“We are all of us resigned to death: it’s life we aren’t resigned to,” novelist Graham Greene once wrote. A growing number of Americans of all ages are embracing that idea by renewing a resolve to live life to its fullest. “Life Lists” - lists of things we want to do or see before we take that final step - have become increasingly popular. Dawn and I have such a list and try to check a few things or places off each year.

This month’s issue of Smithsonian magazine features an article on the subject that includes photos of 28 places its editors believe everyone should include on their own “lists.” And here’s the bottom line: Whether you visit only a couple of these destinations or all 28, your life will be enriched by the experience.

These incredible looking tree houses, called “Free Spirit Spheres,” are designed by Tom Chudleigh and represent an eco-friendly living quarters created to unobtrusively co-exist with its forest environment. Continue reading…

Jim Cramer* listed his top 10 predictions for 2008 last week and seeking alpha reported on it, opining that some of Cramer’s forecasts seem more likely than others while a few appear to be wishful thinking:

1. Goldman Sachs (GS) makes more money than every other brokerage firm in New York combined and finishes the year at $300 a share. Not a prediction—an inevitability. In fact, it’s only January, and I think it’s already come true.

2. Oil goes much higher, maybe as much as $125 a barrel… We are running out of oil more quickly than people can imagine, and that means great returns for oil companies. Just buy the stock of the company you filled up at today or buy a driller (Transocean (RIG) is my favorite), then sit back and make money.

3. The Fed arranges an Arabic Heimlich maneuver on Citigroup (C), so the banking giant doesn’t choke on the worst mortgage portfolio in the country.

4. Verizon (VZ) becomes your cable provider.

   Cramer praised Verizon’s Fios, and predicted that the stock will be the best performing in the Dow Jones averages. Time Warner (TWX) and Comcast (CMCSA) will be hit hard, he adds.

5. Turning to private equity, Cramer predicted that Cerberus Capital Management will fail to resuscitate Chrysler (which he attributes partly on the choice of Bob Nardelli), and that Congress will agree to bail out the fund.

6. Cramer is bullish on Google (GOOG): Google stock reaches $1,000. The company becomes one of the top three companies in the U.S. in market capitalization… and successfully challenges Microsoft (MSFT) for operating-system dominance.

7. With the dollar weak, Cramer foresees European companies swooping in to buy up the likes of Merrill Lynch (MER), JPMorgan (JPM), Colgate (CL), Clorox (CLX), Whirlpool (WHR), and Black & Decker (BDK) which, he forecasts, will all see their stocks rise as a result.

8. Apple (AAPL), he predicts, will reach $300. He sees it successfully taking over the music business and, among other knock-on effects, he forewarns that Warner Music Group (WMG) will file for bankruptcy.

9. Turning to the media, Cramer posits that the cash-strapped New York Times (NYT) will accept a buy-out offer from Mayor Michael Bloomberg at $20 a share.

   Don’t be so quick to scoff: The cash is spare change for Bloomberg who, don’t forget, already owns a small media company. I’d say the $10 share price is even money. That’s how bad it is at the Times. The Bloomberg buyout is probably a 100-to-1 shot, but may be less if he decides not to run for president and needs something else to do this year.

10. Returning to his lament over governmental and Fed policies, Cramer predicts that the victims of foreclosure will lead a march on the White House and lay siege on the Fed. This, he says, will lead to Bernanke resigning, his replacement slashing rates, and the markets rebounding. As Cramer admits, this one’s a very very long shot.

    But if Bernanke or a future Fed chair does cut rates meaningfully, here’s a sure bet: That’s the time to start buying.

*Jim Cramer is an American television personality, former hedge fund manager, and best-selling author. In 2007, NewsBios.com named him one of the 100 most influential business journalists in the United States.

The editors of PCWorld have ranked the best PCs, HDTVs, components, sites, and services of 2007 and listed the products they’re looking forward to in ‘08. Here are the top 10:

1. Google Apps Premier Edition. I wasn’t surprised - hosting core applications on Google’s servers rather than on users’ makes sense, and the number of initial clients shows that it’s likely to enjoy continued acceptance.

2. Intel Core 2 Duo. Again, no surprise here. Intel is producing some great “new generation” chip sets these days and the things lined up for introduction are amazing.

3. Nintendo Wii. I haven’t used one of these but the ads make it look fun!

4. Verizon FiOS.

5. RIM Blackberry 8800. Great smartphone with peripherals.

6. Parallels Desktop. Allows Mac users to run - not emulate - Windows. Works better than on PCs in some cases!

7. Pioneer Elite 1080p PRO-FHD1.

8. Infrant Technologies ReadyNAS NV.

9. Apple Mac OS X 10.4 “Tiger”. A great operating system made even better with the latest release.

10. Adobe Premiere Elements 3. Long missing from the landscape, Premiere has reestablished itself as a player in video production.

Two things I found particularly telling after reading the list: First, no where is there any mention of Microsoft’s premiere operating system, Windows Vista! Apple’s OSX Tiger and the Canonical Ubuntu 7.04 operating systems came in at numbers 9 and 16 respectively, but Vista failed to make the cut! I’m sure Vista fans will cry foul, but PCWorld is highly respected in the industry…

And second, that Google Apps Premier Edition won the “Product of the Year” crown. Microsoft may still be the ten-ton hippo of office applications, but for the majority of us that rarely require such a bloated, albeit feature rich, office suite, Google Apps is looking like a no-brainer.

In its 2007 Year in Pictures, MSNBC has again compiled a stellar list of photographs it believes best represent 2007. Presented as an audio slideshow, it’s the News images that to me are the most moving.

There’s lots of change going on out there; new Web widgets, new biotech, new eco-friendly dirt bikes that can jump over your head. Here’s a rundown of what and whom to keep an eye on in 2008:

Here’s a list you don’t see every day courtesy of deputydog by way of James. I’ve featured tattooed men (and ladies) before, but this goes waaaay beyond reason. And I should warn you that a couple of the videos aren’t for the squeamish. But that said, take a look at what some may call body art, others might call obsessive/compulsive and more than a few would call insanity. Here are three from the list to give you a preview…

I suppose this is not unlike some people, usually women, that can’t seem to get enough plastic surgery. We’ve all seen them on TV and most will agree they’re obsessive. This seems to me to fall into the same category. What do you think?

LiveScience has compiled an interesting list of “History’s Top 10 Most Overlooked Mysteries“ which includes:

Lost City of Helike

Greek writer Pausanias gave an account of how, in one night, a crushing earthquake destroyed the city of Helike, followed by a massive tsunami that swept away what remained of the once-flourishing metropolis. The Achaean league capital was a worship center devoted to earth shaker and God of the sea, Poseidon. No trace of the legendary society existed outside of ancient Greek texts until 1861 when an archeologist found Helike loot - a bronze coin with the unmistakable head of Poseidon. In 2001, a pair of archeologists located the ruins of Helike beneath mud and gravel and is currently trying to uncover the rise and demise of what some consider the “real” Atlantis.

Who Was Robin Hood?

The existence of a forest-dwelling altruistic bandit might seem more plausible then a legendary king with a magical sword. However, the hunt for the real-life Robin Hood has turned up entire scrolls of suspects. For example, candidates include a fugitive in Yorkshire by the name of Robert Hod, who went by Hobbehod as well as a Robert Hood of Wakefield. The growing list of names is further complicated as the name “Robin Hood” soon became synonymous with being an outlaw as in the case of William Le Fevre who’s surname was later changed to RobeHod, according to medieval court records. His possible identity gets cloudier as later authors of the tales wove more characters such as Prince John and Richard the Lionheart into the story.

Some of these have been the subject of television specials; all are interesting and worth a read.

Back in 2004, mental floss magazine published an earth shattering issue containing a list aimed at answering the “25 most important questions in the history of universe,” an impressive achievement by any standard. I’m certain much collective noodling went into their selection, yet some of you are still losing sleep pondering these very timeless riddles and I feel compelled to help you achieve enlightenment.

For example, how often have you asked yourself, “Why does Hawaii have Interstate Highways?” And “Is it possible to own property on the moon?” Or “Can you actually sense weather with an injured body part?” Well, faithful readers, fret no more because the answers to these and 22 other universally important questions are answered once and for all here.

A humorous list of dating terminology from StrangeCosmos I ran across on the DZSokal blog…

Easy: A term used to describe a woman who has the morals of a man.

Eye Contact: A method utilized by a single woman to communicate to a man that she is interested in him. Despite being advised to do so, many women have difficulty looking a man directly in the eyes, not necessarily due to shyness, but usually due to the fact that a woman’s eyes are not located in her chest.

Friend: A member of the opposite sex in your acquaintance who has some flaw which makes sleeping with him/her totally unappealing.

Indifference: A woman’s feeling towards a man, which is interpreted by the man as “playing hard to get.”

Irritating Habit: What the endearing little qualities that initially attract two people to each other turn into after a few months together.

Nymphomaniac: A man’s term for a woman who wants to do it more often than he does.

Sober: A condition in which it is almost impossible to fall in love.

Attraction: The act of associating horniness with a particular person.

Love at First Sight: What occurs when two extremely horny but not entirely choosey people meet.

Law of Relativity: How attractive a given person appears to be is directly proportionate to how unattractive your date is.

1. Inability to put forth the effort required to complete any task.

H.T. to Mike M.!

It’s again that time of year when we become inundated with “Top”, “Best of” and similar lists from Forbes, Time and many, many others. Doing our part to prevent our faithful readers from finding themselves uninformed and embarrassed at their next cocktail party, the crack reporting team at IM brings you the Times 25 Top 10 Lists.  

And while you may not be particularly interested in some of them (Does anyone really care about the top 10 Hollywood breakups?) you’re probably chomping at the bit to learn which web sites made the Top 10 (Hint: We unexplainably failed to make the cut. Go figure!) But check out the sites that did, then explore some of the other lists like podcasts or children’s books. All good stuff…