@#5 ... see a recent college grad, wearing a t-shirt and sweats, very little makeup or jewelry, standing in front of cheap IKEA furniture full of normal, non-extravagant stuff, like books and craft supplies. ...

For starters, the picture in the sub-summary is not the pic of the original cited article.

From that original article...

... A 35-year-old Brooklyn resident gave up buying new clothes. A 22-year old in San Diego swore off retail therapy at Target. A 26-year old in England banned carbonated drinks from her shopping list.

These three women, who don't know each other, all started the year resolving to spend money only on necessary purchases, or what is popularly known as engaging in a no-buy challenge. The self-imposed rules of the challenge are simple: participants pledge to stop buying non-essential items, be they unneeded shoes, additional beauty products, or other impulse buys for a set amount of time, usually 12 months. ...

So, some people are deciding that living within their means is a good thing.

I applaud that.

Whoa, lightning here, with the accompanying thunder less than 5 seconds from the flash.

OK, the lightning is now a "flash-bang" event.

No delay for the difference between the speed of light vs the speed of sound.

Stated differently, these lightning strikes are close.

@#9 ... Nice! Love a good T-banger! ...

Yeah.

But when you have antennae on the rooftop (properly grounded and protected), the flash-boom lightning is not A Good Thing.

High voltage (and that is what lightning is) is not something to be trivialized...

@#11 ... I have all of that as well. It's still cool. I like it when the ground shakes. ...

The Ground Should Not Shake.

Full Stop.

:)

@#14 ... Where I live it's pretty normal and you need to be prepared for that. ...

Yeah, I was speaking more 'bout lightning and thunder.

But to your point, there was a 4.8 earthquake in this area a month or so again.

To say the least, in an area that has become accustomed to solid ground, that shaking was jolting.

When I talked with a long-time friend in San Francisco about the quake...

He just laughed at me. Maybe more mocking than laughter. :)

So, yeah, it all depends upon what may be the norm for the area.

Thanks for the alternative perspective.