wise thoughts

In this week column by Greg Easterbrook

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=easterbrook/060926&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab2pos1

"A recent study by researchers including Daniel Kahneman, a Nobel Prize winner, and Alan Kruger, one of the leading names in behavioral economics, adds new detail on that question. The study found that the well-off are no happier than others; that as income rises, so does tension and anger; that "people exaggerate the contribution of income to happiness."

Kahneman, Krueger and their collaborators also offer a vital insight -- that happiness comes from choosing time over money, but most Americans choose money over time. "Leisure is better for happiness than increased income," they argue, supposing that time spent in travel, having new experiences, relaxing, hiking, reading, or simply looking up at the stars is more important to our sense of well-being than a new car or impressive house. Unless you are in a bad financial situation, Kahneman and Krueger recommend you spend less time working, accept somewhat lower income, and use your freed hours to experience life. Barbara Bush memorably said that no one on his or her deathbed has ever regretted not staying later at the office, while many regret failing to spend more time with family and friends.

I'll add another suggestion on why time is more important to happiness than money: Because time is far more precious. Money that has been used up can be replaced; you can always get at least some additional money, and in principle can get huge amounts of additional money. Your time on Earth, on the other hand, is limited and irreplaceable. You might add somewhat to your time on Earth by taking care of your health -- and that's an excellent idea, but there are no guarantees you won't be hit by a bus anyway. We all must surrender some of our time for work to acquire income. But those who obsessively chase maximum material possessions give up something precious and fleeting, namely time, in order to acquire something that cannot make them happy, namely money"

Wise words... very wise words.

Carpe diem!

not even a fair deal

"It seems like a fair deal to me. Islam renounces jihad against infidels — those who believe other than Muslims — and those who believe different than Muslims will renounce any statements Muslims find offensive. It’s not even a straight-up trade. On this side of the religious divide, the insults will end. And on that side of the religious divide they will disavow killing us"

By John Gibson -FOX NEWS. Friday, September 15, 2006

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,214088,00.html

NY-NY

on this day

On this day, I would like to leave a message to my American friends.

I’m not American by nationality. But I have The United States of America in my heart. I already had that conviction before I left to Connecticut. In addition, and like I said in my Doctoral defence, I was very fortunate to live in the U.S. and fulfilling that “life dream”. That experience gave me an even deeper appreciation for the country, for the people, for the culture.

It is true that the U.S. is not only good things. There are some that could be different, either in politics, society, or at the individual level. But it is the country that I learned to love, and that I will protect in the best way I can.

I have a special admiration for New York City. In that metropolis I feel “at home”. There, I imagine myself living, as a New Yorker. A city that I think as one of the best constructions of mankind. A glorious creation of a free, willing and cosmopolitan society.



And the city will recover, even more extraordinary, more beautiful, more charming. It is necessary that “Ground Zero” be rebuild in a way that, in that place, people will live, fall in love, be joyful, develop their dreams, feel amazed again. Let the routine of the normality of everyday cancel the abnormality of one day.

And also a word of homage to those people on flight United93. For their courage, for their sacrifice. For their determination to put up the fight those terrorists so necessarly deserved.

And especially to all my American friends (and my Portuguese friends that read my OMDA). Please be safe. Please be careful. But, please live your life intensely everyday. It is so precious and it is so fragile. Make the best of it.

Carpe diem.

mean machine!

Here it is... the photographic proof. This is my baby. Fast, swift, lively, dynamic. Elegant, discrete, exclusive. Ahhhh! Nothing like having a real car back in my hands. Zummmmmmmmmmmmm. Catch me if you can!


ps: notice the American influence (even before I went to the US). Pay attention to the bottom right rear window... Oh, yes!

Here here!!

From the column by Gregg Easterbrook "Tuesday Morning Quarterback" on ESPN.com -Page2 this week.

"Of course, NBA players are at a disadvantage in international games: Traveling is not legal, for example. The larger key makes it harder to barrel down the lane out of control until you slam into someone and draw the foul. Differences in rules and styles cause coordinated offensive plays to be essential in international games, and most NBA stars refuse to do anything but go one-on-one; many haven't run a back-pick since high school."

"Greece won because it had no NBA players on its roster! As Michael Wilbon of the Washington Post noted, while the Greek players showed teamwork and executed complex plays, the NBA guys on the U.S. side spent the contest strutting and pointing at themselves. The culture of shoe contracts and strut-oriented AAU basketball is ruining the American version of the sport, Wilbon asserted; TMQ cries, "Here here!" "

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=easterbrook/060905

Here here!!

ahhhhhh.good!

Look at the picture...
Lisbon, yesterday.
Look at temperature in the thermometer on the board.
44C… 44! Oh yeah!!
44C is… let me see… oh. Look! 111.2 F
How much is it in Storrs right know? 50F? 55F? That much over there? Oh, uau! :p

Ahhhh. La bella vita

Shut up Dan!

Carpe Diem