If I lived in one of these, I would pretend I was one of the robots from "I, Robot". I suspect, though, that my husband wouldn't find it as amusing as I would!
Great idea, Xin! There are folks here in the U.S. experimenting with reusing shipping containers. Check out Mikey Sklar's Ecolodge in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. Photos at the bottom show the revamped interior. Great way to reuse and recycle.
I initally saw this idea about a year ago and thought it was a brilliant idea. My thought was to use these containers as temporary housing for the homeless. Leave it to "entrepeneurs" to profiteer from this relatively cheap, quick form of housing!
I really get tired of terms like "wage slavery". Only in America are people so well off they can whine about actually having a job. The real "slavery" is to people's desire for material things. People cry about never getting ahead, but they smoke, drink, have an Ipod, cable, 2 new cars, kids playing 2 sports, go out to eat several times a week, etc. And if you bring those things up, you would think they were being asked to live in a 3rd world country by giving them up. The rich (i.e. The Millionaire Next Door kind) are not taking anything from people or enslaving them by earning and keeping more money.
SS is a communistic method of wealth re-distribution. Of course, many in this country prefer the government to make their life decisions for them. Much like it was in the old Soviet Empire.
What people forget that before SS, old people retired and lived with their kids. The concept of family then was much stronger and people took care of the elders. An unintended consequence of SS was the weakening of the family.
Good topic and one that certainly generates a lot of emotion. It comes down to how one views the all-knowing, all-powerful government. Some view it as an intrusion. Others as a intelligent, benevolent force.
I see it over and over. People astounded at record profits from oil companies. Here's a hint, people: oil companies make money selling oil, not gas. Granted they DO make money selling gas, but only 5 or 10 percent of their total profit comes from gasoline revenues. The other 90 to 95 percent comes from selling OIL.
totally got me free breakfast today! of course i had to buy the coffee...and i only had to wait in line for 30 seconds! and guess who is getting me dinner?!! thanks for the tip!!! the sando biscuit was good, i might try it again.
Sure it's a Ponzi scheme, when you realize that it relies purely on demographics and there aren't enough legal working suckers to pay in right now. There is no "insurance" component as the funds are not invested, unless you call the US government T-bond IOU's an investment. It's also designed as yet another welfare program so that poorer taxpayers get more than they put in, compared to the rest of us.
this company called "broadwayphoto.com" did the exact scam on me that i ended up canceling the order immediately realizing that it is a scam. i hope they don't mess around with my card information. thank God that i cancel the order. a battery for $149 that went down from $181 that is already included in the box that they tried to sell me. make me feel really angry.
you are right, being attractive is helpful most of the times (and a problem in some others).
I grew up being the ugly girl of the school. I was skinny and brown in a town where girls are meant to have a few extra kilos and are particularly praised for thick legs (somewhere in souther arizona, not africa) and light eyes. I got used to being the "nerd" and treated as such. I grew up and moved for work reasons to Europe. All of a sudden I was the hot "exotic" girl in town.
Being "skinny" is no longer a sin and having long lean legs is good.
Do I get different treatment here than in america? you bet!!
do i like it? mostly yes!
But after I got off my fluffy cloud I started to resent the fact that suddenly I am no longer the "nerd". Nobody assumes that I am smart anymore. Now I have to prove it every day (quite tiring if you are a scientist).
Would I rather going back to being the ugly one? frankly? no. So there you have it. Fair? probably not but then again what can one do when evolution instincts kick in? adapt as best as you can?
I didn't get to read this whole thread, so maybe this issue has been addressed. Sorry, it's a long thread.
I was reading some of the posts about the controversey of using the terms 'guys and girls' and figured I could offer some perspective by sharing the way I've caught myself using the term 'girl'. Believe me, I mean it as no disrespect. Rather it's the opposite.
You can't think of these terms under the dictionary definitions 'boy' 'girl' 'man' 'woman' 'guy' 'gal'. More important, I think, in determining the way the user feels about the person they are referring to is the baggage attached to the term. In other words, the way the user 'feels' about the term they are using.
When I talk about someone using the term 'girl' It's how I refer to a female that I put on my own level. I don't often use the term woman because emotionally that strikes me as if I'm referring to her in sexual terms. Perhaps not true for all cases, but I've noticed that's how using the term 'woman' tends to make me feel.
I may also use the term 'woman' in a strictly informational way, but rarely to talk about someone I'm familiar with. For someone older I may use the term 'lady'.
I've noticed some women use the term 'guy' the same way I use the term 'girl'. if they use the term 'man' they are often referring to him in a sexual way. Sure the terms 'guy' and 'girl' are not exact gender opposites according to the dictionary. But psychologically they are. Guys don't use the term 'gal' because it's outdated.
All that said, I don't think this article is sexist. It's pointing out some social behaviors relating to attractiveness. This can relate to attractiveness in men & women alike.
Do I think it's right or wrong that attractive people sometimes get preferrential treatment? I honestly don't know. It's the deepest part of human nature and that's hard to argue with. People do it without even realizing.
I have noticed that when someone takes advantage of this preferrential treatment their whole life, they're not as well adapted to life when their looks go downhill, as inevitably they do. So I wonder if I should feel sorry for them.
Greetings,
I spend a good deal of time working for Non-Profit organisations. In Winter I teach adaptive skiing techniques, and Summer - White Water Rafting, for the same adaptive company. I don't get paid for my time really, but I do get what are called Pro Form deals, usually extremely cheap prices on sporting goods. Ski's, Binding's etc... Way Way below retail.
I consider that cashing in on my hobbies.
If this would have happened to me I would think that I was the victim of Identify theft, either way how are you going to prove you are you, and that you did not know someone else drew your Social Security account long before you decided to??
Best wake up and smell the coffee!!
As this website is about being frugal & money-conscious, some of the tips are about how to look for & get free stuff (the more the better), for those above & below the attractive average. So then, wouldn't you WANT to be as hot as possible so that you could get as much stuff as possible?
So why shouldn't other people take your advice....
"(And if I had it, you can bet I’d flaunt it.)"
But please keep in mind for every "free" drink (or free anything) a hot girl (or guy) is offered, there's some a=hole that thinks he has the right to have her for as long as he feels like it. & if she says No, then she's an assumed shallow bitch.
Another way to deal with the high costs of college is to give up the idea that you are going to finish in 4 years by decreasing your course load and getting a part-time job. At smaller colleges, a course may only be offered every other year, and this increases the possibility of scheduling a course that might be blocked out by taking a normal full schedule. You also have more time for interaction with your Profs if you aren't juggling so many classes and may enjoy better grades.
My undrgrad college had a 4-year EE program that required 16-18 hours per Quarter. It was brutal. As a 5-year student, I had a lot more time to appreciate my courses and to enjoy college life.
Frankly, I would like it if I could get that legendary CalPERS pension. I hate researching for my retirement.
Umm.. it's your retirement so shouldn't you take some responsibility in managing it? Not researching your retirement options is just plain lazy and fairly irresponsible. My mom is going to get the CalPERS pension in 5 years, but she still saved a considerable amount in her own IRAs and 401ks. The CalPERS pension isn't as much as you think.
Neat post. I think in terms of a continuous spectrum with self sufficiency on one end and "wage slavery" on the other. A lot is said about the extremes but most folks' sweet spot is somewhere in between.
And Good Neighbors / The Good Life is a great show.
Yeah, like the janitor, who might even have two jobs, is going to spend time reading a stack of prospectuses for his retirement investments.
He doesn't have to. All he needs is a broad base index fund. An S&P 500 index fund or a total stock market index fund. Or he could use a target retirement fund. Investing for retirement doesn't have to be complicated. In fact, it shouldn't be. there's a ton of research that shows that active trading is extremely detrimental to one's portfolio.
The SS system is fundamentally a way for the young and able-bodied to pay for the needs of seniors.
Please explain which of Warren Buffett's needs are addressed by Social Security.
There are aspects of it that are like a savings plan, but, that seems to be more of a score-keeping system to establish the amount of your entitlement more than anything else.
So what you're saying is that your "need" is based on how much you made over the course of your lifetime. Oh yeah, that makes perfect sense.
The core of the program is to mitigate the problem of widespread poverty among people who cannot work in the marketplace due to age or disability.
No, the core of the program is transfer wealth from those under 65 to those over 65 in a wholesale fashion. That's not alleviating poverty, that's purchasing the senior vote. Great politics; lousy economics.
Having a garden definitely raises your standard of living. Producing all your own food, though, probably lowers it--it takes so much time that you can't do that and also have a job, so now you're stuck with no good way to get money to buy the stuff you can't produce yourself. (It's hard to sell enough carrots--even high-priced, organic carrots--to pay your taxes, let alone do that and also buy the occasional hoe and wheelbarrow.)
If you have more than one adult in your household, one can work at a regular job and then another can do things like grow food and make clothes and furniture. In fact, you probably hit a sweet spot if you have several others doing those things. It's this pressure that results in so many attempts at self-sufficiency structured as communes.
Yeah, like the janitor, who might even have two jobs, is going to spend time reading a stack of prospectuses for his retirement investments. The examples presented are just exceptions that prove the rule -- most people aren't good at investing.
Frankly, I would like it if I could get that legendary CalPERS pension. I hate researching for my retirement.
I like that Social Security exists, and is basically a welfare program, because it is a very necessary one. Life before Social Security and Medicare was a lot worse. Old folks not only lived in poverty, some committed suicide.
As for SS running out of money - it will be adjusted for. I understand that's already happening. The SS system is fundamentally a way for the young and able-bodied to pay for the needs of seniors. There are aspects of it that are like a savings plan, but, that seems to be more of a score-keeping system to establish the amount of your entitlement more than anything else. The core of the program is to mitigate the problem of widespread poverty among people who cannot work in the marketplace due to age or disability.
What is wrong with that? It seems like a very civilized, humane task: one that government is supposed to perform.
>> The whole structure of the economy is designed for people to work for wages and then buy what they need--and that design turns out to favor the wealthy. The poor and middle-class get a higher standard of living, and the rich get richer.<<
This is right on target. My partner and I run a design and communications studio on very little, wiped out all our debt, use only cash to buy and purchased land for homesteading -- a goal we're slowly working toward and hope to be entrenched in within 5-8 years. But it's been a long, rough road and it's easy to see how even the most well-intentioned people would say forget it and give up.
The movie "Off the Map" is a great depiction of how the simplicity and freedom of that kind of life really is achingly attractive.
If I lived in one of these, I would pretend I was one of the robots from "I, Robot". I suspect, though, that my husband wouldn't find it as amusing as I would!
Great idea, Xin! There are folks here in the U.S. experimenting with reusing shipping containers. Check out Mikey Sklar's Ecolodge in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. Photos at the bottom show the revamped interior. Great way to reuse and recycle.
http://screwdecaf.cx/eco-lodge.html
I initally saw this idea about a year ago and thought it was a brilliant idea. My thought was to use these containers as temporary housing for the homeless. Leave it to "entrepeneurs" to profiteer from this relatively cheap, quick form of housing!
I really get tired of terms like "wage slavery". Only in America are people so well off they can whine about actually having a job. The real "slavery" is to people's desire for material things. People cry about never getting ahead, but they smoke, drink, have an Ipod, cable, 2 new cars, kids playing 2 sports, go out to eat several times a week, etc. And if you bring those things up, you would think they were being asked to live in a 3rd world country by giving them up. The rich (i.e. The Millionaire Next Door kind) are not taking anything from people or enslaving them by earning and keeping more money.
SS is a communistic method of wealth re-distribution. Of course, many in this country prefer the government to make their life decisions for them. Much like it was in the old Soviet Empire.
What people forget that before SS, old people retired and lived with their kids. The concept of family then was much stronger and people took care of the elders. An unintended consequence of SS was the weakening of the family.
Good topic and one that certainly generates a lot of emotion. It comes down to how one views the all-knowing, all-powerful government. Some view it as an intrusion. Others as a intelligent, benevolent force.
You know where I stand.
I see it over and over. People astounded at record profits from oil companies. Here's a hint, people: oil companies make money selling oil, not gas. Granted they DO make money selling gas, but only 5 or 10 percent of their total profit comes from gasoline revenues. The other 90 to 95 percent comes from selling OIL.
totally got me free breakfast today! of course i had to buy the coffee...and i only had to wait in line for 30 seconds! and guess who is getting me dinner?!! thanks for the tip!!! the sando biscuit was good, i might try it again.
Cool! I saw this in Ready Made's last issue. Very nice set-ups (if you don't have 4 kids...) Some of these "dwellings" would make great offices!
Sure it's a Ponzi scheme, when you realize that it relies purely on demographics and there aren't enough legal working suckers to pay in right now. There is no "insurance" component as the funds are not invested, unless you call the US government T-bond IOU's an investment. It's also designed as yet another welfare program so that poorer taxpayers get more than they put in, compared to the rest of us.
this company called "broadwayphoto.com" did the exact scam on me that i ended up canceling the order immediately realizing that it is a scam. i hope they don't mess around with my card information. thank God that i cancel the order. a battery for $149 that went down from $181 that is already included in the box that they tried to sell me. make me feel really angry.
Paul,
you are right, being attractive is helpful most of the times (and a problem in some others).
I grew up being the ugly girl of the school. I was skinny and brown in a town where girls are meant to have a few extra kilos and are particularly praised for thick legs (somewhere in souther arizona, not africa) and light eyes. I got used to being the "nerd" and treated as such. I grew up and moved for work reasons to Europe. All of a sudden I was the hot "exotic" girl in town.
Being "skinny" is no longer a sin and having long lean legs is good.
Do I get different treatment here than in america? you bet!!
do i like it? mostly yes!
But after I got off my fluffy cloud I started to resent the fact that suddenly I am no longer the "nerd". Nobody assumes that I am smart anymore. Now I have to prove it every day (quite tiring if you are a scientist).
Would I rather going back to being the ugly one? frankly? no. So there you have it. Fair? probably not but then again what can one do when evolution instincts kick in? adapt as best as you can?
AMEN to that, DivaJean! I totally agree with you..
I didn't get to read this whole thread, so maybe this issue has been addressed. Sorry, it's a long thread.
I was reading some of the posts about the controversey of using the terms 'guys and girls' and figured I could offer some perspective by sharing the way I've caught myself using the term 'girl'. Believe me, I mean it as no disrespect. Rather it's the opposite.
You can't think of these terms under the dictionary definitions 'boy' 'girl' 'man' 'woman' 'guy' 'gal'. More important, I think, in determining the way the user feels about the person they are referring to is the baggage attached to the term. In other words, the way the user 'feels' about the term they are using.
When I talk about someone using the term 'girl' It's how I refer to a female that I put on my own level. I don't often use the term woman because emotionally that strikes me as if I'm referring to her in sexual terms. Perhaps not true for all cases, but I've noticed that's how using the term 'woman' tends to make me feel.
I may also use the term 'woman' in a strictly informational way, but rarely to talk about someone I'm familiar with. For someone older I may use the term 'lady'.
I've noticed some women use the term 'guy' the same way I use the term 'girl'. if they use the term 'man' they are often referring to him in a sexual way. Sure the terms 'guy' and 'girl' are not exact gender opposites according to the dictionary. But psychologically they are. Guys don't use the term 'gal' because it's outdated.
All that said, I don't think this article is sexist. It's pointing out some social behaviors relating to attractiveness. This can relate to attractiveness in men & women alike.
Do I think it's right or wrong that attractive people sometimes get preferrential treatment? I honestly don't know. It's the deepest part of human nature and that's hard to argue with. People do it without even realizing.
I have noticed that when someone takes advantage of this preferrential treatment their whole life, they're not as well adapted to life when their looks go downhill, as inevitably they do. So I wonder if I should feel sorry for them.
Greetings,
I spend a good deal of time working for Non-Profit organisations. In Winter I teach adaptive skiing techniques, and Summer - White Water Rafting, for the same adaptive company. I don't get paid for my time really, but I do get what are called Pro Form deals, usually extremely cheap prices on sporting goods. Ski's, Binding's etc... Way Way below retail.
I consider that cashing in on my hobbies.
If this would have happened to me I would think that I was the victim of Identify theft, either way how are you going to prove you are you, and that you did not know someone else drew your Social Security account long before you decided to??
Best wake up and smell the coffee!!
As this website is about being frugal & money-conscious, some of the tips are about how to look for & get free stuff (the more the better), for those above & below the attractive average. So then, wouldn't you WANT to be as hot as possible so that you could get as much stuff as possible?
So why shouldn't other people take your advice....
"(And if I had it, you can bet I’d flaunt it.)"
But please keep in mind for every "free" drink (or free anything) a hot girl (or guy) is offered, there's some a=hole that thinks he has the right to have her for as long as he feels like it. & if she says No, then she's an assumed shallow bitch.
In short: Damned if you do, Damned if you don't.
IM SORRY $300 WITH A CHILD IS NO LIMIT
I didnt work in 2006 but i worked in 2007. To my understanding you get $300 with no limit, why did I not receive a check?
Another way to deal with the high costs of college is to give up the idea that you are going to finish in 4 years by decreasing your course load and getting a part-time job. At smaller colleges, a course may only be offered every other year, and this increases the possibility of scheduling a course that might be blocked out by taking a normal full schedule. You also have more time for interaction with your Profs if you aren't juggling so many classes and may enjoy better grades.
My undrgrad college had a 4-year EE program that required 16-18 hours per Quarter. It was brutal. As a 5-year student, I had a lot more time to appreciate my courses and to enjoy college life.
In response to:
Frankly, I would like it if I could get that legendary CalPERS pension. I hate researching for my retirement.
Umm.. it's your retirement so shouldn't you take some responsibility in managing it? Not researching your retirement options is just plain lazy and fairly irresponsible. My mom is going to get the CalPERS pension in 5 years, but she still saved a considerable amount in her own IRAs and 401ks. The CalPERS pension isn't as much as you think.
Neat post. I think in terms of a continuous spectrum with self sufficiency on one end and "wage slavery" on the other. A lot is said about the extremes but most folks' sweet spot is somewhere in between.
And Good Neighbors / The Good Life is a great show.
Yeah, like the janitor, who might even have two jobs, is going to spend time reading a stack of prospectuses for his retirement investments.
He doesn't have to. All he needs is a broad base index fund. An S&P 500 index fund or a total stock market index fund. Or he could use a target retirement fund. Investing for retirement doesn't have to be complicated. In fact, it shouldn't be. there's a ton of research that shows that active trading is extremely detrimental to one's portfolio.
The SS system is fundamentally a way for the young and able-bodied to pay for the needs of seniors.
Please explain which of Warren Buffett's needs are addressed by Social Security.
There are aspects of it that are like a savings plan, but, that seems to be more of a score-keeping system to establish the amount of your entitlement more than anything else.
So what you're saying is that your "need" is based on how much you made over the course of your lifetime. Oh yeah, that makes perfect sense.
The core of the program is to mitigate the problem of widespread poverty among people who cannot work in the marketplace due to age or disability.
No, the core of the program is transfer wealth from those under 65 to those over 65 in a wholesale fashion. That's not alleviating poverty, that's purchasing the senior vote. Great politics; lousy economics.
Having a garden definitely raises your standard of living. Producing all your own food, though, probably lowers it--it takes so much time that you can't do that and also have a job, so now you're stuck with no good way to get money to buy the stuff you can't produce yourself. (It's hard to sell enough carrots--even high-priced, organic carrots--to pay your taxes, let alone do that and also buy the occasional hoe and wheelbarrow.)
If you have more than one adult in your household, one can work at a regular job and then another can do things like grow food and make clothes and furniture. In fact, you probably hit a sweet spot if you have several others doing those things. It's this pressure that results in so many attempts at self-sufficiency structured as communes.
Yeah, like the janitor, who might even have two jobs, is going to spend time reading a stack of prospectuses for his retirement investments. The examples presented are just exceptions that prove the rule -- most people aren't good at investing.
Frankly, I would like it if I could get that legendary CalPERS pension. I hate researching for my retirement.
I like that Social Security exists, and is basically a welfare program, because it is a very necessary one. Life before Social Security and Medicare was a lot worse. Old folks not only lived in poverty, some committed suicide.
As for SS running out of money - it will be adjusted for. I understand that's already happening. The SS system is fundamentally a way for the young and able-bodied to pay for the needs of seniors. There are aspects of it that are like a savings plan, but, that seems to be more of a score-keeping system to establish the amount of your entitlement more than anything else. The core of the program is to mitigate the problem of widespread poverty among people who cannot work in the marketplace due to age or disability.
What is wrong with that? It seems like a very civilized, humane task: one that government is supposed to perform.
>> The whole structure of the economy is designed for people to work for wages and then buy what they need--and that design turns out to favor the wealthy. The poor and middle-class get a higher standard of living, and the rich get richer.<<
This is right on target. My partner and I run a design and communications studio on very little, wiped out all our debt, use only cash to buy and purchased land for homesteading -- a goal we're slowly working toward and hope to be entrenched in within 5-8 years. But it's been a long, rough road and it's easy to see how even the most well-intentioned people would say forget it and give up.
The movie "Off the Map" is a great depiction of how the simplicity and freedom of that kind of life really is achingly attractive.