{"id":668594,"date":"2025-12-31T10:45:16","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T15:45:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/?p=668594"},"modified":"2025-12-31T10:52:35","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T15:52:35","slug":"economic-obesity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/2025\/12\/31\/economic-obesity\/","title":{"rendered":"Economic Obesity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So the other day, I was on the phone with a car insurance agent, and was joking around with him\u2026 He asked me what car I had\ufffc\u2026 and I said two Lamborghinis in the garage. \ufffc and at first, it took him off of guard, and surprised him. Why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div data-wp-interactive=\"core\/file\" class=\"wp-block-file\"><object data-wp-bind--hidden=\"!state.hasPdfPreview\" hidden class=\"wp-block-file__embed\" data=\"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Economic-Obesity-3.pdf\" type=\"application\/pdf\" style=\"width:100%;height:600px\" aria-label=\"Embed of Economic Obesity 3.\"><\/object><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-35c2f937-cb87-47ad-9ff1-8d58d5780926\" href=\"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Economic-Obesity-3.pdf\">Economic Obesity 3<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Economic-Obesity-3.pdf\" class=\"wp-block-file__button wp-element-button\" download aria-describedby=\"wp-block-file--media-35c2f937-cb87-47ad-9ff1-8d58d5780926\">Download<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">First, I thought it was just economically irresponsible\u2026 But obviously it was a joke, but actually I thought about it\u2026 A little bit deeper on a more profound level\u2026 Now that I could actually afford to Lamborghinis or multiple Lamborghinis\u2026 The truth is, it\u2019s like <strong><em>reverse<\/em> wealth<\/strong>. \ufffc<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">100 years of prosperity<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So it kind of doesn\u2019t really matter \ufffc\u2026. all this silly short-term stuff. Why? What truly matters is, thinking about the long-term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For example, I actually find it very useful to find and research these short term documentaries about rich people in the past because you see how their vehicles\u2026 really don\u2019t age well overtime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For example, if you watch a documentary on the 70s 80s 90s 2000s, 2010\u2026 All these fancy sports cars Mercedes Lamborghinis, even Bugatti\u2018s\u2026 Look lame in the long run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And only that but, once again, assuming that like wealth is like bodybuilding muscle, and strength and power and also\u2026 Indefinitely increasing your one repetition maximum on your weightlifting\u2026 The exact <em>opposite<\/em> of that is to \ufffc blow it away on something that is reverse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Energy leaks<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Another thought, in terms of energy energy leaks etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So now that I am a new homeowner, proud owner of a glorious 7000 square-foot lot, single-family home\u2026 I\u2019m starting to learn about living stuff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For example, even something as simple as a leaking water faucet. Or leaking showerhead, or water leaks in general. If you think about it\u2026 Even if you have like a .1% leak, some more critical\u2026 Over the course of a day hour or weeks or months or years\u2026 That will probably equate to like millions of gallons of water lost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Or imagine\u2026 You have a tiny leak somewhere in your main house\u2026 And you leave for vacation. Even a week or a few days, or let us say six months. Imagine how insane it will be six months from now, coming back home to see your whole house flooded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So I think we\u2019re also with economics it\u2019s kind of the same. Typically we could easily identify energy leaks, or economic energy leaks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For example, superfluous subscriptions which bill you ad infinitium, which bill you forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If anything, one of the most simple things you can do is just unsubscribe from everything. Unsubscribe from everything, all at once, and then a month or two or three from now later\u2026 If you find it insanely critical, and then you could always resubscribe to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">every day unsubscribe from one thing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Let us say you have an inbox which is out of control. Assuming you have Gmail, literally the easiest thing you do is select all, archive all, and begin with a clean slate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There is also this service called unroll.me ,,, and once again, mass unsubscribe from everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Cars<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The number one most obvious thing that is a major energy leak for people is their vehicle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For example, even something as simple as gasoline, assuming that you have to use premium gas, and your vehicle consumes much premium gas, that is like literally the worst energy leak that you got. It is almost like, if you\u2019re trying to climb a very very steep hill or mountain, and you literally have like 1,000,000,000,000 tons on your back. Or something that is dragging you down or weighing you down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019ll give you another good example, a big issue that I had for a really really long time, finally got it resolved , was that my back bicycle tire was out of alignment, which caused my rear brake pad, to perpetually clamp my rear brakes at like 30% intensity, so when I\u2019m like biking around town or uphill or whatever, it\u2019s like the brakes are perpetually engaged. You don\u2019t know how insanely annoying this is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Finally got it resolved in my life is like 1 trillion times better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Prius<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019m still pretty convinced that at least in America, also even in Phnom Penh Cambodia,,, maybe everywhere on the planet\u2026 A Prius, a 2010 Prius may be the best bet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">First, it all just literally comes down to MPG\u2018s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I also think that a Prius prime plug-in seems also interesting\u2026 But, it reduces the MPG? I suppose if you have those electric chargers or visit malls which have the plug-in thingy\u2026 A Prius prime plug-in is a good idea, but, my long-term suspicion\u2026 Typically the more components that your vehicle or house or whatever has\u2026 The more points in which it could break. So assuming that a Prius plug-in prime has more components than just a typical Prius hybrid\u2026 I think in the long-term like 10, 20 or 30 years\u2026 there are probably more components that will break?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And also\u2026 I think the built-in battery pack is paltry at best. What like 30 miles or 50 miles? And then once again the way that people are suckered by marketing is they are like thinking wild they could totally live off the grid or whatever but once again\u2026 You\u2019re only saving a few dollars here and there?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">All electric or not?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\ufffc I\u2019m a super mega fan of Elon Musk, Tesla etc.\u2026 But once again, my suspicion or my honest thought is, it seems like an economically unintelligent idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">First, no matter how good your Tesla or electric vehicle or whatever is\u2026 The number one critical issue is that, no matter what, within one or two cycles your car will look obsolete? In two or three years?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If we cross pollinate this idea to photography\u2026 Or even to iPhones, even if you buy the newest iPhone Pro right now, imagine like you spend $100,000 on a iPhone Pro, with wheels\u2026 No matter how good it is, it will always become obsolete very very quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Another good example, a camera which befuddles me\u2026 the Leica Q camera\u2026 which is essentially a Panasonic Lumix camera with a body kit, no matter how good one you get, once again in a few years the value of it will drop like what 50%?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Cameras<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So some honest things I have come to believe:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">First, it does seem that modular makes more sense. Even something as simple as a desktop computer, because it is modular, and also because you could swap out the parts in and out, it is a very good idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For example, even as a child, or a teenager, when I was like 15 years old, or even my freshman sophomore year in high school, I will never forget that my older mentor and friend ERIC Moon taught me how to build a computer. Choosing the processor of the ram the hard drive\u2026 Graphics card, the case, and whenever anything got outdated,.. you could either swap out that part or upgrade that specific piece?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Os of the future<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One analogy I heard about ChatGPT and AI at least for highschoolers in university students is that it is like almost the new operating system. Which means, \ufffc instead of just googling stuff, they essentially live in ChatGPT, ChatGPT almost becomes like their new macOS?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So assuming that you have a ChatGPT subscription, in some ways it actually becomes quite optimistic because instead of paying for overpriced $1500 iPhone pros for the rest of your life, in theory you could just use an operate a cheap smartphone device or computer or desktop or laptop or iPad tablet whatever, <strong>as long as you have access to ChatGPT\u2026 Which is the only AI<\/strong>, \ufffc\u2026 you\u2019re good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Minimum viable AI<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I have another big idea, after playing with ChatGPT pro the $200 a month version, which honestly I think is awesome but, even the $20 a month version, is pretty great.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So for example, I\u2019m starting to think this like iCloud storage and even now Google Drive storage, even dropbox storage, all of this is kind of a scam. <strong>Maybe my next project is I will slowly migrate everything off of the cloud<\/strong>. \ufffc<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>So the other day, I was on the phone with a car insurance agent, and was joking around with him\u2026 He asked me what car I had\ufffc\u2026 and I said two Lamborghinis in the garage. \ufffc and at first, it took him off of guard, and surprised him. Why? First, I thought it was just [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-668594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-posts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=668594"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668594\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":668599,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668594\/revisions\/668599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=668594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=668594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=668594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}