Obviously your content is easily accessible to readers via the web but a book seems to stamp something as real whatever real is. An e-book is best IMHO. I like the video. Especially the first 50 seconds. The interviewer is a little wacky though. Headed Home December 19, , 7: I second the e-book idea. It could be a compilation of your best posts — or just the ones that focus on Mustachianism.
How many other personal finance books swear and chide to get results and cement ideas? Noel December 19, , 7: I had this book on hold at the library and it came in yesterday. I look forward to reading it. I bought the book for my sister and her husband probably ten years ago as a Christmas gift in a vain attempt to change some of their behavior.
Doug December 19, , 8: I also read this book many years ago and recommend it to anyone who is mustachian or wishes to be. Other good books are How to Survive Without a Salary by Charles Long, and any books by Derek Foster, a guy who has a wife and kids and still managed to retire at age His website is http: Lisa December 29, , 1: Bullseye January 5, , 6: The latter wrote Stop Working! Both books are Canadian, and probably unfamiliar to non-Canadians, but both are worth reading!
Important money lessons from classic fables
The first one is the book that started me on my journey when I was around 21 years old. I still go back and re-read it every year or so. Johnny Our Freaking Budget December 19, , 9: Step 2 looks to completely revolutionize this line of thinking in my head. It will undoubtedly depress me out of purchasing just about anything save Junior Bacon Cheeseburgers.
Money Mustache December 19, , Eschewing Debt December 19, , 9: Sounds like a great read! Debbie M December 19, , 9: My investment income was infinitesimal. I did not get good ideas on how to reduce my expenditures more. My real hourly salary was actually depressing in the opposite way than was expected: I spent no extra time dealing with my job I had to get dressed anyway and I read during the bus commute , I spent virtually no extra money dealing with my job still made my lunch usually, free bus commute, business casual clothes cost the same at thrift stores as other clothes, no day care needed , and I got loads of benefits free health insurance, free access to university library, fabulous pension, free bus use.
So the numbers instead warned me that quitting would be expensive. But this has become wonderfully sophisticated over the years and I really like that it is totally under my control. Reading older books really underlines how much financial instruments change over time, so even if you have the perfect setup for now, you need to keep educating yourself.
Kuz December 20, , 5: I had a similar realization when I calculated my actual earnings per hour. I work for a public university that includes free classes even phd ones , free bus passes, discount sports tickets, cheap health care, and crazy matches on IRA contributions. I also have less than 5 min bike commute and can wear anything to work. RichUncle EL December 19, , 9: Thanks for sharing the nine steps made popular by the book, I had seen the steps before, but you provided a unique twist to them. I always enjoy a mustachian point of view.
Shilpan December 19, , In nutshell, FI is about developing two brains between your two ears. One to motivate you to earn more early on in your life so that you can put that money to work for you, and second to not know how much you make so that you can live simply. Your life will be at FI crossroad sooner than you think,.
It always amazes me how closely this blog parallels my life the timing anyway not the FI. Putting in a garden door? Well yes I am. Thinking of buying a truck? The only thing it would cost me is time. Would we spend it wisely pay down long term debt or winter holiday? Somewhere out there is a happy medium.
Keep up the great posts MMM. I look forward to them every day. Holly ClubThrifty December 19, , There is nothing ground breaking in it. Yet, it made me think completely differently about and money that I spent. RetiredAt42 December 19, , We followed very few of the steps, mostly just the philosophy. Six years later, we paid off our mortgage, and about 12 years later, we retired from our corporate jobs. Joe December 19, , Like many others, it was my first FI book and provided the spark that lit the fire for me to start the FI journey.
Did someone else write that, or are you talking in the third-person? Or am I totally on crack and the meaning of the sentence has gone over my head? Matt December 19, , 1: No Name Guy December 19, , 2: Freeyourchains December 19, , 2: Games like the Fable Series, have you buy houses you adventure past and rent them out for passive income as you adventure on to kill baddies from town to town. You can even get married and have children and buy a castle at the end.
I have never read the book either but I generally agree with your comments. You would have to have too much of the recently legalized pot to buy the 30 year treasury bond. Not only in the interest rate ridiculous, but as interest rates rise, the value of your bond on the bond market is going to take a huge hit. Considering where interest rates are, there is really no place to go but up. Why is inflation nothing to worry about? At the rate the fed is printing dollars, inflation will raise its ugly head. This is a huge tax on the middle class.
Matt December 19, , 4: I really liked the book and most of its viewpoints. Did he sacrifice too much?
- Lunation: Book 1 in the Lunation Series.
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Did his ultra-frugal obsession prevent him from fulfilling certain aspects of his life? It strikes me that MMM is frugal, while Joe was cheap. Frugality, and the smart use of money always wins in my book. Gerard December 19, , 4: Seems like the guy was pretty plugged into the idea of loving others: Matt December 19, , 6: He died so young, seemingly never married or had children, and my guess was that he was an only child.
It is totally conceivable he had a great life. That one sentence just haunts me for some reason…. Money Mustache December 19, , 7: Apparently they had a steady stream of houseguests that he loved to host and help out. It must have been quite a thrill for him, starting that movement and rolling it along for so long. I used this program to become financially independent in my mid-thirties and over the years read a lot about these two.
I also did some audio course with them that had more details about their life together. I never read that Vicki and Joe ever married, but that they considered themselves partners until his death. Maybe I missed that info. One of their housemates before FI had a shoe fetish and she straightened out when she was diagnosed with an incurable illness; I wish I could remember her name. I listened to an audio tape from her too. Joe and Vicki also were into house construction for a time and would see old houses, contact the owners and get permission to live in them for free while fixing them up.
Then they would move on. I never thought of Joe as cheap. I thought he just was comfortable living on less and was aware that there were infinitely possibilities of ways to live in our society; to trade your time for the things that you value seemed to be more important that using money to do this. Also, I felt like he might have really understood what corruption was going on in his Wall St.
Also at such a low earning level, he probably never paid income taxes and little property taxes after becoming FI. Ultros December 19, , 4: Just a quick observation about the Consumer Price Index: You may want to take it more seriously in the future. As a part of the fiscal cliff negotiations, the federal government is almost certainly going to use chained CPI for calculating future benefits.
Read Our Book, Financial Fables
Briefly, the government currently calculates inflation using a fixed basket of household goods. But if apples get more expensive but pears do not, people will buy more pears and fewer apples. Chained CPI accounts for that substitution and therefore results in a more conservative estimate of inflation. Or in other words, the government is going to assume that people are a little more mustachian in their decision-making in the future. Andy Hough December 19, , 5: If I would have actually implemented all the ideas from the book I would have retired years ago.
Even so the book has allowed me to stretch a meager income. There was a revised version of the book that came out in One of my biggest thrills of blogging was when one of the authors contacted me out of the blue to do an interview for my site. Jen December 19, , But last week the hourly wage piece completely clarified a situation for me. I lost my primary car key.
I could easily pay with cash on hand and not notice the difference. Then it occurred to me that if someone told me I could have a new key fob if I came in to work on saturday for 4. I went from thinking I should get a new key fob — no big deal — to absolutely no way would I trade 4. I would disagree on your stance on inflation. I think for long term planning, e.
Money Mustache December 20, , The boy was very soon to undergo therapy, which would cause him to lose his hair. They had come to the hotel to have a break together, and also because the boy planned to shave his head, that night, rather than feel that the illness was beating him. The father said that he would be shaving his own head too, in support of his son. He asked that staff be respectful when the two of them came to breakfast with their shaved heads. The manager assured the father that he would inform all staff and that they would behave appropriately.
There they saw the four male restaurant staff attending to their duties, perfectly normally, all with shaved heads. Adapted from a story sent to me by A Smith. This story contains language and a potentially 'offensive stereotype' of a visually impaired person that certain audiences may find objectionable.
So be careful how you use this story. Alter the language appropriately where warranted, position it carefully, and if in doubt do not use the story at all.
Something went wrong!
An old blind man was sitting on a busy street corner in the rush-hour begging for money. On a cardboard sign, next to an empty tin cup, he had written: A young advertising writer walked past and saw the blind man with his sign and empty cup, and also saw the many people passing by completely unmoved, let alone stopping to give money. The advertising writer took a thick marker-pen from her pocket, turned the cardboard sheet back-to-front, and re-wrote the sign, then went on her way. After a while, when the cup was overflowing, the blind man asked a stranger to tell him what the sign now said.
My Dad told me this story when I was a teenager in the s. Much later it was interpreted into a popular video on the web. This story illustrates in a timeless way how important choice of words and language is when we want to truly connect with and move other people. The story can also be used to explore issues of disability, equality, discrimination and political correctness, for example, what is it that makes this story offensive to some people?
Thanks BC and SD. You will perhaps have heard this very old story illustrating the difference between positive thinking and negative thinking:. Many years ago two salesmen were sent by a British shoe manufacturer to Africa to investigate and report back on market potential. This simple short story provides one of the best examples of how a single situation may be viewed in two quite different ways - negatively or positively.
We could explain this also in terms of seeing a situation's problems and disadvantages, instead of its opportunities and benefits. When telling this story its impact is increased by using exactly the same form of words e. This emphasises that two quite different interpretations are made of a single situation.
Separately it offers an example of lateral thinking, and also an example of double meaning in language. The ethnicities may be changed for your own situation or part of the world. Do not share this story unless you can safely position it or you are confident that it will not cause offence. In the land of inflatables bear with me.. A heart surgeon took his car to his local garage for a regular service, where he usually exchanged a little friendly banter with the owner, a skilled but not especially wealthy mechanic. We basically do the same job don't we?
And yet you are paid ten times what I am - how do you explain that? This story is a mnemonic pronounced 'nemonic' - meaning memory aid for remembering the twelve Signs of the Zodiac, in order, starting in January. Mnemonics stories need not make sense - they simply need to be memorable. A lion Leo roared in agreement, which startled the young maiden Virgo so that she dropped and smashed her scales Libra.
Note that the Signs of the Zodiac are normally deemed to start and end anything between the 18th and the 24th day of each month, depending on interpretation. It is not by any means a precise science. The young bull says, "Let's charge down this hillside and have our wicked way with a couple of those cows. The old bull replies, "No, how about we stroll gently down this hillside and have our wicked way with them all.
You will perhaps have heard this story told with more fruity language. Feel free to adapt it for your own situation. A thief was caught after stealing some paintings from the Louvre in Paris, when his getaway van ran out of fuel. Given bail at his first hearing, a reporter asked him on the steps of the courthouse how he forgot such a vital part of his plan. A landscape gardener ran a business that had been in the family for two or three generations.
The staff were happy, and customers loved to visit the store, or to have the staff work on their gardens or make deliveries - anything from bedding plants to ride-on mowers. For as long as anyone could remember, the current owner and previous generations of owners were extremely positive happy people. The business was indeed generally great, although it went through tough times like any other. Everyone who saw the badge for the first time invariably asked, "What's so great about business? And so the list went on.
And no matter how miserable a person was, they'd usually end up feeling a lot happier after just a couple of minutes listening to all this infectious enthusiasm and positivity. It is impossible to quantify or measure attitude like this, but to one extent or another it's probably a self-fulfilling prophecy, on which point, if asked about the badge in a quiet moment, the business owner would confide:. So the jewels were brought out, amid much expensive security, and the two men gazed at the wonderful stones. A committed atheist that's someone who steadfastly does not believe in a god of any sort was on a trekking holiday when he became lost in some dense woods.
A large angry bear, with ten starving cubs back home and claws like kitchen knives, suddenly emerged from the undergrowth. The atheist screamed in terror, turned and ran. The bear was quicker however, and after a long and desperate chase eventually cornered the atheist in a gully.
The bear, seeing that its prey was trapped, moved slowly towards the petrified man, drooling. The bear was drooling too. The atheist lifted his head, with tears in his eyes, and uttered the words he thought he would never say in all his life: With these simple three words, a blinding flash of lightning lit up the sky. There was a deafening crash of thunder. A brilliant light shone down.
The forest fell silent. The bear froze still, in a trance. The atheist stood gaping, transfixed. A voice came loud from above. We can safely assume this voice to have been the voice of a god of some sort. You tell others to deny me too. You put your faith in all that bloody Darwinian airy-fairy scientific nonsense, and then what a surprise - you get lost because you can't read your stupid map, and now you're about to get eaten by an angry bear all of a sudden you're on your knees snivelling and begging for my help?
You must be joking Maybe you could convert the bear instead? It shall be done. The bear awoke and shook its head, a completely different expression on its face. The bear closed its eyes, bowed its head, and said, "For what we are about to receive, may the Lord make us truly thankful, Amen.. The grace prayer in the punchline is the version commonly taught in UK schools.
Alternatives might work better depending on the audience, for example:. Durch Christus, unseren Herr'n! An atheist was trekking in the woods when he came across an angry bear. Startled at the disturbance the bear gave chase. After the meal, the husband presented his wife romantically with a beautiful very old gold antique locket on a chain. Addressing the astonished couple, the fairy said, "Your forty years of devotion to each other has released me from this locket, and in return I can now grant you both one wish each - anything you want..
Without hesitating, the wife asked, "Please, can I travel to the four corners of the world with my husband, as happy and in love as we've always been? The fairy waved her wand with a flourish, and magically there on the table were two first-class tickets for a round-the-world holiday. The husband thought for a few seconds, and then said, with a little guilt in his voice, "Forgive me, but to really enjoy that holiday of a lifetime - I yearn for a younger woman - so I wish that my wife could be thirty years younger than me.
Adapted from a suggestion from J Riley, thanks. This short story - it's a joke really - can be used to illustrate attitudes to developing young people, career direction, and especially the advice and aspirations of parents and coaches, which might be different to the dreams of the individual In a circus, the Bearded Lady and the World's Strongest Man fell in love, and decided to start a family.
A few weeks before she was due to give birth, the Bearded Lady and the circus ring-master were talking. This story is adapted from a scenario which featured in a widely circulated email, in which supposedly job applicants were given loosely the following question to answer, to indicate their personality and decision-making motives supposedly. The job application context is extremely doubtful, but the lesson in creative thinking is interesting, especially if people are not given too long to dwell on it:.
You are driving alone in two-seater car on a deserted road in blizzard conditions, when you see another car which has recently run off the road and into a tree. There are three people in the stranded car, none of whom is injured:. No-one has a phone. The likelihood of any more passing traffic is effectively zero.
The conditions are too dangerous for people to walk anywhere. It is not possible to tow the crashed car. The nearest town is an hour's drive away. Given that your car is just a two-seater, in what order should the stranded people be taken to the nearest town? My apologies if this story is well-known to you. It's an old joke, yet a useful illustration for various themes.
A mother repeatedly called upstairs for her son to get up, get dressed and get ready for school. It was a familiar routine, especially at exam time. Get up and get ready," called the mother, walking up the stairs and hovering outside the bedroom door. Nobody likes me, and I've got no friends. And we have too many tests and they are too confusing. It's all just pointless, and I'm not going to school ever again. And please try not to take criticism so personally.
And I can't believe that nobody likes you - you have lots of friends at school. And yes, all those tests can be confusing, but we are all tested in many ways throughout our lives, so all of this experience at school is useful for life in general. Besides, you have to go, you are the headteacher. The story goes that sometime, close to a battlefield over years ago, a man in civilian clothes rode past a small group of exhausted battle-weary soldiers digging an obviously important defensive position.
The section leader, making no effort to help, was shouting orders, threatening punishment if the work was not completed within the hour. The men do as I tell them," said the section leader, adding, "Help them yourself if you feel strongly about it. To the section leader's surprise the stranger dismounted and helped the men until the job was finished. Before leaving the stranger congratulated the men for their work, and approached the puzzled section leader. Up close, the section leader now recognized General Washington, and also the lesson he'd just been taught.
This story is allegedly based on truth. Whatever, similar examples are found in history, and arise in modern times too, so please forgive the mythical possibility of the above attribution; the story's message is more important than its historical accuracy. It is said that when filming the biblical epic The Greatest Story Ever Told, the director George Stevens was trying to encourage extra passion from John Wayne when delivering the highly significant line, "Truly, this was the Son of God.
For the next take John Wayne duly summoned his most intense feelings. He paused dramatically, and said:. This story contains language and a potentially 'offensive stereotype' of visually impaired person that certain audiences may find objectionable. At the same time, the main message is uplifting and in major part offers an empowered and optimistic view of visual impairment. Nevertheless, be careful how you use this story. Alter the language appropriately where warranted, and if in doubt do not use the story at all. A blind visually impaired man had been waiting a while at a busy road for someone to offer to guide him across, when he felt a tap on his shoulder.
Apparently this is a true story. The first blind man was the jazz pianist George Shearing. He is quoted in Bartlett's Anecdotes as saying after the event, "What could I do? I took him across and it was the biggest thrill of my life. There are times when we think we cannot do something and so do not stretch or take a risk.
Being forced to stretch and take a risk can often help us to reduce our dependencies on others, or our own personal safety mechanisms , and to discover new excitement and capabilities. The doctor prescribes him a course of tablets and says, "If you're not cured in a couple of weeks would you get me a widescreen television? This is not a lesson of ideal behaviour, it's a humorous illustration of options - whether to try to change something, to accept it or to actively support it.
Such decisions normally have two main reference points - the difficulty of the change, and the ethical implications of the situation. An old hill farming crofter trudges several miles through freezing snow to his local and very remote chapel for Sunday service. No-one else is there, aside from the clergyman. So the clergyman, feeling somewhat ashamed, delivers his service - all the bells and whistles, hymns and readings, lasting a good couple of hours - finishing proudly with the fresh observation that no matter how small the need, our duty remains.
And he thanks the old farmer for the lesson he has learned. From which we see the extra lesson, that while our duty remains regardless of the level of need, we have the additional responsibility to ensure that we adapt our delivery of whatever is our stock in trade according to the requirements of our audience. Adapted from a suggestion from P Hallinger, and based apparently on a story told by Roland Barth, whom I assume to be the US educationalist.
Based on a letter published in the newspaper several years ago, written by the doctor. I suspect variations of this story have been told many times elsewhere too. And they'll include the curtains for an extra five thousand?.. They're holding the price at twenty-two thousand?.. You want a fortnight?.. If that's what you want honey, okay by me.
Seventy-five thousand if we say yes today? An elderly couple retired to the countryside - to a small isolated cottage overlooking some rugged and rocky heathland. One early morning the woman saw from her window a young man dressed in working clothes walking on the heath, about a hundred yards away. He was carrying a spade and a small case, and he disappeared from view behind a copse of trees. The woman thought no more about it but around the same time the next day she saw the man again, carrying his spade and a small case, and again he disappeared behind the copse.
The woman mentioned this to her husband, who said he was probably a farmer or gamekeeper setting traps, or performing some other country practice that would be perfectly normal, and so not to worry. However after several more sightings of the young man with the spade over the next two weeks the woman persuaded her husband to take a stroll - early, before the man tended to arrive - to the copse of trees to investigate what he was doing.
There they found a surprisingly long and deep trench, rough and uneven at one end, becoming much neater and tidier towards the other end. And the case - it's got my lunch in it. On hearing one of his students use the expression, "I don't know nothing about it The teacher explained, "In the English language a double negative makes the statement positive, so your assertion that you 'don't know nothing about it' is actually an admission that you do know something about it.
Encouraged by the interest in this revelation among certain class members, the teacher went on to demonstrate more of his knowledge of world languages: This is adapted from a story sent to me by M Morris. Apparently the original story was based on a true incident at a Modern Language Association meeting in New York in the mid's, reported in the NY Times. The quick-witted response in the original story, actually "Yeah, yeah.. Thanks M Morris, Apr Given the title on the subject of buckets..
The story illustrates lateral thinking, narrow-mindedness, the risks of making assumptions, and judging people and situations:. Should I check when there's a bed free for you? The staff at an old people's home were puzzled when one of the residents began gargling with TCP. They asked her why but all she would say was that something had happened at the post-office.
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- Important money lessons from classic fables?
- Issues in Homeland Security Policy for the 113th Congress.
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This is what actually occurred. She bought a stamp, and since there was a long queue behind her she stepped aside. She put her change in her purse, licked the stamp and put it on her letter. Despite pressing and thumping and licking it again, the stamp failed to stick. The old lady put on her spectacles, fiddled for a few seconds to peel off the backing paper - and then licked the stamp again.
They are already sticky. Thanks Stephen Rafe for the original tale from which the above was adapted. Stephen also provided another example of confused customer service communications, in which the customer was convinced for a while that the customer service person was somehow carrying on his work from inside prison, because the bad line was due to him speaking from his cell-phone.. By December more than 17, British troops were officially diagnosed as suffering from nervous or mental disability we'd say shell-shock or post-traumatic stress disorder these days , despite which the British military authorities continued to charge and convict sufferers with 'cowardice' and 'desertion', and to sentence to death by firing squad many of those found 'guilty'.
On 16 August the British government announced that it would pardon British soldiers who were shot by firing squad for 'cowardice' and 'desertion' during the First World War of The decision was ratified by Parliament on 7 November , and represented a remarkable u-turn by this and previous governments who had always firmly refuted any evidence and justification for pardoning the victims. This reversal followed and was largely due to decades of persistent lobbying and campaigning by organisations and individuals, many being families and descendents of the victims.
It is not easy to imagine their suffering, especially of the widows and parents long since gone, for whom this decision came a lifetime too late. The story emphasises two things: Second, that where people in authority fail to act with integrity, the persistence and determination of ordinary people will eventually force them to do so. It provides lessons to us all about doing the right thing, and calling to account those who do not.
Some people will not agree with this interpretation. This makes it such an interesting subject for debate, especially in transferring the issues and principles to modern challenges in organisations, and the world beyond. This is a true story. Some years ago a client engaged a consultant to help with a small postal mailing to the purchasing departments of blue chip corporations. The consultant sourced the list which was provided on MSExcel and drafted the letter. Thereafter the client was keen to take control of the project, ie.
The consultant discovered some weeks later that a junior member of the client's marketing department had sorted the list changed the order of the listed organisations in the spreadsheet , but had sorted the company name column only, instead of all columns, with the result that every letter about was addressed and sent to a blue chip corporation at another entirely different corporation's address.
Interestingly the mailing produced a particularly high response, which when investigated seemed to stem from the fact that an unusually high percentage of letters were opened and read, due apparently to the irresistible temptation of reading another corporation's mail And I get a bit fed up with all the heaving lifting and carrying, and warding off the mammoths and sabre-toothed tigers, not to mention that bloody snake.
This garden can be dangerous place. He will have many weaknesses and disgusting habits. Man will lie, cheat and behave like an idiot - in fact mostly he'll be a complete pain in the backside. But on the plus side he'll be big and strong, and will be able to protect you, and hunt and kill things, which might be handy sometimes.
He will tend to lose control of mind and body when aroused, but with a bit training can reach an acceptable standard in the bedroom department, if you know what I mean. In keeping with his arrogant, deluded, self-important character, Man will naturally believe that he was made first, and frankly we all have better things to do than argue, so you must keep all this a secret between us, if that's okay with you.
You know, woman to woman.. Apple Corps, owned by surviving Beatles McCartney and Starr, lost their case against Apple Computers, in which they sought to prevent the Apple name being used in relation to iTunes music downloads. Due to failed communications, entirely the BBC's fault both Guys were blameless in this , the BBC News 24 staff grabbed the wrong Guy waiting in a different reception to Guy Kewney , who, being an unassuming, foreign and extremely polite fellow, dutifully took his place in the studio, and after declining make-up really , was introduced on live TV to viewers as Guy Kewney, editor of the technology website 'Newswireless', and then asked three questions by the BBC News 24 business presenter Karen Bowerman about the Apple judgements and its implications for internet music downloading.
At some stage in the future the link to the BBC interview clip might cease working - I don't know how long they keep these things. Let me know when and if you can no longer see the video clip and I'll try to source it elsewhere. Guy Goma initially expresses surprise about the interview situation, but, largely due to his broken English and heavy French accent the interviewer interprets and leads Mr Goma's response to mean that he is surprised about the court judgement. If you listen carefully Guy Goma does actually mention his 'interview' in his first answer. See the transcript below.
However the pressure of the situation is too great and he has little option other than to play out the role that the fates have created for him. He actually does quite well, given that he knows little about the subject. Subsequent media reports that Guy Goma was a taxi driver are false - he's a business graduate. He later attended his IT job interview but regrettably was unsuccessful. As mentioned, sadly Guy Kewney has since died, on 8 Apr His blog as at Sep still stands. Please let me know if it ceases to be available. I considered whether to remove or retain this item and obviously I decided to retain it.
I never met Guy Kewney. From what I understand he seems to have been a lovely man.
The opportunity to say this is part of my decision. Well, Guy Kewney is editor of the technology website Newswireless. Hello, good morning to you. Were you surprised by this verdict today? I am very surprised to see When I came they told me something else and I am coming. A big surprise, yes, yes. With regard to the costs involved do you think now more people will be downloading online? Actually, if you go everywhere you are gonna see a lot of people downloading to internet and the website everything they want. But I think, is much better for development and to empower people what they want and to get on the easy way and so faster if they are looking for.
This does really seem the way the music industry's progressing now, that people want to go onto the website and download music. You can go everywhere on the cyber cafe and you can take [maybe 'check'? It's going to be very easy way for everyone to get something to the internet. Thank you [actually sounds more like 'Thank Kewney' - as if Ms Bowerman was a little distracted, no wonder].
Thanks very much indeed. A very old lady looked in the mirror one morning. She had three remaining hairs on her head, and being a positive soul, she said, "I think I'll braid my hair today. Some days later, looking in the mirror one morning, preparing for her day, she saw that she had only two hairs remaining. I fancy a centre parting today. A week or so later, she saw that she had just one hair left on her head. I won't have to waste time doing my hair any more.. A wealthy businessman who is used to getting his own way finds himself sharing a sleeper compartment with a beautiful young woman as they travel to Brussells on the train.
It is winter and the heating is not working so the compartment is cold. Or maybe we could pretend to be man and wife for tonight?..
Your Money or Your Life
There is the story of William Pitt, , British statesman and Prime Minister from , who once sought to expedite a crucial agreement in Parliament for the movement of the British fleet to defend against the French. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lord Newcastle, had certain objections, but when Pitt called on the Chancellor endeavouring to resolve the differences, he found the Chancellor distinctly unhappy in bed suffering with gout. The bedroom was freezing, and when Pitt remarked on this, Lord Newcastle replied that the cold weather would hinder the fleet movement, but more particularly that the combination of the cold conditions and the gout would prevent any further discussion of the issue at that time, which Pitt quickly judged to be at the root of the problem.
Begging the Chancellor's pardon, Pitt calmly removed his boots, climbed into bed and drew up the covers apparently there was another bed in the room.. Some years ago the following exchange was broadcast on an Open University sociology TV programme. An interviewer was talking to a female production-line worker in a biscuit factory. The dialogue went like this:.
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I take packets of biscuits off the conveyor belt and put them into cardboard boxes. My thanks to Shirley Moon for this lovely story, who also points out the following lessons within it:. Of course this story is a bit far-fetched given that an egg timer lasts for three whole minutes.. The story goes that a prominent, married, philandering, wealthy politician took advantage of a young female Italian translator during an overseas visit. Shortly after his return home he received a phone call at his office from the woman informing him that she was pregnant and that he was definitely the father.
Seemingly experienced at dealing with such situations, the politician instructed the young woman, "I will arrange for you and the child to be provided for. Do not worry about money. I will pay ten times the typical Italian settlement, but this must be kept secret. He went on, "Don't ever call me again. Send me a postcard with some sort of coded message confirming date of birth, that the child is healthy and whether a boy or girl.
Use your imagination - you are a translator after all. A little under nine months later the politician's wife who was also his PA was opening his mail. When she came to a particular postcard the politician noticed and suddenly became attentive. One afternoon, an old lady, laden with shopping, noticed two small boys on the front step of a house. With their bags and uniforms they were obviously going home after school. They were on tip-toe trying to reach the door-bell with a stick. The surprised boys turned around and screamed "Quick, run!
A tale is told about the Buddha, Gautama BC , the Indian prince and spiritual leader whose teachings founded Buddhism. This short story illustrates that every one of us has the choice whether or not to take personal offence from another person's behaviour. It is said that on an occasion when the Buddha was teaching a group of people, he found himself on the receiving end of a fierce outburst of abuse from a bystander, who was for some reason very angry. The Buddha listened patiently while the stranger vented his rage, and then the Buddha said to the group and to the stranger, "If someone gives a gift to another person, who then chooses to decline it, tell me, who would then own the gift?
The giver or the person who refuses to accept the gift? By our personal response to the abuse from another, we can choose who owns and keeps the bad feelings. Mohandas [Mahatma] Karamchand Gandhi , the great Indian statesman and spiritual leader is noted for his unusual humanity and selflessness, which this story epitomises. Gandhi was boarding a train one day with a number of companions and followers, when his shoe fell from his foot and disappeared in the gap between the train and platform.
Unable to retrieve it, he took off his other shoe and threw it down by the first. Responding to the puzzlement of his fellow travellers, Gandhi explained that a poor person who finds a single shoe is no better off - what's really helpful is finding a pair. Separately, Gandhi was once asked what he thought of Western Civilisation. Great Garbo , the 's Swedish-born film star, demonstrated how to negotiate with a bullying adversary, and particularly the tactic of 'walking away'.
After Garbo had become established as a major star, she decided to negotiate a contract that suitably reflected her considerable box-office value to the producers. Garbo replied simply, in her Swedish-American accent, "I think I go home.. Garbo returned to her hotel and stayed there, not budging, while Mayer stewed - for seven months - at which Mayer eventually caved in and gave Garbo what she asked for.
Interestingly Garbo never actually said, "I want to be alone". There phrase was in fact "I want to be left alone," which her character Grusinskaya said in Garbo's film Grand Hotel. The resonance of the words with Garbo's real life didn't just extend to her negotiating style: The notorious American Wild West bank robber Jesse James was hunted and demonised by the authorities, but was held in high regard by many ordinary folk. Here's an example of why:. The story goes that Jesse James and his gang had taken refuge for a few days in ramshackle farmhouse after one of their raids.
The old widow who lived there fed the men, and apologised for her modest offerings and the poor state of the accommodation. While the gang laid low, they learned from the widow that she faced eviction from her landlord and was expecting a visit from his debt collector any day.
Taking pity on the old lady, as they left, the gang gave her some of the spoils of their robbery to settle her debt - several hundred dollars, which was a small fortune in those days. The gang moved on, but only to a nearby copse, where for a couple more days they watched and waited for the arrival - and departure - of the debt collector, whom they promptly held up and robbed. A zoo had among its animals a female gorilla, whose mood was becoming increasingly difficult.
The vet concluded that she was on heat and that a mate should be found. The vet contacted some other nearby zoos to find a partner for the broody female, but to no avail. The female gorilla's behaviour continued to worsen, but the vet noticed that she grew calmer, and strangely responsive, whenever a particularly well-built and none-too-handsome keeper entered the enclosure.
Being an unprincipled and adventurous fellow, the vet put an outrageous proposition to the keeper: For a fee of five hundred pounds would the keeper consider spending a little 'quality time' with the gorilla, purely in the interests of research of course? The keeper, also an unprincipled and adventurous fellow, pondered the suggestion, and after a few minutes agreed to the offer, subject to three conditions. The vet, intrigued, listened to the keeper's demands:. After twenty-five years in the same parish, Father O'Shaunessey was saying his farewells at his retirement dinner.
An eminent member of the congregation - a leading politician - had been asked to make a presentation and a short speech, but was late arriving. That first confession remains the worst I've ever heard. The chap confessed that he'd stolen a TV set from a neighbour and lied to the police when questioned, successfully blaming it on a local scallywag. He said that he'd stolen money from his parents and from his employer; that he'd had affairs with several of his friends' wives; that he'd taken hard drugs, and had slept with his sister and given her VD.
You can imagine what I thought However I'm pleased to say that as the days passed I soon realised that this sad fellow was a frightful exception and that this parish was indeed a wonderful place full of kind and decent people At this point the politician arrived and apologised for being late, and keen to take the stage, he immediately stepped up to the microphone and pulled his speech from his pocket:.
A school head was alerted by the caretaker to a persistent problem in the girls lavatories: The caretaker had left notices on the toilet walls asking for the practice to cease, but to no avail; every evening the caretaker would wipe away the kisses, and the next day lots more kisses would be planted on the mirror. It had become a bit of a game. The head teacher usually took a creative approach to problem solving, and so the next day she asked a few girl representatives from each class to meet with her in the lavatory. Since , the Homeownership Preservation Foundation HPF has served as a trusted, neutral source of information for more than eight million homeowners.
They are partnered with, and endorsed by, numerous major government agencies, including the U. The mission of the U. Department of Housing and Urban Development HUD is to create strong, sustainable, inclusive communities and quality affordable homes for all. HUD works to strengthen the housing market in order to bolster the economy and protect consumers; meet the need for quality affordable rental homes; utilize housing as a platform for improving quality of life; and build inclusive and sustainable communities free from discrimination.
The Council on Accreditation COA is an international, independent, nonprofit, human service accrediting organization. Their mission is to partner with human service organizations worldwide to improve service delivery outcomes by developing, applying, and promoting accreditation standards. Most Need Help With. Fortunately we can help take away the pain and uncertainty of overwhelming debt. I want to learn how to Step by step instructions on creating a budget that works. Find inspiration in their stories.
Learn about our mission, values, and more. Learn more about our nonprofit services. Consolidation without a loan. Discover the benefits of this budget-friendly debt repayment option. How MMI can serve your unique community. Important money lessons from classic fables By Jesse Campbell. The Miser An old man sells all of his goods for a large lump of gold, which he then proceeds to bury in a hole just outside his property. The Boy and the Hazelnuts The little boy happened upon a large, stone pitcher filled with tasty hazelnuts.
The One-Eyed Doe There was once a doe who had lost an eye.