I Am Quite The Mike

 Not long ago I took a cruise on Holland America Line to the Caribbean, and being the adventurous technology lover that I am I chose to bring my VR headset, the Oculus Quest 2.  As it turns out, it's completely OK to take the headset on the cruise ship with you.  Related, the TSA didn't even blink as my headset rolled through security.  All is well on the security front. VR on an airplane, for what should be obvious reasons, is awkward.  It is doable, but probably only for things like Netflix or something to simulate a big screen TV.  Beat Saber is right out of the question.   Your headset will of course work fine in the hotel room the night before your cruise.  If you're lucky you might even be able to stream your gameplay to the hotel room's television and let your cruise partner(s) enjoy some of the fun too! But, how about on a cruise ship?  Your stateroom surely has enough room for you to stand and swing at things, right?  Well, here's what I discovered:  It dep

T he old adage always says "the victor writes the history".  I am coming to question the universality of this statement.  It seems to me sometimes the historical account pushed into record recounts in great details all the atrocities committed by the victor, while simultaneously washing the vanquished in guiltless attire:  Their atrocities never to be remembered in common society, especially not in polite society.  Any public evidence of such destroyed or removed to the fullest extent possible, and where impossible to erase:  Ignored, defaced, and buried. ... And because now some are trying to ascribe some devilish horrible vision of myself, I assure you I speak not of any specific person or people.  The concept stands for itself.  Very few societies are guilt-free.  I just find it interesting that as time goes by I find more historic reminders that no conflict is one-sided, more often than not, both sides were wrong, and most astonishingly there are those who many, many life

This article contains a promotional link. The author of this article is not a financial professional of any sort.  He is also not licensed to provide any manner of advice, financial or otherwise, by any governing body.   It's funny, I think, how my education touched on many things, math, literature, science, and history, I never really learned a lot about how money works until I was out of high school.  Even then, while that education came at the hands of a most excellent math teacher, it was not complete. My first lessons about how money works were all about interest and the magic of compound interest.  It's true, compound interest turns small quantities of money into enormous quantities of money.  What's not really expressly shared is you can only make money via compound interest if you are the bank.  A savings account will never keep up with inflation.  In order to make money with compound interest, you need to be making at least prime, if not 10x prime.  With most "

 So, random lessons from a ... very... random guy. Bros.  She's cute.  That's great, but you can't see what's going on in her head.  Talk to her before you crush out on her.  It'll work out better, you'll make more friends, and likely you'll find out really quick what's cute on the outside is not always even a little bit cute on the inside.   Ladies, This goes for dudes too.  Cute on the outside might just be Manson on the inside.  Find out before you crush out.  It's also possible he's completely clueless, so get his attention, twice.  I can't tell you how many times I've realized HOURS too late what was really going on. The above two work just as well if you're of the opposite persuasions, just switch pronouns for me there, okay? Weirdly this works for buying cars too.  It can look fast and be not so dreamy on the inside.  Do test drive, and while you're in the car take in whether the cockpit experience is any fun, because that&

So those who collect data on my interests know very well that I have a thing for luggage and travel solutions.  No surprise I get lots of ads for travel bags and accessories.  I like to travel.  No secret there. I was watching one such advertisement, because there are lots of people who think they have the perfect bag solution, and there are a ton of good ideas out there.  I have one recurring thought though when I see these bag advertisements.  They all try to purport that they're the perfect solution because they have more pockets than the other guy... So, here's the rub about carry-on bag design.  The fact of the matter is you have to fit the whole bag in a 9x14x22 inch space.  The more pockets you have, the more space within that 9x14x22 space is taken up by supporting material.  This means the more pockets you have, the less total space you have. Now.  Are pockets, padding, and separators bad?  No.  But... be careful in your design.  More is less, and less ... is more.  Ju

 Ocean cruising is coming back!  Here's some unsolicited advice: 5 and 7 day cruises are usually almost the same price and itinerary.  Get the 7 day version if you can.  The first and last "day" are included in the count.  And frankly, half of day 1 is all work getting aboard and situated, and all of the last day is work getting off the ship, to an airport, and going home.   WiFi is slow and expensive.  Trust me if it's Netflix or the like that you're worried about, the cruise line has you covered with huge movies and shows in the ship's library streamed directly to your stateroom TV for free - no internet required.  For little things, most of the time there's almost always free internet you can find in port. Unpack everything as soon as you're in your stateroom and put it all "away" in the wardrobes and drawers of your stateroom.  Then, as you enjoy your cruise, dirty clothes and souvenirs get packed as you go.  This will make everything les