Recreational Shopping

Recreational shopping could lead to 'consuming crisis': Lots of interesting quotes and tidbits in this short article, but of course I was most into the bits about lifestyle expectations:

"The study also found that 37 per cent of Canadians worried that they wouldn't be able to sustain their current lifestyle in 10 years time, noting they expected to have to tighten their spending habits. Another 24 per cent predicted their lifestyle would be about the same, while 32 per cent said they expected to have more."

Reel Life Wisdom

I got a copy of Doug's (Proactive Living blog) new book before Christmas, Reel Life Wisdom, and I sure have been enjoying it. A simple concept, really -- a collection of inspirational movie quotes organized around important themes -- so you can pick it up any time and open it to something interesting. The supporting web site is turning into an impressive resource by itself, with tons of quotes, articles and mini film reviews accumulating in the archives.

Worldmapper

Worldmapper: Work

For the right kind of person, this site could suck hours and hours of time out of the day. I'm one of those. It's pretty simple -- you choose the measures (work, health, education, poverty, etc) you're interested in and then get to see maps of the world with the relative weight for those measures represented. Hundreds of them.

Thanks to elearnspace for the pointer...

Mind Over Money

Some fascinating concepts and studies in this fairly in-depth article -- Mind over money: Studies indicate cash affects our social interaction. I thought this closing quote from one of the authors of a cited study was most interesting:

"If it's more important to have self-motivation it might be good to have reminders of money," Vohs said. "If group harmony is important, it might be a good idea to keep the idea of money down. People will have to decide what goals are in the best interest."

Update: Another article about the same studies: Mere Thought of Money Makes People Selfish. A quote:

"In a series of nine experiments, researchers found that money enhanced people's motivation to achieve their own goals and degraded their behavior toward others. The concept of money, they suggest, makes a person feel more self-sufficient and thus more apt to stand alone.

The scientists said the study had nothing to do with making a person feel wealthy. When real or fake money, or even a photo of cash, was placed in sight of participants, they became selfish."