FYI October 31, 2019

  • Filed under FYI

On This Day

1924 – World Savings Day is announced in Milan, Italy by the Members of the Association at the 1st International Savings Bank Congress (World Society of Savings Banks).
The World Savings Day was established on October 31, 1924, during the 1st International Savings Bank Congress (World Society of Savings Banks) in Milan, Italy. The Italian Professor Filippo Ravizza declared this day the “International Saving Day” on the last day of the congress. In the resolutions of the Thrift Congress it was decided that ‘World Thrift Day’ should be a day devoted to the promotion of savings all over the World. In their efforts to promote thrift the savings banks also worked with the support of the schools, the clergy, as well as cultural, sports, professional, and women’s associations.[1]

Representatives of 29 countries wanted to bring to mind the thought of saving to the worldwide public and its relevance to the economy and the individual. The World Savings Day is usually held on October 31 except in countries where this day is a public holiday, since the idea is for the banks to be open, so that the people are able to transfer their savings into their account.

The idea of World Thrift Day was not born out of nothing. There had been some examples of days that were committed to the idea of saving money in order to gain a higher standard of life and to secure the economy, for example in Spain where the first national thrift day was celebrated in 1921, or in the United States. In other countries, such as Germany, the peoples’ confidence in savings had to be restored since many of them had lost their savings in the German monetary reform of 1923.

After the Second World War, World Thrift Day continued and reached the peak of its popularity in the years between 1955 and 1970. It practically became a veritable tradition in certain countries. In Austria, for instance, the official mascot of saving, the so-called ‘Sparefroh’ (literally: ‘Happy Saver’, or rather “save happily!”) reached a higher degree of brand awareness than the republic’s President and even a street was named after him. In the 1970s, the ‘Sparefroh-Journal’, an educational magazine for younger people, reached a circulation of 400,000 copies.[2]

Nowadays the focus of the banks that organize the World Savings Day is on developing countries, where many people are unbanked. Savings banks play an important role in enhancing savings in these countries with certain campaigns and initiatives such as working with nongovernmental organizations in order to double the number of savings accounts held by the poor.

Read more ->

 
 

Born On This Day

1849 – Marie Louise Andrews, American story writer and journalist (d. 1891)
Marie Louise Andrews (October 31, 1849 – February 7, 1891) was an American author and editor from Indiana. She was one of the founders of the Western Association of Writers, and served as its secretary from its organization until June 1888, when she retired. She wrote much in both verse and prose, but she never published her works in book form, and little of her work has been preserved.

Read more ->

 
 

FYI

By Samantha Mathewson, Space.com: It’s Halloween! NASA Space Telescope Spots a Ghostly Cosmic Jack-O’Lantern
 
 
 
 
By Luvvie Ajayi Podcast creator and author: Want to make a podcast? 5 tips to get you started
 
 
 
 
James Clear
3 ideas, 2 quotes, 1 question (October 31, 2019)

“The most wisdom per word of any newsletter on the web.”

Read this on JamesClear.com

Happy Thursday!

I hope your week has gone well so far.

Allow me to share 3 short ideas, 2 quotes, and 1 question for you to consider this week…

3 IDEAS FROM ME

I.

If you haven’t started, then taking action is more important than finding a better strategy.

If you’re already taking action, then ensuring you’re working on the right thing is more important than working harder.

Your effort sets your floor. Your strategy sets your ceiling.

II.

A few tips on how to be a better writer:

– write about what fascinates you
– make one point per sentence
– use stories to make your point
– cut extra words like “really” and “very”
– read the whole thing out loud
– post publicly (you’ll try harder when you know others will read it)

And finally, be more thoughtful about what you consume. The quality of ideas you put in determines the quality of ideas you put out.

III.

A short idea from Atomic Habits:

“Your outcomes are a lagging measure of your habits. Your net worth is a lagging measure of your financial habits. Your weight is a lagging measure of your eating habits. Your knowledge is a lagging measure of your learning habits. Your clutter is a lagging measure of your cleaning habits. You get what you repeat.”

2 QUOTES FROM OTHERS

I.

Widely respected investor Charlie Munger on how to avoid falling victim to intense ideology and unclear thinking:

“I have what I call an ‘iron prescription’ that helps me keep sane when I drift toward preferring one intense ideology over another. I feel that I’m not entitled to have an opinion unless I can state the arguments against my position better than the people who are in opposition. I think that I’m qualified to speak only when I’ve reached that state…

“That is probably too tough for most people, although I hope it won’t ever become too tough for me… This business of not drifting into extreme ideology is very, very important in life. If you want to end up wise, heavy ideology is very likely to prevent that outcome.”​

Source: Poor Charlie’s Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger

II.

Best-selling author Anne Lamott on good marriages and good friendships:

“A good marriage is one in which each spouse secretly thinks he or she got the better deal, and this is true also of our friendships.”

Source: Help, Thanks, Wow

1 QUESTION FOR YOU

Am I happy with the tradeoffs I am making in my life right now?

Until next week,

James Clear
Author of the New York Times bestselling book, Atomic Habits
Creator of The Habits Academy and the Habit Journal
 
 
 
 
Open Culture: What Happens to the Clothes We Throw Away?: Watch Unravel, a Short Documentary on the Journey Our Waste Takes; Bowie’s Bookshelf: A New Essay Collection on The 100 Books That Changed David Bowie’s Life; An Animated Introduction to Medieval Taverns: Learn the History of These Rough-and-Tumble Ancestors of the Modern Pub and more->
 
 
 
 
Gastro Obscura: Japanese fortune cookies and 7 more of our most-read stories this month
 
 
 
 
National Geographic: TODAY’S BIG QUESTION: Why are these dogs good soldiers? Thursday, October 31, 2019
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

Ideas

By t3chflicks: Zombie Detecting Smart Security Owl
 
 
By blitzgone: Light Graffiti Skateboard

Recipes

Coleen’s Recipes: POTLUCK RIGATONI