Search found 569 matches

by mikeBOS
Wed Jan 01, 2014 3:44 am
Forum: Philosophy and Lifestyle Questions
Topic: I #@#$%@! Hate Video Games!
Replies: 25
Views: 8100

Re: I #@#$%@! Hate Video Games!

I find myself immediately regretting dumping hours that could've been better spent learning a skill or actually doing something in real life Maybe instead of trying to figure out how to get rid of video gaming you could try to figure out how to get rid of the regret that follows it. Why feel bad th...
by mikeBOS
Fri Dec 06, 2013 4:18 am
Forum: Work & Education
Topic: Academia and Rudeness
Replies: 24
Views: 8064

Re: Academia and Rudeness

I've heard stories of outright sabotage in the hard science graduate programs at top schools. Including things like messing with other people's lab experiments when they're not around just to intentional screw them up or delay their research to give themselves a competitive edge. So many people aren...
by mikeBOS
Sat Nov 09, 2013 9:41 pm
Forum: Inspiration
Topic: NFL Player decides to ERE
Replies: 37
Views: 11204

Re: NFL Player decides to ERE

I guess I don't understand how his contract works then. The article said he had a contract through the rest of the season. If the team has agreed to pay him a particular amount for a particular period of time, how can they just choose not to pay him without proving he is deliberately not giving his ...
by mikeBOS
Sat Nov 09, 2013 12:15 am
Forum: Politics, and other eternal disagreements
Topic: How would you use money to influence society?
Replies: 30
Views: 8292

Re: How would you use money to influence society?

I'd probably find someone who already had a cause they were working on, was exceptionally competent, and give it to them. I couldn't be bothered with the hassle of running a billion dollar charitable organization.
by mikeBOS
Sat Nov 09, 2013 12:00 am
Forum: Inspiration
Topic: NFL Player decides to ERE
Replies: 37
Views: 11204

Re: NFL Player decides to ERE

Couldn't he have just slacked off and warmed the bench for another season while he collected on his contract? At a job like that the employer is probably banking on a lot of internal motivation from the employees (the irrational desire to get a ball through an apparatus/across a line more times than...
by mikeBOS
Fri Sep 27, 2013 1:29 am
Forum: Housing and Transportation Questions
Topic: Living in a tent long-term
Replies: 35
Views: 18418

Re: Living in a tent long-term

Don't know how I missed this thread. I bought a rural acre for $500 when I lived in my tent. At the end of it I realized I didn't really have to buy any land. I could have just gone out there and picked a nice spot, and if someone asked me to move, no big deal really. If I were doing it again I'd ju...
by mikeBOS
Tue Aug 20, 2013 12:58 am
Forum: Resources & Recommended Reading
Topic: In praise of laziness
Replies: 1
Views: 1006

Re: In praise of laziness

It's a fine article so far as it goes. But these business advice tropes are just gag-inducing. They just jump from one fad to the next every few years. People take the ideas up like a religion. Some people never let go of an idea that hooks them and are stuck on something from a particular era. You ...
by mikeBOS
Mon Aug 19, 2013 2:05 am
Forum: Money and Investment Questions
Topic: A Great Example of F-You Money
Replies: 7
Views: 2522

Re: A Great Example of F-You Money

Being FI can help make employees act more in line with their ethics. But there's another ethical dimension to it too. Part of paying someone for their labor is the understanding that the laborer will put in his best effort for his employer. So the employer wants the most output for the cheapest pay,...
by mikeBOS
Fri Aug 09, 2013 1:52 am
Forum: Money and Investment Questions
Topic: Retire from investing ?
Replies: 3
Views: 1307

Re: Retire from investing ?

I've often wondered if I should think about protecting my assets from my future self, just in case dementia sets in, or I become emotionally unstable, or develop an opiate addiction. I would probably do it by putting a portion of my funds into an irrevocable trust or some kind of annuity or something.
by mikeBOS
Wed Aug 07, 2013 4:44 am
Forum: Miscellaneous
Topic: Financial Planner Meeting at Work
Replies: 11
Views: 2478

Re: Financial Planner Meeting at Work

Good for most people. But when you eat, breath and sleep this stuff, like most the people on this forum, there isn't much left to learn from a run-of-the-mill financial planner making a group presentation to the average joe. Sounds like yours was pretty good though at least. Most of them are just sa...
by mikeBOS
Fri Aug 02, 2013 1:36 pm
Forum: Transportation Questions
Topic: Cross-Country Greyhound Bus Trip, Kinda Freaking Out.
Replies: 26
Views: 8746

Re: Cross-Country Greyhound Bus Trip, Kinda Freaking Out.

Probably too late for this, but I use credit card reward points to travel cross country on Amtrak in a private room, including a private bathroom, with all meals in the dining car included. You could get a Miami to New England ticket completely free (not even any little fees or anything) for the has...
by mikeBOS
Wed Jul 31, 2013 5:39 am
Forum: Philosophy and Lifestyle Questions
Topic: Anyone interested in Bitcoin?
Replies: 12
Views: 3317

Re: Anyone interested in Bitcoin?

I don't really see it as an investment opportunity any more than any other currency trading. And given its volatility I wouldn't store wealth in bitcoins. Though I do imagine that a secure, untraceable currency that allows for anonymous monetary transactions will always have uses, so I don't see it ...
by mikeBOS
Sat Jul 27, 2013 3:12 am
Forum: Friends, Family, Relationships, and Community Questions
Topic: Cook/food education age?
Replies: 7
Views: 2695

Re: Cook/food education age?

I would get up before anyone else and make myself huge breakfasts before school everyday starting around age 9. Alternating between eggs, bacon, sausage, ham, waffles, pancakes, french toast, sliced fruit and cereals and always washed down with two giant glasses of chocolate milk. Then around 16 yea...
by mikeBOS
Wed Jun 05, 2013 5:45 am
Forum: Housing and Transportation Questions
Topic: what is your home / apartment / van like?
Replies: 61
Views: 15487

<t>Here are some pics of my $25,000 house I paid cash for. So my only ongoing expenses with it are about $1,500/year in property taxes. It's a 3bd/1bath sitting on 1 acre just outside the center of a small town just a little over an hour from Boston. I love it.<br/> Before this was a string of studi...
by mikeBOS
Mon Jun 03, 2013 4:36 am
Forum: Philosophy and Lifestyle Questions
Topic: minimalism
Replies: 15
Views: 3201

<t>I think minimalism is an interesting and fruitful way to deal with the problem of possessions weighing you down. Thoreau said men don't own property so much as property owns men.<br/> I have rejected minimalism myself though. I have tools and toys and a needless abundance of cookware (I own a wok...
by mikeBOS
Tue May 07, 2013 7:44 am
Forum: Miscellaneous
Topic: How to Be a Better Employee
Replies: 51
Views: 9898

This should be filed under "inspiration" because if you didn't want to quit your job before reading that list you certainly will now.

by mikeBOS
Thu May 02, 2013 10:38 pm
Forum: Housing and Transportation Questions
Topic: NY Times article: Today’s Dream House May Not Be Tomorrow’s
Replies: 14
Views: 1915

<t>It's interesting how home values are tied to just simple fashion trends as well. There are some large developments you can visit and it's obvious what era the homes were built in, lots of 1940's, 50's and 70's era stuff around where I live. And the houses just look old-fashioned and don't fetch t...
by mikeBOS
Thu May 02, 2013 10:05 pm
Forum: ERE Journals
Topic: akratic's ERE journal
Replies: 657
Views: 169682

<t>I'm with Bertrand Russel, "Time you enjoy wasting, isn't wasted."<br/> I'm on your side but I think there are a lot of people around here who are going to side with your girlfriend. There seems to be this pervasive belief that if you aren't always striving to better and perfect yourself, or the w...
by mikeBOS
Sun Apr 28, 2013 8:41 pm
Forum: Miscellaneous
Topic: Top Tier or State School University Dilemma
Replies: 41
Views: 4948

<t>I've got to respectfully disagree with some of llorna's thoughts and the value of advice towards young people in general.<br/> I don't think college is any less enjoyable later in life than it is straight out of high school. I think reaching financial independence first and then going to school i...
by mikeBOS
Sun Apr 28, 2013 5:28 pm
Forum: Technical Skills & Tools Questions
Topic: Splitting firewood
Replies: 7
Views: 2167

It's tough to keep up with these guys though.