I was rolling on the floor laughing when I heard about this one.
Apparently the chill of the fall in 2014 was so severe that the City of New York ran out of capacity in its conventional shelters for the homeless, and as an emergency measure they reserved 100 rooms at a hotel in Jamaica, Queens, ostensibly for a "government group"
In fact, the people that the city of New York intended to occupy the rooms were a large number of homeless people, and while the hotel staff did not report any disruptions in normal hotel activity over the course of their 10 day stay, the management also confirmed that there would be no more allowances for this kind of thing.
In order to preserve their professional image they will be attempting to prevent this from happening again.
To read more about this, check out the following:
http://mashable.com/2014/11/20/hotel-for-homeless/
Sunday, November 23, 2014
One of my favorite sites on the web is gutenberg.org, and I recently found out about an opportunity that they have to do volunteer proofreading of their published works.
In essence, you spend your time reviewing published text, and if you note any errors you can report them to the Gutenberg Project.
But the interesting thing about this is, the Gutenberg Project is the sole activity for a 501c3 nonprofit registered in one of the states of the United States, and as a result one could claim this volunteer time as a charitable donation.
I went to college for a long time, and the market rate for my time is about 50 dollars per hour.
So if I was able to deduct the value of my time that I spend on "reviewing text" for the gutenberg project every week, about 10 hours weekly if I count all the time I spend reading, that adds up to 2000 dollars a month, every month, or 24000 dollars per annum of deductible income as a charitable donation.
Sure, everyone's tax situation is different, but this is easy money if you ask me.
It might not be so relevant to people who don't read, or have lower income, but for me it's a home run.
In essence, you spend your time reviewing published text, and if you note any errors you can report them to the Gutenberg Project.
But the interesting thing about this is, the Gutenberg Project is the sole activity for a 501c3 nonprofit registered in one of the states of the United States, and as a result one could claim this volunteer time as a charitable donation.
I went to college for a long time, and the market rate for my time is about 50 dollars per hour.
So if I was able to deduct the value of my time that I spend on "reviewing text" for the gutenberg project every week, about 10 hours weekly if I count all the time I spend reading, that adds up to 2000 dollars a month, every month, or 24000 dollars per annum of deductible income as a charitable donation.
Sure, everyone's tax situation is different, but this is easy money if you ask me.
It might not be so relevant to people who don't read, or have lower income, but for me it's a home run.
Friday, November 21, 2014
Inventions
This might sound crazy, but for the longest period of human history there were no inventions at all.
The generations of people used the same tools, weapons, and techniques for over 100,000 years, and then when people became more intelligent and creative, we began the rat race of development.
Looking at the fossil and paleontological records, this holds out to be true.
There are fossil pieces that show anatomically modern humans existed for many millennia, and the exact same types of artifacts appear in the same geological layers as the fossils do, up to a certain point between 10,000 and 15,000 years ago.
At that point in the fossil record, the bones remain the same, but the artifacts change. They grow suddenly more complex, and begin to be quite different from region to region, and more complex and varied as time passes.
In the fossil record, things were the same, but in the paleontological record, everything changed. We had discovered the key to true humanity: invention.
The generations of people used the same tools, weapons, and techniques for over 100,000 years, and then when people became more intelligent and creative, we began the rat race of development.
Looking at the fossil and paleontological records, this holds out to be true.
There are fossil pieces that show anatomically modern humans existed for many millennia, and the exact same types of artifacts appear in the same geological layers as the fossils do, up to a certain point between 10,000 and 15,000 years ago.
At that point in the fossil record, the bones remain the same, but the artifacts change. They grow suddenly more complex, and begin to be quite different from region to region, and more complex and varied as time passes.
In the fossil record, things were the same, but in the paleontological record, everything changed. We had discovered the key to true humanity: invention.
Wednesday, November 19, 2014
Hunting Season is Here Again
I am not a big-time hunter. I am a consumer of meat, however, and as an inhabitant of a relatively healthy environment encounter an overabundance of deer.
I see nothing wrong with eating hunted meat; it is completely acceptable to me religiously, is free, and I can usually get some without actually hunting just by knowing and being nice to people that do hunt.
I like knowing where the animals that I am eating were killed or caught, and I know just how the meat was processed. My friends actually use local butcher shops to cut and pack their catch every year, and I have been on a list of people to call for quite some time.
This year, I've gotten about 20 pounds of venison for nothing. That is a great deal, when beef is 3 dollars or more per pound, and good quality meat too.
For hunters, at least in the Northeast portion of the United States, hunting is strictly regulated. The season for taking animals can be as short as a couple of weekends in a month, or just a couple months out of the year, but the number of registrations for licenses to hunt and take animals is really astronomical.
I see nothing wrong with eating hunted meat; it is completely acceptable to me religiously, is free, and I can usually get some without actually hunting just by knowing and being nice to people that do hunt.
I like knowing where the animals that I am eating were killed or caught, and I know just how the meat was processed. My friends actually use local butcher shops to cut and pack their catch every year, and I have been on a list of people to call for quite some time.
This year, I've gotten about 20 pounds of venison for nothing. That is a great deal, when beef is 3 dollars or more per pound, and good quality meat too.
For hunters, at least in the Northeast portion of the United States, hunting is strictly regulated. The season for taking animals can be as short as a couple of weekends in a month, or just a couple months out of the year, but the number of registrations for licenses to hunt and take animals is really astronomical.
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Saving Money on Groceries
I spend a good amount of time going over people's finances in my free time, and I encounter a lot of situations where people make good money, but they just don't know where it all goes.
And it is often the case that people are spending money on food that they don't really like, so they don't eat it, and then they end up wasting it.
I think that there are really three ways to make sure that you are getting the most for your money when shopping for food.
First, you need to be sure that you are buying foods that you actually like and will eat. No matter how good of a deal you get, 100% of the food that you won't be eating is going to waste.
Next, look into foods that are in and of themselves not expensive foods.
I buy a lot of dried and frozen goods, and usually these are quite cheap compared to fresh produce. I also make good use of ingredients, as opposed to fully prepared or convenience foods, to cut down on costs. I usually avoid things that are temporarily elevated in price, or look at trends to minimize my cost by buying such an item in bulk or in exchange for an in-kind payment.
I can often get venison from hunters in exchange for help on projects, for example.
Finally, look for good prices on the food that you want, and don't feel obligated to get everything at one place.
So, if you can follow all of that advice, you can end up with a pantry stocked with food you like, at prices you can live with.
Of course, you could also attempt to secure an independent food supply by producing your own goods, but that is another subject entirely.
I recently wrote about this on bubblews.com.
And it is often the case that people are spending money on food that they don't really like, so they don't eat it, and then they end up wasting it.
I think that there are really three ways to make sure that you are getting the most for your money when shopping for food.
First, you need to be sure that you are buying foods that you actually like and will eat. No matter how good of a deal you get, 100% of the food that you won't be eating is going to waste.
Next, look into foods that are in and of themselves not expensive foods.
I buy a lot of dried and frozen goods, and usually these are quite cheap compared to fresh produce. I also make good use of ingredients, as opposed to fully prepared or convenience foods, to cut down on costs. I usually avoid things that are temporarily elevated in price, or look at trends to minimize my cost by buying such an item in bulk or in exchange for an in-kind payment.
I can often get venison from hunters in exchange for help on projects, for example.
Finally, look for good prices on the food that you want, and don't feel obligated to get everything at one place.
So, if you can follow all of that advice, you can end up with a pantry stocked with food you like, at prices you can live with.
Of course, you could also attempt to secure an independent food supply by producing your own goods, but that is another subject entirely.
I recently wrote about this on bubblews.com.
Sunday, November 16, 2014
Carrying a Seed for the Tree of your Life
I've been thinking a lot about minimalism lately. It is fascinating to me, someone with a wealth of things, to consider life without those things around me.
Just existing in a bare, stark place, a sterile space with few, if any, visual distractions from the thoughts in your head and the task at hand sounds almost zen-like.
The closest that I can think I've ever come to this was when I moved into my current place. I carried just the few things that I thought that I would need to set myself up, and all of them fit easily into my little old car.
Because they all fit into two suitcases.
Those suitcases contained a wealth of supplies that had both practical and sentimental value to me. Things I had purchased, or were given to me by family and friends, and were sure to be important to me as time went forward.
Of course, I threw myself into the fray, and acquired many more things: clothes, furnishings, appliances, tools, all kinds of stuff. But I still think that if I was in a situation where I needed to, I could pare all of it down to those two suitcases, and still be okay.
My life is like a tree, in a sense, with a great deal of mass, but only a small fraction of it is alive. The rest is dead weight, but the living part is currently dependent on the rest for support. The trick of minimalist living is to remove as much of that dead weight as you can, and then teaching the living part to stand on its own.
To understand this, all I have to do is think back to when I carried those suitcases, the seeds of my current lifestyle.
This was published online at http://www.bubblews.com/news/9432004-carrying-a-seed-for-the-tree-of-your-life
Just existing in a bare, stark place, a sterile space with few, if any, visual distractions from the thoughts in your head and the task at hand sounds almost zen-like.
The closest that I can think I've ever come to this was when I moved into my current place. I carried just the few things that I thought that I would need to set myself up, and all of them fit easily into my little old car.
Because they all fit into two suitcases.
Those suitcases contained a wealth of supplies that had both practical and sentimental value to me. Things I had purchased, or were given to me by family and friends, and were sure to be important to me as time went forward.
Of course, I threw myself into the fray, and acquired many more things: clothes, furnishings, appliances, tools, all kinds of stuff. But I still think that if I was in a situation where I needed to, I could pare all of it down to those two suitcases, and still be okay.
My life is like a tree, in a sense, with a great deal of mass, but only a small fraction of it is alive. The rest is dead weight, but the living part is currently dependent on the rest for support. The trick of minimalist living is to remove as much of that dead weight as you can, and then teaching the living part to stand on its own.
To understand this, all I have to do is think back to when I carried those suitcases, the seeds of my current lifestyle.
This was published online at http://www.bubblews.com/news/9432004-carrying-a-seed-for-the-tree-of-your-life
Thursday, November 13, 2014
Linkslap.com: The Image Site that Pays
I've recently found out about another site that pays users, but there is a significant twist that may be a dealbreaker, or may be an attractive option.
The site pays out in Dogecoins only.
The premise of the site is that users will write and rate descriptions for .gif animated images, and in exchange be rewarded with Dogecoins. I've been able to get a little bit over a thousand Dogecoins by doing this for about 20 minutes, which is about a quarter's worth of them at current spot prices.
But the cool thing about being paid in Dogecoins is that the currency is rather steadily appreciating in value. I have about 2500 of them currently from various sources, and they are projected to go up in value to at least a few cents as time goes on. Right now spot prices are not sufficient to pay for the cost of mining, so there is a clear market advantage to obtaining them cheaply or at no cost right now and holding them until prices rise.
I'm going to hold onto all of the Dogecoin that I get for the next year or so, and try not to forget any passwords like I did over the past few months. I lost tens of thousands of Dogecoin, as well as about a hundred dollars in Bitcoin too, just because I forgot the passwords I was using to access my wallets.
Head on over to www.linkslap.com , and give it a try. You might be pleasantly surprised!
This post was published on Bubblews.com at http://www.bubblews.com/news/9398217-linkslap-the-image-site-that-pays
The site pays out in Dogecoins only.
The premise of the site is that users will write and rate descriptions for .gif animated images, and in exchange be rewarded with Dogecoins. I've been able to get a little bit over a thousand Dogecoins by doing this for about 20 minutes, which is about a quarter's worth of them at current spot prices.
But the cool thing about being paid in Dogecoins is that the currency is rather steadily appreciating in value. I have about 2500 of them currently from various sources, and they are projected to go up in value to at least a few cents as time goes on. Right now spot prices are not sufficient to pay for the cost of mining, so there is a clear market advantage to obtaining them cheaply or at no cost right now and holding them until prices rise.
I'm going to hold onto all of the Dogecoin that I get for the next year or so, and try not to forget any passwords like I did over the past few months. I lost tens of thousands of Dogecoin, as well as about a hundred dollars in Bitcoin too, just because I forgot the passwords I was using to access my wallets.
Head on over to www.linkslap.com , and give it a try. You might be pleasantly surprised!
This post was published on Bubblews.com at http://www.bubblews.com/news/9398217-linkslap-the-image-site-that-pays
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