In general, we often think that at around 60 or 65 years old, people can comfortably retire and live off their pension for the rest of their lives. There are only certain cases when people choose to delay their retirement, for a few reasons. CEOs tend to retire later if they haven't found a successor to take over their position. Others choose to step down from an active daily operational role and take on a more consultative or supporting role instead. But the question is, when's the right time to retire?

These days, whether for financial reasons or personal reasons, people stay on longer at their jobs and retire much later than the mandatory age. Indeed, many countries are still facing the repercussions of the pandemic, so perhaps, many people choose to extend their employment as long as the company still allows them in order to keep themselves or even their families afloat.

Others may choose to retire later because they find fulfillment at work. It may be that their career or profession has become so embedded to their identity that retiring from the thing that they spent most of their lives on feels like having a part of themselves ripped away from them. There might be a sense or feeling of loss there which is why there are people who may not want to retire just yet.

However, even though a person wants to continue working at their job, and are still pretty motivated to do so, it may be in their best interests as well as the company's to train some new employees in that position and reallocate them to less demanding positions. Some job rotations or restructuring may be helpful to both new and old employees, in order to keep the company flexible.

It's also important to do periodic assessments for employees. Even though older employees have experience and may not need to be tested, the company needs to check their mental health or their physical capacity to see if they can handle the pressures of their work and the physical demands it entails.

My mom has taken an early retirement package from her company, mostly because of health reasons. The stress from the daily operations at work has taken a toll on her physical condition, so she decided to retire from her full-time position. However, due to certain circumstances, she decided to retain her function in the company but on a contractual basis, since she still needs to train someone new for the position and to settle some other matters before she can finally leave in peace.

My uncle too has retired as soon as he hit the age of 60, however, he shared how he would have stayed if he were given the choice. But ever since he developed an anxiety disorder and started to have frequent panic attacks, he and my aunt decided that retirement would be more beneficial, as the stress from work could trigger his panic attacks which would be more deleterious in the long run.

From these examples, one of the main reasons why people retire is due to health reasons. If they have health conditions which hinder their performance at work, even though they are willing to continue, the costs outweigh the benefits. Other reasons include more uncontrollable situations or involuntary reasons such as taking care of a spouse or parents.

In certain fields, there is a lack of human capital and resources which is why people stay longer even though they have already reached retirement age. In some cases, the companies beg their employees not to retire until they have found new people to fill in their positions or they have trained someone to succeed the retiring employees.

Many people may find it difficult to let go of their jobs because they need the financial benefits from a full-time job or they derive satisfaction from being able to do their jobs. However, certain situations dictate they retire, whether it be from their own health condition or a family member's.

Ultimately, the decision is in an individual's hands when they will retire, although there are some jobs which require a certain level of cognitive ability or physical capacity, so mandatory retirement is a must to ensure that the jobs are done properly without causing any harm to the worker, the company, or the client.

(Image credit: Rudy and Peter Skitterians/Pixabay)

I'm not a particularly superstitious person and I don't necessarily chalk things up in my life to good or bad luck. I don't think there's anything wrong in believing that there's good or bad luck, though, it simply doesn't fit into my perspective or worldview. Although I do think that in certain aspects "luck" plays a part in the things that happen in our lives.

I think the way that Dr. James H. Austin, a neurologist, defines "luck" is somewhat similar to how I would view it. In fact, he wrote a book titled Chase, Chance, and Creativity: The Lucky Art of Novelty. In it, he mentions four different types of luck: Blind Luck, Luck from Motion, Luck from Awareness, and Luck from Uniqueness.

Whenever I think of the word "luck", it would probably be akin to the first type that Austin describes in his book. Blind Luck refers to those circumstances or random events that happen in life over which we have no control. Where we were born, who our parents are, and other things on which we simply have no influence. In my mind, "luck" refers to these uncontrollable external factors.

Luck from Motion is basically proactivity. These are things that happen because we make the effort to cause them to happen. The actions that we take may not directly cause the outcome we want, however, taking those actions may influence other factors which can ultimately bring us to our original intended destination.

One example I can give is from my friend. He has been looking for a job although he's not sure exactly where to find it or which channels to use. He doesn't know a lot of people, but while we were volunteering together, he was able to connect with a member of the community, who was apparently looking for people to hire at his small business.

And because that entrepreneur saw how dedicated and hardworking my friend was, he decided to give my friend a job offer at the end of the volunteering activity. My friend didn't ask for it, he wasn't expecting it, but along the way, we had discussions about life, relationships, career, and other things. It came up that he was currently looking for a job while he was asking me about my career, and the entrepreneur heard about it, and the rest is history.

Luck from Awareness is having the ability to recognize opportunities as they come. This is all about knowing how to turn opportunities to one's advantage and maximizing it. And finally, Luck from Uniqueness refers to qualities, experiences, or perspectives that we possess which open us up to unique opportunities.

One example that I can think of for Luck from Uniqueness comes from my own. Having studied and worked in Korea for some time, I was able to connect with a lady from my own community whose husband was Korean and was looking for people to collaborate with him for a project. Since I had that unique experience, that opened up the opportunity to be able to work with the guy, and that led me to other prospects and networks as well.

There's this saying that goes, "Fortune favors the bold," which is a Latin proverb. Certainly, there are times when opportunities just come knocking at our door, albeit those are very rare. Most of the time, we have to go out and look for those opportunities ourselves. We might not always directly find them, but there are others ways in which we can get to our chosen destination.

Opening ourselves up to different types of opportunities, learning to recognize them despite not being exactly how we expect them to be, and actively engaging with others is ultimately how we can make the most out of what we have and what we are given.

(Image credit: Edge2Edge Media/Unsplash)

How can a three-letter word be the most complicated word in the English language, you ask. Well, that's simple. In the Oxford English Dictionary's upcoming third edition, the word "run" has 645 different usage cases, spanning 75 columns all dedicated to just elucidating the different meanings of the word "run".

In our minds, whenever we hear the word "run" spoken in itself, we think that we should move our feet very fast. But looking at the different idiomatic phrases and contextual meanings for the word "run", it's no surprise how this tiny word "runs" across 75 columns in the OED. Just put different prepositions after the word "run" and you'll already have several different meanings e.g. run in, run out, run off, run over, run on and on, run through, etc. And this is just for the verb form of "run". We haven't even gone through the noun form yet.

When the difficulty in other languages involves the collocation of certain words spoken in a very particular context, I think what makes the English language difficult for non-native speakers is the breadth of these idiomatic expressions and how each one changes the meaning of one word. Not to mention, English grammar is no laughing matter either, although it may pale in comparison to languages like Russian or Arabic.

Before "run" became the most complicated word in the Oxford English Dictionary, there was one other three-letter word that held that title for over 90 years. That word is "set". Currently, the word "set" has 200 meanings in the OED, spanning 32 pages. So, what pushed "run" to the top? Why does it now hold 645 different meanings?

According to British author Simon Winchester, that may be owing to the Industrial Revolution and the effects that it has had on our daily lives. From the moment machines became ubiquitous, our paradigms have shifted to include language describing how these machines work and are being used. And all of these meanings emerged from the middle of the 19th century, and have continued to evolve to this day.

The word "run" may not be the longest word or the most highfalutin' word in the English language, but it has proven itself to be the most versatile, and having so many different meanings attached to it may confuse people. But this just goes to show how we don't need to know a lot of technical words to convey different meanings. We just need to know how the different idiomatic expressions work in the right contexts.

Although it would be interesting to run through all the different definitions of the word "run", we may have to wait until 2037 before the third edition of the OED is printed. Who knows? They may find some more meanings in the next 13 years, or some other word may surpass "run" as having the most meanings. We're just going to have to wait and see.

(Video credit: Reader's Digest)

Though I'm not a leather enthusiast, I recently found myself researching about leather, different types of it, and which ones are the most durable. With that bit of research, I learned how durable real high-quality leather is, and why many people choose leather for their furniture, accessories, and footwear.

Now, there is one other type of leather which I just dug into a bit deeper today, and that's patent leather. I remember having really shiny shoes back when I was in grade school. They felt squeaky and they lasted until I outgrew them. It looks a bit tacky, but it saves time on polishing them.

Patent leather is a type of leather that has been coated with a glossy varnish which gives it that lustrous, shiny look. There are several names associated with the history and progression of patent leather, although, ultimately, the person who popularized and commercialized patent leather production was the serial entrepreneur, Seth Boyden.

It is believed that Boyden reverse-engineered the coating technique done to create this shiny leather after he had seen several samples of high-gloss leather in Europe. Before this, other inventors like Edmund Prior and Charles Mollersten in England had already been experimenting with coating techniques and varnishes that would produce a kind of flexible leather with a waterproof coating.

The leather produced from these techniques and materials might have been the inspiration that Boyden had to create his own process of coating. Essentially, the process as described by Scientific American involved treating the leather with a mixture of linseed oil, white lead, litharge, and ochre or chalk. This mixture is then applied several times, about five to six coats, over the leather, and then, finishing it with a varnish that included either "asphalte, Prussian blue, or fine ivory black".

Despite being regarded as the central figure to patent leather, Boyden never actually patented his process. Later on, with advancements in materials and techniques, the process of making patent leather became a lot cheaper.

What once used to be an oil-based coating, with the introduction of plastics, the mixture applied to leather became a combination of polyurethane and acrylic. So, most of the patent leather we have today is synthetic. This also helps ease the concerns of patent leather being a toxic hazard with the amount of lead that was applied to it back when it was first produced.

Opinions on patent leather may vary, with some opting not to buy products made from patent leather as it has the tendency for discoloration and darkening, as well as being prone to scratches, scuffs, and irreversible cracking and creasing. However, some of the advantages of patent leather products include its low maintenance, versatility, dirt resistance, and waterproof quality.

To learn more about the modern production process of patent leather and how to maintain it, check out this article from Carl Friedrik.

(Image credit: Hans/Pixabay)

Whenever I watched crime shows, I was always fascinated with the forensic aspects, especially when the coroner or forensic pathologist begins to break down their findings on the cause of death of the victim and other peculiarities they discovered during their investigation.

In reality, autopsies or postmortems aren't exactly as dramatic or necessary when somebody dies. The only cases which require autopsies are those when suspicious circumstances surround the death of an individual. Otherwise, if the cause of death can be readily ascertained by the attending doctor, then they can certify it, and the deceased will be brought to the funeral service.

The reason why crime shows often involve autopsies is because investigators are looking for any clues that will aid them in apprehending the culprit, and the manner of death as well as any residual evidence inside a person's body may point them to the right direction.

Most of the time, crime shows don't actually depict the step-by-step procedure of an autopsy. They simply highlight the salient findings so that the story can proceed to the next phase. Outside the realm of TV drama, autopsies are conducted depending on the circumstances of the death, and there are two types: non-coronial and coronial.

Non-coronial autopsies can be considered probing procedures, in that, one wants to know more about the details surrounding the death, i.e. the extent of any medical condition that led to the death or any undiagnosed medical condition that contributed to the death. In these cases, cause of death is known and we simply want to know the specifics.

Coronial autopsies are the ones featured mostly in crime shows, because these involve accidental, violent, unnatural, or unexpected deaths. Typically, these are reported to a coroner who is a forensic pathologist with legal training. These autopsies can either be an external examination or an internal examination of one particular cavity or multiple cavities.

The first step is a CT scan as well as establishment of the identity of the deceased. Forensic pathologists may look for visible signs or identifying marks like tattoos or scars. Blood, urine, and eye fluids are sampled to check for drugs, poisons, or other substances.

If these don't give any clear indication of what caused the death of the person, then a more invasive procedure may be required. The forensic pathologist will make incisions and remove several internal organs to examine them more closely. The brain may also be removed to check for blood clots, trauma, or other signs of disease.

After all the examinations are finished, they will return the organs in their place and stitch the body back up. Finally, they will wait for the results of the tests before giving a full report of their findings. There are cases when it is unclear what exactly caused the death, and those are labeled "unascertained".

(Image credit: Jafar Ahmed/Unsplash)

Inflation refers to the general rise in prices of goods and services in an economy. When we hear about high inflation rates in the news, it sounds alarming, and as consumers we often wince at just the mention of inflation because we immediately think that we will be in dire financial straits. 

Our minds quickly jump to thoughts about what the government is doing to ease inflation and how we are going to continue putting food on the table and providing our families with their daily needs. That's understandable for anybody, especially those living on the margins. But, once we understand some fundamental concepts about inflation, I don't think we'll find it as scary as we make it out to be.

In any economy, a certain level of inflation is reasonable, desirable even. Since the standard definition of inflation is an increase in prices for the stuff that we consume, that should mean that, assuming all things constant, those who provide the goods and services we consume will benefit from the rise in prices.

Furthermore, everyone involved in the production of goods and rendering of services would also partake in this benefit. At least, that's how it should work theoretically. Of course, there are many other external economic factors that come into play which don't always lead to an economic benefit for all just due to inflation.

This article from NPR looks into six different questions that people are curious about with regard to inflation, but were afraid to ask. We'll take a look at some of them here.

The first is whether companies try to make more profits out of inflation. Again, in theory, higher prices in goods and services should naturally lead to higher revenues and incomes. But we also have to consider that the producution of these goods and services aren't free.

Firms adjust the prices of their goods and services based on the costs they incurred during production. There may be instances when firms take advantage of that and pass on the burden of bearing these costs to consumers and raise prices to excess.

Generally, pricing goods and services is a careful balancing act. Unless a firm is a monopoly, they cannot increase their prices beyond what the market can bear or more than their competitors. Otherwise, consumers will simply flock to a competitor who provides the same type of good or service but at a lower price.

If costs of raw materials and labor start to ease, then firms won't have as much pressure to increase their prices. Furthermore, when consumers push back on sudden or extraordinary price increases, firms won't be able to aggressively raise their prices as much.

The second question deals with high interest rates and how they slow inflation. At the fundamental level, there are two reasons why prices increase, just to make things simpler: an increase in demand or a decrease in supply.

Higher demand means firms will need to produce more goods and services, which creates more jobs and higher wages, thus increasing people's incomes, leading to higher consumer spending. When this happens across different firms and industries, it will lead to inflation.

Increasing interest rates means that consumers will be paying more for loans or mortgage. So, they will have less money to spend elsewhere, thus lowering consumer spending. From another perspective, we can also look at higher interest rates as a means of encouraging more saving or investing than spending.

Putting one's extra cash in the money market might yield higher returns than spending that money on goods and services. Therefore, consumers may opt instead to invest their money in treasury bills, bonds, or notes, or if they have a higher risk appetite, the stock market. Reducing consumer spending this way will help ease inflation.

The last question I want to look into is the idea of a non-zero target inflation rate. Isn't a 0% inflation rate better? It may seem good to have a 0% inflation rate in theory, but as we have mentioned before, for any healthy economy, some level of inflation is good. It's a sign that the economy is alive and kicking. Now, let's look at an example when, instead of inflation, deflation occurs.

Imagine this, you've been working at a car manufacturing plant and each year, the plant produces 100 cars. Then, the next year, the company decides that the cars will be sold at lower prices. The plant still produces the same number of cars. Wages and other expenses are held constant. Consumers will be happy about the reduction in prices, and perhaps demand will increase, but that will also lead to losses for the company, until such a point when they will have to close down the plant because it's no longer sustainable.

It's an extreme example, but it just goes to show that, although lower prices will benefit consumers in the short-term, it doesn't necessarily bode well for the long-term, neither does it benefit a growing economy. So, for example, having a 2% target inflation rate is a good thing to keep the economy stable.

There you go. Those are some questions that people may have about inflation but were afraid to ask. You can check out and read the rest of the list on NPR.

Do you remember Tuvix, the short-lived character from Star Trek: Voyager that was created in a transporter accident that combined Neelix and Tuvok? The Glissotar is the woodwind equivalent of Tuvix, except that Captain Janeway hasn't killed it yet.

Dániel Váczi and Tóbiás Terebessy spent almost a decade developing this unique instrument that, instead of holes along the shaft, has a continuous opening that is held open or closed with a strap. Insert an ordinary alto saxophone mouthpiece that you can play a vast variety of sounds and effects, including movement between notes, over two and a half octaves.

-via Laughing Squid

We've heard (and reported) stories of people being buried alive, and even more so, the fear of being buried alive. We can assume that most of the cases in which a person was buried while not yet dead were never discovered. Some cases were discovered too late, and the burial caused their real death. Then there is the story of Essie Dunbar, who was pronounced dead after a seizure in 1915. Dunbar's funeral was delayed because her sister had to travel quite far, and even then she was too late to witness the burial when she finally arrived. The woman convinced the funeral party to exhume the coffin so she could see her sister one last time. Yes, Dunbar was found to be alive, but the discovery caused chaos instead of joy, as some of the funeral party thought she was now a ghost or zombie of some sort.

There is little documentation of Essie Dunbar's first burial, but it appears to have been an accepted account at the time in North Carolina. It's not the only story of premature burial, and there are others with both happy and gruesome endings in an article at History Defined. -via Nag on the Lake

(Image source: National Archives)

The lunar cycle is 29 days, and so is the average menstrual cycle, so somewhere along the way, people got the idea that the moon's phases controlled menstrual cycles. This is nonsense. If that were the case, there would be a run on menstrual products at the same time every month, papers would be written, and everyone would know about it. Besides, there is only one moon, but billions of women, with only an average cycle of 29 days. In reality, women vary in both cycle length and regularity.  

See, correlation is not necessarily causation. But scientific studies tell us that a different celestial body may actually have an effect on menstrual cycles. Whether this has any significance for women's health or fertility is another question entirely, but at least we get a glimpse into sea urchin gonads from the folks at SciShow. This video has a 50-second skippable ad at 2:22. -via Geeks Are Sexy

The villain in a fictional story is usually motivated by greed, for money or power or both. In horror films, they can be motivated by revenge or inhuman instincts. But with the rise of science fiction over the last 200 years, the addition of science to the mix created the character of the mad scientist. Not only does he have a thirst for power, he also has the education and the creativity to make it happen ...with science! Scientists with no moral inhibitions can produce horrors this world cannot imagine, which makes for a great story.

Dr. Frankenstein, Dr. Moreau, Dr. Caligari, Dr. No, Dr. Seth Brundle, Dr. John Hammond, they all wanted to "play God" in one way or another, with no regard for the consequences. What could be scarier? And is it any wonder that this archetype returns again and again? But over time, the projects these mad scientists carry out have become more and more plausible, in a reflection of what real scientists have developed. This only makes them scarier, as we can see how our world can fall victim of a highly intelligent yet unethical force. Atlas Obscura looks at the mad scientist and how the character has evolved over time.

We are used to fan conventions, where pop culture fans get together to share their favorite franchise, whether it's Star Trek, The Walking Dead, horror movies, or comic books in general. But what happens at a true crime convention? The seventh annual CrimeCon took place this summer in Nashville. There were authors at the con, signing their books. There were vendors catering to any desire a true crime fan might have. There were TV and podcast hosts that are popular among the community. But the most valuable tickets were for presentations and speeches from relatives of true crime victims or perpetrators. The parents and stepparents of Gabby Petito, who was murdered in 2021, were there. John Ramsey, father of JonBenét Ramsey, was there for this third con, despite being 80 years old. Kerri Rawson, whose father was the BTK killer, was there. Why would these people put themselves through this?

None of the crime relatives are paid to be at CrimeCon. They were already celebrities before the con was founded. While some have embraced their status, they share plenty of other reasons to attend. Some are victim's advocates. Some are selling books. Some go to network with others in the same situation. Some go hoping to keep an unsolved murder in the spotlight, or to spark interest in a case that has gone cold. Some go because telling their story is cathartic, even years later. But it still seems weird to have people clamoring for your autograph because a loved one was the victim of a horrific murder. Read about CrimeCon and its headline speakers at Slate. -via Damn Interesting

With the miracle of electricity, we set our clocks with the internet, or by someone nearby with a phone. But 140 years ago, this wasn't so easy. Sure, we had electricity, but it was new, scary, and people weren't really sure what could be done with it. It was in this historic time period that Paris figured out a centralized system to keep all its clocks synchronized without having to depend on someone to wind up each clock. And the clocks didn't even have to have their own power source!

The system required burying pipes under the city, which would carry a burst of air every 60 seconds, moving all the clocks forward one minute. That sounds like an awful lot of trouble, but they ran those pipes mostly through existing tunnels, like the subway and the sewer system. The main clock that synched all the others ran on weights, but the mechanics were designed so that the machine lifted its own weights when needed! All the clocks in Paris depended on this system, whether public or private, and it kept time within a minute, depending on how far you were from the central clock. This video has a 65-second skippable ad at 3:45. -via Nag on the Lake

I dare you to watch this video and try not think of the song "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?"

Remember the 1982 movie Poltergeist? Of course you do, it was written by Steven Spielberg and directed by Tobe Hopper and scared the pants off us. More than 40 years later, you have the opportunity to buy the house where it took place. The four-bedroom, 2.5-bathroom house in Simi Valley comes with 2,373 of interior space. It can be yours for just $1,174,999. The home has had the same owners since before the movie was made, and they haven't substantially changed the house. Now, if you recall anything about the film, you no doubt have a distinct memory of the house being completely destroyed, with not even a pile of rubble left.

Ah, memories. But that was just movie magic. The house is real, the destruction was not. And there are no bodies buried underneath. Still, imagine living here and playing the movie for family reunions and holiday celebrations. See 49 photos at the real estate listing. Television not included. -via Boing Boing

The pupils in our eyes adjust in size to let in more or less light to maximize our vision. That's a pretty handy ability to have, and it's automatic. Most animal species have eyes with adjustable pupils, too, but they vary an awful lot. House cats have vertical slits for pupils, while big cats like lions and tigers have round pupils. It's not just a matter of size, though, since bobcats have vertical slits and a Pallas's cat has round pupils, and they are about the same size. Strangely, some foxes also have vertical slits while dogs do not. The animal kingdom has developed a bunch of different pupil shapes, from the goat's horizontal boxes to the cuttlefish's "W" shaped pupils. All these shapes are there for a reason that has to do with the lifestyle of the animal. Except praying mantises. Their pupils are there just to freak us out. -via the Awesomer

In 1935, during the depths of the Great Depression, frustration was growing in the small towns and the large ranches of the Great Plains. The wildly-scattered populations of northern Wyoming, southern Montana, and western South Dakota all felt ignored by their state governments. They were only getting the dregs of New Deal money, and the lack of infrastructure made them feel quite neglected. So they began planning to secede. Not from the United States, but from their states, to form a new, 49th state of their own named Absaroka.

The reason you haven't heard of Absaroka is because the process for carving a new state out of existing states was too difficult, but the campaign got that area, centered around Sheridan, Wyoming, a lot of attention from their respective state capitals. And that's why the idea resurfaced again in 1939 (when a Sheridan city commissioner appointed himself governor of Absaroka), and then again in 1977. Of course, Alaska became the 49th state, and Hawaii the 50th. Read about Absaroka, the state that never was, at Smithsonian.

(Image source: Wikipedia)