I Recommend: Mint.com

Mint.com is an invaluable budgeting tool that can be accessed on anything with internet.

While the site is not new, launching back in 2006, this personal finance lifesaver has seen an influx of new users as of late, along with useful new feature implementations.

Here's the low-down:

Mint.com is a third-party portal between you and all your banks—including checkings, savings and credit card accounts, making it a one-stop site to view all of your money's information. Those worried about how safe this is can watch this video and put all their concerns to rest right away.

Not only can you view this information, Mint let's you set budgets for yourself in particular categories—say, Groceries for example—and tracks your spending in that category, sending you an e-mail alert when you exceed that budget. You can also have e-mail alerts telling you a few days prior that your credit card bill will be due (this can be very helpful).

Speaking of categories, the site also provides a clickable pie-graph that displays your spending trends. It'll show you exactly what you're spending the bulk of your money on.

For those looking to cut down on splurging, this is a helpful way to approach that goal.

Mint can even track any loans you may have taken out, telling you exactly how much you owe and deducting that from your total net worth. You can enter in your car's and property's net worth from that, giving you a more accurate number.

There are some minor annoyances, like not being able to enter in certain banks to track loans, but they are always adding new ones. If your bank is not listed, you can suggest it be added in the forums if it hasn't been already.

Another problem is that sometimes, spent money is said to come from a source that it isn't (for example: buying gas at stop and shop and having it come up as Groceries). There should be a way to permanently categorize spending items so that they always come up as what they really are.

Despite it's minor flaws, Mint.com is still a remarkable way to keep a pulse on your finances. It works wonders for those with dozens of accounts—but if you're like me and have only a few, it can still prove very helpful.

Torture Memos Declassified

Obama's decision to declassify CIA torture memos is more than just an exposure of the wrongdoings of Bush's administration. It admits that for years, the United States, as a nation got it wrong—that torture didn't produce anything valuable.

For once, in a very long time, the government has owned up to its wrongdoings instead of hiding it in a dizzying shroud of classification.

A recent Time article tells us that none of the information gained by torture couldn't have been gained by traditional techniques of information gathering. Not only did we damage our good reputation of a nation that frowns on the use of torture, we gained very little if nothing by succumbing to it.

But at least this has been admitted and not surrounded by controversy for years to come. Declassifying the memos lets us move on, and take the lessons from history as we should have done following the attacks of 9/11.

See the memos for yourself here.

Free Online Lectures

A recent article by Time tells us a trend in top universities: trying to get their best lectures out of the classroom and onto the web. Using sites such as YouTube, AcademicEarth.org, TED, and other educational portals, they are providing a free, quality service to citizens while simultaneously boosting their profits.

It doesn't come without a hefty price tag: thousands of dollars per lecture—but universities are finding it well worth it to upload some of their most effective lectures.

Take, for example, a rather energetic lecture on statistics. Hans Roslings debunks third world myths with stats that move more like planets over time. At the end, he argues the need for statistical data and design to be interlinked, making stats more comprehensible, universal, and fun. See the video here: Hans Rosling shows the best stats you've ever seen.

It's both surprising and predictable that this is happening now. In this age, we are seeing information becoming more accessible to the world than ever. But it's still a bit shocking that even Ivy League Schools would join in on this one—considering that their exclusivity is what drives their intellectual integrity and ultimately, new students.

Movie Review: State of Play

Rarely do I see a movie at the theaters twice. When I heard about State of Play, with its journalistic angle and a dash of suspense/thriller, I knew I was in for more than one viewing.

Let's talk plot: A congressman's life (Ben Affleck) turns into a media storm after it's discovered that he was having an affair with a recently murdered co-worker. It's up to Boston Globe journalist (Russell Crowe) and his young, new media side-kick (Rachael McAdams) to crack the "real story."

Along the way there are witty remarks and sarcastic outbursts, such as mocking the emergence of internet blogging. Crowe grumbles something to the effect of, "Before you upchuck something online, make sure you get your facts straight," to McAdams in the early scenes of the movie—an attitude most likely shared by the dying generation of print media journalists.

The story includes some rather surprising twists that I will obviously not get into detail here. Suffice to say, upholding journalistic and personal objectivity exists as one the movie's major themes. Another theme is shown in a scene between Crowe and his editor (Helen Mirren), when she makes it clear that citizens don't care about the truth of a news story, so long as what they're reading is sensationalized.

Overall, I give it a 9 out of 10, mostly because these themes have all been done before (Shattered Glass, The Insider). However, State of Play is able to show these explored truths in a refreshingly, upbeat way with it's commentary of new media, excellent acting talent and suspenseful plot twists.

What does it mean to cultivate?

Merriam-Webster defines the act as: to foster the growth of; to improve by labor, care, or study; to refine.

By that same token, this blog (The Cultivator) is a tool used to help stimulate the mind by aggregating interesting and noteworthy news—systematically farming food for thought, all year long. But posts are not strictly news or opinion. Each topic will provide facts, in addition to an informed conclusion, with links for further reading and verification of those facts.

Why cultivate?

We live in a time when information is coming at us so quick that we don't know how to process it all, and companies like Google make millions just by organizing it. With so much coming at us, it's no wonder why our society is called "attention deprived"—why people care more about being entertained than being told the whole truth.

News organizations know this and take advantage by "media-storming" the same cliché storylines, perpetuating it until focus shifts to a new topic. The problem is: we aren't learning much by being spoon-fed the same tired angles about the economic crisis at every turn.

Yet each and every day lies the possibility of refreshing, educational news. Looking beyond the immediate firestorms and buzzwords, the opportunity to expand your mind has no limit—and it could all start with a 500-word article.

This is the type of news that deserves some attention. So switch your brain to active, and get ready to learn something new with every cultivation.