Happy Cake Day Edition
Two good updates in a row -something bad must be about to happen š
My daughter and granddaughters made a carrot cake for me this week -and it only took a couple of weeks of whining on my part!
Those red things are cranberries, which worked surprisingly well. Delicious.
Sadly it is all gone now.
Japaniversary
Ran into a friend at jiu-jitsu this morning (yes, I went back today, after five months off!). He’s one of the two remaining people here in Sendai that came here on JET with me, and he reminded me that July 16th is our 22nd Japaniversary. Crazy stuff. I have now spent more than half of my life here.
YouTube
Thank you for your support of the RetireJapan YouTube channel.
Managed to break through my YouTubers block, overcome equipment issues, and make a short video. It’s about that ‘live a rich life on 2m yen a year’ mook from a couple of weeks ago. Enjoy, and of course please like and subscribe -we need all the help we can get!
The Forum
The Forum is doing well (22,283 posts so far). Here are the latest active threads:
This week’s books
I started reading Gene Wolfe’s The Book of the New Sun, and so far I am enjoying it. Reminds me a bit of Iain M. Banks. Only 5% in, so it looks like it might take me another couple of weeks to finish.
Still reading Jeff Bezos’ writing in Invent and Wander too.
This week’s links
I use this website (12ft ladder) that lets you see paywalled articles. So far it seems to work really well, although it doesn’t work on all websites. If you have trouble reading any of the links give it a try!
- Index funds, of course: What Should Long-Term Investors Buy During a Bear Market?
- Tipping points: The Climate Emergency We Worried About is Here – Our āNormalā Climate is Dead
- Pretty gloomy data: Japanās Vulnerability If Thereās A New Recession
- Being happy with what you have is the ultimate life hack: Why the Financial Goalposts Are Always Moving
- This seems like a good investment: We could have universal COVID vaccines very soon ā if we urgently reform the process
- I enjoy Dr John Campbell’s updates: Pandemic record numbers of new infections
- I’m 45, so my investing horizon is 30+ years: Stocks for the long run
- A blog about ‘real’ retirement. Looking forward to reading more! Back to theĀ Future
- Some useful concepts in here: The Binman who is 50% Financially Independent
- Tick tick tick: Wasting Your Most Valuable Asset: Time
What do you think? Anything interesting in there?
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The tipping point is interesting, and it seems that the politicians ignored everything. PM Thatcher mentioned it decades ago in some of her party speeches and saw the writing on the wall for coal. While absolutely vilified by many, if not most, for what she did to the miners, nobody in the UK would seriously think we should start digging up coal.And those same people are wanting coal to be stopped. I wonder, was she far ahead of her time. Her biography is very interesting reading. But we have to ignore the news to some point because they just seem to post doom and gloom and that there is no hope. I remember when Acid rain was a massive problem, as was the ozone layer destruction. Thank god the politicians got there act together. But maybe we need to look for low tech solutions to the crisis, and look to nature.Wether that is reducing concrete, improving cities with green, and maybe an environmental tax to help replace deforested areas in our own countries.
Yeah, it is important not to get overly stressed by things outside of our control. I am concerned and pessimistic about climate change (as it seems no major government is doing anything significant about it) but I don’t let it ruin my day to day.
“”When Manchin sabotages climate change, this is the future generations what’s going on right now,” Sanders said. “In the West, all over the world, weāre looking at significantly increased — more and more heat waves. Youād have to look at more flooding. This is an existential threat to humanity.”
https://www.yahoo.com/gma/sanders-manchin-intentionally-sabotaging-presidents-132625928.html
Well exactly. It is beyond our control as we have air conditioning. Unfortunately, as it intensifies, people in France, uk Germany etc , the aged and young will become physically stressed during these heat waves and sadly will die. Some teenagers have died in the UK due to the heat, and got into trouble in rivers and lakes. But can make a difference by supporting those that do get stressed by them.
#2 All the world needs is Love and ……..lots of Beavers!
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-beaver-emerges-as-a-climate-solving-hero/
Japan could do with Beavers to prevent forest fires, and rewilding in general.