Category: rants
-
getting an education: priceless
It being graduation season, the air is abuzz with newly released studies evaluating the ROI’s and CBA’s of PhD’s and MSc’s. Each new finding stirs up a fresh flurry of discourse about the ‘worth’ and ‘value’ of a university education. It’s not a new discussion. The debate over whether a university education is ‘worth it’…
-
survey says: don’t ask me
I took a short business trip recently and stayed overnight at a hotel at which I have previously stayed, not once but half a dozen or more times. I love the hotel. It’s great value, great location, and I recommend it to anyone I know who’s heading to that city without hesitation. After this visit,…
-
be elsewhere always
I’m not sure exactly when, but sometime in the past couple of years western society took the well-worn quasi-zen credo of ‘Be here now’ and turned it completely on its head. The contemporary mantra is surely: be elsewhere, always. You’ll see it in any pocket of western society: everyone is consumed by ‘that hopeless little…
-
it’s the stupid economy
Venice is sinking. No news there. But the threat to that indescribably beautiful, unique and fragile city is being exacerbated by, of all things, excessive cruise ship traffic. Ever-larger ships, arriving in ever-larger numbers to the congested, enclosed lagoon in which Venice sits are displacing ever-larger volumes of water. The effect on Venice is simple…
-
welcome to the smoke bank
I was in the grocery store recently and witnessed a very troubling scene. The woman at the checkout didn’t have enough money to pay for her purchases. Her groceries consisted of a small roast of pork, some potatoes and broccoli, a quart of milk, a couple of tins of soup, and three packs of cigarettes. …