I find myself in such a strange place. I don’t mean in terms of where I physically am – I’m back in Otaru, Japan at my house, Satoshi Manor. I mean it’s a strange place to be mentally, emotionally, spiritually. China was such an unexpected joy. I made some great friends in a very short…
I’ve always wanted to be a home-owner and up to this point, I’ve been thwarted by economics. I could never get enough to make a decent offer in the beautiful places I’ve lived – or to qualify for a mortgage with my self-employed hustle lifestyle. When I finally did manage to get enough money together…
There are fundamental systemic problems that are literally killing us – both individually and as a species. Unless we can get a handle on these issues – we are almost certainly doomed. The first problem is wealth. Not wealth inequality, not wealth distribution, not how wealth is earned or spent – but simply wealth. Wealth…
Thus far, in my life, I have never owned my own home except when I’ve lived in VW vans. It’s my own fault – mortgages were easy to come by several times in my life and I chose not to invest. This will sound funny, but the prices always seemed too high. In the early-1990s…
This comes as no surprise to me, but maybe the rest of you might want to brush up on your hobo skills. The Bank of International Settlements (BIS) is warning that the global economy could be on the brink of a major depression similar to the one that passed in the 1930s. The BIS said…
Even though the wilderness is disappearing rapidly, I have always been a fan of knowing how to survive without modern civilization. The edible plants portion of this site offers some great advice. The whole site is good and may come in handy if the Shananapocalypse happens sooner rather than later. Wilderness Survival
Remember back when the exchange rate was .8 Euros to the dollar? Or when a dollar would buy almost two Canadian dollars and four kiwi dollars? Well…those days are gone…you should have gotten rid of your cash then…now it’s like trying to sell the house you thought was worth half a million for $350K, it’s…
It’s official: Citizen Kane is the greatest US movie of all time, pipping The Godfather into second spot. That’s according to the American Film Institute (AFI), which has just released its latest list of the top 100 American flicks, selected by “1,500 ballots sent to film-makers, actors, writers and other Hollywood players, who chose from…
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of newly laid off workers filing claims for unemployment benefits shot up unexpectedly last week, rising to the highest level in two months. The Labor Department reported that unemployment claims totaled 324,000 last week, up 10,000 from the previous week, to the highest level since mid-April. While the big increase…
I was reading the New York Times the other day and it wasn’t terribly surprising to me to see that the last major downturn in real estate prices occurred right before and during the great depression. Think about it. The stock market is at a record high, investors are pulling their money (if they can)…