On the 8 Spot

Nice story read the whole thing!

Guilt and forgiveness – Part II

Published by Paulo Coelho on March 6, 2009 in Stories

Here is a beautiful story that illustrates precisely what I mean:

When he was small, Cosroes had a teacher who helped him to become an outstanding student in all his subjects. One afternoon, the teacher punished him severely, apparently for no reason.

Years later, Cosroes acceded to the throne. One of his first actions was to summon his former schoolmaster and demand an explanation for the injustice he had committed.

‘Why did you punish me when I had done nothing wrong?’ he asked.

‘When I saw how intelligent you were, I knew at once that you would inherit the throne from your father,’ replied his teacher. ‘And so I decided to show you how injustice can mark a man for life. Now that you know that,’ the teacher went on, ‘I hope you will never punish another person without good reason.’

Guilt and forgiveness – Part II at Paulo Coelho’s Blog.

people who seem to forget what they teach their undergraduates to toe the party line. They always seem to find a way to spin things their way,

Personally I just ignore people who I cant trust to be honest about stuff. This I posit is what is happening.

Harvard economics Professor Greg Mankiw thinks that Mr. Obama’s growth forecasts are overly optimistic and that the federal deficit will be a lot larger than Mr. Obama thinks. He was chastised by Princeton’s Paul Krugman, a Nobel Prize winner in economics, who on his New York Times blog claims that Mankiw can only make the predictions that he does because of “more than a bit of deliberate obtuseness.” He titled his post on Mankiw, “Roots of Evil.”

Last Wednesday, Mankiw responded to Krugman’s attacks by suggesting: “Well, Paul, if you are so confident in this forecast, would you like to place a wager on it and take advantage of my wickedness?” Krugman has still not responded. It seems even a Nobel Prize winner isn’t willing to lay money on Mr. Obama’s rosy projections.

Washington Times – EDITORIAL: Too rosy for even a Nobel Prize winner?.

actually read this article first before part one, read both articles, they are short and informative.

When purchases go wrong

The researchers used three experiments to examine this question. In the first two of these participants were randomly assigned to groups in which they recalled material and experiential purchases that had either turned out well, or that had turned out badly. They were then asked how happy (or otherwise) these purchases had made them.

The results suggested that, just like Van Boven and Gilovich’s research, experiential purchases (e.g. a meal out) beat material purchases (e.g. clothes) if each turned out well. But, for some people whose scores were low on a measure of materialism, when the purchases turned out badly, it was the material goods that left them slightly happier. In contrast the highly materialistic were left less happy when their material purchases went wrong.

In a third experiment participants actually made a small experiential versus a small material purchase and then their happiness over time was measured. It was found that when participants made a material purchase that turned out badly it was easier for them to forget about it than an experiential purchase that went wrong.

Across three experiments, then, Nicolao and colleagues found evidence that when our experiential purchases go wrong we are likely to end up slightly less happy than if we had chosen a material purchase. But, as in previous research, when our purchases go well we are likely to end up significantly happier if we choose an experiential rather than a material purchase.

How to Choose Between Experiential and Material Purchases « PsyBlog.

I’d like to reframe this question, see I think one of the reasons that Experiences beat possessions is that most possessions are acquired as means to experience “buying/shopping” and because shopping is a low quality experience I believe that people who go for experiences are happier. I think a nice avenue to study this is to compare model builders versus shopper of less active/creative/input driven stuff and I think that the results would validate my reframing.

I am taking a vacation a few months from now and the truth is the only way I am affording this vacation is through belt tightening and delaying some of the things I would have already bought weeks ago, if not for this short vacation. When coming up with the decision to live frugally for approximately  4-5 months (I’ve got alot of credit card bills mostly grocery and books/comic books/cds and a few restaurant bills, If I knew earlier I probably wouldn’t have to be as frugal now.) The thing I was thinking about the most is that I have strong emotional memory (I don’t know If there is such a thing but that is the closest short set of words I can come up with).

My EM goes both ways I remember the ups and downs and the uniques. The way I see it is that If a choice has to be made then the choice would be experience over material things.

Why do experiences fare better than possessions?

It seems, then, that at some level we understand that our experiential purchases give us more pleasure than our material purchases. But why is that? Van Boven (2005) suggests three reasons:

1. Experiences improve with time (possessions don’t).

2. Experiences are resistant to unfavourable comparisons

3. Experiences have more social value

Experiences Beat Possessions: Why Materialism Causes Unhappiness « PsyBlog.

This is great post from leo of zen habits, I agree with alot of his suggestions!, read the whole thing:

And while the last 70-80 years have advanced our lives in amazing ways, and there’s no doubt that the comfort and convenience of our lives have improved tremendously … we rarely stop to consider whether technology and consumerism have always changed our lives for the better.

I mean, I am as big a proponent of the miracles of the Internet as anyone, but have we given up too much of our lives that used to exist offline and outdoors? It’s great that we have such comfortable cars that can drive incredibly fast and take us anywhere we want to go in minutes … but have we thrown away the joy and the health benefits of walking places?

It’s great that we can communicate instantly from anywhere with our mobile devices, but have we given up personal face-to-face conversations and the pleasure of being outdoors, disconnected from the world?

It’s great that food is so convenient these days, but have we given up the pleasures of slow eating for fast food, the joys of cooking for microwaving, the wonders of real food for processed food?

It’s great that we can buy pretty much anything we want these days (and often do), but have we allowed the abundance of cash we’ve had (until recently, but even now we’re still pretty rich) to force us to have bigger houses just to store all our stuff?

Steps Towards a More Sustainable Life of Less | Zen Habits.

From probably one of the most versatile, talented and frank/real persons on Philippine Show Biz , idol Joey De Leon, his poem to two of his very close friends :

Sa dalawa kong matalik na kaibigan, aking ka-Bulaga, Kapuso, at kasandalan, isa
ngayo’y nagdiriwang ng kaarawan at ang isa naman’y may pinagdaraanan.
Maligayang bati, Tito kong Escalera, tulad ng pangalan, magsunud-sunod sana ang
mga biyaya ang mga pagsagana at magtagal pa nawa ang ating pagsasama. Tumpak ka, Pareng Kiko. Sa iyong tinuran sa landas ng buhay, isang lubak lamang yan.
Pagkatapos ng dilim ay kinabukasan. Awit mo, may bago na namang pagkukunan.