Too many people seem to think hard work is the same thing as ‘capitalism.’ In truth, almost all of us work hard to put the fruit of our labor in an investor’s pocket. Look at your life if you doubt me.
You’re not a very good capitalist
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A mesmerizing HD drive through South Dakota’s Badlands
This video of Badlands National Park in South Dakota is seductive. It’s a nearly four-minute, uninterrupted shot of the driver’s view as he travels east on Badlands Loop Road (240) as it prepares to intersect with 377 near Interior, South Dakota.
Beautiful mistakes my camera made
My digital camera is an artist. It didn’t screw up my pictures in some mundane way. It inserted some wry counterpoint and some beautiful geometric juxtapositions. It elevated my own commentary into works of art that I now happily claim as my own creations.
Real recordings of bygone people: Actual voices of Queen Victoria, Houdini, and Lenin
Many historic recordings have finally migrated online so we can all hear them. Because it’s so energizing to close your eyes and feel these printed names come alive again, I’ve linked a few here.
My little YouTube video soars past 1 million views
That day, I was sick as a dog. I should have been in bed. But how often am I in Tokyo? So I walked everywhere I could. I was in the neighborhood of Shibuya, crossing in an overpass, when I saw something that astonished me.
The financial incentive for providing bad service
When businesses charge customers more for the “good” variety of their product, they are admitting their core product is substandard.
As Universal drains Jaws for the last time, I recall my time as Skipper
Sharks must keep moving or they die. What we have here is a dead shark. Universal Orlando just announced that it’s eliminating the Jaws ride at Universal Studios Florida. It was one the last of the rides that was original to the park’s 1990 opening. (Well, sort of original. It’s a retool of a hitchy… Read more »
If it happened online, it still happened
There’s pervasive concept that things that happen online deserve a whole different set of words to describe them. We contend daily with new words that there really don’t need new words for, such as hyperlocal, content, and that gossipy reduction of a complex social trend, meme. In the beginning of our collective online existence, techies invented… Read more »
Sometimes travel delays your life’s true calling
I hate to say it, but someone should. Sometimes travel isn’t enough. I know I have made travel, and the discussion of how anyone can do it, one of the central themes of the last 15 years of my life. And the world of magazines, blogs, and Twitter encourage me daily to maintain that. My… Read more »
When gangs of thugs put out your fires: Boss Tweed, Obamacare, and Big Pharma
The GOP presidential aspirants are getting a lot of mileage by demonizing the potential of a civic health care system, but they clearly don’t know history. We’ve actually done something like this before in another area of our health and safety. Take this example from the history books: Boss Tweed. The refrains from the nattering… Read more »