"Conventional wisdom", science, and conmen

My writing on a number of issues, such as challenging the conventional explanation of the fall of the Roman Empire, has been described as presumptious. The response is that, when conventional explanations are false, challenging them and replacing them is a service done to...

We're Only in It for the Money...sanity at Work

Should work be meaningful? Is it just meant to be something you do to pay the bills, put food on the table and a roof over your head? As I was reading Money is the new secret of a happy job by Lucy Kellaway, yes, her again (FT, December 15), I thought of one of Frank Zappa's...

Are You and Money on the Rocks?: Tips for Making Up (via Carrie and Danielle)

In my ever growing web of connections, when the connection is tenuous it can take me a minute or two or three to remember who they are.That's exactly what happened when Carrie, half of Carrie and Danielle told me of their new and better site.Their motto 'How to live a better...

Are you 'Distracted', Out of Focus? Maggie Jackson raises the red flag on Mul...

Maggie Jackson describes our current world as an ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) Society in her book Distracted subtitled The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age. She worries as The Brian Lehrer Show put it that "today’s tendency to multi-tasking has us headed for...

Working 90 Hours, Paid for 50: Is it Worth it? Are you Rested?

Can you get so sucked into a job that you end up working way too many hours?What percentage of your time is really productive?At what point does tiredness take over and you are just walking through the motions?Why would you kill yourself with a crazy schedule if on top of...

Lost Control Again: Try Anger Reduction...Psychology or Zen?

We all experience moments of frustration at work and in our daily life.Sometimes they provoke bouts of anger.Should we try to manage it as Controlling Anger -- Before It Controls You suggests by changing the way we express it, work on what caused it and change our timing as...

Is the Foundation for Good Work Leisure rather than Meaning

Work can become an obsession for many of us, either because we aim to deliver or are trying so hard to find meaning in our daily gring suggests Lucy Kellaway in Aim low to find meaning at work (FT, May 12).She comments on a recent report from the Work Foundation titled...

'Green is the New Neurotic'...Is it the End of the World as We Know It?

Bombarded by news or should I say reports announcing the end of oil, the impact of global warming, high food prices, how bad for nature plastic bags are and the impact of our travel on the planet, we might end up being paralyzed by fear or guilt or both.Besides turning off...

Sleep Deprived Anyone? Why I should sleep more?

Let me confess!I am guilty of coming short on rest time?I get 6 hours of sleep at best week nights, 8 on the week-end.The only way I catch up is by taking a nap in the morning after the kids are off to school.I had to question my unhealthy schedule and its consequences after...

Do revolutions start on Friday? Find out on 'Slow Planet', opening day March 28

Do revolutions start on Friday?I wondered as Slow Planet chose Friday, March 28 to get on the map...a slow launch of course.

Addicted...Need to Go Off..Line, Commit...to 52 Nights Unplugged

Obviously since I have now been writing Serge the Concierge for close to 3 years and more recently Just Over 50 and Not Dead Yet for my Panel at South by Southwest Interactive on March 8, I spend a decent amount of time online.I do not twitter or check my e-mail while on the...

Learning to 'Bounce': The Gospel of Success according to Barry Moltz

Success can be intoxicating and failures crushing. Resilience is key.  Rather than going from feeling like a Master of the Universe to I am a Loser Baby, with his second book Bounce, Barry Moltz wants to help us stay grounded and look at these different phases in a sane way.

Christmas and the Holidays: A chance to be Unproductive

If we follow the advice of In humungous praise of holidays (Financial Times editorial page), Christmas can be a chance to unplug our tech tools, slow down for a couple of days.  Simply put we`can give ourselves permission to be unproductive.

December 7...Spouse 2.0...Give your Spouse a Day...Kinda strange?

In one of these weird twists, people building social networks and online communication tools do not have much of a social life and tend to neglect their spouses. Coming to that realization a couple of Australian tech guys, Ashley and Chris came up with the idea of Spouse 2.0 .