the more you watch TV...the worse the world looks...information is not balanced....90% neg to 10% positive .. TURN OFF the tube and do more garden work...things will start to look bright again...
yeah..been to any 12 step programs lately? I say inteligence and optimisim have no correlation. like when people say "does money make you happy?" "money" and "happy" are relative and independent items. There are many more factors there. But...I have a 142 IQ, and the future of the planet looks pretty gloomy to me...so maybe you are on to something.
I believe my parameter of "50 years ago", would exclude the time period of your data "from 1900 to 1930".
<p>Television is a source of tremendous stress in several ways. In order to be healthy and happy, we need stimulation not stress. I listen to classical music from London all day long. I usually leave it on when I am trading. The television is usually on with the sound off. I like to watch sports with the sound off. There are a few shows that will get me to turn on the sound. I like to watch a Seinfeld rerun occasionally, they can still make me laugh. I will watch a classic movie on TCM. Good Eats is a show on the food channel that I really enjoy. City Confidential on A nd E will catch my attention from time to time. But that is pretty much the sum total of my viewing. <p>In conversations with friends, I often say that if I were teaching young people today, I would have them watch silent films and listen to old radio programs. These media were stimulating in ways in which television is not. Imagination is becoming a lost commodity in this modern world. It requires an imagination to read as well. <p>Not only is the content of television stressful so is its pace. I know from trading the market, that simply the pace of the market can be stressful, no matter if you are sitting on a winning trade or not. So it is with television, the bombardment of images and sounds, the shifts from commercials, the vast amount of information that is now being superimposed on the screen as text. One of the reasons that I do not listen to sports on television is not only that fact the announcers are more often promoting something rather than enhancing the enjoyment of the game, but television has decided to increas the volume and mix iof crowd noises and sound effects when visuals are put on the screen. I find all this unneccessary sound distracting as well as stressful.<p>I like all the choices that the miracles of mass media can provide. But we have to take charge of our cultural and intellectual environment in order to make it stimulating not stressful. If we do not take charge, the media will have it way with us, just as the market will have its way with us if we drop our guard. As I hit the post button Classic Fm is playing Meditation from Thais, my absolute favorite piece of music. What a world, market screens are still going (although I have called it a profitable day), I am using the internet to post something available to anyone with a computer and a hook-up, all the while listening to one of the great pieces of music broadcast over the internet from a distant shore.
wow exactly how i feel...i think its called "sensory overload" and it is becoming a problem; compound that with most of it being negative and you have one unhappy mo-fo... even in the locker room at my gym they have 3 plasmas going at once with 3 diff stations and then you get on the freaken treadmill and you look up to see 5-6 plasmas with more TV...its just toooo much info tooo often
FWIW, historically those who are better informed and educated tend to read and analyze things more. Going back 2000 years, 95%+ of the populous couldn't read, didn't have books, had no clue what was "over the next hill" and were happy if they had enough to eat and some sort of shelter. As we, as a people, started to expand the horizons of knowledge, we were able to communicate to each other things that were "newsworthy" (if you will). So we heard about wars, pestilence, poverty, and all sorts of terrible stuff that was going on in the world...as "good stuff" was not really "news" for the most part (except for inventions, progress and innovations that helped others lighten their load). As we reached the highest level of education and sharing of information, via the media, more people became informed of those same "bad things" going on...the difference is that these same people were (for the most part) capable of offering assistance...this is where a paradox takes place. Who do we help? Only those whose beliefs are the same or similar to ours? Do we do the world a service by spreading religion? Well, we've seen how well that has worked throughout history. I am a believer in letting individual pray to whomever they wish to, but when "they" try to dominate the world with their belief, it is obviously worrisome (the old "our God is better than your God" thing, but that's a different conversation). I have often joked "see those happy people, they are obviously not smart enough to know they should be miserable" - and then came the psycho babble and "positive thinking" camp (which makes sense to a point) to help "us" outsmart "ourselves". When all is said and done, I think a well rounded education without political or religious bias is the best road going forward. We have the technology to be "able" to know everything that's going on in the world, but (as mentioned earlier), an overload of information is often counter productive. As in trading, you can have access to a zillion different indicators, but how many will make you any money? Happiness is relative, intelligence is just an arbitrary measure of what a human being actually consists of, and we all do our best to find those things in our life that make us happy...whether it's helping out at the soup kitchen, or making and donating $billions to charities. You all have the choice to either be positive (happier for the most part), or to see the glass half empty and begrudge your position in life... why not choose the former? Geez, sorry, didn't mean to get carried away... All the best, Don
Hello Don, Would you entertain the thought of Karma in this. Is there such a thing as Karma? Is feeling good and happiness have anything to do with Karma? what is Karma? Michael B. whether it's helping out at the soup kitchen, or making and donating $billions to charities.
Interesting, my brother and I disagree about karma when we chat, but at the same time, he believes that if a trader makes a large purchase (boat, fancy car, etc.) that he will suffer almost immediate losses...so "go figure". I think that people can make themselves physically and mentally sick if they do "bad" things, often giving way to psychosis and worse. When you "lie, cheat, and steal" from loved ones, how good can you ever really feel? When you set yourself free from all the deception that may be within you, you tend to feel better ("the truth shall set you free"). This doesn't mean that you get "karma points" by helping the old lady cross the street, so you "should" make money on the opening that day. Objectivity in business is a must. "Trust but verify" in global affairs and poker...and I honestly feel that everyone knows when they are doing the wrong thing...without paying Dr. Phil or going on Jerry Springer. We are what we are, and there are no absolutes...we can "improve" or we can spiral into desperation, everyone is different. Back to you... Don
Sigh... I put you to task therefore I will comment. I have been reading every post (more than once) in what has turned out to be an interesting enough subject to "prick" some thoughts. The Karma thing is something new to me, as I am a selfish person. But random things that happen, seem to collect in cycles, and I do not know if it is attributable to Karma, or if its just the way I remember. As far as this thread...how do we remember a trade that goes against us... for us? Is it the feeling? Do we think in Dollars...etc..I know I am really reaching here, but can you correlate the title of the thread to this. ... Is information a dose of truth? what is the truth. Is my perception wrong, whatever it may be, and is there a correct perception? Of Course, trading a system, has nothing to do with any of this. Michael B.