linklings, black hole earth edition
If this is your first visit to brip blap, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed and visit my about page.
Since we may be faced with the end of the world this summer (
photo credit: Ethan Hein), we might as well enjoy the spring weather. A few thoughts:
- The Knicks fired Isaiah (finally) at the same time the Pope arrived in New York. Coincidence? Hmm.
- I got nostalgic for one of the greatest cities I’ve ever visited, including once as half of my honeymoon reading about bella Roma…
- Nothing more amusing yet sadly indicative of human psyches than watching two two-year olds engage in Mortal Kombat over a soccer ball they both want. Little Buddy and his best friend, our neighbors’ son roughly the same age, went at it while my neighbor and I cringed a little. I don’t think there’s a need to break it up unless someone starts getting hurt - we actually agree it’s good to start understanding how the world works - but man, you’d think they were fighting over the map to D.B. Cooper’s stash or the Democratic presidential nomination.
On to the links. From The Money Writers:
-
Thank You, Yahoo!, for Perpetuating the Use of Home Equity as Cash
If there’s nothing else that gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling it’s seeing irresponsible advertisers push idiotic schemes. Way to go, Yahoo.
-
Morningstar’s Best and Worst 529 College Savings Plans
Even though I’m not a huge fan of saving for my children’s college educations - I’m not sure it’s worth it for them or me - I still keep on top of what’s going on with the 529s.
-
Tax Strategy: Using Recharacterizations to Qualify for Tax Credits
Ugh. Taxes. Ah well, time to absorb the damage and prepare for next year - time to start thinking about tips for improvement.
-
Spend Less Than You Earn Or Earn More Than You Spend?
I think I’ve come down pretty hard on one side of this argument - I don’t really believe that spending less than you earn will ever get you ahead by itself - and SVB expands a bit on that idea.
-
When it comes to finance, this is one of the single best pieces of advice you can get - keep it simple.
-
Money Does Buy Happiness… Imagine that!
I guess despite people wanting to think you can be poor and happy, it’s really much easier to be rich and happy in the end.
-
The Costs of Being Overweight - How Much Money Can a Healthy Diet Save You?
I have thought this for years - being overweight isn’t just bad for your health (and social life), but it can be tough on your wallet, too.
And from around the web:
-
Consider College Debt Carefully
I think if you are going to a private college you had better be gearing up for a high-paying career. If you want to study an esoteric, philosophical subject you’re much better going off to a public university. Having a much lower level of student loan debt will free you to take lower paying jobs in obscure fields.
-
Why I Believe the Efficient Market Theory Is Bunk
Amen to Ron’s point here - the efficient market theory supposes that we are all perfect thinking machines. I vote for political candidates all the time whose policies might not be in the best possible interest for me, personally, because I think they are better for the country - that means that the idea that I act in an efficient manner when making choices is hooey. Very interesting read.
-
Language of the Perpetual Poor
Great post on a very fundamental subject for wealthbuilding - your choice of words helps steer you to wealth or poverty. Use positive, powerful words and you’ll do better than someone who complains, curses or worries.
-
Unintended Consequences and Money
You have to feel terrible when you realize that best intentions have gone astray. It does happen, as Flexo points out, and when it does it’s really unpleasant to see.
-
More simple organization tips - this one is as simple as you can get, I think!
I also participated in the Carnival of Personal Finance this past week over at Gather Little By Little (a great blog, by the way - I’m a subscriber and it’s well worth checking out). Lynnae from beingfrugal.net had an exhaustive list of frugal tips worth checking out. Even though I’m usually more concerned with making money than saving money, I still live a fairly frugal lifestyle and this was a HUGE list of ideas.
Popularity: 2% [?]
Related Articles







9 Comments, Comment or Ping
Move To Portugal
Wow thanks for the link Steve!
Apr 20th, 2008
Ron@TheWisdomJournal
Ha ha! “Hooey” Love it!
Thanks for the link!
Apr 20th, 2008
Frugal Dad
Many thanks for linking to my article this week. A great roundup all-around!
Apr 20th, 2008
Curmudgeon
Silly people, everyone knows from T.S. Eliot’s The Hollow Men how the world will end (”Not with a bang but a whimper”).
On another note, you will be amazed at how many people no longer remember D.B. Cooper, even with the recent false reports of his discovery. You may have to provide a guide to folklore as a part of your postings.
Apr 20th, 2008
Ron@TheWisdomJournal
@Curmudgeon
Didn’t they find that he (DBC) died recently after living a double life?
Apr 20th, 2008
Curmudgeon
@Ron - At the end of March, some kids found a parachute buried in a field near the Washington-Oregon border. The FBI was called in, and after about a week announced that it wasn’t D.B. Cooper’s chute. I hadn’t heard the story that he died and his identity was revealed; do you have a reference?
Apr 21st, 2008
Ron@TheWisdomJournal
@Curmudgeon
I saw a History Channel show about it that had a lady claiming to be his wife. Supposedly, he confessed his crime before he died. The physical description matched very well and there were some other uncanny things that matched (can’t remember all of them though). It may or may not have been him, but everything he told her would have made sense given the circumstances.
Found this link:
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/d.....cooper.htm
Apr 21st, 2008
Steve (Brip Blap)
Given our celebrity-obsessed culture, DB would have to have nerves of steel not to have revealed himself by now. He would be a guest on every talk show on earth and probably get away with serving 3 months in prison by now.
And Curmudgeon, I do try to throw a few pop-culture references in there to get heads-a-scratchin’ sometimes, especially if I didn’t know the reference until a few days earlier myself
Ah, Eliot. I haven’t read The Hollow Men since college, but when I looked at Wikipedia I saw this little interesting bit: “Perhaps most revealing, though, is Eliot’s response, a ‘no’, when asked if he would write these lines again: One reason is that while the association of the H-bomb is irrelevant to it, it would today come to everyone’s mind. Another is that he is not sure the world will end with either. People whose houses were bombed have told him they don’t remember hearing anything.” Apparently it actually referred to Guy Fawke’s whimpering when executed. Who knew? Learn something new every day.
Wikipedia (if it’s actually true more than 90% of the time) is fascinating.
Apr 21st, 2008
Curmudgeon
@Steve - Don’t forget to check out the Wikipedia discussion tab. If you’re not sure of the accuracy, you can almost always get others’ opinions. I have British acquaintances who still celebrate Guy Fawkes Day.
@Ron - Thanks for the story and the link. There used to be a DB Cooper restaurant in my town that celebrated the folklore. They turned it into a Hooters several years ago (sigh . . .).
Apr 21st, 2008
Reply to “linklings, black hole earth edition”