On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs

January 7, 2019

...e things you like to read about on this blog: gardening, beer brewing, jam making, beekeeping etc. Or how about a world in which teachers, nurses and caregivers made more money than tech CEOs? Sadly, we don’t live in that utopia. Instead we have an economy that often rewards people who either do nothing all day or whose work degrades our lives. Anthropologist David Graeber takes up these questions in his book Bullshit Jobs: A Theory. Judging from...

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A Thanksgiving Debriefing

Mr. Homegrown

November 26, 2018

Thoughtstylings

23 Comments

A harvest festival-ish holiday celebrating thankfulness and gratitude? What could go wrong? This year we’re very thankful to celebrate the second anniversary of Kelly’s miraculous recovery from an aortic dissection. But, for the first time in memory, both Kelly and I did nothing on Thanksgiving. We had colds and spent the day at home watching movies. We ate pasta for dinner. Between coughs and sniffles, I had a few idle thoughts on ways the holid...

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The American College of the Building Arts

Mr. Homegrown

November 9, 2018

Design

2 Comments

...I was more invested in the idea of being a musician rather than the act of making music. And let’s not get into the plinky-plunky, modernist musical cat fight that passed for the musical curriculum at UCSD, where I did my graduate work. If I were to step into a time machine back to high school and ponder my next move I have no doubt that I’d ditch the University of California and head to Charleston, South Carolina to attend the American College of...

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I Built a Harvey Ellis Dresser and it Almost Killed Me

Mr. Homegrown

October 26, 2018

Design

14 Comments

...fitting drawers, finishing surfaces). Late 19th and 20th century furniture making involves not just one task all day but a mix of responsibilities as well as aesthetic decisions such as deciding which way to run the grain. The Ikea dresser is made on a post-Henry Ford assembly line where workers either monitor machines and/or do the same repetitive task all day. This makes for a much cheaper product but an unhappy worker. I made many mistakes buil...

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Mortise and Tenon Magazine

Mr. Homegrown

October 22, 2018

Design

2 Comments

...ars ago I decided to declutter some of my eclectic interests (goodbye beer making) and focus on upping my carpentry and woodworking skills. Partly, this was out of necessity. Our house needed some work and those skilled with planes and hammers are busy building custom staircases for Barbara Streisand and don’t have the time for a 980 square foot bungalow in the HaFoSaFo district. I took a few classes, subscribed to some woodworking and home buildi...

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