Sleep Habits of the Zodiac
- ♈ Aries: Aries are a hyperactive sign and tend to have sleeping troubles. Their dreams are often intense and vivid, They find it very hard to wind down at night and ignore the health benefits of good sleep. Slide sleeping is known to improve sleep quality
- ♉ Taurus: Sleep can be very fitful for Taurus if they are not comfortable. They are especially sensitive to their environment. They tend to sleep long and appreciate bed time. Meaningful dreams. Sleep best in company.
- ♊ Gemini: Gemini can survive off a fairly minimal amount of sleep - but it eventually catches up with them. Their minds are always racing in overdrive so sleep never comes easily. Many see sleep as an inconvenience and insomnia as productive 'extra' time
- ♋ Cancer: Cancer can have restless sleep patterns because they are likely to suffer nightmares a lot. Bedtime is especially volatile for Cancer because they dwell in all their troubles before sleep. They usually never feel completely 'awake'
- ♌ Leo: Most Leo are back sleepers and tend to drift off quite easily; unless they are stressed. They appreciate bed time and like to sleep amongst the most luxurious and sensuous of sheets and linen. Meaningful and precognitive dreams
- ♍ Virgo: Virgo cannot sleep if they are stressed or in an environment of disorder. Their chronic habit of overthinking makes it difficult for them to wind down before bed. They function most well when they have obtained a 'sleep schedule'
- ♎ Libra: Libra swing between sleeping too much and not enough. They can survive on minimal sleep for a short period then literally spend days in bed. A balanced sleep pattern is a good sign of inner equilibrium for Libra
- ♏ Scorpio: Scorpio's sleep is directed by their state of moods. A 'lifted' Scorpio will survive off minimal sleep - pushing bed time back as late as possible as they fall into their concentrated obsessions. An unhappy Scorpio will become very hypersomniac and need a lot of sleep
- ♐ Sagittarius: Sagittarius can survive off a minimal sleep arrangement but tend to naturally exhaust themselves through the day. They can put off bed time by becoming too excited or hyper about things at night. Occasionally restless, meaningful dreams
- ♑ Capricorn: Capricorn appreciate their sleep and try to get as much as possible - knowing it is within their best interests. A stressed Capricorn will have pronounced sleep troubles - insomnia is a sign of great inner distress for this sign
- ♒ Aquarians have pronounced sleep troubles and tend to be restless and uncomfortable in sleep. Their racing thoughts make it hard for them to wind down at night and their use of technology and reading before bed compounds their minimal sleep
- ♓ Pisces: Sleep is opium for Pisceans; and out of all the zodiac, they need the most hours. Their receptive nature means they are drained by others and sleep restores their energy reserves. Many never feel truly 'awake'; they tend to have vivid and meaningful dreams
7 Personal Finances Lessons I Learned in My Twenties
I turn 30 next week [gulps audibly]. Now that I’m an old man, I thought this would be a good time for me to share some of the financial things I did right, plus a few of the things I did very wrong during my twenties. [Note: I wrote this with my 5 day old daughter sleeping on my lap. It would have been 10 things, but I could only think of 7 before she needed a diaper change.]
- I started saving for retirement early. You’ve heard it a million times, but I’m telling you, start saving for retirement NOW. I got my first post-collegiate job at 22, and I promptly set up my 401(k). Every time I check the balance these days, I can’t help but smile.
- I spent too much money on cars. I’ve mentioned before that the biggest financial mistake I ever made involved a car. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned that they’re just tools for getting you from point A to B. I should have known that new car bliss only lasts for about a month, but the payments last for years. Thankfully, I learned from my personal tendencies, and do what’s best for me in the long run.
- I kept investing even when things looked bad. A lot of people decided to sell their investments when the market bottomed out. I decided to keep buying, and I doubled that money when things came back around. Remember, buy low and sell high.
- I stayed at a job I hated for way too long. The money was good, and I couldn’t walk away despite the fact that my health and relationships were suffering. The term “golden handcuffs” is a real thing, and I’ll never fall victim to it again. It’s just not worth it in the big scheme of things. On the bright side, the things I learned at that job helped me with this site.
- I automated everything. I can’t tell you how much money I’ve saved by having my bill payments and monthly savings automated. I socked away more cash than I would’ve if I had been moving it manually, and I avoided late fees from missed payments.
- I splurged every now and then. Spending more than you should is good for you now and then. However, there is a smart way to do it. Spend your money on experiences, or things that can be sold later to recoup some or all of the cost.
- I started this blog. I wanted to share some of the things I had been taught with the world, but I ended up learning more than I ever imagined. Over 178,000 people follow this site these days, so I feel more of a responsibility than ever to give sound advice. As I dig for content for this site, it has led me to awesome advice that I never would have come across otherwise. If you want to take your expertise in something to the next level, just start teaching what you know to others.
Financial Stars
- ♈ Aries: Aries don't owe anybody anything - except money. When they are younger they tend to be very spendthrift and impulsive, and always like 'new things'. Fiscal conservativeness does not come easy
- ♉ Taurus: The bigger the bank balance the more secure the Taurean feels. Their feeling of safety is tied to their fiscal foundations. They tend to be in 2 minds about spending-one is frugal, the other one prosperity conscious
- ♊ Gemini: Gemini are typically spendthrift and impulsive with their money; they lose track of their balances easily. However, they do possess a keen sense of finances, and know debt and loans tie them down and restrict them. They understand money flows in and out
- ♋ Cancer: A lot of Cancer's security is tied to the levity of their bank balance. They are known to collect coupons and clips to save money, and will spend big on antiques. When they are in a down mood they can cause significant damage to their credit card
- ♌ Leo: The sign of Leo is linked to chivalry, royalty & romance - they can embody the style of glamor on a passion pop budget. They can rarely grasp that incoming cash has to be equal to outgoing. It's all done with credit
- ♍ Virgo: Virgo possess a keen sense of finances and tend to be more poverty than prosperity conscious. They are efficient with handling money and are more likely to invest in that juice maker or ergonomic chair - something useful rather then going into debt for a status symbol
- ♎ Libra: Libra are very good at embezzling their own funds and wondering where it all went. They are the ultimate 'must have' sign; when it all feels too much for Libra - they go shopping
- ♏ Scorpio: The fiscal life of Scorpio is unbalanced; they are either big spenders or very frugal. In saving they can be particularly ruthless; they crave control, and will not let finances dominate them. Never rip off a Scorpio - they will know it.
- ♐ Sagittarius: Sagittarians know debt and loans tie them down and restrict them, now and in the future, so they try to avoid that avenue. They tend to be spendthrift with items of novelty - that will bore them tomorrow. They prefer to spend on experiences rather then materials
- ♑ Capricorn: As the sign of money, Capricorns are AAA credit stars who handle money by taking charge. They are apt at managing their finances and very good at negotiating
- ♒ Aquarius: Aquarians hate the corporate corruption that spills from the banks and detest its unaccountable inefficiency. They tend to be quite spendthrift with money; the bills can be dealt with after the windchimes have fixed the house energies
- ♓ Pisces: Pisces are given to buy luxuries and stinge with commodities (diamonds and a 2 minute shower?!) They do worry about money a lot, and understand finances are energy. Many of the world's richest people are Pisceans
10 Mind-Bending Discoveries In Physics
Time Stops at the Speed of Light
According to Einstein’s Theory of Special Relativity, the speed of light can never change—it’s always stuck at approximately 300,000,000 meters/second, no matter who’s observing it. This in itself is incredible enough, given that nothing can move faster than light, but it’s still very theoretical. The really cool part of Special Relativity is an idea called time dilation, which states that the faster you go, the slower time passes for you relative to your surroundings. Seriously—if you go take a ride in your car for an hour, you will have aged ever-so-slightly less than if you had just sat at home on the computer. The extra nanoseconds you get out of it might not be worth the price of gas, but hey, it’s an option.Of course, time can only slow down so much, and the formula works out so that if you’re moving at the speed of light, time isn’t moving at all. Now, before you go out and try some get-immortal-quick scheme, just note that moving at the speed of light isn’t actually possible, unless you happen to be made of light. Technically speaking, moving that fast would require an infinite amount of energy.
Quantum Entanglement
Alright, so we just finished agreeing that nothing can move faster than the speed of light—right? Well… yes and no. While that’s technically still true, at least in theory, it turns out that there’s a loophole to be found in the mind-blowing branch of physics known as quantum mechanics.Quantum mechanics, in essence, is the study of physics at a microscopic scale, such as the behavior of subatomic particles. These types of particles are impossibly small, but very important, as they form the building blocks for everything in the universe. I’ll leave the technical details aside for now (it gets pretty complicated), but you can picture them as tiny, spinning, electrically-charged marbles. Okay, maybe that’s kind of complicated too. Just roll with it (pun intended).So say we have two electrons (a subatomic particle with a negative charge). Quantum entanglement is a special process that involves pairing up these particles in such a way that they become identical (marbles with the same spin and charge). When this happens, things get weird—because from now on, these electrons stay identical. This means that if you change one of them—say, spin it in the other direction—its twin reacts in exactly the same way. Instantly. No matter where it is. Without you even touching it. The implications of this process are huge—it means that information (in this case, the direction of spin) can essentially be teleported anywhere in the universe.
Light is Affected by Gravity
But let’s get back to light for a minute, and talk about the Theory of General Relativity this time (also by Einstein). This one involves an idea called light deflection, which is exactly what it sounds like—the path of a beam of light is not entirely straight.Strange as that sounds, it’s been proved repeatedly (Einstein even got a parade thrown in his honor for properly predicting it). What it means is that, even though light doesn’t have any mass, its path is affected by things that do—such as the sun. So if a beam of light from, say, a far off star passes close enough to the sun, it will actually bend slightly around it. The effect on an observer—such as us—is that we see the star in a different spot of sky than it’s actually located (much like fish in a lake are never in the spot they appear to be). Remember that the next time you look up at the stars—it could all just be a trick of the light.
