The benefits of joining a group …
If the relationship between money and well-being is complicated, the correspondence between personal relationships and happiness is not. The daily activities most associated with happiness are sex, socializing after work and having dinner with others. The daily activity most injurious to happiness is commuting. According to one study, joining a group that meets even just once a month produces the same happiness gain as doubling your income. According to another, being married produces a psychic gain equivalent to more than $100,000 a year. via nytimes.com So … join City Club and it feels like your income goes up 100%. That’s Read more…
Crichton’s “Travels”
My friend Aaron recommended this book to me years ago, maybe even in junior high school, while I was reading any Michael Crichton I could find (Sphere, Jurassic Park, etc). But I didn't get to it. It sounded boring. Who'd want to read about some guy's vacations? … said the travel-blogger. Mary read it just recently and I finally picked it up. It was pretty interesting. Crichton has some great yarns. His medical school experience, some hair-raising SCUBA diving trips, shooting movies with Sean Connery, and trips into the wilderness. But the book is primarily about his inner-travels, if you Read more…
“The Ghost Writer” at the Grand
I'd definitely recommend "The Ghost Writer" as a mystery/suspense film. It's at the Grand now, and it's pretty great. I'd read the book it was based off going in, and Mary had not. We both agreed it was a good film, and there's no reason to go because you haven't read the book. In fact, it's possibly better than the book. Really well done.
The first Google Doodle
via google.com Google’s “doodles” are often pretty inspired, and commemorate birthdays, holidays, seasons, and events like the Olympics. They are also archived at Google. This was their first one I can find in the archives, and it comes from August 30, 1998. It commemorates, of all things … Burning Man.
In Defense of Tea
via flickr.com Not that anyone is maligning tea … although I did for a long time, so perhaps I’m defending it from myself. For years I disliked tea. Most of my experience with it was iced tea and tea in Japanese or Chinese restaurants. When we were in Thailand last year I was given a cup of lemongrass tea. I politely sipped it … and discovered it was awesome! (Mary informed me later that it was also loaded with sugar, which helped make it so good). But it broke down a lot of my resistance. A year later, Mary got Read more…
Fade to Black
via pheedcontent.com An homage to last scenes.
The Problem with Lost’s Last Season. BEWARE. Loaded With Spoilers.
So … Lost. I was disappointed last season, but I told myself, the writers know where they're going, and we'll see a spectacular last season. Yes, the writers knew where they were going. But this season has been really disappointing. Lots of spoilers below. If you haven't seen it, and don't want to know, don't read. If you haven't seen it, and do want to know, be prepared to go "what?!" a lot. Intellectually, I like the Sliding Doors style look at the characters. But there's a lot of flaws with it. Let's take Sawyer as our best example. Sawyer is Read more…
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