Well, well, well. Holiday over, and we were not exactly models of nutritional restraint, were we? Look me in the eye. Don’t think I don’t know!
Sorting through 04074-Land yellow sticky notes left on the refrigerator from 2013, we will chug, chug, chug one last time this year up the railroad tracks to tidy up some things before 2014:
Multi-task or Die?
Cliff Nass, a professor from California, died recently at age 55. He studied “multi-tasking.” His tombstone (academically) will note he moved into a dorm at Stanford to study students, and that he discovered many things, including a female student texting her boyfriend 20 feet down a hallway (“It’s more efficient,” she told the professor). Professor Nass marveled at “perennially plugged-in” young people (simultaneously chatting on cell phones; checking Facebook on their laptops; and watching TV–all while studying an open textbook in front of them), but eventually thought it all bad.
“They’re suckers for irrelevancy,” he said. “Everything distracts them.”
Who Are Your Enemies?
Seth Myers, comedy actor from “Saturday Night Live,” was part of a 100-person group asked recently by Esquire magazine what they were most proud of. “The company I keep,” he said.
Wrong, I say respectfully.
I think your list of enemies is a much better judge of who you are. Anytime friends get into disputes with people, it is always heartening to note when the adversary is a jerk.
I Left My Ego on Katahdin
The Maine Youth Wilderness Leadership Program takes 10 high-school juniors each year on a nine-day trip through Baxter State Park, and up Mt. Katahdin. What happens – along with learning about wildlife for suburban southern Maine yuppie kids? “The egos die a little bit up there,” one kid said.
Talk the Talk?
Are people who have grown up on Blackberries, laptops, iPods etc. learning human-interaction skills? Do they get stuff done in life? Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan says the Obama Administration frequently features aides at press conferences stressing, e.g., how many emails they have sent to either Congressional representatives, or foreign leaders; how many texts they have messaged, or tweets they have forwarded. “They think words ARE actions,” she complains.
Sow’s Ear into a Silk Purse
Speaking of Peggy Noonan, I have read several of her books. Good writer. She is rare in that she occasionally will unleash brutal critiques of fellow Republicans. I saw her recently on a TV talk show., however. Yeecch. Pretentious! Most pointed observation of the year about Noonan came from “FiveThirtyEight.com” blogger Nate Silver: “Peggy is someone who is very, very skilled at making (B.S.) look like some elegant souffle?.” Ouch.
Tar Sands, Schmar Sands
A South Portland friend was surprised that the so-called Tar Sands referendum was decided in favor of the “corporate interests.” A Republican environmentalist (go ahead; re-read that two-word description as many times as you need to until it sinks in), he said the tar-sands people were “brilliant. They knew voters were grossed out by the thought of foul chemicals running through our city, and risking messy spills due to gooey tar sands. But they also knew that jobs and economic development nowadays trump smokestacks belching chemical cocktails.” The winning slogan, he says, was: “Don’t Sink The Port” by keeping tar-sands commerce out of South Portland.
The End is Nigh
We are over for today, and this year. Did you like some stuff in the columns? And dislike some? Tell me. A 12-ounce Diet Moxie for best review.
Dan Warren is a lawyer in Scarborough and can be reached at jonesandwarren@gmail.com.
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