A great column by Barbara Ehrenreich, author of "Nickel and Dimed", was recently published in TIME. Make copies and pass it all around!
Fight for Your Right to Party
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Monday, December 04, 2006
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
krishnamurti said that
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society."
-Krishnamurti
Monday, November 27, 2006
Sunday, November 19, 2006
DO IT LATER!
A 2007 Planner (or Non-Planner) for the Creative Procrastinator -The perfect Christmas present for that special procrastinator in your life!
the "environmentalist" Idler
I received a copy of the newest the Idler this week. It's AWEsome! I ordered it for this issue's "SAVE THE WORLD" theme, of course. Tom has a short article about how beautiful pencils are. In it he reminds us that during the U.S./Soviet space races, "the Americans spent millions of dollars developing a pen which would write upside down. But the Russians? They took a pencil."
Saturday, November 18, 2006
meddling
Last week at “Green Drinks”, (a fun international movement of environmentalist gatherings), there was a formal presentation put on by a couple from India. The speakers are part of a project designed to improve renewable energy technology in a village in east India.
They made several wonderful points about the lack of any connection between wealth and happiness. They also pointed out that in India, there are nearly 800,000,000 very poor villagers who put out almost no pollution or carbon emissions. The 200,000,000 of India’s wealthy consuming urban elite create the pollution.
Part of the presenters' project is to provide poor villagers with LED solar powered lamps in order to help eliminate health problems associated with the internal use of kerosene lanterns. This is certainly a worthwhile effort, a noble cause. However, and maybe this was because my brain was confused by the disconnected nature of having a formal presentation at what is usually a social event, and this may have been caused by my strong preference for social events over formal presentations, although formal presentations do have their place, and I certainly did not mean to put a damper on anyone’s evening, I couldn’t help but ask, “Why do they need to have any lamps?”
Silence.
-The answer? They need to have good lamps so that they can work and study at night.
Shoot.
I can’t think of two more vile things to do at night. Nights should be for relaxing, playing, campfires, or sleeping. They should not be violated with things like work and study. Tom Hodgkinson likes to say that the light bulb is one of the most evil inventions ever. I agree, unless you live in the Arctic where the night can last 6 months, but even that has its own appeal. Now we are condemning 800,000,000 more people to working and studying at night!
Sometimes I think the best thing we could do for the people of India (or Africa, or Iraq, or Afghanistan…) is to leave them alone. They are perfectly capable of solving their own problems, most of which the Western world has caused.
eddy out,
rich
They made several wonderful points about the lack of any connection between wealth and happiness. They also pointed out that in India, there are nearly 800,000,000 very poor villagers who put out almost no pollution or carbon emissions. The 200,000,000 of India’s wealthy consuming urban elite create the pollution.
Part of the presenters' project is to provide poor villagers with LED solar powered lamps in order to help eliminate health problems associated with the internal use of kerosene lanterns. This is certainly a worthwhile effort, a noble cause. However, and maybe this was because my brain was confused by the disconnected nature of having a formal presentation at what is usually a social event, and this may have been caused by my strong preference for social events over formal presentations, although formal presentations do have their place, and I certainly did not mean to put a damper on anyone’s evening, I couldn’t help but ask, “Why do they need to have any lamps?”
Silence.
-The answer? They need to have good lamps so that they can work and study at night.
Shoot.
I can’t think of two more vile things to do at night. Nights should be for relaxing, playing, campfires, or sleeping. They should not be violated with things like work and study. Tom Hodgkinson likes to say that the light bulb is one of the most evil inventions ever. I agree, unless you live in the Arctic where the night can last 6 months, but even that has its own appeal. Now we are condemning 800,000,000 more people to working and studying at night!
Sometimes I think the best thing we could do for the people of India (or Africa, or Iraq, or Afghanistan…) is to leave them alone. They are perfectly capable of solving their own problems, most of which the Western world has caused.
eddy out,
rich
Saturday, November 11, 2006
Sunday, October 22, 2006
how to be free
I just got my copy of Tom Hodgkinson's new book, "How To Be Free". A blogger has posted an excerpt which was recently in The Guardian but is now off of their website. Enjoy.Stop the world, I want to get off
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Monday, October 16, 2006
school, congressional, and johnny carson vacation time
Endless Vacation (video)
by Jim Twohie, on CBS News Video freeSpeech
by Jim Twohie, on CBS News Video freeSpeech
Friday, October 13, 2006
Saturday, September 09, 2006
Tom thanks Pope Benedict
"Idle thoughts"
Saturday September 9, 2006
Tom says here's to the Catholics who believe the Protestant work ethic is a dangerous thing.
Saturday September 9, 2006
Tom says here's to the Catholics who believe the Protestant work ethic is a dangerous thing.
Monday, September 04, 2006
Sunday, January 15, 2006
the perils of multitasking
I knew it. Not only is multitasking a "moral weakness", it is bad for you!
From TIME magazine:
Help! I've Lost My Focus
by CLAUDIA WALLIS, SONJA STEPTOE
TIME magazine
Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2006
From TIME magazine:
Help! I've Lost My Focus
by CLAUDIA WALLIS, SONJA STEPTOE
TIME magazine
Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2006
Sunday, January 01, 2006
busyness
The Death of Stillness
The Price We Pay For Losing Our Private Peace
by Richard Mahler
This is a good column but it leaves out one thing. It does not discuss the phenomenon of people who wear and state their "busyness" as a badge of honor. These people are not even that busy, but they deliberately fill their schedules (and empty lives) and discuss their busyness in order to let other people know how busy they are. How's it going? Busy, busy, busy!
The Price We Pay For Losing Our Private Peace
by Richard Mahler
This is a good column but it leaves out one thing. It does not discuss the phenomenon of people who wear and state their "busyness" as a badge of honor. These people are not even that busy, but they deliberately fill their schedules (and empty lives) and discuss their busyness in order to let other people know how busy they are. How's it going? Busy, busy, busy!
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