And Mr. Kelly thinks Ted was right on some things, just not the important ones.
From What Technology Wants:
“But if this state of happy poverty is so desirable and good for the soul, why do none of the anticivilizationists live like this? As far as I can tell from my research and personal interviews with them, all self-identifying anarcho-primitivists live in modernity."
Continued...
Wouldn't that be what happens when the Pope moves?
"the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome"
Has anyone looked into the idea that hold music for support calls is intentionally bad -- both quality and type of music -- so callers will weary and hangup?
