One of the books I admire is Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project. Its subtitle is Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun. Like many of us, Rubin was interested in being as happy in life as possible, and while that has been a pursuit of human beings for centuries, she had the advantage of relatively recent research on what actually makes people happy . . .
Author: Paul Knight
Why Are Spoofed Spam Calls Still a Thing?
In the last twenty minutes I’ve gotten two calls that the caller ID identified as being from some random city in the United States and which turned out to be recorded messages unknown provenance making a dishonest pitch.
- “This is an important message about your student loans . . .” — clearly not a well-targeted scam given that I’m five years into retirement.
- “This is Visa and MasterCard calling . . .” — as if those two competitors would flaunt antitrust regulations by openly collaborating on a joint promotional campaign . . .
Reimagining Policing
I’m one of those who is concerned that calls by some progressives to “defund police” is handing a gift to reactionary politicians who want to scare voters with the specter of their being left at the mercy of dangerous criminals as police departments are abolished. While there are some activists who actually are calling for the abolition of police departments as we know them, what most progressives mean when they talk about defunding police is drawing down the budgets of police departments and redirecting the money to programs that would promote public safety while also advancing racial equity . . .
A Second Wave?
It’s beginning to look as if a second wave of coronavirus infections is emerging in the US, especially in the southern and western parts of the country. I saw on CBS This Morning yesterday that the rate of new cases is increasing in 19 states, and the number of new cases in three states have reached record highs.
Small Talk
My wife Jennifer is one of those naturally outgoing people who can quickly and easily strike up a conversation with a stranger. Back in the days when we would pull up at a toll booth and actually hand money to a human being, I was consistently amazed at how Jennifer would make a friendly connection with the toll collector in the time it took him or her to make change . . .
The Rabbit Effect
I’ve noticed as I get older that kindness becomes more and more a priority for me. There was a time when I believed that there were certain circumstances that justified being less than kind — whether that meant scolding someone, or snarling at them, or even just rolling my eyes. But the excuses that I once believed justified being accusatory or rude no longer hold water for me . . .
If You Read Only One Op-Ed Piece This Month, Make It This One
If you follow the news, you’ve likely read about the controversy surrounding the New York Times’ publication of an op-ed piece by Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton calling for a wide-scale military crackdown on riots and looting that broke out on the periphery of protests spurred by the death of George Floyd. David Roberts of Vox.com posted an essay this week discussing why the Cotton piece was problematic . . .
How Much Do We Need To Be Protected From Each Other?
I listened to this week’s episode of On the Media this morning, the public radio program produced by WNYC in New York which is also available as a podcast. It included an interview with an economic historian, Rutger Bregman, who has just published a book called Humankind: A Hopeful History. In the book he argues that whereas people may not be precisely good, they are generally decent. This is, of course, the opposite of what rulers throughout history would have their subjects and citizens believe . . .
The Making of 1917
Last week my wife and I watched Sam Mendes’s 2019 Oscar-nominated film 1917. It was compelling and gripping, as much a race-against-the-clock thriller as a war movie, and it was a top-notch film by any measure — story, performances, cinematography. But what made it ground-breaking was its presentation as a single, two-hour-long tracking shot . . .
Visiting Friends
I miss people. I’ve never been someone who travels in order to see a place. I usually travel to see a friend, or a couple of friends, who happen to live somewhere else . . . Over the last few years I’ve thought about going to see a friend in Brooklyn and a friend in Canada, but I didn’t get around to it. Now I’m kicking myself . . .