Leeway
Many folks have mocked Mr. Trump for his frequent golf outings, on the one hand because he did the same to Mr. Obama, and on the other because they think he sho...
Tag: Work
Graham Greene on Bullshit Jobs
“It’s a living,” she said. “It’s not a real living. All this spying. Spying on what? Secret agents discovering what everybody knows already…” “Or just mak...
Tips for an Advanced Lifestyle; or, Coping with Working from Home
Wake up you sleepyhead Put on some clothes Shake up your bed Oh, you pretty things, brush your teeth Bathe Make, eat, and clean up from breakfast Lift weights G...
A Simple Rate Tweak Should Do It
Last week, the Federal Reserve and others lowered interest rates in an attempt to counteract the effects of COVID-19 on the economy. Also last week, The Economi...
Success
At soccer practice last night, one of the players remarked, quickly, as he was moving, “Now I understand.”
Wrong Problem. Wrong Solution.
I intermittently listen to the news while driving, and heard several stories on NPR’s All Things Considered, regarding a raid by Immigration and Customs E...
What Would You Do?
If money were no object, what would you do? If your income were divorced from your work, what would you do? If you earned the same regardless of occupation, wha...
Impulses
ACTION REQUIRED, the e-mail demands, NOW. Give money. Sale! One day only! You might like this video. Sign our petition now or terrible things will happen! How w...
The Empty Illusions of Advertising
I love the serendipity of an unexpected find when looking for something else. Today I found “Women Whose Lives are Food, Men Whose Lives are Money” (1978) by Jo...
A Procrastinator’s Love Song
Lots of things to do, there are lots of things to do.Lots of things to do, there are lots of things to do.If I got up this morn, then I could do them too.Lots o...
Cast Your Eyes Upon the Sky
The room darkened. I stood to turn on the lights. This done, I turned. And looked out the window. The Internet samples pretty pictures from others’ lives....
Step Away From the Computer
Nestled among the advertisements for upscale apartments (Enjoy Four Seasons Fort Lauderdale! Only $4,300,000!) in this week’s edition of The New York Time...
Science Fiction was never entirely about The Future
I’ve been reading stories from the November/December 2017 issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction magazine that I picked up at Barnes & Noble before C...
A Happy Little Working Song
This still doesn't answer the question of how to afford food without a job.
Need-Blind
The ocean of the Internet tosses up interesting flotsam, and then it sinks below the surface again. I read some passing reference, perhaps by Niall Ferguson, to...
Be Careful What You Wish For
Norway’s SlowTV film of the Bergen to Oslo railway is beautiful and deeply moving: nostalgic. Though I’ve never been to Norway, I’ve ridden tr...
What Are You Here For?
I have, since I found out about it, wanted to go to space. I remember, vividly, watching Star Trek in color in the basement of a friend who had television and s...
What is Work? What is Rest?
I spent the other day driving around. First to the doctor, where he confirmed my self-diagnosis of bronchitis, and then across the county for an x-ray to elimin...
Qualification
Certain things aren’t talked about — or at least are avoided because they are uncomfortable to talk about — in polite society; that is, beyond our immediate cir...
Sorry. Procedures.
I’m reading an excellent book right now that’s discussing how we surrender our judgment to detailed rules and procedures: The Death of Common Sense: How Law is ...