“Are we there yet?” “Why? Are you bored?” Boredom. I never got that. How can any conscious being be bored? I think it is a matter of perception and attitude, maybe even choice. I recall hearing of people retiring from a job they had for most of their adult life, then dying within a few … More Boredom and Work
I had just finished reading Bill McKibben’s new novel, Radio Free Vermont: A Fable of Resistance, when I stumbled upon Bill Gates’ blog, http://www.gatesnotes.com, which I had not looked at for quite a while. I have to admit, I had been rather miffed at the overconfident elitist strategy Gates pursued at the Paris Climate Change … More Bill Gates or Bill McKibben: You Do the Math
On the Necessity of the Inconceivable to Engage the New Great Transformation Most of us who have lived through the decades since World War II understand the advancements of the industrial age to be the essence of human progress. First, we lived in an energy-driven mechanical world involving a series of innovations and new “labor-saving” processes … More The Radical Turn
Jubilado Jubilee “So much to do, so little time.” That cliché never meant much to me. The “so little time” part had no meaning. I was busy with my life and there was always tomorrow. It seemed as if I had all the time in the world. Careers go fast if you are busy and … More Diary of a Mad Jubilado: (first in a series)
Timing rules. Change waits for no machine. When I bought that apple coring machine, I expected to prepare and process our apple crop in record time. We had a somewhat smaller crop this year, but preparing the apples for storage in freezer or “canning” them in Ball jars is both very labor-intensive and slow. The … More Rotten Apples: Nature Overcomes Machine
Here we go again. In the latest revelations, widespread tax cheating and secret offshore financial manipulations hide massive amounts of wealth, both ill-gotten and ordinary corporate profits. The International Association of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) has released “The Paradise Papers,” millions of documents that provide new devastating evidence of the history and current efforts of the … More Paradise for Plutocrats and the Crimes of Oligarchy
Think about all the struggles over the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and all the “repeal and replace” negation and obscurantism. Think about Obama’s hopeless attempts to compromise with a racist Congress. Think about the many years during which all the Congress could do was to implement their racist policies of saying NO to anything the … More Bait and Switch: Un-Healthcare Insurance and Impoverished Budgets
I just bought an apple corer- peeler-slicer, a mechanical devise you attach to a counter top to core and peel apples or pears in preparation for canning or cooking. It is an interesting technology. It has multiple moving parts, and it is all hand-powered. It has no digital controls and it is constructed it entirely … More The Apple Core: Machine Meets Fruit
All basic infrastructure in Puerto Rico is down and remains nearly out. Hurricane Maria made a direct hit on the U.S. colonial territory, whose people are American citizens, mas o menos. Maria obliterated Puerto Rica’s electrical grid, destroyed homes, schools, hospitals, and most facilities and supply lines of all kinds. The third record hurricane in … More Puerto Rican Jubilee
When Dustin Hoffman starred in “The Graduate,” I could relate to the situation in which his character found himself. “Benjamin Braddock” had just graduated from college and sought some meaningful path in life. Even though I was nearly half way through a PhD program, I was still not entirely clear on where my path may … More Plastic Graduation: We are All in it Now
Robert MacNeil Christie, Author 