According to Wealth and Happiness some of the leading contributors to increased happiness in society include freedom, acceptance, and gratitude. Previous studies had only linked wealth to happiness because they had only examined levels of wealth in proportion to happiness without considering other factors that may have influenced the data. An interesting concept is that of “diminishing returns to economic progress” – that means that after a certain point of economic development, further economic development will have less and less impact on the happiness of society.

Another interesting concept is the link between gratitude and happiness; the act of reflecting and being thankful seems to improve one’s happiness significantly. This is true in both the large scale of society and on the small scale of our personal everyday lives. The article suggests that religion, or any similar positive belief system, can play a very large role in this aspect of happiness.

As global citizens we must ask ourselves how we should balance our efforts to achieve world happiness; at what point should a wealthy country stop focusing on developing itself and begin to focus on helping other countries? Because of diminishing returns it would make logical sense that after a certain point it would be counter-productive to advance ones own society beyond its current state if it is already very well off. 

The quest for happiness will always be ongoing both on a global scale and on a personal scale for all of us.  On the global scale, it is up to great scientists and philosophers to theorize about what elements make societies happy and implement those ideas into communities throughout the world. On the personal scale, it is up to each individual person to take the time to think about their own happiness and realize what makes them happy. As the article Wealth and Happiness suggests, it is the person that has learned to be grateful for what they already have that will be happier in life than the person who is always wanting more.

Two months ago I signed up for a stamps.com account and figured I had nothing to lose and at the very least I’d get some free stuff. Sure enough, my account started off with $5 of free postage. Great! I was able to ship an item I had sold on eBay just fine. A few days later my free “stamps.com supply kit” arrived in the mail. This package included one sheet of 2 half page shipping labels, a sheet of odd sized labels, and a sheet of standard 0.41 cent sized labels (all of which could be printed on to from the stamps.com program). After using the software for a while I even bought some additional postage and shipped a few more items using their software.

So what about the scale? Well the scale isn’t actually free.  You need to pay shipping (roughly $6)  and even then it isn’t a great scale because the max weight is 5 lbs AND you need to connect it to your computer to read the weight from within the stamps.com program (forcing you to use their software if you want to use the scale).  I opted out of the “free” scale option.

25 days later, when I decided it was time to cancel my account, I found the catch. During the signup process I was asked for credit card information; I figured it would be no problem, I could just cancel my account before the trial month ended. But with many companies these days, the folks at stamps.com wanted to make closing an account as difficult as possible. The website instructs users wishing to cancel their accounts to call their support number during business hours. The next day I gave them a call and stated that I wished to cancel my account – “Sure I can help you with that” the representative said cheerfully. When asked my reason for canceling I explained that I didn’t use the service enough to justify paying a monthly fee. So this salesperson said (without waiting for my input) that they were converting my account down to a lower pricing plan (somewhere around 8 bucks a month, down from the standard 18 a month) . They also informed me that they would waive an extra month of service fees so I could re-evaluate their software and if I still wanted to cancel in a month I could do so. I shrugged and thanked the representative.

One month later (and after using up the remaining 30-something cents in my account) I called them back again. Same story, except this time upon learning I wished to cancel the sales person said “sure, I can help you with that” and proceeded to inform me that they would be adding $20 of free postage to my account and waiving my service fee for another month.

So far I’ve tried to cancel my account twice and I’m still a customer of stamps.com… at least they keep sending me free stuff each time I call…  I’ll update this entry in another month when I call them back for the third time…

Dear Girls (from us guys)…

Don’t assume that guys won’t care where you are, because we do.
____________________________________________________
Don’t talk about your ex-boyfriends.
We never have, nor ever will respect or like them, nor do we want to hear about them.
When you do, you’re asking your boyfriend to be jealous.
You’re asking your boyfriend to lose trust.
____________________________________________________

We don’t care if you talk to other guys.
We don’t care if you’re friends with other guys.
But when you’re sitting next to us, and some random guy walks into the room and you jump up and tackle him, without even introducing us, yeah, it pisses us off.
It doesn’t help if you sit there and talk to him for ten minutes without even acknowledging the fact that we’re still there.
It also doesn’t help if you’re off with his group and not in our group.
____________________________________________________
Also, when we tell you you’re pretty/ beautiful/ gorgeous/ cute/ stunning, we freaking mean it.
Don’t tell us we’re wrong.
We’ll stop trying to convince you.
The sexiest thing about a girl is confidence.
____________________________________________________
Don’t be mad when we hold the door open.
Smile and say “thank you.”
____________________________________________________
Kiss us when no one’s watching.
If you kiss us when you know nobody’s looking we’ll be more impressed.
____________________________________________________
You don’t have to get dressed up for us.
If we’re going out with you in the first place, you don’t have to feel the need to wear the shortest skirt you have, or put on every kind of makeup you own.
We like you for WHO you are and not WHAT you are.
____________________________________________________
Don’t flirt with guys when we’re not with you.
We have eyes everywhere.
And when we find out, we’re pissed.
Not neccessarily with the guys you flirted with, more-so with YOU.
____________________________________________________
Don’t take everything we say seriously.
Sarcasm is a beautiful thing. See the beauty in it.
Don’t get angry easily.
____________________________________________________
Stop using magazines/media as your bible.
Don’t talk about how hot Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, or Jesse McCartny is in front of us.
It’s boring, and we don’t care.
You have girlfriends for that.
____________________________________________________
Whatever happened to the word “handsome”/”beautiful”?
Why does everything have to be “hot/sexy”?
I’d be utterly stunned by a girl who greeted me with “Hey handsome!” instead of “Hey baby/ stud/ cutie/ sexy” or whatever else you can think of.
But seriously sometimes looks ISN’T everything. A lot of guys who aren’t exactly “hot” will treat you the way you need to be treated.
____________________________________________________
Girls, I cannot stress this enough: IF YOU AREN’T BEING TREATED RIGHT BY A GUY, DON’T WAIT FOR HIM TO CHANGE. DITCH HIS SORRY, DISGRACE-TO-THE-MALE-POPULATION BUTTS, AND FIND SOMEONE WHO WILL TREAT YOU WITH UTTER RESPECT

Someone who will honor your morals.
Someone who will make you smile when you’re at your lowest.
Someone who will stop what they’re doing just to look you in the eyes….and say “i love you” …
….AND ACTUALLY MEAN IT!

Give the nice guys a chance.

Here is a thread created by a friend of mine by the name AqoTropper from a popular internet forum. I didn’t write this, but it’s so awesome I’ve gotten his permission to copy it over to this board

—————————————–

The internet seems to be a bundle of positive stuff – it gives everyone quick access to the world, and a wide range of features that cover almost anything else. It’s a TV, it’s a phone, it’s a meeting room, it’s a place where you can hang around and play, or get together and work…
But with all this available, other things are taken away, and people who don’t use the internet as much come up and ask -

Do you have a life?

Well then, what would be the correct answer to this? Does someone who regularly browse the web, in order to supplement himself with entertainment, use it as a workspace, and “hang around” with people, really have a life?

~~~

I went to my YouTube profile today, opened the user page…