Frugal vs. Cheap

I love all the shows about people saving money from extreme couponers to the newer "So Freakin' Cheap" and everything in between. I have a beautiful matriarchal lineage of women who know how to enjoy life with very little funding. The thing all of these shows make clear to me is this: you can live an amazing life & be frugal, always being creative & resourceful to stretch every penny. However when saving money comes at the expense of people's feelings, you're just being cheap & not enriching life experiences. There are people that want you to spend until you're broke & that still won't be enough & that's not what I mean. If your kids or spouse live in constant embarrassment by all of your money-saving tactics or you draw unnecessary negative attention to them by going extreme to save marginal amounts of money, that's just being cheap. Teaching your kids the value of money & how to make it feel like more while loving them & considering their feelings is a great way to be frugal.

Intelligence

First of all, I posted the title as "intelligence" and then wondered if it was spelled right. Ironic, isn't it? I've been thinking about two kinds of non-human intelligence. First is dogs. I love them. I watch our little weiner, Charlie, and he has a very different personality and set of rules for all 5 people in our family, including our daughter that doesn't even live here. He plays with each of us differently. For instance, he brings me toys and expects me to chase him. He runs into our bedroom when the hubbie's there and looks up at the bed repeatedly to get him to put him up and slide his hands under the blanket for him to attack. He does different things with each of our kids. He licks or doesn't lick, depending on how we react to it. He bites soft or never bites at all, again depending on how we react. He lets each of us hold him in different ways. He relaxes differently around each one of us. When I really watch and think about it, I'm impressed that he remembers so many various little details that pertain to each of us and he keeps them straight every time, never mixing up his behavior between us. That is one way that I'm dazzled by his smarts. (I should really upload a few pics of him but I always write these when I'm too lazy for things like that.)

The other thing is that I think there's a higher level of plant intelligence than what is widely acknowledged. We've had home gardens for the last 16 years. I see new weeds nearly every year and there is often something new that imitates another plant we have. When I first see it, I don't pull it out right away because it will look close to something we want. Once I figure out that weed and attempt to have it under control, the next year there will be something new that looks like something else we've planted and want. There's this tricky plant evolution that happens in our yard year after year. It's tough to look at all the times I've seen this happen and discount intelligence to plant life, even though it does seem a little far-fetched. I googled this really fast and saw there are many others who have hypothesized this, done studies, made YouTube videos, etc. so I guess it's not really all that crazy after all. It's just an interesting and powerful thing to witness.

There isn't much more to say, just wanted to muse about a couple of the ways I've witnessed forms of intelligence lately. I have also thought about human intelligence-it's a complicated thing. What are the markers for an intelligent person? The definition is somebody who acquires and applies knowledge and skills. How useful do the knowledge & skills need to be to fall into this category? How eccentric and misunderstood can somebody be and still be considered by the average peers to be intelligent? I've thought a great deal about technological intelligence, which is also complicated. Machines can be programmed to acquire and apply knowledge and in some cases skills as well. When is the line crossed between programming and a true independent intelligence?

There are some fascinating theories, experiments, and YouTube videos about that as well. I won't ever have it figured out but sometimes the journey of just trying to answer the questions can be a fun one.