Price of Happiness: It's Relatively Affordable

Can money really buy you happiness?

More and more research has concluded that the answer to that age old question is actually "no".

But, if there had to be a number put to it, there is a figure that the majority of folks have in mind when it comes to being happy and, interestingly enough, it's lower than you may expect. It's not one million dollars, and it's not 250 thousand dollars, the apparent price of happiness is actually right at $75,000.

Apparently anything less than $75,000 annually and folks are over-consumed with worry about debt and meeting "ends meet". Anything above $75,000 and it's not really happiness, just a compensation for a lack of happiness brought on by the problems that come with having more money.

"If survival is the primary human goal, happiness comes in at a close second," said Kip Parent, Chief Executive Office of Keirsey Research. "It's such a multifaceted emotion that is empacted by numerous variable, from personality type to age to parenting status. We wanted to learn more about who is happy and why."

According to the study, which used Keirsey's In-FlowTM "river" methodology, the happiest Americans are extroverts with an annual household income of $75,000 or slightly more. The least happy Americans are unemployed , closely followed by those who are separated by not divorced.

Source: keirseyresearch.com

Galaxiki: A Collaboration of Galactic Proportions

This is pretty cool. For all of you who enjoy the creative ventures of writing, design and/or science this might just be right up your alley. At Galaxiki.org, every star, every planet, every moon is represented by a wiki page that can be edited by members of this community. The users can make changes to star systems, they can add to planets giving them an elaborate ecosystem complete with lifeforms and write stories to give more detail. One of the main goals of the site seems to be collaboration, the idea being to require users to rely on each other to make sure their solar system histories and physical characteristics are compatible and can coexistent.

There are also growing social networking features including star system ratings, comment options, bookmarks, user awards and status updates for users.

The site requires a membership signup but this is free. However, for those out there that want to create their own solar system that can't be tampered with (though that seems to be in defiance of what they are trying to create) there is an option to get your own personal system by making a donation to the site. The very idea of the site is to reply on everyone to create these fictional worlds.

I haven't really used the site myself just yet. I haven't had the time to sit down and actually give it a try., but I am very interested in doing so. I might do an update sometime in the future if I actually get involved.

link: galaxiki.org

Oh, Canada: Get Your Vowels Straight

This post will be more of a situational blog about a moment I had this morning.

I stopped into a Panera Bread this morning and heard a funny exchange between an employee and a customer. I was in line to get some coffee and a bagel, cinnamon crunch if you were wondering, and a customer stepped up to the counter and asked for a bag. He didn't stand in line to make his request which was understandable because he just needed a bag and no one seemed to mind. But his request took a little longer than he expected. I'll transcribe the conversation that took place to the best of my memory.


Customer: Hi. Can I get a bag?

Employee: A bagel?

Customer: No, a bag.

Employee: Sorry, a baid?

Customer: ...a bag. You know a bag. (holds up an imaginary bag)

Employee: Sorry, I don't know what a baid is.

Customer: No not a bai-d. A bag. (points to one that was just given to another customer)

Employee: Oh, a bag.

Customer: Yeah, a bag.

Employee: What a funny way to say "bag". Where are you from? (hands him a bag)

This was the point in which I did a mental face-palm.

Customer: Thanks. Canada. (smiles politely and walks away)


Now aside from this exchange taking more than 5 seconds the funny part was that the customer had a particular Canadian accent which made the word bag sound more like baig. If you live in the northern states or are even just aware of Canada in general you would have known what the guy was asking for from the moment he spoke. Many of our own states in the north even share the same accent. But this is the south. If you don't speak like a southerner or mid-westerner, you're a foreigner.

I won't support the stereotype that these states, down here, are all just full of ignorant rednecks complete with the accent but this was definitely a scenario that supports that stereotype. It was obvious that the Canadian had patience for this sort of misunderstanding. But I suppose you have to when you are in a region that isn't native to your accent or pronunciation... yes, the employee's southern accent was as thick as it gets. (I am so glad I dodged that bullet living down here) I thought it was a humorous situation but it made me think on the way to my next destination. Are people down here bottled so air-tight that they aren't even familiar with the accent of our great white northern neighbor? I am a proponent for people broadening their world view and Canada seems like a good place to start for the US since it's only a border away.

I was definitely embarrassed for the employee even though she didn't seem to be embarrassed herself. Misunderstandings are... well, understandable. But this was quiet a display. It makes me wonder if some Canadians would have just as hard a time understanding someone with a southern accent.