Friday Inspiration, Vol. 16

Wait for it—the punch line doesn’t come until about 1:17:

“When you watch reality TV singing shows, the hopefuls tend to be starry eyed dreamers, who’ll look into the camera and say ‘I’ve always dreamed about being a singer.’ They never say they’ve always dreamed of singing. I think that’s a pretty important difference. If they really gave a shit about singing, they’d be out there every day and night, singing their fucking lungs out. But they’re not. They’re dragging themselves across national TV for a shot at fame and fortune based on scripted drama and audience manipulation. They’re waiting for someone to make them into Singers. … They don’t want to do something. They want to be the person who does something.”
—Jon Westenberg, Stop Trying To Be Somebody. Make Something. Don’t Just Talk About It.

“Complaining is bad for your mood and the mood of your friends and colleagues, but that’s not all that’s wrong with frequent negativity. Apparently, it’s also bad for your brain and your health. Yes, really.”
-Jessica Stillman, Complaining Is Terrible for You, According to Science

Matthew Inman/The Oatmeal on our tendency to say we’re going to do something and then, well …

“Mr. Money Mustache is the alias of a forty-one-year-old Canadian expatriate named Peter Adeney, who made or, more to the point, saved enough money in his twenties, working as a software engineer, to retire at age thirty. He is, by his own reckoning, a wealthy man, without want, but he and his wife, who have one child, spend an average of just twenty-four thousand dollars a year.”
—Nick Paumgarten, The Scold: Mr. Money Mustache’s retirement (sort of) plan

Interesting discussion about non-hunting/non-fishing users of public lands taking on more of the cost of fighting to keep those lands public—and taxing mountain bikes, skis and other outdoor gear 11% just like firearms and ammunition.

-Brendan