You don't Need a Plan

You're jsut out of high school, or maybe starting college, or even getting close to finishing college. Right at the cusp; 18, 19, maybe your early 20s.

That's a really scary age.

All of a sudden you're trying to define your life. You're starting to realize your choices affect your future. People are starting to ask you what your plan is. When they do, remember that those people asking about your "plan" are projecting their own feelings of what they should have done at your age onto you because chances are they didn't know what they were doing at that age either.

One of the common problems is so many people think they need to find their "calling". Like there is one particular thing they'll find that will be heralded by the trumpets of angels and they will suddenly have complete clarity of purpose. They focus so much on this myth that tthey miss opportunity after opportunity becasue each one doesn't quite fit their romantic notion of how their life is going to play out. Their tunnel vision blinds them to possibilities and they end up old and filled with regret, incorrectly thinking that things would have been different if they had a plan.

Life is an interesting adventure where we get to run around doing and learning new things on a really neat planet for a while before we turn back into dirt. Keep your mind open to whatever opportunities present themselves and be willing to work for them. It doesn't have to light your soul on fire, but the very act of working hard to succeed at anything will make you confident, happy, and better able to take advantage of other opportunities in the future.

You probably won't get a career related to what you study as an undergraduate. You probably won't have the same career at forty that you had at twenty-five. The only thing you're developing right now that will really determine your future is your work ethic and your character, and even then you have your whole life to develop that.

One piece of specific advice I wish someone had told me: apply for internships. Seriously. The worst thing that happens is that you spend a short period of time doing something that you don't like for twenty hours a week. The best thing that happens is that you find something that inspires you and have a much better chance of landing a job in the field (or with the company) after college. Either way, you get valuable experience and a better understanding of what you like to do.

Just be willing to work hard at whatever comes your way, focus on doing what is in front of you well, and everything will work out.

Fitness Related Sub-Reddits

Major subreddits for muscle gain

• /r/fitness has muscle gain stuff. But the signal-to-noise ratio is terrible -- a lot of hivemind and blind-leading-the-blind. Summary: Starting Strength, Squatz, Oatz.
• /r/gainit is all about gaining... weight. Muscle is included, but a lot focuses on "bulking and cutting". Hivemind out the wazoo. Summary: GOMAD, Eat Moar, "I fart a lot".
• /r/bodybuilding is where people go when they figure out that /r/fitness and /r/gainit don't know what they're talking about. Summary: Arnold, guys in posing suits, diet/routine/pose critiques
• /r/xxfitness is just for women. I assume it would be good for you, and not for me.
• /r/BTFC the Body Transformation Fitness Challenge has lots of pics of overweight people, some of whom actually lose weight! Summary: "[UPDATE] I fell off the wagon again"
• /r/weightroom is about education focused on the act of lifting things. Summary: "Form check my Squat", advanced routines, equipment discussions.
• /r/AdvancedFitness is all over the map, but at least it doesn't have basic questions. Summary: "Check out this obscure article."
• /r/swoleacceptance sometimes tells tongue-in-cheek stories of 'swolestation' in which muscular people are groped without their consent. But it is going through an identity crisis: is it mocking /r/bodyacceptance? is it real stories of swolestation? is it where muscular people act superior? Summary: Brodinism, stories of swolehate, otterhate.
• /r/leangains is not what it sounds like. It's about the intermittent fasting (IF) approach to weightlifting. Summary: hungry people talking about food.
• /r/progresspics mostly shows fat people getting less fat. Summary: DYEL attitude, "Sorry, no before pic", occasional inspiration

Very specific/smaller subreddits

• /r/bodyweightfitness
• /r/powerbuilding
• /r/powerlifting
• /r/strength_training
• /r/weightlifting - olympic weightlifting
• /r/iron
• /r/P90X
• /r/kettlebell
• /r/crossfit
• /r/homegym
• /r/steroids
• /r/fittitbuddy - to find an accountability partner
• /r/liftingmusic

Food

• /r/fitmeals
• /r/gainitmeals - for gaining
• /r/swolefood - for gaining
• /r/keto - for non-Italians
• /r/paleo - for cavemen
• /r/nutrition
• /r/Supplements

Pics of muscular women

• /r/hardbodies
• /r/AthleticGirls
• /r/fbb

Losing weight/getting in shape

• /r/loseit
• /r/c25k
• /r/4hourbodyslowcarb
• /r/insanityworkout

Specific Sports

• /r/running
• /r/barefootrunning
• /r/bicycling
• /r/Swimming
• /r/climbing
• /r/tennis
• /r/ultimate
• /r/AdventureRacing

Circlejerks

• /r/fitnesscirclejerk
• /r/metafitnesscirclejerk
• /r/metametafcj
• /r/metametametafcj

Best Pankcake Recipe

Best pancakes are from scratch. Memorize this (notice all the 1's):

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tspn sugar or maple syrup or chocolate chips (optional)
• 1 egg
• 1 cup milk (or a little less: enough so that the batter becomes the consistency of pancake batter)
• 1 tablespoon melted butter (optional)

Memorize and the EXPERIMENT.

Over-ripe bananas? Add 'em. Dates? Walnuts? Orange zest? Add.

Add butter to the batter, drizzle with chocolate syrup (you think it's any worse for you than maple?), try a little wheat flour, use no sugar but add corn kernals, bacon squares, whatever.

It's just wheat, really, which is basically the foundation of society because it is so versatile and delicious.

Recipe adapted from Mark Bitman.

Choosing a Waffle Iron

Alright, there are a few different directions you can take on this, so I'll give you a quick overview of the myriad of options that lay ahead of you.

First off, you can't go wrong with the "cheap but good" route. The best waffle iron (This is the term I will be using henceforth to refer to these products as a whole, as only peasants refer to them as "waffle makers." I mean no offense by this, friend. My aim is to educate, not insult. Be warned that many companies refer to their waffle irons as waffle makers, and this is only to attempt to reach a wider audience. Those in the know call them by their proper names.).

In this category would probably be the Proctor-Silex 26500Y. It's relatively compact, has a "ready" indicator light, and it's dead simple to use, even if that reflects a lack of advanced features. Its only big detractor is the somewhat unattractive exterior.

Another option is the Cuisinart WMR-CA. It loses credibility in my book for using the "commoner" name, although Cuisinart is a decent brand. You can't beat a 3-year warranty, and the stainless steel housing is attractive to say the least.

The Oster CKSTWF2000 is the cheapest of the bunch, and the build quality feels like it, but it still makes good waffles. It's got an adjustable temperature wheel so you can make delicious light and fluffy waffles for yourself and then make them overly crispy for your friend who crashed on your couch without asking first.

Next, there are advanced waffle irons. These usually have additional features, better build quality, and are usually more aesthetically pleasing (Though you'll see from my examples, the latter isn't always the case), but the price is often higher to account for the additional features.

First up here is the West Bend 6201. It has an interesting rotating mechanism to cook both sides more evenly. The engineers behind this iron had the forethought to include a drip tray, ensuring your counters do not get covered in waffle batter.

The Presto 03510 FlipSide follows the same logic of allowing you to flip your waffles, but also includes an LED countdown timer, allowing you to make waffles exactly to your liking. Also, I recognize this is subjective, but I prefer the flip motion of this to the West Bend, it feels more substantial; I'm taking a bigger part in making supreme waffles rather than changing the channel on an old television set. The downside to this iron is that it does not include a drip tray, and the design doesn't easily allow for one, either.

Waring makes a restaurant-grade iron, the Waring Pro WWM450PC, which rotates and gives you the browning control of some others, but also offers an audio signal to alert you when it is ready.

Cuisinart's WAF-100 has the added benefit of cooking four waffles at one time, though they are only 4" square, so I'm not sure if the size tradeoff is worth the additional waffle production. It does have a locking lid, which is helpful at keeping little ones from stealing your breakfast treats. It is very easy to keep neat when not in use, with integrated cord storage.

The Proctor-Silex 26050 similarly cooks four at once, although I'm hesitant to recommend this product to anyone as it markets itself as a "family size" waffle iron. This is incredibly misleading, as four 4" x 4 1/2" waffles are not likely to feed most families. It also does not have any additional controls to perfect the cooking temperature, although the apparent strawberry ice cream in the product image looks delicious and has kept me from striking this iron from the list completely.

Rising higher in price, we find ourselves looking at luxury waffle irons. These may not actually make waffles that taste any better than those in the previous group, but they certainly lets you look people in the eye and say "I care enough about waffles to spend $180 on a waffle iron." Sometimes they have even more advanced features for the additional money, although that isn't always the case.

The Calphalon HE400WM is a great entry in this category. It makes four waffles at a time, has temperature control, LED indicators, a ready chime (which screams "luxury"), and has a 60-minute automatic shutoff. This is personal opinion coming through again, but I think it's a really nice looking waffle iron to boot, maybe the nicest looking iron out there.

Waring's WMK600 lets you make two nice big waffles at once, also letting you rotate to cook them evenly. It has a rotary thermostat along with a browning control knob, multiple audio tones, and LEDs that separately inform you of the iron heating and being ready to accept batter. It's somewhat of an eyesore, but doubling your waffle production is nothing to scoff at.

Another respectable option is the KitchenAid Pro Line Series Waffle Baker. It rotates to craft two gorgeous waffles simultaneously and has a backlit display to provide important info. KitchenAid is a big player in quality kitchen appliances, and this is no exception. Of all the options for rotating waffle irons, I think KitchenAid's offering is the most visually pleasing. It's not easy to build something with this functionality that isn't offensive to the eyes, but they have managed to accomplish this, and kudos to them for doing so.

The last entry in the luxury category is the Chef's Choice M850 Taste-Texture Select. This baby can pump out four waffles in anywhere from 90 to 120 seconds. It has texture adjustments, allowing you to pair the perfect taste with the perfect texture. It lets you independently adjust baking time and temperature for the four waffles, which makes it perfect if your wife likes them a little fluffier or crispier than you do. It renders all the "rotating" nonsense the other irons have useless via specially engineered plate design for even batter and temperature distribution. It has a "waffle ready" beeper (of course), and instant temperature recovery. There's an overflow channel that makes it easy to clean up excess batter, and a built in cord storage compartment, making it easier to put away when you're done (if the thing ever leaves your counter, that is). There's an automatic countdown timer, a sleep mode, and one of the fastest heat-up times out there. If you want one recommendation, this would be it. It's pricey, but worth every penny to a true waffle connoisseur.

The final category I hesitate to detail because quality usually suffers heavily, but their existence can't be ignored: Novelty waffle irons.

One of these that wouldn't be a terrible choice is the Chef's Choice 830 WafflePro. It makes fairly decent heart shaped waffles. Since it is for your wife, and Valentine's Day is coming up, this might be a good choice. There's honestly nothing more romantic than waffles, and the heart shapes are sure to make your wife swoon.

Babycakes has another option for the romantic waffle chef, the Babycakes WM-42SS. It lets you cook waffles that are on popsicle sticks, which I'm vehemently against. It's incredible awkward to eat from a popsicle stick horizontally, but if you hold the stick vertically, any delicious goodness held in the valleys of the waffle will drip and fall out.

For those obsessed with making everything smaller, the Smart Planet MWM-1 makes five mini-waffles at a time. I really just see this as a waste of real estate that could be cooking waffles. I cannot comment on the taste.

There are a few novelty waffle makers that have sillier shapes, which usually further affect the taste, so buyer beware, but I'll list then anyway.

There are two main offerings from Disney, the Disney DCM-1 that makes waffles in the shape of Mickey's head, and the Disney DP-1, which makes a circle that has the word "Princess" with a crown/tiara underneath. I'd recommend that everyone stay far away from the second Disney iron, as that will provide a texture that is almost nothing like the waffles that we know and love. Mickey is preferred, although I'd still recommend something more traditional.

Another option that I know very little about is Waffle Zoo. I have never used this waffle iron, so I can only go off of what our customer review states, but this is apparently the "worst waffle maker ever." If fun animal shapes are a requirement in your waffles, I'd hesitantly recommend the Bella Cucina 13467. It has two stars instead of one, and replaces the giraffe with a clown. The reviews aren't much better, but they are better nonetheless.

Really, though, I'd stay away from novelty waffle irons entirely.

source

How to buy from Silk Road

1. Download and install the Tor Browser Bundle.
2. Go to the Silk Road (SR) at http://silkroadvb5piz3r.onion/ using the Tor Browser. This may take a few minutes depending on your connection. If you fail to connect just refresh the page and try again.
3. Create a SR account.
4. Go to your account page within SR and make note of the bitcoin address associated with your account. Your bitcoin address stores your bitcoins. Bitcoins are the currency used on SR. I'll explain how to get bitcoins shortly.
5. Go to the settings page within SR (http://silkroadvb5piz3r.onion/silkroad/settings) and select the "display prices in Dollars" option. Save by clicking "Update Profile".
6. Browse SR for what you're looking to buy. At the top of the page check the "Domestic only" box. This will filter your selection down to the safest listings.
7. Add the item you want to your cart. Make note of the shopping cart's total cost (don't forget shipping cost).
8. Go to https://www.bitinstant.com/. You will use this website to send bitcoins to your account.
9. Select pay to bitcoin address and enter your info. You can use fake info if you want for added security, but it's not really necessary. Make sure you send enough to cover the total cost of your shopping cart. Make sure you take into account any shipping cost and the 4% service charge from BitInstant. You might want to add a few dollars just to make sure you're covered.
10. Follow BitInstant's instructions for sending the money to your bitcoin/SR account. This usually involves going to a CVS or similar location and using the MoneyGram payment service there. BitInstant does a good job of walking you through this step. You should receive a confirmation email within 10 minutes of making the payment.
11. Wait for the bitcoins to transfer your SR account. This can take up to a few hours.
12. Once the bitcoins are in your account you can place your order.
13. Enter your name and address in the specified box on the checkout page. Don't use a fake name. Some sellers want this info encrypted, others don't care. Encryption is a bit more complicated than the rest of this guide, but I can walk through that in an edit if people want.
14. Enter your PIN and place the order. You're done! Whatever you ordered is on the way.
15. Once you receive your order make sure to finalize it on SR and send positive feedback to the seller.

Why Exercise Helps Depression

Exercise will help you by increasing BDNF and Neuritin, which are essential for stimulating neuronal growth in the hippocampus. However, similar to an antidepressant, the cell growth takes 6-8 weeks and because the BDNF only works on cells in the second stage of growth, it will take a few weeks to have an effect.

Similarly, you need to engage the cardiovascular system minimum 3 times per week, although the effects of exercise on increasing the size of the hippocampus are not necessarily linear (i.e. probably a half hour at least 3 times a week is minimum to see effects, busting your ass all week long can keep you fit but may not be the "magic switch").

Interestingly, consuming a high-fat diet has been shown to reverse the effects of early life stress in rats, which is shown to be linked to depressive symptoms later, but the effect is not compounded when paired with a high fat diet.

Make an Inexpensive First Aid Kit

If you don't know how to use it, then you won't use it. So it doesn't belong in a frugal first aid kit.

If it's bleeding a little, use a BandAid. So, BandAids and some bacteria-killing grease like Neosporin.

If it's bleeding a lot, put direct pressure and elevate it. So, maxi pads and good, strong tape. (What, you think they invented those things for women? Kotex made battle dressings during WWII.)

How to Forgive

Let's look at a little variation on a nifty little thing called cognitive reappraisal.

Science bases what I'm about to describe on three things:

1. Our brain has a tendency to make sure visualization is prioritized above and overrides our reason
2. Our brain is almost completely incapable of separating vivid fantasy from reality
3. Writing something down has a more lasting neutralizing effect on your emotions than just thinking it

That in mind, let's move on.

Let's Talk About Money

Money is a concept design to act as a universal medium for value exchange. What this means is that I may be a hungry plumber, but the local farmer doesn't need his pipes fixing. Instead of coming to some convoluted "I fix Jeff's pipes, he give the farmer a sheep dog, I get some food" arrangement, we have money. Super basic concept, right?

So what does that mean we want to achieve by having money? Well, I want to be able to eat. Great. Jeff wants his plumbing fixed. Awesome, we can do that too. The farmer wants a new dog. If we didn't have money, we'd go on wanting these things until a unique solution appeared in which everyone gets what they want. With it, however, everyone can actually do something useful right here, right now, and have the value of that work stored until they need it.

How to Identify Quality Clothing

How to identify quality clothing (written by a tailor for Broadway, film, and television, but trained in creating garment quality one of kind suits....)

Meditation: You are not Your Thoughts

Your thoughts about yourself do not and can not encompass the totality of what you are as a human being. No matter how thorough you believe your self assessment to be, your thoughts will always miss the mark.

While a map of New York may be thorough, it is always still a representation of New York, not the city itself. The experience of New York, the actuality of New York, could never really be contained in a map, no matter how accurate it might be. The actuality of something can never be contained in the thought of it.

Finding your Bliss

Pay less attention to finding something that you like to do and pay more attention to finding something that you would like to be. If you only allow yourself to motivated by things which make you feel pleasant doing them, then you're not going to have to work very hard, are you?

It's all your Fault

Well, it is your fault. It's all your fault. There is no advice anyone can give you that will poof! you into the confident, anxiety-free, motivated person you want to be.

Self-improvement is excruciatingly hard, gradual, painstaking, time-consuming,. Even having the most intense, mind-shattering epiphany isn't going to be enough to make you into the person you want to be. It can show you the path, give you the motivation to push you onto it, and empower you with the tools for self-actualization. But nothing can replace hard work, as corny as it might sound to you.

No One but You

First, tell everyone near you thanks. Thanks for supporting you while you pulled yourself together, and thanks for taking care of you while you've been sick. You're going to do so because you actually do feel that way. You do, or you wouldn't've talked about it.

Second, you're going to be proactive about your problems. Waiting until things happen is for suckers.

Open up a document and write up 10 things that you want to do with your life. They shouldn't all be big things; in fact, having a variety of easy to achieve and difficult to achieve things will be good. If you can't think of anything, be silly. The list is important, but not worth stressing about.

This document is going to be your roadmap, and like all journeys, you're free to change it once you get started. Nothing about it is set in stone. It's there to get you to look forward as opposed to backwards.

You may have to resort to stupid tricks to pull yourself up. They are stupid, but we're stupid creatures and these things work. Practice acting happy. Load your MP3 player with stupid happy music, and go for a long walk.

See, the key to remember is that you're in charge of your happiness. Not your boyfriend or girldfriend or family. YOU. Find things that make you happy and relish them, because your current life ain't cutting it. It's time to get away from that.

And the first step is by breaking the pattern. You thank them because they've done a lot for you, but you're not expecting anything to change. You're going to go make it change. Because you are in charge.

You're not accountable to anyone but you. So hold yourself to the standard you want to have. Be the person you want to be, and never accept less than awesomeness from yourself. Always be trying, always be looking forward.

No one is going to fix your problems.

Why Companies like a Recession

Americans were told since the early 80s that all that wealth would trickle down on them like so much rain. They'd be swimming in wealth. The middle class would be healthier and have more wealth than ever before.

Well, that didn't happen. Every single cent that could be saved was sent straight to the top and paid out as bonuses or ridiculously inflated salaries to the handful at the top or paid out as dividends.

The workers were the only ones who didn't enjoy the benefits of a more successful company. In fact, quite the opposite. As companies grew larger and got the taste of blood (ridiculous profits), the companies in turn cut benefits and wages and froze hiring...because they realized that workers in a recession would work twice as hard for half as much if they had to in order to keep their jobs.

The fallacy here is that politicians always say, 'Nobody likes a recession. Nobody.' Which is clearly not true because companies have been posting record profits for some time. They're getting very skilled labor in some cases for the same price they would pay them back in 1997. Maybe even before that in some industries.

It really does create a type of wage slave who has no opportunity for a raise, continues to lose benefits and pension opportunities... all the things that unions protected and demanded back whenever the labor movement took hold and created a thriving middle class that became the envy of the rest of the world.

All that stuff is gone now because Americans stand alone. There is no union. There is one guy who is in debt to his eyes who is standing against a company worth billions who care in the least about the worker. Because when the economy is bad, there are hundreds lined up who will do the same job for less because they, too, are in heavy debt and running out of options.

There's a formula here if anyone would care to work it out and put it into historical context:

1. The busting of the labor unions who made sure benefits remained fair and strong, demanded fair wages and high standards. Get rid of them and the rest is easy.
2. Convince people who don't know any better that if the rich continue to get richer, the middle class will thrive and enjoy and reap the rewards of all that money the wealthy gathers. More than 30 years later, the Republicans (yes, even the poor, uneducated ones) are inisisting that it still works that way, despite all the evidence to the contrary.
3. Create a system of credit where every American can basically hang themselves in debt. Use the banks and rig the system to create a recession where the ultra wealthy cannot lose either way. Watch the middle class slide off into poverty and watch those who still have a job go a far as humanly possible to keep that job. Working longer hours, sometimes for less pay. Doing the work of 2 or 3 people by themselves after positions are eliminated. Cutting benefits, raising the costs of healthcare benefits, cutting vacation days, eliminating sick days, etc, etc.

As long as Americans continue to go with this without making a peep (they have, make no mistake), it will continue to get much, much worse and wealth will continue to leave what's left of the middle class and find a new home with the wealthy. That's how it was designed to work and that's how it's working. And Americans seem perfectly happy with that.

The funny thing is that we know what makes a strong middle class because fortunately at this point, we have about 100 years of economy to explore and research and put together the pieces of the puzzle that created a strong middle class.

Fortunately for the corporations, Americans today seem very disinterested in history and economic context and seem perfectly happy allowing the wealthy to dictate how the economy will run as the middle class continues to slide off into the lower class.

Americans have spoken loud and clear: They absolutely do not mind working for lower wages and having no real future to speak of. That is the collective decision that most Americans have agreed to. I know it, you know it and most certainly businesses and corporations know it.

You think that the middle class was started because companies were kind and handed things like high wages and vacation days, benefits, overtime pay, health care, etc? Keep thinking that. Those things were all established (and well established) because Americans stood up together and demanded it. Back then, they were smart enough to realize they were in control. They held the cards and they were the cogs in the system that allowed the company to profit at all. Those unions fought (literally), some died in making progress and building a middle class.

This generation handed all of those gains back to corporations and businesses on a silver platter without so much as a death rattle. Why wouldn't companies ask for it? No solidarity, no strength, no power of any kind. They basically kick workers around as they please until the worker gets sick of it and decides it's better to be impoverished than to work their asses off 55 hours a week to barely make ends meet.

No conspiracy theories here. This was all very much planned and well executed by the wealthy who controlled the strings. It worked like a charm and it will continue to work because Americans aren't smart enough to stand together to demand more, use their weight, their strength and their anger to say, 'We want better than we're getting or you won't continue to make profits. It's that simple.'

Who said that? Union workers back in the day, setting higher standards for wages and working conditions, vacations, days off, overtime pay, lunch breaks, etc.

If you think unions are 'outdated' or 'are only for labor positions', keep telling yourself that. I suppose that's much easier than actually learning how unions are applicable to any employment situation and that the strength drawn from unions is big enough to bring even the largest corporation to its knees, if necessary.

Otherwise, enjoy your scraps and forget about the future. Where you're at now is as far as you'll ever get most likely. Think about that for a minute because studies have shown that right now, it's more than likely true for most of you: This is as good as it's going to get financially if you're between the ages of 20 and 45.

And, oh yeah...you certainly will never be able to retire. Pensions and retiree benefits are a thing of the past.
Why? The people who fought for those things and won them have either died off or are dying. Why give that shit to a bunch of whiny, inconsequential workers who aren't even smart enough to stand up for themselves?

Corporations generally give you the least amount of pay and benefits as legally possible. They would most certainly give you less if they could. And believe me, they try. Every day in DC, they have lobbyists and special interests groups fighting against your interests and you have nobody fighting for you or your interests and that includes yourselves.

Stand up, organize and fight. Or sit down, take the scraps you're handed and shut up. Those are literally your only two choices. And that's the truth.

Why buy Refurbished Products?

When products are sold, they often aren't tested first. They go in the box and ship out. Some are duds and some are damaged in transit.

When a product is returned, that's a financial hit. You have to ship out another and usually lose the profit on that sale. Further, you then have a damaged product that cannot be sold at full price even when repaired. That's another hit to profits.

Now, the profit margin gets even worse if a repaired product comes back a second time. CEOs and accountants get really, really, really pissed off when there's a second return.

They make sure that refurbs are fully tested and thoroughly gone through to make sure that it never, ever comes back again. Oh, and they have to discount it because it is a refurb.

This is why you should buy refurbs. They often have a lower failure rate than new products and have been thoroughly tested, which doesn't happen to new products. Plus refurbs come at a discount!

In my opinion, refurbs are the only way to go. Save a little money and you've got something that's been tested more than a new one. This post is being typed on a refurb laptop. It's been running 24/7/365 for a bit over six years. I only buy refurbs. I trust them more than new products.

Brief Guide to Chinese Tea

Here are a few tips that might help you navigate a Chinese tea store:

The same tea is often spelled several different ways. They are pronounced the same but thanks to the various methods of Romanization of Chinese characters (Wade-Giles, Pin Yin, and other variants) they may look completely different. Bao Zhong is the same as Pouchong. Tie Guan Yin is the same as Ti Kuan Yin. Da Hong Pao and Da Hong Bao. Long Jing and Lung Ching.   Then you toss in the English translations and you get Iron Goddess of Mercy, Big Red Robe and Dragon Well out of the last three.

THEN you also toss in fancy names the tea company made up to mark their version but have no real meaning in the tea industry: Grand Imperial Dragon Well is just Dragon Well. Monkey Picked Oolong is just a good tie guan yin. Flying Dragon Ginseng Oolong is just a ginseng-coated oolong.

Oolong is a VERY generic term. It's a huge world of tea unto itself. It's every tea that is more oxidized than green tea, but less oxidized than black (red) tea. Thus oolongs include teas so green that they are often mistaken for greens, like bao zhong, and oolongs so dark that they're nearly inky like an aged re-roasted Tung Ting oolong. Oolongs can be grassy, fruity, vegetal, roasty, smokey, nutty, sweet, bitter, buttery, milky, floral, and just about anything else you can imagine.
  Pu-erh teas are tea of growing interest in the west, as shown by the large number of posts about it on /r/tea. If you get into Chinese tea it's worth giving pu-erh teas a try. Be aware though that pu-erh is a lot like oolongs in that it's another whole world of tea -- there are hundreds of varieties.
The key pu-erh fact to know though is that it comes in two main varieties: raw (sheng) and artificially ripened (shu).

Raw tends to be more expensive, at least when aged, but a good raw pu-erh a dozen years old or more will blow your mind (and cost at least a hundred dollars, often two or three times that amount). Young raw pu-erh is frequently sharp and astringent (but can be sweet and mellow) and is not very popular with most tea drinkers.

Ripened pu-erh though is what is mostly on the market. If the tea doesn't specify if it is raw or ripe, then it's almost certainly ripened. Ripened pu-erh is usually very cheap compared to raw tea of similar age, and it was created to mimic the darker flavors and smoother texture of an aged raw pu-erh. It frequently tastes rather earthy or even outright muddy, but can be sweet and woody as well. It's very popular and is drunk often with meals to ease digestion (it's commonly served with dim sum).

Taiwanese high mountain oolongs. Try them. They can be expensive, but they are a key experience in Chinese tea. These are the teas that hook many people on the world of Chinese tea, including myself. They are best served gongfu cha style, so if possible try finding a shop that will serve you some this way before you try it on your own.

Taste teas before you buy them if at all possible. The quality and varieties of Chinese tea are so vast that this is the best way to get exactly what you want. In fact, tasting the tea before purchase is the standard in traditional Chinese tea shops. If you have a Chinatown near you, see if they have a tea shop with a tea desk where they will sit you down for a tasting before purchase.

Buying a Coffee/Espresso Machine

You don't need to spend $2000 to make great espresso coffee. A $350 Gaggia Classic with a $150-$200 PID will reliably make great shots for you. The $600-700 Crossland with a built in PID will do much the same. The Silvia remains a great entry machine but probably one that is about $200 overpriced for what you get considering what else is on the market.

Although the basic concept - hot water under pressure through tamped coffee - is the same, the execution will vary hugely. You are paying some for externals - the Rocket Giotto is way prettier than the Gaggia Classic or Crossland, but know that the internals of all espresso machines are in no way the same.

The lowest level of machine capable of making decent espresso, basically the Silvia or Classic (I'm ignoring the Krups, Cuisinart, DeLonghi, etc machines that sell for $100-300 and are, essentially, a waste of time, effort and money), you have a single boiler dual use machine (SBDU). This sort of machine has a single boiler which provides both hot water for your coffee and steam for steaming. This is fine, provided you don't want to do both at the same time, as you need a hotter temperature in the boiler to make steam, so you need to chose to do one or the other and wait whilst the temperature is right. It's not a big deal if you only drink espresso, but a pain if you aspire to latte art. Also these smaller machines tend to have small boilers which limits the amount of steam and the number of shots you can make in quick succession.

The Crossland has a PID, an electronic controller which is used to precisely monitor and control the water temperature being delivered to the coffee. The Classic and Silvia have much more primitive thermostat based temperature control and realistically need a PID added at an additional cost of about $150-200 if you want any sort of acceptable performance. Without one, you need much patience (Google "Silvia temperature surfing") to make a good shot. Temp surfing gets old very quickly.

The Crossland has a thermoblock to aid steaming. This is a heated lump of metal with pipes through it which quickly heats up water. These are very bad as sources of water for brewing coffee (you get them in crappy Krups, etc cheap "espresso" makers) but very good for giving you quick steam without messing with your boiler temperature. This makes it a better bet than either the Gaggia or Silvia if you want to make lots of flat whites and cappuccinos for your friends.

So even at the bottom of the market there is a lot of difference in terms of internal components and capability.

When you get to around $1200-$1500 you get into the realm of HX (Heat Exchanger) machines. A good entry level example would be the Quickmill Anita. These tend to come with fancy shiny steel/chrome cases. These have a boiler (usually quite large) which heats water to make steam and hot water for the dual wands on the front of the machine. The water for the espresso is drawn from the reservoir or pipe through a "heat exchanger" tube that runs through the boiler, heating it quickly from cold to exactly the right temperature when it hits the group head. This is quite a complex bit of engineering to get right and you pay for it, as you do for the often bigger and more thermally stable E61 group head attached to these machines.

Some of these machines will also have a PID to further control their temperature, and some offer the option of direct plumbing into a water supply and a rotary as opposed to vibe pump (which provides a more steady pressure profile).

HX machines are a great second step into coffee, but their more robust construction and more complicated engineering comes at a price. Because the water for steaming comes from an often big boiler and does not get used for making your espresso shot, you can make a shot and steam at the same time, if you want to indulge your kitchen barista fantasies. They are excellent machines for making a round of drinks at the end of a dinner party, something the Silvia and Classic couldn't manage.

At the top end of the pro-sumer range (before you get into the ridiculous stuff like the La Marzocco GS3 or the KVW Speedster, you get dual boiler machines (although the price difference between DB and HX machines is less pronounced than it was).

The Expobar Brewtus IV is a good example. Although externally, they often look quite similar to their HX sister models and have similar names, they take a different approach to making espresso and steaming, with a boiler for steaming and a boiler for brewing. Often with a PID on each boiler for even greater heat control. The challenge of fitting two boilers and two control circuits into a machine add even further to the complication and price of what you are buying. And again, they come with a range of choices around plumbing, pumps, etc.

And on top of that, you get a whole load of choices around the depth of chrome on your taps, the flashiness of your dials, the types of switches and levers used, etc. which adds to the price differences between machines.

This is all just broad guidance, and some machines bust through price points offering a lot of features for remarkable little money. The Breville BES900XL is one of these - it's not pretty, but its stuffed full of features - dual boilers and PIDs, controllable pre-infusion, etc - and at $1200 is a phenomenal bang for buck. Although, as a relatively new machine, like the Crossland, I'd like to wait a few years before taking a view on whether its worth investing in - yeah it's got great tech, but will it last for 5-10 years before breaking or only until its warranty is up?

Generally, you get what you pay for in terms of ease of use, robustness of construction, quality of components, and production capacity.

At the higher end of this price range, you get machines which could happily produce coffee all day for a small office or restaurant with low demand for coffee - they bridge the home/semi commercial divide and are priced accordingly. They may or may not provide features and capability that you want or need. It is likely you will find it easier to make predictably great coffee on a more expensive machine with better temperature control and a better pump, but if you haven't nailed your grind and tamp, it's just as easy to make a horrible drink from your very expensive shiny indulgence. And with or without solid technique, starting to spend big money on big machines for marginal improvements in output is a hell of a rabbit hole to dive down...

And did I mention lever machines? Another world entirely...

There's a lot of difference between espresso machines in different price ranges, both internal and external; you get what you pay for, but if you don't need it, there's not much point in paying; fancy steel and chrome looks great in your kitchen anyway, if you have the space and money, and that's what drives a lot of people. Like buying expensive watches, but more fun to play with.

How to be Funny without being Shocking

In order to learn how to be funny without being shocking, we have to first identify why something is funny, and why something is shocking. That way, the shocking situations can more easily be avoided, and you can focus on the funny situations that don't fall into the "shocking" category.

Luckily, there are some pretty simple rules that do a pretty good job of explaining why joke/situation A is hilarious, but joke/situation B falls flat. Knowing these rules of comedic theory can help you find and recognize things that are funny, but not shocking.

There are three primary rules or theories that explain why we perceive something to be funny:

• The Superiority Theory We laugh at things that allow us to feel superior to others. When someone slips and falls on a banana peel, we laugh because we're not the ones who did something clumsy; our laughter is an expression of our superiority over that stupid oaf who was dumb enough to not watch his footing, and as a result slipped on something as seemingly-harmless as a banana peel. This theory also explains a lot of caricatures and satires, because both those types of humor tend to emphasize flaws in other people, allowing us to laugh at the flaws that we believe that we don't possess. The Superiority Theory is also really helpful in understanding the classic Greek definition of comedy and tragedy: comedy is when someone from a low place rises to a higher place, and tragedy is the exact opposite. Now, this part is really important: The comedy is funny because, since the person began in a lower place, we can consider ourselves to be above--superior to--him, and anything bad that befalls him is therefore funny. Tragedy, however, concerns bad things happening to people who are on our level or above us, and if it can happen to them, it can happen to us. So we don't laugh at tragedy because instead of making us feel superior, it reminds us that we, too, are vulnerable.
• The Relief Theory This theory holds that what we find funny are things that cause an unexpected release of stress or tension in us. The Relief Theory is best explained by the use of "comic relief" in otherwise dramatic works. When the comedic relief character says or does something that does not match the dramatic intensity of the environment he's in, it causes us to laugh because the comment releases the nerves we're feeling due to the dramatic setting. This also explains why after an especially tense surprise in a horror film where an audience full of people screams, the scream is often immediately followed by laughter.
• The Incongruity Theory This theory is probably the most comprehensive, and in a way encompasses the other two theories, as well. The Incongruity Theory says that humor is when what actually happens is different than what we expect to happen. We can use this theory to explain our previous examples. According to the Incongruity Theory, someone slipping on a banana peel is funny because we expect him to keep walking, but he actually falls; and also because we expect him to trip on something ordinary like a step or a crack in the pavement, but he actually trips on something unexpected: a banana peel. A comedic relief character in a drama is explained by the Incongruity Theory as someone who actually says something different (funny) than what we expected him to say (something serious). To me, the Incongruity Theory does the best job at explaining humor, and covers the most examples of what we find funny.

Now that we know a bit about why things are funny, we can identify which instances are going to result in something shocking. My suspicion is that most "shocking" humor comes from examples that fall under the Superiority Theory.

For example, think about Daniel Tosh's ill-fated "wouldn't it be funny if that woman got raped right now" joke that caused such a controversy a while back. To some people, this was funny because it made them feel superior to the woman who criticized Tosh, and, presumably, it made some people feel superior to rape victims. The controversy, however, comes in because there are too many people who don't consider themselves superior to these people (the woman who made the initial comment/rape victims), because they identify with them. So here we've run into the classic Greek comedy/tragedy problem that I pointed out earlier. To someone who feels superior to the woman in the audience, this was comedy. To someone who identifies with her, this was tragedy--and thus shocking.

So we can think of shocking humor as superiority jokes that too many people in your audience relate to, instead of feel superior to. Think about it: this is why a Helen Keller joke might not be funny to a deaf or blind person, and why jokes about ethnicity or race might not be funny to an audience of that demographic (especially if you're not part of that demographic), and why many women don't find jokes about women funny. Anytime you make a superiority joke, you risk someone in your audience identifying with the subject of the joke instead of feeling superior to it. When they identify, they'll feel shocked instead of feeling like laughing.

So, the best way to learn to be funny without being shocking would be to find humorous situations that fit under the Incongruity Theory--where what you expect to happen is different than what actually happens--or the Relief Theory, but don't fit the Superiority Theory, unless you're really, really sure that everyone in your audience will also feel superior to who or whatever it is you're making a joke about.

Obviously, there are other shocking topics that aren't covered by the Superiority Theory, but these are pretty easy to recognize: vulgarity, for example, will always be shocking to some people, and should best be avoided.

Now, in order to identify funny but non-shocking situations and jokes, try watching other comedians. Identify why each joke is funny according to these three theories, and avoid the ones that are obviously vulgar or might address superiority. That will leave you with some examples of non-shocking jokes, and hopefully you can use those to craft some of your own!

How to Win at Monopoly

While the dice rolls obviously add an element of randomness to it, strategy also plays heavily in the game. This is the strategy that I use, and not only are most of my games pretty short (about 1 hour), they tend to be exciting and I nearly always win. Here's how to win at Monopoly.

Which properties you should buy

Nearly all of them. Seriously. Try to get as many properties as you can. The money they cost is worth considerably less than how much value you'll get out of them. If you offer a person $100 or Oriental Avenue in a trade, which do you think they are most likely to accept? Oriental Avenue, of course. Getting $100 is easy, acquiring a specific property is rather difficult.

However, there are some properties that to avoid paying full price for. You're not going to win with the utilities. If they go up for auction, bid up to $125 if you have the money to spare. You should definitely at least consider bidding $90 even if most of your money is tied up in houses and properties. Mortgage it afterwards, and you've now paid 50 dollars to make sure you don't have to pay up to 120 dollars to someone else later on. You can also use this card for trades if you'd like, although they aren't as useful as other properties for this.

You're also not going to win the game through the railroads. However, if someone else gets all four of them, they can make things very annoying for you as you'll have to pay them $200 every time you land on any railroad. Depending on how things are going, you may want to secure one of the railroads for yourself.

Properties to invest in

Every property on the first half of the board (in between Go and Free Parking) is very useful. They are often ignored by inexperienced players, but they are in fact the key to winning monopoly. There has not been a single time I've won where I've tried to secure a monopoly through the second half of the board. This is why:

Houses in the first half of the board go from only 50-100 dollars. That means that to get hotels on all of the light blue properties, I only have to pay 750 dollars. With a rent of around $500, I'll get a profit by only the second time someone lands on the properties. And people are statistically way more likely to land on the light blues than any of the properties on the second half.

Compare that to the red properties. Buying houses with 750 dollars for the reds will only net you 5 measly houses. That means the most you can hope to reap in rent is 300. And with the higher price of acquiring all the red properties, you'll have less money to spend on houses to begin with. Not to mention there's a good chance the other players won't even reach that part of the board every circuit.

Reds and greens and other properties on the other side of the board are good for one reason, though. People think they're valuable, which means you can easily use them to get the cards you really need.

Gameplay:

You need to acquire a monopoly as soon as possible, because whoever gets the first monopoly has a huge advantage on the other players. Trade as much as you can, even if the other players are being obstinate. An overpriced monopoly is better than no monopoly at all. You need to put hotels down right away. Mortgage all other properties for funds, and invest in some houses/hotels. Leave only about 100 dollars saved for emergencies (rent, luxury taxes, etc). The only thing that can screw you up now is if you're extremely unfortunate enough to get the property repairs tax card before anyone lands on your properties and you have nothing left to mortgage. Luckily, this rarely happens.

Properties in order of importance:

1. Orange properties. Because of their positions on the board, you're statistically most likely to land on these properties more than any other, and hotels are pretty cheap for these at $100 a pop)
2. Light blues. Hotels are the cheapest in the game and people are very likely to land on these properties, though not as likely as the oranges.
3. Pink properties
4. Red properties. Nice for trading purposes. Do not put houses on them except as a last resort, or when you have already placed hotels on any other property. It's simply too expensive to invest in otherwise.
5. Purples. You're not going to bankrupt anyone with these, but with hotels, they can give you a lot of spare money to use on houses for other properties.
6. Yellows. Same rules as the red cards.
7. Railroads.
8. Greens and Navy blues. The only times I've ever put hotels on them was to speed up an imminent victory. It's simply too hard to win if you rely on only these monopolies.
9. Utilities

Corporate Branding and Mind Control

One popular misconception is that a brand is a logo or trademark. A brand is really the sum of thoughts and feelings evoked when interacting with a product or company. A brand only exists inside the minds of consumers. Brand-building is influencing these thoughts and feelings by managing consumer interactions, or what the industry calls "consumer touchpoints".

Now why does this work? Decision making can be a thought-intensive, time-expensive process. Once we'vee made a decision, our minds tend to make short-cuts so we don't have to spend all that time again thinking about a similar decision.

The tendency to summarize these thoughts is an evolutionary adaptation. Imagine if our ancestors had to process all the thoughts needed to calculate whether a predator was bad every time a leopard jumped out of the bushes. No, you want your mind to say "run!" as soon as you see it. So this process has become very automatic. The goal behind branding is that when you're in a store and faced with a purchasing decision you've subconsciously already made the decision and just think "buy!".

Now we get to the human condition. Generally, human behavior is an algorithm of gender, age, nationality, race, societal pressures, role models, myths, religion, culture, a bunch of other stuff and sensory inputs: touch, taste, sight, hearing, smell.

Companies with a lot of money to spend on their brands attempt to make a brand pervasive by integrating senses and culture into their marketing strategy, and then execute this strategy in as many places as they can. The idea behind this is: if you control the inputs, you influence the behavior. It's very hard to make an individual do anything, but with a group of similar individuals (a demographic) your chances of influence go up. Someone will likely do what you want, which will lead to others in the group doing the same thing.

Brands also borrow cultural myths to extend those deep-rooted archetypes to their brands. The hope is that the brand will become a permanent part of the culture and therefore very hard to get rid of.

Why are we such a brand-obsessive culture? This is a controversial question. It comes down to society's value-system. What are our (USA) values? Watch at the news, listen to politicians: the economy, stock market, jobs, outsourcing, globalization, oil, oil, oil. What is our basic philosophy on economics? Capitalism, which is a dog-eat-dog system, where self-serving interests are rewarded.

Success in our culture is commonly seen as being "top dog" and having accumulated a lot of wealth. Like every society, there are status symbols. But sometimes it's hard to know the value of something just by looking at it. Say you were an alien. How would you know the difference in value between a Honda and Bentley? A Rolex and a Casio? This is why brands have been used (because we can't tell the difference either) to fill in as status symbols.

A brand then is the sum of thoughts and feelings you have about a product or company. The tendency to summarize these thoughts (heuristics) is an evolutionary adaptation. Companies with a lot of money attempt to make a brand pervasive to consumers by integrating senses, cultural myths, songs, etc. into their brand strategy so, at some level, you think about it all the time.

Our culture is brand-obessed because we live in a shallow society where personal Identity is formed by the brands we own.

How to Cook a Steak

Simple instructions

1. Before cooking, let it come to room temperature
2. Sear on direct high heat (like 500F+) for 1-2 minutes per side
3. Let finish on indirect heat (in an oven) until it's to your desired level of doneness
4. If grilling, put the steak on direct flame for your sear and then let it finish on the cool side of the grill

The room temperature part allows you to get a good sear and the inside will finish without overcooking the outside.

An ideal steak will have a nice sear on the outside, while the inside will be evenly cooked with a minimal gray area in between the outside and the middle. So you want a well-seared outside, but an evenly pinkish-red interior with almost no gray area. Of course if you prefer a steak to be cooked more than that you can do so, but you still want the inside to be evenly done.

When it's done cooking, let it rest for about 10 minutes. The cooking process draws the juices to the exterior of the steak, so when you cut into it the juices fall all over your plate instead of being retained in the meat. When you let it rest, the juices migrate back into the interior and you will have moister, more flavorful steak. Ten minutes is about the optimal time for resting. Some people also like to put a little pat of butter on top of a steak as it rests and allow it to melt while it finishes.

Salting before/after is a matter of personal preference. You can salt beforehand, but unless you use large grain salt it will dissolve while cooking. Personally I salt beforehand because I think it makes a better seared crust.

Big Business and the Death of Mom and Pop Shops

It's like over-fishing. If we all agreed to fish less, fish populations wouldn't be dwindling, and we'd all be better off.

But no individual has any incentive to fish less.

If I go out in my boat, I am not personally going to make any significant difference in the fish population, so I ought to just fish as much as I can. However, that doesn't mean I don't think it's worth it to preserve the fish population. It's just that my individual action doesn't matter. What needs to happen, for everyone's benefit, is that all parties involved make a collective agreement.

It's the same with the mom and pop shops. I would much much much rather live in a world dominated by small businesses, but I can't save the small stores by my individual action. I'm only hurting myself.

Government action is needed, and not just because mom and pop stores are charming or whatever. In a world dominated by big business, innovation is discouraged, and slavery is created. That sounds pretty strong, so let me explain: Big businesses make it so 95 percent of the population has almost zero chance of ever being able to work for themselves, or even make a decent wage, no matter their talent or abilities.

Let's say Jeff is from a poor family, but is especially talented. He creates a way to make the best tasting tasting in the world without having to use any special or overly expensive ingredients. So he decides to try to start a business using that talent.

In order to start his business, Jeff needs start-up cash. He has to find someone who will get him a loan. Imagine you're a bank, and some random nobody with no collateral asks for a meeting and tells you his coffee is the best and he wants to start a business. Yep, it goes just like you imagine.

But let's assume Jeff gets lucky and gets a loan. He starts his business and finds that even though he uses the same ingredients, the same equipment, and the same materials as Starbucks, he pays a lot more for it than Starbucks does.

Why?

Becasue Starbucks is huge. They buy in bulk and push suppliers around. For this reason, even though Jeff's business is every bit as efficient as Starbucks, his coffee costs a dollar more per cup, making it difficult to compete.

The same thing happens in any business. The very fact that the business is big makes it a better competitor. This means that anyone who wants to start their own business is at a disadvantage, regardless of their intelligence or ability. So, Jeff is probably out of luck.

But, continuing the story, let's assume enough people are willing to overlook his higher cost, and Jeff's coffee shop starts taking business away from the local Starbucks. Even with added costs, people prefer Jeff's coffee and are willing to pay for it.

Well, Starbucks has billions of dollars. They don't need all their stores to be profitable, so they can use those billions of dollars to have promotions in that town, just to crush Jeff. They can make it so someone sees a Starbucks advertisement on every other billboard. If Jeff's coffee is really the best in the world, they can just build a new store right next to Jeff's store, so everyone who would buy Jeff's product passes Starbucks first. This kills Jeff. Even though he ran his business better, the very fact that his bank account was smaller means that he can't be successful. Starbucks gets to retain a near monopoly, just because they started off with more money.

You might say that all or at least some of this is a good thing. After all, if Starbucks's bargaining power lets them sell coffee cheaper, isn't that a good thing? Maybe all the people who want to have a coffee shop are out of luck, but the rest of us save some money, so it's alright.

Well, that works until you realize the same kind of thing happens across almost any industry. So you save a few cents on bread, on muffins, on electronics, on coffee, on clothes, on entertainment, on everything.

The flip side is that you're unable to be self-employed. So even though "efficiency" has saved you a few bucks, the vast majority of the money saved turns into profits for the super rich while you, and 95 percent of the country, have lost so much income that the benefits don't come close to outweighing your losses. That's how we got in the situation where the average worker produces five times as much, but makes the same as they did fifty years ago.

This also lowers the wages for everyone, even people who don't own their own businesses. In a world like ours, dominated by titans and chains, no one can say "Business X, I don't like that you keep the vast majority of your profits and pay your workers shit. I'm going to start my own business and compete with you. Instead of four yachts, I'll only have one, but my employees will be happier and healthier, and all your best employees are going to come to me, so I'll be more competitive".

In theory, this is how things should work. But, as mentioned above, the size and bankroll of business X means that the little guy can't try that. If he wants to eat, he will have to become a wage slave and let some one else take 90 percent of the value created by his work. His abilities don't matter and his talents won't matter. The lion's share of all the value he creates will go to the person who happened to start with the most money, just because that person started with more money.

Now, I'm all for unbridled capitalism IF everyone starts on an even playing field. For the first generation, capitalism is great. After that, it's slavery.

It takes a truckload of money to start even a small business, about 2-3 years' full-time salary as a bare minimum. It's out of reach of the vast majority of people. It's mostly people with personal connections or wealthy relatives that manage to start businesses. The true rags to riches are really rare. They exist, but they're a fraction of a fraction. Most successful business owners started with a lot of help from people close to them.

Try to $50,000 - 75,000 with the understanding that this would be barely enough to start a business. It's an uphill battle with a steep incline.

source

The Recycling Paper Conumdrum

Recycling is indeed good, but we shouldn't recycle paper.

It uses less energy and costs less money to plant a tree specifically to make paper from it than it does to take used paper and go through the process of making it into new paper.

Saying we should recycle paper because it saves trees is like saying we shouldn't eat chips in order to save the potatoes. Paper is made from trees that were planted specifically to make paper. Paper is not made from the homes of Amazonian aboriginals.

Deforestation is indeed a problem, but it's not caused by the paper making industry. New paper was made by having trees exist for a few decades. Recycled paper was made by having a recycling plant exist.

Aluminum, most plastics, all that stuff should be recycled. It uses more energy to make an aluminum can from mined bauxite that it does to make one from a recycled can. In addition, we will one day run out of aluminum and oil. The same cannot be said for paper.

The only advantage to recycling paper is that is creates jobs in the paper recycling industry. But if we want to pay people to do something pointless and expensive, we might as well pay them to cut grass with nail scissors. At least that would have a positive net effect on the planet, albeit a pathetically pointless one.

What Causes Deja Vu?

Your brain is a very complex machine. It has dozens of little nodules and nodes that are responsible for different functions. These nodes have billions of bridges between them so that information can pass around all the parts of the brain quickly.

Here's a very simplified process:

Your eyes see something, like your Mom making you a cup of coffee. That information goes to one part of the brain to check "do I recognise this". That checking part asks the memory "Hey, do we have a Cup-Of-Coffee memory today?"

Memory sends back "well, there's one in the Short Term memory right now, but we've already got boat load of Cup-Of-Coffee memories in Long Term. Do you want me to save another one there?" and the check one says "neh". So it sends a signal to your conciousness "this is usual, everything's fine, carry on". Our brains won't make a long-term memory of it, and after a few hours or at the end of the day, Short Term will just destroy the memory and it'll be gone.

But if this was something new and amazing; you see your first Ferrari, a nkaed person running down the street, or anything weird/new/unexperienced, you go through the same checks and the memory says "wow, that's new! Let me save a file of that!" The memory goes into Short Term, and at the end of the day it gets saved in Long Term.

With Deja Vu these processes get all mixed up. Your friend starts talking and you think "hey, you already told me about your dream of purple penguins" even though he hasn't.

What's happened is that the brain sent the message to Check, Check sends it to Memory for comparison, but Memory sends it to Short Term FIRST, and THEN does its check and says "woah, weird, yeah, there's already a memory file for this, but it's not in Long Term".

This happens because there are so many paths and roads through the brain that sometimes messages can take short-cuts, or split up and go two places at once. And that's when Deja Vu hits.

It's also worth pointing out that the opposite of Deja Vu is Jamais Vu. That's the feeling where you bend down, grab the two ends of your shoelace and then think "woah, what next? I've forgotten how to tie shoelaces".

In this situation, Check asks the Memory "do we know this situation?" Memory goes looking into Short Term and finds nothing, and then checks Long Term. It finds a space marked 'How To Tie Shoes' but before it can open the file and see what's inside, the Short Term sends the signal "No Memory". So Check receives two messages at the same time; we have a memory called 'How To Tie Shoes', but we've got No Memory.

I've worn a tie for 13 years. Last week I put one round my neck, put the fat end over the thin one, and then had a total brain freeze.

Jamais Vu!