« September 09, 2003 | Main
| September 11, 2003 »

September 10, 2003

Sixteen tons, whatdya get?
: Glenn Reynolds has a followup column looking at the impact on politics, crime, and family of the new cottage-industry, self-employed economy emerging from the never-ending restructuring of American industry. There's one more thing: It has an impact on mood.
Last weekend, I was talking with two local friends, one who was laid off about six months ago, the other who was laid off two weeks ago. They were comparing notes about what to do next; that's a conversation I hear often these days, in many different quarters and it often sounds the same: These people don't want to go back to work at the big company; they're younger than I am but they're burned-out ("disillusioned," is their word); they're not looking forward to working for the next boss; they're fed up. There's a chicken-and-egg question in this: What causes this mood -- the reality of the job situation these days or age? There's a followup chicken-and-egg question: What impact will this have on the work ethic of this and the next generation? Will work for companies continue to become less appealing? Will our children see that in us? Will we work harder for ourselves? Will be work more sanely for ourselves?

LINK | Comments (9)

If I should die before I post, I pray the ISP my blog to host
: Dave Weinberger wants to live eternal. So do I.

AKMA worries about what will happen to web sites when their owners die. (We will skip the part where he uses my own demise as his example.) I've been thinking about that for a while also. So, being of sound mind and body (well, the old 80:20 rules applies, of course), I hereby name AKMA the executor of my site. When I die, my heirs will pay all reasonable expenses (up to $30/year) to keep my site publicly available as well as a small stipend to AKMA to prune the hedges and scrub the grafitti off every now and then.
Thanks, AKMA. And feel free to pick a couple of pairs of socks for yourself. They're in the second drawer of the dresser in our bedroom.

LINK | Comments (0)

Selling Islam
: I took my son to the mall to see Dickie Roberts (pretty darned good, once it gets moving) and as we wandered around, I was surprised to see a table set up selling -- no, not chiropractic exams -- but Islam.
Two young guys were sitting stacked with Qur'ans and brochures: "Islam Explained... Who Was Jesus (Peace Be Upon Him)... What They Say About Prophet Muhammad? (Peace Be Upon Him)... The Status of Women in Islam..." All this came from an outfit called WhyIslam, whose website has a piece by the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens, profiles of "new Muslims," and handy one-minute guides to Islam ("how to end racism" in one easy minute).
I didn't get to talk to the guys because some cat with a backpack and a notebook and a sincere look was monoplizing them. So I'm not sure what their goal is. If it's proselytizing, well, good luck, guys. If it's building understanding and tolerance, well, this probably is a pretty good idea, whether or not people stop to pick up the pamphlets and talk; it says, "we are your neighbors."

LINK | Comments (4)

Grump
: If left to my own devices, I'm a grumpy guy.
Some kid got my town to put up signs at our borders declaring it a frown-free zone. That made me grumpy.
And I know that the people behind this by all means have their hearts in the right place:

Make Someone Smile on September 12
The anniversary of September 11, 2001 brings back many sad memories, and the days that followed were moving in untold ways. Amid the loss, shock, and fear, people reached out to one another. New Yorkers, so often stereotyped as living too independently, treated each other tenderly and patiently. The grief shared around the world in those days opened many hearts and eyes.
September 12 can be our ongoing reminder of those positive emotions, a way to remember and repeat that surge of warmth and togetherness.
This year we're launching a simple experiment to create a cascade of positive emotions on the 12th: Let's each commit to making ten people smile on that day.

But I hope nobody makes it a personal goal to make me smile. It would only make me grumpy.
Some ass in my comments said that all my talk about September 11 is turning me into the uncle you avoid at parties. Fine. I hope this ass has the good sense to avoid me for a very long time.
I'm sorry but I'm just grumpy right now; probably will be every September; just the way things are now.

LINK | Comments (6)

Take that, Walter Cronkite
: Howard Stern's show is news. The FCC issued an exemption to the equal time provision and decreed that Howard is news so he can interview Arnold Schwarzenegger without being forced to also interview all 130 candidates.

LINK | Comments (0)