Photo Credit: Chris Whitney
Location: Alabama Hills/Eastern Sierra, looking East at sunset
Without leaps of imagination or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all is a form of planning.
-- Gloria Steinem
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Tibbetts Brook Park in Yonkers, NY
Photo Credit: June Marie Sobrito
Location: Tibbetts Brook Park in Yonkers, NY
You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.
-- Winston Churchill
Barrow Falls Rd. Abbot, ME.
Photo Credit: Tracy Crawford
Location: Barrow Falls Rd. Abbot, ME.
Be as beautiful as you can be, for yourself first, and then to anyone else with enough good sense to see it, too.
-- Maya Angelou
Los Altos, California
Photo Credit: Lydia Joubert
Location: Los Altos, California
Do anything, but let it produce joy. Do anything, but let it yield ecstasy.
-- Henry Miller
Anchorage, Alaska
Photo Credit: Cindy Zackowitz
Location: Anchorage, Alaska
One kind word can warm three winter months.
-- Japanese Proverb
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Quotes
“Imagination is the highest kite that one can fly.” -- Lauren Bacall
“Out of damp and gloomy days, out of solitude, out of loveless words directed at us, conclusions grow up in us like fungus: one morning they are there, we know not how, and they gaze upon us, morose and gray. Woe to the thinker who is not the gardener but only the soil of the plants that grow in him.” -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“Don't dream it, be it.” -- Frankenfurter, Rocky Horror Picture Show
“Let your soul stand cool and composed before a million universes.” -- Walt Whitman
“Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.” John Ruskin
“Out of damp and gloomy days, out of solitude, out of loveless words directed at us, conclusions grow up in us like fungus: one morning they are there, we know not how, and they gaze upon us, morose and gray. Woe to the thinker who is not the gardener but only the soil of the plants that grow in him.” -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“Don't dream it, be it.” -- Frankenfurter, Rocky Horror Picture Show
“Let your soul stand cool and composed before a million universes.” -- Walt Whitman
“Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.” John Ruskin
Words of the Day
Recalcitrant \rih-KAL-sih-truhnt\, adjective:
Stubbornly resistant to and defiant of authority or restraint.
If they lingered too long, Clarice hurried them along in the same annoyed way she rushed recalcitrant goats through the gate.
-- Kaye Gibbons, On the Occasion of My Last Afternoon
Even then it took a sympathetic bankruptcy judge to convince a group of recalcitrant lenders that it was in their best interest to drop their opposition.
-- "So Far So Good", New York Times, May 18, 2009
This recalcitrant fellow was the only dissenter in an otherwise unanimous recommendation.
-- Sherwin B. Nuland, "Indoctrinology", New Republic, February 19, 2001
Cogitate \KOJ-uh-tayt\, intransitive verb:
1. To think deeply or intently; to ponder; to meditate.
2. To think about; to ponder on; to meditate upon; to plan or plot.
As she waited in the prison anteroom to be admitted, Bitsey read background file clippings from NEWS Magazine's morgue and cogitated on the idea of knowing one's exact date of death beforehand.
-- Dewey Gram, The Life of David Gale
Elliot seems to have been a serious type, given to New Year's Eves reading Shakespeare and cogitating on the sermon preached at his grandfather's funeral.
-- James Reaney, "They partied like it's 1899", London Free Press, January 3, 1999
Doc Leach shifted his pipe from one corner of his mouth to the other and blinked a couple of times. That meant he was cogitating.
-- Monty Roberts, The Man Who Listens To Horses
ratiocination \rash-ee-ah-suh-NAY-shun; rash-ee-oh-\, noun:
The process of logical reasoning.
For all their vaunted powers of ratiocination, grand masters of chess tend to be a skittery lot.
-- "People", Time, October 26, 1987
The adventures of Sherlock Holmes proved so popular that it became a given that mystery tales should include a sleuth who investigates a murder or other crime, and by virtue of intelligence, ratiocination and perseverance solves a case that initially seemed unsolvable.
-- Maxim Jakubowski, "A beginner's guide to crime fiction", The Guardian, October 29, 1999
Anticipating Sir Arthur Conan Doyle by more than 20 years, an American physician named John Babbington Williams was scribbling stories extolling the fictional exploits of James Brampton, a New York detective with uncanny gifts of observation and ratiocination.
-- Marilyn Stasio, "Guilt's Companion ", New York Times, December 26, 2008
solicitous \suh-LIS-uh-tuhs\, adjective:
1. Manifesting or expressing care or concern.
2. Full of anxiety or concern; apprehensive.
3. Extremely careful; meticulous.
4. Full of desire; eager.
He does not appear to have suffered from homesickness, although the suspicion that this might have been due to the unsatisfactory nature of his 'home' life seems belied by the tone and content of his letters; he makes frequent and solicitous inquiries after not only Mabel and his mother but also his father.
-- Matthew Sturgis, Aubrey Beardsley: A Biography
She was often solicitous of her daughter's feelings and intense reactions, trying to shield her from emotional trauma.
-- Adrienne Fried Block, Amy Beach, Passionate Victorian
He . . . was excessively solicitous, constantly apologizing for the car's poor suspension, the heat, the state of the roads, and the insane behavior of other drivers.
-- John Case, The Genesis Code
He was also solicitous of my health and would notice when I was tired or under great strain.
-- Cartha D. "Deke" DeLoach, Hoover's FBI
fatuous \FACH-oo-uhs\, adjective:
1. Inanely foolish and unintelligent; stupid.
2. Illusory; delusive.
Publishers persist in the fatuous belief that a little hocus-pocus in the front flap blurb will so dazzle readers that they'll be too dazed to notice the quality of what's on the pages inside.
-- "A night in the city", Irish Times, October 7, 1997
No enquiry, however fatuous or ill informed, failed to receive his full attention, nor was any irrelevant personal information treated as less than engrossing.
-- Michael Palin, Hemingway's Chair
A hundred feet or so below him people were milling around, some of them beginning to look up expectantly. Clearing space for him. Even temporarily calling off the wonderful and completely fatuous hunt for Wockets.
-- Douglas Adams, The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Stubbornly resistant to and defiant of authority or restraint.
If they lingered too long, Clarice hurried them along in the same annoyed way she rushed recalcitrant goats through the gate.
-- Kaye Gibbons, On the Occasion of My Last Afternoon
Even then it took a sympathetic bankruptcy judge to convince a group of recalcitrant lenders that it was in their best interest to drop their opposition.
-- "So Far So Good", New York Times, May 18, 2009
This recalcitrant fellow was the only dissenter in an otherwise unanimous recommendation.
-- Sherwin B. Nuland, "Indoctrinology", New Republic, February 19, 2001
Cogitate \KOJ-uh-tayt\, intransitive verb:
1. To think deeply or intently; to ponder; to meditate.
2. To think about; to ponder on; to meditate upon; to plan or plot.
As she waited in the prison anteroom to be admitted, Bitsey read background file clippings from NEWS Magazine's morgue and cogitated on the idea of knowing one's exact date of death beforehand.
-- Dewey Gram, The Life of David Gale
Elliot seems to have been a serious type, given to New Year's Eves reading Shakespeare and cogitating on the sermon preached at his grandfather's funeral.
-- James Reaney, "They partied like it's 1899", London Free Press, January 3, 1999
Doc Leach shifted his pipe from one corner of his mouth to the other and blinked a couple of times. That meant he was cogitating.
-- Monty Roberts, The Man Who Listens To Horses
ratiocination \rash-ee-ah-suh-NAY-shun; rash-ee-oh-\, noun:
The process of logical reasoning.
For all their vaunted powers of ratiocination, grand masters of chess tend to be a skittery lot.
-- "People", Time, October 26, 1987
The adventures of Sherlock Holmes proved so popular that it became a given that mystery tales should include a sleuth who investigates a murder or other crime, and by virtue of intelligence, ratiocination and perseverance solves a case that initially seemed unsolvable.
-- Maxim Jakubowski, "A beginner's guide to crime fiction", The Guardian, October 29, 1999
Anticipating Sir Arthur Conan Doyle by more than 20 years, an American physician named John Babbington Williams was scribbling stories extolling the fictional exploits of James Brampton, a New York detective with uncanny gifts of observation and ratiocination.
-- Marilyn Stasio, "Guilt's Companion ", New York Times, December 26, 2008
solicitous \suh-LIS-uh-tuhs\, adjective:
1. Manifesting or expressing care or concern.
2. Full of anxiety or concern; apprehensive.
3. Extremely careful; meticulous.
4. Full of desire; eager.
He does not appear to have suffered from homesickness, although the suspicion that this might have been due to the unsatisfactory nature of his 'home' life seems belied by the tone and content of his letters; he makes frequent and solicitous inquiries after not only Mabel and his mother but also his father.
-- Matthew Sturgis, Aubrey Beardsley: A Biography
She was often solicitous of her daughter's feelings and intense reactions, trying to shield her from emotional trauma.
-- Adrienne Fried Block, Amy Beach, Passionate Victorian
He . . . was excessively solicitous, constantly apologizing for the car's poor suspension, the heat, the state of the roads, and the insane behavior of other drivers.
-- John Case, The Genesis Code
He was also solicitous of my health and would notice when I was tired or under great strain.
-- Cartha D. "Deke" DeLoach, Hoover's FBI
fatuous \FACH-oo-uhs\, adjective:
1. Inanely foolish and unintelligent; stupid.
2. Illusory; delusive.
Publishers persist in the fatuous belief that a little hocus-pocus in the front flap blurb will so dazzle readers that they'll be too dazed to notice the quality of what's on the pages inside.
-- "A night in the city", Irish Times, October 7, 1997
No enquiry, however fatuous or ill informed, failed to receive his full attention, nor was any irrelevant personal information treated as less than engrossing.
-- Michael Palin, Hemingway's Chair
A hundred feet or so below him people were milling around, some of them beginning to look up expectantly. Clearing space for him. Even temporarily calling off the wonderful and completely fatuous hunt for Wockets.
-- Douglas Adams, The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
FACT OF THE DAY
Puffer fish
A puffer fish inflates its body with water into a spherical shape in order to defend itself. When the puffer fish is distended, it can barely move, but its spines and size make it practically impossible to attack. When it is lifted out of the water, it can still inflate with air as a defense. In Japan, the puffer fish is called fugu and the meat is considered a delicacy. However, puffer fish contain a highly toxic substance in the liver and intestines, so unless the preparation is done very carefully, the meat can be deadly; about 100 people die annually in Japan from eating puffer fish. The puffer fish is one of the few fish species that can blink and close its eyes. It also goes by the name swellfish or blowfish.
Co-op City
Co-op City, in the Bronx, New York, is the largest cooperative housing complex in the United States. It consists of 15,372 apartments and houses more than 60,000 residents. Co-op City opened on December 10, 1968 with the purpose of keeping middle-class people from moving out of the city and into the suburbs.
Clown
A clown is a character of pantomime and circus, known by the distinctive makeup and costume, ludicrous antics, and buffoonery. The earliest ancestors of the clown flourished in ancient Greece and Rome; they were bald-headed buffoons who performed in farces and mime, parodying the actions of more serious characters and sometimes pelting the spectators with nuts. The clown formed part of the acts of medieval minstrels and jugglers but was not considered a professional comic actor until the late Middle Ages when traveling entertainers imitated the antics of the court jesters. The traditional whiteface makeup of the clown was likely introduced by the character of Pierrot (or Pedrolino), the French clown with a bald head and flour-whitened face who first appeared during the latter part of the 17th century. Coulrophobia is the fear of clowns.
Pineapple
The pineapple is the safest kind of fruit to eat because its thick skin protects it from pesticides, bugs, and surface bacteria. Bananas and mangoes are also safe because of the thickness of their skins. Washing fruit helps eliminate pesticides, but some pesticide residue is absorbed into the flesh of the fruit or plant.
Equatorial Guinea
The small west-central African nation of Equatorial Guinea is the only African nation whose official language is Spanish.
Blood types
Blood typing is the classification of an individual's blood in terms of distinctive inherited antigenic characteristics associated with the red blood cells. Karl Landsteiner, an Austrian-American immunologist and pathologist, developed the ABO blood group system in 1901. Blood group identification has become indispensable in connection with blood transfusion, because the blood groups of recipient and donor must be the same or compatible. The ABO blood group system is broken down into four major groups: type A, type B, type O, and type AB. In the United States, the following population percentages correspond to each blood group: type O - 46%; type A - 40%; type B - 10%; type AB - 4%.
Atmosphere
Without the atmosphere, it would be impossible to live on earth. The atmosphere's layers form a "blanket" around the earth, protecting us from dangerous rays of the sun and from the cold of outer space. The atmosphere contains the air that we breathe, water vapor, and dust. Air contains carbon dioxide and nitrogen, vital for life, and water vapor forms the clouds that bring rain. The atmosphere is held in place by the pull of the earth's gravity and extends to about 1,250 miles above the earth.
Kites
The first flying machine was a kite, flown about 3000 years before people got into the air. A basic kite consists of a frame covered with material, launched and held in the air by the upward push of wind currents but controlled from the ground. The Chinese were flying kites long before the first recorded reference to a wooden bird kite in 500 BC. Kites through time have had religious significance, have been used to estimate distance, and helped Benjamin Franklin prove the electrical nature of lightning.
Contact lenses
A contact lens is an artificial lens designed to fit over the cornea of the eye in order to correct vision. The first contact lenses, invented in 1887 by Adolf Fick, were made of glass and were used to correct astigmatism. It was not until the development of sophisticated optical instruments and plastic materials in 1948 that the modern-day contact lens was invented by Kevin Tuohy.
Cullinan Diamond
Diamond is the world's hardest substance. The largest gem-quality diamond in the world is the Cullinan Diamond, found in 1905 at the Premier Diamond Mining Company in South Africa. In rough-cut form, the Cullinan Diamond weighed 3,106 carats. It has been cut into 9 large stones and over 100 smaller ones, some of which are among the British Crown Jewels.
Dead Sea
The Dead Sea is actually a landlocked salt lake between Israel and Jordan. Its name goes back to about 323 BC. The Dead Sea is the world's saltiest body of water. While no fish can survive in the salty waters, the Dead Sea is not in fact "dead," but contains salt-loving microorganisms that thrive in this environment. The shore of the Dead Sea is also the lowest dry point on the earth's land surface at about 1300 feet below sea level. Salt and other minerals are extracted from the Dead Sea in vast quantities for use in the chemical industry.
A puffer fish inflates its body with water into a spherical shape in order to defend itself. When the puffer fish is distended, it can barely move, but its spines and size make it practically impossible to attack. When it is lifted out of the water, it can still inflate with air as a defense. In Japan, the puffer fish is called fugu and the meat is considered a delicacy. However, puffer fish contain a highly toxic substance in the liver and intestines, so unless the preparation is done very carefully, the meat can be deadly; about 100 people die annually in Japan from eating puffer fish. The puffer fish is one of the few fish species that can blink and close its eyes. It also goes by the name swellfish or blowfish.
Co-op City
Co-op City, in the Bronx, New York, is the largest cooperative housing complex in the United States. It consists of 15,372 apartments and houses more than 60,000 residents. Co-op City opened on December 10, 1968 with the purpose of keeping middle-class people from moving out of the city and into the suburbs.
Clown
A clown is a character of pantomime and circus, known by the distinctive makeup and costume, ludicrous antics, and buffoonery. The earliest ancestors of the clown flourished in ancient Greece and Rome; they were bald-headed buffoons who performed in farces and mime, parodying the actions of more serious characters and sometimes pelting the spectators with nuts. The clown formed part of the acts of medieval minstrels and jugglers but was not considered a professional comic actor until the late Middle Ages when traveling entertainers imitated the antics of the court jesters. The traditional whiteface makeup of the clown was likely introduced by the character of Pierrot (or Pedrolino), the French clown with a bald head and flour-whitened face who first appeared during the latter part of the 17th century. Coulrophobia is the fear of clowns.
Pineapple
The pineapple is the safest kind of fruit to eat because its thick skin protects it from pesticides, bugs, and surface bacteria. Bananas and mangoes are also safe because of the thickness of their skins. Washing fruit helps eliminate pesticides, but some pesticide residue is absorbed into the flesh of the fruit or plant.
Equatorial Guinea
The small west-central African nation of Equatorial Guinea is the only African nation whose official language is Spanish.
Blood types
Blood typing is the classification of an individual's blood in terms of distinctive inherited antigenic characteristics associated with the red blood cells. Karl Landsteiner, an Austrian-American immunologist and pathologist, developed the ABO blood group system in 1901. Blood group identification has become indispensable in connection with blood transfusion, because the blood groups of recipient and donor must be the same or compatible. The ABO blood group system is broken down into four major groups: type A, type B, type O, and type AB. In the United States, the following population percentages correspond to each blood group: type O - 46%; type A - 40%; type B - 10%; type AB - 4%.
Atmosphere
Without the atmosphere, it would be impossible to live on earth. The atmosphere's layers form a "blanket" around the earth, protecting us from dangerous rays of the sun and from the cold of outer space. The atmosphere contains the air that we breathe, water vapor, and dust. Air contains carbon dioxide and nitrogen, vital for life, and water vapor forms the clouds that bring rain. The atmosphere is held in place by the pull of the earth's gravity and extends to about 1,250 miles above the earth.
Kites
The first flying machine was a kite, flown about 3000 years before people got into the air. A basic kite consists of a frame covered with material, launched and held in the air by the upward push of wind currents but controlled from the ground. The Chinese were flying kites long before the first recorded reference to a wooden bird kite in 500 BC. Kites through time have had religious significance, have been used to estimate distance, and helped Benjamin Franklin prove the electrical nature of lightning.
Contact lenses
A contact lens is an artificial lens designed to fit over the cornea of the eye in order to correct vision. The first contact lenses, invented in 1887 by Adolf Fick, were made of glass and were used to correct astigmatism. It was not until the development of sophisticated optical instruments and plastic materials in 1948 that the modern-day contact lens was invented by Kevin Tuohy.
Cullinan Diamond
Diamond is the world's hardest substance. The largest gem-quality diamond in the world is the Cullinan Diamond, found in 1905 at the Premier Diamond Mining Company in South Africa. In rough-cut form, the Cullinan Diamond weighed 3,106 carats. It has been cut into 9 large stones and over 100 smaller ones, some of which are among the British Crown Jewels.
Dead Sea
The Dead Sea is actually a landlocked salt lake between Israel and Jordan. Its name goes back to about 323 BC. The Dead Sea is the world's saltiest body of water. While no fish can survive in the salty waters, the Dead Sea is not in fact "dead," but contains salt-loving microorganisms that thrive in this environment. The shore of the Dead Sea is also the lowest dry point on the earth's land surface at about 1300 feet below sea level. Salt and other minerals are extracted from the Dead Sea in vast quantities for use in the chemical industry.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
New Words
bonhomie \bah-nuh-MEE\, noun:
A good nature; pleasant and easy manner.
That bonhomie which won the hearts of all who knew him.
-- Washington Irving, Oliver Goldsmith
And what of the salesman's fabled bonhomie, the Willy Lomanesque emphasis on the importance of being liked?
-- "How to Manage Salespeople", Fortune, March 14, 1988
I would carefully study the exploits of positive role models like Peter Gabriel, Jimmy Carter, and Alec Baldwin, and attempt to emulate their radiant bonhomie.
-- Joe Queenan, My Goodness: A Cynic's Short-Lived Search for Sainthood
Nonplus \non-PLUHS\, transitive verb:
To cause to be at a loss as to what to think, say, or do; to confound; to perplex; to bewilder.
Mr Esswis had promptly negotiated an arrangement between himself, the owner of the sprayer and the owner of the sheep, nonplussing the other two farmers by accepting full blame of the straying animal, as long as unpleasantness and paperwork could be avoided.
-- Michel Faber, Under the Skin: A Novel
I told him that to many people she is one of the best sculptors alive, but he seemed nonplussed by the thought.
-- Jed Perl, Eyewitness: Reports from an Art World in Crisis
She had grown a good deal in the last six months, and an amount of thinking had gone on in that young head which would have astonished him greatly could he have known it all, for Rose was one of the children who observe and meditate much, and now and then nonplus their friends by a wise or curious remark.
-- Louisa May Alcott, Eight Cousins
gallimaufry \gal-uh-MAW-free\, noun:
A hodgepodge; jumble; confused medley.
Today bilingual programs are conducted in a gallimaufry of around 80 tongues, ranging from Spanish to Lithuanian to Micronesian Yapese.
-- Ezra Bowen, "For Learning or Ethnic Pride?", Time, July 8, 1985
We have the same eyes dark and chestnut hair. But I am a lame gallimaufry and she remains perfect.
-- Barbara Kingsolver, The Poisonwood Bible
Maran reports the daily jostlings and thrivings in a public school with 3,200 students, 185 teachers, 45 languages, a principal and five vice principals, five safety monitors, 62 sports teams and a gallimaufry of alternative programs, clubs and cliques.
-- Colman McCarthy, "A Writer Goes Back to School", Washington Post, August 20, 2001
Gallimaufry, originally meaning "a hash of various kinds of meats," comes from French galimafrée, from Old French, from galer, "to rejoice, to make merry" (source of English gala) + mafrer, "to eat much," from Medieval Dutch maffelen, "to open one's mouth wide."
roborant \ROB-uh-ruhnt\, adjective:
1. Strengthening; restoring vigor.
noun:
1. A strengthening medicine; a tonic; a restorative.
A major field study of the effect of pollen extracts on the common cold and its roborant . . . effects in 775 Swedish military recruits did not give unequivocal results in relation to the prophylactic effect of the preparation used against the common cold.
-- James P. Carter, Racketeering in Medicine
That day, I felt the need of a roborant after my ghost-ridden night, and I swigged down two doses.
-- William Least Heat Moon, River Horse
Roborant derives from the present participle of Latin roborare, "to strengthen," from robur, roboris, "strength."
myrmidon \MUR-muh-don; -duhn\, noun:
1. (Capitalized) A member of a warlike Thessalian people who followed Achilles on the expedition against Troy.
2. A loyal follower, especially one who executes orders without question.
He risked assassination, torture or . . . retaliation, the defining signatures of Mr. Milosevic and his ultranationalist myrmidons.
-- Bruce Fein, "Follow U.S. war crimes advice?", Washington Times, May 10, 2001
I felt quite sure that the myrmidon on duty in Gadsby Row would tell you all about my visit.
-- Georgette Heyer, Behold, Here's Poison
The best hotel, and all its culinary myrmidons, were set to work to prepare the feast.
-- Charles Dickens, Little Dorrit
intrepid \in-TREP-id\, adjective:
Fearless; bold; brave; undaunted; courageous; as, an intrepid soldier; intrepid spirit.
But the stubborn descendants of the twenty-one intrepid people who plowed through the mountains in search of the sea to the west avoided the reefs of the melodic mixup and dancing went on until dawn.
-- Gabriel Garcia Marquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude
Not as energetically, certainly, as Walt-- who was intrepid, who flung his body into every new circumstance with faith and grace and with temerity.
-- John Irving, The World According to Garp
Britain's World War I-era prime minister, David Lloyd George, whom Jones had once served as an aide, said the intrepid journalist might have been killed because he "knew too much of what was going on."
-- Associated Press, "Diary That Helped Expose Stalin's Famine Displayed", New York Times, November 13, 2009
malleable \MAL-ee-uh-buhl\, adjective:
1. Capable of being extended or shaped by beating with a hammer, or by the pressure of rollers; -- applied to metals.
2. Capable of being altered or controlled by outside forces; easily influenced.
3. Capable of adjusting to changing circumstances; adaptable.
His image for his own imagination is the acid, the catalyst, that is mixed in to make the gold malleable, and is then wiped away.
-- "Nothing is too wonderful to be true", Times (London), June 7, 2000
The natives proved less malleable and far less innocent than the Europeans imagined, so much so that early colonial history is filled with countless stories of monks who met hideous deaths at the hands of their flocks.
-- Juan Gonzalez, Harvest of Empire
I think his request was just a vainglorious way of expressing the basic belief of behaviorism: that children are malleable and that it is their environment, not innate qualities such as talent or temperament, that determines their destiny.
-- Judith Rich Harris, The Nurture Assumption
rusticate \RUHS-tih-kayt\, intransitive verb:
1. To go into or reside in the country; to pursue a rustic life.
transitive verb:
1. To require or compel to reside in the country; to banish or send away temporarily.
2. (Chiefly British). To suspend from school or college.
3. To build with usually rough-surfaced masonry blocks having beveled or rebated edges producing pronounced joints.
4. To lend a rustic character to; to cause to become rustic.
Ezra holds out in London, and refuses to rusticate.
-- T. S. Eliot to Conrad Aiken, "21 August 1916", The Letters of T. S. Eliot: Volume I, 1898-1922 edited by Valerie Eliot
For the longest time, we're stuck in a cabin hewn out of the ground in a parcel of woods as the boys hide and mend; for another, we rusticate on a farm bounded by fields that must be tilled by the hard labor of man and beast.
-- Stephen Hunter, "When Johnny Doesn't Come Marching Home", Washington Post, December 17, 1999
Czechoslovak Communists would imprison or rusticate those who had been active in the Prague Spring.
-- Charles S. Maier, Dissolution
provender \PROV-uhn-duhr\, noun:
1. Dry food for domestic animals, such as hay, straw, corn, oats, or a mixture of ground grain; feed.
2. Food or provisions.
It turns out that he and thousands of other German immigrants have been acting as pre-invasion intelligence-gatherers, ensuring that "the German Army knew almost to a bale of hay what provender lay between London and the coast."
-- Niall Ferguson, The Pity of War
Frances Trollope, Captain Marryat, Colonel Basil Hall and Charles Dickens in 1842 all commented on the way Americans wolfed down their provender as fast as possible, cramming the cornbread in their sloppy maws and, worse, doing so in grim silence, punctuated only by the noise of slurps, grunts; scraping knives and hacking coughs.
-- Simon Schama, "Them and US", The Guardian, March 29, 2003
benison \BEN-uh-suhn; -zuhn\, noun:
Blessing; benediction.
In the beginning, Gibran's small estate was worth some $50,000, benison enough for a village of ten thousand souls.
-- Stefan Kanfer, "But is it not strange that elephants will yield -- and that The Prophet is still popular?", New York Times, June 25, 1972
Yet to be with him was a benison, a curiously exhilarating and anarchic experience, as the lightning celerity of his thought processes took you on a kind of helter-skelter ride of surreal non-sequiturs, sudden accesses of emotion and ribald asides, made all the more bizarre for being uttered in those honeyed tones by the impeccably elegant gent before you.
-- Simon Callow, "A life full of frolics", The Guardian, May 19, 2001
martinet \mar-t'n-ET\, noun:
1. A strict disciplinarian.
2. One who lays stress on a rigid adherence to the details of forms and methods.
His insistence on strict discipline began to earn him a reputation among his men as an unfeeling martinet.
-- Michiko Kakutani, "Still Pondering the Myth Of Custer's Last Stand", New York Times, May 28, 1996
At first, the recruits hate and fear the sergeant, but gradually they come to realize that he's been turning them into soldiers. It is the example of this unlovable martinet, not the "Good Joe" who replaces him, that will help them survive in combat.
-- Anthony Quinn, "Revolutionary Dead Ends", New York Times, April 29, 2001
Players coached by him have cursed the day they ever set sight on such a merciless martinet.
-- Gerry Thornley, "Chief architect oversees grand plan", Irish Times, February 19, 2000
affable \AF-uh-buhl\, adjective:
1. Easy to speak to; receiving others kindly and conversing with them in a free and friendly manner.
2. Gracious; benign.
Nonetheless, in view of the fact that Leon stated in the warrant that I was good-looking, cheerful and affable, they exhorted me to make myself appear to be taciturn, melancholy and ugly.
-- Susana Rotker (Editor), The Memoirs of Fray Servando Teresa De Mier
Johnny's father, while strict with his children, usually was affable and relaxed.
-- Paul C. Nagel, John Quincy Adams
There was even more joking than usual Saturday afternoon; he seemed to be in a particularly affable mood.
-- "Presley Treats Fans to His Best", New York Times, July 21, 1975
A good nature; pleasant and easy manner.
That bonhomie which won the hearts of all who knew him.
-- Washington Irving, Oliver Goldsmith
And what of the salesman's fabled bonhomie, the Willy Lomanesque emphasis on the importance of being liked?
-- "How to Manage Salespeople", Fortune, March 14, 1988
I would carefully study the exploits of positive role models like Peter Gabriel, Jimmy Carter, and Alec Baldwin, and attempt to emulate their radiant bonhomie.
-- Joe Queenan, My Goodness: A Cynic's Short-Lived Search for Sainthood
Nonplus \non-PLUHS\, transitive verb:
To cause to be at a loss as to what to think, say, or do; to confound; to perplex; to bewilder.
Mr Esswis had promptly negotiated an arrangement between himself, the owner of the sprayer and the owner of the sheep, nonplussing the other two farmers by accepting full blame of the straying animal, as long as unpleasantness and paperwork could be avoided.
-- Michel Faber, Under the Skin: A Novel
I told him that to many people she is one of the best sculptors alive, but he seemed nonplussed by the thought.
-- Jed Perl, Eyewitness: Reports from an Art World in Crisis
She had grown a good deal in the last six months, and an amount of thinking had gone on in that young head which would have astonished him greatly could he have known it all, for Rose was one of the children who observe and meditate much, and now and then nonplus their friends by a wise or curious remark.
-- Louisa May Alcott, Eight Cousins
gallimaufry \gal-uh-MAW-free\, noun:
A hodgepodge; jumble; confused medley.
Today bilingual programs are conducted in a gallimaufry of around 80 tongues, ranging from Spanish to Lithuanian to Micronesian Yapese.
-- Ezra Bowen, "For Learning or Ethnic Pride?", Time, July 8, 1985
We have the same eyes dark and chestnut hair. But I am a lame gallimaufry and she remains perfect.
-- Barbara Kingsolver, The Poisonwood Bible
Maran reports the daily jostlings and thrivings in a public school with 3,200 students, 185 teachers, 45 languages, a principal and five vice principals, five safety monitors, 62 sports teams and a gallimaufry of alternative programs, clubs and cliques.
-- Colman McCarthy, "A Writer Goes Back to School", Washington Post, August 20, 2001
Gallimaufry, originally meaning "a hash of various kinds of meats," comes from French galimafrée, from Old French, from galer, "to rejoice, to make merry" (source of English gala) + mafrer, "to eat much," from Medieval Dutch maffelen, "to open one's mouth wide."
roborant \ROB-uh-ruhnt\, adjective:
1. Strengthening; restoring vigor.
noun:
1. A strengthening medicine; a tonic; a restorative.
A major field study of the effect of pollen extracts on the common cold and its roborant . . . effects in 775 Swedish military recruits did not give unequivocal results in relation to the prophylactic effect of the preparation used against the common cold.
-- James P. Carter, Racketeering in Medicine
That day, I felt the need of a roborant after my ghost-ridden night, and I swigged down two doses.
-- William Least Heat Moon, River Horse
Roborant derives from the present participle of Latin roborare, "to strengthen," from robur, roboris, "strength."
myrmidon \MUR-muh-don; -duhn\, noun:
1. (Capitalized) A member of a warlike Thessalian people who followed Achilles on the expedition against Troy.
2. A loyal follower, especially one who executes orders without question.
He risked assassination, torture or . . . retaliation, the defining signatures of Mr. Milosevic and his ultranationalist myrmidons.
-- Bruce Fein, "Follow U.S. war crimes advice?", Washington Times, May 10, 2001
I felt quite sure that the myrmidon on duty in Gadsby Row would tell you all about my visit.
-- Georgette Heyer, Behold, Here's Poison
The best hotel, and all its culinary myrmidons, were set to work to prepare the feast.
-- Charles Dickens, Little Dorrit
intrepid \in-TREP-id\, adjective:
Fearless; bold; brave; undaunted; courageous; as, an intrepid soldier; intrepid spirit.
But the stubborn descendants of the twenty-one intrepid people who plowed through the mountains in search of the sea to the west avoided the reefs of the melodic mixup and dancing went on until dawn.
-- Gabriel Garcia Marquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude
Not as energetically, certainly, as Walt-- who was intrepid, who flung his body into every new circumstance with faith and grace and with temerity.
-- John Irving, The World According to Garp
Britain's World War I-era prime minister, David Lloyd George, whom Jones had once served as an aide, said the intrepid journalist might have been killed because he "knew too much of what was going on."
-- Associated Press, "Diary That Helped Expose Stalin's Famine Displayed", New York Times, November 13, 2009
malleable \MAL-ee-uh-buhl\, adjective:
1. Capable of being extended or shaped by beating with a hammer, or by the pressure of rollers; -- applied to metals.
2. Capable of being altered or controlled by outside forces; easily influenced.
3. Capable of adjusting to changing circumstances; adaptable.
His image for his own imagination is the acid, the catalyst, that is mixed in to make the gold malleable, and is then wiped away.
-- "Nothing is too wonderful to be true", Times (London), June 7, 2000
The natives proved less malleable and far less innocent than the Europeans imagined, so much so that early colonial history is filled with countless stories of monks who met hideous deaths at the hands of their flocks.
-- Juan Gonzalez, Harvest of Empire
I think his request was just a vainglorious way of expressing the basic belief of behaviorism: that children are malleable and that it is their environment, not innate qualities such as talent or temperament, that determines their destiny.
-- Judith Rich Harris, The Nurture Assumption
rusticate \RUHS-tih-kayt\, intransitive verb:
1. To go into or reside in the country; to pursue a rustic life.
transitive verb:
1. To require or compel to reside in the country; to banish or send away temporarily.
2. (Chiefly British). To suspend from school or college.
3. To build with usually rough-surfaced masonry blocks having beveled or rebated edges producing pronounced joints.
4. To lend a rustic character to; to cause to become rustic.
Ezra holds out in London, and refuses to rusticate.
-- T. S. Eliot to Conrad Aiken, "21 August 1916", The Letters of T. S. Eliot: Volume I, 1898-1922 edited by Valerie Eliot
For the longest time, we're stuck in a cabin hewn out of the ground in a parcel of woods as the boys hide and mend; for another, we rusticate on a farm bounded by fields that must be tilled by the hard labor of man and beast.
-- Stephen Hunter, "When Johnny Doesn't Come Marching Home", Washington Post, December 17, 1999
Czechoslovak Communists would imprison or rusticate those who had been active in the Prague Spring.
-- Charles S. Maier, Dissolution
provender \PROV-uhn-duhr\, noun:
1. Dry food for domestic animals, such as hay, straw, corn, oats, or a mixture of ground grain; feed.
2. Food or provisions.
It turns out that he and thousands of other German immigrants have been acting as pre-invasion intelligence-gatherers, ensuring that "the German Army knew almost to a bale of hay what provender lay between London and the coast."
-- Niall Ferguson, The Pity of War
Frances Trollope, Captain Marryat, Colonel Basil Hall and Charles Dickens in 1842 all commented on the way Americans wolfed down their provender as fast as possible, cramming the cornbread in their sloppy maws and, worse, doing so in grim silence, punctuated only by the noise of slurps, grunts; scraping knives and hacking coughs.
-- Simon Schama, "Them and US", The Guardian, March 29, 2003
benison \BEN-uh-suhn; -zuhn\, noun:
Blessing; benediction.
In the beginning, Gibran's small estate was worth some $50,000, benison enough for a village of ten thousand souls.
-- Stefan Kanfer, "But is it not strange that elephants will yield -- and that The Prophet is still popular?", New York Times, June 25, 1972
Yet to be with him was a benison, a curiously exhilarating and anarchic experience, as the lightning celerity of his thought processes took you on a kind of helter-skelter ride of surreal non-sequiturs, sudden accesses of emotion and ribald asides, made all the more bizarre for being uttered in those honeyed tones by the impeccably elegant gent before you.
-- Simon Callow, "A life full of frolics", The Guardian, May 19, 2001
martinet \mar-t'n-ET\, noun:
1. A strict disciplinarian.
2. One who lays stress on a rigid adherence to the details of forms and methods.
His insistence on strict discipline began to earn him a reputation among his men as an unfeeling martinet.
-- Michiko Kakutani, "Still Pondering the Myth Of Custer's Last Stand", New York Times, May 28, 1996
At first, the recruits hate and fear the sergeant, but gradually they come to realize that he's been turning them into soldiers. It is the example of this unlovable martinet, not the "Good Joe" who replaces him, that will help them survive in combat.
-- Anthony Quinn, "Revolutionary Dead Ends", New York Times, April 29, 2001
Players coached by him have cursed the day they ever set sight on such a merciless martinet.
-- Gerry Thornley, "Chief architect oversees grand plan", Irish Times, February 19, 2000
affable \AF-uh-buhl\, adjective:
1. Easy to speak to; receiving others kindly and conversing with them in a free and friendly manner.
2. Gracious; benign.
Nonetheless, in view of the fact that Leon stated in the warrant that I was good-looking, cheerful and affable, they exhorted me to make myself appear to be taciturn, melancholy and ugly.
-- Susana Rotker (Editor), The Memoirs of Fray Servando Teresa De Mier
Johnny's father, while strict with his children, usually was affable and relaxed.
-- Paul C. Nagel, John Quincy Adams
There was even more joking than usual Saturday afternoon; he seemed to be in a particularly affable mood.
-- "Presley Treats Fans to His Best", New York Times, July 21, 1975
Quotes
That’s all you can do. Good luck! Smile.
“Wisdom too often never comes, and so one ought not to reject it merely because it comes late.” -- Felix Frankfurter
“Mere communion with nature, mere contact with the free air, exercise a soothing yet comforting and strengthening influence on the wearied mind, calm the storm of passion, and soften the heart when shaken by sorrow to its inmost depths.”
-- Alexander von Humboldt
“Every man and woman is born into the world to do something unique and something distinctive and if he or she does not do it, it will never be done.” -- Benjamin E. Mays
“Never regret. If it's good, it's wonderful. If it's bad, it's experience.” -- Victoria Holt
“Is not the sky a father and the earth a mother, and are not all living things with feet or wings or roots their children?” -- Black Elk
“Treasure this day and treasure yourself. Truly, neither will ever happen again.”
Ray Bradbury
“When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around.” Willie Nelson
“Gratitude is the memory of the heart.” -- Jean Baptiste Massieu
“If you can't fly then run, if you can't run the walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.” Martin Luther King Jr
“Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”
George Bernard Shaw
“Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love." Lao Tzu
“Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.”
-- Thomas H. Huxley
“Wisdom too often never comes, and so one ought not to reject it merely because it comes late.” -- Felix Frankfurter
“Mere communion with nature, mere contact with the free air, exercise a soothing yet comforting and strengthening influence on the wearied mind, calm the storm of passion, and soften the heart when shaken by sorrow to its inmost depths.”
-- Alexander von Humboldt
“Every man and woman is born into the world to do something unique and something distinctive and if he or she does not do it, it will never be done.” -- Benjamin E. Mays
“Never regret. If it's good, it's wonderful. If it's bad, it's experience.” -- Victoria Holt
“Is not the sky a father and the earth a mother, and are not all living things with feet or wings or roots their children?” -- Black Elk
“Treasure this day and treasure yourself. Truly, neither will ever happen again.”
Ray Bradbury
“When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around.” Willie Nelson
“Gratitude is the memory of the heart.” -- Jean Baptiste Massieu
“If you can't fly then run, if you can't run the walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.” Martin Luther King Jr
“Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”
George Bernard Shaw
“Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love." Lao Tzu
“Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.”
-- Thomas H. Huxley
To Act Like the Rich, Be Frugal
Sheyna Steiner
Friday, December 4, 2009
This article is part of a series related to being Financially Fit
If you want to be rich, you need to stop acting like you have money in the bank and start living beneath your means. That's the message in the most recent book from Thomas J. Stanley, author of "The Millionaire Mind" and the "The Millionaire Next Door."
Bankrate asked Stanley to explain what's fueling America's hyper-consumptive ways and unquenchable thirst for top-shelf brand vodka -- among other indulgences.
Q: In your book "Stop Acting Rich...and Start Living like a Real Millionaire," you say that rich people don't necessarily act the way that the rest of us might think they do. In fact, millionaires are more likely to be extremely frugal. Why is that?
A: There are many factors that explain frugality among the rich.
First, their parents tended to be not only frugal, but well-disciplined. Most millionaires today came from middle-class backgrounds. Their parents were not wealthy, but somewhat comfortable. Millionaires tell me that they never felt embarrassed by where they lived or the type of home they had. To a considerable degree, it is the uniquely American upward socioeconomic mobility that fuels much of the hyper-consuming engine of the market for luxury goods, prestige products, upscale brands, expensive homes and so on.
Beyond income, one's vocation has much to do with accumulating wealth. Educators, engineers, business owners and retail store managers have a tendency to live below their means and to be quite efficient in transforming their income into wealth.
It is the home/neighborhood environment that most explains one's ability to accumulate wealth. It may be useful for people to understand that there are 1,138,070 millionaire households living in homes valued under $300,000. This is far more than the 403,211 who live in homes valued at $1 million or more.
Q: You describe different levels of wealth in the book. There are the glittering rich, the income (statement) affluent and the balance sheet affluent.
A: The glittering rich make up a small fraction of 1 percent of the household population. They have a minimum annual household income of seven figures and a net worth of eight figures and more. They are extremely wealthy people, and they spend accordingly.
But, as I said in "Stop Acting Rich," no matter what they spend their money on, it is just a fraction of their overall net worth. In other words, even the glittering rich spend below their means. There are no more than 80,000 glittering rich households in a nation of more than 115,000,000 households.
The income statement affluent are those with high incomes and relatively low levels of net worth. They are not very productive in transforming their incomes into wealth. Many of the people in this category are highly compensated physicians, attorneys and executives. Many are driven to hyper-consume by their need to display high social status.
Farmers are found in high concentrations among the segment I refer to as balance sheet affluent. The balance sheet affluent are highly productive at transforming their income into wealth.
Among the most productive of this group are educators, engineers, owners of small businesses, and as mentioned, farmers.
Q: Who is buying most of the top-shelf brand vodkas, extravagant cars and homes and why?
A: The question of "who" really has two answers.
Status products and homes are more likely purchased by people who have higher incomes. Look at three socioeconomic measures: net worth or wealth, household income and the market value of a home. Which of these variables is best at predicting consumption of the items mentioned? The value of a home ranks first, income ranks second and wealth ranks third.
Again, while it is true that the people at the upper level of these measures have a higher propensity to consume prestige products, it is not necessarily the most significant market.
For example, most prestige makes of cars -- 86 percent -- are driven by nonmillionaires. Yes, people with very high incomes, high levels of wealth are more likely to drive status automobiles. But in sheer numbers, the largest consumer segment for pricey cars, vodkas and homes is not the millionaire population, it is the aspirationals. These are people who think they are acting rich via their adoption of prestige brands, but in most cases they are only acting like each other.
Why do these people act this way? In large part, they are trying to imitate economically successful people. They take their cues from Hollywood and the advertising industry. The problem is that most aspirationals know few, if any, really wealthy to emulate.
Would they still continue to drive prestige makes of cars if they knew that the No. 1 make of automobile among millionaires is the Toyota? Along these lines, would they still crave living in a $1 million home when they find out that nearly three times more millionaires live in homes valued at under $300,000 than live in those valued at $1 million or more?
Q: Should financial freedom be everyone's ultimate goal, and where does that leave the people whose life goals are simply to have some of the trappings of wealth, such as the nice house in the tony suburb and a European sports car?
A: America is often referred to as the land of the free. But most people in this country are not really free. They are tied to debt and a treadmill existence in terms of earning a living.
At this moment, our federal government has promised future social benefits in excess of $50 trillion. That figure is approximately the same amount of the total personal wealth held by Americans.
In the future, it is very likely that the government will not be able to provide the promised social benefits to our seniors. The typical household in the United States has a net worth of just over $90,000. That is about the same annual cost of a decent quality nursing home.
Also, if home equity and equity in motor vehicles is netted out of the $90,000, then the typical household's net worth drops down to about $30,000. That is only about 60 percent of the typical household's annual income. Therefore, it should be everyone's goal to provide for their economic future by being fiscally responsible.
Otherwise, what will happen when millions of seniors are no longer able to work and have little or no wealth accumulated? Many of them will become completely dependent upon their adult children or become destitute. The money that they spent on the trappings of wealth yesterday (the house in a tony suburb or a European sports car) will not pay for tomorrow's food, clothing and shelter (possibly a nursing home).
Q: How do you recommend that people become prosperous if they would prefer to get off the consumer treadmill?
A: The simplest way is to live below one's means.
The typical household should be able to put away 5 percent of their annual income while they are in their 30s, 10 percent when they are in their 40s, and 20 percent when they are in their 50s.
This is also related to satisfaction with life overall. There is a highly significant correlation between satisfaction in life and living in a home and neighborhood which are easily affordable.
What is a good rule if you are determined to become wealthy?
The market value of the home you purchase should be less than three times your household's total annual realized income. Also, if you are not yet wealthy, but want to be someday, never purchase a home that requires a mortgage that is more than twice your household's annual realized income.
Q: Do you have a sense that American consumer values are shifting from aspirational luxury purchases that seemed to be heavily marketed in the early 2000's asset bubble days to more frugal ones?
A: No, I don't think that the values are shifting.
The only reason that people aren't spending as much as they did prior to the current economic meltdown is that they don't have as much money to spend right now. We are a nation of hyper-consumers. We encourage our children to major in consumption and minor in frugality!
The smartest people in the world are in the marketing and advertising industries in this country. How else can you explain that 300 different brands of vodka coexist in our domestic market? In 2009, about 2.3 million American seniors will pass away. What did they do with the more than $2 trillion in income that they earned in their lifetimes?
I estimate that only 2.3 percent will leave behind a gross estate (all assets included) of $1 million or more. What did the other 97.7 percent of the decedents do with all of their income? If they did not save their income, invest it or allocate it to things that appreciate, where did the money go?
Beyond the basic necessities, an awful lot of it was spent on things, many things that now reside in landfills and thrift shops. We are and will continue to be a culture of hyper-consumption.
Friday, December 4, 2009
This article is part of a series related to being Financially Fit
If you want to be rich, you need to stop acting like you have money in the bank and start living beneath your means. That's the message in the most recent book from Thomas J. Stanley, author of "The Millionaire Mind" and the "The Millionaire Next Door."
Bankrate asked Stanley to explain what's fueling America's hyper-consumptive ways and unquenchable thirst for top-shelf brand vodka -- among other indulgences.
Q: In your book "Stop Acting Rich...and Start Living like a Real Millionaire," you say that rich people don't necessarily act the way that the rest of us might think they do. In fact, millionaires are more likely to be extremely frugal. Why is that?
A: There are many factors that explain frugality among the rich.
First, their parents tended to be not only frugal, but well-disciplined. Most millionaires today came from middle-class backgrounds. Their parents were not wealthy, but somewhat comfortable. Millionaires tell me that they never felt embarrassed by where they lived or the type of home they had. To a considerable degree, it is the uniquely American upward socioeconomic mobility that fuels much of the hyper-consuming engine of the market for luxury goods, prestige products, upscale brands, expensive homes and so on.
Beyond income, one's vocation has much to do with accumulating wealth. Educators, engineers, business owners and retail store managers have a tendency to live below their means and to be quite efficient in transforming their income into wealth.
It is the home/neighborhood environment that most explains one's ability to accumulate wealth. It may be useful for people to understand that there are 1,138,070 millionaire households living in homes valued under $300,000. This is far more than the 403,211 who live in homes valued at $1 million or more.
Q: You describe different levels of wealth in the book. There are the glittering rich, the income (statement) affluent and the balance sheet affluent.
A: The glittering rich make up a small fraction of 1 percent of the household population. They have a minimum annual household income of seven figures and a net worth of eight figures and more. They are extremely wealthy people, and they spend accordingly.
But, as I said in "Stop Acting Rich," no matter what they spend their money on, it is just a fraction of their overall net worth. In other words, even the glittering rich spend below their means. There are no more than 80,000 glittering rich households in a nation of more than 115,000,000 households.
The income statement affluent are those with high incomes and relatively low levels of net worth. They are not very productive in transforming their incomes into wealth. Many of the people in this category are highly compensated physicians, attorneys and executives. Many are driven to hyper-consume by their need to display high social status.
Farmers are found in high concentrations among the segment I refer to as balance sheet affluent. The balance sheet affluent are highly productive at transforming their income into wealth.
Among the most productive of this group are educators, engineers, owners of small businesses, and as mentioned, farmers.
Q: Who is buying most of the top-shelf brand vodkas, extravagant cars and homes and why?
A: The question of "who" really has two answers.
Status products and homes are more likely purchased by people who have higher incomes. Look at three socioeconomic measures: net worth or wealth, household income and the market value of a home. Which of these variables is best at predicting consumption of the items mentioned? The value of a home ranks first, income ranks second and wealth ranks third.
Again, while it is true that the people at the upper level of these measures have a higher propensity to consume prestige products, it is not necessarily the most significant market.
For example, most prestige makes of cars -- 86 percent -- are driven by nonmillionaires. Yes, people with very high incomes, high levels of wealth are more likely to drive status automobiles. But in sheer numbers, the largest consumer segment for pricey cars, vodkas and homes is not the millionaire population, it is the aspirationals. These are people who think they are acting rich via their adoption of prestige brands, but in most cases they are only acting like each other.
Why do these people act this way? In large part, they are trying to imitate economically successful people. They take their cues from Hollywood and the advertising industry. The problem is that most aspirationals know few, if any, really wealthy to emulate.
Would they still continue to drive prestige makes of cars if they knew that the No. 1 make of automobile among millionaires is the Toyota? Along these lines, would they still crave living in a $1 million home when they find out that nearly three times more millionaires live in homes valued at under $300,000 than live in those valued at $1 million or more?
Q: Should financial freedom be everyone's ultimate goal, and where does that leave the people whose life goals are simply to have some of the trappings of wealth, such as the nice house in the tony suburb and a European sports car?
A: America is often referred to as the land of the free. But most people in this country are not really free. They are tied to debt and a treadmill existence in terms of earning a living.
At this moment, our federal government has promised future social benefits in excess of $50 trillion. That figure is approximately the same amount of the total personal wealth held by Americans.
In the future, it is very likely that the government will not be able to provide the promised social benefits to our seniors. The typical household in the United States has a net worth of just over $90,000. That is about the same annual cost of a decent quality nursing home.
Also, if home equity and equity in motor vehicles is netted out of the $90,000, then the typical household's net worth drops down to about $30,000. That is only about 60 percent of the typical household's annual income. Therefore, it should be everyone's goal to provide for their economic future by being fiscally responsible.
Otherwise, what will happen when millions of seniors are no longer able to work and have little or no wealth accumulated? Many of them will become completely dependent upon their adult children or become destitute. The money that they spent on the trappings of wealth yesterday (the house in a tony suburb or a European sports car) will not pay for tomorrow's food, clothing and shelter (possibly a nursing home).
Q: How do you recommend that people become prosperous if they would prefer to get off the consumer treadmill?
A: The simplest way is to live below one's means.
The typical household should be able to put away 5 percent of their annual income while they are in their 30s, 10 percent when they are in their 40s, and 20 percent when they are in their 50s.
This is also related to satisfaction with life overall. There is a highly significant correlation between satisfaction in life and living in a home and neighborhood which are easily affordable.
What is a good rule if you are determined to become wealthy?
The market value of the home you purchase should be less than three times your household's total annual realized income. Also, if you are not yet wealthy, but want to be someday, never purchase a home that requires a mortgage that is more than twice your household's annual realized income.
Q: Do you have a sense that American consumer values are shifting from aspirational luxury purchases that seemed to be heavily marketed in the early 2000's asset bubble days to more frugal ones?
A: No, I don't think that the values are shifting.
The only reason that people aren't spending as much as they did prior to the current economic meltdown is that they don't have as much money to spend right now. We are a nation of hyper-consumers. We encourage our children to major in consumption and minor in frugality!
The smartest people in the world are in the marketing and advertising industries in this country. How else can you explain that 300 different brands of vodka coexist in our domestic market? In 2009, about 2.3 million American seniors will pass away. What did they do with the more than $2 trillion in income that they earned in their lifetimes?
I estimate that only 2.3 percent will leave behind a gross estate (all assets included) of $1 million or more. What did the other 97.7 percent of the decedents do with all of their income? If they did not save their income, invest it or allocate it to things that appreciate, where did the money go?
Beyond the basic necessities, an awful lot of it was spent on things, many things that now reside in landfills and thrift shops. We are and will continue to be a culture of hyper-consumption.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
