Thursday, March 29, 2012

Quote of the Day: Alan Lightman on the Diminishing Returns of Wealth

“Human beings consider themselves satisfied only compared to some other condition. A man who has owned nothing but a bicycle all of his life feels suddenly wealthy the moment he buys an automobile...But this happy sensation wears off. After a while the car becomes just another thing that he owns. Moreover, when his neighbor next door buys two cars, in an instant our man feels wretchedly poor and deprived.”
― Alan Lightman, Reunion: A Novel

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Love Life When You Do Not Have Money



Here is the video made to promote the book Broke is Beautiful in China where it is called "Love Life When You Do Not Have Money."

Seeing as how the author does not speak Chinese, they went and interviewed young Chinese people who, I'm told, are speaking about their favorite things to do when they do not have money.

Of the book the Chinese publicist said, "When I read your book, acctually it helps to enlarge my limit to embrace the poor. Why not? It is the words I aksed myself when I read. I found this limit is actually set by our own heart or mind. So we love this 'broke' and still with confidence and happiness, it is really needed not only in U.S. but also in China."

Friday, March 23, 2012

Broke is Beautiful Comes to China!


Yes, this is the cover of the Chinese edition of Broke is Beautiful which has recently been released.  I just finished doing an interview for a Chinese magazine.  I believe it will be posted on line and I can include a link when it is up, but I won't know what I said!

I might do a Babel Fish translation back into English and put the results here.  They will no doubt be funnier than most of the book!

I wish that I were able to read Chinese because I am extremely curious as to how the book reads as it is translated and edited for that audience.  The book seems so specific to American/European culture. 

As a preview, here was the first question on the interview I did:


Have you ever hear about vipassanaVipassana is a method for purifying the mind by no reading and writing. It’s an Indian meditation. In this kind of silencesome people collapse and other people see themselves clearly. The ten days of vipassana and the period when you broke are very similar. Do you feel painful but joyful?
 

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Question for Discussion

The Atlantic published a map showing which states have the highest populations of people without medical insurance.  The states that are traditionally the most politically conservative and thus most likely to be against any form of national health insurance are, paradoxically, among the states with the greatest number of uninsured.  In Texas, according to the article, one in four people are without insurance.

I am interested in why this should be so.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Quote of the Day: Working for Belief

If you hire people just because they can do a job, they’ll work for your money. But if you hire people who believe what you believe, they’ll work for you with blood and sweat and tears.— Simon Sinek

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Quote of the Day: Massaging Money

"I have nothing against investment banking, but it's like massaging money rather than creating money. If you're in physics, you create inventions, you create lasers, you create transistors, computers, GPS."  If you're an investment banker, on the other hand, "you don't create anything new. You simply massage other people's money and take a cut."

-Michu Kaku quoted in the Wall Street Journal