A lot of sense

A friend of mine once reminded me that common sense was the least common of all senses. I can't say I disagree, but does that mean we live in a senseless world. I certainly hope not, and I don't think we do. There's a lot of sense around. Just think:

Every day, about 25,000 people die from hunger-related causes, about two-thirds of these are children.
About 925 million people worldwide don't get enough to eat.
More than a third of all deaths in low-income countries are children under 15.
About 1 in 3 workers worldwide is either unemployed or poor.
Almost a quarter of the world's population lives in poverty.
The poverty rate in the United States grew for the 4th consecutive year last year.
But, the income of the richest 10% of the world's population is about 9 times that of the poorest 10%, and it's rising.
The richest 1% of the world's population own 40% of all global assets.
The richest 3 people possess more financial assets than the poorest 48 countries combined.

It makes you wonder ... well, it makes me wonder, I can assure you. It would seem that there's more than enough to go around, but apparently some people don't want it to. Go figure.

Yeah, there's a lot of sense around, but it's not common, it's mostly nonsense.

Paradox

There are a lot of people besides me who have trouble coming to terms with life in the modern ... or post-modern ... or post-capitalist ... or post-something-or-other ... world we live in. It's hard to keep up with the labeling, that's for sure, but one things the world isn't, and that's post-paradox.

I don't know about you, but obvious contradictions in thought ... and that's what a paradox is, isn't it ... tend to confuse me. OK, I'm easily confused. It's a talent almost, but there are just a lot of things that don't make sense to me and I haven't found anyone to really explain them. Here are a few that I encountered last week:

Lowering taxes will raise revenues ...
Working harder will save time ...
Spending is saving in the long run ...
Helping the rich get richer is the best way to help the poor ...
Restricting access to healthcare makes for a healthier society ...
Waging war is the most effective means of achieving peace ...
Bailing out banks was necessary to preserve a free market ...
Printing money is a move against inflation ...
Lowering requirements will raise academic access ...

OK, I could go on, but I think you get the point. Who thinks this stuff up? But more importantly, why do so many folks take this nonsense seriously?

Well, since I've been into old-fashioned, slowly (or quickly) becoming archaic, words as of late, all I can say to all of this is, I'm flabbergasted.

Labor-saving

When I was growing up, I was continually fascinated by all the labor-saving devices and gadgets coming out: new vacuum cleaners, electric can-openers, snazzy mops ... you know, that kind of thing. It was only later that I realized that all of these were being made for my mom and housework, and I never really got it, because she never had a moment to herself. How did that work?

We've never really gotten out of that mode ... at least as far as the propagation of the idea is concerned. It used to be household gadgets, now its robots and automated production, and the like. Somebody decided bigger is better and we've upped the ante considerably. Let's face it, robots are more efficient, they don't complain, they don't get sick, they are willing, compliant ... well, slaves, actually, but they do cost a bit to get, but they're apparently worth the effort and investment. There's money to be made with labor-saving devices.

The money saved isn't because the things we then get to buy are cheaper. I don't know many people just socking away their paychecks because of how low the prices are on everything. In fact, there are a lot of people ... too many, in my book ... not socking anything away at all because they spend most of their time looking for a new sock. Theirs is getting a bit threadbare, if you get my drift. It turns out that the labor that was saved, was theirs.

Collophone February

The muses from last month:

The Shins, Oh, Inverted World;
Fleet Foxes, Helplessness Blues;
The Flatlanders, Wheels of Fortune;
Indigo Girls, Poseiden and the Bitter Bug;
The Hooblers, I Hate Folk Singers;
Tracy Chapman, Collection;
Kacey Anderson, The Reckoning;
Dave Mason, Alone Together;
Fred Eaglesmith, 50 Odd Dollars;
Arthur Dodge & the Horsefeathers, Nervous Habit;
Bob Dylan, Nashville Skyline.

Those are my long-tail recommendations for February. Not your usual fare, but all come highly recommended. Enjoy.

Now for all you pedants out there, I'm sure you are wondering about the title of this entry. You won't find that word in the dictionary. I made it up. Yes, I took the liberty and just made it up. That's how language works, if you want it to.

For those of you who may be compiling a dictionary: the collo- part is from "collection" and the -phone part is, well, obvious. Therefore, it is a collection of music that is listened to for a particular purpose, such as marking assignments, writing blogs, or watching sunrises/sets (depending on your inclination).

An example: say, you're marking papers and pacing yourself with some tunes. You'd like to let your students know what was moving you while you were marking, so you want to give them the list. Instead of entitling the list something like "This is the Music I was Listening to while Marking Your Papers", you could use something much more efficient like "Collophone: Assignment 1".

It's a labor-saver, I know. You're welcome.