My response - "I like renting and don't like borrowing money anyway so I don't care, screw them". Landlords and rental managers check your credit history, so it can seriously affect your ability to not be forced to rent in relatively skankier locations.  There's also official rebuttals th...

But I *am* a US resident.  I just spend 75% of the year outside of the country. Statistically, any obamacare policy is useless to me.  Yet, if I refuse it and choose to buy a policy that meets my needs,  I pay a tax/penalty. Are you sure that's correct?  We're not talking about the "resident&q...

The tax penalty doesn't generally apply to non-residents: http://blogs.angloinfo.com/us-tax/2013/11/11/us-citizens-abroad-and-obamacare/ Of course. But I *am* a US resident.  I just spend 75% of the year outside of the country. Statistically, any obamacare policy is useless to me.  Yet, if I refuse...

You've read the 4 Hour Work Week 1 too many times.. Not saying I wouldn't dig that lifestyle as well.. There's another blogger, Chris Guillebeau, who used to talk about running his businesses while he volunteered in West Africa several years ago.  It seems running an online business is a prerequisi...

In about 6 months my current health care will run out.  I'm currently on COBRA, after taking myself off of the employee list for the company that I started. I'm required to buy health care, but I haven't seen any Obamacare policies that cover me for the 75% of the year that I will be in Mexico, Thai...

My brutal solution to this type of conundrum is to scan 'em then shred 'em. You get the best of both worlds: the content is preserved, but the physical stuff is gone. I did that a couple of weeks ago, but I have yet to shred the pile of originals.  I admit I'm a little worried about losing the scan...

Malaysia not quite as much as Indonesia A quick anecdote from Indonesia.  They sell a visa on arrival and sell is clearly the correct term.  It is priced at US 25 dollars regardless of your country of origin.  The immigration folks won't accept their own currency.  If you don't have USD, they will ...

Off the top of my head, these would qualify today: US Dollar, Japanese Yen, British Pound, Australian Dollar, New Zealand Dollar, Norweigan Kroner, Singapore Dollar, Hong Kong Dollar, some of the other Nordic/Scandinavian currencies, not sure about the South African Rand, maybe the Malaysian Ringit...

Metals are too heavy. If only we could use a lightweight token, say something made of paper & linen, to represent gold. Hmm... Eventually, though, that would be asking for trouble. The random change in my pocket right now, (made from copper, nickel and zinc), if made from coins of gold, silver ...

A quick follow up here. Another member of this forum "Jake" runs a podcast called "The Voluntary Life" - which is just outstanding.  I had been listening to him for some time and then I noticed that he seemed to be following me.  Not true, but just the odd way that it appeared to...

Deep Thoughts :  On tooth and gum maintenance. I have long felt that the standard approach to teeth maintenance is inherently flawed.  I base that on the following premises: 1) Tooth and gum disease is clearly a chemical or biological issue - yet virtually all  practitioners rely on coarse mechanica...

Apparently this is a thing now?  Sins of the parent visited to the 7th generation, biblical style?  I didn't have the energy to hunt down a text story, so you get the video newscast, but in essence the government is seizing tax refunds to recoup what they see as debts owed due to, in this particula...

If you want a solid pack, I recommend Cactus Equipment in Christchurch, New Zealand. Their stuff is pricey, but basically indestructable. I have the Patrol and Foray packs and they are solid. Probably the last packs I'll ever need to buy. Their Miklat pack is well loved for lightweight travellers a...

Regarding your day bag, ditch the bathroom scale.  ;)  Just curious -- what is your bag of choice for storing all of your worldly possessions? Yea - I've been trying to figure out how to ditch the scale - but... I'm pretty compulsive about taking hard measurements on everything that I experiment wi...

Sounds similar to the Reacher character in the Lee Child novels.  Do you happen to be 6' 6" and an ex Army MP? Good question!  When my sister heard about what I was up to, she pointed out the Lee Child  series to me (and also the Travis McGee series).  I devoured them.  Quite aspirational.  I'...

On an earlier thread, I made a brief comment about selling everything I own except what will fit in a small day bag.  CraigR mentioned that the how’s and why’s behind that might be an interesting discussion.  So here is a start. I’m not into minimalism for the sake of simplicity or global awareness,...

Finally, cooking has caught up with the PC age Last year, I threw away everything I own that doesn't fit in a small day bag. I carry a 1 liter stainless steel pot with a watertight lid and a 1.4 KW immersion heater and a 750ml stainless steel thermos. That's my permanent cooking, water distillation...

I will recommend you to go with Gold Silver Online from where you can buy Gold and silver coins/Bar online. Investing on Gold is really a very good idea because rate of Gold increasing day by day. My mistake.  I responded to you earlier in a different thread - thinking that you were genuinely naive...

If you were designing a gold storage option to appeal to Permanent Portfolio aficionados, what features would it have?  Where would it be located?  Tell me your Dream gold storage solution.  Everything on the wish list. Das Safe Complete Anonymity.  Secure.  Easy Access from anywhere in Europe.  No...

dualstow wrote:When was bread delivered door to door? In the 50s?

I'm 52 and it was a regular thing in my pre teen years in the California central valley.

I'm curious what other people think. Seems like a smart dude. Very nice design, efficient and stable and consumes old warhead material. The relatively small size and distributed aspect of it inherently limits the worst case scenario.  This kind of approach is (in my opinion) the best way to reduce ...

Did marketwatch tracking die for others too? Doesn't work anymore for me :( Yes, the site seems to have gone off-line a couple of days ago.  I haven't yet found a work around for automatically pulling the prices. Update:  FNORD123's method works well: http://gyroscopicinvesting.com/forum/bonds/how-...

Here's a data point for all of the Earthing enthusiasts. My 75 year old mom just called me up to ask what I thought about her investing in an Earthing franchise in Palm Desert CA. I took a deep breath and stayed calm.  I told her to not write any checks immediately, but to go and visit some nearby f...

Btw, other "interesting" bands for a possible VP based on the PP assets: 0/50  ->  CAGR: 10.40%  stdev: 8.61 (best risk adjusted return, for that historical period) 0/62.5 ->  CAGR: 11.72%  stdev: 13.07 (best return, for that historical period) Thanks brownehead.  Very interesting. In sum...

I bought a 5 gallon jar of pig ears last week and I'm hydrolyzing the collagen with bromelain that I've extracted from fresh, raw pineapples.

Does that count?