whats the plot

today, i went to the supermarket to buy some stuff, and i picked up a 12 pack of pepsi on the way out. when i looked at my receipt, i noticed that there was an additional tax of $0.48 for the pepsi, separate from the overall tax at the bottom (not sure if it is included in the overall x% tax that you pay at the end or not, but regardless, it is more).

oddly enough, i could buy 1.92 cans of pepsi for the amount of the tax. actually, for the total of $3.98, i could have bought 15.92 cans from the vending machine at work... (although ideally, i should stop drinking pepsi altogether).

i was looking on ebay, where you can sell your WoW characters for an amount depending on the type of gear and money they have. so glancing at some of the previous auctions, rogues seem to go between $150 and $500, depending on how tweaked they are.

so guestimating rad to get ~$200 (i think that's a safe guess based on his not-so-uber uberness), and estimating about 34 days of /played time on him, that's 816 hours for about $200... which is less than a quarter per hour!!! in 1938, that was minimum wage (although that was equivalent of about $3.22 in 2005). but now, minimum wage is about $5.15, which means WoW pays less than 1/20th of the current US minimum wage.

now if we also take into account the $14.99/month fee for playing... then wow...

(source: wikipedia).

yesterday, i got in on the yahoo mail beta by using the tricks mentioned on several web sites. i like it actually, despite the fact that some of the people commented on some of those sites saying its nothing compared to gmail... i think yahoo did a good job, and it certainly is a lot better than the hotmail beta in my humble opinion which barely works under firefox...

this morning, i read an interesting interview with marc allen. i don't really know who he is, just that he's a multi millionaire... he makes some interesting points throughout the interview... the three points that struck me the most were: 1. with regards to money, he says, "It is a very, very good servant but a terrible master." 2. he says that you should save at least 10% of your salary monthly, and save more if you can. he says that once you're able to live off 90% of your salary, save another 10% and give it in charity, saying that those two steps are "great keys to a better life and a better world." 3. he says that all it takes to becoming a millionaire today is intention.

i also like his work schedule... 4 days a week, not going in to work before 11, taking mondays off, dedicating sundays for family, etc...

overall, i was just impressed by his way of thinking about money as a utility, as something that can improve society. i wish someone would tell this man about islam and its teachings with respect to money, people, and societies. the interview is a great read overall.